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Fragrance Myths and realities

post #1 of 77
10/15/12 at 1:45am
Thread Starter 
So, working at a cologne counter I hear a bunch of weird crap that the customers say. I'd like to get a discussion going here of some of these or any other myths about fragrance and hopefully some arguments for or against. Also, it would be interesting if anyone out there knew the origins of some of these myths. (I added some snooty remarks, feel free to ignore. It's just part of my therapy/venting)

Here are a few off the top of my head Please feel free to add more:

1) "A cologne that you can't smell on yourself after 10 minutes means it it works well with your chemistry."
(Yes, and if you believe this I have a bridge I would like to sell you)

2) "I can't smell the fragrance on the blotter cards... I have to spray it in the air or on me"
(That makes total sense, please feel free to spray the counter that I just cleaned or drench the air so that the floor gets so wet small children and old ladies slip and fall. Oh... you decided to spray directly on the gift set... how lovely...)

3) "You need to taste the fragrance to see if it works well with your chemistry. If it tastes sour it is a bad match, if it s sweet that's good."
(You just sprayed cologne directly into your mouth in front of your girlfriend, do you think you're going to get any tonight with that mouth?? Or are you trying to kill the remnants of your tryst in the fitting room?)

4) "Spraying into the air and walking thru the mist is the best way to apply fragrance"

5) "I had an ex that used a strong perfume and I discovered I am allergic so I can't wear any or be around ppl who wear cologne at all!"
(Oh, really? I have a friend that is allergic to peanuts, that doesn't mean he stopped eating food altogether)

6) "You can only smell 3 different colognes before your nose becomes useless"


that's all I can think of now, Please feel free to discuss for or against and ADD your own, Thanks

- - - Updated - - -

7) Coffee beans actually help refresh the nose
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post #2 of 77
10/15/12 at 6:48am
People say everything... Particularly funny the one about tasting the frag!

The only ones I had heard were 4) and 7). 4) is the only one that has some truth in it. It is a reasonable way to spray particularly strong frags, but of course, it is not the best way most of the times.

cacio
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post #3 of 77
10/15/12 at 7:08am
Had never heard # 6 before. Funny.
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post #4 of 77
10/15/12 at 7:18am
Myth - Only gay men wear women's fragrances

Reality - I don't think that's true...or just have not met the right guy yet
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post #5 of 77
10/15/12 at 7:45am
So you don't think that coffee beans help your sense of smell from recovering?
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post #6 of 77
10/15/12 at 7:46am
Myth: Fragrance is age, gender, sex, style, or era specific
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post #7 of 77
10/15/12 at 7:56am
RE: 4) I've known people who spray the mist and fairy hop through it. It's...disturbing to watch.

RE: 6) I think there may be some truth to that, as I know I get olfactory fatigue if I'm sampling 7-8+ different things through the day. I'll eventually start finding I'm just not picking anything up anymore.
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post #8 of 77
10/15/12 at 8:02am
#2 I actually agree with, I hate smelling scents on paper as they come across flat and give no impression of how they react to warmth.
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post #9 of 77
10/15/12 at 8:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelerOpera View Post

...
4) "Spraying into the air and walking thru the mist is the best way to apply fragrance"...

An "I-heard/read-it-first-on-Basenotes" for me, 32 years after my intense fragrant journey started. I had to ask myself some hard is-it-me-or-is-it-them questions.
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post #10 of 77
10/15/12 at 8:26am
# A myth mos SA's use as a universal truth: "EDPs have the same smell as edts, only in a higher concentration..."

yeah, sure...
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post #11 of 77
10/15/12 at 8:52am
1) is absolutely ridiculous; why the hell would you wear a fragrance that you can't smell?!

2) This l agree with; the testing on one's skin, that is. Paper doesn't give you any idea of how a fragrance will smell on you.

3) Never heard this one! Whoever started that myth was obviously having a laugh. Surely all perfume tastes vile, unless it's natural vanilla extract or something.

4) l've heard some folks here do this, but l prefer not to get a lungful of fragrance when applying.

5) Don't you just love anti-perfume fascists? The same people who still use scented shampoo, soap, household products etc etc.... yawn.

6) Probably true.

7) lsn't it generally accepted now that this is a myth? The best way to refresh your nose is to go out in the fresh air for a few minutes.
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post #12 of 77
10/15/12 at 8:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by msulinski View Post

So you don't think that coffee beans help your sense of smell from recovering?

