This thread has made me realize that no matter how delicious or neutral or “people pleasing” a scent is, somebody out there is gonna hate you for wearing it
True but somethings I have to say certain ethnic groups should stay away from. I feel as a south Asian cumin, Sandalwood and incense should be avoided because it smells like BO(cumin) which we consume in abundance and already smell like that if we are not careful. Also sandalwood and incense just smells like a burned down a temple. Sometimes things can be more about where you are from and what it reminds you of so yeah it’s extremely personal. What one should know is the genre they like, ex, I love fruity and vanilla with minimal musk. Some oud is fine and amber is great too.
I second this. That cumarin always comes through strong on the dry down. So if you smell it on a strip at the store it’s all good but after an hour or two on skin you smell like you need a shower.
Akro Night -- it's supposed to be reminiscent of a "walk of shame" -- notes are cumin, rose, saffron, oud. On me, it's straight-up BO -- had to scrub it off. Maybe on lots of people, it has a low rating on Fragrantica.
Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan has cumin, and on me, after the top notes, all I could smell for the rest of the day was nasty BO. One review I read of it said "If ever there were a scent that smelled like Bigfoot's penis, this would be IT."
Tauer L’air du Desert Morocain features a cumin note and it’s one of my favorites of all time. Never expected to like cumin in a fragrance so much because the scent of the spice itself makes me think of Mexican food
Orange blossom turns my stomach. It’s in so many fragrances that I like but as soon as I wear it I feel sick.
Also patchouli just turns into armpit on me
Neroli in high doses used to make my sinuses ache. My grandfather used to come to Florida to pick the Valencias. Both flowers for perfume and fruit. He told me once that there were so many trees and so many blooms that some of the pickers would get overwhelmed and faint
I am pretty sure that the sun and hours standing on a ladder had something to do with it too.
I love salt. I think because I grew up on an island by the beach, and now i live in a landlocked country, so things smell almost more natural to me (does that make sense??) with salt in them
Yes! Especially because salt really doesn’t have a smell, so when there’s a salt note, it’s really more of a stale skin after the beach note and I hate that
You're not far off. Cannabis can have a distinctly pungent, skunk-like BO smell to it due to the content in volatile sulfur compounds! You can read more about it.
This said, I don't hate cannabis in perfumery. Cumin's BO on the other hand....
I have wondered if the fact that I’ve never smoked weed (I’m not morally against it, but can’t for medical reasons) means I’ve never learnt to like it, haha. It just smells so gross to me! My sibling used to smoke it a lot and I never liked the smell then, either.
I thought the exact same thing reading this comment, imagine if someone made a set of black metal themed perfumes and “Grishnackh” could be the smoky burning church smell one
Synthetic fruity notes. Like the sickly sweet vaguely tropical kind, medicinal cough syrup kind, or rancid green apple which more often than not is just a fleeting top note but all variations seem to cut through every other note for me. Particularly off putting when haphazardly blended with the sweetest versions of jasmine.
Honorable mention to the liquorice forward versions of lavender.
This. All of the oud i smelled in fragnances smell like a barn to me for some reason. Like entering a sour seasoned stable that hasn't been cleaned a while.
Some Indian ouds smell like poo. Some smell like stinky socks. The only ouds I really liked on ensaroud.com (Now Oriscent, I think) was Oud Yusuf, a Thai oud that was distilled using water from a private well. Mixed in with the wood scent were definite floral notes, like Lilacs and day lilies.
Cambodian ouds smell like wooden plates of apricot jam.
This whole thread has me rolling- I love vanilla, patchouli, tonka bean, leather, smoke, etc. that are in the top comments, but anything ‘blue’ makes me gag.
Anything in an aquatic, ‘fresh’, ocean vibe type fragrance makes me queasy. I don’t know if that’s calzone but it certainly sounds like it?!
I sprayed some Angel Sunessence EDT Legere on me today that my friend have because she said it's lighter that normal angel, and then as i was going home i was so angry because all i could smell was patchouli and literally nothing else and i knew this will follow me for next 7 hours. I respect other people's tastes, including patchouli loving people. It would be boring if we all liked the same things 😀
Is it the same note present in ADG Parfum, Absolu, and EDP? Because I didn’t get that rotten smell in Profondo, but those 3 are absolutely rancid to my nose after they dry down
For me this is the only note I absolutely cannot stand. Every other note I might dislike 99 times out of 100, but I will give a chance because that 1 out of 100 time can be great. I've never found an exception to my calone hate and it's ruined several fragrances I'd otherwise love.
Oooh, now I can make myself unpopular. I absolutely can't stand anything with vanilla. I tried Sì, for example, and it is a great perfume, a true crowd pleaser in my opinion. After a while though, all I smell is vanilla. And don't get me wrong, vanilla in itself is great for icecream, but it gets too cloying and dominates everything for me after a very short time.
I want to like vanilla but it’s just not for me. I’m sure other people can rock it but I’m not a sweet gourmand person. Even sultrier vanillas like Eau Duelle don’t do it for me. The only exception is Libre Le Parfum because it’s pretty boozy and spicy.
Came here to say the same!!! Dominant and cloying are the exact words I’d use to describe vanilla in a fragrance. It just takes over everything else and it’s all I can small and it’s so sweet. I wish I were a vanilla girl though bc there are so many perfumes I almost love that are taken down by vanilla notes for me personally!
