My first attempt at buying perfume unsniffed — Carthusia Mediterraneo — was a resounding success and led, inevitably, to more buying unsniffed. Not all of my purchases were as happy as the first. The straw that broke the camel’s back was Caron Violette Précieuse (sincere apologies to its fans), which was so unlike the ethereal violet fragrance I had imagined it to be that I vowed never to buy unsniffed again.
I have held to this vow fairly well, but I tend to break down in TJ Maxx, where the lure of immediate gratification for under $20 is usually more than I can withstand. All of which is a roundabout way of introducing today’s scent: Givrine by E Coudray. E Coudray has recently repackaged their line, and I found Givrine in the old packaging a few weeks back for around $16. Givrine was introduced in 1950, and features notes of mandarin, bergamot, lemon, orange blossom, lavender, thyme, tarragon, jasmine, amber and mint.
The top notes are citrus with a touch of sharpness from the lavender, which is thankfully not overdone. The tarragon and mint give it a nice herbal kick. The orange blossom is more pronounced than the jasmine, and the base smells like musk rather than amber to me. Overall it is a nice, light, unisex citrus-herbal cologne.
Givrine is reminiscent of Hierbas de Ibiza, although a bit softer. It is not terribly long lasting, but I like it and you could do much, much worse at the price. It will be nice for summer, if summer ever arrives.
The new E Coudray packaging is nice, but I preferred the simpler, retro look of the old with the raised lettering on the back of the glass bottle. It appears that Givrine has also been reformulated, as the notes on the Coudray website now include kumquat and watermelon, and there is no mention of the tarragon or the mint.
I will not be posting tomorrow, so enjoy the rest of the weekend. In the meantime, if you have a buying unsniffed story, good or bad, please share!
Sounds really nice, NST! I have done way too much unsniffed buying, the latest of which is the calycanthus one. I lay that one at your feet and mreenymo's! Hope I like it!
I was so tempted to buy Gabriele Strehl Strenesse unsniffed. The fragrance notes (delicate, milky almond with florals) and positive reviews made it sound like something I would adore. I'm so glad I didn't! I was able to swap for a decant, and I discovered that I don't adore it at all. It's not as creamy as I expected, and there's a faint licorice note even though anise is not one of the notes. So happy I dodged the unsniffed bullet!
I hope you love it! Please blame mreenymo if you don't 🙂 I lured her into a sample of S-Perfume 100% Love and she hates it, so I already took my share of blame for the month.
I know next to nothing about the Strenesse, but now I'm intrigued — I love anise! I am going to add it to my wishlist, thanks, and glad you avoided a whole bottle of something you would hate.
Bad bad R for buying unsniffed!! ;(
Well if you like then I will be very happy for you. You know my thoughts on buying unsniffed.
Have a super weekend cherie.
xoxo
I know it is bad! But you have to decide right away — if you wait to get your hands on a sample, TJ Maxx won't have it anymore. Hmmm, that, unfortunately, is the best excuse I can come up with at the moment.
Buying unsniffed. Guilty as charged. The worst one was Secret Intention, which I got rid of about as quickly as I could. Then there was Chrysalide by Lancome, one of the limited editions. I was convinced that it had to be wonderful, since the other Lancome LE's were fabulous. NOT. Sold it at a garage sale for five bucks. And glad to do it at that. Yet another failure was Rococo by Joop! Good thing that perfumebay accepted my return for that mistake.
Now there have been a few successes, Fiori Di Capri was one of them. But I did that because of a certain person on MUA who raved about it, and I trusted her judgment. She was not wrong!
Lovely Cherry Blossom was another unsniffed success, and raved about by the same person.
Secret Intention is a funny fragrance — I got a sample, didn't think much of it either way, then later, kept thinking about it. Got a decant, found I was right the first time: it isn't for me.
I have never tried any of the Guerlain Cherry Blossoms — do they sell them here? I thought those were the ones they made just for the Japanese market.
Here is what I know about the Cherry Blossom series. Several years ago, Cherry Blossom was launched here in the US in an EDT that was in the same bottle style as Apres L'Ondee parfum. I bought it unsniffed and was hugely disappointed. It was a big citrus burst with little floral and a dull drydown. And fleeting! It was a limited distribution and a one-shot-deal. I then heard that it had been originally launched in Japan and in DC for the Cherry Blossom festivals.
Then (was it LaureAnne?) who wrote about Lovely. That one was only to be in Japan but it did find its way to the US and was at some Nordstrom for a while. This one had more cherry blossom (not candy cherry or fruity cherry, but floral blossom) with lots less citrus.
Then Saks had a limited edition parfum of the original Cherry Blossom. Cute bottle but still I did not care for the huge citrus presence.
Now there are Sparkling and Glimmering (or whatever!) versions too.
That's what I know. I hope someone either corrects me if I'm wrong or adds more info here.
Thanks Patti! The cherry blossoms are such a big deal in DC that you would think the whole series would be in the DC Saks, and maybe it is. I'll have to go look next time I'm down there.
Most of my collection has been bought unsniffed, but I usually do my research and pay attention to lots of factors before taking the plunge: the 'House', the 'nose', the notes and scent pyramid. I've made very few decisions that I've regretted later.
BTW, the Givrine also comes in an Huile Parfumee which I've seen sold side-by-side with the EdT at the Maxx. The Huile Parfumee is both softer and longer-lasting: a really good value, and good to wear on it's own, or with the EdT.
Wow, I'm impressed. I don't think I can buy that way — I am too frequently surprised by the difference between what I've read about a scent and how it actually smells to me.
I will look for the Huile Parfumee, thanks!