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Given my taste, what should I sample next?

post #1 of 12
Thread Starter 
I'd like to try a few samples, but I'm not sure what will be worth my while given my taste in fragrances. I've come to realize that I like mostly sweet garmand fragrances with a little woodiness. I like fresh/citrucy too, but I feel like my preference may be different from some. For example: GIT is trash to me. Overpriced Cool Waters, which I don't like either. ADG: overrated pos. Korous:bland pos

I bought the basenotes sample pack from the Perfume court, which included 8 of Basenotes' most popular fragrances (Korous, Dior eau savage, A*men, Guerlain Vetiver, Guerlain Habit Rouge, GIT, TDH, m7). On another occassion, I got a sample of YSL Opium, which I like, but not enough to purchase. Thing is with the 8 sample pack, I only really like the A*men (which has really grown on me, cuz I started out not getting it), TDH, and the M7. The Egoiste is still on MAYBE status, and I atleast think the Vetiver is ok. My biggest issue is-as much as all of these fragrances are talked about on here-I thought I would be absolutely marveled by these fragrances. I wasn't. So now I'm thinking ok...I wanna try more fragrances, but I don't wanna waste time trying stuff that I won't be impressed with. So I figure if you know what I DO like, you can help me find what I will likely enjoy.

What I own:
Burberry Brit & Burberrys
Versace Dreamer & Blue Jeans
Dunhill Desire & X-Centric
Gucci PH1 (tiny bottle to just sample, and find it just ok) & GPH2 (awesome)
Avon Mesmerize (perhaps out of place)
Lancome Hypnose
Dolce & Gabanna
Givenchy Pi
Liz Claiborne Mambo
M7 (should arrive soon)

From my basenotes lurking, I know I wanna try Rochas, so that is on the list. But what else should I ad? I see plenty of Aqua Di Parma mentions on here, so that is a definite buy as well. I see L'artisan, Caron, Creed, and Guerlain mentions a lot, but which ones will really impress me? I just don't wanna have my expectations in the clouds over fragrances that don't do it for me.

So having said all that, what do you recommend?
btw-any thoughts on Lacoste PH, Diesel Fuel For Life, and Joop (once owned) would be appreciated. Strongly considering those three to purchase, in that order.
post #2 of 12
Given your preferences, I'd recommend you try L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme edt or edp (the edp is more sweet gourmand and less fresh than the edt).
post #3 of 12
How open are you to trying less famous niche scents? You might try Serge Lutens' Five O'Clock au Gingembre to start.
post #4 of 12
When I started my fragrance hobby I thoght I knew what I liked, but I quickly realized that I had no clue and with more and more scents that I've tried my horizon kept expanding and preference stereotypes were pretty much blown away. My tastes kept changing with time and experience and things that I dismissed initially started smelling divine and worth of a bottle puchase later. I suspect you may find yourself in a simliar situation as you experience more and more frags.

If I were you I'd try the more popular Creeds next - Green Irish Tweed, Millesime Imperial, Himalaya, Silver Mountain Water. There's also a great way to try a whole bunch of L'Artisan's for cheap - they have a samples program where you can order 5 (but I've had as many as 14) for just $7 with free shipping. You may also want to try such Basenotes favourites like Andy Tauer (especially L'Air du Desert Marocain), Montale's ouds, Serge Lutens (if you don't mind very sweet mostly oriental scents) and Bond n.9.

Good luck!
post #5 of 12
Musc Ravageur
M Mimmina
Diesel Plus Plus

Those are the scents that I have experience with that I think would fit your taste
post #6 of 12
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nenugal View Post

Given your preferences, I'd recommend you try L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme edt or edp (the edp is more sweet gourmand and less fresh than the edt).

I'll see the basenote reviews and consider checking it out. Thanx.
post #7 of 12
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by genvy5 View Post

How open are you to trying less famous niche scents? You might try Serge Lutens' Five O'Clock au Gingembre to start.

I'm open to anything good. I'm waiting for someone to cosign you before I get that sample though.
post #8 of 12
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor01 View Post

When I started my fragrance hobby I thoght I knew what I liked, but I quickly realized that I had no clue and with more and more scents that I've tried my horizon kept expanding and preference stereotypes were pretty much blown away. My tastes kept changing with time and experience and things that I dismissed initially started smelling divine and worth of a bottle puchase later. I suspect you may find yourself in a simliar situation as you experience more and more frags.

If I were you I'd try the more popular Creeds next - Green Irish Tweed, Millesime Imperial, Himalaya, Silver Mountain Water. There's also a great way to try a whole bunch of L'Artisan's for cheap - they have a samples program where you can order 5 (but I've had as many as 14) for just $7 with free shipping. You may also want to try such Basenotes favourites like Andy Tauer (especially L'Air du Desert Marocain), Montale's ouds, Serge Lutens (if you don't mind very sweet mostly oriental scents) and Bond n.9.

Good luck!


I've wanted to try MI for a while now, because I heard Unforgivable was inspired by this one, and that stuff is quite nice. Himalaya I'm curious of as well. I'll consider the others you mentioned. I'm gonna be making some purchases this week.
post #9 of 12
Thread Starter 
Thanx smelly.
post #10 of 12
Quote:
Originally Posted by nenugal View Post

Given your preferences, I'd recommend you try L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme edt or edp (the edp is more sweet gourmand and less fresh than the edt).

I agree you should try L'Instant.
post #11 of 12
Quote:
Originally Posted by Larwiz View Post

I'm waiting for someone to cosign you before I get that sample though.

???????????? O_o
post #12 of 12
What I found is that my taste changed considerably within the first few months, and I came to like sweet fragrances better, though some gourmands I still really dislike (such as New Haarlem). However, those that have a "rough edge" don't appeal. Animale Animale and Rochas Man have a sandalwood note that's too strong for me, for example. I also can't deal with geranium if there's too much of it. When I first started out, however, these didn't bother me. Also, I now realize that I basically ignored the strong lavender note that is in many men's fragrances, whereas now I avoid any frag that has lavender that is overdone.

So, I'm not sure what to tell you, because your list is diverse and you haven't told us if there are certain kinds of frags or notes that you enjoy. I like A*Men too, but only in small amounts. That is another consideration. So, for me now, I have a "rotation" that is very diverse, but there's no frag in it with notes of lavender, sandalwood, or geranium that are too strong, and most of them are on the sweet side, but a few are dry and lacking sweetness, just for the sake of variety (some days I just don't want the sweetness).
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