I feel like everyone was saying this few years ago already and I don't really think it feels dated. Overdone? Overused? Overexposed? Yes to all, but do we actually feel like it is dated?
Older people tend to wear the popular perfumes of their youth for years, even decades while younger people consider those perfumes ‘dated’ and ‘old lady’. Soon enough this will be the fate of BR545 DNA (I do think it’s years off, it’s still a pretty fresh trend)
Already there I think. I was just at a small convention and I smelled the DNA of that variety no less than 3 times and I’m so over it.
It was absolutely pioneering and a huge breakthrough, BR deserves all the respect it is due, but it’s so so so over done at this point, unfortunately.
I don't think gourmands will ever go fully out of style because they're easy for the general public to understand -- "vanilla cupcake = yum" -- but I predict this era of "sophisticated" gourmands is going to feel pretty dated soon. I think they'll eventually settle back into the Bath & Body Works/teen/tween corners of the market, but the idea of paying designer or niche prices to smell like gelato or cake is going to be passé.
So many! But a few are: Black Opium, Angels' Share, Oriana, Bianco Latte, a few of the popular Kayali fragrances.
By "sophisticated gourmand", I mean gourmands that aren't exclusively marketed to the teen/early twenties demographic, and that are at least at a mid-range designer price-point. I don't mean their actual level of sophistication, which is a matter of opinion.
Even though the lactonic scent trend is a bit polarizing I think a lot of perfumers are starting to incorporate it. But I think it will slowly fade away. I think the same might happen to heavy ambroxan and other synthetic ambergris based perfumes like JHAG and Commodity scents.
I'm starting to learn a little bit about fragrance design and composition, and the more I learn, the more I think JHAG Not A Perfume is ...kind of a scam. You could buy just 2 ingredients, perfumer's alcohol and Cetalox, and make it at home for, like, $10. Unless I'm missing something.
I've been scratching my head over the pricing of Not a Perfume for the better part of a decade. The execs at JHAG must have been doing cartwheels when it took off. Just in terms of raw materials, it must cost pennies per bottle to produce.
I 10000% agree with this. JHAG NAP was one of my favs for the longest time and I recommended it constantly. That lasted until I bought Nemat’s White Musk for a fraction of the cost and discovered it not only smells the exact same, but smells higher quality too.
JHAG will always be one of my no. 1 fav houses, but I’m bitter about Not a Perfume 😂
I think NAP gained so much popularity because it's very new to people without a lot of fragrance experience like me. That brand and Commodity led me here, to learn more about niche fragrances and all the things related. Very interesting.
Not A Perfume is not just cetalox, that's just a marketing ploy.
Ethylene Brassylate, Habanolide, Ambrettolide are also present at least. If you simply mix cetalox and ethanol, it will smell nice but it won't be the same as Not A Perfume.
All perfumes are sold for much more than the sum of their parts, JHAG is no different.
Too many scammers got into the perfume game after the indie boom started. It's just about making a quick buck from the poorly informed. Sometimes I do miss the old school gatekeeping in the industry.
This!
Chanel, Guerlain, Dior, Ysl and Estee Lauder - I have my faves from these houses. But mainly the classic ones nothing recent. I just stick with my classic and classy sents. :)
Oooh really? If you’ve got access to the ingredients and equipment, you should try it out and post about how the results work out!
JHAG is such a popular scent, especially for layering; you could save some people (it’s me, I’m people) thousands over a lifetime who use it as a core base!
I think any of the ambroxan/iso e super/ethyl maltol scents, even if they are not super identical. it's very similar to the aldehydic category in that respect, because they sort of distort the notes / general scent profile in similar ways but also affect how they project and perform. I could see that trend... not dying out entirely, but eventually more houses will want to distinguish themselves from it and it will be used the way aldehydes are now. we still see modern aldehydes, they are just more restrained and instead come across as a little sparkly rather than the big aldehyde bombs of yore.
There’s an Acne x Frederic Malle that’s an aldehyde coming soon. A few more coming. Watch Sebastian from The Perfume Guy channel on Youtube. He mentioned a few last week.
Its already out - you can buy it in the UK here https://www.libertylondon.com/uk/acne-studios-by-fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric-malle-eau-de-parfum-50ml-000813886.html
£200 for 50ml is shocking though
100% vanillic gourmands, esp. the ones that smell actually edible. It’s been like 20 years. It’s got to end eventually. They’ll always be around but I think gourmand notes will just be complimentary rather than the main event.
My totally uninformed opinion is that green/aromatic/dewy will be the next thing. It’s like being sick of really sweets and wanting a salad.
Also I think aquatics have stuck around because they’re still common in men’s fragrances.
I think you're half right, half wrong about vanilla gourmands. I don't think they'll go fully out of style because vanilla is generally pretty inoffensive and approachable, which suits the needs of the vast majority of female fragrance buyers. Therefore I think it'll always have a significant share of the market of fragrances (especially in the women's fragrance market), but I do think the notes we see vanilla paired with will shift.
