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What have been your biggest fragrance exploration surprises? Notes? Perfumes?

post #1 of 36
10/22/08 at 1:20pm
Thread Starter 
Way back when I was still a teenager and selling perfumes part-time after school I didn't really deconstruct them the way we all like to here. I'm sure most of us here have not grown up as perfumistas (although I would put money on quite a few mini-me perfumistas being in training in some of your families!).

What have been your biggest fragrance exploration surprises? Any notes you thought you liked/disliked and found otherwise? Any perfumes?

Mine are probably:

- Tuberose. Thought I hated it, but realised that it's a strong love OR hate. Almost nothing in between. A tuberose fragrance will either make me swoon or feel nauseous; I'll never know until I try that particular composition. I'm still a bit surprised about this and I've known this for years.

- I seem to like some fragrances with coconut notes even though I really didn't expect to, given that the smell of coconut is another one that can woo me or make me feel funny. (I currently own two scents with a coconut note and really enjoy both of them).

- How much I seem to lean towards chypres as a category. I don't know why, but I didn't expect this. My old(er) favourites seem to be more in the big floral direction. Maybe it's age.

- How rarely I enjoy a full-on gourmand scent. I mostly only like hybrid gourmands, but an ostentatiously straight-up gourmand rarely makes me want to scoop it up and wear it. This is a surprise because in principle, I'm not put off by foody notes and the idea of many gourmands often sounds lovely, but in the end, there is something about baking a cake and something about smearing it all over you. Yet I'm swayed by Pleasures Delight (and might even enjoy a FB of the new Nina, which is basically liquid toffee apple).

Yours?
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post #2 of 36
10/22/08 at 1:29pm
My first surprise was the big world of scents -- and how many mediocre ones there are, and how interesting it is to find ones I like.
I started (somewhat naively) thinking I would get a few nice green/forest/pine scents. That is still my holy grail style, and one not yet fully achieved. I long for a perfect walk-in-the-woods scent!
A style surprise for me were fougeres, especially what I call ferny fougeres. E.g., Trumper's Wild Fern or Penhaligon's English Fern. In some ways that reminds me of smells at my grandmother's house, and at the same time it seems so current and lively.
Two surprises I'm still maturing into are violet leaves and oud. Their piercing notes are difficult, and yet I can begin to see how I might appreciate them.
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post #3 of 36
10/22/08 at 1:40pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by odysseusm View Post

My first surprise was the big world of scents -- and how many mediocre ones there are, and how interesting it is to find ones I like.
I started (somewhat naively) thinking I would get a few nice green/forest/pine scents. That is still my holy grail style, and one not yet fully achieved. I long for a perfect walk-in-the-woods scent!
A style surprise for me were fougeres, especially what I call ferny fougeres. E.g., Trumper's Wild Fern or Penhaligon's English Fern. In some ways that reminds me of smells at my grandmother's house, and at the same time it seems so current and lively.
Two surprises I'm still maturing into are violet leaves and oud. Their piercing notes are difficult, and yet I can begin to see how I might appreciate them.

I've noted your mentions of pine/forest style scents before - it's such a difficult category because of the associations with household cleaning products and suchlike. I know my boss, the head perfumer for our company, often laments about this and he has experimented with pine-style perfumes. He has used pine and citrus in one perfume, but it is by no means predominantly a pine scent.

Personally, I love the smell of pine, birch leaves, birch tar and forests... probably because I grew up surrounded by them (I'm from Finland). When I first heard about Neil Morris and read his website blurbs, I saw that he'd spent some time in Finland and had made a perfume called Dark Season which feels like an olfactory journey through a Finnish forest. I have a sample of it and felt it was beautiful, accurate, but not entirely wearable. Based on Neil's recommendation I'm going to sample it again when it gets really cold.

