The new CH by Carolina Herrera -

EL Sensous and Flowerbomb's love child. Really Carolina? This was the best you could do? Disappointing and not original and why in the heck is this being released in the summer???

Link to a pic / info for CH -

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/3037377/0~2377...2381289&P=1

Sniffed the newest trio of scents from Guerlain - Moscou, Tokyo and New York. Thumbs down to Moscou and Tokyo. Very surprised at how generic they are. Seriously generic folks. New York was the best of the 3 and if you like woody orientals, then this will be worth a sniff. Unfortunately not full bottle worthy to me because it doesn't stand out from the other woody orientals in my perfume collection.

Here's more info on the Guerlain trio on MimiFrouFrous blog:

http://www.mimifroufrou.com/scentedsalaman...cou_02_par.html


Creed Tuberose Indiana -

What a nice scent. Not sure if I really detected tuberose though. I got more of a lightly spiced but very soft carnation type note. I liked it but I don't think a full bottle is in my future.

Chanel Bois des Iles -

I really want to like this one but it in the end it's all wood on my skin.


WINNER OF THE MINI-SNIFFATHON............................


Guerlain VETIVER POUR ELLE!!!! Where have you been hiding? I love it and a bottle went home with me. It's the perfect summer/skin scent with a sillage that is soft but present.

Read more on Vetiver Pour Elle on Helg's blog:

http://perfumeshrine.blogspot.com/2008/08/...ur-elle-by.html


The End.

For those in now in the summer season, is anyone else experiencing summer perfume wantonness?

Usually I'm quite content to go on wearing the same perfume over a long period of time but lately my head has been turned at every breath because everything smells so wonderful in the weather we've been having--warm and humid. I've been bouncing off one perfume after the other because each time I smell something, it transports me:

Ambre Fétiche, Jasmine White Moss, Chanel No 22, Chanel No 5, Myrrhe Ardente, Nuit de Cellophane, and then Allure Sensuelle and tonight, Opium, the last two based upon reading about them here. I just can't wear my perfumes fast enough to satisfy my nose!

Is this what it's like to wear a different perfume every day? How do you do it without crashing and burning? Sometimes I've been wearing two or three at a time! I don't choose any of these perfumes on purpose but either I smell it in the wild or test it and get intoxicated or else I get swept away by poetic writings on POL. I guess there is a conflict between my loyal feelings and profligate nose!

This doesn't seem to happen so much in other seasons. Who can identify with summer madness?

I've been wearing Opium lately and received compliments from both men and women, my boyfriend thinks it smells musky, floral and nice. What is your experience with this perfume?

I received a sample vial of Angel a few days ago and liked the scent from the vial. I tried it on then, and my 16 yr old son liked it. I liked it a little, there were certain qualities about it that I appreciated. But the day ended with a headache and nausea. I decided to try again later.

My son said that if a girl walked by wearing it, he'd turn his head and say, "Hmmmm..." in a good way! (Which is surprising to me since he's very conservative, especially about girls!) I figured I'd wear it the day hubs came home. I dabbed it onto the back of my neck and decolletage, which may have been my first mistake. About an hour later I had my head over my sink washing my neck off! I left the rest, hoping hubby would like it. (Though deep down I was secretly hoping he would NOT like it!)

At the airport he hopped into the car, kissed me, and said, "Oh. Is that your new perfume?" !!! A polite reaction! This morning I asked him to be honest and tell me whether he liked the perfume or not. For him it was a "meh". I'm actually glad because yesterday afternoon I had to take 3 Ibuprofen.

Should I save the sample and try again later? Is this how some of you reacted to perfumes you now love? I really wanted to like it. I think I like the patchouli, vanilla, and sandalwood, but something about it was just too...I don't know. I was partly drawn to it and partly repelled by it. Maybe I just overdid it?

What perfumes do you absolutely adore when you smell your clothes (or bed linens etc) after having worn them?

For me, hands down it's Mitsouko. My gosh but it is sooo haunting and beautiful on fabric. It really lingers which I love.

We've often seen the expression here "I don't get, or didn't get (fill in the blank)"--often the blank contains Mitsouko! Not getting a perfume could be because it's a blend that does something different from what the mind has come to expect from most perfumes. It could also be that a perfume is beyond one's personal understanding or knowledge of accord ideas; or maybe it's a perfume that was not well composed and the result is fuzzy.

