Your Perfume Hot Takes

My hot take is that there is nothing wrong with a good cheapie. I own (and have owned) rather expensive fragrances, yet a good cheapie like White Diamonds Eau de Toilette blows me away. This morning I wore Dia Woman Eau de Parfum and couldn't help but think I love white diamonds a lot more. Yes I said it. You can also love houses like Mugler alongside loving niche. If it's right it's right. ❤️

Probably,I think they're probably hoping for a good return on their perfume investment.

The country I was born in is quite strict about perfume, so strong scents are unpopular regardless of race. Some restaurants even refuse service to people wearing perfume. So, even if freedom and human rights are guaranteed, I think it's important to choose the right time and place. (Yes,I'm sure it was the same in your hometown, right? lol)

In high school, I had a friend who would wear a "scent that men like" for her boyfriend, and I thought that was cute. Wearing a scent that you think your specific partner will like is a subtle way of expressing affection.

However, As you say, I also have doubts about choosing a perfume that will be enjoyed by the general public. No matter how popular it is, there will always be people who don't like it, and there are even people who dislike perfume in general.

So, my conclusion is that the best solution is to consider the time and place, and use the appropriate amount of your favorite scent.
To be honest, if I wore a perfume that was all the rage on TikTok where I live, I'd just be considered "smelly!"lol So it's kind of funny that perfume is supposed to make you popular. It depends on the culture and the environment.

So,
My hot take:"People should be able to wear whatever scent they like, whenever and wherever they want. Other people are irrelevant...
OK,That's not how it works."

Yes,You are free. But at the same time you should choose the right time and place.Is the person next to you experiencing nausea or a headache while eating? It's something to think about.(´・ω・｀)

@Akira1005 Yes, I completely understand what you're saying here but I don't feel it's actually at all related to what I was trying to say. English isn't my first language so maybe I wasn't clear enough. I was not talking about choosing a fragrance (or choosing to be fragrance free) for different situations. I was not saying that people should be free to spray 20 times Baccarat Rouge 540 Extrait de Parfum when they are going to a hospital. No, of course you should be fragrance free in a hospital. Of course you have to think about the situation. What I was actually saying: I don't understand why people want to choose their perfume wardrobe based on what's popular and what other people like or what influencers are saying smell good or what they think pleases other people's tastes or what "fragrance experts" are saying smell good or trendy and thus will gain compliments. Why don't you choose what you like? Why don't you trust your own nose instead of other people's opinions? Why are you needing compliments?

I feel the same way! But I've been reading people's discussions on internet forums and thinking about those questions for some time now, and I'm starting to think that me and you might just have a very different perception of perfume as a concept compared to the average person who's basing their collection on other people's opinions. But I can't read your (or anyone else's, for that matter) mind, so I'll just speak for myself here. To me, perfumes are an art form. Finding a lovable scent that will sit on my shelf – is my end goal. They are like pictures you would hang on the walls in houses in Sims games. Their presence makes me +1 point happier.

But I think that for a lot of people perfume is a tool. It's an accessory that they ideally should enjoy themselves, but first and foremost it should give them +1 Charisma point and an advantage in social interactions. Just like wearing branded clothing or flaunting gold jewelry or driving an expensive car – perfumes are meant to help a person achieve higher standing in the social hierarchy in some specific way that's important to them.

Sorry for all the video game analogies, lol, but I imagine it being kind of like a choice of armor. I would choose whatever set of armor looks prettiest to me. Our theoretical person who's asking for compliments would choose whichever mismatched parts would give him the best bonuses.

So while I find variations of "what should I wear to get the most social points" questions kind of annoying and am tempted to respond "dude, just shower and treat whomever you're trying to impress with respect, I beg you", at the end of the day I feel like it's somewhat... pointless, I guess. We just view life in general and perfumery specifically in two very different ways.

This isn't to say that I agree with their approach. I think it's a very sad way to live. But then again, is it fair for me to decide for another person what they should like or what should make them happy? If they don't really care about smells that much, but are desperate for compliments, it's their battle to fight, unwinnable as it may be.

