What's the worst female fragrance you've ever smelled? - Page 3

YSL Paris is awful on me. I had it when it first came out and it smelled like my guinea pig's cage. I haven't tried it in 20 years so maybe it's different on me now... Also don't like Poison, White Linen and Shalimar.

But the worst is this: Probito Perfum de Toilette by Patricia Flavin
Here's a review I wrote on it on MUA a few years ago:
I received Proibito as a qwp from Natural Perfection when I bought their seaweed soap (awesome soap!). This is the description of Proibito from the Natural Perfection site:
"It is a refined, woody, mossy fragrance. This feminine scent possesses a blend of many florals along with citrus, woods, and greens."
There is nothing refined about Proibito - it just smells strong and cheap. I doubt I'll be able to give it away.
http://www.naturalperfectionproducts...tegory_Code=SO
It's actually Proibito (not the men's fragrance) -

Tocade
Sends me running every time...

One perfume that literally made my eyes water and gave me a huge headache was 'Interlude' I forgot who made it. One of my mothers friends used to wear it. I could'nt stand be in the proximity of it.

Really? Tocade is one of my all time faves!

Isn't it weird? And it is by one of my favorite noses. But it is by far the most revolting fragrance I ever smelled! I remember they had a display in a shop where my parents lived, a huge bottle which wafted the scent around and I already got nauseous before I had even seen it!

True, there are some fragrances which just push our buttons in the wrong ways! Every time I smell CK One I'm transported back to the early nineties when everyone was drenched in it, like kitchen cleaner

AROMATICS ELIXIR!!! jesus..this stuff is so disgustingly horrid. and Old Women BATHE in it.. blech!! I almost get offended when i smell this on someone. Choke me

Chanel no.5 was overapplied by a cougar at work..gave her a pathetic twisted shade, in the words of John Lydon "smells of old f##ny"

Hands down it's Avon Occur! My dear Grandmother used to pour it on as her sense of smell declined. Almost destroyed mine too. Just thinking about agitates my gag reflex.

Tommy Girl or Kate Perry Purr, or wait, actually the one everybody here received a sample of from some fragrance mail order. Forgot the name* now (which was pretty silly). Valentina is annoying too.

Edit *Exceptional...because you are.

Euphoria in fact to my nose Calvin Klein has only done one likable fragrance, Obsession in homeopathic quantities. Euphoria is the worst though. My closest friend started wearing it, I knew our friendship was floundering. Not because of the scent but the scent was a sign she was changing.

Bluebell by Penhaligon's is probably not the worst but, in my book, it's very close...

Clarins Eau Dynamiste - this was the worst blind buy ever - makes me feel nauseous.

Caesar's Woman by Caesar's World

It's unbearably stinky and nauseating !

Cool Water Women.


The smell makes me want to not own a nose. Fresh and clean, dryer sheet things in general. So oppressive. So not perfumey.

- - - Updated - - -

And just for a laugh, I know we all see others naming ones we like as the worst here, but several repeatedly and emphatically named are all within my Top 30 or so best fragrances EVER:

Narcisse Noir
Borneo
Youth Dew
Poison
Organza
Aromatics Elixir
Tabu
Tocade

Signed,
PATCH FIEND + rubbery floral lover who likes dirty and hates clean. Oh, and I disliked all of these scents passionately at first too but with repeated wearings fell in super love. Perhaps it's Stockholm Syndrome.

Organza.Not clear to me yet, but I think Womanity is amongst them.

Yep, some of these latest entries are on my favorites list, too!

I adore Avon Occur! - shame you had it ruined for you Genie Jeanie. One of my favorite sweet old neighbors used to wear it and I've always treasured it. And I think Bluebell is amazing and unique, although I can completely understand why it's polarizing, it is rather weird ...but I love it! Euphoria too, which I think is a bit like Angel - it's ruined if even slightly over-applied, and it's frequently over-applied.

