The Perfume Challenge

[txcatx]

Do you have a box full of perfume vials and/or a vanity covered in perfume bottles? Are you the Goldilocks of perfume, just looking for the perfect signature scent? Do you want an opportunity to post daily about how your perfume of the day smells oaky and smoky with hints of blackberry and currant, like a cigar in a whisky barrel rolling through a Mediterranean orchard on a breezy summer morning?

If you answered yes to any of the above, or you just want to hop on board for the ride, join us for a 31 days of perfume challenge starting January 1st! Some of us from the 25 days of lipstick challenge wanted to continue the fun and exploration, and since many of us have so many perfume samples, we thought this challenge would be perfect. If you don't have 31 perfumes or hate everything that doesn't smell like Meyer lemons and fresh goat cream, that's fine--we're just aiming to use the neglected perfumes we have laying around and incorporate them into our perfume rotations.

And if you want more perfume vials, there's no better time than now to take a peek at Sephora's samples section.

Edit: Anyone can join in at anytime! We're here to support, live vicariously through, and encourage everyone in their olfactory adventures!

[Vmaster]

Gengis Khan

by Marc de la Morandiere

A wonderful fresh & spicy mossy oriental woody! There is a very nice pine and vetiver in the dry-down. Not as soapy as some other reviewers had mentioned, which is fine by me.
I got about 9 hours longevity and the projection was within an arm's length.

[pocketvenus]

@Vmaster, glad you were able to try this today 🙂 Spicy, mossy, woody oriental sounds fantastic.

[pocketvenus]

Tested the Hermessence fragrances Christine Nagel did but forgot to write about them here! Overall, these are polished, deep fragrances that are more subtle and reserved than Nagel’s other scents for the house like Twilly or Galop d'Hermes.

• Agar Ebène is the one I chose to test on my skin. The agarwood is gentle and refined, even more so than the more polished oud offerings from Kilian or Maison Francis Kurkdjian. Agarwood is combined with balsam fir to form a warm, supple leather that dries down to a balsamic, smoky scent. Its projection is subtle but far reaching so not for the office. As it is an EDT, it dried down to a skin scent for me after four hours but the scent itself lasted much longer, over 8+ hours including a shower.

• Myrrhe Églantine is not your typical rose. A soapy rose comes to the forefront, but myrrh plays an indispensable role, rounding out the fragrance with its resinous character. It imparts luminosity, sweetness and depth to the rose.

• Cèdre Sambac is perhaps the most challenging and most powerful of the three. A plush jasmine finds an unlikely partner in the clean, hard edges of cedarwood. Jasmine is given an unexpected structure and discipline with the wood. As the scent develops, the cedar becomes more assertive.

[Titian06]

@pocketvenus - All three off these sound interesting, especially the jasmine and cedarwood.

[pocketvenus]

@Titian06, I'd definitely recommend trying them 🙂

[pocketvenus]

Today I tested out a sample of Frederic Malle’s Monsieur. The main criticism is that this isn’t creative but more of a retro 70s men’s fragrance but since I was not alive then, I was hoping it would be new and exciting for me. I love FM but I have to say, this was the first one to really disappoint me! It’s supposed to be a HUGE patchouli fragrance but it’s mainly wood and amber on me. I'd read a review by Kafkaesque that had said as much, but I sort of disregarded it. Also, it doesn’t smell non-contemporary to me as I have smelled other fragrances with this woody amber combo, at lower prices.

[Titian06]

Too bad this didn't work out for you, @pocketvenus.  As many as you sample, there's gotta be a few duds in there though.  BTW, I grew up in the 1970s, so I'm not sure I liked your comment about not being alive then.  😄

[pocketvenus]

@Titian06, I hope my comment wasn't insensitive! I only meant the negative reviews of M were of people saying, "been there, done that, men all smelled like that in the 70s" and because I never experienced that decade, I couldn't have that reaction! I definitely like some retro/70s scents by Tom Ford like Vert Boheme that other people have been "meh" about 🙂

And it's true, it's not realistic to expect to love or even like every single fragrance from a house!

