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

SotD is Eiderantler, No19 mixed with liniment.

Thank you all for those suggestions...I am off to get some samples.

mrsM, I was thinking how good BVC would be layered with something sweeter. MrsS very kindly sent me her 9ml spray and I do like the leathery fierceness of it but it is crying out for something else on top. I'm thinking maybe a smoky rose (but imo there's very little that couldn't be improved by a smoky rose!) Dark Heart sounds like a good match - would take the edge off some of the sugar - let us know how you get on!

Continuing on a 4160 road...SOTD is MitPG. The cedar and artemisia are too strong in this for me - there's a bitterness I just can't get on with. If anyone fancies a swap I'd be up for it? There's probably 8.5 mls of my spray left so shout if you'd like to try it.

Shazam reminds me of my mum studding oranges with cloves at Christmas and rolling them in arrowroot

cardoon, to me Serge Lutens' Fille en Aigiulles has a very definite liniment/pine scent. Basically it smells like loo cleaner on me but others love it! I've got a sample that I'll never ever spray again if you'd like it?

Yatagan for wintergreen? Deep green.

I would love that kittens! would you like a swap, I have a vintage chanel 22 sample or several Atelier cologne ones if they are of interest?

How's the Eiderantler (great name!) MrsP? Have ordered 4 samples from Heeley including the tigre - delighted to find there are many pefumes with these notes.

I am poorly sick. Add me to the Venn diagram. I think my body jusy had a 'computer says no' moment. Stomach upset Sunday night and most of yesterday, migraine with vomiting today. Have just had a 4 hour sleep and feel as though am edging back to life.

Car-definitely Lonestar Memories. It's my current favourite, though I tend to wear it once I'm bathed and pyjama'd as it's one I definitely wear for me, not others. I also find Coromandel and L'Heure Bleu quite medicinal, especially initially.

Talking of classic Guerlains, I know what you mean Bluebell. They are not easy to love, perhaps for some they are more of a study into what perfumers do (my relationship with 4160 is going to be like that I think) It was Barbara H I think who said this about original Miss Dior. It's not beautiful, it's not pretty, it demands something of the wearer.

My Allavioletta order just came in a mahoosive box. Apart from Lonesome Rider (which may be too medicinal and sweaty saddle even for me) and a couple more samples, cannot figure why it's such a big box. There is a makeup palette for dd that's all.

Will go and get the scissors and get back to you, sweaty cowboy and all.

Ha! It was a biggish box of bubble bath Molton Brown for dd. I did so much online shopping on Sunday I'd forgotten. I am also now panicking as I still need tp do so much more.

My samples are LR, Incense Extreme, Cardinal and 24 Faubourg. They have thrown in 2ml samples free of Eau du Lierre, Arcana Rose , and Byredo Accord Oud (which I imagine will not be a pink minger but a minger nevertheless)

I am probably not going to try them until normal head service is resumed.

So, hairy pets, fleecy pyjamas and poorliness - I don't think we are as glamorous as a perfume thread should be! I am currently in bed wearing two pairs of thermal socks, a floor length long sleeved nightdress, a woolly hat with pom-poms on and a very floofy cat Definitely not glam here!

But on that subject Janet if you're going to have a signature scent, Coromandel is a good choice

43 and cardoon welcome, I can't add to the excellent recommendations you have had but welcome to The Most Enabling Thread on Mumsnet!

Looking forward to the PP Guerlain reviews too.

Talking of soap I have cracked open my "Christmas soap" which is Aromas Artisanales De Antigua Floral - the Orange Blossom one (although I get lots of lavender ) It makes me so happy and the bathroom smells gorgeous! I just love all the Christmas smells, and twinkly lights, in the house at this time of year. It's so cosy.

SOTD is D & G The One, as I'm still pining for Penhaligons Lily Spice and this is the closest I can get. I got a very pretty ribbon in my advent calendar (the DC know me well!) and I'm thinking of spritzing it with something lovely and putting it in either my hair or knicker drawer!

I hope everyone feels a bit better and is looking forward to a Christmas break (if you get one!) Not long to go

That really should say knicker drawer or hair - I've made it sound like a have a hair drawer as well as a knicker drawer!

