It's Friday! Our community project for today: People change...wear something you never would have worn in your pre-perfumista days.
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 am heading home tomorrow after a week at the beach with family. I am commando again. I did not wear perfume even once: days were commando, nights were Cutter Eucalyptus.
Reminder: 9/3 will be Labor Day Weekend...take a break from community projects and wear what you want.
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2021, where I'll try to always have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is Pescadero State Beach [cropped] by Stanislav Sedov at flickr; some rights reserved.
Agar de Noir–1) I preferred violet and iris over a heavy oud when I started out and 2)I sniffed and bought in person rather than online
Back in the day I was hamstrung by the gender divide. Then in 1985, Obsession was launched, and I didn’t care that it was nominally a women’s scent: it was so *ridiculously* good that I had no choice but to wear it. I started wearing whatever I wanted, from either side of the aisle, as long as it smelled good, with one exception: I could not bring myself to wear anything with “woman” or “elle” or anything else female in the name. I just couldn’t. It was so stupid, and I knew it, but gender indoctrination runs very, very deep and is not easily overcome. I never tried Shiseido Feminité du Bois when it was new. It was right there in front of me! To this day I have never even smelled Rochas Femme, which is like studying art history but pretending that Michelango’s David doesn’t exist.
And then eventually, after years and years, I managed to convince myself that I was too old for that nonsense, that life is too short to not take pleasure where you can find it, and so today I am wearing vintage Ungaro Diva, one of the exemplars of eighties chypre, a tumult of flowers saturated with an ungodly quantity of honey-drenched oakmoss. Why would anyone not want to smell this good?
Obsession for Men was my first masculine perfume. I wore it in high school and felt so subversive ? That said, I wore it because the bottle of Obsession for Women I’d been wearing made me slightly uncomfortable, and discovered that I loved the men’s version on myself.
Until really rabbit-holing, I was very open to wearing masculines, but more recently anything that leans too far in that direction is generally out of my comfort zone. Go figure.
My husband, who only recently started wearing perfume, pays no mind whatsoever to what’s on the label. If he likes it, he wears it, and rose-centric perfumes have always been his favorite. He is American, but of a different generation than I (and you ?) so maybe that has something to do with it? Dunno.
I bought, unsniffed, a bottle of Ungaro Diva, just based on your raves about it. You get another enabler pin, Pyramus.
I think you will love it and I hope you do, but you know how some people say that a fragrance smells like bug spray? My husband thinks this smells like bug spray. (It doesn’t!) Won’t be wearing it again when he’s around, I think.
Wandering off seeking Ungaro Diva…
Love it! I cross the aisle all the time now, but was never even tempted to in the ’80s…probably because “male” at my high school meant wearing Axe-level spritzes of Polo, which wasn’t my bag. (That said, I haven’t smelled Polo since…oh, 1989? Maybe I’d change my mind on that, too 🙂 )
I posted a link to an interview with Henry Golding the other day. One of his favorite, go-to scents he wears is Portrait of a Lady.
When I first tried Portrait of a Lady, I thought, it’s not for me, but I would like to smell it on a man.
Ungaro Diva is spectacular! You smell amazing!
Hooray for overcoming the gender divide! I recently bought some “men’s” deodorant at Costco because I didn’t like the smell of the “women’s” ones available. And bonus, they’re bigger ;). It’s liberating to wear what you please, no matter the label.
I’m intrigued by the Diva! Which do you prefer, the edt or edp?
The EDP is richer and lusher than the brighter EDT. I never smelled the perfume but I bet that was a killer.
My Diva isn’t vintage, and I’m guessing it’s significantly less mossy, but it is glorious. You must smell amazing.
I have distinct early childhood memories of Chanel No 5 (the spray cologne specifically) which I thought was the epitome of glamour at the time. But even when I tripped down the rabbit hole I had no interest in wearing or even smelling it. It struck me as dated – and perhaps cliche.
Then I bought a book about the history of No 5 and figured I ought to have a sample of vintage extrait to sniff for reference while reading it. I was bowled over by its beauty and have been (somewhat obsessively) buying bottles ever since. Some years ago, I was pretty good at tracking my daily wears, and No 5 was always at the top, tied with Shalimar.
I started today very early in vintage EdT, and just sprayed some Parfum de Toilette. Glorious. But my true true irreplaceable, incomparable, unparalleled love will always be the Spray Cologne of my childhood.
Will also add that pre-perfumista days I remember running across a perfume review in which the writer insisted that to appreciate X Perfume, one MUST seek out a bottle of the vintage, which could be found used at (whatever shop.) I thought this was the most bizarre thing I’d ever heard of. Who’d want someone’s old, used bottle of perfume??
Turns out – ME! Just counted about a dozen bottles of No 5 – all of which I bought used, mostly vintage, in almost every iteration ever made. (Still missing the oil, which I shall rectify some day, and the gold fragments, which I shall not.)
