As viewers, we have 100% authority over whether we subscribe to your channel or not. The reason I enjoy "Wafts from The Loft" is precisely because you guys discuss fragrances that are not full-on mainstream scents. You both bring your own perspectives to the table. If I want run of the mill generic lists and reviews, I know where to go to find such. So to conclude, you guys talk about niche fragrances, generic designer perfumes or the latest in pipe collecting for that matter... Each viewer has 100% ability to subscribe or not. As long as your discussions continue in the same vein as they have since you started, I'll continue to be a subscriber. Thank you for your views on fragrance.
Best duo in fragrance review. Artistic and primal taste. I’m a roofer/bass guitarist in buffalo New York and your views are always appreciated in my lane. T-Rex for life. I wore it snowboarding n melted all the snow🏂🔥☄️💥🦖. You guys are true gentleman. P.s. would love to hear you guys play in a vid.
Indeed they are .....these 2 guys have earned respect n regard from reviewers n frag comm members within TH-cam for critical analysis ....presentation style....n product know-how atleast for .me
This is what I enjoy about your channel. Your passion, and also your support for niche. I have discovered more than a few I wouldn't have heard of likely. Areej le dore, pryn, everything from your U.K. Episode ... love. Thank you!
I agree, I've pretty much given up on non-vintage, non-cheapie designer scents: life's just too short. Also, just to reassure, I live in the north of England and we too have independent perfume shops stocking niche/indy fragrances.Thanks for the video guys, take care x.
I must agree with you both, today with Indie houses having the ability to sell their fragrances on the internet they can get their brand out there to be seen by so many more people. With the addition of Instagram and FB they can connect with people like myself and yourselves in order to help spread the word on quality scents from small startups. For me, the hunt for the perfect scent seems so elusive but the small houses can make you feel like your getting closer to finding it.
I was reccomended this channel and amen that I did find it. Several years ago I became disgusted by the designer fragrances all smelling the same, plus wondering why I was getting migraines from the synthetics, especially ISO E Super and what I now know are the other culprits i.e. Ambroxan, Cashmeran etc. Plus the flankers upon flanker. I definitely support indie brands and their sole owners/perfumers. I've learned so much from educating myself on the industry and how big businesses work. I'd rather spend more on something unique and I've found so many gems amidst the niche houses. Thanks for the insight and information. You guys are brilliant.
To sum it all up. Designer fragrances are for the masses and niche fragrances are for the art of a fragrance, so niche houses tend to care more about the quality and take risks, so more likely to smell unique and better stuff on the niche side than your typical designer fragrance in department store. Niche and designer house take inspiration from each other that is why there are so many clones of top fragrances on the market. Some people say once you go niche you will never go back especially once your nose gets more experienced and you truly see or understand how fragrances are made.
You two are definitely the Rolls Royce of fragrance reviews. Great setting, wonderful, intelligent and witty reviews. I add my request to the many who would like to have a small performance.
Hey guys ,love the fact that you talk about niche more and if there were any designers that were amazing or in depth I am sure you would, now any chances you could review straight oils?
Totally spot on. And I've sort of been timid about criticizing the big box newbies; I mean designer. I almost hate them all! I would love to see more vids on niche...like the entire artisan/niche perfumery industry please gents :). Thank you!!
Keep doing what you're both doing as the world of fragrances is vast. There's plenty of room for everyone and i do value the opinion of each fragrance reviewer i am subscribed to. Wouldn't it be boring if everything was the same.
I work in the spirits industry and the comparisons between it and the perfume industry are to me very similar. There are companies who predominantly set out to make money and there are companies who predominantly set out to make a great product. By virtue of setting out to make money companies can release a great product, but more often it's about pleasing the masses and as such tend to be pretty generic and blow a lot on marketing, as they want the most sales. Companies who set out to make a great product can do so at different price points, although naturally some are very expensive but not all, however the ethos is the same and these are typically the ones who offer the most exciting and best value products, even if they are high cost. This is how I see the designer/niche split.
