When and how did your real fragrance journey begin ?

Summer of my sophomore to junior year in highschool was going to take my girlfriend out to dinner at a french restaurant. I wanted to make everything as best as I could, and thus i borrowed my friends acqua di gio since his brother gave it to him and he had no idea what to do with it. So i did some research on how to apply cologne. Then i got baffled by, how different colognes could mix with you body chemistry and was instantly drawn in. That alone threw me into the world of fragrances. :] but now im slowing down because i realize i should stop trying to collect every fragrance out there and buy one or two more potential signatures

When I left school after doing my A'Levels (when I was 18), I took a temporary job working in a department store. All the prettiest girls worked on the fragrance counters... you do the math.

I don't consider myself a "collector," but I've been interested in fragrances since I was a kid. I started purchasing when I was a teen and making my own money. My first purchases were either Tuscany or Polo in the late 90s. I had a pretty decent collection of designer stuff built up by the late 90s, but somehow lost most of them. I move a lot, so I gave most of it away at some point. Probably tossed quite a bit, too. A lot of that stuff would be considered "vintage" formulations today.

I've started buying again over the last few years, and really picked up speed this year since I've joined Basenotes.

I started wearing fragrance since I was a kid, 5 years old? being from the middle east, that was normal. But, at the age of about 17 I got into the hobby, Ange ou Demon By Givenchy is what caught my attention, before that my view of fragrance was, fresh fragrance with a woody base for men, and fruity florals, sometimes super sweet, for women. I knew other fragrances existed, but it seemed too hard of a work to find them.

That's exactly my story as well. Since Jr. High I had always worn some kind of fragrance, whether it be designer cologne or cheapo Axe/Tag, but never had the vast knowledge of just how many different colognes there were out there other than the typical popular ones that everybody knows about (Drakkar, Obsession, Cool Water, Polo, etc.) But a few weeks ago, my Burberry London was almost gone and decided it's time to get some more. Well since I hadn't kept up with the world of cologne, I decided to check the 'top 10s'. From there, I discovered Tim and Brandon on YouTube. Then I find a forum on the subject From that point on I have gotten hooked. The employees at Sephora are probably getting annoyed at me coming in every other day just to spray every bottle on the shelf. In the matter of 2 mos. I've already got 9 frags in my wardrobe...and there's still a whole lot more out there I want. Bigdiscountfragrances.com is loving me right now

I started collecting at the age of about 18. My first bottle of cologne was in 1996 when my mom bought me Aqua Di Gio.. NO ONE had it back then. Now my collection has grown and i keep every single bottle

For the first time ever in my life I recieved a fragrance as a gift - Tuscan soul, that was in december 2008. Then I joined this site in january 2009. and so it began Even though in Croatia it is normal to recieve a fragrance as a gift for almost anything, it just never happened to me up until that time, lol.

It is, was, and shall be my destiny to embrace fragrance in all of its mysteries; a journey without bounderies and end.

10-14 group for me.

More about it here: http://www.basenotes.net/entries/146...y-So-Far-vol.1

14, when I got Salvador Dali PH as a birthday present

At a very young age. It's something I have always been interested in.

It started with Chanel no 5 when I was very young.

Very young. I checked off 10-14 but it was actually a few years earlier than that. At that age I was just collecting the Avon perfume jars that I was given, but after I started getting an allowance, I was able to buy my own perfumes.

My other half and I visited a small fragrance house in Salem, Mass which was is run by one woman who creates all of her house fragrances and will do a custom blend. We both got custom frags made and, as I watched her mix the notes, I stood in awe and I realized that this is a true art form. Smelling all the individual notes and the blends really made me pay better attention to what goes into a fine fragrance. I left with 4 bottles that I still love to this day. I was hooked ever since. Btw, the shop is Aroma Sanctum. I have no afflilation, I just think basenoters should know about her.

I started with Tommy Boy i think. When i was 17. After that Hugo Boss----> CK One----> JoOp! Homme ----> Azzaro Pour homme ----> Dark Blue----> Mukhallat Christina (I was 19)...

A real interest only started in my forties.

