It's Fantasy Vacation Friday! Our community project for today: pick a destination and wear the scent that takes you there.
As always, do chime in with your scent of the day even if you’re not participating in the community project.
I utterly failed to plan for this project before I left on vacation. I'm wearing a bit of Hermès Un Jardin Sur Le Nil lotion, and I'm pretty happy with the lake vacation I'm having at the moment so don't even want to think about a fantasy one. Zero points for me!
Note: top image is Sluice Pond, Lynn, Mass via Boston Public Library at flickr; some rights reserved.
I’m on permanent vacation… Natori for me today. 🙂
Natori is so lush – I love the aldehydes, plum and woods!
Yaaaas.
Best kind.
I’m almost tempted to blind buy this one as it sounds like something I’d like. And the bottle is beautifulm
I blind bought it. No regrets!
I’m wearing Osmanthus Interdite. I would wear it on a late spring (warm, but not hot yet) long weekend with DH minus the kids in Vienna. We could go to all the museums and galleries and have enough money to eat and shop anywhere.
That sounds lovely!
I love Vienna! I got to go there years ago. I enjoyed taking the street car to the outskirts to go to a wine garden. So much fun!
I’m wearing Mohur extrait for India. To be honest, not really because it’s my No 1 fantasy destination (I’ve been to Indoa once), but because I wanted to try the fragrance.
And Un Jardin Sur Le Nil is perfect for this challenge! Because everybody wants to travel on that river like Poirot did in Death on the Nile, right? Minus the murders, possibly, but still.
Always minus the murders. And Jardin Sur Le Nil is a wonderful pick!
I think so, too. Robin should be very satisfied with her clever choice!
Ha! Yes. Although I wouldn’t mind the murders as long as I’m not included.
I think I’d still stick to reading about them. Maybe some exotic robbery (a huge emerald!) without anyone getting hurt?
Ah, a beautiful sketchy jewel is always welcome!
I am going start doing Drunk Brunches while watching Hannibal with my peeps (if you do not know, it’s a show about an affable doctor who also happens to a serial killing cannibal, and his friend, an FBI agent who really likes dogs). I need a perfume that “DIning with a cannibal-hoping to get out alive.”
I read all the Marples and none of the Poirots, so I don’t even know the story other than the title 🙂
I’ve read every single one about both and love them all. If you cannot bother reading the Poirots, do try the TV series (if you haven’t). I think it’s wonderful.
Seconding the television series, but not the made-for-tv ones with Peter Ustinov as Poirot – terrible casting! The other ones, with David Suchet as Poirot, are the ones to try. Suchet really captures the essence of the Poirot character.
Yes, that’s the one I mean. Suchet is perfect and it’s visually stunning.
While I agree that Ustinov, except for his perfect French accent, doesn’t capture Poirot the way Suchet does, I still prefer the old Death on the Nile. Loads of brilliant actors; I particularly enjoyed Angela Lansbury as the dipsomaniac writer.
And what is you impression of Mohur extrait?
I think it’s beautiful, but I don’t find it THAT different from the EdP – many people do. Then again, I’m first to admit that my nose is not particularly sensitive.
Fico di Amalfi for Italy, my longtime fantasy vacation spot. The food, the scenery, the art, the food! What’s not to love? And, happily, my fantasy will become reality next March for my sister-in-laws wedding. A week in a villa in Tuscany! I immediately started planning what perfumes to take, of course. FdA, Philosykos, and Iris Nobile for daytime and, since it will still be chilly at night, maybe Palissandre d’Or and Feminite du Bois for the evening. Suggestions?
Welll . . my suggestion would be AG Les Nuits d’Hadrien edp, my SOTD for my fantasy trip to Tuscany. I’ve never been to Italy and Tuscany sounds beautiful, have a wonderful trip!
From AG’s website:
“An enchanted Italian moment beguiled by darkness. Inspiring strolls through a Tuscan garden under a starlit sky. Wondrous discovery of a Tuscan palace at nightfall. As sunset’s magical hour nears a unique, sensual and singular fragrance is released. Les Nuits d’Hadrien, a delectable scent to savour, and pleasing to share.”
Les Nuits is an interesting blend of citrus/cypress and, oddly enough, a touch of caraway! I greatly prefer it over the very popular original Hadrien or Mandragore, it has more depth but is still cool and refreshing. I like to wear it on summer nights to outdoor events when I’m not in the mood for Songes. And why have I never thought of this as a camping fragrance? Must pack this one for the next trip . . .
I agree, Laila, this was one of my first FBs and it’s beautiful. Perhaps a bit sweet as my taste has evolved, but spicy and lovely.
Sounds amazing! That ad copy alone has me ready to pack my bags. I love spicy/citrus scents, so will def try. Thanks!
