>>>> Sniff 'n' Speak Saturday, April 14 >>>>FLORALS

It is already 1:30am here... I am scratching my head and wonder what to wear for this Floral SnS. Floral is such a huge olfactory with so many choices and subdivided into many branches.
I have an idea... would my nose die if I try all the floral subgroups within the same day? According to OsMoz, there are 10 different subgroups under floral namely:
Aldehyde, Aquatic, Carnation, Fruity, Green, Jasmine, Muguet, Orange Tuberose Rose Violet, Woody Musk
Now, I am going to start this from midnight and randomly pick something from my drobe for each floral sub-category:
Aldehyde: Yves Saint Laurent - Rive Gauche
Aquatic: Davidoff - Coolwater
Carnation: MPG - Soie Rouge
Fruity:Annick Goutal - Folavril
Green: Hermes - Hiris
Jasmine: Dior - Pure Poison
Muguet: Estee Lauder - Pleasures
Orange Tuberrose: Chloe
Rose Violet: Lancome - Tresor
Woody: Armani - Mania (New)

I am having hesitation now...

Great plan, Quarry. I'd hate to think we were giving the florals a pass.

Here is what I ended up wearing for the SnS Floral 7 Apr 07, but I think we should grant an extention as this will give me another chance to examine the other subgroups for the coming Saturday.

1:30am - Armani Mania (Floral Woody )
This one was created in 2004. It is a fresher, younger bubbly version. I think the pepper made it sharp and spicy but I felt asleep when it got down to the middle notes which is probably the essence of this scent. I was trying a mini and definitely not bottle worthy in my opinion as I still prefer the older version which leans towards a spicy oriental accord.
Top notes : Moroccan bay leaf, Green Mandarin Orange, Black Currant, Pink Pepper
Middle notes : Magnolia, Peony, Lily-of-the-Valley, Provençal Iris
Base notes : White Sandalwood, Virginia Cedar, Amber, Vanilla, Musk

11:00am Chloe (Floral Orange Tuberose)
Created in 1975, one of the best value drug store fragrance which I could not live without. This one has a few of my favourite ingredients captured (coconut, tuberose, orris, musk, ceder and sandal). This is a tuberose powerhouse scent which can only be worn sparingly. This also reminds me one of my aunt who used to stock up a few bottles when it is on sale.
Top notes: Coconut, Bergamot, Aldehydes, Peach
Middle notes: Tuberose, Ylang-Ylang, Hyacinth, Orris
Base notes: Musk, Sandal, Cedar, Benzoin

Late Afternoon Polo Ralph Lauren Blue (Floral Jasmine)
This is one of my work scent for summer. It is very refreshing and not so feminine given that it seems like a colourful bouquet by looking at its composition. It is not a loud jasmine scent if you compare this with A la Nuit or Diorissimo. I have sent this to a male friend in the past and he enjoys it too. Perfect to go with my crisp pinstripe shirt and tailored pants.
Top notes : Lotus Flower, Jasmine, Lily-of-the-Valley, Pink Peony, Gardenia
Middle notes : May Rose, Nantucket, Tuberose, Orange Blossom
Base notes : Sandalwood, Musk, Ambrette, Moss, Vetiver

10:00pm Calvin Klein Eternity Rose Blush (Floral Rose Violet)
I am not a rose girl but this is a keeper because it was a Valentines Day gift a few years ago. This is a fruity rose and a very playful one. It smells more like a raspberry scent rose to me. It is perfect those we love berries desserts (raspberries sorbet in particular).\t
Top notes : \tApricot, Pear
Middle notes : \tRose, Water Lily, Freesia
Base notes : \tMusk, Sandalwood, Ambery notes

And I wore Stella, a floral-rose violet for the flowerday the 7th, a truly beautiful rose-frag!

For the eve of flowerday the 7th I wore Infiniment Chopard, a floral woody musk. I have never seen anyone else mention this frag here on the board, and it hasn´t even been reviewed in the Directory. Why? It is - IMHO - really, really beautiful. Is it hard to find, or do you others find it a bore?

