My guess is that most obsessive perfume samplers have the equivalent of Robin's purgatory basket. As someone who suffers from chronic indecision, I have a large collection of scents I just can't decide whether I like or not, separated into a series of elegant "snack-sized" plastic freezer bags. Every couple of months I retrieve all of these baggies and place them on my bed, along with two larger plastic tubs, which house, respectively, fragrances in the current rotation (scents in good standing) and samples that I see every couple of months when I perform this ritual (the tub of no return). I spread the contents of the purgatory bags over my duvet and begin picking through the vials and atomizers, sorting them into piles: judgement rendered, cult favorites that need one more try, scents that have somehow eluded skin-testing. Like Robin, I always end up with a pile of scents that stubbornly resist categorization and tubbing. As my spouse looks on with bafflement and mild disapproval, I return these fragrances to the twilight, limbo land of the snack bag.
The firmer, sterner souls among you probably agree with my husband. With multiple new fragrances being launched every single day, why does anyone bother trying to puzzle out their complicated relationship with one? Well, my problem is that I often prefer the interesting to the simply likable. Perfumes that command my attention over the course of many months are inevitably admirable, well-crafted fragrances and I never feel my time contemplating their mystery is wasted. Perhaps my initial research convinces me I should love a scent. The notes, the perfumer, the blog reviews... even the Magic 8-ball says "Signs point to yes". But upon first, or seventh, or thirty-eighth sniff, something is missing. I have the type of personality that attacks with weird glee the task of identifying missing somethings.* Also, following Robin's example, I return doggedly to close-calls, remembering the gradual way I came to love many of my favorite fragrances.
Or perhaps the note list or release buzz for a scent strikes a silly yet fathomless fear into my heart. In this case, I seek the scent out because horrible smells are often interesting. (Remember, I admitted I have a problem.) Sometimes the fragrance surprises me by being clever and genre-busting. It smells good. I admire it. But do I like it? The 8-ball says "Ask again later". I can't disagree with that, though maybe you have a more definitive comment.
Calvin Klein Truth: Despite not being a fan of this brand, I used to think Truth should have my name on it. If you strip out the comical ad speak, the notes include bamboo, peony, lotus, a rainwater or dewy accord, cedar, vetiver, patchouli, vanilla and a considerable quantity of musks. Whenever the difficult topic of a personal HG comes up, I mention my dream of the perfect chord of green or citrus notes ringing over a creamy floral base. Calvin Klein positioned Truth as a transparent woody oriental "inspired by the lush freshness of nature and the warm sensuality of skin" and the reviews by the many fans of this fragrance made me believe it could be The One. Upon sampling, though, I found the creamy-soapy heart verges on oiliness and makes me a bit queasy. There are lovely leafy-green touches that weave in and out of this nondairy whitener effect, and sometimes I think I've finally fallen for the blasted thing. But then the feeling goes away.
L'Artisan Parfumeur Aedes de Venustas Eau de Parfum: Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice would say. After reading Kevin's review for the Aedes Parfum d'Ambience, I went to considerable trouble to get a small sample of the room spray, as Aedes refuses to ship to Canucks. I enjoyed the home fragrance and looked forward to the release of a personal perfume. When the Eau de Parfum was launched, the note list was both longer and more enticing than its predecessor: orange oil, pink and black pepper, cardamom, incense, rose, iris, cedar, patchouli, coffee, opoponax, moss, immortelle, musk and vanilla. My sample of the Eau de Parfum puzzles me, though. I miss the stronger immortelle and the flat, dry quality of the incense in the room fragrance. The skin scent is undoubtedly a complex, high-quality creation — my husband even took rare notice and proclaimed it "excellent" — but the texture bothers me. It is too buttery, I think. Nobody hold me to that statement, though. I could love it tomorrow.
Crazylibellule and the Poppies Tamara Charleston: Back when Robin posted on two other choices from the Les Garçonnes collection, she added a comment on this one: "Tamara Charleston I alternately loved and hated…decided in the end that I hated it." I might be leaning the other way, but I haven't decided, of course. Of the collection, this is the CrazyStick with the most niche flavor. As with many scents that linger in purgatory, it seems like an original idea executed with a squinting, single-minded focus on just getting the thing to work. Inspired by the work of Tamara de Lempicka, the scent shares with the paintings both a narcotic, neck-cricking languor (jasmine, gardenia and a clean white floral molecule called yislang) and a bold, unsettling use of color (very green mandarin and peach, absinthe and a note like sugar peas). It smells kind of like surface disinfectant, but that could be what I like about it. For $16, it's provided me with hours of neurosis. A bargain.
Hermessence Vanille Galante: After a promising start, the news on this one took an alarming turn. Early reports mentioned that it did not smell particularly vanillic, which raised the unwelcome specter of the misnamed Paprika Brasil. Then Robin's review appeared, with the description "lilies floating in salty water". To control my distress, I tried meditating on the vanilla-tinged Serge Lutens Un Lys, which is one of the few lily soliflores I like. As it turns out, Vanille Galante is a much better fragrance than Un Lys. I recoiled in horror the first time I smelled its haze of salicylates and ylang, but repeated spritzes have given me an appreciation of its cool, airy sweetness. It could be a stream-lined, less fleshy version of Annick Goutal Passion or a brilliant summer flanker for Kenzo Amour. It is, therefore, rather close to what I imagine my elusive HG to be. I find it beautiful, but a little aloof and I often sniff my sample without being moved to wear it. Talk me into loving this one.
LeLabo Neroli 36: I am not very fond of neroli fragrances, so was relieved to find this wasn't one and was bottled barbershop instead, with an apricoty soap smell, a brisk brush of powder and the steely bite of sterilized shears and combs. Still, I can't say I like it particularly... I just can't give up on it.
*That type is ENTP in the Myers-Briggs, in case you were wondering. Years of self-observation and collection of anecdotal evidence have lead me to the hypothesis that a great number of nerds are ENTPs.
Note: image is Illustration for Dante's Purgatorio 24 by Gustave Doré [cropped] via Wikimedia Commons.
I have an overflowing purgatory basket too!!!
I used to be more assertive, like-not like,” black/white ” perfume judgements…but then, as I kept sniffing, everything seemed to turn varying shades of gray.
All my current HGs stem from samples I labeled “purgatory” or even “scrubbers” at first (Beyond Love, L’amoureuse, Une Rose Chyprée, …the list continues!!).
Yes, I AM strange :D!
So, I treasure my purgatory basket: my next “precioussss” could be lying in there, somewhere….
I feel the same way. So as Robin said in her purgatory reviews: “I don’t give up easy”. And hey, Amoureuse and Beyond Love are in my baggie/basket, too!
I keep my purgatory perfumes (great name, btw!) in a box, sorted by sandwich bags.
I haven’t smelled Truth in years but am always looking for it at the outlets to try again. I loved it when it launched and it was the only CK I was interested in.
I can’t take credit for the name, it’s Robin’s. And glad to hear I’m not the only one using Ziploc bags.
Yes, despite not being sure whether I like it or not, Truth is pretty much the only CK I’m interested in, too. Hope you find it!
“Well, my problem is that I often prefer the interesting to the simply likable. ” We are soul sisters on that statement.
Really, perfume is the only part of my life where that problem has proved harmless 🙂 Hope your preference for the interesting has only provided you with interest….
I don’t have a physical purgatory basket, but Amoureuse has been in my mental one for nearly two years. Then I realized that although I find it strangely compelling, it always sets me in a bad mood. My final (?) decision is that it’s overpowering.
