It’s Hump Day, National Oyster Day and Neil Armstrong’s birthday. What fragrance are you wearing?
I am on day 2 of the happy-making summer chypre Parfum d'Empire Azemour Les Orangers.
Reminder: on 8/7, we're doing Chypre For All Seasons: pick a season, any season, then wear a chypre that works for it. Suggested by Jalapeno.
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2026, where I'll occasionally manage to have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is The patchwork of countryside in late August [cropped] by Pasquale Paolo Cardo at flickr; some rights reserved.
It’s a warm day here and I’m hitting the beach after work! Wearing L’eau de L’artisan today-grass and that beautiful seaweed note. Is this a chypre or a cologne? Can a cologne be a chypre, too?
Lucky you!!
Pretty sure L’Eau de L’Artisan is classified as a green or an aromatic green or a citrus green…
But a cologne absolutely can be a chypre.
Enjoy the beach!
I saw 36°C (roughly 97°F) on the thermometer today, and tomorrow is expected to be just as hot—or even hotter! 😱
Anyway, I actually wore a chypre to bed, and I am currently wearing two different chypres! Extra points!
Chypre of the night: vintage Diva (a small quantity dabbed on the wrists).
Season: winter.
Chypres of the day: Perle de Mousse in the crooks of my elbows and Estée Lauder Private Collection (vintage) on my wrists. Applied sparingly and worn in an air-conditioned room.
For years, I’ve thought of Private Collection as a green floral, but there is also a school of thought that classifies it as a green chypre. So, it’s a double green chypre day for me.
Season: spring for both. Private Collection on its own can also be quite autumnal, but worn together, they are definitely a spring combination.
Many extra points! And do stay cool today Glannys, that is freaking hot.
ELPC is gorgeous, I would definitely consider that a chypre. Lovely!
Yes, I’ve been sniffing it all day and keep wondering why I have not thought of it as a chypre before. The dry-down is definitely very chypre-y.
Wow, you are hot, hot, hot! Does Kyiv usually see temperatures like that in summer?
I almost pulled out my dabber sample of Perle de Mousse earlier today but got distracted by goodies from Gucci.
Sometimes, but usually only for 2-3 days in a row. We had a very cool July, but then summer remembered it’s summer… 🥵🫠
I am not familiar with your SOTD, but I love L’Arte, also a Gucci chypre.
Gucci No. 3 is a floral chypre with a 1980’s green floral vibe.
Hello.
Sotd is Kayali Boujee Kitty Caramel Milk. A bit teen-leaning gourmand caramel scent but because it’s rather fun, I got a bottle.
Lunch today I am going to my favourite pho place but I’ll admit, I am there mostly because of their Vietnamese spring rolls (the deep fried ones not fresh rolls), as they are the best I’ve ever tasted.
I think that fun perfumes are a great addition to a collection; they can really lift a day.
I completely agree! 👍
I’m in a spritz of Rochas Femme today because it’s listed on my Nez magazine Coty Chypre geneology, which I’m following this week (except for the DSH Muresque, another fruity chypre, I wore yesterday).
The geneology lists Femme in a lineage following Coty Chypre, Mitsouko and Patou’s Que sais-je?
Plus, Edmond Roudnitska 🙂
Yes, thank you Robin. I meant to add that important detail!
No Chypre for me, although I do have a bottle or two. Instead, I’m layering my free BBW Orange and Ginger “Energy” body products under Lalique perfume from my little spray sample that’s almost gone. Will I buy a bottle? Hmmm…
OOTD is orange and white striped fake linen blend beach pants (keeping with the citrus theme) from Old Navy with a sherberty graphic T-Shirt (also from Old Navy), my cute little metallic Getaway Crocs sandals which I have not taken off all summer except when I got to work, and my Lalique Crystal Ball ring. 🔮 Suitably casual all around.
Still loving this ring! I was at a stop light the other day, staring at it, transfixed by the beautiful colors flashing in it as sun shone through-fire orange, sea foam blue, deep ocean green, radiant yellow and soft pink…Beep Mbeeeep! behind me because I didn’t realize the light turned. Oops, sorry! 🚦
Happy Hump Day!
Ha ha, that’s a funny story, and your outfit sounds very cute.
That makes me so happy that you are still getting so much enjoyment from your ring!
