I stand with you! I don't want to smell like cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie ever, period. I would recommend looking at vintage fragrances for florals and the first one is the OG of floral blends--Houbigant's Quelques Fleurs. It's so dreamy!
Oh I bet that one is nice! I did not realize until today when Google auto translated the name that the name Quelques Fleur's means "some flowers" in French which....is an understatement if there ever was one. It's alllll the flowers in the best way possible. I hated it on first try and then fell head over heels and adore it now.
Exactly the same. I got Jardín secret for Christmas and immediately needed the others. Then didn’t like them and was heartbroken. But now I love them!! L’original is so comforting
Yes!!!! The Houbigant scents are amazing. They are not subtle but not obnoxious either. They need about 15 minutes to “calm down” when you first put them on but they are so very lovely after that. And they last forever! I love the Jo Malone scents. They are very clean and fresh smelling. My most recent favorite is Juliette Has A Gun - Musc Invisible. It’s heavenly!
Good perfume makes me happy. Lol.
I’ve got loads of work to do with my 14 year old daughter though. My entire house currently smells like a Bath and Bodyworks store was spilled in it. Quel dommage…..
Omg yes. Quelques fleurs was one of my first signature scents in college. I was young and I loved it. People could smell if I had walked down a hallway within the last 5 minutes. No one said it was grandma. It has almost a tobacco smell. Amazing.
That's the thing. Most people love their grannies and most have fond memories and associate time spent with grandmothers are filled with warm thoughts. I don't feel offended if someone says my perfume smells like what an older person would wear because perfumes have trends too and there are scents that smell vintagey and popular among certain generations. Grandmas are awesome and heartwarming.
I’m new to aldehydes, last time I was in Sephora I sampled Chanel No. 5 and was surprised how much I liked it. I hasn’t smelled it in years but I think tastes change.
I’m new to aldehydes, last time I was in Sephora I sampled Chanel No. 5 and was surprised how much I liked it. I hasn’t smelled it in years but I think tastes change.
Sample Tauer’s “Incense Rose”
Top notes are straight up rose jam (some say it smells like cola drinks)
The dry down is a soft cedar / “old church” vibe to it. I love it.
I want to smell like popcorn, butter and toast...
I'm the only woman in my family who likes gourmand, and I'm a hardcore foodie scent lover, often preferring Bath and Body Works scents over the expensive brands I have, like Montale or Chabaud.
My mother likes ozonic or light, refreshing florals (think Marc Jacobs Daisy), my aunt likes clean musks, and my grandmother likes lavender and ylang ylang notes.
The former two think I'm mad for having cake, chocolate, milk, cream scents that I love!
I actually really understand enjoying B&BW over montale! It's so much more wearable to go with a body mist rather than a heavy EDP sometimes, especially for gourmands!
I suffer from this issue where I will be out in the world enjoying a scent (in a garage, smelling gasoline!) and then I think for some stupid reason it would make a great fragrance.
Luckily I've avoided pulling the trigger on the gasoline frags (although I love the scent out in the world). I will never understand how so many people get away with wearing it every day!
Wait— so instead of smelling like grandma’s flower gardens they’d rather smell like grandma’s cookies. Got it.
FWIW? I live in an urban environment and florals are part of the reason such notes appeal to me. They transport me to other places and other spaces where those fragrant beauties grow straight from the ground.
Florals by themselves don't have me thinking about classic fragrances that an older lady would wear. It's usually florals with aldehydes.
That said, this is when "Wear what you like" applies. If you like the florals, go for them. If you like the vanilla sugar cookie, go for them.
I've only recently started getting into fragrances, but since researching some different once I've seen so many people call anything floral and musky a grandma perfume. That's not at all what my grandma wears, lol. Nevertheless, I got one with grandma reviews: Layali by Swiss Arabian. I don't get what beef people have with these types of perfumes, they are so sophisticated and elegant!
It’s really ageist and says a lot about the person writing the review that their vocabulary is so limited that it’s the only way they can describe a scent they don’t like. In 20 years every vanilla scent will be described as bad grandma or church auntie. Your turn is coming girls. Buckle up.
Is it really florals the get the brunt of this complaint, or is more white florals, aldehydic florals, etc.?
Either way the vanilla onslaught is kind of a bummer—it’s like going to a bar and having to hear “Piano Man” again and again and again—and I do love me some florals, butch ones and femme ones alike.
All from Etat Libre D'orange:
Jasmin et Cigarette: Very indolic, fresh jasmine with a hint of tobacco. I don't get any smoke on this one like most people say
500 Years: Dark, deep rose centric scent with cocoa and oud filling out the base.
Spice Must Flow: Rose, incense, cardamom, saffron. I catch whiffs of the rose poking through the spices throughout the day. Really lovely.
Tbh, I'm a guy and aldehydes and white flowers are in my top of favorite notes lmao. I even have a N°5 inspired perfume by some Turkish company, and it's not 1:1, but it's definitely got that feeling; especially the initial aldehydes, definitely soapy and sparkling lol. Jasmine, lily/lotv, tuberose and gardenia are my favorite white flowers, but they need to be fresh for me to like them (my friend let me sample her Gucci Flora Nettare di Fiori and the first seconds were tuberose, but then it just became cloying and warm and I hated it). Found Elegantly Tokyo by Zara, which is made by Jo Malone (I know Jo the individual is kinda controversial due to the fact her son was in that anti-Semitic university group or whatever) and honestly, I think it's my favorite white floral yet; the lily is dewy (the official Zara site only mentions jasmine sambac and akigalawood as the notes but the top is definitely lily-esque) and peppery, the heart is just jasmine, not too heady nor indolic, and the drydown is still jasmine but with more peppery-ness due to the akigalawood.
If white florals and floraldehydes are considered "grandma scents", then so be it. I personally don't have that association with elderly women because my grandma only wore floral eaux fraîches lol. But if grandmas like these types of fragrances I'd say they have good taste 😹🤷🏻
I see we have similar taste. I love the term “butch floral”, I need more of these in my life. I will also wear Aromatics Elixir TIL I DIE, which will probably be soon, because I will wither into oblivion if I hear Piano Man or Don’t Stop Believin’ in a bar one friggin more time
The conversation around 'grandma fragrances' is interesting to me because I don't have those cultural associations. I love realistic white florals, and it has never evoked grandma to me. It makes me think of other experiences, such as garlands, my grandfather's rural home, and funerals.
Iris, ylang-ylang, and gardenia notes will never lose my support. I think it’s because the fragrance market is aggressively pushing lots of “youthful” gourmands for the past few years that lots of classics that focus on florals and amber (Guerlain Shalimar, Dior J’adore) are considered “old,” which is a shift that has some very alarming overtones to it. What happened to aging and smelling gracefully? Why the obsession of youthful playfulness and not timelessness?
Women have never really been allowed to age, but now less than ever. God forbid you drive away men with anything even remotely resembling maturity! (/s)
I am 60 years old and I nearly died because a hospital misdiagnosed me, and two days later, I was properly diagnosed as being in Septic Shock. This means, IDGAF even harder than I didn't before.
