The weekend is sadly over...yes, it's another Monday. What fragrance are you wearing?
I'm wearing Cartier Baiser Volé Eau de Parfum.
Reminder: this Friday, 20 March, we're doing Nouveau Niche...wear a perfume from a new (2010+) niche brand.
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 a ring from Cartier's 2013 Nouvelle Vague collection.
Monday Blah
Italian Leather I am sampling today- I would like it better on a man. Not for me
Blah here too, although it’s supposed to get warm later
Today I’m wearing Blood Oranges by Shay & Blue, and yep, that name pretty much sums it up. Starts with a blast of juicy flesh, then becomes a little bitter, drier and rind like. It’s pretty linear but lovely. It also makes the room it’s sprayed in smell like someone has been juicing oranges!
Sounds a bit like the Atelier Cologne Orange Sanguine?
I’ve not done a side by side, and I’ve only ever dabbed the Atelier from a sample, but yes they are very similar.
Oh, I adore Atelier’s OS! One of my favorites!
Wearing Dior Pure Poison.
SOTD is Cuir de Lancome over a lovely apricot vanilla body butter (Josie Maran). I love this body butter with a leather perfume.
Felt like I didn’t have much of a weekend, was sad about it being over but this week is supposed to be nice and it’s sunny out, so I’m happy. Hope everyone has a nice Monday
I will have to try that body butter!
I am always in the market for a good body butter. Apricot vanilla sounds amazing!
SOTD is Agent Provocateur, which I realized I hadn’t worn in maybe close to a year.
I miss “old” AP, as a fragrance brand. Admittedly have not even tried Fatale though.
I haven’t tried most of the newer ones. I wish Strip was still around!
It’s really something when you put your hands on a bottle that has been neglected for so long. It’s like “hello stranger!”
Yep! I didn’t realize how much I missed it!
I put on DSH Pamplemousse a few minutes ago. I think my skin ate it, though, so I’m considering my options with green notes.
Have a great day, everyone!
Shame, that one lasts pretty well on me!
I am going with Ineke for the week (new niche) as I have the gorgeous sampler box as well as three FBs… so today I am in Hothouse Flower….I am sensing more than just gardenia…does anyone know if there is any fig in HF?
And Robin I bought the Weleda Seabuck Thorn oil this weekend and I love it! Thanks for the suggestion
!!
Oh good!!
Yes, fig and incense.
OOOH! Fig! I will have to wear that one on fig week!
I got a lot of goodies in the mail recently, including some perfume samples. I tried Lucien Lelong’s Indiscret yesterday and fell madly in love with it. So heady, so galbanum, so green, so lush. No idea if it’s a vintage sample or not and my friend who sent it isn’t sure either, but it’s beautiful. Wearing it again today for my SOTD.
Totally forgot I have an eye doctor appointment in an hour, so I probably wouldn’t have put on something so heavy, but the doctor is my fiance’s uncle, so I’m not too worried.
Reminded me of my patient once.
(I had a co-worker once whose signature was Pink Sugar. No, girlfriend. Just no.)
Her “SOTD” was Alien and it suited her perfectly. I always have a bit of admiration for people who can pull of fragrances that I can’t so I HAD to compliment her. “Hello, how are you feeling today? Btw, is that Alien you are wearing? Smells fantastic on you!”
But yes, I agree that patients or doctors should not wear something too strong. I am not against fragrances in clinics if applied with discretion
I certainly don’t hate Alien but every time I smell it on someone , it feels like they wore too much. Not sure if it’s them or if it’s just Alien.
I’m on a trip so I grabbed a handful of samples to chuck in my bag: one of them was Santal Majuscule, which is basically a cross between Jeux de Peau and Santal Blanc, both of which I own. Nice, but I wouldn’t buy it, obviously.
It has been raining in Rome since we got here Saturday and it’s supposed to rain until we leave Wednesday morning. I don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for me but it kind of awful because you can’t do much of anything. At least our next destination, Florence, is supposed to be sunny.
Hope the trip is wonderful anyway – at least there are some things you can do indoors, like restaurants and museums.
Rome! Have a good time. Maybe the rain will scare off some of the other tourists! Have a wonderful time. Go test some frags at some boutique none of us have ever heard of and report back!
