Y’all can start laughing now, but have you ever read a review on a perfume, fallen in love with the description, hunted it down, only to find it to cost more than your last three laser treatments, and you can’t even bring yourself to think about it for fear you might give in and spend that much money on it? Well, yeah, I KNOW you guys know. And I do apologize, as does Miss March. Really. Bottom of my heart, completely swear. Oh, whatever, fine, don’t believe me.
Marina at Perfume Smellin’ Things set me off over that Xerjoff Iriss last year, throwing in some words like “There is a certain chic about this decadently luxurious composition, something in the refined floral note, perhaps, which does not let the scent overstep the border between Elegantly Expensive and Nouveau Riche, but only just about. Irisss is hanging by a well-groomed, glossy hair over the abyss of furs, 10-carat pink diamonds, Maybachs and Louis Vuitton logos.” Well, just Xerjout that 590 pounds from my wallet now for 15 mls of Iriss. Except I didn’t, I just couldn’t. That was too much for even me. Or at least I talked myself out of it over and over every month for close to a year.
Before we continue, can we just wish March a Happy Birthday!!!!! If you could give her any scent for her birthday, what would you give her? I’ll pick a couple of random winners from commenters and give them a special prize, which I’ll tell you about in a sec. So Happy Birthday, March!
Now, about that Xerjoff Iriss. Oh, yes. I gave up on it, even though notes from its siren song have been trying to find purchase in my brain for months now. I looked at it briefly at First in Fragrance (month after month) to see if someone decided to put it on sale or offer it cheaply or — well, exactly, just indulging in the same wishful thinking that works so well for none of us.
But one day I was nosing about Parfum Raffy and found a refill bottle of it for under $300 for 50 mls. Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have I smelled it yet? Nope, I’m still waiting for it to show up, hoping that this wasn’t some error on their site and that it reallly does exist at this price and it really is this great. Just looked to link it, and they are showing that size sold out. So will I get some?? I don’t know, my order is still showing as pending. When/if I get it, you all will be the first to know, along with March, who I’ll send some to as a birthday gift. And, if I get some, that’s what a couple of lucky commenters will get too, a small sample. If I don’t get any, then sorry, no soup for any of us.
What ridiculously priced perfume, along with a perfume pick for March’s birthday, have you coverting for far too long without relief?
Happy Birthday March!!! 😡
For the birthday girl: A pristine bottle of vintage Lanvin Crescendo, a magical juice that makes the wearer smell like she has old money, and lots of it, even if she does buy her jeans on the ‘Bay. (I do too!)
For moi: JAR Golconda, the most perfect carnation frag of all time or at least I hope it still is; I have not smelled it for many years and my little sample that I drag out once a year for a sniff is The Precioussss. It now costs more than my rent and I really must have my priorities in line, dang it!
For the birthday celebrant:
A posset of perfumes in their original bottles from 1917 the year CHYPRE by Coty was introduced. That would include the first by Shiseido, a couple of Guerlains and a couple of Carons, plus those from antique houses mostly forgotten.
My own desire — one of the Arabian style attars that seem to cost the same as a mortgage payment.
Happy B-day March! I hope it was a great day for you and your loved-ones. How does Chanel no.19 pur parfum sound? For a $$$ one, it would have to be one of the higher end Amouage, or better yet, Habit rouge pur parfum.
Lookit all this Birthday Love! You deserve every drop. 😡
How about a bottle Parfum de Voyage. One spritz and you’re in Paris. Or Santa Fe. Or, hey, while we’re spritzing our poitrines, why not Austin, for a weekend? I promised to feed you plenty, plenty BB-Q, avocado Margaritas, and homemade peach ice cream…
Many happy returns, Marchele. May all the pleasure you’ve given us with your tender-hearted, hilarious posts come back to you ten-fold, too.
Happy birthday, dude!
I wish, I wish that Mits gets dereformulated, renamed as Marchouko, replaces most ff fair out there and becomes required wear. Whoa, that just came out. A bit cheesy, innit though?
Anyhooz, gift me with my new-found love Datura Noir or La Myrrhe and I’m set.
*vuvuzela fadeout*
happy, happy birthday to march!
i wish her some golden MKK, joyous ninefo mio and tender MFK cologne pour le soir – all offered with beauty in mind.
regarding my wish list – vintage givenchy III in a spray bottle big enough to truly indulge myself, and jicky in pure parfum.
many happy returns, march!
Happy birthday, March!
I hope all the joy and laughter you have given each of us returns to bless you every day.
If I could, I’d send you a back-up bottle of what Shelley whipped up for you…
And for me, the Killian Pure Oud, but it must be from the same batch that TPC has. The sample I tried from Luckyscent was NOT the same at all. Much weaker. I am SO glad I decided to test it before I bought it.