And the "why" part of the "why are you needing compliments?" question, while is interesting and probably will wary from person to person, at the end of the day is between them and their therapist, I think.

I say all this, standing here in my beautiful white coat, but just wait and watch me get annoyed again and start telling young men to shower and go to therapy instead of wasting money on perfumes that someone else could theoretically like come tomorrow (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

Oh, sorry. We've talked before about how strict where you&I both live are when it comes to perfume, so I assumed you'd understand and didn't explain it well enough. My poor linguistic skills showed.lol

"Why don't you choose what you like? Why don't you trust your own nose instead of other people's opinions? Why are you needing compliments?"
Yes, I also wrote a hot take a while back, questioning why things that influencers say smell good become popular.It was exactly, "Why don't you trust your own nose instead of other people's opinions? Why are you needing compliments?"

So, I'm sorry if I misunderstood because of my poor wording.Apart from that,I feel like there's also a separate issue at play about choose your like perfume: "It's okay to wear whatever scent you like, whenever you like, as much as you like." I wanted to say that everyone should be allowed to wear whatever fragrance they like, but at the same time, it's also important to remember what you said: "No, of course you should be fragrance-free in a hospital. Of course you have to think about the situation."Recently, I feel like there are situation where this is not done. What do you think?
I may not have been able to express that subtle nuance!

P.S.
Incidentally, the reason behind my hot take is in no small part related to the recent situatuion of tourists wearing strong perfumes at sushi restaurants and Japanese restaurants...which is why restaurants have started installing huge exhaust ducts. It's become a social problem.
So,behaving appropriately for the occasion means for the many well-mannered people parfumo community, it's just a given, right? That's the end of it, but it seems tourists stance is, "What's wrong with wearing the scent you like? Why should I be told what to do by others?" and I feel like there are more and more people like this these days.Hmm...(´・ω・｀)

I completely agree. I guess for some people fragrances are just like clothes to me. You're just thinking "what should I wear for work / date night / gym / wedding / birthday party / night out" so that you would feel that they are suitable and ok in such situation, however not particularly enjoying wearing them. I don't see myself as a clothes enthusiast at all, I'm just wearing them in public because it's a norm, but I don't enjoy wearing them at all. They are just sort of a tool indeed, only something practical or functional. I am thinking "what looks professional on me" or "which colours suit me" or "what looks festive on me" or "what's comfortable in this particular weather" depending on the situation, but I absolutely hate clothes shopping and I also hate trying to choose "right" clothes for the day, I would rather live in a world where humans would have never invented clothes LMAO. 😝

However fragrances instead are for my personal enjoyment. I love the fragrance choosing process and testing everything new. When I'm home alone, I never wear clothes but always wear fragrances. I indeed enjoy them as an art form, just like I'm enjoying looking at a beautiful picture on the wall or watching a good movie or listening to great music or reading a fantastic book. Fragrances lift my mood, give me confidence, offer me escapism and help to cope with chronic pain, depression and social anxiety - I actually like the armor analogy, I don't know if I'd choose the prettiest armor, but I would actually choose the armor that protects me from the negative vibes. 😁

I do think of the occasion where I'm going during the day when I'm choosing my fragrance but probably in a different way that many other people. For example if I'm having a date night with my husband and I'm feeling like I'm in the mood for a fruity fragrance, I would choose a plum fragrance from my collection because I know his favourite note is plum. However I wouldn't choose a fragrance that I'm totally not in the mood for just to please him. Or if I'm going to a meeting that makes me super nervous, I know that an uplifting tropical Escada fragrance would calm me down and make me feel more comfortable, I would definitely choose to wear one despite someone might think it smells too "girly" or "leisure-like" or "unprofessional" in that situation. Ideally, I would only be able to smell the fragrance myself and the others wouldn't smell it at all - wearing a fragrance sometimes feels so personal that I wouldn't even like to share it with other people, especially if they're not fragrance enthusiasts.

