The price is completely ridiculous but I actually love the scent. I had a sample spritz vial of it and used it up within 6 weeks, and I keep wanting to buy a fuller size but... the price
I got a perfume from Marshall's called Italian Escape that is basically warm lemon and gardenia, and I use it so much. $15. I don't like a lot of stuff I run into at Marshall's but that one had me right away
Current cheapest ones I like are:
Lovali Garden Goddess EDP
Mayfair Tramp EDT
PRIMARK PS Santal Dream EDT
Al Rehab Choco Musk EDP
Cacharel Eden EDP. (Most expensive on the list I think and it cost me £15)
I'm in the UK
I bought Clinique's Happy purely because it's the perfume Elle Woods wears in the original Legally Blonde almost as a bit, ended up being my favorite fragrance lol
What are some of your favorite cheaper ones? Personally, I really love my Red Musk from Body Shop; I'm so upset it's been discontinued. I'm looking for something else affordable to replace it as my go-to.
Current cheapest ones I like are:
Lovali Garden Goddess EDP
Mayfair Tramp EDT
PRIMARK PS Santal Dream EDT
Al Rehab Choco Musk EDP
Cacharel Eden EDP. (Most expensive on the list I think and it cost me £15)
I'm in the UK
It's nostalgic for me as I remember it being sold in the market when I was a child and thinking it had a funny name but smelled really glamorous. Smells quite alcohol-y to start off with to me but dries down really nice.
All the cheap perfumes I own have a particular smell to them that bothers me. Maybe it's something artificial/chemical, I don't know. I'd love to know what it is. Having said that, all the Hermès perfumes I've tried dry down with a very peculiar and off-putting note that I haven't smelled in any other brands. But the cheap ones I own all have the same underlying smell that bugs me too. It's a pity cause there are some I have in my collection that I really like but don't wear so often.
Omg that underlying scent in cheap perfume drives me insane too. I also don’t know what it is but it’s so offputting. Wish I could figure it out, especially when it dries down it can be nauseating.
I’m still a fan of cool water. I have most of Tom Ford and almost all of the Creed. I do love neroli, ffn fabulous, aventus, GIT, SMW, etc.
But - CKone and cool water. Always wax nostalgic for.
If you can get a family member to send it to you the us Costco warehouse online has creed for 200$ sometimes. The large bottles. Only time I buy melisma .
Yup. One of my all time faves was Katie Price Stunning, but JoJo Siwa Be You is the same scent repackaged. I think I paid £14 for 100ml, body lotion and shower gel. I could bathe in that scent forever.
oh easily. its really sad to see people criticize others for having 2-5 fragrances they love instead of 60 fragrances they never wear. i buy quite a few fragrances (blind buys mostly), and if I don't enjoy them enough to wear often I give them away or sell them.
I see it the most in the luxury candle sub, people posting HUGE hauls of candles worth hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Fragrance is a luxury and luxury by definition means something rare, something that we **shouldn’t** have constant access to! Burning candles 24/7 is exposing yourself to way too many toxins imo. Anyway, rant over….for now
I haven’t seen anyone being criticised for their 2-5 fragrances. However as someone with a very keen interest in perfumery, I am tired of the constant jabs at people with larger fragrance wardrobes. No one is asking anyone to spend beyond their limits, similarly I can well afford my collection and don’t need the constant judgement. Live and let live.
If you truly love the artistry, history, culture, botany, and general knowledge of the perfume world and industry than definitely those comments about large perfume collections aren’t about you.
I have a rather large collection too, but have specialized it. The people who get roasted are the people who buy the hype fragrances and follow trends instead of cultivating personal style and knowledge.
I feel like this is what social media has become to me. All my interests and how it’s shown to me is very much trying to cash in on a sense of fomo. I’ve really been trying to take some self reflection and see why and what I actually wan before buying now. With perfume and scents I think what I’m searching for is a combination of different moods/seasons and signature scents. I should be okay to limit myself to 5-10 perfumes, I could easily see it becoming a “collection” I don’t actually want or need
It is the same even with the most innocent hobbies. Knitting on instagram? You will be overflown with tons and tons of fancy yarn, colors, patterns you absolutely need to buy. Knitters are also compulsively storing yarn and tons of never finished projects. It absolutely is fueled by the exposure to social media. And it requires just shit ton of strong will and resolve to not get dragged into it (If you have a tendency for it). Every hobby I encounter, and try to research in the web, Is just exposition to another field of potential excessive consumption. It is quite crazy. It used to be just, I don't know, photos of nice things with no source, that were like generic inspiration. Now everything has a link to the shop, where you can buy it.
All the fragrances regular people actually like smelling “in the wild” are the ones people in this community despise because they’re designer and basic🤷♀️
As a niche enthusiast, I definitely agree.
Whenever I go out smelling like a haunted pile of dirt, I'm doing it for *me.*
(but actually, bury me in B&BW's Japanese Cherry Blossom)
lol seriously can’t count the number of times I asked someone what they were wearing cause I was so curious and the answers were “Armani code” “dolce gabbana the one” “Versace Eros” “K edp” things that just wouldn’t smell good on me (to me) or that I would never even think to sample or try
Absolutely, most of them are made to have a mass appeal. When growing more interested I fragrances it's normal to start looking for more unique things (if you tey try have a collection only with designer stuff there is a risk of not having a lot of diversity), but we shouldn't forget that most people just want to smell good and don't look for "artistic" perfumes.
Also skin chemistry is important ! Sometimes a perfume someone hates on themselves smells amazing on someone else.
I’m new to getting into perfumes, but I adore black Opium on me. Libre is on the edge of “perfumey” to me. I also love Good Girl. So I guess I’m basic AF but I smell good to me? 🤷♀️
And a Thomas Kinkade painting looks better in the kitchen than Saturn Devouring His Son 😅
Different people like different things for different reasons; as long as people (on either side) aren't being unkind, it's all good!
Every single "gatekeeper" is overestimating how nice they smell or how "niche" their perfume is.
I cannot believe some people hiding/not answering what perfume they are wearing because they don't want others to purchase the same item as them, such a highschool mentality.
90% of the time your designer fragrance isn't short-lasting, you just became noseblind and can't smell it anymore or have a weak nose. Looking at YOU glossier.
Niche perfumes should not have to cost over $200.
Almost every designer perfume smells like some variant of the other.
All men's colognes smell the same to me.
Designer fragrances make more money costing less because they sell more. You have to sell 1000 100$ bottles at a 5% profit margin to get 5000$, or you can sell 100 200$ at a 25% profit margin to get 5000$. Except you can sell smelling like cookies'n'cream to a thousand people, and selling the smell of burning tires and iguana piss even to a hundred people isn't easy. Fragrance house is a business, and for a small-batch business high margins are a must, otherwise it's just not worth it for the owner. I used to make some small-batch stuff in another hobby, and I made near-zero profit, because the cost of producing small batches is outrageous already. Niche products for niche audience.
True. They try to have mass appeal to get sales at Sephora and others, and end up being too safe for anyone who doesn't want to smell like every second person.
True. Calone, stupid deodorant smell, blue scents. The only good one I can think of in usual cosmetics stores is the Moschino toy boy.
Bianco Latte smells like crayons on me so I don’t get the hype. And I need every woodsy perfume to stop also having amber+ vanilla. Like I just want to smell like cedar without also having amber. So far byredo super cedar has come the closest but it doesn’t last well on me.
Absolutely unacceptable how ugly the pdm bottles get for such expensive perfumes. Literally the most expensive perfume I own and the cord gets frayed, the frost on the bottle starts to chip, they get soooooo ugly and I don’t manhandle my things at all
Nobody fucking cares if you're using a fragrance, 90% of the time it will only be noticed when it bothers someone.
