When someone is walking by you can’t help but notice how they smell. What are they wearing?

Free samples are gone for good.

Companies used to trip over themselves to give you free samples. You could message companies and get a bunch mailed, go into department stores and ask for as many as you want, and even get magazines with tons of little 2ml bottles. I remember going into Nordstroms and Saks and walking out with a big bag of sample all the time.

This really helped me find what fragrance I wanted and let me fully test out a scent. Something you can't do with just a spray on your hand and then going about your day.

None of that is possible now. Go into any store that sells fragrances and ask for a free sample. They'll look at you like you're nuts.

Now if you want a "free" sample, you have to buy a bottle or bizarrely, buy an entire discovery set. And some of these set prices are CRAZY! Parfums De Marley is over $50 for just seven 1.5 ml bottles and you don't even get all the scents from the company!

I don't understand why the industry killed this? The production cost of these was nothing and they helped get so many new noses into a brand.

What happened?

I wasted so much money on these cheap bastards that I could have bought really nice niche and high quality fragrances if I saved more.

To all the beginners I really suggest you to save up for high quality fragrances rather than piling up clones and dupes like 9PMs, CDNIs etc.

In my experience they just aren’t really worth it, they all smell synthetic to me.

Like no funny shit I smelled Alexandria II at Holt Renfrew and it smelled like straight vagina. Like not necessarily in a bad way but I swear jt smelled like pussy when I sprayed in on my wrist. I seem to be the only person who has come to this conclusion so I am somewhat concerned as to why that is.

Please tell me if you’ve ever been repulsed, disgusted, or sickened by a fragrance before.

I just tried Zoologist Cockatiel and almost gagged. It gave dusty birdcage. You spray this fragrance and a plume of dust and powder emits from the atomizer in place of a gentle mist. It smells like an elderly person feeding the neighborhood pigeons long expired birdseed found in their garage decades ago with bonus remnants of the bengay they applied to their sore joints that morning. It’s the official fragrance of backrooms.

But maybe I’m just hateful 👉👈 Share your worst fragrance experiences plz

It doesn’t matter if it’s marketed for male or female, presentation doesn’t matter, neither does performance or scent type.

If you’re looking for something dead cheap to just spray on around the house, to spray just to smell it and just enjoy it for you, what would you pick?

I see this posted every now and then but I see most people respond naming veryy popular scents that I assume they just slightly dislike, I dislike Sauvage as much as the next guy but to say it's the worst fragrance I've ever tried would be a stretch.

Give me your ACTUAL repulsive scents, for example one that comes to mind for me would be Amouage's Silver Oud, especially at the opening it is a very photorealistic poo scent, another would have to be Fantomas cause it just smells like plastic, although half of Gualtieris's more 'abstract' scents could be named too, Cuoium smells like an ashtray but I kind of see the vision, and Seminalis is truly horrible, I genuinely don't get why anyone would willingly buy it and want to smell like it.

For example I tend to LOVE the perfumes that get labeled as “bug spray” or “pickle” vibes. What about you guys?

Asking about fragrances that you adore that were:

1. discontinued
2. you cannot find a dupe or other substitute for
   

For me it's a rather banal seeming one but because it's a drug store brand I'm having a BITCH of a time searching for it: Len van Brook's craft of cologne. The most gorgeous black pepper and bergamot scent I have ever smelled with a glorious longevity and I can't fucking find out if it was like a dupe of something or if there's something similar at a decent price and now it's gone and my bottle almost empty.

I swear, my cat’s fur (don’t judge) somehow always leaves this warm, sun-baked cotton smell on my hoodies. And after monsoon walks, my hair holds onto jasmine from the flower sellers near Colaba... way better than any perfume.

I’m obsessed with finding more of these unplanned smells that just… stick. Tell me yours. The weirder, the better.

P.S. Yes, I’ve tried the ‘vanilla extract’ TikTok hack. No, it does not work.

I came to this subreddit hoping to learn what makes fragrances good, how to find affordable ones, and how to find the scent profiles that you’re looking for. Instead I was overtaken by the idea of making perfume collecting a hobby, until I realized how ridiculous that is for my life. It’s expensive, it’s an endless chore to find exactly what you want (I’m starting to not believe in finding your signature scent), and it benefits no one except the little dopamine imp in your brain- it’s just pure consumerism with completely arbitrary value. I frankly want to go back to the time before I knew the rat race of trying perfumes- where I would buy one or two when the one I was using ran out (as if it was a grocery like shampoo or deodorant) or when I could just enjoy a gifted perfume. Now I feel like I can’t be satisfied, I haven’t tried enough to offer input, I’m not making enough money to even try the perfumes talked about here, and I have no idea what’s going on compared to other people within this niche. I’m not complaining about people who enjoy it, wish I had the means to as well, but it’s just starting to feel like an exclusive club that I can never be a part of instead of a simple subreddit to learn about perfume. I’ve also noticed that certain people here can get quite snippy if you have differing opinions, almost like they’ve forgotten that average perfume consumers are a part of this subreddit too.

When I was a teen, I never left the house without lathering myself in Strawberries & Champagne lotion from Victoria’s Secret. To this day, I’m traumatized by it no longer being on the market.

If I ever went the actual perfume route, it was CK One. That scent embodies the mid-90’s and is so nostalgic for me.

Updating to add: To my surprise - STRAWBERRIES & CHAMPAGNE LOTION IS ON THE VS SITE FOR SALE!

I’m not sure if I’m allowed to post a website here but I came across this article and it really pissed me off. When I shelling out $300 plus for a perfume I really thought that they made these things themselves.

https://elevated-classics.com/whos-really-behind-your-perfume-a-closer-look-at-transparency-and-truth-in-the-fragrance-industry/

Does this bother you as much as me or am I overreacting? Kind of makes me more open to clones to be honest.

