Perfume / Cologne

SERGE LUTENS MUSCS KOUBLAI KHAN!

I am curious about Frédéric Malle. A woman came into my store the other week wearing Portrait of a Lady, and it smelled so lovely.

I am also curious about the various perfumes from Etat Libre d'Orange (although not Sécrétions Magnifiques, that sounds horrible) but I am slightly intimidated about going into to the store that stocks it.

I really like Etat Libre d'Orange.

I don't know if it's the same in the US, but some of the online stores that stock it will sell you twenty samples and let you get a discount, to the value of the samples, if you buy a full bottle.

I have Encens et Bubblegum (which is self-explanatory) and Rien (which is quite a bold, powdery leather). A lot of their fragrances are more interesting in theory than in practice so the sample route is a good one to go down.

In my experience, some of the stores that stock their stuff really don't like the brand for some reason.

Serge Lutens is also great, of course.

Sample set: http://www.escentual.com/etat-libre-dorange/elo_025/

I miss my days of wearing cologne. My main scent was a really cheap one: OP Juice!

http://100mililitros.com/store/images/P/OP-Juice-M500.jpg

The bottle had a weird rubber outer covering that made it feel like a sex toy, but if you accidentally dropped it on the ground it wouldn't break. However, that little tab on the nozzle would always break off, so I'd have to depress it with a key or a pen cap or something. Went through three bottles of the stuff in the early 2000s. Smelled like cucumbers, bergamot, with a hint of cardamom? A really good fresh springtime/summertime scent. My wife hated it and said it smelled synthetic. I don't believe her, but I don't wear it anymore either.

i worry sometimes that i'm just completely indiscriminate when it comes to scents, because I love so many. There are some that I dislike, even hate, but I really just love the whole concept of perfume, and there are so many wonderful smells in the world.

― 1 P.3. Eternal (roxymuzak), Wednesday, August 21, 2013 6:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

AGREE!! a million times agree. i think i only generally dislike fruity scents but grapefruit notes are usually ok. lemon sometimes. i love most non-noxious smells.

I am curious about Frédéric Malle

At Barney's they have those smelly tubes you can dunk your head into and really get into those scents. To be honest I'm not a big fan of most Frédéric Malle but the Bigerade is really, really special. Orange peel.

I also like the alcohol-free Le Labo, I forget what it's called, but it's good for kids, like, designed for your baby. I've three times given it as gifts to the parents of my godkids/nieces and they've loved it.

I met a guy in 2005 and he was wearing a really intensely beautiful cologne, it was really intense. It converted me from the "wearing cologne is vain" to the "wearing cologne is a treat for yourself and those around you". I tried to smell-remember the scent he was wearing because I was too shy to ask him what it was. Years later, I found it-- Creed "Silver Mountain Water"-- designed for Grace Kelly, I think?-- smells like honeysuckle (but I'm told it's actually black currant). Apparently Bowie is famous for wearing it. I have a small bottle but I'm rarely in a situation where it is called for, it's pretty flamboyant.

Creed stuff is all really good but prohibitively expensive :( I treat myself every few years when I'm in London. I like Millesme and Vetiver.

oh, that sounds amazing. bowie tidbit doesn't hurt. i want to smell it!

how far are we from smellovision, as a culture

I wear Floris "Eau de Santal"...haven't spent much time smelling around, but most non-luxury men's fragrances smell like a teenager's shower gel ime so I'm happy with the one I have.

Also nervous of getting super into fragrances because ££££.

It is such big business, too! If ever I make that hit record the first thing I'm gonna do is design and market a scent

There are lots of good non-luxe scents around that can be picked up really cheaply at discount places. Bulgari Black is lovely and i think i paid about £15 for a bottle a couple of years ago.

You can also get great mid-range ones(Comme des Garcons, Etat Libre d'Orange, Miller Harris, Guerlin, etc) without paying astronomical prices.

The Luca Turin / Tania Sanchez guide is a good starting point for suggestions.

whatever happened to the nose who posted here? was that person for real?

