Part 4- All you ever need to know about fragrance continues

[shoeprincess2]

Well, we're nearly all full.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/1665844-Part-3-Fully-fledged-perfumistas-share-your-fragrances

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Wow, that was a lucky find.

Cabochard is lovely; I also have a bottle of Ambre de Cabochard, which is nothing like it.

Maybe my luck is changing I need to have a proper sort through my perfumes and work out what it is about them I like so I can work on finding others that will work for me and not end up smelling like toilet duck as soon as they hit my skin

I love Ambre de Cabochard Cointreau, but yes, it's nothing like Cabochard. Luca Turin hates it and calls it "thin and waxy". I agree with his description but I still like it. And the price.

Chocs - tis true, there is something slightly artificial about Ambre de Cabochard, but a FB is £9, and it does a good job as an everyday fragrance.

I popped into John Lewis earlier, and am still very fragrant after a good session at the fragrance counter:

Dyptiche Phylosikos and Vetyverio - both very wearable, particularly the first, but haven't lasted.

Serge Lutens Sa Majeste La Rose - I was inspired to try this by the Rose fragrance thread, but it isn't as nice as Malle Une Rose; it's too sweet, and smells more like "rose-scented" household cleaner, or similar. Not unpleasant, but....meh.

Guerlain Shalimar Parfum Initial - interesting, softer and sweeter than the usual Shalimar, but still has that familiar Guerlain base. The drydown is gorgeous.

All this discussion about summer fragrances....it is still raining here - not cold exactly, but I'm not ready to put away my warm winter perfumes just yet. If I only I were in Rome....

SOTD Tubereuse by Mona di Orio. Honeyed and light and green... loving this!

SOTD Hypnotic Poison. Hmm, still deciding. Very Almondy!

Today I am wearing a "Bien Etre" eau de cologne that I picked up in Monoprix. It is an eau de cologne "de l'herboriste" and is "Bourgeons de Figuier." So a very nice, light, fig fragrance, which lasts longer than the usual "Bien Etres" and seems quite suitable for the first warm and sunny day of the year!

Today, thanks to the generosity of a Mumsnetter , I'm wearing a sample of Maison Martin Margiela: 'Untitled L'eau'. Very springlike - light, citrussy, woody, mossy, very faintly smoky/tarry and perhaps with the tiniest touch of violet. Because I'm so keen on green smells, I'm hoping to try the same company's 'Untitled' next. Has anyone else sniffed that?

I've tried "Untitled" - was given a sample in Sephora a few months back. I liked it very much, and dithered a bit about buying a FB. It was very much a daytime scent, very wearable - sorry, that doesn't tell you much about it, but green, yes, definitely!

I remember Untitled. Lovely one.
Didn't know there was an Eau as well.

I'm just finishing the last drops of Eau des Merveilles.
Will definitely buy another one.

I'm working my way through my bargain pack of samples from Olfactive Studio here, (they also included a sample of their new one, Flash Back, so 5 samples for 6 Euro, including postage from France).

So far, I've tried Lumiere Blanche (milky spicy), Still Life (warm citrus and wood), and today, Flash Back (crisp rhubarb). All lovely and wearable, and well worth a try.

Cointreau I think they are fantastic and subtle 'work' perfumes - if you like to have an aura of something without really reeking to high heaven...
I have a thing for rhubarb in perfumes... Don't have Flash Back as my sample set is older but would probably enjoy it.

I've enjoyed Guerlain's London yesterday and today (have at some point received a generous 4ml sample from Place Vendome in Belgium). It is also very soft and delicate with a combination of rhubarb and tea (and perhaps a hint of suede). Really lovely.

Rhubarb sounds very appealing.

I am wearing Gucci Envy today, thanks to a very kind Cointreau. Absolutely lovely. They were utterly mad to discontinue this.

I am v v jealous that you are wearing Envy. There is nothing remotely similar around. It's like they don't want our money. The fools. I occasionally see some on ebay and it always goes for £££

Hello,

Can I join in your musings? I'm a perfume addict, but in a tight financial situation right now, so have to rein it in as much as possible. I'm hoping that chatting about perfumes would fill the void

My favourites at the moment are incense perfumes (Jaisalmer and Zagorsk by Comme des Garcons), and spicy oriental or gourmands (Traversee du Bosphore, Tobacco Vanille, 5.40 pm in Madagascar), although I have a soft spot for water/green smells in the style of Hermes' Jardins (esp. Sur Le Toit and Apres La Mousson. I've got my last batch of samples (18!) arriving next week. I'm particularly looking forward to trying Malle's Lipstick Rose, Portrait of a Lady and Carnal Flower, Tauer's Auburn and White, HidP's Moulin Rouge, and Comme des Garcons Kyoto, Quarzazate, Avignon.

