I bought Dior Homme Parfum after seeing all the hype and the fact that its being reformulated. I sniffed it once in the fragrance retailer and waited some time until the shop had a sale. After I got it I used it once in a year because I just didn't have a mood for it. In the end I sold it (that was a couple of weeks ago). It was really hard for me to sell it though (mentally), because I thought I need to wait more time to appreciate it, which was stupid :D
Thanks guys. I come to realise that I've been spending a little too much lately & have been making an effort to be more sensible by setting up spending limits. This little chat of yours has helped convince me I'm doing the right thing. It'd also help if you could only review crappy scents for the next couple of months.
One tip. If you watch fragrance review youtube videos, watch ones of fragrances you already have. It's fun and makes you more appreciative of the fragrances you have.
I now have about 160 fragrances in total, between my fragrances and my watch collections I have invested enough money to buy a basic brand new car. I do plan to reduce both of my collections and recoup at least half of my money back. I want to reduce my bottles to the perfect 50! I do not buy fragrances like I used to. It is funny how fragrances that were great for me 4 to 5 years ago are now just ordinary. Good video. Forgot to add that I review fragrances in Spanish.
It doesn't matter what it is--fragrances, clothes, food, etc--spending money lights up that part of my brain that makes me feel good. It's nice for a moment, then I'm looking for my next fix. One thing that did help was alphabetizing my collection--it needed it. I got re-acquainted with a lot of great scents that were stuck in the back, and brought to light a few crummy ones that I would be fine with letting go. Thanks guys, great vid!
I once was about to buy a bottle of Clive Christian Rock Rose 🌹 at Saks for $400.00 . Luckily I walked around a bit, decided I’d wait a couple of days then come back to purchase. Moral of the story I brought a decant for $30 and still haven’t used it all after a year and a half!
I was going in the direction of addiction before I caught myself, now I’m just addicted to Fragrance videos and spraying the 40 or so bottles I have currently.
Very thought provoking video. I have actively exercised some of the points you both make. I think the advice that worked for me in the past was the visualization bit. It actually is the most effective means of curbing the propensity of reaching out for that credit card all the time. Another thing that works for me is the setting of monthly limits on fragrances and selling the fragrances I do not like or wouldn't want to review. I did a meticulous analysis of how much money I was spending each month on fragrances going back 2 years and got an average number ( it was viciously high) , then I set a number ( modest one) and keep myself below it. If I exceed that number then I salvage it but forcing myself to sell something from my collection. It's starting to work for me.
I think we can all agree that any type of addiction is not healthy. And I did watch the videos that you mentioned (there is also another video by exotic scents which is good) and I am also glad that this topic is discussed . It is good to have a hobby like this, but being accountable is also very important. I have to agree with Bottom Note's point on trying to stay off buying fragrances for a month or two to keep oneself in check, if you can break the buying cycle chances are you can keep it in control. Also having someone else (a partner) hold you accountable is a good thing too! (Just like Smelly and Smurfy 😉)
Nudge ;) lol, nice to see you trying out Abel too, White Vetiver I wear quite often! You must get the big hit of Lime ? It's super fresh Addiction is a problem for a lot of people, keeping up with the Jones syndrome. DracDoc's video on it was very good too
Y'all have been discussing topics that need to be talked about and discussed. I'm liking your channel more and more lately. Thank you for bringing this up. I'm beginning to look at myself now about this.
Well done, you two; this is one of my favorite Frag Chat episodes. I've been collecting for more than ten years, and reducing that collection is my current goal. I am guilty of excessive buying periodically, especially when discontinued, preformulated or limited edition fragrances become available. However, I can afford it, as I spent many years living frugally in order to save money. But the excessive buying makes me uncomfortable and the collection has become overwhelming (for me), so yes, it is addictive behavior of some sort. "No Buy" doesn't work for me, as it leads to binge buying. Now I allow myself a "Slow Buy" instead. And a new bottle doesn't come in unless an old bottle goes out. I realized that my love of research is what drives the buying. So now I just research the shit out of everything, put the fragrance in the online cart if I must and then forget about it.
Fragrance addiction is slowly acquiring 8 Aventus clone cheapies, when you could have just saved a wee bit more and bought a bottle of the real damn thing.
I took a massive break from buying fragrances and got back into my other hobby with RC related things . It got to the point where you don't have much space left over for more bottles I had to step back and take a look at my collection and tell myself off like what the hell are you doing . Bottom note made the best sense about it saying a 100ml bottle maybe you spray 3 or 4 sprays a day that bottle will last more than a year doing that and then you won't even wear the same smell so you use something else and you end up with bottles lasting a few years . And buying backup bottles is the worst which is something I've done too then I don't even like it that much later on then I end up with 3 of the same thing that's been sitting in my cupboard for years . I had a co worker tell me just buy another when you finish it because it's not like they will run out you'll always be able to find another bottle for sale again somewhere . Saying all that I purchased another fragrance today after my longest break I got mancera black gold.
Addiction comes from the stimulation of the brain's pleasure centers and how some people have to have that stimulation constantly. Always craving the next "high." I now have near 100 bottles and sometimes wonder what the hell I was thinking. Thankfully I was able to afford them without too much of a problem. Still, I am gradually cutting back and enjoying what I now own rather than just buying more. I still plan on adding to my collection, but in a more selective way. Lots of samples and the occasional bottle purchase of a favorite I've craved for awhile. Good, important topic. Thanks for covering it.
Ive purchased a good 200 fragrances over the past 10 years. Lucky to have been gifted many too. But I only wear about 5-7 favourites consistently. It's a shame that Ive wasted thousands on bottles I literally dont enjoy. Some blind bought, some I convinced myself I liked. I own a bunch of the discontinued hyped fragrances, spending shit loads on them blindly only to never wear them. I now test fragrances for a good year before purchasing or as you guys do, buy samples from Greggieboy86 etc. Small decants, testers are the way to go for sure!
Thanks for addressing this in a truly mature way. I agree in the beginning I was quite a compulsive buyer purchasing things I found at stores that looked fun but without trying them first. I was quite lucky (unlucky?) to have a big disposable income so I would say that was part of my self-enablement. Over the years I’ve changed my habits considerably and now I only purchase what I’ve tested and take into account what I already own. If I tire of a fragrance, I try to swap it so that’s the extent of my blind “buying” these days. I dare say I haven’t purchased a brand new bottle in over half a year. As for the psychology behind perfume buying I definitely agree there’s some degree of the fragrance community enabling the crap out of each other. I see some reviewers unbox what seems to be a purchase per day and show off their collections of hardly-used bottles and I have to wonder how bad the addiction/compulsion is to do that. I have a rather hefty collection, by my own accounts (somewhere around 50 full-size bottles) and I’m completely aware it’s an insane amount of perfume for a normal person to have and I’d love to get myself down to something more reasonable (maybe 30? 20? Girl can dream) and then only buy/swap again when I feel moved emotionally at the sniff of a new perfume.
I will not buy anything the doesn't get used to death, I hate waste, that's my obsession, i try try try again, then buy. Everything mix and match. Reached about 30 frags and will buy another when one is almost finished or find amazing (cheap) deal. Glad to hear your helping your struggling fragies.
Great topic! My guilt starts over 30 bottles, and i'm happy with that amount. i'm all covered, all seasons, all occasions, and i love every single of them. Decants before a bottle is the way to go!
I think avoiding the blind buy has got to be near the top of the list of self-monitoring/control measures. But being aware of the pitfalls of fragrance purchasing is fundamental. A good and important topic to discuss.
Always great to see fragrance channels release content that isn't just revolving around pumping out reviews. This, along with your other recent video about how to make a fragrance last longer really adds a different element to your channel. One of the best fragrance reviewers on youtube. Keep up the great stuff man.
I just want to say Smurfy looks fabulous to me in this video, Something about the top and makeup! Cody did a great job and you guys did well, I saw Bottom Notes video also.
Used to blind buy fragrances, now I carefully check what I buy (like sampling Gucci Guilty Absolute recently). I can certainly say, first 2-3 years in fragrance community was the worst (around 120 bottles bought). Now I calmed down, knowing that I will never finish all the juices I own. It is very good topic, mr Smelly and it should be covered and reminded. I bought few bottles because of your videos (most were perfect hits, like Gorse, Aqva Amara and Ginepro di Sardegna). It is interesting, because like someone else mentioned in the comment section, in my case too, it comes with wrist watch addiction, which I cured already. Thank you both for this topic. But no matter what, always project! With tips in general, I would say, once you figure out your nose and fav. fragrances, just stick to those notes/types of juice, don't experiment, because at the end you always will come back to your favourites. In my case, I spent a fortune on Andy Tauer fragrances just to know, I only truly love the first purchase (L'Air du Desert Marocain). Always stick with your style, don't be catched by marketing traps.