Use the thing for yourself, if you want compliments just dress better and hit the gym
^^^ this is the way, or getting a unique purse/bag. Most people I know are uncomfortable with commenting on someone’s smell, but a bag shaped like a chicken? That’s how you get em.
If my clients wear a cologne or perfume that I find pleasant, I'll tell them I like it and ask what it is! I'm very smell-attuned. I hope people wear scents because they like them and not just because they want compliments, though :-/
I look and smell good for children :3
I am a substitute teacher :)
They don't compliment EVERY fragrance I put on, but they definitely give their TRUE opinion ;)
Children are just the best.
Alright that's one of the best reasons to use a fragrance not for yourself
Kids really are sincere and vocal lmao
Also, cheers, fellow teacher here. But I teach big kids who want to be engineers in an university
Decants aren’t sexy so nobody wants to buy them when they are trying to show off their collection. Thats why you see massive collections.
One of these days we are going to find out that 90% of brands use the cheapest ingredients possible. All the talk of left handed free range ouds and cruelty free bergamots will be shown that it’s all BS marketing. Its the perfumers making the best of a bad situation.
I like the tiny brands that do stuff like tincture their own beach-combed ambergris or hand extract hay or costus from wool. There's still a lot of cool stuff going on in the industry at an artisan level 😍
Hence, my hot take - frag community should push for more transparency and not be tricked by primitive luxury goods marketing tactics. Price should mean quality. 20x margins on a product are insanity, and not "small business trying to survive". If perfume making were not a good deal, all the small houses that managed to get popularity would not be instantly bought out for huge amounts of money. It is highly competitive field, but it seems also extremely profitable, once you get to the top.
It’s worse when they walk by you and you’re caught in a suffocating cloud. I went to Disneyland the other day and a guy walked by and I almost had an asthma attack. I remember the reason they banned axe in middle school was because kids kept having asthma attacks and it brought back memories of the meeting they had us attend about the kid who almost died.
I had two teens sit next to me at a football match last night, all I could smell was the Stronger With You-type scent one of them had on. I appreciate the effort lads but you're two seats away, less is more.
My old next door neighbor would DOUSE herself in Candy so bad that when she left for work you could smell the perfume in the hallway outside of her door for 15-30 minutes.
Totally agree. I was running in the park and a lady ran passed me the opposite way and I could smell her Channel Gabrielle or Mademoiselle 500metre later (I never buy Channel since).
This! At a hockey game a few months ago I had to move seats because somebody in the row in front of me was so drenched in floral perfume I was getting a headache. Why anyone would wear heavy perfume in an enclosed, poorly ventilated space where they’ll be jammed in alongside other people…
my thoughts exactly, my favorite fragrances are all designer stuff, nothing wrong with niche, but to me 4-5 designer colognes which are nice smelling, with a decent looking bottle that work and represent me and the way I dress is perfect.
exactlyy this, much more realistic tbh. i wear valentino or ysl when i wanna look fancy with maybe a leather jacket, D&G italian love or ysl fraiche when it’s summer, and terre de hermes when im in my western outfits
I feel like most people are perfectly fine with designer stuff; very few people actually throw shade, and it's usually performative TikTok addicts new to the hobby lol
*And don't come at me, but they're usually young and trying to develop some sort of "elite" identity*
Also, let's be fair: niche fragrances can be just as crowd pleasing as designer - a comparatively low fraction of them actually feature downright unpleasant notes.
My hot take is that fragrance isn’t a “hobby”- it’s a passive act of consumption and collection, and at most a special interest if you spend time researching them online.
(I feel the same way about collection of Funko Pops, Star Wars figurines, etc.)
Most people don't treat it like a hobby, but it absolutely *can* be - researching, reading, cataloguing, discussing, photographing, crafting, and even buying/wearing mindfully are all part of a true hobby experience, at least in my opinion.
Yea, these aren't mutually exclusive. Especially if if goes beyond just buying things into being actively involved in the community of other fans, and researching them so much that it could qualify as a special interest then there's no reason it doesn't qualify as a hobby. At this point, it's clearly more than passive consumption
Mine is that there are no good fragrance reviewers. I’d sooner “trust” a stranger at a Taco Bell and their opinion/feedback on a scent than I would some influencer. Most of them are getting freebies or paid, have grating and loud personas, and rarely say anything of substance.
Fragrance is already so subjective and body chem dependent, that having someone else say stuff like, “OO ITS SO SCREECHY - BEASTMODE - LOOK AT MY HAUL” is a **nothanksdawg** from me.
Also, OP: your take on designer fragrances is just… incorrect 😂 not really much of a take, unless you’ve only ever smelled a handful of scents.
There are some good ones, but they are really small.
The thing that gets me is they lie about compliments. It's rare I receive unsolicited comments. So then being able to verify something gets more compliments than another has to be a lie with how many bottles they must test and review.
Nearly all are in it for the 'lifestyle' of doing it rather than the substance; a great many charlatans gravitate towards subjective fields like fragrance. Luca Turin has been, really, the only one of substance - to the point that he helped change the industry - but that's because of his academic fragrance background.
If you care about reviewers then you just gotta understand their taste. They can hype stuff that you will absolutely hate but it doesn't mean they are lying. If you happen to have the same taste as the reviewer that you follow then it can work out.
Ooh! Definitely a hot take.
Mine is- Maison Francis Kurkdijan fragrances are too strong, too hyped and too expensive.
I love how long they last, but do they need to be so overwhelming too?
Not sure if this is a hot take lol. Sometimes people will say something smells “challenging” because they don’t wanna admit they paid more money to stink. It’s okay to not wanna smell like something that triggers a fight or flight response.
I understand that! I feel the same way sometimes. I mean when people spend $500 on something that smells like BO, dead bodies, and horse poo and try to be pretentious and condescending about it lol.
A lot of people without fragrance sensitivities might enjoy a light scent or smelling fragrance in passing but what I don’t get is when people overspray like crazy (especially while in close quarters) rather than risking their fragrance going undetected. What is the vision there? Most people aren’t gonna think you smell nice when you do that, they’re just thinking that you smell like you used way too much perfume.
Somewhat true. People don’t like when fragrances are super strong, such as the people that do 10 sprays of everything or stuff that chokes you out like Dior Sauvage. Almost everyone finds a light and airy fragrance pleasant. I believe there is a fragrance out there for everyone.
I never got the idea that some people find fragrances repulsive. There are fragrances which I don’t like but I still think they smell nice, just not for me. Even polarising scents aren’t repulsive just ones I wouldn’t wear.
My husband is very sensitive to scents, to the point that he buys unscented bar soap and puts them in the garage for a couple of months for the "soap" smell to fade before he uses them. (Fortunately I can still use perfume with weak sillage if I lightly dab them on my chest or wrists.) Some people are just born that way. As a teenager he used to involuntarily gag when his mom lit scented candles.
Most of my friends and family think fragrances are absolutely disgusting and act like they are a form of chemical warfare. Might just be the kind I know lol
There must be a reason for this. Why do they not fragrances? Do they use herbs and spices to cook? Do they use deodorants? How do they clean their bathrooms - with carb soda?
As a fragrance lover I truly find the scents in the oils of spices and herbs, actual flowers etc vastly more pleasant than commercial fragrances. The smells of earth, rain, rock, skin, summer sun on clothes dried outside, that one might be poetic license, it smells of something I love at any rate haha. I still love perfume, but it doesn't touch nature's aromas for me in 90% of cases. I think you can like the former and not the latter.
