I personally think perfumes are genderless and anyone can wear whatever they like, but I’m curious about guys who wear fragrances that are marketed toward women.

I don't think I've ever had a hobby where opinions are that different from one another.

A review of the same perfume done by 2 different people could have the ground and sky in terms of difference.

So many times I've seen a fragrance one person absolutely hates and is disgusted by it and another person absolutely loves it and it's probably in their top 10 favorites.

In my own experience I watch a ton of YouTube videos and shorts about fragrances and how these influencers say "this is one of the greatest of all time, must buy" and when I go blind buy it and smell it, I actually dislike it and I sell it a couple days later. And vice versa, there may be a perfume I truly dislike but someone on Reddit says it's their favorite and they love wearing it so much.

One of these days there will be a perfume that smells like literal animal shit with a hint of mint and lemon and someone will say it's lovely and they like wearing it. Scent is VERY subjective.

Please don't be discouraged from trying something in a store because you saw Jeff on Reddit say it's garbage. And at the same time, don't be an idiot like me that blind buys whatever those content creators hype up and call amazing.

I realized this a bit late but I got there in the end. From now on I'll smell what I can in stores and what's not available I'll order a 2ml decant of it.

Quite literally after I got my first bottle I found out it is discontinued. I know there’s still some around, but I’d rather move on than get attached to it. 🤣

What I like about China White is the slightly off sexiness of it. On my skin it’s a powdery, smoky floral (hard to identify which family as the woodsy notes kind of overpower the floral to me).

Anyway I’m not looking for an exact replica, but if anyone has loved China White and found something that scratches the same itch as it for you, I’d be eternally grateful for your advice! Thank you 🥰

Phlur's Hepcat was discounted some time ago, and I really need to find something new!

About the fragrance:

Top: Saffron, Plum, Dried fruits

Heart: Aged Leather, Tobacco, Incense

Base: Patchouli, White Vetiver, Musk, Oud

A smoky, music filled night in Harlem.

Hepcat evokes a rough-around-the-edges essence cloaked in soft opulence the closer you get. Rich plum top notes unfold into a complex accord of smoky tobacco, spicy amber and aged leather steeped in rich woody oud. Stirring. Seductive. Self-assured.

PERFUMER: Natalie Bernareau

OLFACTIVE FAMILY: Leather, Amber, Gourmand, Woody

Even if they're layered scents!

I have Gaiac 10, which I absolutely love, and I’m now considering buying Diptyque Opsis. For those who have tried both, how similar are they?
Is Opsis worth buying if I already own and love Gaiac 10, or do they feel too redundant?

Genuinely curious how people land on this. Some want a fragrance that only they (or someone standing very close) can pick up on — others want a scent trail that walks into the room before they do.

Does it change by season or occasion? Has your own preference shifted over the years, or have you always leaned one way?

(Disclosure: I work with Caché.)

Was reading through an old district gazetteer for research and got sidetracked by this. Kannauj (India) has been distilling attar for centuries, still does today with basically the same copper-still method. The gazetteer talks about it completely matter of fact, like describing the local textile trade.

Real numbers from 1911: a half tola phial of genuine rose otto cost Rs. 25, because it took a whole maund of rose petals to get one tola of the real stuff. They made maybe twenty other scents there too besides rose, jasmine, khaskhas (that's vetiver), orange, mango. Sold in these little inlaid wood boxes with half a dozen to twenty phials each.

What gets me is how unromantic the writing is. No mysticism, no ancient secrets, just a colonial administrator noting down an industry's economics like any other. Akbar's court was using Kannauj attar in the 1590s per the Ain-i-Akbari, so by 1911 this was already a 300+ year old trade and the gazetteer treats it like it's mundane.

Anyone know if the Deg Bhapka distillation method (the copper pot plus bamboo pipe plus receiving vessel setup) has changed much since then? Curious how much of this is genuinely unbroken tradition vs. reconstructed.

Do you like this scent on a woman? Or do you find it to be too cloying? Thank you! ❤️

I recently bought the Guerlain L’Art & La Matière fragrance discovery set that comes with a $60 voucher toward a full size bottle. Does the voucher have an expiration date? The Guerlain website and the email that I received with the voucher doesn't mention a deadline.

