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What drew you into collecting fragrances

post #1 of 38
9/3/12 at 11:05pm
Thread Starter 
Myself? My ex hated the fragrances I was wearing and told me to get a better one. So it got me into looking at fragrances. I joined here in october. I broke up with her in December but I still kept collecting fragrances

What about you?
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post #2 of 38
9/3/12 at 11:25pm
The fragrances I liked since childhood, but also part of the entourage, some curiosities, certain information and knowledge I got the be exposed to, Basenotes, certain professional and personal challenges and fulfillments, certain shopping and recreational habits - so I guess, in my case, it was a wide range of motives combined.
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post #3 of 38
9/3/12 at 11:54pm
Lifestyle.

Children as early as 5 years old are perfumed then raid their older siblings' or parent's wardrobe.
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post #4 of 38
9/4/12 at 1:03am
I've always been interested in sensual things, and since I was never getting laid, I looked to other areas to keep my senses engaged and alive.

That, combined with a wide-ranging sense of curiosity about things, I suspect
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post #5 of 38
9/4/12 at 1:56am
I've always liked smelling good, ever since I was a kid. I started off with Nautica Competition and Preferred Stock, eventually graduating to Curve and Lauder Pleasures for Men when I was 18. I really got into fragrances the first time I smelled Armani Acqua Di Gio back in 2007. I didn't know something could smell so good. I started collecting after that b/c I wanted to find something I liked more than ADG. I bought some other good frags, but nothing could top the king. I had 10 bottles of cologne in my collection a few years ago and I thought that was more than I could ever use. I found this site looking for reviews and I learned quite a bit about fragrances and the different classes, the terminology, and the industry in general. Then I moved on to niche fragrances and now I have 12 times the collection I had in 2007, just one year into the hobby.
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post #6 of 38
9/4/12 at 2:11am
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I've always been fascinated about fragrance since my pre-teens.
After becoming a wet shaving fanatic, I kind of also developed a liking for fragrance as well. As I had been on the wet shaving forums a while and heard that people referred to Basenotes, I decided to join here too and have never regretted it!
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post #7 of 38
9/4/12 at 2:40am
Years ago I was looking for a fragrance and saw the hype on "Green Irish Tweed". I bought it and was blown away and have never looked back since.
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post #8 of 38
9/4/12 at 7:38am
My travels and a close friend.
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post #9 of 38
9/4/12 at 8:35am
...curiosity.
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post #10 of 38
9/4/12 at 8:48am
As a young kid I would always watch my Father put on cologne before he left the house. Some of the things I smelled like...Royal Copenhagen...English Leather...Brut....I enjoyed smelling nice..it just continued on.
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post #11 of 38
9/4/12 at 10:48am
As a child I loved scents and perfumes, but as a teen and early twenties I hated almost all perfumes (except some niche) going so far as to put an object in front of my nose when passing a perfume counter and walking way out of the way of Perfumania's drift.

Quitting smoking several months ago left me in need of a hobby that scents, marks time, and revels in life's disposability and transgression of Thou Shall Not Smell. Hello, perfumes. At first. reading The Guide and trying current designer was nice, but then I tried a very vintage Lanvin Arpege and found that vintage perfume is everything that lots of arts want to be: instantly transportive and breaks down the barrier between intellect and feeling; that range of transcendent joy available and so soon to be discontinued and reformulated out of existence switched on the collector bug.
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post #12 of 38
9/4/12 at 11:13am
Thread Starter 
I'm wondering if my collection of fragrances is some kind of subconscious Freudian mechanism to reconcile my feelings about my ex. Sounds hilariously stupid, but seriously, I'm wondering LOL
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post #13 of 38
9/4/12 at 11:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by noirdrakkar View Post

I'm wondering if my collection of fragrances is some kind of subconscious Freudian mechanism to reconcile my feelings about my ex. Sounds hilariously stupid, but seriously, I'm wondering LOL

I'm not so sure about that, but your ex did help initiate the process for you originally, so you never know! I'm sure it is because of many reasons. Often people will get more into their personal interests after ending a relationship because they have a lot more time on their hands to fill. I'm sure it's a great distraction for you!

