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What is sad and indescribably beautiful?

post #1 of 28
10/19/10 at 2:04am
Thread Starter 
Well, there's Beethoven's Sonate Pathetique, 2nd movement; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DffUs...eature=related

But I'm referring to men's fragrances.

I think this is one area where women's scents have us beat to hell. They have L'Heure Bleue by
Guerlian--to give one of a hundred examples.

What do we have?

What conjures up romance and sorrow? Getting out of the rain to find yourself in a blues club with other forsaken souls listening to a torch singer? Memories of lost loves?

Alright, i don't want to push any of my fellow cynics too much. I'm just asking what do we have that's comparable to the 5 star " L'Heure Bleue " category?

For me there was the vintage Nicole Miller for Men and the now discontinued Salvador by Dali.

I can't think of others at present except Baie de Genièvre and, (if I'm by the seashore) Erolfa.

Scant pickings . . .

Yes, of course I know it's subjective! For all I know some of you may cry yourselves to sleep by spraying Vintage Tabarome on your pillow

But having stated the obligatory 'subjective' disclaimer---Well, what the hell are the the male frags which one could describe as sad and indescribably beautiful?

Did you get what I was trying to say with the example I gave of the music by Ludwig?
No? Try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2BYuXFu4-Y

*sigh*

Mario
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post #2 of 28
10/19/10 at 2:29am
I've always thought of Mitsouko in these terms, lovely but at the same time a melancholic fragrance.
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post #3 of 28
10/19/10 at 2:49am
I get this feeling from Trussardi Uomo, Ungaro III and Santos de Cartier
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post #4 of 28
10/19/10 at 3:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mario Justiniani View Post

I think this is one area where women's scents have us beat to hell. They have L'Heure Bleue...

End of story...
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post #5 of 28
10/19/10 at 4:59am
Narcisso Rodriguez for Him. With it's "wet concrete" note, I tend to use this on rainy days. I guess that's why it's become so melancholy to me.
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post #6 of 28
10/19/10 at 7:07am
Après l'Ondée
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post #7 of 28
10/19/10 at 7:08am
Krizia Time evokes a melancholic sort of feeling for me. I don't know if I'd go so far as to characterize it as "indescribably beautiful" as I'm sure there are other scents more deserving of that status, but it is a lovely little scent all the same.
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post #8 of 28
10/19/10 at 7:18am
The saddest piece of music is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yn9I...eature=related

And it is wearing Ungaro III
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post #9 of 28
10/19/10 at 7:29am
  • kbe
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For me it is Domenico Caraceni 1913. At once unspeakably beautiful yet cloaked in deep sorrow.

A musical parallel would be Beethoven's 7th Symphony, 2nd Movement, this version is truncated but nice:




For a full version of Movement II try this one by the maestro Carlos Kleiber conducting the Concertgebow Orchestra:

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post #10 of 28
10/19/10 at 7:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kbe View Post

For me it is Domenico Caraceni 1913. At once unspeakably beautiful yet cloaked in deep sorrow.

Me too
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post #11 of 28
10/19/10 at 8:42am
For me it's Formidable Bleu
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post #12 of 28
10/19/10 at 2:08pm
VC&A - Pour Homme...dark, brooding and romantic.

but nothing can touch l'heure bleue though...
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post #13 of 28
10/19/10 at 2:18pm


and

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post #14 of 28
10/19/10 at 2:27pm
sad and indescribably beautiful, huh? Obviously...

ME!
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post #15 of 28
10/19/10 at 2:33pm
+1 for Ungaro III.
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post #16 of 28
10/19/10 at 2:36pm
By far - Parfums de Nicolai pour Homme.

It is stunning but also very melancholic. Deep reflective, lonely sorrow. It's a beauty but there's no occasion I can think of in which I would want to project that kind desolation...
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post #17 of 28
10/19/10 at 2:38pm
Parfums de Nicolai pour Homme in musical form:

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post #18 of 28
10/19/10 at 2:40pm
This, from the opening to a great episode of Band of Brothers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7k68Ungeh4

Wearing L'Heure Bleue, without a doubt.

-Slim
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post #19 of 28
10/19/10 at 3:40pm
Sad and beautiful? Not really my thing, but I think Bulgari Soir would be worth a mention.
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post #20 of 28
10/19/10 at 7:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Point Blank View Post

By far - Parfums de Nicolai pour Homme.

It is stunning but also very melancholic. Deep reflective, lonely sorrow. It's a beauty but there's no occasion I can think of in which I would want to project that kind desolation...

I used to wear this underrated masterpiece a lot a few years back, and lost the bottle somewhere along the way. I know exactly what you're talking about. It's an aching heart screaming silently at the deep blue sky, or a walk in the deep woods on a cold autumn day. It's a fragrance to wear when nothing and everything is beautiful, and nothing and everything is sad.
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post #21 of 28
10/19/10 at 8:56pm
Anything with a big iris note strikes me as lovely but sad.
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post #22 of 28
10/19/10 at 10:00pm
I think Grey Flannel fits the bill
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post #23 of 28
10/20/10 at 1:45am
Comme des Garçons Incense Series Zagorsk is sad and indescribably beautiful to me. Sad in an old photograph kind of way.
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post #24 of 28
10/20/10 at 1:53am
Serge Noire by Serge Lutens. For me.

But I agree with Mario's sentiments on the whole. And I must add that judging by current 'masculine' releases, it's simply 'SAD'.
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post #25 of 28
10/20/10 at 7:34am
For me it's the vintage Xeryus by Givenchy
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post #26 of 28
10/20/10 at 7:53am
This is rather interesting. What makes a fragrance sad to others? Something that one can put into words, or even thoughts?

Domenico Caraceni 1913 is one that is very melancholy to me, also, but it is purely the memories that this scent evokes. It literally had made me remember long-forgotten memories, and I will always associate this when wearing the scent.
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post #27 of 28
10/20/10 at 8:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oaksbluff View Post

This is rather interesting. What makes a fragrance sad to others? Something that one can put into words, or even thoughts?....one that is very melancholy to me, also, but it is purely the memories that this scent evokes. It literally had made me remember long-forgotten memories, and I will always associate this when wearing the scent.

Agreed. For me, the first time I wore Yatagan, I was completely broken by things I recalled that had been buried forever. I was alone, appropriately, and able to process them, but since then, I can only wear that scent when I want to be melancholy and dwell for a while in sadness. It is not coincidental that the places I feel the most sadness, the most loneliness, the most connected to my past, for better and worse, are rural, outdoor spaces rather than dark blues clubs or empty coffeehouses. I don't expect everyone else would see Yatagan as sad, nor as indescribably beautiful (I think it is often thought of as an "unpretty" fragrance), but it is for me.

Regards,
T
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post #28 of 28
10/20/10 at 9:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Point Blank View Post

Parfums de Nicolai pour Homme in musical form:


wow dude. this music evokes alot of emotions. thats amazing. a fragrance that evokes similar emotions should be absolutely spectacular, and as the title says, sad and indesibably beautiful. i cant stop listening to this
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