Good choices! Italy is wonderful! I first smelled Iris Nobile on a hot spring day in Verona, and that it the memory it always holds for me, and the weather I enjoy it most.
Maybe Profumi del Forte By Night, White, for evenings? 🙂
Just looked this one up on Fragrantica. I love all those notes, so I will be ordering a sample asap. Thanks!
I kept forgetting all week to comment that the postcards you are putting up, Robin, look a lot like vintage postcards of our old hotels from the Poconos.
My SOTD is Sheseido “Classic” Zen. I don’t know where it is, but that’s where I want to go right now, lol. Some magical spa with restorative powers!
In an antique shop in Palmyra, NY, I once found a postcard for State Farm, NY. Later purchased by the insurance company, hence it’s name, the property near Saranac Lake was a facility for – TB patients? – can’t remember now. But besides providing clean air and sunshine, the farm raised it’s own animals and dairy products so patients would have healthy food. Those further along in recovery were even encouraged to participate in farm work.
My family was unimpressed, and during a move I tossed the postcard. Dumb. Anyway, institutional postcards seem to have been “a thing” in the NE/Midwest roughly 1850-1925.
You were really in Palmyra? It’s surprising to find someone who visited!
Well, I’m from Rochester originally. 🙂
I used postcards from the Boston Public Library last year too…if you like old postcards, it’s worth checking out their collection at Flickr — and they’re not all from Mass.
I loved Zen a long time ago. I wore it a lot. After a while I couldn’t smell it any more…maybe I’ll try it again…
Ditto. I wonder if it would be the same now.
Fiori di Capri
I smelled this when I was 18 on a high school trip to Italy on the island of Capri. Now that I am “older” this perfume still takes me back there..
Scent twins! Fiori de Capri is rising in my rotation as the contents of the little splash bottle I got in a giveaway diminish. Proably will spring for a spray bottle of this when what I have is gone. Although, I sort of like splashing this around my body…as a substitute for splashing in the ocean on a secluded beach on some Italian island…
You smell lovely!
Thanks! You too!
If I hadnt spent so much time drinking frozen margueritas on the beach in Capri I mightve found the Carthusia shop.., 😉 Pity i wasnt into fragrance so much back then.
Maybe its time to re-visit?
I’m wearing Orange Sanguine, also dreaming of Capri. Except maybe oranges don’t grow there? Definitely lemons grow there though. Close enough.
I love Orange Sanguine-you smell fab
I have to admit my potential holiday destinations were limited by what was weather appropriate today, so although I only recently returned from Morocco, I decided that another warm night under a blanket of stars in the Sahara desert with my camel waiting for me sounded good. L’air du Desert Marocain it is, and smelling way better than camel 🙂
Ooh, fantastic. Morocco has been my dream vacation since I was a little girl. How was it for you?
It was beautiful! The people were lovely, the medinas in the old cities just how you’d imagine them, the desert and the mountains just lovely. Although times are changing, for the most part things are done as they always have been. There are still nomadic Berber tribes in the mountains with their goats and sheep. And I love donkeys, so there were lots of donkey selfies taken too 🙂 I did a tour for most of it, and the group I was with was awesome, we had a fantastic time!
Oh and Gi, if you need a place to stay in Marrakech, the Riad Khol is in the medina, is so stunningly beautiful it’s hard to leave some days, and! as I only found out once I was there, that all the rooms are named after Lutens perfumes!! I stayed in Datura Noir, and thought ‘oh cool, like the perfume..’ then walked past doors labelled ‘Chypre Rouge’.. ‘Douce Amere’… etc…Lol! So serendipidous..
I’ve wanted to go there since you talked about the place after your trip. It sounds perfect.
You have me ready to pack my bags!
Please tell us, too, how L’air du Desert Marocain compares to the actual air in an actual Moroccan desert!
I did try to conjure the smells of the desert into becoming a scent memory, but to be honest I cant recall the smell of the desert itself, if it even had one. It wasnt windy (thankfully, I hear the sandstorms arent even remotely romantic), but it just smelled of hot sand. It also smelled like camel, and camel poo, and mint tea, and tagines cooking, and the fruity sheesha smoke from the sheesha that the camel hearders had with them. I got up before dawn to watch the sunrise, and the air was still. There was no dampness to the smell of the air, just dry and dusty and soulful. And I’d forgotten that that many stars even exist. It was one of those places where you feel that the heavens and the earth meet.
Wow. Thanks for sharing this – it is so vivid!
My favorite vacation spots are right here in the Pacific Northwest- especially with these hot, hot summer days – but Hawaii is also a huge favorite, perfect for when the grey days of the PNW get me down.
As such, I am wearing a layer of Eau Universelle (L’Occitane) with Jo Malone Jasmine/Honeysuckle at the pulse points. Blending these two feels very pretty, very tropical in feel but not TOO sweet.