I have more florals, to wear the 14th!

Good to see I didn't miss the Floral S'n'S after all!

Will probably wear CdG Red Series Rose or Carnation since I'm revisiting my numerous CdG scents...

Changed the correct date to the title, too.

Thanks Quarry for re-scheduling our s-n-s day. I am planning to wear I Profumi di Firenze Gelsomino del Deserto (Desert Jasmine) and Pierre Guillaume Tubéreuse Couture, but I am open to suggestions!

I wore Cadolle No9 on 7th and was ready to go. Then realized the board was down!!!!

So I will go for Cadolle No9 again on the 14th!

Oh great! The 14th works better.
I'm going to do Guerlain Nahema.
My Return to Guerlain Week got shut down. Oh well c'est la vie.
There's a lot to say about Nahema, though.Wow, what a peach of a rose.

oh, i'm glad we're not going to be missing out on our floral s-n-s day!! thanks for rescheduling

I have a few to choose from, thanks to a fantastic Basenoter (whose name I will keep anonymous) who sent me a lil present when I was feeling blue last month...what will I try?? Only time will tell Can't wait!!!!

CdG Carnation is my choice of Floral for this Sniff'n'Speak Saturday.

In Finnish carnation the flower and clove the spice are both called "neilikka", and Carnation has both among its notes. There's also red pepper making this spicy little number even more red hot and sultry jasmine and rose.

I think even those who generally find CdG scents a bit too "adventurous" might enjoy Carnation.

Nothing niche but still a fragrance I have loved and worn for many years now

First extrait by Van Cleef & Arpels.

A lovely floral aldehyde and although it is not listed, I am sure there is tuberose in here.
An elegant fragrance with 'class' written all over it.
If possible, try the extrait. It is really a world apart from the EDT.

Notes from OzMoz:
Top note : Bergamot, Mandarin, Blackcurrant, Aldehydes
Middle note : Jasmine, Rose, Ylang-Ylang, Hyacinth
Base note : Vetiver, Vanilla, Amber, Civet

A perfume laden with memories.

For secound floral-sniff-and-speak-day I am ewaring J del Pozo In Black EdT and bodylotion. In Black is a "black" floral fruity. The notes are:

Top: Black Cherry, Black Pepper, Pink Grapefruit, "Top Rose".
Heart: Black Lily, Jasmine, Violet.
Base: Licore Wood, Madagascan Vanilla, Moroccan Cedar, Indonesian Patchouli.

Not expensive, yet one of my most charming perfumes! I have to place it in my avatar for a while, as I am so fond of it!

Frederic Malles Lipstick Rose for this sniff and speak. ( Thanks Musse )
Rose, violets and raspberry and amber, vanilla and vetiver..some musk?

I'm not so sure that this reminds me of old-fashioned lipsticks; my first impression is that this is a gourmand scent; like rosescented raspberry jam cooked with vanilla and MUCH sugar!
Maybe it's the sweetness that makes it feel edible to me.

I like it; and would certainly wear it if someone gave it to me; but I don't feel that it is so special that I would buy it at that price.
I have sprayed Ombre Rose; the only rose scent I own; on my other wrist. and I prefer that one; happily for my wallet!

Good morning, dears!
Parfumerie Générale Tubéreuse Couture is the perfect scent to greet the warm spring (almost summery!) sunshine today. Wow, it is mesmerising! Ylang-ylang adds an exotic touch to the gloriously creamy smell of tuberose blossoms. It is definitely sweet. I also smell a coconut-ty note similar to the one I adore in Datura Noir, but there’s no coconut among the notes – it could be the tub-sugar cane accord. This scent has also a gourmand touch so typical for PG. Pierre Guillaume's hommage to an exploding, cheerful femininity.

The notes in this beauty are kalamanzi oil, green jasmine shoots, ylang-ylang, sugar cane, Indian tuberose, Sumatra benzoin and papyrus.

I wonder why we don't discuss PG scents more often?

