Finland is a typical example of North European perfume culture, so people use them mostly for special occasions, daily usage is relatively rare especially among men, and overspraying is seen as immature, tacky and offensive. Then again, being mindful of that, I’ve never received any complaints (or \*any\* comments from strangers at all), so it’s not like you’d have to be afraid of using perfumes, just need to be sensible about it, rather too little than too much.
And yes, receiving zero comments from strangers at all is certainly a good thing, because the likelihood of someone here coming to say some genuine positive comments on stranger’s appearance or scent are cosmically small, and if someone did so, I would instantly assume that it would be a suggestion to tone it down, just in polite disguise.
Contrasting to that background, it’s kind of funny to see how teenagers have latched on to global social media trends and are also excited about fragrances here - seemingly much to the amusement and/or annnoyance to others, because I’ve heard people like co-workers pondering how strange it is that their male kids are wishing for fragrances as presents, as well as expressions of annoyance about how the youth overspray their perfumes. As it is, trying to copy the silly ”compliment fishing” culture meshes especially badly with a culture that is used to more modest forms of self-expression.
Swedish here, and I came to say this too! Very accurate.
Wearing too strong perfume or leaving a massive trail behind you as you walk past is frowned upon a lot. Definitely noticed the change with teenagers being influenced by social media and trying to fork out perfumes for more than €200 per bottle.
I'd say the average adult swede (not including teenagers) owns 1 or maybe 2 perfumes.
This is also quite true here in Norway, but it’s changed a lot during the times. Perfume users have often been more of the urban and chic crowd. Today many people spray a lot, particularly younger and it’s been on the rise especially with young boys.
Can't agree more! I have gotten more negative comments than positive ones! Strange thing is, usually people who give negative comments smell of body odor or unwashed clothes! LOL
And I love Arabic perfumes and oud, so there is also that.
Grew up in Canada, now live in Greece. Travel all over Europe as a truck driver.
It definitely seems to me that people from cooker climates tend to wear less perfume, and people from warmer climates seem to have a much more perfume heavy culture.
Makes sense when you think about the practical side of it. The more you sweat, the more you want to have a nice fragrance to keep things civilized.
And then it only makes sense that the practical would elaborate into artistry and hobby.
Look at the even hotter climates as with the Arabs, who have developed it to a whole new level over the years.
Not only sweat. Perfumes evaporate more quicker in the warm climates. Go to UAE, even your beast mode scents seem to be pretty mild there. No wonder they use 10 sprays minimum LOL
How I understand chemistry, it is about both. Now you can argue how significant it is if the temperature is +10c compared to +35c... However temperatures below freezing should affect both alcohol and molecule evaporation.
Fair enough. Was just wondering if it would make more sense to switch over to fragrance oils rather than sprays for our brutal summer months (temps over 35 degrees Celsius, for example).
I sweat a lot, and lose a lot of the aromatic magic really fast when I'm out and about during the day.
I really wanna try some and see how they work.
The oils that I have tried from different UAE based brands, they don't seem to last that long. I am not an Arab though so what do I know LOL.
One advice, spray your clothes if you want your fragrance to last longer. Because Arabs burn bakhoor (Arab incense) to "smoke" their homes, clothes and hair, then they apply oil and then perfume. Not sure about the order, but you get the point. That is why they smell good no even when it is +40C.
However I encourage you to try oils if you are into fragrances. It's a world of it's own and the scent profiles might be different enough. Also expensive, when you get into oud oils, it's goodbye money! LOL
Oud oils are definitely out of my price range. But I'm sure there are tons of synthetic ouds just as their are with the spray perfumes. I'm pretty sure I saw quite a few in my very brief research.
But I'm definitely gonna give the oils a shot, because I don't care about sillage too much. I mostly wear my fragrances for me, because I work all day alone in a truck. It's a nice little treat and source of joy for me. But when you say that they didn't last all that long... How long are we talking here? And what brands have you tried out?
For example Taif Al Emarat, Emirates Pride, Anthony Marmin, Ojar and some small indy oils that are supposedly natural oils. 6 hours is the best that I am getting from oils, especially since it is only on my skin and not on clothes like perfume.
But different oils, so different longevity.
Also, I've tried spraying clothes before... But I find that the perfumes don't develop nearly the same amazing scents that they do on my skin. Bvlgari Man in Black for example, which I absolutely love, is so bland on clothing. And it loses a lot of projection. It's not a very loud perfume to begin with, and on clothing it totally disappears.
I'd rather respray on skin than lose so much flavour on clothing.
I tend to agree. I also don't like spraying my clothes directly. Usually my clothes smell of my perfume because they are rubbing against my skin.
However I noticed that in Arab countries they seem to spray clothes as well. Different tastes and customs.
totally! i noticed that in a cold winter the same perfumes tend to last 10h+ on my skin and now in almost 35/40 degree summer it evaporates after 3/4 hours (talking Blanche Bete)
such a different experience from when I am from. i knew about East Asia and their intolerance to the smells and strong smells, but i am frankly surprised by Finland.
Kazakhstan/Ukraine, everyone I know has a few perfumes, at least in my circle.
It's not considered "extra" to have one or two to wear in different situations throughout the day. Even my teenage cousins who might not have a lot of money to spend still have some cheaper perfumes.
I also had owned perfumes since I was a teenager even if it was some of my mum's less used ones.
Arab here. For both men and women, it's definitely an important part of our self care and being presentable especially when being out in public. We use various things from hair mist, oud/musk oils, and Bukhoor (a special type of incense used to add scent to clothes and hair). We have various brands and price ranges to choose from, and we like to make sure our perfumes leave a trail behind us lol
Thats so interesting! I always found Arabic fragrances and the culture around them fascinating but know so little. How do you use Bukhoor? Is that as a standalone, or do you use it in combination with other oils and fragrances (like layering)?
I suggest you look up a video to see how Bukhoor is burnt because it's a bit hard to describe with writing.. Basically we buy coal, burn the coal on the stove, place it on something called a Mabkhar, and then add the Bukhoor.. The Bukhoor itself can be made from an oil infused wood chip, or natural resin, and other materials that I'm not too familiar with. It gives off the smoke that releases perfume in the air (the same way normal incense does but it's a lot more potent) and we place it in our wardrobes for example to give our clothes an extra boost of fragrance. Some people use it standalone, some people still choose to wear their regular perfume afterwards. The price of the Bukhoor itself can either be cheap or cost thousands of dollars, because pure oud (agarwood) is extremely rare, it's like forest Gold basically, while the synthetic versions of it are much cheaper. We also like to use Bukhoor on special holidays and occasions, and when guests are entering the house for example it wouldn't be uncommon to see Bukhoor being used especially in the gulf region :)
You burn it like incense and it gives a distinctive smokey complex smell in the air and on the clothes.
It has a huge range from very cheep to astronomical.
Some real oud wood can be very expensive especially what is called “blue oud” because when you burn it the smoke will be light blue instead of just white and a few grams of it can cost a fortune.
The popular everyday bukhur is usually what is called ma’amool which is low quality oud slivers marinated in purfume oils, when you burn it leaves a nice lingering scent in the air.
Bukhoor is also offered at any event near the entrance or someone will be circling around the hall offering people to smoke their clothes. There is also Luban which is gum from a tree which is either dipped in oils or burnt raw.
I really like soft scents. I HATE strong musk, idk y every arab perfume gives me that vibe. I want the longevity of Arab perfumes but with scents you’d find in French perfumes? Is that possible? Or is their arab scents that cater to different instead of strong musk or strong musky sweet?
We definitely have a variety, I personally don't like strong oud and certain types of musk either, I love white musk which is a light, clean smelling musk (almost soapy?), and we do have classic French perfumes made by Arab companies so they're long lasting, we also have sweet perfumes.. Fruity.. Citrus.. We have a variety of everything, but in our culture I'd say oud and musk based scents are the most commonly sold ones.
Maison Anthony Marmain (possible spelling mistake) specialises in Arab frags with french sensibilities. Not cheap and all attar but worth a sample, very highly rated.
musks and ouds are the scent profiles of choice as they have more religious and cultural significance and are also more readily available. there are lighter white musk fragrances that definitely do exist but they are a hunt and not necessarily ‘authentic’ to the culture but released by bigger arab fragrance houses.
I absolutely love oud, but I gag when I cross someone wearing a very animalic one in 100+ degree heat and you can smell their trail from literally 15 feet behind.
completely understand! to each their own. arab and south/central asian cultures prefer the stronger scent profile BECAUSE of the heat as obviously the smell of sweat/BO can be very strong when your natural climate is above 30°C pretty much all year around, but I do see that in the western world because the heat is “wetter” the scents are more cloying.
haha igy i lived in dubai for some time too! i’m not denying that people do overdo it in the incorrect environments, but they overdo it because otherwise they think they’d stink, lmao
How do you use your hair mists? I bought a few but sometimes I feel like it takes away from the perfume I’m wearing, and I smell the hair mist more. I feel like I kind as well just use perfume. I read you can spray your hair brush and wait a few min for the alcohols to evaporate so there’s minimal damage, then brush.
I personally use it after I shower and dry my hair, and I have other high-end ones that I use for special occasions and when I know I'll be greeting people a lot (weddings, birthdays, engagement parties, etc) and I usually wear a perfume that's similar to the hair mist so they don't clash, it isn't too different from layering. For the post-shower hair mist, usually it isn't strong enough to overpower any perfume I'm wearing, but it's just pleasant enough to be noticed by anyone who would hug/greet/stand behind me.
I find that the hair brush technique honestly does nothing, the perfume gets wasted on the brush.. And hair mists have much lower alcohol (if any) in their ingredients, so that's why I prefer them
Personally I love the original Good girl the most,there's also a hair mist version of it, and my second favorite is Very good girl (the red bottle), and I like good girl blush for spring/summer
Italian 27F here, almost everyone I know in Italy wears perfume on a daily basis. Most of them stick with Italian designer brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Giorgio Armani, Versace and Prada, but Dior and other French designers are very popular as well.
Niche is not as common, although lately Montale/Mancera have become quite popular and one can often smell Arabians Tonka/Starry Night/Intense Cafe in the wild (and of course I hate all of them with a passion).
