The Holy Grail, the Hunt and Collecting: Your opinions?

I'm greedy. I have several Holy Grails, and I want more.

Great topic! And please, everyone post their HG (if you've found one).

For me, I think I would keep collecting regardless. I don't vary my frags much (the ones I wear) as it is - most days will find me in PotL or Monyette or one of a few other faves, but the pleasure of collecting isn't just in scenting myself a certain way. The bottles are gorgeous and I dream of having a nice little collection on a mirrored art deco tray on top of a vanity (tray and vanity as yet to be acquired, along with collection ), and it's pleasurable just opening a bottle and sniffing, not necessarily wearing. I love perfume, and I love the paraphernalia of perfume, too. The ads, the bottles, the books, the history, the discussing of it etc. etc.

Right now I have quite high hopes for LostMarch Lann-Ael, which sounds very much like my HG frag. We'll see...!

I am so happy for you that you've found a Holy Grail fragrance lushsoup! Finding a/the Holy Grail fragrance for me was totally different from the way I had imagined or expected it to be. I had originally thought I would discover this amazing 'elixir' which would have a dramatic effect on me from first sniff and I would know instantly that I'd found 'the one'. The idea of such a discovery brought out the drama queen in me as you can tell! As I expanded my wardrobe, adding more scents to my collection, discarding others along the way, the importance of finding a Holy Grail gradually eased off because there were so many perfumes to enjoy. I found my Holy Grail about two months ago but what makes it an HG scent for me is the fact that it doesn't transform me at all. My other fragrances are for 'putting on', creating a mood, emphasising a trait, dressing up/down or whatever and I will still seek out new fragrances to enjoy. It might sound bizarre but my HG fragrance seemed to know me very well already. It doesn't change me but rather 'fits' me perfectly as I am. That fragrance is Gotham by Neil Morris and I love it.

Y'know, it's funny you bring this up, lushsoup. Cuz, I've been wondering why I am considering buying another full bottle, after I'd already bought 100 mL of what has got to be the most expensive batch of liquid I've ever owned.

If I spent *THAT* much money on it, you'd think it was my Holy Grail (HG), right?

WELL! Now, here I am considering buying another batch of expensive liquid. So, if I found my HG, then why am I so interested in buying another bottle of something else? And do I really think I'm going to use up 100 mL of the other, in my lifetime???

I realized that of the scents I own, the ones I treasure the most are very different in character. I can recognize them a mile away, and since they are so very different from each other (and anything else around me), they conjure up memories specific to their scent.

And *THAT* is why I collect fragrances. My current theory anyway. It may change next week.

A single Holy Grail just isn't possible for me, but I like the idea. My sister has a single scent she wears (Shalimar), and she's utterly content (and always smells fabulous -- Shalimar is magical on her.)

My nose needs great variety and I like to layer different scents with each other to create a unique new scent (like my latest playing with Declaration Bois Blue, Avalon Juniper, and Violetta di Parma - a wonderous woody violet came from that experiment)

I confess to a certain feeling of jealousy toward single-scent people. They seem to have figured out something I have not, or at least are certain enough of their likes and dislikes to set up camp somewhere scent-wise, and just get on with other things in their world.

As for the original question (a great one, by the way), I have several HGs, but I am still seduced by the promise of the next better scent -- which, in all fairness has led me to scents I never would have experienced had I been a one-scent-gal. So maybe it is all okay after all.

Leesee said: "I have several HGs, but I am still seduced by the promise of the next better scent -- which, in all fairness has led me to scents I never would have experienced had I been a one-scent-gal. So maybe it is all okay after all".

Seduced is absolutely it....I am a serial HG collector, a bit like a polygamous patriarch getting restless after a bit and needing another wife with different personality traits, hair colour etc from the ones he already has. Some of this collecting is incremental, but occasionally a HG scent falls from grace and gets expelled from the harem - Guerlain Sous le Vent being an example of a recent "mistake".

