Add my name to the list for Shalimar. Maybe the original formulation was better.
Also L'Heure Blue.
And I'm still working on Feminite du Bois.

Miss Balmain (too sour on me )

EL Private Collection (like a spike up my nose )

Arpege (too sour on me )

DITTO!

I can't wear pretty much anything that I've smelled too much around me: Opium, Shalimar, L'Heure Bleue, Angel, Lolita Lempicka... They just don't feel like they belong on me.

Adding Joy: it's beautiful, but it's not the indolic aspect that annoys me, it's that nearly gasoline smell that you get from jasmine essences (they have molecules in common, I was explained).

N°5 I only truly got when I smelled a 30s vintage.

I cannot pull of any of the EL line due to spikes or too much ooomph ( with the exception of Tuberose Gardenia) , I don't mind that this house does this to me except in the cases of Youth Dew and Cinnabar , which to me are stunning scents but only to be admired on others.

Honestly? I don't think I can pull off Rive Gauche, as much as I was prepared to love it (I missed it entirely when it first came out).


Either that, or I just don't like it on me. I'm not sure I'm ready to buy the concept of not being able to "pull something off." That sounds like there are perfumes out there that are greater than us, or more inscrutable than our pea-brains can fathom, etc. I think that kind of analysis is ######, frankly, now that I think about it.

Wear what you like. The things that you "can't wear" or "can't pull off" really translate to things you just don't like. Life is too short to try to challenge yourself to "get" something you simply don't like.

I agree with you wholeheartedly ,except that Youth Dew truly is greater than I , this thing not only dominates me , its slaps me around and abuses me, I tried to get along but this thing can take me with both hands tied behind its back .

So does that mean that you love it, appreciate it, but just can't wear it? Or that you wear it, but with the understanding that it's going to put on its spurs, swing itself into the saddle, and wear YOU?

It means I appreciate it , love it from afar , only once have I worn it and it was dabbed with caution.

That's so funny you mention a perfume making you depressed. Toujours Moi and Estee Lauder - Pleasures, both do the same thing to me!

As far as a great perfume that I can't pull off - It would be - Champs Elesse. Pewwww weeeeee. The worse! Immediate headache and nauseating feeling. So far, I haven't found a Guerlain that I can tolerate.

MITSOUKO - try as I might, not a good thing. It's like a lump of funk butter on me and it won't melt and go away. But I keep a bottle, (thanks Rasp) just in case!


Most of the Guerlains as wel asl Fracas! (hate tuberose), Vent Vert (YIKES!) toooooo GREEN and DRY

Haha, Carla, I passed it along to you 'cause I couldn't handle it either...


But I simply lu-u-ur-rve the much maligned YOUTH DEW. Please send me your tired, your poor, your huddling masses of YD flacons, yearining to breathe free.

Opium (love it on others - it's awful on me).

Joy - I won't say what this smells like on me but it's not pretty.

#5 - same as Joy

Mitsouko! Even in the parfum form - I keep a tiny bit of it around and try it once in a while to see if anything has changed, but as of now, it officially smells mildewy on me. As do Vol de Nuit and L'heure bleue. The classic Guerlains are hard for me to wear and I can't pinpoint what it is that's turning weird on me. I'm pretty resigned to not being able to wear them, except for Mitsouko - for some reason I feel like this should be fabulous on me, so I keep trying. Classic definition of insanity - but who knows? Maybe hormonal changes will make it work someday.

Cuir de Russie.

OK, so I'm answering this question as I believe you asked it ~ these are the fragrances that I want to like but cannot wear. I don't dislike them, I simply cannot/do not enjoy wearing them.

Chanel No 5 (wears me)
Guerlain LHB (blah - smells like $3.99 drugstore fragrance on me)
Mitsouko (??don't get it)
Jicky (??don't get it)
Shalimar (smells like vomit on me)
Angel (I like to sniff this - spritz it into the air - but it wears me)
Bond No 9 Chinatown (wears me)
HABANITA (oh my gawd! I so tried to wear this - can barely see through the clouds of powder!)

The ones that react badly with my skin chemistry are :

L'Heure Bleue (marzipan)
Joy (indoles)
Fracas (tuberose)

If I'm totally honest any perfume that's heavily loaded down with Tuberose or Jasmine, also any almond type note that turns into strong marzipan.

