Saturday is the International Day for Tolerance, a UN observance dedicated to "strengthening tolerance by fostering mutual understanding among cultures and peoples". This is a goal I wholeheartedly support, and I hope my poll on the subject of fragrance-related tolerance will not be taken as making light of a serious topic. This just isn't the place for the discussion of serious topics, hence our handy dandy keep-the-peace comment policy.
1. Name a fragrance or a fragrance note you are slowly learning to tolerate?
2. Name a fragrance you thought you hated, but loved when you smelled it on someone else?
3. Name a fragrance or a fragrance note you will probably never be able to tolerate?
Or, as always, just talk about something else.
Note: top image is Tolerance" - Jaume Plensa @ Sunrise April 2013 [cropped] by JWSherman at flickr; some rights reserved. You can find some great images of the statues lit up at night on Google Image Search or on the artist's website. Not everybody loves them; see Tolerating “Tolerance” at Glasstire.
1. Rose. It’s been changing from “too pretty and bland” to “refreshing yet sexy” over the past year.
2. Chloe. Smells like a dryer sheet on me, smells like a fresh shower on my old roommate.
3. Cumin. Why spend money to smell like b.o.?!
I think rose can be sexy too!
Ew, can’t stand the “dryer sheet” accord in perfume.
I’m probably one of the few folks whose skin can wear cumin well. Now ‘big white florals’? Those can easily smell like cat urine or b.o. on me. Skin chemistry is a funny (and wonderful) thing.
I also wear cumin well, love it!!!
Ewwww cumin!! Same for me, as well as dryer sheet.
Lily of the valley is growing on me! Givenchy Le de is my ‘turner’. Love it!
1) Ah, can’t tolerate heavy florals. Not optimistic about learning to tolerate them either.
2) The original Jimmy Choo.
3) OTT florals.
Finally caved and wearing Chanel today in the box of eels iteration.
Was woken way too early with a gentle but persistent tap, tap, tap on my chest.?Heatwave here with a high of 41F, so we’ll be heading out soon for some fresh air time.
If I was 30 years younger, I’d be doing the following:
https://youtu.be/oQDLAoPs-as
To heck with adulting, I’d be doing a mashup of biking and ballet. Love this little video because it’s one continuous shot, set to music that is still relevant today, in a beautiful place that I’m guessing might be some hills in California.
Happy weekend perfume people!
Great clip. I am addicted to mt. bike clips for some reason….I love the locations but also the swoopy doopyness of the really skilled riders. I had a go on an electric mountain bike a few weekends ago and it was such fun on the uphills as well as the down, and very quiet.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MCvflr-y8DA
Thought you might like this. It shows the hill and views by my house and tracks where I walk my dogs every morning ( early, while the bikers are still asleep). You can even see the burnt trees from the old fire, that has now started to get a bit greener.
Excellent! I think my alter ego is a smart mouthed punky boy who would ride just like that kid. Thanks for sharing ✌?
I love cycling, but on groomed bike paths away from the cars. That mountain biking clip looks terrifying. Love the scenery near your house though.
Good Grief That TERRAIN!
Another incredible video. So, what happened to him Kanuka, do you know? I hope not by this.
Nice to hear that your icebox is thawing a little bit. Here’s hoping that you won’t be stuck in any more deep freezes there!
OMG!That is spectacular. Thank you for sharing. My stomach was in my throat for most of it. I never tire of watching this or bmx bikes. But how do they learn and practice w/o killing themselves, that’s the thing.
What gorgeous scenery too.
Happy weekend to everyone near and far (although for me most of you are far away)
1. I’m slowly learning to tolerate vetiver, but it can’t be a key note to a fragrance.
2. Mugler Aura, scrubber on me but works for a friend.
3. Patchouli (the heavy, rotting one) or gardenia. No. Just nope. Go away.
SotD is Puredistance GOLD. Wearing it for the 1st time today.
Aura had the same affect on me. It almost turned my stomach but I kept trying .
Twin haters for gardenia!:) Lol.
Twins with Aura being a scrubber.
Didn’t work for me either. The opening reminded me of mouthwash.
This is a first…I have three troublesome perfume notes, no, make that four: tonka ( too sweet and sticky), vetiver ( can remind me of bratwurst ), immortelle, and cumin. Tonka and vetiver make me feel uncomfortable when I wear them, like I want to shake them off my paw but I do like those scents on others e.g JM myrrh and tonka. Immortelle is the one that I am sure I can like if I just try harder. Just thought of two other difficult notes: ink and rubber. And rose…gosh, that’s quite a few. Better stop. Wearing Andy Tauer Sotto la luna tuberose which I really love. Happy weekend !
Love all four of those notes! 😀
I hope to love them one day
You smell lovely (although my dog hates Sotto la Luna Tuberose and paws at her nose when I spray it). You may want to try the new Parfum d’Empire Immortelle Corse, it’s quite nice.
Hello from France, fellow smellies!
I am happy to announce that I will be leading my first perfume tour through my beautiful, adopted home city of Paris, in spring 2020.
I’ve partnered with a handful of indie shops, focusing on smaller, niche brands and I’m really excited to meet fragrance enthusiasts from all over! It promises to be a fantastic afternoon!
Robin, please do tell me if announcing this here is inappropriate!
Anyone interested can find me on Facebook: You Smell – Paris Perfume Tours. Simply follow the page for updates!
Thanks! – Julien
Wow, sounds exciting that you’ll be able to organize perfume tours in Paris. Good luck with this project!
I guess you can’t really mention them here regularly if you are charging money, but I certainly don’t mind the one time announcement, and would also suggest you make your user name here a link to your FB tour page!
And clarifying for anybody else, I would never let a new user register and comment to advertise a tour or any other fragrance business, and am allowing it here because you are a regular and this is part of your news, and we all share our news, etc etc.
1) I can’t think of one, because my tastes in fragrance are pretty much set in stone after fortyish years. I like a lot of scent notes, most everything that was in common use by 2000 or so, anyway.
2) I loathed La Nuit de Paco Rabanne when I first smelled it in the mid-eighties, and then I loved it when I smelled it on me about twenty-five years later. I was a whole different person by then, my tastes had evolved, and I suddenly understood it.
3) Apple. It’s in EVERYTHING. Just stop. It’s cheap and synthetic and shrill and horrible, and it will never be anything else.
Not that anybody asked but I’m wearing a big smudge of Diptyque 34 Boulevard Saint Germain solid, which is *amazing*. It was launched for their 50th anniversary and I’ve read that it’s supposed to smell like a room containing all of Diptyque’s scents, all at once. Can’t comment on that, but it checks a lot of boxes: green, fruity, floral, spicy, woody, balsamic, resinous. It’s the kind of kitchen-sink scent I love.
I still remember that one after huffing it when I’m first came out, a few years ago now I think..? No matter, you are smelling fine!
I will likewise vote for #3, and add pear.
Ditto
Me three.
Oh, ITA on the apple and pear. Stomach-turning!
Apple is a no for me too. And cucumber and chamomille come to think of it.
Not chamomile! ?
1. I used to be bored by iris, but now have half a dozen iris-based perfumes;
2. Cumin smells horridly sweaty on me, but not on other. Can’t remember the name of the cumin culprit, since I wasn’t going to buy it anyway…
3. Giving up on gardenia, which is so beautiful in a garden. Not a big fan of tuberose either, and have decided that if BWFs are not my thing, so be it.
Tuberose to me is gardenia’s more friendly cousin lol…but not too much more friendly, lol.
I bet it was Theo Fennell Scent (jjlook’s bottle)
Ohh, that might be it.
Scent at bedtime last night: Chanel Paris-Riviera. It was probably after midnight by then, so I don’t think it counts for Friday. lol. I don’t know if I was congested or what, but I wasn’t really appreciating it. That might go in my “learn to appreciate” list.
