Parfums DelRae appreciation thread

Wow! I got a few samples from Lucky Scents and I've been taking my merry old time going through them. Last week I got a chance to really soak in Amoureuse and Bois de Paradis and I think I'm in love with them both! It seems a bit manic to buy two pricey niche fragrances on a shoestring student budget... but I feel almost compelled to splurge on them both because I wear them and feel so... me.

Amoureuse is definitely the prettiest floral I've ever smelled. So many flowers but very grown up. And the cardamom is so perfect- it made me go out to my local food co-op and buy a bunch of cardamom pods. Just intoxicatingly beautiful. Phew! This scent miraculously quenched my thirst for spring, which in and of itself is probably worth the price tag.

And Bois de Paradis... It's so warm and spicy and sweet (but not too sweet) and wow when that beautiful rose comes in... such a delightful, voluptuous scent for cool weather revelry. Completely drool worthy.

What's a girl to do? I still have Eau Illuminée and Début to explore, but first I have to let my poor sinuses drain and olfactory cells recover from this infernal cold.

Sakecat- I love your approach for making bottle decisions! I have to wait a while before I try out BdP and Amoureuse again because I still cannot smell a thing from this cold, even though my sinuses are mostly clear now. I think the virus did a number on my olfactory cells so I've got a while to wait before the mitosis song and dance finishes repopulating my airways (so sad! I wonder what noses do when they get colds!).

Just remembering how those fragrances unfolded on me- wow. I totally didn't expect the sweetness, much less the beautiful rose, in BdP, thinking it would be primarily woodsy as suggested by the name, one of the more "masculine" scents of the line since they are all listed as unisex. When I tried it, I hadn't read the listed notes since I ordered for the samples. I am really not a very experienced sniffer (I *just* got into perfume fairly recently) but it was so unexpected and gorgeous.

And Amoureuse- I used to wear a simple green floral everyday (Acqua Allegoria Foliflora- doesn't really compare I know) and I finally couldn't bear it anymore for myriad reasons, so I thought green florals were done for me. But the counterpoint of the spice, particularly the cardamom, which comes through very strongly on me, is just so ludicrously lovely.

And just the richness and quality and dynamism of these scents is unlike anything I'd experienced before (granted, I have not smelled many fragrances having just gotten myself tangled in this mess). I don't feel like these fragrances make you feel like you're wearing a brand- they're way too multidimensional for that. Like I wrote before, they make me feel very much like myself, like they are an extension of my personality.

Okay I am gushing again. Can't help it. I do not not have an addictive personality by nature and rarely do anything to excess... But these perfumes have me completely confounded.