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!!!

Yes, I noticed it was UK delivery only and you're in Italy aren't you? (my grandma was from Padua, so I have quite an attachment to the country!) There's a 3 sample minimum so I'll plump for Pentachord White, Loretta and Fig Amarette. My perfume drawer is slowly filling up with samples in little organza bags

Yes I'm in Italy (but traveling at the moment).
I love the variety of samples. I actually prefer them to bottles.

I'm wearing La vie est belle again. I may be warming to this - it's such a yummy easy-to-wear thing. I wear more than my share of rare, challenging and conceptual stuff and hard-core masculines (spent yesterday swathed in Eau des Iles - smoky dry herby woods, Yatagan lite, love it), so I'm allowed to have a weak spot for the occasional mainstream gourmand. I might even be tempted to buy a small full bottle - passing through a duty free later this week...

This reminds me that I might need some Aromatics Elixir for winter (the fragrant equivalent of Fernet Branca - sinus-clearing stuff).

For me, Coco EdP is deafeningly strong even as a half-spray. Recommend careful dosing. If you can get someone to wear it and walk through your apartment you can get an idea of the dimensions of the fragrance. I like big perfumes with stately sillage, but for some reason Coco is too much for me. I also prefer No 19 EdT and EdP to the extrait for some reason - the extrait (of which I have a small sample) is perhaps too elegant on me.

Turnip- yes LouLou is so strong- it's the Incredible Hulk of scents. I loved it when it came out but when I sniffed it the other day I found it shockingly loud. I sometimes wear it round the house and think back on my lost youth.

Today I'm wearing Bvlgari Eau de The Blanc. Lovely, fresh and feminine, but very firmly in my comfort zone! If only it were a bit more assertive and long-lasting.

Back to the original subject of the thread - bad perfumes - I had the misfortune over the weekend of spending a 30 minute car journey squashed next to my 20-year-old niece. Lovely girl, don't get me wrong, but OMG her perfume..... I asked (between chokes) what it was. "Beyonce Heat, lovely and summery, isn't it?" I swear I was wheezing for hours afterwards.

What a wonderful thread. I've been inspired to try new things and I've bought a First EDT. Heavier than my usual style but wonderful so far. So thank you :)

My Chanel Exclusives samples arrived this morning. So far I've tried Cuir de Russie and Coromandel. Dh says they smell like Talc and Ralgex respectively!

Sorrel - Cuir de Russie was pure Imperial Leather soap to me. And Coromandel definitely needs time to settle in, but well worth persisting with.

Sorrel not everyone is into gourmands (Coromandel) or leather perfumes (look at the amount of hate mail Angel, a distant cousin of Coromandel generates). The latter are particularly difficult - and CdR is from 1920s, so perhaps more classic than many other options. I like both because to me they smell timeless and luxurious. Les Exclusifs are worth trying because they are well-made perfumes with good ingredients - but your personal comfort zone might be somewhere else altogether. I have a perfumista friend who likes bitter and green perfumes and thinks that patchouli and leather are suffocating. (She likes Sycomore and Bel Respiro.)

Being a perfume lover means that you are allowed to love weird smells. I enjoy quirky, strange things - the petrol-like tinge in tuberose, the smell of dry cleaning, the smell manure and hay. I also like camphoric smells.

Wearing Avignon by CdG - a great, nose-tingling incense.

I have a perfumista friend who likes bitter and green perfumes and thinks that patchouli and leather are suffocating. (She likes Sycomore and Bel Respiro.)

Noted. I hate patchouli and love bitter and green.

DonaAna. I wasn't expecting too much from Coromandel but I expected to like Cuir de Russie much more as I usually love leather scents. I do like it but probably not enough to buy a bottle (when I can pinch DH's Tuscan Leathet)

This morning I am trying Bois de Iles. Very pleasant and I could imagine wearing this in the summer. However, it's barely lasted an hour. OK, 28 La Pausa this afternoon...

I love Les Exclusifs - great perfumes - but many of them are EdTs and duration is a real problem with many of them. I like 28 La Pausa a lot but get a maximum of 2 hours' wear from it. Hence I always spray it on hair or clothes - this way it lingers much longer. Have not found a more long-lasting alternative of that specific type of perfume (ice cold iris) anywhere.

Sorrel CdR is an "old-fashioned" leather in the same way Tabac Blond is. If you prefer modern leathers, there is a lot to explore. I wear the masculine Antaeus a lot, and also like 1740 Marquis de Sade. Leather is a perfume genre that is steadily expanding - I need to retry Puredistance M. The most ballsy leather ever made is Knize 10 - too strong for me but many men swear by it.

