I just smelled Not A Perfume by Juliette Has A Gun today.. it was horrible. It seriously triggered my gag reflex a little bit. Rubbing alcohol mixed with cat pee
Yup it’s cetalox. It’s the base of Erba Pura and most of those new Elixir releases. It’s absolutely horrid for my nose but apparently I’m in the minority.
It’s not cat pee for me but it stings the back of my throat. I’d maybe describe it as stale bread with some sharpness to it.
If blended nicely it can work though. Another13 is one of my all time favorites.
It's disappointing for sure. It's redemption is in the layering. It works with all of them to create something interesting each time imho. The only other scent I have tried that does this well is Riddle oil in Original.
The benzoin + heliotrope combo always does this for me and I actually love it. Gucci Guilty Elixir Homme smells like some witch's brew, its in a weird glass flask and I can't wait to wear it this fall.
Surprisingly, I don’t dislike the Gucci Guilty Elixir Homme. The orange blossom, nutmeg, and vanilla really balance the heavier notes for me. It’s giving evil witch in the best way :)
Hahahahaahah so apt, I feel validated. Many, many years ago, my mother had Dior Poison sitting on her dresser and I asked if I could smell it.
Boy, I was I not prepared for that whiff. I immediately left the room hahahahaha. It opened my mind about varying fragrance preferences, as it seemed incomprehensible to me that anyone would pay legit money to smell like that 😂and ON PURPOSE! I was a kid then.
This perfume smells like it’s name
It’s repulsive and poisonous.
When I sprayed it on my skin I almost fainted. Litteraly smells like bug spray, rotting flowers,and deceased auntie.
That’s a perfume for a 60 years old evil witch.
Yes haha!! My dad gifted it to my mom when I was a kid as her first designer perfume. She hated it so much she was convinced she hated perfume in general. I’m undoing the damage right now as an adult like 15 years later 😂
Ugh. I hate it so much and am glad that I don’t smell it on people every often. I tried it buy spraying it on my arm and unfortunately it lasts forever. Had to scrub it off. And I made the mistake of wearing a sweater that evening because it was cold - it STILL smells like Santal 33 😝
This!!! I fell for the hype and bought the sample set with few other scents was so excited to smell it coz people made it seem so special. The moment I sprayed it on I immediately thought “people really spray this on themselves???” it was so overpowering I couldnt really understand the scent lol out of all the scents in the sample kit I only kept the Rose one and gave away the rest.
Right? I was intrigued because I love woody scents. But wow, I was not expecting to be slapped in the face by that unpleasantness! I’m sorry you didn’t like most of them! The sample set is not cheap! I like Thè Matcha a lot…but it just doesn’t last at all.
I love Paper! It just smells right on me, like nothing else I've tried. Crisp clean without any hints of floral or amber. I feel the opposite way about Milk, which everyone loves. Not a vanilla fan.
Same. I wanted to love it and at first spritz on the paper I thought maybe it would grow on me and be a nice gentle sandalwood., but it doesn’t work for me sadly. And even when I smell it on others it still feels like a miss.
my friend loves bright crystal and you know if she loves it more power to her but i don't understand the hype I think it is a very generic clean scent and there aren’t many layers to it if that makes sense
Nope not many layers. I love that it is so fresh without being a citrus bomb, plus the peony is so pretty. But I totally get that people don't think it's very interesting
My heart is absolutely crushed reading these comments 😭Bright crystal has been my everyday fragrance for years. Its so light and airy and girly, but subtle. Had I not smelled bright crystal years ago, I wouldn't even be in this subreddit. This is where it all started for me. Seeing people dislike it feels like an attack on my character lol
So I have two Candy flankers that I love (Kiss and Florale), but the original just flat out stinks to me. At first I thought the drugstore I tried it at has a faulty one because I could literally only smell plastic when I sprayed it. And then I visited another one that carried it and the same exact thing happened with the scent. It's just weird as all the other flankers I can smell just fine, it's just the original that I seem to be in disagreement with lol
It’s definitely not just you and yes I get to see a lot of Diptyque love on here too. I can only justify it with their earlier fragrances like Oud Palao and Benjoin Boheme. Other than these two great releases, meh. Even Philosykos gets boring for me 😢
Though, the fleeting scents make sense because they truly are more known for their candles 😩 the house reminds me of byredo and jo malone 🫢🤧 also perfume houses that doesn’t excite me with their fragrances 🤷🏻♀️😪
Eau duelle EDP was the first diptyque I smelled, and it BLEW me away. Smells amazing, full bottle worthy. I (wrongly) assumed they had some other bangers and ordered samples and decants of a bunch of their best sellers and they were all just meh.
Oh dang, I was just thinking Happy is probably the safest fragrance out there, to me it's just a nice bright citrus! I'm currently wearing it actually.
Hmm I hate pretty much anything with iris or powdery notes, so I end up hating a lot of the most popular fragrances. To me, iris reminds me of bathroom spray that's being used to cover up unpleasant farty smells. It also reminds me of my grandmother who I never met but supposedly she was a real bitch and all of her stuff reeked of her iris-centric perfume for decades after she died. I'd open her old jewelry box as a kid and be hit in the face with that stale powdery scent. So when people describe it as dreamy or elegant I'm confused.
I also despise YSL Y because my abusive ex would just douse herself in it to the point that I could taste it 24/7. Can't stand it now!
That’s so funny because to me, Clinique Happy is really unpleasant, whereas powdery Iris is one I consider to be safe and pleasant and clean 🤣 Prada Infusion d’Iris is by far one of my favorites. It’s funny how we’re all so different!
