"What's that stink?" absolutely broke my heart.

Wearing fragrances for myself is on par to how much I also place importance on how I might smell to others. And let me preface by saying that I wear 2 sprays max after I shower.

Anyway.

While I love getting a whiff of my fave notes throughout the day myself, those occasional compliments from people around me are like drops of Nectar from the Gods.

What confidence boost! What joy to know that other people also enjoy what I love. This is also how I gauge and learn which I can wear to work or for play.

And so it damn hurts so much when I get a negative reaction. Even more so if it was for a fragrance I've been loving so much. Something I was confident people would also love. And yet...

Today's casualty is Diptyque's Tam Dao EDT. I got a sample and wore it, loved it, and have been enjoying it the past week. I think I've had a good reaction, or maybe I misunderstood it. Because I wore it today and I got negative reactions twice in a row.

I entered the room and a guy literally opened the window to breathe the air outside mumbling, "God it stinks. You smell that?"

At a different room, the moment I left, I overhead someone say "Phew, that smelled bad."

Damn. That terrible huh?

(EDIT: I'm sorry, I've been asleep when this post blew up during the night here in Japan. I wasn't ignoring the criticisms and I'm taking it all to heart. I'm still learning and researching what "clicks" for the Japanese market, and so I've been choosing fragrances from houses that are beloved by Japanese people: Diptyque, Le Labo, Byredo, Aesop, etc. It was a mistake on my part thinking I've had it figured out, I'm still searching and testing.)