(Question prompted by TWO perfume related experiences this weekend, weirdest being man who followed me around Food Emporium working up the nerve to ask what kind I wore)
― Ally, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― anthony, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Mitch Lastnamewithheld, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Benjamin, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Sometimes when I feel like being a moron I wear Skin Musk, that stuff is tops.
― Ally C, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― tracer Hand, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Nude Spock, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Dave M., Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Phil-Two, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Kerry, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
I like Smell This for cheap stupid novelty scent. Beach Smells = great.
― nathalie, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― bnw, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Andrew L, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Gale, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― matthew, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Lyra, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― DavidM, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― DG, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Otis Wheeler, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Tom, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
I don't wear it on a daily basis but sometimes if I'm going out. Then it's Eau D'Issey or Dune. I used to wear Spellbound and lots of men would comment favourably on it. Why did I stop?
― Emma, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Ally C - Lynx Africa does not count as deodorant as it has no anti-perspirant qualities. It's a body spray = perfume = you are a girl.
I like perfume (and girls) so that's not meant as an insult. I'm wearing Farenheit today, which is nice but doesn't seem to last very well. Sometimes I wear Cool Water and sometimes I sip into my CK selection pack.
― Nick, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― gareth, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
I do use an antiperspirant myself but that's because I'm a sweaty bastard.
― Richard Tunnicliffe, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
In general I trust Guerlain and Chanel.
― Omar, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― cabbage, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― lady die, Thursday, 23 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
I am currently rotating between Fendi, Trussardi Light, CK Truth, Green Tea, Happy, a freebee phial from Zara and a bottle of stuff from River Island I got for Christmas (work days only).
― Madchen, Thursday, 23 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Ally, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Lesley Higgins, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
On the boy I'm 'liking' this new one that's oh so obliquely called Sexual. It's like, ok YOU, bedroom NOW!
― Kim, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Ally, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Suitable replacements for the Chaos are either the Comme des Garcons red or Corso Como 1010 and I will get one of these on my next trip to Liberty, or when a fashion friend goes through Milanese duty free. Whichever comes first.
― suzy, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Nicole, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
also a pretty good summation of what's up with me and my life at this point in time.
― slugbuggy, Saturday, 7 September 2024 13:10 (five months ago) link
Exactly like music for many people isn’t it, at some stage you lack the time and energy to keep seeking stuff out & just rely on old favourites and known quantities
― Romy Gonzalez’s utility infusion (gyac), Saturday, 7 September 2024 13:47 (five months ago) link
i've said this before but fgti i'd buy your book. it's too early now, because you're still young and more things have yet to happen, but at some point there'll be to much and then: book.
You are too kind! I did set up a lab in my basement, to work on re-creating the old and attempting new creations. For now I feel like I'm just educating myself, learning which aromachemicals smell like what.
also, if sometime during your lifetime, and you have nothing else occupying your attention, and you're just looking for something to do, do you have any knowledge/ opionions of grey flannel vis-a-vis vintage vs. current? i had it in the 80s and i remember it as an ultraviolet, oily, floral, leathery, sexy beast. the current iteration seems too soapy, green, and bitter, although the notes seem about the same. the balance seems off. am i wrong? do i have a false memory? i dunno. this is my bete noire; it haunts me ever so.
You've piqued my curiosity, this scent is unknown to me, but I love 70s and 80s masculines with the heavy geranium and clove elements. I love that Aramis and Azzaro Pour Homme remain in excellent shape in their current formulations, compared to their vintage formats. Extremely interested in recreating Guerlain Derby... Jamie Frater recently discerned that there are four (!) now-banned nitromusks present in the vintage version. His reformulation requires a serious investment in materials (idr exactly how many ingredients he lists, but it's around 50 iirc). I've been told that Guerlain does offer modern Derby at their flagship store, sometimes, when asked, but I haven't lucked out just yet.
I have succeeded in creating an excellent home-brew version of Jicky, courtesy of Frater's formulas, which relies on using Guerlain EdC Imperial as its base (in place of perfumer's alcohol); this EdC Frater himself sells for much less than Guerlain, and it's identical to my nose. Jicky is my boyfriend's favourite, and he's very happy with my home-brew... I add a touch more castoreum and civet to make it skankier and it smells great.
