It’s a girl… with a wicked bad cold, feverish, sniffling hacking, drooling. Yup, that’s me. Shortly after our return from New York, I sneezed twice, and then my head blew up and went off the cliff with one of the worst colds I’ve had in years decades.
Suffering a loss of smell and fever delusions, y’all will just have to put up with my 103-degree mental meanderings, but I promise they will be brief and *giggling* probably incomprehensible. This is as close to posting under the influence as I’m likely to get.
Do I still enjoy perfume as much now? I think so, but then I smell some disappointments or stuff that is the same as the last three releases at 3x the price and get pessimistic. After much reflection recently, I find deep at my core, I still adore perfume and the whole olfactory marketing mess — the good, the bad, the ugly. Even when they churn out crap that’s only worth poking fun at, or we are bombarded by 7,46,023 new releases a month, or the price goes north of $200 a bottle, or they produce something that you can only buy if you secure passage to Mars, or the marketing material reads like Lady Chatterly’s Lover rewritten by a lovesick 13-year-old. Love it. Love the process, adore the perfumers who make that magic happen, even when given impossible budgets and sketches to work from. They make memories, old and new, appear out of molecules and imagination.
For those of you new to the perfume journey, don’t let us that have (*sung to Bon Jovi’s “Dead or Alive“) sniffed them all throw you off. For those of you new to perfume, what is your favorite/least favorite thing so far you have discovered about perfume. For you old hands, same thing – what do you hate the most about perfume and love the most. On the line as a prize… hmmm, what have I got around here? How about a sample from my cute little red girl of – wheee!!! – Isabela Capeto and a sample of the new Le Labo Vanille 44 thingie from Paris when I get some next week. Just drop a comment, and you’ll be treated to my whacked out on aspirin reply. You lucky, lkcy, lukcyw people.
Get well soon Patty! I have been bravely resisting the cold, even though everyone around me seems to have turned into a snot machine lately!
Sorry to hear about your illness, I hope you feel better soon. The only thing that really helps me is taking lots of Nyquil and avoiding consciousness as much as possible.
As for me, I have a reductionist answer.
The thing I love most about perfume is that moment when you first spray something and it has the perfect affinity for your skin. Choirs of angels burst out in arias, and for a moment, all those hours of searching and striving and snuffling are made worthwhile, because you’ve found your soulmate at last. I think it is for those moments of olfactory epiphany that we all pursue perfume.
What I hate most about perfume is rather the flipside of the coin: I hate it when people rave them selves quite purple (granted, perfumes smell different to everyone), often because the name is clever or it’s a Serge Lutens. In the aubergine haze of reviews you want to scream out, SHUT UP! Smell with sense, with discretion, and don’t write what is beyond your powers! I often find that false epiphanies over niches turn me off worse than the generics, but that may be an inherent snobbism at work, and of course, perfume is incredibly subjective (but my point is, that’s where we get into trouble). Also, I hate fruity scents. SL Bois et Fruits is a lone exception.
I love how the same perfume will smell different on every person and even smell different on me at times. I love the amazing bloggers and how perfume people are so generous and helpful to a newbie. My favorite thing though is my big basket of samples, I love running them through my fingers (picture Golam and his “precious”).
I hate that most of my friends and family think that I have gone a little crazy with my perfume obsession. :d/
A hot bath and a warm bed are what I recommend for everything, colds included. Feel better.
LOVE: What a fun hobby this has become, and how smelling so many different scents makes me happy. Then: the many warm, friendly people I met at the Sniffa in NYC this fall, including Chandler Burr (enjoyed a chat with his lovely mom too). His book “The Emperor of Scent” first drew me into researching perfumes a few years ago, which is how I found this online community.
Don’t LOVE: Some of the NYC Sniffa events were a little too crowded to be comfortable, and some people seem to be stressed out about the gift bags (afraid they’d miss out on freebies!). I guess managing crowds of perfumistas is a nice problem to solve, though (props to the Karen’s…) And I’m sad I have a conflict with the Spring Sniffa event so won’t see you there.
LOVE: Free samples! Thanks for entering me in your drawing.
Also LOVE: Buying fragrances from independent perfumers/niche houses. I’d budget for more if the prices were lower, but I know how hard it is to keep a small business viable, and I don’t begrudge the prices that they need to charge.
Patty,
I hope that you get better as soon as possible. Did you get a flu shot for this winter season? Alas, what I dislike the most about fragrances, is that so many that I love to wear (read many “niche” fragrances) would not be truly acceptable out in “general” public. What I like the most is that there’s always a new scent just around the corner for me to try.
lurker only outing myself for the temptation of the vanille 44.
i adore that moment when you *know* a scent is forever yours or a scrubber. its come up to skin temp. you gesture, look to your left and catch a whiff. continue your thought yet have the satisfied thoughts of a scent well done. Or you wish a shower was imminent. but either way, You Know. no more wondering. Fin.
i’m not so fond of the marketing. or rather lack of marketing for the small houses…more exposure might…just be good. can you imagine being in a elevator with sillage done right? instead of bodies coated in 12.99 french vanilla spray?
