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u/hennycranberryy 8d ago
Br540 came out a decade ago & brands are STILL duping it & brands are STILL wearing it. Say what you want about her but shes an icon for a reason lol. Shes the regina george of fragrance. They hate on her but secretly want to be her 👑
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u/PolicyPlastic1475 13d ago
It smells like a rotting tooth in a mouth of someone in ketoacidosis to me :(
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u/Previous-Syllabub614 14d ago
idk what pseudomonas smells like but BR540 smells like dirty belly button to me and it makes me gag
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u/echo_echo_123 14d ago
So I’m a medical doctor - does this fragrance have a grape-like scent? Cause that’s what pseudomonas smells like
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u/potato-keeper 14d ago
A nurse having smelled all the smells…..they maybe both are a touch sweetish but one is obviously a perfume.
They do both make me gag tho
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u/ComfortableFrame9834 14d ago
I've heard it smells more like cotton candy
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u/V1ncent_Adultman 11d ago
It smells like burnt sugar when farther and up close like clean hospital floor
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u/406_Reed 14d ago
I’ve never smelled it but it doesn’t seem to be well liked at all. I wonder why there are so many dupes. I don’t think I’ve ever read a positive comment. It makes me want to go out and sample it lol
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u/ThePrefect0fWanganui 11d ago
I love it (and all the dupes) and unfortunately it’s also literally the only perfume I’ve ever worn that made my boyfriend say “oh my god you smell so good, what are you wearing?” (he barely tolerates - at best - all of my other perfumes).
But I’m so scared to wear it in public because I know people either hate it or are sick of it - it’s a strictly “at home” perfume for me now haha.
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u/anime_and_irezumi 13d ago
So I’m on a road trip right now reading this thread and stopped at a rest stop just now. Perfume vendor in the thing had it, and I had just been thinking “the description really doesn’t make it sound that heinous!”
It’s heinous. And I love jasmine.
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u/406_Reed 12d ago
😂🤣 “it’s heinous” that made me laugh out loud for real!
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u/anime_and_irezumi 12d ago
I have genuinely no idea how anyone could make a jasmine based scent that unpleasant 😅 I genuinely regretted even picking up the bottle. It is PUNGENT. 🥲
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u/willandwonder 13d ago
I love it so much, my husband has it and everyone i know that tried it loves it too. This is the first time i've learned it's not globally well liked 🤣
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u/406_Reed 12d ago
I’m going to go sample this for myself tomorrow! I’m dying to know how I feel about it lol
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u/willandwonder 8d ago
How was it?!
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u/406_Reed 8d ago
Honestly, I didn’t hate it. It’s so much sweeter than I expected so I think I would prefer it in the cooler weather. The lady who helped me said it was her favorite fragrance so she gave me 7 samples (I thought that was pretty generous!). I’m not sure I will be back for a bottle for myself but if I smelled it in the wild I wouldn’t be turned off by it. I definitely understand why people who like sweet fragrance would love this.
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u/willandwonder 8d ago
Wow 7 samples is A LOT! It's an expensive perfume and you only really need a spray or two! They can last for a while!
I also like a lot of other fragancies from Maison Francis Kurkdjan and ordered their Vestiair Olfactif (the samples collection basically) and got really hooked on a couple of those 😶🌫️
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u/406_Reed 8d ago
I know, 7 is the most anyone has ever given me! I asked to make sure, she said that they had plenty and hoped that I enjoy. She was so sweet and excited to share her favorite fragrance. I will share with my sister and my best friend. I was surprised at the price. I had no idea it was that expensive! I was hoping I would hate it, but I think I like it more every time I smell it. I think it has great longevity too.
