It's Friday, finally! Our community project for today: we're doing Flashback Friday — wear a fragrance you wore "back in the day". I think this was suggested by Bee and MikasMinion?
What fragrance did you pick? As always, do chime in with your scent of the day even if you’re not participating in the community project.
I'm wearing Eau de Givenchy, which was my signature scent for some time in the 1980s. I think it is currently in the Les Mythiques collection but I have not smelled a recent version.
Reminder: on 7/29, we're doing Huesday on Friday — wear a fragrance inspired by Limpet Shell and/or Peach Echo, colors from Pantone's Spring/Summer 2016 collection. You can find the image here.
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2016, where I'll try to always have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
I have the day off so I can wear and do anything I want: I’m back from the gym, I’m about to binge the third season of “BoJack Horseman” on Netflix, and I am marinating in Parfum d’Hermes extrait, which I used to wear in the mid eighties (might have been the first actual parfum I ever bought?) and which honestly think is one of the greatest scents ever created, a warm, lush fur-coat floral oriental floating on a sea of vanilla, cut through with a knife of incensey myrrh so it never gets too sweet.
I’ve never smelled that one but your description makes me wish that I had.
The currently available version is a very good facsimile — it’s Hermes, they don’t use cheap materials — but 1) it’s not parfum, and 2) it’s been reformulated to modern tastes and with modern ingredients, so you won’t get the full effect. Since you’ve never smelled the original, if you have a taste for vintage-ish perfumery, you might love it.
I’ll have to add it to my list. ????
I love your descriptions! Makes me want to go shopping…. LOL 🙂
Can I join you? ????
Let’s GO!!! 🙂
Your description really makes me want to try this.
nearly anything “floating on a sea of vanilla” will make me happy.. need to seek this one out!
One of my old faves, too!
Fahrenheit Christian Dior.
Bought this in 1990. I had been wearing scent for the previous 20 years, but Fahrenheit was the first to make me curious about its notes.
Excellent.
😀
God that stuff was so fantastic, and I never really appreciated it until it was too late. I loved the shower gel but I wore the scent itself so rarely that I eventually swapped it away. You’re lucky to have some of the older stuff — the new version really does not measure up (I have a mini).
Yes it is beautiful.
This is probably the penultimate spraying of my 1990 bottle, but I have approximately 30ml remaining of a 200ml bottle purchased in 2000.
So many memories!
Next time I brave the mall I’ll have to test the current formulation.
The memories associated with fragrance we used to wear is so interesting, isn’t it? They all kind of come flooding back, good and bad, and that’s something to keep in mind when reaching for those long forgotten scents.
Yes floralgal !
I can vividly remember the conversation I had with the receptionist where I worked who fell in love with Fahrenheit and wanted to purchase it for her boyfriend.
And constantly running for the train because I was forever running late! LOL
You smell wonderful! I can smell it in my mind’s nose though I haven’t smelled it in years. Brings me back to a time when even everyone liked fragrance.
Thanks Gi !!! 🙂
I’m planning to wear Rochas Femme. When I was in my final year of high school I went on a school trip to France. It was my first time on an airplane (1973). I spent all my hard earned souvenir money on a tiny bottle of Femme which I drained over the next year couple of years. Last year I found a vintage bottle in a crowded and dusty perfume shop with an equally vintage owner. I think the perfume is a bit off, but once you burn through the first 20 minutes, its lovely.
You’re so lucky to have found a vintage option – it’s a bit heartbreaking to compare what’s happened to Femme in the recent years. And you can also compare it to your own memory of the original! Wonderful scent.
I don’t currently own any of the scents I wore in my teens or early 20s (in the chronological order: some cheap knock-off of Angel, Puma Jamaica and multiple bottles of Moschino I Love Love). However, I do have a bottle of Philosykos, which first sparked my interest in niche perfumery around six years ago, so that’s what I’m wearing today.
I considered wearing Philosykos for the same reason!
I sprayed a bit of this on yesterday when I passed a Diptyque store in Grand Central, and it lingered for hours and was so lovely. I need to wear it more often.
Ha, Philosykos sent me down this rabbit hole too. You smell wonderful!
Today was a no brainer for me!
SOTD: Shalimar. My grandparents gave me a small bottle of this when I was 12? 13? I didn’t appreciate it then, and have no idea where my little bottle ended up. But last Christmas my parents gave me a new bottle, which I enjoy very much! Definitely one of my very 1st (if not THE 1st) perfumes in the early 1980’s.
My 2nd oldest would be Eliz Taylor’s Passion, which was stolen from my dorm room in 1988. Boo hiss! I saw a bottle of it last night at TJ Maxx, and might just stop by and adopt it tonight for old times sake! 🙂
HAPPY FRIDAY Y’ALL!!!! Enjoy your weekend!!!
I had a friend who wore Passion and it was wonderful. I’m too scared of disappointing to try the current version, so if you cave, do let us know how it has held up.
I’m gonna do it….I almost bought it last night anyway! LOL Will report! It’s time to start the 3rd quarter purchase list…. hee hee
*disappointment.
You smell great.
TGIF!
SOTD: Chanel No.5
I actually inherited my first bottle from my mum and it was also my first bottle of perfume. Fast forward many years later, I still have the empty bottle safely kept in my drawer as a souvenir 🙂
Oh, but that is so sweet! 🙂
Lovely! I’d definitely keep that bottle, too.
Early for once. I am wearing YSL Champagne. I was a little worried that it would be too much, but I was careful to use only a few sprays. It’s actually quite lovely in the warm weather. Since it was my only choice, I went with it. If if I had bottles, I could have chosen White Shoulders, Halston, Eternity, Obsession, CK One, or White Linen.
