Our negligees may be covered in cat hair but at least they smell divine - it's Lovely Friendly Perfume Thread number 9!

[explodingkittens]

Welcome to the long-running perfume thread! All are welcome - drop in to chat about old loves or new discoveries. Ask a perfume question and someone here will know the answer.

Be warned though, we are a bunch of terrible enablers and you may wish to put your credit card in the freezer before entering

Methen - in terms of high street options, you'd need to research these brands, but if you like clean aftershavey things, look out for Annick Goutal's citruses (thoroughly unisex but bizzarely packaged in male and female packaging ) and the various Miller Harris woods and citruses. The Acqua di Parmas are always worth a sniff too for a classic cologne sort of vibe.

M&S carry Monotheme, Fragonard and Roget et Gallet - again, you'd need to check these companies out, but there are some great citruses and woods.

SOTD is Chanel 19, for a very disappointing dinner at the in-laws. I feel hungry already.

cheap saving for best is my absolute least favourite thing. That Nora Ephron essay on it really, really struck me about 15 years ago. My mother frequently comments on how decadent I am, but zero fucks given.

The Maai dry-down is gobsmackingly beautiful. The trouble with the LT-inspired sample set is you get a horrible feeling that you won't be able to live without a number of them in your life beyond the 1ml sample (but FBs are generally £££s and a bit too obscure to turn up on ebay ). Three so far are lose-your-heart ravishing.

SotD Dryad. My Christmas present from DH. Green grown up heaven.

Which is good because DS has vomited twice this evening. Initially I thought he'd just eaten too many biscuits but then he woke up to vomit up bile. So now he's on a mattress on our bedroom floor so we can keep an eye on him tonight. Worst is my friend and her kids were here so I really hope it isn't catching.

Penhaligons Equinox Bloom is SOTD but it’s horrible - there is a note which reminds me of Agent Provocateur which I hate. Can’t put my finger on what it is but it smells a bit dirty to me!

^ it’s bloody jasmine again! Note to self: avoid perfume with a jasmine heart!

I'm now down to the last couple of untested Bloom samples. SotD is Aeon001. This is a non-earthy/rooty treatment of vetiver. A bit like Olivia Jacobetti's handling of frankincense in Passage d'Enfer, lit-up, bright and soaring but potentially headache inducing on me.

Count hope you and DS got through the rest of the night OK?

Oh dear @count, hope everyone's recovered now?

SOTD for first day back to work is L'air de rien. There's no bugger here though, should've worked from home!

I spoke too soon on Aeon001. That was just the opening. This is another classy shape shifter. The heart is warm and almost animalic in its glowiness. (Either that or I have cross contamination via my coat sleeves with yesterday's Maai. Off to double-check notes).

mrsmacnally you are seriously tempting me with your descriptions of Luca Turin selection box - sitting on hands right now

Fosco hope your house is lurgy free soon

Kittens sane here - no bugger here either except for a new starter who I’ve had to assure it’s not normally this quiet and dull. Took him out to lunch to try and give him a decent welcome.

Still feeling quite overwhelmed by the jasmine in Equinox Bloom. Not sure why my skin (and nose) doesn’t like jasmine.

DS vomited multiple times overnight and this morning. Was really hot and sweaty poor boy but he was so good about vomiting into the bucket and just wanted cuddles with his Daddy (poor DH had his first day back at work today). He then announced he was starving at lunchtime and ate a full meal!!! Fingers crossed we don't see it again.

SotD Fleur d'oranger bais rose by L'atelier des bois grasse. Very orangy with a green dose of bitter pith. Strange but I kind of like it. Has a cleanness that fits the poorly boy today!

count fingers crossed your wee boy is on the mend.

SOTD is Bella Freud 1970. And I may have bought another BF jumper with my Christmas money. Not the 1970 one though.

Commiserations to those back at work. I am now glad we broke up so late this year and are not back until next week.

Hopefully that appetite is a good sign Fosco!

SotD is Mitsouko. Mainly just smell of kids bedtime bubble bath bow though. Also had a handbag empty out and now my samples box is mysteriously more full...

He still seems to be OK, ate biscuits this afternoon and had a big tea as well. Now his big sister is complaining of a sore tummy, hoping it's her milk allergy rather than Noro.

SOTD is vintage Chanel no. 22 (courtesy of Cardoon). It feels very grown-up

Yes grown-up, and ladylike bit too ladylike for me
in honour of kittens I've put on Iris Cendre this morning - smells like buttered violets ATM

Happy New Year, my lovely scented friends. Hope it's a good one (I want to say without any tears now )

Top five of 2017!? I am totally incapable of making decisions like that - I'm still working on my flow chart! Honourable mentions definitely to (off the top of my head) Ealing Green, Babylon Sunset and D & G The One (mainstream I know but there is something in it that I adore and it reminds me of something...) The trouble is I find it harder and harder to think that a new scent is FB worthy as there are so many new things to spend my limited funds on

MeThen I can't really add to the expert advice you've had other than to say welcome to the biggest enablers on MN and that I used to love Body Shop perfumes but now they are too fleeting/light to feel like a "proper" perfume. I long for the old BS perfume bars with droppers!

