Perfume / Cologne

my dad wore stuff like drakkar noir and joop! -- don't think he was fancy enough for ysl. kouros is on my wishlist though.

have you checked out luckyscent? i'm planning to get a bunch of samples from there since a friend rec'd it

i've browsed luckyscent but so far i've only used myperfumesamples since it's pretty inexpensive but limited to designer and theperfumedcourt for higher-end and it also offers different sizes compared to luckyscent. for full bottles i've only bought from fragrancex (i usually get stuff in two days) but i also check fragrancenet since prices vary and sometimes one will have a better deal than the other. there are other online discounters but so far i think i'm doing ok. luckyscent has full bottles of niche that i can't get from the others but they don't seem to discount.

i got my oakmoss absolute and put two small dollops of the resin into the 8 oz. splash bottle of grey flannel. there's a marked difference: the bitter green herbal galbanum note off the top of the current formulation is still present but pushed back into a supporting role. the problem i had with my current bottle was that one day the herbal note predominated and the next the floral or soapy notes stood out, but after i messed with it it seems pretty consistent so far. i think oakmoss is like a rug that ties the whole room together. i may have dampened the floral notes a bit in the process but this seems a lot closer to the vintage mini (90s pre-oakmoss ban) i have in texture and style if not exact smell. i'll let it settle a bit more and i don't want to futz with it too much but i might get some violet essential oil and add a bit to bring that note up. i've also added a touch of oakmoss to my screw-off top bottle of azzaro pour homme to see what that does.

nb i'm still a novice at this. mostly i can't pick out individual notes unless i see the note breakdown on fragrantica and then i go back and correlate what i'm smelling to what's supposed to be in there. like i thought d&g the one's sweetness derived from vanilla until i read it has a predominant amber note; maybe the inkyness of encre noire is the cypress? some people are really good at this stuff.

tbh i don't know what the grey flannel mania is about but if the past keeps changing i don't know how the present isn't wildly oscillating.

i think what i meant by that last post was that perfumery is a weird area of interest since you always have a shifting frame of reference temporally. if fragrances keep getting reformulated until they're barely the same thing anymore you don't have a stable baseline for comparisons. plus, given the "smell is the most powerful memory trigger" thing, if you change the smell you're getting a wonky signal and not getting full access to the memory bank. unless you want to pay $225 plus shipping for a vintage bottle off ebay. it's like if your mom photo-shopped your high school graduation picture every year to keep the hairstyle up to date.

like whenever i mention polo green to a sales rep as something that was really popular in the 80s they always wrinkle their noses and declare how awful it is. that kinda makes me a bit upset, not because they dislike the styles of my era, but because they've never truly smelled polo and don't know how gloriously awful it once was in all its disgraceful glory. it was truly glorious, that disgracefulness. i wore it all the time anyway.

also, clouds, have you smelled lapidus pour homme? it's from 1987 but to me smells even older, like from the deep polyester afternoon delight 70s. there's something really weird and dated about it in the opening, but at the same time i can't qualify why i feel that way since it doesn't smell like anything else from that era that i'm aware of. it's an oriental, it has rose, tobacco, honey, incense, pineapple, and some other random stuff in the notes. it think the clash of the sweet, floral, and dirty notes makes it weird, but it dries down to something that's really elegant, if you don't go heavy on it since it's pretty potent but i think it's like kouros in that aspect. fine line between love and ew gross. i think its datedness makes it kinda sad and poignantly beautiful, like a grand hotel that's fallen into disrepair.

i only figure since you mention kouros, egoiste, and yatagan; i think it triangulates somewhere in there. also i only recently smelled whatever current formulation exists so i can't speak to all that previous blather about things being different now since i don't know if it's changed any or how.

i think from the present era i like the narciso rodriguez for him and prada amber the most, but even those are like ten years old. they seem pretty introverted and contemplative and kinda soggy and passive-aggressive in their blithely transparent opaqueness that doesn't settle anywhere particular, so there's that. also i think from a raw sensory angle they also smell good to me without qualification and that's is not an idea i'm used to.

i don't know how i got from wanting to try a few new things besides cool water to wanting to learn a little more so i can make good choices to where i'm getting all upset because as cultural artifacts fragrances are texts that i don't have the skill set or methodology to properly approach so i'm not sure what i like anymore, all in the space of two or three months. i was in a store just smelling things and doing field studies and an actual customer walked in, asked to smell something, decided he like it, bought it, and then he took his purchase and left, and i think i was blown away that you could just do that.

