Part 5- And the perfumes just keep on coming...

[shoeprincess2]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/1711275-Part-4-All-you-ever-need-to-know-about-fragrance-continues

Shiny new thread for some shiny new perfumes (and classics and niche brands)

Gosh, you've been a lively bunch while my back was turned!

Thanks a million fuckit again for Tabac Blond, I am actually quite enjoying it and if I strain v hard after putting just the right amount on I do get a whiff of smokiness... the sample's on my desk at work and I tend to wear it in the afternoons when my morning scent is gone. DElighted you like L'Eau D'hiver so much too!

Otherwise I've been wearing Gucci Envy, MdiO Vanille, No 19, and a LOT of Cuir de Russie (Chanel) and also a bit of L'air du desert marocain.

God knows what they think is going on with me at work but it livens up my days!

I need more samples but with Christmas coming I've had to put a stop to the buying for a while.

Pity, I really want to try Vero Profumo's Mito and Jayne Ormonde Woman... would also love to find some leathers. Tried Kelly Caleche insotre the other day but it didn't make much of an impression.

Dior Jules. Amazing soapy green goodness. Just tried this, what a shame it's not available in the UK.

Remembered now, my Comptoir Sud P was Vanille Apricot.

Huitre Jules is fantastic. I enjoy several other similar classics in the same vein, Eau des Iles by MPG for example.

Wilting love your choices! Kelly Caleche is not a true leather perfume, the suede effect is really subtle.

It's circa 12C indoors. I wore my vintage fur stole and sheepskin boots and double cashmere, still shivering. Where is my sample of Puredistance M? (Eau des Iles and Jules and Cuir Beluga should be in the same place.)

Ok, so I had some time to kill in Debenhams today. Thought I'd have a sniff of some of the more mainstream perfumes that I haven't tried.

I'd heard good things about Gucci Rush and Dior Hypnotic Poison. Rush in particular seems to be rather a cult classic amongst perfumistas. So (trying not to be swayed by the tackiest, ugliest perfume packaging I've ever seen in my entire life) I sprayed some onto the back of my left hand.

And OMG. A truly ghastly screechy fruity top note assaulted my nostrils. Scratch n sniff pineapple is the closest description I can come to. To be backed up by some woody, musky, synthetic dischord. Christ this stuff could kill a man at ten paces. It smells of 'ladies night' at a horrible, sticky floored nightclub. Vile. I don't care what Tania Sanchez says.

Next up: Hypnotic Poison. Straight up play-dough. With a wee bit of coconut thrown in for good measure. Coconut flavoured play-dough. Also vile.

Am I missing a trick? Failing to smell what other people smell? Or is it just a matter of personal taste?

On a more positive note - Shalimar still smells wonderful. Just gorgeous. The matriarch of orientals. And wonderfully soothing to my poor offended nose.

of course it's all very personal.
Smell is a primal experience. We all like diffrent things.
And I don't trust Tania Sanchez's opinion more just because she happens to write about perfume.
I trust what I can smell.

Also, lots of people don't really smell what they wear, perfume is often a gift, or an impulsive buy, an afterthought, a fashion accessory or a status buy-into.

I think you've got the right attitude just trusting your own nose Coffee.

I guess I viewed Tania Sanchez and the like as 'perfume critics' and so assumed they knew more than me - kind of like I would assume an art critic knew more than me about art, and therefore had a more sophisticated opinion.

But at the end of the day, like you say, we all like different things. And when it comes to perfumes what on earth would be the point of wearing something you weren't sure about just because you'd been told it was "good".

Gucci Rush is apparently a "good" perfume. My arse

She had a perfume and general writer-y stuff blog many years ago. I believe her background is more in writing.

She knows about perfume, of course she does, but not necessarily more than the next person, she just can put in on paper better.

Sometimes we really have to make the distinction between a good perfume and good marketing.

