Oops, men, sorry. Not a man. Listening.
Lol - speak away Soz - I just want more of the men to comment!
I'm a boy ...
Perfume ... I like it in small doses with a subtle scent (Vera Wang or Mark Jacobs) on special occassions with my wife since it reminds me of other special times. The same principle applies to my wearing cologne.
Women in general smell pretty decent 'as is' due to numerous bath products available for use. But I guess the point of perfume is not necessarily to smell good, but to smell unique, right?
Unique - hmmmmmmmm - not sure - EXTRA good, I guess!!! Unique would be fabulous - but i guess we all DO smell unique?
I had a bit of problem with a female friend some years ago. Her then S.O. had a bit of a thing for my sweaters. She found him sniffing my sweaters when she'd borrowed them for a camping trip. Turns out he loved the combo of perfumes I wore at the time, and the layers of them embedded in the old wool sweaters made him a bit goofy. He kept asking her why she couldn't smell more like me. And she got mad at ME!
Men tend to ask about my perfume when I'm using Coriandre. I've been stopped on the street, the bus, the subway, at the airport. I don't use a lot of it ( a few drops pretty low down), but it's got quite an unusual spice undertone, which catches their attention.
I'd like to find "eau du cinnamon roll"
Quote:I'd like to find "eau du cinnamon roll"
On that note, can someone explain to me what eau du toilet means? I've always wondered silently to myself, but was afraid to ask outloud for fear of sounding stupid.
I'd have to say that it depends on the type and amount used. As with make-up on women in general, to me, less is more.
I followed a woman down the aisle at the grocery store the other day and end up in a sneezing fit. She was at least 30 feet ahead of me but she was leaving a vapor trail as she wandered around. From the number of coughs and sneezes going on in the store I wasn't the only one that noticed either.
If people can smell you from more than 2 or 3 feet away it's to much IMO. It's even worse when a bunch of over perfumed women get together and they all clash with each other. Severe sensory overload.
I like the lighter perfumes, used sparingly. Also, single-note fragrances can be really good; my wife has one that is made from carnation blossoms, and it's particularly nice.
Heavy fragrances seem to be connected in some minds with sensuality. I find such scents simply distracting! People have their own fragrance, and perfumes seem to work better for me when they are light enough for my wife's own sweet scent to work with it.
Kirsten has a good idea about women shopping for perfume with her guy along. The first bottle I bought, alone, for my wife was "Le", a Givenchy perfume that is probably long discontinued. I loved the fresh, light scent. My wife was very appreciative of the gift, but, she eventually told me that, to herself, she smelled like "recently-cut grass." "That's it!" I was thinking. "That's just why I like it!" But, I kept that to myself. Obviously, smelling like a recently mowed lawn was not what my wife had in mind. And she was the one wearing the stuff.
She suggested we shop together for a scent. I was not insulted; I wanted to know what she really liked. And she wanted to know what we'd both like.
Visiting the perfume counter was a trip! Between the two of us, we used up every spare inch on our four forearms. The salesperson seemed to enjoy our enthusiasm; she kept bringing out more! The verdict: "Y" by St. Laurent. We both loved it--although it seemed a tad heavy--and she wore it for years, until it became very hard to find. Then, we had another great perfume-testing. As someone pointed out earlier, the same scent smells slightly different on me from the way it does on my wife--but we could get the general idea from sniffing each other's arms. The verdict: oil of carnations by Gallet. Still being made!
By the way, my wife has a vote on any after-shave I might wear. We shop those together, too. Right now, my fragrance is Eau d'Orange Verte, a very straightfoward light scent by Hermes. It isn't cheap, but I don't use much. I especially like it when I've gotten really grubby working outdoors or very sweaty playing tennis--and need to scrub up bigtime. The scent somehow celebrates my return to looking human!
On other women, almost anything is fine--because my exposure is going to be relatively short and not up-close--but, please, nothing too heavy, sweet, or piercing. Also, I have an allergy to roses--a bummer, because I love them--but floral perfumes with attar of roses leave me, literally, breathless!