My advice would be to stop sampling new fragrances and stop searching for next WOW smell. You have to understand that there will always be a fragrance that is better than the previous one. No need to search for next big thing. If you are not the type of person who searches for next WOW smell and just likes to smell nice, then you definitely don't need a large collection. Stop and think why you bought a fragrance and start wearing/enjoying them every day. I apologize for promoting other reviewer, but J-ROYL video on the same topic (i think its called something like "You dont need as many fragrances") would help
Great topic! Thank you! This strange passion...(no good clothes, concerts, travel, books, food...- but perfume - I need to have it! ) This feeling inside of me when I smell something that I like.. I specially enjoy to put them before I got to bed, it's just a pure joy and self love...I don't know.. For me it is not anything about seduction, presentation, compliments, "sexiness" - nothing connected with others.. I want them for my own satisfaction....I love them as much as I love to eat :) Very big problem when trying to have some savings... Greetings from Serbia!
I agree that it is at its worst when you first get going, since you are discovering this whole new world of fragrances that you didn't know existed. You think you are keeping things in check by just going for descents, but you can easily lose sight of how all these £20-£30 decants can add up quickly. Love both your channels, and a really good worthwhile topic to highlight.
Hi, I just start my subscription with you guys and I really love what you just said. I think one of the best motivation would be the media. To motivate people to be careful, slow down and be more aware. Some like you are doing now. Maybe some of other reviewers could do the same too. Tell people to be aware. I also follow the guy on redolensence and he also tell people to look after your wallet first before making any expenses. It happened to me before too about that addiction. Sometimes sales on perfumes and fragrances can be good and dangerous also. But good and you and thank you for your motivation of to be careful. Greetings from Australia.
I went through a spate of impulse buying bottles recently, but I’ve more recently gotten back to my roots of being a serial sampler... Most of my fragrance budget goes to samples (and decants - if I love a sample, I’ll order a 3ml or 5ml decant of it). I still get the thrill of trying something new, but it also expands my taste and has in turn made me pickier, which then reduces the desire for so many full bottles.
A very good discussion. I don't yet have any fragrances, but am interested in getting some. Based on my experience buying, and continuing to buy, fountain pens and ink that I know dont need, I'm trying to avoid just jumping in. I know where that will lead.
I caught the bug last Christmas. In the interim my collection has grown to over 50. I've since slowed down to only buy the ones I really want and at a slower pace. Blind buying is still fun for me. I enjoy a wide array of fragrances and I'm hardly ever disappointed with what I get.
I always loved fragrances , when i was a kid (10 to 15 years) i had "stealed" all of my dad fragrances like Le Male,Boss Bottled,Ck One . Now im 28 and at last year my collection never was more than 5 fragrances , but then i had start buying more more and more and in a year i have a 30 fragrance collection on a total off 1200€ (no niche) My expensive stuff is Bleu Chanel EDT and EDP , Chanel Allure Homme Sport,Dior Sauvage ETc. Even today i bought one more fragrance (Hugo Boss in Motion) . In my head i cant stop buying and seeking new fragrances,this is hard and im just in the beginning. I have to stop watching youtube reviews,all my fragrances have about 70% of juice.
It is really funny you talk about fragrance addiction. In the wet shaving world, we have the same disease but with shaving gear. In this you can Include After Shave. Looks like your rabbit hole is just beside ours!
Great video guys. I have spent too much money in aftershaves which have affected my stress level. Sometimes it's difficult to know when to stop and also impulse buyers, like me, tend to waste too much money after impulsive purchases. I have created a list with the top 30 aftershave that I would like to have and I will stick to that list until 2018.
Great video topic guys, fragrance addiction is real and I think sometimes I might have an addictive personality, well actually I know I do and I started buying bottles at first when I started but now just decants, but like u said decants add up also so I definitely started a budget every month (because my wife) lol but it couldn't gotten out of hand if I didn't have someone to check me, so sometimes I think we need that someone to tell us hey you need to slow down or at least pace yourself, the fragrances aren't going anywhere and if they do there will always be a new release, but that's just my two cents from one fragrance head to another, take care.
Minimalism is the solution to the woes of excessive things. I much rather invest spare money than spend it on the next redundant bottle of scented water. Ask yourself this question: would I buy another bottle if this one was finished? If the answer is 'no,' sell it off. You don't want to be that person with the Roja bottles in the back of your drawer, only to conclude after a couple of years that these are still virtually untouched. A much more healthy hobby than collecting stuff, is investing. Generating passive income through stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrencies gives you the same feeling of collecting. And then some.. Such investments don't fill up space, and are more likely to appreciate than depreciate in the long-term.
Wholeheartedly agree with "collecting money" as a hobby. I tell younger people all the time to save their money, invest, as time is on their side for their money to grow. Pay yourself first by saving. If there is extra money left over, then by all means, buy some perfume. But not at the cost of your future retirement and other goals.
hey papa smurf and smurfette :-) great video just wanted to ask an indirectly related ques all you frag reviewers seem to be commenting on each others vids - so is that part of your addiction seeing what other reviewrs are talking about and recommending also i presume you have a "real" job how do you find time to upload all this stuff and THEN also watch other frag videos
To me I need to have the full presentation to get the complete experience out of a fragrance, so I would sell decants but not buy them. Samples however is a different matter. I only blind bought things around 35€ and under and Straight to Heaven Extreme because I liked the regular but (fortunately correctly) assumed the Extreme version would suit me even better. I will buy a sample first in the future, though. I think being obsessed with something is okay and as long as you have an emergency fund you do not touch and do not overspend you are fine. Also being unable to let go of fragrances you do not wear or fallen out of love with is a bad sign. I think fragrance addiction is a form of shopping addiction, sometimes coupled with a compulsion to hoard. The rush of spending money and acquiring new things is what gives us a rush of reward hormones. There also appears to be a serious fear of missing out in people that always pick up the newest releases. That is why there always has to be something new and possibly more expensive to increase the dosage of reward hormones. Some people - like myself - just tend to get obsessed over their interests. This can have good sides like success in a competitive hobby or a wide knowledge one can try and turn a profit with, like some fragrance vloggers do, I assume. But this also can destroy someone when they do not know when to cut back. I pulled through with the one month purchase moratorium and even went an additional week. It made me re-evaluate my wantslist and has me now only left with ones I really want. I picked up Spiritueuse Double Vanille today, a fragrance I wanted for 9 months. Basically I could have picked it up earlier but I constantly bought other things that were on sale and I realized that while I saved money on nice things it kept pushing the ones I really really wanted back further and further. I have a budget set for perfume as part of my monthly budget that I track with an app. Sometimes I stretch it, but mostly I then recuperate over the next month I do agree with the travel-sizes but as I said, I want the full presentation. I buy the smallest possible size unless the prize is similar or very close to the prize of a larger size. There is no way I go through 100ml in a reasonable time unless I marinate myself in the juice.
Great to have u guys cover a natural line, most of my focus is on natural these days. Not sure these are available in the US? As far as addiction goes..yeah...I'm jones-ing just to try this line, so I get it. Very easy to get addicted, since it's a sensory experience.
In terms of the quick blind buy on fragrance groups. I've done that myself. My reasoning is, I would like to get a sample 1st but if I wait, get the sample and love it, the person selling the fragrance might have sold it already and it's usually for a price far under retail. I felt like waiting would cause me to miss the sale and then have to search for it elsewhere and pay a greater price in the long run. Not a smart way of thinking/reasoning I know, but one nonetheless. Luckily I have not had a let down with my fragrance group blind buys. My cheapie tjmaxx, ross blind buys on the other hand, LOL got a full shelf of those....Great vid as always!
That is a fear of missing out but in all honesty good prices will come again in the future. You just have to wait and check them regularly. If you got a fragrance that you in the end do not like for 100 instead of 200 and have to sell it for 70 you lost 30 dollars. The person selling it at that great price probably did the same stupid blind buy you are about to commit, hence why he has to sell it at such a cheap price. And after all we also tend to rationalize irrational behavior later on, so you probably are fluffing up a blind buy you do not like that much because admitting you messed up would make you look stupid to yourself.