So yeah, I'll track down some of that Grey Flannel and get back to you.
As for everything else you've said, it is an interesting time for "what is popular" amongst influencers. I popped by a perfume store yesterday and they only stocked the expensive shit, shit being the operative word-- Tom Ford, Creed, (k*l*an), Byredo, Ex Nihilo, Marly. I don't know why people like these boozy fragrances (Angel's Share, Grand Soir), they smell bourbon breath. I admire Delina but don't want to wear it. It was a weird and disappointing shop visit, it felt like when you go into an airport bookstore and there's only full price bestsellers in stock.
That said, there are lots of new scents I'm excited about. Hermes finally made an oud scent this year and it's really nice, Oud Alezan, it's exquisite, reminds me of Geza Schoen's stuff for Ormonde Jayne. Not a big fan of Juliette Has A Gun but the new vetiver is very very good. Haven't smelled the new Barrois but Bisch is three-for-three for Barrois so I'm certain I'll adore it. I am delighted by every Mugler flanker tbh. Givenchy continues to introduce version after version of "L'Interdit" (Ropion) and they're all awful, but their reformulations of Ysatis (Ropion again, 40 years ago) and III continue to be delicious.
I'm on vacation. I brought with me 5 mL of vintage Mitsouko, 5 mL of vintage Chamade, and my big bottle of Aramis for day-to-day wear. Boyfriend brought his predictable spread of fabulousness: Tommy Girl, Insensé, Amouage Search, Habit Rouge, Bal A Versailles, and the vintage bottle of Ysatis I bought him for his birthday. Insensé is smelling especially good in the hot damp weather
― irritable towel syndrome (flamboyant goon tie included), Sunday, 8 September 2024 18:37 (five months ago) link
i didn't mean to give anyone a homework assignment but that's always been a big question for me: is there really a qualitative difference between vintage and current or do i just have a false memory? if i'm right, ok, i'll just buy some vintage and hope it's intact and no top notes have burnt off is as the wont, but if i'm wrong and the current is pretty much the same, then how do i re-create what i only imagined it smelled like? i don`'t have the resources.
i think perfumers are the closest modern-day thing to alchemists: as above, so below. you have this feeling you can only try to describe in words. if you make a scent that embodies the ineffable you win, but you also lose because there's no way a physical medium can communicate or express what i assume is entirely a spiritual essence or quality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_dbZyuG0RU
that's def a grey flannel bottle. look at how tubbs regards the gold chain before donning `it' he's going under cover. this is serious. look at the silent tension between crockett and tubbs as they speed along towards destiny in the ferrari daytona. i know a place where dreams get crushed, sing devo. this has weight. this is the grey flannel i remember.
― slugbuggy, Saturday, 14 September 2024 14:12 (five months ago) link
omg the way he straightens up his tie is so crucial: that's so the grey flannel i remember and not the iteration i have now. you might think i'm picking at threads but there's no other way i can explain.
re: aramis: fist bump. it's gloriously heinous. i saw a youtube where the guy said it smelled like guys down at the train station; it smelled like bad news. that sounds about right.
i have a bottle of azzaro that has the screw-off top so i got some oakmoss from a perfumery place and i'm no perfumer but i put a schmear in and it really amplified the citrus nd floral aspects. it's probably close to the original.
― slugbuggy, Saturday, 14 September 2024 14:44 (five months ago) link
Recent scent report. Went a week ago to the newish scent bar with my bf— I hadn’t smelled the newish Bisch-for-Barrois, Tilia, and I wanted to. I was disappointed.
Bf was handling a bottle of some Tauer thing and DROPPED IT and it SHATTERED. It was, I think, the Moroccan Cologne or something— (Tauer impresses me compositionally, but his fragrances all smell to me like Alec Guinness playing Prince Faisal).
Bf is so sweet and his face got grave like he was going to cry and he started asking me to handle the bottles for him because he was so shaken up. The staff were completely whatever about it, cleaning it all up and assuring him it was ok.
