It’s Hump Day and Inventors’ Day aka Thomas Edison’s birthday. What fragrance are you wearing?
I'm sending a love letter to my lost youth in vintage Eau de Givenchy. (It is not actually discontinued, but there is no way it smells the same and anyway, it's never the same river twice, right? I am happy with the decant a kind reader sent me years ago.)
Reminder: on 2/13, we're doing Long Lost Love Friday...wear a beloved fragrance that has been discontinued, or a fragrance that reminds you of a beloved person, pet, possession or place. (Suggested by Old Herbaceous.)
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2026, where I'll try (but usually fail) to have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is Valentine's Day [cropped] by Mary Vican at flickr; some rights reserved.
Wearing the last of Tom Ford Shanghai Lily – another discontinued beauty.
Thank you to everyone who sent warmth to Ukraine. It worked! 😁 +3°C (37°F), and a thaw is expected in a couple of days. It looks like another cold wave is coming on Monday, though, so could you send a bit more warm weather, pretty please? 😉
Our temps were actually above 40F yesterday! Of course it’s cold again today but that milder air did feel hopeful.
Smelling wonderful as always, that was a beautiful perfume.
Working on it!
We’re losing some of our California warmth today, that’s because I’m sending it to you!!
California dreamin’
On such a winter’s day
😎
We’re finally getting some warmer temps in the Chicago area but I will happily share some with you!😘
House twins today! I’ll send you any above-freezing temps we may have. It was mild here today.
Please take all the warm weather you need from Colorado! Send us your snow in exchange!
Sorry, it’s -3C (27F) today – I guess I just can’t wait for above zero temps!
🙁
Sending you some of our summer. Hope it makes it!
A lot of the time I can’t believe a company discontinued a scent, particularly a beloved one, but I sure get why Serge Lutens discontinued Miel de Bois: it’s even more polarizing than Mugler Angel ever was and they can’t have been selling very much of it. But I love it! It smells like rich, complex honey and everything associated with it, wood and smoke and wax and flowers. I never wear it outside the house, but I’m home today doing chores and such, smelling, as far as I’m concerned, terrific.
pyramus I lonly had a sample but I loved it and agree with you-it’s beautiful woods and honey and flowers. Love your SOTD!
Best honey ever.
Yes!!
Great perfume. Lucky you to still have some
Love Miel de Bois! You smell great!
Y’all are bees in disguise.
It smelled beautiful to me! I could never get what people were complaining about. Now I wish I had bought a bottle.
I think I have a bit of Miel de Bois in The Sample Stash. Should try it sometime.
It’s a beautiful cold crisp day here-snow is lying right on every branch of every tree. In the coldest part of winter I love to wear delicate colognes-today it’s Guerlain Eau Imperiale. I love this scent. Somehow it projects more in the winter-like it projects more.
I have a great idea for what I’m wearing on Fri, and it’s thanks to a person who posts here 🙂
My sister feels the same as you, Carole – colognes in cold weather, whereas I usually only wear them in summer. I got her some Eau Imperiale and she sent me a pic of it this week saying she’s been wearing the bottle a lot.
Became very windy here overnight and Biggie Smols is doing a bit of a dance in the desert. I park N/S to optimize my solar panel absorption, so the E/W wind is hitting us broadside. No stars last night, too heavily clouded.
I’m CP compliant in Bvulgari Omnia. I have gone through an entire bottle and luckily was able to procure another before it became impossible to find or afford. Always appropriate, soft and gentle but doesn’t take any guff, different but not polarizing, accepting of all, even those with different perfume beliefs. If it were a religion, I’d say it’s reminds me of Buddhism. Don’t ask why, these associations just happen spontaneously in my head for some reason. My brain circuitry is ah, maybe a bit interesting? 🙃
Stay safe out there!
I was able to buy a bottle of this for a friend before it disappeared. Fortunately, she wears such tiny amounts of frankly any perfume she should be good for a decade or two,
How nice of you! Spreading the perfume love. 💕
Luckily I have a BUB of this. And I agree with your Buddhism thought.
Hope you stay safe, too. And aren’t prone to motion sickness.
I am in Tom Ford Plum Japonais, another beautiful scent discontinued long time ago. Two more wears and my decant will be gone. I regret not getting a full bottle of this one and Sahara Noir when I could. I adore Sahara Noir and I still have half a sample that I should finish before it evaporates.