Perfume counters will often have containers of coffee beans which tend to "reset" olfaction or olfactory fatigue.
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post #13 of 77
10/15/12 at 10:03am
Being a perfumer with my own tiny House I do this directly with my customers quite often and it's fascinating the rubbish some people believe.

I get the anti-perfume people regularly - now I just say 'I can't help you then, I don't sell anything else' because otherwise they will stand about wasting my time for ages.

The olfactory fatigue thing is certainly real - I stop and break regularly when I'm smell testing new work - all perfumers do. However it does not magically kick in after three perfumes, nor is it magically removed by smelling coffee beans (why on earth should smelling something else strong smelling do such a thing? I can't quite understand why anyone thought this would work).

Paper vs skin is an interesting one: fragrances often smell different on your skin but if you are going to hate it, better to find out on the paper before you cover yourself in it. The daftest version of this I've had is a customer who went along the counter spraying every tester into its lid - ignoring the test papers and my offer to use them for her - she persisted in putting the lids back on afterwards too so that the whole bottle was coated and had to be cleaned before anyone else could use it without getting their hands scented whether they wanted to or not.

I've never had anyone tasting fragrance - never a good idea - with the exception of a tiny number of all-natural fragrances all perfume is made with denatured alcohol, which has Denatonium benzoate (and usually other more toxic things) added to it to make it taste foul. So the 'if it tastes sweet it's a match' theory is going to eliminate pretty much everything.

You do have to wonder what some people use instead of brains sometimes truly.

Surely the biggest myth in perfumery though is that perfumes actually contain any of the things on the notes list - or that the notes pyramid is an ingredients list - neither is true of most mass-market fragrances (which are about 90% synthetic) and the latter isn't true of any fragrance.

Fun idea for a thread.
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post #14 of 77
10/15/12 at 10:15am
I think I can offer an explanation of why smelling coffee beans may help.

From my understanding of human anatomy (which is...little), when someone smells anything, the particles that make up the smell "stick" to the insides of receptors found in the nasal cavity. Then, when you smell something else, those slots get filled with another smell.

Since fragrances are often complicated, consisting of many different smells in one spray, it would be reasonable to assume that some of particles stay behind after sniffing, thus melding with and possibly tampering with the next fragrance down the line. I then assume from that, that the reason we use coffee beans in between fragrances is to "reset" those particle receptors, making the nose more receptive to the next fragrance.
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post #15 of 77
10/15/12 at 10:27am
The coffee beans work for me. Also, putting a round piece of paper "test strip" at the bottom of a snifter glass is a great way to smell a fragrance. Lush stores do this. Spray it in the glass, move it back an forth to produce a wafts, and keep your nose 6 inches or more away. Doesn't kill your olfactory senses.
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post #16 of 77
10/15/12 at 10:38am
I have come across No1 on a number of beauty boards!!!

The posters write this with total belief, it is the truth.
They disappear quickly when others point out what the hell is the point on spending money on something you can't smell yourself?

Coffee beans, er, well I have a habit of eating them! LOL Oh yes, I will pick up one or two and chew them.
A Guerlain sa did once tell me that because their brand was so high quality coffee beans were pointless. In other words your nose could not become confused or tired when sniffing Guerlain.
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post #17 of 77
10/15/12 at 11:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by OctaVariuM View Post

I think I can offer an explanation of why smelling coffee beans may help.
From my understanding of human anatomy (which is...little), when someone smells anything, the particles that make up the smell "stick" to the insides of receptors found in the nasal cavity. Then, when you smell something else, those slots get filled with another smell.

Yep, that's a reasonable approximation of the way smell works - it isn't fully understood but the essential idea that particles activate detectors in the nose and may remain in them is widely accepted.

Quote:
Originally Posted by OctaVariuM View Post

Since fragrances are often complicated, consisting of many different smells in one spray, it would be reasonable to assume that some of particles stay behind after sniffing, thus melding with and possibly tampering with the next fragrance down the line.

Indeed fragrances are complicated - often with over 100 ingredients and the idea that one could confuse the nose when smelling the next if you allow olfactory fatigue to set in is also widely accepted.

Quote:
Originally Posted by OctaVariuM View Post

I then assume from that, that the reason we use coffee beans in between fragrances is to "reset" those particle receptors, making the nose more receptive to the next fragrance.

Unfortunately this bit isn't an explanation at all, it's just repeating the 'reset' myth with no explanation of what's supposed to be going on at all.

