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Is there any hope for a woman who wears all sorts of scent?

post #1 of 13
Thread Starter 
I'm female- I'm not frilly and girly, I'm a corset and leather wearing 6'3" biker with hair in bright red, waist length curls.

I like perfume and I like all different sorts of perfume as long as they aren't too bland or too close to smelling like Poison.

My daily perfume for the last few years has been Angel, but since I can no longer smell this I decided that it was time to branch out and start wearing some of the other scents that I have, all of which were bought because I like them.

Some of them are intended for women, but one of my favourite scents of all time is Givenchy Gentleman, which goes together particularly with bike leathers I find.

I also like Miss Dior, Kenzo Flower, Cashmere Mist, Bvlgari Black, Molton Brown Black Pepper and a few others that I've tried.

So is my sense of smell just shocked out of working properly by my ridiculous choice of perfumes, or should I be working towards being more 'normal' by limiting myself to something a bit more mainstream than aftershave and a perfume as divisive as Angel?

Where do I go to after GG and Angel? Is there anywhere to go?
post #2 of 13
Kelly Caleche has a leather basenote, and since you like Kenzo, I bet you'd dig it.
I love leather, too . Another favorite leather scent of mine, which is old school like Miss Dior, is Cabochard ...And you probably have to get it online...but it's really wickedly leathery as well as tad "manly", and it's sexy.
But it sounds like you have nailed some greats already.
As for being all over the map, I think that's a lot of the people who love fragrance. I prefer vintage chypres, but I have some really strange and diverse loves, which deviate so much from that model, like Hane Mori Butterfly...go figure.

It's funny I would think of Miss Dior or Bvlgari Black as being much more subversive than Angel, personally, just to ubiquity and flanker syndrome, I guess.
post #3 of 13
Quote:
Originally Posted by sfmedusa View Post


So is my sense of smell just shocked out of working properly by my ridiculous choice of perfumes, or should I be working towards being more 'normal' by limiting myself to something a bit more mainstream than aftershave and a perfume as divisive as Angel?

Where do I go to after GG and Angel? Is there anywhere to go?

Anosmia (loss of the ability to smell something) is pretty common in people who wear a single "signature" scent for a long time. Its sort of like being unable to smell the odors in your house. If you stop smelling it for a while, and come back to it, you can usually smell it again. My suggestion to avoid losing the ability to smell scents it to constantly rotate what you wear, so your nose doesn't become too used to any one scent.

Since you wear leather, I'm not sure you need a fragrance with leather notes. Looking at the ones you like, I'd suggest some additional spicy or woody scents. I just discovered Annick Goutal Encens Flamboyant and love it - I'd recommend it to you too, as its a unisex, not frilly at all, an I think it would mesh with you leather and your taste in fragrance.
post #4 of 13
sfmedusa welcome to BN!! Here at BN we just don't understand the idea of wearing anything exclusively lol. The thought of only having one perfume would cause most of us to drop dead. You have a variety of frags and should rotate them just as it was suggested. You should get out and test, test, test, and test some more. Test as many frags as you can. We don't care who it's made for either. We don't worry too much about that label. Many men wear the women's stuff and we wear the men's stuff. It could be a cologne for the family poodle. If it smells good on me, then me and Fluffy will be sharing that bottle lol. So, wear whatever smells good to you and on you. We're in the business of smelling good round here. We buy perfumes from the flea market, to the drug store, to the dept store, and on to the exclusive frags only sold in boutiques by appointment lol. We don't put too much into where it comes from most times. If it smells good, and better yet if it smells good on ourselves, then we are gonna wear it. The most beautiful part of our journey here is that it's never ending. We discover so many wonderful smells along the way. There is always something new on the horizon allowing us to seek out the ever elusive HG (Holy Grail). Just when you think you've found your signature scent, your holy grail, here comes another one that literally sweeps you off your feet sending you head over heels in love. I hope you enjoy it here and will return often to share your journey with us.

I'm not sure about your scent overload. Many others have experienced this, but I have yet to do so. I think the switching scents thing would help with this perhaps. It's rare that I wear a frag more than 4 days in a row. So alternate your frags and see if that helps.

I think you would like Kelly Caleche. It's a beautiful blend of a floral and leather. I call it my gucci bag perfume. I love the way the leather smells on my handbag and when I wear the Kelly Caleche, they smell so good together.

