Top Ten Scents for Spring

top-ten-spring-scents

Even though we never actually had a spring this year (Lee: speak for your Yankeedoodledandy selves, ladies. I’m having a supersmashinglovely spring across the pond), we’ve decided to go ahead and do the Top Ten post.  Patty, Lee, March, Nava and Musette/Anita crunched the numbers and discovered they each got to pick two…

Patty –  Me first?  Yikes!  My favorites for this spring are Byredo Gypsy Water. I ‘m not sure it’s very springlike, but it has a soft addictiveness that’s really gotten under my skin since the moment I first smelled it.  If I could find it anywhere, I think I’d break down and get a bottle.

My other new spring favorite for 2009 is CB  I Hate Perfume’s premium Accord of Wildflower Honey. I’m never entirely certain if I love or hate the smell of honey in perfume, though my mind has flipped on Serge Lutens Miel de Bois where I tolerate it fine now and used to run screaming for the Borax to scrub my skin before.  Wildflower Honey still has that rich honey note in it, but the wildflower softens it, and it just smells like spring with all the abundance of the earth flowing from it. It’s pretty magical.

Lee – I’m going for the sublime and the ridiculous.

First of all, though it’s really all about the heat of summer rather than the fickleness of spring, I’m choosing Parfumerie Generale’s Harmatan Noir. It’s as close to warm weather green as I get in perfume (barring my one exception, Philosykos, but that’s STRICTLY SUMMER ONLY), but it’s dusty green, dried herbs, parched air. As a counterpoint to all that aridity, there’s a mint tea accord singing a different tune from start to finish, never resolving itself with the dry elements, but always a melody apart. Somehow though, they make a marvellous harmony together. Add in some cedar, a touch of something almost floral, and it’s the perfect embodiment of summer heat, which is at its best when you hope for it, and somehow never quite right when it finally arrives. Unlike summer heat in Britain – sticky, brief, variable, and transient – this perfume, in spite of the complaints of others, lasts and lasts for me.

My second choice: not yet released. But when I saw this, I knew I had to have it. In celebration of all things geeky, ridiculous, and absurd, it’s the only thing I want. Move over Geranium pour Monsieur, you have serious lemming competition.  If like me, you’re a nerdy bonk with glasses and a penchant for space opera, you’ll have a hard time deciding between Tiberius and Red Shirt. The copy from Now Smell This for Red Shirt swung it for me:

“‘Because tomorrow may never come.’ Red Shirt is for the young, modern man of the galaxy who doesn’t hesitate; who revels in being alive today. Red Shirt Cologne instills confidence, showing the universe your strength, your valor, your devotion to living each day as though it could be your last. Bright, clean and direct with top notes of green mandarin, bergamot and a hint of lavender, Red Shirt finishes strong with base notes of leather and grey musk. It’s a daring men’s fragrance for those brave enough to place no trust in tomorrow.”

If you don’t get it, that’s fine. If you do, you’re geeky enough to know why I want this so much, seriously. And that’s enough said. Sounds like a spring fragrance though, doesn’t it?

March – Lee, one of the many reasons I love you is you can make me look like the soul of brevity.  Live long and prosper, my friend.  My picks are:

Strange Invisible Perfumes’ Lady Day/Untitled.  You can special order it, $250 plus shipping for 7.5ml.  I think that works out to $33/ml.  I picked this out of pure orneriness; in the depths of our financial depression, why not select something ridiculously expensive they don’t even stock anymore?  Lady Day begs the perennial question: is there a dollar amount for a perfume that is is simply too much for any rational being?  I invite you to ponder that.  In the meantime, I’ll acknowledge that a) it’s easily the most expensive thing I’ve bought per ml, and b) I have no regrets.  I’m not even rationalizing it, except to say I don’t buy many bottles, and I have nothing — nothing — that smells like this.  Gardenia, incense and green notes.  I don’t even like white flower fragrances particularly, but if there is a greenhouse in the afterlife it smells like this.  Like most SIPs it takes ten to fifteen minutes to get itself going, after which the sillage is extraordinary.

Chanel Bel Respiro – and thus through my magical perfume mojo I render one of Les Exclusifs an utter bargain – you get, what, a 200ml  bottle for $200ish?  Such a deal compared to Lady Day!  Heck, buy two!