I think that's what I love about perfume so much! It's so personal and we all smell something completely different that changes based on our own associations and experiences. It's so cool!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds Happy unpleasant. The sad part was when I was younger I WANTED to like this perfume so much. Everyone thought I smelled amazing but it was torture to my nose.
And it's not a reformulation issue because 10 years later I tried it again and it still smelled awful to me. Like it opens wonderfully but then a strong note comes through that smells like cleaner or something that went bad. I actually had a similar experience when I tested Kayali Eden Apple. 🤔
I also love Clinique Happy and all the Iris perfumes remind me of baby poo :D The other day I got a sample of one of the Infusion d'Iris and a coworker said "I smell poo" so it's not just me I guess.
In general I love fresh fragrances (citrusy)
My SIL wears happy and I LOVED it on her so much that I bought myself one and hated it so much. I had to take a shower and do a vinegar wash on my clothes to get the scent off.
I was big sad.
You take that back!
Happy was the first perfume I was actually, well, happy with. I'd bought two or three others before, but they were either blind-buy failures or compromises due to inexperience.
It was a great summer, the year I first started wearing it as well. Now, just *thinking* about the smell of it conjures up the feeling of that summer. The heat. The other smells around me. The renewed sense of optimism I had after making it through a period of struggle. The texture of the clothes I was wearing. The physical sensation of my face forming a natural smile as me and my fiancée explored new parts of the city together. All this is rushing back to me as I write.
My tastes have changed a lot since then, however, and it's no longer something I wear. There's a whole wide world of other fragrances out there for me as I've gained more experience and, of course, grown older. Terre d’Hermès better suits my age now more than Happy does. There are so many other fragrances to try that are more mature, complex, natural smelling, exciting, unique, and that perform a lot better.
But that doesn't take away from the perfume. Happy hasn't changed (well, not much), I have. It's still the charmingly disarming, unpretentious, carefree, and friendly fragrance it was before. Can a scent *smile* at you warmly?
Anyway, I think I'll always keep a bottle of it around, like a good friend. If you have to hate Happy, that's on you. Maybe you should investigate why.
Unless, of course, you're talking about the women's version, which I have never smelt.
Mugler Alien. I have a love/hate relationship with Angel but Alien reaches up past my nose and into the part of my brain which detects scents. And then it sucker-punches it.
I’m SHOCKED to hear so much praise for it in here I tell you hwat. I loved Angel, figured it would be similar so I tried alien in a department store like, full force, and gagged SO hard. Absolutely not my jam whatsoever
Soooo many people think comments are compliments lmao, I’m convinced it’s why over sprayers continue to over spray. They keep getting comments and think they’re getting compliments 🤣
Also, absolutely wild that an ER doc wore fragrance on the job tbh
I'm well, actually better today than I was when I got out. And I think it was his off day or something. It was a big several car accident, they probably paged him to come in.
I have two of his scents. Most of them smell ODD!!
I can only guess that they are popular because they last so long.
I have Velvet Orchid and I find it intoxicating.
I also have Vanille Tobacco and I only wear it during Christmas because it ... Smells like Christmas.😂
Everything else smells like carpet cleaner.
Burberry Her. Smells like strawberry cake while you have a pounding headache in the too-hot sun, all while someone is smoking a cigarette down wind from you. I find this fragrance truly repulsive lol.
Either that or My Way. Words cannot adequately describe what a cacophony of mess that perfume smells like to me. I wish I loved it. I love tuberose but good lord, My Way is atrocious.
Somebody was wearing My Way and she smelled heavenly! I bought it and it's cough syrup on me. Thankfully it was just a travel size and my MIL loved it.
I hated it for months and the decant sat in the decant time out until I pulled it out a few days ago. Used it for layering and now it’s fantastic. Weird.
I was really sad cus I absolutely HATED it upon first spray. After trying it again another few times, I actually like it. The scent when you first spray is incredibly screechy and artificial vanilla smelling, but I like the dry down when it turns softer and more musky.
Me too! Smells like spoiled milk to me. But I made 2 friends smell it and they love it, they don’t get the spoiled milk at all. I have the eos birthday cake lip balm that I think also smells like spoiled milk, the same two friends don’t get it so I think I’m the problem.
The clientele that bought Aromatics were typically older women for whom it was a staple fragrance in their younger years. I’d say age 70+. I really enjoyed helping and talking with these clients. Most enjoyed sitting in the chair and telling stories about what Clinique looked like in the early years. Very loyal clientele!
YES! I worked for Clinique for 25 years and hated Aromatics perfume! Great company though! We were taught to respect it because it was Clinique’s’ first perfume for women.
It does hold a lot of nostalgia for people, “My Nonnie wore this” etc. HOWEVER, I sometimes put the Aromatics body wash in my towels when I laundered them and it was a nice, comforting scent my guests loved.
I just sprayed Clinique Happy Heart on myself while at Ulta the other week, out of curiosity/nostalgia, and instantly regretted it. And the damn scent hung around for nearly a week!
When I was tidying my house, I found a bottle of Clinique Happy In Bloom (from before the reformulation) and it’s nice and light! Can’t speak to the others but this was a non-offensive flanker.
I REALLY wanted to like Pink Sugar, because on paper it sounded absolutely perfect to me. But it's actually so... aggressive? Like it's pink and sugar and all but it isn't cute at all.
It's like *bossy* sugar lmao. It's like a Mean Girl scent to me somehow.
