I’ve been trying to get into cologne lately. I’ve basically been wearing the same BDU pants and leather jacket and hair (facial and otherwise) every day for years, only the t-shirt cycling, and I’m pretty okay with that, but the ability to accessorize into another sense seems like it would add some nice variety.

There’s a pretty great perfume store in town with a staff that’s been great at taking my vague, uninformed preferences and steering me to stuff I like - I’m going with Serge Noire as a standard night scent and I’m looking for a vetiver or some light, planty scent for the day, if I can find one that doesn’t fade to nothing immediately.

The thing is I’ve never done this before - I have no idea how to apply without an atomizer, that plastic wick attached to the cap is a real three shells mystery, I don’t have a sense how “loud” I should smell it, and how that translates for people whose noses are more than 4 inches from my neck. There’s no such thing as a mirror for smell. So I’m constantly afraid I’m That Guy With Way Too Much Cologne On and strangers are too polite to say. Lot more sympathy for 15-year-old guido/ettes.