I approached the owner and quietly offered to pay for the broken bottle, and she assured me that it was fine (and that the staff themselves break a bottle a week). Owner went to bf and gave him a total pep talk “don’t be upset this is 100% ok” and I decided that I’d buy a bottle of something to basically make this all good and well.
The problem ended up being, really, that there are so few niche fragrances that I care for, in the Xerjoff/Nishane/Marly axis. Local heroes Zoologist have made some interesting things but nothing I’d wear or spend money on. Hiram Green is refreshingly dramatic but uninteresting in composition. I adore Jayne Ormonde on strips but have found the concentrations to be strange and difficult to wear.
DS & Durga saved the day, had practically ignored that line but was impressed with everything on offer. Walked away with their eucalyptus scent, Big Sur, and am very happy with it.
Of note: the Barrois extraits seemed weird to me in concept as the EdPs are already powerful. The extraits however are rather strikingly different in formulation. Absolutely worth sampling— the B683 extrait takes the “new shoes” smell of the EdP and adds a subtle but effective oud note and it’s one of those rare actually-wearable-ouds.
Yesterday I popped by the luxury department store because I wanted bf to smell the Malle revamps of the Lauder classics.
I basically think that it’s all worth it for Malle’s revision of White Linen. The jasmine is pushed up above the bitter aldehydes just enough. It remains the most punishing scent in the store, the smell of a dentist’s drill, but somehow even more starchy and ravishing. I won’t buy it, White Linen’s appeal to me is tied to its price point and the Malle revisions are exorbitant, but I loved smelling it.
The Private Collection revision is also a success. Couldn’t identify the changes just on the strip but it smelled more broadly floral instead of intensely hippie green.
Azuree smelled identical to me as the lovely 00s plastic bottle revision, as somebody who wears and loves Azuree, I wore it out of the store and didn’t notice any change or revision (except the price and packaging). Knowing and Estee were not successful to my nose.
Dominique Ropion has a new $1400 a bottle Malle scent in their hideous oud line and it is so gross and garish that I literally guffawed. I don’t understand how somebody who started their career making some of my all-time favourites (Ysatis) is now responsible for the cloying awfulness on every-tenth-person-at-the-mall with his not-actually-L’Interdit L’Interdit mk. 3, as well as some of the weirdest and worst Malle offerings. “I can barely keep these UAE-market Malle scents on the shelf”, the clerk told me, and I see it online, too, that people are salivating for them. I smell them on strips and can’t imagine anybody ever wanting to wear it. Oud as an ingredient deserves better than these awful “beast mode” concoctions.
I was gonna leave, but the clerk brought us over to the Lutens area. I ignore Lutens. I’ve read about how classic and wonderful these scents are supposed to be, but I smell none of it— dusty pale nothings in expensive ugly bottles. Clerk showed us these six black tall bottles, all Sheldrakes, Lutens “fancy” line, apparently. They were very nice, very simple, very strong. A duoflore rose-oud was particularly appealing, just perfect Bulgarian-French rose combo and a clean but strong oud union. Uncomplicated but extremely nice to smell. The line is called “gratte-ciel” and they don’t get points on Fragrantica but all six that I smelled were really lovely.
I’ve been making No 5 at home for friends and family who want it, and we went to Chanel to smirk about their new Exclusif “Comete”, but also got some No 5 parfum extract on a card to refresh my memory. It’s one of the few Chanel offerings that doesn’t feel sullied by reformulation. “It’s pure perfume, undiluted” said the clerk, and I didn’t correct her. The card continues to smell like heaven this morning. I’m using it as reference today while brewing up another jar of No 5 juice
― I for one care less for them (flamboyant goon tie included), Sunday, 6 October 2024 15:00 (four months ago) link
Oh, my point re: No 5. Don’t smell or wear the EdT, Eau, EdP, or “Eau premiere”. Go to the desk and ask to smell the parfum version. Get some on a card and leave the store. For me, this is as beautiful and romantic as those “always” places when you’re travelling— you’ll always see Trevi in Rome, you’ll always visit Sagrada in Barcelona, even if you’ve been there before, you go because it’s beautiful.
