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

Went scent free today so I could spray in the shops . I took a trip to M&S first and have ended up with Lynn Harris La Fleur on one wrist, this is very nice and a complete bargain, reminded me a bit of Tuberose Gardenia from estee at first, but it seems quite sweet in the dry down whereas the estee lauder is more indolic. On the other wrist I have Monotheme Leather- an almost direct copy of Tuscan leather (but much more cheaper) and although slightly less complex is worth trying if you don't fancy shelling out for Tom Ford prices.
Went In Harvey Nicks next where I gained a little patch of Silver Iris from Atelier Cologne- very sweet, not your usual cool iris, seems very long lasting. I am quite impressed with Atelier colognes and am still loving my sample of Vetiver Fatal, this is top of my wish list at the moment but they don't come cheap unfortunately .

Went to bed after a spray of Miller Harris terre de iris and Heeleys Verveine from Nose.Loved both of them ( as did two of my dc's as they both got into bed with me with ear ache).I am really impressed with these Nose testers - they're such good picks.

Ooh look at this set of 25 samples from Etat Libre D'Orange from Escentual. I have run out of birthdays and anniversaries so can't splurge again for a while, but one of you can! www.escentual.com/elo_025/

Liz earle botanical today, courtesy of fuzz. I really really like it. Perfect flowery fragrance with a bit of depth and longevity.

Science glad you like it! It reminded me a lot of Chanel Allure. I'm wearing your Chanel 1932 today, a lighter aldehydic floral. It's lovely but I found it a bit too light, would be good in warmer weather I think.

By the way, if you want anymore Blue Encens, you can order a free sample from Comme des Garcons website (I've just ordered Blue Santal as I haven't tried it yet.)

Heeleys St Clements today.Love this but it seems to be a big brash refreshing opening and thats it.Not helped by the fact the spray vial isn't working so I'm probably not getting enough on me.Love both Heeley scents so far though and am looking forward to trying Frugals sample tomorrow.Has anyone tried Hippie Rose?

I have placed a Les Scenteurs order and am awaiting samples:
Frederic Malle (how do you pronounce the 'Malle'?) POAL, une Rose and Dries Van Noten. Anyone tried the Dries Van Noten one? It sounds just lovely…

Back from NYC, pretty jet-lagged. It was a work-intensive trip but I sneaked out to Saks for a few minutes and smelled a couple of new Kilians on strip. Loved the jasmine tea one and want to try it on skin at some point. Also tried Eau Moheli from Diptyque on skin, it's an ylang-fest and nicely done. While I was away, my decants arrived, and now wearing Fleur de Narcisse from L'Artisan. Very subtle and not sweet, with pronounced hay notes, easy to wear. Will need to catch up later, DC demanding attention...

Frugal I'm afraid to try any Kilian - if I like it, I can't afford it!

Random replies - Malle is pronounced 'mal'. I have some DvN, it smells uncannily like doughnuts (nutmeg + vanilla) on a nice but slightly raspy Aussie sandalwood base.

Bridge Kilians are just great - although they are niche, they are really mainstream done right, without skimping on ingredients. Don't love all of them but think that's what contemporary quality smells like. Refills and travel sets are cheaper and because it's great quality, just a dab goes a long way. If you friend Kilian Hennessy on FB, his PR team sometimes sends freebies your way. A couple of his scents are decant/full bottle worthy for me. Oh, and I don't love the glitzy packaging

Cosi Philip Kraft compared the AC iris with Iris Silver Mist (to me, the gold standard) on his FB page on March 23 - fascinating reading! Iris used to be one of the costliest ingredients because the roots (the source for orris butter) had to be matured for several years and it was resource intensive work. However, one of the raw material giants has found a new cheaper way to synthetize irones a few years ago and that's why iris is everywhere and we are seeing it a lot in new launches, even mainstream ones.

Teta Heeleys are great, very stylish.

Another wonderful scent from Parfumerie Generale today- Intrigant Patchouli.

