Once the temperatures start rising just a little, as I’m rolling through my decanting early in the morning, before my day job starts, there are always a few perfumes in certain seasons that I can’t pass by without spritzing.
If it’s spring, it is Guerlain’s Apres L’ondee. Violets in rain. Created by Jacques Guerlain and launched in 1906, it has notes of bergamot, neroli, aniseed, hawthorn, violet, heliotrope, iris and musk.
The scent of the time between death and life, clinging to the earth in the rootiness of the iris and musk, but stretching to life with the neroli and violet, with the anise and hawthorn giving it a little interesting rhythmic funk just so you don’t forget how to really live in the in-between spaces.
For me, it is full-on, heady, unadorned, and unfettered joyous sorrow – tears in rain, where you cannot tell where your tears end and the rain starts; the joy racing through your veins because you still feel and are rejoicing and lamenting for all that life should be and is and isn’t. Apres L’Ondee is the tension in life, weighty and weightless – perfectly blended, but always separate.
March and I have joked forever that we will have Apres L’Ondee piped in during our funerals because that’s how we want people to feel when we go out — sad to see us gone, but forever glad that we lived.
Am I over the top in my love for Apres L’Ondee? Yes, absolutely. It makes my heart sing every time I smell it, rejoicing in all that life is mixed with regret for all it will never be. There are very few perfumes that never fail to make me appreciate living as much as Apres does. So what perfume “does it” for you?
Completely off-topic, can we talk about American Idol for a second? That guy with the weird hair bangs that did Billie Jean — love him, just close my eyes when he sings. Ramiele, why is she still there? At least Chikezie (sp) was interesting and entertaining. Ramiele adds nothing to the show except shortness and whining. Who is voting for her? If it’s you, stop it, I mean it.
What a beautiful description; this will be my next unsniffed bottle purchase, thanks to you@
If that is my description you are referring to, I do hope you don’t regret taking the plunge – with either of those in fact. I am going to Paris for work next week, and if I can I hope to make it to the Guerlain shop, where the old Mastercard may well go into meltdown!
Apres L’Ondee definitely does it for me, also Sous Le Vent – where the first is about dampness, this is about a parched landscape in summer – I am imagining Provence. I am seriously thinking of buying a bottle of the latter, even if it means remortgaging the house!
It’s my 14 y o stepson voting for Ramiele. He always asks is he can watch when “that hot short chick” sings. Alas, I am after the two foreigners on the show…
:((
Feeling a powerful need for Apres l’Ondee? How about a full vintage bottle…and I quote the eBay listing:
“An original, large unopened bottle of Guerlain’s ‘Apres L’Ondee’ Fragrance first created in 1907, contained in the beautiful and highly sought after ‘Empire Bottle’ which was introduced in 1902 and created by Pochet & du Courval’
NB: There are some indentions on the top of gold stopper. Fine example, in wonderful condition, (given age) with the original seal intact and bottom label intact Large and very heavy: 1k!
Still Sealed with original contents; No Original box”
Perfumistas, you’ll want to see all this seller’s listings, just for interest and wow factor. Pictures will set you drooling. Let me guess; somebody here knows who this person is.
All I know is, for a while I was feeling like Scarlett O’Hara with this perfume binging; now, I’m back to Emmy Slattery…
A few years ago, soon after I had first discovered MUA and the wide world of classic and niche perfumes, I ordered a pack of 30 samples from someone on eBay. It contained a wide variety – Chanels, Serge Lutens, many things you would find at LuckyScent, etc. (I sniffed quite a few and immediately threw them into my swap pile because they were “too much” for my inexperienced nose. Boy, I was really kicking myself over it a few months down the road!) One of the samples was Apres l’Ondee. As soon as I tried it, I knew it was A SPECIAL PERFUME. It wasn’t like the rest. I certainly didn’t have the vocabulary to describe what I was smelling or even what I liked about it, but it felt like something that had been custom-made for me. It was the first reasonably expensive bottle of perfume that I ever purchased for myself, and I’m sure I’ll go through many more. I still don’t think there’s anything else quite like Apres l’Ondee.