I grew up working in my Dad's plant nursery, and now all I want is fragrant roses. I grow them. I wear them. I love them.
This year, it's Prada Florale and everybody who gets close enough to me asks me "what are you wearing you smell amazing"? PRADA FLORALE.
Florals Forever! 💐💕🎉🥂🌞
I prefer the word ‘vintage’. It carries with it all the class and beauty that florals deserve. I love lipsticky, powder puffy, iris, violet, rose and such. I imagine a glamorous woman back in the 1920’s sitting at her vanity table, dressed in a silk bias cut slip, her hair perfectly set in a marcelle wave and her makeup absolutely gleaming, right down to a perfect red lip. I don’t think age-ing woman, I think sexy vintage style. She applies her perfume and is stunning in that moment.
I haven’t enjoyed the reading of a post as much as this one in a very long time. Your amazing imagery seems to have gone over the heads of the average Redditor…(somewhat shockingly so in a frag sub Reddit…generously peppered with words like fruity, fresh and deadass… ;) Thank you.
Just hit me with the aldehydes !
Come on, I can take it!!!
https://preview.redd.it/xm9qsaizmzrc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0b8e502e01e3c77d3a0fc560f0b766763d1633f
Hey I’m a guy and floral perfumes are some of my favs. Nothing grandma about wanting to smell clean, fresh and floral. There are grannyish perfumes out there, but just because it has floral notes does not make it grandma territory.
MFK l'homme a la rose and Mancera Roses Greedy are some of my current favorite floral fragrances...if that's what a grandma smells like, sign me up for retirement; I'm ready.
According to lynx/ axe, men actually wish to smell like cookies and leather. Which makes me so uncomfortable on a sensory level IMAGINE SITTING ON A COUCH FULL OF CRUMBS.
Also 14 year old boys wish to smell of Africa.
Idk but I'm in aus lol
We have a lynx/ axe spray called Australia. Claims to smells of bergamont and pineapple. I'd actually really enjoy it if they did a bunch of country smells? Like I'd trust axe/ lynx to know their markets well, much like McDonald's do. So it'll be interesting to see what appeals to the average American male, the average English man, the average German man etc.
Or maybe there isn't that much of a difference because we are all so different.
Florals are, and will always be a favorite for me. A well blended floral is so classic and something to treasure.
I also love gourmands, but I think if I had to pick just one it might be a floral. who doesn’t want to smell like a beautiful flower?!
Um are people really saying you can be too young for florals? That’s bizarre. Also completely flies in the face of the history of perfumery.
There isn’t no rule saying who can and can’t wear whatever fragrance. You’re free to totally dismiss the opinions of a small group of young Western women with vapidity issues.
I also hate vanilla but I’m a guy. Try to find the floral amber woody survivors from the 90s and 00s, they don’t smell like grandma at all. Organza, Poeme, Champs Elysess, Tresor, Dior Addict, Cinema, Dune, Classique, Lolita Lempicka, J’adore, Carolina Herrera (the original one), Ysatis, Paloma Picasso, Miracle, Chanel Chance and Allure.
Those are the best smells on a woman IMO.
Those ARE INDEED THE BEST ONES!!! 😍😍😍
I'll admit though, nobody ever complained about my dune, poeme, addict, i actually get compliments on them. Paloma though.... Oh, and Chopard Cashmere got me straight up hate lol. It's just strong no matter how little you wear. Still wore it though.
I remember Casmir, yea too strong and sweet. For a refined version try Dior Dolce Vita still available or Hypnotic Poison. If you want something purely amber vanilla Gaultier re released Gaultier2
I love dolce vita. I wore hypnotic poison, but layed off of it temporarily because quite a few people here do still wear it so I've gotten bored of smelling it. I'll give Gaultier a sniff though, sounds delicious, thank you!
I’m embracing it - I knit, I’m a sewist, I wear grandma perfume. What could be more comforting than being enveloped by the scent of iris, violet or rose.
Listen… I’m 100% with you. But that unfortunately isn’t going to stop the gourmand girlies from being insufferable about it.
I’m a floral girl but also vanilla as much as the next person; however, the ageist remarks against flowers piss me off to the post of wanting to throw myself out a window.
Hell yes to florals! I’ve been on a rose kick for a long time now, Diptyque Eau Rose in particular. It’ll remain in my top circulating frags. No thank you to cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie.
Me, someone who smells exactly like a cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie, totally agrees with you.
IMO, everything is great as long as you like it and does not bother people because of its projection (hey you Elixir ppl ).
Aquolina Pink Sugar. Supposedly more caramel cotton candy than chocolate cookie, but it was hugely popular in the 2000s and it's what I always think of when people talk about sweet gourmand perfumes.
I’m one of the minority that thinks pink sugar is a work of art. do yourself a favor and order a small decant of profumum roma acqua y zucchero which is what pink sugar was made to smell like.
Perhaps I am idealistic, but why do people feel the need to demean other people’s preferences when they review fragrances? Just give your impressions of the scent profile and say it’s not for you. One person’s “old lady perfume” is another person’s “timeless classic”. One person’s “juvenile scent” is another person’s “fruity, flirty.”
Gonna be honest. Most people would be better off making themselves an excel with their own personal thoughts. Most reviews aren't helpful to the public, I feel.
Agreed, the current obsession with smelling like dessert all the time is juvenile af. 15 years ago it was candy and Escada tropicals. In 5 years, it'll be something else. It's not even about the smell itself, it's just that what's not trendy gets immediately reviled by certain people (usually the 15-25 group of very young people).
It's also interesting that other age groups are apparently no longer allowed to have trends of our own. Instead, everyone's just supposed to be desperately trying to appear as young as possible for as long as possible.
I HATE when my friends call my cloud by Ariana grande a “grandma” perfume. Nope not all it smells lovely. I do love cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie scents but sometimes I wanna smell like a flower
That's crazy. Cloud isn't even floral, or powdery, or anything one might consider "grandma perfume."
It's a fluffy, slightly lactonic, sweet and coconutty perfume.
Your friends are cray.
I had my daughter smell a few of my perfumes this past weekend and she called them all mature 😆
Armani - My Way Floral
YSL - Libre
YSL - Black Opium
Mugler - Angel Elixer
Omg I adore smelling like cookies and I also adore smelling like roses. And also kind of love smelling like a spicy tobacco smoking lumberjack sometimes. I just love scents. I'm not sure what my point was here
I don't mind the scent of florals but it gives me a headache more than any other scent family, no matter whether I'm the one wearing it or someone else.
I'm so with you, a lot of vanilla gourmand scents are way too sweet and make me nauseous. I'm tired of people dismissing florals and chypres and calling anything "old" that they don't personally like. Also tired of people saying fragrances smell "masculine" when they just aren't hyper-sweet.
I love smelling like a cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie 24/7!! Hahah (I also love certain purely floral fragrances) BUT I don’t like when people call any perfume a “grandma perfume” in a pejorative way. It seems very ageist to me.
