Do tell us your fragrance of the day!
I'm wearing Paula Dorf's grassy rose scent, Zita. It's been out of production now for years, and I can't remember the last time I wore it. (It's pretty but would definitely be a candidate for The Great Perfume Reduction Plan.)
Reminder: this Friday, 19 September, wear something discontinued. The following Friday, 26 September, will be Uncle Serge Day...wear something by Serge Lutens.
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2014, where I'll try to always have the next six or seven weeks mapped out in advance.
And I've added an emoticon chart here, for anyone who needs it.
Note: top image is Rise [cropped] by Michael Innes at flickr; some rights reserved.
I just put on some Do Son — trying to figure out why they need both this and Olene. I like Olene better.
I like Olene better too, but would guess Do Son outsells it, don’t you think?
Maybe so, because it’s cleaner/less indolic? It just smells more like jasmine than tuberose to me, so it’s almost like they have a good jasmine and a bad jasmine!
I’ve always thought of it as a light toberose – the non scary kind! A friend of mine who loves all things tuberose including Fracas and Carnal FLower also loves it – so I guess it caters to tuberose lovers as well as those who can find it overwhelming at times. Can’t really remember Olene – you have inspired me to sniff next time I near some.
Olene has that metallic/raspy quality I love in a white floral.
Betcha many people would call Olene “old lady” or the like. It’s gorgeous, and it’s more modern than some classic white florals, but still more retro than the sort of watery white florals of the last decade.
There’s an interesting poll: what is your fav good jasmine and bad jasmine!
I’d sniff a perfume called Bad Jasmine.
Oh man, Bad Jasmine is SUCH a good name for a perfume!
Yes!
How about Dirty DIRTY Jasmine! 🙂
And it can have a flanker called filthy jasmine!
I still need to try this Olene.
I’m wearing Cacharel Amor Amor — I was having a slow morning and hoped to borrow its verve. I think it’s helping, or at least, it didn’t hurt!
Last night I put on an old sample and was chagrined to discover it had gone off, so I think it’s time for a Great Sample Reduction. I like keeping bits of lots of things on hand to wear, but I think I’m delusional about how long I can make them last.
Ack, to say nothing of the great decant reduction — I probably need to throw away at least half of my decants.
Throw away? Cause they have gone bad, or? Don’t throw away..give them to someone who will love them..;)..You could always surprise a friend of yours with a little package..or give them away on NST.
Tons of them have gone off.
I love Amor Amor! It really is a fun pick me up. That could be a good one for today…
Rose-colored glasses in a bottle!
I’m wearing Songes, which is so beautiful. One of the advantages of having way too much perfume is the fact that ever so often you’ll put on a much loved fragrance and discover new aspects of it.
Ah I love that one – but given my own need for a Great Reduction Plan must resist for a while! You smell lovely.
I love Songes too. It is my favorite indolic jasmine. There is just so much going on there. It is just perectly gorgeous!
I have acquired Rosa Nobile and am thoroughly enjoying wearing it today. I was interested by Angela’s review last week – I suspect I am really not a rose expert at all and that might be why I love it – but it also has a strong nostalgic smell to me which is comforting.
I really really need a Great Reduction Plan too – I am actually hiding bottles when we have people over this weekend as would be embarassed by the profusion in my bathroom – which clearly tells me something. I am not sure charity shops in the UK take them but am going to investigate. Ebay seems like very hard work.
Doesn’t matter, but that was Jessica’s review — she’s our resident rose freak 🙂
Any blog needs a rose freak!
Amen!
Oh sorry – should have checked and yes – resident rose freaks are good things to have:)
Ha! That is so funny. We had a big bash at our place last summer, and I carefully stowed away my perfumes into hidden spots, leaving only about four or five on my dresser… it can be down right embarrassing to explain 25+ bottles…
Makes me feel a better!
Back in Hermes Narcisse Bleu. I am not into bottles but must say I find the 15 ml Hermes bottles to be lovely, especially this one with its bluegrey colour.
Those small bottles are such a pretty shape.
Those small bottles really are lovely!
