Happy Thursday! What fragrance did you pick for today?
I'm wearing Hermès Eau de Mandarine Ambrée.
Reminder: tomorrow, as the summer winds down, wear a fragrance that says "Summer 2015" to you. (If it's winter where you are, wear a fragrance that says "Winter 2015" to you.)
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: shown is a set of Hermès Balcon du Guadalquivir bread and butter plates, $600.
Chanel’s Sycomore.
Somehow talking to a passionate sale assistant for an hour got me four vials of earthy vetiver, pine, and saffron to douse on!
Off to hunt for some Frédéric Malle. Any advices?
L’Eau d”Hiver and the earthy Carnal Flower are my favourite Malles, but I did use the Geranium Pour Monsieur shower gel this AM and am enjoying it a great deal.
I didn’t remember l’Eau d’Hiver. But, Carnal Flower was so…carnal. Instinct. White-flower carnage. Along the same league with Serge Luten’s A la Nuit — I might be able to dab it here and there, but never an entire spritz. I would love that on a lady!
Not a fan of geranium. The note makes me giddy. Still, Geranium Pour Monsieur is acceptable for me. A shower gel, yes, much better diluted.
Vetiver Extraordinaire, of course.
25% more Vetiver!!
I might have got it, had it not been for the price. Here it costs CHF218 for a 50 ml!
Vetiver Extraordinaire seems to be a must try. My favourites from the line are Le Parfum de Thérèse and Une Fleur de Cassie.
Four!? I’m gonna hire you to teach me negotiating skills.
Seriously.
Struck a chord with the Chanel lady, really. Like today, we started discussing our favourite notes, history of perfumes and their composers, and recent trends. Then, she took out Chanel’s olfactorium: the absolutes, essential oils, synthetics… We just sat there, dipped the blotters, and discussed the impressions and how much our experiences shape the way we describe the scents — until the mall closed! Then, the samples…
Nine vials of the 2 ml Les Exclusif, two of 4 ml Misia, and some funny ceramic applicators? She said to use it for your extrait instead of my current metal chop stick.
Try finding a passionate sale assistant and you might just land yourselves some decants!!
I’ll second Vetiver Extraordinaire and add Dries van Noten, Musc Ravageur, and Dans Tes Bras.
Dries van Noten 50 ml! Sandalwood, saffron, powdery vanillla. I got it.
Thank you for the recommendation. There are only three sandalwoods in my collection: Santal Majuscule, Bois des Ile, and now…proudly present Dries van Noten!
If you like patchouli and rose, Portrait of a Lady is the ultimate.
I like patcholi and benzoin: yes, Portrait of A Lady has been on my backhand for six hours now. So long lasting for one spray!?
You usually get your money’s worth with FM – this really seems like a parfum concentration and would have worked well in a stoppered bottle, too.
Yes! I finally got it. I finally got 3 x 10 ml Portrait of A Lady. It took me four to five tries to see that the drama of the rose actually softens and let the raspberry-currant, benzoin, incense, and patchouli shine!
Thank you, nozknoz! Just need to be light on the spray. It is worth the juice quality.
Nice haul!
I really like Sycamore- to me it is a lovely cooler weather scent, and would be the finishing touch to a well dressed man who wanted to perceived as sexy- the way Sycamore works is that it does not shout; it invites you in with a deep, soft voice.
LOL. I was wearing a checkered dark green and navy shirt, khaki pants, a pair of New Balance trainers — and a touch of Sycomore XD
Nick, did you ever find a Malle?
Not yet. I have to sniff them several more times. They are pricey at 218 for a 50 ml! Still, I have some candidates: Portrait of A Lady, Bigarade Concentree, Lipstick Rose, Iris Poudre…need to go through the whole range.
I agree. His prices are ridiculous! I bought POAL during Barney’s spring beauty event. The ahhmazzing gift bag (filled with over-the-top samples!) made the price much easier to swallow. Not to be an enabler
but I heard that Barney’s fall beauty event is coming soon (early Sept.) And I have a feeling the bag is going to be fab. Bigarade Concentree will be my next Malle purchase.