Back to the topic, I've always been interested in fragrances because my father always wore them, but my strongest infatuation came around the time that I got engaged to my wife and when my father passed away. He always bought me bottles of cologne and we always shared the interest together. He would buy designer fragrances though and didn't know about all of the wonderful niche scents that I've found since then. I think my father has a lot to do with why I have such a love for this world of fragrance, I hope to pass my appreciation and love of fragrances down to my son.
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post #14 of 38
9/5/12 at 2:15am
I have always liked smells since I was little. I started out with buying Victoria's Secret perfumes and body sprays, usually one at a time though. I would follow my mom to the department store and make my way to the perfume counters, spraying things in the air and on my skin. I ended up liking the Nina Ricci apple bottle perfume and it was given to me for my birthday 3 years ago. I looked it up on Fragrantica and since then, I've been looking at perfume reviews and buying along the way.
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post #15 of 38
9/5/12 at 2:59am
Since childhood. Everyone in the family always smelled good, but the collection began with the quest to find a certain Arabic perfumed oil ... that still continues.
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post #16 of 38
9/5/12 at 3:20am
An overwhelming desire to get laid
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post #17 of 38
9/5/12 at 6:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trebor View Post

An overwhelming desire to get laid…

LOL.....
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post #18 of 38
9/5/12 at 6:49am
I've always liked perfume, but it all started in earnest in December 2009, when I started looking for a replacement for my discontinued signature scent and bought a copy of Perfumes: The A-Z Guide. I don't really think of myself as a collector, though. I buy them to wear.
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post #19 of 38
9/5/12 at 7:20am
A scent by Romeo Gigli that was sprayed on me by an SA in as I passed through their area -- couldn't believe that fragrances this beautiful existed for men.
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post #20 of 38
9/5/12 at 7:40am
For me, collecting fragrances is like collecting records or paintings.
To own many perfumes is to surround yourself with different pieces of art that create, reflect, inspire, decorate.
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post #21 of 38
9/7/12 at 5:06am
It was originally an attempt to express myself and my personality in as many ways as possible - fragrance being one of them. As I searched for the holy grail, I ended up with hundreds of samples and way too many bottles. The positive side of the story is that I finally found it (the HG), and a bunch of other amazing fragrances along the way.
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post #22 of 38
9/7/12 at 6:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by L'Aventurier View Post

It was originally an attempt to express myself and my personality in as many ways as possible - fragrance being one of them. As I searched for the holy grail, I ended up with hundreds of samples and way too many bottles. The positive side of the story is that I finally found it (the HG), and a bunch of other amazing fragrances along the way.

Wht's your holy grail, Aventurier?
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post #23 of 38
9/7/12 at 9:33am
This website...seriously, The first bottle of anything I ever owned was a bottle of a Pacsun fragrance. That was in high school. Years after that I received a Polo fragrance as a gift and thought it smelled really good. I was around Macy's one day and went in to smell a few other Polo fragrances, and started sniffing others around it, a little overwhelmed by the selection I went to youtube to see what people were saying about the Polo's and such, and I got a few more recommendations from youtube reviews. Then I started reading what people were saying on BN and started picking up on the repeated recommendations. It just grew from there.

This website combined with my inherent love of collecting things, searching out the best of the best, and geeking out on the minute details keeps me going.
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post #24 of 38
9/7/12 at 3:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by treeman5823 View Post

Wht's your holy grail, Aventurier?

Well, most people wouldn't agree that it's the "best fragrance" I own, but it's definitely my favorite and just clicks with me. It feels effortless and mixes with my body chemistry perfectly, never becomes overbearing, and it's clean, but natural smelling. Slightly melancholic, but also fresh and uplifting. Very unique and modern. Works in every situation and never offends.

Angeliques sous la Pluie by Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle

My top 5 (in my signature) are almost as good, but Angeliques sous la Pluie is the most "me." My top 5 are basically my favorite, most worn fragrances, but if you check my wardrobe, all the fragrances rated 5 stars are a masterpieces to me.
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post #25 of 38
9/7/12 at 5:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by L'Aventurier View Post

Well, most people wouldn't agree that it's the "best fragrance" I own, but it's definitely my favorite and just clicks with me. It feels effortless and mixes with my body chemistry perfectly, never becomes overbearing, and it's clean, but natural smelling. Slightly melancholic, but also fresh and uplifting. Very unique and modern. Works in every situation and never offends.

Angeliques sous la Pluie by Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle

My top 5 (in my signature) are almost as good, but Angeliques sous la Pluie is the most "me." My top 5 are basically my favorite, most worn fragrances, but if you check my wardrobe, all the fragrances rated 5 stars are a masterpieces to me.

Good for you for loving perfume not for it's rareness nor popularity nor hype, but because it means something to you.
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post #26 of 38
9/7/12 at 8:36pm
I've always loved accessories. I collect scarves and purses, too. But I love the emotional aspect of perfume.
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post #27 of 38
9/7/12 at 9:06pm
I like fragrances since I was a little kid.
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post #28 of 38
9/10/12 at 2:32am
I began to get in contact with scents from my teenage years. It started with Axe-like body spray to cover up the body odor. Then I received a bottle of Acqua di Gio (as far as I remember, it was the female version) from my cousin who lived in the US. It smelled terrible and I refused to wear it LOL. Since then I sticked to my body spray and think that fragrances are for women and are a waste of money.

