Perfume and fragrance chat

[Aunt Carol]

Drugstore plebe here, but I really, really liked Old Spice's "Amber" deodorant scent. It had no business being such a well-balanced, adult scent for a deodorant you could throw in the basket at Safeway.

The label called it Amber, with blackcurrant notes, but it smelled more like a fruity tobacco with light vanilla to me. Not a "deodorant" smell, and certainly not a "funny name deodorant with sports tang" smell. They could have done a reverse Old Spice and relabeled it explicitly for ladies, no problem.

Of course, the one you like is always the one that gets discontinued.

 

[EllenDrawsRapeOfHerHaters]

Could I diffuse fragrance oils? A friend recommended it and I'm not sure if they're just getting it confused with essential oils. Fragrance oils are skin safe, so maybe...?

 

[alpro whore]

Did you get a sesame note from Tobacco Honey? I added it to my sample list (mostly to compare to Slowdive) but the sesame accord mentioned on Guerlain's site makes me leery. Chergui is often mentioned as one of Serge Lutens' best frags, but it's mid for the house IMO, a sweet tobacco with little nuance. I'd highly recommend Arabie and Sarrasins if you like a dark, moody jasmine (and the juice is a fantastic shade of purple!). Follow was realistic coffee grounds to me, and that's a compliment! Dans Tes Bras was a touch powdery for my tastes, but FM in general is a great house; I love L'eau d'Hiver and Lys Mediterranee. Looking forward to your thoughts on the rest of the samples.

i can't say i get any sesame from TH! the honey is definitely at the forefront of the perfume for the entirety of it's wear, and, i'm guessing due to how it's blended, the other notes don't really stick out as individuals; like there's slight spice, tobacco and woods floating around in there, but no particular note/ingredient that's so in-your-face that it would 'ruin' the fragrance if you usually disliked said note. apart from honey, of course. it's a honey bomb. i've read back through the thread and saw you describe slowdive before and now i really want to get a sample of it to try, it sounds incredible.

i agree with a lot of what you've said about the other frags now that i have tried them! i've also been looking more into serge lutens and i really need to try out some more from them. chergui is nice and inoffensive but it didn't blow my mind, and looking at some of the other fragrances, it's definitely one of the less-interesting ones. l'orpheline's description really stood out to me so i intend to order a decant of that next. FM l'eau d'hiver was right up there as one i nearly ordered to try, but i fucking hate pink pepper and avoid everything with it in; i find it just overpowers everything in everything i have tried with it in lmao - how does it fair in this scent?

in the order i tried them; i still have another full wear of follow and tobacolor left in the bottles (and tobacco honey but i'm being tight and saving it... i still haven't brought the FB as i cannot decide between 100ml or 200ml)

Follow - Kerosene
it is truly ground coffee; i really don't think any of the other notes ever came out on me, but i have another wear left to see if anything comes out. i appreciate it for what it is - a solid, fresh coffee smell - but i don't really see myself choosing to wear it. i love coffee, but wearing follow takes me back to working at wetherspoons and fighting with the coffee machines whilst the local unemployed and inpatient scream at me for their refill coffees.

also, it kind of didn't last as long or have the sillage that i expected. followed (which i have not tried) from the same house has a reputation for being too fucking powerful so i was expecting at least... a little more from follow. kerosene as a house really has my interest though and i found, based on looking at notes alone, that i want to try most of their fragrances. it's a bit of a pain in the arse to get in the UK though and the one official stockist is out of stock for some of the samples i want though so i will sit on my hands for now.

Dans Tes Bras - Frederic De Malle
this took me on an absolute ride. it was not what i was expecting from the notes alone; i was expecting a powder bomb, which i generally enjoy, but this is a very sharp, fresh, green powder, rather than the soft, comforting powder that i expected. it's pretty far from anything i have tried, and i really enjoyed my first wear of it - it was very fresh and clean on me, and had some staying power even throughout my workday. however on my second wear it knocked me completely sick and almost gave me a headache, and i'd sprayed considerably less than i had the first time. so i really do not know how to feel about it as a whole.

