Where are the perfume lovers gone???

[wiltingfast]

Remember our chats??

Our SOTD (scent of the day)?

Is there a thread I've missed

If not, lets take it up here :)

SOTD an unknown sample from my perfume drawer, woodsy and irisy, am baffled but enjoying it!

:)

I love eau d'hadrien.I would love to swop with you but don't have any Philosykos sadly.I do have others and can do decants though.

Ooh, what do you have? Anything I'd like, given what I've said so far? And what are decants?

Found an unlabeled decant, tried it on my wrist, SOTD is Spiritueuse Double Vanille from Guerlain. For an oriental and gourmand lover, fall and winter are the best seasons. The heavy hitters that smell overpowering and stuffy on warm days feel just right. This one is boozy, rummy and lascivious, dripping cane sugar. The intense sweetness actually reminds me of thatched roadside shacks that sold sugar cane juice and homemade banana jam in the rain-sodden Mato Atlantica mountains in Brazil. The vendors often had brownish, slightly rotten teeth - an occupational hazard obviously...

Sounds lovely FrugalFashionista!

I am also wearing something sweet for SOTD, Mure et Musc Extreme by L'Artisan, but it's fruity-sweet which I'm not that keen on. I can see how it was something different and special when it came out first but the fruity-sweet thing has been done to death so much since then it's hard to appreciate it in isolation. It reminds me of that ghastly Dewberry Oil from the Body Shop that my school corridors reeked of in the 1980s as well. I think my seven year old daughter would like this so I'll pass it on to her!

My Atelier samples arrived yesterday, haven't tried any yet but they're AMAZING value! €10 including postage (olfactoriastravels offer as previously posted) and you get over 20 samples, each wrapped in a postcard and a lovely handwritten note in wonky English.

SOTD: Frederic Malle En Passant, courtesy of ToysRLuv. Mmm. Lilac-y.

Shins I also love the Atelier sample box- its so innovative.I just wish that the samples were sprays and not dabbers.
SOTD is Tendre Jasmine by Yves Rocher.I love this because its as much about Mimosa as Jasmine.In cooler weather however it doesn't project as well so I will switch to Profumum Roma's Battito d'Ali.The only gourmand I've ever fallen in love with.The bitterness of the Cacao and Myrrh offsets the candied orange blossom beautifully.
Love the sound of your vanilla Frugal.
Olfactory,decants are smaller amounts of perfume in vials that are decanted from the big bottles.They are an effective way of buying expensive perfumes that are otherwise unaffordable.They are also a good way to try new perfumes and are relatively risk free compared to sending a Full perfume bottle in the post.
If you tell me the sort of perfumes you like I can see what I've got.Or alternatively earlier on in the thread I've listed some bottles and decants for swop.

SOTD: Mistero di Roma. For some reason I really get on with Laura Biagiotti. I wonder why that is.. Maybe it's the recurring sandalwood, balsam, musk, vanilla, fruit combo. The only ones I have tried and disliked, are the new Venezia EDP and EDT. To me they are almost as bad as MKK for pooeyness. I love the classic Venezia and Venezia Pastello. Both sadly long since discontinued.

Can you tell me how to find people on fragrantica to split a bottle with or to buy a decant from? Somewhere on the forum?

Hi Toys I've done your decants and included the tiny Caron ' nuit de Noel' in the package ( plus the Serge Lutens Musc that I promised to send you the first time and must have forgotten to include.
On Fragantica ( you need to register first) there is a gourmand split thread under the Gourmand section.There also a international and a separate UK split thread in the Individual Topics section.The UK thread can be a bit slow and infrequent so click on the individual Topics section to see updates.If you want to host or vouch on this thread state this.You can also write requests on the Exchange section.

I hope this helps!

Thanks, so much, canny! I thought I'd somehow managed to lose the Lutens. I quite often find little vials that have rolled under a dresser or whatever..

I finally figured out the fragrantica thing. Put in a request for Lipstick Rose on the exchange list. Fingers crossed!

Oh god Mure et Musc is the worst SOTD ever. I smell like a child's breath after they've puked up a bag of cheap sweets. HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE

(sorry, just had to put that out there)

Thanks canny. Have put Philosykos into Fragantica, and it describes its properties as green, then woody, then about half sweet, and about a third milky and fresh.

Any thoughts? I really don't have a clue how to describe a smell.