Be well.
~
I was scared of the SAs. Too fierce. I’d learn a little about perfume online before my next trip to the mall, I thought. Before I knew it I had fallen down the rabbit-hole into an alternate universe of generous, kind people and astonishing scents. I explored. I could get samples, and decants, and there were codes and sales. Oh, my. I learned the difference between pikake and patchouli, verbena and vetiver, even orris and aoud! Then one day, I applied a few drops to my wrist and sniffed. I -GOT -IT. Tabac Blond, c’est moi. I am loving this journey!
There are folks who use scent too heavily or inappropriately. Sigh.
Hate: the fact that I will probably never smell Iris Gris, Sycomore by Chanel, and Le Fruit Defendu by Rosine. The fact that I can’t get Le Labo in Boston. The fact that all of my lemmings are out of my price range. But most of all, I hate that 99.99999% of mens scents smell exactly the same, or smell like cheap imitations of Acqua di Gio and Angel. And I hate that mainstream perfumers don’t take chances and change the fact that all non-niche scents are fruity florals.
Love: the thing I love the most is the sense of history and aura of pure beauty that surrounds perfume. Honestly, I love the amount of gorgeous prose that is generated in the perfume world more than I love even smelling scents. That’s the english major in me.
And please enter me in the drawing!! I HAVE to smell the Vanille 44!
Men’s scents have been too much the same for too many years, I agree. But there are much better ones out now than have been out there for many years, so that’s good!
I find the whole male-female marketing thing rather tiresome. Although I don’t like white florals, I love violet & muguet, and wish I could find a rose frag that I can wear.
I find it interesting that when I’m discussing frags with an SA, I’ll say I like X, and he/she will say “then you’ll LOVE this!” and give me a strip with something … well, modern and young and undistinguished. That’s another thing I hate.
Recently, I obtained a sample of Geoffrey Beene’s Grey Flannel, which I hadn’t tried for many years (I think someone, maybe Lee, mentioned it here a few months ago & it got me thinking). Once I got beyond a rather harsh set of topnotes, it settled down into a simple lavender-violet duet … this reminded me of the lavender-floral dialogue in Andy Tauer’s Reverie au Jardin & made me wish for another try at that frag and to wish also for spring, and an end to miserable January in Illinois (well, it’s not that bad this year but I always grumble during Northern winters). That’s another thing I love about perfumes: the way the memory of one can enter into dialogue with whatever you’re trying.
And then you think, “that’s nice, but I wish it were more this or that …” and then you’re off on the chase again. One comes to appreciate the itching desire, the passion, that forges a perfumer from a simple aficionado.
Just a newbie delurking, so I know the answer is probably a tired “yes”, but you’ve tried the way Montale works roses? I can’t get over how much better their work is than other things….but then I haven’t exactly gone searching out rose as I don’t like it. Unless it from their hands.
I know what you mean about the SA….add a complete lack of knowledge. It really irks me now that I know there is a reference book that any serious fragrance counter should have, and they never bothered to consult it.
I don’t know what I’d have done without samples.
Debbie
Love: Sharing my love of scents with people like you Patty, and others (Basenotes, etc.)
Hate: being allergic to certain notes sucks! Like my allergy to pine (I can’t enjoy Blenheim Bouquet…how sad) and certain aldehydes (can you say Chanel..?)
Please take care of yourself Ms. Patty – your nose is very precious to all of us out here in Posse cyber space.
I’d love to be entered in the drawing! The Le Labo sounds wickedly good…
Ah,thanks Mike, you are too kind. I hope that Le Labo is good.
Excellent advice! I did spritz some L’eau d’hiver, but I can barely smell anyway, so….
It is a world of shorthand. I always feel bad for the new person stumbling in, and I hope they feel like they can ask questions if someone uses shorthand and they don’t know what it means.
well, i’m new, and have been scouring this site and a few other perfume blogs such as “smellin things,” and i have to say that the community here is very nice, so i have no fear of asking questions or commenting. in fact, i find it wonderful that people can register extreme love or extreme hate for various perfumes, and yet everyone has enough respect for others’ opinions that no one is ever rude or condescending about others’ choices (at least, not the frequent commenters). and the more i read, the more of the shorthand i pick up.
so, thanks to the perfume posse and all the perfumistas who comment here for creating a fun, loving and intelligent perfummunity!
right there with you on the cold front. look forward to feeling better soon – hope you get there, soon, too!
i love the off-chance of getting to smell something i’ve never smelled before – something that takes me someplace new. it doesn’t have to be a new perfume. in fact, it’s often something vintage that connects. also love the time-traveling aspect of perfume. i’ve called it a molecular time machine in my poetry. these are what keep me in the hunt despite all the b.s..
