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 got the Tweed/Panache/Blue Grass and Chique for about £6 each when allbeauty were having a clear out. Obviously I want to try all the original versions too now.

I want to try Smitty which I also associate with that era, and Babe, Tigress and Kiku. I had blue Charlie in my very young youth, and seem to recall it's not a million miles distant from Panache in its composition- fresh, strong, aldehydic iirc.

Then I'll get my Farrah Fawcett flicks and I'll be good to go.

PiaM - excellent work! - action speak louder than words . We could keep this going for weeks given the vintage collections we've built up from eBay under your guidance.

RWF - and with a bit luck, there will be the odd one or two your DDs don't like . In terms of the timing of your order, keep an eye out for the half price offer each week at 4160s - if you're paying postage anyway, these become even more bargainous (9ml bottle option too).

Btw, allbeauty have 50% of their 100mls at the mo.

Just sayin'.

SOTD was Fireplace again.

puppy I missed your post yesterday, apologies. I went to the dentist today and she still maintains there's nothing wrong with my tooth based on exam/x-ray. My jaw is back in the right place though - the night guard is obviously working. I came away with a prescription for amoxicillin in case it's a sinus problem (?) and am back in three weeks. She said she can remove the filling to see what's going on underneath it, but is reluctant because it's big/deep - I am terrified I am going to lose another tooth. (Lower back, so not the end of the world, but still.)

Give PIAM another enabler badge!

And, just to say, from the Zoologist set, Elephant is my best with Macaque. It has heft, but is leafy and vegetal, and has settled beautifully into a skin scent. The opening is delicious.

Pest/All - just on the blind testing/research project:

Have been thinking about how this might work. So, say we wanted to test three things: a) bargain basement/drugstore b) mainstream house, available on high street , and c) something from niche/art house, to see if we could tell which was which by smell alone? Little unmarked plastic bottles are not too much of a problem, they're pretty cheap on ebay, the larger issues would potentially be the juice and postage costs....

So, to keep this affordable, how about we split up into cells of three or four people? First cell member selects three perfumes they're prepared to share with 2-3 others (in the name of science ). Cell members share their addresses. First cell member orders little bottles, put 1ml or so of A, B and C in little bottles and labels accordingly, and sends sets to each of the others. They then guess which is which and we laugh or applaud . The next cell member then does the same, and so on until everyone the cell has taken a turn in sharing.

This probably needs a diagram. (And anyone who gets them all right or names something correctly would of course get a badge...).

But am I thinking along the right lines? Pest - is this rigorous enough for you or are you worrying about bias in the selections etc. (Ideally would be good to avoid very recognisable things and to choose scents from similar family (greens, woods etc).

Or am I missing the point/making this more complicated than it needs to be?

This thread reminds me sometimes of my advanced age... Tigress, Kiku etc were the things I hoped to find in my Christmas stocking in the 1970s; I wasn't convinced when they arrived, and am fairly sure that is a door that closed behind me some years back.

If I am in a minority of one, please tell me now so I can commit ritual hara kiri on a bottle of original Aqua Manda.

How are you getting on with Fireplace, Judy?

I'm hoping my bottle of MG Fire arrives tomorrow. My cold seems to have got even worse today and I feel very sorry for myself, so I've given myself a marking-at-home day and want something warm and spicy to wear tomorrow possibly in bed

Am eyeing up bottles of Tocade on allbeauty, which of course then leads me to stalking bottles of vintage Femme on eBay... any Perfumista opinions on either? I reckon Femme in particular would be right up my street.

My sample of Avignon was waiting for me when I got home. This is so evocative - I was brought up Catholic and the scent totally transports me back to church. Beautiful!

The blind sample testing sounds intriguing...

I think vintage Femme is pretty close to perfection EK - can never remember the exact Barbara Herman wording, but she describes it as something like 'the inside of a vintage butter-soft suede evening bag'. I notice the buttery plum, and the plush, rose tinted glow (civet), more than the moss (relatively understated for a vintage chypre). (I thought Zoologist's Civet was a homage?).

Bet vintage Aqua Manda smells pretty good too OC?

It's a hit, kittens! I thought it might be a bit sweet for me initially, but I really like it - I like the beginning of it more than the dry-down though.

Poor you with your cold - mine comes and goes but never yet full-tilt. Is is lying in wait for the October week...? One of my colleagues has been off three times (separate sicknesses) with colds since term started. We are all cursing her, because class cover, and germs. We aren't allowed marking at home, or actually any flexibility, which is stupid and annoying. My office is so cold, I hate having to sit in there and mark/prep/surf the internet when I'm not teaching.

Tigress is a classic Faberge perfume, launched in 1938. The stopper of the bottle is designed in fake tiger fur. The perfume is an oriental fougere with aldehyde, citrus, floral and spicy notes, oak moss, vanilla and amber. from fragrantica. Never realised it was so old.
All this talk of Charlie and Tweed would have my DM spinning in her grave. We were never allowed such things in the house.