I thought my whole wardrobe was going to be up here but it isn't...I have a FB of this one...so take it FWIW...Breath of God

I have a few bottles of things that I sort of don't like...but for some reason, I still like having them around

Giorgio Beverly Hills.

I don't know. I really don't.

I have though on several occasions smelled a perfume that I thought was really really terrible .... only to find out later that the perfume had gone bad and so I was not smelling the actual perfume.

YSL Paris. I liked it and wore it years ago, until I worked closely with someone who bathed in it. Vileness, I still can't stand even a hint of Paris in the air.

I love Tabu and there are quite a few who don't here.

I think one of my eeeech niff experiences came from the Lush, Gorilla range, was it Lust? OH's comment was 'bottoms'.

Versace Blond is another extreme scrubber for me. Long dead tuberose flowers, rotting in a vase.

Haha, funny..I really like Lust..a true jasmine BOMB!

Ones that really didn't work for me:

EL White Linen
Miel De Bois SL..but that's a unisex I guess
Gypsy..I think that was the name of it, lol
Beyonce Heat ugh
Burberry Brit EDT ugh
Dior Addict..has that thing going on that Burberry Brit does and I just don't like it.
Womanity
Oh and Exclamation, lol.

lol Mumsy..rotting tuberose flowers? ugh, sounds bad!

Clinique Aromatics Elixir i don't feel too bad mentioning this one, it seems to be a popular choice, i hate it, my mother adores it. But i feel i also must mention that horrendous furniture polish concoction, that i have heard men say they love; Calvin Klein's Obsession in all it's ghastly horrid dark brownness. Makes me want to whip round the condo with a yellow duster, wearing an apron. Estee Lauder Youth Dew deserves an hnourable mention, as it's been torturing nostrils for what seems like centuries.

This is my personal opinion, sorry if i have offended anybody who love these. Idon't like them on me, or anyone else.

I certainly would have agreed with you before, but Aromatics Elixir and Youth Dew (as of a sudden conversion last week) are now my holiest of holy grails, and I'm not the least bit offended. In fact most people dislike them! I have to agree on Obsession, even to the point of disliking it on others, but when someone says that they love it, I can't help but understand too, even with my hatred. That's the strange thing about perfumes. Usually our over-exposure to it causes the aversion most of all, all three of those being over-applied and worn by many, many women in very specific eras. One thing about all three scents I've noticed: applied very lightly they're nice. Applied as one would a normal perfume, they are edging on disgusting. It's certainly interesting that all three are American perfumes designed to be very outgoing and noticeable. These days American scents are anything but! Give us deodorant or give us death and all. ..

White Linen is the worst for me. The women in my life overapply and have suffocated me with it as a child. I am scarred for life!

REformulated Je Reviens - cloying ad infinitum

This is a brilliant thread for finding your evil scent twin on. Find your oppo-twin and swap your hated frags as their loved ones....

I tried Aromatics Elixir and remembered it being quite nice. I shall have to try it again.

Who is a devout tuberose fiend? Tuberose just doesn't suit my skin at all. My oppo-twin would love tuberose.

Je Reviens used to be nice. My grandma gave me it in the tiny blue bottle when I was a girl. I think it was my first proper perfume.

I forgot about Womanity boy that is some vile juice in that stunning bottle. I sprayed some on the back of my hand in a department store, thinking "ooh pretty bottle, with lovely intricate hardware! The scent MUST be lovely" but ewww, it's a horrible smell in my opinion. Very unfeminine, harsh, discordant, and bitter. And i have noted with all the scents i hate, their sillage and longevity are massive, intense, and annoying. You want them to fade, hopefully into a beautiful and sumptuous drydown, but no. There they lurk, assaulting your serenity and peace. And even have the temerity to hang around after a shower, and severe exfoliation with a pan scrubber. Get thee behind me Satanic smell, with your caviar and fig. I do have a hate relationship with fig, i hate the taste, smell and idea of them. And caviar? Well i'm not touching fish eggs with a 10 foot pole, i throw fish eggs to seagulls, so i don't want it to be in a fragrance. Womanity trumps Aromatics Elixir, and Youth Dew hands down.

