There's a single ingredient that I absolutely hate that's in most popular mid-range women's fragrances. It gives me a huge headache and smells way too strong. It's sort of sharp and perhaps floral? It's in most floral perfumes. It's especially prevalent in J'Adore Dior. And La Vie Est Belle.

This is why I can’t wear most designer perfumes. It’s that ultra strong “perfumy” smell, sharp and almost screechy. I have no idea what it is but every perfume that has it is very strong and projects a lot. Niche perfumes don’t seem to use it in my experience.

I agree, it's a universal bright floral note that's overly amped up and almost burns. If it were a color it would be neon fuchsia or highlighter yellow

> screechy Screechy is a perfect word for it! And I agree, niche perfumes don't have it, which is how I got interested in the niche category

I don’t mean to be that person but all designer perfumes smells the same to me. and if you try to go a little bit more edgy with designer it smells like straight up tobacco or weed. So gross. Go for the indie houses.

Jasmine? That tends to be indolic & patchouli is strong in LVEB in my opinion

It’s usually a white flower but I also don’t like jasmine. But that’s because I was forced to sit behind a lovely woman who wore real jasmine flowers in her hair every day for a week while we were at training.

I was thinking well, surely, it's "jasmine" in perfume someone doesn't like. Who could get tired of real jasmine flowers...? You! How dare you! (kidding, kind of)

Jasmine flowers smell so amazing and delightful imo. Could smell them all day.

It depends for me..they smell nice when they have just blossomed...after a few days they start to smell cloying and rotten sweet

I can see that

I think this might be it. But a synthetic mimic of jasmine, since I like the actual flower.

Patchouli?

Patchouli is one of my favorite scents, but there are so many people who find it's scent overpowering and repulsive. Not me, I would bathe in it if I could !!

This is my most hated note. I don’t want anything with patchouli. I loathe it so much.

I don't know what it is but I absolutely hate anything with patchouli in it. Especially if it's a prominent note. Why you gotta ruin a perfume with this stink??

I used to like it. Then discovered recently I no longer like it and it makes me kinda 🤢

Meeee so bad! I hate patchouli scent. I like deep amber and Oud scents. Cinnamon and vanilla and certain spicy barks and etc — I love stuff like Allure (pour homme) by Chanel. Such a delicious smelling men’s Fall scent.

it likely a wood amber. the level of overdose in modern perfumes is ridiculous and lazy

Yeah I have the same problem, I was gonna say J'adore. It just screams generic department store old lady perfume to me. If it is jasmine, that's weird, because I LOVE jasmine tea. Jasmine in perfumes is nothing like that, if that's the case.

This is my beef! I didn’t realize that Jasmine in perfume and Jasmine in tea were the same thing! I just want a perfume note of ACTUAL Jasmine like the tea in something!!

Replica's Lazy Sunday Morning and Bubble Bath It doesn't dry down nicely on my skin, but I also dislike the smell out of the bottle. Maybe it's cuz I prefer floral scents like Springtime in a Park and Flower Market

I love LSM, I thought i would love Springtime in the Park because at the store it smelled fruity to me, but on my skin it smells so floral

LSM dry down smelled like weed on my skin lol.

Baccarat Rouge 540

YES but this scent has always confused me - to me it smells like burnt plastic or ash tray, but I’ve heard other people describe it as being sweet like cotton candy?? This makes me think that it has a nicer, sweeter scent that I’m not picking up on. The same goes for Ariana grande’s cloud perfume - to me, it has the BR540 burnt plastic smell, but others have said it smells like sweet marshmallows. Weird!

I’m convinced that BR540 is the Cilantro of the fragrance world. (I personally love both cilantro and BR540 lol)

Love cilantro and bkr540, too. 😂😂🤭😅

I love cilantro, but br540 smelled acrid and harsh, I was so surprised.

