Smoke gives me an instant headache. Perfume fuels my energy levels and makes me extra happy. I feel naked without my squirts of Kenzo Flower. Hah! We are all different.

Thanks for including a detox fruit with my pastry, Taylor. You are looking after me :0)

No prob Angie:) One must fuel up first thing:)

Ditto on the cigarette smoke...but I would never say anything,...I just move on:)

I'm allergic to lavender, a major ingredient in perfumes. In the mall I keep as far away form the candle shops as possible. I love Versace's Blonde, but after a sneezing fit I did a test and found out it was the Blonde. My niece really appreciated the brand new bottle I gave her.

I can wear Chanel No. 5 because it is all synthetic, but I don't have any at present. Right now I wear White Ginger that I stock up on in Hawaii. I can probably get it online nowadays. I first wore it on my honeymoon.

When I buy a fashion magazine the first thing I do is go through it and tear out all the perfume ads with samples and throw them in the trash. Only then can I sit down and read it in peace. And breathe.

I don't think that people who haven't experienced a hypersensitivity to smells or an allergy to perfume ingredients can appreciate how offensive and ill certain perfumes can be to those that do.

I fully understand sensitivity to smells...cigarette smoke and tire stores can send me vomiting...
but I don't expect anyone to give up smoking , or closing any tire stores on my account...I just avoid the things that bother me. The world needn't change for me, nor do I feel the need to change my lifestyle for the random person who may react to my perfume. At almost 53 I have never sent anyone away choking and gaging.

Claudia, I totally remember 70's Musk Oil. My Mum used to keep a tube in her bag at all times. As a child I used to sneak some myself. It smelt delicious. I hope you find your Musk Oil!

Hypersensitivity to anything, perfume or the likes, is a real thing. I'm not denying the seriousness of the situation to those who suffer under the perils of scented fumes. It's probably similar to the way I react to cigarette smoke. I just happen to be positively affected by the smell of perfume, which on this forum is not the norm.

I am not allergic to perfume, but as I said earlier, I avoid wearing it because I don't want to impact those who are. I am, however, allergic to cigarette smoke. But I don't really think the two are a fair comparison. It is far easier to avoid people smoking than it is to avoid people wearing perfume. Smoking is banned in most indoor places, and when outside, it is often easy to walk away from. It is also very easy to spot someone smoking and avoid them.

But perfume is totally different. Anyone can wear it anywhere. If you are standing on line in a department store, at a concert, in a conference room at work, or on an airplane, and a person has perfume on, there is pretty much nothing you can do to escape the situation.

Just wanted to throw that out there, as another way to look at the situation.

I apologize if I gave the impression that I would ask anyone not to wear perfume. I have certainly been driven away from people who are wearing more scent than I can easily tolerate, but (to the best of my knowledge) they have not been aware of it - I've never confronted anyone about it, I just hold my breath and move away as soon as I can.

Hehee, Angie and Taylor, I'm totally going to join you.
I pull out my heavy hitters in the summer - they open up so well in the heat. Yum. But I only do this when I know I'll be at home that day, and not interacting with lots of people. I have a busy schedule right now, and I selfishly can't wait until I can be alone and indulge.

I don't appreciate cigarette smoke at all, but I kind of like "smoke" in perfume. When it's done well, it's SO good.

As for a favorite perfume - I don't have one and don't commit to one or two or three. I collect as many small bottles as I can.

Steph, I think it's a good comparison. Smoking is not nearly as prohibited in other parts of the world like it is in America - although the situation is improving.

You are sweet to chime back in, Katje. Thank you.

There are things that I am hyper sensitive too that don't offend others. That they wouldn't dream of changing to accommodate me. At the end of the day, unfortunately you just can't please everyone.

I wear Frangipanni or Oleander from the Bermuda Perfumery.

Ummm, can I have fresh blueberries, too? Sounds good.

And while I enjoy many types of perfume, I'm easily overpowered by all the fragrance in cosmetic products. Some of them are incredibly tenacious, too. I'm so glad I don't get headaches from scent.

Of course Medusa!!

Ha, Lena!!

Katja, You are totally hitting on what I am saying. No matter how offensive someone smells , behaves, speaks, or treats others ... If I am offended, I remove myself from the situation also:)

I have been trapped in elevators/ store lines/ cabs/etc with some pretty offensive smelling folks many times and was immensely glad I was wearing a fragrance:).....just life.

If I worried about offending/impacting someone/strangers with my personal habits...and I have many...I would never leave the house!!!

