San Antone Sniffing (Creed, GPH2, TdH, etc.)

Back from the clinical rotations down in San Antonio (It's looking possible that I'll end up with a job down there at Methodist, which would be spectacular career-wise). First chance I've had to go to an actual big city rather than 'town', or 'village'. (Midland hardly counted, IMO.)

So, I went cruising through N.M.'s, Sephora, Saks, Macy's, and Perfumania as well as much larger variants of Dillards and so forth. Most people were surprisingly friendly... As a mesquite scrub redneck myself, I tend to live a life of hearing how downright hostile them city persons are. *laugh*

In any event... Got to do a Grand Creed Review and found myself fairly surprised by the initial conclusions.

My two favorites of those sniffed weren't even on my list; Acier Aluminium and Royal Water. I asked for samples of either, but they didn't have any left so I was given a handful of consolation samples (GIT, MI, SMW...) I did like SMW, and my girlfriend seems to want to steal my sample of MI. I was underwhelmed by GIT -- Probably because it had a very similar accord to Green Valley, which I own. All I could really smell was a toned-down version of GV.

Bois du Portugal also surprised me in a negative way. Not that I didn't like the scent, it was just unfortunately one of those scents that I'm not able to detect very well. (I think there must be fairly unequal distribution of olfactory chemoreceptors... Since my left-side anosmia, some -types- of scents are much sharper and easier to pick out while others are blunted and faint.)

Sephora brought me Terre d'Hermes. Got a smallish sample, and I quite like the scent -- Rather unique, and I don't have anything to strongly compare it to. Wasn't much impressed with Eau Sauvage. Also, I finally 'Got' Kouros. With a nice distance given to the spritz, it's actually quite excellent on the skin. (I returned home with a Kouros sample. Reunited with the girlfriend to an 'Oh, WOW what are you wearing?' pouncing. When I told her, there was shock, followed by surprised and somewhat saddened admission that Kouros 'Did It' for her. *laugh*)

All sorts of things smelled at Perfumania. They had a deal on Bijan scents, and I was tempted by Style 'til I figured out what the drydown reminded me of; It's that dryly patchouli semi-rough 'Quorum' drydown I'm so fond of. Bowling Green was sampled, and... well, it's nice but not overly different from of the citrisy woodsy stuff I already have. (Balmain comes to mind)

Guess my trip fave was probably Royal Water -- Which is uncharacteristically sweet for my nose to take an interest in, but there it is.

"I went to Perfumania the other day they wouldn't stop telling me about how great Paris Hilton is. "Their parent company uses higher oil contents". When I asked to smell the things I wanted (Jazz, Kenzo PH, others), I was virtually shut down and told that Paris Hilton is better. I've never had that much trouble before. I ended up walking, and I have no desire to go back. Did you ever have to get SA's to stop forcing scents on you when you were out sniffing? If so, what did you do?"

The Perfumania woman was a bit disdainful that my preferences were so "Old-Style", but even though she'd sneak in the occasional AdGio to try and win me over, I wasn't butting heads at any point. (Then again, I'm fairly hard-headed and do-what-I-damn-well-want in the assertive department, so I occasionally fail to notice when someone is subtly attempting to redirect me. *laugh*)

The only flat-out BAD SAs were at... I believe it was Macy's. Both SA's I interacted with thought the sole selling point of a fragrance was how 'new' it was. Ooooh, this one's even MORE newer!! I immediately proceeded to meander to the other side of the counter and ask to sample the Givenchy Gentleman bottle hidden on the back rack. *heh* (Powerful stuff once that civet (I'm guessing?) settles down.)

"Anyway, I'm glad that you had a good experience. What did you think of Acier Aluminum?"

I -really- liked it, and I think a good portion of the appeal was that it was distinctive. I love the Creed 'house notes', but oft times that results in some frags having indistinct shared moments to my nose. On the testing cards, at least, it whupped all of the other Creeds in the longevity department. Spicy, a little sour citrus, amber/vanilla base. I'd love to be able to find a decant of this stuff, but I'll probably end up having to wait 'til I get settled into where I end up post-graduation.

"I'm wearing TdH today. It's my biggest roller coaster fragrance. Sometimes I love it, and sometimes it smells like lemon Cascade dishwasher soap. Today is a Cascade day"

I was skin-testing TdH when I went by Saks. I was proving very fond of Royal Water, and since they didn't have any samples available the SAs were encouraging me to just spritz myself down for a skin test. Thinking, "What the hell?", I layered RW over TdH. The RW dominated for a bit, then the somewhat more stalwart TdH started poking his head through and... Whoah. Awesome accidental layering combo. *heh*

Speaking of roller coaster frags: Balmain: Some days it's Gucci PH's more lemony brother, other days it's just flat out Lemon Pledge Furniture Polish.