Why on earth should coffee - consisting as it does of some 650 different identifiable odorous chemicals, many of which are the same as those used in perfume or present in other natural extracts used in perfume - 'reset' your nose any more than smelling another perfume does? That quite apart from the fact that coffee extract itself may well be present in one or more of the perfumes you are smelling - are they thus self-reseting? How might this 'reset' be triggered? Why would evolution have resulted in a reset button that works only with the particular combination of 650 different triggers that are in coffee?

If you want to understand the complexity of the coffee aroma have a look at this link:

http://wwwchem.uwimona.edu.jm/lectures/coffee.html
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post #18 of 77
10/15/12 at 11:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Bartlett View Post

snip

Then, I would offer this explanation (albeit elementary).

Coffee is something pretty much everyone knows by smell. We drink it, we smell others drinking it, we visit coffee shops, etc. So, when smelling new fragrances that are super complex and contain 50x650 (or whatever the number was for coffee) odorous compounds, it's easy to lose track of what was actually in one scent that you tried versus one from before. In essence, you would think that "oh, that's a nice jasmine note" in one fragrance, even though that note is really from the last one that you smelled (for example..I know it's not perfect). Thus, by using coffee in between sniffs, we are less likely to be confused by what was in one fragrance to the next, regardless of how many individual odorous compounds are in coffee. Due to our familiarity, the brain may be able to "tune it out" to some extent so a person could experience the next fragrance better. Plus, as I alluded to earlier, coffee is a very distinct smell, so people know when they are smelling coffee in a fragrance and could most likely detect that it is not actually in the fragrance they are smelling if it makes no sense for it to be there.

Just my two cents. As I said before, this is all speculation.
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post #19 of 77
10/15/12 at 11:34am
4) "Spraying into the air and walking thru the mist is the best way to apply fragrance"

I seem to have read something about this before, as mentioned by some perfumeur or fragrance expert. The misting is so that the perfume is spread onto hair and clothing, so as cacio mentioned, perhaps more for stronger perfumes.

And I also seem to recall a recent comment made here on BaseNotes that in the past, perfume was meant to be worn on (or in?) clothes, so perhaps that is part of the basis for (4).
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post #20 of 77
10/15/12 at 11:36am
I'll add:

Rubbing your wrists together will crush the molecules.
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post #21 of 77
10/15/12 at 11:37am
The only thing that "resets" olfactory fatigue for me is a combination of fresh air and time - but even going for walks in the fresh air still only improves things a little, and I soon have to forget it and go home, and recommence sniffing another day.

(One of the stores I visit has tubs of coffee for the purpose, but for me it only adds to the fatigue)
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post #22 of 77
10/15/12 at 12:34pm
#Myth - You should throw away frags after a year of ownership as they have gone "off"
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post #23 of 77
10/15/12 at 1:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fragranceman88 View Post

#Myth - You should throw away frags after a year of ownership as they have gone "off"

Anyone who believes that is welcome to throw them my way
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post #24 of 77
10/15/12 at 1:41pm
Ok, I do get really really pissed that fragrance companies spend all of $3 on the juice, but won't give SA's samples to give out to honest customers. I HATE spraying a piece of cardboard. It is WORTHLESS except to see if I absolutely hate a frag. I need to see how it will interact with my skin. The SA's here in south-central PA at most get samples of one cologne in their entire inventory. Most are Morons who don't know the difference between Sillage and Projection. I almost never buy from department stores anymore b/c of this. I once had a SA tell me that Burberry puts cigarette ashes in their juice b/c in England most pubs still allow smoking, and the cigarette ash in the juice reacted well with the smoke. I kid you not...It was at a MACY's Department store.

Ok, I have had time to cool down...I see the hatred coming through this post...BUT...Outside of very high end shoppes I have rarely met a SA at a dept. store who knew much. I don't want to offend any knowledgeable SA's on Basenotes. The anger still stands with the cheapskate companies not giving samples. Heck, I'd pay a nominal fee at the counter for samples if they were available.
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post #25 of 77
10/15/12 at 1:44pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cacio View Post

It is a reasonable way to spray particularly strong frags, but of course, it is not the best way most of the times.

cacio

I do agree with this one to a certain extent, but I use it when I am selling more than when I am wearing. There are a few frags that are a bit too much when sprayed directly on the card. When I show these frags I spray the air then pull the blotter card in an upward motion through the mist. The main ones I do this with are H.M. edp, One Million and A*Men. I will spray the card directly for the customer as well to show them the difference. I don't have any science behind it, but I own all three of these and with the first 2 especially the initial burst out of the bottle can be too cloying and I had to get used to this when I would wear them. To me the card drawn thru the air bypasses this shock. 99.9% of the time the customer can tell the difference and often they think I am playing a trick on them so I have to spray both ways in front of their eyes Anyone else do anything similar?
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post #26 of 77
10/15/12 at 2:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fragranceman88 View Post

