I was reading about Old Spice on another site and something that got brought up a few times was that it didn't mix well with their body. I think it's subjective, but I don't know. I don't see how a scent that smells just the same for everyone else could make someone smell so badly or strange. But I'm no chemist. Opinions?
Old Spice smells pretty good to me in the bottle but when I put it on, all I smell is cinnamon. That's not one of my favorite scents so I don't use it much. I did try mixing it with Master Bay Rum and that made it better so when I use it I mix those two. Not sure if that's a body chemistry thing or just my nose though.
Yea, your body can have a strong effect on fragrances. I get along really well with most old school scents. Designer fragrances often leave me smelling of ammonia or chemical solvents. It's really strange.
Several factors are involved in scent perception and results. Our body chemistry (and odor) and how we perceive smells. VERY subjective territory! This is one of the reasons I hesitate to recommend aftershaves to others as I know little of how they perceive scents (some here actually enjoy the fragrance of The Veg!) or how others around them react to them. I've seen many recommend Clubman (the regular, not the Vegetal)) as a 'classic' aftershave, and although I'm not a big fan of the scent myself, I can tolerate it. MY wife, however, can't abide the scent so, needless to say, more than just MY nose comes into my choice of aftershaves. I have an aftershave that I'm not crazy about (Grey Flannel), but my wife absolutely loves the way it smells when I wear it. So I wear it.
Being a reincarnated Hungarian Cavalryman, The Veg is a natural with my body chemistry. I think it would be even better if I owned a horse.
I like the Veg, Original Clubman, VI Bay Rum, Old Spice, Aqua Velva...etc Most musks I can't tolerate however.
Some of it can be do to how dry or oily a person's skin is. The dryer your skin the more it absorbs the different oils that make up a fragrance and less like it is to 'let them go' again. If a scent contains, for example, only a little bit of sandalwood essential oil to help round out a much heavier dose of vanilla oils at its base, and your skin doesn't 'release' any of that sandalwood, then on your skin it may smell purely like vanilla... whereas on someone else whose skin isn't as dry, the full complexity of the fragrance will be released/smelled. Also, your skin is full of oils that help keep your skin healthy and hydrated. These oils - and the microbes within them - are unique to each of us. (Wired article with more of the science behind it.) When you sweat, your skin is further covered in oils - often with scents affected by what you eat. (Ever sit next to someone on the bus on a hot day only to 'realize' they ate way too much garlic, or drank too much alcohol the night before?) Oils bond with other oils, so the fragrance oils will mix with the oils on your skin. Sometimes this can change the scent profile enough to actually be noticeable.
Scents are very closely linked to memories, both good and bad. I think this is one reason why scents are so subjective to the individual. The second reason, IMHO, is that everyone' personal body odor is different. Finally, scent detection works on a sense of change. For example, if you burn sandalwood incense in your house all day and night before shaving with a Sandalwood scented soap and using a Sandalwood based cologne, you probably will never notice the cologne, although lots of other people will. Yes, I agree, it would be better if you owned a horse. If I owned a horse, I would definitely buy the Veg. Of course, I would buy it to use on the horse.
And this is why I make my husband's colognes. He never wears any scent that either of us hates. (I do not insist he wear anything he dislikes, because I like it. It's a con-scents-us.)
I was told by a master perfumer, one of the few in the United States, that if a person wanted to experience the perfumer's original intent/idea behind the fragrance to use a Sandalwood body spray on the area you will be applying the fragrance. The spray would put down a blocking layer between your skin and the fragrance. When I asked him "why Sandalwood?" He explained that it was the most common base note in men's fragrance (and in case you are wondering, rose is the most common for women). One of his pet peeves is seeing a person apply fragrance to one wrist, rub both their wrists together, then sniff. He explained "when a person does that, their natural skin oils cover and block the scent of the perfume."
And the laugh face topped it off . Hey, I just received my Wm.(Bill)Neumann samples. They do smell quite nice! In future SOTD's you'll see when I use them and my comments.
