Today we're talking about perfume names, good and bad. Tell us your picks for...
1. A great perfume name,
2. A horrible perfume name,
3. A perfume name that shouldn't work but does,
4. The funniest perfume name ever, and/or
5. A perfume name you wish some brand would use.
Answer as many or as few as you like.
Great poll!
2. I think perfume names should be limited to one an only one apostrophe. Case in point of what NOT to do:
Prada Infusion d’Iris L’Eau d’Iris
I’m off to a baby shower with SOTD Hermes L’Ambre des Merveilles.
eeek, that would be ” one AND only one” …. I’d like to blame it on the keyboard but it was an operator error!
But don’t you want to try that new Prada? I do!
Oh yes, I’ll try it if is easily accessible…the lily-of-the-valley may be a turn off for me. Speaking of Prada, I am still looking for the Prada Luna Rossa (looks like I need to go to Macy’s).
I tested Luna Rossa a while ago. Not bad, fits into sporty theme more.
I found it pretty similar to Infusion d’Homme (and that’s a daft name, right there).
I tried this today and did not like it. It smelled thin…and well, sporty cologne-like, not appealing at all.
The notes do sound lovely, Lucas.
Don’t they? Hope I will be able to sample it.
Prada Infusion d’Iris L’Eau d’Iris is ridiculous for all sorts of reasons.
name might be funny but I’m hoping it holds a great scent.
I kind of love how unabashed it is. If you’re gonna go for the nonsensical naming, you might as well go all in!
Hello Robin & Co! This is going to be funny when more comments appear.
1. SSS Jour Ensoleille – this fits perfectly
2. Giorgio Armani Code Sport Athlete – this is meh
3. The Afternoon of a Faun – good it’s not The Afternoon of a Toad.
4. Where We Are There’s No Here, + What We Do In Paris Is Secret
Rocking NVC Mohur today.
I assume what “What We Do In Paris Is Secret” was meant to refer to the secretive nature of the perfume industry, but it’s not a great name.
But it’s funny, especially after someone at NST once came with an idea of flanker called “What We Do In Paris Went Viral on the Internet”
HA that is funny!
Now *that* is a great flanker name. 😉
One of NST readers came up with it some time ago,
Ohh, the perfume industry! Mystery solved. I actually like this perfume name but partly because for me it evokes how conversations start to sound when living in Paris and drifting among people’s second or third or fourth languages–romantic for being a little off-kilter!
Actually, I think that was a perfume from New Jersey (which is home to some of the largest fragrance chemical companies and has U.S. headquarters for some major international cosmetic companies).
“And it would have *stayed* secret if you hadn’t set the lab on fire!”
That’s probably true
Agree about SSS Jour Ensoleille. That’s looking like a good candidate for SOTD.
Definitely. I need more sun, might use a little bit from Jour Ensoleille as a replacement.
1.”Dans tes bras” “In your arms” is a very evocative and romantic perfume name. I still haven´t tested it, but I remember thinking how beautiful it sounded to me when I first heard it.
2. “Provocative Woman” by Elizabeth Arden. Sounds like it was picked by a non-native english speaker who uses machine translation. Crass.
3. Womanity! It didn´t work for me at first, but the fragrance has enough personality and somehow it works for me now. And for many people (non perfumista civilians hehehehe) who I hear uttering the name naturally from time to time.
4.Victoria’s Secret “Sexy Little Things Noir Tease Temptation” is funny cause it feels like they came up with the name by playing “Exquisite corpse” and just adding one word after another in a round table of ad excecutives brainstorm meeting. And also Halle Berry’s “Reveal The Passion” cause it sound somewhat imperative to me: “Reveal the passion! or else!” hehehe kind of a dominatrix vibe to it.
5. I like perfumes that reference cities or special beautiful places, so Strange Invisible Perfumes beat me to the punch on this one with their “Magazine Street” which reminds me of the lower Garden Disctrict in New Orleans where the smell on a spring night mixes lime blossoms, jasmine and magnolia with the dusty twang of the city that care forgot. 😉
I. Just. Can’t. Stop. Laughing. Now!
But when I see “Dans tes Bras” I ALWAYS think “In Your Bra.” I guess I’m a 14-year-old boy.
Unfortunately I also think that first. Didn’t someone around here have the screen name Dante’s Bra?
Hahaha you guys are terrible, now that’s all I’m going to think of too!
If this is true, then I really need to see Dante’s Bra here more often. Too funny!
Dante’s Bra is hilarious!
Bah-ha-ha ! so funny !
Egabert…I too am a fourteen year old boy . Dan Tes Bras and Poopoo Pidou has be rolling on the floor giggling.
No perfume should ever have “poopoo” in its name!
However, some guys might want to buy a gal a perfume which gets “in your bra” (unfortunately, most guys who are fascinated with first base are 14 and extremely unlikely to be able to afford the perfume).
When Provocative Woman and Unforgivable Woman get together there’s gonna be hell to pay!
Ha!
I also think Dans Tes Bras is a great name–romantic, lyrical–and I love the perfume too, although I always find them a bit of a strange fit. Where the name merely alludes, the scent is a lot more explicit!
Kaos, I’m going to miss your cat! It was one of my all-time favorite gravatars. But change is necessary, of course.
Noz! yes, even though I am a typical Taurus and I loath change, I felt I had to use this pic. I am using it in all my online profiles. There will be other cats maybe in the future 😉
1. I’ve always thought that Diptyque’s Eau Mage (hommage when pronounced) was a great name…(in honor of their 50th Anniversary)
2. Poopoo Pidoo by Ego Facto – ughhh……I’ve never sampled it (it might be FABULOUS), but any fragrance that begins with “poopoo” should end in the latrine. A second runner-up would be “M-75” a perfume named in honor of the rockets Palestinians shot at Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense (yes…it really exists…)
3.?
