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A simple game: name ONE favorite note.
Now tell us your absolute favorite fragrance that features that note, and then tell us about a scrubber (or just a fragrance you dislike) that features that note.
Mine: iris. Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist. Le Labo Iris 39.
Note: top image is White Bursts 2 [cropped and background expanded] by Sonny Abesamis at flickr; some rights reserved.
Lily of the Valley. And I like it simple, Coty Muguet des Bois does it for me better than any complicated, fancy scent. (Although Debut is a pretty exceptional scent.)
It wasn’t a scrubber, but the one Penhaligon’s makes was a disappointment.
Fun poll!!
I love Muguet des Bois. It’s never fails to make me smile and give me a lift.
I vote for Van Cleef & Arpels Muguet Blanc as the scrubber of scrubbers for lily of the valley. I really loved the old Dioressimo…
I am watching this thread like a hawk because I dislike what I think is LOTV and whenever I read that LOTV is in a perfume, I lose interest. Kudos to the person who can make me change my mind about LOTV!
Have you tried Diorissimo? My mother has the vintage version which has a much more animalic facet to it that elevates it from a simple LOTV.
I guess only the vintage will do? I have not tried the modern version either, because…LOTV.
You must come visit sometime and try the vintage.
Ooh, I might just take you up on that! In the meantime, a dear perfumista blogger is sending me some 🙂
Mimosa for me. And I think Une Fleur de Cassie from FM is my favorite mimosa.
Tuberose is a close second, and I loooooove Fracas. Actually, inspired by Anniky, I am sitting here in my jammies, drinking my coffee in front of the fire place (a.k.a. space heater) and have decided to put on some Fracas. I feel like such a fancy scrub!
UFdC is a genius scent. And thank you! It’s nice to imagine you there in Fracas 🙂
I’ve definitely returned to this one a few times in my toybox. Seems like it would be especially pretty in warmer weather.
Tuberose is my second best, after vetiver, here too, as with vetiver, I haven’t yet met a tuberose-overkill-scent 🙂
Ohhhh, I love vetiver too. There are so many great notes to choose from! What is your favorite tuberose?
no preference, from the easier ones (beyond love, vamp a ny, do son), to the more intense ones (tubereuse criminelle, fracas) to the quirkier ones (tubereuse de nuit), and so many more to try (e.g. pichola), there are so many around!
Fleur de Cassie is fantastic, can’t wait for spring!
Oh boy, an easy one!
Note: iris
Favorite perfume that features that note: Prada Infusion d’Iris absolue, also my SOTD.
Scrubber: Van Cleef & Arpels Bois d’Iris. Apparently vanilla + iris doesn’t work for me.
Robin, I also love Iris Silver Mist but I’ve just got a tiny vial of it, not enough that I can legitimately claim it as a favorite iris perfume. Hmmm, maybe I need a small spray sample of it 😉
Of course you do!
You know, there are so many fantastic iris scents now that maybe Iris Silver Mist is not as “necessary” as it once once. It is a much bigger / more vegetal iris than the Prada Absolue, but the Prada Absolue (which I also love) is probably easier to wear.
Just when I was despairing of never coming up with an answer, Suzy Q to the rescue. Except I’m the near opposite. Love some irises, like Dior Bois d’Argent (almost identical to VCA Bois d’Iris). Infusion d’Iris was the scrubber.
Is this cheating? Or adult education? Either way, thanks Suzy Q!
Yes, I should put this one on after, love my decant of Bois d’Argent. And while I don’t like regular Infusion d’Iris, the Absolue works quite well…
I’ll have to look for it to try. Thanks.
Not cheating 😉
SuzyQ! Have you tried Iris Poudre? It has iris and vanilla and is one of my favorite irisses.
It’s classy. I can only wear the slightest mist though. All the Malles are powerhouses!
Have you tried PG Felanilla? Another gourmand iris, with a little more oomph than the VCA.
Love felanilla????????
I’ve got a sample of it. Every time I try it I like it a little more. I’ll retry –it’s been awhile!
Yeah, I did not care much for OJ Vanille d’Iris either. Love iris though, it’s one my short list for favorite notes. Still deciding…
I’m wearing Absolue today, too. Perfect for winter+regular people interactions etc.
Yes, agreed. Well put!
It’s a tie between gardenia, iris and leather for me, but let’s play by the rules and say gardenia. I love many, but TF Velvet Gardenia is the best I’ve ever smelled and I miss it. I almost never scrub anything off, so not really a scrubber, but Gucci Gorgeous Gardenia was completely pointless.
I’m just joining the white floral party and sad the TF isn’t available anymore. I’ve seen that one mentioned (or mourned) as a perfect gardenia.
Wouldn’t that be a great first sentence to a novel: ‘Gucci Gorgeous Gardenia was completely pointless.’
TF has a habit of discontinuing good scents. I’m not his biggest fan, but VG was a great scent, and so is Fleur de Chine.
Ha! That’s great 🙂 Yes, it would. Is GGG the heroine?
Oddly enough (my brain must resemble one of those pans used for making really complicated soups with lots of ingredients popping up on the surface at odd times) I was reminded of the opening sentence of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: “The truth is, if old Major Dover hadn’t dropped dead at Taunton races, Jim would never have come to Thursgood’s at all.”
Please, don’t ask me why.
One of my favourite opening sentences! (Along with the ones for “Mrs. Bridge”, “Slaughterhouse Five” and “Empire of the Sun” and what I always think is the first line in “The Siege of Krishnapur”, but which actually comes after a brief descriptive preamble, unrelated to the action: “The first sign of trouble at Krishnapur came with a mysterious distribution of chapatis, made of coarse flour and about the size and thickness of a biscuit; towards the end of February 1857, they swept the countryside like an epidemic.”
Great opening line!
That is great too, it seems so random, as does TTSP’s opening line.
Although I thought the film was very good, I’m a much bigger fan of the BBC series, Both Tinker Tailor and Smiley’s People must be one of the best things that the Beeb has ever done.
Are you familiar with either?
I love Une Voix Noire and JAR was the most revolting scrubber I have ever smelled. 🙂
Sorry I meant to say JAR Jardenia!
Fun! Since others have done iris, I’ll do rose. Neela Vermiere Mohur extrait is the best rose there is! And for an entry in Anniky’s entertaining category “pointless, if not an outright scrubber” I nominate Montale Rose Petals Oud as the sample that represents a complete waste of $3.00 to me.
Love other’s comparisons as well! Keep them coming…
And for all our friends in the path of the lovely snowstorm, stay warm and don’t over exert moving the white stuff around.
I haven’t tried a Montale that I’ve liked yet. I partly blame the tacky bottle design.
🙂
What do you mean? The dangling bit is so high-classy!
Ha 🙂
Ditto.
I haven’t tried one yet because I’m so put off by the packaging.
All this love for Mohur extrait! I remember trying Mohur (edp?) and not falling in love with it, but enough comments on the extrait make me think it’s worth a sniff. Sigh. Like I need another hard-to-get rose in my collection!
Me too! I’ve been resisting sampling since it’s so expensive, but I may not be able to hold off much longer.
Thank goodness I’m not the only one! Hajusuuri was kind enough to send me a sample of the extrait, but I didn’t fall in love. 🙁 Probably a skin issue since the projection never went farther than my wrist, though what I could smell was indeed quite beautiful. Ah well, my wallet thanked my nose.
I fell in love and it haunted me (Hajusuuri gets yet another enabler pin) until Meredifay came to the rescue by hosting a split.
This scent changed me into a rose lover.
…and my tiara is shining brightly…
I agree…not a powerhouse but beautiful nonetheless 🙂
I tried the EDP and liked it but didn’t love it (at first). I might be alone on this, but I didn’t think the extrait was hugely different. I ended on getting a bottle of the EDP and don’t feel like I’m missing out. Of course, I’ll probably still avoid wearing them side by side, just to be safe.
Love rose most of the time (and I liked my sample of Montale Aoud Roses Petals!), but could NOT do Voleur de Roses.
I love rose, too. (I actually *just* bought an Andy Tauer sample set with all the roses.) I’ve never met a Rosine I didn’t like and have recently fallen in love with Ormonde Jayne Ta’if. Scrubber: JHaG Mad Madame.
I love Ambrette in fragrances, and love, love, love Chanel 18 for its use of the note. I “think” SIP uses it in their Musc Botanique, which I also really enjoy.
I have yet to find a Ambrette scrubber….thank goodness.
One is surely lurking out there for you, somewhere 🙂
Musc Nomade (Goutal) has quite a lot of ambrette, and I get some in Equistrius as well.
Chanel 18 is probably the most distinctive of the ambrette scents that I have tried.
Love Musc Nomade and that ambrette overdose, as well as No. 18!
Rose. Ormonde Jayne Ta’if. Tauerville Rose Flash.
With you on both of those! I wouldn’t call the Rose Flash a scrubber, but decidedly “meh” for me. Too linear. Not enough going on.
Rose Flash turned so sour on me, I literally scrubbed it off and then swapped it. Too bad, since the price was basically free. 😉
It feels like rose+Tauer base on me. Do any of the heavier Tauers agree with you?
I’ve tried a couple. Incense Rose was another scrubber (to be fair, I generally dislike incense) and L’air du Desert Marocain was a bit too masculine.
I usually do well with Andy’s roses, but Incense Rose was horrrrrrid on me, like several other rose-woody-incense things (Paestum Rose and… oh gosh, what was that thing? can’t remember). Acrid wet wood ash.
I think it was Epic, Mals86?
Yes, Epic was one of them! Tks.
I had the same experience as you Mals, and I so wanted to love both. Sounds like we having similar experiences, so I best avoid Epic. I know we both love Parfum Sacre.
PHI was a scrubber on me so I’m not even bothering to try Rose Flash.
I didn’t like PHI either. It was a soapy, vaguely rosy, screechy number on me. RF is a sweet jammy rose. No noticeable Tauerade in that one. It’s too sweetfor me though.
Ahhh, Rose Flash. I think I have an actual *crush* on it! For me, when I smell it it’s like the big bossy cloud gates of heaven roll open and golden light comes streaming out and banners unfurl and naked cherubs come forth playing French horns and the clouds rain honey and it’s eternally an early Saturday morning in late spring. Le sigh.
Wow, wish I got what you get from it!! 🙂 Funny how different skin chemistry works.
Wow is right! I can’t say I’ve had anything close to that sort of response to any perfume…
I love your description!!!
Favorite note: patchouli! Favorite fragrance that features it: Santa Maria Novella Patchouli, but I have many beloved fragrances with patch, including the modern version of it. Scrubber: Aromatics Elixer. I love, love, love it on others but cannot have it on my skin or it literally makes me vomit, gives me a headache and I feel ill into the following day! I waited a couple of years and tried it again just before Christmas… still a scrubber on me! (And this saddens me, because it does smell so beautiful on others, when applied judiciously).
I converted my old hippie dad from patchouli oil to L’Artisan’s Patchouli Patch about 5 years ago. Love it on him! (Although, maybe I’m giving myself too much credit. I’d be surprised if there weren’t a vile of the oil sitting around his place somewhere.)
Vile of the oil!
Whoops! 😀
Vial, of course.