Another, though completely different, purgatory tale is, for me too, Vanille Galante. Since the beginning of 2008 I’ve been keeping a diary where I write daily which fragrances I wear and paste the corresponding image (I always get alarmed looks when I say this aloud, but here I feel safe, and in good company, I bet). Turns out that Vanille galante is the perfume I have worn most frequently, more than 50 times. I still don’t own it. That’s because I’ve been so lucky to have several good-sized samples, but a few months ago I wanted to reward myself for some job I had finished and walked into the Hermes boutique to buy VG. I sprayed it on my arm and sniffed. Got out of the boutique and sniffed. Walked sniffing to another boutique where I bought Lipstick rose instead, happy.
I still think I really like VG, sometimes I think it’s love, sometimes I think it’s just delicious and not too demanding, but I’m still puzzled by the fact that my most worn perfume is not in my collection.
50 times! I’m impressed, that is a good number of tries. I think there are plenty of fragrances I’ll be happy to just keep endlessly sampling, and never buying a full bottle. And you *are* in good company: we look kindly upon your fragrance diarizing and merely praise you for your dedication and organizational skills in maintaining this list.
You are not alone in your fragrance diary. I’m still pretty new to perfumes and have filled three diaries since I stumbled across this site while recovering from surgery in May. I’ve been studying this and other blogs, have read many of the books recommended by Marcello, have personal correspondence on a first name basis with the lovely ladies at TPC and Beauty Habit, and my credit card burst into flames sometime around late September. I’ve filled three notebooks so far, but I’ve never thought to write down what I wear everyday. Mine are still lists of notes, wish lists, personal reactions, reactions to certain scents by my boss, and “head to head” comparisons of fragrances (or rather, wrist to wrist). Fortunately my handwriting is atrocious, and even worse when I am writing notes to myself, so if anybody every wanted to read them I wouldn’t sound like such a raving, perfume obsessed maniac because it is illegible. 😉
Most of the time I think this a far more interesting, saner obsession than, say, Beanie Babies, but it has a lot of the same symptoms, doesn’t it?
Yeah, the only thing that bothers me is that I have to take other people’s opinions into account. I work retail in a small yarn boutique so I can’t wear anything too “weird” or loud that might offend the customers, and my shop owner and co-workers do not wear fragrarance so everyone would instantly know who is wearing the perfume. I would never test drive one of my “maybe” samples at work – and I also have them organized in little baggies and separated into compartments of a three tiered wooden box from Cost Plus that sits on my dresser. I usually only apply scent to my wrists in case I need to wash it off. I’ve asked my boss to tell me if something is too strong because sometimes it is hard to judge on yourself, and I’ve learned what she likes and dislikes. I can soak myself in Shalimar and she says nothing, but the tiniest bit of Musc Rav and she says it is too strong because she can smell it when I brush past her.
This is a problem many people have with musks – the same ones you might perceive as very loud, I am completely anosmiac to. I find Musc Rav is a common culprit. Narciso Roderiguez for Her is another one.
Hi Erin! Well, just in case you think that the “P” in ENTP is your “problem”, here is an ENTJ to tell you that I have the same system, right down to the the ziploc bags and the periodic dumping and sorting atop the bed.
One of the baggies is full of certain celeb-u-scents that I doubt I’ll ever try (chicken that I am), but even that one is maintained (in the back of the storage drawer) because I have so much to learn and I might just need its contents for reference! Feels ridiculous, but there it is.
Vanille Galante climbed out of purgatory for me on the third wearing and I now have two of the travel-sized bottles. I think Robin’s description is right on, and I really enjoy it for warm weather. But I have a love affair with aquatic florals and you may not!
So indecision and devil’s advocacy are ENTJ traits, too? But do you keep a list or organzied spreadsheet of those samples you have purgartory-bagged? Do you have a set of rules for decision-making? Don’t destroy all my illusions about the J. 🙂 I’m embarrassed to admit that I often dump out of the tubs and re-sort them, also.. *blushes* It’s true, you never know what you might eventually need.
Well, can’t be the E that’s to blame, either. INTP phoning in with a *very* similar (lack of) organizational system accompanied by obsessive Excelling of said system. 🙂
I only got to try Vanille Galante after it had become common knowledge in blog-land that it wasn’t a vanilla-centric frag after all, so I daresay I got to appreciate it for what it is rather than for what expectations it failed to live up to. Don’t know if I can sell it to you, but *whispers* it’s really, really nice! For how subtle it is, it has amazing longevity. And it’s unique in its elfin velvety-powdery-lily-stems aroma. And I don’t even like aquatics or florals.
My quintessential purgatory scent is Montale Amandes Orientales. It came with my first ever TPC order at the beginning of this frenzy some 18 months ago, and I still don’t know what to make of it.
Others include Idole de Lubin, Aziyadé, Messe de Minuit, OJ Woman, OJ Man, OJ Tolu (make that any OJ, actually), and many others I can’t name off the top of my head.
Another N! I think we’ve discovered a (very unscientific, anecdotal) fact. Fragrance nerds are all Ns. I imagine there is a high concentration of INTs in Excelling communities, too.
Sold on the Hermessence! See, that was easy. All you had to do was whisper and use the word “elfin” 🙂 And you’re the third with Messe de Minuit, Idole and/or OJ Tolu in your basket. Interesting…
Ooh, Tolu is in my purg bags, too. I love it and it could be another that will crawl its way out.
By the by, Tolu-ditherers may want to check out Mona di Orio Jabu. It’s similar in resinous warmth, but different enough that it may be just right. 🙂 I’m nothing if not an enabler.
Well, I’m sort of a mixed “I” and “E”, but totally strong on the NT part. Yes, a bit nerdy. I don’t know what to do with numbers in Excel, but I sure do have a sampling spreadsheet. 🙂 Can’t explain how a “J” could be so darned indecisive. Something about being born in October, perhaps…
Ah yes, we forgot to take the stars into account! (The T part of me objects to astrology, but the systems-loving N is interested…)
And an insistent part of me (dunno the corresponding letter, though) is wondering if the whole personality scale thingy isn’t the new, marginally scientifically acceptable astrology, anyway. 😀
Zeezee, is there a letter for being annoyingly reasonable? 🙂 Maybe you’re just a Taurus.
Hey! I resemble that remark! (Taurus…and a very typical one) 🙂
It’s okay, so am I. 🙂 We’re taking over the world, one bull at a time….
I have a Taurus sister, and I’m finding this rather scary! :-O
Ha! I’ll embrace the annoying reasonableness as a compliment. No Taurus, but close enough: Aries. That’s not how it’s supposed to work though, is it? 😉
::raises hand::
I don’t know my personality type, but I have an OmniOutliner outline that’s supposed to contain a line for every perfume that I have even a drop of. (It’s slightly out of date.) Along with columns for the house, the container format (vial, sprayer, decant, bottle), whether it’s core wardrobe, whether it’s a dabber fragrance, what season it’s for. And whether I want it, what my priority for obtaining it is and what format I want to obtain it in, what my plans for it are if I’ve decided to get rid of it…
I should be embarrassed at confessing all this, but I’m mostly annoyed with myself because I just realized that I forgot to log the samples that I gave away as given away.
Why, for shame! 🙂
Ooh, I love that. I attempted to keep up with all my samples, as well as things that I just tried on at the store, in my first notebook but abandoned that endeavour in the next one. I’ve settled for just having them organized by house, and sometimes by note.
That’s still pretty organized!