Beautifully put. I hope you get well soon too!!!
Hey, P — I love, love, love that hat. Need one just like it.
Don’t enter me in the draw, don’t bother responding to this comment, and feel better soon. Maybe some flannel jammie time this weekend?
Hah. Not likely given your schedule, I know.:(
It’s always jammie time!
Dearest Patty, get well soon! Wrap your wrists in two of those beautiful Hermes scarves–if you can’t smell, Hermes will still give the beauty we all are finding through these perfumes you’ve reviewed.
I love most: The conversations. I would never have imagined the beautiful community that I have found here and on the boards. Generosity leaps out nearly every day. I, like so many newbies, was initially blown away by what is available by perfumers around the world. I, too, love reading everyone’s writing on perfumes as much the perfumes themselves. When I caught a reviewer using the word “chiaroscuro” when reviewing Mona di Orio’s Lux, I instantly jumped into the abyss. The intelligence, beauty, generosity, and sheer charm has warmed this Southerner’s heart.
What I hate–exactly the opposite to what I love: the days that the mailbox is empty! :d Isn’t that a hoot?!
Hate the empty mailbox. Mine was empty the last couple of days,and it’s just so sad!!!
In my previous post, I forgot to add that I’d like to be entered in the drawing.
Thanks!
Debbie
Love: the mystery of it all. The way you can never tell what smells “right” from one day to the next, and how the same notes worked by different hands can smell worlds apart. I like how I’ll put something away in the back of my collection, sure that I never want to see it again, and then search frantically for it a few months later for no other reason than I mysteriously crave it. And how much more fun it is to wear a scent *before* you know its notes.
Hate: the elitism. On every level, but especially production. Sometimes I want to shake people and scream, “You make/sell/market perfume, not the cure for cancer! Lighten up!”
I know, sometimes people take themselves way too seriously. Perfume should be fun or a fantasy or whimsy, but never serious.
Woman, I would love to get my grubby little paws on a sample of Isabela Capeto and Le Labo Vanille 44, ’cause I loves me some osmanthus (the IC) and adore, simply adore, Le Labo Iris 39. So, please count me in. Thank you!
I hope you feel better, but I have to admit that I am beyond impressed that you are able to blog in your distressed and feverish state. I would be under, not in, the bed if I had a cold the likes of yours.
Anyway, I think you hit the nail on the head about what’s to love and loathe in the perfume industry. There is such a thin line between love and hate (hey, that’s a song, too!), that I must say that at the end of the day, perfume, no matter how bad it can be, makes me feel alive and electric with excitement. I just pre-ordered Chandler Burr’s book about the perfume industry, and I can’t wait to read it!
Again, feel better, my friend.
Much love!
Oh, i’ve been so used to working sick, but this has been harder than normal!
you will enjoy Chandler’s book. I’m hoping that either I or all three of us can do a review on it next week. There are a few places that go slow, but not very many, and it was a great read!
Hello Patty,
I hate to live far from the houses and good perfume stores, what make almost impossible to get a fool bottle of most of my favorite juyces (thank you guys I can get saples and try!).
I love that thing you feel when you wear something really good, and you fell confident, sexy, gorgeus, and nothing can make you feel bad.:)
IT is hard, but thank goodness for the mail and delivery systems, I agree!
o yes, and hope you feel better soon!
also, please enter me in the drawing!
from a newbie:
i love: everything i’ve smelled from serge lutens. 🙂 the line embodies everything i love about my newfound world of scent – it’s a gorgeous, emotive work of art, usually with a touch of the ugly or the weird that makes one focus on “just what makes something beautiful, anyway?” i also love perfume because it is a bit of something sensual that forces me to turn my daydreamy brain to something in the real world as i sniff my wrist throughout the day – it’s both grounding and fantasy-filled all at once!
i hate: the fact that certain perfumes aren’t available in the u.s., and to some extent, the high prices – but the perfumed court has been helping me out on both counts! to TPC: “viva le revolution! art to the people!” :d:d
Serge does like his kinks. He wa my introduction into smelling something not traditionally beautiful and finding out how much fun that could be!
Love the hat – but what is that item hanging on the side???
I apply perfume at night just for myself. Whatever problems I encounter during the day, the thought that I will have that lovely aromatherapy to sleep with is healing.
I hate that the exclusiveness of the Vanille 44 did add to the allure.
Feel better Patty, I hope before that whole roll is used up!!@};-
Yeah, I can’t figure the Vanille 44.We almost didn’t get it and had to think long and hard about it, but it seems to be in demand. I hope it’s good. My favorite of the city specific lines has been the Aldehyde, which I just adore.