I don't think I've ever encountered the lovely, natural, fresh and invigorating pine note from nature in a fragrance without some other elements doing something to it. It would be an interesting challenge to see what would happen if one were to attempt a pine-cologne, say.
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post #4 of 36
10/22/08 at 3:06pm
I think my biggest surprise is how many frags smell alike. It is strange to read about a new scent and get excited about it, then you smell it, and it smells so close to ones you have or have tested. I guess with the number of scents they come out with every year it's hard to be original.
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post #5 of 36
10/22/08 at 4:53pm
As far as surprising likes, my biggest surprise was liking aldehydic florals like Iris Poudre, Arpege, L'Ame Soeur, Baghari, Le Dix, and No5. I started out liking either sweet scents (like Fresh Sugar Blossom) or natural-smelling woody/green scents, so I've been surprised how much I like these sophisticated ladylike ones.

Another big surprise when I got interested in perfumes through reading about them online was that an ecstatic, poetic, laudatory review of a fragrance did not mean it was something I'd like. It may sound obvious to anyone here, but when I started out I really didn't realize how very different people's tastes in fragrance could be. I thought that if a knowledgeable blogger (or 50 people on MUA) liked a fragrance, I would like it too. Wrong!
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post #6 of 36
10/22/08 at 6:28pm
I'm surprised by the diversity of what I have come to like. Before last year, the only scents I had were O de Lancome (lemony herbal), Pamplelune (grapefruit), and Lancome's Aroma Tonic (lime green tea) - notice a pattern? I really thought I'd still be searching for newer and better variations on the citrus-herb-fresh theme, but I've expanded my tastes beyond I would have thought possible. My current top scents include Avignon, Sensuous, Kenzo Flower Oriental, Infusion d'Iris, Dzing!, Lolita Lempicka, etc. Miles away from O de Lancome (which I still love, though.)
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post #7 of 36
10/22/08 at 8:18pm
My biggest surprise was finding out how many scents actually exist. When I lived on the east coast I actually kept up fairly well with new releases and whatnot, but since moving to the Pacific NW, I am telling you, I have been completely removed from all of the buzz and to-do. No nearby department stores of any reputation, no boutiques, nothing. So thank heaven for the internet, the occasional trip to Seattle or Portland, and, more recently sites like Basenotes. It feels great to be, if not in the know, then at least aware of what I have been missing all this time.
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post #8 of 36
10/22/08 at 8:24pm
The hardest genre for me to explore was Chypres, but Night illuminated my path... that almost sounds poetic

The most satisfactory has been my search for Roses and modern floral fragrances.

Instant Fragasm: Rive Gauche pH
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post #9 of 36
10/22/08 at 8:37pm
My biggest surprise - almost a crush - was guaiac wood. I love that note. The scent of Hinoki was a big surprise to me. Liking Bulgari Black surprised me. Also, discovering the citrus and lighter Creeds was wonderful and surprising. Finding two or more scents that share an obvious chemical is always both surprising and satisfying to me.

PS - I like Creed Epicea as a pine scent. Great stuff - very sniffable, with a nice touch of floral.
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post #10 of 36
10/23/08 at 12:49am
My biggest surprise fragrance-wise was discovering how few scents people actually
notice me wearing. Or maybe they are just indifferent to the power of perfume.
It simply doesn't exist on their radars.
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post #11 of 36
10/23/08 at 3:00am
Surprises?

Sweetness. It seems nearly everyone in the fragrance world has a bigger sweet tooth than me.

Don't get me wrong. I love many very sweet fragrances. I'm wearing one now in fact - the Basenotes exclusive Winter Star ( thank you Mr. Storer ). What surprises me is what a small selection I have to turn to when I want a truly dry fragrance.

Even the - to everyone else - dry as a bone L'Air Du Desert Marocain starts out more dessert than desert on me, the citrus bringing a fruity sweetness to the blend. I've also yet to find the dry leather fragrance my nose searches for.

