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Niche exploring, is MPG a good choice?

post #1 of 16
5/9/08 at 1:15pm
Thread Starter 
Hi Community. Once again, i need your help.

I have 30 bottles in my wardrobe at the moment, and most of them are designer ones, except a few of them. To be short, my fav designers so far are Guerlain and YSL . Chanel is 3rd.

I ve decided now to discover niche better, and what i really want now is to discover ONE niche very well. I m gonna buy 4 or 5 scents of the SAME niche in the next month.

Some of you might think it s stupid to do that instead of buying the "best" frag of 4-5 niche.

Yeah might be ^^ . But i want to have a better idea on one niche, know it better in general, not only one frag of each. I think it might help me to slowly understand better how niche (and perfume in general) work.

Currently i own bottle of Tea for Two (_L'artisan) and Fumerie Turque (Lutens.) as niche frags.
I love tea for two (8.5/10), and fumerie turque (7/10) is amazing but probably too strong for me, almost intoxicating.

Now about my choice, i ve got a lot of samples of those 2 brands..

From l 'Artisan, i ve tried 6 or 7, i m not that fan.. I liked Thimbuktu, but not many others.not lasting enough, or now my cup of tea.
About Lutens, might like it later, but so far it s too weird for my taste, too specific as well. I have to admit i did not try Chergui yet, that looks quite promising.

So i want to discover another niche, and was actually hesitating between MPG and Malle.

I ve NEVER tried any of the Malle perfume, and only tried santal noble today from mpg. I know it s very very common to say that but i LOVED santal noble. In my humble opinion it is even one of the best perfume i ve ever smelled.

My question, does MPG have 3 or 4 other very high quality frags ? Or should i "discover" Malle instead ? Or any other niche (creed ? other ? ).

Sorry for this noob question but atm i'm really not familiar with niche . Therefore i would love to have some of your bright opinions.
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post #2 of 16
5/9/08 at 1:48pm
Malle or MPG, you couldn't go wrong with either one, so take your time.

Here's my opinion on the MPG male fragrances. (I've smelled most of them, but a few interesting ones)
- Route du Vetiver - a powerful, earthy, sharp vetiver. If you're a vetiver fan, than you just have to smell it; even if you aren't, it's definitely worth a shot.
- Parfum d'Habit - ubermasculine scent, packs a punch with a mix of woods, leather, patchouli etc.
- Jardin du Nil - this is a controversial one. Flowers and fruits (okay), but rotting. Some people love it, some can't stand it. Consider it an educational experience even if you won't like it.
- Iris Bleu Gris - powdery orris done right, perfectly masculine.
- Ambre Precieux - smooth, sensual amber, the perfect counterpart to the butch that Ambre Sultan is.
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post #3 of 16
5/9/08 at 1:59pm
I would prefer Maitre over Malle in general, except for both the muscs of Malle.
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post #4 of 16
5/9/08 at 2:05pm
Oh boy, hold on to your hat because you are in for a wicked ride. This house has some excellent (and powerful) scents. You may wish to do a search on the forum first. IMHO:

More conventional: Centaure, Pour le Jeune homme, Garrigue
One notch up: Racine, Eau de Iles, Iris Blue Gris, Santal Noble, Bahiana
One more: Route du Vetiver, Parfum d'Habit, Secret Melange
Unusual: Jardin du Nil, Baime

Good luck and let us know what you think.
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post #5 of 16
5/9/08 at 2:20pm
Your question is incredibly hard to answer. Do we like MPG scents or Malle scents better? I think all of us will have different answers to that question. I love (and detest) scents from both lines.

You are the only one that can say (from smelling all of them) whether an entire line, is right for you. As to what line you should explore - I think you should explore any line you want, using accessibility, budget and time as your parameters.

MPG is worthy of 'exploring', yes. But then so is Parfums de Nicolai, Comme des Garcons, By Killian, Profumum, Parfumerie Generale, and so many, many more.

Noone here will fault you for starting with MPG. However, inversely, none of us can tell you for certain whether you will like any of them, at all.
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post #6 of 16
5/9/08 at 2:24pm
I'm not into niche fragrances, but I happen to own small bottles of Parfum d'Habit, Eau des Iles and Eau Pour Jeune Homme. Sometimes I think Parfum d'Habit is my number one fragrance. EdI and EPJH are great fragrances but not as impressive. To me, Eau des Iles is just *way* too masculine. I appreciate masculinity very much in a fragrance, and this one goes a little too far IMO, making it good only for those days when I'm in the mood. So I guess a house that made these two very interesting fragrances is really worth exploring, yes.
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post #7 of 16
5/9/08 at 2:38pm
I would strongly recommend that you try more of MPG's offerings, especially since you're enjoying Santal Noble. My two other favorites are Eau des Iles and Ambre Precieux. Iris Bleu Gris is also very good. I'd also like to add that I think working your way through a bunch of samples from the same house and then moving on to another one is a good strategy.
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post #8 of 16
5/9/08 at 2:51pm
Wow. Superior posts already on this thread. I have to agree in the sense that MPG is a great house on which to devote serious thinking and testing. The glorious examples from the house are all listed here already. I say Iris Bleu Gris, Route du Vetiver, Parfum d'Habit are delights not to miss. Between the others I surrender advising you to the other posts on this fine thread.
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post #9 of 16
5/9/08 at 3:20pm
Santal Noble, Eau des Iles, Route du Vetiver, Parfum d'Habit, Ambre Precieux and possibly Iris Bleu Gris are somehow the most obvious stand-out fragrances from this line. Yet this is only one side of MPG. Other side consist of for example Racine, Fraiche Badiane, Pour Le Jeune Homme, Garrigue, Baïme, Fraicheur Muskissime and Bahiana. They might not be as striking or strong or unique, often even somewhat conventional. Well, this statment is not true for the whole bunch since Baïme is super unique. Anyhow, my point is, that these are in general much lighter scents. I'm sorry for dividing the scents in this arbitrary way - hope it has atleast some point to it. Jean Laporte is true master perfumer, and makes just as good wow-effect producing power fragrances and more traditional and very wearable scents of incredibly harmonous blending.

