Hi all
I am like a couple of others here where my skin seems to drink the scent...sometimes I wonder if all the chemicals are seeping into my skin and causing havoc with my system..I am not ill so not blaming scents for anything..just wondering where it all goes..I know some of it evaporates but does any one know if any of the molecules are small enough to filter through...
Cass

Good morning! Oslo is cold and sunny, we even got a new layer of snow during the night. I felt summery this morning, so I'm in Mure et Musc extreme, delicious blackberries. Today is choir practice day, the conductor is ill, so I'll have to lead the rehearsal... Have a nice day, everybody!

Gunda

Hi there,

I love Comme de Garcons Incense Series fragrances. I use the Avignon more frequently than the others, but I have been wearing Quarzazate a little more frequently lately.

My understanding is that this fragrance might be named after a city in Morroco? But for me it smells like Native American Indian incense, something I would smell in the Southwest, or even at the Missions here in California. Many Missions are lined with pepper trees, and this fragrance has alot of sage in it too.

This fragrance literally smells hot....it radiates a dry, peppery heat. Surprisingly, it is not heavy. It is much lighter than Avignon.

Just wondering if anyone here has worn this one and what your thoughts are.

Thought it would be amusing to start collecting samples of "mankiller/femme fatale" scents. The kind of perfume that you can imagine Kathleen Turner wearing in the movie Body Heat. (One of my all time fave movies.) The kind that have a reputation for making the opposite sex go weak in the knees. The kind that dangerous femme fatales in noir films would/should be wearing. The kind that might help you release your inner dominatrix. You get the picture. Suggestions for where to start? Carolyn

Spin-off from 5oaks thread...I was thinking recently about the actual colour of the liquid for various fragrances. I find I'm in the old school mentality of darker=stronger, while clear=light.

I'm not all the educated on how companies treat their perfumes to effect the colour of the juice...is anyone in the know? For example, if a perfume like Chanel No. 18 contains rose oil, how did it end up being perfectly clear? Do they bleach them somehow? Or is it just really diluted? I remember reading that Roudnitska chose a "clear" oakmoss for Diorella...not sure if it was because of the smell, or the aesthetic.

Also, juices like Sarrasins and Mandarine Mandarin really make me smile because the heavily pigmented liquid almost makes them costumey.

The field of perfumery has so many interesting aspects. Bottom line is the juice but is that the only thing about perfume that draws you?

This thought came up because I was considering expense and my policy of only buying in local brick and mortar stores, which means full list price, with rare exceptions. But I don't think I would enjoy my perfume as much if I sent away for it and did not have the in-store experience, from first testing to stalking to budgeting to determining a purchase date to the purchase itself to carrying that cute little bag home on the bus to unpacking it and arranging it in the dresser display to picking it up and using it day after day. I get a thrill from "going downtown and buying perfume" that is worth the money to me. The bottle is a throw of the dice because half the time or more either I don't like the bottle's aesthetic or I find it hard to handle. Both the Exclusifs I have been wearing and Jasmine White Moss have bottles that while extremely attractive aesthetically are annoying to use--but that would not stop me from wearing the scent.

What about you? I know that our Jeffery finds the print ads essential to his enjoyment of a perfume, many have deliciously described the anticipation of receiving a package with perfume, and sometimes attractive bottles or packaging grab positive attention. How much do those things and aspects such as the history of perfume, knowing about the noses, the thrill of the hunt for something rare--or other aspects of perfumery play in your total enjoyment of perfume?

I realize fully that many people wake up with just enough time to jump in the shower and throw some clothes on before dashing out the door to work, but perhaps some of you have a morning schedule more like my own. I'm up early for a 45 minute dog walk/Starbucks trip. I then drive my wife to work before coming home and preparing for my own day, giving me a good couple hours before I shower. I use this time to wear a 'scent of the morning'. It's a perfect opportunity to wear fragrances that don't lend themselves well to a full day's wear at an office. Scents with fleeting longevity (i.e. Jicky), obnoxious sillage (Le Labo Patchouli 24), and/or overtly feminine (i.e. Gucci Accenti) all get worn in this A.M. slot. I also use this time to test wear decants and confirm whether or not I like the fragrance during a full wear. All in all I very much enjoy the opportunity to 'double' my rotation. Depending on what my SOTD is (if it's fleeting or weak) I may apply a third fragrance late evening for the couple hours before bed, but this only happens 1-2x/week.

So who else has multiple SOTDs?

Good morning dear folks,

Hope you're all doing fine. 31 Rue Cambon is the scent that made me appreciate pepper - with its shade of smoke - as an olfactory element. After quite some days with Coromandel, I'm up for the next Chanel Exclusive. This one has never failed me.

Dreamed of Obama. He was in function - at an official meeting with other heads of state - but couldn't stop laughing. It was both a bit uncomfortable and infectious. I started to laugh along (sitting with the officials), which made matters only worse. Quite funny. This was just one section involving him. I remember a nice anthology, about fifteen years ago, of dreams about Madonna. I think within this term, such a book could see the light about Obama. Like Madonna he's quickly become a symbol, appealing to our imagination.

Have a good one!

31 Rue Cambon
Top notes: Pepper, Bergamot
Heart notes: Orris, Narcissus, Jasmine
Base notes: Patchouli, Ambrette, Vetiver, Labdanum

I didn't smell Boucheron de Boucheron since when it came out in the late 80s, I didn't even remember anything about it, probably back then I was too young for this. Following The Guide's new Ten Best Feminines that now includes Boucheron, I went to Bloomingdale's this weekend to try it: instant love and immediately bought it in edp! It smells incredibly elegant (I know that term sounds old-fashioned but I mean it in a good way), restrained, collected, timeless, polished yet highly feminine, powerful, expensive, confident and yes sexual too.
Leaving Bloomingdale's I'm taking a cab going to Colombus Circle to meet friends for a night out in the city. I wasn't in the taxi for more than two minutes than already the driver asked about my perfume, that I smelled so good and that it had a certain effect on him! At the restaurant, the italian waiter said us ladies smelled very good... of course my "jealous" friends/freenemies didn't say anything because they all knew I was the one who smelled good like that but not them! LOL You know I live for that, anything for perfume attention!

I know serial monogamy is an oddball way of proceeding for most here but I did want to share the experience.

I'm in the process of moving from Cuir de Russie (back) to Jasmine White Moss, the edp of which is scheduled to be replenished in a few days. In the meantime, I've been wearing the JWM parfum and body cream, but I find the edp is the best everyday concentration. Today I found a small sample vial of edp and spritzing some on, I noticed a fleeting note redolent of the original Miss Dior, something I don't find any more in the current Miss Dior. It must be a note Lauder has captured in it's patented "white moss mist" 'cause we know it ain't a blast of oakmoss.

The serial monogamy experiment undertaken a while back is having partial success. As I suspected earlier, Chanel is throwing a monkey wrench into the works. That's because the scents I embarked upon come in the 200ml bottles. I'd arrived at about the halfway point of CdR when the urge to move on occurred. For any other brand, that would have meant a used-up bottle, which was my aim, but not for an Exclusif. So I guess you could say the program is working "in principle" although in practice it would be necessary to wear an Exclusif twice as long as normal.

The new bottle of JWM edp will be my third purchased since it first came to town last summer, August, I think. I didn't realize I had used so much. I'm just wondering how JWM is holding up over time for others who liked it when it first came out, and what are the impressions of those who have become acquainted with it since then.