After today’s subject, Chelsea, the waiting list for the Monday Mail is down to just two people — if you’ve ever thought you might be a good candidate for the Monday Mail, now is a very good time to get on the list!

Chelsea is looking for a new everyday scent. She has worn Marc Jacobs Cucumber Splash for years, so she has her “casual weekend scent” covered — now she wants to find something a bit more grown up and dressy. She’d like it to be unusual so she doesn’t smell like everyone else, and she’d rather not pay more than $100-150. Here is what we know about Chelsea:

She’s in her late 20s. Her personal style tends to be colorful and slightly preppy with retro, feminine touches.

She wears lipstick more often than lip gloss and, even when she’s dressed down, she tries to look polished and to attend to the details.

Chelsea likes more androgynous fragrances to balance out the girliness of her wardrobe.

Some of her favorite “real life” smells are rain, the beach, burning leaves, paper, wool, and that “new purse” leather smell.

Chelsea loves iris, and really likes leather, violet and citrus…

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Today we’re helping Anastasia, who says she’s a complete perfume beginner, although she has recently discovered niche fragrances. She’s looking for a perfume or two to expand her relatively small collection. She would love to get suggestions for fragrances that are fairly versatile and age-appropriate, while still being unique and interesting. She can’t afford to spend much more than $100 for any one perfume.

Here is what we know about Anastasia:

She lives in the Northwestern US, and is graduating from high school this year.

Her life is almost entirely devoted to her training as a classical harpist. She says she lives music and art, and also enjoys exploring philosophy and literature.

She loves old churches, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, children’s books, rainy days, lighthouses and the smell of baking bread.

Her style is off-beat but very romantic, and her friends have described her as dreamy, warm and passionate.

Anastasia’s dream perfume would be the olfactory equivalent of a Debussy. She loves notes of vanilla, orange blossom, lilac, honey, honeysuckle, tea, licorice, rose (especially when blended with other things), light powder, anything creamy, tobacco, sweet spices and most fruits…

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Today we’re helping Julie, who wants to find a new summer fragrance. She lives in inland Southern California, and they do get some strong summer heat. Her perfect scent will make her feel light and energetic, but will also have a little complexity. Her price limit is $100, but she’s happy to buy decants, and she’d prefer niche suggestions since she’s already tried much of what is available at Macys, Nordstrom and Sephora. Here is what we know about Julie:

She’s in her late 20s. She says when people first meet her, they might think she’s “just” cute because of her delicate build, vintage-inspired clothes, and curly auburn hair, but they quickly find that she’s a deep thinker with a rich imagination, strong emotions both happy and sad, and a direct way of speaking.

Julie loves books and the stage as well as things that engage the senses — colorful clothing and design, gardening, cooking, and of course perfume.

Julie likes notes of salt, honeysuckle, lime/citrus, bergamot, warm woods, boozy vanilla and skin musk. Her fall/winter favorites are Parfumerie Generale Bois Blond, Demeter Fresh Hay and Anthropologie Cape of Good Hope…

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This is an open thread for participants in the Monday Mail articles to share their experiences, and hopefully let us know if they found what they were looking for (or went bankrupt trying). I’ve sent out emails requesting feedback from everyone who took part between September and December of 2011, so check back over the next few days to see what we can find out (or, check out this post about the subjects from May through August). We’ll check on the early 2012 participants in a few months.

Here are links to the articles for each participant…

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Today we’re helping Molly. She says she’s a perfume novice, but she’s learning, and she wants to find a new day and evening signature scent. Her most recent signature scent was original Burberry for women, but she’s bored with it now, and she’d like to find something a little more interesting. She can spend up to $120 or so, but she’d rather spend less than $100, and she’d love to find something she can test locally (she has easy access to Macy’s, Sephora, Barney’s Coop and Blue Mercury). Here is what we know about Molly:

She’s a public interest attorney living in a large East Coast city in the U.S.

She’s married and in her early 30s. No kids yet, but they do have a cuddly labrador retriever, and one of her favorite pastimes is taking him for a hike.

Molly likes the outdoors, especially mountains, forests, and lakes, but she’s not much of a beach fan except in the off season.

She loves city living, trying out new restaurants, sipping good coffee or tea in a local cafe and curling up with a book on a rainy evening. Molly says she does well in social settings, but at heart, she’s more of an introvert.

Her taste runs towards the classic. A well-cut suit, heels and pearls for work, cashmere sweaters and dark-wash skinny jeans with brown riding-style for weekends.

Molly likes oriental and gourmand notes and fragrances…

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