Is this weird: More into "male" scents than female LATELY

I relate! After a decade of smelling like a Mugler perfume counter, I reluctantly spritzed some testers but was dissatisfied with just about every designer fragrance marketed toward women. After lurking on this forum - mostly typing in notes that seemed interesting to me - I ordered my first round of unisex samples. One thing I learned is that I lean toward those that would probably be considered more "masculine" in a blind sniff test among the general public (e.g. Tom Ford Tuscan Leather, Helmut Lang Cuiron, and some of the Comme des Garcons offerings that mostly men seem to rave to about in this community). Through reading tons of posts, I also learned that one important key to unbridled enjoyment of fragrances is to unlearn previous constructs of what is supposed to smell "male" or "female" and become comfortable in our own scented skin. During my recently adopted but fast-growing obsession with this hobby (and this community) I've gotten the best recommendations for light, airy, white florals from men; likewise, I participated in an exchange with a woman who was looking for a raunchy, heavy, animalistic scent for her own wear. To me, the most fun aspect of niche perfumery is how its general philosophy rests on an entirely different-from-designer set of premises that seem to regard gender as an afterthought at most. Wear what you love, and keep testing your own boundaries!

Mmm, and I am just addicted to Eau Sauvage - still!

You should wear Oxford & Cambridge with pride as its one of if not THE best lavender scents out there.

You will find you are in good company here on basenotes!

Here is the link to some threads with some recommendations of fragrances:

http://www.basenotes.net/threads/217...ht=male+unisex

http://www.basenotes.net/threads/282...aring+male+men

I prefer fragrances with more unisex or masculine notes, in particular woody or resinous fragrances.

Wear what smells good to you!

Basenotes is such a great resource - welcome to the addiction ;-)

I relate. Some of my new faves are marketed towards men: La Nuit de L'Homme by Yves Saint Laurent, Racquet's Formula and Blenheim Bouquet by Penhaligons. I think you should wear what you like. Not sure if I would brave wearing Brute, it's so recognizable, but I do wear fragrances that are marketed towards men if I really like it. I like the woody and smoky smelly scents that are often in men's scents. Now I want to smell Oxford and Cambridge, sounds divine!

I totally relate. What's the point of limiting yourself to one side of the perfume counter, anyway?

And I wouldn't worry about smelling masculine. Nobody's going to walk up to you and go "oh god she smells like a man!" Wear what you like with confidence.

Most people here in on BN consider all perfumes unisex and gender assignment pure marketing. Likely, most people wouldn't be able to assign a perfume to the marketed genre if they didn't know the ad.

As an example, try smelling the two siblings Aromatics Elixir (marketed to women) and Aramis 900 (marketed to men) next to each other. Which is which?

(That said, I draw a line at Kouros and Eau d'Hermes. This is boys only, sorry.)

cacio

Wear whatever pleases you.

&

Yep wear what makes you happy, nothing wrong with enjoying scents. I rock out my girlfriends bottle of marc jacobs daisy when im at the house all alone. And im no Dollars&Scents, but

-~=WeLcOmE=~-

and i was just joking about the daisy thing...

Could it have something to do with the hotter weather, this preference for 'male' scents? I find I seek out cleaner, fresher smells in summer and go for the orientals in cold weather. Also, there seem to be (on my limited exploration, at least, so far) less of the fruity inanity you seem to get everywhere with women's perfumes. Men don't want to smell like fruit, and you get that clean waterfall, crystal quality with a lot of men's stuff.

infinity,

http://surrendertochance.com/ sells samples which is a great way to try out niche fragrances - you can search by notes you like or brand. Warning - it gets addictive!

Some of my favourite unisex fragrances so far:

Acqua di Parma cipresso di toscana - a fresh cypress scent
serge lutens feminitie du bois - plummy cedarwood
hermes santal massoia - figgy sandalwood
parfumerie generale jardin de kerylos - green floral fig
diptyque philosykos - coconutty fig
diptyque tam dao - sandalwood
comme des garcons Avignon - church incense

I see no problems at all. There are bunches of males that fits perfectly a woman.

It's all marketing anyway. I prefer deeper more complex fragrances, and I find that ones marketed towards men more often fit that bill than the stuff you find in the female section. Wear what you feel like!