REMINDER ::: Sniff-n-Speak Saturday, Feb. 3>>>Animalics

Yeah, as one who has never been a connoisseur of musk (I'm more of a leather type), I have to say my first impression of MR was that is started off surprisingly clean and wound up overwhelmingly vanillic. It wasn't quite what expected, though in fairness I haven't really given it a full day's wearing yet because I bought the sample specifically for sniff-n-speak.

In my quicky test it seemed to die off pretty quickly, so I'm thinking I should line up a second animalic to wear later in the day Saturday. How would you rate the civet in Jicky? The middle phase of the EDP seems wonderfully 'dirty' to me, though it's gone by the drydown. Is that more in line with what you think of as a true animalic? How would Jolie Madame compare (don't have it, but it's one I'd love to try).

Wow! It was quite surreal for a moment there to see my post replied to on a different thread! Thought I was losing it for a moment there... (like I haven't already! :bounce: )

It truly depends on how truly animalic you want to go. Jicky PdT on my skin is rather tame and short lived. I love animalic notes in my scents as they aid longevity but also work very well with my bad ass perfume eating skin. Sadly, the civet in Jicky presents in the beginning but wimps out quite quickly and mellows to a soft lavender, vanilla skin scent within 1/2hour.

For a truly hardcore animalic experience I recommend:

Ava Luxe Rasa (old formulation or ask for 'intense / extreme') - An extremely sexy animalic musk (contains 4 different musks + ambergris and civet!) with a beautiful rose. If Serge Lutens Musc Koublai Khan is a man, then Ava Luxe Rasa is his fragrant wild woman scented with rose attar. Did I mention that this is very sexy!

Nemat International Supreme Musk - sexy! In fact many of of the Nemat International oils have an animalic base.

Serge Lutens Musc Koublai Khan - a wonderful sweaty animalic musk, at least as described by others. I get the animalic edge but it is more of a white floral musk on my skin, more so in colder weather. The beast within tends to emerge in warmer weather.

Chanel Cuir de Russie - aldehydic white floral which quickly degenerates into horse saddle / blanket and fatty / tallowy aldehydes, before the slightly dirty / grubby leather drydown. As mucky as Chanel is ever going to get. This lady has been romping with the stablehand in the back of hubby's new aston martin.

Vivienne Westwood Boudoir - I refer to this as the 'female Kouros' and it can have that love / hate affect on people. A little goes a very, very long way. My skin eats many perfumes but I have to decant Boudoir into a dropper bottle and apply only a drop or two at a time! I can only wear it after dark or in deep midwinter... It is a complex musk heavy floral with a unique / original used bed linen / sex fluids accord. Definitely one to try at one's peril. However, it obviously works for many women as it is still much in demand - even though it is quite hard to get hold of.

*****************

You should definitely try to get hold of some Balmain Jolie Madame. It is a great scent. Unlike Chanel Cuir de Russie, which degenerates very quickly into horse saddle / blanket and fatty / tallowy aldehydes, Jolie Madame mangaes to balance the fine line between strong, animalic notes and remaining a wonderful perfume perfect for any lady.

Top: Artemesia, Bergamot oil, Coriander, Gardenia, Neroli
Heart: Jasmin, Jonquil, Orris, Rose, Tuberose
Base: Castoreum, Civet, Leather, Moss, Musk, Patchouli, Vetiver

Jolie Madame begins as a classic, elegant floral with a major violet accord. But even as you are enjoying the fresh opening and the deeper heart notes the complex leather chypre base notes are entertwining and coming forward. The major character of the base is a soft, expensive leather like that of an extremely beautiful luxe caramel haute couture feminine leather jacket, custom made to fit perfectly. There is no 'new car interior' to be found here. The classic florals along with violets give a touch of powder to the base like expensive make-up but in a chic manner rather than old fashioned talc. The castoreum, civet, and musk appear to be missing except that the scent just seems to get better and better as it dries down with the scent seeming to become one with your skin in such a way that an unsuspecting male / female may think that you smell this delicious naturally and fall in love. You will probably fall in love with yourself before they get a chance...

Thanks for the suggestions, Moondeva -- I've got a sample of Cuir de Russie on hand, and I just ordered a sample of Jole Madame.