Angie, you make a good point that cigarettes are not as prohibited in other parts of the world as they are in the US. At the end of the day, I think my sensitivity to smoke makes me more likely to avoid wearing perfume, because I know how horrible it can be to have to live with a allergy like that. My parents own a diner, and I worked there every weekend while I was a teenager. At the time, cigarettes were not banned in restaurants, and I always had itchy eyes, a stuffy nose, and had to sit in a smoke-filled room for eight hours straight. I had to eat my meals next to people smoking. I hated it. When smoking in restaurants was banned in my state, I remember how much better everything became, and how much better I felt.

When I realized that people are allergic to perfumes (and my understanding is that it is something that impacts a fair number of people), I felt like I wouldn't want to put others through what I had to go through with smoke. If there were other things people around me were sensitive to, I would try to avoid those as well. I know I avoid peanut products in a nearby neighborhood that has a child with severe peanut allergies. Whenever I ask someone over, I always make sure they know I have cats so they can avoid coming to my place if they are allergic. I can't really think of other sensitivities people have that I could exacerbate, but if anyone wants to share, I would try to avoid those as well.

I haven't worn perfume in 10+ years and I don't miss it. Many scents make me sneeze, and while it's not a severe reaction, I prefer scent-free atmosphere, especially in the closed environment (at work, and especially in a car). I wouldn't say anything to a person wearing an offensive scent, but I would heave a sigh of relief once they are gone
I can't stand cigarette smoke and I was ecstatic when smoking was banned in bars here.

I just wanted to add that I'm not intending to put anyone who does wear fragrance on the defensive. I was just trying to provide another perspective, and thought it might be useful. I had personally never even thought about the fact that people might be allergic to perfume until it was brought to my attention, and I thought others might be in a similar situation. I also thought it might be helpful if the comments came from someone like me, who is not personally allergic, because I feel sometimes people who suffer from a specific ailment and then complain are accused of being selfish, so I thought my perspective might come across as less biased.

I too can get immediate migraines from certain scents (Thierry Mugler Angel is one) so I am very alive to the face that not everyone enjoys it when one wears perfume. Also, both of my previous workplaces had a "no scents" policy, so I am not really in the habit of wearing perfume. All of that being said, I do on occasion put some on but generally only when going out at night so I am not really in tight spaces. When I do wear perfume, I tend toward what I perceive as fresh and light fragrances - Fresh Citron de Vigne, Fresh Lemon Sugar, Philosophy Amazing Grace and Pure Grace, Bulgari Petits et Mamans, Calvin Klein Eternity Summer and Flower by Kenzo.

I enjoy scents too much to keep to one fragrance. For me, that would be like drinking the same wine with dinner every night whereas I love to try all sorts of variety from different regions and different producers, depending on where I am, what I'm eating, what the weather is like, etc.

I became more interested in perfume when I began to seriously learn about wine and oenology professors told us (students) to sniff everything we could - to try to identify various notes, to determine what we ourselves liked, etc. I have about 250 bottles in my wine "cellar" (a corner of my basement) and these days my "perfume wardrobe" has about 10 fragrances including L'Artisan La Haie Fleurie; Revlon Ciara; Amouage XXV; Bulgari The Vert and Chanel Christalle.

Many days I wear no fragrance, and some days I wear a mix of several.

Have you read this book about perfumes? It's a "fun read."
http://www.amazon.com/Perfumes.....038;sr=1-1

I experienced sensitivity to fragrance during my pregnancies, EVERYBODY who wore it smelt as strong as The Body Shop and the only thing worse was the meat counter BUT after having my babies I returned to wearing my scent but wear it in a lighter way. I mist the air with one squirt and walk through it.

My favourite by far is Jo Malone's Amber and Lavender Cologne, the amber is quite masculine and brings an interesting depth to the lavender.

Do people with a fragrance intolerance also react to air fresheners etc?

Angie, the scent of good Earl Grey is also quite intoxicating.

The few times I've experienced a hypersensitivity to a fragrance it can be in something like a cleaning product, air freshener, even a scented candle -- not just a perfume.

Like what happened to me when I tried Clinique Happy, I've smelled a perfume sample in a magazine and liked it a lot there on the page, then applied the little sample to my skin and then go on to develop an aversion to the smell on me and feel seriously ill from it over a few hours time.

To those that have never experienced this reaction, it isn't a simple aesthetic dislike to a smell -- it's a complete physiological sensory overload negative reaction.

