Comments on perfumes: compliments and insults

On the german site one of my favourite threads is the one, in which everyone can talk about reactions of other people towards the fragrances they were wearing.
Perfumes can cause quite funny anecdotes sometimes...

Well, I'll just start - although my example is not that spectacular (to tell the truth, I usually don't get that many reactions...):

I was wearing l'Heure Bleue - well actually I was wearing several things because I had just been trying stuff. I was sitting in a cafe, when the waitor asked me, if I had burnt incense sticks at home. When I negated he asked if maybe at work. Nope. Then he asked if it might be a perfume. When I had him sniff my l'Heure-Bleue-arm he got a big smile saying "incense sticks" - and he wanted to know the name of the perfume (obviously he likes incense sticks).

So far, I've got the most compliments for "l'Heure Bleue" and "Coromandel".

Strangely enough, people hardly comment on the perfume I wear. I would have to wear something really strong, such as an Oud fragrance to get a few comments. Anyway, I don't mind. As long as nobody is complaining it's OK for me..

Sometimes I wonder if I don't apply enough or if people don't like it and are just too polite to say something.
Well, actually I wear fragrance to please myself not to others and don't necessarily want others to smell me - unless I go clubbing. But sometimes it would be nice to have a feedback in order to make sure I don't overapply.
I love scents that don't scream "I wear perfume" but just make you smell good, that are subtle and somehow carnal in a way people might think it could be my natural smell that is so sexy - e.g. "Eau Sauvage" or "Déclaration"...

There is nothing wrong with not getting any replies. Commenting on a person's perfume - at least in Germany - is easily understood as advances.

To please myself, I agree, that`s the cardinal reason for me to wear perfumes.
Complainments are very rare,but if in case of them, I can live with that.
A few days later the same person likes another perfume on me. I just stay by myself

I sometimes feel that way too. Or else I'll get a compliment on some very common fruity-floral scent I happen to be trying - hardly ever the more interesting ones. Kind of disappointing...

One of my friends also told me my L'Heure Bleue smells just like incense sticks that she used to burn. She couldn't remember which kind they were though.

It's funny because to me, L'Heure Bleue doesn't smell anything like incense sticks.

I too wear perfume for my own pleasure, but it is so nice when others appreciate it, and say so.

My favorite reaction may have been when a graduate student in my department left her office and ran out into the hallway I had just traveled, and called out, "Who smells so good?"

I called out in return, "It is Guerlain Purple Fantasy that smells so good, and I am wearing it!"

I also had a good reaction once at a convenience store. The woman behind the counter said, "You smell so fresh and lovely." I happened to have in my purse a small vial of the Aqua Allegoria Orange Magnifica I was wearing, so I gave it to her!

When I wore "Arabie" by Serge Lutens one of my colleagues closeby sniffed the air and said, "Smells like..hmm....suntan lotion."

What I've learned from some comments on perfume is the reality of olfactory fatigue.

I recall, for example, a woman raving about a perfume I was wearing but which I myself no longer detected: it was "Marc Jacobs"

Oh good: a shout out for "Purple Fantasy"! I thought that I was the only person who liked it!

And it was a real shout! I like PF very much, Sherapop. Awful name, ugly bottle, but good juice. Too bad it's discontinued.

When I wore "Arabie" by Serge Lutens one of my colleagues closeby sniffed the air and said, "Smells like..hmm....suntan lotion.:b1f81e4385]

This is so funny because usually people think that it smells like curry. I think that it smells like cumin fruitcake

But I did think that SL "Fleurs d'Oranger" smelled like suntan lotion the first time I tried it. Later I learned that the sample must have been old and condensed through solvent evaporation.

Never ever heard of it. The name does not sound that promising...

True, the name is a turn off! "Purple Fantasy" sounds like something straight out of the Victoria's Secret Secret Garden collection!

Just this morning, our beer delivery guy commented on my scent. He happens to be a friend of mine and although he is much younger than I, we both talk parfums quite a bit.

He said I smelled like his grandfather today. I busted out laughing since I was wearing vintage Caron Third Man.

He was wearing CK Eternity. I believe he has a ways to go yet in the hobby.

Aromi, next time you see him, please make him create an account at Parfumo! It's time to grow up and leave CK behind!

I have numerous times already. He's the biggest procrastinator I know.

I received a compliment on today. I was shopping and a lady came up to me and said "I dont know what perfume you're wearing, but you're wearing it very well." It was Tauer LDDM. That was kind of nice to hear. LDDM has always been one of my favorites anyway. I cant seem to get enough of it.

One other fragrance that seems to get compliments each time I wear it is Tom Ford's Black Orchid. Its weird because I have never worn that without someone making a positive comment about it. No other fragrance of mine gets that much attention.

Early that spring I was in the bakery. I was wearing Micallef's "Les 4 Saisons - Printemps". There was a new Girl working in the bakery and all the time I was in, she was turning around me, until I became nervious. So I asked her, what she wants and she said "oh, sorry, nothing, I just want to know the name of your fragrance! It's a fairy tale smell!"

I've had a few comments, good and bad.

"Moschino Funny!" by Moschino got fair few comments. One girl in my lecture said, "who smells like fly-spray?", but then a month later, my hairdresser said she absolutely loved it.

"Fantasy" got quite a few, "you smell sexy", "what's the name of your shampoo?" compliments.

I had one friend tell me that "Weekend for Women" smelt like her ex girlfriend. And quite a few mistook this one for shampoo too.

"Hugo Deep Red" never fails to get noticed by men, and "Sweet Redemption" had some surprisingly positive compliments and a few ooohhs and ahhhhs.

What th f... my tablet just crahed after I had already written a lot. All gone...
Well, I was saying that I'm more likely to get comments by close friends that know of my hobby. I don't tell everyone because I don't think normal people would understand the kind of time and money I spend. Sometimes I don't either. So it's kind of a secret obsession.
One of them doesn't make comments because she has a poor olfaction. I mean she is the kind of person who applies four spritzes of coco edp and reapplies after 4 hours - at work (I've told her that she cannot do that).