Name A Few Fragrances You Really Thought You Were Going to Like ,Didn't and Why?

[southerngardens]

We have all heard the hype about a fragrance and ran out to buy it or read a number of reviews and said to ourselves "I have got to try that one!" Then you bring it home or it arrives in the mail and WOOF! What was I thinking?
Name a few fragrances you really thought you were going to like, didn't and why?

GO!

[srellim1]

Black Aoud
Fortunately this was a sample.
I had tried it in store and thought that I liked it, but the rose in the sample was brutal to me.
Chergui.
Ambre 114.

[sjg3839]

Dior Leather Oud. Sampled it at the Dior Boutique. IMO this stuff really smelled like s#it. Must have been the civet.

[CompassRose]

Comme des Garcons. The descriptions! The high-art concept! People talking about how the frags blew their minds!

I sampled... hm, eight, and my response to all but two was either "boring" or "boring AND I'm allergic/sensitive to this." The only two I really liked were Artek and Avignon, and I still don't find them uh-MAAAA-zing in the head-bending sense; I just like the clear, remote wood and incenseyness of them, respectively. I was particularly disappointed in Odeurs 53 and 71; I wondered if they were ahead of their time back when "an abstract fragrance that just smells like fragrance" was a super-cool idea... except that the so-called future has in fact brought us fragrance that smells like murderous amplifications of real things, so a "fragrance that smells like fragrance" is only reminiscent (to me) of the stinky aisle at the Dollar Store. (And I really would have liked to smell some ozone and ink and whatever else cool stuff was in there -- but I didn't.)

Or maybe I'm just a head-blind commoner with no appreciation for art. I did, though, sample Paper Passion, and thought that in many ways, that was what I expected Odeur 53 to do -- electricity, hot electronics, dry paper, the android smell of technology.

[walkdogg]

Dior Leather OUD was a shock to the system. I am learning to love it, but at first I was certain all those who loved it were crazy.

Montal Aoud Lime and Cuir Arabie -- I just do not GET what people see in the type of OUD that montal uses. It's so synth.

Green Irish Tweed -- I have lots of love for the Creed line, but GIT, is so yeck to me.

Thierry Mugler - Pure "______". I cannot and have not yet found a Thierry Mugler "PURE____" that I like.

[Duke Smellington]

Parfum de Nicolai's New York: I was very excited to try the fragrance that Luca Turin "wore for 10 years", but was quickly changing shirts and showering the first hour after only one spray. About a year later, I tried the new reformulated version at a niche shop and could not believe how much I liked it compared to the original sample I had from TPC. Maybe my tastes changed, but I now own a bottle.

[SaNielsen]

Mitsouko -- either I got a really bad vintage sample, or she justs hates me. Acrid.

Just about any Guerlain I've tried except for Spiritueuse Double Vanilla (don't hate me!)

Any Lutens I've tried except Chergui (" " ")

[srellim1]

Ohhh- Serge Noire!

[Picassoutine]

Patchouli 24, Rose 31, Santal 33.

Don't get the whole Le Labo thing.
Major turn-off.

[Genie Jeanie]

Carnal Flower. After all the rave reviews, I couldn't wait to try this one out. I also couldn't wait to get it off my skin. The notes didn't work for me at all. Disgusting.

- - - Updated - - -

Just about any Guerlain I've tried except for Spiritueuse Double Vanilla (don't hate me!)

SDV is about the only Guerlain I've found to be rather blah, so don't hate me!

[Larimar]

I thought I would really like Vero Kern's work, in particular Onda, but I find her work rather unbalanced and her mentholated house note really puts me off.

[southerngardens]

SDV is about the only Guerlain I've found to be rather blah, so don't hate me!

I don't care for SDV either!

[gandhajala]

Guerlain's Cuir de Russie - birchtar overkill. Just as well I didn't care for it.
Antaeus - I *should* like it, but we've just never quite clicked. I fully expect to do a 180 on it one day.
+1 on Onda, also.

[Plaisir]

By Kilian Beyond Love - Can't stand the combination of tuberose and peach. The peach note - which is dangerously close to canned peach rather than fresh dewy peach - is quite strong in the opening, and stays for the ride (albeit in a more muted form).
+1 on Onda (relieved to see that I am not alone here) - I did enjoy the opening quite a bit, and I appreciate that the dark, earthy and smoky notes truly smell real/natural...however, the scent as a whole doesn't quite work for me - something to do with the house note I think. Also, there is something in the drydown that close the skin smells a bit like dried saliva - not for me.
Vero Kern Rubj extrait - Proper, soapy orange blossom where I had expected smouldering and animalic. Also has something of that odd house note that is more noticeable in Onda.

