Best of the best affordable colognes

[Trenchfriend]

Maybe it's a helpful topic.

I don't need to think long. My first choice of cheap cologne still is:

La Rive "SCOTISH MAN"

This delicious ambroxian oriental and woodsy cologne is def. NOT an YSL "Le Male" knock-off! It's not "fresh", but warm and cozy. And funnily, this woodsy ambroxian is exactly, what the ladies love, too.
NO eucalyptus or caraway-seed in!

I often did research, but I never found an "original", which Scotish Man would be refering to.

When it comes to the question, how long-lasting it is, I would say it's "mediocre". Not too short, not super long. Maximum 4 hours on my skin.

 

[Turnip]

When it comes to low price range and classic scents it’s Dunhill For Men and AZZARO Pour Homme for me, scent-wise of course always a matter of taste. Performance-wise both EdT let not too few modern EdP, also several Dunhill for example, look pretty old.

 

[Trenchfriend]

When it comes to low price range and classic scents it’s Dunhill For Men and AZZARO Pour Homme for me, scent-wise of course always a matter of taste. Performance-wise both EdT let not too few modern EdP, also several Dunhill for example, look pretty old.

"APH" still the same formulation as it was in 2010/2011? I had it several times back then and it was fine and STRONG!!

 

[Turnip]

Not sure to be honest, it’s for sure not the same as in 1980s.
Compared to that, the current version lacks a bit of the „crisp“, fresh tip it had back then but heart and base are pretty much the same in my opinion. Still a very, very long lasting scent.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I don't want to forget another one of my favorites!

ICEBERG Homme (1990)

This is an absolute classic in old Germany and equally, if it had a reformulation in the 2000s, it's still STRONG, I tell you!
Powerful backwash!! Always keep it moderate, otherwise you're perfuming the people around you.

It's a wonderful flowery, but still fresh and somehow aquatic melange with an adult portion of hyacinth.
In the first ten minutes you have a nice aquatic, refreshing aura, but the drydown gets more and more manly hyacinthic. But I would still say, this cologne is still unisex.

There was a change on the brand-owning company, years ago, but Iceberg remained unchanged. But they actually offer only the 100 ml bottle, sadly.

But altogether, this fine daily cologne is somehow unique to me.
I mean, it's NOT an aquatic and NOT a flower-power girl. Somewhere between, with the best of both sides.

Some folks may say: "This is strong after shave!" or "This is a freshly showered man!"
But nah, it's def. not an Aromatic Fougère! And NOT the 80s.

It's really 1990 new age, starting unisex era.

The now middle-age say, the reformulation only made it weaker. But then, the original formula must have been earthquake-strong.
When my father had an 50 ml flacon in th early 2000s, I always liked it on him. Maybe, that was still the original formula, I don't know.

And I still remember 1990s Lagerfeld PHOTO, so they surely had something in common, I guess. But Iceberg is still there.