I could have worn CK One or Halston too 🙂
I think there’s still a partial bottle of CK One in my bedroom at my parents’ house…
Haha! My daughter has left a partial bottle in her old bedroom at my house 🙂 .
I forgot about Eternity! I loved that one and wore it eventhough it made me sneeze.
Flashback Friday SOTD: Paco Rabanne Calandre.
Back in the day when there weren’t 1,000 new launches every year it was easier to find a true love and be “monogomish” with a perfume. This was a signature scent in the early ’80s. My mom gifted me all the bath products too. Chanel No 22 was side perfume at that time. It smells different now but Calandre still smells the same, thankfully.
Wow- I remember that perfume from my older sister. You smell marvelous.
I love Calandre!
“Calandre still smells the same, thankfully.” Yes! I think I bought a back-up of this, too. Because you never know.
I’ve got a backup in my refrigerator!
Woohoo – this Friday was a long time coming! It’s forecast to be lovely here in London on Saturday and Sunday, something to look forward to, once we get today’s long-predicted thunderstorm out of the way. (I just realised I’ve left my washing on a line out in the garden…)
I’m wearing Guerlain Terracotta Voile d’Ete, which is what I wore on my trip to the south of France a few years ago. It was the only travel spray I’ve taken on that holiday, so everytime I use it now, it’s straight back to Montpellier with me. It’s certainly a very summery scent. It’s got summer in its name, and summer in its eyes.
It’s pure summer to me. It’s what I think of when someone says “summer scent”. Honestly the most perfect distillation of a sunny relaxing day (without the usual default scent of beachy suntan oil).
Such a beautiful scent.. Definitely south of France.
I love this one, too.
Another Givenchy – Organza. I am not sure when exactly I started wearing it (early 2000s? or even mid-2000s?), but it was a part of Givenchy mini set. I have purchased several minis since I discovered Organza, and only last year I bought a partial 30/100 ml bottle. But I have a mini, too – there is something special and nostalgic in dabbing this perfume, although generally I much prefer spraying to dabbing.
Oh, I remember Organza, I had a miniature of it once. I bought it because the TV ad was so beautiful. And the bottle. It was like the height of glamour for me.
I almost wore this today. My husband bought me a bottle on a trip to Chicago, we were at Saks and Organza had just come out so the SAs were really promoting it. I still love it but like you I have a mini to dab. I have to go grocery shopping this afternoon and it is so hot here that I don’t feel quite up to the opulence of Organza.
Wearing Burberry Brit Red today. When it came out, my mom received a gift set of the lotion and the shower gel, as well as a red bath towel with Burberry plaid borders. My mom hated the scent so I got them and loved them. I promptly went to Sephora and bought a bottle. I believe that was the first perfume I ever bought myself. I eventually ran out of the lotion and bought 4 more bottles online. It’s that good.
I was going to go with the old 5-star Missoni from 2006…? I bought a very small bottle before The Guide because I loved a magazine scent step. But the price is crazy now! I could buy some parfum for all that cash.
Uh oh, some idle Googking led me toa 30 ml bottle of the Missoni for peanuts. I’m going in…!
LOL! Reunited for Missoni for peanuts! Love that….
I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Though deceptive Google Shopping noted it was 15% off and it certainly was was not. Oh well, I won’t quibble too hard about $6.
I’m in Chloe. Although it’s not something I wore back in the day, I think if I had it back then, I’d definitely wear it.
Dior Poison (esprit de parfum) cause that’s how I used to roll (except didn’t have the parfum back in the day)
Many might disagree but you smell fantastic: the Poison esprit de parfum was completely amazing. If only so many people hadn’t used half a bottle before heading out the face the world….
I agree, I bought a mini of it years ago, and it gets an occasional sniff.
I’m cheating, because when I opened the cap on the bottle of L’eau d’Issey, which I’ve had since the the 90s, I just couldn’t see myself wearing it all day. So, I’m wearing Aromatics Elixer, which my mother wore in my youth. She also wore Youth Dew. I despised them both in those days, but now I love them.
Oh, that’s a nice twist on the project!
I decided to go with Nicole by Nicole Miller, since I have part of an old bottle. It smells like the late nineties, all peony and freesia and sharp synthetics. I wore this and Bobbi by Bobbi Brown (seeing a trend?) during my early college years and they both smell of irresponsibility and bad decisions to me now. I think I may scrub and wear some Ô de Lancôme, which is even more appropriate to the challenge being from a bottle Dad gave me in high school.
LOL at “smell of irresponsibility and bad decisions to me now” — excellent.
Busy week after a relaxing holiday. I forgot about the project but smell lovely in AG Rose Absolue over Caudalie dry body oil. Thinking about what I used to wear makes clear there was a perfumista in the making since I was a child! First fragrance was a green coloured violetperfume in a white bottle with violets painted on it. I must have been 8. Later I wore Charlie, Blasé, LouLou, Paris, Rive Gauche, Ysatis, Beautiful, Y and Trésor. Still later Thé Rouge and Sur le Nil.
The combinations of rose over Caudalie oil sounds lovely.
Sounds like a gorgeous combination, so glad u had a wonderful holiday.
Caudelie on it’s own would be lovely but combined with rose- oh so lovely!
That is a great combo!
Lancôme Trésor, bought in the early noughties, it smells just like the first bottle I ever purchased in the nineties. It no longer smells the same at all.
I don’t wear it much, which is a shame as it’s a great rather loud fragrance.
I would be your twin today if I still had a bottle of this.
I can still see if sitting on my dresser back in my old room before I left home. Love this one..
I remember wearing it in a former career when I used to visit students on the workplace. I was known as ‘the woman who always smells so nice’. But that was end 80’s beginning 90’s when loud was good. I had a bottle of Trésor in my car!
