For me, it's:
Guerlain Shalimar
most Chanels, I like them intellectually but don't feel comfortable wearing them, why is that?
I'm still waiting for "my" Frederic Malle, got high hopes for Dans Tes Bras
Clinique Aromatics Elixir
Robert Piguet Fracas

SHALIMAR'S swell with me, ditto JICKY and LHB.

But MITSOUKO is awfully stentorian and its tessitura is very sharply focused for me. No can do MITSOUKO.

Definitely Shalimar. God knows how many times I've tried it and wanted to capture all the legend surrounding it, but alas, we were not meant to be.

Jicky and LHB don't work on me at all regrettably

L'Heure Bleue. Wow. No. I believe it's rapturous for some...I really do, but I've tried a few times to understand the rhapsody and it doesn't happen for me.

Bandit

Samsara

Miss Balmain

Interesting question, Dain!

Lorelei and Sharil, I'm with you! L'Heure Bleue is an acknowledged great but it just isn't me. Can't do it; it makes me feel like a fraud.

I'm trying to make a distinction here between a perfume I can't wear because I don't like it and one that just doesn't fly on me. It's very hard to differentiate.

Trying to think of some more... Okay--thought of another one: Niki de Saint Phalle. I love the top notes and mid notes and when I spray it on I feel it could be my signature perfume forever--until the drydown. The drydown just doesn't work on me and I can't live with it.

LHB and also Miss Balmain. And Kenzo Elephant, which is by far the WORST. The first one, I can wear. The second is way too heavy. And the third smelled horrid. I'd like to know what it smells like when it smells right.

I have trouble with Femme too, at least in the parfum, which I thought had gone bad (and it might have, as I had nothing to compare it to.)

Coco and Opium - I love them on others but on my skin - I smell like I'm wearing someone else's perfume.

Opium - maybe because I could not "understand" it years ago, but it is still a NO.
Fracas - I have been trying and trying, but it is really a BIG NO
L'Heure Bleu - NO Good.
Femme has been destroyed for me too, It smells like cinnamon and cooking these days. The EDP that is.
In the 70's I adored it. Reformulation and changes in my chemistry I suppose.
L'Air de Temps - re formulation of course and also what remain reminds of bad memories.
I do NOT dislike a lot of perfumes, and a few of the Chanels including #5 are included .... I just know that
I do not want to wear them. Every now and then I try #5 and then have pangs of guilt that I do not want
to wear it. As I said there are 'fumes I do no dislike, but I will never wear them.
I do not mean to be negative but I think anything I put into my "collection" has to be just wonderful and perfect for me before I commit.

#5 - someone here at POL recently made a mould reference to this one but I cannot recall who said this ( thank you whoever you are , you finally helped me nail it) , aside from the headaches my chemistry has always brought about certain something mildewy in the heart.

Coco- busy busy busy , scattered and did I mention busy ?



In EDT form only , I think the parfum is wonderful for these ....
Shalimar - I love citrus but not like this , its a toxic lemon/vanilla attack
JPG Classique - its been called a urinal cake , yup
Amarige - should be warnings on the EDT ,srsly

Shalimar is so nice on others but (on me) makes my head ache and smells like
a dim dirty dismal brothel.

Shalimar is definitely a perfume that I'm resigned will never work out for me. I've tried many times. It's just not going to happen.

Joy. There's something fecal in there, and I just can't wear this one for various reasons.

Musc Ravageur. (shudder)

Tom Ford Black Orchid. The nastiness in the top ruins an otherwise fabulous heart and drydown for me.


I accept that these are great perfumes, but alas, not for me.

As "Ms Shalimar" here, I am surprised that people find it hard to wear. I completely understand if people don't like it, but admiring it and being unable to wear it (unless perhaps you are too young) is interesting.

Agreed and agreed , Tom's BO is no go , I am done sampling this one, I have tried a couple of times and found both attempts to be almost painful and protracted.

