Perfume lovers - vol. 6

[FrugalFashionista]

This space is for anyone who wants to talk about perfumes - ask for recommendations, tell us which scent you are wearing today (=SOTD), list your favorites...

Continued from here

Oh and Fuzz you just have a taste for classics - not common these days but this means that you will find lots of lovely perfumes if you continue your explorations!

Science Samsara is built on a jasmine - sandalwood accord, Ysatis is a beautifully orchestrated white floral that also has warm and creamy sandalwood in its base. Both Samsara and Ysatis are big 1980s creations - I just love that era

Frugal, can I ask your advice please? I have a hankering for ysatis but understand that it has been re formulated and the updated version isn't a patch on the original. Is the original the one with the gold top, or how else can I distinguish it?

Those kind of perfumes are very nostalgic for me. I also loved first by van cleef and arpels, Chloe, kenzo (it was in a matte flowery bottle) and something from the body shop though I can't remember the name.

Shamefully, I remember eschewing ysatis, which I adored, for amarige, which i didn't really like but a boy I was keen on had expressed an admiration for in my defence, I was a teenager

Ananya! That was the body shop one!

Hi Science, these old ads give an idea what older Ysatis bottles look like. eBay and car boots can be a treasure trove (old formulations can be easier to find in partial bottles). Properly applied, it can be quite discreet and stylish - at least among the people I knew, it was a popular office perfume and I always associate it with court shoes and silk scarves.

Hi ladies! Long time, no post. Thatt's not to say that I haven't been following the thread; I just haven't had anything to post about. If anyone vaguely remembers, I was having a passionate love affair with Tableau De Parfum's Loretta. My 7ml purse spray has all gone and I am mourning. I've just recently ordered some samples so am working my way through those. I quite like Quelques Fleurs by Houbigant and I have a sample of Carnal Flower waiting for me today. However, I think a FB of Loretta is going to have to be bought, as i miss it so much.

I still stalk the Guerlain stall and love the classics. Nahema and Chamade will also be mine one day. I spritzed on Chanel no 19- such a delightful scent for this time of year.

Anyway, over and out

Stokey,it was me that didn't like the Sexiest Scent....It smells like incense ( but I haven't even tried it on).The Who Knew also isn't good on ( a similar base) but smells quite nice on dd.I'm loving Frugals Virgin Island Water at the moment.I even found a room diffuser that smells of coconut and lime in Tk Maxx yesterday ,to expand on the theme.I would now like to try a few more Creed scents.Any suggestions from Les Senteurs?

Ananya! I amusingly thought I was being different from my crowd of white musk and fuzzy peach friends I'd like to smell it again.

Well I was stupidly excited by my nose package arriving yesterday - I can't recommend this site enough. I got sent seven samples (two bonus ones) they sprayed the tissue with a different fragrance and told me what that was too and they are all in spray samples and I much prefer that to the fiddly stick ones. It was ten euro including postage - I'm just made up with it - can you tell?!!

I got from my profile..

Odeur 71 - comme des garçons
Iconofly - attaché moi - very heavy and musky, I think I love it but it did overpower my tea last night!
Heeley - verveine
Heeleys st Clements - very orangey, not sure about it
Acqua di Parma - bergametto, ok but not v exciting

Bonus
Mark Buxton - emotional rescue, best one of the lot for me, very warm and cosy
Odin - petrana

I will definitely be doing this again and have cancelled glossybox as this was way better in excitement levels!

Smelling them all again, is it only me that feels happy wearing fragrances designed for men? However, 71 crosses the line and will be given to my brother.

Ooh Shoe lovely to hear from you! I've often wondered what has happened to you. You should definitely buy a FB of Loretta and possibly even a back-up bottle, it's one of those really exclusive limited edition things and there is never any guarantee that there will be a new batch after the old one is gone. (I think Andy talked about finding a lovely small batch of tuberose absolute that probably inspired it.)

I love Loretta - it's often something I apply around bedtime to unwind - and I found that a new Byredo - 1996 Inez & Vinoodh - has a similar (methylanthranilate-laced? - a component of tuberose, jasmine and orange blossom smell that is also used as a 'grape' flavoring in Kool-Aid!!!) opening, though it decelops in a different, more ambery direction.

If any other old-timers are reading this thread, please do delurk for a moment. Because people love sampling and experimenting, the emphasis here seems to be on new experiences, but if you have found one or more 'true love' perfumes a different, often quieter phase usually starts and that is fantastic too because you learn to know one or more perfumes really well (spring is always a restless time for me).

For me, perfumes are mostly a sensual pleasure but I started enjoying them even more when I started satisfying my intellectual curiosity and learning about them. I'll post a few resources for fellow perfume geeks -

• If you can read French and are interested in the cultural history of perfumes, Elisabeth de Feydeau's book Les Parfums - Histoire, anthologie, dictionnaire (1200+ pages, 32€ from amazon.fr) is my favorite reference book (brief introduction here). It has essays by various perfumers, an encyclopedia of perfume terms, important raw materials and short descriptions of classic perfumes and timelines. I often look up a perfume I'm wearing and every time I open the book I learn something new.
• this slim book explains natural perfumery raw materials and the basic structure of perfumes
• this free online pdf explains a lot of raw materials used in perfumery

Still trying to decide what to wear today...

