The actual popularity of fragrances

[plainsight]

I was just wondering today: How often do you encounter men, and women, who are wearing a scent? I'm not talking about Old Spice deodorant or Axe shower gel. Actual. bottled. fragrance.

For me, it seems relatively uncommon even when I walk around NYC. I very rarely smell anything that is popular here on BN (A*Men, some of the YSL frags, etc.).

Honestly, I'd say 1 in every 10 or 12 people I come across is wearing a fragrance. I think that staying around a community like this makes it seem more commonplace than it actually is.

What do you think?

[hednic]

It's not everyday I bump into a guy wearing fragrance, but often enough depending on the environment where the encounter is.

[silentrich]

It's not everyday I bump into a guy wearing fragrance, but often enough depending on the environment where the encounter is.

I don't always wear fragrances, but when I do, I prefer Pure Malt.

[plainsight]

lol'd ^

[flouris]

I don't know but I notice far more women wear fragrance than men.

Last night I was watching the 4th of July fireworks display downtown and caught the scent of an absolutely AMAZING fragrance.. I have no idea how to describe it but it totally captured my attention. It was really quite amazing smelling, kind of feminine smokey vanilla carnation, definitely seemed like a niche fragrance. Problem is I was in a sea of moving people/crowds and knew it was a lost cause to find the source.

[Hammy01]

In the office I work at (about 40 people or so) I think there may be in one other guy that wears frags. My friend who sits in the cube next to me smells pretty good some days.... and every time I ask him what he is wearing, his answer is AXE .

[noirdrakkar]

Honestly, I'd say 2/3 of men don't wear bottled fragrances.

Of the 1/3 that do, most of them aren't into it like we are. Most of the people that do just have 1-2 colognes that they rarely use except maybe on a date or a club. They just go in a store one day, test out something and buy it based on the top notes. It's not serious to them like it is for us.

To us, brands like Angel Men, Hermes and Yves Saint Laurent are very important to all of us. 99% of people don't care.

Probably only 1% of people collect fragrances as a hobby, if that.

I know, when it comes to colognes like Acqua Di Gio, Cool Water, Le Male and 1 Million, all are best-sellers, but even then people exagerrate when they say: "Don't wear Acqua Di Gio because EVERYONE's wearing it". Sure, in your entire lifetime, you may encounter a handful of people wearing a popular fragrance, but wearing cologne in itself distinguishes you from most people, even if it is the most common one.

[>BOOMER<]

I don't always wear fragrances, but when I do, I prefer Pure Malt.

Hilarious...

[automorphism]

Where I work maybe 1/10 guys wear something, and I'm pretty sure one guy wears 15 sprays...

[mesaboogie]

Honestly, I'd say 2/3 of men don't wear bottled fragrances.

Of the 1/3 that do, most of them aren't into it like we are. Most of the people that do just have 1-2 colognes that they rarely use except maybe on a date or a club. They just go in a store one day, test out something and buy it based on the top notes. It's not serious to them like it is for us.

To us, brands like Angel Men, Hermes and Yves Saint Laurent are very important to all of us. 99% of people don't care.

Probably only 1% of people collect fragrances as a hobby, if that.

I know, when it comes to colognes like Acqua Di Gio, Cool Water, Le Male and 1 Million, all are best-sellers, but even then people exagerrate when they say: "Don't wear Acqua Di Gio because EVERYONE's wearing it". Sure, in your entire lifetime, you may encounter a handful of people wearing a popular fragrance, but wearing cologne in itself distinguishes you from most people, even if it is the most common one.

^ Absolutely. I very rarely smell Acqua Di Gio, Le Male, or 1 Million except for when I wear them. None of my guy friends collects fragrances or even likes them that much.

[Mimi Gardenia]

I hardly smell any fragrance on anyone ,anywhere here, to be honest. When I do, I remember because it is pretty rare. Mostly, I smell cheap vanilla at the gym and that's it.
I sometimes wonder if I am the only one walking around here fumed.

[Kagey]

I think that staying around a community like this makes it seem more commonplace than it actually is.

Very true. Hanging around here, it's easy to forget that not everyone is into perfume. And a lot of people "out there" will tell you they actively dislike perfume. Years ago I was one of those people, and I knew many like me. I used to be totally put off by men noticeably wearing fragrance. How opinions can change.