#Myth - You should throw away frags after a year of ownership as they have gone "off"

I love this one - I've never heard it for a year, but I saw a website recently that suggested a four year maximum (nonsense) and that fragrances containing synthetics last less well than those with naturals (also nonsense) but maddest of all that if you kept your fragrance in a humid environment the 'molecules would expand and contract by absorbing the water' and thus lose their scent (totally bonkers in case you wondered).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Possum-Pie View Post

Ok, I do get really really pissed that fragrance companies spend all of $3 on the juice, but won't give SA's samples to give out to honest customers. I HATE spraying a piece of cardboard. It is WORTHLESS except to see if I absolutely hate a frag. I need to see how it will interact with my skin. The SA's here in south-central PA at most get samples of one cologne in their entire inventory. Most are Morons who don't know the difference between Sillage and Projection. I almost never buy from department stores anymore b/c of this. I once had a SA tell me that Burberry puts cigarette ashes in their juice b/c in England most pubs still allow smoking, and the cigarette ash in the juice reacted well with the smoke. I kid you not...It was at a MACY's Department store.

Ok, I have had time to cool down...I see the hatred coming through this post...BUT...Outside of very high end shoppes I have rarely met a SA at a dept. store who knew much. I don't want to offend any knowledgeable SA's on Basenotes. The anger still stands with the cheapskate companies not giving samples. Heck, I'd pay a nominal fee at the counter for samples if they were available.

This is a tough one - speaking as a tiny fragrance house - I think carefully before I give away samples. I've just spent quite a lot of money putting together a set of samples to give away at the IFRA UK Fragrance Forum that I'm sponsoring and besides the money it's a lot of work. So mostly I charge for them. Of course with a fragrance house this small the juice costs a heck of a lot more than $3 a bottle - actually it costs me nearly $1 to fill a sample sprayer, which in turn costs 50c and then there are the labels and the cards . . .

Now I'm not suggesting it's like that for the big Houses, because clearly it isn't, but there is a good reason I don't routinely give samples to every TDH who turns up at my counter - some patently just want a spray of the most expensive perfume they can see and have no intention ever to buy anything.

On the other hand other people buy samples over the net from me and I always feel a bit guilty that I have to charge so much for them because it costs a lot in packaging and postage (double the cost of a full sprayer to package it so it won't break in the post and double the cost of the whole lot to post it, and that's just within the UK).

Tough choices . . . but if I don't give or sell samples ultimately I don't get sales. Of course if you have the right celebrity backing people (including very well informed perfumistas) will buy a full bottle on spec. I'm not sure that'd be an ambition for the future though.
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post #27 of 77
10/15/12 at 2:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Bartlett View Post



This is a tough one - speaking as a tiny fragrance house - I think carefully before I give away samples. I've just spent quite a lot of money putting together a set of samples to give away at the IFRA UK Fragrance Forum that I'm sponsoring and besides the money it's a lot of work. So mostly I charge for them. Of course with a fragrance house this small the juice costs a heck of a lot more than $3 a bottle - actually it costs me nearly $1 to fill a sample sprayer, which in turn costs 50c and then there are the labels and the cards . . .

Now I'm not suggesting it's like that for the big Houses, because clearly it isn't, but there is a good reason I don't routinely give samples to every TDH who turns up at my counter - some patently just want a spray of the most expensive perfume they can see and have no intention ever to buy anything.

On the other hand other people buy samples over the net from me and I always feel a bit guilty that I have to charge so much for them because it costs a lot in packaging and postage (double the cost of a full sprayer to package it so it won't break in the post and double the cost of the whole lot to post it, and that's just within the UK).

Tough choices . . . but if I don't give or sell samples ultimately I don't get sales. Of course if you have the right celebrity backing people (including very well informed perfumistas) will buy a full bottle on spec. I'm not sure that'd be an ambition for the future though.