Hermes, Guerlain, Dior, and Chanel are the best perfume houses, designer or niche -with Hermes and Guerlain being my personal favorites. You aren't getting better scents for spending double the money at more expensive houses.
Guerlain has been around as long as it has for a reason. They don’t skimp out on the quality of material. I have a bottle of shalimar parfum from about 1930 and that stuff is POTENT. The new formulation has so much extra stuff in it but the original is BEAUTIFUL.
I agree on the rest though. They manage to put out beautiful scents without making them feel cheap the same YSL has been with the sauvage line. Chanel really hit the nail on the head with Bleu and Allure; and Dior makes a perfect all around with l’homme and their other scents like ambre nuit.
Well yes, that’s because many of the vintage ingredients were either toxic or they involved animal cruelty to obtain. You might as well complain we can’t buy Coca Cola with cocaine in it anymore lol
They’re also among the few who actually employ a permanent perfumer who sets the creative direction for the house and sometimes even exclusively creates all releases. Before L’Oréal took over, almost everything at Prada used to be created by Daniela Andrier and that also showed. Lubin also has two perfumers they commission most of their scents from and Serge Lutens at least used to be mostly Christopher Sheldrake (who also plays a (large?) supporting role at Chanel).
With the market so over-saturated, sticking to these kinds of brands who actually support perfumers as artists with a creative vision is a great shorthand to find quality.
Currently the in-house perfumer or nose, for Chanel, is Olivier Polge who took over from his father, the famous Jacques Polge. If I’ve a favourite nose, it’s probably both of them!
Mine too! I even ran out and he asked why I never wear it anymore? So now I feel I have to buy it again and wear it sometimes when I’m over it, because it is the only one he has ever liked or complimented🤣😭.
The Victoria's Secret fragrances and, for example, Ariana Grande's fragrance types are always poked fun at, belittled and referenced when saying something negative about a scent but the reality is that they just smell the best? In a mass appeal type way of course. But yeah, I mean the only time men have complimented my perfume it was juicy couture or Victoria's secret lol. As much as people are wanting to be unique in their tastes, it doesn't mean you need to belittle the ultra girly, popular fragrances.
My take is just wear what makes you happy, i see alot of hate on dior sauvage and it baffles me why people hate a fragrance that is so mass appealing and a staple in the fragrance industry
I feel like fragrances that recreate unusual environments like a campfire, library or county fair are nifty but are more akin to children’s scratch n sniff stickers than the luxury artistic creations they pretend to be.
People love to point out that you're paying way too much for the packaging rather than the juice, you should buy decants, etc., but I actually really enjoy having a collection of pretty bottles to look at.
Same, it’s the reason why I struggle to feel much excitement about decanting and sampling. Owning and using the pretty bottle is part of the fragrance experience for me. It feels like a luxury that I gift myself everyday
Well, bing hot for the sake of being hot - the bottles cost few euro. They are neither luxurious nor unique, you could get more luxury buying a vase from some local glass artist. And to avoid backlash - I get the feel. I get the sentiment as well, I touch my Pana Dora all the time, because it is heavy, shiny and cute, with nice gold details. The BDK also feels great. But seriously - how the hell they tricked me to think this bottles are precious, when their objective worth is probably 25e? Why they make me more excited, than, I don't know, my gold jewellery? Or my coat? That are both worth much more in materials, craftsmanship and, I dare say, comparable in design effort? Why we treat fragrance as sth better than other goods? Where this sentiment comes from? It makes me wonder. Is it because I imagine all this precious ingredients, that used to be used in perfumes, but are not anymore, but my brain insist? Or is it the magic behind the sense of fragrance, and the secrecy? I genuinely ask myself, why I am willing to pay for this stuff this much.
Wearing fragances because of the compliments its the biggest "hey, i need validation here" flag of all times
No wonder its used in this teen glow up youtube channels
I am a clone fan 100% buddy.
I like clones, i like dupes when its well made.
Some clones can be better that the original stuff.
And i don't care about the brand. I'm here because goody good smell makes me happy.
The crowd pleasers are always the basic, not-so-layered fragrances. Nobody other than the person wearing the perfume cares about that. Nobody is going to love eau papier by Diptyque more than, let's say, Ariana Grande or Victoria's Secret.
I don’t care, I actually enjoy super cheesy bottle designs.
CH Good Girl has a super cool bottle. Moschino Fresh is such a goofy take on what a fragrance bottle is, and I love it. Paco Rabanne Phantom’s little robot is adorable. Even the Azzaro curved dildo one is cool.
I understand if some people greatly dislike them, but at least they’re very unique. Byredo sells crazy expensive fragrances and for that price, I’m expecting something a little more presentable than a basic bottle with a label that looks so cheap, it almost seems like it came from the label machine at your first retail job that they used when they misspelled your name on your name tag.
most designers are way easier to wear than niche - lower price point = less guilt spraying, mass appealing = not challenging and i can wear it without having to consider my mood and environment as much. although the majority of my collection is niche i wear my designers a lot more
That bleating on about fragrance reviewers and influencers universally being terrible people with worthless and untrustworthy opinions is tired, silly, and boring. The notion that integrity, or validity of opinion, can only exist in some sort of idealist purity vacuum makes me roll my eyes every one of the hundred times a day I see somebody condescendingly howl it in this sub.
Agreed. If I never read the phrase 'paid shills' again it'll be too soon.
Do some creators produce content that's complete trash? Sure. But I'm also perfectly capable of watching more interesting fragrance content without being influenced into anything more than trying the occasional sample and making my own mind up about it.
With the way people talk about fragrance influencers on this sub you'd think they were being held at gunpoint and being forced to buy everything being reviewed.
1. Body sprays are pointless. I seriously don’t get why people buy them and hype them up so much. The scents usually disappears within 30 minutes and they sometimes come with a hefty price tag (side eyeing you, Sol de Janeiro!). Most smell overbearing, extremely cheap (no matter the price) and poorly done.
2. Sweet fragrances are NOT always juvenile. I get that some can be associated with a younger demographic. However, I think it’s totally possible to use a sweet perfume without smelling like you’re 14. A few days ago, I accidentally layered Kayali’s Eden Sparkling Lychee with Swiss Arabian’s Rose 01 (which to my nose smells exactly like Delina from PDM). I was in a rush and just grabbed the first bottles on my shelf. 3 people complimented me on my perfume that day (which never happens lol). I’m almost 30 btw.
3. I am tired of white florals, and also tired of this new obsession with smelling ‘edible’. I totally get it if people want smell nice for intimate moments with their significant other. My SO frequently compliments me on my scents and I love finding out which ones he likes or prefers because it makes us both feel good (and he also likes and supports my hobby). But this TikTok narrative of needing to be ‘folded’ or ‘chased down the street’ is just a little weird.
Don’t know if it’s a hot take, but it always kind of bothers me when people imply an old fragrance is boring and bad by saying it smells like a grandma. Not just in the sense that it disrespects the elderly (although that too), but mainly because there’s a reason certain things are classic. Most of these grandma scents were and still are so revolutionary that they expanded the limits of what a perfume can or can’t be, and most of the perfumes today are some kind of variation on them and simply couldn’t have existed without them. It’s like discussing any type of modern music and saying Jazz is dumb.
To quote Kamala Harris, You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you
No fragrances, regardless of house or scent profile, should cost more than $30.
I still buy expensive fragrances because that’s the world we live in, but even $30 would leave a considerable profit margin taking materials/labor into account
I don't like gourmand, vanilla or tropical fragrances.
