My favorite perfume is Mademoiselle by Coco Chanel. I would say taht 75% of the time I wear it, someone says it smells good and asks what it is.
The stuff is gold, man. GOLD.
You are so not alone there. I wear Poison, but it’s Poison that I got for $25 at a Wal*Mart clearance sale. I usually buy my perfume off of eBay, especially the Elizabeth Taylor signature scents.
I’ve noticed most of you saying that you hate scent trails and the like. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that people have allergies and the like…but I personally love to step onto an elevator or walk through a room and catch a lingering aroma of cologne or perfume. I’m not sure why, but I’ve always loved that. My mother-in-law wears White Shoulders, I believe, and I can always tell if she’s been in my house. Scent trails make me happy.
Top ten from my “collection”, in order of preference:
- Grey Flannel by Geoffrey Beene
- Chrome by Azzaro
- Lagerfeld for men
- L’Homme Lanvin
- Armani
- Oxygene Lanvin
- Acqua di Gio Armani
- Fendi for men
- Drakkar Noir
- Minotaure by Paloma Picasso
Which is a hundred year supply for me, I hardly ever wear the stuff. Christmas is only 7 months away!
My wife uses Secret 88 from Victoria’s Secret, Chanel No.5, Obsession, Cinnabar, Opium, Shalimar, Halston’s, and Youth Dew. There are a couple more than I can’t remember at the moment. I wear Stetson almost exclusively. She says that if I’m not wearing Stetson, she would rather that I wear nothing at all.
Karma from Lush
Ivoire… but its no longer made.
White Water Woman
Mont Blanc
Duende… my current favorite
Everyday scent: Aliage
Special occasions: Allure by Chanel
Both of these have gotten lots of compliments.
Largely discontinued: Rapture by Victoria’s Secret
Can’t really explain why, just lost my affinity for it.
When I’m at my parents’ and have access to Mom’s perfume: Private Collection
I change perfumes at a glacial pace-I’ve been wearing Aliage forever and added Allure about three years ago, but this thread is making me want to run to the nearest perfume counter!
Just read Perfume by Philip Suskind.
Has anyone else?
I’m so glad my scent doesn’t require what Greouille’s did!
Mycroft Holmes, Eau Sauvage is my dad’s cologne. I love it, but because it reminds me of him.
My mum wears either Classic by Jean Paul Gaultier (the one with the corseted mannikin bottle) or Anais Anais by Cacherel.
My sister wears the men’s version of Clinique Happy. It suits her.
Sylkyn , I love “First” by Van Cleef and Arpels too. Mmm! My dad gets it for me in France. I’m sure you could find it on line though!
Also,
Annick Goutal - “Eau d’ Hadrien”
Channel - “Crystalle”
Bvlgari - “Eau The Vert”
Strangely, I’ve found my body chemistry has a weird reaction with many of the higher end colognes. They smell great in the bottle but like death itself when I put them on.
The only one on the market that really works on me is Preferred Stock. I am, of course, a very subtle dabber, too.
On women, I can’t stand sweet scents or anything musky. They put me in mind of morbidly obsese middle-aged women, since every one of those I’ve ever known was a sweet musk wearer.
Other than the sweet thing, I really don’t have a preference for perfume on women, as long as it’s worn well.
There is one MAJOR exception to the no preference statement, though. I don’t know if it’s even still made, but there was a perfume called Anais Anais a few years ago. I don’t know what the deal was with this stuff, but it worked the way all those advertised pheromones WISH they did.
One sniff of Anais Anais on a woman and I became (and I imagine would still become) a horny, mindless, lust driven rake. I found myself drooling over women I didn’t find all that attractive, and desperately scheming to bed those whom I did. It was shameful, and I loved it.
Jovan’s Island Gardenia
The checkout clerk at the drug store was wearing some, and it smelled so good that I asked her what fragrance she was wearing. She told me and also said they carry it, so I bought a small bottle of it.
But it doesn’t smell the same on me as it did on her.
I’ve heard that people have different body chemistry, so the same fragrance won’t smell the exact same way on two different individuals.
I am fond at this moment at Pleasures from Estee Lauder. Great, subtle fragrance.
And oh, irishgirl: I read Perfume too by P (atrick) Süsskind 
I love Touch, by Fred Hayman…
I also wear Beautiful by Estee Lauder, Pleasures and I do like Clinique’s Happy. I have to add Rare Gold by of all companies, AVON. I found some in a friend’s medicine cabinent, and I like it! I was shocked, too. :b
From B&BWorks, I love love love the Honeysuckle scent, as well as a new fragrance Sweet Pea. I wear the little splashes to work, and the more expensive perfumes at home or when we go out.
There was also this set of 4 perfumes that a department store carried once, the name is eluding me ATM. They were colored peach, pink, green and lavender, and each had a very different light scent. I was 15 at the time, and by the time I’d saved up to buy them, they’d been discontinued. If I remember, I’ll mention it, maybe someone else knows what I am talking about.
I used to wear Anais Anais Fallenangel. I am fairly sure they still sell it in drugstores like Eckerd’s.
On certain men, Stetson is GODLY. On others, it smells cheap and nasty. I like Polo and Eternity as well. Polo Sport will do…
Wow, I’m kind of intimidated to name my favorite, but here goes: Velocity by Mary Kay. I don’t like the makeup but the skincare, bodycare, and fragances are great.
My body chemistry turns perfume HEAVY…whenever I used to smell something I really liked on someone else, I always would ask them what it was and then try it. It always made me sick to my stomache on ME.
I finally gave up and for years I just wore body splash in light vanilla or freesia or fruity flavors. (You know, pear, raspberry…like that…)
Then one day I smelled this perfume that smelled SO WONDERFUL on someone, except that she had too much of it on. I kept smelling this stuff, but it was ALWAYS too much on anyone wearing it. Finally, I tried some on…and for some reason, it works so well with my chemistry that I don’t seem to be able to PUT enough on. Weird. And before you ask, I made sure I wasn’t imagining things…I asked my office assistant, who works closely with me, whether she could smell me from her desk a short distance from mine. She said she could only smell it if she was hanging over my shoulder or something. And, BTW, that it smelled WONDERFUL.
I wear Clinique Aromatiques, and I am often told I “smell good.” I hope they never stop making it.
My favorite is Jessica McClintock. It’s a very light floral scent, very clean, mostly lily of the valley. (Forget elevator gagger “muget de bois” oils.) I wear it for me, walking through the mist of the barest air-spritz in the morning. If anybody can smell it a foot away it’s too much.
To be honest, often it becomes invisible to me, scent-wise, because it blends into my default air. But when I make a point to sniff my wrist it smells like ME–basic clean human–with slight reminders of flowers.
Veb
Red Door and Youth Dew. When I wear Youth Dew men follow me around.
I did a bit of research, the perfume that I loved when I was younger was called Earth Source. Apparantly I can still buy the Peach scented one online, but I couldn’t find any link that contained the other 3…
A woot and a boo!
Romance by Ralph Lauren it’s heaven scent.
My wife likes it when I wear Obsession. I prefer to wear Lagerfeld for everyday.
I’ve also been switching on and off with Cool Water and Demeter’s Earl Grey Tea. (I love drinking Earl Grey tea, so I knew that I would like that scent of bergamot.)