― I for one care less for them (flamboyant goon tie included), Sunday, 6 October 2024 15:11 (four months ago) link
i love Tauer's L'Air du desert marocain, but more than anything for its drydrown - this cumin/petitgrain thing that comes on after an hour or two of wearing, just perfect in its gesture toward a feeling or a place i've never actually inhabited in life, safe and adventuresome at the same time, midway on a journey to Rohan, the edge of the Entwood, who knows. lol
i LOVE the story about your bf; i have a kind of appel du vide whenever i'm in a small art gallery or a place like a perfume store, delicately manipulating bottles. a consistent fantasy not about the feeling of destruction but about observing the subsequent response, the panicky dealing with crisis after all of the stakes are already spent.
― sean gramophone, Monday, 7 October 2024 14:15 (four months ago) link
There is a duality here, “how it smells to the wearer” vs “how it smells to others”. I ran into a friend a few nights ago who was smelling delightful, and I told him so. He told me it was Dior Homme Sport— interesting to me that synthmusk-spicy amber is immediately a “no” when I’m touring bottles, but encountering it as part of somebody else’s presentation brought its effectiveness to the forefront. I keep trying with Tauer, the frankincense is lovely, and I’ll keep trying
― I for one care less for them (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 7 October 2024 14:45 (four months ago) link
I don’t own any Lutens myself but my better half does and the one I’ve borrowed most is https://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Serge-Lutens/Five-O-Clock-Au-Gingembre-2764.htmlI bought a friend of mine a bottle of Twilly and it’s become such a thing for her too, rarely ever works out that way. (Thank you fragrancex, also it was her birthday.)
― gyac, Monday, 7 October 2024 14:55 (four months ago) link
Twilly is wonderful, my favourite Nagel fragrance. I should reapproach Lutens with more open nostrils, whenever I see the bottles lined up I’m so perplexed by the classic status of Chergui and the Bois De [_] fragrances that my negative bias extends over all Lutens tourism
― I for one care less for them (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 7 October 2024 16:51 (four months ago) link
Twilly actually makes me think very much of dichotomy of “For the wearer/perceived by others” - it’s like an extra layer of warmth on your skin in autumn and a layer of cool in summer. I think I kind of wish it had sillage though.Galop on the other hand, I put something through the washing machine and took it out and dried it and there was still Galop around the neckline!
― gyac, Monday, 7 October 2024 16:59 (four months ago) link
Was walking along the street with partner when a woman stopped us to note that "one of you smells gorgeous".
I must admit that I enjoyed it when my partner admitted they hadn't sprayed anything on.
(It was a strange trial sampler from North Norfolk Living).
― djh, Monday, 7 October 2024 17:06 (four months ago) link
I bought a bunch of decanted samples from Scent Split, here’s some halfassed thoughts. There’s a tobacco scent I’m always looking for… this chess clock my dad owned in the 90s that smelled strongly of pipe tobacco.Moon Dust - Min New YorkAwful, gray metallic geraniums in a damp tent/sleeping bag. Genuinely ugly smelling. Imagine this is what Glastonbury starts to smell like after a few daysTobacco Oud - Tom FordTypical TF head swirling psychdelia but it dries too sweet. I just want to try all the TFs. I laughed out loud the first time I tried that Ombre leather stuff that smells like luxury car apolstry. I have a bottle of Noire de Noire, which is heady af and basically the fragrance equivalent to the outro of “whipsnade” by Suede. And Oud Wood is quite nice as well.Wood Shop - Commes des Garçons -Spicy but dries down mellow. idk, it smells too much like a sharp dressed man in the blinding sunlight for me, I need more shadows darkness mystery velvet etcBoils d’Ascèse - Naomi GoodsirThis next one smells like a western movie in the springtime? not quite sure about it but it’s definitely not bad. Bell’ Antonio - Hilde SolianiYuck, Smells like Lincoln logs or the weird musty wooden blocks my great aunt and uncle had for me to play with when I was little. I wonder if this is from a really old bottle or something. Bad gross wood.Smoke - Akroyes! oh yea we’re cooking with FLAME now. Sweet earthy but not that vanilla or marshmallow crap, this was crafted well.Deer - Wolf BrothersWhoa! Hello! I think I am really into this, slightly musky kind of… nutty? Oat-y? I guess it’s sort of like those manly soaps you get in California Wild West tourist traps. Smooth.London - Tom FordThis has some great notes but it seems a bit fleshy to me? I was really looking forward to trying this one.
