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What are the goofiest ideas you used to have about fragrance?

post #1 of 46
6/21/09 at 6:15am
Thread Starter 
I am sure most of us have had inaccurate ideas about fragrance at one time or another.

I am sure I still do!

But looking back, did you have any particularly silly, goofy, wrong-headed, or mistaken ideas that stick out in your mind?

I will start it out. A few of my goofy mistaken ideas:

(1) That notes are always actual ingredients derived from natural substances.

(2) That every house had its own in house perfumer(s).

(3) That you really couldn't switch fragrances every day. It just wouldn't work!
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post #2 of 46
6/21/09 at 6:23am
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that the general term cologne was EDC

that the designer him or herself created the fragrance

Had no idea musk was from an animal or originally so at least (doesn't help that "musky" is the only descriptive word most SAs know and abuse so often)


* will add more when i recall
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post #3 of 46
6/21/09 at 6:28am
Briliant idea!!! I bet everyone used to have some.

Here are mine:

1/ I visit Amazon.com to read fragrance reviews & ratings.

2/ I also believe 'designer' fragrances are the best fragrances ever created. Before that I even don't know what 'Guerlain' is.

3/ Some time later, I have a notion that any 'niche' is better or of higher quality than 'designer'.

4/ I should cover every pulse points on my body (not to mention under shirt), which translates to 6-8 or even 10+ sprays for each application.

5/ My friends, who like fresh aquatics or/and don't like my top dollar niche, are inferior to me in fragrance taste. Now I realize that we just have difference tastes.

etc....
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post #4 of 46
6/21/09 at 6:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by matthewfoo View Post

that the designer him or herself created the fragrance.

Ditto.

Therefore, I mostly buy fragrance based on the coolness/popularity of the brand.
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post #5 of 46
6/21/09 at 6:46am
Pre Basenotes:

1. I thought all scents were linear. I assumed that if after 3 hrs the scent didn't smell like the initial few minutes after spraying it was bad quality. This was because i sprayed my frags to chest after putting on clothes.

2. AdG and cK Crave were the best scents ever created. The rest were for old middle aged men.

3. The more recent the release date of a frag the better and more modern it was. Older ones were for old middle aged men.

I have to admit i was totally clueless about anything to do with perfume. I was scared even to go to the perfume counters because of the hundreds of different frags. Thank god for basenotes.
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post #6 of 46
6/21/09 at 7:20am
Every fragrance would give me a headache and make it hard to breathe

- It was actually the case that people over applied around me and a few ingredients were responsible for the headache, certainly not every perfume does it
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post #7 of 46
6/21/09 at 7:25am
That Creed has been making fragrances since before the 1980s.
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post #8 of 46
6/21/09 at 7:46am
I used to think:

1. That notes listed on the box or websites actually mean something. Sites can't even agree!
2. That I couldn't possibly have smelled a certain note because it wasn't listed!
3. That the fragrance was what I was paying for and not the advertising, packaging and name on the box.
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post #9 of 46
6/21/09 at 8:16am
Many of them that have already been listed apply to me, but I used to honestly thing all aquatics smelled "so similar as to be indistinguishable." Well, I just wrote them off. I thought as a perfume enthusiast I was above them.. or that they were 'below me' or something ridiculous like that.

That spending $50 on a bottle was absurd (I remember laughing at a kid when I was younger who said he spent $50 on a bottle of By Man.. oh boy, how foolish I used to be! Now I'd pick up a bottle of that in a heartbeat if I saw it for $50, and I've not even smelled it yet! )
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post #10 of 46
6/21/09 at 9:59am
Here are some of my goofiest:

- the thought that only the fragrance house X or the designer Y can make me happy and re thus worth their money
- the certainty that if I don't own/try a certain fragrance "I'm doomed"
- that my fragrance wardrobe needs to be expanded by more than 100 future purchases
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post #11 of 46
6/21/09 at 10:16am
I used to think you weren't supposed to smell it throughout the day. I thought the initial wet blast was what it was. If I smelled it on me for more than two hours, I felt very self-conscious that my head was in a cloud of perfume, and that the scent was just too powerful.

I also used to think that most everything smelled the same and was boring (hence the tiny pre-BN collection, right?) Thanks, y'all, for changing that!
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post #12 of 46
6/21/09 at 10:28am
Yeah, Jil Sander and Loris Azzaro brooding over bottles of sandalwood, amber and spices creating their next perfume. But as a cynic by default I discarded that belief rather quickly, even before basenotes.
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post #13 of 46
6/21/09 at 10:35am
That only one would be enough (then again, for most folks it is)
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post #14 of 46
6/21/09 at 10:41am
When I was thirteen or fourteen years old, I sometimes thought that girls liked some of my friends more because they wore some other fragrance and I wore CK One. Specifically, I thought that Tommy was the key to popularity.

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post #15 of 46
6/21/09 at 10:48am
I used to think, when I was 16, that fragrances for men sucked, because I blind bought Boss No. 1, which is unwearable for a 16-year old first timer.