On the website, it is not so bad (EUR160), but, of course, in Switzerland, it is bound to be more expensive. Whenever I see Saks Fifth, Neiman Marcus et cetera, I feel like we have a dearth of choices here. I need to move to the States!!
I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you lived in Europe
Still, I got POAL in Germany eventually!
That’s fantastic! How do you like it? Have you ever tried Tom Ford’s Noir de Noir? It’s a wonderful dark rose.
It was not an easy one. POAL falls into the category of scents that I really have to wear them a few times to see the development and judge whether I actually like them.
The first ever spritz was STRONG ROSE and, fortunately, my favourite benzoin. I am a bit afraid of the giddy rose water, but I love benzoin, incense, and a touch of amber, so I was a bit torn. It took me five times of wear on different days to adjust the spray and appreciating the raspberry-currant facet that saves it from becoming suffocating. Then, the rest of the patchouli and oriental are just what I want! Now, I wear it alone or layered with 2 sprays of something oriental: vanilla, oud, or sandalwood
I have not sniffed Noir de Noir, but from the rose – patchouli – vanilla combination, I will have to go on a sniffing mission this Saturday!
Used some Manoi Tiare shower gel and oil and then Annick Goutal Songes EDT and EDP. I am a one woman tropical showdown!
That’s one stunning combination! I’ve layered Songes EDP with one of the French Monoï oils and it works so well.
Vintage Diorelle EDT, for a rainy, grey day. The Mandarine Ambrée is the only of the Hermès colognes that I didn’t like when I tried it. I have to do a resniff though, as I love all the others.
I like it, but it is still not my favorite…
Trying to think what your favourite might be, my guess would be either the classic Orange Verte or Pamplemousse Rose
I wear the Pamplemousse Rose the most, because I own it! But do love OV, and I think of Osmanthe Yunnan in the same “cologne” sort of category
I’ve got two random samples on– Messe de Minuit on one arm and Chaparral from Roxana Illuminated Perfume on the other. I can’t believe I’ve never tried MdM on skin before– such a great scent
A great scent, but never wanted to own it!
Interesting distinction–if I think something is wonderful then I tend to want to own it, although I suspect that this is one of the scents that would go on my wishlist and just hang out there for years, like so many do
Well, another way to put it — I think it’s fantastic that such a scent exists. But I don’t really like it following me around on my own person. Ha!
I’ll second that. Bvgari Black is like that for me, too–I get a lot of rubber.
Messe de Minuit is a great late fall scent, especially for those cold rainy days in November.
Kalimantan is my scent for dismal Nov days
Good to know – I don’t think I’ve tried anything by Chantecaille so far.
Want to try that Hermes–did you ever layer w L’Ambre? Yesterday’s comments prompted me to put on Alahine today, to complement our uncharacteristically cool end of Aug. Think I’ll wear it frequently this fall.
IIRC, you mentioned a kulfi note in perfume earlier this week? That inspired me to dig up my Kulfi perfume sample from L’Aromatica
That’s in the new Tom Ford Noir for women. I don’t know what kulfi is supposed to smell like, but it is a bombshell scent.
Kulfi is a type of Indian ice cream and can be flavored with rose water, cardamom, mango etc. I’ve had cardamom kulfi and it was delicious. I assume kulfi as a note would be a sweet, milky vibe.
The milk is cooked down and a little bit caramelized, too (but not nearly as much as dulce de leche).
I sniffed a Tom Ford Noir scent strip in the September Vogue, and all I got was tobacco. NOT my favorite! I am still looking for a Tom Ford to love. I think I need to sniff the ones in those turquoise bottles, more than the black bottles…
yep, kulfi’s a novelty note to me! The L’Aromatica sounds appealing.
I never did, and sorry, if I knew where my Ambre sample was I’d do it now…
Alahiiiiiine!
I did the same thing, but here it’s hot. I have to say its not too bad, but I think I prefer it for cold weather. Its gorgeous then!
SOTD PdE Equistrius.
Happy Allmost Friday Day
Equistrius is lovely, you smell good!
SL Sarrasins. I love their florals.
Busy couple of weeks for me and I haven’t been able to participate here as much as I’d like, so making it a point to come hang today.
