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

OOOhhhh Frugal, Terre d'Hermes is gorgeous on my DH, never thought of trying it myself, maybe I will give it a try! We have shared a couple of fragrances and I am always surprised how different they smell on him, he turns everything really earthy!

I tried Lonestar Memories on me and it was creosote. On DH it smelt like Lush Karma!

Isabelle Terre smells very citrussy and ethereal on me (DH confirms this) The perfect thing for a warm spring day! Will need to wear more JC Ellena scents (Jardins, Hermessences), they are perfect for warmer days!

Puddle - I'll second Coffeeinbed's suggestion of Diorissimo, such a beautiful fragrance for a spring wedding. I wore Estee Lauder Private Collection and although I love it, I felt it was a little too distinctive for a wedding where all the aspects need to be in balance iykwim. Have now tried all of Flora's samples. Fracas was too much AAAHHH!! for me and out of all of them I like Carthusia Caprissimo, reminds me of Madame Rochas, a really grown up, matching crocodile shoes and bag perfume.

In the ongoing saga of the TF Oud Wood - I went to a birthday party on Sunday evening in the local village bar (had liberally sprayed it) and someone told me it was the best perfume they had ever smelled and raved about it. I told them the - ahem - price of a FB and she said she'd order it. I AGREE, I really really do, but I know I'm repeating myself, it. just. does. not. last . On the other hand (or two), had sprays of supermarket fragrances in Intermarche last Saturday - after washing up, a shower, two scrubs with a nailbrush and soap, a night's sleep and wash in the morning, I still smelt like Toilet Duck, who'd overindulged on cooking chocolate and fallen in a vat of fake patchouli. Live and learn ... Live and learn. Onelittlepocket, sending you an unmumsnetty (((hug))).

Haber Did you have a nice time?

Frugal, have you tried the new Jour d'Hermes? It is very elegant and light but I can't decide if it is special enough.

Ladame the TF oud is fantastic but because oud is so widely used these days you might try an oud sampler - some of my faves are Mona di Orio's Oud, Dior M7 Oud Absolu and Leather Oud, and Oud by Maison Kurkdjian. (These are personal faves and I'm surprised that a popular blogger came up with an almost identical list - I find the Montales too Middle Eastern and strong - Aoud Lime hurts ).

Still haven't tried Jour d'Hermes - will do! That's the problem with many launches now - too samey.

Would have another perfume launch party tonight but can't go (DH has to be somewhere else) - would have been more motivated to find a babysitter if the 'fumes were more special.

SOTD is Miller Harris Fleur Oriental. The name suggests something rather cloying and pungent, but it is absolutely gorgeous - velvety carnation, with warm amber and musk undertones. Not too sweet and powdery, and it has lasted all day.

Where is the best kind of place to get more unusual/less common scents? I don't live in a very big town and pretty much all that's on offer here in terms of places to buy fragrances are Boots, Superdrug and Debenhams. I'm really wanting to expand my scent collection but don't want to keep buying the same type of things over and over again

OneLittleLady order samples online from Les Senteurs and Scent and Sensibility (or, if feeling very adventurous, from Surrender to Chance in the US). Both have a great selection of niche fragrances (unusual, "artistic" perfumes - often there is no going back after getting to know them) and I find them real treats. On the high street, Chanel and Hermes and Estee Lauder still do quality perfumes, and in bigger dept stores you can find niche lines such as Serge Lutens, Annick Goutal, Diptyque, Tom Ford and L'Artisan Parfumeur - many others can be very hit &miss.

A great guide to this new territory is the Turin&Sanchez perfume guide or the small book 'Le Snob - Perfumes' (mistitled, not snobbish).
I prefer 1ml of unique quality perfume (often frugally sourced from Crystal Flacon) to 100ml of schlock but that is a very personal preference

A couple of budget operators - Yves Rocher, L'Occitane - are quite quality conscious and the Lidl juices are not bad (they do copies of Coco Mademoiselle, Chanel No. 5, Tresor and Boss) - but don't expect tremendous lasting power.