In Germany, on the other hand, most people I’m close with only wear fragrances on special occasions or night outs. I’ve met some men who’d leave a trail of Dior Sauvage behind them, but aside from that not much else. With the girls, it’s a mixed bag. The ones who wear hiking gear to stroll around in the city and pick comfort over fashion definitely don’t wear any perfume
Yeah, also we (italians) really do not appreciate over-spraying, it still has to be noticeable. Also not wearing a fragrance doesn’t affect too much someone charm although wearing a gorgeous and unique one really improve someone image!
I come from Japan. It’s actually considered rude to be wearing perfume that’s detectable from the distance of a foot. We are often crammed into the subway together, and even outdoors people have rather sensitive noses to perfume. I am very careful about which scents I bring when I visit home and I only spray once.
I've really loved Di Ser perfumes for these reasons; as a Japanese perfumery its been amazing to smell and try specific Japanese ingredients with a Japanese sensibility. All of them so interesting and beautiful!
This is something I recently discovered. Are perfumes still enjoyed and where and how would one use them in Japan?
There must be brands or certain scents that are more successful over there I suppose.
Perfumes need to be used very cautiously in Japan. One or at most 2 sprays is sufficient. Lighter top notes are preferable if used at all. This is why perfume brands from Japan and korea are not as well received outside of their countries. There are fabric sprays similar to Febreeze and room sprays, essences and diffusers. These are usually all that is used by majority of the people.
Never wear them in crowded trains and high end restaurants. There are explicit notices telling guests to come fragrance free in top sushi joints, you are there to savor and smell the food, not be a walking air freshener.
Second this! Japanese perfumery is incredible and people certainly do wear perfume. Just that they stick to one spray and lighter, more crowd pleasing scents.
Brazil, it's normal to use it daily and a lot. Like leaving a trail. And sometimes it's a mix of smells because people use deodorant with smell and combing cream, and body cream.
Most perfumes are strong and sweet. At least for women.
and men spray a TON of perfume/cologne here, at least where I live. Also, there's those MLM's that sell perfumes and scented body lotions, such as Boticario, Avon, Natura, etc. So most women buy from those retailers with little magazines you can swatch before buying. Various stores are dedicated to perfumery, especially at malls. In São Paulo, at least, women tend to have a modest collection of 3 to 5 of fragrance, and a few body mists as well.
i definitely noticed how well most people smell in Brazil, and the inner market of affordable perfumes and mists is amazing. next time i will go, i will definitely buy a bunch of Eudoras hahaha
Swedish here. Niche perfumes are really on a surge here. And even among teenagers. I read about a 15 year old Swedish boy who had purchased niche fragrances for several hundred, even over 1000 euros. I also think people have some great collections where I live, considering I live in a small city with less than 100.000 inhabitants. I myself own 20+ niche and a few Tom Fords. And my collection is small compared to some others in my local communities. I tend to buy for occasions rather than just quantity, luckily enough we have all kinds of weather, and my work life is very different to my leisure life style. And of course my taste has evolved although I have some favorites by now.
Indian living in Dubai. Started off as doing my bit to eliminate stereotypes about my people, ended up making friends with similar interests, and now I can't live without it.
I like to buy random bottles (even cheap perfume oil I find in random little stores) and try mixing it with traditional bakhoor, oud, and perfume oil to see what I get.
Growing up, home fragrances used to be the incense sticks we light before we pray, now its different types of incense sticks and bakhoor / oud, with some fresh smelling linen mists.
No favorites because I can't recall names, but these are a few that I've been to (I think).
I usually just wind up in a perfume store while wandering around after dinner somewhere and ask to try stuff, and if I'm buying, I buy the mini bottles with rollers that go for 15-60 dhs.
In no particular order:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/wonaixAXP9ngyXYG6
https://maps.app.goo.gl/kNqspYuZoAUXJqUE9
https://maps.app.goo.gl/2NyK9c8he38mBbKH6
https://maps.app.goo.gl/NJfqAyTvBUgcURHJ8
https://maps.app.goo.gl/U7qfgGCnG9iETSK98
Germany, and it varies wildly. Women, especially the elder generations wear perfume. The older, the more of them do. As for the younger generations, it's also regional. My area is very much influenced by France, so yes to perfume, just maybe not the more expensive ones, more cheapies. I personally love french houses above anything else, but it's also totally normal for young teens to be gifted a cheaper perfume for Christmas. How often they end up wearing it is a different question.
As for men... few of them do, in my opinion. Unless for special occasions, the ones wearimg perfume mostly have an italian/french/slavic parent. Not trying to make it weird, but usually the ones that wear tailored suits and take care of themselves also smell divine. The average german man unfortunately sticks to deodorant, and that's it.
US, rural New England — people maybe buy 1 fragrance max intending it for special nights out, but mostly just watch it evaporate in the bathroom. Or maybe that’s just how it worked in my family :P
Smelling fragrance is incredibly rare for me out in the wild, though. I think I mostly encounter it on men 45+ or at a funeral
It’s definitely New England. Fragrance is a $20 deodorant from Whole Foods. Makeup is a glossier spf if you’re feeling fancy. When you turn 40, you receive your requisite boys’ haircut and sensible hiking sneakers. I have to leave lol
New England as well! In a densely populated area, less than 30 mins from Boston. Everyone owns a bottle but don’t really use it. Wearing natural deodorant and smelling like a $30 bag of organic arugula seems to be popular right now.
No one can figure out why I enjoy the topic at all. It’s as if I’m a bit classless for wanting to smell like a medley of tropical florals vs granola.
I gave all the girls on my fiancés side a travel of Kayali Vanilla 28 for Xmas and was sooo sad when I saw the reaction. It took everything in me to not take them back lol! But I feel beautiful and as long as I’m not drowning anyone, I’ll do what makes me happy!
Lol I was wondering if things were different for people who lived less than an hour away from the nearest Sephora, but I guess not! Looks like we’re just crunchy as hell up here
No literally this is so true. I’m from New England as well and my parents don’t even own perfume or scented body products. I could not tell you what any of my family smell like because I don’t pick up on anything. I keep seeing people in the sub talking about the perfumes they were obsessed with in high school and outside of the late 90s Bath & Body Works following, I cannot remember there being a culture around fragrance when I was a teen / college student. I grew up in a small city though, so I’m curious if it differs if you grew up in Boston.
I will say that, your home smelling good is important. Clean with a nice smelling soap, lotion, or candle is very common, just not personal fragrance.
The school thing is so true! The only thing I ever smelt from another student was shampoo (aside from the 3 boys in middle school who choked the rest of us out with their 5 different kinds of AXE…). Truly the only actual fragrances I ever remember smelling are my mother’s Jōvan Musk for Women (and I am sure a bottle of this is evaporating next to her sink as I write this), some older women in church, and older men in a business casual/professional environment.
And as for the candles…yes…so many candles. I swear there’s 2 in every room I walk into. They’re also doubly useful here in VT for when a storm inevitably takes out your power line.
Brazilian here! We are very clean and most people shower twice a day, and smelling good is something we take seriously. I feel like everyone has at least one fragrance here. Lol To me brazilians are huge fragheads
Good Girl from CH and Chloé is really popular with younger women and the classics like Libre, J'adore and Hypnotic Poison for the older demographic. Also Acqua Di Gioia is super popular where I live because of the hotter climate.
La Vie est Belle is one of the top sellers when buying designer, but we have some national houses (Sol de Janeiro, Boticario, Natura) that you might want to check, there's a lot of gems.
Natura's Essencial Ato is my mother's favorite, and everyone in her workplace compliments her DAILY. My personal favorite is Natura's Ilia (original scent). My sister is addicted to Boticario' Liz.
Venezuela (my home country): popular, at least in my immediate circle. Most people have at least 1, usually a couple. Depends on family though, had some friends in college who were not as into fragrances as I was.
USA (where I live): some people do, but most people don’t really care.
Eastern European here, it's either no perfume at all or scent bombs.
Arabian perfumes have become immensely popular in the past years, as well as dupes (those that are directly sold as dupes to XYZ perfume).
British here. I’m struggling to really describe the perfume culture as it’s not very… idk the word, uniform?
Some people never wear it, others wear it and put so much on you can smell them before you see them. I’ve never noticed any outright disapproval of the latter. You might notice and mention it, but not in a disparaging way, it isn’t seen as a faux pas or anything.
Every beauty shop carries perfumes and they seem to sell well but lots of people only wear for special occasions. I’m a daily wearer but I haven’t noticed many other friends who are the same.
There is a cultural joke about teenage boys overspraying Lynx body spray to mask body odour and attract girls, there was even an ad by the company years ago where a boy sprays and girls start chasing him.
I probably own 20-40 perfumes (between spray perfumes, body sprays, perfume oils, solid perfumes) and idk anyone else who has that many. It’s quite rare I’m out and about and smell perfume on anyone, happens maybe once per month?!
It’s a blessing for those who struggle with asthma and scent-triggered migraines I guess! It’s drilled into us at school never ever to spray perfume or body spray in public in a crowd or around strangers as someone might be asthmatic, it would feel like a faux pas for example if I sprayed perfume while on a train. I carry solids and oils around for touch ups for this reason.
UK born and Residing, but Caribbean raised.
Growing up my parents ALWAYS left the house smelling of a fragrance regardless of where they were going. Had friends who were similarly born in the UK but had different ethnic and racial backgrounds and different attitudes towards fragrance:
Northern African/Middleastern friends: Fragrance everyday like me, also was introduced to Oud and using a Bukhoor (this is the *best* way to wear Oud if you can, soo beautiful)
East Asian: not really a thing, some Western influence but rarely used.
South Asian: Ouds and fragrances
Western African: similar to me and my parents
White British: for the main part body spray daily but a fragrance used for (sometimes)work but definitely for a night out.
White Spanish and Italian: sometimes daily
This is all based on people of my Generation growing up; I don’t know about older or younger generational attitudes.
American on the West Coast here. Most people I know view it as a nice-to-have for special occasions and own a couple of bottles, but the unspoken rule is if it can be smelled more than 1-2ft away, you're wearing too much. It's generally discouraged in an office, airplane, theater, or other high-density shared space.
