Part 3- Fully fledged perfumistas- share your fragrances

[shoeprincess2]

Part 2 is nearly full!

Back from my travels, lovely to be back home. Better yet, I found a couple of packages in the hallway. A mini of Safari by Ralph Lauren (wearing it now!). I remember liking it in 1990 and it's funny how well it was able to anticipate my future leanings - sharp green galbanum and narcissus over a light oriental base, pleasantly soapy. Made by Ropion. I've found more enticing perfumes afterwards, but the basic elements are right. And the freebie sample - Knowing by Estee Lauder. A scary perfume, my personal favorite from the EL line - I'm impressed!

The more interesting package was a bunch of new niche samples from Sündhaft in Munich (will start wearing them tomorrow). Very generous in size - can recommend!

I've been perfume free for the past few days. The dry frozen winter air amplified perfumes and many of them felt a bit off - shouty and screechy. Encens Mythique d'Orient kept me awake at night (normally I hardly notice it) and Ysatis felt smothering and made me feel very matronly and middle-aged. The perfume itself is well-made and pleasant, but I think it has been worn to death by slightly older women - those who accessorize with silk scarves, nude pantyhose and sensible heels

Evening all, I'm joining in with today's mainstream theme and have been wearing J'adore all day. An old favourite, stupidly sold my old half bottle of EDP on ebay months ago and have since regretted it so recently bought a mini EDT to compensate.

Bottleofbeer I LOVED Envy, I used to wear it to work all the time. I think I will give the perfume parlour version a go as old bottles on ebay go for £££. I also don't have much cash to spend on perfumes and am naturally stingy frugal and so I have a little list of inexpensive fragrances to try. I'm planning to explore some of Gres's offerings and some of the 'drugstore' classics mentioned in 'the guide' like Dana's Tabu and Yves Rocher's newer ones. Also from next Sunday I will be off to our local car boot sale to see if I can spot any fragrant cast offs amongst the piles of tat. I have a little dream that I'll discover a vintage bottle of L'Heure Bleue for 50p, discarded by someone's Granny. In reality, the most I can probably hope for is Sunflowers or Gloria Vanderbilt

Have also been meaning to try some of the Lauders as I've only smelt a few- Pleasures and Beyond Paradise and can't remember much about even those.

Welcome back Profumo! My mum used to wear Ysatis and you have described exactly what she used to wear to work at the time

Envy was LOVELY. Lovely lovely lovely.

What's the Perfume Parlour version, Fuzzy? I would love to know about this (saving my pennies for a full bottle of Eau d'Epices).

Fuzzy - Occitane do inexpensive and nice quality fragrances, and in small size bottles.

I've never tried Gucci Envy; seems like I missed out. DH works for P&G, who manufacture Gucci fragrances, but Envy possibly pre-dates this. Otherwise I might have had some samples come my way.

MrsS - I have concluded Sables is not for me. Anyone want to swap my sample?

I'd say Envy is going back about eight years or so now? The last time I can picture a bottle of it on my dressing table was in my old house and I moved here 7-8 years ago.

Bloody annoying that it's so expensive on ebay, it wasn't an expensive perfume!

Vanderbilt I think that was possibly the first one I ever owned, 1990-ish!

Splutters £75 for 30mls?

My god! 100mls was less than £30!

DH thinks he's seen Envy in the staff shop, but I'm sure he's mistaken. I will ask him to check.

Seriously? Get him to check TOMORROW! Also, please can I be first in the queue for a sample?

There is one called Envy Me by Gucci in a similar bottle. It could be what he's seen? or someone has old stock.

He is going to have a look.

The staff shop is a treasure trove of discontinued things, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility, but don't get excited yet.

Oooh loving the Envy saga!
I was in Portugal for work last fall and went to a perfume shop where nearly everything in stock was from late 1990s and early 2000s. Unknown and forgotten flankers. Eerie, but there are lots of places like that.

Safari perfumed my bed overnight - it's a symphonic multi-layered Ropion and on fabric you get to enjoy all the stages at once. I learned to know it on the scented strips in glossy magazines (did you know that they were invented for Giorgio ), and to me this perfume performs better on paper and fabric than on skin. There are very few other things that can take me directly back to the time I was 16 or 17...

Lots of exciting new samples for today. Not sure what to pick - lots of lovely ultraniche options...

Sables is really not the easiest perfume. If you like heavy, syrupy scents with a meaty edge, it might be a good choice - it's like salami sticks dipped in maple syrup (almond is a heavy sweet scent so almond lovers may have a chance). I have a friend who worships Sables. He's one of these people who can pull off really challenging perfumes few other people can wear.

March will be a fantastic month for a perfume lover. I got an invitation to meet lots of niche perfumers / brand reps at a shop (your friend Andy is coming too!) plus huge niche/artisanal/artistic perfumery fair Esxense will take place in Milan at the end of the month. The other big niche perfume fair will be in Florence in September. These events are unforgettable, so if you happen to find cheap Ryanair tickets be in Italy and want to receive samples to keep you going for the rest of the year it's really fun to attend.

