Part 3- Fully fledged perfumistas- share your fragrances

[shoeprincess2]

Part 2 is nearly full!

Norne sounds pretty amazing, too, DonaAna! I'm looking at your link now - very intriguing stuff.

Based on what they say I'd try Beyond Paradise and Kenzo Flower.

Well, I'm finally reporting back on the hunt for Gucci Envy - not good news, I'm afraid. DH has checked with all his contacts at various warehouse locations, and there are no longer any stashes at P&G as it has been discontinued too long. So anyone who is desperate for a sniff down memory lane will have to resort to eBay, it would seem.

Today I'm wearing Le Labo Iris 39, in honour of the recent spring-like weather. But of course it turned out cloudy today.

It's funny how polarising I find florals - I love love love lavender, rose and iris, and I absolutely detest tuberose, jasmine and lilac ("white flowers" I suppose). It's the sweaty, rich cloying note which doesn't work for me.

Please thank your DH very much for trying. I do appreciate his efforts.

I'm getting nice soapy whiffs now with Miriam. Very appealing.

Thanks, Fuzzy! :)

I was sniffing my way round jenners today, does fleur des orangers (sp?)have jasmine in it as my friend smelt wee? Ironically I had a bottle of wee in my bag as I had a hossie apt this afternoon. It's either that ambre sultan or fracas which I already have and never noticed the wee wee smell.

its has cumin in it which gives the wee/ tom cat smell. I can't bear cumin in anything but really like Fleur de Citronniers (enough to have a bottle I snagged on ebay).

I see. I finally tried diorella as a long term wearer of eau sauvage, it's lovely but I think I'll be sticking with the latter. Was delighted to hear from the Chanel lady that Frasers in Glasgow has Les Exclusifs - might have to take a trip west to check em out.

I like perfumes with a bit of wee. It keeps things humane and approachable

Another fantastic Slumberhouse: Pear and Olive.
I usually don't like pear notes in fragrances but this is within the realm of possible. Better yet, paired with some fantastic green edginess from olive oil and a layer of creamy yumminess that is probably coconut but really feels like the white, juicy flesh of a very ripe pear. This perfume can smell holistic, a bit like a yoga studio - pure and a bit crude the way aromatherapy oils smell. But the luscious richness is very appealing. If By Kilians speak to you, this is definitely worth testing (ironically I can still smell Good Girl Gone Bad on my coat sleeve - a month after the launch!).

Auld Diorella is a no-go for me, Eau Sauvage I love.

Mmm...sounds lovely, ProFumo.

I finally got around to reading the colour supplements from last week's Sunday Times, and there was a great article in the Style section, all about niche fragrances, and the rise of the discerning perfumista who doesn't want to smell like everyone else! I can't find it online to link to, unfortunately, but it namechecked loads of my New Best Friends (Tauer Lonestar Memories, Malle Portrait of a Lady, Chanel Coromande)l, and a few others I'd not heard of before, like the brands Shay & Blue and Nasomatto. Very interesting.

I have always gone for non-mainstream smells. In the early 1990s, I shared an office with a girl who wore Ivoire during the day and First at night. Exactly the same perfumes as me. Neither were popular then, either.

I have been given a bottle of Swiss Army for Her by a male friend (the name amused him). It is a bit "meh".

All the girls in my office wear boring mainstream scents, I like being different. I am rather fond of Ivorie, got a huge bottle of it. What do you ladies think of Rochas scents - I've got Tocade; Madame Rochas and Femme?

All the girls in my office wear boring mainstream scents, I like being different. I am rather fond of Ivorie, got a huge bottle of it. What do you ladies think of Rochas scents - I've got Tocade; Madame Rochas and Femme?

Oops, double posting, stupid blackberry.

You lot are turning me into a scent-a-holic I've just ordered some oils from that place with the hilarious names for knock-offs, have laboured through the Hungarian website and twitched my fingers over the S&S samples buy button.

I've always been a one-fragrance woman (Coco Chanel for decades past) and get confused by reading perfume websites. This is a really bad time to start getting enthusiastic: I'm on benefits and have had to put up with smelling of myself for years now! Thanks to you, though, I can become a sample tart with a three-sample treat every now and again. Trouble is, I'm going to find one I really like and get miserable about not being able to afford a bottle, aren't I?!

So. I will read all the threads - if the first two are as engaging as this one, I'll be up to speed if nothing else! And have developed a new hobby ...

Fancy giving me some pointers, to save my confusion? I like 'grown up' perfumes; hate powdery and can't wear floral, though I've done quite well with old-fashioned tea rose in the past. I turn most perfumes to orange peel within twenty minutes. At various times I've tried to humour that with orangey flavours (Coco is a bit orange-blossomy, I think, or maybe that's just how it is on me!) Wanting some 'body' in my fragrance, I love the heavy stuff like amber and am intrigued by this oud thing. I like spicy fragrances. Don't like medicinal scents - I've got rosewood and cedar in my aromatherapy toolbox, but absolutely hate the pongs!