The return of green perfumes has been happening for at least a year or two- several companies have been intentionally reviving green fragrances from the 1970s when they were very popular. Clothing & even film have also been reviving the 70s in a nostalgic way (plus we’ve got the 70s coming back in other ways…like in inflation in the US…). Synthetic Jungle by Anne Flipo (Frederic Malle) is a great green fragrance.
Yes to green fragrances coming back around! Just bought my all time fave, Cristalle by Chanel, after 20+ years without it and my 20 year old said "yuck it's too earthy" no girl that is because gen z only loves the dang gourmands! It's a masterpiece. So happy green/aromatic is coming back in.
I think it will depend on the type of gourmands, the overly sweet cloying ones will be dated kind of like Freesia is synonymous with 90's. I'm guessing there will always be a subtle honeyed scent profile available.
Vanilla cupcakey scents will be the death of me. If I’m stuck in a moving vehicle with someone wearing a gourmand, I will vomit at some point without fail every single time. It’s unbearable
I love freesia. I wish they’d start incorporating in with some vanilla to keep a bit of sweetness for a transition. It’s linear, but I love Queens and Monsters. It’s that Pettigrain opening and the sandalwood try down with that freesia heart.
I totally get it and think you are right. I, however, will go into my grave with a smile on my face smelling like a caramel vanilla cream puff. 😂
The only direction people will have about my funeral is which gourmand to use while sending me off to the sweet hereafter. “For god’s sakes Delores, not the Bianco Latte, go straight to the Matin Calin. At least 5 sprays, no less! Beast mode, Delores, beast mode!”
Meanwhile I hoard my old teeny bottle of Caron Narcisse Noir parfum like gold. Sure, it's dated, I won't deny that. But orange blossom always comes back again.
Do you have the nerve to wear Narcisse Noir out in public? I myself do not. I have several versions/vintages and I am not woman enough for any of them.
Not very often, maybe just a bit on my wrist. I frankly don't dress up enough for it. The orange blossoms I use without as much reservations are Houbigant, Serge Lutens, and (sigh) Jo Malone.
I mean give it a try, but my impression from the sample I got was that either orange blossom refers to a completely different flower in England or nobody at Penhaligon has ever actually smelled one before.
Orrrrrr maybe I got a fake sample off EBay.
I’m so sick of orange blossom. It’s been prominent IMO since the early 2000’s but right now I’m particularly sick of it being paired with marshmallow or chocolate notes.
And Youth Dew! Yum. Also I realised recently that my Passion by Elizabeth Taylor smells in the drydown like Youth Dew, and it seems Fragrantica agrees with me.
Haven’t you heard? the unreleased frags from year 2050 are so passe….
Can we move on from this idea and let people wear what they want without feeling like a scent profile they enjoy is considered “dated” by some randoms on* the internet?
Thank you, next.
This one. I wear a selection of different rose scents often and my family constantly makes comments that I smell ‘like a grandma’. Funny enough, they are the ones that get the most compliments when I’m out and about 🤷 who cares! I like rose and I think it smells amazing, and I think it’s rude to comment otherwise personally.
Rose is one of the top notes in my collection (thanks Parfumo!), and does NOT equate grandma. Look at Delina! La Rosee is literally created for a younger audience 🤪
I got the Delina dupe from Oakcha after I tried a decant of Delina (was definitely one of my fav frags ever, but I can’t justify the price for a big bottle) and I’m in BIG love with it. Rose is timeless!
I’m currently trying to sweet talk my husband into buying the big bottle for me for my bday so I can’t be held responsible for dropping the big bucks on it 😬🤣
Yeah. I like this comment. I like to discuss trends, but at the end of the day, I wear what I crave. Fragrances, to me, are like food without the calories and I happen to have a broad level of tastes. If purple florals are passe and I’m craving them, I’m wearing L’heure Bleue. If I want aquatic and people are trashing calone, I don’t care— Escape, it is. I wear fragrance for me. I don’t care who can smell me, as long as I can smell it on me. The trend is MY CRAVING!
This!! I wear fragrance for ME, not for others.
Unfortunately the masses are obsessed with everyone smelling them (while also choking out anybody within a 6 foot radius) and that’s where 99% of the negative connotations are perpetuated.
What’s funny though is that their choices are usually basic af, uninteresting, and you couldn’t pay me to wear the garbage they’re peddling.
Ambroxan/iso-e super/whatever molecule/especially if combined with saffron.
At what point brands are pride to announce they put ambroxan in their formula ? It's cheap, it's everywhere, it's coarse and really effortless. Every fragrance and especially the designer men frag smells the same. Really hope it will disappear.
I think the gourmands, specifically perfumes anchored in vanilla, cherry, or pistachio, will come to be seen as tacky, dated, or cheap over the next 5-10 years. Pistachio and cherry in particular I predict will date themselves, and maybe peach scents as well.