[rowan-]

Hermessence Vanille Galante. Loved it the few times I sprayed it on in the shop, but when I daubed on the sample one last time before going for the FB, I got thwacked over the head by this huge melon-and-banana smell that stayed way past the early stages (and I hate melons and bananas).

And at the other end of the vanilla spectrum: Tobacco Vanille (gets ready to duck).

It had all the notes I knew I would like, but my (not very reliable) nose picked up this sour, acidic stink on the card (and it wasn't the paper - I was testing other TFs as well and they were fine and the SA couldn't figure it out either) and it was ages before I could even bring myself to spray it - cautiously - on skin. It was better - but not great.

[Larimar]

I'm relieved, too, Plaisir!

[ExtremeK]

+1 Serge Noire. I love Serge Lutens, dark fragrances, and patchouli, but this one scorched and cauterized my nasal passages. Just. Awful.

Serge Lutens El Attarine. Love honey, love spices, love Arabie. HATE this one. It's all cumin and curry. And not in a good way.

Finally, I have yet to find a Guerlain that I like, and Coco is the only Chanel that I sort of like. But not enough to own. For some reason, fragrances with a "classical" vibe just leave me cold. I really wish they didn't.

[heavenscent1]

Kenneth Cole Black. Revolting on me.

[Izzie]

A*Men.

So nasty.

[Le Boise]

1. L'heure Bleue- was perfect on paper, on my skin I found it dusty, musty and very Band-Aid-like. 2. Several from Strange Invisible (I was so excited to actually test at their boutique...but I found their compositions to be very raw and unfinished, in general...like essential oils just carelessly mixed together from the local Whole Foods Market or something. Particularly, "Fire and Cream"- I loved the tuberose and orange blossom but the patchouli and frankincense in this were overwhelmingly resinous and dense. As well as "Fair Verona" and "Narcotic" both beautifully named, but not wearable compositions in my case...I found myself apologizing and running out of the store to wash up. 3.Some by Creed have really dissapointed me in their drydown, such as "Love in White"- a rather flat hollow woody floral, "Spring Flower"-unremarkable sharp floral and "Fleurs de Bulgarie" -boring and kind of headache inducing floral.

[catnip_too]

There are so many I can't list them all.

Here are some recent, notable examples. I thought I'd love them because of the raving reviews, but my feelings were, if not really negative, tepid.

Olfactive Studio Lumiere Blanche: It's not that I didn't like it. It's likable enough but that's all. It is a soft, comforting fragrance with notes of ground cardamom and something like almond that dried down to nothing as innovative and impressive as I anticipated based on reviews.

Aftelier Wild Roses: As a rose lover, I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, it reminded me of a trip to a new-age store, more like the generic smell of essential oils there than anything else.

[lastgoodday]

robert piguet's bandit.... i was really expecting to love this because it's so highly spoken of, but it was a scrubber for me.

[mimili]

Eau de Soir-I thought I would love it since I love chypres but unfortunately this smelled harsh and cheap on me
Biche Dans l'Absinthe Gobin Daude-this was a blind buy and what a major mistake!This smelled like some wierd cooking
experiment.

[whimsicaldiva]

Serge Lutens

Arabie - the opening was like being smothered by a veil of turmeric. Afterwards it turns into a sweet monstrosity. Yuck.

Iris Silver Mist - I'd expected to love this, but it was stridently and unrelentingly shrill and medicinal.

Santal de Mysore - I was expecting a warm, creamy sandalwood scent countervailed by a lovely spice accord. After wearing this, I ended up smelling like an effing curry house. Scrubber.

Muscs Koublai Khan - I like animalic scents. I just don't like smelling like a urinal.

Fille en Aiguilles - I. just. don't. get. it. I just don't.

Frederic Malle

Noir Epices - Weird.

Une Fleur de Cassie - I don't like the smell of elephants.

Xerjoff

Everything I've tested so far. Nothing about the scents justify the price.

[southerngardens]

Serge Lutens

Arabie - the opening was like being smothered by a veil of turmeric. Afterwards it turns into a sweet monstrosity. Yuck.

Iris Silver Mist - I'd expected to love this, but it was stridently and unrelentingly shrill and medicinal.

Santal de Mysore - I was expecting a warm, creamy sandalwood scent countervailed by a lovely spice accord. After wearing this, I ended up smelling like an effing curry house. Scrubber.

Muscs Koublai Khan - I like animalic scents. I just don't like smelling like a urinal.

Fille en Aiguilles - I. just. don't. get. it. I just don't.

Frederic Malle

Noir Epices - Weird.

Une Fleur de Cassie - I don't like the smell of elephants.

Xerjoff

Everything I've tested so far. Nothing about the scents justify the price.

That's how I feel about niche frags. There are a lot of beautiful designer frags to try at a much more sensible price! Try some Caron's, Chanel's, Cacherel's, Rocha's, classic Guerlains etc....