I put on a purple dress this morning and, inspired by those of you who match your perfume to your outfit, I threw on some Natori. Suits it well, I think.
I hope you’re all well my smelly friends!
Mmmm, you smell lovely! Natori is my latest crush.
Funny. When I was.very new to NST, I bought a cheap, large bottle of Natori and wrote that I didn’t quite know what I thought of it. I got two unpleasant replies–I think both said something snide and ended with “tee hee.” I didn’t know what to make of that, either, and refrained from commenting for awhile. But now I’m so relieved when someone says they enjoy Natori. Thank you!
I’m so sorry you felt that way. Hang around long enough and you’ll learn, where opinionated women get discouraged in society in general, around here the more opinionated the better!
I also own and love Natori. My only complaint is that it doesn’t last! ????
Thankfully, it’s wicked cheap, so just reapply as needed
It’s been sitting on my bathroom counter since I got my FB last week. I can’t even bring myself to put it away, because I have to pick it up and sniff every time I walk into the bathroom…
It’s always OK to like what you like, no matter what anyone else says.
Ditto!
Yes, wear what you like. If you are wearing it for yourself, then by all means!
Thanks all for the morale boosts. I understand everything that you’ve said, but at the time I was a bit wounded, and since then I’ve never come across anything/one with that tone. Always more to learn!
It would be so boring if everyone had the same tastes. Sorry someone was mean to you, that’s not cool.
More Natori for us, though
Now I’ve only seen good comments about Natori (at least the original) since I started reading perfume blogs. I like rather than love it, which I thought was about as negative as anyone felt about it.
My SOTD is Kulfi by L’Aromatica Perfume (notes: cardamom, vanilla bean, coconut, sandalwood, saffron) Definitely FBW. I have never had kulfi, and it’s been years since I’ve had saffron, so I can’t judge how accurate this is. However, it smells natural and the ingredients come across as being high-quality. Sweet, but not cloying. I do so love cardamom. Sigh …
Earlier this week, galbanumgal mentioned that there is a kulfi note in a Tom Ford fragrance, and that reminded me that I had an untested sample of this L’Aromatica frag.
I loooove cardamom, so this sounds interesting. Are there other scents (aside from Jungle L’Elephant and Lumiere Blanche, which I already have and love) you’d recommend?
Ah, those two have been on my to-sample list for a while. Must remedy that. Jacomo 08 is one of my favorite cardamom-centric perfumes.
Bexca, marrakech intense by Aesop has a whopping dose of cardamom! Its all just spice. Not particularly long lasting on me, but longer on clothes and just delightful, imo
If you’re in the U.S., I can send you a sample of Jacomo No. 8. I have a bottle that’s going in the next swap meet. (My musk anosmia strikes again, I think–I get the lovely spice, but nothing else, and it doesn’t last long.) My old-timey email (as one of my favorite podcasters says) is iphintaur on aol.
I get ylang ylang-cardamom custard from Lyric Woman instead of the Rose that most others get. If you haven’t sampled it, it’s by far my favorite Amouage.
Sounds like a yummy scent!
SOTD: Tuscany Per Donna from Estee Lauder.
Honeyed peach and warm florals.
I feel like I am on vacation whenever I smell this.
Warm floral is thd perfect description for Tuscanny Per Donna. Great scent!
I need to try that one. Peach plus carnation sounds appealing to me.
Shalimar vanille flanker
It’s been my scent for the last 2 weeks
This makes me think I really need to try it again.
You should-I actually like it better then the original. Though I feel bad saying that!!!
Beautiful warm spring day today, before rain and storms return tomorrow. Nearly their last hurrah for the year though. Celebrating spring in Lys Soleia.
I’m in Hermes as well – 24, Faubourg. The bottle unexpectedly leaped into my hand this morning as I was reaching for something else. Sometimes they just have minds of their own.
Yes they do! They are funny that way…
I am wearing the very delightful Bruno Acampora Sballo today. It stays cool in the summer heat.
One of my all time favorite scents. Especially in the oil format. You smell great!
Still hot and summery here… Bronze Goddess today. Not that I’m bronze (the glow off a computer terminal doesn’t exactly create that effect). Or a goddess either. But one can pretend.
