Do you fall in love with a new perfume easily?
Or do you tend to dismiss a perfume at first sniff?
Does it take some time for you to commit?
Do you think there is such a thing as love at first sniff that lasts for a life time?
My Answer:
I want to believe. Of course I have been disappointed many, many times, but I have found love at first sniff, but only once.
I smelled Mona di Orio Oud just once and knew this was destined to be. And I did not hesitate even for a day, before I pulled out my credit card and I did not regret it.
All my other great loves took more time, I did not even fall for Frapin 1697 immediately, Amouage Lyric and Memoir took at least three wearings for me to fall in love (but I stayed in love!).
There is one other perfume I fell for immediately, that was and is ravishing in its beauty, that entices me again and again every time I wear it – Puredistance I. But sadly, I cannot wear it as often as I would like, since I am allergic to something in it and I get a rash after a few hours of weartime. But some days I wear it, in spite of knowing I will have to keep myself from scratching my neck for the rest of the day, it is just so beautiful…
Many perfumes were brief affairs, one-night-stands even, but I don’t regret trying any of them. I have learned something from each and everyone.
Olfactoria's Travels 
Hmmm…I do believe in love at first sniff, but it only happens on the odd occasion for me, the last time it did was with Honour Woman. Like you, my other my great loves have all taken time to fall for.
I feel your pain with allergies, I’m allergic to L’Air du Desert Marocain and Une Rose Vermeille by Tauer, two fragrances which I love. It’s so annoying isn’t it?! Also, there is nothing worse than a skin allergy, it makes you so miserable! Perhaps it’s all of those natural ingredients?
Alergies – I think it happens easier with highly concentrated fragrances, and yes, it is probably the fault of natural ingredients, but I would still prefer to be the judge of that myself not let IFRA “protect” me.
I do not tolerate the Tauers very well myself, they are so potent.
Honor is amazing!
Oh yes, we will definitely make our own decisions as to what we can wear, IFRA can happily ‘do one’ as we Brits say!
The Tauers are extremely potent, Une Rose Vermeille has the reach of at least 10 miles. Strong stuff!
Honour is just sublime.
Sigh, all that swooning reminds me that I can’t afford a bottle of Honor anytime soon… 😦
Me too 😦
Great question! I cannot honestly say that I have fallen in love with a perfume at first sniff! But perhaps my experience as a teenager has led me to fall in love with gourmands more easily. I was always drawn to gourmands and my parents only ever allowed clean fresh scents to enter the rooms of their children. As soon as I moved out I started my perfume obsession with vanillas and ambers and that is where I remain to this day.
I am with you, Sandra! It is so easy to fall for an amber.. 🙂
I rarely fall in love at first sniff but it happens (Lyric was one of those for me too). 🙂
Usually it takes 2-3 good wearings for me to get to know a perfume and fall in love, but when that happens, I think it’s love for life, otherwise it doesn’t happen (I only like many perfumes, don’t feel strong love for them).
How about Oud? Are you on the way to loving that? 🙂
Oh yes. 🙂
I love all of MOna’s perfumes. Some sooner, some perhaps when I get to know them better, but all in the end.
And Oud really doesn’t require much to love him. You spritz some (I dabbed some so my 20ml would last longer) and the friendship is formed. Love will follow as soon as I find the time to test it properly again. 🙂 Today probably.
Love how Oud is obviously male to you… 🙂
He, he, now you mention it, yes, it does seem so. 🙂
Good call! 😉
Love at first sniff? OMG yes…The list is very long, but the ones who stay the distance is very much shorter! At the top would be (just to settle for this year’s edition!) Amouage Ubar – so perfect, it made me cry when I tried it, and I love it with a fury to this day. Epic Woman – same thing – no reservations, love at first sight and another forever love. Strangely enough, Lyric – which is stunning, no question – didn’t love me back, and neither did Gold. Jubilation 25 took at least three tries, and Memoir disturbed me and haunted me and prodded me like a toothache that wouldn’t go away. I didn’t like it much, but I couldn’t stop sniffing. Until…I surrendered. It stays! (and stays!)
