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!

[pocketvenus]

@Titian06, other people report a very different dry down that contrasts cool and warm sensations, it sounds so good!

To decide what I'd like to try, I read a lot online - mostly perfume blogs and communities that stay on top of new houses and releases. I also read beauty industry journals. Offline, I look at what small specialist boutiques like Twisted Lily are stocking because they're run by perfume obsessed people. I also have a friend who works in the beauty industry and makes suggestions because he knows my taste.

I get my samples from a number of boutiques - mostly Twisted Lily and Luckyscent, but I've also ordered from Indiescent and Tigerlily. When you visit a boutique in person, they will make samples for you for free. I'm pretty chatty in person and SAs in department stores sometimes just give me samples too.

[pocketvenus]

I was really looking forward to trying Auphorie’s L’Histoire Oubliée De Dunhuang since Luca Turin promoted another fragrance from the house, Miyako. A number of Auphorie fragrances have since been highly ranked in his 2018 Perfume Guide, although I do not believe Dunhuang was included.

The scent opens up with a gentle fruity rose, mild spice with a dense orris butter. The scent has many turns. The notes of the scent have many turns, shifting in and out of focus. After a couple hours, the spices grow stronger and a clean musk emerges. The musk reminds me of a laundry dryer sheet, a fragrance I strongly dislike, but the earthy spices keep it from becoming overly synthetic or overpowering. Near the end of the scent, after six or so hours, it has blended quite close to the skin and shifted again into a spicy floral with the hint of mandarin rind.

Powerful longevity, over 12 hours (!!) though the scent is quite gentle and unassuming and does not project very far. While this suits the introverted nature of the scent, it’s ultimately too soft on me and it's mainly a skin scent after the first couple hours or so. Just a little more projection would make this a truly lovely wear, both comforting and elegant.

[pocketvenus]

I skin tested Fougère Platine today.

FP opens with a cool, medicinal lavender that could be described as metallic, but it’s too smooth and woody to remind me of metal. Maybe a very soft and polished metal with a gentle sheen. The opening is somewhat weighty and not as brightly aromatic as I would have liked, but it is well in line with the house aesthetic. After about half an hour, the lavender softens and warms up and the scent becomes more pleasant and inviting. Clean woods and a hint of something medicinal or camphorous are balanced out well with sweet vanilla tobacco. Like Fougère d’Argent, there is also the suggestion of old school Muskol, the insect repellant that was once over 90% DEET, but it’s much fainter in Platine. It lends the fragrance a nice edge as the lavender grows more powdery. By the three hour mark, FP has blended together very nicely.

The fragrance projects well, maybe over a foot away from the skin and becomes a skin scent at around the 6 hour mark. Overall, I prefer the oriental twist of Fd'A which also performed better for me.

[pocketvenus]

Today I tried 19-69's Kasbah. It begins as an unusual oriental, a very dense, musky and floral honey infused with fuzzy tonka and vanilla. There’s a hint of citrus but it offers no lift, as if it’s been stirred into thick cake batter. The scent is raised momentarily at around the ten minute mark with a momentary bristle of spicey woods, but that's short lived and the scent collapses again before shifting into its final dry down phase in which it switches gears and becomes a more typical vanillic amber bomb. I suspect this would wear much better in the winter. A pass for me, which is a shame because the bottle is stunning! I love it ❤️

[Samtian]

mmm I think I need to sample this one.

[Glarson]

I have definitely been hoarding all of my perfume samples! Today I tried out one called SCI FI by ELLIS BROOKLYN and it was amazing! It had this beautiful blend of citrus and vanilla that all day long I kept getting distracted and sniffing my wrist instead of getting any work done. Oops

[pocketvenus]

@Glarson, I love that you have so many samples and are storing them so neatly! Thanks for sharing your pic! howconnie is also a fan of SciFi, I should try it 🙂

[Glarson]

@pocketvenus I would definitely recommend trying out the perfume! And I would love to hear your review since I just read the one you wrote today and it sounds like a movie playing out, it was so thoughtful and detailed!

[pocketvenus]

Aw, thank you for reading and for your kind words, @Glarson! I have SciFi on my to try list although I just received a big order of samples so it might be awhile before I make another!

btw, if you really enjoy in depth, play by play reviews of perfume, I'd recommend checking out Kafkaesque's blog. The author has an amazing nose and picks out all these minute subtleties. It's a real pleasure to read!