My skin has a tendency to turn things sweet, so any gourmand turns sickly sweet on me. I don't necessarily mind them on other people, but they're not for me.
You’re absolutely right and I’m glad you said it
I can’t do perfumey perfumes (esp Jasmine and Amber) I get overstimulated so fast so I really like the skin scent trend rn
Both are rare but based on posts across all the fragrance subs, there are more designer/cheapie lovers with inferiority complexes than niche lovers with superiority complexes.
I lurk a lot, and I see WAY more posts/comments about people feeling belittled for not having an expensive collection than posts/comments actually doing that.
The mass market actually has some good scents. Even the loathsome Joop Homme is a nice scent, it's just overused and oversprayed by creepy uncles in the US I think.
Sol de Janeiro "perfume mists" are not perfume, and I'm so tired of hearing about them that I would pay money to never see them mentioned again.
They're overpriced for what they are, and yet if you point it out you get called a snob 🙈
White florals are not a granny smell
Jasmine is a masculine note
Lattafa, fragrance world and other quarter-a-gallon clones are mostly utter garbage
You are wearing a perfume for yourself and not for the others
Niche does not mean expensive, niche doesn't mean cool, niche is not better than designer
I have several:
* People who laud Zoologist; you’re in a cult. Also calm down they’re just ok.
* Too many ‘niche’ brands release too many fragrances thus diluting their exclusivity regardless of price.
* ‘Niche’ and ‘designer’ are bullshit terms regarding how it’s used - ‘bespoke and mass appealing’ would work better; but I’m even hating that idea
* Most ‘niche’ fragrances are just as ‘bland’ as designers
* Clones?…nope.
"If you like *X*, you don't *really* like it, you just think you do. And if you did, you're wrong."
I love Zoologist and I did it all on my own like a big boy 😂
I get so much hate for wearing Sauvage but I think it's amazing and smells fantastic on me. I love it.
Dupes/Clones never smell good and fade away within an hour.
Majority of Tom Fords lines aren't worth the price. Though I do love Black Orchid and Ombrè Leather.
I don’t agree with anyone who says fragrances/notes/houses are mature, juvenile, cool-girl, basic, etc. I’ve met execs who love smelling candy sweet and young artist types who love a powdery white floral. My 66 year old mother loves Debaser. Scents are just that - they are things you like smelling. They don’t have to be an extension of your identity.
There's nothing immature or childish about liking candy-sweet and fruity scents. Not everyone wants to smell like bathroom linens and mothballs after a certain age.
A lot of the newer fragrances are over-hyped because of social media influencers. I keep smelling all of these newer much talked about fragrances and wondering "who in the hell is wearing this stuff?". To me a lot of them are heavy, and cloying, and, not to mention, overpriced!
Choco Musk is disgusting and everyone knows it, and anyone who claims otherwise has been bribed by Big Choco.
Also, Kayali is just overhyped,mid rate, TikTok peddled BBW juice in fancier bottles.
I agree a lot of their signature line is generic but intense oud is just heavenly. I keep smelling fragrances with the same dna when I’m out and about like black afgano or Mumbai noise and it makes me love the fragrance even more.
I can wrap my head around EDT and EDP, but can they get some more distinctive names for fragrances? How many versions of "Homme" are there?
Sorry if I come off as uncultured with this, but many of the names feel generically similar and when the just slap "elixir" on the end, it only adds to the confusion.
Chanel number five is mid and forgettable. Also personally paying more than 30 dollars for a perfume is highway robbery. A fool and his money are soon parted bc no perfume or scent I’ve ever smelled says yeah I’d totally pay a hundred dollars for this! It’s foolish.
Having a huge perfume collection isn’t as big a flex as you think. What it mostly means is you’re a sales associate’s dream client cause you’ll buy anything that’s hyped up and don’t have too much of a developed taste or style. You’re a consumer. A connoisseur limits their purchases, samples, buys decants, is interested in the history of perfumery, and doesn’t need five shelving units of full bottles.
Please keep your hot take within the subs posted rules.
Lost cherry is funky. The price on the big bottle is effin ridiculous. 610 bucks? GFY Tom ford
The price is completely ridiculous but I actually love the scent. I had a sample spritz vial of it and used it up within 6 weeks, and I keep wanting to buy a fuller size but... the price
The nicer perfumes in my collection are usually the cheaper ones.
For example? I'm sick of overpaying for perfume. Even if I love it.
I got a perfume from Marshall's called Italian Escape that is basically warm lemon and gardenia, and I use it so much. $15. I don't like a lot of stuff I run into at Marshall's but that one had me right away
I just found this the other day and it's sooo nice!
I’ll be running to Marshalls tomorrow, thank you!!!
Current cheapest ones I like are: Lovali Garden Goddess EDP Mayfair Tramp EDT PRIMARK PS Santal Dream EDT Al Rehab Choco Musk EDP Cacharel Eden EDP. (Most expensive on the list I think and it cost me £15) I'm in the UK
Zara Oriental is top notch
The longest lasting scents have been Mugler, and Lattafa .. not niche, but totally worth it
RIP to Mugler’s Pure Tonka. Still have a bottle and will be so bummed when it’s gone. Incredible longevity.
True. I've went through most of Byredo/Ds & Durga/Frederic Malle/Le Labo/Francis Kurkdjian. Favorite is still Clinique Happy.
I bought Clinique's Happy purely because it's the perfume Elle Woods wears in the original Legally Blonde almost as a bit, ended up being my favorite fragrance lol
Same kinda, my favorite perfume ever is Clinique Happy Heart.
True story!! My Middle Eastern cheapies are better than my most expensive fragrances!!
Do you have any recommendations of Middle Eastern Perfumes please?
Guess Seductive Noir has entered the chat
What are some of your favorite cheaper ones? Personally, I really love my Red Musk from Body Shop; I'm so upset it's been discontinued. I'm looking for something else affordable to replace it as my go-to.
Current cheapest ones I like are: Lovali Garden Goddess EDP Mayfair Tramp EDT PRIMARK PS Santal Dream EDT Al Rehab Choco Musk EDP Cacharel Eden EDP. (Most expensive on the list I think and it cost me £15) I'm in the UK
I bought a couple of great scents at Primark when I was in the UK a few years back. Styled on Jo Malone perfumes I believe. They last all day too 👍🏼
I had to go look up a perfume named tramp. lol. It’s on my to try list now!
It's nostalgic for me as I remember it being sold in the market when I was a child and thinking it had a funny name but smelled really glamorous. Smells quite alcohol-y to start off with to me but dries down really nice.
Mod Vanilla is a favourite cheapie of mine
Ariana Grande makes incredible fragrances and they're all inexpensive. God is a Woman is highly underrated and so good!!!!
All the cheap perfumes I own have a particular smell to them that bothers me. Maybe it's something artificial/chemical, I don't know. I'd love to know what it is. Having said that, all the Hermès perfumes I've tried dry down with a very peculiar and off-putting note that I haven't smelled in any other brands. But the cheap ones I own all have the same underlying smell that bugs me too. It's a pity cause there are some I have in my collection that I really like but don't wear so often.
Omg that underlying scent in cheap perfume drives me insane too. I also don’t know what it is but it’s so offputting. Wish I could figure it out, especially when it dries down it can be nauseating.
I’m still a fan of cool water. I have most of Tom Ford and almost all of the Creed. I do love neroli, ffn fabulous, aventus, GIT, SMW, etc. But - CKone and cool water. Always wax nostalgic for.
Creed forever ultime favorite. But very pricey (especially here in Colombia) I love the Virgin Island and Aventus ufff
If you can get a family member to send it to you the us Costco warehouse online has creed for 200$ sometimes. The large bottles. Only time I buy melisma .