SOTD: Bleecker Street (Bond No. 9)
Such a great bottle…am I crazy or have Bond’s bottles been less fun lately?
I think they are trying too hard.
Or not enough..not sure.
To sound harumphy, they *could* try harder to have good perfumes…
Yes – point well taken. Who cares about a silly bottle if there is even sillier juice.
Hoping for strength in Chanel #19. (vintage EDT) Feel a cold coming on and stress at work isn’t helping. But at least I smell good.
#19 is not on my Perfume Reduction Strategy – in fact, I’d love bottles of the parfum and the current EDT went I get through my decants. But that doesn’t mean I have a few (more than a few) bottles that I never wear that should go to a good home. Rochas Muse and your banana leaf, I’m talking ’bout you!
Oh dear, stay well!
Banana leaf, what does that smell like? Like an unripe banana? Does it smell like the acutal fruit?
The banana leaf gives this a touch of green. It doesn’t really smell like bananas. It does have a fruity opening (bergamot/mango/peach) with a soft white floral heart with some added spice (cinnamon and sandalwood maybe) and, of course, wrapped up in clean musk . It’s actually rather pretty and soft and the bottle is rather cute, too.
I’ve been seeing that one around in Marshall’s and TJ Maxx a lot lately. I’m glad I was able to sneak a spritz from an open gift set to figure out that I don’t like it enough to buy a bottle, though I did kind of like it. Otherwise it probably would have been a blind buy.
No 19 is definitely not for reduction! I have a secrete stash of my fav Chanels – Coco, No 5, No 19, and well, they will be with me forever.
I am wearing Chanel 19 for a different strength- a meeting in which I want to present myself as professional and sophisticated, something 19 always (very subtly) projects to me.
SOTD is Bottega Veneta.
I am a relatively new perfumista, so my collection is not overwhelming just yet. However, I have a lot of nail polish, and yarn (I knit). For my nail polish, I have two of those clear plastic shelves that are specifically for nail polish. When those are full (and they almost are), there is no more room and I either have to get rid of some or just not buy any more. I want to do the same thing with perfume, but I need to find a good storage method. Any suggestions for how to store perfume collections are welcome 🙂
You will laugh, but I use ONE nail polish color, on my toes only. It’s a mix of three colors, so I do have the 3 bottles, but that’s it.
Yarn really accrues, though, I know that from knitting friends!
Wait, you layer three different colors on your toes? Explain!
I also use 3 bottles of nail polish, on my toes only: 1 base coat, 1 neutral color (pinkish beige) and 1 top coat.
I layer two reds from Essie I really like to get a better shade (first dance under bordeaux). I almost always only do my toes too. My finger nails are pathetic and actually get more fragile when I paint them. I only have about 10 bottles of color.
My nails are week and peel a lot anyways, but it gets worse with polish. I use a hydrating base coat and always keep them polished. They actually seem stronger when I always have them covered. Its either always polished or never!
No. I wore the same color on my toes for years, and when they stopped making it, I bought 3 shades of polish, poured out half of one of them, and added the other two colors to that bottle until I got the color I wanted.
(yes, I’m a freak)
That’s amazing. Can you describe the color?
This color is the base:
http://www.musingsfrommanhattan.com/2011/08/essie-lady-like.html
but I’ve made it a bit darker & a bit greyer…so more of a greyish putty mauve, less of a lavender. It’s pretty close to the mac polish I used to buy. I’ve been wearing that color on my toenails for so many years that it would look weird to me if my toenails were some other color.
Nice color, I can see it working with everything!
Not freakish at all! (Unless I’m also a freak…)
I bought a book that’s a beautiful silverish blue-green and decided I needed nail polish in that color. When I couldn’t find it, I ended up mixing some colors until I got it right. It was a strangely rewarding little art project.
Was just remembering that I said the other day I could never get a tattoo because I could never find a design I’d like for life! I guess I am inconsistent — if I could get my toenails made this color permanently, I’d be thrilled.
Wow. Robin. The same color for years? I never would have guessed!