Chypres are still in my “learn to appreciate” category, too. I think it’s the bitterness from the oak moss, or whatever is substituted for oak moss nowadays.
I’d probably appreciate Angel more on other people.
I don’t have motivation to learn how to appreciate perfumes or colognes that smell like cigarette or cigar smoke. I developed an allergy to cigarette smoke a few years ago. I used to be able to hang around with the smokers, but no more. I found Histoire de Parfums 1740 (Marquis de Sade) particularly bad in smelling that way. It was like tobacco smoke had soaked deep into leather chairs. I know some people appreciate that, but it was a scrubber for me. Then again, I’ve never smelled Tabac Blond, but I doubt I’d appreciate that, either.
Scent in the afternoon: Hermes Eau d’Orange Vert, FragranceNet travel spray. I like it. I definitely don’t want a 100 ml bottle, but I’m good with having gotten the travel spray.
Other FragranceNet travel spray: Annick Goutal Eau d’Hadrien EdT. I think I’d only tried the EdP before. Much, much less like a lemon cleaning product than the Fresh Sugar Lemon travel-sized rollerball perfume that I tried yesterday. I think the fragrance of the Eau d’Hadrien EdP is more rich, but there are enough pleasant things going on in the EdT that I’m satisfied with having gotten it.
Other things: a mini of CK One EdT — seems likable enough to me — and a sample of Tommy Hilfinger “The Girl.” I’ll see how The Girl differs from Tommy Girl.
Complimentary: A sample of Simply Belle EdP. The fragrance doesn’t smell naturally realistic to me compared to what notes are listed, not even in an abstract floral way. I need to find an office building with a ladies’ room or lounge where I can discreetly leave a bunch of perfume and cologne samples. LOL
You might like the right non-smoky tobacco scent though! I was a long time smoker, now long time non-smoker, and a really good tobacco fragrance doesn’t really remind me of smoking. Maybe I just rarely smelled my unlit cigarettes 😉
I did get pretty negative about that, didn’t I? Jalapeno told me at some point that there were tobacco scents that were pleasant. I tried at one point to grow the night-blooming nicotiana plant with the white flowers, but didn’t have success. I’d probably like that sort of flowery scent, but that’s not the smell of the leaves.
I like the scent of clove cigarettes. I like the scent of burning wood, like apple wood, for instance, and I like many kinds of incense. So there are a number of smoky scents I’m good with. If I run into a perfume or cologne that I like and that has a note of unburned tobacco leaves, I may need to reconsider my stance on tobacco in a fragrance. 🙂
No tobacco smoke for me with HdP 1740! I can’t deal with tobacco smoke at all, in fragrance or in real life. Cigars and cigarettes are major irritants. I tend to amp up tobacco as a note to an uncomfortable degree. But scents with a bit of dried leaves of said plant can be rather nice.
HdP 1740 didn’t work for me, whatever it was I had the issue with, then. (*shrugs*) But I’m glad you like it. 🙂
What surprised me is that I didn’t think I’d like perfumes or colognes that were described as having a strong “tomato leaf” note. The leaf scent from real live tomato plants isn’t something I’m a fan of, but I don’t seem to mind or particularly single out the fine fragrance version of a tomato leaf scent. (Which might not even have tomato leaves in it. LOL. Robin told me that a perfume titled “Rose de Mai” might not even have roses in it, so I’m trying to be less literal-minded about things like that.)
Scent on Sunday morning, and events of Sunday morning generally: Mom wanted my brother and I to go to the church she and Dad attend. Mom and Dad will be celebrating their fiftieth anniversary soon, and that’s what she wanted as her present. He drove up from Maryland, and I drove from home. I’ve been getting nowhere fast lately. But I did put on a fragrance — Profumum Roma Olibanum — to mark the occasion of going to church.
J. (my brother) hadn’t been for a long time. The people there in their eighties remembered him from when he was a child. Some of the newer people know me from Christmas Eve services or Easter, or brown-bag “Lunch and Learn” events, or the minor-league baseball games. The current priest there recognizes me. So I introduced J. around. The important thing is that Mom was happy.
I am learning to love rose. Like mrsdarcy, I used to think it was boring, but I have come to really appreciate a jammy rose note.
I rarely smell perfume on other people. I live in a small town, and teach at a community college. For some reason, I think both of those are circumstances that reduce my chances of coming across perfume lovers.
There’s a screechy, skanky note – I’m not sure if it’s straight-up musk, civet, castoreum, or some combo that just reads as “Whoa!” to me, and makes me uncomfortable. I have noticed it in the dry down of many of the Zoologist scents (which I otherwise really like), and also several Lutens perfumes. My nose isn’t savvy enough to know what it is, though.
I’m in lightly dabbed Jungle L’Elephant today (I am going to run errands in a bit, and so don’t want to bomb anybody with scent as I grocery shop).
Tolerance. Let’s have some more of that. Heck, I’d settle for simple civility, at this point.
Adore all y’all, in a weird but fun, “Don’t Know You But Love You All The Same” kinda way. Hey, wouldn’t that make a great song title?
Sounds like the makings of a great country song ???
🙂 yes, definitely.
It’s interesting that conversations/art pieces/music about tolerance show how terribly intolerant so many people are..??
Yes, that’s not only a great song title, but an idea we all had should put into practice more frequently.
That would absolutely be a great song title! ?
1. I have always had a hard time tolerating gardenia, but I think I am learning to appreciate the note slowly.
2. Nothing really comes to mind right now.
3. Ambergris, tuberose and sandalwood when they are prominent in a perfume. Robert Piquet Fracas and Guerlain Samsara need to stay far, far, far away from me.
Fracas is a no go for me as well lol. It’s a straight up attack on the nostrils lol. But I could bathe in Samsara.
I tried Samsara in all formulations and concentrations for many years. As much as I appreciate its beauty I cannot wear it. Instant migraine for hours. Fracas is overwhelming to all my senses. I tolerate Carnal Flower better, but I also stay away from it.
I enjoy both Fracas and Samsara. However, Fracas is definitely a “sometimes” fragrance. Samsara is a 4-season staple for me.
So glad to find people who do not care for Fracas. For me it tries to hard and I don’t care for so much tubereuse.
I see many of us here cannot tolerate tuberose. Such a difficult note. I felt frustrated for many years for not being ble to wear such a classic masterpiece, like Fracas, but we don’t have to love all the classics as I finally understood on this perfume hobby.
Wow, I recognised the sculpture right away–it’s here in Houston and I’ve driven by it often! I actually love these sculptures and am surprised by that negative review. They look wonderful when you see them lit up at night. I concede though that the artist appears to churn them out and that’s a minus. On the plus side, they look beautiful amongst the lovely old lacy live oak trees that line the bayou on the way to downtown.
Here are my answers:
1. Learning to tolerate: Iris (I don’t much like it but sometimes it’s nice)
2. Angel–there’s a few people it smells good on.
3. La Maroc Pour Elle–I found this an absolute nightmare and instant scrubber. In fact I have not liked any Tauer perfumes, though I’ve tried a lot. The best is Incense Rose, which I can tolerate, and I admire his lavender one, but seem to be allergic to it. That Tauerade is something that I just can’t appreciate, I guess.
I don’t totally disagree with the “heavy handed symbolism” part, but I am also ok with a little heavy handed symbolism in public art.
But sorry I read that piece mostly because the story about the attack that inspired the philanthropist was new to me, and HORRIBLE.
Because “Public art”, or really what we mean is outdoor art, is designed to appeal to the largest number of people possible, and at the same time offend as few people as possible, and it has to be accessible and is supposed to make an impact. . . I tend to have a high tolerance for whatever is the outcome… with the exception of upcycled or “reclaimed” metal and glass sculptures in people’s front yards ???