Cepes and Tuberose, Fig, Vert pour Madame – all were instantaneous. I hope never to be without them, ever. Rumi is on my Xmas wishlist. I will own it. Definitely. Puredistance Antonia is perfection – even today.
The ones that didn’t make it quite so far…are usually the ones I send off to more loving homes, where I know they’ll be appreciated! 😀
Infatuation at first sniff, quite common indeed, but as you say, it is those that stay the distance that count the most.
I’d say this happens to me quite often, and just as often I think I am in love and promptly fall out again on the second or third wearing!
The ones that have “stuck” lately include Puredistance 1 (no allergies here, I am happy to report, though one or two of the all-natural Ajnes, which I also love, have been known to do just that, and like you with PD1 I have persisted in wearing them!), Carner D600 and L’Agent by Agent Provocateur.
Since we are at it: how do you pronounce Ajne?
Carner is very, very nice indeed.
It is not how I say it, but I do know it is pronounced Aaah-jnuh, with the stress on the first syllable, and where the “j” is like the “j” in the French “je” run straight on into the “ne”, which should sound like the “uh” in “huh” – not the “e” in “pet” or the “ay” in “lay”, though I have heard all three!
I hope that helps. There are a couple of youtube vids somewhere…
http://www.ajne.com/company/inthepress.php
In the first one you have to wait a while before the name is mentioned, but it’s there! And it is the perfumer herself speaking, so she should know…
Thank you, V!
Mitsouko and HM’s Magical Moon were instant love, and remain so years later! I had to warm up to the Ormonde Jayne line, but I love it now.
Most of the time, though, I know by first wearing if it’s going to be a keeper. I’ve stuck with my initial impressions over 95% of the time, I think. Tough customer, that’s me!
Glad you liked the Mona di Oud- it’s been rather controversial among oud enthusiasts, I can’t wait to try a sample, it should arrive this week!
That is great, being sure so soon. I am so very fickle, things can change in a heartbeat… 😉
I can’t wait to hear what you think about Oud!
Mon parfum cherie from AG is my latest love at first sniff. There were some perfumes for which it happend from the very first moment like L’Heure Defendue VII , Ubar just to name the recent ones 🙂 and others which I had to wear them several times until a strong relationship was bulid like Portrait of a Lady, Alahine or AT’s L’Air …..
Actually I dismissed at first sniffs some of Andy’s perfumes like Le Maroc or Lonely Star but after some time I started to enjoy them a lot
Hi alexp,
Andy Tauer was a journey for me as well…
I am very curious about the new Goutal. I’m glad you like it so much.
wow, my love at first sniff was… Addict by Dior. Yeah, I know many dismiss that fragrance, but I immediately knew it was my thing… i wear it only for specific occasions but it’s so blissful and reminds me of so many great moments that it will probably never change. But many others were hated by me when I sniffed them first time, like L’heure Bleue, Diorella, Dioressence, Cristalle, No 19, Rive Gauche, Chamade, even Angel was a no no… but now? I love these. Often I commit to those compositions I dismissed at first time, but if i find something fascinating in them I take them with me. I’m being less and less impressed with mainstream so I look for either older stuff or trying some niche.
Hello Dominic, I’m glad you commented!
It is the same with me, many great loves were dismissed in the beginning. Mainstream fragrances are sadly
mostly disappointing these days, but there is so much to be discovered in niche, it doesn’t ever get boring. 😉
True love at first sniff can happen, though often it takes me longer to fall in love! My “first sniff” sweethearts include Lyric, La Myrrhe, and Mary Greenwell Plum.
Wonderful loves, Mals! You really wear Plum often, that made me very curious about it, thankfully Vanessa provided a sample for me. 🙂
Oh yes, in the early 80s it was Opium, and most recently MH L’Air de Rien!
Do you still wear Opium, BF?
I do, B, but not as often as I did back in the day! 🙂
We hardly have time for old favorites these days, especially as bloggers. I was just talking to Vanessa today about how nice it would be to just have ten perfumes and really treasure them (at least for a while 🙂 ).
