I almost never wear perfume except on special occasions when I know it will melt off anyway, or if I’m just feeling crazy. But, even in those rare times, I just put one dab on one pulse point, rub it against my other pulse point on the arm, and put a dab on my neck (unless whoever I’m with wants to nibble my neck, then I’m considerate and leave it off). Now that my boyfriend has a fetish with my wrists, I almost avoid perfume altogether…
My friend’s boyfriend practically bathed in cologne one time, came to visit and pounced on me and friend, almost killing us in coughing fits.
If you don’t want to face her yourself, why don’t you somehow leave an anonymous note in her workspace telling her to ditch the perfume?
Last week a co-worker of mine, in fact the girl I sit right next to, got this bright idea that since she couldn’t stand the smell of her hair and clothes after leaving the office lounge (which, admittedly, does absolutely reek of cigarette smoke), she would spray perfume on herself to get rid of it. The genius chose to do this at her desk, right next to me. Cue me wheezing the rest of the day. Frankly, the smoke smelled better.
I’ll never understand why it’s illegal to smoke in many public places but not illegal to drench yourself in stinky perfume.
I wear a little bit of Gap’s Heaven everyday, but just a quick squirt on the pulse points (ears, neck, and wrists.) You really cant’ tell.
I don’t mind perfume, but just a little bit, and then only nice, light scents. I hate when people wear so much you can TASTE the fumes!
If you’re wheezing from the perfume, you need to say something to this woman, to your manager, or to human resources. NO ONE should have their health endangered because of another’s thoughtlessness.
One of the reasons my former company put this memo out was that a few people (including me) were so allergic to the perfume that we were having breathing problems (or in my case, migraines) that were affecting attendance and productivity. The worst offenders; the ones who were sent home to shower, got the message real quick.
More than two dozen posts and we haven’t even started on the perfume cloud that will attack from the next table when you go out to eat, smothering the smell and taste of your romantic, expensive meal and $50 bottle of wine.
Or the cosmetics counter gulag facing you when entering a department store (deep breath, okay now run for it. No, I would not like to try some “Poison” or Calvin Klein’s “Gag Me”).
I think this is the first job I’ve had where someone wasn’t creating toxic scent zones.
I enjoy perfume, on myself and others, if it’s used discreetly. Used properly, no one should be able to get more than the faintest hint when they’re right next to you. Opal put it well; it’s a personal zone thing. Anything more is intrusion.
I feel for allergy suffers, honestly do, but some scented products just won’t be avoidable, realistically speaking. I’m thinking here of shampoos, deodorants, etc., not elevator-gagger perfumes. (BTW, great description of bad perfumes, Fenris! Funnier than hell, and unfortunately all too apt.)
But anyone should be able to avoid the problem by simply stepping back a pace or two from a person. The creeping green fog is an olfactory assault.
My preferences? Jessica McClintock, a very light, lily-of-the-valley scent. (Spritz upward into the air then walk through the mist, no more.) For rare “evening wear”, a bare dab of Lauder’s “Private Collection”. And for men, I love Aramis–but again, a hint, not a shower.
I didn’t wear cologne for a long time, I’m not extremely allergic but it can give me headaches and sinus problems. I then got a box of several types for Christmas (Obsession, Lagerfeld, Cool Water, Nauticaa, and something else) and started putting on a little so the person who got it for me would know I was wearing it. I found that some don’t bother me if I only put on a tiny bit - I’ll put a drop on one wrist and rub it on my chest, and a drop on the other and rub it on my neck. Figured out that when I was younger and cologne was giving me headaches and a runny nose, I was wearing too much.
It’s funny, my wife used to hate Obsession for Men, but she says I’m the only guy she knows that it smells good on.
I hate people who seem to bathe in scents too. In my experience it is men who overdo it most of the time, though - maybe 3/4 of the time I notice a scent trail, it is coming from a guy. There are guys who work in my building who put on so much that I can smell them from 50 yards away if I am downwind, who make the elevator stink for 30 minutes after they have been in it.
I’m allergic to a lot of scents. I use unscented deoderant and laundry detergent and mild-scented shampoo. Hairspray practically gives me an asthma attack.
