By March
Last week I gave you all an assignment – go rooting around your bottles and samples for things you haven’t worn for awhile and see how you feel about them at this point. Here’s a few of mine…
Serge Lutens Miel de Bois – the first five times I smelled this I thought it was disgusting, in a fascinating way. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want it, and, given that I think it’s been discontinued, other people share those feelings. Eventually, of course, I fell in love with it and bought a bottle. Last week on a humid, record-breaking 102-degree day I wore it. It was wonderful – the heat really brings out that honey and suppresses the dirty-feet bits. Also, since that was during my L’Arte di Gucci post, and I wish L’Arte di Gucci had more honey, I … well, I layered them. Yes. It’s true. I wore two squirts of L’Arte and one squirt of MdB. Nobody dropped dead in my immediate vicinity, although maybe they wanted to. But I thought it was perfect.
L’Artisan Jatamansi – half the time it’s the quintessential, spa-smelling, summery herbal embrace of love. The other half the time it smells like pickle juice; what’s that about? I’m glad I only have a decant.
Narciso Rodriguez for Her EDP Intense – this is the metallic pink bottle that focuses more intensely on the musky notes rather than the florals. I became smitten with this in my wallpaper-scent period – those background “skin scents” that I like to have when I want something relatively subtle. I thought it was the skin-musk bomb, and paid full retail. Now I think it smells like Patty’s famous Tampax-Fresh Accord. Ugh. I must have been out of my mind.
Okay, your turn! Browse your shelves and samples and tell us all how you’re feeling about things – mistakes, and scents you are happy you rediscovered.
PS Don’t forget – next Weds. the 22nd through the weekend, our second Swapmania!
YSL’s Opium and Kouros were my biggest loves when I first started down this fragrance hobbyist path, back when I apparently thought bigger was better. I wore them as if they were the most fleeting drugstore body sprays (ie. amply) for an entire summer, and loved every inch of them. As my collection grew, Opium and Kouros shifted to the back of the drawer, and for a refresher I spritzed them on separate occasions this week. They both blew my nostrils away. A fresh spritz of Kouros is like choking on a bar of soap being shoved down your throat by a sweaty Greek man on a Mediterranean beach at high noon, and it only gets muskier, leathier, and incense-ier from there on out. It’s a mindblower of a scent, and for all its brilliance I can no longer “buy” myself wearing it. It’s like I’m faking, wearing someone else’s cologne – someone much raunchier, blowsier, and more travelled than I. I once felt like it was my second skin, but Kouros now utterly wears me, not the other way around. I put my bottle up for swap. (Le sigh.)
I still find Opium delicious, but it’s pure bombast and brocade, crushed velvet and smoke, strangling spice and heady florals, and try as I might I just cannot fathom an occasion where it’d be the ideal thing to wear. Maybe that means it could technically be worn anywhere, as if it were an artifact from another dimension? (It certainly SMELLS like one, compared to the teenybopper crap on the women’s shelves today.) I wouldn’t give my bottle up for anything, but like Kouros, it’s just so…THERE, and not really “me”. (Le double sigh.)
OMG! Darryl! =)) on the Kouros description! And I love the notion of Opium being an artifact from another dimension.
xo >-)
I have summa those….mistakes. Tabac Aurea was a mistake- I got a sample after all the raves and then a bottle and it is beautiful-no doubt- I just never want to wear it. ever.
Most expensive mistake- I was head over heels for Andy Warhol Silver Factory (and still think it is beautiful AND enjoy decanting samples of it for others- but don’t want to wear it.
I had to try OJ Woman and Bois des Iles a few times before the lights went ON- and boy did they go on once they did :)
and Bois des Iles did the exact OPPOSITE for me, isn’t that weird?
xo >-)
BdI sort of flickers for me– first i think I like, then I don’t. I like it on rainy days.
I can totally see that about Silver Factory- I love it too and have gone through many samples but I’ve never been tempted to buy a whole bottle..wonder why!
I’m a recent Bois des Iles convert too- realized yesterday that I might just need more than a sample..
