# Perfume: What would really attract you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373 "2008-02-27T14:59:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/21 "2008-02-28T02:23:48Z")
What would really attract me? The absence of perfume. I really don’t like it on women. And I find cologne odious. The thing is, most people are already wearing at least half a dozen different scents – their laundry, their deoderant, their soap, their toothpaste, their shampoo, and possibly others – shaving cream, face cream, etc. The last thing people need is yet another smell to try and overpower all the others. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/22 "2008-02-28T11:54:42Z")
I have always liked Anais Anais and scents similar. There are some other scents I like on a woman, but don’t know their names. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/23 "2008-02-28T12:30:09Z")
I don’t care for perfume on women in general; certainly not those stupid modern colognes with designer names. Patchouli gets me going, but that’s because of its association with a former lover in Alabama who used it on every inch. I knew a girl once who smelled like cinnamon, but it was her natural scent. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/24 "2008-02-28T12:51:44Z")
Ctrl-F, search ‘Bacon’. Zero hits. Bacon! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/25 "2008-02-28T13:22:46Z")
Vanilla ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/26 "2008-02-28T13:38:34Z")
I wear Narciso Rodriguez For Her EDT- it’s a musk, but not overpoweringly so. I like it lot, my husband loves it. It’s quite unusual and doesn’t smell good on everyone- my sister said it made her smell like cat’s pee when she borrowed it. I get compliments on it a lot, but I can’t smell it on myself any more. I like Bergamot, Vetiver, Verbena, Jasmine, Orangeblossom- citrus things and some florals. I usually wash with patchouli, ginger, jasmine or bergamot scented soap. My hsuband wears the now sadly out-of-production Cuiron by Helmut Lang. It’s a leather based scent and is incredibly sexy on him. I like leather, tobacco and woody scents on men. The other men’s colognes that I like are Cool Water by Davidoff, because it reminds me of fun times with the oarsmen in my boat who all seemed to use it, and L’Eau D’Issey Pour Homme by Issey Miyake, because it smells like my first boyfriend and is yummy. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/27 "2008-02-28T16:46:26Z")
Mostly I like nothing. If a scent must be involved for either party, cedar or other wood scents are okay. I’ve worked in places where we’ve had to sit down an employee and stop him/her from using buckets of scent. Baby powder-scented perfume is the worst in my opinion. It brings on an asthma attack in at least half of any staff group. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/28 "2008-02-28T18:22:09Z")
My absolute favorite is Freak Show (2005 version) by [Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab](http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/). It’s described as: fig, pomegranate and cocoa bean with lemon, bergamot, vanilla, mellow honey musk, calamus and tonka. It sounds completely bizarre (I guess that’s why they chose the name!) and like none of the notes would work together, but it smells divine on me. It’s sweetly spicy with a bit of a dark undertone. I put just a tiny bit at the nape of my neck for a subtle scent when you get close. Then again, it’s a personal thing; I bought the perfume from a friend of mine. She had bought it and it smelled like absolute ass on her. Edited to add: I tried either Poison or Hypnotic Poison once, and OH MY GAWD it was the most disgusting thing ever with my body chemistry. Even the Sephora salesgirl said, “Oh god!” It honest to god smelled like if you mixed Raid bug spray with root beer. Blech!!! ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/29 "2008-02-28T18:30:29Z")
On my husband, nothing smells better than his own skin, fresh from a shower with Zest (original frickin’ scent, thank you), wrapped in a clean, fresh cotton t-shirt. Mmmmmmmmm. On me, well, I don’t wear scents. Almost never. But when I do, I like something that smells clean and fresh, with maybe just the very lightest floral hint. [Ralph](http://www.ralphlauren.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1784861&cp=1760786.2215311.2717578&ab=int_012308_FragranceRalphLP_ShopNow&parentPage=family) by Ralph Lauren is about the only thing I ever wear anymore, other than the occasional dab of essential oils. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/30 "2008-02-28T18:59:49Z")
[QUOTE=zweisamkeit] My absolute favorite is Freak Show (2005 version) by [Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab](http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/). [/QUOTE] BPAL makes the best scents for both men and women. I use Haunted Forest, and Drakul and they both work excellently with my chemistry. Used very sparingly I turn ladies heads with those scents, and they always want to know what it is so they can get it for their significant others. ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/31 "2008-02-28T23:38:39Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] All of which make me run for the exit… [/QUOTE] Heh, heh. It’s true; those perfumes are heavy. I’ve seen that other posters don’t like 'em either, and associate them with Old Lady Smell. As an official card carrying Old Lady, I gotta tell you, us old ladies like them Old Lady Fragrances. It’s what’s expected of us, after all! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/32 "2008-02-29T12:47:45Z")
I don’t "perfumes’ in the traditional sense. The Dior, Channel, Obsession for Women, Miss Piggy’s “Moi”. None of it. But back in the late 80s and early 90s, Body Shop products made a lot of girls smell nice, particularly if it was delicate. Like, you could smell it only when you gave hem a hug or something. But like the OP, the ones that really caught my attention were all kind of food-liike. “Wow, that girl smells like a hint of mango.” “I feel warm and fuzzy inside when I smell vanilla, it reminds me of Christine.” “WHO is that preety girl who smells like coconut?” ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/33 "2008-02-29T13:07:17Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] I like Paris Hilton’s _Easy Slut_. [/QUOTE] I thought her perfume was called **Oxymoronic** 🙂 There are very few perfumes I can wear that don’t give me a headache. I am just too sensitive in the smell department to tolerate 90% of them out there. I recently took a whiff of the latest stink from The Beckhams, and have pretty much fallen in lurve with his cologne. (At least on the cardboard swatch.) ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/34 "2008-02-29T15:25:09Z")
Every now and then I meet a man who uses a scented product that really, really works with his chemistry. I have a friend who puts a little bit of bergamot mixed with olive oil on his hair and geez–he smells like man-candy. This is completely about his chemistry, though, because I’ve smelled bergamot in other contexts and not liked it at all. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373/35 "2008-02-29T15:32:18Z")
Vanilla I could really get excited about Pepper Mill’s various parts smelling like vanilla. It’s be like being served a dish or hot vanilla ice cream. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfume-what-would-really-attract-you/439373.md?page=1)