Thank you! The only piece of jewelry I love more is my grandmothers wedding ring. ❤️
I’m doing the CP by wearing LL Myrrhe 55 (Shanghai) today. It’s listed as a Neo-chypre on some sites where I did research yesterday, which was a surprise to me. It’s got myrrh, jasmine, and patchouli, so there’s your basic structure, I guess. At any rate, it’s beautiful perfume. As for the season, I’m going with winter, because of the inevitable association with the gifts of the Three Wise Men to baby Jesus. I sang that carol The First Noel for years in church with no idea what either frankincense or myrrh were, nor even that they were things with scents! How things have changed.
I forgot to associate a season with my SOTD yesterday, which was Ormande Jayne Woman. It’s got to be summer, since it’s such a green scent. It actually served me nicely out in the 95 degree sunny afternoon yesterday. My suspicion is that it’s beautiful in any season.
It sounds really good . I like myrrh perfumes and I haven’t tried this one.
As with most LL perfumes, the title note may not be prominent. At least at the start it’s surprisingly floral. But the myrrh is definitely there.
Myrrh + jasmine + patchouli? Oooooooooooooh.
But Le Labo’s price point? ACK!
SOTD will be Au Delà Narcisse after a shower. I have a zoom Pilates session this afternoon and I love having a beautiful scent wafting up with each deep breath. And Au Delà is about as beautiful as they come!
I also love wearing a scent while exercising, makes lifting weights and crunches a bit less painful
Au Dela Narcisse is stunning! It’s one of the scents we agree on.
https://www.mizensir.com/en-nz/products/crayons-parfumes-alpine-frost-caran-dache
I was browsing stationery yesterday ( as one does) and came across these scented pencils : a collaboration between Caran D’ache and Alberto Morales’ Mizensir. Expensive, but no more so than some lip / eye pencils I guess. It’s still cold and uninspiring outside, though I did notice tufts of daffodils and snowdrops yesterday. I’m wearing Daim Blond. I tried a perfume I liked yesterday, Morning Chess ( Vilhelm ) , a leather scent …but maybe I just like the story around it though ( playing chess in a wooden summer house etc. ).
ooh, big fan of Morning Chess here. You smell wonderful, Kanuka. My husband absolutely loves this one and It smells amazing on him. He has a bottle thanks to a wonderfully generous NSTer who sent it to me in a swap. I think that it’s perfectly unisex, but it smells so good on him that I leave it for him.
I will check those pencils since I love Caran D’ache, the idea of a scented pencils is great!
Wearing Mitsouko today. It’s an all-season one for me, but if I had to pick a season, I would say Spring.
The classic 🙂
Hi all, my SOTD is Bandit by Piguet, a few dabs of the extrait. This bottle is special to me, purchased from Jacqueline parfums in SF, now closed. I miss the owner, Andre, he was a (cranky) character but he had his charming side as well.
Bandit is definitely a chypre/floral, with loads of Galbanum, woods, and leather. This could easily be a summer or fall fragrance, it works well with both seasons, but especially in the summer heat.
I wore Futur to bed last night, although it’s classified as a classic floral, I definitely get a chypre vibe.
Mmm, you smell great, SmokeyToes. I love it how perfume conjures up memories of people, experiences, even moods from the past. I remember y’all chatting about Jacqueline and its cranky owner on FB Perfumistas.
Wearing Absolue Pour Le Soir…the 2024 rerelease…and it’s pretty dreamy. 😊 Some days a perfume just hits you in the right place.
The first time I sampled this, I thought…why hello, Cinnabar! but today I am getting a delightful honeyed chewiness that I am loving. 🥰
I didn’t even know there was a re-release, She-ra. But I do remember the original with its honey note that some loved and others found too animalic. I was in the former camp so I can say that you smell great today!
Thank you! I watched Persolaise’s review and he said it is pretty close to the original and compared them in the video. I sniffed the OG when it came out but never owned it.
Did you ever try the original release of Absolue Pour Le Soir, She-ra?
Yes, I did…but never owned it. Persolaise did a review of the redo and liked it and said it’s close to the OG. I never found it funky to my memory back in the day either but would be curious to smell the OG just to compare to the current. One can dream about an APLS Pepsi Sniffing Challenge of sorts. Ahhahaha 😍
I found it very funky indeed but I kindof loved it. It was thick in my nostrils in the best way and amped up the phenolic urinous but also sweet aspects of honey woven with strong animalic, warm horse and a stable that needs to be cleaned out. Sexy in a very we’re all mammals here way.