P.S. I love the picture for your post! It goes so well with the topic.
you make apres l’ondee smell heavenly. i haven’t smelled it yet, but a sample from a swap is waiting for me at my house.
and about idol. ive only watched it a few times but the other night i was at my friend’s house and we were watching and she has tivo and that guy (david cook?) came on and we rewinded it like 3 times. i was blown away! if he doesnt win, i dont know what’s wrong with the world…
I’ll cover American Idol first, en hommage to how the cosmic vibrations have linked a singer and a perfume as appreciated in common…
Dana-of-Billie Jean-and-Eleanor Rigby-etc. is definitely the talent in the group. Ramiela should last one more than Kristy, only because her instrument is better. Sayesha gets better every week, hang on to her for a while; my 10 year old is taken by David Archuleta, so I’ll have to root for him ’til close to the end.
I feel compelled to shout “I’ve had Apres l’Ondee in my shopping cart for a month!,” but I’ll resist.
😉
I will say “thank goodness for decanters and their aiding and abetting of our sybaritic pleasures…” I am so looking forward to sampling this one…perhaps the more pedestrian Amer Idol shared sensibility will translate to an equally shared appreciation for the Guerlain.
As for what perfume makes me appreciate living…moving beyond the wet dirt in spring, and the scent of the top of my baby’s head (now back in the day), or the brief joy of the scent of an iris flower (yes, some DO have a scent, and I’m not thinking of the lemon type)…I’m so early into a big time exploration, that I don’t know. But I do know that Bois des Iles settled right into my core, and Goutal Songes was an unexpected somewhat guilty extended pleasure. Let’s just say I’m grateful I don’t suffer from amsonia.
Great minds think alike, Patty, because I happen to be wearing the parfum today. It is so perfect for this time of year.
I was introduced to this wonderful fragrance around 1994. I was in a local English-themed boutique looking for a violet fragrance. They did not have one, but a woman in the shop overheard me asking for it. And thank goodness she did! As she approachs me, she opens up her purse and asks, “Have you ever smelled this? I always carry it with me,” as she whips out a bottle of the EdT. Wow! I was blown away by her openess and generosity! She spritzes me right there in the store and, well…the rest is history. I run out, buy a bottle, and wear the EdT continuously for about a year. I went through at least two bottles of it.
But I always loved that parfum bottle. You know the one that looks like a little woven basket with the rose-cut crystal stopper on top?
I may have told you this before, but several years ago an old friend discovered a couple of bottles of the parfum at a perfumery in the Carribean and was kind enough to pick up one of those bottles for me. I love my Apres L’Ondee parfum and the bottle. Hasn’t it been, sadly, discontinued?
Sorry to be so late and long-winded, but I wanted to share that with you, P! Thank you for taking the time to read it.
Hugs and love!
What a great story! Makes me feel less embarrassed about my own, um, occasionally overenthusiastic promotion of some fragrances…:x
Why thank you. I am glad you enjoyed it!
What a beautiful post, Patty!..I have to spend more time with ‘guerlains’!!
For me..I think there are more ‘real life’ smells than perfume (heck perfume is real life too but you know what I mean..:)) which inspire that kind of reaction/emotion..stalks of tuberose do that for me, also an afternoon after the first rains..*love*..some of the Jar perfumes did that for me but I wouldnt know for sure since I can’t afford to spend more time with them..:)
Regarding American idol- Chikezie was endearing wasn’t he?..I am not a big fan of Kristy lee cook either nor of Syesha (though she has been singing really well, but I dont feel moved)..and I am not voting for Ramiele..*grin*..love David cook (the guy who sang Billy jean), also Michael Johns and Jason Castro (except for last week).[This is the first time I have/am followed/following American Idol sooo religiously- maybe because this time the songs being performed are slightly more to my taste?]
ok..I didnt mean that 😀 in the middle of my comment..that was just supposed to be a closing of brackets 🙂
Oh, thanks! Agree on real-life smells. The smell of hot rolls at my mom’s house never fails to make my life worth living. Rain, the first grass cuttings in the spring, daphne blooming. Perfection.
Chikezie was a doll, I loved his personality, just warm and happy, Id adopt him.
So who is voting for Ramiele?!?! That she’s not in the bottom three and booted — it must be those Vote For the Worst people, who make me crazee.