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post #16 of 46
6/21/09 at 11:41am
I once thought I couldn't go over and browse or buy feminine-directed scents at the mall, and then for a while I felt compelled to create the 'I'm shopping for my wife' myth. Now if a SA says something like 'these are for women' I give them a look. SAs that know their stuff know it doesn't matter.
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post #17 of 46
6/21/09 at 11:57am
I used to think all fragrances were made just for the bottom notes. The top notes just got in the way of the better, softer notes. I still have only smelled around 2-3 colognes where I actually enjoy the top notes.
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post #18 of 46
6/21/09 at 12:34pm
MYTH: You can't wear two fragrances at a time. Period.
FACT (for me, anyway): If you don't wear two fragrances at a time (hands/arms), it's less than half as interesting.
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post #19 of 46
6/21/09 at 12:43pm
The whole "coffee bean" thing...

Teddius
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post #20 of 46
6/21/09 at 1:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by shermanirving View Post

I once thought I couldn't go over and browse or buy feminine-directed scents at the mall, and then for a while I felt compelled to create the 'I'm shopping for my wife' myth. Now if a SA says something like 'these are for women' I give them a look. SAs that know their stuff know it doesn't matter.

I just never even thought about exploring the "women's fragrance" section. But once I did, it opened up a whole new world. But it's a shame that so many people's fragrance purchases are STILL influenced/dictated by marketing, and not their own noses.
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post #21 of 46
6/21/09 at 2:00pm
Colognes contain the designers sweat/pheromones

There is a "ONE" cologne for you made perfectly for the TYPE OF PERSON you are, nothing to do with body chemistry or anything but a purely social construct. The ultimate goal is to find the one.

Colognes are to be worn on special occasions only.

These outrageous ideas were purported to me by my friend who considered himself an expert when he found Calvin Klein Eternity Summer 2005, back when we were in high school and I knew nothing about anything but school and video games.
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post #22 of 46
6/21/09 at 2:05pm
That men wore masculine fragrance and women wore feminine.
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post #23 of 46
6/21/09 at 4:37pm
I used to think a scent is exactly 'a scent' , there is no such thing as top notes middle notes base notes.
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post #24 of 46
6/21/09 at 5:30pm
When I was a child, neither parent wore perfume and my Dad's one reaction to any and all frags was "ugh, cat's piss!". The only exposure I ever got was walking through the perfume section of department stores. For a few years as a young child I was therefore quite convinced that ALL perfume smelled of the perfume department - nondescript 'perfume' smell.
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post #25 of 46
6/21/09 at 8:06pm
This was a great question. My goofiest idea was that men wore men's "cologne" and women wore women's "perfume". I had no idea of oil concentration, but the biggest thing that delayed my fragrance findings is that I did not try the men's frags on myself, so most of my life, I searched for something that was not there, labeled for me... It was frustrating and I wish I had known earlier. Now, with the help of basenotes and all of the wondeful people who contribute, I have a wardrobe of mostly men's fragrances... I never liked florals or women's orientals... Some of my favorites, in no particular order, are Burberry, Penhaligons Douro, Jo Malone's Amber and Lavender..... All for men... This simple thought opened half the market to me... I still get looks and questions when I venture to the men's counter, but if I find something, it is worth the annoyance.
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post #26 of 46
6/21/09 at 9:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ImpalaSS View Post

I used to think a scent is exactly 'a scent' , there is no such thing as top notes middle notes base notes.

Right, that was my misconception. I used to buy fragrance right after spraying and really only getting the top notes.

You know, there are SO many advantages to getting samples via the web and/or trading them with BN pals. One can test away at one's own pace!
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post #27 of 46
6/21/09 at 9:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ImpalaSS View Post

I used to think a scent is exactly 'a scent' , there is no such thing as top notes middle notes base notes.

I thought that too!

Spraying yourself more than 1 or 2 times is overkill
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post #28 of 46
6/22/09 at 12:25am
When I was 13, I believed a friend when he told me Jovan Musk would get me laid. I went out and bought it. It was many many years afterward that I got my wish. Sooooooo I wonder if it just had a delayed effect or it really doesn't get men laid. I actually found the bottle a few years ago and threw it away.

- Al
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post #29 of 46
6/22/09 at 12:56am
A fragrance was only to be used on special occasions.

The cologne for young guys was Axe and for older guys it was some generic powerhouse smelling thing. This idea is what kept me from exploring the world of scents.

I was so rediculously oblivious to the fragrance world until 3 years ago. If you had asked me then to name some colognes, all I could name were Quorum and Jovan Musk.
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post #30 of 46
6/22/09 at 1:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LedByMyNose View Post

When I was a child, neither parent wore perfume and my Dad's one reaction to any and all frags was "ugh, cat's piss!". The only exposure I ever got was walking through the perfume section of department stores. For a few years as a young child I was therefore quite convinced that ALL perfume smelled of the perfume department - nondescript 'perfume' smell.

That's me, verbatim. Took me forever to learn what I know now, and how much richer I am for it!

I also used to believe religiously in gendered marketing.
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post #31 of 46
6/22/09 at 1:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Merlino View Post

When I was thirteen or fourteen years old, I sometimes thought that girls liked some of my friends more because they wore some other fragrance and I wore CK One. Specifically, I thought that Tommy was the key to popularity.



