I have some non-perfume / real-life things demanding my attention right now, so no review again today, sorry! Kevin will have an article tomorrow about Laura Tonatto's Eleonora Duse fragrance, and on Friday, we'll have our first guest author post, courtesy of Trish at Scent Hive. Hopefully I'll be back with a review next Tuesday.
Please feel free to use this as an open thread if you like, and apologies in advance for not chiming in.
Note: image is Rose Petals by audreyjm529 at flickr; some rights reserved.
What?? You have a life?? How dare you! 🙂
SOTD a brief spritz of Une Rose Chypree – forgot how completely lovely it is. It has been variable weather here so figured it would be okay. Yummy stuff.
Oh – good one. You smell fantastic! 😉
That’s working it’s way into being one of my favorites. Now I may have to think about putting some of that one when I get home.
One of my favorites too! I’m a fan of rose in general, but the URC has got to be one of the best ever.
I’m wearing URC today, too, and yesterday as well. Testing a blend with Le Maroc Pour Elle. I’ve got some samples of the latter and really don’t like the musty note that lurks around the 1st part of the lifespan (maybe the patch?), so I thought if I combine the 2, it might heighten the florals and kill off the undesirable mustiness. I think it’s working….
mmmmm….URC is such an intense dose of spicy rosiness (and cinnamon! ) It never goes out of rotation! You smell divine!
Hope you’re good-busy, or at least not bad-busy! SOTD is Le Chevrefeuille, in honor of the supposedly only sunny day in sight this week… which is turning awfully cloudy awfully fast. Oh well!
Chevrefeuille is kinda nice in cool and cloudy too, if you ‘re in the mood for it. Sorry your sun is going away…we just get rain and cold so maybe it’s headed toward us—I would really like to see that big yellow ball for a few minutes….sigh….
I hate when life gets in the way of important things, like perfume!
SOTD: Un Jardin sur le Nil (summer here in Florida). Current obsession: SIP Magazine St. Saw that discount offer & now can’t get it out of my head even though I sampled it & it lasted about 5 minutes. Maybe a spray….maybe…I need to get back to work!
SIP discount offer? Hmm? How did I miss this?
Robin posted under today’s online shopping. $20 off $50 or more.
I’ve been trying to Avoid the Lemming at all costs that I must not even be looking at the shopping opportunities. As long as no one says anything about good deals anywhere else I seem to be in the clear. Dang it. Ok, now I have to go check that out.
Hope you’ve got something fun happening! SOTD is Cologne du 68. Needed something for summer other than my citrusy eaux and this seems to be working well. Tried PdN Le Temps d’Une Fete for the first time yesterday – the jury’s still out but I don’t think it’s going on my “to buy” list.
How funny. Mee as well for the same reason. Since Monday, we are having a heat wave over here in Zagreb, Croatia, so tis morning I neede something fresh, but not the usual citrusy summer smell. I was deciding between Fire Island by Bond and Cologne du 68, The cologne was right there on my dresser and Fire Island in the perfume cabinet….
SOTD for me was Rochas Lui.
Hope you’re okay Robin!
As this is an open thread, can I just use this as an open shout out for Bogart pour Homme which has become a firm favourite of mine in recent weeks. Jeez talk about a great fragrance that nobody talks about. Absolutely divine and sexy as hell.
Has ELd’O’s Like This hit North America yet? The SA is supposed to contact me, but I have only had one SA *ever* get back to me — three weeks after the item had ended up in the store.
It’s turned cool and rainy so my cologne does not. Will put on some Cuir de Lancome when I go home, and curl up on the sofa…
It’s at Luckyscent. Don’t know about brick-and-mortar.
It’s lovely, by the way.
SA from where? LuckyScent is taking preorders but not shipping until 6/17. Not sure about Bendels or Barney’s or whoever else stocks ELdO.
I WISH Barney’s did ELd’O – it is a perfect line for them!
Forgot it was in pre-order still at LS – it’s on the front page so I thought it was there.
I just got some in the mail today from a little split angel named Joe! Haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but a quick sniff under the cap was delightfully gingery.
Cool! The Perfume Angel struck at my house too! Gingery goodness lasted about 10 seconds for me then it went right to an immortelle bath….got to be too much…so I sprayed some DK Gold edt on it to cut the sweet….that worked good for an hour or two….then it was back to syrup….so I smoothed on some oak moss and sandalwood shea butter and now it smells pretty good! I have been thinking about pancakes all day long!!! 😉
I finally sprayed some on 2 hours ago, and yup, that immortelle is a doozy! Luckily I don’t mind it at all (being a good New Englander, I could drink maple syrup straight — not that I’ve ever done that, oooh no), but this is strong stuff…
LOL. After your comment and Natalie’s it makes me wonder if I have immortelle-damping skin.
Daisy: I recommend that you never try AG Sables or Dior Eau Noire if the Swinton is killing you. 😉
I like the most microscopic pin drop of Sables, which will last for many wonderful hours with impressive sillge. That stuff is a beautiful monster!
Hope all is well Robin! SOTD: Heeley Iris de Nuit. Such a lovely little thing. Goes well with the gloomy weather in my neck of the woods today. [But I’m not complaining. All of my watering is being done for me and saving me some work.]
Oooh! I actually have a sample of this one…need to try it!
Which now that I think about it…didn’t you send it to me, V? 🙂
LOL Indeed. Would love to know what you think when you try it. Out of all the irises I’ve tried, I really like this one & the VC&A Bois d’Iris.
Does that mean you wound up buying a bottle?
Not a FB, but I did buy a 10 ml decant.
Hope everything’s OK with you, Robin… In any case, don’t worry about us — obviously we’re quite capable of entertaining ourselves!
SOTD is Iris Silver Mist; I sprayed my little decant with abandon because I’m getting a big honking 45ml of it soon (one of my birthday treats). Finally, a Serge I can love! I do like Gris Clair, but ISM is in a class by itself.
I also treated myself to a sample order from TPC recently, including some DSH scents — Oeillets Rouge, Tamarind/Paprika, and Cimabue. Either my skin is doing something odd to them or I just don’t “get” this line; they’re all smelling like cheap scented candles, unfortunately.
ISM is pretty great stuff.
The line that goes all candle on me is Possets. There are a couple that are okay but mostly I smell like waxy baked goods.
I had a gift cert for a website that sold Possets, so purchased a few unsniffed. The one winner for me was Venus Black. Really interesting scent, definitely not in the candle/baked goods genre! The others were Haute Love (chocolate brownies) and Silver Roses (weird scent – haven’t tried this one on skin yet – sort of smells like wilted, stale roses in water in the bottle).
