My perfume is stored in a glass cabinet perched on top of my dresser. To guests who only have a bottle or two of fragrance, the cabinet makes a pretty impressive display. After a moment of shock, many people ask, "How do you decide which perfume to wear?"
Little do they know that I choose a perfume to wear not just every morning, but every time I change my clothes — and sometimes more often than that. I wear one perfume when I first get dressed, another one if I go out in the evening, and yet another after my nightly bath. Then there are the "bonus" perfume situations. For instance, I've rented Bell, Book, and Candle to watch tonight and am planning something witchy (maybe Lancôme Magie Noire?) to wear while I watch it.
Usually I just tell people who ask that I just wear whatever strikes me. But the real answer is more complicated.
First, my perfume choice depends on the weather. Thicker, warmer, "bigger" perfumes I tend to save for cold weather, and lighter, fresher scents I wear in summer. The bigger perfumes can explode — and not in a good way — in the heat. Lighter scents, on the other hand, can disappear in the cold. Right there, a section of my perfume cabinet falls away.
Next, if I'm not testing something to review, sometimes I wear whatever it is I'm enthusiastic about at the moment. I might wear the same thing for a week if I'm feeling it. Lately, Comme des Garçons Daphne has been getting a lot of air time.
Those are the easy cuts. Then it gets more complicated. I decide what clothing I'm going to wear and try to balance my perfume with my outfit. I tend to wear a lot of vintage clothing, but I don't always like matching a 1950s dress, say, with a 1950s perfume, because it feels too costume-y. I might wear a 1980s perfume, Guerlain Samsara for instance, with a 1950s dress, because the impact of both the dress and the perfume feel balanced. Or, if I'm wearing a crazy mix of patterns — an old blue and green paisley shirtdress with a brown belted cardigan and a purple 1950s scarf, for example — I might choose a conservative perfume like Jean Patou Joy.
The colors I wear influence what perfume I choose, too. Certain colors and fragrances seems to go well together: Caron Farnesiana with yellow and ivory; Lalique Encre Noir with dark green or black; Balenciaga Le Dix with purple; Guerlain Nahéma with pink (of course) or gold.
Finally, mood plays a role. Certain perfumes, like Caron Tabac Blond and Guerlain Mitsouko, buck me up. Some, like Molinard Habanita, Lancôme Cuir de Lancôme, and Lorenzo Villoresi Alamut, soothe me. Others, like Serge Lutens Bois de Violette and, strangely, Chanel Cuir de Russie, hone my concentration.
I know I'm not the only one with a generous selection of perfume to choose from each day. How do you decide which perfume to wear?
Note: top right and left images adapted from Butterick pattern 6541 via Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki.
Great post, your writing is always a pleasure! My mindset is similar in the morning– but whenever I can’t think about what I will wear, I just think, “Mitsouko will work”. And it always does…
I have a few standbys like that, too. These days, Dzing! and Miss Dior are my back-up go tos.
What an interesting article! I also match scents to clothing and color. Some articles of clothes seem to demand a certain scent. For example, I have an orange cashmere sweater that simply must be worn with Chergui. The scent seems to match the sweater exactly. However there are other times whe I want the scent to be the element of surprise in my outfit. And obviously, how I’m spending the day has a lot to do with how I select a scent. When I was nursing my mother through chemo, I wore hardly anything, or only scents that stayed close to the skin. And I have difficulty wearing ‘big occasion’ scents when I’m just moping around at home — I always feel like the scent is pacing around me!
I understand exactly how you feel! I’m always surprised by people who just spray on anything without a lot of thought of how the character of the scent affects the rest of what they’re wearing, doing, feeling, etc.
Your orange sweater sounds fabulous.
hope ur mom is ok..i always like to read how people consider others…it makes the world a better place. when my friend was going through a really bad chemo moment, she managed to admire penhalogins violetta…she later bought it for her daughter and lily of the valley for herself..its truly amazing how much scent has an effect on people and just how different the effects r
I hope your friend was feeling better as soon as possible, given the circumstances, and that the perfume brought her some joy.
Hope your mom is doing better.
Some time ago, I went with my infant daughter to a routine doctor’s appointment, and we got a surprising, bad diagnosis. I had worn a favorite blouse to the appointment, and I found afterwards that I couldn’t bear to wear it. After that experience (a long time ago, and my daughter is doing much better), I have tended to avoid wearing anything I like, clothes or perfume, to any occation that might turn out to be really, really stressful, so that I don’t ruin something I love. I guess that’s more superstition than choice.
I have good luck and bad luck clothes and jewelry, too, so I can sympathize.
I fully agree, weather, season dress, mood, time of day are all important factors… I have my office perfumes, my weekend ones, I just had to buy Jasmin et cigarette to go with my D. von Furstenberg wrap dress as I mentioned recently, and I like contrasts, flowery – tuberose for the more androgynous looks , and woody orientals for my nice dresses, jeans together with Indian jewelry seem to go with anything. But you’ve given me something to think about: colours, hmm…
Ooh, I hear ya on the contrasts. I have an aversion to anything overly femme, I always feel the need to “ugly it up” somewhat for me to be comfortable with it. So full circle skirt & heels means L’Air du Désert, Tam Dao, Ouarzazate or something otherwise raspy and thoroughly unisex. Classic French existentialist mode – nerd glasses, slobbery black turtleneck & loafers calls for something unusually rich or florid: Gucci EdP, Keiko Mecheri Ume, Chergui etc.
Other factors weigh in too, of course: mood, need for concentration, estimated proximity to others, season, weather, temperature, general cravings… I could go on. Bottom line: there’s no science to it.
Yes, the calculated contrast is a good strategy. Really, if you think about getting ready for the day as putting together something artistic–or at least consciously crafted–scent is an important dimension. (Love the nerdy look/lush scent combo.)
I find fragrance helps particularly these days with “accesorizing” as my toddler is want to pull off earrings, necklaces, scarves, etc — even my glasses! But she can’t pull off my fragrance! All the effort I used to put into artsy chic accessories now goes to the fragrance choice. It helps add some much needed interest to my wardrobe like nothing else can!
You bring up something marketing folks have missed: perfume is the toddler-proof accessory!
I’m sure you have a child-proof cabinet to store your fragrances!
Jasmin et Cigarette is perfect for a DVF dress! I can also imagine the dress going well with green chypres, like Eau de Soir or YSL Y. Indian jewelry and jeans would be a good with-every-scent combo.
Jewelry from India or Native American (“American Indian”) jewelry?
from India, I’m lucky to have received some wonderful ancient pieces! (but my remark that ethnic jewelery works with all perfumes still stands). By the way, my most specific use of perfume: Dzongkha, for foggy autumn/winter weekend afternoons at ethnographic museums (or of ancient asian art), this bottle ist going to last for 200 lives..
Yes! I’m all about the contrast between outfit & fragrance. Wore Lou Lou Saturday night — with black and gray. Today, jeans and Chanel No. 19. It’s great to know others have the same in depth calculations in the morning!!
It is nice to know we’re not alone, isn’t it?
You’ve reminded me that I want my own bottle of Loulou!
Believe it or not, I actually think about what fragrance I will wear in the following morning when I go to sleep at night. I even dream about it sometimes.
Lately, I have been going over my fall wardrobe of fragrances, so it seems I have a lot to pick from this time of year!
Love the dresses, especially the white one. With gloves, no less!
Hugs!
Have you ever dreamed a scent? I have. I distinctly remember smelling Niki de St Phalle in a dream.
Have fun choosing from all the fall scents!
I dreamed I was desperately searching for Giorgio Bevery Hills! But when I got to some, in my dream, I couldn’t smell it.
May have been a blessing.