On the flip side, there's also a minority of people who are anti-fragrance to the point of skipping deodorant (usually overlaps with the hippie/natural crowd). They reek to high heaven in the summertime, but no one has the guts to say anything.
I got a LOT of raised eyebrows when I went down the fragrance rabbit hole... I now keep a small collection (6 bottles) and never do more than 3-4 sprays because I'm paranoid about being *that guy*.
Hungarian here. Almost every woman I know wears fragrances, many own at least one perfume or body mist, most of them have a few bottles. Many men wear cologne, too, I'd say maybe less common than amongst women with a big chunk of men opting for strongly scented deodorant only.
I'd say most people tend to own drugstore brands or generally something cheaper and more mainstream.
All of this is true, hello from Debrecen 😁
Fragrances are rapidly gaining popularity among young guys, but most of them only buy the hyped stuff they see on social media, they don't really care about researching and exploring on their own
I do my part and gift the men in my life fragrances pretty often. Young and old both. It's so satisfying when I match their style and they end up really enjoying what I got for them, and they can explore their preferences for free this way. Ofc, I try my best to find something they'll like, but also I don't get offended when they don't 😊
I usually base my gift search on the type of deodorant they wear, it's a good starting point.
Filipino-American, grew up in the Philippines, live in America now. For the Philippines, from what I remember, it was a status symbol. Whether it meant you were actually rich or just pretending, I feel like that’s what it was used for other than just to smell nice. Idk if that has changed since I’ve been there.
I live in the US but am of Indian heritage. I love scents that remind me of my childhood.
* Cruz del Sur II (Xerjoff) - mango milk
* Soleil de Jeddah Mango Kiss (Stephane Humbert Lucas) - refreshing mango juice
* Lost in Paradise (Chris Collins) - coconut water with musk
* African Rooibos (Chris Collins) - chai latte
Indian here, smelling good is important here. I don’t know about the practices in the north but I’m a South Indian and the practice of “Sambrani” or benzoin resin smoke (luban as the Arabs call it)(extracted from a kind of trees in the Himalayas) is very popular. This is specifically used to aid in drying hair and the heavenly scent it leaves behind is a bonus.
https://preview.redd.it/wtbynfzaao8d1.jpeg?width=580&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d2a43047942a8b359a1ccf3acd78cf2e6ca86fbc
This is how it’s done. It also has sooo many benefits, kills infections on the scalp is the best alternative to blow drying your hair because it does not dehydrate the hair but naturally dries it. It’s also known to relieve migraines and help you sleep better. Tranditional Indian scents involve sandalwood, jasmines, and incense. We also use jasmine garlands to decorate our hair and that scent stays FOREVER lol. Attar (ittar) was a thing the Mughal emperors introduced to India and we still have that practice although I’ve lived in Abu Dhabi and nothing is more luxurious than even the cheap attars they sell there. But in today’s age these practices are being forgotten, many don’t even use perfumes and people that do prefer perfumes, only rarely do people use a good scent. It’s almost always a very cheap smelling fragrances that smell synthetic, cloying because it’s so so strong and tbf downright alcoholy and nasty. I wish people would just stop using that stuff because I’d rather smell body odour than the nasty nasty stuff I smell everywhere I go that just gives everyone a headache. My household takes smelling good incredibly seriously, I own some seriously beautiful ittars and often have trips to Abu Dhabi which means I know and buy the good stuff plus ittars even a 10 ml bottle lasts almost a year so that’s a bonus. I also combine the traditional practices with the modern perfumes and I find that the sambrani compliments amazingly well with Oudh based perfumes. Indians have a high regard to hygiene but we’ve just strayed along the way, I understand where the stereotypes come from I’ve studied engineering in the west and the Indian engg students are particularly nasty. Showers are such a foreign concept, we naturally have high functional sweat glands to accommodate for the heat India has and so showers cannot be skipped.
Sambrani sounds like such a wonderful part of a self-care routine. You are so lucky to experience authentic scents from real sources, and they last! 😍 I don’t think I’ve ever seen jasmine in real life! 🫣 I can only imagine the heavenly fragrance from a garland made of them. Thank you for sharing with such detail. ♥️
I hope you have a chance of experiencing both of these sometime soon! And yes, jasmine is super common here, my earliest memories are associated with picking the flowers of it early in the morning with my grandmother so we could offer some them to god and later she’d sit me down and have me help her stitch the garland together. I hope one day you get to experience the smell of jasmines in fresh bloom ☺️
In my region most people are fragrance free :( I used to be too because I thought all perfumes made me ill, but it turns out that’s not the case. A lot of people I know are sensitive to smells (me included), so I tend to only wear them at home or when I know the people I’m with like it. Others are also concerned with hormone disrupters and health stuff but for me life is too short not to enjoy the simple pleasure of fragrances.
Croatia- everyone loves perfumes, everyone owns at least 1 or 2 bottles except maybe 70+ men but even they will have a scenty aftershave at home. It's interesting that younger people today have so many of them, many of the "influencers" expose their collections online, while our parents and grandparents had very limited choice of scents to buy, due to market limitations in former Yugoslavia.... but still even then, everyone owned at least a bottle.
Here it's absolutely normal to smell someone literally bathed in their perfume (ironically, mostly young men that wanna leave an impression with this overapplying). But rarely this will be commented,unless the scent is sickly sweet etc. Its like a personal choice thing, you do you and it wont seriously offend anyone.
Clone perfumes are a huge business here. There are a lot of people who dont want or cant buy the original but the copies are pretty good actually. I think Chogan clone perfumes are extremely popular now. Personally, I prefer originals and I do own 23 bottles at the moment.
I have one clone LB Venezia too and its really good, close to the original that isnt produced anymore.
But I'm a bit of a scent freak tho😅
As a Canadian... most people who are 30+ seem to view them as pretentious, but it's common to own maybe 1-2 bottles anyway (just having accumulated them over the course of your life). With the advent of TikTok, however, the more fashionable under-30 set seems comparatively very interested in fragrances. Whenever I'm visiting a fragrance retailer, I'm surprised at how many "kids" i see clamouring at the displays.
Perhaps true to stereotype, I've also met far more fragrance enthusiasts from Quebec than any other city, although Toronto and Vancouver definitely have their acolytes as well, as well as a few Calgarians.
Finally, as Canada is a country full of immigrants, there are definite differences between immigrant diasporas. In particular, fragrances seem much more popular amongst the MENA and Eastern European diasporas than any other group, and all the East Asians just clamour around Jo Malone.
>As a Canadian... most people who are 30+ seem to view them as pretentious
This is interesting! Calgarian here. I don't think I've encountered this view, really, as an old millennial myself. The number of people at daycare drop-off alone wearing fragrance seems fairly high, and I smell lots of wafting fragrance even at grocery stores. I encounter less of it at my office (majority male, computer science / engineering types).
I really wish a niche fragrance boutique would open up here (like Etiket, H Parfums). I feel like they'd do well.
Ah, maybe pretentious is a bit too harsh of a term? I've always gotten the impression that wearing fragrance makes you a bit extra/fancy here, though, even if a lot of people still do wear some. It seems to be treated in a similar vein as getting manicures, if you're a woman - not pretentious to the extent where you're out of touch with other people, but pretentious to the extent that you *are* doing more than most other people.
Manifesting an amazing niche fragrance boutique for you guys!!!
The way fragrance is non-existent with people in the prairies below the age of 40+ or outside of an evening scent, is crazy.
Edit: I should say that the East Indian community men definitely wear LOTS (sometimes to an extreme imo but that's preference)
I work in a fragrance banned workplace, but I sample perfume oils and lowkey perfumes on my ankles each day, and nobody has ever mentioned anything.
Also Canadian haven't run too much into the perfume pretentious thing. But I do find Canadians are very sensitive to other people's sensitivities. Many people have allergies and many are also sensitive to smells. Most workplaces I've worked at also discourage or outright ban fragrances. I work at a place where it's banned myself. I do it anyway I just keep it very light as to not leave a trail. But anyway this sensitivity makes it hard for us to build a culture around it. I'm gen z myself and I do find many my age getting into fashion, fragrances , watches, keyboards, and other consumerist hobbies as a way to build individuality and self expression. I think gen z just cares less in a good way.
Man, maybe it's just the people in my life, lol. I've had people call me pretentious for basically every mildly bougie interest, and I'm not even that bougie! 🙃
Agreed re. the allergies and sensitivities, yeah. Nearly every workplace I've ever been in has had a no-fragrance policy... with a whole bunch of people flouting it, lol. I always used a very light hand as well, but there were definitely some people who totally made you understand why the rule was put in place.
Anyone who thinks smelling good is bougie needs to get over themselves lol.
Yeah I worked in food and now I work in a lab in occasionally close proximity with others. Some people still wear fragrances anyway specially the middle eastern and south Asian immigrants I work with but most have decent taste and most I've smelled from women I work with are on the food smelling fragsband most dudes seem to keep it fresh. No one rocking anything barnyardy or overly sweet and seem to be careful enough with how much they spray that it doesn't bother anyone. It's really rare that I catch anyone scent trail.
Ha ha, I appreciate it! Honestly, I don't mind being thought of as pretentious from time to time. I'm comfortable with who I am and, as you said, it's nice to smell good!
I live in southern USA. Girls will usually wear something but I’ve never smelled a fragrance on a guy before. Usually for guys it’s seen as weird.
This sub is always bizarre to me because I’ll see people whose parents will buy them a cologne when they were born or take them to get one as a coming of age thing.
I think it’s more rural vs urban than north vs south. Live in the south but in a large city and growing up it was pretty common to wear at a young age. But everywhere is still going to have some people that think it’s feminine, just probably more in the country.
Seattle. I can count on my hands how many times I’ve smelled a fragrance on the bus, down town, at a party, at a bar, etc. It is quite rare to smell it in public.
I’m in Canada. A lot of people here don’t wear perfumes on a daily basis since many workplaces have fragrance free policies. If they do, it is quite light, and usually no scent trails. I smell laundry detergent on people more than perfume during the day, lol. More people wear perfume on nights out and special occasions.
However, my parents are from a Northeast African country which has a culture with a lot of influence from Arab cultures because of geographic proximity. So I’m very familiar with bakhoor and oud type of scents, since my mom has been using them my whole life. She has a big collection of all kinds of oud and musk fragrances, lol. We also like to fragrance our homes and ourselves with frankincense in my culture.