A fascinating discussion. Another point, alot of these perfumes are only "branded" by designers but made and produced by cheap conglomerate umbrella corporations. For example Jo Malone perfumes, $35-85 a bottle is owned by the same company that produces Revlon makeup, which is $8 at Walmart. Unfortunately I think knowledge is part of the issue. Until about 2 weeks ago, when I decided to look into niche fragrances after watching some random video about it, I thought niche was for the sort of rich, bougie, big city crowd. Really the knowledge isn't there. Anyway great video.
I agree with you guys but it is fair to mention that some of the “niche-niche” stuff out there really smells bad..more or less unwearable.. so you might be better of with a safer and even cheaper designer fragrance
I worry that the “designer vs niche” debate just creates a lot of pointless gatekeeping, and doesn’t necessarily have much meaning. The entire fragrance industry feels so influenced by marketing that it’s difficult to disentangle - and I mean this about every range of products, from the latest ‘blue fragrance’ to niche perfumery. I think Tom Ford Private Label is a great example. “Well, Tom Ford makes clothing so it’s not niche. Well, but this particular line contains more allegedly ‘elevated perfumery’ so it’s niche and therefore $200 more expensive.” Tom Ford is cranking these new releases out, and are they more or less creative and interesting than Grey Vetiver or Black Orchid, for example? I just can’t see how a release like Lavender Extreme, retailing for $335 for a 50ML (Or Roja touting its tacky Swarovski crystal flacons for four figure sums, etc), is any less cynical and avaricious than a focus-grouped designer release like YSL’s Y or Sauvage. If somebody smells Sauvage or Office for Men and shouts, “Holy shit, this smells amazing!” that makes me happy. If somebody smells an Areej le Dore or Bortnikoff and shouts, “Holy shit, this smells amazing!” that makes me happy too! While people may feel that they’re brushing against greatness by buying a fragrance from a designer house, the same could be said of a niche fragrance hobbyist splurging on a $200/30ML limited edition Slumberhouse that went on sale 5 minutes ago, that they haven’t smelled. It’s all about intent and creativity, as you two pointed out. What I love about your channel is how you two share such a love of passionate perfumery, no matter who makes it.
For me its the recent designer releases that tend to be bland and generic. Despite most of my collection being artisan, some of my all time favourites are from fashion designer brands: rive gauche, eau sauvage, azzaro, egoiste etc. Those fragrances compete well with niche imo. I just dont have time for The one, bleu chanel, sauvage, etc. Would love to see you guys review some d.s durga frags at some point
A great subject for debate but I think in my very limited involvement with fragrance (just 8 months) there are other categories to explore too: the perfumers who don’t primarily make perfume but don’t make clothes either but mainly bath products like Molton Brown, L’Occitane and Lush with Gorilla Perfumes; Arabic perfume shops like Balestaro near me in Manchester which sell everyday Middle Eastern fragrances. And then where are houses like Guerlain and Serge Lutens situated who aren’t ‘designer’ but are big perfume houses that branched sideways from perfume into makeup?
Tim Wilcox Guerlain is a category of its own really. They were producing fragrances alone consistently since the C19th century. There are very few companies that have done the same. It’s sad since they were bought by LVMH they’ve gone to shit
The reason why I steer away from designer; not really knowing it was designer as a younger adult , is mainly because in America, I would sometimes be bombarded with salespeople trying to spray me as I walk through a mall department store. I have always been extremely irritated by such tactics.
would you chaps do a top 10 niche cheap classics. i truet your judgement and it would really help...im talking £40 - 80, also designers that you consider to fit into this category, like Bentley for men, might n=be a possible vid too..Just a thought gents.
@@WaftsfromTheLoft yes i have seen that one, i have most of those.. could you maybe highlight lesser well known houses in the next one if you do it. cheers gents
It’s all so much more expensive. Its easy to say to try the niche world but how many people can afford hundreds per bottle, and if they can, to buy more than one?
Richard Back it’s not all expensive. Our next video is of a £25 niche fragrance. I agree some are very expensive, and they normally fall into the ‘luxury’ category of niche, like creed, Roja Dove, xerjoff etc, as opposed to the ‘artisan’ category.