i haven't tried lapidus, sounds interesting.

just got my pack of samples from luckyscent: unum lavs, cdg hinoki, maison francis kurkdjian oud silk mood, legrand chypre mousse and lutens vetiver oriental

wearing unum lavs atm and it's like old precious leatherbound books meets slightly metallic herbal soap.

i may have overreacted a bit but the lapidus was weird to me because i'm not really familiar with orientals in general and particularly because it seemed so far out of context with what i've tried of the old-timey scents, but it gets mentioned by the ppl who are into kouros and yatagan and the like so i thought i'd bring it up.

i looked up what you got and they all seem nicely timed for testing in the autumn weather, which is something i should keep in mind since i usually try whatever i've just read about that i think i need to put into my database, regardless of season.

also, i'm not sure if i'm trying to find scents that reflect and express something interior bout myself to the outside world or if i'm trying on things from the outside world in hopes of effecting some change in that general direction, like there's some jungian alchemical work towards actualization going on through the application of discernibly attainable qualities via the medium of scent or whatnot, or maybe just a a cargo cult type of thing. or else i just want to smell nice and carry around a nice thing on my self to smell all day. between love and madness lies obsession.

wearing unum lavs atm and it's like old precious leatherbound books meets slightly metallic herbal soap.

yeah, this is what i like about putting on smells. it's just fucking chemicals but there's old books in there and the leather seats in the dodge challenger your father drove before he got serious and had a family and violins and woodwinds and scratchy wool sweaters or whatever.

also, we're living in the near future already, you'd think by now they'd have developed sub-dermally injected symbiotic micro-organisms that metabolize and convert raw materials into designer aroma chemicals that are continuously extruded through sweat glands so your days belong to adventure and your nights belong to romance.

yeah i am quite solipsistic in public life and i really only wear things so that i can smell them, also it tends to block out unpleasant external smells

so far out of all the testers i got the mfk oud silk mood has been the most stunning, of course it's almost $400 for a bottle. it is like the most luxurious rose scent, but the rose is so fresh that it's almost herbal and not even floral at all. not skanky at all, not that that's a bad thing (part of why i love yatagan actually, it's such a dtf frag). i don't know what laotian oud is like on its own (checked the price for a bottle of oud absolute, sheesh) but i assume that and the blue chamomile are responsible for the "herbal" impression.

i'd been thinking of fragrances as having personalities so i was wondering if people (mostly myself) tend to pick scents that project or amplify aspects of their own personalities or if the tendency is to pick scents with personalities they aspire to have and graft those over top of their own, is what i think i was getting at, but now that i see what i wrote that seems less the case than it is that scents have moods that you can use either way, to amplify or change you own mood at will.

i like what you wrote even better, though. creating a mini-environment that you yourself inhabit and can take around with you everywhere, it's not about changing yourself as much as it's about altering the texture and feel of the space you're in to your liking the way someone might decorate a room.

i got cdg 2 and 2 man samples. there was a post on the 2 that i can't find, but iirc in summary and in conclusion the takeaway was idgi, and i also am befuddled by this fragrance given its statement of purpose and what i actually experienced. the concept is opposition: light and dark, airy aldehydes and inky blackness, but i get a moderately pleasant scent that i can't engage with. prada amber is a comparatively liminal scent in that there's nothing there but the suggestion of something beyond what the senses can detect, but with the prada, and i'm quoting diane in manhattan, it has a marvelous negative capability whereas the cdg does not. i'll probably end up getting the cdg 2 over something i actually like, because it makes me feel dumb and i want its approval.

the cdg 2 man, though. my current situation is that i need something that is accessible/ wearable but pulls me towards the dark side and this is it. there are likely more complex incense fragrances out there but this is pretty fucking solid. it literally just smells like an incense stick but it also guides you by the hand into the proposition that dank smokiness can also be light and elegant at the same time, ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with?

i didn't get the amazingreen sample because of the negative reviews that said it was generic and mainstream but then i remembered what stevie said so i'll get it next go around. i think there's an intersection between advanced and populist that knows where you live and that's what i'm looking for. i think it just might have a nice butt; everyone likes a nice butt and everyone wants to have a nice butt despite creed or philosophy so let's get together on this. also i got the wonderwood a few months ago and it was way too much wood but i tried it again in the dry and cold weather and it it really dialed in to where it's on point.

