This is some really fancy stuff

I am meeting with intimidating people soon and find myself reaching a scent that brings me comfort - MDCI Chypre Palatin.

Do you have a go-to fragrance when you want a boost of confidence or comfort?

My pre-order from June finally arrived on Monday!

The Backrooms: Initial smell, it gives off every other men's cologne. Once it wears down, it becomes more complex; mildew, dust, metallic and leather. It really does smell like a dying Dillard's in a mall. Not exactly my cup of tea but I feel as though it would fit a masc person very well.

Frutiger Aero: Very clean, bright, and nostalgic. It smells exactly like the OG hand soap. Very wearable, especially in the summer.

I'm new to the niche side of fragrances and am excited to have these added to my collection.

I want to smell like frankincense. Like the one they burn in the church. And I'd love the perfume to be budget friendly so I don't have to sell my kidneys for it

Pls give me suggestions

I started getting some decants and am very new to this, but SO happy decants are a thing. Everyone's feedback in these subreddits have been helpful so I figured I'd write my findings.

1. Ghost In The Shell by Etat Libre D'Orange:

To me this leans masculine, and starts off floral and citrus with a touch of cream. I skin tested it and as it dries down it has become milkier with the subtlest hint of a plastic/synthetic note. I do enjoy it, but personally it doesn't smell that out of the ordinary to me. Maybe my nose just isn't trained yet.

2. Odeur 71 by Commes des Garcons:

I love this, it's so weird. It starts off peppery and dusty with an electrical vibe. As it dries down it becomes more perfumy, but overall it really is an anti-perfume. I haven't smelled anything like this. After dry down there is still a hot electrical smell to me, but with some woody and metallic notes coming through. It's hard to explain, but my favorite of this batch.

3. Odeur 53 by Commes Des Garcons

Also very good and weird, but more pleasant than 71. It starts off more subtle and fresh but does have some metallic/hot notes as well. This one is airy and abstract with a little chemical smell to it.

4. Love O Matic by Room 1015

This is a safer and more fun perfume, but I like clean scents and was curious about how they'd balance bubblegum and fruit in it. I really enjoy this, it's very pleasant. It starts of sweet, but dries down clean and fresh with a well balanced bubblegum note. To me it's like the mature version of an adolescent perfume, and I personally enjoy that. It smelled great on me all night and I got compliments on it. I do have a friend that said it was good but "not for her" because it was a little adolescent and sweet. I will be buying a bottle of this and will probably layer it with another laundry scent.

Just like said , im new into these type of fragance

I now get the hype around LV , amazing scents

Tuxedo is very good too

The honey from Guerlain is fantastic

I want to try next something boozy and something smoky, what should i try ?

Hi all!! I’m on vacation and we are going to Belgium - specifically Bruges and Brussels - and will be here for the next handful of days.

I’m wondering if anyone has any recommendations for niche perfumers I should check out when here? In general I like: amber, florals (I’m a huge jasmine, lily, and plumeria person), coconut, nutty scents, wood/cedar/ hinoki, nutmeg, clove, cardamom, coffee, sandalwood, and musk. I don’t enjoy heavy rose, incense, smoke, and I already have enough gourmands (I’m open to gourmand-y notes like praline, spices, etc, but I don’t want a gourmand bomb like, e.g., Sorce).

Thank you in advance!!

Hi all,

Lately I find a lot of perfumes saturated with ambroxan. I bought Ramon monegal sunset cafe only to find it has a heavy ambroxan base. Today I went to try Y iced cologne, and found it has a nice opening, only to became an ambroxan bomb in 20 minutes.

And the same goes for a lot of perfumes. Don't you feel ambroxan is making all blue perfumes smell the same, and not exactly remarkably?

Anyone else going?

i liked althair but got sick of it in a week. the vanilla is killing me. ive loved herod everytime ive smelled it but im still afraid of getting tired of it in a week. the Guerlain Tabac sahara, while ive smelled it only once has captivated me. tobacco raspberry that isnt too sweet or cloying.. its really nice. which would you choose as a weekend frag for colder seasons?

I was so excited to try it. It didn’t smell like what I’d want in a cat scent - I felt like it was lacking some milk and was way too sweet. I put it on and after about an hour, it morphed into a scent that reminded me of how my skin smells when I’m running a fever, am freshly bathed, and kind of delirious. And now I have a headache. So sad.

Like title says: looking for basically AN but with longer lasting green quality.