I have always worn fragrances since I was 15 or so. My first one was an after shave called Sven by Yardley. I picked up an old bottle of it recently and it ain't half bad!

In my 20's it was Aramis and Kouros. I used to have the soaps, deodorants and shampoos (the latter of which is now not applicable!) to match too. I was big on the trigger, too. God, I must have smelled like a whore's handbag.

Started with Penhaligons in my thirties, then on to more niche stuff a few years ago. Currently, I have a couple of dozen in my collection, but given that I'm a wearer, not a collector, I could possibly get by on less.

...When I discovered Basenotes!

A guy I was dating back in early 2003 had Helmut Lang - Cuiron, after our short relationship...I went online to try and source some for myself, and I discovered basenotes. I have always had a couple of fragrances since the late 80's, but 2003 started my journey in the whole fragrance world facilitated by lurking here and eventually posting in Nov 2006.

My interest began when I was 15, but my journey has waxed and waned over the years. My present enthusiasm began after joining basenotes in Dec 2007. This has been a very educational and exciting time and has opened my mind to a huge amount of possibilities with fragrance as well as transcending advertising hype and pretence and deciding for myself what I truly like. Although I can be swayed by some of the uber-enthusiasm of fragrances that gain popularity on BN discussions. I would have never thought of travelling to Chicago or NYC to visit Barney's or Aedes, let alone visiting Sephora or Perfumania every time I enter a mall. Guerlain Vetiver has been the fragrance that I've been faithful to for over 20 years. I suppose we're married by now.

I've used fragrances since I was a teen (mainly Antaeus and Santos back then), but I didn't start collecting until a couple of years ago. I was happy having one or two fragrances at a time. It's hard to imagine going back to one or two...

I had worn one or two in my teens through high school but the crowd I ran with weren't to open to that sort of thing so it tempered my enthusiasm. My 20s were dominated with oils as I traveled around the country following the seasons. Sandalwood and Amber being the most consistently used two out of probably a dozen or so I had enjoyed.

My 30s were dominated with a couple of different colognes since I didn't really think I liked that many colognes, which was probably true of the offerings available at the time and still used the oils quite a bit. Now in my 40s I seem to have really opened up to a multitude of fragrances out there.

Surprisingly most of my favorite colognes have come out in the past 10 years so maybe there weren't alot I liked from earlier decades and it would have made it harder to find my way to them. Even more surprising is I don't like the watered down aqua, sport, light flanker type of stuff which has dominated the past decade. Not to mention I didn't spend much time seeking them out in stores and this virtual media of the internet has helped me research them from the comfort of my home.

Basenotes has helped me learn more about what I'm smelling not just whether I like it or not as well as opened my eyes.... er, nose to the world of niche which I never really took an interest in before. Although I still find that designer frags have most of everything I need in varieties and haven't felt the need to spend the money necessary to get into the niche game. That may change at some point but I'm still content to be a designer frag hag.

I have taken an interest in a few niche offerings but the price tag still makes me cringe. I can reason it out that per use it still is cheaper than most of the other things in my life but the one time cost has me sticker shocked and I haven't been able to make that leap yet.

The Background:

A little over 10 years ago, I was 18, had long, long hair, wore cheesecloth pants and tie-dyed tops (to my eternal embarrasment).
My epiphany happened one evening when I was at a party. A friend arrived and set about greeting everyone with a hug. At one point, a girl piped-up and said to him: 'Mmm. you smell good!' To which a second girl added: 'Oh, that's Sam. He always smells good. He's the nice smelling boy'.
Now, I flatter myself in thinking that people would have had many a nice thing to say about me. But 'nice smelling boy' was assuredly not one of them.
In an instant though, I decided I wanted to be that 'Nice Smelling Boy', and determined to do something about it.
I wish I could say that I immediately chopped off my locks, ditched the hippy garb and delved into perfumes. But that transformation would not come for a few years yet.
Instead, I delved into artisan soaps and essential oils which I would use as ungents.