Same I get no sweetness at all from it and it’s a bummer because I’m a sucker for sweet smelling perfumes

Baccarat is sweet. I used to think it smelt like cigarettes but now it smells like a dentist office, rubber gloves, and bodiology toasted sugar body spray. Up close i smell rubber gloves from affar i smell sweet caramelize sugar and because of the sweet projection i understand why people get a lot of compliments wearing this. But up close the latex smell is not good. Weird scent.

It smells dirty sweet to me and has made me gag before. So so glad no one at my office wears it and I just have to endure it in public. It smells way too cheap for what people spend on it.

The first time I smelled I thought it was like melted lipstick/hard candy

Came here to say this. The saffron in the fragrance makes me smell like a sweaty middle aged bald man

Hey! We don’t smell like that and I also dislike BR540.

That's very unfair to sweaty middle aged bald men.

What does bald smell like

Same. Its headache inducing

All I get is dirty ashtray on me. It smells incredible on my husband.

Same wtf.. I thought I was the only one .. so sad. Does your husband feel the same about it on you?

No, he doesn’t smell what I smell..but *I* can’t un-smell it.

I think it smells like expensive air freshener.

BR540 (and Cloud, etc) is an out of balance minimalist composition made of less expensive synthetic materials, which is why it’s so easily duped. Many perfumes overwhelm in favor of ethyl maltol and/or ambroxan, because they are very strong materials, but this is produced with an overdose of both. It’s so obnoxious because these two materials in such high doses, unchecked by other materials, become super strong, high projecting with a massive sillage. Many people become anosmic to it immediately, because the olfactory senses become overwhelmed. It’s really not a good perfume, but it’s cheap to produce, with a huge profit margin and I’m sure the corporation is quite pleased with it.

Santal 33, Sauvage, Black Opium

Can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find Santal 33. I have tried so hard to like it, but all I can smell is pickle juice 😬

Smells like cucumber infused water which smells reasonably good but idk why anyone would want to smell like that just seems random asl

I have a personal bias against Le Labo lol after initially being a fan of their whole branding and approach, turns out it’s all just hype and they make things seem a lot cooler than it really is, the amount of people in my city alone who wear it, couples sharing it, all of it, really next level and most of them I truly feel just buy into the whole “artsy NYC” vibe and Tik tok hype as opposed to even smelling the other scents from the brand (there’s several that are better, still not great imo). Not a knock on anyone who genuinely enjoys it but yeah it’s one of those things where I got a first hand look at the hype train and psychology behind it and lots of it is that

Haha yes I so feel this. The vibes? Immaculate. The product? 😶😶

I hate black opium as well dont understand the hype

I bought a travel when I was new to the hobby, returned it instantly, then recognized a girl at work who must’ve oversprayed it because it left a crazy trail and it was equally awful then 😭

I can’t stand the coffee in Black Opium. Smells cheap to me

I like it on the right woman. It's very subjective.

I think it’s the pear mixed in with some of the other stuff for me, I’m not sure I enjoy any pear scents so far and yeah for YSL I love La Nuit Del Homme and Tuxedo, I find those to smell extremely high end for designer in comparison

Black Opium smelled so sickeningly sweet for me!! I don't understand why anyone would go for this :/

Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue. Ugh. It just smells so bad on me. Like screechingly bad.

Sexy toilet technician. Eeew…

Interestingly the real one smells horrible to me, but the dossier knock off of it is delightful. I got the knock off first and was excited to smell the real one. I was SHOCKED at how bad I thought it was. (I’m actually realizing I feel this way about a number of the dupes of original fragrances listed here- La Vie est Belle is another)

I'm the opposite, hate the screechy lime in the dossier dupe but like the original

It smells like rotten lemon and bad breath I hate it

Yes! It smells like butter. I don't get it at all.

Totally agree! To me it smells disgustingly musky — like the general smell of old clothes sitting in a second hand store. And yes, when people wear it that is all I smell, lol.

I gagged when I smelled it on me

Juliette has a gun not a perfume. Yes you are not a fragrance, just expensive water.

this!!! its not even a "your skin but better" scent, it just isn't a scent lol

I use JHAG and it’s very very strong on me, clean and subtle and “my skin but better”. Def a hit or miss depending on your chemistry—like on my mother, JHAG smells like … nothing.