She did relent and let me have a bottle of Aqua Manda bath stuff, I turned out to be quite allergic to it. I can remember her rinsing me and the bath repeatedly while muttering " See, this is what happens".

I'm with you Sock, just can't bring myself to do it.

MrsM I was thinking along the lines of randomised double blind placebo control testing, we could use Escentric Molecule 01 as a placebo. Or I could rein in my ideas a little.

I think the proposal for blind testing sounds ace. I’m up for the first group of 3/4. Where do I sign up? I have some interesting FB to sample from that is love to share with you guys...and very exciting to think of what I’ll get in return

Can I make a request though? Can we use spray bottles (2ml) rather than dab bottles as I find it really difficult to get the little lids off.

at Pest

Are you serious? Sounds like a bit of a faff... But, if so, let's have a chat with our ethics committee about the potential consequences of withholding the good stuff from our control group! (Guessing, given sentiments here about molecule 01, we don't have clinical equipoise?).

But more seriously, Pest, you have expertise here, and if you can a design a trial, I'm most definitely up for it.

Evening all. I'm working my way through a batch of samples I ordered from Blooms, and holy moly Embers by Rouge Bunny Rouge is everything I want from a smoky incense. Can't stop huffing my wrist.

What else could I try in that vein? Already have original Kiss by the Fireside and the reformulation from 4160T, wasn't a fan of MG Fire although admittedly didn't give it much of a chance. Waiting on a split of the new Ruth Mastenbroek one. Anything else I need to get hold of especially?

Sounds fab - which Bloom sample pack was it in Calilark? Have you tried any of the Tauer's? (Or got your hands on some (sadly discontinued) Sahara Noir).

Pest thank you for the reminder. New goal: no more spends now until advent calendar business is sorted one way or another. And then we'll see...

Except necessary costs of blind sampling obviously!

(Apart from possible legal issues of selling on decants, that could actually make a great Not on the High Street type of item though. Sets- either small 1 or 2ml personal ones or larger for, say, hen night games- of unnamed but coded samples with a website for the big reveal! I did a similar thing for my friend's hen but with fizz instead of scent...)

Pest not Pest

Posting at half two not always great idea...

SOTD is Mitsouko. I love it at this time of year.

Seen some good bargains on allbeauty. Very tempted to get a FB of Shalimar as I only have a tiny sample.

Blue Grass today. I find this quite confusing. Starts off quite bitter but has quickly turned powdery.

I think I get confused between Babe, Tigress and Elle. All of which were around in the 70s and all of which were in a pale salmon pink packaging. I had a parfum of Elle I recall one Christmas in a teeny tiny bottle (probably 5ml/10ml at most) I had completely forgotten about it until thinking about Babe and Tigress and realising it was actually Elle I was thinking of!

I did have a Kiku talc shaker though. With a feathery doodah on top.

The testing sounds intriguing but I won't play. You'd all just be waiting on me dealing with crappy postal systems. I look forward to reading you all though!

Calilark, that sounds lovely, I adore incense scents. Haven't ordered from Bloom yet but love their site, full of temptation!

boldly, Avignon is just heavenly isn't it? I really do love it, and need to try the others in the range; Jaisalmer was particularly exciting when I tried it at Somerset House.

judy, glad you're enjoying Fireplace - it is sweet, but I found it a comforting, warming sort of sweetness rather than sickly.

No SOTD yet, am still in bed, Lemsipping. I am lucky in having a pretty flexible sort of workplace where we are trusted to come and go as we please as long as the work gets done and we are contactable in office hours. I hate 'presenteeism'....having said that though a few of my colleagues seem to regularly disappear off the face of the earth, especially if there is cover teaching to be done!

Crikey; this thread moves fast!

Greenpolishtogo yes, if what you mean by "green" scents (excuse my ignorance!) meaning scents that smell of leaves, cut grass, cucumber, herbs - very natural fragrances in other words - then I absolutely love them! (Wasn't sure if "green" scents meant made in such a way that is environmentally pure???)

MrsPestilence/MontyPython that price for Sisley Eau de Campagne on Notino is very good indeed. Again, excuse my ignorance in these matters, but how do we know it is an original and not a knock of (dh mentioned that there are lots of scents sold in Far East that come back re-packaged and sold as the real deal or something?). If it is the real thing, then I shall be definitely taking advantage though; so thanks v much for the tip!

boldinggoingsomewhere/calilark another Roman Catholic here! Will have to try those "incense" scents now!!

Hope you feel better soon Explodingkittens and Judydreamofhorses

MrsPestilence/Squirrel/Restingwitchface/Will definitely be going for Bloom green samples now! And will definitely try out EalingGreen from 4160!

Waves back to CheapTarnishedGlitter and to everyrone else!

Thank you again everyone for all the really helpful suggestions and recommendations!

Have a good weekend!

@MrsMacNally it didn't come from a sample pack- you can buy the samples individually as well, although it is pricier. But you def get what you want up try that way.

Am off into town later - I am debating picking up a bottle of the Lush Twilight spray, it is not my normal thing but I have tried it a couple of times and keep thinking about it