It’s been a busy two weeks here at the Scentlympic Games in Basenotes City. We’re all gathered here in the main Scentlympic Stadium, nicknamed the Fragrant Forum, for the closing ceremonies. Very shortly ISC Commissioner Grant Osborne will extinguish the flaming atomizer and it will be four long years until the fragrant houses gather again. Before the end let’s review the last seven days here in Basenotes City and see what Week 25 looked like.
There were 1,134 scents posted, our second-highest total.
A total of 682 scents were mentioned which is our highest total, to date.
468 scents were mentioned just once for an individuality index of 41.3%. The first number is our second-highest number and the individuality index is slightly lower than the average.
The last three weeks have been huge weeks overall as we have been above 1,110 posts, 665 individual scents, and 439 single wears. Even with all of that there are some things that just stay the same.
One of those things is the big 5 houses. This week it was a Chanel world as Chanel had 57 wears over 23 scents and placed two scents into the top 10. Chanel nearly doubled the amount of wears from the last three weeks and was just short of hitting an all-time house total. Guerlain is the most worn house this week with 66 wears over 27 scents. Guerlain takes back the House crown from Serge Lutens. Serge Lutens dropped in half the number of wears from last week as it had 35 wears over 20 scents. Hermes also had a precipitous drop down to 31 wears over 13 scents. Creed was right in the middle with another consistent 55 wears over 19 scents. The big 5 represented 21.5% of all wears and 15.0% of all scents worn.
You might wonder why I don’t include Yves St. Laurent in the top houses. If you were to look at this week with 49 wears over 16 scents you might think it should be included. This is the most inconsistent house in the survey as it can have a week like this with two scents in the top 3 and high overall totals and then it can have a week like Week 20 where it posts 25 wears over 10 scents. There are clearly some beloved scents but the community tends to run hot and cold on them and when its cold, it’s really cold. What makes the big 5 stand out is none of them have had a week below 30 wears. As you’ve seen particularly in the last two weeks there can be an almost doubling from one week to the next but these five houses are the most consistent of all of the houses.
Comme des Garcons still is down and Hinoki had its worst week in almost two months which helps drag the CdG total down. L’Artisan is a house which usually sees some pretty diverse wear patterns but over the last month it has been way down and has been at its lowest point since I’ve been keeping track. The houses which had big up weeks were Acqua di Parma, Bond #9, Jo Malone, Versace and Parfumerie Generale. Parfumerie Generale posted its best week ever.
One thing I’ve been watching is, how does posting on the forums affect the wear pattern of a scent or house. This week was a good example of forum postings seeing increased wears from Lalique Encre Noir, Le Labo Rose 31, The Different Company Sel de Vetiver, Possets, Montale, and Neil Morris. All of these saw spikes over previous totals. This hasn’t always been a reliable barometer as there are some weeks where there is a lot of chatter over a number of scents that will only get a wear or two. It is still less likely to see the forums truly boost something but this week there seemed to be more of a correlation than in weeks past and I thought I’d mention it.
On to the top 10. This week looks like a top 10 from before the ladies were included. There was only one scent in the top 10 that was predominantly worn by the ladies. That doesn’t mean they were idle this week as 6 of the scents in the just missed category were predominantly female worn scents. This is a top 10 of scents we’ve mentioned in the past and at the top is Guerlain Vetiver followed by two Yves St. Laurent scents Kouros and Rive Gauche pour Homme. Tied for fourth are two Creeds Green Irish Tweed and after a 13 week absence Bois du Portugal returns to the top 10. Along with the Creeds, Le Labo Rose 31 and Tauer L’Air du Desert Marocain share the 4th spot. Tied with Hermes Terre D’Hermes in the 8th spot is The Different Company Sel de Vetiver. As of Friday morning Terre D’Hermes was in danger of missing its first top 10 but it put on a three wear finishing kick to make it back into the top 10. Sel De Vetiver has been on a slow build throughout the summer and it finally results in a top 10 appearance. DK Black Cashmere is the only scent the ladies put into the top 10 this week. Chanel has Antaeus and Egoiste in the top 10. Guerlain adds Habit Rouge and Heritage to go with Vetiver at the top. The last two members are Acqua di Parma Colonia Assoluta and Montale Black Aoud.