To do a proper flashback, I’ll probably need to put on Neroli Jasmin oil again, but this morning I reached for the vintage Jean Louis Scherrer that a generous NSTer sent to me, and I’m enjoying its greenness.
Leaving the city for the DC suburbs this weekend, and hope I can convince the friend I’m staying with to take a trip out to Arielle Shoshanna for some good sniffie times. We do plan to stay indoors as much as possible though, as it’s supposed to be sweltering…
Oh, I hope a trip to Arielle Shoshanna’s pans out! I’d like to visit there one day too. Safe travels..
Thank you! I went to the shop when visiting another DC friend in October, and it was lovely! Definitely ready for a second visit.
Have fun and stay cool on your trip! Worst case scenario, I’m sure there are some DC folks who would be glad to help make your perfume sniffing plans materialize 🙂
Thank you!! I’ll be sure to post on here and see if anyone wants to hang.
The Jean Louis Scherrer is a fantastic scent. I have a cherished PB I received in a swapmeet a few years ago, and love introducing fellow perfumistas to it.
You smell wonderful.
I hope the green is treating you well.
I’m in my dearly departed Jil Sander No. 4, from a very old manufacturer’s sample. The sample is the EDP formulation – I’m pretty sure what I wore in the 90s was the EDT, and this sample is much peachier and slightly less spicy than I remember. It’s still recognizably “me from the past” though. 🙂
I have a fairly newly acquired mini if that, and I really like it. You’re smelling great!
Thank you! I think so too. 🙂 Turns out what I used to wear WAS the EDP concentration – I found a mostly-empty bottle lurking at the back of a drawer – and I was right that the manufacturer’s sample is far peachier and less spicy. The dregs from the bottle smell exactly as I remember – mandarin orange rather than peach, and a bit more spice and heft. It’s lovely indeed!
Samsara having thought it was too much for summer it is cooler today and it seems rather nice. I wore this back in the early 90s having smelt it on a friend and loved it. Nice to revisit.
That one blooms nicely in the heat and you smell fantastic! I recently “rescued” an old bottle of Samsara Bath Essence from a store and ran some through my hair after washing and then rinsed it a bit. It was just enough Samsara for a hot day.
Oh, nice.
I had planned on wearing Poison today, but it is going to be a hundred degrees today, and I just couldn’t risk it. All my back in the day fragrances were pretty big, except maybe New West. Since I don’t have that anymore, I am wearing Commodity Mimosa.
just couldn’t risk it — haha!
I had some New West too! Loved that bottle!
Well I did risk it, I went for Poison. Not the vintage though. Loved it back in the day. I still have an empty spray refill that I can open up and smell to bring back those 80s memories.
I fear that back in the day all I wore was Eau de Camel Filters. Perfume is a relatively new thing for me (and the smoking fortunately a thing of the now distant past). So today something new instead: L’Atessa perhaps?
No went for Carner Barcelona D600 instead. Some iris, but in a more spicy summery form. It’s 95 here today!
My grandmother smoked unfiltered Camels all her life. That scent is such a deeply ingrained part of my childhood. We (only half) joke that the reason why we can’t get any of her recipes to taste right is that we need to have an unfiltered Camel burning like incense nearby. . .
Very funny but so good that the only time you smell of tobacco is when it is a note in your perfume! And of camels when there is oud in your fragrance…
Throwback to Fresh Brown Sugar, which I still think is not only delicious, but exactly what lemon should smell like in perfume. Brought a backup with me to work, though, since I know this sadly won’t last all day.
Love Brown Sugar! And agree, it is super lemony!
I don’t own anything I wore back in the day. I had a collection of minis back when they gave out minis as samples-that was sweet. The list of what I wore would have included Coco, Giorgio, Ombre Rose, Lagerfeld Chloe, Revlon Fire and Ice, Amarige, a huge vat if Jean Nate, and the first bottle I bought for myself which was Sand and Sable. I do have Agent Provacateur which I bought when released but can’t really wear it anymore comfortably.
My SOTD is a small spritz of Huitieme Art Poudre de Riz.
I took a non-perfume friend to Osswald yesterday because she asked me to help her find a new perfume. They were super helpful. She ended up with Profumum Roma Rosae Mundi which is quite pretty. It was fun watching a newbie. She asked if we just wore one perfume until we finished the bottle and I almost did a spit take. Too cute????
Ha! Cute story. How fun to help a newbie.
I too had the “huge vat of Jean Nate”.. loved that stuff.
It was fun! Josie is really terrifuc and asks really great questions to figure out a scent profile for someone who doesn’t know notes, like “do you like the smell of gasoline?”. My friend said “yeah, sometimes”, to which Josie said “she’s one of us????”.
Great choice by your newby friend!
She has a surprisingly nuanced nose. She was using words like “too astringent” to descibe scents(chypres).
I recently got a sample of Poudre de Riz because I like the rice powder note in ELDO Putain des Palaces. By accident I discovered that these two actually smell good together!
Also, enjoyed the newbie story.
I did side by sides of these and I like both. PdP was the more interesting and less sweet of the two. PdR is easier to wear. It’s just very snuggly and innocent- not totally appropriate for 95 degree weather, though.
My grandmother liked Jean Naté.
I have two ‘back in the day’ choices, Jo Malone’s French lime blossom, which I still wear in spring, or Marc Jacobs Blush, went with the MJ as its bergamot/jasmine is quite green and refreshing for hot weather.
I don’t know that one, and used to also love the French lime blossom.
It’s lovely isn’t it?, I don’t reach for it often, but it’s so pretty and spring like.