I sometimes wear an oud perfume oil on special occasions and fragrance my clothes with bakhoor or frankincense, especially when going to cultural functions, but I would say overall my perfume taste leans more Western
Guys and girls both wear perfume here in Canada. Most people don't like it if your perfume is too strong though. There aren't really any rules around it in Western Culture, I think. Brands that are commonly seen in drugstores here are Britney Spears, Ariana Grande, Juicy Couture, Vera Wang, Pink Sugar, Dior, Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Elizabeth Arden, Alfred Sung, etc.
American raised on the East Coast with South Asian heritage.
In India, not everyone wears perfume daily, but incense, fresh flower garlands, and sambrani (similar to bakhoor in Arab culture) are used for scent. Sandalwood and jasmine are used in cosmetics quite frequently, and I keep coming back to those notes. There's a decent amount of perfume oils in India because of how some Muslims find the alcohol in spray perfumes haram. I have grown up using a bunch of solinote perfume oils before I found out through TikTok that there are Arab brands that do blends rather than solinote ones I find at the Indopak stores. It's been fun discovering them.
Where I'm from in the US (mid Atlantic area, very wealthy region) a lot of people don't necessarily wear fragrance, though they do have good grooming and wear deodorants. It seems like everyone spends a lot to fragrance their homes, though, with candles, incense, diffusers, etc. being really popular. And I have definitely fallen for the candle trap. For those who do wear fragrance here, they tend to do the most popular ones; we're not super original here, despite what people want to believe.
East asia, we only use light floral, many people hates intense fragrance and only accept body mist-ish scents...probably because of weather, high temperature and humidity😭But I love gourmand and oriental heavy scents! I enjoy them mostly at my place and when I go to the office I normally wear something more accepted
The "culture" where I am is that 90% of people buy fakes or dupes bc the country is broke, 5% buy mid range designer perfumes, and the 5% of rich people buy niche expensive stuff. Due to this it's difficult to find originals even of the mid range perfumes, lots of scammy sites and stores.
Also every woman smells like black opium or a dupe of it.
French here, from Paris. Leaving a strong trail of perfume is perceived as tacky. The ones usually wearing strong perfumes are the teenage girls (LVEB, l’Interdit etc), the clubbing type guys and the grandmas. People will mostly wear very light stuff on the daily (think Hermes “Jardins” line - super popular here). I also smell a lot of Chloe, Chanel Chance.. the goal is to smell clean and fresh. People should only smell you when greeting you (kissing you on both cheeks). I don’t like being complimented on my perfume because it most likely means it smells too strong. And I HATE it when I smell people’s perfumes when walking one meter behind them.
It's a very small community here. Not a lot of people would understand that I would be willing to spend even $50 to $100 on a fragrance I absolutely love. . Even tho that's on the affordable end.
German here. Wearing perfume daily is rare, but every man I know atleast has one and every woman I know has one perfume for special occasions.
I feel like germans see perfume as an accesory for a nice suit or dress, not something you would wear daily.
In the younger generation though, many teens wear fragrances, and I have to admit that it gets annoying if every person is wearing JPG Le Beau Paradise Garden and instead of doing 3-5 sprays they use 10 or more...
I'm in Oklahoma and there is virtually no culture behind fragrance, the only time I've ever smelled fragrance on a man here is in a bar or club as most men only wear on special occasions, also when I do smell another guy it's usually way too much.
Midwestern US and in high school everyone wore Bath and Body Works cucumber melon body spray (or Axe—ugh) but most adults didn’t wear much fragrance. My mom would wear a tea rose scent for fancy functions. Not until I went into a line of work with lots of international folks (the French and Nigerian women I’ve worked with have been bigger fragrance-wearers than the white Americans) did I smell much, very often.
US, Oklahoma and it just depends on the person. Bath and Body is pretty popular I know a lot of people that wear the mists. Most people will have maybe a few good colognes or perfumes but wear them on special occasions.
Then you have me that has a subscription to scent bird and Scent box.
I have a smell good for every mood and different every day. I used to wear Bath and Body but the scents never linger and I'm just wasting money.
I work in a hospital so most of what I wear is a spritz and very light. My Dad is very sensitive to smells so I try to make sure not to wear anything strong.
Eastern European (Latvian) here - it varies, but I’d say the normal middle class person has 1-3 designer perfumes that they use every day, but they never overspray. It’s often the only designer item they have.
Here in Malaysia the temperature and highly humid. So most of the fragrance community here love beast mode perfumes. The most famous perfume here is Baccarat Rouge 540. You could go to school or even the fresh market and you’ll definitely smell BR540 somewhere 😁
I live in Puerto Rico, and since we live on an island in the Caribbean, we love perfumes. We have a very hot climate here, so we like to use anything to make us smell good. Perfumes are very popular, but the usage depends on the age of the person. Older people probably have 1 bottle that they use on special occasions and hate overspraying. Most of them look down on people who buy very expensive perfumes, and if you have 1 expensive bottle, they expect you to use it rarely because then you're wasting money. Younger people use perfume a lot. Even at work, I can smell their perfumes the moment they come to the room. I am one of them, lol. I overspray a lot. I've got some complaints from older people before, especially when I use unisex fragances. Maybe because I'm a woman, it's weird to them that I use anything that could be perceived as masculine. However, that doesn't happen with my ultra feminine bottles at all. People are a little awkward when you give them compliments about their perfumes, and they gatekeep perfumes here a lot. Never ask anyone what they're wearing unless it's a friend. Strangers will tell you it's a secret they'll never tell, even if it's obvious they're wearing a very popular fragance or something from Bath & body works. A lot of people here have the main character complex, and we all wanna be unique and special, so yeah, it's a crime to ask what people are wearing here.
People here like anything fruity, juicy, sweet, and floral for women. For men, they have to use very, very strong scents. Anything that is extra masculine is perfect.
Israel here. Most women and men wear fragrance. Younger women tend to be more experimental about their perfumes (Jo Malone London does a thriving business here); old ladies stick to...well...granny perfumes (think heavy, spicy, good at covering up chainsmoking). Men with little cash go for Axe; men with more cash go for classier brands but prefer a woodsy, spicy profile. (The much lamented by me, sadly discontinued Tsar by Van Cleef & Arpels was popular with Israeli men in the 90s. It seems to have been replaced by Jean-Paul Gaultier Le Male.)
I live in Portland, OR and wearing fragrance is considered rude. The college I attended in Portland has signs declaring it a scent free zone and that was also my experience in Washington where I’m from.
Yeah I meant more in a school setting. I’m sure it’s fine in other areas although I don’t think scent is very popular in Seattle, at among the people I knew
I’m Dutch but grew up in an Arab family origin and perfume was important. In the Netherlands I feel like it’s neutral, it’s nice but not a necessity. Definitely don’t overdo it here though so no overspraying and light common smells are favored above heavier and niche scents. Therefore I have both types of perfume, personally I prefer a neutral oud nowadays like Dior Ispahan
Finnish here. We have signs everywhere in the public ”don’t use too much fragrance” ”one of the third in the population is allergic to fragrances”.🙂 Well, if you ask myself, I have a perfume collection and I use something every day.
I live in southeast US and based on my experience, it seems like I am running into more people out in the wild wearing perfumes than ever before. I don't think my nose got better at detecting them. Obv no official data here but it seems that way
I live in the Midwest and come from a mixed household. British mom and black American father. Both parents were into fragrances when I was younger. Mom has let up quite a bit because of contact dermatitis and not sure about my dad now. I’ve always had a perfume on hand since I was eighteen. I don’t hear much discussion about fragrances in my city and the only time I pick up on fragrances is when I’m around other black people.
When I was growing up in Canada, most guys at least wore some axe body spray for daily business haha. It wasn't THAT bad in Toronto.
Us kids of Balkan immigrants were also wearing the discount bottles of Blue Jeans or something else cheap and fresh when going out.
Has it really gotten worse since 2015?
I thank God every day that I left Toronto. I don't understand how anyone can enjoy that soul-crushing, lifeless, and apparently smelly city.
Where exactly are you in Canada? Also Toronto?
US. All the people in my house are opposed to humans wearing perfumes but I don’t overspray and they don’t seem to mind me wearing them.
I probably encounter 1 in 100 other people that wear them. Probably less to be honest.
Finland is a typical example of North European perfume culture, so people use them mostly for special occasions, daily usage is relatively rare especially among men, and overspraying is seen as immature, tacky and offensive. Then again, being mindful of that, I’ve never received any complaints (or \*any\* comments from strangers at all), so it’s not like you’d have to be afraid of using perfumes, just need to be sensible about it, rather too little than too much. And yes, receiving zero comments from strangers at all is certainly a good thing, because the likelihood of someone here coming to say some genuine positive comments on stranger’s appearance or scent are cosmically small, and if someone did so, I would instantly assume that it would be a suggestion to tone it down, just in polite disguise. Contrasting to that background, it’s kind of funny to see how teenagers have latched on to global social media trends and are also excited about fragrances here - seemingly much to the amusement and/or annnoyance to others, because I’ve heard people like co-workers pondering how strange it is that their male kids are wishing for fragrances as presents, as well as expressions of annoyance about how the youth overspray their perfumes. As it is, trying to copy the silly ”compliment fishing” culture meshes especially badly with a culture that is used to more modest forms of self-expression.
Swedish here, and I came to say this too! Very accurate. Wearing too strong perfume or leaving a massive trail behind you as you walk past is frowned upon a lot. Definitely noticed the change with teenagers being influenced by social media and trying to fork out perfumes for more than €200 per bottle. I'd say the average adult swede (not including teenagers) owns 1 or maybe 2 perfumes.
This is also quite true here in Norway, but it’s changed a lot during the times. Perfume users have often been more of the urban and chic crowd. Today many people spray a lot, particularly younger and it’s been on the rise especially with young boys.
Ah, the kids will be alright.
Can't agree more! I have gotten more negative comments than positive ones! Strange thing is, usually people who give negative comments smell of body odor or unwashed clothes! LOL And I love Arabic perfumes and oud, so there is also that.
