Another "used" poll returning by popular demand — this one originally appeared in 2009.
The question: name a perfume that you disliked on the first try, loved on a later try.
How many tries did it take? And tell us how you decide what will get another chance.
Back in 2009, I said that I used to try (almost) everything 3 or more times before I gave up, but that because of the number of new releases, I was giving up sooner than I had used to. Now, forget it. Some fragrances get a few minutes on a blotter and that's it. There just isn't time to give everything a fair shake.
That might explain why I listed two perfumes in 2009 that I fell in love with on later tries — Diptyque Philosykos and Frederic Malle Une Rose — but I can't think of a single recent example.
Note: image is Jostling for Position by Liamfm at flickr; some rights reserved.
Hello, all. The one that comes immediately to mind for me is Hermes Eau Claire des Merveilles. When I first tried it, I found it generic and perfumey, just overall unattractive. I have no idea if it was due to testing something else at the same time (an act I am frequently guilty of) or my nose was just off that day.
I later tried again on a whim when someone included a sample in a swap package. I loved it! It was my main go-to fragrance all last summer and I still find it works for every situation and just about every weather (though I usually prefer something richer/deeper when it’s below 0). I’d say it’s now in my top 5. That’s quite a turn-around!
You know, same here — that one is a sleeper, definitely.
Oh … I hated ANGEL when it launched in ’92, I did not even bother to try it again for many years. BUT suddenly I really like it after how long? 18 years … maybe it’s me who has changed or her formula … haha
I’d think it’s possibly the formula, it does not smell at all the same to me these days, and I preferred it before, but one’s loss is another’s gain 🙂
I am the same way now with Angel. I used to love it but there’s a woman I work with who wears it and it’s just not the same to me. Maybe it’s her skin, maybe it’s the formula. I don’t dislike it but it’s different.
My experience with Angel is as follows… I was curious because I had read a magazine article that described it as “Cocoa Puffs in a bottle” (for the record, Angel definitely is *not* Cocoa Puffs in a bottle; that honour belongs to CSP Amour de Cacao). The first time I tested it (late 90s?) I gave my wrist a healthy squirt, and I was appalled – I thought it was the most disgusting thing I had ever smelled, and it clung to my jacket for weeks. I stayed away for a long time until I ordered some stuff from a soap maker and she included a little tub of cream scented with an Angel knockoff. I then realized that as long as the dose is kept VERY VERY SMALL Angel can actually be a nice, warm, cozy scent.
For me I tend to finally “get” things when I smell them on other people. Lolita Lempicka I thought was too sweet; Eau des Merveilles I thought was too… inhuman or something… but in both cases, I encountered a friend smelling WONDERFUL and asked what they were wearing, and saw the fragrance in a whole new way!
That happens to me too, although more frequently I find that I love something on someone else and never really like it on me…
One notable now-love was a notable disaster at first sniff.
I tried Jacomo Silences in the fall, after a friend who knew of my love for Chanel No. 19 sent me a sample. I found it screechy, high-pitched, just hideous. Yappy and annoying. I firmly capped the sample and filed it in the “tried it, don’t like it” box.
But by spring I was craving green scents, and having tested and found wanting all the other green-scent samples in my possession, I picked Silences up again. This time it sang to me, eerie as mermaids singing on rocks, and waved its satin ribbons past my nose, rose-pink and blue-purple and silver-green, and I followed the song.
I can’t say, exactly, what the qualifications are for a second sniff. In this case it seems to have been desperation to satisfy a craving for green. In some cases it might be intrigue – as in, I didn’t LIKE it first go but it was unusual or compelling in some way (Memoir Woman was very much the “wow, this is so freakin’ weird I can’t figure it out” experience, and multiple wearings just made it more compelling).
The perfect green is so hard to find. I am still mourning Gobin Daude’s 2 perfect (for me) greens.
oh Mals, such a beautiful description in a poetic way, you made my day!
I don’t know that I have ever gone from outright dislike to love with a perfume. So far, everything I have come to love I at least liked OK the first time. The closest I have come would be something like SSS Champagne de Bois. The first time I smelled it I thought it was OK, but no great shakes. The next time I tried it I fell in love. I believe it was because the first try was in June, on a 90+ degree day, and it was just too heavy and thick for the Texas summer. The second try was in the winter, and it was perfect. I have a FB, but it is strictly for cool weather. I
f I really dislike something the first time, I will probably not bother to smell it again, as I am unlikely to change my mind. The only exceptions would be if something is a “classic”, in which case I may keep it and sniff it from time to time for reference ( I have a vial of Joy for that purpose). If I am unsure, I will probably give it 3 tries before I give up. If I perceive it to be a mismatch between the perfume and the weather (as with CdB), I will wait until a warmer/cooler/whatever day to try it again. Right now, however, I am struggling with one that might cause me to change my answer above, and that is SSS Nostalgie. I was really expecting to love this one from the notes and the pre-release discussion, but I do not. I don’t even really like it at all, but for some reason I keep going back and trying it again. Maybe one day I will finally “get” it.
