Budding perfumistas walk this way- Part 2 of the Worst Perfumes ever

[shoeprincess2]

As the first thread is nearly full, I've set up Part 2

I was enjoying myself. I want some opinions on whether they sound vile or not before I commit though.

To be honest, a bit of flannel from a marketing company can make anything sound luscious, but I know that can't be true because I would never wear 98.5% of everything I have ever sniffed.

I absolutely love the sound of Le Parfum de Therese. I also rather fancy the Tauer Perfumes one. None of them sound vile! Go for it!

Ok, I'll confess, I found Parfum de Therese vile, but then I don't like melon in perfumes at all, so probably best to ignore me.

I'm happily using one of the Julliette has Gun perfumes, but it's their simple one - Not a Perfume.
I had high hopes for something called Amyris and smelt it yesterday, but it was far too sweet and wimpy.

FellatioNelson Juliette has a Gun do really lovely, quirky perfumes. They do a 'discovery pack' on the www.juliettehasagun.com site

The blurb on Frangantia says 'uliette Has A Gun is a fragrance project of Romano Ricci, Nina Ricci's grandson, initiated in 2005. According to plans, this fragrance line will have five women's fragrances based on rose scent, as rose is the best gift by a man in love to the lady of his heart. Romano Ricci started this project inspired by Shakespeare's tragedy; modern Juliette is armed, but equally romantic as before.

Designer Juliette Has A Gun has 9 perfumes in our fragrance base. The earliest edition was created in 2006 and the newest is from 2012. Juliette Has A Gun fragrances were made in collaboration with perfumers Romano Ricci and Francis Kurkdjian.'

Kurkdjian is a very well respected perfumer. He was apprenticed to Edmond Roudnitska, one of the greats, who incidentially designed Perfumes de Therese for his wife (one of your other links above).

So fill your boots. You need to buy samples first though or we'll smack your bum!

SorrelForbes Did you like L'Heure Bleu? I must try my sample again. I didn't like it much. Not sweet enough for me, I think

shoeprincess2 Desert d'Moroccan (or sumfink!) is really nice - I almost bought some last time I was at Les Senteurs

I've been into Debenhams browsing perfume this morning. Holy God there is some awful stuff in there. I'm disappointed with the current versions of both Paris, Opium and Tresor. They smell really thin and sour compared to how I remember only a few yrs back. Hypnotic Poison didn't do it for me either. I tried Chanel number 5 which I've never liked and actually liked it today - perhaps now I'm over 40 I'm old enough to wear it?

I've ordered some Jergen's body lotion from Amazon. Apparently its a lovely cherry almond

kiwigirl42 Yes, I like it but it's falling into that 'meh' category for me. I might be tempted to buy aanother sample/decant but I don't think I'd shell out for a whole bottle.

sorrel I actually thought it would be more like Shalimar, which I adore but I don't see much resemblance - in fact, I don't even get the usual Guerlinade drydown which they are all supposed to have

Julliette's Midnight Oud is lovely.
That's why I was so disappointed in Amyris - it's a Kurkjian one, japanese woods and iris, so I had really high hopes.

Awaiting my Surrender to Chance order. Does delivery take long?

Fellatio - addictive, isn't it? Just go mad and order loads of samples.

Anniewoo - StC took 1-2 weeks (my order arrived in two parts). I suppose it is coming from the US.

anniewoo- my order from StC took 2 weeks exactly. And they put a coffee sweet in the envelope . My scent and sensibility order is being dispatched tomorrow, so should get it by the end of the week.

I wore Gardenia Passion by Annick Goutal yesterday, as it smells of tuberose (and I do like a nice tuberose). However, it faded after a few hours, so won't be investing in that one. Fracas, I think, would be worthy of investment. Having said that, though, I still haven't tried Carnal Flower or Tubereuse Criminelle, so don't know how Fracas compares to them. Oh dear, that means I'll be buying more samples...

I have realised as well, that my all consuming addiction to testing beautiful perfumes has distracted me from finding an outfit for Christmas Day. Oh well, at least I'll smell nice!

oh don't worry kiwi, these are definitely only samples at this stage.

I have been on a perfume hunt this afternoon and I have come back with no less than 22 bits of card sprayed with stuff. I have decided no more spraying on the skin until I have satisfied myself that I like it at least a bit.

I found somewhere that stocks Serge Lutens which was a turn up for the books - never seen it in a shop before!

I'm going to sit here and do a blind sniffing of them all now - wrote the names on in biro but don't want to get led by the brand or the name.

Wow! 22 cards. That's impressive. You could do a live testing on this thread. Ooooh, reprt back your findings immediately. Vicarious perfume testing

Yeah but knowing me I'll hate all of them.

22?
You have stamina.
Go on, let us know what and what.

I'm back from a trip and love the conversation that is going on here.
I've worn No. 19 for almost my entire trip and no, I am not tired of it, I find a new facet at every wear.

Whoever was looking for hyacinths, a thread about them here.

I didn't like Le Parfum de Therese when I first tried it - I don't usually like fruity florals, and found the melon underwhelming, but it has grown on me and I've started to really enjoy it and would be happy to have a full bottle of it. It's such and elegant and radiant perfume. Makes me think of that diaphanous flowered gown in Botticelli's Spring.

I'm impressed that some of you have fallen for No. 22! (Possible things to offer to the mother who liked it as a substitute: Caleche, Amouage Gold, even the classic blue-black Rive Gauche). And if you want to try modern aldehydes, Le Labo 44 and Tauer's Miriam are great ones.

I detest Rive Gauge with a vengeance. Everyone I knew wore it at one point and I hated it - still do.