Chergui - Serge Lutens
this is inoffensive and just warm and nice. i was surprised when i looked it up and found that it didn't have lavender in it - i get a lavender like note on top of the tobacco and amber, or at least something that has the hazy comforting presence that lavender has. it's pretty linear from start to finish and has good longevity on me. i wouldn't buy it because it doesn't have the wow factor nor am i chomping at the bit to wear it again.

(speaking of, i think i previously mentioned that i wouldn't, or was on the fence, of buying a FB of BDK Gris Charnel after i tried it. well now i keep craving it and want to wear it again and again.)

Tobacolor - Dior
i find it offensive that this is frequently compared to Guerlain Tobacco Honey, on fragrantica at least. this is just complete stale piss from start to finish, i've never been so disappointed. i HOPED it would develop and some of honey or fruit would come through, but nope, just piss. i've never wished for a perfume to have the longevity of a fart before but before i knew it i was stuck at work stinking of actual piss and wishing just that. dirty pissed jogging bottoms.

anyway.

notino had a sale on so i finally ordered a full bottle of She Was An Anomaly by ELDO. it's a perfumed plastic barbie doll head that makes me feel pretty whilst being super comforting. i also wore my Fat Electrician sample again and that pretty much sealed the deal on me definitely getting a full bottle of that too, but i'll wait for the next sale. i'm still hoping Frustration comes back in stock on notino too as i've brought from them before and trust them, but no cigar so far. it's on allbeauty for just over £100 but i've never ordered from that site before so can't vouch for it's reliability.

i was also fucking craving marc jacobs' daisy and whilst searching on notino i found a flanker for love that really appealed to me - Daisy Love Paradise, which has notes of iris, patchouli and whipped cream. doesn't sound even close to the OG daisy and it's flankers but i imagine the daisy dna will still be there plus those notes? i think after discount it was around £43 so i said fuck it and blind brought it, it was a limited edition so samples are kind of just not around. i can't see myself disliking it though, and even if i don't love it, it will likely still be wearable and i am a sucker for the daisy bottles.

i also ordered 3 sample packs, 2 for me, 1 for my partner. i'm erring away from designer fragrances as of late but their current selection was/is really good, plus at £5.50 for 5 samples it's hard to go wrong. got a couple of narciso rodriguez (pure musc for her really, really impressed me), a couple of guccis (before i 'got into' fragrance i wore gucci guilty on the daily), a MM, a guerlain... and some others. i got my partner the typical 'man' scents like sauvage, dior homme etc. as he has somehow never tried them

 

[Ninon42]

Could I diffuse fragrance oils? A friend recommended it and I'm not sure if they're just getting it confused with essential oils. Fragrance oils are skin safe, so maybe...?

It's not generally recommended as fragrance oils can be cut with alcohol or diluent oils composed of mainly fatty acids or wax, and either can damage the diffuser depending on the style/type of diffuser ex. steam, ultrasonic, etc. Some companies produce diffuser specific fragrance oils, but in general neat essential oils are the best bet, because they have a lot of volatile components.

FM l'eau d'hiver was right up there as one i nearly ordered to try, but i fucking hate pink pepper and avoid everything with it in; i find it just overpowers everything in everything i have tried with it in lmao - how does it fair in this scent?

I find it to be more iris, but there is a pepper note that may not suit you. Peppers tend to be my preferred base note because I fucking hate cheap, highly sus sandalwood notes or worse, patchouli, so it's not a dealbreaker for me. Generally speaking, it's a quiet light floral with an almost plastic note.

With respect to Serge Lutens, L'orpheline is like woody lavender soap to me, though well-balanced to be sure. Fumerie Turque is a tobacco honey you might enjoy, and if you like a powder note, Dans le Bleu Qui Petille is kinda like a powdery Zoologist Squid. Ambre Sultan is another popular frag from that house, but IMO L'Haleine des Dieux is a better amber with more depth, powder and vanilla. I just ordered samples of both the original Lutens aka Shiseido Nombre Noir as well as the most recent La Fille Tour de Fer, along with a few other frags that looked intriguing. Will have opinions soon.

