What’s your favorite fragrance family?
I adore perfume! From the time I was little, I always wanted to wear it. Christmas and my birthday were my chances to ask for whatever had captured my attention after smelling everything I could get my hands on. My aunt worked as a seamstress at the old Miller & Rhoads department store in downtown Richmond and brought home tons of samples from ladies she knew in the fragrance department. I’d sneak into her sewing room and put everything on. My mom was devoted to Lanvin’s Arpège. We couldn’t leave the house until she spritzed herself. It’s a complicated scent.
When I was a teen I didn’t like Electric Youth or Exclamation or all those other sickening sweet things girls were wearing. I liked Liz Claiborne (!) when I was really young, then Laura Ashley’s Dilys was my jam for a long time, then Clavin Klein Eternity, Clinique Happy Heart, Gucci Rush, and Lancome Attraction.
Singular scents are good for lotion and body wash like apricot, vanilla, musk, jasmine, coconut and they blend well with perfume. Sometimes I’ll stock up on some Bath & Body Works Sensual Amber and Dark Kiss lotion when they’re having a crazy sale.
Warm heady complex perfumes with sandalwood, vanilla, musk, amber, woods, spices and jasmine notes are my favorite. I like fresh clean scents on men not myself.
A while back I smelled men’s Bvlgari Aqva and told myself that the man I fell in love with would wear it. No other man I knew had ever worn it and scent memory is a terrible thing sometimes. This was gonna be THE scent. When I met and fell in love with David (that’s the bf), I told him about it. He bought it the next day and wears it. So cute. It’s a “woody water” scent and it’s delicious!
The first men’s cologne that made me feel all tingly inside was Obsession for Men, but I wanted to wear it myself! Remember boys drenching themselves in that stuff in middle school? Every time I cruised through the mall, I would cover my whole body with it and smell myself the rest of the day. It’s a woody oriental.
For years I’ve loved KenzoAmour, which is also a woody oriental. I’ve bought 3 bottles of this so far and have gotten more compliments on it than I can count. I’d wear this out at night and people would bury their face in my neck. Weird.
I also wear pureDKNY which is more of my every day scent since the Kenzo is really sultry. Pure is listed as a “soft floral” but it has sandalwood, vanilla and jasmine in it.
I’m almost out but I’m not sure if I’ll get it again. I do love it but it’s gotten a bit boring.
So, I’ve found a new perfume.
In one of my 1st Birchboxes, I got a sample of Bvlgari’s new scent Mon Jasmin Noir. I finally gave myself a spritz over a month later. LOVE! I had to treat myself since I’m running out of pureDKNY. It’s a bit masculine but mellows out to soft and sexy. It’s also a woody oriental.
I want to smell the original Jasmin Noir too. That’s supposed to be darker and even more intense.
I can’t wait until Mon Jasmin Noir shows up! I’m almost out of the sample!
Tell me all about what you like!
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
All perfumes gave me a raging headache until I was into my 20s (such a sensitive child, I know). My mum didn’t wear it around when I was living at their home for that reason so perfume was never a major thing in our household. The first perfume I ever bought was Armani for Her in the gold cylinder. I bought it at the duty free counter at Rome’s airport after spending summer of ’99 in Italy. Somehow, it didn’t give me the headache everything else did. I loved the vanilla scent. It remains my fave, possibly because it reminds me of my first independent journey to an unfamiliar country. I am still not a regular wearer of perfume although I now also have bottles of Stila Jade Blossom and Dior Addict. After traveling around Southeast Asia, I have become wild for jasmine so I will have to find this Bulgari jasmine line you’ve mentioned. I find it disappointing that B&BW doesn’t have a jasmine product. I do like their Black Raspberry Vanilla stuff, though.
To be honest, most perfumes smell just the same as hairspray to me. I must have an unsophisticated nose.
Ohhh I checked the notes on the Armani for Her. That sounds really nice! It sounds like a fruity spicy vanilla. Probably why you like the B&BW Black Raspberry Vanilla! Sounds like you like citrus stuff too.
Perfume is so weird, it can smell wonderful on someone else and weird on yourself. It also has so many different levels like the first burst when you put it on and then what it fades into for the rest of the day. Sephora stores are great because you can get a few samples in little vials and take them home to figure out which one you like the best!
I recall that my Armani for Her (late 90s version) was described as having a note of leather and yeah, I can agree with that.
dude. the only scent i DIE for is jasmine. i go crazy for jasmine and sniff/huff it like a crack addict. but i never seem to find the scent that is right for me (there WAS one long ago by L’Occitone, but it was discontinued eons ago — boo — and i have never found a suitable replacement). you have given me a couple ideas of scents to try! yay!
there are so many different takes on all the scents… probably different qualities of synthetics and natural oils + whatever else they mix it with. I bought THE most delicious sandalwood candle once and the store quit selling them. Nothing else has ever compared. Such a bummer!
I haven’t bought perfume in ages. I had a bottle of Nanette Lepore that I think has either gone bad or I just don’t like anymore. These days I usually just wear vanilla moisturizer from B&BW or L’Occitane’s Lemon Verbena for special occasions.
I’m currently coveting a bottle of Chanel No5 though.
You know, I have never smelled Chanel No5 before! It was the 2nd aldehyde (synthetic) fragrance ever made then the one my mom likes, Arpege was the 3rd in the 1920s. They’re supposed to be pretty similar.
Oh verbena is such a nice scent! So fresh!
Sweet Lord, what a good idea for a post. That Exclamation video is awesome. My range has been pretty versatile. Think 10th grader to sophisticated woman.
I’m a floral girl, all the way. But my skin chemistry (and my mom’s) does really weird things to fragrances and it is hard to find something that smells good. And eventually, for whatever reason, something that used to smell good will start smelling bad. And it’s not the particular bottle of fragrance going bad. It’s just our skin chemistry.
I wore Marc Jacob’s Daisy for about two years and then it just started smelling sickly sweet and gross. I bought a bottle of Stella McCartney’s Stella Sheer, but it was a special edition and they change it every year, so I’m thinking of switching to the regular Stella. It’s rose-based and a little powder-y. Super feminine, but not old lady-ish. I don’t have the money to buy a bottle yet, so I just keep going to Sephora for samples, haha.
that’s kinda weird. Maybe a seasonal thing with summer heat?
I know things that used to smell good to me just don’t do it for me any more, like my scent perceptions have changed.
Love the Sephora samples! ;)
My go to is still to this day Colors de Benetton. Or the lovely scent my ex has a spice merchant in Dubai create, a blend of vanilla, clove, and bergamonte.
I will always have a bottle of classic Liz Claiborne and Coty’s Muguet du Bois (Lilly of the Valley).
Givenchy – If the name is on it, chances are I’ll loves it.
Michael Kors – Michael (tuberose)
YSL – Parisienne (violet)
But…..
I have found a new perfumer that I. Am. In. LOVE. With…… CB I Hate Perfume (http://www.cbihateperfume.com)
Burning Leaves. Smells exactly like burning Maple leaves. Loooooooooooooove him!