It's Back to the Beginning Friday! Our community project for today: revisit a fragrance you tried in your early days as a perfumista. Thanks go to springpansy for the suggestion!
What fragrance did you pick? As always, do chime in with your scent of the day even if you’re not participating in the community project.
I'm in Olivia Giacobetti's Passage d'Enfer for L'Artisan Parfumeur. It was in a very early sample order, and was my first purchase from the brand.
Reminder: on 10/23, wear a floriental, if you have one.
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2020, where I'll try (but frequently fail) to always have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is Autumnal Light [cropped] by Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho at flickr; some rights reserved.
I loved perfume even as child, but in college, I bought one of those 5 pack gift minis of Guerlain perfumes they used to put out, little miniature bottles (which I kick myself now, for not keeping…). In this set, there was Shalimar, and Jardins de Bagatelle, and two others I do not remember, and Mitsouko. I didn’t really enjoy the Shalimar, and I loved the Jardins de Bagatelle, and the Mitsouko I thought was weird, so I put some on. And the next day I put on some more. And the next day I put on some more, and I realized that this complex fragrance was in a class by itself, and I wanted to find out more about it – why was this smell so fascinating, compared to the ones that smelled not so good, or just pretty? So today, I have put on a few precious drops of my vintage Mitsouko parfum in a dabber, and topped it off with a generous spray of my recentish (2014ish?) EDP Mitsouko. I wave my hands around and smell fabulous, if I do say so myself…
Perfume is an art like no other….
Love the photo, Robin, by the way! You find the best images….
Mitsouko is my top desert island scent, although I only have the current version. I love the edt, not so much the edp.
I have never done a direct comparison of the various concentrations…please do elaborate!
To me, the edp seems dulled, somehow. I’m not enough of a perfumista to be able to specify why, but the edt seems to have more spark and character than the edp. You must realize however that I only have decants of the edp, and a full bottle of the edt. Maybe that makes a difference. Both versions are the current formulation.
Interesting. Not sure I have sniffed the current EDT at all . I will look for it. Thanks.
LOVE Mitsouko Meredifay! You smell fabulous.
Portia xx
What a fun story – thanks for that. What do you think about your 2014 Mitsouko – still good or is vintage the only way to go?
And for me, vintage means way back!
2014 Mitsouko is fine, I wear it regularly and enjoy it. When I put a drop of the decades old Mitsouko on, the newer one is obviously a pale version in comparison, but this is the case with most perfumes that have been kept in production for many many years. If you have a chance to acquire vintage, always go for it, but as these things go, Guerlain has done a good job of maintaining the essential spirit of Mitsouko through so many iterations, and I think it is good idea to keep these things going by buying a new bottle of the classic fragrances when it strikes your fancy. Just a thought.
Thank you – I’m always interested in opinions about this.
I have dreams of going to some out of the way estate sale and finding cases of old fragrances that have been stored in a cellar since the Depression, forgotten and unwanted. I offer them money but they say, No no take them away! Good riddance to frivolous things. I agree and take them all away!
Love it. It’s possible, right? Maybe?
Oh, we are scent twins! Mitsouko is so loverly.
yes it is, isn’t it?
Mitsouko is awesome!
As are the people who wear it…
Was Samsara one of them?
No that was long before Samsara’s time. Early ’70’s, just to clearly date myself.
Envisioning the bottles, maybe the other two were colognes of some sort. Not sure what Guerlains were up and coming back then…
Cool, another house twin!
I must have bought Krizia Uomo not too long after its launch in 1984, just as my interest in perfume was exploding, and it remains one of maybe half a dozen bottles I ever finished. I don’t know what attracted me to it, because it’s *deeply* strange, a mix of herbs and flowers and tree resins that has the basic shape of an eighties men’s scent but is positively unearthly, unlike anything else I know. (Though it’s still available, I imagine it’s been reformulated into irrelevance though you never know: I never did buy another bottle because I’m coasting on about twenty vintage samples.)
I never smelled it! But there used to be more strange men’s fragrances — now they all seem to smell the same.
It’s true! Bel Ami and Coriolanus and Yatagan and Rocabar and DKNY for Men, to pull just five at random from my memory, were extremely peculiar and fascinating, and now all men’s scents just seem to come from the same Calone-contaminated vat. What a pity.
And Versace The Dreamer, and Old Spice for that matter! And M7, which smells like everything now but at the time…
Old Spice! A classic.
Ohhh, I remember Krizia Uomo! I loved that one! I adore strange ducky scents, you smell wonderful.
That reminds me that one of my earliest fancy perfumes was K de Krizia, probably around that same time. They had the most beautiful and romantic ads in magazines done in black and white, which definitely enticed me into buying it. One ad showed a beautiful pre-Raphaelite girl with a kitten. I cut it out and kept it for years.
K de Krizia is one of my first perfume loves. Gorgeous.
I’m not doing the CP, since I’m wearing a new to me fragrance from Smell Bent. I got this full bottle in June, at the half price sale, and it was an unsniffed purchase. Apparently Smell Bent was selling some discontinued fragrances and prototypes. This one is called Ice Queen, and on the bottle it mentions 13 years. Is that when it was last produced? I don’t know, but I really like it. There is definitely vanilla, and the web site said something about winter fruit.
Smell Bent is fun! I like quite a few of their scents. My favorite, though, is Incensed Short Fuse. Appropriate for me in so many ways.
Here here!!
Hi there NST crew,
I doused myself in lashings of 24 Faubourg by Hermès today. It was a favourite early on in my deep perfumista adventure but before I found the scentbloggosphere online. Its white floral with all the trimmings is so lavish and glamorous without being confrontationally bold. Though I did push the envelope today and felt over fragrant on the bus. It is a wonder and so full of happy memories, tonight we made some more for a friends birthday.
Portia x
24F is glorious! White floral with all the trimmings sums it up perfectly.
You made that bus smell like heaven.
Hey Tiffanie,
Thanks, yeah, our buses are notoriously less than lovely to breathe.
Portia xx
24F is a great pick for a very special occasion!
Hi Jalapeno,
It does seem to elevate any adventure.
Portia xx
You smell elegant, Portia!
Thanks Hajusuuri.
XX
Ooooh, gorgeous!
Heya OH, it really was.
Portia xx
SL Chergui, from the bottle I bought 7-8 years ago as a budding perfumista.
This is going to be so much fun. Loads of our faves will snap! I love Chergui too Glannys,
Portia xx
Joining you in Chergui today.
I can’t remember which was my first Diptyque, L’Eau Trois or Eau Lente. I flipped a coin and am in Eau Lente from an old bottle. It still smells great like gingerbread and incense.