HGs with staying power so far include: Chanel 31 rue Cambon, Bois des Iles, Cristalle EDT, Cuir de Russie, Jasper Conran Woman, TDC Bergamote, Eau de Guerlain, Apres L'Ondee, Plus que Jamais, Bvlgari Omnia Crystalline and Jasmin Noir, Roja Dove Scandal, L'Artisan Eau de Jatamansi, Jo Malone Kohdo Woods Day and Night, Parfumerie Generale Brulure de Rose, Rosines Ecume de Rose - indeed a whole bunch of rose perfumes are just bubbling under HG status. If you invite too many in, the value of the title will become diminished (well, it probably is already!!), but it is a tough call. These are all such strong contenders that if someone was to pick just two out of my list and tell me you can only wear those for ever, I could live with their choice, I love them all so much. That said, I am actively looking to be seduced again...

I used to believe in the Holy Grail.
I used to have one: Jean Marc Sinan. But it was discontinued.
Then I discovered that I had lots of loves...
Why limit youself to one?
Bookmark this thread, lushshoup. Come back in a year--maybe even six months--and tell us what happens.

I have several HGs, but I am still waiting for the next better scent. Once I was on Yahoo answer, there is a same discussion there.

Great thread, great comments! I enjoy this question a lot. Thanks to all for sharing.
For me, the holy grail scent is part of a larger process -- self-discovery.
When I started my fragrance interest (only a couple of years ago), I had not worn scents for a long time. But I loved taking bubble baths with nice scents. Suddenly I thought that I could carry that relaxed mood from the morning bath into the day, if I had a nice scent. At that point my holy grail scent was a lovely, fresh, walk-in-the-woods pine.
Well, I've since discovered that pine is one of most difficult notes to render in the way I"m looking for.
But along the way I've discovered that I love green scents, herbal scents, vetiver, other woods, some spices, incense, some florals.... and so on. Things I thought I'd dislike I sometimes like. Things I was convinced I'd like did not work for me. I'm learning about myself at every step of the way.
And step is a key word. I think life itself is an extended process of self-discovery. A kind of wandering pilgrimage, whose end is not clearly in sight.
So you see, my holy grail really is... discovery. And scent is a fun thing that helps me do that.
Cheers!

I don't think it's possible for me, though Apres L'ondee comes pretty close. I can't have one favourite food/book/lipstick/pair of shoes/chocolate, heck if polyandry was legal I'd probably have been signing up for that too. So one favourite scent, no can do.

Everyone's comments here are so pithy, clever, eloquent, wise, humorous. I was going to quote so many of you that I finally gave up trying. Lush, you phrase thoughts much the way I do.

At this point, I believe only in holy grail categories--an ultimate green scent (must have my greens), an ultimate orange scent (need orange blossom), an ultimate vetiver, a patchouli, etc. I live jolly with my present finds while really enjoying pursuit of the unknown.

the Holy Grail... That's so difficult to find. The question is: do I really want to find it or is it just the search that matters?
Right now I'm in a downsizing mood. I want to have fewer, but better. I want all my per fumes to be HG, and get rid of lesser loves.

I used to think that there was such thing as my holy grail fragrance. I have had gut wrenching, visceral reactions to some fragrances....Sacrebleu, 31 Rue Cambon, Cuir Mauresque to name a few. I knew I had to own these fragrances. I am faithful and loyal to my husband, family and friends......being loyal to one fragrance would be too much for me to bear

I am pretty sure it would be impossible for me to find a HG scent. One of the main features of my personality is the fact that I intensely love many things... almost feeling as if each thing is simultaneously my favorite. I feel like finding a HG would somehow insult the awesome beauty of everything I would then claim to be beneath it, and I couldn't do that. In the same way I'm never going to find a HG novel, poem, or outfit since each things has its own sometimes epic charms, I couldn't ever find an HG perfume. This is why I collect things.