Hmmm… I may go with BG as well…
I only have BG skin cream and summer is on the wane here, but I want to keep an eye out for the perfume/cologne for next year I’ve grown surprisingly fond of the scent.
I’m wearing another of my new minis, Donna Karan Woman. I’m enjoying it, even though it seems to be a very simple fragrance, with Fragrantica listing only three notes, vetiver, sandalwood, and orange blossom. It might skew a little masculine for some, but the orange blossom lightens it.
I like that one. My best blind buy this summer, found it at TJMaxx. It is simple, but quite nice indeed.
This morning felt crisp, so I put on some tights with my polka dot dress and Marni, which also has polka dots on the bottle.
I can’t believe I’ve never gotten around to smelling Marni Rose. I’ve never even laid eyes on a bottle in real life. It has been very hard to find.
Where do they even sell it? I live in New York and I’ve seen it nowhere!
I wonder if they have it at the Marni Boutique? The one I know of is on Gansevoort St beyond 8th Ave I think. I’ve never been inside, though.
I was around there in July when we had a family & friends outing to be he new Whitney and the Highline. I popped into By Kilian and tried on the scented bangle which the SA initially claimed was 24K gold and I said no way. In any case, I was not in the market for a $2,000+ bangle.
Might layer nicely with the pinky rings
But did you go into the Marni boutique and, if so, did they have any perfume? I’m sure you were getting to that point when you got distracted 
I found it by happy chance at a Cosmetics Company Store. I had made a special trip because I was dying to smell Beyond Rose, but I didn’t like it nearly as much as expected… and I left wearing Marni very happily instead.
I got mine online from Strawberrynet. Also got Marni Spice and some body products. No help though if you actually want to smell them first though..
Mmm. I love Marni! Got a little bottle as a gift, so I’m afraid I can’t help anyone who’s looking for it.
Maria Candida Gentile’s Hanbury this morning. It matched well with the weather, but does not match too well with all this navy blue I’m wearing…
So. Last night I was at an orientation event at my son’s new high school…standing outside listening to various trustees yammer on about how brilliant I am to send my son to their school… when I got a whiff of Chergui. I looked around, confused, and figured it had to be my husband. And since he is very unlikely to reach for any of scents, I figured I must have given him a hug shortly after spraying, and it had gotten on his blazer. So I leaned in a little and sniffed and sniffed. There was a man and his wife standing in front of us…he was wearing a pinstripe bespoke suit that was lovely…he was a bit plain (but to be fair I was observing him and his wife from the back) and she dressed very much like the well-heeled ladies of Walnut Creek…. when we got back to our car I grabbed my husband’s jacket and breathed in deep. Nothing! It was the sartorially splendid gent in front of us wearing the Chergui. Amazing. I had no idea SL had made it to the Bay Area Burbs. I will keep my eye out for the couple at the next event, as naturally I now feel a great affinity with them!
No perfume yet… maybe Bronze Goddess, or perhaps after yesterday’s fiasco I should stick to something crisp and under control…
Isn’t it amazing when you get a surprise like that? I have a patient who comes about 3 times a year and he always smells different and always amazing. I swear he even wore Mitsouko one time.
Love that!
A wonderful story! I find it so frustrating when I grab a whiff of a familiar and/or attractive scent and then try to track down the wearer, usually failing. I hope your son enjoys his new school. One of my grandsons is just entering college and a granddaughter starts kindergarten next week!
I can often identify fragrances when I both 1) I own and wear them myself with some regularity, and 2) the scents are fairly unique. Which, all things considered, is a teensy minuscule fraction of fragrances out there. Once I identified a fragrance I had never even smelled before on the woman who cuts my hair… It was a juicy orange scent that I guessed she had purchased at Sephora–only one possibility–Orange Sanguine. To this day she thinks I have a super power…
And you do, don’t you?!
Having lived in Alameda for 5 years, I always enjoy your depictions of the area.
I hope you get a chance to make it back here one day!
I also enjoy the depictions, having grown up in Orinda and most recently lived in Concord near WC border (now in NYC). I laughed when I saw the comment re dressed like the well-heeled ladies of WC. I knew exactly what that meant!