I think she wasn’t in the bottom three this week as she wasn’t well, but still sang?
plus she has a nice voice?
Your description is so good, I’ll have to give Apres l’Ondee another go. My first try turned into a powder bomb, but maybe with spring here, it will be different.
BTW, your choice of picture is great!
You know, no matter how much it’s love for me and others, I think you can only try so many times before accepting it may just not work for you. But I think most classics are worth at least three tries, and then they strike out.
All I can say about Apres L’Ondee is: It has become a part of me. I recently won a bottle of the parfum on Ebay (okay, you can all hate me now!) and just looking at that sweet little bottle makes me happy. Now, if only I can make it last for the next fifty or so years…
Isn’t it great when that happens?!?! The parfum is spectacular, but it is definitely different from the edt. I love them both, but I daren’t write about stuff nobody can get. :((
I, too, am over the top in my love for Apres L’Ondee. It is heartbreakingly beautiful. Guerlain never ceases to amaze.
As for perfumes that “do it for me”? Many.
But the most recent emotional and at the same time visceral reaction I’ve had to a perfume was Andy Tauer’s Lonestar Memories. Brilliant.
Lonestare Memories is brilliant, for completely different reasons than Apres. How Andy got that so absolutely perfectly right just blows me away.
I love Apres L’Ondee, it feels so tender…a fragile, innocent wonder. As for its fleeting quality, yes, I think that’s part of its charm. I was a Japanese lit gal long ago, and particularly enjoyed the aesthetic of ‘mono no aware,’ or ‘the sensitivity/pathos/melancholy of things.’ An awareness of the transience of things, which just heightens their beauty all the more. Okay, sakura flowers do the symbolic trick well enough, but I think Apres L’Ondee is the perfect essence of mono no aware, in all its evanescent heartbreak.
I turned my sister on to Apres when she was here last week. I was rummaging through, squealed as I realized it was the perfect day for Apres and spritzed. She thought I was nuts until she spritzed herself. 🙂
No question: Iris Silver Mist–haunting, tragic, beautiful, tasty, sexy, and, yes, in my opinion, masculine. loooooove.
Just to continue the off-topic trend: When will we be getting reviews of Sycomore and The Tom of Finland scent from Etat Libre? Sycomore should be in the hands of you in-the-know perfumistas by now, no? 😛 And I’m dying to know about the TOF scent!
Ah, ISM falls in my top 5 or 10 too. I think it does trend masculine, but that little spice note in the drydown is what truly just enchants me endlessly, it is perfection.
Not sure about the Tom of Finland, haven’t seen it yet. I do know we’ve ordered Sycomore, so I’m hoping to get my hands on it next week maybe? For sure we’ll be sniffing it in NYC week after next.
I’ve always thought that Apres l’Ondee was ever so short-lived on my skin that I’ve never dared get a bottle. But I do love L’Eau d’Hiver, Jean Claude Ellena’s “homage to Apres l’Ondee”. It’s just so lovely. When I wear it, every now and then I get a faint whiff of something that’s so luminous, so beautiful that I wonder where it’s coming from. Realizing it’s me makes my day.
oooh! me too, me too!^:)^
that was my first FM and I nearly busted a blood vessel trying to describe it to my pal….finally gave up and just spritzed it on her….she understood!
‘Luminous’ is the perfect word for it.
xo
So….. must I try Apres L’Ondee AND L’Eau d’Hiver ??? The word “luminous” got to me on this snowy, albeit lovely day. I will have to update my PC order.
L’eau d’Hiver is a gem. If Apres didn’t work for me, that would be my next go-to that hit that shimmery sad quality in a perfume fairly perfect.y
I just bought a full bottle of this, and it was long overdue. Probably in my top all-time three, maybe even in the top spot. And to think I thought I couldn’t do violets?! I love your funeral idea. I would also like a wake at which they play Sam Cooke’s “Good Times”. I’m not kidding.
Great idea on the song! I was thinking Nina Simone’s “It’s a New Day.” But this could work as well, or both!
Apres is in my top 3, sometimes in 1, but never lower than 3.
