I know some of you may be on the road traveling for the upcoming U.S. Thanksgiving holiday or getting ready for it at home. But I hope that wherever you are in the world, you’ll take a break here with us for a bit. On a recent Facebook perfume group post, someone posed the question: What perfume sums up your personality or best describes who you are? But I’ll take it a step further and ask an additional question: If you could be any perfume, which one would you want to be?
This might feel awkward for some of you (it was for me), almost like you’re bragging about yourself, but try not to look at it in that light. Because all of us here are pretty amazing in different ways. And we at the Posse already know how great each of you is, so go for it. It’ll be fun to hear what you would select for your personality. And if you pick Diva by Ungaro, well, that’s OK, too. The world would be a lesser place if we had no divas, yes?
What did I choose? As for the first query, I had to say Le Labo Vanille 44 (and not just because it’s one of my all-time faves). It’s not earth-shakingly exciting; but rather a soft, cozy, comforting vanilla, but one with warmth, depth and character, thanks to the incense.
As for what I’d like to be: Frederic Malle’sCarnal Flower — beautiful and very self-confident and assured, all of which I am far, far from in real life. I wouldn’t necessarily want the showy “Look at me, aren’t I gorgeous?” aspect of it because I’m not comfortable in the spotlight and have more of a quiet, behind-the-scenes personality. (Even at my age I’m still slightly terrified of public speaking, if that tells you anything.) But the grace and self-confidence part I would take in a heartbeat. All too often I seem to have “Lucy” moments and the graceful, well-composed CF would take care of that (most of the time, anyway).
So do share with us, what perfume seems to sum up your personality and/or what fragrance would you like to be?
Late to the party but now I am at the party! I am Kelly Caleche – confident, assertive without being loud, has a softer side (rose) …
Gaiac 10 by Le Labo, is my signature scent, minimalism is so sexy.
Yes, yes, John — must agree with you 100 percent! You summed up the beauty of that scent so well. I love it, too, and thought seriously about it for me, except that I am not nearly that calm and Zen, alas.
Bit late to the party- my Posse crack stopped being delivered- again!
I’d say maybe Memoir. Not always so predictable, a bit complicated, intriguing, sometimes just too much, yet quite soft and reassuring. 🙂
Hi, Lynley! So glad you made it! Wow — what a great choice in Memoir! It really is all of those things you mentioned, so you must be a pretty cool lady.
I must have a multiple personality disorder or a lot of facets to my personality or something. ‘Cause I can’t commit to a signature scent.I’m all over the place classic chypres,berries,vanillas,fougeres,woods,spices,greens,and florals,teas . I guess my “home” territory is spice-rose-honeysuckle-gardinia-woods-tea-tuberose
Not to worry, Jennifer — it’s all good! I’m like that, too, no signature scent for me either. There’s just so much to love …
Coco is me. I love the pretty and sultry combined that it captures. In warm weather I am Carnal Flower.
Oh, Catherine, I do love your “you” choices, both beautiful in very different ways! Coco is so wonderful and I can’t believe that I forget about it sometimes. Thanks for the reminder!
I love some scents and really like a lot more and wear them based on how I feel, but the scent for/of my soul is vintage Apres L’Ondee.
Apres L’Ondee is so very lovely — you are a beautiful soul, indeed, Maya!
I would also love to be Ormonde Woman – independent, unique, a little bit witchy – and that may well be it. Or Chanel No 5 Eau Premiere – an updated classic!
Yay — another OJ Woman fan! I actually think I was a little bit of her when I was younger, at least the tough, independent part. But the Eau Premiere is a beauty and as you say, an updated classic, so that’s great to be (or aspire to be)!
I’d love to be a femme fatale like Carnal Flower or Beyond Love, or an elegant, aloof woman who never overstuffs her Chanel handbag, like one of the Chanels or Iris Nazarena. I’m probably something like Traversee du Bosphore with alot of different, seemingly contradictory elements.
Me, too, Sherri, dear! But I’m way too klutzy and disorganized for that. A-ha — I knew there was a reason I enjoy Traversee so much! 🙂
I’d be a Lutens concoction–Jeux de Peau, or Ambre Sultan, for instance, on an ordinary day, these perfumes are fun, a bit dramatic, a bit too much, a bit bizarre even. And if I feel a bit more serious, I’d be the beautiful Feminite du Bois.
Katrin, so many of those SLs have so much personality. You couldn’t go wrong with any of those. And I know you are lovely in the FdB.
Hmmmmm….. my friends and family would tell you I was The Party in Manhattan…. fun and loud and over-the-top and great in small doses.
