Annoyance at current trends in women's fragrances

[Starblind]

I often feel like such an outlier when it comes to "female" fragrances since I have no interest in soliflores or gourmands or sweet stuff. I also tend to like citruses and chypres and animalics--the kind of stuff that often gets labelled as "masculine" or (according to Luca Turin) "dykey." For example, I'm currently in love with Eau d'Hermes, and if my husband didn't complain so vociferously, I'd also wear the hell out of Bel Ami and Yatagan.

The only traditionally feminine-labelled fragrances I love are Cuir de Russie, Mitsouko, and Vol de Nuit, and these three aren't really all that "feminine." This means that the vast majority of female-oriented perfumes are out of my interest range. :-(

 

[ascentofdreams]

I get the Olfactif subscription and their feminine choices are like 95% gourmands and sweet florals. So frustrating Because I had subscribed years ago and they used to have much more balanced selections. I wrote to offer suggestion of some variation and their response was, well why don’t you order the masculine one? Do I need to? Why the assumption that all women want to smell like they’re dusted in sugar?

 

[Jonusx]

I'm glad this thread exists. Trying to find a perfume for my wife that we both like is so difficult. Unless we want to spend big money, everything smells like bright happy flowers or pure sugar.

Recently i bought her the new Bare fragrance from VS, and it's pretty nice, very warm and dark, close to the Dark Flora body spray they discontinued a number of years ago. I recommend it.

But what we really want is something even warmer, darker, and with some animalic notes. A heady feminine chypre, something like a Devin for women, or something very cedary-sandalwoody, but feminine. It's hard to find.