Oh, and BTW, TPC is having a short-term sale today. You get 17% off everything in the store with code LUCKOFTHEIRISH, from 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. Central time, today only.
SSS CdB is one I hated but felt obligated to keep re-trying because of how many unsolicited compliments I would recieve when wearing it. Alas, I haven’t come around yet. It is certainly a strange experience to have people fawning over something you are wearing as it is simultaneously making you uncomfortable.
Thanks for the heads up on the sale!
Morning, Roses!
Sorry to hear that you aren’t enjoying Nostalgie. I really like it, but it is an odd scent, for sure. She’s trying to balance between old style and new, and maybe she’s not succeeding to your nose? I don’t have much experience with vintage frags, though, so even if there’s a huge disconnect, I wouldn’t know it.
Azuree-
Recently tried it for the first time and – yuck- big. bold, aldehyde-y, typical old-style department store fragrance.
Found I went to bed thinking about it and now crave it when the temperature warms a little- quite lovely and I love the smell it leaves on my sweaters.
That’s how a fragrance gets a second shot from me: I’m still thinking about it days or weeks later.
I’m the same way. Even something that leaves a strong negative impression (CdG Secretions Magnifique, for example) often draws me back to try it again.
Perhaps I should try Azuree again sometime. I just remember it smelling like black pepper and dry grass.
I keep trying to love, or even like, Azuree, but it keeps smacking me in the face with that aldehyde-iness. Someday, we’ll be ready for each other, I hope.
A recent re-sniff that I rather like now was Hermes Amber Narguille (the Nazgul)- when I first spritzed it on a few years back it about took my face off. But I have dabbed a friend’s sample a few times lately and think it is definitely discovery size worthy. (could be the dab vs. spray rather than a few extra punches in my perfumista card)
I can’t say enough good things about those 15 ml bottles. Thank you, Hermes.
There were two for me recently. Cuir de Russie I first tried on a warm day and just didn’t like the leather note. But I tried Daim Blonde and didn’t like the stewed fruit sweetness of it. Tried Bottega Venetta then went and tried Cuir de Russie again after probably 3 or 4 months. And promptly fell in love with it during a spell of cooler weather.
I tried Portrait of a Lady last spring. Well actually my daughter did. And that afternoon I kept picking up her arm and inhaling deeply. But when I tried the sample that same week, I was appalled at how different it seemed on my skin. The whole summer went by where I’d occasionally spray it on a card, but my opinion didn’t change. In the fall I tried it on skin and still didn’t really like it. Then I tried it maybe two more times. I figured I had the sample vial, I may as well try it until it was all gone. On a cold rainy day in late fall, I tried it again. And aha! That time it worked! I’ve fallen in love and it was my go to fragrance for cool days. As the weather warms up I find it doesn’t seem to work so well. We’re having a week here where winter weather has returned, so I will wear it some more until the weather starts to warm up again.
Not sure if it’s my nose or my skin that makes wearing these fragrances so tricky in warm weather.
And that is the key mystery about how we perceive perfume, to my mind. Is it the way your brain processes the messages from your nose? Or the way the perfume reacts on the skin? A bit of both perhaps. And seasonal changes do make a difference.
I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything as extreme as going from hate to love but there were a couple of perfumes which I simply didn’t quite connect to on the first sniff only to find myself swooning the next time. This happened with Cuir de Russie (can only attribute it to tired nose/overwhelmed brain and, perhaps, momentary madness) and AdP Profumo, for example.
Also, this is kind of on topic since it pertains a fragrance which shocked in the first couple of hours and then delighted thereon but I just wanted to share that I’m finally a happy owner of a bottle of Tubéreuse Criminelle! Really glad that I decided to pull the trigger when I did since it turned out that I got the last remaining bottle at the local stockist.
Lucky you! Enjoy that bottle.
Scents that I was quick to dismiss on a first sniff but ended up reaaaaally liking on a second or third try: Frapin 1270 (first I thought it was too fruity for me, but it isn’t!), Chanel No. 5 (I quickly dismissed it after smelling it on a blotter, when I started perfumistahood; now I can’t let go of my decant!), and Jeux de Peau (I seem to have gotten used to its butter note, although I obviously can’t wear it everyday). But in general my dislikes stay dislikes.
The other way around, though, is sadder. About six months ago Eau de Camille was almost HG-material, the perfect green floral. Now all I can smell is a synthetic urine scent. 🙁
Glad you’re liking N. 5… I find it so addictive. Balls about Eau de Camille!
