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Your worst frag gift ever?

post #1 of 54
3/15/06 at 10:15am
Thread Starter 
Last night I was thinking about an unfortunate event caused by clueless relatives...

From age 10 to 14, almost every male relative of mine (much older uncles, grandfathers, etc) decided to get me cologne/aftershave for xmas and bday gifts. The ones I can remember best were La Pinaud (a huge bottle of aftershave) and Stetson (a gift set complete with cologne, aftershave, and powder).
Regardless of these scents' actual charms, I found them nauseating at that young age, and I never wore them.
When I was about 14, my mom told me to get rid of all those bottles of cologne that I never wore. In my infinite 14-year-old wisdom, I thought it would be best if I poured them out in my sink.



Needless to say, the stench of 7-8 bottles of very strong cologne permeated the entire house for several hours, even with windows open (and this was in the winter).

Nowadays, no one buys me cologne anymore. I wonder if my mom had anything to do with that.

What's the worst frag you've ever received?

-ben
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post #2 of 54
3/15/06 at 10:17am
Adidas Moves...
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post #3 of 54
3/15/06 at 10:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by greyhueofdoubt

Last night I was thinking about an unfortunate event caused by clueless relatives...

From age 10 to 14, almost every male relative of mine (much older uncles, grandfathers, etc) decided to get me cologne/aftershave for xmas and bday gifts. The ones I can remember best were La Pinaud (a huge bottle of aftershave) and Stetson (a gift set complete with cologne, aftershave, and powder).
Regardless of these scents' actual charms, I found them nauseating at that young age, and I never wore them.
When I was about 14, my mom told me to get rid of all those bottles of cologne that I never wore. In my infinite 14-year-old wisdom, I thought it would be best if I poured them out in my sink.



Needless to say, the stench of 7-8 bottles of very strong cologne permeated the entire house for several hours, even with windows open (and this was in the winter).

If people buy me gifts i am always grateful for their kindness

Quote:
Nowadays, no one buys me cologne anymore.

-ben

..or anything else i bet
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post #4 of 54
3/15/06 at 10:52am
I got obsession after shave once - well before I had started shaving! :-/
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post #5 of 54
3/15/06 at 11:38am
Thread Starter 
Exquisite_Darkness- I am grateful for their kindness. I just happened to be a 14-year-old who didn't like Stetson or Brut (not only that, but they made me feel sick).

The purpose of the post wasn't to belittle other people's gifts, but to maybe get a feel for what people like/don't like receiving.

And people did not stop giving me gifts just because because I didn't like Stetson. The next year, I received four fishing rods. Seriously. And I love every one of them.

I have to say, you sure put a damper on what I thought would be a light-hearted post.

-ben
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post #6 of 54
3/15/06 at 11:47am
English Leather giftset, came with a soap that was attached on a rope, wow! I appreciated the gift, but just didn't like the fragrance, too old and heavy.
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post #7 of 54
3/15/06 at 12:29pm
angel by thierry mugler men and women sorry but it makes me physically sick
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post #8 of 54
3/15/06 at 2:25pm
HAHA, I was gonna mention both Stetson and English Leather actually ;D

Best frag gift: CK Be
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post #9 of 54
3/15/06 at 2:40pm
I've always gotten good fragrance gifts. Or else I've gotten the gift and then decided to like the scent: Drakkar Noir, Signoricci, Canoe, they're all good by me. Since I started this hobby though, friends have taken to giving me the scent gifts they get but don't like. Thus I've been given English Leather and D&G PH.

Another fun part of scent from other people is when girlfriends tell you what scent they want you to go out and buy for yourself. Wear Aramis or no nookie, said one. As a result I've got great associations with Aramis.
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post #10 of 54
3/15/06 at 2:46pm
Caesars Man. I still keep that bottle.
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post #11 of 54
3/15/06 at 3:12pm
The one and only bottle that I have thrown to the garbage bin (after keeping it for some years-enough for its genetic mutation to something worst than the original) :
OLD SPICE WHITEWATER !
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post #12 of 54
3/15/06 at 3:44pm
Lalique Flora Bella was awful
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post #13 of 54
3/15/06 at 3:45pm
Farenheit
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post #14 of 54
3/15/06 at 3:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by greyhueofdoubt

Exquisite_Darkness- I am grateful for their kindness. I just happened to be a 14-year-old who didn't like Stetson or Brut (not only that, but they made me feel sick).