Bridge I know what you mean, you almost don't want to fall in love when a perfume costs that much! But as Frugal says, there are always decants. Speaking of which, I think I need a decant of Seville a L'Aube. Either that or I'll have to wait till L'Artisan has a sale...

Hmm, doughnuts you say Frugal… Well, I do like doughnuts, but not sure I want people to hug me and think "doughnuts". We shall see…
Today I am wearing Marni. Like it, but it doesn't hang around long.

Yesterday was wilting's vetiver dance. I hated it when I first put it on, far too masculine I thought. But within half an hour, it has diminished into something rather lovely and I really quite liked it.

The Kilian refil bottles are much better value than the fancy bottles and some of them seem to come with a little travel type spray bottle you can refil from the bigger bottle. Agree that they still seem overpriced though. I have Beyond Love on my wish list but think it will be a long time before I splash out.
SOTD No22

Hmm, another Nose sample today, The Different Company South Bay, not that interesting alas, it was pleasant but is gone already... first whiff is very nice, fresh wearable grapefruit with just a touch of sourness, like broken stems then it just gently seems to fade away...

I'll have another spray and see if I can get any stronger impression...

Back to Liz Earle Botanical No 100 today. Fresh and springlike, just like the weather!

SOTD Le Labo Ylang for the first time ever. Confusingly, this opens with a va-va-voom juicy rose note although bright honeyed yellow florals are just underneath. This feels like an old-school grand perfume but let's see how it develops.

Heeleys Menthe Fraiche today,sent to me very kindly from Frugal.Its so refreshing - just like Moroccan mint tea with a slice of lemon.A couple of hours later I'm left with a faint scent of green tea.I think this is a wonderful high summer smell for hot days.
I love the 3 Heeleys perfumes I've tried so far and have just ordered more samples from Nose but the longevity seems to be non existent.Maybe I need to spray it on a lot more luxuriantly.

Very quickly apologies to those awaiting samples from me - am having the week from hell so probably won't make it to post-office!

No worries Stokey. It's very kind of you so no need to hurry or stress!

SOTD is Ciel d'Airain by Huitieme Art, very similar to Premier Figuier but with some extra crisp green juiciness. I love it but it doesn't last long, it would be amazing on a hot sunny day though.

Also need to document that I wore Guerlain's Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice last night. Like most perfumes with fir in it, it smelled totally farty (and nothing like a Christmas tree) on my skin The spicy part smells like gingerbread but Theorema is the perfect gingerbread perfume that cannot be upstaged...

I also tried the new launch Dolce this morning - a pretty bottle and a beautiful ad campaign but the juice is so ordinary and ho-hum that I can barely remember what it smelled like

The postman just brought me a small bottle of Aqua Allegoria Figue Iris that has travelled all the way from Germany - cannot wait to sample it! Have high hopes that this will be my summer office 'fume this year...

Oh and Stokey sending you warm thoughts, just hoping the rest of your week will be much nicer!

Officially in love with Aqua Allegoria Figue Iris (a blind bottle that I just had to buy - this us getting scarce - and I never ever buy blind!). The fig is not green, more like a subtle cherry. The iris is not cold and carroty, just very subtle and a bit powdery. And like most of my perfumes, it's a bit sweet. It's one of those velvety barely there perfumes that just give a warm aura - 'You smell good' rather than 'I love your perfume'. The weather is quite warm already but I think I will wear this a lot this summer... Fully office appropriate too so I'll alternate with AA Nerolia Bianca. Has anyone smelled the newest Aqua Allegoria yet?

Was about to order 'In love again' from the Perfume Superstore.co.UK as it was incredibly cheap. I was a bit suspicious so did a quick search only to find its a really dodgy site with lots of complaints.So don't order from this site(or maybe you all know this) .
Someone complimented me on my lovely subtle perfume yesterday and asked me what I was wearing- Heeleys Menthe Fraiche.I've discovered that I have to spray a lot on and refresh it every 3 hours for the scent to last.
DavidBlainesappliance Can you tell me please whether you got the Ninfeo Mio as I posted it last Thursday.You don't need to send me anything in return but I would like to know the postage system is working!