Here’s what I love: I can smell different (and beautiful) every day for 5 months, that I can take a little break from the world just by smelling my wrists, that I’ve gotten other people interested in perfumes that can’t be found in their department store, and that picking my perfume every morning has become a special and reflective time for me.
I hate: to see SAs in department stores pushing overpriced crap on unsuspecting gift-buyers, too much sillage in confined spaces, bottles that are unwieldy.
Feel better, Patty. Drink lots of water and use Vicks at night.
Don’t yhou just want to go drag the bottle out of their hands when you see that and say, no, no! you don’t want that, it blows
Argh, you got the NYC Winter 08 plague. So sorry, we should have warned you about entering the viral zone here. After a wk of zinc tabs, chicken soup & ginger tea mine morphed into sinus crud so now I have doctor medicine. Blargh. Still can’t smell anything properly.
What I love about perfume (when my nose works. argh) is the way it has opened a completely new sensory world for me. I’ve always enjoyed smell as an adjunct to taste but now I have a whole new way of experiencing that sense. Would be more descriptive of what that means to me but I have antibiotic brain, I’m a bit dull all over.
What I dislike: it’s all been mentioned. The astronomical prices. And also the marketing. When I first started I remember trying to determine what scents might work for me. I could tell absolutely nothing from the marketing. Even at the grass roots end of things, say on the BPAL site, it’s all gibberish. Thank heavens for perfume blogs! Seriously, you guys here & Marina on PerfumeSmellin were my entry into this world.
And yes pleeeeeeease put my name in the Le Labo hat 🙂 And feel better soon!!!
Is that what I have?!? Yikes, you poor thing, I feel for you. Miserable thing, it is.
Marketing materials are just comical beyond belief, even while it tells you mothing.
Dear Patty,
I am an expert on colds. In fact, perfume and stuffy noses are kind of intertwined in a nerve wracking, fine line dance in my life. I have allergies which always lead to colds so sometimes when I get too excited about smelling my latest batch of samples I can feel the nose start to tickle, the lungs get tight. I suffer for my love, you see, and I am so scornful of those people who say that they can’t wear perfume because it gives them headaches. What wimps! Hah! They know nothing. You have to persevere, keep trying, sniff everything. I LOVE to read about perfume and I LOVE to smell it. I am never so happy as when there is some perfume in the mailbox and I fetch it then take it in a corner to wrestle the package open like a dog with a new treat. Speaking of which — Grrrr… pls enter me in the drawing!!!! Sarah P
What a great story. I know I would do the same if I were you, and I think it’s amazing that you just keep working through it, just to get to the smell.
He he, enjoy the delirium , Patty:). No, seriously, I hope you feel better.
I hate elitisem and empty claims as well as cloning of some successful perfumes till they do them in. Love the hunt and the buzz I get from just reading about something that seems “perfect”. Recognizing notes and being surprized at how something developes on the skin still thrills me. I’m undesided whether I love or hate the fact that the hunt is never over and there’s no end in sight…
Speaking of which, I would love to be in the drawing, thanks!
That was supposed to be elitism
There is something freeing about just relaxing into being sick. Once you stop fighting it.
Yikes! How awful about your cold! Hope you are taking it easy (extremely) and feel better *soon*.
Perfumes basically are my drug of choice and always have been – the only type of alcohol I abuse (DH calls me an external alcoholic). They help me alter my mood throughout the day (I switch off scents according to what I need), they instantly take me to places I want to be, they comfort me to the extreme. I also adore the thrill of the hunt for new scents. I actually have discovered I don’t particularly trust people who don’t care for perfume. There was a morning news person a while back who dismissed all perfumes other than Jean Nate. Haven’t been able to look at her in the same way since. It makes me suspect they might have a puritanical or anti-sensual streak w/in them and there is almost nothing I dislike more in people.
What do I dislike about scent? Hands down – the cost! As Tom said, $250 is the new $100. How did that happen? When did I start thinking $200 for a scent was somehow an average price? Insanity! But if it’s an original, interesting scent, I’ll find a way to get it. I’m actually more distressed at the tsunami of insipid, crushingly homogeneous scents on the market now.
Exactly! I worry about people who don’t appreciate smell at all, unless they don’t have a sense of smell or their grandmother tickled them while spritzing them with Joy or some other reason to avoid scent.
It’s a very important scent, and anyone who just ignore is does worry me.