I loved the Turin and Sanchez A-Z Guide (one of my best Christmas presents ever!) - made me think about perfume in new ways and their descriptions are glorious. But isn't it a guide to understanding the language and craft of fragrance construction, rather than a guide as to what to like?

Bit like music? Critics can discuss form/structure, historical context, extent of accomplishment etc in a composition, but not codify whether you will be moved more by Beethoven, Bach, Britten, The Beatles etc. And isn't this because there is such a large subjective element to how you receive the stimulus of music or perfume, what personal tastes, experiences, longings it evokes, etc?

I loved the T&S description of Timbuktu. They capture its special transparency and radiance. I love dry wood and incense so bought a bottle. Turns out that special hot/cold quality gives me a mild sicky headache and I ended up selling on Ebay...

But heyho, I still really enjoyed hearing someone articulate what makes this perfume unique, and smelling it in light of that, even if ultimately it wasn't for me? Hope that doesn't sound horribly pseudy...

It is SO primal. Gorilla perfume (lush) the Bug had an awful effect on me,
I've never reacted to a smell like that before

Goodasitgets - back to AG at TK Maxx: that doesn't narrow it down massively as they just about all come in that box. Does the line up here help at all www.annickgoutal.com/en/perfume/e-boutique/the-feminine-annick-goutal.html? Anything about the smell you remember?

Really interesting talk ladies! I think that MrsCocoa's music analogy is apt, some one loves Beyoncé, another free jazz, and yet another Monteverdi's operas. There may be some inborn and acquired differences too - for example, I never played with playdoh as a child and no one used Pledge in our house, but Ma Griffe reminds me of my grandma's underwear drawer, Calyx is always associated with an unkind chilminder with rough hands, Shalimar and Mitsouko with older ladies wearing furcoats to theater, and Loulou with sweaty teenagers in a disco, and Drakkar Noir with a horribly dull ex-boyfriend. All those perfumes are important, influential, even masterpieces, but difficult for me to appreciate.

The Turin & Sanchez guide is a terrific introduction to perfumes because it's jam-packed with vital information and passionate about the good stuff. You immediately start wondering what you have missed and if you go sniffing, you are guaranteed to find some treasures. After that, you are on your own and free to disagree: your nose decides what works on you and what you prefer. I have enjoyed the journey. I often also enjoy perfumes that I don't like - it's an experience too. I started out with a fairly narrow range of preferences (orientals, florals) but learned that there is a perfume for every mood and every situation, and that just like in food, I love variety and seasonality.

I managed to find my lost sample stash and today I'm wearing my most opulent winter perfume, Puredistance M. To some, this is sweaty and urinous, but on me I smell just waves and waves of radiant warmth. True luxury, fantastic juice.

What are you ladies wearing today?

Completely agree. What I also find interesting is the way in which the names given to scents sometimes 'fit' very neatly with my perception of them, and sometimes don't seem to fit at all. This can be so disappointing! I really wanted to like 'Angeliques sous la Pluie', for example, because the name sounds so pretty and conjures up such an enticing image of fresh, delicate, green and white herbs/flower-heads sprinkled with clear raindrops - but, to me, the scent did not fit the name. (And I didn't like it!) On the other hand, my great winter evening favourite (I would wear THAT to the theatre, but with velvet, not fur...) is L'Heure Bleue, and, yes, that is (to me) a little melancholy, like twilight.

Agree, too, that packaging is SO important. If I am paying A LOT for a bottle of scent, I don't want garish plastic, silly shapes or industrial metal.
I like a little retro elegance and luxury. But am prepared to admit that I am being very old fashioned...

SOTD is Lush - the smell of weather turning

Packaging is a part of it.

When they reissued Feminite they changed the packaging and for me was not the same without the curvy purple bottles so I didn't even go near it for a while.

Well, then I did smell it and discovered they changed the smell as well, but I would have been disappointed even with the original juice in a new bottle.

