Modern scents are disappointing - is it just me?

[EclipseRedRing]

My wife and I are currently enjoying a city break in Birmingham UK where my daughter attends University studying medicine. We visited Selfridges and I sampled several high end scents including a few from Penhaligon, Creed, Tom Ford, and others, in some cases costing several hundred pounds per bottle. I tried each scent on a different area of my skin - palms, backs of the hands, forearms, upper arms, shoulders, neck, some I liked and some I did not. An hour later we were sat in a restaurant enjoying lunch and neither my wife nor I could smell any of the scents other than some with a very subtle and barely noticeable drydown. We wondered if it is an age thing - we are in our 50s and perhaps the olfactory senses diminish, or perhaps loss of smell is a lingering Covid symptom; but my vintage bottles of Aramis, Brut, Drakkar Noir, Polo, Givenchy Gentleman, Kouros, and even Avon seem to us both to last a lot longer. I know that scents get reformulated, and they are rarely improved in the process, and I know that some ingredients are no longer used, but nevertheless I was very surprised at what I perceived as the poor performance of relatively expensive products. A scent being 'office friendly' so as not to offend the permanently offended is one thing, but a £200 cologne vanishing into nothing in an hour is something else. I think I will stick with the vintage and keep my money in my pocket. Does anyone else experience this?

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

If you want longevity and projection, Sauvage and Blue de Chanel do these things in spades, and also stink to high heaven as far as I’m concerned.

Just come to the states and walk through any Macy’s you can find, the contact buzz alone will last for 2 solid hours.

 

[AlphaFrank75]

My wife and I are currently enjoying a city break in Birmingham UK where my daughter attends University studying medicine. We visited Selfridges and I sampled several high end scents including a few from Penhaligon, Creed, Tom Ford, and others, in some cases costing several hundred pounds per bottle. I tried each scent on a different area of my skin - palms, backs of the hands, forearms, upper arms, shoulders, neck, some I liked and some I did not. An hour later we were sat in a restaurant enjoying lunch and neither my wife nor I could smell any of the scents other than some with a very subtle and barely noticeable drydown. We wondered if it is an age thing - we are in our 50s and perhaps the olfactory senses diminish, or perhaps loss of smell is a lingering Covid symptom; but my vintage bottles of Aramis, Brut, Drakkar Noir, Polo, Givenchy Gentleman, Kouros, and even Avon seem to us both to last a lot longer. I know that scents get reformulated, and they are rarely improved in the process, and I know that some ingredients are no longer used, but nevertheless I was very surprised at what I perceived as the poor performance of relatively expensive products. A scent being 'office friendly' so as not to offend the permanently offended is one thing, but a £200 cologne vanishing into nothing in an hour is something else. I think I will stick with the vintage and keep my money in my pocket. Does anyone else experience this?

I gave up looking for modern frags. There's enough vintage stuff out there to keep me happy for the rest of my life.

 

[Ringer]

Oh, good it's not just me. I always get a little sad when people tell me they have scents that last 8-12 hours in them. I can't recall anything that's lasted more than a few on me. I recently picked up samples of a few colognes from Niemann Marcus and a few of them kept their scent for almost two weeks! One was Initio Oudh for Greatness and I can't recall the second. Of course, you're probably looking at a $300 bottle, so it should have some staying power. My Tom Ford Tuscan Leather seemed to dissipate rather quickly, and the Creed samples I sprayed were indiscernable quick enough that I don't plan on dropping that much $$$ for one anytime soon.

I've been looking at the threads here for classic fragrances that won't set you back a fortune. If they only last a few hours and they cost me less than $75, I feel it's done its job.

 

[guitarslinger]

Google “ifra regulations “.

There’s your answer. Everything has been neutered. I suspect it was an agreement amongst the big frag houses to cut costs. Thus all the weak reformulations.

 

[steffenapelz]

I think some of what you trialed, in particular, tends to be low longevity. There are still plenty of potent fragrances out there IMO. The bigger issue for me is that modern fragrances tend to be lollipop fruity and sweet and especially on guys, I find that strange. Not to mention that most of them also smell incredibly chemically.

 

[Multum in parvo]

For me the two longest lasting scents that I ever had were Knize 10 and Zino. Modern they are not…

 

[sarimento1]

My wife and I are currently enjoying a city break in Birmingham UK where my daughter attends University studying medicine. We visited Selfridges and I sampled several high end scents including a few from Penhaligon, Creed, Tom Ford, and others, in some cases costing several hundred pounds per bottle. I tried each scent on a different area of my skin - palms, backs of the hands, forearms, upper arms, shoulders, neck, some I liked and some I did not. An hour later we were sat in a restaurant enjoying lunch and neither my wife nor I could smell any of the scents other than some with a very subtle and barely noticeable drydown. We wondered if it is an age thing - we are in our 50s and perhaps the olfactory senses diminish, or perhaps loss of smell is a lingering Covid symptom; but my vintage bottles of Aramis, Brut, Drakkar Noir, Polo, Givenchy Gentleman, Kouros, and even Avon seem to us both to last a lot longer. I know that scents get reformulated, and they are rarely improved in the process, and I know that some ingredients are no longer used, but nevertheless I was very surprised at what I perceived as the poor performance of relatively expensive products. A scent being 'office friendly' so as not to offend the permanently offended is one thing, but a £200 cologne vanishing into nothing in an hour is something else. I think I will stick with the vintage and keep my money in my pocket. Does anyone else experience this?

Sir Richard, first, hearty congratulations on your daughter's success to date! You and wife must be very proud!

