Recent purchases - Part II - Page 2005

but we want to smell like you

well not me, i want to smell like a dirty englishman qua guido

Thanks, parker. +1 on the HL (the EdC or the EdP?) Both are wonderful and created by one of my favorite "noses," Maurice Roucel (who also made Bond Riverside Drive, Malle Musc Ravageur, just to name a few).

As others have mentioned, we have some good, ongoing fragrance threads in the Health & Beauty section. With "Scent of the Day," the last month or two worth have really been excellent. Many posters branching out, trying new things, and not being afraid to look in some unusual places (for example Guerlain Mitsouko, which many of you would consider a women's scent based on its advertising, is making the rounds and doing very well.)

Enjoy!

You mean you wear only one scent? Jeez, jet, you gotta branch out! That's like Foo's one shoe. (j/k but I think you need at least three... one for general daywear, one for nightwear, and one either for special occasions or just because you really like it) I thought I was doing well finally getting down to about fifteen.

I had the chance to try the private blend in person at TF and it was the only one to give me a headache .

Btw if anyone likes TF you can send them a message through their website and they send out generous samples. I still have a bottle of Azure Lime they sent me

That's cause in your world you are very special

No other Internet du has better mastered the art of bragging without bragging

I'm fine with it as long as I don't smell it, especially in restaurants. It's like going to a concert and someone putting a headphone with their music on my ears.

The thing is, most fine fragrances won't advertise themselves any more than a fine suit will. Sure, that synthetic bergamot monster bought at the department store counter might, but then again the black shirt and shiny white tie wearing fellow two tables away will as well.

In short, fragrance is like suits, shoes, and everything else. For every Men's Wearhouse, there is an Attolini... for every JOOP is a Pierre Montale.

Many new to fragrances, as many who were new to fine menswear pre-SF, begin thinking that Armani, Magli, etc. must surely be at the top end. We come here and realize they're middling or lower. Same with fragrances. Virtually any fragrance company or scent you can name quickly or see regularly would be, to a real fragrance fan, like Hugo Boss to an expert in fine suits.

And, sorry girlz, Creed is NOT "top end." Pricing? Sure. But, that's about it. They have a wonderful PR and Hype machine built in, and are completely unafraid to make things up as they go along (that being said, some of their scents are "nice" and all)

I understand that, rach2, but I can close my eyes for the suit—I can't 'close my nose' for the smell, no matter how subtle it is. I'm there to smell wine and food. Besides, ugly clothing on other people doesn't really bother me.

Rach, post more in SWD. Parker did it, so can you!

What about smell of laundry? Linens on the table? What time of day the person took a bath? Unless your sense is developed enough that you can smell, and distinguish, all these and they also nauseate you, you wouldn't get any more of that from a fine fragrance. Good ones create an overall mood or impression, but don't announce themselves.

Again, I''m not directing this at you specifically, but at the general dismissive tone about fragrances present in some members above. Almost without exception, those who don't wear, don't like, or complain about fragrances are doing so simply because they've been exposed to the wrong kinds of scents. This is fine, only that it makes no more sense than dismissing men's suits as "dumb" because they didn't like the way the Sears polyester sportscoat was itchy and fit them like a sack, or the pair of Kenneth Cole shoes hurt their feet.

Aside from an actual olfactory condition, I've never met a man I couldn't change his mind about fragrances... and in my years here, I've done it more times than I can count. In short, I just don't buy the "I don't like fragrances" line from anybody, or "they give me a headache." SOME do, but then again SOME shoes WILL hurt your feet.
Thanks! I will try, but after a while one repeats himsef so many times he gets tired. I think the above post about fragrances and not dismissing them must be the 911th time I've written it. I'm just waiting until it turns to "dude that's a WOMAN'S fragrance" and I have to do my "scents aren't gendered except by the advert department" routine.

Is there any sense in reading the Scents thread on SF from front-to-back, or is there a more recent/better jumping off point someone who's a complete newcomer could be advised to start with?

That makes sense as well. There will always be scents besides wine and food, a lot of which I won't even notice and some I won't be bothered by. I'm sure you wear the right stuff.

As an almost-complete newcomer, I started reading it front to back a long, long time ago, and then switched to back-to-front. I enjoyed it a lot, but I was in the mood for exploration, and have subsequently reading through the scents in the Basenotes directory that have jumped out at me. Stylezeitgeist has a fragrance thread as well, and I really enjoy reading all the weirdly personal reviews and stories that people here and there come up with when they're talking about scents. It's weirdly voyeuristic, but also exciting, because I can think "Hey, I like the sound of Rach's review of that! Now I can go over to Basenotes and read more about it, read what other people thought, read what other scents are similar, etc."

Anyway, from one almost-total noob to another (I have always been interested, and have never really bothered to experiment or read up or anything), I definitely encourage you to read through the SotD thread - there's some lingo you'll have to work out, and the usual in-jokes, but other than that I've gleaned a lot of info and a lot of recommendations just by passively browsing.

I am well on my way to having far, far too many hobbies.

Synthese makes a good point above as well, but if you don't want to start all the way from the beginning... I would start with the last month or so (meaning August 2012 and later). It's really been great recently, with some unique scents. The early days saw a few committed posters and a lot of "ground clearing." Seriously, the evolution of scent discussion on SF has been amazing. Basically, it went from, "I'm not wearing that; it's made for GIRLZ" and "Dude, cologne is for pansies" to the same people saying, "now is your Shalimar the pre-reformulation extrait or the post-reformulation parfum with the synthetic vanillin?"

There are also some various ones in the search regions... such as "Fragrance top ten" or "favorites for spring" that are good, though aren't kept up like the SOtD.

That's the tihng... if it makes you go, "wow, that's a cologne!" it's probably not a good one or he/she is wearing too much. The "greats" will create a mood, an ambience, and you'll not even know you're smelling it. You'll just get an impression (and hopefully a pleasant one!) and nothing else.

Got a pair of Left Field NYC Greasers at Stag a couple of days ago and I just got my Rogue Territory 12.5 o.z. Stantons in the mail.  I think I'm set as far as denim goes, now I just need some nice boots.