OJ woman- I really liked it the first time I tried it but it was too ‘fluffy’ and edible and comfy on my skin and I wanted to get the evil hemlocky green stuff that everybody was getting..
Now I like it a lot more and am more tuned to the green (which smells almost basil pesto-like on my skin)
Carnal flower is on my ‘I love it so much, how did I not realize it the first time I sniffed it” list. I think the first time I tried it, I tried it on paper, along with a bunch of other Malle’s and dismissed it as just another tuberose that doesn’t evoke the flower. I subsequently read how much you loved Carnal Flower and then Victoria suggested I try again since it is a ‘must for white-floral lovers’. So I did on a recent trip to Barney’s. On skin this time. The SA made me a sample and the next couple of days I fell madly in love and love it now as much as Tubereuse Criminelle. I need to go back and buy some (which will put a lot of others on my wishlist on hold).
Tam Dao is one fragrance I loved from my sample vial- so calming and lovely- but once I bought a FB- I didn’t find it interesting enough to wear it as a perfume. Also a milky note started surfacing that I didn’t love. I still have the bottle, just in case, but it is not true love..:(
Hypnotic Poison has a similar love-to-‘I don’t really feel like wearing it’ story..
I recently rediscovered how much I like my encens mystic crazylibellule stick (I’m sure I’ve spelt that wrong)
Lavanya,
You might try the Body Butter before you splurge for the perfume (CF). Especially if you are going to wear it in the summer. Ask the SA to make you a little scrab of that – I find that the BButter is 100% true to the scent and lasts way longer in the summer – the perfume dissipates – at least on me – pretty quickly. At $150 it’s a steal.
xo >-)
Anita- I did try the Body butter (the sweet SA gave me some in a sample pot) and the scent was surprisingly airy and beautiful and lovely and almost like solid perfume. And you are right, I also felt it lasted longer on my skin but assumed I was imagining things- so nice to hear a confirmation on that..:)
I was planning on buying the travel size of CF at 140$. the body butter, though very very tempting, is $190 now. I wish they had smaller sizes of the body butter too- I luvzzzz it and am trying not to want both..:)
Do you find that Carnal Flower smells different dabbed rather than sprayed?
Yes. Dabbing is weird with CF. I prefer it sprayed. I spray with abandon. I’m evil like that. 8-x
xo >-)
Bought a new bottle of Cristalle and it makes me sad, even just seeing the bottle on the shelf. Instead, I am now wearing Private Collection Jasmine White Moss, which doesn’t depress me.
So it’s not just me? That stuff is beautiful…but it makes me cry.
xo >-)
Me three on Cristalle-cant go home again.Remember “Farouche?’SAME
Thanks for the task, March!
I revisited Antonias Flowers Tiempe Passate, which had been sitting in my sample drawer for the best part of three years since last sniffed.
Yep, there was a little “Hallelujah!” moment, then a lot of kicking one’s own backside for passing it over for so long. Bliss.
Some major FB mistakes – Serge’s L’Eau (aaaack!) and AG’s Ninfeo Mio (I’m sure all the ‘pee’ is filtered out of those tester bottles!). These went the way of Evil-Bay, where I was well and truly stiffed :(
I’m slowly making my way through my Ormonda Jayne sampler set, but keep going back to Ta’if. Our Wedding Anniversary is coming up next month, and I wonder how many hints I can drop between now and then…
I kept going back to Taif too (now I am almost out so have been trying the others) and it is on my list of belated birthday gifts..:) The Taif promotion on the OJ site is in July- so that *would* be the perfect month to buy it..:D
Perfect! Thanks Lavanya x
LOL at the pee comment. I didn’t notice until the second time I wore my sample but yes, Ninfeo Mio = cat piss.
I love Tiempe Passat- and have a habit of overlooking it….
I like to think of these bottles as educational experiences. Much like courses we all took in school that cost a bomb and made us question our choices, direction, etc…
Dark Amber & Ginger Lily – Loved it when it came out, but this amber is some rough road for/on me. Reviewing various positive reviews, this clearly must be some sort of chemistry fail on my part…still smells good in the bottle, on paper, etc.
