The Friendly Perfumistas get the key of the door to the Lion Cupboard - it's Thread no. 21!

[MaudBaileysGreenTurban]

Evening all

Apologies for the cheesy thread title.

Come and join the MN Perfumistas for gorgeously-scented chat (or Germolene and burnt frankfurters...)

Hi perfume fans. I have fallen out of the habit of wearing perfume for a while but have been given a bit of money and would like to spend up £100 ish on a new perfume. Not to wear every day (I'm self employed and work at home) but not to keep for super special either. I'd quite like something fresh and not too heavy. I had a sample of Nomade recently which I thought was lovely but perhaps not light enough. I used to wear Ghost every day when I worked in an office and that really suited me but I would like a change. My "special" perfume from my wedding day (11 years ago!) is Creed's Love In White. I'm not hugely keen on flowery smells and quite fancy something with mint or tea maybe?! I don't live anywhere near any big department stores with perfume counters so will have to orders samples online. Anyone got any ideas where I could start?!

Hi Nancy. Mint or tea? I'd get hold of samples of Annick Goutal's Nuit Etoilee and Ille due The, plus Miller Harris's Tea Tonique, plus Guerlain's Aqua Allegoria Herba Fresca, and see if any of them appeal? You should be able to find decants/samples on eBay. You can look them on Fragrantica too.

FleurNancy a good place to start with samples is the Bloom perfumery as recommended to me by MaudBaileysGreenTurban
bloomperfume.co.uk/collections/all-products/category-samplepacks
Otherwise you could look at 4160 Tuesdays: www.4160tuesdays.com/4160tuesdaysscentshop/prod_2022921-Taster-Sets.html
or even The Perfume Society: perfumesociety.org/shop-now/
Am sure some more experienced perfumistas here will recommend some more places for samples & perfumes for you to try.

FleurNancy, Tea Tonique by Miller Harris is really lovely. I have also recently fallen in love with a really niche scent by Maria Candida Gentile which has mountain tea notes in it, called Sideris!

teta, my MB order arrived on Saturday so I would strongly suspect that yours will be in the post today! Would love to know what you think of them. I am really smitten with India although I think it may suit colder weather better.

SOTD is India. teta, I was wrong! It's lovely on a warm spring day too! Really beautiful actually, more so than I realised when I first tried it on. Very complex, similar to Patchouli Clouds in that way actually. I can really get the cardamom and coriander but my stepmother found the floral notes more prominent than I did. Not sweet, unexpectedly somehow.

Mother mine was shipped in the 16th apparently but I still have received it. There’s no tracking number either!
Was it in the normal post?
I really expected it to arrive today.

My Perfumista order (ordered on the 12th) hasn't arrived either - I want my 3mls of La Fille de Berlin

Am watching a full bottle of AT Reverie au Jardin on ebay...I didn't realise that it's now discontinued and I really love that luscious lavender-and-incense blend for the summer...sooooo expensive though

FleurNancy - you might want to consider trying You or Someone Like You from Etat Libre d'Orange if you're after a minty scent, or What I DId On My Holidays from 4160 Tuesdays for a mint-and-candyfloss seaside summer vibe. Or Menthe Fraiche by Heeley. You can get the ELD'O and the Heeley samples from Bloom, and the 4160 Tuesdays from their website.

Comme des Garcons seem to have quite a few minty scents too.

On the high street Lush's Dirty is, oddly, very minty

Roullier White is one of my favourite online places for a good old sample-fest if you just want to try loads of different bits and bobs; they have a ton of interesting houses to explore.

Ds1 wears dirty body spray
It is very minty

SotD was Eau du Sud. SotE is Babylon Sunset which I think is under-rated.

I had a perfect half hour lying under my cherry tree in the sun yesterday. The cherry blossom on this (ornamental cherry) isn't really perfumed. To me Babylon Sunset evokes the joy of a blast of spring sunshine more than, say, Tokyo Spring Blossom?

teta I think the person who opened the door had to sign for it (but it wasn't me so I can't be 100% sure)

Hopefully yours will arrive tomorrow!

SOTD Heeley Hippie Rose.

Cold and grey here
Sotd pp by the fireplace

It’s a bit hazy and damp here but a lovely spring morning. Lots of bluebells of every colour in all the gardens around here on my walk this morning. Scent is Cristalle edp.

I’m still waiting Mother.....

How frustrating, teta. The suspense! I do hope it is worth the wait. I am also looking forward to hearing what you think about them...

Maud, I really hate falling in love with discontinued fragrances or books by dead authors. The incense/lavender combination sounds gorgeous.

Yesterday I went to the (brilliant) Pierre Bonnard exhibition at the Tate Modern. It was much, much more extensive than I'd thought it would be -- and on the way out, the gift shop had an eau de parfum called Fleurs de Reine created by Maison Godet which apparently had been created for Pierre Bonnard's wife Marthe in the 1920s. It was gorgeous and I am still thinking about it (although it featured tuberose, which I honestly thought I hated). It's funny how things can smell so different in different contexts.

SOTD is Floral Street Iris Goddess.
Can't really smell anything apart from soapy lavender.

Is anyone a member of the Perfume Society, as thinking of joining?

my DD bought an Impulse body spray in Wilko called Burnt marshmallow and Leather Jacket.
it is grim. LOL

Sounds positively niche Kali! And a bit like Lush's All Good Things, my divorce fragrance .

Long, hard day, so delighted to find a 4160 package on the door mat. MNNDs has arrived with, , a sample of Red Queen. Will try it again then, post (am avoiding MissB's review for now - but will compare notes once I've organised my own thoughts).

Sorry - not sure what went wrong with the commas there

tell me more about divorce fragrance.....
sorry you had a rough day mrs xxx

SOTD Byredo Gypsy Water. Spring seems to be over here, and back to winter.

Funny you should mention divorce fragrance...I was thinking the other day (weirdly) about a set of Jo Malones I had years ago, when I was living with xh and utterly miserable. It occurred to me that those scent memories could account for my dislike of JM even today

SOTD Diorissimo. I do love this but it lasts about 3 minutes on me. I need a vintage powerhouse version I think, not a wimpy 21st century reformulation.

Thanks Kali.

It starts out bitter and smoky - you could be burning old love letters, in the garden or stumbling out into the night after a death knell row at a bad house party. It's the end; it hurts, but there is a certain cleansing quality. And once you get used to the idea, it stops striking you as harsh, and is actually quite comforting. Then, miraculously, it transforms into a sweet cotton candy. No trace of bitterness is left. You struggle to remember what it was like before.

Sorry - rogue commas strike again - think this might actually be an eyesight issue....