Unisex? Hmmm... I don't think so...

Interesting opinions. It is refreshing to see someone analyzing and deciding such things for himself rather than simply following orthodoxy. I'd be much more interested, however, in which qualities of the 'fumes that led you to classify them in this way. What, to you, makes something "masculine" or "feminine" (or "unisex&quot?

I've been thinking a fair bit about that myself lately. I certainly think it is a mistake to anosmicallly follow the manufacturer's classification, as one's own nose tends to be a better judge (hopefully). I certainly have an inclination to separate fragrances as tending to be more feminine or more masculine, but it tends to be more along a spectrum than with a clear sharply defined border. I'm also willing to venture a fair distance toward the feminine side in my wearing practices, while there are some that I just won't wear because they are "too fem". In my book that tends to mean heavily floral or aldehydic floral fragrances: rose, tuberose, lily, lily-of-the-valley among the notes that applied too heavily render a 'fume unwearable for me.

Among the examples you have shared, for example, I find Timbuktu to be well into the unisex camp, for the presence of prominent floral and fruit notes therein. Eau Lente also unisex, although I'd like to claim it as masculine for when I would wear it.

And boys are snakes and snails and puppy dog tails.

I don't think I'd like to smell that....

bonni

Musc Ravageur more masculine? Interesting. I think it`s very unisex, but still more suitable for women. Definitely so.

Diptyque Eau Lente feminine? I think not! This has become one of my top ten favorite frags. Way too strong and spicy to be considered feminine.

And boys are snakes and snails and puppy dog tails.

I don't think I'd like to smell that....

bonni[/quote]

If boys are snakes and snails and puppy dog tails, then men must be farts and burps? Eau de Flatulence? Oh wait, that's me. ;D

Unisex, whatev. Everyone should just wear whatever pleases them. Hell, if a guy wanted to wear the girliest scent ever, fine by me. Would I make out with him? No. But I have a feeling if he's spritzing, oh say, Gucci Envy Me all over himself, then he probably wouldn't be after me anyway.

I try not to pay attention to Unisex, Fem or Masc designations. If it suits me, it suits me.

Sorry, musky, didn't mean to get off track!

While I do feel people should wear what they want (and I would certainly never be self-righteous about it!), I do have opinions on certain "unisex frags," so here's my two cents, keeping within the theme of the original post

To my nose, most scents marketed as unisex lean more toward the masculine: Thierry Mugler cologne and Creed Imperial Millesime are a couple off the top of my head.

However, I had no idea Light Blue was marketed as a unisex scent until someone told me. I think it is very feminine.

It is very rare that I sniff a "unisex" scent and think, hmm, this is suitable for both my boyfriend and myself.

We've all acknowledged all over Basenotes that body chemistry has a lot to do with the way a scent develops on someone. Last weekend, when I was visiting my boyfriend, I had forgotten my perfume, so I sprayed on his Issey Miyake Summer 2002 Edition (not unisex, but I'm getting to my point...). This cologne has always smelled so much like a man to me. I love the way it smells on the bf. Strangely though, after a masculine opening, it became something very different on my skin and smelled decidedly feminine. Hours later someone commented on how good I smelled and I was like, "I don't smell like a boy, do I?" and they said I indeed did not. So, in my opinion, the marketing of scents as unisex is pretty brilliant on the parts of companies--they know they have a good chance of it suiting someone--it's like they are casting a wider net. I'm sure this is a trend that will be around for a while...part of me thinks this is good, as I end up trying things I usually wouldn't (the only reason I sprayed on that Issey Miyake was because I was desperate. I've never had the urge to try it before because it was created for a man). But it can be sort of confusing at times!

if I recall correctly, most of these fragrances are not labeled as "UNISEX," they are simply uncategorized. where is the fault in that?