I used to be “into” makeup & collect eyeshadows and fancy brushes & all that, and even then, this was my basic toenail color. So I guess I care enough to paint my toenails but not enough to have to think about the color, LOL…
(and other than mascara and sometimes lipstick, I’ve mostly given up on the makeup now. I smell good though!)
Eleebelle, glad I’m not the only one 🙂
Robin, your comments are making me think of something – we are always commenting that we can’t just wear one perfume anymore. But is there some beauty product or otherwise that you cannot live without or won’t change?
AnnS, I’m pretty low maintenance when it comes to beauty products these days. I must have retinol, but that’s about it. I must have mascara but am not all that particular about the brand (perfectly happy with Great Lash), I usually own a MAC lipstick or two but wouldn’t die if I didn’t have any, and I mostly mix my own face creams. I don’t use much else! What about you?
I like to wear makeup b/c othewise I think I look tired (I’m very fair). But I don’t wear a lot and it’s a mix up of a variety of hi-lo products. I really like the blue tube cover girl mascara b/c it comes in black/brown. I love the Mario Badescu Rose Water facial mist. I only use fragrance free Curel. I’m kind of addicted to the Simple sensitive skin facial wipes. I only use the Suave Rosemary Mint shampoo. Other than that it’s a crap shoot of what is around, etc.
Oh, I have that Heritage Rosewater Mist but only use it rarely…that Mario Badescu spray looks nice though.
I’ve been searching for the perfect neutral pink for EVER, and often try to get there by layering one color over another. It sometimes involves three different pinks combined with two different base coats. (That’s for fingers … toes are usually some bright shade of coral or red, or a sparkly shade of lavender.) Thought I’d found the Holy Grail in Essie Limo-Scene, but it’s a difficult polish for me to manage – it streaks and clumps and just generally misbehaves. So I keep experimenting! I must have 30 or 40 bottles at various stages of decrepitude hanging around. I purged a bunch recently, but since I’m constantly buying new pinks to try, the overall number just keeps growing. 🙂
Mix your own! Why not if you’re purging them anyway.
I should definitely try that – could be fun! Woke up super early this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I came here (naturally) and got engrossed in that nail polish blog you referred to up above. I think that woman is WAY more of a freak than you are. 😉
Ha! I think there are even more nail polish blogs than perfume blogs…
I am also a nail polish and yarn junkie. I use those wire cubes attached to the wall for the yarn. And segmented document boxes for the nail polish. Lipstick organizers are good for perfume samples.
I have to keep my yarn in sealed containers. One of my cats loooves wool yarn – he has even gotten into a closed plastic bin to pull out some wool yarn! The more animal smell the better – he goes crazy for the rustic, less processed wool. Right now I have it in some under the bed zippered storage, but I would like it more accessible. I dream of a super organized craft room …
I have lots of nail polish but no nails, lol. I grow them out every 100 blue moons or so. I buy because maybe it will motivate me to grow them out..but meh.
I just finally did a count of my nail polish a couple of days ago–46 bottles! OMG, that seems like a TON to me. I wear them all, although obviously with that many, and polishing my nails maybe once a week, I don’t go through them very fast. I keep my toenails polished all the time, but almost never do my fingernails.
Anyway, I store them all kind of higgledy-piggledy in a plastic tupperware container in my bedroom.
I crochet, embroider, and knit and my yarn stash takes up way more space than my embroidery floss 🙂 A woman in my craft group has made a pledge to not buy any yarn until she has used up her stash. She is sticking to it. I will never make that pledge 🙂
I’m with you, rosepepper, on the nail polish collection – at least they’re small and don’t take up a lot of room! I have a small drawer in my 1930’s vanity devoted to nail polish bottles; when it’s full, I stop buying. I change colors spring, summer, fall, and winter, just as I do my clothes, my makeup, and my perfumes! I find my nails do better with polish, too, although summers are hard when hands are often gardening.
I used to crochet, embroider, hook rugs,and sew a lot but not in recent years. Had a nice stash of stuff stored in various cases in the basement but lost it all to flooding.
SOTD is Hedonist from a sample.
I like it. Lots of nice warm sweet linear honey in the dry down.