So sorry to hear about the bad weather! Rain when you are traveling puts such a damper on things and make it hard to explore and enjoy a new place. Enjoy some good food and good fragrances, and most importantly good wine while you are there!
SOTD = Apres l’Onde. Very pretty, but fading away rapidly. Iris Poudre still wins.
it doesn’t last on me either but when it is there it is lovely.
SOTD: Hedonist.
Win!
I rushed out this morning so I used my “fragrance-aid kit” in my bag (for such emergencies!).
Well, a colleague came up to speak to me and just after “Hey..” he stopped, inhaled VERY deeply and said “You smell SO good.”
Looks like I know which FB I am going for next.
Wow! That’s a gorgeous ring, but pretty sure I am not fancy enough to own or wear something like that. Still, pretty to look at
SOTD is MFK Cologne pour le Soir, sample completed and another one bites the dust
My thoughts exactly. I love the picture of the ring but wouldn’t wear it in a million years.
SOTD is Timbuktu. I love it, but one of my colleagues walked into my office, wrinkled up his nose, and sneezed, so maybe it wasn’t the best choice for the office?
Lets assume that he has a cold.
Bastet, do I recall correctly that you are in Virginia? If so, tree pollen is on the rise, and many are complaining of allergies on a weather blog that I follow (Capital Weather Gang).
Yes, you are right, I live in VA (near Richmond, although I work in Alexandria). So maybe the sneeze was due to allergies, but the face looked like distaste! Anyway, if I wear Timbuktu again to work I will spray lightly.
That’s a serious commute!
I don’t know – I used to wear Timbuktu to work all the time. It doesn’t have that much projection. Well, I think you smell great!
Wearing Rose Anonyme today.
Three more inches of snow last night in Boston, but it broke the record for the snowiest winter, and the sun is out today rapidly melting it. All good.
I’m wearing Ann Gerard Perle de Mousse, which had a lovely opening of galbanum and LOV. Unfortunately four hours later it is largely gone (and didn’t have any projection at the beginning to speak of). In my bag I have samples of Tam Dao, Iris Poudre, and L’Ombre dans L’Eau but can’t decide which one to put on next!
I’ve yet to try the Ann Gerards. She has a lovely sample set, so I will. I hate it when perfume disappears, esp. if it’s very expensive. My vote goes to L’Ombre.
Hey, and that’s what I put on! Perfect for the office.
Any of you up in Boston deserve some sort of hardship award! Let’s hope the melt goes well.
I was thinking that too. I live in a very temperate climate so I have absolutely no idea what that kind of cold would feel like. You’re past the worst now, though. Time to get out those spring fragrances!
It makes you wonder at modern conveniences like electricity, hot water, any kind of managed heat source. It makes you think things like: now I know why it was that mankind only lived until about 35 years old “back in the day.” Snow is very beautiful and I have no allergies during the winter, which is great. The stars look astonishingly brilliant on frigid clear nights. Our winter lasts from the end of October until the middle of April. One of these days I’ll move!!!
Not to brag or anything… and it’s certainly not Italy around here ;)… but we’ve got sunny, breezy weather. Heifers are munching happily in the 20-acre field behind the house. Son’s FFA project sheep (five ewes, three adorable lambs, and a snooty ram) are munching happily in the shop lot beside the house. Dog is running happily around the yard. Daffodils and hyacinths and tulips are all poking up through the grass, and I *think* the daffodils may bloom by the weekend. Sigh.
Testing a couple of samples today: Tauerville Rose Flash (so far, a nuclear-powered version of Lush Rose Jam) and Dasein Fragrance Spring (fresh green and wet dirt). May go with Chamade later.
Sounds like heaven!
I’m wearing Rose Flash, too, and you’re not kidding when you say “nuclear”!
Wow – it’s hard to imagine a stronger version of Lush Rose Jam!
Well, to be fair I’m only familiar with the shower gel and not the edp.
Oh man. I think I might have to order the small bottle of Rose Flash…
That’s what I’m thinking too!
It developed that weird sort of shaving-cream amber as time went on. Not the usual Tauerade, but that chewy sort of “eat-me/oh-Lord-NO-don’t” contrasty thing. Bleargh. So it diverges from Rose Jam pretty thoroughly. My, though, but that is a gorgeous rose in there.
