If you are a fumehead, you may hang out on perfume blogs, shop at FragranceNet.com and believe that all the world can be divided into people who do and people who don’t like the smell of cumin. But if you are hearing of fumeheads for only the first time and confine your Web ramblings to sports sites and Ticketmaster, you may think that people can be divided into those who do and those who don’t care about perfume.
— Fumehead? From Splitting Hairs at the New York Times. Note that the article is not otherwise about perfume. Many thanks to SuddenlyInexplicably for the link!
I dunno about other ‘fumeheads’ but I rarely buy perfume at the web place.
I only buy fragrance online for the most part. thats where the most competitive prices are. if you buy at the dept store, you’re pretty much getting ripped off.
Rictor, I’ll have to start checking that place out more !
I object to the term “fumehead” altogether. Yuck.
it makes it sound like some one wearing ill-fitting, less than clean clothing, all haggard and hanging out in an alley trying to score a “sniff” …
Hey, my clothes are perfectly clean!
but haggard and hanging out in the alley to score a sniff is possible?
But Daisy, I’m pretty sure we would hang out in alleys to score a sniff of something HTF.
I completely agree, Robin! Where in the world did the author get the term “fumehead”? I’ve certainly never heard it before. And it’s just a horrible word. Honestly, if someone is going to write even a short blurb about “us”, said-author should at least do some real research. How insulting!
Don’t know…some blog or another might be using that term, so would not assume the author made it up. Whatever though, it’s pretty awful.
Katie Puckrik uses that term all the time. It’s not my favorite, but I don’t find it offensive. It’s obviously meant to be playful.
Ah, thanks! No, I don’t find it offensive either. Just don’t like it
Totally. It sounds like we all sit around huffing fragrance out of brown paper bags. Yuck indeed.
Oh. You mean I’m the only one who does that?
Hahaha!
it’s only a problem when you start to snuffle up your left forearm whilst holding one nostril closed with a finger from the right arm…..
Aw, busted! Sometimes I huff the plastic bubble wrap if a decant leaks on the way to me… just imagine now: fumeheads all lined up next to our mailboxes with our noses down into those manilla mailers we all use……
so what about those of us who have a whole list of online purveyors of fragrance? oh that’s right—that’s beyond fumehead, and gone right to fume-addict…..but I’m ok with that.
I’ll stick with perfumista.
Perfumista sounds classier.
Thank you. (-:
Fumehead sounds like a synonym for huffer. I’m not liking that at all.
I thought the same thing. Maybe to some people, we are just as bad?
well, it’s not illegal or unhealthy so I imagine perfumistas are seen as more slightly eccentric…
That’s what I thought! I picutred some teenage kid in a basement.
It’s horrid. Although I know some people don’t like ‘perfumista’ either.
Funny, the term doesn’t bother me.
I thought maybe it was used by some Basenotes regulars? Doesn’t seem like the first time I’ve heard/read it used.
Could be!
I refer to myself as a perfumista. As to fumehead it reminds me of the ‘dumb blond’ tag. I agree it definitely gives off a druggie vibe. Culling all of the elegance from earnest perfumistas.
Yes, certainly does not sound elegant.
I don’t like ‘fumehead. But I don’t like perfumista either, though I do use that term, more often than not.
(perfumista sounds like a fashionista’s sibling…shudder….)
I would like to call myself a perfume-amateur. And aim at being connaisseur.
Does it sound too snob?
Well, if Robin will starts giving out badges, I want perfume-connaisseur written over mine, please!
With my avatar and the NST flower logo!
LOL — but that is too long to type! Come to think of it, so is perfumista. We need a shorter term.
I tend to just go with hedonist, myself.
HA — that works!
I refer to myself as a perfume collector, because that term doesn’t conjure up visions of me standing by my mailbox ripping open a padded envelope with my teeth. **is ashamed**
Oy – teeth and keys – it all counts! But that’s what I say too. I am a perfume collector – it makes more sense to my family and the uninitiated to say you collect something. And helps explain the leagues of samples, decants, bottles, charts, graphs, color coding, etc…………. You are not insane if you collect something!
Hilarious!
Perhaps aromaphile or osmiphile would work?
I like it! I’ve just referred to myself as a sensualist. Or a sensualiste when the mood strikes.
oooo or how about scentualist?
