At least once a month someone asks me to help her or him choose a bottle of perfume. Since people probably know by now that you, too, like fragrance, you've most likely been in the same boat. Our friends may think we can lead them to a department store, pluck the five or ten "best" bottles from the shelves for them to test, and they will walk away an hour later with their signature scent. If only it were that easy.
Over time, I've developed a system for helping people find a perfume. I'm offering it up here for your use, and I welcome suggestions for improvement.
When someone asks me to help her find a scent, I first ask her what kind of fragrances she likes. (To keep pronouns simple, I'll assume that the perfume-seeker is a woman.) Usually she will tell me what she doesn't like — patchouli, for instance, or powdery scents. Then, I ignore what she says. I am, however, careful to avoid these hot-button words when offering up fragrances to try.
Next, I do a silent appraisal of the friend asking my advice. Is she likely to become immersed in perfume, or does she simply want something nice to spray on for special occasions? If her only perfume is a dusty bottle of Issey Miyake Eau d'Issey, and it seems like she'd be content with an unfussy bottle or two of something new, then I do another assessment. Does she want a bottle to brag about, or could she not care less who makes her perfume?
For the woman who isn't likely to ever want to know a green chypre from an aldehydic floral, and is happy to be able to buy it at a department store (a high end department store, in this case), I often suggest Jo Malone. People who aren't really into fragrance often seem to prefer smelling things they can identify. The simple but intriguing combinations that Jo Malone puts together range from fresh to romantic. What they lack in sultry complexity they make up for in friendliness. After wearing Jo Malone for a while, the friend might even venture into more "perfumey" scents. Either way, she'll smell wonderful. Other terrific gateway fragrances are the Guerlain Aqua Allegorias and Stella McCartney Stella.
For the woman who isn't all that into perfume but wants to feel she has the "right" scent and won't be looked down on by her fashionista friends, Frédéric Malle Carnal Flower, Serge Lutens Chergui, and L'Artisan Parfumeur Vanilia are good choices. They're easy to love for someone inexperienced with perfume, but hard to find, giving them extra cachet. But they're not so simple that she'd get bored with them or so hard to find that she won't be able to buy them. She might enjoy exploring the Comme des Garçons line, too.
The other direction to go with the image-conscious friend who likes perfume but isn't obsessed by it is to try a masculine scent. Not realizing that perfume lovers have been buying across the aisle for years, a lot of women find this idea appealingly anarchic. Guerlain Vetiver is a good jumping off point. If she recoils at the vetiver, try Knize Ten, Chanel Egoïste, or Christian Dior Homme. You'll look forward to spending time with her, she'll smell so good.
That leaves us with the friend who just might turn perfume enthusiast. This is the woman who can't resist crushing basil in her fingers, who has opinions about what tea is best in the morning as opposed to the afternoon, and who likes to point out when she smells a lightening storm in the wind. One test is to try L'Artisan Parfumeur Dzing! on her. If she's intrigued, even if she doesn't like it much, it might be time to get out your samples. She has a long and very enjoyable journey ahead.
Sweet article and very apt! I fit your profile as one who had opinions on what tea is best in the morning as opposed to the afternoon, therefore….
….Therefore you’re reading this blog! It’s insidious, this perfume habit.
Insidious, insane, irresistible, insatiable. . .
Yorkshire Gold English breakfast from a small family firm south of London for breakfast; any number of scented teas in the afternoon, all season-dependent (rose-scented in June, apricot-scented in late July, clove-and-orange in the dead of winter. . .
Am I suffering from some kind of mental illness? No, not suffering at all. Quite enjoying myself, as a matter of fact. 🙂
Great article (as if they’re ever anything BUT) Angela!
Thank you! Every once in a while there’s nothing nicer than a scented tea. The apricot sounds lovely.
I’m a Yorkshire Gold devotee, myself. I like it mixed with some Darjeeling to make it a little more floral. I would buy a perfume that captured the smell of it in an instant.
Robin, I’m not a tea afficionado, but I do like my afternoon herbals. Now that it’s so balzingly hot, I’ve discovered a few combinations that work well as iced tea–one bag of chamomile lemon and three of jasmine plus one solid black english tea make the most intriguing afternoon pick-me-up! Oh, this is about perfume. . . .um, well, actually that chamomile lemon would make a great cooling spritz, too!
That does sound refreshing! I’ve been making a sun tea of mint leaves plus tamarind, a little honey, cumin, and a sprinkle of salt that is so good in the heat. The cumin is what really makes it.
Pray tell, what kind of tea is best in the morning, afternoon, and evening? I’m curious!
Fab article, Angela. You have such a clear, personable writing style. I love it.
I’m not the best tea expert, really. More of a coffee and cream gal. But I bet someone here has the perfect recommendation.
Don’t know about “perfect”, but I sure have an opinion!
Mornings I stick to my green teas. Gentle wake up call, and all that. Green tea with lemongrass, with rose petals, with myrtle, with jasmine… Any old will do. Afternoon has to be a quality Darjeeling and after dinner I break out the smoky lapsangs. Seems to be the reverse of what Suddenly advises. 🙂
You’re so spot on about untrained perfumistas liking recognizable aromas, Angela! That’s definitely what reeled me in, way back. I had always found mainstream perfume disappointingly “perfumey”, but once I stumbled upon the L’Artisan line, a whole new horizon of potential opened up. I think that’s another great line for starters; not scary, *very* varied and it boasts very clear and realistic interpretations of notes.
You’re so right about L’Artisan. It’s a great first line to explore. (Love your gravatar!)
Agree too on l’Artisan, one of my favorites still, along w/AG. I’m still in the relatively early stages though, having only been at this about a year and on a very limited budget.
For morning, I prefer a clean, strong, straightforward black tea. I like China tea best, especially Yunnan and Keemum. (Those who like Indian tea–or who drink tea with milk–might enjoy Darjeeling or Assam.) In the afternoon, I enjoy scented teas (especially Earl Grey), tea with flowers (Jasmine tea, French Earl Grey with blue flowers), smoked tea (Lapsang Souchong). In the evening, because people worry about caffeine, I make my own tea from fresh mint leaves from my garden combined with chopped fresh ginger root.
(So I guess it’s no surprise that I’m starting to pick one perfume for day, another for evening, and a third for sleeping.)
Thanks for the recommendations! I happen to have some mint and ginger handy, myself. Maybe I’ll give your brew a try.
Because we don’t get below 90 degrees at night anymore, I made some ginger beer. I love the way it smells, and I suddenly realize that cooking and fragrance have a lot in common. Temperatures, balance, development–important aspects of both.
Thanks for the tips, SuddenlyInexplicably. I like your tea progression from morning to evening. I haven’t tried any of the Chinese or Indian teas you recommended. Sounds like I have a lot to learn, which I’m quite looking forward to. 🙂
mmmh really nice choices!
