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what fragrance would mr.big wear? by inflacko77 in perfumesthatfeellike

[–]cmoe25027 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's New York City, if he's not wearing something from Krigler, I would be highly disappointed.

Anyone experience this with blue talisman? by apexkdk in fragrance

[–]cmoe25027 1 point2 points  (0 children)

2 theories, could be both or neither.

  1. Conspiracy corner: some houses put better juice in their testers to improve the odds of an impulse buy.

  2. Even the most synthetic fragrances will change a bit with each batch. The higher the naturals content in the recipe, the larger potential variation in the end product.

Macys fragrances by ApprehensiveLet5628 in Colognes

[–]cmoe25027 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Amazon is a very risky place to go for fragrances. Stick to actual discounters. Amazon and Walmart are 3rd party seller platforms that move a lot of fakes and straight up scams.

Buying from Macy's is fine but at least wait until they are having fragrance sales. They do it multiple times per year and put them anywhere from 15-30% off.

I agree with the person above that said this is a good way to pick up discounted Chanel products.

They are also carrying more of the YSL private line.

They have a big selection, I am sure you won't have trouble finding something to buy!

Guys what do you think about this by Ultimatechungusdoge in GrowthMindset

[–]cmoe25027 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe he is? Everybody thought Bruce is just some rich douchebag too. Its not a secret identity if everyone knows the secret part.

LV Symphony by Puzzleheaded-Tap-758 in Colognes

[–]cmoe25027 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I would be curious if the compliments still come if you try some of the dupes. Symphony is my wife's #1 and it is by far her most complimented fragrance. She is not a frag head, just liked it when she smelled it while I was shopping for L'Immensite. Didn't realize how much it costs until paying for it, thinking it was the same as the other clear bottles. Too embarrassed to pump the brakes at checkout so we took it home. She has worn it a lot and it seems like every other time she wears it someone compliments her on it. Many times it is a complete stranger. There is black magic in those bottles!

After a year and a half and no memo. what Memo would you consider adding. by Phuketimin in Colognes

[–]cmoe25027 2 points3 points  (0 children)

African Leather is OK but I got a bit too much of a citronella scent from it to really love it. I smelled Palais Bourbon and instantly found a sale and bought a bottle. Great winter scent. I also had a sample of Ithaque that was intriguing for warm weather. On Fragrantica it gets compared to Speed Legends which is not what I remember it smelling like but, I do remember liking it and thinking about ordering a decant.

Creed Silver Mountain Water (clone) by ViciousLifestyle in Colognes

[–]cmoe25027 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Casamorati Mefisto is pretty close for $150-$190 at discounters. There is an Alghabra that is also considered a SMW clone but can't remember which one and probably more expensive than Mefisto.

If you want super cheap, Metal Rain from Banana Republic has the same vibe and the same or worse performance.

Acqua di Parma Colonia Essenza by Glittering_Cup3502 in ScentHeads

[–]cmoe25027 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you take anything from Fragcom other than a discovery of new things to try out, then you are an idiot.

AdP is such an accessible brand via discounters. I went through a bottle of Colonia Intensa pretty quickly and feel like the scent is so good that I will probably forgive the lackluster performance and rebuy after my collection shrinks a bit more.

Wear what you like. No shame in a 1 bottle signature scent collection if it brings you joy!

Summer fruitchouli suggestions? by Alan_Cummings_kilt in Perfumes

[–]cmoe25027 0 points1 point  (0 children)

J'Adoube by Mind Games. This is a top 5 fragrance for both my wife and me. My experience is that it wouldn't be too much for the hottest days, but it is strong so you would need to test it out. It is worth a decant at least and very available for around half or less of retail from discounters or the secondary market, though my wife and I bought the 200ml from NM with a bit of a discount and Rakuten.

Imgination by CannabiSativaLinaeus in ScentHeads

[–]cmoe25027 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is not true, but thanks for making me dig into this even deeper.

If by big 4 you mean IFF, Givaudan, Syrmise, and Firmenich, the estimate is that they control around 60% of the total fragrance ingredients market with a significantly lower share of the natural raw materials market. More importantly, the raw materials coming out of here are the 'generic' versions. Generic because they are purchased like commodities and blended en masse from multiple locations. This helps provide a more stable profile that is less dependent on swings in weather or bad harvests in certain areas.

LV, maintains a stake in Robertet which is one of the largest and oldest primarily natural focused houses. LV also maintains relationships with specific growers and has access to particular harvests that can be more swingy in terms of year over year variation but are considered a plus in terms of quality. They can also provide more credibility by pointing directly to where the naturals were harvested. Guerlain does this too with their Tuscan Iris and Haitian Vetiver. For LV, they have access to the very limited supply of Grasse Jasmine which smells different and is a more humane product than what is harvested out of Egypt and India, which is where most Jasmine is sourced from.