Here now the SotW top 10 for August 16th-22nd, 2008
1.)\tGuerlain Vetiver 14 wears (1.2%)
2.)\tYves St. Laurent Kouros 13 wears (1.1%)
3.)\tYves St. Laurent Rive Gauche pour Homme 12 wears (1.0%)
4.)\tCreed Bois du Portugal 9 wears (0.8%)
4.)\tCreed Green Irish Tweed 9 wears (0.8%)
4.)\tLe Labo Rose 31 9 wears (0.8%)
4.)\tTauer L’Air du Desert Marocain 9 wears (0.8%)
8.)\tHermes Terre D’Hermes 8 wears (0.7%)
8.)\tThe Different Company Sel de Vetiver 8 wears (0.7%)
10.)\tAcqua di Parma Colonia Assoluta 6 wears (0.5%)
10.)\tChanel Antaeus 6 wears (0.5%)
10.)\tChanel Egoiste 6 wears (0.5%)
10.)\tDonna Karan Black Cashmere 6 wears (0.5%)
10.)\tGuerlain Habit Rouge 6 wears (0.5%)
10.)\tGuerlain Heritage 6 wears (0.5%)
10.)\tMontale Black Aoud 6 wears (0.5%)
16 scents were one wear away from making the top 10. Most notable from that group were Amouage Jubilation XXV which has seen an increased wear pattern and this was the second time it’s been close. There have been a lot of new male scents out there and I’ve seen that reflected in the sampling going on this week. Prada Infusion D’Homme got a decent sampling and just missed making the top 10 by one wear. Hinoki and Sensuous are the front runners for most worn new scent but the new fall releases might change that.
It has been a lovely Scentlympic Games and Commissioner Osborne should be proud of the way his hometown of Basenotes City has hosted the Scented Cognoscenti. He is now standing next to the flaming crystal atomizer which has been the symbol of these games and with one last geyser of flame he brings these games to a close.
As always, you keep wearing ‘em and I’ll keep counting ‘em
Have a well-fragranced week.
There were 1,134 scents posted, our second-highest total.
A total of 682 scents were mentioned which is our highest total, to date.
468 scents were mentioned just once for an individuality index of 41.3%. The first number is our second-highest number and the individuality index is slightly lower than the average.
The last three weeks have been huge weeks overall as we have been above 1,110 posts, 665 individual scents, and 439 single wears. Even with all of that there are some things that just stay the same.
One of those things is the big 5 houses. This week it was a Chanel world as Chanel had 57 wears over 23 scents and placed two scents into the top 10. Chanel nearly doubled the amount of wears from the last three weeks and was just short of hitting an all-time house total. Guerlain is the most worn house this week with 66 wears over 27 scents. Guerlain takes back the House crown from Serge Lutens. Serge Lutens dropped in half the number of wears from last week as it had 35 wears over 20 scents. Hermes also had a precipitous drop down to 31 wears over 13 scents. Creed was right in the middle with another consistent 55 wears over 19 scents. The big 5 represented 21.5% of all wears and 15.0% of all scents worn.
You might wonder why I don’t include Yves St. Laurent in the top houses. If you were to look at this week with 49 wears over 16 scents you might think it should be included. This is the most inconsistent house in the survey as it can have a week like this with two scents in the top 3 and high overall totals and then it can have a week like Week 20 where it posts 25 wears over 10 scents. There are clearly some beloved scents but the community tends to run hot and cold on them and when its cold, it’s really cold. What makes the big 5 stand out is none of them have had a week below 30 wears. As you’ve seen particularly in the last two weeks there can be an almost doubling from one week to the next but these five houses are the most consistent of all of the houses.
Comme des Garcons still is down and Hinoki had its worst week in almost two months which helps drag the CdG total down. L’Artisan is a house which usually sees some pretty diverse wear patterns but over the last month it has been way down and has been at its lowest point since I’ve been keeping track. The houses which had big up weeks were Acqua di Parma, Bond #9, Jo Malone, Versace and Parfumerie Generale. Parfumerie Generale posted its best week ever.
