Roughly two months ago, I suddenly became interested in fragrance. Not even sure why or how; but I started to get influencers popping up on my fyp all the time. At first, I simply continued scrolling. However, I slowly started to pay more attention to who they were and what they were saying. Little did I understand then, the rabbit hole in which I would find myself such a short time later, and just how fully consumed I would become by perfume: from blind-buying everything influencers recommended, to reading about its history, watching films—Perfume: the Story of a Murderer, is superb, and the book is next—reading books on making perfume, the history of the senses, and creating this blog. It’s become a huge part of my life. But my worry is not that it will consume me further—my wallet is more worried than my well-being. Rather, it is that having experienced the niche market, I genuinely understand why we buy a fragrance for the dry down, as opposed to the counter experience. And as someone with ADHD, who chases dopamine, a complex and sophisticated dry down pushes all the right buttons.
And let me say two things. First, yes, even a niche fragrance can displease, or disappoint. Secondly, when I vented my grievances to my son—who also loves fragrance—regarding Dynasty, he accused me of being a fragrance snob. And I’m worried he is right. After all, it is the value brands that scent me down this road.
When I blind buy a value brand now, I really get annoyed by the linearity. I mean, it’s not too much to ask to expect something, right? I suspect part of my disappointment comes from the social media spaces in which influencers live. Those with the largest following often have identical content: the top ten lists: the, “she won’t be able to resist you” lists: the compliment chasing: the recommendations that turn out to be duds—because influencers are paid to push them. It’s frustrating that to get a genuinely complex composition that evolves, surprises, and even thrills, must be so costly. And the truth is, it doesn’t have to be. I have had several amazing finds that I would put up against niche brands any day of the week: Encre Noir, $35—I know, it’s technically designer, though leans niche: Lattafa Maahir Black, $20: Fawah Midnight, $20. (I was planning on reviewing Le Labo’s Vetiver 46 today, but I can’t get the last remnants of the Fawah off my hand.) The truth is that finding value like that is like finding a needle in a haystack; and it’s even more difficult with a cacophony of pied pipers leading enthusiasts astray.
More frustrating still, is that influencers with massive clout are pretending that you can get this experience for pennies on the dollar. Recently, I purchased Lattafa Dynasty because everyone was talking about it—and that’s on me. It’s ok. Nothing special. Not bad, not great. You get what you pay for at a $25 price point. And yet, after I had already worn it, I saw an influencer make the claim that they’ve never seen a niche profile like this at this price point. What even is a niche profile? It was clear to me that he clearly intended his audience to understand him as claiming it was niche quality. He was assuming his audience doesn’t know the definition of profile, and thus clearly misleading them.
I’ve since stopped following almost all the bigger influencers and pay closer attention to accounts that have fewer followers, sometimes only a couple hundred. In many cases, those accounts are genuinely passionate about fragrance, and talk about it intelligently. I’ve also started following individual perfumers and brand houses, as opposed to influencers. In other words, I am trying to find the most genuine voices in the social media space, because there is still value in what’s happening there; but like a high-quality bargain fragrance, they are sometimes difficult to find.
So, I ask you all, as I grow ever more disenchanted with the value side of the industry, am I becoming a snob?
Welcome to the rabbit hole! It seems you’ve made quite a lot of progress in just two months. My journey was slower as I’m not on social media, so I relied a lot more on blogs and websites like Fragrantica and Basenotes.
As for becoming a snob, I guess that depends on what you mean by snob!? Perhaps you’re developing more discerning taste, and it sounds like you’ve found some perfumes that are good at both high and low price points, so you haven’t disowned “value” fragrances entirely. In the end, we simply like what we like…
Truer words… as for the progress? The ADHD brain does nothing halfway. I think finding my way to blogs was the natural outcome. This is a better space for genuinely good review and content. It’s much more difficult to find over there. Too mich noise. Thanks for the read!
Oh, BTW, in a response you made on another post, you mentioned you are in the northeastern US. The northeastern part that got hit with the blizzard of 2026, by chance?. Im in MA
I am as well.
Well, well, well… Southeastern?
Greater Boston area, and that’s about the extent of specificity on this forum. 🙂 How about you?
No worries. A little south of boston
Feel free to delete. But what are the odds?
As Nose Prose aptly said, Grenouille, welcome to the rabbit hole. When I launched my blog, PER FUMUS, there was no TikTok, and Instagram was still in its infancy. The community I surrounded myself with consisted of people who genuinely wanted to discuss perfumes intentionally and intellectually. The followers I have today still possess that discerning taste, which I am grateful for. I have an Instagram account, and I understand your concerns. I find that people follow me not because they are interested in my content or PER FUMUS, but because following me increases their chances of being followed. I am not interested in games. I am interested in conversations about perfumes with people who have some knowledge and diverse opinions.
Well said. And thanks. I only hope to contribute some fraction of what I will take away from this community. I will continue to use the socials, but it is now an effort to drive traffic here. The whole reason for coming here was the fatigue of seeing posts that are essentially chasing likes and clicks. No one really wants to talk. And then I found you fine folks! I may just stick around. 😁
Yes, you dived into the deep end pretty quickly, Grenouille. I first started getting into perfume well before Social Media, so my tastes were shaped by family and friends – mostly designer stuff. Eventually after some years I made my way to niche with brands like L’Artisan, Serge Lutens and Frederic Malle. Honestly, I think these are still some of the best niche brands you can find. Their back catalogues are second to none, and some come still be found at a decent price on discounters. The new stuff pedalled by the Tiktok experts pales by comparison. We have to be quite discerning in our choices, because for every 50 new releases we may only like one. I think we have to be discerning in which Instagram/YouTube accounts we follow also. Those that have a ton of affiliate links and gifted bottles are best avoided. My advice would be to sample more rather than blind buying, you’ll save yourself some heartache and probably a few dollars in the long run. You’re certainly not becoming a snob. As Nose Prose correctly pointed out, you seem to have some varied picks that run the price gamut. I hope I’m the same, as even now, after all these years I still enjoy my 10 dollar bottle of Sarah Jessica Parker’s Stash as much as my most expensive fragrance.
You are, of course, right on all counts. Before I created this WP account, I created a second tiktok acct, specifically for the purpose of getting away from the affiliate related influencers, altering the algorithm. There is some excellent content out there, but overwhelmingly they are the accounts with 400, 500, maybe 1000 followers. And they speak genuinely about fragrance. They have a much different message. And of course, I do have amazing fragrances at impressively low price points. They are our there. It takes no less discernment in finding those than in finding an honest social acct!