Great Freudian slip!
I can’t say I have a favorite note but rose seems well represented in my collection so…
ELDO Rossy de Palma is amongst my top rose favorites.
By Kilian Liaisons Dangereuses was a scrubber for me which surprised me because it seems to get a lot of love.
I don’t think I’ve tried either of those. Sounds like Rossy de Palma is a must-sample for me.
Rossy was not love at first sniff for me because it’s kind of weird and unexpected. But that’s why I love it now. But do sample them! I love hearing other’s impressions.
I really like Liaisons Dangereuses, but then I don’t generally like rose. Perhaps it’s a rose for non-rose-lovers? I also like Portrait of a Lady. That’s about it for roses for me.
It wasn’t the un-rosiness of it for me. It had a very high pitched synthetic quality that I thought would settle down, but it wouldn’t relent. Smelling around that, though, I found it similar to Natori as a plummy aldehydic rose but once the Natori calms a bit, I enjoy it.
Oh, Liaisons Dangereuses was another scrubber for me too! I can’t even describe how dreadful it was on my skin.
Liaisons Dangereuses was a scrubber for me too. It was like a deodorant panty liner smell on me. You know that odd floral scent in the feminine products aisle? Yeah, that.
I remember a female teacher complimenting a friend in high school on her perfume as “pretty and soft” (this was the 80’s) and my friend laughed when she was gone because she thought it was her scented pad since she wasn’t wearing perfume. Yes, I know that scent that you’re talking about.
Good thing she didn’t ask what fragrance it was. Lol.
Lol!
I am finding that I really love rice accords! Poopoo Pidoo is one of my absolute favorite perfumes (I’m saving for a FB!) There is something about the creaminess and comfort factor….so good!
Ormonde Jayne Champaca has a lovely rice accord that you may enjoy.
Agree!
oooh! Must get my hands on a sample! Thanks!
If you haven’t caved and bought a Discovery Set from OJ, yet, I highly recommend it. Even if they turn out to be not your style, you get to sample a wide range of very well-made fragrances for a good price. Used to have free worldwide shipping–maybe they still do?
Yes, to ww shipping.
You know… I’ve become a dissenter on this one. The presentation is gorgeous for sure, so if one’s in the mood for a splurge (or if money’s no object!) it’s great, but just on the testing front, I’ve come to feel like $75 (now $77) was a crazy amount to pay to find one thing I liked. And then I paid another $118 (on sale but including shipping) for 40ml of the one I liked… oof I hadn’t done the numbers ’til now but all in, Champaca is surely my most expensive perfume per oz. I do love it but…
It’s true it’s gotten more expensive for us in the States. The shipping alone (for FBs) was prohibitive for a few years there. But for me, I found 3 that were FBW (and there are more I’d wear if they fell in my lap), and it was a great introduction to a very different style of perfumery when I was a newbie, IMO.
I’m glad I bought the OJ Discovery Set, but I discovered that I am not a fan of ISO E Super.
Yeah, I’m inclined to think how many one does or doesn’t end up enjoying will really change how much it feels like a good investment–I believe Champaca’s the only one I’ve ever worn a second time in the whole set.
But now I’m curious, the FBW are… I’m guessing Taif, Tolu and Ormonde Woman? Which others did you like enough at least to wear the sample more than once?
Holly, never bought the sample set but agree about the line’s use of Iso E Super. Will never ever be able to tolerate OJ Woman following the tenacious aftereffects of a broken sample vial.
I had a similar experience, C.H. I ended up liking Ta’if and Tolu, but many of the others smelled largely the same to me. It may just have been the Iso E Super, but as a result, $75 seems a lot to pay when only two worked. It’s ok though, as I intend to add some of the vials to swap packages in the future. Many others love them.
CH, you know me so well!!! Yes, the first big love was OJ Woman (my first fragrance swoon), followed by Ta’if. I just bought Tolu after draining a large decant this winter (thanks, jjlook!).
FWIW, I like Champaca, but I wish it was bigger on me. I lose it in about half an hour. 🙁
Ooh me too, turns out I love rice in perfume! Adore Champaca, will also add Etat Libre’s Fils de Dieu and Demeter’s Rice Paddy to list of things to try!
I hear you – I spent a couple of hundred dollars last year on samples and I found a couple of okay items, so not really worth it, unless I could count it as saving airfare to LA or NYC. Sigh. Good thing I am in a sampling circle this year…
That saving airfare–that’s just exactly the thing, I realized I would MUCH rather save the money for travel and test along the way. Or even just for going out to lunch and trying what’s new locally! Though I admit this is partly due to personal circumstances–as someone who often works from home, I vastly prefer perfume be a hobby that gets me out of the house. But I know others much prefer testing perfume in the comfort of their own home.
I like the term and idea of a “sampling circle”!
I’m glad I got my OJ sample set when it was still quite cheap. I admire the line a lot, but my only love is Ormonde Woman. And although I love rice in perfume, Fils de Dieu and Equistrius, I’ve never fallen for Champaca.
Was doing a little perfume googling, and happened upon Equistrius too. That sounds like a good one to try…..
I *almost* like that one. It’s a bit too masculine for me, but I liked the hard leather+ feel to it.
Wow, I find Equistrius to be a sweet pillowy Iris with a tiny touch of earthiness
Ditto what Petunia says???? Love Equistrius!
I love Equistris too. It is one of the few iris-centric scents I don’t find too chilly and sharp to wear. It WOULD be gorgeous on a man, but I find it perfectly well-behaved and feminine when I wear it 😉
Wow, on my skin Equistrius is very feminine! But my skin usually amps up the sweet factor of whatever I wear…
Ok. After all this incredulity, I decided to give it another sniff (it’s been a few years)!
I’m willing to accept that all that dust and iris (and influence from the name, perhaps?) led me to interpret leather where maybe it is only an impression of it. However, I’m gonna stand by my feelings that it smells masculine on me. I get dry woody-earthy, not sweet, and definitely not pillowy!
Hi Marjorie Rose, I have found the Iris in Equistrius become more pillowy with wear, like a balloon inflating slowly. Of course, I agree that you are very much entitled to your own opinion. I was just surprised by it. For me, Equistrius is one of the feminine scents that I own.
I haven’t tried Poopoo Pidoo but am also a rice fan. I second ELDO Fils de Dieu. I’m also fond of Kenzo Amour, though some find it too play-do-y.
I second Kenzo Amour! I don’t get rice pudding instead of play doh, but it is a very cuddly comfort scent. It is also on most discount sites.
The first time I ever smelled it I recall it being a bit sweeter and not notably play-doh. The decant I have is more starchy/salty than sweet rice pudding. I like it anyway but I wonder if there’s a difference in older versions vs newer juice.
I have older bottles of Amour, and it’s all powdery, creamy sweet and comforting on me. I also have the “body milk,” which is lovely as a bedtime scent.
Can you explain the rice note a bit more for me. Is it foody like rice pudding (milky cooked rice and nutmeg) or nutty ( like steamed rice or raw rice ) or is it like rice growing in a field, in a raw state? I’m really fascinated but not having experienced a rice note I’m not sure what it means, perfume wise. Thanks!!
I think it can be any of those. Too me it registers as something starchy and slightly salty whether it’s sweetened, dry, or wet.
I like the rice scents that have that powdery, sweet, “pudding” like scent. I smell it sometimes in face powder and body powders? Definitely a milky type thing for me…..
I agree with that description. A wonderful perfume with this note is Fils de Dieu by Etat Libre d’Orange. Combined with some spices and citrus it’s a knockout and not too sweet.
I’m going to order a sample of some of these this week…definitely including Fils de Dieu! Thanks everyone! 🙂
Thank you!
I like a lot of notes, but for the purposes of today’s poll I’ll pick incense. My favorites are Jovoy La Liturgie des Heures and CdG Kyoto. The scrubber was CdG Pharrell Williams Girl. I almost never scrub anything, but I couldn’t get Girl off me fast enough. I headed to the makeup department and got it off before I even left the store.
With you on the incense! (Surprise…) My favorite is Armani Prive Bois d’Encens, but there are plenty of runner-ups that I love almost as much: Heeley Cardinal, Norma Kamali Incense, Decennial Santal Sacre… I’ll stop here.
I’ve been surprised that I didn’t like any of the CdG incenses. I didn’t dislike them either; they just seemed dull to me. Also surprised that I didn’t like the frankincense that La Via del Profumo uses — on me it’s just medicinal. And Eau d’Italie Baume du Doge gets a lot of luv, but that was a scrubber for me.
Baume de Doge was not as bad as Paestum, but not a like either. Have to try the others you mention. One can never have enough incense 🙂
I can’t really decide between Iris and Vetiver, both of which make very happy. For the sake of the poll I’ll go Vetiver today.
Vetiver Tonka is my top vetiver, and the only scrubber I can think of was Oliver & Co Vetiverus. It has been a long time since I tried it, but I seem to recall a combo of vetiver and spices that was not nice to me.
Vetiver is one of those notes I’ve changed my mind about completely. I used to find it difficult, but adore it now. Sycomore is my number one, followed by Sel de Vetiver.
I love Sel de Vetiver, and I am wearing Sycomore today! I am sad, though, because my bf just informed me that my perfume smells like marijuana 🙁 I think that means I will have to think twice before wearing it to work…
Did you ask him how he knows? (Ha! Just kidding)
Love Sel de Vetiver!!!!!
I love vetivers too, and am not at all picky with them, as long as it’s the main note, and only in warmer weather, I still have to find a winter version to love. The only “difficult” vetivers (not scrubbers, though), are IMO the turtle variations by LesNez (do they still exist? ),
As a new perfumista, the first vetivers I tried were the LesNez turtles and they repulsed me so much I thought I didn’t like vetiver.
I’m a sucker for a good vetiver. What are the LesNez ones like?
an acquired taste I’d say, and maybe not for beginners… there are (were) different ones, slightly different from each other
Hard core vetiver, each of the three emphasizing different facets. I missed the first but love Front and Back.
Vetiver Tonka is great, followed by the two Annicky mentioned and Guerlain Vetiver.
A combo of vetiver and spices? Maybe the one you don’t like is the one I love: Jo Malone’s Pink Vetiver. Notes (according to Fragrantica) are “pink pepper, cardamom, nutmeg, cumin, juniper berries, vetiver, amber, ginger and angelica.” I find the vetiver note very prominent.
Saffron! Safran Troublant and Idole de Lubin EDT are two of my all-time favorites. Don’t think I’ve ever come across a saffron scrubber, but the Jo Malone Cologne Intense Saffron was a little disappointing.
I think I love saffron because I keep seeing it listed as a note in perfumes I love, but I’m not sure exactly what it is. Must smell some real saffron in a store to determine.
The best way I can think to describe saffron is a tang- tart and a little savory. In the name of discovery, I recommend making some saffron risotto or some saffron-rosewater pudding!
Tangy/savory is a good description. Saffron-rosewater sounds amazing! Do you have a recipe to recommend? My husband made a creamy saffron risotto with merguez sausage last week that I’m still thinking about.
Saffron rose water rice pudding is the best!
Saffron-rosewater pudding is delicious! Saffron is also an essential flavor in paella. I sometimes put a teensy bit in tea.
