Happy Layered Friday! Our community project for today: layer two or more fragrances, or layer fragrance(s) with a scented body product.
It's not what I had planned, but I'm wearing i Profumi di Firenze Ambra del Nepal (which I'd been thinking about after yesterday's incense post) over Bliss Vanilla + Bergamot Body Butter. I smell delicious.
Reminder: next Friday, 1/30, will be Oud Friday! Wear an oud fragrance.
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2015, where I'll try to always have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is Neapolitan Layer Cake and Tea [cropped] by Kirinohana at flickr; some rights reserved.
I’m wearing light sprays of Chanel Coco EDT and Le Labo Rose 31 (or, as I like to call it, Coco Noir.)
Wow! I could not decide what to mix with Rose 31; brave choice!!! I bet you smell great!
That sounds like an amazing combination.
Oh – WOW! I love Coco, and I have some Rose 31, which I don’t wear nearly enough. I’ll have to try this over the weekend!!! WOW!
Do try, and let us know what you think!
I almost always layer my fragrance with a scented body product but rarely layer two perfumes together, so that’s what I thought i’d try today. SOTD is Pacifica Persian Rose and Tibetan Mountain Temple together. Mmmmm, Woodsy, warm, spicy, exotic rose.
It never occurred to me to layer TMT with rose, but I need to try that!
I really want to try TMT – I need to find a shop that carries them.
Whole Foods.
;( None of those withing 200 miles!! Boo!
But not all Whole Foods, sad to say. I live 2 blocks from a beautiful new one but they don’t carry Pacifica anything.
Sounds nice. I was going to wear Pacifica’s Mexican Cocoa with their Island Vanilla, but I decided to go commando to the dentist.
The cocoa and vanilla combo sound great, tho!
TGIF!
My combo is Vanille Insensée & Orange Sanguine from Atelier Cologne.
The vanilla adds more warmth and comfort factor to the deliciously juicy citrus!
Nice…they should sell it mixed that way.
I have seen a set with a travel spray of the Vanille Insensee and Orange Sanguine. I have almost bought it many times!!
I admittedly gave away my OS — I liked it but not so much as to wear it 🙂
Oh good – a science experiment as to proportions!
Mine was Orange Sanguine and Trèfle Pur.
Last night I took the most divine bath–I had a Bulgari The Blanc bath sachet to use up. Then I layered on Bulgari The Vert moisturizer over it. This morning I still smelled faintly like that, so I put on a wee bit more of the moisturizer (almost gone now) and then spritzed on some The Vert over it. Mmmmmmmm.
Triple layer, nice!
Lush Karma Kream + Shalimar EDP
This is a pretty delicious combination, and the Karma really brings out the creamy, woody elements in Shalimar. It’s also a much more approachable combination than some that I tested out last night before deciding I needed to keep it in check because I have a work event this evening.
I’ve never tried Karma Kream — is it as strong as the regular fragrance?
Now that I think about it, I may have only tried the solid once. I liked the scent, but felt guilty buying another perfume, so I bought the lotion instead. The lotion is definitely strong, and surprisingly long-lasting. Knowing Lush, the regular fragrance is probably even stronger, but I like the creaminess of the scent and the texture of the lotion is great.
Thanks!
Oh man, that sounds heavenly!
Interesting! I have a solid of this and once had the soap. I really really preferred the soap, as there is something a bit harsh about the solid…
Looking forward to people’s layers! I only recently got into layering and I quite enjoy it!
I’m in Jo Malone’s Nectarine Blossom & Honey, layered with Wood Sage & Sea Salt (a 1:4 ratio to be exact – the Nectarine Blossom can easily overwhelm in this combo). I love this combination so much, it’s the reason I bought the Wood Sage & Sea Salt. It’s bracing and bright, which is especially appealing on such a cold day.
Hey, that sounds like a great combo. I will try it next time I’m at a JM counter.
Have to try that too, wood sage & sea salt is a new favorite.
I don’t know why I don’t layer JM fragrances more often. I have to try this combo!
I have some old Jo Malone minis and the other day I was playing round and had Blue Agava & Cacao layered with one of the citrus ones (can’t remember which). It was pretty nice until I got overly ambitious and added Amber & Lavender… Then I had to scrub it all off, lol!
I often layer once the top notes have faded a bit but I generally don’t flat out mix. Today I did generous sprays of HdP Ambre 114 and Byredo Encens Chembur. I am loving this – the slightly sour note from EC is toned down but it is adding a richness to the Amber. Very nice!
Glad you found a perfect mix!