Citrus. I like citrus. Honestly, I do. Yet when I have it a citrus based fragrance around... I seem to wear it so rarely I wonder why I bothered ordering it. I adore CdG's Anbar, but my small decant is going to last me at least another year.

Rose. So many rose fragrances smell like fruit to me. Czech and Speake #88 smells like grape pop; Rose Poivree should be Rose Papaya. Even the totally rosy Sa Majeste La Rose still smells a tiny bit... like apples, at times.

I have no idea why my nose perceives this olfactory illusion.

Skin chemistry. Wow! Amazing how different the same fragrance can smell on different people. To use a fragrance example I'd just used, Sa Majeste La Rose smells - of all things - like rubber rain coats on my mother.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kewart View Post

My biggest surprise fragrance-wise was discovering how few scents people actually
notice me wearing. Or maybe they are just indifferent to the power of perfume.
It simply doesn't exist on their radars.

Definitely! I remember spilling an entire sample of a fragrance on me and going around apologizing for it the rest of the day... only to be told repeatedly "What? I can't smell anything," even by people who had no reason to be nice about it.
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post #12 of 36
10/23/08 at 6:03am
For me the biggest surprise was the way my perception, or comprehension, of scent changed as I learned to recognize notes/scents. Until about two years ago I perceived the top note, heart and base separately as the fragrance dried down. Then about two years ago or so I discovered that I was perceiving the entire structure of the fragrance all at once when I smelled it. All the notes and phases were still there, but I was piecing them together mentally. The interesting thing about this was that it made me re-think a lot of fragrances, and even find similarities between scents (due to structure) that I had not previously thought were similar. This didn't happen overnight - it happened after I'd been exploring fragrance and collecting scents for about five years.
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post #13 of 36
10/23/08 at 7:41am
I think everything I was going to say has been covered, so I will just second a few people's surprise discoveries!

Rose scents - my new big love, that I had previously dismissed as "scented drawer liners".

Diversity of noses - I appear to be hyperosmic to synthetic civet

Diversity of skin behaviour - not for nothing did I dub my friend "sucrose Sharon"

Diversity of personal taste (the third variable!), including the gushing, lyrical reviews of things I turn out to dislike.

Diversity of the niche world generally - before this year I had only dimly heard of Jo Malone and Annick Goutal

Sameness of the mainstream launches - that's been a big disappointment, as those are the ones stocked in my local stores.

No one notices my perfume - another let down since I got into this hobby. Maybe I should be more trigger/nozzle happy!
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post #14 of 36
10/23/08 at 2:40pm
I'm still rubbish at deconstructing, so I don't try. I just get certain notes that float up over all the others and stand out for me. There are 'the ones that I like' and 'the ones that I don't like' and it doesn't get much more scientific than that for me. I can recognise some notes, but they're the simple ones. Once they're in combination with other notes, it becomes harder, and I haven't really spent a lot of time trying to perfect the art of note recognition, because that way lies obsession and it's bad enough that I'm obsessed with perfumes in general, let alone going that far into it. Maybe when I have more money in the bank and I'm not doing 14 hour days, I'll be able to explore further, but right now I'm happy with 'oh that has a nice balance of rose and musk in it' and 'I love the strength of the jasmine note in this one...'

Yeah, that's it for me. I'm a simple girl. :-)
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post #15 of 36
10/23/08 at 2:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by VM I hate civet View Post


No one notices my perfume - another let down since I got into this hobby. Maybe I should be more trigger/nozzle happy!