4. Pilar & Lucy the exact friction of stars
5. Waft Aloft
Poopoo pidoo roo roo too roo, too roo, too too! X-D
Step away from the coffee! LOL
I don’t drink coffee.
Sadly, that Ego Facto is supposed to be good, but I’d never be able to test it objectively.
If I named perfumes, I would want to explore some lesser-named feelings in terms of titles. And then I guess they would need to be in french to sound acceptably soignée…
Anger/Colère: I imagine this being a smoky, almost burnt scent that smells of toffee and cherry preserves.
Grief/Douleur: Lilies, myrrh and vetiver.
Pleasure/Jouissance: A very, very green scent with hyacinth, daffodil, honeysuckle, and leather.
Please excuse my slap-dash french.
L’Artisan had that mood set once — can’t remember all the names now.
This is a good idea, E. If the French isn’t right, I expect Bela will clue us in.
LOL!
A great perfume name, Ma Griffe.
A horrible perfume name, Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue Living Stromboli. Although I bet if you kept a stromboli in the fridge long enough for it to turn light blue, by then it probably would be alive.
Honorary mention, Francis Kurkjian’s upcoming Oud Moods. For some reason this quasi-rhyming scheme he’s got going on he’s got set up reminds me of “Velvet Elvis.”
A perfume name that shouldn’t work but does, Bandit.
(wow, typo much? sorry)
I didn’t even know LB Living Stromboli existed. That’s hilarious!
One of the sillier perfume names out there has to be YSL Young Sexy Lovely – really, who came up with that?
One that shouldn’t work, but does, is Cheap and Chic. Or ELDO Jasmin et Cigarette. They’re both exactly what they say they are.
I can’t think of a good one, what does that say about me?
Living Stromboli?!?! You made my day.
Living Stromboli is a really good call. It sounds like a very bad Bond movie.
Yes to Ma Griffe, and no to sentient rolled-up pizza.
I agree with Ma Griffe
Off – topic but I just visited Osswald in NYC. A beautiful store and lovely people. They gave me samples of PG Indochine and L’eau Rare Matale, and Huitieme Art Aube Pashmina as well as a skin care set. I also wanted to try 8ieme Art Fareb – they didn’t have it but offered to send me a sample when they get it in.
I recommend a visit.
Good ones, Lys! I’ve always regretted not liking Ma Griffe, since I always loved the name and ads.
Kevin did a review of Living Stromboli and tried valiantly to replace our images of steaming food with the beautiful Italian place, without much luck.
I also love The Exact Friction of Stars…very poetic!
hate flanker names….
Wow that is a great one! Now I want to smell it!
1. A great perfume name: En Passant
2. A horrible perfume name: Lollipop Bling by Mariah Carey
3. A perfume name that shouldn’t work but does: Carnal Flower
4. The funniest perfume name ever: I Am King by Sean John for Men (rampant narcissism is hilarious…..and sad)
There needs to be a weekend poll on the most ridiculous/hilariously bad celebrity perfume ads. 🙂
Ha, just posted the same thing about En Passant!
I also like ‘En Passant’!
Other nice names: ‘Hiris’ (like its compactness), ‘Marconi 3’, ‘Tirrenico’ and ‘Fresco Amaro’ by Profumi del Forte. I like how in ‘Dzongkha’ the incense smell and language are combined. But I can also imagine that a person from Bhutan may find it ridiculous.
Ha Lollipop Bling is one of those “so bad it’s good” names.
But Bombay Bling is a great name (and in my opinion, a great perfume).
Oh, so true, Bombay Bling has a great ring to it! I’ve never smelled it, now I need to search it out!
I used to like Yardley’s You’re the Fire!, but always hoped no one would ask what I was wearing. A favorite solid from the 70’s, Night in Shanghai. I always hoped someone would ask with that one.
A classic name I still love, and miss: My Sin.
I am still playing it safe with Lovely. I wish SJP would add some incense and call it Lovely Night. Not to be confused with Fancy Nights, which sounds like a regional square dancing competition.
Hahaha, dying laughing about the regional square dancing competition. And great idea for Lovely Night!
This calls for a flanker: Fancy Nights Do-Si-Do.
How about Fancy Nights Hootenanny?
Yes! And then there’d be no choice but to follow it up with Fancy Nights Hoedown.
1 – En Passant – name of a capture chess move and, I guess, the allusion is to making a nonchalant conquest when simply passing someone with lilacs wafting in your trail.
2 – where do I start? All those ridiculous 12-word-long Victoria’s Secret things. Why? That Poopooopoopidooouuu one. Good Girl Gone Bad – if someone asked me what I was wearing, I probably would tell them that I couldn’t remember the name.
3&4 – would it be juvenile to nominate Furze?
I have to admit, the troublemaker in me kind of loves the name Good Girl Gone Bad. Given price it’s probably for the best that the scent didn’t work for me; I would have been SORELY tempted to splurge on it just for the fun of staring down people as I tell them the name 🙂
Good Girl Gone Bad makes me think of spoiled produce, akin to the Live Stromboli example that Lys mentioned. Bandit is a much nicer bad girl perfume name. And perfume.
Forgot to mention Beige. That is a terrible name. What’s next? Blah?
It’s so true, Bandit is superior in fragrance and in title! My taste for GGGB is a little bit perverse–mostly it’s that my outward appearance is so WHOLLY at odds with that sort of thing that it becomes kind of fun to embrace something that’s in slightly poor taste on occasion. People are so easily scandalized!
Meanwhile, 100% true for Beige, especially in English it’s just awful. In my head I always say it in French–behj–because it doesn’t have the same doctor’s office connotations there. Rather kind of a luxe thing–Coco Chanel’s favorite color, after all. (Although, I kind of think the fragrance doesn’t really smell like either of these sets of connotations, but, that’s neither here nor there, clearly!)
