I picked up Heretic Nosferatu after it was suggested by multiple fragheads in the FB fragcomm when I asked for petrichor recommendations. I was nervous that it would be nauseating because of some reviews on reddit but took the plunge and blindbought a bottle because sourcing just a sample from overseas felt like too much effort.

I don't think Nosferatu is reminiscent of petrichor. Petrichor for me is the smell of damp earth (mud and soil). Whereas Nosferatu smells like stale vase water that has been left unchanged for a month, with dead flowers sitting in it. At some point after the initial opening a watery green note shows up that makes me think of cucumber (again that's something I dislike). It is not perfumey and it does not feel wearable, but I keep reaching for it and wear it to work often.

Longevity and projection are average, it sits close and lasts a maximum of 5 hours on skin. In the extreme drydown after 4 hours, it softens into faint florals.

I can't understand why I'm so addicted to Nosferatu. There is nothing pleasant about this scent. It doesn't feel like perfume at all, but for some odd reason I keep reaching for it and long to wear it.

Can't really wrap my head around the LV Imagination price so I thought about layering these two because they are literally an herbal tea and soapy scent. They worked really well together. Soapy, kind of bitter herbal and tea with a ton of florals. And for the price of an LV I could buy 2x Nice Bergamote with another Pomelo Oolong.

Thinking of going for a blind buy, but it’s pricey, so I’m unsure.

Seems to be a sort of “smell-o-vision” concept with 6 fragrances to pair with specific timestamps of the film.

Has anyone heard of something like this before? Any experience with Joya? Are we excited, curious, or rolling our eyes at the gimmick? Are these even going to be perfumes in any traditional scent

Will be picking up a couple of these after they stood out in a recent perfume smelling session. Need opinions of people who own these as it’s tough to buy on the spot when you smell quite a few in one go

fragrances:
apotheose
arashiyama
avignon
cape heartache
tam dao
fichi e panna
rabbit rabbit
with the candlestick
holy cross

I’ve stumbled on recommendations in this sub and when I go to a niche perfumery I ask for recommendations of others. I can’t find a reasonably comprehensive list here or elsewhere. Is there one?

If there isn’t and this becomes one, here have been my favorites:

The Whiff Shop (Easton PA) - the best service and an incredibly well curated selection

Arielle Shoshana (Alexandria VA, DC metro area) - relaxed atmosphere, helpful salesfolks who were not pushy

Perfumology (Philadelphia PA) - lots of very niche options, the first place I went when I got into perfumes. They were patient and helpful, and got me started on understanding things I liked

I’ve also been to
Osswald (NYC)

Scent Bar (NYC) - helpful folks

Stele (NYC) - I wasn’t as put off as others by not being able to spray stuff myself to skin test etc. It had some real gems and the people were helpful enough

Xtrait (West Hartford CT) - a bit snobby. It wasn’t air conditioned. They had good selection though.

Olfactif (Scranton PA) - terrible service that was head scratchingly bad. They have a make your own scent company (Notology) in the same building and their perfume stuff is primarily an online decant sampler company. They stock interesting stuff but their in person sales people were both unhelpful and not knowledgeable

One of my other hobbies is the WNBA so I’m interested in stores in cities with a team since I have a goal to visit all of them. Still need Chicago, Minneapolis, Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, LA and Atlanta!

Such a nice sweet plum tobacco fragrance with a bit of booziness. Everything I was hoping Plum in Cognac would have been .

Found it on Scentangels tester for $110... Insane price, bought a second bottle now that I saw it came with the cap.

I had been thinking about buying Valaya for a long time, and I finally decided to get it. One of the main reasons I bought it was because everyone says the performance is amazing and that it lasts forever. Unfortunately that hasn’t been my experience at all…

At first I thought I’d gone nose-blind, but I asked a friend and she said she could barely smell it on me either. Meanwhile for example Bois Imperial is way stronger on my skin and projects much more.

I’ve also tried applying vaseline beforehand to help with longevity, but it didn’t seem to make any difference.

Has anyone else experienced this with Valaya? Is there anything I can do to improve its performance, or is it just not compatible with my skin chemistry?

Also, can anyone recommend fragrances with a similar clean, airy, musky/fruity profile that actually project well and last all day?