I do NOT believe in love at first sniff, except for the pesky problem that it keeps happening to me! In most cases, I didn’t buy immediately (finances limited my purchasing power), but for each that I truly loved at first sniff, I’ve stayed in love. Memoir Woman had me at Hello, as did Ambre Fetiche, Poivre 23, and Bois Blonde too! 🙂
Oh, oh, and Anne Pliska! that was love at first sniff too 😉
I have to admit that aside from a quick first sniff, I have yet to wear Anne Pliska. A shameful omission…
Ha, you don’t believe and it happens anyway, like in a Disney movie! 😉
… I don’t believe in “soul-mates” either, which my husband thinks is a hoot, because, of course, we are twin flames 😉
That is so lovely! And don’t forget your soul-sister, I heard you had one! 😉
I do indeed— we are psychically connected! (another thing I don’t believe in, lol 😉 )
xxo
Amouage Jubilation 25 for women was love at first sniff – certainly because it’s quite close to an old love Chanel no. 5 with an added oriental ooomph. I don’t own it, but I hope to some day.
I can’t remember what I felt the first time I smelled Chanel no. 5 and Miss Dior – my old loves – I think I was so impressionable that I simply wore them because I knew they were good perfumes and then fell in love forever over a period of time. They have shaped my taste in fragrances for life, so if a fragrance reminds me of either of them, they stand a good chance of a favorable evalution.
I’m with Vanessa on AP L’Agent – that was instant love as well. Another instant love was Miller Harris Fleur de Bois – both of them provided by Vanessa 🙂 I will love it always.
I wish I could love Jub25, but the cumin kills me… 😦
Your great loves are a testament to your great taste, Marie!
Oh, thanks, Birgit – that’s kind of you 🙂 I’m just grateful that whoever got me my first fragrances back then either knew a bit about good stuff themselves or knew to ask someone who did. But let’s not forget my secret, illicit and shameful love affair with Miss Dior Cherie – the original, not the reformulated, mind you – LOL! But, hey, just because we can appreciate the good 70 % dark Valrhona chocolate doesn’t me that we can’t enough a Mars bar every once in a while, right? Right…..? No?……
It’s funny, because I can’t even detect the cumin in Jub 25 on a conscious level – it’s just one big Chanel no. 5 with the orient love thing for me – and I don’t really get the cumin as a separate note in Rochas Femme, either. Give me clove and cinnamon and I can smell them from miles away and am struggling with them a bit – strange how we perceive notes differently.
“enough” means “enjoy”. The shame of my love for Miss Dior has now reached my brain 😉
That is interesting. Jub25 is all cumin, all the time for me, I can barely detect the perfume behind the cumin. 😀
But not even my cumin-phobia is to be trusted. First trial of Kurkdijan Absolue pour le Soir was a disaster, the next time – no cumin, only warm fuzziness. I’m stumped…
Between you and V, I see a bottle of l’Agent finding it’s way to my post office box… 😉
Go for it, Dee! : – )
I do believe in love at first sniff, and many of them have stayed “loves”, but also many loves that are real favorites were not love at first sniff, like Shalimar and recently Lyric. I usually do not impulse buy, either, even if I feel that it is love. My practical side likes to make sure I haven’t fallen in love with a cad. 🙂
Your practical side is admirable! I have a dark and well hidden shelf of cads… 😉
I think that perfumes are really the only products that I really impulse buy. at intervals I love makeup but most of my purchases are carefully thought out. I think I like that little pocket of throwing caution to the wind in my life – that’s why I enjoy an unsniffed purchase so much. Repressed, me? Noooooooo.
I’m totally with you there! Sometimes it is just great to follow an impulse and enjoy the thrill of the unknown. 😉 Better buying perfume than bungee jumping…
I don’t mind investing in a decant of something I only *think* I love, but bottle purchases I’m more careful with.