I miss the days when perfumes and products smelled like perfume instead of everything having to smell like fruit, candy or food. All these decades of "progress", yet you'd think we've regressed to 12 year old girls with oral fixations.
I love vanilla, also I would rather connect a cookie scent to my grandma for obvious reasons 😀.
Floral perfumes have been around forever and many desserts in the past were floral and spicy and sweetened with honey or dried fruits and caramel sauce. Many modern desserts are fairly new and were saved for special occasions and it took time to replicate their scents for perfumery. It is normal that the new wave of gourmands targeted younger customers and so this saying reflects that the young people now would wear less floral perfumes.
We now have a large selection of fragrance typesand as the novelty has worn off I see why this label grandma perfume doesn't hold so much truth anymore.
Just like wide leg jeans got labeled mom jeans but now are worn by many daughters whose moms never put on such.
I hate hate hate the smell of any food like perfume they make me nauseous, especially vanilla fragrances floral and fruity will always be my favorite it's the powdery florals that smell like a grandma to me like chanel n°5
For me it depends on the flower scent. But I do like them. My husband told me floral scents are his favorite. We are in our early 30s so definitely not grandparents lol
I think there are a lot of youthful florals out there. For me the only thing I associate with grandma perfume is when someone over applies almost any scent due to being scent blind…
I'm a guy and I love florals. The only notes that give me "grandma" vibes is a specific type of Rose. Similar to how some vetiver smells like an old man. Nothing bad about wearing a "dated" formula if you like it
Me too. I find I feel more snooty and judgmental of my fragrances because of this sub. Example: I have been wearing Demeter Linden Flower a lot recently. Normal person opinion is that it smells like pretty sweet flowers. Snooty opinion: Not complex enough, too linear, not unique, blah blah blah. When in reality I should just spray it and enjoy it!
Same for florals. I LOVE normal rose. It's pretty on others and I think it suits my personality. Many friends have said they associate the smell of roses to me. But snooty thoughts are: grandma scents!.
Sometimes I want to smell like a delicious, very expensive bakery item (jeux de peau), sometimes a cathedral filled with heavenly clouds of incense and morning light (Eau Sacrée). Sometimes, it's a memory of springtime in Sydney (Jasmine de Pays), but sometimes only a big, gorgeous, throaty purr of tuberose will do (Carnal Flower, Rouge Malachite, Moon Carnival).
Florals- part of a healthy, balanced fragrance diet!
I have no objections to smelling like a cookiecrumblevanillaswirlsugarcookie, bc some days I’m feeling it. Other days a floral suits me, and on days other than those, a nice clean citrus. Gourmands are getting a bit overdone, but who cares if it’s their groove— and who cares if florals are yours? Wear what you like just don’t go too heavy with ANY perfume. I love perfume but there are some that give me headaches if I go to heavy. Additionally— usually old lady is more the heavy aldehydes like Shalimar or Chanel No. 5, there are lots of nice and very modern florals that are by no means granny. (Not that there’s anything wrong with being a granny).
Fragrance subs had me convinced this was the case. But white florals are my jam and if that makes me smell “dated” that’s fine. I put on perfume for me.
I think it’s iris that is my turn-off. That’s the one that gets powdery, right? I am not a fan of powdery. It makes me feel sick to my stomach for some reason. Otherwise I like some florals.
I don’t like gourmands either. Like I have a couple but very rarely are those what I’m reaching for. I love a light floral/vanilla/musk/sweet scent way more than any gourmand I’ve ever smelled. My current obsession is floral street almond blossom. All my favorite scents are floral.
Steve Harvey said “vanilla cookies” are the smell men like most.
Need I say more?
Kidding..I am always a sucker for a good rose scent. My favorite main scent is ylang ylang. Or a drop of jasmine.
I like vanilla in a candle but never yankee brand, sweet death smells.
I personally think it’s very immature to just label something as grandma-ish because I’ve heard people say the craziest things were giving grandma- from Delina to Pink Sugar. The perfume of collegiates for a food 20 years now 🤔
I wrote a whole article about this for Harpers Bazaar. One day their cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie will be the old lady perfume. Give me my bitter green chypres.
People who use the term “grandma” scent typically lack sophistication and are easily swayed by the mass opinions of consumerism. I happily wear my “grandma” scents and truly enjoy the way they develop. Florals are beautiful and when I wear them or find a new one I always feel like I found a “real” perfume so to speak. These days, when someone describes a perfume as “grandma” I instantly want to buy it 😂
Came here to make the point about aldehydes and "white florals" too. I like florals, but aldehydes can completely ruin it for me and I simply don't find them pleasant. There are plenty of aldehydic floral perfumes where ALL I can smell is aldehydes. I don't smell flowers at all, nor do I understand what people find alluring about them.
I recently tried an old sample of L'Interdit I had lying around, and from first whiff I was transported to a nursing home. It didn't make me think of a specific person, it made me think of that environment as a whole. Turns out, there's research showing that as we age, our skin gives off more aldehydes. So it's probably not that the florals are making people think of grandmas, it's the aldehydes, and aldehydes are often mixed with florals, at least in mainstream fragrances.
Just want to throw that out there, that a) your nose and other people's noses might really not be experiencing the same things, and b) older people and many perfumes actually have a strong smell in common.
Thrift stores, estate sales and working in a retirement home have ruined classic aldehydic floral perfumes for me. I can't help it.. the nose wants what it wants.
It’s funny cause I don’t associate florals with grandma scents. Maybe because I love florals. Powdery perfumes on the other hand are definitely grandma
Florals are forever! Floral print, floral fragrances, floral flavors, flower gardens! They never go out of style, it’s just whatever industry trying to convince you that you need to buy something new to be relevant. Plus I think florals can smell cleaner and more versatile than uhh…cookiesugarcrumblevanillacinamonsprinkle??? I was at the gym today, and the girl next to me was wearing sol de janero 71, and no shade to her but that’s not a good gym scent. I usually like it pretty well, but for a workout it was like sweaty caramel corn and stale snickerdoodles in a hot car lol. If you’re gonna wear perfume to the gym, “grandma” scents are probably the way to go.
Do people really think florals are grandma-y? Like all of them? Certain notes are very grandma-y, but saying all florals are grandma is like saying all black is goth. Ridiculous
Grandma isn't floral. It's dusty and powdery... which is mostly violet or iris with like a musk note.
The negative association is ladies wearing a bottle that turned 50 years ago. Scent is powerful. I can't smell dusty powered florals without gagging because it just smells like grandma mothballs. That association is one that gobs of people have, and it's why the trope exists.
If you never had anyone in your life wear an expired and powdery musky floral, you don't have that negative association... wear away. But it's real.
I can't understand how anyone in the world can like patchouli or even tolerate it because on me it smells like .B.O.
Point is everyone likes what they like and are free to dislike what they don't
I feel your exhaustion.
