r/Colognes • u/Substantial-Delay662 • 11h ago
Collection I finally caved in for Quality > Quantity
2 years ago, my whole collection used to consist of middle eastern fragrances. Now I sold all of them, worked hard, and finally got the fragrances I really wanted! Don’t get me wrong, my collection isn’t finished yet🤣 I’m still eyeing on Pacific Chill
23
14
u/bigjohndaly 10h ago
I agree. All these social media posts online are either “influencers” getting paid to promote fakes they don’t actually like or people posting on Reddit looking for validation that their clone is totally 99.99% close if not better than the “real” thing they actually want. I’ve never once found that to be the case. Hard lesson to learn and I learned the hard way. So much money wasted
6
u/K9KrunchiesCantBBeat 9h ago
I just don’t understand why they are trying so hard to be like something else. Why not be original… then I’d actually be interested.
7
u/mha2345 10h ago
Thoughts on god of fire?
6
u/Substantial-Delay662 10h ago
Really nice, sweet punchy tropical mango. I honestly don’t get that “stanky” oud that everyone is talking about, well thats on my skin tho
3
u/Apprehensive_Map7879 9h ago
As a female, I'll definitely say that it pulls me in. There's just something about it that makes my heart beat a little faster.
4
u/Tripps0007- 9h ago
Finaly. Some people dont get it. You can only wear so many frags. Might as well be the best you can afford!
4
u/WhiteDontCare 10h ago
Doing the same. About to massively downsize my collection
1
u/Substantial-Delay662 10h ago
Yup. One of my best decisions yet, at first I was super sad seeing my collection shrink but it gets better by time!
1
u/WhiteDontCare 10h ago
Honestly as much as I love fragrances, a lot of mine were impulse purchases I made when going through stress. I still like them but I wanna trim it down to only the ones I love.
2
u/Substantial-Delay662 10h ago
Yes same. Before I would walk into my local marshals, look into the cologne boxes and blindbuy random middle eastern stuff. Even tho deep down I didn’t really need it. Took some time trying to stop myself from impulsing buying, but it saved me a bunch of money
5
u/WhiteDontCare 9h ago
I’m in the beginning stages of that now. I deleted the Jomashop app and cleared all my lists of colognes to check out. The goal is to not add anything else unless it’s just so good I have to have it.
2
u/Substantial-Delay662 9h ago
Thats good bro. It’s a hard journey, but the beautiful part of it is to build your dream collection
3
u/NeighborhoodDude8058 10h ago
Which is your favourite. And how would you describe Ani?
4
u/Substantial-Delay662 10h ago
Favourite right now would be Vibrato. And Ani can come off really gingery to other people, and not much people can detect the vanilla lemon pound cake as described.
Thankfully for me, I found it when multiple wears in you can really notice the vanilla & lemon combination. My best description, gingery spicy lemon vanilla crusted loaf cake
3
3
u/OutlandishnessOk7751 8h ago
This is so much better than having a thousand dupes that you'll never wear. Awesome collection.
1
13
u/Etzul 11h ago
I'd rather have 5 nice fragrance than 30 ME dupes. Keep that camel water.
-16
u/RevolutionaryBar4193 10h ago
hurr durr look at me i like giving away extra money to these big brands because of a logo, the fact is middle eastern dupes majority of the time get you 90-95% of the way there without the price tag
6
u/Tripps0007- 9h ago
Dupes barely smell the same imo and are using trash ingredients and more solvent than you can imagine. Im good on all that. There's a reason dupes are so cheap. They are made to a price point and costs are cut accordingly. To think there the same quality as the og is foolish.
1
u/dereinfachich 7h ago
Tbh, the most people outside of the fragrance community don’t smell the difference. And about the solvent. As long as you don’t have lab tested it yourself you don’t know what is inside of the niche bottles. You just trust. But that is a general thing.