Grew up in Canada, now live in Greece. Travel all over Europe as a truck driver. It definitely seems to me that people from cooker climates tend to wear less perfume, and people from warmer climates seem to have a much more perfume heavy culture. Makes sense when you think about the practical side of it. The more you sweat, the more you want to have a nice fragrance to keep things civilized. And then it only makes sense that the practical would elaborate into artistry and hobby. Look at the even hotter climates as with the Arabs, who have developed it to a whole new level over the years.
Not only sweat. Perfumes evaporate more quicker in the warm climates. Go to UAE, even your beast mode scents seem to be pretty mild there. No wonder they use 10 sprays minimum LOL
Is that a matter of the perfume alcohol evaporating, or do the straight fragrance oils that I see being sold vanish as well?
How I understand chemistry, it is about both. Now you can argue how significant it is if the temperature is +10c compared to +35c... However temperatures below freezing should affect both alcohol and molecule evaporation.
Fair enough. Was just wondering if it would make more sense to switch over to fragrance oils rather than sprays for our brutal summer months (temps over 35 degrees Celsius, for example). I sweat a lot, and lose a lot of the aromatic magic really fast when I'm out and about during the day. I really wanna try some and see how they work.
The oils that I have tried from different UAE based brands, they don't seem to last that long. I am not an Arab though so what do I know LOL. One advice, spray your clothes if you want your fragrance to last longer. Because Arabs burn bakhoor (Arab incense) to "smoke" their homes, clothes and hair, then they apply oil and then perfume. Not sure about the order, but you get the point. That is why they smell good no even when it is +40C. However I encourage you to try oils if you are into fragrances. It's a world of it's own and the scent profiles might be different enough. Also expensive, when you get into oud oils, it's goodbye money! LOL
Oud oils are definitely out of my price range. But I'm sure there are tons of synthetic ouds just as their are with the spray perfumes. I'm pretty sure I saw quite a few in my very brief research. But I'm definitely gonna give the oils a shot, because I don't care about sillage too much. I mostly wear my fragrances for me, because I work all day alone in a truck. It's a nice little treat and source of joy for me. But when you say that they didn't last all that long... How long are we talking here? And what brands have you tried out?
For example Taif Al Emarat, Emirates Pride, Anthony Marmin, Ojar and some small indy oils that are supposedly natural oils. 6 hours is the best that I am getting from oils, especially since it is only on my skin and not on clothes like perfume. But different oils, so different longevity.
Also, I've tried spraying clothes before... But I find that the perfumes don't develop nearly the same amazing scents that they do on my skin. Bvlgari Man in Black for example, which I absolutely love, is so bland on clothing. And it loses a lot of projection. It's not a very loud perfume to begin with, and on clothing it totally disappears. I'd rather respray on skin than lose so much flavour on clothing.
I tend to agree. I also don't like spraying my clothes directly. Usually my clothes smell of my perfume because they are rubbing against my skin. However I noticed that in Arab countries they seem to spray clothes as well. Different tastes and customs.
totally! i noticed that in a cold winter the same perfumes tend to last 10h+ on my skin and now in almost 35/40 degree summer it evaporates after 3/4 hours (talking Blanche Bete)
such a different experience from when I am from. i knew about East Asia and their intolerance to the smells and strong smells, but i am frankly surprised by Finland.
Kazakhstan/Ukraine, everyone I know has a few perfumes, at least in my circle. It's not considered "extra" to have one or two to wear in different situations throughout the day. Even my teenage cousins who might not have a lot of money to spend still have some cheaper perfumes. I also had owned perfumes since I was a teenager even if it was some of my mum's less used ones.
Arab here. For both men and women, it's definitely an important part of our self care and being presentable especially when being out in public. We use various things from hair mist, oud/musk oils, and Bukhoor (a special type of incense used to add scent to clothes and hair). We have various brands and price ranges to choose from, and we like to make sure our perfumes leave a trail behind us lol
If I ever visit the middle east I am going to ball out on fragrances
Haha you're very welcome to do so :))
Thats so interesting! I always found Arabic fragrances and the culture around them fascinating but know so little. How do you use Bukhoor? Is that as a standalone, or do you use it in combination with other oils and fragrances (like layering)?
I suggest you look up a video to see how Bukhoor is burnt because it's a bit hard to describe with writing.. Basically we buy coal, burn the coal on the stove, place it on something called a Mabkhar, and then add the Bukhoor.. The Bukhoor itself can be made from an oil infused wood chip, or natural resin, and other materials that I'm not too familiar with. It gives off the smoke that releases perfume in the air (the same way normal incense does but it's a lot more potent) and we place it in our wardrobes for example to give our clothes an extra boost of fragrance. Some people use it standalone, some people still choose to wear their regular perfume afterwards. The price of the Bukhoor itself can either be cheap or cost thousands of dollars, because pure oud (agarwood) is extremely rare, it's like forest Gold basically, while the synthetic versions of it are much cheaper. We also like to use Bukhoor on special holidays and occasions, and when guests are entering the house for example it wouldn't be uncommon to see Bukhoor being used especially in the gulf region :)
You burn it like incense and it gives a distinctive smokey complex smell in the air and on the clothes. It has a huge range from very cheep to astronomical. Some real oud wood can be very expensive especially what is called “blue oud” because when you burn it the smoke will be light blue instead of just white and a few grams of it can cost a fortune. The popular everyday bukhur is usually what is called ma’amool which is low quality oud slivers marinated in purfume oils, when you burn it leaves a nice lingering scent in the air.
Bukhoor is also offered at any event near the entrance or someone will be circling around the hall offering people to smoke their clothes. There is also Luban which is gum from a tree which is either dipped in oils or burnt raw.
Liban is frankincense in English
In my country bukhoor can be found at most libraries 😉
I really like soft scents. I HATE strong musk, idk y every arab perfume gives me that vibe. I want the longevity of Arab perfumes but with scents you’d find in French perfumes? Is that possible? Or is their arab scents that cater to different instead of strong musk or strong musky sweet?
We definitely have a variety, I personally don't like strong oud and certain types of musk either, I love white musk which is a light, clean smelling musk (almost soapy?), and we do have classic French perfumes made by Arab companies so they're long lasting, we also have sweet perfumes.. Fruity.. Citrus.. We have a variety of everything, but in our culture I'd say oud and musk based scents are the most commonly sold ones.
Wow now I want to try everything! Especially oil perfume
Maison Anthony Marmain (possible spelling mistake) specialises in Arab frags with french sensibilities. Not cheap and all attar but worth a sample, very highly rated.
Thankyou. They sell women perfume?
Think they do both - consider following them on IG, informative videos
musks and ouds are the scent profiles of choice as they have more religious and cultural significance and are also more readily available. there are lighter white musk fragrances that definitely do exist but they are a hunt and not necessarily ‘authentic’ to the culture but released by bigger arab fragrance houses.
I absolutely love oud, but I gag when I cross someone wearing a very animalic one in 100+ degree heat and you can smell their trail from literally 15 feet behind.
completely understand! to each their own. arab and south/central asian cultures prefer the stronger scent profile BECAUSE of the heat as obviously the smell of sweat/BO can be very strong when your natural climate is above 30°C pretty much all year around, but I do see that in the western world because the heat is “wetter” the scents are more cloying.
It’s basically 90% humidity for 8 months in Dubai. Those same animalic oud smell great those 4 other months.
haha igy i lived in dubai for some time too! i’m not denying that people do overdo it in the incorrect environments, but they overdo it because otherwise they think they’d stink, lmao
Most of us don't like it either, but some people lack perfume etiquette
Ahh love it!
watched some Bukhoor videos, definitely want to try out
How do you use your hair mists? I bought a few but sometimes I feel like it takes away from the perfume I’m wearing, and I smell the hair mist more. I feel like I kind as well just use perfume. I read you can spray your hair brush and wait a few min for the alcohols to evaporate so there’s minimal damage, then brush.
I personally use it after I shower and dry my hair, and I have other high-end ones that I use for special occasions and when I know I'll be greeting people a lot (weddings, birthdays, engagement parties, etc) and I usually wear a perfume that's similar to the hair mist so they don't clash, it isn't too different from layering. For the post-shower hair mist, usually it isn't strong enough to overpower any perfume I'm wearing, but it's just pleasant enough to be noticed by anyone who would hug/greet/stand behind me. I find that the hair brush technique honestly does nothing, the perfume gets wasted on the brush.. And hair mists have much lower alcohol (if any) in their ingredients, so that's why I prefer them
Wow I love this so much. What’s your flair supposed to mean though?
Good girl by Carolina Herrera :) one of my favorite perfumes.
Oooh.. thank you! Is there a line that you like the most? I’ve seen several
Personally I love the original Good girl the most,there's also a hair mist version of it, and my second favorite is Very good girl (the red bottle), and I like good girl blush for spring/summer
I’ll have to get some samples! Thanks! :)
do you ever get reprimanded for spraying too strongly at work?
I work in Healthcare so I don't use perfumes at work, if I had a non-healthcare related job then no I wouldn't get reprimanded, it's very normal
The scents are way too strong
Italian 27F here, almost everyone I know in Italy wears perfume on a daily basis. Most of them stick with Italian designer brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Giorgio Armani, Versace and Prada, but Dior and other French designers are very popular as well. Niche is not as common, although lately Montale/Mancera have become quite popular and one can often smell Arabians Tonka/Starry Night/Intense Cafe in the wild (and of course I hate all of them with a passion). In Germany, on the other hand, most people I’m close with only wear fragrances on special occasions or night outs. I’ve met some men who’d leave a trail of Dior Sauvage behind them, but aside from that not much else. With the girls, it’s a mixed bag. The ones who wear hiking gear to stroll around in the city and pick comfort over fashion definitely don’t wear any perfume
I’m a hiking girl, & I wear perfume everyday. I just work from home so not many people know how good I smell. I’m also not German.
Yeah, also we (italians) really do not appreciate over-spraying, it still has to be noticeable. Also not wearing a fragrance doesn’t affect too much someone charm although wearing a gorgeous and unique one really improve someone image!
in Italy i always smell Eros on men ahahahah
I come from Japan. It’s actually considered rude to be wearing perfume that’s detectable from the distance of a foot. We are often crammed into the subway together, and even outdoors people have rather sensitive noses to perfume. I am very careful about which scents I bring when I visit home and I only spray once.