Never judge, never judge.
I once followed a man down the street because he smelled so good in Medford Oregon. He was dressed in steretypical country gear but had marvelous skin and hair and smelled amazing. After a while he asked if he could help me.
Me: Yes, tell me the cologne you are wearing! You smell so damn good!
The gentleman laughed and blushed. He was wearing Santa Maria Novella Amber cologne and used the soap. He also used an almond cream on his face and body but that made in the area. He worked very hard but the cologne and soap was his special splurge, once a year- and he purchased them in Ashland! This was in fact how i was introduced to Santa Maria Novella!
You never know where you will turn up a connoisseur.
That is a GREAT story. I love it!
I’m almost embarrassed to admit it – my introduction to Santa Maria Novella was an iris scented talcum powder I stumbled on in Pier 1 about 30 years ago. I think it was another 15 years before I realized how historic the brand was.
Isn’t interesting when the culprit of our curiosity about a scent is a man? I love that men are wearing surprising and wonderful perfumes!
Ladies, you are quite the scent hounds!!
The Body Shop Moringa shower gel- and the Lust by Lush. I sprayed the last of a sample of Joy into my scalp. I feel very white flowery and jasmine-y. A man on the train said I smelled very pretty.
I’m finishing off my sample of Pharrell Williams Girl today. I wonder if this one has been axed already?
I don’t see it at any Sephoras anymore. Maybe it ventured too far from candy-fruity- floral territory and didn’t win over their target demographic.
Yeah I don’t think many Sephora shoppers want to smell like sweaty violets, unfortunately.
Haha! The world would be a different place if they did.
The bottle was weird, too.
Yah. I think staying away from bottle designs that look like battered women with their eyes punched out is a good strategy for perfume. Just saying….
With those eyes, I thought “Dead Girl,” not “Girl.” Not visually appealing to me
Right? What was that? Although CdG is one to shock.
YES!!! “Dead Girl” is exactly what I thought of the bottle, too. (Probably too many cartoons in my childhood.)
Noooo! I’ve almost drained my little sample and find myself needing more.
Look on the bright side – it may start showing up on the discount sites.
Making my first foray onto Raleigh roads, to buy detailed maps of the area. SOTD is Le Labo Fleur d’Oranger 27.
I just realized that since my husband and I have been living at opposite ends of the country for 5 years (and my perfume interest dates about 3 years), his opinions on almost all of them will be new. Should be fun – he is relatively kind.
Ooh, good luck! NC drivers can be…idiosyncratic. I can say that because I learned to drive and got my first license in NC- I still can’t parallel park, since that isn’t on the test there. Also, have fun sharing your perfume hobby with your husband. Mine still doesn’t wear any scent, but he asks me every morning what the scent of the day is.
Ha ha. Funny memory. I got my license in Ft. Lauderdale, where my first husband taught me to parallel park on the street, where no one parks (all parking lots). So I learned with no car behind me. When I took the test (blessedly in a test lot), I just backed up to my heart’s content, sending the rear pole flying. Didn’t pass the test, needless to say.
Beautiful mild AM here in NYC. I’m wearing TF Cafe Rose. I’ve been craving dark roses lately. Any suggestions for favorites are welcome!
Also, has anyone tried Armaf Club de Nuit Intense? Many comparisons to TF Noir de Noir but mych less pricey.
Lumiere Noir pour Femme is a great one if you can’t manage to get your hands on its predecessor, l’Arte di Gucci!
Will look for both. Lots of mention of the Gucci in the BdJ blog post that bastet added below.
BK Liaisons Dangereuses, a plum-rose, is beautiful and perfect for fall. Rose Oud is great, too, if you don’t mind oud. If you can find old YSL Rive Gauche or Paco Rabanne Calandre, they had great rose. PG Rose Brulure is an unusual rose.
How closely related are Calandre and Eau de Calandre, does anyone know?
Elisa P, if you’re interested I can share my Eau de Calandre with you.
