Lovely Friendly Perfume Thread: Part 3

[MrsCocoa]

Continuing the discussion of all things perfume related. Tell us about your long standing favourites and tell us about the latest finds you've sniffed out. Everyone is welcome.

Gosh I remember those bath cubes! I also used to love bath pearls from the body shop. There is someone selling fuzzy peach and dewberry perfume oil on eBay...

Green congratulations on the Vent Vert! I'm not jealous at all, I promise

It's very foggy here today and not springlike at all. I've ended up going for my sample of Annick Goutal Sables- warm, dry and spicy.

bagged myself 100mls of L'Artisan L'Eau D'Ambre extreme today for £24. very pleased with it. somewhat masculine int he opening but the spice and patchouli it then opens into are fabulous. really chuffed with it

I wore Vent Vert in honour of Green this morning. So straw-y somehow. (yet I don't know what straw smells like!)

I have a bottle of Chique- bought with a bottle of Tweed and a bottle of Panache in an Allbeauty splurge last Autumn. Of the 3, Panache is probably my favourite. All 3 are the new Taylor of London variety, but I will get hold of some old stuff sooner or later.

The BS bath pearls were blimmin' lethal weren't they? Wonder how many bumped heads and broken ankles resulted from slipping on the slightly repulsive skin left behind? I loathed Dewberry and White Musk (I have an acquaintance who boasts of only ever wearing WM and how people always comment- in my unkindest moments I think "I bet they do!" ) Odd because some white musk scents are nice, but not the BS for me.

What does immediately transport me back in time is the smell of the Vitamin E cream. My first ever BS haul- I was going to stay with my friend to watch An Officer and a Gentleman and stopped off in Manchester to do some shopping. I bought Vit E cream, elderflower eye gel, and pepperming foot cream. I used it for a while after that, the Vit E and when I bought some a few years back, whoosh, straight back to Richard Gere in my friend's house. (not literally obvs, although that would have been splendid)

God I used to love the Body Shop and still do even though it's not the same. YY to squishy bath pearls and peppermint foot lotion. I loved the perfume bar (do you think it was responsible for a lot of us being obsessed still?) Rose musk, dewberry, fuzzy peach, something like ananya? I actually still like their fragrances now, their Gardenia one is lovely but they feel like spritzy body sprays rather than proper perfume to me.

I'm sorry if the sunny weather has disappeared for anyone this afternoon - this is clearly entirely my fault After being good with my bed rest I sat outside for a bit earlier and got so carried away with the thought of sun that my SOTD was Virgin Island Water (I know, I know, too early but I was desperate). The sun promptly fucked off and it's all my fault. I'm sorry.

I was going to celebrate my lovely acquisition by squirting my decant of Cellier's Vent Vert with merry abandon, but then thought I might jinx its safe arrival, so thank you for marking the occasion for me VP. And Les I'm not a bit covetous of the marvellous-sounding Vol de Nuit.

Ah, Tweed, Chique, Panache... If I concentrate I think I can remember looking up at them in Christmas gift packaging with handwritten price labels in the local chemist's. My mother liked Chique but I'm pretty sure detested Tweed. I don't know if she ever tried Panache but it was some years before I realised it wasn't pronounced to rhyme with "pancake"!

I still have some Body Shop White Musk perfume oil. It's surprisingly like, to my nose anyway, one of the far pricier Agonist scents, White Oud, I think. DD was given some BS White Musk EdT for Christmas and you are quite right Dream, it was much weaker than the perfume oils used to be. So much so she uses it as a room spray rather than a perfume.

I used to wear White Musk a lot a few years ago, especially after DD poured my precious big bottle of Chanel 19 down the loo (poor DD - it is a family legend now ). Until one day a friend I hadn't seen in a while sniffed me and exclaimed delightedly: "White Musk, I haven't smelt that since I was a poor student!" It was sheer foot in mouth syndrome on her part, but it did prompt me to do some posher perfume shopping.

I am lost in admiration at Cheap's cunning plan for baby soothing.

SOTD is continuing the rose theme and my attempt to get through the JHAG samples with Miss Charming, which is very pretty and a lot more demure than Lady Vengeance and Mad Madame. So I don't love it as much. I tried Atelier Cologne's Rose Anonyme yesterday and it was on the same lines as a JHAG dirty rose, but the rose faded too quickly and JHAG does it better.

