Issue # 26 - Smell great, pay little

Issue # 26 - Smell great, pay little


Today's issue is directly budget based, and directed towards any man trying to up his scent game on a limited income. I made a discovery today, and I want to pass my revelations on to you!


The readers know I am a fragrance addict. I spend a lot of my personal time reviewing, researching and testing various fragrances, because I honestly love them and am fascinated by them. It began at a young age, roughly 13 or so, where I realized how much I loved good-smelling things. This translated into a love of scented candles, room sprays, incense, and ultimately personal fragrances. When I first got interested in colognes, I was only able to afford the cheapest of the cheap. Being 13 years old didn't really bring in much revenue to be able to afford the high end designer fragrances I am so fond of today. So i would ask for scents for christmas, or pick them up at the nearest drug store when I had a few extra bucks. Those were the days; spraying on way too much to tell the world that I had made my entrance.


Here it is, 14 years later, and I found myself the other day remembering my fondness for one scent in particular. This was brought on by a stranger on the street who i believe was wearing it as they wafted on by me. it reminded me of when I had purchased it for $20 at the drug store in grade 8, and how much i loved it.It was called Gender One, and it was a generic version of the newest CK scent; CK ONE. I wore it every single day. My dad had a bottle, as did my older brother. It was a scent that filled the room and was light and happy. This stranger on the street brought back good memories for me, and thus began my search for Gender One.


I went to Shopper's Drug mart and looked for it. They have actually moved up the fragrance ladder and carry next to no lower priced brands anymore, and focus more on the high end ones. Gender One was not to be found here. However, I figured that since it was a generic version of CK ONE, why not check out the real version, since now i can afford it, and if the false version was great, shouldn't the real one be BETTER? So i found CK ONE and tested it...and to my surprise i Didn't like it as much as the fake version. Crazy right? I mean, it smelled great, but just not like gender one, which i was searching for.


This got me thinking: If the cheap, generic version of CK ONE could be so good, is it possible that there are other generic versions that are the same? After all, this IS a blog about getting better style on a small budget, so I thought i could help you out. My search led me to a discount department store...which rhymes with Bal-Mart. In their limited and honestly quite depressing fragrance section, i didn't see what i was looking for, and was about to give up when I noticed it. There on the bottom shelf, pushed back a little bit, was a silver box with the name Gender One on it. I had found it! I opened it up and tested it, to make sure the formula was the same, and it was. I had found my childhood favourite scent...and what made it better was that it was only $13. THIRTEEN DOLLARS. This is a steal on so many levels. I noticed the entire bottom shelf was actually ALL generic brands of popular fragrances. So i tested them all, and surprisingly there were some fantastic versions that I would love to pass on to you.


Besides Gender One, there was also a great generic version of Dolce and Gabbana's wildly popular "Light Blue" for men, called "Shades of Blue". In a second flash back to my childhood i saw the bottle for a generic version of  Hugo Boss, called "Nitro". This was also a great scent! There was a version of Burberry the Beat called "Riot" which i would NOT suggest. It was close, and captured the peppery topnotes, but it was very strong and overly offensive to the nose. Best of all, they were ALL $13.


Now if you're like me, I know you don't really want to be the guy that buys the fake brands. Generic brands will NEVER be able to perfectly copy the original scent, and trust me the real things are ALWAYS worth the money, and i suggest you save up for the real thing. However, if you're stuck in a hard place and want a great scent, you can resort to these. They are easy on the nose, and the wallet!


Before i sign off, there's one brand i didn't see that i would also suggest. There is one called "Gender 2BU" which is a version of CK BE. It's also delicious, so keep your eye open for it. On a final note, don't get too caught up in the inexpensive scents. While the generic versions are definitely something to consider, the original brands that are this inexpensive are rarely impressive. So stay away from them if at all possible.


Until Next time gents,
S.G.