Lol, yes!! 🙂
I’m embarrassed to admit I put so much thought into what I wear, that there’s no simple way to explain it. Yes, the outfit factors in, along with colors and textures of fabric…then there’s my mood…and the weather…and then who I am going to be around…if there’s an event I’m attending that adds another dimension…I could go on. It’s an involved enough process that just grabbing something at random and spraying it on is a jolting and somewhat alarming experience. I’m always certain I’ve made a tragic error if I go that route. I’ve chosen to appreciate that I can’t wear perfume to work because that gives me all day to speculate as to what I will put on when I get home–and I also appreciate days that I can start out spritzing it on that much more.
The torture of not being able to wear scent to work! I sure feel for you. But you’re right–at least it gives you something to think about during the day!
Lovely article, Angela. I could spend my whole LIFE just planning outfits and fragrances to go together and match or contrast with each other and the season!!!
I’m so with you on the vintage/vintage costume-y no-no matchy-matchy thing!!! As you know (since you were my enabler) vintage fragrances are a huge deal for me, so they factor in through many days out of each month. Like you, I love mixing it up — something deep, sexy and overtly vintage (Narcisse Noir, say) with jeans and an old plaid shirt over a white T, Pacific Northwest grunge-style, or something classically French and ultra-pretty (vintage Patou ‘1000’ edt is a great example) with something dark, brooding, modern and edgy — maybe my knee-high black boots with the triangular heel, black LululemonWonder-unders and a double-breasted pea jacket and a thigh-length sweater underneath that shows its lower ten inches. Va-VOOM!
Colour is crucial. I can’t wear something, I swear, that visually clashes with my clothes. I can’t wear Dolce Vita, for example, in its bright yellow box, with something a dull, pinky taupe (one of the best colours for my brown hair and green eyes). I know to the outside world this must seem insane, but I’m sure that you and lots of your readers will know exactly what I mean. ;-D
Oh…but the marketers and graphic designers of the world would also know just what you mean. The color of the box isn’t an accident at all. At least when done properly, the packaging reflects the mood of the scent, so if the look doesn’t work together, the scent is likely to be all wrong for the outfit too.
I love it when the bottle matches the fragrance. It feels so right. Encre Noir and its bottle are the perfect marriage, I think.
I always thought Thierry Muglers Angel should have been in warm coloured packaging, with pale yellow juice, or golden or something.
It *does* smell golden to me, too. But blue and purple go so well with gold, that I’m o.k. with it.
Wearing 1000 with edgy clothes is a great combo! Although 1000 is classically French, there’s something tough about it, too.
I was a little afraid when I turned in this post that people would think I was crazy for the thought I put into choosing the day’s scent, but I should have know better….
Angela – I think we are all rowing on this boat!
Thank goodness!
well, I must be rowing with only one oar, because some days I spend an inordinate amount of time standing there, blank faced, slack jawed, staring at the open perfume cabinet. Although these days I try to be decently covered as I had a couple of close calls with Fedex showing up at the door and me “partially” clothed (that’s code for underwear only) standing in the computer room (main floor, close to the front door). You’d be surprised how fast I can dash down the hall…
Anyhoo– I think the biggest factor in my perfume selection is weather….because weather is tied closely to mood….mood to color & clothing choice. (and the knee bone is connected to the ankle bone and so on)
We need to find you a gorgeous old dressing gown you can keep slung around you! (Hey, and why not some maribou-trimmed mules! The Fed Ex guy won’t know what hit him.)
I try to keep the blinds drawn now days.
Yup, that’s usually how I choose a SOTD: weather, followed by event. Color of clothing doesn’t factor in too much (except that I usually wear fall or dark colors in autumn and winter, and lighter ones in summer, like a lot of folks, so they end of sort of matching anyway). One exception is this jacket I wear on formal occasions; it ‘s black with crimson roses on it, and I wear it with a black skirt and an evening bag with crimson satin ruffly roses on it. Seems that Ta’if is the only thing I would wear with it!
I agree! Weather, color of wardrobe choice, activity, are all so important. For me, it’s not choosing the clothes, but the scent of the day that takes time!
It sounds like we’re not alone!
Dolce Vita is such a warm, sunny scent – it *would* perhaps seem at odds with a muted shade.
Its woodiness makes me think it could go well with a caramelly shade.
Yes, or a warm brick red – both of which I wear. (But not the beige-pink Robin R was mentioning…)
So true!! And sometimes I’ll approach the whole decision-making process from that end: if I’m in the mood for that happy yellow of Dolce Vita, it makes sense that I want to dress that way, and so out come the tight plum cardi, the sharkskin capris and the lime Italian scarf! I love how much inspiration we can get from the bottle and the box and the label, and how much they capture and reflect the mood of the juice. Angela, you’ve really helped us remember all the excellent and compelling reasons we eagerly reach for scent each day. Thanks! ;-D
Sometimes I think I’m really just justifying my own perfume craziness!
Join the club!
I want to see you in that Dolce Vita ensemble– it looks fabulous in my mind’s eye.
Yes, precisely!
Oh, and the weather, not just the season! Something rich, round and mellow (SSS Tabac Aurea) when it’s cold, bright and crisp; something dry, woody and smoky (vintage Bois des Iles) when it’s your typical cool, grey, drizzly Vancouver mid-fall day; and something sunny and Mediterranean (anything with orange blossom and citrus) when I’m feeling sunlight-deprived in late February and am fed up with winter.
To bed, I’ll wear anything I’m in the mood for, and I drench myself in it so I fall asleep in a thick cloud of scent. . .
So true! Different types of precipitation call for their own scents: Apres L’Ondee for misty days, Jolie Madame for downpours.
I FEEL those with every fiber, Angela. 😉
Thanks for the glimps into your method… It is a complex thing deciding what fragrance to wear. I also do the standard weather, occasion, mood, outfit, etc. Sometimes I will lay in bed a few moments before I get up to shower and ponder “which one today?” depending even on what mood I am in when I wake up! Sometimes I even change my mind after I’ve showered. I’ll often start the day with one thing, and then change perfumes after lunch. I’ll even pick something particularly special to wear as an “aperitif” after the little girl goes to bed. I find occasionally I need a serious fragrance to help me through a challenging day at work or tough meeting. And picking out fragrances for family occasions is always particularly difficult for me.
Fragrance choice has changed my wardrobe in one particular way though — since discovering the “classics” I want to wear them with a crisp white shirt with an open collar so that the fragrance can waft right up and stay undisturbed on my skin: those gals would be No 5, No 19, Lancome’s Magie (not Magie Noire), Lancome’s Climat, Hermes Amazone, Guerlain’s Chamade & Mitsouko, etc, etc. There is something about those fragrances that just begs for a white shirt… and jeans, pearls, whatever.
I’m not terribly into clothes at all, so take this with a grain of salt… but it is one of my true wardrobe tragedies that I cannot, at all, wear white. It’s not a problem this time of year, but in the summer, that fact is severely limiting. :/
I have trouble wearing white occasionally, and I also wear a lot of black. I am seriously color challenged! I have a few black blouses & shirts that work pretty well too. The trick is to find the right shirt style to begin with…
Maybe…but nothing mimics that crisp white shirt, and it makes me sad I can’t pull it off. Just not a good color for me.
I’m a redhead, and I can’t wear white, either. If I do wear it, I wear a scarf close to my face, or wear it with an open neckline so that the closest color to my face is skin. Or a nice 1940s necklace or 1950s beads.
I don’t understand why redheads can’t wear white? I thought EVERYONE could wear white.
Ohhhh no no no no. Definitely not. I look pale and blah in it; my husband, who *should* look great in it, looks downright sickly. I thought everyone w/brown eyes and easily tanned skin would look great in white, but he certainly proved me wrong. :O
The difference on me in white and ivory is shocking. White, I’m a hag. Ivory, much less hag-like. White, skin shows every flaw. Ivory, glowy skin.
Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, my husband who has dark hair and eyes, and is very fair, looks rather pathetic in white.
I can wear white, but not really well. And I look sick in ivory – too yellow. But I feel great in cream, with my blond hair and rosy/ruddy complexion.
When I had reddish-brownish hair I looked good in white and still look good in white with pale blonde hair and I am the palest person ever(ok, maybe not, but seriously I’m pale) maybe it’s the undertones in my skin? I just bought a really cute white with wee black polka dots blouse off the clearance rack at H&M.
Bunny – yes, it’s all about the skin tone.
My contribution won’t be original (but hey, there’s no such thing as original thought anyway), but I can’t wear white either. Dirty blonde & green eyes, white makes me look sick. Ivory and beige blend right into my skin so that washes me out too – I’m best with slightly off-white or white with a subtle stripe in it to break it up.
Can’t wear black either, but that’s less dramatically WRONG.
I had no idea! I guess it’s like when I wear lavendar (which I wouldn’t do under the pain of death) —it makes me look like I’m about to vomit.
However I suspect that neither one of you looks anywhere near as bad as you say…and I’m particularly envious of curly red hair! I’d trade you my straight brown hair in a second.
When I was a kid I wished I had raven black, long, straight hair, kind of like Cher’s.
Yep, I always wanted thick, curly red hair.
Yup, in all my best fantasies ( the ones with the handsome Highland warriors) I have wavy dark red hair…..oh, and I’m taller too…. 😉
My sister and I would have given just about anything to have traded hair! Mine is very straight, dark blond – and hers is wavy, coppery-bronzy red. Ooooh, I was so jealous of her hair! And she hated being teased about being a coppertop.
(I don’t wear purple in any shade, either. White’s not bad, although ivory and cream are better. Black is just *awful* on me – it adds a good 15 years to my face.)
You can have some of mine Daisy. I’ve got plenty to go around. Reddish brown and curly like Bernadette Peter’s. Under Big Hair in the dictionary, it’s got a pic of me…..
oh yes please! big, red hair!!! you soooo lucky. I’ve dyed my hair with dark red tones but the CEO likes me to look like “me” . So I always let it go back.
I love royal purple—one of my best colors! I wear black a lot too…makes me look sultry and a little dangerous (giggles)
No pastels allowed.
Gosh, that’s such a good point! One of the things I don’t like about winter is all the high-necked sweaters that trap scent close to my body. On the other hand, my sweaters smell terrific.
Yeah – as much as I love my big wooly cuddly sweaters, I don’t want them drenched in my fragrance! I normally start to put my fragrance up behind my ears in my hairline once the turtleneck sweaters come out.
Ohhh nice tip!
Yes, the hairline! Perfect.
That’s funny, because I actually prefer high-necked tops, where I can stick my nose down my shirt periodically and sniff. This is something I do when I think no one’s watching, of course.
We’ll look for the renegade YouTube video of you with your nose down your shirt.
Ooo! I do that too! Plus, scarves. Spraying scarves with scent is great in the winter…
That sounds nice! Isn’t Caron famous for spraying scarves of customers to take home and try?
Hmm, well, I had my nose down my shirt last week, but it was bc the guy in the next cube was coughing everywhere with what was probably H1N1. And I really didn’t much care who saw me, either. LOL!
Maybe surgical masks impregnated with scent are the answer!
My perfume wardrobe starts out with seasonal divisions: floral for spring, citrus for summer, woody/spice for autumn, and full-blown oriental/gourmand for winter. Of course there are the scents filling in the spectrum between the seasons…. Then there are the weather factors (I have 2 scents that disappear unless there are high heat and humidity to carry them). I have one for Christmas, another for Easter, and one I’ve reserved for my wedding day, whenever we finally set a definite date. Then there’s the fine tuning: What color clothes am I going to wear? Jeans, slacks or a skirt? Work, home, shopping, church, hanging out with friends? Am I going to be close enough to people that a heavy perfume would asphyxiate them? I’m probably missing a few criteria here, but you get the picture. Surprisingly enough, it’s usually easy to decide what to wear.
See–that’s why we need so many perfumes!
Thanks for reminding me about holiday fragrances, too. That’s a whole other category.
oh boy, I sense another wonderful Angela post about holiday perfumes coming on!
Great idea!
Hi Anita – I think my seasonal fragrance choices are similar – normally crisp florals in spring summer, etc. There is one big exception I discovered though: Just the right small amount of Magie Noire just amplifies and blooms magnificently in warm summer heat. It is not something I’d do often as I normally associate MN with fall and winter. I found the same to be true of Sonoma Scent Studio Rose Musc and Tauer’s Le Maroc. Some richer fragrances do really open up when accentuated with heat and humidity. The extra moisture in the air must make those molecules really sing!
Yes, sometimes its good to make exceptions. Or if it is unseasonally hot or cold. I have added another dimension to my perfume selection lately. In order to use some of it up, and due to worries about perfumes “turning”, I have listed my entire collection from oldest to newest purchased, plus each one is assigned a season. Now I’m dutifully working though my oldest purchases that are in the right season.
You are very careful! That’s great.
a later update. I got bored with sticking to the oldest scents, so now I access the whole lot and use whatever I’m in the mood for! \gosh, I’m so fickle.
For me the biggest factors are weather and mood. I only needed to roll out of the house once in perfume that did not match the weather to realize how much that would drive my choices. Additionally, I think a lot about what I’m gonig to do tomorrow when I’m thinknig about what to wear at night, so that will probably weigh heavily into my choices. That said, I do have comfort scents (Bond No. 9 New Haarlem, Il Profumo Vanille Burbon) and scents I turn to when I’m nervous and want to feel secure (L’Artisan Dzing!, Prada Infusion d’Iris, 100% Love). I also have stashed samples and small sprayers all over my office and other places I regularly go so if, for some reason I was in a hurry and got out the door without scent or just need something new mid-day, I have a go to.
Weather is definitely a big one. And I’m a huge proponent of comfort scents. It’s so nice to wear something calming when the world around you is hectic.
And I bet I’m not the only one who wears my highest of high-end or rarest of rare scents when I’m feeling extra sad, lonely, tired or low on funds. Amouage Lyric and vintage Chanel Cuir de Russie parfum, what would I DO without you?
Oh, I do that, too! My few drops of Scandal parfum should be behind glass in “break in case of emergency” box.
I do that, too. My bottle of Iris Pallida is definitely in the “case of emergency” pile. And my all too tiny sample of Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille…
If I had a bottle of Iris Pallida I would be tempted to keep a photo of it in my wallet where people usually keep photos of their children.
Angela, your multiple times a day scenario would completely exhaust me, lol! I’m beginning to be glad that most scents last all day on me, leaving no opportunity to change scents (yes, the more tenacious 1/3 of them will even linger through a shower).
Hey, I’m bound and determined to get through my gallons of perfume before I die!
Do you just have a knack for picking stuff that layers well, or does it really wear off that quick? I get sick of things fast, and wouldn’t mind switching mid-day. And then again in the evening.
Lots of things don’t last forever on my skin, or they leave just the faintest trace of sandalwood or patchouli or something like that. It’s usually pretty easy to build off of what is left.
I have the same kind of skin Boo! Many things will last a full 24 hours and through a shower. For me, that is part of what can make it hard to decide what to wear some mornings because I’m trying to take into consideration not only how I want to smell then, but all day and into the night!
If I’m doing *anything* requiring a special scent in the evening, I have to pick something I know vanishes more quickly in the morning; or, more often, just skip scent altogether until later. Life was so much easier when I was a signature scent kind of girl…although I confess to cringing now when I think how inappropriate mine was for certain occasions/settings.