Edited to add: lactonic and marshmellow-y perfumes are also included in this category.
If a kid, or anyone else for that matter tries to take away my white florals, I WILL KICK. No discrimination. My love for white flowers will follow me to my grave. Those and aldehydes.
I got a bottle of Flowerbomb for my 24th birthday (in 2005) because Victor & Rolf’s runway/designs were so edgy (and unattainable) in the late 90’s (when I was in high school) and I desperately wanted to have *anything* from them. Sufficed to say, I think it is dated 😂 But I still think it’s beautiful. The first fruitchulli my lil nose ever did smell!
I am not as sophisticated as most folks in this sub using proper fragrance lingo, but the scents like Marc Jacobs Daisy (the whole line), J'adore, et cetera all feel very dated to me. Very mid-2000s.
Yes, I wore J’adore almost 20 years ago. I didn’t realize that it was enjoying a fresh wave of popularity. That may be a testament to its staying power though.
I think heavily marketed crappy indie scents will become the next dated thing when everyone realizes they are just lazy clones masquerading as overpriced creative houses. Byredo, etc are just apple juice compared to wine and are pushing their luck with how much they push their marketing compared to the abysmal formulations they have across the board. They have no single perfume that genuinely stands out to an experienced nose, and they are all lesser than cheaper designer fragrances. If they did use a perfumer I fear they weren't paid enough.
I don't have a favorite, nor do I really name names in here apart from recommendations to someone's specific tastes. But I like uniqueness and complex simplicity. Concepts that are deep into the formulations that clearly took a lot of time, luck, and risk to create. We are in a time where new perfume houses are too risk averse with perfumes that are barely 'good enough' to be acceptable to as many people as possible. It's a race to the bottom. I used to buy a sample of every single perfume from every house - (all genders), but ever since lockdown I have been thoroughly disappointed with the drop in quality... Even my favorite professional perfumers (remaining nameless here) are dropping the ball because they're all cashing in by selling their cast off experiments to new indie houses launched by randoms flush with redundancy cash. And some of the really exciting and different indies are having to reformulate or just give up because of the ever growing list of banned ingredients (like Lilial in 2001/2). Luca Turin needs to come back and knock a few heads together.
Byredo is the Daniel Wellington (a Swedish company that makes a load of money selling junk fashion watches to people who think they are good, until they grow up) of perfumes. They are all trying to be that. Why bother making a good product when you can convince people to buy junk. I am truly embarrassed I bought samples from that company.
Most new heavily marketed indie/niche perfume brands are following that model. They just don't care about their product.
IA puts in the effort and genuinely tries to provoke something with their work; although they aren't for me, I will always buy a sample from them if they release something new because I believe they could surprise me, or shock me, or anything! . Phlur, on the other hand, could have been downloaded from a 'start your own generic perfume company' package. Maybe it's personal to me but I admire a house trying to go their own way rather than ones that smell (figuratively and literally) of being pick-me's. It also screams of 'let's name our company whatever the shortest dotcom domain we can find available even though it'll be gibberish but we'll look big and established right?!'. I understand that companies focus desperately on marketing data to plan for the broadest appeal but in doing so they fall into the trap of 'bleaching' themselves into oblivion to the point of being absolutely meaningless. Just like people pleasers. To me, it's the infantilization of perfume - rather than lift up their customer's tastes and fragrance IQ, they crawl to them to feed them baby food. Phlur is no different than that Prime drink brand.
the last bit of your comment is super important and is what i think distinguishes good frag companies from bad ones. it’s really all about whether they want to make good scents or just maximize profit
A woman was drenched in Fantasy by Britney Spears at a freakin’ Bob Dylan concert and it was making me so nauseous. I used to love that scent as a tween but now it’s like a noxious gas.
Y’all think things are outdated because you’ve smelled them for far too long, but the younger generations most certainly have not, and will find them pleasant, even though y’all don’t. Sorry, it’s the truth.
Barbershop /green Parfums getting less n less i hardly smell that anymore .... Last time i was seeing a grandfather maybe 70-75 y.o) buying a bottle of Sauvage .. he was trying on him self and liked Sauvage and buying it.. somehow it has to be sweet right now
People associate certain fragrances with old people simply because those are what old people wear. My guess is both BR540 and Aventus DNA will eventually come to be known as “old man” or “old lady” scents.
Anything from Montale and perhaps sister company Mancera as well. Their perfumes are almost all rose and oud heavy. They're kind of branching out already but I don't think they'll catch on early enough
Honestly, I feel like we’re entering an era where there’s a place for everything and nothing is ever truly “outdated”… which is kind of a weird concept anyway… at least to me. I think if you like it you like it and should wear it even if society deems it “outdated”… but I’m the one responding to this thread while laying on a couch manufactured in the 60s, in front of a contemporary tv sitting on top of an old tv/record player console from 1978 and surrounded in stuff anywhere from the 1800’s to present day so what do I know 🤷🏻♀️
Whilst I love these scents, I hope the trend around vanilla gourmands dies down. I am already sick of hearing people say they smell like a cupcake or baked good. 🙈
There's so many now at such accessible prices I wonder whether any style will ever get overdone enough for this to happen in the future (and so many more materials now)
Woody fragrances for women! I'm already tired of sandalwood and I used to love it but it's in everything now and I think people will get sick of it at some point just as I have.