The purpose of the post wasn't to belittle other people's gifts, but to maybe get a feel for what people like/don't like receiving.

And people did not stop giving me gifts just because because I didn't like Stetson. The next year, I received four fishing rods. Seriously. And I love every one of them.

I have to say, you sure put a damper on what I thought would be a light-hearted post.

-ben

i agree with ben
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post #15 of 54
3/15/06 at 3:55pm
Haha I received English Leather Spice on my eleventh birthday from my uncle....I had no idea what was going on. I hated it - all I wanted was X-Men action figures. I thought this was what older kids must wear, so I wore this to school once (don't ask how I applied it), and received about 15 sneezes from others throughout the day. It turns out my brother actually bought it on his own about a year ago, he is 26 and into some of the heavier classic stuff. To each his own!
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post #16 of 54
3/15/06 at 4:13pm
B*Men from my mother. I wear it when I visit her, and I feel sad when I put it on -that poor woman, i think. and her apple cinnamon candles >.< She's a monster!! It's just too impetuous for my nose [no offense, Mom o]
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post #17 of 54
3/15/06 at 8:04pm
hahahaha ;D

i just gave my friend's little brother some perry man and GPH for his barmitzvah.

deo stick versions of course
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post #18 of 54
3/15/06 at 8:31pm
It wouldn't say it was bad but the worst frag gift I recieved was Benneton Cold.
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post #19 of 54
3/15/06 at 8:46pm
Brut from my ex mother -in-law.EVERY Christmas.
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post #20 of 54
3/15/06 at 9:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EnvYuS

Adidas Moves...

That's not so bad at all, I prefer it to Cool Water! Just glad that not everybody takes it seriously in my part of the world, so I can wear it without being a clone. One of the best drugstore scents I've ever smelled!

In my experience, no one has ever bought a scent for me, guess they haven't caught on that I'm maniacal scent junkie, but I remember a friend receiving a gift set of Maja, the epitomy of an old lady's scent given to my twenty-something friend. I'm really not sure what she did with it, probably used it as a repellent for four-legged creatures raiding her trashcan. Hehe!
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post #21 of 54
3/15/06 at 10:14pm
Back in da day jovan musk and english leather. But I miss them both. I do, they bring back memories. Oooh I forgot chaps do anybody remember chaps. I kinda miss chaps too
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post #22 of 54
3/15/06 at 10:30pm
Lol. Did most of us get brut for christmas I think I got brut for men for a christmas present maybe 6 times. The shaving cream and all even back when I was a young teen. I used the deodorant when times got hard. Now did anybody like brut.......anybody....lol
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post #23 of 54
3/16/06 at 6:44am
My first after shave was Caractère by Daniel Hechter, a gift also. I was 14 years old, and when I wait another 30 years I can actually start using it.
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post #24 of 54
3/16/06 at 8:58am
Shulton's Desert Flower Cologne & matching dusting powder. I got it in the Xmas grad bag at school in 1971. Oh, god, it was bad. Bad gone bad.... [smiley=tongue.gif] [smiley=tongue.gif] [smiley=tongue.gif] a triple-tongue gagger! LOL [smiley=grin.gif]
Like it had been lying around the counter at Goldblatt's dept store about 12 mos. before this person bought it or something. What I had really wanted was a bottle of Skinny Dip cologne (in time I came to realize, even worse than the Desert Flower LOL), and got all excited when I saw the plastic perfume-shaped case. Then I opened it... [smiley=rolleyes.gif] Oh well...it's the thought that counts, right? [smiley=rolleyes.gif] [smiley=rolleyes.gif]
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post #25 of 54
3/16/06 at 4:56pm
Navy for Men. From a student. She meant well.
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post #26 of 54
3/16/06 at 7:05pm
years ago, before i really got interested in fragrance, my sister gave me a bottle of Bijan DNA for Men. at the time i just thought it was ghastly. who knows, if i were to smell today, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
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post #27 of 54
3/16/06 at 8:01pm
.....Curve. And that was just this Christmas past. The tin was dented and there was a funny looking SKU sticker on the bottom which was stuck on top of the original. I didn't even bother to try returning it anywhere.
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post #28 of 54
3/23/07 at 7:29pm
Macho. The poor man's "Brut". It even had an extra wide mouth for sips.
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post #29 of 54
3/23/07 at 7:44pm
A bottle of Chaps Ralph Lauren... back when I was 8.

