I present to you the very humble beginnings of my collection. I started my journey in January, and through ordering many, many sample decants, spraying testers in stores, and watching way too much content, I’ve learned what I’m really looking for and what I like best. This began with the Explorer and Dylan Blue, as “starter” fragrances that I liked very early on. I found they were pleasing and easy to wear anywhere, and really got me used to wearing a scent every day. Bonus that my wife compliments them both all the time. They are still very reliable workhorses. My wife really expressed her love for the Light Blue eau intense, and it was very lucky to order one at $60 the week before it was announced to be discontinued and they shot up to $90. This will be my scent of the summer until I get Paradise Garden. The latest addition is Polo 67 EDT that I plan to use for work, mostly. I enjoy how classy it feels while still feeling fun and refreshing. They really did a good job with this line. Any suggestions for what I should add down the line?

I personally despise summer. It's hot, heat makes people angry, and you can only wear so little to cool down. Especially facing days of 105-115F in the mostly arid climate of the NorCal valley. I'll take arid over humid any day (I did spend 10+ years in Florida for comparison). However, what I struggled with the most after dealing with Spring allergy season, was finding a summer-friendly fragrance. My tastes have always leaned toward cold weather. Gourmands, heavy delicious food, coats, scarves, boots, newsboy hats... but sadly, fragrance-wise, the dreaded description of "cloying" must be considered. It was challenging to find something appropriate that I also liked. However, that's where I'm grateful to be exploring the middle-eastern market. I initially tried Lataffa Ramz Silver because of its affordability and fruity notes... only to find a little too late that it's a less mature-smelling version of JPG's Ultra Male (and I'm already much happier with the superior clone of Rayhaan's Lion EDP). I still like it and plan to use it, but I needed something... more tropical. Several videos, search engine AI questions, and countless time scrolling around Fragrantica, I finally settled on Hawas Tropical. Only $40 on Amazon. Top: Coconut water, fig leaf, ginger. Middle: Coconut, fig, and mint. Base: Sandalwood, tonka bean, musk. Essentially a near-superior clone of JPG's Le Beau Paradise Garden. Even right out of the bottle (after 10 sprays to get the initial often synthetic smell out), I really liked the creamy coconut, slight fruit, and comfortably musky smell. I like that it's fresh-smelling without being marine. Personally, most marine or blue fragrances remind me too much of cheap stuff like Axe, or too commonly used.