We've had a bath, a hyaluronic sheet mask, egg & chips and are now in Opium. Come and join us for Lovely Friendly Perfume Thread 11!

[explodingkittens]

Welcome all, old hands and newbies, to LFPT no. 11! Pull up a chair and tell us all about your new finds, old loves and burgeoning obsessions. Ask a perfume-related question and someone here will have the answer. Niche, mainstream, celeb scents, drugstore El Cheapos or hard-to-find exclusives - we love 'em all.

We are also doing the Big Sniff every Sunday, so please join us there too!

I also visited Blooms in Covent Garden this week, with my sister. I went there with the intention of picking up a couple of sample packs, including the Iris Roots & Shoots one, but the lovely sales assistant had other ideas! Apparently all sample packs are prepared to order, they don’t just have them stacked in a cupboard ready to go as they like them to be as fresh as possible. So, she suggested we try a selection of iris perfumes as suggested by her and then decide on the samples we wanted. She was the ex-customer turned sales assistant who Fennel met when she visited Blooms and so helpful! She is Olga from the Ukraine and seems to know the notes of all 500 perfumes in the shop! I also wanted to try one or two of the Zoologists. Time flew by but we must have spent much longer than an hour in there. We ended up with choosing 16 samples x 2 plus Olga gave us a free sample each. (We went for a long lunch and went back to collect our samples later.) We will definitely go back to buy a FB. The samples are:

Putain des Palaces (ELDO)
Une Amourette (ELDO)
Besos (Carner)
14 Iris Oriental (Parfumerie Generale)
Poudre de Riz (Huitienne Art)
O, Unknown (Imaginary Authors)
Yesterday Haze (Imaginary Authors)
Shem-El- Nessim (Grossmith)
Naja (Vero Profumo)
Beaver, Panda, Dragonfly, Nightingale, Elephant,
Civet, Macaque (Zoologist)

I can’t smell anything much because I have a full-on cold, so SOTD is Olbas Oil, unfortunately!

That sounds wonderful, calm! What fabulous service

I know I've banged on about this before but when you compare the service and knowledge of the SAs in Bloom compared to some other boutique perfume shops, it really is astonishing. As I mentioned before, after Bloom I nipped next door to Diptyque. There were two SAs in there, one very sweet and one completely bored and uninterested. Neither of them knew much about their - far more limited - stock, to the point where they had to look their own perfumes up on Fragrantica. I really enjoy Diptyque as a brand but given that they stock fewer than 50 perfumes and charge a small fortune for them I'd expect a little more expertise in a flagship shop.

God, I am turning into such a grumpy old woman

Awww, I think you should write to the owner of Blooms and sing the praises of the lovely Olga. I love it when people are passionate about what they do.

Wow Aubergines and Calm I really would love to go. Bit worried about my window of time - really can't miss my train - but think I'll regret not at least popping in.

Spellbound sounds interesting. A girl in my office wears Lou Lou and either it's super strong on her or she uses what some may term "too much" but you really can smell her as soon as you walk in. I love the smell of it on her!

Visited my gran in hospital today. She's been in for a week after a fall and various problems/complications. She had a moment today searching for her purse and tipped her handbag out... Here she is, close to 90, not in a good way, bedbound and struggling, and she still packed a FB of perfume in her bag. Made me smile!

SotD was 24 Fauberg. Yes. All I can say to that one really!

SOTD was Brocade Aphrodisia - its really beautiful but not very long lasting - still bargainous enough to reapply frequently.

Had a little try of Creamy Vanilla Crumble on the back of my hand this afternoon (thanks to Fennel) - I was expecting it to be sweet but it is really well balanced and I could get really into it.

SOTE is Zoologist Dragonfly - absolutely lovely, lasting well and will be on my fantasy FB list. Both this and the Aphrodisia have heliotrope and musk, which I have decided I love any recommendations of others to try most welcome!

Bloom sounds wonderful!

Sorry to hear about your Gran cheap, she sounds like a glamorous lady what was the perfume out of interest?

Aubergine: so you like musky powdery scents with heliotrope, try....Frédéric Malle L’Eau d’Hiver. L’Heure Bleu by Guerlain (and Eau de Cashmere if you can find it), Narciso Rodriguez Poudre, you might even like Pradas Infusions d’Amande which is one of my favourites- but it does have a lot of almond in it which might not appeal (but i think it’s wonderful and is my favourite from the Infusions line).

SOTE is Guerlain L’Heure Bleu thank you MrsGruber this is truly wonderful and on my FB wish list. I love a powdery Iris perfume and this is sheer perfection. Have had it on a few hours and it’s soft, delicate and so beautiful 😍

You're welcome Blue .

