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Underrepresented categories in the men's market?

post #1 of 16
12/24/07 at 3:46pm
Thread Starter 
What category(ies) of scents do you feel are underrerpresented in the men's market. I doubt this will be something as broad as 'gourmands' or 'chypres' or any other categorization at that level, but instead let us go to a finer granular level.

I think rose prominent scents are sorely missing in the men's market, for one.

What do you think? What categories or even notes or accords would you really like to see more of?
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post #2 of 16
12/24/07 at 5:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SculptureOfSoul View Post

...I think rose prominent scents are sorely missing in the men's market, for one. ...

There may not be many rose fragrances for men out there, but there are several outstanding ones: No. 88, Ungaro III, Montale Black Aoud, Royal Aoud, and Attar, L'Ombre dans l'Eau, Opone, West Side, Eau d'Italie, Voleur de Roses...on second thought, maybe there are plenty of rose scents for men - they're just not mainstream.

If there's any floral note that is under-represented in male fragrances, it's tuberose. Carnal Flower and Nuit Noire are only for the brave, while Vierges e Toreros and Tubereuse Criminelle are not so gender challenging. Beyond these, I'm not sure what else (if anything,) is out there.
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post #3 of 16
12/24/07 at 5:15pm
Thread Starter 
Are there any scents out there that smell prominently of cinnamon sugar, perhaps with a slightly woodsy base? I'm not at all familiar with niche scents - as far as mainstream stuff goes, there is some cinnamon and spice in Santana for men but I can't think of anything else that is predominantly a sweet cinnamon.
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post #4 of 16
12/24/07 at 5:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SculptureOfSoul View Post

Are there any scents out there that smell prominently of cinnamon sugar, perhaps with a slightly woodsy base? I'm not at all familiar with niche scents - as far as mainstream stuff goes, there is some cinnamon and spice in Santana for men but I can't think of anything else that is predominantly a sweet cinnamon.

Bond No.9 H.O.T. Always
Jaipur Homme EdP
Creed Ambre Canelle
Rousse
JHL
and to some extent, Musc Ravageur

See also: Cinnamon - The lists, the scents and the recommendations - 2007 edition
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post #5 of 16
12/24/07 at 5:26pm
Villoresi Incensi
Bogart Witness
Creed Baie de Geniervre
all have strong cinnamon notes, Witness being the sweetes, I think. It's noticeable to prominent in Patou pour homme, Jil Sander Man Pure, Capucci Punjab, JHL and a number of other classics.

But what you're looking for perhaps is Comme de Garcons Sherbet Series: Cinnamon or demeter's Cinnamon Toast (haven't tied these myself)
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post #6 of 16
12/24/07 at 5:58pm
Women have much more choice in vanillic/amber bases.
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post #7 of 16
12/24/07 at 6:24pm
White florals are a category that, on the whole, are largely neglected by the mens fragrance market.
There are a few mens iris fragrances out there, but I feel this category could be explored a lot more, considering the base ingredient - orris root and synthetic imitations - is very gender neutral.
I must agree with the OP on the subject of rose fragrances: many mens fragrances have rose, but how many rose solifleurs are aimed at men?
Carnation, like rose, is another note that, while common, rarely has a men's fragrance dedicated to it.
More could be done with incense fragrances, though that's more a general statement than one that applies to men's fragrances. Frankincense is popular, but copal and dragon's blood and even myrrh are oddly neglected.
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post #8 of 16
12/25/07 at 12:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SculptureOfSoul View Post

What category(ies) of scents do you feel are underrerpresented in the men's market. I doubt this will be something as broad as 'gourmands' or 'chypres' or any other categorization at that level, but instead let us go to a finer granular level.

I think rose prominent scents are sorely missing in the men's market, for one.

What do you think? What categories or even notes or accords would you really like to see more of?

Most of the stuff that is "missing" in the mainstream men's market tends to be ingredients that are thought of as being feminine. For example there are no lilac, gardenia, or freesia men's fragrances and conversely very few dry wood fragrances for women.

Personally, I think a lilac musk (with serious musks) would be very sexy and masculine if the floral sweetness were controlled.

