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Where are the perfume lovers gone???

958 replies

wiltingfast · 02/10/2014 17:56

Remember our chats??

Our SOTD (scent of the day)?

Is there a thread I've missed Shock

If not, lets take it up here :)

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

OP posts:
FrugalFashionista · 09/03/2015 22:07

Tyaca, in general, orientals are the longest-lasting perfumes. LADDM is very potent but look at other ambers and spicy perfumes too. Leather perfumes and other perfumes that contain less volatile ingredients (heavier raw materials like labdanum, birch tar) also tend to be longer-lasting. I once had a smelling strip dipped in castoreum. I kept it on my dresser and it smelled tarry and earthy for about six months. If you want seriously heavy perfumes, find Alfarom from Basenotes and read his blog Nero Profumo. He is into the blackwst, tarriest, leatheriest things known to man. If you want smoke, Bois d'Ascese and Lonestar Memories are worth a try.

There are other ways to extend the life of a perfume. Certain ingredients make a perfume more tenacious - things like certain musks and Iso E Super. Many of us are anosmic to some perfume ingredients so if you smell poof and then nothing, you might miss a certain ingredient that others can smell. Perfumers often use a mixture of musks to prevent this from happening. Some of them are partially or totally anosmic to certain ingredients themselves! There is a story about First by Van Cleef & Arpels, JC Ellena's first major perfume, I think he had to make it last overnight and kept tinkering with the formula until he got the brief. If you spray perfume on your hair, clothes (careful there) or a handkerchief, it goes on for much longer.

Some perfumes are fleeting, but so pretty that it is worthwhile. Many L'Artisans and Goutals are like this, they are famous for their short lifespan. Colognes are by their nature fleeting, they are meant to be a quick refreshing pick-me-up. Chanel perfumes have some serious engineering in them, I get 12 hours of wear from quite a few of them (usually EDPs - extraits are more fleeting on me usually).

If you get seriously into perfume, you will start liking perfumes that will not go on forever. Especially very linear perfumes can get tiresome, that photorealistic metallic cherry note is fun for fifteen minutes and then torture for the next eight hours... There is a law nature that if you accidentally spray something that you deeply dislike on you, it will be hellishly tenacious and also get on your coat sleeve Wink

Many Montales are also extremely long-lasting. If you want nuclear sillage, the Dior boutique perfumes Oud Ispahan and Leather Oud are hard to beat, so is Portrait of the Lady from Malle

Toomuchtea · 10/03/2015 09:14

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SirVixofVixHall · 10/03/2015 11:15

SOTD Relique D'amour again. Am enjoying it, may shell out on a bottle. Although I want to wear Habanita today, and don't have any. I wore it on my wedding day, and buy the purfume every now and again, but I have a paranoia that like everything else it has probably been re-formulated, does anyone know if it has?

FrugalFashionista · 10/03/2015 11:32

SOTD Burberry Woman

WindMeUpAndLetMeGo · 10/03/2015 11:44

Wow! I'm impressed how deep you go into your perfumes. My all time fave is JPG Classique and have the summer and ltd edition variations too.

Though today am wearing ghost -not really my style but a present from DS2

CointreauVersial · 10/03/2015 12:59

Careful, Frugal - you can have too much of a good thing. Wink

I agree with you about Oud Ispahan - I only have to wave the bottle in the general direction of my wrist and I'm a rose-oud bomb for about 24 hours. Lovely, though.

SOTD is Premier Figuier. It makes a change from my usual fig, Ninfeo Mio. It's already fading fast, though...

tyaca · 10/03/2015 20:16

Frugal, I really appreciate such a detailed response. I'm interested to hear that you think I will be less bothered by longevity as I get more into perfume. I also wonder whether I'm just not smelling it on myself after a while.

I'm going to get samples of some of those you listed and start from there.

Toomuchtea · 12/03/2015 13:31

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CointreauVersial · 12/03/2015 16:18

Poor you, Toomuch. DH has also embarked on his annual sneezeathon.