So was Tommy Girl.
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post #32 of 46
6/22/09 at 8:37pm
Well, I used to think that fragrances are for old ladies only, hehe.
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post #33 of 46
6/22/09 at 9:14pm
I can say that I

loved to wear fragrances as a

child, but I though that if

the bottle wasn't pink and

the fragrance didn't smell like some

mixture of fruit, flowers, and sugar

then it was a "mens" perfume
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post #34 of 46
6/22/09 at 10:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by matthewfoo View Post

that the general term cologne was EDC

x2
It was all just cologne to me until BN.
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post #35 of 46
6/22/09 at 10:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lynn Faust View Post

This was a great question. My goofiest idea was that men wore men's "cologne" and women wore women's "perfume".

x2 x2
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post #36 of 46
6/22/09 at 10:56pm
that you were supposed to own and wear only one fragrance at a time until it was gone, and then repurchase -- i.e. the mythical "signature scent."
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post #37 of 46
6/23/09 at 12:39am
1.
I was thinking that coffee (beans or ground) will help to re-load olfaction system.
2.
I was thinking that USA perfumes (namely CK) are better than Russian. OK, that was just after Iron Curtain fall. Then I was thinking that French perfumes (Guerlain, Chanel) are better than American (CK, Hilfiger).
Then - that new perfume is better than old, selective is better that designer, etc,etc,etc.
The whole thing of comparison is wrong.
I like some perfume more - that`s true.
3.
And one more - the perfume smells the same on every person. Body chemistry is a real wonder! Especially when a person keeps some special diet (vegetarian, low-calorie, no hydrocarbons, etc), the scent changes dramatically!
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post #38 of 46
6/23/09 at 1:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by shamu1 View Post

That Creed has been making fragrances since before the 1980s.

LOL

Mine were:

"all are variations on a couple of themes" e.g. aldehydic chypres for women and boozy fougeres for men (this was before the days of calone)
((I had no idea that that's what the accords were called, I just recognized the familiar scents and had no words to attach to them))

and

"most are indistinguishable from each other"

and

"everyone who wears fragrance, wears way too damned much"

and

I never needed more than one bottle at a time
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post #39 of 46
6/23/09 at 1:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by moon_fish View Post

1.
I was thinking that coffee (beans or ground) will help to re-load olfaction system.

Seriously, is it just a myth? The SAs at upscale stores here always have some coffee beans.
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post #40 of 46
6/23/09 at 3:56am
Most of mine have been mentioned:

1) men cannot wear a perfume made for women and vice versa.
2) one signature scent is all you need
3) all scents always smell the same, there is no progression. the "top notes" are all there is.
4) $200 per bottle is way too much for a perfume

and I don't see these mentioned:

5) the same scent on the same person always smells the same, regardless of the climate.
6) that any scent is suitable to wear at any time (of day, of year)
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post #41 of 46
6/23/09 at 4:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zliang View Post

Seriously, is it just a myth? The SAs at upscale stores here always have some coffee beans.

I believe that they do that to make the "nouveau riche" believe that they are in on something that "commoners" are not, and more importantly to keep people there, smelling fragrances - if they think that coffee beans will allow them to sniff frags all day long, they'll stand there for an hour and end up buying two or three bottles, when they don't realize that the bottle of Le Male is WAY stronger than their noses say it is.

The fact of the matter is, your nose gets tired and only time will "reset" it.
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post #42 of 46
6/23/09 at 5:20am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by matthewfoo View Post

the designer him or herself created the fragrance

Me too. Apart from that, I used to think that

- Layering 2 fragrances was bad thing and people didn't do that.
- Eau de Perfum was always stronger than Eau de Toilette.
- Leather note was obtained by using the real leather in the distillation process.
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post #43 of 46
6/23/09 at 8:53pm
Notes listed as the pyramid don't mean much as the AMOUNT of each ingredient makes all the difference..that is why scents with VERY similar pyramids smell nothing alike.
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post #44 of 46
6/23/09 at 9:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by baudilus View Post

The fact of the matter is, your nose gets tired and only time will "reset" it.

True, but I have found that the coffee beans are a kind of palate cleanser when I'm moving between fragrances. It doesn't help my nose get 'untired', but it does seem to help with the overlap when I'm going from scent to scent, if that makes sense?
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post #45 of 46
6/23/09 at 10:14pm
I thought Davidoff was the best an most successful House.
I thought Goodlife was the best fragrance ever created....
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post #46 of 46
6/23/09 at 10:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zliang View Post

Seriously, is it just a myth? The SAs at upscale stores here always have some coffee beans.

Yes, it`s a myth.
Coffee has a distinct smell - and perfume too.
Both aroma substances will be captured in fluid running in our olphactive organ in nose.
And you cannot take perfume out of this fluid by any other scent.
It`s just like wipe out rose blushes from one`s cheeks by blue shades.

I read some info on Procter&Gamble official site devoted to the problem.
They investigate it and found out that your own unscented skin is the best solution (unscented inner elbow, or other).
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