Good luck with everything, Robin!
SOTD Lolita Lempicka Fleur de Corail. Although I wasn’t supposed to buy anymore perfume this month, I picked this up for $19.99 at Marshall’s (1.7 oz — couldn’t resist!). At first I wasn’t sure about it but it has really grown on me and I’m enjoying the heck out of it. Lasting power is not as good as the other LL’s, which is fine by me — it’s not as overwhelming. Makes me think of warm, powdery sand and soft vanilla.
That Fleur de Corail is really nice. I may need to wheedle a decant out of someone (ahem) I know who just bought a backup bottle. I suppose for as cheap as it is, I could get my own 30ml or 50ml bottle. It’s a fun bottle too, though a little tacky maybe.
It is a fun bottle — but yeah, fun-tacky! I like it better than the L bottle, although it’s very similar.
Oh wow, I almost picked this up unsniffed a few weeks ago at TJMaxx. Now I’m wishing I did…Is the sample-wheedlee someone I know? 😉
Grrr… if you’re talking about me, when I went back to Marshall’s they were out. 🙁 Now I have to try and hit TJs and a different Marshall’s and see if they have them. Aaargh… why do I resist lemmings when it’s something that I neeeeeeeeeeeeed and give in when it’s something that turns out to be a scrubber?
C: I guess I wouldn’t stress about the Corail only because it’s so cheap online, no? Maybe not as cheap as Marshall’s though… it’ll turn up. (oh, and yes, I was referring to you, lol)
Dontcha just love Marshall’s and TJ’s? I recently purchased Loloita Lempicka L for $16.99 and Marc Jacobs Gardenia splash for $19.99. Neither one is a favorite, but they’re pleasant enough and the bargain pricing makes me enjoy them a little more. 🙂
I bought the Cucumber splash for the same price. As you say, not top scent, but good enough…and a HUGE bottle!
I know, at those prices you don’t care so much if it’s only “like” and not “love”!
Have you guys tried Marc Jacobs Biscotti splash? I’ve been thinking about trying it, but I’m trying to get away from gourmand a bit. I suppose going for Biscotti would take me a bit off track. 🙂
Sweetonpink – I have tried MJ Biscotti and I was very surprised how much I liked it…enough that I was tempted to pay full price for it. But I resisted. I’m going to be patient and see if it starts showing up at TJs/Marshall’s the way all the others have. Anyway – it is not nearly as gourmand as you would think. I was expecting it to smell like syrupy almond or some Comptoir Sud Pacifique disaster. Instead, it is rather sugary but it is also beautifully floral as well. It’s just so unusual, it’s hard to describe, but I love it! As per most MJs, it fades quickly. One spritz on my hand faded within five minutes. But with all the splashes, they’re in those giant bottles so you are supposed to apply liberally.
Robin, I hope everything is ok. We promise to be good while you’re away. 😉 (Well, I guess I can’t speak for everyone. You know who you are.)
No SOTD yet, but last night I tried vintage Rochas Femme, sample courtesy of Joe. (Thank you!!) I tried it a few weeks ago and couldn’t smell it, through no fault of it’s own, and really wanted to give it another try. At first I thought, Well, alright, it’s got a smell… it’s ok. But something happened to it, and I couldn’t stop smelling myself. I will probably put some on when I get home, and I am already plotting my purchase. Ooh, but that makes me think: is there a big diff between vintage and the current formulation? Any thoughts? I want to be sure before I buy anything. (I know it can be found pretty cheap online, but still.)
Kitty – the one time I got a whiff of Rochas Femme – the new version – at the Perfume House – (recall) it reminded me a lot of distant and lovely cousins to the soft leather note in Mitsouko. I think your nose was already destroyed by the CdG at that time… it is no surprise to me that you like it!! I hesitate to rec that you wander across town to smell it, but they do have the current version there. It would clear things up!
You’re so sweet, Ann! What you should have said was, “Umm.. duh! Go back to the Perfume House and smell it again!” Which is what I should do, except I feel like bad if I leave there without buying anything, and that’s never good. 🙂 And I’m still afraid of the CdG! What if she brings it out again??
Hang a sign around your neck that you are not allowed to smell CdG under any circumstances!! You shouldn’t feel guilty — they killed your nose by accident for like three weeks! Think of the test of Femme as payback!
there’s really no shame in squealing and running away….well, not much shame….
You’ve got me curious – what CdG was this?
I think it was CdG 3? It singed my sinuses. For three days. I’m still traumatized. And now it worries me that I don’t remember which one it was, because that means this could happen again.
Scary!
I could send you a sample of the new formulation! I think it is quite good, but it is different, so worth trying before you buy a bottle.
nina at wanderingmind dot com
Thanks! Got your MUA message!
Miss K. – *if* you like the current version, I can send you a bottle. I’ve worn Femme for years, and to my nose, it isn’t that the new version smells so very different, or “bad”, just more synthetic and of course I miss the oak moss, which made it a very cool (as in temp. not hipness) scent to me.
Miss Kitty: First, glad you liked! Second, which CdG is the lemming, do tell?
I don’t know that I’ve tried the new formulation, but see Angela’s review below; I think it’s said to be more cumin-heavy. Note that I got my 2/3 full 2oz bottle of vintage EdC on ebay for $26+$6 s/h. It’s worth keeping your eyes open.
There are several slightly different bottle & box types out there. The caps have letters embossed around the flat top: newer versions I think just have “Rochas”, but mine says “Marcel Rochas,” which I think indicates older.
Oh, no lemming! Fear and loathing! Bad experience with what I think was CdG 3. I accidentally got hair dye up my nose once (don’t ask), and that wasn’t nearly as painful and traumatizing. Not even close.
By the way, now that you mention cumin… how weird is it that I actually like something with cumin in it? Huh. Odd.
Oops, and obviously I meant to paste a link to Angie’s review of Femme, but you can easily look it up in the index.
Not a lemming, but a gnimmel, I think.
Cracked me up, Robin, when you said “if you like” – as if we could possibly pass up an open thread opportunity! 😉 Hope you have a nice break from NST. Thanks for all your devotion!
SOTD: Chanel No 5 Eau Premiere!
Anyone read The Perfect Scent by Chandler Burr? I’m reading it now – interesting read! I also read his book on LT’s smell theory. Amazing, really. Highly recommend both books.
Latest discovery – AG’s Mandragore! Rustic, did you send me this one? I think so. Thanks! (Still haven’t tried the JMs…need to get to those!) Anyway, Mandragore reminds me of the obscure Sinfonia di Note Saveur d’Artichaut which I fell for through a random sample I received. Mandragore is much easier to find. Love it! Definitely need to try it in the EDP…and also get my hands on the Poupre.
