Is 'scent' (cologne/perfume) a part of your daily life, and if so, how long do you stick with a single scent?

I am not. I have at least 5 bottles that I use according to what fancies me that day. I also use deodorant, so I’m not wearing cologne to mask a body odor, just wearing it because I like it. I choose itand change it like I choose what to wear.

I don’t care for scent—too heavy. I like light floral (plumeria) moisture lotion.

I don’t wear perfume. I’ll sometimes wear a scented lotion, but my personal philosophy is that no one should be able to smell me from more than about an inch away.

(I hate, hate, hate the clouds of smell that some people leave in their wake – it’s an olfactory offense.)

Nope.

I used to be a fragrance buyer and department manager at Bloomingdale’s, so I do appreciate the complexity of fragrances and I love the stories behind some of them like Acqua di Gio and Jaipur, but I rarely wear fragrance because the Mosquitos and bees love me already. When I use perfumes it is usually at night in the winter months or for a special indoor event.

I do like having shampoo and shower gels that smell yummy.

When I do wear fragrances my favorites at Moschino Cheap and Chic, one of the Gucci’s (ugh I can’t remember which one it is) Amarige, Sung, CKone, they are all quite different. I still like Lauren by Ralph Lauren on the rare instances I smell it. I also love the smell of Acqua Di Gio and wish I could pump it through my house sometimes (like we did in his AX stores back in the day) but it doesn’t smell good on me.

There are some scents that trigger my memory, especially colognes that men wear, and I enjoy when I happen to be around a man who has on a very familiar cologne.

I rarely wear perfume. I only have one bottle, which was a gift about 12 years ago. The bottle looks full. I think I’ve worn it maybe a dozen times and each time it was 1 spray. Most perfumes set off my allergies.

@JLeslie: I read recently that mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide that we humans give off, which is why, the article said, overweight people often attract more mosquito stings than thin people.

@Seaofclouds: Scent changes and deteriorates, so a bottle of something you got twelve years ago is likely not any good any more. If you smell it, it won’t smell as fresh as it did twelve years ago, and it’s very possibly somewhat “flat” smelling.

@jca Don’t worry, I hold my breath when a bug or bee is harrassing me. It’s not just the CO2, some people really do attract Mosquitos more than others. They have done expirement with people putting their arm in a jar and some people are bitten much more than others.

I was a skinny kid and thin girl for a long time and they loved me! 20 bites in a half hour sitting outside more than once in my life. I’m not very thin anymore, but not overweight and they still come after me.

A girlfriend told me yesterday that she had heard that taking certain B vitamins repels Mosquitos and she thinks that has been true for her now that she has been taking a B complex. I had never heard that before.

If I was allergic I would probably be dead. If I lived in a place with Malaria I would probably be dead. On a positive note, bee stings are supposed to cure arthritis so hopefully I have some natural protection from that now and I dn’t worry about West Nile, because I figure I have already been infected with it.

I can’t smell Grey Flannel without thinking of my stepfather in his and my mom’s bar-hopping days. Not that it’s a bad smell or anything.

I spritz on some light perfume while getting ready in the morning on most days. I think it fades by the time I get to work, though. I like American Eagle perfumes because they’re semi-sweet smelling but not too strong and candy-like, if that makes any sense. I used to wear Coolwater (the one for women, of course). Before that it was Fantasy by Britney Spears.

…I don’t spend a lot on perfume, as you can see. No Chanel for this girl.

My mom has worn White Diamonds since I was a kid – another scent that I can’t smell without thinking of one of my parents.

No. I hate to smell perfume, no matter how expensive. If you work for me, you don’t wear it.

Nope. I have three bottles of cologne, given to me as gifts, about ten years ago. Each is ¾ full.

I rarely use it. They’re probably bad (if cologne even goes bad).

Absolutely! You have no idea. haha
I am a body spray addict. I buy body mist/sprays and then dilute them with water and carry several small bottles in my purse at all times, more at home.

I mist myself, my car, my bedsheets, curtains. I use the watered down scented mist on my hair, hike up my skirt for a little refreshing spritz, cleavage, armpits, you name it I spray it. lol
I also used to dump a bottle in my old hot tub for nice scented water, worked great and was way less expensive than the spa scents available at the pool stores.

I do not wear perfume or cologne, but all of my laundry products and personal care products are scented. My favorite thing to smell is the Chagrin Valley natural soaps, but it seems to me that, even for soap, their scents do not linger long on my skin.

Apart from deodorant, not really. My great grandmother bought me Lady Gaga’s perfume which I sometimes use but we’re talking, once every 3 or 4 months.

I usually use one perfume to the end of a bottle (or two) but then I feel like a change and move on to something else.

I have one bottle of cologne that’s for special occasions or just to give myself a rare ‘boost’ – Bulgari por Homme. @JLeslie may know it, as I think it’s fairly exclusive.

If anyone has read a Janet Evanovich novel, one of her recurring characters is Ranger, the epitome of dark, mysterious, dangerous, macho sex with a sense of humor. In one book she reports that Ranger only wears Bulgari. That’s what it smells like. :-)

The fragrances sold at department stores don’t vary that much in price from the lesser expensive to the more expensive at the eau de toilette (cologne) strength. Usually $15—$30 more for some of the more expensive. Bulgari, like other jewelry houses such as Cartier and Boucheron, are a little more, but since fragrance lasts so long, over time the cost is minimal, people should buy what they love. Actual perfume (parfum) is much more expensive. Eau de parfum is available in most fragrances for women, but for men it is only offered in a few brands. Men tend to like eau de toilette anyway, some even mistakenly slap it on their face like it is aftershave. Better to actually buy the aftershave.

Any fragrance will change over time (the oils and scents break down – google it) so if you have something you like, you should wear it often because after a few years it won’t smell the same. You may think it smells similar but it won’t be as “fresh” as it was when you first got it.

What @jca says is true, especially the lesser oil content like eau de toilette. Use your fragrances. In fact, I say use all your things. I have sample lotions given to me that I saved for travel, and then forget them, and then they go bad. I finally started using the leftover shampoos from hotels, rather than saving bunches of them for guests. Fragrance is much cheaper per ounce if you buy the 3.4 instead of the 1.7 or the 4.2 over the 2.5, but if you rarely use fragrance just get the smaller one, because after a couple years it really doesn’t smell the same and can actually smell bad. I do have fragrances I have used even after 5 years, but it really isn’t recommended. Keep fragrances in cool dry places (of course most people keep their fragrance in the bathroom, which is neither, and keep it in the dark, not on display on your vanity. Unless it is actually in a bottle that lets no light in.

I am loyal to “Tommy Girl”. It smells like iced tea with lemon.

I get compliments every single day that I spray it on myself and I’ve been loyal for 10 years.

I’ve tried some other scents, but none of them are “me” the way Tommy Girl is. Daytime, nighttime… that’s my signature fragrance.