Ever since Les Exclusifs were released, bloggers and commenters have discussed the glory of 31 RC, debated the iris merits of La Pausa and the strangeness (or not) of 18; is Coromandel headache-inducing;  is the Cologne worth it; what did they do to Bois de Iles, etc etc.  In the meantime, Bel Respiro sits unloved in my decant drawer.  In Perfumes: the Guide, Luca Turin describes Bel Respiro as having a wonderful old Vent-Vert-style top that fades into dullness.  I have the opposite experience – a mannered (if uninteresting) floral falling away on my skin over half an hour to leave a not-too-sharp, herbal greenness with a touch of Chanel cologne.  It’s like watching someone slowly snip the blooms off the top of the bouquet, leaving you with the stems.  I don’t like many green, grassy scents, a staple of best-of-spring lists; this is a galbanum scent even I can love.

Nava – I so need to get a life it’s not funny. I also have to stop writing about fragrance as if I’m writing research papers; a habit that may well be harder to break than quitting smoking. Is there a chewing gum for this?

My very favorite new release is Apothia Pearl. I’ve fallen so hard for this one, I’ve already drained more than half of my 50 ml bottle. As I stated in my recent review, it goes from fresh and light to warm and cuddly so seamlessly, it is a wonder to behold.

A stalwart in my collection, Nana de Bary Green is another warm weather favorite. It was re-introduced last year as an eau de parfum, minus the evaporation inducing bulb atomizer. Green is the nearly perfect blend of citrus and spice that doesn’t leave you smelling for all the world like a living, breathing gin-and-tonic. My only gripe is that even as an EdP, the lasting power is still somewhat suspect. I’m more than willing to live with that one tiny disappointment.

Anita –  Unless you have been living on my home planet in the Gamma Quadrant you know that I fell hard for the new Liz Zorn scent Violets and Rainwater.   The name suggested it would be this watery, Debussy-like dream.  Well, yes and no.  It does have a pastel-violet, watery open but just as I’m getting over the gauzy bits this nice whump! of damp dirt settles in and gives the violet an unexpected gravity, then it changes again.  You’re slightly chilly and damp in front of a Lexington Avenue florist, with the cold rain hitting the concrete, and a pot of violets has been overturned and trodden on the pavement. Just as you are thinking about feeling sad about the violets and the cold, wet afternoon, the rain slackens, the sky lightens and a warm wind carries the promise of a lovely evening and you realize that if you just pick the damn pot up and put the violets back they’ll be just fine. And so will you.  Full Bottle, bay-bee.  Full Bottle.  And maybe another when this one is gone…

Not New but New to Me:  Rochas Femme in both iterations.  Femmmmmmme.  This one is Missy March’s Fault, bless her soul.  What can I say without blatheration?  umm, let’s see:

New Femme: perfect, totally female  (how obvious.  I am ashamed), warm, way more nuanced than many fragrances trying twice as hard, a scented silk stocking  sloooowly pulled off a shapely leg.

Vintage Femme: A mother-of-pearl stiletto slid into the top of that scented silk stocking.

For other top ten lists, please stop by Bois de Jasmin, Grain de Musc, Now Smell This, and Perfume-Smellin’ Things.

  • Flora says:

    I love Bel Respiro too – my little sample is gone but when/if it ever becomes “UN-Exclusif” I am so getting some!

  • Mariekel says:

    Ahhhh…Spring. we get it for a full 3 days here in the swampfest that is DC before it plunges into sticky summer. I am with Lee on the Harmatan Noir — it is one of the few scents that can stand up to the humidity here without concurrently making me feel nauseated.

    Assuming we ever get a Spring long enough to enjoy it as such, my picks would be these:

    1. CB Wild Pansy — like fresh-cut grass next to a forest after a brief rain.
    2. SL Fleur de Citronnier. Light but substantial and so damned happy. Only when the heat really hits, the tuberose takes over and, well, let’s just say I am not a tuberose gal.
    3. Miller et Bertaux Green, Green, Green. I am a TREE!
    4. Gobin-Daude Sous le Buis. I am a Boxwood TREE!
    5. Miller Harris Rose en Noir. Every time I wear this juicy dark rose I start visualizing magentas and purples, which is perfect for the explosion of azaleas taking place across the street from my building.

