Interview with Greg Frag-Head - Fragrances For Special Occassions

I love the community around fragrance and wanted to add more interaction to my blog posts rather than just a review or my opinions.

I was chatting to a man called Greg "Frag-Head" online and realised that what we were discussing could make decent material for a blog post with a different format than the usual reviews.

This topic is about having different fragrances for different times, for example a "night-out" fragrance.
Below is the transcript from our conversation.
My words are in bold, Greg is italics.

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Morning Greg. Let's start with a quick introduction and your SOTD (Scent of The Day).

Morning Andy. So I'm Greg a 38 year old happily married father to 2 little girls. I am a massive fragrance fan and geek and always have been as far back as I can remember.

I am very active in the Fragrance Community, both on Facebook where I am Co Admin on the Facebook group ‘Fragrance Sale/Swap/Split UK’ and I have a fragrance related YouTube channel (‘greggieboy76’) where I do reviews and other types of videos, aimed at helping people narrow their search or find new and exciting things to try. 

SOTD today is Lalique White!

Excellent, thanks for that Greg.
Lalique White is on my sniff list, how would you describe it?

It’s a really "under the radar" fragrance, but very high quality. It is a very fresh Citrus Aromatic fragrance with a very distinctive Tamarind note. The dominant notes (other than the Tamarind) are Lemon Leaf, Bergamot and White Pepper. 

It has a very interesting Pencil Shavings smell at stages.

(Greg's video review of Lalique White is available here)

Now the topic for this talk is "Special Occassion Frags" which is the idea that you reserve some fragrances to be used only at certain events. I believe we have differing opinions on this and hope to share our beliefs to learn more about it.
So to start the ball rolling, is Lalique White a "special occassion" frag?

No, Lalique white is a 'throw it on' frag, that I will reach for if I want something to just last a  few hours in a casual setting, like going to the shops or just sitting around at home.

Excellent, so could you tell me how you would classify your frags in this way?

It's not something that I really do consciously it’s more an automatic or subconscious thing. I have fragrances that I consider ‘Best’ in the same way that I have clothes and jewellery that I consider best. 

I wouldn’t wear a Rolex to the gym, I wouldn’t wear a Tuxedo to do my gardening and I wouldn’t wear Roja Dove Amber Aoud to go to the corner shop for Milk.

Essentially, I think it is always good in all walks of life, to keep things that we consider to be 'Special' and treat them as such. 

If everything was 'Everyday' there would be no excitement or aspiration!

I know exactly what you mean Greg and I think many readers can also relate. I, however, love wearing my rolex and tuxedo when I mow the lawn. 

So, what would happen if you wore a "Best" frag every day?

I think over exposure to things does make them less special. I actually limit the use of some fragrances, because I like them so much and am afraid of over using and not liking them so much anymore. The sad rationale of a Frag Head I guess.

Makes sense to me Greg.

Cat Pause

What makes a special occassion frag?

I think it's totally subjective, but for me 'Special' usually just means the ones that I personally like most. That in turn usually means that they are quite complex, well blended and differ in some way from the majority of fragrances out there.

Now Greg, here's my flipside argument. I think if you put your favourites in a category that is rarely used then it's a real shame. For me I like to find a frag I love, and wear it to death!
By your system, how often would you wear a best frag?

I completely understand your view point, but my way of thinking goes back to what I said before - ‘Special’ is ‘Special’.

If you wear it all the time, how long before it ceases to be special and just becomes ‘Normal’ or ‘Ordinary’? I suspect not long. 

We are here for quite a long time, so I have no issues in wearing my favourites relatively infrequently, it makes me look forward to them in the same way that I look forward to going out to a  great restaurant. If I went to that restaurant every night, it would just become ‘Normal’ and not ‘Special’

I remember Dave Stewart from Eurythmics had a disorder, called 'Contentment syndrome' or something like that. Basically it was due to the fact he had enough money to do anything and everything and the result wasthat nothing excited him any more and he ended up doing nothing at all!

I think we have to keep some things as rare and special.

Haha they have a name for everything these days! 

I find that through appreciation and gratitude the things I use regularly can remain special, so when I wear a fragrance I love regularly it actually increases my enjoyment of that frag. 

Occasional breaks from wearing one frag constantly is also useful, then when I return to it I remember how good it is.

Cat Pause

Do you think that someone else would be able to tell whether the frag you have on is a "Best" or "every day"one?

That's a really good question, I would say that it most cases 'No' but with something really High-End like a Roja Parfums fragrance, it's pretty hard not to appreciate that it is high quality/special!

Have you ever worn something to the point of getting bored of it?

I have several times. Back in the days when used to only have 1 or 2 fragrances, I got fed up of some pretty quickly, but that is my nature to get bored quickly. Ralph Lauren Romance, Cerutti Image, Bvlgari Blv, all got ditched for this reason.

And did you go back to them?

I haven't yet, but it would be interesting to see what I think now.

I think it could be!

Cat Pause

What do you think to the idea of having just one frag for life?

That puts the fear of god in me. It's like being told I can only drink water for life or never eat chocoate again!!

Haha what a great response!
Greg, it's been great talking to you today and hopefully people have a better insight into how you wear frags for different occasions. Thanks for your time.

Thanks Andy, it's been a pleasure!!

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If you are interested in discussing a topic in a similar format then please get in touch, it all starts with a question or theme and develops from there.

Do you save some perfumes for special occasions or do you wear whatever, whenever? Let me know by commenting below.