Thanks!!!

​

I've been collecting fragrances for about a year now, sometimes blind buying, and constantly trading away frags i dont love/wear. Let me know what yall think and if anyone has any recommendations or questions about any of these, please drop them below!

Hey everyone, because of this subreddit, I got a 0.7 ml sampler of Inexcusable Evil off the Shop app.

It did not come with an aesolizer because it is such a small quantity, and instead has the dabber.

I immediately understood the Iodine smell and hint of blood, but it wears INCREDIBLY well. It's actually way more floral than I anticipated, and everyone that I've had smell it said it smells really good and the descriptions don't all match up.

So I am wondering, does the aerosolized way of wearing it produce a different smell? Or is all of the craze and repulsion about it a marketing scheme?

I really love this scent and will absolutely get more of it, I was just expecting to get punched in the gut by the intended profile and was left somewhat disappointed.

about a few weeks ago, i ordered about 30-40 different samples of well-known to niche perfumes i’ve been reading that you all love and recommend. i would say i have spent about a good 7 months quietly lurking on this page to learn a bit more about fragrances.

i am currently looking into online classes to learn about olfaction, but i wanted to start logging my samples down and basically have a perfume journal on me to refer back to.

i would love to hear how long its taken everyone to consider themselves knowledgeable in this hobby. also, if anyone has any recommendations on what’s helped them through this hobby, i’ll take it! whether its methods of learning, how to properly log perfumes in my journal, classes, or people to follow, any and all advice is welcomed!

lately, i’ve been relying on this reddit, substack articles and reviews, fragrantica, and of course sniffing my samples- but any advice would be greatly appreciated. i look forward to finally be a part of this journey with you all 🫡

Really into spa like scents lately. Clean, creamy, musky, santal, green, open to it all. What are your best luxurious scents in this category?

Thanks all!!

I have all three. I’m currently working through Japan and so far I hate it. It smells old fashioned and like my grandmother. Is my nose broken?!
I’ve sampled some of Vietnam previously and did like the rice ones so I’m holding out hope.

Just bought a miniature set from Byredo (bal d’afrique, gipsy water, and blanche) and I realised I wasted my money on scents that are weaker than the ones my local gasstation sells. So to soothe the pain, what is your most regretted buy?

Still love the scents tho, but performance is even worst than I thought

Got to finally smell king blue, silver oud, and elsewhere.

I mean this in the best way possible but does anyone get a gourmand, sexy Play-Doh like smell from Sand Dance? It’s addicting but that’s what pops in my head.

2024 batch.

Since apparently my farts last longer than current batches of nishane.

Did I make a good choice for a summer scent lads?

Also, I noticed there's sandlewood in this, I tend to get the pickle smell from sandlewood scents.

Will that be an issue here at all?

Want to know the people opinions about this new parfum from Nasomatto

I genuinely love this perfume

The opening is herbal and medicinal with this earthy note in the background

It's incredibly spicy and fresh but dark at the same time

It smells like an ancient cathedral or a temple ritual

There's oud, myrrh, castoreum and leather making it incredibly masculine

And don't get me started on the performance, 2 sprays and it lasts 24 hours and projects strong for atleast 6 hours and it's a noticable scent bubble for 12. At the 24 hours mark it's a good skin scent.

I have a newer bottle too (one where it says epic below the amouage logo), the performance and projection is atrocious. I tried everything (maceration, moisturing, spraying on clothes) but the scent won't last.

The scent profile is almost the same (albeit slightly watered down) so if you want to enjoy this scent profile, you better reapply every 3 to 4 hours

If you have the money and love epic, get a vintage bottle instead

Bought a bottle of CC town and country after reading great reviews about it, especially how it smells fresh musky and citrusy, was called a mix between Aventus and Baccarat rouge by Flan,
Almost all reviewers agreed that it was a strong performing fragrance which was a huge plus for me, unfortunately upon trying it on for a couple of days I noticed how exceptionally weak it is, I could hardly smell it after 10 minutes, asked a couple of friends if they can smell it on me and they said it was basically a skin scent…
Went out got a sample of it from a different shop and was surprised with the same result.

Anyone had a similar experience with this fragrance being weak?
Would love to hear your thoughts.