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Post in Fragrance Fans
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The Perfume Challenge

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!

Re: The Perfume Challenge

That's too bad about the headache, @Margalee !  I can certainly empathize.   Maybe it was from respraying; if you don't respray, you'll be OK with this scent.  I had to laugh when you said you woke up smelling like a bar of soap.  Now I really want to try that one. 😄

Re: The Perfume Challenge

Has anyone tried the new loveshackfancy fragrances? Thoughts? Favorites?

Re: The Perfume Challenge

@vivaladoc I was able to smell all 3 at Sephoria. I personally only liked LoveShackFancy Bohème Eau de Parfum Travel Spray 0.34 oz / 10 mL Eau De Parfum 

Re: The Perfume Challenge

@vivaladoc I might still pick it up in the future but there are a couple other brands I have been wanting for much longer so maybe after that. Summer isn't a bad time to constantly respray.

Re: The Perfume Challenge

@vivaladoc They have a $15 mini sampler. I was considering it but many of the reviews said they have no lasting power so I nixed it. The full size bottles are super cute though.

Re: The Perfume Challenge

So after I posted a couple days ago I looked up the notes to D&G Devotion. I thought I must have really had Coach Love on my nose when smelling D&G Devotion. So I tested again today. Turns out the first go round it skipped the candied lemon opening and went straight to mid and dry down. I got enough of the opening to make me waffle on the fragrance.  This is not finished candied lemons to my nose

 This is the lemon rinds baking in the oven. The opening is a blast of lemon like arctic air. The lemon does ride into and along with the mid notes. More faintly. I love the mid and dry down. Dusty, a bit warm and benignly sweet. The opening is a bit sharp to me on first impression. I wish it were more sugary or like ready to eat candied lemons. It does move into the mid phase in about half an hour so not so bad. I did read this is modeled after panattone which I love to eat. I feel like this is the whole process of panattone rather than the finished product by itself.

Re: The Perfume Challenge

Thanks for the update, @Margalee !  I've never had panattone, but I love lemon as well as D&G so I may try to get a sample of this. 🙂

Re: The Perfume Challenge

@Titian06 Guess I should also say I really like Devotion regardless of it's everchanging moods. Supra I like but I haven't gotten the "stickiness" of the first test again, which I miss a lot. I'll probably end up purchasing a travel size of Supra. Maybe Devotion is a tempermental woman and Supra is just tempermental although Supra is much more of a feminine scent in the classical sense than Devotion IMO.

Re: The Perfume Challenge

@Titian06 I was just going to post for others opinions as I am wearing Devotion again today and am getting of something akin to Fresh's Lemon Sugar/Sugar Lemon before people said Fresh switched up their formula. I definitely recommend people try this. I think it's a very personal fragrance. I'm sort of surprised this didn't come out earlier in the year but D&G is probably after the holiday market. At this point this feels like a spa/ lazy day scent for me. Maybe it's just my mood. I love fragrances with movement but this and Mugler Goddess Supra have movement in the bottle. Different everytime I spray.

Re: The Perfume Challenge

I got a whiff of a few perfumes today. I like Libre Platine very much. It's far enough off Libre Intense for me to be interested. It does retain the Libre DNA very much and even seems lighter in the dna drying down but it starts off more different than the other Libres. I'm really hoping a travel size comes out because $162 is the more inexpensive price... I revisited Coach Love. It's more strawberry this time and the rose is a little stronger. Still a but creamy, musky(?). I do like this. D&G Devotion. Pretty bottle and pretty fragrance. It seemed a bit similar to Coach Love at first, maybe mixed with Twilly a bit but maybe I had some Coach Love on my nose. Haha I am getting something like light cocoa now. I'll have to research the notes. YSL Myslf seemed a little too masculine leaning for my taste. Not heavy cedar or anything but too masculine for me. I'm not sure I'll be hopping in on another fragrance anytime soon but I'm too afraid to say I won't because last time I said time to quit I ended up with a few more. 

Re: The Perfume Challenge

I smelled Libre Platine on a flap card (or whatever you call it lol) recently and it was so good!! I agree with your description. Would love to get my nose on an actual sample though. 

