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Anecdotes by Artists La Villainelle, Ormonde Jayne Vanilla Aube & Parfums Quartana Bleeding Heart ~ fragrance reviews

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Are you still standing, after the gourmand wave — nay, flood — of 2025-2026? Or have you drowned in caramel-inspired compositions, marshmallow medleys, pistachio-pudding perfumes? Did you vow never to wear anything sweet, sticky or even remotely vanilla-centered ever again? If so, I’d completely sympathize. I’ve tried to dump the sugar and keep the spice. I’ve focused on my favorite florals. I’ve closed my eyes and nose to anything that mentions milk, mochi or matcha lattes.

But I can’t really change my deep-seated olfactory tastes: I do like to sniff a well-placed vanilla note from time to time. So, having taken something of a break, I allowed myself to venture back towards pâtisserie perfumery…

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The swapmeet, episode 29

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Chrysanthemum

The swapmeet (episode 29) is open for business! PLEASE read the instructions! (For those of you who refuse to read the instructions, please do not respond to anyone else’s comment except to say that their email address does not work. ANYTHING else you need to say, say it in an email. If you insist on responding to a comment, I will delete your comment. If you want to know how to swap for something, see #6 below!) For people who would like to chat in addition to, or instead of, swapping, there will be a poll along shortly.

Don’t know what swapping is, or you know but you’ve never tried it? See here. You can also take a look at the feedback from episode 3, episode 4, episode 5, episode 6 and episodes 7-8, episodes 9-10, episodes 11-17.

Please, do not participate if you do not have time to mail your items within the next three weeks! Hopefully, another swapmeet will be coming up in the spring…

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Essential Parfums Neroli Botanica, Regime des Fleurs Nitesurf Neroli & Donna Karan Cashmere & Tunisian Neroli ~ fragrance reviews

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In spring and early summer, neroli feels particularly right to me. Lightly floral, just a touch citrusy, bright and never too heavy, it’s a perfect accompaniment to unpredictable weather and my current variable daily schedule of work and play. When someone asks me what my favorite perfume notes are, I always mention rose, and often add violet, iris and carnation, but I somehow tend to forget about neroli — but when I look at my perfume shelves, I realize I have quite a few neroli-centered favorites. Here are my thoughts on three launched in 2024, which was practically yesterday (in my mind, at least) so they all still feel “new” to me. 

On a recent scent-browsing expedition, for example, I came across Essential Parfums Néroli Botanica (shown above). I have to admit I’m not familiar with Essential Parfums (too many brands, so little time), although it was founded in 2018 “to democratize access to fine perfumery while honoring the artistry of perfumers.” Néroli Botanica, Essential Parfums’ tenth release, is credited to perfumer Anne Flipo…

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The splitmeet, episode 25

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orchid-thirds

The splitmeet (episode 25) is open for business. PLEASE read the instructions! For people who would like to chat in addition to, or instead of, splitting, there will be a poll along shortly.

Don’t know what a bottle split is, or you know but you’ve never tried it? See here.

Please note that the intention of the splitmeet is to split newly purchased bottles of perfume, not to sell decants of fragrances already in your collection! Anyone can join a split, but only people with current, active reader accounts may host splits. Update: in other words, you cannot host a split if you have never commented here before the day the splitmeet opens…

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The swapmeet, episode 28

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Chrysanthemum

The swapmeet (episode 28) is open for business! PLEASE read the instructions! (For those of you who refuse to read the instructions, please do not respond to anyone else’s comment except to say that their email address does not work. ANYTHING else you need to say, say it in an email. If you insist on responding to a comment, I will delete your comment. If you want to know how to swap for something, see #6 below!) For people who would like to chat in addition to, or instead of, swapping, there will be a poll along shortly.

Don’t know what swapping is, or you know but you’ve never tried it? See here. You can also take a look at the feedback from episode 3, episode 4, episode 5, episode 6 and episodes 7-8, episodes 9-10, episodes 11-17.

Please, do not participate if you do not have time to mail your items within the next three weeks! Hopefully, another swapmeet will be coming up in the fall…

Read the rest of this article »

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