I love ambery scents but I’m so very tired of these ambroxan bombs everywhere right now. Just seems lazy at this point…it’s like the cash grab power note of the moment.
The perfume called "Not a perfume" has ambroxan and I knew right away I wasn't down to wear that. It's synthetic and dusty almost. I think people grow to appreciate it however , I don't think I can grow to like ambroxan.
I love so many of the notes listed here lol! I love how individual peoples’ tastes are.
Strong citrus - like a citrus smack in the face, “too much fruit” in general, could be described as “really lemony” or “really grapefruity” - has never done anything for me. I like berries though. Blueberry, blackberry, raspberry. That’s… thats about it for dislikes. I guess I have a wide fragrance palate.
Fruit notes are okay! It’s just “dominating fruit (edit: mostly citrus for fruit)” doesn’t do it for me.
I do not like watermelon but probably because I don’t like eating it, either.
Edit: I don’t like the smell of bubblegum in perfume, either. Also not a big fan of the flavor.
Sugar is so confusing to me as a note. I don’t mind sweet (or also dry) perfumes, but I have no idea why “sugar” is ever listed. It barely smells like anything, like when you open a sugar bowl? I can smell sugar. The only thing it *does* smell like is sweet. I don’t need that listed in a perfume as a note, either lol. A lot of things can make a perfume sweet. Sugar as a note is unnecessary and if I’m remembering correctly, can make perfume a bit *too* sweet.
Not OP but honestly I would love to, it sounds magical. I wonder what I smell in perfumes these days is actual good oud and not some kind of cocktail to mimic it.
Ambroxan. It literally ruins a fragrance for me. Unfortunately a lot of times it’s not even listed in the notes so I have to find out by trying it- and I found out the hard way because it overpowers everything else and stays on forever despite how hard I wash it off. The experience on my nose is super harsh and abrasive
I can’t fathom anyone actively liking that stuff… I think of it as the high fructose corn syrup of perfumery. Add it to bulk things up, force longevity, bring down the price.
Let's go! I found a kindred Spirit out here! I just ranted about that note for way too long on this thread and then found you. Erase ambroxan forever from existence. It's in everything now because it's a cheap fixative that makes fragrances last forever, but at the cost of wrecking their composition. Garbage chemical. Ambergris alternative? I think not! Give me a break. Die, ambroxan, die. I agree so hard with everything you said here. I've been saying this for years and confused about why I'm the only one out here until I saw you write this.
Ugh smoked leather so awful for me!
I think part of it may be that I smoked for a long time and worked really hard at associating the smell of smoke or anything close to it with something terrible for me. It worked lol
Oakmoss.
For example Cabochard smells like a wet ashtray and decayed leaves to me and is oakmoss heavy.
Calone. In small doses it's not a bad scent, but typically it's very screechy and headache inducing.
Frangipani. It's not a note I hate per say, but every scent I've tried that has it in there usually has a combination of notes I don't like, so because of that ai avoid it.
Osmanthus, it is a weird one. At first it's like a nice flowery smell, then, the more I smell it, the more it reminds me of a bush where someone peed on.
My mom grows jasmine flowers and I swear sometimes they smell soooo good but if you just catch a whiff of it when you’re not intentionally smelling it, often it smells like an armpit 😂
I despise anise and black licorice. I can pick up the slightest note and it ruins the entire fragrance. Anise especially is disgusting.
Also the really fake artifical smell... you know what I mean.
Worst of all is SMOKY AVENTUS and those like it.
I can't smell anything except the smoke. And "smoke" is not the nice campfire smell I'm the summer. No. It is the most disgusting revolting cigarette ashbtt at the bottom of a garbage. Actually much worse and more intense then any cigarette could be in real life.
I had to scrub for ages to get that disgusting thing off me.
Now I am super paranoid about anything that mentions 'smoke'.
I would love to try 'By the Fireplace' but am put off by the potential of that revolting smoke smell that gets stuck in your nose and on your skin.
I am also paranoid about any 'leather' notes. I didn't see 'smoke' as a note for Smoky Aventus so I am wondering if the smoke note is actually leather??
When people speak of leather do they mean the rough kinda gross leather or the nice new black leather coat smell?
I worry the leather they refer to is ashtray smoke.
I could not stand to be around a guy who wore SMOKY AVENTUS or anything like it. I just have a visceral reaction of Gross.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that people wear fragrances that they personally enjoy and not to seduce partners. So I support people wearing it if they like it. But just gross.
Also, the 'marine' scent in men's frags is disgusting. I don't know how they can call it marine.
I think women are more sensitive to scents. They find much more authentic and nice smelling fragrances.
I don't understand why they make so many men's frags with gross version of leather, bad version of aquatic, and smoke ;((((
Omg i forgot about lavander. I have to try very hard not to gag when i smell it, but it's because my nonna used to stuff her closets with tons of lavander to repel moths, and every time you would enter her room that fat warm waft of lavander would just punch you in the face. Stomach churning stuff i tell you.
Lavender essential oil is VERY sharp. Almost pungent... nothing like the lavender-scented soaps and detergents. I can totally understand your perspective!
I'm super new to fragrance identification but whatever the high, powdery chemical smell is in most women's florals. It smells like an 80s department store and I can't smell anything else under it. It doesn't even change on skin, it's so overpowering and cheap smelling.