I love the Pacific Northwest! My sister has lived in Seattle for years, so it sort feels like my home away from home. I’d move there in a heartbeat if I could convince my husband that it really doesn’t rain THAT much.
I’m in Vancouver, up north of Seattle. It has only rained 6 days since June 1. It should be 16. We are in the middle of a huge drought. Endless sunshine every day!
Totally forgot about the project…but I am wearing PdN Weekend (a Deauville/Normandy). We spent our honeymoon in Normandy, 18 years ago, and visited Deauville! We had a lovely time, visiting many gardens, and monuments, Normandy is so beautiful. Weekend certainly takes me there, and my husband likes it very much, he even identified the lily of the valley note (and he always says he can’t smell things…).
I saw it is unavailable on the PdN site, but hopefully it doesn’t mean discontinuation. I would miss it very much.
I’ve got a small bottle of that, too. And do you know that Betjeman & Barton have a black tea called Un Gentleman a Deauville?
No, I didn’t, I am going to try and buy it, we both love and drink a lot of black tea!
It’s not a vacation, just a fantasy. I was hoping The Pope has plans to make an appearance in Sept. at the specialty hospital I work for since it is owned by the Archdiocese of NY. I’m wearing Unum Lavs in honor of that fantasy. Although, according to my office, they’re unaware of any such plans. Would have been nice to be part of an historical event.
My vintage Lanvin Extrait arrived yesterday and seems to be in good shape. I have to spend a bit more time with it. It smells nothing like the current version, however.
Nothing at all? I do see at least a family resemblance, so to speak. Though the vintage stuff is considerably richer.
So far(but I haven’t given it much time yet) the new one retains the floral aldehyde and retro feel. The vintage is richer/denser, more “perfumey” to me but also subtler and more introverted if that makes any sense. The new one is much louder, attention grabbing in comparison. Had I done a blind sniff of the vintage, I would say it has more in common with Chanel 5, and some aspects of both Bal a Versailles, and l’Heure B’leue. I’ll have to pay more attention to it this weekend sometime. I put it on and then went out to a movie so might have missed some stages. I wish I knew how old it is. It came in what looks like the inner box that has the little ‘stand” for the bottle. There’s no product code on it anywhere. Do you know the year/decade of yours?
I don’t know how old mine is! Based on the price tag (about $13 for 7.5ml) I’m guessing early 1970s, or maybe mid-to-late 1960s. Not super old. And of course things do age differently based on how they’re stored.
What I mostly notice about it is that the florals are so dense and rich that they’re almost rotting – and then that gorgeous woody drydown is wonderful. I struggle a bit through the uber-ripe floral part.
Huh! I get no
wood in it. The drydown is a soft powdery vanilla. The floral heart is dense and powdery/aldehydic and I can’t identify any flower in particular. I couldn’t even tell you if it smells as it should although it doesn’t smell “off” or rancid/acrid. I really would need an expert opinion.
My sister was in Rome last year and was thisclose to the Pope. The picture she took with magnification almost looked like a selfie with him. Oooh, I wonder if anyone has ever taken a selfie with him? That would be so cool!
He seems like the kind of Pope that would do that.
He does!
Actually, the picture was WITHOUT magnification. Stupid fingers…
Wearing Bahiana and pretending this iced coffee is in a coconut.
🙂
Nice!
I really didn’t think of a fantasy vacation theme, so I am continuing on with sampling BPAL perfume oils. Today is The Lady of Shalott. It seems to be mainly a gardenia at this point, but I’m hoping for it to develop the marine and water lily notes that it is supposed to have.
I’ll have to wait until later as this one just won’t work with today’s realities, but later will go with Ambre Sultan for my fantasy trip to Morocco!
See above where perthgirl has already lived my dream 🙂
Carnal Flower for India. Bois des Iles for Egypt.
Are you wearing them both at the same time or was this more of a theoretical contribution?
I’m wearing Carnal Flower today and Bois des Iles is theoretical.
Ha!
I’m dreaming myself to some lonely, windswept, slightly untamed spot on the Italian coast with smells of seawater, warm stone and herbs. My pick therefore is: Tirrenico by Profumi del Forte.
Sounds lovely
Wow! That sounds amazing – the vacation and the perfume 🙂
Wearing Tihota and imagining myself in Bora Bora 🙂
AKA Musky Cookie
Two things I love!
Love Tihota
SOTD is Profumi del Forte’s By Night White, for my fantasy of ambling spontaneously around Italy sightseeing and perfume sampling. And fantasy it is, as I draw a bath while waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in. More packing and moving today.
At least a bath is a little escape in itself 🙂
Are you getting close to all packed up? It is such a chore.
