First off, congratulations to:
Poodle
Red
and Shaney
who have each won a sample of Oscar de la Renta’s Oriental Lace. To claim your prize, click on the Drop Us a Note link at the very top of the page, put “Ann giveaway” in the subject line and send us your name, address and a reminder of what you’ve won.
Woo-hoo, it looks like spring may have sprung, at least for some parts of the country. (Unless Mother Nature decides to change her mind yet again.) Our few days here of above 60 degree temps have put me in mind of spring cleaning. And that would include my purse. So I’m asking the end-of-winter (hopefully) question: “What’s your EBP?”
No, that’s not some kind of official-speak, as in, “Hey, Bill, what’s your ETA to the next service call?” It stands for Emergency Backup Perfume, and it was coined by lovely Posse reader AnnieA on a post several years ago.
It’s something a lot of us probably do without even thinking about it. We apply a scent at home, take the spray or vial or bottle with us for touch-ups later in the day and head out the door. And after a busy day or week (or in my case, months), we forget to take them all back out again. I did this last year as fall was bearing down on us, so let’s try it again now that spring may finally be on its way.
OK, I’ll go first. In my very messy handbag, I have lurking:
A sample of Puredistance Opardu, a tiny spray of Frederic Malle’s Dries Van Noten, and a sample of Oscar de la Renta’s Oriental Lace. Also a small spray of one of my under-the-radar loves, Costes 2, for a portable spritz of cozy comfort. One caution: I try to keep all these together in a plastic zip-top baggie as I’m deathly afraid of leakage. Having once had the lining of a handbag stained this way, I’m not eager for a repeat performance.
So what’s your EBP? Have a peek at the bottom of your purses, backpacks, briefcases, etc., and share what vials, sprayers, etc., are rolling around in there, won’t you?
Am I too late? I did my monthly purse-cleanout yesterday and found: a sample of Mona di Orio’s Cuir, a sample of Nasomatto Pardon, a decant of Dior’s addict, a decant of Ambre Extreme, a mini of Femme (shame on me for keeping vtg stuff in warm and battered handbags, I know), and my go-to staple Amour by Kenzo. Oh and a mini size skinfood from Trumper in Sandalwood, if that counts. Itr’s been a pretty good month though, sometimes I found a whole army of forgotten samples in my bags… 🙂
Great idea by the way, the topic I mean. 🙂 Have a great weekend, all of You!
Hi, Elvie! Not to worry, never too late on the Posse. Comments are welcome any time at all.
You did find a batch of goodies in your purse, didn’t you? You have a smart idea there about the monthly cleanout. I desperately need to do that as sometimes I go two or three months, I’m ashamed to say. Enjoy your newly-found stash, especially the Kenzo, which I love as well. Hope you have a nice weekend, too.
Decants of Alahine, SSS Ambre Noir, Ambre Russe, Ambre Sultan, Geisha Noire, and Midnight Oud, a travel bottle of Ambre Fétiche, a tiny bottle of Roxana Villa’s Chiaroscuro, a sample of Killian’s Love and Tears, and a sample of Montale’s Aoud Ambre. The last needs to find a new home, because it smells like sour cherry cough syrup and rubber on my skin. I wish I could magically transform it into more Alahine, sigh.
Some great scents there in your stash! Wait until the next Posse Swapmania and maybe you can snag some more Alahine.
I have a small sample of FM’s Dans tes Bras, I looooove so much this perfume, it was an adquired taste but still one of my favorites! The subtile mushroom touch is to die for
That is an unusual scent. I cannot wear (wish I could), but glad that you’ve grown to love
I’ve had samples of Donna Karan Chaos and Givenchy Mimosa Amarige in my purse forever, *Just In Case*, but I’ve only used each about once because I so rarely get caught not wearing perfume! I spritzed my boyfriend with the Chaos once, and that was awesome.
Hi, Elisa! Love Chaos, too, and I bet it was amazing on him. I need to sneak some on to my DH sometime.
