A stranger in a strange land...

I've been doing a lot of nosing at the perfume shop and I have to say that my tastes have suprised me.

The "good" part is that I've been rescued from the aquatic scents that everyone is wearing, but I find myself someplace I didn't expect to be.

Actually on the subject of the aquatics, I think that they were the first that I really liked, back when l'eaud'issey first rolled out. My initial round of nosing only confirmed this, and I only liked Aqua di Gio, Dolce Gabbana PH, and Issey still, of the various things I sampled. I decided to yield to this, and look at the rest of the marine/aqua family. But I couldn't really find anything other than the Kenzos.

I tried Kenzo PH - I expected to like this. Dark rotten green seaweed. Â*Yuck. Also L'eau Kenzo - breezier saltier green seaweed. The same smell from further up on the beach.

Several other things made no special impression: Versace Metal Jeans - bland, Vera Wang - nice but nothing special, Azzaro Chrome, Emporio Armania, Armani Mania, etc.

Things I ran away from? Givenchy PH. Burberry Brit.

I also retried some of the things I used to own in my twenties: Obsession, Egoiste, Safari - all were repellant.

One that suprised me was Lalique Equus. I expected to like the regular Lalique and was let down, and tried Equus as a lark, The mangoish top note caught my attention immediately. I still need to try this on my skin.

Clinique Happy is another one that stood out from the crowd for me. Best of the fresh scents that I nosed. I would choose this over Issey, Aqua di Gio, and that lot.

But my three favourites thus far? Two are things I didn't even expect to try.

1. A*Men Â*This I tried just as a lark, and it won me over immediately. On my skin, simply wonderful. Sweet and silky. It is almost like I am not wearing a fragrance and this is coming out of my skin naturally.

2. Le Male Â*This one is stronger, with a meatier note in the body, and more complexity. OTOH, the typical sense of being perfumed. Can seem a little strong at times.

3. Lolita Lempicka Â*This one caught my attention as being a little different, with something interesting about it. I haven't tried it on my skin yet, but I keep coming back to it. Mysteriously appealing.

I almost feel like I could make a trio of Lolita, A*Men, and Clinique Happy and have all of the bases covered. Thus far I had to put the brakes on to keep from impulsively buying A*Men.

Given these results, is there anything else I should be looking at? There was no Creed at my perfume shop (Perfumania Plus). As far as I could tell, none of the artisan perfumers. I'd probably have to make the trek to Neimans to find anything unusual.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. It's always a bit nervous, posing on a new forum,




I think I already see what you mean. I tried Givenchy Pi and Lolita Lempicka AM on my skin today, and having just tried Le Male and A*Men yesterday, I find that choosing amongst them is very much an exercise in splitting hairs, and I don't see needing a collection of scents which are too similar. I was a bit swept away yesterday when I discovered these "gourmand" scents, but I'm gaining some perspective.

Givenchy Pi - this brings a buttery feel to this family of scents, reminding me of nothing so much as freshly cut, warm pound cake. A very cohesive scent too - you really have to put your nose against the point of application to decontruct it and see the underlying floral compostion. Somehow it all comes together to make cake.

Lolita Lempicka aM - Mixed feelings. I appreciate its softer, a bit less sweet character, but honestly I don't care for the licorice top note. I wasn't getting this on the card but it jumps straight out at you when on the skin. Yes, that mostly goes away after awhile, but I don't like the idea of not enjoying the whole scent as it unfolds.

So I let myself buy that bottle of A*Men that's been waiting for me. I'll live with this for a week or two before considering anything else. The girl at the perfume shop said, "Just one? But you smelled like a hundred things!"

I picked up the classification "gourmand" this morning while searching the basenotes Yahoo archive. Is this a new family of fragrances (like the aquatics)? What is its origin?

I tried Chanel Allure. It was okay, and fit well enough with this crowd. Once the top notes wore down it took on a very typical Chanel smell to me, before moving on again. Made me think of No. 5 for a while. I haven't run across any of the other suggested scents yet. I'm curious about Cristobal and M7.

Living with A*Men, I absolutely love it, though wearing it sometimes it feels a little light on me. I'm still experimenting with different points of application. Honestly, I'd almost lke to bathe in it.

From this point I'm thinking that I would want something a bit more floral, maybe a little stronger (spicier?), with more evolution over time.

Separately, I wonder if my ideal edt would be akin to the scent of the strong oriental pipe tobaccos that I used to love - like Balkan Sasienie and and Dunhill 965, which were heavy with smoked Latakia. I wonder, is there anything in the sweet oriental family which also boasts smoky and tobacco notes?

Nosed a few more things today:

Armani Black Code. Nothing remarkable. Very light compared to all of the other orientals. I can see the "light Le Male" description.

YSL Opium - This caught me at first, but there is this sweet middle note in it, something that I think that Versace Dreamer also has, which is mouth watering (literally) then nauseating. I love the floral part, but that particular sweet note is unpleasant for me.

YSL M7 - I get very little from this once the light floral top note evaporates. Just the scent of damp wood. I get a lot more from this on a card than on my skin. I very much like the card scent.

Kouros - just totally repellant.

Guerlain Vetivier - reminds me of M7 - a wood note topped by florals. If stronger. But not to my taste.

I'm beginning to get the feeling that I don't have a good nose for woods, and if I am liking a scent based on wood notes, then it is probably despite that.