Chris, I know for a small guy, giving away stuff is hard. BUT these houses make juice by the 55 gallon drum. It cost on average $2-$3/bottle for the juice. Like I said, I'd even pay for the samples. I understand why they charge to mail samples out, otherwise people would keep requesting samples, and never pay. BUT if I stand there 20min, compare and sniff frags, find a few that are promising, to give or sell a few samples so I could try them out makes good sense. I honestly haven't shopped for frags in a dept. store since April. I go to a niche shoppe I know, or order online.
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post #28 of 77
10/15/12 at 3:05pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rüssel View Post

Myth - Only gay men wear women's fragrances

Reality - I don't think that's true...or just have not met the right guy yet

Someone on here had a great quote about this subject that I like to say when customers are thinking about about getting the other genders frags. "Fragrance does not have genitalia"

Quote:
Originally Posted by ElVee View Post

RE: 4) I've known people who spray the mist and fairy hop through it. It's...disturbing to watch.

RE: 6) I think there may be some truth to that, as I know I get olfactory fatigue if I'm sampling 7-8+ different things through the day. I'll eventually start finding I'm just not picking anything up anymore.

Disturbing indeed lol and I truly think each individuals threshold is different when it comes to fatigue. As a musician I had a similar thing happen to my ears. While I was recording my CD we had a few long sessions and after a few hours my ears would turn to mush but the engineer was still going strong. And there were some late night sessions where my ears were fine but he had to stop because he had been in the studio for 14 hours straight and was just useless.

I am pretty sure my tolerance is fairly high when it comes to cologne as a consumer. I know the first time I worked the men's counter I tried at least 40 and I wasn't feeling any fatigue. Now, if I was a perfumer I'm sure it would be a different story, but I was just going from a "do I like this or not" mentality.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kron View Post

#2 I actually agree with, I hate smelling scents on paper as they come across flat and give no impression of how they react to warmth.

I too agree that the paper does not give the full details of a fragrance as the heat of your skin and your chemistry will. The problems I have with the ppl who come in and refuse the cards is that they either spray the air and try to dunk their nose in the mist - and I just watch as the fragrance falls to the floor or I get to see them cough/sneeze like an idiot- or they will apply EVERYTHING on their skin... then after 8 or 9 frags are on them they have the nerve to say "This one smells terrible". And that is when I do an internal facepalm.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Postumo View Post

# A myth mos SA's use as a universal truth: "EDPs have the same smell as edts, only in a higher concentration..."

yeah, sure...

If we're talking about Chanel or Thierry Mugler or others that actually change the formula I will agree with you. But, there are fragrances out there that are supposed to be just that. As I call it "concentrated Tide vs. regular Tide". Out of the bottle they may not smell the same but on the drydown they are supposed to be the "same"

As for the Coffee I think it is somewhere between science and myth, but it has become so much a part of the buying process that I don't mind bringing them out for the customer.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Possum-Pie View Post

Ok, I do get really really pissed that fragrance companies spend all of $3 on the juice, but won't give SA's samples to give out to honest customers. I HATE spraying a piece of cardboard. It is WORTHLESS except to see if I absolutely hate a frag. I need to see how it will interact with my skin.

Ok, I have had time to cool down...I see the hatred coming through this post...BUT...Outside of very high end shoppes I have rarely met a SA at a dept. store who knew much. I don't want to offend any knowledgeable SA's on Basenotes. The anger still stands with the cheapskate companies not giving samples. Heck, I'd pay a nominal fee at the counter for samples if they were available.

Come to my Macy's, I'll treat you right But, I do agree with you for the most part. We are not getting samples like we used to. I don't have any samples to give away except for a small stash of H.M. samples that I keep hidden. And I tried to start a "VIP" program where if you were willing to give us your name & number (we are supposed to be building clients just like the cosmetic counters do) every 4 months or so we would collect a group of samples from different vendors and have you come in to pick them up. If you gave us feedback on the frags you would be eligible for the next giveaway. Or better yet if you ordered one of the colognes you got a sample of you were get a perk from the vendor and be put in our exclusive club where you would get samples more often. But this was shot down from management where I was told that I was supposed to get the name and number of anyone I gave a sample to. I was waiting for her to say "joke" but when that didn't happen I just walked away.

I wish SA's were given some real training in fragrances at our company but the truth is they just think it is adequate to have a human there who can ring you out. I feel your pain and no offense taken, but just know there are some good ones out there
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post #29 of 77
10/15/12 at 3:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Postumo View Post

# A myth mos SA's use as a universal truth: "EDPs have the same smell as edts, only in a higher concentration..."

yeah, sure...

I read this myth on Basenotes all the time .
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post #30 of 77
10/15/12 at 3:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelerOpera View Post

As for the Coffee I think it is somewhere between science and myth, but it has become so much a part of the buying process that I don't mind bringing them out for the customer.