I hesitate to add Joy as I only spritzed it once in a shop , but my reaction was the exact same at that time .... I keep pondering revisiting this one in case the bottle was off but after much reading I am thinking that nothing is off and its supposed to smell like that

Shalimar--hands down--not for me! Or, I'm not for IT. I'd have the scrub-brush out asap!

Chypre

L'Heure Bleue !! No can do L'Heure Bleue!

Also Joy and Angelique Encens. I just can't wear 'em. Oh, well, lots I can wear, so I won't lose sleep over it!!

Coco

LHB is impossible now even though it was my signature 35 years ago.

Shalimar. It was my MIL's signature. I sampled the parfum over the weekend out of curiosity. It smelled nothing like the other formulations. It was awful, actually, more like household cleanser or insect spray than a fine perfume. I can't believe it was supposed to be like this, even with a reformulation. Maybe something had happened to that bottle.

Another vote for L'Heure Bleu. I wanted desperately for it to love my skin, as I loved the scent and the whole romanticism of the name, but it's not to be.

There are others I don't like or just don't get - Messe de Minuit comes immediately to mind - but LB is the one that just doesn' work. at. all.

L'heure bleue. I love the first half hour, then total marzipan city.
Cabochard - My grandmother wore this in the 1980s, so I like to visit its current reformulations to commune with her in spirit, from time to time.
Bandit - I'm not enough of a "girl on the motorcycle type" to pull this off and never will be. In my reality and fantasies, I like to walk or take public transportation.
Sublime - I wore this during high school. Unfortunately, the powdery, biscuity notes that I so enjoyed are gone.
Tocade - I'm too pretentious to enjoy this.
Tabac Blond - Another perfume my grandmother liked, but the extrait is just like an incense stick on me.
Fumerie Turque - I might as well just dab honey on my wrists.
Nahema - IMO, this and the old Cabochard were the ultimate man-eater scents, so....

I've never sampled JOY. Is there an indole thing going on?

The Guerlinade is not my friend, so most of the Guerlains don't work for me, sadly.

That includes L'Heure Bleue, which I got many years ago after reading it described as a quintessentially French fragrance. It smelled a lot like the Emeraude my grandmother wore in her later years, which was not a scent I would have chosen for myself. Funny how many of us have been disappointed by this one.

Funny indeed how there seems to be a fair number who cannot wear LHB , I took to it like a duck to water.


Razz , at the time of testing I likened it to sparkling , high pitched floral scented poop ..... judging by your appreciation of the group I think it could be worth you sampling.

Scents I can't pull off, and not for lack of trying:
Joy - too indolic/fecal smelling and didn't agree with my chemistry at all
Fracas - the dreaded nasty tuberose note amplified
L'Heure Bleue - Playdoh
Tom Ford Black Orchid - oooh, nasty beyond belief on me, pure B.O. and not black orchid either
Angelique Encens - just felt like it was all wrong for me

Chanel Cuir de Russie (had decants of EDT and extrait). Given my chemistry, I get bland, mild, white flowers, spoiled unsalted butter, hint of urine.
Another vote for Fracas.
Another vote for L'Heure Bleue.
Another vote for L'air du temps.
Je Reviens.
Lots of powerhouse greats (Poison, Angel, Alien, JPG). Lots of florals and florientals (see above).

Lorenzo Villoresi's scents. So far.

Of the 5 or 6 I've tried, they are just noxious on my skin. LV came highly recommended as I do love Italian fragrances. But, honestly, his stuff just doesn't work on me.

I try them, smell them, live with them for as long as I can, and then think "This is all a joke. Right? Someone's pulling my leg." But I'm fortunate. My mom could only wear Chanel No. 5. Everything else turned to vinegar on her skin. And she got so tired of No. 5 that she just stopped wearing any scent at all.

And Gendarme and Michael for Men. I can't pull those off (and don't want to) at all.

Another vote for LHB.

Also Apres L'Ondee. Lots of admiration; can't touch the stuff.

