Part 3- Fully fledged perfumistas- share your fragrances

[shoeprincess2]

Part 2 is nearly full!

I tried Serge Lutens Louve the other day and it was too many cherries and chocolate for me.

And for some reason Chergui smelt like dried Pot Noodles on me.

I LOVED Borneo 1834 though.

Sometimes perfume baffles me.

I liked the Turin/Sanchez guide. Sometimes it was too clever by half, but I find it really entertaining as a "dip in and out" book.

They dislike a lot of my favourites, but also give some of my favourites a great big ticker tape parade, which tells me my taste is sometimes great and sometimes terrible!

But actually there is no right and wrong with perfume. It's like poetry. Whether you love it or loathe it, your response is never wrong.

I'm loving the Heat Wave and really looking forward to the launch of Heat Tech (aka Beyonce for Him)

If you think bad names and purple prose are limited to the dime store end of perfumery, please grab a glass of champagne, avoid smearing lip gloss on that vintage ivory silk tuxedo brushing by (YSL), and join me and a crowd of outrageously styled men wearing Beyond Love (the new Black Orchid, surely) for cocktails at a perfume launch party.

Whew, I'm just home from there.

On my right wrist I'm wearing Good Girl Gone Bad. No, it's not by Rihanna, it's By Kilian. It's high-end niche, made by one of the best perfumers around. The bottle has a snake motif (we are in the Garden of Good and Evil, apparently) and costs much more than you'd think by smelling it.

The cocktails were really nice, lots of paparazzi and fashion people in attendance, I got a lot of eye makeup ideas (Cleopatra is back)? The perfumes? GGGB is slick, seamlessly well made, and utterly banal. The scent is something you would expect to get in a high-end hair product or shower gel. It's what you get when you pay premium for a concept that would also sell really well in Sephora. You could wear this to church. My daughters would love it - my mother too.

I'm not sure I've been to a perfume launch before where I haven't smelled everything they roll out, but I couldn't force it this time - I'm leaving Forbidden Games and The City of Sin to you, ladies

Kilian Hennessy looked cute and he is clearly a slick marketer and a clever crowdsourcer (for a while, you got a velvet pouch of his samples by friending him on FB). But he didn't take his shirt off or drape the python around his torso

I briefly stopped at Chanel and chatted with one of the SAs. Someone I know has been wearing 1932 today somewhere else, but no such luck for me.

Obviously, have not sampled the scents disliked by Profumo, above. But as a crepey , I cannot save self from occasionally thinking new scent = emperors' old and sadly lacking clothes. Am sure that many modern smells are (to most) quite lovely - but so many start off with fruit (peach/berries = an absolute NO to me, an instant headache) or else with something kinky - or do I mean emetic? - such as rubber....Ugh.

For instance (am I alone?) I just can't get on with most Tauers. Is this heresy?

Any examples of soul-uplifting, life-enhancing MODERN scents, fellow Mumsnetters ?? I like Eau de L' Hermine (but IMO it does not last long enough) and also don't mind L'Angeliqes Sous La Pluie and La Chasse aux Paillions. But neither of those last two means lurve, lurve, lurve....

Perhaps I should resign self to really old labels, Guerlain, Patou,Caron, etc...

Horrid thought strikes - can one be a perfumista trying too hard and ending up as scented mutton dressed as lamb??

I love rubber and tar and the slightly weirder more medicinal and pharmaceutical scents. The only fruit I really get on with is citrus, tbh, or fig. Sweet fruit smells like peach make me feel absolutely sick and I think there are far too many of them in mainstream perfumes. Ditto that awful sweet musky powdery smell that everything has in it these days. I haven't got a clue what it's called but it became absolutely unavoidable in the nineties and doesn't seem to have really gone away.

Ah!
Confession two - I'm on a roll - I haven't tried a Tauer yet.
I'm not going to tell you why because I'll get flamed.

I love tar and smoke but I'm happy with Eau du Fier. When my bottle runs out then I'll see.
I do think one can be trying too hard, but for me that would be going back to the classics.

I'm not going to tell you why because I'll get flamed.

You absolutely have to tell us now!

I don't think this is a flamey kind of thread. Everyone's too nice.

I know..

You rotter!

I haven't found a Tauer I like the sound of enough to bother sampling. I really want to like one as they seem so highly regarded, but I've read all the reviews for each one and the notes and descriptions but none have inspired me so far.

I am waiting for samples from les senteurs of Fleur nocturne, Carnal Flower, Vanille et Coco, and Teint de Neige. (why is there a limit of 4?).