SOTD: Cepes & Tuberose by Aftelier. Opens with innocuous orange Fanta - can't wait to see what is underneath

ProFumo - mushrooms?

Welcome back, Profumo. Safari sounds wonderful - as do the perfume fairs.

Am still working my way through samples. Today its Villoresi's Garofano. The sample comes in a tiny spray bottle, so I pressed the button and - whooosh. Am now surrounded by a thick cloud of clove-carnations and rose. Far too strong for everyday! Am not quite sure when one would - or could - wear it, in fact. However, as a smell, rather than as something to wear in real life, I like it. So far, it's very dry - the opposite of syrupy Sables, by the sound of it.

I have found some new loves - Thundra (mint and pine), and Azemour (VERY orangey, fellow citrus-fanciers!) - among the samples, but I have a few that I don't want to smell again. Would anyone like samples of the following, going free:

• By Night (Profumi del Forte, sold as 'for men')
• Aria di Capri (Carthusia)
• Divine (Boadicea the Victorious)
• Iperborea (Villoresi)

Ditto nearly full bottles of Cabochard EDT and of Coriandre EDT, both of which I seem to have lost my liking for. All these exciting new samples and smells are pushing the old ones out of the way!
Just PM me with an address and I'll post. First come first served.

coffee- indeed mushrooms. That is what puts me off testing this one. Love tuberose, but not with a smell of a soily cellar . Profumo- hope it isn't mushroomy underneath...

I was at a friend's yesterday and she let me sample her Prada Amber, as I was saying how i tend to gravitate towards that sort of smell. Wowzers, it certainly packs a punch. However, as it settled down on my skin, I noticed that it was reminiscent of Coromandel. Need to do a side by side comparison, but was interesting that a high street scent was a bit like an Exclusif.

Pah, my mum and dad are in Florence in July, not September. Otherwise, I'd have sent them off to the fair. Oh well, I'll just have to give my mum a list of scents to look out for.

I have a mushroom fetish (have lots of relatives and friends who pick wild forest mushrooms - so salmon with chanterelles or morels, risotto ai funghi made with black trumpets, or pickled mushroom salad with sour cream are everyday dishes in our household) so I had high expectations, but Cepes & T is not mushroomy enough for me. It continues effervescent and Fanta-like. Quite distinctive but not the prince of darkness I was expecting. Natural perfumery is tricky: the palette is limited, many perfumes are fleeting (the synthetics hedione and Iso E Super are commonly used extenders and enhancers - without them it's not easy to make something that stays stable on skin for a long time) and the final result can be banal (aromatherapy oils - the funky alternative vibe one associates with a holistic healer).

That said, I smelled some aromatherapy oils last week (the Julia Lawless line) and loved the piercing brightness of ylang-ylang, the up-tempo briskness of geranium and the unexpected mysterious darkness of mandarine (top note in many Tauers - not a ditzy satsuma smell - much deeper, almost incense-like). Worth checking in your local department store and testing to calibrate your nose.

Villoresis can be disturbingly strong stuff. Too strong for me anyway - I gave my samples away last year.

To me, pure patchouli is the smell of my grandma's potato cellar.
Dirt and soil. Again, worth testing aromatherapy essences to get the reference right.

I shall have a look for those aromatherapy oils. Speaking of which, anyone use Decleor? There's a really good offer on cheapsmells at the moment and I am tempted to try the night balm. Really good prices. Not sure if these night balms are really good though, and whether I should just stick to my serum?

I have a small bottle of What we do in Paris is secret waiting at the sorting office. It's by A Lab on Fire. Anyone tried it?

I've heard before that Prada Amber is similar to Coromandel. I've also heard one of Halle Berry's does too. I'll have a google see if I can find out which one as the name of it escapes me (although I have a feeling it's simply called Halle).

Yep, it's just called Halle. And it's on a buy it now on ebay for £12.

Tempted!

£12? Bargainous. I'll have a look...

With free postage. Bugger, I'm going to have to buy it now aren't I?

Haber- the Perfume Parlour version is called 'Gottcha Pride'- here. You can get a little 3ml bottle of oil for £2.25, I've only ordered from them once but no problems and got the special offer on 5 3ml bottles for £10. Three of them are very close to the originals, the other two not so much so it's a bit of a gamble!

Ooh bottleofbeer if you buy Halle, please report back and let us know what it's like!

My bottle of Meteorites has arrived but I'm already wearing Pure Poison today so will test it put properly tomorrow.

There's a purse spray of Halle on ebay- £1.99 plus a bit of postage (89p I think). I may have just accidentally bought it . Why don't you go for that one bottle, so it's only a few quid lost if it is rubbish?

Thanks so much, Fuzzy. That seems like a good price - definitely worth a try!

Looking forward to testing Bois d'Ascese and Spezie later, courtesy of the very kind florascotia.