I like it really rraaaar in the morning, so I make cardamom & ginger infusions or my own interpretation of pitta tea (ayuverdic drink, to calm the pitta dosha, but also just happens to taste soo good), with cumin seads, coriander, fennel and rose infusion.
If I’m feeling lazy or in too much of a rush (which is almost every morning, I must admit) I just have ready-made masala or herbal teas (ginger & lemon mixtures) or funny tasting green teas (with algae or aloe vera).
In the afternoon I like to show off with weird drinks, so I often pop one of those man-made green tea flowers into a glass cup. I especially like the ones that have huge ant-eater trunks of jasmin curling out of them. Looks like an aquarium.
In the evening, or after any heavy meal, I also make fresh mint infusions, with lots of sugar and orange blossom water.
Chin chin!
Everyone one of those teas sounds so good! You’re inspiring me to raid the spice cabinet.
It’s all really easy to do and am sure all your kitchens are stocked with ginger root anyway.
I would drink coffee but even just a small cup of it has me bouncing around in little goat skips. Too bad!
I think we need a spinoff with a Tea Blog! Now Brew This!
I love the “goat skips” description. You have a great way with words.
alltheprettythings, Now Brew This is a great idea!!! Why don’t you start it? I’ve been drinking sage tea everyday. I make the infusion with sage leaves myself. Such a wonderful smell, and it keeps me calm all day long.
Sage tea! I have a big sage bush in the garden. I’ll have to try it.
Another who likes the “Now Brew This” idea… Robin, you could become a franchise. 😉
I, too, am in favor of a new blog “Now Brew This.” I still have so many questions! Do serious tea drinkers consider milk with their tea sacreligious, for example? Some of the darker teas I drink might taste better with a bit of milk, but I would hate to ruin the flavor of the tea I am drinking. Thoughts, anyone?
I don’t. I love a drop of milk on my chai tea. Then again, I’m not that serious about my teas, just like to have fun.
and I am the thunderstorm sniffer! 😉
Hey, it’s a good skill to have! They smell good, too.
Me too! It’s one of the first things I do every day….I run downstairs (ok, more like stumble downstairs) fling open the patio doors and sniff to see what sort of day it is going to be. Lately I’ve been smelling the pots of Stargazer lilies lined up on the patio…I bought 9 pots on sale at the local nursery almost a month ago and they were just about to bloom….I couldn’t bear to plant them way out there in a flowerbed just yet…I lined them up in front of the yews all of 15 ft from the doors and when they are done blooming—then I’ll plant them!
Thunderstorms coming —the smell is energizing to the point of being agitating.
Rain—makes me want to bake
Hazy Late Summer morning smells really boost my domesticity…I think it’s a hurry and get stuff done while you can still breathe sort of thing….
Anyhow, I love weather smells. 🙂
The stargazers must smell like heaven itself! I love the scent of lilies at the end of the day, especially, when it’s starting to cool off a little.
It was STARGAZER-apalooza for a while there…now it’s down to the very last one. To perfume the house I just left the door open! Next week I’ll have to finalize where I’m going to put them…my vote goes for the bed closest to the doors!
Absolutely! Maybe you can plant a little jasmine with them.
Yeah, don’t enable my landscaping spending or anything.
I don’t know anything about Jasmine and where it likes to grow or if it’s a small, med, large plant or bush or whatever…but it bears looking into. Most of my beds are pretty exposed and sunny (also windy) but I have one new area to populate next spring that is shady….I’m moving hostas and astilbe over there. It’s always something you know!
If you can ever find a Dolly Parton rose bush, and you like rose scents 😉 – buy it. One bloom (and they’re enormous, hence the name) will scent the entire floor of a house.
There’s a Dolly Parton rose bush??? Oh, I need to have that!
My jasmine grows in a pot which comes indoors for winter. It is exploding in blooms on the patio right now…wafts into the house…ahhhhh.
Come visit during monsoon season. When the storm is about 15 miles away, you start to smell wet earth and wet road. When it moves in closer, you can smell the creosote trees as they wet down. When it’s right over you, you get that ozone from the lightning. . . .wonderful!
Sounds marvelous!
Oh, no thunderstorm here in LA, only the Santa Ana to get everyone in full allergy mode and kind of nuts. I used to love the smell of thunderstorm coming from the ocean when I lived in Rio. When the huge drops or rain finally hit the pavement, on a really hot summer day, it would raise this almost unbearable hot steam for a while and then a crazy wall of water flooded the city and cooled everything off. You’d get stranded for a few hours wherever you were.
I love those kinds of storms. There’s something both scary and comforting knowing that mother nature still has the upper hand.
Great article, Angela! I have to say, I fall into the Forces Things On Others camp. I buy perfume as gifts for friends, with the intent of broadening their horizons, and–if I’m really lucky–turning them into an obsessive like me. Since I’ve started with the sample swapping on here, I’ve even bought 8 and 15 ml. bottles to decant from my own collection and force that on my unsuspecting victims, I mean, friends. Sadly, so far none of them have really fallen into my web. On the bright side, one of my friends gave me a bottle of Joy perfume (actual PERFUME) that she bought for $5 at a garage sale, so at least letting everyone know how obsessed I am has paid off.
What a deal on the Joy! I’m so jealous.
I’ve had mostly bad luck when, in my excitement, I get a friend to try, say, Alpona or Miss Dior. I even heard, secondhand, that one friend told another that she always ended up “smelling like an old lady” after she’d been at my house. (Believe me, I haven’t wasted another precious drop of my stash on her!)
What some call “old lady smell” I would call “classic.” And what the hell is wrong with smelling like an old lady? Smelling like cigarettes and garlic while you’re sweating on the treadmill next to me at the gym? Bad. Room full of unshowered Evergreen State College students? Bad. But old lady? If fail to see the logic there.
Yeah. She didn’t get it. She’ll be happy with a few vials of essential oils, and that’s fine, too.
Evergreen State? Unshowered and unshaven 😉 But, yeah, I don’t get the “old lady” objection either. What exactly do they mean by that?
I’ve had good luck introducing perfumes that have an easily identifiable note. I agree that people who are new to this enjoy being able to say “it smells like ……..” or “I smell ….. in this. “
I think people who say “old lady smell” might as well have “I don’t know No. 5 from Hai Karate” stamped on their heads. It’s a matter of experience smelling things.
Yeah, I didn’t fit in very well when I went to school there. If anyone wears anything at Evergreen it’s patchouli, and that’s still on top of not showering for a month. (“Duuuuuude! That’s a waste of water, duuuuuude!”) It took me forever to give patchouli a fair shake after that.
