Perfume and fragrance chat

[isalaide]

Fresh lady-autism thread. Is expensive shit in a tiny bottle YOUR special interest? It is mine!

Recommendations, to-avoids, general fragrance spergy, please.

Received the new Jo Malone Paddington collaboration as a gift today - Orange Marmalade. The gift box is to die for: fastens with a wooden toggle just like Paddington's overcoat. Scent is lovely, much more sweetly orangey than Orange Bitters, but the longevity isn't up to much. Probably a good choice for work or somewhere you don't want to PERFUME into other people's faces.

Currently fucking obsessed with Margiela's From the Garden. Literally smells like tomatoes and rain. Yeah, sounds weird but it's so lovely.

Men's fragrance - tested the new Prada Luna Rossa Ocean recently, only mentioning it because it it is fucking awful, absolutely do not blind buy this. Toilet cleaner if you hated your toilet. I asked the girls in the store if everyone reacted this badly in case it was skin chemistry shit. They all said they also fucking hate it as does nearly every female customer, but the male customers in their 30s are very into it. New fuckboy fragrance detected. At least Dior Sauvage was a reasonably pleasant fuckboy scent uniform. Luna Rossa Ocean scrapes like a Covid test.

 

[herefortheactualthreads]

jeremy fragrance should fucking kill himself.

 

[nibbus]

Any recommendations for vanilla scented perfumes, lotions, and body washes?
A lot of the ones I have tried are either very light on the vanilla or have a very strong alcohol smell to them that makes them hard to wear.

Also, does anyone have any advice on making perfume last all day? I feel like mine wears off so quickly and I have only been experiencing this problem in the last couple of years and its really frustrating, especially with how expensive perfume is.

 

[StarkRavingMad]

I love perfume and fragrances. I'm a sucker for anything with rose or lavender mainly, but I also am a big fan of fresh and citrus scents during the Summer. I also enjoy gourmand fragrances every so often, but I mostly save those for the Holiday season.

Because it's been so hot where I live for the past few weeks, I have been loving Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue. It's a classic and a lot of people wear it, but I love it. It's been my go-to perfume for warm weather and vacations for the past handful of years. I get compliments on it all of the time, too.

Over the past year, I discovered YSL Libre, which has a strong lavender note in it. Some say it's borderline masculine, but I disagree. To me, this smells like "fresh out of the hot dryer" laundry ... But it's also a scent that makes you feel attractive. My husband really likes this one.

One of my favorite perfumes of all time is Delina by Parfums de Marly (Delina Exclusif, which has some vanilla in it, is fab too). A full bottle is really freakin' expensive, but I've bought affordable vials of it from places like MicroPerfumes and Scentbird that last a long time. Bath & Body Works makes a body spray that's an almost EXACT dupe as well (I believe it's called "Covered in Roses"). On me, this stuff smells like a bouquet of roses in a church full of incense. It's feminine, romantic, and gothic, and it's one of the most beautiful perfumes ever in my opinion! If a perfume smells like someone is throwing a bouquet of roses in my face, I will most likely love it. IDGAF if some people think that rose perfumes are for grandmas-- they're wrong! Haha.

Any recommendations for vanilla scented perfumes, lotions, and body washes?
A lot of the ones I have tried are either very light on the vanilla or have a very strong alcohol smell to them that makes them hard to wear.

Also, does anyone have any advice on making perfume last all day? I feel like mine wears off so quickly and I have only been experiencing this problem in the last couple of years and its really frustrating, especially with how expensive perfume is.

Sol de Janeiro makes a lot of really fun Summery and sweet scents, lotions, and body washes. Their OG scent is vanilla, caramel, and pistachio, and it smells delicious. I love how tropical it smells without putting coconut in there (I like coconut, but almost every tropical scent has coconut, so this one stands out to me). They make reasonably priced "travel size bags" if you want to do a test run on some of their products. I think that the fragrance mists and the "Bum Bum Cream" are their best products. The fragrance mists last a surprisingly long amount of time and they can also be used as hair perfume.

To make perfume last longer, spray it in places where your body is most warm (like your chest or your stomach-- so spray some before you get dressed). Also, there's Vaseline. If you put Vaseline on your wrists and behind your ears before you apply perfume, it will last longer.

 

[Ninon42]

Any recommendations for vanilla scented perfumes, lotions, and body washes?

Indult Tihota, Ligne St. Barth Vanille West Indies or Serge Lutens Un Bois Vanille. Imaginary Authors A Whiff of Waffle Cone is also a nice smoky caramel and vanilla gourmand.

 

[beautiful person]

Fragrantica is great for finding perfumes with specific scent notes, as well as perfumes that are similar to other perfumes. Lots of user reviews as well.

 

[StarkRavingMad]

jeremy fragrance should fucking kill himself.

He probably already is killing himself.

No way in hell is that man sober. lol.

I can't believe he doesn't have his own thread here ...

 

[Large Marge]

amazing grace by philosophy has been my go-to scent since i discovered it at sephora when i was a teenager. it's pretty strong so i usually spray a little on a cotton ball and dab it on. unfortunately, it's gotten way more expensive over the years.

 

[invisibult plus+]

I don't use perfume very often so my go-to brand has been Skylar. Most of their scents are rollers so they don't last too long, but they've been experimenting a lot. The monthly scents are more complex than they used to be. That said, I have a few others. Tom Ford for example is really good for the winter, especially Oud Wood and Ombre Leather.

Any recommendations for vanilla scented perfumes, lotions, and body washes?
A lot of the ones I have tried are either very light on the vanilla or have a very strong alcohol smell to them that makes them hard to wear.