Happy Wednesday! 🌞
I loved Sahara Noir, but only on my clothing! If you want to shell out hundreds of dollars there are bottles on evilbay
Most of the discontinued scents sell for hundreds and thousands of dollars on Ebay and other sites. I would rather spend my money on some amazing non-discontinued perfumes that I would love to have in my collection.
I didn’t even see Sahara Noir in the stores before it was gone. Talk about a flash in the pan.
It came and went so fast. There was not enough time to get it.
Like pyramus, I’m home today doing chores. I call these domestic goddess days and I always wear a ton of perfume. Today it’s my old favorite Shalimar edc. I’m not sure if this formulation is discontinued or not but I think it is.
Update on my mom: she may not qualify for hospice care anymore because she’s doing so much better, which is bittersweet. The care has been wonderful and I would hate to lose it but I am glad she’s doing well. Managing care at this stage of her life is like I’m running a small business.
Today I’m wearing Chanel Allure Body Mist — the one you shake and spray all over. It’s light, moisturizing, and leaves an Allure trail. Sadly discontinued.
I’m also testing drugstore foundations. Yesterday was True Match Serum Tint, today Maybelline Fit Me.
I finished The House of Doors, Robin — I loved it. Though The Garden of Evening Mists still has my heart.
Today will start Inheritance from Mother (by Minae Mizumura) It is a novel about a Japanese woman, Mitsuki, who returns to Japan from the United States as her difficult, aging mother declines into dementia.
I wear perfume and makeup even when I’m home reading — it’s part of the ritual.
Tea today is French Breakfast by Mariage Frères.
Sorry Robin- I meant this as my own post!
It happens! Sorry I cannot move comments.
I am likewise glad I started with Garden of Evening Mists, it was the best so far I think.
I hope things work out with getting kind, reliable care for your mother. Good luck.
Thinking of you with your caring for your mom. Can be so exhausting and difficult, but such a gift to her. ♥
Your mom is very fortunate to have a daughter as caring as you. Wishing both of you well.🤗
Every mother should be so fortunate as to have a daughter like you. So go on, time for a few more sprays!
Wonderful news that your Mom is doing well, but yeah. Definitely bittersweet to lose the care and support that she has been receiving.
Sending positive vibes and thoughts of strength your way.
I’m glad your Mom is doing better. I am sorry about the caretaker issues.
I’ve been out mushrooming recently and found some beautiful cepes ( porcini/ ceps) …enough for two delicious meals. It’s been peaceful just slowly wandering through the forest, all attention focussed on the ground, while listening to the birds ( mostly grey warblers ) Lots of boletes ( sticky buns) too, but I don’t gather them as they’re not nearly as tasty or nice, and can be a bit wet and slimy when cooked. Wearing the sadly missed Smell Bent Yard Next Door.
Ooh, mushroom hunting! So fun! We used to gather morels when I was a kid, in the woods in Michigan. It was fun to look for them but back then I didn’t enjoy eating them. Now they’re worth their weight in gold! What will you make with your porcini?
We make risotto or just a simple stir fry, or omelettes. You were lucky to have morels. I haven’t tasted them since I lived in France.
I hope you are feeling a bit better. You should definitely treat yourself to the new Zoologist perfume.
People in California keep poisoning themselves hunting for mushrooms despite multiple public health announcements and lots of news coverage. So I am glad you know what you are doing and I hope you had a delicious dinner!
Same thing in Colorado.
In Delrae Bois de Paradis. It reminds me of mulled wine, for some reason, so I usually think of wearing it during the Christmas holidays.
Talk about sadly discontinued perfumes!
Hi House Twin!
I’m wearing Jour d’Hermes. I have to take the cat for an ultrasound so I wanted something light.
Oh dear, I hope kitty is ok.
No…it’s looking like lymphoma. Seeing an oncologist tomorrow. She’s 13…torn about what to do.
Oh I am sorry, foxbins.
Awwwwwww. So sorry to hear about your kitteh. 😿
I am wearing Coty L’Aimant and drinking a cup of ginger honey tea
And I am now having my after dinner ginger tea…almost tea twins.
I’m one day late to the Safran Troublant party. So grateful to have pick this one up before the prices skyrocketed, and it was a blind buy to boot!
Yesterday I wore Le Jardin Retrouve’s Sandalwood Sacre, which really reminds me of my grandmother. I don’t recall ever seeing any perfume bottles in her room, so I think it might be from a sandalwood soap or powder she used. The scent is also fairly retro-smelling.