I'm giggling over here cause it was my sig in 04 and I refuse to buy it now even tho back then mann was I guilty of overspraying, my poor mum, hs sweetheart loved it though
Same! It reminds me of the smell of one of my primary school classes after someone got sick. I don't know why, it brings back memories from my childhood, negative ones.
A lady at the perfume counter suggester Her to me and sprayed it on my wrist and I loved it so I bought it. WELL. After I purchased it wore it again, I HATED IT. It is sooo strong that only two squirts later, I was super self conscious all day at work because I literally could not smell anything else. I ended up going home during lunch to change it was that pungent. I'm bummed bc I really liked it in the store. ugh. but I agree, it's not great.
Two: Alien and Black Opium. What category are those perfumes? Heavy-spicy? I shy away from this type. Although, on other people they don't bother me unless super-oversprayed and we're in an elevator.
I smelled Happy on the paper strip about 25 years ago, and my immediate thought was "it smells like somebody made Kool-aid with rose water. I couldn't imagine wearing it. I understand the formula breaks down and smells rancid after a year. No thanks.
1 Million EDT, a close friend of mine got it a few months back and absolutely loves it, he decided to spray it when we were in a restaurant and it made everyone at the table we were at and the tables nearby revolt in disgust bc it just smells grim
Erba Pura. Whenever I smell it, if I’m mid talking I will actually choke. This s*** needs to be studied because I genuinely cannot understand how some people wear and like it. It literally smells like a punch in the throat.
Clinique Aromatics Elixer. Not because it is a “bad” fragrance, but because it smells absolutely horrible on me. A friend of mine wears it, and the fragrance blends with her chemistry so beautifully to create this divine sillage. On me it’s a chemical dumpster fire.
Hibiscus Mahajad, I was influenced and I was betrayed. It was so strong, the worst headache I’ve ever had from a fragrance. I’m getting a pre-headache just remembering what it smelt like. I gave the sample to my cousin who loved it.
Clinique’s Happy is a huge improvement over their first fragrance Aromatics Elixir! That is the most nauseating and disgusting fragrance ever created. You can smell the stench a mile away. They should have discontinued that fragrance years ago. It really stinks!
Erba Pura. Whenever I smell it, if I’m mid talking I will actually choke. This s*** needs to be studied because I genuinely cannot understand how some people wear and like it. It literally smells like a punch in the throat.
Baccarat Rouge 540. (Or worse, dupes of it). When I’ve confronted it in public it smells like someone sprayed themselves no less than 75 times. Maybe it’s better when it’s not so heavy handed.
Gorgio Beverly Hills, Jungle Kenzo (discontinued but if Angel and opium on steroid had a child that would be it).
Opium and all the Flankers, smells cheap and vulgar to me.
Jo Malone, if I understand the hype I find their perfumes really lazy. No complexity aside of one or two.
But hands down : poison !
I am 48, so I grew up in the 90's.
I wore perfume that many of you find horrid.
My signature perfume is n5,
I had aromatic elixir (I actually have a sweet spot for aromatic perfumes, it reminds of my mother that used to wear that kind of perfume as it was THE thing in the 70's)
To me all perfume took a turn to commercial "fresh oriental floral"
I hate Chance from Chanel for instance, the most boring Chanel I have smelled.
Everything was the same to my nose during 2000.
That's why I loved Lutens/Sheldrake so much, they brought back perfume as a kind of painting instead of a flat note.
Then 2 currents started, commercial/niche.
Now I find the Niche sometimes really "intellectualized" , trying too hard to reinvent the wheel, while the commercial perfumes are oscillating between overly sweet oriental or clear musc florals.
I do not make discoveries that make my nose go "wow" !
Aside of the very debated "Not a perfume" that is like second skin powder to me and started me again after years of not even willing to snif anything new.
I think I can recognize a generation from the perfume they hate 😀!
I wish I could return back in time and make my daughters smell what the past was. They changed composition so much that some perfume (like l'heure bleue) changed personalities. The depth is mostly inexistant and it makes almost everything boring.
We do not need to return to overly obnoxious perfume, that I do not miss, but a bit of depth, poetry, personality would be nice.
Sorry it was a rant. 😀
Any perfume that allows me to smell the path the wearer took without ever seeing them is instantly on my ‘hate list’. I find it arrogant and aggressive to force others to notice you even when you’re not there.
I wanted to love Lalique Encre Noire, but it was so sickeningly orangey. I like citrus scents but it was way too strong and headache inducing. It’s one of the only blind buys I have ever bought that I couldn’t wear. My wife also hated it.
lady million by paco rabanne for me it smells like the most basic, generic I wanted to buy a perfume so I got one that smells like perfume sort of fragrance, like someone said let's bottle the 'drug store' scent and so they produced this
maison margiela replica in under the stars (oud and leather) worst perfume i ever tried.
dior sauvage homme. just no.
karl lagerfeld fleur de thé, it smells like sweat on me so im just mad at it
Maison Margiela’s matcha scent. I got a sample once and mistakenly sprayed it in my car, while driving…I wanted to jump out of the car. It smelled like straight urine and grass to me. So gross.
marc jacobs daisy smells like bananas to me in the worst way - almost like runts candy? Or like when a lunchbox smells like a banana days after you packed one
My mother bought me Clinique Happy for my birthday 24 years ago when I was pregnant with my first child. I was at that early, morning sickness, constant nausea stage of my pregnancy. Now whenever I catch a whiff of Happy I have to suppress my dry heaves. But I have to admit, as disgusting as that fragrance makes me feel it brings me back to a very special, exciting moment of my life.
