The Story of our Solid Colognes

I always get asked how I came about selling solid colognes and how I came up with the idea. Truth is, I never intended to sell solid colognes or actually offer it as a product for Aromi. Most people that come across the solid colognes usually say they’ve never heard of them or seen solid cologne before.

I have been creating perfumes for myself, family and friends for many years now. I’ve mostly formulated fragranced products that are targeted towards women, but I wanted to give men’s products a shot. Formulating a cologne is similar to creating a perfume except that there are more of the traditionally masculine scents – I am a fan of amber, citrus notes, musk, sandalwood, bergamot, vetiver and woodsy notes. As a result, most Aromi solid colognes contain all or at least some of these fragrance notes.

The first cologne I created was a blend of sandalwood, bergamot, musk and vetiver. I decided to give this new fragrance to my cologne-obsessed teen brother to get feedback. When I asked him what I should name it, he decided it should be named Success. I went ahead and bottled the cologne and slapped on a sticker with the name Success. He religiously wore the cologne until the bottle was completely empty. Of course, he wanted more, so he asked for another bottle. In the meantime, I had been selling solid perfumes for about a year. When my brother asked me for another bottle, I decided to try making the cologne in a solid form. I mixed up a batch with the same raw materials that I use to create the solid perfumes (candelilla wax, carnauba wax, cetearyl alcohol, etc.), threw it in a small container and gave it a funny name that I dubbed Very Manly solid cologne. I created a half-dozen or so and gave one to my brother as a joke, and I eventually ended up trying to sell one of them on Etsy just to see if I could get rid of it. To my utter surprise, it quickly sold. It was funny to me that something I originally created as a joke sold so quickly. I ended up selling a few Very Manly solid colognes on Etsy, and before I knew it, I had created three other solid colognes – What a Stud, Handsome and You’re Hot. I decided to name all men’s fragrances after things I could call a guy.

The original Very Manly solid colognes

The Aromi solid colognes have been selling for three years now, and there are nine total fragrances. Although I never intended to create solid colognes, I really feel like it has filled a need in the market. Until solid colognes, men really didn’t have an option for portable cologne that wouldn’t shatter in a bag – they are great to keep in a gym bag, backpack or briefcase. The solid colognes work perfectly for traveling, as they are not liquid and don’t need to go in the dreaded bag of liquids. At $14.00 a piece, they make an affordable stocking stuffer and make the perfect gift for the man that is constantly traveling.

The look and packaging of the solid colognes have evolved over the years into a clean, modern look.

Each solid cologne comes in a one-ounce metallic container that typically lasts at least a half year, but, of course, that depends on usage level. All nine solid colognes are available in sample-sized versions as well, which are great if you want to smell and try them out before committing to a full-size solid cologne or a liquid cologne.

Because of the names of the solid colognes, they offer a great way to personalize a gift, as the gift giver can match the name of the cologne to the receiver…and yes, we even have Douchebag solid cologne. Douchebag solid cologne smells great and makes a funny gift. I get asked quite often how Douchebag solid cologne came to be the name of an actual cologne. I actually let my significant other pick the name of one of my colognes, and he thought Douchebag would be the perfect name. Since all of the Aromi colognes are named after things one can call a man, Douchebag is definitely something one could call a man…and I’m sure we all know at least one douchebag.

Douchebag solid cologne is a blend of amber, mandarin, rosemary, neroli, patchouli and jasmine.

One question I get quite frequently is if women can wear solid colognes. I always think it is funny how people think fragrances are so compartmentalized as either women’s or men’s fragrances. Quite a few women prefer how a cologne smells over the traditionally sweeter, floral perfumes. Handsome, Masculine, What a Stud and Outdoor Guy are some of the more common colognes that are worn by women.

Very Manly, Masculine, Outdoor Guy, and Sexy Man are the most popular Aromi solid cologne fragrances. To this day, Very Manly is still my brother’s favorite Aromi cologne and continues to be our most popular men’s fragrance.