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            Do people recognize your presence because of the scent of your 
              trademark cologne? Does your girlfriend or wife buy you the same 
              cologne for your birthday year after year? If you answered yes to 
              both of these questions, you may be in need of a slight change in 
              personal fragrance. Put away your Old Spice and take a look at what's 
              new at the fragrance counters. 
               
              It's important to know that every scent or cologne smells different 
              on every person. The way a scent takes to your body and your skin 
              is a question of chemistry, and has to do with the chemical reaction 
              between you and the particular fragrance. While your friend smells 
              great in the latest Calvin Klein cologne, it could make you smell 
              more like a gym locker.  
               
              With this in mind, it's always important to try cologne before purchasing 
              it. Never assume that what smells good on everyone else will smell 
              good on you. You would never buy a pair of shoes before trying them 
              on, right? Well, the same goes for cologne. 
               
              Go to the store and spray different types of cologne on a card. 
              Do this if you intend on trying out a bunch of different ones. If 
              you try them all on your arm, by the time you get to the fourth 
              cologne, your arms and wrists will be drenched by the other scents. 
              You won't get a good idea of the right fragrance unless you put 
              each one on different cards or pieces of paper.  
               
              When the person standing in front of the cologne section at the 
              department store is ready to attack you with a bottle of cologne 
              -- ready to spritz and spray you with it -- stand back, and tell 
              them to spray a card instead. That way your wrists remain scent-free. 
               
              Smell the different cards and evaluate which fragances you like, 
              and which ones smell more like bug repellant. Start eliminating 
              the ones you really don't like. After having sniffed and smelled 
              all the cologne you are interested in -- or until you feel faint, 
              whichever comes first -- take a breather and walk around the shopping 
              center or outside the store for a while. According to one of my 
              readers, if you sniff coffee between each cologne, you can get the 
              full effect of each scent, since coffee refreshes your sense of 
              smell. So if you're walking around the department store with a cup 
              of Starbucks, you don't even need to take a break from sniffing. 
               
               
              You want to give your nose a little bit of a rest so that your sense 
              of smell is rejuvenated before returning to the store to make your 
              final purchase.  
               
              Once you do go back to the store to make your decision, you can 
              test out how the cologne smells on you. At this point, you shouldn't 
              have as many options since you won't be as bombarded by an array 
              of scents and fragrances, after having already gone through an elimination 
              process. 
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