OH! One more thing – to those of you interested in that 10 ml bottle of Womanity, it’s now available on the Thierry Mugler website for $30. I just purchased on. Yeah, I know NST has a giveaway going on it, but if I win one, I’ll then have two bottles. Ha ha. Hope I like it. BTW, it might only be available to “Circle” members…?
Yeah, if I don’t win one I’m thinking about buying… but maybe I should get a sample first. It’s not really going to be in stores for sampling till August or something. Not that I don’t have enough things to smell.
That’s what the email I got said…members only. Ooooh. 😉 I need to play around on that website some…it was truly odd.
I wish Goutal would figure out a distribution system already! The whole line is all but gone from all the stores. They used to have a huge counter at Bloomie’s and now they have about 4 bottles. Sad. Never my fave line but some were growing on me, like Mandragore.
I went into Nordstrom some time back hoping to sniff Ninfeo Mio and noticed their AG section was bare as well.
I did the same last month at my local Nordstroms. None to be found. SA told me they could special order any scent, but no demos.
Better than the SA at mine who told me that the entire AG line was discontinued!
So crazy – an SA at Nordstrom in Portland just told me a few weeks ago that they are working out a new distributor for AG for Nordstroms and they should expect new product (including Ninfeo Mio) in the fall. Good grief!
Not like we need another “mail order samples only”… but the line IS at Luckyscent, at least.
Yep – had to check my notes [lol], and I did send you the Mandragore [it appears I did good there] and the Heeley Iris. 🙂
We must have some unexplored overlaps… I love both of those.
Yes, I read Burr’s book a while back. Got it from the library, must get it again for another read. Full of perfume gossip – delicious! I liked the SJP sections best because I was interested in how a person who likes scent but knows little about its science would have her scent desires captured – and then adjusted and filtered for the target market! I have a copy of Celia Lyttleton’s Scent Trail, which is an interesting comparison – she too gets to make her own scent but as it will never be sold commercially, she gets to keep her vision (I think, haven’t finished it yet). Nice book, quality of the writing only average (I thought).
I liked SJP’s approach to scent and appreciated her desire that Lovely would be value for money for people who, like her mother, had to save up for perfume. I bought and wore Lovely a lot after that, tho’ I’m kind of over it now. Her later releases didn’t interest me much. I tried her latest the other day. Bleh. Even the SAs were rolling their eyes.
I agree about the writing. It’s not entirely Mr. Burr’s fault, of course. Every book needs an editor and every GREAT book had an even BETTER editor. I actually could not get past Chapter 3 of The Emperor of Scent…The Perfect Scent was the better written of the two, I’d say.
I agree with you about SJP’s latest — a disappointment for sure! I thought Lovely was very nice and I really liked Covet (I guess not many did, though).
I love Covet – even got a backup bottle cause it was cheap!
Wonderful, yes, I love that. I did the same with Lovely, which can often be picked up cheap.
I still love Lovely — esp. for a hot summer’s evening.
I loved Chandler Burr’s books on perfume. I tried to read his fiction, and that was when I realized that I am not as smart as I think I am. 🙁
The older I get, the more I realize I *don’t* know.
I love Burr’s perfume books too, and you’re plenty smart, kitten. My god, you’re ferociously brainy, so quit that. I haven’t given his novel a go, but I’m guessing that it’s fairly…..dense? Not entirely accessible? A little too adjectival? How would you describe it?
Never tried his fiction, didn’t like the sound of it. There is a word in Australian parlance that I won’t use in this polite company, but it means ‘pretentious’.
Yeah… I just felt like I wasn’t getting what the underlying point was. It’s been a while since I tried to read it, though.
I loved the books as well. I am re-reading them now. I downloaded Turin’s blog from 2005, so once you start wishing he wrote more, email me (dorycubana at gmail dot com) so I’ll send you all 500 pages. I am loving it and treat myself to only a couple of pages each day. I’d like it to last….
Hope you get everything you need to get done, R! Take care.
I love that image up there; Flickr never ceases to amaze.
SOTD = CdG Series 8: Grapefruit, an old standby citrus that I love. It’s at least as much about orange as grapefruit. Best of all, no cat pee!
You know, after all my whining about how much citrus bores me, I am enjoying the citrus in Moschino Funny! – nice grapefruit rose with a bit of tea.
It’s a good thing I didn’t love that one (though it’s nice enough). If I had, I wouldn’t be here. The SA in Macy’s tried to foist that one on me a couple of years ago: “Here, dear, you seem to like the fruity florals, try this one”. Hm, try: you have nothing on your counter that isn’t a fruity floral, and I’m trying to decide if ANY of them are worth skin space. Happily, I wandered down the hall to Sephora, found the Hermes Jardins, and the rest is history.
I haven’t smelled “Grapefruit” yet but I adore “Lime” … it’s zippy and then some. Wakes you right up!
Hope all is well, Robin.
SOTD: Jo Malone Amber and Lavender and a VERY unfortunate spritzing of Giorgio. I was having quick wander along the fragrance counter in Boots and happened to pass behind a woman who clearly felt the need to top up the incredible amount of Giorgio she was wearing with still more. She turned to her friend as she sprayed it, the bottle moved, I walked by and it t is still lingering despite several scrubs. My 3.5 year-old daughter said ‘Eew, Mummy, what is that SMELL? Is it Rebecca’s nappy?’. Apologies to any Giorgio lovers out there but it is definitely not for me!
LOL at the nappy comparision! I can’t honestly remember the last time I smelled Giorgio. Apparently that’s a good thing.
You know, I used to kinda like Giorgio, waaaaay back when. You had to put it on DELICATELY, though, or you were a walking smell bomb. I never owned any – but my friend, the one whose father used to hand her $300 and say, “Go shopping for your mother’s birthday present,” applied lightly, and it was lovely on her.
Tested the current version about six months ago, and it was just HIDEOUS. I mean, Explosion at the Radioactive Nuclear Power Plan.
Uh, that would be Power PlanT. Sorry.
Unfortunately, not many people had the sense to apply it lightly. Of course, I was a Poison girl myself in the 80’s, and I probably applied too much. Recently, I took out my vintage 1986 bottle of Poison and spritzed a little on one arm–I HATED it! I don’t know if it has turned or my tastes have changed, but I don’t think I will ever wear it again.
This is hilarious. You’ll have to wash everything you had on. Nappys, lol.
Hope you can get your Real Life stuff taken care of quickly and easily, Robin.
Beautiful photo – and I’m looking forward to the Eleanora Duse review. Violets, mmm.