I’m an ENTJ, too. I think. I have segregated my celebrity scents and my department store scents into separate baggies that live in the lower tier of my sample box. 😉
Ha! It’s sort of a reverse social hierarchy….
my purgatory consist of all hermessence , except rose ikebana , osmanthe yunnan and vetyver tonka (sp) , soooooo i did try vanille galante all i smell is this cheap vanille extract thing used for cakes and bakery , i tried hard to like it but is too normal!
ambre narguille , so sweet , i could never wear this , still i am trying hard to find the beauty in it .
kelly caleche eau de parfum , i love the eau de toilette , but in parfum form the leather is sweaty and yucky , i still adore the beginning , hmmmm i really want to like this one !
sadness !
another one would be l’artisan tuberose , i find nothing appealing about this one is not fresh , not gourmand , no nothing , smells like powder and cheap one at that 🙁
There are some you just have to give up on. (I would recommend leaving the L’Artisan behind…) It sounds like you have the opposite trouble from most people with Vanille Gallante – too much (cheap) vanilla! It is sweet, but I find it fruitier, rather than cake-y/bakery. But then, I find the Kelly Caleche not sweaty enough! We perfumistas are a hard lot to please 🙂
My Purgatory “cognac snifter” (no Ziplock here) contains very little, but those there have been lingering for quite a while…
Idole de Lubin: Love the bottle and “like” the scent but can’t decide to buy or to let go.
Harissa (CdG), Messe de Minuit (Etro), Canabis Santal (Fresh) are also there.
But the one that has been sitting there the longest is Mitsouko. — I know that it’s a great classic, that I should love it and I keep hoping that one day I will love it Gosh darn it! But for now— it still smells like “poorly camouflaged B.O.” to me. (I’m a philistine, I know)
A snifter! How elegant. I feel you on the Idole: I love, love, LOVE that bottle and I don’t exactly object to the scent, but we haven’t had the magic moment yet. Feel similarly about Messe de Minuit. I admire the Etro as unique and important, just as you do with the Mitsuoko; I think these are the hardest doubts to shake, the ones where you feel like a philistine.
I actually have only a few in my Purgatory basket: Une Rose Chypree – which I like very much, but am still not sure that I need a decant of – and Mitsouko as well. I admire it, but it really has nothing to say to me, and the only part of it I enjoy is about an hour’s worth of the drydown, when I’m smelling mostly amber. I’m coming to terms with my philistine nature.
Honestly, I’m very willing to make judgments based on how something makes me feel. I probably throw out some babies with the bathwater, but I’m not plagued with doubts about my decisions.
No doubts?! A firmer, sterner soul, cleary – good for you. I feel sort of similarly about Un Rose Chypree. It doesn’t inspire an emotional response in me the same way my favorites from Tauer do – don’t really need a bottle, I think.
Une Rose Chypree is in my purgatory basket too… I keep revisiting it… some days I think it smells like rosy heaven on earth, and some days it just smells like fried food and it drives me crazy!
….Otherwise, my purgatory basket holds a lot of white flowers fragrances, esp. those featuring bold tuberose or LOTV, both of which I always have troubles wtih.
My most coveted purgatory fragrance is the SSS Champage de Bois, which I always want to work for me, but it just doesn’t. But I keep trying! I had major breakthoughs with No 5 and Mitsouko this year, so I can hope!
Ack, I thought you were a huge CdB fan! How did I get that wrong?
Probably b/c I love love love just about half of the SSS offerings. But there are a few of them that just don’t work for me – mostly the musk ones and then the ones with incense. I am incense challenged as a result of too much Catholic school.
Fried food – ack! Somebody who tried my sample today thought it smelled like Dr. Pepper. (Actually, I think that improved my impression of it – I love Dr. Pepper.)
Ohh, I love CdB! It was love at first sniff for me. Velvet Rose, is another matter entirely.
You’re not alone on the Mitsouko, Platinum. I’ve even had people send me various formulations of it, in hopes that maybe I’ve just tried the *wrong* Mitsouko. My tastes have really changed over the past year or two, but each time I try that one I’m still in the same place with it–on the fence.
I absolutely adore chypres – they’re my favorite genre – but over the years I’ve made my peace with not loving Mitsuoko. My fanatical devotion to other Guerlain classics makes me feel less like a philistine.
So now is probably not the time to say I’m also not nuts about Shalimar? Chamade and Chant d’Aromes are so of it for me and Guerlain.
Embarrassed to admit Chamade is another one I don’t really get. Though I’ve finally fallen in love with PdN Temps d’Une Fete, which has that similar oily yellow pollen/narcissus feeling, so maybe there’s hope for me yet! Love Chant. Actually, with its vetiver drydown, Temps d’Une Fete is kind of like a combo of Chamade and Chant – never thought of it that way before!
I will join you in the philistine club. Shalimar is my HGP (esp. vintage), and I love Jicky, L’Heure Bleue, Apres L’Ondee, Mitsouko, and a couple of the Aqua Allegorias (take that Luca Turin!). I am hopelessly dedicated to Guerlain, including their make-up, but I find most of their new things unbearable. Even Attrape Coeur. Yes, Attrape Coeur, and I am very embarassed by this. I don’t really like much after Vol de Nuit.
Re Mitsouko, I still hate it after umpteen attempts. I guess I’m a phillistine too, or not quite evolved enough to appreciate it!
Maybe one day we will make the evolutionary leap. Until then, I’m fine with grunting my way through life.
hehe, it was an act-provoking topic, I just prepared my p.box.
i think i managed to hurt some of my sample’s feelings. most of my Nicolais (except Fig tea), Parfum d’Empire Eau Suave, Miller et Bertaux Parfum Trouve, L’Artisan Dzongkha, Piquet Visa and OJ Tolu are sitting sadly in it right now hoping for escape and more appreciation…
I just recently gave up on OJ Tolu. It was one of my longest-serving purgatory samples. It’s beautiful, but it’s just not “me” and I’ve finally tubbed it. No doubt, I’ll go searching through the hundreds of “discarded” samples for it later, though….
Maybe it’s my INFJ personality that feels compelled to give try after try to scents that either are flat out unlikeable when I sample them or more “meh” with potential. I’ve got samples I really didn’t like three or four times later, but that have grown on me enough by the fifth or sixth try that I find myself really craving a bottle. Some of my faves (SOD, L’Inspiratrice, Narcisse Noir, the first D&G for women, CSP’s Vanille Peche and even Angel) did not move me at first sniff, or flat out repelled me. But yet I needed to try them again just to make sure, and then again after that because I couldn’t remember precisely why I didn’t like them. Now I have bottles of each with back-up bottles in some cases and I can’t imagine my fragrance wardrobe without them. And then there was the mistake of testing frags with morning sickness…
I do have a couple half or more full bottles of frags I either remember loving (Givenchy’s Fleur d’Interdit which I got for my sixteenth birthday and thought I’d love ten years later comes to mind) or found pleasant enough (Paris Hilton original and Pleasures Exotic) that I just don’t much care for now. They don’t make me think or leave me undecided well past the drydown, and I find I desire this from fragrances I try now. Pleasant is nice, but there’s just *so* many of those. I like something that makes me recoil and then return for another sniff just out of spite, only to find that I can’t pull my nose away. Or even better, a fragrance that makes me give pause just before I’m ready to scrub it off. Almost like there’s a scavinger hunt going on as the fragrance unfurls and I just might find the perfect note if I inhale hard enough or give it another half hour.