I'm addicted to buying samples especially the super expensive brands such as Roja Parfum and Xerjoff...I just can't seem to find my signature fragrance.
I think in some ways a fragrance compulsion is closer to a gambling addiction than other hobbies. For most collectibles you “see” what you are buying before you spend the money. With fragrance-there is a bit of a high that comes with the gamble of a successful blind buy where the bulk of the value is in the smell.
All it took for me to get over my fragrance addiction, was the night hurricane harvey swept through my city and a cop forced me out of my apartment saying it would flood completely and I had 5 minutes to grab what ever I needed and only managed to grab and fit 6 fragrances out of my collection. Lol talk about actually having a certain amount of fragrances for life experience. Luckily my apartment wasn't affected, but I'll never forget for the whole time I was away i thought " all that wasted money and this is all i really needed"
I have around 80 bottles in my collection and I consider myself an addict. I say this because I honestly think anybody can live quite happily with no more than a dozen. I started to realize things were getting out of hand when I suddenly noticed I had more bottles than underpants and socks put together. My main problem is that I live in Panama and we have a huge duty free zone, second largest in the world after Hong Kong, absolutely loaded with fragance. My tendency is picking up discontinued fragances on the cheap. I it's discontinued or a special edition I can't help myself. Last one was Boss Bottled Oud, that I didn't even like so much. I read it was no longer in production and I bought it. I do set limits though: I do not buy any niche no matter how good it smells. I don't give shits or fucks about Aventus or whatever batch it came from. Still though, I am going to, like you said, simply enjoy my collection.
I am on 7th bottle... I pretty much only buy from resellers with a big discount and only ones I like but still... That's money. It makes me feel better but at a cost.
I am very new to Fragcomm, i have bought in the past 6 months maybe about 15 bottles, 4 of them were retail but not all were designer, many are clones that I bought for maybe 15-40 bucks. My most expensive bottle atm is a 200mL of Dior Sauvage EDT that I bought for 150. Least expensive is a 1 Mill Clone (AB Millionaire that smells exactly the same) for 13 dollars. I have been getting decants/samples more because I had blind bought most of my bottles and for the most part I like them all although I don't wear them all. I'm not actually addicted to Fragrances but I do think I am ADDICTEDto the COMPLIMENTS/ATTENTION! that comes with some fragrances and even now ppl at work are starting to notice that I usually have some nice scents going on and I have gotten a fair amount of attention/compliments and i feel like my overall image at work is a lot different now to be flat out honest I feel like people look at me differently I feel like I always got respect but sometimes that bad type of respect where i was just unapproachable because maybe my aura/persona was sometimes intense, not mean or mad just at a stand still i think i give off a aura that ppl get intimidated by and flat out ppl didn't like talking to me. I got into Fragrance because I saw how new wardrobe helped in some regards and I figured maybe not smelling like Axe body spray or any men's spray deodorant would be a step in the right direction. Bought my first 4-5 in 1 month (mostly cheap clones cept for the Sauvage EDP i bought which was my first big purchase) and almost instantly just like that my approachability really skyrocketed thanks to scents like Sauvage EDP and also EDT, 1 Million Lucky Dunhil Icon Racing. I look for new fragrances now through scentbird or clone houses like Dua or Alexandria (not touching Armaf anymore) but also if there are any big buys i want i make sure to check out luckyscent first and try and get a decant of it. If a reviewer says something that sounds appealing i look hard for decants/clones first then i check my local stores NOT to buy but to see if they have samples then i kinda decide if i can fit it into my rotation. I look for things that are approachable and versatile but not the same as something else I own. I want to constantly give ppl a reason to feel at ease around me because i'm a nice fun guy, just my resting face is meh. Scents have helped a lot with that and also just being a conversation starter tbh, any woman i want to talk to I can just pull a JeremyFragrance and ask her what she thinks about my fragrance and just ask questions and yeah it's a nice icebreaker imo. Clone Houses are probably my new thing since I could buy (in some cases) 5-6 items that may vary in quality for sure but they together cost as much as 1 designer bottle (Retail). I don't want 100 frags, I was 20-30 that are versatile and have great performance that I like but ppl also like; I use fragrance to welcome ppl into my "Zone" or Bubble / Area, to make myself more approachable and to help with friendliness in general as well as conversation. I don't think having 100+ would do well for me because I want ppl to feel a certain way when they smell a certain scent, i want them to associate certain scents with me also but always in a welcoming way. So I can't really do Oud based frags or some of the very masculine scents because flat out they can offend ppl; even some things that are sandalwood (Looking at CK Escape which is a great cheapy 18bucks online btw that NOBODY wears even when it was new) but very synthetic strong sandalwood can just really have a bad effect indoors. Hopefully I'm not addicted, I feel like I'm just in the process of learning what I like and what works for me and what other ppl like so I have maybe 10 decants and 15 bottles (something like that) but i would be lying if i said i didn't talk myself into dropping almost my last 100 bucks on a frag (or multiple frags in the same purchase)
Fantastic vid as always. Frag addition is simply a shopping addiction or its proper name oniomania, like you said someone with this will over spend on what ever they like, watches, clothes ( the main one ) pies, lol. keep smelling good you two.
I don't think people think that their taste in fragrances will change especially with designers. But I set a monthly budget for myself and if I go over I won't by anything the next month or I'll sell something to stay in budget. Never touch my savings, I actually put my money in a trust that has a monthly limit I can withdrawal. I got rid of most of my designers and collect 30ml decants. It looks really cool the way I keep them in cases. I only buy full bottles that I love. Plus I'll buy fragrances in certain genres I like instead of buying all over the place. Exotic Scents had a good video. My other hobbies are even more expensive, I'm also an audiophile so I have to do one at a time and enjoy it. Instead of just buying
Yep travel sizes good idea. Currently have two 10 ml frederic malles in my basket.... desperately not trying to pull the trigger just yet- still £80! Love cobalt amber by Abel. Also almost bought abel red santal in Anthropologie for 12.95!!!!! But checked fragrantica and was put off by the clove notes.... also it was packaged up so would have been a blind buy which im trying to stop! 🙄
As for fragrance addiction, I thought Mr. Smelly addressed this nicely in his video from a few years ago "Own 4 Fragrances and Smell Great for Life". Probably there is not an 'End Game' but a little discipline goes a long way. Midnight in Paris for £25? Congratulations!
I now have limits for myself. No fragrances this summer. At all. Even when I shopped for a gift for Mom's birthday, I didn't buy a perfume, even though I had the previous 5 or 6 years or so. The only frag that I will allow myself to buy for the remainder of this year will be TF ombre leather when it hits the stores over here in late September. That's it. I already have 2 wine coolers full of the stuff.
Hi Smelly, am trying to track down A*men the original batch? Any ideas of chemists in the UK that might have the vintage stuff before the reformulations? Much obliged for the help😀👍
Lovely discussion! Thank you for your balanced and thoughtful input as always! For me, I have a small cabinet and when it’s full, it’s full. Also, when I feel a desire to get a new frag, I force myself to wear one of mine that I haven’t worn in a long time. If I still want it, I swap. One last thing that helps me, I think about what occasion I would wear it at and if I already have an option or two at home, I pass.
Interesting thoughts! I guess it dosen't always have to be 100ml bottle or more! Sometimes smaller sizes are just as fine if you use sensibly lol. I went through a stage where I needed both sizes in my collection of same fragrance! 😂
I still love fragrances but sadly my passion for this hobby has faded quite a bit in the past year or so. I still stay current with new releases and such but I haven’t bought a new fragrance since November of last year. I came to the realization that my collection was getting too big and that I should just enjoy the fragrances I already have. If I had kept buying fragrances at the rate I was buying them at the peak of my fragrance addiction I probably could have fully funded a Roth IRA for an entire year or gone on a really nice exotic vacation. When you think about it that way it just isn’t worth it anymore.
Hey Dan, have you had the chance to smell Dolce and Gabbana The One Mysterious Night? They don't have it in the states yet, but I noticed they have it at John Lewis in the UK. Just wondering your opinion on it... thanks!
Thankfully I don’t have an addictive personality but from seeing some Facebook members and what they have and what they are trying to sell makes me thankful I don’t because I can see how it can be a problem. I have two niche bottles on order then hopefully I have everything I need. Too those who are aware they have a problem as with all addictions you can get help.
