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.

I love mint. I love the Source mint shower gel (nowhere near any sensitive bits though. More electric shock than tingle ) I always think I get mint in Virgin Island Water but I don't think there actually is (without checking!) it's just the natural association with lime and sugar and rum....

Green I love Yardley and Bronnley (sp?) too - those soaps in the shape of lemons Amd of course they brought us the much loved Jade! DD loves the body sprays like the violets one, I prefer them to the cloud of Impulse and Lynx that settles over our house in the mornings.

Mary I am very much admiring your dedication to the scent hunt! Of course once you have settled on your wedding perfume, there will be honeymoon perfume...

Commiserations to anyone back at school or wit DC back at school...I'm counting down to the summer holidays now deliberately ignores massive spectre of GCSEs on the horizon.

SOTD is Paris again. I actually think it's an addiction! I just love it so much.

The January Scent Project samples arrived. Selperniku starts off as sour cream and apricot, will see how it developes. It is certainly different.

I'm in an airport, about to go through security! Now for an hour of duty free sniffing. There's a jo Malone and I want to smell the sage and sea salt!

My cheap Hashtag perfume arrived! I adore it smells like caramel/vanilla cotton candy to me

Back from the great canoeing weekend during which the dominant notes were mud, water, sweat, blood, urine and embrocation (deep heat and tiger balm). Referring to the convo a few weeks ago, you could have worn Beaufort 1805 and topped it with Secretions Magnifiques and blended right into the olfactory cocktail.

DS is feeling a million dollars and back at school being heaped with glory; the OH and I are collapsed with exhaustion/slave-driving the washing machine (guess who is which?!) Lots of proud parent moments along the way to compensate.

SoTD is Verveine d'Eugenie: very fresh lemon verbena with something in the base that gives it a bit more lasting quality than most citrus.

I tested #ILoveYou and couldn't resist buying! Citrus and candy floss, but yes, then the patisserie with lots of vanilla and honey. I shall enjoying using this one. I also tested the others in the range and am tempted by RockIt and Dream4Ever.

As for mint notes in perfume, I think the mint toffee note is why I love Madonna's Truth or Dare Naked so much, although the mint is not strong so don't let it put you off. It also smells of brandy, vanilla and chocolate (!) and lasts for hours.

Well done Sock it is like team endurance challenge.

Selperniku has faded to hunza apricots, butter and sandalwood with a light touch of spice.

Oh sock well done - it's such a lovely feeling when you are very proud of your DC, isn't it?

My hashtag perfume has also arrived and I am pretty impressed for a fiver - it's lasted longer on my skin than some £££ ones. I think I'm fonder of the drydown which is soft and vanilla-y, than the initial impression which was a little on the sharp side. Still though, I feel it is a bargain! It would be a nice "after a bath" type scent in Winter, I feel.

I have Truth or Dare Naked on my wish list, I adore the original TOD (although annoyingly it smells better on DS than me and he loves it). I love a caramel-y perfume. I have a secret love of a bottle of Charlie (I think it's the gold one) which smells delicious!

Oh very well done indeed Sock, Sock DS and Sock OH. That sounds incredibly hard work and you should all be very proud of yourselves. I hope the swans stayed well clear.

I am glad #iloveYou is proving a hit. It sounds like I need to go back to The Fragrance Shop to investigate the other Hashtag perfumes. I would have the other day, only once I'd sprayed on #iLoveYou I'd run out of bits of me (and DS) to squirt. DS did kindly offer up the backs of his knees but I thought that would be going a bit too far.

I bought Truth or Dare Naked unsniffed but very cheap on Ebay a few months ago because so many reviews raved about it. And promptly detested it at first spray - a complete scrubber. The DCs sniffed it in the bottle, on me and on a blotter and agreed it was revolting. So I put it in the back of the perfume drawer and forgot about it. I came across it again a couple of weeks ago and decided to have another sniff. And to my great surprise it smelt ok. So I sprayed it on a blotter and the DCs and I agreed it was really rather lovely and surely it couldn't be the same minger we'd all hated so much. Then, very tentatively I sprayed it on me, ready to bolt for the shower and I liked it. So did the DCs. Very peculiar. Anyway sorry Madonna for saying your perfume was a scrubber.

SOTD is Aqua Allegoria Pampelune. In the bottle it smells alarmingly like the cat missed the litter box, but on skin it is such a lovely, sparkling grapefruit I could almost drink it.

Well done all the Socks - sounds v. grueling.

On mint notes, recall someone (Turin/Sanchez?), pointing out the mint note in Angel, and how the juxtaposition makes the overall composition work?

I like Pampelune too Green - but not so much on the skin anymore, so it get used as a room spray.

Speaking of the great man, has anyone read Chandler Burr's book, The Emperor of Scent?

Another January scent project today, Smolderose currently smelling of subtle rose and pears soap. Not unpleasant in the slightest but not quite what I expected.

I used to love the original Pears bar soaps, the current ones just aren't the same
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MrsCocoa* I haven't read it, all my perfume "research" tends to be on the internet - but I really should read a book or two! Perfume and books - two of my favourite things!

Well the exciting news today is that I won £50 from a Mumsnet competition! I was going to spend it on a household item that we need, but DH went out and bought it today as a deliberate move to make me spend the voucher on something for me - like perfume!