I agree that way more women than men wear perfume, but I work in a field where we probably have a lower-than-average rate of perfume wearing in general.

Of course, there are always people who wear so little that you can't smell them in passing. I'm told I'm one of those people. Even if I apply what I think is a lot, people say they can't smell me.

[jasonx]

In my office
2 out of guys wear fragrances, I smell mostly aquatic.
The females favor rosy fragrance from Lancome

On the street
Again aquatic with guys and sometimes I smell Le Male
On the women I usually smell Lolita Lempicka The First Perfume and occasionally Angel

[Mr Berghia]

Honestly, I'd say 2/3 of men don't wear bottled fragrances.

Of the 1/3 that do, most of them aren't into it like we are. Most of the people that do just have 1-2 colognes that they rarely use except maybe on a date or a club. They just go in a store one day, test out something and buy it based on the top notes. It's not serious to them like it is for us.

To us, brands like Angel Men, Hermes and Yves Saint Laurent are very important to all of us. 99% of people don't care.

In my country, it seems that about 9/10 of men wear bottled fragrances. Many don't even wear deodorant. They usually buy a bottle of whatever ultra-popular scent was being pushed that day at the mall.
My friends are also terrified of the idea of wearing female marketed perfumes that are actually masculine, like Midnight Poison or No. 19 (Chanel).
Fake, or "designer wannabe's" fragrances are popular here, on the other hand.
To get an idea of the mentality, I've been asked more then once: "Why do you pay full price for the bottles instead of buying from those fakers who sell exactly the same perfume with the same longevity ?" -> never !

[anomie et ivoire]

A very common observation, but the only people I've ever known to wear noticeable fragrance are my mother, grandmother, and aunts (currently ages 50-77).

I never smell fragrance on anyone younger in America except for whiffs of aquatics and fruity florals when at a college or high school hangout. The most consistently perfumed places are high end charity shops (donated goods will still reek of signature scents) and other ladies who lunch places where Hermes and Chanel can usually be detected, in particular 24 Faubourg, which I hate. The very most fragrance-laden crowds have been in Latin and Eastern European countries at nightclubs.

Only one SO ever--this includes males and females--has ever worn any fragrance. My ex was really into Floris, Penhaligon's, and other classics at age twenty. I thought it was really strange and old-fashioned but have now been infected with the perfume lust too late.

[broxwood]

Usually I can smell a few people wearing fragrances at the train station on my way to work or uni. Definitely more common on women than men, I'd say 80% of the female customers at work are wearing a fragrance.

In my circle of friends however, I'm probably the only one who wears a fragrance on a regular basis. In fact I know an individual who doesn't wear any perfume unless they got spritzed by a trigger happy sales assistant.

[heperd]

Maybe once a week. And its usually some obnoxious B&BW spray or lotion.

[CapriDog]

I am the only one that wears fragrance in my department of about 30 people... I wonder whether fragrance is more popular in other parts of the world than in the US.

[andylama]

What drives me crazy: I'll be in public and come across some random guy (usually a guy) who's wearing something that catches my nose instantly because it smells absolutely fantastic, and I have no idea what it is...and I'm not about to ask. So I go through the rest of my day wishing I knew what the hell it was...but I will never know. Alas!

[Spoombung]

----

[firz84]

I am the only one that wears fragrance in my department of about 30 people... I wonder whether fragrance is more popular in other parts of the world than in the US.

At the place I'm living in, I noticed that fragrances are not really that common among guys. Sure there will be guys who will know what AdG and Cool Water (they're still selling like hotcakes here) smell like but if you were to ask 10 regular guys whether they heard about Millesime Imperial, The Dreamer or L'Homme for that matter, I'm sure 9 out of 10 of those guys will not even know. They'll probably make a wild guess and say that it's from Ralph Lauren if you let them sniff the smell on you.

[alfarom]

I hardly smell any fragrance on anyone ,anywhere here, to be honest.

Same here...

[danny1967]

I hardly smell any fragrance on anyone ,anywhere here, to be honest. When I do, I remember because it is pretty rare. Mostly, I smell cheap vanilla at the gym and that's it.
I sometimes wonder if I am the only one walking around here fumed.