Houses like Molinard, Carthusia, I Profumi di Firenze, Imaginary Authors, Fragonard, Aroma M, and one I just stumbled upon lately called Smoke, sell beautiful, innovative fragrances for less than a hundred bucks! If you don't mind doing a bit of digging you can definitely find some beautiful indie/niche perfumes for less than even some of the designer perfumes.
Spot on chaps. Im sick of generic crap. Thats why i wear so many scents of the past. everything is generic, just look at the shit cars being produced, listen to the music..Perfume is the same, its all flankers, generic, reformulated watered down crap
FOR ME AND MY SKIN TYPE I NEED A STRONGER FRAG WHICH FOR THE MOST PART I GET FROM A NICHE BRAND. WITH DESIGNERS I USE MORE SPRAYS WHICH EVENTUALLY COSTS ME IN THE END. P.S. YOU ARE RIGHT ABOUT COMPANIES AND THEIR CHOICES. YOU NEVER SEE REFORMULATIONS WHICH ARE BETTER BUT LESS THAN THE ORIGINALS
Hi guys, I bought Alien oud (stupidly a blind buy) and it's awful...I can't even give it away !!! Took it to work and no one liked it . I've just bought two fragrances after getting the discovery pack by Oliver and Co verrrrrry nice and different ..based in Madrid .
Interesting conversation. A. Master perfumers make a lot of these Designer big releases to make a lot of money. The blame should be equally deposited for them in the same way wealthy film actors of quality make adverts for banks etc. Master perfumers have a lifestyle most facing homelessness and poverty can only dream of for a better, more expensive lifestyle. They sell their soul for a better lifestyle to fulfil the market. Slaves to the system. On the other side I've smelt a lot of niche and honestly, most wouldn't wear because it smelt awful. Admirable, artistic but awful. I mean bravo, but...yeah, and...? Craft beer is a great comparison. A whole industry was on its knees from making homogenous and dull lagers and beers and then craft as in so many niche experiences are turning to those who put their heart and soul into them. Vodka, cider and now Gin have followed suit. But I also don't think you should belittle those that simply want to smell nice. That's ok, surely? That's all they want. To smell nice and feel good smelling nice. Niche doesn't necessarily make you smell nicer. More original and odd but not necessarily nicer. There's room for both. Let's not look up to those because they spend more (the middle class snobbishness of more money to spend and exclusivity) or look down to those who enjoy designers. If people actually care about fragrance more than just smelling good they'll look elsewhere, search it out. If they don't fine. This is we've seen with the fall in pretty much all corporate consumer products. The process of repetition and lack of passion ends in people wanting and searching out more. More of a process. And from the look of the upturn in niche brands that's happening anyway.
As viewers, we have 100% authority over whether we subscribe to your channel or not. The reason I enjoy "Wafts from The Loft" is precisely because you guys discuss fragrances that are not full-on mainstream scents. You both bring your own perspectives to the table. If I want run of the mill generic lists and reviews, I know where to go to find such. So to conclude, you guys talk about niche fragrances, generic designer perfumes or the latest in pipe collecting for that matter... Each viewer has 100% ability to subscribe or not. As long as your discussions continue in the same vein as they have since you started, I'll continue to be a subscriber. Thank you for your views on fragrance.
Blain N thanks!
Best duo in fragrance review. Artistic and primal taste. I’m a roofer/bass guitarist in buffalo New York and your views are always appreciated in my lane. T-Rex for life. I wore it snowboarding n melted all the snow🏂🔥☄️💥🦖. You guys are true gentleman. P.s. would love to hear you guys play in a vid.
Casey Coran thanks! Yes, we’ve had a few requests, and will definitely get round to it at some point
@@WaftsfromTheLoft Yes, please!! A small concert live from the Loft!
Casey Coran agreed on all counts
Indeed they are .....these 2 guys have earned respect n regard from reviewers n frag comm members within TH-cam for critical analysis ....presentation style....n product know-how atleast for .me
This is what I enjoy about your channel. Your passion, and also your support for niche. I have discovered more than a few I wouldn't have heard of likely. Areej le dore, pryn, everything from your U.K. Episode ... love. Thank you!
CortlandFoxworth thanks so much!
I agree, I've pretty much given up on non-vintage, non-cheapie designer scents: life's just too short. Also, just to reassure, I live in the north of England and we too have independent perfume shops stocking niche/indy fragrances.Thanks for the video guys, take care x.