However, if you use too much saffron in a dish, it will taste horridly medicinal! I once had to have laudanum (a form of the narcotic opium) as a liquid oral painkiller. I have never forgotten the distinctive taste, although that was over 30 years ago! Similar to too much saffron. I wonder if there is any kind of connection?
Replying to my own post, a day later. I googled “saffron” and “laudanum” and… learned that saffron was traditionally used to “flavor” laudanum!
So my nose/taste buds are better than I thought!
Saffron is also my favorite note, Ari – with cardamom coming in a close second. Safran Troublant is on my list of top 10 fragrances, but I didn’t love CdG’s 888. I also adore saffron in food! If you get a chance, try home made kulfi – a delicious ice cream treat flavored with pistachios, saffron, rosewater and a variety of other exotic spices.
Mmm, I love kulfi. Have you tried L’Aromatica’s Kulfi?
Dark Rose has a strong saffron note.
I will say Rose for my best-loved, because I can’t seem to help myself to test endless variations of rose scents searching out yet another dark, spicy beauty (including today’s sample-of-the-day, Xerjoff Damarose).
However, I really nearly ONLY like my roses dark and complex, with very few exceptions (such as the bizarre and beautiful Lipstick Rose). SO, sweet, light, airy, “pink,” girly kinds of roses tend to bore me at best and turn me away at worst. Rose Praline will be my representative of this camp, for the sake of the poll.
Oh, and I caved last week and bought the Chandler Burr Untitled Series 08, and I wore it for a few days this week. Here is my report: I get a candy-sweet top note with fruits and flowers (reportedly peony, but I can’t discern that). I get none of the fresh cut grass and green twigs he opines about. It is pretty, inoffensive, and lasts ALL day, but doesn’t seem to do much after the initial dry down. I’ll probably stick it in my desk at work as a back-up for when I forget to wear something.
It strikes me as a spring/summer scent, so maybe it has more going on in the warm weather?
I have that, too, and it reminded me of another perfume that I couldn’t recall. I only applied a bit, but I liked it and think I’ll wear it often this summer.
Yes. I’ve been trying to place it!
YSL Baby Doll comes to mind, based on the description.
I bought it too, and boy is it ever challenging for me! I get a big blast of hyper-fruity pink grapefruit at the start, and then it’s all pinky fruity fruity von fruitness and something that I could easily call “peony” along with a soapy/detergent note, and it just goes on and on and on without changing. I keep going back to the bottle and smelling it, thinking “it couldn’t be THAT bad — maybe it’s tangy-er than I remember? Maybe it’s actually fun, in a pinky sort of way?” And then I smell it and recoil anew…
Ha! I get that soapy musk in the drydown too. I’m not HATING it, but I don’t love it, that’s for sure!
No green grass? Darn, I was hoping for someone to say it was definitely there. I guess I’ll pass on that one then.
Marjorie Rose (and everyone else who tried it), thank you so much for being my Chandler Burr guinea pig – from the various descriptions it sounds like I would have hated it. Looking forward to the Big Reveal so I’ll know what to avoid. 🙂
How do you feel about SL Sa Majeste La Rose? It’s not dark and spicy, but I don’t find it pink and girly, either. More like a bright red rose on a long stem.
I’ve been interested in trying one of the Untitled series but haven’t yet. I like the idea of it.
I’ve sampled it several times, and it just isn’t right for me. Too many sopranos. I like my roses to be altos or at least mezzos!
But I agree, not girly.
Rose Praline was a pleasant surprise for me. I’d definitely not call it “dark”. I was expecting candied and pink but instead got a wet, cocoa-dusted rose that was much less sweet to me that than I expected. I’d happily wear it if it fell in my lap!
I haven’t found a single Perfume de Rosine that I liked, yet. If any RP falls towards me, I’d happily move it along to you!
I haven’t tried many from the line. There’re too many and I’m not into coffrets for some of the reasons C.H. mentions above. Lol Thanks 🙂 Will happily adopt it.
Marjorie, some Eau de Protection, that tough-girl rose, has you name on it!
I’m trying to decide how I feel about geranium notes, which is apparently present in EdP. I’ve worn Geranium Pour Monsieur a few times from the toybox, and I think I kinda like it (even though I’m not a “monsieur”)!
I’m on a geranium hunt too, because I’ve always loved the smell of real geraniums.
I like it, too. Have you tried Diptyque Geranium Odorata? I think it smells like true geranium.
I will second the Geranium Odorata, and maybe add Miller Harris Geranium Bourbon as a wonderful “alto” geranium perfume to try 🙂
Ooh, Diptyque Geranium Odorata is going on my try list…
I’m eager to try Geranium Bourbon.
Diptyque’s is beautiful, but fleeting on me. Doesn’t last more than an hour.
Rose is my favorite note.
Chanel Coco is favorite perfume featuring rose. I love this perfume from the first spray to the beautiful heart notes, and finally the last remnants on my pillow when I wake up the next morning after wearing Coco the night before.
A recent scrubber for me was Valentino Donna. At first I smelled lovely sugared roses, then it turned ugly on me about 2 hours later. Unfortunately I wore it New Year’s Eve night, and I was too tired to shower it off until the next morning.
I agree about Donna. The first whiff was okay, but overall it is way too sweet for me. Too bad because the bottle’s fab.
I love the bottle, and it was a gift from a really sweet friend. I wish I could make myself like it. But that’s not going to happen.
I don’t even mind the sweetness, it just got really sharp and irritating on me a few hours into wearing it.
Nobody makes a scent that actually represents my favorite note, which is silk tree blossom. We call it mimosa in the south. Kenzo has one called Eau de Fleur de Soie, but it doesn’t really have the scent I love. My second favorite is rose. I currently love Aerin Lauder Evening Rose, and I can’t stand Perfumer’s Workshop Tea Rose. Strangely enough Demeter’s Flower Show is very close to Tea Rose in scent, but it’s not a scrubber on my skin the way Tea Rose is.
PriscillaE! As I was looking through Mount Sample, I found a vial of Jo Malone Silk Blossom. A quick Fragrantica search revealed that silk tree blossom is one of the notes. Have you tried it?
I have not tried it but I may go for a sample once I’m buying again. Thanks.
Oooh, email me 🙂
Silk tree blossom is indeed a beautiful smell. There’s a gorgeous specimen tree in the green quadrangle, just before I go into the building where my office is. It’s a happy tree, and it spends its days just hanging out now the sun, squandering its perfume in a profligate, careless sort of way, and shedding its tassled flowers in a carpet all round and about. I stop every morning on my way in and enjoy it for a few seconds. Instant peace! I don’t think the Jo Malone did it justice, but then, could any bottled perfume?
I enjoy many scents, ranging from grasses to incense to gasoline. What I wish I could name are one or two scents that repel me. They are common in perfume, but unidentifiable. If I knew their name I could avoid them.
I’ve pinned my down to “that calonic” note, the one infesting so many 90’s, and other, “fresh” scents.
I’m not familiar with “calonic”; can you describe it a bit? The note I’m talking about is perhaps metallic, “clangy,” somehow.
Calone is an aromachemical that is used to give an aquatic/ozone-y smell. I smelled it recently in its pure form and it was nauseating. Like a concentrated bitter iodine or like potassium salt(salt-substitute).
It’s a toss up between rose and iris. When I fell down the rabbit hole with no knowledge at all, I later discovered an over representation of roses in the bottles I had.
I’m trying to broaden my exposure and Iris Silver Mist is an easy #1 in the runner up iris category.
But rose? There are Portrait of a Lady and Rose Chypree – tied but take a lot of thought for me to wear.
BK Rose Oud is in contention and crowd friendly.
Lyric – need more due to enablers.
I haven’t been sniffing long enough to have found a rose ( iris ) to scrub. Can’t imagine…..
Sampled PoaL last week. Not sure I can handle the patchouli in that one.
I had a similar issue when I tried it, and then I smelled it on a friend and it smelled gorgeous. Might just be my skin.
It’s pretty patch-forward. Plus, there’s that super-balsamy drydown (ACK, ghost of Youth Dew, my personal nemesis!). I gave my bottle split to someone else.
I’m with you Marjorie Rose. Before the patchouli appeared I loved it! Ys Uzac Immortal Beloved has a similar rose note but without the patchouli…
I’m pretty sure I haven’t tried anything from that house. Why do I feel like you’re encouraging more sampling? 😉
If you send your address to my username at gmail I’ll send you a sample in the next couple weeks. 🙂
Woo! How can I refuse?! Thank you!
Should add, I spent some time on their website last night–they have some hilarious descriptions of fragrance notes! Sacree du Printemps made me laugh outloud!
“Notes: A Perfume for Women and Men, inspired from Dare, Psyché, Green notes, aftertaste sweetness and smoke”
Aftertaste?!
Favorite note: Iris
Favorite perfume with Iris: Iris Silver Mist, among others, including Iris 39 😉
Scrubber: I Love Les Carrottes. I did not literally scrub it off but let’s just say I mentally scrubbed it off. By its notes, i should have loved it and I gave it a second try but still NO. I think it was too warm on me when I was expecting cold.
The snow is still coming down. I could not tell how many inches we got because the wind is swirling around.
I liked Iris 39 too. Are we among the few, Haju?
It’s polarizing but there are definitely other Iris 39 lovers in the community.
I’m right there with you, but my decant is enough. (Actually, a decant would be enough of almost everything I own!)
I haven’t been outside yet but the good thing about the wind is that the cars on the street look untouched. Stay warm!
Yep, my car is barely snow dusted. I am seeing a lot of green surface!
That’s a blessing!
Lavender!
Favourite Lavender; L’Impacte de Pour un Homme.
Vile lavender: a cheap lavender scented gift set a colleague of mine gave me for my birthday.
I’m still trying to decide what to do with it.
Charity/women’s shelter/ladies’ washroom at a big store or workplace with a Free sign?
I’m sure it will end up somewhere like that, but I haven’t quite decided where. I would not throw it away, because it looks rather nice, and I’m sure will make someone, less fastidious than myself, quite happy.
I tend to pawn things like that off to my hair stylist. I figure if she doesn’t want it, she has a constant stream of women coming through who might. A lot of stuff ends up with my 20 yr old SIL as well.
I’m very impressed that you managed to pick one!
Well reading everyone else’s comments I’m even more aware of the fact that I adore plenty of other notes as well. But lavender is tied to my year in France. No place I’ve ever visited beats the Plateau de Valensole in June. Of course there’s more to the place than just lavender, but the two are very strongly linked in my mind.
L’Impacte is one of those instant swoon perfumes. I bought mine in Wevelgem, and I remember smelling it, my knees sort of going slightly wobbly and the big grin on the SA ‘s face. I wasn’t going to leave the shop without it.
One favorite note? Just one? Oh, okay … orange blossom.
My absolute favorite is actually orange blossom absolute, straight up. I’m in love with it. Seriously.
Otherwise, Hanbury has a lovely orange blossom note, and thanks to leathermountain for introducing me to it!
SL Fleurs d’Oranger does not do it for me. I didn’t scrub, but that’s only because I was trying to be nice.