They were both great scents — wish I’d bought them both.
I have a vintage bottle of L’Eau Trois – it’s beautiful in the summer heat, and strangely also wonderful during the December Holidays.
I started getting into perfume in 2003 when I started reading the MUA fragrance board. Of course, I was a grad student and so I was too poor to actually buy any of the perfumes I read about. I did make a sample order from Beauty Habit (remember their gorgeous print catalog?) and fell in love with Bois d’Iris from The Different Company. It took me until April 2020 but I finally bought a full bottle, which I happily sprayed from today.
Robin, you smell great and I love today’s photo!!!
I’d forgotten about that Beautyhabit catalog! They were gorgeous, like a Sears catalog for big girls.
I’ve been perusing the kids toys catalog from Amazon that came yesterday, for the grands. What’s old is new again, I guess!
Thank you! And I remember that catalog well.
Good morning! It’s rainy and cool here, perfect weather for my cp pick: Mitsouko. I lurked awhile on this blog, and others, so after reading multiple posts on the wonders of Mitsouko, I blind bought it, and on Amazon, no less. It certainly wasn’t available for sniffing at any counters nearby.
I also blind bought Providence Perfume Company Divine, which is lovely to my nose now, but was too intense for me at first.
Other early loves: Cuir Beluga, La Fille de Berlin, Voyage EDT, BOE, Encre Noir, Ambre 114.
What a great idea for a cp! It’s been so fun reading all of the entries this week. 😊
Totally agree Nancyleandros, excellent idea for a CP.
OOOH! Cuir Beluga, La Fille de Berlin and Ambre 114 are all loves of mine too. Soap!
Portia xx
Are those soapy on you? Wow, I’ll have to try them again and look for the bubbles. 😊
Oops, did you mean “snap”? Hahaaa!
HA! I meant SNAP! Damn autocorrect!
Hiya, house twin!
In Armani Code for Women from a bottle a bought to my mother in 2007 for her birthday. It is sitting there almost unused, but once in a while I spray on it and I still like it. I remember that I fell in love with the bottle when I first saw it.
Happy Friday, everyone!
I have one of those pretty bottles, too.
They are lovely!
I have that perfume, too! But not when it first came out.
I have not tried the current formulation, so not sure how much has changed. But the old one smells pretty.
Happy FriYAY Y’all!
It’s taken me YEARS to figure out the perfumes that I really love the most. My collection has changed a lot as things come and go!
One of the first perfumes that I bought for myself at least 10 years ago was SJP Lovely, and I continue to really enjoy it. So today I’m in SJP Lovely Sheer, which is a lighter version that the Perfume Grinch has never complained about so far…. hee hee With the masks on, I can get away with a bit more the last few months!
Have a great weekend everyone! Hoping for a nice fall weekend so I can do some yardwork and veggie gardening!
SJP is a gorgeous perfume! And the beautiful dry narcissus note – gorgeous…
So pretty.It really is LOVELY.
I have Lovely Sheer and like it for summer. Bought it on holidays in London, nice memories
Lovely is absolutely great.
Lovely is one of the few perfumes I can pick as people waft by me. What a sensational beauty it is.
Portia xx
I just love the idea of The Perfume Grinch! I don’t want to have one in my house, but I find it very funny!
This Grinch is at the office! LOL. We’ve worked together for 20 years though, so I’ve figured out pretty much what works around him….😜
Wearing of course Farouche, which was my signature scent in the seventies and brought me down the rabbit hole around 2008 when I tried to relocate it. First I bought The Guide, then searched for it online which lead me to eBay listings and to NST!
You smell wonderful!
Have you read Gaia the Non-Blonde’s review of Farouche? It’s a lovely review (see below).
http://www.thenonblonde.com/2009/08/nina-ricci-farouche-lost-perfumes.html#.X4noBVl7mKc
Oh, thank you, Smokey Toes! I miss Gaia’s voice in the perfume community 😢.
Me too. I still feel her loss.
I wonder how many of us came to the net looking for a lost love and fell into this magical addiction?
Portia xx
SotD = Cologne du 68
Cd68 was an early perfume discovery that worked instantly for me. I can’t remember if I bought a sample from STC, or if I bought a bottle blind from an online discounter after reading a few reviews that gave me a good feeling. Either way, I’ve never regretted it. I guess I’m a Guerlain girl at heart.
Today should be the last day of hot weather in my area, if we’re lucky it will be the end of high temperatures until next May or so. Hope everyone has a fabulously fragrant Friday.
Ohh yes, it would be wonderful if this is the last heat wave this fall.
I won a bottle of this from BdJ!
My fingers are crossed that you get the weather you want!
A few years back, when I started reading NST, I read your review for Hermes Hiris and ordered a decant. Then I ordered another decant. I finally bought a bottle while shopping one day, and I have loved this beautiful scent every time I wear it.
I am wearing it today while listening to the soundtrack to Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and drinking a cup of jasmine tea.
Love Hiris,you smell fabulous!
I am going to buy another 15 ml soon…my original bottle turned, sadly, and I think I’ve heard here that it’s been reformulated? But I have to have at least a little Hiris.
Yes to Hiris! So beautiful, I love it too
My grandmother was French. Very French. I was the oldest grandchild. When I turned 16 my grandmother decided I now needed a grown up scent. She picked Je Reviens, the wonderful original formulation. She bought me a bottle of real perfume, I still have the deep blue bottle. I wore it exclusively for almost 2 decades. She did the same thing for my two younger cousins when they became 16. I remember one was Shalimar, I don’t know the other, but it was very floral. My youngest cousin was very much a girly girl. Grandma did remarkably well choosing scents for another person, we each wore her choice for many years and I still like it. I have a small amount left of the “good” Je Reviens, so today I used a dab. Grandma would be proud.
Love your association with Je Reviens!
Of the few things I kept after my Mom passed away,her perfumes are what I treasure the most.
XO
that’s so sweet johanob.
I have a very dear friend who lost her mom way too young.
When I gave her away at her wedding 10 years ago, we sprayed her mothers bottle of Aromatics Elixir on her blue silk handkerchief and bow around her bouquet. It was a very special moment of the day.
That was a wonderful gesture!
My Mom’s “church handkerchiefs” all still smell of her in Madame Rochas,Jean Patou Joy,Moon Drops,Anais Anais and my favorite that she wore,Coty Analitza.
🌹
Ohhh my mom loved Halston and Shalimar.
I have one of her hankies too.
Oh, such a lovely memory! Can your Grandmother please adopt me??
And yes, your Grandmother would be quite pleased!
This is a lovely memory.
