How to use the Discovery Set to find your scent in a week
The Bale Discovery Set cologne samples are six 1 oz jars of body butter, one of each scent, for $19, and the fastest way to use them is one scent a day for six days with Sunday kept for the decision. Wear each one the way you would wear the full jar, one scoop on damp skin after a shower, check it at the same points every day, and by Sunday you will know which jar the $15 credit code in the box is going on.
What are the Discovery Set cologne samples?
Six sample jars, 1 oz each, one per scent: Rogue 540, Avant, Bleu Hour, Oud Timber, Reverie and Savanna. The butter is identical to what is in the full 6 oz jar: a shea and cocoa butter base, fragrance and a pheromone ingredient, handmade in small batches, paraben-free and sulfate-free (the label article explains what those two claims mean and do not mean). Each scent is our take on the profile of a designer bottle that costs somewhere between about $165 and about $445, so the set is also the cheapest way to find out which of those profiles suits you before you commit to anything.
The box includes a $15 credit code toward a full jar, which is most of the price of the set back if you end up buying one. If you have been asking whether you can try a scented body butter before you buy, this is the answer.
How does the week work?
One scent a day, in an order that runs from fresh to warm so your nose is never asked to compare a citrus with an oud back to back. Shower, one scoop of that day's sample on damp skin, rub it in over chest, neck and forearms, give it about a minute, get dressed. Then live your day and check in at the points in the next section. No cologne on top this week; you are testing the butter on its own.
Monday: Bleu Hour
Citrus, incense and woods, our take on the profile of Bleu de Chanel. Start here because it is the easiest of the six to wear and gives you a baseline for how a fresh scent behaves on your skin at work.
Tuesday: Savanna
Bergamot, pepper and ambroxan, inspired by Dior Sauvage. Still fresh, with more spice than Monday. If you already own a bottle of the original you will know by lunch whether you want it in butter form.
Wednesday: Reverie
Bergamot, ginger and black tea, our take on Louis Vuitton Imagination. This is the hinge of the week, lighter than the fresh pair in some ways and warmer in others. Pay attention to how it reads at the end of the day; it is the one men are most often surprised by.
Thursday: Avant
Pineapple, birch and musk, inspired by Creed Aventus. Fruit up front, smoke underneath. It is an everyday statement rather than a quiet scent, so Thursday is a good test of whether you like being noticed at your desk.
Friday: Rogue 540
Saffron, amber and cedar, our take on Baccarat Rouge 540. Warm and sweet and one of the louder two, so wear it on a day that ends somewhere other than the sofa. Friday is on purpose.
Saturday: Oud Timber
Oud, sandalwood and vanilla, inspired by Tom Ford Oud Wood. The other loud one, deep and woody, built for cooler months and evenings. Saturday gives it a slow morning and a night out to show both sides.
Sunday: decide
No new scent. Read your notes, smell the jars cold, and pick. The section on choosing between two is below for when it is close.
How do you judge each scent fairly?
Check at the same points every day: when you leave the house, after lunch, when you get home and before bed. Each time, smell your forearm from a hand's width away and then up close, and write down two things: can you still smell it, and do you still like it. The second question matters more than men expect. Plenty of scents smell great in the jar and get tiring by mid-afternoon.
Ask one other person each day, someone who was in another room so their nose is fresh. "Can you smell anything, and what is it like?" is the whole script. If the same person is around all week you also get a ranking you did not have to fish for.
Write down the weather and what you did. A warm day and a cold day give the same scent two different volumes, and a day in a heated office is different from a day outside. You are not trying to control for this, only to know it when you read the notes on Sunday.
Lasting power is 12+ hours on most skin, longest on damp skin after a shower, so if a sample is gone by lunch, check your application before you blame the scent: was your skin still damp, did you use a full scoop, did you shower with something heavily scented first. The how much to use article has the scoop in detail.
If your skin is reactive, do a patch test before Monday: a small amount of one sample on the inside of your forearm, left for a day. Bale is a scented body butter rather than medical skincare, and if you have a skin condition, ask your doctor first.
How do you choose between your top two?
Wear them again, one per forearm, on the same day, and ask your outside opinion to pick without knowing which is which. That is the only time in the plan that two scents go on at once, and the forearms are far enough apart to keep them separate.
If they come from different sides of the week, a fresh one and a warm one, you may not need to choose. A small rotation is how I wear them myself: one for the office and daytime, one for evenings and the cold months. That is also where the credit code goes furthest, on the one you will wear most, with the other added when you are ready. The compare page lays all six out side by side if you want to see where your two sit.
If they are from the same side, both fresh or both warm, pick the one that was still pleasant to you before bed. Early impressions are about the opening; the one you still like at the end of the day is the one you will reach for.
What do you do after the week?
Use the code. The box includes a $15 credit code toward a full jar, which takes a $25 jar down to not much more than the price of the set. The full jar is 6 oz (170 g) of the same butter in amber glass, and the one-scoop habit you built this week is the right amount for it too. The 6 oz jar article covers how to make it go the distance.
Keep the samples. A 1 oz jar is the travel size you were going to buy anyway, and the scents you did not pick are worth having for a different season. Your order, full jar or set, arrives wrapped in a piece of a real coffee sack with a card that says where it came from, so you will know the parcel when it shows up.
If none of the six landed, reply to your order email and we will sort it out.
What should you avoid during the week?
- Two scents in one day, until the tie-break.
- Cologne on top. Even one spray changes what you are judging. Layering comes later, once you know your butter, and it follows one rule: butter as the base, one spray of a cologne in the same family, never two loud scents together.
- A heavily scented body wash. It is a second fragrance whether you think of it that way or not.
- Judging from the jar. Cold butter in a jar smells denser and sweeter than the same scent an hour into wear. Smell it on skin or not at all.
- Leaving the samples in the car. Butter softens in heat; if a jar goes soft, the fridge firms it back up, but you do not want to be doing that daily.
- Skipping the notes. By Thursday, Monday is a blur.
Quick answers
What is in the Bale Discovery Set?
Six 1 oz sample jars, one of each scent (Rogue 540, Avant, Bleu Hour, Oud Timber, Reverie, Savanna), for $19, with a $15 credit code in the box toward a full 6 oz jar.
How long should I wear each sample?
A full day, from the morning shower to bed, one scoop on damp skin. Check it when you leave, after lunch, when you get home and before bed, and ask one other person. Six days covers all six.
Can I try two samples in one day?
Save it for the tie-break. One on each forearm, the same amount, and ask someone to pick blind. For the first six days, one scent a day gives you cleaner notes.
What if I do not like any of them, or pick the wrong full jar?
Reply to your order email and we will sort it out. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee, and if you bought a full jar and want a different scent, a free scent swap within 14 days.
Start with the Discovery Set, or if you would rather answer a few questions than wear six jars, the scent quiz gets you to a shortlist in a minute.