You sound like “Heidi” with your fields, flowers, farm animals… It sounds lovely.
Chamade is perfect for a day like you describe.
SOTD is L’Eau au Masculin (Lolita Lempicka)
You should head over to Bois de Jasmin today. I have an article on licorice perfumes
You forgot Reglisse Noire
!!! Never thought I liked licorice until I tried that one.
Will do. Licorice/anise is one of my favorite notes!
Will need to order a sample of 1000 Flowers Reglisse Noir, sounds yummy. I also love LL (the original “women’s” version), LL Au Masculin (sweeter and less woody than the L’Eau version), Eau Reglisse, and whatever else I can get my nose on. Although I don’t like the taste of it unless it is in very small doses, I am going to get some licorice tea and see if that suits me.
Lovely spring weather here today. I’m wearing Amouage Lyric Woman. I realised last week that I actually own a sample set of both the early men’s fragrances from Amouage and the women’s. Lyric is beautiful, esp. the drydown. Still, nothing beats Gold imho.
Well even is the weather is crap you are smelling great. Baiser Volee is on my wish list.
I means Baiser Volé of course!
Without the s. I need to lied down I guess.
I also really love Amouage Beloved. I think it was exclusive to Bergdorf Goodman originally, but it is now showing up on discount sites.
I’ve been reading and rereading Jessica’s review on this site. I just need to get myself a sample. It seems like I might just fall for it as well!
Beloved is beautiful. I only have a sample, but the discounted bottles (e.g. around $200 at fragrancenet) are very tempting.
Yes!
Agree on Gold. So beautiful and complex.
SOTD is once again Misia as it is appropriate for the office.
I don’t think I’d be tempted to buy Misia, but I am also looking forward to testing it.
I’m wearing AG Neroli. We had a nice warm week-end where I am, and it’s cooling off a bit today, but I still wanted some neroli to brighten Monday up.
Right now, I am sampling Iris Silver Mist, De Profundis, and Sarrasins to see which one I like more since Barney’s still has those three in stock. After I wash those off, it’s Theorema.
Lovely early Spring weather here in Stockholm, Sweden. I have come to realize some of my trouble with picking a scent for the day is the transition from winter to spring. I need to do a mental rotation of my fume collection.
Once I figured this out I managed to choose Thierry Mugler Cologne, first wear in a long time. Just perfect! And might help me get back on the right scented track.
Transition is tricky! It’s still to cold for light scents, but well beyond the time when heavy winter scents feel good. This is the time of year when I like green chypres and aldehydic perfumes.
The creamsicle article reminded me that I haven’t worn Anne Pliska in a while so that’s what I have on now.
AP is one of my all time favorites! You smell great
Tauer’s Rose Flash today. Lovely and spring-y now that some of the sweetness has worn off
Wearing FK A la Rose today, and it’s pretty and dewy, but not worth its exorbitant price. Feeling nervous because tomorrow I return to the workforce after 20+ years out of it! It’s just a part-time gig, but I’ll be working at an animal shelter taking care of cats and dogs, so it’s basically a dream job for me. Think I will go scentless while I am there, since I don’t want anyone to blame my scent choices on the animals there.
Good for you, workforce gal! I hope you enjoy your new experience even if you don’t wear perfume. But it makes me wonder what scents would mingle well with Wet Doggy or Pouting Puss?
It would have to be something exceptionally clean smelling! This adoption center has its air completely filtered every 4 minutes, because they don’t want there to be any unpleasant odors that might dissuade visitors.
Good luck with the new job!
Thanks!
Wishing you good luck and admiring your choice of work! It would be a dream job for me, too, but I’m afraid I would get much too attached to them and tempted to adopt way too many of them!
What’s especially tempting is that now I can adopt for free, and also get 20% off my vet visits. However, my hubby has firmly put his foot down – we already have 4 cats, and one of them was a failed fostering kitten.
Congratulations on your new job!
Thank you!
Wishing you all the best, jirish!
Good luck Jirish!xo
Thanks. I feel especially lucky already since I’ll be working for a place I love.
Congrats on your new job!
Thank you!
Congrats on your new job! Have fun with all the pups and kittehs.