As someone who usually doesn’t layer (if I’m buying a perfume I tend to think it’s great as is) this was a weird challenge. I am wearing Slumberhouse Sana over Chantecaille Kalimantan. It’s wearable in that the Kalimantan gives a lower base to the Sana but I’m unlikely to do it again
Me too! I buy fragrances because I love the way they are. The sheer thought of adding an extra element (let alone mixing fragrances, which are huge melanges of notes) is a little out of my comfort zone and I tend to think I will fail at an attempt more than coming out smelling great or even just okay.
That being said, I actually quite enjoyed this challenge. It’s not a bad way to revive the “spark” with “fading loves” or to use up those many samples that just seem to accumulate!
I think for those of us who layer, a lot of it came from trying to wear more than one frag at a time! One on the neck – another on the wrists. Heck – you have two arms for a reason, and ankles too!!! I’m just kidding with you. Everyone does their thing and it’s always wonderful, and it should only make you feel good and fabulous. Uh, but I’m nuts. I have actually done that before!
Bahahaha, I don’t typically layer, but Ann, I like your style. We have all these body parts for a reason, and as far as I’m concerned, that reason is to find as many places to put on perfume as is physically possible!
😉 Yes indeed!
I usually layer because I want something that I don’t have (or doesn’t exist). Like when I try something new and it just doesn’t live up to what I thought it would be, so I layer to get the effect that I really want.
I haven’t been brave enough to do a lot of layering (so far), but after reading through today’s posts I have a feeling I’ll be joining you in experimentation!
Wearing Marni and Marni Rose. It’s a nice combination, but I don’t think it’ll make into a layering convert.
I’m with thegoddesrena on this one. I never layer, and I don’t use lotions or body butters (although I probably should). I layered Demeter’s Silvery Tip Pekoe with Demeter’s Beeswax, probably because I’ve spent my winter drinking tons of tea and honey. Unfortunately I rather overdid the pekoe and underdid the beeswax, so I’m not getting the honeyed tea effect I was working toward.
I’ve mixed Demeters a few times because they’re so simple that they seem to invite combinations, and getting the balance is hard. (Yeah, I know I said down below that I never layer. This is mixing! It’s not the same thing!) The only time I was really happy with the results was with a straightforward fifty-fifty mix of Caramel and Black Pepper, which was fantastic.
Caramel and Black Pepper sounds great.
It really is: the caramel smooths out the spiky pepper, which hides the synthetic quality of the caramel. They were made to go together.
I agree w/Mals – it does sound great. I love black pepper
I never layer fragrances because I assume that perfumers generally know what they’re doing, but for today I figured I might stack SL Douce Amère with something to roughen up its smooth surface, and decided on the jagged Coup de Fouet. They’re pretty good together, but not better than either separately, and two hours in, CdF had been completely devoured. Still, I’ll smell like Douce Amère for the rest of the day, and that’s just fine.
All this talk of iris this week made me crave it, so I’m in Crabtree and Evelyn Iris body lotion (so nice in the spring and summer) and VC&A Bois d’Iris, which I love on its own.
The problem is – I don’t think the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Bois d’Iris smells almost diminished and so does the lotion. I technically still smell nice, but not as nice as if I’d tried either individually.
I tend not to have the greatest success with layering with one notable exception: Kiehl’s Musk with CB I Hate Perfume’s Burning Leaves. I can’t find my Kiehl’s anywhere right now, but it was a fascinating combination. The first scent to make my (male and straight) roommate say “Whoa – what is *that*??”
Have a lovely Friday dears!
I think you’re right, most of the time layering is not more than the sum of its parts, unless you are starting with some very very simple formulas.
Bliss Vanilla+Bergamont Body Butter, AG Amber Fetiche, and a few dabs of SL Un Bois Vanille. I really, really wanted to layer vanilla with a serious incense – Olivier Durbano Black Tourmaline – but I couldn’t find my sample!! Although I love incense, I don’t have a lot of straight up incense. I should remedy that 😉
I am wearing I Love Les Carottes over my homemade chypre accord lotion (unscented lotion with oakmoss, labdanum, and bergamot). The lotion ate all of the carrots.
Hopefully it found them delicious.
Your home-made lotion sounds gorgeous!
I’m trying Diptyque’s iris-scented body oil with Infusion d’Iris Absolue. I don’t think they’re getting along all that well—the oil is a bit too strong. I used to wear Id’I Absolue over Prada’s Candy lotion, and that was a much better combination.
I dreaded this challenge and considered skipping it. I do not layer perfumes, though I do apply perfumes over differently scented body moisturizers. However, I usually find that the scent of the moisturizer is almost completely drowned by the perfume.
