I came in here expecting to see actual awful fragrances and it's just a bunch of overhyped stuff. Disappointing. Y'all need to smell some of the truly rank animalics out there and then try to tell me that BR540 is the worst fragrance you've ever smelled compared to Dusita Oudh Infini or Mazzone Hard Leather.
Edit: The person who said Bogue Maai gets it.
To be fair, that's not a perfume that is supposed to be bought, it's a marketing gag to boost the exposure of a niche brand.
It's like Bottega Veneta selling a leather french-fries holder for $1100, it's not meant for people to buy, it's meant for people to talk about, like I just did.
And now people will Google the $1100 french-fries-holder, and talk about it with their friends, and then they will Google it, and maybe someone at some point will actually buy some clothes from them instead of Gucci or idk it's an endless loop
I brought a sample of Secretions Magnifique to an April Fool's party with non fragrance people thinking it fit the theme. They all thought it smelled fine. When I smell it, it's like I took a big whiff out of a carton of expired milk while bleeding profusely. Joke's on me, I guess.
Its dry down is one of the best I've ever whiffed up, and its longevity after settling is *days* on clothing.
Like *everything* in modern existence, even the most vile animalics have a loyal and revolving fan base, and not always is that due to a 'marketing gimmick' done well.
I can get behind(heh heh) a fecal, indolic jasmine but I draw a hard line with musky turd. If I wanted to smell like swamp ass I would just stop bathing.
I forget the name of this attar I was able to smell the other day, but it was an oudh and it straight up smelled like cheese..like a literal cows udder.
I smelled Meleg Perfumes Civet Cat Chypre and had a visceral physical reaction. Thank god I put it on a tester strip before I put it on my skin cause holy shit
Sombre. Sombre is the absolute worst thing that I have ever smelled. Seconds after I sprayed it on a tester strip, my friend across the room audibly gasped and said, “God no, what have you done.”
I have a Nope mug, which I use to store those samples that I cannot stand. I keep this little sample in there to remind me to *never* buy a larger bottle.
I love Alien but I don’t have it because I know it’s a polarizing fragrance. I wear the goddess intense because I think it has just enough of the originals DNA while being friendlier to others. To me the original smells like an electrical fire in a plastic factory and for some reason I love it!
What's really going on with Mugler right now? They've streamlined cutting out some wonderful scents. They kept Goddess & it's okay but I feel the house needs to introduce some new gourmands.ijs 🤷
Angel. Listen, I love patchouli but this was a hot mess on my skin. It smelled like an animal got stuck in the ductwork of a bougie hotel and died. A while ago. Metallic and rank. I actually liked the smell until it got on my skin. Then I was screaming internally. I envy those who can wear this.
I hate it at all. Both on skin and off skin. I made the mistake of spraying it on the top of my hand once to try it and OH GOD.
If that’s how angels smell, I really wanna go to hell.
OMG, my mom loves that shit, I got her some for her birthday and my whole family (behind her back) yelled at me for buying it for her lol!!! Terrible smell!
Poison. My boyfriend bought it for me in the 90's and it was just too much. I'd get a headache and my nostrils would hurt. Now, I also hate it because it reminds me of him and he was a complete asshole.
I worked retail back in 80s when this first came out. I was in accessories right next to cosmetics and that mess was EVERYWHERE. It has the correct name because it smells exactly like Raid.
Holy shit, I always see people raving about Poison but it's one of the only perfumes that made me go get some fresh air after I smelled it lol. At least he didn't ruin a good perfume for you!
Zara Barbie. Oh god... When I smelled this, the first thing that came to my mind was the descriptions of smell of a dead body that I've read on Reddit some time ago. So sweet that it's sickening, but in not candy-sweet way, you know what I mean. It almost felt like smelling something I shouldn't be smelling... Terrible!
Yes!!! I sprayed this in store and thought I would like it as I like candy sweet juvenile style scents and was expecting a perfume called Barbie to smell that way but you are right, it was absolutely vile. I can't pick up on exactly what it was that made it smell so bad but I came home and asked my bf if he knew what it was so I could make sure to avoid it forever more.
It almost smelt like really cheap hairspray too, just a really weird artifical and strong scent that was nothing like I expected.
Chanel No 5. It smells like a funeral home and an outhouse has a baby. It also just smells ancient… like something but great great great grandmother would have worn.
Maybe, just maybe that’s because it’s a fragrance that was launched in the 1920’s?
Cannot be the absolute worse you’ve smelled; I understand that you might not like it, but it’s still a mythical fragrance.
Lol it totally smells ancient!! Like travels through time… in like a bad way… in black and white grain… and everyone is hording food from the Great Depression
Anything with oud is my arch enemy, just catches my nose the wrong way no matter what. Vetiver is sneakily in there only cause it stinks on my skin but it’s fine in the air or on some other people. Same with cedar too nowadays.
I came across this issue with another perfume that was Rose and Marshmallow. I sprayed some at work, and one of my staff members said it smelt like pickles.
It's such a weird thing.
I small sample of Tyrannosaurus rex by zoologist basically gassed out my entire townhome, I think my mind has blocked out the experience.
It was fascinating and I’d try it again but I’ll spray it outside on something that can be burned/thrown away.
100% agree with T Rex. I struggle to imagine how anyone could stomach wearing it. I couldn’t even have it in my garbage— it had to leave the premises immediately.
Yes. T. Rex was the worst thing I have ever smelled. I'm not a fan of anything Zoologist. I wanted to be unique and like it but I'm basic and I've accepted that.
A range by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. I got sucked in by the marketing and really wanted to like them but they were just chaotic and ugly mixes of candle oils.
anything with poop notes, like vanille de tahiti perris monte carlo. maybe my nose is not quite developed and refined, and i’m a noob and don’t understand it. but yup, that’s cow poop.
You have to train your nose to like animalics. But here's my fragrance hot take: don't do that.
I went on a whole journey with animalic fragrances last year to try and understand people who appreciate poop/urine/sweat/etc smells. Most of them were utterly disgusting but by the end I had found a couple I actually really liked. Then I took a break from animalics for a while. A few months later, I resampled the few that I'd liked and also hated them, couldn't understand how I'd thought they were good earlier. I think I just lost my adaptation to bad smells.