What a lovely story. Thanks for sharing!
Oh I love this story!
Ah – this is a wonderful story, KellyRed! I think I began wearing Je Reviens at 16 as well and wore it almost exclusively as well through high school, college and after (late 70s, early 80s). I didn’t have a French grandmother and my mom rarely wore perfume – and when she did it was Elizabeth Arden Blue Grass. But I discovered Je Reviens in high school when a very cool and beautiful senior girl said it was “her” fragrance. I fell in love with it.
In fact, Je Reviens was my true intro to the vast world of fragrance via MakeupAlley as the reason I joined back in 2004 was to discover what happened to it – why could I no longer find it? It seems so naive now, but I never thought about perfumes being discontinued or reformulated back then. I was excited when it was brought back but it was not the same and I finally found a vintage bottle and bought it.
So happy to see another big fan.
What a lovely memory
Lovely memory and count me as another fan of vintage Je Reviens.. I have it in various formulations but treasure most the tiny flat blue bottle of pure perfume my MIL brought me back from a trip years ago, which began my love of this fragrance.
Yes – the tiny flat blue bottle! ♥
Crazy hot weather today,so I am not participating in the cp.I would have worn JPG Le Male,or Clavin Klein Eternity or Be,those were my first three “adult” perfumes!.
Instead just light spritzes of the cooling “Personal Space” by a local brand named AmzLoves.She makes a marshmallow scented body lotion as well,which is AWESOME.
HAPPY FRIDAY GOODSMELLAS!!
XO
Lol Goodsmellas! How did I not think of this!😂
Haha.It got stuck in my brain from a youtube review by somebody.
Happy Friday!
🌹✌🏻
That word NEEDS to be said in Joe Pesci’s voice!
Ha!! So perfect.
Happy Friday love
Ciao Bella!
🌹✌🏻
Have a lovely weekend, johanob! 😊
Thank you Nancy,same to you!🌺✌🏻
Today the song “Where is my mind” is very very appropriate…
Corrections galore!!:
Calvin Klein.
ESCAPE for men,not Eternity.We had a wonderful apothecary selling perfumes when I was at college,this was where I first encountered Calvin Klein perfumes.Escape and my first of many bottles of CK be was bought there.
Good memories.
🌹
I hated the womens Escape but always thought the men’s version was really sexy smelling.
I didn’t know Where is my mind? Was a song. I just thought it was something I say every day😀
Haha.
The Pixies,from the 90’s (I think??)
Some of their songs are definitely from the 1990’s!
Smelling fab, johano!
I bought my hubby a bottle of Escape years ago, and just put a dab on since you reminded me as it’s still in my house! He doesn’t wear scent of any kind, so I guess it’s all mine. Wish I still had that bottle of Farenheit that I gave him.
I have CK Be and still love it, also.
When Le Male happened I did not care for any other fragrance for YEARS…!!!Lol.
I should revisit CK be.
Mmmm, marshmallow 😋
Today I am wearing Shalimar, the one that started it all.
You can come sit next to me..
What a wonderful place to start Desirae, Shalimar is so heavenly.
Portia x
Today I’m in Bulgari Black, a scent I bought in my early perfumista days. Yesterday I was in Feu d’Issey. Wednesday was Iris Silver Mist. When I first started really getting into perfume I wanted to try every supposedly “weird” scent I could! I’d done a lot of polite or mainstream fragrances through my teens and 20s and wanted to get out of that rut.
I do still love this one, and find it not remotely weird (but I also don’t get a strong rubber note from this one on me, which disappointed me at first), but it’s a great fall perfume for a rainy, cool day.
Off to what has become my everyday in the last two months — three-hour meetings back to back on a project that’s being rammed through way too quickly for its own good. It’s been a long week (but a short one here as Monday was a holiday) as my kid caught a cold last weekend, and we can’t send her to school until she stops coughing, so she’s been home all week. Thankfully the COVID testing was easy to get and returned (negative) results within 24 hours. I have a bad feeling that we’ll be seeing the COVID testers every few weeks this year, as colds and the flu go around at school and in sports. A couple of colleagues at work have already been through this rigamarole last week, for the flu.
But…yay for the (almost) weekend!
Black is a great one – I did find it very weird at first, but not anymore. Happy to own one of the hockey puck bottles.
I love Black! I remember being part of a perfume focus group back in the day.
Seeing everyone’s faces as they reacted to it was hilarious. And of course, me being the odd-ball scent-lover, loved it instantly.
Oooh — now that’s a focus group I’d like to have been behind the glass for.
It really was funny to see people’s reactions.
And what I wouldn’t give to see their reaction to Secretions Magnifique!
TWINS!!
Hope your daughter is better soon!
Wearing Philosykos today, definitely an early love for me. I bought my first bottle at a Diptyque sample sale (sniff, sniff) years ago and plan to always have this one around. It’s also a year-round scent for me as I like it fall, spring, you name it.
Snacking on a snapdragon apple with a mug of hot water, honey & lemon.
Scent twins!
It was the 2nd or 3rd bottle I bought
Wearing my first blind buy, or at least my first successful blind buy: Cuir de Lancome. Really glad I bought a back up-bottle, possibly my first one and when it’s gone it’s gone.
Passage d’Enfer has an early-perfumista meaning to me, if a sadly negative one: it was my first scrubber. I felt like I was indeed going to hell, in a moldy car festooned with those cheap, pine-shaped car deoderizers.
Haha – that was my experience of Passage as well way back. I’d like to re-try now – but that first impression was very negative. And I was so shocked as so many people loved it.
TWO of you! That’s so funny.
Love Cuir de Lancôme! Wore that at some point yesterday.
Not doing the CP today but have a dab of Theorema on. Woke up in Eau Premiere. Not looking forward to going to work today but I have tomorrow and Sunday off. Made an Ulta order last night and now Bath and Body Works has a candle sale but I am going to wait until Candle Day and use up more of my candles.
You smell great Dawn! Hope work goes quickly.
Back to the beginning… Cristalle!
☔️ weather
Black pants and a short sleeve tan cashmere sweater, red lippy and my Burberry trench from a thrift 🏬
You look and smell classy!
Your outfit sounds fabulous,send a pic!!(I’m in a knit-material top and navy swimshorts with flamingoes on it…lol)
Love Cristalle,you smell on point my friend!
XO
You smell marvelous! Cristalle is gorgeous!
YUM. That was the 2nd or 3rd perfume I ever bought, but pre-perfumista days.
I was a serial “signature scent” person until 2013, when I read “Coming To My Senses.” Then I found The Guide, and bought a lot of samples from STC in order to smell all the 4 and 5 star perfumes. Today I’m wearing one of my first bottle purchases, Songes. It’s still wonderful.