Maybe I should say that “love at first sniff” for me is more like “exceptional promise at first sniff” which is often fulfilled, but sometimes not. 🙂
Btw, I smelled Bottega Veneta on Friday, I like it a lot. Thanks for alerting me to it in the first place!
Oh, good! I’m glad you found it. I have still not decided whether I want a bottle (whether I will get a bottle, I mean 😉 ). It’s good to hear you liked it. May you be reviewing it?
I think I will. It is surely the best mainstream release for me this fall (so far).
I was thinking about it recently, slightly from a different angle: with the amount of “new sniffs” I do recently I wish there was at least one perfume a month that would sweep me off my feet. I’m a little tired of “working” with my perfumes. I want to be falling in love with some of them the first time we meet.
In my collection there are several perfumes that I liked from the first day I tried them (Ta’if by Ormonde Jayne, Heure Excuise by Annick Goutal, Portrait of a Lady by Frederic Malle) but even with them I’m not sure it was love. It might be that love came later.
I bookmarked this topic and will be going through other people’s “loves” to see if I missed those, maybe I’ll love them as well?
Undina, that would be such a fun blogging topic! you could list things that you really like, or notes, and we could all write in our suggestions for your possible love-match… And see if any of them are worth tying the knot with… Uh, I mean, buying a bottle of 😉
Dee, I love the idea, thank you! I’ll do it when I’m back from my vacation: I’ll have a couple of months to find a new love (just in time for a XMas shopping 😉 ).
I can’t wait! 🙂
Dee’s idea is great! I’d love to see such a post. Perfume Matchmaking! 🙂
I tend to fall in love right away, ex. OJ Ta’if, but sometimes it takes me awhile to realize that I’m in love. I suddenly realize that I can’t get the thought of the scent out of my head, and I smell it even when I’m not wearing it. Ex. Dior’s Dune. There have been lots of perfumes that I sample once and never bother with again. I make up my mind fast, I guess.
Hi Claudia,
that sounds familiar! 🙂
Over the years I have come to realize though, that many perfumes I have dismissed at first, have turned out to be great ones, I make it a point to revisit my rejects, and that persistence yielded a lot of loves for me.
I was going to say that I don’t believe in love at first sniff because it seemed to me that sometimes slower loves are stronger and stay strong with time (like Tango for me) but I realized a lot of my favorite perfumes were loves at first sniffs..Like Tubereuse Criminelle, Caron Poivre. Also Cepes and Tuberose, Fig and Shiso… Great question, B!
oh, Bois des Iles is another that I didn’t realize I loved till I went through a couple of samples..So I took my time with it.
Same here! 🙂
Thanks, L!
I needed some time with Tango too, Cepes&Tuberose I got immediately, it is strange how love works… 😉
“Do you fall in love with a new perfume easily?”- No. I have worn fragrances for so long that I sniff a new one skeptically, wondering if it will offer anything new and interesting. When I try a new fragrance, I instantly search my brain for something I know to compare it to and judge whether it is better/worse/more interesting/less so, etc.
“Does it take some time for you to commit?” -Because of a limited budget for my perfume habit, it has to be something very special for me to spend my money.
“Do you think there is such a thing as love at first sniff that lasts for a life time?”- Yes. I fell for several fragrances that I feel sure will be with me forever. That could always change, but I don’t see it happening.
I like your thoughtful approach, Jim. Sometimes I dream of just owning a small, but perfectly curated collection of perfumes I love and use forever. No more testing… (won’t happen any time soon though.) 🙂
Thank you for the compliment, Birgit 🙂 One of the many things I like about reading your blog/reviews is that you are always searching out new fragrances. As long as I have been interested in fragrances, I am mostly drawn to the classics. A few newer bottles occasionally find their way into my wardrobe, but they are rare. I feel like I could spend the rest of my life exploring classics that I have missed, so it’s nice to read your thoughts about new houses and individual fragrances. It reminds me there are still good ones being made.
Yours is a good approach, Jim. Sadly so many classics are reformulated beyond recognition now. My curiosity will always get the better of me. 🙂