Blush is rather nice, and I’m sad it’s discontinued, despite its 2* review in The Guide! I bought a used bottle on eBay last year, and am enjoying it again.
On a different note, I bought a dress from The Kooples sale, to wear to a wedding tomorrow, The brand now reminds me of the fun perfume day in London we shared!
I’m wearing Gucci Rush, my college scent — the bottle I own now was a repurchase.
I love Gucci Rush! Perfect for summer nights too.
I love Rush too, such fun!
Grey Flannel for me–it was between this Polo and White Linen.
I am drinking some iced Mango Rooibos from Adagio.
Grey Flannel, ah! Old boyfriend smell. 🙂
OMG, all my boyfriends wore that, ckOne or Joop!
I always loved that scent.
I had trouble with this challenge – back in the day, I wore Exclamation, and I didn’t want to buy any to revisit it. I then stopped wearing perfume for about 20 years because a) grunge and b) very limited funds. However, when I was about to throw my hands up in despair and put on some Kelly Caleche, I realized that I had something that could work.
I bought one (and only one) of the Chandler Burr untitled series (S02E03) based on the glowing prose that described post-modern industrialist marvels. When I tried it, my first thought literally was “WTF? This smells like my junior high in 1989.” No surprise – it was a reboot of Drakkar Noir (Drakkar Essence). So I’m wearing it in honour of all the boys I knew who bathed in the stuff.
Ha!
Ha! Sneaky. I had a Fa bodywash called Burgundy in the late 80s that smelled like Drakkar, so I literally bathed in it! Loved it.
Fa! Now that is a memory-jogger.
I am still, to my dismay, wearing Joop for Men. I loved it in my clubbing days, and have not worn it in years. Guess what- you can’t go home again.
Oh god.
*cue What is Love club mix song*
All my perfumes from back in the day were such heavy hitters, it was the 80s after all and it is so hot here that I don’t want to wear any of them. I went through a bottle of Marc Jacobs Blush at some point and I have a bottle now but don’t like it anymore, so I’m wearing Chanel 19 today, ahhh. I’ve been wearing it since I was a senior in high school in the 70s.
I have to skip the “Back in the Day” theme today and wear what works when it’s hotter than the Devils’s Underpants. I have just turned off my hot water heater because why waste money and electricity when the cold water tap is gushing warm water?
I just got back from spin class and took a “cold shower” which was rather warm and un-refreshing. I have also foolishly promised to make a big pan of lasagna for a work event tomorrow, which means an oven and stove blasting more heat into my little humble abode.
I think I will stick with EL BG body cream today. I’m hankering for Onda, but she may strangle me on a day like today.
Hope the body cream is a cool comfort to you!
Ugh, I remember those days from when we lived in Texas, when the “cold” tap comes out at skin temp. And the top sheet is too hot.
Ah, yes, at my house from May to the end of September, the water from the cold side of the tap comes out downright hot. Makes it hard to do laundry on the ‘cold’ setting.
Stay cool! I hope the lasagna doesn’t make your house unbearable. You smell great, at least.
I’m sad I’ve got none of the scents I used to wear with me now. Tresor was a big one, as was Obsession and Red Door!
I’m in Eau Des Sens, which is growing on me. At first try it was quite masculine, but my nose has adjusted and I find it very fresh and invigorating. I wouldn’t mind a small bottle of this one. Lasting power is quite good as well.
TGIF!
You know, I smelled Tresor the other day and it is as lovely as ever. So is Obsession!
Obsession! I’ve got a small bottle; I think it will last me for decades. ????
I’d planned to wear a dab of Avon Persian Wood from the vintage bottle I bought in England in May, but it just disappears in 5 minutes. Instead, I went with something reminiscent of my very first memory scent, namely CdG’s Carnation from their Red series.
Yum.
I think the only thing I wore in high school was BPAL’s Bastet, which I don’t have any more. It has some notes in common with Mohur, but I finished my sample a few weeks ago. So, Safran Troublant to the rescue.
1) OMG YOUSE GUYS MY OFFER ON A HOUSE WAS ACCEPTED OMG OMG I AM GOING TO BE SO POOR FOREVER NOW. I WILL LIVE ON YOGURT AND SALAD AND TEA FOREVER. *does flailing Kermit arms*
2) Ahem.
3) SO anyways, back in the day my elder sister wore Fendi or Obsession- wonderful but gosh every girl in Bed Stuy- nah every WOMAN in Brooklyn- seemed to be all wearing those two perfumes or their equivalent. So for me, ckOne was so fresh and light- but familiar, as in my childhood Florid
Congratulations!! May there be many joyous meals of yogurt and tea in your new home!
OMG! I am so nervous and excited! I am writing my earnest money check and sending via courier later on this morning!
Ugh, clumsy fingers!
But familiar, as in my childhood Florida Water and Jean Nate was our family’s after shower splash.
So am wearing a bit of ckOne today on this rainy summer day ( I bought a mini from Marshall’s.) It’s still fresh, but there is a warmth there I don’t think I perceived before, almost ambery and powdery. If you are ever tempted by the Tom Ford Rive Ambre or Neroli Portofino- I say wear this instead.
I forgot about Jean Nate!! That’s a goodie…..
It’s such a goodie! When I am done with my Eau Universelle I am gonna buy a big ole bottle of that for summers and freshening up!
It was good. I loved its tag line, “Tingle to the touch of Jean Nate.”
Congratulations! I sometimes feel we will rent forever, so I’m very excited for anyone who gets to own their own place.
Coincidentally, I was just thinking of Jean Nate the other day. When I was little, I was allowed to use the powdered foaming bath on special occasions. The internet seems to indicate it didn’t exist, but I clearly remember the box. Rectangular like washing powder, with a little metal spout for cutting my finger on. I’m pretty bummed to find it’s not around anymore.