Ah, now that indeed is wisdom.

[Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in the fruit bowl]

- - - Updated - - -

Quote:
Originally Posted by Possum-Pie View Post

Chris, I know for a small guy, giving away stuff is hard. BUT these houses make juice by the 55 gallon drum. It cost on average $2-$3/bottle for the juice. Like I said, I'd even pay for the samples. I understand why they charge to mail samples out, otherwise people would keep requesting samples, and never pay. BUT if I stand there 20min, compare and sniff frags, find a few that are promising, to give or sell a few samples so I could try them out makes good sense. I honestly haven't shopped for frags in a dept. store since April. I go to a niche shoppe I know, or order online.

Of course you are right - and as far as I'm concerned you can keep avoiding the big chain Department Stores - they don't stock anything of mine anyway ;-)
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post #31 of 77
10/15/12 at 4:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivory88 View Post

I'll add:

Rubbing your wrists together will crush the molecules.

I respect that.
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post #32 of 77
10/15/12 at 4:43pm
So let me get this straight the coffee thing is a myth? I thought it was so you get the memories of the previous notes out of your nose, so you don't get confused. I have herd it referred to as a pallet cleanser, like ginger with sushi. I know it won't help with nose fatigue but with pallet cleansing? is that a thing?
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post #33 of 77
10/15/12 at 4:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by QWERTYOP View Post

I respect that.

lolz
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post #34 of 77
10/15/12 at 5:16pm
1. This one has never made any sense to me
2. Yes and no. I hate blotter cards, the smell is either extremely nice, or extremely bad. It never smells the same on my skin...ever
3. Hahah oh what I would pay to see someone do this
4. Eh, it's not a bad method
5. Find that hard to believe as well. But maybe this could be similar to a conditioned taste aversion (although, this case doesn't seem to qualify)
6. Never thought of this one
7. Ah, I thought Macy's left those there in case a customer happens to be walking around with a kettle and wants to brew his or her own coffee
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post #35 of 77
10/15/12 at 5:31pm
yup, I do not buy a fragrance until I have worn it a full day so I can see how it wears on me. What you smell on the paper is NOT what you usually wind up smelling on YOU
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post #36 of 77
10/15/12 at 5:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivory88 View Post

I'll add:

Rubbing your wrists together will crush the molecules.

I'd like to know where Al heard this, lol... what does this even mean?!

Rubbing my wrists together gets rid of the alcohol smell when I first smell a fragrance, nothing more.
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post #37 of 77
10/15/12 at 10:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivory88 View Post

I'll add:

Rubbing your wrists together will crush the molecules.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 1280adam View Post

I'd like to know where Al heard this, lol... what does this even mean?!

Rubbing my wrists together gets rid of the alcohol smell when I first smell a fragrance, nothing more.

Actually, rubbing the wrists will supposedly cause oil from the skin to cover the perfume residue, thus altering it somewhat, a factoid I read somewhere on BN or on a perfume blog (as said by a perfumer? JC Ellena? or Kurkdjian?).
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post #38 of 77
10/16/12 at 12:26am
On the only gay men wear female fragrance.

The new Brad Pitt for Chanel ad is getting interesting comments on some beauty boards. One a US board, I will say middle America main posters. Are laughing at a man advertising No5, asking what men would even think of wearing it. Unfortunately I am unable to post on that forum, you need a US address it seems.

The card/spill, yes I do use them. Reason I want to know if its a scrubber before even putting it anywhere on me. This decides me if I want to try it on my skin. Yes, samples all the way. In department stores the sa well many of them, have the idea you just sniff it and buy there and then. No.
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post #39 of 77
10/16/12 at 12:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelerOpera View Post


4) "Spraying into the air and walking thru the mist is the best way to apply fragrance"

Scentimus has often recommended this technique for the most powerful, ultra-long lasting scent on the planet - Joop Homme.

Makes sense to me.
It diffuses the intensity of Joop Homme.
And it leaves it on the clothes - so that I can just take them off when my wife starts complaining about me wearing Joop.
Cheers,
Renato
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post #40 of 77
10/16/12 at 12:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1280adam View Post

I'd like to know where Al heard this, lol... what does this even mean?!

I've heard this from SA's at Sephora as well as L'Occitane. Actually, the L'Occitane lady was down-right adamant about this "fact," because she heard it from a perfumer on a company-sponsored trip to France. They sincerely believe that the added pressure changes the molecular structure of your fragrance.