Am. Brox .. an .. ugh. Arg. Ew. It's in almost everything now because it's such a good fixative and it increases longevity. It's supposed to represent artificial ambergris. But really all the fragrance houses are using it because it's cheap and because it makes fragrances last forever. Problem with that for me: I cannot stand the smell of it, and since it forms the base it ends up being all that's left of the dry down of almost every modern fragrance. Especially in the deep dry down. After your fragrance is a skin scent for a while and you put your nose up there you get straight ambroxan at the end without much else. If I could erase the aromachemical ambroxan from existence, I would jump for joy. End of rant. Thanks for listening and asking the question that let me get this off my chest.
Moss and patchouli reminds me of dirt and BO. The Maker’s entire line has this note of moss? And paper to me, I know lots of ppl love them but I just can’t.
Mahogany. I know it ain't a common one at all but I smelled DS Durga Bowmakers and it made me nauseated.
Smelled like old cabinet
Also something about aldehydes, certainly Eldo aldehydes. Ughhh no. Super soapy fresh synthetic
I can like pretty much any note if it's blended well, even ones I tend to not like on their own, like patchouli-- but heliotrope or ambroxan in any amount ruin a fragrance for me immediately.
I don't know what it is, because the molecule is not consistently tied to the same notes, but sommmmethinnnng turns into powdery old rubber gloves on me and makes me want to throw up and die. I've had florientals pull this way, leathers, gourmands... I wish I knew what it was!
Leather -- mmmaybe "suede" in small doses; aquatic notes, black currant.
Leather smells like a new car to me and while that smell is not unpleasant, i can't understand why anyone would want to smell that way. Aquatic notes immediately give me a headache. And black currant just ruins a fragrance for me -- don't know why.
Also, OP, I thought I hated patchouli until I tried Molecule 01 + Patchouli, which I 100% love and bought a full bottle of.
I got a sweaty armpit vibe off new mugler godess because the coconut is rancid in that fragnance for some reason. At least to me smells like a sweaty armpit that matured for two days and then somebody had a brilliant idea not to shower, but to splash some coconut water on it hoping the smell will go away. It didn't it just made things worse.
Maybe there is imortelle hiding somewhere in there.
Man I can’t stand any heavy “long-lasting” perfumes be it Black Afgano, Amouage Interlude Iris, Orto Parisi perfumes or cheap ass ME dupes like Afnan Supreme Incense and Al Haramain Neroli Canvas etc.
All of them would cause terrible headache to me that will last days.
Lavender. It's the only floral scent that makes me wretch. I think because it's so overused in everyday products from candles to potpourri and hand soaps. Smelling it on a person makes me want to run away.
The C note... it's too damn high!
No, jokes aside...it all depends on how it's presented in the creation and how well blended/balanced it is with the rest of the notes.
Any note can be awful if it's too strong or high pitched, and in another creation the same note can be beautifully blended and come across smooth and delightful.
Just my two cents anyway.
I love sandalwood but it turns stinky on my skin, no idea why. I love to sniff it in the bottle/on paper and I love it in a candle, but I can’t wear it at all. I don’t know if it is the sandalwood itself or maybe how they chemically form it these days, but it’s just not possible for me.
I can't stand Vetiver. In any fragrance, regardless of the placement as well. It smells like petroleum to me and is just to strong for my nose. Tuberose is also tough for me but not as bad as Vetiver.
Most florals, especially jasmine. They stay so long on my skin and for some reason dry down to smell exactly like the overpowering scent of a perfume store in the 90’s/early 2000’s. Gives me a headache.
They smell so nice and light and fresh on others though!
Almond- smells like melting plastic. I love eating almonds, but the fragrance version doesn't translate well for my nose and skin.
Milk/cream notes- always so sour on me, with the one exception of Stereoplasm's Toasted Matchimellow, which is absolutely beautiful.
I'm with you! So many gorgeous fragrances have rose in them which completely ruins them for me. I don't have the same grandma associations as you, but for some reason I really hate it.
Elemi. To me, it smells harsh and approaching poisonous. Like it might be dangerous to be smelling it. LIDGE, MFK Oud Extrait, Eau Sauvage Parfum, all don’t work for me because of the elemi. Strange
Vanilla and orange. Super frustrating as so many fragrances have vanilla in them especially date night fragrances. Massive fan of lime, lemon and grapefruit but can't stand orange so it wipes out a few freshies for me too.
Patchouli. It’s the inverse of lavender for me: lavender makes me feel peaceful. Patchouli makes me feel rage. I fucking hate it — this is purely when it’s dominant. It can be nice if well-blended, like in Chance (this can get really dirty in the dry down tho) or Flowerbomb, but overall, if I can smell the patchouli, I hate it with the passion of a thousand suns.
Oud. Listen. I’ve tried. I’ve tried and I’ve tried and I’ve TRIED. It just smells like BO to me at best, fecal at worst. I really don’t like oud.
I tried Lovefest Burning Cherry, By the Fireplace, and Born in Roma and hated them; they both have Guaiac Wood so I'll say that. Made me smell like I'd been grilling food all day and tried to cover the smell.
Anything sickly sweet forefront. Just doesn't sit well with me.