Heartbreakingly beautiful review of a (yet another) perfume I have been meaning to try. I do have to get my rearside over to the Court one of this days…
“where you cannot tell where your tears end and the rain starts” – this is why I love you, P! 😡
And it’s cheap!!! That’s the absolutely best thing about it. I’d think it was running around all over Europe? They don’t seem to get as much in over here, but a couple of discounters do.
What a beautiful post! Diorling and Micallef’s Automne are probably the two most life affirming, comforting scents for me – not exactly sure why, but they are. I never wear them w/out feeling compelled to say a little silent prayer of gratitude that they exist and that I exist.
I’ve never smelled Automme, but totally agree on Diorling. It’s in my Top Ten Scents Ever. I’ve got a deep stock of parfum bottles, it’s ridiculous. 🙂
What was the complete list of 10 favorites by Luca Turin? Are will still expecting his new book sometimes soon?
I don’t know what list that was? I believe their book is due to be released the second week of April maybe? I was thinking it was the week of Sniffapalooza.
Lovely post, Patty.
I must re-try Al’O-I sniffed it early in my obsession, and it wasn’t “enough” for me. Given my new-found love of violets, though, worth another try. Though I doubt it’ll hang around long.
Spring is tough for me. Few lighter scents work well and last. I revert to Calyx a lot, and Fresh Sake. With frequent relapses into rich orientals…today Vintage Femme. Hey, what’s not springy about that /:)
Re American Idol. David…Archuleta…that’s all!
Much as I hate to mention it, have you ever tried the parfum for Apres? It’s got a lot more musk and amber. Not sure it would hang around any longer. One of these days when I’m in your area, I’ll bring some for you to try.
Is that a big ole boo for David? I have one nerve left, and he is jumping up and down on it. Too precious, too cute, too… innocent? Annoying? Yeah, that’s it. 🙂
Wow, Patty, that was gorgeous.
I have just begun Making Friends with Violets lately, but I still only get along with them intermittently. Between your review and the gorgeous one over on Bois de Jasmin I really want to see the magic in Apres. Sigh. I’ll keep trying…
Well, not everything is going to work on everyone. Violets are a huge fave with me, so it’s easy to love them. I think you can only try so long, then just have to chalk it up to… a scent that just doesn’t work for me. 🙂
I just purchased a bottle of Ava Luxe’s Midnight Violet from Serena’s Etsy shop … she has one left, FYI, if there’s anyone out there who wants to snap it up (Perfumed Court also has decants of MV). I will have to try AL’O since violet is one of my favorite floral notes (muguet is the other). Particularly since it sounds like it does for violets what FM’s En Passant does for lilacs. I have yet to find a violet perfume I love as much as MV … somewhat rubbery and woody, dark and complex, mysterious. It reminds me vaguely of the Victorian era breath freshener, Sen Sen, which combines licorice and violet – a breath freshener which I used to love to suck on as candy when I was a kid.
Actually I think Sen Sen may have combined licorice and lavender (long time since I had it), but I do recall violet candy that I liked as a kid.
I am deeply in love with Apres L’Ondee. It is too beautiful for words. It’s part of my Guerlain trio of faves: Mitsouko, L’Huere Bleue and Apres L’Ondee. It’s those three that made me fall in love with Guerlain.
Ramiele is not the only one who needs to go. What about Kristy? Cute smile, but not AI material at all.
Great trio. I wish I could wear LB, but it just turns to powder.
Agree on Kristy. Great voice, cute, but… boring. My youngest son has a huge crush on her, though, and I think she’ll wind up being a really good country star.
Ramiele will wind up singing at weddings and on cruise ships… bleah!
That was a particularly beautiful post. I love the picture as well, what’s its story? I have never tried Apres l’Ondee but it certainly sounds as if its worth a sniff. I haven’t tried many of the Guerlains everyone seems to love. So many lovely smells to experience. I imagine I’ll get there. Bois des Isles is a scent that makes me joyful, I think of Venice when I smell it. Also, when himself breaks out the Silver Mountain Water I know that summer has begun. It makes me feel carefree. I’m waiting on a new supply of En Passant, as I cannot begin springtime without it.
I, too, am yet to experience Apres L’Ondee, but the lovely and amazing words of Patty have convinced me it is a MUST.