i also am trying out the l'artisan parfumeur line. the velour de roses is way patchouli. the rose and plum are barely evident but i felt like it was instructive in that they really rounded out and shaped the main accord. it's hippyish firstly and gothy secondarily (lucretia, my hippy mama )and it's gorgeous out of the vial but it's yuck on my skin so i'll pass. the caligna is just a really good fresh fig; i don't get anything else. fou d'absinthe is an aromatic fougere so it smells like a lost classic from back when but i can't separate the wormwood from the pine and fir because i don't know what wormwood smells like. there's some spiciness in the drydown. très lumberjack. tea for two is available again and i want to try that. also i want to try timbuktu and the premier figiuer. seems like this is a good entry-level niche house for people who are me.

i'm wearing the fahrenheit. the next to last formulation toned down the chamomile, which apparently gives it the kerosine accord, and i checked the batch codes so that's the one i got. the reactionary faction of the fragrance community prefers the most recent formulation in that approximates the original with the smells like burning, but i can spray on the bastardized version as much as i want and get that sweet violet leaf bump as much as i want. you really can't go wrong though. i know there's a guidingi force to the universe because she gave me fahrenheit to spray on myself. who's gonna drive you home tonight? fahrenheit, that's who.

mongol general: what is best in life?

conan: to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women. and dior fahhrenheit, never mind that aggro bullshit i just mentioned.

mongol general: that is good! that is good.

bookmarked

friend of mine has timbuktu, recommends it

really want to try al oudh

for some reason i really want to like the timbuktu, and that reason is the hay note. rocabar is supposed to have this, too. i want to roll around in field and hear what the earth wants to say to me, without literally having to do that. i'll take a simulacrum of that experience. also i want a serviceable woody spicy thing that's good for cool weather and scarves.

i have opium pour homme and jaipur homme coming and that's something, even though i think they may be too old-timey. still can't find egoiste samples.

jaipur and opium are both pretty good! not amazing, but good reference points, as they're from the 90s but could be worn today without seeming too retro. not your most exciting friends, but your most reliable. very solid journeyman scents for cool weather. warm and inviting but not shouty-spicy. there aren't any really intriguing or compelling notes compared to current niche stuff but they seem well balanced and subdued compared to current mall-centric spicy stuff.

since i last posted i've been wearing lalique encre noire -- pretty much the best vetiver scent i've encountered. i don't really get the "black ink" of the name so much as vetiver and resinous wood. also, the bottle is gorgeous, a heavy black glass cube.

Just wanted to say I love this thread and have it bookmarked, pls keep it coming!

I still get a lot of joy from Musgo Real's No 1 (Orange Amber).

i think the degree of inkiness is temperature/ humidity dependent? i first tried encre noire during the summer and i did get a discernible inky note, although i am susceptible to suggestion so i'm not discounting that i was looking for it to be there. i've worn it a few times lately in the cold and i probably wouldn't get "ink" out of it either under these conditions if i didn't already carry that impression around with me. i think the bvlgari black is the same way. i also tried it in warmer times and got the strong rubber note ppl talk about, but i'm wearing it now and i mostly get the black leather vibe (and that breaks down to the tea plus vanilla, i think) with hardly any rubber. i can still see where the ink and rubber come from but they're not really that prominent if you don't wear them out of season. the bottles are representations of inkwells and tires, though, so that novelty aspect is emphasized, even though that detracts from the actual balanced composition you get if worn during appropriate conditions, i'm assuming? that's on a level of makers of glass pipes for tobacco use only who strongly advise against any misuse of their products as putting weed in your pipe could have the undesired side effect of getting you really high.

i do like that ink note though and would wear this out of season to get that effect. also i am under the understanding that certain s&m types value the bvlgari black specifically for that vinyl/ rubber note. i just googled to check if this assertion was correct and got so far before i backed off.

does benzoin have a buttery, slightly nutty flavor to it? i get the resins in the drydown of the jaipur but i'm not sure if that particular slant comes entirely from the benzoin or if something else is bending it in that direction.

bvlgari black along with guerlain's l'instant are next on my list, hopefully i get a nice tax return and can get my boyfriend JPG kokorico

my brother has caron pour un homme which is musk with lavender and vanilla; it has a minty medicinal note in the opening that i don't like so much and don't understand given the note breakdown but it seems to be of historical importance from my readings as far as musk goes (it's from the 30s)and i like the soft texture after the opening dissipates. the musgo looks like it's in the same trad vein but the citrus notes brighten it up, it seems? how do you know about this and where do you get this? i ask because it doesn't seem to be talked about much.