My husband would agree 100 percent, but he’d also throw in Bvlgari Rose Essentielle, because he sees the girly side of me more than most people do.
I aspire to Nuit de Noel in extrait, partly because it’s my favorite, partly because I love Christmas, but mainly because it has all the beauty and richness I love about TPIM , but is much better behaved and far more elegant. I long to be elegant, and I am so NOT.
I would also love to be Annick Goutal’s Rose Absolue, which is just the epitome of all that is good and sweet and tender in life.
Tammy, love reading your selections — you really gave this some thought. Gotta love a woman who knows herself so well, especially fragrance-wise, Thanks!
Parfum d’Empire Ambre Russe…unfortunately I can’t seem to find it anymore.
Great pick, Cindy, but please, please find it! Hate to think of losing a lovely like that. Keeping my fingers crossed that it turns up ASAP.
Hi Cindy & Ann, Ambre Russe is available in Holland.
I don’t know if I am allowed to enter a webshop link on this page, would you please inform me?
Thanks!
Thanks, Fanny — I don’t know about that, but I never see them so I’m guessing not. But listing the name of the store might be OK. Cindy, guess I misunderstood (see, I told you I had “Lucy” moments!). I thought you had some and had just misplaced it. Oops!! :0
I see that it’s sold out at Lucky Scent, but you can have them e-mail you when it’s back in stock. And it looks like Surrender to Chance sells decants of it, perhaps that could tide you over?
I wish that I had merely misplaced it! No, can’t seem to find it in Western Australia. Trying to find a replacement; any thoughts on Balmain’s Ambre Gris?
Sorry, haven’t smelled that in ages. But if memory serves, it’s a lot more of a lightweight than the Ambre Russe.
I’m going to say that I would be vintage Arpege because it’s a timeless classic, a scent that incorporates the idealistic pattern of female beauty: rose, iris, jasmine, lily of the valley, camellia, lily, honeysuckle and neroli. But along with that floral bouquet, it’s grounded with wonderful woodiness from sandalwood and vetiver, and warmed up with some amber and vanilla. It fits me because I’m a traditionalist who balances an imaginative artistic side with a practical, sensible side. Fun question, Ann! Have a great week everyone. 🙂
Yay — let’s hear it for a timeless classic! And it sounds like it suits you to a T. Thanks, and you have a great week and holiday as well!
Heya Ann,
This is a wonderful question.
I think I am probably an Andy Tauer, loud, bright, in your face and OTTFabulous that lasts forever.
Sometimes I wish to be soft and delicate like Milly-la-Foret by Dior, fizzy and fun like Liberte Cacharel, silly and unreasonable like Tubereuse Diabolique by Ava Luxe, naughty and sinful like vintage Boudoir by Vivienne Westwood or manly and rugged like Terre d’Hermes.
Thankfully I can be all these things and more with the spritz of a frag.
Portia xx
Oh, dear Portia, what a great batch of scents! And yes, it is so nice that we can be so many “people” just by changing our scent. Enjoy!
I would have to say that I am probably some sort of slightly off centre skin scent – L’Air de Rien is me, but I aspire to be Bois Des Iles – grown up and sophisticated – haha!
Hear, hear on the BdI — it really is a grown-up scent, isn’t it? Glad you mentioned the L’Air; I can’t believe I have never sniffed it. Must rectify that ASAP.
My fantasy is that I’m Ormonde Woman — which I make a point of wearing every year on my Halloween birthday — but I’m not that mysterious or dangerous in real life! I think Paestum Rose: the juxtaposition of a classic floral in a hamster cage.
Oh, Millicent, OJ Woman really is such a femme fatale, but I’m not that edgy in real life either. PR is a great choice though. BTW, how are you settling in to your new locale? Hope all is going well.
Trying to stay warm, thanks! Today I’m bundled up in Ambre Sultan with a couple of spritzes of Bois de Vanille 🙂
Oh, that sounds like a nice way to stay warm and cozy. Enjoy!
I think I’m a bit like Fracas: polarizing and too old to care, but at least people know what to expect. It’s good to be over the fruitchoully age, when one just wants to be like everyone else.
Wear Madame Fracas with pride — she wouldn’t have it any other way! And amen to being over the whole fruitchouli
trend …
I was speaking metaphorically, though. Back when my skin was great and I wanted to please everyone, there were no fruitchoullys, and I wore Magie Noire. Just because of the name and the ads, but it helped form my taste.
