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most feminine scent sold as "pour homme"?

post #1 of 45
4/3/08 at 7:34pm
Thread Starter 
from what i'v smelled i think issey miyake wins the cake. i know about wearing what you want blah blah, im just curious to see which cologne you guys think are something more suited for a lady and is actually marketed towards men. you can do it the other way around too. thanks
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post #2 of 45
4/3/08 at 7:47pm
From what I've smelt recently - Dior Homme & Fleur du Male. I didn't mind Dior Homme, but the initial "lipstick + handbag" smell was offputting. And Fleur du Male is just way to feminine, floral and perfume-ey for my liking.
From what I own - Black XS is the most 'feminine.'
I personally dont find Issey Miyake l'ea D'Issey feminine at all, infact if I smelt it on a woman I'd think she smelt like a bloke, but each to their own opinion.
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post #3 of 45
4/3/08 at 7:58pm
Thread Starter 
bloke? how could i forget about FDM, thats for sure up there next to issy lmao. le male on the other hand isnt bad at all, i dont get what smells so gay about it, someone mind telling me? i dont know i just guess there's this image of flowers being for ladies and with issy its all flower and grass to me, but i still like it when i want to.. (wearing it now)
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post #4 of 45
4/3/08 at 7:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony87 View Post

From what I own - Black XS is the most 'feminine.'

Have to agree there. It smells like strawberries to me. Strawberry smell I associate with those Bath and Body Works mists that the junior high girls wore back when.
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post #5 of 45
4/3/08 at 8:04pm
Thread Starter 
uugh most girls still bathe in that, they just moved on to Victoria secret's lotion/sprays. most of them stink , BAD.
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post #6 of 45
4/3/08 at 8:15pm
I can pull off several frags marketed toward men, due to them not being THAT terribly masculine. Then again, I'm not very feminine . Anyways, some of my faves are L'eau D'Issey (I'm currently in love w/ the 2008 summer version), Lolita Lempicka au masculine, Burberry Brit, M7, Terre d'Hermes, Clinique Happy, & Kenneth Cole Reaction.
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post #7 of 45
4/3/08 at 8:16pm
there are alot of por homme scents that smell "too feminine".

Prada por homme....Fendi Life Essense....Sexual......Black Xs.......

alot of people consider initial blasts of Lolita Lempicka Au Masculin to be very feminine as well as Fleur De Male.....
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post #8 of 45
4/3/08 at 8:23pm
I know most basenoters won't agree with me, but I think that Habit Rouge has a feminine touch. Powdery and sweet.

.
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post #9 of 45
4/3/08 at 8:25pm
Gaultier 2
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post #10 of 45
4/3/08 at 8:31pm
Thread Starter 
pick one... as in the worse/most extreme
Gaultier 2 is just flat out nasty too much going on.
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post #11 of 45
4/3/08 at 8:38pm
Dunhill Desire, Dior Homme (both of which I own and wear), Gaultier 2 is unisex so I can't justify putting it down but do agree it leans toward girly, Burberry Touch, and Escada Sentiment.

But having said that, there ain't nuthing wrong with smelling a little girly. Some girls love it on a guy actually.

When I wear Datura Noir, NU, Narcisco Rodriguez, or MAC II I get massive attention from girls (if asked what I'm wearing I feign ignorance of course).

Cheers,
Ali
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post #12 of 45
4/3/08 at 8:40pm
I think anything excessively sweet. I think kc reaction is one examply although there are many. I can't stand sweet frags.
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post #13 of 45
4/3/08 at 8:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LuciusVorenus View Post

I know most basenoters won't agree with me, but I think that Habit Rouge has a feminine touch. Powdery and sweet.