Btw Robin, since yesterday I have been subscribed to comments. I um, don’t recall doing that but now it just won’t stop! Was it fat fingers, encroaching senility or some sort of technical glitch thingie?
I hope everyone experiencing the blizzard here in the US today is warm and safe. I have reminded myself to try and be grateful every day for the blessings of food, shelter, kind neighbors and the simple things that I often take for granted.
Ack! Yes. I’m subscribed this morning, and I didn’t do it on purpose, either. . . trying to figure out how to unsubscribe.
I don’t know if it will work, but I logged out and then back in, and it no longer says I’m subscribed to comments.
Never mind, LOL. Once I posted that comment, I’m subscribed again. 😀
See below, should be fixed now.
Ditto!
SL orange blossom is the only one I truly like 🙂
Holly & Marjorie Rose, unbeknownst to me it now defaults to subscriptions…I had no idea. Working on it, and have deleted your subscriptions. Pixel, getting to you next…
Ok, Pixel your subscription is deleted as well, and should no longer subscribe by default. Sorry about that!
Thanks Robin!
Aw, thanks Robin!
Ha…you commented in the meantime and it subscribed you again, but I’ve deleted it again. Next time you comment, be SURE it is not set to subscribe, and from then on it, should default correctly.
Thank you, Robin!
I also am suddenly subscribed to comments. I’m so sleep deprived and frazzled lately that I assumed I must have signed up and forgotten. 🙂
I should add that I don’t mind getting the notices.
Well, I deleted your subscription anyway! You can put it back if you like 🙂
Hanbury is a good one!
🙂
2015 was the year of the rose for me, and L’arte di Gucci may be my favorite rose of the moment (though I’m wearing and loving Diva today from the warmth of my bed while watching the snow fall).
The rose scents I can’t seem to get into are the violet-rose combinations, such as Misia. (Apologies to Misia lovers!) I may be the only one who feels this way, and maybe I’ll get to a place where I can appreciate it, but as of now, it’s not a genre I enjoy. I wish I did…
As a fellow rose aficionada, I’ve missed L’arte di Gucci and Diva, but look forward to trying them. Misia seems to evoke strong opinions, although to me seems very satisfying. How dull if we were all the same!
Wendysue, I have a big old vat of Diva that I got for cheap – would you like a bit of it to try? I’d be happy to send it along.
I’ll warn you that I don’t love the opening, but the middle and drydown are lovely and warm.
Thank you. That’s very kind. I like to see how they evolve. Providencepepperatthegeeemail.
L’Arte!!!! Great stuff.
There are rose-violet scents I do like, but Misia is not among them. It’s so dry and aloof.
I hadn’t really thought about it until you just said it, but dry and aloof are good descriptors for a lot of Chanel perfumes don’t you think? I really like Misia along with quite a few others but I don’t think I ever think warm and cuddly when I think Chanel. Even Coco on me seems a bit aloof.
That’s so interesting. I can definitely see what you mean with some Chanel scents, but my experience with scents like Bois des Iles and Cuir de Russie has been rather different and definitely more warm than not. Although my skin does tend to amp up warmth.
Oh I didn’t mean all of them. There are some warm ones.
That’s true, Chanels are very elegant and aloof – maybe I mean Misia was… silent? Most Chanels speak to me, but Misia doesn’t.
I think I am with you on the violet thing. I’m starting to notice that fragrances that have violet in it doesn’t really work on me. And, you’re not alone on the “Misia”. I thought I liked it when I first bought a bottle, but then I found myself liking it less and less. I ended up giving it to my mother. She enjoys it, so I know it won’t go to waste.
Misia didn’t work for me, either.
Although rose is my favorite note, I’m not crazy about rose-violet combos, either. Misia was just okay to me. The one I do love is Love, Chloe.
I’ll have to try L’arte di Gucci.
Grass, hay, straw or tussock…anything that suggests open space and big skies and particularly the end of the day, twilight after a day of dry, burning hot sun, a time when the warmth of the ground and rocks begins to contrast with the dewy coolness of star filled skies. This is a scent that can remind me of living in the Jura in late summer, or Central Otago in early autumn. Favourite perfume? I have very limited experience of perfumes but would opt for Pohadka ( which I love ) or Lale. Scrubbers? Anything too ‘herby’. I prefer the indole notes in hay, the fecund…to the cologne end ( or anything that reminds me of turkey stuffing).
I love grass notes, but perfumery hay doesn’t smell like the real thing to me, so I rarely like a “hay” perfume. Of course, my background with hay is more on the production end than the horse-feeding end, so I much prefer the opposite stuff. I mean, I did like most of Chergui except whatever part of it smells like musty old basements.
It’s really interesting you should say that because yesterday I had the experience of going to a lily show ( wearing lily scent ). I went because of this whole scent map thing..of trying to relate perfume to my local ( real ) scent environment. And as I was wandering around it suddenly dawned on me that when I go to an art gallery I don’t expect landscape paintings to represent landscape, but to interpret it. And although on an intellectual level I know that perfume is abstract, and individual and non-representative I still find it a bit confusing because I have this ‘nature’ thing going on in my head. I think that in my attempt to make sense of perfume I have been completely mistaken in thinking ‘nature’…if that makes any sense??? Don’t know what I think, actually. Sorry! I wonder what I should be thinking, though.
Makes perfect sense to me.
You are kind, thanks.
That is a wonderful way of putting it!
Ooooh, I’m with you. Memories of baked summers in Sonoma County. You describe those scents and that environment so beautifully.
Those are great smells and remind me of trips to Central Valley of California and horseback riding as a kid. I haven’t smelled anything that captures it completely for me but Nasomatto Hindu Grass came close. But the $$$ to longevity ratio is too high.
Have you tried Gigi Jardins d’Ecrivains for women? I believe it’s top note is freshly mowed grass….It’s good stuff!
Thank you . I will find out more (in fact I will do that instead of mowing our lawn today)
Love this description! Reminds me of summers in my parents garden, which incidentally is not to far from Jura, since they live in Basel 🙂
Les Parfums de Rosine La Rose is just all seasons wonderful, however Diptyque Eau Rose is waay to screechy on me,
Oh, how funny – Eau Rose is all soft bubble-bath on me. No screech whatsoever.
I’m glad it works for you!
Simple game? Hah! I spent the better part of an hour reviewing my collection, ranking them, analyzing the special ones, and reading the reviews on most. It was fun 🙂
I have concluded that my favorite note/accord is smoke. Whether it is contemplative from incense (Shalimar, absolute favorite), sexy from leather (Bvlgari Black), yummy from lapsang souchong (T42), or just aromatic gold from resins (Dior Eau Sauvage EDP), my nose registers smoke in most of my favorites.
Close seconds were straight up resins (especially myrrh), and jasmine (mmm Lush Lust and Alien). Notes that are near and dear to me are in the Special category (because they have an unfair advantage, it wouldn’t be much of a competition). These are rose and wood, in that order.
As for scrubbers I have really only had one which is Chloe Narcisse (my recent aversion to Gardenia has come about from a traumatizing experience with food poisoning so I don’t count Gardenia fragrances as scrubbers even though they currently make my stomach turn). It doesn’t feature smoke (though it probably wouldn’t even help if it did), but it purportedly has jasmine. Thank goodness I tend to do a lot of research, so I have been able to avoid scrubbers – they are very distressing!
I do like narcissus very much (and gardenia, for that matter), but I loathe Chloe Narcisse.
Have you tried Naomi Goodsir’s Bois d’Ascese? I find it very smoky and I love it.
So coriander is in two of my very favorite perfumes, Costes and L’Air du desert marocain (as well as a bunch more things I like too, even if I’m less devoted to them: JubXXV, Declaration, Egoiste)…but since we’ve just been discussing it above, I note that on the STC lists of coriander perfumes are also a bunch of Ormonde Jaynes that sadly did not work for me: OJ Woman, Man, Orris Noir… Would def not call them scrubbers, totally get why others love them, just, not for me!
(Oy now that I say that, I feel like I have to go retest them to be totally sure I’m not being unfair!)
There is a note I really really hate but I’m not sure what it is. Most recently I experienced it in Clinique Aromatics in White but it seems to be in many mainstream perfumes. Do you think it could just be cheap musk? Or cheap powder? It’s kind of sugary raspberry washing powder if that helps identify it. Aromatics in White was really dominated by it ( and it’s not violets).
Aromatics in White is one of those Particularly Vile Scents. Of course it lasts for weeks.
I don’t know what made me hate it so much, pretty much all of it actually.
I kept shaking my arm ( like a cat shakes it’s leg when it steps in a puddle) in an attempt to get rid of it. It bonds to the skin…ugh. Vile, yes!
I considered amputation, and getting rid of my favourite coat.
Imagine if amputation led to years of phantom perfume pain!
😯
Am a big fan of aldehydes, tuberose, rose, and galbanum, but for the sake of the poll I’m going to talk about galbanum.
No. 19 is right at the top of the list of favorites, but I’m gonna cheat and add a few more: Crown Bouquet, Chamade, Le Temps d’une Fete, Heure Exquise, Deneuve, and Safari.
UN-favorites include Maison Martin Margiela Untitled (super-ashtray) and Vent Vert (sudsy nightmare), but the only absolute scrubber with prominent galbanum I can recall is Oriza L. Legrand Deja le Printemps. I had a sampler pack and deliberately didn’t check the notes lists before putting these on skin, though I did know that DlP was supposed to be a green floral. But it was truly, truly horrible, just cringeworthy. I ran for the Tide within ten minutes.
Those Orizas that came in a sample set were all a nightmare on me. Don’t think I even was able to give them all skin time. I do like Heliotrope Blanc, which came out a bit later.
The Margielas I’ve tried are very synthetic.
Heure Exquise, vintage no 19 edt and vintage Scherrer are galbanum heaven. Would love to get my mitts on vintage VdN to assess its galbanum.
I’ve only tried VdN in its current EdT version, and it smells like… nothing. Barely-scented nothing. I don’t understand it at all.
I did okay-ish with Relique d’Amour and Reve d’Ossian, but the rest of the Orizas were just beyond horrible. I have to think it’s a skin chemistry thing.
I’m so enjoying all your comments, but I’m hopeless about contributing to today’s discussion, because I don’t think I like and seek out particular notes, exactly. When I like a perfume, I kind of like it holistically. On the other hand, I do find myself disliking certain notes or accords-amber is a case in point–then am surprised when I end up loving one, as happened recently with Ambre Narguile, though it leans more, or at least equally, gourmand, and that might account for my passion. I do love gourmands, but there’s such a variety of dominant notes in the gourmand genre that I’m hard pressed to choose one that I could name as a favourite. I accept a fail grade today, friends. I’m going to spray myself with Traversee du Bosphore and go and carry out small tasks until it’s too hot to do anything but flop around in front of a fan. Enjoy your weekends!
I think you get marks for showing your workings in this test.
I can relate, waterdragon. Balance kinda assures you don’t get clobbered by any one note.
Rose is my favorite note but I can’t think of a rose-prominent scent I had to scrub. Some scrubbers from the past year: Furze (I love coconut but haaaated the buttery popcorn feel of this) and Ashoka (love fig and leather but this smelled like moldy bread on me)
Eeek. Moldy bread. Oh yuck!