It is! I’m having a hard time testing anything else you sent me! 🙂
It funny because I was so pissed when I accidently bought the blotter bottle, I thought I had bought a spray one. After a couple applications of dabbing it right on skin though I found I loved it even more than my previous spray experiences and I can’t imagine wearing it any other way now.
I think mine is Mitsouko, first time it was just too…everything, second time, I wasn’t sure but couldn’t stop sniffing it, now I love it but I don’t own any, and always fear people associate it with old ladies as it is SO classic, and I still wear knee-socks ha ha.
I cannot make myself love Mitsouko, yet. But I keep trying.
OT question, sorry: where do you get your decanting supplies? TPC doesn’t seem to offer 1 mL vials anymore? Nor anything sprayable and smaller than 8 mL? (I’m especially looking for places that ship to Canada…)
Accessories for Fragrance on eBay (user name is Seattle_4) offers a variety of decanting supplies, from 1 ml vials on up, at reasonable prices (25 1-ml vials are $7.19). The listing states worldwide shipping. You would have to contact the seller to inquire about shipping rates to Canada. I have ordered from this seller several times and have been very pleased with the service and the quality of the items offered.
Thanks, 50_Roses! I’ll check it out!
Seconding AFF! I get most of my supplies from them, but their prices on glass atomizers are a bit high (5ml, 10ml. etc.). However, many cheaper glass atomizers have crazy shipping fees or minimum purchases, so if you just need a few, AFF is the way to go. Their plastic atomizers are very well priced and they always ship quickly and include a few extras (funnels, pipettes, etc)..
Thanks!! Their webstore has a *ton* of stuff! Thanks for the tip!
Sonoma Scent studio sells empty glass 2.5ml spray vials for $0.70 each if you click on the “samples” heading and scroll down.
Thanks for the tip! I’m planning to get Tabac Aurea sometime soon, I guess I’ll add a few to my cart!
Vetiver Tonka. When I first tried it, I thought it just smelled like wet wool — in a very bad way. I had no idea why anyone would want to smell like this. Then, fast-forward a couple years, and I went to Guatemala for a workshop and met a woman there who was wearing this wonderful vetiver oil. I realized it reminded me of something I had a sample of, and while digging among my billions of samples, I found Vetiver Tonka and tried it again. It totally blossomed on me — it’s like suddenly VT and I clicked. It remains one of my top 5 scents.
Interesting, because originally I think it was supposed to represent some sort of fabric — now I can’t remember which.
I think Sel de Vetiver smells like wet wool! Accordingly, I hate it. Interestingly, it’s by Celine Ellena (wet wool must run in the family)
Tubereuse Criminelle. Though I’m still afraid to wear it in public.
🙂
I initially had a strong aversion to Hilde Solani Stecca. It smelt too green to me, but after leaving it on for a couple of hours, I found myself liking it and now I love it. I think it’s a lovely summer fragrance. Another one is Marc Jacobs Woman. I thought it smelt like synthetic grass (if there’s such a thing). It look about four hours before I changed my mind from strongly disliking it to quite liking it. It’s pleasant enough, but I can’t say that I love it.
Astroturf is the original fake grass
I know, but does it smell like Marc Jacobs Woman? The best way I could describe it is grass juice mixed with turpentine with a hint of rubber. Thankfully, that initial impression fades quickly.
Come to think about it, I don’t really know a perfume I hated for the first time and gave it another try some time later and fell in love with it. My perfume budget is really strict so I only buy those that I fell in love immediately, with the first sniff.
When I sample some perfume I write a short first impression on it on my pc so I can always recall that moment and decide if I want to check it again or not.
I used to be really good about keeping testing notes. Now I’m pretty lax about it.
I hated Chanel No. 5 forever. A couple years ago, I was in an antique shop and came across a couple (vintage?) minis of #5 and Coco. As a newly crowned Perfumista, I was thrilled with my $10 purchase but still couldn’t stand the scent. The lady at the counter even remarked that #5 was her favorite and I thought, “She’s just saying that because you’re *supposed* to like Chanel #5.” Yet, there I was purchasing something I hated because I thought I had to like it… and $5 was a good deal I couldn’t pass up.
Anyway, I tucked away my prizes hoping I’d one day appreciate them. A few months later, I got a cold and lost the ability to smell. After a day or two, I was searching out anything that would cut through and tried #5 again. I got a very faint whiff of something wonderful. After my cold cleared up, I could appreciate #5 in a whole new way. I purchased a bottle of vintage (pre-1951) #5 extrait (in the striped box!) which is simply divine. Eau Premiere is also in my rotation and I may love that version more than the modern EDT.