I think the bottle and presentation are fantastic and will enjoy using up my sample but will pass on a decant or FB even though the bottle is just GORG!
Nice but doesn’t grab my heart in its fist and squeeze like Onda does 🙂
I think I feel the same about Hedonist but haven’t sampled it extensively enough and may have just been in a bad mood. Would be great for my pocketbook if I don’t fall in love.
I know- I kind of breathed a sigh of relief when I didn’t fall head over heels for it. =)
I really really like Hedonist – I adore peach/apricot and honey notes. Tore through a decant and bought the bottle. This one is not on the Perfume Reduction Plan, either. The bottle is too beautiful and the juice inside is just as good.
That bottle really speaks to me! I understand why its on your “non-reduction” list! I don’t get any peach or apricot at all and wonder if these notes become apparent with a “spritz” rather than a “dab”?
Said it before, but I’ll say it again- all sample sizes should come with a “spritz” delivery system so one can fully appreciate the entire perfume, top to bottom.
Slumberhouse Sana today since its bright greenness seemed a good antidote to a rainy morning
I spritzed on KM Tarifa today for the warm & sunny weather that we are having.
I got a sample of Amouage Journey Woman yesterday so I’m wearing that today. It’s really elegant and beautiful. I’m amazed by how complex but airy this one smells. This is my first Amouage to try and I’m so looking forward to seeing what the other fragrances in the line smell like.
I quite like that one. I’m not exactly an Amouage aficionado but my understanding is that it’s on the light side for the line, they are usually darker and more opulent.
That’s exactly what I read about them as well! Considering how long it lasted on me, the others intimidate me a bit. Their longevity may be insanely strong on me. I also have a sample of Honour Woman and just from sniffing the sample had me whipping my head back saying, “WHOA!”
I decided to use up my mini of Jo Malone’s Pomegranate noir body creme today. But I didn’t want to overdose on it by adding the fragrance also. So I decided to wear JM Blackberry & bay… It’s a really nice combo!
I’m not terribly familiar with all the JM line (I’ve worn maybe a handful of them), but doesn’t the line encourage layering? So, not surprised they go well together.
My Perfume Reduction Plan is known as my daughter-in-law to be. She is developing into a real junior perfumista under my ‘expert’ tutelage. 🙂 I give her anything that doesn’t work for me and she tries it. If it’s not her thing either, she passes them around among her friends. Every scent finds a little love somewhere, right?
I’m wearing Most Precious today from Evyan, back when they were a fine perfume house and had an entire line of scents. My dad’s mother wore White Shoulders for years, in fact I can’t ever remember her wearing anything else. And whenever she’d go to the department store for a new bottle, they’d give her a little mini of one of their other scents. The minis always came to me to play with. I remember liking Most Precious and Great Lady and feeling very soignee indeed, clomping around the house in my mother’s heels and hat and wearing Grandma’s mink stole for dress up.
I found a half-used bottle of Most Precious at an estate sale and thought I’d wear it today. It’s so dated and I probably smell terribly ‘old lady’ to all the youngsters who cross my path, but to me it’s still my ‘dress up’ scent and I feel young and happy wearing it today. Now, where’s that mink stole? 😉
I love minis. Should ditch most of mine, but I just enjoy them so much.
I have this teeny tiny little itty bitty bottle of Chamade that is just so cute, and still full of juice. It maybe only about 1/2 inch tall. I can’t remember now where I got it on the internt.
Indeed!! I feel that people can fall into one of two categories with dress up: those that love it and those that just do not.
I may be biased, but I think dress up folks have more fun. I can be completely transported by a scent, a dress, shoes, a mink stole!!
I’ll be dreaming of mink stoles today, too 🙂
I suppose it goes without saying that those who like to play dress up will have more fun with their wardrobe than those who enjoy other things more.
Don’t mind me, just editing myself 😛
I love getting really dressed up and often wish we lived in a more formal time. There is something about getting all put togther that makes me feel all put together. I don’t want to go back in time, but I’d love to be able to dress like “Joannie” from Mad Men without people wondering where I am going. I love wearing hats and have a few with feathers and stuff. I used to wear them more than I do now when I still lived in Portland OR. I think going to the symphony and opera were an excuse to get dressed up, even though I liked the music too.