Loved your story! (And laughed at the “ME!” Bit)
I’m still working on our relationships with No 5: while I immensely respect it and want to love, it hasn’t happen yet. But I keep trying.
Love this! No. 5 and Mitsouko are two that continue to elude me, but I shall keep trying. I’m right there with you on Shalimar, and my vintage bottles and decants are among the first things I gather up when it’s time to pack my irreplaceable-objects-evacuation-bags.
Oh, hey – did you see my comment the other day that I have a bottle of Galop to unload? Click on my username to contact me if you’re interested.
Yes! I sent you an email but maybe I mis-typed your address — I’ll try again.
No need – got the first email. Hadn’t checked my account recently 🙂
I relate to your story, in so many ways. No. 5 early versions, in vintage is exquisite. I’m with you, I adore the spray cologne, it’s my favorite version of No. 5.
I’ll add that I totally thought buying someone’s old, used bottle of perfume was strange. Then reformulations and discontinued fragrances became the norm and all of a sudden, Noooooo problem buying partially used bottles at all.
And despite the cost, the re-release vault/retro version of No. 5 is so tempting. I would love if No. 5, and Shalimar re-released their bath oils.
I have a teeny smidge of vintage Shalimar bath oil left in my stash and it’s amazing.
I have a thing for bath oils, Shalimar, No. 5, and Youth Dew are my favorites.
I don’t have any form of Shalimar except perfume but I’ve always thought their accessory products (I know there is a term for this, and that is not it) sound amazing. Bath oil sounds dreamy; I’m not a candle person but I’d love one that smells like Shalimar. And tea? Yes, please! I’d also love a bar of No 19 soap. Oh, and some No 5 powder, too – why not.
What’s this about a re-release vault version of No. 5???
Inquiring minds want to know – details, please; Robin, any scoop??
I’m late posting, but YES, details about vault version of No 5?
What a nice story! I didn’t like no. 5 many many years ago when i have first encountered it. But now, i love it!
Today, Shalimar Vanilla by way of Mexico. Before I really got into perfumes again, I felt Shalimar was oddly strong and just not me. Once I really focused on perfume as a means of personal expression and appreciation of an art form, Shalimar in various iterations has always been part of my collection. This Shalimar vanilla seems more like some of the much older versions I have had than more recent ones – there was a period in the 80s when Shalimar seemed dry and bitter to me. But what I have now is good. What goes around comes around! Live life joyfully, appreciating every moment, you know?
That one has always been amongst my favorite Shalimars. You smell utterly divine!
It took me a while to come around to Shalimar as well, but once I kept going back for little sniffs, I never stopped ☺
You smell good!
This flanker was one of a very few Shalimar reincarnations that I could wear (from the decant, though I should have bought a bottle).
I love the distinctive bottle! I feel annoyed every time I shell out $$$ for a lovely perfume packaged in a blah round or square bottle with a paltry black and white label… they are missing half the fun of it all…
Or shell out $$$ for a bottle with a crappy sprayer. On that front, Guerlain never fails.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
I’m wearing Old Spice. You know, the one in the drugstores. In the old days, I would never have worn a fragrance marketed to men, and certainly not one that I used to give to my daddy for Christmas. But, on reading NST and realizing that if you like a fragrance, gender is meaningless, I bought Old Spice and I use it several times per month. My next venture is to try to find a vintage version.
I don’t have VINTAGE vintage but I have a bottle from the nineties, and it is tremendous — and, weirdly, absolutely unisex. For something that’s pretty much the exemplar of men’s drugstore perfumery, it’s extremely ambiguous: it is, after all, a carnation-based floriental, with none of the cliché markers of men’s scents, no tobacco, no lavender, no bay rum, but lots of soft spices and flowers and vanilla. If you put it in an unlabelled bottle, lots of women would wear it. (I think that’s true of a lot of scents, in both directions: it’s often much less the actual scent than the marketing plus social pressure that genders a fragrance.)
I hope you find your vintage. Even in a newer iteration, you smell great.
I still bemoan that they discontinued their Amber scent – I wore the anti-perspirant for a number of years. Still have the body spray.
Way too hot this week to even contemplate perfume. About to head out for a walk, then will probably hole up indoors, till venturing out to water the yard after dinner. Can’t wait till fall!
As a teen, liked Cristalle and green scents. Now I surprise myself by liking categories that run the gamut from BWFs & florientals to iris-centric (still am not able to wear woody orientals, though I appreciate them on others).
This isn’t a temptation for me–colors are too warm–but check out this Edward Bess/Iris Apfel collab:
https://www.edwardbess.com/collections/lipstick/products/iris-apfel-birthday-celebration-set
TGIF!
I actually don’t have a perfume picked out for today’s CP because I would always give everything a sniff or a spray once and this was also true before my perfumista days.
Today I am wearing Zoologist’s Nightingale. What a beauty.
SOTD is FM Lipstick Rose.