So many choices, oh my! It is Gucci Envy today, spring in the bottle, launched in 1997 and blended by Maurice Roucel while Tom Ford was the Creative Designer (or, was it Director?) for Gucci.

When it was first released, I was playing the part: assertive and slightly b..chy office worker, wearing high heels, pin-stripe suits, glasses and my blond hair in a bun. Unapproachable, finicky, meticulous, cold, probably giving out more cold then the office air-conditioner , a relatively new fling back then where I lived. Envy was a huge part of my image, and its bottle came encased in white leather.

Fast forward 10 years to right here and now: I have changed, my tastes and perception of Envy did too! Lily of the valley, hyacinth and jasmine are still there, making it delicately sunsuous and girly. I know a lot of people can't stand the smell of the lilies of the valley, especially the way it is being recreated in a fragrance: headache inducing, cloying and growing in a chemically treated forest. Not in the case with Envy -- still cool and damp, indispensable in hot climates, tender and green, dew-drenched. There is some certain fruitiness about the top, and different sites refer to it as being fresia, magnolia, honeysuckle, even peach and pineapple; I tend to think of it as floral though, much alike to that in AG Eau de Camille. There is a little bitterness about the middle notes: leafy white hyacinth, with sap and all, even the freshly broken twig of the lilac bush, crystal clear and not powdery iris. The drydown is still floral, with less musk and woods than all other Guccis before or after Envy.

Right now I think of Envy as a 13-year-old girl, left all by herself to play with her dolls and read in the garden, while her older sisters went to the ball thrown in honor of the new noble male neighbor (and potential husband!). She is envious, still being innocent, dreamy and sweet herself, she is making nosegays (what a silly word!) for her sisters. (The Italian word "invidia" (="envy") is ugly as a sin itself, I associate it with both "invisible" and "un-diva-like", so I was not surprised that they ended up with the English name.)

Surprisingly unpolular on the forums in general, Envy will always be with me. Somehow, I think there are more admirers of this Floral among us than we care to admit!

Total change.
Caron Nocturnes it is today.

Pretty,girlie for women of any age but young at heart.

Nocturnes has a sweetness which is green so never tries to knock you over the head or give you toothache.

The myth still goes round that Nocturnes is based on Nuit de Noel. NO, only the bottle design was used as a template for Nocturnes not the fragrance.

Twolf, that was a gorgeous review on Gucci Envy.
Positively nailed it right on the head. I couldn't have said it better.


A Rose Is a Rose
...but a rose by any other name—would not be Guerlain.

Nahema took me by surprise. It was described as a “big” rose, so I automatically expected a big, sweet, wet rose. I expected a rose dripping with honey and fruitiness, opulent like Yves Rocher Rose Absolu with its big, creamy vanilla and patchouli, or the very-berry Givenchy Very Irresistible with its anise note, or even something like Les Parfums de Rosine plummy violet La Rose de Rosine or the dried fruit, cinnamon, and powder of Poussierre de Rose.

Indeed it is powdery. (This is Guerlain, after all.) But sweet? Not immediately. To be sure, there are vanilla and tonka lurking in the base, waiting to sweeten the fragrance as time goes by, but these are usually clear notes, and the overall effect of Nahema is of a “gauzy” rose, out of focus, covered under a veil of semi-transperancy.

For quite some time, Nahema is surprisingly woody. Imagine that! A woody, powdery peach; a dusty rose. The rose never presents itself apart form the peach, it is a constantly peachy rose. My daughter commented that it reminds her of peach incense. This is the dry aspect of Nahema. (It it is not the least bit smoky.)

And it is persistent. Here is where Nahema earns its “big” rose reputation. Once the powdery, peachy rose establishes itself, there is no turning back. No other notes overtake this accord. It remains strong and true to itself until the last petals fall away.

(I especially want to mention the "green" sweetness provided by the hyacinth. I love Guerlain’s hyacinth note. I smell this next to a live hyacinth in bloom, and it captures that wild, springlike freshness in both Chamade and Nahema. I cannot speak more highly of the effect it has on me.)