But, isn’t that it? If your first association with a particular perfume is what it smelled like on an old person…and there can be attendant smells/associations with the elderly…then that *will* affect your sense of that smell. Not to mention that if you know that you first saw those bell bottoms on your not-quite-fit-for-them aunt…it might be hard to get over wondering if they are right for you, now, just because they’re here.
I’ve grown fond of many an “old lady” scent, but it took a fair amount of shedding and acclimating…and the advantage of having one which had the inside track (in a positive way) with me.
Depends on the old lady! My grandmother was an ex-flapper society dame, and even in her 90s she was impossibly chic and smelled fabulous. In fact, whenever I smell a perfume that’s really killer-diller in an old-school way — Bandit, for instance — I think, “oooh, yeah — Grandma!”
Everyone should have a grandmother like that!
THAT would be the positive inside track way! 🙂
How rude! I wouldn’t waste any more perfume on her, either!
I gave her some BPAL samples. She was pretty happy about that (I think).
YOU ARE SUCH A COOL FRIEND!!!
You are so nice!
Wonderful article but that picture made me gasp. Never display perfume in front of a window! OT, but I just saw the Harry Potter movie and when Dumbledore took a memory vial out of a display vessel that looked like a medieval reliquary I leaned over to my husband and whispered “I want something like that for my perfume samples!”
Let’s hope that they’re only display bottles!
Hey, maybe you can call the props department at the movie studio and get them to send the reliquary-lookalike to you.
LOL here…I had the EXACT same reaction to that scene, and when Slughorn got out the bottle of Felix Felicis, I remember thinking it’d be a darling perfume bottle….
Great minds think alike!
Me, too! Had me thinking so much, I saw that cabinet as a kind of perfumers organ…full of memories…so the pouring out of contents into the pensieve was REALLY echoing with perfume thoughts and connections.
I can tell I’m going to have to see that movie!
It is a fascinating movie. 🙂 You should certainly see it eventually. I also was contemplating that bottle…but more along the lines of how it’s rather impractical- so adorable though. 🙂
As for suggesting perfumes, I’m usually the one sticking my wrist in people’s faces saying “Isn’t this great?! You should try some. Bother your Paris Hilton! I have flipping L’Artisan over here!” I’m rather unsuccessful, overall. The only ready convert is my sister and her tastes are all over the place. She’s seriously lemming the new(ish) Paris Hilton, but I’ve also had to yell at her for wearing too much No. 5. She’s still young and cute, though, so she’s a great help when I’m dealing with a stingy SA. 🙂 My mom’s gotten on board the Burberry train a bit, but she’s unimpressed with niche perfumes. Ah well. To each their own.
It sounds like your sister is promising. Maybe in a few years she’ll have bottles to share!
She’d better 😉
my 17-year-old cousin and i found ourselves at sephora this past weekend. i sprayed scent after scent for her. she’s a total newbie. what did she like the most? aqua allegoria cherry blossom. 😉
Perfect! Did she end up buying a bottle? Before long she’ll be eyeing the Mitsouko…
she did not– i have my eye on it for her birthday or christmas. she did, however, smell chanel no. 5 for the first time because she wanted to see what all the hype was about. she proclaimed the EDT smelled exactly like the outhouses at camp. heehee. i had to chuckle. i told her i’d hunt down the parfum for her to try instead. 😉
I remember I used to complain that No. 5 smelled like cat pee. And now it’s one of my top 5 favorites. Go figure.
Miss Dior used to repulse me. Now I can’t get enough of it.
I like how specific she was about the outhouses–“the outhouses at camp”. The girl has a potential career as a writer, I’d say.
i feel the same about miss dior- that was the last full bottle purchase i made.
i will totally share your writer comment with my cousin- she’s toyed with the idea of getting into journalism!
My art teacher had us draw some of her old No 5 bottles and sniffing the cap was very akin to sticking one’s nose directly into a urinal cake. However, it smelled amazing on her; I don’t know how that transition takes place.
I will say that I’ve now tried the parfum, which is quite nice. I don’t know if I’d buy it, but it’s certainly better than its lesser (in every sense, I feel) concentrations.
No. 5 seems like one of those magical perfumes that really does transform, depending on who is wearing it.
Let’s have a post some day on what fragrance to wear around people who don’t like perfume!
LOL I guess the answers would depend on whether they were people you wanted to keep around or people you were trying to get rid of!!!
Good point!
Lol. Angel seems to be a very dividing fragrance that fits squarely in the love it or hate it category, and I imagine it could rightly bludgeon someone you didn’t like. Or more surprisingly, intrigue them enough so that they must like you at least as long as it takes to find out what you’re wearing. 😉
I have a friend who likes what I wear, but just sticks with VS Dream Angels Heavenly, BBW’s Moonlight Path, or Glamourous by Ralph Lauren. I don’t mind the latter since it is pretty enough, but though I’ve gently tried to interest her in other categories other than floral, the furthest I got was Pleasures Delight. I just smile and try to remember a time when I only owned three bottles of perfume… Maybe when I was six or seven…
I love wearing Sweet Oriental Dream not because it’s so delicious, but I got stopped when leaving a concert by a boy half my age so he could tell me how good I smelled. lol It didn’t get much love on MUA, but nearly everyone who’s smelled it on me loves it and it has become my signature scent of sorts among a particular group of my friends. It reaffirmed my love of fragrances off the beaten path, and I even liked it more than SL’s Rahat Loukoum. *ducks and runs for cover* Though to be fair, I’ve only tried a little sample vial of RH, so perhaps a more generous splash yields different results.
There’s some department store frags I like just because they smell like pretty perfume i.e., TH’s Dreaming, but once you go niche house, you can never go back. I’m looking at you, Montale and Divine. 🙂
I know what you mean. There are definitely some terrific department store scents, but for the deliciously odd or extra compelling, the niche houses have a lot to offer.
Sigh…. I’m old enough to remember buying Je Reviens extrait, Bal a Versailles, Femme, Givenchy III (the original) to name a few all at a department store at a nearby mall. No such luck now days.
The good old days!
Once you go niche, you’ll never… be rich!
A poet!
LOL!
Great idea! It seems like a lot of the time people who don’t like perfume don’t even know that I’m wearing perfume. I think that really they don’t like loud perfume, worn too heavily, and in the wrong environment. A touch of Bois de Violette at the office, they don’t even notice. A burst of Poison in the elevator, they hate it.
I’ve thought about this, too. I reckon the winners would be really clean, self-effacing musc scents like the new N. Rodriguez or that Jil Sander one that smells like a neutral bubble bath.
Probably. Some people might even be put off by those. I still think it’s a few people who don’t wear perfume well who have made it bad for the rest of us.
Hehehe, yes!