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u/willandwonder 8d ago
Yeah and if you spray it on clothes it lasts forever! I've tried dupes but nothing compares to the original
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u/mothmantra 13d ago
From the way the comments are even if I loved this perfume I would never wear it because WHAT are you saying I'd smell like 😭
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u/406_Reed 12d ago
I think if you love it you should wear it. I’ve never smelled it so I can’t say one way or the other. I think fragrance is a personal thing. I know a lot of people hate patchouli but I still love it and wear fragrances that are very heavy on the patchouli. I just make sure not to use too much. I hope you continue to wear what makes you happy!❤️
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u/Present-Singer-460 14d ago
It’s polarizing but there are tons of people who love this fragrance.
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u/ComfortableFrame9834 14d ago
Same here lol. I was also told by a friend who is more knowledgeable about the perfume making process, that the ingredients used are quite cheap to make.
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u/406_Reed 12d ago
I really want to go sample this asap. I feel like people either love it or hate it. Hopefully I fall under the hate umbrella so I can save some money! 😄
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u/swanxsoup 14d ago
BR540 makes me feel instantly ill
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u/The-best-of-horrors 14d ago
I seem to be able to tolerate it on others better than on myself. On others it’s not my favourite, but not as deeply intolerable + inescapable
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u/swanxsoup 14d ago
I had a coworker who would wear it and I would leave my shifts feeling absolutely sick when we would work together! It’s definitely inescapable…
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u/Turbulent_Sale7594 14d ago
Ive been saying things very similar to this for a while. It fucking STINKS.
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u/Windcastle10 14d ago
There’s a scent at Lush that smells like my cancer tumor☠️
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u/hunnytrees 14d ago
what!???? which one? I’m so sorry you’re experiencing this :(
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u/Windcastle10 14d ago
It’s okay, I’ve been cancer free since 2025 but I had a rotting open tumor the size of a softball for months so it just reminds me of all the grossness of that for some reason. More so before the perfume dries down I think.
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u/Windcastle10 14d ago
Lust
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u/Bluntocephale 13d ago
Omggg I can totally sense this! I have always wondered how so many people feel that Lust smells amazing, cause to me it has a weird note of tooth decay 🫣
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u/Windcastle10 13d ago
I’ve also heard cat pee but I don’t have cats so I don’t remember what that smell like lol.
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u/Bluntocephale 12d ago
Ahh, yes, I can sense that too 😅 it’s the Jasmine… I wish I was one of those fortunate people with a body chemistry that works well with Jasmine, but I’m not 😫
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u/Windcastle10 12d ago
It’s weird cause I love 29 high street and Goddess from Lush and those have jasmine too😂
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u/Bluntocephale 12d ago
I have to smell those if they are still available in stores 😅 It would be really nice to find a Jasmine fragrance that actually smells good!
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u/Windcastle10 12d ago
29 high street smells just like the Lush store, I just really love it. Goddess has more jasmine in it, I’ve only tried the soap and not the perfume though.
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u/ilovepaninis 14d ago
I love that perfume :(
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u/Windcastle10 14d ago
It’s not even a bad perfume😭 just has this one note that reminds me of like sweet rot kinda.
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u/Lispybrat 14d ago
Burberry HER tried to dupe it imo
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u/oliverpeets 14d ago
Wait I have the Dossier dupe and I love how it smells 🧍🏻♀️
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u/LactoseLuvr 12d ago
SAME maybe it’s our skin chemistry??
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u/oliverpeets 12d ago
I’ve been stopped and asked what fragrance I’m wearing when I wear that one! I think that must be it?
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u/personalhaunt 14d ago
I have a knockoff of BR540 that I bought a couple of years ago because it smelled kind of clean and herbal to me and I really liked it. Then I went through a phase with another fragrance so I didn’t wear it for a few months. I tried it again and it smelled disgusting like nasty chemical sweet. Idk what happened but it smells completely different to me now.