Happy to report that The Party I bought from Lucky Scent is beyond gorgeous. Worth it, folks, totally worth it, and that was a big chunk of change for me.
Happy Birthday March!! Right now I am lemming (And cannot afford) Amouage Epic..But since March does not love Rose(or does she?) I would probably get the both of us some Jar Diamond water/Bolt of Lightning. Would that work, March??..:)
P.S. Would love to be entered in the draw, Patty.
Wishing you a most fragrantly happy birthday, March!! You deserve only the best!! Would love to try the exorbitantly costly Xerjoff so please enter me in the draw. Thanks!
Happy Birthday, March! I wish you a perfectly preserved bottle of Guerlain Chypre de Paris.
I’m a terrible, selfish person, so I would give March Fermez Tes Yeux, hoping that she would not like it then have a terrible lapse of memory and re-gift it back to me a couple days later for my birthday.
:d
Happy Happy Day Miss March!
For you a bottle of the Amaranthine Parfum (scandalous 550 smackers) and a bottle of Tilda Swinton Like This hand delivered by SWINTON herself!!!
What I have I foregone? Ormonde Jayne Tiare Parfum.
Delivered by SWINTON! Mr. Aparatchick’s going to be told I want THAT for my birthday!
Happy birthday, March. I’d love to send you vintage Femme that just reeks of uber-skank. Heh. Your small bottle of this must have been used up by now!
Happy Happy Birthday March! As far as the fantasy gift goes, I’d wrap up the same thing I would want as a ridiculous gift: the Guerlain Heritage Case. It’s only $3500!
Happy Birthday, March<:-p Everyone stole my wishes so I had to rethink. I decided on a very romantic birthday dinner with the Big Cheese, gorgeous, scented candles gracing the antique linen, a very special beribboned box awaiting you on the table, (I won't divulge it's heavenly scented content), a 5 star chef serving you your most favorite foods in the world, a pre-dinner premium Scotch of your choice, and yes, you may keep the bottle. With your scrumptious dinner you will be served vintage bottle(s) of the finest wine. The decadent dessert will be so out of this world you'll savor and cherish eat bite. And then you may unwrap your gift, while you sip cognac. I would love a very grand enormous bottle of the attar of my choice.
that is ‘each bite’ and I do hope you have a very special birthday as you’re a very special person to not only me but to all of your faithful followers.
<:-p
My ‘covet’ is a pristine bottle of Patou Vacances. Or a pristine bottle of vintage Diorling.
Or a :(|)
xoxo >-)
Happy birthday March!!! I wish you a Snowmaggedon-free winter 2010, and many more years of wonderful perfume blogging to come.
Happy Birthday March! From me you’ll be getting a trip back in time to the year of your choice in Paris, so you can shop for the vintage perfumes you love when they are still fresh. Just be careful not to change history while you’re there!
I’ve been trying to avoid even smelling expensive perfumes myself, but a sample of Lyric Woman led to a decant, which …..
Happy Birthday, March! @};-
A birthday bottle for March? Hmmm …. she’d have to go to Paris to get it. Patricia de Nicolai would let March have one more shot at Sacrebleu, and when March reluctantly told her it wasn’t juuuuust quite … Patricia would say, “let me adjust that” and it would be March’s personal version of Sacrebleu.
Hey we can always dream.
Happy Birthday March! <:-p I'd abet her plan to wear white flowers in summer with a bottle of Shalini. For myself, I am still seriously scheming on a way to get my own personal bottle of JAR's Bolt of Lightning. You know it's bad when the $200-$300 'fumes seem perfectly attainable in comparison. 😮
Anything over $200 I kind of just long for, and one day, when my ship comes in… I’ll maybe get them. At the moment Iris Pallida 2007, Epic Man, and, mostly, the Posh Peasant has a bottle of Eau du Fier for $279! Is it really unavailable in fancy France?
Happy birthday! Sending you a virtual $1000 gift certificate for Luckyscent. :d Spoil yourself right!
Happy happy birthday March…I’d give you Barbara Bui Le Parfum bath oil (if they would make such thing) and a huge bouquet of some luscious white flowers 😉
Hmmm…Barbara Bui…BB…Blue Bell!>:)(Pretend that’s a blue bell).
Happy Birthday, March. I bequeath you a magic wand so that you can have anything you want! Change water into Doblis,,,etc… lol I tried the Jerkoff sample pack,,and couldn’t get excited about anything!! Maybe it’s an acquired taste!!
Happy birthday March. I’d give you both Amaranthine and Nuit de Tubereuse so you don’t have to choose.
Perfumes I want but the price tags make me cringe: Amouage Lyric and Chanel Bois des Iles extrait.