 

[Bloitzhole]

Afnan "Supremacy Not only Intense" smells quite a bit like Aventus Creed, but I found the fruity pineapple-y note is still more pronounced than I'd like. As with many middle eastern perfumes, sillage and longevity is absurd. A single spray on my wrist was sufficient for the scent to linger in the (large living) room itself for over 2.5 hours. The drydown is a bit more smokey than Aventus. I could not stomach the intensity and immediately resold (I live in a large city with an active fragrance community).

Lalique "Homme Equus" meanwhile has been a positive experience. If someone is familiar with Azzaro "Wanted by Night", there is a similarity in its spicy opening, but Lalique is more subdued, far less forward. It reminds me of sweetened Rooibos tea with red pepper. After a while it dries down to a pleasant skin scent reminiscent of a brighter Terre D'Hermes. Subtle, pretty classy - I would not mind wearing this to formal occassions.

 

[BongoMongo]

You know when you find a fragrance you love, purchase on a whim from a drugstore? And you love it. But you can't remember the name or who made it, and have only vague memories of the shape and style of the bottle and that's it,to go on?

Beyond frustrating innit?

 

[Barbarella]

Daisy! I collect miniatures of perfumes as well, and the days that Daisy was trending I got three sample bottles-Daisy and a couple of flankers. I used to open the minis and sample but now I leave them for the future when a discontinued fragrance craving comes along. Plus the minis are replicas of the big bottles and are so cute.

Sort of OT but I just thought of it. I think I still have a travel bottle of the original Daisy too, I’ll have to check. I remember that was a good “don't annoy the coworkers” scent.

Do any of you find it annoying how hard it is to sample indie fragrances? Macy’s and Sephora have many of the big names, but something like Kerosine is hard to find. The sample order process is expensive at times when you want to try so many. I wish somebody would open up fragrance stores with something other than Chanel, Valentino, Dior…Nordstrom used to have some of the more unusual brands but their stores have shut down.

Oh well.

 

[EllenDrawsRapeOfHerHaters]

Daisy! I collect miniatures of perfumes as well, and the days that Daisy was trending I got three sample bottles-Daisy and a couple of flankers. I used to open the minis and sample but now I leave them for the future when a discontinued fragrance craving comes along. Plus the minis are replicas of the big bottles and are so cute.

Sort of OT but I just thought of it. I think I still have a travel bottle of the original Daisy too, I’ll have to check. I remember that was a good “don't annoy the coworkers” scent.

Do any of you find it annoying how hard it is to sample indie fragrances? Macy’s and Sephora have many of the big names, but something like Kerosine is hard to find. The sample order process is expensive at times when you want to try so many. I wish somebody would open up fragrance stores with something other than Chanel, Valentino, Dior…Nordstrom used to have some of the more unusual brands but their stores have shut down.

Oh well.

It's because rent costs a lot. Only big places can afford to have physical stores. Which brands are you looking at? Maybe you can go on Reddit and do a sample swap.

 

[EverybodyWalktheDinosaur]

Urgh, I am a huge fan of Sì - Giorgio Armani but they had a deal where you could get Sì Passione with a mini and scented hand cream and I'm beyond disappointed that I didn't just get the bottle of Sì.
Sì Passione barely seems to last more than an hour on my skin.
I'm wondering if I just got a bad bottle or if they formulation is just not right.
Still annoying.

I also think I need to "branch out" in fragrance.
Looking at my collection, other than Acqua di Gioia, they're all very powdery/musk based.
The lady at the Guerlain counter was saying my selection was too "old lady" and I should be wearing florals

 

[BongoMongo]

One of my female relatives absolutely loves Mark Jacobs Daisy. Does anyone have any recommendations for a similar scent she might like please? It's her birthday the end of October and that woman has been an absolute saint and a complete and utter rock to me especially the last few months and I would love to get her a nice gift but something a little different.