Actually, Habit Rouge was the first one to come to my mind, too. When I first started wearing it in the late 90's, I thought to myself, will anyone ever get this one? I wore it to work one day and our PR director screamed out, "I love whatever you're wearing!" She was great to work with.
Anyways, I don't think it smells like a woman's fragrance at all, but I don't think it smells like a man's either. Amazing stuff.
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post #14 of 45
4/3/08 at 9:03pm
Hanae Mori.

i have samples only....but it's SO girly that i really don't like it much....quite annoying, in fact.
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post #15 of 45
4/3/08 at 10:06pm
Isn't gaultier 2 a mens/womans scent? It's unisex and marketed towards both sexes isnt it? while I didn't care for the top notes the smell I got after 3 hours was very nice.
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post #16 of 45
4/3/08 at 10:23pm
Hanae Mori HM.
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post #17 of 45
4/3/08 at 10:30pm
I don't have the frag experience that others who have posted here have, but I just did a blind buy of Rouge Royal for men, and it's the most feminine frag I've got. It's also quite good.
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post #18 of 45
4/3/08 at 10:35pm
I second HM HM, Iquitos. PI. Weekend. Rochas Man, Santana, Fleur du(e) Male, Dior Homme, Chic (oh really?), and some variants of 212, Paris Hilton, burrbery Brit, Hammam Bouquet. Vera Wang(?)
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post #19 of 45
4/3/08 at 10:35pm
im with anak on datura noir, smells very womanly out of the bottle but put it on and you'll be surprised
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post #20 of 45
4/3/08 at 10:38pm
The very very floral Insense', by Givenchy, certainly has a female vibe, but it can work
on a man as well. When it first came out I thought it was pretty interesting and wearable, but
I didn't buy a bottle at the time (the early 1990's). Now I have a bottle, but it's just not Me.
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post #21 of 45
4/3/08 at 11:36pm
Fleur de Male
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post #22 of 45
4/3/08 at 11:52pm
Let`s add Egoiste by Chanel
So sweet woody-balsamique sandalwood...

And second HM by Hanae Mori and Lempicka too.
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post #23 of 45
4/4/08 at 12:38am
Unforgivable by Sean "first impressions is everything" Combs. Quite feminine, in contrast to the marketing attached to it.
That, as well as Bulgari BLV. I like it on my boyfriend, but I think my Marc Jacobs Ivy is "manlier" by a mile!
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post #24 of 45
4/4/08 at 12:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by moon_fish View Post

Let`s add Egoiste by Chanel
So sweet woody-balsamique sandalwood...
And second HM by Hanae Mori and Lempicka too.

I second these, although they are less obvious ones. I can also second most of what's been mentioned earlier, in particular the Chanels, Guerlain's HabitR, and Givenchy's Insensé ! Datura Noir, however, is a feminine unisex, and that's what they sell it as. I find L'Air du Désir more feminine than Ambre Sultan. It shares a lot with HabitR that way.

But should I really be the only one perceiving Fleur du Male as absolutely masculine? It's a man plucking a couple of flowers for his loved one. He does so in the spirit of a moment. He is Romeo, the keen fool in love, a metro Romeo today, but with a taste for Botticelli's allegories. I am surprised it was no Italian who had this idea! Far beyond first and second loves myself, I'm not too old to recall that spirit. Hopefully I never never will be.
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post #25 of 45
4/4/08 at 1:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony87 View Post

From what I've smelt recently - Dior Homme & Fleur du Male. I didn't mind Dior Homme, but the initial "lipstick + handbag" smell was offputting. And Fleur du Male is just way to feminine, floral and perfume-ey for my liking.
From what I own - Black XS is the most 'feminine.'
I personally dont find Issey Miyake l'ea D'Issey feminine at all, infact if I smelt it on a woman I'd think she smelt like a bloke, but each to their own opinion.

I agree with all four of your observations.
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post #26 of 45
4/4/08 at 1:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by trumpet_guy View Post

The very very floral Insense', by Givenchy, certainly has a female vibe, but it can work
on a man as well. When it first came out I thought it was pretty interesting and wearable, but
I didn't buy a bottle at the time (the early 1990's). Now I have a bottle, but it's just not Me.