― brimstead, Thursday, 31 October 2024 23:24 (three months ago) link
I wish I understood why CdG scents never cross my casual purview when I so dearly love every one of them I’ve smelled. I got a sample of Avignon and practically doused myself in all 3 mL of it all at once. “I smell like a church pew, sit on me and sing a hymn”
― Patti The Pone (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 1 November 2024 06:40 (three months ago) link
“If you are into smelling like a barn and its inhabitants then check this out.” **nods vigorously**
― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 23:41 (three months ago) link
bought 30ml of Smoke, this stuff is just too great, I needed it.also bought several more samples…Field Notes From Paris - InekeThis is more barbershop-y fresh than I thought it would be, but I don’t really know what I’m doing. It has a nice subtlety and depth I don’t get from yr typical more zingy barbershop frags.
― brimstead, Monday, 11 November 2024 16:25 (three months ago) link
nice vaguely woody dry down
― brimstead, Monday, 11 November 2024 16:26 (three months ago) link
I guess it’s a Fougere. Learning things.Sorry for 3x posts.
― brimstead, Monday, 11 November 2024 16:27 (three months ago) link
This thread is very much the more the merrier never apologise for posting here. I am getting a new bottle of Fracas for Christmas and man I missed that stuff.
― gyac, Monday, 11 November 2024 16:31 (three months ago) link
afaict a fougere is just a chypre with some lavender. I love that "add lavender" is what makes a classic scent "smell masculine". I am still in search of the perfect fougere, I have three 9/10s in my cabinet (Pour Un Homme Caron, Givenchy Monsieur, Eau de Sauvage)
Fracas is the greatest tuberose in the world, never goes out of style.
I am excited to be in Paris in a couple of weeks. I'm calling Guerlain ahead-of-time to see if I can't make a proper shopping list. Aprée L'Ondée very much on my mind
― the trombone just keeps getting bigger (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 11 November 2024 16:48 (three months ago) link
finally got a large decant of L'Artisan Parfumeur's Tuberose Ecarlate, which i adore for its bright and spritzy tomato-leaf opening. The mixture of the effervescent grapefruit and then the vegetal leaf is just wonderful to me, even if it isn't the correct season for it any more (and even though the leafiness fades really fast). Still, happy to finally have it! I was trying to avoid buying a whole bottle.
I sniffed Hermes's Rhubarb Écarlate at the airport this weekend, mostly just because of the écarlate-écarlate rhyme - what a sour explosion! curious how it wears.
― sean gramophone, Monday, 11 November 2024 17:07 (three months ago) link
I’ll have to check out Fracas, the first fragrance I really fell for was Atelier’s Cafe Tuberosa.
― brimstead, Monday, 11 November 2024 17:09 (three months ago) link
One of my cats has taken a shine to the Twilly bottle and yesterday I was moving some stuff around and he jumped on top of the storage unit I keep some of the perfume in and tried to scoop out the bottle. It fell four feet but, crucially, did not break. The lids are charming with their round bowler hats and ribbons but between those two factors they’re irresistible to curious cats.
― gyac, Monday, 11 November 2024 17:20 (three months ago) link
And yes Fracas is tuberose but like, TUBEROSE in neon pink caps like Sue in The Substance.
sean if you’re enjoying a rhubarb, try Encelade if you can (maybe at Etiket?) it’s expensive but so so divine, it was recently on sale so I bought Pat a bottle for Christmas :)
― the trombone just keeps getting bigger (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 11 November 2024 17:21 (three months ago) link
Also my better half got a sample of Aqua Vitae recently (Maison Kurkijan) and it was gorgeous but strangely reminded me of classic Irish millennial fragrance Inis, like a lot.Inis is maybe only £30 a bottle now, seriously tempted to buy some and see how it compares now. It was always one of the better ones my mother had in the bathroom (she kept number 5 in her bedroom but other stuff she got and didn’t like as much was in the bathroom for anyone to use).https://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Fragrances-of-Ireland/Inis-the-Energy-of-the-Sea-5377.html
― gyac, Monday, 11 November 2024 17:32 (three months ago) link
I just use Clubman Pinaud Virgin Island Bay Rum... it's very affordable
I do have a vintage bottle of CK One from like 1994, wonder if it's worth anything.. it's almost completely full. Also an ancient bottle of English Leather that I found at an estate sale, completely full
― Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 11 November 2024 18:13 (three months ago) link
fgti, thank you for that suggestion - i hadn't heard of Encelade. leather + rhubarb sounds very good, i'll try to drop by Etiket.
