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Oriental question

post #1 of 18
10/5/05 at 3:15am
Thread Starter 
I'm Japanese but I do not like oriental fragrance very much, but there's one exception here; Gucci Pour Homme. I have no idea what is the key ingredient in there attracting me, but I think it's a wonderful scent. Maybe it's an amazing combination of spicy, woody, leathery, and sweet notes, which is truely beautiful and whenever I wear it, I feel very attractive. Well, my problem is I don't like most of the other orientals! Habit rouge smells like coca-cola with velvety carnation (no offense to those who love this frangrance, though). M7 smells like a powdery incense. Anteus smells somewhat a bit too leathery (though I like the fruity part of this Anteus). Opium Pour Homme... I just don't like it. Egoiste smells like blackberry fermented by sandalwood (again, no offense to those who love it). L'Instant is full of amber and cocoa beans, which are unbearably sweet to me. But I have not given up orientals yet. Now, I need your help. What other oriental fragrance would you recommend to this helplessly cranky Japanese? Thanks for your help. :
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post #2 of 18
10/5/05 at 3:18am
I will never tire of recommending D&G By Man...
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post #3 of 18
10/5/05 at 4:32am
Just for the record...
Last week I was showing a perfume to a customer. I explained to the lady that this particular perfumes was an Oriental. She answered in a rather bitchy way that she had traveled all over Asia and the people over there just didn't wear perfumes of that type, that it was a western misconception... blah, blah, blah...
So I made the widest smile possible and said: "Madame, when the term Oriental-note was introduced in perfumers-talk more than a century ago, they were refering to the ambery perfumes of the "Moyen-Orient" or "Arabia". Orientals have nothing to do with Asia."
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post #4 of 18
10/5/05 at 4:45am
Yes , it's my understanding too that oriental denotes a rich in balsam and resins Middle- Eastern concotion. Certianly not farther than India....To me anything else is Far East.
Japan and China are traditionally much more subtle in their approach to perfume , aren't they?
I would suggest Feminite de Bois by Shiseido which is a dry cedar with resiny base , very wearable for a guy.
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post #5 of 18
10/5/05 at 5:32am
Ah, my favourite scent category. Let's see if we can tempt you with these:

1. Serge Lutens Vertiver Oriental
2. Kenzo Jungle
3. Hanae Mori EDP
4. L' Artisan Passage d'Enfer
5. Dior Bois d' Argent
6. Boucheron's Jaipur
7. Chopard's Casran
8. Lolita Lempicka
9. Rochas Man
10. Burberry Brit
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post #6 of 18
10/5/05 at 7:49am
To add on to Cedric's comment, once I was showing two beautiful ladies from Turkey fragrances (they told me they were from there) and were looking for something "sexy." My bosses might want me to push RL Romance in that situation, but I showed them a few I liked (mostly orientals) and they fell in love with the scents, saying, "These are the kind of scents we would get back home."

Has nothing really to do with anything but thought I'd share it since the spicyness of most orientals is much more of a Middle-East preference than Far East.
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post #7 of 18
10/5/05 at 8:26am
One of my all-time oriental favourite is Ricci Club. Very outstanding and great quality.
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post #8 of 18
10/5/05 at 10:03am
Isn't Shiseido's BASARA from Japan? It's one of the spiciest perfumes EVER!
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post #9 of 18
10/5/05 at 3:04pm
Since Oriental scents comprise 75% of my wardrobe, it's funny to think that I didn't like them from the start. I too considered them way too sweet and "feminine". However, there were a few scents that eventually changed my perspective on them. These were Gucci Envy, YSL Body Kouros, and D&G By Man. These aren't too sweet and can perhaps accustom your nose for more extreme Orientals such as gourmands.
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post #10 of 18
10/5/05 at 8:32pm
Certainly, you've got to step up to them gradually. Their power and breadth can be overwhelming.
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post #11 of 18
10/6/05 at 12:20am
Baldessarini
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post #12 of 18
10/6/05 at 1:00am
It's possible that you prefer a Woody-Oriental type frag...give Heritage a try, the base is warm, but for the most part it's woody and peppery with spice to give the warmth some dimension. It smells heavy and sweet at first, but give the heart of the frag a chance to emerge before judging...it's worth the wait. Hemessence Poivre is dry and woody also, but without the punch of the frankincense note as in Gucci PH.
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post #13 of 18
10/6/05 at 1:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by knightowl

Isn't Shiseido's BASARA from Japan? It's one of the spiciest perfumes EVER!

Yes, but not released with the Japanese market in mind. Shiseido is a huge corporation with several brands and lines. Almost like L'Oreal.
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post #14 of 18
10/6/05 at 8:39am
Not to hijack this thread once again, but this reminds me of the absurdity of targeting scents for cultures.


When True Star for Men was launched, I was told by account execs that it was a way to finally target the Latino/Hispanic market, and this why they chose Enrique for the face of the scent. I thought this was kind of rediculous because every person I know that is Hispanic isn't looking for something different in a fragrance, and want the exact same thing as anyone else. Just shows the lack of common sense in the execs.
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post #15 of 18
10/6/05 at 1:30pm
Vibrant_Violet,

If you like *Gucci Pour Homme*, I am pretty sure you'll like *Comme des Garçons 2 Man* and Floris *Santal*. They are very much along the same lines as *Gucci Pour Homme*. Similar, though not as close to *Gucci Pour Homme*, is Penhaligon's *Endymion*. Finally two subtle and beautiful orientals are *Ho Hang* and *Balenciaga Pour Homme*. The last one is almost impossible to fine, but it is really quite exquisite, and I have a sense from your descriptions of what you like and don't like in orientals, that you'll like this one.

Regards,

scentemental
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post #16 of 18
10/7/05 at 10:53am
I stumbled across this site that sells their own traditional orientals:
http://www.oriscent.com/index.php
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post #17 of 18
10/7/05 at 11:27am
Thread Starter 
Wow! Thanks for all these info!

VV
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post #18 of 18
10/8/05 at 11:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cedriceccentric

Just for the record...
Last week I was showing a perfume to a customer. I explained to the lady that this particular perfumes was an Oriental. She answered in a rather bitchy way that she had traveled all over Asia and the people over there just didn't wear perfumes of that type, that it was a western misconception... blah, blah, blah...
So I made the widest smile possible and said: "Madame, when the term Oriental-note was introduced in perfumers-talk more than a century ago, they were refering to the ambery perfumes of the "Moyen-Orient" or "Arabia". Orientals have nothing to do with Asia."

Aw come on! You gotta finish the story! What was her reaction to your comment??
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