What are the perfumes that you don't get, perfumes the core of which does not leave a clear olfactory impression, no matter how many times you smell it or wear it? It doesn't mean the perfume doesn't smell good. It can smell all right, it's just that it just doesn't come across to you as something coherent.

A couple of examples for me are Private Collection and Le Baiser du Dragon. The perfumes are probably fine but it's like I can't perceive them clearly. I know Private Collection is well liked by many here. I've smelled it many times and tested it on and off and if I smelled it on someone, I don't think I'd recognize it. It just doesn't "register" with me. Le Baiser du Dragon I might recognize but when I smell it I have the impression that the perfume is straining to come apart and the notes are not relating to each other in my perception. It's weird, I admit.

So what are the perfumes that seem to you elusive to grasp what they're all about, or unclear in what they're trying to convey?

I have become smitten with the Amouage line and I have yet to try one that I didn't love. Today I am trying Dia Woman and am finding it something I need on my want list, along with Ubar. To borrow a line from my post on the SOTD thread..."To my nose it [Dia] is somewhere between the herbaliciousness of Jubilation 25 and the grandiosity of Gold Woman. "

Dia Woman's notes, from Aedes.com..."A fragrance that is both sophisticated and vibrant with top notes of fig, cyclamen, bergamot, tarragon, sage, violet leaves, heart notes of bush peach blossom, rose oil, orange flower, peony, orris and base notes of white musk, frankincense, vanilla, heliotrope, cedarwood, sandalwood and gaiac wood."

I already happily own a few Amouage scents. It has found its way onto my list of favorite perfume houses. I very much find the Amouage scents worthy of their exorbitant prices, given the high quality ingredients and divine craftsmanship of their blends. I would rather buy one Amouage than 4 or 5 perfumes of lesser quality/price.

What are your thoughts on Amouage? Are they worth the price? What is your favorite? Can you choose a favorite? Do you have one on your want list? Could you care less for Amouage?

Thanks!

Thursday was my last day of school. (Huzzah!) Since we always get out early that day, and since my school is a heck of a lot closer to NYC than my home, I took the opportunity to go sniffing. Traffic was way more horrendous at every step of the way than I thought it would be, and for a while I was concerned that it would eat into my sniffing time. But as it turns out, I had more than enough time to accomplish almost everything I wanted to do.

First stop: Takashimaya. I hadn't intended to go there first, but it was the first store I hit after I parked the car. There weren't too many things there that I felt like I needed to sniff before I got there, but once in the doors, there was no stopping me! Red alert for Bois d'Iris fans: They have enormous bottles of BdI massively reduced. If memory serves, it's an 8.5 oz. bottle for $200. I already have plenty, so I passed that by. Takashimaya has many offerings that other stores do not, but I've never found myself utterly captivated by anything that I've smelled there. This time was no different. The most interesting offerings were the Parfums d'Histoire (I think that's the name of the line) series. A la Mandy Aftel, the perfumes are pre-sprayed into glass domes that you lift and smell. My favorite was 1802, which allegedly was a rose concoction, only I got no rose from it! There was also a lovely scent called simply "Tonka" by a Spanish perfumer that was very nice indeed.

Onward to Bergdorf Goodman and all the charms of the Beauty Level. This was my chief destination, as I've been wanting a bottle of Bois de Violette for ages. I had hoped for a bell jar, but my sister and father keep not going to Paris when they go to France; plus the few times it's come up on Ebay, I've missed the auction or been outbid. I decided a while back that I would bite the bullet and pay the inflated price at BG.

First stop: sniff Sycomore and Beige. I was dismayed to discover that Beige, for now, is exclusive to Saks. Ah, well. I got to sniff Sycomore, and one sniff was enough to determine that it's not up my alley. I sniffed all of Les Exclusifs again, and was pleasantly surprised with--of all things--Gardenia. How pretty it is! I believe it's been altered from the prior released, for the better. I was also pleasantly surprised with no. 22. I own a white plastic bottle of the old EDT, and I never wear it. I find it suffocating for some reason, but I keep it around. The Exclusifs version seems to take enough of the bite out of the old girl--again, a change for the better IMHO.