SOTD is Jour D'Hermes. I'm wearing an orange top, and that was the first perfume I spotted in my box that felt "orange". Would that be the packaging, or the fragrance? Who knows....

wiltingfast · 13/03/2015 13:26

SOTD Elizabeth Arden's Sunflowers.

I picked up a bottle of this cheap second hand. It's an unusual one for me, I tend to prefer more complex green iris type perfumes but I spotted it lurking and actually am really enjoying it. Lovely subtle high clear scent; I don't find I can pick out individual notes though, it just is what it is for me, maybe faintly floral or possibly melon, no way do I get citrus or wood that's listed on fragrantica!

OP posts:
wiltingfast · 13/03/2015 13:30

Am going away for the weekend and I packed ...

6 bottles of perfume and 1 decant Blush

god be with the days when I had one bottle of perfume that did me for years and I just wore for everything Grin!

OP posts:
FrugalFashionista · 13/03/2015 14:26

Still persisting with Burberry Women - just 1ml left I think. The peachiness goes nicely with my apricot body cream Grin Wanted to rebel last night though and wear some LADDM...

Wilting loving your travelling perfume wardrobe Wink

Toomuchtea · 13/03/2015 14:40

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wiltingfast · 16/03/2015 12:07

28 La Pausa for me today. I really love this, earthy iris which develops into a delicate woody floral, so elegant, I always feel v accomplished when I wet this!

OP posts:
canny1234 · 16/03/2015 12:21

James Heeleys Verveine today for a rainy grey day.Its really zingy combination of Verbena and Rhubarb works well as a pick up.Also dd 2 said it smells lovely on me ( kids normally start yawning when I discuss perfume!).
I received Ysl's Paris in a swop recently.It seems to be a pale shadow of its former self.I used to wear Paris in the 80's when it packed some real oomph and i am shocked by the difference.I guess this is due to reformulation.Have any of you been horrified by recent changes to your favourites?

Toomuchtea · 16/03/2015 14:51

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OneLittleLady · 16/03/2015 17:29

toomuchtea I see music, in fact any sound as colours!

Anyway, I picked up Fragonard Frivole in M&S today for £16. reduced for some reason though i don't know if it's across all stores

CointreauVersial · 16/03/2015 22:11

SOTD was Robert Piguet Visa.

I've had the sample for ages, and worn it a couple of times, and thought "meh", but today I really, really loved it. The immortelle gives it a lovely twist.

Toomuchtea · 17/03/2015 16:11

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OneLittleLady · 17/03/2015 18:23

No Toomuchtea it's just sounds so everything from things as mundane as the letterbox through to the swells of hugely complex classical pieces of music, everything has a colour, it's like fireworks going off in my head. For years I thought I was just a bit, well, odd. I didn't know it was a recognised phenomenon

MissBattleaxe · 17/03/2015 20:16

Hello everyone, I haven't been on the perfume threads for a while so it's nice to see you all again.

SOTD Carillon Pour Un Ange by Andy Tauer. The best Lily of the Valley Scent ever made in my humble opinion.

canny1234 · 18/03/2015 12:21

I love Carillon pour un ange too Battleaxe.Its the most beautiful scent ever but I think we're in the minority on this thread.
Chanel's Misia is Sotd today.I'm getting a rich boozy orris top note that rapidly transforms into a cool Violet backed with Iris.Misia smells like very old fashioned powder with a slightly fruity boozy element.Totally unlike Lipstick Rose ,though briefly reminiscent of the old Paris ( not the new anodyne one).I do need to wait for the drydown though as its meant to be wonderful.

Toomuchtea · 19/03/2015 19:20

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FrugalFashionista · 19/03/2015 21:36

Wearing Defile New York from HdP, the fantastic combination of fresh green and chocolate, countdown to Easter...

MissBattleaxe

CointreauVersial · 19/03/2015 21:55

Wearing The Lion Cupboard by 4160 Tuesdays. It's very soft and woody, but I'm finding that quite a few of the 4160 fragrances seem to bring me out in a rash, so I'm having to find inventive places to dab it, where the skin is more "hardy" than wrists and decolletage. Confused But this morning I forgot, so my wrists have been itching all day.