+1
i've made the mistake once of telling to a 'straight' bloke at work about my passion for perfumes after being asked what i was wearing one morning (it happened to be m7) when we were making our espressos in the kitchen. since then, every time i wear something, being m7, any pg, mpg, montale, any oud, wood, incense but also (surprisingly) classic italian style colognes etc, etc, you name it, his reaction is: 'you smell whorish / you smell like ass!' (he means it literally). i kind of stopped talking to him and when he comments i half heartedly and politely give him a small laugh.

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Same here...

+2!

[rum]

Honestly, I'd say 2/3 of men don't wear bottled fragrances.

Of the 1/3 that do, most of them aren't into it like we are. Most of the people that do just have 1-2 colognes that they rarely use except maybe on a date or a club. They just go in a store one day, test out something and buy it based on the top notes. It's not serious to them like it is for us.

To us, brands like Angel Men, Hermes and Yves Saint Laurent are very important to all of us. 99% of people don't care.

Probably only 1% of people collect fragrances as a hobby, if that.

I know, when it comes to colognes like Acqua Di Gio, Cool Water, Le Male and 1 Million, all are best-sellers, but even then people exagerrate when they say: "Don't wear Acqua Di Gio because EVERYONE's wearing it". Sure, in your entire lifetime, you may encounter a handful of people wearing a popular fragrance, but wearing cologne in itself distinguishes you from most people, even if it is the most common one.

The above is very true, but I should point out given the responses above it seems to vary according to culture/country. I am surprised that members posting from the US mention that people around them rarely wear any perfume. I thought the US, especially in the larger cities, was more 'cultured' than us folk here in the UK.

I know for a fact that in some circles here in the UK, say among south European and Middle Eastern communities, I detect some really fine fragrances - Hermes is one that springs to mind. It's not all the time that you get to pick the scents up, but it does happen. I even detected Royal Oud on two occasions whilst out and about in London - again, both from non-locals. It's strange and I know it may seem that I am stereotyping, but I have seen it!

[Candide]

I'm sure a lot of people wear something (it's a huge, successfull beauty industry and fragrances are used as symbol for nearly everything that have to do with capitalistic "individualism"), but not everybody does it in a way that you could detect it from afar. And frankly I don't like getting that close people so that I could smell them.

[Akahina]

I very rarely smell fragrances on any men and about 10% of women (perhaps), and I deal with the public. The most common smell on men here is stale sweat, body odor and mildew and cigarettes. I think that is one reason I wear fragrances!

[Jack Hunter]

Guys where I'm from tend to wear fragrances more in the evening when they are going out. Women tend pour half the bottle on themselves and never seem to be without a fragrance. In the morning on the way to work either on a train or bus you have to walk through a gauntlet of people wearing scent,most of them worn by women.

[LloydLlewellyn]

I don't know but I notice far more women wear fragrance than men.

Same here. And lately I find an amazing majority of them to be wearing Alien. Didn't know it was that popular here.
Anyhow, I think lots of guys still have that teenage habit of only getting perfumed when they're going out at night.
I like it when I smell perfume on a guy, don't really know why, but it makes me sympathize.
On a side note: the other day I was at Sephora and a guy started spraying ONLY to his neck about EIGHT sprays of Fleur Du Male (out of all fragrances). Do you guys think he intended to kill somebody by suffocation? Geeeez!

[Rüssel]

I smell fragrances on men and women every day. Not rare here.

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+2!

Surprised. Where are you based, if you don't mind me asking?

Or maybe its just that I'm invading people's personal space more? :-p

[Hilaire]

I smell fragrances on people all the time too, both on men and women, though more commonly on women. However for a country where traditional attitudes about masculinity are still fairly prevalent I'm constantly surprised by how many men I meet or walk passed on the street or stand behind in queues in shops etc who are wearing fragrances.

I'm not saying most of them are wearing something I would think of as particularly nice smelling, but it's still surprising they wear any at all, to me anyway. Walking down the main shopping streets in the city centre on a Saturday or Sunday, especially on a sunny day, is like walking through a department store perfume hall sometimes it can be fun to pick out the ones you recognise. Bars and Nightclubs at the weekends can be pretty overpowering in their intense mix of dozens of fragrances, sweat, and booze, it sometimes makes you yearn for the deadening odour of cigarettes which used to keep this funk at bay.