I would never have worn this before my perfumista days, or even in the early stages. I spritzed it at Holt’s early on, as I was going down the rabbit hole, and all I could think was: “grandma’s pink-tiled washroom.” (And that was the old lady grandma I didn’t like visiting because she was fussy and outdated — still living the Midwestern 1950s in the 1970s & 80s…to be fair, she suffered by comparison to my very practical, outdoorsy other grandmother who had a farm and pets and horses.)
About 5-7 years later, a kind NSTer sent me a sample of Lipstick Rose when I got a travel size of another FM perfume, and I decided to try it again. It is nothing like my grandmother’s powdery, pink washroom with the crocheted dolly doilies over the toilet paper. (I can sort of see where I got that, I guess?) I don’t get any powder and I get loads of violet, which makes me happy.
You smell amazing! And I feel the same way about Lipstick Rose.
Even though my perfuming began in earnest around 2000 when FM appeared on the scene, I dismissed LR out of hand for similar reasons as you. But smelling it again in the past year, with a new appreciation for violet, I am a happy convert.
Lipstick Rose is my favorite FM!! You smell lovely.
I wore standard department store florals, which was all I knew about until I discovered niche in 2005. Then I discovered things like incense, leather, gourmands and went far afield. Today I’m wearing another pretty floral, Guerlain Florale Romantique, just because. Looking forward to the Vancouver perfume meetup tomorrow, it’s outside the Roundhouse Community Centre at 3pm. I plan to head across on the ferry early to explore a bit.
Enjoy the meetup! (Are people meeting in person and not over a Zoom event?! Wow, what a novel idea! 🙂 )
Yes, in person! (It’s outside.)
I got it, I was joking (and a little envious 🙂 ).
That meetup sounds like tremendous fun! I hope you have a blast. ?
My choice is a Big White Floral – Melodie de L’Amour. Would have never worn anything like this pre-rabbit hole, lest I suffer the misfortune of being mistaken for someone older ?
Now, of course, it’s wear what I want, all day every day…unless I’m suffocating my coworkers.
Are you sure that this is because of your hobby and not just because you are older? ;-p
I am still in an age range that companies deem worth marketing to ?
But certainly a little of both!
there are many, but thinking of Pulp by Byredo which I love as an oddball niche, but would not have known what to make of it!
I remember what a shock for me Angel was when it launched, so Pulp would have been completely out of question back then. Love it now. You smell good!
I need to try Angel! thanks Undina
You are not joking, are you? 🙂
Oh, good call. I love Pulp now, but 20 years ago would have backed away slowly. 🙂
Slowly?! You were very adventurous 20 years ago 😉
I’m wearing CBIHP Black March. If someone had said to me in pre-perfumista days “You’ll like a perfume that smells like wet dirt” I would have said they were very, very wrong. But I love it, and I love wearing it.
I love it too, and I’m the other way around — it was CB’s wet-dirt-laden fragrances for Demeter that first made me think, hmm, maybe there’s something to perfume after all…
I’m with you, Isabella — Black March helped me get more into perfume…along with Memory of Kindness. 🙂 You smell great, foxbins!
Happy Friday! I am sniffing samples from the Beautyhabit’s Les Parfums de Rosine sniffalong yesterday which I sadly had to miss due to an exceptionally lackluster work meeting at the same time. 😉
I think hajusuuri attended and wondering if others did and which ones they liked please…hoping it was recorded and I can listen to it another day.
Would like to point out that Macy’s has 15% off beauty and Nordstrom is price matching many items…no affiliation…just enabling.?
I attended the event as well. It was my first ever event of this type, so I’ll refrain from judging since I don’t know how those usually go. I bought it because I thought that it was a good deal for 6 samples (and the meeting was just a GWP 🙂 ). I would have preferred to get more of their earlier roses, but still was glad to be able to try several at home: after Barney’s stopped carrying the line (even before it closed), I didn’t have access to the brand any longer.
La Rose de Rosine was my favorite from the set. Had the vanilla one not been a dupe (at least in my head) for Diptyque’s Eau Duelle, I would have probably chosen it as a favorite.
Thank you, Undina! I have enjoyed sniffing them on paper but none is begging to be bought at this time. 🙂
And yes, the vanilla one is very close to Eau Duelle and Virgile as well.
If you have attended any of the virtual sniffapalooza events, this was essentially the same (regular attendees included). In my mind, the sample set, plus the anticipated discount on FB purchases, was a good deal for the cost. But I am extremely susceptible to discounts and already placed an order, so the store definitely got back whatever marketing dollars they spent to get me to attend the event. 🙂
What did you buy please? 🙂
None were begging to be bought…yet…ehaeheh but the day is not over.
Ballerina #4, which surprised me. Cardamom usually doesn’t work for me, but I couldn’t resist this one.
I’m curious about this, too. I got the Rosine sample set 5 or 6 years ago and it served all of my rose needs very well (most of my faves have since been d/c’d). I keep thinking about getting another sample set but it’s such an under-the-radar brand that I have no idea if their new releases are even worth smelling.