We are scent twins! My bottle is at almost thunk level but will take me a few more wears before it will be thunked!
When I think about it, I have a lot of perfumes that have been discontinued, but I guess that’s inevitable given that I bought some of them over 20 years ago!
I’m wearing the long gone Kingdom limited edition from 2004. I’ve still got the original Kingdom, but it’s not something I’d wear to work – there’s a lot of cumin in there.
I remember OG Kingdom! It was a statement.
Happy Hump Day all!
Sotd Love of:
ROMANCE- The Harmonist Moon Glory, but first commando for a doctors appt.
Hope you got some decent news at the doc today.
Echoing Jalapeno.
I’m not quite doing the CP but I am wearing another L’Artisan today because I turned it up yesterday in my search for Safran Troublant. My SOTD is Havana Vanille, which I remember buying in 2010 (because I took it on a trip to Australia with me). It’s a very seductive scent, and I love it, but don’t wear it often because I don’t want to use it up.
We are house twins! Hope you are feeling better.
Isn’t Havana Vanille discontinued also? Or maybe I just don’t know where to find it.
It got renamed and was reportedly different, and I don’t know if the newer version still exists or not.
Livre Blanc for the cp. This one was here and then gone. That’s kind of how it is on my skin, which makes it a work appropriate perfume.
We have been tuning into the olympics every night. madtowntwenty is so into it that she got a peacock subscription and we can watch on demand, which is nice. Cortina is absolutely beautiful and we decided last night while watching we should go there lol. This will probably never happen though because: flying. Oh well, we’ll just continue to tune into the olympics and enjoy the scenery. 🏔️
That sounds fun! and I’m sure they will get a travel bump after the olympics, right?
Working my way through an old (circa 2016 😉 ) Histoires de Parfums discovery set and trying Noir Patchouli today. I get leather and rose…quite similar Aromatics Elixir to the best of my memory.
I am thinking Ambre 114, which I tried and loved the other day, is the best of the Histories de Parfums bunch. 🤔
HdP used to have travel sprays for some of their scents. I don’t think that’s the case anymore, unfortunately.
Robin, happy 21st to NST! Without you, we (I know “I”) will be adrift in this perfume sea! Congratulations!
SOTD = L’AP Safran Troublant
Love, except it is discontinued. Why? My bottle is at its tail end. If I wear it 6-8 (?) more times, I may be able to thunk the bottle. Maybe? 🤷🏻♀️ I do have a BUB, so there’s that.
I have A LOT of empty candle jars and I am half thinking of just letting them all go except for a few special ones. I know you have been helpful in letting me know how to clean them but now I am asking what do you do with your empty ones? I almost feel like donating them but that could be dangerous. I would like to recycle but it could also be dangerous. Thoughts?
I use my empty beautiful candle jars to put brushes, lipsticks, glosses etc on my dressing table, some of the Diptyque ones are beautiful.
I will be doing this with the ones I save!
Keep in mind that some facilities may not accept colored glass. Others may only take glass jars and bottles. Otherwise, I’d say that recycling them would be fine.
Truedat in the colored glass although as long as it is glass and empty (not pristine) I put it in the glass and plastic recycling ♻️.
The ones I am worried about are the ones with wax remnants so I may just recycle by donating and clearly marking the box as “used candles”.
Thank you!
Frozen berries, pineapple juice and yogurt smoothie
Not seeing much sun all this past week, such is winter in the UK but, so far winter is quite mild. This morning for the CP, Ma Griffe extrait and tonight L’Instant Magic.
I recently got a travel spray of L’Instant Magic!
Yay for the travel spray, it’s also the right season to wear it.
I’m glad you are having a mild winter.
Someone ought to!
We got up to 40 today and was hoping more snow would melt…I’m sure plenty melted but still can’t see “ground” anywhere. Boo.
Thank you Lillyjo and I’m sorry yours has been so cold. The problem here is the lack of sunny weather, a bit depressing.
Your smoothie today sounded quite tasty!
The pineapple juice was a new addition and it worked.
Joining Aurora in drinking a smoothie for lunch. Babysitting our granddaughter who is finally napping.
Wearing the long-discontinued Pierre Guillaume Bois Blond. I still love it. Hay, tobacco and musk with a bit of green on top.
Oh, have fun with the grandchild!
😃 Smoothies are a very good addition to a healthy diet imo.
