Buckle up brethren, this one could get spicy. Be respectful but do not feel like you need to hold back. https://youtu.be/L12y8gYANCQ?si=usjLr5CgbmdEkZaX I recently watched this video talking about stepping away from the world of fragrance dupes, and it hit on something I think a lot of us eventually run into if we stay in the hobby long enough. Early on, I actually bought quite a few of them myself. At the time it made sense, I wanted to quickly experience a lot of different scent profiles and build a frame of reference for my nose. Instead of dropping serious money on niche bottles right away, picking up cheaper fragrances allowed me to explore different styles: ambroxan-heavy modern masculines, blues, gourmands, musks, orientals, etc. In that phase, they served a purpose. But over time I’ve become much more skeptical of the hype around them. One thing that has really started to bother me is the influencer habit of assigning percentage equivalence to the original fragrance. You’ll hear things like “90% of the original” or “95% the same.” In reality, fragrance doesn’t really work like that. A dupe might capture the general direction of a scent profile, but it rarely captures the full balance, texture, and refinement of the original. Once you’ve smelled enough fragrances, and you actually spend multiple wearings with the originals, those differences start to become pretty obvious. And frankly, they’re often not nearly as good as they’re hyped up to be. You may find a few here and there that you truly enjoy or prefer, but overall, it’s just not there. Another issue that creeps up over time is simple collection fatigue. When your collection is small, grabbing a few inexpensive bottles feels harmless. But once you get past roughly 25–30 bottles, those dupes start to feel like clutter more than anything else. They take up space, rarely get worn, and you realize there’s no realistic way you’re ever going to go through all that juice anyway.

first pic is from a few years ago. the second pic is the collection currently. extremely proud of the journey so far. my very first designer buy was gucci guilty, and the first full sized bottle i got was versace man eau fraiche. can’t believe ive made it this far, and i owe it all to this wonderful community for steering me in the right direction! i’ll likely be selling off a lot of my designer scents, like sauvage, spicebomb, and possibly coral fantasy and le beau le parfum. i might hang onto lblp though. not sure so far. i’ve sold off three other scents, since im trying to build a more disciplined, curated wardrobe. most recent pickup was pacific chill, which was a birthday gift (oh yeah haha, forgot to mention my birthday was on the 8th 😔). anyways though, much love to you all! it’s been amazing watching my growth and staying humble as i’ve spent more time here. i’ve gone from a newbie to the guy my friends and family go to for solid fragrance advice. even looking at my old posts, it’s been insane to see how much i’ve grown and developed. so once again, thank you community! and thank you mr centeno!