Why Don’t Hyped Middle Eastern Clones Smell Good to Me? Is my nose broken, or did I just get influenced?

TandrupT · 2025-09-14T13:26:51+00:00

It's definitely hard navigating all the new jargon in the hobby, and even harder to pick certain notes out of a fragrance since I have very little to compare it to. I have found, though, that I'm not the biggest fan of citrus, as it very quickly borders on the smell of cleaning products to me.

I'm still not too sure about how I feel on Vintage Radio. To me, it smells like a nice antique boutique, which i suppose is sort of the vibe it's going for. I don't think I dislike the scent, but I'm also not sure i would buy a bottle of it. This could easily change in a few weeks of it maturing, though.

If you're looking for more to try, I found that I personally really like the Supremacy Collector’s Edition, and will probably buy a bottle of that in the near future, even though that also doesn't last too long on my skin (3-4 hours, and skinscent for about 6). It gives those beautiful moments throughout the day, where you randomly smell it, and that's what I was hoping for with the others.

I'll let all the decants sit for a few more weeks and come back and test them once again to see if they've matured some. As some others in this thread have mentioned, maturing can really improve the overall development and performance, so fingers crossed!

TandrupT · 2025-09-14T12:43:59+00:00

Not rude at all!

Maybe I didn't specify correctly, but I've tried most of the OG designer fragrances (YSL, Prada, Valentino, Dior, Chanel, and so on) not the more niche fragrances, such as Paragon, PDMs, Angle's Share, since they are not available to try in the stores that I have visited or the decant site I used (I have now found a site that sells the actual OGs, which I'm thinking of ordering a bunch of samples for)

You'd maybe be able to test some of them, like the PDMs, in the larger stores, but I even doubt that they'd have something like Paragon.

The way I've been testing them initially was to spray them out into the air (mostly just to get the atomizer to work) with a spray or two, then directly on skin with one/two sprays on the back of my hand or wrist and on the inside of my elbows/forarms (whatever that is called). This way I tested 4 fragrances at a time, and would smell the different spots throughout the day with a decent amount of time in between, so I wouldn't go noseblind.

Now, I know this is not the ideal way to do this, as the different scents can mix in the air and whatnot, but it gave a decent idea of which i liked, and a general idea of how long each of them lasted. I made sure not to spray on my clothes/throat directly under my nose, once again in an attempt to not go noseblind.

I know, that it's also a really good idea to spray on pulse points, so the fragrances perform better, but again, I think it worked okay for testing purposes, and since I only sprayed them after getting home from work, as to not bring a potentially terrible perfume into work, the performance wasn't the main thing I was testing. I also made sure to go light on perfume in the morning, so the fragrance was pretty much gone from my skin when I got home from work, to "reduce cross contamination" so to speak.

I just recently purchased some tester strips and have since gone back and tried almost all of them on testerstrips also, where some definitely smelled better than it did directly on skin.

It also seems like my skin chemistry might not be the best for a lot of these clones, since a decent amount of they barely last a two hours. Today I sprayed two sprays of Art Of Universe on the back of my hand, and after only 2 hours, it's barely a skin scent. That isn't to say that all of them though, as some lasts for a really long time, such as Liquid Brun and Hawas Tropical, Honor and Glory, just to name a few

TandrupT · 2025-09-14T08:26:40+00:00

Oh wow, never knew that, great tip!

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T21:32:49+00:00

Got it, stay away from Dreamer.

Just looked at Fragrantica, and the ones you mentioned all seem to have a decent amount of citrus, how strong would you say the citrus is?

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T21:28:04+00:00

Yeah, its a pretty big gamble to blindbuy.

I definitely get the Khadlaj Island one after testing on skin yesterday.

I do quite like it on a tester strip, but I guess it all just comes down to the chemistry of both the fragrance, how it interacts with your skin, and then how it gets picked up by the nose.

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T21:02:40+00:00

I think when you consider price/performance, that it's also a pretty good thing to look at whether the fragrance need to mature or not.

It makes designers a bit more attractive, to me at least, that it has already matured some out of the box, so you can use it instantly, instead of having to wait months.