[Titian06]

@pocketvenus- Your comment was in no way insensitive  (at least not to me)!  That's why I put the laughing face, so you would know I was joking.  I thought your comment was funny.  Funny story, yesterday driving to work, the radio was playing Jesse''s Girl.  The DJ said that it was 37 years ago today (yesterday) that that song was No. 1.  I thought 37 years ago--no way!  I was in high school then.  I remember all of us swooning over Dr. Noah Drake!  Wow, 37 years ago--where did the time go?  It seems like yesterday.

[pocketvenus]

@Titian06Thanks for letting me know, sometimes I find it hard to read tone online, even with emojis! And I know I'm not always a clear communicator when it comes to online stuff!!

It's amazing how music and perfume can make the past seem so present 🙂

[Vmaster]

Today I am wearing Derby by Guerlain, a spicy woody leather. 

[pocketvenus]

Nice choice, good for the weather @Vmaster!

[pocketvenus]

Testing Kerosene's Unknown Pleasures today. Someone from Tigerlily tossed this in as a surprize extra for me 🙂 It's a nice gourmand, not really my taste. Starts off as a lemon pastry drizzled with icing, then shifts into a crystalized floral honey and eventually delivers as promised, London Fog tea and a toasty waffle cone.

[Vmaster]

Today I wore a new acquisition called New York Intense by Patricia de Nicolaï. A woody aromatic that smells wonderful.

[Vmaster]

Today I am wearing Vetiver by Guerlain. It is considered a woody fresh spicy fragrance. I hate freshies but I do like this one due to a nice earthy dirt note, so I guess it could be considered as a dirty freshy...I'll just see myself out.

[pocketvenus]

@Vmaster, it's a little redundant but the 7 Virtues Vetiver Elemi is similarly fresh with a dirty earthiness, partly from the inclusion of cumin 🙂

https://www.sephora.com/product/vetiver-elemi-eau-de-parfum-P428715?skuId=2047769&icid2=products%20g...

[Vmaster]

Thank you for the info!

I have to admit that today I ordered a dirty scented vetiver: Vetiver by Etro. A prolific reviewer on Basenotes that goes by the handle Darvant, had some really nice things to say about it, so I said "why not?"

 Edit: I copied and pasted his review for you:  

Outstanding dark rooty vetiver. As well as yet said somewhere, this is a sort of brutal, rough, herbal, salty, untamed and very very dry vetiver so far from the airy and mild Guerlain's notorius one. Here it's like you can smell the roots and chew the earth around the vetiver roots. The aroma is resinous at the beginning (as well as the Mona di Orio Les Nombres d'Or Vetyver for instance) before the stickiness tames down in to a general woodsy sharpness (never too sharp and still slightly resinous, vaguely incensey). This scent is therefore moderately dense, woody, moldy and aromatic. The harsh temperament is since the beginning pushed up by several resinous and coniferous notes as clary sage, angelica and may be cypress. The vetiver appears, side by side with moss and cedar, in the middle of the development yet. The base notes introduce some spicy dry tobacco which darkens utterly the juice, providing nuances of rare mildness counteracting the general saltiness (and a sort of bitter piquant licorice vibe). May be hints of olibanum swirl effectively around in the mix. A real hardcore "piece" of vetiver and surely one of the absolute best vetivers out there.

[pocketvenus]

@Vmaster, thank you for sharing that suggestion and review! That sounds really, really good and right up my alley 🙂

[Nemo1993]

I am wearing today replica by the fireplace. This is probably the most unique scent i have ever worn. It is warm and cozy and smells like toasted marshmallows and fire !! It fades into a light vanilla scent. Absolutely perfect and would be very nice in fall and winter time.

[pocketvenus]

Testing out Bruno Fazzolari's Room 237 today. It's based on the creepy, dull pastel green washroom in The Shining and smelling it is an exercise in trying to counter the power of suggestion. Just the striking image of that room conjures the faint scent of cleaning fluids and squeaky vinyl from the shower curtain. But what you have really, is a floral scent that's both indolic and synthetic. When you attempt to push the association with the film to the back of your mind, it really doesn't evoke the sense of dread it lays claim to.

Actually, I'm a little reminded of Etat Libre d'Orange's Secretions Magnifiques even though the concepts and notes pyramids are entirely different. R237 is much gentler and fuzzier and not nearly as metallic, but that clash between indolic floral and synthetic cleanser is there.

[KNC24]

Today I’m wearing Hermès Twilly that got as a sample. It has a slight musky smell that I kinda like. I’m a floral girl at heart.