Hey there Perfume Posse, Portia from Australian Perfume Junkies finding some samples in a little baggie hiding in my cupboard I have brought them forth ad we can smell them together. Today I have a carded manufacturers 2ml spray sample. An excellent size and I love that it’s spritzable so you get a similar scent experience to the bottle. I have less than a ml left because I remember when I got this and I was SO into it that the first two days I wore it. At the time I thought it was going to be a full bottle. I wonder why I didn’t grab it then? MMMMM Let’s go.
French Lover by Pierre Bourdon for Frederic Malle 2007
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Spices, galbanum
Heart: Incense, cedar, angelica
Base: Oakmoss, vetiver, white musk
Imagine if CHANEL 19 had been made with a man in mind, French Lover.
Photo Stolen Flickr
French Lover is a green opening that turns spicy, wood, moss and amber (yes I know it’s not in the notes) concoction that is at once as prim as CHANEL 19 and at the same time quite definitively ready for action. Not a MASCULINE per se but if CHANEL 19 were made while thinking “for men” then my feeling is that this is what you’d get. A man in mind but ultimately extremely wearable for both sexes, and who says a French Lover has to be a man?
Photo Stolen Flickr
Galbanum is good, here Pierre Bourdon makes it fabulous and it’s lovely green/resinous character lasts. The wood smells expensive and the spices rich with a greenish kick still through the heart and heading into the dry down. Sadly French Lover then collapses on my skin. I get about 4 hours of lovely fragrant fun and then all of a sudden French Lover is gone. Fricken TYPICAL! The four hours that I get are so divinely gorgeous that I am still thinking of a purchase though….. but I do know why I didn’t purchase then. It wasn’t just the distraction thing, there is a genuine flaw between my chemistry and French Lover. Damn It.
Photo stolen DeviantArt
Further reading: Perfume Smellin’ Things and What Men Should Smell Like
Frederic Malle has it online
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $7/ml
Do you ever fall head over heels and then get distracted by the next thing that comes in the mail, or by your next purchase? Conversely, how do you keep your focus on the frags you have? Or do you have samples locked away in baggies that you can’t remember why you didn’t fall head over heels for? Do you ever go back and retry?
Portia x
Oddly enough, I have a sample of French Lover that has not yet received my attention. But I know exactly where it is 🙂
I have a pretty good idea where every single sample I have lies. Wasn’t sure where I’d placed an Amouage sample recently, but I knew I had it and found it yesterday. I retry things all the time and I try to systematically go through things so they don’t get forgotten untried, also I don’t usually drastically change my mind about something.Though I have gotten used to a few thing through overexposure, like full on aldehydes…
I never forget something that has caught my attention, even if it was just from a spray on a blotter months ago.
Full bottles and decants do fall to the side in the face of my manic sampling… But I went beyond the budget last month to upgrade some sample loves to decant ones because this year I’d like to spend more time with my own set of blockbusters. Of course there’s only so much time and so much skin, and an addicts wish list is ENDLESS!!
Niki de Saint Phalle is also on that list. I like experiencing past glories, as a form of education. Been keen on chypres in particular, last ones I got to were Coriandre and Rochas Femme. Last one I really liked was the original Scherrer.
Speaking of lists and addictions I emailed Party in Manhattan and they don’t ship to my island. Perhaps it’s a matter of coaxing, or just a reprieve from temptation. 🙂
WOW! Elia,
You are way better organised and have a better memory than I. My sample hoard is out of control.
The original Scherrer is very nice, as are Coriandre and Femme. I have a Coriandre Parfum that I wear under my EdT that gives it a beautiful burnished patine while wafting.
Yes, they are so naughty not sending Party In Manhattan everywhere. I have scent sleuths hunting it right now for me.
Portia xx
>> My sample hoard is out of control.
Well yeah 🙂 your hoard is likely 10x bigger than mine lol
>>Yes, they are so naughty not sending Party In Manhattan everywhere.
They do most places in Europe, (UK, Spain, Germany, Greece…..)
http://www.thepartyfragrancestore.com/?p=126
I haven’t had a chance to try French Lover yet, but it’s on my list. I just had the opportunity to try No. 19 and I was so excited about it, but it was green mothballs on me….. so I will keep the sample and try it again down the line. I can related to everything everyone has said so far about perfume sampling. I have a slew of samples that I haven’t gotten to yet and have bought full bottles of fragrances that I don’t wear often because I’m always sampling!!! I have a problem 🙂 I think I’m about done with the Fruity Florals though, they are all starting to smell the same and I can’t tell them apart anymore,haha! 🙂 I don’t know, I just love new experiences and I think too, that “the one” might be the next one I try! There have been LOTS of “the one’s”….. oy!
I forgot to mention that I am especially crazy about sampling vintage or discontinued fragrances that will eventually be gone, thinking that I just want to experience them at least once, you know? I just want to see what the big deal is about this one or that one……
Shuvanidev,
This is a common complaint. We fall in love, buy a bottle and then go back to sampling. I have many unopened bottles, still in their plastic from this exact problem. I too want to try as much as possible before it disappears. I have enough fragrance in this house that if I live to 50,000 years old and don’t buy another fragrance there will still be leftovers. The top notes will definitely have gone a bit by then anyway.
Portia xx
Howdy, Portia! I can’t believe I have never tried this Malle. I thought I had sniffed them all! Your comment about Chanel 19 for men now has me hooked. A sample will soon be winging its way to me. And so glad you’re giving Niki some love and attention — it’s definitely one of those slightly weird but absolutely wonderful scents.
YAY! I love that you haven’t got your nose around French lover Ann, can’t wait to read how it affects you. Niki de Saint Phalle has been gone 12 years and her eponymous fragrance turns 32 this year. Her art and her frag are loves of mine, though I have not taken enough notice of her pieces when in the places they are. My knowledge is all through books and net.
Portia xx
It happens to me all the time! I sometimes tuck the sample away thinking it’s not my taste after my initial try and then a few months later try it again and completely fall in love with it. I don’t know why it happens…
I wonder if our bodies need to acclimatise to new scents like flavours thinkingmagpie? You know how you hated coriander for years, tried it every now and again and one day, YUMMY!! Or avocado? These are two that it took me years to come to grips with but now adore.
Portia xx
I perpetually get distracted by perfume. I remember falling head over heels with Amouage Memoir and bought a full bottle then Deneuve and no. 19 left me breathless and spent the longest time with those two. I’ve spent forever with tracking down bottles of Deneuve (hoping that they are as full as possible) for a reasonable price. But thus far, nothing come recently has really interested me enough to get a full bottle. I’m hoping that the decant of Tauer’s Reviere au Jardin or Kyoto does the trick.
What a lovely set of three to fall in love with Eldarwen22. Deneuve is very nice but it didn’t do it for me as much as CHANEL No 19 which fair blew me away. If you like them green and chypre have you tried Niki de Saint Phalle? I know I bang on about it but I adore it and currently it’s so cheap at the discounters too.
Portia xx
I haven’t tried it yet and I’m slowly working my way through decants and my Surrender to Chance wishlist. What’s on my radar is Hedonist.
Yes, Victoria Minya has a huge perfumista hit on her hands. She seems very nice too, though my communication with her has been brief and cyber.
Portia xx
Yes, all the time. I may be perfume ADD (attention deficit Disorder). I’m trying not to get anything else until I use up more samples.
Yes Katherine,
It is the eternal conundrum. I have so much but maybe the next one will be THE ONE. We are all so naughtily greedy. This is a pretty harmless addiction though, think of the alternatives.
Portia x