Sometimes less is best

I'm a little bit obsessed by fragrances and always have been. Although I wear fragrances hoping that others will find them wonderful, I mostly wear them because I like the way they smell throughout the day. And I've noticed a trend among a lot of artisans who make shaving fragrances. They think that ten ingredients are better than three, and twenty ingredients are better than ten.

The result is usually an olfactory jumble. You can, for example, use lime as the dominant note. But when you add frankincense, cedar, patchouli, vanilla, musk, tobacco, mint, and bergamot you get a result that might smell pleasant enough but like nothing in particular. It's like cooking. A marinara, for example, is best when limited to tomatoes, garlic judiciously used, a little salt, maybe a pinch of sugar, and fresh basil. Add nutmeg, tarragon, marjoram, etc. and you come up with a confused mess.

So I'm curious: of the artisan scents you like, which are your favorites? What are the chief notes you like, e.g., vanilla, clove, mint, etc.

I'm a little bit obsessed by fragrances and always have been. Although I wear fragrances hoping that others will find them wonderful, I mostly wear them because I like the way they smell throughout the day. And I've noticed a trend among a lot of artisans who make shaving fragrances. They think that ten ingredients are better than three, and twenty ingredients are better than ten.

The result is usually an olfactory jumble. You can, for example, use lime as the dominant note. But when you add frankincense, cedar, patchouli, vanilla, musk, tobacco, mint, and bergamot you get a result that might smell pleasant enough but like nothing in particular. It's like cooking. A marinara, for example, is best when limited to tomatoes, garlic judiciously used, a little salt, maybe a pinch of sugar, and fresh basil. Add nutmeg, tarragon, marjoram, etc. and you come up with a confused mess.

So I'm curious: of the artisan scents you like, which are your favorites? What are the chief notes you like, e.g., vanilla, clove, mint, etc.

Plus with all the allergies out there you still want to keep the peace when you are around groups of people.

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I love the scents of many shaving soaps, but rarely wear any type of aftershave, cologne , EDT or EDP. I am retired now, but rarely used such fragrances since I was a teenager and fragrances such as English Leather by MEM, Shulton Old Spice, Faberge' Brut, and English Sterling by Speidel (the watch and jewelry maker), Jade East, and Hai Karate were in fashion. Modern day versions of these classics pale in comparison to the originals. Don't get me started on current fragrances popular with youth such as AXE and modern Old Spice body sprays that contain all kinds of synthetic ingredients.

I have over 200 soaps in my shave den ranging from the citronella aroma of Arko to some very sophisticated scents produced from essential oils and hydrosols. Scents are a very personal thing as they are affected by your nose sensitivity as well as the natural aroma of your body. Personally, I like very complex, well blended scents where my nose struggles to pick out individual scent notes, but the overall accord is wonderful. My skin is quite sensitive to many common scent notes such as lemon, lime, grapefruit, mint, menthol, cinnamon, clove and perhaps others. I can tolerate fragrances in which these scent notes comprise a very low percentage of the overall scent. Simple fragrances containing any of these ingredients can cause me grief.

Fragrances are often categorized using the fragrance wheel developed by Michael Edwards. In that wheel, most fragrances fall into the major categories of woody, amber, florals, and fresh. Each of those major categories has subcategories. However, there are some fragrances that combine scents from several of these groups and do not fall cleanly into either of them. The classic masculine fragrance category Fougere' is such a fragrance. Fougere is the French word for Fern, which would seeming make it a Fresh Green fragrance. However, Fougere combines lavender from the floral group, oakmoss from the Fresh Green group, and Coumarin from the Amber Spicy group. Most popular Fougere fragrances are Aromatic Fougeres that also include other scent notes such as bergamot, geranium, rose, vetiver, and woody notes. Faberge Brut, and Pinaud Clubman are classic aromatic fougeres as are more modern fragrances like Darkar Noir, Dolce & Gabbana Pour Homme, Calvin Klein Eternity for Men, and Polo Blue by Ralph Lauren, among many others.

In addition to Aromatic Fougeres, I also tend to like Amber Spicy and Amber Woody fragrances. Cheaper soaps tend to have either very simple fragrances comprised of synthetic fragrance chemical. Mid-priced soaps are often "dupes" of popular perfumes made with inexpensive ingredients. More expensive soaps tend to be custom blended using high quality ingredients. Those are the ones I like.