Advice from Perfumistas please

[petitdonkey]

This is a very self-indulgent thread so please do excuse me!! I am off to London tomorrow and would love to but myself a new fragrance for my birthday - I'd like to try one of the more unusual brands that I have been reading about on your threads but, where to start??

I thought that maybe if I listed perfumes I love, someone might get an instant lightbulb moment... (Told you it was a bit me, me, me!)

So,in recent years I have had:

Jo Malone - Vintage Gardenia love this, it has now been discontinued so I bought Jo Loves Gardenia and Estee Lauder Tuberose and Gardenia and dislike both (anyone interested in them, PM me!)

Jo Malone - Pomegranate Noir - this is my winter fragrance with a spritz of Red Roses behind my knees

I adore Lime, Basil and Mandarin and use the shower Gel and body lotion as my base but the fragrance is awful on me.

Chanel - love 'Coco Mademoiselle' '19' and 'Number 5'

Clarins Eau Dynamisante is my holiday smell (even DH and the children use the shower gel but only ever on holiday! I have a silly notion that when they grow up they will smell it and have lots of happy memories)

I like a perfume that people notice (as a teenager I was all about Paloma Picasso and Clinique Aromatics!!), I've been very floral recently but I'd like a grown up edge, like the No19....

Anyone??? I do realise this is long and self-centered but I thought it might be a challenge for someone knowledgeable!! Selfridges will be a definite stop tomorrow but I can go anywhere near there.

If you have read this far, thank you

The perfume room at Liberty is well worth a visit. I'd say as well as Selfridge - Selfridge has some of the big names that Liberty doesn't have (e.g. Chanel Les Exclusifs, full Hermes range in the Hermes room in the Wonder Hall, or whatever it's called, Tom Ford), but Liberty has some of the niche lines not available at Selfridge (e.g. Byredo, Frederic Malle, Le Labo).

Les Senteurs near Marble Arch is a nice independent shop with a good range of more mainstream and more niche lines:
shop.lessenteurs.com/pg/180/Contact
They are very knowledgeable and friendly and will be able to guide you possibly more than staff at Selfridge and Liberty, who will be tied to a particular counter/brand IYSWIM.

Have a lovely time! Wear short sleeves so that way you can test 6 perfumes on your skin - two lots of wrist, elbow and upper arm .

I hadn't even thought of Liberty - thank you (such a lovely place just to have a mooch and I always forget about it) Les Senteurs sounds like exactly the place I need though, as you say, rather than going counter to counter.

I knew Mumsnet would help - thank you, I will let you know how I get on.

Please do!

Have you tried Chanel Les Exclusifs Gardenia? Sniff through them, you like many Chanel perfumes already and may find something you really love.

Liberty's, Les Senteurs worth a visit too but start with the Chanels. Take along a paperback, write the name of the perfume you are trying on the strip, and store it between the pages (repeat circa 12 times). Then try the one you like best on skin. I usually wear a perfume a few times before deciding on buying.

Frugal - I don't know how I hadn't heard of those (thought I'd exhausted the gardenia options) will definitely try at Selfridges. I love your tip about putting them in a book.

How did you get on? I hope you had fun .