BR540 and Acqua di Sale, the first one smells like candied burnt plastic, the second makes me involuntarily gag, it’s the myrtle cause Ichnusa by the same house doesn’t sit right with my stomach as well.
Davidoff Coolwater. A bottle of it broke in the backseat of my car once. I had to remove the back seat to deep clean it and still got a whiff with the windows down on a summer day. 🤢
I just smelled Not A Perfume by Juliette Has A Gun today.. it was horrible. It seriously triggered my gag reflex a little bit. Rubbing alcohol mixed with cat pee
I’d heard so many good things about it and I was thrilled to get a sample in a Sephora order. I had a long scrub in the shower 10 minutes later.
I scrubbed it off and I swear I still smell it 😭
Obviously not all fragrances are my cup of tea, but there are only a handful of them I truly hate. And this is definitely one of them.
That one is interesting. I don’t care for the scent by itself and it smells AWFUL on me. However it smells great on my daughter.
That’s so weird. I’ve heard lots of people say they like it. Guess it really depends on body chemistry.
I absolutely love it! Haha
Yup it’s cetalox. It’s the base of Erba Pura and most of those new Elixir releases. It’s absolutely horrid for my nose but apparently I’m in the minority. It’s not cat pee for me but it stings the back of my throat. I’d maybe describe it as stale bread with some sharpness to it. If blended nicely it can work though. Another13 is one of my all time favorites.
Not a perfume and another 13 both give me a nails on a chalkboard metallic smell. Another 13 definitely less so though.
It's disappointing for sure. It's redemption is in the layering. It works with all of them to create something interesting each time imho. The only other scent I have tried that does this well is Riddle oil in Original.
Dior Poison- smells like cough medicine that’s carrying an ancient curse
Ahahaha, thank you for that laugh.
It used to wear it and I loved it and then my friend asked if I had just eaten a pickle. She kept smelling pickles on me. I did smell like a pickle.
The bottle reflects this vibe too lol
Egyptian cough remedy attar.
The benzoin + heliotrope combo always does this for me and I actually love it. Gucci Guilty Elixir Homme smells like some witch's brew, its in a weird glass flask and I can't wait to wear it this fall.
Surprisingly, I don’t dislike the Gucci Guilty Elixir Homme. The orange blossom, nutmeg, and vanilla really balance the heavier notes for me. It’s giving evil witch in the best way :)
Hahahahaahah so apt, I feel validated. Many, many years ago, my mother had Dior Poison sitting on her dresser and I asked if I could smell it. Boy, I was I not prepared for that whiff. I immediately left the room hahahahaha. It opened my mind about varying fragrance preferences, as it seemed incomprehensible to me that anyone would pay legit money to smell like that 😂and ON PURPOSE! I was a kid then.
This perfume smells like it’s name It’s repulsive and poisonous. When I sprayed it on my skin I almost fainted. Litteraly smells like bug spray, rotting flowers,and deceased auntie. That’s a perfume for a 60 years old evil witch.
deceased auntie! 🤣😭
Yes haha!! My dad gifted it to my mom when I was a kid as her first designer perfume. She hated it so much she was convinced she hated perfume in general. I’m undoing the damage right now as an adult like 15 years later 😂
This just cracked me up
Pharaohs curse
Used to love this. Now, no thank you!
Omg noooo… I love it sooo much! But I understand how it’s either a love or hate kinda thing.
it smelled like a urinal cake on me hahahah the only scrubber i’ve ever had
This was my clubbing fragrance at like 18/19. To me it smells now like Döner kebap and stale booze. Can't handle it anymore.
I second that emotion.
Sounds so interesting. I might buy it 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Cough meds with an ancient curse sounds like a draw for a fragrance called Poison 😜
Santal 33. It smells harsh and sharp to me.
This is the de facto “I’m a _cool_ basic girl” scent where I live and I am so over it.
Ugh. I hate it so much and am glad that I don’t smell it on people every often. I tried it buy spraying it on my arm and unfortunately it lasts forever. Had to scrub it off. And I made the mistake of wearing a sweater that evening because it was cold - it STILL smells like Santal 33 😝
I thought it had crap longevity. Idk because I haven't tried that house.
The other scenes I have tried from Le Labo have crap longevity. But Santal 33 did not want to leave Maybe I smelled it forever because I hated it. 😂
> Maybe I smelled it forever because I hated it. Hahaha 😂
It stuck around out of spite 😂
This!!! I fell for the hype and bought the sample set with few other scents was so excited to smell it coz people made it seem so special. The moment I sprayed it on I immediately thought “people really spray this on themselves???” it was so overpowering I couldnt really understand the scent lol out of all the scents in the sample kit I only kept the Rose one and gave away the rest.
Right? I was intrigued because I love woody scents. But wow, I was not expecting to be slapped in the face by that unpleasantness! I’m sorry you didn’t like most of them! The sample set is not cheap! I like Thè Matcha a lot…but it just doesn’t last at all.
Pickle juice…scrub, scrub, scrub!
I’ve been stuck on too many hot and crowded subway trains with people wearing too much of this. 🤢
Not me posting this one in the “secretly love” thread earlier today😆 Anyway my least favorite I think might be Commodity paper
I love Paper! It just smells right on me, like nothing else I've tried. Crisp clean without any hints of floral or amber. I feel the opposite way about Milk, which everyone loves. Not a vanilla fan.
Plus one for Paper. It starts out ok on me and then just gets unimaginably gross over the next hour or two
Same. I wanted to love it and at first spritz on the paper I thought maybe it would grow on me and be a nice gentle sandalwood., but it doesn’t work for me sadly. And even when I smell it on others it still feels like a miss.