Sorry -- went a little nutty with the cut and paste

I'd be careful with the Cuir de Russie... it really broke my heart. When I sampled it, it started off beautifully, with a wonderful rich leather note, but it quickly deteriorated into a very true, very powerful scent of cow flops. And I used to spend summers out on a farm, so I KNOW this scent, believe me. I've heard the same thing from several other people who have sampled CdR, but I have an undying envy for those of you who can actually wear it without the fecal note shining through.

EDIT: MoonDeva, this may be a bit early, as the speak-and-sniff hasn't started yet, but what's your take on the difference between Jolie Madame and Miss Balmain? I'm currently on a leather craze, and have heard good things about both scents, but I keep getting them confused in my mind, and don't really understand how they differ on the theme of leather.

Hello my dear! {{HUGZ}}

They are easy to distinguish if you remember this:

"Jolie Madame is ever the 'lady' wearing a soft violet aldehydic floral which lingers on the inside of her buttery soft leather gloves.

Miss Balmain, her sister is an independent lady with her job in the city, leaving a subtle trail of traditional green leather chypre as she goes about her day."

I still have no idea what I'm gonna do for the Animalic sniff-n-speak - a lot of the fragrances moondeva listed in the other thread either aren't sold here, are exclusive to one or two stores in Australia (which I can't get to) or are readily available but not as samples...I'm still searching to see whether anyone in the department stores can give me a sample of anything - but it's hard!! oh well, the search continues! can't wait til next saturday though

Looking at your wardrobe I was completely flummoxed too! Your taste in perfumes is so pretty feminine and ... clean! Not a naughty animalic hint to be found anywhere...

But then I checked your samples and heavens be praised we have a viable candidate! How about your L'Artisan Mure et Musc sample? Judging from your tastes that would be a wonderful compromise - warm musk.

If you still want something else maybe you could check out The Body Shop Japanese Musk / Cinnamon Spice / White Musk / Woody Sandalwood / Neroli Jasmine perfume oil(s) or Altaro EDT - all have a significant musk accord and are easily affordable. Or you could get a small decant of CKBe which is a musk dominated 'clean' scent you may enjoy. There's also Coty L'Aimant PdT, Coty Wild Musk, Revlon Intimate Musk or Jovan Musk Oil that are cheap and readily available.

I do hope this has helped some.

ooh..haven't tried any of my L'Artisan samples yet...so I'll definitely be putting Mure et Musc on my possibilities list.
the reason my wardrobe is so feminine/clean, is that i haven't really ventured out of a certain range of brands (the commercial ones - especially all the Coty stable, considering I promote them!)...I'd love to try some 'dirtier' scents - one day, when I'm free and able to go into the city, I'm going to do a big sniff-a-thon...trying different brands that I've never tried before (including the classic Diors & Chanels), plus some Guerlain and others too...I may just find one or two (or a few) I like...whether I'll be able to afford any of them is another question! lol
Funnily enough, I promote the Coty Prestige range of fragrances, but the Coty fragrances themselves aren't sold much in the stores here - certainly not in the department stores I've worked at!
I'll have to check out The Body Shop...the last few times I've been in there, the staff have been so rude to me (or they just haven't been bothered to serve me!!), so I've just left! I'll give them another shot, if it means I come out with something nice (and not too expensive!)
Thanks again for your suggestions, moondeva..really appreciate it!

(LUV your little bouncing bear!) this comment sent me to the BN directory of Coty frags and it was a trip down a very fragrant memory lane, All those great frags - many with the dreaded skull and crossbones next to them! Jungle Gardenia - Styx - Black Orchid (take THAT, Tom Ford). Am curious what you mean when you say you "promote the Coty Prestige range of fragrances" (what is this?)...you working in cosmetics?

Anyway, where would we be without guides like Moondeva!!?? Onward and upward!! :bounce:

I love your bouncing bear too, gloomy_liv! I honestly smile every time I see it.
I am very excited about the upcoming Sniff'n'Speak. I have a plethora of animalic fragrances and I may try them all! Okay, not all in the same day, but what I did last month was try to focus on the theme of the month (Orientals, which was easy) and get to know them better. I was able to refer back to the thread for quite some time and judge my reactions against noses of more experience. I found it really helpful in getting to know the nuances of fragrance better.

my job is to promote fragrances in department stores here in Sydney (Australia) - like what the people behind the counter at Macy's or whatever do, except I can't use the register! And I stand around spraying a lot of cards for people to take...that's my job in a nutshell!