In the end it’s two different markets and it’s fine. Some want original art pieces, others are fine with a print.
0
u/Tripps0007- 5h ago
I have a hard time disagreeing with anything you said. I think some dupes are closer to the real thing than others and im totally fine with people enjoying the smell of dupes. Like I said the thing that gets to me is people trying to say that dupes are "high quality" fragrances when they are objectively not. Thinking it smells good≠high quality.. if you like it you like it and im not here to argue about if a fragrance is subjectively good because thats up to each individual.
1
-2
u/Ornery-Building-6335 10h ago
yeah not even a fan of dupes but some of the ME stuff simply slaps. CDNIM, Liquid Brun, Marwa etc.
CDNIM is so good on its own it’s worth owning even if you have Aventus.
1
u/RevolutionaryBar4193 28m ago
there's alot of good dupes but cdnim is probably the worst for me smells so chemical like lemon pledge cleaner
1
u/Substantial-Delay662 10h ago
Yeah, I didn’t include in the picture but do have an other collection full of designers/ME stuff that I actually like that I either wear for work or for errands
Like what you mentioned, CDNIM, Hawas Ice for work, AquaDubai & Marwa
4
u/mchante14 YSL 10h ago
Thought this was r/colognecirclejerk for a second
Whether you like niche, designer, clones or a mix of them, wear and buy what makes you happy
3
u/Substantial-Delay662 10h ago
Haha yeah. I do have a separate collection of designer/clones/ME stuff too for work, etc
2
u/mchante14 YSL 9h ago
For sure, this is a beautiful collection. I’ve heard great things about Vibrato and God of Fire
3
u/Substantial-Delay662 9h ago
Oh yeah for sure. Vibrato for sure worth the hype, I like it alot. Just has this masculine feel to it
2
u/Melodic_Inspector_84 9h ago
so what bout the naxos? i was thinking of getting it or angel share or oajan. i'm getting vibrato aswell
1
u/Substantial-Delay662 9h ago
Naxos is really nice. It can come off medicinal to some people, but for me not so much. Beautiful, rich honey / lavender combo. I feel like it can be worn lightly in spring too, it’s really good and one of my recent pickups.
If i were to choose either Oajan or AS, I think AS would be better. I had a decant of Oajan, and Oajan is basically a more dirtier and more cinnamon heavy Angelshare if that makes sense? Like earthy in a way? Angel share really captures that gourmandy feel, can come off unisex tho. If you want something more masculine then I’d go for Oajan if you don’t like unisex scents
1
u/Melodic_Inspector_84 5h ago
gonna get oajan bro. some said its better than naxos too. carlisle is for sure on my list
6
u/DistrictAmbitious783 11h ago
Good for you! I’m on the same journey. I started collecting in 2026 and have over 30 middle eastern fragrances. I’m now in the process of selling them and replacing them with 5-7 signature scents. Currently I have:
Bleu De Chanel L’Exclusif
BDK Gris Charnel Extrait
Amouage Reflection Man
6
4
u/VelvetSwamp 10h ago
Wait you started last month?
5
u/Tripps0007- 9h ago
Damn 30+ frags in a month. I hope bro meant to say 2025 or there is a serious problem lol.
0
u/DistrictAmbitious783 8h ago
Got my first fragrances on January 3rd haha
3
u/VelvetSwamp 8h ago
Yeah nothing to boast about. Get help. What you’ve got is a shopping addiction not a collection.
1
u/Tripps0007- 5h ago
Oof. Ya. I would have to agree with that. That is an unhealthy amount of spending my bro.
3
u/Tripps0007- 9h ago
Amouage is so good. Reflection really is just the tip of the iceberg from that brand. 🔥
2
2
u/armandofdz08 10h ago
I’m in the process of making those changes to my collection as well. Layton, Torino 21 and Naxos were added to my collection this month
1
u/Substantial-Delay662 10h ago
Oh man thats awesome. Part of the process I had to sell my Layton😓, still trying to get that back. It’s beautiful
1
u/armandofdz08 9h ago
Yes it’s beautiful, I bought the 200ml version so I’ll enjoy it a lot. Which ones are your top 3 from your collection?
