Barrister and Mann

Good advice Will. What is it with fragrance? It’s so subjective that I sometimes wonder if all humans really are the same species. I do not envy anyone trying to blend fragrances for popular consumption.

I don't think it's that we necessarily smell different things, but how we describe the perception. Then of course there may be generational differences in what we think smells great. I simply abhor & detest these newer "metrosexual" male scents that young dudes like so much. As an example, I wouldn't spray a decaying corpse with Creed Aventus or any of its clones.  

Hilarious. Was that you that described (I can’t remember the product) as the bottom of an old lady’s handbag or cologne for a corpse?

I think apart from preferences and descriptions, we often do perceive the same thing differently. I know my wife and I do and I can say this from objective experience. I recounted earlier on another thread about having stopped by a fragrance counter so my wife could get gift ideas for me. I sniffed several fragrances and brought home some scent cards (or whatever you call those pieces of stuff paper sprayed with fragrance) so I could sniff them over several days to see what I liked. Perception changes over time even short time. There was one sample that smelled like nothing to me like it had completely faded so I asked my wife to sniff it to see what she thought. She recoiled because it was so strong. I found that interesting. Obviously I didn’t select that one. I’m guessing it must be possible to be “blind” to certain scent notes the same way you can go deaf in certain sound frequencies. I must have more than the normal complement of bay rum receptors.

 
Hilarious. Was that you that described (I can’t remember the product) as the bottom of an old lady’s handbag or cologne for a corpse?

Yes, Tabac smells like an old woman's purse. 

 
Hilarious. Was that you that described (I can’t remember the product) as the bottom of an old lady’s handbag or cologne for a corpse?

Yes, Tabac smells like an old woman's purse. 

Maybe to some people but I think it was Expec. I’ll dig up the post. Tabac is too masculine smelling for most people.

Good advice Will. What is it with fragrance? It’s so subjective that I sometimes wonder if all humans really are the same species. I do not envy anyone trying to blend fragrances for popular consumption.

I don't think it's that we necessarily smell different things, but how we describe the perception. Then of course there may be generational differences in what we think smells great. I simply abhor & detest these newer "metrosexual" male scents that young dudes like so much. As an example, I wouldn't spray a decaying corpse with Creed Aventus or any of its clones.  

Take your pick excessive shopping, shave set up pictures, thoughts on how Lavender or Rose make you feel all the while stating how masculine you like things I'm sure a few so called Metrosexuals look in here with a raised eyebrow or two.

Like what you like post what you enjoy. For the most part I don't think people here are full on fragrance lover which is certainly fine Will on the other hand probably is and just a guess would love to put our some gender bender or full on female scented soaps if there was a market.

Good advice Will. What is it with fragrance? It’s so subjective that I sometimes wonder if all humans really are the same species. I do not envy anyone trying to blend fragrances for popular consumption.

I don't think it's that we necessarily smell different things, but how we describe the perception. Then of course there may be generational differences in what we think smells great. I simply abhor & detest these newer "metrosexual" male scents that young dudes like so much. As an example, I wouldn't spray a decaying corpse with Creed Aventus or any of its clones.  

Take your pick excessive shopping, shave set up pictures, thoughts on how Lavender or Rose make you feel all the while stating how masculine you like things I'm sure a few so called Metrosexuals look in here with a raised eyebrow or two.  

Like what you like post what you enjoy.  For the most part I don't think people here are full on fragrance lover which is certainly fine  Will on the other hand probably is and just a guess would love to put our some gender bender or full on female scented soaps if there was a market.

Amen brother

I have new samples of Rhapsody and also Red Letter Day in front of me and the following is merely my opinion and nothing more on smelling these unlathered. 
Rhapsody to my nose smells little like its description:

... Because using only our pear blossom accord made the fragrance rather heavy, we decided to lighten it with the scents of apple and cherry blossoms, incorporating all three accords into a base of lemon, orange, orange flower, rose, bay, thyme, sandalwood, patchouli, musk, lavender, and vanilla. The result was a clean, sweet, citrusy scent with a distinctly floral cast...

I get a sweeter version of their previous Mélange with a lot of background melding in. It ends up a "spice bomb" ultimately. That's not a bad thing if you like that vein. 

Red Letter Day surprised me since it was concocted with buyers' input. I was thinking of the old adage that a camel was the result of a horse designed by a committee. 
This is a very interesting scent. 

Their description:

... RLD is crisp and clean, with a touch of creaminess from the sandalwood laid over the base vanilla character. The tangy zest of bergamot and a touch of bitter leather round out the design...

I get all of this to be certain and damned if it doesn't work and work well!! Very different. 

Both of these, as well as Mélange, take me back to the discod. Phoenix & Beau Sanskrit. 

https://www.phoenixandbeau.uk/products/s...aving-soap

I do watch some YouTube videos randomly and one thing I have noticed is that the YouTuber hardly talks about the scent in detail. They would just sniff the puck and share their initial thoughts but nothing in detail.

I would rather wish if we can somehow get some of these fragrance reviewers addicted to wet shaving and benefit from their impressions on the scent profile or even if some of the YouTubers may take cue from the thread and do some research before airing a video.

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I do watch some YouTube videos randomly and one thing I have noticed is that the YouTuber hardly talks about the scent in detail. They would just sniff the puck and share their initial thoughts but nothing in detail.

I would rather wish if we can somehow get some of these  fragrance reviewers addicted to wet shaving and benefit from their impressions on the scent profile or even if some of the YouTubers may take cue from the thread and do some research before airing a video.

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I second this even if scent is subjective. Most of us already know whether the soap base is any good or not and seriously, the range of soap bases in the top tier ranges from excellent to really excellent. Not so with scent.

I do watch some YouTube videos randomly and one thing I have noticed is that the YouTuber hardly talks about the scent in detail. They would just sniff the puck and share their initial thoughts but nothing in detail.

I would rather wish if we can somehow get some of these  fragrance reviewers addicted to wet shaving and benefit from their impressions on the scent profile or even if some of the YouTubers may take cue from the thread and do some research before airing a video.

Sent from my V2040 using Tapatalk

I second this even if scent is subjective. Most of us already know whether the soap base is any good or not and seriously, the range of soap bases in the top tier ranges from excellent to really excellent. Not so with scent.

Sorry to differ but prefer to rely on personal perspective rather than experts in such subjective matters.

Professional experience has demonstrated time and again that expert consensus in subjective matters of taste can end in a costly road to hell from cruise ship foyers to hotel grand halls to home architecture. Have witnessed an endless parade of costly, failed expert consensus and now the revival of 70s fashion...really??!!

On matters of taste, posit providing the populace a classic educational foundation then allowing them to decide what works for them. As is often stated of elite leadership, we would be far better served randomly selecting names from the general population than relying upon the elite educational screens currently failing us; minimally those selected randomly would at least have an understanding of the peoples' perspectives.