Rosine Rose de Rosine. This was actually a valuable and expensive lesson in violets. I wish to have no quibble with violets, and thus we now interact at a respectable distance.
Natori – My lesson: when testing, always, always spray a thing if that thing comes in a spray bottle. Sometimes, the dab application doesn’t tell the whole story.
:-)
I could take that Amber&Lily off your hands. . .
The Rosines can be very challenging that way, imo. I love Rose d’Ete for all that greengreengreenygreen – but Rose de Rosine is an extremely aggressive, older-fashioned rose, that demands way more attention than I’m willing to give any perfume (no, not even Mitsouko)
I liked one of those JMs but I think it was the other one of that pair. 😕
xo >-)
Rose d’Ete! Happy happy.
Dark Amber & Ginger Lily, OTOH, was absolutely dreadful (sour and pinchy) on me and I’m so glad I didn’t buy that unsniffed.
I had a bottle of CBI Hate Perfume- At the Beach 1966 in the refrigerator. It was back behind some other stuff and must have been too close to the wall, because it partially froze. I went to remove it and it tipped over (because it is so darn tall!) and the frozen slushy stuff spilled all over me and my top. I quickly rinsed my top, but didn’t have time to change.
Aaaacccckkk. It smells like the worst, cheapest laundry detergent ever. I had to drive with the car windows open, and had to close my office door as the scent was chasing me down the hallway. I will never again be able to enjoy the warm sunshine/suntan lotion note of this. It’s nasty laundry detergent now. Just awful, awful.
I had a weird experience with decants recently. There was a bad batch of atomisers sold by some supplier that leaked really badly…I got 20ml of P Generale’s L Ombre Fauve (10ml leaked), then put them away thinking they would be alright now they were stored upright and had survived their traumatic pressurised journey etc. I got them out the other day to use, and the ‘fume had sort of jellified. I though oh s**t, I should have put them in another bottle, they must’ve lost their alcohol content or something. But the levels were basically the same. I sprayed a bit of another ambery ‘fume into to liquify them, then put into another atomiser.
And it has turned to jelly too! Most peculiar!
Still smells the same tho’…..
Great topic!
Amoureuse: I picture a certain sort of woman wearing this with seductive aplomb. I am not that woman.
Sisley Eau de Campagne: Hoped for the Perfect Tomato Leaf Fragrance, got generic men’s aftershave.
Diorissimo: thirding the comments above. My most expensive mistake (bought the parfum).
The one that got away: I still kick myself for not buying Chanel 22 at Neiman’s in Atlanta…just before it joined the Les Exclusifs.
Grrrr! I keep trying to find Amoureuse at a discount, and so far it hasn’t happened… I wouldn’t call myself a woman with seductive aplomb, but I might be a stunned-with-beauty woman when I wear it.
Alas, I’ve had several failures. Among them are I Profumi de Firenze’s Caterina de Medici, which I had thought smelled elegant, but upon taking home the FB I think just screeches and is sour. Others include Annick Goutal’s Gardenia Passion and Eau d’Hadrien. Both are nastily sour on me. I suspect by now they’ve gone off. I also have a smallish bottle of Miss Dior that will never, ever see the light of day. What was I thinking! And oddly enough, one of the worst failures was a sample that was pressed upon my by a particularly aggressive salesman at Barney’s — L’Artisan’s Absinthe. He should have known better; I was purchasing The Pour Un Ete, which isn’t even on the same planet. I can’t even open the thing without gagging. I thought about giving it to my 17-year-old son, but decided against it because I don’t want to smell it on anyone. But for some reason, it is still in my drawer. Another sample of the same vintage, Viola Verte, I have a similar but not nearly as strong response to.
What a fun post! I have learned the hard way that it’s necessary to sample extensively first before splurging – and that just because i love a scent, ishouldn’t run out to buy a back-up bottle right away (I have short attention span, apparently). I recently bought two full-size bottles unsniffed at Ross – AA’s Tiare and Mimosa which I love and has garnered many compliments (great summer scent) and Fekkai’s Sensuelle which is also nice but quite powerful…still need to figure out how to use that one (may become a room spray!)