As is obvious, I chose Scentualist for both the play on words and the description. I suppose hedonist would work as well, but ‘fumehead’ just conjures up all the chemically liberated kids in my class who aspired to only find cheaper, home-made methods of earning such a name and who often showed up to school bombed out of their heads. So yes, ‘fumehead’ is not how I describe myself. *cringe*
If I really need to justify it (“Sweetie! Parfum1 is having another 20% off sale!”), I say I am a fragrance collector with an almost absurd love of scented toiletries and candles as well.
I also love Fragrancenet but find Scentiments can be more competitively priced. Department stores are only if I feel the impulse to leave with a frag that isn’t much cheaper online and to give my favorite saleslady the sale since she takes great care of me and gets my passion for perfume.
aromaphile might be okay….but osmiphile sounds a little too much like the police have your address on file….
Actually, they both sort of sound like paraphilias. I am thinking that aromaphile sounds like the smelling version of frottage. (While on the topic, has anyone ever caught someone trying to surreptitiously smell them, like in a store or on a crowded bus? It’s really creepy. Saying “you smell nice,” or “what’s that you’re wearing?” is ok, standing behind someone and inhaling deeply is not.)
@mskittyv
I wear perfume everyday, free of creepy experiences.
Ms. Kitty… I’m sure it can be creepy, but I would find it kind of flattering. It sounds hilarious, but no, I’ve never had someone doing that (that I KNOW of).
I’ve sort of done a MUCH MORE ELEGANT version of that maneuver if I catch a nice smell coming from someone and they walk by me, I’ll inhale more deeply (not audibly!) to try to get a better sense of what it is they’re wearing. Now and then I’ll ask someone what they’re wearing… almost did it just a day or two ago.
Fumehead is a particularly awful term, I find. I’m not crazy either about perfumista, but the new “perfumisto” I find barbaric — perfumista comes from fashionista, itself a Spanglish term: the noun/adjective, for instant “comunista” (ie communist), always ends with an “a” so it’s got no business ending with an “o”.
I tend to say “perfume lover” now in English and “amoureux des parfums” or “amateur de parfums” in French. Longer than perfumista but at least no Spanish, English or French word is harmed in the process.
All this time I thought Fashionista came from Sandanista, but it makes sense that it would come from Comunista. I thought Fashionista was a gently mocking tongue in cheek term (like, what revolution are they fighting?) so I wouldn’t necessarily identify as a perfumista, but I thought it was catchy.
Now ‘fumehead – I only get called that when I’m listening to Night of the Living Bass Heads with a bottle of Fracas in a paper bag.
Sandinista too, as in “partisan of Sandino”… “-ista” is Spanish for the suffix “-ist”, so it’s just a way of forming a word. “Taxista” is “cab driver”, so it’s not necessarily linked to any revolution.
In addition to Spanish, also Italian in origin (cf. the prevalence of the occupation of coffee “barista”, male or female). I too have a pet peeve about the “-o” ending on ‘perfumisto’…
Perfumista, yes, not crazy about it but don’t hate it and it’s already widely used, so I’ll live with it.
Do NOT like perfumisto, or perfumeo (which I’ve also seen used).
I adore “perfumanity” because it sounds so absurd, but it doesn’t fill quite the same purpose.
If I called myself what others do, it would be “that nutjob that never shuts up about perfume and spends more than she makes in a year on it.”
I still prefer perfumista. Or plain old “nutjob” would work, I suppose.
Or how about “That smelly woman!”
Thankfully I have not been called that since the days I marinated in Dune. I recall being in a meeting once where someone cracked a door, even though it was freezing cold in the room to begin with. I knew it was because of me. That was also the start of my “no more than 3 sprays” rule.
I’ve had someone who was sitting beside me mumble expletives because of the perfume I was wearing. I threw the bottle away that day. That was when I was an amateur perfumista though, my nose is expert now. I know what works with my body chemistry; I’ve given away gorgeous scents that turned rancid on me, but was lovely on other folks. Ah, time (sigh)
HA — yeah, “that nutjob” is probably how I’m referred to also.
Oh I totally know what you mean! It drives me crazy how all the BN boys call themselves perfumistos. It sounds wrong and overly masculinist. Certainly there are better ways to assert one’s maleness.
Many (some?) men into perfume (if they *call* it perfume) seem to develop many coping techniques for asserting their maleness. Pity.
“There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don’t.” — Robert Benchley
LOL! Most excellent, thanks.
Right on!
Gulp! Tiptoeing into the comments here to claim credit/accept blame for coining the term “fumehead”. When I started doing my YouTube fragrance reviews in 2008, I wanted an inclusive term for perfume fans, and felt that “perfumista” sounded a bit precious, and also played out on account of “fashionista” now being a cliché. Also, it implied exclusion of the menfolk, what with the “a” ending.
