Mainly, I'm curious as to how everyone developed their obsession with fragrances. A few years ago, I practically shunned anyone who would spend $50 or more on what is essentially alcohol with some oils in it to make themselves smell good. Today, I can't imagine living without my rapidly-growing collection of fragrances- I'm obsessed to the point where I even turned around to return home before work one day to put some cologne on because I had forgotten, and my "emergency backup" vial in the center console of my car was "borrowed" by a friend the night before. Needless to say, I was a few minutes late to work that day, but I escaped without repremand... and I did end up getting a few complements that day. Anyhoo, here's my basic story:
My first memories of the wolrd of fragrances came early in life. I'm a pretty young guy, only 23 years old, so "early in life" means the powerhouse-frag explosion of the mid 80s. My parents divorced when I was young, so my mom re-entered the dating scene (a side note, she dated Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails before he was famous, as he was from around my hometown... if you don't believe me, just ask and I'll show you the proof). Her "signature" scent was Obsession, and I can still perfectly recall all it's nuances. I never slept better than the night's she'd go out and kiss me after tucking me in; the sillage of the Obsession being the last I remembered before being tucked in. My grandma (whom I also lived with) would wear Shalimar on special occasions, so that's another scent permanently ingrained in my head. I can remember quite a few times when I would try to spray some of my mom's Obsession on myself, in hopes she wouldn't notice, but it would usually end with me getting told not touch the perfume. My dad wore Stetson like it was going out of style (and if it ever was in style why?!), and would dab it on me in I ever went somewhere fancy or business-oriented with him. My sense of smell has always fascinated me, but I never really understood the whole fragrance thing.
As I got older, I still just couldn't grasp the concept of paying so much for such a little bottle of alcohol- soap and deodorant did a pretty good job of keeping me smelling good, right? By my senior year of highschool, I discovered the lovely "Axe Effect" (as much sarcasm placed on "lovely" as possible...). At the time, I just loved the smell of Kilo and Voodoo and though it was just fantastic, and this went on for quite a few years. It would, of all things, take my love of Italian automobiles to get me to break into the world of "real" fragrances and drop the Axe crap for good.
In the summer of 2003, I went to Le Belle Macchine d'Italia, an Italian cars concourse in northeastern Pennsylvania, where there was a booth selling all sorts of Ferrari merchandise, including their range of colognes. Originally, I laughed at it, because I was still in my Axe phase. Even my crazed Ferrari obsession wouldn't get me to drop the $60 they wanted on the cologne... plus, I had no idea how it smelled because it was all sealed up. Well, a few months later they ran a feature in Car and Driver, "reviewing" various automobile-themed colognes. The Ferrari #1 rated the highest (note, Car and Driver should stick to cars and not colognes), and after some Google searches, I found it for a fairly resonable price. It was just after my birthday, so I had some money to spare and I decided to make the leap and spring for a bottle. Even if I didn't like it, it could be just another piece of Ferrari memorabilia.
Well, I got it, and I actually quite liked it. I was impressed with how dynamic it was compared to the linear smell of the Axe fragrances. I was also impressed with how long it lasted- both the bottle as a whole and each time I applied the fragrance, and it was in fact cheaper in the long run than buying a new can of Axe every couple weeks. Still, it was the only scent I owned for nearly a year. Soon, I found myself going to department stores and stocking up on samples and wearing them when I wanted something different. My roommate also had a pretty decent collection of frags, but they were mostly the common designer fodder of most popular college boys... Acqua di Gio (hated it at first smell, and still hate it to this day), Polo, Tommy, CK One, etc. which he was generous enough to let me borrow on occasion, though I didn't really like any of them. I liked the fact the the Ferrari cologne I owned was unique, and the ladies I know always asked me what I had on. With the other fragrances, they would always know what it was because they are nigh-omnipresent on a college campus. I was ready to try something completely different and unique, and I turned to Basenotes for help finding it.
I read about a lot of great scents, but was curiously intrigued by Creed's Acier Aluminum. The description just sounded fantastic, and I knew *nobody* around me would have it. I purchased a decant on eBay, and when I got it, I was just absolutely blown away. It was so rich, complex, and damned sexy. It lasted forever, and wore well in almost all weather. I just couldn't believe how fantastic this scent was. It made my Ferrari #1 almost laughable in comparison, and now I couldn't smell Axe without gagging at its cheap synthetic nature and lack of complexity. Over the next few months I picked up a few more fragrances (and bought a full bottle of Acier Aluminum), and the fragrance-collecting bug hit me. I developed a newly found appreciation for my sense of smell, and looked forward to waking up in the morning and having to decide which fragrance to apply. From there, I've been buying fragrances at an ever-increasing rate, and there's no end in sight. In the short, short year since I got that first decant of Creed, I've picked up nearly 30 fragrances, countless samples, and my sense of smell has improved dramatically. I enjoy it more and more each day, and look forward to smelling a new fragrance at any opportunity. I'm now to the point where I'd like to persue a career in the fragrance industry, possibly designing fragrances. We'll see what the future brings.