I hated it then, and I still hate it now.
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post #30 of 54
3/23/07 at 7:51pm
Boss Selection last x-mas....
Burberry Weekend...the x-mas before that...
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post #31 of 54
3/23/07 at 7:58pm
Let's see, without sounding ungrateful, my step-mom who I've previously posted as evil, used to get me, the latest & most trendy scents that were popular at the time of my birthday or Xmas. Whatever it was, knowing that I wasn't trendy at all, and only liked certain scents. I would tell her what I wore, but she NEVER got me what I liked, or would wear. She bought me Poison, (ya think she's trying to tell me something?) when it came out, (gave it right back to her, like she would do to me every year) Also, alot of other obscure fragrances too numerous to mention. Honestly, I've gotten others, but I must of blocked them out...lol...I always told most people, to get me a gift certificate or send a check, because fragrance is very personal & I didn't want the purchase to go to waste.
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post #32 of 54
3/23/07 at 8:01pm
Hai Karate - I received more than one bottle when I graduated from high school, and I think one or two are still stored under my Mom's bathroom vanity nearly forty years later.
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post #33 of 54
3/23/07 at 8:19pm
Kenneth Cole RSVP (new scent). Given to me on this Valentine's Day. A day when I didn't have anything for my wife, who I was waiting to announce my intent to divorce. I gave it a shot on my skin, hated it (has anyone reviewed this yet?) and she was heartbroken.

At the time, i only had a couple of scents, mainly wearing a slight spray of Polo Blue by day, with no refresh for nights. Interestingly, in the search for a really excellent scent to return the RSVP for.. I found basenotes.net. I ended up trading that for B*Men (still an amazing scent on me that the love of my life finds amazing as well) and now have over a dozen scents and growing. I have a while to go before I match my single malt whisky collection with numbers over 50.

Thanks for creating such a great community of friends and experts!
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post #34 of 54
3/23/07 at 10:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by AceyMan View Post

Kenneth Cole RSVP (new scent). Given to me on this Valentine's Day. A day when I didn't have anything for my wife, who I was waiting to announce my intent to divorce. I gave it a shot on my skin, hated it (has anyone reviewed this yet?) and she was heartbroken.

At the time, i only had a couple of scents, mainly wearing a slight spray of Polo Blue by day, with no refresh for nights. Interestingly, in the search for a really excellent scent to return the RSVP for.. I found basenotes.net. I ended up trading that for B*Men (still an amazing scent on me that the love of my life finds amazing as well) and now have over a dozen scents and growing. I have a while to go before I match my single malt whisky collection with numbers over 50.

Thanks for creating such a great community of friends and experts!

"the love of my life" ? I thought you said you're divorcing your wife? do you have some affair going on? lol

ontopic: My grandparents got me some colognes while my grandapa was alive..adidas adrenaline and azzaro chrome the year after. I feel REALLLY bad because the adrenaline one went sour and the chrome one i broke the cap so air got in and turned it sour after a year. i just threw them out about 4 months ago..not even thinking those were the last presents i had recieved from my now deceased grandpa...

my grandma has gotten me "reaction" and "bulgari PH" the past 2 years. they are pretty nice. reaction doesn't stand out, but always has me feeling..clean...but not saying "i am wearing cologne" I wear it when I just want to smell clean but not distinct.
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post #35 of 54
3/23/07 at 11:31pm
My mother gives everyone Avon for every gift occasion for the past 30 years. I just take it home and put it in the trash without opening it...instant headache.

