Old-fashioned Flemish Fragrance Fanciers - Lovely, Friendly Perfume Thread 7

[GreenPolishToGo]

Our old thread

Welcome to our new lovely, friendly thread for perfume lovers. All are most welcome to drop in and chat, whether dabbling in scent for the first time or as full-blown fragrance junkies.

Tell us your Scent of the Day, or latest discovery, or ask a question - because one of us is almost bound to know the answer.

I am finding the L'Occitane Luxury Advent Calendar very tempting. It's got perfume! And lots of lovely little drawers for sample storage. And heaps of bits and bobs that DD or I would use...

Hellooooo.

Dd had the ordinary L'Occitane advent calendar last year and it was absolutely lovely and well worth it. The luxury one doesn't look too different, although I can see the samples are bigger and you get to try the divine Divine range and more perfumes. I think there were 2 in the ordinary one. I will definitely get one or the other for us her.

I just put an order in with Allbeauty for dd's stocking- 4 of the soliflore Yardleys that we smelled over the summer (Freesia, Bluebell, Lily of the Valley and Dahlia) As I needed to spend another £6 I got a Je Reviens for £6.20. I know I said I wasn't spending, but, y'know, it was only £6 and I had to do it for the free postage

Am still loving the Panache today.

My DD also had the ordinary L'Occitane Advent calendar last year and she loved it too. I don't think there was anything in it that she either didn't or won't use.

Hmm, I shall ponder the merits of each version but I'd better not take too long about it because they sold out fairly quickly last year.

For free postage PIAM you had to order the Je Reviens. No question about it. I wonder how it will compare to vintage, which I found quite austere - very tailored and headmistressy. I thought it would be a good choice for Professor McGonagall when we were picking scents for Harry Potter characters.

Well, Liz Earle Botanical Essence No 20 has vanished altogether. Time for something old...

Hello, and thank you for our new home space!

Just made an offer on last thread which will possibly pass unnoticed. For Green, but available to other perfumistas too: I have about 45ml of Fire that I shan't finish this side of hell freezing over, and I have one unused Travalo spray (5ml I think). If you would like it filled with Fire, I can do that, but if you could send back a replacement Travalo, I'd be grateful. TK Maxx usually sell them around this time of year. PM me if this appeals.

Beaver ended up being quite pleasant, notwithstanding the faecal passage (happily a brief note) but underwhelming.

Back to Dries van Noten today. This is true love, but not monogamy; Tam Dao is also in strong contention.

Reporting in.

SoTD is Shazam!

Hi Judy - sorry if this has already been addressed (and even more sorry that this is not perfume related) but have you invtstigated the possibility that your toothache could actually be TMJ - its a disorder of the jaw and the pain is actually caused by the nerves in your jaw and neck going into spasm. I have had it twice and the last time I spent hundreds of pounds on needless dental work before it was finally diagnosed. If it is TMJ it's often caused by stress and will eventually disappear on its own but heavy duty ibuprofen ( I was on 600mg!) will help enormously. If it doesn't disappear then there are jaw realignment treatments that can help take the pressure of your nerves. Any way sorry for the totally thread irrelevant post - normal service now resumed!

Sock How very kind of you. I shall certainly PM you and I do have an unused Travalo. But is there anything you are looking for? For instance, I do have a heap of unused masculine fragrance samples which might be handy if you were putting together Advent calendars. Do shout if you have a list of wants.

Beaver, now I'm really not sure they thought that one through when they named it! Could one keep a straight face asking for it at a perfume counter?!

I am now in vintage Revlon Moon Drops - a fag-end of a bottle eBay bargain. Aldehydic, floral, spicy and warm - very 1970s and oddly familiar. I think one of my primary school teachers might have worn it. She was a lovely person so that's all to the good.

Yesterday, I would NOT have wished to be asked what scent I was wearing, especially if it was one of DS's/DH's friends!

My sample of Apples and Pears arrived today. What a gorgeous scent! So lovely for this time of year.

I have a spare sample of London 1969 if anyone would like it.

I'm currently reading Perfume: A Century of Scents. Very interesting and makes me want to be able to smell some of those old perfumes! Love that scent can potentially transport us back to another era - White Musk certainly does that for me!

I am now in vintage Revlon Moon Drops - a fag-end of a bottle eBay bargain. Aldehydic, floral, spicy and warm - very 1970s and oddly familiar. I think one of my primary school teachers might have worn it. She was a lovely person so that's all to the good.

Green Polish. Interesting that you like that smell. (Moondrops). I absolutely detested it! That and the other Revlon perfume. Both smelt like cat's pee to me (that and Tweed by Lentheric!) though of course we can't all like the same things and just as well or there would be a world shortage!

