Three-Way Swap!!! Yeah, Baby!!!

Patty came up with the genius idea that she, Marina (of Perfume-Smellin Things) and I do a blind fragrance swap. We’d each send the others 6 to 8 sample vials of fragrances we’d selected from our collections, and then gather up their impressions and comments and post them. I’m going to do my Big Reveal on what I sent out today, tomorrow they’ll offer a rebuttal, and they’ll humilate me and each other in future posts, so stay tuned.

I tried to pick fragrances across the price and exclusivity spectrum. I think we all discovered that it was REALLY HARD to work blind like that. It’s one thing to sit down with a decant of Serge Lutens Gris Clair and the perfume notes from some online research and go, yeah, it smells like lavender and dry woods or whatever. It’s another to sit down with Sample A and try to talk about it.

I named my samples randomly, using the goofy Alphabet Wall Cards in the kids’ bedroom. I sent six identical samples to Patty and Marina. Here’s what they had to say about them:

Dragonfly
Patty said: Kind of a floral thing, a little tart? There’s a plastic-smelling note in there. I hope it goes away, because it’s not bad without it. Dries down fairly nicely, but still has that something in there.
Marina said: Smells very pretty and somehow very familiar. I feel as if I should know this one. I got so paranoid; I actually went to smell my Songes. No, it’s not Songes. But something along those lovely, feminine, rather tropical lines. Jasmine, orange blossom, ylang ylang, maybe orange or tangerines as well. Vanilla in the drydown. I quite like it; it may be full bottle worthy for summer. Please don’t tell me it’s Baby Phat Goddess.
It was Gap Scent Editions Spun Orange Blossom EDT (now half off the original $24 price). This is a decent orange-blossom fragrance which reminds me quite a bit of S-Perfumes Sloth. It’s got that same weird, mildly industrial note which P did not find pleasant. It’s fairly lightweight, not unexpected at this price point. Marina, if you want a bottle, get busy, they’re discontinued! Hey, at least it’s not Goddess.

Jaguar
Patty said: Is this Eau de Leopard in Heat? Nasty, I won’t be wearing this again. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to use that arm again, what a horror show.
Marina said: I tried it twice and had different, but still favorable, impressions each time. First time it seemed simpler, more linear, sort of herbal-citrusy. The second time it smelled like a sophisticated Perfume with capital P. Sophisticated to an extent that I am going to wildly guess this is a Guerlain of some sort. I think I smell bergamot, something green, maybe jasmine as well, maybe even a sweet rose, some fresh lily of the valley. I am sure I am completely mistaken here, but I am going to guess Guerlain Parure. Or, alternatively, Coty Emeraude.
It was Dior Diorella EDT ($50ish new), a fragrance classic that I believe Chandler Burr described as mint toothpaste on a mink coat. I adore Diorella, which is a citrus-bergamot-fruit-jasmine confection with an animalic undertone. Unfortunately it is great on me half the time, and half the time the drydown goes veeeery wrong. I am not surprised Patty loathed its skank, and good job Marina on recognizing a grown-up Perfume with a capital P.

Quetzal
Patty said: 4711!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or something equally as happy and light. Quetzal is fizzing too. Did you put baking soda in these vials first? I still like this, fizzy time bomb or not. Dries down to a not very memorial, but not obnoxious smell.
Marina said: I am guessing Guerlain here again. Or a vintage Caron. This has depth, this has powderiness, this has a little something animalic going on. This has skank. I have done a post on both once but I don’t own either and must admit I do not remember them very vividly, so,¦I am guessing Guerlain Vol de Nuit or Caron En Avion. Both had that dirty, dark, musky thing going on amidst all that classic sophistication. If I am mistaken (which I probably am), I am eagerly awaiting to know what this seductive, classic potion is.
It was vintage Coty lࢠOrigan (bought, not cheaply, on eBay and in excellent condition). My entry in the Vintage category. I have smelled the current iteration, and I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. When I think of the glory that was Coty, I guess it’s cry… Anyway, I spilled a ton of this down the sink using one of Patty’s early April Fool presents: a glass vial with TWO open ends. I don’t decant much (or maybe I’m just a moron) and it took me awhile to diagnose the problem while watching the juice run down the drain. Me: {spraying carefully}: “Dang! Why doesn’t this thing fill up?!?” Anyway, it is fizzy because the bottle is pressurized. I think it’s quite sophisticated in the drydown, and it has the dirty smell of an old classic, and I mean dirty in the best possible way.

Fox
Patty said: Kill.me.again. This one is gas fumes in a vial. Is this perfume or did you mix it up with paint thinner? I can’t leave this on, excuse me while I go find the Boraxo. The single worst thing I have ever smelled. The vial was mismarked, it should be “Nose Napalm.”
Marina said: Foxy little number indeed. Dry, herbal beginning is scrumptious. I am not sure what the herb here is. Thyme? Basil? Both? A slightly citrusy feel to this too, but it is very subtle. Sometimes I smell a lot of incense in the beginning and the middle, sometimes just a little. The drydown is always incensey, ambery, cedary and still a little herbal. This is full bottle worthy for me for sure. The scent has a Diptyque feel to it, and I am frantically trying to remember which one of the Diptyques I haven’t tried might fit what I smell. L’Eau Trois? Unless it is SMN Citta di Kyoto, or perhaps it is Laura Tonatto Amir? Parfums de Nicolai Maharadjah? Hmm.
It was Lorenzo Villoresi Piper Nigrum ($65 for 50 ml on lacremebeauty.com). Dill, anise, fennel, peppermint, citrus, pepper, olibanum, petitgrain, clove, rosemary amber, styrax, benzoin, balsam, myrrh, cedarwood. A dark, heavy incense and herb concoction, my entry in the Niche category, which was the hardest because Patty and Marina have smelled it all (and P owns most of it). As you can see, opinions on this one differed wildly! I liked it a lot, and I’m not surprised Marina was nuts for it (and she was spot-on in her guesses), but am a little surprised by how repulsed P was. She likes incense, but definitely not this one! I’ll admit it’s not timid.

Xanthos
Patty said: this thing fizzed at me when I opened it? Is it Alka Seltzer? Nope. Smells pretty good actually. A welcome relief from the feral cat in heat. Very light and pretty, I’m pretty much liking this. Except it just disappeared! Maybe the Fox crept up my arm and smothered it.
Marina said: Ugh. The scary thing about this one is, when you open the vial, it goes ‘pop’ rather loudly, and if you look inside, this concoction is actually bubbling. I swear. As for the juice itself, it is sweet and girly. I smell cherries or some sort of berries and/or fruits and anise. Rose. Vanilla. It’s not exactly offensive or vile, just very PINK and generic and sweet. Spears Fantasy? Very Resiter Irresistible? Or perhaps that Oilily scent, about which you once posted?
It was Coty Exclamation! Yeah, that stupid one at the drugstore with the big “!” on the bottle instead of the name. (CVS, spray bottle, $4.99) This was my entry in the drugstore category. It came in a pressurized container (it’s a body mist) hence the complaints about the fizziness. Good observation, ladies! Really, it could have been worse. Marina did discern that it wasn’t exactly top drawer stuff. I’m kind of with Patty on this one, though. I wore it all day and didn’t have to cut my arm off. It’s just really sweet, girly and inoffensive. Has approximately the staying power you’d expect for a $4.99 spray mist, which is why it comes in a hairspray-size can.