Re: The Perfume Challenge

Tried the new Frederic Malle, Heaven Can Wait. It's quite lovely and understated yet still sensual. It blooms on the skin. Not as iris heavy as expected, the spices are warm and gentle, sweet but never overly fruity. It shares the same "skin" vibe as Dans Tes Bras but the latter is definitely more synthetic. I feel like Malle is better when it doesn't try to be brash and aggressive. It excels at being very polished, subtle and with something to say.

 

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Also tried TOM FORD Myrrhe Mystere Eau de Parfum Fragrance 1 oz / 30 mL - it's one of the better releases as of late which, to be honest, is not saying that much. The price is tough to swallow. I know there's been a few years of inflation across the entire industry but not too long ago, this sort of price could land you a top rate, totally opulent Amouage and it's really hard to eat that difference. For me anyway. One really feels like these houses are bilking us. The myrrh here is pretty tame, nothing like what you might get with Mona di Orio's Myrrh Casati or Hermes' Myrrhe Eglantine. Everything that might threaten the scent's commercial viability has been removed. It goes down really easy with a kind of rich, smoky amber wood dry down.

MYRRHE-MYSTERE-50ML5112-x-3616

Re: The Perfume Challenge

I wanted to try Tom Ford, though I was wondering if the myrrh would be too much. I’ve heard it’s a very good fragrance. 

Re: The Perfume Challenge

@pocketvenus Heaven can wait sounds interesting, adding it to my to try list, thanks!

Re: The Perfume Challenge

@pocketvenus Thanks for the review of Myrrhe Mystere. I've been hoping someone would test this. Also I was thinking the same thing about prices.

Re: The Perfume Challenge

@Margalee Yes, I'm finding it really difficult to review fragrances at these prices. It's not like MM is a bad scent - it's a nice dry down! I really like myrrh! But when companies jack up the price of their products by 50% without appreciable changes in quality, it's such a stark contrast to all the financial suffering going on in my city.

Re: The Perfume Challenge

These cosmetic companies are pretty much tone deaf @pocketvenus. Granted these are luxury beauty. If one is struggling then one should not look at cosmetics. But still. You hit the nail right on the head. If the price is significantly increased so does the quality. I’m waiting for the day things back fired on these cosmetic companies. I’m having my popcorn 🍿 ready 😘

Re: The Perfume Challenge

@blackkitty2014 I hear you, a huge point of the luxury market's existence is that it is not accessible! To me, a $400 perfume or even a $10000 one in and of itself is not a problem. It's merely a by-product and a symbol to me of a growing trend of wealth concentration and exploitation in Toronto.

 

And yeah, I think Tom Ford saw the writing on the wall and got out while the getting was good! 😛

Re: The Perfume Challenge

I sampled Mugler Goddess Supra Flora. It's a very pretty floral to begun with. The part that intrigues me is the mid notes phase. It turns very sticky. Enough that I felt like I should be wiping goo off my arm. Was it actually sticky? It does go vanilla, slight musk, soft for awhile then dries out a soft floral.  I do enjoy this perfume. Another success imo is Burberry Goddess. I am not a huge fan of vanilla perfumes. Not a hater but prefer other notes at the forefront. But, wow! This is pretty good. Spicy, turning sweet and caramel and then a nice slightly musky dry down. Both last a pretty good amount of time on me. 6 hours?

Re: The Perfume Challenge

I love Alien Goddess Suprafloral. I purchased a travel size to give it a go, and I’m in love. I showed my mom it, and after she tried it she instantly drove to Ulta to pick up her own. It’s so good! 

Re: The Perfume Challenge

My current sample for work is Histoires de Parfums 1926 Turandot Puccini.  Launched in 2014. Top notes are Narcissus, Orange Blossom, Ginger and Pear; middle notes are Carnation, Patchouli and Jasmine; base notes are Leather, Incense and Amber. In 2019 I had ordered the Opera collection sample box, which this was part of. This is no longer made. In the photo below it is the blue one. I really liked the bottles. 

 

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Starts out with narcissus and orange citrusy scent, very prominent. A slight dry down to jasmine and orange. Final dry down is heavy leather and amber. 5 hours later it is a powdery leather smell. Stayed strong the whole time and lasted well over 5 hours. 

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