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Why no love for fresh stuff?

post #1 of 17
5/6/06 at 7:29pm
Thread Starter 
After years of going mostly scent-less (damn allergies) I'm now able to begin indulging again. Â*I feel like Rip Van Winkle having missed years of men's perfumery trends. Â* This site is a great resource for information and opinions- a great help (as well as an instigation for what I can see will quickly become a decant obsession).
After some of the heavier, choking scents of the 80s I was really beginning to like the fresh scents being introduced about the time I "stopped using". Â*Though just starting up again I'm liking Issey, Gendarme, L'eau par Kenzo, etc. Â*But as I read through the current reviews and sample some of the current niche favorites, it seems that citrus, marine, and fresh scents are frequently dismissed as "same old, same old" and even dissed as belonging in the range of teen-style juice like Axe (!) Â*And some scents that seem to be Basenote faves (while quite pleasant) seem downright feminine to me. Â*Examples would include Creed SMW & Gier (cherry? I thought cherry was for tweener-girl lip gloss!!!). Â*I'm trying to stay open minded; would someone care to expound on these trends? Â*TIA
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post #2 of 17
5/6/06 at 7:41pm
Hey, you make some great points! I think members of the board are divided. Some dislike the fresh scents because they want to be unique from what everyone else is smelling like. Like you said, the trend seems to be fresh scents! Also, other scents seem to be more complicated then the fresh scents on the market. The use of different materials and spices make unique notes. I guess Basenoters want to "push the envelope" so to speak.

Also, everyone has their own preferences. I'm sure most of the trend with fresh scents is due to word of mouth. Most of the fragrances Basenoters use are not well known outside particular circles, so I'm sure that is why they use such distinct fragrances.
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post #3 of 17
5/6/06 at 7:51pm
However, I think Basenoters do like fresh stuff, maybe just not the common stuff.


Oh, and Welcome to Basenotes.
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post #4 of 17
5/7/06 at 12:50pm
Some of Basenoters' favorite scents are quite fresh and complex: Millesime Imperial, Live Jazz, M7 Fresh, Bleecker Street, Body Kouros, Chrome, Green irish tweed, etc, etc.

I don't really think of any of those scents as 'feminine' by themselves; after all, the person makes the scent, not the other way around. There are plently of women who would smell great wearing Kouros or other men's scents, and the opposite is also true. There have been some knock-down, drag-out debates on this subject in the fragrance discussion boards, so obviously there is some disagreement.

I recommend that you wear whatever makes you comfortable, whether that's Yatagan or Shalimar.


-ben
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post #5 of 17
5/7/06 at 3:40pm
Hi Jim-

I think the anti-fresh thing on basenotes is a bcklash asgainst two things:

1. Fresh is popular. If you are gonna buy a cologne without thinking about it, by just letting the Sales Associate put whatever in your bag, youw ill en dup with some fresh aqua thing. This breeds a kind of reactionary impulse on Basenotes. We are a subculture, in that we care a lot about this stuff, and so we won't just go along with the hegemony.

2. There is something bashful about fresh colognes. They are like self-hating fragrances somehow, like they are trying to project "heavens no, Im not wearing COLOGNE, not me! I'm just shower fresh" and shower fresh is easy. We all have soap in our bathrooms and water in our pipes, so why spend money to smell like, well, nothing much at all. We are out of the fragrance closet, and don't mind a frag that says "I'm Here! I'm Perfume! I refuse to be ashamed!" Maybe its a conspicious consumption thing; I like to think us Basenoters are renegades with a rare aesthetic appreciation who reject nonsense about it being "feminine" to adorn oneself. Iconclastic revolutionaries shattering social conventions is probably more like it.
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post #6 of 17
5/7/06 at 5:54pm
I honestly LOVE fresh scents on a guy! I just bought Gendarme's Mo Jo for my husband, who doesn't usually wear cologne at all. I love it on him. I found it on the Basenotes directory while looking up Gendarme scents.
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post #7 of 17
5/7/06 at 9:07pm
I like fresh scents, in fact I just ordered Gendarme V. The fresh scents are ideal for work, where you are interfacing with alot of people and want to smell nice, but not over powering. Nights and weekends are better suited for the stronger scents.