Though I don’t enjoy dressing up and feel out of place in dresses I can appreciate what you are saying. There is something about dressing differently for different occasions that gives more structure to life somehow.
I’ve never been able to wear a hat, even though I love them. My head is just too big. When I was 5 years old and started horse riding I had the biggest size helmet of all the riders, and this was including adults.
Ah – I have a big head too – big feet – big everything! I’m 6’1″, so there you go. I’ve never been able to wear certain types of shoes that just look ridiculous on big feet (furry UGG boots – hello Chewbacca!), so I guess all of us have something we can’t pull off. I think I can wear hats b/c I have broad shoulders. It helps to frame the whole deal. I’d wear a dressy or interesting hat everyday if I could.
That is very tall for an American. I’m 5’9″, and have long feet. Fortunately it is easy to shop for shoes in the Netherlands when you have long feet. As a lot of Dutch women do.
I would have to have a hat especially made for me, as even the largest men’s size is too small. I remember being really frustrated about it as a teenager. I longed for a large straw hat.
The shortest person in my entire extended family is 5’9″, and that’s my older sister. I come from tall stock all around. You get all those Swiss/German and Polish/Ukranian genes mixed up in the blender and there you go.
I had a nice straw hat once that got claimed by the wind gods. It was made in Austrailia and I think I recall they came in different band sizes. Now I only wear cheap ones so I don’t care if they get lost. You can make the cheap ones stretch too b/c they don’t have proper bands. Maybe I’ll have to come shoe shopping in the Netherlands so I can get something on the woman’s side of the store! 😉
If you do, just let me know, we could go fragrant shoe shopping!
Being tall isn’t much of in issue here in Holland. And because most women are tall and have long feet it makes it easy to shop.
My parents are quite short ( by Dutch standards), but I am the shortest of their 3 children. My nephew is very tall, being 6’9″! It’s funny how those genes reshuffle isn’t it.
SOTD is Infusion d’Iris Absolue. Also new to perfumes, so don’t have to worry about downsizing yet; but I have also tried to be very careful not to buy anything I don’t love, or that’s too similar to something else I already have and love. But, nail polish, eyeshadow, and even clothes…. Have tried to do some closet purges this year, but it is still overflowing, so it really is time to do more. Easier to let older clothing go than perfume, maybe, but I guess if you live in a big enough city/have a big enough community, you could organize in-person scent swaps, like we do with clothing.
Yes – that’s a fun idea. I would think having decaying supplies available would be helpful, in case two people want the same scent.
I would totally attend a perfume party like that.
Obviously, decaying = decanting.
Ugh.
So would I! I don’t think it would work for me, unless a party of two (me and my sister) would count. But it answers the question of letting things go to people who really love them (which came up in the discussion thread from yesterday), and gets around all the packaging and mailing issues.
SOTD Bvlgari Omnia. I haven’t worn this since last fall – such a treat to rediscover!
it’s a good one, for sure.
One of my favorites. Perfect this time of year.
Me, too! Haven’t brought mine out yet but am looking forward to it soon. It’s one of my very favorites at Thanksgiving time.
Chanel Beige this morning. Have a lunch meeting, wanted something sophisticated.
Finding I do not enjoy green scents (more no. 19 for all of you!), so this fills the role I would expect a green would play…tough, capable, etc.
I do like to fly under the radar 😉
My Sophisticated Lady scent today is Delrae Bois de Paradis.
SOTD: Outremer Violette. I love the bottle and the scent is perfect for today. Very hot outside, but feeling cool with my pretty violets on!
SOTD is Stella. I just wanted something simple and nice since I have a cold.
You smell lovely.
When I was newly getting into perfume, a few years ago, I was debating between Stella and Stella Nude. It was just coming on summer, and I decided on Stella Nude because it seemed fresher and simpler for warm weather. But now, when I smell the two together, I wish I had Stella instead. I end up using Stella Nude mostly as a layering scent now.
