Love it or hate it. Fragrances that get polarized opinions.

I happen to like Marc Jacobs "Bang".
However, it appears to be a very love/hate type of fragrance.
The top notes are pure pepper, there is no doubt about that.
I won't ask anyone if they like it in the first 30 min. of wearing it.
Everyone says the pepper is too much.

Grey Flannel seems to enjoy a similar fate. It certainly comes on strong and in fact I very much don't like the top notes, but it settles down eventually. When I wear it, no one seems to like it. I doesn't have much "modern" appeal and is very strong on me throughout the drydown.

So in your experience, what fragrances do you wear that have polarized reviews?
What do you find is either a love it or hate it type of fragrance?

Fragrances where the people you meet tell you they like it or they don't.

Never mind internet reviews. YMMV is too much at play here. Scents wear on people differently. I'm interested in what people you meet actually think.
SWMBO's opinion and The Veg not applicable here.

Therry Mugler's Angel Men

Nasty, vile, wretched, foul, toxic, suffocating, "smell the vile concoction from the next state over when the wind is in the right direction", make your eyes water, can't get the smell out of your nostrils for 2 days and 4 baths... etc

OR You think it's delicious smelling.

Me, I fall in that first camp... I'd rather douse myself in Secretions magnifique... Heck, I'd rather DRINK SM, then have to smell A-Men for 10 minutes... even if it had been applied 12 hours before.

Oh, you wanted OTHER people's reviews... Let's put it this way... the one day i wore the stuff to work, (I liked the scent the first 3 or 4 times i wore it - It rapidly becomes nauseating...) some 10 years ago or so, my boss (at the time I worked for someone else) actually made me drive home and shower (60 mile round trip...) And that was only 2 small sprays on my wrists...

Here's a few pretty polarizing frags:

Knize Ten
YSL Kouros
C&S Cuba
Montale Oud Cuir d'Arabie
Penhaligon's Hammam Bouquet

There's several out there, but those really seem to have the lovers/haters.

bkfist said:

Therry Mugler's Angel Men

Nasty, vile, wretched, foul, toxic, suffocating, "smell the vile concoction from the next state over when the wind is in the right direction", make your eyes water, can't get the smell out of your nostrils for 2 days and 4 baths... etc

OR You think it's delicious smelling.

Me, I fall in that first camp... I'd rather douse myself in Secretions magnifique... Heck, I'd rather DRINK SM, then have to smell A-Men for 10 minutes... even if it had been applied 12 hours before.

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Yeah, this is a good one. I hate this stuff too, but there sure are a lot of fans out there.

Two of the frags with a ton of reviews that are most split at Basenotes are A*Men and Kouros. These two seem to me to be the champs of love it or hate it. I actually kind of like A*Men, but it doesn't fly in my world. Too many people gave me a river of shyt when I wore last.

C&S Cuba also one that evokes love or hostility.

Hammam Bouquet is an acquired taste.

I'd say Secretions Magnifique is mostly a "hate it" scent. I cannot imagine who would wear it. Smells like blood and/or urine. Yow. The SAs at Lucky Scent's store tell me the people who work in their warehouse and prep samples to ship are horrified when a request for a sample of this comes in. They bedeck themselves like they're prepping for surgery before decanting the sample.

Grey Flannel is the one I notice the most, mainly because I love it. The top notes are relatively unpopular, but those who favor the fragrance stick around for five minutes to let those develop further. Others panic and wash it off before it gets a chance. Some take years to realize what's happening with that one.

Then there's Joop!


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tehtimmeh said:

Here's a few pretty polarizing frags:

Knize Ten
YSL Kouros
C&S Cuba
Montale Oud Cuir d'Arabie
Penhaligon's Hammam Bouquet

There's several out there, but those really seem to have the lovers/haters.

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Strange - I own all of those

Anything done by Thiery Mugler I hate.

StylinLA said:

Two of the frags with a ton of reviews that are most split at Basenotes are A*Men and Kouros. These two seem to me to be the champs of love it or hate it. I actually kind of like A*Men, but it doesn't fly in my world. Too many people gave me a river of shyt when I wore last.

C&S Cuba also one that evokes love or hostility.

Hammam Bouquet is an acquired taste.,I'd say Secretions Magnifique is mostly a "hate it" scent. I cannot imagine who would wear it. Smells like blood and/or urine. Yow. The SAs at Lucky Scent's store tell me the people who work in their warehouse and prep samples to ship are horrified when a request for a sample of this comes in. They bedeck themselves like they're prepping for surgery before decanting the sample.