It’s hard to tell, I’ve sort of done a sweep through the 4 rooms, and going back for another round. The household will go into storage while I join my husband for 4-6 months in a suite-style motel in NC where he’s working. Then we’ll try to decide something more permanent.
Meantime I ran to Emergency with an out of control bloody nose tonight (like, blood running everywhere). So maybe no perfume for a few days. And definitely no lifting over the weekend.
Wearing a bit of my precious sample of Mille et Une Roses by Lancome.
So. Gorgeous.
I think just smelling this can constitute a vacation of seconds, but if I had to choose a place, even though this would work anywhere, perhaps it could be the Pacific Northwest because I’m craving it – Portland has that big beautiful rose garden. Must go back sometime soon.
That rose garden is pretty amazing! It’s fun to go around and smell all the different varieties. Mille et Une Roses is a perfect fragrance for that!
Isn’t it lovely? The last time I was there was before my perfume preoccupation, so it’s time to revisit.
You smell lovely!And I love the color of that juice!
Thank you dear – me too!
By the way – what does everyone thing of the current iteration of this scent? Just as good? Worse? Do tell.
Seville a L’Aube for me today so I guess I have to pick Seville 🙂
Seville is an interesting place, with all the Moorish architecture to look at and all that medieval History vibrating in the stones of the buildings…plus, good Spanish wine and tapas! Lots of tapas!
Wow, loving everyone’s fantasy vacation ideas. Mine isn’t quite fully formed – all I know is there’s meadowland and wildflowers, and some oak and maple trees in the distance. Could be in Italy or France somewhere, or could be just a short drive from here, down into the Willamette Valley. Jour d’Hermes is taking me there.
It’s boring for. A fantasy vacation, but I’m missing my home town in Southern California where they grow oranges, avocados, and lavender. It’s been over a year since I was home! I am wearing Knot with a few sprays of Demeter Lavendar over it – pretty fantastic combo.
Fantasy vacations make great fantasies, but personal memories seem to make great layering ideas, at least for you!
I don’t think it’s at all boring – Southern California is unequivocally gorgeous, and having visited a couple months ago, I would absolutely be ready to visit again tomorrow.
Not boring at all. I grew up in So Cal and miss and like it more now than I used to. My sister has an avocado and orange tree in her yard. The orange blossom smells amazing in the evening! My childhood home had an apricot tree and it was endless apricot eating all summer long. It’s the simpler things soemtimes… That layering sounds nice!
I’m wearing L’air du Desert Marocain because guess where I’m going in September 🙂
Oooh, jealous. 🙂
According to the (sadly now unavailable) blog 1000Fragrances:
“….100 years ago Balkans were the hottest subject in Paris, the Balkan wars of course, but also the curiosity for a world that was totally unknown, full with mysteries, dark stories and amazing decorative elements. Folk art, music, dances, fashion, everything came from the East….Other less known “trends” came from trips perfumers made with the Orient Express when they discovered a world wild, archaic and scented. But Jacques Guerlain brought the most precious things from a trip he made in Eastern Europe. He brought… the idea for the ultimate masterpiece, L’Heure Bleue….”
Perhaps The Other was at that time a bit closer to Paris, geographically speaking?
Anyway the blog goes on to describe the blue hour in the context of a Romanian early summer festival called Sânziene, herbs and flowers associated with it, and Jacques Guerlain’s inspirations for the famous perfume.
It’s all quite fascinating, and I also once had a fantasy vacation idea to spend a summer in rural Eastern Europe, learning to help care for heritage breeds of domesticated animals and crops. This did not come to pass, so it remains a fantasy vacation. Thanks to the old blog, I can associate it with L’Heure Bleue, my SOTD.
The specimen I’m wearing is called Lotion Vegetale. Any thoughts on what that is? (I don’t have the bottle.)
My grandfather used something in a bottle labeled “lotion vegetale” that smelled wonderful. He rubbed it on his face after shaving his whiskers and then ran his still-damp hands through his thick mane to settle his hair away from his brow. I wish I knew what it was. It was a bit moisturizing but was really alcohol-based and aromatic, and spilled easily all over the bathroom counter when as a child I tried to splash some on myself. Whoops. Makes me wonder if in past times “lotion” was something closer to perfume or cologne than to the moisturizing creams I think of as lotion today.
Lovely story, tiffanie!
And you make a good point. I’ve seen Lotion Corporelle (which was supposed to moisturize, I thought, but seemed to be alcohol based) and also Lotion Après-Rasage (which I think meant aftershave). I wonder what ‘Vegetale’ has to do with it…. Any francophones want to weigh in here?
Perhaps I’m being sacreligious, but somehow I thought of “Corn Huskers Lotion” – the mucilaginous texture, not a scent.
You had me at mucilaginous.
Today has been filled with ridiculous associations, including corn = hair tea, because you might boil a bit of the corn silk in a pot of water, and the idea that I should tincture some of my hair, and maybe I should tincture it in this Lotion Vegetale….
