Do you agree with this?

[Sol invictus]

Would you agree with the following statement:

"People who want their frags to smell nice lean towards designer scents; people who want their frags to smell interesting lean towards niche".

[hednic]

No.

[dwrestle]

No I do not agree with that.

[Kagey]

No. But perhaps people who think a lot about smelling nice or interesting (as opposed to those who spend a few minutes in Boots picking out a new fragrance) are more likely to discover niche.

[Partario]

To a degree, yes (sort of).

But that's based on the fact that the question's premise is highly subjective.

[noirdrakkar]

many people on basenotes will find your statement politically incorrect or even offensive.

but i find it overall correct. with some exceptions, but overall true.

[senore01]

Yes, in my humble opinion. But as Noirdrakkar has already pointed out, there are exceptions.

[ericrico]

No, absolutely not.

This is "painting a with a broad brush" that diminishes the virtues of 100's of classics that have defined what scent is today, and smell just as interesting today as they did the day they came out. And, I am not knocking niche at all. From a Zen perspective, everything is unique unto itself.

I will refer to the metaphor foreshadowed above - all the creations of scent are but dots on a canvas, that make up the incredible world of fragrance (all the shades from light to dark in the spectrum). It is similar to 'Pointillism' and the beautiful & famous painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by the brilliant artist, Georges Seurat. It was "created" over two entire years, debuting in 1884. He would go back and perfect the work time and time again.

This is the "world of scent" to me - revisiting each bottle (symbolized by a "dot") until we truly understand and deeply connect with a scent...and build associations to it ourselves. We have to remember that each dot is a 'bottle' of unique composition that completes the painting.

I could add more...but will leave my thought at that. Perhaps someone else would like to comment and add their perspective to this.

Cheers,

ericrico

[dougczar]

Well, by definintion, niche is a targeted to a small sub-set of users, so there is some truth to that... "interesting" may not sell well at the department store counters if it smells like feet or feces. Where people who are a little "unique" in their tastes can find a fragrance in the niche market to fit any desire (for the most part).Most "mainstream" people want a fragrance to smell nice (clean, etc), and will find that normally in the "designer" realm. But since some non-designer houses also make the generally-accepted type fragrances, your statement is not 100% accurate. But not stereotype or generalization is.

[dnc]

I want my fragrances to smell a bit different but I still have to like them. Whether they be niche or designer is neither here nor there so, whilst I understand where you are coming from, I have to disagree with what you say. I do appreciate that most 'unusual' scents will be, or are more likely to be, niche however.

[pluran]

It is the individual fragrances and not the category that matters

[sjg3839]

No. I believe it's an individual's preference. Good question though.

[mlsweeney]

I would probably lean more towards agreeing with the second part of the sentence over the first part but I disagree with both.

[PaulyBoy777]

I agree overall. Designer scents are aimed to please the general consumer while niche houses take more risks in creating something unique.

[L'Homme Blanc Individuel]

No.

People buy what they enjoy. I think Light Blue is bland and you may agree, but it's a huge seller. The people who buy it probably like it and find it interesting. People buy what they enjoy. It really is that simple.

Niche houses exist because not everyone's tastes are satisfied entirely by mainstream scents.

[tonghpafu]

Nope.

[Rüssel]

Smelling nice and interesting often go hand in hand, I'd say. Some of the most disliked stinkers are designer (Kouros, A*Men, plenty of "old man's" scents, I'd assume, too).

[Partario]

It is the individual fragrances and not the category that matters

Classically I would agree with this, as in the case of vintage stuff I can see this ringing true, but I really can't honestly believe that fragrances in the vein of HdP's Petroleum, MKK, Secretions Magnifiques, Xerjoff's Zafar, Lonestar Memories, Onda, Absolu Poir le Soir, Comme des Garcons 2011, etc. would ever even be considered to be released by the likes of Dior, YSL, Armani, CK, Hermes, or any other designer house in the last 15 years. I would consider those all, much too "interesting" for most designer outfits.

