2023 Favorites?

What were your favorite 2023 releases in the following categories? You can answer any or all, and feel free to include 2022 releases you didn't get to try until this year.

1. Favorite for women:

2. Favorite for men:

3. Favorite unisex:

4. Best surprise:

5. Most disappointing:

6 Favorite oud:

7. Favorite vanilla:

8. Favorite gourmand:

9. Favorite floral:

10. Favorite citrus:

11. Favorite for a beachy vibe:

12. Favorite for the Holidays:

13. Most interesting/creative:

14. Favorite/Most - category of your choice:

15. Favorite/Most- category of your choice:

Favorite for women - I don't try that many women's perfumes, but "Goddess | Burberry" was nice on my wife.
Favorite for men - Opus XV - King Blue technically unisex but I don't really have any favorites this year that were marketed specifically to men
Favorite unisex - Écrin de fumée beautiful smoky gourmand
Best surprise - "Groove Xcape | XerJoff" was rated very poorly so it very much exceeded my expectations
Most disappointing - Light Blue pour Homme Summer Vibes That beautiful bottle is a waste on such a forgettable perfume
Favorite oud - Gotta go with Opus XV - King Blue again. Masterpiece
Favorite Vanilla - I really enjoyed Althaïr, despite the mixed reviews it got
Favorite gourmand - Probably have to go with Althair or Ecrin de Fumee again, though they are not true gourmands
Favorite floral - A Rose by Many Names Really complex tobacco, rose, and oud fragrance
Favorite citrus - Search Beautifully done lemon/incense combination - another one of my overall favorites of the year
Favorite for a beachy vibe - Pacific Chill I guess? Wasn't a huge fan but didn't try a lot of beachy frags this year
Favorite for the holidays - Probably Althaïr or Écrin de fumée again
Most interesting/creative - Aqua Media Cologne Forte really interesting green, almost kitchen-y fennel and matcha

Honorable Mentions
Purpose combines the akigalawood of Ganymede Eau de Parfum with an excellent frankincense accord
Bvlgari Man Rain Essence really underrated and under-the-radar flanker that I really enjoyed

Dishonorable mentions
Polo Red Parfum had to sell this after blind buying, boring and forgettable
Myslf boring as all hell
Defy Parfum even more forgettable, if that's possible
Absolu Aventus wasn't the worst but I had high expectations

Great questions @KathrynA66 ! 😄 What are your answers to these?

1. Favorite for women: Love Spell La Crème

2. Favorite for men: I don't prefer masculine-leaning scents for myself

3. Favorite unisex: My Happy. - Cookies & Kisses

4. Best surprise: Let's Get Cozy - I like it better than the OG (similar to Love Spell Fragrance Mist )

5. Most disappointing: Wild Fig & Manuka Honey - Delight - disappeared so quickly and didn't have enough fig

6 Favorite oud: I don't prefer oud for myself

7. Favorite vanilla: Vanille Eau de Parfum

8. Favorite gourmand: Cozy

9. Favorite floral: Flower Moon Perfume

10. Favorite citrus: So Pink Eau de Toilette

11. Favorite for a beachy vibe: Love Spell Splash

12. Favorite for the Holidays: "Christmas in New York | Demeter Fragrance Library / The Library Of Fragrance"

13. Most interesting/creative: "Glue | Demeter Fragrance Library / The Library Of Fragrance" - smells like the blue gluesticks from my childhood, but also smells wearable and fresh; not sure how Demeter did it, but it's fascinating!

14. Favorite/Most - category of your choice: favorite soapy scent of 2023 - Disney Princess - Ariel ; refreshing, realistic, creamy bar of soap

15. Favorite/Most- category of your choice: favorite fruity find of 2023 - Have Fun ; as fruity and juicy as some of my favorite vintage Escada fragrances

Relevant disclaimer that I'm in niche, but I will have sampled 100 2023 releases by the end of the year. I'm on 97 at the moment. I rank inclusive of value, performance & uniqueness.

1. Favorite for women: I have "Guidance | Amouage" at #1, but I feel like Pas Ce Soir Extrait was right there. It merely lacked originality and the performance was kinda meh.

2. Favorite for men: I haven't actually finalized the top of my ranks, but it's either "Astaral | XerJoff", Aquila Absolute or Oud Maracujá.

3. Favorite unisex: I looked at the votes people have given and it appears to be "Astaral | XerJoff" which is around 60-40 male (based on the votes). It's a sweet-jammy rose scent done mildly oriental.