I dug out my Annick Goutal Neroli sample (that durned siren at Bois de Jasmin!) and started dotting it over other scents. Then I just wore it alone and discovered I really love it for this summer; it’s got that lovely green neroli opening and then the orange blossom just blooms. Got another sample and if i plow through that one, well…
Goutal’s Vetiver, OTOH, is all pickles.
I’ve come to the sad realization that most leathers don’t work on me. I love them on others, on me they’re all gasoline and burning tires. Except Cuir de Russie parfum. Which is insanely beautiful. My friend bought it last week, and I was so surprised at how you can get that floral Chanel triad in such new and beautiful ways in so many of their perfumes.
Now I’m snurfin’ Diorella; I think I like the new one, it still has that weird savory salty herbal thing going on.
it’s the one reissue that works, imo. Don’t bother with Diorling – it’s terlet water, until it turns into Diorella on the drydown.
xoxo >-)
I swear I have a bottle of Neroli here somewhere and I can’t find it! You’re making me crave…. and maybe vetiver is the pickle note I get sometimes.
I felt the same way about MdB when I first tried and now I love it and I am hoarding the rest of my little sample. I could not wear NR. I purchased it unsniffed and all I got was nail polish remover. Do you remember Dinner by Bobo? Another unsniffed purchase. What was I thinking? Most of my unsniffed purchases have been good ones.
Hahahaha Dinner by Bobo threw up on me, the entire meal. I think the first part was one of those drinks made with Creme de Menthe, then some beef, then apple pie…
Fun to meet other MdB lovers on here!
As an impenitent MdB owner, I’ve found that the golden shimmer it produces in the summer heat can turn prickly in cooler weather.
My fail is Montale’s Wood and Spices. I don’t know how I overlooked the SWEETSWEETSWEET screaming through the top of this when I bought the thing, but just thinking about it causes frown lines.
Bleargh Montale, better you than me, babe. What was that one? Sandalsliver? It’s like those piles of dead crab-leg/seaweed crap you find on the beach. And I’m with you, I might actually PREFER MdB in the heat.
Thanks for a very fun and thought-provoking post, March.
After hearing a few comparisons to Illuminum’s White Gardenia Petals, I recently pulled out my Calyx and found that I still love it after all these years. It used to get me boatloads of compliments, mainly from men, oddly enough. And as others have said, I find the WGP to be Calyx’s quieter, more sedate older (or should that be younger?) sister; quite nice, but not wonderful enough for all the hoop-jumping, waiting on back orders, etc.
And March, you’ll appreciate this: I got out the Niki de Saint Phalle the other day to try on a rare, cooler day, and I find it has only lost a bit of its initial magic.
Anita is trying to get me to love Calyx, which I did once upon a time, but I’m askeered to retry my sample. :)>- And now you’ve got me wanting to try the Niki, just because.
Oh, try it! It won’t bite. I love that weird stuff – it’s just so..strange. But wow! the compliments! You will get compliments from the moon from which, btw, you can smell this stuff.
xo >-)
Love Calyx, but the shelf life is short – be sure to give it a fair try with a fresh sample (I have a new bottle if you’re wanting a sample…)
Love the Niki! Bless the La Prairie folks or whoever it was who picked uip the formula and kept it alive:x
I’ve made a few mistakes myself: CdG Carnation: never wear it. Sniff it and think “not today.” When I bought it I was thinking, “Oh, this will work in summer or winter,” I don’t know what I’m waiting for. L’Air du Desert Marocain: Got caught up in the hype. Even when I bought it, I was hesitant. And to me it smells very much like PG’s Coze…I seem to have much better luck picking cool weather scents, each one of which “hits the spot” in some way. My summer scents are “not quite right.” Lovely, but they don’t hit the spot.
Yes L’Air is lovely but reads so masculine to me I end up feeling uncomfortable in it…just like the infamous MKK; I may as well put on Lynx (I think that’s the Aussie version of Axe?).
Yet Cedre, which is supposedly one of Serge’s that he deemed masculine, I ADORE!
Marocain I love, it’s funny, I moved in the other direction. At first I thought it was too masculine. And laughing at “I don’t know what I’m waiting for,” I must have dozens of those.
