The Worst perfume ever!

[anniewoo]

Was in HOF today and as i have no money at the moment to spend (despite their sale) decided to cheer myself up with a spray ( or two) of their posh perfumes. Big Mistake- sprayed Serge lutyens Tuberose Criminale- and it was!!!! Well the smell was criminal- like camphor, moth balls mixed with wintergreen , that awful muscle rub stuff. Jesus wept and it lasts and lasts and lasts. Can't kill it off, despite Annick Goutal Ninfeo Mio on my other wrist. You have been warned.....Though i do dare you!!!

Fridge I have to envy anyone who can pop to Les Senteurs at lunch...
I know the panicky feeling of trying to cover a lot of ground in a few minutes and having to talk when I actually would prefer to just focus on the scent - this is why I started ordering samples home. I want to go through them at my own pace and without limitations, opinions etc imposed by salespeople. I have Habanita, Bandit and Noir Epices at home so it will be interesting to know what you think.

Shoeprincess maternity leave is definitely a great time for sampling perfumes (been there, done that) - you have ordered some great ones to start with.
My gateway drugs to full-blown addiction were Coromandel, Cuir de Russie, and 28 La Pausa, by Chanel; Farnesiana and En Avion by Caron; Une Fleur de Cassie by Frederic Malle, and Une Rose Chypree by Tauer. After that it was difficult to find anything very exciting at Sephora

Should I make a short list of easy-to-find perfumes to try to help people understand main perfume groups? Most people have a comfort zone of fragrances where they immediately feel at ease. Some of the preferences are inborn. My personal natural comfort zone is orientals, but I have found favorites in all other areas too - these days I just like well-made, interesting perfumes.

First EDT provided a surprise - 8-9 hours into it, it evolved into a lovely, voluptuous thing. Who knew?

Yes to the list DonaAna- that would be great! I always tended to go for orientals too, but am now getting bored with the high street ones. I tested D & G's pour femme yesterday and though "meh". I refuse to pay £40-45 for something that doesn't really do it for me. I need more (gosh, it is like a drug addiction, isn't it?) As much as I need to rein in the spending, I could justify a £60-70 spend on something that could be " a great love". I would just like a perfume that makes me feel glamourous, unique and expensive, if you know what I mean. I'm done with smelling like the next person. This is going to be an exciting bit of research!!

A list would be amazing.

Any of the celebrity ones; the Britney Spears one is particularly cloying. I worked in Boots one Christmas and almost died from rank perfume inhalation.

Angel also makes me heave, it's so heavy.

Oh,yes please to a list DonaAna it would really help us novices that are now hooked.
I want to buy my DD a special perfume for her 21st and was thinking of Seville a l'Aube as she went to Seville in her gap year and is studying Spanish. Penhaligon's also make an orange perfume. Have you tried either? Any others to consider?
How do I get a sample from Penhaligon's. I have already tried the ones in their scent library (and a few more they sent free with a purchase).

Yes yes to a list

This is a quick and streamlined high street list (need to go out ? have a life to live?) that has some mainstream suggestions. I do not love all of them, but if you smell them and like them, you can explore a family more. I left out floral and fruity because they are so easy to find anyway. Great orientals are easy to find in niche perfumery, mainstream is a bit sketchy these days. For some groups, I could only think of niche alternatives. Les Senteurs website has a good chart for niches.

Aldehydes: No. 5, Chanel; Rive Gauche, YSL
Citrus: Eau Sauvage, Dior; Acqua Allegorica Pamplelune, Guerlain; 4711.
Chypres: Miss Dior Cherie, Dior; Knowing, Estee Lauder; Yvresse, YSL; Mitsouko, Guerlain; Femme, Rochas.
Fresh/ Watery: Eau Parfumee au The Vert, Bulgari; Ck One, Calvin Klein; L?Eau de Issey, Issey Miyake; men's department: Cool Water, Davidoff
Green: No. 19, Chanel; Calyx, Prescriptives (lots more in niche)
Oriental/Spicy/Gourmand: Angel, Thierry Mugler; Hypnotic Poison, Dior; Obsession, Calvin Klein, Shalimar, Guerlain
Leather: Bottega Veneta EdP, (Cuir de Russie, Chanel; Bandit, Piguet) Men?s department: Antaeus, Chanel.
Woody: If you like Aromatics Elixir by Clinique, you should explore woody perfumes. They are underrepresented in mainstream women's department. Typical woods - vetiver: Encre Noire, Lalique; sandalwood: Samsara, Guerlain; patchouli: Coromandel, Chanel. Men?s department is full of woody scents.

A very wearable tuberose is La Chasse de Papillons, by L'Artisan Parfumeur.
Very pretty, very wearable. Some linden flower as well.
One other one is La Chasse Extreme, it's more a proper tuberose.
Worth trying.

I hardly get to wear perfume now, because DH is allergic. If anyone could recommend solid perfumes or anything else suitable to wear around allergy sufferers, I'd be eternally grateful.

Eldritch, if you like Philosykos, that comes as a solid fragrance formulation, mine was from Space NK and I think was around thirty five quid or so.

Diptyque do quite a few solid perfumes.
So do Lush, but their stores are too migraine-inducing.
The most exquisite parfum solide I've seen so far comes from Frazer. Like an amulet, and I love the one with coffee and orange blossom. More about them here.