SOTD: more aldehydes. I have Vega, L’Aimant, and L’Ame Soeur on various portions of my arms. Digging all of them, in different ways, but Vega is my favorite of the three.
This might seem like a really silly question, but I’m still fairly new to the wider world of scent, so I hope you’ll forgive my dummkopfery: how do you test several perfumes at once? I always seem to get distracted, and worry that I’m not paying close enough attention to each individual scent. The perfumes seem to rise into the air and blend, and my confused nose can’t parse out the unique individual notes.
Is there a way to do it that makes it easier? Did you grow into that facility? Should I dab one in the crook of an elbow, and another on the top of my hand, or some similarly spaced-out locations? Hold me, please.
Far from a dumb-headed question. In a pinch I can try on four fragrances at at time: back of each hand and crook of each elbow. Usually stick to two samples, though, and sniffing close to the skin will cause less confusion. I sample perfumes the same way I sample wines, forgetting about notes and cutting it down to: me like or: me no like. Once I find a perfume/wine I like then I can wax poetic about that one and forget the rest.
I always try just one on my left hand. It is too expensive to confuse one thing with another when testing more than one 🙂
Hi Chante – not a dumb question. When I get a pack with a bunch of samples in them, of course, I am very eager. What I normally do first is what I call a “quick sniff”: I put a different one lightly on the tops of my fingers (on the soft skin near the first knuckle). That way I can get a quick sniff of all of them to decide which one I want to pursue more in depth first. Also, if I don’t like one of them, it is an easy location to quicky wash off (or smear off with gel alcohol stuff). Then for more indepth sniffing, I will do the following, up to three per arm: the back of the hand, lower forearm, upper forearm. I rarely test in the crook of my arm or anywhere else. Occasionally if a fragrance is to have a lot of sillage I will put a dab on my chest so I can smell the sillage waft up right under my nose. Good luck!
I usually do not test more than three on skin at one time, and preferably only two. If I want to sniff a lot of frags (like when I’m shopping) I try them on the paper strips first, and only choose the very best to try on my skin. To test two at a time, I put one on each wrist. To add a third, I put it on the upper arm. I try to avoid using the back of the hand if I want to be able to sniff it over several hours, because the first time I wash my hands, it is gone–or at least diluted or mixed with the soap smell. Sometimes, if I have gotten a sample that smells as if it may be a scrubber, I DO use the back of the hand, so it will be easy to remove if it is truly vile.
The “truly vile” comment reminds me that I never test a fragrance for the first time anywhere on my neck or near my face – it can be a big disaster if you really hate something!
And, of course, the more you hate it, the harder it is to get off!
Well, Chanterais – I hardly EVER do that. Thing is, I’ve worn all of those before and liked them, and they’re all aldehydic florals so I knew they would play nicely together, and I was really comparison testing anyway.
I had Vega on my left wrist, L’Ame Soeur on my right, and L’Aimant on my left forearm near my elbow. Three is about my limit…
Daisy is the Queen of Multiple Testing, among other things. Where is she, anyway?
Me too – on the ED review by Kevin! Actually, I’d love to read more impressions about Laura Tonnato’s fragrances in general.
Mals: Speaking of aldewhores (no offense), I finally tried a spritz of No. 22 last night and loved it! This one requires further testing, but I think Melograno may have primed me to be ready for Aldehyde Prime Time.
I’m not saying I’d spray down with 22 and go out in public, but it’s a really lovely fragrance. I was laughing at the fact that you, Daisy, Boojum, and Ann, I think, all seemed to hate it passionately!
Funny! I LOATHED this one, too! : ) And this was a decant that leaked in the mail, so my whole kitchen wreaked for a week… Ugh!
Whoaa… proofreader needed!! That should be “reeked”! Although I suppose both spellings convey the depth of my feelings about that scent…;)
I liked wreaked. The decant wreaked havoc on your kitchen. Works.
Ha! Yes, well, I am surprised you like it so much, but more for you right? Oh, here we go: you are a sucker for those “Chanel-dehydes!” ha ha ha. Too much allergy med and caffiene for Ann today!!
Oy, but now I am feeling a fragrance challenge – I am going to fish out my poor sad sample and test it again! I will get back to you. Bets on whether or not I will finally come around? It took Mitsouko about 15 tries and No 5 about 20 tries… One of these days it will happen.
IMHO that SSS Champagne de Bois is really Ms. Erickson’s homage to No 22 (or BdI as everyone else thinks). Have you tested that? You may decide you like it too.
Now you have to go to the drug store and test Lady Stetson, ha ha.
Ann, I can totally see that about CdB being an ode to No. 22. I hated No. 22 and *almost* liked CdB… except for this weird note that made me sort of sick, but something tells me that I could come around to it in cooler weather.
M & Joe: I also have troubles with the extreme drydown of CdB which is why I’ve never bought it, but for about the first hour I think it is divine. There are a few SSS that have a cedary – musk drydown that don’t work for me. And yes the tastes evolve always!!
OK – so here is the deal. I’ve had a small dab of No 22 edt on for about 20 minutes now, and I haven’t tested it for well over a year. It is such a whallop of soapy incense. BUT… here it comes. I can finally smell the rose in it – that fabled rose I read about but never smelled. And do you want to know why I can smell it now? Of course you do. Wait for the giggles. No 22 smells almost *exactly* like Johnson’s No More Tears Moisture Care Baby Wash. It’s like $3.00 in the pink bottle. Go buy some and lather up. We’ve been using it on our toddler for about 4 months now, and it is a very very funny connection. I’ll admit that the baby wash has more of a cheap lemony rose than the smooth elegant rose in No 22, but it may as well be the unauthorized No 22 body wash. All soap smells come full circle from the house of Chanel!!! 😉 Can I admit now that I like 22 just a teeny tiny bit b/c it smells like my little girl’s bath? .. er, if someone was burning some incense in the background! But I still get Catholic School nightmare from it too. What a combo!
LMAO, A! I love that J&J makes Chanel bubble baths. : )
Ann (I will email you shortly, btw): It’s funny because 22 was love at first sniff — at least last night, but mind you, I only put on about half a spritz from one of those 2ml spray vials.
I did not really like Champagne dB when I tried it a good year and a half ago or so… but lord knows we all “evolve” in our tastes, right? I should try again. I’m still not ready to embrace ALL-dehydes equally… I still don’t love my little decant of Vega, though I don’t hate it either. No 22 isn’t something I’d wear often, but then neither is No 5 parfum… but I would love to have a little smell of either one now and then. They’re both quite happy, glorious, baroque things!