Hey there! Thank you so much! And honestly I would have happily rented forever but the rents are at a point that buying now and paying more in the short term can be a way to have a stably priced place to live.
No- you are right! That Jean Nate bubble bath did exist- I have a very dim memory of it as well. There was also a dusting powder as well.
Congratulations! Nothing wrong with yoghurt and tea and Kermit arms. Seriously though enjoy.
Yay, congratulations! On the plus side, those are three delicious things to be stuck with for the rest of your life 😀
I have recently softened my formerly vegan diet back to an more omnivorous one, and my goodness I forgot how much I actually love plain yogurt, fruit and tea for breakfast! Not bad to be stuck with it at all!
Congrats!!! That’s awesome, and the image of flailng Kermit arms made me smile.
Hee! that is exactly what I did when my Realtor called me with the news!
OMG, I am an adult (a dolt?) now!
How exciting! Your description made me laugh.
Hee! But that is exactly what I did!
Congratulations!!
(You won’t be poor forever. Just for a short eternity 😉 )
Oh, thank you so much! Intellectually, I know that it won’t be forever and it’s a really good deal (1 bedroom apartments are now going for $1250 in PDX; my purchase will be a three bed house I intend to share with a housemate for $1375 with land tax) but goodness it’s such a change!
Excellent deal and a great investment compared to rental prices. Congratulations.
Beans are cheap too if you want to add something more substantial to some of your meals 🙂
I am amazed at how cheap beans are, especially if you cook them yourself. 🙂 Bean soups and casseroles will definitely be on the menu.
Congratulations, homeowner!
OOOF- one step at a time! Next week is the inspection!
For sure, one step. But we might as well dream as long as we are Kermit-arming.
Yay! Congratulations! I’m in the buying process right now too, just a little further along, so I’m right there with you. I should be closing on mine on Aug. 2, and I’m waiting on my (now past-due) appraisal to come in. It’s exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.
*screams like an oversugared toddler*
Am doing the inspection next week, and YIKES, if I don’t freak out in the next week and a half I am due to close on 31 August.
*flails arms*
Congratulations! I’m so excited for you!
How exciting! I’m flailing my own Kermit arm is happiness for you!!! ????
Congratulations Ede!, such exciting news!
Thank you so much! 🙂
Congratulations on your home purchase!! So exciting….so many rooms to arrange your perfume collection…. Enjoy it!!
Thank you! I will be poor and smell SO GOOD.
You will manage! Congrats with this courageous step.
The courier from the title company just came by and I just gave my earnest money. I want to run after him saying “MY BABY”!!!
Congratulations! So glad for you!
Thank you so much! 🙂
Congrats!!! How exciting! When will you be moving in? Also, there are worse things to live on. 😉
If the inspections comes back with no problems, and if I don’t freak the hell out, then I would moving Labor Day Weekend, which is so, so fast.
And yes- I am privileged to even be in the position to freak out about buying a hut in PDX, much less a clean, updated home. Living on yogurt, vegetables and fruit is not a bad thing at all, and after all I have been complaining about a tight waistband! 😀
Congratulations! You will feel much richer when you are finally approaching the end of the mortgage. (1.5 years for me!)
Congratulations! Scary but wonderful.
Congratulations! I know how scary it seems at first! Hang in there.
Congrats!
Lovely, good for you!
Congrats! (Flailing Kermit arms! ???? You gotta do the higher-pitched panic-voice with it, too!)
Congratulations! Yogurt, tea and salad are all delicious. And thanks to all the Pantone pictures, you probably have some ideas for paint colors.
I didn’t wear perfume back in the day, and the only scent that will give me actual flashbacks is Giorgio and I’m not dedicated enough to buy myself a bottle just so I can keep experiencing the area near my high school locker.
SOTD is Oeillet Bengale
Giorgio!!!!! Powerhouse of a scent. Remember it well.
Loved Giorgio! I still remember that yellow and white box it came in. Floragal is right – it was a powerhouse of a scent; yet I still doused myself in it!
Today’s project is the perfect excuse to wear a very special perfume, one of the first I ever purchased, and the one I would grab if the house was on fire: the original Demeter Wet Garden. I know it still exists in their lineup, but it’s been reformulated, and I know that CB’s To See a Flower is a close match, but it lacks something of the lusciousness of the original. I wore it often back in the day, until I realized that my bottle was irreplaceable, and now I hoard it and dole out spritzes from time to time, and my heart quite literally aches at the thought of a world and a life without this fragrance. It has something of the rain-bruised petals and melting, open tenderness of Apres l’Ondee, but where Apres l’Ondee is lilac seen through grey chiffon, Wet Garden is greeny greeny glorious silvered green. My favorite color. 🙂
That is so lovely and evocative. I hope your special bottle lasts!
So love those descriptions! They really help me to “get” the scents .
There were just a few that I had in the 80’s that I wish I had on hand (Perry Ellis, O de Lancome), Chanel 19 was another but since that is still in regular rotation I’ll save that for another day. Paris is another I wore back in the day but just can’t take it anymore.
So for today, just went back to the 90’s and am wearing Chanel Allure which I think I bought shortly after release.
Know what? I still really like this. I might have succumbed to peer pressure since not many perfumistas have good things to say about it, but I am really enjoying it’s peachy/vanilla warmth.
It takes me back to a time when I first really felt like an adult, finished school, keeping a home, making enough money to live AND buy perfume.
You smell great – I also really like Allure despite – as you say – many apparently not doing so.
I just bought a tiny Parfum mini of Allure on the the Bay. It’s the bomb. Victoria from BdJ just did a review that included a blurb about Allure which is why I wanted to try it. You should check it out.
