Fragrance Junkie Central

[Mochapj]

I know there are a few of us on BT that are fragrance addicts, so I thought it would be nice to have a dedicated place where we can share our thoughts.

This is not to take away from the lovely What Are You Wearing Today, Fragrance Edition thread, but more a place to post longer reviews, chat about new brands or releases, and just shoot the breeze on anything good and smelly 🙂

For me, I recently acquired 2 new decants that I've been anxiously awaiting.  Ever since Lachaton mentioned that MMM was releasing a new scent called By The Fireplace I've been itching to get my hands on it.  My decant arrived yesterday, so I'm looking forward to marinating in it this weekend.  Secondly, I recently picked up a tiny sample of Shiseido Nombre Noir.  Supposedly it is one of the most expensive failures in perfume history - made by Serge Lutens for Shiseido back in the 80s.  Of course, with a backstory like that, I was dying to get a sniff 😄

What's new on your scent radar?  Do tell!

 

[JiMi2006]

omg, that sounds amazing! i am a fan of both scents so i will have to check this out!

[pocketvenus]

@ChristalMwow, I could never pull of Pulp! Glad you found something you like 🙂

[ChristalM]

@pocketvenus  Truly a beautiful fragrance!

[blackkitty2014]

Perfume junkies, did you guys see this?  Looks liked it's a new brand at Sephora.  I'm all ear 😉

[pocketvenus]

I came across some testers for this house 🙂 The nose behind most or all of the fragrances is Jerome Epinette. He's the nose behind a number of Atelier Colognes, some Byredos like Bal d’Afrique, Eleventh Hour and Velvet Haze, and Commodity’s Velvet. He did all of the Ellis Brooklyns as well. I’m not into his style but some of his fragrances definitely has fans.

I smelled the following on paper testers that were out in the store. Please note this means I didn’t smell the scent’s opening, just the paper dry down. Also, I don't know if people had been picking the papers, rubbing oils and scents into them so I would consider the testers possibly adulterated. My thoughts are as follows.

• Wild Vanilla Orchid, pretty simple vanilla
• Wonderland Peony, typical fruity floral
• Neon Rose, the rose note is quite good but it’s ruined by a dank, dirty note. I’m going to have to give this one another chance, I don’t know if someone else touched the strip with soiled hands and messed it up. This simply cannot be what the nose had in mind.
• London Poppy, nondescript floral
• Electric Rhubarb, I didn't smell rhubarb at all! Just laundry dryer sheet 😞

Now these were no testers for Chypre Sublime, Ylang Ylang Espresso and Black Lotus but there were paper testers for them. Someone had stored the paper strips together so their scents all kind of mixed together. From what I could smell, the bitter chypre accord smelled pretty good and seemed to totally overpower the other two. I would really like to give CS a try. Ylang Ylang Espresso sounds like a rip off of Cafe Tuberosa but maybe it will be different.

When I have more time, I’d like to give the testers a fresh spray and see if that changes my opinion. Right now, I would say the Chypre one is perhaps the best on paper. CS and the Ylang Ylang are the only ones I’d like to test on my skin but maybe I'll change my mind after spraying them fresh.

What I find frustrating with fragrance displays at Sephora is that the most interesting offerings from a house are often sidelined. So no tester for what struck me as the most unique, strongest offering. They did this with Phlur too. I guess they only have so much space and are going to prioritize the more safe, generic scents.

[pocketvenus]

To update, I did spray the five testers on paper today and they are definitely better.

• Orchid Vanilla is less vanilla-ish in the opening and the iris is subtle and abstract.
• Peony is nice but completely generic. There are a million scents like this.
• Neon Rose, not awful like the tester strip but wasn't compelled to try a skin test.
• Poppy is a pretty, fresh floral.
• Rhubarb has an opening that's slightly tart. The rhubarb note is abstract compared to the freshly cut rhubarb of Hermes' rhubarb perfume. No smothering your nose in a laundry dryer sheet but because I'd smelled the dry down, I was smelling for it, and think I could detect it hiding below the other notes.

[PrettyPaint]

@pocketvenus  I actually have the sampler set. I just sprayed on the neon rose to see if I could detect the dank, dirty note. You are way better at describing scents than I am, but I do smell kind of a peppery, almost decaying rose-type scent. Like rather than a floral rose, it's kind of a more earthy/dirt/rose note. Is this at all like what you are smelling? The name "neon" rose kind of throws me off because it doesn't seem to fit the scent in my opinion.

[pocketvenus]

@PrettyPaintyes, something decaying, not like fruit but more earthy. It's hardly there at all when I sprayed it earlier today. But dry downs can be different on everyone. I know what you mean, it didn't smell neon to me either. I guess the colours of smells is all very subjective though!

[blackkitty2014]

Thx you so much for the feed back @pocketvenus .  I'm most interested in Ylang Ylang Espresso and Black Lotus. 😉 I dont think i'm crazy about Cafe Tuberosa though 😉 

[pocketvenus]

@blackkitty2014you're most welcome! I should add, these strike me as pretty clean and probably suitable for the office.

[Samtian]

@blackkitty2014 I have the sample set in my wishlist lol.

[blackkitty2014]

Me too @Samtian .  I try to not hoard anymore perfume until i can finish another the full size 😉 Ugh i have way to many scents in my love list.

[Samtian]

@blackkitty2014 Haha I don't mind collecting them, I just can't afford it and then I feel bad because I have so many samples my regular bottles get little use.

[pocketvenus]

@blackkitty2014will definitely report back if they stock testers 🙂

[ChristalM]

I ordered the vanilla and rubarb and they should be arriving today so I will report back 🙂

[ChristalM]

@pocketvenus  @blackkitty2014 my mini review:

I would say both vanilla and rhubarb are fairly simple and not particularly complex scents. I don;t notice and note change as the fragrance develops but I must say they are both particularly pleasant.

The vanilla has something unexpected in it that gives it a nice twist. The Rubarb is bright and sunny and very nice too.

They have  decent lasting time.

[pocketvenus]

@ChristalMthanks for sharing! I'll have to do a fresh spray of the rhubarb as it was just laundry dryer sheet vibes on the paper tester Sephora had out!

[ChristalM]

@pocketvenus  I must say I love a good rubarb note and I like this one a lot! 

[pocketvenus]

@ChristalMsprayed the tester and I see what you mean about a rhubarb note. It's abstract with a nice hint of tartness 🙂 So difficult to find rhubarb at the forefront, the only one I can think of is the Hermes. 

HERMÈS Eau de rhubarbe écarlate Eau de Cologne 3.3 oz/ 98 mL Eau de Cologne Spray

If you like rhubarb definitely give it a try! I can't speak to the drydown but the opening is nice.

[ChristalM]

I love it. I also love rhubarb. This was my all time favorite rhubarb fragrance. of course discotinued...

[blackkitty2014]

Thx @ChristalM