Oh, and apologies to Boojum… she was NOT one of the No 22 haters; I looked at her comment and she seemed to find it very akin to BdI.
See, and I can see the similarities between No. 22, BdI and CdB… but I love the 2 Chanels, and just can’t do CdB. Like Mitali, I find some “off” note in there that makes me queasy. Disappointing, bc I can tell it’s a lovely scent.
No no no, I love it! That’s why I said you had to try it and sent you some!
Joe, it wasn’t the aldehydes that bugged me in 22! It was the blasted SUGAR…
I love BdI (even if the LExcl version seems a bit thin) and like CdB very much. I like my little decant of Baghari too, except for that reeeeeaaally skanky twenty minutes in the middle – seriously, it caused the grocery store cashier to recoil from me. And Mariella Burani. And the fizzy aldehydes in Citizen Queen and HM Haute Couture…
Sigh. Seriously, I’d wear Vega a lot if a) I had more b) it was less ridiculously expensive and c) lasted more than three hours. As it is, I think I might go haunt *bay for more vintage No. 5 parfum…
But maybe I should go hunt up some Melograno to test?
C: I have a label here with your address, all prepaid and everything… I just need to make a sample of Melograno and send it to you. I need to send you an email to find out what else I can drop in there because just ONE sample vial in a bubble mailer sounds like the saddest thing in the world.
Kewl!
I generally like aldehydes—so you’d think that Chanel 22 would be right up my alley….but all I got was frothy soap suds—the kind that get up in your sinuses and make you choke and sneeze ….on me it was awful! I expected to love it!—Bought a bottle unsniffed! 200ml !! I split that baby down to the last 2ml.
So funny because I love Champagne de Bois and don’t get any similarity to Chanel 22……maybe a teeny tiny likeness of Bois des Iles…but still it’s reaching to find it.
Mals, I really like Vega, too. *Someone* on here recently hooked me up with some. I have to admit it wasn’t what I expected from an aldehydic floral, but I love the powderyness (not a word! says spellcheck!) of it.
Vega reminds me quite a bit of Chanel 22……have you ever sniffed Guerlain Liu ? It’s another one along a similar style.
I missed the Liu split.
And the divergence between 22 and Vega is in the late heart/drydown, primarily, where Vega goes all Guerlinade and 22 goes all sugar bowl.
Oh, I love Liu! But I feel like that smells like Chanel No. 5 and iced tea. Vega was… so powdery and sweet it reminded me of one of those cookies, what are they called– pfeffernusse? But without the spices. So maybe it just reminds me of powdered sugar. Or maybe I just have no idea what I’m talking about right now.
I definitely need to sample Vega. I can’t believe there’s an aldehydic Guerlain that I haven’t smelled! Shame on me!
I can get you a sample from my decant!
Holy Zeus. I’m testing Ormonde Jayne’s Tiare today, and it is breathtakingly lovely. Despite being inordinately fond of all of Linda Pilkington’s flowery scents, I had somehow convinced myself that I wouldn’t like this one. Perhaps all the talk of hesperidic-citrusy openings made me a little enh. BUT NO. It’s exquisite.
You know those days when the perfect scent just comes along and jumps on top of you? And it’s so astonishingly beautiful, you feel a bit weepy that something this lovely actually exists, and that you, out of the six and a half billion people on Earth, get to experience it? Yeah. One of those days.
Happy for you! 😉
Funnily enough, I picked up my sample set of OJ from the post office today, and the first sample I got out of the box (LOOOOOVE the packaging) was Tiare. What a gorgeous scent! It actually works well with my chemistry and I am in love. It’s a “cooler” day in NC (low 80’s) and it works perfectly. Can’t wait to try the rest…
Now I need to go see if my sample set had a sample of Tiare or not…
Oh! how I love OJ Tiare…
It sounds to me like the perfect opportunity for a split of the travel set….I’m just sayin…
Hmmm… I’d need OJ Woman too!
OJ’s Champaca makes me feel like that,, over and over again…
Hope everything is well, Robin!
I treated myself to a couple of Miller Harris mini candles and they threw in a couple of samples for me. I wore Fleurs de Bois yesterday which is very much in the Bel Respiro vein – a light green floral.
L’Air de Rien today. I was expecting more skank for some reason.
to me L’Air de Rien smells like relatively clean wet hair of a human who spent all day in the heat and then suddenly been cought in the rain.
It’s a pleasent and sensual smell I think.
Ooh, yes, I can see the clean hair in the sun thing, I think it’s the slightly ambery/hay-like base. It’s definitely a cleaner scent than I expected.
I love FdB… but you really find it light? With that big old whallop of galbanum, I actually find it a little heavy. Love it enough, though, that it’s one of the few FBs I’ve acquired since discovering splits.
I dabbed it on so perhaps that’s why? I definitely lasted better than Bel Respiro (not hard, granted) but I thought it was quite light and fresh. Not cologne category but not a heavy/oppressive scent either. I rather enjoyed wearing this one, it worked really well on a wet summer day.
No, certainly not oppressive… it’s something of a mid-weight scent to me, I guess; the word light would never have occurred to me. But of course, I have the sort of skin that both amps up the sillage and holds the scent forever, so most things probably seem heavier to me than to others.
Ha, nothing lasts on my skin (except the nasty scrubbers, of course) so I always have to spray on skin and fabric if I want the fragrance to last longer than about an hour.
Hope you get everything taken care of, Robin.
SotD is Thierry Mugler Cologne. It’s nice, but mostly just smells like soap. Which makes sense, as I re-read the review here, and it was meant to smell like a particular soap. Got some samples on ebay and am glad I didn’t shell out for a bottle, even though they are pretty cheap. I must learn to stop buying unsniffed, no matter the discount or how glowing the review! Just got 3 unsniffed bottles and 2 of the 3 are no good. Oh well. You all say it over and over again, as much as you spend on several cheap things unsniffed, you could buy a bottle of something you really like. It’s true and one day I will learn!
Same thing here. I always buy impulsively some stuff I thought I’d like – but I don’t. And after that I think that it would be better if I invested in some Chanel instead…
I couldn’t agree more. I recently placed an order for 3 unsniffed frags because they were cheap and they had gotten high ratings in The Guide. I figured that since decants would cost almost as much as FBs, why not? Like you, I only liked one of the 3–that one is Aimez Moi, which I find to be a very happy, feel-good scent. I think that for what I spent on the other two, I would have been well along on paying for the bottle of Ormonde Woman that is next on my buy list.