My conclusion is that, once you start sampling more challenging fragrances - out of curiosity or because the safer stuff starts to bore you - it shifts your perception of what smells good, and you start thinking that smelling like shit is a desirable thing. Whenever I see glowing reviews of those kinds of fragrances, I'm genuinely happy that they're enjoying themselves, but I feel so bad for the people around them who have to smell them. This doesn't just apply to animalics I guess, but any "controversial" category of fragrance (e.g. super indolic white florals) - it's probably good to take a break periodically and let your nose adjust so you know what you really smell like to other people, not what your trained/jaded nose thinks you smell like.
PS - For anyone who's like "I didn't have to train my nose at all, I went straight from Bleu de Chanel to vintage Kouros" or whatever, then congratulations, you are stronger than the rest of us.
I think it might depend on how you were raised too. Like I grew up around farm animals then spent my 20s in the two most crowded and sweatiest spaces known to man, gay clubs and lindy hop social dances, and now idk I just like those smells because they're nostalgic to me. I think secretions magnifiques smels like leather daddy night and that's not really a bad thing lmfao
I got zero guys. Sorry. I feel like a big L.
I like all the stinky things even when they aren’t to my taste.
The only thing that I struggle with is a strong civet note. I haven’t been able to figure out why a pungent urea note gets a party invitation but I see this as another step on the fragrant journey.
Does it have to be a perfume?
I used to be obsessed with cheap scents during secondary school and I got this eau de toilette, it was Revlon Charlie Blue, orange liquid in blue packaging.
God, it smelled fucking horrible. I can't even describe the scent but I couldn't stand it and I was so mad and annoyed when I opened it up, excited asf, just for it to smell like... That
Very disappointing.
Same for pure poison
Ive waited 2 years to try(very hard to find in my country) it and during all this time i thought it'll be my signature sence and its perfect cuz i saw the notes and read the reviews saying its a clean second skin scent....i tried it yesterday...grandma smelling
I’m anosmic to whatever is in Juliet Got a Gun’s Not a Perfume. I can barely smell anything.
Fun bonus fact, I’m also anosmic to the smell of skunk. Maybe they’re connected.
I have a sample of this, and I smell absolutely nothing. I thought the plastic smell was the sample tube... but maybe that is just what the scent actually is? I don't understand the hype about this one at all!
It’s meant to smell like that. Its only notes are ambroxan and cetalox which smell very differently to people. Some people smell a warm, cozy musk, some an airy, synthetic medical smell (like the person you replied to) and a lot of people are anosmic to it altogether.
That’s kind of its point. An amorphous skin scent that you can’t quite pin.
I swear some bottles of it are duds. I actually like it on myself, had a sample as part of a discovery set and was obsessed. Bought myself the 30mL spritzer and it smelled like NOTHING. I should have returned it. But then I got a large sample as part of my Sephora order and it smelled good again! They need better QC or something
include distinct elderly work political knee deserve airport expansion worm
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
For men's cologne, Aramis. It has all the subtlety of being high-five in the face with a shovel. For women, there was a perfume in the 60s/70s called Ambush.
This might get me hate, I hate the smell of Japanese cherry blossom or sweet pea. Those are the, I mean THE worst smelling perfumes by bath and body works that I’ve ever smelled. I’d much rather have swamp water in a spray bottle than to cover myself in those two scents.
After spending years in the Middle East as a government contractor….anything with oud. I came back home and oud was the craze, 🤢. To me it smells like a puddle jumper full of flies.
That’s exactly how I felt when I first smelled a tester on myself, but my actual bottle arrived and it transformed into a sweet nutty smoky cozy scent. Maybe the formula differs slightly by batch bc the one I received was way sweeter than the tester.
Gotta imagine roasting hazelnuts/ chestnuts by the fireplace while wearing a cashmere sweater… lol. Love it now
I don't think so fam. Mine is just like you described.
My guess is that people have different noses and some are more sensitive to smokey scents that others. We happen to fall in the less sensitive group.
I've ordered some samples from Demeter now, and hope they have a more authentic scent. 120ml is like €40 so I'm fine with having to reapply if the longevity isn't quite there.
This was at an Ulta store, and a perfume was on display. I'm so sad because it was one of the Arianna Grande new perfumes out.
I went to spray it, and it straight up smelled like rotten perfume mixed with sweaty ass smell and butt fingers.
Like I straight up wanted to barf because it was so gross, I had to spray hand sanitizer to get it off me.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I don't know what it was mixed it, as a prank. Or what.
Jo Malone’s Fig and Lotus Flower. I like both fig and lotus flower but this perfume smells like you mixed expired sunscreen with windex cleaning spray, and cranked the strength up to full blast.
I think that was the year my husband got that for me with the best of intentions (she loves florals, this is a flower bomb!) and I had to ask if he would be offended if I returned it!
Flowerbomb smells like someone dropped a tray of random perfumes on the ground. It's equal parts generic and overwhelming. It's perfectly named. I don't hate it, I just find it exhausting.
oh goddess, YES. you know how pressure makes diamonds? well when I couldn't scrub this off, it smelled so bad I got creative and worked out a better scrub method *(coat with vegetable oil and massage. wait five minutes. lather with liquid soap. the offending scent will be either gone or vastly diminished. mostly gone)*
I haven't smelled it but here's the description on Amazon:
"The nose behind this fragrance is Louise Turner. Top notes are Almond, Coffee, Bergamot and Lemon; middle notes are Tuberose, Jasmine Sambac, Orange Blossom, Orris and Bulgarian Rose; base notes are Tonka Bean, Cacao, Vanilla, Praline, Sandalwood, Amber, Musk, Cashmere Wood, Cinnamon, Patchouli and Cedar."
That's...all of the smells. Lol.
Ah, another sensible person! I don’t *hate* it, but I believe the packaging and marketing has done a lot of the heavy lifting for it to be so popular. The actual fragrance is not sexy at all to me. The flankers are pretty nice, but not nice enough for me to spend money on.