SOTD was Diptyque Philosykos. Usually this doesn't last brilliantly, even with the matching body lotion, but today I can still smell it faintly 15 hours later.

Hee hee I remember the days in the early 90s when the most exciting things about having a birthday party was the prospect of someone bringing a BS gift set for a gift. Back when they were presented in cellophaned baskets rather than boxes... we weren't very sophisticated and always favoured the fruity stuff though. Green what a comment! I don't suppose there's any danger she meant it in a "when I wished I could afford to buy it" way?! I'll just clutch some straws...

Yesterday's SOTD was Coromandel. Very lovely but didn't last very long. I've only got a sample so will have to be selective about when it comes out!

Today was going to be a Bottega Veneta sample but after about 60 seconds I couldn't smell a thing. I'd read that it's subtle but that's just a bit too far for me. So gone for Shalimar sample instead. Possibly a bit much for day in the office but not unpleasant so going for it!

I used to love the Body Shop when I was a student.White Musk was lovely smelling then.Now it smells chemically wan.
Dd2 (12) still loves the cherry blossom perfume.
Sotd is nothing yet - feel ill and headachy.
Has anyone tried the newest Malle - Outrageous.Its now on general release .Sophia Grosjman is the Nose and I usually love her perfumes. But there are no testers available anywhere yet.Do I risk buying a 10 ml bottle?

All it took to be in the cool gang at school in the 90s was a collection of body shop lip balms. We used to all share them as well. 'I'll swap you some of my kiwi fruit for your morello cherry'

I've gone back to the minis and am in Antilope by Weil today. It's taken me a while to take to this one as it has a prominent honey note, which to me borders on being a bit like stale urine. Once it's settled down, it's a lovely floral musk with a good dollop of oakmoss but I just have to get past the initial eau de wee!

LesIncompetents I see your kiwi lip balm and raise you a Constance Carroll roll on gloopy lip gloss!

Teta go for it, you need to try it so you can tell us all, and in the unlikely event that you don't like it, you could flog it :) you know you want to!

All the body shop talk is making me feel nostalgic, I found myself looking at Benetton Colours perfume collectibles on EBay last night. Dear me. LouLou anyone?

I will confess I haven't a proper SOTD, it's rainy and I am bored - lovely DD bought me some Ted Baker body spray recently (with money her grandparents gave her to spend on herself!), so I am wearing that to cheer myself up.

This afternoon I have a cunning plan to sew antimacassars for my sofa. This is what my life is reduced to

Oh dear! I have just visited the Frederic Malle home page. Perfumistas, he sells 10ml travel sprays of almost everything he does (including the Outrageous Teta) and I want all, most several of them. But I think I might wait until Superstitions arrives next month and then it's a toss up: Iris Poudre, Cologne Indelible (soap!), Dries van Noten, Noir Epices, French Lover, Une Rose...? Not Eau d'Hiver or PoaL as I have decent decants of those.

SoTD is PoaL, for the warmth and loveliness, the PP on the left hand and the vrai jus on the right, for comparison sake. The real thing is just brighter and more "there", but it's a spray, not an oil roll-on. It is a decent dupe.

I have also succumbed to some extra Heeley samples, and subscribed to Beauty Pie for a while. The Beauty Pie products are lovely, especially the Hot Saucy lippie (a great warm orange red) and the highlighter powder and the eyebrow pencil. It is spring and time for a fresh Sock!

Green and Les thank you so much! The postie just arrived and I am thrilled it has really cheered me up!

Thank you

I've just discovered a perfume that smells like the green herbal essences shampoo - Phaedon Hesperys.The top notes are the most heavenly scent of Camomile and Orris butter.Always thought I hated orris butter .
A Disappearing I'm happy to send you some samples if you tell me what notes you like.Perfume sampling is a great way to pass the time.Especially if you spend ages reading up on them.

I'll be flying out of Paris Charles De Galle over Easter. Recommend me a bottle that I can pick up in the duty free. I remember being quite taken by a Hermes there before but may not still like it now.

Hello All . Hope everyone is OK? Jut checking if there are any last takers for the Aug 12 perfume making workshop at 4160's? If so, please do pm me or Green.

Never mind Estee Lauder's perfumed horses, the poor cat has just jumped on my lap and reeks of The Breath of God (don't expect the Turin/Sanchez 5* review will be much consolation to her). DS is in the frame.