When this guy has some of the most popular public art around Houston and its environs, you learn to appreciate things like the sitting mesh figures a lot more! https://365thingsinhouston.com/2014/04/07/virtuoso-sculpture-downtown-houston-david-adickes/
Oh my, the Beatles & all!
We have a similar public art artist out west, Marco Cochrane. I like his pieces lit up at night, but find the female form, to the exclusion of all others, tiresome. That is speaking about Cochrane, not Plensa!
Ah, Burning Man and the Vegas MGM. Ok, I need to go drink some tolerance tea now.
Ha!
Hah, I saw the same style of statue in Chicago, San Fran and Montreal. Very much agreeing with the assessment on them!
1. Currently trying to like and understand Amber fragrances.
2. Miss Dior, current version. I have a coworker who wears this, and she smells divine. On me, a total scrubber. I find it interesting that I enjoy smelling on other people is not how I want to smell. I think it’s tied with identity.
3. I will never like anything with a burning note, no campfire, fireplace, barbeque for me, thanks.
Sotd is Tendre Poison, for another crazy working Saturday. I used to think I didn’t like florals until I came to nst, and realized most of my perfume loves feature jasmine and tuberose. I think what I really wasn’t liking is non-descript florals. Hope everyone has a great weekend!?
Me too… love smoke that veers towards incense, but not towards bbq!
Interesting about your #1. Amber was really my gateway into the rabbit hole. I began by buying sets of amber note perfumes from Perfumed Court or its predecessor ages ago, and I still have a great fondness for amber. In fact I’m wearing Amber Narguile today, courtesy of the recent split meet and Hajusuuri! There is one amber I’ve never learned to appreciate though, and many people consider it the best: SL Amber Sultan. Still smells too much like turpentine to me.
amber was the first scent memory i have that intrigued me! my grandfather had this amber aftershave or perfume, that he let me smell when i was a little girl – it was beautiful, i never smelled anything as enchanting before.
adult me wears amber only ocasionally ( love hermessence and the amber from artisan parfumeur) but little girl me is still swept away by it.
i have to try SL but as with most other ambers, i will probably find it overwhelming.
I was sad when Old Spice discontinued their amber scent. I used the deodorant in that scent. It didn’t clash but it was nice going on. I still have the body spray. Wish I’d gotten the body wash… oh well.
Agree with your number 3
I like amber perfumes, but am incredibly picky about them. I think that my #1 Amber would be Pacifica’s sadly discontinued Spanish Amber. So GOOD, and yet inexpensive. I don’t know how they managed that feat.
I was sad too when Pacifica discontinued Spanish Amber and the various products offered with the scent. I’ve found that Bastide Aix en Province Ambre Maquis makes for a good substitute – not quite as affordable, but they do have a 10ml spray for $32US/$42CDN and lots of other nice products.
I still have most of my 1oz bottle of Spanish Amber, and the last time I sniffed it, it smelled great. This is definitely the time of year to bring it out. Thanks for the info on a sniff-alike.
Yes – I’ve got one squirrelled away too! Hope you get a chance to try the Bastide!
Re: #3 florals – I was gobsmacked when I realized I have way more floral perfume likes and loves than I realized!
I’m sampling today, the new Bruno Fazzolari samples just showed up. Will report later on my thoughts.
I am not a big fan of gardenia like several others mentioned. Love the actual flower, not so much the perfume renditions, although I do like SL Une Voix Noire, which is a very unusual gardenia. I used to love vetiver but avoid it now.
Cumin is a huge no, unless well-blended and in homeopathic doses.
Jessica Simpson Fancy nights smelled great on a colleague, terrible on me. I have had a hate/love/hate relationship with Angel since its release. Had to stop wearing L by Lolita Lempicka because it smelled so nauseating on my hairdresser.
Well, that was fast, I’m back! Hated all of the samples, especially the new Bogue Douleur, which is the most vile thing I’ve ever smelled. It turned my stomach and sent me running for the shower. Only one other sample has been bagged and walked outside to the trash bin, SL Serge Noire, and this one is going right out. I cannot in good conscience pass this sample on to anyone.
I love Serge Noire! Lol throw it in my trash bin! Haha.
I like its opening, but once the cumin kicks in . . .
After I’ve seen the notes and read some reviews, I’m pretty sure my reaction to Douleur would be the same. It sounds gross.
The collaboration is with a tattoo artist which looked familiar to me… It used to be a YouTube reviewer and had also a fragrance blog, Freddie smellythoughts or so like this. He has tattooed Douleur on his face! Can’t understand people who tattoo their faces.
Just looked up Bogue Douleur. Seaweed and cotton candy? Not a scent combination you come across everyday! Reminds of a visit with relatives many moons ago who took me to a place called Shoney’s with a buffet. Even though you could go back for seconds or thirds, people were piling all sorts of combos on their plates– tuna casserole AND jello, chop suey AND mashed sweet potatoes, fruit salad in syrup AND Red Velvet cake….
OMG, Shoney’s! I think it was popular around Maryland because that was where my brother said to bring the kids for a treat while I babysat and he and my SIL went on a 2-week vacation. This was when he did his residency at the NIH.
How’s Corpse Reviver?
I didn’t care for it, it smelled like coffee and fruit, rather than the chocolate I was expecting. But I’m going to try it again another day, when I’m recovered from the trauma of smelling Bogue Douleur.
I will need to recover from the trauma of your reaction 😉
I had to look this up as I hadn’t heard about it yet. If MEM was too metallic for me then I’m gonna pass on this one. Review on Fragrantica by Trabuquera made me laugh though.
I’ll play!
1. Name a fragrance or a fragrance note you are slowly learning to tolerate?
Pastry/dessert gourmands and Shalimar
2. Name a fragrance you thought you hated, but loved when you smelled it on someone else?
Coco Noir—hated it on me, but have hugged a few people who smelled wonderful and it turned out they were wearing CN.
3. Name a fragrance or a fragrance note you will probably never be able to tolerate?
Immortelle, lavender-vanilla combos, cumin, roasted meat smoke, peanut, popcorn, butter
Not wearing perfume yet, but I am thinking of trying one of my challenges—cookie/sugar gourmand: either L’Aromarine’s 1936 Special Vanilla or Profumum Roma’s Acqua E Zucchero. ?????????!!
I thought I would never like cumin, and I still don’t like heavy cumin, but a little pinch of cumin doesn’t bother me as much as it used to!
Oh! Right there with you in the lavender and vanilla combo. Each in its own is good but I very much dislike the combination.
I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. I hope to do something useful or at least pleasant – as soon as I get out of bed (I finally got enough sleep).
I’m too set in my likes/dislikes to hope or even want to change anything, especially since I know that almost any note in tiny amount might be fine.
Jo Malone Nectarine Blossom & Honey smells really good on a couple of people I know but is unpleasant on me.
Unless we’re talking about homeopathic quantities, cumin, melon, tuberose and peach seem to be my nemeses that I’m not warming up to any time soon.
Is “homeopathic quantities” a little or a lot? I’m honestly puzzled. It seems like for homeopathy you’d have to take in quite a lot. Maybe it’s like taking in turmeric not by making a lot of curry dishes but just swallowing a big capsule? So no flavor/smell? What is cumin good for homoeopathically? truly curious.
Homeopathic quantities/doses are very, very little. The premise is that anything gets diluted like 1: 10 000 or even more diluted. For their allergy treatments.
Courtesy of two lovely NSTers, I began the day with Jo Malone Grapefruit cologne. Worked nicely with Pilates. Now I’m wearing Paloma Picasso EdP. Glam.
I don’t understand cumin in perfume. I love Salome, but only wear that at home. Also immortelle, in Like This ELDO, I love the opening, but the immortelle doesn’t work when it shows up.