But eventually I decided to try the combination I read about in perfume layering guides: YSL Opium + an orange blossom scent. So I put some Orangers en Fleurs over Opium. Overall, I like the result – orange blossom with a spicy and resinous oriental base. But the scents have not mixed completely – I keep catching a whiff of either Opium or OeF. Maybe because I am not used to layering. Still, it’s nice.
Diptique Philosykos layered with Tam Dao inspired from a long ago post by Robin. The Philosykos is in EdP, which is a little over powering for the Tam Dao, but still quite nice.
I still wear that combo to bed frequently!
Yes, this would be a great nighttime combo – also a good (and decadent) linen spray!
I hardly ever layer, except occasionally with body products, and the simpler those are, the nicer. Nearly any aldehydic floral is pretty good over B&BW Moonlight Path (it’s nice with No. 5, for example. Or a teeeeeeny dab of White Diamonds parfum). B&BW White Citrus lotion is nice under a number of citrusy florals, too.
I think my most successful combo, and it’s the one I’m in today, is No. 19 edp – the rosier version – over The Body Shop Moroccan Rose body butter. No. 19 is downright friendly this way… most of the time I like it because it has that standoffish edge, but sometimes you need something pretty but backboney for, say, a parent-teacher meeting.
(As an aside, I think Moroccan Rose is d/c… has anybody tried their newer one called
I like to combo No 19 with roses too. Especially Lancome’s Mille et Une Roses – it kind of cuts the abundance of musk in the base to have the vetiver from 19 prop it up.
The other day I had on some Mille et Une Roses layered with Heure Bleu EDT. I liked it because it gave Heure Bleu a much softer and more gentle effect.
That sounds lovely!
Another good one for layering is BBW’s (unfortunately d/c) P.S. I Love You lotion, nice with aldehydic florals and rose scents.
THat one I did not like but can’t remember why. OTOH, I don’t really like Moonlight Path on its own either. (shrugs)
Whoops, I ran off and forgot that I didn’t say what the newish TBS rose body butter is named… and now when I go look, I don’t see any rose there at all. Huh.
Wait, no. I was thinking of Atlas Mountain Rose, but now they don’t have it in the body butter, and they DO have something called Wild Rose.
It looks like it’s still available.
http://m.thebodyshop-usa.com/mt/www.thebodyshop-usa.com/body-moisturizers/body-butter/regular-body-butter/atlas-mountain-rose-body-butter.aspx?un_jtt_v_pdp=yes&un_jtt_redirect
SCREAM. A lemming is born. That combo sounds perfect. I need to try that, stat!! First I need to acquire samples of those two Goutals.
I played it safely with Body Shop Sweet Lemon body butter (recently acquired) with Hermes Mandarine Ambrée on one arm and John Varvatos Artisan on the other. The body butter softened both scents slightly and improved their longevity :).
I seldom layer, only combination I have invented is Guerlain Vetiver Eau Glacée with L’Artisan Bois de Farine. That one works :).
I’m nuts for layering. I love finding combos – hi and low; wet and dry; green and red; citrus and anything. It’s mostly that I am usually trying to wear more than one thing at a time b/c the clock keeps ticking and I have a lot of bottles to use up! I mostly layer on the weekend though so as not to overwhelm other people if I have a miss hit. I ususally layer by wearing one thing on my neck and another on my arms. I don’t normally actually “mix” frags together.
My all time absolutely fav laying combo is what I’m wearing today – Annick Goutal Ce Soir ou Jamais edp and her Vanille Exquise edt. The laying makes both of these fragrances better than their individual selves. Like a good romance! They combine to make the most ethereal, rich, other-wordly, cherubs singing, swoon-worthy rose and woods fragrance I’ve ever experienced. It’s better than any other single rose or woods based fragrance I own, and makes Parfum Sacre, Lyric, even beloved Ta’if smell awkward in comparison. You get the wet pear and the bone dry vanilla, and the wine like rose and the massive guaiac note all in one symphonic super double date of sensual magnificence.
Oh, you are KILLLING ME. I haven’t smelled either of these Goutals… and I love Parfum Sacre and Lyric. (Did love Ta’if before I OD’ed on it one day with six sprays.) GAAAAAAHHH.
I’ll have to send you some so you can smell for yourself. And yes, Ta’if needs a gentle hand! Oy, I can only imagine the room clearing power of 6 sprays!!!!
ONe of them was to the back of my neck, which was a huge mistake. It would NOT LEAVE ME ALONE. I got nauseated.
Ta’if is definitely below the neck for me too. Cleavage, wrists only. I have a bunch of frags that I can’t stand too close to my face. Thats too bad. Maybe someday in the future you can bear to dress it on your ankles, lol.
