Are we all drinking the kool-aid and buying into hype?

First off - How do you pronounce your username?

Second - Of course there's hype. We live in a world where value is judged by cost when they are two totally different things. That said, there is a distinct difference in quality between the brands you mentioned and say a Hugo Boss line but ultimately both will do their thing and both are aimed at different demographs.

Consider the main average client base to be like once in a while drug users and us high end junkies are like all day every day, give me that good ish straight in my veins kind of clientèle.

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First off - How do you pronounce your username?

Second - Of course there's hype. We live in a world where value is judged by cost when they are two totally different things. That said, there is a distinct difference in quality between the brands you mentioned and say a Hugo Boss line but ultimately both will do their thing and both are aimed at different demographs.

Consider the main average client base to be like once in a while drug users and us high end junkies are like all day every day, give me that good ish straight in my veins kind of clientèle.

I don't think ingredients are a big part of the story, most of the times. These brands do tend to use more naturals relative to many mainstream ones, which tend to smell very synthetic. But only up to a point. Besides, no matter how many natural materials they use, the cost of materials is just a small fraction of the price.

So my take is that one pays for the composition. Pretty much like for, say, certain luxury clothing brands. Materials are indeed better (leather, wools, etc), but that doesn't justify the difference in price. What one pays for is the design. Whether it's justified or not.

cacio

Thanks for that - What does it mean?

Also, perfumes and aftershaves (esp niche) are a way of allowing us to express our own vanity and smug superiority whilst still being good little commercial whores that are ultimately no different to the next (slave) man.

Through almost 40 years of fragrance buying, personally have never bought into the hype.

In the end, it only matters if you decide it matters to YOU. For me, it doesn't matter at all. I only care about three things:

How does it smell? ...do I love it? Is it unique?
How does it wear? ...does it last on my skin? Projection/Sillage? Compliments?
How much does it cost? ...am I wiling to pay that much to own it?

People who collect perfumes will have different reasons for their purchases, but if you're like me, meaning the only reason you buy perfume is to wear it, you can ignore everything but how it smells, how it wears and how much it costs.

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Why think about it at all? Really, it doesn't matter. Their claims are just marketing - even when they're 100% the truth, it's just marketing. Sure, the info can be interesting or maybe even helpful, but in the end, no amount of words can make a perfume smell better if you don't enjoy it. Only your nose knows. Words have no smell, and since we're talking about perfume here, trust your nose. Hype only matters if you're one of those people for whom it's important to be part of the hype - in other words, a follower or a joiner. Be your own person. Trust your own nose.

Spray the perfume on you skin.
...how does it smell?
...how does it wear?
...how much does it cost?

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THIS. Hype has no smell, so no amount of hype can make a perfume better.

Irina posted this on another thread the other day:-




(click to enlarge)

So, agree - buy what you like, whoever made it

I don't believe hype or claims of "high quality," "natural ingredients," etc. I've read plenty about the actual costs of creating most fragrances, and accept that marketing is largely BS. I go with what I like.

But the first thing you said is that you're glad not to smell like everyone else. That's a fair criterion for selecting a fragrance. But you should know that you don't have to pay loads of money for that privilege. There are loads of reasonably priced scents out there that you won't smell on everyone and his brother.

I personally pay for a unique composition that I love and enjoy wearing

I define quality by the blending and the quality of the notes.

Hype does have an effect on what I sample. If it's popular, it must be for some reason. But not what I buy. I purchase bottles and decants of fragrances based on my tastes alone.

There is a reason why you guys are buying samples of Tom Ford and not DIY samples. To say you are 100% immune to hype (rather than 99%) is simply a fabrication. We, as humans, aren't perfect and there will always be time we give in to such things. I suspect those kinds of statements LBI and hednic are vanity-based. Not to say mine aren't as well.

Actually, the reason people aren't buying DIY samples is due to the lack of a well run marketplace. Using your example of Tom Ford: there are so many sites where one can easily find reviews, critiques, samples, etc. But there isn't a well designed and well run marketplace for DIY perfume, and that's a shame. A great way to build one would be to create a site that functions like a combination of Reddit, with its voting system and comments, and an online dating site, where people can search by criteria rather than by brand names. That sort of system would be brilliant.