Thanks frugal, I find all this really interesting and would love to know more. I love having new things to get fascinated by.

Fox I love masculine scents as well.The Nose package sounds intriguing and excellent value.Love the name - Emotional Rescue.What a brilliant name for a perfume.
Frugal you are just so knowledgeable about all aspects of perfumery - its really fascinating!Maybe one of the vials you sent me leaked slightly but it made the package smell absolutely delightful.Trying Floris Wedding Bouquet today.

Sorry about the long monster post!

Loving how lively this thread is these days...
Fox your Nose.fr samples sound really fascinating!!! Glad it was a nice experience. I love sampling.
And Teta very happy that you've found something new that you absolutely love! I don't know Creed perfumes too well (they do a lot of florals that really aren't my thing) but here is a knowledgeable thread from Basenotes with lots of suggestions.

I love and wear masculines quite often, in fact decided to pick Guerlain's Habit Rouge for today. For me, it's so much easier to wear than Shalimar I also love and wear Antaues, Yatagan, Eau des Iles, and Spanish Leather.

If you are bi/curious , easy ones to experiment with are Habit Rouge, Eau Sauvage, Egoiste, Chanel Allure pour Homme, Spicebomb, Encre Noire, Grey Vetiver, Tobacco Vanille, A*Men.

Hi Shoe, lovely to 'see' you again!

Ooh Fox what a good service from Nose and amazing value too. I will definitely order my sample pack now! Oh and don't forget the Body Shop's Dewberry, I used to love that stuff.

I popped into L'Occitane today and tried Neroli & Orchidee and Ambre & Santal. Lovely fragrances with good lasting power. I also tried Eau des Baux again and this time I could hardly smell it, maybe the others overpowered it. Weird as the first time I tried it, I fell in love and it was straight on my FB list

Fox, I too thought I was terribly original liking ananya. All my friends liked dewberry or white musk

Frugal, thanks for the advice on ysatis. I may try the new formulation if and when I come across it before trying to search out the vintage version.

Very intrigued by the nose site. What size are the samples? It feels a bit too good to be true at that price. Is the uk delivery a killer?

Fireside for me today. My new favourite scent

Picked up Cerrutti 1881 Collection for £6 pounds yesterday. Have yet to try it out but it looks promising for a daytime scent according to the notes list on fragrantica.

Wilting did your parcel arrive?

I was a white musk or vanilla gal

I'm wearing portrait of a lady tonight.

I was a body shop Oceanus girl. Dewberry gave me headaches and the fuzzy peach smelled like toilet cleaner on my skin

Oh I remember Oceanus One , I never did White Musk but my school used to reek of it.

Think Ysatis was my first ever perfume, must try it again although no idea what happened to my 80s bottle.

Was wearing Tauer LADDM yesterday which at first was quite intense as have been trying lots of spring samples recently.But this morning have still got a lovely ambery smell on my wrist.

I think I got mainly vanilla from the sexiest scent Teta

Tried Last Muguet by Annick Goutal yesterday.Started off with a really acrid top note - a bit like burning rubber and then a pungent smell of Lily of the valley.Fading eventually to a rather nice delicate scent in a similar way to other Goutals.Dd2 said she didn't like it - too strong for her.I'm not sure whether I like it or not but do find the scent fascinating.

Muguet is a difficult note Teta! I exhausted my interest in it in my early teens when I owned a no-name lily-of-the-valley 'fume. That was my only venture into perfumes marketed for teens. I went to school near major department stores with great perfume counters and my next bottle I bought was Dune

For some insider insights, gossip and trendcasting, this FB-based technically oriented site is fantastic. The forecast is more incense, oud, iris and sweet notes in mainstream perfumes... Hmmm, good for me

SOTD Eau Lente from Diptyque. Wafts of cinnamon and opoponax on a chilly wet day, bundled up in warm sweaters, reading The Goldfinch.

Foxinorangesocks Agreeing with the raves for Nose site and service. My (seven!) samples came on Friday, and I also got the Emotional Rescue which is today's SOTD. I like it lots but not as much as the Acqua Fiorentina which I tried yesterday: I am now trying to resist buying at least a decent size decant. And it lasted so well that I could still catch a lingering whiff this morning, but it was never overpowering... At least, neither DH nor DS commented!

I love a bit of muguet in the spring, especially in Gucci Envy and Acqua di Gio (why are all my favourites discontinued? Humph.)

I will order my Nose samples soon...but am already waiting on parcels from Bloom and ebay so I might have to show a bit of restraint

SOTD is my no.1 favourite, the love of my life, the original Coco.

Just found my two vintage perfume atomisers in a box. They still smell of whatever was in them before they came my way. One was my great grandmas and the other i stumbled across in a charity shop and bought for 15p. Both are in working condition but I don't want to put anything in them and destroy the smell of whatever was in them before.

Fuzz- You can buy Gucci Envy on Amazon Uk right now but be quick before they run out! I just bought 30ml for less than £35.