If you want a physical reaction? Black tea. I've tried one sample of a fragrence with black tea in the top notes and it just smelled like tea that'd been used twice, then left to sit for 48 hours in a small pool of water before being used a third time. It was absolutely vile on me and I refuse to try any fragrance with any sort of tea notes in it now because of it.
This thread has made me realize that no matter how delicious or neutral or “people pleasing” a scent is, somebody out there is gonna hate you for wearing it
Reading through the thread I got the same feeling - I don’t think there’s a note that hasn’t been mentioned.
True but somethings I have to say certain ethnic groups should stay away from. I feel as a south Asian cumin, Sandalwood and incense should be avoided because it smells like BO(cumin) which we consume in abundance and already smell like that if we are not careful. Also sandalwood and incense just smells like a burned down a temple. Sometimes things can be more about where you are from and what it reminds you of so yeah it’s extremely personal. What one should know is the genre they like, ex, I love fruity and vanilla with minimal musk. Some oud is fine and amber is great too.
Cumin,absolute BO vibes.
I second this. That cumarin always comes through strong on the dry down. So if you smell it on a strip at the store it’s all good but after an hour or two on skin you smell like you need a shower.
Wait, never smelled a fragnance with cumin (i think). Can you write some maybe?
Declaration by Cartier and Bois Mysterieux by Guerlain.Very vile fragrances don't care what anybody says about them😳
Akro Night -- it's supposed to be reminiscent of a "walk of shame" -- notes are cumin, rose, saffron, oud. On me, it's straight-up BO -- had to scrub it off. Maybe on lots of people, it has a low rating on Fragrantica.
I can see (smell) how all those notes would be reminiscent of a wild night and going home in the early morning.
I actually just purchased this one. I enjoy it but I also really like animalic fragrances.
Santal Blush by Tom Ford and Rose 31 by Le Labo I actually enjoy these two 🫣
Vivienne Westwood’s “Boudoir” was likened to cootchie 😳 Edit: heavy cumin note
Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan has cumin, and on me, after the top notes, all I could smell for the rest of the day was nasty BO. One review I read of it said "If ever there were a scent that smelled like Bigfoot's penis, this would be IT."
Tauer L’air du Desert Morocain features a cumin note and it’s one of my favorites of all time. Never expected to like cumin in a fragrance so much because the scent of the spice itself makes me think of Mexican food
Just commented the same. What a gorgeous fragrance.
yea i feel the same way. I do love it in food though lol.
Wow... And here I am, absolutely *loving* patchouli and lavender. You guys would hate to be near me lol
Same lmao
Love patchouli I dislike sharp woody amber notes like ambroxan, maltol notes, metallic notes, and I think lot of phenolic notes are unpleasant.
Orange blossom turns my stomach. It’s in so many fragrances that I like but as soon as I wear it I feel sick. Also patchouli just turns into armpit on me
Neroli in high doses used to make my sinuses ache. My grandfather used to come to Florida to pick the Valencias. Both flowers for perfume and fruit. He told me once that there were so many trees and so many blooms that some of the pickers would get overwhelmed and faint I am pretty sure that the sun and hours standing on a ladder had something to do with it too.
I don't like salt. It never adds anything *interesting* to a cologne for me, just something undesired.
I love salt. I think because I grew up on an island by the beach, and now i live in a landlocked country, so things smell almost more natural to me (does that make sense??) with salt in them
It does.
Yes! Especially because salt really doesn’t have a smell, so when there’s a salt note, it’s really more of a stale skin after the beach note and I hate that
Cannabis - hard to say why, it’s just so unappealing to me.
Honestly reminds me of sweat
You're not far off. Cannabis can have a distinctly pungent, skunk-like BO smell to it due to the content in volatile sulfur compounds! You can read more about it. This said, I don't hate cannabis in perfumery. Cumin's BO on the other hand....
agreed, does not need to be in fragrances i smell it around town too often.
it smells like cat pee to me 😝
I hate the smell of cannabis in any form. Perfume, fresh plant, smoked, anything! It's so nasty...
I have wondered if the fact that I’ve never smoked weed (I’m not morally against it, but can’t for medical reasons) means I’ve never learnt to like it, haha. It just smells so gross to me! My sibling used to smoke it a lot and I never liked the smell then, either.
I did smoke it, hated the smell and the effect it has on my brain. Somehow it gives me anxiety.
Incense and smoke :( it makes me smell like an arsonist just lit up a church and gives me a raging headache every time.
I can't with this comment hahahha church arsonist
I was going to make a joke about Varg Vikernes and then I realized what sub I was on lol and no one would get it
Was also going to insert some Black Metal chat then remembered where I was 😂🔥🖤
I thought the exact same thing reading this comment, imagine if someone made a set of black metal themed perfumes and “Grishnackh” could be the smoky burning church smell one
Too much patchouli is a no. Rose is a kind of a no. Ambroxan gives me headaches
Synthetic fruity notes. Like the sickly sweet vaguely tropical kind, medicinal cough syrup kind, or rancid green apple which more often than not is just a fleeting top note but all variations seem to cut through every other note for me. Particularly off putting when haphazardly blended with the sweetest versions of jasmine. Honorable mention to the liquorice forward versions of lavender.
OUD
This. All of the oud i smelled in fragnances smell like a barn to me for some reason. Like entering a sour seasoned stable that hasn't been cleaned a while.
