Pre-opening Highlights Fragrance Edition 💖

[pocketvenus]

I'm going to repost an old survey @lyravega did back in 2018 🙂 2020 saw fragrance spending tank, and I know it did for me too. But I also relied on fragrance a lot for something to enjoy during lockdown! I thought it might be nice to reflect on the past year and a half and see the kind of role fragrance has played for you as a number of us are getting vaccinated and ready to re-enter the world more.

Here's the original thread, I'm just copy-pasting everything from here, all credit goes to lyravega ❤️ https://community.sephora.com/t5/Fragrance-Fans/2018-Highlights-Fragrance-Edition/m-p/4422143

How fragrant was your 2020-2021? Any special story/experience/moment you want to share? Or you can just answer these questions. Or do both! And then some! 

1. Which 2020 or 2021 fragrance releases were your favorite?
2. Least favorite/disappointing? 
3. Best packaging according to you?
4. What amazing new to you fragrances you discovered in 2020-21?
5. Some exciting re-discoveries? 
6. What new brands/houses you discovered in 2020-21?
7. What was your most worn fragrance?
8. What was one fragrance you reached for the most: a) when you went to work, b) when you went out ( social things, dates... ), c) for a lazy weekend at home, d) for mood uplifting when you felt down/blue, e) during the Holidays?
9. Any purchase/s you regret? Why?
10. Any new fragrant memories made? 
11. What fragrance brand/s would you like to see in Sephora in 2019 for when we open up?

[pocketvenus]

How fragrant was your 2020-2021? Any special story/experience/moment you want to share? Or you can just answer these questions. Or do both! And then some! 

1. Which 2020 or 2021 fragrance releases were your favorite?
2. Least favorite/disappointing? 
3. Best packaging according to you?
4. What amazing new to you fragrances you discovered in 2020-21?
5. Some exciting re-discoveries? 
6. What new brands/houses you discovered in 2020-21?
7. What was your most worn fragrance?
8. What was one fragrance you reached for the most: a) when you went to work, b) when you went out ( social things, dates... ), c) for a lazy weekend at home, d) for mood uplifting when you felt down/blue, e) during the Holidays?
9. Any purchase/s you regret? Why?
10. Any new fragrant memories made? 
11. What fragrance brand/s would you like to see in Sephora in 2019 for when we open up?

[Titian06]

@pocketvenus - I can't answer any of these questions.  What I've been doing over the past year and a half is going through my samples.  When I finished the samples from The 7 Virtues, I reused the box and randomly picked 7 or 8 other samples to put in the wells.  I rotate through them until they're used up.  Then I choose another sample to replace the finished one.  It's been fun.  Scents I thought I liked, I no longer like; others I still like.  

[blackkitty2014]

Omg bravo to you @Titian06 . I have a huge box of perfume samples. Yet I’m keeping buying. I’m so bad. Samples and full size need to be in my project pan 😘

[pocketvenus]

@blackkitty2014 @Titian06 Wow, that's really impressive!! I don't think I could make the commitment, plus I'm always buying more samples! Typically I buy a larger bottle before I finish a sample if I really like it so it makes panning a little difficult if you count finishing the whole scent! 🙂 

[pocketvenus]

