The recent thread asking us what fragrance an older guy should wear when interested in women in a younger age bracket made me think "Can we really determine what fragrances women in a certain age bracket will like?". Especially since we seem to have such a hard time agreeing on what we like ourselves. Unless we think women's tastes are much simpler than men's, which I don't believe is the case?
I then remembered another couple of recent threads, one asking "what should a man's fragrance library consist of", and the other asked for the "worst cologne you've ever tried". So out of curiosity, I checked to see if there might even be any "cross-overs" in these two groups, the "Must Have" fragrances, and the "Worst" fragrances, to test the extent of YMMV in this small sampling, and found that:
The informal surveys were not looking for average fragrances that you expect some will like and some won't. These were looking for the Best of the Best, and the Worst of the Worst. And 23% of the "Best" were also on the "Worst" list! And this is among us here, who I think have a higher level of interest in fragrances than the average person. That seems like pretty extreme "YMMV" to me!
What does all this mean? To me, it just means that it's difficult, if not impossible, to put fragrances in these kind of categories with much certainty that this will represent the likes or dislikes of a specific target audience, whether it's a group of people (ie. a demographic), or an individual person. It's one of the reasons I like hearing as many people as possible describe what a fragrance smells like to them, because the more descriptions I get the more likely I am to see trends of consistency. If 7 out of 10 people say they smell a lot of sandalwood in a fragrance, I will be fairly comfortable that I will recognize sandalwood in it. It's also a reason why I'm not as interested in whether someone likes a fragrance or not. Even if 7 out of 10 like it, there's still a good chance that I won't. Or vice-versa.
For me, this complexity of personal preferences (YMMV) is a big part of what makes fragrances so interesting. I like giving and receiving recommendations, but we should realize the final answer of what is liked or not will always come down to personal preference, and YMMV.
I then remembered another couple of recent threads, one asking "what should a man's fragrance library consist of", and the other asked for the "worst cologne you've ever tried". So out of curiosity, I checked to see if there might even be any "cross-overs" in these two groups, the "Must Have" fragrances, and the "Worst" fragrances, to test the extent of YMMV in this small sampling, and found that:
- 53 fragrances were identified by 75 gents in the "Must Have" category (some were duplicates)
- 12 of those 53 were also listed in the "Worst" category by 25 gents (again, some by more than one)
- 4 of those in the "Must Have" category were identified as "Worst" by 3, 4 or 5 people
The informal surveys were not looking for average fragrances that you expect some will like and some won't. These were looking for the Best of the Best, and the Worst of the Worst. And 23% of the "Best" were also on the "Worst" list! And this is among us here, who I think have a higher level of interest in fragrances than the average person. That seems like pretty extreme "YMMV" to me!
What does all this mean? To me, it just means that it's difficult, if not impossible, to put fragrances in these kind of categories with much certainty that this will represent the likes or dislikes of a specific target audience, whether it's a group of people (ie. a demographic), or an individual person. It's one of the reasons I like hearing as many people as possible describe what a fragrance smells like to them, because the more descriptions I get the more likely I am to see trends of consistency. If 7 out of 10 people say they smell a lot of sandalwood in a fragrance, I will be fairly comfortable that I will recognize sandalwood in it. It's also a reason why I'm not as interested in whether someone likes a fragrance or not. Even if 7 out of 10 like it, there's still a good chance that I won't. Or vice-versa.
For me, this complexity of personal preferences (YMMV) is a big part of what makes fragrances so interesting. I like giving and receiving recommendations, but we should realize the final answer of what is liked or not will always come down to personal preference, and YMMV.