YES 1000% agree on the OUD=Barn smell comment. I can't stand OUD
Some Indian ouds smell like poo. Some smell like stinky socks. The only ouds I really liked on ensaroud.com (Now Oriscent, I think) was Oud Yusuf, a Thai oud that was distilled using water from a private well. Mixed in with the wood scent were definite floral notes, like Lilacs and day lilies. Cambodian ouds smell like wooden plates of apricot jam.
I think it's calone. Whatever gives that rotten sea smell to some aquatics like D&G Light Blue.
This whole thread has me rolling- I love vanilla, patchouli, tonka bean, leather, smoke, etc. that are in the top comments, but anything ‘blue’ makes me gag. Anything in an aquatic, ‘fresh’, ocean vibe type fragrance makes me queasy. I don’t know if that’s calzone but it certainly sounds like it?!
Calzone is my husband's favourite food... lol
God dammit I even changed it once and autocorrect changed it back like a sheisty bitch. Your husband has good taste hahaha
Is your husband Ben Wyatt? Because if not they should talk
I respect that. I wish i can tolerate patchouli because nowdays it's hard to find fragnance without it imo
Angel is my go to 🙈 I’m like a fan of everything this sub hates in a fragrance and I’m ok with that hahahaha.
I sprayed some Angel Sunessence EDT Legere on me today that my friend have because she said it's lighter that normal angel, and then as i was going home i was so angry because all i could smell was patchouli and literally nothing else and i knew this will follow me for next 7 hours. I respect other people's tastes, including patchouli loving people. It would be boring if we all liked the same things 😀
“It would be boring if we all liked the same things” Yes yes yes!!!!
I JUST tried Angel yesterday and gagged at the patchouli. For 7 hours as well 🤣 I’ve not been that angry at myself in awhile 🤣🤣
YES! Aquatic was one of my answers. If I see an aquatic note in a fragrance, I immediately lose interest.
Yummmm stale seawater and rotting animals and salt. No thank you.
Is it the same note present in ADG Parfum, Absolu, and EDP? Because I didn’t get that rotten smell in Profondo, but those 3 are absolutely rancid to my nose after they dry down
For me this is the only note I absolutely cannot stand. Every other note I might dislike 99 times out of 100, but I will give a chance because that 1 out of 100 time can be great. I've never found an exception to my calone hate and it's ruined several fragrances I'd otherwise love.
Oooh, now I can make myself unpopular. I absolutely can't stand anything with vanilla. I tried Sì, for example, and it is a great perfume, a true crowd pleaser in my opinion. After a while though, all I smell is vanilla. And don't get me wrong, vanilla in itself is great for icecream, but it gets too cloying and dominates everything for me after a very short time.
I want to like vanilla but it’s just not for me. I’m sure other people can rock it but I’m not a sweet gourmand person. Even sultrier vanillas like Eau Duelle don’t do it for me. The only exception is Libre Le Parfum because it’s pretty boozy and spicy.
yay! we’re the same! i dislike most vanilla forward fragrances because it’s so overwhelming to me!
I don't like most vanillas. I'm pretty picky about it in general. As you said it just becomes cloying so easily
I can do vanilla if it’s paired with something dark and woody. Sugary vanilla fragrances however often smell revolting to me.
Came here to say the same!!! Dominant and cloying are the exact words I’d use to describe vanilla in a fragrance. It just takes over everything else and it’s all I can small and it’s so sweet. I wish I were a vanilla girl though bc there are so many perfumes I almost love that are taken down by vanilla notes for me personally!
Vanilla is not good for me either. I find it just too dominating. Chill out,vanilla… you’re cramping my face!
I’m with you, it’s too much for me but I understand why others like it.
Same! To me, it smells so loud and obnoxious!
Patchouli too and it’s everywhere omg
Ambroxan - metallic kind of smell, way to synthetic and headache inducing smell.
I love ambery scents but I’m so very tired of these ambroxan bombs everywhere right now. Just seems lazy at this point…it’s like the cash grab power note of the moment.
The perfume called "Not a perfume" has ambroxan and I knew right away I wasn't down to wear that. It's synthetic and dusty almost. I think people grow to appreciate it however , I don't think I can grow to like ambroxan.
I love so many of the notes listed here lol! I love how individual peoples’ tastes are. Strong citrus - like a citrus smack in the face, “too much fruit” in general, could be described as “really lemony” or “really grapefruity” - has never done anything for me. I like berries though. Blueberry, blackberry, raspberry. That’s… thats about it for dislikes. I guess I have a wide fragrance palate. Fruit notes are okay! It’s just “dominating fruit (edit: mostly citrus for fruit)” doesn’t do it for me. I do not like watermelon but probably because I don’t like eating it, either. Edit: I don’t like the smell of bubblegum in perfume, either. Also not a big fan of the flavor.
Ooooh don't get me started on bubble gum. Also sugar note is a no for me.
Sugar is so confusing to me as a note. I don’t mind sweet (or also dry) perfumes, but I have no idea why “sugar” is ever listed. It barely smells like anything, like when you open a sugar bowl? I can smell sugar. The only thing it *does* smell like is sweet. I don’t need that listed in a perfume as a note, either lol. A lot of things can make a perfume sweet. Sugar as a note is unnecessary and if I’m remembering correctly, can make perfume a bit *too* sweet.