I agree with Laila: I think I’d want to take some of them home with me, but I already have 2 furry little hooligans (cats).
Very nice! I was going to say Dzing! But then I read about all the air filters
Le Labo’s Rose 31 today. Shower gel followed by a generous spritzing. This one is weird; some days, all I get is cumin, other days (like today) I just get a transparent spicy rose. Wonder why that is….
YES! The same thing happens to me! I have even has that happen from one wrist to the other!!!
I thought my nose was broken! Glad it’s not just me! Thank you for chiming in!
Sadly, I get dirty socks left in a closed gym bag.
No!!! That’s sad. Even when I get mostly cumin, it never reads as stinky….mildly sweaty, sure…but in a good way! It adds a touch of warmth and makes it feel ‘human’ if that makes any sense…
My nowe is just extra sensitive to cumin. When I smelled Hermes Epice Marine on paper, I recoiled back and could not bring myself to smell another thing. I just asked for samples instead (but not of Epice Marine) which the SA gladly handed over – I think I was bad advertising for the perfumes!
I haven’t tried Rose 31 but any perfume with cumin I get the same results (sweat and dirty gym socks)
The same thing happens to me too! I’d probably wear Rose 31 more often, but I never know which one I’m going to get. I don’t want to be skanky cumin queen at work, right?
It feels like spring, and Spring officially starts this week, so I have pulled out my spring-like scents. Today I’m wearing one of my favorite hyacinths, Demeter’s Wet Garden.
Our hyacinth are just coming into buds now. I love their scent so much; it’s one of my favourite garden flowers. A single stem will perfume a whole room. I’ll have to see if I can find this Demeter.
I have a huge bottle of this I will never use, so happy to send you some. Email me at jasouza9 in hotmail if you are in the US.
Thanks so much for the kind offer, but I live in Canada. I will have to content myself with real hyacinth until some other day
Not feeling like spring with plenty of dirty snow mounds everywhere. Decided on Russian Tea, so far very smoky.
Rainy and stormy here today and I was thinking that spring was on it’s way. Oh well not this week. I’m trying Coze from Parfumerie Generale. It’s quite a full on scent to say the least. Don’t think this one is for me. Much prefer L’Ombre Fauve.
Whoops sorry about the it’s! Should be its!
It is supposed to be in the 70’s here in Chicagoland today! SOTD is YSL Cinema, which I had become obsessed with. Today, I am enjoying it but maybe I *don’t* need a FB and a decant will do? Maybe the weather change is to blame!
Cinema is so lovely. It’s one of my standby’s when I know I have to wear fragrance to events when fragrance must be lovely and muted.
I plan to have a bottle of cinema up for swap, so heads up for that when the swap meet thread comes up
Oh hooray!!! I made my list so I have some goodies to trade!!!
Happy Monday Everyone! This is one particular Monday that I don’t mind seeing. Today is the first day of my Spring Break. It was heavenly being able to sleep in this morning. Definitely not used to that. I haven’t picked a SOTD yet, but this week I am going to test out some more of my samples. As I am digging in my sample box, I think I will try Chanel Chance Eau Tendre. Hope everyone enjoys their day.
For Keep-It-Simple Monday (inspired by the movie, Cinderella, which I highly recommend), philosophy Falling in Love.
The piles of frozen snow have all disappeared! Snowdrops are blooming, the entire veggie and herb gardens are visible and tempting, daffodil shoots are up, and the first spring robin appeared. Windows are open for the first time in many months! To celebrate, I replaced the dark red ticking kitchen curtain with the bright yellow-and-white checked one.
You smell great….blackberries and cream…..
That is one of my favorites!
I’ve been getting in touch with my inner princess during the winter! My 7 year old daughter is mad about the old Disney animated Cinerella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, et. al., in a constant rotation – movies I haven’t watched since I was a kid. It’s princess *everything*. She’s always swanning around in play tiaras and sparkly dresses. I know I’ve gone kind of bat-sh** when I am thinking that I should be allowed to wear sparkle gowns anytime I want, right?
LOL!!! You just go on and wear those sparkly gowns
!!! (and a sparkly perfume to match!)
Oy, don’t forget the jewels! The jewels! I don’t know what’s up with those dwarfs that they only have a small dirty cottage!