Floof & PiaM - hope you feel better soon.

Reporting back in: BVC does interesting things to Shazam! and The Dark Heart. It kills the fizz in Shazam! stone dead. Instead it has an ashy, unlit joss stick quality, with a beautiful sweet and warm orange-amber underneath. It combines with The Dark Heart to produce a new heart chord. I can't put my finger on this yet, it's almost soapy floral - can someone else try this?

Cardoon - try The Lion Cupboard (4160Tuesdays). You might also like their Kisses by the Fireside (Original Kiss btF and Another KbtF)?

Lush's All Good Things starts with a slug of birch tar. (Much simpler and, eventually, much sweeter, but worth trying if you can't afford Lonestar Memories).

Ok, have just layered Dark Heart and BVC and my first thought is...pontefract cakes! I might need to let it settle down

OK, scratch the mystery soapy floral chord ...that's contamination from a sneaky squirt of Delina further up my arm. The Perfume Society box arrived - it's great value. Not helping much with the more restrained and cautious approach to sniffing though.

at EK. That would be a result - I like licorice notes.

It's early days but Floofy's Hair Drawer has to be a contender for the next thread!

Sorry to hear of the unwell-ness

SotD was ACAC Santal Carmin. Very much beyond my power of description but so different from the fresh punchy citruses so far. Orientally and woody and very nice indeed. A surprise!

SOTD was Chanel 19 for yet another trip to the dentist. I went to get some more of the matching body lotion today, and am furious to find it’s been discontinued. WTF?

Hope poorly people get well soon. I am still spluttering away. The gift that keeps on giving!

So, I've never really got the supposed 'rotting fruit' notes in Dark Heart, but I think BVC ramps them up. Not in a bad way; in fact it just makes it a bit more realistic as a 'portrait of a city' scent. It now has that grubby, stale undertone that cities do have. Selling it, aren't I?

PIAM, hope you feel better soon. Be interested to hear what you think of 24 Faubourg (once you can sniff again!) It's my absolute, gold-standard, 'need to be a grown-up today' scent and I love it, but it's not necessarily an easy wear, imo.

Delina is nuclear....

Kittens- I smelled it briefly at Mahon airport this summer and thought the same. This is the grown up, classy perfume to wear for a meeting with the headmistress. Austere in a way that my other grown up perfumes aren't (Chanel 19, Miss Dior, the old vintage chypres in general)

Someone mentioned Carolina Herrera above which reminded me of loving the original CH years ago, around the time Safari came out, so early 90s I guess. Wonder if they still do it.

I put one small spray of Black Velvet Cafe on each arm (this stuff is nuclear!) and then topped up one arm with Shazam! and the other with Dark Heart of Old Havana. An hour later, and after the Germolene opening of the BVC disappeared the Shazam/BVC is delightful, but the DH/BVC not so much. On paper I would have thought the DH/BVC to be a good match because of the shared coffee note, but it seems that the two are fighting each other instead of melding together. I think the Shazam adds an interesting sweetness to Black Velvet Cafe. However, I need to see how they develop overnight. I have no doubt they will still be there in the morning!

Kittens, I bought some 24 Faubourg at Heathrow. It is beautiful and one that DH likes on me (he’s not too keen on germolene!). I think I will get lots of wear out of this as it is long-lasting and won’t upset anyone!

SOTD L’Artisan Passage d’enfer from Mrsmac lovely lilies incense and wood

Yes mrsmac Delina is pretty powerful stuff. I quite like it. Be interested to see what you think of the Annick Goutal as I couldn’t understand why it’s classed as a Chypre

Liberty AC GOTD was Nars orgasm blush, yesterday was a classic Liberty print cosmetics bag (which has obvs been commandeered by my burgeoning sample collection)

I thought this had some perfume in it. I live in hope!

I don't get it Bluebell - I've tried it before and was underwhelmed. And I think Annick Goutal has made some of the most perfect scents I've ever smelt. I don't get why only two notes are listed and why a bit of patchouli makes something a 'modern chypre'?

And all the focus seems to be on the bloomin' pompom?

How are you meant to spray a perfume with that much pompom? Bergamot at patch do not a chypre make.