I had always hated alehydes (EL White Linen sent me coughing and crying from a room) but these days, I love them all.
My thought is that if your reaction is strong upon first contact, then chances are good that it will turn into love simply because the reaction is so visceral.
That’s a great story! Although I doubt I’ll end up loving Sécrétions Magnifiques anytime soon… 🙂
I think I more frequently experience a turnaround midway through a scent, after it’s topnotes wear off and reveal something beautiful in the heart–happened with the Infidels, which I initally wrote off because of the harsh, plastic-y urinal opening. A couple hours later I discovered its beautiful spicy-creaminess and now I can appreciate the opening too.
Yes, sometimes the dry down makes me learn to love the opening!
Fun topic! And one that’s been on my mind recently… I’ve been conducting an experiment to see if I could go from hating something to loving it using “Positive Review Therapy,” (only reading positive reviews of the scent), and it turns out… it’s not that hard 😉
A fragrance I did an complete 180 on was no. 5, which I finally “get.” And really enjoy in extrait!!!
It looks like No. 5 is a strong contender for “most likely to 180” today.
Yeah, it almost makes me want to just get a bottle, since chances are that I’ll end up appreciating it someday… 😉
I hated no 5 and now own a bottle. Go figure.
i didn’t like Chanel Coco when I first tried it. I thought it smelled old-fashioned and too powdery. But then recently I went to a mall with a friend and deliberately sprayed my hand with it. God, it smelled so good! I got beautiful orange blossom surrounded by warm amber with a hint of powder. Love!
I seem to like slightly medicinal scents – Coco being the first (it smells a little medicinal on me). Also, I dont get anything old-fashioned or vintage-like about it; its just wonderful. I can wear it even in hot weather which it seems to cut through…
I’ve been meaning to give Coco another shot. My initial reaction was much like yours, but it’s been a while now. Nothing I’d like more than to discover a new orange-blossom-and-amber scent!
Outright dislike turned to unbelievable love for me with:
Kenzo Jungle L’Elephant
&
L’Artisan Fleur de Narcisse
Jungle is a tough one, too.
Borneo. When I first sniffed it, I thought it smelled like dirt. I guess I hadn’t been to enough head shops to get the hippie associations that many get with patchouli…
Now, it’s all I wear as we count down the last few cold days before the weather starts warming up to spring.
I have given up on Borneo — I will never love it! But that was exactly what I thought of Philosykos — that it smelled like dirt. Now I love the smell of dirt, almost anywhere but Borneo 😉
When Paco Rabanne La Nuit was launched in 1985, I tried it, because I was trying literally everything then, and recoiled so hard i nearly fractured a vertebra. It was my benchmark for hideous, unwearable, unsellable things. A while ago I got a sample from The Perfumed Court, and I tried it last month: INSTANT LOVE. It is a filthy-animalic floral chypre, seriously raunchy, absolutely to my current taste: I understand why I hated it so much at the time, but my tastes have evolved in the last quarter century and now I wish I had a bottle.
Hermes Bel Ami was launched a year later, in 1986, and I tried and tried and tried to appreciate it but couldn’t: I didn’t hate it, exactly, but I couldn’t understand it. Recently I got a sample of the vintage (it’s still in production, but the modern version is reformulated, of course) from TPC, and I can’t understand what the big deal was: it’s offbeat and interesting, but very nice, absolutely wearable, not drastically different from any number of scents I’ve worn in the interim. I think it was just way ahead of its time.
Most of my favourites were not loves at first sniff.
Le Parfum de Thérèse
Aromatics Elixir
Songes
Manoumalia
Mon Parfum Chéri
and many many more.
Mostly if I am intrigued at first sniff, but not really in love, all will turn out well. Sometimes though it is love at first sniff and stays that way:
It happened to me with Sacrebleu, New York, Carnal Flower and Vamp.
It took me a while to come around to Aromatics Elixir, too. I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t sure it was something I wanted to wear. However, I did think it was interesting enough to warrant further experimentation, and now it’s among my favorites. Definitely agree that being “intrigued at first sniff” is a promising sign!
I thought I hated Aromatics Elixir but I find I keep trying it. I guess I think one day I will change my mind about it. It hasn’t grown on me yet but I think the fact that I keep attempting to like it is interesting.
The trick with AE is to under apply, and wait. The opening can be a bit harsh but the dry down is divine. Read Chandler Burr’s review of it. It is quite accurate.
http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/scent-notes-aromatics-elixir-by-clinique/
I happen to now love the opening as well, but that has taken me awhile.
Poodle, have you tried the new Perfumer’s Reserve version? It’s every bit as good as the original, but is somehow more approachable.
You beat me to it. I was pondering this yesterday, after finishing my reply to Poodle. I happen to prefer the original but the new extrait is wonderful, and much softer.