I must agree with you both, today with Indie houses having the ability to sell their fragrances on the internet they can get their brand out there to be seen by so many more people. With the addition of Instagram and FB they can connect with people like myself and yourselves in order to help spread the word on quality scents from small startups. For me, the hunt for the perfect scent seems so elusive but the small houses can make you feel like your getting closer to finding it.
Joe Cochran absolutely!
I was reccomended this channel and amen that I did find it. Several years ago I became disgusted by the designer fragrances all smelling the same, plus wondering why I was getting migraines from the synthetics, especially ISO E Super and what I now know are the other culprits i.e. Ambroxan, Cashmeran etc. Plus the flankers upon flanker. I definitely support indie brands and their sole owners/perfumers. I've learned so much from educating myself on the industry and how big businesses work. I'd rather spend more on something unique and I've found so many gems amidst the niche houses. Thanks for the insight and information. You guys are brilliant.
dk albright thanks so much!
@@WaftsfromTheLoft you're welcome!
Well done gentlemen! A much needed topic to discuss in the fragrance community.
Alfredo Gomez Jr thanks!
To sum it all up. Designer fragrances are for the masses and niche fragrances are for the art of a fragrance, so niche houses tend to care more about the quality and take risks, so more likely to smell unique and better stuff on the niche side than your typical designer fragrance in department store. Niche and designer house take inspiration from each other that is why there are so many clones of top fragrances on the market. Some people say once you go niche you will never go back especially once your nose gets more experienced and you truly see or understand how fragrances are made.
Osayawe Agbontaen absolutely, although I really do hope to find a new designer release that I’m really impressed by.
You two are definitely the Rolls Royce of fragrance reviews. Great setting, wonderful, intelligent and witty reviews. I add my request to the many who would like to have a small performance.
MoroccanMelody thanks! Yes, we will do at some point!
What I love about you guys is that you know what your talking about. Kind regards from Bonnie Scotland 🏴
Fraser Kerr thanks!
Interesting talk
You guys made some excellent points.
Kaka Brar thanks!
Hey guys ,love the fact that you talk about niche more and if there were any designers that were amazing or in depth I am sure you would, now any chances you could review straight oils?
Paul Bolt that’s a rabbit hole we’ve yet to jump down!
Totally spot on. And I've sort of been timid about criticizing the big box newbies; I mean designer. I almost hate them all! I would love to see more vids on niche...like the entire artisan/niche perfumery industry please gents :). Thank you!!
Thanks for watching!
Keep doing what you're both doing as the world of fragrances is vast. There's plenty of room for everyone and i do value the opinion of each fragrance reviewer i am subscribed to. Wouldn't it be boring if everything was the same.
Mike Lykan. Thanks, we will!
I work in the spirits industry and the comparisons between it and the perfume industry are to me very similar. There are companies who predominantly set out to make money and there are companies who predominantly set out to make a great product. By virtue of setting out to make money companies can release a great product, but more often it's about pleasing the masses and as such tend to be pretty generic and blow a lot on marketing, as they want the most sales. Companies who set out to make a great product can do so at different price points, although naturally some are very expensive but not all, however the ethos is the same and these are typically the ones who offer the most exciting and best value products, even if they are high cost. This is how I see the designer/niche split.
Richard Legg completely agree
Are u a Ghostbuster?
@@RichMitch Haha, more whisky than ghosts I'm afraid
@@richardlegg7423 👻🤣
A fascinating discussion. Another point, alot of these perfumes are only "branded" by designers but made and produced by cheap conglomerate umbrella corporations. For example Jo Malone perfumes, $35-85 a bottle is owned by the same company that produces Revlon makeup, which is $8 at Walmart. Unfortunately I think knowledge is part of the issue. Until about 2 weeks ago, when I decided to look into niche fragrances after watching some random video about it, I thought niche was for the sort of rich, bougie, big city crowd. Really the knowledge isn't there. Anyway great video.
Hello there guys!
Well in my opinion, back in the day, everything was alright, until it got watered down. So some of us gravitate toward niche.