I didn’t think of it, but grapefruit is often a note that puts me off, mainly because it winds up smelling too much like cat pee, which I already have enough of in my life, thank you very much! But I haven’t tried the JM version. I”m thinking of Guerlain Pampelune. I have it but just can’t wear it.
Ah. Yes I was really pleased with this, the grapefruit. The JM rose is very cat pee on me. But I love the opening!
Rose for me also. I enjoy it quite a bit lately.
When I hate a scent, I hate it regardless of who it is on lol.
Gardeniugh..I will never ever like you in the least. Lol.
Gardeniugh – LOL
Gardeniugh!!!! I am almost there with you! I don’t know if I will fully tolerate it one day.
I love your number 2!
Heh, gardeniugh…LOL. I’m not sure why I seem to be the rare person who likes gardenia. It brings me back to college when I had a favorite evening/party outfit of a black chiffon-like pants and top combo. Instead of jewelry, I’d buy a fresh gardenia to wear as a brooch…the scent would waft up nicely.
1. slowly learning to tolerate: vetiver. I love it in theory and on paper, but I struggle with it on me.
2. thought I hated, but loved on someone else: well, “hate” might be too strong a word, but Bal a Versailles is something I could never in a million years tolerate on me, and it’s fabulous on my mom.
3. a fragrance note I will probably never be able to tolerate: gardenia. No way, no how. I don’t even really like the scent of the actual flower, let alone the note in perfumery. Cloying. Yuck.
SOTM was Lankaran Forest. I have the tiny bottle and it’s faulty (the sprayer head is irretrievably stuck in the cap), so this morning I moved most of it to a small atomizer so I could actually try it sprayed. It’s lovely and contemplative and very short-lived, gone in about an hour and a half, so it will likely become a favorite bedtime scent. (Only perfumistas understand the concept of bedtime perfume.)
It’s sunny out here today, so our plans include taking down the big outdoor umbrella, gathering up the more delicate garden pots, and storing it all away for the winter. Sigh. And if there’s time and energy after that, I will make some more progress on painting my little home office. It’s taking two coats of primer, but it looks like I might get away with a single coat of paint – a slow process. Happy weekend everyone. ❤️
I am surprised several hate gardenia as much as I do:).
Cumin I can tolerate and even enjoy sometimes….sometimes:) lol.
I’m also surprised to see so many gardenia non-fans reporting in this morning. And I agree on “cumin sometimes” – one of my top favorite scents is Gucci EDP, which has a cumin note that’s very light on me, combined with spiced orange blossom. But it’s an aberration, and most cumin-y scents can be a bit off-putting.
For me its how cumin is in the mix..Songes for instance, I don’t mind the cumin spice.
Wow had no idea cumin is in Songes. I lurve Songes!
I didn’t get a cumin note with Songes, either.
I feel the same about BaV, always thought it smelled too dated to wear but used to like it on a friend of mine.
I am pretty intolerant in perfume taste. Some houses seem to have a common perfume base that is just horrendous on me ( ELDO – except Jasmin and cigarettes and the minty one whose name I can’t recall, Zoologist, Andy Tauer). Some classic perfumes reek on me ( Opium, No.5) . And then there’s individual notes like musk, oud, iris, a vast array of rose notes (with the occasional exception), a vast array of leather notes, cumin, reglisse, marine accords, the screechy fruity notes of dkny and nina ricci lately…
Yea I’m a hater.
But I do love roses and Chanel perfumes on others!
Dkny fruit is the worst! Lol.
Bother! I just wrote a great big essay of a comment, and it seems to have disappeared! I’ve not had that happen before, I was having some wifi issues. Ah well, here’s a summary:
1. Some sweet things, like Jovoy’s Remember Me
2. Dune – a salty note on me that I don’t like, but it’s fabulous on a colleague
3. Caramel, or lots of vanilla.
So sorry!
After being burnt a couple of times, I always copy my comment into clipboard before tapping/clicking on “Publish.”
1. Patchouli. I’m starting to like it okay. I didn’t like vanilla for years until I tried Orchidée Vanille, and then a light went on.
2. Hmmmm. Probably Chanel No. 5. And Infusion d’Iris.
3. This one is hard. Not huge on smoke…I mean heavy smoke. And I struggle with Iris, which is odd because I love No. 19 and some other ones but I don’t like Infusion d’Iris at all. I think it is when it is most forward or powdery.
Baiser de Russie today. Which I out on after I forgot that I used Molton Brown Muddled Plum body lotion with Natori on top. Oops….
how could i forget patchouli!
vanilla was hard too, for me it’s Atelier Cologne Vanille Insensee that turned it around and AG Vanille Exquise.
I also love almond, but I have to be careful. Certain almond goes buttered popcorn on me, and I don’t like that at all….
1. I’m slowly coming around to tuberose. SL Tubereuse Criminelle was the one that broke it out for me. EB Florals has a tuberose that is really pretty, but I feel like I’m someone else’s perfume when I wear it.
2. Obsession is really no bueno on me, but my sister can wear the heck out of it.
3. When gardenia is singing the main solo, I’ll probably never be a to tolerate it. Also, when sandalwood is accompanied by a cucumber note, I just smell like a dill pickle. I love dill pickles…nice thick slices of Claussens….on a burger, but I don’t want to smell like them.
I’m in Acqua di Parma Profumo, thanks to the fabulous flopper! ?
Oh, AdP Profumo is one of my favorites! So classy!
Back in the day, one of my friends smelled wonderful in Obsession.
You smell so elegant.
1. Vetiver and white florals. I love both now as long as vetiver isn’t all smoke and white florals don’t go all banana cream.
2. Can’t think of one – all the fragrances I dislike, I just dislike whoever is wearing them!
3. Coconut. I HATE ALL coconut scented body products. Utterly nauseating. Get it away from me! I do love it as food though…
So interesting how many people struggle with vetiver. I love vetiver. What’s wrong with vetiver? What’s wrong with all you people? 🙂 🙂 🙂
Ha! I do love it now though, especially if it’s of the more citric variety, and there are quite a few in my ever expanding collection… ?
Haha, Vetiver is my favorite note. I can’t understand either ☺️
I tried vetiver in the 70s but I did not inhale
LOL?
Excellent.
🙂
It is puzzling to me too, it seems like such a cozy, comforting scent.
Then again, it *does* smell like dirt.
Dirt is very cozy to me:)
Same here! But the universal preference at the moment seems to be for clean.
1. I used to hate BWF, but now i like some of those. I wear Truth or Dare or Terracotta without problems.
2. Chanel No 5, i wore it years ago and have a vintage bottle, but its not me at all
3. I still have not found a smoky scent that i really loved. I can tolerate a bit, but nothing more.
Today i am wearing vintage Zen EdC, which i also wore as a young student in the 80ies.
Cooked feijoada today and made an apple bundt cake. Tomorrow there is a show of the Hermes craftsmen in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. I hope to get there to watch them.
Aha, I knew there was a reason I should have had dinner at your place!
1. Getting to like: vanilla, and even iris sometimes (!)
2. Can’t think of anything… well maybe No 5, it smells fine on MIL, but it smells like MIL on me, lol…
3. Probably will never like: immortelle, gardenia, tuberose, overly foody scents, BBQ,… as clarissa once said to me, how do you have so much perfume when you dislike so many notes??? True that.
4. Making up my own question here: what notes did you used to like but are not so sure about anymore? Saffron and patchouli. I’m particularly bummed about the saffron, since I used to love it, but now it just hulks-out in any perfume that’s got it. It’s all I can smell, and I am Not Happy About That. Kinda poisons my Neela Vermeires for me, which used to be among my favorite scents.
Just finished sampling the new Bruno Fazzolaris… nope (Zdravetz: green spiky herbal rose. Someone who likes rose would probably like it more than I did) and nope (Corpse Reviver: husband said: wait, what is that scent? Got it: maple syrup! I would say: burnt maple syrup). Retrying Vetiverissimo… still a nope. Will have to put on something more copacetic later.
