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Perfume Families you dislike !

post #1 of 33
12/7/06 at 9:58am
Thread Starter 
I've noticed some people will generalize and say that they 'don't like Chypres' or 'can't stand Gourmands' or 'don't go for Orientals'. Just out of curiosity, what is your pet hate perfume family? And what in particular is it about those types of perfumes that you dislike?
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post #2 of 33
12/7/06 at 10:13am
Florals are what I like least (I like some Floral scents, though), especially the ones I call "Attack of the 50 Foot Flowers" meaning high-pitched screaming white Florals with killer gardenia and tuberose notes, possibly also hyacinth.
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post #3 of 33
12/7/06 at 10:41am
Mass-market fruity florals, the one's I call, "Bowls o' Pudding". Yeesh.
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post #4 of 33
12/7/06 at 10:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tigrushka

Florals are what I like least (I like some Floral scents, though), especially the ones I call "Attack of the 50 Foot Flowers" meaning high-pitched screaming white Florals with killer gardenia and tuberose notes, possibly also hyacinth.

Orientals are what I like least, although like tigs, and since coming to basenotes, I have found some I really love. I approach any fragrance with an amber base with extreme reluctance, and the combination of amber and clove will send me to the hills, gasping as I go. There is a thick, resinous, heavy wall-o-fragrance quality to spice/amber that smells chemical and toxic to me, as though it might be pushing the oxygen molecules off my red blood cells.

I'd consider a blind buy on anything with gardenia and hyacinth,
although there is a high-pitched screaming pikake jasmine note that makes me long for Opium and Cinnabar and Youth Dew.
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post #5 of 33
12/7/06 at 11:04am
HEAVY orientals with lots of thick and spicy notes (Youth Dew, Cinnabar, Opium).

VERY SWEET fruited fragrances that also contain gourmand notes.

GRAND LADY chypres, or prim and fussy chypres.

TIARE reigns as a dastardly floral to me, although I enjoy many other florals.

ALDEHYDES for the most part, especially in scents with rose/violet.

POX ON POWDER!
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post #6 of 33
12/7/06 at 11:11am
Chypres for me. On me they come up all pepper and it's just NOT appealing. Maybe I'll grow into them in time, but for now, I steer clear.

I also am not fond of heavy aldehydes. A little is okay, but if it's heavy, I can't stand it. Smells like lipstick wax to me.
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post #7 of 33
12/7/06 at 11:30am
I don´t find any citrus or floral-greens among my perfumes. I don´t dislike them, they just doasn´t speak to me...
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post #8 of 33
12/7/06 at 12:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lalage

I've noticed some people will generalize and say that they 'don't like Chypres' or 'can't stand Gourmands' or 'don't go for Orientals'. Just out of curiosity, what is your pet hate perfume family? And what in particular is it about those types of perfumes that you dislike?

Feel I lack discrimination.

Haven't got any yet.

Check back in a year! :bounce:
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post #9 of 33
12/7/06 at 12:33pm
I'll echo some of those above: Orientals don't trip my trigger, and I haven't smelled anything from a department store I'd want.
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post #10 of 33
12/7/06 at 12:52pm
I'm not big on florals, especially soliflorals. I don't really like clean or citrus-y scents either. (I'm sure there might be exceptions ... )

Bring on the orientals!
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post #11 of 33
12/7/06 at 1:00pm
Not that I dislike them so much as that they are not something that appeals to me, or bears any reflection to who I am, and those would be: Citrus scents. I don’t think I even own a single bottle of a citrus fragrance out of all the scent I own. There was one however, I loved and that one might still come back into my summer rotation: Eau Vitaminée.

Chypres I find difficult, but that does not mean that I would not wear them. I just need more time getting to understand them and have been successful in falling for a few: Agent Provocateur, Cuir Améthyste, Lovely, Aromatics Elixir, Chance and Jolie Madame to name a few, (ok that's more then few), but are they really chypres?

So perhaps it’s Aldehydes I have the most difficulty with. Chanel Nº5 is just all wrong on me, same with Clinique Wrappings. I can’t even pull off Dolce & Gabbana Classique or Champs Elysées-Too Much and I love the original or Champs Elysées. Are all these scents indeed Aldehydes? I wonder why they are so wrong for me…
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post #12 of 33
12/7/06 at 1:34pm
I would say florals. Not that they smell bad, I have worn them to the point of just getting tired of them. I do still have a thing for Jasmine, Pikaki, the more tropical the better. If the synthetic flower is second fiddle to spice, wood, fruit, musk, or chypres, it's fine. Just not flowers by themselves. I do grow flowers and like to smell them on others.
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post #13 of 33
12/7/06 at 2:08pm
It pretty much depends on what phase I'm in.

The really heavy hitting spicy Orientals do not seem to love me. I don't dislike them on others, but they are overwhelming on me.
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post #14 of 33
12/7/06 at 3:50pm
Goodness I must be a scent-whore, there is not a particular family I dislike!
I hate cedar notes, other than that I love 'em all.... FLORAL,ORIENTAL,GREEN,CITRUS,CHYPRE,ALDEHYDE GIMME!!!
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post #15 of 33
12/7/06 at 3:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tinker424

Goodness I must be a scent-whore, there is not a particular family I dislike!
[/I]