Yep, I would definitely be lost if it weren't for members like moondeva!

(oh, and by the way, my little boucing animal is actually a badger - check out this website to find out where he came from:
http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com - enjoy!!)

I had no idea these were all Coty brands!

Davidoff \t
\tJennifer Lopez \t
\tLancaster\t
\tJil Sander \t
\tJOOP! \t
\tNikos \t
\tChopard\t
\tVivienne Westwood \t
\tMarc Jacobs \t
\tKenneth Cole \t
\tBaby Phat \t
\tSarah Jessica Parker \t
\tNautica \t
\tJette Joop \t
\tCalvin Klein \t
\tCerruti \t
\tVera Wang

Can I say Jicky Pdt on me is no lavender but pure woods and animal civet.

They most certainly are! As well as David & Victoria Beckham, Kylie Minogue, Celine Dion, Isabella Rossellini, the Adidas fragrances, Chloé, Desperate Housewives, Jovan, Lagerfeld and Pierre Cardin....I'm sure there are more, but they're the ones I know about...though not all of them are ones I sell

Lucky, lucky you! ::jealous::

But you are - as we say here in the colonies - in HAWG (hog) HEAVEN!!! Walking around all day surrounded by fabulous smells! Unless it's like the chefs who never eat 'cause they've "fed on the smells"!

Go Badger!!! (thanks for the site - it is fun!) :bounce:

I'm not sure what I'll wear. I have a few possibilities but I'm going to try to not duplicate someone else's choice. I love the animalic category of fragrance. When I think of "animalic" I think of badly tanned animal hides or bear grease or something horrible. But when I wear fragrances classified as animalic I usually enjoy them, especially ones like Jolie Madame.

No problem on sending the site link...it is heaps of fun...though it does get stuck in your head!!

Oh, I'm not like those chefs at all...I definitely wear the fragrances I sell! I don't own a lot of them, but I wear them when I'm on the job.

Sniff-n-Speak today!

I've choosen Montale's Oud Cuir d'Arabie.

It has strong notes of 'raw' leather, it's sexy, and to my nose, it's very different from the more refined, better known leathery perfumes. I can't wear this every day, but when I'm in the mood for it, it's a great fragrance.

My choice is Ambre Sultan: herbs, woods, resin, balsam, amber and musk. Rich, warm, powerful and yes, animalic.
A knock out, in the best possible way.

The sun is shining bright on this beautiful morning and I am 'dressed' in
Amouage Gold for women.

According to the Amouage site "made for the most special luxury evening occasion".

Oh boy, am I overdressed!!
But smelling gorgeous and...animalic. Lots of ambergris, civet and musk.

Notes of the original Amouage Gold:
Topnote: Rock Rose, Lily of the Valley, Silver Frankincense
Heartnote: Myrrh, Orris, Jasmine
Basenote: Ambergris, Civet, Musk, Cedarwood, Sandalwood.

Since I have a limited edition from 2002, the notes for my bottle are supposed to be just a little bit different. And nobody, really nobody at Amouage had information about those notes! They only made 500 bottles of this.

It seems that I will have to buy the regular Gold to find out

Anybody out there who knows the difference?

Well, with the help of moondeva, I chose Mûre et Musc by L'Artisan Parfumeur as my Sniff-n-Speak SotD.

I can't find the exact notes for the fragrance...all I know is it has, according to the L'Artisan website, "citrus fruit, blackberry, musky notes"

My initial reaction when I first put it on was that it wasn't as strong as I had expected it to be. There was a bit of a citrus hit, and then the musk came...no hint of the blackberry. After 10 minutes, the musk died down and the blackberry appeared, though not too strong. It got stronger after about 30 minutes, and both the musk & blackberry notes blended quite well - not too sweet, sharp or musky at all! By the time an hour had passed the musk had taken over, and the scent had died down a lot in the space of half an hour. At an hour an a half, it was hardly noticable - just a slight musky hint. The scent was completely gone 15 minutes later!

