We all met people who objected to any perfumes (sometimes, at the same time, not minding heavily scented detergents or body products). Their opinion doesn’t matter for the purpose of this SQ. I’m asking about people who don’t have issues with perfumes in general but didn’t like some particular perfume(s) you wore.
Saturday Question #199:
Have You Ever Been Told That Someone Didn’t Like Your Perfume?
What perfumes were those? Who didn’t like them (and why, if you know)? Have you changed your behavior based on that “feedback”?
My Answer
About 8 years ago, I did a post [N]SFW Perfumes, in which I told stories about perfumes that several of my co-workers disliked (since I wore a different perfume every day, I in advance gave them permission to let me know if any perfume would bother them, so that I could modify my office perfume wardrobe). The “offenders” mentioned in that post (I mean perfumes, not co-workers) were: Tom Ford Amber Absolute, Jo Malone‘s Sweet Milk, Guerlain Encens Mythique d’Orient and Designer Shaik Chic Shaik No 30. Just a couple of my current readers were around back then, so if you’re curious to read about grievances against these beautiful (in my opinion) perfumes, just follow the link.
A couple more instances of my perfume choice critique came also from co-workers. On an imaginary timeline, one happened before and the second one – after the events described in the above-mentioned post. One co-worker called my Guerlain Champs Elysees a “bug spray” (it was a private sniffing session, not while I was wearing it, but as I described in the linked post, it scarred me for years). Another co-worker (well, actually, a manager) asked me not to wear Mona di Orio Vanille because the scent reminded him of one of his elderly relative (an “old lady” scent?!), and those memories weren’t happy ones.
In all the cases, following my promise, I didn’t repeat wearing those perfumes to the office as long as the person who expressed their displeasure with them was there. Luckily for me, I had some choices.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
HA! yes.
Jin is ferocious in his disdain of some of my perfumes. It happened quite often last year because I was testing so much new stuff.
He also has varying rates of love for a variety of fragrances and I need to make sure he doesn’t smell me wearing them for the first few minutes. Something top notes really grinds his gears.
I’ve also been told that some of my fragrances are too feminine, old fashioned, smell like poo and are noxious by various friends. These I take as compliments.
Portia xx
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Funny :)
Luckily for me, my vSO doesn’t mind any of my perfumes (at least none of those that I own).
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YAY! That’s a big win Undina.
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Hmm… I have told people in shared offices, either directly or indirectly, that I didn’t like their perfume, but I don’t recall ever being on the receiving end. There was one time I was wearing strangelove meltmyheart (to me, a gorgeous chocolate and orris) and sitting alone in a large conference room. After about 10 minutes, my boss joined me and remarked that the room smelled like body odor. I didn’t dare ask her if it might be my perfume!
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Ha! I’m almost sure it was! I don’t remember which strangelove perfume I tried, but I thought it was vile. I could not believe anyone could love it (but I know that they do).
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For me that was silencethesea – super aquatic and animalic, and lasted on my clothes even after washing. I don’t really detect the oud or anything sharp in meltmyheart, and it’s probably the most approachable of them all for that reason.
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I think my husband is too nice to tell me he hates a perfume that I wear. Actually, his nose is his least sensitive sense (his hearing is amazing!) so I’m not always sure he notices. My only regular job since discovering perfume was as a preschool teacher, when I was careful to tread lightly. Since then I spray much more generously but as a sports photographer working mostly outdoors, no one seems to notice or care about my scent. Thankfully!
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I love the Mona di Orio Vanille comment, Undina. I have basically worn a different fragrance for each day of the year and have never received one single complaint. As a matter of fact, some of my coworkers have actually made a habit of giving me a hug just to experience whatever I’m wearing that day, Furthermore, they have even asked what I’m wearing, or asked for a sample of what I’m wearing because they loved it so much. I feel lucky to be perfectly honest.
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The only incident that comes to mind happened many years ago, in Bali. We were living in Asia and were at a company event. I was having a real love affair with Clinique Aromatics at the time, and ok, I admit it did not mix well with heat and humidity. I was at a pre-dinner mixer and ended up talking to this little weasel of a man, that proceeded to tell me, “woo-e! Someone sure does smell terrible. Somebody sure is wearing WAY too much perfume! Gee, I might have to go be sick! ‘ And the whole time he was looking at me with this evil little grin, knowing I was the offending party. I am not saying he was entirely wrong,but his delivery was WAY over the top. As you can maybe tell, I still have issues twenty years later! But suffice it to say, I only wear Clinique Aromatics in cold weather now, which helps to blunt it’s nucleur reach. And Undina, I can’t believe someone told you not to wear a perfume because it reminded them of an old relative! But I guess you did ask for input. Still !