Right. I've sniffed blind and I've sniffed again, and separated into piles of Got huge Potential, ambivalent about, not me at all, and HATE.

The ones that made it into the Got Huge Potential pile both times are as follows

Guerlain - Encense Mythique D'Orient (I think it is exclusively for the Arab market her in the middle East so not sure if you will see it.)

It's bosky (I love that word, getorf taught me that on a thread about Guerlain perfumes ) and incensey and warm and mysterious without being too overpowering and some things of its ilk often are.

Amouage Memoir - in a similar vein to above, but maybe a tad too masculine?

Estaban (never heard of them before) Bois Plume, not even sure what category I would put this in but it smells very grown up and reminds me a bit of Mitsouko, which I wear a lot, but maybe with some Orientals in there? don't really know what I am talking about.

Also Estaban Tonka, but can't decide whether it's too masculine.

Dolce and Gabbana Pour Femme - not sure if that's the proper name, the sales guy was a bit vague. I really like it - smells soft, warm, pretty, unchallenging and a tiny, tiny bit of chocolate which sounds vile, but isn't. In theory I shouldn't like it but I do. It hasn't lasted well on the card though and I'm having to use my nose like a Dyson to get some up there.

Hugo Boss Nuit - I think I like it, but again it hasn't lasted well on the card and I'm struggling to separate it from other things it has nestled against. Too faint to even be able to describe it tbh, but again I think it is a user-friendly one that doesn't repel or intimidate me.

Van Cleef and Arpels Oriens (gorgeous bottle) and Aqua Oriens. I really like both of these in spite of myself.They are both light, pretty, floral, fruity, a bit watery - all the things I thought I didn't go for. Maybe I wouldn't be able to wear them, but I'd certainly follow someone round a shop who was!

as some things of its ilk often are.

I've just googled all of those and it's fascinating because I am starting to form a picture of the recurrent ingredients that I know i like now, which is very helpful. And the one I said smelt a tiny bit of chocolate was in fact vanilla! I knew it was sweet and I knew I would eat it, so I can I have one point?

funnily enough, one of the perfumes I liked on this mornings rampage was Lady Million! I picked it up just to see how crap it was and its actually very pleasant and smoothly made in a fruity 2012 type of way. Not for me though.

Looking at the accords, it surprised me that there wasn't more fruit:

Top Notes
Neroli, Bitter orange, Raspberry

Middle Notes
Orange flower absolute, Arabian jasmine absolute

Base Notes
Honey, Patchouli

My husband is complaining because of all these little cards lined up all over the place, and the house smelling like a bordello.

Well, I made my fairly unglamorous but satisfying trip to investigate Marks and Spencer today, and was surprised and disappointed to find that the city centre branch had very little to offer in the way of its range. BUT the more local store to me out on an industrial estate was FABULOUS. It was quiet, and the very young assistant was incredibly helpful and showered me with free samples. I also took lots of paper strips and wrote the names on them of stuff that didn't have sample bottles to take away.

I have to say that my nose is actually too overwhelmed right now to give a clear report, but my first impressions were that the Lyn Harris ones were a touch disappointing to me- too sharp and not warm enough for what I am looking for, but I think they would be good perfumes for work. I prefer something a bit more seductive and soft. I will give them another sniff later though.

I was very impressed by the Vintage Love in the Per Una range though, and thought it was a lovely young floral smell: I will definitely be getting that for my teenage daughter's Christmas stocking, and at £16 (and on a buy one get one half price deal, even less than that) for 100ml, it is very affordable and stands up well against things like Miss Dior and J'Adore which it reminded me of.

I have a couple of dozen samples to re-visit, but the stand-out one to me was Berdoues' Fleurs de Cerisier EDP for £39.50 for 80ml. I have to say also that I was seduced by the beautiful bottle with its traditional atomiser bulb, so I look forward to having that on my dressing table.

And DonaAna, my 30ml decant from the seller you linked me to also arrived this morning, so I am in perfume bliss!

Random replies to questions upthread:
Parfumeria Neroli is a good source for inexpensive Montale samples. They are rich, heady and very Middle Eastern. The longest-lasting perfumes I know.

Whoever is looking for classy but not too daring florals for mothers/MILs etc, three suggestions: 24 Faubourg by Hermes, First by Van Cleef & Arpels, and Joy by Patou.

Jicky is one of the most indecent perfumes I know. Let me know if you love it and dare wear it in public

Fellatio I'm still catching up but yy to sampling and trying everything. I've worn well over 1000 perfumes and am still curious about perfumes I haven't tried yet.

Juliette Has a Gun have an insanely strong and tenacious patchouli rose (Lady Vengeance?). If anyone loves that, they should look for other Francis Kurkdjian creations - including the ubiquitous masculine/feminine Le Male. He treads the fine line between sexy and trashy.

Anyone freshly bitten by the perfume bug, get hold of Le Snob - Perfumes or Turin/Sanchez. Reading one of those will take you knowledge about perfume to another level and give a long list of great perfumes to try.

Some of you have figured out what notes you love. Now you can search those notes on Basenotes or Fragrantica and perhaps sample some more. If you do not like something, you might want to return to it later. A bit like good wine, some perfumes are an acquired taste and you may not 'get' them immediately. Aldehydic perfumes and chypres (ie, most feminine classics) are often challenging for a novice.

I'm wearing Tabac Blond.

Great BOF - happy that the decant deal worked out!
Can't help it - Per Una perfume cracks me up.
Fellatio I have a sample of Encens Mythique somewhere. Was it saffrony? If you like it you may also like Montales and perhaps some Thierry Wasser Guerlains (L 'art et la materie series).