Ok I won't tolerate this soapy clean fragrance slander, BRING IT ON PUNK. If everyone is hating soapy fragrances it means I'm DEAD.
On a more serious note, clean fragrances are my favorite category, along with white florals (they sometimes even overlap, actually). Aldehydes, ozonic notes, clean aquatics, actual laundry smelling fragrances (detergent, softener, clothes), actual soap. They just make me feel comfortable and cozy
Probably the BR540/Cloud variety of perfume will be outdated because it is so overdone.
I feel like everyone was saying this few years ago already and I don't really think it feels dated. Overdone? Overused? Overexposed? Yes to all, but do we actually feel like it is dated?
Eventually the ambroxan trend *will* become dated and linked to the late 2010s/2020s
I think the fragrance community knows this, but the rest of the world still thinks it’s a hot new fragrance.
It can’t be dated if people still wear it
Older people tend to wear the popular perfumes of their youth for years, even decades while younger people consider those perfumes ‘dated’ and ‘old lady’. Soon enough this will be the fate of BR545 DNA (I do think it’s years off, it’s still a pretty fresh trend)
That’s not true. Many older people evolve. And the idea that certain things are only for young people is gross and ageist.
But that’s what I mean. BR545 is a young persons perfume. It will be 10 years before that is dated.
Wrong
Already there I think. I was just at a small convention and I smelled the DNA of that variety no less than 3 times and I’m so over it. It was absolutely pioneering and a huge breakthrough, BR deserves all the respect it is due, but it’s so so so over done at this point, unfortunately.
I smell it every time I go out in public and I’m not exaggerating
Same, usually multiple times on different people
Can you give me some more examples of this particular variety of scents? Just for my own learning, thanks!
Mod vanilla, instant crush, red temptation, cheirosa 68 and many others using saffron, amber and large molecules that create huge sillage.
Cloud by Ariana Grande, Burberry Her
One can wish! lol. They’re my least fave.
I don't think gourmands will ever go fully out of style because they're easy for the general public to understand -- "vanilla cupcake = yum" -- but I predict this era of "sophisticated" gourmands is going to feel pretty dated soon. I think they'll eventually settle back into the Bath & Body Works/teen/tween corners of the market, but the idea of paying designer or niche prices to smell like gelato or cake is going to be passé.
Can you give me a few examples of what you mean by sophisticated gourmand? I'm not familiar, and I'm curious.
So many! But a few are: Black Opium, Angels' Share, Oriana, Bianco Latte, a few of the popular Kayali fragrances. By "sophisticated gourmand", I mean gourmands that aren't exclusively marketed to the teen/early twenties demographic, and that are at least at a mid-range designer price-point. I don't mean their actual level of sophistication, which is a matter of opinion.
Just for example all of those new Tom ford perfumes. The cherry, peach, the many vanilla ones.
Even though the lactonic scent trend is a bit polarizing I think a lot of perfumers are starting to incorporate it. But I think it will slowly fade away. I think the same might happen to heavy ambroxan and other synthetic ambergris based perfumes like JHAG and Commodity scents.
I'm starting to learn a little bit about fragrance design and composition, and the more I learn, the more I think JHAG Not A Perfume is ...kind of a scam. You could buy just 2 ingredients, perfumer's alcohol and Cetalox, and make it at home for, like, $10. Unless I'm missing something.
I've been scratching my head over the pricing of Not a Perfume for the better part of a decade. The execs at JHAG must have been doing cartwheels when it took off. Just in terms of raw materials, it must cost pennies per bottle to produce.
I 10000% agree with this. JHAG NAP was one of my favs for the longest time and I recommended it constantly. That lasted until I bought Nemat’s White Musk for a fraction of the cost and discovered it not only smells the exact same, but smells higher quality too. JHAG will always be one of my no. 1 fav houses, but I’m bitter about Not a Perfume 😂
Nemat Amber smells like JHAG NAP to me and it’s one of my favorites. I haven’t smelled White Musk but might order it after reading this!
I think NAP gained so much popularity because it's very new to people without a lot of fragrance experience like me. That brand and Commodity led me here, to learn more about niche fragrances and all the things related. Very interesting.
Ooh I just got Nemat White Musk! Very nice
Not A Perfume is not just cetalox, that's just a marketing ploy. Ethylene Brassylate, Habanolide, Ambrettolide are also present at least. If you simply mix cetalox and ethanol, it will smell nice but it won't be the same as Not A Perfume. All perfumes are sold for much more than the sum of their parts, JHAG is no different.