I think she – and you – will love the new Cinderella movie. It’s a visual delight – the word ‘luxurious’ comes to mind. The new Cinderella is strong and proactive while still retaining her fairytale characteristics; the love story is a bit more believable than just star-crossed lovers; there are touching, and sad moments, about family love and the loss of parents (handled well); all in all the story is brought nicely up-to-date w/o losing its essential nature. Oh, and Helena Bonham Carter is a riot as the fairy godmother!
I’ll probably wait until it comes out on video. I think the Frozen short would kind of put her over the edge. But I appreciate all the comments!
I’m ready to change some decor in my house too!
Beautiful sunny day here today, after a rainy spring weekend. I was reaching through a little baggy of green scent samples this morning, but in the rush of getting boys ready and off to school, grabbed Cabochard. Not what I was planning to smell like, but I’m still enjoying it.
SOTD = FM Iris Poudre
I thought it was Figgy Friday week and was getting ready for it. At the kast minute, Iris Podre called out to me and I just couldn’t resist. I will be ready for next, I should now line up my nouveau niche for the rest of the week!
I’m hoarding my bottle….lol.Maybe tomorrow!!
Don’t tell me it has been reformulated! I do bave a big honking bottle, one of a few that I chose the largest size even though a smaller one was available.
All this Iris Poudre talk makes me want to dig out my sample….
A fellow commenter on a weather blog mentioned Kurt Vonnegut’s concept of six seasons:
“One sort of optional thing you might do is to realize that there are six seasons instead of four. The poetry of four seasons is all wrong for this part of the planet, and this may explain why we are so depressed so much of the time. I mean, spring doesn’t feel like spring a lot of the time, and November is all wrong for autumn, and so on.
“Here is the truth about the seasons: Spring is May and June. What could be springier than May and June? Summer is July and August. Really hot, right? Autumn is September and October. See the pumpkins? Smell those burning leaves? Next comes the season called Locking. November and December aren’t winter. They’re Locking. Next comes winter, January and February. Boy! Are they ever cold!
“What comes next? Not spring. “Unlocking” comes next. What else could cruel March and only slightly less cruel April be? March and April are not spring. They’re Unlocking.”
(I found the quote on the blog Lost and Found Books.)
So I think what we are looking for now are necessarily spring perfumes but Unlocking perfumes.
(I meant to say NOT necessarily spring perfumes…)
I like this.Our seasons are just the opposite here in the Southern Hemisphere though.September is usually the most beautiful,and 21 st September is Springday!Autumn has officially started over here.
Oh, I like that!
Oh I love this! and it is so true….March is not spring when the weather calls for freezing rain on the first day of spring
!!! What perfumes would you recommend for the season of “Unlocking”? Last year this time I was craving orange blossom in the worst possible way and sprayed Jo Malone Orange Blossom with reckless abandonment!
This is a great way to think about it! I was so disappointed for my first spring in the Midwest – cold, rainy, and grey for March and April. I was mostly disappointed due to the idyllic image of spring that I had – sunshine and flowers. Unlocking is a much better way to think of those months.
Six seasons – this is so true. I like the Locking/Unlocking, as it makes winter a kind of prison.
It makes so much sense, doesn’t it? I felt like all the puzzle pieces fell into place when I read about Unlocking, Locking and six two-month seasons.
I find I like green chypres and aldehydic perfumes, especially. It’s still too cold, and indoor air is still too dry, for light or whimsical perfumes. Other mid-weight, seasonless perfumes are also welcome, such as Puredistance I, L’AP Seville a l’Aube, and Anne Pliska, which thegoddessrena mentioned above.
Also, the length of days changes fastest around the equinoxes, and weather is unsettled, so it’s a moving target.
“APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.”
Beautiful, and so true!
Chiming in with everyone else to say this quote is great
I’m sampling Isabey La Route d’Emeraude today. It’s a blended white floral, jasmine and orange blossom and tuberose on a vanilla base. There are supposed to be spices in the top notes but I didn’t get them. It’s nice but not earth-shattering.
Going through the perfume cabinet to get ready for the Swapmeet this Saturday. I have had such good luck in previous Meets, I found some new loves and re-homed some of mine that needed someone to adore them. I’ve also made some lovely perfume friends in the process.