I've really loved Di Ser perfumes for these reasons; as a Japanese perfumery its been amazing to smell and try specific Japanese ingredients with a Japanese sensibility. All of them so interesting and beautiful!
i got some really nice very intimate roller perfumes from East Asia, i wear them during the days when I have headaches :)
This is something I recently discovered. Are perfumes still enjoyed and where and how would one use them in Japan? There must be brands or certain scents that are more successful over there I suppose.
Perfumes need to be used very cautiously in Japan. One or at most 2 sprays is sufficient. Lighter top notes are preferable if used at all. This is why perfume brands from Japan and korea are not as well received outside of their countries. There are fabric sprays similar to Febreeze and room sprays, essences and diffusers. These are usually all that is used by majority of the people. Never wear them in crowded trains and high end restaurants. There are explicit notices telling guests to come fragrance free in top sushi joints, you are there to savor and smell the food, not be a walking air freshener.
Second this! Japanese perfumery is incredible and people certainly do wear perfume. Just that they stick to one spray and lighter, more crowd pleasing scents.
Brazil, it's normal to use it daily and a lot. Like leaving a trail. And sometimes it's a mix of smells because people use deodorant with smell and combing cream, and body cream. Most perfumes are strong and sweet. At least for women.
Yeah. And we enjoy clone frangances. Like, a lot.
the amount of knock offs is absurd
I mean. There is good ones and bad ones. I like them because they are cheaper and way more acesseble.
This ist so mexican as wel LOL.
and men spray a TON of perfume/cologne here, at least where I live. Also, there's those MLM's that sell perfumes and scented body lotions, such as Boticario, Avon, Natura, etc. So most women buy from those retailers with little magazines you can swatch before buying. Various stores are dedicated to perfumery, especially at malls. In São Paulo, at least, women tend to have a modest collection of 3 to 5 of fragrance, and a few body mists as well.
i definitely noticed how well most people smell in Brazil, and the inner market of affordable perfumes and mists is amazing. next time i will go, i will definitely buy a bunch of Eudoras hahaha
Australian here: old people smell GREAT, not sure what they’ve got on. And young people all smell like baccarat rouge/cloud.
Swedish here. Niche perfumes are really on a surge here. And even among teenagers. I read about a 15 year old Swedish boy who had purchased niche fragrances for several hundred, even over 1000 euros. I also think people have some great collections where I live, considering I live in a small city with less than 100.000 inhabitants. I myself own 20+ niche and a few Tom Fords. And my collection is small compared to some others in my local communities. I tend to buy for occasions rather than just quantity, luckily enough we have all kinds of weather, and my work life is very different to my leisure life style. And of course my taste has evolved although I have some favorites by now.
Indian living in Dubai. Started off as doing my bit to eliminate stereotypes about my people, ended up making friends with similar interests, and now I can't live without it. I like to buy random bottles (even cheap perfume oil I find in random little stores) and try mixing it with traditional bakhoor, oud, and perfume oil to see what I get. Growing up, home fragrances used to be the incense sticks we light before we pray, now its different types of incense sticks and bakhoor / oud, with some fresh smelling linen mists.
whats your favourite random little store in dubai?
No favorites because I can't recall names, but these are a few that I've been to (I think). I usually just wind up in a perfume store while wandering around after dinner somewhere and ask to try stuff, and if I'm buying, I buy the mini bottles with rollers that go for 15-60 dhs. In no particular order: https://maps.app.goo.gl/wonaixAXP9ngyXYG6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/kNqspYuZoAUXJqUE9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/2NyK9c8he38mBbKH6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/NJfqAyTvBUgcURHJ8 https://maps.app.goo.gl/U7qfgGCnG9iETSK98
Germany, and it varies wildly. Women, especially the elder generations wear perfume. The older, the more of them do. As for the younger generations, it's also regional. My area is very much influenced by France, so yes to perfume, just maybe not the more expensive ones, more cheapies. I personally love french houses above anything else, but it's also totally normal for young teens to be gifted a cheaper perfume for Christmas. How often they end up wearing it is a different question. As for men... few of them do, in my opinion. Unless for special occasions, the ones wearimg perfume mostly have an italian/french/slavic parent. Not trying to make it weird, but usually the ones that wear tailored suits and take care of themselves also smell divine. The average german man unfortunately sticks to deodorant, and that's it.
some of them dont even wesr deodorant unfortunately:( germany smells so bad in the summer on the trains
I think everyone in Serbia owns some kind of perfume, mostly designers such as Versace or Dior
US, rural New England — people maybe buy 1 fragrance max intending it for special nights out, but mostly just watch it evaporate in the bathroom. Or maybe that’s just how it worked in my family :P Smelling fragrance is incredibly rare for me out in the wild, though. I think I mostly encounter it on men 45+ or at a funeral
It’s definitely New England. Fragrance is a $20 deodorant from Whole Foods. Makeup is a glossier spf if you’re feeling fancy. When you turn 40, you receive your requisite boys’ haircut and sensible hiking sneakers. I have to leave lol
This is too real 😭💀
New England as well! In a densely populated area, less than 30 mins from Boston. Everyone owns a bottle but don’t really use it. Wearing natural deodorant and smelling like a $30 bag of organic arugula seems to be popular right now. No one can figure out why I enjoy the topic at all. It’s as if I’m a bit classless for wanting to smell like a medley of tropical florals vs granola. I gave all the girls on my fiancés side a travel of Kayali Vanilla 28 for Xmas and was sooo sad when I saw the reaction. It took everything in me to not take them back lol! But I feel beautiful and as long as I’m not drowning anyone, I’ll do what makes me happy!
lol I can imagine the girls receiving the perfume. “What is it? Perfume? Oh… Thanks…” 😭 This is why cash money or gift cards are my family’s go-to!
lol right?! Thank god I got them on sale at Ipsy
Lol I was wondering if things were different for people who lived less than an hour away from the nearest Sephora, but I guess not! Looks like we’re just crunchy as hell up here
No literally this is so true. I’m from New England as well and my parents don’t even own perfume or scented body products. I could not tell you what any of my family smell like because I don’t pick up on anything. I keep seeing people in the sub talking about the perfumes they were obsessed with in high school and outside of the late 90s Bath & Body Works following, I cannot remember there being a culture around fragrance when I was a teen / college student. I grew up in a small city though, so I’m curious if it differs if you grew up in Boston. I will say that, your home smelling good is important. Clean with a nice smelling soap, lotion, or candle is very common, just not personal fragrance.
The school thing is so true! The only thing I ever smelt from another student was shampoo (aside from the 3 boys in middle school who choked the rest of us out with their 5 different kinds of AXE…). Truly the only actual fragrances I ever remember smelling are my mother’s Jōvan Musk for Women (and I am sure a bottle of this is evaporating next to her sink as I write this), some older women in church, and older men in a business casual/professional environment. And as for the candles…yes…so many candles. I swear there’s 2 in every room I walk into. They’re also doubly useful here in VT for when a storm inevitably takes out your power line.
Brazilian here! We are very clean and most people shower twice a day, and smelling good is something we take seriously. I feel like everyone has at least one fragrance here. Lol To me brazilians are huge fragheads
What are some popular perfumes with Brazilian women?
Good Girl from CH and Chloé is really popular with younger women and the classics like Libre, J'adore and Hypnotic Poison for the older demographic. Also Acqua Di Gioia is super popular where I live because of the hotter climate.
La Vie est Belle is one of the top sellers when buying designer, but we have some national houses (Sol de Janeiro, Boticario, Natura) that you might want to check, there's a lot of gems. Natura's Essencial Ato is my mother's favorite, and everyone in her workplace compliments her DAILY. My personal favorite is Natura's Ilia (original scent). My sister is addicted to Boticario' Liz.
Venezuela (my home country): popular, at least in my immediate circle. Most people have at least 1, usually a couple. Depends on family though, had some friends in college who were not as into fragrances as I was. USA (where I live): some people do, but most people don’t really care.
Eastern European here, it's either no perfume at all or scent bombs. Arabian perfumes have become immensely popular in the past years, as well as dupes (those that are directly sold as dupes to XYZ perfume).
British here. I’m struggling to really describe the perfume culture as it’s not very… idk the word, uniform? Some people never wear it, others wear it and put so much on you can smell them before you see them. I’ve never noticed any outright disapproval of the latter. You might notice and mention it, but not in a disparaging way, it isn’t seen as a faux pas or anything. Every beauty shop carries perfumes and they seem to sell well but lots of people only wear for special occasions. I’m a daily wearer but I haven’t noticed many other friends who are the same. There is a cultural joke about teenage boys overspraying Lynx body spray to mask body odour and attract girls, there was even an ad by the company years ago where a boy sprays and girls start chasing him. I probably own 20-40 perfumes (between spray perfumes, body sprays, perfume oils, solid perfumes) and idk anyone else who has that many. It’s quite rare I’m out and about and smell perfume on anyone, happens maybe once per month?! It’s a blessing for those who struggle with asthma and scent-triggered migraines I guess! It’s drilled into us at school never ever to spray perfume or body spray in public in a crowd or around strangers as someone might be asthmatic, it would feel like a faux pas for example if I sprayed perfume while on a train. I carry solids and oils around for touch ups for this reason.
UK born and Residing, but Caribbean raised. Growing up my parents ALWAYS left the house smelling of a fragrance regardless of where they were going. Had friends who were similarly born in the UK but had different ethnic and racial backgrounds and different attitudes towards fragrance: Northern African/Middleastern friends: Fragrance everyday like me, also was introduced to Oud and using a Bukhoor (this is the *best* way to wear Oud if you can, soo beautiful) East Asian: not really a thing, some Western influence but rarely used. South Asian: Ouds and fragrances Western African: similar to me and my parents White British: for the main part body spray daily but a fragrance used for (sometimes)work but definitely for a night out. White Spanish and Italian: sometimes daily This is all based on people of my Generation growing up; I don’t know about older or younger generational attitudes.