I'm very excited because I a. I never win anything and b. I wouldn't spend that much on myself ATM as we are poor (I tend to buy samples of the £££ stuff as it's small amount of money) but DH is forcing me to buy a FB I am tempted by something very tiny and expensive like a 30ml of velvet orchid. But then there is L'Occitane cherry blossom at £42 - a bigger bottle and I have been eyeing it up wistfully...any advice welcome!

I think the anticipation is as good as the buying!

Oh, remembered why I actually posted which was mainly to ask:

The Atelier cologne sample set, for those who have it, are the bottles spray ones or the splash type with small removable lids?

I am very tempted by this but due to issues with my hands/fingers I can't always open fiddly things - which is fine for samples etc but if I was buying a proper set I wouldn't want something I might struggle with every morning really.

SoTD was Iris de Nuit. Starts very nicely but fizzles out after an hour or so, so not anything I would buy. You'd always be spraying. BUT very lovely while it lasts.

Dream, the Atelier sample bottles are very small, just 1ml, and they are not sprays, but the type with a stopper. However, they are good quality and the cap of the stopper is ridged so you can get a grip on it. But not as easy as a spray.

Congratulations on your win! I can't help with your choice as I don't know either of them. They sound quite different, but delightful.

Congratulations Dream! How exciting. Your lovely DH is quite right and you must treat yourself to something special. But I agree with Calm, that if you find samples with stoppers too fiddly the Ateliers would not be the best choice.

If you're at all tempted by 4160 Tuesdays the bottles in their taster sets have sprays and are very generous in size at 2.25mls each.

DD has a small bottle of L'Occitane Cherry Blossom and likes it very much but says it's not particularly long lasting. No idea on Velvet Orchid, I'm afraid. Whatever you choose have fun picking it and do let us know which one you decide on.

MrsC The Emperor of Scent is on my wish list along with Perfume, A Century of Scents by Lizzie Ostrom and Jean-Claude Ellena's Diary of a Nose. Only I keep spending the perfume budget on perfume!

SOTD is YSL Paris. Lovely and the tiniest drop lasts for hours - so pretty good value too.

Congratulations Dream - make it count! No blind buying full bottles...

Green - was a bit underwhelmed with the Lizzie Ostrom on the first pass but I need to re-read.

Have lost my perfume mojo a bit. Think it was the climatic confusion of the pre-Easter heat, a short trip abroad, then plummeting temperatures on return here. Did enjoy my vintage Tigress this pm though.

Congratulations Dream! Definitely spend it on perfume!

Agreed re the Ateliers, good quality phials, but I have dodgy fingers and always feel I lose half of the perfume in those types.

Dd has a few of the small Occitane Cherry Blossoms, and it's lovely, but like most Occitanes, not very long-lasting.

Also lost mojo a bit recently- have alternated between Miss Dior Originale and Liz Earle 1 for weeks, seemingly. I shall go for Paris today as you've all given me the urge. I just love it, both for the 1986-7 Top Gun vibe, and because it is just so multi-dimensional and big compared to other roses.

We've also gone from heat and me putting my factor 50 on in the morning, to digging out my jumpers again. This is MIL's fault as Easter Monday tradition has it that families gather in the country house and roast donkey (I passed on that) Every year without fail, the weather is awful and we all end up with headaches as the poor bloody donkey gets roasted inside.

I got the La Labo sample set (the small one, really couldn't afford the big one) and really impressed so far. DP is likewise pleased with Santal, first perfume I've been able to find he actually likes. I wore The Noir yesterday (tea noir, can't do accents on here!), which is a lovely fresh yet smoky fig, and today I'm in Rose, which actually smells of cardamom and cumin in a very sexy way - but I loved McQueen Kingdom, which was major cumin, a lot of people think it smells of BO or curry. Wasn't someone on here looking for a dupe of Kingdom? This might be a good shout, much lighter and fresher but with similar spicy edge.

Mary - have you smelt Theo Fennell Scent? If you like cumin it's worth trying - it's a stunning spicy rose oriental chypre (Think Turin/Sanchez gave it 5 stars). The opening is outrageous but it mellows into something beautiful (but still attention demanding.

It's a discontinued and prices were rising, but there seems to be some reasonably priced bottles on Ebay right now. Would swerve the EDT and go for the EDP (haven't tried the parfum but am looking for a bottle).

Jeez Vintage - that sounds grim.

And whilst on books, has anyone read 'Coming to My Senses: A Story of Perfume, Pleasure, and an Unlikely Bride' - Alyssa Harad? Reviews seem quite polarised...

Hello! I lost you all during the Easter break, hope everyone's okay. SOTD is Miu Miu, and I am SO looking forward to the weekend.

Vintage, that sounds absolutely horrible - poor donkey!

Sorry vintage, for a moment I thought you said donkey, ha ha Seriously though...donkey?!

Thanks for advice everyone, you have confirmed my reservations re L'Occitane, I love cherry scents but Eau de Toilette (and a lot of EDPs!) just disappear pretty much instantly on my Dyson like skin....I want longevity and a nice big hitter

I forgot to say it's a store voucher so sadly no 4160s samples (which was my first thought, I really want Sunshine and Pancakes just for the name!) DH and I will attempt to get to a department store next week, will let you know if I make a decision...

Btw has anyone heard of Di Palomo? In my cherry quest I saw this - black cherry and almond which are two of my fave scents but only £25 - no reviews that I can find on fragrantica etc.