SOTD Eau du Sud - the opening is a burst of tart citrus, the drydown smells like a warm, summery meadow in Tuscany

You see this is why I think we need Sephora over here. I was in a branch last week and the range of testers was amazing. They had Guerlain, ALL the Serge Lutens, Givenchy, Rochas, Lanvin, the Chanel Extraits... hundreds of testers too! Over here you get JLo, Beyonce, Beckham...

Sephora proves that High Street chains can give you much better choice and introduce a few classics, and maybe they could stop every High Street smelling like a fruity floral mish mash.

You can buy good fragrance on the UK High Street, but you have to turn over a lot of stones to find the right ones.

We have a limited selection Sephora - the usual mainstream s - and every time I visit the variety and quality of perfumes offered has gone down

But we had Sephora.
They shut down their UK operation.

OneLittleLady If you are feeling even more adventurous, you can also order samples from www.parfumeriedesfontaines.com in France, and www.neroli.hu in Hungary. (Both originally suggested here by Frugal, to whom many thanks ).
Their websites are quite straightforward, and payment is temptingly easy! I have ordered samples from both and been very pleased with their service. Even if you don't want to order, browsing their selections can be informative and fun.

If you ever do visit a big provincial city, I find that branches of John Lewis and House of Fraser usually both have decent perfumery departments, if you'd like to sample a range of 'good' classics, such as Guerlain, Dior or Chanel (their mainstream scents only, alas, but - to my mind - that includes a few lovely ones).

When you know what you want, it's also worth looking at websites that sometimes sell interesting scents at a discount, such as cheapsmells.com. Though they sell a lot of High Street scents, too...

Forgive me, because I expect you already know about websites that discuss and compare different scents. But just in case you have not yet come across them, you might perhaps find it interesting to look at:
fragrantica.com
basenotes.net
boisdejasmin.com
There are many others!

SOTD is Chamade, trying a bit of green to encourage the spring.

Loving your contributions to the rose perfume thread (and generally impressed how selective S&B wearers have become).
The cologne has faded, so wearing Une Rose Chypree now. Sumptuous!

I went to the Poitiers Sephora and it had an amazing selection. I got quite emotional! It was refreshing to see all the Serge's out on display and ready to spray. I feel in love with A La Nuit, pointedly ignored Ambre Sultan, and even got a couple of Serge free samples!

You don't get that in Boots...

Mind you it was VERY expensive. I mean eye wateringly so.

flora- Yes Cheap Smells is excellent value and free postage too. They might not always have what you want but if they do, it'll be the cheapest anywhere.

SOTD Nahema..... Wish I could afford a full bottle of this again. Husband away ( he complains about this one ). :)

pocket- is that anything like Mahora?

Not Pocket, but used to wear Nahema quite a lot.
It's a big honey rose, it's similar to Mahora it the way it's big and bold, the notes have no similarity at all.
Mahora is heady white flowers, very tropical.

I would say it is the olfactory equivalent of a sonic boom. I love it ( on occasion - not everyday ) and today I'm just hanging out with my daughters ( who like it)

Chocs A la nuit is terrific! There is a good Sephora in Rome too with SL etc but the one near me is no good
Nahema is your man-repeller Pocket - mine is Coco.
Need to add that DH is extremely tolerant though and keeps stealing my most pricey bottles...

Frugal The two nearest Sephoras to me are also very 'high street' with all the same olds. You are right, I will move on to oud exploration, thank you for your recommendations.

Thanks ladies , will check out all your suggestions. It's really unfortunate living in a small town when you want things like this as the availability is just not there. most of what's on offer here is J.Lo and Beckham and similar things. I can get Chanel (the big sellers), Dior (again only the big sellers), Lancome and Estee Lauder though so that's somewhere to start I suppose

OneLittleLady- I'm in a similar position. Lots of mainstream, but no niche.

eBay is good for samples, I get a lot from there.

Ideally, I'd have a massive branch of Sephora on my doorstep just so I could use all the testers, then i'd come home and order the ones I liked from cheaper suppliers. Or maybe that's why they left the UK...

I have heard a rumour Sephora are thinking of returning to the UK but they would have to drop their prices. In some cases, they were over 100% more expensive than identical bottles in the UK.