What's the fragrance that got you into this hobby?

Not the first one you ever tried, but the first one that made you start to appreciate perfume on a deeper level, start being curious about what was out there, or began your quest for the perfect scent. Which one was it?

For me it was African Leather Eau de Parfum . I was probably sixteen or so, bored in an airport terminal, and wandering around the duty-free area. My main associations with perfumes before had been cheap-and-cheerful fruity florals, which smelled nice but didn't really feel like me. I'm not sure why I picked this one (probably because of the big cat on the bottle), but it blew my mind. This was before the big gourmand boom, I had no idea smelling like spices was even an option! And I'd definitely never heard of Memo Paris before... what else might I not know about? Years of curiosity and research later and here we are now. My tastes have broadened but I still get excited when I smell a cardamom fragrance lol

Did anyone else have a similar journey? What kick-started it?

Axe body spray. Yes I said it. First time anything smell-related got me compliments (we're talking about fifth and sixth grade here, okay) and it opened my eyes to a new world of fun lol. 

Rest assured Axe is not a staple in my collection anymore. 

When I was a high school student I spent some time in NYC and there was a fragrance at The Body Shop there called White Tea & Rice. It was a soft, skin scent that was fresh and intimate at the same time. It made me curious because I never thought white tea or rice had that fragrance, so I started exploring different kinds of teas and rice, and then became exposed to other fragrances like Goutal, and it was like falling down a rabbit hole from there. 

Tom Ford Black Orchid

For me it was Indian Sandalwood . I was obsessed with the way that smelled. Familiar in a way (yes of course, sandalwood is everywhere, I even get a bit bored of it now). And that bottle is just gorgeous imo. It was 115€ in the shop and found it online for 60€. The online journey was born. I found Parfumo and the rest is history.

And there’s no shame in using Axe @Ezroni 😁🤜🤛

No shame in Axe, @Ezroni ! Judging by my experience in middle school at least it seemed every boy wore it at some point (or maybe it was just one over-enthusiastic sprayer...) It's like a rite of passage.

I've never seen White Tea and Rice before, @Raluko111 . That would've made me curious too!

What was it about Black Orchid Eau de Parfum that drew you in, @ArmynN ?

I like the bottle of Indian Sandalwood too, @Ceesie , it's classy without being boring. I haven't actually noticed sandalwood around a whole lot recently, at least not as the main star, so either I'm not looking hard enough (very likely) or it's overdue for a comeback.

That's a tough topic lol
First, I fell in love with Lolita Lempicka (1997) Eau de Parfum perfume. I love Dr. Pepper, so I got into it.
Then I got Comme des Garçons 2 . I thought the ink smell was nice, and I liked the spirit of Comme des Garcons. (At the time, I also had a cell phone that looked just like this bottle. Here it is: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/...) I admired Daisuke Jigen from Lupin the Third, so I had three of the same outfits that I wore all the time. (Blue button-down shirt, black pants, and hat)
Then I worked at LUSH, and I smelled all kinds of scents and studied other companies in the same industry. So Lolita Lempicka was the trigger.

Piazza di Spagna. I wore it for more than a decade while remaining completely uninterested in the broader scenery of the perfume world. It was perfect to me, and it was like nothing else I've smelled before or since. But like any other thing it life, it's finite. And eventually the inevitability of it ending came to terrify me.

So in the same way it kept me uninterested in perfumes for quite a while, it ended up sparking my desire to find something new to fawn over. Because while most other fragrances left me bored at best, was Piazza not also a fragrance? There had to be more fascinating scents out there. And there were!

And then in a blink of an eye the process of finding new things itself became the main attraction, urging me to learn more and more. But at the end of the day, while I did find plenty to love out there, I don't think I ever truly got over Piazza. I doubt that anything could take away the fact that it's my picture perfect first love ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

The Original . It was a birthday gift from a friend. One reason it was given to me is the story associated with the fragrance. My friend and I are both students of politics and after a discussion we had one night he sent me a bottle. The exploration began shortly after that.

Millésime Impérial and Green Irish Tweed

I've always enjoyed perfumes and prior to getting my first bottle I would buy Victoria Secret's body sprays and scented lotions. I then got a fragrance set of Nude Eau de Parfum and treasured each item in the set (lotion, body wash, and perfume) until the lost drop/spray. I got different perfumes throughout the years but it wasn't until I got Santal 33 Eau de Parfum back in 2018 or 2019 that I started exploring niche perfumes. Though the real gateway perfume for me was Good Girl Eau de Parfum , that I got a few years before I got Santal 33. I would get so many compliments while wearing Good Girl that it made me realize just how much of a statement piece perfume was/is. It would break the ice with strangers and at times lead to other interesting conversations. 🙂

hmm, I don't really feel like there was one that specifically got me really into fragrance...? I don't know. I've always been a multi-fragrance person, etc. Bath & Body Works was part of my life from like, 7 years old, so... yeah. honestly it's been long enough since I got into fragrance and as someone with ADHD, my memories are a bit of a blur in this regard. really, just being part of a perfume community was what really got me interested in smelling more things. I don't miss Fragrantica after learning I wasn't truly welcome there, but being on there was what really changed things for me. was an easy way to just be aware of SO many fragrances. so many things I'd never known. and then I became a cheapie blind buyer LOL

that said, things like Sunflowers Eau de Toilette and all the Al-Rehab scents I tried definitely were defining things for me

For me it was Cremo Palo Santo, and it was after I tried their body wash. I loved it and found out they had a cologne. I doubled down. The rest is history. 

I have been interested in smells as long as I can remember. As a kid I wanted to smell everything. I'm also neurodivergent and I have done olfactory stimming since my childhood. My mum had a huge collection of Yves Rocher vintage minis in the 1990s and I kept sniffing them all the time. Also one of my relatives had an amazing "beauty room" full of perfume and makeup and I used to test her perfumes too every time I visited there. I was about 5 or 6 years old so I wish I remember what those fragrances were but I have no idea. So I'd say that the thing that started it all was Far Away Eau de Parfum which was my first own perfume that I got from my godmother in 1996 when I was 9 years old. After that I started to get really interested in smelling different fragrances and later when I reached teenage I started to save money to get more. Cool Water Woman was my teenage years signature in the beginning of the 2000s and another fragrance that I found very interesting, I have always loved mermaids and I thought that one smelled like mysterious sea creatures so that lit my desire to explore aquatic, marine and beachy fragrances which still is my favourite genre in perfumes.

Erin Parsons had a video on these supposedly “scandalous” perfumes that she bought and tested out: Poudrextase, Carnicure, Corpalium.

I loved the idea of perfume that didn’t smell pretty and palatable. It was so intriguing to me.

It would either be a mix of the following: vintage Guerlain Shalimar Parfum, vintage Chanel N°5 EDP, Givenchy Organza and Organza Indécence, Caron Royal Bain when I was very young, or later on in my teens, I fell hard for Robert Piguet Fracas, Narciso Rodriguez For Her EDT, Jean Patou Joy, and dare I say, Chanel Coromandel EDT at 19 bloody broke my brain in the best of ways. Then I smelled Bond N°9 Saks for Her. 

Champs Elysees!