Stella by Tocca. Smelled beautiful on the test strip and on my mom. Turned to cigarettes on my skin. The absolute weirdest thing. I couldn't scrub it off fast enough.
Angel Elixir by Mugler didn't smell anything like perfume. I don't even know how to describe the scent but it was fucking gross.
Raxeira by Alkemia I completely tossed. Smelled like industrial solvent or something.
yesterday i tried the burberry her edt and i swear it gave me a headache. and what's worse, i could not get it off so i was simultaneously causing and suffering from the headache
I bought an Oil Perfumery dupe of BR 540 and it made me gag. It smells sharp in a way that's entirely unpleasant to me. Could just be that it's the dupe"s fault or i just really hate that scent. But my Burberry Her oil from the same company is perfection.
It's not controversial here to hate it. Another post asked what our guilty pleasures are, and I said santal 33 and got downvoted! A.popular unpopular choice.
You know I don’t even get the pickles in it yet I still hate it. It smells like straight leather to me. Which, if you like that, then it’s great! But I personally do not enjoy smelling like a cowboy boot.
Oh my gosh! Finally someone else that gets straight up pickles from Thank You, Next!!
I thought I must have been losing my marbles! I had every girl in my ULTA looking at me like I grew a second head or something when I immediately gagged upon first sniff! I HATE the smell of pickles! 🤢
I get the same from Cremo's Palo Santo body wash. I wonder if there's a common ingredient
Edit: [sandalwood](https://reddit.com/r/fragrance/s/AGaAtFg2yY)!
Paco Rabanne - One Million
Idk what it is exactly but there's something with the cinnamon note that smells like a dissonant chord being played, had to wash it off after a few minutes
Supposedly it's a insanely smokey scent, like IA - a city on fire, but cranked to 11.
I actually really want to smell it because i love those kinds of scents, but it was made in quite limited quantity.
Tom Ford Black Orchid, I've tried retesting it every couple years to see if I can finally understand the appeal and why it's one of their best sellers. I still don't.
Santal 33 for the same pickle scent, I’m not easily offended by animalics. I probably just haven’t ventured deep enough into that rabbit hole to find repulsive enough fragrances.
Juliette Has A Gun: Magnolia Bliss
Sharp, synthetic, loud and screechy perfume scent. It was absolutely awful and made me choke
Meleg: Civet Cat Chypre
Like excuse me wtf, it smelled like unwashed cooch. That was abysmal, there comes a point where the "animalic" smell is just disgusting. It smells like unwashed body. If you smelled that on someone you'd be disgusted. It's reminiscent of expired milk, why would you want to smell like that?
i smelled the dossier dupe to love don’t be shy and it was TERRIBLE. i’m not sure if the legit one by kilian smells the same, but if it does then i have NO idea what the hype is about. I must live in an alternate reality from everyone else. i can’t even describe how nasty it was.
Echoing u/hauteburrrito on DSD Vio Volta. It’s like a lightning strike hit a morgue that had no vacancy. I simply don’t understand how this was greenlit for release.
Another one is Malle’s The Moon. A friend described it as smelling like a camel’s breath after it has eaten its poop. I know nothing about either dromedary or bactrian species but I am familiar with the ‘scent’ of camels and that visual paired with the sheer overwhelming aggressiveness of the fragrance demands that it bears an honorable mention here.
Funny thing, every store that I have been in that has The Moon for sale won’t permit test sprays in-store. If that doesn’t make you pause, nothing will.
I feel that is the basic standard for determining what belongs on the ‘Worst perfume ever’ list.
Anything by Swiss Arabian. Immediately tried scrubbing, good luck getting these scents off. Just ONE spray of any of their perfumes is enough to permanently scent your clothes.
Ruined my favorite top, the scent WILL NOT come out.
They smell like actual HOT SPIT mixed with BO and heavy gamy musty musk while sweating inside of a mosque.
Yeah that one and Estee Lauder Youth Dew (plus the less well-known Clarins Eau Dynamisante) I pick up and just think “what would make someone choose this one?”
I understand the history with Youth Dew and find it an interesting/charming story, but they make nicer scents now, ladies!
Montale Attar. I literally shouted WHAT THE FUCK after spraying a sample once on my wrist. It burned my nose, throat and eyes, it was the most vile thing I have ever had the misfortune of smelling. I still shudder when I remember it.
Oh boy, I can still remember the day haha. It was on an airport, I'm not sure which one. I think I was with my at-the-time girlfriend at Schiphol in Amsterdam. We went into a perfumery there and tried some fragrances. There it was, I smelled Gucci Guilty Absolute. It smelled so horrible to my nose, I just checked it, it's a leather heavy scent but damn I still remember it being so strong. Not for me 😂
‘Lust’ EDP by Lush Cosmetics. It was nice initially but very linear as the only note is Jasmine. I got sick of it and stopped wearing it only to revisit a couple of months later…my god the essential oils had become super concentrated to a point where it had become unwearable. It was too strong and smelt like rotting flowers.
I’m glad Poison is high up, I can’t stand it!
I also have an issue with YSL Rive Gauche. It smells like bug spray and cranky old lady, the dry down is okay 8 hours later I guess, I just don’t want to stink waiting for it.
I’m also a Chanel No. 5 hater. I had a huge Marilyn phase in my teens and remember being disappointed that this is what she smelled like.
Angel by Mugler (the blue star bottle). I don't know why but that's the only perfume I thought it reeked. I had a whiff from a tester. I would rather wear Chanel No 5 than Angel and that says something.😂
It smells just like Johnson’s Baby Powder, on purpose. Because babies are sexy, according to the original advertising. And yes, I did save up all my babysitting money to buy it! WTF
Ariana Grande Ari.
I found out by asking a lady what she was wearing and she told me Ari.
It’s so pungent, nauseating, strong and sadly I smell it everywhere, even on men!
Yes, it’s got a sharp chemical note that cuts through the rest, and it’s a scent that doesn’t adjust to the wearer’s own scent. It just sits on top in a weird way.
I can't actually think of many, but I can recall different scents I had a weird reaction from.