1) Great names: Le Parfum de Thérèse, En Passant, L’Heure Bleue, Heure Exquise, Après l’Ondée, L’Ombre dans l’Eau, Rien.
2) Bad Names: Amoureuse and Emotionelle. I find them very cheesy, especially since the juice is so good. By no means the worst names in perfume but a bad match in my head.
3)?
4) Funny names: Rien, and I can’t remember the other one I was thinking of.
5) ?
Oh yes, Apres L’Ondee and L’Heure Bleue, those are so great.
Hard to beat either of those — and they’re so perfectly matched to the fragrances.
Those are the best of the best for beautiful, evocative names.
L’Heure Bleue is probably my favourite perfume name around, and it kills me that it doesn’t sit well on my skin. Rien is hilarious, since it is amazingly tenacious, even lasting through a wash…
It’s tha bomb! which is why it was called Rien in the first place.
1. Great names: there are many, particularly among classics. Joy–short, simple, and sums up what wearing perfume should be about. Shalimar–poetic and evocative, even if you don’t know what it means, and even more so if you do. Among contemporary scents, I love the name Coup de Foudre, whether you take the literal meaning (a bolt of lightning) or the figurative (love at first sight). L’Ombre Dans l’Eau–a beautiful name whether in French or in English.
2. Horrible names: anything recent from Victoria’s Secret. Really, I don’t know if they aren’t even trying, or if they are trying to be perfectly ridiculous.
3. A name that shouldn’t work but does: no. 5. I know it is a classic, I know the minimalist name has been hailed as a stroke of genius, but really it doesn’t even conjure up perfume. To me, it sounds like either some sort of hardware (“I need a no. 5 screwdriver, please”) or a combo meal from a fast food place (“I’ll take a no 5 with a Dr. Pepper, please.”) I think it only works because it is a classic and everyone knows it.
Joy really is one of the all-time great perfume names. Hard to beat spot-on simplicity.
The actual juice smells like shampoo on me, but I adore the name of L’Ombre dans L’Eau. Great packaging, too.
“…it sounds like either some sort of hardware (“I need a no. 5 screwdriver, please”) or a combo meal from a fast food place (“I’ll take a no 5 with a Dr. Pepper, please.”
ROTFL!!! 😀
In light of later developments in slang, it’s fortunate that Coco Chanel’s lucky number wasn’t 2.
Oh, Emily… there was a nano-second pause, then I GOT IT, and choked on my mouthful of Darjeeling! Better than spewing on my keyboard though. 😀
1 Vent Vert and Silences are both perfect metaphores for the perfumes
2 Provocative Woman has been mentioned but it’s hard to come up with anything as unappealing.
3 Bronze Goddess – the juice is good enough to redeem the name
4 Tubereuse Criminelle – I can smell the twinkle in Serge Lutens’ eye
5 Some Like it Hot
Ooh Vent Vert is such a good one.
Good call on Bronze Goddess. It has the potential to be tacky but, knowing the scent, the name just fits and I’ve never thought of it otherwise.
Some like it hot is great!
Funny perfume name: ELdO “Fat Electrician”
I’d like to see a perfume named “Plumber’s crack”
Boring perfume name: Narciso Rodriguez “for her”, I mean come on people, make a little more effort why dontcha.
Skeevey perfume names: Brittany Spears “Curious” I always add the “bi” onto that one. Oh an “Love’s baby soft” for all those pedophiles out there
Great perfume names: I really like many of the L’artisan perfumeur names, they really evoke a feeling or a place. Like Passage d’Enfer or Traversee du Bosphore
You’re right, Sajini: L’Artisan has a great range of names!
1. Magie Noire: the original juice was perfectly named.
2. Davidoff’s Hot Water
3. Bois 1920’s Sushi Imperiale
A name for a horrible perfume with huge sillage that I wish some brand would make the mistake of using: Obvious.
Ha! Maybe it could be a flanker to Chanel Red Flag (from the SNL skit) — Obvious Red Flag.
Ha ha! Along the same lines, I wish a company would just come right out and call their perfume RAID
Ah ha ha – love that
Best names: I always feel a frisson when I see the name of the JAR perfume Ferme Tes Yeux. Also love that they have a nameless perfume, usually referred to as Bolt of Lightening after the JAR emblem on the box.
Shouldn’t work but do: I like the old Dior names: Diorissimo, Diorella, Diorling and Diorama.
So true and so well put about Ferme Tes Yeux! Def agree about the Diors as well. Great series.
I love the old Dior names! If I’d been around when all those perfumes were worth buying, I’d have collected ’em all just for the names. (Not that I’d mind having some vintage Diorling, of course.)
A wink to Robin for using my suggestion for a poll, although I may not have been the first!
Ridiculously long names: L’Instant de Guerlain Pour Homme Cristaux D’Agrumes, Shalimar Parfum Initial L’Eau Si Sensuelle, Ange ou Demon Le Secret Elixir. Try getting an English-speaking customer to remember that (when you’re flogging the new fragrance) and come back to buy it.
Very Bali: really? Is there such a thing as Subtly Bali? Why throw in the adjective when the other flankers are merely locations?
I suppose there’s a point to be made about having fragrances named in different languages than one’s own. We don’t all speak English and not all perfumes are French anymore so it appears one solution would be to keep them short.
I loved the great Lanvin classic names: Pretexte, Scandale, Rumeur, My Sin, etc. Shocking!, Windsong, L’Interdit, Spellbound, and Sublime were good too.
Dior riffed on his own name with no less than seven permutations: Dior Dior, Diorama, Dioressence, Diorella, Diorling, Diorissimo, and Miss Dior. Brilliant!
Haha laughing about Subtly Bali. And so true about Lanvin, they really were on a winning streak there.
And sorry for not giving you a shout out — I don’t keep good track of who suggests what!