One think I find my self thinking is that if I like a scent, I want to own it. But I try to remind myself that I don’t need to own everything I enjoy. The same way I don’t eat everything I enjoy because a body can’t handle that much food. Or if I like art, I’m not going to start filling my walls with every piece I like. There’s not that much room on the walls, and it would look ridiculous. I have a lot of perfumes, but I would like to get to a place where I use them up and keep only the ones I love best, having something for each occasion.
Don;t wear fragrances every day . There need to be fragrance break days in a week to avoid olfactory fatigue. in this way you need fewer fragrances and you will appreciate them more when you wear them.
I am guilty, as charged. When I get home from work, I have a few beers and sometimes watch videos. I run across something, search it, and if it sounds good, I order it (if it's reasonably priced). I now have around 200 of which about 15 are niche. Exciting to me, but to others I have a problem. Still pay my bills:).
I agree that there is such a thing a thing as fragrance addiction as well as wanting to have the new thing, and I’ll give an example a few months ago a store local to me got in tom ford f****** fabulous at their tf concession and I happened to be at the counter when they got the delivery I didn’t know they were getting it. Without thinking after he opened the box and said what he had I was handling over my debit card buying 1 at £210 a bottle. I ve got enough aventus to last me years and up until recently I was buying at least 4 bottles a month chasing the perfect compliment getter, problem with me is I’ll watch the compliment getter/top sexy fragrances videos see what the top 3-5 are then go buy them.... now I am at the point that I don’t really care if someone likes it as long as I do. So I ve stopped buying completely as there’s more to life only when I run out I’ll buy something probably cheap like zara
I have no idea why compliments another person claims they got, the objectively worst metric to chose a fragrance for, has somehow become the selling point for a lot of people. Just like everyone seems to be hellbent on having nuclear sillage and longevity instead of just wanting a good fragrance they themselves enjoy. I get no compliments on ANY fragrance because I am a rather solitary person who has an above average personal space and is not too fond of touching/hugging others. To me choosing a fragrance for it's compliment factor seems patently ridiculous. It is like ordering food to take pictures and get the most instagram likes, instead of getting what I enjoy to eat. I think most compliments those people get are from their spouses, family and colleagues, not from sexy chicks or handsome hunks, like the seemingly hormonedriven adolescent audience of such compliment-getter toplists seems to think. And the compliment producing fragrances often are the most mass appealing lowest common denominator juices that all smell inoffensive and boring as hell. It is like pop music. It does not offend anyone but it is usually interchangeable vapid crap.
For the average person with a budget that doesn't allow for serious collection, I think going over 5-10 fragrances that you love 100% is absurd. If you don't absolutely love wearing something, you shouldn't own it.
I collect shoes, watches, fragrances, and guns. Soooo my life is tough. Never ever ever enough money to support my madness!! What truly bothers me are the things I DON'T buy. Which is so much it makes my head spin. Maybe that makes the ones I do go in on more special though.
That was a pun... Maybe I messed it up because English is not my native language or the delivery was horrible... shoes for walking, watches for knowing the time and guns/fragrances to shoot... I mean mr smelly even dubs gun sounds over his videos when he presses the sprayer... I guess it was a bad joke, if I have to explain it :-/ I would never advocate for anyone to shoot her-/himself with anything but a nice fragrance mist. Apologies if it came across wrong and/or the pun does not work as I thought it would.
Great video guys great subject. Don't think I have an addiction but I do have over 40 bottles some Niche some designer my wife does get a little upset because I do have all of these different fragrances but at least I don't smell the same every day I like variety. What I tell her the money comes out of my own paycheck all my bills are paid and if I have 500 at the end of the month and I want to get something I get it. My second headache would turn around and spend her last dollar on a video and not have any money for food that's going a little too far. I believe in sampling first getting samples and then going from there pick what you want to purchase. I've had some blind buys come out really well some that I did not like my son-in-law comes up to me and asks for a refill of something and I open up the closet and tell him to take a pic and I'll show him what section he can get out of and everything that I don't like he likes so it's always worked out. My rule of thumb is smell test then by if you really like it and if your partner likes it.
Nothing here is as important as Bois de Portugal, which needs to be continually pushed. A close second is Colonia Essenza, which has not been pushed in 2.5 days
For your catchphrase, how about "2 heads are better than 1, and we'll leave it there, thanks for chatting" or "2 heads are better than 1, but the fragrance chat has just begun, tell us what you think in the comments below". 2nd one's a bit Dr. Seuss-y
I live in a country (Colombia)where you can not buy a niche frag per se and so i am limited to designers that i am not interested in. I get general shipments from the states roughly every 3-4 times a year on a variety of items. The VAT here is roughly 30% if being honest adding to costs so if i were to get decant samples there may not be a chance that anything would be special and i would probably never see a full bottle haha. Seriously though i blind bought and i would say 2 out 3 were decent but still that can be a waste of money. I have to be more reliant on reviewers (BAD) and or just go cold turkey.
I dont , i only buy a fragrance i really love and sell some that i fell out of love before buying a new one. I keep my bottles at or around 100 . I Stopped buying designers because they smell too similiar
@@14me I like Hermes ,cartier , they release good fragrances but dior and chanel lately became crap . Dior Sauvage is garbage, acqua dio gio and code profume is garbage . I do like some Tom Ford private line fragrances . I adore Ormonde Jayne and Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier . Problem with designer is thtlat everythibg smells way too feminine , or loaded with Ambroxan and fake wood or with crappy acquatic notes . I have no seen any designer using Tulu balm , myrrh , peru balm .i like most L'artisan and Diptique is pretty much killing all designer brands when it comes to quality and smell
@@14me i got M7 ans Eau Sauvage those are nice , but im talking about everything released after 2013 smells similiar . In 2018 only one release came out that i liked and it was Ombre leather problem with M7 and Eau Sauvage Parfume that you can find them in a regular store , even sephora doesnt carry them .Also everything is a flanker anymore . 1 million prive , Lhomme bleu , sauvage perfume , bleu de chanel parfume and other endless flankers just foes not interest me . Designers are affraid to release anything grounbreaking like Fahrenheit ,M7 , Jazz , Gucci pour homme 2 anymore
people get hypnotized by the pretty bottles and sniffing from top notes, honestly wear what YOU love and have a minimal collection, personally i own only 10 and rotate around 3 every other day. there’s no reason to buy buy buy. more to life than this silly hobby
I've certainly felt the itch to by bottles just to by them, but I've found out I'm not really a collector, more of a user. My collection is at an embarrassing 15 ish bottles, but it's still hard to justify buying another freshy fx.
I spent £600 in 2 weeks buying fragrances I didn't want just to have them in my collection.
The addiction is real.
Good job my friend.
I bought Dior Homme Parfum after seeing all the hype and the fact that its being reformulated. I sniffed it once in the fragrance retailer and waited some time until the shop had a sale.
After I got it I used it once in a year because I just didn't have a mood for it.
In the end I sold it (that was a couple of weeks ago). It was really hard for me to sell it though (mentally), because I thought I need to wait more time to appreciate it, which was stupid :D
Thanks guys. I come to realise that I've been spending a little too much lately & have been making an effort to be more sensible by setting up spending limits. This little chat of yours has helped convince me I'm doing the right thing. It'd also help if you could only review crappy scents for the next couple of months.
Ha ha thanks Muddy. I will see what I can do!
One tip. If you watch fragrance review youtube videos, watch ones of fragrances you already have. It's fun and makes you more appreciative of the fragrances you have.
I now have about 160 fragrances in total, between my fragrances and my watch collections I have invested enough money to buy a basic brand new car. I do plan to reduce both of my collections and recoup at least half of my money back. I want to reduce my bottles to the perfect 50! I do not buy fragrances like I used to. It is funny how fragrances that were great for me 4 to 5 years ago are now just ordinary. Good video. Forgot to add that I review fragrances in Spanish.
I forget to add that I do review fragrances but in Spanish on my Chanel.
Watches and fragrances. The two things that have sucked my budget dry for the past 2 years.
It doesn't matter what it is--fragrances, clothes, food, etc--spending money lights up that part of my brain that makes me feel good. It's nice for a moment, then I'm looking for my next fix. One thing that did help was alphabetizing my collection--it needed it. I got re-acquainted with a lot of great scents that were stuck in the back, and brought to light a few crummy ones that I would be fine with letting go. Thanks guys, great vid!