I enjoyed the scent while it lasted. I'm wondering whether the longevity issue is because of the way I applied it. I only have a sample, which you have to dab on you. I'm wondering if it would've last longer had it been sprayed on. It's a nice scent - shame about the longevity (or lack thereof)...

Le Parfum de Therese. A soft leather chypre.

Repeat from today's SotD:
Habanita is just SO FBW. When I inventoried my 'drobe I realized that I'm almost exclusively florals and orientals - so I'm ENTITLED to invest...(rushes to Ernie Gallo, sobbing - throws self in his arms begging for help.....)

Miss Dior, a chypre with leather for this animalic sniff´n speak.

I guess this one is wonderful on the right skin, but on my skin it is not great at all. It just turns out rather flat and one-dimentioned, and becomes a bit of a bore, I´m afraid! My skin turns everything sweet, and do so with this scent, too, and I guess it is not ment to be sweeted at all to be nice! The leathernote is not very obvious, either. Right now I am comparing it with Chanel No 19. I feel the leather equally much in these two frags, but No 19 takes on to my skin much better, and stays on being a complex interesting frag.

This sniff´n speak SotD of Miss Dior is a dissapointment for me, and I guess it is because of my skin-chemistry. Lycky the persons who wears this frag well!

I got to a store and sampled Miss Dior. It is not a frag I will get to my collection.

Believe it or not, Paloma Picasso turns out to be the most animalic perfume in my collection.

Sure, I have Balmain Jolie Madame, but it is a refined suade, smooth and polite.
I also have Montale Aoud Rose Petals, with its bracing black leather and red roses, but the leather is derived from the bitterness of the woods.
And there's Jean Patou 1000, with its skin-like osmanthus, but the animalic quality is mainly floral.
And Youth Dew, with its naughty civit, remains dominated by the funky patchouli earthiness.

Paloma Picasso, on my skin, is the dirtiest, boldest animalic in my collection. Most of my perfumes have musk or civit in the base, and sometimes castoreum or ambergris. These dirty notes come to the forefront most of all in Mon Parfum.

The story behind this creation (and I quote from Perfumes.com):
"The perfume created by Paloma Picasso - the daughter of the illustrious painter - is an olfactive self-portrait. Emile Gillot, her maternal grandfather, was a perfumer, and already as a child, Paloma learned how to combine smells. ...Paloma's creation evolves around the colors red (her favorite color) and black (a symbol of power). The fragrance is a mirror image of herself with her dual personality, the Mediterranean force of character and the elegance of an illustrious designer. 'Only a woman would know how to wear it.'
Paloma chose a very elegant floral chypre, but because of the complexity of the fragrance, it was hard to market. To the end, she was afraid that the financial managers would change the formula without letting her know."

Now it is a classic, thanks to Paloma Picasso's insistence upon locking the formula up and refusing to let her artistic vision be compromised.

There is a healthy dollop of civit/castoreum/musk in here. I have to go outside or hide from people when I first apply it. It opens with a pungent green, spicy note. As it wears, it sweetens due to a honey/tobacco note which also adds to the animalic quality. Present on all levels, is the dirty, sweet, musky, fecal presence of animals, up front, in your face, never hiding underneath other notes at any point in the development.

Bravo, I say. Sometimes I can hardly believe that this is a ubiquitous department store offering. The naughtiest perfume in the mall.

Well I decided to push the envelope this morning in my animalic choice and give Bandit a full, robust testing on both arms. I chose Bandit because I recall someone on this site commenting that it was inspired by the used underwear of runway models. I figured that was pretty animalic! It also got five stars right away from my boyfriend just from that back story, whether it is true or not. He was wondering what sort of research may have gone into the development of such a scent.
Here are some of the notes:

neroli, orange, ylang ylang, galbanum, jasmine, tuberose, rose, carnation, leather, vetiver, oakmoss, patchouli and musk.