Well, the good news is it is a cheap thrill, not horribly overpriced, and as near as your local discounter. I think scentiments has it.
I stock up with 2-3 bottles once a year just so I always have a good supply laid in… just in case someone gets a bad idea and discontinues it.
You now, I’m not sure about the picture. I’ve seen it before, but couldn’t find the artist’s name. It just seemed to fit my mood for today.
If you are a lover of En Passant, which runs neck and neck as Most Gorgeous Perfumes Ever in Patty’s book, I think Apres will be something you should at least admire, if not love. I think Robin at NST or maybe March or both have said it just doesn’t seem to fit in with Guerlain, and I agree. It seems like a kissing cousing that’s happier and more joyful, but not as worldly.
The picture reminds me of a Magritte.
OK, this sounds lovely, but we have just received 5 inches of snow (and counting)…I need a perfume which connotes
“love-winter-but-sweet-fancy-Moses-let’s-get-on-with-spring-already”
…or maybe I should just give up on ever being warm again…is there a self-defeatist scent? Maybe with a base of despair? Aha! Black March!
Only kidding…it will be Incense Rose, since it makes me insanely happy!
Happy Aprea L’Ondee-ing, all you lucky lovelies! Heather
…that should be Apree, of course. Chilly fingers don’t type so well…
…getting ridiculous, when I can’t even type Apres…
I am totally working in the phrase “Sweet fancy Moses!” sometime today.
Lucky you, with you Incense Rose…
I must give credit where it is due…that is one of my favorite phrases from the comic strip, “Get Fuzzy”. Darby Conley is a master of the modern lexicon. But I’m glad you liked it, Sweetlife!
I, too, am writing from snowy NH — but, Heather you must admit it IS one of those gorgeous Spring snows (and shortlived). So..no Spring scent for me today. BUT — I am also so fortunate to have some Incense Rose which will do just fine for today.
Oh Pavlova! So glad to see (read? hear from?) another NH perfume lover! And yes, the snow is quite fluffy and picturesque. Also, school was cancelled so I don’t have to go out! Hurray! I guess I should just stop crabbing and strap on my snowshoes! We had, what? Two, three warm days this week? That was all my crocuses and daffodils needed to start poking out. Luckily, they can survive some snow! Lovely warm thoughts to you!
We decided to have a little cold snap here this morning, which is good for clearing up allergies a bit, but it feels like snow, so I empathize. But Apres is all about the hope of spring, so spritz away and be patient!
Marina and Wendy – I’m number three. Violets don’t do well on me – and I think it is the heliotrope goes powdery/marzipan in a bad way on my skin – L’Heure Bleue is another no-no for me. Am I the only one that gets that weird playdo/marzipan from these two?
But I still love Guerlain! 😡
Now. L’heure Bleue I can’t do at all. I admire it from afar, but it is a powdery mess on my skin.
I think violet has a tendency to go powdery. I feel really blessed that violets are so happy on my skin and the farthest thing from powder.
Hooray! So glad to see this on the day I decided to wear Apres L’Ondee. 😀
An excellent choice that can never ever be wrong. 🙂
You ole romantic.:x
Me, a romantic? Not even. But it WAS time for the Apres ode, soon to be followed by the En Passant Ode. No spring is complete without them.
Sigh. I wondered what I was going to wear today, and now you’ve picked it for me. It’s warmer and slightly damp outside. Perfect day for Apres l’Ondee. @};-
See? It’s a great day for Apres! It’s all cold here today, so it’s too much of a stretch, but it will be warmish again soon!
Dear God.
I love AL’O, but it breaks my heart with unfulfilled yearning.The parfum lasts longer- but perhaps the ephemeral nature of this scent- like the transience of life itself- gives it this particular character.
[Now that I’ve shown myself to be the ‘wankeress’ I truly am, I shall SHUT UP ALREADY !]
So many scents make me appreciate living, I couldn’t pick just one.
Mossy things, civetty things, earthy things,singing florals, resinous things.
My, my.What a slut.
Love a perfume slut@};-
Agree. I think so many perfumes call to mind some of the best things about being alive, some just resonate clearer than others.