I think we’ve all been there. Me, I used up a whole bottle of Babe at one point in my life.
When I choose what to wear, it almost always depends on what I’m wearing; I like the perfume to complement the outfit, if the outfit is too intricate or bold, I choose something simple, and vice versa, if I wear black or simple clothes, I like to wear complicated, unusual fragrances. And as you wrote, the weather always plays a role.
It sounds like you use some of the same balancing criteria I do. I wonder if other people who see/smell us get the balance at all? I guess it really doesn’t matter, though, as long as we appreciate it.
Love this topic! The whole balancing thing is interesting. It’s like decorating with complementary colors (violet with yellow, red with green, etc.). I’m going to have to try this more with fragrance.
I love complementary colors, but I lean toward a more monochromatic palette, if you will, when pairing fragrances with clothing. So, it’s Bois d’Iris with my favorite purple dress, Theorema or a nice amber with my soft brown skirt, marine and some incense fragrances for blues and blacks, Cabaret with my dark red t-shirt, and so on. I dress for comfort more than for style, and I tend to “lay” my fragrance and clothes out the night before so I don’t drive myself crazy with indecision in the morning. But I always allow myself to change my mind if I want!
I don’t really save too many fragrances for dress up or for “good”. It’s mostly just about color and temperature. I do hear you about special needs, though, so sometimes I choose something to help me be calm or to focus.
You’re so good to think ahead!
Good question, I guess most of the people don’t ‘get it’, as they can’t appreciate strange or niche or whatever perfumes, and don’t, generally, realize that there might be a connection between the visual and the olfactory. still, the outcome is for the creator to indulge in 😉
Excellent point.
This is like therapy – I feel so validated to know there are others out there who spend this much time and effort selecting their scent. I too select according to mood, weather and sometimes colour of clothing (Iris Nobile begs for my soft aubergine sweater).
Weekdays are sometimes easier because I am restricted to office-friendly scents. Nighttime has limitations too. For example as much as I adore OJ Woman – it’s a bit too complex for sleeping. A weekend or evening with no occasion is wide open and sometimes I simply can’t decide. The good news is that for my birthday (today) my dear hubby got me a luscious big bottle of Bois des Iles that I plan to wear for every occasion ! 🙂
What a terrific birthday present, and happy birthday! Bois des Iles can go just about anywhere, I think–warm, cool, office, opera, you name it.
Happy Birthday! And lucky you – a big bottle of Bois de Iles. What a great gift!
Yeah, my small decant of Bois des Iles and I envy you. 🙂
Happy Birthday!!! what a delightful hubby you have!
Thanks everyone, for the well wishes. I am lucky – and doubly so since this is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada so I got to spend the day hanging out with my family, taking a walk in the autumn leaves and generally enjoying myself. I have much to be thankful for.
Love your articles, Angela! I would say that for me mood plays the biggest role in choosing a perfume. And, since my moods change frequently, that means I, too, may wear several different fragrances in a single day sometimes. Weather, too, is a huge factor. There are so many cold weather scents I’m just dying to get to now!
BTW, enjoy “Bell, Book, Candle” — fun movie! I just watched it recently.
I saw it last night (drafted the post yesterday) and loved it! I wish I could go the the Zodiac Club right now. Loved the music.
Yes, the Zodiac Club! I want to rewatch it now. I loved the cat too of course. 🙂
The cat was great. He would get that relaxed cat, squinty-eyed look when Kim Novak pet him, and they played the fake purring sound track.
Am I the only one who thought it was sad?? She gave up her magic for a man! That’s so depressing to me! 🙁
I didn’t think she gave it up at all. In fact, I thought that the streetlights all illuminating at the end meant that she had actually refound her magic! At least, that’s what I’m hoping.
Maybe I need to re-watch it, since it’s been maybe ten years since I last saw it. Ah, great, further proof that I am losing my mind…
Am I the only one who has never even heard of this film? Dear me, I’m out of the loop(s)….
Late 50’s, Kim Novak as a witch, Piewackit the cat. 🙂 It’s great, and even better if I am totally mis-remembering the ending.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051406/
Ah, that would be why…I never got into older movies. My husband, on the other hand… well, let’s just say we’re a bit backwards. 😀
It’s funny, some fragrances I really, really love, like Jubilation 25, I’m rarely in the mood for. And yet, when I am, nothing else satisfies.
Jubilation 25: cool nights / windows open / reading novels in bed. 🙂
That sounds nice!
I totally agree … there are some I almost never wear, and yet nothing else will suffice when I’m in the mood for them!
I can relate to this! Sienne l’Hiver and Dianthus come to mind… love ’em a lot, but don’t often feel like wearing ’em.
Hi Angela. I like your piece, and for me, weather, season, and just plain MOOD are probably the main drivers of my decisions. Color and outfit rarely factor into it considering that I generally wear the same damn clothes over and over. (Seriously, WHO can afford clothes anymore with a perfume habit? Plus, I’m simple. Plus, a guy. LOL)
Anyway, sometimes I actively think about what I’m going to wear the next day, and when I get a new bottle or decant I almost surely want to wear it the next day. Often, though, I just spend thirty seconds before or during getting dressed and I just decide what will work for me that day. Mostly that works so well: what I choose turns out to be perfect, and it’s an added treat if it’s something that hasn’t gotten a lot of recent use and I rediscover my love for it.
Example: We’re supposed to get rain this afternoon, and it’s been cloudy and chilly for days, so I thought of wearing Voleur des Roses, but I’ve kind of been off that for awhile because of its heaviness and “mustiness.” Then I saw the Vanilia in the “L’Artisan section” of the shelf and it is such a great choice.
I’ve been there! Voleur de Roses is so perfect for rain, but then again sometimes you don’t want to smell as moody as the clouds are that day. Vanilia sounds so good.
Okay, I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you on the Voleur de Roses! I wore it a lot in the 90+ degree heat of summer because it smelled cold to me.
It does have a little bit of the midnight graveyard about it!
It does. Blood red and cold dirt. Love it!
Hey, maybe Voleur de Roses is the perfect Halloween fragrance.
I’m with you. I don’t think about what colour I’m wearing or the style of my outfit so much as the weather. Although I am new to this so maybe I’ll change.
Today is crisp and sunny and it’s a holiday here so I’m wearing lots of yummy Niki de Saint Phalle.
One of my favorites!
Me too! Been craving that.
It’s like this article was written about me! I can’t believe women who only have 1 or 2 frangrances. Maybe because I’m a Pisces and can’t have just one signature scent. It’s always about the mood and event! Is there anything else, I don’t think so. I have at least 50 different scents and I love them all!
Well, I’m an aries, and I agree with all the way! (She says in her stubborn, bossy aries manner.)
The astrology of scents would make a fun post!
We’ve batted around that idea before. Maybe I should see if I can find an astrologer to work with me on it. It would be a fun post–or series of posts.
Maybe we could be less scientific about the whole thing, and each of us could just disclose our sign and then our top 20 frags? Perhaps we’d see a trend..
Excellent idea! Kind of like a study! We need a PhD student to take it on for us.
That would be a blast!
How did I not know you were an Aries? Another member of the club… 🙂
Some people don’t guess it, but if they asked my siblings they’d know right away.
an aries here too! think there’s a relationship between snarkiness and zodiac?
We need Susan Miller the astrologer to comment! She could tell us.
Multiple scents is a new thing for me.
But it might make sense that a Capricorn would keep a spreadsheet on perfumes tested/lists of notes/how much $$ spent, no?
Absolutely!