That's the biggest let down for me too - but what's worse is when they DO notice and make some negative comment - like the guy at work who kept warbling on about how he could smell 'incense' when I wore Shocking to work. Sure, it's an incensy kind of perfume, but come on! There's much more in it than that. I was quite affronted, and then I realised that not everyone is perfume obsessed and I let it go. I don't waste my Shocking on the workplace any more though!
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post #16 of 36
10/23/08 at 2:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perfume_Addict View Post

For me the biggest surprise was the way my perception, or comprehension, of scent changed as I learned to recognize notes/scents. Until about two years ago I perceived the top note, heart and base separately as the fragrance dried down. Then about two years ago or so I discovered that I was perceiving the entire structure of the fragrance all at once when I smelled it. All the notes and phases were still there, but I was piecing them together mentally. The interesting thing about this was that it made me re-think a lot of fragrances, and even find similarities between scents (due to structure) that I had not previously thought were similar. This didn't happen overnight - it happened after I'd been exploring fragrance and collecting scents for about five years.

I love that this happened in such a natural and free way. That's how I'd like to be able to do it, and particularly without noticing or having to make much of an effort (because I'm fundamentally lazy). How cool!
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post #17 of 36
10/23/08 at 2:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clemmie View Post

That's the biggest let down for me too - but what's worse is when they DO notice and make some negative comment - like the guy at work who kept warbling on about how he could smell 'incense' when I wore Shocking to work. Sure, it's an incensy kind of perfume, but come on! There's much more in it than that. I was quite affronted, and then I realised that not everyone is perfume obsessed and I let it go. I don't waste my Shocking on the workplace any more though!

I'm reminded of "herbal tea" comments I used to get a lot.
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post #18 of 36
10/23/08 at 7:07pm
Well, for me it's been exploring the world of niche fragrances. I honestly had no clue about them until very recently.

Oh, and that iris roots smell like carrots!!!
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post #19 of 36
10/23/08 at 8:17pm
Surprising is that I am gravitating to the idea of a detergent note (Light Blue, Ava Luxe Citrine), something my skin tends to amplify. This type of note cuts through the boggy humidity.

Another surprise is that amber has been nearly sidelined, as have woods. I have a box of niche woods/ambers into which I never stick my paw. Incense smells wrong to me; I live half-time in the woods and I feel as if I'm forcing nature to do something unnatural; paradoxically, there is an absence of smell here.

And I could not have predicted that I'd ever become a white-floral/aldehyde dame, too late to grab some No. 22 at Ulta. I dream of a bit of it now. too late to steal a spritz.

Finally, I am surprised that I have so easily returned to the department store scents I wore in the past, Hypnotic Poison the first repurchase. And also that I am wearing the hell out of a Prada dupe (!!!) from Sonoma Scent, which I've had for several years now. In hindsight, it was better than the original.

(Shocker: I am thinking of buying the pear-infused newish Gucci. One gets desperate down here, you see.)
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post #20 of 36
10/24/08 at 12:05pm
My most unpleasant surprise is whatever note or accord it is that strikes me as rank, weeks-unwashed armpit. I get it in different fragrances, men's and women's, and I don't know what it is, but I'd like to. Today, I tested Annick Goutal's Vanille Exquise, which should be exactly my kind of thing, but there it is again. I also get it in Pamplelune, Omnia Amethyste, Dirty English (for men), Ralph Lauren's Romance to a certain degree. What is that? Does anybody else get it?

Most pleasant surprise: Heliotrope! I love it.
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post #21 of 36
10/24/08 at 7:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Orion View Post

Another surprise is that amber has been nearly sidelined, as have woods. I have a box of niche woods/ambers into which I never stick my paw. Incense smells wrong to me; I live half-time in the woods and I feel as if I'm forcing nature to do something unnatural; paradoxically, there is an absence of smell here.

I was pondering today (as I used the very woody BBW Japanese Cherry Blossom shower gel) that I've never thought of woody scents as being particulary feminine. In fact, until the fairly recent push toward woody feminines, I would have considered them essentially masculine. Thats not to say I don't enjoy them and wear them now, but when I do I always feel I'm crossing over into masculine territory. Luckily, that's always been acceptable for women to do.