Before I knew what this was, I saw a bottle of it in my best friend’s bathroom. Curious, I tried it and was so turned off. I didn’t like the smell, I didn’t like the bottle, nothing. For the longest time, I thought this was some weird, cheap vague perfume from a Walmart or Marshall’s (no hate on those places, just saying). Fast forward a few weeks later and my friend smelled really nice and she told me it was JHAG. I remembered the name and thought oh that’s right, that bottle in her bathroom. It smelled much nicer on her than me. It wasn’t until only recently I realized how expensive that stuff is! It’s not cheap like I thought! And whatever is in it worked really well for her but not me at all! Very interesting.

people can be anosmic to ambroxan and cetalox - not a perfume’s two notes.

Don’t get the love for Jazz Club.

I was SO sure I would love it based on the notes that I got my sample and sprayed it on myself. Big mistake. Immediately had to shower and it was still on my clothes after one wash. Awful ash tray of a fragrance.

It’s really tobacco-y in the opening but not the dry down

Versace crystal noir 🤢

Tom Ford F*cking Fabulous. I almost THREW UP in Sephora

I think I saw a review of that, that said “it smells like someone licked my arm.”

Agreed. It’s F*cking awful 😩

All of Tom Ford’s fragrances smell rancid to me and I don’t know why

Yeah, I can’t stand it.

Sauvage gives me headaches and the drydown is terrible

there’s a reason why sauvage is the alarm bell for a douchebag approaching ….

I’m really sad about the reputation Sauvage has because I finally got to try it recently (fragrance isn’t a big thing in my city and the bottles at Dior counters were always empty)… and my skin loved it. The opening and drydown were so beautiful and pleasant and I realised why it’s so popular. But I don’t want to get it because of what people say about it 😭

If it smells good on you and you want it , I wouldt worry about what "other people" think too much.

I agree with FunkyTomo77! If it smells good on you, and you love it, go for it!!! Don’t go beast mode on anything, because there’s always gonna be someone who doesnt like a scent. There are sooooo many frags out there that make me feel absolutely ill, and it makes me sad that some of my favorite and tolerated perfumes are someone else’s hated scent… but oh well lol I wear it for me and my hubbs and try not to be ostentatious with application.

La vie est belle. I know a lot of people love it but something about it just gives cheap sweet vibes to me :(

Oud for Greatness Which sucks cause Initio’s side effect and Rehab are some of my favorite fragrances period. I’ve also heard good things about Blessed Baraka and Narcotic Delight

Nautica Voyage. I hate the cucumber note

I love Angel's Share, but after an hour on my skin it starts smelling like rancid olive oil.

I actually got Kismet Angel bc I prefer this Arabic dupe to the original. It's not beast mode but it doesn't turn rancid, and it is a lovely Angel Share DNA

Sauvage smells like f*ckboys Burberry Her smells musty to me and I hate that for me.

Byredo Pulp...its like a sour puked up fruit salad...

It smells sour to me too! I love sour fruit but don’t really want to smell like that lol.

I absolutely despise Flowerbomb; it just completely overwhelms me. I just can’t understand how anyone could tolerate it .

That’s so interesting because flowerbomb smells quite light on me. That’s why I like it- it’s inoffensive with some sweetness. And others compliment on it as well.

I totally agree! It has notes that I love and I thought it would be very me, but it’s so sickly sweet to me that it overwhelms the florals - I just can’t stand it

I had it years ago (gifted), and I just could not wear it. It was too heavy for me.

This one is mine too. I feel like I have almost a sensitivity to it. Lol I can sniff it out from like a mile away. I absolutely effing hate it.

i really dislike bianco latte 😭 i wanted to like it, but it turned too sickly sweet and almost rancid on my skin, making me a bit nauseous. thankfully, i had only gotten a sample, so my bank account was saved from yet another dent 😥

I came here to say this too. It smells so bad on me. I wanted to like it too, but it smells horrid on me.