    Plus, all my deliciously skanky little friends start baring their naughty little legs: Rochas Femme, Jublilation 25, Lelong Elle, Elle…

  • Trish/Pikake says:

    March, I have my teeny little Lady Day sample taunting me from my sample drawer. I hate to love it too much for fear of resorting to “Marchanomics” as someone said above. I am already trying to figure out how to justify a FB of Galatea parfum. It is heaven as well.

    ~T

  • Victoria says:

    March, I am kicking myself for forgetting Bel Respiro! It has been another favorite for me. I am actually thinking of adding it to my wedding scent list. 🙂
    Everyone has such lovely lists, which reminds me why I love these types of posts.

  • Dusan says:

    =)) I give up.

    • Musette says:

      Thanks SO much for the emoticon laugh! I think that was my first LOL of the day!!! how did you get the ROFL guy? Wait. How did you get ALL of those? I tried ROFL guy a few days ago and got something really bizarre.

      fwiw here is the code for the @;}- @+ ;+ } + – (take the +s out)

      xo>-)

      ps. shhh! on the Femme v. Mits thing – Mits is a jealous goddess and will eat our lunch if she hears I’ve been stepping out.

  • Dusan says:

    Great picks, ladies and gents! I’m siding with March and Erin on Bel Respiro. Love it! So who cares if it’s fleeting? Enjoy it while it lasts (a good 3 hours on my skin). Just don’t try prolonging the love by overapplying, like I once did, or you’ll end up smelling like a vase in dire need of a change of water, like, a week ago.
    Anita, can you be my Femme for a day? Between you and me, Mitsy doesn’t stand a chance with you in the room :-@ (i hope this’ll translate as the rose emoticon)
    Love y’all my poppets!

    • Dusan says:

      NOOO, that wasn’t supposed to be the yapper, gah! Wait, I wonder if this’ll work :-&

    • March says:

      Yeah, good luck with those old emoticons! I like the yapper, though. I think it’s funny. And I’m glad you too feel the Bel Respiro love, come sit by us.

      Dumped some week-old vase water this morning. ugh. How does it do that?

  • Meliscents says:

    When the weather warms up it seems all I want is something really crisp. For me it’s been Gres Cababret, Chanel Sycamore & Aramis. Yea, I’m one of those chicks that can’t get her man to wear it so I do. He says it’s “girly”, figure that! Oh well, more for me.

    And off the topic a little, I found a site you vintage lovers might like. If you haven’t already been there check out http://www.thevintageperfumevault.blogspot.com. It’s a beautiful site & she does interesting articles on the old stuff. I don’t think she gets a lot of readers because so far I think I’m the only one that’s left comments. Maybe we can show her some support! 🙂

  • Erin T / Tigs says:

    Poor, poor Bel Respiro, March and I shall have to love it and rock it to bed at night. I enjoy the dry-down, too, and I’m certainly not the type who (I’m paraphrasing) “doesn’t really like fragrance at all” – LT, I like person more than any sane person should. Love the opening, too, though. Everything I like LT recommends as “best as a jaunty masculine” – what does this say about me? (I guess I know…)

    • Erin T / Tigs says:

      Er, that would be “I like perfume more than any sane person should.” I like persons more, too, though.

      • Musette says:

        I liked the original phrasing better!LOL!

        How are you, btw? Miss chatting with you. I hope you put the Aromatics of Doooom up on a high shelf so Miss M can’t gas you all out of the house!

        I’m on my way to Chanel next week – will have to spritz Bel R – I don’t have any recollection of it but if you and March love it…..???

        xo>-)

        • Shelley says:

          Bel Respiro ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
          You were in your very leather search when I held it under your nose; no way you were going to go there then… 😉

  • Linda says:

    Great picks. And Lee, I am also a nerdy bonk with glasses and a penchant for space opera, and Red Shirt was the one that called to me… despite not being My Type at all.