Although I think many frags are overpriced (too much money going into fancy bottles and marketing for the snooty factor), I remember Andy Tauer being raked over the coals on various blogs this past year for raising his prices … as I’ve researched perfumery, I’ve come to understand that some ingredients are unbelievably expensive. On Good Scents, tuberose absolute is over 16000 dollars per kilo; Bulgarian rose oil otto is over 11000 dollars per kilo. I haven’t been able to find a price for jasmine absolute from Grasse. Add a few expensive components like these to a composition, and the price can go through the roof.8-|
Patty,
So sorry you’re sick. Miserable darn colds! What Ilove most about perfumes are the memories and moods evoked and reading about them on your great blog. The tough part would be the price — but perfumed Court helps with that.Patchamour
😡
Patty,
So sorry you’re sick. Miserable darn colds! What Ilove most about perfumes are the memories and moods evoked and reading about them on your great blog. The tough part would be the price — but perfumed Court helps with that.
The power to affect emotion is a very potent thing for a scent to have, and so many seem to have it.
Oh, you poor baby! I hope you feel better soon!!
Regarding what I love most about what I have recently discovered as a perfume newby, I have to say that I am surprised and happy to learn that I love, love, love some perfumes that I would never have tried were it not for reading about them here (and on other perfume blogs).
I never realized I would love a man’s scent like Mechant Loup. It is positively delicious and I would never have tried it were it not recommended by perfume wizards/afficianados like you. Thank you so much! I love Iris Ganache. I never even heard of it before but now I yearn in my heart and soul for a bottle. Prior to my journey in this new world of niche perfume, I had to be content with the offerings at my local (and very small) department store. Now I am aware of a whole new world of perfumerie. Thank you so much for introducing me!!
What I hate? Well, there’s not much. I do wish that some of my new favorites were not so darned expensive. As a woman on a fixed income, I have to be content with tiny samples when I want large bottles that I can spray with abandon! Nevertheless, wishing is sometimes lots of fun too!
Stepping outside of our comfort zones and finding love is exciting. I love that the most.
Mechant Loup is stunning, too. It always surprises me how much I like it too.
Get well soon, dear!
What I love about perfume? The pictures an appealing scent will bring forth in my head, the stories….. the unexpected waft of a scent which had disappeared already when the skin warms up in exercise of a hot flush (even hot flushes have their use). And frankly, I love the advertising copy and the mysterious notes, it makes me giggle as I picture Moschino employees capturing the sea breeze puffs mentioned in “Friends”, or imagine how various “Hawaiian waterfall” or “frosted winter sparkles” are actually incorporated into a scent.
I hate: the hype. The interchangeability of so many scents. The idiotically high prices. Having to pay for a Murano glass bottle with 24 carat gilding which is ugly and will land in the garbage bin once the perfume is gone. And the addiction – spending more money than I ought, having more bottles than I use, and always wanting more….
And please do enter me in the drawing!
yes, that yearning for more is a curse, no?
I too, send my wishes for you to get well Patty. Nothing disturbs a life like a foggy, miserable head and body. I personally take Elderberry and Cold Snap from the Health Food Store. Feel better soon!
I’m really a newbie…just months into this game. I made a comment to hubby about how I’m drawn to the witty writing on these boards as much as the scents I’ve been trying. I love the twist of words, and the humour used to entertain. It so often makes me laugh, and sends my mind through mental gymnastics that are very compelling. I think about the minds behind those words and wish I knew more about them.
I’ve found some wonderful scents that make me think about who I am. Skank? I love skank! I would never have guessed that going in to this great experiment. These fragrances have pushed my boundaries, and when I’ve found something irresistible and am wearing it, I feel some smug contentment that satisfies in a very primal sense.
I hate the price of these bottles. My level of comfort before entering the niche world of perfume was $50. Hold on to your hats…sticker shock. And it’s not just sticker shock…I’m offended by some of these prices, which turns me off to the whole line. I could care less about bottles, don’t read or see the hype, so that’s all irrelevant. All I care about is the liquid on my skin.
And who could ever accept less than perfection again, with such a personal statement? Not me!
The right fragrance on the right day is incredibly self-satisfying!
What I love most: the nostalgia that certain fragrances evoke in me for places I’ve never been, for places that don’t even exist; the fragrances that nearly evoke a memory in me but I can’t quite place it; nonlinear fragrances that tell a story.
What I hate most: fragrances named after purveyors of clothing and pop stars; big houses going after the little guy/gal; fragrances I love but can’t afford; harsh notes that make my sinuses ache as though it were -20F and me without a scarf.
Such a great description. it is elusive sometimes, isn’t it? But that’s the charm as well.
Another lurker coming out of the shadows… I am yet another who is fairly new to the game. It has been about 8 months since I decided I wanted a new perfume, started looking on the internet and discovered that there is so much more than the perfume counter at Nordstrom’s.
It is hard to say what I love most about perfume and this whole little exploration, but the first thing that popped into my mind is the discovery of options! I don’t have to small generic, or like 85% of other women my age. I also have to agree with a lot of other posts about the hunt, and how I’ve slowly been discovering my taste and what works on me. It is all so very exciting. And compliments feel so much better when it is something I put so much effort into. Conquering dozens of samples and sniffs to find one that you fall in love with. Total validation.