This is such an interesting topic. One that I bought without trying just because it was listed as a top choice by one of our dear experts was Bandit. The initial reaction was of disgust, but I keep trying. Now it’s just something that I might wear SOMEday if my ideas change. Yves S. Laurent’s In Love Again was strange and off-putting at first, but now it’s wonderful in hot weather. Coco, which I found much too strong and almost a scrubber, is fine with only a tiny drop or with an application from a cotton ball, not a direct spray.
Application definitely makes a difference. I have had the same experience with some of the Amouages. Ubar, for example, is absolutely gorgeous but very strong. One or two tiny drops from my mini bottle and I am in ecstasy. Any more than that and I feel as if I am smothering.
My most radical turn-around was on Prada’s Inf. de Iris: on first sniff it was hardly there and utterly anemic. Then at some point I tried Inf. de Homme. I really liked this, but everyone I asked thought it smelled terrible on me. Then, just cos it was next to Inf. de Iris on the shelf I tried that again – for some reason I rather liked it. I tested it a few more times and found it more and more compelling – like a drug! That is the only time I have ever bought a 100ml frag when other options are available. It just seems that it will ALWAYS be a staple for me. Even a spritz on my pillow before bed is deliriously good.
Basically I will retry a frag that I am initially neutral to, or initially disliked if it is very highly regarded by those who know a LOT about perfume.
I’m trying to understand what it is to appreciate a fragrance without actually liking it. For instance I can appreciate good writing without having a desire to read more by the same writer. That may be because I have some idea of the technicalities that go into it. For perfume, however, I am unable to do this. I either like it or dislike it – sometimes I like one of its stages but not another. I have no idea how to assess it in a more objective way – though I wish I did.
Merlin, I hear you about wanting to be able to appreciate perfumes that you don’t like. I wish I could put up with Shalimar long enough to figure it out and maybe get a better sense of why it doesn’t work for me, but my reaction is always ICK, get this stuff away from me! I have had better luck with appreciating scents that don’t evoke *quite* such a strong sense of yuck, though (Mary Greenwell Plum would be one such example.)
Also, I had the reverse experience with a Prada Infusion (the Fleur d’Oranger). I smelled it at a duty free store, thought it was just intoxicating, and promptly bought the largest bottle (which I then had to schlep around New Zealand for two weeks). But after a couple of months, Fd’O started to seem thin and boring, and I started getting the baby-aspirin effect. I think I still have this perfume only because I love the pretty box it came in (not that I couldn’t keep that and ditch the juice).
Caron’s FARNESIANA , I heard all of you talking about it and I had to try, I’m a go all in girl as I like so many other things. I’m loving SSS WOOD VIOLET and Costume National Scent II. My Fav is Perfumerie Generale’s INDOCHINE, it was a gift and I ordered some more but it never came. I loveAl Oud, L’Artisan, but that took a while. Orange Star wasn’t a winner until it felt warm outside. I love all of my 9 Serge Lutens. No questions asked but feminite du Bois is too much. Sacrebleu and Kiss me Tender I love, Carthusia took some getting used to. All these listed took some time but I came around. Thankfully!!
Harissa by CdG is never going to be pleasing to me. It smells like tomatoes, maybe in the deep summer but I doubt it. Anyone want to take it off my hands ???
Hell, I’ll take it if you don’t want it. I love the smell of tomato leaves.
Huh, I thought it was one of the tomato leaves perfumes for some reason but it doesn’t sound like it from looking at the notes. Not sure why I thought that or what I’m confusing it with.
When I first tried Bas de Soie I immediately put it in the category: Rich Lady’s Hand Cream. I kept trying it, though, and now it is a favourite spring fragrance.
I’m likely to give a perfume a second or third chance if there is something interesting or unique about it. I find that I may not like it or just not like it on me but I’ll try to understand what more knowledgeable, experienced perfumistas are getting from it.
The first three or four times I tried Traversee du Bosphore I couldn’t decide if I liked it, didn’t care for it at all, or just didn’t like it on me. Then one day I put it on just to finish up the sample and of course, I fell in love. I bought the large bottle later that weekl. For me it’s not an everyday scent but I’m in heaven each time I do wear it.
I had a similar experience with TdB. All the blogs were loving it and I just didn’t get it. I kept on trying though and one day – bam! I totally got it and managed to get a couple of decants. I love it in summer, and look forward to wearing it again this summer.