Hmmmmm. 24 people on Fragrantica said the Eau de reminded them of Calandre and 5 said it reminded them of Rive Gauche. The majority of people said Calandre reminded them of Rive Gauche. This is advanced algebra, I think. But, I was never a big fan of Rive Gauche and it may have more to do with associations but I haven’t sniffed the original in a long time, only the current in some duty-free-or-other and I didn’t love it . But thanks for the generous offer!
That PG is on my sample wish list!
This post may be a bit dated but still helpful:
http://boisdejasmin.com/2012/02/my-sultry-valentine-dark-rose-perfumes.html
Thanks! Some good recs in there
Robin, those plates are gorgeous! Cheaper than those tacky-looking David Yurman rings, too.
I’m wearing Monyette Paris edp today and smell like a pina colada, so I probably should have worn it tomorrow for the community project.
Ah, good point about the ring — I thought these were outrageously priced, but I guess it could be worse! Anyway, they are gorgeous, and the ring, not so much.
Nervous! Yearly review today.
*sigh* I’m sure it’ll be fine, but I’m still a wreck.
It’s gorgeous outside today and I’d rather be out for a drive in the Miata w/ the fiance than in a freezing office building.
Wearing the last of my Wit sample today. I think I should’ve saved this for Friday’s theme, but oh well.
Hope it goes well for you!
Sorry. Can’t resist.
Perfect day to have your Wit’s about ya!
Good luck! Hope you wind up with a giant raise!
I hope you socked it to ’em.
Friends of mine are going to San Francisco next week, and they’re going to cycle to Parfums Delrae and buy Wit for me. This is : I’m totally trusting all your reviews and comments. It’s
And sorry: hit a wrong thing before I finished writing: was going to say, this is a high-level fools-rush-in action. Robin, am I eligible now for the Star and Garter in this award category?
There should be a special category for hiring a bike messenger.
I’m wearing, or trying I should say, the new Eau Parfumee au The Bleu by Bvlgari and absolutely a fan! Great strong tea, violet and lavender scent.. lasts long and just very wearable. I think this one is my favorite so far. Want more!
Mmm, now I want to try it.
I got a sample at Sephora!
To all of my fellow educators here, how is your first week of school going? Or, if this wasn’t your first week back, how is your year going so far? This week has been a rough one for me. I don’t know if I’m coming or going. LOL! At least I smell good!!
SOTD is Chloe.
Scentfromabove, I wrote a reply post a while ago, and there it isn’t! Mysteries abound. I think I said something like this: education is a tough game everywhere at every level, and getting tougher. Wherever I go, all around the world I hear variations on these themes: mad, bad policies; financial pressures on institutions, parents and students; the drive to orient content towards industry interests; the diversion of funds from teaching/research towards marketing institutions; the increasing burden of administration and compliance. I think your strategy for these troubling circumstances is the best: deal with what you can, and smell marvellous doing it! There will be some fun to be found, too. Sometimes. Bestest of everything as you cope.
I’m in Encre Noir again. It’s become my go-to when i feel like I need an extra bit of resolve. I have a meeting today I’m not looking forward to, so I’m counting on this to get me through.
31 Rue Cambon this morning, with the remnants of Angel that did not wash off in the shower. As hard as I tried, that Angel is sticking around. It is downright radioactive!
SOTD is Chamade. It’s not hot out but needed something pretty.
Chanel Chance Eau Tendre today. I’ve really been craving fruity florals, light shampoo scents that keep me feeling fresh. This one has good longevity on me, and makes me feel good.
Very pretty!
SOTD = Eau No
I’m commando because I was in such a hurry to leave the house and plain forgot to spritz on any of the perfumes that I have within easy reach. I don’t and won’t carry perfume in my purse and I don’t have an emergency back-up at work. Although I could have walked into Saks or Sephora during lunch, I have decided that it is not such a bad thing to be commando once in a while.
LOL at Eau No.
Lol, Eau No.
That reminds me of a story: a friend of a friend brought home stray cats on a regular basis when she was growing up, and she brought #17 in one day during her senior year of high school. Her mom said, “Oh no, oh no!” And the girl said, “Hey, that’s a great name for a cat!” Apparently Oh-No was the last one.
Eau No. Hee, hee. I won’t carry it in my purse, either — I know that there will be an accident.
