If you watch any fragrance youtubers, you might come across buzzwords being used that give you a certain reaction.
This is in good fun so don't go after anyone.
This particular word I find particularly sexist and I doubt this happens to anyone, but 'panty dropper' just sounds so wrong and the fact people believe a fragrance will make people do that is pretty hilarious.
Ugh, "panty dropper" is just vile! I remember someone using the term "ladykiller fragrances" a few years ago in a list video, which didn't seem anywhere as repulsive. Anyway, can't stand "beast mode" or "nuclear" and the endless nonsense about "performance". Don't get me wrong, if it's someone with a long work day who just wants decent performance that's perfectly understandable, but when it's clearly just an attention-seeking thing it's a bit pathetic, isn't it?
well yes, any variation on the term "panty dropper"...ridiculous
also: "beastmode" (what does that even mean)
And: "must-have"... really?
not to forget: "compliment magnet"...
I am much more inclined to check out a perfume based on its description, on the notes...what it smells like basically, than on somebody telling me it is a loindrenching scent.
Ugh, "panty dropper" is just vile! I remember someone using the term "ladykiller fragrances" a few years ago in a list video, which didn't seem anywhere as repulsive. Anyway, can't stand "beast mode" or "nuclear" and the endless nonsense about "performance". Don't get me wrong, if it's someone with a long work day who just wants decent performance that's perfectly understandable, but when it's clearly just an attention-seeking thing it's a bit pathetic, isn't it?
I despise the term 'ladykiller' like really, a woman's just gonna go straight up to a guy just because he's wearing a popular fragrance? And he's got zero charisma? We have preferences and I can tell you I am pretty sick of men smelling of 
Sauvage Eau de Toilette is it a 'ladykiller' not to me and I could list other fragrances that have the opposite effect on me. It's blatant sexism.
"Panty dropper," "Lady killer," "Chick or man magnet," "Man tamer."
Anything that gives men the idea that women will just swoon into their arms or gives women the idea men will find them irresistible because of a fragrance. Just no.
Also "grandma" "old lady" "old man" etc. used as perfume descriptors.
How about 'Crowd pleaser' 😆? And, like KathrynA66, I hate the 'old lady' and 'grandma/grandpa' comments. Although the more 'old ladies' I see coming by in reviews, the more I get interested because I love vintages 😀. But I'd suggest to change 'old lady or old man' in 'old soul', a much better and more friendly description of vintage smelling perfumes, I think 🙂.
I agree with your remarks about sexists terms. I didn't know about the "man tamer" 🙂.
"Must-have" I didn't think about this one, but yes it is also stupid.
Yes "crowd pleaser" or "mass appealing" is a bit elitarian ...
And @Ringtale : old man/lady, grand pa and so on. In fact I love old perfumes and it has also the reverse effect of getting me interested in.
(I was in a store a few days ago, just musing around while waiting for my train. I got caught by shop assistant: "What are you looking for? Which perfume do you like?
- [I couldn't answer : "well , I am just waiting for my train and enjoying testing perfumes meanwhile", so I played it safe:] Old ones.
- Like what?
- Well, old Guerlain's?
- Mmh which one?
- 
Habit Rouge Eau de Toilette (which just caught my eye on the shelf)
- Oh that old ☹️"
Which might mean that I appear to young to love them 😉.)
All of the above, really. Plus this one: 'frag'
Reading these words in written reviews is one, but hearing them in actual conversations really makes me cringe
i really dislike the more vulgar terms i hear on tiktok which is kind of funny since i'm not prudish or modest in my day to day. just seems so obnoxious to describe it that way even as hyperbole. things like "this perfume will get your back cracked" and describing scents as "lickable" etc.
and I find the term "grandma" to be kind of annoying but also funny since it's so dependent on what region/age the speaker is. like i'm sure two generations from now a grandma smell will be a gourmand and not a powdery floral
"Compliment Puller/Compliment Magnet", or "Crowd pleaser" -- they replaced "Panty Dropper" as sales tactics. As other people said, they are useless buzzwords.
"Bubble gum scent" -- not every sweet scent is reminiscent of bubble gum.
💪BEAST MODE💪
I despise that phrase with all my heart. Really. It's one of those words that you can smell and it's smells like gym locker room.