In any case, I can understand the pull of the soapy and aldehydic florals!
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post #22 of 36
10/25/08 at 2:15am
This is a great thread Nukapia, it's really got me thinking.
And reading all the comments just makes me think more.
In fact, this is one of those threads that sends me off to my collection to pick thinks up and sniff them and ponder and scribble and ponder some more.
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post #23 of 36
10/25/08 at 2:49am
Thread Starter 
Thanks Wordbird - and yes, I wholeheartedly concur; it's really got me thinking too. I love reading people's take on the topic!

One thing that particularly bugs me now after reading everyone's comments is: what's the difference between the scents that people notice me wearing vs. the ones they don't? Are some of the scents so confusing that people don't realise it could be a perfume and don't comment? Are some so objectionable people would rather not say anything? And why are there scents that certainly aren't loud (Summer by Kenzo, Love in Paris) in the "will usually get comments/compliments" category? Hmm!
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post #24 of 36
10/25/08 at 9:13am
Happy Saturday All.

I did not think I would like Violets, but I did find one on BH that I liked, and it was not too pricey, so I went for it. Well is it nice for a spring or summer day, light and fresh, with a bit of 'green' added. I also love Gardenia, which was another one I thought I would not like. It think it is due to my mother liking all these notes when I was child. I think that your parents or siblings can be your scent counter-parts. Like if a note smells good on you, it will probably smell good on your daughter, etc. I think it is due to your skin 'make up' being similar.
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post #25 of 36
10/25/08 at 10:08am
I used to avoid anything with oakmoss, tuberose, lily of the valley, grapefruit or patchouli listed in the notes. Now I've come to realize that everything deserves a try. For me, it's not the note, but how it's blended that seems to make a difference.

One of my favorite scents, Mousse de Chêne by Memoire Liquide, is almost totally dominated by oakmoss. Nasomatto's Narcotic Venus is heavenly, and tuberose definitely has the starring role in it. Ellie D's Ellie will always have a place in my rotation and I never would have given it a try if I continued to dismiss everything that contained LOTV. My aversion to grapefruit was based more on the horrible things my chemistry did to it than my enjoyment of the scent, but eventually my chemistry changed, and it's now a favorite note. And as for patchouli, I slowly but surely have become a bona fide patch hag.

Never say never!!
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post #26 of 36
10/27/08 at 11:55am
Patch hag -- me too. My new taste for patchouli surprises me. I think there's been huge progress on the patchouli front, right? When I was a kid it was all the camphorous hippy stuff I even hated as a young hippy.

No one ever comments on my perfume and sometimes it makes me a bit anxious -- do they hate it? Are they being terribly tactful and trying not to inhale? Not really sure what the etiquette is on this, anyway, and I suppose I don't often notice other people's perfume myself.
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post #27 of 36
10/27/08 at 12:16pm
My biggest fragrance suprise was SHOCKING by Elsa Schiaparelli...I never thought I'd enjoy civet, let alone this old world perfume! I completely adore it!
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post #28 of 36
10/27/08 at 12:20pm
The house of Caron for me has been my biggest and most pleasant surprise. I have bought several, unsniffed and love them all. I cannot even find them in dept stores here, yet I took a chance on Parfum Sacre and have been adding to the collection ever since.
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post #29 of 36
10/27/08 at 12:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ubuandibeme View Post

My biggest fragrance suprise was SHOCKING by Elsa Schiaparelli...I never thought I'd enjoy civet, let alone this old world perfume! I completely adore it!