Interesting how many iNtuitives there are in the perfume world! You would think perfume people would more often be Ss. (Is this related to the former tendency of the test to over-report the less common Ns? Let’s research!)
What you say is very true: when you do the kind of heavy-duty, constant sampling that people like you and I do, you tend to privilige the unusual over Pleasure flankers. Some of the stuff I like is no better than your mainstream fare, it’s just different from what you normally smell on the subway.
My Myers-Briggs results had me at almost 100% iNtuitives!!
I think I was nearly 100% NP. Hey, there should be a Myers-Briggs and perfume matching quiz on Facebook or something. Taking the old Guerlain quiz I always end up in the “Daring” category.
The samples that don’t grab me after the second try end up on my room spray shelf.
An interesting idea. There are certain atmospheric, linear scents that I tend to use as room spray. I may actually like them quite a bit, but they don’t seem appropriate for lasting skin wear.
Oh, boy. When I go through my samples, I go,”Like it, love it or It just doesn’t grab me like it used to”. Somehow I can’t seem to part with any, then I search myself to try and find out why. No answers yet. Must be under thousands of layers of subconsciousness. I do know however, that I have not fallen in love with a fragrance for a number of years, maybe that’s why I don’t “purge” my samples bag. I am afraid of being a fragrance spinster.
For a number of years?! It’s amazing you keep up the search – you must be really worried about the spinsterhood. Luckily for me, I find things I truly love fairly often – say 4-5 times per year – so it gives me motivation to persevere with things I’m on the verge with.
Oh, Happy Black Friday Everyone! Arrrrgh!
Thanks! We don’t really have BF North of the Border, but I wish you all a bargain-filled one (or non-consumerist one, if you object)…
Yeah!! No BF in T.O. but we shop anyway!!!
Hey, you Torontonian! Are you meeting us on Saturday (tomorrow) at Noor in Yorkville for noon? We’re doing a perfume tour – please come along!
Didn’t know about it… but will try to make it!
Please excuse my Southern Hemisphere knowledge but what is Black friday? I have a vague notion of what Thanksgiving is!
I have a huge box of perfumes that I cannot bear to give away and desperately want to love- I get them out, also on the bed, and have a few sprays then end up with them back in the box and in the bottom of the perfume cupboard-its very sad!
Black Friday is the Friday after American Thanksgiving and is widely considered the beginning of the Christmas Rush retail year. Many retailers decorate for the holidays, open early and have big sales. There are many theories about the name, but the most gnereally accepted one in that it refers to retailers going into the “black ink” of the holiday sale season. Some people boycott the insanity and make it a “Buy Nothing Day”, but it’s one of the biggest sales days of the year in the US.
The shops here have also started Christmas sales and it has been busy in the shopping centres.
Black Friday- or black anyday- here mainly refers to a particularly bad bushfire day and we are in that season again!
Sometimes Black Friday is kind of like a brush fire in the US. Sadly, a WalMart employee was trampled to death last year 🙁
I sorted through my sample Ziplocs just last night as the yams were cooking, and managed to put together a bag of several dozen samples to give away at cooperative Thanksgiving. Woohoo! The Serge Lutens, for example, that I just can’t make myself like, are no longer staring at me telling me that I should give them a couple of full-day wearings before I give up.
But I still have “purgatory” samples in the keepers. Lann-Ael, which smells lovely but makes me think of sickbeds. Habanita, which I love and _he likes_, which is almost unheard of, but which gave me a fine migraine the first time I tried it. Theorema, which is no more than Perfectly Nice for me, but surely someday I’ll see what all the fuss is about.
Santa Maria Novella Hay, which I’m keeping not because of any sneaky liking for it, but because I might like Bois Blond. Where’s the logic in that? Oh, and a fraction of a vial of vintage Mitsouko, which I, too, just can’t seem to like.
Ah, I have the same problem with Theorema! Maybe one day we’ll see the light. (I LOVE Christine Nagel creations, otherwise, though.)
SMN Hay? I’ve always wanted to try that, but I can never find it at the local SMN sellers. I hate Bois Blond, though, must confess…
Oh, man, I love Bois Blond (have a bottle) and covet samples of SMN Hay and Ginestra!
I like BB, and expect I would *really* like, or maybe even love it in the right weather. It seems like it should be an Indian summer scent, and I didn’t get my sample until mid-fall. I’ll try that one next year. And… you can add me to the “what’s the fuss about Theorema?” group too. I like it just fine, and “would happily wear it if a bottle fell from the sky”… but don’t feel the need to scavenge after it. Whew. It’s just lucky I don’t pretend to know anything about perfume…
I find BB very dense. There’s something about the combo of sweet iris and rooty notes like carrot seed that give me the impression of chocolate, and the opening blast in BB freaks me right out. One of the few samples I threw out – couldn’t get to the drydown… Sorry!
Now that IS interesting… I found it too lightweight, thus the thought that it needed Indian summer to really come out.
Don’t be sorry, Erin! It IS a weird one. For me, it’s good-weird. Boojum, it is MADE for Indian summer! I wore it the other day, and it didn’t work as well for me in cold-ish weather.
I love Bois Blond about a third of the time, and I can’t find the pattern that determines whether it’s going to be a love day or an “Eew, stale nuts” day.
I remember not “getting” Hay at all – I couldn’t understand it, to the point that I can’t even remember, and when I did remember couldn’t describe, what it smells like. I guess my theory is that if I like Bois Blond, and it involves Hay, maybe I’ll understand it. But of course, there are always other things to try. 🙂
I have this same schitzophrenic approach to Safran Troublant.
I don’t have a purgatory box. Instead, like a squirrel, I’ve kept every sample ever given/purchased/swapped… ever since, early on, I gave up a Chanel No. 5 sample, not liking it. Now, I’ve got everything in boxes by house — very democratically. I come across samples that I can’t remember if I like or don’t like. Mostly, it’s a matter of sillage — I remember I like a scent, but not how strong it is. Then, I wear it to work. (Oops.) Kind of fun.
I would do that… except that I work in a “fragrance-free” hospital. I try to be pretty stealth, and nobody has complained about me yet, but sometimes staff members (I don’t really deal with patients) wander in and wonder why it smells like whatever (i.e. campfire, cherry slurpee, maple syrup, Indian food, etc.) in my office.
Erin, you need to teach me your stealth tactics. I actually think working in a scent-free environment has made me depressed. (And I like how they can regulate no perfume, but people can come into my office stinking of cigarettes, which makes me ill.)
Exactly! It’s impossible to enforce. The unit’s microwave is in my office and people come in to heat up food, so my office smells like fish and mushroom soup and everything else. Smells are everywhere, people, you can’t regulate them. I’d be annoyed about the microwave, but I often blame my perfume smells on somebody else’s lunch, so it actually comes in handy.
“Safran Troublant? Me? No no, the guy in 4A had paella for lunch!” What on earth are you wearing that you could claim it was somebody’s lunch? LOL!
Excellent strategy! I once worked in an office where a coworker had the same lunch every day–smoked sausage, microwaved on high until they coated the inside of the microwave with smoke-flavored grease. Ugh. Cabochard would have been a great improvement.
I find “curry” is a great blame-all, partly because I wear many spicy and cumin-rich scents (which my innocent co-workers would never guess anyone would wear as perfume) and partly because curries are so diverse that it covers a lot of ground (spices, coconut, maple-like smells, anise, etc.).
