Cologne - Recs & When To Wear

[Aloysius]

I have a $200 gift certificate to Bloomingdale's - don't really need more clothes - thinking... cologne.

Two-part question:

1) Any colognes that you would highly recommend I check out? Personally, I don't prefer the "musky" type ones, but since I have such limited experience with cologne am very open-minded. Only cologne I've ever worn is L'eau D'Issey, that my ex-girlfriend bought for me and would force me to wear.

2) When is it appropriate to wear cologne? At my last job, which was a fairly formal work environment, co-workers would on occassion wear cologne. I found that odd. I've only put on cologne for semi-formal / formal events. Normal "night-on-the-town" never done it.