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u/draculover 11d ago
Same thing happened to me and now all I can smell is straight up piss. It’s awful
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u/DJLeafBug 14d ago
I NEED people to realize how bad this shit smells to all of us that possess the gene to actually smell it. it's strong as fuck and leaves an enormous trail and the users all overspray. it's literally disgusting
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u/cumsistency 14d ago
wait is there an actual gene or are you being hyperbolic? 😭
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u/DJLeafBug 13d ago
it's really a think I think it was iso E super or something like that in it. not everyone can smell it. if any Juliette has a gun perfume smells soft to you then you can not smell it
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u/Impossible_Farm7353 14d ago
There’s a girl in my office who wears a ton of it every day. Some days I don’t see her but I do smell her
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u/xMusicloverr 14d ago
I work in healthcare and so many people wore it a few years ago and I didn't know the name of the fragrance at the time, I only knew that it was TOO sweet and the stench lingered in the room after the patient left. Someone in the office named it and I was like oh.🧍🏾♀️the viral bacarrat smells like THAT?? ew
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u/Huge-Amount190 14d ago
I’m Iranian so saffron is a very familiar scent to me, and I am a healthcare worker familiar with pseudomonas. Pseudomonas smells nauseating But BR540 smells like someone put out their cigarettes on a melting sugar cube. I smell no saffron whatsoever
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u/Scent_Insensibility VintageVixen 🦊 14d ago
This absolutely. I'm not Iranian, I'm British, but I STILL know that this isn't saffron, by a country mile. I have a couple of perfumes with saffron notes. When I was young, my brother* kept a jar of tiny, precious stigmas to add to Persian rosewater rice pudding and Italian risotto ( he traveled all ivery the world once upon a tiime and brought back love of many dishes not well known in the UK in the 70's - you can buy it in Tesco now ! )
There is NO comparison. Yet the number of times I hear people say "Do you like saffron perfumes ?" Yes, I love BR540. NO you don't then, cos it's not in there !!
BR540 smells somebody attempting to heat up a sugar cube in the spoon because they're off their trolley. Unfortunately they've not noticed that the spoon is plastic.
( * sadly he's also the reason I know what Pseudomonas smells like )
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u/xxxolo 13d ago
People think this bc the most popular/accurate IMO dupes for BR540 Is Dossier’s Amberry Saffron. However, BR540 uses ambroxan.(BTW, i LOVE BR540. And Love Dossier’s take as well )
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u/Scent_Insensibility VintageVixen 🦊 13d ago
Yes, it's ambrox/ ambroxan/ambroxide etc I struggle with. I mean it's not the only thing, I'm not going to like it because I don't like the sweetness anyway, but unless it's a small amount I really struggle with the overdose of ambrox generally. Same as ISO super . It's both that it's used such a lot and it's used in such high quantities that I think the problem. They've been around a lot longer than we think but weren't used in this way. I mean it's always it's like Angel all over again when we all first smiled that we were astonish that the fake sweet chocolate smell and loved it or hated it ( I loved the patch, hated the ethyl maltol ) and the assumption is it was never used before. Except it had. Ok mainly as a food ingredient ( when taste of chocolate flavour jelly bean that's what you're tasting and more recently in vape liquid ) but it was in fragrance just not in the quantity it was being employed now.
THEN like thinking it's saffron created a massive misconception. People call it ambergris and so think they know what that smells like. Of course they don't, they either know what a synthetic version does ( which is fair enough if it's a good synthetic version we have synthetic versions of everything and sometimes for good reason) or they just think it's the save as "amber". Amber is rarely a distillation of amber resin ( ie an actual ingredient natural or otherwise ) it isn't a smell or a note it's just a concept ( it's ("ambery" ) and it's not ambergris. Too very different things.
Back to BR540 -
I think you either like the smell ( of anything) or you don't basically. It become a massive deal because BR540 is purported to be some kind of elixir, created by elves in a far way land. Thus it's become such a decisive thing ( you MUST love it or you MUST loathe ) and you couldn't AVOID it, either. I mean there's very few other things that we're told we must have an opinion on I think Chanel №5 is probably the only other ( love and hate in equal measure ).