Well I didn’t wear scent much back in the day — I had a few, but in my head perfume was for ‘special occasions’ so I hardly ever wore them. I still have my 80’s bottle of Lauren, but I fear it’s past its prime. So I figure I’m off the hook for this challenge.
Instead, finishing up my Pretty Florals week with my prettiest floral of all — La Chasse Aux Papillons.
You smell gorgeous.
2nd that.
I’ m wearing Ultima II Skin Scent, which I dug up at my parents’ house a year or two ago. This was the first scent I ever picked for myself and I begged for it – I still remember the cost, $80 – when I was a teenager. Neon green juice in a frosted glass sphere, smells kinda like Fahrenheit.
Ultima II! Wow, that brand brings back lots of memories. I used to sell Ultima II in the pharmacy I worked at as a teen. They were the first to really focus on nude lip colors.
The fragrance I think was called Sheer Scent? I’ve seen bottles going for close to $300 now that it’s near extinct.
Oh, maybe you’re right! I honestly didn’t know it had a name other than Ultima II until I googled it. So it is probably Sheer Scent. Hmm, maybe I should try to sell it… I like it, but not THAT much.
I recently told a colleague that I collect perfume, and he asked if I’d heard of UII, which was his wife’s signature scent when they started dating. So I started searching the internet and can confirm that boxed FBs go for around $300.
The only one that I still own that I wore back in the day was Obsession. My bottle is from the mid-90’s, when I was in high school. But alas, it’s too hot outside to wear it. Today I am wearing Theorema. Theorema barely edged out Courtesan.
My mother wore my bottle so often that I gave it to her.
It really is a gorgeous scent. I wore it too but mainly it reminds of one of my old friends who wore it and was a chain smoker and so I always smell cigarette smoke when I take a whiff of Obsession.
You smell lovely. Theorema is beautiful, I went through a couple of bottles years ago.
Yeah, I think Obsession might actually be lethal in the summer. (Great in winter, though.)
Fragrances I wore ‘back in the day’ & more recently (as I’ve had a whinge about before on here) are either discontinued, very hard to find or reformulated (yuck!) – but here goes from what I can remember of my teenage, 20s & 30s usage: Diorissimo (dregs of a bottle given to me by a late dear aunt when I was 18, my introduction to proper grown-up fragrance; I still grab a sniff now & again & it doesn’t seem that different to how I remember it); L’ Air du Temps; Fidji; Oscar de la Renta (the original); Moon Drops; Fresh’s Enact; Opium; Bal a Versailles; Anais Anais; Alyssa Ashley’s Patchouli; & of course, the original Charlie before I knew better (but didn’t everyone?)!!
That’s a pretty sophisticated list.????
Thank you for saying so, Petunia. Shared a flat with 2 girls when we were all about 20 years of age – Kim wore Rive Gauche, Annie wore Femme & I wore Opium – mentioned it on here a while ago & Robin kindly remarked that our flat must have smelled divine!
Fidji was so good.
Ahhh! L’ Air du Temps was THE very first bottle of perfume I owned! I remember how proud I was that my mom bought me my very own bottle! Good memories!
Wearing Gucci Guilty Black today. Not a fragrance from “back in the day”, but it reminds me. . .
When my stepsister and I were teens in the mid-80’s, we would, like all good teen girls in the 80’s, go to the mall to hang out. We’d go in the high-end department stores and try on the evening gowns that we had neither money to buy nor places to wear them. To get to the dresses, we always had to go past the perfume counters. Now, this was back in the 80’s, when SAs spritzed everyone as they walked in the door. There was this cloud of fragrance hanging in the air, everything all mixed together. It was cool and sophisticated and so very grown-up.
Guilty and Guilty Black remind me of those 80’s perfume counters. They smell like perfume to me, as opposed to their notes (if that makes any sense at all). Wearing them helps me feel like a grown-up lady, while reminding me of how it felt to be young.
Beautifully put! And my friends and I used to try on evening gowns, too. Hmm, here I am in adulthood, still waiting for that evening gown-worthy adult lifestyle I imagined to take shape…
Guilty Black is a very 80s scent – almost an amalgam of every popular scent of that era distilled into one bottle. I enjoy it occasionally for the same *flashback.*
Sotd is Coco edp from my 30+ year old bottle. I’m in heaven and hoard the remnants of my bottle. Several months ago I had a lengthy conversation with a long time Chanel employee. (She has been with Chanel for over 25 yrs.) She swears that Coco has never been reformulated. That conversation was truly enlightening. I see how the availability and quality of ingredients affect current perfumes.
Reformulated means something different to an SA than it does to a perfumista! Enjoy your vintage bottle.
You smell fabulous!
Happy Friday Everyone! My SOTD is Lauren by Ralph Lauren. I used to wear this when I was in high school. Bringing back a lot of memories. Some are good and some not so good. Ahh, high school. So glad that part of my life is done.
I remember that scent. Ah!
I have and love Lauren!
I didn’t wear perfume until probably the late ’80s, but I think I had two “signature scents” by the early ’90s, RL Safari and Wrappings. I’ll apply the newer Safari from a mini when I drag myself out of the funk in which I’m presently mired.
I hope your day gets better!
I forgot about our community project and put on some SL Fleurs D’Oranger for the hot and steamy day we’re having, but I think my scent of the evening will be Tresor.
In (early 90s) high school, I had a coffin-shaped bottle of Samsara, which is fairly hard to imagine now. No perfumes from then until fairly recently. I’ll wear Bulgari Black which reminds me of 3 summers ago and touring to Victoria.
I have that bottle and it’s one of my most treasured.
