Your Perfume Hot Takes

Right? Or even worse, perfumes that are advertised as fully "AI-made". Why would I want to spend money on something nobody bothered to make? 

i would legit rather see a piece of construction paper background taken with a shitty phone camera than ai images. honestly to me it's not only fucking lazy but it shows that you have NO faith in your products - if you feel like you "have" to use ai for your advertising, then there is something about your scent that you think underperforms. either that or you're just a really uncreative cheapskate who just wants to fuck over the environment for *checks notes* a picture of a cupcake....
etsy is the WORST about this... there are so many indie sellers trying to push some shitty garbage perfume, and they ALL use ai images. miss me with that. keep your bullshit. it takes 5 minutes to set up a little photo with a bottle, and at least THAT shows me that you arent some bot or scam artist trying to sell dog water. 

I loooove how different we all are when it comes to fragrance!! 😁

Personally, I cannot stand those bad cell phone photos with terrible lighting, taken in someone’s dusty basement. It gives me the absolute ick! When it comes to small indie brands, I’d honestly rather see clean AI-generated images.

And... I’m genuinely excited about the possibilities of AI in perfume creation. Phantom was a fun first step. The AI only picked ingredients based on aromatherapy benefits, and the perfumer handled the formula. But I’m ready for the next level. I want to smell perfumes where the entire formula was fully developed by AI, top to bottom. Let’s see what the machines come up with! What I really dream about is AI perfume booths, like high-tech vending machines. You walk up, press buttons to select the notes, adjust the intensity, maybe even design your own label, and then robotic equipment inside mixes and dispenses your custom perfume on the spot. Like a fragrance ATM. I really believe this kind of thing is coming in the near future. It’s going to be so much fun. We already have robotic cupcake ATM booths where I live. And I love them! So, naturally, I want the same thing for perfumes...

I think this is true. Perfume companies seek profit just like everyone else.

Just because something is in new packaging doesn't mean it's been reformulated. 

A new bottle of something will smell different than the old bottle you just finished, even if you bought them at the same time.; that's the nature of the juice. 

Big agree. If that makes me a Luddite so be it. AI art looks like slop most times, and actually turns me off as a consumer. If a company can’t afford an artist they can use public domain pictures of art, or simply take pictures of their own merchandise. Many small indies like BPAL do this and turn out successful. 

My ethical/environmental/labor/intellectual property concerns with AI are combined with my general dislike for the results it produces. I would prefer technological advancements to be used with the benefit of the many in mind, but instead it’s being used to replace small independent artists and justify the laying off of tech workers. 

I don't totally agree: Reformulations are often done because of IFRA regulations: Ingrediënts like sandalwood, oakmoss, some sorts of aldehydes to name just a few aren't allowed from natural sources, will it be because of our own health, animal wellbeing or environment. And I think that's a good thing, even if a perfume may smell different because of that. Some houses are better in doing these reformulations than others though. But I find the 'snobbish' talks about 'vintages being so much better' useless and anoying, especially when people are blaming IFRA (like they don't care about animal well being, environment and such). On the other hand: Houses could be a bit more transparent about their reformulations maybe, outside mentioning the notes, they could tell a bit more about the change in ingrediënts and why. 

Indie and Ultraniche tend to be worse quality and worse smelling than high end designer, designer private line and established niche like say Amouage, Serge Lutens and Creed. Not to say there arent amazing creations, but 99% f the time a good Guerlain bodies any ultraniche composition from made in some guys basement.

It's pretty widely rumoured by industry insiders that the IFRA banned ingredients could be adequately recreated with enough investment in development and research. However, that cost is deemed too high by management and IFRA restrictions are absolutely used to defend subpar, cheap reformulations. Capitalism gonna capitalism.

Not to mention many perfume houses have been acquired by beauty giants that definitely do animal testing, so they're not particularly fussed about animal welfare either.

That is probably why some houses make good reformulations, and some don't...

Still I'm really impressed by some of the reformulations by the house of Guerlain for instance. Especially the 'Les Legendaires' line I find quite good without them being too expensive.