I've also heard pretty crazy expiration date claims. I was at Neiman's a while back, when a nice lady hawking Clive Christian (!!!) told a poor chap the bottle's only good for 2 years.
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post #41 of 77
10/16/12 at 1:39am
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Originally Posted by SpicyPepper View Post

So let me get this straight the coffee thing is a myth? I thought it was so you get the memories of the previous notes out of your nose, so you don't get confused. I have herd it referred to as a pallet cleanser, like ginger with sushi. I know it won't help with nose fatigue but with pallet cleansing? is that a thing?

No. But "palate cleansing" is.
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post #42 of 77
10/16/12 at 2:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelerOpera View Post


4) "Spraying into the air and walking thru the mist is the best way to apply fragrance"

I've had two different girlfriends tell me this, including my current one. I wonder how this myth even got started. I think it has to do with the current PC culture of not wanting to offend anyone with your fragrance, so you want the spray it to be as light and undetectable as possible.

My current girlfriend knows I'm into fragrances, so she was all excited the other day when she came over wearing Chanel Coromandel and asked me if I liked her perfume. I told her I couldn't smell anything on her at all (I really couldn't). Then, I asked her if she applied it by "walking through the mist." She said "yes," so I told her that she was wasting her Chanel Coromandel by applying it like that. When I told her, for example, that I usually wear 3 sprays of a fragrance applied inches from my skin, she was shocked and appalled.
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post #43 of 77
10/16/12 at 7:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2ndBakeryAttack View Post

I've had two different girlfriends tell me this, including my current one. I wonder how this myth even got started. I think it has to do with the current PC culture of not wanting to offend anyone with your fragrance, so you want the spray it to be as light and undetectable as possible.

My current girlfriend knows I'm into fragrances, so she was all excited the other day when she came over wearing Chanel Coromandel and asked me if I liked her perfume. I told her I couldn't smell anything on her at all (I really couldn't). Then, I asked her if she applied it by "walking through the mist." She said "yes," so I told her that she was wasting her Chanel Coromandel by applying it like that. When I told her, for example, that I usually wear 3 sprays of a fragrance applied inches from my skin, she was shocked and appalled.

Yeah, my wife insists on that shit of spraying it and walking through it as if she's afraid to get any alcohol on herself. I saw with frustration, "Here, give me that!" and spray her down proper, where I like her to smell real good!

I remember there was an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy that made that exact recommendation to "spray, and then walk away". Maybe that's the genesis? That was about nine years ago or so.
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post #44 of 77
10/16/12 at 7:52am
Fragrances really need application to the skin. The skin is warm and humid. The heat causes convection of the fragrance molecules to rise. The skin also contains oils that interact with a fragrance. Spraying it on clothing can cause the clothes to smell like the fragrance, but it won't project. I wear if first and foremost for myself, so I apply it on my chest and neck so the warm air carries it to my nose throughout the day.
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post #45 of 77
10/16/12 at 11:22am
"Spraying into the air and walking thru the mist is the best way to apply fragrance."

I always found this to be utterly ludicrous...


"Only gay men wear women's fragrances"

Or only gay men wear fragrances, period.


I'm surprised that no-one's mentioned the 'increases your chances of getting laid' myth...
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post #46 of 77
10/16/12 at 12:22pm
"if it smells like cologne...leave it alone"
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post #47 of 77
10/16/12 at 12:27pm
This thread really makes me smile, thank you for the laugh

1 thing I'm not sure about is that all fragrances NEED to be sprayed on skin in order to be appreciated. I'm a scent lover with serious perfume allergies so I can only wear perfume on outer clothes. Most good perfumes are built well enough to also smell good on paper and textile. Sure, because of different physical qualities, different ingredients will evaporate at different times, skin adds a few extra dimensions like heat and your own skin smell (that depends on many different factors).
Professional perfumers always evaluate perfumes and their ingredients on blotters first, before the end product is tested on the skin of several focus groups.
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post #48 of 77
10/16/12 at 12:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by QWERTYOP View Post

I respect that.

Haha
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post #49 of 77
10/16/12 at 2:10pm
Thanks for the laugh. Good read.
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post #50 of 77
10/16/12 at 4:52pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HORNS View Post

I remember there was an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy that made that exact recommendation to "spray, and then walk away". Maybe that's the genesis? That was about nine years ago or so.