Those back of the neck sprays can be dangerous! Did it the other day with ELdO Like This and was tasting it on the back of my tongue for the next couple hours.
That must be crazy-good if you’re ranking it ahead of Lyric and Parfum Sacre!
It is! And I love both of those others and have bottles of them too. I think it makes such and impact b/c since they are totally independent frags, there was no concern over the pyramid or progression from classic top to bottom as would normally be the case with any of my normal roses. They just kind of puff up and swirl around each other – it’s like good jazz. It’s all mixed up and there is no top or bottom.
I like to layer, too, especially if I spritz something on in the morning and it strikes me as not quite perfect. I usually layer something simple on top of more complex stuff, to take an edge off or to sweeten things up. I’ll add Lann-Ael over almost anything, which is probably what I’ll end up doing today. Ooh, maybe over one of the incense frags from yesterday….
I totally get it! Exactly. I can get a lot of progression out of roses or “green” fragrances. There are very few I have that won’t play nice with others.
Im still to ‘green’ to really attempt layering. But I adore Parfum Sacre, so I have to try this combo soon!
Just go for it. Put Parfum Sacre on one wrist and then put something else – I’d pick something incensey, woody or with vetiver – on the other wrist and just see how the sillage mixes. Let your nose do all the work. Or, use a rose soliflore….. You’ll see. It’s fun!
Ann S, your layering examples sound fantastic and greater than the sum of their parts! Thanks, very inspiring!
It’s really lovely – good luck!!
Ooh thanks for the tips!
😉
I’m wearing Sonoma Scent Studio Vintage Rose (1 small spray) and Cuir de Russie Chanel (2 small sprays). It’s melded into a lovely rose leather and I’m quite impressed with myself for thinking of it, haha.
Oh, sounds wonderful!
I don’t layer things, except that sometimes I will put a dab or something different than my SOTD at the end of my wrists (just above my hands) after a few hours have passed so that I have two different things to smell as the day goes on. However, I often wear a lotion or cream that is different than my perfume. Today I have on KM Passiflora, which is very peachy to me and put n some Tocca Stella, for a little blood orange, and I am happy with the combination. (I don’t own any Tocca perfumes, but the body creams are very rich, but not greasy and I like them a lot.)
I like the orange in Stella. Very nice!
I gave up on my layering combo, washed it off and am now much happier wearing the spectacularly perfect Iris Ganache
It’s an experiment! I think it’s perfectly fine to give up if it doesn’t work out.
I only have a few that work anyway (and some of them are summer-only, so wouldn’t be a good choice for the day).
I sprayed Balmain Ivoire from a sample this morning, but it didn’t do anything for me. Just applied Dolce &Gabbana The One roller ball I keep in my purse for emergencies. Better than the Balmain by itself, but not something I would plan for.
Wearing Coeur de Vetiver Sacre with Poivre Samarkand.
At first CdV overpowered PS, but now they’re coexisting nicely.
You are so spicy!
Vetiver is great for layering with so many fragrances. The other day I still had some L’Arte di Gucci on and at the end of the day I was testing some Vetiver essential oil, and wow – that extra vetiver with the L’Arte was really something.
I usually never layer fragrances, but I made an exception today in spirit of Fragrance Community Friday. It’s all about sharing experiences and experimenting, right?
I cheated a little and chose two compositions which are on the simpler side of things. I layered Goutal’s Tubereuse over Etro’s Gomma. I like it, but I’m not a convert yet.
Sounds wonderful!
Well,after my shock-treatment of the Summer cold(I obliterated it with scarily-high Vitamin C dosages!),I decided to give my nose a treat as well:Avignon+Portrait of a Lady:overwhelming at first but mellowed out to be a FANTASTIC Incense-Rose marvel.I think in colder weather it would be even better.
Glad you are feeling better. I’ve not tried either of those but that combination sounds wonderful!
They’re both powerhouse fragrances on their own,but the combo takes it to a new,interesting level!You must get your nose to them ASAP!Thanks for the well-wishes!Happy Friday!
Now that IS experimental! Sounds like it worked out 🙂
I’m in Lutens Cuir Mauresque from a brand-new bottle that arrived yesterday, layered with a few molecules of Rose Anonyme from a test vial. I almost skipped the Friday Challenge because CM is crazy-beautiful on its own, but then decided maybe a little rose would lighten it a teensy bit, and I think it did, even though Rose Anonyme might be a fairly dark rose – I haven’t tried it alone yet, and since it lists oud as a note it will probably be my choice for next Friday.
Oh wow, I think RA is a very heavy rose, at least it comes off that way on me. That’s an interesting combination. Glad it worked out.
