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Yes, daily or often

Yes, sometimes or rarely

No

No, it gives me migraines/allergies

No, soap & deodorant are good enough.

[linnea]

What are your favorite fragrances, and why?

My favorites:
- Angel by Thierry Mugler (kellichou, my twin sister, introduced me to this one)
- Kiehl's Original Musk
- Prada
- Bvlgari Pour Femme and Blv Notte Pour Femme
- Narcisco Rodriguez Musc For Her

There are two boutique perfumers that I've been reading a lot about, Serge Lutens and Creed. I'm really excited to try some of their fragrances. I am dying to try Ambre Sultan, Gris Clair, and A La Nuit by Serge Lutens, and also Millésime Imperial, Green Irish Tweed, and Love in White  by Creed.

Is anyone else into fragrance, cologne, or perfume? I am getting ridiculously excited about it. For me, fragrance is an intensely personal thing, and it's very enigmatic. It is thrilling to me to learn about what makes up a fragrance, what different notes smell like, and why I like the fragrances that I do. Learning to smell fragrance is similar to tasting wine, and it's exciting to be able to decode and unlock mysterious perfume.

And talk about geek cred. Other than my boyfriend, my new favorite guy iis Luca Turin, a biophysicist who is also a leading expert on fragrance. I started reading a little bit about his background and his reviews on fragrance and was instantly hooked. He used to run a blog, but now all you can get is a PDF of its archive. I find his writing style to be very polished yet full of humor, and his insights into fragrance are fascinating.

Of course, wearing too much fragrance is disgusting and repulsive. Everyone has a horror story about someone who is a fragrance abuser and forcibly subjects others to their ineptitude. I like to wear tiny amounts of fragrance so that people can only smell it if they hug me or are in close contact.

I'm currently waiting for a bunch of decanted fragrance to show up that I ordered on eBay (Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan, Badgley Mishka, Kiehl's Musk), and I want to order a bunch more. Augh! I swear, I can't hold onto a dollar with both hands. I started to really get into fragrance when Kellichou and I went to Nordstrom and a very knowledgeable saleswoman told us all about the House of Bulgari (Bvlgari is how it's also spelled). I got us some Blv Notte and fell in love right there. It's all been downhill from there. I'm really hoping that I hate Muscs Koublai Khan, because it costs €100 ... and it's only available in Europe, which means I'd have to either pay a scalper $200 on eBay for it, or try to bribe a European friend to let me ship it to them, and then pay them to ship it to me. Sigh. Why can't they just export it, dammit? Hopefully I'll hate it.

[Choop]

Cologne (and perfume) should only be smelled by the wearer and the person the wearer is kissing.

I'm not that into cologne, so I rarely wear it; I will happily do so on special occassions. I like DKNY Men, and the missus likes some Halsten number on me. She likes to wear Givenchy, but also uses an Arden perfume I gave her that I liked. It's not a thing with us. We're shoe people. You have to have nice shoes. And kitchen equipment.

[CortJstr]

I considered buying some Happy for Men when it first came out. This is as close as I've ever come to wearing a fragrance. Oddly, any girl I've seriously dated hasn't worn perfume.

[KeithHernandez]

Deodorant and other fragrances show the selgiraffeness and stupidity of the west as good as anything can.

[smick]

I'll selgiraffely not want to ride the bus with you.

[littlefallsmets]

Being partly-Italian, deodorant is a must for me. Generally, some sort of waxy white stick.

Very occasionally, I'll wear a "vanilla for men" kinda cologne. That's as far as it goes.

Usually, people smelling like something other than people weirds me out.

An instinctive reflex of "wait... she doesn't smell like people, what's wrong with her?" will sometimes spill out of my subconscious.

Of course, I'm also not attracted to women with tattoos, lots of piercings, who wear more than just a little make-up, etc. So it's probably a me thing.

[pmcd9]

Creed Sux.

[Ben-San]

Well, ideally (as far as I know) it should be applied not to the effect of "this human does not smell human" but rather "this human smells like a human who has been exposed to/is carrying pleasant-smelling things".

Like the intestinal tract of a sperm whale.