I miss 1000 fragrances, loved Octavian’s reviews.
I am in Aqua di Parma Rosa Nobile, and my vacation destination is NYC, where i would spend time with my brother and his boyfriend, who gifted this perfume to me for Christmas. Two of my favorite guys 🙂
You smell fabulous!
Sometimes I miss NYC. There’s no other place like it.
So while we’re traveling geographically, I’d also like to do some time travel. October is my favorite month in the city, with May as a close second.
Thank you! Oooo, October is a top month. Good choices!
Nebbe, do let us know when you’re in town!
You KNOW I will!!
I’m feeling contrary. Warm and humid summer weather continues today (and tomorrow and on and on), so I’m craving Eau des Merveilles and a cool, breezy day on a beach where it’s *not* hot and sticky. 😛
One of these years I’m going to get to Fidji, but not yet. I’m wearing EL Tuberose Gardenia, just because it smells so tropical, despite the fact that tuberoses are native to Mexico and not Oceania. Gardenias, however, do grow there.
I’m wearing Tom Ford’s Fleur di Amalfi because that’s where I would like to be!
I’m wearing Lutens Iris Silver Mist to Middle Earth.I imagine this is what it smells like in the meadows or pathways there.
Oh, very good! What does Rivendell smell like to you?
Rivendell….hmmm…great question!Something lush but delicate,mossy and spilling over with flowers and life!My choice:Ubar.Perfection.
I don’t know Ubar! I am intrigued. Thanks!
Ooooooooh….that is EXACTLY what an elf would wear. What an inspired choice.
My thoughts as well on how an Elf might smell!Don’t even get me started on scenting the characters in The Lion,the Witch and the wardrobe!hehe!
I forget whose review said that FM L’Eau D’Hiver was like steaming hot chocolate offered by the witch in the snowy forest. That may have influenced my love for that perfume.
That is a very cool association!!But Tilda in whatever incarnation,will always smell to me of Like This,of course…Maybe Bronze Goddess when she’s that interesting minx in The Beach!Lol.
Love the idea! I would wear Ormonde Jayne for the forest and yes, ISM for the elves.
Another great scent for the forest The Afternoon of a faun!
I am in awe, that is so perfect 😯 … Every Thanksgiving (for the last 6 years) my boyfriend and I watch the extended Lord of the Rings movies. Last year I enhanced the experience with perfume. Can’t wait to try Silver Iris Mist! So perfect for the first movie. I like Black Tourmaline for the Return Of The King.
What a great idea to enhance the experience with scent!Love that!But yes,I like to imagine what the smells would be in movies and even photographs as well.I have a whole essay drawn up on my imagined scents for my favorite movie ever:The Hours.From Virginia Woolff’s house to the NYC apartment of Meryl Streep’s character(she buys BUNCHES of flowers for a heartbreaking party!),that movie is a perfume on its own.
I’m embarrassed to say this idea has never occurred to me. But what fun!
I love doing LOTR marathons with the kids – though we usually do it when they’re out of school for inclement weather (i.e., snow).
You know,I hated the first movie at first.Then one day I was talking to a colleague who were obsessed with the trilogy,and I gave it another go.I was spelbounded for a whole weekend watching the three movies in one marathon!Laughed and cried,and started to scent the whole story in my mind!It really is like taking a vacation to another world when you watch it,even though there are many very sad moments too.
I had forgotten about the project when I was rushing out this morning! But I wore Tom Ford Tobacco Vanilla, which I would wear to my favorite vacation spot, London. I would wear it at to go to the Tate Modern then out for some curry before finding a pub to hang out with my husband.
Wearing Mousseline Peche from Providence Perfume Co –while I’m much happier living in Boston than NJ, I miss NY perfume shopping and this was probably the first sample I got from Twisted Lily
New York misses you too, honey.
Am visiting for a day, getting in late Wed night and leaving Fri morning so I just have to convince my guy that I need to go sniffing….
Ditto
I sort of half wimped-out on today because my dream vacation is to Thailand, and I wasn’t in the mood for mango so I put on Diorella on the principle that Vietnamese beef salads are not that far from Thailand? But now, since it is my last day at my temp job, a lovely coworker has made me a necklace as a going away gift, and it smells like her Tresor, so I am sort of wearing Tresor, and it is a nice segue into my little non-fantasy staycation before I start packing for my move…
Where are you moving from and to? (Hope that’s not too nosey.) I’m always curious about everyone’s whereabouts.