I love figuring out matching or contrasting clothes perfume/combinations. Since I never ever look remotely like any of the ladies in the perfume ads I have to make it all up myself :). Sometimes it’s so many miles between me and the ad image I actually giggle to myself…
I also find it intriguing how certain perfumes enhance certain moods. For example, I love Dzongkha but sometimes it makes me terribly melancholy. So I can’t choose it for an occasion where I need to keep my wits together. On the other hand, when we had busy weeks at work at the start at the autumn, I really appreciated Donna Karan’s Chaos for boosting my efficiency. Those qualities need to be brought into the decision making as well :).
O.K., you’ve brought up one more very important reason to encourage perfume in the workplace: efficiency!
I found it interesting that many of the commenters use fragrance to balance out their clothing choices, rather than being all matchy-matchy about it. I’d wager that’s a pretty common trait, at least in this community. I tend to be pretty severe in my wardrobe choices, and this is a good reminder to not be so rigid, and to be mindful that my fragrance can be what makes the ensemble not so predictable. Weather seems to be the most important factor for me, and I love feeling like I made just the right choice for the day’s weather.
Angela, that dress image is making me want to take up sewing again! But then I’d have to figure out what to wear with it. 🙂
A baroque fragrance with a severe outfit would be perfect! It would somehow make the severity of your clothing both more apparent and more mysterious.
I love the dresses Robin chose for this post. I wish I could sew.
I have to admit, I went to the link for the patterns before I read this. I’m a sucker for vintage patterns! Now if i could just learn to sew…
When my ship comes in I’m hiring someone to make me a whole closet full of dresses from vintage patterns.
I looked too!
LOL well, in the event that I ever head west for a visit—I’ll pack up the sewing machine and bring ‘er along!! 😉
Let me know, and I’ll salt away a few patterns and some fabric!
Okay, you do know that 85% of people wouldn’t know a 1950’s perfume if it hit them in the face, right?
Probably 99%, really. Maybe even 99.9%. But I know when I’m wearing vintage Femme with my jeans skirt and peacock blue turtleneck, and that’s what matters.
Samsara and Magie Noire are old time favorites. I wore both and they both conveyed different moods for me neither though made me feel like I was in an era gone-by. Magie Noire was my mysterious French woman scent as I would and still watch French movies often. Samsara is very Middle Eastern to me so I would call this my meditative Queen of Sheba type of fragrance although Maroc brought this Queen of Sheba mode much more readily. This article has made me want to find a sample of Magie Noire, Samsara and Maroc!!!!
Yes, it sounds like it’s time to hunt down those samples!
I always, always check the weather. But since I tend to wear much the same sort of clothes to work every day (trousers and sweater or blouse), I don’t throw the “girly vs. unisex” consideration in there. I’m happy to match the color of my top, and my scent, to my mood.
Today is chilly and rainy, and I needed some pick-me-up, so I have on a red sweater. Testing Queen today (too sweet for me, although not sickening). It seemed to go… but I’m home from work now, and Queen is down to faint basenotes, so I can pick out something else to put on.
Longevity is a plus in some cases, but often I’m happy when a scent only lasts half a day. It leaves more time for something else.
I typically get 4-6 hours out of a scent, unless it’s Shalimar – that tar/vanilla sure lasts on me. Everything else? goneinaflash. Which, as you point out, has its benefits.
Secretions Magnifiques has the half-life of–well, I wasn’t a chemistry major. But the half-life of something really long lived.
ack ….Joe and I have dubbed it Secretions GAGnifique…. and yes, it has the tenacity of Uranium 237
…and certainly could do enough damage, even without a nuclear reaction.
Angela, seriously, I can’t believe you left it on your skin long enough to get a sense of the half life. I’m duly impressed.
The truth is, though, I wish I had kept my sample. I have a sick fascination, wondering how it might smell as a light spray behind the ears (though I’d be ready to jump in the shower just in case).
Ack! don’t do it! You might end up with a parade of 1970s vans fitted with smelly shag carpeting and driven by aging porn stars in ratty sweat suits following you!
I can’t believe you hesitated for even a moment before writing about this. I’m sure all of us here understand all too well the effort that can go into choosing a fragrance to wear. I don’t have a patent method [to my madness haha]. Naturally, the weather, my mood and outfit choice are key, but I can still linger far too long before finally settling on something. It’s usually easier for me to pick out my clothing for the day than which scent I’ll opt for. But I don’t stress over it. I look at it as a little ritual I go through – picking up assorted bottles, deliberating. It’s rather meditative. Enjoy Bell, Book & Candle later! 🙂 Awesome movie and perfect time of year for it.
I suppose an intuitive approach would be good, too. Let the hand hover near the aldehydic florals for a second, then dip toward the floral orientals, then settle on a peachy chypre…
When I finally had accumulated enough perfumes – in the last year, actually – to present an array of choices, I found the what-to-wear question required some unexpectedly deep soul-searching. Seriously. I have to ask myself at the beginning of the day, “How do I want to feel?” as well as “What do I want to accomplish?” One has to do with looking inside and checking my emotional state, and the other has to do with what sort of opportunity I want to attract. Okay, for instance: yesterday I was feeling unsettled and contemplative. I wanted to attract inspiration so I could get produce something artistic that day. My choice: Chaos. Not because of the name but because I experience a certain pleasurable ambiguity with that scent (same with Bois de Violette) as well as a refinement and elegance that elevated my thoughts. I wasn’t out in public that day so I ignored the clothes element – was hardly elegant in yoga pants and hoodie!
Anyway one of the things I love about fragrance is that in choosing I have to check inside myself, taking my temperature as it were, at the onset of each day.
Interesting! I didn’t even think of perfume choice as a moment of checking in with yourself each day, but that makes perfect sense.
What a clever way to solve the SOTD dilemma! 😉
I would guess it’s therapist-approved, too!
I’ll approve it 🙂
Excellent!
Great points, and I think this is part of my decision making process as well but I just haven’t articulated it as well. Thanks!
Oh yeah and if I’m going out for dinner I think about what food we’re likely to eat. I think it’s really rude to wear a scent that clashes with the food! Ambre Narguile is a safe one in the winter bec. of the caramel note. And no one objects to Menta Fresca because they just assume you’ve brushed your teeth extra vigorously.
One of the owners of Luilei (I think the store is closed now, unfortunately) suggested Sel de Vetiver for dining out, and I think it was a brilliant suggestion.
OMG! I’ve done that. And yes, Sel de Vetiver would be a palate-cleansing choice, wouldn’t it?
It’s so fresh and unobtrusive, and very slightly savory.
Ooh, definitely!
Something one-note resiny (mild amber or opoponax) generally works for me because it just fades into a background hum, but Sel de Vetiver sounds great too! My recent discovery, Etro Anice, may work well in this context. Hmm, I’ll have to break it out sometime to try!
Your approach sounds good, and I bet a subtle application of Anice would be good with dinner.
i wear perfume according to my mood.. these days i have been alternating between Versace Crystal Noir and Estee Lauder’s Amber Ylang Ylang…
In evening winter outings i like Tom Ford Black Orchid.. and Gucci Eau de Parfum 1
Nice warm, sophisticated fragrances!
Monstabunny
i like what u wrote – i seem to go through the same questions prior to wearing a fragrance..
sometimes its wearing a fragrance that reflects whats within..
other times its wearing a fragrance that will inspire me throughout the day.
Spot on! 🙂
Maybe because I am gemini?! I try to balance my outfit with the scent. So these days at home, looking like a burglar sometimes, I wear the “grand madame” stuff to keep up my self-esteem. Smelling “adult” makes me feel audacious.
The weather choice I take opposite: In winter I can stand Nahema again, LAP Premier Figuier, Le jardin en Mediterranee. In summer I wore A la Nuit and Coco Mademoiselle Extrait, also Muschio Bianco which is perfect for a long day to smell fresh.