I think it would depend on whether we like the people who don’t like perfume. 😀
That always seem to factor in, doesn’t it?
Funnily enough, I wore Stella McCartney Stella before I became a perfumista. And Issey Miyake! And Kingdom! They were my staple scents. I started trawling the internet for perfume reviews when I was considering buying DKNY Delicious Nights and I stumbled upon NST and away we go…………..!!!!!
Looking back, even during my early naive years, I was attracted to ‘odd’ scents – when Kingdom first came out, i didn’t know anyone else who wore it, and Delicious Nights is quite an odd one. I remember being intrigued/repulsed by Le Feu D’Issey when it was released, yet admiring it for it’s utter uniqueness and weirdness. I even looked up the ingredients on line to find out what the hell could have created such a bizarre smell. I’d love to smell it again, now that my olfactory senses are broader and more experienced. What would I make of it now?!
I get a lot of people asking me for advice about what perfumes to wear for specific occasions – such as a gallery opening or a wedding. In general, because I am based in London, I refer people to Ormonde Jayne and Frederic Malle as starters. But I will remember Jo Malone, which is a brilliant recommendation for new starters. Thanks Angela!
Le Feu d’Issey was fabulous. RIP. And you liked Kingdom early on! Surely that’s an indicator that you’d be pulled in the ranks of perfume lovers soon enough.
I sure wish Ormonde Jayne were in my town…
I just recently got a sample of Le Feu d’Issey in a swap and it is fantastically weird. I can’t imagine how bizarre it was at the time it was launched. Too bad it wasn’t appreciated. I’m trying to tamp down my craving to buy a bottle on ebay.
It’s such a good one. I’m surprised there’s much on ebay to find.
HA! ok, good luck with the “tamping”…..should I get out my stop watch and start timing how long it takes you to cave? I was able to tamp down my urge to buy more samples for exactly 2 days….I think I was starting to shake a little…. 😉
Hey, hey! Don’t get snarky about me “tamping” my cravings! I’ll have you know I trolled ebay for only 20 minutes right after I sampled Feu last week and I haven’t trolled since then. I have WILL power… unlike some people wither Perfumium Tremens who I will not mention… 😀
So, order any good samples?
Listen to you two. Bickering affectionately like an old married couple.
Angela, it’s like a sick contest to see who can egg whom on to debtors’ prison the fastest… However, I’m sure D has better credit than I do, so it’s a loser’s game.
HA! Perfumium Tremens!! Great….I was going mention Delirium Tremens but didn’t know if everyone would know what I was talking about….but your copy change is perfect…. our perfume lexicon is growing!
1. Lemming Glands
2. the CDC = Cheap Drugstore Crap (as opposed to Centers for Disease Control)
3. Perfumium Tremens –trembling symptomatic of a delay in gratifying the demands of said Lemming Glands! Often treated with small doses of sample ordering….
Angela, you just wait for the bickering when Joe and I are sharing a large cardboard box under an overpass….but we’ll smell great!
😀
Uh-oh. I’m having the PT’s right now, leaving those samples in my basket at luckyscent… I’m TRYING to be good here, people…
Mals, we’ve sucked you into our perfume lemming driven world!
Resistance is futile…
Oh do get the Feu! I got a bottle via Basenote and it’s my new comfort scent. Milky and smoky, it’s nothing like it. And the bottle is an adorable clunky plastic tchotchke.
Ahhh! I just ordered 10 samples from LS. And 5 from L’Artisan yesterday. And 5 from The Perfume Shoppe yesterday too and I ordered samples of all the Les Exclusifs from TPC last week. Someone take my credit cards away!!
nope, that never works! I’ve ordered so many batches of samples that my computer practically types in the numbers for me! Auto-pilot-perfume-buying!
Good point. I have the number memorized anyway. I think after this sample batch I’m going to focus on buying bottles off my wishlist starting with PdN’s Odalisque. Sampling just makes that list grow!
I haven’t even gotten to the point of making a list yet! Too busy making a sample list, and then too many samples to test them properly to decide which comes first out of my horribly limited budget. Soon though, I hope.
I could probably sample a little more thoroughly myself. I’m a bit haphazard but I do try everything at least twice.
Well, as the voice of experience, I can say that it’s definitely smarter to order samples than buy full bottles, unsniffed. I’ve done way too much damage that way.
This article reminded me so much of my own entry into perfume obsession. I started out with Stella (the gateway), but then moved over into Jo Malones, which somehow (I don’t remember how) led me down the path of no return to perfumista. Although I don’t wear Jo Malones anymore, I still appreciate them for what they are. But there are just too many great perfumes to get to know and to wear now…I have just discovered Dior Homme, which is likely to become my next FB purchase. I would throw in Cartier Déclaration to the list of masculine frags – it is truly one of the most beautiful, striking, memorable scents I’ve smelled recently.
Thanks for a great article!
I’d also add Chanel Allure Homme Edition Blanche and pretty much any of the John Varvatos frags to the easy crossover list! I have the ubiquitous fruity-florals to thank/blame for my conversion. They were all so dull, I couldn’t find a darned thing I liked, until I stumbled across the Hermes Jardin series. Couldn’t decide, came home and googled, found NST… and here I am. I don’t really fit the perfumista mold either, though, since I’m happy to remain ignorant about the details; I just want to smell good. 😀
I haven’t tried the Chanel–I’ll definitely look for it.
I just like to smell good, too.
That Chanel Edition Blanche really is a winner. I also still enjoy several Jo Malones for their simplicity and the fact that many are just plain nice. This thread is making me think about Dior Homme again, which I’ve never sampled but really need to, considering I love me some iris.
Oh yes, you must try it. Let me know what you think!
I love Dior Homme and wouldn’t mind a bottle, either. And throw in a bottle of Cartier Roadster while you’re at it!
Thanks for the article Angela. Truly good recommendations for each category you have given. So my go-to reference when I am approached by a friend, who says help me look for a new fragrance.
It’s so hard when someone asks, “So, what’s the best perfume?” Wow, what a question.
I have to admit, I profile the ones who ask “What is the best perfume?” If they’re wearing a Coach bag and Trina Turk flats with Seven jeans? Then the answer is Flower Bomb, Juicy Couture or D&G Light Blue. 😉
I have to admit, I wouldn’t be able to recognize any of those brands at a glance. (Except maybe the jeans, if they turned around.) Of course, they might just tell me about their fashion splurges and then I’d know to recommend fruity mainstream blah…
The look is pretty easy to spot once you’ve seen it and consciously registered it.
New Coach bags often have an allover C print that is very hard to miss. Vintage Coach bags are harder to identify, especially if the owner took off the little leather tag on a beaded keyring. The old ones are made out of very thick unlined leather with piped seams and last forever. And just when I could finally contemplate buying one at full price instead of hoping that the color and style I wanted would surface at the Dillard’s clearance, they changed to the vulgar billboards.