I once was about to buy a bottle of Clive Christian Rock Rose 🌹 at Saks for $400.00 . Luckily I walked around a bit, decided I’d wait a couple of days then come back to purchase. Moral of the story I brought a decant for $30 and still haven’t used it all after a year and a half!
Dr. JAC Been there. Still haven't used my 10 ml decants of Tom Ford F'n Fabulous or Creed Spice and Wood.
I was going in the direction of addiction before I caught myself, now I’m just addicted to Fragrance videos and spraying the 40 or so bottles I have currently.
Very thought provoking video. I have actively exercised some of the points you both make. I think the advice that worked for me in the past was the visualization bit. It actually is the most effective means of curbing the propensity of reaching out for that credit card all the time.
Another thing that works for me is the setting of monthly limits on fragrances and selling the fragrances I do not like or wouldn't want to review. I did a meticulous analysis of how much money I was spending each month on fragrances going back 2 years and got an average number ( it was viciously high) , then I set a number ( modest one) and keep myself below it. If I exceed that number then I salvage it but forcing myself to sell something from my collection. It's starting to work for me.
Thanks a lot great comment. I enjoy watching your videos a lot.
Thanks for the support Dan, much appreciated!
I think we can all agree that any type of addiction is not healthy. And I did watch the videos that you mentioned (there is also another video by exotic scents which is good) and I am also glad that this topic is discussed . It is good to have a hobby like this, but being accountable is also very important. I have to agree with Bottom Note's point on trying to stay off buying fragrances for a month or two to keep oneself in check, if you can break the buying cycle chances are you can keep it in control. Also having someone else (a partner) hold you accountable is a good thing too! (Just like Smelly and Smurfy 😉)
Nudge ;) lol, nice to see you trying out Abel too, White Vetiver I wear quite often! You must get the big hit of Lime ? It's super fresh
Addiction is a problem for a lot of people, keeping up with the Jones syndrome.
DracDoc's video on it was very good too
Y'all have been discussing topics that need to be talked about and discussed. I'm liking your channel more and more lately. Thank you for bringing this up. I'm beginning to look at myself now about this.
Well done, you two; this is one of my favorite Frag Chat episodes. I've been collecting for more than ten years, and reducing that collection is my current goal. I am guilty of excessive buying periodically, especially when discontinued, preformulated or limited edition fragrances become available. However, I can afford it, as I spent many years living frugally in order to save money. But the excessive buying makes me uncomfortable and the collection has become overwhelming (for me), so yes, it is addictive behavior of some sort. "No Buy" doesn't work for me, as it leads to binge buying. Now I allow myself a "Slow Buy" instead. And a new bottle doesn't come in unless an old bottle goes out. I realized that my love of research is what drives the buying. So now I just research the shit out of everything, put the fragrance in the online cart if I must and then forget about it.
Thanks Taffy. Great comment.
Fragrance addiction is slowly acquiring 8 Aventus clone cheapies, when you could have just saved a wee bit more and bought a bottle of the real damn thing.
I always laugh at those people lol
I took a massive break from buying fragrances and got back into my other hobby with RC related things . It got to the point where you don't have much space left over for more bottles I had to step back and take a look at my collection and tell myself off like what the hell are you doing . Bottom note made the best sense about it saying a 100ml bottle maybe you spray 3 or 4 sprays a day that bottle will last more than a year doing that and then you won't even wear the same smell so you use something else and you end up with bottles lasting a few years . And buying backup bottles is the worst which is something I've done too then I don't even like it that much later on then I end up with 3 of the same thing that's been sitting in my cupboard for years . I had a co worker tell me just buy another when you finish it because it's not like they will run out you'll always be able to find another bottle for sale again somewhere . Saying all that I purchased another fragrance today after my longest break I got mancera black gold.
Addiction comes from the stimulation of the brain's pleasure centers and how some people have to have that stimulation constantly. Always craving the next "high."
I now have near 100 bottles and sometimes wonder what the hell I was thinking. Thankfully I was able to afford them without too much of a problem. Still, I am gradually cutting back and enjoying what I now own rather than just buying more.
I still plan on adding to my collection, but in a more selective way. Lots of samples and the occasional bottle purchase of a favorite I've craved for awhile.
Good, important topic. Thanks for covering it.
Ive purchased a good 200 fragrances over the past 10 years. Lucky to have been gifted many too. But I only wear about 5-7 favourites consistently. It's a shame that Ive wasted thousands on bottles I literally dont enjoy. Some blind bought, some I convinced myself I liked. I own a bunch of the discontinued hyped fragrances, spending shit loads on them blindly only to never wear them. I now test fragrances for a good year before purchasing or as you guys do, buy samples from Greggieboy86 etc. Small decants, testers are the way to go for sure!
Thanks for addressing this in a truly mature way. I agree in the beginning I was quite a compulsive buyer purchasing things I found at stores that looked fun but without trying them first. I was quite lucky (unlucky?) to have a big disposable income so I would say that was part of my self-enablement.
Over the years I’ve changed my habits considerably and now I only purchase what I’ve tested and take into account what I already own. If I tire of a fragrance, I try to swap it so that’s the extent of my blind “buying” these days. I dare say I haven’t purchased a brand new bottle in over half a year.
As for the psychology behind perfume buying I definitely agree there’s some degree of the fragrance community enabling the crap out of each other. I see some reviewers unbox what seems to be a purchase per day and show off their collections of hardly-used bottles and I have to wonder how bad the addiction/compulsion is to do that.
I have a rather hefty collection, by my own accounts (somewhere around 50 full-size bottles) and I’m completely aware it’s an insane amount of perfume for a normal person to have and I’d love to get myself down to something more reasonable (maybe 30? 20? Girl can dream) and then only buy/swap again when I feel moved emotionally at the sniff of a new perfume.
I will not buy anything the doesn't get used to death, I hate waste, that's my obsession, i try try try again, then buy. Everything mix and match. Reached about 30 frags and will buy another when one is almost finished or find amazing (cheap) deal. Glad to hear your helping your struggling fragies.
Great topic! My guilt starts over 30 bottles, and i'm happy with that amount. i'm all covered, all seasons, all occasions, and i love every single of them. Decants before a bottle is the way to go!
I think avoiding the blind buy has got to be near the top of the list of self-monitoring/control measures.
But being aware of the pitfalls of fragrance purchasing is fundamental.
A good and important topic to discuss.
Always great to see fragrance channels release content that isn't just revolving around pumping out reviews. This, along with your other recent video about how to make a fragrance last longer really adds a different element to your channel. One of the best fragrance reviewers on youtube. Keep up the great stuff man.
I just want to say Smurfy looks fabulous to me in this video, Something about the top and makeup! Cody did a great job and you guys did well, I saw Bottom Notes video also.
Dr. JAC thanks!! ☺️
Used to blind buy fragrances, now I carefully check what I buy (like sampling Gucci Guilty Absolute recently). I can certainly say, first 2-3 years in fragrance community was the worst (around 120 bottles bought). Now I calmed down, knowing that I will never finish all the juices I own. It is very good topic, mr Smelly and it should be covered and reminded. I bought few bottles because of your videos (most were perfect hits, like Gorse, Aqva Amara and Ginepro di Sardegna). It is interesting, because like someone else mentioned in the comment section, in my case too, it comes with wrist watch addiction, which I cured already. Thank you both for this topic. But no matter what, always project! With tips in general, I would say, once you figure out your nose and fav. fragrances, just stick to those notes/types of juice, don't experiment, because at the end you always will come back to your favourites. In my case, I spent a fortune on Andy Tauer fragrances just to know, I only truly love the first purchase (L'Air du Desert Marocain). Always stick with your style, don't be catched by marketing traps.
My advice would be to stop sampling new fragrances and stop searching for next WOW smell. You have to understand that there will always be a fragrance that is better than the previous one. No need to search for next big thing.
If you are not the type of person who searches for next WOW smell and just likes to smell nice, then you definitely don't need a large collection.
Stop and think why you bought a fragrance and start wearing/enjoying them every day.
I apologize for promoting other reviewer, but J-ROYL video on the same topic (i think its called something like "You dont need as many fragrances") would help
Great topic! Thank you! This strange passion...(no good clothes, concerts, travel, books, food...- but perfume - I need to have it! ) This feeling inside of me when I smell something that I like.. I specially enjoy to put them before I got to bed, it's just a pure joy and self love...I don't know.. For me it is not anything about seduction, presentation, compliments, "sexiness" - nothing connected with others.. I want them for my own satisfaction....I love them as much as I love to eat :) Very big problem when trying to have some savings... Greetings from Serbia!