I wear rather classic stuff and always jeans, try to keep an eye on the quality of fabric. So I rather buy one, two pieces a season and I decide after several weeks what I might need what complements my wardrobe.
As for the scents, I miss one with aldehydes I found in Jardins de Bagatelle; I save for it as well as I did for my cardigan I am wearing right now, thick and comfy and rather rustic. Jardins de Bagatelle complements it as well as any other very feminine and light scent.
@angela: I dreamed a few times on perfume. It sounds strange, but it was always a Guerlain scent. Though I do not like them all there is something (the bergamot? the powder? tonka?) that intringues me: L’Heure Bleue, Cologne de 68, Nahema. The latter two I am proud to own!
And for my master thesis I have to treat myself with L’Heure Bleue extrait. Once in you life…
It sounds like you really think it out! That’s nice. If you’re dreaming about L’Heure Bleue, you really do need to buy the extrait to celebrate.
ahhhhh cardigans…..so happy they seem to be making a come back. I’m a jeans and sweater girls myself…..I have maybe 5 or 6 pairs of basic jeans (that will still fit my ever expanding “horizons”) and a rainbow of sweaters and tees….seriously, my closet is 9×10 and there’s standing room only! Mostly jewel tones that seem to look good with my dark hair & eyes and pale skin…(white? yes, lavendar?NO) Bought a light navy cashmere blend cardigan just today…$16 at Sam’s club of all places! very comfy. Cold, gray skies….and 31 Rue Cambon….I smelled great! 🙂
that would be “sweater girl” not girls….although the girls like a nice warm sweater, indeed they do.
A nice sweater is good for the girl–and the girls. When it’s chilly, nothing else compares.
What a lovely article, Angela! I can just about picture your glass cabinet full of perfumes … what a lovely way to store them.
I, too, choose my scents based on a combination of weather, occassion and mood. Today, in Adelaide, Australia, it has been forecast to reach a maximum of only 16 degrees celcius, so I reached for Miracle by Lancome. I could probably have worn a much warmer scent but the only one I have which is stronger is Euphoria by Calvin Klein – and I wore that yesterday. Plus I had an early start, so I thought the pink juice would at least brighten me up! And it’s one scent a day for me, unless there’s a special occassion in the evening which might need a big floral and I wore a light floral to work.
For warmer spring months, I’m waiting for my bottle of Lieu de Reves by Sonoma Scent Studio to arrive. And quite likely L’Air du Temps which strangely enough reminds me of baby powder so doesn’t smell strong at all to me.
For high summer, I am likely to wear Tommy Girl. I’ve also just discovered L’Imperatrice 3 from the D&G Anthology line – deliciously fruity but it disappears after an hour or so on my skin, so could be just the thing for hot days!
Looking forward to your next post 🙂
My glass cabinet is nice, but I usually keep a blanket draped over it to protect the perfume from light, and I have to admit that it takes away the glamour. (Although maybe it adds mystery!)
How nice to be headed into summer! Enjoy the L’Imperatrice!
well, I have a perfume-wardrobe-guest-room combo, and keep my shutters closed (and heating at a minimum) …Friends staying over tend to open the shutters in the morning and are horrified when I ask them more or less politely to please close the shutters immediately
That’s so funny! (And I understand it completely.)
*lol* If I’d visit oyu I’ll problaby stay several hours in that room, secretly sniffing in the dark!
Me too!
i’m also from adelaide…good to see a fellow local perfumista on this blog 🙂
I concur with separating one’s perfumes by season. I do that as well. But since I essentially wear only two types of outfits….business suits for work and jeans w/white shirt for casual, if I chose a perfume by outfit, I’d only really need two scents. And that simply wouldn’t do! 🙂
I’m a very orderly Taurus (and German in origin, to boot). My perfumes are in seasonal groups, then in alphabetical order. I wouldn’t admit this to anyone other than you fellow enthusiasts, but I think of my scents as animate….my little dears. I worry that if one gets ignored too long, its feelings will be hurt. lol Seriously, I have issues. 🙂
So recently I went on a mission to make sure I wore every single one of them at least once in a 60-day period. I found it really opened my eyes (or nose, as it were) to what ‘fit’ and what ‘didn’t’ in a particular circumstance. It really is true, a discordant scent can mar an otherwise perfect day. But it’s equally true that going outside of one’s usual perfume ‘box’ can result in serendipity and you can find something works perfectly that you might otherwise have thought would never fit the bill.
Your mission to wear each of your perfumes is intriguing! It’s so fun to rediscover old perfume loves, too. Just yesterday I wore Farnesiana parfum. It had been months since I’d worn it, and I’d forgotten how comforting and pretty it is.
I recently thought about doing that too! But I think I’d need more than 60 days, lol. It’s funny – I was like trying to figure out an organizational strategy… like just alphabetic, by house, by season, etc. But I also wanted to get in touch with all the frags in my drawer again too. It seems like an important thing to do as each one is so beautiful in its own right. I did a similar thing a LONG time ago with all my music cassettes – I had a huge collection, and alphabetized them and listened to them all back to back. It was a lot of fun!!
I once tried to chart out my perfumes in a big diagram to find relationships between them and maybe to try to gather them under one aesthetic umbrella. I gave up part way through. And that was when I had less than half the perfume I have now.
I am laughing at myself, because I tried to do a Venn diagram type system, and I “ran out of paper” so to speak. These days I think of it more as a family tree with lots of “cousins”, “sisters”, etc. Normally there is one fragrance that is the epitomy of each style and that would be the “parent” of whom all else are derivative… Yes, I am nuts. But I keep this all in my head because once I try to commit it to paper, then I think I am creating evidence that can be used against me in divorce court.
So I’m not alone!
Please don’t kick me out of the clubhouse for admitting this, but I’m actually paranoid about acquiring so many fragrances that I can’t wear each of them regularly! I don’t want to have bottles that I’ve “forgotten” about and haven’t worn in months and months.
Oh, Rappleyea, you are so lucky! I’d love to have your paranoia. I am supremely reckless when it comes to owning more fragrances in greater quantity than I could use in three lifetimes!!! I always buy the 100mls in case folks want to swap, I buy back-up bottles of things I’m afraid will be discontinued, I can’t resist a bargain, even if I’m not totally in love with the scent. (I actually MAKE myself like it; I just did that with a bottle of l’Air du Temps I found at a thrift store for $2.50. I wore it for a week when I was having an incredible little beach-shack holiday this summer and now I know that every time I spritz some on, it will take me back to August ’09 in the most idyllic way.)
You know, I think I must be crazy. . . Nothing but fragrance preoccupies me this way!!!!!
I’m sure a lot of us–me included–feel the same way.
RobinR !!! Clearly we were cruelly separated at birth!!!
That just sounds so like me. 😀
i must have been the triplet…it’s surely/truly not normal!!!!
Count me in as crazy also. In my bedroom, I have a dresser and a chest of drawers and they abut each other. Both are filled with bottles of perfume. Most people who see it are in total shock. But I’ve been into perfume all my life. Right now I am on a hiatus because of financial problems–and the only thing I really miss buying is a new bottle of perfume–even though I have hundreds of them. It makes me feel better that I’m not alone in this feeling.
I hope financial times improve quickly for you!
Are you kidding? A little perfume lunacy qualifies you for a lifetime club membership!
Oh, I’m so glad to hear someone else thinking this! I’m really careful about buying full bottles because I feel like if I don’t wear the scent enough I don’t really ‘own’ it. Something not worn enough begins to feel like a giant sample bottle instead of something that really belongs to me.
I know what you mean. I suppose it makes sense to get decants if you have a lot of perfume, but the bottles are so nice.
same here!
nope am not ur twin…i love all my full bottles and love owning them and…well its all just a great big love!!!!