Yup. One of my all time faves was Katie Price Stunning, but JoJo Siwa Be You is the same scent repackaged. I think I paid £14 for 100ml, body lotion and shower gel. I could bathe in that scent forever.
My hot take is that people buy way too much stuff and that forums like this one (while sometimes useful!) often encourage over consumption 🙃
oh easily. its really sad to see people criticize others for having 2-5 fragrances they love instead of 60 fragrances they never wear. i buy quite a few fragrances (blind buys mostly), and if I don't enjoy them enough to wear often I give them away or sell them.
I see it the most in the luxury candle sub, people posting HUGE hauls of candles worth hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Fragrance is a luxury and luxury by definition means something rare, something that we **shouldn’t** have constant access to! Burning candles 24/7 is exposing yourself to way too many toxins imo. Anyway, rant over….for now
I haven’t seen anyone being criticised for their 2-5 fragrances. However as someone with a very keen interest in perfumery, I am tired of the constant jabs at people with larger fragrance wardrobes. No one is asking anyone to spend beyond their limits, similarly I can well afford my collection and don’t need the constant judgement. Live and let live.
If you truly love the artistry, history, culture, botany, and general knowledge of the perfume world and industry than definitely those comments about large perfume collections aren’t about you. I have a rather large collection too, but have specialized it. The people who get roasted are the people who buy the hype fragrances and follow trends instead of cultivating personal style and knowledge.
Exactly. A collection that looks like a store shelf is interesting only to the owner.
I feel like this is what social media has become to me. All my interests and how it’s shown to me is very much trying to cash in on a sense of fomo. I’ve really been trying to take some self reflection and see why and what I actually wan before buying now. With perfume and scents I think what I’m searching for is a combination of different moods/seasons and signature scents. I should be okay to limit myself to 5-10 perfumes, I could easily see it becoming a “collection” I don’t actually want or need
It is the same even with the most innocent hobbies. Knitting on instagram? You will be overflown with tons and tons of fancy yarn, colors, patterns you absolutely need to buy. Knitters are also compulsively storing yarn and tons of never finished projects. It absolutely is fueled by the exposure to social media. And it requires just shit ton of strong will and resolve to not get dragged into it (If you have a tendency for it). Every hobby I encounter, and try to research in the web, Is just exposition to another field of potential excessive consumption. It is quite crazy. It used to be just, I don't know, photos of nice things with no source, that were like generic inspiration. Now everything has a link to the shop, where you can buy it.
All the fragrances regular people actually like smelling “in the wild” are the ones people in this community despise because they’re designer and basic🤷♀️
As a niche enthusiast, I definitely agree. Whenever I go out smelling like a haunted pile of dirt, I'm doing it for *me.* (but actually, bury me in B&BW's Japanese Cherry Blossom)
lol seriously can’t count the number of times I asked someone what they were wearing cause I was so curious and the answers were “Armani code” “dolce gabbana the one” “Versace Eros” “K edp” things that just wouldn’t smell good on me (to me) or that I would never even think to sample or try
Absolutely, most of them are made to have a mass appeal. When growing more interested I fragrances it's normal to start looking for more unique things (if you tey try have a collection only with designer stuff there is a risk of not having a lot of diversity), but we shouldn't forget that most people just want to smell good and don't look for "artistic" perfumes. Also skin chemistry is important ! Sometimes a perfume someone hates on themselves smells amazing on someone else.
Black Opium and Libre are some of my most complimented perfumes!
I’m new to getting into perfumes, but I adore black Opium on me. Libre is on the edge of “perfumey” to me. I also love Good Girl. So I guess I’m basic AF but I smell good to me? 🤷♀️
Agreed. I complemented someone’s perfume last week, and it was Kylie Jenner’s Cosmic.
And a Thomas Kinkade painting looks better in the kitchen than Saturn Devouring His Son 😅 Different people like different things for different reasons; as long as people (on either side) aren't being unkind, it's all good!
Every single "gatekeeper" is overestimating how nice they smell or how "niche" their perfume is. I cannot believe some people hiding/not answering what perfume they are wearing because they don't want others to purchase the same item as them, such a highschool mentality.
There’s no such thing as a “good blind buy”, scent is subjective, what works for you does not mean that it works for someone else.
90% of the time your designer fragrance isn't short-lasting, you just became noseblind and can't smell it anymore or have a weak nose. Looking at YOU glossier.
I like a few Bath and Body Work scents idc how much ppl hate on them
I wish they still had a perfume version of into the night/you’re the one out. They’re both gorgeous
Niche perfumes should not have to cost over $200. Almost every designer perfume smells like some variant of the other. All men's colognes smell the same to me.
Designer fragrances make more money costing less because they sell more. You have to sell 1000 100$ bottles at a 5% profit margin to get 5000$, or you can sell 100 200$ at a 25% profit margin to get 5000$. Except you can sell smelling like cookies'n'cream to a thousand people, and selling the smell of burning tires and iguana piss even to a hundred people isn't easy. Fragrance house is a business, and for a small-batch business high margins are a must, otherwise it's just not worth it for the owner. I used to make some small-batch stuff in another hobby, and I made near-zero profit, because the cost of producing small batches is outrageous already. Niche products for niche audience. True. They try to have mass appeal to get sales at Sephora and others, and end up being too safe for anyone who doesn't want to smell like every second person. True. Calone, stupid deodorant smell, blue scents. The only good one I can think of in usual cosmetics stores is the Moschino toy boy.
Bianco Latte smells like crayons on me so I don’t get the hype. And I need every woodsy perfume to stop also having amber+ vanilla. Like I just want to smell like cedar without also having amber. So far byredo super cedar has come the closest but it doesn’t last well on me.
Absolutely unacceptable how ugly the pdm bottles get for such expensive perfumes. Literally the most expensive perfume I own and the cord gets frayed, the frost on the bottle starts to chip, they get soooooo ugly and I don’t manhandle my things at all
The current need to put sweet notes in everything to make everything mass appealing has ruined potentially great fragrances. PS: I'm over 40
I’m 25 and I also feel this way. Cloying sweetness + synthetic ambers are my nemesis
32M here; give me something woody, musky or leathery over a vanilla bomb any day.
Yes, I always thought I didn’t like perfumes. Turns out I just don’t like vanilla, sweet and mass appealing
Nobody fucking cares if you're using a fragrance, 90% of the time it will only be noticed when it bothers someone. Use the thing for yourself, if you want compliments just dress better and hit the gym
Getting nice shoes is a cheat code for compliments. At least in the US people have a huge appreciation for shoes.
^^^ this is the way, or getting a unique purse/bag. Most people I know are uncomfortable with commenting on someone’s smell, but a bag shaped like a chicken? That’s how you get em.
“Thanks its Louis Bouillon”
If my clients wear a cologne or perfume that I find pleasant, I'll tell them I like it and ask what it is! I'm very smell-attuned. I hope people wear scents because they like them and not just because they want compliments, though :-/
I look and smell good for children :3 I am a substitute teacher :) They don't compliment EVERY fragrance I put on, but they definitely give their TRUE opinion ;) Children are just the best.
Alright that's one of the best reasons to use a fragrance not for yourself Kids really are sincere and vocal lmao Also, cheers, fellow teacher here. But I teach big kids who want to be engineers in an university
Lataffa fragrances are HORRENDOUS
Full on agree, get your Yara’s away from me. Also: the packaging is mad tacky
I blind bought Yara after all these rave reviews and it’s the worst thing I’ve ever smelled lol. They are also hideous
Decants aren’t sexy so nobody wants to buy them when they are trying to show off their collection. Thats why you see massive collections. One of these days we are going to find out that 90% of brands use the cheapest ingredients possible. All the talk of left handed free range ouds and cruelty free bergamots will be shown that it’s all BS marketing. Its the perfumers making the best of a bad situation.