Bojana Petkovic this is how I feel, perfume is like a satisfying and very delectable dessert to savour!
Nicely said! :)
I agree that it is at its worst when you first get going, since you are discovering this whole new world of fragrances that you didn't know existed. You think you are keeping things in check by just going for descents, but you can easily lose sight of how all these £20-£30 decants can add up quickly. Love both your channels, and a really good worthwhile topic to highlight.
Hi, I just start my subscription with you guys and I really love what you just said.
I think one of the best motivation would be the media. To motivate people to be careful, slow down and be more aware. Some like you are doing now. Maybe some of other reviewers could do the same too. Tell people to be aware. I also follow the guy on redolensence and he also tell people to look after your wallet first before making any expenses.
It happened to me before too about that addiction. Sometimes sales on perfumes and fragrances can be good and dangerous also.
But good and you and thank you for your motivation of to be careful.
Greetings from Australia.
I went through a spate of impulse buying bottles recently, but I’ve more recently gotten back to my roots of being a serial sampler... Most of my fragrance budget goes to samples (and decants - if I love a sample, I’ll order a 3ml or 5ml decant of it). I still get the thrill of trying something new, but it also expands my taste and has in turn made me pickier, which then reduces the desire for so many full bottles.
Nice to see you passed 16K. Congrats ✌🏻
A very good discussion. I don't yet have any fragrances, but am interested in getting some. Based on my experience buying, and continuing to buy, fountain pens and ink that I know dont need, I'm trying to avoid just jumping in. I know where that will lead.
I caught the bug last Christmas. In the interim my collection has grown to over 50. I've since slowed down to only buy the ones I really want and at a slower pace. Blind buying is still fun for me. I enjoy a wide array of fragrances and I'm hardly ever disappointed with what I get.
I always loved fragrances , when i was a kid (10 to 15 years) i had "stealed" all of my dad fragrances like Le Male,Boss Bottled,Ck One .
Now im 28 and at last year my collection never was more than 5 fragrances , but then i had start buying more more and more and in a year i have a 30 fragrance collection on a total off 1200€ (no niche) My expensive stuff is Bleu Chanel EDT and EDP , Chanel Allure Homme Sport,Dior Sauvage ETc.
Even today i bought one more fragrance (Hugo Boss in Motion) .
In my head i cant stop buying and seeking new fragrances,this is hard and im just in the beginning.
I have to stop watching youtube reviews,all my fragrances have about 70% of juice.
It is really funny you talk about fragrance addiction. In the wet shaving world, we have the same disease but with shaving gear. In this you can Include After Shave. Looks like your rabbit hole is just beside ours!
Catch phrase: "Let us spray."
Taffy J, that's pretty good. I like it.
Taffy J yes this is good!!
Great video guys. I have spent too much money in aftershaves which have affected my stress level. Sometimes it's difficult to know when to stop and also impulse buyers, like me, tend to waste too much money after impulsive purchases. I have created a list with the top 30 aftershave that I would like to have and I will stick to that list until 2018.
Great video topic guys, fragrance addiction is real and I think sometimes I might have an addictive personality, well actually I know I do and I started buying bottles at first when I started but now just decants, but like u said decants add up also so I definitely started a budget every month (because my wife) lol but it couldn't gotten out of hand if I didn't have someone to check me, so sometimes I think we need that someone to tell us hey you need to slow down or at least pace yourself, the fragrances aren't going anywhere and if they do there will always be a new release, but that's just my two cents from one fragrance head to another, take care.
Nice video. White Vetiver reminds me of Allure Edition Blanche.
Minimalism is the solution to the woes of excessive things. I much rather invest spare money than spend it on the next redundant bottle of scented water. Ask yourself this question: would I buy another bottle if this one was finished? If the answer is 'no,' sell it off. You don't want to be that person with the Roja bottles in the back of your drawer, only to conclude after a couple of years that these are still virtually untouched. A much more healthy hobby than collecting stuff, is investing. Generating passive income through stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrencies gives you the same feeling of collecting. And then some.. Such investments don't fill up space, and are more likely to appreciate than depreciate in the long-term.
Wholeheartedly agree with "collecting money" as a hobby. I tell younger people all the time to save their money, invest, as time is on their side for their money to grow. Pay yourself first by saving. If there is extra money left over, then by all means, buy some perfume. But not at the cost of your future retirement and other goals.
hey papa smurf and smurfette :-)
great video
just wanted to ask an indirectly related ques
all you frag reviewers seem to be commenting on each others vids - so is that part of your addiction
seeing what other reviewrs are talking about and recommending
also i presume you have a "real" job
how do you find time to upload all this stuff and THEN also watch other frag videos
To me I need to have the full presentation to get the complete experience out of a fragrance, so I would sell decants but not buy them. Samples however is a different matter. I only blind bought things around 35€ and under and Straight to Heaven Extreme because I liked the regular but (fortunately correctly) assumed the Extreme version would suit me even better. I will buy a sample first in the future, though.
I think being obsessed with something is okay and as long as you have an emergency fund you do not touch and do not overspend you are fine. Also being unable to let go of fragrances you do not wear or fallen out of love with is a bad sign. I think fragrance addiction is a form of shopping addiction, sometimes coupled with a compulsion to hoard. The rush of spending money and acquiring new things is what gives us a rush of reward hormones. There also appears to be a serious fear of missing out in people that always pick up the newest releases. That is why there always has to be something new and possibly more expensive to increase the dosage of reward hormones.
Some people - like myself - just tend to get obsessed over their interests. This can have good sides like success in a competitive hobby or a wide knowledge one can try and turn a profit with, like some fragrance vloggers do, I assume. But this also can destroy someone when they do not know when to cut back.
I pulled through with the one month purchase moratorium and even went an additional week. It made me re-evaluate my wantslist and has me now only left with ones I really want. I picked up Spiritueuse Double Vanille today, a fragrance I wanted for 9 months. Basically I could have picked it up earlier but I constantly bought other things that were on sale and I realized that while I saved money on nice things it kept pushing the ones I really really wanted back further and further. I have a budget set for perfume as part of my monthly budget that I track with an app. Sometimes I stretch it, but mostly I then recuperate over the next month
I do agree with the travel-sizes but as I said, I want the full presentation. I buy the smallest possible size unless the prize is similar or very close to the prize of a larger size. There is no way I go through 100ml in a reasonable time unless I marinate myself in the juice.
Great to have u guys cover a natural line, most of my focus is on natural these days. Not sure these are available in the US? As far as addiction goes..yeah...I'm jones-ing just to try this line, so I get it. Very easy to get addicted, since it's a sensory experience.
VERY INTERESTING VIDEOS ABOUT BUYING PERFUMES. THIS ENTERTAINED ME ALOT I LOVE THE CONTENT AND DIFFERENT VIDEOS ABOUT FRAGRANCE.
In terms of the quick blind buy on fragrance groups. I've done that myself. My reasoning is, I would like to get a sample 1st but if I wait, get the sample and love it, the person selling the fragrance might have sold it already and it's usually for a price far under retail. I felt like waiting would cause me to miss the sale and then have to search for it elsewhere and pay a greater price in the long run. Not a smart way of thinking/reasoning I know, but one nonetheless. Luckily I have not had a let down with my fragrance group blind buys. My cheapie tjmaxx, ross blind buys on the other hand, LOL got a full shelf of those....Great vid as always!
That is a fear of missing out but in all honesty good prices will come again in the future. You just have to wait and check them regularly. If you got a fragrance that you in the end do not like for 100 instead of 200 and have to sell it for 70 you lost 30 dollars. The person selling it at that great price probably did the same stupid blind buy you are about to commit, hence why he has to sell it at such a cheap price. And after all we also tend to rationalize irrational behavior later on, so you probably are fluffing up a blind buy you do not like that much because admitting you messed up would make you look stupid to yourself.
I'm addicted to buying samples especially the super expensive brands such as Roja Parfum and Xerjoff...I just can't seem to find my signature fragrance.
I think in some ways a fragrance compulsion is closer to a gambling addiction than other hobbies. For most collectibles you “see” what you are buying before you spend the money. With fragrance-there is a bit of a high that comes with the gamble of a successful blind buy where the bulk of the value is in the smell.