I’m in Guerlain My Insolence today; it’s beautiful, discontinued gem. I’m forever thankful to a wonderful NST’er who sent this in a swap. I’ll miss it when it’s gone!
I didn’t post my sotd on the weekend, but I wore Atelier Silver Iris on Saturday and Lancome LVEB Intensement on Sunday. For some unknown reason, I ended up spraying the inside of my shirt with the LVEB. This could be a way of using up a scent or 2 that I need to finish since there’s only a bit left in the bottle.
Silver Iris is such a beauty.
Isn’t it! I almost never got it; so glad I did when I had the chance.
The original Insolence bottles were SO cool!
Aren’t they? I’m glad my bottles are the original shape.
I enjoy many of Jeffrey Dame’s fragrances and had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago when he was in Chicago at the historic Merz Apothecary (smallflower.com). I especially like his chocolate scents in winter and chose Chocolate+Milk as my SOTD. Yes, the milk and vanilla notes add a soft creaminess but the jasmine and, especially, the rose mid-notes add quite a bit of unexpected florals to the chocolate. A nice one as Valentine’s Day approaches.💘
A bit cooler today but bright sunshine all day and the snow is melting! Looking forward to our monthly classic film series tonight on the big screen at our historic theater, When Harry Met Sally, a tribute to Rob Reiner as well as a Valentine rom-com.🍿
Wishing you a wonderful evening ahead!
Have not seen WHMS in eons, have fun!
Speaking of long-lost loves, it is snowing in the Colorado mountains this afternoon! Whoo hoo!
Still warm and dry where I am at, but I was very happy to see the big peaks cloaked in heavy clouds today. I dropped off my brother at the dealership to pick up his work vehicle earlier on. Hopefully the stuff that was broken got fixed on it.
SOTD = Diane by Diane von Furstenberg EdP, 2011 version. It’s a lovely powdered floral with a decent dollop of both myrrh and clean patchouli. Grabbed both this and the EdT when Sephora was closing them out.
You can really get some great deals with store closeouts. That’s how I got my Candy Night.
I think the Diane perfumes were 50% off when I got them?
Really enjoying the little whiffs and wafts I’ve been getting today. Might have to repeat this one.
Sounds like a great scent! I only have Tatiana in my collection.
Glad you got some snow. We haven’t had any since early December. I’m dreading fire season already! Hopefully we get the predicted snow next week! (Never thought I’d say that!)
It’s lovely! And something that changed my mind about violet notes in perfume.
Oy vey. I hear you about fire season. There have already been a few grass fires in various counties this month. Not something you want to hear about this early in the year.
Yay, snow at last! Your scent sounds pretty.
Thanks Aurora! I heard this morning that Winter Park, a large ski area, had received an inch of new snow in the last 24 hours.
I had rain where I live earlier this evening.
Was the line advertised as a close out? I never seem to know but then it’s probably for the better.
Usually when Sephora drastically drops prices on an entire line, that’s a sign it’s on the way out. It happened with the first version of Kate Walsh Boyfriend, too.
I’m wearing an older version of Angel today. It’s probably over 15 years old now. It’s much heavier on the patchouli, even compared to my 10 year old bottle. The problem is that It’s a mini. I took it out of the box today to find It’s almost all evaporated! I hate that.
No snow in the forecast for the next week.
Ugh, I hate that too. Enjoy what’s left!
I’ve used a little bit of plain vodka to resurrect dried out samples before. I do NOT recommend using rubbing alcohol. It will make things smell funny peculiar. Not funny haha.
Hope you can enjoy the rest of your Angel.
Enjoy what’s left, older Angel is so good.
Enjoy it while you can!
Woke up and I am STILL wearing Chanel’s boy from last night. I put it on after shower and woke up and it still there – not some leftover after smell but it has truly lasted as if I had just put it on a couple of hours ago… Incredible!! Yesterday and the day before I enjoyed wearing a full wear of Comete and I am absolutely smitten. Smitten with both Boy and Comete.
But while I love Comete and would love a full bottle one day, and I said the other day I can’t decide if I like Comete or Boy more I have to say…
I love Boy slightly more. I am absolutely enjoying it so much. It ticks every single box. Something about me just enjoying every second of it – and some 12 hours later I’m enjoying Boy incredibly.
I can’t splurge anymore at least for a little bit so I ordered a 5ml decant. Since lasting power is amazing it will be maybe even 15 wears or so out of it.