I just cannot bring myself to go without–it’s like actually going commando for me. I do make sure the emergency backup in my purse is something I could live with if it leaked, though. (Most recently, Jo Malone Blackberry & Bay.)
I won a bottle of Escentric 01 on a Luckyscent Facebook draw last week and it arrived today, so that’s what I’m wearing. After reading reviews, so far I agree the most with Robin’s assessment – lovely quick burst of topnotes with a vague woody drydown. I think I might get a bit more incense than she describes, and as she said, I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’ll be wearing it often the next few days. I would love to see other’s opinions, please let me know your thoughts!
Once you wear it, you’ll recognize that note in so many perfumes. I have trouble keeping the Escentrics straight, but if 01 is Iso E Super, it’s the background note of all the Ormonde Jaynes, for example.
Does Ta’if have a lot of it? It’s the only OJ I’ve tried (thanks, Hajusuuri!) and if it does, than what I thought was ISO E Super is something else.
I dug into a bag of samples I haven’t tried yet and pulled out BPAL’s Galvanized Goggles. It’s not a bad scent, but it is WAY too masculine on me. It smells like a combination of Irish Spring and really heavy incense.
BPAL overwhelmed me early on and I never went back. Irish Spring is pretty intense.
Was running out the door today so spritzed on Bendelirious again. It seems to be sticking around on my skin more than when I first started wearing it a while back.
The last dregs of a long-hoarded sample of FM Une Rose. I swoon. I weep. I start saving.
I feel that way about that one too. You can buy them in the 10ml size now – that is quite a bit easier on the wallet.
I KNOW!! I have big plans for some of those 10ml sizes!
Yes! And 10 ml is just right because Une Rose is not one that you want to wear every day. Well actually today I did fantasize about what if this were my signature scent and I never wore anything else and that would TOTALLY justify an FB purchase… but I know I would grow fickle in the end.
Good morning, all! I’m wearing fantastic Fate this foggy Friday, doing my bit to improve the ambient moods of my compatriots and colleagues by smelling of golden things and spring.
By the way, thank you all for your tolerance, graciousness and kindness yesterday. I was a bit scattered and I really appreciated your company.
Are you all better? Fate sounds fabulous, by the way, I never paid attention to it before.
Thank you– the headache has subsided and my vision seems to be completely back, so I’m taking that as a win and going to work. Necessity being the mother of Kiwi invention, I’m wearing flight socks to support my ankle.
I love Fate. It’s sweet, but that doesn’t trouble me. I always feel as though I’m wrapped up in light when I wear it. It seems to have a slightly elusive quality, as though the main note is sitting just at the edge of my peripheral vision (scent?) and I catch a glimpse or sense movement, but can never bring it into full focus.
Hope your recovery continues apace! I love elusive note sensations. Do you enjoy it in your Fate?
Oh, utterly! It’s impressionistic; it’s like the light itself. I’d love to know what you think – Fate hadn’t been very well received by reviewers.
I’d love to know what I think, too! I haven’t worn it so far.
Good luck with your recovery!
I’ve just returned to Brussels, there are three days left of my vacation. It’s rainy here, so I’m wearing Bombay Bling! to cheer me up.
BB will definitely help!
42 degrees here in Balmy Michigan this morning when I left the house for my increasingly arduous commute, so I cheered myself up by dousing myself in Rose Musc! My office mate is off on vacation till next week, so I figured that should give the room time to air out. LOL! Now, in mid afternoon, I just have balmy soothing sweet musk close to the skin…but I could smell it in my room when I first walked in after late lunch and associated disasters.
Adorable hubby finally went to the doctor’s office with what he thought was odd poison ivy rash on his stomach and side, and he has shingles! My grandmother had bad recurring shingles with severe neuralgia that lasted a long time, so my sister and I both got vaccinated for it a while ago. Adorable hubby doesn’t even remember having chicken pox as a child, and I have never see my grandma’s episodes, so I didn’t know what it looked like. Poor guy…ah, it is always just something, isn’t it?
Oh no! Shingles! All best thoughts winging to you, because although your dear man is the patient, you will undoubtedly suffer too!