Why do other people collect things though? I'm not sure, but I do think a lot of the joy of collecting is merely in identifying as part of the group of those who also appreciate said items. "The world of perfume" would easily be worth staying in even if I did shock myself and find a HG.

I don't think in terms of HCs, but rather in "close enoughs." When I find a frag that is close enough to my ideal conception of what I'm seeking, I stop there, or at least only grab a cheap sample of similar ones, if I can find them, out of curiosity. So far, this approach has worked well for me.

Isn't the very idea of a Holy Grail supposed to be elusive and just out of reach? If we could possess it, it would no longer be holy.

The fun is in the search. Of course, it's expensive and one always starts out buying boatloads of mid-priced frags, only to be rewarded with maybe a few gems out of them all.

However....what better way to learn about scents in general and note identification. Not to mention the fun searching for "the One".

Did I mention it's fun ?..................

As a woman of a certain age I have been quietly wondering whether perfumes are a safe outlet for our ever shorter attention spans and craving for diversity and new stimuli. I too had a gut wrenching, visceral reaction to 31 Rue Cambon, but buying a bottle to satisfy that need is a fairly harmless act. Maybe it is precisely our restlessly acquisitive perfume hobbies that enable us to remain settled in other aspects of our lives such as our relationships with partners and friends.

I thought I might be on to something with this idea when a member on another site emailed me an article describing a passion for perfume as "libidinous investment" - I should stress that this meant a sublimation and channelling of all kinds of physical and emotional energy, not just what it might appear to mean! Though it could also mean that...

And taking up Quarry's point, I do believe it is easier to find HGSs by category - or be content with a "close enough" discovery - to quote Bigsly's wise approach. Yes, perhaps perfume can teach us important life lessons...

At age 15 I was told "A lady is not properly dressed without her handkerchief, her gloves and her perfume" (and in my case - frequently not much else) So I've been a perfume wearer for 65 years - only the last two of which have been as a fervent BaseNoter/Collector/Huntress.

Ackshully not so much "huntress" as "enjoy-tress". I'm not really looking for a specific, one-size fits all occasions-and-moods, heart-stopping, addiction-inducing scent. (Already found that in the original Joy) Like AromiErotoci said - for me "the fun is in the search". Since coming here my modest little collection quintupled!!

I'm having a great time right now sniffing out all the gourmands - late to the party but still kickin' ass!!

Some perfumes sweep me away as soon as I try them and I know I mus have them. But whether it will las, I don't know.

I don't believe in a HG, for a while I thought I'd always love angel innocent, but I've grown tired of it, find it lacking a certain elegance really, it just doesn't capture me like some others do now. I'm sure in enough time I might get tired of these new superstars of perfume as well, especially if I wear them often. ( I wore innocent pretty much every day)

HG of perfumes are like the love of your lives, you will probably live long enough to have several.Although I'm more loyal to the men in my life than perfume, I'll give them that much.

What many people appear to describe here is a quest, an olfactory odyssey, with their HG as Ithaca.

I hope never to find my Holy Grail; this is not my motivation. The day I find it, the quest is over. And I never want that to happen.

God knows there have been many contenders along the way: the Diorissimo of my young womanhood; the Eau du Soir of my thirties; Bois des Iles, my most recent sweetheart.

But I am an inconstant lover. I know there will be others to take my beloved's place. I cannot idealise monogamy, for to do so will be to fail.

I love the many varied insights on this thread.


I never thought of that before, but it may be true for me.


I'm just gonna start calling you AE, AromiErotici. I can't help but giggle at all the different ways we are trying to type your name.

Love the theme of quest, and pilgrimage. There are destination-oriented pilgrimages. But there are also wandering pilgrimages. The goal there is more open-ended, seen more in terms of process than achievement. What do we learn along the way, en route?
It is nice when Odysseus returns home. But his mystique, and the power he acquires, lies in his wandering path.

