I’ve been trying fragrances
I’ve been getting more into perfumery, and wanted to share a bit of my interest. I usually wear Fougère Gothique from Barrister and Mann - I really like the coumarin and ash it has. I picked up samples of Casablanca, Song of Aubrac, and Pandora from St. Claire recently. Casablanca is incredible - floral and animalistic; Song of Aubrac is also great, but a bit too floral for my tastes; and while Pandora is wonderfully put together, something about it reminds me too much of a grandma’s bathroom. Today I’m wearing Song of Aubrac layered with Fougère Gothique, and have been thoroughly enjoying the combination. I have a number of samples coming in of other fragrances with ash notes that I’m excited to try, namely Mandrava, Eshu, and Homa from Prin Lomros as well as Beaver from Zoologist. I also have Bat and Bee from Zoologist, as well as Resonance, AEOOJ (LMB), and Leaves My Body from Chris Rusak on the way to try. I’d love to hear any opinions anyone here has about fragrances, or their own adventures with them!
Also, I posted in ~arts since perfumery is a form of aesthetics, but if anyone thinks this belongs elsewhere let me know.
~arts is probably a good fit, since perfumery, while not the first thing that comes to mind when think of art, does feel like it has art-y qualities to it.
How did you get into perfumery? I'm sure there's dozens of guides online, but I've found it easier to get into new things if there's someone to show me the ropes in person. Or maybe you just went in and bought some stuff and tried things until you found something that worked? I'm curious to learn how you started out
My interest in fragrance actually started as a consequence of buying way too many soaps for wet shaving to try different scents - then I had a realization that I wasn’t really interested in the soap aspect. Unsurprisingly, my favorite soap company is Barrister and Mann - and Will Carius recently started Berceuse Parfum, which is exciting. The best way to get introduced is to pick something that piques your interest on a site like Fragrantica and order a sample of it from some place like lucky scent. Samples are super cheap, on the order of a few dollars for 1ml (which doesn’t sound like much, but is a lot of perfume for sampling), which lets you try a lot of stuff for a few dollars. I’ve been considering trying my hand at making my own stuff, but I’ve already got far too many expensive hobbies - so for now I’ll probably just stick to appreciating other’s work and layering where appropriate.
I'm probably a bit of a Philistine when it comes to fragrances. After experimenting a decent amount in my younger days, I finally settled on Victorinox's Swiss Army as a scent that I enjoyed, felt complimented me, and I haven't tried to wear anything else since. I especially like the fact that despite being "for men" it's actually quite floral and citrusy, and not overwhelmingly pungent like a lot of other "for men" colognes that I had tried before it. And the fact that I still occasionally get compliments about how nice I smell when I put some on makes it especially hard to find any desire to switch to something else.
If you ever want to experiment again, you should look into fougère (but probably not Fougère Gothique)! It’s a style of fragrance that is quite popular for men, and usually floral, citrusy, with a bit of musk. You might also peek around for something that’s floral and citrus with an amber base.
I honestly wouldn't even know where to begin, even now having learned of the term "fougère". :P
That site you linked in your other comment is pretty neat though. I didn't have the vocabulary to describe what I was smelling in my Swiss Army, but now I think I have a better appreciation of it after having looked it up... even though I don't really know what the different "notes" mean.
https://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Victorinox-Swiss-Army/Swiss-Army-6672.html
If I ever do decide to experiment again, would you recommend I start with giving some of the ones in the "People who like this also like" section of that site a try?
I haven’t really looked too hard at that section of the site, simply because they tend to gravitate towards popular stuff rather than similar stuff. The honest answer for how I do things is try to find unusual stuff from designers that I’m aware of or have a reason to like or dislike, and just try a bunch of it. If you have ever gotten into something like coffee, tea, various styles of alcohol, cigars, or similar that’s more or less the process I try to replicate whenever something interests me. That is to say, I’ll try a number of diverse styles that are renowned for some reason and develop opinions on them, explore more niche stuff that’s close to the things I like, rinse and repeat. If you’re looking to try a limited number of things I’d look for two popular examples of fougère and then maybe one resinous perfume with similar notes, and check if all three can be had from lucky scent. That would give you a good jumping off point to be more precise about what you’re looking for in a fragrance.
If you haven't already, check out DS & Durga's Mississippi Medicine (frag)
Its one of my favorites.
After a while trying to find a new one for the season, I picked up this $25 'Winter Collection' from Zara, of all places. Its bergamot, tangerine, pepper, eucalyptus, orange blossom, cedarwood, amber, and patchouli. It isn't the longest lasting scent, but its pretty good -- especially for the price.
A few years ago I got into making cologne. Its fun, but I usually mixed stuff similar to the notes of that Mississippi Medicine. Texas Cedarwood is essentially a campfire smell, and its always prominent with everything I was mixing.
Fougère Gothique sounds great. I love oakmoss (which is super thick) and sandalwood.
ninja edit! it isn't fair to talk about fragrances without giving a proper shout out to vetiver, which is one of the absolute best scents ever.
I have not tried it - I will put it on the list for the next time I make a sample order!
Ninja edit here as well - I’m very familiar with Texas Cedarwood, Stirling Soap Co. makes a soap called Texas on Fire that uses it heavily. It can certainly be overpowering!
yeah, texas cedarwood is nice to flesh out the smokiness of things like vetiver, but in small quantities. I really like it with a traditional nag champa, a little tobacco, etc. Too much can be gross. DS & Durga used to be a lot cheaper when they first got going, but like anything good, they more than doubled their prices.
Great scents from them, though.
I am sorry to say, I did not care for Mississippi Medicine - something about the smoke puts me off of wearing it for an extended period.
ha. I loooooove smoke. But yeah, not for everyone :) Are you buying bottles of these or getting samples?
Samples, either directly from the producer, luckyscent, or a handful of other sellers. The only bottles I have (other than Fougère Gothique) are TRNP Embers 2021 and St. Clair Casablanca. I found both of those were something I wanted around.
oh nice. I should start doing that. I used to get samples from the shops, but I think they've stopped dishing them out so easily --- which is one of the reasons I got into mixing to begin with. :)
Let the great sample hunt begin!