l once tried aftershave when l was 14, luckily l woke up to myself and never used it again. Nothing worse than men wearing aftershave and women wearing perfume, i've never understood why people do it, it drives me absolutely crazy.

How is anyone supposed to find their natural partner when they are wearing that rubbish on their bodies?? It doesn't make any sense that people would want to cover up their natural scent. Our natural scent is what draws certain people to ourselves. lt's a crazy symptom of the modern world.

Last edited by The_Shooman (2013-03-03 00:54:40)

why do you think aftershave is so popular? marketing, it smells nice...l just don't understand the thinking behind it at all. What do you mean by "they work on a fashion level", and why do they "wow you"?

What's your verdict on Penhaligon's, Sammy?

I can recommend Blenheim Bouquet - yet another one, allegedly worn by Churchill - and their Sartorial, which we've had a thread on (a great masculine work scent).

The Hammam Bouquet is also interesting, one bottle will last many, many years, its that strong and some would say over powering. Probably not for the unitiated: a flowery rose scent for men.

They're about the only perfumerer I repeatedly return to over the years.

Formby is right about the Creed Vetiver; it is superb. However, they also have an Original Vetiver, which is a watered down dishwater version, which should not be purchased by mistake. As they seem to be pushing this above the non-Original, they've lost me as a customer.

I have a pathological love of fragrance, any fragrance. I also love the odor of many industrial solvents and often have no qualms about wearing fragrances marketed for women which in many cases have quite masculine feel to them. I also don't wear aftershave but instead use perfume and eau de perfume concentrations when available (apply very very sparingly). I must be able to smell my own fragrance but noone else needs to. 

The thing with Creed is that most are simply not outstanding in my opinion. Some are just good and safe with quality ingredients but no wow factor. I do really want to love them because of their use of natural ingredients which is commendable though. I just find that many other houses just produce nicer juice. I love a significant amount of Tom Fords Private Blends which unfortunately do use some synthetic components but they are so wonderful. Tuscan Leather for example is a real howitzer delivered in a velvet glove: very powerful, complex and mysterious. Same with Noir de Noir , the automic bomb of dark sinister roses. Warning. Use these in tiny quantity as they are real narcotics (love Opium btw)

I actually collect fragrances as well as certain of the endangered pure essential oils or absolutes such as Mysore Sandalwood,  and various origin of oud (agarwood)

Last edited by xenon1 (2013-03-03 11:46:27)

Yeah... carry on.