LOL! Guess I´m a scent-whore, too!
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post #16 of 33
12/7/06 at 4:13pm
There are expetions in the families I don't like all that much, but not too happy about fruity stuff,most florals feels al wrong for me...., and finally aldehydes!
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post #17 of 33
12/7/06 at 6:24pm
I think I'm the odd one here. Aldehydes seem to be something many people dislike, but they seem (so far) to really agree with me. I tried Chanel No. 5 the other night and was prepared to dislike it or at least be bored by it, and it turns out I REALLY liked it!
I'm not sure if there is some common denominator, but the two scents that I really can't stand are Opium and Sung. I was surprised not to like Opium, because I thought I really liked spices, but it's just too much for me. I don't know if it's the spices that do it; there is just some overwhelming, suffocating thing in both those two that does me in. I also don't like Or Noir (Pascale Morabito) or Muscs Kuoblai Khan. Could it be musks that I don't like?
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post #18 of 33
12/7/06 at 6:46pm
If I'm supposed to eat it, then it doesn't appeal to me. Chocolate smells way too synthetic to me. Bad, cloying, disgusting synthetic, not the good synthetic.
- Rich
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post #19 of 33
12/7/06 at 6:54pm
Florals and especially soliflorals if I had to pick one family -- and if there's too much sweet fruit with the flower notes that doubles the ick factor for me.
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post #20 of 33
12/7/06 at 7:23pm
I am not a big fan of white florals or marine scents, mostly because they seem to be the main culprit of my "hated metallic note". If you like, you can read this thread that I posted about my hated note. There are some very astute Basenoters that helped me narrow it down! http://community.basenotes.net/showthread.php?t=189885
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post #21 of 33
12/8/06 at 12:48am
Dislike maybe is too strong, but in general, I like gourmand scents less than other scents.
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post #22 of 33
12/8/06 at 6:09am
I don't dislike gourmands, but I cannot wear them because they make me hungry.
Other than that, I'm a scent-whore, too. Aldehydes, chypres, Si! Si! Si!
I thought I disliked some notes, but after joining Basenotes and getting more exposure, I find that I like everything in the right context.
Mind you, I wouldn't buy everything, but I use and enjoy every sample I receive--even if I don't like them enough to buy them.
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post #23 of 33
12/8/06 at 9:25am
I don't really dislike any particular family, but generally speaking, I am more attracted to deeper, complex, multi-faceted scents. I find that most citrus scents are not like that, and also not all florals. Most of the perfumes that I love fall under the Chypre or Oriental category. There are a few florientals and a few florals, and a few very rare citrus scents that get me excited and are in my list of favourites.
But I don't negate a whole family of scents, just as I don't do that with specific notes. i.e.: even though I don't like marine notes, generally speaking, I do like how they are used in Le Parfum de Therese, En Passant and l'Eau d'Issey parfum.
I try to keep an open mind. And as time goes by and I learn more about perfumes and perfumery, it seems like it gets more and more open...
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post #24 of 33
3/5/07 at 12:32pm
I guess for me it's not really a whole family either, but I like gourmands the least, and anything that has that heavy, syrupy, cloying sweetness like the Frangippani or Queen of the Nile flower. It's off to the bathroom for some hot water and soap!
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post #25 of 33
3/5/07 at 1:45pm
I can't give a particular family, I just know I don't like extremely flowery, powdery, or sugary sweet. Like I've said on another post, I especially don't like a rose scent, wish I did. That note is in alot of nice perfumes. I don't like fruity too much, but I can handle that better than the above mentioned.
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post #26 of 33
3/5/07 at 2:06pm
I don't think I'd rule out a single genre, because there's such variation within each one. I do quite like gourmands, for example, but can't wear Angel. I'm still looking for an ambery/musk that works on me - although thinking about it l'Instant and Tolu are both pretty gorgeous and I think they have amber. I like florals, and aldehydes, and orientals, and used to love Clinique AE. Didn't think I liked many citrus-y scents, but Hermes E de M was yummy, and I was very taken by the Malle Bigarade this week.

I think it's like one of my friends said about chocolate - really she prefers Cadbury to Galaxy but at the end of the day it's still all chocolate
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post #27 of 33
3/5/07 at 3:47pm
No family that I object to a priori, but chocolate does NOT smell good to me at all - in perfume, that is.
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post #28 of 33
3/6/07 at 1:54am
Whilst there are certain notes I dislike quite intensely (violet, certain musks), the only family I really detest is marine/aquatics.
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post #29 of 33
3/6/07 at 4:43am
Anything with cucumber
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post #30 of 33
3/6/07 at 6:05am
Three months later and I still haven't found anything to dislike. Not-prefer-as-much, maybe - but nothing I can't wear. One of the many advantages of old-er age. When I was younger and "where the whores moaned, there moaned I" (to crib from A. Huxley) many 'fumes screeched and p--ed all over me. Today my more mature body and drier skin have tamed them into the beauties they can be. Ma Griffe and Bal a Versailles come to mind.

So whereas "Scent whore" doesn't quite describe me (I don't get paid to wear them!!) ..."indiscriminate" still does! :bounce:
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post #31 of 33
3/6/07 at 8:22am
Dislike?..the few...the proud...the marines! I HATE "oceanic" scents
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post #32 of 33
3/6/07 at 9:07am
Megaflorals tend to smell like wet dog on my skin for some reason, with some exceptions, such as Yves Saint Laurent Paris and Chanel N5. Creed Love in White turns nasty within five minutes on me, and this makes me sad because I love how it smells in the bottle. This also happened with a couple others that had a great many flowers as top notes, and would be classified as florals, but I don't remember what they were since I didn't care for them anyway. Now I'm actually kind of curious about what ingredient(s) causes some of these florals to turn ugly on me.

That aside, I hate most ulrafruity scents. Escada Sunset Heat smells like a punch bowl to me. However, I like some of them--I think it has to do with whether or not it seems "synthetic" to me.
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post #33 of 33
3/6/07 at 11:11am
Anything fruity. They all smell so sickly sweet and artificial to me. Also not keen on 'oceanic' fragrances. They seem to lack complexity to me & make me think of toilet cleaners.
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