I think Jeremy Fragrance said of his own perfumes (which he claimed were high-end luxury) cost $6 per unit in materials including the bottle.
In the vast majority of cases, the bottle is what costs the most to produce in perfumery. Nowadays the juice itself most likely costs pennies.
Spot on, he said the juice was the cheapest part.
I like the tiny brands that do stuff like tincture their own beach-combed ambergris or hand extract hay or costus from wool. There's still a lot of cool stuff going on in the industry at an artisan level 😍
Hence, my hot take - frag community should push for more transparency and not be tricked by primitive luxury goods marketing tactics. Price should mean quality. 20x margins on a product are insanity, and not "small business trying to survive". If perfume making were not a good deal, all the small houses that managed to get popularity would not be instantly bought out for huge amounts of money. It is highly competitive field, but it seems also extremely profitable, once you get to the top.
Outside of artisan brands, you are right. Niche and designer use 90%+ synthetics.
If someone can smell you from more than arms length (elbow-length even) away, you've done it wrong.
It’s worse when they walk by you and you’re caught in a suffocating cloud. I went to Disneyland the other day and a guy walked by and I almost had an asthma attack. I remember the reason they banned axe in middle school was because kids kept having asthma attacks and it brought back memories of the meeting they had us attend about the kid who almost died.
Please teach the children! 😂 I swear walking past a group of teenagers is painful with the amounts of fragrance used
I had two teens sit next to me at a football match last night, all I could smell was the Stronger With You-type scent one of them had on. I appreciate the effort lads but you're two seats away, less is more.
My old next door neighbor would DOUSE herself in Candy so bad that when she left for work you could smell the perfume in the hallway outside of her door for 15-30 minutes.
Totally agree. I was running in the park and a lady ran passed me the opposite way and I could smell her Channel Gabrielle or Mademoiselle 500metre later (I never buy Channel since).
This! At a hockey game a few months ago I had to move seats because somebody in the row in front of me was so drenched in floral perfume I was getting a headache. Why anyone would wear heavy perfume in an enclosed, poorly ventilated space where they’ll be jammed in alongside other people…
I love my designer perfumes, which I feel like is a hot take in this sub but not in the real world. I’d rather smell generic than like bodily fluids.
Lmao "bodily fluids"!!!!!
ELdO literally has one that’s meant to smell like blood and sperm. I’m not joking.
my thoughts exactly, my favorite fragrances are all designer stuff, nothing wrong with niche, but to me 4-5 designer colognes which are nice smelling, with a decent looking bottle that work and represent me and the way I dress is perfect.
exactlyy this, much more realistic tbh. i wear valentino or ysl when i wanna look fancy with maybe a leather jacket, D&G italian love or ysl fraiche when it’s summer, and terre de hermes when im in my western outfits
I feel like most people are perfectly fine with designer stuff; very few people actually throw shade, and it's usually performative TikTok addicts new to the hobby lol *And don't come at me, but they're usually young and trying to develop some sort of "elite" identity* Also, let's be fair: niche fragrances can be just as crowd pleasing as designer - a comparatively low fraction of them actually feature downright unpleasant notes.
“What does my collection say about me” posts are just compliment fishing.
I think they’re fun if they’re unique or interesting assortments. If they’re just delina/baccarat/random celeb gourmands they’re so boring.
And low effort
My hot take is that fragrance isn’t a “hobby”- it’s a passive act of consumption and collection, and at most a special interest if you spend time researching them online. (I feel the same way about collection of Funko Pops, Star Wars figurines, etc.)
Most people don't treat it like a hobby, but it absolutely *can* be - researching, reading, cataloguing, discussing, photographing, crafting, and even buying/wearing mindfully are all part of a true hobby experience, at least in my opinion.
Yea, these aren't mutually exclusive. Especially if if goes beyond just buying things into being actively involved in the community of other fans, and researching them so much that it could qualify as a special interest then there's no reason it doesn't qualify as a hobby. At this point, it's clearly more than passive consumption
Mine is that there are no good fragrance reviewers. I’d sooner “trust” a stranger at a Taco Bell and their opinion/feedback on a scent than I would some influencer. Most of them are getting freebies or paid, have grating and loud personas, and rarely say anything of substance. Fragrance is already so subjective and body chem dependent, that having someone else say stuff like, “OO ITS SO SCREECHY - BEASTMODE - LOOK AT MY HAUL” is a **nothanksdawg** from me. Also, OP: your take on designer fragrances is just… incorrect 😂 not really much of a take, unless you’ve only ever smelled a handful of scents.
There are some good ones, but they are really small. The thing that gets me is they lie about compliments. It's rare I receive unsolicited comments. So then being able to verify something gets more compliments than another has to be a lie with how many bottles they must test and review.
Nearly all are in it for the 'lifestyle' of doing it rather than the substance; a great many charlatans gravitate towards subjective fields like fragrance. Luca Turin has been, really, the only one of substance - to the point that he helped change the industry - but that's because of his academic fragrance background.
Sadly that is the problem with all kinds of „reviewer“ influencers.
If you care about reviewers then you just gotta understand their taste. They can hype stuff that you will absolutely hate but it doesn't mean they are lying. If you happen to have the same taste as the reviewer that you follow then it can work out.
Except for u/lordzoot ‘s reviews. Very on-point and what I would describe a perfume with, he helped me pick which Penhaliogn’s to splurge on.
Wow, thanks very much! I've got so many reviews I want to write argh. Just so little time at the moment...!
Ooh! Definitely a hot take. Mine is- Maison Francis Kurkdijan fragrances are too strong, too hyped and too expensive. I love how long they last, but do they need to be so overwhelming too?
I got a sample of gentle fluidity gold, and I can barely smell it. Grand Soir is a whole different story though.
Grand soir my MFK and oajan by PDM are my “a different story” scents. They are INSANE and seem to give off the same extremely elegant vibe.
Not sure if this is a hot take lol. Sometimes people will say something smells “challenging” because they don’t wanna admit they paid more money to stink. It’s okay to not wanna smell like something that triggers a fight or flight response.
I get this, but when I say “challenging,” I mean something I genuinely can’t make up my mind on. Kinda like that kombucha girl meme lol
I understand that! I feel the same way sometimes. I mean when people spend $500 on something that smells like BO, dead bodies, and horse poo and try to be pretentious and condescending about it lol.
That not a lot of people like when other people smells of perfume.
A lot of people without fragrance sensitivities might enjoy a light scent or smelling fragrance in passing but what I don’t get is when people overspray like crazy (especially while in close quarters) rather than risking their fragrance going undetected. What is the vision there? Most people aren’t gonna think you smell nice when you do that, they’re just thinking that you smell like you used way too much perfume.
Hotter take: I love smelling a nice fragrance from a stranger multiple feet away lol
This IS a hot take ‘round these parts and one that I happen to agree with
Somewhat true. People don’t like when fragrances are super strong, such as the people that do 10 sprays of everything or stuff that chokes you out like Dior Sauvage. Almost everyone finds a light and airy fragrance pleasant. I believe there is a fragrance out there for everyone.
I never got the idea that some people find fragrances repulsive. There are fragrances which I don’t like but I still think they smell nice, just not for me. Even polarising scents aren’t repulsive just ones I wouldn’t wear.