Old Coach bags show up all the time at thrift stores where I live. The old ones are such great quality–really worth it for a solid, basic bag.
Smart!
the ‘old bags’ (Coach that is, not me) are stamped on the inside zipper compartment with a statement about being a Coach bag, made in USA etc. The really old ones — now of course they say this is a Coach bag made in China, but they’re still stamped inside.
The old ones are definitely the way to go, I think. These days I’ve been carrying an old Bonnie Cashin Cashin Carry (Cashin used to design for Coach years and years ago). I love it.
Hah! Perfect.
I had a wine colored vintage Coach bag when it was NOT vintage! I loved it and wore it proudly and my old rommate stole it lol. Now you couldn’t pay me to wear a Coach anything, and I know that’s reverse snob, but sorry… taste comes before vulgarity. 😉
I bet you could still find one like the wine-colored one you loved, but it would be used. But probably a good deal, and probably would last forever, too.
Angela, I love every and any thing vintage… you’re right, I should go hunt it down again… although – I have my eye on this gorgeous beaten down old leather camera bag (my idea of sexy!) that I would wear to the grave. 🙂
Anyhoo, when someone who is bizarrely dressed but tosses the word ‘oud’ my way, I grab them like candy!
Unless they’re dressed like the current MTV/mall-aholic generation, I do try to simply listen. 😉
The camera bag sounds great! Go for it!
Great advice, Angela. Thanks for sharing. Although, I don’t get asked much for perfume recommendations…. think it’s my Mitsouko extrait that’s putting folks off?!? LOL!
Mitsouko extrait! They should be following you and sniffing in your wake.
Gosh, I know I would!!! Even more funny since I was wearing Rapple’s Mitsouko extrait yesterday and enjoying my own sillage!
oh, I should clarify—when Rapple found some vintage extrait she sold me her “newer” bottle….and I love it!!
Thanks again, Rapple dear.
How nice!
Angela,
But I think the Mitsy extrait is an acquired taste – not something you’d recommend as a “starter” fragrance.
Daisy –
You’re so very welcome. And thank you dearest friend for the plethora of samples you’ve sent! Many lemmings – I’m looking at you Jubilation XXV – created!
well, Rapple is quite the sweetie.
I realized that my first comment made it sound like I knock on her door in the morning, come in and spray myself down with her perfume! (the very worst sort of neighbor!)
Not if you brought samples with you! LOL!
LOL yeah, that would be okay…bringing samples increases the good neighbor quotient dramatically!
Great article, Angela, about something I’m sure we all experience! I find it helpful to say something nice and knowledgable about what they like, it at all possible. For example, if they say something like, they’re looking for a new fragrance and they like CK Obsession Night… I launch into something along the lines of: “Ah, yes, very good, a rich, oriental perfume, with soft, warm florals, vanilla, amber and sandlawood. Is that the sort of thing you like? It was done by a genius perfumer – or “nose”, as we call them – Mark Buxton and it greatly resembles a perfume he did before that was subsequently discontinued.” If they look blankly at me, I know that they were merely trying to make conversation with me by engaging me on a topic I am interested in. But if they ask some questions, and ask about similar orientals, etc. then I start racking my brain. I try to be honest, but if they are interested, they are usually encouraged by you saying *something* positive about a scent they’ve liked in the past.
LOL! Sounds like a sommelier at the best restaurant in town… “Ah yes, an boldly arrogant young red with hints of cherry, leather, and pepper, brash on the tongue…”
It’s no wonder that so many wine fans make their way over to perfume (and coffee and tea connoisseurs, too).
The dream come true: a loaded perfume cabinet upstairs, a full wine cellar downstairs.
I couldn’t agree with you more on this!
Makes me thirsty to think of it.
and your personal chef in the kitchen fixing a sumptuous dinner….
Perfect!
Wow! I can see the landscape! Personally to give heaven on earth a face, I would also add a cabinet full of nail polishes, which is definitely a more recent passion for me, but I feel it goes very well with my pleasure-loving perfumista life
I can definitely see that…
Right now I’d settle for an air conditioner. Whew! it’s warm.
And a cupboard in the kitchen full of gourmet teas!
…and just a few coffee beans.
Chocolate! do i hear…chocolate? Can’t leave that out!
A nice smooth, rich dark chocolate….and then I’m moving in with her! She has all the good stuff at her house!!!
Yes, and a good hammock to enjoy it all in!
Yes!
I see your point. Saying “You wear WHAT?” while holding your nose closed isn’t a very welcoming approach.
Haha, Erin, I can imagine the faces around you! That’s what happens to me when talking about organic cosmetic. I learned it’s not worth starting a chemistry lesson unless people really aske themself.
Another voice for the wine-cellar, big kitchen with lots of herbs and tea – I started now to get more interested in herbs for cooking. And yes, I love whiskey (more for the scent and taste) and I use to cook a lot with liqueurs and wine.
I guess all this comes together. Imagine us all in a huge castle – you would find the most precious and delicious indulgence rarities in this house (but it has to be a castle;-).
ohhh, good idea…..let’s have a castle!!!
The castle sounds perfect!
Since we can’t have the perfume in the turrets with all those windows (in fact, the dungeon is probably the ideal storage facility), can I make one of those my room? Always wanted a turret to read in…
We’ll have to have a mess of turrets so that we can each have one!
And I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for that Dzing! sample. Still one of my all-time favs.
And, yes, people have started to ask me for help, too! The circle is complete. 🙂
You know what they say, when a butterfly flaps its wings in South America….watch out perfume tornado!
Excellent advice! I love your Dzing! test. 🙂
I’m sure there are some other good ones, too.
I think Cumming & Bvlgari Black separate the amateurs from the pros too…. LOL.
Yes, those are good ones, too.
Well, I haven’t tried Cumming yet (feels good not to have attained pro status yet!), but I agree that Dzing! and Bulgari Black are among the most interesting fragrances. I would add Dzongkha and Sienne l’Hiver, perhaps. Thanks for the great article, Angela!
Those are good, “odd” choices, too. A little Dzongka sounds good right about now, actually.
Thanks Angela,
the end of your post reminds me that Dzing! has not been my first perfumista fragrance, but it’s been, and I think still is, the fragrance that sums up what perfume “should” do for me. You are right: it sure can be a great test to see how far from olfactorily pretty – with the maximum respect for pretty, to me it’s sometimes necessary though not sufficient – someone is willing to go.
Dzing! is weird but friendly, and ultimately likable, I think. It’s not boring, but not too far out there, either. I love it.
Really great topic, thanks!