See, I don’t want to own lots and lots of bottles either. But I feel compelled to try lots and lots of samples to decide which few bottles they’re going to be…with the result that I’ve bought almost nothing except impulse purchases I regretted. :/ I should probably just start buying small decants of the top contenders and go from there.
I might feel more guilty about my samples than my bottles. I have so many that are so poorly organized!
i have so many samples…but hey..i have never bought one, they were all given to me…
the other day i opened one of my perfume box containers in front of my hubbi (am getting bold with my shame) and all he said was”Oh my!!)and described my bottles and candles as infiltrating everywhere now…but he is a top CEO….wants me to get a perfume cupboard and living in hong kong, i am thinking of a heavy laquered chinese wood…i think it will keep the fumes cool…but i really do have to wait a while…the vintage thing is more NB to me
Oh, the Chinese cabinet sounds beautiful! It would be a wonderful way to store perfume.
Oh, thats so cute! I’m like that too. Well said!
The above comment was to Teri… don’t know where I went wrong just then
Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of what responses are to what comment.
I think I’ll start the comment with the persons name from now on, in case of future blunders. Unless its a general comment. Gosh I’m starting to sound all stuffy and over-organized, lol! 🙂
Thank you, oh sister of the scents (lol). And see? The system works, I found your comment. 🙂
Like most people, I have seasonal tendencies – and from there I work from my clothes, as well as what I haven’t worn recently. My collection is a fledgling one – I think I have about 12(?) scents, although a lot of samples – so keeping things in rotation helps me to choose. But I get it wrong anyway: today I tried no. 19 with a coral jacket, and neither were happy.
The weather question makes me wonder: a lot of people have mentioned rain as a factor, but not necessarily explained how. I understand temperature, but how does a wet or dry day affect your choices? I need examples!
Thank you Angela, as always… 🙂
Oh no, I forgot occasion! Occasion important. Parfum Sacre only gets let out for special occasions.
Occasion is huge! I agree. Parfum Sacre is wonderful. I have a tiny bit of the parfum that I hoard like diamonds.
Oh goodness, I can’t even imagine. The EDP is riches enough.
Oh, I think rain is more than just wet and often cold. It’s moody, too. Imagine a clear, cold day. Then think of a day the same temperature, but cloudy and damp, with wet tree limbs and puddles slushed with leaves. A whole different mood.
Yes, I see. I think I probably adjust for this without thinking about it, but I suspect I veer towards the richer, more romantic fragrances in damp weather. (Of course, in England that’s nearly always, which might explain something about my favourites.)
Richer and more romantic does sound like a nice counterpoint to gray skies! We get our fair share of rain where I live, too.
Hi Capillary – For rain, well, for me it is also an issue of humidity as a lot of fragrances just behave differently when the air is humid. I find that you can often smell a new depth, and fleeting molecules tend to hang around a bit longer.
But as for rain and mood, well that is a whole other matter. On cool rainy fall days I love wearing Vol de Nuit as it just has this “moodiness” and intimacy that works really well. On cold winter rainy days, something like Magie Noire, Donna Karan (Signature), Bal a Versailles, etc, really warms things up. On spring rainy days, a fragrance like Apres L’Ondee (no brainer) is perfect, as are SSS Lieu de Reves, Caron Aimez Moi, etc. Now summer is tricky because it can be insanely hot and humid and rainy when nothing but a good cologne will do, or a refreshing rain (hello Gucci Envy!!), or a dramatic thunderstorm (AG Heure Exquise or L’Heure Bleue are perfect for this)… I could go on and on. Rain just has a feeling, and many fragrances can get to that place to amplify or reflect the kind of attitude and atmosphere of rain.
They say Eskimos have lots of words for snow. I guess we have lots of perfumes for rain.
A: I like that metaphor in a way, and I’m not saying this to contradict, but for years, the fun linguistics site “Language Log” has dubbed that particular fallacy “snowclones” and continuously make reference to it: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002656.html
Interesting! Sometimes stories mean more than the truth, I guess. There must be a reason that particular story lives on, even though it isn’t true.
I agree about rain’s different moods. And I do find that I find my chypres (um, by “my chypres” I mean the very-floral ones that I like) wear more comfortably in the rain, for some reason.
I can imagine a rich floral chypre being wonderful in the rain.
Rain occasionally brings on the urge to wear something that, to me at least, seems to be in keeping with the weather – like AG Matin d’Orage. But more often I wear something to defend myself from the rain. Donna Karan Gold on a cold, wet day helps warm me. AG Eau de Sud or Chevrefeuille is me thumbing my nose at the black clouds of summer and refusing to give in to the grey.
To me, the texture of those fragrances is still flat and wet–but the ambiance is sunny and spring-like, the perfect foil for rain!
I get into perfume ruts, and I finally figured out a way to combat it… I pull *all my perfumes out (I keep out-of-seasons in another room), and spread them out. I put aside the ones I’ve been recently wearing, and then start playing with the more neglected bottles. Then I take the top 8-10 or so and put them in my main bathroom and group them according to which ones I want to wear first.
And then I decide by mood, event, work meetings, wardrobe and who I’ll be seeing that day. …man, that’s a lot of influences to sort out! 🙂
Nice system! Plus, it gives you the chance to look at everything again so that you don’t accidentally neglect old favorites.
Great post as usual Angela. You seem to have a way of tapping into our collective consciousness.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Weird, but I wake up with a perticular scent “impression” in my brain. Somewhere from the back corners of my memory something pops up. I may need a few minutes to identify what that scent “impression” is, from the many, many things that I have had the pleasure to smell- or buy, but I eventually get it before I leave the house.
Fascinating! Your brain must be working on it while you sleep. I wonder if those “scent impressions” send you messages about how you feel or what weighs on you?
i also wake up knowing exactly what I will be wearing on that day.
I use to plan out my clothes the night before and it became useless as I would wake up wanting to wear something else.
And for the record, I do have dreams in “smell-o-rama”
It’s like a having a built-in valet! Too bad your brain can’t do the ironing and shine the shoes while you’re sleeping, too.
By the way, I’m an Aries, with Taurus ascending and a Libra moon. Might explain a lot.
I wish I knew more about astrology, and I could postulate.
Another thing that prompts me to choose a certain perfume is what I smell when I’m out and about. Like if I smell someone wearing, say, D+ C Light blue, I will go home and put that on too! Wierd! Or if I smell some gorgeous roses, I’ll want to put on a rose perfume.
I know what you mean. Sometimes I smell something out in the world, too, and it inspires me to dig out a particular fragrance.
i will write about this later…but guys….i just received a package…my first vintage…its’ a huge gorgeous bottle of shalimar and whilst it is only eau de toilette…i am BLOWN AWAY and i think i am now in reeeeeeealy deep water now!! oh my!!!!
LOL and the rest is history…….
oh by the way….you will never have “spare money” ever again!!
(just like the rest of us….welcome) 😉
Yep. Welcome to the sweetly scented poorhouse.
thanks guys for ur welcome…i feel really great here…daisy and all other enablers….i have learned and am spreading perfume enabling among my community…my friend freak when i tell them what they are wearing or when i know somebody has arrived from behind, as i can smell their presence before i see them..and i love suggesting what they should wear…or not
It’s fun! The internet has brought us together, I guess.
Congratulations! I think that some of the vintage Guerlain EdTs and even EdCs are better than their EdPs today. Enjoy it!
oh thanks angela..i am a very vintage smeeling,happy lady right now
yes HKM-welcome!
🙂
After reading all these comments i am so relieved that im just one of many who wear more than one perfume daily!
When i wake up i know exactly which perfume i will be wearing for the day- but- will also spray on a different one after work, then maybe another one before bed. All depends on weather and mood for me.