Yes it was truly appalling!
I had a hard time with Ashoka, too. The initial spritz was okay, but then it kept intensifying and intensifying until it became extremely unpleasant. I chalked it up to the fig, which isn’t my favorite. Reading “moldy bread” and recalling my experience is making me a little nauseated, actually ;(
Haha, sorry to trigger bad memories!
Oh, I love Ashoka so much! I don’t get anything like moldy bread from it at all.
For me, its a 3-way tie between figs, moss, and peony.
One of my favorite scents that had 2 of these notes was Peony and Moss by JM. This fragrance was part of a “limited edition” collection that was axed and I was told that they wouldn’t be producing any more. Such a shame because it was sooo beautiful! Lately, I have been on a “fig high” and am obsessed with it. Whatever fragrance I wear with fig in it, I always layer it with B&BW Brown Sugar and Fig. Of course, this B&BW classic is one that was discontinued, but they always bring it back for their semi-annual sale. And, my favorite fig fragrance is Wild Fig and Cassis by JM. This one was axed as well, so I stocked up on it. Does everyone see a trend here? Yep, all of the ones I like have been discontinued! Coincidence? I think not…….lol! I’m starting to think that its me. 🙁
I forgot to add a scrubber. The only one that I have come across that really soured my stomach was Skin on Skin by L’Artisan. This fragrance was extremely strong on me and was difficult to get off. It literally smell like cat urine on me. I never could identify the one note that really turned me off to this fragrance, maybe it was a combo of notes, but it does not agree with me!
I have a love/hate relationship with fig. Love L’Artisan’s Premier Figuier, but JM Wild Fig and Cassis is a scrubber for me. It’s a tricky one.
Love Peony and Moss! I have been hording my little decant.
Gosh, Peony & Moss was lovely. I had a sample and was pondering a bottle, but then they all disappeared.
Loved Peony and Moss and I just got back ups of Wild Fig and Cassis. The body and hand wash is helpful on those days when I’d rather stay in bed. I agree that it can seem like many favorites get discontinued. FOMO ( really like that fear of missing out acronym) has caused some injudicious spending.
I like that acronym also (FOMO). Might have to use that one sometimes.
Oh strange – I too am getting all the follow-up comments, which I don’t want.
Sorry I”m SO late but did just delete your subscription.
One? Robin, that’s like asking me to name my favorite pet – impossible! So I went through my list to try to determine what dominates. There’s plenty of tea, honey, tobacco, fig, cardamom (mmmm…cardamom), vanilla, orange blossom, and every resin known to man, but based on quantity, it turns out amber is my favorite. And my favorite amber scent? Oh, that’s easy – Pde Ambre Russe (aka Rasputin’s Armpit). And I honestly can’t think of an amber I haven’t liked.
Love Ambre Russe which is probably a tie with Dior’s Ambre Nuit. Two of my favorite amber scents.
I adore Ambre Russe as well. If I had to live with one amber for the rest of my life (heaven forfend!), that would be the one.
Me, too! My third is probably Hermes Ambre Narguile, although I wish the cedar were less prominent.
Amber. I have always loved rich, ambery, Oriental scents. As I have gotten older, though, I find it harder and harder to wear them in warm weather, which is what we mostly get here on the Gulf Coast, so I mainly restrict myself to wearing them in “winter”. Today I am in SSS Champagne de Bois, which I am loving on this chilly day. I cannot think of an amber I hated, but I did not love Youth Dew. I should have loved it, but I found it just too much–even one spritz just overwhelmed me. I finally swapped it away, as I just never wore it.
Amber lovers unite!
I really love MPG’s amber. And I know I’m an outlier, but I detest SL Ambre Sultan. I bought a FB because of all the rave reviews and to me it just smells like awful bug spray.
Calypso, have you tried wearing more of it in one shot? My experience with another Serge Lutens follows: I initially had a bug spray impression of Chergui when I wore a paltry barely 2 sprays from a tiny atomizer. Now I regularly wear 4-5 sprays and woh hoo, what a big difference! I also discovered one spray is also just right but doesn’t last long enough to luxuriate in.
Ew, that sounds possibly suicidal to me! But thanks for the tip! Btw, I love Chergui.
I know it’s counter-intuitive but try it one day when you know you can scrub it off immediately if it turns haywire.
I think my favourite note is rose, but incense is also a favourite, and lots of other notes too 🙂 I can’t name a single favourite rose, but Nahema is up there, as is Rose d’Arabie (Armani Privé).
Similarly, I can’t recall a literal scrubber, but rose, for all I love it, often gets a sour note for me. I don’t know if that is the nature of rose, or maybe a particular type of rose, but I can never assume a rose-heavy perfume will work for me. I’ve been interested to read a few similar comments from others here.
I love rose scents as well and generally find them easy to wear. The ones I have trouble with (that turn acrid and sour on my skin) tend to be rose-woods/ouds. But it could also just be the rose accord that’s used, so I haven’t really pinned it down.
Happens to me, too. Rose is my favorite note, but I always have to sample first. More often than not, rose perfumes go sour on me.
Favorite note at the moment is leather… favorite is Jolie Madame. I don’t think I’ve found a leather scrubber yet! Anybody else have one?
Oh I’ve scrubbed some leathers. Ashoka, as mentioned above. I also scrubbed Marquis de Sade, which was an immortelle disaster on me.
Ashoka was actually the first fragrance that I literally had to scrub off and when it really clicked, ‘oh this is what they mean by scrubber’
Love Jolie Madame! I’ve got about six tiny bottles of vintage extrait, and they’re all wonderful.
I really only like the floral leathers, I think, but even those are hit-or-miss. Cuir d’Ange was my most recent leather disaster – it was stunningly fecal. I mean, serious Eau de Diaper. Can’t do Cuir de Russie either (I know, I KNOW, I am a Philistine, but it smells like cattle working pens to me, and I can’t get past it).
Bandit skeers me.
Have you tried Dior Cuir Cannage? I consider this a floral leather. If you would like a sample, just email me 🙂
Oh, yes, I like it. I have a 5ml split and it’s very pretty and wearable. (Actually, it smells very Chanel to me, lots of iris.)
And you’re so kind to offer!
Mals, do your vintage bottles smell very different from each other? I had a tiny one that was very dry and leather-prominent, and then bought a larger one that had MUCH more violet tempering the leather – I love them both, but I’m curious how much variation there is. It could be that the first one had just lost some of its top notes.
Yes, they all smell different from each other. There’s one micromini that has the most gorgeous white floral note, one that has gone a little acetone-y on top but its leather is really soft, one where the violet is prominent, and the others are all some variation on the theme. 😉 You just never know.
Oh noes, now I have to collect them all 😉
Hmmm. I don’t know that it’s a scrubber, but Bottega Veneta just doesn’t sit well with me. (I also don’t get leather from it.) I’m not sure why this is as I adore Bottega Veneta Eau Legere and they smell quite similar.
Ditto on all counts – BV is screechy hairspray on me, with no leather in sight. BV Eau Legere is a lovely suede-y leather on me. And yet, I agree they are similar fragrances. Weird.
It is weird, right? (And always good to hear I have company in my responses to scents 🙂 )
Funny, all I get from BV (lightly applied) is soft damask rose. No leather here either. I should try Eau Legere.
I’m generally more fond of contrasting combinations of notes rather than single notes…. but for the purposes of this poll I’ll choose hyrax/hyraceum. My favorite perfume with that note is Olympic Orchids Tropic of Capricorn. Haven’t encountered any hyrax scrubbers yet.
Hyraceum is one of my absolute favorite notes too (and Tropic of Capricorn one of my favorite perfumes). I get no barnyard, just snuggles from hyrax.
On me it is definitely fecal, but you know, in a good way! 😀 I love Tropic of Capricorn because of how it is so full of contrast… The fecal and carnal decay of the hyrax together with the overripe fruit and the lush floral fecundity! It’s like a complete circle of tropical life and death in a bottle!
Well, since I’ve answered seriously once, am I allowed to ramble now? All the skanky notes are my favorites really! The dirtier the better! And especially if they are cobined with sweet notes! Give me all the skanky stuff!!
Skanky favorites: Xerjoff Mamluk, Smell Bent Werewolf Lumberjack Reclining on a Bearskin Rug (especially layered with something gourmand) & Gimel A Break, Tropic of Capricorn, Mona di Orio Nuit Noire & Cuir, Bal a Versailles, Kerosene Unforsaken, Guerlain Metalys…
Skanky scrubbers: Byredo M/Mink. Give me carnal, fecal or barnyard skank any day, but I just can’t do urinal! And I’m not too fond of caraway/cuminy skank either, like Cuir Mauresque or Putain des Palaces. And clean or vegetal musk doesn’t do it for me either, like Tom Ford White Suede for example.
I love this note as well and Olympic Orchids perfumes. Such beautiful and unusual explorations of common and uncommon notes. I think many of Ellen’s creations are very powerful and direct. I am particularly enamoured of Gujarat at the moment.
Gujarat is a really good spice fix! 🙂
“Powerful and direct” is an excellent characterization of OO perfumes 🙂
I tried some Parfums de Marly in Spain recently and there was one of the men’s scents – I think either Hamdani or Kuhuyan – which I would be embarrassed to wear for fear people might imagine I had taken a vow 20 years ago never to wash and to sleep in my sweaty overalls every night. Dark sweat and leather to the extreme. You might enjoy exploring samples of some of these just to see what perfumers get up to.
I do wonder who buys full bottles of these – the SA told me the wealthy Arabs with summer homes or yachts on the Costa del Sol liked them, and it did strike me that if you wanted to project the smell of a vigorous outdoor manly life spent with horses and disdainful of indoor plumbing then this would be just the thing. Plus I bet it would intimidate your business negotiating partners a heck of a lot more than the 5-star hotel’s Molton Brown toiletries ever could. :^)
I should have taken a sample just as a reference. I could never in a million years carry it off as a smell myself; it would be the perfume equivalent of turning up to the office in flowing robes with a jewelled dagger.
That does sound lke a lot of skank! 😀 I’ll have to see if I can get my hands on some samples. Might be a bit much on its own, but I’m always looking for good dirt to layer with those innocent florals or cute gourmands!
I really enjoy the statement of being a woman dressed to the nines and then wearing a really dirty perfume. Or wearing something really cutesy and innocent with a skanky perfume. It makes for such a delightful contrast!
I had been put off by the reviews and assumed that the entire line was like overpriced Axe (or Lynx). There are a disturbing number of “this juice is the bomb and makes the ladies go wild” up-votes, so I assumed that I was missing out on expensive nuclear urinal cake and nothing else. I do not consider the ability to make someone’s eyes water at fifty paces to be a sign of quality 😉
Guess I’ll have to sample some of them after all.
M/Mink was just dreadful.
I couldn’t even downgrade it to air freshener and ended up sending my bottle to the goodwill shop. Served me right for buying something I didn’t like but thought I should. Lesson learnt.
Indeed! I respect the originality of M/Mink, but really, who would want to smell like a dirty men’s urinal?