Very Interesting Â*MM ~ I agree on a few but found myself saying....hey wait no way....on quite a few. its not just that i wear men's perfume. Â*I adore wearing BdP and i consider it a masculine scent. i don't put it in the unisex category just because I wear it and being a woman now say its feminine or unisex. Â*I think that fact that
many agree & disagree with your personal categories, for me, shows how most of these scents really are unisex. Â*If we're split as to which camp they go in....then they probably really are in both and then each of us with our own bent toward what makes something masculine or feminine decides for ourselves. i think there are some fragrnaces which a large pecent of both women and men would agree to which gender the scent belongs to. Â*I think if you get people being pulled in both directions is probably a good indictor that its unisex

here's my own feelings for the scents you listed. Please note....I am not correcting you.....we are both right, i just have different associations with these scents as far as gender or non-gender specific to me.

06130 Cedre - masculine Â*Agree
CDG Avignon - masculine truly Unisex in my opinion
CDG Kyoto - masculine Â* Â* truly Unisex in my opinion
Creed Millesime Imperial - masculine ~ agree
Diptyque Tam Dao - masculine ~ Unisex but leaning toward the masculine side though
Diptyque Philosykos - feminine (I'm going to get flamed for this one) Unisex leaning towards feminine
Diptyque Eau Lente - feminine ` truly unisex
L'Artisan Navegar - masculine ` Agree even though poivre is much stronger pepper scent and made for women....and i'd say unisex for poivre....hmmm
L'Artisan Mechant Loup - masculine ~ agree
L'Artisan L'Eau de L'Artisan - feminine ~ Unisex
L'Artisan Timbuktu - masculine ~ unisex
Malle Musc Ravageur - masculine ` I'd say feminine and wearable by men
Malle Bigarade concentree - masculine ` unisex
Malle L'Eau d'Hiver - feminine Agree
MPG Racine - masculine (MPG market this for men, but basenotes strangely rate it as unisex) Agree
[/quote]


Great question BTW ~ in reading your question to MM & I tried to answer this for myself.....and what i found was for me determining what makes a scent masculine or feminine is not easy...... I see woods as unisex but when they are harsh smelling to me.....I throw it in the men's category I could say florals are feminine but that's too general ~ certainly scents that have a high percentage of florals seem feminine to me....but rose to me is the exception...... and I know it simply has to do with my exposure to oud based scents which seem to include strong rose in its formulas......If I had answered this question a couple of years ago I'd have said Rose is typically feminine. Other florals like LotV & soliflores in general i see as feminine. Carnation due to its peppery quality i see as unisex......It really is such a personal thing.....i don't even know how to put it into words but there are men's scents that just smell like MEN'S cologne. Not sure if its a specific note but there's a quality that just reminds me of a TYPICAL men's cologne formula.....a genearal ding that goes off in my head that says dept store men's cologne. Anything that smells harsh to my nose or extremely strong & non-floral or anything that has a severe burnt note i see as masculine and is often personally where i draw the line as far as wearability for me.


I'd love to hear how MM & others classifly scents for themselves as masculine or feminine or unisex

Diane

I've had people tell me MI smelled feminine.

lol, i know exactly what you're talking about.


Here are some frags that i wore and were called feminine:
Le Male
Magnetism
Musc Ravageur
Custom National Scent and Intense
CDG 2
and
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.
.
Yang (Say what?????!!!!!! Â*:-? :-/ amazing how people's nose differ Â*> Â*)

Excellent discussion here.

MM: Was wondering your take on Marc Jacobs Men, a modernist "masculine" fragrance with a prominent fig note. I agree that it is interesting to look at history and speculate on the transitions in our gender-scentsibilities over time. Is fig making a move? Time will tell.

BG: I agree that it is a challenge to pinpoint what about the gestalt of a fragrance experience that makes one's mind think "male" or "female" or "unclassified" (my brain never jumps to "unisex"!), but it is an interesting exercise. Exceptions to the pure scent rule abound as well. I know a woman who loves lavender and likes to smell like it--so I can't automatically put lavender as "the masculine floral", although it sometimes is.

Thanks for the thoughts, all.