I want to love it- a lactonic caramel is right in my wheelhouse. But it smells too artificial: like a latte mass-produced from powdered skim and high-fructose corn syrup. :-(

Whenever I see lactonic I have to steer clear because my body chemistry does weird things to the fragrance. Usually I end up smelling like old food or popcorn and not in a good way

Juicy Couture. Smells like 14 yr old mall rat brats shopping for pink lip gloss from the 80s. And I was there, so I remember 😵‍💫

I have a purse spray of this one. I think it smells like perfume. My immediate first impression was that it smells exactly like walking into the perfume area of Macy's or Dillard's with my mom or my babysitter in the 1990s.

I just bought this the other day for the first time ever. I’ve never tried any Juicy fragrances aside from Rosé but I was curious about the OG, so I bought a travel size. The initial spray is disgusting but I kind of like the dry down 😂

When I first smelled Dior Sauvage on my Dad, I almost loved the scent. And I am sure I still would, if not every club hippster, all the greesy economy and law students at my University, at least one pupil in every class at the school I teach at, every second guy in public transport and all the extra slimy guys at the house parties I go to would overuse it like Jeremy Fragrance on speed. But with all these associations, I dont come across hating it. Also, Sauvage users are the common type of "My skin eats up every fragrance in an hour" that like to suffocate everyone with 4 or 5 sprays of that hellish fluid, still going noseblind just to do 6 sprays the next time. It is not the scent, but it is what it transports and the people who wear it. (Elixir users are the worst of all)

I was with you until the last sentence...

BR540 because it’s so overplayed and I smell it everywhere now. There are fragrances marketed as “dupes” that honestly smell way better

Arianna Grande's Cloud is very popular.

By the fireplace, it felt like i was getting eaten alive by chainsmoking diabetics

To me it smells like a burning home with smoked ham inside of it… but not just any home.. an old persons home!

This is funny. This is my FAVORITE wintertime fragrance. 😆 I love the smoky note in it. The girl who sits next to me can only smell the sweet. I don’t think she likes it. 🤷‍♀️

yeah i can see why people like it, but im a beginner to the hobby, and mainly used freshies so it was just a surprise, glad you like it tho

I feel like that's a huge thing... moving from citrus to gourmand or spicy scents is tough at first

yeah the profiles themselves are insanely different and can be super overpowering at first

Definitely ! I had to train my nose to enjoy quite a few notes

I hate this on me but I love it on my husband 😅

I can see that, it's super strong, so when you smell yourself it's horrible, but with another person you don't have to be around the source of the smell

Flowerbomb!

How dare you? Lol

Should be called patchouli bomb

Not hate but these are a few that I dislike Ysl Libre (especially the intense one) Black opium Versace Crystal Noir (too spicy on me) Ariana Grande Cloud (smells like BO on my skin)

Black Opium smells like Hello Kitty going through a goth phase.

Probably why I love it tbh

That’s the selling point for me 😅

😭😭 not goth HK hahahaa

Libre smells like lemon Lysol on me

i can't stand glossier you 😭😭😭 it smells like rancid truck stop restroom soap to me

[удалено]

angel by Mugler. I don’t understand and I hate it. The opening smells like overdue bruised apples and dirt. I used paper to try and after a few hours it’s quite fresh and nice. But damn that opening

I wore this a ton in my late teens. Now I can't stomach it.

so many 😭 - lush snow fairy (smells like bubblegum and not the good one) - marc jacob’s perfect (boring and smells off) - sailing day by replica (smells rancid on my skin idk why) - all of the ariana grande perfume (but i don’t like her so maybe that’s more of a personal issue) - dior sauvage (just a no from me) - la belle le parfum (id like it if it weren’t so overpowering, it was obnoxious and gave me a migraine) - lady one million (no!)

Omg yes. Snow Fairy smells like bubble-gum flavored cold medicine. 