I would love to be vintage Tabac Blond parfum: a confident urban sophisticate with more than a tinge of the European intellectual. A noir dame’s perfume. What I am? Probably something a bit more off center: PG Querelle, perhaps?
Nice choice on the TB, but I have yet to sniff the Querelle. And off-center is an interesting, wonderful place to be, so enjoy!
I’d really love to be a cool, smoky incense, but I think I’m really more like No. 23 by Ava Luxe – sandalwood, hawthorn blossoms , acacia, rose, and geranium. Still, not too bad – I smell really good!
Oh, Lisa, you do smell really good — better than that, fabulous, even! And the 23 has more layers than a smoky incense would anyway.
I get major compliments on Escentric Molecules … and my preference for 1 & 2 change! (Right now, it’s #1 … and I’m *SO* happy to have each decant from you so that I can figure it out.) I had honestly thought my love of the perfume may have been based on it’s name … just speaks to me. Then, when so many others asked what I was wearing, I *knew!* it’s One of the Ones. Going to keep sampling though!
Angelique, how great that you found two that speak to you, and even better that you get compliments when wearing them.
Hm, must be a rose chypre, perhaps Ineke’s Briar Rose, which technically is a fruity floral, but smells suspiciously like a chypre to me, and I’ve seen several comments by other people to the same effect. Dark rose, spiced blackberry, black violet, and spicy mosses… either that or Oriza Legrand’s Chypre Mousse with all it’s wet moss, dewy violets, mushrooms, ferns, velvety earth, and soft leather. Can I have Briar Rose as a gown, and Chypre Mousse as a cloak? That would suit very well….
You can have whatever you like, my dear! Mmmm … that Chypre Mousse sounds divine. Maybe one of my alter-egos is a chypre? 🙂
I was enchanted by Calèche by Hermes when my husband bought it for me when he took a trip to France to make a speech. There is something about that scent that is so addictive and interesting, not like any other than I know of.
Anita, that is an interesting scent, if I remember correctly. You are a great person to meet and chat with at a party, then. Next time I’m by the perfume counter I must re-try.
Right now, it’s a tie between a few perfumes. Mitsouko, Chanel no 19 and no 22. Straight up cuddly, I am not, I will make you look for it.
A take-no-prisoners-scent kind of gal then!
I would like to be Opium. I see that person as alluring, dangerous, and mysterious–a stalking tiger of a woman. What I am is a cross between Cherugi and Hedonist. I work with beautiful jewelry and stones all day and love it. I like the color, the design aspect, the feel; hence the Hedonist. The Cherugi is strong yet approachable, but its not dainty or girly.
Very cool choices, Ellen. And I love it that you’ve found two great scents that fit so beautifully with you and what you do.
In summer, I tend toward Sideris.
Oh, I love that scent — great pick!
Just one? So difficult…I would love to be A Serious Perfume like a Frederic Malle, confident etc.
But perhaps I am Absolue Pour le Soir, warm and cozy, just come a little closer. That’s it, closer…Hah!
Hey, Jacki — you can have as many as you want! 🙂 And I think your APLS is a great choice.
For a long time the perfume that was “me” was Opium. Now, I’m not sure. What perfume would I like to be? Don’t know that, either. Guess I have to keep sampling.
Laurels, Opium is a great scent to be! Do keep on sampling and the ones that are “you” or that you aspire to be, will become evident.
In winter: Lonestar Memories. In summer: Eau Sauvage.
But who I really am is Insensé 😉
Oh, I love a perfumista who really knows who he or she is! BTW, do you like your namesame scent? 🙂
Givenchy’s Insensé is my identity as a perfumista! It has in it the glamour of a non outdated vintage, the feminine side a man should not hide, and the name just resumes me as I like to see myself lol
Beautifully described — that sounds like a match made in heaven! Enjoy!
Winter…Shalimar, Hypnotic Poison…the rest of the year, something light and innocuous…Viva La Juicy (I live in Arizona), but no matter the time of year, scent always worn over a body cream or lotion that is vanilla…
Kathi, a good base of comforting vanilla is always a good idea, I think. I need to re-try the Hypnotic Poison — I’m always getting the Poison flankers mixed up.
I love this Sunday questions and I have to agree with you: I feel I am Vanille 44 too but that is only in the winter and fall. In the summer and spring I am definitely Frangipani by OJ. I’d love to be Santal Majuscule or Sahara Noir though :/
Happy Sunday
In winter I am Serge Noire
In summer APOM
Good idea there — I didn’t think of having winter and summer scents. Nice personalities you’ve got there, BTW!