I use Stella a lot for layering. My fav in that line is the Stella Rose Absolute b/c it has just a bit more oomph. One of my fav combos is Stella with L’Air du Desert Marrocain.
I’ve never had a chance to try the Absolute, but I can imagine it would be lovely. I had to quickly look up the other one, but from the description of the notes, that sounds like such a nice combo indeed. Must be so rich!
It is rich, but actually not that much more. It’s just more concentrated, more focused if that makes any sense. There’s a bit more patch in the base, but its not a whopper. It keeps it together better in the drydown than the regular Stella does, IMHO. When I think of very rich floral oriental patches, I think of Tom Ford Black Orchid or even JHAG Citizen Queen or L’AP Voleur de Roses. Stella RA isn’t at rich as them, but it’s still very nice.
I like your Stella with L’Air du Desert Marrocain idea! I’m going to try this. My go-to layering scents for Stella are SSS Ambre Noir and Prada Amber but it looks like I’ll be adding another.
Yes, both those you mention would be perfect. I have the Prada Amber and they may as well be joined at the hip – the patch is very similar in them both. I’ve also layered the Stella with the Prada l’eau ambree to make it “wetter”. I’ve note tried the SSS Ambre Noir yet, but hope to soon.
Get well soon! I love wearing Thé Vert when I’m feeling ill. It is soothing, undemanding yet still interesting.
Thank you!
Today I’m wearing L’Ambre des Merveilles and loving it! It really is just like the original but with more amber and vanilla. Lasted a good six hours, and now just a light vanilla and amber.
Would love a FB of this one as I can see using it often.
I still need to test this one!
The original didn’t wow me, but this really is gorgeous. The salty-sweet element is the best part still imo.. I need to explore ambergris more.
Thanks for the detail!
SOTD is 28 La Pausa. I have to drench myself in it to bump it up from “skin scent” to “low sillage,” but that’s not exactly a hardship. 🙂
It’s quite the contrast to Ambra Aurea, which I was wearing a couple of days ago – two tiny dabs is the maximum level of AA that’s acceptable in polite society, I’ve found. I made the mistake of spraying AA and then running some errands a while back… I got quite a few odd looks (but also a couple of compliments!).
Wearing Pacifica Lotus Garden today. Something refreshing since it is still so danged hot here. In San Diego, we’ve had quite a heat wave for the past week or so. It’s isn’t that it’s much hotter than the rest of the country during the summer (I used to live in MD so I know hot and humid!), but here in coastal/central SD, most people don’t have AC or just room ones. Last night it was 90 in our house at 9 pm! Sorry – complaining over!
This one is almost a straight up dupe of Hermes Un Jardin Sur le Nil, for all you bargain shoppers out there. I did a side by side as I owned both and the Pacifica is just a tiny bit sweeter.
I used to think the same myself! I had a bottle of UJSLN and would use the Pacifica body wash and products to maximize the whole experience.
I am in San Diego too and the heat and humidity are killing me. The only reason I can wear perfume is my air conditioned office, but the hot nights are doing me in. No AC of course…
Hi there! How’d you enjoy that storm last night? I thought it would cool things off, but not really. And it just increased the humidity. Fun fun fun!
I am practicing for Friday all week and am wearing El Attarine, today. It is fantastic–sort of like if Bois de Violette and Arabie had a beautiful but slightly difficult, less than immaculately groomed offspring (which given the parents would be expected).
SOTD = Serge Lutens Chergui
Perfect for a day that doesn’t know what it wants to be — slightly coolish in the early AM, raining on and off and now the sun is trying to peek out. This is one of my desert island scents and will absolutely not get the ax if (when?) I get serious about The Great Perfume Reduction Plan.
Last night I threw on a sweatshirt. The last time I wore it was on a day almost exactly like the one you have described. I kept smelling something wonderful, and couldn’t figure out what it was. Then I realized it was Chergui lingering on my sweatshirt! It really is perfect for one of those days.
The Chergui lingering on a jumper is even better than recently sprayed Chergui.
Oh my word, Merlin, it is! In order to justify a FB to myself, I kept thinking, “I could open my closet and it would smell like this!”