Fast-forward to 2009, and with a new, beautiful French girlfriend to impress, I started scouring the Paris boutiques for a suitable scent with which to wow her. In life, I rarely do anything by halves. So, what began on a *slightly* (ok, very) dubious premise quickly snowballed into a new hobby/obsession.
The relationship didn't last, but my fascination with perfume has endured....

When I was 21 I purchased a bottle of CK Eternity after testing it. This was the first time I had purchased a fragrance (Any fragrance I had previously had been given to me as gifts).

After hearing great things about it, I needed to know what the fuss was all about. What am I talking about? I purchased a bottle of AdG (blind buy). Yup... I know what you're thinking and you're right.

The rest, as they say, is history.

It began in my early thirties.

Like many of us, I decided wearing cologne would be helpful "to impress chicks." I went into a Macy's or something and bought a bottle of whatever the SA was pushing at the time (it happened to be Armani Diamonds for men). I went home, took a long hard look at the bottle, and asked myself whether I had spent my money wisely. My inner geek took control and I started looking up cologne reviews on google, and the rest is history. I was 23 at the time iirc.

I answered 21-24 because that's when I started investigating perfume for scenting my person. However, I've always had a fascination with fragrances, but it manifested in my early teens as an interest in incense that persists to this day. Of course, I started with the cheap-o punk sticks sold at the local metaphysical shop in my teens but quickly graduated to burning resins, woods & herbs/flowers on charcoal blocks & later compounding my own incense. After reading an organic chemistry textbook in my late teens I gathered some glassware & started making my own herbal tinctures, flower waters & distilling EOs. After some time the first perfumery I stumbled upon was Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (& later Possets) that gave me enough fragrances to wade through to spend two years sampling & purchasing their products. After inundating myself in personal fragrances I took a break for a year & actually spent some time wearing my favorites from that house & weeding out the mountain of bottles & sample vials I had accumulated. That was 2010. Now I'm expanding my experience beyond that one house to others, particularly "niche" because generally speaking I want to be challenged by my fragrances & am especially fond of the rare & avant-garde, despite their tendency to not have a wide appeal.

I always had a fascination, but it didn't really amp until I found this place and realized there was an entire community which shared something I had always kept quiet. (Wonder how many others were in the "closet" before they stumbled in here). Would always have a small collection, but never really had any resources to find out about what else I might like. Got burned a lot on buying based on SA's advice and in store sniff tests. This place gave me some opinions and science on which I could target better.

I only got hooked by this hobby just over 2 years ago (I'm 39 btw). Before then i was always bought fragrances by my gf's (coolwater, tommy hillfiger, lynx/axe) and just sprayed them on as a matter of course without really giving them any thought and even then only wore them if it was a special night out.
How i got hooked came about because i ran out of the bottle i had and decided this time i would find my own signature fragrance and started testing everything in the stores, begging SA's for samples, reading reviews online (basenotes became the website of choice). That hunt fot 1 bottle showed me so many great smells i couldn't just settle at 1 ........

Early 30s.

A friend of mine loaned me a jumper once, on which he had sprayed Gucci Envy. I remember just thinking it was so, so beautiful. That's what really sparked my initial interest in fragrances. I still blame him this day for the amount of money I've spend on fragrance. Hehe.

Bought BPH at about 23 (still love it, wore it today) and then discovered Luca Turin's blog just after it ended (at about 25). Spent a night reading the archives front to back and was hooked badly enough to send off for some Ormonde Jayne samples (O. Man and Isfarkand are still favourites) and start lurking on basenotes. Now in my early 30s and I usually have 3-5 bottles on hand, most of which are in regular use.

Usual story: I bought and used cheapie, linear body sprays from a local boutique as a child, but not really interested about notes and such; as long as it smelled nice, it's OK.

But everything REALLY started in my aunts perfume cabinet. I was 13 that time, and her big glass (unlocked) cabinet is full of her and her husband's fragrances (Boss, cKs, YSLs). Sprayed them all in my arm and I smelled like a walking perfume shop.

Started collecting bottles and decants about a year ago. Learned about body chemistry, olfactory pyramid and Luca Turin. I even chose fragrances as my speech topic in class. And just recently, I joined Basenotes. Guess it has become an "addiction".

