Thanks for the great response Lena! This is so fun talking perfume.
I got my samples in the mail today! I'm so excited.
I tried on the "1270" by Frapin first. This smells exactly like "Angel" on me, but without the chocolate note. It listed the notes as: exotic woods, spice, raisin, vine flowers, pepper, candied orange, nut, hazelnut, prune, cocoa, coffee, leather, woods, white honey, vanilla. I was expecting the deeper, mossier leather and woods base to come through, but it just never did. I put it on 4 hours ago, and it's just sweet sweet sweet. Perfumes have an annoying habit of just turning really sweet and cloying on me, so I have to be careful with orientals and other vanilla based scents--they need to be spicy, but not bitter. The L'Artisan scents you recommended sound perfect--I will definitely add those to my "sample" list. I like powdery florals on other people, but not me. Again, they just turn into super sweet baby powder scents--blech. The "1270" is a nice scent though--I'd recommend at least giving it a try, because it might not do the same thing on you that it did on me. If it had deepened at all and developed that leather and woods smell, it would have been pretty interesting, I think. Lasts a long time, too--I can't even wash the stuff off entirely!
I know you're not supposed to mix perfumes, but I tried on the "Escentric 01" by Escentric Molecules on my other wrist, and it smells nice! It's so weird in the bottle--I swear it smells like Windex! But when you put it on it's soft and just a tiny bit tangy and spicy. It disappears, too! It gets really faint....I'm waiting for it to come back (I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will). The reviews on Lucky Scent said that it disappears and then comes back sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't come back.....It just came back! Yay! I might have to get a bottle of this stuff. I want to see what it does. I think I will wear this one out tomorrow. It's starting to turn kind of peppery on me.
I still haven't developed my chypre taste yet--to me it just smells dank and bitter. I haven't smelled a lot of it though. Vetiver I can take in small doses. I tried "Hindu Grass" by Nasomatto. The opening almost burned my nose, but the dry down warmed up and was quite nice.
http://www.luckyscent.com/shop.....;section=1
It doesn't list vetiver as an ingredient, but it does remind me of vetiver scents. To me, it does smell more masculine than a unisex fragrance would, but I do think it's wearable. I think it would be a nice Spring scent, and on a man, it would be divine. I will search out that Vetiver scent by Guerlain that you recommended. I don't mind wearing men's fragrances--I sometimes prefer their spiciness and depth to a lot of women's perfumes I've come across. I ordered the Jubilation XXV, which apparently is the "men's" version of the fragrance (but I didn't know that, I just went by the notes they listed). It smells nice in the bottle, I will probably try that one tomorrow evening and let you know!
I wore the Bulgari "Omnia" today and I really like it. It wears very close to the skin. I spray my cami and the back of my hair with perfume, because I have very sensitive skin, so wearing it directly on my skin everyday will give me hives. For testing purposes though, I usually test a little on my wrist to get a better sense of how it will change. It was kind of windy today, so when the wind blew I would get a whiff of perfume that really nice! Much nicer than what I normally smell (street, college kids, the bus, etc). I am adding that to my "to buy" list because it's pretty affordable as far as perfume goes. I will probably only get a small bottle because my tastes sort of change frequently when it comes to perfume as well. I'd want to use it all up before it goes off. It actually lasted about 6 hours on me, and my cami still smells softly of it.
I tried the Miss Dior Cherie on yesterday, and it was too sweet for me. I smelled like candy. Oh--speaking of Dior scents--have you tried "Diorella" yet? I got a small sample of the EDT in another order I placed, and it is wonderful! Very tangy, but still warm. I want to get my hands on a larger bottle of it. I found a couple places online that carry it, and it's not prohibitively expensive. Plus, it's available in a smaller bottle size. If you haven't tried it, see if you can track down a sample. I highly recommend it. I can appreciate most vintage fragrances for what they are, but I find almost all of the ones that I've tried (not too many yet), to be unwearable on me. It's that "stuff turning sweet and cloying" thing. Take a heavy, rich perfume, and mix in a huge batch of sugary vanilla honey--it's a recipe for disaster. I tried "Fracas" on the other day, because the opening that I sprayed on a tester strip was so lovely. It was okay for about 30 minutes, and then it turned absolutely rank on me, like synthetic grass smell mixed with baby powder. I thought I would vomit. I desperately tried to wash it off me, but I was stuck with it for another hour. Yuck! Chanel No. 5 and most Creed scents do the same thing--synthetic, heavy and weirdly metallic sweet.
I do notice how scents are different on different people (well, see above, hee). I know some "perfume experts" say this isn't true, but I just can't believe that, because something can smell terrible on me, but great on someone else. I also know what you mean about perfumes smelling like someone else. My mom always wore "Caleche" by Hermes, and I like it, but whenever I wear it, it smells like "her perfume" you know? I feel like I'm wearing my mom's perfume, rather than my own. I'm sure I'll appreciate it someday when I get older though.
Have you tried any of the CB I Hate Perfume scents yet? Lucky Scent doesn't have any samples, but there is supposedly a place here in town that carries them. I really want to smell, "In the Libary."
Also, I never thought about keeping a notebook, but I can see how that would be useful. I could easily get confused about what I had tried, and what I thought about it. How do you organize your notes? What do you write?
This is so fun!