I was a serial signature scent person too until about 2015 when I really started reading perfume blogs. I was actually looking for a new signature scent but one thing led to another and well….you know how it goes.😉
This is me too, but it was 2018..until that time I wore Opium, Murasaki, Jil Sander Woman II, CK One, Eternity, Eau d Issey, Eau de Charlotte, Petite Chérie…. in chronological order.
Opium! Such a great perfume.
Same here! I got sick of Acqua di Gio (which was my signature scent for probably more than a decade) around 2008, and then fell down the rabbit hole!
Oh, my signature scents…probably best left in the past.
Primo (what I could afford in high school), also in high school Liz Claiborne that someone gave me (probably because of the bottle). Then Poison in university because I thought it made me more grown-up, then Jil Sander and then Acqua di Gio.
I went through a bottle of Liz Claiborne along the way too, triangle yellow bottle right? And my roomie wore Poison in college too, I still love it!
My Liz Claiborne was red, yellow and blue piping around the triangle.
Yes! Had it, loved it! 2 bottles worth and Oh that yellow! I have never found a freesia perfume I have liked since
My Liz Claiborne bottle was red — I think just straight red. That triangle was fun!
I should go back and try Poison — I really haven’t worn it since university.
Me too MadtownGirl!
For me it was also an escape from a terminal cancer diagnosis for my mother.
It really got me through some tough spots. And now my collection has surged.
That’s me too, and it looks like several others here as well! I was working on a screenplay (for a class) about a perfumer and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t writing something stupid about an industry of which I knew very little, so I got Chandler Burr’s “The Perfect Scent.” Then I got “Perfumes: The A-Z Guide.” And down the rabbit-hole I went! Then I broke my shoulder and was stuck at home for a whole summer, unable to even leave my house for several weeks and sleeping in a special motorized chair in my dining room, while a work adversary dismantled my unit and a fragile out-of-state parent’s health declined while I couldn’t visit. Learning more about fragrances got me through that very difficult time.
Today I am revisiting TM Over the Musk. I think this is the perfume that made me think, how will I get more once my sample is gone? Hajusuuri to the rescue by offering a split! My first one, which made me feel like a true perfumista, lol. I’m down to my last few sprays and hoarding now, as I love it just as much. It reminds me of coty wild musk but better, way better.
The national weather service came out with the winter outlook today. Looks like it will be cold and snowy in the Midwest this year 😂
Our forecast for today was completely wrong. It was supposed to be cloudy and chance of rain and snow, but it’s beautiful and sunny. I’ll take it!😎
You smell great! I got my first split from hajusuuri too, and it also made me feel like a real perfumista, lol.
Last winter my weather station predicted the worst winter since 2014 ( aka the winter from %$#!) And we ended up under average in snowfall. I don’t know why I even read the predictions. I still will, of course. Lol
Yay for splits! Which one was it?
Yay for splits, and yay for hajusuuri!😁😉 It was Vanille 44, must dig it out and wear it soon!
Woo hoo! One of my loves!
Woo hoo. I think this was a 3rd or 4th Splitmeet offering.
Any plans for another decant of Over The Musk?
No, not right now. I’m ok savoring my drops for now. Maybe next year.
I have always wore perfume but what sparked an interest in perfume as a hobby and brought me to this blog is LADM by Andy Tauer
Yum, that one was in one of my first sample sets from luckyscent. How is your mini holding up? I know pl67 and I have had evaporation issues.
When I saw your evaporation story I rushed to check mine and its in good shape. I wonder why some bottles evaporate and others don’t!
Oh good! Yeah, that’s so weird. I’ve had it with several decants, but this was a first from the manufacturer.🤷♀️
Yeah, I can see that one converting just about anyone! One of my favourites!
It’s SO good, isn’t it
LAdDM is gorgeous!
Friday already! Well I really meant to participate in the CP all week, but it’s been a strange week. We’ve been under a red flag (fire) warning since Wednesday, power shutoff Weds/Thurs, and a heat warning (temps in the 90s) yesterday and today. Thurs AM we were outside on our deck watching a fire in the canyon below our house from 3 am to 6 am. The fire guys stopped it at half an acre, whew, but I was sure a zombie all day. And this morning we’re in the smoke again, from the fires in the Sierras.
Anyway. My CP plan was to wear the first perfumes I bought when I fell down the rabbit hole 6 years ago. They were:
1. Diptyque Philosykos
2. Donna Karan Black Cashmere
3. CBIHP Ambrosius
4. Teo Cabanel Meloe
5. Fendi Theorema
So I’ll pick Philosykos for today. Happy Friday everyone!
Happy Friday! Stay safe, pixel! Those fires sound awfully close.😨
Thanks! The fire Thurs AM was definitely too close for comfort.
Happy Friday – you smell wonderful. I hope for relief from those fires very soon for all of you! So stressful.
So many fires! Wishing for relief for you soon.
Wow, Pixel. I am wishing you a very peaceful weekend.
Yike, that sounds so alarming. I hope the fires subside soon, and stay away from your home and loved ones!
Casmir!
This was my third signature scent. Lauren was high school-and I wish I had some vintage because I would have worn that today- Obsession was college, and Casmir was immediately post college because it came out the same year that I graduated. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but this is the only perfume I’ve ever bought after smelling one of those scent strips they put inside of magazines. I loved it instantly and bought a bottle at Dayton’s department store (a subsidiary of Marshall Fields, rip Marshall Fields😢). At some point I got a gift set, probably for Christmas, which included a mini and a jar of body “silk”- both of which is still have! An ultra generous NSTer sent me a big bottle a while back, so I am set for life!
I recently saw the body lotion on fragrance net and wondered if it could have held up (assuming it was old stock) you smell wonderful!
Thanks! Yeah, I wonder. The body silk has turned kind of orange, but still smells great.
I think Casmir was one of my lucky perfume picks in the late 1990’s or early 2000’s. I have no idea how old the bottle I have is now.
Good stuff!😊
Dayton’s! Do you live in the cities? I worked for years at JBHudsons.
First as a bridal consultant, eventually as an assistant giftware buyer.
I loved the downtown Dayton’s store and wandered the perfume and cosmetics floor.
I spent my first real paycheck on a Max Mara coat from the Oval Room and I still wear it.
No, but my mom grew up there and my aunt and gramma lived in Stillwater while I was growing up. We spent many weekends in the cities and Maplewood and Rosedale are the malls I spent the most time at. I went to college a couple of hours south of the cities (LaCrosse) and they had a Dayton’s in the mall there too, that’s where I got my Casmir.😊
How ironic you were a bridal consultant! I got my wedding dress at The Wedding Shoppe in St Paul- Grand Avenue.