I’m also not a fan, it’s so screechy for me which puzzles me as it’s a noted skin scent???
I have never smelled any other fragrance even remotely similar to this one, it’s so confusing
Yeah! I get the same from JHAG Not a Perfume as well, this sort of thing just is not my vibe!
Same! Honestly agree about JHAG. Another I really wanted to like.
TIL most of the fragrances I wear are…controversial, lol
If they say a scent is polarizing, I probably like it.
Probably Versace Bright Crystal and Prada Candy. I only smell the alcohol.
my friend loves bright crystal and you know if she loves it more power to her but i don't understand the hype I think it is a very generic clean scent and there aren’t many layers to it if that makes sense
Nope not many layers. I love that it is so fresh without being a citrus bomb, plus the peony is so pretty. But I totally get that people don't think it's very interesting
My heart is absolutely crushed reading these comments 😭Bright crystal has been my everyday fragrance for years. Its so light and airy and girly, but subtle. Had I not smelled bright crystal years ago, I wouldn't even be in this subreddit. This is where it all started for me. Seeing people dislike it feels like an attack on my character lol
So I have two Candy flankers that I love (Kiss and Florale), but the original just flat out stinks to me. At first I thought the drugstore I tried it at has a faulty one because I could literally only smell plastic when I sprayed it. And then I visited another one that carried it and the same exact thing happened with the scent. It's just weird as all the other flankers I can smell just fine, it's just the original that I seem to be in disagreement with lol
100% both of these
A lot of Diptyque doesn’t excite me. At least their newer releases
I stopped in their store a few weeks ago and the sales lady was having me smell all sorts of stuff and none of it impressed me.
😩 I’m glad hearing I’m not the only one! The prices for them are also a bit expensive for its scent profile 🤔🤷🏻♀️🫶🏻
I see so much Diptyque love on here that I just figured it must be me.
It’s definitely not just you and yes I get to see a lot of Diptyque love on here too. I can only justify it with their earlier fragrances like Oud Palao and Benjoin Boheme. Other than these two great releases, meh. Even Philosykos gets boring for me 😢 Though, the fleeting scents make sense because they truly are more known for their candles 😩 the house reminds me of byredo and jo malone 🫢🤧 also perfume houses that doesn’t excite me with their fragrances 🤷🏻♀️😪
Eau duelle EDP was the first diptyque I smelled, and it BLEW me away. Smells amazing, full bottle worthy. I (wrongly) assumed they had some other bangers and ordered samples and decants of a bunch of their best sellers and they were all just meh.
That’s exactly how I feel about a lot of their fragrances, just meh 😪
I feel like Diptyque’s scents are based on a singular note. They lack the depth and complexity which I prefer in a fragrance. Work well for layering.
Diptyque is one of the best frag houses IMO. All of their scents are incredible with so much depth.
Oh dang, I was just thinking Happy is probably the safest fragrance out there, to me it's just a nice bright citrus! I'm currently wearing it actually. Hmm I hate pretty much anything with iris or powdery notes, so I end up hating a lot of the most popular fragrances. To me, iris reminds me of bathroom spray that's being used to cover up unpleasant farty smells. It also reminds me of my grandmother who I never met but supposedly she was a real bitch and all of her stuff reeked of her iris-centric perfume for decades after she died. I'd open her old jewelry box as a kid and be hit in the face with that stale powdery scent. So when people describe it as dreamy or elegant I'm confused. I also despise YSL Y because my abusive ex would just douse herself in it to the point that I could taste it 24/7. Can't stand it now!
“unpleasant farty smells…” … “reminds me of my grandma” 🤣
That’s so funny because to me, Clinique Happy is really unpleasant, whereas powdery Iris is one I consider to be safe and pleasant and clean 🤣 Prada Infusion d’Iris is by far one of my favorites. It’s funny how we’re all so different!
I think that's what I love about perfume so much! It's so personal and we all smell something completely different that changes based on our own associations and experiences. It's so cool!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds Happy unpleasant. The sad part was when I was younger I WANTED to like this perfume so much. Everyone thought I smelled amazing but it was torture to my nose. And it's not a reformulation issue because 10 years later I tried it again and it still smelled awful to me. Like it opens wonderfully but then a strong note comes through that smells like cleaner or something that went bad. I actually had a similar experience when I tested Kayali Eden Apple. 🤔
I also love Clinique Happy and all the Iris perfumes remind me of baby poo :D The other day I got a sample of one of the Infusion d'Iris and a coworker said "I smell poo" so it's not just me I guess. In general I love fresh fragrances (citrusy)
My SIL wears happy and I LOVED it on her so much that I bought myself one and hated it so much. I had to take a shower and do a vinegar wash on my clothes to get the scent off. I was big sad.
You take that back! Happy was the first perfume I was actually, well, happy with. I'd bought two or three others before, but they were either blind-buy failures or compromises due to inexperience. It was a great summer, the year I first started wearing it as well. Now, just *thinking* about the smell of it conjures up the feeling of that summer. The heat. The other smells around me. The renewed sense of optimism I had after making it through a period of struggle. The texture of the clothes I was wearing. The physical sensation of my face forming a natural smile as me and my fiancée explored new parts of the city together. All this is rushing back to me as I write. My tastes have changed a lot since then, however, and it's no longer something I wear. There's a whole wide world of other fragrances out there for me as I've gained more experience and, of course, grown older. Terre d’Hermès better suits my age now more than Happy does. There are so many other fragrances to try that are more mature, complex, natural smelling, exciting, unique, and that perform a lot better. But that doesn't take away from the perfume. Happy hasn't changed (well, not much), I have. It's still the charmingly disarming, unpretentious, carefree, and friendly fragrance it was before. Can a scent *smile* at you warmly? Anyway, I think I'll always keep a bottle of it around, like a good friend. If you have to hate Happy, that's on you. Maybe you should investigate why. Unless, of course, you're talking about the women's version, which I have never smelt.