So many classic perfumes have wonderful names like the already mentioned L’Heuere Bleue, Shalimar, Magie Noir, etc… Some good modern day perfume names are Amouage Lyric and Interlude (they have an old school feel), many of the Serge Lutens – I’m just a sucker for French perfume names.
Worst perfume name(s) ever: Boyfriend and Billionaire Boyfriend. *Shudder*
Ha yes you beat me to Boyfriend! Come on Kate Walsh. You can do better!
Maybe she meant to call it something like “Boyfriend Perfume” or “Stolen from my Boyfriend”, like boyfriend jeans or boyfriend shirt. I agree that it didn’t work.
Another flanker for that could be Unemployed Boyfriend. That’s the one that smells like cigarettes and beer.
Winner!
Oh, wow, that leads to a whole line of pejorative flankers: Abusive Boyfriend, Cheating Boyfriend, Inconsiderate Boyfriend, etc., etc. 😀
haha Yes, and Boyfriend is a good fragrance for a mainstream celebuscent! I have a little bottle and when I wear it I hate when someone asks me what it is!! 😉
1. I agree with so many of the already mentioned perfume names, so I’ll just add Ce Soir ou Jamais as another one I think has just the right amount of pique. Memory of Kindness I also love, if for different reasons.
2. On the flipside, boo to Kate Walsh’s Boyfriend. Come on lady! Especially for a remarkably sophisticated entry into the celebrity scent category, must it have such a childish name? I mean, when the celebrity naming his perfume in comparable fashion is Justin Bieber… And then it just got worse from there: Billionaire Boyfriend? Really? Ugh. (Although I do think that prompted a great thread about further flankers–Broke Musician Boyfriend, Bourgeois-Bohemian Boyfriend, so that’s my submission for question 4; likewise Lanvin Marry Me! Love Edition, which prompted the great submissions from Pigoletto–Golddigger and Bun in the Oven editions! Still laughing about those.)
Another for question 4: I’m an infant but CB’s Alan Cumming perfume always makes me laugh. What can I say, “Cumming the Fragrance” is too funny even to pretend I could say it with a straight face.
5. I feel like the great works of philosophy & social theory have a lot of untapped potential for perfume naming! Critique of Pure Reason; Phenomenology of Spirit; Gender Trouble; Elementary Forms of Religious Life. (Hm maybe I want a whole line of perfumes named for philosophical treatises!)
Cumming, yes, how could I forget about that one! I believe it’s been re-released as Second Cumming.
Your nr 5 is genius! I can see ELdO releasing several Nietzsches and Foucaults: The Gay Science, Twilight of the Idols, Dicipline and Punish, The Archeology of Knowledge, Madness and Civilization. Come to think of it, By Kilian has already been inspired by Beyond Good and Evil 🙂
Surprised that nobody’s co-opted Thus Spake Zarathustra yet.
Freud might also offer some possibilities: The Future of an Illusion could be a trenchant commentary on perfumes that over-invest in top notes and neglect the drydown.
So true about both the Nietzsche and the Freud–nearly all of the Freud in fact. Interpretation of Dreams; Beyond the Pleasure Principle; The Ego and the Id. For that matter you could just pick key terms: Screen Memories and Anna O would both be pretty great perfume names, I think.
Or a string of Pooh ( as in Winnie-ther-) themed fragrances:
” a la recherche du Pooh perdu”
” Das Haus an der Pooh ecke” ( The House at the Corner of Pooh’s)
” Pooh’s Honey Balloon Complex”
Your comment reminded me in an obscure way of a small book called:
” The Pooh Perplex” a parody of literary criticism inspired by the great bear himself.
All honey-and-woods blends, I hope?!
Yes on a base of condensed milk.
I loved “The Pooh Perplex”! My copy went missing years ago when moving house. Thanks for reminding me of it.
It is very funny. Urpoohdeutung would be a good title for a new fragrance of a very pretentious house!
Hahaha, yes, it must be ELdO! Sorta surprising they haven’t already! I think History of Sexuality needs to be on the list for sure, which is perfect because The Will to Knowledge comes with ready-made The Use of Pleasure and The Care of the Self flankers.
One I would really like: ‘to be a bat!’ (after Nagel’s ‘What is it like to be a bat?’ )
And another: ‘Charminides’ (the boy Socrates seems to have a crush on in one of the dialogues!)
Or how about ‘Apirori’ with its flanker being ‘Apsoteriori’
Or terms such as ‘Qualia’ or ‘Nomological Dangler’
And one I would really enjoy – ‘Ex Nihilo’ – just because it’s so derivative.
Nozknoz: You beat me to it! I was typing too long.
Moment Supreme, J’Ai Ose and On Dit were evocative. Untitled has got to be the most uninspired, lazy, boring attempt at being ironic ever!
Celestia, I’m glad you also thought of the Diors and added the Lanvins. Those classic Lanvins are some of my favorites – as you can see!
Also agree that long names are annoying. It’s no coincidence that our favs are single, well-chosen words.
Totally agree on Untitled! My feelings are, “If you can’t be bothered to name your perfume, then I can’t be bothered to smell it!”
Oh, ooOoh, oh my god, am I really the first person on this thread to nominate Miller et Bertaux “Oh, ooOoh . . . oh!” for #2 and/or #4? The early bird truly does get the worm.
I also nominate the NST comment thread that resulted from the “Oh, ooOoh . . . oh!” announcement for an award for the funniest crowd-sourced perfume-name commentary.
That was great! I remember seeing that article and thinking at first that the author was exclaiming over some spectacularly noteworthy new perfume (like a reissue of Iris Gris or something that extraordinary) before I realized it was the actual name.
That was funny:
https://nstperfume.com/2012/11/09/miller-et-bertaux-oh-ooooh-oh-new-fragrance/
I still want Homer Simpson to spokesmodel a perfume (maybe with some inspiration from Alan Cumming)!
