Remember that NYLON party we went to a couple weeks ago?
Well, I walked away with the prettiest glass bottle of Chloé perfume. The smell, however, wasn’t nearly as nice. But I tried it, just in case. Natalie said, “all wrong” and “too woodsy”.
I tried again. My roommates loved it, and so did my boy neighbors. And the woman shopping in Jumelle. And the girl who stopped me on the street today to ask what “divine” scent I was wearing. Even Natalie asked, “Wow, what is that?”
I know scents vary depending on the person, but do they vary on the same person from the first spritz to the third? Did my skin somehow adapt? Is that even possible?
Ruth La Ferla just wrote about bloggers and the dramatic way in which they’re changing the fragrance industry. They’ve cracked open the world of niche perfumes to an audience that’s used to learning about new scents in People or the billboard above their gas station, giving giants like Estée Lauder and Coty a mini panic attack.
Natalie is indeed prompted to smell a new perfume based on a positive review whereas I’m influenced by the print ads, (ridiculous, I know). And yet we’re both aware it’s impossible to form an opinion of a scent without wearing it repeatedly.
If I’d read Chandler Burr’s scathing review of the Chloé scent and trusted my initial sniff, I would have kept Chloé as a pretty paperweight. Instead, it’s replaced the YSL Homme I’ve trusted for almost a year.
Do you read scent reviews? How do you determine which perfume is right for you without wearing it for a bit? And more importantly, has an offensive scent ever become your fave?
Tags: Chloe, Coty, Estee Lauder, New York Times, Nylon
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For some reason I hate perfumes that a lot of other people wear, so the second mass advertising starts I’m usually a lot less interested. I just find it weird when I walk down the street and smell someone in the same perfume!
That said, I always try mine first. It takes me forever to pick a new one because I will go on various days and check out a million of them and then spray it on myself to see how it wears.
OTT, maybe? But still… it’s nice to think that a certain scent might one day remind someone of you specifically and not just ‘girls at nightclubs.’ ;)
Scents definitely depend on your bodies natural oils. You can put a frangrance on one person and then another and they smell completely different.
Plus the first spray (right when it comes out of the bottle to your skin) usually smells like alcohol, it’s not till you let it sit for a few for the notes of the fragrance to start jumping in. Plus there are layers of notes and with time, it starts to smell different. (I had a roommate that worked in fragrances for about 5 years)
I had a bottle of Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue because everyone said it always smelled so good. It smelled good on my roommate, so I bought a bottle and it smelled awful on me.
I am obsessed with Gucci Rush 2 (don’t confuse it with the original) that is now discontinued. I went ahead and asked a good friend of mine that is a trainer for Sephora if there are any fragrances that were similar and she just looked up the ingredients in the scent. It’s not exactly the same but gives it the same effect.
I stick to Marc Jacobs original fragrance that people say smells amazing on me. One of my guy friends loved it so much he wanted his wife to smell like that, but he said when she sprayed it on she smelled disgusting.
i think the new chloe smells like elizabeth arden’s sunflowers from my middle school days. i’ve only worn it once, though, and it was rubbed on from a pretty magazine ad.
I love to read perfume reviews, but only ones by people who know how to write about perfume. I love to try new and old scents, and I like to learn about the history and unique formulations of perfumes! Even if something is a bad review, I still want to smell it. I, too, read Burr’s scathing review of Chloe, but it just made me want to smell it so I could see what I thought of it!
About a year and a half ago, a friend tried to give me a large bottle of Stella McCartney…I smelled it and graciously refused. Needless to say, now, I have gone through 2 small bottles, 3 roll ons and now I’m onto my large bottle and it’s my absolute FAV. Not sure how it happened but I’m obesses and won’t wear anything else.
I don’t really like the way that Marc’s Daisy smells. Its like I’ve rolled around in grass. And yet I wear it all the time and after a few hours the scent makes me really happy. I’m bad in perfume choice because I tend to choose them based on the WHO and what the bottle looks like. I haven’t had a chance to smell Chloe yet but I love the bottle so I’ll probably convince myself that I love the scent too. I love the Daisy bottle even though its meant for tweens. And I admit it Princess is a staple choice. I love how it smells and I ALWAYS get compliments from men AND women whenever I wear it. So I just pretend that Miley Cyrus doesn’t wear it too.
Miss Balmain grew on me. I thought it was slightly old-fashioned at first (it debuted in ’67) but it quickly grew on me.
Sorry, that was kinda redundant. But true, nevertheless.
I was intrigued by Caron’s Tabac Blond, because of the name. First try, I was totally repulsed. And then, I tried it again… maybe I gave it a minute to sink in or something? and then it was exactly what I was looking for.
I love reading about fragrances and perfumers I wouldn’t otherwise find (Lipstick Rose!). For most dept store scents, I’ll ask for a sample — you really do need to wear it all day to determine if it’s ever going to stink up or drive you crazy. After reading so many raves about it, I bought a sample kit of Fresh Cannabis Rose (i love, LOVE, Cannabis Santal) — and was really shocked by how much I hate it on me. And I’m glad I didn’t spend$85 for a full-size bottle (& the sample kit came with a shower gel & a body creme, where the scent is much less pronounced, so it wasn’t a total loss).
I keep trying to save up for a Bond #9 kit of samples, but keep spending the money everywhere else….
I laughed when I read the part where you said you were influenced by the print ads for perfume because I also fall for it. I love the ads for the Chanel No. 5 and yet every time I spray it on myself, I am repulsed by it. I can’t stand it on the paper testers or on my wrist. It just doesn’t work for me. I also read critics reviews and have already ordered the book “Perfumes” by Luca Turin and the reviews do influence my perfume choices but in the end I like to go to Sephora and just try them out (although I leave with a huge headache most of the times) because fragrance works with individual chemistry. I also like ordering sample fragrances from sites like http://www.luckyscent.com
I normally don’t where perfume because strong scents give me a headache. Is there anything out there that’s like vanilla scented?