…when uncle T. gave me that Dior Addict Eau de Parfum as a Christmas present, I felt I would seem impatient opening it and sniffing it for the first time, so I preferred to wait to go home. I never had (by that time) a meeting with this thing “Addict”, and when I tried it first, I was deeply disappointed… The fragrance was quite far from my perfume preferences, I thought it was not for my age, too. A composition that was very strange to me, very complicate, maybe, I could not explain what… It took me a log time to be used to it, although when I was wearing it, my feeling was like as if I were wrapped in a mysterious veil, alluring, yet annoying…
Our relationship was of a love and hate, at the same time. To avoid any further thoughts, I gave it to my mother, but I still miss it. Maybe I should try some lighter version of it some time…
*You intrigued me about Diptique Philosykos! I am thinking of trying it immediately! louizkoul@gmail.com
The fragrance I hated then loved has to be Angel. For years whenever SAs asked me what kind of scents I enjoyed, after sharing, they would assume that Angel would be a nautral for me. Not so. I couldnt stand it on me. On my skin it screamed oh so LOUDLY! Last year I went to dinner with a friend and her perfume smelled lovely, of course it was Angel. I decided to give it another try. After many a google search on Angel on the various concentrations and a great review here on NST, I decided to blind buy Angel Liqueur de Parfum. Perfection!!! I finally found my Angel 🙂
A twist on the question is that Hermes Un Sur le Nil is one that I first loved, then hated, then loved again. When if first tested it a couple of years aog, I was crazy about it and knew I wanted it in my summer line up. When summer time came I went to test it again to confirm my love. Instead my reaction was “help I’m being smothered by mangoes in a hot humid climate.” I tested it a few times, and my second hate it response was consistent, though others would say they loved it on me. Again last year, for some reason, I got an inkling to buy it during one of the fragrance discounters 20% off sale. As soon as I sprayed it, it was love again! In fact I’m wearing it today and can’t stop smelling myself. Clearly last year was the year of the come back kid for me 🙂
FRACAS. It took me a while to think of it, because now it seems inconceivable that I was ever anything other than googly-eyed drooly-mouthed one hundred percent in love with it. But the first time I tried it, I was visiting a friend whose style and tastes are generally in sync with mine. She noticed that I’d packed a bottle of Black Orchid, and then mentioned that she’d discovered this amazing perfume called Fracas (which I’d never heard of) and offered to let me try it. I spritzed some onto a tissue and almost gagged. I didn’t have much experience with Big White Florals, and there was something about it that my nose read as decaying garbage.
But Fracas was forever branded into my memory, and a year or so later I was idly browsing in Sephora and again happened across the black bottle of apocalyptic BWF doom. I don’t know why I picked it up — but I did, and it was instant addiction. I bought a rollerball on the spot, and went back a couple weeks later for a FB. And I was naive enough about perfume that I saw no reason not to wear it everywhere and with everything (I think I had the good sense to apply it sparingly).
Kind of a funny postscript: When I went back for the FB, the SAs who were helping me started talking about Fracas. One of them was really into it, but the other had never smelled it before. When she sniffed it, she reacted much as I had the first time. I wonder if she’s since come around?
Shalimar – as a teenager, I encountered it as the fragrance of a character in a Truman Capote story and talked my mother into buying me the clock-shaped bottle with the pointed glass stopper. I hated it! Fast forward to The Guide where it is idolized by LT, and I tried it again, recoiled a bit, kept coming back to it, and won an inexpensive used boule bottle on ebay. That I LOVED, and it turned the key to other forms.
I also randomly retried my decant of Cartier XIII La Treizième Heure recently. It was so praised by respected reviewers initially that I wanted to love it but that tea note killed it for me. But on a drizzly weird prematurely spring day with no expectations, it really worked. I’ll have to see it I still like it the next time before I decide I need more. Hard to get around to retries though with so much stuff, I agree.
I bought an older bottle of Penhaligon’s Bluebell on ebay and when I first smelled it I thought it had gone bad – to my nose it was straight vinegar. Some time later I smelled it on someone else and liked it. Then I tried it on myself again and I started to come around. It wasn’t “off” at all, just took some getting used too. I think it wasn’t what I expected when I first bought it unsniffed.
Three come to mind for me:
Tea for Two – The first few times, I couldn’t get past the smokiness. I came across a sample recently and re-tried it. Big payoff…I finally got the lovely tea note I’d been wanting. Made sure to grab a bottle during the L’A sale, since they went and discontinued it 🙁
West Side – I remember being really disappointed by a lot of Bond scents when I went on a furious Bond sampling spree a few years back. At the time, I wasn’t into rose scents, and felt that West Side was too much. I put my sample aside and forgot about. A year or so ago, after I fell in love with Lyric, I decided to revisit some of the samples in my “rose” bin, and fell head over heels for West Side. It’s wine-dark rose to me with a lovely, rich, but not dominating vanilla base. Gorgeous. I wore the heck out of it this winter.
