The Scent journey started...

My earliest memories attributed to perfume/cologne was when my grandmother would take me with her to her hairdresser for a haircut. I was super young (probably about 6-8 years old) and all I can remember smelling was flowers. Her hairdresser's shop always had fresh flowers and plus all of the different types of shampoo just made the air feel much different. Fast-forward to my teens and I occasionally smelled cologne/perfume on people but didn't put much thought into it.

When I was in high school, I remember Old Spice, Axe, Brute, Stetson, and stuff like that were the big trends. Axe was popular among high school kids but that was just meant to be deodorant, not a replacement for cologne/perfume. I just remember my classmates doused themselves in the stuff and you could smell it the minute they walked through the door. I think that's why I'm against over-spraying on the fragrance now is because I remember those dark times. The one time I did remember recognizing someone wearing cologne was when the original ADG was released. People bought that stuff like hotcakes and wore it constantly. I wear most of the guys in my classes had it as a signature (if not their only) scent. 

My jump into the fragrance world was mentioned in my Polo Blue review. Polo Blue was the first fragrance that I ever owned. I wanted something to get me attention with the girls (selfish I know) and that was my primary reason for getting into the fragrance world, or so I thought. It turns out once I got Polo Blue, I just liked the idea of smelling good. When you go to high school kids who play sports and come out of practice smelling like pure BO (body odor), then it's rough sledding. Since it was high school, nobody ever showered at the school since they were self-conscious. I swear I went through that bottle of Polo Blue in no time. It took me a while to replace it but when I did, I bought two bottles so I'd always have one ready to go. 

Time skip again to college and by now, I've added D&G The One, Fahrenheit, CK One, Le Male, and countless others to the wardrobe. I started getting on YouTube and watching various reviewers to narrow down the wish list to stuff that I thought I'd like. This would eventually lead me down the rabbit hole and multiple blind buys later, I was hooked. A small collection of about 13 fragrances exploded into almost 90 over the years. I'm currently sitting at about 89 bottles (rest in peace GIT) but I have SEVERAL on the wish list and I have a ton of samples left to test. I've learned to appreciate niche fragrances so much more as I've learned about my particular taste in fragrances. I've learned I'm not the biggest fan of freshies as I used to be UNLESS it has some green aspect to it or they absolutely nail it. I like scents that accent green notes, woods, pepper, or amber. Amber used to be such a risky note for me. I'd automatically associate amber with being powdery and powdery with being more "mature." Yeah I was ignorant. Amber, if done correctly, is amazing. I also like incense if it's done right. While I like gourmands to an extent, too much sweetness is definitely a thing.

I'm still enjoying my journey and being a part of a community which recognizes art and gives a fragrance their flowers when it's due. The fun thing about fragrance, since it is an art form in my mind, is that it's subjective and is debatable. Your fragrance tastes and my tastes my differ vastly but I can still be objective about many facets to the scent, which is why I give an objective score and my personal score. That's what makes this community flourish. Lately, it feels like the fragrance industry is pretty big on sending bottles to influencers across the various forms of social media to push their newest creation for sales. Smart tactic but at the same time, it's caused us to backslide as a community overall. People are focused on "compliment getters," "panty droppers," and "attention grabbers." I guarantee that if you get on YouTube or Tiktok right now and look up a fragrance reviewer/influencer, those words will be mentioned or something involving sex will take its place. It's sad because I remember a time when people would all be pushing for scent discovery, not trying to push certain brands/scents just to make sales. I know I'm ranting here but tell me I'm wrong. I'd love to hear the counter argument.

Not one to leave my blog on a bad note, I'd also like to say there are still reviewers that I watch and I truly respect their opinions. If you search for them, I'm sure you'll be able to discern people who try to push a scent on you for the above reasons in the previous paragraph. You will also find people who genuinely love the hobby. You can tell by how they describe what they smell and the memories attached to it. When that connection is there, you can't fake that. I appreciate that passion and that's what built the community up in the first place. It started with people just loving scents who would each tell their friends to smell a certain scent and then they'd pass it on and add their recommendations. We need to make this a thing again. Exploration is the best part about this hobby because you learn what you like. If you like something enough, you will let others know. It's just a natural reaction unless you're trying to gatekeep in which I feel sorry you. Spread the word and spread the love. I'm all about helping in this hobby. I've never made 1 penny from any review I've ever done in my lifetime. This is all to help someone learn just like I did about the hobby and hopefully help the community grow.

Hope you've all been doing well. Keep growing, stay safe out there, and keep smelling good!