I hit on “fumehead” as a variation on “gearhead” (car fanatics), or “deadhead” (Grateful Dead zealots), and liked the fact that “fume” was both an abbreviation for “perfume”, as well as suggesting the huffing that goes on when exploring new scents.
It is, as Occhineri observed, a playful term , one I use to make our rarified world of connoisseurs more accessible to my younger viewers, as well as to celebrate our fragrance “addiction” in a light-hearted way. ‘Cuz when you think about it, we’re really not so far from the paper-bag snorfers – all those gorgeous scents that give us such delirious pleasure. Right, fumies?
Sticking my nose down my shirt all day isn’t any different, no.
Well, in all fairness, as I admit above, I do “huff” the plastic bubble wrap if fragrance leaks in transit….. If there was a dark alley nearby with samples of Frederic Malle in paper bags, I am sure I’d be there sniffing away!
Ann, this imagery is cracking me up! A dark alley with samples of Frederic Malle fragrances in paper bags — brilliant.
Paper strips, paper bags…what’s the difference? It would be awesome!!
in case you hadn’t guessed: we have little or no shame….
Well, I can see that your word choice did make sense. But still, ‘Fumehead’ does have kind of an unattractive ring to it. Fumefan perhaps? Someone here @ NST came up with ‘Fraghag’ one time, which is hilarious – but also has a rather unpleasant sound. I mean, I wouldn’t want to tell my mother in law, for instance, that I’m a ‘fraghag’. I do like ‘Perfumista’, but it would be nice to have a less chichi sounding term. I know that one of the creative types here can some up with something.
Well, the “head” suffix is a pretty standard way to indicate one is an aficionado of something, and “fume” is a punny double entendre for both perfume as well as an indication of what trails out of the bottle. “Fumefan” is fun and pithy, too.
I also like “fumies” for its playfulness and similar feel and meaning to “foodies”.
Yep, ‘Fumie’ is cute.
I don’t actually mind fumehead. Perfumista seems less obscure but I have trouble identifying with that term for the reason you note. I like to think of myself as a LLLLLanvin Lover, actually
Frag hag *is* hilarious, though it has negative connotations, perhpas too much so. I personally stick to “fraggle” if I have to, with the added bonus of helping people remember the awesome 80’s cartoon Fraggles.
Frag Hag originally came out of MakeupAlley, I think, but was later used on the Beauty Bash boards to make fun of people on MakeupAlley…so I think it has definite negative connotations.
Hey, you should use whatever term you want, don’t mind us!
Well, I never can quite call myself a perfumista, because to me it connotes a bit more expertness than I have. I’m sorry to say I pretty much have designated myself a perfume ho.
LOL Tama, same reasoning as mine. I don’t know anything… except what I like. I can’t tell you if something is “well done” or “cutting edge” or “brilliant”, but I actually don’t care. (Which I suppose begs the question, what am I doing here?)
Eh. It’s an art, it’s subjective. No one’s an expert, and everyone’s an expert.
Interesting. To me, the term does not connote any sort of authority, more like a measure of just how addicted you are.
Fumehead reminds me of “petrolhead” (car enthusiast) or even worse a petrol/glue sniffer- not the best connotation. There must be a better word!
I have never heard petrolhead either…that really does sound like a “problem” more than an affinity.
Robin, surprised you didn’t mention the author of that the NYT article is Virginia Heffernan, a dedicated fumehead…uh, perfumitrix…uh, scentsualist…uh, classy lady who only inhales fragrances delicately and in refined moderation and can stop anytime she wants to…uh, I give up! Anyway, Virginia’s the one who gave your blog a nice plug two years ago in the Times with this piece:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/magazine/16wwln-medium-t.html
Sorry to say I did not remember the name — I have the memory skills of a head of cabbage, sadly.
I think I’m going to go with “perfumitrix”. People already think I’m wacky because I walk around inviting them to smell me.
Maybe one of the reasons I don’t mind “fumehead” is because I’ve commonly heard “gearhead” in different contexts.
I don’t mind it either – but being a band nerd and scifi nerd has inured me to being worried about what other people think of my odd habits. I usually think of my self as a perfume aficionado though – but that’s too long to type and/or say, so I stick with perfumista or fumehead.
How about “fragophile”? Or does that invoke visions of snuggling with creatures from Fraggle Rock?
Yeah, not loving that one either! Anyway, I think perfumista is too widely used to get displaced now.