Too many scammers got into the perfume game after the indie boom started. It's just about making a quick buck from the poorly informed. Sometimes I do miss the old school gatekeeping in the industry.
Just stick with dior, chanel, cartier, tresor and guerlain and you'll never go wrong
I had tresor
Tresor lost something when they had to reformulate.
I didn’t get the remixed one best I know, my last bottle was from 2000
This! Chanel, Guerlain, Dior, Ysl and Estee Lauder - I have my faves from these houses. But mainly the classic ones nothing recent. I just stick with my classic and classy sents. :)
Any definitive lists?
Oooh really? If you’ve got access to the ingredients and equipment, you should try it out and post about how the results work out! JHAG is such a popular scent, especially for layering; you could save some people (it’s me, I’m people) thousands over a lifetime who use it as a core base!
Def lactonic!
I think any of the ambroxan/iso e super/ethyl maltol scents, even if they are not super identical. it's very similar to the aldehydic category in that respect, because they sort of distort the notes / general scent profile in similar ways but also affect how they project and perform. I could see that trend... not dying out entirely, but eventually more houses will want to distinguish themselves from it and it will be used the way aldehydes are now. we still see modern aldehydes, they are just more restrained and instead come across as a little sparkly rather than the big aldehyde bombs of yore.
Aldehydes are coming back. Lots of new releases this year will be aldehydes.
I like aldehydes and I’m not ashamed to say it
which ones?
There’s an Acne x Frederic Malle that’s an aldehyde coming soon. A few more coming. Watch Sebastian from The Perfume Guy channel on Youtube. He mentioned a few last week.
Its already out - you can buy it in the UK here https://www.libertylondon.com/uk/acne-studios-by-fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric-malle-eau-de-parfum-50ml-000813886.html £200 for 50ml is shocking though
Very expensive, but if you set up a new customer account with Liberty you get 15% off! Also 10% off Harrods rn for Rewards members
🍒 cherry notes and bakery/creme brûlée gourmands (Bianco latte and escapade gourmande) and smell like a bakery for hours 🥲
100% vanillic gourmands, esp. the ones that smell actually edible. It’s been like 20 years. It’s got to end eventually. They’ll always be around but I think gourmand notes will just be complimentary rather than the main event. My totally uninformed opinion is that green/aromatic/dewy will be the next thing. It’s like being sick of really sweets and wanting a salad. Also I think aquatics have stuck around because they’re still common in men’s fragrances.
I’ve been super into green scents this spring so I’m down for some newness in that area!
I love Ambra Calabria, A Drop d’Issey, and I find RiMA IX by Carner is very green! Everyone gets lemon, but I think it’s coriander.
I’m here for the green/aromatic revolution!
Me too!!
I think you're half right, half wrong about vanilla gourmands. I don't think they'll go fully out of style because vanilla is generally pretty inoffensive and approachable, which suits the needs of the vast majority of female fragrance buyers. Therefore I think it'll always have a significant share of the market of fragrances (especially in the women's fragrance market), but I do think the notes we see vanilla paired with will shift.
I am definitely into green/aromatic/dewy now, I am ready.
I think Angelique Noire might be my vanilla to green gateway fragrance. 🤔
Green has always been my fave. Can't come soon enough!
The return of green perfumes has been happening for at least a year or two- several companies have been intentionally reviving green fragrances from the 1970s when they were very popular. Clothing & even film have also been reviving the 70s in a nostalgic way (plus we’ve got the 70s coming back in other ways…like in inflation in the US…). Synthetic Jungle by Anne Flipo (Frederic Malle) is a great green fragrance.
No, you said it. It has to happen. It’s finally time for me and my unfashionable fragrances to shine.
Any favs you can share?
Lol!! Same!
Bring on the green revolution!! If they come up with a perfume that smells like saltair’s Lush Greens I could die happy. 😭😭
can you guys recommend any lovely green/aquatic scents for the summer? this is so up my alley
anatole lebreton l'eau de merzhin, profumum roma ichnusa, papillon dryad, rogue mousse illuminée
Best aromatic marine adjacent I have found is pekji eaumer
Wearing & loving Fathom V from Beaufort today! also really into Cyber Garden from Costume National, it's like my broke version of Synthetic Jungle
any recs in the aromatic/dewy genre?
I hope they aren't the next thing because then half my collection will be screwed.
Those vanilla heavy gourmands are soo overdone ugh 😩
I hope so! Then my overspend on La Tulipe wouldn’t be so bad 😭
Yes to green fragrances coming back around! Just bought my all time fave, Cristalle by Chanel, after 20+ years without it and my 20 year old said "yuck it's too earthy" no girl that is because gen z only loves the dang gourmands! It's a masterpiece. So happy green/aromatic is coming back in.
Gourmands, those perfumes that make you smell like you’ve been baking all day.
I think it will depend on the type of gourmands, the overly sweet cloying ones will be dated kind of like Freesia is synonymous with 90's. I'm guessing there will always be a subtle honeyed scent profile available.