I’m wearing Chanel 28 La Pausa, first in line to enter the Chanel flagship store at 31 Rue Cambon. I will be one of the first to snap up a newly launched trio of extraits – 28 La Pausa, Coromandel and Misia. Then, while sitting at a cafe sipping an espresso and eating pain au chocolat, a man wafting L’Incendiaire walks by, sees my Chanel shopping bag and says “Come with me”. He whisks me over to Le Salons du Palais Royale Shiseido, climbs the spiral staircase and shows me the final mod of Chergui extrait.
“Last stop, New York Pennsylvania Station. All doors will open. Have a great day.”
This is my kind of fantasy.
A man wearing L’Incendiaire is a beautiful thought.
And Chergui extrait is something to dream of….
I love Chergui the way it is although I bet an extrait made right would be even more fabulous!
It is! Too bad it is just way too expensive!
And hajusuuri wins the fantasy-vacation day – well done!
*Applause!*
🙂
Ha! Thank you. Fantasies all around!
Hou la la! quel rêve!
You really jolted me awake there. I’ll never forget the industrial aromas that crash in when the train doors open in Penn Station. Nothing else like it. 😉
FWIW, the NJ Transit tracks smell 10x better than subway miasma. In the summer, the tracks smell of hot metal and no wonder, there’s a lot of metal down there!
Brava! That last line is like being kicked in the gut 🙁 Reality is so overrated…
I was thinking of something akin to a dream rudely stopped by dreaming about stepping off a curb.
I’ll have what she’s having… 🙂
Scentless right now after my shower. I don’t know why I am unmotivated to picking out a perfume after reviewing one. Maybe I should just slap on something.
Le Labo Poivre, to be peppery upon any number of old streets and cities, UK and further.
(a little nuxe body oil boosts that sample and even makes it somehow summery)
Ooh, the Nuxe body oil is great! I think it smells like summer.
No dream vacation for me, but a dream of a fragrance as SOTD. L’Enlèvement au Sérail (MDCI)
I have some kind of mental block about this vacation perfume challenge and then forgot all about it. Today it’s Oscar Flor by Oscar de la Renta. I bought samples on ebay because it’s by Calice Becker and LT reviewed it positively:
http://arabia.style.com/beauty/beauty-guide/best-spring-2015-perfumes-oscar-de-la-renta-oscar-flor-clinique-beyond-rose-luca-turin-review/
I find Oscar Flor very wearable, light-hearted and pretty. Think original J’Adore without the aquatics and a bit creamier. I’m seeing online prices under $60, and there’s a $20 roller ball. It would be a fine summer vacation scent, so perhaps I’ve not fallen too far short of the poll, after all.
BTW, I also found a very attractive mini of Jour d’Hermes absolu. To me it’s strong stuff, so dabbing from the mini is better than a spray, and I don’t really need a FB anyway. It has a slight herbal-woody undertone that will lend itself well to late summer and early fall, I believe.
Oooooh, “blinding floral” sounds good to me. Mr. Turin is a hoot sometimes. I miss the old Oscar, so Flor is now on my try-it list for the next time I spot it at a perfume counter.
I hope you’ll try Oscar Flor and report back, tiffanie.
LOL, I think it was the style Arabia review review of Bogue Maai (which he praised) in which he dissed perfumes “designed by Swiss accountants and Danish dermatologists.” 😀
I would like to visit the La Mortella (myrtle) Garden on Ischia Island, Italy. I’d wear Eau de Fleur de Cedrat which is like biting into a juicy orange on a sunkissed day.
I have long had a yearning to visit Cape Cod. I think the movie “Summer of ’62” must have inspired me. I would wear Bulgari Aqua or HeWood Ocean Wet Wood for that salty, algal scent.
That’s “Summer of ’42”!
Scotland is my favorite of the places I have traveled in my lifetime, so I was thrilled when D.S. & Durga released the HYLNDS collection. I own 4 of the 5 (sadly, Bitter Rose, Broken Spear does not work with my skin chemistry) and am swept away to a different part of that beautiful country whenever I wear one of them. Today I’m wearing Isle Ryder, which evokes memories of the windswept Outer Hebrides; gorse, mead, meadowsweet, honey, fir, and a light tea note all mingle in perfect harmony on my skin. Isle Ryder has become a favorite over the last year.
Really, there is a tangible place that smells similar to Isle Ryder? I can’t wear it often because it tends to wear me, but wow I would love to visit! Outer Hebrides noted as new fantasy vacation spot. Thanks for sharing, Lisa!
Wow, need to try Isle Ryder!