This is fun! But so impossible, at least for me. At first glance, I would say vanilla. At second glance, I would say no, benzoin. No. Tobacco? Hay? Leather? Incense?
Yikes! I can’t decide!
SOTD is SL Chergui. It has everything I like, and then some ????
And then some ++++++. I love it!
Big, fat ditto!
I really don’t have a favorite note, but one that I like very much a sandalwood. Bois des Iles Extrait would be my favorite sandalwood sent and a scrubber for me was 10 Corso Como. I have a recent version of 10 which I understand is vastly different than when it first came out.
Following the weather for NYC there is a strong likelihood of 3 feet of snow – yiiikkess! I think I should’ve stocked up on bread and milk :))
I tried 10 CC but could barely smell anything at all.
I just ventured out to the supermarket. The bread shelves are empty again but there’s plenty of other food. Have you been out yet? It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t so windy. Makes it painful when it hits your face.
No, I have not been out. I’m still in my PJs! Although I’m tempted… Just to check things out.
It slowed down for a short period and now it’s coming down and swirling again! Full moon, high tide and snowy/icy winter weather do not mix well! The snow drift adjacent to the car next to mine is already at the roof line.
Wow! I imagine the snowdrifts are really wild with all the wind and blizzard conditions out there.
I think I’ll go with jasmine as my favorite note. Love it in Beloved. The last time I tried to wear Songe I scrubbed. That may have been a one-time thing though. I’d worn it before and liked it, but that day it was like a household disinfectant.
Rose is probably my favorite note, and I love it in Mohur Extrait, Lyric Woman, and La Fille de Berlin. Scrubbers for me were Tea Rose (yuck!), and PHI.
I have a massive bottle of Tea Rose. I was trying to track down a rose scent from my childhood and thought this might be it, so I bought the cheapest bottle I could find, which happened to be 8 oz or something ridiculous. (I’d have much preferred 1/10th the size.) It’s not the scent I was looking for, nor is it something I’d wear. I recently moved it into the bathroom to use as a room spray, which it’s perfect for. And in doing so, I cleared a big space in my perfume drawer!
Good use, kpaint! I swapped mine away.
I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with my gallon vat of Tea Rose! It’s too strong to use in anything but the most diffuse way. One spritz made my towels smell of rose for MONTHS! (I was trying to be considerate to a visitor and sprayed the linens I set out for her. . . hope I didn’t cause her to feel faint from the fumes!)
Tea Rose is not a fragrance I would wear alone. I spray one squirt on my midriff to layer it with the original Commes des Garçons. It is nice also with Caron Yatagan and Tuscany per Donna. I must confess I loathed it when I was younger but have come to appreciate it in small doses.
Good to know I’m not the only one who scrubbed PHI.
Off, almost impossible to choose just one note 😀 I dabble in everything. But if I must list just one note that really has made an impact on me – “dark” roses. Frederic Malle Une Rose, The Different Company Rose Poivree, Vero Profumo Rozy voile d’extrait, Amouage Lyric woman, Tauer Une Rose Chypree.. all big favorites here.
I rarely scrub, but Eau d’Italie Paestum Rose didn’t sit well on my skin, I got a bit queasy and the scent got a bit dull in the end.
I am going back to the university after the longest christmas vacation ever. I loathe to pack! especially when I got more stuff now to bring back, than when I got home for christmas. But all I really bring with me is perfume anyway, some clothes if I got spare room 😉 I will get back in one piece this time too, and very good smelling.
Hope you all have a nice weekend 🙂
Oooh, which perfumes are going back to school with you?
ohh boy, too many I fear, and a ton of samples and deants 😀 My suitcase must look very funny at the x-rays at the ariport.
I juggle the collection between home and my teensy-little but cozy study apartment in the city. Not always easy to choose what to bring and what to leave behind for longer periods of time, but always fun to rediscover gems I haven’t smelled in a longe time too.
Frederic Malle Noir Epices, Dior Hypnotic Poison, Prada No.3 Cuir Ambre, the Christmas-gifts Narciso, CDG2, and the newest splurge.. a little bottle of Bottega Veneta – all those are new with me this time around.
Have a similar problem with Paestum! And with Panorama and Ombre Indigo. They see to all have a note that smells the same to me, but if course I don’t know what it is.
I so wish that the Paestum would work, incense and brooding roses should be right up my alley. Ohh, well 🙂
Same here too, don’t know exactly what it is that just doesn’t work. Ombre Indigo was nice on me, maybe a bit cloying, wierdly sweet and smoky at the same time, a bit muddled in the end. Do love that color though.
Leather has to be my utmost favorite note – so much so that I’m hard-pressed to choose a favorite leather fragrance. Cuir Mauresque? Could be. Bandit? Definitely in the running. Tabac Blond? Right up there. Knize Ten? Cuir de Lancome? Cuir de Russie? Love, love, love.
You see my predicament. I love most leathers. There have only been two (so far) that I never want near my skin again. One is Mona di Orio Cuir. GAAAK. The other (thank you for the reminder, mals) is Cuir d’Ange. Not as bad as Mona, but still won’t be retrying it anytime soon.
Leather is such an amazing note! But for me Bandit is a horrible scrubber while MdO Cuir is one of my favorites. 😉
Isn’t it amazing how different scents can be depending on whose skin they’re on?
Oh dear, Cuir d’Ange. I bet it smells great on other people. 😉
A fav note would be vetiver.
I’m totally absorbed in winter storm Snowzilla and spending all my time on Capital Weather Gang and related weather blogs – just dropped by to say Hi!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/01/21/poll-name-this-winter-storm/
Snozilla has currently enveloped the DC area in blizzard white-out conditions, very unusual for here. Awesome, peak weather experience, so I wore Roja Dove Diaghilev and Amouage Beloved yesterday. Haven’t decided SOTD yet.
Hope anyone affected by this storm (aka Jonas) is safe, snug and fragrant!
Stay safe nozknoz!
I was wondering where you were reading the posts yesterday and today.
Jonas blew all the snow off my car – and created 4 foot drifts all around it. Serenity now!! 😀
SOTD Fendi Theorema W (there is a men’s version too, which makes me smell like a pizza – no thanks!!)
Happy Weekend All !!!
Prepping like a Survival Mom and then out walking in the snow! I stayed up until 5 am to see the “deformation bands”. Despite the winds, we have car marshmallows here. 😉 Enjoy, too!
Be safe and be well!
Thanks, austenfan! I’m located near major roads that are kept passable, so all’s well.
Ha! I plain forgot to wear perfume today but since I’ll be decanting later, I will smell of all things good and fragrant!
Mmmm! Take care, I’ve read NYC could get 1 or 2 feet, as well. Cheers!
Don’t recall which discussion I was following on WaPo, but there was a comment about the naming of the blizzards that cracked me up: someone suggested, “snowmygosh,” said in one’s best valley girl intonation, a la Frank & Moon Unit Zappa.
Is it a quiet, sound absorbing snow storm …like a ghost storm…or a roaring blizzard? I’ve seen news items but the reporter’s voice blocks the event. Also, do the hairs in your nostrils and eyelashes freeze when you go outside? It ustbesoexciting and beautiful ( with apologies to anyone who is suffering as a result of the storm).
Hello Kanuka!!
The winds HOWL like a train bearing down on you. It is very cold, and yes nostril hairs do freeze.
Send some summer up here, please? 😉
You can have all my summer if you send howling snow storms! I’ve just been out beach combing, looking for ambergris ( my friend sometimes found it) but it’s too hot and I kept picking up something stinky that wasn’t ambergris at all.
Kanuka, there is something profound about so much snow. People aren’t out and it deadens sound, too, so it’s the most peaceful time ever. Also, the sky seemed white all night (actually some shade of gray, of course) from the streetlights bouncing back and forth off the fallen and falling snow.
You might enjoy this essay from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/23/opinion/in-case-of-blizzard-do-nothing.html
Thank you. I was going to ask about orange street lights..and pea green skies but thought I must be pushing the boundaries of insensitivity. I love the way small twigs and leaves settle on the surface of the snow, and throw up so much colour….how your eye is drawn to things that can be easily overlooked. Also how landscape and cityscape take on the qualities of fine etchings, all the degrees of black, grey and white. Everything settles…including people somehow.
Yes, a really snowed in city, without the cars, with people walking in streets and highways, talking softly – it returns to human scale and feels like a village. Strangers greet one another and may ask if you need help, which never happens in this hard city ordinarily.
Good to hear from you, nozknoz! I’ve been wondering how you’re weathering the storm and I’m glad you’re doing okay.
Thanks, Holly!
Thinking further about the poll, there are many greats, but it’s hard to beat classic AG Vetiver. I enjoy most of the scores of straight-up vetivers and stealth vetivers, such as Chanel 28 la Pausa and Miller Harris Fleurs de Sel. Of course, vetiver an important ingredient in many, many perfumes. But I can’t bear Chanel Sycomore, SL Vetiver Oriental, and Hermes Vetiver Tonka.
Share the AG love. Have you ever tried Doyen’s vetivers for LesNez? I only have Back, and it’s powerful, bold and nearly life changing.
I missed the first Turtle but have Front and Back. I can’t decide which I like better. Your apt description would apply to Front, as well.
This is one of the reasons I love vetiver. Even though it always smells unmistakably like vetiver, it lends itself to subtle variations so captivating that I want them all.
I’ll chime in with violet. My favorite as a soliflore is Penhaligon’s Violetta (to me it smells just like my friend’s bottle of Devon Violets that I coveted in high school.)
Other favorites are Lutens Bois de Violette, Au Pays Violette Sacrée, and Atelier Sous le Toit de Paris. Love violet-rose accords as well, a la YSL Paris, Chanel Misia, Rosine Glam Rose.
I also love the way it’s used in Cuir d’Ange, Esprit d’Oscar and Vanderbilt (all have a similar accord to my nose.) I don’t recall a violet-heavy perfume that’s repelled me.
I’ve recently found that I really like frangipani and lily (lily, not LOTV.) Any recommendations for these? Thanks!
Another violet lover here. I do have to be in the right mood for it though.
I strongly associate it with spring, so it’s not something I gravitate to year-round. It wouldn’t be my choice for a blizzard, for instance ;P
I like sweet violets in the cold, especially rose-violets. I tested SL BdV for the first time last winter and it made me really happy. If it had better longevity, I’d get it.
Although simple and straight forward I also enjoy Balenciaga Paris for violet, and curious to try Lutens violet at some point.
I bought the Balenciaga a while back and am just testing it today. It starts out with a lot of violet but is shaping up into a nice, green floral (one of my favorite genres.) So far so good!
For Frangipani I don’t think it gets much better than OJ Frangipani.
I’m a big fan of violet, too, though I like it more on the green than candied side. Love CB I Hate Perfumes A Room with a View and L’Artisan Verte Violette.
I have the OJ but it doesn’t project much on me so it’s kind of unsatisfying. I prefer green violets as well – I’ll put the two you mentioned on my “to try” list. Thanks!
A Room With a View was sweet, sweet, sweet on me – not candied violet, but that “hay” note was very honeyed. Pretty, but I didn’t love it.
I thought SSS Voile de Violet was a really nice green violet.
Adding this to my list!