I'm still trying to make Tabac Blond work but haven't yet.

I don't know if Femme is considered a great perfume, but I loathe its current incarnation. Or is this thread just perfumes we admire but can't wear? If so, scratch Femme.

Mizz V., you say that like it's a bad thing!

Musc Ravageur. (shudder)

Yeah. Me too. So sticky-sweet on me, nothing deep at all.

I guess many would say the Lutens are in the "great perfumes" section so - here goes -

I cannot wear any of them. I find I end up smelling like a giant walking Mothball

Joy's got serious indoles. Not out in front, but definitely in the supporting cast. This makes it among the "not for me" fragrances.

Along those lines, I simply can't stand Eau d'Hermes - mostly because of the cumin. I know a lot of folks think it is a classic - but it smells like a cab driver's stale sweaty pants to me. My wife calls it Eau d'BO.

Teddius

All of the Rosine fragrances smell awful on me
Guerlain Nahema - musty rose overload
Dune - it goes on and on - too strong!
Serge Lutens Rahat Loukoum - EWWWW!
Jicky - I just don't like it but don't know why

I think there are many others . . . . .

I can't wear Shalimar...instant headache & frankly, I just don't like the smell.

But hey....I can wear loads of other ones mentioned here, except Serge Lutens Rahat Loukoum. That's just nasty on me.

RL POLO (green original).


I think it it's interesting, it was groundbreaking in its day. Definitely for outdoorsmen, though, which I am not. I'm too nerdy to wear a fragrance that screams, "Tennis courts and golf course, catamaran and football field, here I am!"


Funny, I loved Z-14 back in the day... but I can't imagine wearing it again... just WAY-Y-Y too many high-school memories attached to that one...

Je Reviens...it was soooo "my mothers fragrance" that I can't go there. A mental block!

Shalimar and Coco are simply awful on my skin. Coco broke my heart, because I find it so beautiful in the bottle.

LHB is different...it doesn't go wrong on my skin per se. I can tell that it's a masterpiece, but it's simply too sweet for my liking.

Lady J, I know what you mean. With very few exceptions, they all smell oily to me. In a bad way.

Nahema, I get the rose , but strangely, sunflower oil as well. Don't know how to explain it.

I can't wear L'Heure Bleue either, or Joy or Bandit or Coco.

Bandit
Mitsouko
Nahema

They are of course amazing fragrances and I marvel at their construction but they just don't work on me.

Velvet, I try to like them for they are so popular but ... glad I am not the only one!

Narcisse Noir--it isn't awful, but it just lies there on my skin, doing nothing, until it fades away. I was expecting so much more from this one.

I can wear the edp and parfum, but something about the edt makes me sad, very sad. I've worn it in all types of weather, sunny days or cloudy, it doesn't seem to matter. After about 5 hours, I'm so depressed! I wonder what it is in it?

Lots:

Mitsouko
L'Heure Bleue
Shalimar
Nahema
Fracas
Femme
1000
Bandit

I'm not really a classics girl....

15 years ago, I bought a bottle of Chanel No. 19. I wore it to a job that intimiated me. (Funny that I chose 19. It would be the classic 'confidence' scent that many of you would recommend - but I chose it instinctively, at the ripe age of 24!) After I left that job to be a mommy, I didn't wear 19 very much at all. Thank goodness I kept the bottle, because I think I've grown into it. I'm wearing it today, and I LOVE IT.

Bandit pure parfum is probably the only fragrance I wouldn't leave the house in. I keep thinking I'm going to 'get' the magic of this fragrance, swept away on a magic carpet of oakmoss, but it hasn't happened yet.

Aromatics Elixir
Cabochard (the new rendition!)
Both smell very weird and fusty on me.

Practically all the Guerlains and Chanels. I once described the perfumes that work for me as "more fromage than sillage." The classics make me feel like I'm playing dressup; they don't feel like me.

Datura Noir and Arabie. I'm a Serge fan through and through, but these two are killing me.