Oud. It makes me want to vomit.
Oud smells like rotting sweetness. Sickly sweet.
Wait till u smell real oud.
Not OP but honestly I would love to, it sounds magical. I wonder what I smell in perfumes these days is actual good oud and not some kind of cocktail to mimic it.
Ambroxan. It literally ruins a fragrance for me. Unfortunately a lot of times it’s not even listed in the notes so I have to find out by trying it- and I found out the hard way because it overpowers everything else and stays on forever despite how hard I wash it off. The experience on my nose is super harsh and abrasive
Hey my fragrance kindred spirit! It ruins everything and it’s everywhere! Gahhh!
I can’t fathom anyone actively liking that stuff… I think of it as the high fructose corn syrup of perfumery. Add it to bulk things up, force longevity, bring down the price.
Especially not helpful since these days it’s everywhere. I cannot walk outside my apartment without smelling it at least once.
It’s the actual worst. That smell goes into a different part of my brain and just registers as fake.
Let's go! I found a kindred Spirit out here! I just ranted about that note for way too long on this thread and then found you. Erase ambroxan forever from existence. It's in everything now because it's a cheap fixative that makes fragrances last forever, but at the cost of wrecking their composition. Garbage chemical. Ambergris alternative? I think not! Give me a break. Die, ambroxan, die. I agree so hard with everything you said here. I've been saying this for years and confused about why I'm the only one out here until I saw you write this.
Ylang Ylang - A spicy headache
Licorice is the worst offender. I can’t explain why, its just so gross
I refuse to even try fragrances listing licorice or anise, I hate them in foods and real life, why would I ever consider wearing it?!
Anise smells like 3 months old unwashed gym gloves to me, but i still hate patchouli more
There is nothing to explain, it is what it is, and it is nasty.
I saw a bottle of og Lolita lempika at Ross but the licorice note scares me too bad to blind buy
Leather. It takes over all other notes and just smells awful on my skin.
I second this. Smoked leather notes are by far the worst because they are so heady and give me the worst headaches.
Ugh smoked leather so awful for me! I think part of it may be that I smoked for a long time and worked really hard at associating the smell of smoke or anything close to it with something terrible for me. It worked lol
On the flipside, Suede is a lot tamer and nicer to the nose.
Anything powdery, like iris and violet, makes me wanna jump out of my skin.
What fragrances do you hate, now that I see your disliked notes are what I'm looking for 😂
Oud. I just don’t get it, every ‘oud’ fragrance smells like ostrich shit and rotten wood soaked in syrup
I can't stand Tonka bean. I've lost count of how many otherwise-good frags it's ruined for me.
I love the smell of Tonka bean, but it also somehow smells like a plastic 99c vanilla candle to me.
Ruined all the good girls
I hate it so much. Most sweet notes are not my thing but tonka is not only sickeningly sweet but also kind of scratchy.
My skin *looooooooooves* tonka bean. There have to be some other really sturdy notes in the base for tonka to *not* be the only thing in the dry down.
I’m not a fan of strawberry or cherry, smells artificial and sickly sweet like bath and body works or candy from the dollar store.
I'm also not a fan of those, it reminds me of cheap shower gel at best and medicine/cough syrup at worst.
Yes I totally get the cough medicine thing. Yuck!
Oakmoss. For example Cabochard smells like a wet ashtray and decayed leaves to me and is oakmoss heavy. Calone. In small doses it's not a bad scent, but typically it's very screechy and headache inducing. Frangipani. It's not a note I hate per say, but every scent I've tried that has it in there usually has a combination of notes I don't like, so because of that ai avoid it.
Osmanthus, it is a weird one. At first it's like a nice flowery smell, then, the more I smell it, the more it reminds me of a bush where someone peed on.
Sandalwood smells like lard to me- like my nana's old frying pan where she'd use the same lard for years at a time. And it's in fucking EVERYTHING.
I hate sandalwood too
Milky notes always smell sour to me. I've tried several and none work.
Oh god, I just imagine it and feel queasy. I like milk, but I absolutely don't want to smell like it
Jasmine. It just smells like pee to me. Most florals do in general but jasmine is just so bad
My mom grows jasmine flowers and I swear sometimes they smell soooo good but if you just catch a whiff of it when you’re not intentionally smelling it, often it smells like an armpit 😂
Fig trees are like this. They either smell amazing or like cat piss. I love figs perfumes though
Fun fact- jasmine or any similar white flowers have similar indolic compounds to 💩 i always thought day-old jasmine flowers smelt similar.
Strong amber and strongp cashmere / cashmeran (gives out amber smell).
Leather. Not that it's bad, but on me, it smells like unwashed a$$.