Another category in this poll could deal with victims of translation — poor Rochas Poupée.
(though I guess that’s not so much a victim of translation — if anything, translation would have helped!)
Here’re my simple answers:
1- Magic hour by Annik Ghoutal, can you believe this fragrance birthday is the same year as mine? ain’t this magic? no wonder I’m in love with scents since childhood ♥
4- preppy princess by vera wang, one of the wakiest names ever.
* for a beautiful name & awful scent I’d definitely pick angel for that, this fragrance should be called the devil’s shit.
devil’s shit, lol!
The devil’s what? lol.
1)good names- An Evening Edged In Gold, Portrait of a Lady come to mind.
2)fails- Agree on Vera Wang flanker nightmares, Preppy Princess? Fail. Also, Ange Ou Demon Le Secret Elixir? Lame. Also, Mon Jasmin Noir L’eau Elixir. I guess they count on most people not knowing any French. Some names are so bad they make me angry, I tell ya!
4)funniest name- Perhaps? I think it’s by Bob Mackie. Lol. Perhaps this is a good fume? Perhaps you don’t want to buy this, etc.
5) Prussian Syringa
How about Wings of the Dove?
Does anyone read Barbara Pym? Some of her novels would be great scent names: Some Tame Gazelle, Excellent Women, An Unsuitable Attachment…
We could also turn to art history: Olympia, Dejeuner sur L’Herbe, Broadway Boogie Woogie…
Spot on with your Pym theme. Even the cover art with the 1930’s prints and silhouettes would be fun on the bottles.
Haven’t read any of hers in a while but I read most of the ones you mentioned years ago. And they would make good titles, now you mention it.
Love Barbara Pym. It’s snowy and cold here in the Northeast. Just the kind of day to curl up on the sofa with a good Barbara Pym novel and your comfort scent of choice.
Oh ya, number 5 would be by Frederic Malle
I would need to think about number 3 more.
Lol, it would be in French since it is a Malle, Lilas Bleu de Prusse
Something like that. lol. My French sucks too! Just killin time this Saturday!
Just wanted to add Fille en Aiguilles as a great name, witty and poetic but not trying too hard.
fun poll!
Some repeats from other comments here:
1. Great =
Amouage Lyric
SIP Fire and Cream
SIP Narcotic
Ivoire
Chamade
Givenchy Ysatis (I love pronouncing with my best french accent)
Givenchy Amarige
La Chasse aux Papillons
Teo Cabanel Alahine
Tubereuse Criminelle
PG Felanilla
Annick Goutal Heure Exquise
Mitsouko, Samsara, Shalimar (love the Asian mystique)
Arpege (this is so sexy)
2. Horrible =
CB I Hate Perfume (if you have to explain it, it’s not good)
Boyfriend
Guerlain Insolence
Almost every celeb frag (Fancy, Lollipop, Unforgivable Woman)
White Shoulders
and everything too long and french with L’eau, etc etc
Love, Chloe (dislike name but love fragrance)
Lab on Fire
Ego Facto
Anything that’s a series of meaningless numbers (Escentric Molecules, Biehl, etc)
Sushi Imperiale (gags)
Kilian Good Girl Gone Bad (dreadful)
Kilian Bamboo Harmony (focus group anyone?)
The Different Company
The Beautiful Mind series
Guerlain Idylle
Agonist (makes me think “agony”)
Alien (seriously? but I like this scent in some variations)
3. Shouldn’t work but totally does work =
Carnal Flower
Bandit
Strange Invisible Perfumes; love these names (Magazine Street, Fair Verona, Galatea, Fire and Cream).
I used to dislike Womanity but have come around and think this is a good name now.
People of the Labyrinths Luctor et Emergo (this is so terrible I like it)
Tom Ford Violet Blonde
Musc Ravageur
Portrait of a Lady
Bronze Goddess (I guess bc I like it)
Poison and all the Poisons esp Hypnotic Poison
4. Funny =
almost all the ELdO’s
SIP Heroine is confusing; I thought it was “heroin” for quite some time
Juliette Has a Gun
Freak
Sublime Balkiss
Dans Tes Bras
Cumming by Alan Cumming
5. Wish existed =
Wilde (a la Oscar Wilde)
or perhaps just ‘Wild’ for a fragrance that has earthy/green qualities
I agree – I’ve never been able to try Sushi Imperiale because of the name and instantly imagining cautiously sniffing sushi for any hint of fishy unfreshness.
This poll topic is totally revealing how shallow and suggestible I am. 😉
Before I first sniffed Sushi Imperiale, I imagined that it might smell a bit salty, like nori, or like the slightly sweetened vinegared rice used in sushi — never like less-than-fresh fish! 😉 Since I actually enjoy eating sushi, maybe the name of the perfume isn’t so offensive to me as it seems to many others…
I like eating sushi, but I’m a little paranoid about it. As a perfume name, Sushi Imperiale bothers me because it’s so contradictory to the actual scent, which is vanilla and spices. Now I’m really curious as to why they picked that name. None of the other names for Bois 1920 are odd, and some are quite nice, like Ylang Sutra.
Great lists!
Subset of names that shouldn’t work but do – only because one doesn’t know French: Calandre sounds lovely to me, but apparently it means radiator grill! And I learned recently that MDCI Peche Cardinal has nothing to do with peach, even though it has peach notes, but rather means Cardinal Sin.
Also, Emeraude is one of the great perfume names.
Emeraude, yes!
The difference is in the accent marks. Let’s see if I can do this on my Mac….
Sin = péché (with two accent aigus)
Peach = pêche (with a circonflex)
We need Bella.
In no particular order:
SSS Rose Volupte: perfect! If you don’t like bundles of big roses, well, you were warned.
