Part 3- Fully fledged perfumistas- share your fragrances

[shoeprincess2]

Part 2 is nearly full!

Oh, thank you, for your help. I think Les Senteurs is out. What shall I try at L'Artisan?

Or Chanel?

Seville a l'aube is a must as you can see from my posts. Any more oranges worth trying?

How much do samples cost?

Any Mitsouko lovers like Y by YSL too? My first Guerlain was Samsara, circa 1990.

Toddler group this morning, joy of joys. Made slightly more bearable by wearing Malle's Lipstick Rose

Auldspinster I'm most jealous of your Guerlain collection, I've only recently discovered Samsara and love it.

Harbinger I've been to the L'Artisan covent garden shop but not sure if they give samples away for free...they gave me two with a FB purchase. Also they will fill up a travel spray for you for £15 and sometimes they have offers on their discovery sets of mini bottles.

Profumo I would be over the moon to find something wonderful at a car boot or jumble sale, I know I've seen the odd Cacharel there before so fingers crossed I'll get lucky at some point!

I've got a lovely discontinued Guerlain called Terracotta Voile de Ete, great for summer. Also got some Guerlain misfires the blah Purple Fantasy and frankly bogging Mahora.

Just popped in for my daily sniff.....

A slow day on this thread - ladies what are you sniffing?

I've thoroughly enjoyed Mossy Breches by Tom Ford all day. (A discontinued gem.) This has a retro 1970s feel, much like the mossy green wall to wall carpet we had in our apartment back then. Or imagine a forest green corduroy lounge suit... This is quite similar in feel with lots of retro masculine fragrances I like - Antaeus, Yatagan etc. Extremely comfortable and relaxing. Contains patchouli but it blends in harmoniously.

Tom Ford fragrances are for the most part really solid quality. Can recommend them. Somewhat overpriced though - recommend decants.

I did also some reading about sandalwood last night. Fascinating tidbits in perfumery books don't ask It's smell is sometimes compared to that of unsalted butter!

Oh and Auld they say Mahora was a marketing disaster in the US.
Am surprised that the rappers didn't pick it up . Check out the bottle too!

The bottle was the best thing about it, pity about the contents. I took delivery of Cabochard this morning, like a gentler little sister to Bandit and a snip at £8.

Have been travelling since 6am and am really, really tired. Am attempting to revive self with quick blast of a v. sharp and crisp favourite: Fou d'Absinthe. I think this a like-it-or-loathe-it scent - (if you don't like aniseed, you don't like aniseed) - and it's very masculine, at least to begin with. But I think it's doing the trick! Will deffo take it on next long journey....

Do other Perfumistas have favourite anise scents? Perhaps a wee bit less assertive than this one?

A new one today - Hermes L'Ambre des Merveilles, which I snagged on eBay. I had high hopes of this one. Gorgeous burnt sugar to start, lovely vanilla, but something in it makes my nose hurt, particularly close up (note to self - stop sniffing wrists and just enjoy the wafts ). Nice, though.

I tried a sample of Annick Goutal Eau du Sud. It's a bit sharp for me. It's described as 'Harmonious blend of basil mint and citrus notes dedicated to lovers of timelessness'! I only detected the citrus. I think my favourite so far is Gardenia Passion. Heavenly floral. It's expensive but I will get myself a bottle eventually.

Douce Amere by Serge Lutens may be my favourite anisic perfume.

I'm wearing Mahora to bed. I tend to like loud and silly 1980s / early 1990s perfumes and this is no exception (although released much later, this girl really belongs in the gang). Rotten, overripe indolic flowers and the dog whistle of ylang. Ok, this is vulgar as hell but so far I like it

I hate Samsara, but I think that is partly because I used to dislike someone who wore it! I also dislike Oscar de la Renta and Chloe for the same reason. Joop! was an ex boyfriend, and also goes on the dislike list. Ditto Kouros, whereas a whiff of Aramis takes me straight back to my wild and mis-spent youth and a boyfriend who used to wear it. I used to wear Cinnabar at the time - this was the 80s, so you could probably smell the pair of us coming before you saw us!

I used to love Givenchy III, but I think this has been discontinued, and Eau de Givenchy. Also Diorella, and I had a very small bottle, which I loved, of a perfume called "Le de Givenchy" which no-one appears to have heard of before or since - did I imagine it?