I got a sample of this with my SSS order but haven’t tried it yet. Will do so soon!
Do you like L’apres Ondee? Or it it a bit muggy? I used to wear it but then felt a bit weighed down by it. Kerbside violet is my recent favourite Violet .
At the risk of sounding like a heretic, it doesn’t do much for me. I have a decant of it, which I pulled out earlier this week and was surprised to find it was almost empty, as I have no recollection of wearing it. I put some on and was not particularly moved, so I guess that explains it. That said, I’ve got the current EDT – maybe I’m missing something in not wearing the vintage? I’ve put Kerbside Violet on my list. Thanks! I love the name of this one, too.
Not a heretic in my book!
Apoteker Tepe Peradam has a great lily top note… also Parfums Delrae Amoreuse! Two beautiful perfumes!
Violetta is my favorite violet scent, too!
As for lily, if you can get your mitts on discontinued Donna Karan Gold (especially in edp), you might like it. Sometimes it pops up on ebay. I like Tom Ford Shanghai Lily, too, and Malle Lys Mediterranee. I *love* Amoureuse but it doesn’t quite smell of lily to me – it smells like black locust blossoms, related but not exactly the same.
OJ Frangipani is nice. Maybe AG Songes? Though that one is a mixed white floral, it’s beautiful.
I snapped up a 30 ml bottle of DK Gold last night on ebay for a song. I’ve got samples of Amoureuse and the Ormonde Jayne. Will put the others on my list. Thanks!
DK Gold edt is nice, too–fresher and greener than the edp, but it’s gone in less than two hours on me. Lys Mediterranee is much more vegetal, sort of like a rooty iris. I like Cartier Baiser Vole as well. The original edp is quite light and pretty, very office-friendly. The green edt is pleasant as well. My favorite is the Essence (yellow), which is somehow both greener and more vanillic than the edp. The Lys Rose variation (pink) is just nasty.
A favorite note is definitely incense. I love Avignon, Parfum Sacre, Seville a l’Aube, Chaos and many others. A scrubber was unfortunately Paestum Rose and possibly Incense Rose, though they seem so right on paper.
Totally forgot Passage d’Enfer which is my absolute favorite so far.
I’m not comfortable trying to pick a favorite note, but I will choose one at random that can be heaven or hell for me; lilac. I love it in the pretty-pretty soft freshness of En Passant, Opardu, or Pacifica French Lilac, but in the abomination that is After My Own Heart (the only Ineke I can NOT wear) it almost knocked me over with sharp detergentiness.
Huh, detergentiness is apparently not a word my iPad approves of 😉
En Passant is gorgeous. Smells amazingly like fresh lilacs.
En Passant is one of about six holy grail fragrances for me (can one have SIX holy grails, lol?). Lilacs are probably my favorite floral smell; En Passant pays homage to that while also being so interesting and unexpected. I just love that wheat/bread note.
Me too. It wasn’t love at first sniff but it grew on me.
Weird. En Passant and especially the Pacifica FL are soapy on me, while I liked AMOH. (It’s a little high-pitched, though–I wouldn’t want to wear it all day.)
I’m a sucker for a good anise note. Favorites would be, naturally, Guerlain Apres L’Ondee and L’Artisan Tea for Two.
I wouldn’t call them scrubbers, but I’m not a fan of Lolita Lempicka or Classique Jean Paul Gautier.
I’m wearing Apres L’Ondee today, even though it’s not exactly after the storm yet where I live. 😉
Yikes! I hope the storm blows over for you soon.
I’m in L.A. so wearing Apres L’Ondee is about as close to “after the storm” as I’ll ever get.
Where is our El Niño?
Apres L’Ondee is a rainy day scent for me. Something about the humidity brings out it’s notes. So pretty. I usually wear it during spring.
Did you try Lolita Lempicka Au Masculin which has a huge bracing wallop of anise and is much less sweet then the feminine.
I haven’t and will add it to the list. Ta!
Although I’m late to this party, I am surprised that nobody has mentioned oakmoss, my one, my only true love. Maybe it’s because it’s hardly used any more, but back in the eighties and before, it was in pretty much everything, and it is stunning: deep, rich, earthy, loamy, dirty, honeyed, strange and dangerous and desirable.
I have a great many beloved chypres, Gem and Yvresse and Fête and Amazone and Diva and Parfum de Peau and so many more besides, but the top spot would have to be a tie between Mitsouko and Boucheron Pour Homme EDP. They’re all about the oakmoss, and they make me ludicrously happy.
You are among oak moss lovers here!
I love oakmoss. I mentioned it in my post. One of my favorite perfumes with oakmoss was JM’s Peony and Moss. It was discontinued but is the reason I am a lover of oakmoss.
I luurve oakmoss and think the IFRA is a bunch of greedy, unethical jerks for banning it and other notes. Charna Eithier of Prov. Perfume Co., told me that many members on the council are investors in these aerochemical companies. The more natural notes they ban, the more they feather their own nests. I have not verified this information, but took her at her word. She also mention that rose is on the chopping block. I hope she’s wrong.
But I digress, oak moss is one of the reasons I love Sballo perfume oil. It has a strong very natural smelling oakmoss note, iMO, with rose and geranium, etc. It smells very vintage to me. Plus, Sballo has crazy projection for an oil. At least arm’s length. A little dab with do ya.
It makes perfect sense. To think that IFRA is so incredibly concerned about a few people having allergic reactions is ridiculous. There has to be some gain for them and plumping up their investment portfolios seems like a good one.
Eh, third world problems but I hate that type of immorality.
I like jasmine and really enjoyed Diptyque’s Essences Insensées from last year.
Today I am wearing Ostara which I have found to be quite fleeting on me and I was fairly liberal in my application this morning. ????
As others have said, It really does evoke the first blooms of spring flowers….I just wish it didn’t fade so fast. Perhaps subsequent wearings will be different. I doused myself in Coco yesterday so maybe I am just comparing it to that.
Hope all affected by the storm keep warm and stay safe.
Well, no, Ostara’s not going to last like Coco (especially liberal dousings of it!), because it’s very floral and without that weighty balsamy stuff in the base.
Like nozknoz, I’ve been totally absorbed in the blizzard all day. From the safety of my apartment, I watched a snow plow get towed from my street earlier after getting stuck. I hope everyone in the storm’s path is safe and warm.
My favorite note is definitely vanilla. Shalimar’ my favorite, but Tihota and Vanilla Flash are alternate favorites for different moods. I can’t really think of any scrubbers, but I really can’t get excited about Bvlgari Black (try as I might!) and I struggled with CBIHP 7 Billion Hearts.
Amazing, isn’t it! I forget which county it was that has announced that they have to halt plowing because all the operational plows are needed to rescue the ones that are stuck! This is the time to hunker down, for sure!
Not my favorite note, but I thought I liked Linden/Lime Blossom. Thoroughly enjoy La Chasse aux Papillons. Scrubbed Provence Sante Linden Tilleul – my ONLY EVER scrubber.
I love the smell of linden trees in bloom. Perfumery linden, however, always seems to smell to me like powdered cleanser – like Ajax or something of that nature. Ugh.
Have you tried Kerosene’s Pretty Machine? Definitely not a detergent linden blossom!
No, but nobody else *ever* says linden smells cleanser-y to them. Even La Chasse aux Papillons is Ajax.
Mals, you are a very special nose. I’ve read your color-coded Serge list many, many times. Very special! I just hope I don’t start smelling some of the things you smell because I’ll have to do a massive fire sale on eBay. But it also means that when you really like something, I take notice.
Ha! “Very special” could just as easily mean “wacko”! (I’d really rather NOT get cleanser, honestly. Sigh.)
If it makes you feel any better, Tauer’s ZETA, which was linden blossom, smelled like lemon Pledge for the 1st half hour. But then it was soft lemony honey and I adored that part.
I’ll have to try La Chasse again and get back to you. I know there’s a reason I didn’t care for it but not sure what it was.
Almond. Allessandro Mazzolari. Montale Amandes Orientales.
I love almond, too, though find it often veers into “powdery deodorant” territory for me.
Have you tried Heeley L’Amandiere? A nice, green almond.
Amandes Orientales was exactly what I wanted in an almond scent – no powdery cherry stuff. L’Amandiere was nice, but I preferred AO.
mjane, No, I haven’t tried that one, yet. On the list it goes. I do love the almond note in Lea, and remember a perfume called Amande Sucree that I liked though I can’t remember the house at the moment. If you want to steer clear of deodorant, Body Time has a really nice Marzipan perfume oil that’s all almonds, sugar and just deliciousness.
Mals, glad AO worked for you. Isn’t it funny how one frag works so well for someone but not someone else? I got my almond fix from Montale via Sweet Oriental Dream. Still love that one even after all these years, and it’s definitely one of my signature scents.
Musk. Le Labo Musk 25. Luckyscent Untitled r No. 8 by Brent Leonesio. This is fun. 🙂
Can’t believe we are this far down before anybody picks musk!
I wouldn’t say it is a favorite note, but I do like Jasmine a lot. Alien being a true love. I keep trying, but absolutely have not been able to wear Lush Lust. Every time I wash it off.
Try squirting just a tad of the Lust on a cotton ball and then apply gently to pulse points. I like to put it on the back of my neck.
Thanks for the tip!
You scrubbed Iris 39?!
Of I were to do iris I couldn’t think of an immediate scrubbed though I’d probably never wear Iris Poudre again. If I wanted to smell like a pastry I’d go with By Killian’s Love. Or Vol Dr Nuit….
I really dislike Iris 39. Guerlain Iris Ganache was a close 2nd — hated that too.
Birch tar! My first real perfume love was (older version) Patchouli 24, and I like Bulgari Black, have a nice sample of Lonestar Memories…
Once my Eau du Fier sample went too-new-car on me, but mostly no scrubbers.
Any other birch tar faves? Looking for some where it is the supporting note, too…
Boxeuses!
Also, what I wore for Noir Friday, Tauer Dark Passage, has a lot of it.
oh la la both are now on my mental to try list!
One of the few exclusives I’ve not tried! I must rectify that immediately.
Hmm… Am pondering birch tar and new car smell…
Very evocative of that note.
There are two notes that I have come to find particularly bothersome. One is Iso E Super and the other is the synthetic cedar that is used in many modern fragrances. Encre Noire has all but been ruined for me and also Terre D’Hermes. These two in particular because I loved them both and wore them frequently. Both have hefty dollops of Iso E Super and the Hermes has that raspy cedar. I love real cedar. I wear cedar essential oil mixed with a carrier frequently. I love the smell of fresh cut wood. This raspy cedar also ruined Pharrell Girl for me as well as several Serge Lutens fragrances. It would seem the only perfumers still using real cedar in their fragrances are the independents. Kerosene, Olympic Orchids and Slumberhouse come to mind. I refused to give up on Encre Noire so I discovered that layering it with real vetiver essential oil(Haitian in origin and thick as molasses)subdued the blinding radiance of the Iso E Super. Virginia cedar(really a juniper)essential oil also rendered the Terre D’Hermes wearable again. Honestly, if I could get the cap off of both bottles I would gladly add the essential oils directly to them. I added Ylang-Ylang essential oil to my bottle of unwearable Chergui and it has been love ever since!