I used to love vetiver but now it sticks out of any composition and puts me off. And ditto on the BF samples. More money saved for Ummagumma. 🙂
Vanilla used to be a much easier note for me. I’m much more particular about what kind of vanilla I can deal with in perfume.
Hi all!
I’m trying to tell if that picture was taken in Houston. We have a very similar set of sculptures in one of the main parks.
1. Tuberose is tricky for me. It usually smells uber feminine to me. And as a man who is currently wearing a fuschia silk windbreaker from the 80’s, I usually don’t have a problem with uber feminine. I need a twist to tuberose, like Tubereuse Criminelle or Nuit de Bakelite.
2. I really don’t like Original No. 5 on me, as it adds up to a bathroom prodigy on my skin. But the golden sillage on others is truly spectacular.
3. Coffee. I haven’t smelled a single coffee-heavy perfume that didn’t smell like a terrible, cheap candle (including cult dud A*Men Pure Coffee). I’m open to suggestions, though.
I’m in Todd Oldham EdP today. Has anyone smelled this one? It smells like a very spicy ylang-bananas foster. Almost inedible but perfect for a breezy day.
Yes it was–you can click on the link to the photographer’s page up above and it identifies it as in the Buffalo Bayou Art Park. I already commented on it up above. I knew the sculptures exist in other places but the live oak gave it away to me as being here!
Ah, I thought so! I was in a bit of a hurry when I posted. I drive by those statues almost every day.
i am now desperately wanting a dessert needing to be set on fire. Perfect for this gloomy time of year…
Oh, gosh, I got such a craving for Bananas Foster…
I’ve never flambeed at home but I have always wanted to….
Your comment reminds me that I don’t care much to smell coffee on myself.
Yeah, coffee fragrances never ring true on skin. 🙁
Nice poll!
1. Immortelle, Vetiver (love, hate, now I know I like Timbuktu and Shaal Nur but that’s about it), tuberose.
2. Juicy Couture – it really smells like a totally different perfume on my mother. And Chanel no 5 -ditto.
3. Apple, ambroxan, Iso E Super, any Estee Lauder perfume (there is something in the base that I really cannot tolerate), some chemical described as “woods” in Nasomatto, some CDG perfumes and recently smelled in AdP. And finally CDG Black Pepper.
I guess I am a hater! But in honor of the tolerance theme I layered Gianfranco Ferre (tuberose) over Tea for Two (smoke), notes that I sometimes struggle with, and it is actually quite different and intriguing.
You say hater, I say discriminating 🙂
SOTD 31 RC with the Chanel oil that Robin had as her daily lemming yesterday
And Robin’s note of not making light of a serious subject, all I can say is: I wish perfume was the answer <3 <3
1. Vetiver
2. Alien
3. Myrrh, sometimes all I get is mushrooms
Yeah. It isn’t, but it’s a pretty good distraction!
I have come to like so many things I at first didn’t like or understand that it’s hard to narrow it down! This is partly because I am relatively new to perfume I suppose. But I think the biggest turn around has been with aldehydes. They used to just smell like a head ache to me, and now there are times a crave them.
Mostly I dislike gendering perfume, especially given that I think there are many more than two genders (!), but there are some things that smell much better on guys than than they do on me. I first noticed this with Thé Noir. Awful on me. Great on a male friend of mine and so then I got a small bottle for my husband.
I think I will always hate tuberose. I love just about every Hiram Green except Moonbloom and all the Naomi Goodsir’s except Nuit de Bakelite (oh my god that smells horrendous horribly foul on me). Etc. Tuberose Criminelle is the only Tuberose I’d ever really consider wearing because of the weird menthol opening, but I won’t! Like others, I also find a little cumin goes a very very long way. I love every Papillon except for Salome. See a theme?
Happy weekend to all!
Salome is beautiful but I would never buy it because I wouldn’t have anywhere to wear it.
I love it and wear it for work. But in Germany scents are allowed everywhere.
My area is tough on excessive perfume wearers. I work with a guy that I’ve heard people call Mike Colognia. This is a riff on his last name. You can smell him from across a room. ?
1. I’m starting to like patchouli lately. I used to dismiss it completely.
2. Tom Ford Black Orchid – I love it on other persons or on paper, on me it just doesn’t work.
3. Star anise, heavy cloves, heavy civet, marine notes, ambroxan.
Ugh, Black Orchid… ?
My mailbox brought good news! We won the appeal for Medicare to cover Skilled Nursing Facilities care inappropriately denied my mom after a mere 3 weeks. Now I just have to figure out the follow-up since the judge / appeals court is not responsible for ensuring that the reimbursement happens. At the very least, we have moral victory and the time spent on preparing the case was well worth it!
When I saw the picture, I knew I had seen something similar and indeed, I had captured it in New Orleans. I just posted it on IG:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B48WbtUB62D/?igshid=1cacvkfabs6jg
Onto the poll:
1. I used to hate patchouli but now I love it
2. Flowerbomb – it smelled really good on an SA but on me, it was generic perfumey flowers in the worst possible way
3. cumin, calone, freesia, LOTV-centric perfumes
I released 3 freebie packages before the post office closed today. I’m still hoping to finish and mail most of the rest out by tomorrow.
Congratulations! A moral win is great but I hope you get it all!
I love patch but Flowerbomb and LVeB do not work for me. I sort of hate them. ?
Thank you! The “Order” indicated the determination is fully favorable and that the Medicare Advantage is to process whatever they need to process in accordance with the decision. Since the skilled nursing facility stopped submitting for reimbursement, I would think that the SNF has to initiate it and I bet they would drag their feet.
Really great victory. Congrats!
Thank you!
Oh I really don’t like LOTV either. I forgot!
Heh, if it plays a supporting role and I can’t smell it, it’s ok. I noticed that many of the everything but the kitchen sink perfumes have LOTV listed as a note.
I’m so glad and relieved that you won the appeal! Good for you!
Thank you, ones less thing to worry about. Now I have to run after Capital One as it has taken them too long to review my claim ($s to the estate, not to me) – they have everything they need — Interest better be accruing on the balance they’re holding.
Congratulations!!
Thank you!
Congratulations for sticking it to those liars! Hope you get the money too. You are a badger (and that’s a compliment).
Thank you. As I mentioned to Petunia, I think there will be dragging of feet.
Congratulations on winning the appeal! I hope the reimbursement happens quickly.
Thanks, and I hope so too!
Congratulations on winning the appeal. I know you said you planned to donate the money, but that it was the principle of it all.
Thank you. I am donating my share. The nursing facility where we transferred mom has a Tree of Life in the lobby. Our plan is to have a tree branch named after mom and my share will cover 2/3 of the minimum donation so I am waiting for my siblings to agree to the rest being split amongst them. My brother wants his entire share to go to a Guatemalan medical mission where he volunteers every March but let’s see if he agrees to my proposal (if not, MY donation to that medical mission will just be slightly lower than what I had planned to give to cover the difference).
Excellent news! I’m very pleased to hear that you won the appeal. I have no doubt that your documentation was top notch. Congrats!
Thank you. It was all worth it in the end!
Congratulations indeed!!
Thank you, AngelaB!
Yay, good for you!!
Thanks, Robin. It was worth the time and I really hope the SNF follows through with paying us back!
I hope so too. This was a lot of work on your part and you deserve more than the psychological victory.
Congratulations! Very well done!
Thank you, Gail.
So glad all your hard work on the case got rewarded! It makes me feel so good that you won.
Thank you, Aurora. It felt good that the “little people” won.
Congratulations! Well done!
Thanks, pfl67!
Oh my gosh!! Congratulations! This seems unreal. You are fighting such a huuuuge contender that I almost thought they would automatically deny.
