I own no niche fragrances ......Yet

hi! too own over 80 fragrances but have recently build up on the niche ones as well.

wat is your top ten fav. fragrances first.. & maybe i can recommend a couple of niche.

some of my favourites are from annick goutal, l'artisan, serge lutens & penhaligon's.

Smellit,
Sounds like a great project you're setting yourself. I wish I were back at that stage so I could do the very same thing.

Like all things in scents the houses are a matter of the recommender's taste. So I'm glad to tell you which ones have excited my nose the most.

If I were in your shoes I'd pick out two niche houses and go after a few of their scents at the same time. I think we learn quickest and most thoughtfully with experiences of contrast, so trying two will give a sense of what qualities of each house are unique to that house. (Maybe one would get the same thing testing the second house after the first house has been tested, but that still pushes things off a bit. I like testing houses against each other.)

Creed might be one of the easiest houses to test for its availability, and you'd come out with a knowledge of the "Creed note," or the standard Creed base, or whatever we call it. The idea of house note and house "vision" is useful in thinking about a house's art and discussing it here. Easy enough to get a smattering of the recent Creed greats: Bois du Portugal, Silver Mountain Water, Green Irish Tweed, Tabarome, and try to step back to their older stuff too, if available. Royal English Leather, Santal Imperial, Vetiver (from 1948).

Diptyque is also a fantastic learner house I think. Still my favorite house. Devotion to artistry, the natual smelling weirdness of the world, and edgy, out there, agressive creations. Standouts have to be L'Ombre dans l'Eau, Opôné, Virgilio, Tam Dao, Eau Lente. When you really want to push yourself try the standout L'Autre. Reviled by many, but a pure delight to wear. Many say Diptyque stuff smells like a health food store. That is a very insightful comment. But the house uses roses and whatever it picks for its basenotes, to incredible effect. On me they are all very long lasting.

L'Artisan Parfumeur is should be another candidate. Great stuff across a wide range of fragrances. Voleur de Rose is standout, so is Passage d'Enfer. Santal if you can still get it, Vetiver if you can get it, Dzing! should be smelled, and the simple clean delight of Patchouli Patch deserves a nice try--an underrated beauty I think.

These are all good starter houses. They may not be the last word in fragrance according to your nose and the experience you're going to give the nose, but that is what learning is for. There's stuff to learn after the first step. I've listed these because they're available (Creed), wild and in character (Diptyque), and general yet beautiful and creative (L'Artisan).

Pick any other house instead though. You can't go wrong.
Happy smelling!
--Chris

Id actually recommend trying a few different niche houses, maybe getting one fragrance from 3-4 different houses. Here is what Id recommend:

Santal Noble from Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier. Santal Noble is one of the best mens fragrances ever made, and it embodies the theme of Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier. A beautiful woody fragrance. This is a must own in any collection, IMHO.

LArtisan is a harder house to pin down, because their creations are very original. LArtisan has a HUGE line, so Id recommend just picking one that looks like it would most fit you. Here are a few popular ones.
-Voleur de Roses is a unique earthy rose based fragrance. VdR is a dark and brooding floral fragrance that is also pretty wearable.
-Mechant Loup is a very nice sweet fragrance with a dark and mysterious edge. ML has notes of Hazlenut and Honey over a resinous base.
-Mure et Musc. I had to throw in a fragrance wearable in the summer. Mure et Musc is a vivacious blend of berries, citrus, and musk. Its fun and wearable anytime, but perfect for summer.

Piper Nigrum by Lorenzo Villoresi. Piper Nigrum has a huge fan base here, and its actually an interesting fragrance. An almost minty pepper based fragrance. Its interesting, masculine, spicy, and most of all, its a wonderful display of Villoresis generous style.

Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens is probably my favorite Ambre interpretation. Ambre Sultan is warm, spicy, and very uninhibited. Serge Lutens is the king of rich and exotic orientals, and Ambre Sultan is one of the better examples of that. Arabie is arguably a better example, but its a bit harder to get into.

Musc Raveguer by Frederic Malle is an incredibly well made fragrance. A rich and exotic oriental musk fragrance with a contemporary theme. Its sweet and warm. This is like the far east meets the urban city. Amazing stuff.

I second the Santal Noble. If you love wood notes (or even if you don't),you HAVE TO try this amazing MPG!

Jeff

I'd recommend heading to http://lusciouscargo.com/ where you can order 7 samples for $12.50. Also, in the future if you place an order there you get a choice of three samples per order. Highly recommended.

Cheers

Certainly if Creed is niche (it is) then so must be CdG, after all you still won't find any CdG from fragnet or pfumespot, and never at a discount! So, I'd say Incense or CdG2 is considerable. Creed is a must. Probably best to start there since they can be had for under $100 and that's big bottles, just check http://www.fragrnacenet.com for those deals. I'd suggest Himalaya, New Tabarome, or Original Vetiver for starters. Especially Himalaya. Another I'd recommend is MPG Jardin du Nil, especially now during the summer. OV is also a good summer choice. It is much better and develops quite differently than other rumored to be similar stuff.

In a way you have my sympathy as well as my encouragement. From the first sniff at the Aedes samples I just knew I was going into debt. I was up to fifty and suddenly realized that most of them were going to go. I've shed over twenty since then and acquired about as many. I've kept some of the better mainstreamers but in all honesty, for the most part, I'd gladly trade off what is left for a few well selected niches.

I too, recently started to explore the niche houses and I'm having so much fun (as long as my $$ holds out!).

I would HIGHLY recomend an Ebay store called Liqid Art located here -

http://stores.ebay.com/Liquid-Art_W0...erLinksQQtZkm?

This guy sells 1/3 oz decants of some of the best fragrences out there for between $14 and $34. He also happens to be one of the best seelers I've delt with.

I won't give you a list of my favorites, since there's little chance that we share the same tastes, but I would encourage you to sample/sniff a LOT. Aedes in NY sells a set of samples (seven of your choice for about $15.00, I believe), shipping included. They have a tremendous selection of niche fragrances. If you live near NY, go there by all means as well as Barney's.

Definitely start with Creed, their fragrances are the closest to the mainstream frags(scent-wise). Other goods ones to start with are:

Bond 9
L'Occitane
Fresh Index
Demeter
Jo Malone
Annick Goutal
Diptyque

Then you can move on to something like L'Artisan, MPG, LV, CDG, Serge Lutens.........these ones can be either ultra-formal or ultra-strange, might be overwhelming at first, that's why i dont recommend them too soon.

If you have been NICHED once you always come back for more !!

Sample sample sample!

And look to purchasing decants once you decide which ones you like, since you've already got a very large collection (assuming the fifty or sixty you referenced are all full bottles).

Beyond that, only your nose will know what are outstanding and what are not.

I'd lke to add Etro to the list. Even tohugh it's a fashion house, their fragrances are decidedly niche. My favourites for Etro are Messe de Minuit and Gomma, an incense and a leather scent respectively.

Other brands I like are: Frederic Malle http://www.editionsdeparfums.com/ and L'Artisan http://www.laboutiquedelartisanparfu...ex.php?lang=uk

Both of these make highly original and good quality fragrances.