How To Smell Great For LESS | Best CHEAP Fragrances for Men

Bottom line up front, you don't have to spend a lot of money to smell good. I love niche fragrances, however, niche fragrances tend to come with a bit of a hefty price tag, and no matter who you are, it can be hard to justify spending hundreds of dollars on a bottle. A great smelling, budget-friendly alternative? Aftershaves. They're easy to find, inexpensive, and very masculine. 8-picks reviewed, rated, and ranked right after this. I'm Brian Sacawa, and you are watching He Spoke Style, where we are dedicated to giving you all the tips, knowledge, and inspiration you need to dress well, have more confidence, and unlock your potential. All right, so here's how we're going to do it. So we're going to start with a brief overview of each aftershave. I'm going to assign them a score from 1 to 10 in four categories, scent, longevity, manliness, and value. We'll total all those scores up, and then at the end, we will declare our winner. First up, we have Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue. Now, the interesting thing about this is that it was originally introduced as a mouthwash, not an aftershave. It wasn't until 1935 that Aqua Velva started to be marketed specifically as an aftershave. Hallmark of Aqua Velva is the cooling menthol sensation. It's a very fresh and bright aftershave with notes of amber, peppermint, bergamot, lavender, cedar, vetiver, lemon, petitgrain, jasmine, and moss. Aqua Velva is really a kind of love-it-or-hate-it aftershave, in my opinion, and that is reflected in my scoring. For scent, I give this a 2. It's just really potent, and I'm not a huge fan of menthol. Longevity, 5. Lighter scents tend to wear off a little faster. Manliness, I'm going to give it a 7 just because of the intensity and potency. Overall value, 3. For me, even though this is cheap, I wouldn't spend another $5.50 on this, so that gives us an overall total of 16 points. Next up, we have Brut Classic Scent, introduced in 1966. This is an iconic masculine scent and one of the most classic fougeres that you can find. It is associated with many famous people, people like Roger Moore, Elvis Presley. Top notes of lavender, anise, lemon, basil, and bergamot. Heart notes, you have geranium, ylang-ylang, and jasmine. And base notes include sandalwood, vetiver, patchouli, oakmoss, vanilla, and tonka bean. They call it the essence of man. Let's see how it stacks up. Scent, straight up 10. This is a classic for a reason, and it doesn't get much better than this. Longevity, 8. Pretty decent, but it doesn't really get you through an entire day. Manliness, 10. It's the essence of man. What did you expect? Overall value, coming in at just around $8. This is an incredible value for the money, so 10 out of 10. Finishing up with a total score of 38 points. Gonna be hard to beat. Continuing in alphabetical order, here we have Canoe by Dana Furman, launched in 1936 and created by the perfumer who was also responsible for iconic fragrances like Miss Dior. And interestingly, Canoe is included as part of the Smithsonian's cosmetic collection in the Museum of American History. On the bottle, you have the name as well as the nautical flags, which also spell Canoe. Notes include bergamot, petitgrain, lavender, geranium patchouli, and musk. Now, one final note before we get to the scoring is that if you haven't seen the old TV commercial for this, I highly recommend looking it up on YouTube. Scent, I give this a solid 7. It's fresh, it's light, it smells like the ocean. It's definitely a great year-round fragrance. Longevity, 7. Interestingly, although this is a lighter fragrance, it does last. Manliness, also a 7. Total value, 4. At $25 to $27, although a solid performer, it's pretty expensive for what it is, so that gives us a total score for Canoe of 25 points. Moving on now to English Leather, also by Dana Furman. This was created in the 1930s. The scent, they say, was reminiscent of what Russian saddlers used to tan leather, so it was deemed Russian leather. However, when it was released in the U.S. in 1949, they changed that to English leather due to the Cold War. The notes for this one include Italian bergamot, kefir lime, leather, oak moss, vetiver, sandalwood, cedarwood, and musk. Now, for scent, I give this an 8. It's not a fougere. It's definitely very leathery, and initially that threw me off and I scored it lower, but as I tested it out more, I really came to appreciate the softer and maybe more subtle quality of this fragrance. Longevity, 10 out of 10. It's fairly incredible, but this stays on the skin all day long. Manliness, 9. Again, not the in-your-face fougere manliness, but a very subtle, soft, and deep manly scent here. And value, I'm giving it a 7. My bottle costs around $25, so it's on the higher end, but I think for what you're getting, it's really worth the price. Giving us a total for English leather of 34 points. Next up is Old Spice Classic. This was introduced in 1938. My grandfather wore it. Your grandfather probably wore it. And you may recall in the late 2000s, they had the slogan, if your grandfather hadn't worn it, you wouldn't exist. If you look up the notes on Old Spice, it's actually kind of crazy. I did list them all off in the Top 10 Classic Men's Fragrances video I did a while ago, but we're going to skip that today, only to say that Old Spice smells like Old Spice. Okay, so for scent, 10 out of 10. Of course, it's a great fragrance, but for me, and I'm sure many of you as well, it also carries strong notes of nostalgia, which is important as well. Longevity, 7. Not bad, kind of wears off around lunchtime. Manliness, 10 out of 10. What else is there to say? And for overall value, at $8, incredible value, 10 out of 10, giving us a total score for Old Spice of 35 points. Our next aftershave is Pino Clubman. This eponymous brand was debuted in Paris in the early half of the 19th century by Edouard Pino, who has an interesting story. He left home at the age of 13, moved to Cologne, Germany to become a perfumer. He started his own perfume factory in 1830, and by 1855, he caught the attention of Queen Victoria and became her official perfumer. Pino Clubman has been a barbershop staple for a long, long time. Notes for this one include orange, bergamot, lemon, green nuances, jasmine, lavender, of course, and then all underpinned by musk. Scent, for me, this is an 8. It's nice, but it's kind of on the softer side and doesn't really seem to have a fullness to it, which would have gained more points for me. Longevity, give it an 8 as well. Manliness, also an 8, and that is because of the musk. It has a little bit of a powdery undertone, which for me knocks it down a bit on the manly scale. Total value, at about $7 or $8, this gets a 10 out of 10, with a final score of 34 points. Next, we have Prorazzo Lozione Now, this brand was founded in Florence in 1908. You can find it all over the place now in America. Personally, I really love their shave soap. They have a very closely guarded secret formula, they say, based on eucalyptus oil that has been passed down for generations. In the notes for this, you will find eucalyptus oil and menthol. For the scent here, I'm giving this a 6. As I mentioned, not a huge menthol fan, but this is fairly pleasant and not super potent, and I would characterize it as very bright. Longevity gets a 6 as well. Manliness, also a 6. Overall value, for $15, you're getting, in my opinion, kind of a ho-hum product. I feel like you're paying more for the name and the idea of it being Italian more so than the product itself, so we're going to give it a score of 3, bringing our total for Prorazzo to 21 points. Last up, we have Stetson Original by Cody For Men. This was launched in 1981 and named after John B. Stetson, who created the iconic Stetson hat, which you can see on the back of the box. Looks to be a very manly and rugged fragrance, and we've got lots of citrus up top, but the real notes are in the heart and the base, where you have patchouli, chorus root, jasmine, vetiver, cedar, and geranium, along with Scent. This is an absolute 10 out of 10. Of the 8 aftershaves I tested out for this video, Stetson has the most complex scent. It's classic, it's very sexy, and it just has an incredible depth to it. Longevity is a 9. Incredibly long-lasting for an aftershave. Manliness, it's a 10 out of 10, no question. And value at around $12 or $13 a bottle, I really think you are getting a great bang for your buck all around, so I'm also giving it a 10, making our total score for Stetson Original 39 points. Now let's recap and see who our winner is. Coming in in the number 8 spot, with 16 points, we have Aqua Velva. Next, at number 7, with a total of 21 points, Prorazzo. In the number 6 spot, with 25 points, we have Canoe. Number 5 and 4, we actually have a tie at 34 points between Pino Clubman and English Leather. So for the tiebreaker, we're going to the manliness score, and Pino Clubman, with an 8, slots in at number 5, and English Leather, with a 9, takes the number 4 position. Here we are at our top 3, and our number 3 position, with 35 points, goes to Old Spice. Now, coming in at number 2, the runner-up, with 38 points, Brut Classic Scent, making the winner of our aftershave competition, with 39 total points, Stetson Original. I would consider all of these aftershaves to be really, really classic masculine scents. If you like classic fragrances like me, be sure to check out that video right over there where I talk about the 10 most classic men's fragrances of all time.