I just went through my bag (it’s a minkoff MAB, so it holds a TON if I let it!) In it, I found my travel atomizer of Lempicka Homme, my signature/goto/always backup, a vial of Hove Mantrap from a recent trip to NOLA, a TPC decant spray of Coromandel, a Possetts sample of Dangerous, decant of Gucci Rush, which I’m reliving from my 90s youth, Bourbon French Perfume Jasmine solid (also from the NOLA trip), Some hoodoo love oil called “follow me boy”, and a DIY spray sample of Prada Candy from Nordies. I keep getting decants of this last one, but for some reason can’t bring myself to buy it. This is the first time I’ve posted here, but I’ve been a long time lurker, and love your site!
Hi, Julia, and welcome! So glad you decided to de-lurk and join us. You’ve got some good stuff in your bag (I’m partial to the Coromandel and Rush as well), and some things I want to try one day, especially the Hove. I hear you on the Prada Candy — I enjoy it a lot but can’t bring myself to pull the trigger either.
My EBP is always Un Bois Vanille ( tiny little spray sample). Guaranteed to make ANY situation better but especially good in the wintertime.
Lynne Marie, that’s great — so nice to have one perfect EBP.
I have 3 solids that I keep in my cosmetics bag year round – Yves Rocher Vanilla, Pacifica Tibetan Mountain Temple and Brazilian Mango Grapefruit, so those can cover most situations. Right now, the only other thing I have in my purse is a Jo Malone Blackberry & Bay sample. That works in most weather also and I see a full bottle in my future. I just finished a small decant of Lostmarch Din Dan that had been in there for a while. which is lovely & lemony – I wouldn’t mind a bottle of that as well, but my Fresh Brown Sugar covers most of my lemon needs.
Hi, lady! Yay — another solid perfume fan! And a good range of scents you’ve got there.
BTW, I really like that Blackberry & Bay, too; there’s just something so appealing about it, don’t you think?
I’ve got a little, almost empty spray of de Profundis (which is wonderful), about 3mls of Gorilla Perfumes the Smell of Weather Turning ( I thought I’d love this, but can’t get into it) some Parfums de Nicolai Fig Tea, Profumum Acqua di Sale andxa tiny spray of Hilde Soliani Tutti Matti per Colorno. I think I need to clean out my purse!
Mmmm … de Profundis is so lovely. One of the few that work well on me for both spring and fall. Thanks for the reminder — gotta go get my sample out and enjoy it.
Funny topic. I just cleaned out my bag and now carry only a sample of sweet redemption and a roller of boyfriend, which is the only perfume my husband regularly makes positive comments on, so I like to keep those comments coming.
Oh, yes, keep those comments/compliments coming! I like both of those scents but am really fond of the Boyfriend body cream. It’s quite nice and I especially enjoy it at bedtime.
Let’s see…here is my travel spray of New Harlem by Bond, which I would probably panic and drive right back home to get it if it was not in my purse. And here are some little samples in a mini baggie….Fig Tree by SSS and Absolute Pour le Soir By Maison Francis Kurkdjian. Wait! there is one more thing here at the bottom, Oh! My decant of Ambre Precieux by Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier. I have been looking all over for that!!! Whew.
Nice choices there. And so glad you found your amber!
I have a few things in my bag that I mostly use if I leave the house in the morning and forget to besmell myself. I have three Pacifica solids: Mexican Cocoa, Spanish Amber, and Persian Rose, which I usually layer in various combinations, a 7.5ml mini of Bottega Veneta that the SA at Neiman’s threw in when I bought my 50ml bottle, and a 0.3oz rollerball of a concoction I made at a scent-your-own-stuff bath and body store. It’s kind of a woody floral thing that I really liked when I first made it but now sometimes find too sweet. And if on any given day I’m wearing a sample, that sample vial is probably in my pocket.
Gotta love those perfume solids, Jennifer, and Pacifica’s are great. Plus so nice to throw them in your bag and breeze through airport security, no worrying about liquids, sprays, etc. or spills. BTW, there’s a store that lets you scent your own products? How neat! Didn’t know there was any such animal. Would love to hear more about it. Thanks!