Nahema is like an old-fashioned box of ladies’ face powder—the loose, peach/flesh colored powder with the aroma of cosmetics. Imagine a well-dressed woman standing at a department store cosmetics counter, surrounded by mirrors. She opens a box and applies her powder, using a fluffy powder puff. A little haze of dust arises around her face. Then she shuts the box too quickly and, “poof!” A small cloud of powder explodes and settles slowly. That is Nahema to me.

When the powder is gone, there remains the most tender, peach gummy bear candy—or a soft little piece of rose flavored loukoum. Oh! Guerlain peach. Oh!

Due to my allergy I'm being very careful and have applied a little dab of Penhaligon's Bluebell to my top. It's a beautiful, fresh yet quintessentially English floral. Not too sweet but pretty nonetheless. One day I will invest in a bottle.

Hello, fellow Sniff & Speakers!!!

Last week (and again today), I decided to try out two brand new floral scents... And although they are wildly different, I am head-over-heels in love with BOTH of them.

First, on one side, our own Annette Neuffer's (http://www.naturparfum.net) Narcissus Poeticus. I need to say up front that Annette has achieved something here that I thought completely impossible: she's created a predominantly white flower scent that not only holds its floral freshness on my skin, but that I love so much I must own a full container of the stuff!

Head notes: Bergamot, Clementine, Tunisian Neroli, Violet Leaf
Heart: French Narcissus Absolute, Tunisian Orange Flower Absolute, Indian Tuberose, Egyptian Jasmine, Bulgarian Rose Otto
Base: Vanilla Absolute, Mysore Sandalwood, Musk

I suspect that it's the sweet and spicy base that's keeping the fragrance so lovely for me, but whatever it is, I am finding it makes me exceedingly happy. I am redolant early spring in this scent...


And full-blown springtime in Neil Morris Fragrances (www.neilmorrisfragrances.com) Storm. (Some background: I've heard about NMF as a Boston-area custom perfumer for years, but haven't been able to justify a pricey custom fragrance, and couldn't find his perfumes commercially. Recently NMF decided to open a retail line. I promptly dropped my $18 to test all six frags available. They very nicely also sent me two additional fragrance samples they plan to add to the line soon, including Storm. I must say I think the fragrances are wonderful, though not all to my taste.) But Storm really blew me away.

At first I got what I can only describe as watery notes. Then... there are flowers! Everywhere. It's late May or early June, and my skin has transformed into the middle of somebody's flower garden immediately after it's rained, and you can tell that those flowers are wet.

I would describe it as 'antique flower garden' flowers -- hyacinth and delphinium, maybe some mimosa. Also, a particularly delicious cinnamony patchouli that ends up bringing in a very subtle wet soil base with the occasional civet note. Definitely full-bottle worthy.

Happy S&S to all! :bounce:

Ah, ComDiva, enabler extraordinaire...you make my mouth water and my nose buds cry out in expectation
After my happy wearing of Tub Couture, I changed into Gelsomino del Deserto (Desert Jasmine), allegedly a Florence exclusive from the I Profumi di Firenze line. This morning, the very first jasmine flower of the season bloomed on my balcony, so I can easily compare and this scent is all about jasmine, a soliflore very true to the real thing. Slightly smoky and rubbery if sniffed close to the skin, otherwise I am feeling like Botticelli's Spring Goddess.

Well, thanks a bunch. Just dropped nine bucks to try three out of the six. :bounce: Thanks a bunch!! (Background sobbing is Amex card.)

[QUOTE=purplebird7;1011127]... or the very-berry Givenchy Very Irresistible with its anise note, /QUOTE]
I guess the anise is the culprit of the bubblegum/mouthwater smell I get from Very Irresistible; my skin bring out nothing but the anise it seems. I learn something new everyday.

I have been smelling of all sorts of flower today; lily of the valley from Jessica McClintock while I was outside gardening; and now I'm off to a film evening wih girlfriends; wearing Champs Elysées.