Perfume Sacre
Opium
Angel
Aromatics Elixir
Must de Cartier
Coriandre
Lolita Lempika
Vera Wang (all of them)
Alexander McQueen (all of them)
Michael Kors
Narciso Rodriguez
Youth Dew
Cuir Russie
Basier du Dragon
Siras des Indes
Jicky

Today, one got added to the list of the ones I can't pull off:

Parfums de Nicolai Baladin

It started out as usual, but after a couple of hours it turned into a dry, powdery, "dirty" smell. At first, I kept looking around wondering who was wearing that horrid juice. Imagine the abject horror when I realized it was me and it wasn't going anywhere soon (nowhere near to try and wash). It actually made my stomach burble a couple of times.

Got home, showered, and threw everything I was wearing into the wash. I'm still getting snips of it. {{Shudder}}

Sadly, Serge Noire.

Chanel No 5
Cuir de Russie
Caron Tabac Blond
Jicky

Lady Caron smells fine in the bottle, but smells like hairspray on my skin.

You know that smell that's in most hairsprays? Shame.

Miss Dior; it is poor version of Vol de Nuit, which is much cleaner and drier. Smell cheap on my skin, maybe it is my body chemistry...

As much as I had hoped that I would like this very well liked perfume, Chanel No. 5 doesnt do anything for me, it doesnt smell nice in the bottle or on my skin. Its the aldehydes that must turn me off. It drives a spike up my nose

mitsouko, sadly

Chanel No. 5. I know it is considered to be a classic scent but it does not work on me at all. I think it's the aldehydes.
I was kind of interested in seeing Shalimar listed so many times. I wore it as a young woman 30+ years ago but when I smelled it recently, it seemed totally different. Has it been reformulated or changed a lot? It smells more "chemical-ly" to me now but maybe it's my nose. Some perfumes I used to love seem totally unloveable to me now. Calyyx was one of my favorites and now I wouldn't wear it. Did it change or did I??

Caleche does not like me. I love the first hour or so but from then on it's down hill. It seems to turn sour. I so want it to work.

Another for Cuir de Russie. Interesting that the take on what 'not being able to pull off' is divided between things people would like to like or tried to or respect but can't wear for some olfactory reason, and a few things people like the smell of but wouldn't wear for various reasons. I've answered in terms of classics I'd like to appreciate but that don't smell nice on me. When I really think of not being able to pull it off, I think of something I consider for a fundamentally different person than I would ever be able to or want to aspire to, a completely different role that I do not wish to play, or too high on a ladder of things that I do aspire to, ie. not my game or out of my league. The 'leagues' business in the long run is actually irrelevant and is a complicated code that runs over top of and masks olfactory perception in psychological images about self and others and self-image.

I love many classics, but some just don't work on me.

The ones that used to in my youth that don't anymore:
L'Air du Temps, Je Reviens, Chanel No. 19, Cristalle, Chamade, L'Heure Bleue, Bellodgia, First, Shalimar in the EDC or EDT, Ombre Rose, Quelquesfleurs, many ruined reforumulations like Lutece, Chantilly, Demi Jour, most things touched by Dana, White Shoulders.

The ones that have never worked:
Practically anything Creed except Angelique Encens; Joy; Coriandre, Cabochard, Rive Gauche, Must de Cartier, Nuit de Noel, Tabac Blond, most Carons except Parfum Sacre and Nocturnes, most Serge Lutens that have a curry/patchouli or urinal cake smell or that are mainly floral - no can do. I seem to like the 'foodier' Serges like Un Bois Vanille, Douce Amere, and the softer ones that get skin-like on me like Daim Blond or Gris Clair.

There are great perfumes that I like, and greats that I don't like, but there is no scent that is 'above' me.

Coco Mademoiselle = instant headache, sharp spike up left nostril to brain

White Shoulders = pancake syrup

Mitsouko = it simply hates me. I'm scared of it! Musty, fusty, like something's going to jump out of a mean old lady's pocketbook and bite me.

White Linen = I wanted to like it, but it's got something in it I can't tolerate, on me or on others

Wrappings = it's like someone stalking you. I don't like it, and, once it's on me, I can't get away from it.

Coriandre = could wear it years ago, but now -- eh. I gave it away.

Oops. Just realized the question was GREAT perfumes, not any old perfume. OK, just put me down for Mitsouko.