Good to know that you moved the other direction on Marocain. I’ll keep my bottle and keep checking back. I’m also thinking dabbing may be better for since I tested it first with 2-3 1ml samples…
Hey, (~~) ! Interesting topic! I will have to revisit Jatamansi, when I am in spa-mode. Today I’m in Fougueuse, which is still sooo beautiful.
I have some goofy fails.
The current Apres l’Ondee – I remembered the vintage and thought this……:-< alas, no. It mostly gives me a big ol' dose of headachy ennui, like I'm 12 again, trapped in my Tia Cornelia's living room, with the heavy silk drapes and air of stultifying gentility. Balmain de Balmain. Cheap galbanum thrill. I love Silences and Shelley spritzed me with BdB and I thought it was LOVE, too. Uh, no. Not Hate...just this vague sense of unease, every time I wear it. My most expensive FAIL: FM's Bigarade Concentree. It's theeeees close...but gets that mean, pithy thing going. Dang. xo >-)
What about… oh, Drama Nuui? Have you reconciled, or jettisoned?
oh, you >:) !! I’d forgotten all about that Nuui, him of the Drama. Lawd, remember all that? I have a little decant stuck waaaay back in the armoire. Every now and then I stumble upon it and hope springs eternal….and every time…b-(
sigh.
xo >-)
I think they broke up.
Oh, my, BC isn’t doing it? But you have the bottle? I’m so jealous, even if I really want the Cologne.
Man, you and your galbanum! I can take it in doses blended with something else, but galbanum will shiv me if it gets a chance.
Me, too! I am always surprised (and skeered!) when it shows FANGS!
xo >-)
I thought I’d love Unspoken and Attrape Coeur when I first purchased them a few years ago, and I almost did, but there was a violet ionone in both of them that blew up on me and ruined them. Tried them both again recently, and loved them.
On the other hand, I recently bought another decant of Vetiver Pour Elle, a scent I had previously worn and liked, and UGH! The Dreaded Sunflower Note emerged! Where did that come from?!?
Zeta – should have loved it by the notes but all I got was very soapy orange blossom. No thanks.
Fun post, Mistress March.
Dreaded Sunflower Note?? (EA Sunflowers, or live ones? Can’t ‘member a smell to the live ones, though I grant you I haven’t smelled them in a long time.)
The EA one, Mals. If you’ve ever smelled it you know what I’m talking about – nose singeing bitter and sharp. (I can’t take credit for naming it though – that was Angi on NST)
LOL – “the dreaded Sunflower note”
It’s so annoying when one component blows up and eats everything else.
Since my massive bottle/sample purge of a couple of years ago, I don’t have much that’s questionable anymore. But I did keep a bottle of Roja Dove Unspoken bought from Harrod’s at the height of the pound against the dollar. I even got the body cream, I loved the scent so much. These days, I rarely even think about it, perhaps because it’s buried in the back of my perfume box. So I tried it again after so long. *Amazing*–it haunts me, and I can’t tell you a single note that’s in it. Okay, I should wear this more.
Another I pulled out was Bel Respiro from Chanel. I haven’t worn it since last spring, so threw it on last night. At first, I wondered why I kept it, but slowly the herbal quality of the green *calmed* me. It’s peaceful, like sitting in the park. I’ve now put it at the front of my Chanel bottles.
I love Bel Respiro! It was one of those happy accidents, like the Eau de Cologne. I’d gone in, all aquiver for Cuir de Russie, and found it’s not nearly as lovely as the parfum. :-< Running my fingers over the other ginormous sample bottles (funny this - spellcheck flagged all sorts of things, including 'spellcheck' - but not ginormous)....anyway, came upon BR. On a whim, spritzed it - got the same effect you did. It's now on my FB list, along with the EdC. xo >-)
I hope the Bel Respiro and EdC come your way soon. This time of the year is perfect for both. I liked the EdC very, very much, it just didn’t seem to stay on my skin. My other favorite for this season is La Pausa. I’ve very nearly drained an entire bottle of La Pausa *on my own* over the past three springs. I’ve already gone through half of the Bel Respiro. So even if I barely remember them most of the year, they seem to be big winners.