I’m sure I’m a philistine, but Chanel No. 5 is the one I just can not/do not get. The very first note I smell, that weaves throughout until it all disappears, is something that I swear is used in bug sprays. The odd thing is that I had a bottle of parfum that I wore maybe 20 years ago, stopped because of the exterminator accord, and just TODAY tried a tester at Ulta since I’m much better informed now and surely, surely, it would be better — NOT. Also, the edp today definitely did not have any of the complexity I remember. Although it was edp and not parfum, I wonder if No. 5 is another victim of reformulation. And I’m not so crazy about Mitsouko either. Philistine slinking back to the corner…
Not So Crazy About Mitsouko’s of the world, unite!
Miss Kitty and all, you make me feel sooooooo much better!!!!!!
i am with you on that one. after hearing all the love on here, i bought a mini and figured it was off since i just didn’t get it. i may try a few more times. at least it’s pretty to look at!
Minis can be so cute. It’s much better being saddled with one rather than a FB.
Count me in. I can appreciate Mitsouko. But it’s just not me. Chanel #5, and Chamade, I have the same problem with; the openings strike me as too…*perfumey* if that makes sense. I do appreciate them after the dry-down. But I afraid for now they will stay in my purgatory box. Someday I plan on organizing it, or, maybe just get a bigger box. 🙂
That was Robin’s plan, too!
I’m such a loser I actually prefer the No. 5 Eau Premiere. I hate feeling like I’m the target of some focus group, but it does smell so much more “modern” to me with the toned-down aldehydes and the rosy citrus warmth.
Me too! Eau Premiere is what I want Santa to bring this year!
I wouldn’t throw it out of my stocking, either! 🙂
I should try the Eau Premiere — I’m a full-on philistine when it comes to the original as well.
Not a loser! I prefer Eau Premiere, too. I used to wear No. 5 when I was way too young and can’t go back. However, I just tried Bois des Iles and it is practically Chanel personified – everything I like about 5 without everything I don’t like.
Love BdI! And here’s as good a place to ask as any… does anyone else find that Une Rose Chypree smells remarkably like the opening of BdI, with an extra note or two? Might just be me, but they smell very much related (and maybe that will do something for those of you w/URC in your purgatory baskets, lol).
Hmm, didn’t really notice a similarity, but I could see how that would work. BdI is my fave of the oldies, too.
Erin: I enjoy No 5 eau Premier very much as well. I never cared for the regular No 5 for a very long time… until I got over my aldehyde problems last year. But I only like No 5 in parfum now. My fav is actually the No 5 body cream which is a dead ringer for eau Premier, but a bit dryer. I find the body cream and the eau Premier layer really well to diminish the sweet tea accord in EP. But I can not stand the edt or edp of regular No 5 for some reason – some trouble with the drydown for me. Eau Premier is a great fragrance that will make No 5 work for many people, and that is a good thing in my book.
Thanks for the tip on the body lotion!
I don’t have a separate container for my purgatory scents, just a mental catalog. Most of mine could also be categorized as “things people with taste like but I don’t, so I must not have any taste and I need to somehow learn to love this.”
In addition to the (theoretical) purgatory box, I have the “did this change since the last time I tried it?” box. I swear my sense of smell changes–and then sometimes changes back. CdG Avignon, first time I tried it: hated it. A year later: NEED, NEED, NEED!! Amouage Gold: hated it, loved it… and then hated it again. All of this would lead me to believe the problem is often me, and not the perfume, and causes me to worry if I smell bad half the time and don’t know it.
I have the same changeable nose, and it causes me great hesitation when it comes to FB purchases. I’m agonizing over one now, bc I may not get another chance to buy it, but man…I wasn’t planning on a full-priced FB purchase just now. Many of the Guerlains just don’t work for me, most especially Mitsouko. And adding another N to the group, I’m an INF/TP (evenly split on the F and the T).
Old Guerlains and all of Caron for me… sad isn’t it!
I’m pretty evenly split on the E/I… but boy, I am an NTP!
Ha, where I’m about off the charts I. 😀 While I test evenly F/T (also left brain/right brain, oddly enough), when I read the descriptions and ideal careers, I swing over to the F side for sure.
I’ve learned that my sense of smell changes drastically with the change of season from warm to cold and vice versa. (My nose seems to have two seasons, not four.) And I’m never _quite_ sure that the scent that I loved in the last cold season, and hate now in the warm season, I’ll love again in the next cold season.
So ideally, I like to wait a full year before buying an expensive bottle, on the theory that if I like it in its season twice, I’ll probably keep liking it. Reformulations and discontinuations are wreaking havoc with this plan. For example, given its price, Velvet Gardenia should be a two-year-wait scent, not just one year, but I read that it’s being discontinued! But I’m in love with it right now. What to do?
I’m even less helpful than the Magic 8-Ball! On one hand, I would always advise getting something when you see it (or see it cheap or in a larger size, or in a gift set, etc. etc.) before they discontinue it, or stop selling it in your country, or mess with it so it’s unrecognizable. But I also don’t recommend buying so much perfume that you’re forced to drink it to survive. This is the problem I struggle with every day.
Yep, it’s _hard_! I also have a big philosophical objection to hoarding/clutter and things I don’t use, which means a lot of brawling in my brain sometimes, when I really want a bottle but I have insufficient excuse for buying it.
(“It’s a _classic!_” “Are you gonna wear it?” “It’s on sale!” “Are you gonna wear it?” “It might never be available again!” “Are you gonna wear it?” “It’s a green! I love greens!” “Yes, and the fourteen you already own are evidence of that. Are you gonna wear it?” “I used up the decant! That means I am gonna wear it!” “Are you gonna use it up?”
And then the brawl starts.)
Yeah!…. while everybody raves about CdG Avignon I still stand alone (almost….) in preferring Jaisalmar.
I think I like Kyoto the best, really. Like Avignon and Jaisalmar, too, though.
…and I’ve tried neither, but prefer Zagorsk to Kyoto or Ouarzazate.
A second “changed” box definitely needs to be added – I have this problem, too.
I am just now acquiring enough samples to really need a “purgatory basket” but I am not organized enough to sequester all of them in the same place yet. Let’s just say I will not be wearing my Maria Sharapova, Hypnotic Poison or Miss Boucheron again anytime soon. 🙂
I was quite taken aback by your assertion that Vanille Galante is better than Un Lys – now I really have to try it, because Un Lys is one of my Desert Island perfumes that I never want to live without! Curses on the “Exclusive” Hermessence line i that I can’t try it in this town…
Ack, I’m distressed to see my beloved Hypnotic Poison in that company! Oh well, it makes up for me slamming Un Lys 🙂 Actually, I still like Un Lys, I just think Vanille Galante is the more technically accomplished, less simple scent. I’m sure there would be people who would disagree with me… they’d be wrong, though :p
I’m still new enough at the sniffing game that I find my understanding of scents changes pretty rapidly. Naturally there are things I’ve loved right away, things I said “meh” tried later and loved, things I still don’t really “get” and things that make me wrinkle my nose. Then there’s the multitude of vials I haven’t even gotten to! Mostly they’re in baggies or Mott’s applesauce cups….I don’t call it purgatory as much as an ABYSS …and I keep them in the drawers below my perfume cabinet….So when a scent comes up in discussion I can, with complete impunity, say that I’m sure I have a sample and I’m going to go dig around in my drawers til I find it! 😉
I sometimes feel bad that I don’t have an alphabetical system like other bloggers that allows me to lay my hands on a sample I want quickly. But digging through the abyss allows you to find things you’d forgotten about and are suddenly interested in!