Oh, I know you're such a generous fellow...
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post #27 of 45
4/4/08 at 1:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by xclusive View Post

from what i'v smelled i think issey miyake wins the cake. i know about wearing what you want blah blah, im just curious to see which cologne you guys think are something more suited for a lady and is actually marketed towards men. you can do it the other way around too. thanks

Issey is a tad feminine in the top notes - or so I thought the first times I tried it. But after they go away, there's too much wood there for it to be feminine.

My wife won't let me get Fleur du Male, claiming it is unambiguously a woman's scent.

Givenchy Insense may be thought of as feminine because it is devoid of any woods - but it in the actual wearing, it doesn't smell much like any scent I've ever smelled on a woman. Some of the other scents nominated above are seen as feminine because they're sweet, but they're too woody for most women to want to wear.
Renato
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post #28 of 45
4/4/08 at 2:34am
Dior homme, without a doubt.
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post #29 of 45
4/4/08 at 2:38am
Dior Homme - The Cologne, more feminine than the EdT!
Fleur du Male - Flower of man, kinda gives it away, right?
HM - Just too sweet.
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post #30 of 45
4/4/08 at 3:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by narcus View Post

But should I really be the only one perceiving Fleur du Male as absolutely masculine?

You certainly should not, narcus! I also regard a couple of the rose-dominant scents mentioned above (Iquitos and Hammam Bouquet) as very maculine.

If I had to pick one it would be Dior Homme (which I like very much) - lipstick, even on a man, is never masculine.
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post #31 of 45
4/4/08 at 7:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by michaeld39 View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by narcus View Post

But should I really be the only one perceiving Fleur du Male as absolutely masculine?

You certainly should not, narcus! I also regard a couple of the rose-dominant scents mentioned above (Iquitos and Hammam Bouquet) as very maculine.

If I had to pick one it would be Dior Homme (which I like very much) - lipstick, even on a man, is never masculine.

Lets say you guys are a rare 1%. What makes a fragrance feminine? Some people seem to think that vanilla note makes a fragrance smell feminine, which is not always the case, for me.
What makes an EDT smell masculine? It seems that if you take a feminine scent and crank up its 'strength', you will make it masculine. Which again, it is not always the case. Soem examples are Iquitos and Fleur de Male. Iquitos is in that weird spot of being too strong for a woman and too 'old lady' for a lot of men. I guess that's the aldheydes fault. As for Hammam Bouquet... It is powdery in a sense that only feminine fragrances are, or maybe it is just too Victorian. As you can see, my comment of HM and iquitos as being feminine has nothing to do with rose, it is just that I tried them because I was looking for a rose dominant fragrance. I ended up getting CdG: Rose
As for Dior Homme… I wore last night and I think that if you replace the lipstick top note with a single lather note, the perfumer would have created a classic masterpiece. And that made me realize it is actually the lipstick top note what makes it so modern and unique, at least to my nose.
My gay comment of the week
No, but seriusly I think that fixation of masc. vs. fem. fragrances is stupid (Pubecent at least). I like Dior Homme and Fleur du Male, but cannot stand Iquitos or Hammam Bouquet
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post #32 of 45
4/4/08 at 10:01am
Versace Dreamer is one of the more feminine, or really, unisex fragrances marketed toward men that I own.. It's totally appropriate for men and women in my opinion
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post #33 of 45
4/4/08 at 10:20am
Dior Homme for sure...
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post #34 of 45
4/4/08 at 10:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nthny View Post

Versace Dreamer is one of the more feminine, or really, unisex fragrances marketed toward men that I own.. It's totally appropriate for men and women in my opinion

An awful lot of males here don't like the strong tobacco note in Dreamer - finding it too rough and overpowering. I doubt most women would be inclined to wearing this scent.
Renato
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post #35 of 45
4/4/08 at 10:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Renato View Post

An awful lot of males here don't like the strong tobacco note in Dreamer - finding it too rough and overpowering. I doubt most women would be inclined to wearing this scent.
Renato