Sushi Imperiale: Awful! Also unfitting, since it smells more like apple pie.
Second Cumming: deserves an award for Most Pretentious
Bubblegum Chic: would get a prize for truth in advertising if they hadn’t tacked on the “chic,” which is a big fat whopping lie.
Name waiting for the indolic to match it: Merde Exquisee
Feral Jasmine – your screen name would be perfect for a scent name! 😀
I would cede all rights to the name if somebody would make a deep, dark, growly jasmine and give it this name. Also, I would buy it by the quart.
Must say, your screen name would make a great fragrance too! I imagine Rustic Dove as having a chypre base, a lot of wild green springing out of the moss, and a streak of aldehyde soaring overhead. But it’s your name, so you pick the notes.
I’d try it.
I think the Le Labo names all work – name of predominant note and how many ingredients are included; however, the City exclusives irk me because they do not match the cities they “represent”.
Gorilla Perfume 25:43 (had to look it up!) name is meh and half the time, I mistakenly think it is 25:13 or 43:25…I do love the scent!
The Tokyo Milk Dark Series have some interesting names – Tainted Love, Bittersweet, Arsenic, Bulletproof, Everything & Nothing, La Vie La Mort.
DKNY Be Delicious is the perfect iconic name in both packaging and perfume note.
Excellent poll idea!
Great names: My Sin, Tabac Blond, Emeraude, Shalimar, L’Heure Bleue, The Exact Friction of Stars, Chamade, Arpege, Underworld ( Liz Zorn), Lady Vengeance, L’air du Temps, Magie Noire
Smell Bent has also had some very cute names
Horrible Names: Fancy Nights ( sounds like a hoedown), Curious, Womanity, Le Labo’s numbers, Lollipop Bling, Heiress, all celeb scents I can think of except Deneuve and Lovely.
Shouldn’t but do: Bandit, Second Cumming ( you won’t forget that will you?!)
Seems like someone should have come up with a ‘Schadenfreude’ fragrance or even better a ‘Scheherazade’ (provided I haven’t just missed it). Mythology is ripe with good names ‘Calliope’ just sounds like a bright happy springy fragrance, and ‘Tantalus’ would be a great dark masculine scent. ‘Lethe’ ,the river of forgetting, ‘Pandora’ or ‘Mnemosyne’ …the list goes on!
Sheherazade used to be made by Jean Desprez. The Perfumed Court (no affiliation) has samples for $50 per ml (!) and describes it as “a stunningly sultry fragrance classified as an aldehydic chypre that is impossible to find.”
Agree with your idea of mythological names!
There’s also a 2008 Lalique Scheherazade. But you’re right: it’s a great name that deserves a current, fitting perfume.
Pandora is a gorgeous perfume from DSH. If you haven’t tried it, you should.
Along the lines of Schadenfreude for a fragrance name, I’d nominate Jolie Laide.
Great:
Magie Noire
Poison
De Profundis
Chergui (wearing it today. I’m in love.)
Voleur de roses
Passage d’enfer
L’ombre dans l’eau
Lipstick rose
Sacrebleu!
Shalimar
Lame:
Mon precieux nectar
Dahlia noire
Ange ou demon
Aimez moi
Love and tears
Body
Beige
Louve
ck in2u
One of my very first FBs, just before I fell down the rabbit hole, was Ange ou Demon Le Secret. I still enjoy wearing it from time to time, but I’m loathe to admit to it–such a ridiculous name!
Too literal, isn’t it?
Yeah, I feel like it’s a meaningless mouthful. It’s not clever or coy (their intent?), and doesn’t have anything to do with the rather pleasant, but unassuming scent!
If they want to go this way, please be more literate, isn’t it? Passage d’enfer is a great name, and I’d love to try Lethe, which does not exist but was proposed above.
I nominate L’Heure Attendue in the “great name” category.
Two more great names: Divine and Fidji.
Oh that’s a good idea–and further makes me think there’s gotta be a fragrance name that could pun on En Attendant Godot…
1. A great perfume name
L’eau d’Issey, pronounced exactly as L’Odyssee (the odyssey) if you speak French (it’s a strike of genuis!)
2. A horrible perfume name
Tommy Hilfiger Eau De Prep (somehow reminds me of a colonoscopy)
3. A perfume name that shouldn’t work but does
Pleats Please
4. The funniest perfume name ever, and/or
Toilet Water
5. A perfume name you wish some brand would use
Pistorius
L’eau d’ Issey is meant to be pronounced L’Odyssey! My whole view of the scent would change. It goes from cowardly – a sissy, even worse, waters of a sissy, to epic…
Mind you, given the actual scent…
I am constantly tempted to buy Kenzo’s 7:15 am in Bali just for the name.
Yes, I like the name too, so straightforward yet attempting
It’s quite a lovely fragrance, much better than Bali smells at most times of the day 🙂 I also have 5.45pm in Madagascar (not as nice as Bali imo) I’d love to try 10.15am in Sicilia I’d hope it to be a bit citrussy
Thanks, Perthgirl – good to know!
Not sure into which category this goes, but I’d like voice a general displeasure at any fragrance company who changes a name but not the juice, or sadly far more common, changes the juice significantly but not the name. Miss Dior Cherie, etc., being the most blatant example of late!
Names I like: Pilar & Lucy tend to have good names, though I’ve never actually tried any of their fragrances. A couple of people above have mentioned The Exact Friction of Stars. Another one of theirs that I like is Tiptoeing Through the Chambers of the Moon. I also kind of like Putain des Palaces because I would just love to see the reaction if someone asked me what I was wearing (which never happens), and I told them the English translation of the name.
Funny names: I love Fat Electrician. I’ve been tempted to get a sample just because the name is funny. I am also a 12 year old apparently because Dans Tes Bras makes me think of bras (in its actual meaning it’s a good name), and Cumming (now Second Cumming) is funny. Smell Bent has some fun names too, like Walk of Shame, Little Miss Panda, etc.