But I refuse to buy any of the 'Legacy' line from Estée Lauder, their prices have gone through the roof and I didn't even read all positive reviews about most of these reformulated perfumes. 

And ofcourse IFRA regulations aren't enough for some houses to care for environment and animal wellfare unfortunately.

When intrinsic motivation lacks, rules are just not enough. Still it is good that these rules exist.

TikTokers or influencer are full of lies.
...Maybe it's no a hot take? lol

"This is the best vanilla perfume!!"
Yes, it's a lie. I tried it, but best is an exaggeration. Or it just means "the best in that person's."If so they must say it.
Don't be swayed by populism. The number of likes doesn't necessarily match the actual value to you.

@Delarosafrag  hard agree 💯

The only problem is that the 'A' in Artificial Intelligence is not about 'just artificial'. There's always a mind behind it or a mixture of minds collected with time and content that can create either 'good' or 'bad'. AI may be interesting and sometimes fun and I do understand your admiration for it, but it may have been developed in a time where people rather escape- than take responsibilities.

Sometimes AI generated images are unfortunately not that 'clean' (as you call them), just think about 'deep fake' and the consequences.

For now I rather know which mind is behind my perfume (and certainly behind my cupcake for that matter )

Hot take number 3 or whatever: The crazier the bottle, the less I am interested. 

The scents I have in my collection are mostly clear, blocky bottles with a sticker or decal on them. I think Rogue and Fzotic probably have the same bottle company. While I think bottles can be an interesting art piece to look at or conversation starter, generally, I don't give a shit about bottle design unless it's what I consider bad. It's like the "guy must be compensating for something if he drives a lifted 4X4 pickup truck" thing. Why is your scent in a robot? WHY!

I'm collecting smells, not trophies. 

I honestly feel kind of insulted when I see a perfumer using AI. Like, oh, you thought I wouldn't notice? 

The thing is that like, I know the cost of the ingredients that go into a perfume, I know that you're not paying for those any more than you're paying an artist for the cost of their oils and canvas. You're paying for the time and experience it took a perfumer to learn how to create, an artist to design the bottle, a marketer to write the story. If AI is doing those things then like, what am I paying this company for? I can type prompts too, if that's all they're bringing to the table.

Me too.
This isn't just limited to perfume, but it's also the case with manga these days. Of course, humans still create the plot, but manga with AI illustrations are starting to appear. AI is also being used in fan art and the like. But since I draw, I can simply tell the difference between "human" and "artificial". To be honest, AI manga is not interesting at all. It has no expressiveness.There is a fundamental difference between manga drawn by humans and AI.
"Hmm?With perfume, it doesn't matter who makes it as long as it smells good, right?" No, in the end I want to paying a human. (Well, I do use outlets and second-hand markets, though.)

I agree! And I'm also worried people are getting less smart using AI. I hate the idea that people don't need to think for themselves with AI as a tool and foremost it may ruin their intrinsic motivation...we're living in bizarre times... 

Exactly. As a little curiosity it's maybe ok but when there are full lines of AI made fragrances, that is just screaming lazy vibes to me. Perfumes are art for me, and I want to pay to the artist for art that I couldn't make myself so why would I pay for someone just writing a few prompts and not being artistic at all themselves. Boring. Just like if I go to a restaurant, I would expect to pay for food that I couldn't make at home myself, I wouldn't pay for someone just microwaving a ready made meal that I could have got from a grocery store. That's just lazy.

And like others also said, there are ethical problems too. AI is taught by giving it a bunch of human-made art, and as an artist myself I wouldn't like my photos to be used as a part of generating some soulless AI crap. I would rather check the original art that was given to the AI. I don't even trust AI answering questions, I always check the original sources first before believing AI storytelling lol. AI can be a great helping tool, it can probably help real perfumers in their work also, however on its own it's not an artist nor perfumer.

Man, as an Orto Parisi fan i swear that Risvelium is one of the best creation of Gualtieri my top are really Bergamask, Risvelium, Boccanera and Seminalis

My hot take is that I hate seeing the word "clean" when talking about ingredients. That word has no legal or even industry-wide agreed upon definition. It means whatever the reader wants it to mean. It's just nonsense.