There are a couple different scent-your-own stores here in Houston, and I’ve been to both of them..heh.. One is called Naked, and that’s where I made the rollerball I mentioned above. They have a table with a big display full of fragrance oils and blotters, and you can just go to town. You fill in a form with the oils you’re using and proportions if you know them. Then they mix it for you in whatever product(s) you want. The neat thing about that place is that they’re pretty precise when they’re mixing your scent (and you can sniff as you go along if you need to make adjustments), and they keep it on file for you so you can get it again later after you use up what you bought.
The other one is called Bath Junkie, and it’s pretty much the same idea. I think they might have a slightly larger selection of fragrance oils, and they’re sorted by categories (i.e. fruits, spices, florals, etc). The drawback here is that they don’t keep your fragrance on file, and they’re not as precise in the blending, but they let you sniff as you go along so you can adjust as you need. I did a roller ball and a lotion with the same scent here. I made kind of a jasmine-chypre-ish scent. They had an oil called “dirt” that smelled like potting soil that I loved.
Very cool! Thanks so much for sharing about those stores. Wish there were more of these around; especially near me. 🙂
Hmmm…I think there are a couple of Ineke samples in there. Evening Edged in Gold and Hot House Flower last time I looked. I try to carry generally inoffensive stuff in case I need to apply at work (I work in a dental office so need to be careful). Also, I always have a couple of roller-balls with me. Looks like Pacifica Lilac and Royal Apothic Hyacinth as well as SSS Tabac Aurea and Rose Musc travel sprays. Since I haven’t used any of them in a while it might be a good idea to switch out. I usually keep a sample vial of Kyoto in the pocket of my scrubs as I find it so soothing.
Hi, Liz! I sympathize; several friends of mine work in the health-care field and have to be so careful what they wear (one just doesn’t wear any scent at all at work). Rollerballs work so well — you can just touch them to your skin, or apply with abandon. I wish more perfume firms would do them. Love your choices, especially the Ineke HF and the RA Hyacinth (must try that).
My bag has Vetyverio and Burberry Body, and the stash at work has the long-lived bottle of Bois de Filao and one of the J’Adore flankers…
Howdy, Annie, our famous “EBP” author! I’m not a vetiver gal, but need to try the BB as I’ve heard some good things about it. And it’s nice that you can have a stash at work. I’d have to be very, very careful about that. 🙁
I was so tempted to say “That was ME!” — it’s so nice to have a small claim to fame in the perfume world…
For a lot of my fb’s and non-spray bottles/minis (mostly summer ones tho- need to update!), I have made 2/2.5ml decants, so when I decide what to wear for the day I pop it’s backup decant in my uniform pocket, or leave the fb in my bag at work. I try to carry a light bag as I too have back issues, so I don’t usually carry any with me. I think my work locker has a decant of Escale a Portofino for if I’ve forgotten to wear some. The women I work with also leave (now unwanted by them) fb’s in the bathroom for ‘general use’, atm these are Red Door and Tommy Girl which I dislike, but I was allowed to claim the vintage Byzance for my own 🙂
Lynley, that size decant is just about perfect, isn’t it? The Escale a Portofino is such a lovely, refreshing scent; it’s toward the back of one of my perfume drawers and has gotten overlooked in the past, but I’m pulling it out front and center ASAP. And how cool that you got the Byzance! I haven’t smelled it in ages but used to adore it.
First, thank you so much…I’m super excited to have won an Oriental Lace sample 🙂 My EBP for forever was a roller of Aveda Love…I liked it just fine, but really, it was just the only travel size spray I owned. Now, I carry a solid L’Occitane Green Tea perfume as well as a travel Ormonde Woman…which is my overall favorite perfume of the moment!
Love Ormonde Women. FeralJasmine sent me a sample of it for my Mom during one of the fairy godmother threads, but I have fallen in love with it. Now my Mom has gotten me the purse spray and sample set of OJ perfumes as a celebration of college admissions decisions. I can’t wait!
Hey Connie, so glad that you liked the OJW yourself. Did your mom ever find something that she liked? And have you decided on a college?
Congrats, Shaney! I love OJW as well, but on the wrong day it can be a little too much (luckily not often). And Connie, how nice of your mom — very cool! BTW, have you guys tried the body lotion of OJW? I got a sample at Surrender to Chance and it’s really nice if you want just a veil of the scent …
Every day when I go to school I pack a sample in my glasses case. Because I switch them out every day I don’t end up losing them in the abyss that is my schoolbag, but I always have one with me. Today’s perfume was LUSH’s Lust, which i think I am in love with.