Our daughters very seldom wear perfume. Even, our heavily fashion-conscious older daughter. Our young women are 32 and 36. Is this a trend?
Perfume is fine, if it's light enough I don't know it's there.
Need to break someone away from a really terrible perfume? Take a big, noisy sniff and ask "Avon?"
Miklos7 wrote:I like the lighter perfumes, used sparingly. Also, single-note fragrances can be really good; my wife has one that is made from carnation blossoms, and it's particularly nice.
Heavy fragrances seem to be connected in some minds with sensuality. I find such scents simply distracting! People have their own fragrance, and perfumes seem to work better for me when they are light enough for my wife's own sweet scent to work with it.
Kirsten has a good idea about women shopping for perfume with her guy along. The first bottle I bought, alone, for my wife was "Le", a Givenchy perfume that is probably long discontinued. I loved the fresh, light scent. My wife was very appreciative of the gift, but, she eventually told me that, to herself, she smelled like "recently-cut grass." "That's it!" I was thinking. "That's just why I like it!" But, I kept that to myself. Obviously, smelling like a recently mowed lawn was not what my wife had in mind. And she was the one wearing the stuff.
She suggested we shop together for a scent. I was not insulted; I wanted to know what she really liked. And she wanted to know what we'd both like.
Visiting the perfume counter was a trip! Between the two of us, we used up every spare inch on our four forearms. The salesperson seemed to enjoy our enthusiasm; she kept bringing out more! The verdict: "Y" by St. Laurent. We both loved it--although it seemed a tad heavy--and she wore it for years, until it became very hard to find. Then, we had another great perfume-testing. As someone pointed out earlier, the same scent smells slightly different on me from the way it does on my wife--but we could get the general idea from sniffing each other's arms. The verdict: oil of carnations by Gallet. Still being made!
By the way, my wife has a vote on any after-shave I might wear. We shop those together, too. Right now, my fragrance is Eau d'Orange Verte, a very straightfoward light scent by Hermes. It isn't cheap, but I don't use much. I especially like it when I've gotten really grubby working outdoors or very sweaty playing tennis--and need to scrub up bigtime. The scent somehow celebrates my return to looking human!
On other women, almost anything is fine--because my exposure is going to be relatively short and not up-close--but, please, nothing too heavy, sweet, or piercing. Also, I have an allergy to roses--a bummer, because I love them--but floral perfumes with attar of roses leave me, literally, breathless!
Our daughters very seldom wear perfume. Even, our heavily fashion-conscious older daughter. Our young women are 32 and 36. Is this a trend?
I don't know about the thirty somethings and their perfume trends - but going shopping together is a great idea!
You know - there is a range of perfumes available that is about natural smells - grass, dirt (I like that one - though it is a bit er...dirty!), hay, all sorts of odd things - the one I really wanted to try - pre-storm - wasn't available - so I will go back. The scents are amazing - if a little challenging!
kirsten wrote:Guys, don't ever buy a new perfume for a girl just because you like it spritzed on a card by some lab-coated fragrance advisor. What smells wonderful on one person, can be truly obnoxious on another. Better to go with something you know she loves, or shop together to try it out.
I guess I got lucky picking out a perfume for my woman. Because I actually bought Romance twice. We went shopping together for perfume again like five months later. I suggested something different. She insisted on Romance again because she loved it so much.
I still say that the way a woman's hair smells is more important since us men are usually taller. I love good smelling hair way more than a good perfume. They should have perfume for hair!!!
BTW: I love the way fresh cut grass smells. Also dirt and cow manure give me very fond memories of my grandfathers ranch in Mexico. I love those smells of nature. However, if my woman smelled like that, I think I'd have a problem with that.
almach 1, I agree with you about the scent of a woman's hair--if it's a good fragrance, I tend to notice and enjoy it. Isn't there already perfume for hair? Almost all shampoo, women's or men's, has scent in it. I assume the manufacturers put a different range of fragrances in shampoos marketed for women from the range in shampoos marketed for men. Recently, my wife's shampoos have had complex tropical fruit notes. Garnier Fructis, for example. This is fine on her, but I don't want to go around smelling like a pina colada! One note--lemon,or orange, etc--is great. The fruit-basket effect, however, is not for me. But, it's fine on my wife.