  • mals86 says:

    Diorissimo. Chanel No. 19 (duh). 31 Rue Cambon. Kenzo’s old Parfum d’Ete, the more floral one. Soivohle Daybreak Violin. (I tested Violets & Rainwater last week, and it’s all candied violets on me, no dirt, sigh.) Waiting VERY impatiently for my sample of PdN Le Temps d’Une Fete…

    • Musette says:

      Dang! on the V&R, though I could see how it might swing that way. I tend to magnify dirt in frags, I think. Hope that’s not an indication of anything weirder….:-o

      I love Diorissimo! Love it! But this season it is not sticking at all, which is just bizarre. I tried it this morning and within 20 minutes it was gone!

      Nobody’s mentioned Sycomore yet – do you consider that a spring scent? I would think all of the Les Exs, with their cologne-ish ways, would be sort of springy – but I’ve been known to be wrong. A lot.

      xo>-)

  • sara says:

    I have been wearing Y vintage extrait, vintage Silences, Chamade extrait, and Eau de Merveilles–I figure if I wear green scents, I’ll see green too? I would like to quit wearing my green spring coat! Come on warm weather!!!

  • pattie says:

    I am loving Gypsy Water – tried it at Barneys in Las Vegas. didn’t buy cause it was expensive and I’m an idiot, so have been living off my PC sample. For me, the most spring -y scent will always be En Passant.

    • Lee says:

      It is springy, though sometimes the cucumber quality makes me think of hot August days too

  • Musette says:

    We are seeing serious signs of Spring here – finally. Tulips are out and lilacs are beginning to consider the matter. We are fortunate to enjoy cooler mornings right now – those of you who know the Midwest know that is a fleeting thing.

    I decided to wear V&R today, to celebrate the Top 10 and the weather.

    Lee, I’ve sent a message to my home planet – they are going to see if your space picks are in stores there. Those sound right up an >-)’s alley!

    xo

  • Melissa says:

    Louise, the great enabler, (or should I say the evil fragrance dealer?) turned an appreciation for Carnal Flower into a full blown “must-have-more-NOW”. So, I’ve gone through a good part of my little travel vial in short order and I am trying to substitute other dr….um fragrances in my collection to quell the cravings.

    And Nava, I will join you in whole-hearted appreciation for Apothia Pearl. Just perfect for spring. From bright and sparkling to warm and soft, it hits all the right notes for this weather.

    I should also add LPDR Rose Praline to the list, even though I couldn’t wait for it to hit the US and I ordered it in the winter from FIF. Despite it’s gourmand notes, the tea vibe saves it from being a true cold weather scent and it is much lighter than it sounds.

    I could probably add 5-10 more scents. I am revisiting a number of florals and enjoying the heck out of them. Orange blossom, tuberose, aldehydes, rose, mossy notes. Anything to shake winter out of my system.

    • Lee says:

      Everyone keeps telling me about the wonder of RP. Must try it.

      And yes, Louise is a pusher of the best/worst kind…

      xxx

    • Nava says:

      I am so jonesing a bottle of Rose Praline; it sounds wonderful.

  • Shelley says:

    March, your accounting strategy is a sneaky enabler…I love Bel Respiro, but have been having trouble knowing it needs replenishing as often as a Chicago parking meter.

    Youz guyz already know I’ve been jammin’ on Pdn Temp d’une Fete. Silences helped with the lingering winter transition, CB IHP Wild Hunt for the necessary dirt transition, and En Passant for the haunting teasing of spring. (Unlike Bel Respiro, which simply goes away, En Passant taunts me by disappearing…then coming back…then going…then popping out briefly, but for a moment…kind of like this spring.)

    • Lee says:

      En Passant is a definite yo-yo scent – as is the new Freddy Malle, Geranium pour Monsieur. More about that next week.

      • Musette says:

        I don’t have that problem with En Passant so much but I do with Angelique.

        Shelley, you’ll have to remember to bring that PdN!

        xo>-)

      • carter says:

        You are such a tease! I want to hear about this so badly, and then want the one on PdN (two new frags!) and the home scents. I’m dying to try that stuff but require more information. Please 🙂

  • Catherine says:

    A red tulip is opening in the garden, the first of the season! It will be in the 80s today!