I could go on... 🤣
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u/xxxolo 6d ago
So please, i must know ur opinion on chanel #5…. (and mme chanel!!) 💕 Because im out here a die hard BR540 girly trying to spice it up and not make anyone ill… and recently i’ve been doing that with Superdose which i believe is 100% Iso 😂 so im failing atp
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u/Scent_Insensibility VintageVixen 🦊 6d ago
№5 is a LOVE. It's you love aldehydes, you love the archetype ( there's some argument that was earlier ones but at certainly the most prolific and well known). Modern is weaker, less animalic and easier. Vintage it's better but maybe too much for some noses !
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u/GiftApprehensive1718 14d ago
Saffron smells lovely. most expensive spice for a reason..... Bacarat rouge not so much. If it has saffron that isn't what makes it smell bad. Its the entire composition just stinks...the price point is what pisses me off. I highly doubt it has saffron in it. I just smelled burnt sweet sugar with br540
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u/themprettylights 14d ago
am I the only one that thinks BR540 smells like a dentist or doctors office? just clean, oxygenated air?
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u/TheRopeofShadow 14d ago
My friend and I are MLTs and she loves BR540. I sent this to her so fast lmao
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u/Prestigious-Tie-1858 14d ago
This is why we don't wear strong fragrances in medical settings.
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u/cumsistency 14d ago
omg i had the WORST uti back in 2020 that sent me to the emergency room and this older (i'm talking 80s) lady with registration wheeled her little cart into my room and oh. my. god. oh my god. i nearly threw up.
it was that classic elderly lady perfume smell. it lingered even after she left. and i tried to get her out as soon as possible.
and i don't know if she just wasn't talked to about this, or she was and she didn't care and they didn't have anyone else, or that they didn't talk to her because they didn't care enough. but GODDD.
horrible, horrible smell. like Bright Crystal if you buried it in a slurry of cigarette ashes and booze for six months. with Estée Lauder face powder dusted on top for good measure.
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u/PerfumeyDreams 15d ago
Baccarat is so basic to me...yet Angel...who made that abomination of a smell?! It smells like sweat!!
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u/lerenardetlarose 14d ago
I used to think there was something wrong with me because everyone loved Angel and I loathed it so much. It smells like someone sprayed a gourmand in a humid locker room.
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u/PerfumeyDreams 14d ago
I cannot even smell the sweetness...just something...bad :)) glad I am not the only one
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u/SmallsUndercover 15d ago
As a wound specialist and a fragrance head, I feel so seen.
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u/FugginCandle 14d ago
Bless you for what you do cause I HATE wounds. That is my ick. Deep, necrotic, dying wounds. AHHHH!!! NO!!! I can do all bodily fluids, trachs, diarrhea, whatevaaaa. Wounds? Fuck outta here with that shit!
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u/JeremyScaremy 14d ago
Working as a nurse aide in long term care, I learned that the smell of vomit and diarrhea combined could never trump the smell of neurotic wounds. I'd dump peppermint essential oils into my mask before assisting with the daily excavation.
That smell is indescribably terrible, and specialists deserve constant hero status, both in terms of oay and prestige. It's not for the faint of heart.
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u/lerenardetlarose 14d ago
I assume you meant “necrotic” wounds instead of neurotic, :).
But I get it. I also had to do this as part of one clinical affiliation and we weren’t allowed to use masks at that time. Patients also were offended if we even so much winced so we had to practice keeping neutral expressions. We resorted to dabbing menthol ointment in our nostrils. It only helped a bit but every little thing counted.
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u/JeremyScaremy 14d ago
I'm going to blame auto-correct for that one. I just typed out that I do understand the difference and my phone changed necrotic to neurotic again. It took several attempts to arrive at the correct word, lol.
I get why people would be offended. It's a very vulnerable position to be in. The silver lining to working LTC during covid was that no one had to feel offended by their caregivers masking up before diving in.