Hi, I have enjoyed this site for a long time and I have learned so much from you all – you have inspired untold amounts of perfume smelling and buying!). This year, I have found particular comfort in reading the daily polls and I decided, if not 2020, when would I jump in and join you? I have loved perfume since my mother wore Miss Dior from the iconic houndstooth bottle in the early 60’s. As an adult I discovered fragrance through L’Artisan Parfumeur and the since discontinued Santal. Now I’m enjoying learning more about Guerlain fragrances, and wishing, like many of you, that I had more vintage versions to try. Looking forward to more reading, smelling and posting.
Welcome!!
Thank you!
Welcome to fabulous NST!
So glad you joined in the fun!
Welcome!
Hello, and welcome! It’s nice to meet you.
Welcome allo!
You are in good company, welcome
Welcome! That houndstooth bottle of Miss Dior was one I wore back then and still love and wear today.
Hello there!
Welcome!
Waving Hi! 👋 Welcome.
Hi! Glad to meet you, and read your comments!
The first perfume I can really remember knowing the name of and the first I saved up to buy, and got on my honeymoon trip, Penhaligon’s Violetta. My mother had gotten some of their scented treasury books, I read and reread the Language of Flowers a lot as a kid/teen, always burying my nose in the endpapers to try and smell Violetta. It’s the one that started me learning about perfume. It’s the one I reach for when I want to feel really proper and put together.
That book sounds neat!
2nd! I had never heard of those InkyFeathers.
They were a whole series put out by Penhaligon’s in the 1990(s?)of poetry and prose with lovely prints of paintings. Edited by Sheila Pickles, who was in charge of the company at the time, I think. Each book was scented with one of their perfumes. I ended up getting copies of my own and getting my mom more off eBay, and book sights. I used them as centerpieces at my wedding reception. They mean a lot to me. You can still find them at the book depository ,Amazon and eBay I think. My favorites were The Language of Flowers, Grand Tour, and Victorian Posy, but they covered a variety of subjects.
Thanks, I will take a peek!
Oh, I have that book! I found it at a used book store a few years ago, and it’s been sitting on my bookshelf unread. I had only flipped through it, not read it yet. I just picked it off the shelf and smelled inside but nope, there’s no more perfume smell, of course. It’s a very charming book, and I’ll keep it out to read a few pages here and there. How cool to have had this scented book as a kid.
It definitely made a lasting impression to see that a book could be scented. I don’t think Violetta lasted long on it, though. Lol. I occasionally “reapply” on the endpapers of the copy I have. 😊
My fragrance for today’s CP is Sables by Annick Goutal: Even if I only bought it much later, I think it was the first fragrance I decided to actively seek out after I had read about it online.
And a good choice!
My back to basics perfume is Prada Amber Pour Homme.
The very 1st fragrance I bought with my own money that I earned.
Nice!! And you smell great.
Hey Lucasai,
Still smells fabulous too. We spritzed our wedding invitations with it.
Portia xx
Happy FriYaY all! My SOTD, my first scent love, and the first scent I ever purchased for myself in the beginning of my perfume journey (back in 1979) is Alyssa Ashley’s Musk Oil. I loved it’s clean powdery beauty, soft musk, iris, powder, and a touch of sweetness.
I remember trying it on our local Pharmacy, it was instant love. My grandmother and I were running errands, I was elated that she also loved it.
She was also a lover of perfumes and scented body products, at the time, I believe her perfume faves were Estee Lauder scents, Estee and Private Collection. Perhaps it’s because AA Musk smells like a cousin to Estee is the reason she loved it? IDK, they do smell similar to me. The downside, was that my parents had a rule, no perfume or makeup until I was 15 – but together, my perfumista Grandmother and I hatched a plan and my love of perfume was born.
I’m fortunate that I have a few of Grandmother’s perfume bottles to treasure.
You do have some treasures in those old perfume bottles. 💗
That’s a lovely story!
I’ve loved fragrance for a long time – really since high school back in the mid-70s. So I could have chosen my vintage Je Reviens or Obsession Sheer (in memory of the original Obsession I wore and used up) or even Tresor for the 90s. But I went with one of the first bottles I bought after I fell down the rabbit hole of niche perfumes: Chergui. I found it strange and wonderful and exotic. Later I sold it (why?????), but I have a decant from a kind NST perfumista that I enjoy greatly.
This was a fun poll for me (thanks for choosing it, Robin) because for me, perfume is not only about how it smells right now, but all the memories that become associated with specific fragrances as well. So thanks, everyone for playing along!
This has been a fun poll Springpansy, thanks!
SO is about all the history we have in a scent SpringPansy. LOVED this event.
Portia xx
So why did you sell it — did you think you were bored with it? Decided for a time that you didn’t like it?
It was kind of a newbie panic – I didn’t have a big perfume budget and was fairly new to niche. I started panicking that I had bought this bottle which took the whole budget for a while and did I really love it that much, etc, etc when there was still so much I wanted to try and so much learning to be done. I wish I’d held onto it now, but oh well.
I had a small sample of Chergui and tried it sparingly and hated it because it smelled like bug spray. Finally, in an effort to thunk the sample (way before thunking was a thing), I went for broke and sprayed the rest and wow, I fell in love. More is more!
Funny how that happens!
Chinatown from a travel spray that is at least 12 years old. Still smells fabulous on me
amen, sistah!!
Ooh, that’s a good one.
In my First niche purchase, Au Pays de la Fleur d’Oranger Néroli Blanc, I still adore its almost medicinal ob so very fragrant and natural smelling, much more than the intense version which is quite different, very sweet, smelled boring to me.
I have the Intense version and I agree that it’s too sweet…
I was surprised that there could be so much difference between the two. Also the EDC was lovely but it’s not on their website anymore.
I haven’t been lucky enough to smell orange blossoms yet, but I have come across lemon blossoms and grapefruit blossoms. Love them both!
All citrus blossoms must be divine, smelled lemon too but never grapefruit.
My first love. Joy in 1973. still have the empty bottle.
My next loves – Opium, cinnabar, Fidji, Ysatis, the big ones from the 80s.
A break in the 90s
My serious toe dip – Chinatown. the rest is history!! Today is Saffran Troublant from when L’artisan still had their jewel box stores.
Love it – “my life in perfume”…
Yep, exactly!
And aspara, I do admire your choices. I love Cinnabar, such a gorgeous spicy beauty.
Yes to Ysatis! I wonder if I would like it still….?
