Conflicting Opinions - Women, help!

You have to ask yourself, why do you wear cologne, for yourself or for the people around you? For me it is a balance of both. So if there is something I really enjoy but the people in my life object to, I'll either not get it at all or get it and only use it when I don't expect to be around them. My experience has been that with all the different fragrances out there, considering the preferences of the people in my life is not that much of a problem.

That being said, I did dump a woman a few months ago because she didn't want me to use any cologne ;-)

If you like it, wear it. Your opinion is the only one that matters.

BTW I've never had anyone tell me that the GIT I was wearing was overpowering. GIT garners some rave reviews. My favorite Creed and a wardrobe staple.

You might want to take the female's opinion into consideration. I've seen guys go gah-gah over another guy who walks into a room wearing GIT. If you like the notes of GIT but want something toned down 90%, try Kiton Men or if you like it a bit stronger...99 Regent Street is another fine fragrance with the GIT note. Kiton and 99 RS are both very refined scents and women like them too

If you really loved the GIT then I say get the GIT. It is rare in anything to find something that you love, and that goes for fragrance as well. Don't cheat yourself out of it for their sakes. And I will bet you that after you have worn it for six months that they will no longer be saying that it's overpowering. (People are just conditioned now to react to REAL fragrances, given the weak pap that is on the market. They will come round.)

This would probably make a good blog topic.

Wearing fragrances is an art of balance. The trick is knowing how much is too much. If you just flat out don't care about what other people think, then bathe yourself in what you like. I tend to take more of a gentlemanly approach. My goal in wearing fragrances is to compliment my attire and/or persona. If someone is offended by what I'm wearing I don't blow them off with a "what do they know" attitude. What they know is that they don't like what you're wearing.

Like fragrances, unusual clothes or black fingernail polish or a rainbow Mohawk is a matter of taste. Unlike unusual clothes, black fingernail polish or rainbow Mohawks, you can taste fragrances. Inhalation is a form of ingestion...you are literally force feeding people something which they may not like. Being considerate toward others is a very large part of being a gentleman and for God's sake, please have enough respect for your mother than to wear it around her again.

CuyahogaJoe,

Thank you for saying this - etiquette is extremely underrated these days but still very important. CuyahogaJoe, there are so few gentlemen around these days (of course I'm sure that most of them read Basenotes... but I'm making generalizations every which way.) I would give the same advice to a woman wearing too much perfume no matter what type of scent she wears: oriental, floral, etc.... I have had favorable impressions of a scent destroyed by people who over-apply. I wear fragrance as a reward for people who want to get close enough to hug me... or as a reminder of someone I like (if I'm wearing a scent that reminds me of them)... or as an olfactory exercise (for myself), in any of those situations I am not required to wear very much.

I'd like to say that if I don't like what a person is wearing, they simply have to wear less of it. I would not ask them to stop wearing it altogether, but I'd hope that they have more than one scent to chose from so that I sometimes get to smell them wearing something else.

I hope I'm not unwelcome on this side of the boards because I'm female. I am very interested in men's fragrances because they are new to me. Ideally I would like to have a collection of male and female fragrances - the new unisex fragrances are a great idea (and yes, I am aware that most fragrances are unisex and that often the only thing that puts them in categories is marketing: for example, Dior Homme smells like lipstick, but I'd love to smell it on a man; especially Mick Jagger.)

I suspect that one of the reasons we are becoming sensitive to scents is because there is a proliferation of synthetic scents in the environment these days... and with the recent ban on so many natural ingredients, I wonder how this will affect us?

I don't disagree with this as a statement of principle, but as a response to the original question it strikes me as over the top. The mother is not gasping for breath and saying 'Please son, never again.'

Judicious balance also enters in when answering the queries of others.

Wear it, I love GIT,maybe your sis and mom are used to aqua di gio clones.They'll love GIT,trust me,in time!

Actually GIT in particular has been linked to the Aqua di Gio clones and especially Cool Water (not that I am implying that the latter is a clone of the former; just that all three are in the same general family, is what I'm saying).

I think by overpowering they mean "sharp" as in not smooth. Not necessarily loud in volume and projection.

In such cases it is always good to try to ask questions so that people express better what they feel, so you get an idea. Relying on just a word is usually not enough to pinpoint what's wrong with their dislike.

Etiquette pays too ;-)

I had the exact same reaction from a woman the first time I sprayed it on my wrist and went back to the office - and I agreed with her - it seemed to stink out the entire small office.

I tested it many times later, and didn't get the same reaction. Now I own a bottle, wear six squirts of it under my clothes, and get an occasional compliment, but no negative reactions.

Clearly I've gotten used to it, and perhaps wearing it under clothes tones it down a bit.

While I can understand Original Santal not being to everybody's taste for routine wear, I'm not sure why a fougere like Himalaya wouldn't suit just about anybody.
Renato