It’s hard to imagine it on a teenager, but I bet it smells amazing. My dad wore Farenheit or Polo at the time, and my mom wore White Linen. My sisters probably something equally strong. We must have been a fragrant bunch.
Back in the day I mainly wore Burberry, which I couldn’t bear to wear on a Friday so I wussed out on the challenge. 😛
Instead, I’m wearing Lolita Lempicka, which I haven’t worn in quite a while (at least 4 months), so I get partial credit?
Happy Friyay!
Partial credit granted 😉
Way back in the day (like middle school in the early ’90s), I wore Exclamation, but I don’t currently have any and haven’t smelled it in years (I didn’t even know it was still around until fairly recently). I’m kind of curious how it’s held up, but at the same time I almost don’t want to know in case it’s terrible. My real interest in perfume has only really emerged in the last 5-6 years, so the only thing I had from before was a bottle of Bath & Body Works Japanese Cherry Blossom dry oil spray that I bought years ago and haven’t used much. This is from my pre-perfumistahood era when I wore their Japanese Cherry Blossom fragrance. So that’s what I’m wearing instead of regular perfume today.
I’m also wondering if it’s responsible for my current headache that is driving me nuts, but luckily it’s a pretty light day at work today. My boss is taking a vacation day and I could have worked from home if it weren’t for a client coming by in the afternoon.
Oh, I remember Exclamation! Gosh, that seems like a lifetime ago.
Going all the way back to the mid1970’s for today’s SOTD, Nina Ricci Bigarade. , the whole orange tree – fruit, blossoms, leaves, twigs – crushed into a bottle. Loved it then and am so glad I purchased several bottles a dozen years ago from evilbay, my very first purchase on that site. It still smells great – I think the spice in it helps to maintain it – and layered over the long-d/c L’Occitane Lait D’Orange Body Mist, it’s wonderfully refreshing on a very hot and steamy Friday.
Ooh, that sounds lovely! I missed that one, somehow.
Oh, so envious of your Bigarade. I only had a small bottle and used it up. Enjoy your bottles. 🙂
If I had been thinking, I would have brought back my Mom’s selling samples from her Avon days just so I could have worn Somewhere. The first scent I owned myself when I was in junior high.
But…I went with something I literally have not worn since high school, mainly because if the memories attached. I over-sprayed my sister’s Shalimar and blasted out my classes to the point that I overheard someone in my Physiology class loudly comment. I spent the entire day in a scent fog. ElisaP kindly freebied me a decant of the EdP. Just one spritz so far to put that toe back in the water (and because I need to head outside in the heat.). Based on the initial spray, I think I must do at least one more….
My husband’s mom sold Avon. I think this is part of the reason he has such a hard time with perfume. Lol.
Shalimar is a beauty. Too bad it’s my mom’s signature scent and it has always worn her.
Ah, the mom’s-signature-scent curse! I wish I could wear 1000, but it will always be my mom’s scent and not mine. And I wonder what in all the cacophany of my perfume collection my son will come to identify as *my* signature scent?
I do love when I read a story in Vogue or other magazine about someones mother’s signature scent. There’s something to be said for identifying with a Chanel number 5 or some other really great scent.
Wearing Tendre Poison from 2002…
You may remember the bright green bottle…similar to Cabotine.
TGIF!!!
Flashback Friday! Don’t tell Turin and Sanchez, but I’m wearing Amarige!!! ???? My FB is long gone, but I found a mini; it’s really the only ‘back in the day’ scent I still have. Wow, this stuff is nuclear.
Have a great day everyone!
To my reading, they actually thought it was a great scent, but deducted a number of stars because it is, as you describe, “nuclear”. I have some and wear it lightly and mostly at home.
Naw, they really don’t like it. In the FAQs they admit it is “technically polished” but assert, “But we hate it.” The review (1 star) calls it “truly loathsome”.
I too only put on a little and am at home. It’s fitting, since the review ends with, “[P]lease wear it at home exclusively, and tape the windows shut.” ????
Oh no! I’m sure I’ve had the windows open some of the times I’ve worn it. 😯
???? Well, I think you made the outdoors smell better!
I am wearing Revlon Scoundrel Musk. Heavy scent, super rich and sweet. That was one of my first perfumes back then and I loved it. I have a bottle from the 80’s perfectly good. I don’t reach for it anymore. I just keep it for nostalgia. Very good memories and wonderful times.
Wow, that’s an oldie!
I’m wearing Jo Malone Peony and Blush Suede cologne today. Back in the day, it would have been something like Philosophy Pure Grace, Bond No. 9 Scent of Peace, or Goutal L’eau d’Hadrien. Now that I live in the Pacific Northwest, I can wear heavier fragrances than I used to in the summertime since it doesn’t get as humid here. Plus, my sense of smell has been rearranged courtesy of cancer treatment, so I’m gravitating towards many fragrances that never appealed to me before.
P.S. Peony and Blush Suede is one of the few JMs that has actual lasting power (at least on me).
I was surprised by its tenacity as well. It lasted a good 8+ hours on my clothes. What kinds of fragrances are you gravitating more toward now?
I’m so into florals with woodsy drydowns now. Before, I was all about sweet gourmands, heavy ambers, incense and more masculine scents. It’s so strange how my tastes have changed!
Peony B&S is a nice one. I am still in love with the limited edition of Peony & Moss that JM used to make. I can’t find it anywhere! 🙁
The only scent I own that I wore “back in the day” is a bottle of the original Chloe by Lagerfeld that I actually bought in 1987!!
A scorching hot day is no day to wear this heavy hitter, so I went for Goutals Ninfeo Mio. I smell like sunshine, citrus and figs.