Gifts (samples) from SA's...Lucky #6, (yikes) and Antidote are the two worst things I've ever smelled.
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post #36 of 54
3/23/07 at 11:39pm
Hugo by Hugo Boss... and the 100ml, not just the 50ml bottle ! A real nightmare, ant the painful memory of a veeery looong year trying to empty the bottle by actually wearing it and not just throwing it away (I was 20 and too polite I suppose !)

I have strictly forbidden EVERYBODY around me to ever offer me fragrance after that, and the funny thing is that now, if I smell some guy on the street actually wearing Hugo, I feel like tapping on his shoulder and looking at him with a very sorry face that just says 'Yep ! Sometimes you wish there were NO holidays, right ?' ;-)
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post #37 of 54
3/24/07 at 1:36am
Mandate Man and Hai Karate
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post #38 of 54
3/24/07 at 10:55am
Oh dear - my in-laws buy my husband something from the Hugo line without fail every Christmas. He's done such a good job of pretending he likes it that we now have a cupboard full of deodorants, shower gels, cologne, balms and so on, all smelling like death.

My worst was from an elderly female relative who very kindly bought me a giant basket of Dewberry stuff from the Body Shop one year for Christmas. Seriously; this thing was the size of a small truck. Oils, perfume, pot-pourri, bubble bath, soaps, those little bath ball things...it sat at the back of a cupboard for years gathering dreadful berry-scented dust until my mother, who is much better at being ruthless than I am, threw it out.

Apologies to all those of you who like Hugo and Dewberry!
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post #39 of 54
3/24/07 at 11:04am
Grey Flannel. I know a lot of folks like it but it is just nasty to me.
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post #40 of 54
3/24/07 at 11:25am
About 9 years ago, I was wowed by the speccy holographic packaging of a gift coffret in a large department store; and asked the Mrs to buy it for me for Xmas. We eventually walked away with one of the most dreadful scents known to man:

'Trussardi Light' by Trussardi for Him

Frankly, there was nothing "Light" about it - in fact we both felt it smelled like a dirty ashtray.
It sat in the bathroom cupboard for nigh on eight years... still in its "wow" packaging.
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post #41 of 54
3/24/07 at 11:53am
Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor - can't get any worse than that!!
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post #42 of 54
3/27/07 at 7:51am
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Pierre Cardin, for my birthday last year. From someone who knows I have a passion for fragrance- UGH
Quote:
Originally Posted by greyhueofdoubt View Post

Last night I was thinking about an unfortunate event caused by clueless relatives...

From age 10 to 14, almost every male relative of mine (much older uncles, grandfathers, etc) decided to get me cologne/aftershave for xmas and bday gifts. The ones I can remember best were La Pinaud (a huge bottle of aftershave) and Stetson (a gift set complete with cologne, aftershave, and powder).
Regardless of these scents' actual charms, I found them nauseating at that young age, and I never wore them.
When I was about 14, my mom told me to get rid of all those bottles of cologne that I never wore. In my infinite 14-year-old wisdom, I thought it would be best if I poured them out in my sink.



Needless to say, the stench of 7-8 bottles of very strong cologne permeated the entire house for several hours, even with windows open (and this was in the winter).

Nowadays, no one buys me cologne anymore. I wonder if my mom had anything to do with that.

What's the worst frag you've ever received?

-ben
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post #43 of 54
3/27/07 at 11:56am
When I we 9 or 10 y.o. I started receiving gift sets - Polish, Lithuanian brands, Nivea, Florena, etc. Usually aftershave and soap, and only sometimes they included cologne. Did not need aftershave then, so kept them in the wardrobe behind lots of bedsheets. Don't even know if i liked the scents originally, but after few years they would go bad, and all smelled the same.