What I've learned here on BN is that while you can wear any fragrance at any time, it's so much better to have the flexability in your wardrobe to match your scent with your clothes and social situation.
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post #8 of 17
5/8/06 at 3:29am
I wear fresh scents in the heat and humidity. They are more or less worry free under those conditions.
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post #9 of 17
5/8/06 at 9:55am
Oh Im not saying I don't like them, I love m7 fresh, bulgari aqua, gendarme, even echo. Im just explaining the general stance against them.
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post #10 of 17
5/8/06 at 12:38pm
I don't care about what some people say...
I like Polo Blue, Cool Water Deep, Echo, Chrome, Crave, Versace Metal Jeans and so on...
And I'm also a big fan of classics scents!
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post #11 of 17
5/8/06 at 6:33pm
o and how could i forget to list LIVE JAZZ!
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post #12 of 17
5/8/06 at 7:51pm
In my opinion, the BN rebellion against freshness is mostly due its popularity. Every year there are more new frags than the year before, but that hasn't really translated to more variety. So many things are (roughly) related to the most successful scents of recent years like Acqua di Gio, Eternity, etc. Gendarme is a perfect example of a unique fresh scent, but then again it is something like 15 years old. Also, as has been mentioned, fresh usually points to safety, but we often like to push some limits I personally enjoy fresh, but never bland.

Also, you will find that Basenotes is increadibly seasonal. Once summer is in full swing, people won't shut up about fresh scents.
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post #13 of 17
5/8/06 at 8:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FatTony

I personally enjoy fresh, but never bland.

Ah, well said! This was the point I was trying to make -- You summed it up well. ;D
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post #14 of 17
5/8/06 at 9:08pm
It is is my humble opinion that Fresh scents have been recycled into new ones so often that people don't trust them anymore and they lose their appreal. There are so many notes that can create a fresh scent (vetiver, green notes, patchouli...) that they just don't seem to be worth it. Everyone who owns a bottle has something fresh or has at some point. It is usually what they go for first because it is 'clean' and 'sophisticated' smelling but most of all it gets girls' attention.

Orientals are like this too. They are rich in Amber and Vanilla but they are not popular among the common crowd of your everday shopper. They become more appealing for that reason. Everyone is their own person and unique is a trend that continues to attract people.

For "us" here on basenotes, those fresh scents seem elementary because we know so much better than to get AdG. We know how popular it is. We also know tons of alternatives that are less common. I feel like it is more the commonality of certain fresch scents that turn us off. They are a trend because people love them. We are the only ones who would notice if someone was wearind AdG. It is a mind trick that makes us think more of the alternatives because we know better. Fresh/summer scents are not bad at all, just common and we don't like that.

EnvYuS
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post #15 of 17
5/10/06 at 4:35pm
Oh, and the longetivity of fresh scents usually sucks.




Seriously, that's a big problem for me with a LOT of all the fresh scents. :-/
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post #16 of 17
5/15/06 at 12:33am
  • Ged
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zen-diego

Â*But as I read through the current reviews and sample some of the current niche favorites, it seems that citrus, marine, and fresh scents are frequently dismissed as "same old, same old" and even dissed as belonging in the range of teen-style juice like Axe (!) Â*

Good point - I've noticed this too. Some of the "Fresh" scents which I love, and still feel very unique wearing, are:

Eau Sauvage (believe it or not, no-one in australia seems to wear it)
Guerlain Vetiver (ditto)
Bvlgari PH
FM Vetiver Extraordinaire
Dunhill Edition
Armani Eau PH
Creed GIT
VCA Zanzibar

I don't think anyone could bag any of these frags as not being classy enough, too adolescent, etc. These are a great summer arsenal for me, without feeling like everyone else.

Of the ultra-common ones, I think Issey is probably the best, although Bvlgari Aqua is pretty good.

Ged
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post #17 of 17
5/15/06 at 1:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ged

[quote author=zen-diego link=1146968950/0#0 date=1146968950] Â*But as I read through the current reviews and sample some of the current niche favorites, it seems that citrus, marine, and fresh scents are frequently dismissed as "same old, same old" and even dissed as belonging in the range of teen-style juice like Axe (!) Â*

.............
Of the ultra-common ones, I think Issey is probably the best, although Bvlgari Aqua is pretty good.

Ged
[/quote]

Agreed! Â*Issey (the original one) is quite decent. Â*When I was getting into fragrances a few years ago, I
thought I wanted something subtle, not too loud. Â*Fresh scents generally fit that bill. Â*As I became more
familiar with the range of fragrance options available, I wanted to have more variety in my wardrobe.
As I acquired more, I found that the Modern Fresh category (Issey, Acqua di Gio, Polo Blue) are some
of my least favorite, but that's mostly because the others I like are really great, and the Modern Fresh
ones are just average. Â*Still, average is decent, and I'd not feel bad wearing average scents. Â*I just
prefer great ones.
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Basenotes › Basenotes Forums › Fragrance Discussion › Just Starting Out › Why no love for fresh stuff?