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cynthia3403, out of all the comments here yours is the one that seems to me to hurt the most. That guy sound like a little troll to me, and probably always enjoys wiping the smile off other people’s faces. Aromatics is a beautiful fragrance, and I hope you still wear it.
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Thanks Carole! Troll is the perfect descriptor of how I remember him. Small little man (I’m tall) with a twisted mean face. You’re right. Unfortunately some people get their jollies by raining on other’s parade. Today if he’d said that there would have been a totally different outcome…I’m older and wiser. :) I was raised with the adage, “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all,” and it usually still works for me. And yes, I still love the perfume. It brings back such good memories of being young in the 80’s when perfumes HAD to be strong to be good!
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I remember a colleague & I were working in one of the Consultant’s office as he was on leave. He turned up like a flipping genie & told us it smelt like a tart’s bedroom from half way down the corridor! She was wearing Champs Elysees & I was in Dune.
DH claims all my citrus chypres smell like urinal cake.
I still wear Dune & all my chypre beauties!
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My boyfriend is no lover of perfumes in general, but some are more tolerable than others. At work a coworker commented on my Aromatics Elixir, that it reminded her of her psychotherapist, who wore this a lot. Thankfully its not a bad memory for her, so i can continue to wear it…
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Ugggh. I just get told by my husband that I smell like a grandma. And there’s too many perfumes to list where that comment has come from. And to me, the only perfume that I complain that I don’t like when he wears it is Tiesenddu by Frassai. It’s OK when it’s lightly sprayed, but he always piles it on and it just makes me gag…and now I just don’t like it at all. Life is hard :)
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Yesterday my husband told me he didn’t like Cadjmere and found it too sweet. He is usually very tolerant about my perfumes (even the animalic ones, leathers, incense and chypres). I wear all my fragrances around the house. Years ago a coworker told me the office smelled of turned coca cola. I think it was my Thé Noir 29. I always thought I wouldn’t mind any comments and wear my fragrances (but not in the office). But I always remembered this remark and I find myself not reaching for it as much as I used to.
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My husband doesn’t like AG Petite Cherie and I need to spray Tauer scents Le Maroc pour Elle and Lys du Désert lightly to avoid comments. Never had a complaint at work, only compliments.
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In this province there is a concerted effort to enforce the “no scents is good sense’ rule, and I completely disagree with it. Until they get industrial pollution under control and limit the use of laundry musk and cigarette smoke I refuse to comply. I see this as a mysoginist gesture, too.
The only time I received a perfume compliment followed by a perfume complaint was on the same day. I had a truly hideous job in a really abusive place, where ambulances arrived every few months to treat people for heart attack and stroke ( for real). The atmosphere was super tense. Anyway, one woman I worked with told me I smelled so good-like beautiful quality French perfume. Then later that same day a person I thought I was on friendly terms with asked me to stop wearing it-she had an asthma attack because of me. This woman used to smoke every hour in her van with the windows up-you could see smoke swirling around her in the van. When she was finished she’d use an orange spray to mask the smell of smoke, and the effect was certainly….unique and pungent. I took it with a grain of salt and never wore it to that work place again. I only worked there for a year and I’m so glad I never had to work under those circumstances again.
Oh and what was the scent? Jardin sur le Nil :) Thanks for the great Saturday question, Undina, and hope everyone has a good week,
Carole
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WOW! What a strange perfume to be making anti remarks about. People are funny, aren’t they?
Portia xx
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That’s crazy. Le Jardin sur le Nil is one of the most inoffensive scents I own.
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So discounting those whom I had already spoken about in these here parts and other perfume blogs, I have never gotten a complaint. On the other hand, and I think I had mentioned this before but it bears repeating, a Coach boutique manager was putting on hand lotion and I smelled the foulest fishy stench. I wasn’t necessarily sure where it was coming from but the closer I got to the manager, the worse the smell. I finally mentioned to the manager that I believe her hand lotion smelled like rotten fish (I don’t mince my words) and she was shocked, shocked I tell you. She kept smelling her hands and said they smelled normal to her. I ended up leaving the store because I couldn’t stand it!
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I had a rude coworker ask me why I was wearing a man’s cologne when I was wearing Heeley’s Iris de Nuit. It’s unisex, but not a typical masculine type scent. Oh well, she doesn’t like anything, so I discounted it. All the other comments I have received on my fragrances have been complimentary.
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I feel sure this must have happened to me at some point, but I can’t recall a specific instance. Ex-Mr Bonkers was against perfume as a category, but his mother might have said she did or didn’t like certain scents I wore. Then as I haven’t worked in an office for donkey’s years I can’t think of any stories involving colleagues.
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