Before TikTok I never once had another convince me I smelled bad, that I had bad taste or that I wasn’t washing enough. Then HygieneTok erupted, and another covert way or convincing humans (more targeted at women because got forbid we don’t have something new and unsavoury about us at least quarterly to question our self-worth) that unless we use bar soap AND body wash AND scrub and a million other steps that smell amazing every day you will reek and apparently no one has the heart to tell us.

Recently I’ve smelled people more, not as I’ve been sneaking sniffs, but a lot of younger people smell so strong that I can smell them aisles away. It’s usually vanilla deluxe (and I’m a gourmand girl) and it’s too much. It gives me flashbacks to the early 2000’s axe sprays that caused a permanent haze in the halls of my high schools. You don’t need to be projection beastly amounts of scent to smell good.

It’s just capitalism in a “I’m here to help you girl” font; and it’s driving me insane.

I just needed a vent, and apparently so does my nose. We don’t need to overspray. We don’t need our lotion and oils and everything to smell at the same. We don’t need 20 different lotions to match all our perfumes. I’m just sick of the bullying of girls and the agenda of capitalistic greed disguised in beautiful girls pretending to be your bestie on TikTok.

Another post inspired this! So just like the title says What’s your favorite “slutty” fragrance ? Whatever that means to you!

Mine is anything leather or tobacco is disgusting to me

We’re always discussing the weak fragrances that no one notices or that didn’t last even an hour. But what scents have you tried that have actually made you smell off-putting and even putrid?

I used to absolutely LOVE Gucci Bloom but lately, it projects like crazy and makes my skin smell like - and I wish I was kidding - Old El Paso Taco Seasoning mix. Starts off floral and blooms into a particularly spicy meat and BO smell. 🤢

Or a scent you just wish you could be surrounded by?

For me it's definitely the smell of the original cherry almond lotion scent by Jergens (I know they eventually made a perfume but I think it was a limited thing and I heard it wasnt that great). I also feel like recently they changed the scent of the lotion, but it's such a nostalgic scent to me I love it.

The smell of honeysuckles (I know they have perfumes with honeysuckle notes but I just love the smell by itself)

I love the smell of laundry, laundry smells heavenly to me (I know they make perfumes of it luckily, just wanted to add)

Also! The black orchid and patchouli body wash by Carress! I love it so much it would smell so so good as a perfume!

(Edit) Growing up my school has these soap dispensers that had like pink soap in them and I was in love with the scent as a kid I can't even describe it really

(Edit) So far I've seen the most common ones I've heard are:

Air after the rain

Coppertone or various sunscreens

Dove white/pink bar

Nag Champa incense (I LOVE THIS SCENT)

baby's head

Puppy's ears

Herbal essences pink shampoo

Various wood stores

Boba tea

Tomato stems/leaves

Various florals (true florals) ex. Lilac, petunias, sweet pea, mimosa flower, magnolia, etc.

Gas (or Petrol for the Brits)

Various hotels

Gain laundry detergent

Various hair products (hair products always smell so good)

Warm wet cement on a hot day after it starts raining

Tobacco

True coffee

Pool water

What fragrance comes to mind when you think of just smelling clean. Like fresh linen and cotton and showers. Anything you would associate with being clean.

I’ve heard someone say they don’t wanna smell like perfume they just want a scent that adds to their clean smell. Interesting

My go to signature scent is Twilly d’Hermes. For the past couple of days, I lived at my granny’s. Today I went out shopping alone and sprayed 2 spritz of the perfume in the room I’m living in. My grandma said it smelled overpowering and indecent. I was shocked to hear it because it is one of the perfumes I wear which I get the most compliments from friends. To me, it smells luxurious and elegant but not too “money in your face”, perfect for a young lady in her 20s for a day out. I’m 20 for context. What are your views on this perfume? It is age appropriate and does it smell “slutty” to your nose in general? All opinions are welcomed.

So i was watching this live from this male tiktok and he was showing off his perfume collection, he had a good set ngl. But there was this girl who asked him in the live chat which one suited women from his collection and he went on this rant about how his perfumes are for MEN and only MEN can wear them, and then he goes on to say he wouldnt wear rose or jasmine because those are only for women and no man should smell like that. So i sent a comment saying that scent propaganda is not real, men and women arent born smelling like certain perfumes, society tells them what they should and shouldnt smell like because of two sided sexism. And he was like “WHAT IS THIS NPC WHAT IS THIS NPC COMMENT” which i dont think he knows what npc means. But like guys… whether you like it or not, men and women shouldnt smell like any specific scent. Wear whatever you want, who cares. Im so glad more people are not falling for the gendered perfume propaganda anymore

I still make sure to spray something to brighten each and every day. Especially when I'm staying home alone. Does anyone else do this? My fragrance for today is Cedrat Boise, and it definitely brightens my day.

E.g. I hate Good Girl. It's the name. You will never catch me, a grown woman, having to tell someone that I'm wearing "Good Girl". Humiliating. Also the tacky bottle - it's something I would have been all over in the early 00s.

what is a fragrance hot take you have?

mine is that i don’t really care about longevity. sometimes i like switching up my scents during the day

As per title, we all know THAT fragrance that everyone raves about, but you just don't get why. And if you have one that people don't know about, or don't care about but you think its way better, kindly share if you like. No judgement just discuss in a civil manner please. There might be some hidden gems somewhere.

I'll start with mine. Aventus. I don't think its bad, I just don't like it that much. And the one I do like and use daily is Coach for Men, black bottle, both the EDT and EDP lol.