I suppose the leather and the musk in particular make it qualify, but the total combination of all these elements is really , well, funky.
It reminds me of salty sweat. Or spilled white wine at a smoke filled party.
Kinda stinky and dirty. But I suppose the carnation and jasmine are peeking through a bit. I tell you, if it weren't for basenotes and all the reading and sampling I have done with different scents since coming here, Bandit would not get a "second date" with me.
I admit I like the first burst of the topnote, there is something sort of elegant about it, but then it decompensates quickly, like a woman with perfectly applied makeup caught in a rainstorm that makes her mascara run.
How's that for imagery?
I'll spend a little more time with Bandit and then switch to something else later.
Maybe Chanel 19. Or Musc Ravageur. Or both
--------------------------------------
purplebird, I found Paloma at our TJ Maxx months ago and was this close to buying it from sniffing the cap...I thought it was a really sensuous, exotic smelling concoction at the time...but felt a bit timid about buying something without sampling. I find myself wishing I had.
Thanks for the great descriptions!

bergamot, lemon, mandarin, clary sage
\t
leather, orris, rose, ylang-ylang
\t
encens, civet, oakmoss, vanille, vetiver, benzoin


Scandal, by Lanvin....my favorite animalic of all time...fortunately I have some of this via ebay.

First runner up was Cabochard

I'm trying two new scents today (well, new to me at least):

Chanel Cuir de Russie (1924) - notes via Basenotes are Mandarin, Bergamot, Balsams, Spice Bush, Incense, Cade Wood, Rose, Jasmine, Ylang-Ylang. No animalic notes listed here (and none on OsMoz or the Chanel site), but this is generally agreed to be a fairly strong leather-based fragrance. The Chanel site calls it "A very improper perfume for nicely brought-up young ladies."

This has a dominant leather note on me, with a hint of incense, balsam and woods, with muted florals. It is fairly heavy, but for some reason I'm not getting the overwhelming farm animal accord than many have reported -- probably because it's a sample and I didn't get full spritz. (After all, one spritz of SJP Lovely, after an appealing floral opening, left me smelling like I gymbag full of old sweat socks.) I'm going to apply a bit more and see what happens.

My other choice for the day is Pierre de Balmian's Jolie Madame (1953) -
Top note: Artemisia, Gardenia, Neroli, Coriander
Middle note: Jasmine, Jonquil, Orris, Tuberose
Base note: Patchouli, Castoreum, Vetiver, Civet

On me this opens with soft violets, very vintage in feel, followed by something oddly squishy that I can't quite identify -- it may well be the tuberose, which has never been a favorite of mine. From there I get a slight saltiness, orris, and then the faintest hint of vetiver and patchouli, which I do love. The civet note is very restrained (nothing like the enormous hit of it I get midway through Jicky). The drydown on this is lovely, but I'll have to see if I can learn to get past the tuberose.

From your description, you're using the EDT.
This is unbelievable, but the EDP is totally different, soft, floral, and pretty. I was told that two different companies make the EDT and EDP/pafum.
I wonder which one, if either, smells like the vintage?
(Who, here, has smelled the vintage Bandit?)

rtamara, you should get spritzed with Paloma Picasso before you buy it. It really does different things on the skin after it is worn awhile. If the perfume chooses you, you can confidently buy a full bottle. I think perfumes do the choosing alot of the time, not us.

Ahhh, so many things here that I want to try - but today I'm going with Narcisse Noir. I love the incense and civet in the base, and since I've only recently learned to identify the scent of orange blossom, I'm getting a kick out of the way that gentle and sort of antique note is being warped by the dark, dirty undertow of the base.

I think this is a wise statement, purplebird. Tigrushka said the same thing on my Shalimar query thread.
Funny, though, now a few hours later, the Bandit has sweetened and softened. It still has a sour aura to it, but you can definitely smell something floral here.
Still, it is not going on my holy grail list.

I chose Knowing today It has civet, which I believe is in the "animalic" range, no?

I love Paloma Picasso also....but I'm out of it .

First few minutes I'm getting that musky, sweet scent. I'm still not good at distinguishing all the notes.

joining the animalic spree in Cuir Ottomon from Parfums d'Empire

redolent leather, thick tarry castoreum!