Yes, I was wondering that too Cheap - older women are usually the best smelling people, whatever the situation.

You need some Aubade Aubergine! PM me if you'd like me to send you some. (Worth keeping an eye out for Etro Heliotrope too).

Sounds a great list Calm - let me know what you think about Shem -el-Nessim and Civet in particular. When I called in they were recruiting - had an ad on the door asking if you could talk about perfume for hours? I nearly applied (I sort of forgot I live 100+ miles away and already have a job . Think it was the thought of the staff discount ).

Bugger. My local TK Maxx had Aubade today £20 I think for a FB. I didn’t know anything about it but thought it looked promising ...and it does look like something I’d like from - a similar but more complex fragrance to Prada Amande. Shame I missed that one!

mrsgruber reckon we’d all get hired if we went for that job, but you’d be particularly well qualified (in a different life of course). Hmmm wonder if the pay is decent ....

Fennel totally agree with you on disappointing customer service in specialist fragrance shops. I did however have a good experience at Diptyque recently in their Leadenhall store in London. The SA was able to name a lot of notes from 34 BSG and that is a complex perfume. I was impressed by her knowledge and she gave me lots of samples Les Senteurs gave me amazing service when I last visited.

Ended up a stressful day so SOTE after bath was Pom Noir

Had to prep tomorrows dinner for slow cooking in the morning. Now all I can smell is Red onion and thyme

I was very, VERY good today, had to go and get DMIL coffee beans from Tk Maxx and picked up VW princess for a friends bday gift 🤢
They had a few MIller Harris in! But I thought I would ask my fragrant friends which ONE I should go for, instead of buying one on impulse (they are new to me) so

Là fumée
L'eau magnetic
Ètui Noir

??

Yes, I'd probably be quite good at talking for hours . Am sure the pay is awful, but there again, I'd probably spend less on perfume if could spendmy days sniffing their stock?

Aubade isn't spectacular - but it is a good night time perfume if you like musky, nutty, cosy things. A good bet for heliotrope fans.

Happy mothers day to the mother's on the thread 💐
And love to those of you who will find today hard, for whatever reason ❤

Have a wonderful Mother’s Day everyone .
Unfortunately I’m somewhat grumpy due to tooth ache all week. Dentist is waiting to see if pain will go away ....it hasn’t! Am now gravitating onto Nurofen with codeine ( having panicked myself by counting the number of Nurofen plus paracetamol I’ve had in the last 24 hours).
Too irritable for anything other than Wrappings.

Oooh toothache is vile 😔 you poor thing x

So my favourite perfume in the world is Angel by Thierry Mugler, has been for years.

Can anybody recommend some other perfumes that have similar notes in them? Or direct me if this has been done on a previous thread... Thanks.

Oh.. and I like Prada Candy too.

Hi
I would suggest ypu might like;
hypnotic poison, midnight poison, kenzo amour and dior addict

Have you tried mugler alien essence?

Morning all, the mother's day fairy (aka DH) has bought me some What I Did on my Holidays, so I will be spending the day unseasonably smelling of the seaside (in a good way). When I asked why he'd chosen it over Ealing Green, he had done it entirely on name

Thanks for the heliotrope suggestions, Blue I tried L'heure Blue the other day and it gave me a headache

to all, Mums or not, hope everyone has good days.

Morning all!

Ooh, you’ve done well aubergine. I’ve had a cup of tea in bed so far .

I wonder if Bloom would take on a 40 yr old work experience student one Saturday afternoon a month? I’d be up for it! .

No SOTD yet. I over did it on the Amarige last night, so need a good scrub before I can contemplate something else.

Happy Mother’s Day .

Chloe

I second some of mrsr’s suggestions - some of the Poison flankers (Poison Girl and Hypnotic) might fit the bill.

Also: La Vie Est Belle, Mon Paris, Tresor Midnight Rose - my Angel-loving sister likes these.

SOTD is Youth Dew, for Mother's Day. I've not had anything, not even a cuppa. Perhaps I should start an AIBU thread

Good morning, I am a bit of a lurker but have posted once or twice before and got some lovely helpful replies.... So I'm back! 😀. I'm really uneducated regarding perfume and notes but I'm trying!
Due to this thread I have ordered cabochard, I tried a little on this morning and....... It has a really sharp unpleasant smelling note..... What is that??? I'm not sure what I expected.... I don't think that I like it.

GT - that sounds odd. Is it vintage? If so, does it smell fresh?