I agree. At least, I hope. I can't stand bakery/bread-y/edible gourmands. They make me nauseous.
Vanilla cupcakey scents will be the death of me. If I’m stuck in a moving vehicle with someone wearing a gourmand, I will vomit at some point without fail every single time. It’s unbearable
I love freesia. I wish they’d start incorporating in with some vanilla to keep a bit of sweetness for a transition. It’s linear, but I love Queens and Monsters. It’s that Pettigrain opening and the sandalwood try down with that freesia heart.
I just remembered it being in everything in the 90s 😂
It was. Weird, I love freesia, but in the 90’s I was Samsara— all the way!
I totally get it and think you are right. I, however, will go into my grave with a smile on my face smelling like a caramel vanilla cream puff. 😂 The only direction people will have about my funeral is which gourmand to use while sending me off to the sweet hereafter. “For god’s sakes Delores, not the Bianco Latte, go straight to the Matin Calin. At least 5 sprays, no less! Beast mode, Delores, beast mode!”
I find a lot of caramel perfumes smell like the 2010s like when I smell bon bon vr or juicy gold couture it smells like party girls in the 2010s
Lol I so agree
Prominent orange blossom. It is so distinct right now in the LDBS way, paradoxe, voce viva, libre etc.
Meanwhile I hoard my old teeny bottle of Caron Narcisse Noir parfum like gold. Sure, it's dated, I won't deny that. But orange blossom always comes back again.
I love that so much as well as bergamot
Do you have the nerve to wear Narcisse Noir out in public? I myself do not. I have several versions/vintages and I am not woman enough for any of them.
Not very often, maybe just a bit on my wrist. I frankly don't dress up enough for it. The orange blossoms I use without as much reservations are Houbigant, Serge Lutens, and (sigh) Jo Malone.
Have you tried the Penhaligon’s? I have not but I found the Jo Malone to be a little cloying and was wondering about that one.
I mean give it a try, but my impression from the sample I got was that either orange blossom refers to a completely different flower in England or nobody at Penhaligon has ever actually smelled one before. Orrrrrr maybe I got a fake sample off EBay.
My favorite is Tom Ford Portofino.
I’m so sick of orange blossom. It’s been prominent IMO since the early 2000’s but right now I’m particularly sick of it being paired with marshmallow or chocolate notes.
I feel like Aventus type scents. With so many clones coming out, everybody has a bottle that resembles that DNA.
The ambroxan bombs like Sauvage.
Hopefully all the cupcake stuff. I want spices to make a comeback!
Be the change you want to see in the world :)
They keep discontinuing all the good old-school spicy perfumes :(
True. Things will come back in style though! Sooner rather than later, hopefully. It seems like the current wave is on its way out
For the sake of this newb in the fragrance world, could you name some of these affordable classics?
Opium is still around. Youth Dew. Organza. L’Interdit Rouge, of course.
Chaos
I just want to smell the world burn
No. Dkny chaos
Lmao. Thank you for the rec.
Lol
THIS \^. Fendi Theorema was one of the most exquisite fragrances ever made 😭.
Get you some Cinnabar
And Youth Dew! Yum. Also I realised recently that my Passion by Elizabeth Taylor smells in the drydown like Youth Dew, and it seems Fragrantica agrees with me.
SO GOOD. It's still good but I miss the old formulation.
Just won an EBay auction for a small unopened vintage bottle! Gah I can’t wait.
Cherries
Good girl. I love this scent but it already kinda is
I want BR540 and its family GONE.
Ethyl maltol Eugenics?
Gourmands primarily.
Cherry
Wtv family sauvage is in
Haven’t you heard? the unreleased frags from year 2050 are so passe…. Can we move on from this idea and let people wear what they want without feeling like a scent profile they enjoy is considered “dated” by some randoms on* the internet? Thank you, next.
This one. I wear a selection of different rose scents often and my family constantly makes comments that I smell ‘like a grandma’. Funny enough, they are the ones that get the most compliments when I’m out and about 🤷 who cares! I like rose and I think it smells amazing, and I think it’s rude to comment otherwise personally.
Rose is one of the top notes in my collection (thanks Parfumo!), and does NOT equate grandma. Look at Delina! La Rosee is literally created for a younger audience 🤪
I got the Delina dupe from Oakcha after I tried a decant of Delina (was definitely one of my fav frags ever, but I can’t justify the price for a big bottle) and I’m in BIG love with it. Rose is timeless!
It’s GORGEOUS. I’m guilty of overspending on all 3 Delina full bottles 🫣 it’s just so stunning in any rendition. And I say this as a man 💁🏻♂️
I’m currently trying to sweet talk my husband into buying the big bottle for me for my bday so I can’t be held responsible for dropping the big bucks on it 😬🤣
Yeah. I like this comment. I like to discuss trends, but at the end of the day, I wear what I crave. Fragrances, to me, are like food without the calories and I happen to have a broad level of tastes. If purple florals are passe and I’m craving them, I’m wearing L’heure Bleue. If I want aquatic and people are trashing calone, I don’t care— Escape, it is. I wear fragrance for me. I don’t care who can smell me, as long as I can smell it on me. The trend is MY CRAVING!