Nah, nobody is getting flamed. Lots of perfumistas don't like Tauers. He has a signature style and uses some signature chemicals and it's easier to love him if you like very big scents and orientals. I have a couple of Tauers that I dislike intensely and avoid putting on my skin.

Not every perfumista likes Lutens (or should we say Sheldrake) either, although he really has changed what we expect from perfumes.

Annoying background noises in perfumes? My first choices would be ambroxan (go smell Molecule 2), cashmeran ("blonde woods") and Iso E Super (Molecule 1- synthetic cedar note). They are ubiquitous.

I like Turin/Sanchez because they know more about perfume than just about any salesperson I've ever met They also dare to make fun of a solemn subject that used to be shrouded in mystery and press release hyperbole. To me, they are like restaurant critics or Tripadvisor - making me aware of gems I wouldn't find on my own and saving me from a food poisoning or two. The book made me laugh (I love most one star reviews) and inspired me to smell hundreds of different perfumes - also mainstream stuff. They have their biases but don't we all
Le Snob is a great choice for someone who needs a more concise and less snarky guide. I find Basenotes quite good - you will get a range of opinions.

I have enjoyed reading Bois de Jasmine, easy to navigate and not too poncy. Profumo, or anyone else?, which Tauer would you recommend for a floral/oriental fan? I thought it was Ambers I loved, but after sampling a few like Ambre Sultan, I find these just too masculine, I actually think I like more floral notes in my orientals.

I wonder if you don't learn as much from smelling things you don't like as things you do. I sampled a few Frederic Malle perfumes and apart from L'Eau d'Hiver, which is nice but not wow-some, I've disliked them all. Of the Tauers I've tried I've only really liked one - Le Maroc Pour Elle.

I quite like reading reviews but often they are very gushing, and I sometimes wonder if there is something wrong with my nose that I don't experience the wonders that reviewers do. Quite often what I think is 'brings new meaning to the words nothing special'.

Been wearing Bois des Iles today, which was a case in point. (Btw CointreauVersial did you get the samples yet? ) I wanted to like it, but really I was a bit indifferent.

A friend who likes elegant florals likes Incense Rose.
Loretta is a tuberose/cough drop, Miriam aldehyde.
But it may also be that he has nothing that really feels truly you.

Incense Rose is lovely - v sophisticated. I think I tend to gush about perfumes sometimes but then you wouldn't bother to write more than a few words unless you really like or dislike something. I wouldn't, anyway!

Emperor's new clothes? Well, I'm a simple girl.

I am enjoying the experience of stepping outside the box perfume-wise, and trying new scents and sensations that I wouldn't have done otherwise. I really don't give a stuff which brand is which, and I'm not much good at putting into words the olifactory experience, but I'm starting to appreciate there is a whole world of fragrance outside the mainstream (and don't forget I spent several years working in that very business) and I'm having a bit of fun with it! Funny how we enjoy challenging and expanding nearly all our senses (food, art, music....) but I don't think I've ever challenged my sense of smell ......Maybe it is emperor's new clothes, but I don't think so.

Yes, I agree with Niminy; it's just as interesting to find out what you don't like as opposed to what you do! (btw, samples not arrived yet, but I'll let you know...)

I'm with Cointreau - for me loving perfume is about challenging my nose. A bit like music - sometimes the kitsch of Billy Joel is just right - and sometimes your eardrums need the dissonances of Prokofjev and Ligety.

I've learned a lot from smelling bad perfume. You learn to appreciate good craftmanship, great materials and also original ideas
I think the best way forward is to smell a lot and sometimes withhold judgment (not think "Do I like this?" but "What do I smell?"). When I stopped thinking of perfumes as clothes (or extensions of my personality) and started going for the experience, I really got hooked.

Not everyone proceeds like this. Most people are happy with one bottle and this is not anything they actively think about.

Systematic smelling has been really useful for me. Smelling all perfumes alphabetized under a certain letter in Sephora - smelling everything from a certain house - smelling something from each subgroup from the perfume wheel (I thought I was an oriental lover, but greens and leathers really make my heart sing. I thought I disliked fruit and white flowers, but have found quite a few exceptions. And I thought classic colognes are boring and fougeres just for men - now I wear and enjoy both). Or picking a note that piques your curiosity and smelling half a dozen different perfumes that feature it (osmanthus, anyone?). Or take a top 10 list - one of the many in Turin/Sanchez, or the top five or ten perfumes of a fellow perfumista, smell them all.