I just remember going through department stores practically begging people not to spray it as I went past!

Hello, new thread! SOTD is MMM Fireplace. I was worried it might be a bit sweet, but I really like it. I prefer it before it really settles down though.

Thanks for all the good wishes on the dying embers - ha - of the previous thread. I rang the dentist this morning and am going in tomorrow. She could have seen me this afternoon but I had a class and it would have been a pain to organise cover.

No Sock that would have been mortifying! I think I would have to rename it Otter if it was mine (they are both furry and muck about in rivers, and nobody smirks at otters).

Good news that you have a quick appointment Judy. Hope MMM Fireplace is cheering you up.

Eeek, Deathray I have been sniffing away but I can't detect a trace of the dreaded cat-pee note. Proof yet again that all our noses work differently. My mother and I always reckoned Chanel No 5 smelled like we'd been sprayed by a tom cat. It seemed to be fine on other people, though.

Oh good, Boldly another Up the Apples and Pears fan. I thought it might be just Pest and me here. My DD gave me the Lizzie Ostrom book for my birthday. I enjoyed it but I thought some of the more whimsical passages, the entry for Lynx for example, didn't come off.

Moon Drops shows no sign of fading so I'm glad I like it. Right, where did I put that Travalo...

Hello All - thanks for lovely new thread Green.

Boldly - pm me your address and I'll sent it on (its the Prism version not MF).

PiaM - funny you say that. My 'potential swaps' box isn't looking very full either .

This old lady question is getting under my skin. Pretty clear that we're celebrating perfumes from the past and the generations of women who they are associated with (and noting the irony of 'old lady' being used to write-off things that are often far more sophisticated, complex, challenging and beautiful than today's equivalents).

But the term itself, as shorthand, does have negative connotations. In this context, are we subverting this to denote something outside today's aesthetic 'norm' that is highly desirable? Some of us are 'older women' - are we entitled to reclaim and redesignate the term? see Prof Mary Beard.

Or are we, despite our intentions, compounding prejudices? Interesting Perfume Shrine article?

SotD - Youth Dew. Aka Older people's vintage heavy resins.

I missed the scents of Harry Potter characters chat - what did you settle on? I adore professor mcgonagall and might have to check out Je Reviens (next month, must not buy anything else this month)!

SOTD is Tea for Two. I'm not loving this, I know it's a fave for a lot of people but it's definitely too gourmandy and sweet and a bit sickly on me. The tobacco is a bit too strong. It has lasted well on my top though!

Hello everyone, hello shiny new thread!

Hope you get sorted tomorrow Judy It's such a hard pain to try to ignore...

SOTD was Oxford. Was at an off site meeting today and was trying to work out whose perfume it was that smelt so lovely then realised it was my hand and they had really good soap in their toilets!!

I dunno on the old lady thing. I'm old to some people and young to others so it's mostly relative but it blows my mind (in a good way!) that some of the smells we like so much were created over a hundred years ago. Just think what else has happened in that time. I think of standing next to a lady wearing the same scent when it was new, and how different our lives are, but there's still than shared appreciation of a smell. Wow.

I like Mary Beard. Yesterday I googles 'OLD synonym' and on the whole they were negative. Very few positives, where is the wise, mature, experienced....
I'm really not sure that older woman conjures up good visions for me, to me it presents an image of a pc old maid or older (than menopause) woman), a cold and clinical term. Old / older / elderly / mature Lady leaves a lot more to the imagination. Problem is, we all have different imaginations.

'Older woman', for me, has undeniably cougar-ish connotations, which (much as I admire Jacqueline Bissett) is probably no better, really, than 'old lady' in terms of women being defined by stereotypically predatory sexuality - or lack thereof.

I might stick to 'vintage scent', I think fence sitter

And we could call PMs immature

"the only reliable test is the blind test: take a fragrance and put it in a test tube and present it to people without telling names, brands or showing them images." from the comments on the perfume shrine link.

I fancy a research project.

We as a group sniff away at a larger range than most. How would we cope with anonymous samples?

Also been thinking of over sprayers, IMHO is it rude to be the smelliest person in a meeting, whatever the smell. Does constantly experimenting as opposed to signature scent encourage or discourage over spraying?

My theory is that it helps us not to over-spray as our noses don't get a chance to become insensitive to 'everyday' smells.

No one at work ever comments on my perfume - either my taste is shocking (possible, although I don't wear B** in the office very often) or it stays mainly under the radar.

My belief also MrsM , experimentation is good. The only perfume I have ever had comment at work on is 'Time to call the raffle numbers'

Yes, let's try the blind test Pest! It could be just like Stork's, I can't believe it's not butter, all over again!