New Fragrance For A Mate

Hey Posse Perfume Peeps,

Portia from AustralianPerfumeJunkies here again to take you somewhere slightly sideways. I’m totally thrilled to be back on Perfume Posse, come along for the ride.

The other night TSO Jin and I were at dinner with a buddy, one of my besties. He has been wearing Cool Water brilliantly for over 20 years, one of his exes found an old empty bottle of it in a box and was very mocking on Fbook. This crushed my friend, of course, and we have had some chats about a change, though I love him in Cool Water and don’t think he should change because some ex is a complete wanker asswipe.

Anyway. I took over a group of fragrances for him to try, some things that I knew he’d like and some interesting oddballs in case he wanted real change. I thought long and hard about this short list and hoped it would be a suitable selection and had winnowed the group down to 5 fragrances; Terre D’Hermes EdT, Gujarat by Olympic Orchids, Midnight In Paris by Van Cleef & Arpels, Gendarme and Declaration by Cartier. I had pre cut & written some blotter strips so we could spray, sniff, walk away, sniff again, eat dinner and come back for a final sniff. If he LOVED any one he could have it. I had hoped in my heart that the winner would be either Midnight In Paris or Terre D’Hermes because both of these say successful to me, they have great scent stories, are unusual without being quirky and tell me that this person has taken the time to find something special without taking notice of billboards or magazine scent strips, a cut above the run of the mill, quietly confident.

May I also say that this was HEAPS of fun for all 3 of us. My mate was totally into it, felt loved and supported, had an in home personal experience and should he want anything, freebees at the end. WINNING! Jin got to see that I have real empathy and understanding of both scent and my friend and had really done my homework. Even getting the boxes out of the bag, opening them up, checking the bottle design, telling my mate a brief history of each and why it had made it to the short list was fun. Also, I told him how he, and his life, fit into each fragrances story for me and why these particular products registered.

How did we go?

Gujarat: Gujarat is a sexy indie scent, dark, spicy & alluring; and Ellen Covey is a superstar. This got WOW!’s from both guys. Even taking the lid off the bottle gave the room a whole new feeling of faraway places and exotic lands. The dabbing onto a scent strip took away some of the glamour though, the showman in me was a trifle miffed that I hadn’t decanted. Unfortunately this was too much of a statement piece and my friend felt that it would wear him. Fair call.

Gendarme: I thought the crisp and clean Gendarme could be the one because my buddy is borderline OCD and loves stuff CLEAN, also Gendarme is the scent of choice of some of Hollywood and the music industries heavy hitters. Funnily, the first thing my buddy said was, “This smells like my laundry fabric softener!” He brought it out and there was very little difference. It was put aside.

Terre D’Hermes: Have you ever heard the expression, Eyes Light Up? One sniff of this on the scent strip and it was love. I thought we were going to get a dance of joy. The opening notes had him jumping. As the night wore on though the scent registered less on the Richter scale and though he loved it, there was a definite not sure quality to his face.

Midnight In Paris: Frankly, he couldn’t get past how cliche’d the name is. But not even for a man’s fragrance. Cliche’d for a girl. Loved the bottle, liked the scent but could not imagine himself telling anyone that he was wearing it. He also knows the Van Cleef & Arpels brand, I think a family member or ex lover may have worn their jewellery or perfume. There was certainly a very positive brand recognition.

Declaration: Declaration is something I really admire, it’s like a perfect diamond, clear, bright, cool and expensive feeling, the bottle is engineered and classy. This registered a bit on first sniff but was overwhelmed by Terre D’Hermes. Every time we came back to the strips Declaration would have moved forward a little in his estimation. Also, his mother wears Cartier jewellery, so he knew there would be brand recognition at home, which is something I never figured into the equation. Ultimately Declaration took the prize, it was the one to be finally spritzed down his shirt towards the evenings end and we even got a sexy, I smell so good sofa dance. HILARIOUS!!

In the end I left him with both Terre D’Hermes and Declaration to wear for a while. I think one will be day and one night. He’ll never become a perfumista but he will smell fine. I am going to buy him a small Cool Water for Christmas as it is his scent and whenever I smell it on anyone else I am with him in spirit.

Hopefully you enjoyed the story as much as we enjoyed making it. Please trot over and see us at AustralianPerfumeJunkies there’s always something fragrant going on over there and we get excited if you leave a message, here or there.

Portia xx

PS Sorry it wasn’t a Friday 13th post.

All photos and video stolen from Fragrantica