Today was a typical spring day- all the bulbs are in flower and the sun was out- so i just had to wear my new Fracas but now after seeing the photo at the top i may have to put on some Samsara for the evening. Just Love Perfume!!!!!!!!!
So where are you in the southern hemisphere? 🙂
Im in Australia- Tasmania (where the devils live).
My roses are just starting to bloom and the garden is smelling great again- i love spring.
Nice! Spring is so far away where I live, I like hearing about tulips and Fracas.
I have outfits or family events that call for specific scents. To me, it sets the tone for the occasion, and because I’m a little introverted, it helps give me a bit of fortitude… A visit to my hubby’s great aunt calls for cashmere, pencil skirt, pearls and Chanel no 5.
One of my faves is a peach cashmere sweater paired with Nina Ricci’s Farouche. Guaranteed to make the hubby melt for sure!
How lucky you are that your husband likes perfume- mine hates it. Luckily i havent had to choose between them- he may have had to go!!!
Peach cashmere… swooon. And I haven’t smelled Farouche, but it sounds so lovely that every so often I go looking for it on ebay. It always goes for more than I want to pay. 🙁
mals86-it’s a lovely floral aldehyde, that lasts about 10-11 hours (extrait). It is very lovely and femme to me. Sillage is moderate when dabbed.
The peach cashmere/Farouche combo sounds wonderful!
oh boy…so many thought and ways and ideas …crazy thing, i identify with so many of you. i think if i had to choose one of the ways, it would really be like this: clothes on me are a visual thing…not often a mood thing..now the fragrance is all that is missing in the clothes thing ….the tiny but oh so important thing that is missing in dress…it completes me and makes me feel completey dressed!!!the mood… i can use a scent to give me power, to calm me down…to liven up etc
bois de isle would be my most easy to wear fragrance followed closely by attrape
jubilation 25 and mitsouko are my most thought about love with a gzillion others in between
maybe i am naturally a softee…striving to be tough!!!???:-)
i really should stop, or i will be here for way too many hours.
great post angela
guess u could figure i am a gemini of the worst kind!!!
It sounds like we share the same perfume favorites as well as the same attitude about fragrance!
I would love to say that I match perfume with my clothes or to the occasion – but I must admit that I just follow my mood – which is of course influenced by weather and season, but perhaps not in the summer-cologne/winter-comfort way (Besides, I can’t stand colognes any more).
When I wake up, I already know if I’m giong to wear a happy floral, an oriental, you name it, or if I wish experimenting with some new sample. However, for an elegant evening out, I don’t have to think too hard: Jicky, l’amoureuse, and Cuir Ottoman will always make me feel confident and beautiful.
But when I stumble on my exquisite, shiny and black travel spray of Beyond Love, I usually forget mood/weather/evening cosiderations and I just envelop myself in that simple, relaxing, creamy yet cold tuberose scent…
That sounds nice! (Note to self: get a sample of Beyond Love.)
Well, if I recall correctly, you’re not such a tuberose fan and Beyond Love goes pretty to close being a Tubey Soliflore ;).
(For me tuberose, like vetiver, is such a beautiful raw material that I appreciate it a lot when it is stripped down to its essence rather that being dressed up. Not that I mind my Fracas or Vetiver Oriental, but I find BL and Sycomore more arrestingly beautiful -and easier to wear- in their deceptive simplicity). That said, I would really love to hear what you think about BL 😀 !
I am always on the lookout for that tuberose that I’ll love.
I match to weather, but even more so I match to mood, or to desired mood.
Sometimes I choose perfumes based on how I’m feeling, but other times I choose based on how I want or need to be feeling – some fragrances will help get me there.
Other times I get a strong urge to wear something specific. When that happens, even if it’s not really weather or mood appropriate, I’ve learned that it’s always the Right Choice, and that Nothing Else Will Do. If there’s a reason I really can’t wear that fragrance on that day, I’ve learned that though other things can smell good, they’re just not what I wanted. It’s like wanting strawberry ice cream, and getting yogurt instead – it’s still nice, but it’s just not “it”.
Once in a while I mess up the choosing process, and I end up with something that’s just *wrong* for that day/moment/feeling.
And when that’s the case, I can’t wash it off my skin fast enough.
It’s crazy how right some perfumes feel at some times and how wrong they are at others.
OMG 267 entries!!!!!
Good topic!!!
Funny, so often it’s the posts I dash off in half an hour that end up with the most comments.
Angela, off topic here, but I wanted to let you know that US *bay has a listing for Chanel no 22 bath oil. I thought of you right away.
Thanks!
I dress according to mood and use the whole product array – shower gel, body lotion or oil or cream, fragrance. So for that day, fragrance-wise, I’m sorted. Can’t imagine spraying something else over the previous layers.
I used to have a lot of fragrances but now I’ve cut back to the ones I feel are ME, although of course no new release goes unsniffed. 🙂
Now I’m in a vampyric Midnight Poison mood – just got my hands on a bottle.
Your method sounds so wonderfully luxurious! Enjoy the Midnight Poison.
Angela,
Beautifully written. I select my perfumes exactly the way you do.
There’s something nice in knowing that I’m not alone in my method.
Wow! Lots of feedback on this one. Well, I chose what fragrance to wear based upon what’s on the agenda for the day. Sometimes it all depends what mood I’m in.
Good topic of discussion,Angela.
Then I hope you have a varied agenda so that you will enjoy a variety of perfumes!
Yes. It’s a good excuse to have more perfume!
My wardrobe doesn’t change enough for me to match my outfits to my clothes; really, I’m not a very adventurous dresser. My perfume is currently the only deviation in my “uniform.”
Speaking of Samsara, I found a vintage bottle among the old Nahemas. Even though it’s vintage, I don’t really like it. It’s just rice pudding on me.
Even my colors don’t count in anything. I guess I’m a slave to my moods.
That’s a nice approach, too. If you wear a kind of uniform, then your fragrance can really express what you want it to, without the distraction of your clothing.
Too bad about the Samsara!
Been just wondering what to wear today; I have a lot to do at my homeoffice and I dressed up in sweater, sport pants and a down-vest. Comfy 😉
Guess to such an outfit belongs the best perfume I have!
And I agree on: You will never have spare money again. If I have money left I invest it in perfume, and yes, if it’s something you thought about a year, then it has to be the nice, small bottle.
Extrait I do not dab, I pour. My collection is rather small, though.
A comfortable outfit is the perfect excuse for a luxurious perfume!
Angela, you write so beautifully, each of your posts is a pleasure to read!
As for me, I a) am always running very late in the morning and have about 2 seconds to decide what frag to wear before bolting for the train. The decision is usually made while I am swallowing my vitamins and checking to see if both dogs ate their arthritis meds; b) I work in a hospital so my fragrance choices are limited … my default choices are always something safe (but still lovely IMO) like Hiris or Y or GIII. But when I do have more time, I am generally swayed by the weather and/or humidity levels and whether the bottle is located upstairs in the hallway or downstairs in the kitchen cabinet. I think this is my boring and practical Capricorn side asserting itself … we seem like the dullards of the zodiac, we don’t even have any exciting, sexy famous ones, since nobody in their right minds would ever think of Nixon or Chairman Mao as either!
LOL!
Margaret Trudeau, (former wife of Pierre E Trudeau, former Prime Minister of Canada) once declared : “Fidel Castro is the sexiest man alive”
so you NEVER know!!! There might be hope for Nixon and Mao!
LOL
Castro could be the poster boy for Yatagan.
I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Yes, I forgot to mention how practicality and time play roles in choosing perfume, too!
Kate Moss, Rod Stewart, Mel Gibson, Elvis, Muhammed Ali, Al Capone, Dolly Parton – just a few e.g’s, a few sexy or famous or interesting or all three there!