Well, I did go VERY light on the RA – just swiped the little plastic rod from the test vial lightly once across each wrist … and am glad I did just the wrists, because I notice a marked difference between my wrists (with their two molecules each of RA) and my elbow crooks (which are CM alone). Now I’m really looking forward to trying the RA by itself!
Congrats on Cuir Mauresque! That was my first choice for if I was to win the lottery and fly to Paris… 🙂
Earlier this week I did some layering, but of a cover-up kind. I bought some Shalimar Ode a la Vanille Sur la Route du Mexique, and it was horrible, with a top note of — industrial waste? gasoline? It will be referred to as Mexican Shalimar from now on — I couldn’t even smell any vanilla. Anyway, I did try it a second time to try to be fair, and and still No, so I put a blast of Nombril Immense on top. Some Mexican Shalimar is up for grabs next swap meet, let me tell ya.
🙂 Crush it into submission with your NI!!! I’ve not cared for the newer Shalimars either – I definitely get a plastic note that I do not like.
I’m wearing a light spray of Tresor on my bra and Bulgari Black on my wrists & inside my elbows.
That sounds like a very wearable combination. Now I wish Tresor wasn’t one of my mother in law’s scents and as such, off limits.
It’s not as scary as I was expecting! The tiny spritz of Tresor on fabric was perfect. On skin I can’t spray it any higher than the back of my knees, otherwise it’s overwhelming.
Chamade pdt + Chamade extrait. That’s as daring as I get! You guys are giving me some excellent ideas, however.
I commend your dedication to Chamade! It’s funny b/c when I was commenting above about layering frags, I was thinking to myself that there are definitely a few frags I have that I’d not ever layer with anything b/c they are just so complex or so perfect. And Chamade is definitely one of them (and Amouage Gold for Men or Memoir Woman or Bal a Versailles). Ha. That’s funny. Chamade is just so perfect all by itself. It leaves nothing wanting.
Agreed! My other non daring combo is No 5 edt with No 5 extrait. I don’t apply the extrait until later in the day.
Ann S, you’ll also appreciate this: I keep vials of Chamade extrait and No 5 extrait in my purse at all times!!
I think we are nearly fragrance soul mates, lol! I agree – No 5 is not for layering, nor would I layer something like Bois des Iles. Well, maybe with some rose? God, I’m insane. But for as many frags as I love to layer, there are plenty that would be a real mess to do so. AND….
I carry a small cosmetics pouch with seasonal frags all the time. Regardless of my seasonal rotations, some version of No 5 and Chamade are *always* in my pouch! Actually, I keep a small vial of No 5 in my desk too (that’s the creme). And in the thing that holds up my computer monitor at work (that my edt)…. Ok, so I’m a real addict. I’m like a squirrel – there are frags everywhere *just in case*…..
Such lovely stuff.
That said, I wouldn’t fear to mix Chamade with a bit of simple rose lotion.
By Kilian Liasons Dangereuses (dabbed on wrist & neck) + Tauer Incense Rosé (one spray on chest) + Body Shop Vanilla brulée hand cream. Cozy!Worked fine for the office as well as walking through snow covered forest. ❄ ⛄
Oh – that sounds wonderful! I can only imagine the sharp and juicy notes of LD siding up to the IR – giving it some heft, and the vanilla to smooth it out. You smell good!
That’s interesting. Incense Rose smells really dry to me – which is strange because of the citrus in it. The top notes are wonderful and then it goes…nearly acidic!
I did a three-layer thing today. I had a sample of Olympic Orchids Salamanca, which is *very* earthy, with kind of a sooty edge, so I decided to see what I could do with it. So I layered a couple dabs of Salamanca with a spritz of Vanille Insensee, and a dab of Nemat Ruh Gulab oil. The combo plays pretty nicely together, like a vanilla rose with some dirt under it.
Roses are so good for layering.
They are. Rose plays at least reasonably well with just about everything. The Nemat oil probably wasn’t the best rose choice I could have made though. It’s a little thin to stand up to Salamanca, and it has far less longevity than either of the other two. I just used it because I pretty much never wear it.
Off topic, but … thanks for recommending Belvoir. I tried and liked their elderflower and rose lemonade.
I layered Infusion d’Iris body lotion with some Balenciaga Paris. (I wanted to put Malle Iris Poudré instead, but could open my sample for the life of me this morning! It’s a tiny screw-top glass vial and it seems to be stuck 🙁
I do smell nice, though!
Darn, I forgot! I’m wearing Femme by Rochas. I just got a mini bottle, hence all thoughts flying out of my head when faced with something new and shiny 😉
On Wednesday I wore Youth Dew with a spritz of Atelier Cologne’s Orange Sanguine. I find OS great for taming oversprays of BIG orientals. I like big orientals but sometimes I like to tame them for public consumption!