I’m just a lowly newbie myself, but I’m already trying to acquire an apprentice. My little sister is living with me at the moment and she just happens to have to most acute sense of smell in anyone I know. Unfortunately, she suffers from migraines, so it’s very rare that she’ll follow me into a perfume store as the cloud bombs in there sometimes trigger them. However, I’ve done fragrance tests with her at home using my measly stash of testers and decants and created a kind of questionnaire for her to fill out. The only time we’ve been to a dept. store together so far (a dark, posh, v. well ventilated place) she was really keen to smell the Serge Lutens line. She actually loved Serge Noir! I was impressed. But then the salesman overheard us talking and my sister confessed that she has a thing for vanilla and so she walked away with a boring (albeit generous) sample of By Night White. Oh, to have a fellow enthusiast!
Not even the Serge vanilla? Oh well.
It is really nice to have someone around who gets excited about perfume. Plus, you can swap decants. My sister seems to like perfume fine, but is satisfied with a lone bottle of Cashmere Mist.
Well, my sister doesn’t get super excited about it, sadly.
It really would be nice to have someone with whom one could share the enthusiasm and experiences (also, I need a sounding board, sometimes I don’t even know whether I LIKE something or not), but I’m already grateful for all you lovely fumeheads! Yay NST!
It really is nice to know there’s a group of us out here who actually cares about these things.
Hm, my sister really likes perfume – until recently, she bought much more than I did – but whereas we used to overlap considerably, as perfume for the masses has dumbed down, she’s gone along with it, while I started digging into less mainstream stuff to find something I like. I’m not so far off mainstream anyway (AG and l’AP are my go-to lines), but I couldn’t resort to the sugar-water they were selling. And I do enjoy finding some of the more unusual scents, even if I’m not likely to wear them out and about.
Beware now that you’ve headed down the path. The freaky perfumes beckon…
Freaky perfumes would be a fun open thread…freakiest one you like to wear, and freakiest one outright.
Hi Enidan. Perfume used to trigger migraines on me too. It started on my early 20s and I had to stop wearing perfume all together. My mother is a big perfume lover (although not a perfumist) and we always had good perfumes at home (Cialemga, Caleche, Opium, Calandre, Mitsouko etc). Very recently, a year ago or so, I began taking vitamins and other supplements and one of the benefits was that my migraine got much better. It is no longer triggered by perfumes. However, when I do get a migraine, I have to take it easy with my fragrances.
Stick to those vitamins, then. I hate to think of you having to give up perfume for too long.
Thanks for your comment! It’s great to read up on other people’s experiences with migraines, as we’re still hoping that we might find something that will help my sister’s condition (which isn’t extreme by any means, but sometimes upsetting nonetheless).
Will look into your vitamin idea.
Any type of fragrance is offensive to my sister when she’s having a migraine attack, especially lavander which some say helps them with pain. I bought her a special formulation of peppermint oil in a role applicator because of friend of mine had told me that it helped her when she had headaches, but I don’t think she’s even gone near it during crisis so far :S
And how nice that your mum has such a noble, elegant collection. My mother was always very up-to-date, so in the late 80s when I was a child and started exploring her vanity I was confronted with all the usual suspects (Fendi, Paloma Picasso, some Chanels).
I had a great uncle who was a perfumista, though, and whenever we visited him he showed me some prizes in his collection. He was a real sweetie, but also totally stingy.
Lavender gives me thumping headaches, too.
well, thank goodness my migraine trigger is engine exhaust and deisel exhaust particularly is like an instant sick switch! Generally easy to avoid ….but still a migraine can steal a whole day…so I’m going to look into vitamin supplements! Thanks for the idea.
Big confession: I took the vitamins to help me tackle some persistant cellulite (yep, I know, terrible… but besides wanting to smell good I also want decent looking legs, oh well…). Anyway, I don’t even care that it didn’t help with the cellulite much (I just need to get my ass to the gym) as long as I can keep my perfume hobby without triggering a migraine, I’m happy. I realize here is not the place to tell about my regime, but I’d be happy to exchange notes on vitamins. My email is my username at gmail.com
Yes, Enidan, when I had a crisis, I could’t smell anything strong. Nothing.
as someone who would get a migraine once a month, the calcium/magnesium and omega 3 combination really toned things down to 2 or 3 times a year. Feverfew and tulsi also help.
I get more odd looks and wide berths than requests for recommendations these days, but I have occasionally tried to lure unsuspecting friends into perfume addiction! No luck so far, but I’m actually fascinated by what people with absolutely no preconceptions think of a fragrance — my own tastes are relatively idiosyncratic, but they’re inevitably colored by the reviews and comments I’ve read here and elsewhere.
The other day, for instance, I had a neighbor sniff a few samples, and she thought CdG2 Woman was “aggressive”! So interesting, since I consider it very subtle and office-friendly. She’s a L’Occitane fan, however, and she did like my recommendation of Philosykos.
Philosykos was a brilliant suggestion! Plus, I can definitely see a l’occitane wearer graduating to Diptyque.
What a fun read! Too bad I’m the only gal in the entire state of Oregon this into perfumes….
Btw, I wore No. 22 edt today to see how it stood up on a 100+ deg. day, and let me tell you it is tenacious under any circumstances! It stood up, jumped around, had a few cups of coffee, bounced off the walls, and now, 11 hours later, still isn’t ready for bed! Good thing I lurve it. 🙂
How brave to wear No. 22 on a day like yesterday! I hope you have central air. By the way, I live in Oregon, too, so you are definitely not alone!
No way! 😀 How cool is that? What part of Oregon?
I was at work all day yesterday, which is air conditioned. The only perfume I’ve ever worn that elicits comments there is Ralph. I take their relative silence as leave to wear whatever I want :). And yes, I do think I’ll save No. 22 for sub-70 deg. days. 😉
In Portland. There’s lots of us here…
Hi, I’m from Oregon too.
Today I’m wearing Agent Provocateur (the original). So far so good 😀 I would like to bust out Coriandre next time I stay at home all day. It’s really fun to experience these fragrances in full bloom. I’m not going out to meet anybody in the afternoon, it’s just me and my feline (who thankfully and surprisingly doesn’t seem to mind).
The Oregon Perfume Lovers club grows!
Yeah, you are not alone in Oregon… 🙂
Well I got my freinds passionate on perfume with Aqua Allegoria (check) L’Artisan parfumeur (check) and Serge Lutens (check).
The first one is now willing to spend 160 Euro on a Hermessence juice, the second one became a perfumista-adept and the third? She always had one bottel of Les Nuits d’Hadrien (AG) – now she wears dirty stuff like Serge Noir and or the woody Keiko Mecheri Genie des Bois.