There are a couple Skylar scents with vanilla, though very few with it as the main focus. There is Vanilla Sky, which you can get bottled, but it has cappuccino and caramel notes. Others have variants of vanilla as notes, and they range from fruity to floral to gourmand. None of them are particularly alcohol-y so you might be in luck. They're rather selective about the ingredients so their products can be safe for those with allergies or sensitive skin, which should reduce the chances.

 

[Bloitzhole]

I absolutely adore Hermes' "Un Jardin En Mediteranee", a herbal scent that really does evoke thoughts of walking through a garden by the coast - but it lasts no longer than 30 minutes, even quite close to the skin, making it a rather pathetic proposition at 80€+ for a 3.5oz bottle - my skin carries most scents for hours and this seems to be a common complaint.
Another EDP that really does manage to make you think of the place it alludes to is Maison Margiela / Replica's "Whispers in the Library" which @nibbus might like to try because it is a really pleasant woody vanilla scent (without the alcohol note).

In general, unisex perfumes seem to be a lot more interesting than perfumes specifically for men, which seem to roughly fall into the categories of sickly sweet incense, blue ocean, sandalwood sawmill and leathermusk. I associate most of them with either fuckboy or wannabe banker.
Some men seem to bathe in the stuff too - the usual offender where I currently live is Versace Eros, which you can smell from a mile away and every club used to reek of (along with sauvage). The most pleasant amongst the typical male evening scents up until now for me has been Azzaro's "Wanted by Night", which is a bit like a younger version of YSL's "La Nuit De L'Homme".

Incidentally, YSL "Kouros" smells like urinal cake and when I visit a store that has testers out for it with a gal pal, I ask her to try it on her wrist - she will usually recoil upon scenting it, at which point I'll smile understandingly, before proceeding to inform her it will last for many hours and refuse to wash off.

If anyone knows a male fragrance that is genuinely pleasant and less of a smack in the face - something more John Curry than Jason Momoa - I'd love to hear it as well.

 

[Norstein Bekkler]

Honestly, I prefer oil blends to perfumes anymore. I feel like they complement your natural body scents more than overpower them like perfume does. I guess if you naturally smell like ass, they wouldn't be a good choice, but if you can find the right scents to match your body, it's much more pleasant and 'natural' smelling than perfume IMO. I tend to stay away from the really hippie smelling stuff that's heavy on things like patchouli, but can't really go wrong with amber, vanilla, musk, etc. I've got an Egyptian Musk blend I've been wearing recently. Pure Rose oil smells amazing on the body, but it's fucking absurdly expensive.

Day-to-day though, I just wear a mandarin-honeysuckle VS spray because I'm a basic bitch at heart.

 

[Dr Naomi Hunter]

I absolutely love one from Victoria’s Secret of all places at the moment. It’s called Bombshell. It’s not too overpowering.

For men I liked DKNY Red Delicious but it’s been discontinued I think.

 

[isalaide]

If anyone knows a male fragrance that is genuinely pleasant and less of a smack in the face - something more John Curry than Jason Momoa - I'd love to hear it as well.

Floris' Santal is a classic for good reason.

Hermes' Terre d'Hermes.

L'eau de Issey is an oldie, but... honestly the original still smells great, light, fresh, pleasant. You can also get it discounted a ton of the time, so you can pick some up and see if it works for you.

I LOVE Whispers in the Library. Have you tried Under the Stars?

 

[A Cat in a Minefield]

Chanel Bleu is the best male perfume there is.

 

[Ninon42]

For men, both Creed and DS & Durga have a bunch of good options. Freshies like Bleu de Chanel or Xerjoff Naxos are great for hot weather. For most guys, the key seems to be realizing that one spray to the chest after a shower is sufficient instead of marinating in a fucking oud cloud, and this minimal approach will adequately highlight most any scent from Drakkar Noir to overpriced Roja Dove. I'm a basic bitch who likes a guy in Green Irish Tweed though.

Also, most Louis Vuitton frags are wildly overrated.

 

[Iron Jaguar]

I have a twenty year old bottle of Gucci Envy, which is still one of my two favourite men's scents.
The other is Davidoff Cool Water.

 

[Bloitzhole]

Hermes' Terre d'Hermes.

L'eau de Issey is an oldie,

These male scents are both very pleasant and I agree, not a smack in the face - the only issue: They are my dad's signature fragrances

I'm a basic bitch who likes a guy in Green Irish Tweed though.

Call me uncultured but I find it smells rather a lot like Davidoff Cool Water - nothing wrong with that, but at that price point I expected something a bit more...differentiated?
If you are in the US, see if you can find a bottle of "Banana Republic 78 - Vintage Green". I believe it may have been discontinued, but it reminded me a bit of GIT if it were more mossy-forwards if that makes sense.

Have you tried Under the Stars?

I will now!

 

[isalaide]

These male scents are both very pleasant and I agree, not a smack in the face - the only issue: They are my dad's signature fragrances

I will now!

Lmao, your dad has good taste, but I agree that is a serious problem. Don't buy him any Santal until you've tried that yourself lol

 

[Ninon42]

Call me uncultured but I find it smells rather a lot like Davidoff Cool Water - nothing wrong with that, but at that price point I expected something a bit more...differentiated?

You're not wrong, it's just got a bit more depth and longevity on the skin. Still, I'll take it over yet more Le Labo Santal 33 or Versace Eros or Creed fucking Aventus.

I'm currently enjoying a man whose daily wearer is Hermes Eau de Rhubarbe Ecarlate. It's sharp, bright, tart and distinct.

 

[Ahriman]

Good ol' reliable.

At least Dior Sauvage was a reasonably pleasant fuckboy scent uniform.

Don't care. Sometimes I'd rather not smell like my grandpa and it actually gets you noticed in some circles. Same goes for Fahrenheit, it's another classic but that one is just not for me.