Is it Friday yet? Good! The work week was tough, I’m ready to switch off (but will have to wait until one-on-one with my manager at 4 PM).
For the CP I’m wear Arbole by Hiram Green:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTFWpdjve7t/?utm_medium=copy_link
I chose it because I learned about it from perfume blogs and bought it online. I’ve never seen the brand anywhere in a B&M store. So, if it weren’t for me falling down the rabbit hole, I plainly would have never known about the existence of this brand and this perfume.
I’ve been trying not to have a FB list these days as I have enough perfume to last a lifetime, but Arbolé has shouldered its way in there. So good, so weird…
It is weird! I think it’s one of the strangest perfumes among those that I love.
Ah, I used up my samples of this – I need to get more! Thanks for the reminder…
Dunno if they’re still making them, but I bought an Arbole travel spray a few years ago. 10 or 15ml?
It took me several tries to warm up to Arbolé, it was so weird, but now I love it.
Bulgari Black! I adore this perfume, but 20 years ago if you would have told me I spend ?on a perfume that smells like rubber tires I’d have LMAO. Usually Black is a cold weather scent for me, but in honor of today (and it’s cold and rainy), I dug it out and spritzed wildly.
This was one of my possible choices for today! A long time ago I wrote about it on my blog: it took me 15 years to come to love this perfume. And I did smell it when it was launched and laughed at it (and anyone who might think of buying that thingy that belonged rather to a hockey rink) 🙂
You smell great!
I love Black! It took me a while to fall in love with it’s odd beauty. I remember participating in a focus group when it was first released, the looks on everyone’s faces was hilarious…
Loved Black from the start – I remember trying it when it launched. It was in the women’s perfume section of either The Bay or Holt’s and I went back after an hour of sniffing my arm and bought it. I still love it.
Black was my rabbit hole scent. I loved it the moment I smelled it. And now 20 years or so later, it’s still my favourite (along with Dzing!).
I’m not CP compliant day as I am once again in slow explosions! Today’s CP did get me thinking about my journey in perfume and how my tastes have changed in the last 15 years. I sprayed a bit of Burberry Brit (my first big girl perfume, lol) onto a tissue to remind myself of the scent. I haven’t worn it for at least a decade. It’s making me remember why me in my early twenties liked it, but also why I haven’t kept reaching for it as I’ve gotten older. That said, the base notes are right up my alley, so maybe when I sniff the tissue a couple of hours from now I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I haven’t reached for my bottle of Brit in many years (I hope it’s still good), but I think I got this perfume after I tried SL and Amouage. Still, it seemed nice.
It is nice (although I wondered too if my bottle was still good, it’s over a decade old at this point)! I just think at 21 I was buying it more because it seemed like the adult thing to wear and not because I was absolutely in love with the way it smelled on me.
Same, same. I wore Brit or Lacoste pour Femme everyday during college, but haven’t reached for either in years. I should revisit them.
I was always a green girl. My comfort zone. Aliage, Chanel No. 19, O de Lancôme. I can’t really wear any of the scents that I have in the leather, deeper tones…it’s still summer. So, I’ll wear Insolence EdT, which I would have abhorred. Violet? Sharp opening? Horrors.
Ohh, Aliage, Chanel No. 19, and O de Lancôme are such beauties.
Bandit, Sikkim, and Azuree are favorite leather scents for summer.
Ooh! This just reminded me that now that I can wear vintage again, I have 2 bottles of Caleche to dig out.
Vintage Caleche is soooo beautiful!
I thought I had a sample of Bandit. I really need to try that again. I tried it well over a year ago and liked it.
Insolence edt: you will smell wonderful! I love Insolence edt and edp, and its several flankers.
What do you enjoy regarding Insolence? I am thinking of blind buying. Guerlains in general do well with my chemistry.
Wearing Edimbourg today, because it smells like gin when I first spray it. And it makes me think of Demeter’s Gin & Tonic. When I first fell down the fragrance rabbit hole several decades ago, Demeter so intrigued me because it didn’t smell like “perfume” you buy at the department store. A lot of scents were emerging that smelled different from the very perfumey perfumes of the 80s (like CK One, L’eau d’Essey), but Demeter made me realize you could smell like things and concepts and memories (Dirt, Tomato Leaf, Playdoh). So much fun!! I may not necessarily want to smell like those things now, but it certainly opened up my fragrance world.
Happy Friday everyone!
In search of Demeter Tomato Leaf, I accidentally bought a bottle of Tomato Seeds. Yikes! It might as well have been Demeter Toxic Superfund Site! I had to drain the bottle and wash it several times to get rid of the stench. I don’t know how Tomato seeds actually smell but they should sue Demeter for defamation:)
LOL at Demeter Toxic Superfund Site!
I remember being fascinated by Demeter’s library of scents. Tomato Leaf was one of my favorites too, though I’ve never bought it.