Ah, yes, Bel Respiro is quite lovely, one of my fave green charmers, along with Annick Goutal’s Eau de Camille, EL’s original Private Collection and several others. And as for the Unspoken, it is quite beautiful, isn’t it? And it came in a body cream, you say? OH MY!! (Fans self rapidly.)
Yes, body cream! And (whispering quietly) it’s better than the edp. How I wish I had more! I used it up quick.
Bel Respiro, what a surprise! It is not “me” at all, and somehow I fell in love with it, along with Unspoken.
I tried (rather retried) Bel Respiro recently and was shocked at how much I liked it- it was never even on my to-try list and now I want more. Peaceful is right- I sprayed some on before yoga and loved it!
I sold my Miel de Bois and now, of course, I’m wishing I hadn’t.
My mistakes….I’ve bought some inexpensive “oldy but goodies” unsniffed based on reviews. They were okay, but not I would have been better off saving my dollars for one bottle of something fantastic, even if more expensive. Fendi Asja, Lempecka, a couple others…
Yes, that’s my problem; just *have* to go adventurously trawling ebay for unusual sounding things that I’ve found a fleeting highly positive reference to…Mauboussin Histoire d Eau, supposedly with a rich tangerine note is winging its way as we speak. I’d second vintage Cabochard; I probably would not have bothered with Theo Fennel Scent if I’d sniffed a sample (but pretty cheap)…but gosh, considering the hundreds in there , that’s not too bad! My biggest Serge letdown is Cedre. I also got Chypre Rouge and am going off it the more I wear it, it really does go ‘celery’.
The other problem I’ve got is that the more I sniff, the more I seem to find ‘something’ to like in just about everything…even if its just evaluative sniffing as I sit here in the morning drinking tea and reading the blogs!
Cedre I loved, but if you bought it thinking it had any cedar in it, it’s bound to disappoint. 🙂
muwahaha! We could do a separate post on things people are sorry they got rid of!! And Fendi Asja is love in a bottle.
Uh huh. :-\”
Dzongkha, I sooo wanted to like it that I bought a FB unsniffed, I’ve tried and retried it, but no, it is just not right for me.
Dzongkha was going to be MY perfume because I like the idea so much, but like many of those old-style Duchaufours it’s horrible on me.
Ivoire. Bought unsniffed, never loved – soap+moss, urgh. I thought I had a taker for it, but she’s in Australia, and my PO refused my first and second attempt at mailing it to her. (I mean, I lie about samples, and I’m almost over the moral issue of it. But I made the mistake a couple of years ago of asking my PO clerk how to ship perfume overseas, and they’re suspicious of all my packages now.)
Tocade. Another bought-unsniffed that I really, really liked for some time, but lately it is unbearably smoky to me, and I can’t wear it any more.
Ivoire, lol. Totally makes me barf.
Tocade I never want to wear, but I admit to spraying it on the sheets at bedtime. One spray. 🙂
Yep. Ivoire is my mistake, too. I’d read wonderful things about it on various blogs (clean, soft, spicy, green, floral – all those descriptors) and thought “I must have a bottle.” Which of course I promptly bought and found that Ivoire on me is simply Ivory soap. Nothing more, nothing less.
Eventually Ivoire does get to this gorgeous Chamade-ish drydown, but the journey to there is long and fairly nauseating, so I refuse to subject myself to it anymore.
I also bought Ivoire unsniffed and didn’t like it. Swapped it in the last swap.
Not a fan of Tocade. Smells like Palmolive in the drydown.
My worst mistake was Ruffles EDP, which of course I bought on Ebay. It has not turned, but I just don’t like it. I still LOVE the EDT and bought more so I would not use up my vintage stuff.
Also, I just bought Knowing. Beautiful as a sample, pure laundry musk on me. I will have to try it again.
As for Miel de Bois, my goal is to buy a FB and I totally agree with the heat. I tend to save MdB for August here in Florida.
Those newer Estees are mostly laundry musk on me. And it’s always nice to meet another MdB fan!