Oh many I love perfumes but my love have been stifled upon obtaining a sneezy spouse.

feel like the time is right for me to start enjoying a good basic scent. i'm really cheap though. wonder if there's anything ok under 50 bucks.

Oh yes, definitely! Do you have some idea of what you like/don't like?

there needs to be a Shazam for perfume! sometimes i smell something so good and want to know what it is without asking, or i don't know who to ask. also sometimes i smell someone that smells terrible and i want to be sure to avoid their perfume at all costs.

has anyone tried scents that purposely smell like bodily fluids like Secretions Magnifiques? from a customer review:

THE SCENT: It's fear sweat. Hot, semi-sour, salty, and immediately recognizable from human evolution. I'm frightened to ask how they achieved this! It's also sickness, something sick and hot and possibly dead nearby. Blood? Maybe in the saltiness, maybe the sour tang has a pinch of blood too but mostly it's the smell of fear to me. In less emotionally-linked terms about an hour later, it does smell like LOW TIDE FISHINESS/SALT + MILK left in the sun to spoil.

i don't want to smell like bloody jizz btw i'm just intrigued by the idea of conceptual art fragrance. i wish you could get a box of a bunch of little samples of them like the harry potter jellybeans.

yeaaaahhh nope

favorite perfume ever is Lolita Lempicka

too cheap to buy a new bottle at the moment so I googled around for similar-smelling perfumes and bizarrely found out that the consensus was on Jessica Simpson's 'Fancy' now discontinued & available at every Ross/TJMaxx for like $10. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close. Has nowhere near the staying power though. Lolita Lempicka, it was good for the whole day if you put it on in the morning

funnest thing is ppl saying ooh you smell good and telling them I'm wearing some Chicken of the Sea Jessica Simp perfume :D

You used to be able to get a box of little samples from Etat Libre d'Orange! A lot of places would credit the cost against a full bottle so they were effectively free. I'm not sure if they still do that, or whether Secretions Magnifiques is still one of them, but it's worth checking. It doesn't smell great, tbh, but a lot of their other ones are very good.

Lolita Lempicka is terrific too. I need to get another bottle of that.

i have asked strangers what scent they are wearing. mixed results.

i don't usually like fragrances, but i've been wearing tokyo milk's gin and rosewater. it's young, fresh, and not too heavy, as long as i apply it with a bit of restraint.

After a 18 months on it and I'm still addicted to it I guess I'm Philosykos for life now. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. It's damn expensive but then the last bottle of the parfum, which is manlier I think than the toilette, did last me 8 months or so, so.... It's a bit of a hit shelling out the cash when you do need to though.

http://www.diptyqueparis.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/523x768/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/p/h/philosykos_resize.jpg

It is a little sad to be with someone who sneezes at every perfume I own/love.

Fragrance also an absolute no-no at new gig.

Missing u, fancy smells.

:(

I love the nose who created Philosykos, Olivia Giacobetti. She did two of my favorites: En Passant (for Frederic Malle) and Ofresia (Diptyque). I have a sample of Philosykos but it's too woody for me, but I love it on others.

My current fave is Geranium Odorata (also Diptyque. I get so many compliments on it) and my all-time favorite is L'Eau d'Hiver (Jean-Claude Ellena for Frederic Malle).

i got a sample of molecule 01 by escentual molecules - i layered it with flower by kenzo, and it's a nice combo, but i don't think it's any better than the kenzo on its own. def not as mindblowingly unique as i was led to believe.

i had a subscription with olfactif for a few months, hoping to find a new scent, but i found most of them really really repulsive - like, outright unpleasant.

I think i'm getting into fragrances! I just bought a v small bottle of Maison Martin Margiela (untitled) which is like SO green and grassy with undertones of musk, omg, so good! Also v much into Comme des Garcons Sherbet: Rhubarb (on fgti's recommendation) and it really smells like rhubarb! It's like tart and sweet and so intersting, I love it so! I've also got a small sample of Terre d'Hermes which on paper was interestingly bitter and hyper-woody (like pine sap) but on my skin just smells like a very pleasant but very approachable men's cologne

I'm about to order like 6 Comme des Garcons samples from luckyscent (2, Odeur 53, Odeur 71, Amazingreen, Guerrilla 1, Guerrilla 2) and am v excited to try them out.