I chose Balmain's Miss Balmain

Top Notes: Gardenia, coriander, citrus, aldehydes
Heart Notes: Jasmine, rose, carnation, narcissus, orris, jonquil
Base Notes: Castoreum, patchouli, oakmoss, leather, vetiver, amber

Miss Balmain is too prissy a name for this. On me, it's quite a melange: clean soapiness, bitter green coriander, leather and smoke, earthy roots and dried bits of who knows what. I can barely detect any floral middle notes, as the coriander and base notes are quite assertive. This is a strange fragrance. It makes me think of witch doctor roots & leaves mixtures, but I do have a vivid imagination. It's definitely earthy and animalic.

Steppin' up in Cuir d'Arabie. Oh, the stinky stench of those top notes! Yikes! Not something to be worn in public, on me anyway. It's settling down, now, but is still that sour, raw leather smell. It's something like the smell of my father's heavy leather work belt. Crude leather and man sweat, or something. The first time I tried this I had to fight with myself to keep from scrubbing immediately. I managed to keep it on for a few hours and, as I recall it did mellow nicely, but today I'm giving it the full wearing I suspect that it deserves.
It is supposed to have dry wood, tobacco and leather notes. I get no tobacco whatsoever, so far, and the woods are not dry TMN, but rather, damp. On me, the leather is most certainly at centre stage.

It should be noted that the Miss Dior available in shops is only a ghost of it's former leather animalic glory. Please try and get a sample of vintage Miss Dior to try before passing final judgement.

Well, I switched over to Shalimar after an interesting morning with Bandit, and it behaved better on me than before, but I still can't see myself in a committed relationship. If anyone wants to swap or desperately wants a nearly full new bottle of this, please pm me.
Now I am trying Rumba and I like it! (thanks, T)
Flowers given a rough edge with musk. (which hopefully qualifies it for this animalic saturday.)

I was craving a kick-ass leather today. What a perfect day to sample Cuir Venenum, or so I thought ... With the word "cuir" in the name, one would think leather, no? Where is the leather in this??? To my nose, it was fruit; grape-y, orange-y sweet fruit with NO leather. I'm not saying it was bad, I'm saying it was disappointing. I think I will go and spray on some Bandit ...

"kick ass leather" instantly brings to mind Tabac Blond for me. But I really wanted to try some not so familiar frags today and I'm glad I had my little adventure.

Per Quarry's EXCELLENT suggestion, I'm sampling Dzing! today. I definitely agree with the review that called it Bulgari Black's slightly more cultured (and obnoxious) brother. I get a little wood, a lot of rubber, and a very smooth and likable leather drydown. In spite of its similarity to Black, I considered buying a bottle of it... but then I saw the Lutens. So, I'm now the proud (and impoverished) owner of Fleurs d'Oranger - and, by the way, layering fiends should definitely consider this as a combo.

If I get the possibility, I will of course try the vintage Miss Dior. I´m afraid that is not possible in my country, but I travel now and then, and I will have my eyes open for the vintage form of this frag.

Kolnisch Juchten
Parfums Regence.
Cuir Venenum
Parfumerie
Generale (2004)

Back a little for some thoughts...

My SotD was Cabochard by Parfums Gres. The one that makes you straighten up your shoulders, pull in the air in the abdomen and put your chin up. No matter what. I like it, there are similar "animals" (to quote Taolady) around, but this one proudly stands up on its own. First I smelled it back in 1994 and I thought it was a men's cologne. I got re-acquainted with Cabochard EdT a couple of years ago and I was smitten: I thought I need at least some sweetness in my scent for me to totally love it. Cabochard has NONE, although there are rose, geranium, jasmine and orris in it, and they are not "in your face", they are all about being sneaky and very very tenacious. The main theme is dry with woods, leather and patchouli, warm, deep and smokey.

I have been spending some time thinking about the white ribbon on the bottle, and it seems to me I know why it is there -- Cabochard is a retired ballerina who used to dance on the world's best stages and keep huge audiences on the edge on their seats. She is older now, she smokes and even drinks on her days off, wears shapeless black gowns designed by the dead people, she does not have a soulmate... However, on these days when she teaches groups of awkward pre-schoolers the basics of dance, the way she walks and holds her back, the way she barks out her French commands in a husky voice, still inspires lots of awe. And chins go up by themselves.