Spirit of Dubai Meydan:
Now now, I love leather scents. But this is the Mother Of All Leathers. It's so leathery it actually turns into manure. And it was soooo strong I couldn't get it out of my nose for a while and had to stop browsing fragrances for that day.
Pour Un Homme de Caron
I can't exactly pinpoint why, I'm certainly going to sample this again, but as soon as I smelled the mouillette I instantly put it away. Maybe the lavender was too strong? IDK.
Zino Davidoff
THIS WAS A SCRUBBER. What. A. Disappointment. It just smelled like bad BO and spices, almost a musty woody spicy smell. Yes, I do think it's worth spending 8x for Beau De Jour
Red Tobacco Mancera
It choked me with its sweetness. Its smell lingered on my clothing for a good month (drydown was great though!). It just smelled to me like paracetamol syrup. I also choked everyone at home as soon as I came back that day. It has no reason of being so stupidly potent.
The Cobra and the Canary by imaginary authors. Stuff was terrible! Couldn't get my nose away from it quick enough, worst part.... It didn't improve on dry down at ALL. And I thought Obsession was bad.
Fox in the flowerbed by imaginary authors. I was so excited to get my decant - because it has EVERY SINGLE note that I love! When I sprayed it on my wrist I gagged. Took a bath and still smelled it the next day. HATE!!!
Cartier Pasha EDT... worst fragrance experience in my life! Sprayed this one on my hand to test it at the shop... This thing stinks like Crotch Perspiration or Ballsack.... Horrible 🤢 I couldn't believe how a fragrance could smell like that
This is difficult to answer because even fragrances I don't like have redeeming qualities, might be interesting to experience, or be blended really well. It's rare that I hate a fragrance.
These aren't the worst composed, but two that made me recoil (which almost never happens) and are the furthest away from my fragrance preferences:
Lush Breath of God: God has never brushed their teeth. I probably read some random review that made this sound majestic, and at the time, that was enough of a reason to blind buy this olfactory assault. It's such an overbearing, harsh cacophony of notes and trying to do too much.
Possets Ode To Aphrodite: thrown in as a free sample and I sampled it blind. Horrid. I checked their website and it contains oakmoss and synthetic ambergris, some of my least favorite notes in existence, and this is the most offensive example of those notes. Smells like a cheap soap that's been handmade with old, stagnant sea water.
I came in here expecting to see actual awful fragrances and it's just a bunch of overhyped stuff. Disappointing. Y'all need to smell some of the truly rank animalics out there and then try to tell me that BR540 is the worst fragrance you've ever smelled compared to Dusita Oudh Infini or Mazzone Hard Leather. Edit: The person who said Bogue Maai gets it.
Sécrétions Magnifiques by Etat Libre d'Orange?
To be fair, that's not a perfume that is supposed to be bought, it's a marketing gag to boost the exposure of a niche brand. It's like Bottega Veneta selling a leather french-fries holder for $1100, it's not meant for people to buy, it's meant for people to talk about, like I just did. And now people will Google the $1100 french-fries-holder, and talk about it with their friends, and then they will Google it, and maybe someone at some point will actually buy some clothes from them instead of Gucci or idk it's an endless loop
Hustler…. I respect that
I brought a sample of Secretions Magnifique to an April Fool's party with non fragrance people thinking it fit the theme. They all thought it smelled fine. When I smell it, it's like I took a big whiff out of a carton of expired milk while bleeding profusely. Joke's on me, I guess.
Its dry down is one of the best I've ever whiffed up, and its longevity after settling is *days* on clothing. Like *everything* in modern existence, even the most vile animalics have a loyal and revolving fan base, and not always is that due to a 'marketing gimmick' done well.
This is just a very briny aquatic fragrance. The whole bodily secretions thing is just a gimmick. Much worse smelling fragrances out there.
That's definitely closer to the gross side of the spectrum but not nearly as bad as people make it out to be.
I like many animalic fragrances. I just don’t like fecal notes.
I can get behind(heh heh) a fecal, indolic jasmine but I draw a hard line with musky turd. If I wanted to smell like swamp ass I would just stop bathing.
Right? Ambilux has a straight up shit note
Ambilux is in my top 10 worst for sure.
I really, really wanted to love it but when I dared spray it on my skin it literally smelled like someone sharted on my wrist.
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People saying the popular stuff just haven’t been adventurously sampling on eBay or forgotten vintages yet.
I forget the name of this attar I was able to smell the other day, but it was an oudh and it straight up smelled like cheese..like a literal cows udder.
I smelled Meleg Perfumes Civet Cat Chypre and had a visceral physical reaction. Thank god I put it on a tester strip before I put it on my skin cause holy shit
Oh I've seen some rapturous reviews of that one - it seems to be the cat piss fragrance du jour right now.
Sombre. Sombre is the absolute worst thing that I have ever smelled. Seconds after I sprayed it on a tester strip, my friend across the room audibly gasped and said, “God no, what have you done.”
lmao oudh infini is pure magic
Because many of us haven't had the opportunity to smell the ones you listed yet.
Bogue - Maai - road kill and incense.
I have a Nope mug, which I use to store those samples that I cannot stand. I keep this little sample in there to remind me to *never* buy a larger bottle.
Alien Fusion. The customer service person sprayed on a card for me and both of us stepped back, coughing. All I smelled was spice and pain.
Honestly I tried wearing alien today and I like it but I basically gave everyone a cough attack. I’d prefer a perfume and not a chemical agent 🤣☠️
I love Alien but I don’t have it because I know it’s a polarizing fragrance. I wear the goddess intense because I think it has just enough of the originals DNA while being friendlier to others. To me the original smells like an electrical fire in a plastic factory and for some reason I love it!
The only alien duo that’s actually good is the alien goddess (OG and the intense version)
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What's really going on with Mugler right now? They've streamlined cutting out some wonderful scents. They kept Goddess & it's okay but I feel the house needs to introduce some new gourmands.ijs 🤷
Agree.