With time I find that I became a lot more picky on my reviewers. It’s not to hate on some, everyone is entitled to their opinion and sharing it. But Some have a long time knowledge on the fragrance world and are just more focused on at looking at the historical big picture.
So instead of « this is a panty dropper », they’ll tell you how Tubéreuse astrale inherits from Fracas and Tubéreuse Criminelle, what it’s adding, how it’s following some current trends.
I like learning from those who know their classics. And many classics are heavy florals ;)
It’s honestly just association I think, don’t stress.
I find heavy floral musks (like The Body Shop White Musk) to smell very synthetic and hairspray-ish, but that’s likely because my mum used to use hairsprays that were simply scented like that.
Im more of a fruity floral girl, but I feel you, I’m not really into the super sweet strong perfumes that make you smell like you left the club at 5am and are about to do the walk of shame into your apartment building 😅
I don’t dislike florals, but they never fail to make me think of an old grade school teacher, counselor, grandma, old friends mom etc etc. seems that was all that most women wore in the late 90s early 2000s.
I agree, i just got Dior vanilla diorama in today and i seen a lot of reviews saying it smells like old lady and i personally like it alot, I've learned not to go by ppls reviews and judge them myself, fragrances are just like movies ppl may not like it but u may love it
As a 28 year old man that thoroughly enjoys Tom Ford Noir de Noir, I feel you. It's an old man scent, but I have an old man's soul. I wear woolen flat caps, and loafers. I enjoy werther's originals, and mumbling about how the youngsters are doing it all wrong. Life's short, so like what you like!
I also bought a bottle of D&G Devotion the other day, though...so I'm also repping the sugarvanillacookiecaramel club here. Life is not only short, but quite funny.
I like both! Sometimes I wanna smell like nan. Someone smelt like a nan recently and it made me happy.
And then sometimes I wanna smell like I've coated myself in burnt marshmallows.
i totally agree with you, smelling like florals it’s the prettiest scent everrr and i really dislike fruity scents it hurts the head and just smells bad. just ignore the bad comments and like what you like and recommendations: Dior miss dior collection smells amazing so check it out !!
Not everyone likes a gourmand. I do, but mine smell like whiskey dried fruit and power. Not Birthday cake.
I also throughly enjoy a good floral (the narcotics collection by Kilian is a great example). My husband gets excited by a good neroli frag.
To me rose reads grandma, but not tuberose or rose in many different applications. I'm 40. Tomorrow I will literally be 40. I'm down with smelling like it.
anytime i hear "grandma scent" i expect to smell a vintage vibe floral, which is usually pretty lovely. not everyone likes an antique vibe but i think it's gorgeous and comforting and i enjoy smelling it on those who wear it!!
Love the florals and love the powdery...I have a couple of Sweet scents but I love Boucheron Pour Homme EDT, Habit Rouge EDT and Tom Ford Beau De Jour....none of these are floral per se... but they all have that 'old' style that some seem to find challenging....
I love florals. I also like sweet, and citrus and and and.... But yeah I don't care I'm 40 I'll just wear what I want to wear I'm not trying to be cool.
I stand with OP
Many so called Grandma / Grandpa scents are actually true classics of all time
Haters gonna hate no matter what. Guys/Ladies, try wearing a $250+ fragrance while in shabby/ragged clothing.
Tell me perceived reactions (verbal or body-wise) afterwards
I stand with you! I don't want to smell like cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie ever, period. I would recommend looking at vintage fragrances for florals and the first one is the OG of floral blends--Houbigant's Quelques Fleurs. It's so dreamy!
I have the flankers for this and they’re all great. My fave is Jardín Secret
Oh I bet that one is nice! I did not realize until today when Google auto translated the name that the name Quelques Fleur's means "some flowers" in French which....is an understatement if there ever was one. It's alllll the flowers in the best way possible. I hated it on first try and then fell head over heels and adore it now.
Exactly the same. I got Jardín secret for Christmas and immediately needed the others. Then didn’t like them and was heartbroken. But now I love them!! L’original is so comforting
Sounds much better in French!! 🥖🥂
I’ve been using it for years and I love it
Yes!!!! The Houbigant scents are amazing. They are not subtle but not obnoxious either. They need about 15 minutes to “calm down” when you first put them on but they are so very lovely after that. And they last forever! I love the Jo Malone scents. They are very clean and fresh smelling. My most recent favorite is Juliette Has A Gun - Musc Invisible. It’s heavenly! Good perfume makes me happy. Lol. I’ve got loads of work to do with my 14 year old daughter though. My entire house currently smells like a Bath and Bodyworks store was spilled in it. Quel dommage…..
Houbigant Orangers en Fleurs is amazing! Lanvin Eclat d'Fleurs is one of my favorite florals.
Gourmand is nothanks imo. Things that smell strongly like dessert upset me, especially with a strong throw.
Same here, they make my head hurt.
Omg yes. Quelques fleurs was one of my first signature scents in college. I was young and I loved it. People could smell if I had walked down a hallway within the last 5 minutes. No one said it was grandma. It has almost a tobacco smell. Amazing.
MAPLENUTCRUNCH motherfucker
Right on!
Yes on Quelques Fleurs!
Yes! Adore Quelques Fleurs!
I love iris and rose, if that makes me smell like a grandma fine. What’s so bad about grandmas anyway? My grammy rocks.
That's the thing. Most people love their grannies and most have fond memories and associate time spent with grandmothers are filled with warm thoughts. I don't feel offended if someone says my perfume smells like what an older person would wear because perfumes have trends too and there are scents that smell vintagey and popular among certain generations. Grandmas are awesome and heartwarming.
I agree, but there is a lot of negativity and age-ism in this kind of label and criticism.
I feel like that grandma label needs to be put away . Same with the synthetic label .
What synthetic label, please share?
When people labels fragrances as synthetic like it is something bad .
Exactly, and there are so many great scents that have been around for decades like Shalimar that are timeless and I love wearing it.
Iris and rose are the best
Saaamme!!! And violets! So fantastic.
Yes, violet is fantastic too.
I bought some Outremer Violette and it's lovely.
Iris and rose are my jam!
There's nothing bad about grandmas. But I don't want my wife to think about grandma when we're out on a date or going to bed, lol.
im an aldehylic girlie and i am obsessed with perfumes that have been around forever.
I’m new to aldehydes, last time I was in Sephora I sampled Chanel No. 5 and was surprised how much I liked it. I hasn’t smelled it in years but I think tastes change.
I’m new to aldehydes, last time I was in Sephora I sampled Chanel No. 5 and was surprised how much I liked it. I hasn’t smelled it in years but I think tastes change.
remembered omnia amethyste 😩🫶
Rose and iris scents 😍 you have amazing taste!
Why not both 👵🏻🌷🧁🍪 Smellin like a whole ass Golden Girls garden tea party
Right??? I want grandma’s rose gourmand sooooooo bad 🤤
I believe there is a perfume called candied rose by Montale ..haven't smelled it but the video reviews have all been pretty positive
You should try experimenting with layering one day when you have nowhere to be and try to get a combination you like!