The other day when I got that gift sample of Boy with my 15ml parfum purchase of Beige, I said I smelled BABY BLUE. That impression has never left me. I just enjoyed pastel blue of a perfume. Beautiful. Unaggressive with its ability to last a long long time on me. But then I started to read into the notes and it said… Coumarin? I’m like where? Barber’s shop? What? What? But also lemon? How? It’s not sour at the least!! I’m saying I was just smelling the IMPRESSION of the perfume – I was smelling the overall composition, the effect it had. None of the notes jumped at me. None. Just baby pastel blue is what I got out of Boy. What a gifted person Polge really is. To make sure the wearer smells the EFFECT of the perfume and have no clue of the individual notes, even if they are a self-proclaimed perfumista. Because we, perfume people tend to pick out different individual notes when we smell a perfume. Most other people just say: “oh this smells nice, I like that” maybe they will say: “fresh or spicy” but that’s about it. People who love perfume as much as we do here will analyze what ingredients and different scent notes are part of the composition. Even when I smell Comete I must admit it definitely has cherry and iris in it. I can’t pretend that I am not smelling these accords. But with Boy? All I smell is this beautiful pastel blue hue. It’s a fougere without ever being reminiscent of a fougere in a straight forward way. I am absolutely mesmerized by Boy and I got knocked off my socks with this one. Dreaming of a bottle one day… Hopefully sooner than later!!
I have a question: have You ever had someone tell You, that when a perfume truly matches You – You can’t smell Yourself but others can? What do You think about it?
(I know which perfume match me – simply the ones I love and adore most, and I wear perfume because I enjoy it so much, others liking it on me is a nice bonus, and if I can’t smell a perfume on me after some time I put it on (I am excluding cases where someone knows they are anosmic to a certain case) I just think it doesn’t have the food lasting power, I love and enjoy being in my own scented perfume bubble).
P.S. As is the case of Coco by Chanel or Allure or even Comete and Boy – very very long time after putting it on I get a prolonged drydown, wiffs of the deep base ingredients that act as a nice afterglow. The very “frame” of the scent is still there and that’s what knocks me off my socks with Chanel perfumes and my favorite part.
Looks like after my shower this morning and while I’m headed to work I will be wearing my Sycomore Eau de Toilette… The Eau de Toilette has been replaced by the Eau de Parfum (which I also have bought from the Chanel website).
I bought an almost full Eau de Toilette Sycomore for… $45 at a garage sale….. Is it authentic? 100%. Juice had darkened and lasts forever and ever and ever and ever… It’s the real deal. Deep deep deep vetiver. The bottle is 100% exactly the same as the ones I got from the Chanel website and You can see: “Eau de Toilette” through the glass in the inside of the bottle. Yes… 45… US… Dollars….
I also got Iris Pallida bottle of the oil for 45… US… Dollars… They said they had more – it was an estate sale of a younger, wealthy person and they said they had more but someone before me got a bunch.
And yes they did at least know a little of what they had, because when I reached for the Chanel and exclaimed: “what? How much is this? Is this reeaaal???!!!” While grabbing it, they said: “yes it’s real, She collected perfume” and they added: “that’s why I’m selling it for $50, the other ones (Clinique, Shiseido, YSL were for $30) and they said they will sell it to me for $45 if I get it now. I was jumping up and down so seeing my reaction they could have just raised the price but it was already 3pm and the person who sold it to me looked wealthy enough, much wealthier than me for example and maybe they just wanted to wrap it up already. Well they surely made my day.
I got a little story to tell before I go to work: a friend of mine who likes to go thrift shopping asked me if She can get me a new purse (it’s a dear friend of mine not that it matters, I am not trying to brag at all, but I have treated Her to some Chanel perfumes and makeup and even real gold earrings – I am a giver my nature and I love spending money on purchasing nice gifts for my loved ones) because my old one was on it’s last leg and I said: “sure”.
I don’t usually thrift, but had seen some stories online where people buy a purse and it has money or real gold inside. Or they buy “costume” jewelry and it turns out to be real precious metals. Well I always thought: “wooow I would love if that happened to me”. But I don’t usually go to the thrift store – I love Ross and TJ Maxx, maybe because they are closer to my house. Well She got me a sweet little purse and some ballet flats (the ballet flats were too big and the soles fell out after one wear maybe because I closed my toes to be able to walk in them and dragged my feet) but a few months later I opened the little compartment and… Found… A nice and pretty thick 14k bracelet!! Real gold!! My friend commented: “this was God gifting You for Your kind heart”.