I’m a skeerdy-cat about layering, but YD with OS is something that I’m willing to try — thanks for mentioning the combo!
SSS Champagne de Bois + SL A La Nuit. I like it a little too much and am dreaming of other jasmine layering options now. I thought A La Nuit was too much when I tried it alone but it seems it plays well with others. 🙂 Happy Friday!
Oh my word, that sounds absolutely amazing. I feel like Champagne de Bois is a really good one for layering, too. It could work with a lot of things.
Something I discovered is that two BIG fragrances can combine into something much tamer than either on their own. It’s an interesting effect!
I played it very safe today. I’m wearing L’Occitanes La Rose des 4 Reines body lotion and Paris YSL edp. It’s a very safe and trusted combo that I already wore way before I was seriously into perfume.
Safe but nice! I’m on a (pretty awesome) rose combo, too. 🙂
Ditto on pretty!
Habanita and Heure Exquise : )
YOU ARE MY NEW HERO! OMG – I can’t even imagine the magnificent sillage swirling around you. I think you get the brave combo award today!! I’m going to try this when I get home!!!!!
Lol. The start is bumpy. The drydown much better. They are both so thick and delicious!
I forgot today was Friday and I was wearing Elie Saab, trying it out for the first time, and I have to say I love it! Honey and some warm fruit, it’s very lovely. However, I didn’t want to be left out so I ended up layering it with some Dzing!, which turned out to be pretty darn good. The honey-fruit aspect gives Dzing! some more warmth, and the fruit adds another dimension to it that I’m really enjoying.
Also, I would give anything to eat a piece of that cake in the photo, Robin!
I like the Elie Saab as well (but I fear we are in the minority). It is just plain pretty! I also occasionally add something to it to temper its sweetness a bit–usually something with smoke or incense.
I think it is delightful! It’s easy to wear, but I don’t find it boring at all. A really, really pretty fragrance. I don’t like its initial blast, which is maybe too on the fruity side for me, but after about 5 minutes it settled down and was something I really like! I think it might be nice with something smoky, too. I like it with the Dzing! because even though Dzing! has a little sweetness to it, on the whole it is pretty dry, and the Elie Saab gives it just a little warmth.
Count me as a member of the unpopular kids club. I find it pretty and sparkly and there’s nothing wrong with that.
It’s a delight. It is going on my FB list. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did, but it has its hooks in me now!
I like the sparkly thing too, until we get to the drydown and that patchouli jumps out and skeers me.
Are wearing Elie Saab Le Parfum EDP or Elie Saab Le Parfum EDT?
That was my question, too. If it’s the edp, it’s apparently much sweeter on everyone else. On me there’s very little sweetness, like a mimosa made with grapefruit juice instead of orange juice.
It’s the EDP. I really love it, and I spritzed on a little of just the Elie Saab last night before I went out, and I have never received so many compliments on a perfume!
I love layering and I am wearing my favorite layering combo of all time, SL MKK with FM Lipstick Rose
I too used MKK to layer, but with vintage Chloe. A musk to end all musks.
I have to try this combo, sounds great
Go heavier on the MKK. It lost. 🙂
BWA HA HA!!
I (ahem) wore the KL Chloe all through my teenage years. I mean, ONE bottle of it. The EdT. A 1-ouncer. But then, I was dabbing it instead of spraying… I don’t think I gassed anybody out.
Mals, I found a bottle of the parfum at an antique store years ago and fell in love. I have bottle of the edt now that I enjoy, though it doesn’t have the same richness. Power yes, but not richness.
Probably the only tuberose I feel comfortable in, strangely.
It’s a kitchen-sink sort of frag, really. Lots of moss and wood in the base, too, which might tone down all that BWF-ness.
My mom hates white florals and she would NEVER have worn it herself, but she never seemed to mind Chloe on me, either. (The woman made me take Sand and Sable back to the store, insisting that I was “too young,” for it. I was 18. 😉 Really I think she just didn’t want to have to smell it on me.)
It’s kind of similar but sometimes I layer L’AP drole de rose with Lancome Magie Noire to bring it back to earth. There is something about the combo of sweet and dry that really works.
Magie NOire is such a flight of fancy for me.
I thought I’d use the day as an excuse to play perfumer and try something I would never do otherwise (and I work from home so no one to scent-stun if I overdue it). So I tried No. 19 Poudre and AdP’s Iris Nobile in generous equal measures.