So how about you guys? Any good stories?
My first memories of the wolrd of fragrances came early in life. I'm a pretty young guy, only 23 years old, so "early in life" means the powerhouse-frag explosion of the mid 80s. My parents divorced when I was young, so my mom re-entered the dating scene (a side note, she dated Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails before he was famous, as he was from around my hometown... if you don't believe me, just ask and I'll show you the proof). Her "signature" scent was Obsession, and I can still perfectly recall all it's nuances. I never slept better than the night's she'd go out and kiss me after tucking me in; the sillage of the Obsession being the last I remembered before being tucked in. My grandma (whom I also lived with) would wear Shalimar on special occasions, so that's another scent permanently ingrained in my head. I can remember quite a few times when I would try to spray some of my mom's Obsession on myself, in hopes she wouldn't notice, but it would usually end with me getting told not touch the perfume. My dad wore Stetson like it was going out of style (and if it ever was in style why?!), and would dab it on me in I ever went somewhere fancy or business-oriented with him. My sense of smell has always fascinated me, but I never really understood the whole fragrance thing.
As I got older, I still just couldn't grasp the concept of paying so much for such a little bottle of alcohol- soap and deodorant did a pretty good job of keeping me smelling good, right? By my senior year of highschool, I discovered the lovely "Axe Effect" (as much sarcasm placed on "lovely" as possible...). At the time, I just loved the smell of Kilo and Voodoo and though it was just fantastic, and this went on for quite a few years. It would, of all things, take my love of Italian automobiles to get me to break into the world of "real" fragrances and drop the Axe crap for good.
In the summer of 2003, I went to Le Belle Macchine d'Italia, an Italian cars concourse in northeastern Pennsylvania, where there was a booth selling all sorts of Ferrari merchandise, including their range of colognes. Originally, I laughed at it, because I was still in my Axe phase. Even my crazed Ferrari obsession wouldn't get me to drop the $60 they wanted on the cologne... plus, I had no idea how it smelled because it was all sealed up. Well, a few months later they ran a feature in Car and Driver, "reviewing" various automobile-themed colognes. The Ferrari #1 rated the highest (note, Car and Driver should stick to cars and not colognes), and after some Google searches, I found it for a fairly resonable price. It was just after my birthday, so I had some money to spare and I decided to make the leap and spring for a bottle. Even if I didn't like it, it could be just another piece of Ferrari memorabilia.
Well, I got it, and I actually quite liked it. I was impressed with how dynamic it was compared to the linear smell of the Axe fragrances. I was also impressed with how long it lasted- both the bottle as a whole and each time I applied the fragrance, and it was in fact cheaper in the long run than buying a new can of Axe every couple weeks. Still, it was the only scent I owned for nearly a year. Soon, I found myself going to department stores and stocking up on samples and wearing them when I wanted something different. My roommate also had a pretty decent collection of frags, but they were mostly the common designer fodder of most popular college boys... Acqua di Gio (hated it at first smell, and still hate it to this day), Polo, Tommy, CK One, etc. which he was generous enough to let me borrow on occasion, though I didn't really like any of them. I liked the fact the the Ferrari cologne I owned was unique, and the ladies I know always asked me what I had on. With the other fragrances, they would always know what it was because they are nigh-omnipresent on a college campus. I was ready to try something completely different and unique, and I turned to Basenotes for help finding it.
I read about a lot of great scents, but was curiously intrigued by Creed's Acier Aluminum. The description just sounded fantastic, and I knew *nobody* around me would have it. I purchased a decant on eBay, and when I got it, I was just absolutely blown away. It was so rich, complex, and damned sexy. It lasted forever, and wore well in almost all weather. I just couldn't believe how fantastic this scent was. It made my Ferrari #1 almost laughable in comparison, and now I couldn't smell Axe without gagging at its cheap synthetic nature and lack of complexity. Over the next few months I picked up a few more fragrances (and bought a full bottle of Acier Aluminum), and the fragrance-collecting bug hit me. I developed a newly found appreciation for my sense of smell, and looked forward to waking up in the morning and having to decide which fragrance to apply. From there, I've been buying fragrances at an ever-increasing rate, and there's no end in sight. In the short, short year since I got that first decant of Creed, I've picked up nearly 30 fragrances, countless samples, and my sense of smell has improved dramatically. I enjoy it more and more each day, and look forward to smelling a new fragrance at any opportunity. I'm now to the point where I'd like to persue a career in the fragrance industry, possibly designing fragrances. We'll see what the future brings.
So how about you guys? Any good stories?
) figuring I'd get a full bottle of whatever my girlfriend liked best... turns out her hungry nose liked almost all of them!... I kicked it into gear from there...
