Part 3- Fully fledged perfumistas- share your fragrances

[shoeprincess2]

Part 2 is nearly full!

That's very fast delivery flora. I quite like the sound of Bois d'Ascese. I like a bit of churchy incense. Today's scent is Tobacco Vanilla. My, it is sublime. It starts off very smokey and is reminiscent of the smell of rolling tobacco. It has now settled into a very delicate vanilla, with a hint of tobacco if I sniff my wrist very close. Longevity is good- I applied at 10am and I keep getting wafts of it. £135 for 50 ml is a lot, but would probably go for a 10ml decant. Tomorrow is Tuscan Leather

Clarins Eau Jardin is a gorgeous fresh grapefruity scent.

Quick hello from a mystery location
Ladies, once again, you have picked great scents and hope you will enjoy them. Isn't Parfümeria Neroli wonderful?

I've spent the evening with some of my RL perfumista friends (five of them in fact) and am wearing six scents simultaneously: the Guerlain boutique fragrances Rose Barbare, Angelique Noire, Cartier's Heure XIII, Tubereuse by Mona di Orio and Odalisque by Nicolai. I reek but these are rare and hard-to-find fragrances... Plus the dregs of my SOTD, Encens Mythique d'Orient. Total caco phony osmia...

Niminy I once took a taxi while wearing Une Rose Vermeille and the car air freshener matched my perfume exactly. I like the OTT jamminess of steam-distilled rose occasionally but it's not exactly easy to wear.

Flora well done, I haven't tried Naomi Goodsir's perfumes yet but Haber might be interested in anything tarry.

Oh and I tried 1932 by Chanel but am not sure about it. Our immediate reaction was 'hairdresser's' and 'hairspray'. Such an ordinary scent, we were expecting something more original and distinctive.

MmeSlag Pamplelune is notoriously difficult. I love grapefruit but find this one quite intimidating. Many people smell off aromas when they try this.

Clb happy that Heeley's CPF felt right on you!

Isabelle I haven't used LS lately but anything is possible - and they dropped their sample prices from £5 to £3.
Try some of the other great sources listed here?

Reenie one of my perfumista friends really rates Rossy de Palma!

Flora, I love the sound of Bois d'Ascese. Thank you very much for the tip. Will definitely be trying that!

OK, I have had it up to here with Cioco Rosissimo. I really really don't like gourmands. Anyone like to try it? I can post my mainly full sample. If anyone has anything smoky or tarry to swap, so much the better. But happy to post to someone without anything to swap as I really won't wear it again. I've never got to the rose part because the chocolate whack at the beginning makes me feel sick and I have to wash it off.

Some new limited edition Jo Malone's coming out if anyone likes this make. Ginger and Chocolate is one! They're on the website.

Would love to know what you think of Odalisque profumo ?

Hi everybody, I've been looking for my holy grail perfume for some time - a citrusy/lemon scent for summer (my other goal is to find the perfect almond scent for winter).

I thought I may have found it yesterday. After trying and buying loads of lemon-y perfumes (Perla, Lemon Cloud, Lostmarch Din Dan, Eau d'Hadrien etc) I had a spritz of Eau de Guerlain in Debenhams and couldn't believe it smelled so verbena-y and lemony. Not what I expected at all. I was completely sold but... half an hour later the dry down felt a bit too powdery and a bit too 'grandma.' Drats.

The search continues....

William Guerlains tend to have a signature soft base - amber may be a word you'll want to avoid. Have you checked classic colognes yet - they normally don't have a sweet amber base. If you read this thread carefully you might find a few related scents to try, and scroll back for suggestions for MmeSlag.

Isabelle Odalisque smelled great on my left elbow. A bit too much of a white floral bouquet for me (I normally don't wear white flowers, except a few jasmins and tuberose soliflores) but it felt stylish (not screechy scratchy) and might really work on you.

Haber, no need for you to waste time on gourmands, fruitchoulis and fruity florals (=current feminine main street offerings). But I bet you might find quite a few loves among classic masculines. Antaeus, Bel Ami, Yatagan...

I really liked Mona di Orio's Tubereuse and need to find a sample...

I bought a bottle of Cabochard. My goodness, but it is remarkably similar to Knize 10.

Good thought, ProFumo, thanks. So far all my new loves are masculines or very much unisex.

Thanks Profumo. It must be the amber - a number of the classic guerlains have something in the dry down I just dont like. That said I like Herba Fresca, Pamplune and a few others in that line.

I also try to steer from anything with Benzoin in it, has a funny formaldehyde smell to it. Lea St Barths for instance, supposed to be amazing etc. Ordered the bottle and... damn, that niggly smell of benzoin, like adding rotting motor oil to an otherwise good perfume! :)

Had a wonderful time yesterday smelling Serge Lutens perfumes finally. Glorious! Could have bought them all. Particularly drawn to Santal Majuscule. Has that hint of smokiness about it that I'm looking for.

Evening all, lots of lovely smoky perfumes you have all been smelling lately. I'm still on my mission for powdery/ make-up violets and have bagged a partial bottle of Guerlain Meteorites from ebay, hooray! I half hope I don't fall in love with it as it's not the easiest to find, being discontinued.

Anyone who is interested in Tableau de Parfums- Scent and Sensibility are now stocking Loretta and Miriam and have samples and purse sprays available. Think I will have to order some samples of these soon!

Fuzzy, you are clearly my anti-perfumista! I run a mile from anything lipsticky or powdery.

I really like the Guerlains on drydown. I was wearing L'Heure Bleue today; it makes me feel very "grown up" but it is a lovely daytime fragrance.