I keep sniffing this one whenever I get the chance.Never thought it to be FB-worthy though.BUT:The local shop has those ltd edition 50ml extraits of this,Gardenia and Lys Noir.Very pretty and the Gardenia in extrait is AWESOME.Yes.AWESOME.
SOTD Nuxe Le Parfum.I slightly oversprayed this morning,resulting in a mid-day headache and too much sillage!!(I used the oil as well…lol)Still think it’s very pretty in the summer heat.Happy Week NST!a Busy one this side.
Wearing Thymes Agave Nectar, perfume and hand cream today. Found a cheaper bottle on Amazon (not that it is expensive in the first place!) and just got it the other day. We have had super warm weather lately, so it is perfect for today.
If I am correct you would love Beloved Austenfan, because it reminded me instantly of AE (which I think is one of your favourites)! If you can’t locate a sample I can send you a small one (I have a small bottle).
Sorry, comment should have appeared a bit higher up in the comments about Beloved!
Interesting point about Beloved and AE, I think you’re right. Beloved reminds me of a lot of vintage scents, perfected; or maybe their beautiful granddaughters.
My cold is almost over – my sense of smell is finally back! Yeah! I’m wearing a very tiny application of Aromatics Elixir. I read a comment somewhere that if you spray it first on a tissue and then gently dab on the skin, it is very palatable. You know, it really works to tame some of those opening notes.
Oh my goodness I drained so many bottles of AE many many years ago! Loved it! I recently made myself a tester of it with my own empty vial when I visited a Clinique counter at my local dept store…it doesn’t smell exactly as I remember but similar…just a bit more toned down…you smell great
and glad you are feeling better.
Thank you. I am sure I’m not getting the best of AE as my bottle is “new”. But I do still get a lot of oakmoss which is really why I think I fell for it now. I didn’t realize how much I’ve come to love oakmoss, and vetiver for that matter.
Vintage Jolie Madame, from the beautiful cilyndrical bottle with a golden top that I thought was lost, but found in the back of my closet when moving. Wonderful stuff, I’ll totally hoard it.
That must have been a great find!
A bit like winning the lottery, I guess!
That is gorgeous stuff.
SOTD is Vanille 44. Oh my I love this perfume. It’s like a soft fluffy cloud of happy. I bought this near the beginning of my perfume journey, but I honestly don’t think I’d have purchased it now. The price and difficulty to get are just too much. Think there’s any chance Estee Lauder will do away with the ridiculous city exclusive gimmick and bring the prices down to earth?
I love Vanille 44! You can participate in a split on Basenotes for much cheaper!
I adore Vanille 44 and am so with you on the price. Yikes is it steep.
I layered two musks today. Kiehl’s EdT and The Body Shop White Musk For Men. Neither really enhancing the other, but ok for a sunny monday.
Wearing Kenzo Flower Oriental on a cool, sunny day.
Black March. If not now, when?
It’s great and medium, if not-new niche. It’ll probably allow for something else later today, since it’s a “water perfume.”
Today I’m trying a couple of Dame Perfumery Scottsdale scents – Pear Waterlily and Amber, and Verbena Freesia and Musk. Both are subtle, pretty little feminine scents. Linear, but so delicate and summery. Perfect for a sunny day like today!
I’m wearing Agonist Dark Saphir, from a sample. I like it, but don’t know that I would buy it. What’s interesting is that right now it’s smelling slightly different on my left arm vs. my right. On the left arm, I get mostly the slightly raspy oudy wood, but on the right, I’m getting a peachy note along with the wood, which also seems less raspy on the right side.
Wow! That always seems to happen to me (whatever it is usually smells better on my left than my right) but kept it to myself thinking it has got to be in my head
A corpse flower is about to bloom at my alma mater. There is a live feed.
http://www.csus.edu/sacstatenews/Articles/2015/03/CorpseFlower_03-12-15.html
Cool. My local corpse flower is forecasted to bloom again this spring. I don’t want to miss it this time around.
Spring has definitely sprung here (yay!) and have been craving light and happy scents to go along with it. Today I dusted off Kelly Caleche and am feeling very springy indeed.