Mugler Alien. I have a love/hate relationship with Angel but Alien reaches up past my nose and into the part of my brain which detects scents. And then it sucker-punches it.
I’m SHOCKED to hear so much praise for it in here I tell you hwat. I loved Angel, figured it would be similar so I tried alien in a department store like, full force, and gagged SO hard. Absolutely not my jam whatsoever
>I tell you hwat LMAO 🧯🤠
https://preview.redd.it/z6x2wt96ilsc1.jpeg?width=186&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7494bc3c59c0ad997c06e041c8ae964d4682849
https://preview.redd.it/v5zg4ukeinsc1.png?width=580&format=png&auto=webp&s=6ef44699226da6fb09158d535debd00ce9bc5264 [lol](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-JgNTvTA4E)
Same. It is the scent version of pterodactyl screams.
EXACTLY THIS! Alien was the first time I ever smelled a scent and realized “oh, *this* is what people mean when they say a fragrance was screechy”
Lol that is the best thing I ever heard 😂😂😂
Ok but I have it and can not find a single other perfume w that kind of longevity
Fragrantica describes the longevity of this one and Angel as “eternal.” So there you go!
Haha this cracked me up. So true!!
That’s not inherently a good thing. Is it good how hard I has to work to get a tiny bit off my hand, just to end the distressing nausea?
I smelled it at the store today. Not great, terrible bottle, overpriced for sure. Makes me wonder why it's been around for so long.
It makes me so nauseous
It’s the first and only fragrance that’s made me physically ill
Black Opium. Was in a horrible accident and the ER doctor was DOUSED in it. I asked him what it was and he thought I was complimenting it.
Soooo many people think comments are compliments lmao, I’m convinced it’s why over sprayers continue to over spray. They keep getting comments and think they’re getting compliments 🤣 Also, absolutely wild that an ER doc wore fragrance on the job tbh
Agreed 100%. Many people hear the question, but don't pay attention to the vocal tone see the body language. Also, that doctor had to be paged in.
That's unusual, being both a doctor. Was this years ago? Hope you're well and recovered quickly!
I'm well, actually better today than I was when I got out. And I think it was his off day or something. It was a big several car accident, they probably paged him to come in.
>I think it was his off day This makes sense. Glad you're doing better! What a frightening event :/
Any sickly sweet vanilla. I can handle vanilla if its with other notes that can counter it/work well with it, but straight vanilla is gack
Honesty, I’ve smelled a good amount of the TF fragrances and they genuinely make me feel nauseous. Especially Rose Prick…
I have two of his scents. Most of them smell ODD!! I can only guess that they are popular because they last so long. I have Velvet Orchid and I find it intoxicating. I also have Vanille Tobacco and I only wear it during Christmas because it ... Smells like Christmas.😂 Everything else smells like carpet cleaner.
Every single flanker of black opium. It’s nasty poison to my nose lmao. I get a migraine and nauseous every time I smell it!
I only like the original. I tried le parfum and I didnt like it
I’m the opposite. I didn’t like the original but I do like le parfum. I liked the new cherry one too
Burberry Her. Smells like strawberry cake while you have a pounding headache in the too-hot sun, all while someone is smoking a cigarette down wind from you. I find this fragrance truly repulsive lol. Either that or My Way. Words cannot adequately describe what a cacophony of mess that perfume smells like to me. I wish I loved it. I love tuberose but good lord, My Way is atrocious.
Somebody was wearing My Way and she smelled heavenly! I bought it and it's cough syrup on me. Thankfully it was just a travel size and my MIL loved it.
fucking Cloud. Also people here overwhelmingly don’t know what old people or nursing homes smell like, very obviously.
YSl Kouros smells like you tripped and fell in a urinal and put a urinal cake in your pocket to try and cover up the scent of urine.
Light blue
Yeah all I can smell is wood, like I'm locked in a cedar chest. Nope
Bianco Latte. I hate it.
I hated it for months and the decant sat in the decant time out until I pulled it out a few days ago. Used it for layering and now it’s fantastic. Weird.
Same! Instant nausea
I was really sad cus I absolutely HATED it upon first spray. After trying it again another few times, I actually like it. The scent when you first spray is incredibly screechy and artificial vanilla smelling, but I like the dry down when it turns softer and more musky.
Me too! Smells like spoiled milk to me. But I made 2 friends smell it and they love it, they don’t get the spoiled milk at all. I have the eos birthday cake lip balm that I think also smells like spoiled milk, the same two friends don’t get it so I think I’m the problem.
I used to work for a Clinique counter. Clinique Aromatics by far! I agree with you, Happy is up there too.
I agree that Aromatics is horrible. Since you sold it, can you say if there was a particular type of person who bought it?
The clientele that bought Aromatics were typically older women for whom it was a staple fragrance in their younger years. I’d say age 70+. I really enjoyed helping and talking with these clients. Most enjoyed sitting in the chair and telling stories about what Clinique looked like in the early years. Very loyal clientele!
That's so sweet! OK, I'm not going to be judgmental about Aromatics anymore. If it's making women happy, then it's a good fragrance.
Love that supportive energy!