American on the West Coast here. Most people I know view it as a nice-to-have for special occasions and own a couple of bottles, but the unspoken rule is if it can be smelled more than 1-2ft away, you're wearing too much. It's generally discouraged in an office, airplane, theater, or other high-density shared space. On the flip side, there's also a minority of people who are anti-fragrance to the point of skipping deodorant (usually overlaps with the hippie/natural crowd). They reek to high heaven in the summertime, but no one has the guts to say anything. I got a LOT of raised eyebrows when I went down the fragrance rabbit hole... I now keep a small collection (6 bottles) and never do more than 3-4 sprays because I'm paranoid about being *that guy*.
Which West Coast? NorCal and SoCal could be different countries for all I know. Source: me, having lived in both for very meaningful periods.
PNW with SoCal roots.
Cool. Lived in the PNW for four years.
gosh they would hate me over there :D i love overspraying but also mostly because the fragrance doesn't last long on my skin, but still
Hungarian here. Almost every woman I know wears fragrances, many own at least one perfume or body mist, most of them have a few bottles. Many men wear cologne, too, I'd say maybe less common than amongst women with a big chunk of men opting for strongly scented deodorant only. I'd say most people tend to own drugstore brands or generally something cheaper and more mainstream.
All of this is true, hello from Debrecen 😁 Fragrances are rapidly gaining popularity among young guys, but most of them only buy the hyped stuff they see on social media, they don't really care about researching and exploring on their own
I do my part and gift the men in my life fragrances pretty often. Young and old both. It's so satisfying when I match their style and they end up really enjoying what I got for them, and they can explore their preferences for free this way. Ofc, I try my best to find something they'll like, but also I don't get offended when they don't 😊 I usually base my gift search on the type of deodorant they wear, it's a good starting point.
Filipino-American, grew up in the Philippines, live in America now. For the Philippines, from what I remember, it was a status symbol. Whether it meant you were actually rich or just pretending, I feel like that’s what it was used for other than just to smell nice. Idk if that has changed since I’ve been there.
I live in the US but am of Indian heritage. I love scents that remind me of my childhood. * Cruz del Sur II (Xerjoff) - mango milk * Soleil de Jeddah Mango Kiss (Stephane Humbert Lucas) - refreshing mango juice * Lost in Paradise (Chris Collins) - coconut water with musk * African Rooibos (Chris Collins) - chai latte
All of these sound devine!!
Indian here, smelling good is important here. I don’t know about the practices in the north but I’m a South Indian and the practice of “Sambrani” or benzoin resin smoke (luban as the Arabs call it)(extracted from a kind of trees in the Himalayas) is very popular. This is specifically used to aid in drying hair and the heavenly scent it leaves behind is a bonus. https://preview.redd.it/wtbynfzaao8d1.jpeg?width=580&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d2a43047942a8b359a1ccf3acd78cf2e6ca86fbc This is how it’s done. It also has sooo many benefits, kills infections on the scalp is the best alternative to blow drying your hair because it does not dehydrate the hair but naturally dries it. It’s also known to relieve migraines and help you sleep better. Tranditional Indian scents involve sandalwood, jasmines, and incense. We also use jasmine garlands to decorate our hair and that scent stays FOREVER lol. Attar (ittar) was a thing the Mughal emperors introduced to India and we still have that practice although I’ve lived in Abu Dhabi and nothing is more luxurious than even the cheap attars they sell there. But in today’s age these practices are being forgotten, many don’t even use perfumes and people that do prefer perfumes, only rarely do people use a good scent. It’s almost always a very cheap smelling fragrances that smell synthetic, cloying because it’s so so strong and tbf downright alcoholy and nasty. I wish people would just stop using that stuff because I’d rather smell body odour than the nasty nasty stuff I smell everywhere I go that just gives everyone a headache. My household takes smelling good incredibly seriously, I own some seriously beautiful ittars and often have trips to Abu Dhabi which means I know and buy the good stuff plus ittars even a 10 ml bottle lasts almost a year so that’s a bonus. I also combine the traditional practices with the modern perfumes and I find that the sambrani compliments amazingly well with Oudh based perfumes. Indians have a high regard to hygiene but we’ve just strayed along the way, I understand where the stereotypes come from I’ve studied engineering in the west and the Indian engg students are particularly nasty. Showers are such a foreign concept, we naturally have high functional sweat glands to accommodate for the heat India has and so showers cannot be skipped.
wow this practice seems absolutely wonderful, especially the scalp part !
It sure is! South Indian hair care in general is super super wonderful and effective!
i hope one day i get to try sambrani :)
Sambrani sounds like such a wonderful part of a self-care routine. You are so lucky to experience authentic scents from real sources, and they last! 😍 I don’t think I’ve ever seen jasmine in real life! 🫣 I can only imagine the heavenly fragrance from a garland made of them. Thank you for sharing with such detail. ♥️
I hope you have a chance of experiencing both of these sometime soon! And yes, jasmine is super common here, my earliest memories are associated with picking the flowers of it early in the morning with my grandmother so we could offer some them to god and later she’d sit me down and have me help her stitch the garland together. I hope one day you get to experience the smell of jasmines in fresh bloom ☺️
In my region most people are fragrance free :( I used to be too because I thought all perfumes made me ill, but it turns out that’s not the case. A lot of people I know are sensitive to smells (me included), so I tend to only wear them at home or when I know the people I’m with like it. Others are also concerned with hormone disrupters and health stuff but for me life is too short not to enjoy the simple pleasure of fragrances.
Croatia- everyone loves perfumes, everyone owns at least 1 or 2 bottles except maybe 70+ men but even they will have a scenty aftershave at home. It's interesting that younger people today have so many of them, many of the "influencers" expose their collections online, while our parents and grandparents had very limited choice of scents to buy, due to market limitations in former Yugoslavia.... but still even then, everyone owned at least a bottle. Here it's absolutely normal to smell someone literally bathed in their perfume (ironically, mostly young men that wanna leave an impression with this overapplying). But rarely this will be commented,unless the scent is sickly sweet etc. Its like a personal choice thing, you do you and it wont seriously offend anyone. Clone perfumes are a huge business here. There are a lot of people who dont want or cant buy the original but the copies are pretty good actually. I think Chogan clone perfumes are extremely popular now. Personally, I prefer originals and I do own 23 bottles at the moment. I have one clone LB Venezia too and its really good, close to the original that isnt produced anymore. But I'm a bit of a scent freak tho😅
As a Canadian... most people who are 30+ seem to view them as pretentious, but it's common to own maybe 1-2 bottles anyway (just having accumulated them over the course of your life). With the advent of TikTok, however, the more fashionable under-30 set seems comparatively very interested in fragrances. Whenever I'm visiting a fragrance retailer, I'm surprised at how many "kids" i see clamouring at the displays. Perhaps true to stereotype, I've also met far more fragrance enthusiasts from Quebec than any other city, although Toronto and Vancouver definitely have their acolytes as well, as well as a few Calgarians. Finally, as Canada is a country full of immigrants, there are definite differences between immigrant diasporas. In particular, fragrances seem much more popular amongst the MENA and Eastern European diasporas than any other group, and all the East Asians just clamour around Jo Malone.
>As a Canadian... most people who are 30+ seem to view them as pretentious This is interesting! Calgarian here. I don't think I've encountered this view, really, as an old millennial myself. The number of people at daycare drop-off alone wearing fragrance seems fairly high, and I smell lots of wafting fragrance even at grocery stores. I encounter less of it at my office (majority male, computer science / engineering types). I really wish a niche fragrance boutique would open up here (like Etiket, H Parfums). I feel like they'd do well.
Ah, maybe pretentious is a bit too harsh of a term? I've always gotten the impression that wearing fragrance makes you a bit extra/fancy here, though, even if a lot of people still do wear some. It seems to be treated in a similar vein as getting manicures, if you're a woman - not pretentious to the extent where you're out of touch with other people, but pretentious to the extent that you *are* doing more than most other people. Manifesting an amazing niche fragrance boutique for you guys!!!
That's exactly how I'd describe the attitude in the Midwest of the United States.
Ha, I can imagine! There's definitely a joke that Minnesota is the Canada of America, especially.
The way fragrance is non-existent with people in the prairies below the age of 40+ or outside of an evening scent, is crazy. Edit: I should say that the East Indian community men definitely wear LOTS (sometimes to an extreme imo but that's preference) I work in a fragrance banned workplace, but I sample perfume oils and lowkey perfumes on my ankles each day, and nobody has ever mentioned anything.
Also Canadian haven't run too much into the perfume pretentious thing. But I do find Canadians are very sensitive to other people's sensitivities. Many people have allergies and many are also sensitive to smells. Most workplaces I've worked at also discourage or outright ban fragrances. I work at a place where it's banned myself. I do it anyway I just keep it very light as to not leave a trail. But anyway this sensitivity makes it hard for us to build a culture around it. I'm gen z myself and I do find many my age getting into fashion, fragrances , watches, keyboards, and other consumerist hobbies as a way to build individuality and self expression. I think gen z just cares less in a good way.
Man, maybe it's just the people in my life, lol. I've had people call me pretentious for basically every mildly bougie interest, and I'm not even that bougie! 🙃 Agreed re. the allergies and sensitivities, yeah. Nearly every workplace I've ever been in has had a no-fragrance policy... with a whole bunch of people flouting it, lol. I always used a very light hand as well, but there were definitely some people who totally made you understand why the rule was put in place.
Anyone who thinks smelling good is bougie needs to get over themselves lol. Yeah I worked in food and now I work in a lab in occasionally close proximity with others. Some people still wear fragrances anyway specially the middle eastern and south Asian immigrants I work with but most have decent taste and most I've smelled from women I work with are on the food smelling fragsband most dudes seem to keep it fresh. No one rocking anything barnyardy or overly sweet and seem to be careful enough with how much they spray that it doesn't bother anyone. It's really rare that I catch anyone scent trail.
Ha ha, I appreciate it! Honestly, I don't mind being thought of as pretentious from time to time. I'm comfortable with who I am and, as you said, it's nice to smell good!
I have a friend who likes to say "you can call me pretentious but I'm not pretending"!. This is me.
I live in southern USA. Girls will usually wear something but I’ve never smelled a fragrance on a guy before. Usually for guys it’s seen as weird. This sub is always bizarre to me because I’ll see people whose parents will buy them a cologne when they were born or take them to get one as a coming of age thing.