Weirdly, the two together fried my musk sensors and I cannot smell musk any more… which makes me suspect I am radiating a lot more perfume than I can detect. What I am smelling is lots of stems and roots, which surprises me. Also, that the Poudre seems to have slayed the very sweet note in Iris Nobile. The sweetness I am getting now is a grassy, stemmy sweetness–not the honey of IN or the powder of Poudre. Odd! (Do I recommend this combo? Mmmm… maybe only for science 🙂 !!)
Will have to try that–Poudre usually strikes me as pretty musky. Am about to top Houbigant’s Orangers en Fleurs with a spritz of Aftelier’s Candide.
Awesome experiement. Sometimes when I layer frags that are very similar, the similar notes get “knocked out” from my nose and then I can only smell what is different about them. It makes a weird experience for sure and also developes a sense for the other accords in a mix. I think I’d like to try and layer No 19 Poudre with something vetivery so see if that might amplify the iris parts…. hmm.. so much fun.
Agree – well, not that I layer per se, but I will often do a wrist-to-wrist comparison of two scents that seem similar. And you do, then, notice what is different, while the similarities recede. It’s interesting.
“Scent stun.” Ha! I’ll have to use that one 🙂
Three healthy sprays of vintage Armani on my neck and Diabolo rose on my wrists, to amp the rose a little bit up. It worked! 🙂 By noon the weather turned warmer and I feared I might sufocate people at the Japanese reataurant where I had lunch, but later on I ran accross a tester of Eau des Missions and lavishly sprayed it, so I might be a lost case…
You are mad 😉 but you are right, there are not enough lost cases.
I hardly ever layer but I’m being brave today because “Robin says” LOL So I am wearing Tobacco Vanille and Rose 31. I like it! The dirty cigarette smell of Rose 31 plays off the tobacco scent and these vanilla and rose play well together.
After getting a hotel sample size bottle of Rose 31 I’m going to spring for a full one, I really love the ciggie rose scent. And it lasts an amazingly long time.
Another one I can try later – it sounds like a wonderful combo!!
That sounds great! I will have to try it!
Vintage Chloe EdT and Misc Kublai Khan. I can’t tell who’s winning but I enjoy watching the struggle.
Respect.
Sometimes a really strong scent goes as meek as a pussy cat when combined with a much softer fragrance. The softer one goes dominatrix, lol!
MKK has always been a very low-sillage perfume for me, but I thought it would hold up. I may need a bit more
I went through a hectic layering phase in which I never wore anything on its own. But at some point there were just too many bad experiments in a row and I gave it up! It started seeming like the result was always muddy. Recently though someone mentioned wearing Dior Homme with vetiver EO and that turned out quite well…
Today I took this a bit further by mixing Lavender EO in some body oil, then dabbing vetiver EO on my arms and then spritzing Homme on top. Nice…but after some hours I realized I was still finding Homme a little too sweet and I sprayed on some of Etro’s Patchouli. I put much less Patchouli on so Homme is still dominant, but the Patchouli gives the iris in Homme a much more earthy feeling, and over all I am quite taken by the effect 🙂
Still, it might be too much of a hassle to replicate this!
I had a yoga class at lunch, and the teacher does a little massage with essential lavender oil at the end, so I now have that layered with Azemour.
I’v found lavender EO works nicely with almost all citrus fragrances.
And now I’ve just learned the same! 🙂
Probably there’s a reason lavender and citrus are used so often together!
I forgot about the layering thing today and I am wearing Shalimar Ode a la Vanille. I find the lemon to be much sharper in this than the regular Shalimar and there is a chocolate note that I can’t decide if I like or not.
I was looking forward to this perfume for a long time and finally got myself a small decant sample–A cousin of Shalimar sure, but to me not nearly as complicated or engaging.
But it still is nice. About mid way through, I smell flat out Shalimar.
Scents of the day are YR Eau de Vahines over a bit of AG Songes edp. I’d love a vacation that smelled this lovely.
Swooning!
I don’t often layer, so this was a fun and inspiring challenge. 🙂 I tried a new combo this morning: Shalimar EDP with the newish Musc Tonkin EDP. I think I need less MT and more Shalimar next time, but I still thought it a success! My skin really tones down dirty notes, so it’s not really a stinkbomb on me. 🙂
I’m going to do the one combo I found I like more than its constituent parts after my evening workout: Chergui and Al Oudh.
I haven’t smelled Al Oudh, but I can imagine Chergui being great with the right oud perfume! Thanks for idea!
So many great ideas in the comments today! I love to layer and am wearing one of my favorite combinations: Tauer L`Air du Desert Marocain and SSS Champagne de Bois. Usually both scents are perfect on their own, but once in a while the LADDM seems too dry or the CdB too sweet and that is when I add a spritz or two of the other. (LADDM also works well with L’Artisan Traversee du Bosphore.)