Hi fragrant ladies - can anyone tell me what the sharp, almost medicinal note is in Je Reviens (by Worth)? I smelt in in Bordeaux in a cafe on Saturday on one of those tres chic very thin older ladies with slightly too black hair and a jaunty scarf, and it put me off my croissant (not such a bad thing - was an all-butter one!). My Dad used to buy Je Reviens for my Mum when he was coming back from a business trip (lot less choice in Duty Free those days) and I don't think she could tell him she didn't like it. I know it's not the same note, but I find that Angel has a slight hospital corridor/medicinal note. I also don't like anything with cinnamon (food or perfume) and my best friend in the 80s adored Cinnabar, mind you, she hated Shalimar and I used to live in a cloud of it for years. Hoping that my Coromandel will arrive today, I can't wait to try it. I've got to go on a training course this afternoon and a new scent will make it so much more exciting - I like new perfume as much as new clothes, earrings, boots etc etc .

Ladame I have Je Reviens somewhere so will try it on.

Not today though. I'm finally testing offerings from the much-hyped new indie house, Slumberhouse (based in Oregon, US). Wearing Norne - pine extravaganza, and goes on skin as a thick dark green viscous liquid (naturals? You bet!). Smells a bit like the Italian cheapie classic, Pino Silvestre, although much mossier and earthier (continuing the Moss Breches vibe). With a soft hint of smoke and tar. This is as comforting as an older brother or a good father. Comfort scent, like wearing (and sniffing!) their sweater. Samples here, I got 7 vials for $30, high-quality stuff with a big dose of naturals (like Tauers), so worth the higher up-front price.

Mahora smelled like a trash heap of rotting fruit left in the sun. Good for someone who likes really ripe scents...

Morning all! I bet I would love Mahora, this thread has taught me that I tend to love divisive perfumes. Talking of which, I'm testing out Fracas today. I thought I would love this and indeed I do, loud and sweet and now becoming more creamy and smooth.

MrsSchadenfreude I have heard of 'Le De', I thought it was relaunched at some point and I remember thinking it sounded like something I would like.

Help! I've done a search on here but no joy.

Avon used to make a fragrance called Dreamlife, and though you can still buy it on Ebay, it's been discontinued.

Does anyone happen to know of anything that's similar to it?

Miriam. Absolutely stunning. This is gorgeous, and strangely not too sweet for me. There is some kind of vanilla scent in there but there's something else a bit medicinal that seems to stop me feeling put off by it. Highly recommended! And very very grown up.

Sorry, haven't tried many Avon.
What did it smell like?
Give us some notes, we might send you smelling in the right direction.

They had something I liked - Today, Tomorrow - honeyed linden, but that one as well.

Fantastic Haber! (You feel like a sistet to me.)
Miriam is a stunning perfume, and just right for so many things.
In fact would dab some on but fear that I am married with Norne until late today...

Sorry no experience of Avon but can help if you give some notes. Recommend buying it off eBay, it's always difficult to find a good replacement.

I don't like Mahora and its the type of thing I thought I'd love.

My new perfume obsession is Montaigne by Caron. I bought a bottle blind for £10 but really didn't think I would like it. It smells like 'perfume'. Old fashioned perfume. and I bloody ADORE it - its a bit sharp at first (coriander) and then warm jasmine/ perhaps rose? and dries down to inscense.
I am killing small kids and wildlife within a 100 yd radius everytime I spray it but just can't get enough. I can still smell yesterdays when I wake up its so strong.

DH has very little sense of smell - usually just smiles and nods when I give him my wrist to smell. I sprayed this in the upstairs bathroom and within a minute he called from downstairs to say ' have you been spraying that nuclear perfume again?'

the very best thing? It sells for £70 at Les Scenteurs etc but I got it for £10 at www.directcosmetics.com They delivered very quickly too and I've ordered a second back up bottle already.

ps DH's comment was ' its the kind of perfume that just smells nice, that you don't have to think about'

Expat this might help- www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Avon/Dreamlife-1865.html

The 'this perfume reminds me of' bit is sometimes helpful I find, also the section on the left is good for finding fragrances in a similar group. You can also do a search of notes and maybe find something that way. The only thing I don't like about Fragrantica is that the reviews are nearly always positive (do they remove negative reviews, anyone know?) so I tend to read reviews on Basenotes as they appear to be more balanced. Fragrantica is easier to use though I think.