And i don’t just mean boring generic ones like “Performance is important”, I mean like your smoking hot takes on this. Start off simple, and as they go on, they get progressively hotter. Be respectful, but also don’t hold back! This is a safe space, and we all respect the subjectivity of this hobby :) I’ll go first. 1- Parfums de Marly is a highly overrated house, and not worthy of the true niche title to me. I might be a bit of a Charlatan for saying this, and i’m aware that the term niche can apply to a lot of fragrance houses, but as i’ve really done my research and understood it better, i’ve realized the quality isn’t there, compared to other niche brands like Roja and Clive Christian. You’re paying absurd amounts of money for something that smells designer in quality. Theres no doubt that they’re still great scents, but to me personally, pale in comparison to brands like Diptyque and Le Labo. 2- Synthetics aren’t bad… but blending determines quality. Now, considering the knowledge and wisdom here, most of you probably already know that, but hey, i need to admit that i didn’t realize this sooner. A lot of ingredients in affordable fragrances are synthetic aromachemicals. And that’s not a bad thing. They improve performance, add room for unique notes or experimental ideas, and also cut costs. The difference between good and bad synthetics is the quality of chemicals used, and the way they’re blended. Compare Mancera to Diptyque. Mancera is a performance beast house, but to me personally, a lot of their scents, especially in the openings aren’t the best blended, especially scents like Red Tobacco. Drydowns are good on a lot of them, but the blend quality is still there. Then compare it to a house like Diptyque. They might not be as loud as Mancera, but a lot of people wouldn’t even be able to guess they use synthetics in their fragrances. It’s because of how well blended the scents and ingredients are. The key for me is, every brand uses synthetics, what separates the good from the bad is how detectable those synthetics are.