However, I do put a perfume on in the car when I’m on my way to volunteering on Saturday mornings, so we do have a few samples at the bottom of the glove compartment. I’ll take out a pen and it will be scented with SL’s Un Bois Vanille!
That’s perfect, Connie. No digging through bunches and bunches. You mentioned the scented pen — I had something similar happen to me the other day. At the store the SA had sprayed a strip with Guerlain Lys Soleia. I thought it smelled OK but didn’t test on skin. I put it by my gear-shift and forgot about it. One sunny afternoon a day or two later, the most wonderful smell wafted from my car and even my sunglasses (which sat atop the scented strip) smelled divine. So now I just have to try the Guerlain next time I’m in the store.
Lys Soleia is pretty nice. I found something a bit too acidic in it for me, which happens every once in a while. Another experience I had along similar lines involved getting a test strip of TF’s Tobacco Vanille, which I left on a table in the house for a few hours but moved when it was distracting me. The next day I went over to the table and could smell the perfume! The wood had been impregnated with Tobacco Vanille!
That’s too funny! I’m curious how long your scented table lasted?
About three days. I had no idea it would be so strong.
Wowza! I guess I’d better be careful what scent strips I put down on a table. Thanks!
I tend to accumulate random samples in my bag–currently. Anne Pliska, Petite Cherie,Rose Oud, Success is a Job in NY, Green, Donna Karan Woman, Liasons Dangereuses, Love and Tears, Beyond Love, and Sous le Toit de Paris
Love Anne Pliska…..
Love Anne Pliska too! Sometimes I think those random samples reproduce overnight in our purses; you thought you had five but next time you check, it’s turned into eight, ha!
It’s time to change purses for the spring and in digging out the little packet of samples I keep with me, it’s obviously time to change them out as well: Aroma M Geisha Noir, Chanel Coco Noir, Montale Black Aoud & CJ Scents Darkness. Winter purse and winter scents! Today I’ll be digging out my green handbag with the floral lining and adding a pink lipstick to my makeup bag along with some lighter scents, including some Chanel 19. I mainly keep the samples with me in case I leave the house without perfume or encounter something stinky in my day (I do a lot of volunteer work w/elderly people, including my parents, including dealing with toenails and …let your imagination do the rest.) Great topic, Ann! I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s comments.
R-
You are a wondrous goddess!
Hear, hear! Seconding the lovely Musette on this ; you are indeed a goddess! The three of us know firsthand about caring for the elderly, those in nursing homes, etc., (and I’m sure many others on the Posse as well), so we have a great appreciation for what you do. And perfume is a wonderful antidote to all the stinky stuff we encounter during the day (and not all of it is physical, ha!) …
Like Janet, I have one of those heavy Kilian atomizers, but mine is a Taste of Heaven. I swap that out with my Sweet Redemption tho. I don’t really keep perfume in my purse, normally. I apply it in the morning, as a big part of my day… hmmm, what mood am I in today….? Then I wear strictly that for the day. I think this is mainly because I’m still testing a billion scents and it takes me several wearings to figure out what I think about it.
Lucky you, Beth, to have one of those gorgeous babies! With your two Kilian scents, that works out just perfectly — just slip whichever refill spray in and you’re good to go.
I have an almost empty decant of Chanel Coromandel, a small bottle of Ambre Fetiche (which layers well with so many things),
Two small drams of perfume from Hove, which is a perfume shop in New Orleans, French Quarter (I am not in love with them though, so they will be leaving soon), a bottle of Peru Balsam Oil.
That is all for now, but I will be adding some Lavender Absolute, and maybe some Patchouli (dark), and a couple of other oils.
I don’t know what perfumes will enter next.
I also keep my smells in a plastic zip bag, so it is easy to get to them, and so they don’t spill, Spillage is NO BUENO!!!
I forgot, I have amber paste in there too 🙂
Yep, spillage is a big no-no. Love your Coromandel and Ambre Fetiche but have not tried anything from Hove yet. I think the Posse will probably be having Swapmania a bit later this year, so your unloved bottles would find a good home then, I’m pretty sure.