4. Best surprise: This one's hard, because I'd say Florian was unexpectedly neat and I enjoyed AM lots too, BUT I think Boyish was the one. I haven't smelled that many Floraikus, but I feel like it earned a top 20 place this year for a fairly unique product. Smells a bit like a honeyed lemon tea when you're ill.

5. Most disappointing: Keeping it real, niche in 2023 was trash. But the scent that disappointed the most... I can give you 2 different answers here. Based on where I ranked it vs. what I expected, I'd say it was "Groove Xcape | XerJoff" because it's not Xerjoff... that's not the product that Xerjoff should be releasing, especially for those anticipating a "Tony Iommi Monkey Special | XerJoff" follow-up by a collaborator. The other answer would be based on high expectations and that one is Hacivat Oud - that scent lacks any & all complexity to justify it being added to Nishane's Prestige collection with actual great/elite scents like Nefs.

6. Favorite oud: See question 2 - all of those three fragrances have oud. But I would also add Crop Edition 2023.

7. Favorite vanilla: most 2023 niche vanillas sucked ass (Althair, Mr. Thompson, Vanilla Powder, Vanille Leather). I'd have Ani X as the top one, but that also was very uninspiring - it's just original Ani Extrait de Parfum without the spices and a short-lived fruity melon opening.

8. Favorite gourmand: Very surprising this one, it's going to Bonbon Pop. Smells a bit like raspberries & cream, a standard fruitchouli scent that just happens to be blended very well. Clearly feminine.

9. Favorite floral: I'd say Solaris was the best one, well-blended solar floral with great longevity.

10. Favorite citrus: Ingenious Ginger, a product inspired by Le Gemme - Tygar that has good blending & a smooth velvety vanilla base.

11. Favorite for a beachy vibe: either Ani X or Ingenious Ginger in ranking terms; but for personal enjoyment, I think the best summer scent in just scent terms was Aeternum which is a musky-aquatic ambergris scent with melon.

12. Favorite for the Holidays: Again, either Ani X or Ingenious Ginger in ranking terms and Aeternum from a personal perspective.

13. Most interesting/creative: Most creative was Faces of Francis, but it lacked blending to support it. I think Florian also had uniqueness/creativity, but it's still a rose-oud play at the end of the day.

14. Favorite/Most - category of your choice: [Most overhyped by the community] - definitely Althaïr which is just another basic designer-tier vanilla & white floral combo. Will never forget how that scent was a 9.0/10 on Parfumo after 200 votes.

15. Favorite/Most- category of your choice: [Most overhyped by influencers] - Althair was there, but I'd say Lovers was worse. It was truly embarrassing the amount of ass-kissing we saw for FDB in 2023 from PR-gifted influencers.

Oud Maracujá was a suprise for me this year.

1. Favourite for women: Gaultier Divine

2. Favourite for men: Grey Vetiver Parfum

3. Favourite unisex: Beach Vibes

4. Best surprise: Alien Goddess Eau de Parfum Supra Florale

5. Most disappointing: Lust for Sun

6. Favourite oud: My Euphoria

7. Favourite vanilla: Voile Doré

8. Favourite gourmand: Angel Elixir

9. Favourite floral: Fleurs des Sentiers Eau de Toilette

10. Favourite citrus: "Seductive Blue | Guess"

11. Favourite for a beachy vibe: Bella Tropicale

12. Favourite for the Holidays: Infusion d'Épices

13. Most interesting/creative: This Is Her! Undressed

Since i only started collecting just over a year and a half ago a lot of mine are from all over the years so if i don't have one i can pick from 2022 - 2023 i will just use one of them that i bought last year instead. I think that would be more interesting than me leaving it blank.

1. Favorite for women: Miss Dior (2021) Eau de Parfum

2. Favorite for men: Mr Majestic

3. Favorite unisex: Slut Élixir

4. Best surprise: Hard Candy (2023)

5. Most disappointing: "1 Million Royal | Paco Rabanne"

6 Favorite oud: "Soprano | XerJoff"

7. Favorite vanilla: Van Py Rhum

8. Favorite gourmand: Slut Élixir

9. Favorite floral: Onyx (2023)

10. Favorite citrus: Legend (2023)

11. Favorite for a beachy vibe: Summer Hammer

12. Favorite for the Holidays: Summer Hammer

13. Most interesting/creative: Slut Élixir

14. Favorite/Most calming fragrance The Dreamer Eau de Toilette

15. Favorite/ Best performing fragrance Pax

16. Favourite For layering Maverick (2023)

17 Favourite with my most liked note "Plum" Mr Majestic