I can just imagine the title of an academic paper on the subject: "Compulsive collecting behaviours linked to scentophilia as a predictor of social cohesion."

Oooh, lovely thread.

I used to always have 5-10 perfumes on the go and my original as-close-to-HG-as-you-can-get was Coco Chanel in the late 80s/early 90s. It was the scent I'd always default to and one I couldn't find any fault in and one I used to still get a kick out of even after wearing it for days in a row. However, just like falling out of love with a person, one day when Coco ran out I just didn't replace it.

I'd found maybe the only true HG fragrance I really could have "stopped" at - Aveda Equipoise. I still had other fragrances to play with, but if I wanted to smell like "me" and feel totally at ease, I'd wear Equipoise.

And the f-ers discontinued it.

That actually kicked off the more obsessive hunting, collecting - and in the end - studying of raw materials and of perfumery. So in a way I should be grateful! Now, smelling the last few drops of Equipoise I have left at the bottom of an old bottle, I keep thinking: "this was it? It's good, but gosh, was I really that obsessed?" I feel like the exploration has allowed me to learn more than I would have otherwise and to expand my horizons. It's been exciting and I've found many new loves.

Gotham is lovely, isn't it? It's definitely in my "new loves" section, but a good contender for almost-HG is Le Parfum d'Odette, also by Neil Morris.

My true HG will one day be a fragrance I'll create for myself. Not just the kind I've managed so far (functional fragrances for other products), but a real perfume with a complex character. That's my outrageous ambition! That doesn't mean I'll stop collecting though. Just like finding the best shade of nail colour (Revlon Red) hasn't stopped me wanting to wear other colours, or having a favourite food doesn't mean you'll only ever eat that.

To me, perfume is art and food and colour and emotion - and the richness and variety fuels the exploration. May it never end!

We eagerly await your creation, Nukapai, confident in the knowledge that whilst complex, your frag will smell nothing like Angel, Wrappings, Youth Dew, Jungle et al.

I say Lush, do you come in 57 varieties along the lines of a "Soup of the Day"? Today I am wearing Private Collection, which Musse hauntingly likened to "cold vegetable soup". But tonight I hope to eat chick pea and spinach soup - served warm!

If Basenotes is still going and we're all still here in the time it'll take me to perfect the perfume; I'll gladly share the scent with everyone here...

I think of a Holy Grail as a fragrance that's truly transporting, spiritual. But that doesn't mean it's something I'd wear every day or give up other fragrances for. I don't think a HG is supposed to be perfect for every occasion.

I thought that Chaos was the ultimate and I'd never be truly satisfied with anything else, but I've sampled a bunch of other incense scents over the years, and I love a couple of them almost as much. But for a different reason, because other notes will evoke their own specific feelings.

Now, I've recently sampled Aoumage Silver Cristal twice. I don't know if it has anything in common with Chaos, they're very different. Yet, the first time I tried SG, I boldy wrote "Holy Grail?!" in my notes, and I still feel that way. I think this will be a HG (great, I'm trading in one formerly discontinued HG for another!), but I already see that I'll only really be able to wear it in moments when I'm up to its standards-- fabulous outfit, make-up, hair... and the right environment. I love wearing it privately for myself, but I have only a very small amount, and really want to save it for deserving occasions.

I hope to end up with three or four fragrances worthy of being considered Holy Grail, representing most of the categories, but maybe my personality doesn't go in enough directions. I'll probably never find a HG fruity-floral or gourmand, but I can still enjoy Gucci Envy and Daim Blond. And I want to!

So even though I expect my Holy Grails to be a fantasy vacation in a bottle, I also like having my feet in the here-and-now. And variety is important to me. Humans are too complex and we often have so many variables in our lives (occasion, the weather, our emotions) affecting us. I just can't imagine a "one size fits all" fragrance that I'd want for everything from a black tie party to a hot afternoon pulling weeds in the yard.