Count I hope any lurgy in your house passes swiftly - this time of year with returns to school and work is so lethal.

SOTD is trusty old Obsession again I just love it with this weather.

I'm enjoying reading ze French Mamans thread (thank you to people who mentioned it on here) and will have to look out the previous two when I have time to read them all. They are everything I want to be when I grow up! I don't think I will ever be stylish in the way they are or aspire to be on that thread, but despite the pink hair/tattoos etc I do love things like lipstick and pearls and properly fitted clothes and have a secret love for things like weights in the linings of jackets and altering clothes to fit our shapes properly. I'm interested to think how our own "style" influences what perfumes we like but don't feel quite articulate enough to say anything that makes sense coherent this morning!

I just adore Botemp anyway for her skincare threads - I have zero routine and use a flannel in the shower but she is just so knowledgeable and just amazing. I am in awe. Honestly the older I get I realise how much I actually don't know and need to learn. This thread is a case in point - I've really enjoyed "discovering" new scents from you guys - and properly thinking about perfume rather than mindlessly spraying what comes to hand in an automatic routine.

Do you think we are a cult?

Speaking of Body Shop perfumes, does anyone remember when they did a little set of mini atomisers, each with a different perfume, and you were meant to layer them?

I've still got mine somewhere, I'll have to find where I've put it.

I think we're definitely a cult @floofy, a friendly one at least - I do hope so anyway

Am also loving the mamansnet threads - loads of inspiration. It's surprisingly satisfying to feel 'pulled together' and perfume is now an essential part of that.

Ah perfume droppers at Bodyshop on a big glass stand in store - I remember that! I think we’re a cult floofy does that mean Sarah Mac is our leader?!

SOTD 4160 creamy vanilla custard. Working from home, perfect stay at home and keep warm scent. This perfume has seduced me & I may need to buy a FB!

I have had a girl crush on Botemp and Nabootique for about 3 years since the original fantastic skincare threads. I rarely post on them now, and try not to read as, at last count, 20 odd serums, about 9 cleansers, 5 moisturisers and 4 facial oils were (and are) weighing down my bathroom cabinet! (I may well be kicked off anyway as I think The Ordinary/Deciem and all its other sister companies is very emperor's new clothes )

Penhaligon's- never yet found one that makes me go wowwww, but found several that made me go euuuuw.
Talking of euuuuuw, walking through the Tom Ford concession in HoF we were hit by a rancid, earthy, almost animal poo smell- it must have been a perfume, or someone with a nuclear nappy had just gone through. It was the fact that there was a sweet cloying thing as well that made me think perfume.

My top 5 of last year (as in my last year's discoveries) would be Pp Infusions d'Iris, Lonestar Memories, Eau du Sud, Opium (that I only had for me for the first time) and Laddm.

Floof - keep working on that flow diagram! Especially as you mention:

I'm interested to think how our own "style" influences what perfumes we like...

This fascinates me too - as it seems some of our aesthetic sensibilities lurk below consciousness? Colour-sense being one possible example? Was noticeable whilst at art school that everyone seemed to have a default palette of colours they worked with and combined in particular ways. Seemed sort of hard-wired although could be consciously over-ridden. I wonder if at a sort of micro-level our olfactory preferences operate in a similar way (liking or not liking particular effects and families of notes)?

But this isn't to argue, that our overall tastes and senses of style are not socially constructed. BH does a great job of illustrating the case for perfume, just like other cultural forms, changing in response to wider social and artistic developments. But within this social context, individuals make choices about what's most interesting, meaningful, beautiful, stimulating, etc etc, to them.

Floof - would love to hear more about how you align your perfume with other aspects of your self?

Mrsmacnally only slightly related to your musings- but I think the blind sampling has given me more confidence in what I like and don’t like - and not to be swayed by brand/ styling. Case in point - Le Labo Noir 29 (from Liberty AC) wasn’t for me, but last year I would probably have been seduced by the cool packaging/reputation. I’ve sent it off for a swap and instead purchased a £4 bottle of Next Cashmere.... what does that say about my style?!

Bluebell...in the case of next cashmere it shows you have great taste 😁😁
I doused myself in Dior addict yesterday for my trip to town
No sotd yetvas I'm feeling grotty...maybe some comforting avon nightmusk later.. ..