Mona di Orio Carnation – I am a big carnation fan, but when Mona’s Carnation appeared a few years ago, I was surprised to find not a lot of peppery carnation a la DSH Oeillet Rouge, and a little too much skank for me (I cannot pull off skank…it beats me into submission). I put it aside and settled for Amyitis instead. When Mona’s Les Nombres d’Or line came out, I was utterly smitten by Vanille and Oud, and decided to pull out my samples from her previous line. I promptly fell in love with Carnation: warm, rich, spicy, a bit dirty, but not the skank-fest that I remembered. I was lucky enough to get a bottle before it disappeared.
Still cannot get a single Chanel or Caron to work for me, but I guess the above is a reminder to keep trying them every so often….never say never!
I just bought Tea for Two as well and had a similar experience. I first sniffed my sample when I was getting over a cold and all I got was smoke. It smelled exactly like the liquid smoke from the grocery store that I use on BBQ ribs sometimes. Not something I’d ever want to wear. But something about it intrigued me and I kept sniffing and trying and I figured there had to be something to it for me not to toss it on the drawer and forget about it. Is still wasn’t sure it was love but the fact it was discontinued helped me pull the trigger and get a bottle. I am so glad I did. I love the stuff now. And I owe it all to Marjorie Rose for getting that sample to me.
I’ve never fallen in love with something I originally disliked. I’m trying hard to think of something……..but no! There are scents that I have been ambivalent or unimpressed with, and then been smitten. The most recents being Le Labo’s Tubereuse and Bigarade Concentree. I had samples of them, put them away, and in each case was suddenly grabbed randomly by the impulse to wear them. And have enjoyed both of them tremendously ever since!
Le Feu D’Issey is an interesting scent memory for me – I smelled it compulsively in department stores when it first came out, as I was so shocked by it. At the time, there was nothing as radical and ‘challenging’ in regular, commercial outlets and it fascinated me. I have not smelled or worn it since, and yet it is something I remember with such clarity and still to this day think of sometimes. Perhaps I should cough-up for a bottle online and try it again………what are anyone else’s feelings about Le Feu?!?!?
Hated Flower by Kenzo. Thought it was awful stuff. Just awful. Then last year hubby got me the Sephora 10 fragrance sample set with the coupon for a full bottle. Flower was one of the samples. I almost didn’t try it because I knew I didn’t like it but I thought maybe my tastes have changed a bit so I opened the vial and dabbed it on. It was the last sample of the set for me to try. I totally loved it. Ended up with a full bottle and I am almost embarrassed to say I even bought a flanker of it. It’s totally not me and way too powdery, but I love it when I’m at home and needing the perfume equivalent of a fuzzy blanket.
My closest experience to this was with L’Artisan’s Havane Vanille. I don’t like rum and don’t like cigars and don’t like vanilla scents. When it came out there were many raves and I was very skeptical. I tried it once or twice and thought ‘Yuck, so sweet.” But then I kept sniffing myself and finally bought a FB. Since I still had the nice box to pack it in, I took it along in my luggage as just about my only perfume on a trip to Australia last fall (spring/summer down there) and I became utterly addicted to it. It’s such a wonderful scent in the warm weather. Mmmm. Now if I wear it I also have a lot of wonderful associations with it.
For me it was Amaranthine. At first, it just seemed like yet another pretty orange blossom scent and I didn’t get what all the fuss was about. A few months ago I was revisiting some old samples, and there it was, sitting all on its own (I group all my samples by house and this was the only one that had piqued my interest) so I gave it another try. And then all the sweet milky, musky creaminess kicked in and now I’m head over heels for it!
Oh, and Chanel No5 Eau Premiere. I found myself spritzing it every time I went through Airport Duty Free, so I finally gave in and bought myself the cute little refillable purse spray.
I know its OT, but I was wondering anyone knows the answer to this. I recently bought Baiser de Vole, as I was looking for a lily fragrance. I’m thinking, however, that it may be best to keep it for spring as we are now heading into Autumn here. Is it better then to keep it sealed and wrapped in its box until I am ready to use it for the season? Or, is it ok to open and use on occasion? Im wondering in terms of the perfume’s longevity – does it age faster once opened (I keep my frags in a closed draw where it is cool-ish. Unopened it would go into a similar draw. Any advice would be appreciated!
If you mean that you expect to pretty well use it up by the end of the summer, it should be fine to open it now and wear it once in a while during the fall and winter. You may find you like it in cooler weather, and you never know for sure until you try it. Just about any perfume should keep for at least a year or two (and probably longer) after being opened. I have heard of a few exceptions, such as AG Petite Cherie, but they seem to be mercifully rare. It is very unlikely that your perfume will spoil within a few months of opening unless you store it under very bright light or in a very warm spot, such as in a bathroom or kitchen, or you get some sort of major contamination into the bottle. A closed drawer in a cool room sounds perfect. I personally have bottles that are 20 or 30 years old and that still smell fine, and I don’t take any extraordinary precautions with them.