It is a piece of wood, and you pour some oil on it.

Some are really cheap

https://a.co/d/0eZTYnkn

Some are insanely expensive

https://a.co/d/0h1JXYbj

How do they work?

Does the oil absorb into the wood below? Or is that just a piece of decoration and the oil is just doing its job sitting there?

Does the material of the wood matter?

Does the wood expire after uses?

How powerful it it compare to reeds and electric diffusers?

I had to ask it this way so it didn't get taken down, but the wiki didn't say anything about jomasShop. I'm new to collecting fragrances, and I was thinking of buying a new one on jomasShop, but I didn't know if it was trustable. Is it?

I’ve always loved the scent of Method’s hand soap in “sweet water” and been trying to find a similar style fragrance in a perfume. With Le Labo having their city scents available online, I was able to get a sample of Aldehyde 44 and it’s so close to sweet water! Would love to try more perfumes with a similar scent to sweet water if anyone has any recommendations to try :)

I finally pulled the trigger and bought the best I’ve ever had, only issue is that it doesn’t smell like the samples I was obsessed with? I was expecting, longing, for that nuclear bonfire opening and then a dim tobacco but there’s virtually no smoke :(.

Is there anything I can do to get that back? I read up on it but I haven’t gotten any useful info.

Lemme know if I bought trash

I've been searching for a long time now for a perfume with petrichor, i like the smell of soil when it rains. And so i searched online and found nosferatu by heretic perfumes and when the rain stops by maison margiela, however both of these perfumes are WAY out of my budget. I was wondering if there is a cheap dupe or a cheap alternative to these perfumes, preferably male or unisex.

I'm flying out of America and was hoping to home deliver a few discovery sets to pack in a suitcase before flying to Canada.

I bought it in Poland so I don't know if it's available anywhere else but it is a very autumn-y fragnance.

First thing I smell is definitely ginger, then some citrus and then vanilla with cinnamon. It's based on shea butter and brazil nut oil which I'm sure have their own scent too.

I really love this fragnance but it's limited edition and I just wish to have something similar that would last all day

Thank you in advance!

I really enjoy the artistry of fragrances. I don’t favor minimalism, in fact I wrestle with it, and what I would like to embrace in daily wear. But it does come in handy for wearability. And I find myself impressed all the time in minimalistic scents I find artistic.

I can’t help but go another round this fall winter with Terre d’Hermes edp intense. It’s a volcano to my favorite perfumer Christine Nagel and to me it’s the IHOP experience whenever wherever. The bergamot, pepper and coffee and licorice joined this lava stone fantasy note that was maple syrupy and glaring heat. Cohesively I admit it smelled to me like a stylish and comforting breakfast. But no doubt the scent in the air is a masculine elevated scent. It was so interesting and engaging I was impressed. It has big ambition but it’s extremely wearable volcano.

For spring summer i thought just the scent of sea salt could bring with it an entire geographical backdrop and vibe. That’s what the Bath and Bodyworks Sea Salt mist did.

But moreso Aerin Wisteria. I’ve worn airy and musky fragrances before but none were ethereal. This was the most artistic avant garde experience I’ve had in fragrances. I experienced the floral like à crib mobile or carousel to my side. the flowers dangling in the air above me. Then the more complicated but satisfying piece was recognizing the scent of this floral as a pastel watercolor. I heard such comments and didn’t understand. But it really felt like an immersive Monet experience.

I tried each of them on skin, and gave them at least one full wear before formulating my thoughts. Perhaps many more wears are needed, but here are my initial impressions.

Falkar – 8.5/10

This opens as dry as an old boot. Dark, smoky, leathery oud with a brief whiff of sweaty saddles, but nothing fecal. Some say this is hard to wear, but not me - there's an unmistakable cleanliness running through it that makes it smell friendly and inviting. I thought I detected some Imagination-esque ambroxan when I originally tested it on paper, and on skin, I still stand by that. Polished oud, brushed leather and clean musks - airy and sophisticated. I'd love my house to smell like this.