Well, maybe I don’t really know what swamp water smells like!!! ;-) To me A l’O has a very watery hay sort of smell. Not like wet grass, but like wet swampy dry grass.
Oh geez – how did I do that? Meant to reply to your comment on my post. Oh well! Sorry about that. Ha ha.
Is that the Oscar de la Renta stuff? I remember loving the original and I think (if I’ve got the right scent) I loved this, too.
xo >-)
Good topic, March! A couple of recent test subjects:
Apres l’Ondee – there are so many raves on this one, but I think it smells like swamp water. I’ve tried it periodically over the past few years, and still no luck. Pulled it out again last week. Yup – swamp water. Yuck. I gave my decant away.
Le Temps d’une Fete – another one that’s raved about. Bought a bottle of it a few years ago, and never really warmed up to it. Every time I tried it, I thought, big whoop. But yesterday I wanted it, sprayed it, and loved it!? Huh???
Swamp water? It’s pretty powdery, but I’ve not heard that one before. Although lots of people don’t like it.
Fete I cannot remember, but I am a fan of the line in general, although I don’t care for Sacrebleu, which is hugely popular.
Only tried it once, and it was the current version, but to me Apres L’Ondee smelled exactly like the adhesive on envelopes.
My best friend insists that Apres L’Ondee smells like scented toilet paper.
I’m a shopaholic and had plenty of mistakes, mostly from T.J. Maxx, Ebay, and like nozkoz, GWP’s. Here are some highlights:
T.J. Maxx: Cabochard: Yes, I knew it was the newer formulation, but curiosity got the best of me. Actually not too bad; it’s inspired me to search for the intage (sorry I still ha en’t gotten a new keyboard). Only $7.99 so good cheap thrill. Laura Mercier La iolette: Why can’t I just accept I just don’t like iolet?
Ebay: Big old 30 ml decant of 31 Rue Cambon which makes me sneeze and my husband go straight into a migraine, Adorable little bottle of Montale Powder Flowers which ri als Teint de Neige in the “death by powder” category.
Why to get a spray sample instead of a tiny dab-on before purchasing: Jardins de Kerylos: ordered a bottle only to find it majorly irritates me sprayed. From now on I make myself order a little spray decant from TPC.
Perfumes too similar: Dior Hypnotic Poison (replaced w/ Confetto), Dolce ita (want to replace w/ Bois de iolette) see me at the swap next week if you like these! :-)
You are vvvvvvvvvery right, Sherri – it’s really worth getting a 2.5 or 5 ml decant spray to really test-drive a scent. Although I still sometimes bid on vintage unsniffed…
Spraying vs. dabbing can make all the difference in the world. Some dabbed fragrances seem too light until they’re sprayed, and many dabbed fragrances seem completely overwhelming when sprayed.
Fortunately the TJM, etc. near me never has anything worth buying.
I like your funky keyboard– it’s like you have a cute little lisp!
Told you so: Miel de Bois is BEEEE-OOOOTIFULLLL!
My big mistake? Le Labo Patchouli 24. I still think it’s great, but I can really only take about half an hour of it, whereupon it starts to get on my nerves and makes me long for a shower and a washing machine. And it has the half-life of strontium….
I know there is a small but vocal MdB fanclub on here. :d And if you’d told me four years ago I’d be buying a bottle and wearing it I’d have laughed in your face. Although I still find the first 15 minutes a bit of rough road.
Still have never fallen in love with a LL enough to want one, although I like Aldehyde 44 and the Vetiver one (which doesn’t smell at all like vetiver to me.)
I didn’t know you like Ald44. Who’dathunkit! 😕
xoxo >-)
It’s like …. straight aldehyde, not too green or powdery. It’s perfect.
I reached for my bottle of Caron Aimez Moi, which I used to love, and found that it’s just not doing it for me anymore. Hopefully it will find a great new home during Swapmania 2.
I also re-sampled L’Artisan Traversee du Bosphore and need a bottle of it ASAP!
That TdB — I know to a lot of people it smells too much like something else (?I forgot what) to warrant a bottle, but to me it’s its own gorgeous magic. When my decant runs out I want more, too.
I just simply cannot do TdB. I tried. I scrubbed.