Oh – so nice! So Crazy – I do the same thing!!!! I often layer either of them with a soft rose, or L’AP Traversee du Bosphore to give the latter some weight and cut the sweetness. The incense in SSS particularly seems to become more sensual with the TdB. That’s awesome. Great minds!
I don’t usually layer, so this was a bit of a challenge for me. I went with Youth Dew lotion with a few spritzes of TF Sahara Noir (I seem to be a bit obsessed with these two these days). I am happy to report that nobody was injured by my sillage, and that I smell all spicy and incensey.
That sounds wonderful! I will have to try this combo!
Today I layered Encre Noire with coconut and jasmine body lotion. Vetiver may make everything smell better!
SOTD = Dior Mitzah (2 sprays) under Hermes L’Amre des Merveilles which I will now call L’Ambre Mitzah de Merveilles
Neither one took center stage so I enjoyed both equally!
I like to experiment with layering but would only do it if I like both or all the perfumes I’m layering.
Next experiment will be either Volutes EDT or Eau Duelle EDT with something.
Eau Duelle EDP with an orange blossom frag might work …
I haven’t encountered the eaU Duelle EDP yet and will look for it the next time I visit Saks!
Tauer’s Rose Flash layered with PHI. An epic battle!
Epic indeed!
I’m another who never layers… in my case, it’s because I’m afraid of creating a Frankenfume that can never be obliterated…
Didn’t have any time this morning to experiment, so I put on Ambre Narguile and then dabbed just a bit of Paprika Brasil on top. I knew AN could out-muscle PB any old day, so I didn’t worry much about the combination.
Hi All!
It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted a comment, but this scent of the day challenge was so much fun I had contribute.
I layered Laura Mercier Creme Brûlée shower gel and body creme with Bond No 9 ILNY Marriage Equality fragrance. The woody notes of the fragrance tempers the sweetness of the creme brûlée. It’s a wonderful cool/cold weather combination. Like a nice big soft cozy sweater while gazing into a fireplace. I love it and it never fails to generate lots of compliments
I love LM’s Creme Brûlée soufflé for layering, I wore it the other day with Bond No. 9 Andy Warhol Lexington Avenue to bring out the creme brûlée note, one of my favorite combos. It harmonizes nicely with the woody and cypress notes in The Lexington Avenue just as it does in the ILNY.
I have a sample of Lexington Ave, I’ll have to try that combo next. Sounds lovely!
I did end up layering Pacifica’s Mexican Cocoa and Island Vanilla after I got home from the dentist, a yummy breakfast, and some birding. I smell sweet and spicy 🙂 Mexican Cocoa reminds me of Blue Agava & Cacao (Jo Malone).
In case Laila sees this, here is a partial list:
-Sandhill Cranes
-Ducks: Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, and Bufflehead
– 33 other species
Oh, thank you, I did see this! I once went camping at Jasper-Pulaski Wildlife Refuge in Indiana, a gathering place in the fall for Sandhill cranes as they migrate south. After feeding in the nearby farm fields all day they gather at nightfall by the thousands and party! it was quite a memorable experience, we heard them all night and then went to watch at dawn as they took off for another day’s rounds.
Very nice!
Never layered either but I gave it a go with fleur d’oranger and l’eau d hiver. i smell like the Orange and White chocolate gelati I tried a few weeks ago.
You do smell delicious, Robin! I love Ambra del Nepal.
Wearing L’Artisan for Aedes today, on top of a remnant of Dior Homme from last night. (Does that count?)
Thank you! And sure, we’re not picky 🙂
SOTD is Calypso St. Barth Lea, from the Freebiemeet (thanks again, Janice!). I had a doctor’s appt. this afternoon, so I didn’t want to get too experimental. After I got home, I added a few drops of A Wing and a Prayer Tea Rose. It’s not bad, but the few times I’ve tried to add the Tea Rose to something else, the result becomes too sweet and thick. Like The Goddess Rena and some others above, I’m not one for layering. I tend to like big, complex, but well-blended perfumes, and adding something to them ends up being too much. So I’ve mostly saved layering experiments for samples and blind buys I don’t love on their own, without much success. Yesterday I tried adding Yves Rocher Citrus Blossom to Ted Lapidus White Soul Gold & Diamonds, thinking it might cut down on the grape soda. It sort of just watered down WSG&D, which I guess does make it easier to wear, though also less interesting. Maybe the WSG&D needs cooler weather, or warmer. Or maybe I’ve already got an item for the next Freebiemeet.
I layered Badgley Mishka over the matching lotion today and will be spraying Samsara Shine on over the drydown.