Dirt is one of my favorite Demeter scents!
I could have picked so many things for today’s CP, but I was feeling inspired by Tulipani and went with Portrait of a Lady. I definitely loved rose soliflores before my Serious Perfume Years kicked in, but I can’t really see college-era me wearing a patchouli-laden powerhouse like this. Also trying to regain a bit of my mojo after weeks of increasingly leaden emotions and this fragrance is all about lushness and beauty and strength to me.
I hope your PoaL is lifting your spirits!
Aww, honored to have inspired you. Here’s to the return of mojo!!
You smell just perfect! I hope it helps you to feel better as well.
Hope you continue to have plenty of lushness, beauty, and strength.
I’m going with a 70’s iteration of Shalimar EdT.
In my pre-perfumista days I would have thought this was a cheap, outdated perfume. I owe my new found appreciation for this beauty to all of you. Thank you for re-introducing me to this hidden (from me) gem!
Wearing no 5 edp. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be wearing no 5, let alone buy a bottle or two.
I feel like it’s just perfumistas who wear No 5 anymore (excluding the new flankers, which are very far removed.) I’d guess that if I wore it in public, it’d only be the AARP crowd who’d recognize it.
At some point in my perfume-obsession years it occurred to me that the fragrances that some people refer to as “old lady perfumes” are the ones that now-older ladies were wearing in their glamorous, sexy prime and stayed true to for decades. We really need to re-brand them as “1940s screen siren perfumes”!
I chose Timbuktu for the CP. I adore it but before my perfumista days I would have been puzzled and not in a good way.
You smell great! I could have (and should have) chosen Timbuktu for the CP as well.
Thank you? I still find it strange but in a beguiling way, it’s unique.
SOTD = Puredistance White
Gorgeous!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTFfXGFAzOC/?utm_medium=copy_link
Taking credit for the CP because I previously would have worn only one spray. Today – 3! I’m in the office.
Will be back to read the other comments later!
You smell wonderful!
I should wear my White soon (before the Labor Day 😉 ).
*Laughs*
I’m in SL Cuir Mauresque.
The first time I sniffed this from way, way back when I was just sticking my toes in the waters of “real perfume,” I literally gagged and flung it back in the bag with a bunch of other samples kind people had sent to me. No joke, I was horrified! I wretched, my face in a snarl of disgust.
It sat there for a good few years until I decided to resample my samples, and talk about a 180! I loved it. So much so that I ended tracking down a FB, which wasn’t easy, and snapping it up. I have the newer tall black bottle, and I do believe it’s been tamed a bit, but I still love it.
What amuses me most is thinking about other people’s reaction when I wear this in public (which I rarely do). They must think I just climbed out of cesspool! ?
It took me a long time to warm up to this one as I found it overpowering. Then I tried it dabbed rather than sprayed and fell in love. Applying less seems to allow it to open up and breathe more, leaving spaces between the notes to appreciate its beauty.
Totally agree. I usually do one full spritz around my diaphram area, and it wafts gently up to my nose all day. When I first took a whiff, it was directly from the sample container. Wearing it on skin, you get a totally different personality that morphs beautifully throughout the day, with delicate nuances rising and opening, like a flower in the sun. ?
Hmmm. I should probably try this again. My notes from when I sampled it are: “I am not interested in wearing this again.” 🙂
? I love that, and totally understand your reaction!
LOL Love This
I love Cuir Mauresque. Sometimes I layer it with a tiny bit of Rose Anonyme – the two meld together to make an almost creamy kind of note.
I’ve never tried layering it with anything. In fact I’ve never layered anything over anything unless it’s a body product of the same scent. I must lack imagination…CM seems, on me at least, to be a very “full” kind of scent that is so complex, a bit mysterious and unexpected, I’d be afraid of choosing something that didn’t work, and ruin everything. ??♀️
I get that. I rarely layer scents (except for a couple of suggestions I read here on NST), and have no idea what possessed me to try CM and RA together. Sheer luck that it made something I liked.
Cuir Mauresque is something I need to try afain. I sniffed it early in my perfumista days, and thought it was too leathery, but age and experience might change that 🙂
I often wonder about perfumes I initially detested then fell in love with. I have to assume that whoever smells those perfumes on me in the wild has the same initial response ?
Glad to hear a report on the profile of gratte ciel bottles. I like the rectangular 50ml bottles best for several reasons, but there are still a couple SL’s I’d like, and the new format is going to be my choice if I decided to jump.
I’m wearing Le Labo Patchouli 24 for about the same reasons Kelly Red chose Bulgari Black: when would the earlier me who preferred fresh, citrusy scents have imagined loving a perfume that smells like tar and burning rubber? But I do—love this!
Got my hair cut today at a new place, and like it.
Glad the new hair stylist worked out. The first cut with a new stylist is so stressful. After a few lackluster trials with new stylists, I finally decided I’d rather make the 2+ hour trip to my hometown for appointments with my long-time stylist than deal with the possibility of suffering for weeks/months with a cut I didn’t like.