Merlin, I used to store my perfumes in the refrigerator until I had too many for that to work. (One cannot live on perfume alone!) Even without refrigeration, they seem to be OK even after three or four years. I do keep them in their boxes and in a dark place.
I was sure I didn’t have such a scent, but reading above, I guess there were a few that I just didn’t get at first sniff: Amaranthine, Manoumalia, Traversee du Bosphore come to mind. Now I adore all three and wore them last summer.
A more common experience for me is falling hard for something and it slowly falls into the “meh” category. Sadly, this happens more often than I’d like…
like emily, for me fracas is the one. Years ago, pre-perfumistahood, my signature scents were marc jacobs and michael kors. I knew I loved gardenia and tuberose so I tried fracas after hearing that it fell in the same category. I immediately recoiled after sniffing it and could not believe how it could have any similarities to my beloved scents. Now years later, I tried it again and I understand that fracas just has a sharp opening but really is a masterpiece of white flowers.
About a year ago, I got samples of Tubereuse Criminelle, Carnal Flower and Beyond Love; well, the TC was so amazing to me I became obsessed with it! CF was also super nice and I put it on my wish list, however, BL got only an honorable mention at that time. Now, a year later (and having obtained the other two) I revisited that sample of BL and WOW! It is truly a case of beyond love for me now. Sweeter than the other two, I find it addictive with its’ Red Vine note mixed with a gorgeous tuberose. It’s no less good than the other two and they are all so different I’m excited to own them all.
Dior Fahrenheit and Mugler A*Men are my two most dramatic 180s. Both of them once struck me as unholy chemical stews unfit for exposure to human beings – Fahrenheit with its lawnmower accord, and A*Men with its burnt coffee and lavender room spray fighting for the remote – and both eventually charmed their way into my heart. Angel, on the other hand, which everyone and her mother cites as a “learn to love” scent, I adored at first spritz. Maybe I’ve become so accustomed to its knockoffs that Angel’s innate weirdness doesn’t faze me; I’m sure if I’d smelled it in 1992 I would have been gobsmacked.
I hated Iris 39 the first few tries but then one day it just clicked, and it’s now one of my favorite iris scents besides Chanel’s No 19. The other scent I hated was SL’s Daim Blonde, but then I gave it a wearing when it was very cool and dry and the beautiful suede note opened up and it wasn’ so cloying. It’s now one of my favorite suede scents.
I’m wearing one right now! I expected to love Azemour because of reviews and found the top notes to be not at all what I had imagined (or the bottom notes, really). But it was compelling enough to come back to and then, just as I was deciding to get rid of it the light dawned….love it now.
Hi friends! Thanks again for helping me look for a new signaturescent first, still testing-testing.
About this test…I found an old ‘love’ I used to wear when I worked for a company selling italian fragrances–classic la perla.i completely forgot how gorgious this was. Now, bad news…A new bottle and package is on it’s way..you know what that means.And, to forgot the bad memories I have with the company, i would looooove a niche scent close to la perla classic..I tried paloma picasso but it’s too ehh…pfew..to me, haha.any ideas???have a nice smellin’ day!!!
Issey Miyake when it first came out seemed light and interesting until I went somewhere on Japan airlines. The headache I had intensified and it seemed like everyone on the plane was wearing the stuff. If I never smell it again, I won’t miss a molecule.
Coco is the first one that comes to mind. I really didn’t like it at all, I’m hoping that someday I will come around to classic #5, although I own and love the Eau Premiere version. I tried every concentration of Coco and all of them were scrubbers. Then one day, at Nordstrom, it just clicked. I don’t actually love it, but I understand it.
As others have said, it usually works the other way – I use something so much that I start to perceive one element that I don’t like. Then that element becomes the focal point for me. Then it goes on Ebay. The two of these that hurt the most was Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir and Prada Infusion d’Iris.
Shalimar, L’Heure Bleue, and Mitsouko all took many tries before I finally “got” them. Rochas Femme I tested from a sample, dismissed it and put it away. Months later, I tried it again, and it was love!
A little late here: my biggie is Chanel No 22. It was always just waay too much, too severe, too heavy,too thick, too much incense, too much aldehydes, etc. I’ve tried it off and on at least 15+ times the past 4 years. Suddenly this winter I get a gratis sample from Nordies Seattle, and there is magic. I get this lovely, elegant, nuanced rose drifting on top an architecturally sound structure of woods and aldehydes. I’ve worn my sample out and it is only with severe restraint that I’ve not bought a full bottle. You just never know.