― sean gramophone, Tuesday, 12 November 2024 13:43 (three months ago) link
Smokin’ Gun - BORNTOSTANDOUTexcellent woodsy incens-y boozy with a pleasant sweetness, love it.
― brimstead, Wednesday, 13 November 2024 22:26 (three months ago) link
Yes I did just visit the Guerlain original boutique at Champs-Élysées 24
And yes I just over-spent on a flaçon of Derby. They have Mouchoir de Monsieur here too! My goodness
― the trombone just keeps getting bigger (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 22 November 2024 11:17 (two months ago) link
Original Derby in the bee bottle?
― gyac, Friday, 22 November 2024 12:14 (two months ago) link
It’s not the original bottle, it’s one of their custom flaçons. There are a number of otherwise-unavailable scents you can purchase this way. They included the ingredients, and.. it doesn’t look as if it’s been reformulated since the “official” run. Smells brilliant. I am over the moon
― the trombone just keeps getting bigger (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 22 November 2024 13:06 (two months ago) link
having been a deodorant guy for decades, i decided recently that now i'm in my forties that i want to start delving into the world of scents. i live in a city with a scent bar so i went there today for a consultation.
now, i feel like i'm very much in the "i don't know art but i know what i like" phase of experimenting with fragrances, and when anyone's like "this has top notes of xyz" i'm just like...i'll take your word for it since you seem to know what you're talking about! and i only just learned what the word "sillage" even means, like, an hour ago. but i decided that i was gonna just kinda go by instinct in the store, just hone in on what smells good to me and what is something that i would feel comfortable smelling like in public/at work.
i did know going in that i wanted to try some scents that were more earthy/woodsy than floral. i have a small bottle of le labo santal 33 at home (one of two bottles of cologne i own, and have ever owned, in my whole life) and while i like it, i wanted something with a less pronounced botanical scent than that. the guy at the store gave me a bunch of samples, and the two that "spoke" to me the most were .Oddity Naked Dance and HDK Gris Charnel. The latter has a strong fig/cardamom thing going on and it's the kind of thing i would probably only wear in moderation, but i still got a sample to take home. i ended up splurging on a bottle of the Naked Dance, it's very clayey/powdery in a way i find extremely enticing, bolstered by a very subtle citrus scent. i also tried on Anat Fritz Tzora, a somewhat peppery vetiver - i couldn't make up my mind about it in the store, but a couple hours later i decided that i love it and may get a bottle next time i go there.
in the meantime i feel like i have a lot of research to do lol. it's fun to try scents tho! i want to delve more into the ocean scents shelf next time.