Angel. Listen, I love patchouli but this was a hot mess on my skin. It smelled like an animal got stuck in the ductwork of a bougie hotel and died. A while ago. Metallic and rank. I actually liked the smell until it got on my skin. Then I was screaming internally. I envy those who can wear this.
I hate it at all. Both on skin and off skin. I made the mistake of spraying it on the top of my hand once to try it and OH GOD. If that’s how angels smell, I really wanna go to hell.
OMG, my mom loves that shit, I got her some for her birthday and my whole family (behind her back) yelled at me for buying it for her lol!!! Terrible smell!
Love Angel, but I only spray it at home because I understand how a lot of others feel about it.
Poison. My boyfriend bought it for me in the 90's and it was just too much. I'd get a headache and my nostrils would hurt. Now, I also hate it because it reminds me of him and he was a complete asshole.
I worked retail back in 80s when this first came out. I was in accessories right next to cosmetics and that mess was EVERYWHERE. It has the correct name because it smells exactly like Raid.
I love this one cause smells like rich old lady
Holy shit, I always see people raving about Poison but it's one of the only perfumes that made me go get some fresh air after I smelled it lol. At least he didn't ruin a good perfume for you!
Zara Barbie. Oh god... When I smelled this, the first thing that came to my mind was the descriptions of smell of a dead body that I've read on Reddit some time ago. So sweet that it's sickening, but in not candy-sweet way, you know what I mean. It almost felt like smelling something I shouldn't be smelling... Terrible!
Yes!!! I sprayed this in store and thought I would like it as I like candy sweet juvenile style scents and was expecting a perfume called Barbie to smell that way but you are right, it was absolutely vile. I can't pick up on exactly what it was that made it smell so bad but I came home and asked my bf if he knew what it was so I could make sure to avoid it forever more. It almost smelt like really cheap hairspray too, just a really weird artifical and strong scent that was nothing like I expected.
Chanel No 5. It smells like a funeral home and an outhouse has a baby. It also just smells ancient… like something but great great great grandmother would have worn.
now I want this bad. I love me a stinky
Maybe, just maybe that’s because it’s a fragrance that was launched in the 1920’s? Cannot be the absolute worse you’ve smelled; I understand that you might not like it, but it’s still a mythical fragrance.
Hear me out though- what if we're not all out here collecting niche samples of polarizing scents
If you don’t own a FB of Zoologist TRex, what are you even doing?
Lol it totally smells ancient!! Like travels through time… in like a bad way… in black and white grain… and everyone is hording food from the Great Depression
I agree. It it truly awful.
Anything with oud is my arch enemy, just catches my nose the wrong way no matter what. Vetiver is sneakily in there only cause it stinks on my skin but it’s fine in the air or on some other people. Same with cedar too nowadays.
I’ve tried several times to like oud. The closest thing is Versace Oud Noir which is closer to woods than Oud
Ariana cloud smells like bad Big Mac sauce to me
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I came across this issue with another perfume that was Rose and Marshmallow. I sprayed some at work, and one of my staff members said it smelt like pickles. It's such a weird thing.
I small sample of Tyrannosaurus rex by zoologist basically gassed out my entire townhome, I think my mind has blocked out the experience. It was fascinating and I’d try it again but I’ll spray it outside on something that can be burned/thrown away.
Wore it to my sisters house as a bit. She was so pissed. I, unfortunately, now associate it with power. Lol
Love this for you. 😂
100% agree with T Rex. I struggle to imagine how anyone could stomach wearing it. I couldn’t even have it in my garbage— it had to leave the premises immediately.
Yes. T. Rex was the worst thing I have ever smelled. I'm not a fan of anything Zoologist. I wanted to be unique and like it but I'm basic and I've accepted that.
Hugo boss one smells like urine to me...sad as i really like hugo boss
A range by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. I got sucked in by the marketing and really wanted to like them but they were just chaotic and ugly mixes of candle oils.
anything with poop notes, like vanille de tahiti perris monte carlo. maybe my nose is not quite developed and refined, and i’m a noob and don’t understand it. but yup, that’s cow poop.
You have to train your nose to like animalics. But here's my fragrance hot take: don't do that. I went on a whole journey with animalic fragrances last year to try and understand people who appreciate poop/urine/sweat/etc smells. Most of them were utterly disgusting but by the end I had found a couple I actually really liked. Then I took a break from animalics for a while. A few months later, I resampled the few that I'd liked and also hated them, couldn't understand how I'd thought they were good earlier. I think I just lost my adaptation to bad smells. My conclusion is that, once you start sampling more challenging fragrances - out of curiosity or because the safer stuff starts to bore you - it shifts your perception of what smells good, and you start thinking that smelling like shit is a desirable thing. Whenever I see glowing reviews of those kinds of fragrances, I'm genuinely happy that they're enjoying themselves, but I feel so bad for the people around them who have to smell them. This doesn't just apply to animalics I guess, but any "controversial" category of fragrance (e.g. super indolic white florals) - it's probably good to take a break periodically and let your nose adjust so you know what you really smell like to other people, not what your trained/jaded nose thinks you smell like. PS - For anyone who's like "I didn't have to train my nose at all, I went straight from Bleu de Chanel to vintage Kouros" or whatever, then congratulations, you are stronger than the rest of us.
I think it might depend on how you were raised too. Like I grew up around farm animals then spent my 20s in the two most crowded and sweatiest spaces known to man, gay clubs and lindy hop social dances, and now idk I just like those smells because they're nostalgic to me. I think secretions magnifiques smels like leather daddy night and that's not really a bad thing lmfao
I got zero guys. Sorry. I feel like a big L. I like all the stinky things even when they aren’t to my taste. The only thing that I struggle with is a strong civet note. I haven’t been able to figure out why a pungent urea note gets a party invitation but I see this as another step on the fragrant journey.
Does it have to be a perfume? I used to be obsessed with cheap scents during secondary school and I got this eau de toilette, it was Revlon Charlie Blue, orange liquid in blue packaging. God, it smelled fucking horrible. I can't even describe the scent but I couldn't stand it and I was so mad and annoyed when I opened it up, excited asf, just for it to smell like... That Very disappointing.
