Gents, recently I noticed I have been thinking a lot more about fragrances and what may be a few good choices for me to try. I have been thinking of higher quality, slightly less mainstream scents. Let me set this up. The first thing I will tell you is that I will not buy any bottle of fragrance blind. I have found two nice decant shops in the perfumed court and decants.com. $3-15 gets you enough of any scent to at least get into trouble with and more than likely let you know if you want to explore it further. So truly, no blind buys for me.
I have already asked about two or three scents in other recent threads so I won't elabourate on those other than to mention them. I am leaning toward the houses of Guerlain and Chanel. Oh how safe, you say. Well, yes they are. I think they are probably a good choice for a bloke like me who is not well experienced in fragrance. I can tell you my typical scent 'family', if you really want to call it that, is British. Think Trumper, Pen's, etc. You get the idea. So this will be a different direction for me. So lets eat the apple one bite at a time. These two houses are historical, fairly consistent, and sometimes not so adventuresome. I get that. And accept it. I suspect from posts here I would lean toward Guerlain more so than Chanel. Simply because it seems to me that Chanel's scents are likely a lot more modern. Am I off base? If my suspicions are true, is there another house you would recommend to try along with Guerlain?
I have some decants coming already. Mouchoir de Monsieur, Pour Monsieur Concentree, and Egoiste. I have also read the recent thread about Guerlain Vetiver and it sounds like my sort of thing as well. A few questions. In the Guerlain house I see a LOT of internet chatter about L'instant de Guerlain and the same fragrance with the word 'extreme' attached to it. Both garner very positive reviews but again, this is very subjective. Thoughts on these? One thing I see associated with these scents is the world "gourmand". I ASSume this means a food type scent. Yes/no? I can tell you I don't want to smell like a chocolate bar. Food scents are dicey with me. Habit Rouge. Reviews for it are all over the place. I see it described as old man, fusty, superb, sweet dust, etc. Truly all over the place. I ask because unlike most Guerlain scents I easily found a bottle of the edt on Amazon for fifty odd dollars. Pretty reasonable but again, I won't buy blind. I have also come to appreciate floral scents as long as they are deep(I don't know how to explain/express it any better) and well blended. I do not want to smell of 'bluebells' but something like Floris 89 with its rose blast and sandalwood base are great. If any of you have sniffed Mystic Water Viola di Bosco(violet of the woods I think) then you know what I mean. They are not pure floral.
Last but not least. Scents I do not like. These "oceanic" scents. I won't belabour the point other than to say they are out. I do not want to smell of cotton candy, sugar or a fresh stream. So lay some suggestions on me and correct me wherever necessary. Thanks gents and sorry to be long.
Cheers, Todd
I have already asked about two or three scents in other recent threads so I won't elabourate on those other than to mention them. I am leaning toward the houses of Guerlain and Chanel. Oh how safe, you say. Well, yes they are. I think they are probably a good choice for a bloke like me who is not well experienced in fragrance. I can tell you my typical scent 'family', if you really want to call it that, is British. Think Trumper, Pen's, etc. You get the idea. So this will be a different direction for me. So lets eat the apple one bite at a time. These two houses are historical, fairly consistent, and sometimes not so adventuresome. I get that. And accept it. I suspect from posts here I would lean toward Guerlain more so than Chanel. Simply because it seems to me that Chanel's scents are likely a lot more modern. Am I off base? If my suspicions are true, is there another house you would recommend to try along with Guerlain?
I have some decants coming already. Mouchoir de Monsieur, Pour Monsieur Concentree, and Egoiste. I have also read the recent thread about Guerlain Vetiver and it sounds like my sort of thing as well. A few questions. In the Guerlain house I see a LOT of internet chatter about L'instant de Guerlain and the same fragrance with the word 'extreme' attached to it. Both garner very positive reviews but again, this is very subjective. Thoughts on these? One thing I see associated with these scents is the world "gourmand". I ASSume this means a food type scent. Yes/no? I can tell you I don't want to smell like a chocolate bar. Food scents are dicey with me. Habit Rouge. Reviews for it are all over the place. I see it described as old man, fusty, superb, sweet dust, etc. Truly all over the place. I ask because unlike most Guerlain scents I easily found a bottle of the edt on Amazon for fifty odd dollars. Pretty reasonable but again, I won't buy blind. I have also come to appreciate floral scents as long as they are deep(I don't know how to explain/express it any better) and well blended. I do not want to smell of 'bluebells' but something like Floris 89 with its rose blast and sandalwood base are great. If any of you have sniffed Mystic Water Viola di Bosco(violet of the woods I think) then you know what I mean. They are not pure floral.
Last but not least. Scents I do not like. These "oceanic" scents. I won't belabour the point other than to say they are out. I do not want to smell of cotton candy, sugar or a fresh stream. So lay some suggestions on me and correct me wherever necessary. Thanks gents and sorry to be long.
Cheers, Todd
Great scent. It starts with a fresh lime/citrus scent this turns into this wonderful cedar/ vetiver scent. Simply great stuff. It lasts a long time and does not enter the room before you do. 