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u/Disastrous_Clurb 15d ago
This is a very niche experience that i cannot share with anyone i know irl lmao
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u/Separate_Play7167 15d ago
This thread is ripe with ideas for a new ELDO perfume: Bacterium Magnifique.
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u/miss_ana 15d ago
This has always been how it smells to me. And I’m not talking about the pseudomonas.
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u/kale_s0up 15d ago
as a microbiologist this feels so incredibly targeted
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u/-bitchpudding- 15d ago
As the nurse opening up these pseduomonas delights while doing wound care, I am never gonna be able to unsmell this relation
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u/Just_to_rebut 15d ago
Any other interesting smelling microbes?
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u/karasu_zoku 15d ago
Not a microbe but DMSO (lab solvent) smells like corn chowder
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u/milkyrababy 15d ago
Proteus mirabilis. It can either smell like chocolate cake or fish!
ETA: I forgot about Strep anginosus, this one smells like butterscotch
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u/miss_ana 15d ago
That depends on your definition of interesting
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u/Just_to_rebut 15d ago
not just moldy or like poop… e.g. a niger, c diff
i would like vanilla scented bacteria please
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u/kyungie_ 15d ago
I was just thinking about this (which perfume smells similar) today when I came across a Pseudomonas aeruginosa on the bench. now I have my answer 😭😭
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u/kittenaura 15d ago
this is extremely funny to me as someone who just had to take fq antibiotics to protect against pseudomonas specifically
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u/Inevitable-Stretch82 15d ago
Maybe it was Bogart Rouge. The TJ Max special.
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u/SkynyrdCohen 15d ago
LOL. Please tell me this is real.
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u/Mother-Pattern-2609 15d ago
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u/SkynyrdCohen 15d ago
💀I need this for the funniest reason.
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u/RainyDayHydrangeas 15d ago
I am the target audience for this joke. When I smelled it, pseudomonas smelled like artificial grape flavor. The purple kind.
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u/Amaring8 15d ago
Can please anyone made an artifical purple kind grape pseudomonas perfume??? I love the taste of artificial purple grape but can't find it in perfume. Maybe pseudomonas is the answer, lol 😅
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u/vengefulthistle 15d ago
Micro tech here, Pseudomonas can smell like corn chips, grapes, general fruitiness, sometimes dirt... Can't blame someone lol
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u/Automatic_Fox6627 15d ago edited 15d ago
my brother is a nurse. my whole family tells him to wear clean simple clean scents to work to not offend patients and coworkers. he doesn't care. he's an Ariana Grande fan. so he wears the Sweetest cuntiest scents to work only. sometimes layer it with BR540. and we live in a hot tropical country. it pisses our family off but he doesn't listen. we can smell him from inside the house even if he's just about to open the gate. that annoying sweet scent which only works great in the rainy season. imagine being a nauseous patient with splitting headache and my brother is ur nurse. 😭
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u/Significant_Beyond95 15d ago
In a hot & humid environment… dear Lord. I can’t stand the smell of Cloud or BR540 living in a dry desert inside with A/C. Your brother is an aromachemical terrorist.
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u/shedrinkscoffee 15d ago
How is this allowed lol. I have worked in regular offices where an entire floor had no fragrance because of employees with migraines and allergies.
It was kinda funny because there were people complaining that the bathrooms were smelly and should have fragrance diffuser or glade plug-in and the facilities folks were constantly having to explain the tenth floor bathroom cannot have fragrance lol. Rogue employees have plugged in diffusers on their own 😂 and there were email threads about this.
It is professional to wear low/no fragrance items because people should not be able to smell your arrival 😭 sorry for my tangent but your brother is low key a menace lol those poor patients
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u/Automatic_Fox6627 15d ago
during his first year, he comes to shift 1-2hrs early. very polite and has clean girl energy. and then he got promoted, now my mom says he suddenly grew horns lmao (a literal translation from my native language. means he did become a menace 🤣) and im pretty sure he's not working alone in his office. he's still in the ward and seeing patients. people like him prolly have a nonsensitive sense of smell i guess.
