nez

1.5 month and 5 sets of various samples later, I've learned some things about my fragrance preferences.

Vetiver
I don't think vetiver centric fragrances are something I would want to wear. I do still very much like this note in a composition, but was not immediately smitten with either Tom Ford's Grey Vetiver or Guerlain's Vetiver (or Commodity's Vetiver) when I tried them. Will give Guerlain's another go on the skin, and will get a sample of Able's White Vetiver, but moving forward will not go out of my way to try vetiver focused scents.

Citrus
I almost always get a cleaning product association with scents that have citrus lasting past the very opening. The only fragrance that this did not happen with is Le Labo's Bergamote 22, and I don't love it enough to consider it full bottle worthy (though Rui does love it).

Aromatic / Herbal
This is my preferred dominate note for hot weather scents. Feels super refreshing while having more complexity than a citrus focused scent, and also tend to last longer.

Rose
My bae, one of two soliflore that I actively seek out. I like fresh roses, jammy roses, spicy roses and possibly oud-y roses (only data point is Penhaligon's Sohan so far). So far I've found full bottle worthy of both a fresh (Penhaligon's Savoy Steam) and a jammy rose (Parterre A Tribute to Edith) already. Excited to try Amouage's roses for the spice and oud variants.

Iris
The powdery-ness of Iris is very comforting to me. So far I haven't found an iris centric or soliflore that I love, and surprisingly have not come across l'infusion d'iris at any duty free shops. My high hopes for Serge Luten Iris Silver Mist and Van Cleef Bois d'Iris were both ruined by their amber notes. The search continues.

Floral Mix
I initially dismissed florals, due to a mix of thinking it was headache inducing and also faint memories of overpowering jasmine scents (from what I have no clue, I've retried my Guerlain jasmine Aqua Allegoria and it was fine). It took Arquiste Fleur de Louis to completely change my mind. This is my preferred S/S work scent (with Penhaligon's Lord George for F/W). I do want to try more floral mixes, but the desire is somewhat subdued by how much I like Fleur de Louis.

Wood
I do like wood, but less than I thought I would. I thought a good summer fragrance would be a cold, forest-y fragrances (eg. Aesop Hwyl), but just don't feel as much affinity for it. Possibly because they would promise a moss scent, which I'm drawn to from the exquisite temples in Kyoto, but I never smell the moss (do I even know how moss smells like? Do they actually have a smell or is this another one of those conceptual notes?) Out of the individual woods, I can only reliably identify sandalwood, and have a vague impression of what agarwood and gaiac wood is like.

Tea
This is like a get-out-of-jail-free card for me haha. Well sort of. I'm always tempted to try tea scents, and I typically like them, but they never measure up to the aroma of my actual teas, especially the deliciously floral or fruity oolongs.

Leather
I like soft leather / suede as a supporting note in some compositions, but am not a fan of harder or prominent leather scents.

Amber / Resin
This is a definite hate for me. I will actively avoid any fragrance that has a prominent amber note, unless it's super expertly blended into a base that features other heavy scents. As they say in detailing for seismic, it's all about proportioning to achieve the desired performance. Myrrh is about the only resin that I feel positively about, while frankincense I think I'm neutral on (too few data points, will know after Amouage samples).

Smoke / Incense
I don't really like smoke but I'm slightly positive on incense. It's tricky because the smell of incense to me is how Chinese / Buddhist incense smells like (not sure which notes they are, likely wood-y ones), but most perfumes described as incense references the Christian incense smell (resin-y), which I'm ambivalent to dislike on.

Sweet
Stay away, stay far away. Did not like and still do not like, but at least it's not nauseating like amber.

Musk
Having gone through the musk collection from Sylvaine Delacourte, I'd say I'm ambivalent to the clean, white musks. Haven't smelled any dark, animalistic musks, but I doubt it'll be something I like.

Vanilla 
Similarly, having gone though the vanilla collection from Sylvaine Delacourte, I realized that I'm okay with real vanilla. Also I had the chance to smell a real vanilla bean, and the scent is very different than a conceptual vanilla note. The real bean smells very much like rum to me, very spicy and pungent, not cloy or sweet at all. Vanilla is still not a note that I'll look for, but will not turn away from fragrances that use it in a supporting role.

Tonka
This is my preferred alternative to vanilla