Is the Iso E Super the synthetic smell that seems to be in a lot of new floral perfume?
Iso E Super smells largely wonderful but just continues to get bigger and louder and turns into a smothering cloud on me! Too bright, too pretty and too loud. My skin may amplify this note much more than yours. Its job is to boost and brighten and I think most modern perfumer’s probably need it in their tool kit. I have regrettably developed a sensitivity to it…..
Ah! I hadn’t specifically noted the Iso E Super in Terre d’Hermes but it would explain my inability to love it like I think I should. I don’t like the scratchy cedar either, it makes my throat itch.
There’s some synthetic woods that smell like ashtray to me and make me smell like I sprayed myself then smoked in a car with closed windows. I don’t think it’s iso-e though, because I used to love Molecule 01 which is nothing but iso-e.
I recognize that note too. I think it is supposed to function as a smokey/ woody element but does not smell good to some of us. I also believe you and your nose get better educated the more things you smell.
Interesting idea, adding Ylang Ylang to Chergui! I may have to experiment on my wrist…
I am sure that the original Chergui was a thing of beauty. It has suffered with reformulation and I found it a disjointed tobacco and treacle mess. Ylang-Ylang to the rescue! It smoothed out the chaos without significantly changing the notes.
Some fav notes: Orange blossom and civet, both of which are included in Bal a Versailles and Narcisse Noir. But while my affection for Bal is well documented – I find it warm, sexy, mysterious – I could not stand the Narcisse. I got a parfum sample and it smelled like someone had mixed a bottle of india ink with the loudest, screechiest floral soap you can imagine. A total drill to the brain/sinuses.
Also, can I just say that this Friday’s group scent project was a blast? I loved seeing everyone’s interpretation of ‘noir’. Now I’m wondering what other genres we could come up with. What is your slapstick comedy scent? Your epic romance? Etc.
My sample of Narcisse Noir was soapy as well.
Ditto 🙁
I really enjoy rosewood, and Egoiste is probably one of my top 3 fragrances. When I try to imagine what perfect scent I would have made for me, I often end up thinking “Oh, wait….that already exists, it’s Egoiste!”
However, Light Blue pour Homme by D&G also has rosewood….and is not to my liking. I don’t think it’s terrible, just very average and bland.
Rosewood? Wow I had no idea that there was a rosewood note. Off to sniff egoist to tomorrow. Wonderful.
I think rosewood is also known as palisander.
Also – Egoiste Platinum is more common and not much like Egoiste (and not as good in my opinion). Both are men’s scents but I believe Egoiste could easily be worn by a woman in some circumstances.
Duh…I use to wear CDG palisander years ago but never knew!
I love rosewood in fragrances.
My favorite note is jasmine. I absolutely adore it in Sarrasins. A la Nuit is iffy because it’s almost too green for me but the slutty jasmine note with leather in Sarrasins is what I love.
My most hated note in perfume is tuberose. I find it too overwhelming and creamy as a dominant note. What’s odd is that Fracas is out for me but I can wear Nuda.
Do try Bvlgari Man in Black. I call it tuberose without the tuberose smell :-). If you can’t get to a Sephora, would be happy to send you a decant. I have a big honking 100 mL bottle which I will never use up. It’s one of those a little dab will do ‘ya perfumes but I am a sprayer…
What fun!
My favourite note is amber, I think. My grail is L’Artisan Ambre Extreme in this caregory, so golden and homely and comforting, never too much, and the Nazgul is my nemesis. It almost made me sick when I tested it. That stuff is positively nuclear even in drops! Sorry dear fans… Its just me I’m sure????
It’s great to see all those confessions????.
I can’t handle The Nazgul either, makes me queasy, but do find the nickname apt. It will hound you to the ends of the earth!
Haha, yes, and its screams can be detected miles away Im sure????
Kidding????.
Wearing Kenzo Jungle L’elephant today. Heavenly! (Even though it has no patchouli. I guess I’m really a spice girl this week!)
I adore the Elephant, and wore a judicious spray on one of the hottest days last week! It was gorgeous, even in that heat. Perhaps even more gorgeous than in the winter!
Oops! It DOES have patchouli! For some reason, I thought it didn’t.
I don’t smell the patch in Elephant either.
I often have trouble noticing the patchouli in perfumes that I like, such as Elephant and LADDM! I mean that in a good way, if that makes any sense.
Good morning, all. It’s too hot to sleep, so I’m writing feedback on a student’s thesis, sitting at my desk in a cloud of Premier Figuier, which I love but hardly ever wear. I wonder why I don’t, because it’s green and coconutty and interesting.
Had an AWFUL experience yesterday: I feel as though one of my best friends has turned out to be a drug dealer or something totally bad! After I finished my chores, we decided to go out for lunch, so I showered and swapped Traversee for No. 19…and 19 went haywire on me about forty minutes in. It went loud! as in dancing on the table singing “Ten Guitars” loud, then sour then–urk!–smelt horribly close to vomit. My dear man, whose sense of smell is not outstanding, caught the whiff, wriggled around a bit across the table and finally asked me if I was feeling all right, which by then I really wasn’t, so we came back home instead of going for a walk along the waterfront. I tried 19 again in the evening: same result! I hope it was something to do with the day, the heat, the bistro, the alignment of the planets– something! anything!– that isn’t a permanent condition, because what would I do without 19 on the days when I have to fight a dragon? Or when I just want to smell of 19?
Well, Monday has begun for me. Hope you all enjoy the last of your weekends, and that those of you in the snow are safe and warm. Sending summer thoughts to you!
Odd, and troubling.
Could be something you ate, could be something you showered in, could be the weather… I hope it’s temporary, because there’s nothing like No. 19.
I hate when a favorite misbehaves! It IS like the betrayal of a loved one, now that you mention it. Hope No. 19 straightens up for you, but you might want to give her some time to get her #!$% together 😉
Yes, I think you’re tight about giving her some space. I’ll wait a week or so before I revisit and hope in the meantime that yesterday was an aberration. Strange thing to happen, and also strange that I was so bothered emotionally. i mentioned to the dear man how troubling I found it, but he just looked at me askance and didn’t comment. He did make me a very splendid cup of tea, though.
If it happens again, I would suggest trying a different bottle or sample. It could be that your bottle/decant has gone off somehow.
Morning Waterdragon! I actually think it might be the muggy heat as my ( at the moment favourite ) Pohadka turned on me yesterday. All the sweet hay revolted and transformed into the strongest cumin and caraway ever. I wasn’t sure if it curry or bread but it kept up the attack all day and in the end I had to give in and replace with Rahat Lokoum…peace . I’m sure the heat and humidity is to blame and that 19 is just as perturbed as you.
I’ve also noticed that my coffee tastes horribly tangy and sour at the moment even though nothing is different regarding the blend or strength.
I’m counting on the weather as an explanation. I must say that all my food tastes slightly odd at the moment, including coffee (that is one of the five food groups, isn’t it? along with baked goods?) so probably it’s all connected. Pity about my “hot” date, though…
Off topic. Does anyone have an opinion on Profumi del Forte Fragrances? I just received two samples from this his with an order. Roma Imperial, which I have seen mentioned here, and 150 Parfum.
This house…
I’ve tried 3, I think, including Roma and By Night White, which I bought. Can’t remember the third. The two I didn’t buy were nice, high quality, but each had a note I didn’t care for (just personal preference). I think Olfactif has at least 2 you could get samples of. My bottle came from the west coast, Luckyscent I think.
Thanks ScicilianaNC! I will check out Olfactif.
Off topic. SOTD is Chypre Mousse, in hopes that it’ll stiffen my spine enough to get me outside and shoveling again…
Good luck! We have dug the cars out, but that’s it. It’s too deep for our snow blower…
Thanks! I got my drive way clear, but since we haven’t had any plows through my neighborhood yet, I’m not going anywhere soon… Hope all who were in the path of the storm are staying snug and safe!
Mmmm and you probably got more than our 2 feet. I shoveled out the car and went to the mall (and had lunch) while waiting for the snow plow to clear the parking lot. It takes a snowstorm to really highlight which neighbors are nice vs. naughty. Why do I have to tell my next door neighbor not to shovel snow against my little patch of greenery AND my siding? Why? And, the same neighbor also shoveled snow into the street right behind his next door neighbor’s car. Again, I ask, why? Selfishness.
Anyway, I ended up being commando again today but not to worry, I have some more decanting to do so I’ll be fragrant again 🙂
Tomorrow, I know I’ll feel muscles where I didn’t think I had any
I understand your frustration! Yes, there’s nothing a like a snowstorm to bring out the best and worst in people. Good thing you were able to get out and about. I predict stir-craziness will hit here soon…
I hear you on the muscles, too. I’m off to soak for while in scented bath salts.
We got just a little over 2 feet. And yep, neighbors across the street cleared room for their 2 cars, 1 of them left for a bit and someone else on our block took their space!! My husband went with them to find the culprit. Unreal, because what you have to clear on the road after the plow went through is easily 4 feet of snow.
The snow drift next to my car was waist high and I am not petite! I hate people who are oblivious to basic etiquette. Basically, it boils down to selfishness – I’ll do what’s best for me and I don’t care how it affects others.
Orange blossom. The one I like best so far is Phoenix Botanicals Night Bloom, which is an all-natural perfume oil. Once it warms up and starts to diffuse, it’s a very natural-smelling, orange-blossom-heavy floral, and lasts a good four hours, which is as much as I I get out of a lot of mainstream edts. I wear it to bed a lot.
I can’t recall any true scrubbers, which for me usually have some aromachemical that goes terribly wrong. Lancôme La vie est belle has an interesting orange blossom opening, and then devolves into something that smells a lot like everything else at the perfume counter, but sparks in me a disproportionate hatred. The Black Narcissus had a review that summed up my feelings pretty well.
450 comments again. I’ll have to come back and read them all later. Hope everyone is safe and warm.
Oh fun! Oud is mine. I love Annick Goutal 1001 Ouds. I strongly dislike Acqua di Parma Colonia Intensa Oud Eau de Cologne Concentrée. But then, I smelled through a bunch of AdP and didn’t like any of it.
Another note that can be polarizing and I have not seen mentioned yet is datura. I happen to love it but you have to be in the right mood and the weather has to be right, too! I like versions by Keiko Mecheri, SL, and MPG. I’ve never had something with it in that was a scrubber (at least to my knowledge), but I know some people can’t stand it.
Sandalwood is my favourite single note and is fast disappearing….so my perfume of choice is Bois des Iles vintage version – Also vintage Opium…sandalwood is listed in fragrances today but its not real so a scrubber for me is anything with “cashmeran” wood in it. Hideous and cheap – sweet and cloying. Nasty.
My favorite note is benzoin. I will sample anything with the promise of a prominent benzoin note!
My HG benzoin is Prada No. 9 Benjoin. I would bathe in the stuff if I wouldn’t have to mortgage the house to do so.
The perfume that achieved scrubber status for me after failing miserably at the “big benzoin” hype was YSL Cinema. I detected not a waft of benzoin on the 3 tries I gave it; instead, all I got was a screechy, sugary floral hot mess. The personification of a bad blind buy.