can anyone recommend a new perfume discovery?

[iamnowawhaticallmother]

I know perfume smells different on different people but I want a new perfume and I don't have time to stand in Debenhams testing all of them out as I have a new baby.
So..... does anyone have any new perfume recommendations?

I like something a bit different / striking and unusual. Hate anything floral and girly - nightmare scent would be 'Beautiful' by Estee Lauder.

When i was a teenager I loved Gucci Rush. Oh the memories...
Love Insolence and Idylle by Givency.
Love spicy and vanilla.

Anyone discovered any new gems?

Not a new one but I love Acqua Di Parma Colonia. A really classic musky lemony smell.

A real perfumista will be along any minute!

My new favourite is Zen by Shiseido. It smells really different and definitely not floral and girly (which I don't like either). It's spicy and sophisticated imo. They don't have it in Debenhams though. I got mine duty free but they have it in House of Fraser here. I am absolutely hooked.

My other favourite which I've worn for 25 years is Roma by Laura Biagiotti. It's the mens one but I just can't imagine it on a bloke. I don't know where you'd be able to test it though as I can only seem to get it in duty free or in Europe or online. Again it's v sophisticated, soft and actually, I can't describe it as it's not like anything else I could compare it with.

If you wanted to try the Roma iamnow I could put a bit in a little bottle and post it to you :)

It's very difficult to try to find a perfume without sampling it.
Idylle is not very far from Narciso Rodriguez For Her and SJP Lovely.
Some say Rush smells like the new Diorella, haven't tried. More potential dupes here.
Good budget vanillas: Yves Rocher Vanille noire, L'Occitane Eau des Baux.

What's your stand on gourmands - Angel, La Vie est belle, A*men?
Or go niche and sample Serge Lutens, Amouage, Tauer. Tauer handles spices and vanilla really well.

I've just fallen in love with Jimmy Choo' s Flash perfume - really gorgeous and long lasting - I think it's tuberose but I'm no perfumista so maybe wrong? Anyway I just love it having got sick of Angel and Ghost perfumes which I was wearing before!

I like the tje new jimmy choo perfume. Tou could try balemciaga

I don't know if it is new but I hadn't tried it until last week - burberry weekend. Not floral or girly but quite unusual and I really like it.

Bronze Goddess by Estée Lauder. Not girlie but amazingly can transport you to the Caribbean in a spritz.

Currently addicted to Caudalie, Zeste de vigne. Not floral or girly. Lasts for ages. Sweet Lemon, Petit Grain (which is apparently Bitter Orange) and Bergamot, according to the label. Strangely, it doesn't smell fruity either, but I think it's lovely.

I came across Blanc de Violettes in Anthropologie a while ago. I don't know if they still have it, and if not, where you might find it. I think you might like it.

Failing that, have a look at Artisan Parfumeurs on-line descriptions of their scents. I reckon you'd like quite a few of those. They are inherently striking and unusual - and they are not that widely available, so unusual in that sense too.

Safran Troublant is safranny and feminine; Dzing is Vanilla with a twist; there is one called Vanilla which is lovely.

By the way, the Blanc Violettes sounds as though I've completely ignored what you wrote about hating pretty, floral and girly ... but I haven't, really. It's violett-y but with a very warm, sensual, skin-tone undertow, and classy rather than sickly girly.

(That said, I quite like Beautiful!)

Also, Miller Harris has a new fragrance out which is very woodsy, spice-y. I can't remember the name, but I passed on my tester to my father in law because it struck me that both he and mother in law would like it.

Not new either but Lolita Lempicka do quite a few spicy and/or vanilla scents which might be worth you looking at/sniffing at. I especially like L de Lolita Lempicka, it's a vanillary, spicy, cinnamon based scent that's not at all a girly girl scent. It's quite heady, long lasting and very striking especially after first application. it's one of my go to scents when I want to be noticed

Oooh you want to try Insolence by Guerlain
Just fabulous

... and if you can afford the price tag ... I think you'd probably like "Manhattan" by Bond no. 9. It has a lot more oomph than the other scents I've listed: I'd regard it as a post-9pm scent. But it is rather seductive and delicious.

Tom Ford Vetyver is lovely

Ooh that Caudalie one sounds just up my street. I really don't need another citrus day perfume but I now I think I need to smell it.