    March has hit it on the nail for me with the string of Les Exclusifs she mentions. No. 18, La Pausa, Rue Cambon (hugging new bottle *tightly*), Bel Respiro, Sycomore. And I find those vats “just right,” for I’m spraying with abandon. These are perfect for the fresh beginnings made this spring. I’m also draining my bottles of Mona di Orio’s Amyitis and Frederic Malle’s Le Parfum de Thérèse and Angeliques Sous la Pluie. I particularly like wearing Angeliques Sous la Pluie as soon as I get up. It’s such a happy fragrance, I can’t help but move about a bit brighter. All of these feel perfect as the weather goes back and forth between 40s and 70s.

    Merry Spring everyone!

    • Lee says:

      That tulip won’t know whether it’s coming or going!

      As always, impeccable choices. Enjoy your warm day (I am mine…lots of veg sowing today – I’ve just netted the strawberries to stop those pesky birds and squirrels).

  • Louise says:

    What a varied list, boys and girls! I think that it might just reflect not only what a motley crew we are, but the not-really-spring we’re having (Lee, now shhhhh!).

    My choices for spring have been totally random, more related to filling new “slots” in my collection. I’ve fallen hard for aldehydes, for the very first time, so am wearing Arpege, #5 (and Eau Premiere), Ferre by Ferre, Le Labo Aldehyde 44.

    Mornings are still cool, and I’ve fallen back to Black Cashmere to warm me. Later in the day (shocker; perfume usually lasts only part of the day on me 😉 , I’ve been playing with my green chypres a little. Top of the list is YSL Y. Can you tell I’m in a classics mood?

    Happy Weekend to all!

    • March says:

      You crack me up. It absolutely slays me that BC is, like, a morning scent for you. BC is essentially a two-day commitment for me if it’s on my skin. I do adore the lotion, though, which I find a bit more manageable (I wonder if they re-made it?)

    • Nava says:

      Are you wearing BC EDT or EDP? I can only tolerate it now if it’s 10 below zero at minimum. Although, this time of year the EDP bottle makes a great paperweight.

  • Hi ladies and gents!

    Patty, Gupsy Water had aleady my antennae high. I am toast now. 😉
    Lee, you naughty boy, Harmattan Noir for spring? 🙂
    March, Bel Respiro is so elegant for spring! Love it, if only it were less fleeting…
    Nava, have heard about Pearl. Should try it I guess.
    Anita, oh yeah…Femme!

  • Fiordiligi says:

    I’m gloating a little bit with Lee as over here we really have had, ooh, what, a whole week of Spring and it has been gorgeous. If it weren’t for the fact that the Star Trek scents were going to be three million percent chemical, then I would so be up for them. Did I mention that Patrick Stewart lives opposite?

    Jarvis, I have been falling hard for Enlevement too, but today have broken out my beloved (and a-typical, apart from the fact it’s pre-LVMH Guerlain) Jardins de Bagatelle. Perfect. 31 Rue Cambon works well, too.

    • March says:

      Oooh, Patrick Stewart! And I am also looking forward to the Star Trek scents (how not?) Given how many great perfumes are composed with a lot of synthetics, that part doesn’t bother me. It drives me nuts when SAs tout their line as expensive because it’s natural. Uh, not really.

    • Lee says:

      I won’t be buying it to wear, silly! Though you never know! xxx

  • Zazie says:

    March: you’ve tempted me beyond reason with your SIP. I had been looking since a moment for an incense-y tuberose: incense-y gardenia is a very tempting compromise….
    But that price… It’s a huge hold-back…[shaking my piggy bank hopefully][humpf!the pig is not cooperative…it looks like he’s been on diet, lately!! :(]

    • March says:

      I know, the price is ridiculous. But having lived with a 2ml vial for, literally, a year, doling it out in drops, ultimately I had to bite the bullet and get some. I have a hard time with not feeling smothered by gardenia, lovely though it is, and Lady Day’s oddness won me over in the end.

  • Sara K says:

    All of those sound great, but I really want the Byredo Gypsy Water. However, I am having the same problem as Patty….I can’t find it!

  • Jarvis says:

    Carmencanada: I must say that Lady Day is quite lovely (from the brief sniff I had of it), and it sorely tempts me… But $250 for 7.5 mL is rather extreme. With all this spring time Vent Vert talk, I just pulled out my vintage bottle and spritzed some (before bed). Oh, how green it is… I wonder just how vintage is my vintage, given the many reformulations Vent Vert has undergone? (This bottle comes in the green box, and I’m assuming that it must be from the early 90’s, so might be Calice Becker’s reformulation?)