[theinevitable]

hmm. I do not wear any fragrance other than deodorant. although I have been told that I have chosen a good variety-- people constantly ask what cologne I'm wearing, where they can buy it, etc. my girlfriend occasionally wears a little of the smelly stuff herself, but nothing too much. I have noticed: it may smell different, but it every variety tastes the same if some rubs off on your lips. (do not be thinking anything weird is going on here. a kiss under the chin is well within the laws of decency.) I like the natural smell of a person, as long as it isn't too bad. You know how it goes.

the worst thing, smell wise, I have experienced recently: i wore a shirt which I thought was newly washed (I haven't been home in a while, so, I assumed. since it was in my closet at home.) I sniffed it, and it smelled fine. I drove about 15-20 minutes to pick up my lady. Upon arrival, I realized that this shirt was not so clean. It had a Potent and Generously Applied odor. Of course, at this point it was a little too late to change shirts. that was no good at all. I found myself thinking "if romeo had had a stench like this, they would have only gotten like 3 pages into that book."
Luckily, my main squeeze had a molly-like understanding, once I explained that it was an Antique Odor, and that I had thought that the shirt was clean. She's good at taking stupid things I do into stride-- which, I believe, makes her "a keeper."

[Drygioni]

Deodorant and other fragrances show the selgiraffeness and stupidity of the west as good as anything can.

I agree in a purely hypothetical sense, but in a society where sweaty armpits are a social faux pas I take the easy route and use the old Lynx roll-on (anyone who uses spray deodorant: please don't). I readily concede that such an action is selgiraffe, stupid and a symptom of a deep dissatisfaction with the way I am naturally.

Anyhow, I'm not too keen on purely 'for smell' fragrances. In the East there are lands where men force women to hide their facial features; in the West it's the same but they use make-up and perfume veils.

This is a tricky thing because I know women mainly wear cosmetics to make themselves feel good, but at the same time they might only feel good because they know they have less chance of success if they don't artificially improve their appearance in a very much aesthetics-based world.

Though, I shouldn't judge such matters because I don't wear fragrance or perfume. Yet?


Edit: Oh, and as a small rebuttal to Keith that probably doesn't hold much weight, I believe civilisations from the Ancient Egyptians onwards have used things like rose as fragrance, so calling fragrance a sign of Western stupidity isn't necessarily right.

[theinevitable]

may I assume, keith, that you also don't believe in the shaving of body hair? that seems just about as unnecessary, to me.

[wombat]

I had the impression that These Kids Today believed in taking off all possible body hair, including from places that my generation never thought of, um, depilating. (I had to look that up to make sure there was a verb.) Not true?

[jough]

anyone who uses spray deodorant: please don't

Why does anyone else's choice of deodorant form matter to you?  I'm just curious why you're anti-spray - not only for yourself, but for everyone else.  The cans haven't used CFCs in years, so it's not for the environment.  Must be something else.

And it's not selgiraffe to not smell bad - it's altruistic.  Even if you don't mind your own body odour, you should bathe and make yourself smell nice for the courtesy of others, you selgiraffe stinky bastard.

[CortJstr]

Why does anyone else's choice of deodorant form matter to you?  I'm just curious why you're anti-spray - not only for yourself, but for everyone else.  The cans haven't used CFCs in years, so it's not for the environment.  Must be something else.

I assumed he meant because spray deodorants are the least effective. So you might not realize that your spray is wearing off at like 10am.

[Drygioni]

I assumed he meant because spray deodorants are the least effective. So you might not realize that your spray is wearing off at like 10am.

Yep, and they're really quite anti-social in the sense of communal living. If someone uses deodorant in a particular room, that room isn't particularly pleasant to be in until the smell fucks off. This is mainly an issue on whether you use a lot of spray deodorant; if you don't use much, you still sweat, use too much and you make the place marginally less attractive in terms of nasal pleasure.

Also Jough, I'm not sure if you were referring to me, but I can assure you that although I might be a selgiraffe bastard, I pride myself on being more hygienic and less BO-y than the average bloke my age. I don't suppose that's difficult.

Without meaning to turn this into a fully fledged debate: sure, it's altruistic to not smell, but (and this can apply to a lot of things) you are using planet-damaging things like plastic and chemicals (I'm pretty sure the factories of deodorant have a waste product... I have no evidence for this right now) just to make yourself smell better.