what's the kokorico like? i like the fig leaf in the hermes un jardin en mediterranee, the patchouli in zino and tom ford noire, and the dry cacao in lidg. this is available on fragranceenet for like $25 or $18 for a tester so i could blind buy.

also, midnight in paris, azzaro visit, roma by laura biagiotti? any intel on these? mip is likened to bvlgaei black, but more powdery and opinions seem really divided, visit is incencey and woody but could be cheap, roma is resiny but could be cheap.

i apology for all the typos; scotch and smells is my MO. i'm not as smart as i should be under these conditions, but otherwise i'm all intp about it and that doesn't address what smells are for, just what they appear to be.

my brother asked what i was wearing and when i told him it was the encre noire he gave the same comment - it didn't come across as ink as much as it just smelled like a good vetiver.

how do you like it? i think it is a really stylish frag but almost too cool for me?

Bought a bottle of Creed Aventus even tho cologne doesn't last terribly long on my skin.

the encre noire? i've seen it described as too serious and dark and a bit melancholic, so only appropriate for formal occasions, mostly funerals, but also as rooty and earthy and woody, so a good lumberjack scent but maybe without any warmth. lumbergoth, maybe, so i can see where it might not comfortably fit either mood without seeming a bit self-conscious or forced?

personally i'm attached to a specific accord it has - kinda smoky, charred, inky, but also dank, sort of redolent of bongwater, maybe. can't pin it down but it's a bit funky and different than what i've experienced so far. right now that overshadows other aspects: nuances of composition, suitability of occasion, how its style wears on me, etc.. i just like shoving it up my nose.

i've had a crimbus and a birthday since last annoyance, so this is what i got:

narciso rodriguez for him - musky, violet leaf, patchouli. i like it so i never wear it so i can save it.

mugler a*men - sweet caramel but that tar note for contrast. fresh floral underpinning i think. historically significant, avoided for clubby associations but essential.

guerlain homme - basic, lime, mint, rum, vetiver. good for high heat. will report back when that occurs.

azzaro visit - good incense, pepper, cedar. way cheaper than cdg 2 man, which i prefer. too much iso e super, which makes it fade in and out.

versce man - not the man au fraiche, just man. saffron. i like saffron.

prada amber - saffron. white florals. vaguely realized concepts, like amber accord and eau de cologne accord and leather accord and fougere accord, which i get, but only because the designer indicated that that's the idea. pretty fucking elegant.

lalique homme equus - juniper berries and sequoia wood. blind buy gift. i didn't know what it would smell like and neither did the person who bought it for me. i thought it'd be more lumberjack. i think it's a different smell so i'm intrigued.

those all sound good - equus, original a*men and narcisco rodriguez are all on my want list

how do you all feel about Vetiver Guerlain?

i like it, but i'm still trying to sort it out. i got a sample last summer and felt the woody and aromatic aspects were a little too much for the heat, even though it's still green and citrusy at the same time. i think it'd be good for spring weather.

i have the same issue with terre d'hermes and tom ford grey vetiver: too fresh and citrusy for cold weather, too woody in the heat.

i haven't smelled any of the nichey vetiver-dominant scents like creed original vetiver or frederic malle vetiver extraordinaire and the like so i don't know how it compares to that sort of thing.

i think maybe that's why i wanted the guerlain homme - it still has that vetiver backbone, but dialed down for summer.

i keep sniffing the empty vetiver guerlain vial, just the same as the terre d'hermes and the paco rabanne ph. i love these earthy/ fresh smells, but have issues with melding with them. i thought this would be a fun hobby but it's bringing on existential crises. this vetiver guerlain feels too serious for the summer! i feel like i should be trying to sell insurance to someone or issuing missives to the office staff to not change the copier toner before it's completely depleted! this fragrance would be great for wearing a white button-down short-sleeve oxford shirt with tan slacks! to a rotary club cookout fundraiser! fun but let's not get too crazy here, folks, this is plano, texas, not marin county!

in summary and in conclusion, i give guerlain vetiver an a minus.

not sure if i really answered your question. i defer to anyone else who has an opinion.