Mmm Opium and Cinnabar:)
Hey Apsara,
Do you keep all your empties?
Portia x
Yep, there was such a boutique at Henri Bendel’s!
I’m so glad I was able to briefly visit the Chicago L’Artisan store on a trip in 2006 before it closed. A lovely shop indeed.
For bacon lovers:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2020/10/15/bacon-scented-face-masks-hormel-foods-is-giving-them-away/amp/
As much as I love bacon, I will not be able to be smelling it for hours… 🥓
Is it April Fools? This gave me the ickies 😱
It is an awful idea!
No thanks!
Dito!
Yuk! Does it make your skin greasy?
LOL! 😂
Hey, wring it out and fry an egg.
No!! 😂
Ewwwwwwwwwwwww. NOPE!
Nope, nope and nope!
This sounds kinda borderline fab and awful PL67. I can’t decide if I’d adore it or ….
Portia x
I know…..
I should be wearing Shanghai Lily, the first “fancy” sample I just had to have a bottle of, but I felt like a dap of Une Rose Chypre today and have no regrets; it feels perfect for the weather.
I love reading all of your stories.
Is this the Tauer one? If yes, you smell mighty fine!
I second the motion!
Friday!
1) Am in Back to Black from a decant – missed the challenge for this week!
But it’s perfect on this bright chilly morning.
2) I have been doing some KonMari and re arrangement upstairs and am selecting paint colors. It’s harder work than I imagined!
I was a Marie Kondo fail 🤷🏻♀️.
with those amazing perfumes I am happy you were a ‘fail’! For me, it’s all the flotsam that has some how snuck in since moving in!
LOL. I need to get rid of a lot!
If I was to go back to the beginning, I’d have to have some vintage Opium. I do not, so I’m opting for going back to the beginning of the “niche” period, which morphed into a wider appreciation for anything that smells unusual or interesting, which morphed into an obsession with anything that smells good on me, with a very broad interpretation of the term “good.” SOTD is Luten’s Chypre Rouge, from a relatively vintage bottle.
I like that one too, and think it’s underrated.
I chose a scent that I bought as a decant and had to have a bottle. I loved Felanilla after the first sniff and finally got a used bottle. One of the few iris perfumes I really like. But I love it for the saffron
OOOOH! I love Felanilla too Tannina. Haven’t worn it in ages, thanks for the reminder.
Portia x
I love Felanilla!
I want Felanilla!
I’m not going quite back to the beginning, but I am repeating an experience from 2014. I did a class where I made my own perfume, and I’ve been saying to myself for years that I should do it again – and today, I am. And to make it even more special, it was my birthday last week and my beloved is paying for the class as a present. I hope I can create a perfume worthy of the occasion
So, I’m perfume free so far.
That sounds like a fun birthday gift!
have fun and happy birthday!
Happy Scented Birthday for sure! Let us know how this session goes.
Happy Belated Birthday! Have fun!
Happy belated Birthday!
Oooh, tell us how it goes!
Happy Belated Birthday! And enjoy your class, how fun!
Belated Happy Birthday! Curious to know what you ended up concocting!
Happy birthday! What a lovely gift! Have a wonderful time.
Hi! Been a while since I’ve commented, but I have been reading comments. I started a new job in August and it was a bit frantic for a while.
I am back to the beginning in my first full bottle, Azureé. I smell like citrus rinds and saddles (or so I imagine, it’s been ages since I’ve smelled anything to do with horses). I hope today is good to you all! I’ll have to read later.
Oh, nice choice!
One of my favorites! You smell divine!
I was thinking of you this morning! Nice to see you post 😀
Hi lillyjo!
The “old” bottle shape of Azuree is so cool. It matches the perfume perfectly.
It is! One perfume boat I didn’t miss! See hajusuuri’s post re: Dark Passage
Nice to see you again!
Hi perfumelover67!
Has the frantic calmed down for you?
Portia x
It has, for now! Accounting firm and just got through the personal tax deadline for those who filed for extensions. Which seemed to be mostly everyone.
I would gladly sit by you on the bus! 24 Rue Faubourg is fantastic!
If only you were in Sydney or I where you are.
Portia xx
SOTD = Andy Tauer Dark Passage
From his Kickstarter campaign, part of pairing an indie film with an indie perfume in 2012. I took a plunge into the rabbit hole in 2011 and before you know it, I participated in this campaign even though I was not familiar with Kickstarter not with indie. And the rest is history as they say.
Tobacco, patchouli, birch tar 😍
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGaXZI_BSB3/?igshid=ujia34ntaljw
I also could have chosen Prada Infusion d’Iris Absolue, the first perfume where I asked the SA for the largest bottle available.
Friday could not have come any sooner!
I meant to ask who here likes Gucci Bloom?
I do. It’s a nice, wearable white floral. The flankers make me chuckle, though, because apart from the green one, they all smell pretty much the same.
I never got into it so who knows why I got one of the relatively recent flankers Gucci Bloom Love Homme. I will need to revisit it. Currently , I am keeping it because of the flat green bottle.
I think you have Gucci Guilty Love Homme? I can’t find a men’s flanker to Bloom. That is a cool bottle, though!
You are absolutely right!
I really like Gucci Bloom! I spray my pillow with it too! I find white florals relaxing.
Wow, I have to take a break from fragrance at night, other than the occasional spritz of LUSH body spray (on my body).
I like Gucci Bloom. I also agree the flankers all smell similar. I haven’t tried the newest one yet.
Is Homme Love in the green bottle what you’re thinking of? Gucci Bloom seems to be birthing flankers like siblings born 3 months apart to the same mother 🤣.
I don’t know what the newest one is called, but it’s in a mustard yellow colored bottle.
I just realized Based in irisjasmine’s comment above that the green bottle Homme Love is Gucci Guilty!
I think Gucci Bloom is travel spray worthy! Yes, that could come off as facetious, but if I have the option to get that size in a perfume, that is my preferred one.
You may be able to — Sephora has all sorts of options. Sephora holiday discounts coming up 😉
Trying to keep my “eyes on the prize” for Wrappings this year! It didn’t happen last year…
I like the original Bloom – and more than its two fiori flankers. I don’t think I’v tried the new one in the mustard bottle. And the bottles for the Guilty Love are SO pretty! The woman’s is like rose quartz and the men’s like jade. Unfortunately I wasn’t taken by the smell of either…
The largest bottle available! LOL! That’s the spirit!
“Back then” there were more choices!
Hey Hajusuuri!
I love Dark Passage. Every time I wear it they name makes me laugh. So naughty!
Also, love Gucci Bloom and have one of the flankers Acqua di Fiori.