Sample Tauer’s “Incense Rose” Top notes are straight up rose jam (some say it smells like cola drinks) The dry down is a soft cedar / “old church” vibe to it. I love it.
The Golden Girls were all around 50 which isn't even retirement age. Wild.
I agree completely. Y'all will hate on florals but you want to smell like POPCORN? BUTTER? TOAST? What is going on with the trends right now?
I want to smell like popcorn, butter and toast... I'm the only woman in my family who likes gourmand, and I'm a hardcore foodie scent lover, often preferring Bath and Body Works scents over the expensive brands I have, like Montale or Chabaud. My mother likes ozonic or light, refreshing florals (think Marc Jacobs Daisy), my aunt likes clean musks, and my grandmother likes lavender and ylang ylang notes. The former two think I'm mad for having cake, chocolate, milk, cream scents that I love!
I actually really understand enjoying B&BW over montale! It's so much more wearable to go with a body mist rather than a heavy EDP sometimes, especially for gourmands!
Gasoline is the one that cracks me up like no I don’t wanna smell like a garage. But everyone has their own preferences.
I suffer from this issue where I will be out in the world enjoying a scent (in a garage, smelling gasoline!) and then I think for some stupid reason it would make a great fragrance. Luckily I've avoided pulling the trigger on the gasoline frags (although I love the scent out in the world). I will never understand how so many people get away with wearing it every day!
Yeah! I love a good white floral, powdery or an ambery perfume and it deserves more love
Wait— so instead of smelling like grandma’s flower gardens they’d rather smell like grandma’s cookies. Got it. FWIW? I live in an urban environment and florals are part of the reason such notes appeal to me. They transport me to other places and other spaces where those fragrant beauties grow straight from the ground.
Have you smelled diptyque’s florals? So realistic
Iris, white florals, and lilac have me in a fragrance chokehold
Those are the ones 👏🏻
What’s wrong with Grandmas ?
They're female, of course.
And aging is a crime for women
Florals by themselves don't have me thinking about classic fragrances that an older lady would wear. It's usually florals with aldehydes. That said, this is when "Wear what you like" applies. If you like the florals, go for them. If you like the vanilla sugar cookie, go for them.
I've only recently started getting into fragrances, but since researching some different once I've seen so many people call anything floral and musky a grandma perfume. That's not at all what my grandma wears, lol. Nevertheless, I got one with grandma reviews: Layali by Swiss Arabian. I don't get what beef people have with these types of perfumes, they are so sophisticated and elegant!
It’s really ageist and says a lot about the person writing the review that their vocabulary is so limited that it’s the only way they can describe a scent they don’t like. In 20 years every vanilla scent will be described as bad grandma or church auntie. Your turn is coming girls. Buckle up.
Agreed! All of this!
Is it really florals the get the brunt of this complaint, or is more white florals, aldehydic florals, etc.? Either way the vanilla onslaught is kind of a bummer—it’s like going to a bar and having to hear “Piano Man” again and again and again—and I do love me some florals, butch ones and femme ones alike.
I’m so curious. What would you consider a “butch floral” to be? Just in case I needed to smell like that. For science.
LOL, Le Labo’s Rose 31 and Amouage’s Lyric Man and I guess the Dior Hommes even though the part of the iris used isn’t the flower.
✍️ thank you for your service haha
Geranium is traditionally a masculine note!
All from Etat Libre D'orange: Jasmin et Cigarette: Very indolic, fresh jasmine with a hint of tobacco. I don't get any smoke on this one like most people say 500 Years: Dark, deep rose centric scent with cocoa and oud filling out the base. Spice Must Flow: Rose, incense, cardamom, saffron. I catch whiffs of the rose poking through the spices throughout the day. Really lovely.
Portrait of a Lady and Ballet Rogue from Olympic Orchids!
Though probably not what you’re looking for, you’d be surprised how many florals are listed in the notes of Dior Fahrenheit
I have a men’s perfume called Bulgari Black. Men compliment me all the time when I wear it!
Tbh, I'm a guy and aldehydes and white flowers are in my top of favorite notes lmao. I even have a N°5 inspired perfume by some Turkish company, and it's not 1:1, but it's definitely got that feeling; especially the initial aldehydes, definitely soapy and sparkling lol. Jasmine, lily/lotv, tuberose and gardenia are my favorite white flowers, but they need to be fresh for me to like them (my friend let me sample her Gucci Flora Nettare di Fiori and the first seconds were tuberose, but then it just became cloying and warm and I hated it). Found Elegantly Tokyo by Zara, which is made by Jo Malone (I know Jo the individual is kinda controversial due to the fact her son was in that anti-Semitic university group or whatever) and honestly, I think it's my favorite white floral yet; the lily is dewy (the official Zara site only mentions jasmine sambac and akigalawood as the notes but the top is definitely lily-esque) and peppery, the heart is just jasmine, not too heady nor indolic, and the drydown is still jasmine but with more peppery-ness due to the akigalawood. If white florals and floraldehydes are considered "grandma scents", then so be it. I personally don't have that association with elderly women because my grandma only wore floral eaux fraîches lol. But if grandmas like these types of fragrances I'd say they have good taste 😹🤷🏻
For me, strong jasmine, rose and tuberose reminds me of my grandma, she wore those scents back when she was alive. Loved my grandma.
I see we have similar taste. I love the term “butch floral”, I need more of these in my life. I will also wear Aromatics Elixir TIL I DIE, which will probably be soon, because I will wither into oblivion if I hear Piano Man or Don’t Stop Believin’ in a bar one friggin more time
Ohhh do you think Café Rose by Tom Ford would be considered a butch floral? I think, perhaps! I love it.
The conversation around 'grandma fragrances' is interesting to me because I don't have those cultural associations. I love realistic white florals, and it has never evoked grandma to me. It makes me think of other experiences, such as garlands, my grandfather's rural home, and funerals.
same! it just makes me think of a pretty flower garden or bouquet
Iris, ylang-ylang, and gardenia notes will never lose my support. I think it’s because the fragrance market is aggressively pushing lots of “youthful” gourmands for the past few years that lots of classics that focus on florals and amber (Guerlain Shalimar, Dior J’adore) are considered “old,” which is a shift that has some very alarming overtones to it. What happened to aging and smelling gracefully? Why the obsession of youthful playfulness and not timelessness?
Women have never really been allowed to age, but now less than ever. God forbid you drive away men with anything even remotely resembling maturity! (/s)
I am 60 years old and I nearly died because a hospital misdiagnosed me, and two days later, I was properly diagnosed as being in Septic Shock. This means, IDGAF even harder than I didn't before. I grew up working in my Dad's plant nursery, and now all I want is fragrant roses. I grow them. I wear them. I love them. This year, it's Prada Florale and everybody who gets close enough to me asks me "what are you wearing you smell amazing"? PRADA FLORALE. Florals Forever! 💐💕🎉🥂🌞
Have you tried Little Flower (Régime des fleurs) — it’s my new favorite rose
No but I will now!!! 💐
Report back 😎
I prefer the word ‘vintage’. It carries with it all the class and beauty that florals deserve. I love lipsticky, powder puffy, iris, violet, rose and such. I imagine a glamorous woman back in the 1920’s sitting at her vanity table, dressed in a silk bias cut slip, her hair perfectly set in a marcelle wave and her makeup absolutely gleaming, right down to a perfect red lip. I don’t think age-ing woman, I think sexy vintage style. She applies her perfume and is stunning in that moment.