I'm really into things that are not assertively masculine or feminine and are also really strange and unique, like "oh wow I would never imagine they would make a perfume smell like THAT but I quite like it!". Numerous ppl have also recommended that I check otu CB I Hate Perfume which I am going to sample next time I'm in NYC

but yeah am v new to all of this and am open to any recommendations of grassy + musk, or just intriguing and unique gender-neutral frags of all types

rly I just want to smell like the weirdo that I already am

Commes des Garcons Wonderwood is really nice - been wearing that for a while. In the recent past I've also worn Clinique's Happy and Chanel for men.

I also have a few of those Demeter "fragrance library" things - the "dirt" one is quite good, kinda smells like a forest floor, but in a good way. I got some in Duane Read last time I was in NYC - some are more for use in rooms rather than on yourself, though it can be hard to decide about this. A lot of them are quite generic smells that get used in theatre, by Punchdrunk or other interactive companies - kinda depends how much you want to smell like "rain" or "bubblegum".

I bought one called "funeral home" to try and see if I would actually wear it, it sort of smells like cold sad memories of death - lily and chemicals - prob more a curio than anything else.

They're worth messing around with though, some of them make quite good and unusual scents.

stevie i think you may enjoy BPAL
this is a good way to sample
i had a severe problem for a while but then i switched to making my own blends
http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/imps-ears/

fragrancenet.com has really good deals, but i don't think they offer any indie stuff.

stevie, i'm really getting into perfumes, too! i generally prefer unisex/neutral scents to really strong masculine or feminine ones as well.

i tried the ineke library sample box, which comes in beautiful packaging, but the scents are all really really soapy :/

stevie give guerlain vetiver a sniff and tell me what you think!

Quite enjoyed a sample set of Murdock's colognes - http://www.murdocklondon.com/

xp I will track down this Guerlain Vetiver if I can find it!

Quite enjoyed a sample set of Murdock's colognes - http://www.murdocklondon.com/

i used to get my hair cut here - these are nice

I almost looked for a fragrance thread last week!

I am very much uncultured when it comes to perfume/cologne, but I definitely feel like I have some strong preferences when it comes to scents.

Very interested in Commes des Garcons' interest in non-standard fragrances. Wondering what Odeur 53 smells like.

If you are interested in smelling like modern furniture this is cool http://comme-des-garcons-parfum.com/perfumes/artek-standard/

those kind of scents are the best imo. i mean it's nice to have a fairly affordable daily thing that smells like you've just showered, but mainly you want your clothes to accumulate some kind evocative musk that people aren't sure is a scent.

I stopped wearing fragrance when I was pregnant because puuuuuuuuke, then I didn't start again when the baby was an infant because it majorly weirds me out when she smells like something other than herself, but I have been feeling like I want to smell like something again. Of course right about the time I made that decision, we got a firm-wide email asking us to refrain from using "chemical scents" although it was very vague as far as whether that pertained to like air fresheners or personal care products or if it is the latter, putting them on at work versus putting them on at home. I think it's more of a "be considerate" kind of thing.

I've been using White Rabbit from BPAL as my main smell for a few years. Maybe I'd like to branch out? Body chemistry does change after childbirth/breastfeeding/when we get older. I'm not sure what I'd like to smell like, though. Something... interesting.

Anyway, good call reviving this thread, Stevie.

mainly you want your clothes to accumulate some kind evocative musk that people aren't sure is a scent.

YES! Exactly so!

My mom has used Clinique Aromatics Elixer for my entire life and even when she doesn't wear it, her ~~aura~~ seems to carry that essence and I love it. I want people to associate a smell with me.

A good smell, I should say.