A belated happy birthday to March (and Mary!) who provides me with hours of joy reading her delightful posts! Were I able, I would find a lovely, large bottle of Bois des Iles and give it to you to enjoy (without even taking the tiniest spritz for myself which would probably take more willpower than I had so it’s a good thing we’re being all hypothetical here). I hope this year brings you all that you desire, in every way. And Patty – good luck!
Happy Birthday to March! I think she’d like another trip to Paris… but that might be over-budget, another of those “I’d like but can’t afford.” It’s hard to know what to suggest you give her, since my impression is that you guys have everything already!
As for my “I wish I could” perfumes, well: I’m cheap. I really don’t want to even go up to $200 (though I have). So there’s a long list: Chanel Sycomore, Montale Oud Cuir d’Arabie, Amouage Jubilation XXV, the Amouage attars, Epic Man. For Mari, various Guerlains in extrait, big roses from Amouage, Chanel Beige, Bois des Iles extrait. Some of those will eventually happen…
Happy Birthday, March–wishing you anything you’d like!
Whuuuck?
I sent you a buncho roses, March! Dang-it!
< :-p @};-@};-@};-@};-@};-@};-@};-@};- @};-@};-@};-@};-@};-@};-@};- @};-@};-@};-@};-@};- Feliz C, baby! Here's a :(|) for you! xoxoxoxo >-)
Well…
yesterday March would’ve gotten a big’ ol bottle of Vetiver & Guiac …and a BIGGER bottle of Turtle Vet. And a vat of Vetiver Dance.
And a :(|)
Today March gets a bottle of Lelong pour Femme parfum in that silly clock bottle. Even more luscious than the edp she already has.
A pristine vintage bottle (every note intact) of Apres l’Ondee
and a :(|) (Carter has taken care of the squirrel)
xo >-)
I’ve already taken care of the Ondee(s) too, but mine are a little dirty for good measure and Jane Birkin/:)
Happy Birthday March. For you, vintage Bois des Iles extrait 🙂
My big covet right now would be Frederic Malle Bigarade Concentree. I spritzed it today from my wee decant and wished I could bath in it.
Happy Birthday March !!
If I could give March anything , it would be some wonderful attars from the Montale Shop in Paris…Diva dear over at Fragrance Bouquet blogged about a few when she was in gay Pair-ee last year , and I have been lemming ever since…
love me some Irisssssss………….
Happy Birthday to March! For a birthday gift, I would wish March Chypre de Coty, found at a garage sale for a song.
Happy Birthday, March! In my mind we are both receiving a big ol’ bottle of Les Larmees Sacrees for your special day.
My birthday wish for March is an auction site alert telling her that whatever most rare and wonderful perfume she covets has turned up, and the auction is about to end, and no one else has bid. Oh, and it turns out that this bottle is from the seller’s Grandma’s special perfume cellar, and it’s right down the street, so she can just pop over and pick it up and see if there’s anything else of interest. The seller also wonders if she would like to look at Grandma’s collection of vintage Dior dresses and Hermes riding gear. He knows what they are worth, but he likes March instantly (and Grandma was just her size!), so he insists that she choose a few things as a gift, since it’s her birthday and everything.
😮
Come 1July, could you wish this for me?
Thanks! :d/
xoxo >-)
That’s not a birthday wish, that’s “Am I dead? Is this Heaven?”o:-)
:d<
My birthday gift would be…made by March herself. She would be the consultant, working with the perfumer of her choice…no, scratch that; THREE perfumers, separately, just to see how they handle the assignment. The assignment is, of course, iris. Flower. Iris flower.
The suggestion I would leave in the note accompanying the present is that she see if there is a way to sprinkle in the top of her babies' heads and of the shirt her husband was wearing when she fell in love with him, the smell of something from her 7th birthday (show me the child of 7…), and the smell of something from her ideal future, plus the smell of one heartbreak she knows she has healed from but learned something valuable from.
Because birthdays are wonderful things, and I think March deserves to mark the best of past, present, and future, as defined by her. It would be HER perfume, after all, right?
Patty, good luck with that Sir Geoff / Zer Cough / whatever. 😉
Dude FAIL! That was supposed to be party guy, followed on a separate line by hug guy!
< :-p and >:d< Sheesh :"> b-)
Shelley, that brought tears to my eyes! How lovely!
March, I’m sending you a magic wand for your birthday. Wave it over your perfume collection and –poof!– all your bottles will be full again. Happy day.
Wishing March a Happy Birthday and a lifetime’s supply of Lady Day!
Ooooh…good one(*)
Happy Birthday, March!
I would give you a stroll over a nice fleamarket on a pleasant day, with a stall where you will find a full, untouched, vintage bottle of Doblis for 5$ among the empty Avon bottles. (Wouldn’t mind getting that myself, actually)! And an instant 2-hour-stay at Meindl’s in Vienna.
Patty, I hope the Iriss lives up to its price and your expectations. Keep us posted!