Why would people give an aftershave to a child? They probably thought it was manly, or something. In a way I liked the idea, but getting something I could not use was not particularly great.

In recent years I got ony one frag that I did not like - Dupont Essence Pure - it was just plain fresh. I did not care for it, and people in my family were not very enthusiastic either, so we passed it on to someone who liked it more than we did.

In general, I find that women like receiving frags as gifts, and even if they don't like the scent, they can give it to someone - their friend, mother, daughter, etc. Men usually don't like receiving frags unless they get them from a girlfriend, which is always nice, I think, regardless of how much they actually like the scent itself.

It would be fun to explore, does it matter who we get the frag from.
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post #44 of 54
3/27/07 at 12:46pm
For years, I had a great aunt that was an Avon lady. Back in the 70's, my family used to get me these neat limited edition bottles....in the shape of VW bugs, famous people, dogs, Ford Model A's, etc.

I always loved the bottles and still have them somewhere, but they were almost always filled with Wild Country cologne or after shave (I was years away from shaving age). For my early teenage life, I didn't realize there were other fragrances out there, and that one did nothing for me at that age.

I still get fond memories (and an internal shudder) whenever I pass an Avon kiosk at the mall. :-)
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post #45 of 54
3/27/07 at 12:58pm
I wonder if anybody would ship me their old unused bottle of Hai Karate? It is my life goal to have somebody ask what I'm wearing, to which I reply "Hai Karate, of course". Completely serious, I want this so bad it's not funny.

I've never really received a bad cologne gift, because I liked all the colognes at the time, even if I despise one or two of them now (A&F (original), which I still want another bottle of for some reason, and Hollister... no thanks). I got Bod Blue Musk from a cousin who got it from his sister, and he DOES NOT wear cologne thank you very much. I wore it for the longest time, but after I got rid of it, my sister told me that she had watered it down the second week I had it. I still laugh about that to this day... and I hide my collection from her.
- Rich

PS - That and I want to be able to use these directions in a real field combat situation.
http://cgi.ebay.com/1967-Hai-Karate-...QQcmdZViewItem
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post #46 of 54
3/27/07 at 1:48pm
Swiss Army for men. Nice Cologne. FOR ME TO POOP ON!!!!!

Conan O'Brien humor.
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post #47 of 54
3/27/07 at 10:29pm
My mother gave me for Christmas your basic gift set which included drug store mini colognes. My most hated was Stetson...shocker...and believe it or not, Aspen. I liked the latter's scent but it was very weak.
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post #48 of 54
3/28/07 at 1:19am
dont laugh, but i received aramis aftershave balm for xmas.
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post #49 of 54
3/28/07 at 11:06am
Stetson -- bottled proof that evil truly exists in the world.
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post #50 of 54
3/28/07 at 12:02pm
Har! I'm so unashamedly uncivilized; I still like Brut, English Leather, and despite recent attempts to painstakingly build my collection up into something respectable... My current all-time top compliment-getter: Grey Flannel Aftershave. (To be fair, I slap that on in the morning when I have to go to work or clinicals and can't really wear anything with a bite. At the moment, work/clinicals is nearly every day, so... It's a matter of statistics.)

For a truly cringe-worthy one I've received: Aqua Velva Ice Blue.
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post #51 of 54
3/28/07 at 11:52pm
Tabac Original
Bah, I hated that stuff
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post #52 of 54
9/13/07 at 12:40pm
Id say the one christmas when I got 3 sets of Bod "cologne" But also ranking high up there would be when I moved into my first dorm room, and realized I forgot my bad that had my deoderant, after shave, and a bottle of adidas cologne, and my dad told me not to worry about it. He ran to the store and came back with one bottle of Jovan Musk, and said "this should do"
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post #53 of 54
9/14/07 at 8:27am
Yup, it's CAESARS MAN for me, too. God -- what wretched shit THAT stuff is!
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post #54 of 54
9/14/07 at 8:35am
A bottle of fake Polo from the dollar store. It was a good laugh, but the "cologne" was total garbage. (surprise!)
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