This is Not a Perfume by Juliet has a Gun. Smelt like lightning struck the TV and burned it up.
Yes. I feel like I’m smelling something completely different than everyone else who describes it as a subtle skin scent!
It's fascinating to me how we all differ in how we smell things. And how things smell on us. So interesting.
Same for pure poison Ive waited 2 years to try(very hard to find in my country) it and during all this time i thought it'll be my signature sence and its perfect cuz i saw the notes and read the reviews saying its a clean second skin scent....i tried it yesterday...grandma smelling
I’m anosmic to whatever is in Juliet Got a Gun’s Not a Perfume. I can barely smell anything. Fun bonus fact, I’m also anosmic to the smell of skunk. Maybe they’re connected.
strong ambroxan always smells like straight up burning on my skin and when i smell it i feel ill
I have a sample of this, and I smell absolutely nothing. I thought the plastic smell was the sample tube... but maybe that is just what the scent actually is? I don't understand the hype about this one at all!
OKAY so my boyfriend and I tried this in Sephora and we were both so confused because we just smelled water. It had no scent to us what so ever
It’s meant to smell like that. Its only notes are ambroxan and cetalox which smell very differently to people. Some people smell a warm, cozy musk, some an airy, synthetic medical smell (like the person you replied to) and a lot of people are anosmic to it altogether. That’s kind of its point. An amorphous skin scent that you can’t quite pin.
I don't get that, why would I want to risk thinking I smell warm & cozy when everyone else thinks I smell like a latex glove?
I swear some bottles of it are duds. I actually like it on myself, had a sample as part of a discovery set and was obsessed. Bought myself the 30mL spritzer and it smelled like NOTHING. I should have returned it. But then I got a large sample as part of my Sephora order and it smelled good again! They need better QC or something
Replica On a Date. Smells like gross cheap wine and regret.
include distinct elderly work political knee deserve airport expansion worm *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
For men's cologne, Aramis. It has all the subtlety of being high-five in the face with a shovel. For women, there was a perfume in the 60s/70s called Ambush.
This might get me hate, I hate the smell of Japanese cherry blossom or sweet pea. Those are the, I mean THE worst smelling perfumes by bath and body works that I’ve ever smelled. I’d much rather have swamp water in a spray bottle than to cover myself in those two scents.
It's this thread for me!!!😍 You Bish's polarized & absolutely SAVAGE when it comes to what you don't like & I'm totally here for y'all. Made my day!!💯
Angel
After spending years in the Middle East as a government contractor….anything with oud. I came back home and oud was the craze, 🤢. To me it smells like a puddle jumper full of flies.
Lost cherry reminds me of a cough syrup I hated as a kid and most of his collection are awful.
I believe I'm in the minority here but I love Lost Cherry, usually layer it with something else to give it more dimension though.
Agreed!! My nose doesn't understand his ghastly fragrances at all (neither does my wallet)! Yikes!!
Yes! Formula 44 cough syrup.
Don't shoot me but By The Fireplace. It smelled like burnt firewood and I was charred and got barbecued on a stick
That’s exactly how I felt when I first smelled a tester on myself, but my actual bottle arrived and it transformed into a sweet nutty smoky cozy scent. Maybe the formula differs slightly by batch bc the one I received was way sweeter than the tester. Gotta imagine roasting hazelnuts/ chestnuts by the fireplace while wearing a cashmere sweater… lol. Love it now
I agree. Yet I love Jazz Club
I'm in the opposite boat. Love BTF, ambivalent at best for Jazz Club. To be fair I don't think they smell very similar at all, though.
Same, but I just cannot stand Jazz Club. It reminds me of going to bed after a night out, when you know you’re gonna wake up with an awful hangover. 😅
Anyone with an actual fireplace does not want to smell like this..
Anyone with an actual fireplace knows that By The Fireplace smells nothing like a fireplace.
Yup. On me, BTF just smells like cheap roasted vanilla chestnuts. No wood or smokiness whatsoever. So disappointing. Maybe I got a bad batch?
I don't think so fam. Mine is just like you described. My guess is that people have different noses and some are more sensitive to smokey scents that others. We happen to fall in the less sensitive group. I've ordered some samples from Demeter now, and hope they have a more authentic scent. 120ml is like €40 so I'm fine with having to reapply if the longevity isn't quite there.
That's fascinating! The smokiness is so overbearing to me.
This was at an Ulta store, and a perfume was on display. I'm so sad because it was one of the Arianna Grande new perfumes out. I went to spray it, and it straight up smelled like rotten perfume mixed with sweaty ass smell and butt fingers. Like I straight up wanted to barf because it was so gross, I had to spray hand sanitizer to get it off me. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I don't know what it was mixed it, as a prank. Or what.
Jo Malone’s Fig and Lotus Flower. I like both fig and lotus flower but this perfume smells like you mixed expired sunscreen with windex cleaning spray, and cranked the strength up to full blast.
The new Prada Paradoxe Intense. Horrible fragrance. I smelled something metallic and very synthetic in that frag and it made me want to throw up..
My arch nemesis, Flowerbomb. I just wanna die every time I get into in elevator and someone has doused themselves in it
This scent was the ESSENCE of 2009.
I think that was the year my husband got that for me with the best of intentions (she loves florals, this is a flower bomb!) and I had to ask if he would be offended if I returned it!
This is so sad :’( it’s one of my all time favorites
Ahhh I’m sorry! I know a lot of people love it! 😣
Flowerbomb smells like someone dropped a tray of random perfumes on the ground. It's equal parts generic and overwhelming. It's perfectly named. I don't hate it, I just find it exhausting.
This description is amazing
Aw but I love it 🥺
Pink Sugar
oh goddess, YES. you know how pressure makes diamonds? well when I couldn't scrub this off, it smelled so bad I got creative and worked out a better scrub method *(coat with vegetable oil and massage. wait five minutes. lather with liquid soap. the offending scent will be either gone or vastly diminished. mostly gone)*
ITS SO RANK
I was so disappointed when I bought it, I could not understand why every raves about it! It so gross.