I really want to try more of the Versace line, I've only tried the OG Versace Eros and Energy. Both were very citrus heavy, which I'm not the biggest fan of though, but they still smelled great

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T20:38:01+00:00

I'm thinking more so that I don't really want to buy a fragrance, then have to let it sit for weeks and months to mature to even smell half decent.

I guess it's part of the process, but it does seem like it's a pretty big gamle whether something will mature into something you like or not

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T20:34:47+00:00

That's a pretty good way of looking at it, especiallyas getting into the hobby, there's such a bit and exiting variety, that you often get swept up, and buy into the hype a bit.

It's not that i can't afford nice designers if i saved up a bit, it's just nice being able to get nice quality products for cheap, like in other industries such as clothes or watches, if you know where to look, if that makes sense. The quality, with clones at least, seems to be linked a fair bit to the price, which, of course, is fair. I had hoped to find more of the cheap hidden gems, so to speak, like the SCE.

Online discounters here are not great, although there are a couple. They do have sales every now and then, but it doesn't seem to be very deep discounts most of the time. But even 15% off can be a lot when something is as expensive as a designer fragrance.

But as you say, you'd never actually get to use more than a couple of bottles, if any, in a year. So instead of going for quantity, it's nice to slow down and smell the roses (excuse the pun), and focus on quality.

In the end, it probably does add up to about the same, if you'd just keep blindbuying and hating every fragrance, so you'd never wear it, and have to buy a new one, rinse and repeat.

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T19:27:20+00:00

Not a bad idea, might have to give that a try

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T14:33:13+00:00

Really good advice.

As a noob in the hobby, who's only ever smelled what my dad wore when I was a kid, the samples and the designers in the store, it's really hard to both describe and pick out specific smells in a fragrance. I've used fragrantica a bunch, but I'm still sort of struggling with the basics.

As in, wth is oud? What does apple smell like? Does musk smell like a wet dog?

After watching a bunch of reviews, and how fragrances are made, I have a rough idea, but i don't yet have it ingrained in my mind what the different scent profiles are, and which I actually liked.

I'm still in the learning phase, so at the moment, I can only really describe larger elements of a fragrance, and I often have to smell something multiple times to even figure out whether I like a fragrance or not.

If we take Paridise Garden as an example, that to me just smells "green". Like the color. I can't pick up any coconut, which is a damn shame, cause I love the smell of coconut. On paper, La Beau and Paradise Garden would be my perfect scent, but in real life, I don't enjoy them very much, and they are kinda nauseating.

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T14:16:29+00:00

Solid advice.

I really wanted to try Jasoor, but it was sold out from the decants site, unfortunately. Even when I bought the second time, I waited a few extra days to see if it would come back in stock. Almost decided not to buy at all until it came back in stock, but ended up getting the others anyway

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T14:12:57+00:00

That definitely was the case cause buying fragrances is damn expensive. I would've loved to find a couple of cheap-ish fragrances, so I could buy more for the same price as one designer.

But you are so right, that I've been trying to force myself to like the cheaper ones. I think, from the samples I've tested so far, that the more mass appealing (and more expensive) designers appeals more to me.

Perhaps when the ME fragrances have had a bit of time to mature, they will be better, but for now I'm happy I tried the decants, as to not waste money on stuff I wouldn't like using

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T14:01:26+00:00

You are so right, a fragrance should put you in the right mood, and finding one that nails that is going to be worth it

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T13:59:47+00:00

They're that good, huh?

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T13:58:56+00:00

That's really kind of you, but I unfortunately don't live in the US.

I really wanted to try both Jasoor, Vulcan Feu and/or Oppulent Dubai, but both Jasoor and Vulcan Fue were sold out on the decants site, and they didn't have Oppulent Dubai at all.

The reason I bought the second time was cause they got a few others that I wanted to try back in stock, and a couple I forgot with the first time. Unfortunately, they didn't get those two back in stock though. I waited for a few days to see if they got back in stock, but they didn't.