This just looks like babble to me! Is it making any sense to a mumsnet 'nose'? If it is, please share your wisdom :) Pleeease

Garlic I know many perfumistas who do this on no budget at all (they start with a capital of five samples and then swap, sniff for free instore, and also offer to give a loving home to unwanted samples from other perfumistas). Unless you are a very heavy spritzer, samples go a long way. I very rarely purchase full bottles. And quality perfumes are very strong. The decanting site Crystal Facon can be good too - a lot of perfumistas sell small quantities of perfume (samples, decants) from their personal bottles there.

I love Coco too and get your spicy grown-up vibe.
A few suggestions: many lovers of Coco also like Bal a Versailles (be warned, can smell sexy, filthy, pee-ey - but this perfume has been worn by germophobes like Michael Jackson so not everyone perceives it the same way. To me it's a lush intoxicating bouquet with a prominent wet orange blossom note). FB is inexpensive, so if you fall for it, it might be within reason.
Next choice, mega expensive but very affordable in sample sizes (and available at Les Senteurs): Shem-el-Nessim, Hasu-no-Hana and Phul-Nana by Grossmith. They are grown-up and lush (and a slight dab is all that you need). Then, if you'd like to try an orange-tinged incense, I recommend Messe de Minuit by Etro (not sure how easy it is to find) and the much more easily available L'air du desert marocain by Tauer perfumes (Les Senteurs again). If you are able to visit a good department store, try Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens. It's one of the best amber perfumes out there and will help you to decide whether you like amber. Finally, a true budget suggestion that is high-quality and well-regarded by pros: Parfums de Nicolai. Their New York is an orange amber but many others (you can get them at Neroli) are great. And small full bottles cost circa 35-50 euros! Yves Rocher and L'Occitane can be worth a sniff too, both do cheap but good perfumes. YR have an amber currently that has been praised by many and Eau des Baux is much loved by perfumistas with expensive tastes.

Cointreau I'm wondering if the Style section stringer is listening in (if you are, hello and welcome and keep up the good work of spreading the word about quality perfumes ). Some of my perfumista friends write for magazines and newspapers and we always try to do a bit of free PR for the niche brands we love. And of the big houses, Chanel and Hermes get it mostly right (but what's up at Chanel - Coco Noir and 1932 are both a bit lame). Dior have done some really excellent work with their boutique collection, but their their mainstream line is in a sorry state (masculines better than feminines).

Like many others here, I don't want to smell like everyone else. But it goes deeper than that - hope I am not sounding pretentious and poncey, but to me great perfumes are olfactory art - wearable art. I love beautiful things - paintings, sculptures, great design, good music - and good and unique perfumes are a daily source of pleasure and stimulation for my nose.

MrsSchadenfreude the Swiss Army should commision Andy Tauer. I'm sure he'd be able to cook up a concoction to knock everyone's socks off...

Thank you so much, ProFumo, for taking the trouble! I'm going to save your post and use it as a starting point for my new explorations. Reading it made me feel exactly as I do when reading a lovely, descriptive cookery book! You've got the gift :)

Garlic, try the Mervelles family.
No flowers, no powder, lovely golden amber.
The YR Amber is lovely indeed, they also had a gorgeous Iris in that line, theyr customer service can be a bit patchy.
But definitely try the SL ambers, he has a fondness for cedars though.

Whew! Today's sample - Seductive by Boadicea the Victorious. For the first few seconds, my nose seemed numb. Now, rather later, my wrist is still smelling considerably more assertive than enticing - though, for some, those are not mutually exclusive attributes, I suppose. If I were being unfair, I'd say 'real turpentine' or even 'joinery workshop' ; more generously, I'd say 'pine (lots!) and lovely incensey resin, a little musk, perhaps a little of ProFumo's cool sandalwood or even camphor, and something faintly, generically, floral that I can't yet identify. Perhaps that will develop over time.

It's certainly bracing and I like it a lot. But at the moment, it's not rounded enough to seduce me. It needs just something more - another dimension. Must wait and see.

SotD is the very beautiful, if evanescent, Angeliques sous la Pluie by Frédéric Malle/Jean-Claude Ellena. At least I think it's Angeliques sous la Pluie.

I still only have two FBs and one decant, so most of what I wear is from samples. This one comes from Alla Violetta. The thing is, could they have made a mistake in the labelling? This A sous la P smells to me very strongly of roses, deliciously so, but there's no mention of rose in the notes listed on the Malle site (angelica/juniper/coriander/musk/cedar) and nor do any of the reviewers on Fragrantica or the blogs mention it.

Am baffled.

clb My nose is still tingling from the impact of 'Seductive' (as above), but I think I have a labelled sample of Angeliques sous la pluie, and from memory, I'd say that - as the Malle site you mention suggests - it smells gently herbal, rather like the green fronds of fennel. It's very light. I don't recall roses, though I may be wrong. Or the rose impression may be some sort of complementary effect - like seeing the opposite colour after gazing at one bright spot for too long.

Once my nose has recovered, I'll go and have a sniff and report back! But probably other Perfumistas will be able to tell you before then, better than me.

Thank you, flora! I actually think this must be a mistake - I've just reapplied and all I can smell is roses. May wash one wrist off and try Malle's Une Rose on that and see if that's actually what's masquerading as AslP.

Or Portrait of a Lady?

Don't have any Portrait of a Lady, alas, but I'm not getting any patchouli, which, from the one time I tried it at Liberty, was a pretty strong feature.