To me it's a very alien concept that perfume would be a luxury item or status symbol. For me perfume is a necessity that increases my personal well-being. Like a form of meditation or yoga. Nobody questions people why they pay gym membership or personal trainer or spa treatments every month but when I'm paying the same amount of money to buy new fragrances, that's considered as an unnecessary luxury purchase when in the reality my fragrance collection exists for the same reason as gym or spa: well-being.

Nothing to be sorry about. 🤗 Like I said, maybe I also phrased it unclearly as this is not my first language either. I totally understand what you mean - like you already said, we both come from cultures that don't appreciate fragrances and where people think other people's perfumes are invading their personal space. Both Japanese and Finnish people seem to be especially sensitive to fragrances because people in these cultures are not used to strong scents. People see fragrances to be "smell harassment" instead of being something nice. I wouldn't particularly enjoy it either if I was sitting in a restaurant trying to enjoy food but all I can taste is someone's oversprayed fragrance. Or if I'm feeling very ill in an emergency room and my nurse or doctor would smell strongly of some sickly sweet powdery beast mode perfume. I do think that people can wear whatever they like but of course they must think when to do that because there are situations where you can literally ruin somebody's day with your fragrance.

I don't know about the situation in Japan, but in Finland however I think people are completely exaggerating the issue though. They would like to ban all fragrance use in all public places, and that I am personally completely against of. I truly understand people shouldn't overspray a fragrance in a place where fragrance sensitive people couldn't "escape" the fragrance, for example a hospital or crowded public transport. However places like public parks, outdoors festivals, big grocery stores etc...there you can just move away if you sense something unpleasant. It's impossible to control the whole environment and that just has to be accepted. I myself am suffering from severe chronic migraine which is always getting a lot worse if I'm seeing particular types of coloured lights or flickering lights. I would complain if there's a strobe light in a hospital. But I wouldn't ask grocery stores to remove their all spotlights or Christmas lights just because I'm getting symptoms. I'm just trying to walk away and cope with the situation, I can't fully control the environment or dictate people in the way that they wouldn't get their Christmas light enjoyment just because the lights make my pain worse.

Also, I'm very tired of the old Finnish argument that people who wear fragrances are just selfish smell terrorists and should stop wearing fragrance completely everywhere except at home because being fragrance free doesn't hurt anyone but fragrances can hurt several people. That argument is very far from the truth. I am neurodivergent (autism & ADHD) and suffer from severe social anxiety and since childhood I have used olfactory stimming to cope with my symptoms and control my anxiety and help me to focus and concentrate on compulsory obligations. Fragrances literally help me to be able to go out of the door in the public and help me to be less stressed about uncomfortable social interactions, so most likely in a world where fragrances would be banned outside home, I would probably be too stressed to go out at all. Also I'm a chronic pain patient and fragrances are the best way to distract my brain somewhere else so that I wouldn't think of my pain all the time. I would actually suffer a lot without fragrances, however for some reason my pain is less significant compared to fragrance sensitive people's pain, which I personally can't understand. A good compromise would be a total fragrance ban in places like hospitals but allowing moderate use of moderate sillage fragrances at normal public places, overspraying banned. 😅

Yeah,Thank you for understanding. And thank you for letting me know about the situation in Finland!😊

I also suffer from migraines, so it's really annoying when someone's perfume fills the air on the train. Speaking of which, we have another thing in common: we both worked at LUSH. I once finished work at the store, got on the train, sat down, and the woman next to me quickly got up and moved to another car. lol I was a walking LUSH store at the time. Yeah, in the past, I was one of those people who caused trouble for others, even though it was unavoidable for work.

In my country, public transportation is also a problem. Trains are very crowded in urban areas, so depending on the time of day, it can be difficult to move to another car, just like the woman I mentioned earlier. So you're practically forced to be confined in a closed room with an unspecified number of people for long periods of time. So, as you say, This is OK.Parks, outdoor festivals, large supermarkets, beaches, etc. However, in my country, many people use the train, so if I wear perfume at home, it's entirely possible that the strong scent will fill the train when I'm on my way to the beach. So, while your proposed compromise makes sense, it's difficult to implement in here.