Haha, while I find the "shocking shedloads of civet" most alarming!
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post #30 of 36
10/27/08 at 3:44pm
[QUOTE=Chestnut;1342528 My new taste for patchouli surprises me. I think there's been huge progress on the patchouli front, right? When I was a kid it was all the camphorous hippy stuff I even hated as a young hippy. /QUOTE]

I noticed my preference for patchouli about a year ago and was really surprised because I felt exactly the same as you. The patchouli I love now is NOTHING at all like the stuff I remember from my youth. I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers the old patchouli oils smelling so bad! I'm no expert at all but patchouli seems to range from the raw, harsh, pure type to what I'd call more 'soulful' blends which bring in touches of amber or vanilla to sweeten and smooth (these are the kinds of patchouli scents I seem to go for now). Still not keen on too much going on around patchouli though, smooth and well blended is better than fussy and overloaded for me.
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post #31 of 36
10/27/08 at 4:05pm
For me, it's how things change so often. I'm trying to figure out what's going on, but I think the human sense of smell may have just such "variance" built into it for a reason. Though I can distinguish much more than a year ago, that doesn't seem to relate to what I find pleasant or satisfying, which is what changes so much.
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post #32 of 36
10/28/08 at 2:30pm
Pleasant surprises for me have included:

1) Appreciation of the older Guerlains, formerly written off for being too Mrs Thatcher-y and fuddy duddy. Now, it's complete and utter respect all the way.
2) The joys of wearing gentlemen's scents
3) Becoming bolder and more multifarious in my tastes

Disappointments have included:

1) Not liking the mighty Bal a Versailles, in spite of its superlative reviews
2) Natural perfumery in general, with the exception of a few Andy Tauers
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post #33 of 36
10/28/08 at 8:04pm
Chestnut mentioned wondering if people even notice the scents she wears. I wonder the same thing. Back in the day (gosh I sound old) I almost always got comments on what I wore (usually along the lines of "You smell good," but not always). Lately, I think I would have to molest someone in order to get them to notice my scent. Is it due to air pollution? Have we become so inured to our noses being assaulted by unpleasant scents that we consciously or unconsciously block out the pleasant ones as well?
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post #34 of 36
10/28/08 at 8:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leesee View Post

Chestnut mentioned wondering if people even notice the scents she wears. I wonder the same thing. Back in the day (gosh I sound old) I almost always got comments on what I wore (usually along the lines of "You smell good," but not always). Lately, I think I would have to molest someone in order to get them to notice my scent. Is it due to air pollution? Have we become so inured to our noses being assaulted by unpleasant scents that we consciously or unconsciously block out the pleasant ones as well?

Do you think its because its no longer acceptable to comment on how someone smells? If its positive, it can be construed as a come-on or insincere flattery? Lately, when I get compliments, they fall into one of about three categories: close friends, who want to say something complementary. These are the same people who often comment on a new haircut, jewelry or blouse; coworkers currying favor: I have a coworker who lays it on pretty thick in the compliment department, and he frequently comments on my fragrance; my significant other: he rarely compliments my fragrance (he's got a rather poor sense of smell) but will say something if a new scent catches his nose.
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post #35 of 36
10/28/08 at 11:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perfume_Addict View Post

Do you think its because its no longer acceptable to comment on how someone smells? If its positive, it can be construed as a come-on or insincere flattery? Lately, when I get compliments, they fall into one of about three categories: close friends, who want to say something complementary. These are the same people who often comment on a new haircut, jewelry or blouse; coworkers currying favor: I have a coworker who lays it on pretty thick in the compliment department, and he frequently comments on my fragrance; my significant other: he rarely compliments my fragrance (he's got a rather poor sense of smell) but will say something if a new scent catches his nose.

Yes, that could easily be the reason, or at least another reason, for this particular phenomenon (or is it phenomena? so tired right now!). Certainly we have witnessed a trend toward redefining what is socially acceptable and not acceptable. Maybe people really think another person's scent is too personal a matter to comment on.
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post #36 of 36
10/30/08 at 3:41am
Finding Florals was the biggest surprise. I've always loved Orientals most, and when I got more serious about scents I learned to love many Chypres, too. But Florals were the most difficult olfactory group for me. I guess finding roses and vetiver (notes I used to dislike) sort of paved the way for them. Also the magic touch of Annick Goutal played its part. It's still the group I like least, but at least I enjoy wearing some Florals, it was a big step for me!
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