What were the 2 rejects? You never know when someone might want to rescue you from your ill-advised purchase. 🙂
I’m a little hesitant to say, because they are both definitely “cheap” fragrances, but it was Tocade and LouLou ( I told you they were cheap). LT had given both of them 5 stars (!) and a decent-sized decant of Tocade from TPC would have cost nearly as much as a full bottle from a discount site. I would never have considered either one
except for the glowing reviews.
Aimez Moi I had actually tested a few years ago, but I didn’t remember just how it smelled. I remembered liking it, though, so I was pretty sure that one would be OK if it hadn’t been reformulated to death.
Here’s my beef–so many of the stores that carry the cheap stuff never seem to have testers anymore, so how you are supposed to find out what it smells like? Maybe they assume everyone already knows. I guess I was hoping to fall hard for a cheap fragrance for once, as I have so many expensive ones on my wish list (31 Rue Cambon, several of the Amouages, etc.)
Well, certainly someone will take Tocade off your hands… it gets a lot of love here (just not from me!). 😀 I’ll have to play a little more with my sample of Loulou… I never wore it, but I swear that scent strip was in every magazine I read for about 2 (of my most impressionable) years. As for stores with no testers… many will accept returns if you hate it. Otherwise… learn to open the cellophane *very* carefully from the bottom, slide the bottle out, test… if you hate it, put it back in, and use a tiny dab of clear glue to reseal that cellophane.
I’ll be interested in both. And I prefer to get it from someone and pay them for it, then to buy it on line, because of the heavy custom duites if shipped to my part of Europe (outside of EU). So, if you ar einterested send me a message to dorycubana at gmail dot com.
My 2 rejects are Jolie Madame (smells exactly like C Howard’s candy, which I am not a fan of) and Hanae Mori Haute Couture. The Haute Couture may not be too bad – haven’t tried it on skin yet so we’ll see. Good thing I liked the 4711 – that is one huge bottle!
I think mine is… 10 oz? Something like that. More than enough to go around. I have samples of your other two, but haven’t gotten around to them yet…but the fact that I have them means someone here likes them and sent me samples.
Well, even if you don’t like 4711, you don’t have to dislike if for long, as it is pretty well gone within 30 minutes! I think that’s a pretty hard one to hate, though. I’ve heard of people being indifferent to it, or thinking it has no smell, but I’ve not heard of anyone actively disliking it.
Incidentally, I recently tried remedy I had heard about. I had a headache, so I dampened a washcloth with 4711 and laid down in a dark room with the washcloth on my forehead. It really did seem to make the headache go away faster.
See, case in point… even 4711 lasts hours and hours on me.
I like Haute Couture – it’s fruity but not sweet.
I want a bottle of Aqcua di Parma Profumo. It is such a vibrant and cheerful fragrance! Some people say that it smells a lot like Mitsouko. And here is a question: both – AdP and Guerlain belong to LVMH. And while Profumo (it is said) has been reformulated wonderfully – the current formulation of Mitsouko is to be iconsidered inferior version of its former self due to poor supervision of LVMH. Is it true? How is it possible?
I don’t know about Acqua di Parma, but I do know Mitsouko has been reformulated. Some of the reformulations have to do with EU restrictions–citrus is restricted now and oakmoss is almost totally banned. Mitsouko, being a classic chypre, would no doubt have had quite a lot of oakmoss, so they must now come up with some alternate way to achieve the effect of oakmoss using other ingredients. If AdP does not happen to rely on oakmoss, then it would likely to be easier to reformulate without ruining it.
Incidentally, Mitsouko illustrates another caveat for the perfume buyer. I had tested it several times without buying it, although I liked it. It had finally made it to the top of my To Buy list, and I tested it again in Nordstrom–no problem. I bought it, and when I got it home and sprayed some on–did not like it AT ALL, and it did not smell the same. The tester was no doubt a pre-reformulation bottle, and the one I bought was a reformulated one. Had I realized that at the time, I would have saved myself about $100. Be aware, the testers in the store may not be the same version as what is being sold!
That story makes me soooo sad! I’ve often feared a similar fate, especially when testing the old classics in the department stores where they keep the testers behind the counters, hidden from view. Who knows how old those testers are and their relationship to what’s being sold!
That’s why I sometimes think it is safer to stick to new stuff–at least I feel confident that a fragrance released within the last few months has probably not been changed!
a qoute from 2005 LT blog on finding a substitute for oakmoss:
A terrible rumour had been circulating among perfumers for the last six months or so. Apparently, Guerlain had decided to modify all its classic fragrances (14 of them) to bring them into conformity with IFRA guidelines. IFRA is an industry body that keeps track of any health problems arising from fragrance use, i.e. allergies, etc. Its decisions are not law, merely recommendations. When IFRA says some raw material has been found to cause allergies in a small number of people, you can either remove it or put a small label that says what it does. The accepted practice in the industry is that only new fragrances need to be totally IFRA compliant. The old ones can stay as they are, much in the way that you can still
drive your 1949 Armstrong Siddeley on public roads though it has no airbags. Given that a) Guerlain’s greats have been around a long time, and b) you seldom hear, at a funeral, a friend of the deceased saying “what do you expect, she wore L’Heure Bleue”, no one is asking Guerlain to do this. Well ahead of any actual
regulation that would force them to do so, they are now pressing ahead with this act of vandalism rather than simply putting the little label on the bottle _Three raw materials in particular are going to be removed altogether: coumarin, oak moss and birch tar. That alone means the end of Mitsouko and Shalimar, which will henceforth smell of Eau du Soir and Vanilla Fields respectively. Finding replacements for these materials is non-trivial. There is no good coumarin substitute. Putting together a decent synthetic oakmoss has been the perfumery equivalent of proving the Riemann Conjecture in mathematics. The greatest minds have tried. One master perfumer, Arcadi Boix Camps, claims to have succeeded.
I can’t answer your question, Veronika, but I also love AdP Profumo! It’s just perfect, to my nose.
I like Profumo too. It doesn’t get mentioned a lot but I find it very luxurious in the winter. Like Mitsouko, it’s a fruity chypre, but with plum instead of peach and it totally smells like it’s a from a different era.
I’m not a Mitsouko connoisseur but The Guide insists that it’s been reformulated well. I tried the parfum earlier this year and it smelled good to me but I wouldn’t know if it’s any different from what it used to be.
FYI – that great Old Spice commercial [I’m on a horse] won best ad of the year. hehe
I love that commercial!
I saw about that too~! They had a story on the internet with Matt Lauer (?) from the today show and an ad exec. They were going on an on about how funny it is and how that ad was so good b/c it resurrected a 40 year old product! Awesome!
Old Spice is decades older than 40!
I believe it was introduced in 1937, which makes it 73 years old.
As well it should! Loved it.