I love niche fragrances. Keep on doing your best guys and you"ll get your aim . Good luck
L A thanks!
I agree with you guys but it is fair to mention that some of the “niche-niche” stuff out there really smells bad..more or less unwearable.. so you might be better of with a safer and even cheaper designer fragrance
Niels Bandit true, it can be challenging, but for the most part I appreciate the creativity, unless it’s just badly made
my favorite designer fragrance is jacomo de jacomo, amazing
Ok,we'll keep up the great work bye, are there some niches that you sample that you just hate or is it that you respect the intent of the perfumer?
Paul Bolt there are certainly some we dislike but respect. On the other hand there are some in the ‘luxury’ category that are ridiculously overpriced.
I worry that the “designer vs niche” debate just creates a lot of pointless gatekeeping, and doesn’t necessarily have much meaning. The entire fragrance industry feels so influenced by marketing that it’s difficult to disentangle - and I mean this about every range of products, from the latest ‘blue fragrance’ to niche perfumery. I think Tom Ford Private Label is a great example. “Well, Tom Ford makes clothing so it’s not niche. Well, but this particular line contains more allegedly ‘elevated perfumery’ so it’s niche and therefore $200 more expensive.” Tom Ford is cranking these new releases out, and are they more or less creative and interesting than Grey Vetiver or Black Orchid, for example? I just can’t see how a release like Lavender Extreme, retailing for $335 for a 50ML (Or Roja touting its tacky Swarovski crystal flacons for four figure sums, etc), is any less cynical and avaricious than a focus-grouped designer release like YSL’s Y or Sauvage. If somebody smells Sauvage or Office for Men and shouts, “Holy shit, this smells amazing!” that makes me happy. If somebody smells an Areej le Dore or Bortnikoff and shouts, “Holy shit, this smells amazing!” that makes me happy too!
While people may feel that they’re brushing against greatness by buying a fragrance from a designer house, the same could be said of a niche fragrance hobbyist splurging on a $200/30ML limited edition Slumberhouse that went on sale 5 minutes ago, that they haven’t smelled. It’s all about intent and creativity, as you two pointed out. What I love about your channel is how you two share such a love of passionate perfumery, no matter who makes it.
Couldn't agree more about sauvage and alien man
For me its the recent designer releases that tend to be bland and generic. Despite most of my collection being artisan, some of my all time favourites are from fashion designer brands: rive gauche, eau sauvage, azzaro, egoiste etc. Those fragrances compete well with niche imo. I just dont have time for The one, bleu chanel, sauvage, etc. Would love to see you guys review some d.s durga frags at some point
A great subject for debate but I think in my very limited involvement with fragrance (just 8 months) there are other categories to explore too: the perfumers who don’t primarily make perfume but don’t make clothes either but mainly bath products like Molton Brown, L’Occitane and Lush with Gorilla Perfumes; Arabic perfume shops like Balestaro near me in Manchester which sell everyday Middle Eastern fragrances. And then where are houses like Guerlain and Serge Lutens situated who aren’t ‘designer’ but are big perfume houses that branched sideways from perfume into makeup?
Tim Wilcox Guerlain is a category of its own really. They were producing fragrances alone consistently since the C19th century. There are very few companies that have done the same. It’s sad since they were bought by LVMH they’ve gone to shit
Totally agree with everything you said
Thanks!
Love Incorporated I do like a few designer fragrances, but most of what I like is niche. It's all about uniqueness.
Love Incorporated absolutely
The reason why I steer away from designer; not really knowing it was designer as a younger adult , is mainly because in America, I would sometimes be bombarded with salespeople trying to spray me as I walk through a mall department store. I have always been extremely irritated by such tactics.
would you chaps do a top 10 niche cheap classics. i truet your judgement and it would really help...im talking £40 - 80, also designers that you consider to fit into this category, like Bentley for men, might n=be a possible vid too..Just a thought gents.
john oliver hi, we have done a top 10 cheapies, th-cam.com/video/gdEAR6VeArU/w-d-xo.html we may do another this year
@@WaftsfromTheLoft yes i have seen that one, i have most of those.. could you maybe highlight lesser well known houses in the next one if you do it. cheers gents
We’ll see what we can do
It’s all so much more expensive. Its easy to say to try the niche world but how many people can afford hundreds per bottle, and if they can, to buy more than one?