Though the word "interesting" in itself is quite subjective.

[docluv45]

The statement does beg for definitions, such as what is meant by "nice", "interesting", "niche".

I think everything I wear is nice, even the ones that aren't especially accessible. There are fragrances I consider nice like Chanel 22, or interesting like Odeur 53 that I never wear.

There is an implication in some of the answers that niche perfumers are trying to be offbeat and wanting to have their market be small, but that's hard for me to believe. I think every perfumer wants to make great, nice, interesting perfume and would love it to be the most popular perfume in the world. That's quite an aspiration in a very competitive marketplace with much of the distribution stacked toward designers. By the same token, even the perfumers who create for the big houses are probably trying to make original compositions that will stand out from the crowd, in a good way, so as to maximize sales while at the same time being interesting. Niche perfumers may have some more leeway to experiment more because their margins are lower, but I still think everyone wants to have a positive return on investment.

[fragnifiscent]

Me personally, I order Niche samples every week just because of the art and unique experience within it. I wear niche mainly for myself to enjoy this form of art. However, when i go out, around people, etc.. i normally wear designers. Obviously most designers are more wearable than niche. But, i still wear niche because it also smells good (most at least), not just because its interesting. This is how i would rephrase the statement:

"People who want their frags to smell nice while being easily wearable lean towards designer scents. People who want their frags to smell interesting and nice lean towards niche."

No matter what the case may be , everyone wants their frags to smell NICE!

[Scentologist]

No.

[silentrich]

Would you agree with the following statement:

"People who want their frags to smell nice lean towards designer scents; people who want their frags to smell interesting lean towards niche".

No. There's nothing interesting about having to spend a huge amount of money for a bottle of cologne.

[Francolino]

I started to believe that more often than not so called niche is just an inflated balloon with some exceptions ( say Lutens which actually is Shiseido) I 've found more masterpieces in the designers' scents area, IMO

[walkdogg]

Yes, overall I DO agree. it's not factual, but it does loosely describe my opinion.

[cadenz]

Let's cut to the chase; I started out with designer scents but I'm leaning toward the niche market because I know that most "Joe Blow's" aren't going to pay premium dollar not to smell like everybody else in my quest for the "holy grail" (which I'm quite sure I will never find).

[Francolino]

Let's cut to the chase; I started out with designer scents but I'm leaning toward the niche market because I know that most "Joe Blow's" aren't going to pay premium dollar not to smell like everybody else in my quest for the "holy grail" (which I'm quite sure I will never find).

usually Joe Blow wears his body odours proudly!

[Kron]

I don't agree at all, Nice and Interesting shouldn't be mutally exclusive.

The idealogy of something smelling 'nice' is down to the perception of the person smelling it. The vast majority of designer scents may not be interesting to people with years of experience as they will either be made to a budget and the general quality isn't there or as an offshoot of them being created to chart well the notes will be familiar. There are lots of exceptions and many excellent designer scents.

If none of my niche scents smelled 'nice' I wouldn't even bother wearing them. I think the biggest problem with generalisations is the divide from the people who try a little too hard to wear a designer and dismiss niche like some kind of badge of honour vs the people who don't even bother with designer scents.

The answer to your question for me is a big No. Interesting doesn't have to be challenging and Nice doesn't have to be safe.

[Diamondflame]

Would you agree with the following statement:

"People who want their frags to smell nice lean towards designer scents; people who want their frags to smell interesting lean towards niche".

I disagree. People like what they like. Doesn't really matter if it's from niche or designer. There are interestingly complex designer fragrances as there are simple nice smelling niche. You just need to be more discerning. And cast that net wider.

[drseid]

In a word, "no".

[Johnny_Ludlow]

As a broad idea that is not even trying to capture all the cases, I'd say yes. But asking a question like this only leads to hundred people coming here and telling you that it's all subjective and that there are exceptions. Of course, this is trivially true. But that kind of statement can still make sense to a certain degree.