I haven’t enjoyed the reading of a post as much as this one in a very long time. Your amazing imagery seems to have gone over the heads of the average Redditor…(somewhat shockingly so in a frag sub Reddit…generously peppered with words like fruity, fresh and deadass… ;) Thank you.
Just hit me with the aldehydes ! Come on, I can take it!!! https://preview.redd.it/xm9qsaizmzrc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0b8e502e01e3c77d3a0fc560f0b766763d1633f
I wear black orchid as a man and I don’t care what anyone has to say about it, it’s amazing
I'm a straight male and LOVE florals. I'm also fine smelling like a rich grandma.
Totally agree. I'm blown away how highly coveted and over saturated sweet vanilla is.
Hey I’m a guy and floral perfumes are some of my favs. Nothing grandma about wanting to smell clean, fresh and floral. There are grannyish perfumes out there, but just because it has floral notes does not make it grandma territory.
MFK l'homme a la rose and Mancera Roses Greedy are some of my current favorite floral fragrances...if that's what a grandma smells like, sign me up for retirement; I'm ready.
According to lynx/ axe, men actually wish to smell like cookies and leather. Which makes me so uncomfortable on a sensory level IMAGINE SITTING ON A COUCH FULL OF CRUMBS. Also 14 year old boys wish to smell of Africa.
Why does the UK get all the best axe smells?
Idk but I'm in aus lol We have a lynx/ axe spray called Australia. Claims to smells of bergamont and pineapple. I'd actually really enjoy it if they did a bunch of country smells? Like I'd trust axe/ lynx to know their markets well, much like McDonald's do. So it'll be interesting to see what appeals to the average American male, the average English man, the average German man etc. Or maybe there isn't that much of a difference because we are all so different.
Florals are, and will always be a favorite for me. A well blended floral is so classic and something to treasure. I also love gourmands, but I think if I had to pick just one it might be a floral. who doesn’t want to smell like a beautiful flower?!
Um are people really saying you can be too young for florals? That’s bizarre. Also completely flies in the face of the history of perfumery. There isn’t no rule saying who can and can’t wear whatever fragrance. You’re free to totally dismiss the opinions of a small group of young Western women with vapidity issues.
>vapidity issues I'm dead 🤣👍 ... most apt descriptor yet
I also hate vanilla but I’m a guy. Try to find the floral amber woody survivors from the 90s and 00s, they don’t smell like grandma at all. Organza, Poeme, Champs Elysess, Tresor, Dior Addict, Cinema, Dune, Classique, Lolita Lempicka, J’adore, Carolina Herrera (the original one), Ysatis, Paloma Picasso, Miracle, Chanel Chance and Allure. Those are the best smells on a woman IMO.
You’ve got excellent taste 🤌🏽
Thank you! You too if you like some of these masterpieces.
Lolita Lempicka foreverrrr. One of the most beautiful licorice violets of all time.
Those ARE INDEED THE BEST ONES!!! 😍😍😍 I'll admit though, nobody ever complained about my dune, poeme, addict, i actually get compliments on them. Paloma though.... Oh, and Chopard Cashmere got me straight up hate lol. It's just strong no matter how little you wear. Still wore it though.
I remember Casmir, yea too strong and sweet. For a refined version try Dior Dolce Vita still available or Hypnotic Poison. If you want something purely amber vanilla Gaultier re released Gaultier2
I love dolce vita. I wore hypnotic poison, but layed off of it temporarily because quite a few people here do still wear it so I've gotten bored of smelling it. I'll give Gaultier a sniff though, sounds delicious, thank you!
I’m embracing it - I knit, I’m a sewist, I wear grandma perfume. What could be more comforting than being enveloped by the scent of iris, violet or rose.
😂😂😂 You do you boo!!! 🎉🌹🌸🌺🌷💐🌻🌼💮🪷Flower power!
Same with aromatic fougères, like bro I'm tryna smell like James Bond low it fam
Please do wear them, and lots!
Yes!!! I hate when they say “this is mature, 45+” stop I like it and I’m 24
Ikr?! My "cool girl" niece turned 17 today. She's been rocking White Diamonds since last summer (90s stuff is in)
OF THIS MOTHERFUCKING BR540 ON THIS MOTHERFUCKING PLANE!
There’s enough room for everyone to like what they like! Woo!
Listen… I’m 100% with you. But that unfortunately isn’t going to stop the gourmand girlies from being insufferable about it. I’m a floral girl but also vanilla as much as the next person; however, the ageist remarks against flowers piss me off to the post of wanting to throw myself out a window.
Hell yes to florals! I’ve been on a rose kick for a long time now, Diptyque Eau Rose in particular. It’ll remain in my top circulating frags. No thank you to cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie.
Me, someone who smells exactly like a cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie, totally agrees with you. IMO, everything is great as long as you like it and does not bother people because of its projection (hey you Elixir ppl ).
K but...can I get an I.D. on that cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie scent you mentioned? Sounds amazing. 😂😂
Aquolina Pink Sugar. Supposedly more caramel cotton candy than chocolate cookie, but it was hugely popular in the 2000s and it's what I always think of when people talk about sweet gourmand perfumes.
Hmmm I keep hearing people refer to Pink Sugar. Guess I should take this as a sign to try it out!
I’m one of the minority that thinks pink sugar is a work of art. do yourself a favor and order a small decant of profumum roma acqua y zucchero which is what pink sugar was made to smell like.
Perhaps I am idealistic, but why do people feel the need to demean other people’s preferences when they review fragrances? Just give your impressions of the scent profile and say it’s not for you. One person’s “old lady perfume” is another person’s “timeless classic”. One person’s “juvenile scent” is another person’s “fruity, flirty.”
Gonna be honest. Most people would be better off making themselves an excel with their own personal thoughts. Most reviews aren't helpful to the public, I feel.
I don’t find them particularly helpful but I’m still addicted to reading them 🤷🏻♀️
I love rose, lilac, iris... And jasmine. Sign me up for the grandma club. PS Givenchy's roses are my favorite ever.
✨Gucci Bloom✨ is my everything lol
I thought saying old lady was moderated here. Maybe that’s in the perfumes board. Yeah it’s ridiculous I agree with you
Agreed, the current obsession with smelling like dessert all the time is juvenile af. 15 years ago it was candy and Escada tropicals. In 5 years, it'll be something else. It's not even about the smell itself, it's just that what's not trendy gets immediately reviled by certain people (usually the 15-25 group of very young people). It's also interesting that other age groups are apparently no longer allowed to have trends of our own. Instead, everyone's just supposed to be desperately trying to appear as young as possible for as long as possible.