I think I need to take the time to do a spreadsheet….it just seems like such an overwhelming task! But digging in the abyss is interesting, always turns up something I completely forgot I had or things I wanted to sniff again someday anyhow.
Exactly.
Daisy, keep them in alphabetical order 🙂
Please see above! Really, alphabetical order would save me a lot of time…
Hi Ami—at one point I was trying to “bag them” by house but there are so many “strays” and to make matters worse ; one of us (me or my daughter) will go thru and start sorting out all the roses, or all the jasmines…and then there’ll be baggies of mixed houses….or worse things just lying on the desk….it’s a MESS. sigh….but a glorious mess.
Daisy, it is absolutely fun to explore scents together with a daughter. Mine is only 6, and I try to keep her away, but fail most of the time. yesterday she was testing white aoud 🙂 and liked it a lot.
but I don’t let her mess with my samples, I keep them on the top shelf, so they are sorted by my taste. not for long, she is growing so fast…
how old is your daughter? which are her fav scents?
My own daughter is almost four and is now tall enough to get a lot of trouble with my samples and decants. She’s a great shopping companion and fellow sniffer, though.
Hi Ami & Erin , my daughter just turned 18 , egad, so old. Anyhow, she has always loved perfume. One of my favorite memories from when she was all of about 2 yrs old—she threw her little arms around me and declared “I love you mommy, because you’re always so smelly!” I should have known right then that little dabs of Liz Claiborne and Ralph Lauren wouldn’t hold her attention forever. Now she loves Amouage, Hermessence, and the spendy Guerlains! yikes. I could really use a nice juicy Lottery win right about now!!! 😉
So good luck with those little perfumistas! I’m already worried for Boojum–she has a 5yr old who is already very fond of niche!! 😮
it seems evident that there is a dire need for a School of Scent 😀 yeah, it is fun exploring life with your kids 🙂
Yes to alphabetical order! I have baggies for “houses” from which I have quite a few samples, and the rest are in bags labeled “A-D”, “E-H”, etc., but still according to house name. There is also a baggie for “Bottles Owned” — I keep them topped off for my purse.
The Bottles Owned system is one I also employ, for travel and purse.
Purgatory! I have a drawer too. Recently I did a clear out and gave them to a friend of mine. Actually, there weren’t too many…..I seem pretty good at choosing samples that I will really like and finish. It’s usually pretty clean cut – I either love a scent and drain it completely, or I don’t like it and it stays in my drawer for ages. I’ve re-tried Une Fleur de Cassie and Angelique Sous le Pluie, but still just don’t enjoy wearing them. I LIKE them. But I don’t really ENJOY them. Whereas En Passant, Reverie au Jardin and Bois Farine I really ENJOY wearing. Which is why they’re not in my drawer!
I think I both like and enjoy Une Fleur de Cassie now, but I don’t wear it much. It’s “a lot of look” for most days. Maybe you could try the Beurre Exquise, which I’ve had a lot of luck with? And finishing samples? Good for you! I’m ashamed to admit that, let alone my full bottles, I have a fair amount of trouble draining even my samples/decants.
Hi Erin
Thanks for the tip re: Beurre Exquise. I’ve never, ever heard of that one so I look forward to discovering something completely new.
It’s spendy, but a great way to moisturize.
I really kick myself. I had collected a lot of samples, plus a few miniatures, of fragrance from the late eighties and early nineties, mostly stuff that was handed to me in department stores. When I was pregnant I went through them, in a fit of decluttering. I determined that I wasn’t going to wear any of them, so I put them out to the curb. Stupid! It’s not like they were taking up floor space! Some of those I would dearly love to revisit, if for no other reason than to compare them with reformulations, revisit a scent that’s being discussed, and so forth.
Ah, you see, pregnancy “nesting” energy can be dangerous! (I feel better now about never having any – my mother had to make me buy a change table the day before I delivered….)
I totally get what you’re saying about Calvin Klein Truth! I had a bottle of this some years ago but I was careless back then, and bought perfumes if I liked the name or bottle, the actual scent took a back seat if you can believe it. I remember feeling queasy when I used it, but I persisted because I.Must.Finish.Every.Bottle.
Please see response above – you finish bottles?!? Every bottle?! I am overcome with admiration. And glad to know this isn’t just some Truth reformulation problem…
Yes it is a trait ingrained in my childhood – if you buy it, you finish it. Which is why I can never have more than 10 bottles at a time. And also why I have a rule about sending bottles I no longer like to the room spray shelf! 🙂
What happens when you run out of shelf room?
LOL that hasn’t happened yet!
It looked like it was going to last year when I had about 20 bottles on my dresser and numerous samples lying around then I got really strict with myself buying new bottles (i.e. no new ones until the current collection was under 10) and edited the collection middle of this year, sending a number to the room spray shelf.
Which is one of my bookshelves, and when that fills up I will expand to the rest of my bookshelf (4 shelves left!), then the bedside tables, the TV console … 🙂 I am down to under 10 bottles now so I can buy Eau Premiere guilt-free if Santa doesn’t get it for me!
PS I tried Samsara (from a sample vial) for the first time a couple of nights ago and where I had sprayed it on my inner arm went bright red within 30 minutes! Both arms too! I freaked out and rubbed some hand sanitizer on it and it faded away. Pity because I didn’t mind the actual scent when I used it as room spray last night. The last time this happened it was with Poeme which I had bought online – I’m thinking it might have been older stock and somehow contaminated?
This is a good idea – but where would I put my books? My single bookshelf is seriously overloaded as it is, with books lined up 2 or 3 deep. Guess I should just visit Ikea!
I would say you’re having a reaction to one of the ingredients, not that the perfume has spoiled in some way. This is not uncommon. Samsara seems safer for you as room spray…
I’m looking for something I love in a wonderful, classy bottle. Black Orchid, White Patchouli, Bulgari Jasmine Noir…maybe White Patch. There is also Creed’s Love in White and Love in Black I’ve yet to try-but the right mix of love for scent and bottle seems elusive.
I must be the only person on earth who finds the Black Orchid bottle sort of tacky. I generally like Bulgari bottles, though.
It IS tacky isn’t it?? It looks rubbery to me. From Bvlgari I like the green tea bottle, the tall one better than the ones they use for Rose Essentielle, Femme (is that the right name?) etc.
I say “delightfully tacky”! I think Luca Turin referred to it as Joan Collins-esque, and I would agree. It certainly matches the scent itself well, you can’t argue that. 🙂
I don’t like the shape, but I think it’s the plastic cap that bothers me the most. I like the melamine resin/plastic-like bottles like Kenzo Amour and Bond Chinatown, but otherwise plastic bugs me.
The ugliest bottle I own is Bond Westside. It’s so unattractive it makes me angry. I hide it. I’m a glass-bottle-or-nothing snob. But I like the Black Orchid bottle. Go figure.
i got that problem with Ambre Narguile and Black Orchid. i love both of them, but i don’t know if i’ll wear either one often enough to buy them…
:/
The Ambre is quite an investment, too. Maybe get the travel sprays? (I just did that with the Osmanthe Yunnan…)
Not related to this post, and yet a lovely quote I wanted to share: “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” ~ Mark Twain
I think we all welcome something profound anytime, and you did mention violets! 😉
I like!
The number of things that guy wrote, you wonder if he ever had time to eat or sleep. It’s amazing.
This is a great topic, Erin!