There are so many perfumes that would fit today’s CP, but I decided to go with Diptyque’ s L’Ombre dans l’Eau.
It took me years to appreciate it and enjoy wearing it and I still find it challenging on some days. Which is why I should have chosen Timbuktu for today ?
Hey, I have a twin!
I still find Timbuktu challenging, but will keep trying.
I chose Chanel Bel Respiro for the theme. So beautiful, but before the rabbit hole I would never have thought of something like this as “perfume” – grassy green and slightly bitter, but fresh and airy. Just gorgeous.
Have you been able to compare the EdT to the EdP? I didn’t love the EdT but it was early days and I’ve been curious about the EdP. Same goes for a bunch of the exclusifs that I didn’t take to or just skipped.
No, I haven’t. What I have is the EDT, from a decanting site (back when decanting sites stocked Chanels), and I haven’t been brave enough yet to go find the EDPs in a store. Hopefully someday soon I’ll be able to find them — Bel Respiro and Sycomore are the two I’m most interested in sniffing in the EDP formulation.
*sigh* Yes, mine were decanted samples as well. I don’t think I have any stores anywhere near me that would stock them (I live in a region without a Gap or Banana Republic. Who’d have thought such a place existed? So low hopes on exclusifs…) but mfr samples of the EdPs are readily available on ebay.
I’ve sniffed some of the edps. As I recall, No. 22 and 1932 had something in the base that, in my opinion, made them much less pretty than the edt versions, although 1932 edt lasted about 10 minutes on me, and the EDP had a lot more staying power. On the other hand, Coromandel edt was chemical soup to me, and the EDP was quite pleasant. I’d say it’s worth trying anything you’re curious about.
I’m in Comme des Garcons Stussey Laguna Beach. I would never have known about CdG if not for falling down the rabbit hole, and I had no idea of the world of conceptual scents, only the perfumey things at Sephora. Now the conceptual ones are the ones I like the most.
Forgot to do my description exercise: It smells like the beach. It isn’t a sunscreen-only scent, but there is sunscreen in the mix, along with ocean water, hot skin, drift wood. Maybe a little bit of soda in the background. Some herbal notes (beach grass?). There is also a not-fishy-but-definitely-something-that-washed-up-on-shore-from-the-ocean kind of note.
This sounds amazing and wonderful.
Vintage Chanel No19 EdT in the pressurized bottle. I would have never been interested in this before I went down the rabbit hole. I wore Eau d’Issey or Eternity or Petit Chérie. I had not discovered my beloved chypre scents until then.
I sprayed No 5 from a pressurized bottle this a.m. It’s been so long since I’ve worn my vintage Chanels that I’d completely forgotten about the pressurized sprays and it took me aback momentarily 🙂
Surely you smell divine. I was shopping for vintage 19 cologne earlier and it’s crazy $$$. I ended up buying a little spray of the extrait, which was not (probably because it’s in Thailand. But for $30, why not take a little risk?)
You smell wonderful!
I also discovered No 19 only after I went “all in.” And I also used to wear Petite Cherie before that (still like it but don’t wear often).
I’m glad I discovered No. 19 in relatively recent years so that I didn’t have to clear away any anti-perfume prejudice to get to it! When I wear it now, I can shift the scent of it in my mind back and forth between a beautifully unified whole and an array of its constituent parts, like taking in the gorgeous juicy green of a Sierra meadow in early summer and then focusing in on each species of plant that makes the green happen. I love it immoderately.
I don’t really think my tastes changed a lot. I changed my attitude.
When I was 20 I was afraid to wear Opium YSL and 24, Faubourgh, because I thought that they are too recognisable as children of the 80-s and early 90-s
But now I just don’t care anymore. I embraced my love to all things dated and bought 2 bottles yesterday =)
I was also able to find a tester version of my beloved Vol de Nuit and now I can spray away with it without bothering to infiltrate a bottle of pure parfum with oxygen and dust while decanting)
Opium and 24, Faubourg are two of my favorites, although I was a teenager in the 80s, so am vintage myself.
Like several others, I’m wearing Shalimar today, in an EdC concentration. I found a 50mL vintage bottle of this at a sidewalk sale for ridiculously cheap–like $10. It was still in the box, unopened! When I bought it, I didn’t like Shalimar. I STILL don’t like Shalimar.
But, in pre-perfumista days, I would never have considered buying a perfume I didn’t much like in the hopes that continued sniffs would make me come around to it. I also would never have expected way back when, that half would be gone by now (on those continued sniffs, and giving samples for people who haven’t sniffed it yet, etc.)
Shalimar in the cologne “natural spray” format is my favorite of the vintage iterations. I’ve never been able to figure out if the “natural spray” is the same as the non-spray cologne.
Chime in everyone, but I thought natural spray just meant a non-pressurized spray.