Richard Back it’s not all expensive. Our next video is of a £25 niche fragrance. I agree some are very expensive, and they normally fall into the ‘luxury’ category of niche, like creed, Roja Dove, xerjoff etc, as opposed to the ‘artisan’ category.
Sampling. Decants.
Houses like Molinard, Carthusia, I Profumi di Firenze, Imaginary Authors, Fragonard, Aroma M, and one I just stumbled upon lately called Smoke, sell beautiful, innovative fragrances for less than a hundred bucks! If you don't mind doing a bit of digging you can definitely find some beautiful indie/niche perfumes for less than even some of the designer perfumes.
Nice periodic n timely review.......
Well said. Period.
Matthew Riva thanks!
Spot on chaps. Im sick of generic crap. Thats why i wear so many scents of the past. everything is generic, just look at the shit cars being produced, listen to the music..Perfume is the same, its all flankers, generic, reformulated watered down crap
We are really all ment to let the fragrance find us lolx amen 😀❤😀
Well said gents.
FOR ME AND MY SKIN TYPE I NEED A STRONGER FRAG WHICH FOR THE MOST PART I GET FROM A NICHE BRAND. WITH DESIGNERS I USE MORE SPRAYS WHICH EVENTUALLY COSTS ME IN THE END. P.S. YOU ARE RIGHT ABOUT COMPANIES AND THEIR CHOICES. YOU NEVER SEE REFORMULATIONS WHICH ARE BETTER BUT LESS THAN THE ORIGINALS
I prefer Higher end designers like Hermessence and Chanel exclusives . They much more better quality and daring yet still pleasent
I’d put those into the category of niche
@@WaftsfromTheLoft yeah lots of people consider them niche because the exclusivity
Jo Malone have started doing that now. £200 fragrances.
Big designers are just playing playing the percentages
Hi guys, I bought Alien oud (stupidly a blind buy) and it's awful...I can't even give it away !!! Took it to work and no one liked it .
I've just bought two fragrances after getting the discovery pack by Oliver and Co verrrrrry nice and different ..based in Madrid .
Ann Becouarn yes, they do some great things. Will have to explore them properly at some oont
So your saying not a good idea ?
Paul Bolt not at all, only that it opens up a whole new world of things to try!
"Wig by Gucci"
This video is law
Interesting conversation. A. Master perfumers make a lot of these Designer big releases to make a lot of money. The blame should be equally deposited for them in the same way wealthy film actors of quality make adverts for banks etc. Master perfumers have a lifestyle most facing homelessness and poverty can only dream of for a better, more expensive lifestyle. They sell their soul for a better lifestyle to fulfil the market. Slaves to the system. On the other side I've smelt a lot of niche and honestly, most wouldn't wear because it smelt awful. Admirable, artistic but awful. I mean bravo, but...yeah, and...? Craft beer is a great comparison. A whole industry was on its knees from making homogenous and dull lagers and beers and then craft as in so many niche experiences are turning to those who put their heart and soul into them. Vodka, cider and now Gin have followed suit. But I also don't think you should belittle those that simply want to smell nice. That's ok, surely? That's all they want. To smell nice and feel good smelling nice. Niche doesn't necessarily make you smell nicer. More original and odd but not necessarily nicer. There's room for both. Let's not look up to those because they spend more (the middle class snobbishness of more money to spend and exclusivity) or look down to those who enjoy designers. If people actually care about fragrance more than just smelling good they'll look elsewhere, search it out. If they don't fine. This is we've seen with the fall in pretty much all corporate consumer products. The process of repetition and lack of passion ends in people wanting and searching out more. More of a process. And from the look of the upturn in niche brands that's happening anyway.
Neil Smith yes, I agree with this. As we said, we don’t want to look down on those who just want to smell nice and as many say like a ‘dumb reach’.
Not the old if Chanel was Jesus line ...bloody hell 😂
once you go down that rabbit hole you will go broke...
The great Meme in the sky true!
#Niche4life
Its all about big bucks sweet F A about what we can afford.
Aramis > any niche