Part 3- Fully fledged perfumistas- share your fragrances

[shoeprincess2]

Part 2 is nearly full!

Thanks Profumo I shall look for Bigarade. I LOVE bitter orange in fragrance.

The ones I tried were Iris Poudre, L'Eau d'hiver and Musc Ravageur. I generally like something sharper and fresher or totally spicy/patchouli at the other end of the spectrum.

I will try anything with sharp oranges in.

Isabelle, I wore Pure Poison probably about 8 years ago so my memory is a bit sketchy and I can't remember the exact notes, but I remember it as a very dusky and seductive scent, with an ethereal quality. It was my going out fragrance at the time, for me more of an evening perfume but it had very good sillage and was distinctive without being overly strong or overpowering. Of course they may have changed the formula now!

I'm wearing Comme Des Garçons 2 today, it reminds me of the smell of leaky biros and those old copy books with the blue sheets in. Sounds weird but is actually rather nice, I like it!

I've been researching various violet perfumes and I think what I'm after is a powdery make-up scent, rather than a realistic violet plant, but not that über sweet Parma violet candy smell that so many violets seem to have. I'm sure meteorites would have been perfect but of course it's discontinued

Any ideas anyone?

Fuzzy-you need to try Frederick Malle's Lipstick Rose, if it is the old school makeup scent you are after. It really is reminiscent of the old scented powders and lipsticks.

2nd Lipstick Rose! Also HdP Moulin Rouge and YSL Paris. Steer clear of green violet leaf notes and look for violet flower notes softened by rose and/or heliotrope.

I have a box of violet samples too. Maybe I'll go through them in March...
The strangest violet scent I know is Unicorn Spell by Lez Nez. Like an astroturf pasture where My Little Ponies graze.

Liaisons Dangereuses is a close to skin powdery rose that smell's like Marie Antoinette's wig (edit out the lice). Very subtle and wearable, and still very much rose halva from Istambul, with the same squeaky cornstarch consistency. Subdued but inviting.

Brilliant, thank you both! I've worked out that it's the nostalgia factor that does it for me, I like many perfumes but the ones I really love trigger old memories- my Nan's lipstick or my Mum's make-up box with cream stick eyeshadows. I would love to find one of those little Avon daisy brooches with solid perfume in that I had as a child, anyone else remember them?

Ooh Profumo I love your description of Unicorn Spell!

Fuzzy- I remember those brooches! Avon used to make such lovely things and I remember some excellent perfumes but I don't rate their perfumes today, maybe Little Black Dress and the LaCroix ones might be OK, but I really think Avon should narrow their field and makes a few excellent fragrances instead of about 40 average ones.

I have some really happy olfactory memories of Avon products as I was growing up.

Me too youoldslag :)
I had one of those solid perfume brooches in the shape of a daisy :)
I thought I was the bees knees

Oooh you've just reminded me! When I was a teenager, in the mists of the mid-seventies, I used to love a solid perfume that Boots 17 did -- Juniper. I thought it was lovely, and it was so cheap I could buy it with pocket money. Those were the days!

Fuzzy I have a sample of Lipstick Rose going a-begging if you are interested?

Dominique Ropion's fragrances all seem to be quite distinctive, even if there isn't a distinct style to his fragrances as a whole [http://www.fragrantica.com/noses/Dominique_Ropion.html Another list here]]. Many of them seem to be Love or hates.

I love,
Sisley Soir de Lune
Carnal Flower
Portait of a Lady
Anglomania used to be amazing, it was so different, where did it go?
Euphoria, this used to be a favourite.
Alien sunessence, I have this from a few summers ago, it has a weird quality to it, like no other summer fragrance, something to do with the woods which I can't even describe, it's like it is translucent but heavy at the same time. It almost vibrates.

La Vie este Belle is nice if you want a fruity floral, more distinctive than most.

Lalique Le Parfum is one of his also and the description sounds really good and right up my street of florientals, has anyone tried this?

Pure Poison sounds promising, will try on the way to ballet classes on Wed!