Second stop was the Guerlain area. I looked for Jason, but apparently he was off. I didn't recognize the SA who was there, but she was very nice. I had a few objectives in mind here: 1. sniff Insolence EDP; 2: sniff the new "city" series; and 3. Inquire about L'Instant Magic, especially in the Elixir. I was able to accomplish all three. Insolence EDP was LOUD. I was expecting that the top notes would be completely different after what Luca wrote about it in the Guide. (One of my favorite reviews is Tania's take on Insolence EDT. She describes the opening notes as "hairspray and terror.") I was hoping that the opening would be different, but it's only different (to my nose, anyway) in that it's much louder. The City scents hold true to Luca's assertion that any set of perfumes released in threes will have two duds and one winner. In this case, it's New York that's the winner. It's a rosy floriental; very pretty and very long lasting. Tokyo was light and vaguely pretty--good for hot weather--while the third one was so nondescript that not only can I not remember what it smelled like, I can't even remember the name! As for L'Instant Magic, the SA said that it was discontinued. (Pick up what you can at TJ Maxx, ladies!) When I asked about the Elixir, she said that she never had it. Strange, but I assume it was/is in very limited distribution.

After Guerlain, I went on to sniff the Lutens. Serge Noire: Could be very interesting. I was already running out of real estate on my arms, so I didn't put it on skin, but I can see that I need to go back and give it a go. Five O'Clock au Gingembre: Same. I need to test this seriously. I can very much seeing this being a Christmas/holiday season perfume. Nuit de Cellophane: Very much out of character for Lutens. Lighter, less in the way of huge basenotes buttressing the thing. Pretty, but not worth a test for me.

By this point, I was fading from not having had lunch. Mike in Lutens steered me toward the café, where a salad and iced tea revived me. I went directly back out and found him to purchase the Bois de Violette, and he was so charming and grateful that he gave me extra goodies (the better to share later on!)

Had a lovely, lovely chat with the lovely, lovely Tom in Goutal. Many of us POLers and Sniffa types know Tom very well. In his words, he has worked for Goutal since he was Annick's assistant and carried her bags for her.) He convinced me to try Heure Exquise in the EDP formulation as opposed to EDT. The EDP is really a superior concoction--the notes unfold much more slowly than the EDT. I was perilously close to purchasing, but elected not to.

Other purchase: a Bobbi Brown powder brush that I had to have after playing with the display model so long that the SA was laughing her head off at me.

On to Henri Bendel and their selection, plus meeting up with dear Besotted. We had agreed to meet for dinner, but we had time for a bit of sniffing first. Pleasant surprise: Etat Libre d'Orange's Hotel Slut. Yes, that's the name. It's really very nice, a fruity thing that's not too fruity, held up my some nifty musks and, I suspect, some patchouli. Here I purchased a silk scarf that I had fallen in love with on the way in the door and Ombre Rose EDT.

After a brief search for a dinner spot, we settled on an Italian restaurant on 6th Ave. that turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. Despite spilling my iced tea glass and having it shatter on the floor before we even ordered, it was a delicious dinner with good conversation and good company. When Besotted noticed that the DJ was playing nothing but Michael Jackson songs, she remarked that it must be a MJ tribute night or something, The woman at the next table, overhearing her, said, "You know he's dead, right?" (No, we didn't know!)

After dinner, we went our separate ways, and I battled the Lincoln Tunnel traffic going home, even though I had waited out the rush hour by a wide margin. One can never count on the stupid bridges and tunnels, that's for sure.

(Whew! I didn't realize I did so much until I typed it all out!)

What are your favorite sandalwood fragrances? I'm talking scents that have sandalwood up front and center.

Also who makes the best sandalwood oil? Can anyone tell me about the different sources of sandalwood? Where besides Mysore, India is Sandalwood resourced?

Does your memory of first love have a smell? What age were you? I imagine first love as a teenager has a very different scent than first love in, say, your thirties.

My first love memory is actually scentless, because we met when we were children and did not have body odour or scented products because we were so young. But first lust... that smells of underage drinking (he was 17 and tasted like blackcurrant liqueur) and cigarette smoke, with an undercurrent of generic teenage boy body spray.

How about you?