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From hatred to love? From love to hatred?

post #1 of 26
1/16/07 at 10:41am
Thread Starter 
I imagine this must be a common experience?

When I try something different from what I'm used to, I usually immediately dislike and even hate it. Then at some point either it "clicks" and I understand it and often adore it, or else it's just rubbish. That's one reason I most often buy blind. If I went by first impressions I would never get anything new.

I had this experience with some of my favourites like
Opium EDP - indifference/dislike
Eau d'Orange Verte - extreme dislike
Silver Mountain Water - dislike (I thought it had gone rancid!)
Xeryus Rouge - indifference
Body Kouros - extreme dislike
Fumerie Turque - dislike
Zino - disgust

I even wrote a couple of scathing reviews of some of these scents! I have Opium EDP a neutral, and meanwhile I wear it almost every evening. Since then I've learned to wait a week before reviewing anything! I actually bought Opium EDP even though I hated Opium EDT. Sometimes something seems almost right, even if I hate it, and I want that thing that I'm imagining.


I had the converse experience with Bvlgari Black. I was at my parents and my mother had some, and I just loved it. I promptly ordered some online, and it just gives me a headache and I can't wear it without needing to wash it off.


In music I have this experience all the time. I remember the first time I head Tom Waits' "Bone Machine" in a store I thought it was awful unintelligible gibberish and random clunking. I couldn't make any sense of it. I'm always curious when I hate something that's different (vs something that I've head a million times) and so I went for another go, and then another. And then it hit me! Now it's an all time favourite.

I'm sure many of you have had similar experiences?
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post #2 of 26
1/16/07 at 10:49am
Yep, I have disliked several frags at first sniff, then have grown to love them more than any in my wardrobe. Rive Gauche, Dior Homme, Himalaya, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Messe di Minuit, and Anteaus are a few examples.

If I like something at first sniff, I usually grow tired of it.
If I LOVE at first sniff then, they are usually mine forever. Pomegranate Noir, Cuiron, Terre d'Hermes, Heritage, Creed OV, and Fou d'Absinthe are a few examples.

Music? Yep, Hated Ryan Adams and Whiskeytown, Coldplay, Josh Rouse, and Damien Rice, but now they are some of my favorite artists.

barry
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post #3 of 26
1/16/07 at 11:12am
There have definitely been a few fragrances which I've gone from hated to loved but I can't think of any that have moved from Loved to Hated, but there are a few where I go from loved to just thinking it is OK.

Some examples of Hated to Loved are:

- Givenchy Gentleman
- JHL by Aramis
- Santos Concentrée by Cartier

Some that moved in the other direction, from Loved to just being OK:

- Obsession for Men by Calvin Klein
- Envy for Men by Gucci
- H.M. by Hanae Mori


I guess there has been a drift in my tastes from some of the more sweet fragrances to some of the more masculine fragrances. Anyway, my experiences have shown me that it is always best for me to get a decant for an extended test before I invest is an expensive fragrance. That being said, I'm not adverse to purchasing blind if the price is low.
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post #4 of 26
1/16/07 at 11:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jock_With_Scents

If I like something at first sniff, I usually grow tired of it.
If I LOVE at first sniff then, they are usually mine forever.

This happens to me all the time, even though I have to add that I am mostly intrigued by frags that I find rather difficult to understand, like e.g. most of the frags of the Maitre Parfumeur line (esp. Route du Vetiver).
Sometimes it takes time and a lot of testing to understand these but once I got it I wont forget them anymore and they make it into my absolute favorites. It looks like sometimes theres something that just FORCES me to get deeper and deeper into the understanding of a certain frag.

I think this is (as you mentioned) a VERY common phenomenon.

Christian
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post #5 of 26
1/16/07 at 1:28pm
From hatred to loved;

-Knize Ten
-Czech&Speake no.88
-Moschino Pour Homme
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post #6 of 26
1/16/07 at 3:44pm
Bone Machine is by far one of my all-time favorite albums. Good pick


I have this love-hate thing with lavender. At first, I hated it. It smelled metallic and dead and artificial to my nose. Now, I can deal with it. Part of this has been due to my accidentally purchasing a large tub of Taylor's lavender shave cream- that really forced me to re-evaluate my feelings about lavender.

Now, I'm not saying that I'm a big fan yet, but at least the stuff doesn't make me feel crawly any more

Ah, and I need to agree with Jock: It often happens that the scents I am initially intrigued by are the ones that I get sick of quickly. This is not a rule, of course (I was instantly smitten by Antaeus and Avignon, and I continue to adore them). I think I get tired of scents that hide their real sweetness behind a gimmick, and soon enough I see the scent for what it really is (envy and brit come to mind here).