Something about the ephemeral nature of Apres is part of its charm for me.
Marina – make that 2 people in the entire universe who don’t love Apres l’Ondee.
The heartbreaking thing about it is that is smells like a very soapy violet on me after the initial lily of the valley/green hit. I think I’m anosmic to the musk in this scent. :((
I’m hoping that experience will make me appreciate this classic more.
Yeah, it’s just not going to work on everyone, unfortunately
I am totally with you on Apres L’Ondee, there is something heartbreaking about it. Bois des Iles is another one that moves me.
Absolutely heartbreaking. En Passant does it for me too, as does Ormonde Woman parfum. Love Bois des Iles, but for some reason, it doesn’t have the same emotional oomph on me?
Oh no. Something else to sample. You guys are killing me. (In a good way.)
The good news is it’s pretty inexpensive. There are more places selling it now than a year ago, and you can snag 100 mls for well under $100, so that’s a great thing!!!
I am the one person in the entire universe who doesn’t love Apres L’Ondee. I do, however, and tragically, love Quand Vient La Pluie. :((
Sweetie, I shall cry with you. I’ve tried and tried to love l’Apres, but have showered it off every single time (great for a half-hour, then it dies in a very ugly fashion).
My Guerlains of choice remain: Jicky and Iris Ganache.
That’s so weird. I smell the two side by side, and they seem so similar, and I adore la pluie, it’s just sweeter, richer, but it thrills me as well.
Apres L’Ondee actually started my perfume craze. It makes me so sad that I will never be able to smell it in perfume form, only in the EdT which is wonderful like a sunny and crisp Spring morning, but equally brief…
If it makes you feel any better (and maybe it won’t) I had a decant of the parfum and swapped it away for something else. What it gained in oomph it lost in … something. Delicacy? I sound like a nut, but I feel like a whole important aspect of Apres’ beauty is its evanescence, like watching a rainbow. Or a thunderstorm. Or both.
Apres lasts on me forever in the edt, which I’m so grateful for. The parfum is beautiful, and I do love it, but in a different way. It has more depth, less effervescence. So if it’s the bell-like feel of the edt that you love, the parfum won’t make you love it more.
Oh my god. I must stop reading these posts or I’ll end up dying the most fragrant smelling pauper the world has ever known. Ya’ll have led me to the House of Guerlain and I worship there freely, but can never leave. Jicky. Mitsouko. Just got a bottle of Habit Rouge, mmmmm…now this. Violets, iris, and musk. Oh my. Tell me it’s really too femme for me, tell me you forgot to mention the notes of garlic. Tell me if you have a preference in concentration. Extrait, probably? I keep saying I’m not going to buy anything for a long while, but this, this…Now tell me L’Heure Bleue reeks.
Idol has not managed to hold my interest this season; something about all the contestants seems a little bland to me. I’ve yet to make it through an entire episode without dozing off.
Further off topic–I just want to rant a moment. I just received my first purchase from Barney’s (Chene) and amidst all the layers of paper wrapping in the box, there was nary a sample to be found. I was dumbstruck. I don’t expect them from the discount etailers but this is a high-end department store. Nothing but my purchase and a whole lot of paper. Saks has always hooked me up with lots of extra goodies, many of which led to full bottle purchases, so it makes good business sense to throw in a little swag. Hell, the samples are half the fun of receiving a package; I usually smell those first.
But enough of that…I’m gonna go think about Apres L’Ondee.
I’m waiting for a package from Barneys as well. Samples are a must. I asked for them, did you? Also, I asked for the SA’s name and card so I can call him to reorder. That sometimes adds encouragement.
THAT–the name and card–is an excellent strategy. I’m going to deploy that one the next time I order from Barney’s.
What a beautiful, eloquent post (and visual)…
…I love Apres l’Ondee for the reasons you stated and it’s one of ‘those’ fragrances that evoke strong emotion but I can still wear and enjoy it. I used to love Cristalle…but I realized that every time I wore it I would be on the verge of tears; got a little weird after awhile. Something about Al’O hovers near there but there’s a bit more of an anchor to it:”>
Ma Griffe does it as well….I have to remember to only wear it on sunny days! Same with LotV: Coty’s Muguet and Diorissimo – something about those rooty, loamy, lovely little flowers…both joyous and melancholy in their fleeting beauty…
btw – Chaya, I don’t think you are ‘wankeressing’ at all! That’s the whole point of Al’O, in my opinion, though I don’t know what Jacques G intended but if he was aiming for that kind of emotion he got it in one!@};-
umm…this post goes somewhere else, like near Chaya’s. Sorry!