Good idea!!!
A dear friend gave me one of those nifty little travel atomizers from Nordie’s, and I filled it with my long-time HG, No. 19 edp. That stays in my purse year-round. Otherwise, I never know what samples I might be carrying, but I try to empty them out and put them in my sample box at home pretty regularly. So, the No. 19 edp is my EBP. 🙂
And what a great EBP it is, Dina! Can’t go wrong with No. 19, can you?
I just cleaned out my purse the other day and only had one sample of Like This in there. I usually have more and will probably toss a few others in there today. Am I the only person who has far too many lipsticks, balms, and glosses in her purse? Anyway, I used to keep an emergency bottle in the car during cooler weather and a body spray when it was warmer. Usually something inexpensive so if the temps affected it I wouldn’t be devastated. Now I just toss samples and small bottles in my purse because I’ve come to realize I will never be a small purse kind of girl. I like to be prepared for anything like Solanace said.
Waking up and seeing I won something is a great way to start my day. 🙂
Congratulations, dear! BTW, you’re not alone — I tend to have at least three lipsticks and two balms in there at any given time. I have to be a small-ish purse girl because of my bad back, but I make sure my handbag has good organization to hold all my junk.
It changes a lot, but I just checked and now I carry a small decant of l’Heure Bleue along with samples of Fracas, Parfums de Rosine Une Folie de Rose, Montale Chypre Vanillle and Atelier cologne Orange Sanguine. I have a little sequin pouch for my samples so they will not disapear inside the black hole that is my purse. That’s my kind of swiss army knife, I feel prepared for anything!
Swiss army knife — I love it! Solanace, you are indeed well-prepared for any fragrance emergency that might arise. My purse can be a black hole, too, so keeping the scent in a pouch or bag saves me a lot of digging.
I went to Sephora last week and still had a sample of J’Adore in the bottom of my purse. I found that after I retrieved a handful of vintage mini’s I was carrying around from when I went junk shop shopping – there was a Robert Piguet Bandit, a Madame Rochas, a Ma Griffe, and a My Sin along with it. 🙂
I love Ma Griffe! 🙂
Whoo-hoo, Mary! Sounds like you won the vintage jackpot. I want to go junk shopping with YOU sometime!
Sounds like fun, come on over! 🙂 I have been having good luck lately I must say. But I just missed out on a huge deal. One vendor told me she had just sold 200 rare vintage mini’s she had gotten from a long-time perfume collector to a French boutique owner – dang! Oh well…..
….. Not that I could have afforded them all, but it would have been fun to see what she had and to maybe test some out 😉
That would be nice, wouldn’t it? Just keep checking back with her, maybe she’s got a line on some good perfume sources. And don’t fret about the ones that got away — more cool vintage stuff will turn up soon I bet.
Will definitely do that, just having so much fun with it all!
My record of not cleaning out my purse it a year. Last time I cleaned it out, I found my parfum version of no. 19 and Giullietta (full bottle). I’m still scratching my head over how they didn’t break in my purse. I always carry a decant of Mitsouko, Joy, Deneuve and 1 Amouage. I’ve left the house a few times without perfume and halfway to my destination, realize it. The EBP started with having just one of Vera Wang’s Princess samples but that was in the early days of perfume.
That purse cleaning-out turned out to be a very happy occasion, didn’t it? You’ve heard of “found money” — well, you’ve got a lovely instance of “found fragrance.” I love finding items I thought I’d lost for good.
Oh, my. I have:
– purse sprays of VP Rubj edp, OJ Ta’if, and FM Une Fleur de Cassie and En Passant
– decants or samples of VP Mito; FM Lys Mediterranee; SL Bois de Violette, Fleurs d’Oranger, Datura Noir; Tauer Carillon Pour un Ange; Olympic Orchids Siam Proun and Midsummer Day’s Dream, and a bunch of others!
Wowza — that’s quite a collection you’ve got there, and some lovely choices. You’re well-covered for any fragrance emergency!
It’s mostly because I can’t wear perfume at work, so I need to make my choice just as soon as I get out of the office! 😀 (After work I pick up my kids from school and usually drive them to and pick them up from an after school activity before going home; we live too far away to go home in between.)