I'm wearing Vanilla Intense by Nicolai today. It's a smoky, incensey vanilla, an easy comfort scent, but at the moment I'm not really enjoying it - I would prefer something more edgy and more challenging.

Hated Angel, regardless of its huge popularity.
Hated Daisy, regardless of its pretty bottle.
Have too much Chanel 5 because its all my OH will buy and like (hate) it (Hide).
Wish I could find L'Interdit again.

I really disliked Tabac Blond so yes, I think that 'old-fashioned' leathers probably aren't for me. I loved my sample of 1740 Marquis de Sade and think I might have to add that to my Christmas list. It's my current favourite alongside Feminite de Bois.

La Pausa is nice but as you say, no staying power. No testing No 18 and so far so good.

So, today I am wearing Ambre Sultan and I adore it. It started off very strong but has now settled to a lovely warm amber. It reminds me of Christmas and and is a really comforting smell. Perfect wearing for a drab rainy day. Yesterday I wore Portrait Of a Lady and it is very unusual indeed. A very subtle rose fragrance, but with also the smell of amber. I could imagine wearing it for an evening out- it isn't very shouty; more of a smouldering scent. On the back of that, I have ordered 4 more FM fragrances:-
-Lipstick Rose
-En Passant
-Dans Tes Bras
-l'Eau d'Hiver
I have an order lined up for Scent and Sensibility as well, but will wait a week or so before placing!

Ooh I wish I had my Ambre Sultan with me! After a day of wet snow and icy drizzle it would be very comforting! I have a very limited number of perfumes with me and will probably wear a big warm blockbuster - either L'air du desert marocain or Tonka Imperiale tonight.

Sorrel - I'm the same; I must definitely be a "modern leather" girl.

Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille today - one of the most sniffably delicious fragrances I've tried for ages. Has lasted all day.

I have a sample of Tobacco Vanille ready to go for tomorrow!

I just can't get on with the classics.
I used to wear - very happily - lots of Guerlains, and loved it, but now just don't feel like it.
Never got on with anything Chanel.

I decided to try Serge Lutens Fumerie turque today. Much more my cup of tea. I am obviously destined to smell like an old rolling pouch!

Sadly DH says it smells like pee on me. Oh well...

Thats a ahame sorrel! Wonder if its got cumin in it - that always smellsmlike cats pee on me. Serge Lutens Fleur d'oranger is particulary bad on me for cat pee smell.

I got my surrendertochance.com samples today.

Serge Lutens Rahat Loukhoum - lovely cherry/ almond top notes, fading quite quickly to soft musky vanilla. Too mild dry down for me. Spilled whole vial on sofa so glad its inoffensive! Prefer my Louve still

Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille - i like it in the vial but on me it smells like I have been in a smoky pub wearing Body Shop vanilla oil. Too fag ashy

Etro Heliotrope - unfortunately i think tjis has gone off. I need to email them. Smells like the almost empty old bottles on my Mums dresser did when I was a kid. Disappointed that they disn't notice. Off perfume smells like off perfume.

So will look forward to luckyscents.com order now!

Sorrel unfortunately your DH has a fairly unsophisticated nose - that happens sometimes. (I knew a poor girl who had to give up her budding perfume hobby because her SO didn't appreciate it and didn't want her to wear anything. That is actually quite common - many of my perfumista friends have partners who don't understand perfumes. I'm very lucky - DH keeps hitting my Leather Oud, Tobacco Vanille and L'Air du Desert - and I compliment him every time!) Fumerie Turque is one of the favorite perfumes of a very experienced perfumista friend of mine. She also likes ambers a lot and her other favorites are Ambre Sultan and Ambre Precieux. If you are interested, I can ask what else she loves.

I like a bit of pee in my perfumes. My problem with many of the mainstream offerings is that they are too clean - I don't want to smell like a laundry detergent or a fabric conditioner, I want my fine fragrances grounded in something animalic (the smell of pee, manure and fecal smells, dirty and earthy patchouli, the musky smells of matted fur or the smell of dirty hair). Maybe this is why I love perfumes with civet (synthetic nowadays).

Kiwi I have smelled Etro Heliotrope in the Etro boutique in Rome and have a sample. It's a dense, marzipan-like perfume, almost like Turkish Delight or something super sweet from a Tunisian bakery.

The vanilla in TV bothers me a bit. I used to love vanilla perfumes but I think my taste has become drier and crisper. I really love dry woods these days. I think I'd be more comfortable in a dry tobacco-based perfume...

I'm wearing Eau Lente by Diptyque this morning. Anyone who loves spicy and sweet should try this. Death by opoponax . The drydown is delectable, but like I said, I think I'm outgrowing some of my sweet perfumes.

I'm a Secret Oudh wearer. I like a bit of woody dirt too!