I remember this as well and remember thinking how stupid the idea of this was for every fragrance. That was an interesting show and I miss it, but I really think they were flying on the seat of their pants and just making shit up as they went along.
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post #51 of 77
10/16/12 at 4:53pm
good laugh
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post #52 of 77
10/17/12 at 12:20am
The spraying into the air thing. Well, one its bad for your hair!!!!! Every hairdresser will tell you, spraying alcohol on your hair is not a good idea. Also walking through it, you are inhaling(asthma sufferers), dries the skin of your face as well.
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post #53 of 77
10/17/12 at 12:21am
Quote:
I remember there was an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy that made that exact recommendation to "spray, and then walk away". Maybe that's the genesis? That was about nine years ago or so

No, it's been around for a lot longer than that - they were just recycling a very old idea.

- - - Updated - - -

I've just found a source that dates it to 1971...

"Spraying in a cloud in front of you and then walking through the scent mist to get just the right amount is a technique which began by the launch of Aromatics Elixir by Clinique in 1971. This method was especially divised to cater for the bombastic blast of this superperfume and was then transfered through all of the Lauder Group companies."
http://perfumeshrine.blogspot.co.uk/...y-perfume.html

I'm not convinced that was the first usage - can anyone find anything older?
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post #54 of 77
10/17/12 at 1:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelerOpera View Post

3) "You need to taste the fragrance to see if it works well with your chemistry. If it tastes sour it is a bad match, if it s sweet that's good."

I am glad you mentioned this.. I was actually told this by the SA at the Macy counter last week. It took all I had to not laugh directly at her. Wow, this is bizarre and stupid.
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post #55 of 77
10/17/12 at 2:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oscroft View Post

No, it's been around for a lot longer than that - they were just recycling a very old idea.

- - - Updated - - -

I've just found a source that dates it to 1971...

"Spraying in a cloud in front of you and then walking through the scent mist to get just the right amount is a technique which began by the launch of Aromatics Elixir by Clinique in 1971. This method was especially divised to cater for the bombastic blast of this superperfume and was then transfered through all of the Lauder Group companies."
http://perfumeshrine.blogspot.co.uk/...y-perfume.html

I'm not convinced that was the first usage - can anyone find anything older?

That is what I thought, that it was popularised because it was used as a sales technique with the legendary Aromatics Elixir, and I can tell you that it did gain quite a bit of ground at that time. That doesn't mean that the idea wasn't around before then though.
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post #56 of 77
10/18/12 at 4:20am
oh god, I've encountered a l'occitane rep who'd been on a company-sponsored trip to france too. She was adamant that there was a special nose that one in a thousand men have (and absolutely no women, ever, this was unthinkable) that made them able to distinguish different notes. Don't know where in france they go, but it must involve time travel and a lot of blowing.
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post #57 of 77
10/18/12 at 5:14am
Myth: "Synthetic ingredients are not as good as natural" While some artificial ingredients are not on par with natural, Many are direct chemical reproductions, and are identical in every way. Everything can be broken down into it's chemical constituents. The problem is that some reproductions are not the chemical formula, but someones interpretation of what it should smell like. Think Artificial strawberry...This is a stereotype of what someone thinks strawberry should smell like, and has been around so long that we equate it with strawberry.
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post #58 of 77
10/19/12 at 2:49am
Thread Starter 
I was reminded of this one today, more of a lack of reality than a myth. This woman approached my counter, I greeted her with a friendly "What can I help you find today?" She totally ignored me with a sour look on her face and I knew I was in trouble. After some more coaxing she finally revealed she wanted to buy a set of Gucci Guilty. I gladly led her in the right direction, gave her the prices and she was picking up set after set on the counter looking inside saying:

"Aren't any of these bottles filled all the way up? Are these all used??"

Biting my tongue I calmly explained to her that they are all filled with 3 ounces, the bottle can actually hold more and that for various reasons they cannot be filled to the top. I, of course was hiding the fact that all perfume counters open every bottle, spray exactly 13 sprays from each and store the juice in a large tupperware bowl in the back office. I hope she didn't catch on to us....
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post #59 of 77
10/19/12 at 2:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelerOpera View Post

...........Biting my tongue I calmly explained to her that they are all filled with 3 ounces, the bottle can actually hold more and that for various reasons they cannot be filled to the top. I, of course was hiding the fact that all perfume counters open every bottle, spray exactly 13 sprays from each and store the juice in a large tupperware bowl in the back office. I hope she didn't catch on to us....

Ha Ha!
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post #60 of 77
10/19/12 at 6:24am
Ah, so that is where all the decants really come from. LOL
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