Has anyone ever asked themselves why perfume makes you happy? Because to be honest, I am not sure I can specifically answer that. I mean, why perfume and not something else? Last weekend I got an iPhone, which I’ve been wanting since my boy got one last summer. I was thrilled until I got home to find my Frederic Malle samples had arrived from Paris. That made me 10 times more giddy than the phone.
So glad you de-lurked, and what a great question, and one that probably has a thousand different answers, do you think?
Chandler mentions in his new book the idea that perfume used to be putting on someone else, that perfumes were very specific, and the person was worn by them, where modern perfumery is moving to the wearer wearing the perfume. I agree about the two types, but I think some days we want to put on someone else, and some days we just want to enhance of modify who we are. Having that world of options through smell is just amazing. Like the height of free will.
P, sending you virtual ginger tea with honey — hope you’re better soon!
In a happy mood today, so don’t even want to give my grumpy take on what is wrong w/ the the world of perfume today. I’m wearing C&S Dark Rose and I smell good, that’s the nice part 🙂
Thanks Robin! Tea, mmm, I need that!
Poor thing! Um, are you going to market the sneeze dispenser? I’d like to give my husband one.
I’ve been exploring perfumes for at least three years. What I love the most is its ability to completely change my mood or at least enhance it. I also love the fact the way that the field holds my interest. It’s so broad; there’s so much to explore and enjoy. It’s the one thing that could get me to France. What I hate the most? The price.
Hoping you get well soon!
Debbie
Thanks, Debbie!
Yes, going to France for a sniffage is definitely called for. I do agree, it seems like there’s no end to the fascination. I love seeing in what direction perfumers will go next, how they hone the craft. Each decade brings a new feel to perfumery.
Feel better soon, Patty, and come back to NYC to see me, me, me 🙂
I’m so sorry I missed seeing you! But I’ll be back in april for sniffa, so we will definitely meet up then!
Oh Patty, I hope you are feeling better soon. Although I wonder where I could purchase one of those hats for the boyfriend of the perpetually stuffy nose.
I consider myself a newbie since I’ve only really been reading about perfumes and sniffing perfumes for a bit over a year now. I really love the whole process of trying to find something I’ve heard about and then finally getting my hands on it and seeing if it lives up to the hype I’ve created in my head. I love that sometimes I will dismiss something as “so not my thing” and then upon a resniffing realize it’s what I’ve wanted. I hate that I have a state job which barely lets me pay my bills let alone go on shopping sprees.
I love that I’ve “met” you all out here and that there is this little community in the internets where I can read about my latest craze.
Happy and healthy wishes your way!
I forgot to ask to be put in the drawing. How am I supposed to expand my perfume horizons if I never even try for the stuff I may get for free?
Thanks!
Perfuming the internets one site at a time. It really is a great community, and that can never be said enough. Incredibly welcoming for the new person, even though it may seem very intimidating and hard to get a handle on.
At 54, I’ve seen the great classics be reformulated past recognition…I’ve been treated like a leper for wanting to buy a bottle (as was covered round here ) and felt very alone when the SA has never heard of the fragrance that’s my latest lemming.
Those things I don’t appreciate at all. But now we have the internet, and Perfumed Court, and I discovered sniffa and made my first trip to NY and did it alone last fall..what discoveries I have made. These are the things I love. So thank you one and all!!
Bring on the SAMPLES!!
Are you going to Sniffa this spring? If you do, let us know. March and I are both going or planning on it!
What I love most about perfume is the abstract interpretations of scent these perfumes bring. What else can you give to 100 people and get such vastly different moods,emotions and opinions of. The oddity of smell is what I look for in a fragrance…I am one of those people who hates to walk into a room and smell like everyone else. To me that is the equivilant of a woman walking in to a party and someone having on the same gown she is wearing…. What I hate most is the seemingly minimal amount of “mens fragrances” in most department stores.
PS: please enter me in the drawing
Men’s scents are a little light for the good ones, but I think they are making so many “women’s” fragrances now that are most definitely unisex, but they market them to women because they spend soooooo much more than men on fragrance.
Oh, I love that picture, though it’s horrible that you are sick. Get well soon!
On perfume–I don’t like the fact that sometimes I tip over into crazy obsessiveness: “Oh, I MUST have that NOW (Oh, you say I already own it and have never worn it. Never mind.)”
I love pretty much everything else: the hunt, the discovery, the sensory experience, and the wonderful friends I have made.
Please put me in the sample lottery (do you like the Vanille? will you review it soon?)