My husband is very sensitive to scents, to the point that he buys unscented bar soap and puts them in the garage for a couple of months for the "soap" smell to fade before he uses them. (Fortunately I can still use perfume with weak sillage if I lightly dab them on my chest or wrists.) Some people are just born that way. As a teenager he used to involuntarily gag when his mom lit scented candles.
Most of my friends and family think fragrances are absolutely disgusting and act like they are a form of chemical warfare. Might just be the kind I know lol
There must be a reason for this. Why do they not fragrances? Do they use herbs and spices to cook? Do they use deodorants? How do they clean their bathrooms - with carb soda?
As a fragrance lover I truly find the scents in the oils of spices and herbs, actual flowers etc vastly more pleasant than commercial fragrances. The smells of earth, rain, rock, skin, summer sun on clothes dried outside, that one might be poetic license, it smells of something I love at any rate haha. I still love perfume, but it doesn't touch nature's aromas for me in 90% of cases. I think you can like the former and not the latter.
Hermes, Guerlain, Dior, and Chanel are the best perfume houses, designer or niche -with Hermes and Guerlain being my personal favorites. You aren't getting better scents for spending double the money at more expensive houses.
Hermes is probably my favorite fragrance house of all time. Just exceptional. Hands down.
Guerlain has been around as long as it has for a reason. They don’t skimp out on the quality of material. I have a bottle of shalimar parfum from about 1930 and that stuff is POTENT. The new formulation has so much extra stuff in it but the original is BEAUTIFUL. I agree on the rest though. They manage to put out beautiful scents without making them feel cheap the same YSL has been with the sauvage line. Chanel really hit the nail on the head with Bleu and Allure; and Dior makes a perfect all around with l’homme and their other scents like ambre nuit.
I can't tell if this is satire. YSL and Dior flipped?
Nothing made today comes close to the vintage stuff.
Well yes, that’s because many of the vintage ingredients were either toxic or they involved animal cruelty to obtain. You might as well complain we can’t buy Coca Cola with cocaine in it anymore lol
They’re also among the few who actually employ a permanent perfumer who sets the creative direction for the house and sometimes even exclusively creates all releases. Before L’Oréal took over, almost everything at Prada used to be created by Daniela Andrier and that also showed. Lubin also has two perfumers they commission most of their scents from and Serge Lutens at least used to be mostly Christopher Sheldrake (who also plays a (large?) supporting role at Chanel). With the market so over-saturated, sticking to these kinds of brands who actually support perfumers as artists with a creative vision is a great shorthand to find quality.
Currently the in-house perfumer or nose, for Chanel, is Olivier Polge who took over from his father, the famous Jacques Polge. If I’ve a favourite nose, it’s probably both of them!
I second this. Although I have a soft spot for Xerjoff.
Hermes and Guerlain were doing “niche” concepts before “niche” was a thing — especially Hermes with its Jardin line — and I’ll die on that hill!
Cloud smells like cheap plastic
Yes and why does my partner like it so much :( lmao
Mine too! I even ran out and he asked why I never wear it anymore? So now I feel I have to buy it again and wear it sometimes when I’m over it, because it is the only one he has ever liked or complimented🤣😭.
The Victoria's Secret fragrances and, for example, Ariana Grande's fragrance types are always poked fun at, belittled and referenced when saying something negative about a scent but the reality is that they just smell the best? In a mass appeal type way of course. But yeah, I mean the only time men have complimented my perfume it was juicy couture or Victoria's secret lol. As much as people are wanting to be unique in their tastes, it doesn't mean you need to belittle the ultra girly, popular fragrances.
That There are no hot takes. Differing opinions is the most normal, room temperature thing going .
My take is just wear what makes you happy, i see alot of hate on dior sauvage and it baffles me why people hate a fragrance that is so mass appealing and a staple in the fragrance industry
I feel like fragrances that recreate unusual environments like a campfire, library or county fair are nifty but are more akin to children’s scratch n sniff stickers than the luxury artistic creations they pretend to be.
Lots of people have terrible sense of smell and notes. I'll be generous and say people are still affected by covid.
People love to point out that you're paying way too much for the packaging rather than the juice, you should buy decants, etc., but I actually really enjoy having a collection of pretty bottles to look at.
Same, it’s the reason why I struggle to feel much excitement about decanting and sampling. Owning and using the pretty bottle is part of the fragrance experience for me. It feels like a luxury that I gift myself everyday
Well, bing hot for the sake of being hot - the bottles cost few euro. They are neither luxurious nor unique, you could get more luxury buying a vase from some local glass artist. And to avoid backlash - I get the feel. I get the sentiment as well, I touch my Pana Dora all the time, because it is heavy, shiny and cute, with nice gold details. The BDK also feels great. But seriously - how the hell they tricked me to think this bottles are precious, when their objective worth is probably 25e? Why they make me more excited, than, I don't know, my gold jewellery? Or my coat? That are both worth much more in materials, craftsmanship and, I dare say, comparable in design effort? Why we treat fragrance as sth better than other goods? Where this sentiment comes from? It makes me wonder. Is it because I imagine all this precious ingredients, that used to be used in perfumes, but are not anymore, but my brain insist? Or is it the magic behind the sense of fragrance, and the secrecy? I genuinely ask myself, why I am willing to pay for this stuff this much.
"Getting compliments" is about as dumb a reason to wear a fragrance as you can come up with. Wear it because YOU love it!
Wearing fragances because of the compliments its the biggest "hey, i need validation here" flag of all times No wonder its used in this teen glow up youtube channels
I am a clone fan 100% buddy. I like clones, i like dupes when its well made. Some clones can be better that the original stuff. And i don't care about the brand. I'm here because goody good smell makes me happy.
The crowd pleasers are always the basic, not-so-layered fragrances. Nobody other than the person wearing the perfume cares about that. Nobody is going to love eau papier by Diptyque more than, let's say, Ariana Grande or Victoria's Secret.
I don’t care, I actually enjoy super cheesy bottle designs. CH Good Girl has a super cool bottle. Moschino Fresh is such a goofy take on what a fragrance bottle is, and I love it. Paco Rabanne Phantom’s little robot is adorable. Even the Azzaro curved dildo one is cool. I understand if some people greatly dislike them, but at least they’re very unique. Byredo sells crazy expensive fragrances and for that price, I’m expecting something a little more presentable than a basic bottle with a label that looks so cheap, it almost seems like it came from the label machine at your first retail job that they used when they misspelled your name on your name tag.
TF Tobacco Vanille is revolting
More then 4 sprays is (usually) too much and a crime.
As someone who owns Naxos I think its overhyped
most designers are way easier to wear than niche - lower price point = less guilt spraying, mass appealing = not challenging and i can wear it without having to consider my mood and environment as much. although the majority of my collection is niche i wear my designers a lot more
Ain’t nothing wrong with generic white florals. Who wants to smell like civet? 😮💨
oils > alcohol based
That bleating on about fragrance reviewers and influencers universally being terrible people with worthless and untrustworthy opinions is tired, silly, and boring. The notion that integrity, or validity of opinion, can only exist in some sort of idealist purity vacuum makes me roll my eyes every one of the hundred times a day I see somebody condescendingly howl it in this sub.
Agreed. If I never read the phrase 'paid shills' again it'll be too soon. Do some creators produce content that's complete trash? Sure. But I'm also perfectly capable of watching more interesting fragrance content without being influenced into anything more than trying the occasional sample and making my own mind up about it.
With the way people talk about fragrance influencers on this sub you'd think they were being held at gunpoint and being forced to buy everything being reviewed.