Gallons of perfume? Don’t be surprised when I won’t even talk to you.
I actually got in trouble at the clothing store I worked at because I avoided people who had a lot of perfume… if I had to, I would ask someone else to wait on them. Hey, it’s my health.
A nice, moderate amount can be a good thing, however. Fenris said it quite nicely.
I used to work with international students, and you could always tell when Egyptian men had been in the office. Not to disparage another culture, but why only Egyptian men? Fashion? Is water that expensive (and cologne that cheap) in Egypt as opposed to other Middle Eastern countries? Was it just the sub roup I was exposed to?
Even worse than Drakkar Noir is the rip off version called Private Stock. I assume it was a private stock of chemical weapons, because that shit brings tears to my eyes.
My downstairs neighbor who just moved in came up to my apartment to introduce himself. Just barely covering the alcohol on his breath as he asked to bum a cigarette, was the radiant rendolant odor of Private Stock. I quickly sent him away, but his scent stayed in the stairwell for about six hours. Bleh.
I sat next to someoen at work for about 6 months who used a quart or more of the stinkiest stuff ever. I get headaches from some perfumes…& this was one of them. I never got up the nerve to say anything to her (yes, I know, stupid! Not a mistake I intend to make twice)…fortunately she was away from her desk a lot gossiping to friends…Complaining to management would not have done any good, as I was sat next to a printer which chucked out lots of ozone, which is illegal in this country under the health & safety regs…when another employee who has asthma & still smokes (don’t get me started on that…) complained, they put up a screen to keep the fumes on my side…nice place, glad I don’t work there anymore…
& I am well familiar with the huge gulp of air & sprint through the perfume department…one of our large department stores has recently moved their perfume department away from the door…I think too many perfume-shopping customers were being knocked down in mad charges…
A science teacher of mine once sprayed a little White Diamonds to demonstrate diffusion. Everyone was quite disgusted by it, especially the young men. White Diamonds then became the class disciplinary tool. If anyone got annoying, the White Diamonds would emerge from a drawer, and the very threat shut the offender up. If I learned nothing else in AP Biology, I learned this.
Perfumes + overuse + diffusion = cruel and unusual punishment.
I agree with Tveblen: I like perfume; it’s one of the only “girly” things I go in for but it must be used sparingly. Someone should only be able to smell it on you if they are very, very close to you. You wouldn’t know I had it on unless you were right up close, less than a foot away from me. If you can smell it 50 feet away, male or female, take a shower and tone it down.
It should enhance your own scent, not over power everything within a five mile radius!
I like a lot of mass market perfumes but recently got into making my own but even then I don’t reek of perfume. It’s very subtle and if you are close enough to smell my scent it MUST be because I like you!
And perfume should NEVER be a substitute for bathing. I don’t care how you try to tart it up, BO is STILL BO no matter what funk you lay on top of it!
Once I was wedged into a streetcar beside a woman who had just doused herself with perfume. It sent me into a tremendous and uncontrollable sneezing fit. Figuring that fair is fair (and having my one hand holding the overhead strap and my other hand holding my briefcase), I did not turn my head, and did not cover my mouth. As she was frantically pulling the stop bell to be let off, she kept say “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” so I think she knew what caused the sneezing. I’d much rather if people kept their scents to themselves in the privacy of their own homes, just as I expect the poor woman would much rather that people on public transit do not sneeze repeatedly in her face.
Ok - I admit I like Brut and Old Spice (regular) deodorants.
I hope that these do not qualify as stinky b.o. protectants.
Otherwise, I might use cologne 2 times per year.
Preferences are: Herbissimo; Canoe; Eng.Leather; Old spice.
But to follow the thread -
I HATE it when I grab a grocery cart handle that has been contaminated by obnoxious perfumes. The other public handles I watch out for are gas pump handles - also targets for smelly contamination. Frankly, i’d rather smell like gasoline than some of the crap on the market.
How about when one reaches for the little bottle of perfume before leaving for dinner, and picks up the little bottle of Eucalyptus Oil (well, not its actual trade name) by mistake.