Portia xx
Hey Portia, absolutely NAUGHTY! I should look into this Acqua di Fiori!
Its a salty fresh version. It was so unexpected and stylishly done I fell madly. It gets quite a bit of wear here.
Portia xx
Ooh, I like Infusion d’Iris Absolue, too and remember purchasing my bottle while visiting my daughter in Minneapolis. I think of that trip every time I wear the perfume 😊
Hooray for wonderful perfume associations!
Man I feel like Dark Passage was “the one that got away”. Or one of the ones anyway.
Never tried Gucci Bloom, but I love me some white florals. I’ll have to try it next time I’m out and about, but then that feels like it will be never, and are there even testers anymore?
I may only have been to Sephora once when the malls opened up and I don’t have a recollection of what the perfume protocols were … likely because I was nervous about being in a smallish store 🤷🏻♀️
Goutal Vanille Exquise. I started my journey somewhat obsessed with vanilla. This was the first bottle I bought online. Will probably be the first full bottle that I empty as well.
Good to see you MMKinPA!
You’re smelling YUM!
Portia xx
I’m in an early favorite, Bottega Veneta Eau Légère. Unlike yesterday’s revisit of Dior Homme (which apparently doesn’t suit me anymore), BV is still delightful – in fact, I like it so much that I created a little place of honor for it on the perfume shelf, to make up for having neglected it for years. Hopefully it will forgive me. 😆
Your post yesterday is reminding me that I should give some of my old favorites a sniff, and see if we still get along. I know that my tastes have shifted in the past few years…
I would put away Dior Homme for some time and then bring it out again. Also, if you haven’t worn it for a while, perhaps you got some of the oxidized part?
Today’s cp was a bit of a challenge for me, since I have always loved fragrance and I can’t remember a ‘pre-perfumista’ time. So wondering how one defined the term ‘perfumista,’ I searched and found this delightful 2007 NST post from Angela on ‘Becoming a perfumista’ I just had to share with all of you:
https://nstperfume.com/2007/10/19/becoming-a-perfumista/
I decided to focus on that stage of my perfumistahood that began with the explosion of fragrance information that happened upon the advent of the Internet. I remember that Serge Lutens and his fragrances and the ‘salon’ itself were talked about frequently at that time, and so I opted to wear his Rahat Loukoum today. I still treasure the beautiful packet of wax samples I received in 2003 directly from Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido and will never forget the wonderful experience I had there on my one and only subsequent trip to Paris. After much testing, this beautiful Turkish delight scent in the classic bell jar came home with me. I use it sparingly and treasure the memories it brings each time I wear it.
We’re in full fall color here in Illinois but the leaves are already beginning to fall so every moment this weekend will be special. Happy weekend to all!
Wow, that’s a neat story and a somewhat unusual scent choice. I miss autumn leaves so much, but today my friends up in Northern Michigan and Minnesota posted pictures of the first snow. No thanks!
Bulgari Black. I read the guide and probably bought it partially because it was cheap on Amazon….the bottle has been mostly sitting in my drawer unused, but I still like it. No weird rubber notes here. However, I’ve used this once with students and they did NOT like it.
If I got back to the very beginning, it would have to be a bottle of Calyx, but that bottle is long gone and when I smelled it once at Ulta’s, I recoiled in horror :)!
I think this perfume is meant to turn quite quickly so the tester might have been bad. Just a possibility!
Calyx definitely was reformulated when Clinique took it over.
This morning I was wearing Ourzazate which was my first niche fragrance. I’v been thinking about it for a while as a comment on NST pointed out that it’s supposed to represent one of the great faiths (in CDG’s 5-incense collection). For someone else it represented John Lennon’s song ‘Give Peace a Chance’. And for me? I have always found this spicey scent inspiring – as if it could give me the impetus to cross dry lands and seas for some greater purpose. Only…today what it really brought to mind is the exclusive, pretentious shop where I bought it. They stocked mostly impractical designer wear – avant garde, etc. This morning this scent smelled like a highly artificial, overly exclusive, stylized riff on a foreign culture. ??? This is most certainly NOT my final word on it as I’m sure I’ll feel more positive when I am in a better mood
So right now – I’m in Encre Noire edt. This was the first scent I took a hairpin turn on: I smelled it several times just to remember the AWFUL bitterness. And then…started finding it addictive and well…10 years down the line and I ADORE vetiver.
Someone gave me a decant of Encre Noir. I like it!
Might be worth the purchase as it seems available in many discounters and has a great bottle: A heavy square of black glass. I think I like the flankers too – the sports one and the extreme. I haven’t done side by sides because I don’t think I need more than one version though
I think I was born with a perfume bottle in my hand, having loved many scented things all my life. I haven’t gone back to the beginning but i’m wearing a couple sprays of Ivoire, a cherished bottle of mine.
One of the first bottles that I remember buying for myself was Lancome Magie Noire. I wish I still had it, and all the other bottles I got rid of before I moved out of the house!
Aw, that’s a shame about those long lost perfumes!
Yeah it sure is. Cinnabar comes to mind for sure.
I wish I had mine too. Plus so many that I should have bought but didn’t. Like Magie Noire!
Where’s my time machine? lol..
Like some others here have posted, I have always liked perfumes. I remember sharing bottles of Charlie with my mom waaaaaaaaaay back when. And I went thru multiple bottles of “Loves Baby Soft” in junior high school. Then I purchased a bottle of Ivoire de Balmain in the late 1980’s after reading about it in Cosmopolitan. But I was not a perfumista then.
I had some lucky perfume picks in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. (CK Contradiction, CK Truth, and a couple bottles of Cacharel Noa.) I had a small perfume wardrobe by then, so I had moved past the idea of a signature scent. But perfume was mostly a special occasion accessory. Again, not a perfumista.
I finally became a perfumista in 2009, when, after a difficult year, I immersed myself in perfume blogs. All these strange names and acronyms. What is a split? You can buy perfume samples? There is a name for all of this? WOW… mind blown. So many things I wanted to smell based on vivid and compelling descriptions. And down the rabbit hole I went. I’ve called myself a perfumista for 11 years now.
SOTD = Guerlain Samsara EdT. This is one of my very first blind buys. I had wanted to smell it, but never seemed to find it in any of the easy-to-get to malls or department stores in my area. So I bit the bullet and ordered it from Sephora when they carried it. TBH, it wasn’t love at first sniff for me. But eventually I grew to like, then enjoy Samsara. It ended up being the first Guerlain I ever “clicked” with.
🎶and they call her Charlie🎶
On a seperate note.. did you see what David Crosby said about Eddie Van Halen?!