And thanks for sharing the journey of the fight with us. I bet you will inspire others to fight their own personal Goliaths— with hope when they remember your story.
Thanks, gville. The other parties do have the right to appeal within 60 days. I don’t think the SNF will do it since it was not their decision to deny in the first place and if they do, what is their basis? Only greed, in my opinion. And Medicare chose to waive their right to be represented at the appeals hearing and if they do appeal, they better have a good reason for doing it but they probably won’t bother because they would rather keep the denial of service factory churning. It would be really telling if they end up denying the SNF’s claim related to this as it would really be evident that there’s no review happening and would be contrary to a court order.
Hooray for you! What a boon after all that hard work??
Thank you.
I’m so glad your tenacity paid off! You sure had to do a lot of work to make that happen. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like there’s justice in the world, but sometimes justice just takes hard work.
Thanks!
Took me some time to understand and appreciate 28 La Pausa and for that matter, a colder iris note. Now I adore 28 LP. Feeling a little better and cozy in LP edp.
La Pausa is beautiful! I tend to gravitate towards icy scents so I usually at least like most iris perfumes.
Glad you’re feeling a little better today. Being sick is a drag.
Good to hear that you are getting rid of your cold!
Did a quick walk over to the new Nordstrom in NYC. I’m not used to a Nordies that has so little product on its main floor. Everyone was very nice and friendly.
Finally got to sniff Les Eaux de Chanel. They’ll only have them for a few months more – it’s a new store opening thing. Had the SA make me a sample of Paris-Deauville. I liked Paris-Venise also but decided to limit my samples.
I also made a sample of DS&Durga Cowboy Grass. I really liked it on the card so we will see. Not that I plan to spend the $$$….
That’s odd – why do you think the first floor is so sparse? Is it shoes and cosmetics?
They have lots of cosmetics…it’s packed pretty tight. Not a huge amount of purses and other accessories, though. (Designer purses are upstairs.) Lower level is shoes, which didn’t seem that big to me. I think I’m just used to a lot of accessories on the main floor.
Guerlain is cosmetics only…no fragrance.
I was only on main floor and down to shoes. Got tired and hungry so didn’t venture to one of the upper floors. It’s very vertical.
Yeah, I was really bummed when Nordies stopped selling the Guerlain exclusives.
Interesting comment about the Chanel Eaux. I wonder if they are still at the Nordie’s closest to me?
They’re at mine. With that said, an SA told me that CHANEL (I swear auto-correct changed this to ALL CAPS) will be going away at some point although she didn’t say when. To say I was shocked is an understatement!
Whoa, seriously? Chanel leaving Nordie’s? It sounds crazy, and yet, I’ve seen stranger things happen.
Really!
It could just be a rumor…just like several years ago, Guerlain boutiques were supposedly exiting all the NY department stores but yet they are still mainstays at all of them, even the ones that had renovated Beauty floors.
They probably want to keep their stuff scarce in order to remain a status symbol. The avalanche of “niche” watered down everyone’s brands
As I was doing errands I noticed that Christmas stuff is out in full force in the stores and some of my neighbors are putting up their lights today. Yesterday I went to the specialty butcher and bought a duck for Thanksgiving. I’ve never really cared for turkey so it will be something different. Plus, one of the best meals I ever ate was at Paul Prudhomme’s restaurant in New Orleans, it was duck with pasta. I wish I could find the recipe, it was out of this world. On to the weekend questions:
1. Name a fragrance or a fragrance note you are slowly learning to tolerate? Green notes. I can’t do No. 19 yet, but Chypre Mousse is one of my favorites, and it’s loads of green
2. Name a fragrance you thought you hated, but loved when you smelled it on someone else? Can’t think of that one, but Woman in Gold smells amazing on me and fell apart abysmally on my friend.
3. Name a fragrance or a fragrance note you will probably never be able to tolerate? Don’t like galbanum, so no Bandit. I don’t like immortelle. Or violets, despite Oakland Fresca sending me a whole bunch to test. I never scrubbed anything off so fast as Pharrell GIRL, but I like frankincense in other perfumes. Oud and I are on and off, mostly off.
Today I’m wearing Cuir Cannage and trying to find a good book to read. I put aside the third bad one today as I decided a while ago that life was to short to finish bad books when there are so many good ones to read. Next up–A biography of Marlon Brando titled, “The Contender.” Hoping it’s decent.
I haven’t heard much in way of Christmas music yet. It wasn’t in the stores I was in today. Thanksgiving is very late this year, so I hope we start to see tree stands next weekend. I usually notice the wood supports for trees going up outside the delis first…I would think they’ll start going up next week….
I think I’ll start decorating next weekend…
I have failed you, Anakin. I have failed you.
No, Obi-Wan, it was my nose that failed, though my ears are fine and now I’m hearing “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” in ’70s stereo.
No Christmas lights up in my neighborhood yet. And I am actively avoiding Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving at the earliest.
Violet is a tough one for me too, but I like Insolence and Sous le Toit de Paris. It’s a cold note to me, and I have to be in a certain mood. Certainly not an everyday thing.
1) Tuberose. I have always had a hard time with tuberose heavy scents but Datura Noir changed my mind. As long as it is sheer, and not too dominant, I’m good.
2) ELdO Like This. It gives me a headache but I like it on a friend. I think It has a candle vibe more than a personal scent.
3) Mostly, cumin (BO), grapefruit (sulfur). oud (poopy) and vetiver (allergic), bbq (sorry, but I don’t ever want to smell like spicy cooked meat) and camp fire (allergic). I have realized that I have liked perfumes that have some of these notes as long as the scent is well blended and the note isn’t dominant. It’s a case by case basis but generally no. Especially the last two.
SOTD was Ginger Piccante courtesy of Hajusuuri. I this it will be a nice scent for spring summer. I went for Bengale Rouge post shower. I think it is a perfect scent for cold weather.
Some oud smells like band-aid to me.
Band-aid oud doesn’t work for me either.
I’m one of those weirdos that liked the smell of the old Band-Aids. One of my favorite single malt scotches smells like that, too.
#1. Iris. I hated Prada Infusion d’Iris the first time I tried it. But I love No. 19 EdT and Ag Heure Exquise, which both apparently have a load of iris in them. And I ended up liking Infusion d’Iris right around the time it was reformulated and re-released. Go figure.
#2. If I hate a perfume, it’s pretty much an all-out hate. However, I like smelling violet perfumes on other people. I can’t stand wearing them personally.
#3. Aquatic notes, tobacco, cherry, and violet are all big “Nopes!” for me. The first three are guaranteed scrubbers on me.
SOTD = L’Artisan Voleur de Roses, from the sample stash and a NSTer. Love this, and wish it wasn’t discontinued. Today was a much better day than yesterday’s crazy.
Forgot to list freesia on my list of “Nopes!” It gets so screechy.
freesia is such a weird one – i love the flower but in perfume, it’s so … clingy
The first time I ever smelled freesia flowers was after a funeral, so I have a rather unfortunate association even with the fresh blooms.
I meant to mention that B&BW ruined freesias for me when it used to heat the oil in-store and the smell clung my hair (head and nose), clothes and whatever is not sealed of what I brought in to the store.
Oh that sounds positively horrible!
Voleur is still on the UK L’Artisan website…
Hmmmmmmm… so it is. Interesting.
You smell great, love Voleur de Roses. And I agree freesia is screechy.
Thank you! I wish that L’Artisan had something besides 100mL bottles.
Aquatic is difficult for me as well, I forgot to list it in my comment, but I am fond of Kenzo l’Eau where it is offset by pepper.
I left out a couple of things on my list as well. It’s easy to remember something you don’t like if you smell it, but recalling from memory is a little harder.
Hello lovely perfume friends,
I’ve been reading but not posting for a good while. I know some of you are going through some rough times and so I’m sorry for that and wish you strength and comfort.