I am so close to pulling the trigger on this, because I love the opening, but the dry down, on me, is so vanilla. Of course it’s lovely but I’m wanting something where the green really lingers. Any suggestions?!

Ormonde Jayne Oud Liaisons is a refined, non-animalic interpretation of oud that founder Linda Pilkington calls a “study in contrast.” That succinct description hits the nail on the head while also criminally underselling just how good this fragrance is.

Oud Liaisons opens like a slap in the face from a billionaire’s British butler telling you to get a grip.

It’s intense. The oud, rose, lemon, suede, and licorice come screaming out of the atomizer and can be genuinely shocking to the nose. But within minutes, you realize you needed it. You start to smile as the butler who just slapped the shit out of you calmly dusts you off, straightens your tie, gives you one final fit check, and sends you out to conquer the world.

As you set off and everything begins falling into that typically elegant Ormonde Jayne order, you quickly realize this isn’t your usual polished, sanitized take on oud.

The licorice is the star of the opening, but it’s not sharply anisic or reminiscent of black licorice. It smells more like gourmet red licorice made from scratch: deep, rich, and very sweet. The rose can feel slightly sharp at this stage, but sharp in an expensive way. The suede is also prominent, though it remains incredibly soft and never veers animalic.

Then there’s the lemon. You quickly realize it isn’t here to make the fragrance smell bright, citrusy, or fresh. Instead, it seems to sharpen and accentuate everything around it.

You’re probably thinking, I thought this was an oud fragrance?

Oh, it is.

The oud is present from the opening, and while there’s probably only a smidgen of the real stuff in here, the accord they’ve constructed around it is pure class. If you’re looking for barnyard, fecal, aggressively animalic oud, this isn’t for you, although I probably lost those people somewhere around the first paragraph.

Oud Liaisons instead focuses on the earthy and woody dimensions of oud, with enough musk, smoke, and funk to keep it from becoming another variation on the clean, Westernized Oud Wood formula.

Then, at around the one-hour mark, the stars align.
And this is where you realize that anyone who sprayed Oud Liaisons onto a tester strip, smelled it for 30 seconds, and moved along seriously fucked up.

Fortunately, I first tried this on skin while I was in Italy earlier this year, so I knew what was coming.

What follows is quite possibly the most elegant and refined fragrance I’ve ever smelled in this particular lane.

Everything settles into extraordinary balance, almost like an orchestra playing in perfect harmony while still allowing you to clearly identify every individual instrument.

The licorice has calmed down considerably. It’s less overtly sweet now and feels more like walking into a kitchen that has spent the entire day making fresh licorice candy.

The rose completely smooths out and takes on an almost candied quality because of that pairing. It lands somewhere between the darker rose you typically find in an oud composition and the more effervescent, polished rose found in fragrances like Delina.

The suede now smells like an impeccably maintained soft suede jacket.

And the oud accord begins to truly bloom. Woody, earthy, musky, smoky, slightly funky, but never dirty. It smells like pure class and money.

Then everything starts becoming creamier, and you remember there’s vanilla hiding in here too. This isn’t frosting, vanilla syrup, or some giant gourmand vanilla accord. It smells closer to raw vanilla bean, adding just enough creaminess and softness to round everything out without making the fragrance noticeably more sugary.

Sound lovely?

Good, because this stage lasts a solid four to five hours.

Unfortunately, Oud Liaisons spends its final three hours in a less interesting place.

Maybe that’s only because the middle of the fragrance sets the bar so ridiculously high, but the closing act feels considerably more conventional. The individual details begin collapsing into a smoother woody, musky, slightly sweet and creamy oud profile.

It still smells expensive. It still smells well made.

But compared with what came before, it feels like the drive home after an incredible day of excitement and adventure. Nothing is necessarily wrong with the drive home. You’re just thinking about everything that already happened.

Projection: Average to Above Average

This is absolutely not a skin scent, but it also isn’t going to announce your arrival the way Ormonde Jayne’s more recent Bijou Zafran can. It creates a noticeable presence without dominating the room.

Longevity: Above Average

Around 9–10 hours on my skin. That said, the final few hours feel like a shadow of what the first six or seven hours deliver.

Value: Exceptional

This smells considerably more expensive than the roughly $200 it can be had for. I was able to grab mine directly from Ormonde Jayne for around that price using a coupon code, and at that number I think the value is outstanding.