I love the 2024 release and haven’t tried the original so I can’t compare.
Yes, I sniffed the OG but never owned. I also wondered why some were scandalized by it then 🤷♀️Persolaise did a review of the redo and liked it so I am in good company. 😇
hah see above. A sexy sweaty animal that’s been rolling in dark honey. That’s what I got.
We are that is 😎
I’m in Aromatics Elixir today. Yes, it’s hot out but AE can take it.
Glorious! Have you tried the EDT? It’s less mossy/greens and patchouli forward.
I have not tried the edt! My bottle is the perfume spray; it’s not a vintage bottle, but may be 10 years old? The scent is slightly different from the original when you spray it, but the drydown is familiar.
If I ever see the edt, it would be interesting to compare the 2 side by side.
Aromatics Elixir is another 4-season perfume for me. You are right, it can take the heat. Just go easy on the spritzes!
I did go easy. Just 2 sprays. It was my “covid-don’t-get- too-close-to-me” fragrance; back then I’d do 6 or 8 full sprays!
Bwahahahaha!
haha I love that: perfume as covid repellent
I saw the AE Black Cherry scent at winners-wonder what it’s like? I really love the original-you do smell good, Gail!
I did try the Black Cherry version; from what I recall it wasn’t anything close to AE so I didn’t get it. At the time it didn’t interest me for some reason.
Thanks carole! AE is such a great fragrance, isn’t it!
SOTD is Zen (original “black”) solid perfume. Having exhausted most of the liquid perfumes I was wanting to acquire, I have now apparently moved on to solid compacts. I guess I can justify them by saying that I am not buying them for the perfume, but for the container. This one arrived in the mail today, so of course I had to try it out.
Fragrantica categorizes Zen as a chypre, although I had never though of it as one, but I will go with that so I am CP compliant. I do think I get some oakmoss among all the smoke and woods, so there is that. I find the solid to wear much closer to the skin than the EdC, which is good since I always consider this a “winter” perfume, and it is far from winter here, although thankfully we are only in the low 90s, and the Atlantic basin is staying quiet for now at least.
Some of the old Zen compacts are just gorgeous!
The one I got is the round metal compact with an embossed design in gold on a black background. It has a loop on top for attaching a chain so it can be worn as a pendant.
I came across it by chance on ebay. It was not very expensive, so no real damage done, but it got me thinking about the Estee Lauder perfume compacts. So many of those are really gorgeous and whimsical, but unfortunately many of them are very pricey.
I’m wearing Diva. I think the modern version is probably a bit less of a chypre than it once might have been, but it’s lovely however it’s described.
Everything is a bit less of a chypre than it used to be 🙂
Ain’t that true
2 nectarines (from Spain) today. How I love summer fruits, I do like apples and pears but not as much as strawberries, raspberries and peaches or nectarines. This morning I chose Infusion de Mandarine which kept me happy until mid-afternoon (it’s long lasting for a citrus forward scent) and tonight it’s Noir Epices, my favorite FM, it has some chypre elements but overall it’s too spicy and sweet to be one.
I remember being so excited for summer fruit when I was a kid, because it was seasonal. Not like now, where strawberries are available in supermarkets year round here.
My favorite fruit is a winter fruit — pomegranate — and you can buy those for a good 9-10 months of the year now too.
I have just thunked my last drops of the original Acqua de Parma Colonia. A chypre cologne that certainly has oakmoss, spice, and citrus in it and reminds me a bit of a slimmed down Mitsouko. Does anyone remember when AdP came in square bottles? Before the colorful blue rounded ones and the big international re-design, expansion, and roll-out? I’ve owned two partial bottles of this square bottle over the years and it’s a marvelous thirst quencher. The Italians certainly know how to do a wonderful cologne that stands up to the summer heat. it’s hot again in L.A. today so this hits the spot, as well as the CP. Thunk thunk thunk.
I sure don’t…those must be really old!
The weather is ghastly today, it’s in the 90s and the wildfire smoke is making the air yellow and irritating to the eyes. The ski area where I have a season pass is under an evacuation order and the webcams show smoke as thick as fog. I hope nothing burns on Mt. Hood, it’s such a beautiful place to hike and ski.