Then, in my university years, I went on a blind date with this guy. He smelled so good so I asked him what he wore. It was CK Truth for Men. So I asked my auntie in the US to buy me that. She did. However, Truth turned out to smell very horrible on me. Luckily, she also bought me a giftset of 5 CK minitures and I really like CK One. CK One then became my signature scent for a while

As I played along with the remaining CK minitures in the giftset, I developed a liking for Euphoria & Eternity as well. So I decided to buy Euphoria, Eternity & one more fragrance to have more fragrance to wear. And that "one more fragrance" leaded me to fragrance counter in the malls, to youtube reviews, to Basenote and the train continues...LOL
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post #29 of 38
9/10/12 at 10:14pm
Many people say that collecting is a form of obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Fortunately there is really nothing wrong with that and it makes one happy.

I'm fairly new to this but it started with a visit to a department store. I wanted to buy a new fragrance and smelled so many scents that I could no longer distinguish what I was smelling. I ended up buying a bottle only to find that I didn't really like the scent after the nose fatigue had stopped when I got home.

Anyway, I started buying some samples and after a while I ended up with over 300 samples. The samples are great because I sometimes have to wear a scent a few times before I can say if I like it or not.
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post #30 of 38
9/11/12 at 9:31am
Got bored of collecting comic books and rare colored diamonds are not exactly bank account-friendly. Fragrances proved to be the more affordable luxury.
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post #31 of 38
9/12/12 at 2:39pm
I've always been interested in smells and the feelings they evoke - granny's face cream, new leather shoes, incense in church on sunday, the butcher's shop, even school dinners were some of my earliest obsessions!

As regards perfume, I have three older sisters so was exposed at a relatively early age to all the stuff they wore - Ô de Lancôme, Opium, Rive Gauche, Youth Dew, No 5, amongst others. Dad was also an influence with his Old Spice, Brut and Paco Rabanne. Cheapo frags were mainstay gifts from mates and family during early teen years (Tramp, Lace, Le Jardin), and from there I graduated to Nina Ricci, Samsara, Ysatis and other big 80s frags.

Then I entered the fragrance 'wilderness years' while concentrating on study, job and family. My mother-in-law detected my dormant love of perfume, and bought me The Guide as a gift a few years back. My initial scepticism lasted for about a minute and then I was hooked. It helped enormously that by this point I had the time and spare cash to indulge, and was at a stage in my life when I was in desperate need of an outside interest that was just for me. I don't regard myself as a collector - I just like the stuff!
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post #32 of 38
9/13/12 at 7:01am
Local mall got a Bath & Body Works (yeah, I live in the middle of nowhere, this was big doings for us) and if I smelled another person drenched in effing Sweet Pea or Warm Vanilla Sugar (barf) I was going to SNAP.
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post #33 of 38
9/15/12 at 5:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trebor View Post

An overwhelming desire to get laid…

same lol has turned to a passion
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post #34 of 38
9/15/12 at 10:34am
Since my early teens I have worn fragrances, stuff from Avon and Yardley. In my twenties it was predominantly stuff like Aramis , Kouros, Chanel PM and Zino. A few years ago I saw an article in a magazine about Penhaligons, and bought some samples. That started things. I still only had a few fragrances, but then I came across Basenotes and a whole new world opened up.

I'm not a collector though, just a wearer.

Plus what Trebor said...
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post #35 of 38
9/17/12 at 6:09am
I've loved perfumes since I was a little kid and used to filch my mother's and my aunts' precious frags. They gave me my first perfume - a now-discontinued scent called "Audacity" - to keep me away from their dressing table drawers!
More recently, in 2009 I was lucky enough to book a consultation with the wonderful James at Les Senteurs, as I wanted to enlarge my range beyond Paris and First. He sent me away with six gorgeous samples, including what's now my absolute favourite, N'Aimez Que Moi. And my perfume OCD took off from there!
This site has contributed enormously to my knowledge, experience and credit card bills!
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post #36 of 38
9/22/12 at 7:17am
Spraying on something that just makes you go 'Wow, that smells fantastic!' or just discovering new scents you haven't tried before. I love that fragrances can evoke such strong strong imagery that transports you elsewhere or that it can bring back memories that you'd forgotten.
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post #37 of 38
10/9/12 at 1:40am
wanted to be more approachable
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post #38 of 38
10/18/12 at 1:09pm
Ever since I was a child I loved how things smelled...flowers, grass...even dirt. I love odors and have been drawn to that "magical" fragrance that will touch my soul
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