That’s supposed to be awful–hope it goes away soon.
SOTD is Chanel No. 5 Eau Premiere. Perfect summer-weight of No. 5.
I’m almost ready to buy this. If one more person this week (you’re the third) reminds me how beautiful it is, I’m taking it as a sign from the angel of enabling that I’m meant to be enabled!
I’ve been wearing seven wee dabs of original Diva EdP from Ungaro. Again I feel a little bit like I’m wearing a different scent from the one others review. The drydown is very nice, a lacquer rose with presence, and pretty much what I expected. But the top had a green note that does not suit me, and I can’t figure out what it is. I love galbanum, oakmoss, cis-3 hexenol. I almost always love honey and civet notes. I smelled a similar screechy green bit in Ô de Lancôme Intense the other day, although that one lasted for most of the wear. Any ideas, by any chance, what the offending greenery might be?
Maybe the narcissus isn’t sitting right.
Interesting idea! Someone else suggested coriander, and I realized that I get that feeling from Coriandre. Curioser and curioser….
Are you sure you love galbanum? You probably are, just want to point out that most newer fragrances use galbanum fractions, whereas both of those might use the “whole” thing.
That’s a great point!
I love the current galbanum EO at Enfleurage Inc., and I’m not sure how fractionated that is. I don’t think I’ve smelled the resin.
And it’s true that I mostly find this difficult note in vintage scents. (I thought of several more, including other rosy ones as it happens: L’Arte di Gucci, Coriandre, Creation, Paloma Picasso, Norell, Farouche, Fidji, Ivoire, Magie Noire). That’s a long list and makes me think you are right!
On the other hand, there are vintage scents with galbanum that don’t produce that sensation, e.g. Miss Dior, Silences, Givenchy III, Must de Cartier (really that’s got galbanum?), Vert et Blanc, Devin, Lauder for Men. Maybe it’s the composition, and/or maybe they sometimes used fractions, say, pre-1990.
On the third hand, there are one or two vintage green scents that do give me that sensation but use it to their advantage IMO — Vent Vert above all, probably circa 1980s.
Must collect more data….
Ahh I loved this question! As an old, old school Diva lover, I had to go to my old, old school bottle and see what you were smelling. I pulled out my bottle of Edp, eighties vintage (told you old school!) and a mini, no label, 15+ yrs old. The spray head of the bottle, smelled exactly how I remembered, powdery, distinct rose. Gorgeous! Didn’t get much from sniffing the mini. Then I applied each. Wow! I know exactly what you’re talking about when you say strong green. It was much more intense from the bottle. I don’t really know what true oakmoss is supposed to smell like, so I’m now sure. But imo, it shares a common feature of all the chypres of the eighties that I adored, i.e. Coco, Paloma, Knowing. Maybe some intensified (aged) civet? The mini got to the scent that I remember as Diva much more quickly than the bottle of edp. It took the bottle a good 30 min longer to get there. But now I’m in Diva heaven. I only have a few ml left in the bottle, so I never spray it. This was a fun experiment!
Thank you for sharing this! I’ve also been wondering about civet. Mauve my culprit is the combo of old school galbanum plus old school civet notes.
I’m practicing for tomorrow’s summer scent community project. This morning I spritzed a thick cloud of Terracotta into the air and walked into it. It works nicely on a hot day when I don’t want to be overwhelmed by perfume sprayed directly on skin.
Twins! EdMA from a sample. Very nice, and less fleeting than some of the Hermes colognes.
Some combination of GI and sinus issues made everything smell off to me for a good three weeks. Even ordinarily reliable things like Jour d’Hermes, which was unpleasantly sweet. Couldn’t try anything new, couldn’t enjoy old favorites, couldn’t bring myself to go commando. I suppose it did stop me from taking the enjoyment of perfume for granted.
SOTD is Rose de Taif by Perris Monte Carlo.
This edp really is surprisingly sneaky. At first all I got was lemon and roses. Very strong, projection wise. Then about an hour or so later, tobacco and rose with a hint of lemon.
Interesting scent as I was expecting just a Moroccan rose scent. The opening reminds me of Andy Tauer Incense Rose.