All it took for me to get over my fragrance addiction, was the night hurricane harvey swept through my city and a cop forced me out of my apartment saying it would flood completely and I had 5 minutes to grab what ever I needed and only managed to grab and fit 6 fragrances out of my collection. Lol talk about actually having a certain amount of fragrances for life experience. Luckily my apartment wasn't affected, but I'll never forget for the whole time I was away i thought " all that wasted money and this is all i really needed"
I have around 80 bottles in my collection and I consider myself an addict. I say this because I honestly think anybody can live quite happily with no more than a dozen. I started to realize things were getting out of hand when I suddenly noticed I had more bottles than underpants and socks put together. My main problem is that I live in Panama and we have a huge duty free zone, second largest in the world after Hong Kong, absolutely loaded with fragance. My tendency is picking up discontinued fragances on the cheap. I it's discontinued or a special edition I can't help myself. Last one was Boss Bottled Oud, that I didn't even like so much. I read it was no longer in production and I bought it. I do set limits though: I do not buy any niche no matter how good it smells. I don't give shits or fucks about Aventus or whatever batch it came from. Still though, I am going to, like you said, simply enjoy my collection.
I am on 7th bottle... I pretty much only buy from resellers with a big discount and only ones I like but still... That's money. It makes me feel better but at a cost.
I am very new to Fragcomm, i have bought in the past 6 months maybe about 15 bottles, 4 of them were retail but not all were designer, many are clones that I bought for maybe 15-40 bucks. My most expensive bottle atm is a 200mL of Dior Sauvage EDT that I bought for 150. Least expensive is a 1 Mill Clone (AB Millionaire that smells exactly the same) for 13 dollars.
I have been getting decants/samples more because I had blind bought most of my bottles and for the most part I like them all although I don't wear them all.
I'm not actually addicted to Fragrances but I do think I am ADDICTEDto the COMPLIMENTS/ATTENTION! that comes with some fragrances and even now ppl at work are starting to notice that I usually have some nice scents going on and I have gotten a fair amount of attention/compliments and i feel like my overall image at work is a lot different now to be flat out honest I feel like people look at me differently I feel like I always got respect but sometimes that bad type of respect where i was just unapproachable because maybe my aura/persona was sometimes intense, not mean or mad just at a stand still i think i give off a aura that ppl get intimidated by and flat out ppl didn't like talking to me.
I got into Fragrance because I saw how new wardrobe helped in some regards and I figured maybe not smelling like Axe body spray or any men's spray deodorant would be a step in the right direction. Bought my first 4-5 in 1 month (mostly cheap clones cept for the Sauvage EDP i bought which was my first big purchase) and almost instantly just like that my approachability really skyrocketed thanks to scents like Sauvage EDP and also EDT, 1 Million Lucky Dunhil Icon Racing.
I look for new fragrances now through scentbird or clone houses like Dua or Alexandria (not touching Armaf anymore) but also if there are any big buys i want i make sure to check out luckyscent first and try and get a decant of it. If a reviewer says something that sounds appealing i look hard for decants/clones first then i check my local stores NOT to buy but to see if they have samples then i kinda decide if i can fit it into my rotation.
I look for things that are approachable and versatile but not the same as something else I own. I want to constantly give ppl a reason to feel at ease around me because i'm a nice fun guy, just my resting face is meh. Scents have helped a lot with that and also just being a conversation starter tbh, any woman i want to talk to I can just pull a JeremyFragrance and ask her what she thinks about my fragrance and just ask questions and yeah it's a nice icebreaker imo.
Clone Houses are probably my new thing since I could buy (in some cases) 5-6 items that may vary in quality for sure but they together cost as much as 1 designer bottle (Retail).
I don't want 100 frags, I was 20-30 that are versatile and have great performance that I like but ppl also like; I use fragrance to welcome ppl into my "Zone" or Bubble / Area, to make myself more approachable and to help with friendliness in general as well as conversation. I don't think having 100+ would do well for me because I want ppl to feel a certain way when they smell a certain scent, i want them to associate certain scents with me also but always in a welcoming way.
So I can't really do Oud based frags or some of the very masculine scents because flat out they can offend ppl; even some things that are sandalwood (Looking at CK Escape which is a great cheapy 18bucks online btw that NOBODY wears even when it was new) but very synthetic strong sandalwood can just really have a bad effect indoors.
Hopefully I'm not addicted, I feel like I'm just in the process of learning what I like and what works for me and what other ppl like so I have maybe 10 decants and 15 bottles (something like that) but i would be lying if i said i didn't talk myself into dropping almost my last 100 bucks on a frag (or multiple frags in the same purchase)
Fantastic vid as always. Frag addition is simply a shopping addiction or its proper name oniomania, like you said someone with this will over spend on what ever they like, watches, clothes ( the main one ) pies, lol. keep smelling good you two.
Thanks very much my friend. Still enjoy watching your videos.
Great topic! 👍🏼
The Abel Fragrances are great. Just got myself the discovery set and I like them all.
I don't think people think that their taste in fragrances will change especially with designers. But I set a monthly budget for myself and if I go over I won't by anything the next month or I'll sell something to stay in budget. Never touch my savings, I actually put my money in a trust that has a monthly limit I can withdrawal. I got rid of most of my designers and collect 30ml decants. It looks really cool the way I keep them in cases. I only buy full bottles that I love. Plus I'll buy fragrances in certain genres I like instead of buying all over the place. Exotic Scents had a good video. My other hobbies are even more expensive, I'm also an audiophile so I have to do one at a time and enjoy it. Instead of just buying
Yep travel sizes good idea. Currently have two 10 ml frederic malles in my basket.... desperately not trying to pull the trigger just yet- still £80! Love cobalt amber by Abel. Also almost bought abel red santal in Anthropologie for 12.95!!!!! But checked fragrantica and was put off by the clove notes.... also it was packaged up so would have been a blind buy which im trying to stop! 🙄
As for fragrance addiction, I thought Mr. Smelly addressed this nicely in his video from a few years ago "Own 4 Fragrances and Smell Great for Life". Probably there is not an 'End Game' but a little discipline goes a long way. Midnight in Paris for £25? Congratulations!
Thanks Dixie .
Well said ! D+C , Brilliant ~
Next time , Point of redundant purchase with smart budget, pls
Fragrance addiction? Ami comes to mind - ruclips.net/video/qcn-yBqLWUY/видео.html 5 part series of her collection blew my mind.
I now have limits for myself. No fragrances this summer. At all. Even when I shopped for a gift for Mom's birthday, I didn't buy a perfume, even though I had the previous 5 or 6 years or so. The only frag that I will allow myself to buy for the remainder of this year will be TF ombre leather when it hits the stores over here in late September. That's it. I already have 2 wine coolers full of the stuff.
Hi Smelly, am trying to track down A*men the original batch? Any ideas of chemists in the UK that might have the vintage stuff before the reformulations? Much obliged for the help😀👍
Lovely discussion! Thank you for your balanced and thoughtful input as always! For me, I have a small cabinet and when it’s full, it’s full. Also, when I feel a desire to get a new frag, I force myself to wear one of mine that I haven’t worn in a long time. If I still want it, I swap. One last thing that helps me, I think about what occasion I would wear it at and if I already have an option or two at home, I pass.
Interesting thoughts! I guess it dosen't always have to be 100ml bottle or more! Sometimes smaller sizes are just as fine if you use sensibly lol. I went through a stage where I needed both sizes in my collection of same fragrance! 😂
I still love fragrances but sadly my passion for this hobby has faded quite a bit in the past year or so. I still stay current with new releases and such but I haven’t bought a new fragrance since November of last year. I came to the realization that my collection was getting too big and that I should just enjoy the fragrances I already have. If I had kept buying fragrances at the rate I was buying them at the peak of my fragrance addiction I probably could have fully funded a Roth IRA for an entire year or gone on a really nice exotic vacation. When you think about it that way it just isn’t worth it anymore.
Hey Dan, have you had the chance to smell Dolce and Gabbana The One Mysterious Night? They don't have it in the states yet, but I noticed they have it at John Lewis in the UK. Just wondering your opinion on it... thanks!
“Citrussy elements”
Can we have a broader description please
Thankfully I don’t have an addictive personality but from seeing some Facebook members and what they have and what they are trying to sell makes me thankful I don’t because I can see how it can be a problem. I have two niche bottles on order then hopefully I have everything I need. Too those who are aware they have a problem as with all addictions you can get help.