For today’s cp, I’m wearing a fragrance with notes of lime, tequila and sand, which I highly doubt I would’ve worn in pre-perfumista days (did notes like these even exist way back then? I highly doubt it!).
SOTD is Tommy Bahama Set Sail St. Bart’s, which perfectly suits the tropical weather we’ve been having lately. Also, as my spirituality has become more and more rooted in my personal experience with nature, I have become mostly a seasonal fragrance wearer. Wearing a scent that mirrors what I see or feel as I look out my window or step outside enhances that feeling of oneness with nature I find so important, and so tropical, steamy scents such as St. Bart’s tend to be favorites of mine in August.
Although a Caribbean cruise is not on today’s agenda, I will be ‘cruisin’ over to Sox park for a game with our Crosstown rivals, the Cubs. In the spirit of the day, I’ll be wearing my Sox Hawaiian shirt and will treat myself to either a piña colada or margarita while I enjoy the game. Definitely a much-needed and welcome escape from this week’s dismal world news!
Hope you too can enjoy a mini escape from the real world this weekend!?⛱⛵️
Ohh, sounds like a great game. Sox/Cubs have such different fan bases. My mom was a diehard Sox fan when I was a kid. I remember going to some games with her- a real eye opening experience for me, because she didn’t hold back at those games. I think “enthusiastic” is a politically correct way of describing her behavior…!
Was your mom southside born/raised? I remembered you’re from this area in general originally. ‘Passionate’ is another descriptor. Sox have a fantastic team this year and are headed for the playoffs.❤️
It’s really great to see you here again; I’ve missed your and T-Rex’s adventures.?
Thank you, that’s very kind of you. I’m not sure what part of the city she lived in, honestly. By the time she married and had kids, we were in the burbs. She did mention helping an uncle in the summer with his hot dog cart downtown on the lake. I do know there was an interesting story about how my mom and dad met in the city. The stories differed a bit depending on who was doing the telling…?
SotD = Lumiere Doree. Very much sideways with the CP as this is something I would have appreciated then as I do now.
Hello all, chiming in late. My SOTD is Magie Noire, by Lancome. 🙂
I have no CP Points, nothing pre-perfumista days was off-limits. As a teen, I loved Youth Dew, Cristalle, No. 19, Patou’s Eau de Patou. Men’s scents like Guerlain’s Jicky, Givenchy Gentleman and Dior’s Fahrenheit.
In the 1990’s, I wore newly released ozone-scents like Henry Jacques Colibri, New West, and Clinique’s Wrappings.
Everything from soup to nuts!
Everyone have a lovely Friday!
Wow! You smell fantastic. (And I wish I still had my bottle). That and my bottle of Farenheit (which I gave to my hubby and he then gave to his Dad). I did ask him if he still has it but he can’t remember.
*Tips hat* to you: I used to love Youth Dew, and heavies like vintage No. 19, but I thought they were only for when I was grown up and could deserve to wear them. In my defense, though, I loved Heaven Scent, which if you’ve smelled the 1970’s version, was definitely not a teen freshie.
I adore Heaven Scent, I find it so very comforting. I hear you, I got into trouble more than a few times wearing my Grandma’s, mother’s (Magie Noire, Ysatis, Ruffles by Oscar de la Renta, White Linen), Auntie’s scents (Mariella Burani and Shalimar). We are definitely a scent-loving family.
Friday!
It’s a cooler day but beautiful day, and so that calls for lovely Boucheron, which is surprisingly lovely in warmer weather.
As for what I wore- I wore what pleased me and what I could afford- which was cKOne, and I wore that almost a decade- from a teen to my mid 20s. I went through BOTTLES of it. And then I just fell into the perfume trap!
I didn’t know that Jicky was a scent for men! (I’m not too Guerlain-versed.) I like it.
(that was my answer to SmokeyToes)
Hey Undina! 🙂
I love Jicky too. I remember as a kid, stealing a squirt from dad’s bottle and getting a distinct barnyard note, which I love. Thankfully, I spent a lot of time with horses, so mom and dad never knew I’d been snooping around.
The far dry down is such a cozy, fuzzy musk, and so beautifully done.
Was it advertised as a masculine? I thought for some reason that it was a unisex scent, pre-dating the current “for all” marketing.
I’ve also never been clear on Vol de Nuit, I think because the old bottles don’t look typically feminine. But it falls into the feminine camp?
I think, actually that you’re correct. It was marketed as “for all”.
I adore Vol de Nuit, I’ve not replaced my bottle but I need to. The trouble is my last few bottles were vintage, and well, the vintage is now as rare as hen’s teeth and priced accordingly.
I love Jicky three! And Vol de Nuit, for that matter. Both read very tomboy-ish to me but I don’t know who Vol de Nuit was originally aimed at.
Today I’m in Reglisse Noire. Who’d have thought about a perfume with licorice notes? My younger self certainly would not have.
