Gucci Bamboo feel cheated

[G1llybean]

I treated myself to a bottle of Gucci Bamboo at Christmas and I literally cannot smell it on me at all, I know is a subtle floral fragrance but when i sampled it i could smell it all day, that is what made me buy it. Has anyone else had a similar experience with an expensive fragrance, I think I got a dud

last summer i got my first bottle of dore posion, but on me it only last for 1 or 2 hours.

I have Gucci flora and it smells of NOTHING. I’m so disappointed with it.

Yes - I had this gifted to me Christmas 2 years ago. Could not and still cannot smell this on me. I loved the smell of Alien on other people. My OH bought this for me last year, could not smell it on me and didn't like the smell it gave off my skin. Had to give away in the end!!!!! I really struggle finding perfumes.

Are you sure you just haven't gone "nose blind". Once you get used to a perfume the scent wears off. I wear the same perfume every day but I can't smell it on myself but I must smell of it because people comment on it sometimes.

Yes I was gifted this too it smells nice but does not last at all. Can’t wait till it’s finished

I’ve had a few Gucci perfumes... I can never smell them on myself after an hour!

I'm not sure how true it is but apparantly if you can't smell a perfume on yourself it means it suits you

I bought Gucci bamboo also. Also couldn't smell it. Gave it away.

Rub some vaseline on your skin first then spray fragrance.

I think perfumes in general are all crap, I think it’s due to some ingredient being taken out due to health concerns that gave the staying power, it’s a rare thing these days to pass someone and think ooh that’s a lovely perfume unless they literally sprayed it 30 seconds ago.

My dp bought me some jo malone fragrances recently.

I thought they were a bit "old lady " but they are really strong and everyone who I come across when wearing them says I smell lovely!

They are definitely the strongest perfumes I own.

The two common reasons for not being able to smell perfumes are:

Firstly, perfume 'fatigue' - from wearing the same perfume all the time. TBH the usual symptom of this is the wearer using more and more until all around them have watering eyes... Simple solution is to have a few perfumes and rotate them.

The second reason is far more interesting and is probably what is going on with OP. This is anosmia to certain musks. Musk molecules are relatively large, and not everyone can smell all of them. Perfumers typically put several different musks in a perfume so that this effect is minimised (perfumers also suffer from this anosmia btw), but some musk molecules can actually 'block' the scent receptors in the nose so that the other notes cannot be smelled either.

This is further complicated by the fact that some people can smell certain musks at certain times (in my direct experience this can be linked to the menstrual cycle, which can also affect the sense of smell in general anyway) and furthermore some people can smell certain musks for a short period of time before the blocking action occurs.

White musks and perfumes with a white musk base (which is quite a lot of perfumes!) are most guilty of this. SJP Lovely and the Narciso Rodriguez musks are famous examples of this - some people say they are like spraying water or that they are faint and delicate florals.

Funky, animalic musks can also do this - if you take a really dirty, crotch-like musk such as Serge Lutens Musc Kublai Khan, you will often get puzzled wearers who claim it smells as lovely and soft and gentle as a kitten's tummy (me, for example. My husband however says it smells like sex!).

@Haffiana that's interesting. Is there any way I can easily find out whether a perfume has a white musk base?

Haffiana, interesting!

To me most musk-based scents smells aggressive, awful, a punch in the nose I can always detect it in a perfume (or a person) and to me it smells... almost repulsive...

OP, do you use eau de toilette or eau de parfum? Makes a huge difference in staying power.

Boots were selling this half price before Christmas, I think that says a lot, you don't usually get good quality popular perfumes at half price. I love the scent but yes it's faint.

I agree with bettyboo NO perfumes last on me nowadays. And I'm talking about old favourites that did last on me. An assistant on the clinique counter told me about the removal of an ingredient that gave the longevity when I told her that aromatics didn't last on me any more.

I have a suspicion that they make testers much longer lasting than the bottles they actually sell.

Only perfumes that last on me are Thierry Mulger.

I agree with SomethingAboutNothing. when I've tested a perfume in a shop, the fragrance lasts hours. When I buy it, even if it's the more expensive variety (can't remember the names, sorry) the fragrance is gone in minutes.

Any perfume counter staff about know if they don't use the bottles they sell for sampling?

If you still like the scent, try the perfume parlour version of Bamboo. It's called something like Guch Bambo on the website. I have it, it smells identical to the original and lasts.

The new Gucci bloom is nice and long lasting on me.

I had to give away the bottle of Gucci bamboo I bought as I found it far too strong 😳

I think perfumes in general are all crap, I think it’s due to some ingredient being taken out due to health concerns that gave the staying power,

I think it's this. I had a bottle of Coco Chanel from about 2014 that I'd be able to smell on me/my clothes for days afterwards. I got some more for Christmas and the smell has gone within minutes. It's so annoying, especially as perfumes aren't cheap.

I put on Twilly d’Hermes this morning and can still smell it strongly. I am currently using a sample and plan to buy it - maybe I should gontoma store and try it from one of the sample bottles that are the same size as those bottles that you can buy.

Lancôme la vie est belle is my main perfume and I find that stays strong for hours, but like a pp says I like to swap perfumes to avoid going nose blind.