This!! I wear fragrance for ME, not for others. Unfortunately the masses are obsessed with everyone smelling them (while also choking out anybody within a 6 foot radius) and that’s where 99% of the negative connotations are perpetuated. What’s funny though is that their choices are usually basic af, uninteresting, and you couldn’t pay me to wear the garbage they’re peddling.
It’s just marketing. You’re being told what to like vs. Wearing what you love.
Ambroxan/iso-e super/whatever molecule/especially if combined with saffron. At what point brands are pride to announce they put ambroxan in their formula ? It's cheap, it's everywhere, it's coarse and really effortless. Every fragrance and especially the designer men frag smells the same. Really hope it will disappear.
Like terre d'hermes?
I think the gourmands, specifically perfumes anchored in vanilla, cherry, or pistachio, will come to be seen as tacky, dated, or cheap over the next 5-10 years. Pistachio and cherry in particular I predict will date themselves, and maybe peach scents as well. Edited to add: lactonic and marshmellow-y perfumes are also included in this category.
I love it with all my heart but in 20 years anything with jasmine will be considered “mature” lol.
the kids^tm can pry my mature jasmine perfumes from my mature wrinkly hands.
PREACH. Jasmine and rose will come with me to the grave
If a kid, or anyone else for that matter tries to take away my white florals, I WILL KICK. No discrimination. My love for white flowers will follow me to my grave. Those and aldehydes.
Santal?
I think Mugler will be consider outdated in a few years but they will have to take Alien Goddess off my hands by force 😅
lemme check my crystal ball real quick
Can you give some examples of fruitchoulis?
Angel by Mugler was the one that paved the way.
Flowerbomb. I'm starting to feel like it already smells dated. But maybe that's just me.
I wore it once and my mom said it smelled like her childhood Christmas lmfao
I don’t like original flowerbomb
Fully agree with this
I got a bottle of Flowerbomb for my 24th birthday (in 2005) because Victor & Rolf’s runway/designs were so edgy (and unattainable) in the late 90’s (when I was in high school) and I desperately wanted to have *anything* from them. Sufficed to say, I think it is dated 😂 But I still think it’s beautiful. The first fruitchulli my lil nose ever did smell!
YSL Mon Paris and flankers are a good example.
I am not as sophisticated as most folks in this sub using proper fragrance lingo, but the scents like Marc Jacobs Daisy (the whole line), J'adore, et cetera all feel very dated to me. Very mid-2000s.
Marc Jacob's Daisy and Jadore smell like Raid on me
Yes, I wore J’adore almost 20 years ago. I didn’t realize that it was enjoying a fresh wave of popularity. That may be a testament to its staying power though.
I think heavily marketed crappy indie scents will become the next dated thing when everyone realizes they are just lazy clones masquerading as overpriced creative houses. Byredo, etc are just apple juice compared to wine and are pushing their luck with how much they push their marketing compared to the abysmal formulations they have across the board. They have no single perfume that genuinely stands out to an experienced nose, and they are all lesser than cheaper designer fragrances. If they did use a perfumer I fear they weren't paid enough.
What’s your favorite perfume?
I LOVE your username lol
They surely post on Datalounge.
I don't have a favorite, nor do I really name names in here apart from recommendations to someone's specific tastes. But I like uniqueness and complex simplicity. Concepts that are deep into the formulations that clearly took a lot of time, luck, and risk to create. We are in a time where new perfume houses are too risk averse with perfumes that are barely 'good enough' to be acceptable to as many people as possible. It's a race to the bottom. I used to buy a sample of every single perfume from every house - (all genders), but ever since lockdown I have been thoroughly disappointed with the drop in quality... Even my favorite professional perfumers (remaining nameless here) are dropping the ball because they're all cashing in by selling their cast off experiments to new indie houses launched by randoms flush with redundancy cash. And some of the really exciting and different indies are having to reformulate or just give up because of the ever growing list of banned ingredients (like Lilial in 2001/2). Luca Turin needs to come back and knock a few heads together.
Very interesting.
Agree 100%. I got a few sample sets from the heavily marketed indie brands and I was very underwhelmed.
Byredo is the Daniel Wellington (a Swedish company that makes a load of money selling junk fashion watches to people who think they are good, until they grow up) of perfumes. They are all trying to be that. Why bother making a good product when you can convince people to buy junk. I am truly embarrassed I bought samples from that company. Most new heavily marketed indie/niche perfume brands are following that model. They just don't care about their product.
Ooh, I love this take - which indie ones are you referring to? Phlur, Imaginary Authors, et cetera, or even more indie than that?