Today's notes:

Gucco Envy - Seem okays. More a spicy/floral oriental to me. I get very little sweetness. Not really appealing. It has that distinct, harsh perfume note which I dislike.

Body Kouros - Kind of similar to Envy, though dominantly floral. I'd say, even less sweet.

Marc Jacobs - The fig note was very peculiar. I love figs, but I wonder at actually smelling like figs. It does seem to sink into the background the way the anise does in Lolita Lempicka, though it lacks Lolita's mysterious charm.

B*Men - with A*Men as my only EDT right now I was predisposed to like this, and was disappointed. It reminds me of Guerlain's Vetivier. Wood overlaid with flowers. Again, I don't get much from it scent wise. I don't think I care for these heavily wood centered scents. They give me more of a feeling of warmth than a detectable odour. Like the subwoofer of an audio system mainly gives you bass that you feel rather than hear.

Joop! - I was surprised at how nice this was. Spicy, floral, some sweetness, but more tangy than sweet. I'd still prefer something like Le Male, but this is probably as close to a fresh oriental as I could get. I feel it lacks something, a sense of body - Pi would be an example of something that I found to be full-bodied.

Hmm. Not sure what is next to try.

I have tried Dolce & Gabbana PH, and I do like it. Of the things I've tried so far, my likes would list as:

1. A*Men
2. Le Male
3. Happy
4. Pi
5. Dolce&Gabbana PH
6. Lolita Lempicka

I was pretty close to buying Dolce & Gabbana PH, until I tested the gourmand orientals.

Heh. I'm single and my roomate has sinus issues. He didn't even notice that I had bought an EDT, and A*Men at that.

I tried a couple more today, of course:

Rochas Man - this is one more for the likes list. Somewhere between Pi and A*Men in signature, but less sweet. Softer, spicier, more refined if less heady than A*Men, and less body than either. A very nice scent though. I seem to recall cinnamon, maybe? I think it might be a better choice for work. I notice one advantage it had over A*Men is that it doesn't get yucky if I have to do something Â*very physical and get hot and sweaty, or if I am out in the summer heat. Normally I am at a desk, a/c'ed - but not always.

Dolce & Gabbana By Man - only okay. Another light interpretation of floral and sweet. I don't care for the paricular notes in this one. I think PH is better by a mile.

Versace Blue Jeans - same as above.

Perry Ellis 360 White - Le Male without the balls.

The SA foisted her whole favourites list of probably a dozen frags on me, but I let her since my own list of things left to try was pretty short. Incanto was okay until I tried it on my skin, Rive Gauche no thanks, Bijan Wicked, Cerruti 1881, and a host of other minor frags that I hadn' heard of - I was willing to be surprised by something unexpected. No luck.

I havent been able to find Cristobal, Laguna, or Jaipur PH, but I'll get to them eventually. I picked up a small bottle of Clinique Happy, so now I have at least one option, until I can afford more. I'm happy with my start so far. Plenty of things still left to check out. I haven't even touched on niche fragrances yet.

I keep trying Le Male and almost buying and planning to buy it, and today I tried it on skin again today and passed. Instead I bought Rochas Man.

I guess chocolate is my ultimate basenote, now with A*Men with its creamy milk chocolate, and Rochas Man with its dark powdery cocoa, forming my wardrobe. I did buy Clinique Happy, but now I have a bt of buyers remorse. It is a very well composed fragrance and it was a logical purchase to add a different option, but in retrospect I see that it doesn't mean that I wan't to smell like it. Oh well.

I also checked Animale Animale today, and I liked the top-notes - a more primitive A*Men it seemed to me - but the dry down left it a very typically 80's-ish nose-stinging perfumey thing. I don't like the overly prominent wood note.

I also checked Angel proper. I've heard many say that it is superior to A*Men. Strangely, I found it quite repellant, dominated by a very pungent berry note. Yuck.

BTW, is Rochas considered a niche fragrance?

Thanks everyone.

I'll definitely hold off buying anything else for a while. I want to see how these two actually wear in everyday use. To what degree do they fit, to what degree not. Then from there, what else would I like.

I wore Rochas Man for the first time today. I had thought from my trial that this might be a better work wear scent than A*Men, but actually I find its dark velvety smoothness suggests relaxed evening wear to me, while the vibrancy of A*Men fits the daytime. OTOH, Rochas Man hold up really well in the summer heat. If anything it seems to open up more when it gets a little warm. A*Men, can get a bit yucky in the the heat unless you are really restrained wih the application.

If I can be permitted a moment of romanticism, I've kind of got this platonic idea of a frangrance in my head. Something rich and floral, and spicy, full-bodied. I see something exotic and oriental. Freshly ground spices, honey, smoke, incense.

Think the Count of Monte Cristo in his opulent excess, or the disheveled Han Solo in the Mos Eisley cantina.

I'd read about those special deals at marshalls and I found Guerlain's Heritage and Vetiver there. No sealed boxes alas, but I tried both on the skin. My impression of vetiver only worsened. Powerful, pungent, and very unpleasant. I had to wash my hand three times to get it off and it still isn't quite gone.

Heritage was a very pleasant suprise. I like this very much. If there had been a sealed package on the display I would have gone back to pick one up. I guess I'm easily taken with lavender, bergamot, patchouli, and tonka. I've read many comments of this being a very strong scent, but it seems very soft to me, very modest if enduring.