Frankly, I'm a bit astonished that you found none of those high-end frags to be long lasting!
Those are the crème de la crème, in terms of longevity and projection!
Perhaps in the restaurant setting, with food, coffee, other beverage smells all around, it was confusing.
While my versions of those brands are 3-6 yrs old, I find them still pretty potent and long-lasting. FWIW.

 

[tthoms]

I can't speak about longevity, but I do find a lot of the new famous fragrances to be boring. Aquatics and "blue" fragrances seem to be hot, but these notes don't smell like anything to me. It's like there's a hole in the fragrance profile.

It also seems to me that a lot of the popular frags are just copies of each other. Maybe it's just my nose.

 

[FarmerTan]

I can't speak about longevity, but I do find a lot of the new famous fragrances to be boring. Aquatics and "blue" fragrances seem to be hot, but these notes don't smell like anything to me. It's like there's a hole in the fragrance profile.

It also seems to me that a lot of the popular frags are just copies of each other. Maybe it's just my nose.

We share the same nose then my friend!

You can have it's company the next time it don't wanna quit runnin'!

 

[steffenapelz]

We share the same nose then my friend!

You can have it's company the next time it don't wanna quit runnin'!

Same here. I love old school frags or those made like old school frags.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

I can't speak about longevity, but I do find a lot of the new famous fragrances to be boring. Aquatics and "blue" fragrances seem to be hot, but these notes don't smell like anything to me. It's like there's a hole in the fragrance profile.

It also seems to me that a lot of the popular frags are just copies of each other. Maybe it's just my nose.

This is my experience with the typical midrange frags. They all smell like variations on the same boring theme. There are a handful of outliers but they don't do much for me either.

 

[Mr. Shavington]

Honestly I dislike fragrances that are too long-lasting or that project too much. I don’t want to force a fragrance onto everybody in the room, or have people notice the fragrance before I arrive or after I have left. I like it if a fragrance is just a scent that I can enjoy for myself, is inoffensive to others, and it fades relatively quickly to a skin scent that I can pick up when I sniff my wrist. I think that is nice. I wear fragrances for my own pleasure, not to make a statement to anybody else.

For example, I quite like the smell of Creed Green Irish Tweed but I cannot wear it because it is far too strong and it just won’t go away. To my mind it is vulgar, and that’s a pity because there is nothing wrong with the smell. I recently made the mistake of buying Gaultier Le Parfum because it is a very good smell, but everybody within ten yards chokes to death and wearing this fragrance is more permanent than a tattoo. There is actually a trail of dead bodies all the way along my street now and I can’t wash this damn stuff off so the police will certainly track me down.

 

[silverlifter]

There is actually a trail of dead bodies all the way along my street now and I can’t wash this damn stuff off so the police will certainly track me down.

Username checks out!

I'm the same. A single sprayer, and even then I get more that I bargain for with some frags. Creed, for example, is also a no-go, but I find them way too sweet anyway.

 

[Jbird45]

Not all modern scents are short lived. That's not to say they are good though.

 

[steffenapelz]

Honestly I dislike fragrances that are too long-lasting or that project too much. I don’t want to force a fragrance onto everybody in the room, or have people notice the fragrance before I arrive or after I have left. I like it if a fragrance is just a scent that I can enjoy for myself, is inoffensive to others, and it fades relatively quickly to a skin scent that I can pick up when I sniff my wrist. I think that is nice. I wear fragrances for my own pleasure, not to make a statement to anybody else.

For example, I quite like the smell of Creed Green Irish Tweed but I cannot wear it because it is far too strong and it just won’t go away. To my mind it is vulgar, and that’s a pity because there is nothing wrong with the smell.

Agreed on all counts. That said....if you like GIT but hate the performance, try Floris JF. Smells nearly identical, but very much a skin scent after only 5-10 minutes.

 

[steveclarkus]

When you put on a scent you get used to it and can’t smell it but others still can.

 

[KUfan]

I got a Stetson Spirit gift set this winter. Yes it is new, and punches you hard with citrus and cedar, a nice combo. Also received G-Eau Blue, a solid Belcam version of Aqua Di Gio Profondo, citrus, sea notes and woods--as good as the original Aqua Di Gio. Both of these pleasantly last for several hours. Anyhow, I haven't been buying, and won't buy, the gourmand and tootie fruitie stuff the designers are making for some time. All they worry about are college age up to 40 market. Parfum this, intense that, flanker after flanker after flanker--you won't see me buying them. I am content with filling in my assortment with the big hitters from the 80's and 90's. They are much more pleasing to wear than the new ilk being sold lately.

 

[tknx]

I do think as you get older you lose your sense of smell - which is why there are so many stereotypes of grannies with cloying odors.

Scents should be subtle and gentle and not offensive. But I think you should ask a young person whether they notice the smell or not and stick to that amount.

 

[Dobric]

There is one thing that happens with testing varios smells, it's nose saturation. After couple of smells you can't smell any of them
Also this can last long time if you continously sniff various smells along the arm.
Also keep in mind that testers are usualy low % of oils.

• Splash and after shave: 1–3% aromatic compounds
• Eau de Cologne (EdC): Citrus type perfumes with about 2–6% perfume concentrate aromatic compounds[15]
• Eau de toilette (EdT): 5–15% (typical ~10%) aromatic compounds
• Eau de parfum (EdP), parfum de toilette (PdT): 10–20% (typical ~15%) aromatic compounds. Sometimes listed as "eau de perfume" or "millésime".
• Perfume extract: 15–40% (IFRA: typical 20%) aromatic compounds