I guess I have a purgatory list from various samples that I ordered thinking they would be fantastic based on the notes and reviews I read on the blogs. In truthe, only a few of these samples ever make it to the ‘love it’ or ‘must have’ list, while the majority sit in the middle of interesting or ‘nice, but’ zone, and a similar number as the ‘love it’ list sit in the ‘yuck’ pile.
I’m in agreement about struggling with the Tauer scents. On the one hand, most are masterful creations and I love to smell them. On the other hand, few I would want to wear just to wear as far as fragrances go. I keep on buying samples just to keep trying, though – they are quite addictive!
Thanks! In a sense, it’s kind of fortunate you and I don’t have an enormous pile of “Love it”s. The FB situation around here is crazy as it is….
Hi Opera – the only tauer fragrances I truly like are the L’Air and then Maroc pour Elle. The others are a challenge for me, and I don’t care for birchtar in general….
This is my first comment, I really needed to create an account here. It is always interesing!
Some scents are at the purgatory since years although I still think of them often: Vent Vert by Balmain and Jardins de Bagatelle. Without forgetting Hypnotic Poison and Chanel 19. Although I like the smell, they make me feel dizzy and yet I still have these bottles inside a box and from time to time keep on smelling the spray button.
Welcome! Noticing your name: vintage samples are a trail of heartbreak for me. They’re often alarming enough at first for this modern nose to recoil and put them in purgatory, but then I decide I love them and bottles can’t be had for under $350.
You know, after reading all the above, I realize that I have most of the MDCI fragrances in permanent purgatory. Not just cause I can’t really afford them, but because I actually can’t decide if I really like any of them at all. Maybe if Enlevement cost about $70 per bottle it would be easier to decide, but in some cases, I do think that price has somehting to do with purgatory status – if it cost that much, it better make me feel like a goddess AND wash up the pans after T-day dinner too! It’s like some sort of bell curve? mathmatical equation? The more expensive it gets, the harder I am going to judge it.
I would definitely agree with that. As the price goes up, so does expectation. That’s not to say, though that I should expect less just because it costs less, after all, if I don’t like it, what does it matter how much it cost?
I’ve sampled 3 of the MDCI scents, and have yet to understand the excitement over them. Even at $70/bottle for Enlevement, which is lovely, I would still probably keep my Femme edp (the reformulated version purchased circ. 2002). But that’s just me. I recall paying less than $50 for that…
I paid $35 CAD for mine and I love it, but I’d pay 10 times that for the original Femme OR Enlevement. But feel the same way you do about a few of the Kilians and, for example, EL Azuree or any of the older Rochas scents.
I agree completely with the cost argument, but not with the specific example of MDCI or more particuarly Enlevement. I was chatting with someone yesterday who agreed it’s one of the few scents that makes both of us teary. If I found it at $70, I’d die of excitement and my dishes would continue to sit there….
Erin: It may just be my goofy nose – Enlevement smells to me almost exactly like the cozy drydown of Nahema … with a light dusting of cinnamon. I prefer the Nahema, so Enlevement went to purgatory. But it surely is a masterfully composed scent. It just didn’t do it for me at that price point. I’d rather buy more Nahema….
Hmm, yes, I gues I see the comparison there. Like Nehema, too, but find the Enlevement much more animalic.
It’s interesting to me you comment about animalic facets. My nose is totally defective — unless it is very poweful smelly socks, I almost never smell animalic/skank. I can smell civet if it is very strong, otherwise, no. I can see how that would change the fragrance significantly, even though I can’t smell it. In the drydown, Enlevelment smells like yummy pudding to me.
Yes indeed. To whom much money is given, much is expected. . .. I feel the same way about designer clothes. If I’m going to shell out $300 on blue jeans, they had better make me look like Audrey Tautou.
INFP here. Actually an exact 50/50 between F and T. Although I would love to be a T rather than an F (they seem like they get more done), the more descriptions I read, the better the F fits.
Not much in purgatory. They’re actually samples or decants that I don’t particularly like but have. There’s Cuir Amethyste (big bleh there), Vanille Gallante (bleh bleh), 5 o’clock au gingembre (too candied), L’eau bleue by issey miyake (I don’t know what this is doing here. It’s not something I could ever like. It smells rabidly chemical), and Idole de Lubin (this one turned on me. I LOVED it at first and wore it constantly last winter. I put it on this fall, and all I smell was cheap chemical spice and rubbing alcohol).
And here is the Idole again! What is up with this one? Nobody can make up their minds…
I have just discovered that Idole de Lubin smells like a lighter version of the original Fendi for women, sadly disc. All major spices, cumin, and leather. If Fendi released this as a reformulation of Fendi, no one would even blink. Well, maybe just me. If you like the original Fendi, then you would like Idole…
I do like having the variety of a “purgatory basket”, so that if I find myself overwhelmingly in need of a hyacinth/vetiver/banana blend, I’ll likely find something in the stash that will give me a temporary fix (with that kind of craving, probably a Patou!) I’m less fixated on finding a HG like I used to be; now I’m just curious to see my years as translated through fragrance. Having a “purgatory basket” allows me to reflect on faded connections and polar shifts in inspiration. I’ve come to believe that you don’t look for a fragrance to suit a static personality and clear-cut life experiences; you learn more about who you are through exceptional scent in the same way a certain painting might be a perpetual favorite, but its meaning to you changes as time goes by. Or finding yourself inspired by something that never inspired you before; like being a “Vermeer” gal all your life, only to find yourself now lingering whenever you walk by that captivating, “Jackson Pollack” mess. If it had been banished from the collection after being initially passed over, you would’ve missed the experience of finding yourself drawn to something you never would’ve imagined being drawn to–the excitement of new and unexpected inspiration. That’s why the concept of the HG is such an elusive one and why we sometimes find ourselves newly relating to a sample that was once thoguht to be nondescript or even intolerable; every moment we’re changing–exposed to new experiences that force us to question everything we’ve already known–and by the time we’ve found the HG that would’ve moved us years ago, we’re already moved on, searching for something that would speak to us now. Life is a funny thing. Experiencing mysterious olfactory obsessions, as they loop in and out of favor throughout life, has a fascinating way of making it even funnier.
Sorry! I thought I spaced this!
NLB, it is so beautiful, I wanna hang it on my wall!!!!
thaaaaanks 😀
Agreed, well said!
Aww, thanks :). All you guys are the best. Keenly tuned, hyper-sensualists, deeply reflective observers and TOTALLY AWESOME.
Oh, the concept of the HG is surely a static one. It’s the actual finding of one that’s elusive. 😉
Like I said, Robin R.: “…deeply reflective observers.” 😛
Don’t worry about the spacing – the formatting sometimes goes wonky. I want that hyacinth/vetiver/banana Patou! What you say about the the fun of finding atypical loves in the search for your HG is very true.
It’s work, but fun work, to try to think of the elements that link your loves, too. As Samuel Butler wrote: “To know this [what gives you pleasure] is not easy, and how to extend our knowledge of it is the highest and the most neglected of all arts and branches of education.” Despite being very aural, my taste in music is not educated or profound enought to be able to say what I like there – good lyrics in pop is my dumb answer – but I have ideas about the styles and lietmotifs I like in books and visual art.
I have a few that I want to keep trying to see what the fuss is about. Luctor et Emergo – stale trunk in an attic – intriguing and retro, but do I want to smell like an old coat?
Mitsouko – getting there. Appreciate it, but I feel like I need to be thin and come from old money to wear it.
Jicky – love it on paper – swamp water on skin. Is it civet?