Oh, I just realized that you haven’t, in fact, received the Vanille yet. Never mind (It’s my Emily Litella day):)
Yes, finding that the current lemming is actually buried at the back of a fragrance drawer is embarrassing, to be sure.
Absolutely, as soon as the Vanille comes in,I’ll post on it. I’m crossing my fingers for early next week. I think carmencanada has smelled it and posted a review over on POL!
Ack! The cold from hell! The only solution is to go to bed with Lady Chatterly’s Lover (uhh.. the book I mean) and not get up until you’ve read it all.
I’m still in the beginnings of my fragrance education and am just enjoying the process. Sniffing something new and interesting — good or bad — is still a thrill. This marvelous blog has pointed me to several scents that I must smell, just to see if I agree or disagree with what one of you said.
The downside is that I live almost next-to-nowhere, with not much more than department store choices nearby. I’ve been ordering samples left and right, plus sniffing what I can in my travels. Thank goodness for mail order!
You know, even living in Denver, we have zip in this city for interesting fragrance sniffing. NM and Saks are the smaller versions of their stores, so they got nothing. Nordstrom used to be interesting, and now… bleah.
UPS/USPS/Fedex/DHL has made the world very small… whew!
It sounds crazy, but I actually love it when a pefume blogger weaves his or her magic spell of words, producing a lemming so strong that I order a bottle unsniffed…said bottle arrives and I open it up with great expectations and an idea about the scent already in my head. Sometimes my expectations are dashed, but that acutally happens rarely. Most of the time, I love the fragrance–I love that it arrives to me as an idea first, that upon actually smelling it I will test that idea and expand upon it with my own asssociations, and that the whole process unfolds like a mystery.
Like others, I love the ghost of a perfume that lingers on a sweater, scarf or coat. I also love the joy of watching my nieces try on my fragrances–the oohs and ahs, sometimes even the occasional “ick!”
😉
I’m with you – I bought a decant of Chanel’s Cuir de Russie based on a perfume blogger’s description of it…and she was absolutely right! I smell like a very expensive leather handbag carried by a very glamourous woman. Yum! I had previously read Chanel’s description of it and thought “Oh, that sounds interesting.” But it was the blogger’s description of it that sealed the deal.
Oh, I love that description, Elizabeth. I bet you smell divine!
Yeah, I rarely order anything based on a company’s marketing blurbs. It’s the perfume blogs that move me to buy. With all of the energy, time, love that maintaining these blogs requires, I feel that these are the people who know perfume best. And though experiencing perfume is a purely subjective experience, I’m at a stage in my exploration where I know what notes and accords really suit me (and which ones don’t). So that guides my “unsniffed” purchases, too. That and the fact that I’m still newbie enough to want to smell everything!
How cool! I wish marketing people would pay more attention to that kind of story than the one they use.Tell us what you were trying to create and why. Not in a hyped way, but in a genuine way.
I love (especially now that I have discovered the wonderful world of decants) following the transformation of scent on my skin…what will it smell like next? I’m fascinated by the way skin chemistry interacts with scent to create something new. I’m fascinated by scent memory – there’s a Calvin Klein scent that smells like the cheap bubble bath (Capri Herbal Bath Foam) that my mother used to buy. I even like the learning curve – any hobby or fascination that involves learning a lot suits me just fine!
I hate…not being able to figure out what the hell some of the marketing BS actually means.
But I love…sites like this one that cut through some of the BS and describe perfume in terms that are actually meaningful.
I tell you, not needing the bottle and doing smaller quantities through swapping/bottle splits/buying is the way to go.
Every time I think I don’t need a bottle, I see something like the wicked cute capeto thing and change my mind pronto.
I’m fairly new at this fragrance game – but I am enjoying the education. The various types of scents, how different houses interpret a note (ex. SL Fleurs s’Oranger vs. L’artisan), identifying notes in the first place (who knew I’d like something called Labdanum).
The turn-off, for me, is the cost of whole bottles. Yikes! Why would I pay $300 for something that smells like someone’s armpit? Thankfully, I am not much of a bottle-hound – so samples and decants have proven to be a more cost and space-efficient way to continue my education.
Patty, March, Lee – this lurker thoroughly enjoys your blog, the community you have managed to build, and the Perfumed Court. Get well soon Patty! 😡
Oh, thanks, Wendy, we love that you’re here! This would be a lot less fun if we were all experienced. It’s the enthusiasm that people bring to it new that keeps me energized!
Patty, sorry you’re feeling rough, but girl, you ought to get colds more often…you write even more beautifully than usual when you’re under the weather! I’ve found that a product called First Defence has worked to stave off colds that everyone else in the house has got; don’t know if it’s available in the US, or called something else.