Fragrancenet with a coupon and you can get Chergui for < $64. How's that for enabling?
Oh wait, there’s more…if you sign up for ebates, you actually get 6% back 😉
hajusuuri, for many years Chergui has also been my go-to scent. like many others on this blog today, I too should do something about my perfume collection–which sounds much more of a problem than the others who have posted today. I am beginning to think I am a nut case for have so many “cases” of perfumes. It has been that way for many years and although the names on some of the bottles may have changed, the amount of bottles may have actually increased. I have a dresser and a “bureau” or whatever they may call it nowadays (I am not up with the newest furniture trends). Some days I look at my perfume laden bedroom furniture and muse that if I died tomorrow, I would forever be known as the crazy perfume bottle lady! However, there are really many more areas of my condo that need cleaning out and throwing out but I seem to have the guilts about my perfume collection in some ways. Most of the time I have come to the realization that as long as there is room for one more bottle, I am okay with the perfumes. They are minor in the scheme of things but major in my day to day life. Whereas, I have lots of clothing that is old and that I don’t wear, and I should donate it to a shelter or to Good Will (which I did recently but not enough). In essence (pun intended, my large perfume collection is not really a problem next to other things I should get rid of. I live alone and so what if my dresser and bureau are filled with perfumes instead of calendars and journals. My scents are like journals in some ways as they have defined many moments in my life.
Testing Vol de Nuit (current EdT) today and kind of hating it – dusty, unpleasant.
On the other wrist is vintage Ma Griffe EdT. The aldehydes are decaying, so it smells wrong. Very soapy/nail polish remover.
I’m giving each one of them another hour before I throw the towel in and scrub… after which the SOTD is likely to be Chamade.
Yowza – sounds like bad bad all the way around. Chamade to the rescue!
VdN went away. Ma Griffe stayed soapy and dry… I recognize the unmistakable vetiver-and-musk-and-aldehydes drydown as similar to that of Madame Rochas. Which I don’t like.
Wound up not scrubbing and going with No. 19 instead, as it has similar notes in a proportion that I DO like. All is well. 🙂
I have a cold today, so STOD is Angel, the only thing I can still smell. I was careful though, and only did one spray, so it won’t asphyxiate anyone near me. 🙂
I always love the way Angel smells on other people. Feel better soon!
SOTD is Mojave Ghost from Byredo. I got spritzed at Barneys and initially hated the fruity note. I think it is actually a floral note and both MG and I calmed down in no time.
There was a sample in the Barneys bag and when I tried it a second time I quite liked it. It becomes a skin scent that reminds me of Bonne Bell Skin and Flex Balsam. In other words, 1975.
I am right back in Tucson at the UofA.
Doubt I win pop for a fb, but will enjoy wringing some more memories out of my little sample.
OMG! I LOVE Flex. I used to use that all the time. I still have a bottle in the cupboard that I found at a discounters a few years ago. I use it every once in a while as a body wash just to get that thrill back. No one makes good smelling regular store shampoos anymore. Yeah… and I still have a bottle of Skin Musk hiding in the back of my frag drawer. 😉 I’ll have to check out this Byredo. I have only smelled the La Tulipe.
I liked the muskiness of Flex and loved Body on Tap, too. It didn’t clash with my My Sin. I guess the kook seeds were planted early.
Give MG a try. If you can get past the eye – crossing fruit blast, I think you will like where it settles.
This sounds quite disappointing given its fabulous name!
I’m wearing Musc Ravageur today. I wore it to bed last night and decided this morning that I wasn’t quite done with it yet.
I ordered a bunch of samples from Demeter’s website yesterday, inspired by someone mentioning in a thread that they sell samples, which I hadn’t known. And for 2.50 for a 3ml spray sample, it’s not bad. I hadn’t really explored this line at all. I don’t think anyone around here stocks them, as far as I know, so I’m looking forward to trying them out.
SOTD is Feminite du Bois. My first time trying it and I have to say I love it. It’s sort of fruity and woody and wonderful. I just “applied” it, and by applied I mean, spilled my sample all over me, so I am smelling great! I do wish I could get more of the violet in there, but maybe as it dries down some that will pop out more.