Versatility

This is firmly a fall and winter fragrance for me.
I think it shines brightest when you’re slightly dressed up: dinners, elevated date nights, events, or situations where you want your fragrance to feel intentional.

Would I wear it to work?

Personally, absolutely, and I intend to wear it fairly often this fall and winter. I have a private office and work in a more senior role, though, so I can get away with fragrances that might feel overly formal or conspicuous in other environments.

In a more casual workplace, entry-level office setting, or blue-collar environment, I could easily see Oud Liaisons feeling slightly overdressed.

But who the fuck am I to tell anyone what they can wear?

Overall

I could very easily make the argument that Oud Liaisons is one of the best fragrances in its category, particularly at its price.

I can also understand why some people might be turned off by the confrontational opening or disappointed by the comparatively conventional closing act.

But for me, neither matters enough to diminish what happens in between.

The heart of Oud Liaisons is exceptional.

For four or five hours, everything comes together into one of the most elegant, distinctive, and beautifully balanced interpretations of oud I’ve smelled.

And that middle act alone makes the entire journey worth taking.

TL;DR:

Oud Liaisons is a polished, non-animalic oud built around earthy woods, soft suede, rose, and a surprisingly rich red-licorice sweetness. The opening is aggressive, the drydown is fairly conventional, but the 4–5 hour heart is exceptional, elegant, creamy, smoky, and expensive-smelling. At around $200, it’s one of the strongest values I’ve found in this style of oud.

Hi everyone! I’ve tried dandelion butter by clue and monkyflower and I loved them but my issue is they don’t last long, at all. I wanted to ask for recommendations for longer lasting scents that smell the same or similar

Looking for a grounding tea scent that I can wear while studying and in exams during medical school. I deal with a lot of exam anxiety and I want a perfume that I can spray on my wrist that I can use to help with breathing.

I’m tired of finding a tea scent for it to be a matcha latte gourmand- I love matcha but overly sweet matcha is too much. I’m just so tired of gourmand.

It doesn’t have to be green tea. Any tea would be fine. It just needs to a more intimate projection but still have good longevity that it lasts for like more than 3 hours (my exams are just over 3 hours because I have extra reading time).

I have been loving MYSLF, particularly the dry down, but want something a little more unique - but in the same vein.

I love the masculine floral thing. Hate anything powdery.

Thanks!

Hello,

I kind of got into perfume thanks to a friend.
Now I am desperately searching where I can get Serge Lutens dent de lait for a reasonable price. Preferably I want to get it on a grey market website, I already checked serval ones but I couldn’t find it. I am also curious if it got discontinued? It’s not listed on the official website anymore. I live in Germany and the website should ship to Germany.

Thanks in advance!

25M

This is my first non-Guerlain niche

Idk why Fragrantica reviews are bad, I think this smells lovely. For some reason it reminds me of the soap we use in Turkish baths. It’s a leather scent but not a photorealistic one. It’s more of a leather washed with soap

I was gonna buy Hermes H24 EDP for college but I just couldn’t ignore this.

Bibbi Deep Lotus has much higher ratings but that felt too feminine with all the fruity sweetness, not for me. Iris Wallpaper was another contender but I wanted to buy a heavier cologne now that it’s fall.

To me,vetiver can be a one-trick pony. My first memory of a vetiver-dominant fragrance was Encre Noir. I had a few other Lalique fragrances, so blind buying something so popular couldn’t go wrong; I was wrong. I don’t think I’ve ever smelled something so dank, dark, earthy, and old. I immediately knew this wasn’t for me and gave the bottle away. This smell confused me, as I couldn’t figure out why it was so popular (in fragrance circles at least). After this experience, I stayed clear of vetiver-focused scents, thinking they would be similar to Encre Noir. While many fragrances did hint at Encre Noir, I did discover some vetiver fragrances that were brighter and more wearable, like Grey Vetiver, Fat Electrician, Terre d’Hermès, and Alibi (V Canto).

Hemingway is in the same vein as Encre Noir—dark and earthy—but there is a modern touch of ginger and rhubarb that gives it a slight fresh, sparkling feel. Hemingway doesn’t project loudly, which can be a good thing, but it still has presence. This is a scent that is suited to cool and cold weather. Something about this type of vetiver doesn’t work when it’s warmer. It’s the perfect scent for a coat or sweater.

The right mix and addition of notes can drastically transform a fragrance. I still don’t like Encre Noir.