“I’m on a horse” has become something of a catch phrase at our house…..I think we pay more attention to commercials than we should…
This is such good news, rusticdove – thanks for letting us know!
Oh thanks for that bit of info. That is my favourite ad! Sometimes, quite randomly, the line ‘I’m om a horse’ jumps into my mind and I smile and smile. No perfume ad can include horses now, I think, without looking very very silly.
SOTD was Acqua di Parma Colonia Intensa (Thanks to Joe!) Now I’m testing Azzaro pour homme again. And later I’ll be doing a side by side of Colonia Intensa and Trefle Pur to compare notes with Joe on the similarity of their drydowns. Other than that, I’m ready to leap out of my seat the moment UPS arrives because I caved badly during the parfum1 sale….
You caved and bought…….. ??? Do tell! Inquiring minds want to know.
Yeah, you know we’re curious about what you’ve got coming from parfum1. 😀 Vicarious thrills, you know!
LOL Well, I ordered up some men’s classics for… er um, Father’s Day! The Carons…Yatagan, L’Anarchiste, Pour Un Homme & the Mugler Colonge. They just arrived. We are having a field day… 🙂
Robin – hope all is well with you. And try not to worry too much about leaving the children unsupervised. 😉
SOTD: vintage Mitsouko parfum. This stuff just blends perfectly with my skin. I love it.
Ahhh – good one. Be still my heart!
Roooobinnnnn! Rapple’s hogging the couch! I’m gonna tell!
oooooh, a “tattler” … we’re so locking you in the closet…..
don’t look now but Mz Kitty is running with scissors….and I’m eating sugar right from the bag……and Rustic is making phone calls to Veronika in RUSSIA! tut-tut
ummm, it’s okay if Tama and Mit rearrange all the furniture, right? Joe said it was ok…..in fact I think think I saw him move the first piece…yeah, HE started it! Kinda makes eating the sugar not look so bad, now don’t it?? 😉
LOLOL 🙂
(hammering on the closet door) BANG BANG BANG Lemme out you guys! I’ve got candy…
You *did* want the bed out in the living room in front of the TV, right? makes more sense.
Well all things considered, we were pretty well behaved and didn’t do too much damage. 😉
After this HUGE mess, we won’t get a review for weeks as punishment!!
Hope all is well.
SOTD: Magnolia Myrrh, a self-made scent. Magnolia flower absolute blended with tincture of myrrh resin.
Oh that sounds great, Olenska!
Thanks; I’m really happy w/ how it turned out. I got the magnolia full-strength from a bespoke perfumer about 15 years ago– one of the most delicious scents imaginable.
Oooooh. Sounds lovely.
It was my first success in perfume building after a lot of experimental failures. I’m really happy it worked, though, because I was down to my last drops of that heavenly magnolia & wanted to extend it somehow. Myrrh turned out to be the right partner. 🙂
Mmm!
My SOTD was Parfum Sacre edp Intense. Just totally awesome stuff!
These days I am really getting interested again in lavender based scents – just tried that By Killian Taste of Heaven thanks to special swap and it is so interesting!!!
🙂 Save some of that BK to try next to Caron Pour Un Homme – the similarity between the two is uncanny. Incidentally the Caron is about 1/10th of the BK price!
Also PdN Nicolai Pour Homme seems similar – I keep meaning to do a side by side test. In any case, the PdN is wonderful and not expensive. There was nothing to save me from Beyond Love, however!
Hmmm. I’ve never tried the PdN Pour Homme. Will have to add that to my sample list! Thanks!
yes, I find it very good as well, but it gave me aheadache… uffff!
Got home and tested out a couple more samples. Is it strange that I’m testing PdN Sacrebleu and SL Borneo 1834 when it’s 100 degrees outside – and loving them? Guess I’m missing the winter scents more than I realized. Can anyone recommend a traditionally cold weather scent that works in the extreme heat of a N TX summer?
A delicate application of Magie Noire behaves very differently in heat and humidity. I almost think it smells better in the summer than in winter, but again, just a tad! It just blooms and takes on a great sensuous shape.
I also discovered just the other day while making a swap decant that Mitsouko smells amazing in hot humidity. Just a small bit!
And I think that L’AP Timbuktu is an amazing fragrance all year round!
Also, AT Maroc pour Elle is great in the winter and summer – those crazy spices, jasmine and patchouli!
Funny–I was just testing out my bottle of Magie Noire last night to see how it behaved in hot weather. It was very nice, even though we are in the 90’s here now. I think because it is not a really “heavy” oriental. To me it smells a lot lighter and less dense than many orientals. Parfum Sacre is much the same. It seems as if it has the base notes, top notes, and spices, but without the thick, jasminey heart that makes so many oriental scents overwhelming on a hot day.
I think I’ve mentioned I agree with you about Maroc pE in the heat, Ann. Both that and L’Air du Desert become somehow bewitching in the heat. I would never wear either to work on a hot day, but on a leisurely day off… amazing. Like a vacation to the Maghreb in a bottle. Both scents can be overpowering to the point of sickening me, but when they’re right, they’re something else!
Joe: good point about not wearing heavier scents to work on a hot day! Not sure the coworkers would share my enthusiasm! I send up a daily prayer of thanks that my desk is nowhere near that of office scent-o-phobe!
Maroc Pour Elle is so thick and heavy on me….almost like a solid thing hanging off my skin…..it may have been cool outside when I tried it last but I was busy working and got quite warm…hooo-eee it was something….for me: depth of winter type fragrance. Of course now I’m going to have to try a dab on a really hot day just to see….
I find all the Tauer fragrances to be particularly rich and concentrated. I normally only put on the smallest dab so it works for me. The decant I have of MPE will last me forever and a day. And for the most part I’ll wear a small bit of it to work – I’m kind of all alone in my office. But… the MPE is really so neat – I think it smells amazing in the hot summer – it just *smells* like summer to me! I don’t think I’ve ever worn it in the winter yet!
I think I just contradicted myself – MPE is a “heavy” fragrance that I’d normally think to wear in the winter, but I don’t. I’ve only worn it in the summer. Hence the summer/winter thing… ahh.
I love L’Heure Bleue (um, parfum ONLY – because I am a wimp) in the summer. Other times it’s too almond-pastry for me, but it just blooms in the heat.
Just could not stop myself today from buying a heavily discounted bottle of Balmain de Balmain. It is really a lovely green scent.
you came to the right place to confess. 😉
SOTD —started out with a good dousing of L’Artisan Premier Figuier Extreme —lush , juicy ripe figs and leaves too! yumyumyumyum……then some Like This after collecting the mail….
and then some Donna Karan Gold….now I’m eyeballing the pile of sample vials on the desk ….but that would be silly since I can smell that I am still liberally scented from all my previous spritzing….Is it sick to want to wear everything at once??