Fridge I read the Perfume Posse list of great vanillas with my morning coffee and am now wearing Le Labo Vanille 44 that to me smells of freshly cut tulip stems. I have about half of perfumes mentioned on the list. Amber scents are made from labdanum and vanilla, and vanilla is one of the basenotes in many orientals. So it is possible to wear vanilla without reeking of Body Shop vanilla... For those on a budget, a decent vanilla and amber that are very inexpensive can be found at Yves Rocher.

Sorry, UK link for Diptyque solids. I absolutely love L'ombre dans l'eau - it reminds me of childhood summers and my grandma's garden: a Technicolor-green tangle of leaves, white midsummer roses and blackcurrant bushes heavy with berries.

Oh these are bringing back memories. Sone of them bad. I was cabin crew during the 80's , and the combined smell of Opium, Youth Dew, Anais Anais and Rive Gauche from the duty free trolley nearly knocked the ground staff over when we opened the aircraft door.

DonaAna I'm loving your input - I'm currently lusting after Pomegranate Noir but may be swayed somewhere else now.

Wow, this thread needs serious re-branding! From "worst perfume," to "your guide to fantastic fragrances, and how to get out of that mass-market perfume rut."

I am now £20 lighter, and awaiting a nice package from Surrender to Chance.

Incidentally, Dona's link for Frazer solid perfumes takes you to the store where you can buy Buddha's Fig which is a pretty good 25 quid substitute for Philosykos, I have both and they're very similar.

Nell you've been exposed to some real heavy hitters. Anais is a great classic, but if you detest it, white flowers and hyacinth are not your thing. For people who love Anais but want something simpler and more contemporary, Baiser Vole by Cartier is worth trying.

Badvoc was looking for an oriental rose. Not difficult to find.
Two options: rose-patchouli, very common in mainstream. For a cheap&nasty take, try Loud by Tommy Hilfiger. Hippie Rose by Heeley is a great niche version. My male friends rave about Le Labo Rose, Voleur de Roses by L'Artisan and Noir de Noir by Tom Ford - all of these are almost black roses in tone and do not remind you of old ladies or skin lotion. If you like slightly trashy, explore Juliette Has a Gun - they have cheap samples and a painfully intense rose patchouli made by the very sexy young star perfumer Francis Kurkdjian. I like a few of his Maison Kurkdjian things but JHaG is too girly for me.

There are other great oriental roses too. I love Coco EdP from Chanel but it is very strong overpowering stuff - nuclear bomb sillage. For the past months, I've been obsessed with Dior's Oud Ispahan (almost went out to buy it today). I also have mentioned that I love Safran Troublant by L'Artisan - a saffron rose, very comforting. And, finally, L'Ombre dans l'eau by Diptyque is an unusual rose - not oriental but green, definitely worth trying.

I agree with you about L'ombre dans l'eau, Dona, I don't like rose scented perfumes but I have worn that, there's something much more interesting and not particularly girly about it.

Oh and have ordered a Coromandel sample too ( I blame you )

DonaAna what would you recommend as a gift for a friend of mine who currently wears Coco Mademoiselle during the day and Coco in the evenings (and has done for some time)?

This thread has got me thinking about perfume all the time. My bloody mil, asked what I was wearing yesterday and like a bloody fool, I told her (Thierry Mugler's Alien). Now she wants to buy some. I mean, who wants to smell like their mil - hardly alluring for my dh and if it was, I would be worried.

Anyway, I have just ordered a big bottle of SJP's Lovely for bargain price of £22.67 from Amazon (100ml EDP), if anyone else wants to get a bargain. This is my emergency purchase, while I search out my perfect perfume. Someone up thread said it was like Narsisco Rodriguez For Her, which I know I like, so fingers crossed!

I've ordered a sample of L'Heure Bleu off ebay this morning - my go to perfume is Shalimar, esp the parfum but I thought I'd go sideways and try this. I'm a die hard oriental girl and ADORE the guerlinade base - would have loved to have snagged a bottle of Guerlinade when it was available. I'm going to obtain samples of Spirituese double vanilla, Etro Heliotrope and Apres les Pluies (sp?).
and explore heliotrope further - I love Serge Lutens Louve which is lovely vanilla and almonds but won't buy it again as it has absolutely nil lasting power or sillage. Which is amazing considering I can't scrub off some of his other offerings (Muscs Kublai Khan anyone?)

Sorrel I might give her a 15 ml purse spray of Ambre Narguile by Hermes - it's very likable and nor too big (sometimes offered on eBay), plus who wouldn't want a gift from Hermes? Or a Tauer Perfumes sample set with L'air du Desert Marocain, Incense Rose, Le Maroc Pour Elle and Une Rose Chypree. Buying perfume for someone else is always tricky, hence I might give a gift card and The Guide by Turin and Sanchez for her to pick something for herself.

DonaAna Thank you. I like the sound of the Tauer set. Yes, I agree, it's tricky to buy for someone else. To make it even tricker, in the past she's bought me two perfumes, both of which I really liked (one was SJP Lovely!).

Great Sorrell. Tauers are also available at Les Senteurs.
Kiwi, your taste sounds a bit like Olfactorias's. Check out her blog - some of her favorites might appeal to you too. Guerlain's L'art et la Matiere series might also appeal to you - I use Cuir Beluga and Tonka Imperiale quite often during the winter.
Karma when you get your Lovely you can read this (fairly breathless) article to accompany it.

Flower by Kenzo. On me, it smells of decaying flowers.