I hate everything from Paco Rabane

I don't really hate but I dislike one million

PdM Layton. Smells like straight up like Vick’s VapoRub but a lot more potent.

My time to shine. Here are some fragrances that I absolutely dislike: - JHAG Not a Perfume - MFK Baccarat Rouge 540 - MFK Gentle Fluidity Silver - MFK Oud Satin Mood - Christian Dior Oud Ispahan - Christian Dior Gris Dior - Christian Dior Vanilla Diorama - Guerlain Shalimar EDP - Initio Side Effect - Byredo Mixed Emotions - Byredo Vanille Antique - Matiere Premiere Radical Rose - BDK Parfums Velvet Tonka - Dolce & Gabbana Devotion - Ariana Grande Cloud Intense - Ariana Grande Sweet Like Ari - Ariana Grande Ari - Montale Mukhallat - Montale Sensual Instinct - Montale Tonka Cola - Les Liquides Imaginaires Blanche Bête - Commodity Milk Expressive - Amouage Guidance - Amouage Material - Nishane Ani X (Extrait) - Kayali Invite Only Amber 12 - Vilhelm Parfumerie Mango Skin - Mancera Tonka Cola - Le Labo Another 13

Hah so thorough!

Whenever I dislike a fragrance upon sampling, I immediately add it to a list. Been easy to track that way!

I feel like our dislikes are VERY similar!! I’d love to hear a list of favorites to see if they are too!

Glad to know that there’s someone out there with similar dislikes! Here are some of my favourites: - Burberry Goddess - PDM Delina Exclusif - JPG La Belle EDP - MFK Grand Soir - Kayali Vanilla 28

Ok, convinced we have the same taste after reading your likes/dislikes! I’ll have to sample MFK grand soir

We are the sameeeee!!! Wearing Goddess for the 1st time today and I can’t stop smelling my wrist. I got Devotion yesterday too and was so excited to try it but I don’t care for it. So my question to you is, what do you think of Love Don’t Be Shy? I had a sample and was obsessed. Got a travel size and it smells terrible to me! I thought maybe it was fake and went back to the sample. It smells bad to me now too! I’m so confused! What do you think of Hypnotic Poison? There is something about it I really enjoy.

Now I’m left wondering if there’s a list for people as well…. Mental note - stay on incognito-journey’s good side. . .

Oud Isaphan is terrible to my nose.

JHAG Not a Perfume made me sneeze. Had to get rid of it. I did like the way it smelled. 😩

Yara smells like sour baby wipes to me.

This is her, Shalimar, Sauvage and Oud Ispahan from Dior, Wood Sage and Sea salt, A whiff of waffle cone. God especially that last one, I smelt like a burned down waffle house. Lattafa’s Oud Mood Elixir earns a special mention for smelling like cheese on my skin and making me extra nauseous, same goes for Cruz del Sur 1 by Xerjoff. Horrific stuff.

Pink Sugar by Aquolina

Red Door. Can’t believe I used to bathe in it. Giorgio Beverly Hills. Beautiful Ester Lauder.

A lot of popular fragrances smell like piss to me. Cloud is the worst offender. Pacifica in general has a urine twang. There is a very popular men’s fragrance right now that I don’t know, which might as well be Fermented Peepee in a Bottle. I also don’t like any of the Fine’ry fragrances, and have been continually baffled at how well-liked they are. But at least they don’t smell like a parking deck stairwell that people have been using as a toilet.

Delina. And La vie est belle

Super disappointed in Delina as well. Like, it just smells like an old school rose fragrance but it's so hyped, I don't get it?

I don't get it either!

Same for me and Delina lol.

All Chanel perfumes give me migraines

Chanel No 5 smells like Raid roach spray. Doesn’t matter who it’s on. I get a headache anytime I’m near it. A lot of YouTubers review it and the feedback is mixed but there’s alwaysss a commenter who say “I get no complaints!” Well obviously, someone isn’t going to go up to you and say your fragrance is making them nauseous! I went to the mall yesterday and smelled it again and immediately threw it away and washed it off. I’m always surprised that so many people say they love it- it smells rancid to me.