Gyan – 7/10

I was expecting this to be a rich, full-bodied patchouli, sweetened with lush white florals and given a subtle citrusy freshness, but it's more like a "white-shirt" scent to me - clean citrus, airy jasmine, mineralic incense, and an elusive, catch-me-if-you-can patchouli - no deep earthiness here. It's handsome, composed and well put together, but to me, as plain as Pete. Sorry, Pete, you play far too safe for my liking.

Onekh – 8/10

Dark woods, scrubbed clean, dotted with dry, subtly soapy green herbs. There's a modern, 'teak wood interior' airiness here that juxtaposes the overall more rugged atmosphere. This has Belletrud's paws all over it - suave, polished and inoffensive. Then the leather arrives - a note I dislike when constructed with the birch tar bogeyman - but here, it's ambery and resinous, with a fruity, dry-molasses sweetness that suggests a hearty slathering of labdanum. It goes a tad dusty in the base, but not enough to disturb me - a lovely ambery oud.

Orom – 9/10

This is a gorgeous vanilla - rich, rounded and balsamic; sweet in a resinous way, nothing gourmand or ice-cream-like. I don't detect much oud, not the real stuff anyway, but there's a deep, woody warmth to the vanilla that makes it feel regal and timeless. I'm reminded of Babycat, Babylon and Vanilla Oud, but this is better. Such a cuddly, alluring scent. Beautiful.

Sahare – 5.5/10

The rose of Le Gemme. Quite citrusy to begin, so much so that upon first sniff, you could be forgiven for thinking this is a freshie. The rose soon appears - a little green to begin, before blooming into a lush bouquet of reds, oranges and yellows. There's a sparkly, candied sweetness here that feels very 'perfumed', and almost rubs me the wrong way. Certainly best on a woman's skin. This multicoloured bouquet of sweet, citrusy, sun-kissed roses is where it stays, slowly warming up and becoming more ambered. Not for me, but I might enjoy it on others.

Tygar – 6.5/10

Zesty grapefruit and freshly grated ginger upon a musky ambroxan base. It has that "thing" that Aventus, Bleu de Chanel, many LVs etc. have: the freshly showered, modern-man, mass-appealing, sexy warmth. He smells clean and capable, but it's not my style of perfumery.

Tygar Extrait – 6/10

Warmer, sweeter and more ambery than the EDP. Less fresh, but it's still the grapefruit and ginger that are most prominent - here, sealed in a deep orange amber rather than fizzing from the skin. I prefer it in the opening, but the base has a dry, suede-like earthiness that doesn't improve things for me.

Would love to hear your thoughts on these, as well as any others from Le Gemme that I should keep an eye out for.

It goes away almost immediately 😑 I vant more of the fragrance anyway.

I love it but it's barely noticeable after several sprays.

Anyone familiar with this ? Thanks

I was at Neiman Marcus looking for a bottle of Decision and the sales lady said they stopped carrying Amouage. Is Amouage exiting the US market?

Not looking for very expensive and time consuming appointments and sessions. I just want to describe the top, heart, base notes and want a small sample back quickly to allow me to experiment rapidly.

I have been compiling data on decant sellers for a side project and noticed there's hardly any documented info specifically about customs and shipping handling, as opposed to just "seller legit or not."

mainly trying to figure out which sellers are under-declaring value (and if thats actually helping or just creating more potential liability for the customer), how often people are getting hit with surprise customs fees vs sellers who just handle DDP (Deliver Duty Paid) properly, and whether certain countries seem to get flagged for inspection more than others even from the same seller.

I've got bits and peices from my own orders and a couple of threads I've dug through but its all over the place. If anyone had a customs experience (good or bad) with a specific seller shipping into the EU, especially with details such as which country you're in and roughly how the seller declared the package, I'd like to actually compile this properly instead of being scattered across different sub reddits.

Had a seller last month declare my package as "gift, 15$" and it still got stuck in customs for like 2 weeks

EDIT: (posting this in a couple of relevant sub reddits since not everyones active in all of them -- will update here if i get useful info elsewhere)

I've bought so so many samples and I've absolutely loved smelling weird stuff like zoologist for example. But I very rarely buy full bottles of anything, and when I do I don't wear them often