Olfactory I have a manufacturers decant of L artisans Parfumeur Premier Figuier.This is a fig perfume that has been created by the same parfumer as Philosykos but is slightly different.If you want I can swop for a 10 ml decant of eau d'hadrien.I can send you a 7mls manufacturers decant plus a couple of other Coconutty scents that I think you may like - Heeleys Coccobello and Virgin Island Water.But please read up on the perfumes in Fragantica first to see whether you may like them.

That sounds great. Where's a good place to get a decant bottle to send you my Eau d'Hadrien in? Sorry for all the questions, am new to this mysterious world of perfume swappery!

Ooh, this thread is so interesting! Like stepping into another world where I don t speak the language but want to understand what everyone is saying.
Anyway, I have a question , as a total novice perfume lover ; I used to love the old Chloe but the new one is not the same. The chloe edt is nice, but maybe a bit girly for me. I love Chanel Allure, and it s really good on me (most perfumes turn to hairspray on my skin) but my best mate wears it, so I can't.

So, can anyone recommend a scent in a similar vein?
SOTD is that conditioner with Claudia Shiffer on the bottle! Just washed my hair and it smells larvely

Wearing nothing. Thinking of nipping into the Dior boutique in city center to sample Cuir Cannage. Haven't kept up with new launches...

eBay is good for decant bottles.

Welcome IfNot - this is definitely the right place for you - a good way to get started is to search for Allure in Fragrantice and see what other people who like Allure also like (the sidebar). Write down some names, then go and try some of them. You'll quickly find likes/ loves /hates and mehs... And that way you'll figure out your home base and comfort zone in perfumery. Another way - find perfumes with fascinating names and try them...

Muscs are strange. I like some - Helvetolide is very pretty and I also like Kiehl's musk - but some of they are so overused in detergents and fabric conditioners that they are just very dull. I'm anosmic to quite a few musks and one makes me heave...

Canny, your beautifully packaged parcel came today. Wooooop! I feel like a kid in a sweet shop. Thanks!

Put Silk Blossom on one wrist and Nuit Etoilee on the other.

I have wanted a perfume with silk tree blossom in it for a while now. I'm half Mediterranean and where the family house is, there are lots of silk trees. The flowers smell lovely, light and slightly honeyed, and they tickle your nose when you take a sniff. The trees look gorgeous and make the pavements pink with flowers. I'm also fond of the unusual shape of the leaves. Jo Malone Silk Blossom smells quite a bit like the real thing. Very pleasant.

I was intrigued by Nuit Etoilee when I looked at the notes. First thing that hits you is mint and smoke. Then the pine needles come in and the whole things gets smoother 10 mins in. I'm not sure what to make of it yet, but I keep sniffing my wrist to check on whet's going on in the development. Veeery interesting. Reminds me of nothing else, this!

Frugal: The one that makes you heave is not the one used in Lutens' MKK, is it? I seem to remember that you quite like MKK, but I could be wrong. That one, however, really makes me think of pooey, sweaty bums (excuse my language!). My favourite musks are smooth and fairly inoffensive/clean, as in Nicolai's Musc Intense. I really love that one. Could bathe in it!

Any newbies beware. You might end up like this.

And that would be wrong because?

Nothing, inherently. That is, if you can afford and find physical room for all of it! (Also, never, ever open the perfume cupboard of doom in your DH/DP's presence if they're anything like mine)

Oh, yes, I know all about that! My DH has a perfume phobia so I have to wait till he's gone out of the house to put any on.

My DH doesn't have that, thank goodness, but he uses up one bottle at a time, and can't imagine ever wanting to pay more than a max of around 30-40 pounds on a bottle. He does spray it on every day, though, and will wear quite daring (somewhat feminine) scents from my cupboard to save on buying himself a new (more masculine) bottle. E.g. he wore my L'artisan Mon Numero 7 for a few months, before I bought him a huge bottle of one of his favourites (CK One) for pennies on e-bay.

DH's reaction on seeing my cupboard open is to have eyes the size of plates and gasp. Then you get questions like "is it all really necessary" for the next few days. I've been relatively frugal, though, not buying any perfumes on the high street.

Wow Toys am very of your cupboard of doom!

Canny, my dear! Could I maybe have some of your Coccobello and VIW if you fancy another swap? (I'm just being greedy now, aren't I!)