I just put in my purse one of the wonderfully heavy atomizer from By Kilian. It has Sweet Redemption in it, perfect for spring. I also have a 1 ml of Trayee because it is always makes me happy. And a new sample of Lipstick Rose; I never thought I was a rose person until I tried that beauty. And last but not least a sample of Entre Naranjos by Ramon Monegal. It is gorgeous! But at $185 for 50ml? That sample will have to last me a loooong time.
Oh, yes, aren’t those atomizers just divine? Lucky you! I need to re-try the Lipstick Rose but I’m right there with you on the Trayee — yum!
I don’t normally carry perfume in my purse, I spray at home and that’s it for the day, but I do keep emergency backups in my desk at work – currently AG Mandragore, Orange Star, and Like This.
Didn’t think of the desk drawer — that’s a good idea. Mmmm … love that Orange Star — must go dig out my sample. Thanks!
I always have a travel spray of Bond #9 New Harlem and a little sample of Fig Tree by Sonoma Scent Studio in my purse at all times.
You are well prepared for anything, then! I love that Bond (and in spring and fall I layer it with a bit of Bond’s Little Italy), but have not tried the Fig Tree. Sounds quite nice for spring …
A few months ago, I switched from a standard purse to a small travel type Baggallini. Stuffed to the gills with items I really do need so only carrying around a 1ml vial of With Love Hilary Duff. Simple, works in most any season and have never had any of the men in my family make a negative comment. That makes it a (cheap) winner!
Yay, Tiara! You’ve found a scent you enjoy that works year-round, your family likes it and it’s affordable — sounds like you’ve got a winner there!
I have a 2ml travel vial of 7 Billion Hearts in my purse, because a pal at work loves it, and when she’s having a bad day I dab a little touch on her, which nearly always helps. Oddly enough, I almost never reapply my own scent during the day. When it’s gone, it’s gone. Then when I get home I put on something else for evening. Having so little perfume in my purse assures that there’s room for notes about events that occurred last month or possibly in early 2012 when I bought this purse, keys that no longer open any known door, and about 1.37 pounds of loose change. You can see how vital it is to have enough loose change…can’t you?
Too funny! But at least you’re free and clear to wear a whole new scent when you get home. And hey, you’ve got plenty of EBM — emergency backup moolah! 🙂
P.S. You’re sweet to share your 7B Hearts — you’re a good friend!
The pocket of my bag is always filled with winter samples from my STC purchases. About 10 main stays inside it. They all came in handy when I’m away from home, i am crazy with too many choices to bring. whats more retard of me is wearing a frag that isn’t part of what’s in my bag before I leave my house. So this coming spring, I think of changing my old 10 with maybe 5.
Gucci pour homme 2, Chanel Bleu de Chanel, Sisley Soir de Lune, Cartier d’Un Soir, Kerosene Unknown Pleasures and Chanel Coromandel.. You see, I love wearing female perfumes also and it somehow becomes quite masculine on me. Awesome!
Oh wait, is that Red me? Am I a winner this time? At last, I experienced winning! Always unlucky with draws and giveaways ever. Thank you Posse, thank you bloggers and beautiful smelling draw organizers. Happy Easter!
Yep, that’s you up there in the winner’s circle! Glad to see another Coromandel lover, and I’ve got to try that Kerosene soon. Enjoy!
Yes I love my Coromandel from STC. Somehow during my olfactory journey with it, two amazing male perfumes vibes were popping in and out. Just one of the many reasons why I’m happy to discover Chanel Coromandel.
Oh I already dropped a note and my again, warmest thank you to you Ann.
You are so very welcome, Red. Hope you enjoy the goodies!
Just cleaned out my purse today. Contents were a large decant of Le Labo Rose 31, an almost empty manufacturer’s sample of L’Ambre des Merveilles, a swap decant of Eau Duelle, also almost gone, and a decant of my latest love, Chypre Palatin. Not bad. I usually have a lot more in there 🙂
Yum — you had some good stuff in there. Good for you for cleaning it out. I need to do mine fully and start the change-over from a winter bag to a spring purse.