No, I didn’t! Off to the Internets to check out that story…
Sheesh. To quote Bugs Bunny: “What a maroon!” 🐰
Totally!
🤣good one!
Oh boy do I remember that one. (I hear the tune in my head as I read this.)
I love reading about your perfumista journey! Do you think it was the sandalwood you had to get used to?
No, I think it was the floral notes. I remember getting a rather noticeable narcissus note in Samsara, which no one seems to mention.
I do think Samsara is one of the most immediately appealing of the classical Guerlains. I think I needed repeated exposure to the others to get used to, and start appreciating, them. But I agree there is ALSO something a little challenging about Samsara. (Narcissus may well be the problematic note for me too).
I’m not a perfumista, but I have pomegranate noir, which is the first non drugstore or designer perfume I tried. It’s good and menthol smelling. Mixed with green tea Elizabeth Arden deodorant. Working nice.
That’s a pretty monumental choice for a non-perfumista! Fruity, tart, dry and powdery… I’ve been sniffing for years but this one still stares me down 😄
Lol, not a perfumista…..
Acceptance is the first step 😉
I just realized I have four Omnias. I don’t know how it happened, but I do. It is basic stuffs, and cheap in the interwebs. Not too perfumo at all. But I did wear Secretions Magnifique and thought it was pretty good. I don’t smell all the awful things others do, just smells like the dressing room in a strip club to me.
Spent the day wearing Hermes’ Un Jardin Sur Le Nil, since it was a star of Chandler Burr’s book “The Perfect Scent”, which is what “scent” me down this rabbit-hole! I have always loved fragrances, and my own early good ones were Diorissimo and Chanel No. 22, but I stuck with them and a few additions like Shisheido Zen 2000 and Pure White Linen for years. Then I read the book … and then I discovered “Perfumes: The Guide”, then I found fragrance blogs like this one, then I started blogging myself as an aficionado, not an expert, and here we are.
I did not know this about you OH! What a fabulous rabbit hole story. You always had perfumista taste though.
Portia x
lol, I was raised by a mother whose signature scent was Chanel No. 5 and who later flirted with Opium, Poison, Norell, and I think Cinnabar. Actually, how I got into No. 22 was that I was buying some No. 5 EDT for my mom when I was in my 20s (see my blog post “My Mother’s Last Perfume”), and the sales lady asked if I had any Chanel myself. I didn’t. So she asked what I liked, I said Diorissimo, and she said I might like No. 22 because it also had lots of flowers, including some LOTV but more white roses. Tried it, loved it, bought it! I still have a bit left in that original EDT sprayer, and a LOT left in a very large bottle I bought in recent years.
CLEVER SA. I would never have made the Diorissimo to No 22 crossover. It was your lucky frag day OH.
Portia xx
Still my favorite Hermès! It was really The Guide that opened the perfume universe up for me too!
Chiming in late and not in sync with Gucci Memoire..at least I smell lovely lol.
Indeed you do!
I think it is very appropriate! You smell great!
Gorgeous bottle for that one, too!
Agree with others – I really like this scent, bottle and name of this one!
Yes, you do smell lovely! That’s a good one.
My choice for today was L’Artisan Figuier Extreme. I own a large bottle that I probably bought in the early 2000’s at Neiman Marcus where I was gradually becoming friends with one of the SA’s. She took her time and let me sample many things and I acquired a pretty broad selection from that line. One time she was impressed when I brought my friend Pierre there, a visiting French professor, and he helped me sample. On that visit I acquired Mechant Loup. “Buy the big one!” he commanded, lol. It’s really helpful to make some kind of trusted advisor in your perfume journey. Another woman at a more boutiques place in Houston helped me immeasurably and was endlessly patient in letting me try things and making up little samples. Fig was one of the first notes I sampled via the little packages from The Perfumed Court and it’s still a favorite of mine. And the Extreme is still my favorite fig perfume.
I have recently fallen in love with L’Artisan perfumes. The one that did it for me is Passage D’Enfer. I shall have to get my nose on this one too!
My parents brought me back a bottle of L’Heure Bleue when they went to Paris in the late 1970s. I was 15. I remember wearing Coriandre and Emeraude and Tabu which I am certain I purchased at the drugstore. I played around with Poison in college and then the original Oscar and I made a bottle of Borghesa Il Bacio last almost 10 years, I had small children and no perfume budget. I found a hardcover copy of Perfumes The Guide in the bargain section for $5. Yes, the original first edition with the beautiful blue bottle on the cover. A perfumista was born. So, here is the peculiar thing. My first purchase at a perfume counter was Givenchy Pi, a scent I still wear and enjoy. It has one star in The Guide, dismissed as a sweet nothing. I took the introduction of the book quite to heart. Wear what you love! I found this wonderful blog shortly thereafter. Wearing many squirts of Pi today for the CP.
Nice! Are your parents into fragrance as well?
My Father died wh
Let me try again. My Father died when I was 20 but he always rocked Old Spice! My Mom wore Opium and Obsession but my Stepdad has a really sensitive nose so she sticks with her lovely soaps and lightly scented lotions.
So sorry about that – he was young and you were so young too. Good memories though it seems. Hugs to you.
That’s a big loss at a young age. Old Spice — the ultimate “dad scent”, in a good way.
Wearing Copal Azur today because it’s lovely and I have missed the calming incense.
I found this one early in my perfume infatuation. It is still a top five.
Generally dreamy desire:
I wish I could own a full vintage bottle of L’Air d’Temps EDT. It was my mother’s favorite.
I’d love smelling that on a guy walking past!
Oh, that sounds dreamy.
As a young teenager I had some very mature fragrances (No. 19, Shalimar, Samsara) but I didn’t fall down the rabbit hole until nearly 30 years later. What sent me tumbling down last year was a random decision to walk into an Atelier Cologne shop. They had very nice windows. I didn’t fall in love with any of their scents that day, but the visit piqued my interest in smells. My first FB after that was Bergamote 22. I’ve since acquired new bottles of No. 19, Shalimar and Samsara.
Didn’t play the CP today, though. Started the day in Bottega Veneta and now some Ambre Sultan.
So many great stories and comments – really interesting, everyone! A special shout-out to the Je Reviens fans, but I chose Avon Timeless. When I began to read the blogs and lurk around on Fragrantica and Basenotes, not only did Timeless get a lot of love as a cheapy, but it has so MANY notes, that it pointed me to all sorts of other perfumes. Today, my three sprays of a recent bottle lasted all day at work. Later, I topped off the drydown down with a spray or so of SSS Nostalgie, and I felt a perfumed happiness as I settled down for a relaxing Friday night.
What fun to read everyone’s “origin stories”!