Women can chose fragrances than they like on themselves or on thier men, while men are more limited. If a typical man tried to wear something very femme, such as Lanvin's Arpege or Gres' Cabotine, it would send the wrong message.
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post #9 of 16
12/25/07 at 7:51am
I think green herbal fragrances are underrepresented: things like the Hermes 'Jardin' perfumes, vetivers, the CDG leaves series, MPG Baime, etc.
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post #10 of 16
12/25/07 at 9:04am
Maybe I am misunderstanding this thread? You are not asking about fragrances but categories (woody, oriental...etc)

If that is case I would have to say the most underrepresented would be the Floral oriental. This is very over used in the women's category has aqua/marine is used in men's.

Very rare scents have been daring enough to dabble in this category such likes Joop!, Inquitos – Floral oriental are very powerful scents that make silage well know.
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post #11 of 16
12/25/07 at 9:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Galamb_Borong View Post

White florals are a category that, on the whole, are largely neglected by the mens fragrance market.

I agree. I crave indolic white flowers like lily. Passage d'Enfer does it well. Fleur de Male makes a great effort - Bond 09 should do a high end copy of it.
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post #12 of 16
12/25/07 at 10:45pm
I think of clean airy cold leather scents.
Not cuir chypres, not cuir fleury, not cuir balsamique, not cuir sucre.
Fresh and light leather (maybe suede) is quite rare thing.
I could recall Cuiron HLang, something from S-Perfumes, and maybe Nostalgia (while it`s a bit special), and not more than that.
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post #13 of 16
12/25/07 at 11:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by moon_fish View Post

I think of clean airy cold leather scents.
Not cuir chypres, not cuir fleury, not cuir balsamique, not cuir sucre.
Fresh and light leather (maybe suede) is quite rare thing.
I could recall Cuiron HLang, something from S-Perfumes, and maybe Nostalgia (while it`s a bit special), and not more than that.

I have to agree: plain leather is a very under represented category.
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post #14 of 16
12/26/07 at 2:51am
Thread Starter 
I only asked about cinnamon because it seems that even when it is present in a scent, it's not the 'featured note' so to say. I'll be heading to Macy's later today. Sadly, it's the biggest cologne retailer within about 90 miles of me, and as a soon to be college student (again) I don't get all that often. Anyways, I'll try Jaipur on my skin today. I've smelled it on a strip before and it just smelled...blended to the point of being blurry or unfocused.

White florals, indeed, are underrepresented. And then I hear things like many women saying that Prada's new Infusion d'Iris is wearable by a man. I wonder why they don't market it as unisex? Perhaps they figure not enough men would buy it, and that the unisex label might hurt the sales in the women's market (I wonder if not clearly being marketed for women would really reduce it's sales amongst women. Hmm, that's something to ponder.)
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post #15 of 16
12/26/07 at 8:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Galamb_Borong View Post

White florals are a category that, on the whole, are largely neglected by the mens fragrance market.

I third - Gaultier (and Dior) have stepped up to the plate with designer mass-market white floral prominent scents (Fleur de Male I like; Fahrenheit 32 I detest), however I would like to see the market have more releases, perhaps more quality ingredients and not necessarily orange blossom/neroli white flowers only.

I must agree with Vibert also - a masculine, well done tuberose scent would be warmly embraced by many guys here on Basenotes. For now, I'm stuck shopping in the womens fragrance department at the Estee Lauder counter.
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post #16 of 16
12/26/07 at 3:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeperez23 View Post

I third - Gaultier (and Dior) have stepped up to the plate with designer mass-market white floral prominent scents (Fleur de Male I like; Fahrenheit 32 I detest), however I would like to see the market have more releases, perhaps more quality ingredients and not necessarily orange blossom/neroli white flowers only.

I must agree with Vibert also - a masculine, well done tuberose scent would be warmly embraced by many guys here on Basenotes. For now, I'm stuck shopping in the womens fragrance department at the Estee Lauder counter.

I think Floris Elite covers tuberose very nicely. It is floral to me while remaining masculine. The tuberose is easily identified.
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