Every vetiver ever made, I *think*, until someone tells me about another one to try.
Tauer Lonestar Memories – the first time I tried it it smelled like old gum and hay. The last time I tried it I started to get it. Same with Incense Extreme.
I only get rid of samples if they are so unpleasant I know after a couple of tries it will never happen.
I seldom get rid of samples, too. And I used to have the same problem with vetiver. I’m still by no means a vetiver fangirl – I don’t get an emotional pull from the roots the same way I do from chypres, citruses and fresh or really rich florals – but repeated exposure to the most high-quality, crisp, vetiver-dominant ones has made me enjoy them. I used to think trying the weirder ones (Annick Goutal, Serge Lutens, TDC etc.) would work, but vetiver is so overpowering in a fragrance that it oddly just seemed to annoy me to have the “Vetiver-plus”.
I guess I worded that one wrong – I keep trying vetivers and thinking “this is the one” until I find a new one to try.
Tama, I thought you loved and owned a FB of Vettiveru? See, there’s one!
Yes, I do! I love vetiver, but am always finding yet another and another and another. I want a darker one to counterbalance the lighter Vetiverru, and just when I think I have found it, someone says, “oh but have you tried…”
I have a big bottle of Givenchy L’Interdit, which I think is beautiful, but not me. I think it does indeed feel like Audrey Hepburn to me: European, gamine, charming, sophisticated. Occasionally I wear a spritz, but it always feels like I’m wearing someone else’s scent. I need something more passionate, less poised.
I like (the old or recently re-issued) L’Interdit, too, but it doesn’t suit me very well either. I like the fuzzy amber bits, but there’s something in the drydown that doesn’t feel like me.
Oh my goodness…I too, have a sorting system and it’s pretty simple actually. Yes, Maybe, and No plastic bags. I’ve transferred scents from the Maybe to Yes many times, but when it comes to the No scents I’m quite decisive. I tell myself that I have to like all the notes in the fragrance….from top to bottom, otherwise it doesn’t belong in the Yes pile. I thought my wallet would breathe a sigh of relief…alas, too many Yes scents LOL.
I’m loving that name: Purgatory Basket….
I’m quite relieved to learn of all the others using the complicated plastic bag system – thank you all, I feel less freaky!
I’m glad I found this blog, I thought I was going crazy from sniffing 100 perfumes at the dept store and not finding more than a couple I like. I recently moved Ormonde Jayne Woman from the Maybe to Yes. It helps that the fiance likes it also 🙂
Erin, I appreciate your dilemma, but you have to resist the hoarder in you and let go! In the words of the great Bob Marley: “don’t you know when one door is closed, another one opens”
Luckily my daughter has the Girl Guide Christmas fair every year at the local church where partially used toiletries are accepted. Most people are put off bythe ‘health and safety’ aspect of this, but I have always found some interesting perfumes that have been donated from Joy to Diorella. What goes round comes round – it’s a great place to offload perfumes you are not too keen on.
Umm… this fair you speak of, where is it exactly? Because I think we’re all wanting to go there.
Agreed!
I keep meaning to take my ignored bottles to a Women’s shelter/employment Centre, as they do through Makeup Alley. Note to self….
I work with a charity that offers job seeker coaching services for underprivileged women trying to get back into the work force. Along with interviewing skills training and resume writing, we provide the ladies with an interview suit and shoes and treat them to a makeover (haircut and makeup). A few months ago, one of the volunteers brought in several partially-used bottles of interview-appropriate fragrances she’d picked up on ebay. Our ladies were thrilled! As we all know so well, there is just something about a spritz of fragrance that adds to a lady’s self-confidence. Since then, all of we volunteers have been bringing in our ‘maybe’s or ‘not anymore’s and sharing them. I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if our 4th quarter figures show an increase in successful job placements. 🙂
Thanks so much for commenting with this great info, Teri. I have a few friends that volunteer at a shelter for teens and young adults and they’ve told similar stories. I really need to get my butt in action.
Erin and Teri, what an excellent thought!
Definitely! Especially since I have several suits boxed up in the corner to donate to such a place anyway. That’s a great idea for those dull pre-niche discovery frags that refuse to be swapped away.
FYI: a lot of nursing homes love to get perfume and jewelry (doesn’t have to be good jewelry–the cheaper the better, I’ve been told) donated as prizes for bingo.
Great piece, Erin. A thought that came to me while reading this over the weekend was: “Thank heaven for the purgatory basket, or my wallet would be in hell (not to mention, deader than dead).”
I cleaned up much of my ever-metastasizing vial pile this weekend, and sorted my decants by height/size.
I really, really need a “Bin of No Return”… from which the only fate is being mailed on to other perfumistas.
I guess “purgatory” is anything that’s not instant love or instant hate, and for me, that category is pretty large. As some others have mentioned, I have tended to keep ALL vials that cross my path, at least just in the name of “research” or “reference” but I’m slowly but surely trying to change that. True purgatory often includes so-called classics that I think I should love, like Vol de Nuit and Shalimar (I’ve gotten over the Mitsouko hump and enjoy it deeply, but not often).
Thanks, J – and I agree, my wallet and I are already in at least the 5 upper circles of hell with the rest of the self-indulgent sinners. I’m finally trying to send some of my samples off to good homes, too. I find the problem is, however, that if you don’t want them, often others don’t really want them either.
I do have a very small collection of samples that are in permanent purgatory, and some that I graciously send off to others. One thing that helps me though is that I often treat fragrances that don’t make the cut personally for me as a kind of “reference” material. I store them away if I think I will want to refer to them again for “research” purposes. And I do generally try very hard to avoid fragrances that I know will not interest me at all. It keeps the clutter down.
Speaking of which, over the holiday and being near a mall I did have the chance to smell the D&G Rose. It is actually not that bad for a rose. Perhaps its salvation is that it is a new mainstream rose, which aren’t that common these days for new releases.
Yes, Ann: “reference material.”
You and I both are working hard to set up our very own Osmoz Fragrance Libraries on both coasts of North America!
Don’t forget the Upper Midwest branches, staffed by Daisy and me. 😀 My reference materials are alphabetized by house and neatly stored in a couple of beader’s boxes, listed out in both an Excel spreadsheet (house, concentration, type, season, perfumer, notes) and a word document (full note listing and description).
Yes, I love the idea of my own personal smelling library! I only wish I had the time to update my lists and my sad spreadsheet. All these recent swaps have swamped me!! But I did discover that the Idole smells very similar to the original Fendi for women fragrance. I wish I could spend more time cataloging!! And going on research trips…
I totally feel the same about D&G’s Rose! I tried it for the first time on one arm and Guerlain Idylle on the other and Rose The One completely overshadowed Idylle. I really liked it and contemplated putting it on my wish list. I was surprised because the reviews I have read online have dismissed it – too linear, boring, indistinguishable from anything else on the market bla bla bla. Now I’m thinking I won’t read another review until I try a fragrance first, that way I can sniff something without any preconception of what it might smell like!
Good policy about testing first. Occasionally I find someone who’s tastes run very similar to mine and then can rely on their reviews. On Basenotes, I’ve found a few reviewers I like.
The Rose *is* a bit linear, but to me it acts as a rose soliflore style fragrance with a nice soft musk base. Nothing wrong with some well done simplicity in a department store full of boring smell-alikes. I considered it for my list as well. It’s pretty far down on my list, but still meritous. It is refreshing as it does indeed smell different from the rest the department store. And I like those roses – a nice mainstream rose that isn’t paired up with a big patch-amber base.