Two points:

First, there is somehow a distinct line that I draw between "masculine" and "feminine," while also realizing that the line is in some way arbitrary - weird how that works. Sweetness is definitely one of the top factors that makes me consider a scent to be too "feminine" for me. As soon as I get that whiff of overt sweetness, I hand it to my gf. Sweet AND floral - that's almost always "feminine" to my nose. Dryness, woods, spice, moss, earthiness, and incense I tend to see as being "masculine," unless they also have strong floral notes. Citrus and citrusy-floral notes I think of as "unisex." Herbal or green notes seem more "masculine" to me. Gourmands come across as "feminine" to me, unless they also have lots of wood, spice, or earthiness.

Second, I agree with your theory as well. Since these things are at least partially socially constructed, it only makes sense that as the environment changes, so do the general populace's evaluations of the things that comprise it. For me, the question is how does the environment come to change? IMO, it always takes a handful of experts, creatives, or early adopters to lead the way. For example, a well-known or respected designer makes a fragrance that smells sweet and/or floral, markets it as a masculine scent, and over time it catches on. People wear it and it changes the definition of masculine because of an "expert's" opinion and design. Or some brave someone picks up a bottle of a feminine marketed scent, wears it, and starts a trend. The trend catches on, is picked up by a designer, is rolled out to the larger society, and it becomes part of the norm.

All this discussion about sweet scents makes me wonder why no one has mentioned A*Men. I don't know WHAT to think about that one. B*Men, on the other hand, is very masculine, IMO and in my lady's opinion.

Yup, it's all conditioning. Â*After all, fragrance, like colors for instance, have no innate gender. Â*I mean, we associate pink with girls, but, why? Â*Because we've been socially engineered from an early age to think that pink=feminine. Â*And the same holds true with fragrances. Â*Thousands upon thousands of scent associations linking particular fragrances with various people, and we just can't help but to make gender associations. Â*

Anway, the only time someone's told me that I smelled like a girl while wearing a fragrance was while wearing Silver Mountain Water. Â*I assure you, this is not going to stop me from wearing it, as I love the stuff. Â*And, this came from an 18 year old high school male. Â*And, from my own experiences, the ladies love SMW on me. Â*So, I'm gonna take their feedback over his.

Oh, and Philosykos rules, and though it may not be the "manliest" fragrance on the block, I would have no qualms about wearing it out.

MR...totally masculine, to me anyways. Â*I just can't imagine this stuff on a woman. Â*Maybe I'll have to talk a female friend into letting me spray some on her...

I find even B*Men to be pretty sweet, although not as cloying as A*Men. Despite it's heavy, almost sugar-y nature--I don't find A*Men to strike me as "feminine" though. Makes me wonder what in a fragrance makes it "sweet"--is it fruits, vanilla, or other edible notes?

As to whether the default is to sweet being "feminine", what does one make of a fragrance like Guerlain Jicky? It is certainly old enough to not be included in popular fragrance trends--yet there is definitely a sweetness in the base, perhaps from the benzoin. I believe I have read of this one originally being marketed to men, while now, although classified in the basenotes directory as "unisex", I almost only ever see it on the women's counter in stores. If Sean Connery wears it, is it really going to seem all that feminine? Does this suggest that 100 yrs ago men wore sweet scents, and only recently "sweetness" has been taken over by the "feminine" fragrance market?

"Does this suggest that 100 yrs ago men wore sweet scents, and only recently "sweetness" has been taken over by the "feminine" fragrance market?"'

yes it does and we're not giving it back....... :P :P :P so there



just had another thought about unisex fragrances.....

A successful unisex fragrance is when men say its masculine and women think its feminine and both sexes claim it as their own and everyone feels comfortable wearing it.

An unsuccessful unisex scent: Men think its feminine women think its masculine and no one wants to wear it A fragrance company's nightmare.......LOL

imho all the frags you've mentioned are totally unisex or better say shared in fact if you look at the box they didnt even mention gender ,the future in the world of perfumery will be that no gender will be specified so the housebrands could effectively earn much money

Yeah, I'd say B-noters have a higher percentage of fragrance early adopters or trend setters than does the general public.

This thread has been a good one IMO - the kind that keeps me coming back to the site. Thanks!