This is such a great house, buying four MPG's is something I strongly recommend you to do!
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post #10 of 16
5/9/08 at 4:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeperez23 View Post

Your question is incredibly hard to answer. Do we like MPG scents or Malle scents better? I think all of us will have different answers to that question. I love (and detest) scents from both lines.

You are the only one that can say (from smelling all of them) whether an entire line, is right for you. As to what line you should explore - I think you should explore any line you want, using accessibility, budget and time as your parameters.

MPG is worthy of 'exploring', yes. But then so is Parfums de Nicolai, Comme des Garcons, By Killian, Profumum, Parfumerie Generale, and so many, many more.

Noone here will fault you for starting with MPG. However, inversely, none of us can tell you for certain whether you will like any of them, at all.

I can't put it better than that. Personally, I have yet to find a MPG scent that's bottle worthy but I do respect this house and always investigate their line whenever I get the chance (btw, I love Grain de Plaisir but the drydown's disappointing). My advice would be to obtain as many samples as you can, from various houses, and take things from there.

Have fun!
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post #11 of 16
5/9/08 at 5:14pm
The main thing is to get samples first before buying bottles! All of them are very unique and provocative scents.

Personally, I like Malle better, but MPG has several that are must haves in my opinon. Santal Noble and Route du Vetiver rank the highest for me.

For Malle: Musc Ravaguer, French Lover and Noir Epices are really tops, with Vetiver Extraordinaire not far behind!
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post #12 of 16
5/9/08 at 7:19pm
MPG are definitely worth exploring as most of their male scents are not typically niche, i.e. they have good lasting power, they are male and not femininish unisex type scents, they don't have that raw, herbal, pot pourri feel about them.

Santal Noble, Iris Bleu Gris, Ambre Precieux, Parfum d'Habit and Secret Melange had very good lasting power on me.

Garrigue was pretty good, but was too similar in style to Halston Z-14 for me to buy it.

Racine I bought, but wound up very disappointed with it's longevity.

That said, there are two negatives.
The first is one that was pointed out by someone in a thread I'd started, namely that they all have a formal scent type feel about them - which makes them great for formal occasions, but who typically has that great a need for that many formal scents? (Unless one wears a classy suit or jacket to the office everyday, which I don't)

Secondly, you can't put the bottle haphazardly in a travel bag or briefcase - the scent starts leaking out when at on an odd angle with some of motion - I lost 5ml of Ambre Precieux from a 40 minute train trip when the bottle was on it's side in my briefcase. This is a nuisance, as I can only leave my four bottles standing upright at home, unless I treat them with extreme care when taking them somewhere.
Renato
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post #13 of 16
5/10/08 at 4:58am
Thread Starter 
Lots of very good posts, thx all.

going to discover MPG, my choice is done.

And btw i m wearing a suit (i m a lawyer) every day Renato so formal should not be a problem
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post #14 of 16
5/10/08 at 5:28am
I will be a dissenting opinion about MPG - I absolutely LOVE them, the ones I have tried, though I would say that it smells "expensive" more than "formal." Meaning, I think if you were wearing a polo shirt and jeans wearing, say, Santal Noble, it would go just as well as in a suit.

But ... I also find Mouchoir de Monsieur to be more "elegant" than "dandified" and can easily wear it with a casual button up shirt and slacks.
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post #15 of 16
5/10/08 at 7:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roc_Xel View Post

Lots of very good posts, thx all.

going to discover MPG, my choice is done.

And btw i m wearing a suit (i m a lawyer) every day Renato so formal should not be a problem

Excellent. I'd think them the ideal classy scents for creating an aura and rapport with clients. If you need to be stern, consider wearing Sung Homme.
Renato
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post #16 of 16
5/10/08 at 9:24am
My big problem with MPG is that all their fragrances are only offered in 100 ml. bottles. Bad for traveling and impossible to use up if you have a large collection, which I am very guilty of.
If they would make 50 or 30 ml. sizes, I would be there with Santal Noble and Ambre Precieux.
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