Awful names: Those long string-of-nonsense flanker names that just sound like they’re tacking on words to see how far they can push it. Also Womanity is kind of awful, though I like the scent.
Forgot the rest of what I was going to say.. the off-topic stuff, that is.
I was in Galveston today, and I found a vintage bottle of Shalimar in an antique shop on the Strand. It’s a 1oz bottle, about half full. I asked the lady in the shop how old the bottle is, and while she didn’t know exactly, she estimated it was ’60s or earlier. I decided that the price was good so it needed to come home with me. The juice is still pretty good. The top notes are shot, of course, but after the first few seconds it’s fine.
Ooh! Lucky you! I would grab up an old bottle of Shalimar in a heartbeat, if I found one! (And I already own a few!)
I felt pretty lucky. 😀 I’m always going into antique shops if I’m out and about and happen to see one, hoping I’ll find something like that. This is the first time it’s actually happened. Usually all I find is minis.
Congrats!
Yes, Fat Electrician is funny name. ELDO has a strange sense of humour, some works, some doesn’t.
1. Great Names: My Sin, Breath of God
2. Horrible Name: Sean John I am King of Miami
3. Perfume names that shouldn’t work but do: Vent Vert, Fracas
Srsly? I am King of Miami? That’s a scent? That is awful! lol.
Please add Circus Fantasy for awful fume names! A little disturbing, lol..I guess that’s when Brit flipped her top but still. Creepy!
oh and the whole Dior deal..Diorling,Diorama, Diorissimo..blah blah blah. Thank goodness they came out with a kick butt name, Poison.
Anything by the dreaded(and hated) VS..VS Bombshell? Please. VS used to be a classy store..before they went the tacky, model route. Hate that store now. Used to be all class, went to trash, I refuse to shop there anymore.
I dread the day that someone asks what my perfume is when I’m wearing Sexual by Michael Germain – they would fall about laughing!
I thought Freak was a fantastic name, with a killer bottle….but the juice itself was a major disappointment.
The tattoo artist whose name escapes me at the moment ( I keep wanting to say Dita von Teese, and I know that’s not right!) has some cool names that tie together well…Saint, Sinner, Poetica, Adora, with very nice bottles, but again with the meh juice!
I thought Parisienne was a rather clever nod to Paris…not a flanker, but a bit of a tribute?
I think Mitsouko is very cool and totally agree with all the old Lanvin names. is a favorite. Nina Ricci was on a roll for awhile… L’Air Du Temps, Fille D’ Eve, Couer Joie. Evening Edged in Gold and several others from that line are awesome, and I love Velvet and Sweet Pea’s Jewelry of Heaven, Bed of Roses and Songbird.
My favorite is probably The Party in Manhattan, though. It falls into the shouldn’t work but does category for me.
You’re not too far off. The tattoo artist you’re probably thinking of is Kat von D. Dita von Teese is a burlesque performer.
Funny names: Smell Bent has funny names for many of their fragrances, such as Ho x 3, Scrooge the Pooch, Tipsy Social Blah Blah.
Their ad copy is also fun, such as this one for Werewolf Lumberjack:
“oversexed wolf musk sprayed atop a pile of freshly cut timber
every night’s a full moon”
Great Names: Violet Blonde, Citizen Queen, Bas de Soie, Dans Tes Bras, L’Ombre Dans L’Eau, Hiris (love the simplicity), DZing!, Black Afgano, Narcotic Venus, BOIS DES ILES, Nuet de Tuberuse’, Field Notes from Paris, Brezza de Mare, Tiempe Passate
The worst name ever: Poopoo Pido without question!
It’s Sunday and I am going rogue:
Violet Tendencies
Musc you ask?
D’Anjou au Jus
Lewd, Crude & Oud
I made them up, but I would buy them all!
I would totally buy Violet Tendencies! Suggests the sweetness of a typical violet scent corrupted by a bad attitude! 🙂
I will put you down for one bottle, M.R.! Thx!
I’m not even a fan of violet and I would buy a perfume called Violet Tendencies. That would also be a good punk rock stage name.
Violet Tendencies actually does exist! Smell Bent makes it. It’s supposed to be a roughed-up violet with leather and woods — I have a sample somewhere but haven’t gotten around to trying it.
I will look it up! Should have done my due diligence! Just riffin’ and having fun w/ this one.
1) Most ofl the ones I can think of have already been mentioned, but I do also like the names of the new perfumes for Lush. I haven’t smelled any but I would love to wear something called ‘The voice of Reason’ or ‘Devil’s Nightcap’.
2) anything thats a number…I have never had the slightest interest in trying a Histoires Parfum. In terms of scintillation 1725 is just a no-go. A ridiculous name I might remember, but a figure?
3) One that shouldn’t work but does: I nominate What we do in Paris is Secret. Its ridiculously long and pretentious – but the more it hangs around the more I see it as quirky and distinctive. I haven’t smelled any of these scents but I do love the name of their Liquid Night.
4)There are a lot of contenders for funniest name: Lobster Cellphone is definitely one.
5) I think some literary characters could definitely be exploited: how about Miss Havisham for a determinedly vintage scent! Dorian Grey for a refined fragrance with a civet undertone? Ligeia for something that manages to be both ethereal and intense…
I would try Miss Havisham. Bring on the old-lady perfume!
Yes! The scent of a decayed and unworn wedding dress – I love it!
I think it would smell exactly like vintage Narcisse Noir parfum. This is my Miss Havisham perfume. I read somewhere describing as the perfect corpse bride perfume and I couldn’t agree more. I love it. (and as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard is based on Miss Havisham- who in turn is based on Eliza Emily Donnithorn, a real life Miss Havisham who lived in Sydney in the 19thcentury- I think it makes perfect sense!) 🙂
Apropos miss Havisham, how about Great Expectations as a name for a perfume? That what we always have – and we are often let down …
It’s not 1725, it’s 1725 Casanova so you can just call it Casanova.