If you feel jaded with modern mainstream feminines, buy a bunch of vintage samples and work your way through the classics (a good book or one of Bois de Jasmin's series will help you understand them better). Or switch over to the masculine side and expand your horizons by spending some quality time with them. Or seek out some of the cutting-edge niche houses: CdG, Olfactive Studio, Odriu, Odin New York, Slumberhouse, CB I Hate Perfume, and yes, Tauer

For me, at the moment anyway, I feel as if i am on a journey, an interesting and exciting one, to find the love of my life. Along the way I have encountered a few frogs, some that were wrong for me, some that I thought were the one and we had a lovely time together, some that were good for a fling, a couple that were for one night only and a few that will stay friends forever. The journey seems to stretch out far ahead, but at the end is the most perfect perfect, impossible dream, the one and only!

I suspect the journey and the search is the best part of this fantasy though.

I've been happily monogamic for the past 15 years.
This allows me to be really promiscuous with perfume

Ladies, we are not swapping mugshots here, but give an olfactory snapshot of yourself! What have you been mostly wearing (or have worn at least twice or reach for when in a rush) during the past month or so?

I've been very busy with work and travel, and have not had much time to think about perfume. Easy/comforting/work compatible autopilot scents: Chanel 19 vintage EdT (green and rosy), Dior Oud Ispahan (rose oud), Malle Portrait of a Lady (patchouli rose), plus have been flirting with By Kilian velvet pouch (the tuberose, Beyond Love, is growing on me). HdP 1740 Marquis de Sade (dried fruit, immortelle, leather - smells like an old man's library) and Guerlain Tonka Imperiale (sweet, dense, heavy marzipan-rosemary) have also felt good too during the coldest days.

Good morning oh smelly ones
I've finished the Turin/ Sanchez guide. I did find it very enjoyable and as a die hard bargain hunter, loved some of the surprisingly good reviews for certain cheapies. Perversely, my current and not cheap favourite, Ambre Extreme, is panned by them but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that.

Profumo, I tend to reach for Coco at weekends/ evenings out. On weekdays over the last month I've worn Lovely a few times and also Lyn Harris La Poudree. Today I'm wearing original Chloe, another bargain!

This week has been mostly Iris39 and Not a perfume layered with L'Eté en Douce.
Also Nu EdT.
And a couple of time I just forgot to put any. The shame...

This thread is moving apace- just catching up! My LO is waking up EVERY HOUR!!! I am existing on next to no sleep, so my perfume of choice at the moment has to be the olfactory equivalent of mainlining caffeine. Loretta, Loretta, Loretta. I would say that pretty much sums up my profile at the moment. Along with L'air, Ambre Sultan, Shalimar and sometimes a dash of Incense Rose. I'm a bit of a stuck record at the moment, as I am holding back on sample orders for another few weeks, so will be adding some more to my fragrant drawer very soon...

Isabelle- please let me know what Fleur Nocturne is like, as it is on my list for the Les Senteurs order. Of course, I would also like to know what you think of TdN.

Fuzzybirds- Is Lyn Harris La Poudree worth a punt? I have some m & S vouchers, so they could go towards that...

Have worn nothing but Chanel Allure Eau de Parfum (not Eau de Toilette) for the past ten years.

Profumo- you are right about perfume being an experience. Working my way through a box of samples a dear friend lent me I had the following emotions:

Iris Poudre- I felt menaced and threatened like an enemy was in the room
Amouage Dia- cried my eyes out- the exact smell of my much missed grandmother's bedroom and dressing table.
Ambre Sultan-panicky and angry
Eau de Cartier- happy and smiley.
LouLou- bittersweet- the smell of my youth and freedom when I first left home.

I was wrung out by the time I finished. More emotional than music or old letters.

Shoe, La Poudree has been a real grower for me. Of the three I actually preferred La Fleur but shortly before Christmas M&S had all their fragrance gift sets at half price, but no La Fleur left in my local branch so I got La Poudree instead. To me it has a very classic feel, I get glimpses of Miss Dior in the opening and a soft, vanillary drydown which reminds me of Shalimar. Very good longevity considering the price and I think they have 20% off at the mo too, definitely worth testing. Last time I was there I tried Emilie by Fragonard- seriously strong and almost exactly like Paris!

YouOldSlag I know what you mean! Wearing Chloe today takes me back to my 18 year old self, I feel oddly self conscious and like I should be getting ready for a night out down the student's union