1. I really loved Chlorophyllia by Libertine and Fayoum by Jazmin Sarai. The dry downs for them both are stunning. Also, they're both Canadian 🙂
2. Hm, maybe Rouge by CdG. The reviews were so glowing. I also did not like Hiram Green's Vivacious, probably because I really enjoy HG's other scents and it's the first I've tried that I didn't enjoy. Oh, the new Amouages were a little disappointing, Ashore and Wander.
3. I love that fancier bottles are coming out again!  The new Miu Mius with the colourful prints are so cute! There's also this house called Floraiku that looks cute although it's by the same people behind Memo and I've not tried them as I'm not a huge fan of Memo.
4. Some vintages, like vintage Opium. Got caught up on some recent 2018-19 releases like Bengal Rouge. Loved the Bogue perfumes I tried.
5. Reacquainted myself with CdG's Hinoki. I'd fallen out of the habit of reaching for this one but it's so good.
6. Pekji, Di Ser, Nicolai, Bogue, Scent Trunk. I'm sure there's more, can't remember
7. I have absolutely no clue! I wore a lot of big florals and what I'll call black tie scents at home. Stuff like Superstitious by Malle, a lot of the heavy ouds, and so on.
8. I found myself turning to Bengale Rouge by Papillon for comfort. I usually don't like vanilla but I guess it's been an unusual year.
9. It's not the scents or something I really regret, but I got hit with so many extra shipping charges for my two 5ml travel sprays from Scent Trunk that I probably would not do it again. They ended up costing more than a high end niche fragrance would.
10. I have lots of memories wearing all this massive scents at home where I didn't have to worry about bothering anyone. In the beginning of the pandemic, I also took time out every morning just to smell essential oils and jot down my thoughts and impressions.
11. Semi-realistically, I'd love to see Sephora carry Penhaligon's, Diptyque, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Aesop, Goop since they carry Goop already, Boy Smells, Comme des Garcons, Etat Libre d'Orange. Pipe dream brands would be Frederic Malle, Mona di Orio, Dusita, Papillon, Tauer, Roja Dove, Puredistance, Hiram Green, Amouage.

[Libellules]

Floraiku has some brilliant packaging and marketing for sure - it’s a house I’ve been really curious to try, but I haven’t heard anything really positive about their actual scents. I don’t remember if I can link, but Talking Scents did a pretty thorough video on the discovery scent, and I was both entertained and surprised!

ill try dropping in the video here: https://youtu.be/Bm3GhWNJIrI

Penhaligon’s is an amazing suggestion for Sephora to carry in store! It’s so hard to find. Also really like the idea of L’Artisan Parfumeur and Diptyque. But I’ll be honest on Diptyque, if you can find a freestanding boutique they can be crazy generous with the sample. I remember going once to our local shop several years ago and I walked out with samples of pretty much the whole line 🥴

[pocketvenus]

@Libellules Thanks for the link! It seems like all the reviewers have moved off blogs onto YouTube.

I'll be honest, I haven't read really great things about the fragrances either and I think that is in large part due to the inflated pricing. In Canada, the retail price is $420/50 ml. How can one's expectations not become inflated too? Frederic Malle's Carnal Flower is almost $100 less at $360/50ml and it is an industry legend, widely regarded as a benchmark tuberose soliflore, one of the greats. Are any of the Floraikus going to even come close to that? I mean, for certain individuals maybe one of the Floraikus just works with their skin and will be amazing and totally worth the price to the buyer but overall, this house kind of feels like an exercise in seeing what extremes the current market will bear?

I'm not sure how well Penhaligons would perform at Sephora to be honest but I think if they did the Diptyque candles they would make a killing. I've had mixed experiences with Diptyque counters. Sometimes their SAs are super knowledgable and other times not at all, but I imagine this could be different in an actual boutique. Wish we had one in Toronto. It's funny how different brands are with samples. I've not found Toronto Diptyques to be super liberal with samples until you purchase something while houses like Le Labo are just throwing them at you!

[Libellules]

$420 for 50ml? Oh no. No, no, no lol. One of my fraghead friends likened floraiku to forever 21 quality, so that’s a hard no lol. What a bummer on the lack of samples from Diptyque! I know Gucci here in the states is crazy stingy, so I’m grateful for generous department stores.  

[pocketvenus]

@Libellules Yessssss, I have not heard the best reviews about Floraiku. I think you're actually encouraged to layer them too?? I mean, at that price, I want a completed masterpiece!! 

[Samtian]

@pocketvenus On the American side at least, many many years ago, they did carry CdG, Etat, and L'Artisan.

[pocketvenus]

@Samtian Ah, I remember Etat and L'Artisan for which they even carried little box sets! But I didn't realize they carried CdG at one point. I would love a little travel atomizer set of the incense line and the Monocle line or the pebbles ❤️