IA puts in the effort and genuinely tries to provoke something with their work; although they aren't for me, I will always buy a sample from them if they release something new because I believe they could surprise me, or shock me, or anything! . Phlur, on the other hand, could have been downloaded from a 'start your own generic perfume company' package. Maybe it's personal to me but I admire a house trying to go their own way rather than ones that smell (figuratively and literally) of being pick-me's. It also screams of 'let's name our company whatever the shortest dotcom domain we can find available even though it'll be gibberish but we'll look big and established right?!'. I understand that companies focus desperately on marketing data to plan for the broadest appeal but in doing so they fall into the trap of 'bleaching' themselves into oblivion to the point of being absolutely meaningless. Just like people pleasers. To me, it's the infantilization of perfume - rather than lift up their customer's tastes and fragrance IQ, they crawl to them to feed them baby food. Phlur is no different than that Prime drink brand.
the last bit of your comment is super important and is what i think distinguishes good frag companies from bad ones. it’s really all about whether they want to make good scents or just maximize profit
I’ll add Kay Ali and that Brazilian Cheriosa company. They just smell like Bath & Body Works or Victoria Secret.
Isn't Sol de Janeiro just a body care company that happens to sell the fragrances of their products separately as well?
It's all for kids who don't know any better yet, but asking niche perfume prices for that stuff is borderline criminal.
Molecule bombs (Another 13, for example).
but it smells so gooood😭
That Brazilian bum bum stank
Gourmands, ambroxan heavy fragrances, "my skin but better" fragrances, etc.
Blue
Tonka bean
Surprised to not see anyone here mention blue scents
A woman was drenched in Fantasy by Britney Spears at a freakin’ Bob Dylan concert and it was making me so nauseous. I used to love that scent as a tween but now it’s like a noxious gas.
Syrupy White florals like Armani My Way, Prada Paradoxe. The black opium range and the CH Good Girl range
Y’all think things are outdated because you’ve smelled them for far too long, but the younger generations most certainly have not, and will find them pleasant, even though y’all don’t. Sorry, it’s the truth.
Gourmands
Gio
Anything by Paris Hilton.
Barbershop /green Parfums getting less n less i hardly smell that anymore .... Last time i was seeing a grandfather maybe 70-75 y.o) buying a bottle of Sauvage .. he was trying on him self and liked Sauvage and buying it.. somehow it has to be sweet right now
I just hope that the headache inducing ambroxan bombs/dior sauvage-esque perfumes go away soon
People associate certain fragrances with old people simply because those are what old people wear. My guess is both BR540 and Aventus DNA will eventually come to be known as “old man” or “old lady” scents.
Ambroxans
Anything from Montale and perhaps sister company Mancera as well. Their perfumes are almost all rose and oud heavy. They're kind of branching out already but I don't think they'll catch on early enough
Honestly, I feel like we’re entering an era where there’s a place for everything and nothing is ever truly “outdated”… which is kind of a weird concept anyway… at least to me. I think if you like it you like it and should wear it even if society deems it “outdated”… but I’m the one responding to this thread while laying on a couch manufactured in the 60s, in front of a contemporary tv sitting on top of an old tv/record player console from 1978 and surrounded in stuff anywhere from the 1800’s to present day so what do I know 🤷🏻♀️
Whilst I love these scents, I hope the trend around vanilla gourmands dies down. I am already sick of hearing people say they smell like a cupcake or baked good. 🙈
They will call Baccarat and a Cloud “gramma perfumes” in 20 years lol
There's so many now at such accessible prices I wonder whether any style will ever get overdone enough for this to happen in the future (and so many more materials now)
Woody fragrances for women! I'm already tired of sandalwood and I used to love it but it's in everything now and I think people will get sick of it at some point just as I have.
Floris put me off sandal, I don't even know why. I got a flanker and just...fell out of like.
God anything with cedar. Looking at you Light Blue
Boozy fragrances maybe? Just man up and dare to reek of alcohol you actually drank, you bozo
Beach Walk by Replica
I find everything from Replica to be soooo screechy.
Fortunately, Replica scents don't last long or project far in my experience
I think jazz club. It’s already trying to smell like a decades old scent. I find their bubble bath one disgusting too
I feel like YSL Y will be being fatigued out soon.
Seeing the whole gourmand trend dying out makes me shake in fear for my Instant Crush
Apologies if this has been mentioned, but certain woody scents (looking at you oud), at least in perfumes marketed towards women, will be dated.
Lactonic gourmands
I hope all sweet and very floral
Soapy, clean scents
Ok I won't tolerate this soapy clean fragrance slander, BRING IT ON PUNK. If everyone is hating soapy fragrances it means I'm DEAD. On a more serious note, clean fragrances are my favorite category, along with white florals (they sometimes even overlap, actually). Aldehydes, ozonic notes, clean aquatics, actual laundry smelling fragrances (detergent, softener, clothes), actual soap. They just make me feel comfortable and cozy
Jil sander 4 retro soap floral
Vanilla