Although in my early ‘fume days, I had a bottle of Cabochard, Lancome Magie Noire and Givenchy III (to name a very few).
Reglisse Noire is a marvelous perfume, you smell fantastic! 🙂
Why thank you! It really is wonderful.
Sure! I adore it, especially the dry down.
It would never have occurred to me that I would like a perfume note that I dislike in food, but surprise!
I’m not sure what I would or wouldn’t have worn years ago, but I’m thinking that one test would be things that took a while to click with me. Mitsouko might be one of those, it took me a while, then suddenly I realised I loved it, and a whole world of chypres opened up.
In my earlier teens, I would have chosen whatever was popular, I desperately wanted to fit in. Once I got a bit older, that changed. I still remember looking at perfume decades ago in a department store and being encouraged to try something that was the biggest seller – I think I was a bit rude to the sales assistant, now that I look back on it.
So it might be Mitsouko post-shower.
I love Mitsouko but still am thinking that it ‘wears me’. I might not have found my formulation or vintage yet.
I loved Patou’s Joy on others, but it never worked until I discovered a very vintage bottle that was all about the skank, at a vintage store. Sometimes, we just need to find that ‘decade’ that works for us.
Today’s chat has made me wonder if many of us leaned toward citrus and clean in our younger years for that reason – wanting to fit in and not draw attention to ourselves.
I definitely went through a clean & green phase, which makes no sense, as I wore Poison, Fendi and Obsession in high school.
Or maybe some of us in a certain demographic were just afflicted by the no-perfume clean movement of the 90s and early century.
This was meant to go up there ^^ as a reply to Gaynor
I wore whatever I could get my hands on, which was mostly Avon and Jean Naté until I got a job and could buy real perfumes (although I did share my mom’s Giorgio). My first big girl perfume was Poison and I wore lots of it!
SotD Iris Torrefie, for the CP. If not for starting on the blogs, and finally getting up enough trust to try splitting and swapping with *gasp* People. I. Have. Never. Met. I doubt I ever would have sniffed this. I only claim the most modest perfumista status, but if not for the blogs, I am sure my wonderful hobby would have fizzled out after I secured some vintage Je Reviens. Off to read everyone’s comments, and sending fragrant wishes for all to be healthy and hopeful.
You smell wonderful, and thank you for your last sentence.
You smell lovely ❤️ The blogs and perfume community are such enablers and a lot of fun!
I’m CP compliant in Uncle Serge’s Chypre Rouge. Red Hots, pine needles and honey would never have appealed to me in my pre-perfumista days, but now the combination makes my eyes roll up into my head with pleasure.
Your description has made me want to try it, because rather than despite the fact that those three notes don’t sound like they’d be good together at all.
No points for me today. It’s so stinking hot I went with refreshing. Sotd is Chance eau Vive.
Nice choice, I like that one!
Late to post but I’m in vintage Shalimar EDT for the CP. This is the only perfume I can remember causing me to recoil in horror as I sniffed under the cap. My mom received it as a Christmas gift from someone at work, but she never wore it because it was so not her. She was more of an easy, breezy florals lady.
I love the heck out of Shalimar now, but as a 10 year old I couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to smell like it or smell it on others. ?
Hi Twin!
If I were CP compliant today (I’m not, because I’m going easy on the fumes at my new job), I’d be wearing Atelier Cologne Mistral Patchouli. Before I became a perfumista, I absolutely hated patchouli. In my early rabbit hole days I learned to tolerate it. Now I love it.
Well, I’ve been basking in the glory that is Tubereuse Criminelle all day. Before sliding down the scented rabbit hole, I would have steered way clear of this one. Probably would never have tried it if it wasn’t for you fine folks at NST. Thank you, good people of the waft! ?
I remember smelling that one for the first time at the Lutens boutique in Paris. I was so shocked by the opening I told the SA I needed to go outside and think about it for a while. LOL.
So weird and so beautiful.
Wearing Diptyque L’Ombre dans l’Eau edt. Was strictly an oriental wearer for many years, went through a bottle of Ysatis but did not repurchase because it was “too floral.” LOdlE is not only a floral, but rose (a note I still find too sour half the time), and green, and with plenty of weird, funky, blackcurrant, which I had never eaten until well after I bought the perfume. It’s wonderful, but nothing I would have given more than the quickest sniff in my previous perfume life.
This is the first time I’ve worn it in about two years. I wore it a lot when I was first dating my now ex, and when I got out the bottle last summer and sniffed the sprayer, it made me very sad. Ran into the ex a few weeks ago with his current less-than-half-his-age girlfriend, and thought, what did I see in that idiot? Glad I can still enjoy the perfume.
SOTD (Saturday) is Chanel 22 EDP. New acquisition of a pre-owned bottle and loving it.. I’m not sure what I’d have thought in pre-perfumista days… possibly like it as I have liked Chanel 5 and aldehydes since I can remember. On the contrary, I remember being very shocked by Shalimar and wondering how could anybody like that!