Very Good morning, lovely NST. My fantasy holiday is less a destination than a state of being. I would like to be somewhere/anywhere knowing that every single thing I should do is done. Everything people need from me has been provided. Their lives are what they want to make them now, so I don’t have to think about them anymore. There are no new emails. The house, too, is perfectly tidy and clean. Even the windows sparkle from recent cleaning. Every single cupboard and drawer is tidy, so this is a deep orderliness. In this fantasy, good friends have always just left after an agreeable visit of the perfect length, and there is still enough of the day left for anything I want to do. It’s always late May, and the contrast between the silver light and the deep blue of the shadows is so beautiful that just sitting and watching it is a legitimate occupation. Somewhere nearby, the purrs are curled up like furry commas, and I can see a teetering pile (many teetering piles, actually) of all the books I’ve idly thought I’d like to read sometime. The Beloved is always about to arrive home, but not just exactly yet, so right now, all time belongs to me. In this still-life-with-perfume, my scent is an early Aqua Allegoria, Ylang et Vanille: gentle, romantic, clean, unassuming, yet possessing its own assertive personality.
And now, on to my Saturday. The house needs a thorough doing over, and Izzy needs to be at the vet at 10 to have her cough looked at and…and…
Your fantasy holiday sounds pretty fabulous. My apartment is never perfectly tidy and clean, but I guess in the dream I’m a better housekeeper too. 🙂
Well, mine isn’t either, so I guess that’s what engendered my daydream, but mostly, I think, it’s that there are just Too Many People. I like the idea of people, but sometimes they just get too close.
Waterdragon, I cannot think of a better “state” to visit!
You’re very welcome to be in the very tidy house/garden next door. We could enjoy amusing conversations about life and perfume and cats and things over cups of perfectly made, very hot tea, and then we could return to our own solitude, replete with afternoon tea refreshed by good company. By the way, I make excellent pikelets, if you happen like them; I also have my mother’s recipe for sponge cake, and I love to bake.
Oh, thank you for that fantasy! In my real life, my MIL, who is really a lovely person and non-judgmental in her tidiness, is dropping by our house at some unspecified time tomorrow with Aunt Alice, the relative who escaped dairy farms at an early age, and now lives in luxury on some island in Massachusetts, and who has dropped by for a surprise visit.
So I HAVE to clean up the “nearly approaching Hoarding” piles of books that adorable hubbie has acquired and placed carefully for his convenience while he is finishing up his masters in IT Security Management – namely, all over the dining room table, the chairs around the dining room table, the stool in front of my keyboard, etc etc etc. I have to act like this is a housekeeping crisis, but I actually love it – I am going to see the tops of pieces of furniture that have been covered for months. Woo hoo! I will wash everything down with my cleanser that has geranium oil in it…and hopefully it will be cool enough to open the windows for a while tonight…and then I will wear Rose Musc tomorrow, seductively soothing.
Oh, how lovely! I had a great aunt Alice, who was a person of character and iron whim. When she was in her nineties, she entranced me by buying a flattering new wardrobe and a very expensive handbag.
Wow! I’m hearing this through the filter of my professional specialty, and I’m so moved by this profound, poignant sentiment. Thank you
Elisa, I love your gravatar. Is that a Devon Rex?
I hope I haven’t blighted anyone’s mood with my fantasy. It’s just that we all live so busy, don’t we? Time alone just to think –or even not think– doesn’t happen much.
No, not depressing in the least. Contemplative is the word I’d use.
That creature is the product of a Peterbald(Donskoy Sphynx+Oriental Short hair) mother and a Canadian Sphynx father. Looks a little like a Devon. She has only peach fuzz on her body. Her brother, whom we have as well, has normal fur and Seal Point Siamese markings. They are quite the loveable duo! Very clever and naughty.
Utterly gorgeous. Given her markings, I hope she’s called Bandit!
Thank you! Ha! No. Her name is Fiona but we do have a picture of her looking into the face of a raccoon that was outside the window on our fire escape. I wonder if she thought it was her mother…
Gee, Waterdragon, I was going to suggest, “You should be a writer!” meaning, of course, the Big Time. But that would mean deadlines, so scratch it. Then again, in a fantasy maybe deadlines wouldn’t make us fret.
I was running late this morning and totally forgot to put anything on until I was already at work, so I am wearing some of the Pacifica Mediterranean Fig solid that I happened to have in my purse. I guess I can pretend I’m in a fig grove on a Greek island or something. There are lots of places I would love to visit but never have, and Greece is one, so I think it works.
Layered a thick and resinous vetiver essential oil with the surprisingly handsome Eau de Gaga. Now I can imagine Gaga and I are sitting somewhere lovely and tropical and having a lively discussion about Kurt Weil and the influence of cabaret on her music……
How fascinating, the fantasy and the combo! How did you layer these? I’m scared off of applying most EOs directly to my skin, but maybe you are braver than I?