OMG! I used to love the original Chloe! Do you like the reformulated version of it? I do like it a lot, but it is soooo different from the original.
I had to spritz on a little bit of Attar by Robert Isabell. I used to wear this on “special” dates, when I wanted to weave a sensual spell!
Oops! This was circa 1996.
Today’s SOTD was a special occasion scent back in the day, and is the same bottle I purchased circa 1988. It’s now-vintage Ivoire de Balmain. And it smells even better than I remember.
Ivoire is such a good one!! I have the newer version and love it!
I used to wear rich, spicy perfumes that would be way to heavy for this heat wave. I did wear Eau d’Hadrien in the 1980s but have never been able to find any that smells as I remember it. So I’m approximating with Hermes Un Jardin sur le Nil. 2005 isn’t exactly yesterday anymore, is it? 😉
No, it isn’t!
But, um, it’s still just the day before yesterday, right?
Diorella! It was my first “real” perfume (I.e., not Love’s Baby Soft or Sweet Honesty), purchased at a real department store – Harrods, during a trip to the UK back in the 70s. I felt oh-so-sophisticated wearing it!
I still like it 40 years later.
And you still do!
You smell fabulous. It’s worthy of a long, long love affair. I’m so reluctant to smell the current one, as I don’t want my memories of it in the 80s and 90s dashed.
Started in Kerbside Violet but switching to my throw-back favorite since 1987, Rochas Byzance. This one reminds me of being 21 and all the hopes and dreams I had for myself at that age. My life has turned out differently than I expected but I am happy and satisfied.
And that’s all that matters 🙂
Byzance is fabu!ous.
Happy and satisfied, such a wonderful combination. 🙂
I don’t have any of the perfume I used to wear as a teen–Jean Nate, Muguet de Bois, or Wind Song–and none of my “signature scent” of my early twenties, Tatiana. However, I have the first “serious” perfume I bought in my late twenties–L’Heure Bleue. I still love it, but only in the perfume concentration. Thank goodness it’s cool and cloudy here today, it’s wouldn’t do if it were hot and sunny.
You smell perfect, in any weather!
You smell gorgeous!
Cheap patchouli! In 1970 it was essential oil from Emporium India, now it’s a solid from the farmer’s market.
I didn’t go for scented anything when I was younger, but I’m slowly getting more comfortable wearing heavier fragrances now. SOTD is DKNY So Delicious, which I suppose works for the burning hot sun today.
I’m in Y by Yves Saint Laurent. Gotta love those old chypres!
One of my favorites.
I didn’t wear perfume all the time years ago, but I did wear perfume when I was going out in the evening. My then mother-in-law gave me the near empty bottle of Cabochard, which I wore regularly. I didn’t know anything about perfume, but knew it didn’t smell like anything else I’d tried and that was enough for me. In my teens, I’d wanted to be as much like everyone else as possible, in my 20s I did the opposite – I probably missed out on lots of lovely perfumes, because the moment a sales assistant told me something was popular, I wouldn’t try it!
I still have the last little bit of a bottle I bought about 20 years ago, I haven’t worn it for years, and I think it still smells much the same.
Ooh, I’d love to smell vintage Cabochard!
Possibly way too late, but I have some I was going to offer in the next swap meet!
I’m wearing an old flame, YSL Paris. Paris, je t’aime! I would have worn Oscar de la Renta if I had any of the original, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy one now (too many memories).
Oh, how lovely, it was one of my options as well. It’s such a joyful perfume.
I bought a 1980s bottle of Oscar and sniff it, but never wear it, for the memories. It is so distinctive and beautiful.
In a real throwback, Sung Homme. Definitely of the first fragrances I really enjoyed. Smells like Irish Spring soap on steroids but worn in small doses, it can be very nice. Reacquainted after 35+ years after finding a bottle for ten bucks in Marshalls!
I planned to wear Fresh Cucumber Baie, but since I walked to work this morning, I didn’t want to lug the big bottle with me. So I switched it up and am wearing Annick Goutal Gardenia Passion. I’ve had this decant since I started to get into niche perfume some years ago. Had I really done well at planning I would have dug out my Allure sample. I wore that some in high school.
Wearing the original Shiseido Zen with fond memories of the 70s. I purchased a newer bottle (now called Zen Classic) of the EDC a few years ago and it is still good, though with less longevity, likely because there is less oakmoss.
I love the galbanum opening. On me the carnation and rose are predominant, with other florals smoothly blending in,and then sandalwood and cedar. Very calming, as it should be given its name. 😉
Oh good to know that Zen Classic is good. I used to wear Zen, and then, well, you know the story.
SotD = L’air du Temps vintage edt
Back in the day my mother wore it for dress up occasions.
I usually splash this on after a shower, before bedtime. It’s lovely for daytime as well. I need to find a back up bottle.
Happy Friday,. NSTers!
My mother used to wear this. As she has a terrible nose she wore loads of it. So I remember it well! Still, a lovely perfume.
I’m in Cacharel Loulou, which I did not wear back in the day. Chypres and greens were my thing, and to a large extent still are, but part of my perfume hobby has included exploring fragrances from the past which I missed, or were unobtainable where I live, pre-internet.
So in recent years I’ve caught up with CK Obsession, Amarige, Loulou, Noa, Safari, Halston, Tocade, Knowing … fragrances from days when the choices were fewer but you could walk into a department store and come out with something really great without having to face a wall of dreary, derivative ‘me too!’ bits of nonsense.
I am with the camp that has a difficult time wearing the “back in the day scents”, especially those I wore a lot. First scent I ever bought was Shalimar. I now only own the vanilla flanker and rarely wear it.
Today I wore Kiehls Original Musk, circa 2007, a little after I really got into scents. I was on a musk kick then and still am.