I love perfume. I don’t mind the hype and hubris – it just adds to the fun. I love smell, and the fact that it’s the one sense that raises only positive emotions for me (yes, even Angel. OK, I exclude Arabie. But then that’s not a perfume; it’s a biological weapon \:d:/.) I love anticipating a new release. I love the feeling of excitement when a batch of little vials arrives, I love the joy of liking a new sample, I love the elation of smelling myself in something unexpectedly fabulous. I love recognising that the parfumeur has constructed something with meaning and beauty, totally ignoring the ploys of the PR people. I love to sit next to someone who smells divine, knowing that they have chosen a scent that ‘fits’ them.
I love the perfume community; it’s astonishingly generous and welcoming. I love discussing perfumes with fellow nutters, and knowing that they’ll know exactly what ‘MB02’ means and be equally thrilled about it. I love the blogs and the witty bloggers. I love the friends I’ve made through perfume.
What do I hate? The cost, mainly. The personal weakness that has me hitting the ‘Confirm Order’ button with my financial conscience carefuly switched off.
If I were a blogger who reports on scents, I think I’d find the flood of celebscents infuriating. But I’m not. So I enjoy spotting the latest display of Britney’s Midnight Fetish, sniffing it quickly from the bottle, deciding that it’s really not too bad, and moving on with the comfortable knowledge that I’ll never have to go near it again.
I’ve already succumbed to the TPC special on Vanille 44, Patty, so don’t enter me in the draw unless you’ve got too much Capeto on your hands!
Arabie as biological weapon, love that!
You know, we were thinking that we need to actually visit some of thoes celebuscents a bit more. Some of them, given the cheap materials and budget they are given, do a lot with very little. So I think I need to look at them with that eye… who has done the most with nothing?
patty, i hope you get well soon!
i´m with chaya, i also love the fragrance-hunt, the discovery of new scents that blow me away & make my heart sing.
what i loathe: the high prices nowadays.
there are times when i get a bit tired of perfume – it happens rarely, but it happens. reasons may be that i smelled several scents that just disappointed me or that i have other, more serious things on my mind.
mostly, perfume has the ability to cheer me up, that´s what i really appreciate.
over the last (let´s say: 6) years, my perfume tastes have changed, some of the perfumes i loved back then, don´t work for me anymore & i certainly learned to love the classics (guerlain 😡 & caron 😡 ). discovering perfume is a very exciting journey 🙂
– please, include me in the drawing, i need to sniff vanille 44 (urgently LOL ).
Haha. Urgently, I know!
I think of scent like books, they all have a story to tell. Someof them are cheesy love novels, and some are harsh, gritty stories, and I like reading them.
ooooh-
I neglected to add-
I actually confess to owning the book from whence comes your riotous illustration [SOB]…
First Off :
TO BED WITH YOU, woman ! Put brandy or rum in Louise’s spicy cider… or make one of those men take a ‘mercy run’ to Trader Joe’s for you…AHEM.
I love: the discovery, the hunt, the epiphany, the ecstasy. The ability to self-medicate for all my ills with aroma.To seduce, repel evil spirits, celebrate life.
I hate: pettiness, competition [ when destructive in nature], smallness of spirit, parochialsm. Yeah- it’s there, in the fragrant world, alas-
A worm in the beautiful apple I adore.
But whenever humans are involved, all of the bad things will follow, but there seems to be less of those things in perfume, at least in the end user area. I understand it is freakishly competitive in the industry itself.
The men are taking great care of me, and I’ve got my blankie and my laptop and bad tv, I’m all set. 🙂
After reading the post I sat back and tried to think of loves and hates. Then I read all the replies. I love the passion and joy perfume obviously brings to all of us here. I love that everyone’s loves are so much more than the hates. I love that this blog exists.
I hate that I have no little gnome working feverishly 24/7 organizing all my boxes of perfume samples so that I never again have to dump them out on the bed to find that ONE that is calling to me. No, wait, I actually like doing that.
For a laugh……..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z36NMeJISLo
If that link doesn’t work, go to youtube.com and search “ManCold”
Feel better. 😡
I’m with you, I like looking for that thing I “need” to smell.
Did I tell you guys that I thought I lost a very are extrait? Then March told me I had actually posted here on where I hid it.
good thing!
The “story” that a scent evokes is the part I love best. To read a description of a perfume’s transitions in story form makes me crave it. The worst? A perfume that doesn’t live up to the story…Some of you bloggers are SUCH good writers!
I think the hardest thing in writing about perfumes is sometimes that perfume is telling you a story that only you will hear, or you and a couple of others, but tough to know that! 🙂
my favorite thing about scent (so far) is the secret community of people who can’t get enough. my least favorite things are the fact that i am broke and the fact that i still have no idea what i will like or dislike. enter me in the drawing, if ou please.
feel better.
Luckily in perfume, a couple of well-chosen, much in demand scents can translate to beaucoup swapping power! 🙂