I took the road of tea and perfume together, and you should better not meet me before I had my The verte in the morning, so my BF will be willingly pleased to offer me a cup as I am still in bed. I stick to green tea which is strong perfumed during the tea, also a cup ofe coffee inbetween, and in the evening I do enjoy a cup of black Earl Grey.
The japanese wake-up calls need a lot of attention so I brew them in winter, though they might be more apprpriate in summer.
But as many of you I do not bother of do’s and don’t’s.
Ah, I took the perfumista way with L’Artisan Parfumeur. A rest from a swap, and I am still very grateful to that person! I will always stick to my Chasse aux Papillons.
I like your tea ceremony. I’ve always tried to cultivate the “I cannot do anything before I’ve had my coffee/tea/fresh juice” habit, but have never quite succeeded. Instead I stay in bed till the last second and then rush out of the house, usually without even having a sip of water. I brush my teeth, though.
When I’m hungover I do lie to drink Club Maté, though, and make a point of stumbling down to the kiosk first thing when I wake up.
No lie, I like Club Maté!
What is Club Mate? Is that like regular mate from South America?
Well, it has mate in it but it’s a cold, fizzy drink, lightly sweet and amber in colour. I’ve only seen it here in Berlin. I quite like the flavour, like ice tea for hipsters.
Sounds delicious to me!
Oh, I need up to two hours to get ready in the morning, because of my low blood pressure. so green tea is the best thing I can do, otherwise I stumble through my apartment trying to decide what to do, what to wear… So my tea cup has to be there latest when I get out the shower. The good thing about low blood pressure is that I am allowed to eat salty, drink redwine and tons of coffee:-)
So every day I have to have my tea and to smell at each of my perfume bottles until I decide which one to wear (they have to fit my mood).
It’s time for a castel and a butler to serve tea&perfume though… maybe I should just marry my BF who brings me tea;-) and dares to give me perfume as a gift!
I like how you start you mornings. It sounds so peaceful. And, yes, definitely keep the man who brings you tea in bed!
Good work with your friends! They should be thanking you profusely.
I drink a fair amount of green tea, too, but i usually start after my morning cup of coffee.
Hurrah for Jo Malone!
The great gateway!
Hi everybody there!
First time I write, but certainly not the first time I’m around! 🙂
Most of my friends and family (let’s say..uhmmm…98%??) are “perfume-neutrals”…another way to say they just don’t mind about it..so, pretty hard for them to understand why I have more than one or two botlles..and pretty hard for me to share impressions/love/hate when I discover something new..thank God for perfume-blogs…But then..just a few months ago..in conversation with a a woman I knew from collaboration with a (stray)cat-protecting society (or whatever you call that!).., I think we were chatting about her last vacation in France..she told me something like “I use those trips to get me some perfumes, tea and sweets I can’t find here (in Spain)”..Did somebody say perfume??And “Hard to get”??That changed our conversation from cats to Serge Lutens, Feminite du Bois….and now she’s my perfumista-pal!!! A blessing!! Sample sharing, perfume buying (hey, you’re off to London, get me some Ormonde Jane!!) and things like that!
And that’s how I had the chance to experience this: I made her a sample of this Roja Dove uber-exclusive “Enslaved” perfume I’ d bought in London (which I was all crazy about), and she’d made me a vial of “Habanita”….when we sprayed..it was like…WHAT HAPPENED!?? It’s the SAMEEE!!! Yup, that’s how you realize where the great Mr Dove gets his “inspiration” from..still a wonderful, quality-frag..but well…”Enslaved” was created in 2007 (??)..Habanita in…like 1920??
I’m so glad you found a perfume friend! And that’s very, very interesting about how similar Enslaved and Habanita are–and a real money saver, I’m guessing.
Hi Angela, what a great article and it’s funny for me to see how my own perfume tragectory mirrored what you outlined in your post.
I purchased a bottle of Dior Homme early on (unfortunately I got over it in 2 weeks – but what a cool, crazy scent that is!) and then got interested in the Jo Malone line which while overall pleasant wasn’t cerebral enough for my liking. I kind of considered them to be a higher end version of a Demeter product. And being a bit of a cynic, I thought the whole ‘layering’ idea a lame marketing tool used to lure punters to shell out $300 for 3 bottles of something when in my opinion could have been combined in one to create the same effect. Anyway from there to CB I Hate Perfume (I know, bit of a weird jump) to Tauer to Divine to Comme De Garcon now to NST and from here who knows where I’ll end up! This has been a great site for me to discover and mature my perfume apprentiship and so thanks again for your brilliant articles!
Nice path! Some interesting transitions, too (Divine to CdG, e.g.–don’t you love CdG2 Man?). It sounds like it’s time to plunge into some of the grand old houses, like Guerlain.
Angela, so sorry…I got caught up in chatting and forget to tell you what a wonderful post this was! As a proud bearer of a dust gathering bottle of Issey…proud, since the dust gathers from little use because, as it turns out, I am a pre-post-rainstorm sniffing tea-obsessed dark-chocolate consuming once-aromatherapy-interested total-perfume-convert. It probably took about a year for my full descent, but descend down the rabbit hole I did…and while I didn’t have a flesh-and-blood friend (at first!) to guide me on my journey, I did have the assist of blogs like this one.
So, here’s a toast to the bloggers who help guide the uninitiated and the learning, as well as host the experienced. I think you/Robin/Kevin et al. are doing a great job of sorting out who needs what sort of encouragement in your comments, not to mention consistently bringing us informative, thoughtful, entertaining content.
…meanwhile, I’ve a Jo Malone sample set I’ve got ready for the friend who is trying really hard to care about this “thing” that gets my attention, but she isn’t that into… 😉
I’m so glad you’re finding us useful! The blogs were definitely my ticket down the rabbit hole (as you so aptly call it) too. I hope your friend likes the Jo Malones.
Hi all,
It is so much fun to see a friend discover fragrances, and hopefully, be on the path to perfumista-hood. Jo Malones are absolutely a gateway to niche, they are very approachable and the price isn’t too intimidating…..
I haven’t introduced anyone to Uncle Serge though…. baby steps.
A few of the Serges are easy to take: Clair de Musc or Bois de Vanille (now I’m not sure I have the name right), for example. But keep the tender noses from MKK…
To me, the gateway was the online blogging community, especially Now Smell This. And sampling — from luckyscent, L’Artisan, and a few others, as well as in stores. Sampling can be quite fun on its own — even without the goal of finding “the one” fragrance to end the search. That’s what I’d recommend to a friend (and pass on a bunch of samples).
The perfume blogs definitely launched my perfume love into hyperspace, as well. Before I wrote for NST, I was a regular reader. It’s so easy to hear about so many tantalizing scents. How could I resist?