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Odd.. my sample of SM wasn't a decant, it was an official sample from lucky scents.

Featherweight said:

Grey Flannel is the one I notice the most, mainly because I love it. The top notes are relatively unpopular, but those who favor the fragrance stick around for five minutes to let those develop further. Others panic and wash it off before it gets a chance. Some take years to realize what's happening with that one.

Then there's Joop!


...

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Himalaya smells like but spray for the first minite, but I love it after that.

tehtimmeh said:

Here's a few pretty polarizing frags:

Knize Ten
YSL Kouros
C&S Cuba
Montale Oud Cuir d'Arabie
Penhaligon's Hammam Bouquet

There's several out there, but those really seem to have the lovers/haters.

Click to expand...

I would add Blenheim on there as well. I hate it, but many love it.
DC 1913 might be another. I love it, but many don't care for it.
ELDO Secretions I cannot see how anyone could like, but some do. It is the most vile stuff I've ever put on.
Diptyque Tam Dao is polarizing for me as I love it for 2 hours and then it's gone. Just hard to make a purchase of it this way. AdP Colonia is the same way on me, but that is an EdC so it's expected.

Harvitz81 said:

I would add Blenheim on there as well. I hate it, but many love it.
DC 1913 might be another. I love it, but many don't care for it.
ELDO Secretions I cannot see how anyone could like, but some do. It is the most vile stuff I've ever put on.
Diptyque Tam Dao is polarizing for me as I love it for 2 hours and then it's gone. Just hard to make a purchase of it this way. AdP Colonia is the same way on me, but that is an EdC so it's expected.

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ELdO SM doesn't really smell all that bad if you don't stick your nose right up close to it.

Mugler A-Men, on the other hand is vile regardless of distance, amount, or time since application.

I think Fleur du Male is a great example of a love/hate fragrance for us men, as well as the original Le Male. My vote falls for Fleur du Male, at the moment I don't quite understand the massive following of Le Male. Also, Givenchy Pi seems to have a lot of fans and haters. I like it when used correctly.

YMMV, I can only use designer frags as examples cause most of the more "niche" fragrances I have smelled seem to be positively reviewed.

Sapian said:

I think Fleur du Male is a great example of a love/hate fragrance for us men, as well as the original Le Male. My vote falls for Fleur du Male, at the moment I don't quite understand the massive following of Le Male. Also, Givenchy Pi seems to have a lot of fans and haters. I like it when used correctly.

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Fleur du Male deserves to be hated for the name alone!

Caron's Yatagan used to draw mixed reviews here, but I never hear it mentioned any more. I quite like it myself.

Yatagan and Kouros are the two that come to mind.

Le Labo Oud 27 for me. I think it smells great, although pretty rough in the first few minutes. Even my wife, who can't stand when I wear real oud, does not find this objectionable on me.

p.m.a. said:

Le Labo Oud 27 for me. I think it smells great, although pretty rough in the first few minutes. Even my wife, who can't stand when I wear real oud, does not find this objectionable on me.

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Oud 27 may well dry down to something wearable, but indeed it has one of the harshest openings I've ever run into. Smells a bit like something I won't reference in here.

I'm not an oud expert, but I think the overall scent has little to do with oud. Le Labo is often known for their odd naming practices wherein the note named in the title is not the primary experience of the scent. Vetiver 46 does not smell like vetiver, it smells like incense.

Grey Flannel - people that love it, really love it.

Personally, it smells like industrial chemicals on me. It goes on like air freshner and dries down to that smell they put in laundry detergent to make your shirts smell crisp. It wears cheap and nasty on me.

I don't have a problem with the violet/sandalwood concept, it's the execution: I can't understand why it was put together as a powerhouse scent that can revolt people at 50 paces. Seriously, I cannot go near other people for the first two hours of wearing just one spray of this.

If Hamman Bouquet is an acquired taste, I'm never going to stick with it long enough to learn to like it!

Tabac, Marlborough and Alt Innsbruck - cracks me up how many people smell cigarettes or cigarette butts when describing these scents. I love all 3 of these and don't smell anything remotely similar to a cigarette in any of them.

I would also add GIT - either love it or say it smells like any other aquatic frag from a department store.