[Glarson]

@pocketvenus Well I know your review will be worth the wait! Thanks for the recommendation, I'll definitely have to check it out. A few more favorites of mine that you should add to your list if you haven't already tried them are the Mon Guerlain perfume by Guerlain, Gold by Commodity, and BonBon by Viktor & Rolf. By the way the Guerlain perfume is currently available as one of the three samples at check out so I would definitely recommend snagging a vial!

https://www.sephora.com/product/mon-guerlain-P416938?skuId=1915529&icid2=products%20grid:p416938

https://www.sephora.com/product/gold-P395000?skuId=1700053&icid2=products%20grid:p395000

https://www.sephora.com/product/bonbon-P397836?skuId=1619964&icid2=products%20grid:p397836

[pocketvenus]

@Glarson, That is so sweet of you to say ❤️ Thanks so much for the sample head's up and the links!! ❤️ I don't see the Guerlain sample but maybe I was too slow to check or Canadians get different samples? I recall Mon Guerlain being feminine and pretty 🙂

[Glarson]

@pocketvenus You're probably right, Canadians get different samples. Which is such a bummer because out of the 12 samples 9 of them are different perfumes. Mon Guerlain is really sweet and feminine, I agree, so I guess sweet, vanilla, and citrusy scents are the perfumes I go for!

[pocketvenus]

@Glarson, ah you're very lucky! Here there are no fragrance samples on offer atm.

[pocketvenus]

Today I tried a couple scents by Neela Vermeire who collaborated with Bertrand Duchaufour to make a line based on notes from India. I love some of Duchaufour's scents like Timbuktu, Kyoto and so on so I was really looking forward to trying these.

• Bombay Bling opens with a bright and dense, fleshy mango with white florals and spice. Dries down to a smooth and creamy sandalwood. Very strong opening, be careful when applying!
• Mohur is a very gentle scent despite what the notes pyramid, with its spices and oud, might suggest. Warm almond milk infused with a gentle and diffuse pink rose with creamy sandalwood and a hint of heat from spice.

I liked them both, but they are really not my style of perfume. Good projection, yet soft and subtle with nuances. They're both very snuggly.

[pocketvenus]

Tested a couple 7 Virtues perfumes today! I love the whole concept of the brand so have been looking forward to trying these. Of the six, the two that seemed the best to me were Vetiver Elemi and Grapefruit Lime with Patchouli Citrus coming in third place. The only one that turned me off was Vanilla Woods. The tester nozzle smelled like a synthetic vanilla bomb so I didn’t even spray that one on paper.

I had high hopes for Grapefruit Lime because while every bottle is priced the same, natural citrus oils are far more affordable than other extracts so I guessed it would contain more natural oils. The opening is quite good, with a juicy grapefruit dominating the scent for me. However, after about an hour, the hespiridic notes  faded away. Musk and abstract florals then dominate the scent, becoming more generic as it dries down.

Much better was the Vetiver Elemi, which was a pleasant surprize. On paper, it smelled like a luminous, citrusy-clean vetiver. However, the second I sprayed the scent to my skin, an unexpected dirty cumin note burst to the fore. Wow! On the dry down, the cumin recedes into the background and the vetiver develops a grassy, earthy and slightly smoky character. Prettier, faint and abstract florals also soften up the scent’s opening. The scent is gentle enough for the office without being boring. Very affordably priced. I’d pick this one up if I didn’t already own a couple wonderful vetivers. Recommended to vetiver fans unless you don’t do well with cumin.

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

[Titian06]

@pocketvenus - I'd really like to give this a sniff test first, but it's not available within 100 miles.  I did put it on my Loves list due to your recommendation.

[pocketvenus]

@Titian06, oh, that's far! Thankfully Sephora is very understanding when it comes to making returns!

[pocketvenus]

Tried Clive Christian's L for women which is described by the website as a bold chypre fragrance, built around a rose and jasmine samba heart and with a twist of dry orris and dry peppery frankincense, wrapped up in sensual vanillas and musks.