HIstoire de Parfums should put out a fragrance inspired by the notorious anti-semitic humiliation of Capt. Dreyfus in 1894 France: J’Accuse.
I agree that My Sin is a brilliant name. I’m also partial to Vol de Nuit and L’Heure Bleue for darkish ambiguous scents.
This is a great poll and quite a lot of brilliant comments today. I won’t repeat what others have said, but a few I haven’t seen:
Great Names: Caleche, Aftelier’s Candide, and in a special category of great scent, great packaging AND great name: Chamade and Vol de Nuit
Horrible Names: Guerlain’s Elixir Charnel – honestly, what were they thinking?!? Because if it’s not translated, it’s just awful! Also, M&B’s Green, Green, Green and Green. Repetition does not make a name any better!
Names that shouldn’t work, but do: Dzing, Jicky
I’ve never been able to bring myself to try anything from the Elixir Charnel series – shudder!!! I guess I should thank Guerlain marketing for sparing my credit cards, for once. 😉
I agree! Plus, by then, JPG was no longer the house perfumer and I haven’t been excited by many of the releases since his retirement.
Wasn’t there a Guerlain called Candide Effluve? I’m sure it’s lovely in French, but in English … yikes.
I think you’re right, Emily. Definitely a bad scent association! And they (Guerlain) made a fuss over Mahora, even changing the name!
Rappleyea: Do you mean that Carnal Elixirs is better?
Dzing! is a great name, just wish I could smell it. l’ve never seen it.
Cabochard translates as pigheaded and Cabotine in verb form is to show off. In today’s global village, companies should think long and hard about what to name their products to ensure universal appeal and understanding.
Yes, because ‘charnel’ in English is a house or vault where bones of the dead are piled. Figuratively, it means a place associated with violent death. So you can see, that if somebody leaves it untranslated, it’s a disaster!
I love this topic!
1. A great perfume name
There are lot of great perfume names. It’s hard to just pick one. Here are some of my favorites:
(1) MDCI Un Coeur en Mai: A heart in May, romantic and poetic
(2) AG Ce Soir Ou Jamais: Tonight or never, so romantic and seductive
(3) MDCI Enlevement au Serail: Abduction from the Seraglio, I love Mozart, I love the opera
(4) Guerlain L’Heure Bleue : the blue hour, melancholically romantic
(5) Guerlain Vol de Nuit: Night Flight, the sounding is very romantic
3. A perfume name that shouldn’t work but does,
Cheap and Chic
I completely forgot about the MDCI’s, a shame as a lot of them have such lovely, poetic names. My personal favourite name in that line is: La Promesse de l’Aube.
Yes, La Promesse de l’Aube, the promise of dawn, so beautiful
For the horrible names, I agree with a lot of people above – most names of the endless string of flankers…
great:
Rush, Opium, L’Heure Bleu, Chanel numbers, Sycomore, Sables
horrible: APOM, Allure Sensuelle
APOM. Yes. Love the fragrance but the name seems to butcher it’s softness. It’s full name- A piece of me- is better, but it still makes me think ‘do you want a piece of me’ said in a Dirty Harry kind of way :-/
A great perfume name for me is by Yves Rocher Comme Une Evidence. It’s just very romantic.
The funniest to me is “Joop”, no matter how to pronounce it just sounds too funny to my Russian self.
In general, I love Smell Bent’s names, find them very kitchy-Walk of Shame, Commando, Disco Ball, Bollywood or Bust, to name a few. Very tongue in cheek.
I feel bad even thinking this, but Tauer’s Dark Passage makes me think Back Passage, and not so ‘vanilla’ sex practices >:-o terrible I know!!
That is funny! And if it hadn’t been a limited edition he could have done a flanker called ‘Handcuffs’!
My ongoing infatuation with all things perfume got a kickstart with my fascination for its names. ‘L’air du desert Marocain’ for example (is that mentioned already in the above? I haven’t properly read yet). But what evokes a poetic, melancholic, beautiful and at the same time terrible because irrevocable longing, are the names of yore. ‘Le jardin de mon cure’, ‘Le rose jacueminot’, ‘Liu’, ‘Que sais-je?’ but to name a few. O, how I long to smell those. I even dream of it.
1. I go along L’Heure Bleu as the greatest name ever. I love twilight, and the perfume evokes it beautifully.
2. I always hated the 80’s trend of “daring” but in fact negative names, i.e., Poison, and Opium. How about Pesticide? How about Meth Addiction?, Overdose, Collapsed Veins. I never wanted to be associated with such perfumes.
More modern names which are awful:
People of the Labyrinth. It’s not offense, but it sounds like a Stephen King novel. It does not evoke any kind of mood or smell.
Shalimar Initial. (Which Initial, The Letter M?).
Shiloh- It always makes me think of the Walt Whitman poem, about the battle of Shiloh which makes me think of death destruction and the Civil War.
3. As f or names which should not work but do, “Fat Electrician” The perfume does have a strong fecal note (evoking an electrician who is bent down and whose tool belt has dragged his pants too low). While the name describes the smell, I am perplexed as to who would want to wear this.
Same thing for “Secretion Magnifiques” It describes the scent but is this something would want to wear.
However Chaques Son Gout. (Is my French accurate?) At least the names gave fair warning.
‘à chacun son goût’ 🙂
1. A great perfume name, CHAMADE, DUNE, PETITE CHERIE
2. A horrible perfume name, APOM (Francis Kurkdjan)
3. A perfume name that shouldn’t work but does, RUSH
4. The funniest perfume name ever, and/or
5. A perfume name you wish some brand would use. ROSES (Chanel)