Is there anywhere else to go? Honey gas up the bike and hold on to them pretty red locks of yours cause you're in for the most beautifully scented ride of your life. Welcome!
post #5 of 13
Welcome sfmedusa!

Nice to hear your appreciation for some heavy-hitting scents!

You might like to check out KENZO JUNGLE (L'Elephant) - a gourmand oriental.

post #6 of 13
For me, it's important to have a rotation where the frags "work together," so that I enjoy going from one type to another (from day to day) yet without ever feeling overwhelmed or nauseated, which can then cause me problems with other frags that are totally different. I apparently had a case of "chemical sensitivity," which shifted my tastes to the sweet and light frags for a while, and I don't want that to happen again (though my sense of smell was actually better then, in terms of being able to detect a scent in much smaller amounts).
post #7 of 13
Thread Starter 
Ooooh- thank you for the suggestions everyone. I'm going to check out the Kenzo and the Kelly Caleche. I don't think that I'd have ever found that by chance because I don't know of any Hermes stockists near where I live, but I'm sure I can search it out online.

I'm glad to find that there are others who aren't snobby with scent. Another of my favourite summer scents is sold in 750ml plastic bottles in Spain, but I like the smell and others comment on it being a pleasant smell- I shall wear it without guilt when it's too hot for heavier scents!

I'm really hoping that I do get some ability to smell Angel back over time, What's really strange is that the anosmia applies to all of the other variants of the scent too (Angel le Lys etc) apart from a vague flowery smell. I can't smell any of the base notes. I have had so many compliments whilst wearing Angel that I'd hate to completely abandon it, but it's such a shame when I can't smell it.

So it appears that I'm embarking on a scented journey. I'm looking forwards to it
post #8 of 13
Thread Starter 
My credit card hates me this month! I've got some Kelly Caleche and it is lovely, but I've found something else I like even more.

I've just fallen in love with Cabochard. I got sent a sample and immediately bought a 100ml bottle. I even like the fact that I can buy it for half the price of my Angel!

One of the perfumes that I don't like is the Kenzo Jungle one. All I can smell when I put it on is cloves- horrid. I know it's meant to smell of other things too, but that's the joy of skin chemistry for you!
post #9 of 13
Cabochard is one of my favorites. It is very under rated IMO. If you like that, you might try Balmain 'Ivoire' which is also discounted and sort of a cross btwn Miss Dior & Cabochard. Very exotic.
post #10 of 13
Thread Starter 
I thought that it was about time to update my scent journey

I've found out that although I do really like Kelly Caleche, standard Caleche is even lovelier, and that I would sell my soul for another bottle of vintage Givenchy III parfum (I picked up some eau de toilette but it's just nothing like as good).

I also very much like Miss Balmain, Mariella Burani, Laura Biagotti Roma and La Perla, and I quite clearly have a bit of a thing for Jean Carles' scents, as Tabu and Ma Griffe have entered into my daily wear list alongside the Miss Dior too.

I've found a whole load of scents that I have found completely underwhelming so I think it's fairly safe to say that, like my hair and my clothes, I have subconsciously taken a decision that my fragrance should help to present me as a fairly 'once seen never forgotten' sort of person. I'm not sure that would lend a lot of people to wanting to share an office with me, but since I work from home that should never be necessary.

All 3 shelves of the cupboard in the bathroom are now fragrance shelves and everything else has been relegated into the blanket box in the corner to allow my scents enough space to spread out and be browsed luxuriously in the morning. I think it very likely that I shall never truly need to buy another bottle of perfume again since I've now got 115 bottles of scent, but of course that's not likely to stop me, is it?

Hooked? Absolutely!
post #11 of 13
Many, many roads.
Try Felanilla, Lolita Lempicka L and Au Masculin, Chinatown, Rose 31, Burberry Brit Woman, Declaration, Leather Oud, Tuscan Leather, Ambre Sultan.
post #12 of 13
Respectfully, getting your scents out of the bathroom and into a place that stays fairly dim and cool will help keep them in good condition longer. And on the enabling front.......try Bandit (Piguet) and Habinata (Molinard) .......and don't forget Tabac Blonde (Caron).
post #13 of 13
Can only see 56 in your Wardrobe out of 115. Update possible?

Where you go -- niche! Sniff and explore. Knize Ten will be a good start.
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