 

[orangecat]

The lady at the Guerlain counter was saying my selection was too "old lady" and I should be wearing florals

Just wear what you like (unless you have a partner who hates said perfumes). Very unprofessional of that person to insist you wear a certain type. I personally despise florals and don't know why she said that.

One of my female relatives absolutely loves Mark Jacobs Daisy. Does anyone have any recommendations for a similar scent she might like please? It's her birthday the end of October and that woman has been an absolute saint and a complete and utter rock to me especially the last few months and I would love to get her a nice gift but something a little different.

Daisy has a lot of flankers. She might enjoy one of those (Daisy Love is my sister's favorite from the line). Daisy wild is a new release that I liked. If you scroll down on this website, they'll list perfumes other people think are similar to daisy: https://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Marc-Jacobs/Daisy-1361.html

 

[EverybodyWalktheDinosaur]

Just wear what you like (unless you have a partner who hates said perfumes).

lol I read this as "unless you have a partner who hates perfume" and was going to say "Nope, I'd dump him."
I love perfume/diffusers/candles/scents and I couldn't live without someone who hated them

Very unprofessional of that person to insist you wear a certain type. I personally despise florals and don't know why she said that.

Yeah I thought it was odd. Why would she be trying to talk me OUT of a sale?
Unless she was getting more commission hocking the newer fragrance?
I bought more Florale because I like it and which, despite its namesake, is very powdery.

No shade intended and not trying to hate on others preferences, but a lot of the time the heavy fruit/floral perfumes smell "cheap" to me like the body mists of the 00's.

 

[alpro whore]

I find it to be more iris, but there is a pepper note that may not suit you. Peppers tend to be my preferred base note because I fucking hate cheap, highly sus sandalwood notes or worse, patchouli, so it's not a dealbreaker for me. Generally speaking, it's a quiet light floral with an almost plastic note.

With respect to Serge Lutens, L'orpheline is like woody lavender soap to me, though well-balanced to be sure. Fumerie Turque is a tobacco honey you might enjoy, and if you like a powder note, Dans le Bleu Qui Petille is kinda like a powdery Zoologist Squid. Ambre Sultan is another popular frag from that house, but IMO L'Haleine des Dieux is a better amber with more depth, powder and vanilla. I just ordered samples of both the original Lutens aka Shiseido Nombre Noir as well as the most recent La Fille Tour de Fer, along with a few other frags that looked intriguing. Will have opinions soon.

pepper is okay as long as it doesn't actually screech - black pepper i actually like, it's just pink pepper that i'm leery about. hilariously i love patchouli and most sandalwoods, there are some sandalwoods i've smelt that don't actually... smell like sandalwood to me. i think i'm definitely going to sample l'eau de hiver though, especially if it gives off an almost plastic note. ELDO's She Was An Anomaly got me hooked on the plastic, synthetic-y, clean scents. same with Serge Lutens... all of those fragrances you listed sound intriguing to me. it's a shame that the official discovery set is a set of dabber vials because i am absolutely atrocious at applying those to myself.

Daisy! I collect miniatures of perfumes as well, and the days that Daisy was trending I got three sample bottles-Daisy and a couple of flankers. I used to open the minis and sample but now I leave them for the future when a discontinued fragrance craving comes along. Plus the minis are replicas of the big bottles and are so cute.

Sort of OT but I just thought of it. I think I still have a travel bottle of the original Daisy too, I’ll have to check. I remember that was a good “don't annoy the coworkers” scent.

Do any of you find it annoying how hard it is to sample indie fragrances? Macy’s and Sephora have many of the big names, but something like Kerosine is hard to find. The sample order process is expensive at times when you want to try so many. I wish somebody would open up fragrance stores with something other than Chanel, Valentino, Dior…Nordstrom used to have some of the more unusual brands but their stores have shut down.