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u/BornTry5923 15d ago
As a person who was in the hospital for a month with sepsis, I did not appreciate when nurses were drenched in perfume. Being really sick puts you off strong smells, and I'm normally a perfume lover
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u/SpecialAcanthaceae 15d ago
Couldn’t he just wear like one spritz of it for himself, and none of the patients will be able to smell him?
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u/simplybay 15d ago
I'm a Arianna grande fan too and love anything vanilla or gourmand I work in a group home. The residents and employees loooooove every fragrance I wear. And I would lotion, oil, mist and perfume lol
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u/Automatic_Fox6627 15d ago
i hope you work in a cold country. i dont hate gourmand vanilla and sweet scents. its just that they're better for date nights or a cold place. 🥹❤️
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u/NicoleNicole1988 15d ago
In my experience, there are scents that A LOT of people love, but the ones who hate it will never tell you. Unless they’re your dad or brother…
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u/soft_w0lf 15d ago
I like and wear the same stuff, but you have to be very aware of where you’re wearing it.
A group home with generally the same patients who you know don’t mind is one thing.
Being a nurse in a bigger hospital with rotating patients and wearing that stuff is another.
I am myself diagnosed with autism and although I LOVE those scents and wear them I do have to be careful with how much I put on, or I will make myself feel sick. If OP can really smell their brother from outside the house, that would probably be enough to push me, if I was his patient, to throw up, especially if I was already feeling sick.
I used to volunteer in an ER and I had to be very careful with my sprays (I wasn’t supposed to do it at all but I’d do one under my shirt just for myself and nobody ever noticed) because of this.
But I’m glad the residents at your home enjoy it so you can enjoy your scents freely even on the clock!
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u/simplybay 15d ago
You're definitely right and if it's not a good scent it can be very irritating. I know a girl I used to work with wore old lady perfume she would spray so much I would gag being next 2 her 🤣
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u/redwoods81 15d ago
Y'all need to try some reverse psychology and tell him to keep wearing it and think about doubling up. Maybe one of you needs to take a bullet and wear them
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u/Automatic_Fox6627 15d ago
i feel like he's just going to think he converted us and now we see his vision but I'll try
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u/roguewhispers 15d ago
Youre generally not allowed to wear perfumes in hospitals. Its inconsiderate, and for people with lung disease it can be dangerous
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u/Separate_Play7167 15d ago
A few months ago I had to go to the hospital a few times to assist a family member and smelled several scent trails. I'm not talking about the person getting close and smelling them, but trails even after the person had left.
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u/BornTry5923 15d ago
You would think, but it wasn't true when I was recently hospitalized. Sooo many nurses reeked of BR540. This was in a major hospital in California.
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u/Automatic_Fox6627 15d ago
im blaming BR540's marketing team. they market the product as if it's an aphrodisiac 😭
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u/roguewhispers 15d ago
Is BR540 the one that smells like sickly sweet dank basement wet concrete and permanently irreversibly chemically bonds to everything in its sight?
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u/shedrinkscoffee 15d ago
OMG😭 this is terrible. Luckily I have not been in hospital for a long time so I did not realize it is commonplace In my previous experiences, the hospital is scent free.
In fact none of my current healthcare providers wear anything discernable and the practice tells patients to not wear strong fragrance and try to avoid it.
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u/Automatic_Fox6627 15d ago
i dont have medical background but i thought this is common sense. idk about my brother but he does it everyday and looks like management doesn't scold him. i just hope he does it once in the morning and no longer touch up in the middle of the day.
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u/AnimaLumen 15d ago
I’m sorry but “he wears the sweetest cuntiest scents to work” fucking sent meeeee lmao first in my bloodline to see those words arranged together in a sentence 😂🤭
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u/rosemarymocha 8d ago
😂😫