On the hunt for more samples - does anyone know where I can find Hermes L'Ambre Des Merveilles, Guerlain Tonka Imperiale or Dior Oud Isphahan?? In Europe, ideally.....

Cointreau - I love L'Heure Bleue. It makes me think of twilight in winter cities - bright interiors glowing at early dusk, frost out of doors, warm and luxurious coats, theatres and concerts and restaurants and all the glamorous bits of city life, and people in sophisticated clothes. And it's faintly wistful - like looking at the stars just coming out in a winter twilight sky, while the last glimmer of daylight fades.

Yesterday, I tried out another scent sample from Neroli that I've never heard of before. (If one's going to order from far-away Hungary, then one might as well try some far-out perfumes, as well....) It's called Ichnusa (apparently, that's an ancient name for the island of Sardinia) by Profumum Roma. Neroli describe it as smelling of the wild and windswept Sardinian coast, with a strong element of fig. It does indeed smell green and woody and faintly herby but also sweet and earthy. To me, it's more like coconutty gorse-flowers than fig, but perhaps that's because I'm not very familiar with figs. The sample was of the perfume and it's proved very long lasting. I can still faintly smell it on my wrist after over 12 hours. The gorse/coconut has faded and now no longer dominates, but it's still definitely there, together with a hint of herbs and something woody and bitter-sweet underneath. (Maybe that's the fig?) Would not buy a bottle, but am glad to have tried it.

Your description's lovely, flora; I've added that to my to-try list.

I'm still swathed in Malle's Une Rose after an injudicious three sprays last night. Sensationally good, I think - really has the deep spicy old rose scent I love so much. I don't get at all the frightening spikiness I've seen some people write about. I noticed the wine/truffle accords when I tried it on paper at Liberty the other day, but not so much on skin - but then I was asleep for much of its development. Might add another single spray this morning and observe more closely.

Cointreau- I have ordered a lot of samples from ebay, so you may be ble to get some of them from there. I know Scent Samples on ebay do a lot of the Dior's. I ordered Ambre Nuit from there and it is free P & P and quick delivery.

Fuzzy- I saw that bottle of Meteorites on ebay the other day and felt a little bit giddy to see it. Report back and let us know what it is like . i got the email from S & S about them now stocking Loretta and Miriam. I had emailed Ronny before Christmas and bagged the last perfume spray of Loretta, as it was going to be stocked anymore. I think I will now have to sample Miriam.

Charlie- I think I am going to have to get a sample of Santal Majuscule. Sounds like my cup of tea. I sampled Chergui the other day- not sure about it. It was a little meh, if I am honest. I fancy trying Un Bois Vanille, but don't know if i want to order anything from Les Senteurs anymore.

Just thought I'd jump in with my best and worsts been lurking for a while ...

Does anyone remember Cachet by Prince Matchibelli? My first ever perfume ..
Also loved:
Moonwind by Avon
Charlie (sorry)
Rive Gauche
Chanel No 5
Diorissimo
Diorella
Miss Dior (sensing a pattern)
O by Lancome (sherbet lemons on a sunny day - heaven)
Shalimar
Opium
Arpege

Can't stand:
Angel
Ysatis
Cinnabar
Dune
Private Collection
Aromatics by Clinique (actually makes me feel sick)
Had a great night at the theatre seeing Chicago ruined by the lady in front of me drenched in Ghost - eeuuccchhh

But, in all the years I have worn perfume, the bestest most favourite one is Narciso Rodriguez for Her. I wish it had been around years ago. I can't wear any other one since I found this ..... dirty heaven in a bottle.

Quite by chance (ha! chance had nothing to do with it) I popped into Johnny Loulou's today and essayed a spray of Guerlain's Chamade. Spring in a bottle! Both pretty and elegant (now that's a rare combination). Lovely!

Moonwind?! That's brought back some memories, Ladame. Ghastly - like granny's talc.

I'm wearing Ambre Narguile today; lovely and warming on such a bitter day. I've just ordered a decant on eBay which should keep me going for a while.

Cointreau- I did see a decant of Ambre des Merveilles on ebay too, I think about £15 for 10mls.

Shoe- I didn't expect to win the Meteorites! My strategy is always to bid the maximum I'm prepared to pay, then leave it and try to forget about it. Most of the time someone else outbids me but occasionally I get a bargain.

Ladame- I love many of your favourites, such great classics!

Niminypiminy- I love Chamade too, only tried it once but it went straight to the top of my wishlist.

My mum has told me today that she has a bottle of Max Factor's Geminesse, which Dad gave her in the 60s. She was amazed when I told her it's probably worth quite a bit, she likes to sniff it from time to time as it takes her back to their 'courting days.' I said she should hang on to it as you can't put a price on such lovely memories

Hi
Realise I am gatecrashing a bit here, but does anyone know if you can still buy Chamade by Guerlain? It was the first perfume my parents bought me when I was 15 and I desperately want to get hold of a bottle for all sorts of sentimental reasons, but can't find it at Guerlain counters. Can anyone advise?

Susie,
I wouldn't.
Perfumes have changed so much, and our sense of smell changes as well.
Nothing will smell the way you remember, I'm afraid.
Keep that memory and don't look back.

I'm sure coffee's right, susiefen: Chamade is very likely to have been reformulated beyond recognition, but do look a couple of posts above yours, where niminypiminy reports having tried some on today at John Lewis!

Coffee
You've just made me cry! But not in a bad way and you are probably so right. Maybe I need to celebrate and remember differently
Thanks so much, Susie