Craigslist and ebay changed the world of online selling, but a different model is needed for DIY perfume. The idea of selling a DIY scent based on its name wouldn't work. It would have to be more like the app store, where descriptions and reviews are king, but it would have to be muuuuch more searchable in terms of seasons, uses, notes, etc. And honestly, I don't even know how local laws would come into play... but... that's a topic for another day.

I have a hard time believing that with your 38,299 posts and proclaimed enormous collection.

This is a FANTASTIC idea LHBI!!!

I'm pretty certain at some point in the fragrance journey many of us have tasted the kool-aid but not necessarily to buy into the hype. Sampling allows us to evaluate a fragrance without buying a full bottle of it and decide if we like it well enough for a full purchase. You can dig up the popular well regarded or in your view 'hyped up' BN favorites, track down BNers who rate them positively, look up their wardrobe and see if they have them in their wardrobe.

Bottomline: BNers don't always buy what they like/admire.

Imo quality of ingredients is nowhere near as important as the quality of composition. In the hands of a novice the best most expensive fragrance ingredients can still smell like crap.

Speaking of high quality ingredients, where did the Saddle Warmer we were passing around get to ForFreddie? That stuff had the worst FAKE peach chemicals I have ever smelled...

Chanel No. 5 doesn't smell all that good on my skin. But, I love the bottle, the font, the story, the personality of Coco Chanel, etc. I own three bottles. Hype must be my altar.

The niches I've smelled (Diptyque, Malle, etc) did smell pretty good. Frankly they make me want to spend more and become a niche whore. Others didn't and I wouldn't fork out the amount of money they wish to take off me.

Whether the price is justified or not is up to your own nose.

BINGO!

My thoughts exactly.

Maybe not hype, but I drink some Kool-Aid. I love the story of fragrances and the past. Whether that past was 10 years ago or 100. Fragrances with a story and history are interesting to me. Unfortunately, the Kool-Aid in the world of perfume is not pennies-a-glass .

I think there is a lot of hype in fragrance, like anything else. Some fragrances live up to the hype, some are no better than the garden variety stuff you find at the department store. It is an individual's responsibility to make these decisions for himself. Some people do really value the name and the glory behind a fancy price tag, sometimes they trust the price more than their own taste or sense of smell.

Over the years I have caught myself drinking the kool aid, and coming perilously close to spending what a friend calls "stupid money" on fragrance. I spend enough without being swept away by the latest niche brand or designer.
I agree that it is up to your nose, but sometimes other factors weigh in.

One Billion Percent THIS.

I always laugh when I see a post with the words "is it worth it?" in the title. We each define value in our own ways, and only you can decide how much of your money a perfume is worth. For some people, it's important to be part of the herd... to be a "me too." They buy what the herd buys and they decide if a scent is worth the price based on how many of the other OMGkoolkidz want it or already own it. That's fine if it makes them happy, but it's not for me.

For me, it's all about how much I enjoy the smell and how it wears, with compliments being a huge bonus. Hype or lack of hype is irrelevant. Popularity or lack of popularity is irrelevant. It's all about the smell and the wear.

Then again, I've always been a guy who goes his own way. I don't mind if my favorite scents aren't popular or even particularly well respected here. Some are, and some really aren't. I still wear CURVE for cryinoutloud, and that thing gets slammed more often than a tennis ball... but it's easily one of my most complimented scents. I love L'Air du Desert Marocain, but I also love Corduroy by Zirh, both of which wear fantastically on me.

The trick is to remember what matters and what doesn't. Marketing is just a sales tactic, and hype is just other people's opinions (often based on other people's opinions). That's all fine and good, but for me, nothing matters more than the smell and how it wears.

To be fair, there's more than one kind of hype, and I tend to pay attention depending on where the hype is coming from. There's a huge difference between the undiscovered-gem hype and the lolz-pantydropperz hype. I love when people here hype the unknown gems - especially the affordable ones, or the best of up and coming perfumers.