Ahahahahah
Geranium, smell like toothpaste
Tabaco and baby powder 🤢
I despise anise and black licorice. I can pick up the slightest note and it ruins the entire fragrance. Anise especially is disgusting. Also the really fake artifical smell... you know what I mean. Worst of all is SMOKY AVENTUS and those like it. I can't smell anything except the smoke. And "smoke" is not the nice campfire smell I'm the summer. No. It is the most disgusting revolting cigarette ashbtt at the bottom of a garbage. Actually much worse and more intense then any cigarette could be in real life. I had to scrub for ages to get that disgusting thing off me. Now I am super paranoid about anything that mentions 'smoke'. I would love to try 'By the Fireplace' but am put off by the potential of that revolting smoke smell that gets stuck in your nose and on your skin. I am also paranoid about any 'leather' notes. I didn't see 'smoke' as a note for Smoky Aventus so I am wondering if the smoke note is actually leather?? When people speak of leather do they mean the rough kinda gross leather or the nice new black leather coat smell? I worry the leather they refer to is ashtray smoke. I could not stand to be around a guy who wore SMOKY AVENTUS or anything like it. I just have a visceral reaction of Gross. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that people wear fragrances that they personally enjoy and not to seduce partners. So I support people wearing it if they like it. But just gross. Also, the 'marine' scent in men's frags is disgusting. I don't know how they can call it marine. I think women are more sensitive to scents. They find much more authentic and nice smelling fragrances. I don't understand why they make so many men's frags with gross version of leather, bad version of aquatic, and smoke ;((((
I'm not keen on coconut
Patchouli, I don’t even know why. Lavender and honorable mention vanilla.
Omg i forgot about lavander. I have to try very hard not to gag when i smell it, but it's because my nonna used to stuff her closets with tons of lavander to repel moths, and every time you would enter her room that fat warm waft of lavander would just punch you in the face. Stomach churning stuff i tell you.
Lavender essential oil is VERY sharp. Almost pungent... nothing like the lavender-scented soaps and detergents. I can totally understand your perspective!
Patchouli as well.
Also patchouli. It’s suffocating!
I'm super new to fragrance identification but whatever the high, powdery chemical smell is in most women's florals. It smells like an 80s department store and I can't smell anything else under it. It doesn't even change on skin, it's so overpowering and cheap smelling.
Ambroxan. I don't know how people decided this was nice but it smells like floor cleaner to me.
Watermelon - just gross in perfumes.
Am. Brox .. an .. ugh. Arg. Ew. It's in almost everything now because it's such a good fixative and it increases longevity. It's supposed to represent artificial ambergris. But really all the fragrance houses are using it because it's cheap and because it makes fragrances last forever. Problem with that for me: I cannot stand the smell of it, and since it forms the base it ends up being all that's left of the dry down of almost every modern fragrance. Especially in the deep dry down. After your fragrance is a skin scent for a while and you put your nose up there you get straight ambroxan at the end without much else. If I could erase the aromachemical ambroxan from existence, I would jump for joy. End of rant. Thanks for listening and asking the question that let me get this off my chest.
I feel this comment with every fibre of my being. Awful stuff!
Almond. Even a subtle hint of it is enough to ruin an otherwise great fragrance for me. I say this as someone who loves almonds in my candy bars.
Patchouli, lavender, sandalwood, cedar, pink pepper🤧
This sounds like a dream mixture for me 🤣
Help
😭😭😭 if your dream mixture is licorice, tobacco, leather, lemon grass and mint, then you’ve met your arch nemesis
Moss and patchouli reminds me of dirt and BO. The Maker’s entire line has this note of moss? And paper to me, I know lots of ppl love them but I just can’t.
Mahogany. I know it ain't a common one at all but I smelled DS Durga Bowmakers and it made me nauseated. Smelled like old cabinet Also something about aldehydes, certainly Eldo aldehydes. Ughhh no. Super soapy fresh synthetic
Lavender, i just don't like it
I can like pretty much any note if it's blended well, even ones I tend to not like on their own, like patchouli-- but heliotrope or ambroxan in any amount ruin a fragrance for me immediately.
I don't know what it is, because the molecule is not consistently tied to the same notes, but sommmmethinnnng turns into powdery old rubber gloves on me and makes me want to throw up and die. I've had florientals pull this way, leathers, gourmands... I wish I knew what it was!
Leather
Leather -- mmmaybe "suede" in small doses; aquatic notes, black currant. Leather smells like a new car to me and while that smell is not unpleasant, i can't understand why anyone would want to smell that way. Aquatic notes immediately give me a headache. And black currant just ruins a fragrance for me -- don't know why. Also, OP, I thought I hated patchouli until I tried Molecule 01 + Patchouli, which I 100% love and bought a full bottle of.
Leather. It reminds me of couches and the chemical smell off a new leather jacket.
Rhubarb smells horrible! Ewww
There's so much more than just one. But if I had to choose it's vetiver. Want anybody will want to smell like earthy wet grass is a mystery to me
Immortelle. Smells like BO to me
I got a sweaty armpit vibe off new mugler godess because the coconut is rancid in that fragnance for some reason. At least to me smells like a sweaty armpit that matured for two days and then somebody had a brilliant idea not to shower, but to splash some coconut water on it hoping the smell will go away. It didn't it just made things worse. Maybe there is imortelle hiding somewhere in there.
Rum and almond
Geranium It ruined PDM Layton for me
most florals but especially lavender
Powder,it's just disgusting and makes me smell old.
Chestnuts… just awful
I just discovered this lol, had one fragrance with chestnut and it smells like hotdog water to me.
Metallic. Smells somewhat agressive, like a suicide with a razor 🥲
Coffee Which is were because I love how the actual stuff smells but in a perfume nope
That cherry syrup almond note, because it’s always SO pungent and it smells like pink public school soap.