I have recently started down the road to perfume addiction. My poor wallet! I read The Perfect Scent and was intrigued by what goes into the making of a perfume and I wanted to smell some of the perfumes mentioned in the book but my local department store didn’t carry them. So to Google I went and I found you and I found Naz at The Perfume Shoppe and I found out about The Guide. And the best part! Just yesterday I found my husband reading The Guide and when I told him he could help himself to my samples, he looked interested!
One of these days, I really should do some reading too. For an extremely bookish sort, I find it odd that I’ve mostly been stumbling along blind with a rather hands-on approach to this. But then again, I’ll probably get a lot more out of the reading now that I’ve smelled a lot more.
I love reading books about perfume. I know, dancing about architecture and all that. But still. It’s fun.
For me it’s all part of the addiction. Reading about perfume is like perfume porn…
Yes. Just another nudge to the addiction. I think I’ve read most of the perfume writing out there in English.
so are you saying that we’d find a bunch of perfume books hidden under your mattress? A dog eared and crumpled edition of the guide? egad! :-O
Dog-eared and crumpled edition of the guide is right! I carry it around with me. I don’t agree with every review (and who does?) but I love looking up any new thing I try to see what they have to say about it.
Hmm, and see…I just come here and see what the good folks at NST have to say. Especially now that I’ve started to identify whose tastes overlap most with mine; I’d rather know what I’m going to LIKE than what is supposed to be GOOD. (Really, do you want ice cream, or beets?)
Again, part of the addiction… I just want anything that is about perfume around me at all times. I don’t really care about the reviews, per se, I just like reading descriptions of perfume. Like I said, perfume porn. It’s a sickness.
BTW, The Guide is on sale at Amazon.com right now for $9. I know everyone probably already has it, but just thought I’d pass that on anyway.
Hey, that’s perfect! Good plan to get your husband hooked, too.
Hmmm, dark chocolate, tea, and perfume–very interesting triad. You see, I fell into the perfume rabbit hole because I’m writing a novel about a chocolatier (I’m not one, but I love chocolate) and was looking for more words to describe the scent of chocolate, caramel, spun sugar, etc., and stumbled on this blog, and then I had to try the perfumes everyone was writing about so I started getting perfume samples, and now I think I’m going in circles or something (but I’m still writing the novel).
I think you can chuck books into the mix as well, given the number of literary sorts we’ve turned up here. Several writers, some academics, and quite a few librarians…along with many more who would like to be but can’t for one reason or another. I’d be surprised if music and films didn’t fall right in line as well.
🙂 Amateur musician who left grad school lit studies to go to film school and become a filmmaker here…
I bet we’d get along like a house on fire.
That’s one of the best stories I’ve heard about how someone has found Now Smell This! Good luck with the novel.
Angela, Chanel Égoïste is my top pick for young’uns stuck on Coco Mademoiselle, which I find quite masculine anyway. Égoïste is so spicy rose/vanilla/sandalwood yum….
I’d take Egoiste over Coco Mademoiselle any day.
I think I would recommend L’Artisan Thé pour un été. It has a very soft jasmine on a citrus basis that is impossible to offend anyone. Even my husband tells me that I smell like a summer day when I wear it (he usually doesn’t complain about my perfumes, but doesn’t compliments either).
My husband’s neutral on them too. Try Bulgari Black and see if he notices…even mine did!
Hum, good idea Suzanne, maybe is the jasmine, do you recon?
I think it’s the burnt rubber!
It’s a pretty distinctive note, that’s for sure.
That is such a lovely scent. I wonder if its intense “womanliness” would scare some people away?
Oh and Angela, forgot to mention: great idea for an article – thoroughly enjoyed it!
I’m glad! It’s hard to think of something to write about every week.
Word.
yes, yes, yes….the tea.
it was the topic of early morning conversation when my husband brought me a cup of sweet fragrant afternoon tea…how lucky i am to have it brought to me
You are very lucky!
That’s why he is your husband! Give and get.
Great article! I love all the suggestions and will only add this: I almost always ask what they envision their budget to be. I’ve had friends request my help, only to learn that they consider anything over $25 to be outrageously expensive. It helps to know what I can work with, lol.
Ack! Good point. Always nice to know if its Carnal Flower or Sand & Sable.
hi angela
i go the intuitive way…and just seem to suggest the right fragrance for the right person…i love to match perfumes to my friends…and i love it when it is correct…and see their pleasure…
I wish we could meet! I’d ask you what you think I would like…
🙂 u never know!!!! thanks for the compliment!!!
I blame Sephora and the fragrance samplers for the beginning of my descent into perfume-madness – although NST is probably the most responsible.
During the big, bad 80s, I wore all of the monsters (Giorgio, Poison, Obsession) and wore Spellbound through most of the 90s. At the beginning of the 2000s, my interest kind of waned and I didn’t really wear much besides scented lotion.
Then came the Sephora fragrance samplers – they sounded like a fun way to find a new fragrance, so I ordered the first one, chose a fragrance (confessional time, it was Pink Sugar) and was perfectly happy with that. Next year, Sephora came out with THREE different samplers and I wanted a better description of the notes in each frag, so I googled and found NST. Next thing I know, I’m ordering samples, spraying myself with masculines, going out of my way to smell things I’ve read about on NST, checking the blogs daily, checking TJ Maxx and Marshall’s weekly, organizing trips to sniff various perfumes, and (thanks to super-enabler Daisy) swapping.
Both my husband and my mom think I’m nuts, but they’ve lived through my wine, tea, books, and music obsessions, so their used to it. I was trying to explain to my mom that perfume is wearable art, but she doesn’t get it – of course, she suffers from terrible sinus problems, so she isn’t smelling what I’m smelling either. We were in Marshall’s the other day and I was (as usual) glancing through the new stock to see what they had and digging through the clearance section when she asked me what perfume I liked and what on earth I was looking for – I told her that my list of likes was ever-expanding and that I was just looking to see if there was anything new to try.
My BFF isn’t in to perfume that much, although she is more tolerant of my habits since I’ve gone with her when she was in her beanie baby and doll-shopping phases. Plus, she has also benefited from my cast-offs – either stuff that ended up not working on me or stuff that I’ve grown out of/gotten sick of and she likes.
I don’t know that I’m ready for a true apprentice though – lol. Maybe someday when I’ve delved more into niche – when I went into the sampler phase, I started with classics.
What a journey! Thanks for the story of how you fell into perfume.
I figure that any friend who submits you to beanie babies shouldn’t complain a bit about perfume.
No joke – one of the places that carried them for awhile was an antique store, so it wasn’t a total loss. If only I had known about searching for vintage perfume back then …
So true! While she was off looking for beanie babies you could have been reaping in old bottles of Joy (or at least in a dream you could have been).