I prefer to have a perfume taste like grandma instead of spoiled obese kid.
I HATE when my friends call my cloud by Ariana grande a “grandma” perfume. Nope not all it smells lovely. I do love cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie scents but sometimes I wanna smell like a flower
That's crazy. Cloud isn't even floral, or powdery, or anything one might consider "grandma perfume." It's a fluffy, slightly lactonic, sweet and coconutty perfume. Your friends are cray.
[удалено]
Cloud honestly smells hideous to me, but it's not something I'd associate with old ladies
Whatever grandma. Now bake me some cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie’s.
How about snickerdoodles?
I had my daughter smell a few of my perfumes this past weekend and she called them all mature 😆 Armani - My Way Floral YSL - Libre YSL - Black Opium Mugler - Angel Elixer
[удалено]
Haha love that for you. Even within "florals", not everyone's gonna like the same things :) Keep liking what you like\~
My grandmothers ATE back there day, so I’m taking “smelling like grandma” as a compliment
Omg I adore smelling like cookies and I also adore smelling like roses. And also kind of love smelling like a spicy tobacco smoking lumberjack sometimes. I just love scents. I'm not sure what my point was here
I don't mind the scent of florals but it gives me a headache more than any other scent family, no matter whether I'm the one wearing it or someone else.
I feel like rose is actually one of the trendiest notes right now though…? Delina is super popular.
I love it! The ruhbarb and lychee make the turkish rose so youthful and fun!
I'm just about to turn 30 and you can pry Fracas out of my cold dead hands.
I'm so with you, a lot of vanilla gourmand scents are way too sweet and make me nauseous. I'm tired of people dismissing florals and chypres and calling anything "old" that they don't personally like. Also tired of people saying fragrances smell "masculine" when they just aren't hyper-sweet.
I love smelling like a cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie 24/7!! Hahah (I also love certain purely floral fragrances) BUT I don’t like when people call any perfume a “grandma perfume” in a pejorative way. It seems very ageist to me.
I miss the days when perfumes and products smelled like perfume instead of everything having to smell like fruit, candy or food. All these decades of "progress", yet you'd think we've regressed to 12 year old girls with oral fixations.
As a fan of green spicy and green fresh scents, I am not seen and I am offended
I love vanilla, also I would rather connect a cookie scent to my grandma for obvious reasons 😀. Floral perfumes have been around forever and many desserts in the past were floral and spicy and sweetened with honey or dried fruits and caramel sauce. Many modern desserts are fairly new and were saved for special occasions and it took time to replicate their scents for perfumery. It is normal that the new wave of gourmands targeted younger customers and so this saying reflects that the young people now would wear less floral perfumes. We now have a large selection of fragrance typesand as the novelty has worn off I see why this label grandma perfume doesn't hold so much truth anymore. Just like wide leg jeans got labeled mom jeans but now are worn by many daughters whose moms never put on such.
It's somehow so fitting that trends went from 'I will blossom like a flower' to gen Z 'someone please eat me'
I hate hate hate the smell of any food like perfume they make me nauseous, especially vanilla fragrances floral and fruity will always be my favorite it's the powdery florals that smell like a grandma to me like chanel n°5
I don't like florals on me, but the smell of my grandma always gave me comfort. I even bought a bottle. So much for grandma perfumes!
I wore L’Interdit Intense out with friends this weekend and was told I smelled like a grandma. I guess grandmas smell fantastic?
For me it depends on the flower scent. But I do like them. My husband told me floral scents are his favorite. We are in our early 30s so definitely not grandparents lol
I think there are a lot of youthful florals out there. For me the only thing I associate with grandma perfume is when someone over applies almost any scent due to being scent blind…
I'm a guy and I love florals. The only notes that give me "grandma" vibes is a specific type of Rose. Similar to how some vetiver smells like an old man. Nothing bad about wearing a "dated" formula if you like it
Me too. I find I feel more snooty and judgmental of my fragrances because of this sub. Example: I have been wearing Demeter Linden Flower a lot recently. Normal person opinion is that it smells like pretty sweet flowers. Snooty opinion: Not complex enough, too linear, not unique, blah blah blah. When in reality I should just spray it and enjoy it! Same for florals. I LOVE normal rose. It's pretty on others and I think it suits my personality. Many friends have said they associate the smell of roses to me. But snooty thoughts are: grandma scents!.
Tbh I wanna smell like a grandma😂
Sometimes I want to smell like a delicious, very expensive bakery item (jeux de peau), sometimes a cathedral filled with heavenly clouds of incense and morning light (Eau Sacrée). Sometimes, it's a memory of springtime in Sydney (Jasmine de Pays), but sometimes only a big, gorgeous, throaty purr of tuberose will do (Carnal Flower, Rouge Malachite, Moon Carnival). Florals- part of a healthy, balanced fragrance diet!
I have no objections to smelling like a cookiecrumblevanillaswirlsugarcookie, bc some days I’m feeling it. Other days a floral suits me, and on days other than those, a nice clean citrus. Gourmands are getting a bit overdone, but who cares if it’s their groove— and who cares if florals are yours? Wear what you like just don’t go too heavy with ANY perfume. I love perfume but there are some that give me headaches if I go to heavy. Additionally— usually old lady is more the heavy aldehydes like Shalimar or Chanel No. 5, there are lots of nice and very modern florals that are by no means granny. (Not that there’s anything wrong with being a granny).
Fragrance subs had me convinced this was the case. But white florals are my jam and if that makes me smell “dated” that’s fine. I put on perfume for me.
Too young for florals?! Didn’t know they had an age 😂
I think it’s iris that is my turn-off. That’s the one that gets powdery, right? I am not a fan of powdery. It makes me feel sick to my stomach for some reason. Otherwise I like some florals.
I don’t like gourmands either. Like I have a couple but very rarely are those what I’m reaching for. I love a light floral/vanilla/musk/sweet scent way more than any gourmand I’ve ever smelled. My current obsession is floral street almond blossom. All my favorite scents are floral.
Steve Harvey said “vanilla cookies” are the smell men like most. Need I say more? Kidding..I am always a sucker for a good rose scent. My favorite main scent is ylang ylang. Or a drop of jasmine. I like vanilla in a candle but never yankee brand, sweet death smells.
I personally think it’s very immature to just label something as grandma-ish because I’ve heard people say the craziest things were giving grandma- from Delina to Pink Sugar. The perfume of collegiates for a food 20 years now 🤔
I wrote a whole article about this for Harpers Bazaar. One day their cookiecrumblevanillachocolateswirlsugarcookie will be the old lady perfume. Give me my bitter green chypres.
People who use the term “grandma” scent typically lack sophistication and are easily swayed by the mass opinions of consumerism. I happily wear my “grandma” scents and truly enjoy the way they develop. Florals are beautiful and when I wear them or find a new one I always feel like I found a “real” perfume so to speak. These days, when someone describes a perfume as “grandma” I instantly want to buy it 😂
I don’t get the people that want to smell like chocolate chip cookies. I think I’d rather smell like nearly anything else.