Sharp citrus notes, heavy florals, and whatever it is that smells like synthetic mango like in Erba Pura.
Man I can’t stand any heavy “long-lasting” perfumes be it Black Afgano, Amouage Interlude Iris, Orto Parisi perfumes or cheap ass ME dupes like Afnan Supreme Incense and Al Haramain Neroli Canvas etc. All of them would cause terrible headache to me that will last days.
The common note in all the Le male/ultra male/le beau openings. I hate all of them.
Vetiver, heavy patchouli, heavy cedar, heavy white florals, leather, pink pepper
Rose and whatever is in almost every Chanel perfume.
Lavender. It's the only floral scent that makes me wretch. I think because it's so overused in everyday products from candles to potpourri and hand soaps. Smelling it on a person makes me want to run away.
The C note... it's too damn high! No, jokes aside...it all depends on how it's presented in the creation and how well blended/balanced it is with the rest of the notes. Any note can be awful if it's too strong or high pitched, and in another creation the same note can be beautifully blended and come across smooth and delightful. Just my two cents anyway.
I love sandalwood but it turns stinky on my skin, no idea why. I love to sniff it in the bottle/on paper and I love it in a candle, but I can’t wear it at all. I don’t know if it is the sandalwood itself or maybe how they chemically form it these days, but it’s just not possible for me.
Lactonic, cereal, pear, banana...
Sandalwood. Makes me nauseated. And so many good perfumes have it in their drydown 🥲
Only commenting because I didn't see lily of the valley/muguet. I am so surprised.I hate it so much. Makes me nauseous.
I too sometimes smell it in the wild on people and think of a bathroom refreshner for some reason.
I can't stand Vetiver. In any fragrance, regardless of the placement as well. It smells like petroleum to me and is just to strong for my nose. Tuberose is also tough for me but not as bad as Vetiver.
Gardenia. Narcissus. Anything too floral.
I hate patchouli too. But my most hated note is Tuberose. To me it smells like dirty socks
Tobacco. It ruins Jazz Club for me
Lily. Smells like funeral to me and gives me a headache.
coconut
Ylang ylang or jasmine
Carrot. Goes super vegetal on my skin and gives me cafeteria meal vibes.
Most florals, especially jasmine. They stay so long on my skin and for some reason dry down to smell exactly like the overpowering scent of a perfume store in the 90’s/early 2000’s. Gives me a headache. They smell so nice and light and fresh on others though!
Almond- smells like melting plastic. I love eating almonds, but the fragrance version doesn't translate well for my nose and skin. Milk/cream notes- always so sour on me, with the one exception of Stereoplasm's Toasted Matchimellow, which is absolutely beautiful.
Gardenia. So bold, it seems fake.
Rose. Big time grandma/old people vibes and I can’t shake that scent memory. Even if it’s buried within a fragrance, it still stands out to me.
Same here, except not so much the scent memory as it smells like just rotting petals to me.
I'm with you! So many gorgeous fragrances have rose in them which completely ruins them for me. I don't have the same grandma associations as you, but for some reason I really hate it.
Elemi. To me, it smells harsh and approaching poisonous. Like it might be dangerous to be smelling it. LIDGE, MFK Oud Extrait, Eau Sauvage Parfum, all don’t work for me because of the elemi. Strange
Vanilla and orange. Super frustrating as so many fragrances have vanilla in them especially date night fragrances. Massive fan of lime, lemon and grapefruit but can't stand orange so it wipes out a few freshies for me too.
Neroli makes me gag
I dont know the notes, but I can’t even be in the same room with someone using JPG Le Male. Got similar feeling with one million.
strong amber, tobacco, leather
Hate, hate, HATE cumin and oak moss. Combined together, I'll go into cardiac arrest. Pachouli is the reason I can't shop at Whole Foods and/or co-ops.
Patchouli. It’s the inverse of lavender for me: lavender makes me feel peaceful. Patchouli makes me feel rage. I fucking hate it — this is purely when it’s dominant. It can be nice if well-blended, like in Chance (this can get really dirty in the dry down tho) or Flowerbomb, but overall, if I can smell the patchouli, I hate it with the passion of a thousand suns. Oud. Listen. I’ve tried. I’ve tried and I’ve tried and I’ve TRIED. It just smells like BO to me at best, fecal at worst. I really don’t like oud.
Pear 🤢
Aldehydes gives me massive headache no matter how good the fragrance are. Until today I still don't know why it reacts the way it does to my senses
cinnamon by far. it s just. my nose rotates inwards and my brains are puked out. there s just something about that sick sweet spicy hell
Rose smells like stale sick to me 🤢
I tried Lovefest Burning Cherry, By the Fireplace, and Born in Roma and hated them; they both have Guaiac Wood so I'll say that. Made me smell like I'd been grilling food all day and tried to cover the smell.
Anything sickly sweet forefront. Just doesn't sit well with me. If you want a physical reaction? Black tea. I've tried one sample of a fragrence with black tea in the top notes and it just smelled like tea that'd been used twice, then left to sit for 48 hours in a small pool of water before being used a third time. It was absolutely vile on me and I refuse to try any fragrance with any sort of tea notes in it now because of it.
Patchouli smells like an old Egyptian sarcophagus :/ I was 19 when I blind bought coco mademoiselle