I didn’t do very well at wearing Chanel last week but I guess I’ve only got two Chanels currently; No. 5 EDT and Coromandel EDT. I love both. I’ll have to remedy that soon; I really want to see what the fuss is about with Chanel No. 19 so I’ll have to take a trip to Chicago soon Or order the soap.
I greatly enjoyed my No. 5 on the morning it was 9• F (what is with this weather). I love aldehydes when it’s really cold.
Today I wore Mechant Loup. not my usual dousing, just 2 sprays.
On a whim I ordered a bottle of Coriandre EDT unsniffed. Theoretically I should love it but we’ll see.
Thinking about this poll has been fun! Enjoy my long-winded ramblings, or skip to another post. You’ve been warned.
learning to tolerate:
I think I’m warming up to lily in perfumes, sometimes; I can appreciate Passage d’Enfer, and I like(not love) TF Shanghai lily; other times it just screeches at me (FM Lys Mediterranee). But I like smelling lilies in real life so I don’t know what happens when it gets in perfume.
Iris. I went through and tried all of the iris perfumes I could think of in search of The One. Most of the time iris smells to me like a perm, but sometimes it’s magic. I was only able to narrow down to three (or 4) but haven’t bought any of them yet. Iris silver mist, Feu Secret, and l’Attessa were the winners, but Slumberhouse New Sibet was a close fourth. they are all too different to just pick one.
Perfume I like on someone else but not me: I don’t smell much perfume in the wild and when I do I almost never know what the person is wearing. I am positive that Shalimar smells glorious on many people, but on me, I just smell lemon and dirty diaper ? I’t’s getting to be about time to try again, so we’ll see if I’ve warmed up to it.
won’t ever be able to tolerate:
this is a longer list than I’d like
Violet. I think I might be the only person who struggles with violet? After reading so much love for Aprees l’Ondee I got a sample, understanding that it would be a shadow of its former self. It smelled like I had spilled beer on myself.
I tried some other violet perfumes (adjacent to my Iris fascination). Violet Fumee, sugar, smoke, beer. there were some others I can’t remember. Best in Show is Violettes du Czar (oriza le Grande) – kinda beery, with a florally grape waxy candy smell that I’m thinking might be violets. Take this all with a grain of salt, I made beer before I got in to perfume, but I have decided violet is not for me.
Calone. it took 20 years for me to recover from the 90’s calone fad; it put me off perfume. Any note listed as melon now makes me shiver. Still can’t abide it, even in FM Carnal flower.
Some woody/amber aromachemicals. I actually like Ambroxan in some things. But after Ambroxan, someone came up with a note that smells like a house fire*( and trigger alert). I was deeply disappointed to find it in Guerlain Ambre Eternal. And now it (they?) are in just about anything that has amber listed as a note, and many things that don’t. I don’t even know what it/they are so it can be hard to dodge them because I like some amber notes. I think one is called Ambermax. We can’t have oakmoss, but we can put this crap in everything and not even list it grrr…oh, sorry I’m not being very tolerant.
* If you’ve ever had the misfortune to smell an actual house fire, it is NOT woodsmoke aroma. It’s acrid and chemical and wrong. I am so sorry if anyone has had to go through that.
Other things I know to avoid:
Butter (ie diacetyl or butyric acid)
cookie or cake notes (because it’s invariably “butter” and fake vanilla) Don’t get me wrong; I love Jicky do it can’t be vanillin; but some permutation thereof.
Candy – they all smell like a 6-year old. or sweettarts, the world’s worst candy
Froot. ugh. Pear, the worst, apple, a close second, “berry” bleck. dear chemists (or noses, or management, whoever is the culprit) please try harder. Especially at niche prices. I know there’s a lot of esters but fruit scents are usually not just the esters. And “apple pie” is not an some esters + diacetyl abnd fake vanilla gaaaak. The only fruit i’ve enjoyed was in Une rose, the raspberry was nice. But it better be at FM prices. I do like peach in perfume.
Freesia. I feel like it should smell better – but it doesn’t. Haven’t been able to smell the actual
flower
That fake patchouli thing going on with Angel and all of its spawn. Ha ha That + Froot = Fruitchouli! Yeah. So I had a hard time with perfume until I discovered niche stuff in 2010.
Ok I had some pinot noir so this post sounded good when I wrote it.
Great post (and hooray for wine!)!
I adore Coriandre but in EDP formulation.
Re: Chanel No. 19, if you can find it, try vintage NO. 19 in EDT (lovely galbanum/hyacinth) and EDP (wood and leather notes are deeper), it’s glorious stuff.
My SOTD is my newly opened decant of No.19 EdP, courtesy of Hajusuuri (the freebiemeet)and I LOVE it!
Thank you again H.
It is beautiful, elegant and chic.
Somehow the EdT never worked for me.
Good Luck Amateur Dilettante, please report back.
The EDP really is much rounder and easier to wear than the EDT, which itself is no slouch.
I like fiercely green stuff though. I havw Silences so we’ll see how it compares – I find Silences too “round” or soft or something sometimes. I love Bandit, but that’s a different beast altogether
Oh YEAH to “fiercely green stuff”!
Thanks for this detailed post, hurry back with more!
Loved your post AND I’m a Pinot Noir fan ;)!
You smell great in Mechant Loup and I enjoyed your comprehensive answer. Yes, there is a terrible note in Ambre Eternel and a few other perfumes I’ve tried which ruins amber for me, thank you for describing so well.
Lol I wrote a ridiculous book.
Anyone who’s interested, the wine is Meiomi 2017, $20.00 where I got it.
no scent yet today except cleaning products
I know someone who loves Meiomi. I’ll definitely try it next opportunity.
1. Name a fragrance or a fragrance note you are slowly learning to tolerate? Jasmine or oakmoss . I know, I know, fan girl of big huge green scents is not into oakmoss. I can wear it when paired with galbanum or vetiver. My gateway into jasmine was Samsara and Alien.
2. Name a fragrance you thought you hated, but loved when you smelled it on someone else? L’Air de Rein by Miller Harris. On me, it smells like unwashed hair. On a friend and fellow perfumista, it smells glorious.
3. Name a fragrance or a fragrance note you will probably never be able to tolerate? Light Blue, which I formerly loved but I work on a college campus, so many college-aged girls overdose on it, so much so that I can taste it when I go to the ladies room. Blech.
For perfume notes, I’d add apple, pear or lily. Apple and pear is so synthetic and shrill, and last but not least, lily (especially stargazer lilies) is throat-clenching; one of the few scents that will make me reach for my inhaler.
Light Blue is on my “No Bueno” list, too. I don’t seem to come across it often, which is just fine with me.
Really, are college aged girls still wearing Light Blue? That’s a surprise.
Oh yes, and quite liberally! In small doses, Lt Blue is nice, but I seem to smell it everywhere and that ruins it for me a little bit.
Interesting. I would think there would be something much newer…
1. I thought I couldn’t wear Patchouli but I have found I really like it on me even as a primary note.
2. I couldn’t tolerate Alien but it smells so good on others.
3. Immortelle – almost every perfume that has it in other than a very very small quantity makes me smell horrid. Sadly.
Ciao Angela, I thought of you questa mattina perché io studio italiano
Buona sera LTSG, grazie.
mi fa piacere che hai pensato di me
oggi. dimmi che cos’ è il tuo profumo italiano che ti piace di più?
Bvlgari Omnia
Grazie.
1) A note I once disliked and now can tolerate and sometimes enjoy is patchouli. Another note I like a little better is tuberose, once could not tolerate it at all.
2) I cannot think offhand of names of perfumes I like on others but not on myself but the general category of fruity florals comes to mind. I also enjoy tuberose and white florals on others – more than on myself. I think it has something to do with a whiff of tuberose being nice but can get cloying when it follows one around.