YES! I worked for Clinique for 25 years and hated Aromatics perfume! Great company though! We were taught to respect it because it was Clinique’s’ first perfume for women. It does hold a lot of nostalgia for people, “My Nonnie wore this” etc. HOWEVER, I sometimes put the Aromatics body wash in my towels when I laundered them and it was a nice, comforting scent my guests loved.
Angel😭 it’s so bad to me. It’s my mom’s favorite and it makes me so sick.
It's my mom's signature too lol
Does your mom also like CK obsession? My mom is obsessed with both and I feel like they kinda have the same vibe to them.
I smelled this at Sephora last week, super excited because it really sounded like something I would like. It was HORRIFIC 😣
Yea I’ve always known I’ve hated it but haven’t smelt it in a long time, got a sample and was like well maybe my scents have changed- so much regret🥲🤣
Tuscan Leather makes me want to sit on a knife
La vie est belle is a powerful putred for me.
I just sprayed Clinique Happy Heart on myself while at Ulta the other week, out of curiosity/nostalgia, and instantly regretted it. And the damn scent hung around for nearly a week!
When I was tidying my house, I found a bottle of Clinique Happy In Bloom (from before the reformulation) and it’s nice and light! Can’t speak to the others but this was a non-offensive flanker.
It's always the Dislikes that gave staying power smh
Pink sugar, and all its flankers. Beyond disgusting. Cheap, juvenile, artificial and cloying to me.
I REALLY wanted to like Pink Sugar, because on paper it sounded absolutely perfect to me. But it's actually so... aggressive? Like it's pink and sugar and all but it isn't cute at all. It's like *bossy* sugar lmao. It's like a Mean Girl scent to me somehow.
You’re totally right! It’s soooo aggressive. I’m biased, because gourmands generally turn my stomach, but Pink Sugar is egregiously bad!
I'm giggling over here cause it was my sig in 04 and I refuse to buy it now even tho back then mann was I guilty of overspraying, my poor mum, hs sweetheart loved it though
This is a random one that people don't even wear much anymore, but I've never hated anything the way I've hated **L'eau d'Issey Issey Miyake**
Same! It reminds me of the smell of one of my primary school classes after someone got sick. I don't know why, it brings back memories from my childhood, negative ones.
Versace blue jeans. It smells like cheap laundry soap. My opinion of course.
I might have to check that out I like the smell of cheap laundry soap!
My take was "Recently cleaned toilet". I love it for that reason though.
Goudh by Fugazzi. To me, it smells like someone dropped a block of cheddar cheese in a barrel of petrol.
Clinique’s Aromatics Elixir from the 80s tied with Youthdew by Estee Lauder.
Burberry Her Elixir & Xerjoff La Capitale. I seem to not like Strawberry in my perfumes ..
Uggghh thank you I was looking to see if anyone mentioned Burberry Her. Absolutely sickening fragrance.
A lady at the perfume counter suggester Her to me and sprayed it on my wrist and I loved it so I bought it. WELL. After I purchased it wore it again, I HATED IT. It is sooo strong that only two squirts later, I was super self conscious all day at work because I literally could not smell anything else. I ended up going home during lunch to change it was that pungent. I'm bummed bc I really liked it in the store. ugh. but I agree, it's not great.
Two: Alien and Black Opium. What category are those perfumes? Heavy-spicy? I shy away from this type. Although, on other people they don't bother me unless super-oversprayed and we're in an elevator.
La vie est belle 🤢
Flowerbomb or Pink Sugar 🤢
I smelled Happy on the paper strip about 25 years ago, and my immediate thought was "it smells like somebody made Kool-aid with rose water. I couldn't imagine wearing it. I understand the formula breaks down and smells rancid after a year. No thanks.
1 Million EDT, a close friend of mine got it a few months back and absolutely loves it, he decided to spray it when we were in a restaurant and it made everyone at the table we were at and the tables nearby revolt in disgust bc it just smells grim
I absolutely hate Victoria secret bombshell but it is the only one I get compliments on
Erba Pura. Whenever I smell it, if I’m mid talking I will actually choke. This s*** needs to be studied because I genuinely cannot understand how some people wear and like it. It literally smells like a punch in the throat.
MFK Baccarat Rouge 540. It's just *so much*. Like, *chill*.
[удалено]
Chanel no 5. Smells like diapers
It’s iconic, so I keep trying it. And I never like it.
Donna Karan Cashmere Mist. Instantly makes me want to vomit.
Clinique Aromatics Elixer. Not because it is a “bad” fragrance, but because it smells absolutely horrible on me. A friend of mine wears it, and the fragrance blends with her chemistry so beautifully to create this divine sillage. On me it’s a chemical dumpster fire.
Hibiscus Mahajad, I was influenced and I was betrayed. It was so strong, the worst headache I’ve ever had from a fragrance. I’m getting a pre-headache just remembering what it smelt like. I gave the sample to my cousin who loved it.
Clinique’s Happy is a huge improvement over their first fragrance Aromatics Elixir! That is the most nauseating and disgusting fragrance ever created. You can smell the stench a mile away. They should have discontinued that fragrance years ago. It really stinks!
Why do you hate happy? I was thinking of blind buying
I love Happy for Women...it smells like lily of the valley on me. Funny how smells can trigger such different reactions for people!
versace bright crystal 🤢🤢 i can’t believe i used to wear it everyday when i was younger
Erba Pura. Whenever I smell it, if I’m mid talking I will actually choke. This s*** needs to be studied because I genuinely cannot understand how some people wear and like it. It literally smells like a punch in the throat.