― donna rouge, Monday, 3 February 2025 00:47 (one week ago) link
Welcome! Can i suggest Perfumes the Guide? It’s a great guide to fragrances, as is the recent sequel. Some descriptions of some of my favourites so you get a sense of the writing:Fracas:
Fracas (Robert Piguet) butter tuberose $$$ A friend once explained to me how Ferrari achieves that gorgeous red: first paint the car silver, then six coats of red, then a coat of transparent pink varnish. Germaine Cellier would have approved. Her masterpiece Fracas, after going through a threadbare patch in the eighties, was revived by a U.S. outfit and spruced up to a quality approximating the original as far as possible, with the usual Cellier caveats of disappeared bases (see Bandit). To my nose, what makes Fracas great is a wonderful buttery note up top, which I attribute to chamomile, and a nice bread-like iris touch in the drydown. Pink and silver, with tuberose red in between. LT
I liked to play with perfume but never thought much of it until at seventeen I found the Guerlain counter at Saks. I’d sought it out because my roommate was crazy about a forceful thing they made called Samsara, which, while something I absolutely didn’t want to wear, had a worked-out quality that seemed a notch above what I was used to. The first thing I tried was the recent release Champs-Elysées, which had the starring role on the counter. I nearly ran off…For some reason, before heading home, I looked a little further and paused at one labeled L’Heure Bleue. The eau de toilette bottles at that time had the shape of squat lutes, a black serif typeface like a printer’s error on the clear glass, and tall plastic caps imitating gilded lacquer—in a word, ugly. In this unpromising container I found the most beautiful thing I’d ever smelled. I bought it with my food budget for the month and put the silly bottle in a dark cabinet so I wouldn’t have to look at it. I wore it quietly and rarely, because I couldn’t afford to buy another, and I never told anyone what it was, because the name’s particular combination of gargling French r’s and pursed-lipped eu sounds was unprocessable by the American ear, most of all when pronounced correctly—all of which had the effect of giving my love for it the fraught significance of a secret affair. The second time I fell for a perfume, things were not so complicated. I was down to the last half inch of L’Heure Bleue in the bottle, I was out of college, and I was desultorily spraying everything on the girls’ side of Sephora, finding dozens of nice things but nothing that moved me much. Until I found that little black rubber puck. Look up Luca’s review of Bulgari’s Black farther along in the book, and then buy it and wear it and know what I mean. My first love was simply beautiful; the second was both beautiful and interesting. I began to have questions.
Black sets out boldly into space on three axes: a big, solid, sweet amber note; a muted fifties Je Reviens floral note (benzylsalicylate) as green as a banker's desk lamp; and finally a bitter-powdery, fresh rubber accord such as one encounters in specialist shops or while repairing a bicycle tire puncture. These three tunes hit you in perfect counterpoint when Black is first put on. The remarkable thing about Black's structure is the absence of top notes or drydown. Ménardo has contrived to make the harmony independent of perfume time, but very sensitive to small variations in one's perception. At different times, Black will strike you variously as a battle hymn for Amazons, emerald green plush fit for Napoleon's box at the Opéra, or just plain sweet and smiling. It also has the combination of great bones and good skin characteristic of old-fashioned perfumery, while being entirely novel and modern. Some things strive to be classics; others simply are.
These two halves, masculine and feminine, share a camphoraceous (mothball) smell, which gives Angel a covering of unsentimental, icy brightness above its overripe (some say "rotting") rumble. The effect kills the possibility of cloying sweetness, despite megadoses of the cotton-candy smell of ethylmaltol, leaving Angel in a high-energy state of contradiction. Many perfumes are beautiful or pleasant, but how many are exciting? Like a woman in a film who seethes, "He's so annoying!" and marries him in the end, I returned to smell Angel so many times I had to buy it.
― triste et cassé (gyac), Monday, 3 February 2025 01:50 (one week ago) link
But do you say “sillage” or “see-YAZH”
I’m still absent a perfect lavender. I think I may give up on irises entirely, I want a spectacular one but they’re always so… compromised
― Necka Mormon (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 3 February 2025 01:57 (one week ago) link
Oh, that was an xp. Angel is ofc an all time best. My bf puts it on in the powder room and I can smell it from the bedroom and it’s always surprising and amazing
― Necka Mormon (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 3 February 2025 02:01 (one week ago) link
I don't want to read all of this thread. I think Mitsouko by Guerlain is the most amazing scent of all time.
It is an aldehyde peach and bergamot fragrance, which is very 20th Century -- but also it has an autumn darkness with middle notes of rose, iris, clove, and jasmine, and base notes of vetiver, oakmoss, and labdanum
It is a perfect perfume for Fall, but I think also for all year round
― Dan S, Monday, 3 February 2025 02:28 (one week ago) link
I give up, if the cute women at the bar stop by a table to ask someone if they're wearing Jazz Club, I'll try Jazz Club. I'm more into fresh woody scents like cypress and cedar, though.
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Monday, 3 February 2025 02:37 (one week ago) link
Ok?!Fgti, try and see can you get a bottle of Caldey Island lavender from somewhere. They don’t make it anymore but that’s as of only a few years ago so you may be able to pick up some on eBay.