Oooh, just bought a vintage Ma Griffe mini-I’m on a green binge =:)
I agree on the asking/getting name…but I don’t think that should be necessary – it’s the Rule of Sales: engage your customer! But sales/service is so…odd…these days, in so many places.
Swag is a no-brainer, if SAs are really sales-oriented. I put my Saks SA’s kid through college based on swag!* Except for things I can only get at niche/online stores, I buy only from her. She has a client book like the Brooklyn yellow pages, based on that premise. Perhaps the Barney’s SAs don’t subscribe to that theory….?
*n.b. I bought Calyx from another major dept store(Saks no longer carried it) and the SA tossed it in a bag, grabbed my card and completed the transaction in about 20 seconds, without ever engaging me in more than a ‘anything else?’…so she could continue her chat with her colleague. They may see me for spritzing…but they will never see my money again![-(
By contrast, Rosie’s counter is usually 2-3 deep with customers…BUYING! You’d think they would figure it out…
I recently ordered from Henri Bendel (Etat’s Charogne). I received a huge box, tons of wrapping paper, and not one sample. This is despite the fact that I had even asked the SA about his other Etat favorite.
Not impressed.
Don’t you hate that? Neimans does that. Saks is good though. I went in there and came out with a handful of Bond No9 samples.
I think Barneys just has crappy service overall. I shop there, but don’t enjoy the experience much-feel rushed/pushed or dissed.
OTH-I just got a nice bottle of scent for guy-friend (TF extreme), and Saks included nada with the purchase :((
Louise –
Shout me a holla! I’ll hook you up with a Heaven’s own SA [-o<
Oh, PP goddesses (and one hot god)-please help Musette and I hook up :d/ email-wise, that is.
I’m on it.
does she do phone sales? I’m not in the NY area but would love to find a good SA! I’ve had a few bad experiences with online discounters so only want to use a reputable source like Saks
Absolutely! Fully half of her clients live in Boca, etc… Go on my site and get my email address (I don’t want to wear March out with totin’ that email barge and liftin’ that email bale:0…I would post her info here but I’m not sure that is okay with the PP peeps and I don’t want to put them in the middle of anything – so any of you want R’s info, just drop me a quick email.
Musette, what is your site?
anitaberlangadotcom or bearboringdotcom (they both get to me).
Sorry, Matt, but it’s spring, and it’s Apres L’Ondee!!! Every year March or I wax eloquently about this… it’s just a tradition, you’ll get used to it. 🙂
I know, they keep saying this is the most talented season ever, and I just don’t agree. David Archuletta just drives me insane. Great voice, but… ugh, too precious. I like my singers rough and lived in. I like the Aussie, but he seems too manufactured and not very real. I liked Amanda, except, well, she couldn’t sing. Carly is too overmanufactured too. The cook kid is it, and the rasta kid, but he keeps doing the same thing, which is getting boring.
Patty Wow – what a really beautiful post!! Making me feel all misty. At this stage of my life I am stil searching for that
“one” as there are way too mnay that hold my attention right now but when I was a youmg girl in mid to late teens there was a perfune by Jean D’Albret called Princess D’Albret and it captivated me totally. It could bring to such a serene, gentle and safe place after all the turmoil of teenage years. Always can remember how graceful it made me feel when I often felt so clumsy back then. Big sigh!
Hey, everyone needs *at least* one perfume that does it for them, just sends them tripping over an emotional moon. I feel lucky that I have probably five of them.
THAT would be a good post – would love to know what those 5 are and why
Well, I may have to expand it to 10, but there are five I can’t live without, an dI Have compelling reasons. 🙂
I’ll work on that maybe for next week?
nope, it’s those 5 I’m interested in >:/
leaves more room in the post for the poetic prose about why those 5 :)>-