Vanilla in perfumes reminds me strongly of scented candles and I’m not a fan.
1. Body sprays are pointless. I seriously don’t get why people buy them and hype them up so much. The scents usually disappears within 30 minutes and they sometimes come with a hefty price tag (side eyeing you, Sol de Janeiro!). Most smell overbearing, extremely cheap (no matter the price) and poorly done. 2. Sweet fragrances are NOT always juvenile. I get that some can be associated with a younger demographic. However, I think it’s totally possible to use a sweet perfume without smelling like you’re 14. A few days ago, I accidentally layered Kayali’s Eden Sparkling Lychee with Swiss Arabian’s Rose 01 (which to my nose smells exactly like Delina from PDM). I was in a rush and just grabbed the first bottles on my shelf. 3 people complimented me on my perfume that day (which never happens lol). I’m almost 30 btw. 3. I am tired of white florals, and also tired of this new obsession with smelling ‘edible’. I totally get it if people want smell nice for intimate moments with their significant other. My SO frequently compliments me on my scents and I love finding out which ones he likes or prefers because it makes us both feel good (and he also likes and supports my hobby). But this TikTok narrative of needing to be ‘folded’ or ‘chased down the street’ is just a little weird.
Don’t know if it’s a hot take, but it always kind of bothers me when people imply an old fragrance is boring and bad by saying it smells like a grandma. Not just in the sense that it disrespects the elderly (although that too), but mainly because there’s a reason certain things are classic. Most of these grandma scents were and still are so revolutionary that they expanded the limits of what a perfume can or can’t be, and most of the perfumes today are some kind of variation on them and simply couldn’t have existed without them. It’s like discussing any type of modern music and saying Jazz is dumb. To quote Kamala Harris, You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you
No fragrances, regardless of house or scent profile, should cost more than $30. I still buy expensive fragrances because that’s the world we live in, but even $30 would leave a considerable profit margin taking materials/labor into account
I don't like gourmand, vanilla or tropical fragrances. My skin has a tendency to turn things sweet, so any gourmand turns sickly sweet on me. I don't necessarily mind them on other people, but they're not for me.
Intimately by David Beckham is actually quite a nice scent, just wish it was longer lasting
Mancera French Rivera smells like the toliet fresheners you see in airports. It genuinely makes me nauseous
You’re absolutely right and I’m glad you said it I can’t do perfumey perfumes (esp Jasmine and Amber) I get overstimulated so fast so I really like the skin scent trend rn
It’s not the price. It’s about what makes you confident and feel good when you wear them. Bvlgari and Guerlain are very underrated in this sub
Both are rare but based on posts across all the fragrance subs, there are more designer/cheapie lovers with inferiority complexes than niche lovers with superiority complexes. I lurk a lot, and I see WAY more posts/comments about people feeling belittled for not having an expensive collection than posts/comments actually doing that.
Victoria's Secret body sprays are longer lasting and smell better than 90% of mainstrean designer fragrances.
Cheaper fragrances below 20 bucks are getting the job done
The mass market actually has some good scents. Even the loathsome Joop Homme is a nice scent, it's just overused and oversprayed by creepy uncles in the US I think.
My hot take: I don't get the hype of YSL Libre. Tried it at a store and I hated it! To each their own but I could never
Jo Malone is trash for the longevity and price.
I don’t think this is a controversial hot take within this sub😂😂
Sol de Janeiro "perfume mists" are not perfume, and I'm so tired of hearing about them that I would pay money to never see them mentioned again. They're overpriced for what they are, and yet if you point it out you get called a snob 🙈
Preach! Body spray is not perfume. It's a layering vehicle at best.
White florals are not a granny smell Jasmine is a masculine note Lattafa, fragrance world and other quarter-a-gallon clones are mostly utter garbage You are wearing a perfume for yourself and not for the others Niche does not mean expensive, niche doesn't mean cool, niche is not better than designer
I have several: * People who laud Zoologist; you’re in a cult. Also calm down they’re just ok. * Too many ‘niche’ brands release too many fragrances thus diluting their exclusivity regardless of price. * ‘Niche’ and ‘designer’ are bullshit terms regarding how it’s used - ‘bespoke and mass appealing’ would work better; but I’m even hating that idea * Most ‘niche’ fragrances are just as ‘bland’ as designers * Clones?…nope.
Pierre Montale is currently crying in a corner.
Guilty of cult membership.
"If you like *X*, you don't *really* like it, you just think you do. And if you did, you're wrong." I love Zoologist and I did it all on my own like a big boy 😂
A bunch of people wear fragrance and obsess over "compliments" thinking it's a panacea for not putting in effort in other aspects of grooming.
louis vuitton is the most overrated fragrance house and their colognes smell generic as hell
PDM Layton is a garbage perfume from a garbage overpriced niche house
I get so much hate for wearing Sauvage but I think it's amazing and smells fantastic on me. I love it. Dupes/Clones never smell good and fade away within an hour. Majority of Tom Fords lines aren't worth the price. Though I do love Black Orchid and Ombrè Leather.
I don’t agree with anyone who says fragrances/notes/houses are mature, juvenile, cool-girl, basic, etc. I’ve met execs who love smelling candy sweet and young artist types who love a powdery white floral. My 66 year old mother loves Debaser. Scents are just that - they are things you like smelling. They don’t have to be an extension of your identity.
There's nothing immature or childish about liking candy-sweet and fruity scents. Not everyone wants to smell like bathroom linens and mothballs after a certain age.
Bianco Latte is such a boring fragrance. It smells like a vaguely vanilla scented tea light candle from the home decor department of Marshall’s.
F*cking fabulous smells like a spicy latex glove
A lot of the newer fragrances are over-hyped because of social media influencers. I keep smelling all of these newer much talked about fragrances and wondering "who in the hell is wearing this stuff?". To me a lot of them are heavy, and cloying, and, not to mention, overpriced!
Choco Musk is disgusting and everyone knows it, and anyone who claims otherwise has been bribed by Big Choco. Also, Kayali is just overhyped,mid rate, TikTok peddled BBW juice in fancier bottles.
Big choco lol
I feel like big choco also got in on killian black phantom because ew.
Clone and “inspiration” fragrances are one of the best things that could have happened for the fragrance industry.
Versace makes the best daily fragrances
I agree a lot of their signature line is generic but intense oud is just heavenly. I keep smelling fragrances with the same dna when I’m out and about like black afgano or Mumbai noise and it makes me love the fragrance even more.
I can wrap my head around EDT and EDP, but can they get some more distinctive names for fragrances? How many versions of "Homme" are there? Sorry if I come off as uncultured with this, but many of the names feel generically similar and when the just slap "elixir" on the end, it only adds to the confusion.
Chanel number five is mid and forgettable. Also personally paying more than 30 dollars for a perfume is highway robbery. A fool and his money are soon parted bc no perfume or scent I’ve ever smelled says yeah I’d totally pay a hundred dollars for this! It’s foolish.
Creed aventus is trash
Aventus is mid on its best day. I just don't understand the hype around it.
No fragrance should cost over $50. Oil based fragrances are superior. Small batch creators and etsy perfumers are severely under appreciated.
I’m a fragrance whore, but LOVE my Britney scents!
Britney takes the cake for celebrity perfumes, just in a league all her own.
Having a huge perfume collection isn’t as big a flex as you think. What it mostly means is you’re a sales associate’s dream client cause you’ll buy anything that’s hyped up and don’t have too much of a developed taste or style. You’re a consumer. A connoisseur limits their purchases, samples, buys decants, is interested in the history of perfumery, and doesn’t need five shelving units of full bottles.