I actually get fruit in the opening, something light, peachy and feminine before patchouli fills out the bottom. The perfume has many facets but mainly, a luminous jasmine/floral accord takes center stage. There is a shift to a powdery iris and rich, earthy patchouli. In the end, the skin scent is a powdery floral. I was expecting to like this one more than V, which I reviewed below, as I do enjoy chypres, but it really didn't suite me. Like, if it was a symphony, it would be Brahms who I can't stand. My apologies to Brahms fans, I know that he is a great composer!! But there was something dull, plodding and soupy about L for me. It's not horrible, in fact, there's a pleasing richness to it at times, but ultimately, I found it rather boring.

Excellent longevity and sillage. I wonder if I'd have better luck with the men's fragrances.

[pocketvenus]

I tried some of the LV Men’s collection on paper today with mixed results. I do see that others seem to really like l’Immensite and Nouveau Monde though, so please don’t take my words as a final verdict.

The Good 

Orage is a competent, well blended fresh fragrance with a rooty iris, grassy vetiver and rich patchouli. Smells unisex to me. Quite pleasant and versatile, if not a bit pricey.

The Bad

l’Immensitie is generic sporty fragrance. The friendly kid brother of Dior’s Sauvage. Like ambroxan came up and gave you a jocular punch square in the arm. “What’s up bro!” Could work for a man in his early twenties with six pack abs and a carefree demeanor.

The Ugly

Nouveau Monde started off quite promisingly. There is a hint of a creamy, cheesy oud in the beginning that shocked me as I was expecting your typical raspy synthetic oud. I was pretty excited because the blue-cheese ouds I have smelled like Malle’s The Night are not easy to carry off while NM has just a hint of it. However, this interesting opening only serves to heighten the travesty that follows. After an hour the scent has collapsed into a sweet, headache-inducing mess of generic musks and god knows what else. I also recall LV’s women’s oud, Matiere Noire, drying down into a saccharine vat of regret. Very disappointing considering the nose, Jacques Cavellier, was on the team behind the groundbreaking oud, YSL’s M7.

[pocketvenus]

I skin-tested TF's Ombre Leather and Fougere d'Argent today.

OL opens with a beautiful luxury handbag leather using a durable hide and a smooth finish. It is softer than Tuscan Leather's deep, burnished tones. OL softens into a more suede like texture in the dry down and carries a touch of amber sweetness. I was considering getting this when I read about it, but it just becomes too harsh and sweet on my skin after a couple hours. I don’t do well with sweet and my skin can amp that up. Also, I prefer scents that are more structured on the dry down and this became fuzzier and indistinct. A little sad this didn't work out for me, especially as the opening was great 😞

I smelled OL16 ages ago and am not sure I even tested it on my skin so I can’t compare it to the new OL. I wish I could do a side by side comparison. The current Holts SA for TF insisted that this was the exact same juice and when I pointed out the price difference from OL16, he backtracked a little and said okay, they may have made a few changes. Ha ha ha!

Fougere d’Argent is not your typical fougere, which I associated with a fresh lavender and being brisk or brightly aromatic. As I’d hoped, this fougere features a very metallic lavender, nothing like, paper money! Even the ginger note feels chilly and metallic. The opening is a little tinny on me and closeup, I didn’t like it at all. But FA is fantastic from about half a foot away!!! And as it develops, it begins to have a very rich feel to it as its metallic chill is tempered by the amber and tonka. Although it never devolves into your typical musky, ambery vanilla cream oriental. As the two sides of FA blend together, it begins smelling good closer and closer to the skin. The scent eventually coalesces into an unsentimental, medicinal lavender with a hint of Muskol in the dry down, but not in a bad way. For those unfamiliar with Muskol, it’s an old school insect repellent that used to have very high concentrations of DEET, a toxin so potent, you couldn’t touch plastic after application because you’d melt it. I should however mention that as harsh as Muskol used to smell, I have only positive associations with it. The scent of it reminds me of long, hot and mosquito-free summers in Muskoka cottages spent exploring the bush, boating and fishing.

This is not something I can see myself wearing but I’m pleasantly surprized. A rich and spicy fougere that’s a little aloof and a bit haughty. Not an easy wear. I think it fits the house well and a woman could definitely carry this despite fougeres being a "masculine" genre.

[curlychiquita]

Thanks for posting detailed reviews, @pocketvenus!  I am really curious about these and the closest Nordstrom is almost an hour ftom my house.