3) A note I have trouble with is melon/cucumber. I don’t like cumin either.
Interestingly, my young adult son HATES patchouli above all else.
I am wearing SJP Stash today. Now that is a fragrance I did not like too much at first but it really grew on me.
Oh gosh, I so agree with you about cucumber. I can not tolerate it except when it’s in a salad.
I only tolerate cucumber in sushi. I can’t stand it in salads at all. ???
Yep. Cucumber and melon. Right there with you.
Happy weekend all!
I missed the Friday SOTD post but in honour of the CP I put a spray of Coco (the only Chanel I own currently) under my clothes and sat in it like a happy secret all day.
For the questions:
1. The note I’m trying to learn to like is iris, it often sits badly on me (strong soapy quality) but not always, and when it works I really enjoy it.
2. I don’t have a lot of friends that wear perfume habitually but my husband puts on YSL Opium for special occasions and it smells Much better on him than me 😀
3. I don’t think I’ll ever really come to like lavender as a perfume note. Love it in the garden but in a perfume I find it grating.
Ah, I like the idea of perfume as a happy secret!
I used to hate lavender, it is one of many notes I did eventually come around to.
It’s interesting how things change, isn’t it? I probably would have said the same thing about iris not long ago, so I guess never say never!
1. I thought I didn’t care for peony, considered it a kind of sub-rose but now I appreciate the lightness and freshness of it
2. Definitely Angel, for myself its flankers work better
3. Cumin, I don’t think it will ever change, for me it ruins a perfume but I’ve learned that I admire (but wouldn’t wear regularly) perfumes with caraway like Dior Diorama, I would love to smell Idole de Lubin.
Me here feeling a little sad for peonies relegated to sub-roses. Glad it worked out ?????
🙂 I don’t know why I had that prejudice, and now I give peonies their proper place on the spectrum of bright rose.
I love smelling peony flowers. Not so much in perfume, it does come off as a sub-rose! Like rose, but watered down.
They are just spectacularly beautiful flowers, I wish I had included them in my wedding bouquet with the irises. They would have been stunning.
I love peony flowers too, definitely difficult to name a fragrance which does it justice.
I always associate peony with a bath and body works lotion from years ago. It probably didn’t even smell like peony, but I didn’t like it.
I think I like peony flowers from far away. My co-worker friend brings them to the office in the summer when they are blooming their heads off, they are beautiful. Sadly, I can almost taste the scent; it’s waay too much!
One of the houses my parents owned when I was a kid had peony plants in the back yard. I loved both the smell and the deep fuchsia color of the blooms.
What a lovely scent memory. Real peonis are so beautiful, and yes all the shades of pink suit them.
Another sampling day, but surely far less traumatic than yesterday, as it will be nothing but 4160 Tuesdays samples, which go for pretty rather than edgy. Will report back on any big winners. 🙂
You poor thing about yesterday’s trauma! Please do tell us about today’s losers as well.
I want to hear all about them too! I’ve been eyeing some 4160 Tuesday perfumes!
So far, the only one I liked well enough to buy is Captured by Candlelight. I tried the Lemon Sherbet version of Mrs. Gloss Made Me Do It, and aside from an extra drop of lemon it smells pretty much the same – ethyl maltol marshmallow bomb (which I love, I own the regular version).
Shazam had some weird spice note I didn’t care for, both the Red Queen & Red Queen have a note that smells like laundry musk to me, and Another Kiss By the Fireside was too smoky for my taste. It was fun to try them all and way better than yesterday’s samples!
That should read Red Queen & White Queen.
They are all such great names that it disappoints me when I don’t like them.
I will have to go see if I have a sample of Captured by Candlelight.
Hello allowed and greetings from the Franco-Belgian border, 10km up.
Honestly, I am not accomplishing enough to do this poll justice, but here goes:
1. BWF, not that I am really becoming more tolerant, but I thought I hated ’em all and find I can wear Fracas happily.
2. Does not apply, I mostly don’t notice what other people are wearing, certainly not accurately enough to identify it.
3. Leather. I have an odd relationship with leather anyway, in that I like the smell of finished leather articles, but the shops that sell them can smell too much of, erm, other animals functions. Meanwhile leather perfumes smell to me like shoe polish and not like leather at all. ?
Hello allowed? I imagine it is. But hello all, is what I wrote…
Hello is always allowed, but please no goodbyes!?
In the old days before everyplace on earth was air conditioned to death, leather goods stores really did stink!
Greetings! I’m in Memo Winter Palace again.
Also, received my sample set from SmellBent, plus a freebie 4ml. Sadly, none of these work for me so I’m happy to send it to a new home. If you’re a regular commenter here, and interested in the sample pack hit me up at:
Taiga101 in the land of yahooligans, and please call dibs here.
Sample pack includes:
Gelty as Charged, Day One, Ice Queen, and Bad Guy.
Cheers!✌?
Day 1 of my vacation and I already finished Christmas shopping for my dad, aunt mom, both guy friends and both grandmothers. Just got to think about my nephews, sister and brother in law but that’s going to wait for at least two or three weeks. Out and about getting my dog’s medication while wearing vintage BaV.
Wow! I have not even thought about it yet. Good for you.
1. Aldehydes. They used to revolt me and induce headaches immediately, but I really enjoy them now. I still have to be sure to apply small amounts of certain perfumes, like White Linen, and I’m not fully convinced on Superstitious yet because of the headaches that come with it.
2. Hmm not sure I can answer this one. Most people I hang out with don’t wear perfume. I’ve passed lots of perfumes that didn’t work on me to my boyfriend, but I don’t think I’ve ever passed along anything I hated.
3. Light Blue. A difficult manager I worked with when I was in my early 20s practically bathed in it. So in addition to not liking how it smells, I associate it with her.
Yesterday I wore Boy during the day to make up for not wearing it during Chanel week. Last night we went over to my aunt and uncle’s house for dinner, and I wore L’Occitane Miel & Citron. The L’Occitane was one of my amazing Goodwill or thrift shop finds that goes for lots on eBay. It reminds me of L de Lolita Lempicka, so it’s a keeper. I haven’t decided on a SOTD yet, but I have a little SSS Yin & Ylang on my hand for re-testing. I may end up in that or Bee’s Bliss.
I also associate light blue with an manager I used to have, who wasn’t particularly nice. It’s too bad Superstitious gives you a headache. Maybe try spraying low on your body?
I’ve only sprayed Superstitious once and it was WAY too intense, so since then I’ve only dabbed it on. Maybe I’ll try lower on my body next time, like ankles or knees.
lillyjo, inquiring minds want to know.. Is this the awful manager that we’ve heard a couple stories about?
It is not, this is one from about 6 years ago. The one now actually smells pretty good in Lancome Hypnose.
??
Oh, I hope that you don’t have an unpleasant association with Hypnose now.
L’Occitane Miel&Citron is lovely, comforting and light, such a pretty one. I will never understand why they stopped making it.
1. I’m learning to tolerate rose in fragrance. I don’t like full-on, obvious rose. But if it’s blended with other notes, then it can be beautiful.
2. Sadly, most people I associate with don’t wear much fragrance. I’m trying to change that.
3. Like others, definitely cumin and lavender. Girl by Pharell was just awful on me.
Today I’m wearing some carrot-seed oil mixed with unscented lotion after my shower. It’s pretty good.
“A body at rest tends to stay at rest; a body in motion tends to stay in motion.” This sentence describes my weekend perfectly. I had to prod myself to take care of a couple of errands today, but it was well worth it.
SOTD = back in Voleur de Roses.
1. Patchouli if it’s well-blended.
2. Shalimar and EL Estee. On certain individuals these two smell fabulous. They are not for me.
3. Gardenia, tuberose, neroli, jasmine, vanilla, coconut, white musk, frangipani.