I mixed a couple of drops of vetiver EO with my fabulous Kiss My Face patchouli lotion. I could also have mixed it with unscented Eucerin or CeraVe moisturizers but the Kiss My Face was handy and the patchouli aspect quite mild. I apply straight patchouli and lavender EOs directly to skin as I have never had a reaction to these and their benefits to skin are well documented and researched. I mix everything else with mostly unscented moisturizers. I have extremely sensitive, fair skin and have yet to have any trouble with perfume or essential oils. I suggest ordering some samples of essential oils from Eden Botanicals and playing around! More perfumistas should do it because then you really know what Ylang-Ylang or cistus or lemongrass smell like and it makes identifying theses notes in perfumery a lot easier and more fun!
I agree completely, and I love this lotion tip. I usually use jojoba oil or ethanol, but lotion is easier to use, cheaper and easier to find. Also it’s great to hear that patchouli EO is actually good for the skin. Lavender is the only one I’ve used neat so far. Thank you, stinker_kit!
we lived in Greece for 2 years – in Glyfada, outside of Athens. My then husband had lived there when he was younger, he was a diplomat brat and spoke Greek fluently. Every Friday we would drive/fly/boat to a different part of the country. Perfume meant nothing to me then, but the smells of Greece are as varied as the country. In the mountainous north, I can smell the sharp resin of pine trees to make retsina; in the Peloponnese, we camped in 100 year old olive groves with their musky scent all around and falling on your head, your tent, your car. In Rhodes, I can smell roses and sand and the frying of calamari at local tavernas. In small villages on Sundays, I can smell bread and moussaka being baked at the local bread maker, no one had ovens in their homes and you would pick up your baked food on the way home from church. I can smell incense from small churches painted so white against the light it would hurt your eyes. In people’s homes, I can smell a sugared fig being placed before me with a cold glass of water to wash it down. I can smell one perfect tomato with fresh oregano placed on it with the salty tang of creamy fresh feta. I can smell kerosene, it’s how you heated your home in the cold rainy winters. I loved Greece and cried when we I knew we were leaving for a much less wonderful posting. No SOTD – commando for a mammogram. My perfect summer vacation happens in the middle of winter we go to SE Asia. And I am wearing Indochine as we meander through Angkor or Luang Prabang or Pagan.
Beautiful!
My fantasy vacation destination would be to London, England. I always wanted to visit Buckingham Palace and would love to go to the Jo Malone boutique. Would love to meet this lady. The scent that would get me there would be the discontinued Wild Fig & Cassis. I would love to meet her in person (she is my fragrance idol). I would ask her to please bring back Peony and Moss. That one was to die for.
Fantasy holiday
Cast away in a desert island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
No hiteck gimmicks, no sotd**
just the ocean breeze !!
**ok just for 2 weeks : )
Actual holiday
Karystos -Greece in 20 days
Just bought “jour d’Hermes-Gardenia”
so will probably go for that on formal occasions
otherwise I love the scent of clean sunkissed skin
Sun and salt water make my skin glow and give a sheer natural fragrant
…give a sheer natural fragrance
When I was a kid we visited family in SW Ireland on the Beara Penninsula. My granny and grandad had a huge farm there, right on the water, and one of my cousins and I would tear around on horseback through the fields and along the headlands.
The surf was surging and boiling a couple hundred feet below at the bottom of the cliffs and one slip of the hoof and both horse and rider we’re doomed. We never gave it a thought.
I will always remember the smell of the cold wind whipping off the ocean, the brine of the sea, and the damp mineral smell of the stone fences my dad and grandad built by hand, laboriously clearing the fields of rocks to create pastures for cattle, sheep, and horses. I wish I were a time traveler.
SOTD Eau des Merveilles
That is a perfect vacation!
Time travel…what scent would that be?
According to my mom’s genealogy research I’m half Irish, and I’m dying to visit there … and now, when I do, I’ll think of you, and bring Eau des Merveilles.
They are now thinking that the bad or lady tore my hip cartilage or worse..I have to get a hip mri and the pain was so severe the other day I wasn’t sure if I’d live through it. This is devastating
*bad pt lady not or lady.
I have severe groin pain…some abdominal pain…thigh cramping and severe hip/lower back pain and foot pain…with limited mobility of my hip and if I move it too much it’s excruciating…it’s horrible these people are supposed to help you not send you to the er in pain…which is what happened….severely devastating
Eeeek, I hope you are getting pain meds as that sounds really painful!
You don’t even know…and thank you for well, you know. That was very sweet
So sorry! What a betrayal by someone who was supposed to help you.
Omega, where are you? (Like, not a third world country?) We really should be checking in on you each day. Are your medical people moving on this quickly, considering the pain you’re in?
Omega, I am praying for cessation of pain and healing for you. Take your pain meds, use ice, use heat, take magnesium for your cramping and find the little comforts that can help you feel better in this dreadful time.
No, they aren’t. I am in the western u.s. I can’t believe they don’t move on this….I am really really suffering. I may look outside my state….I need medical attention now…now…not later now
Today was Bronze Goddess and Plumeria floral water… Hawaii!