I have to plead fifth amendment to that question, Daisy! 🙂
I love the collective scent of my perfume drawer and often wish I had a bottle of THAT! So wondering if I filled a large bottle with just a spritz of each what I would end up with…but have to admit I’ve been too chicken to try it.
Isn’t that odd? I haven’t noticed my drawer as much as my sample bags. They should be a nightmare of clashing scents, but instead… bliss.
My “off season” cabinet smells Fab. It’s where I keep my vintage stuff, and it’s Eau de Old Lady, in a good way.
I want to *test* everything at once. Alas, whatever I put on my skin stays there for an incredibly long time, so I can either wear something during the day OR test something at night…not both. 🙁
Just ordered a sample of the PF-Extr (along with a bunch of other fig scents) from LS. Can’t wait to try it. I don’t really know my figs very well – just like to eat them!
I wear PFE much more frequently than I ever thought I would — it’s so creamy, warm, green & cheery. When don’t I want to smell like that?!
LOL Too many fumes not enough time!!!
And now that its Winter Downunder, not enough skin space…
Cool crisp and sunny here today. SOTD HdP 1740 Marquis de Sade. I wasn’t sure about this one at first but I think it was Joe who said to persevere with it and he was so right! Ended up ordering a decant from TPC…
World Cup starts tomorrow1 Whoo hoo, love football. Hope Australia does well and at least gets out of the group stage….probably wishful thinking! Probably not many football fans on a perfume website either!
There’s at least one – and in the US, no less! My brother is having a big viewing party at his house tomorrow for the US/England game. Can’t wait! US also have a tough draw, but we can hope!
SOTD – started off as Pucci Vivara left over from last night. I decided to test it again since it had been so long since I’d worn it and was worried that I might not like it anymore. Nope – still love it, despite its lowly 1 star status in The Guide.
SOTAfternoon – a sample of Tocca Bianca. Yuck. It smelled like it might be a decent tea scent in the vial, but it’s just a yucky, soapy smell with some tea buried deep down – like if you left your tea cup soaking in the sink and forgot to remove a tea bag or something.
I felt the same way about Bianca. Thought it would be a great spring/summer scent but it just didn’t work for me at all.
SOTD = Dzongha…amazing that now I find it quite sweet and can feel the floraliity of it, gosh, what has this addiction done to my nose???
On hand Hd P Tuberose Animale, trying to figure out whether its skanky like March says…then on other hand went….PULP!! OOOOhh eeee, I loves the shock and awe! And the other Byredos are so civilised, I don’t get it!
Robin- Please take your time! After all, it is a privilege to read articles on NST, not a right : ) I do hope everything going on is resolved in a happy manner for you.
So I have actually been waiting for an open thread, because I’ve been sampling a lot of new perfumes lately (some suggested by members here!) and have been dying to talk someone’s ears off about it. I got a slew of samples, from Luckyscent, eight in all. All smelled very interesting, though there seem to be at least four that I’ve been really digging:
– L’Artisan Tea for Two (Delicious!)
– Diptyque Vetyverio (Awakening)
– Parfum Delrae Mythique (Classy, not sure if I’m classy enough for this one! Changed my opinion of iris)
– Atelier Cologne Gran Neroli (Oooooooh man, so good)
I just wish that the samples came in spray bottles instead of glass vials. All the scents come off as very weak and short-lived on me, but I don’t know if its because I’m not applying enough because of the dabbing, or they just don’t last on me. Its quite frustrating, because all of these offerings aren’t cheap, and I don’t want to waste my limited funds on something that I can’t at least get 3-4 good hours out of.
Scents that I liked, but didn’t make the cut:
– Etat d’Orange Tilda Swinton Like This (LOVED the pumpkin, just not this iteration. Anyone suggest another pumpkin laden scent?)
– Diptyque Philoskyos (Dirt…. nicely done dirt, but dirt. Sorry!)
– Frapin 1270 (Nearly died of alcohol poisoning, too masculine)
– L’ Artisan Havana Vanille (Great scent, very weak on my skin)
I have to say while I wouldn’t want to own these, none were scrubbers, and I felt the high quality of the ingredients really showed in all the samples.
*exhales* Whew, thank you guys for letting me get that all out of my system…. Sorry for the wall of text! Don’t hate the newbie too much, please.
Lovely. I haven’t smelled any of those but I enjoyed reading your list. I’m also irritated at the moment by scents that don’t seem to last and I’m wondering if my skin is drier than I realise.
I’ve received samples of Heure Exquise in both EDT and EDP and found the EDT fairly short-lived, and a bit too close to Chanel No 19 for me to justify stretching my thin perfume dollars. The EDP is lasting better. What a strange experience it is, dusty and dry, but somehow sweet as well. This is just my first impression – I’ve been wearing it about 15 minutes. I may take up AnnS’s suggestion and get the dry body oil, as it seems very good value.
I wonder if there isn’t more to it than dry vs. oily. Mine is fairly dry, and yet most frags last all day on me.
Yeah, I’m about as oily as they come. Maybe I should try larger sizes, it can’t really hurt! They are smell wonderful.
I tend to get the little sample vials first, because you can easily rule out ones you aren’t going to like. If a sample grabs my attention, then I’ll order a larger spray sample from TPC or somewhere, and see how goes. It’s a bit of a nuisance, but I guess I prefer it to spending a lot more on a sample of something, only to find I hate it.
I have a real love-hate relationship with tea for two, it’s delicious up front, but there’s something cloying later on. I wish I had tested as many as you recently! Damn limited income.
I guess I just really enjoy gourmand type fragrances, it doesn’t seem too sweet to me at all. I have to admit, though, my beau was very happy to sniff test non-sweet fragrances for once, hah.
All these were an end-of-term gift to myself. They were about $25 I think?
SOTD is close your eyes and…, or any other of its several names. I know this one wasn’t generally that well liked but it was my first real non-mainstream purchase, and I still love it. Doesn’t last well, but I have put on HEAPS (about 8 sprays) today and its lasting better. Layers fabulously with sandlewoody scents. Anyone know of anything a bit like this but with more depth?
SOTD is Jean Patou 1000. Love Love Love. It’s osmanthus, jasmine, violets, and suede on me.
I still really need to try that. I’ve been thinking about it periodically since that Anjelica Huston piece last month or so.
I just have a little mini, which I got on the strength of that same Anjelica Houston quote, or I’d definitely offer a sample! Beauty encounter sells the minis, if you’re interested. It would be a great masculine chypre…