Cardoon...if fuzzy doesn't want the sample, may I?
I love rose fragrances, but some are just too artificial for me.
One of my fave smells was my Lancôme blusher I had for years which was fragrances with rose...

Badvoc: I also have a sample of Lipstick Rose going begging (obviously it's a loveitorhateit kind of thing). Let me know if you'd like it. Also have Rose Vermeille.

Clearly rose is not my thing -- odd because I love, love, love the smell of actual roses.

Oh that's very kind.
If you don't mind?
I can PayPal for postage?

Sure Badvoc.....I'll wait to hear from Fuzzy first though.....

CointreauVersial that is kind of you but I've been offered a swap already thank you. Will report back once I've tried it

Cardoon, I have pm'd you with some possible swapsies

Has anyone tried any Jean Charles Brousseau's? Ombre Rose and Violette Menthe look interesting. Avon stuff used to be fab, my Mum used to buy me kiddy make up that was like very watered down stuff. The 'nail varnish' was like water with a bit of pink food colouring added. I imagine she bought it to try and stop me nosing around her dressing table!

Just a quick thought for Slag and other Perfumistas who like oranges.

Have you tried Borsari's Acqua Classica? It's a unisex cologne and therefore not long lasting, and has lemons as well as oranges (so that may rule it out for some), with a twinge of woodiness to follow. A morning smell, rather than an evening one... Nothing too fancy or complicated.

That sounds right up my street flora! Thanks for the tip off.

Niminy- have you tried L'ombre dans l'eau by Diptyque. It is a wild rose scent, rather than the jammy type of Rose Vermeille. I think you might like it...

I shall add it to my list! thank you!

Actually I did quite like Rose Chypre which was more wild rose than jam rose. But there's something about the way that rose scents develop that I don't like -- I love the rose opening but that's often the only bit I do like

MmeSlag you should also try Eau de Tarocco by Diptyque if you see it somewhere. Another burst of Vitamin C.

I need some Vitamin C: I'm getting diabetes. Rose halva for breakfast, People of the Labyriths by Luctor et Emergo (name ), that is pure marzipan for supper.

That's my problem with gourmands. I like them as comfort scents in small doses, but as the main course... I'm attracting flies

Fuzzy I have some Ombreau Rose somewhere. Need to try it.

For those who like an uncomplicated fresh rose, Une Rose by Frederic Malle and Rose Noir by Byredo are lovely and fresh. The jamminess in rose is a byproduct of the extraction method (steam distillation) - the rose is cooked by steam and you get jam and marmalade. Gentler exctraction methods (and their synthetic equivalents) result in a much fresher rose smell.

Re: must-smell lists, this one here is quite good - 100 fragrances every perfumista must smell - I still haven't tried everything on it. But as of today, I can cross Luctor et Emergo off the list.

Meant Ombre Rose

A morning visit to Liberty and a FB purchase of Ninfeo Mio, which I would never have known about without ProFumo - thank you!

Smelled quite a few Frédéric Malles there, too, notionally in order to find a mimosa for my mother, who loves them. Not sure Une Fleur de Cassie is quite right, though she might like the body milk when it comes back (they're apparently being repackaged) - L'Artisan's Mimosa pour Moi, which is more of a soliflore, may be better for her.

Anyway, L'eau d'Hiver - this is wonderful! Reminds me in its light floral almondiness of Heeley's L'Armandière, so may be worth trying by willaminajetfighter.

And Une Rose, which I found much more appealing than the three Tauer roses I've been trying over the last few days: Incense Rosé, Une Rose Chyprée and Une Rose Vermeille. There's something I find a bit harsh, perhaps citric, in each of these and it didn't seem present in the Malle - but I need to try it on skin.

Narrowly avoided a purchase of the Malle coffret of 5ml samples. There are so many I like there: Une Rose and L'eau d'Hiver, obvs, but also Lys Méditerranée, Carnal Flower and the delectable bitter-marmaladey Bigarade Concentrée

Did Liberty have the Malle coffret?

tempted

Yes! But I think only the feminine one - they've sold out of the complete one, I think. But I think Les Senteurs in Seymour Place have the complete one...