    • carmencanada says:

      Jarvis, the real Vent Vert comes in a square bottle with the label stuck on either side of two faces… If you’ve got a round bottle in a tall green box you’ve probably got the Becker version, which is nice but not stellar.

  • Jarvis says:

    I live in Boston, so we have definitely not had much spring yet. That said, I have been enjoying Chanel’s Eau de Cologne, Chanel Sycomore, and MDCI Enlèvement Au Sérail. Jasmine and vetiver appear to be my spring time notes of choice.

    Lee: I’ll be queueing up behind you for Red Shirt and Tiberius… And I will also admit to being curious about what Ponn Farr will smell like.

    • March says:

      So the Chanel EdC was worth it to you? Did you get a bottle? (Nosy nosy.) I can’t decide whether I think it’s *that* much better than, say, one of the Guerlains. Or something else that’s just slipped my mind, damn.

      Enlevement is astonishing. I have to be careful of the time and place, though, or I’ll kill everyone around me.

      • Jarvis says:

        Hi, March. The Chanel EdC was SO worth it for me. And yes, i caved on an enormous vat of it. But as you say, as price per mL goes, it’s a bargain…

        • carmencanada says:

          I see a vat of Chanel EdC in the future too… Jean-Claude Ellena just said in an interview that it’s one of his two favorite colognes (the other one being Dior Eau Fraîche, by Edmond Roudnitska). So Jarvis and I are in pritttty good company!

      • parfumania says:

        Does any one know were if the brand Reminiscence is available in the US?

    • Lee says:

      Y’know, I expect they’ll smell terribly, J. But that hardly matters.

      • Jarvis says:

        You’re right, Lee!

        Of course, this got me thinking (and searching online in vain) about whether or not a Dalek perfume was ever made… For some reason, the bottle of Mugler’s Alien already reminds me a bit of a Dalek, even though it looks nothing like a Dalek.

        *spritzes Eau de Gallifrey*

  • carmencanada says:

    Ok, six out of those ten are nowhere to be found in Paris, so that takes care of that, doesn’t it? I probably would’ve sprung for the Lady Day which also sounds like my idea of a greenhouse in heaven (in the meantime it’ll be Carnal Flower, thank you).
    March: I thought of including Bel Respiro but try as I might, it is really quite fleeting on me. I agree with Luca: it does smell a lot like the second stage of the original Vent Vert. Then of really not much. Nothing will ever replace the real Vent Vert!

    • March says:

      D, this is one problem with almost anything I review — most scents last quite well on my skin (I must be ultra-absorbent? Or not absorbent enough?) so I’m certainly not the “average” tester in terms of longevity. The cologne and, oddly, BdI were the only really fleeting ones on me.

      I adore Carnal Flower! But I’ve yammered on about it before, thought I’d cut everyone a break.

    • Lee says:

      Keep smiling D – a drop of Lady Day might just arrive unexpectedly… 😉

    • carter says:

      Dug out the VV this morning and it’s easy being green today.

      • Musette says:

        which iteration of it? I love the VV from the late 60s, which is when I found it – I don’t know it’s history so I don’t know if that’s the first incarnation or one in a lonnng line. It’s one of those scents that has never left my memory. The current iteration…..eww.

        xo>-)

        • carter says:

          Well, I’m not sure of the age — it’s definitely old though — the one that is packaged exactly like Jolie Madame, with an identical bottle but a grass green box instead of grey.

  • Joe says:

    Um, yeah, March, I’m gonna have to just trust you that the SIP is worth every penny. I’ll catch up with you in the next life. I do like the Marchonomics that turns Les Exclusifs and Le Labo city exclusives into practically free — like gifts w/purchase that come with that Mon Precieux Nectar you’re going to be splitting with Patty, right?