The Narcissus Poeticus sounds lovely Comdiva; my favorite from Annette so far is Rose Absolue.

Houbigant's glorious Wistaria...a very true soliflore.
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Was going to finish out the evening in Dark Brilliance and savor the carnations, but ended up doing a side by side of ET Gardenia and YR Gardenia. ET had a nice gardenia "from a distance" bouquet feel, while the YR was a "I stuck my nose in the gardenia and I can't get out"...so I washed them off and am ending Saturday with Secret Datura.

I used today as an excuse to catch up on a few of my floral samples.

Divine LAme Sur- notes of aldehydes, rose, jasmine, and ylang-ylang and ambergris
Im sure it is well blended of fine quality essences but this just didnt capture my interest


Caron Narcisse Noir- Do I need to duck and cover before I admit that this classic doesnt do it for me. I found N. Blanc so overwhelmingly sweet that I may not even give it a 2nd try. But I tried N. Noir for the 2nd time today and it just doesnt grab me. I expected sultry floral with a lot of animal skank, but on me it was just pleasant flowers with a touch of civet.

Divine by Divine- notes of peach, coriander, gardenia, Indian tuberose, May rose, oak moss, musk, vanilla, spice
This is my 2nd try of this. The first time I wore it to bed and fell asleep in a billowing opulent floral cloud and thought I had missed the base notes. Today I was awake so I saw that the base on this is not terribly persistent, but I have found my grand floral. Regrettably the sample vial with one good dose left jumped out of my fingers and splattered the carpet, so Im one step closer to a purchase than I would otherwise be, but it was only a matter of time. I am not generally drawn to gardenia, usually bring out the worst in tuberose, and am often indifferent to rose scents, but I really love this. Luca Turin calls it a floral-animalic, ozMos classifies it as a chypre- fruity, but Ive seen it reviewed as a white floral .Go figure.

would you believe I came down with a migrane on Friday night, and had it all weekend?? So I didn't get to wear a floral on Saturday...but I'll definitely be wearing one today, so I'll post my 2 cents a little later

Ooooohhhh. Poor Badger! Hope you're up and bouncing again. :bounce: (My boss has been using soy to treat her migraines and hasn't had one in the three years she's been doing it. Have you tried?)

Meanwhile we'll sit up with you and await your report.

Actually, I had a skit to perform at church on Sunday morning...and even though I wasn't feeling any better, I did it anyway!


No, I haven't tried soy for my migranes (not really a big soy fan! lol) My "treatment" is basically to sleep it off...it always works.

Anyway, onto my SnS...I decided to try a fragrance that I received a sample of a few weeks ago...Aimez-Moi by Caron

I've read 2 different sources saying 2 different things about this scent - one saying it's a Floriental (OsMoz), the other saying it's a Rich Soft Floral (Michael Edwards Fragrance Directory)...I don't know...I just know it has flowers in it :P

Notes (according to OsMoz)
Top note : Bergamot, Anise, Mint, Cardamom
Middle note : Violet, Magnolia, Jasmine, Rose
Base note : Orris, Heliotrope, Tolu, Vanilla

For the first 5 minutes, nothing really stood out to me...I could tell there was a nice mix of flowers in there, and there was a bit of a green hint to it too.
After 15 minutes, the mint was really strong, but there was no one flower standing out - they all pretty much blended.
After half an hour, the floral side was taking over - particularly the violet & magnolia. The mint was still there, but nowhere near as strong as earlier.
One hour had passed...the violet/magnolia mix had completely taken over - no mint or anything else in sight (or smell...lol)
Half an hour later, everything had faded a lot!! The flowers were still there, though very faint, and mixed with vanilla - smelling a bit "powdery". It stayed this way until it faded - altogether lasting 3 and a bit hours.

It's not a bad scent - not one of my favourites though. If someone gave me a full bottle, I'd happily accept it, but I don't think it's full-bottle worthy for me.

I'm very grateful to my Basenote friend, who shall remain anonymous, for sending me this and a few other scents that I can't wait to try!!!!