Question:
When I started my fragrance hobby/maniacal obsession... I tended to gravitate towards gourmand fragrances and aquatic/fresh scents. It seems that over-time my interests have not only changed but they have done a complete 180.....
If I take a look at the last 20-30 frags I have acquired, they range from Oriental to Chypre to powerhouse fragrances and powdery classics. I know a lot of that likely has to due with the season, since it gets very cold in Ottawa during the winter but it's really hard for me to appreciate gourmands like I used to. Many of them seem so linear and unwearable (just in my opinion.)
Does anyone else have stories about drastic changes in their fragrance tastes? is there anything speficially you attritubute these changes to? Do you think it's cyclical? (for example, will I backlash and return to my love of sweets and waters?) What do you have to say on the subject?
I want to hear other stories.....
Sorry if the clarity of this post is spotty.. I have a fever of 101 degrees and have been home sick all day watching reality TV. Wheeee
a.

Answer:
Certainly, my tastes have become more inclusive since I began taking scents more seriously. I have always liked woody orientals and leather-type fragrances, so for me, maybe the reverse of your experience has been the case. I've learned to like citrus, fougère, chypre, and many floral compositions.

The one type of scent I seem unable to like is the kind that overdoes the "marine" note. It's fine in the right proportion and in the right company, but I find most of the popular acquatics are not to my liking. Perhaps because it's a newer note (most of these started about 1990), perfumers are still experimenting with how it works in various mixes. Or perhaps (more likely), I just don't care for it as a prominent factor in a fragrance.

My theory is that learning about anything (clothes, food, art, music) has the inevitable consequence of broadening one's range of appreciation. Not all kinds of everything can be equally liked, of course, but I believe one develops catholic tastes along with knowledge of a given art. What is attractive in a new esthetic can often surprise one; it's not unusual for me to come to like what I used to deplore. All in all, though, it's much nicer to move in the direction of finding more joy in beauty than the other way around!

Answer:
I started on Basenotes about a year ago though didn't become a registered user until later. Before I joined my knowledge and tastes in fragrance was relatively limited. I rarely used cologne and actually only had 1 which I had been using since the early 80's. Now, I've got a lot more fragrances then it is sane for me to have and I even broke up with a woman, in part because she didn't want me to use cologne.
When I first started into cologne I tended towards the sweeter and gourmand fragrances but as my experience with cologne has expanded I find myself less drawn to them and in fact really put off by overly sweet fragrances. I'm more drawn to the more masculine fragrances of the 70's and 80's like JHL, Santos, Bel Ami, Yatagan and Givenchy Gentleman. I've also been starting to look at some of the fresh and aquatic scents for summer but I don't thing they will ever be my favorite scents, too generic. I expect I can get one or two of them and be happy.

Answer:
Like others the main change I've experienced is an expanding appreciation of different kinds of scents. The only two categories I don't really care for are gourmands and earthy/vetiver type frags.

Answer:
I was just discussing this with my fiancée who now has a passion for wine. Without experience, it's very hard to recognize specific notes. It smells good, but why does it smell good? Once you are able to read a fragrance, your respect for it and the art increases. I still find some fragrances I like and respect unwearable, because ultimately, it is a form of personal expression.
On the path for the perfect grapefruit, I discovered orientals and gourmands.

Answer:
Linear scents sometimes bore me quickly. That was not so before I experienced the excitement that a change in notes can mean.

I had started with French green or floral chypres. When I discovered woody colognes, I considered them as something special, and more for 'me': Aramis, Polo, and Bandit (perfume) had been among the top favorites. The culmination point must have been Bogart's One Man Show and Bogner's Deep Forest. Now I am almost completely off dark woody fragrances, and I doubt I would ever want to go back there. I cannot say I am 'back to' green chypres, though. They just got less wearing time when I was so infatuated with woody frags.

Answer:
After a brief liaison at 17 with Cool Water and Aramis New West, I quickly set about collecting a few classier frags, leaning towards clean, crisp, sharp frags, like Armani Eau PH, Bvlgari PH, Guerlain Vetiver, Dunhill Edition and Eau Sauvage. Safari was an absolute favourite, especially for special occasions. Eternity was another reasonable day frag. Some of these remain to this day my very favourites, and generally my favourite genre.
At 23 I jumpred on the Issey and D&G PH bandwagon - I overdid it as I don't really like either anymore.
Over the following 4-5 years I slowly accumulated a few more - Gentleman, Dunhill 1934, Mania, Essenza di Zegna, Pasha, Gucci PH...
Since joining BN the main evolution has been a growing interest in sweeter frags which I previously despised (the only sweet one I owned previously was Egoiste). So L'Instant, Dior Homme, Chergui and Body Kouros represent my main changes in taste.
I've also been introduced to niches, but most of these purchases have been an extension of my prior love for crisp clean frags and classics (AdP, GIT, BdP, VE).
The sharp/green/citrus and the chypres will remain my favourite genres.
The thread reminds me of good memories - I really have to get myself a fresh bottle of Safari.

Answer:
I just commented to my SO the other day that my nose has grown a lot over the last years. (Response: Hunh? Oh *that* nose, not your nose nose.) Certainly I appreciate fragrances that I wouldn't have a few years ago. I wore Chanel No. 19 recently and I smelled so much more than I remembered, even though it was from the same decant.
Have my tastes changed? No. Expanded? Very much so. I was lucky to have Feminite du Bois suggested to me by a sales associate several years ago and loved it, but I don't wear it much now, as I like other fragrances I have discovered even more. I've also learned how I can wear notes that I enjoyed but wouldn't want to / be able to wear previously, all a question of what other notes are there and in what proportions.
I still gravitate to chypres, incense, woods. I've also begun to realise what some of the notes are in a range of fragrances, such as rose. It never occurred to me that I would enjoy rose, but I did like Rose Ikebana when it first came out, and now I realise that other scents I have enjoyed have, sometimes fairly prominent, rose notes as well.