Scent-imental, I'm with you on the anti-fig thing. I just can't warm up to figs. And what's the deal with caviar? Them's for eatin' not wearin' and smellin'!!!

Scent-imental try a side by side omparison of Womanity and Secretions Magnifique. Definitely evil scent twins! I fact SM is just the better of the two. Gak!

Secretions is not a word i find alluring in a fragrance - it suggests an oozing sore, a suppurating wound, that has gone gangrenous, or something equally hideous. That certainly sounds disgusting Alityke and deserves a mention, before i even smell it.

SM is infamous and the blurb from EldO claims it smells of sperm and blood (it doesn't) and Katie Pukrik did a well known you tube review. I started a comparison with Womanity thread http://www.basenotes.net/threads/294...ue-vs-Womanity some time ago. Do google the Pukrik revue

Oh dear me! I just watched KP's review of Secretions Magnifique, very amusing. I loved her facial expressions, and description. It makes me want to try a sample actually. In that morbidly fascinated kind of way. Like you know something stinks, you can see that the milk has gone all lumpy and separated, but some insane part of me just HAS to take a sniff, and recoil, shuddering with horror, at quite how bad that stench is. Thats how i'm feeling aout SM.

I think i'm a little weird. I need to smell it now, right now in fact. I also checked the reviews on here, and one was particularly amusing. I shall not go into detail of his comments, he mentions being alone in bed, thats all i'll say. But i am curious now, childishly so. In fact, if i knew anyone who actually spent real money on a full bottle of this, I'd try to scrounge a sample. Not just for me, but i'd love to shock my husband. And of course, come back to this thread to add SM my most disgusting female frag list. Thanks for the link and info Alityke

I felt nauseous when I wore McQueen's Kingdom, but I can't say it's a bad fragrance... I think it demands colder weather.
Hm, I don't like Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille, on my skin, it's the worst.

That's quite some combination there! Love it or hate it, I never thought I would see White Diamonds grouped with Secretions Magnifiques!

Haven't seen Champs Elysees by Guerlain mentioned yet. BLURGH. Nasty, wheedling synthetic mess. Accidentally sprayed some on a winter coat and even dry cleaning couldn't save it. Farewell, coat.

Oh, and Poison. Toxic grape Kool-Aid.

Hahahahaha! My dad bought my mom this fragrance. She absolutely hates it - literally sprays it down her sink when he isn't there

Yep Alityke. Womanity is a real hummer. So is Dilmun by Lorenzo Villoresi. What is that you think smells like hippapotamus poo? Mind you, I can't remember if you said that you didn't like it..

I think she said Dzing smelled like hippo? lol. I can't remember if she said she didn't like it or not either. I liked some aspects of Dzing actually..now that I remember. The big, leather cow hide note that lasted forever didn't do too much for me..but the dry down I was kinda diggin. I got leather..then cinnamon and hay.

Ha Ha. It was!! I did remember, and I am sure that she didn't want to smell like hippo poop!

Yep Dzing! smelt like a big smelly pile of hippo poop with the hippo stood guard over it. Not so much a leather as a stinky pachyderm enclosure. It didn't make me scrub with a brush like CDG 2011 did but that smelt like Chernobyl fallout. I got the Dzing! joke just none of the popcorn, candy floss circus references.

Who wants to smell like a pachyderm? It's bad enough that at my age I appear to be turning into one

Maybe it's the result of eating lamb from the Yorkshire Moors which the urban myth says we're affected by the Chernobyl cloud

Tried First by Van Cleef and Arpels the other day. Smells like what I imagine Harrods fabric conditioner smells like...

Hypnotic Poison has something in it that almost instantly gives me a migraine. I'm also not a fan of Angel, but I think that;s because it#s ubiquitous rather than a bad frag.