-ben
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post #7 of 26
1/16/07 at 4:17pm
prada man - loved to bored
antidote - eh to love
pi - liked to bored
dior homme - insecure to addicted
mat; very male - like to love
gaultier2 - loved to like

bois d'argent - I WANT IT!!!
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post #8 of 26
1/16/07 at 4:21pm
That experience doesnt tend to happen too much to music with me, and only twice for fragrances.
Well, that's probably because I've only had two fragrances for a long time...
Escada Sentiment and Curve. :x
And now I don't like them, so I'm moving on to Envy and Fahrenheit, both of which I love veeery much. I must say, though, that these two are the first two fragrances I've actually thought a massive amount of before buying.
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post #9 of 26
1/16/07 at 4:27pm
Hate to love:
Chergui
Original Santal
Dzing

Love to meh:
Envy
Chevreuifelle Original
Bulgari Black
L'Anarchiste
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post #10 of 26
1/16/07 at 5:12pm
Working in a fragrance counter, i come across alot. There are some i dispise, but after smelling it tends to grow on me.

here are a few i couldn't stand at first

Burberry Londen and Brit - Londen is now in my top 5 favorites and I do like brit

Gucci envy me and gucci II - I wear them once i a while, nice now

Oscar Bamboo - sad we got rid of it T_T

Lacoste Inspiration - Good for a sunny day, love it

Dior Addict 2- I am still warming up to it, but my face doesn't turn when i spray it ^^
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post #11 of 26
1/16/07 at 6:15pm
M7 is my H to L fragrance.
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post #12 of 26
1/16/07 at 6:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jock_With_Scents

Yep, I have disliked several frags at first sniff, then have grown to love them more than any in my wardrobe. Rive Gauche, Dior Homme, Himalaya, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Messe di Minuit, and Anteaus are a few examples.

I'm with you, Barry. I had the same reaction to Rive Gauche, Dior Homme, and Himalaya.

The ones to which I had the most bipolar reactions to were Hermes Belami and Lutens Miel des Bois. When I first smelled them, they REALLY turned me off (especially Belami)... but after I lived with them for a while, trying to figure out what was going on, I really grew to love them.

I've also had that with a number of L'artisan scents. Mimosa Pour Moi and L'eau d'ambre come to mind immediately as ones that I didn't like at first but grew to become some of my favorites. In fact, Mimosa's odd cucumber note turned me off so much at first that I had it in my swap list for about a week... and then quickly pulled it out and have loved it ever since.
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post #13 of 26
1/16/07 at 6:25pm
Thread Starter 
Do you guys/gals get that weird instinct where you think it's repulsive, yet you keep spraying more on in order to marvel at the atrocity of the scent, as if to say - does it really smell like that?

There's this organic juice called "Bolthouse Farms" and they make various juices including a delicious carrot juice which killed 4 people via botulism. Anyways, there's one that they make that's called Green something. It's a whole bunch of green fruits and vegetables - spinach, bananas, I forget what else. It's got a thick "smoothie" type texture. You drink it and it tastes interesting, and then there's a very disting vomit aftertaste. No question. It tastes exactly like bile/vomit. It's unbelievable. I kept sipping it again and again because I couldn't believe my senses, and I would gag each time...
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post #14 of 26
1/17/07 at 4:13am
From Hate to Love: Dzing, Chypre Rouge and Hypnotic Poison...
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post #15 of 26
1/17/07 at 5:55am
Yeah, this happens to me sometimes, if I fall in love with a fragrance like this, in a hard way, it's usually a lasting relationship. Prime examples of this phenomenon are M7, Vetiver Extraordinaire and LV Sandalo. In general, fragrances with certain harshness might cause negative first reaction, but gives a fragrance an edge which makes it so unique.

Same thing happened with Mr. Bungle's Disco Volante, I first thought it was horrible, pointless noise. Now it's one of my favourite albums of all times.
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post #16 of 26
1/17/07 at 9:41am
In the "From Hate to Love (or at least acceptance)" file: The first few times I tried Tuscany per Uomo (I very frequently buy blind; it makes life interesting), it gave me the distinct impression that I was trapped inside a rotting cabbage. I told myself, "No, this cannot be," and so continued to wear it now and then. After a while, I found myself somewhat liking its richness; and finally, by the time I finished the bottle, I had started truly appreciating what it had to offer--though in the final analysis I'd put it into the "nice scent, but just not for me" category.

Same phenomenon, but not in scents: I was out shopping ties once upon a time, and happened upon something which made me exclaim to myself, "Holy cow! That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my whole life!". It was a sort of puce-maroon-magenta shade, with bright robin's egg blue, steel gray, and white in dissolving geometric patterns over tone-on-tone swirls, something like the opium dream of a 1950s furniture reupholsterer. The effect was so repellent that, me being me, I wanted to own it as a sort of souvenir of horror (um, *it* being the souvenir of horror, not me). One day, I noticed that the gray in the tie matched the gray of one of my shirts, so with a "what the hell?" attitude I wore it to the office. Now, the walk from my car to my office takes me through the Art Department; and I hadn't taken more than a few steps before I noticed what appeared to be one of the ever-hip grad Art students looking pensively at my tie. As I passed, he said, "Wow, nice tie, man!"; and subsequently I've found it to be the only tie I own which inspires complete strangers to come up to me and make a quietly enthusiastic comment about it. It's not news that sometimes things you don't like are good for you; but, relating this to aesthetic concerns, sometimes it's an enriching thing to set aside your own taste and trust the designer. (But I still won't buy another bottle of Tuscany.)
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post #17 of 26
1/17/07 at 3:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rach2jlc

The ones to which I had the most bipolar reactions to were Hermes Belami and Lutens Miel des Bois. When I first smelled them, they REALLY turned me off (especially Belami)... but after I lived with them for a while, trying to figure out what was going on, I really grew to love them.