To compare it to something that maybe more people can understand or relate to, it's like the difference between hearing a house alarm or car alarm in the distance (mildly annoying and distracting) and to that of standing directly under a piercing, shrill fire alarm or smoke detector that won't turn off. You get truly physically ill: headache, dizzy, nauseous. It's way more than just smelling an offensive and unpleasant odor like B.O., garlic breath, or stale cigarette and coffee breath.

It's very odd, like others that posted who developed a passing fragrance sensitivity during pregnancy, I developed a passing aversion sensitivity to the smell of Italian food made with tomato sauce, but only during my first pregnancy -- and this is one of my favorite foods!

Totally unrelated, but this conversation made me think of this: have any of you read or heard about the taste reaction in a certain percentage of the population to the herb cilantro? There are certain people that can't bear the taste, it tastes like eating a bar of soap to them. Scientists aren't sure why, but it seems to be genetic and may have to do with an enzyme in their saliva. To those that love the flavor of cilantro in their food, it's strange that others would be repelled and disgusted by it because it's so yummy to them in their salsa. The simple solution here is to stay away from food with cilantro in it -- but much tougher in a situation, say when breathing is required, like at work, in an airplane, or a long car ride with others when the windows are closed.

While I have never told someone not to wear a fragrance, having experienced it myself, I am aware that some people may be allergic and hypersensitive, so like others have stated, I pick and choose the situation where and when I wear perfume and am conscience of applying a subtle amount. That's all.

My favorite scent right now is Lola by Marc Jacobs. It is very "me". But I am also wearing Juicy Couture because my son gave it to me for Mother's Day. I think of this as a "young" scent. He is in high school and this is what his female classmates told him to buy. It was a sweet gesture and it makes him happy when I wear it.

All respectful perspectives are welcome on YLF! (Sorry agrace, we sort of went off topic on your thread).

Does anyone watch Star Trek "Enterprise"? Beautiful Vulcan T'poll has an extreme sensitivity to all smells - so glad we are human and not Vulcan :0)

Julie, the scent of good Earl Grey *is* mesmerizing. Wakes me up in the morning.

I love hearing about the different scents that people wear. There are already a few people who can wave to each other.

High five Cookie - I also wear Lola and feels very "me" as well.

I wear Banana Republic's W everyday. It's light and citrus-y..Husby is very sensitive to perfumes so this is one of the few he can tolerate...

I wear Angel everyday! It makes me smile when I put it on (I am a one-scent woman and prior to Angel, it was 20+ years of faithfulness to Chanel No. 5)

OT - I feel sickish when I follow a diesel truck and smell diesel fumes

Another OT - My poor sister tends to make me feel slightly sickish too - how sad is that!!! She is a smoker, so smells rather smoky, then she tries to cover it up with pear scented fragrances which I do not like! When she gives us any gifts, we have to air them out. . . :-\

I change a lot, but right now is Boss Orange!

I've worn Eau de Charlotte by Annick Goutal for the last ten years or so. I like soft, light fragrances and this is mine. Cocoa, blackcurrant and mimosa. It starts off green but softens into a nice, warm, slightly powdery scent. It's getting very hard to find:(

I love Early Gray tea and salsa isn't salsa without cilantro in it. It's a very finicky herb to grow, though.

I loathe strong scents. When my mom wears hers, I get a headache and feel nauseous. Yet she still wears it anyway because like most people who do not have severe physiological reactions, she dismisses it as being a real problem. I still found it easier to escape smokers in France than I do escaping scents.

As I said, if I wore a scent, I would wear just enough so that I and those close to me (for example, someone giving me a hug) could smell it without offending those around me. I don't understand the purpose of assaulting total strangers and acquaintances with a scent. If anything, your scent should be a special treat for yourself and those close to you.

Like Steph, it's not my intention to make people feel defensive, but I do feel like it's always best to know the full consequences of one's choices to make the best decisions. Obviously I'm not going to change anyone's mind any time soon, and I know that.

FWIW, the type of scent is key in my case. Fresh citrusy scents don't bother me, but musky or spicy scents leave me in tears. Not a big fan of florals either, but they only start to irritate when I'm exposed to them for a long period of time. Interestingly this has nothing to do with how I objectively perceive the scent. I often *like* spicy scents, but I can't tolerate them physically. I don't know if that can possibly make sense to someone who doesn't have this kind of reaction.

My favorite is Origins Ginger Essence. I love it, but switch to something less spicy in the summer months. Usually some sort of body spray from Bath and Body Works. My current favorite is Sweet Pea.