Some time in the future (if and when I've got more money) would love to sample CB I hate Perfume stuff (particularly On the Beach 1966.. I love the idea of perfume smelling of sun cream, sand and sea), Keiko Mecheri's gourmands (Loukhoum, etc.), Montale's Chocolate Greedy and L'Artisan's Saffran Troublant.

I have always loved perfumes, but only properly got into them a few years ago when I found that my then favourite Clinique's Simply was discontinued and I was trying to find something similar through Fragrantica, then stumbling into lots of other interesting perfumes.. It's a slippery slope!

Anyone here as bad as me?

Toys welcome! I'd definitely even worse off...

Great to have another Zagorsk fan onboard. It's one of my favorite perfumes ever. Don't be afraid to be a gourmand lover, I own FBs of some of your lusts (Safran Troublant and Chocolate Greedy )

After yesterdays discovery of the mysterious Cabochard, I have gotten quite fond of the leathery notes. I think I may look for some others in a similar vein. They are a bit less gentle and polite than my usual florals which is a refreshing change for me.

Haber thanks to a very generous Cointreau, I've also been wearing Envy today and it's just as gorgeous as I remember. So perfect for this time of year too!

I've been off sniffing around John Lewis and Lush today. I was surprised to see a tester of Vol de Nuit, loved the opening but found it a bit soapy on me after a while. However hours later, I could still smell a beautiful powdery violet / iris so I think it needs another try. Also tried Idylle, very nice light floral but not a wow.

Then tried Jour d'Hermes, I'd quite like this for summer as it's citrussy and fresh but don't think I want to spend £££ on a FB. Also Kelly Caleche, which on me was quite rosey/ light leather but again just a like.

In Lush I bit the bullet and tried Breath of God. It is one of the oddest perfumes I've ever smelled. Overall, it reminded me of smoky, toasted curry spices, especially fenugreek. At one point I caught a whiff of smoked ham! Then after an hour or so, it became sweeter, still smoky a bit spicy but rather lovely. Also tried The Voice of Reason, this is smoky too but on me turned into pine sap. Very interesting scents, I'll have to try them again I think!

ToysRLuv I've always loved perfume and had at least five or six bottles on the go, but this thread has introduced me to another level...I've become quite obsessed but I just love how easy it is to inject glamour into mundane everyday life with a beautiful scent (much easier than actually looking glamourous, which I fail at terribly!)

Frugal: No worries! I know how it is.. I wonder how exactly people do decants? I'd probably just end up wrecking the bottles.. And, yes, Zagorsk is really nice. I grew up going in the Orthodox church (atheist now) and Zagorsk definitely smells of (church) serenity/spirituality to me.

I find that I'm quite fickle with my tastes. I buy FBs and then need more and stronger (would it be very wrong to compare perfume to drugs?)! Tehee.. It's church incense now fgs!

Fuzzy: Totally agree. I love wearing perfume every day. Different every day, according to what mood I'm in and what I'm doing. I'm a SAHM, so it's mainly for my own benefit, although DS hasn't complained yet, either (DS loves nice smelling shampoo, picking out and buying scented candles, etc. so it's clearly genetic).

I also have a weird liking of waxy/plastic synthetic notes and powdery cheap parma violet type notes, such as in Rock and Rose (which I like but am bored of). Hoping to find them in Lipstick Rose and the Tauer Pentachords.. I'm a bit funny, me..

I recently liked Chloe's Love, TM Womanity, and Kenzo Indigo, but got a sick feeling/headachiness from them. Now gathering courage to try them again, as got a mini bottle of Womanity and FB of Indigo (was on sale).. Boo... Anyone else got stuff that makes them feel sick, although they like the smell (sort of)?

I think it might be genetic, Toys! DD is 6 and has very clear ideas about what perfumes she likes and doesn't like. We tried a bunch of Annick Goutals at the airport a week or so ago and she was very much in favour of Eau du Sud, Eau d'Hadrien and Ninfeo Mio but loathed Nuit Etoilée and Matin d'Orage. I have a photo of her deep in Le Snob: Perfume which I may put on my profile at some point (she's read nearly all of it, the tiny weirdo).

Envy was lovely today in the unaccustomed sunshine.

I remember once wearing my mum's Clinque Aromatics and my son telling me I smelled like an unwashed sock He does however like me to wear Chanel of any kind, especially No 19, he says it smells like the park after the grass men have been cutting things (ASD so simpler descriptions work for him)

Haberdashery: Your DD had good tastes! My DS is clearly a gourmand, preferring yankee candle fragrances based on cakes and sweets

DH will wear just about any male fragrance, "as long as it doesn't smell like chemical toilets at a camping site" (like Dzing and Traversee du Bosphore apparently do)