So my sister and her best friend arrived to visit Colorado here in Thursday. I just dropped them off at the airport. We did all of the required sight seeing within a couple of hours from Denver and it was a blast. My sister knows about my fragrance addiction all too well and when her friend asked her about what perfumes to bring, she said don't bring any because she was in for a treat. When she saw my display, she literally lost her shit.. While I do have some fragrances that are definitely unisex, I only have maybe 3 that are feminine leaning. So I was quite interested in what they'd like and want to wear. Well let me tell you, each of them happily went through them and picked out an SOTD & SOTE for all 5 days. It was very cool to see what they liked for them and what they liked on a man. My sister fell in love with Haltane and wants to buy it for her husband. Her friend and her both loved Carlisle on me. Petit Matin was her favorite for her though. My sister really loved Malachite, which is a god of fire dupe. All in all, it was a great time and we spent hours with rest strips trying out at least 30% of my collection. They definitely enjoyed wearing some fragrances that lean a bit more masculine too. Good times for sure!

Genre Parfums is one of those American fragrance houses that I think deserves more attention than it gets outside of the fragrance community. Genre is based out of Louisiana and has built a pretty loyal following over the years. They do inspirations, hybrids, and original fragrances, and that distinction is important to me. I don’t have a problem with clones—I own and have owned plenty of them—but I always think we should acknowledge the fragrance that inspired them. Give the original its credit. What separates Genre from a lot of clone houses for me is that they don’t feel like they’re simply trying to pump out the newest popular fragrance as cheaply and quickly as possible. There seems to be more of an enthusiast mentality behind the brand. Their inspirations can be very good, but some of the most interesting stuff Genre does is when they start playing around with an idea rather than simply reproducing it. Their hybrids and original compositions give the house more personality than your typical clone operation. And that’s really where my opinion of clone houses has changed over the years. I’ve owned hundreds of clones and inexpensive fragrances. At one point I was constantly chasing the next bargain and trying to see how close something could get to a $200, $300 or $400 fragrance for a fraction of the money. Eventually you realize that “close” isn’t always the same thing as good perfumery. Genre is one of the American houses that I think sits in a better position than that. You’re still getting the fun of discovering interpretations of expensive niche and designer fragrances without spending niche money, but you’re also dealing with a house that has developed its own community and identity. That doesn’t mean every Genre is going to replace the original. For me, a clone should be judged as a clone. If it’s inspired by another fragrance, I want to know how well it captures the idea, how good the materials smell, how it performs, and whether Genre brought anything interesting to the table. I’m not going to pretend owning the inspiration means I own the original fragrance. They’re two different things.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Db12Eb6O2jL/?igsh=MTdyeTRyajA3bzZmOA== And also your clothing is shit…..