I held onto my sample hoping my nose evolves and I can enjoy it. What is that about?
Aha, see? You need to keep trying! And any number of things we’ve hated at first we’ve come to love.
My main mistakes are just that many of my perfumes smell alike. I keep wanting to branch out, but I end up choosing something that smells like I’d like it, and I do–because it smells like most of my other stuff.
Still, Paloma Picasso, objectively lovely, wears me, and not vice versa. Most of the Antonia’s Flowers line smells like sausage with fennel on me (no, seriously), and anything skanky will smell like soap on my skin(sigh…)
On the other hand, I periodically rediscover Habanita, which people love on me, and Florida Water, which is always much nicer than I remember.
Skank to soap? How very sad. 🙁 Have still never smelled one of those Antonia things, and you’re not making me want to rush out and do so. PP is A Lot of Look, as Tim Gunn might say…
Probably a lot of us own things that smell alike — incense for me, for instance. But I always tell myself they’re just different enough.
That’s so true, Madea! I’m always debating over something that smells wonderful but which I realize to be the same sort of thing as something else that I already have, like Frapin 1697 and BK Back to Black. It’s one of the great perfume dilemmas!
Love Paloma Picasso but rarely wear it. Need find some of that Florida Water!
Any bodega will have it. It’s the quintessential summer staple for my tias!
xo >-)
It’s even on Amazon!
Gotta love Amazon – if they rented apartments I’d live there! ;-)
I too have bought several bottles that ended up being near-duplicates of stuff I already owned, mostly acquired unsniffed.
As for unsniffed stuff that I just flat didn’t like, I’ve mostly swapped it away already, but am looking forward to the next swap so I clean out some of my dupes.
I think that pickle-juice note may be vetiver. I have a number of vetiver perfumes that smell like pickle juice initially.
I love the challenges you think up for us, March!
I bought the L’Artisan Aedes de Venustas unsniffed because it I wanted the free-with-purchase perfume book AdV was offering, have liked every other Duchaufour that I’ve tried and liked what LT compared it too. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Every few months or so I try it again and still don’t like it – that snuffed candle/tea note just hasn’t worked for me so far. On the other hand, Le Parfum de Therese (just a 10 ml) is working better as I try it over time. I might need a bottle. AG Songes is one that I bought after testing at Nordies, was immediately sorry, but as I come back to it over time I like it more and more. In fact, I think that’s what I’ll sleep in tonight! ;-)
Aha! Maybe that’s the pickle juice.
The Aedes is interesting. I was *sure* I would love it. All the notes are right, sounds like it’s right up my alley, EXCEPT unlike you those Duchaufour scents don’t work for me, and this one didn’t either.
I had a similar change of heart on Songes!
I *LOVE* Aedes de Venusta! That is one of the three incense fragrances I really like…the others being a Neil Morris and the Kyoto one. LV Incensi was okay, but not as great as those others.
Maybe it’s because you’re not getting a lot of the incense? (You mention snuffed candle and tea….I didn’t even know tea was in there.) Oh well.
You’re right, that’s part of it: LT described it as a more wearable Duchaufour incense than Timbuktu, and I’m not really getting incense. I don’t find Timbuktu very wearable, but I love it anyway. Oh, and I forgot to mention the other reason I bought AdV: wonderful frosted plum-colored bottle!
Diorissimo: It is so beautiful, and it makes me feel like the Church Ladies of my youth.
Violetta di Parma: It is so beautiful, and I almost asphyxiated myself a few months ago. Don’t think I can wear it again.
Collection: When it was discontinued and showed up at Marshall’s, a few years ago, I bought a ton. Unfortunately, I can’t wear it.
I hear you on the Diorissimo. VdP I can only take in small doses. Collection I’m laughing over because I admire it but could never, ever wear it.
Me, too, on the Diorissimo. I was gifted with a vintage body lotion and I wear that, along with the current edp (I wiped out the vintage long ago. Live long and wear it! is my motto 😉 it is one of those Dressy Spring Scents that just makes me feel pretty!
xo >-)
VdP is lovely – then it shuts down my sinuses.