Today I am moving like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz. My quads are so painful I had to lever myself off the toilet seat using my hands. I am telling myself that this phase of strength training will be brief.
The very expensive roofers start tomorrow. I am expecting much noise and disruption. The port-a-potty has already been delivered!
I am wearing Villaresi Alamut today, still sampling. It’s a woody amber, I think it’s hard to make a terrible one, so it’s fine but I don’t need anymore. It’s just not very interesting.
How long are the roofers going to be there?
I hear you on the yucky yellow-brown skies. Hate seeing that almost as much as that evil green sky one can see when conditions are ripe for either hail or tornadoes.
Oh, I know that feeling in the quads!
Gloomy, humid and rain coming later, a good day to be home. Yesterday’s time spent volunteering at my library and then attending the National Night Out event here was so rewarding and I had such nice uplifting positive chats with both library patrons and our town’s police personnel that I’m savoring those good vibes all day today.
If my roses were growing near my herb garden instead of the front of my yard it would smell like my SOTD, YR Garden Party, damask rose with mint, the mint adding a delightfully fresh note to the rose making it a light breezy scent nice for a summer day.
Happy Hump Day! 🌹🌱
Yay for good vibes and good smells! You could make yourself an herb-rose bouquet to match since it is yuck outside anyway 🙂
Great idea! I never thought of mixing roses and herbs but will give it a try. Thanks for the idea!
There’s not much going on around here. It’s off and on raining and very humid. It’s only 75 degrees out, but it’s a sticky 75.
My sotd is Shalimar Millesime Jasmin.
Wish I could send you some dry air! I’d take some of that rain in exchange for it.
I’d rather make the trade in the winter. Lol. Heck.. I will send the snow for free!
And we will take all the snow you can spare then. 😉
Would you believe I heard Autograph on the radio this afternoon?!?! 🎶🤘
Moderate temps again today; it’s currently around 82 degrees F (28 degrees C). Delightful! I have really enjoyed not needing to run my A/C during the day. However, at night I do need to cool down my apartment in order to sleep well. I suspect my brother has really appreciated the drop in temperature since he has been on shift since last Thursday.
SOTD = vintage Gucci No. 3 from The Sample Stash. It’s a chypre! The topnotes are a little wonky, but after 15 – 20 minutes it smells great. Good thing I don’t have much left in my little dabber sample. Pairing it with late spring or early summer, when temperatures are typically close to what I am experiencing today.
We really enjoyed no a/c for several days and nights as well, but it’s back on now. Due to the nature of our home’s layout and different styles of windows, there are only certain windows that will accommodate our 3 room air conditioners. Unfortunately, that sometimes means cold spots and blowing air right where we might be sitting but we have little choice in order to keep our home livable.
It’s a rare treat to turn off the A/C in the summer, for sure!
Your brother really works some long shifts! I hope he gets a day off soon.
Yep, he has a 7-on, 7-off schedule. He likes it a lot, though.
Hello fragrant ones.
Silences today, which I believe qualifies for the green end of the cp. I claim it for summer.
Speaking of which, this one could be had for pennies just a year or two ago and I’ve notices recently the resell market has spiked *massively.* Fortunately I have a backup. I suspect this absurdly inflated pricing happens when too many of us get publicly enthusiastic about a d/c-ed frag. Much as I love Silences I absolutely wouldn’t pay $300 US for it. (The vintage L’Artisan prices are even more out of control. Maybe I should sell my bottle of Mandarine tout Simplement…)
$300.00?! That’s crazy!
Right?! The pricing out there is actually all over the map for this one, some almost reasonable, but most absurdly high.
I have some very inexpensive fragrances from years past that if what I read is believable I would make a fortune on! I have a mini of Silences I haven’t worn in a long while, I need to pull it out. I remember liking it a lot.
It is very lovely and green!
$300 for Silences?!? ZOMG. Talk about surge pricing!
I think it is also that the community of perfumistas has grown so phenomenally…there are just more people chasing after a limited number of bottles.
There is also a lot of misinformation out there. Silences was reformulated to be less galbanum heavy and bitey, so all the raves are speaking to the original formula but much of what’s floating around out there now is the re-issue. But a lot of sellers don’t know that so they are just jacking up prices willy-nilly and buyers who aren’t aware of the reformulation will buy it at the inflated price and then wonder what all the fuss was about.