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Hey, folks! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day today. I wanted to revise my list of favorite fragrance notes because my tastes have changed a bit since my last one. I have smelled many new notes and different nuances of those notes.
I know I said I wasn't doing top 10s anymore, but I made the exception for this one article since it's not about rating fragrances themselves. I hope you enjoy it!
Let's get into it!
10. Cedar
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This peppery woody note is very familiar and widely used in perfumery. Sadly, many fragrances use a smoother form of cedar over it's truer forms. Cedar can be peppery, spicy, smooth, green, or smoky. It's warm and inviting like a cabin's interior in refuge from a snowstorm. It's just an excellent note and it's part of almost everyone's olfactive memory. It's also a very long-lasting note, especially the heavier forms of it.
Some of my favorite cedar fragrances:
January Scent Project Burvuvu is probably one of the truest and most authentic cedar fragrances on the market. It has 3 different types of cedar in it.
9. Sandalwood
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Expensive, opulent, and defining. These are a few words you could use to describe sandalwood. Hardly any fragrances use the natural note because of its excessive price. Sandalwood can be dry, creamy, it can smell like pencil shavings, or freshly dried wood. It's used mostly as a scent booster, but some fragrances use this note as a central part of its composition.
Some of my favorite sandalwood fragrances:
Platinum Egoiste is a gold standard for designer level sandalwood.
Creed Bois du Portugal has a nice smooth sandalwood that perfectly balances the florals in this old school fougere.
8. Cinnamon
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This warm and dry spice reminds of us Christmas. There is nothing like coming in out of the cold and having a hot apple cider with cinnamon on top. It warms you to your soul. It is widely used in both men's and women's fragrances and it used in almost every woody spicy composition. Just about everyone loves this stuff, including me.
My favorite cinnamon fragrances:
Burberry London has a good dose of cinnamon. Widely considered to be THE quintessential holiday fragrance for men. I love this stuff outside of those times as well.
Penhaligon's LP No 9 for Men is a hidden gem of clove and cinnamon, It's been my fragrance of choice for the past two years during the holiday season.
7. Leather
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I will admit... I wasn't always the biggest fan of leather, but it grew on me as my fragrance journey evolved. I always felt like I had to wear a leather jacket if I was wearing a leather fragrance. I don't own any leather jackets, so that was a problem. I got over that and really started to love it. Animalic, smooth, dirty, rough, worn... This is a note that makes women think you are a man.
My favorite leather fragrances:
Memo Irish Leather is my favorite leather fragrances...that bit of sweetness from the juniper with a bit of rough leather and dusty mate tea...It's unique and an excellent blend.
Happyland Cuir Cafe is a bold dark coffee and leather fragrance. Black coffee and leather...what else do you need?
6. Rose
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Rose is a gentleman's best friend when done properly. Usually with dense woods or incense. Rose can add an elegance that you can't find in other floral notes. There is a reason it is usually portrayed as romantic. Fresh, powdery, wet...there are many iterations of rose in fragrances. It's also absurdly expensive in its natural form due to the high number of petals that you need to make a small amount of oil.
Some of my favorite rose fragrances:
Aamod Essence du Royale is supposed to be similar to Frederic Malle's Portrait of a Lady. I haven't tried that one, but this is one of the best roses I have smelled. It's done in a very elegant way with incense, patchouli, and sandalwood.
Burberry Brit is a nice powdery rose that is quite versatile and inoffensive.
5. Musk
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Musk is widely used in perfumery. 99% of it is synthetic now due to animal rights, which I agree with. It can be clean, fluffy, or skanky. Some people even report that it can smell like urine to them. I don't get that. It is used mostly as a base note to get more longevity out of a fragrance, but sometimes it's a focal note.
My favorite musk fragrances:
Narciso Rodriguez Bleu Noir EDP is a good example of a clean musk. Very good quality for the price you can find it at.
Most of the others have it more as a supporting note, so I will just name that one for now.
4. Incense
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Slightly sweet, smoky, rich, churchy, and exotic is what you will hear people say when they smell incense. Used for millenniums in religious ceremonies and fragrances, this stuff has been popular for a really long time. It gives a classy touch to anything it touches and transports us back to someone we know who burned it.
My favorite incense fragrances:
Bentley for Men Intense is a boozy and leathery incense fragrance that packs a masculine punch that most modern designers wish they could obtain.
Amouage Jubilation XXV smells like an old Catholic church to me and I love it...and I am not even Catholic.
3. Tobacco
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This one topped my list last time, but times have changed. I still absolutely love it though. Earthy, sweet, smoky, or ashy. Tobacco is almost an exclusively masculine note. A drier version is used widely in some older fragrances, while the sweeter and earthy kind have taken hold in newer ones.
My favorite tobacco fragrances:
Xerjoff Naxos has a beautiful earthy tobacco underneath the sweet tonka and honey combo. Th etonk ais what gives that sweet tobacco vibe, not the actual tobacco.
Burberry London makes the list again. It's unique and an amazing masterpiece of fragrant history.
2. Lavender
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Ah, lavender...What would fragrances be without this note? Not very good, that is what. A classicly masculine and feminine note. Lavender has been used for at least 2 centuries in fragrances. Probably before that as well. Clean, fresh, soapy, and powdery. It is the quintessential ingredient in barbershop fragrances and fougeres.
My favorite lavender fragrances:
Houbigant Fougere Royale, if you don't know this one yet... Then I feel sorry for you. It started the fougere trend and was the first fragrance to use a synthetic ingredient: coumarin(tonka)
Creed Bois du Portugal is another repeat, but the lavender in this one is so smooth and rich. It's an amazing fragrance.
1. Vetiver
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Anyone who reads this blog saw this one coming. Vetiver is so diverse, masculine, and it improves every fragrance that it's in. Smoky, soapy, dark, earthy, bright, green, fresh, or citric...Vetiver can fill any role. I just love it.
My favorite vetiver fragrances:
Guerlain Vetiver is the best fragrance ever made to me. It's a fresh and soapy vetiver.
Terre d'Hermes is an earthy vetiver with orange. I used to hate this one, but now I love it. The modern gentleman's staple. I need to get a bottle of this. I am slacking. I just can't afford to right now lol
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed my revised notes list. Let me know what your favorites are!
I hope everyone has a wonderful evening. Stay safe and remember to speak a positive word to someone. You never know how much it will help them. It's free!
Also, given current events... I don't like to get political on here, but I feel inclined to ask everyone to pray for our black brothers and sisters who are facing discrimination. Also, pray for everyone else so that we can see these injustices and put them to rest to make a better tomorrow for everyone. If any of you need an ear to listen, my inbox is open. My Facebook. Feel free to add me if you want someone to listen to. The change starts with all of us deciding that we will strive to do better and better every day.
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