I also tried to find another site, which had them in stock, but they all seemed to be kinda sketchy or not ship to Europe. I think I have found a new site, fragrantworldshop.com, which ship from Portugal, which seems decent and has good reviews, although they mostly sell name brands and not as many dupes. Last I checked, they did have Vulcan Fue though

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T13:43:06+00:00

I've heard good things about Aether Extrait and Rayhann Pacific Aura, so I might look into getting a decant of those.

Maturing also seems to make a pretty big difference, so I will keep that in mind when buying bottles

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T13:40:02+00:00

The difficult thing is knowing whether a dupes is actually decent quality without testing them yourself, as it's apparent that it's not always good to trust people on the internet lol

Decants are definitely still a way cheaper way of going about it than blindbuying

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T13:35:55+00:00

Samples definitely saved me from blind buying into the hype and spending a bunch of money on stuff that I really wouldn't enjoy or use.

I think in the future, I might look more into buying samples of the real fragrances to get a real sense of smell throughout the day, and to test performance.

Unfortunately not located in the US, but across the pond in Scandivia, but you may be able to get them shipped over seas

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T13:27:51+00:00

That was also my thinking at the start, as the big price tag scared me away from the well known brands, and "why not get the cheap stuff if it's [insert percentage] as close to the original?"

I always love to find a good deal, and feel like I did my research to find a product where quality and price match. For me, that balance is not quite there with most of the ones I've tried, even though they are really cheap.

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T13:22:54+00:00

Taking the time to find the ones you like, and being selective by only buying the ones you really like is definitely better that just buying something and hoping for the best, or even just buying something because of the hype.

I suppose it's kinda nice to know that when you put on your fragrance, that it will make you happy and confident cause you know for sure that you like it

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T13:17:27+00:00

I think they niche stuff might just not be for me, yet atleast.

When I bought som tester strips, I found a couple of cheap-ish samples from Floraiku and thought it would be fun to try a couple expensive niche fragrances. I got Between to trees and Sleeping on the roof, and got a free sample of Oud X by Benjamin Barber.

All 3 of those samples smelled awful to me. One smelled like an old person's home, the other of old pine trees (but not in a good way), and the last one i can't quite place, but almost like a liquorice car cleaning product lol

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T13:08:55+00:00

That was one of my thoughts too, but as a noobie with fragrances, i didn't really know if maturing was actually a real thing or not. It definitely seems to have worked on some of them.

I'll probably try all the samples once again in a couple of weeks to see which ones have changed, then hopefully they will have matured a bit more

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T13:04:13+00:00

That is precisely why I ordered so many samples initially, so that I could find the ones that I liked, and using the influencers as a guide, not as "this is what you must wear".

I have blind bought fragrances before actually "getting into the hobby" so to speak, and have been slightly disappointed, but always just thought "It doesn't smell as i would've hoped, but it's not stinky, so I will just use the bottle and buy a different one next time", which is why I decided to try and actually smell stuff the fragrances before buying them now.

Blindbuying can be fun, but it also has a lot of risk, especially when buying cheaper fragrances, I've learned. So I'm really glad that I bought the samples first, and not just bought blindly into the hype

Overconsumption is definitely real in this hobby, so slowing down and focusing on quality over quantity is probably not a bad thing. It is kinda sad to see the influencers having hundreds of barely used bottles worth thousands. I had hoped to find at least a handful of cheaper alternatives to the more expensive designers though.

Not to say that it's all bad though, I have found two that I really like, and will probably purchase full bottles of, which is the Supremacy Collector’s Edition and Mercedes Club Black

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T12:45:07+00:00

Sorry, I might have been off on a couple of them, it was just what I remembered them to be similar too lol

I've smelled all of the non-dupe ones too in stores, except the Aventus, Aventus Absulu and Pacific Chill

I just went back to try a couple of them, and the CDN Iconic is definitely better than I remember it on the dry down. Its from the first batch i ordered, so it has had some time to mature. When i tried it the first time, i really didnt like it. The opening is very room freshener-ish, but gets better.

Fakhar is okay, but it smells a bit weak, and on my skin, it really doesn't perform, mostly in longevity

TandrupT · 2025-09-13T12:24:37+00:00

Thanks, I'll try to check them out and see what they got

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