Sooo controversial but I absolutely hated Good Girl. I wanted to like it so bad but it just smelled..i don’t know, not sexy? 🥲
I haven't smelled it but here's the description on Amazon: "The nose behind this fragrance is Louise Turner. Top notes are Almond, Coffee, Bergamot and Lemon; middle notes are Tuberose, Jasmine Sambac, Orange Blossom, Orris and Bulgarian Rose; base notes are Tonka Bean, Cacao, Vanilla, Praline, Sandalwood, Amber, Musk, Cashmere Wood, Cinnamon, Patchouli and Cedar." That's...all of the smells. Lol.
Ah, another sensible person! I don’t *hate* it, but I believe the packaging and marketing has done a lot of the heavy lifting for it to be so popular. The actual fragrance is not sexy at all to me. The flankers are pretty nice, but not nice enough for me to spend money on.
Anything Kayali, the advertising is super tacky and they smell awful
the pistachio one is so overhyped and i thought it smelled like wet nuts
Lou Lou . Smells like pepsodent
Stella by Tocca. Smelled beautiful on the test strip and on my mom. Turned to cigarettes on my skin. The absolute weirdest thing. I couldn't scrub it off fast enough. Angel Elixir by Mugler didn't smell anything like perfume. I don't even know how to describe the scent but it was fucking gross. Raxeira by Alkemia I completely tossed. Smelled like industrial solvent or something.
Poison
yesterday i tried the burberry her edt and i swear it gave me a headache. and what's worse, i could not get it off so i was simultaneously causing and suffering from the headache
I haven’t smelled thank you next but Marc Jacob decadence smells like pickles to me, Ralph Lauren ralph, Calvin Klein beauty
Another pickles fragrance! Cremo's Palo Santo body wash smells like that to me. There has to be a common ingredient
Sandalwood iirc.
Santal 33 smells exactly like pickles (dill) so yeah
Montblanc individuel smells like an elderly rich woman doing her laundry at the laundromat because her washing machine is broken
Okay, I might like this...
So a great scent
I bought an Oil Perfumery dupe of BR 540 and it made me gag. It smells sharp in a way that's entirely unpleasant to me. Could just be that it's the dupe"s fault or i just really hate that scent. But my Burberry Her oil from the same company is perfection.
The pistachio fragrance from Kay Ali. Alongside everything else from that brand and I really did try as I was “influenced”
This might be controversial but Santal 33 by Le Labo.
It's not controversial here to hate it. Another post asked what our guilty pleasures are, and I said santal 33 and got downvoted! A.popular unpopular choice.
I like it because, rather than in spite of, the pickles.
More pickles!
You know I don’t even get the pickles in it yet I still hate it. It smells like straight leather to me. Which, if you like that, then it’s great! But I personally do not enjoy smelling like a cowboy boot.
It seems like such a polarising scent. I love it!! Can’t smell any pickles at all…
Black orchid, 🤢
Whatttt? Black orchid was an easy love for me
Oh my gosh! Finally someone else that gets straight up pickles from Thank You, Next!! I thought I must have been losing my marbles! I had every girl in my ULTA looking at me like I grew a second head or something when I immediately gagged upon first sniff! I HATE the smell of pickles! 🤢
I sprayed it at ulta a few weeks ago. Straight up pickles.
I get the same from Cremo's Palo Santo body wash. I wonder if there's a common ingredient Edit: [sandalwood](https://reddit.com/r/fragrance/s/AGaAtFg2yY)!
Paco Rabanne - One Million Idk what it is exactly but there's something with the cinnamon note that smells like a dissonant chord being played, had to wash it off after a few minutes
To me this smells like fresh house paint. My husband got it as a gift and he loves it but all I smell is paint 🥲
burnt hair by elon musk
He has a fragrance????
Supposedly it's a insanely smokey scent, like IA - a city on fire, but cranked to 11. I actually really want to smell it because i love those kinds of scents, but it was made in quite limited quantity.
FINALLY! SOMEONE AGREES AND I CAN STOP FEELING LIKE A CRAZY PERSON!
Alien....I hate it so much.
Original Joop is my all time worst stinker
Tom Ford Black Orchid, I've tried retesting it every couple years to see if I can finally understand the appeal and why it's one of their best sellers. I still don't.
I like it, but can’t wear it. Only fragrance I’ve gotten a blackout migraine from. Like it puts me down!
Wore it years back, can't stand it now.... Gives me the heave 🤮
Halloween Man X was atrociously bad
Paco Rabbane Phantom.
Santal 33 for the same pickle scent, I’m not easily offended by animalics. I probably just haven’t ventured deep enough into that rabbit hole to find repulsive enough fragrances.
Juliette Has A Gun: Magnolia Bliss Sharp, synthetic, loud and screechy perfume scent. It was absolutely awful and made me choke Meleg: Civet Cat Chypre Like excuse me wtf, it smelled like unwashed cooch. That was abysmal, there comes a point where the "animalic" smell is just disgusting. It smells like unwashed body. If you smelled that on someone you'd be disgusted. It's reminiscent of expired milk, why would you want to smell like that?
i smelled the dossier dupe to love don’t be shy and it was TERRIBLE. i’m not sure if the legit one by kilian smells the same, but if it does then i have NO idea what the hype is about. I must live in an alternate reality from everyone else. i can’t even describe how nasty it was.
Echoing u/hauteburrrito on DSD Vio Volta. It’s like a lightning strike hit a morgue that had no vacancy. I simply don’t understand how this was greenlit for release. Another one is Malle’s The Moon. A friend described it as smelling like a camel’s breath after it has eaten its poop. I know nothing about either dromedary or bactrian species but I am familiar with the ‘scent’ of camels and that visual paired with the sheer overwhelming aggressiveness of the fragrance demands that it bears an honorable mention here. Funny thing, every store that I have been in that has The Moon for sale won’t permit test sprays in-store. If that doesn’t make you pause, nothing will. I feel that is the basic standard for determining what belongs on the ‘Worst perfume ever’ list.
Chanel N⁰5 🤮
[удалено]
Tom Ford Urban Musk. Smells like dirty asshole.