Also, Japanese society is considered quite high-context, while Western society is generally considered low-context.
Yes, that's why I left out the explanation, hoping that you'd understand each other based on the common ground between our societies without me having to explain it in detail. lol Almost unconsciously.To be fair, it's difficult to expect high-context communication between tourists and locals to get along. So you have to be very specific, but I think that's what's causing stress for Japanese people. Hmm.....

I totally get how scents can relieve stress. It's the same as aromatherapy. I love the scent of essential oils!
So I think the best thing to do is to wear a moderate amount that helps you relax...but ultimately it will depend on the person's consideration.

Oh, I've strayed a bit from the "hot take!"
Going back to the point, isn't it better for people to wear what they really like, rather than what others think of them or what influencers recommend?
On another note,feel free to use what you like, as much as you like, when you like! Just make sure you don't make others uncomfortable.
That's what it comes down to.👍

Opening matters the most because most people make buying decisions based on the opening notes alone. I'm not counting perfume enthusiasts who approach perfumes almost methodically. If the general crowd doesn't like the opening, the sales suck and the fragrance gets discontinued very quickly.

My hot take is: the hobby isn't getting stale, you're just tired of the hobby itself. It's not industry's fault you went through 200 fragrances within a year.

Ha, I like this take just because it’s more positive than it may come across. There is just outstanding shit out there made by absolute masters of the craft, and there may be more masters of the craft than ever. 

I believe that the EDT's are better than most of the EDP's and Parfum's.
For some reason I'm always drawn towards them. They're lighter, they're fresher, and they last just as long as a parfum or EDP last on my skin. The only downside is that they are simpler, not really complex, so I get why most people don't like them as much.

I feel like when a man wears a sweet spicy fragrance, it’s usually because he thinks women will love it, when it may be more likely that they’ll notice more complex and unique scent profiles.. 

Fragrance is both something to resonate strongly and emotionally with, but should never be taken too seriously.

It should be treasured and respected, but also used haphazardly as a condiment over life and it's chaos.

Rare few people have the right mentality toward it IMO. Perfume is deep and rich, but it's also fun and comforting. 

People either have a soulless relationship to fragrance, or they take perfume and themselves far too terribly seriously.

Lattafa is equivalent to Axe

You can get over not liking a certain style or note

I can't speak on behalf of other women, however I personally notice first personal hygiene. If somebody hasn't showered or brushed teeth for 2 weeks, I'm definitely skipping that person no matter how complex or unique fragrance they are wearing. Also I would pay more attention to the other person's personality and interests instead of superficial things like what they're wearing. No matter how much stupid marketing is pushing this narrative, fragrance isn't a solution to attract. Instead fragrance should be for personal enjoyment uplifting your own mood. So if you yourself wear fragrances only for the purpose of attracting women and you don't choose a fragrance based on your own liking and try to choose a "female magnet" instead, please remember everybody is not like you. A man wearing a spicy sweet fragrance might wear that just because he likes it himself and chose it to his own pleasure and couldn't care less what other people think. And I would actually personally choose that man who thinks with his own brain and trusts his own nose instead of thinking that women would be so stupid that they would choose their interest based on a fragrance only.

After so many comments in this thread (I constantly had to restrain myself from responding). I just shake my head and think... this has little to nothing to do with your "hot takes on perfumes," but everything to do with how you think others should act, react, and behave. It's a kind of lecture on how to behave towards others when it comes to fragrances and what you should like/love... I've noticed it's many times about people's behavior, not about the perfumes itselfs.. 

My hot takes on fragrances are therefore: There are so many unpopular/unknown brands that are so much more valuable, don't judge them and also not the user if you never tried them...perfumes are a passion and when it comes to the artisan brands they are created by genuine perfumers with a strong passion for fragrances