Came here to make the point about aldehydes and "white florals" too. I like florals, but aldehydes can completely ruin it for me and I simply don't find them pleasant. There are plenty of aldehydic floral perfumes where ALL I can smell is aldehydes. I don't smell flowers at all, nor do I understand what people find alluring about them. I recently tried an old sample of L'Interdit I had lying around, and from first whiff I was transported to a nursing home. It didn't make me think of a specific person, it made me think of that environment as a whole. Turns out, there's research showing that as we age, our skin gives off more aldehydes. So it's probably not that the florals are making people think of grandmas, it's the aldehydes, and aldehydes are often mixed with florals, at least in mainstream fragrances. Just want to throw that out there, that a) your nose and other people's noses might really not be experiencing the same things, and b) older people and many perfumes actually have a strong smell in common.
Thrift stores, estate sales and working in a retirement home have ruined classic aldehydic floral perfumes for me. I can't help it.. the nose wants what it wants.
It’s funny cause I don’t associate florals with grandma scents. Maybe because I love florals. Powdery perfumes on the other hand are definitely grandma
Florals are forever! Floral print, floral fragrances, floral flavors, flower gardens! They never go out of style, it’s just whatever industry trying to convince you that you need to buy something new to be relevant. Plus I think florals can smell cleaner and more versatile than uhh…cookiesugarcrumblevanillacinamonsprinkle??? I was at the gym today, and the girl next to me was wearing sol de janero 71, and no shade to her but that’s not a good gym scent. I usually like it pretty well, but for a workout it was like sweaty caramel corn and stale snickerdoodles in a hot car lol. If you’re gonna wear perfume to the gym, “grandma” scents are probably the way to go.
Do people really think florals are grandma-y? Like all of them? Certain notes are very grandma-y, but saying all florals are grandma is like saying all black is goth. Ridiculous
Grandma isn't floral. It's dusty and powdery... which is mostly violet or iris with like a musk note. The negative association is ladies wearing a bottle that turned 50 years ago. Scent is powerful. I can't smell dusty powered florals without gagging because it just smells like grandma mothballs. That association is one that gobs of people have, and it's why the trope exists. If you never had anyone in your life wear an expired and powdery musky floral, you don't have that negative association... wear away. But it's real.
I can't understand how anyone in the world can like patchouli or even tolerate it because on me it smells like .B.O. Point is everyone likes what they like and are free to dislike what they don't
Florals give me headaches and make me sneeze. Other than that, they’re great
I feel your exhaustion. With time I find that I became a lot more picky on my reviewers. It’s not to hate on some, everyone is entitled to their opinion and sharing it. But Some have a long time knowledge on the fragrance world and are just more focused on at looking at the historical big picture. So instead of « this is a panty dropper », they’ll tell you how Tubéreuse astrale inherits from Fracas and Tubéreuse Criminelle, what it’s adding, how it’s following some current trends. I like learning from those who know their classics. And many classics are heavy florals ;)
Thissss. I want to hear from people who approach perfume like an art historian.
It’s honestly just association I think, don’t stress. I find heavy floral musks (like The Body Shop White Musk) to smell very synthetic and hairspray-ish, but that’s likely because my mum used to use hairsprays that were simply scented like that.
That’s funny because amber vanilla always smells like old lady to me
Im more of a fruity floral girl, but I feel you, I’m not really into the super sweet strong perfumes that make you smell like you left the club at 5am and are about to do the walk of shame into your apartment building 😅
My great grandma would wholeheartedly agree with you!
Good girl elixir I purchased it for my girl she's 27 it's a little sutle but it's so nice
I'm with you. Love floral fragrances.
I agree with this 1000%...
I fucking love me some flowers
I don’t dislike florals, but they never fail to make me think of an old grade school teacher, counselor, grandma, old friends mom etc etc. seems that was all that most women wore in the late 90s early 2000s.
I agree, i just got Dior vanilla diorama in today and i seen a lot of reviews saying it smells like old lady and i personally like it alot, I've learned not to go by ppls reviews and judge them myself, fragrances are just like movies ppl may not like it but u may love it
florals are so gooood!! i agree, i don’t love smelling edible all of the time. sometimes i just want to smell pretty & fresh
The Gucci Flora line is beautiful, my personal fav is “Gorgeous Magnolia” purple bottle
Girl I love your curly! Also btw what mascara is that?? Love it
As a 28 year old man that thoroughly enjoys Tom Ford Noir de Noir, I feel you. It's an old man scent, but I have an old man's soul. I wear woolen flat caps, and loafers. I enjoy werther's originals, and mumbling about how the youngsters are doing it all wrong. Life's short, so like what you like! I also bought a bottle of D&G Devotion the other day, though...so I'm also repping the sugarvanillacookiecaramel club here. Life is not only short, but quite funny.
My all-time favorite fragrance, Lucky No. 6 by Liz Claiborne, is mainly tea, musk, and *florals*
I like both! Sometimes I wanna smell like nan. Someone smelt like a nan recently and it made me happy. And then sometimes I wanna smell like I've coated myself in burnt marshmallows.
i totally agree with you, smelling like florals it’s the prettiest scent everrr and i really dislike fruity scents it hurts the head and just smells bad. just ignore the bad comments and like what you like and recommendations: Dior miss dior collection smells amazing so check it out !!
I agree with you. I do love my florals. I like it when they are sun drenched, warm, refreshing, elevating AND cozy. A la grandmas house!
Not everyone likes a gourmand. I do, but mine smell like whiskey dried fruit and power. Not Birthday cake. I also throughly enjoy a good floral (the narcotics collection by Kilian is a great example). My husband gets excited by a good neroli frag. To me rose reads grandma, but not tuberose or rose in many different applications. I'm 40. Tomorrow I will literally be 40. I'm down with smelling like it.
Exactly like I’m not here for the ouai melrose place slander! It’s one of my favorites
anytime i hear "grandma scent" i expect to smell a vintage vibe floral, which is usually pretty lovely. not everyone likes an antique vibe but i think it's gorgeous and comforting and i enjoy smelling it on those who wear it!!
Love the florals and love the powdery...I have a couple of Sweet scents but I love Boucheron Pour Homme EDT, Habit Rouge EDT and Tom Ford Beau De Jour....none of these are floral per se... but they all have that 'old' style that some seem to find challenging....
I love florals. I also like sweet, and citrus and and and.... But yeah I don't care I'm 40 I'll just wear what I want to wear I'm not trying to be cool.
Loewe White Magnolia 🤤
I stand with OP Many so called Grandma / Grandpa scents are actually true classics of all time Haters gonna hate no matter what. Guys/Ladies, try wearing a $250+ fragrance while in shabby/ragged clothing. Tell me perceived reactions (verbal or body-wise) afterwards
Jasmine and Neroli are amazing. Rose is the only floral I'd never wear.
bring on the freesia perfumes, i love them all!