One thing I’ve been watching is, how does posting on the forums affect the wear pattern of a scent or house. This week was a good example of forum postings seeing increased wears from Lalique Encre Noir, Le Labo Rose 31, The Different Company Sel de Vetiver, Possets, Montale, and Neil Morris. All of these saw spikes over previous totals. This hasn’t always been a reliable barometer as there are some weeks where there is a lot of chatter over a number of scents that will only get a wear or two. It is still less likely to see the forums truly boost something but this week there seemed to be more of a correlation than in weeks past and I thought I’d mention it.
On to the top 10. This week looks like a top 10 from before the ladies were included. There was only one scent in the top 10 that was predominantly worn by the ladies. That doesn’t mean they were idle this week as 6 of the scents in the just missed category were predominantly female worn scents. This is a top 10 of scents we’ve mentioned in the past and at the top is Guerlain Vetiver followed by two Yves St. Laurent scents Kouros and Rive Gauche pour Homme. Tied for fourth are two Creeds Green Irish Tweed and after a 13 week absence Bois du Portugal returns to the top 10. Along with the Creeds, Le Labo Rose 31 and Tauer L’Air du Desert Marocain share the 4th spot. Tied with Hermes Terre D’Hermes in the 8th spot is The Different Company Sel de Vetiver. As of Friday morning Terre D’Hermes was in danger of missing its first top 10 but it put on a three wear finishing kick to make it back into the top 10. Sel De Vetiver has been on a slow build throughout the summer and it finally results in a top 10 appearance. DK Black Cashmere is the only scent the ladies put into the top 10 this week. Chanel has Antaeus and Egoiste in the top 10. Guerlain adds Habit Rouge and Heritage to go with Vetiver at the top. The last two members are Acqua di Parma Colonia Assoluta and Montale Black Aoud.
Here now the SotW top 10 for August 16th-22nd, 2008
1.)\tGuerlain Vetiver 14 wears (1.2%)
2.)\tYves St. Laurent Kouros 13 wears (1.1%)
3.)\tYves St. Laurent Rive Gauche pour Homme 12 wears (1.0%)
4.)\tCreed Bois du Portugal 9 wears (0.8%)
4.)\tCreed Green Irish Tweed 9 wears (0.8%)
4.)\tLe Labo Rose 31 9 wears (0.8%)
4.)\tTauer L’Air du Desert Marocain 9 wears (0.8%)
8.)\tHermes Terre D’Hermes 8 wears (0.7%)
8.)\tThe Different Company Sel de Vetiver 8 wears (0.7%)
10.)\tAcqua di Parma Colonia Assoluta 6 wears (0.5%)
10.)\tChanel Antaeus 6 wears (0.5%)
10.)\tChanel Egoiste 6 wears (0.5%)
10.)\tDonna Karan Black Cashmere 6 wears (0.5%)
10.)\tGuerlain Habit Rouge 6 wears (0.5%)
10.)\tGuerlain Heritage 6 wears (0.5%)
10.)\tMontale Black Aoud 6 wears (0.5%)
16 scents were one wear away from making the top 10. Most notable from that group were Amouage Jubilation XXV which has seen an increased wear pattern and this was the second time it’s been close. There have been a lot of new male scents out there and I’ve seen that reflected in the sampling going on this week. Prada Infusion D’Homme got a decent sampling and just missed making the top 10 by one wear. Hinoki and Sensuous are the front runners for most worn new scent but the new fall releases might change that.
It has been a lovely Scentlympic Games and Commissioner Osborne should be proud of the way his hometown of Basenotes City has hosted the Scented Cognoscenti. He is now standing next to the flaming crystal atomizer which has been the symbol of these games and with one last geyser of flame he brings these games to a close.
As always, you keep wearing ‘em and I’ll keep counting ‘em
Have a well-fragranced week.
And the constant had a rough week, too! 