I hope your order comes through, Patty. 🙂
Happy Birthday, March! Thank you for your wonderful reviews and musings … I love reading them. ^:)^
Wishing you love, laughter and a magical year. @};-
After Denyse’s wonderful idea I don’t think I could pick anything remotely more interesting to give you as a fragrance but I would be really happy for both of you!
Patty, I hope the Xerjoff Iriss comes through for you. I’d love to be a lucky drawing winner since iris is a favorite of mine. Sounds decadent and luxurious.
For March’s birthday, I’d give her a bottle of KM’s Paname since she admired it recently at Art with Flowers but didn’t buy it.
As for me, the most expensive things I’ve been wanting are a bee bottle of Vetiver Pour Elle, VC & A Bois d’Iris, and the big ol’ monster bottle of 31 Rue Cambon.
Happy Birthday March! I’m always happy to read your posts, they’re like adding a shot of espresso to the morning coffee. Hmmm…the bottle of Djedi sounds about right.
For me I guess it would be an Amouge Attar or one of those antique Art Noveau Lalique bottles.
For birthday girl March and for myself, a bottle (each) of The Party in Manhattan, which I have hopelessly loved since it first came out.
<:-p
Aha! Another Party fan. I do covet a full bottle in the beautiful little box, but I do have a nice collection of large-ish decants from TPC :d
Isn’t it wonderful ? Fortnum & Masons had a massive sale last year (which I missed) when they discontinued the line…=((
I have a small decant, but to have the real thing….
They discontinued it????:((:((
No panic, it’s still alive, only no longer stocked in that particular shop!
Happy birthday to March! I would send her some vintage Scandal. For myself, I am so broke right now that there are too many coveted ones to list.
I looked up the First in Fragrance site for the Iriss notes:
“Head: Bergamot, Carrot, Carnation
Heart: Iris, Rose, Jasmine, Ylang-Ylang, Violet
Base: Vetiver, Cedarwood, Benzoin, Musk, Frankincense”
Carrot–really? I wonder if they mean the green part. That has an interesting smell…sort of.:-?
I hope you get that Xeroff, Patty :d/
As for March’s Birthday-I’d wish for her whatever she desires, whenever she likes 😡
And great health, stunning beauty, fabulous family, and surrounds of very loving friends…oh, wait, she has those! >:d<
Actually I´ve just recently tried most of the Xerjoff scents and while I don´t care at all for some of them i do really, really, really love Oesel and Uden and … I don´t think I ever get a full bottle of any of them, but maybe at least a decant or something and I´ve heard they´re selling refills at Roya Dove haute perfumeri at Harrods…
And happy birthday to March. A bottle of The Infidels from Swedish company Agonist may be exciting? It is as pricey as the Xerjoff scents but nothing at all like them. 🙂
When I see Oesel I pronounce it “weasel” in my head. Then we’ve got jerksoff weasel. Eh. I’m not sure about those names.
Happy Birthday, March!
I thought “weasel,” too! My other favorite name from the line is, er, Shingl. Yikes! Jerkoff shingle is even scarier.
A very happy, happy birthday March – candles, balloons, flowers, jewels, and lots and lots of beautiful fragrance wishes. I received a sample of Puredistance perfume a few weeks ago and have gradually come to absolutely adore this beautiful scent. It is not the type of fragrance that I would usually enjoy, but somehow I have truly fallen in love with it. The price is over the moon, but if I could – I would. It’s always nice to have something to dream about.
I have not tried that one. I know lots of folks love it though.
Happy birthday, March! How about a bottle of Joy and some really nice cheese and fruit to go with it?
I’d like a bottle of vintage Mouchoir de Monsieur, and some Serge, especially MKK and Tubereuse Criminelle (kind of a past/present theme:d) Just for balance, of course.
I’ll take the MKK and Joy and you can keep Moustache Ride and Criminy for yourself, how’s that? That seems fair…
Happy, Happy Birthday to you!
I would give you,
Les Larmes Sacrees de Thebes in the inkpot bottle.
I would bake you my famous pineapple upside cake and buy you flowers from the Farmer’s Market thats right across my street every Thursday from May to Sept.
I love birthdays, everybody deserves a good one, another year of life to celebrate on Planet Earth, for good or bad! <3
So Happy Birthday March!
I have been coveting everything these days and haven't been able to give in to too much but I have been wanting so much since Jan. to have Amouage Homage Attar and Tauer's Une Rose Chypree , oh and Nahema Pure Parfum!
All at once so I don't get antsy for the others
and can blow my head off in smells galore in one day.
DAMN. I really , really do want these.. (sigh)
:o)@};-$-)/:)
THEBES! Man, I am having a great virtual b-day so far!
Happy bday March. If it were my choice, a bottle of Djedi would wing its way to you.
Oh! I’ll take it!