No one has mentioned the very ancient notion--perhaps, still popular in France, one of the countries that believed most strongly in it--that every woman (and, I suppose, every man) has her own natural perfume, and that scent is what's more attractive than any manufactured fragrance. Recent research into pheromones supports this idea. I cannot recall the French word for the practice, but I have read in a number of places over the years that French women who were going to be seeing a man they really wanted to attract, would, with their fingers, dot their own scent behind their ears, at the back of their necks, and behind their knees. Supposedly, the effect is twofold. The guy relates, consciously, to the woman's own fragrance and then, subconsciously, to the sex pheromones in that fragrance. I dunno. I do know, however, that some people seem naturally to smell better than others--with no manufactured scent applied. But I also know that, even if there's good science involved in this, I'm going to take it quite lightly. If it were a genuinely powerful process, then riding on a crowded subway car or bus should have been some kind of profound, sweat-propelled, sexual experience. I don't think so!
Also, what about the importance of perfume (on a woman) to a guy? I think it's nice if my wife wears it whenever she wants, but I cannot imagine myself ever begging her to wear perfume. I'm not at all sure I'd miss it if she never wore it. For me, it's in the category of a pleasing extra. I enjoy being with my wife, artificially scented or unscented, simply because I adore her. Similarly, though my wife has certain clothes I think look particularly well on her, I'm not going to notice or care if she's dressed in gray sweats on a cold day. If you really love a woman, I think you love her as you find her.
(Miklos is so cool! :-))
I'm 34, so I guess I'm in the 30-something demographic. When I was working I wore perfume every day, an extra bit of polish like lipstick or a good haircut. As a stay-at-home mom, I get shampoos and skin care products with a smell I like (lotions and such), but don't usually wear perfume. I do occasionally for special occasions or if I just feel like it.
I've been a scent every day girl ever since I was about 12 and found a sample of Je Reviens in the program of the first Broadway play I went to.
Not a lot of scent, but always some scent. Often just a spritz of Green Tea stuff between the ankle and knee. I like kinda walking through it.
An old buddy of mine used to laugh about it. Even when I had jobs where I wore workboots, overalls and a hard hat, he always knew I'd smell like a girl. (o.k. sometimes a girl smelling of Davidoff's Cool Water for Men, but a girl)
I prefer to not smell anything when I approach someone, even perfume.
I just started wearing cologne again. I was at the mall and passed a shop, and picked up a bottle.
Is 15 sprays good?
Miklos7 wrote:No one has mentioned the very ancient notion--perhaps, still popular in France, one of the countries that believed most strongly in it--that every woman (and, I suppose, every man) has her own natural perfume, and that scent is what's more attractive than any manufactured fragrance. Recent research into pheromones supports this idea. I cannot recall the French word for the practice, but I have read in a number of places over the years that French women who were going to be seeing a man they really wanted to attract, would, with their fingers, dot their own scent behind their ears, at the back of their necks, and behind their knees. Supposedly, the effect is twofold. The guy relates, consciously, to the woman's own fragrance and then, subconsciously, to the sex pheromones in that fragrance. I dunno.
That made me remember a scene from a book. A soldier (or prisoner in a labour camp?) has his luck with the ladies, and his commander, who doesn't, asks him for advice when he intends to go out and woo the girl he's been after. The young man tells him, conspiratively (but also to take the piss out of the man) that what he always does is he dabs some of his sweat from underneath his armpit on his face - and it always works, the women fall for him, just like that. So the commander goes off and then later returns to him, furiously - not only had it not worked, the girl had left him! Something like that.
Dont remember what book. Czech writer, that I know - it was a Czech story, set sometime under communism. Klima? Kundera?