This is SO great!! :bounce:

And I took from this lady - remember her well!!

I have almost forgotten this S-n-S day...
I put on Daim Blond during the day for a test drive. The scent drove me to the a scene of an equestrian stadium where the royal families and people from the high society enjoying the shows. I could smell Daim Blond reeking from these professional riders in their Jodhpurs...
Daim Blond smells exquisite, expensive and old money. It is perfect for winter and accompanied with a Pringle Cashmere sweater
It smells nice on my skin, but I would prefer to be a spectator to this scent.

In the evening, I switched to Montale's Black Aoud... thats another story.

Twolf, this is just beautiful!! Cabochard used to be one of my most loved scents. And then there came others and I forgot this 'retired ballerina'.
I think I will pay her a visit now and tell her I am sorry to have neglected her.
Such fond memories.....

Thank you dear!

My eve-scent of yesterday was also sniff-n-speak worthy. I changed to Parfum d'Empire's Cuir Ottoman. It's softer than Cuir d'Arabie. Cuir d'Arabie to my nose is raw, sex; Cuir Ottoman is soft, refined.

Perhaps Cuir Ottoman is sex on the couch... but with the lights off?

So many great scents and comments! Makes me want to go test, re-try and re-visit all day. Later I particularly want to re-visit Narcisse Noir, because I was test driving it as my SoTD last week based on all the (deserved!) attention here, but I didn't getting much "animalic" from it... Quite possibly because I am now dealing with the onset of a cold, and can't smell right (Though I do smell goooooooooooooood!).

I wanted to try a scent that hadn't been getting a lot of attention lately. I chose Lancome's Magie Noire for the Sniff & Speak. I really hope my nose isn't completely out of whack, because I just ordered a (1 oz.) bottle of this lovely stuff.

Top notes: Blackcurrant, Hyacinth, Bergamot, Raspberry
Middle notes : Honey, Tuberose, Narcissus, Rose oriental
Base notes : Patchouli, Vetiver, Civet, Castoreum

Magie Noire started off simultaneously sharp and sweet on me, then settled down quickly with the florals and the barest hint of citrusy fruit coming forward, with the sharp civet (and possibly castoreum, I'm still not clear on what that smells like on its own) anchoring everything and keeping the scent interesting and "dark."

The floral and citrus notes took on a sweet, powdery tone a little way into wearing it, and then I started getting a soft leather note, which isn't listed, but was there for me! Not sure where that's coming from, but while it's gentle and there's powder there, too, it's leather, not suede... Like leather gloves. Later still, Magie Noire became almost buttery floral on me, but still anchored in the civet/soft leather. Definitely not boring!

MN smells "sophisticated" to me; and because of the powdery notes, it's one of the scents I fear could easily be written off (I would have done so just a short while ago) or misunderstood as "mature" or "old lady/gentleman."

That being said, I think the person who wears this fragrance is likely to wear it for him/herself, and for others with complex and/or complicated tastes.

Sorry to chime in so late, but my week-end was all for DH this time
But I didn't forget our sniff&speak day! I was planning to wear Jean Patou 1000, but then a bunch of samples arrived and so I chose Mona di Orio Carnation. Its name is misleading, since it is not about carnations. From French, the translation is "skin complexion".
Wow, this is what I imagined Muscs Koublai Khan to smell like (MKK does regretfully come out as shaving foam on my skin). When I sprayed Carnation on my wrists, I smelled a wonderful pairing of the most dirty jasmine, which goes also through a buttery stage at the very beginning, and an oh sooo sexy musk. The indolic quality of jasmine is really taken to the limit here! But don't understand me wrong, the result is an eminently elegant and wearable scent, IMO, since it is never overwhelming. After a while, the jasmine gets creamy and is supported by a slightly leathery amber. I sprayed it on several times during the day just to live through that wonderfully naughty top notes
I was totally unimpressed with Mona di Orio's fragrance collection so far (even her last one, Oiro, elicited a mere "meh..." from me) but Carnation may be full bottle worthy .
The notes are: bergamot, wallflower, geranium, ylang ylang, violet, jasmine, sandalwood, musk, amber and styrax.