I've dealt for so long with samples, decants and travel sprays that packaging is not very central to my experience. I do enjoy a beautiful bottle, the simple streamlined ones used by Dior La Collection Privee, Les Exclusifs de Chanel, and Byredo are my favorites. I tend to dislike very ornate bottles, the bee bottles from Guerlain for example. Sometimes the packaging cheapens the juice, a bottle made from plasticky gilt (Alien, anyone?) feels tacky even when the contents are good. And Chloe perfumes have reliably great packaging although the contents tend to be a bit meh.

I do love the bee bottles.
My Apres L'Ondee came in one, but I remember when they had the perfume and that came in a beautiful special bottle.

Mind you, one of my favourites come in the most awful packaging ever - Nu perfume. WTF were they thinking?

I don't buy decants, I tend to test a lot in the shops and get a FB if I really really like it. Maybe because I do like the whole experience.

I'm such a sucker for a gorgeous bottle! That's what drew me to Eau de Cartier! Haven't bought a fb mind you, not yet anyway!

Yes I enjoy lovely packaging too. I love the blue glass star bottles the Tauers come in. And my Bvlgari Jasmin Noir comes in a very elegant bottle too.

The Annick Goutal bottles I find very retro and feminine - really pretty without being over the top or tacky.

And like Frugal I like the simplicity of the Les Exclusifs de Chanel bottles.

I enjoy a fairly minimalist design when it comes to perfume bottles I think. All that colourful plastic by Marc Jacobs would not be my thing at all.

And speaking of bottles, does anyone have a solution to an annoying problem: I picked up a bottle of AP L'Agent (reminds me more of the smell of Coco when I first wore it in the early 90s than Coco does! Think it's my memory playing tricks rather than the reformulation...). But back to the bottle: it came with a metal collar to stop the spray being accidentally depressed, but when I removed it, it flicked off the top of the atomiser mechanism (the actual diffuser bit which dispenses the spray). Have crawled around the kitchen, moved cooker and fridge etc, but still can't find it! So have a hard bare plastic tube - can just about depress this using my thumbnail, but just get a dribble of perfume down my sleeve. Have tried cannibalising other bottles, but so far nothing else fits. Any ideas?

Mrs Cocoa I use a 5ml syringe and a fine-gauge needle to decant the juice to a clean 10ml, 30ml or 50 ml perfume bottle (buy from eBay). Does not work for every single bottle type but often works when nothing else does. Google for a Youtube video how to do this. Travelo perfume travel sprays may also work.

Sorry Travalo not Travelo.

Thanks Frugal.

And back to Timbuktu: one of the other interesting thing about that fragrance is that it evokes a place. I haven't been to W. Africa so don't know how successfully! But made me wonder about other perfumes, including L'Artisan's Traversee du Bosphore (Istanbul), Seville a L'Aube and TF's recent London: any views?

Interesting question! I've been to Istanbul and my experiences were very different from La Traversee. But I still like the perfume.

I live in Italy and like my life here very much; yet I don't really like most Italian perfumes. Villoresis are heavy handed, I'm not thrilled by Acqua di Parma, Maria Candida Gentile takes intensity way beyond my tolerance threshold (a bit like hyper-sweet and dense Sicilian baked goods). So I don't think they really capture a sense of place, although they may reflect some general Italian preferences. I think most perfumes have a fantasy element to them. Western Oriental perfumes are fantasy renditions of what we think far away places could smell like, not even meant to be accurate.

I don't know, for me perfumes capture emotions and states that evoke pleasure or provide novel experiences. I've worn Eau des Iles all day and revel in its lovely drydrown. This, exactly, is what comforting and familiar but still stimulating means for me.

I'm wearing DKNY Woman today - this is a perfume I always return to, and it reminds me of a fabulous holiday in New York, staying with a friend who worked at the UN, and who acted as my personal shopper! I bought this on impulse, having a few hours to kill in Bloomingdales before heading out to JFK - it had just come out in the US and it was months and months before it was launched in the UK. It just smells like New York to me!

I have lived in West Africa and would not want a scent to remind me of the place, as it would smell predominantly of open storm drains and Raid.