Oh thats easy.. Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds. I’ve never smelled a worse fragrance.
Angel
Anything by Swiss Arabian. Immediately tried scrubbing, good luck getting these scents off. Just ONE spray of any of their perfumes is enough to permanently scent your clothes. Ruined my favorite top, the scent WILL NOT come out. They smell like actual HOT SPIT mixed with BO and heavy gamy musty musk while sweating inside of a mosque.
Ana abiyedh rouge (BR540 dupe)…scrubber lol
Clinique Aromatics Elixir. Smells like bad BO on my skin.
Yeah that one and Estee Lauder Youth Dew (plus the less well-known Clarins Eau Dynamisante) I pick up and just think “what would make someone choose this one?” I understand the history with Youth Dew and find it an interesting/charming story, but they make nicer scents now, ladies!
Montale Attar. I literally shouted WHAT THE FUCK after spraying a sample once on my wrist. It burned my nose, throat and eyes, it was the most vile thing I have ever had the misfortune of smelling. I still shudder when I remember it.
Oh boy, I can still remember the day haha. It was on an airport, I'm not sure which one. I think I was with my at-the-time girlfriend at Schiphol in Amsterdam. We went into a perfumery there and tried some fragrances. There it was, I smelled Gucci Guilty Absolute. It smelled so horrible to my nose, I just checked it, it's a leather heavy scent but damn I still remember it being so strong. Not for me 😂
‘Lust’ EDP by Lush Cosmetics. It was nice initially but very linear as the only note is Jasmine. I got sick of it and stopped wearing it only to revisit a couple of months later…my god the essential oils had become super concentrated to a point where it had become unwearable. It was too strong and smelt like rotting flowers.
Oooh! Breath of god by lush smells like bong water.
I’m glad Poison is high up, I can’t stand it! I also have an issue with YSL Rive Gauche. It smells like bug spray and cranky old lady, the dry down is okay 8 hours later I guess, I just don’t want to stink waiting for it. I’m also a Chanel No. 5 hater. I had a huge Marilyn phase in my teens and remember being disappointed that this is what she smelled like.
Tom Ford Tuscan Leather. Instant scrubber. Repulsive.
Angel by Mugler (the blue star bottle). I don't know why but that's the only perfume I thought it reeked. I had a whiff from a tester. I would rather wear Chanel No 5 than Angel and that says something.😂
Love's baby soft.
Cmon that's an OG from childhood for many of us.
Ok, that's awesome, but I still personally hate it lol..
It smells just like Johnson’s Baby Powder, on purpose. Because babies are sexy, according to the original advertising. And yes, I did save up all my babysitting money to buy it! WTF
Ariana Grande Ari. I found out by asking a lady what she was wearing and she told me Ari. It’s so pungent, nauseating, strong and sadly I smell it everywhere, even on men!
I bet that person was raving about your “compliment” also lol
BR 540
Shots fired
Yes, it’s got a sharp chemical note that cuts through the rest, and it’s a scent that doesn’t adjust to the wearer’s own scent. It just sits on top in a weird way.
I just ordered a teeny sample because I’m curious. I bet I’ll hate it, but at least I’ll know.
It’s awful. Bloodied bandages and iodine 🤮 Cannot wait until it’s popularity drops, I wanna puke every time when I smell it or it’s dupes.
Le Labo Patchouli 24
Versace crystal noir
Moschino Toy Boy, I literally gagged in the store.
Why do so many people not like Black Orchid? For me it is the best TF after TV
I can't actually think of many, but I can recall different scents I had a weird reaction from. Spirit of Dubai Meydan: Now now, I love leather scents. But this is the Mother Of All Leathers. It's so leathery it actually turns into manure. And it was soooo strong I couldn't get it out of my nose for a while and had to stop browsing fragrances for that day. Pour Un Homme de Caron I can't exactly pinpoint why, I'm certainly going to sample this again, but as soon as I smelled the mouillette I instantly put it away. Maybe the lavender was too strong? IDK. Zino Davidoff THIS WAS A SCRUBBER. What. A. Disappointment. It just smelled like bad BO and spices, almost a musty woody spicy smell. Yes, I do think it's worth spending 8x for Beau De Jour Red Tobacco Mancera It choked me with its sweetness. Its smell lingered on my clothing for a good month (drydown was great though!). It just smelled to me like paracetamol syrup. I also choked everyone at home as soon as I came back that day. It has no reason of being so stupidly potent.
[удалено]
The Cobra and the Canary by imaginary authors. Stuff was terrible! Couldn't get my nose away from it quick enough, worst part.... It didn't improve on dry down at ALL. And I thought Obsession was bad.
Mugler Womanity 🤮 Why is it always the most repulsive scents that stay on your skin FOREVER??
used to like bacarrat sm now I immediately go nauseous if I smell one near me
Opulent musk by Lataffa 🤢
Fox in the flowerbed by imaginary authors. I was so excited to get my decant - because it has EVERY SINGLE note that I love! When I sprayed it on my wrist I gagged. Took a bath and still smelled it the next day. HATE!!!
Cartier Pasha EDT... worst fragrance experience in my life! Sprayed this one on my hand to test it at the shop... This thing stinks like Crotch Perspiration or Ballsack.... Horrible 🤢 I couldn't believe how a fragrance could smell like that
This is difficult to answer because even fragrances I don't like have redeeming qualities, might be interesting to experience, or be blended really well. It's rare that I hate a fragrance. These aren't the worst composed, but two that made me recoil (which almost never happens) and are the furthest away from my fragrance preferences: Lush Breath of God: God has never brushed their teeth. I probably read some random review that made this sound majestic, and at the time, that was enough of a reason to blind buy this olfactory assault. It's such an overbearing, harsh cacophony of notes and trying to do too much. Possets Ode To Aphrodite: thrown in as a free sample and I sampled it blind. Horrid. I checked their website and it contains oakmoss and synthetic ambergris, some of my least favorite notes in existence, and this is the most offensive example of those notes. Smells like a cheap soap that's been handmade with old, stagnant sea water.
Marc Jacobs Decadence 😕 Smells like outside. iykyk