Anyone else out there hate perfume as much as I do? Foul, foul stuff. I especially can’t stand to smell perfume while I’m trying to eat.
There are exactly two colognes I like on men (Obsession for Men and another CK one that smells almost just like it) and I like a few essential oils, used very lightly, but other than that I don’t want to smell you.
OpalCat, you are my kind of girl! 
Oh thank Og. Perfume, when done in a light, light, light spritz, I can deal with if I absolutely have to. However, it is not okay to practically soak yourself in it. Furthermore, for the guys out there, here’s a little word of advice: Just because that’s how they put on Axe bodyspray in the commercial does not mean that’s the way you’re actually supposed to do it (lots and lots and lots). I know I have an oversensitive nose, but come on now!
My roommate thinks the best way to get rid of a bad smell in the room is to douse the entire room in perfume. The kind that clings in your throat and makes it difficult to breathe. I don’t know how she stands it; I certainly can’t stay in the room when it’s like that because I have difficulty breathing in it.
Folk who wear too much perfume make me sneeze. Especially when it’s a confined space situation, like a meeting room, or an elevator.
I know comparatively few women who use perfume on a regular basis. It’s just too strong. Most of the women I know (most of whom smell pretty good) get whatever scent they need through body lotion, etc.
Count me in as a member of the “no reek” club. I can only stand very light, “clean” types of smells. Heavy florals or musks literally make me gag.
Men’s scents (good ones, not drugstore swill) are easier for me to tolerate, but male or female, I really don’t want to smell you from across the room. Please keep your Eau de Cathouse to yourself.
I have even had certain scents trigger a migraine…bleah.
Overdone perfume is criminal, but even the “right amount” doesn’t work for me. I mean, I can HANDLE light perfume… if I have to… but I don’t like it. I can just manage to deal with it.
And yes, this is an indirect way of casting my vote for “Too much perfumey scent, or any, is rarely a good thing.” Reminds me of the “Euro-shower” or “Arab-shower” kids we made fun of in college – ‘an ample dousing of piercing cologne should obscure the fact that I never bathe.’ Not really, and it creates problems of its own.
Hah! A friend of mine calls that “shower in a can” - not that he uses it, mind you; and neither do I.
I’ll just quote a small extract from my blog here:
Opal, I so agree - yesterday, Mr2U and I were up at “our” bar, and one of the “regulars” came in. She drove just about everyone out. Of a bar. Full of smoke and beer and stuff. She had THAT MUCH perfume on. I ended my day with a migraine. Almost didn’t make it to work today… It’s a pity people don’t understand the health effects they have on OTHER people when they do that. 
Yeah, I hate that thick cloying eye-burning throat-seizing miasma. Some folks seem to marinate the damn stuff.
I don’t hate perfume per se.
I like scented baths, the occasional scented candle.
I’ve been blessed with a nose that’s set at “off” most of the time - comes in handy when you have to pass 10yd away from a wastewater treatment plant in your way to lunch, as I currently do. I acquired it in college: the 2nd-year students would spend 4 months every year running the “sulphur analytical route”. You either learned to ignore bad non-dangerous smells or changed majors.
But I once had a coworker who would soak herself in cologne before leaving the house, then again after lunch. I’d be back from lunch myself, sitting at my desk in a recently-fed semi-stupor, and this cloud* would. Just. Assault. Me.
I prefer eau d’wastewater, since my nose knows how to switch it off!
I was wearing Chanel No. 5 scented body lotion yesterday. No one noticed it unless I hugged them. That’s how I like it.
I finally just had to tell my assistant not to apply perfume or that combination bug and hair spray she uses (it smells like Raid!) at her desk. Damn stuff just wafted all over everywhere. I hated to do it but it was so overpowering I was getting complaints right and left.
Then again, it is my personal feeling that if one must needs to groom oneself, it should be done out of sight. It just ain’t attractive to see.
Another vote for “leave the toilet water in the toilet”. I don’t use colognes and I only use unscented anti-perspirant. My wife only rarely uses perfume, and sparingly then. I really can’t stand to be around those who bathe in perfume.
I once knew an old lady who wore too much perfume and smoked. One hug from her and you spent the rest of the day smelling like a smouldering lilac bush. Ick.
A friend of the family has a wife who has forbidden him to smoke years ago. He firmly believes that if she caught him smoking, she would divorce him…if she didn’t kill him first. In order to hide his habit, he douses himself with aftershave after a smoke. The last time I visited, he stepped outside for a quick ciggie. When his wife came home a few minutes later, on went the stinky stuff. Gasp! Gag! Eeeww! Even on the ride home, I could smell it in my nostrils. I don’t remember a headache that night but most often, heavy perfume does that to me.
We’re pretty certain the aftershave doesn’t fool the wife but figure she’s happy with the fact he can only sneak a couple cigarettes a day. The aftershave is some tradeoff, though. :rolleyes:
It has always made me sick. I worked in retail back when they first started having fragrance models which happened to coincide with the release of Obsession. I went existed with a raging headache for months.
The thing is, I have a very dull sense of smell, if I can smell you, you are WAY over the top.
Everyone I know knows I hate perfume, and yet I can not tell you how many perfume gifts I get…way too many. I can wear Safari, if I wear a tiny little bit, Lauren also is mildly tolerable, but I would die if I was forced to wear obsession every day.
I once worked with a guy named Arvid. Arvid marinated in the stuff, he was not allowed in my office and had to yell at me from the hallway. Ten years go by, my husband goes out to get himself something nice and comes home SMELLING LIKE ARVID. Flashbacks! Flashbacks! Not quite the reaction he was looking for…
Personal scents should be subtle - like a whisper. They should be barely noticed, yet enough to make someone think: “Is that…?? No, I don’t think… But maybe…??” They should make you want to step just a wee bit closer to be sure. Subtle, and sexy. 
And as I try to describe what perfumes should be, I look up at the ad banner to see Fishy Vaginal Odor? :eek:
I don’t wear perfume either-just a tiny splat of a natural oil.
However, I have heard that people that wear it on a daily basis eventually become unable to smell themselves which is why they keep upping the amount until a stink cloud hovers over them.
How I hate walking into work in the morning, when every third person is still dewy with whatever perfume or cologne he or she thinks smells best. Often I can smell their perfume from at least ten feet away. The worst part is getting on the elevator with them. Ye gods!