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Comment by bravura | Hacker News Reader

1) Internet commentary is generally pretty low quality, but perfume nerds seem categorically to all be the most interesting person you would ever invite to a party: https://basenotes.com/fragrances/no-5-by-chanel.10210628

every single comment on that website is amazing.

2) I hate perfume. I met an avant garde perfumist called Christopher Brosius (label: "I hate perfume") and waited 20 years to buy his samples. They are AMAZING. So approachable. Everyone who has let me dab with his fragrances has been blown away. "In the library" smells like old books. "Wild hunt" has rotten leaves as an ingredient. "Walking on air" smells like fresh cut grass. I hate perfume but I am obsessed with his smells: https://www.cbihateperfume.com/

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I know we are used to people online having the wildest disagreement because of contrarianism or something, but in this case, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation:

You know we have three different types (sometimes four) of color sensors in our eyes? And that people who miss one or several of them are "colorblind" and fail tests like the Ishihara Test?

Well, human noses have hundreds of possible olfactory receptors, and everyone of us only has a subset of these, which means we are all "smellblind" one way or another.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10824/

Each one of us smells perfumes differently. The only think that we can agree on is a shared association or experience like the smell of a standard object (e.g. a road, asphalt) or of a common plant (flower or food).

Also smell is very tightly connected to memories and this adds more complexity. For example I like perfumes that use the notes of gasoline and some solvents because I liked to play around my grandfathers garage where he stored such stuff. Other people might have negative memories associated with these aromas and will perceive them accordingly.

Diesel and Camel cigarettes, ditto: I'm instantly an 8yo beside my grandpa in overalls.

Most people would disdain that ... perfume.

A great example of this is a scent I really like--Santal 33.

The way everything mixes together, there's a dill pickle overtone that some people are really receptive to. I can smell it if I actively think about dill, but it's not the first thing I notice. Others seem to respond to it like a jar of pickle juice.

https://basenotes.com/fragrances/santal-33-by-le-labo.261328...

I'm definitely one of those people. The first time I smelled it on someone I thought they were sick, it was sour just like pickle vinegar. Not overly dissimilar to a sour sweat smell.

I couldn't believe it when I found out it was a high end fragrance people would wear...willingly.

I am just trying to figure out if they are the bigger nerds or if we as commenters on the quality of their nerdy commentary is the nerdier group.

As we are doing computers, by default we must be the nerdier group.

Computer geeks : nerds :: mathematicians : scientists ?

Meta-commentary always leans nerdier.

I'm a perfume fan and fragrance commentary manages to be one of the most spectacular thing on the internet. You might find comments being like "smells like cat piss" next to another comment of someone who maybe dips his feet in perfumery and goes like "oh yeah it's clear they used some new musc, the transparent ones, and not the old ones that would have been more cozy"

There are a few that I absolutely enjoy the smell of, but I have super bad allergies and migraines so I'm usually anti perfumes. It doesn't help that a lot of people wear far too much in public when a lil dab will do ya.

Apparently I'm a super smeller (always the first to detect gas leaks, food that's off, know the brand of shampoo a person uses if I'm 200ft down wind, know if you use scented dish soap to clean the bowl you used to make cookies in when I eat the cookie). And I just think the idea that adding smells to the world is absolutely insane. Can I beam my favourite colours directly into your eyes with a laser from across the room? What if I know you like that colour too?

The first perfume on https://www.cbihateperfume.com/ is "At the Beach 1966".

This was a plot line for Seinfeld (Kramer invents it then Calvin Klein steals his idea).

Those reviews of No 5 reminded me of a fantastic video about the (simplified) history of Coco Chanel [1] that I loved but haven't watched in years.

The simplicity of design and the pace make it timeless, despite the fact that it was produced 11 years ago.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G88zqPxJ00

Fun fact: Coco Chanel was a Nazi spy

I feel like most people know this, along with the follow-up that the company Chanel was co-founded with a Jewish businessman who was able to transfer ownership to a Christian friend and transfer it back after the war with Chanel removed.

Joke's on you: I just learned something!

This is fascinating, I binge read a lot of that website, and might try to buy some! Any recommendations? I guess the ones you already listed?

Your descriptions of perfume sound like someone who appreciates perfume. I don't think you hate perfume.

Perfume in general is very approachable, and most perfume one can find easily is popular and accessible. You just walk into a drug store and try some for free. The process is entirely self-directed and manual. Often, not even the security guard will look.

Thx; ordered a few samples from them.

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