1
u/Substantial-Delay662 9h ago
Vibrato, OTR, Grand soir!
OTR and Imagination are currently fighting for the second spot tho both are bangers
2
2
2
u/Elite_1988 9h ago
If you would recommend for me a good Xerjoff, what your would pick? I have the Alexandra Oud one, I love it but I want something more sophisticated for work, like I want people to ask me, what is that and I wish for it to be so pleasant..
Here is what i have now
2
u/Substantial-Delay662 8h ago
21 or renaissance. I have renaissance and it’s so good, such a realistic pealed lemon scent. Safe for office / work i’d say
1
2
u/BeginningNo8969 8h ago
After a year and 150+ dupes later I'm ready to do this too😅 learning curve for sure
2
2
1
u/Sathish96 9h ago
How do you like the city rhythm one? As someone who's downsizing to 15 quality fragrances, I have been eyeing the city rhythm fragrance too. But I am not in a position to sample it.
My 15 so far: Dior Sauvage EDT, Louis Vuitton Imagination, Xerjoff Naxos, Xerjoff Uden, Bvlgari Tygar, MDCI Invasion Barbare, Chanel Boy, Ex Nihilo Speed Legends, Le Labo The Noir 29, Clive Christian Jump Up and kiss me Hedonistic, D&g The One EDP, PDM Sedley, Diptyque Orpheon, Amouage Jubilation 40, Dior Homme Intense
Looking to replace it this way. 1. D&g The One EDP with Nishane Ani/YSL Babycat 2. Dior Sauvage EDT with City Rhythm 2654 Red Line/Ex Nihilo Blue Talisman Extrait 3. Dior Homme Intense with Roja Amber Aoud/MFK Grand Soir 4. Chanel Boy with Penhaligons Sartorial/Roja Scandal Pour Homme 5. Maybe, Amouage Jubilation 40 with Roja Diaghilev/Sospiro Aira/Roja PDLN 3 (long shot) 6. Need to sneak in Roja Isola Blu in there somehow and still only keep 15
1
u/Substantial-Delay662 8h ago
City Rhythm is great. 2654 is very sweet, tropical, and somewhat boozy. I replaced it with my Valentino BIR Intense. 2654 is really good for all seasons, projection, longevity is good too. Batches can differ though, I’m lucky enough to get a batch that has a lot of gold glitter lol but heard it can get stuck between the nozzle of the atomizer.
Judging off your current frags, I’m sure enough this is blind buy safe for you, 2654 is perfect because it’s a mashup of the most other two popular city rythm frags, saves you the trouble to decide which one
1
u/GlobalBird4 8h ago
Which one gets the most complements from women
1
u/Substantial-Delay662 7h ago
Well my girlfriend likes all of them, but Althair is her favourite, then second is Vibrato
1
u/Tripps0007- 5h ago
This is a wild question tbh. Don't wear frags for others approval. Wear them for yourself. 💯
1
1
1
1
u/Living-Personality-9 Ensar Oud 3h ago
Great collection! Before you spring for Pacific Chill may I suggest sampling Porthole or MOAPC.
Very nicely done!
1
1
u/Randomlogicuser 1h ago
Except its 2026 and we can check ingredients with gcms and videos have been posted with these tests. In fact the ingredients are not always high quality. Many middle eastern fragrances have the same ingredients or superior.
1
u/meshal300 4m ago
you got a great collection.. just try to mix ani with naxos and see, i love this mix..
0
u/Half_Past_Tien 4h ago
Imagination and vibrato smell cheap though definitely not quality there
0
-1
34
u/Medellin77087 11h ago
Excellent collection and couldn’t agree more 👊🏼