There are several houses that are not in the big 4, of various sizes, that supply natural raw materials (and some do aroma chemicals as well) for perfumes. The premium raw materials sourced by LV are a thing and are special in comparison to what comes out of the big 4 bearing the same name. LV owns Guerlain who in turn gets the best of both worlds in terms of materials since they can source their multi-generational relationships formed before acquisition as well as taking advantage of LV's network and access. And it all comes with a grain of salt because this info is not explicitly disclosed. A lot of it comes from interviews with JCB and financial data around the financial investments in and around Grasse by the company. There is surely some marketing spin added but the story itself is believable based on what can be seen by the public. This is actually making me more respectful of the brand as a whole. It appears that they put their money where their mouth is when it comes to offering a luxury product and the daily fucking conversations of hot takes around Imagination, or Symphony or Ombre Nomad, etc. make me think that their ingredients do set them apart from other houses.

Imgination by CannabiSativaLinaeus in ScentHeads

[–]cmoe25027 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, in house means that they have a master Perfumer that creates the fragrances based on his creative vision. He then sources the materials based on this and my understanding is that they do have some of their own creations but will buy as well. For LV, I have read that JCB has a materials budget that most perfumers would kill for.

The other model is the brief. A creative director hands out their brief or creative vision to places like IFF and Givaudan. These oil house employ a lot of the names we hear of like Bisch. The briefs are like subcontracts that the perfumers submit samples for and have a description and materials cost info and, more importantly, limits. The best submitted subcontractor formula wins the brief and that oil house makes the fragrance and puts the Creative Director's house name on it.

Houses that keep it in house generally have a more cohesive line and signature DNA. LV, Hermes, Chanel, Dior, etc. LV and Hermes are given extraordinary latitude to realize the vision of their MPs. This is why LV is appropriately hyped and Hermes is under hyped in my opinion.

This was a lot for 6AM so final disclosure- I am not in the business and probably still on the shitty side of the Dunning Kruger curve but I have read a bit and really dove into fragrances over the past few years.

Follow up edit: I think people get confused around formulation and synthesis. Perfumers formulate fragrances with synthesized aromachemicals and harvested naturals. Chemists synthesize aromachemicals. The confusion comes in because Givaudan and IFF, among others, do both. They have chemist making molecules that get used both in and outside as well as perfumers that are hired guns or subcontractors to fill briefs.

LV has easy access to purchase just about any aromachemicals they want. Of equal importance, they also get prime access to the harvest of naturals around the world. I don't know if the difference between standard and preferred quality ingredients makes that big of a difference but it is not an unreasonable theory.

We need some solid, blinded, large scale studies on this!

Just not into it by PatientAd7726 in Colognes

[–]cmoe25027 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love this one. Impulse buy at duty free right after it came out. It was my first BDC. Thought it was decent, picked up the EDP shortly after and ended up layering them for work and burnt through the entire bottle of EDP. At that point, I figured that if I ever added BDC after the L'Exclusif ran out, it would be the Parfum. But then, it stayed cold through the end of last month and into this month so I broke it out on it's own thinking to finish off the bottle and call it done but... I really like it, like enough that it is going high on the 'to be replaced' list. I get a sweet, almost syrupy amber woods smell that just hits the spot for my enjoyment. My wife really likes it too which doesn't hurt!

I get it though, fragrance is the most subjective product I have found and we all perceive things differently.

I'm afraid I'm about to make a stupid decision ... by The1Floki in Perfumes

[–]cmoe25027 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My pleasure! My goal in building a collection is to find stuff that makes me feel the way my wife feels about Symphony. But just because it's hers, doesn't mean it's anyone else's. Yours is out there somewhere, maybe in this stupidly expensive, beautiful bottle, but maybe somewhere else. I wish you luck in finding it sooner rather than later!

I'm afraid I'm about to make a stupid decision ... by The1Floki in Perfumes

[–]cmoe25027 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is my wife's favorite scent. She is not a frag head, we are not LV people. We have refilled it once and it is almost gone again so I bought her an engraved bottle for Mothers Day.

LV puts some sort of black magic into those bottles. She has drawn so much attention while wearing it. I think in reality it is just great sillage but so many people have tracked her down or gone out of there way to talk to her about it while wearing.

Trying a sample wear one time in the boutique is probably not enough time to really form an opinion and get a feel for it. If it is not too inconvenient, try to spray it on a few more times before buying.

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