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)

Cointreau O de Lancôme is lovely and lasts all day. I've worn it on and off since about 1982. It's very citrus-y to start with but there's an underlying warmth that I am too inexperienced to describe. It's a warm, lemony scent - verbena? No real idea. Anyway, it is lovely.

Everyone thank you for the lovely list of suggestions. I am now trawling for samples!

Sorry, that should have been 1992. In 1982, I was obsessed by Marilyn Monroe so wore Chanel No 5 constantly.

You were better dressed than me so, I was obsessed with body shop mostly musk in the 90s

I'm v tempted to try O de lancome but it always seems v citrussy in the shop.

Hmm, my chanel no 19 seller has re-surfaced and is offered me a FB of EdP for ?35 (£30). Would I me able to sell it again if I decide it's not for me? I'm v torn between it and Cristalle, don't see much Chanel no 19 on ebay or anywhere else so not sure if it's all that popular?

My DH wasn't keen when he took a sniff of my wrist last night :(

thoughts?

I adore Cristalle and have had a bottle since 1992 (not the same bottle!). Sometimes when you don't see much of a perfume on eBay it means you can chnarge a bit more. The ones you see lots of are usually mass market perfumes that people don't like.

£30 for Chanel 19? Go for it! How many mls in the bottle? That's a good price even for 50ml.

wilting- try Scent and Sensibility or Les Senteurs. Both are good for samples, many of which are hard to get otherwise i.e Andy Tauer samples, Lutens etc. Both are UK based.

www.scent-and-sensibility.co.uk/

and www.lessenteurs.com

Wilting, if you're in Ireland, you might also like to look at European companies that sell samples. They have English versions of their online sales pages and are priced in Euros. And, if you're ever tempted to buy a FB, then, to the best of my knowledge, there are no customs charges for sales/purchases within the EU. There are several good websites - below, are three that I can remember. I've used others (especially a lovely French one) but I'll need to look them up. Neroli in Hungary has some fantastic scents, and was quick and efficient when I last ordered from them:

www.ausliebezumduft.de/
www.allaviolettaboutique.com/‎
www.parfumneroli.hu/

I've just sampled Tauer's Lonestar Memories. Oh gods, it's totally wrong but so right. I love the smokey leather and herby smell. The very end of it is like caramel and tarmac.

My husband is less than impressed with it though :(

A FB (50ml) apparently Chocs, says his gf didn't like it silly girl

Thanks for the sample source recommendations, I'm off to check them out!

SOTD was Florabotanica by Balenciaga. It's very ummmm, floral. Apparently it has vetiver, amber, caladium leaf, rose, carnation, mint but what I mainly got was rose and what I thought was iris but must be one of the above. It's longevity was shocking poor, put in on around 7.30 can only barely ever smell it now. It was mostly gone by 9.30. Got a bewUtiful tester though, looks like a little test tube. Larger than normal too. Shame I don't like the perfume more.

SOTD: Eau d'Iparie. Soapy woody incense. Reminds me of something my Greek grandpa would wear, or maybe a soap he used for shaving.. Not bad at all, but will have to see whether I can get over the masculine association.

I was wondering whether your DPs/DHs are into perfume at all? Mine really isn't, but liked my Bvlgari Black so much that he nicked it from me. The other thing he uses now is Boss Orange, which is ok, albeit a bit boring..

Kittykarate: DH doesn't like my "stranger" perfumes either. I think most men who are not into fragrances, just like you to wear something light and flowery with a bit of vanilla.. Which of course is veeeryy boring.

My DH is clueless, wears whatever is to hand. Had to throw out his Hugo Boss as I could not STAND it and he was ignoring lovely Acqua di Parma in favour of it - no more! heh heh heh.

Can I ask, how on earth do you start picking through all the totally unknown to me perfumes on the above sites? I'm just overwhelmed by them tbh.

What I have done is go to e.g. fragrantica:

www.fragrantica.com/

And search there according to what notes or type of perfume I like (links above the fragrantica search bar) and look at what it gives me. Also, you could search for a perfume, you know you like, by name, and sometimes it will give you the perfumes most like that one below the notes list.

Here is the Chanel no 19 EDP entry (for example):

www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Chanel/Chanel-No-19-EDP-12345.html

Proper links here (sorry!):

www.fragrantica.com/

search by notes:

www.fragrantica.com/notes/

search by type:

www.fragrantica.com/search/

www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Chanel/Chanel-No-19-EDP-12345.html

You might also want to look into the "bible" that is "Perfumes" by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez. That will give you some pointers on where to start and what could be good.

There are also a great many perfume blogs, good, bad and indifferent. IMHO, Bois de Jasmin is sometimes quite interesting:
boisdejasmin.com/
The site has a section called 'perfume 101' which suggests some possible ways to start exploring.

Oh, yes, blogs are good if you can find a blogger who's roughly into the same stuff than you..

Thanks a million. Have sealed the deal with Mr chanel man though am a bit wistful after the Cristalle...

I've recently discovered my favourite perfume blog, just so happens to be a regular on this thread

Chocs if you happen to be down this way, you are welcome to pop by and borrow my Ma Griffe. It was a 99p ebay bargain- although I've now read the 90s version is not as good and I'm not sure if this is it. I like it, although it does remind me of a late great auntie who wore fur coats and hats to family do's (dressed up like a dog's dinner, was my Nan's put down of choice!)

My DH is quite into his fragrances, he doesn't read anything about them but just likes what he likes. He quite likes testing various ones out so is always willing to go into shops with me and try various scents (although refuses to try any celeb ones.)

SOTD is Dior Poison- not as full on as I remember (although a few dabs from a sample is just right) applied sparingly I find it gorgeous, deep, dark and sweet. One of my primary school teachers used to live in a cloud of it, in fact I remember steeling myself to go up and get my work marked as my eyes would water the closer I got to her!

I have been given 125 ml botttle of EDT Yatagan - and I cannot STAND it. I could not wait to scrub it off, but it turns out to be horribly long-lasting, at least on me. I say this as a lover of many masculine smells and of Caron's perfumes for women - SOTD for most of past week has been Caron's 'Miss Rocaille' (really weird and a ghastly bottle, but I like it).

So, a bottle - or half/third of a bottle if two/three fellow-perfumistas would like to share - is going free to good home(s) (though small donation to a charity would be a nice idea). Please kindly PM me if interested. I feel a bit bad about saying this, but first come first served. Cannot think of a fairer way of arranging... But perhaps there are not many Yatagan-lovers out there?!

Will Pm you in a minute flora I'd be quite willing to share, Yatagen is something I've never tried

Harum was enjoying Yatagan recently.....

SOTD was L'Artisan Tea for Two. I can still smell it 15 hours after applying....mmmmm....

Wilting - my starting point for hunting out all these lovely fragrances was this very thread (or, to be precise, one of its predecessors). I researched anything that was being raved about, then started ordering samples, building up a list of fragrance notes I liked (or disliked). The Turin/Sanchez book helped, and I love Fragrantica.

And Chocs's excellent blog!

Oh shucks Cointreau

aw shucks chocs, you'll have to pm me your blog! God knows I need the help, I don't know my vetivers (omg can't even spell it!) from my aldehydes ;)

It's not iscentyouaday is it? I know that is written by an mnner. She has total credit for pricking my new found interest in perfume

cointrea I've heard of the luca turin book I must just buy it on amazon. Frangrantica is vg, I look at basenotes too.

Do people have a favourite perfume?