Xerjoff now offers 30ml bottles and that helps alot, buying smaller amounts.
That’s great I didn’t know they did 30ml sizes!
Never thought I would get this addiction. Blind buying when just made redundant . Still, its quite a buzz :)
Great vid as usual.
The key is to set yourself a limit and in that limit have a fragrance for all occasions.
One think I find my self thinking is that if I like a scent, I want to own it. But I try to remind myself that I don’t need to own everything I enjoy. The same way I don’t eat everything I enjoy because a body can’t handle that much food. Or if I like art, I’m not going to start filling my walls with every piece I like. There’s not that much room on the walls, and it would look ridiculous. I have a lot of perfumes, but I would like to get to a place where I use them up and keep only the ones I love best, having something for each occasion.
Don;t wear fragrances every day . There need to be fragrance break days in a week to avoid olfactory fatigue. in this way you need fewer fragrances and you will appreciate them more when you wear them.
Please do top vegan/organic/natural essential oils fragrances for men. They are non-toxic and don't cause cancer. thank you
I am guilty, as charged. When I get home from work, I have a few beers and sometimes watch videos. I run across something, search it, and if it sounds good, I order it (if it's reasonably priced). I now have around 200 of which about 15 are niche. Exciting to me, but to others I have a problem. Still pay my bills:).
I agree that there is such a thing a thing as fragrance addiction as well as wanting to have the new thing, and I’ll give an example a few months ago a store local to me got in tom ford f****** fabulous at their tf concession and I happened to be at the counter when they got the delivery I didn’t know they were getting it. Without thinking after he opened the box and said what he had I was handling over my debit card buying 1 at £210 a bottle. I ve got enough aventus to last me years and up until recently I was buying at least 4 bottles a month chasing the perfect compliment getter, problem with me is I’ll watch the compliment getter/top sexy fragrances videos see what the top 3-5 are then go buy them.... now I am at the point that I don’t really care if someone likes it as long as I do. So I ve stopped buying completely as there’s more to life only when I run out I’ll buy something probably cheap like zara
I have no idea why compliments another person claims they got, the objectively worst metric to chose a fragrance for, has somehow become the selling point for a lot of people. Just like everyone seems to be hellbent on having nuclear sillage and longevity instead of just wanting a good fragrance they themselves enjoy. I get no compliments on ANY fragrance because I am a rather solitary person who has an above average personal space and is not too fond of touching/hugging others. To me choosing a fragrance for it's compliment factor seems patently ridiculous. It is like ordering food to take pictures and get the most instagram likes, instead of getting what I enjoy to eat.
I think most compliments those people get are from their spouses, family and colleagues, not from sexy chicks or handsome hunks, like the seemingly hormonedriven adolescent audience of such compliment-getter toplists seems to think. And the compliment producing fragrances often are the most mass appealing lowest common denominator juices that all smell inoffensive and boring as hell. It is like pop music. It does not offend anyone but it is usually interchangeable vapid crap.
Somehow I think this video was made for you (and me ofc)
For the average person with a budget that doesn't allow for serious collection, I think going over 5-10 fragrances that you love 100% is absurd. If you don't absolutely love wearing something, you shouldn't own it.
I collect shoes, watches, fragrances, and guns. Soooo my life is tough. Never ever ever enough money to support my madness!! What truly bothers me are the things I DON'T buy. Which is so much it makes my head spin. Maybe that makes the ones I do go in on more special though.
@@Kenshin564 shoot myself? Nah, that's for insecure fox news watchers like yourself :)
That was a pun... Maybe I messed it up because English is not my native language or the delivery was horrible... shoes for walking, watches for knowing the time and guns/fragrances to shoot... I mean mr smelly even dubs gun sounds over his videos when he presses the sprayer... I guess it was a bad joke, if I have to explain it :-/ I would never advocate for anyone to shoot her-/himself with anything but a nice fragrance mist. Apologies if it came across wrong and/or the pun does not work as I thought it would.
@@Kenshin564 then I sincerely apologize my good sir, cheers. :)
Great video guys great subject. Don't think I have an addiction but I do have over 40 bottles some Niche some designer my wife does get a little upset because I do have all of these different fragrances but at least I don't smell the same every day I like variety. What I tell her the money comes out of my own paycheck all my bills are paid and if I have 500 at the end of the month and I want to get something I get it. My second headache would turn around and spend her last dollar on a video and not have any money for food that's going a little too far. I believe in sampling first getting samples and then going from there pick what you want to purchase. I've had some blind buys come out really well some that I did not like my son-in-law comes up to me and asks for a refill of something and I open up the closet and tell him to take a pic and I'll show him what section he can get out of and everything that I don't like he likes so it's always worked out. My rule of thumb is smell test then by if you really like it and if your partner likes it.
I love these videos...sips cuppa. Thank you both!
Nothing here is as important as Bois de Portugal, which needs to be continually pushed. A close second is Colonia Essenza, which has not been pushed in 2.5 days
Well spoken.. I agree with you
Gotta tell ya you guys make a cute couple
For your catchphrase, how about "2 heads are better than 1, and we'll leave it there, thanks for chatting" or "2 heads are better than 1, but the fragrance chat has just begun, tell us what you think in the comments below". 2nd one's a bit Dr. Seuss-y
Shit your reading my life out, the mrs says I smell like a millionaire but dress like a farmer
5 mins in, smurfy nailed me :) and no I'm Skint
Thanks Dave!
I live in a country (Colombia)where you can not buy a niche frag per se and so i am limited to designers that i am not interested in. I get general shipments from the states roughly every 3-4 times a year on a variety of items. The VAT here is roughly 30% if being honest adding to costs so if i were to get decant samples there may not be a chance that anything would be special and i would probably never see a full bottle haha. Seriously though i blind bought and i would say 2 out 3 were decent but still that can be a waste of money. I have to be more reliant on reviewers (BAD) and or just go cold turkey.
ven a comprar fragancias a Panama...
Easy way to help curb or stop addiction is removing sites from phone or computer.
I think i do have this 😣
Simples if you have more than 50..... You dont need anymore
I dont , i only buy a fragrance i really love and sell some that i fell out of love before buying a new one. I keep my bottles at or around 100 . I Stopped buying designers because they smell too similiar
Not really! Lots of designers are Gem! And sometime better than niche who are just money pit! Keep your money in your wallet and your nose WILD OPEN!!
@@14me I like Hermes ,cartier , they release good fragrances but dior and chanel lately became crap . Dior Sauvage is garbage, acqua dio gio and code profume is garbage . I do like some Tom Ford private line fragrances . I adore Ormonde Jayne and Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier . Problem with designer is thtlat everythibg smells way too feminine , or loaded with Ambroxan and fake wood or with crappy acquatic notes . I have no seen any designer using Tulu balm , myrrh , peru balm
.i like most L'artisan and Diptique is pretty much killing all designer brands when it comes to quality and smell
M7 YSL, Eau Sauvagne Parfum and Other had Myrrh, Tom Ford Velvert Orchid had peru balm...so always some Gem if you look at it just name few.
@@14me i got M7 ans Eau Sauvage those are nice , but im talking about everything released after 2013 smells similiar . In 2018 only one release came out that i liked and it was Ombre leather problem with M7 and Eau Sauvage Parfume that you can find them in a regular store , even sephora doesnt carry them .Also everything is a flanker anymore . 1 million prive , Lhomme bleu , sauvage perfume , bleu de chanel parfume and other endless flankers just foes not interest me . Designers are affraid to release anything grounbreaking like Fahrenheit ,M7 , Jazz , Gucci pour homme 2 anymore
@@dieselboy77 Good taste... Ombré Leather is my birthday gift from myself. Loll
But you are right!
people get hypnotized by the pretty bottles and sniffing from top notes, honestly wear what YOU love and have a minimal collection, personally i own only 10 and rotate around 3 every other day. there’s no reason to buy buy buy. more to life than this silly hobby
Certainly do, love it
Ha ha thanks Rich.
All addiction is ocd
Instead of buying botles get a scent bird subscription services are your friends
I need therapy
Frontline will help with the fleas 👍 Your welcome 😉
I've certainly felt the itch to by bottles just to by them, but I've found out I'm not really a collector, more of a user. My collection is at an embarrassing 15 ish bottles, but it's still hard to justify buying another freshy fx.