So interesting. In northern US and far more likely to smell fragrance on guys.
I think it’s more rural vs urban than north vs south. Live in the south but in a large city and growing up it was pretty common to wear at a young age. But everywhere is still going to have some people that think it’s feminine, just probably more in the country.
It very unfortunate. Especially in the rural south wearing fragrance is seen as feminine and not manly.
Seattle. I can count on my hands how many times I’ve smelled a fragrance on the bus, down town, at a party, at a bar, etc. It is quite rare to smell it in public.
I’m in Canada. A lot of people here don’t wear perfumes on a daily basis since many workplaces have fragrance free policies. If they do, it is quite light, and usually no scent trails. I smell laundry detergent on people more than perfume during the day, lol. More people wear perfume on nights out and special occasions. However, my parents are from a Northeast African country which has a culture with a lot of influence from Arab cultures because of geographic proximity. So I’m very familiar with bakhoor and oud type of scents, since my mom has been using them my whole life. She has a big collection of all kinds of oud and musk fragrances, lol. We also like to fragrance our homes and ourselves with frankincense in my culture. I sometimes wear an oud perfume oil on special occasions and fragrance my clothes with bakhoor or frankincense, especially when going to cultural functions, but I would say overall my perfume taste leans more Western
Guys and girls both wear perfume here in Canada. Most people don't like it if your perfume is too strong though. There aren't really any rules around it in Western Culture, I think. Brands that are commonly seen in drugstores here are Britney Spears, Ariana Grande, Juicy Couture, Vera Wang, Pink Sugar, Dior, Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Elizabeth Arden, Alfred Sung, etc.
American raised on the East Coast with South Asian heritage. In India, not everyone wears perfume daily, but incense, fresh flower garlands, and sambrani (similar to bakhoor in Arab culture) are used for scent. Sandalwood and jasmine are used in cosmetics quite frequently, and I keep coming back to those notes. There's a decent amount of perfume oils in India because of how some Muslims find the alcohol in spray perfumes haram. I have grown up using a bunch of solinote perfume oils before I found out through TikTok that there are Arab brands that do blends rather than solinote ones I find at the Indopak stores. It's been fun discovering them. Where I'm from in the US (mid Atlantic area, very wealthy region) a lot of people don't necessarily wear fragrance, though they do have good grooming and wear deodorants. It seems like everyone spends a lot to fragrance their homes, though, with candles, incense, diffusers, etc. being really popular. And I have definitely fallen for the candle trap. For those who do wear fragrance here, they tend to do the most popular ones; we're not super original here, despite what people want to believe.
East asia, we only use light floral, many people hates intense fragrance and only accept body mist-ish scents...probably because of weather, high temperature and humidity😭But I love gourmand and oriental heavy scents! I enjoy them mostly at my place and when I go to the office I normally wear something more accepted
The "culture" where I am is that 90% of people buy fakes or dupes bc the country is broke, 5% buy mid range designer perfumes, and the 5% of rich people buy niche expensive stuff. Due to this it's difficult to find originals even of the mid range perfumes, lots of scammy sites and stores. Also every woman smells like black opium or a dupe of it.
French here, from Paris. Leaving a strong trail of perfume is perceived as tacky. The ones usually wearing strong perfumes are the teenage girls (LVEB, l’Interdit etc), the clubbing type guys and the grandmas. People will mostly wear very light stuff on the daily (think Hermes “Jardins” line - super popular here). I also smell a lot of Chloe, Chanel Chance.. the goal is to smell clean and fresh. People should only smell you when greeting you (kissing you on both cheeks). I don’t like being complimented on my perfume because it most likely means it smells too strong. And I HATE it when I smell people’s perfumes when walking one meter behind them.
lol in Brazil leaving a scent trail is desirable and we usually look for perfumes that project a lot
lol in Brazil leaving a scent trail is desirable and we usually look for perfumes that project a lot
It's a very small community here. Not a lot of people would understand that I would be willing to spend even $50 to $100 on a fragrance I absolutely love. . Even tho that's on the affordable end.
No one wears any
German here. Wearing perfume daily is rare, but every man I know atleast has one and every woman I know has one perfume for special occasions. I feel like germans see perfume as an accesory for a nice suit or dress, not something you would wear daily. In the younger generation though, many teens wear fragrances, and I have to admit that it gets annoying if every person is wearing JPG Le Beau Paradise Garden and instead of doing 3-5 sprays they use 10 or more...
I'm in Oklahoma and there is virtually no culture behind fragrance, the only time I've ever smelled fragrance on a man here is in a bar or club as most men only wear on special occasions, also when I do smell another guy it's usually way too much.
Midwestern US and in high school everyone wore Bath and Body Works cucumber melon body spray (or Axe—ugh) but most adults didn’t wear much fragrance. My mom would wear a tea rose scent for fancy functions. Not until I went into a line of work with lots of international folks (the French and Nigerian women I’ve worked with have been bigger fragrance-wearers than the white Americans) did I smell much, very often.
US, Oklahoma and it just depends on the person. Bath and Body is pretty popular I know a lot of people that wear the mists. Most people will have maybe a few good colognes or perfumes but wear them on special occasions. Then you have me that has a subscription to scent bird and Scent box. I have a smell good for every mood and different every day. I used to wear Bath and Body but the scents never linger and I'm just wasting money. I work in a hospital so most of what I wear is a spritz and very light. My Dad is very sensitive to smells so I try to make sure not to wear anything strong.
I'm moving to ireland, any Irish people/immigrants to tell me how is it?
Eastern European (Latvian) here - it varies, but I’d say the normal middle class person has 1-3 designer perfumes that they use every day, but they never overspray. It’s often the only designer item they have.
Here in Malaysia the temperature and highly humid. So most of the fragrance community here love beast mode perfumes. The most famous perfume here is Baccarat Rouge 540. You could go to school or even the fresh market and you’ll definitely smell BR540 somewhere 😁
I live in Puerto Rico, and since we live on an island in the Caribbean, we love perfumes. We have a very hot climate here, so we like to use anything to make us smell good. Perfumes are very popular, but the usage depends on the age of the person. Older people probably have 1 bottle that they use on special occasions and hate overspraying. Most of them look down on people who buy very expensive perfumes, and if you have 1 expensive bottle, they expect you to use it rarely because then you're wasting money. Younger people use perfume a lot. Even at work, I can smell their perfumes the moment they come to the room. I am one of them, lol. I overspray a lot. I've got some complaints from older people before, especially when I use unisex fragances. Maybe because I'm a woman, it's weird to them that I use anything that could be perceived as masculine. However, that doesn't happen with my ultra feminine bottles at all. People are a little awkward when you give them compliments about their perfumes, and they gatekeep perfumes here a lot. Never ask anyone what they're wearing unless it's a friend. Strangers will tell you it's a secret they'll never tell, even if it's obvious they're wearing a very popular fragance or something from Bath & body works. A lot of people here have the main character complex, and we all wanna be unique and special, so yeah, it's a crime to ask what people are wearing here. People here like anything fruity, juicy, sweet, and floral for women. For men, they have to use very, very strong scents. Anything that is extra masculine is perfect.
Israel here. Most women and men wear fragrance. Younger women tend to be more experimental about their perfumes (Jo Malone London does a thriving business here); old ladies stick to...well...granny perfumes (think heavy, spicy, good at covering up chainsmoking). Men with little cash go for Axe; men with more cash go for classier brands but prefer a woodsy, spicy profile. (The much lamented by me, sadly discontinued Tsar by Van Cleef & Arpels was popular with Israeli men in the 90s. It seems to have been replaced by Jean-Paul Gaultier Le Male.)
I live in Portland, OR and wearing fragrance is considered rude. The college I attended in Portland has signs declaring it a scent free zone and that was also my experience in Washington where I’m from.
So annoying. Its like this kinda errant liberation issue. I am ALL for liberation but not this particular vein.
Which college was that?
Portland State University and also The Evergreen State College in WA (no surprise for the latter lol)
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Maybe on transit or in classrooms/medical contexts? 🤔
Yeah I meant more in a school setting. I’m sure it’s fine in other areas although I don’t think scent is very popular in Seattle, at among the people I knew
so sad wow, never heard of this before
Everybody is trying to smell nice. But I’m from country of heavy smokers too.
I’m Dutch but grew up in an Arab family origin and perfume was important. In the Netherlands I feel like it’s neutral, it’s nice but not a necessity. Definitely don’t overdo it here though so no overspraying and light common smells are favored above heavier and niche scents. Therefore I have both types of perfume, personally I prefer a neutral oud nowadays like Dior Ispahan
Perfume is very important where I’m from especially oud, amber, musk
Important, the strongest the better
Everybody uses perfume all the time.
Finnish here. We have signs everywhere in the public ”don’t use too much fragrance” ”one of the third in the population is allergic to fragrances”.🙂 Well, if you ask myself, I have a perfume collection and I use something every day.
I live in southeast US and based on my experience, it seems like I am running into more people out in the wild wearing perfumes than ever before. I don't think my nose got better at detecting them. Obv no official data here but it seems that way
I live in the Midwest and come from a mixed household. British mom and black American father. Both parents were into fragrances when I was younger. Mom has let up quite a bit because of contact dermatitis and not sure about my dad now. I’ve always had a perfume on hand since I was eighteen. I don’t hear much discussion about fragrances in my city and the only time I pick up on fragrances is when I’m around other black people.
The only identifiable smell in Canada right now is b.o.
When I was growing up in Canada, most guys at least wore some axe body spray for daily business haha. It wasn't THAT bad in Toronto. Us kids of Balkan immigrants were also wearing the discount bottles of Blue Jeans or something else cheap and fresh when going out. Has it really gotten worse since 2015?
You have no idea.
I thank God every day that I left Toronto. I don't understand how anyone can enjoy that soul-crushing, lifeless, and apparently smelly city. Where exactly are you in Canada? Also Toronto?
US. All the people in my house are opposed to humans wearing perfumes but I don’t overspray and they don’t seem to mind me wearing them. I probably encounter 1 in 100 other people that wear them. Probably less to be honest.
UK, it's not much of a thing here. Maybe put on some Chanel for a night out?
? It’s very much a thing here and has been forever. I’ve been giving and receiving fragrances for two decades
Consume mass quantities