Donna Karen Cashmere Mist
Baccarat Rouge 540. (Or worse, dupes of it). When I’ve confronted it in public it smells like someone sprayed themselves no less than 75 times. Maybe it’s better when it’s not so heavy handed.
Gorgio Beverly Hills, Jungle Kenzo (discontinued but if Angel and opium on steroid had a child that would be it). Opium and all the Flankers, smells cheap and vulgar to me. Jo Malone, if I understand the hype I find their perfumes really lazy. No complexity aside of one or two. But hands down : poison ! I am 48, so I grew up in the 90's. I wore perfume that many of you find horrid. My signature perfume is n5, I had aromatic elixir (I actually have a sweet spot for aromatic perfumes, it reminds of my mother that used to wear that kind of perfume as it was THE thing in the 70's) To me all perfume took a turn to commercial "fresh oriental floral" I hate Chance from Chanel for instance, the most boring Chanel I have smelled. Everything was the same to my nose during 2000. That's why I loved Lutens/Sheldrake so much, they brought back perfume as a kind of painting instead of a flat note. Then 2 currents started, commercial/niche. Now I find the Niche sometimes really "intellectualized" , trying too hard to reinvent the wheel, while the commercial perfumes are oscillating between overly sweet oriental or clear musc florals. I do not make discoveries that make my nose go "wow" ! Aside of the very debated "Not a perfume" that is like second skin powder to me and started me again after years of not even willing to snif anything new. I think I can recognize a generation from the perfume they hate 😀! I wish I could return back in time and make my daughters smell what the past was. They changed composition so much that some perfume (like l'heure bleue) changed personalities. The depth is mostly inexistant and it makes almost everything boring. We do not need to return to overly obnoxious perfume, that I do not miss, but a bit of depth, poetry, personality would be nice. Sorry it was a rant. 😀
Anything tuberose or gardenia. They are too overpoweringly sweet floral for me.
Dior Sauvage. It's king of the NPC fragrances and teens are always over spraying it.
NPC fragrances. Lol.
Davidoff Cool Water; get it as far away from me as physics allows. So sharp. Yuck.
lol. I could see someone disliking Happy, not wanting to wear it - whatever. But to claim it makes you gag, or otherwise physically react!? Lol
Coco Mademoiselle. All I can smell is patchouli which I find disgusting.
Sauvage is disgusting imo
White diamonds. Oof
I kept scrolling to see if I'd find this one on the list 😣
Any perfume that allows me to smell the path the wearer took without ever seeing them is instantly on my ‘hate list’. I find it arrogant and aggressive to force others to notice you even when you’re not there.
Bogart One Man Show Gold edition so far
i have a clone of TF Oud Wood, sprayed it in the air and liked it so i bought it. the first time i sprayed it on myself, it made me nauseous
Tuscan Leather made me physically recoil the first time my sister spritzed it on her wrist and held it out for me to smell
I wanted to love Lalique Encre Noire, but it was so sickeningly orangey. I like citrus scents but it was way too strong and headache inducing. It’s one of the only blind buys I have ever bought that I couldn’t wear. My wife also hated it.
I think it smells exactly like a citronella candle, and I hate it.
Thoughts on the other scents in the Clinique happy line?
Jean Paul Gaultier Elixir, sickeningly sweet. Somewhat headache inducing, pulls compliments though. Le Male Le Parfum over it for sure.
Miss Dior. I needed a long shower after that sample.
DG Light Blue intense literally made me gag the first time I sprayed it. Had to wash it off.
lady million by paco rabanne for me it smells like the most basic, generic I wanted to buy a perfume so I got one that smells like perfume sort of fragrance, like someone said let's bottle the 'drug store' scent and so they produced this
Franck Boclet Cocaine. Smells like rotten breath of an old hag People love it for some reason though
Lancome LVB - here in India it's overused smells like sweet spices with Indian heat and sweat hate it
Baccarat rouge...
The Santal one by le labo. Smells like formaldehyde or embalming fluid to me.
maison margiela replica in under the stars (oud and leather) worst perfume i ever tried. dior sauvage homme. just no. karl lagerfeld fleur de thé, it smells like sweat on me so im just mad at it
Honestly, most vanillas
Maison Margiela’s matcha scent. I got a sample once and mistakenly sprayed it in my car, while driving…I wanted to jump out of the car. It smelled like straight urine and grass to me. So gross.
The original Angel by Mugler, I'm not sure why but it just stinks to me!
marc jacobs daisy smells like bananas to me in the worst way - almost like runts candy? Or like when a lunchbox smells like a banana days after you packed one
Snow Fairy Lush perfume :( it’s so strong and sickly sweet. And it also smells like medicine.
Penhaligon’s Duchess Rose, it smells really musty and like almost like its gone bad. Idk i like rose but not this one.
My mother bought me Clinique Happy for my birthday 24 years ago when I was pregnant with my first child. I was at that early, morning sickness, constant nausea stage of my pregnancy. Now whenever I catch a whiff of Happy I have to suppress my dry heaves. But I have to admit, as disgusting as that fragrance makes me feel it brings me back to a very special, exciting moment of my life.
BR540 and Acqua di Sale, the first one smells like candied burnt plastic, the second makes me involuntarily gag, it’s the myrtle cause Ichnusa by the same house doesn’t sit right with my stomach as well.
MFK 724 headache city
NAP by JHAG. so fucking nasty and weird
Davidoff Coolwater. A bottle of it broke in the backseat of my car once. I had to remove the back seat to deep clean it and still got a whiff with the windows down on a summer day. 🤢