    As for what I’ve been loving this spring:
    – JM Lotus Blossom & Water Lily (seems even nicer lately than when I bought it last summer)
    – Vanille Galante (has also gotten more luscious over time)
    – Drama Nuui (Where’s Anita? I may come a-lookin’ for you when I drain my decant)

    • March says:

      Joe, I *almost* did the Lotus Blossom instead, because it is a great scent and it’s back at JM and I am not entirely sure they won’t get rid of it again – I think it’s still an LE? Although, how do you find the lasting power? It’s like plutonium on me, I have to be careful not to get it on anything I can’t wash.

      Hey, far be it from me to argue the SIP is “worth it.” I simply arrived at the bottom of my sample vile, which I’d been stretching out, and the bottles are so small they don’t lend themselves to splits, really. And that, as they say, was that. 🙂

    • Musette says:

      Joe,

      Is that the day or the night one? I ran across a samp of that during my frenzied pre-organization organization but didn’t sniff it (btw- I was lying through my teeth with the 100 samps – I’m at 200, easy, and climbing). Isn’t one for day and one for night (by their design, anyway?)

      Drama Nuui, baby. Yum. Right now the jasmine is still scorching my damaged lungs so I’ve had to back off from it (sort of an asthmatic thing that just reared up) but once that abates I’m back on it like a duck on a junebug.

      xo>-)

      • March says:

        Doll – the Lotus Blossom is the “day” one and the Dark Amber and Ginger Lily is the “night” one. (I remember “dark” to help me.) I find that a little misleading in concept, though — Dark Amber is maybe heavier, it smells a little like tanning oil to me. But LB isn’t exactly light — it’s “light” like Light Blue is light, in a way. It has the same kind of sillage, and the same propensity for annoying everyone around you if you overapply.

        • March says:

          PS and yes I own it and wear it 🙂 but carefully.

          • Joe says:

            March, the LBWL (aka Kohdo Wood ‘Day’) isn’t like plutonium on me at all, but I am thrilled at how well it lasts for such a “watery” scent. I’m forever cursing scents that have no *lasting power*, so I think it suits me fine. Then again, aren’t you the magnifier or something?

        • Musette says:

          I just yanked both samples out last night (forgot I had them) and spritzed LBloss on the left and the Dark One on the right. LBloss was nice, seems more like a typical Malone offering. Dark goes on harsher than usual for a Malone but dries down to something rather delightful. Neither lasted the night, which is typical for a Malone on this >-).

          I also realized that I now have a sample of nearly every Malone – and I forgot all about most of them! That Dark One might be one I remember for awhile, though.

          xo

    • Nava says:

      I’m saving my pennies for a Clinique bonus; I already have a “free” bottle of Bel Respiro! 😀

  • carter says:

    So far this spring I have been alternating between three scents, the choice depending entirely upon the crappy weather factor, and they are SL Bois de Violette, PG Tubereuse Couture, and Bandit. One surprisingly warm springlike night I spritzed on some OJ Ta’if and it was heavenly, and on another I wore some Apres l’Ondee extrait to bed to ensure sweet dreaming, but when I tried them out during daylight hours neither one worked the same magic.

    I am really fired up to try the Violets and Rainwater, Anita, the Apothia Pearl, Nava, and the Lady Day/Untitled, March, if I can manage to get my grubby little hands on some.

    • March says:

      Hey, I think it’s supposed to be 74 today, wheee!! Let’s see how close we get, I’d be thrilled.

      Excellent list. I think everyone’s lists on here reflect how all over the place the weather has been.

      PS I love wearing Apres to bed. It used to make me feel guilty, but how is that a waste? 😉

      • carter says:

        If it fills your dreams with violets and wakes you gently in the morning I’d say it’s worth any price.

    • Nava says:

      Definitely try Apothia Pearl. It is wonderful. 🙂

    • carter says:

      Oh, and on the Bandit front, I finally got the 4 oz. bottle of vintage that I won on ebay a few weeks ago. Sealed. With the outer wrapper, but unwrapped for the auction photo. So it arrived and I had no intention of opening it (what with my heirs and all) but then I got to thinking about fakes and worrying about the fact that it was so much, so pristine, and yet soooo cheaply had, and I broke down and cracked into it.

      The top notes were a bit of a mess but, oh mommy, ten minutes later the clouds parted and I swear I saw the face of God 🙂

      • divinemama says:

        *giggles* Heading over to ebay to see if I too can score some spiritual enlightenment!