I personally love the Dreamer...but then again I'm not most women .
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post #36 of 45
4/4/08 at 10:55am
The soft sweetness of Givenchy Pi.
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post #37 of 45
4/4/08 at 10:58am
Well, maybe Fleur du Male and Dior Homme are the most feminine scents in my collection, but when my sister and my female friends choose some scent from my collection for their own use they rather pick Arpege pour Homme, Diesel Zero Plus, Roma Uomo, Lolita Lempicka au Masculine... Who knows, maybe Fleur du Male and Dior Homme are too feminine even for them.
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post #38 of 45
4/4/08 at 10:58am
Alfred Sung
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post #39 of 45
4/4/08 at 11:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by peevish_yolk View Post

Well, maybe Fleur du Male and Dior Homme are the most feminine scents in my collection, but when my sister and my female friends choose some scent from my collection for their own use they rather pick Arpege pour Homme, Diesel Zero Plus, Roma Uomo, Lolita Lempicka au Masculine... Who knows, maybe Fleur du Male and Dior Homme are too feminine even for them.

I love your sense of humor!

If I remember it well, some of those who consider Fleur dM as very feminine / unwearable find Carnal Flower (Malle) and/or, Datura Noir (lutens), or Eau de Merveilles (Hermes) suitable for a man. I called it Kouros' grandson upon smelling it for the first time, and I still predict it a long future. 44 previews in 12 months isn't so bad, I would say.
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post #40 of 45
4/4/08 at 11:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by narcus

I love your sense of humor!

Thanks, Narcus!
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post #41 of 45
4/4/08 at 11:44am
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Coriolan yet.

A woman could wear this and nobody would bat an eyelid. It's because it's a male scent that it works so well on men.

I would say it's far more delicate and subtle than Dior Homme which only really has sweetness to it to make it qualify as feminine. Coriolan is far more etherial.
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post #42 of 45
4/4/08 at 12:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Renato View Post

An awful lot of males here don't like the strong tobacco note in Dreamer - finding it too rough and overpowering. I doubt most women would be inclined to wearing this scent.
Renato

YAY!

I've read a few well-known pefume blogs written by women the would argue to the contrary, but thanks for the correction.
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post #43 of 45
4/4/08 at 12:36pm
I'm Shocked that nobody mentioned Purple Water. Talk about Feminine.
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post #44 of 45
4/4/08 at 1:18pm
I think that such different scents as Cristobal, Xerius Rouge, Opium, Basala, Dior PH could be added here.
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post #45 of 45
4/4/08 at 4:52pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by irish View Post

Lets say you guys are a rare 1%. What makes a fragrance feminine? Some people seem to think that vanilla note makes a fragrance smell feminine, which is not always the case, for me.
What makes an EDT smell masculine? It seems that if you take a feminine scent and crank up its 'strength', you will make it masculine. Which again, it is not always the case. Soem examples are Iquitos and Fleur de Male. Iquitos is in that weird spot of being too strong for a woman and too 'old lady' for a lot of men. I guess that's the aldheydes fault. As for Hammam Bouquet... It is powdery in a sense that only feminine fragrances are, or maybe it is just too Victorian. As you can see, my comment of HM and iquitos as being feminine has nothing to do with rose, it is just that I tried them because I was looking for a rose dominant fragrance. I ended up getting CdG: Rose
As for Dior Homme… I wore last night and I think that if you replace the lipstick top note with a single lather note, the perfumer would have created a classic masterpiece. And that made me realize it is actually the lipstick top note what makes it so modern and unique, at least to my nose.
My gay comment of the week
No, but seriusly I think that fixation of masc. vs. fem. fragrances is stupid (Pubecent at least). I like Dior Homme and Fleur du Male, but cannot stand Iquitos or Hammam Bouquet

is it just me or is cologne always stronger than perfume? i think the "cranked up" thing is right. when it comes down to it, its all about what you feel comfortable wearing. imo the only "manly" scent i own is fahrenheit and thats like out of like 15 bottles, the rest(should be) are unisex/borderline. if you really think about it most dudes these days are "metro" so really a guy wearing something listed on this board isnt werid at all, get with the times people lol :P
anyways after looking tru the board i think dior homme/Fleur du Male would be the clear winner?
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