― triste et cassé (gyac), Monday, 3 February 2025 02:42 (one week ago) link
I'm gonna try that! My go-to lavender these days is Caron PUH, it is astringent in an appealing morning way, but nothing I'd wanna wear after noon
@ Dan S, Mitsouko is of course a favourite around here, I got a couple of very-vintage bottles of it and I'm pleased to report that its current formulations leave nothing to be desired. I have some vials of the "peach" aldehyde downstairs... aldehyde C14! The secret about that Mitsouko though is the odd pencil-shaving component, this kinda of lead-y smell, it's miraculous
― Necka Mormon (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 3 February 2025 03:42 (one week ago) link
Was gifted a bottle of Ombre Nomade and I really like it. It's intense. One spray carries through the entire day. My roommate asked if I could stop wearing it. My roommate uses Axe body spray.
― completely suited to the horny decadence (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 3 February 2025 08:41 (one week ago) link
Derek Guy of course has a thread about learning what scents you like
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1849229348798337203.html
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 3 February 2025 13:28 (one week ago) link
i want to delve more into the ocean scents shelf
yeah ocean scents!! no matter how much I try to explore other things I always end up back here or in woody fragrances. interested to hear what sort of ocean scents you discover.
Question for anyone: what do you do with all the 1-2ml samples you end up with but won't use up because they aren't really your thing?
― salsa shark, Monday, 3 February 2025 14:34 (one week ago) link
I usually give them to my better half first refusal, after that i usually randomly give them to other people i think might like them. I gave user Mookieproof a couple of Frederic Malle ones from a sample set but i can’t remember which ones and i don’t know if he ever used them.
― triste et cassé (gyac), Monday, 3 February 2025 14:44 (one week ago) link
Sorry, pressed enter just as i thought of something else - I also keep some in a drawer at the bedroom i stay in my parents in case i forget to bring perfume (i bring mine in atomisers so this happens more than you’d think). Good for travelling as well.
― triste et cassé (gyac), Monday, 3 February 2025 14:46 (one week ago) link
I keep em in a big shoebox, and refer to them when I want to remember. There are very few 2 mL samples that I’ve ended up buying full bottles— the only scents I have on my “I might buy that” list are the seemingly-rare CdG scents that I never see anywhere (2 Man, Black, Avignon). The night I watched Conclave at home I used up the last of my Avignon sample, perfect pairing imo
― Necka Mormon (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 3 February 2025 18:01 (one week ago) link
gyac thank you for that lovely welcoming post! i'm excited for what i find too. btw do you have a kind of travel atomiser that you like? thinking about when i eventually travel and might want to bring a lil something with me
seemingly-rare CdG scents that I never see anywhere (2 Man, Black, Avignon)
my friend was just telling me that she got her husband a bottle of 2 Man as a christmas gift, which she ordered online at luckyscent but had to pick up in person at scent bar. so it theoretically still exists in LA
that derek guy thread is good! not sure how ilx at large views him but i always find his threads v. informative
― donna rouge, Tuesday, 4 February 2025 15:23 (one week ago) link
i just throw away samples i don't like, i don't want them around me.
donna, you might want to try Soul of the Forest by Maison Margiela's REPLICA line. ok i'm biased, it's the first fragrance i fell in love with. but if you want to smell like a woody forest floor in the morning or something, i'd check it out.
i'm waiting for my full size of Deer by Wolf Brothers to arrive from Poland.
― brimstead, Tuesday, 4 February 2025 15:39 (one week ago) link
Autumn Vibes is another Maison Margiela worth a sample... It's like a walk through a forest in October
I recently got a sample of Wolf by Wolf Brothers - absolutely loved the opening and first hour or so, was very optimistic that I'd finally found the autumn/winter scent I'd been looking for, then super struggled with the leatheriness and manliness of the dry down.
I'm a boyish lady and broadly happy to ignore masc/fem labels on fragrances but I was caught out this time. So, anyone finds a potentially less manly Wolf equivalent... let me know
― salsa shark, Tuesday, 4 February 2025 20:43 (one week ago) link