Whatsthis, whatsthis?? On another recent thread I recommended Portos and you said, 'Nah, that's not that good. And anyway, it smells quite similar to Bel Ami.' Now it turns out that you're a big fan of Bel Ami! SometimesIjustdon'tgetyouman.
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post #18 of 26
1/17/07 at 3:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by odinthor

In the "From Hate to Love (or at least acceptance)" file: The first few times I tried Tuscany per Uomo (I very frequently buy blind; it makes life interesting), it gave me the distinct impression that I was trapped inside a rotting cabbage. I told myself, "No, this cannot be," and so continued to wear it now and then. After a while, I found myself somewhat liking its richness; and finally, by the time I finished the bottle, I had started truly appreciating what it had to offer--though in the final analysis I'd put it into the "nice scent, but just not for me" category.

Same phenomenon, but not in scents: I was out shopping ties once upon a time, and happened upon something which made me exclaim to myself, "Holy cow! That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my whole life!". It was a sort of puce-maroon-magenta shade, with bright robin's egg blue, steel gray, and white in dissolving geometric patterns over tone-on-tone swirls, something like the opium dream of a 1950s furniture reupholsterer. The effect was so repellent that, me being me, I wanted to own it as a sort of souvenir of horror (um, *it* being the souvenir of horror, not me). One day, I noticed that the gray in the tie matched the gray of one of my shirts, so with a "what the hell?" attitude I wore it to the office. Now, the walk from my car to my office takes me through the Art Department; and I hadn't taken more than a few steps before I noticed what appeared to be one of the ever-hip grad Art students looking pensively at my tie. As I passed, he said, "Wow, nice tie, man!"; and subsequently I've found it to be the only tie I own which inspires complete strangers to come up to me and make a quietly enthusiastic comment about it. It's not news that sometimes things you don't like are good for you; but, relating this to aesthetic concerns, sometimes it's an enriching thing to set aside your own taste and trust the designer. (But I still won't buy another bottle of Tuscany.)


That's a great story. I think you should post a picture of that tie or maybe make it a temporary avatar. Would probably even go with the name: 'Odinthor'sort of like Wagner done as a Jesus Christ Superstar-type musical!
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post #19 of 26
1/17/07 at 5:35pm
Any of the Fred Malles...I so so wanted to love them, I tried, I pretended...but alas...it was not meant to be.

TNMA
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post #20 of 26
1/17/07 at 7:49pm
Hate to Love for me: Poivre Samarcande by Hermes
Love to Hate for me: M7 - it really started to smell like burning tires to me, at the end.. :<
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post #21 of 26
1/18/07 at 7:30pm
Thread Starter 
Oo! Poive Samarcande! Sounds like something special!

So it just happened to me again - twice in one day. First Jardin Sur Le Nil. At first I bought it blind because I loved Jardin en Mediteranee so much, and I was really disappointed. It just smelled like some kind of citronella relative to me. I couldn't believe what all the hype was about. Now I "get" it.

Number two is Dali pour homme. I still think it's borderline gross, but there's something special about it - it layers really well - goes great with Pi Fraiche and with Jardin Sur le Nil incidentally!
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post #22 of 26
1/18/07 at 8:48pm
"Disgust" with ZINO!?!?!?

You are in a distinct minority, my friend!
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post #23 of 26
1/19/07 at 4:23am
Thread Starter 
I think you misread - the first time I smelled it I was disgusted, now it's one of my top favourites!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rebelwithoutaclue

"Disgust" with ZINO!?!?!?

You are in a distinct minority, my friend!
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post #24 of 26
1/19/07 at 7:35am
Right on Gavis!

Zino is truly an exceptional scent.
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post #25 of 26
1/19/07 at 8:27am
Never hated a fragrance after having fallen in love with it save for Cool Water.

From aversion to adoration: Mechant Loup. It was a 'scent epiphany'. The liveliest encapsulation of the soul of Morocco. The enamoring whiff of the old souqs of Marrakesh--especially the locus of town stretching behind the square of Jame' el Fna.
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post #26 of 26
1/19/07 at 8:38am
The biggest swings I had were with:

A*men - sickly sweet to delicious (in the right quantity), and

Himalaya - cold and metallic to lovely berry woodiness - again by correcting the volume of application.
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