I was going to try it out yesterday, but got another exciting package in the mail so I ended up wearing some vintage Guerlain Vetiver on one arm and Iris Ukiyoe on the other. LOVE the Vetiver. I liked the Iris but it was a little too watery or something for me. Lovely, certainly, and an easy scent to wear, but it didn’t really captivate me.
I’ve had some unpleasant business to take care of today, so I wore my long time love Chanel 19 for some spine straightening confidence. Plus I’ve been wearing it since high school, very very long ago, so #19 always feels like “me”.
Hope everyone with colds feel better soon! And Robin, thanks for the emoticon chart, I’m hopeless at remembering that kind of stuff.
SOTD–Vintage Balenciaga Quadrille.
My big reduction challenge (we’ll pretend that I don’t have an expanding middle) was my sons’ baby and little kid books. I confess to keeping a dozen or so, but the rest I finally dropped off at our local children’s hospital where kids are allowed to take home the books they find in the waiting rooms.
Occasionally I panic that I gave a book away that I now regret, but I’ve almost always found it among the few that I kept.
What about my books you ask? From college, graduate school, collecting???
Errrrr… I can’t hear you very well.
I have plenty of books, but my husband has hundreds of them…. Reduction indeed! Books don’t count b/c eventually you can use them to make end tables and coffee tables, and plant stands…. It was very nice of you to give away the children’s books. Nothing is more wonderful than seeing a child with a book in his or her hands.
My husband has a PhD in English, which means that between reading a book for pleasure, studying a book in a course, and then teaching the book in a course, plus my copies, I have found up to six publications of the same book in our house. A few years ago I forced my husband to narrow down his collections to keeping a maximum of two books of the same title, and if I wanted to keep my edition, then he could only keep one. Our scariest crossover was Virginia Woolf–not only did both of us have a few editions of each of her books, but I still had my parents’ copies, plus both of us had at least a ten VW biographies… Sadly, I haven’t read anything by VW in two decades! Ahhh… but if I wanted to, I know where to find a good selection of her work 🙂
Sounds like my husband. Don’t even ask me how many different versions of leaves of grass he has! And he also collects Bukowski in French….. And, the kicker for me is that we are both librarians! Books at work, books at home, books everywhere! I love books. I love my husband, but holy god! It’s definitely a lifestyle.
I have ditched lots of books in my time, but don’t think I could give away the precious kid ones.
I know. And I have books from my childhood, and my mother’s childhood, and my husband’s parents’ childhood…
In fall my perfume tastes turn to woody, spicy, or sweet and creamy. Today I opted for sweet and creamy with Molinard Les Orientaux Vanille Fruitee. I smell like vanilla ice cream with a tiny bit of caramel sauce, a dollop of whipped cream and a slice of fresh peach atop it all. Yum!
I forgot to add that once the sweetness dissipates the vanilla takes on a lovely smoky quality in that drydown that I really enjoy.
It’s getting cooler here in New England. Today it was Ambre Sultan, two sprays lasted all day. Tonight, one more spray. Yum!
The only thing I feel like I have too much of right now is samples. They are stored upright in wooden boxes with lids so protected from sunlight. But I feel that they somehow will go bad before I have a chance to try them all. Other perfumes I store in cardboard boxes inside of plastic roll-away containers under the bed. That sounds like I have an arsenal of perfume under the bed but really I have “only” about 20 bottles. I wish I could do the reasonable thing and let one go when I buy one, but let’s face it, perfume by it’s very nature is not reasonable.
I hope everyone with colds gets better soon!
It’s become really hot here in S.A. This afternoon I put a spray of Private Collection on while in a department store. I’v decided this one has been on my wish list way too long and I think I’ll buy it for my upcoming birthday 🙂 I don’t have many green scents and I am usually averse to galbanum, but PC seems to be a big exception. It smells like dark green wet leaves, but makes me feel open, expansive and full of focused energy!
Other runner-ups were Cuir Cannage and Orchidee Vanille…