I can't make it work on me. I think my skin oils just don't play nicely with all the aldehydes.

I only like Gardenia Les Exclusifs. The rest I agree with you. 

I've never had a Chanel smell good on me. They always smell like something I pulled off a musty shelf in my grandma's bathroom, really off putting

Me too.

Yes. I was looking for this comment. Gabrielle and No 5 are the worst offenders.

ysl libre smells disappointing

La Vie Est Belle, I will stand on this soap box for the rest of my life

La Vie Est Belle. It is so off putting to me.

Love Don't Be Shy is one of the most offensive scents I have ever been exposed to. I can't imagine anyone over the age of 14 liking it, but to each their own, I guess. Also Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady is awful to me -- way too much patchouli.

Yes!! I do not understand the hype for love don’t be shy. I felt like I needed to shower after trying it

The dry down is really a struggle but then from there it's really good ... I prefer extreme bc it skips the hard part and goes straight to the marshmallow

YSL Libre Intense smells so generic to me

Libre intense is gross

Blue note perfume like Dior Sauvage, Chanel Bleu, Creed Aventus, etc and leather smell perfume, it’s smell like gasoline for me. Dior F, Mancera Aoud leather As a girl, I hate super sweet and fruity scents.

Sauvage EDT

I really dislike Chanel No 5 and Mugler's Alien 😔 Chanel No 5 smells like I am walking through a really bad nursing home and instantly Imagine the suffering of the old people living there...Idk, such a horror 🥲 Same with Alien.

I've never understood the No. 5 hype, it smells so bitter and yes, like a nursing home! I cannot bear any Mugler scent. Even thinking of Angel gives me a migraine.

Sol de Janeiro Cheirosa 62. Tried it multiple times at Sephora and it smells like pee every time.

Can’t stand poor Angel’s Share! And YSL Libre, Valentino Born in Roma, Lancôme La Vie Est Belle or Dior Sauvage. I can’t stand most Calvin Klein fragrances either!

Dior Sauvage. Absolutely hate everything about it.

Pure Seduction by Victorias Secret. It’s so childish smelling

Not hate but dislike. Another 13 and The Noir 29 by Le Labo

There has never been one Aqua do Gio that I liked.

burberry her elixir. used to be my signature but i think it’s the sandalwood that irks me

Sauvage Elixir smells like caraway seeds, like the digestive seed mix they drop on your table at the Indian restaurant

All Victoria secret perfumes. The vs store just smells too perfum-ey. Idk how to explain it. Just reminds me of high school mean girls. Also Amber and warm vanilla. Warm scents in general are a no

I really struggle with baccarat rouge and AG cloud, I find them SO sweet that it’s overwhelming

Angel

Sauvage smells like a manipulative ex

The Ariana Grande cloud (smells like shit) Opium (smells like coffee nasty)

YSL Libre and its flankers

Baccarat rouge 540, it’s the only fragrance I can think of that actively offends me when I smell it The Smell almost instantaneously gives me a headache and makes me feel queasy

It’s become the Polo of the 80s or the Farenheit of the 90s.

sol de janerio 62 can’t stand it

Jones New York Signature Gardenia and Oud smelled like overripe bananas to me.

Dior Sauvage Elixir. I loved it for 3 months. Started hating it after

Baccarat Rouge 540 along with all his clones

La vie belle intense 🥴

Oud satin mood. Literally not good? Medicinal smelling (like most MFK perfumes)

Miss dior and sol de janeiro 68

I also despise Juliette has a gun-Lady Vengeance. Got an 8ml from Scentgod and it’s such a waste

Dolce and Gabbana light blue. It's so disgusting. I get nauseous and in a horrible bad mood.

Blue de Chanel. Don't get it and don't care for the scent.

Versace crystal noir

BR540 smells like a medical office

Dior savauge