Oh well.

gosh i LOVE travel sizes that are minis of the full-size bottles. the 10ml tubes are so... depressing lmao. daisy has such a strong yet crowd-friendly DNA. kind of makes me want to try Perfect too.

we don't even have sephora or macy's over here in the UK :') i find notino is easy for designer samples - £5.50 for five, cheap as chips and it arrives pretty fast. i had a good time with parfumista too for niche, but that's a UK site. i hear US folk say that luckyscent is decent? it's not a cheap hobby though. i have a couple of mini gucci by gucci bottles, i think 5ml, and on the boxes it says they're SAMPLES. nowadays it costs money to try a titchy 1ml vial.

Urgh, I am a huge fan of Sì - Giorgio Armani but they had a deal where you could get Sì Passione with a mini and scented hand cream and I'm beyond disappointed that I didn't just get the bottle of Sì.
Sì Passione barely seems to last more than an hour on my skin.
I'm wondering if I just got a bad bottle or if they formulation is just not right.
Still annoying.

I also think I need to "branch out" in fragrance.
Looking at my collection, other than Acqua di Gioia, they're all very powdery/musk based.
The lady at the Guerlain counter was saying my selection was too "old lady" and I should be wearing florals

that comment is even more absurd being it comes from a guerlain SA... like guerlain has a whole ass family of fragrances that have been around and enjoyed for years. shalimar always gets dubbed as an old lady fragrance mostly because it's been around so long that your grandma likely wore it, i've heard others like jicky, mitsouko be dubbed as the same.

enjoy what you enjoy. most the time when people refer to 'old lady smell' it's just because whatever they smell is similar to what the older ladies in their life wore, wear and enjoy. and when they're scent profiles and specific fragrances that are still available to buy... well they're stood the test of time.

One of my female relatives absolutely loves Mark Jacobs Daisy. Does anyone have any recommendations for a similar scent she might like please? It's her birthday the end of October and that woman has been an absolute saint and a complete and utter rock to me especially the last few months and I would love to get her a nice gift but something a little different.

i second a daisy flanker! i recently picked up daisy love paradise and it still has that signature daisy smell but with other notes intermingled. it's really nice imo. the wild flankers from this year have very pretty bottles, if that helps.

 

[Dimensional Sperge]

Does anybody here like Sol De Janeiro and if so, what's your favourite scent?

I really like no. 68 and 62.

 

[EllenDrawsRapeOfHerHaters]

I find it alright, though I haven't bought any. I've shown them to my friends.

I've been sampling my perfume order. I accidentally got some on my hands so I have to take a break now. It smells like tea and cookies.

 

[PuffyGroundCloud]

Managed to get Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady for half a price for 100mL brand new.
One hell of a smell.
Literally 1 spray and it fills a room.

 

[YHWH's Strongest Soldier]

The lady at the Guerlain counter was saying my selection was too "old lady" and I should be wearing florals

Don't trust perfume sellers. One tried convincing me that YSL Kouros did not smell like an old man who just pissed himself and I absolutely had to buy it.

 

[Generic Anime Girl]

I have like 4 sol de janeiro's but I've been considering getting an actual perfume for Christmas. I sampled a bunch because I got some samples with an order and the only one I liked was Amazing Grace by Philosophy. Is there any cheap alternative or should I just fork over the cash?

 

[Pickman's Modeling Agency]

I have nowhere else to ask, so apologies in advance. I would like to make a body oil which smells similar to Chaps cologne* (Ralph Lauren). I'm trying to find fragrance oils and have not had much luck - no dupes as far as I can tell, and the oils which have similar notes are different enough that I'm not sure I'd like them. Do any of you have a fragrance oil recommendation? It really doesn't need to be identical, but I love the resinous/warm smell.

*I have reached the last drops in my bottle and I am very sad.

 

[an_actual_reptilian]

Favorite vanilla scents?