Eternity and White Diamonds

When i just started sniffing perfumes i stumbled on Aromatics Elixir, and i thought its impossible anyone wants to smell like this, i did spray it on my wool shirt, because was forcing myself to understand it, and yes its ok! It develops into something that smells old lady but good!! but then i realised i am not chypre, mossy scents fan:-) , so Knowing, Youth Dew and such scents are something i dont go around, but understand they smell nice

but i remember Royal Pavillon by Etro, as something so ugly:-) i could not smell ever again! It makes me want to vomit and it starts so nicely , i was thinking to buy it! After 30 minutes, i dont know what came from the base, its disgusting

poison

I admire many of the above mentioned fragrances and, when applied with a light hand, Aromatics Elixir, Youth Dew etc smell splendid in my view - but I entirely understand why many do not care for them.

My bete noir is Angel, I'm afraid. I can appreciate that this is an example of interesting and innovative perfumery but I'm afraid I think it monstrous. I like a number of its relatives - Bond No 9 New York for all, Yves Rocher Cocoon, Coromandel, Lolita Lempika but Angel repulses me.

The fragrances mentioned above as awful but that I love are tobacco vanille and hypnotic poison, both in my collection.

The one I can't stand but I thought I would really love based on its notes is L'artisan Havana vanille. Something in it smells very very nauseating to me. Bleurgh!

The worst scents I have go in the bathroom, as room fresheners..

The very worst go straight in the bin.  Usually my friends don't want them.

 

The ones I couldn't even bear to put in my bathroom were Sensi oh this was just gross, Red Door (I eventually threw this out it even polluted the toilet), Madness (who thought smelling like crushed  tomato vine was good?)

There are some really disgusting scents out there - Imari is right up there, all the Poisons will always be poison. Magie Noire is the latest almost vomit inducing scent I have tried. Anathema to a fruity floral.

And I almost forgot Euphoria. Yuk

And there's one of Tommy Hilfiger's that smells like fish Tommy girl or Tommy Jeans -I sold that on ebay.

I have two for very different reasons. Was given a massive bottle of Poeme by a BF of the time, as I had expressed a preference for loud scents I only had myself to blame and had to wear it until I could find a reason to dump him.
The other is the newish Boss Nuit, does it smell of anything? To anyone out there? This is more of an industrial level hatred, how dare they!

Red by Giorgio.  My mother-in-law used to wear it and I could not be in the same room as her while I was pregnant.  My husband finally asked her to stop wearing it around me. 

 

I used to work at Clinique and, thank god, they only brought Wrappings out during the holidays, but Aromatics Elixir was out all the time and it drew old ladies like flypaper.  :(
 

Jungle Gardenia

ET Passion is terrible, as is Michael Kors.

I must have the nasal equivalent of an iron gut. I cant say there is a fragrance I couldn't imagine smelling good on someone else. Secretions Magnifiques comes pretty close but it could work on the right person. All the usual suspects, Spellbound, Aromatics Elixir, Passion etc I used to loathe, but over time have learned that its all in the application. One tiny spritz somewhere like the navel or on the thigh make all the difference and radiate the most heavenly whiff up to the nostrils.

I agree with all that said Clinique Aromatics Elixir and Guerlain Acqua Allegoria Pamplune!! AGHH such stinkers! ESPECIALLY Aromatics Elixir. I couldn't bear to put that anywhere near my skin, because one sniff from the tester bottle alone at Macy's made me LITERALLY gag and have to stop for a moment to gather my senses... 

How extraordinary; Aromatics Elixir is one of my favourite fragrances.   Isn't it good that we are all so different.

 

Kenzo's "Flower" would be pretty high on my list of stinkers, but there is a class of perfume (and I don't know any names) that I really loath.   Thankfully this type has fallen out of fashion but there was a time, not long ago, when it was impossible to avoid a very strong, almost metallic, ozonic floral which was attempting to be a Muguet, which also had a nasty fruity element.   Utterly vile, in my opinion.   On a couple of occassions I had to move away from the person who was contaminating the world around her.

Dior Homme

Red Door, Youth Dew and Paris