Funny to see a mention for Sables - was away at weekend and went to an AG stockist in the hope of trying, but they no longer carried .

Dream I'm so pleased they've cheered you up.

Cheap it was a bit of a jaw dropper, wasn't it, but I'm quite sure it wasn't meant the way it came out!

I love the scent of camomile. I was thinking only the other day how lovely it would be to have a perfume which smelt of camomile. I'm also thinking the next samples I get will have to be from Frederic Malle. The more I hear about them the more amazing they sound. Asking the world's top perfumers to design their own ideal scents and giving them free rein to do so was a stroke of genius, and at the same time such a good idea that I wonder no one came up with it before.

Scarlet two recent launches I've liked very much have been Coach New York, the Fragrance (raspberry, Turkish roses and suede musk) and Givenchy Dahlia Divin Le Nectar de Parfum (mimosa, jasmine, sambac, roses, sandalwood and tonka beans) so if you see them in duty free I do think they're worth a sniff.

SOTD started off as another JHAG sample, Midnight Oud. I thought it was lovely at first, smelling rather like roses crossed with Turkish Delight, then the oud began to take over. A little oud goes a very long way with me. After a couple of hours it was getting very reminiscent of a farm yard frankly, so I had to resort to a scrubbing session. The last traces got covered up with Hypnotic Poison, which always smells of Play-doh, marzipan and antiquarian bookshops to me. It sounds bizarre but I think it's gorgeous.

Hello MrsC, poor old puss cat. Yep, small boy sounds the most likely culprit to me.

What is it with cats and DC smelling of lovely perfume? This reminds me actually of when DS started school (he went to a special school, it was a bit nerve racking) when I collected him he always smelt of perfume and I knew the staff had been picking him up and cuddling him, it was lovely - very reassuring!

Teta what a kind offer, I feel very touched that everyone is so generous here. I feel a bit guilty that I have received so much already though so there may be someone else that should have "first dibs" - fair distribution of wealth?

Green I love Hypnotic Poison, I am a sucker for marzipany scents.Mandorlo di Sicilia was recommended on here and that is in my top fifty ten too.

SOTD is my lovely JHAG Mad Madame sample - to continue the rose theme. Love it. Slightly dirty! It reminds me of something from a long time ago, but I can't put my finger on it - I don't think it's perfume, possibly bath stuff? It seems connected with Ireland in my mind...

SoTD is Serpentine, from Comme des Garcons. It works perfectly for a windy grey but mild spring day with a whoosh of galbanum and then a vetiver/woody/slight mushroom note. I don't know if it's still made (it was originally a special for the Serpentine Gallery Summer Exhibition a couple of years ago, bought through Nose in France). It was cheap-ish at about 40 euros for an FB. It would appeal to fans of the MMM Untitled, to which it's similar, and there are a few of us here.

SOTD is 4160s The Dark Heart of Old Havana- sugary over-ripe fruit, boozy vanilla and a hint of tobacco. I find this quite delicious and very comforting.

12ths good for me.
New crowd fund is up.

You beat me to the link Pest!
I also see the advance warning that some 4160 prices are going up on Saturday - so if anyone is planning a purchase move fast!

Crikey, that was quick. Thanks for the tip-offs Pestilential and MrsC. I think the Frederic Malle samples will have to wait for a bit then.

Serpentine and Mandorla di Sicilia both sound marvellous.

One of my cats once came home reeking after a stay at the vets. I don't know exactly what perfume it was but it was an Obsession/Poison-style heavy hitter. I was glad she'd been cuddled but it was very awkward because her sister, after initially running to her, hissed and spat the instant she got a whiff of her. It took about two days to wear off. They definitely don't make perfumes like they used to, thank goodness.

After we were nattering about the need for more perfume houses to sell smaller bottles for scent junkies I bumped into this very useful article and list.

Vent Vert for me this morning (tiny little sample-still smells pretty good!).

Weighing up a FB of The Great Randello (my favourite scent this winter) Vs some vintage bottles I'm watching. Kicking myself I didn't do the Mother's Day order - could've got a 9ml of Goodbye Piccadilly too

SOTD is Heeley Hippie Rose. Last day of term! Might crack out 4160's What I Did On My Holidays tomorrow.