@Lempi yes, the ethics part is where it especially gets tricky - since AI uses imagery from artists without giving credit to/without the permission of said-creators, to create the AI-generated images. 

I wonder how many people using it for image generation, within the context of business purposes, understand this. 

1. Wearing perfume to attract others is ridiculous and makes no sense.

2. Men’s perfumes all smell the same to me.

3. No perfume should have a sillage of more than 2 ft. “Beast mode” perfumes should be UNTHINKABLE.

4. There’s this constant fighting over gourmands being too “childish” and aldehydes/vintages being too “old lady ish”. But at the end of the day, fresh baked goods and Old Hollywood glamor are both timeless pleasures!

5. Testing perfumes that are intentionally made to smell gross or disturbing isn’t worth it! After getting sick after a long day of sampling niche perfumes, I learned the hard way that I actually prefer my perfumes to smell nice!

Exactly. It's ridiculous how companies make profit of just basically borrowing others' art and not mentioning the source because that's what AI art basically is. Sounds as stupid to me as someone would be writing a scientific research paper full of quotes but not mentioning any of the original sources and stating the whole text is their own 🤷

Hahah, I actually completely agree with everything else except number two 😁

1. Yes! I was actually going to write about this myself. I hate people talking about "pantydroppers" and whatever, it's absolutely ridiculous. I also hate perfume industry creating this image that perfumes are "seductive" and related to sex. This leads to stupid things like people asking on the forums which perfumes would make my date go wild, people asking fragheads "who you're trying to attract with your enormous perfume collection" and not understanding there are completely other reasons to love perfume, and even Taleban threatening to kill all Afghan women who wear perfume publicly because perfume is immoral! So please stop associating perfume with sex, it's absolute nonsense.

2. I think I get what you mean actually. There's this generic harsh "note" that is added to several products marketed for men - aftershaves, shower gels, skincare products... And I dislike it when they add it to perfumes too. There are many insecure men in my country who are saying "you're not a real man if all your toiletries don't have a label 'for men' in them" and the only ingredient that differentiates those products from the 'for women' ones is the traditional 'for men' fragrance note lol 😆 However not all perfumes marketed for men contain this "note" so fortunately not everything smells the same.

3. Completely agree. Why should everybody know that I'm entering the room with my perfume? Isn't it enough that I'm smelling it myself and not making everybody, including myself, nose blind? I never understood why people would like to have a room filling sillage in their fragrances. However I'm heavily introverted so maybe this is just one of those weird extrovert things that I don't get at all 😂

4. Couldn't agree more. Perfumes don't have age.

5. Funnily enough I was just thinking of this the other day. 😄 Some niche houses don't seem to get that there can be unique smells that are pleasant too, no need to make unique fragrances just out of uniqueness when it's only a curiosity but people can't actually wear it. Well, I guess it's a some kind of form of art though. It's also very annoying to me when I see a niche fragrance listing a million amazing unique notes from the nature that I would love to smell in a fragrance but when I smell the niche perfume it doesn't smell like the notes at all but smells only like some weird artificial smoke cloud that is considered to smell fancy and expensive, lol. In this sense many niches disappoint me over and over again - why would I pay hundreds for "fancy smoke" when I can actually get gorgeous unique smells with much cheaper price.

2)

I see what you mean and that's probably why I'm more attracted to unisex perfumes.
I mean, I like stuff like La Nuit de L'Homme Eau de Toilette or Moustache Eau de Parfum but for me, even if the popular opinion may disagree, to my nose these spicy sweet perfumes all have that similar DNA with too many perfumes marketed for men, which I find boring.
Same goes with the many citrusy scents, most of them are harsh, boring, and sometimes unpleasant to me.
While some people may find unisex perfumes boring, I find men perfumes boring... and too often unpleasant.

I tried quite some of Maison Tahite's lineup and this is the brand that really got my interest in perfumes back.
Most of their lineup is leaning feminine, everything I tried has something special, except maybe for Vanilla² which is a fairly pure (but beautiful!) vanilla so not the most original thing.

I do really like iris perfumes marketed for men though, and own 3... out of my 5 "for men" perfumes.