Been interested and experiencing frags since I was a child but actively purchasing and exploring is only recent for me.

I ticked off 10-14 as I was given my first perfume at Christmas when I was 14 (CW, which remains a favourite).
My interest had risen before that, as from the point I started with deodorants I was picky and curious about the fragrances.

I Went abroad in 2007 til 2008 to NZ and there, with time on my hands the obsession really started. I would wander through the department stores, come home with the occosional sample, try to determine how I like it and why so.
Well, went online to do some research, FINALLY found BN after like 2 weeks or something and the rest is history.

It is interesting to read how many here started their fangrance journey so young. My interest in bottled fragrances only really began in December 2010. Prior to that my 'collection' consisted of one gift, a now eight year old bottle of Givenchy Pi. My interest in scent though started with gardening, largely due to the many fragrant plants my wife and I have planted around our home. The trouble with plants is in many cases the smells are fleeting, perhaps only lasting a couple of weeks a year, this new hobby for me has no such restriction.

My parents and grandparents all wore perfume , not on an every day basis but just for best or going out so I guess I was surrounded from an early age . Grandad always wore a Givenchy or Eau Sauvage and Nan always wore Youth Dew , Oscar De La Renta or Chloe . Dad was Pour Monsieur and Mum was Shalimar , Opium or Miss Dior . My first was Fahrenheit when that came out was it around 87 or 88 when I was in my late teens

I started wearing fragrances in my early 40s.

It all started when I got tired of paying so much money for multi-blade razor cartridges. I switched to DE blades and started using shaving soaps with a brush. The soaps are scented and I started thinking I might want to smell like that all day. I found a website (can't remember which) that had a list of fragrances to check out to get started. None of them really did it for me so I searched the net for more. That is how I found Basenotes. Now I have about 10 bottles and another 10+ decants of 10ml or more.

I've always worn reasonable designer frags since my teens (late 30s now), but only in the last year I got annoyed with the generic crap a lot of designer houses are churning out, found luckyscent, now I'm pretty much 90% niche. Not so interested in collecting, I just want a decent number of uncommon frags I can swap between. I'm up around 30 now, so I want to pare it down a little and add a few more 'must haves' back to about the 30 bottle level.

Gah ... who am I kidding? I'll be up at 60 bottles in 12 months.

I first became interested in fragrance when i was around 13 or so with cool water, diesel, Aramis Life and PS Extreme. I noticed that people would notice the fragrance and say "You smell nice" ect ect. So even then i knew that fragrances was a great thing to be involved in. It wasn't until last year (i'm 22) that i decided i would try new ones. That began with YSL La nuit D'Lomme which moved VERY quickly to niche as I pride myself on being quite different and i didn't want to smell the same as everyone else, and, all of you know that unless you are a fellow Basenoter there are very few people that know about or have smelt niche.

Before the world wide web (aka "internet) exploded, it was difficult to get objective, unbiased, fragrance information, so I wasn't really into it (but it was ALWAYS in the back of my mind). Coincidentally, the internet came into its own when I came into contact with more women. After a sales lady "pushed" a particular fragrance on me, I began to do research on my own. "Answers from the Cologne Guy" served me well until it ended.

My quest for women eventually lead me to Basenotes and Creed.

Thought most of us started with CK One or CK Be at their teens...no? At least I did!

I started collecting in my mid to late 20's.....My journey really started as a young Boy.....I always wanted to wear my Dad's cologne!!!
Gary

My first whiff of Antaeus by Chanel did the trick for me.
Must have been 1981 or 1982 at the age of 11.
Didn't have my own bottle till a few years later though,
but luckily my father was a starting to become a fragrance junkie by then already.

I ticked 10-14, but I was much, much younger.

While still a toddler, I dumped some perfume of my mother's on myself and was rushed to the emergency room. As a child, I watched my father shave and groom himself, finishing off with his eau de Cologne. He would always let me have a dab of whatever he was wearing. I would also see my mother apply her perfumes. I guess I was just getting trained, in a sense.