lalique equus - i mentioned to fambily that i liked the lalique white and encre noire, and that the quality seemed pretty good vs. online price, maybe the other offerings are just as good, this seems like a good and quality house, dedicated to different interpretations, what else do they have, and that the equus looked interesting as far as the listed notes, because usually the woody note is cedar and the dominant fruity note is bergamot or lemon, not sequoia or juniper berry. that's what i said. what was heard was that i really wanted the lalique equus.

anyway. now i have it. nb i'm a novice but stereotypicically intp so i really feel the need to qualify my impressions. the woods are predominant, but really red. the juniper, it's chistmasy, almost craft store make your own wreath, there's some attendant citruses, buy it's mostly all juniper.

it starts off really square, like a really polite attempt at interesting, but sheena is a punk rocker now. it's like going on a wholesome nature hike except you secretly have your boy scout canteen fulled with gin.

this is the most glamping fragrance i've ever encountered not that's not a bad thing. tim gunn chopping firewood, what's the thread count on that gingham table covering? hey. diipshit, this is america, we're gonna roast some hot dogs over the campfire, put on your bean boots and flip up your fucking collar on your rl polo.

never stop!

i have optimisms.

i think i meant 'opinions' but whatever.

<3 a slugbuggy optipinions

i like the equus, i just thought it was a little confusing. feels too well-mannered given that the notes suggest a gin-soaked lumberjack. or vice-versa? the black sheep of a respectable family that might disappear on a bender for a few days. also i'm not picking up the leather note.

i also wasn't calling tim gunn a dipshit, the last part of that rant was me picturing a kinfolk editorial or lifestyle blog spread featuring a very posh and forced version of outdoorsiness.

lalique goes for high-end designer prices on their website and through upscale retail stores like neiman marcus, but is really cheap on the discount sites. like, the 4.2 Oz of lalique white lists for $138, but i got it for around $25. encre noire is $125 for 3.3 oz, but again i got it for around $25 online. chanel and hermes are similarly priced high-end designer, but never get discounted to that degree. equus is the same deal, $115 for the 2.5 oz edp vs. $25ish my brother paid.

i kinda feel like i got caught wearing a thrift store tie that as is turns out, is a repp tie from a fancy prep school that i did not matriculate and in fact didn't even know existed. it's like how the family in your neighborhood with the most wealth isn't the one that drives mercedes and buys armani, it's the one that drives old volvos and goes to andover shop every school year and has a lot of old threadbare stuff in their house and all the kids read wittgenstein in the ninth grade and were over it because that's how their day school rolled and you didn't read that shit until freshman year of public university and wouldn't shut up about it. it's all just smells but there's something suspiciously square but assured about the laliques that doesn't have a place in the obvious and populist designer/ complicated and in-the-know niche dichotomy, is how i'm framing this.

Well framed!

Do you dabble in any "women's" scents? I wore Coco yesterday and it seemed pretty retro but in a different way then, like, Giorgio retro. I tend to choose a scent (to be fair I only have 5, not much to pick from) based on what I'm wearing. Today is jeans, t-shirt, cropped cowboy boots and I'm going to a gun range. Definitely not a Coco day. Maybe eau de Cartier but I tend to only do that in warm weather and it's quite chilly today. Perhaps I'll give the Guerlain Vetiver one last try before I admit that I like to smell it in the bottle but don't particularly like wearing it.

tried a couple 90s scents, one really familiar (tommy) and one less (cool water). tommy smells even better than i remember, like fresh soapy apple. i feel like this could easily be a unisex scent.

as for cool water i've already blown through almost ~1.5oz of a bottle. i was half-expecting to find it somewhat cloying since this is seems to be the archetype for mainstream male frags made in the last 30 years, but it really is brilliant. pleasantly abstract and balanced as fuck, can't honestly name any one particular note that stands above the others. maybe oakmoss. it's hard to describe how it smells other than just "clean"

also snagged a large bottle of puig quorum on a friend's recommendation. first thought is, "wow this is like yatagan" but with more of a powdery grapefruit vibe and not quite as piney. reads as super old-school masculine which i'm thinking is where i gravitate frag-wise.

quincie you should give encre noire a try -- when i was wearing it i thought it was quite unisex

i haven't dug into scents marketed as women's much because i don't know the landscape. i smelled the ysl opium and i can see it being unisex. i figure a lot of contemporary unisex scents are orientals, so a lot of classic women's scents that are orientals would be unisex by today's standards.