So I’ve noticed a trend recently that Youtubers are spending more and more time glazing Middle Eastern brands and clones, with more and more “Top 5 dupes for summer” or “Top affordable fragrances for date night” or whatever that just keep recycling the same offerings. At the same time I keep seeing the same Youtubers at exotic locations, like the pyramids or Maldives for events thrown by these brands. Now, I always had to take with a grain of salt anything that these folks had to say for the most part, and I get that hyperinflation is putting more and more designer and niche offerings out of reach for most people, but I feel like the trend is resulting in less and less content that is relevant to me or that I feel I can learn from. Or that I can trust as being truly impartial. At the other end of the spectrum, there are a few true content creator connoisseurs that don’t seem swayed by paid promotions and aren’t following the trend to emphasize Middle Eastern and clone offerings, but my issue with them is they feature all these random super ultra niche houses and frags that are nearly impossible to sample — and when I do manage to sample them, for the most part they turn out to be beautiful works of art that are absolutely unwearable for me. So I’m feeling stuck in the middle and less and less satisfied finding content I like. Anyone else feeling this way?

And no shade to anyone who still uses it, of course. I’m just personally going to stop using it. It’s been a tremendously helpful site that I used for a while, ever since a friend recommended it to me, and I’m glad i had it at all, i would never have mastered and memorized so many formulas and notes without it, but as of now, i’m going to be deleting my account and switching to something new. The main reasons stem from a few things, the main one being that I feel like a huge portion of the community is quite toxic, and another really kind of… unserious if you understand what i mean? There’s nothing wrong with humor and fun, perfume enthusiasts shouldn’t be a bunch of snobby stiffs 😭, but it feels like there’s more trolling and juvenile internet humor that’s taking it over. Also i don’t think the note breakdowns are all that accurate. They’re not off the walls wrong, but because the notes are voted by community and put in, without any real verification on accuracy, it can end up risking misinformation or getting the wrong thing, which I call the Wikipedia risk. If you want a good example of this, go to the note breakdown for Club de Nuit Bling. Enough said. Another reason as to why I’m not using this, and I say this carefully, and you’ll see why… is because of their stances. Now, I have no issue with people having their own political beliefs, including ones I might not align with, or ones that I do. Everyone does, we all have our own agreements and disagreements, and it’s fine. But Fragrantica, as well as their admins and users have been getting a bit politically outspoken, and those statements are mixing into the community on there. Not even just that, they’ve began to block or filter out opinions they don’t like or agree with. Now while I don’t entirely like the idea of just unchecked political opinions being strewn about, on either side, if you’re going to start suppressing one side of opinions, do so to the other side. Politics do not belong in a hobby like this. Period.

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It may be just me but I’m finding designers now a days boring and very uninspiring. I get my nose on a lot fragrances and they are almost all sweet, generic, mass appealing copies of each other. I must say I at least appreciate the middle eastern clones that add a twist, and the indie niche brands who push the envelope and step out of the typical comfort zone. I’m not saying their aren’t any designers that aren’t amazing and smell great however I am saying as a whole it feel very mid and makes me want to stay away.

Crazy nose Nasomatto does it again with this powerhouse new release!! It's a realistic take on mossy, damp earth, but there's a touch sweetness (tonka maybe) and there's this cooling factor to it (cypriol oil maybe). Man, is it powerful too!! I'll have to spend some time with this one!!