Pantry dropper comes as second, very close. It's more descriptive. Perfumes also tend to overlap and intertwine with our sexuality and yeah, maybe it's a little bit vulgar but it manages to convey the message nonetheless. It's a very soft pass for me when it comes to others using it and I would probably never use myself.
And for my polish users: perfuma/perfum when used as singular noun. People take the gentive/possesive form and use it as a first person nominative. In polish perfumy is always plural following the french per fumee. It's some kind of eastern dialect leftover word that engrained itself in colloqiual speech and I die a little every time someone uses it 😥
Describing a scent like something that has been “drizzled”. It activates my fight or flight instinct.
This might be a weird one, but I don't like it when perfumes are described as "can only wear during x season" or that sort of thing. I get it when people say a certain fragrance performs better at certain temperatures, but the experience of spring or winter is frankly pretty subjective depending on your part of the world. Also, I'm sick of anything with cinnamon or strong pine notes being automatically considered a winter fragrance because people think it smells like Christmas.
All of these buzzwords are just a sign of uneducated noses. When people can't recognized Aldehydes, Lavender, Chypre, Iris or Heliotrope etc, they use "Grandma scent" instead.
“Old lady/man” it’s very ageist and a complete shame. Some perfumes have a more vintage vibe which isn’t a bad thing at all. I can’t stand “beast mode” either. I’m embarrassed if I’ve accidentally oversprayed, I don’t care for “beast mode” or sillage.
Lately, “DNA”.
I guess I know how the people feel who go irate at the mention of “skin chemistry” now.
fresh from tiktok, i despise the category of 'ultra-niche'. as if niche wasnt pretentious enough, plus it's used for the most trending perfumes. i just cant 😒
They should ban TikTok. Although I think it’s a symptom, not the cause, of the deterioration of humanity. Ultra-niche, ha ha. That’s a lame one. Hype-r niche would be more appropriate. I guess when niche goes mainstream it isn’t niche any more. Entrepreneur.com said back in 2015 ‘niche markets are so last year’.
Apart from ‘juice’, frag, flanker, OG…
not necessarily a buzzword, more of a concept of projection, or performance 🥴. why is 1 = bad = skin scent, and 10 = good = loud scents? i'd argue that projection is even worse category than gender in perfumery!
Yes to all of the above. I'll add:
Clean ingredients or clean formula
There is literally no legal or even agreed-upon definition of that term. It's pure drivel and nonsense.
And I'll call out DS & Durga for referring to their fragrances as fumes. While I own a couple of their fragrances and generally like their visual aesthetic, any time I see them use the word fume it makes me want to never give them money again.
They should ban TikTok. Although I think it’s a symptom, not the cause, of the deterioration of humanity. Ultra-niche, ha ha. That’s a lame one. Hype-r niche would be more appropriate. I guess when niche goes mainstream it isn’t niche any more. Entrepreneur.com said back in 2015 ‘niche markets are so last year’.
Apart from ‘juice’, frag, flanker, OG…
Flanker is the appropriate term for fragrances that surround (or flank) the main fragrance in the line. Maybe it is just industry-speak being propagated and then used incorrectly, perhaps? Calling Coco Mademoiselle a Coco flanker at this point also seems silly just because Mlle. has superseded the original in terms of notoriety and popularity. In general I think it is a good term, but calling scents that aren't literal flankers "flankers" of other perfumes is also kinda dumb. I do see all the time on *another site* reviews that say "this is basically a flanker of blah blah blah" when that isn't true. (What I am saying is that I mostly agree, but the term has probably been watered down a lot because of fragtok et al.)
Mine is probably one that not many people would agree with, but I am sort of tired of "lactonic" being the only adjective used for milky fragrances. I think something could be milky and not necessarily lactonic, like a scent that has a creamy-nutty quality to it rather than just actual cow milk.
“Freshie”
Personally, I'm annoyed by people misusing the word "linear" to mean "lacking complexity", and similarly saying a scent lacks "complexity" or "depth" when what they really mean is that it's linear. Linear scents can be complex, and not all non-linear are "more" complex than linear ones. People use "linear" like it's an objective measure of quality when it's really more of a personal preference.
