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Sheer

post #1 of 8
3/28/08 at 8:05pm
Thread Starter 
I've only just become interested in perfumes since November. So the learning curve is steep for me but I am having a lot of fun trying out different scents, reading boards like this one, and finding out what I like.

I have been trying to understand what it is that links the scents I am enjoying and the word that best describes them is SHEER. A perfume that suggests light as in photon radiation (thanks to burr) and also a scent that is transparent...you can smell the body behind it. A scent that suggests the prisms that are created when sunlight shines through water, or the sun coming through transparent curtains. The very opposite of the smell of a deep, heady rose...

I imagine this attraction to sheer scents is a typical response for a beginner in perfumes. But still, I'd like to know....what are YOUR favorite SHEER scents?

Listing scents is fine...but if you want to get more descriptive...even better!
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post #2 of 8
3/28/08 at 10:47pm
I imagine the soliflores I like from Provence are pretty light and sheer, recently I've been enjoying Cote Bastide Orange Blossom, Peche de Vigne and Les Couvents des Minimes Verbena. I also use a centifolia rosewater splash by Roberts.
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post #3 of 8
3/29/08 at 3:05am
Funnily enough, I think that appreciating the subtleties of lighter scents is a sign of a more developed nose.

I always think of Jean Claude Ellena's perfumes as sheer;
Hermes Un Jardin en Mediterranee (a warm, rocky sun-filled garden overlooking the Med with a fig tree growing in it)
Hermes Kelly Caleche (sheer leather)
Frederic Malle L'Eau d'Hiver (standing indoors in a cashmere sweater, watching the snow fall)(heliotrope)

Jo Malone is famous as the Queen of Light, so you might like to sniff around her collection.
And Olivia Giacobetti has a wonderful reputation - her style is in this vein I believe.

Here are 3 lists (A-G, F-L & L-Z) of perfume noses with reviews of some of their creations - sorry, but you have to scroll down to the ones you want to read
http://nowsmellthis.blogharbor.com/b...umersAtoG.html
http://nowsmellthis.blogharbor.com/b...umersFtoL.html
http://nowsmellthis.blogharbor.com/b...umersHtoZ.html

In my opinion Bulgari perfumes have a sheerness to them - feel free to shout me down here as I certainly haven't smelled everything in their range.
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post #4 of 8
3/29/08 at 5:01am
Or anything with the word "voile" in it!!

Many of the "naturals" (Our own Ayala Moriel has some beauties) Whatsername's Garden....(somebody help me with this - she's a member here - and I'm having a brain blip).....

I'll be back.....
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post #5 of 8
3/29/08 at 11:14am
Thread Starter 
Woodbird--Yes, re: Ellena--his Nil is my daily perfume. Just ordered a decant of Un Jardin en Mediterranee, will be next getting a decant of d'Hiver. Can't wait to sniff them! I have had one experience with Kelly Caleche and I was not a fan.

And I just ordered four decants by Jo Malone--really excited to try them!
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post #6 of 8
3/29/08 at 11:33am
I appreciate Jo Malone's approach with simple scents that layer well, but found them to be synthetic smelling and called to double check that my nose was correct. It was. Many people do enjoy them, but I am trending more in the direction of Annick Goutal's and have developed in an interest in Italian scents. I'm thinking Santa Maria Novella and Carthusia will be my next tries. I have always enjoyed fragrances from DSHperfumes, since I tried them, too. Check out her website, sometime. She sells samples and code MUA gives you a 10% discount. Un Jardin Sur Le Nil by Hermes is also very nice, so are the Eau de Colognes by Guerlain.

And it's Anya's Garden, fyi.
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post #7 of 8
3/29/08 at 1:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by beachroses View Post

I am trending more in the direction of Annick Goutal's and have developed in an interest in Italian scents. I'm thinking Santa Maria Novella and Carthusia will be my next tries.

I have only tried Eau de Charlotte but I did like it. Which other scents from Annick Goutal would you suggest for that sheer quality?
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post #8 of 8
3/29/08 at 1:42pm
MPG's Sanguine Muskissime. A beautiful transparent, ethereal citrus opening over a light musk base. One of the finest openings I've ever smelled.
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