I'm enjoying this thread so much! Thanks for all these wonderful comments.
Here's something else to consider (some have similar things) -- we change, every day. We aren't always aware of those changes. There is a saying that a person should read a great book at least three times: in youth, middle age, and wise older years. It will be a different book for that person each time. So too with scents.
A scent, (or anything else or anyone else) is not just a thing-in-itself. Its higher reality is thing-in-RELATION.

For the longest time, I did not know what HG meant. I had to ask on another board because it never occurred to me that such a thing would exist! I think the closest concept is the "signature" scent--ie, the "one" that describes each of us in both complexity and simplicity. A difficult task!

For me, the HG ideal has to do with how it makes me feel. As an example, I may have a nice, well rounded art collection, but perhaps there is one that is really the crown jewel, and it simultaneously elevates all the others while in its presence. Even by itself, it may be incredible, but in the context of the collection, it sings most sweetly, with the support of a choir.

I also think this ideal has changed for me over the years, as I have matured, or changed my life priorities. When I found myself looking for a HG musk, I realized I was trying to replicate the feeling I had when I wore Coty Wild Musk. Smelling Coty Wild Musk now does not do the same for me (either it has changed, or I have changed), and no other musk has been able to recreate the feeling I had when I wore it. However, some fragrances have transported me to this place--they are not musks, ironically. Chanel Bois des Isles is one of them.

Thank you everyone for your insights!

Very good point - I can totally relate to it for books too. On the perfume front, Magie Noire by Lancome was probably the closest thing to my signature/HG scent in the 80's. Leaving aside the issue of its suspected civet reformulation, prompting me to run a mile from it now, I don't think I would choose something quite so overtly vampy nowadays. I feel more wimpy, more inward-looking, less of a "gadabout". I would still like to feel sultry, but would choose something more muted, more "through smoke", to borrow the origins of the word "perfume". L'Air du Desert Marocain is more my style nowadays, or the very wonderful and newly discovered Bvlgari Jasmin Noir.

Haha! No, I wasn't being that clever, but split pea is excellent... Not overly lush, mind. To stay true to your name, you will need a goodly dollop of cream in every serving, plus extra floating blobs on top. Maybe a decadent drizzle of pumpkin seed oil. That's enough foody sidetracking of the thread from me, but your name is magnificent!

But that's the thing. I want to be promiscuous.

And VM I hate civet: 'GADABOUT'

Funny reading this thread. I had a "signature" for years (Hypnotic Poison), but never a HG scent.

I started perfume appreciation as an educational exercise - more an extension of wine appreciation. Therefore, the focus has been on sniffing as much as possible. Figuring out why I like something and why others like something I may not.

I have category favorites.

I have "mindless wears" - stuff that I can put on, know I smell good, and not bother other people or annoy myself.

I have "cravers"

No HG. And now, no signature.

And that's fine too.

Great thread, Lushsoup.

This is a fun thread, lushsoup. So many individual "takes" on the matter.

Until very recently, I was smitten with the *idea* of a HG fragrance, but it never seemed to happen. For years, I always had at least five bottles on my dresser (of course, this was BB - before Basenotes - and now I know to keep those pretty bottles in the dark).

Now, just a few months into my perfumista training, I think what I'm after is approximately 16 Holy Grail fragrances. I seem to be searching for one warm weather and one cool weather option for each of the following categories:

Rose
White floral
Other floral blend or soliflore
Floral oriental
Green or moss
Wood and/or amber
Spicy gourmand
Dry tea or possibly incense

Eight times two equals 16. And each of those fragrances has to be absolutely beautiful and each has to say something about me.

And don't you know that my list of must-have categories will only get longer with time!

I think 16 is a good number to aim for--and I would love to downsize

I don't think I will ever finalize my collection or grow tired of adding a new scent.

If there were a finite number of perfumes, then eventually I would stop when I had added my favorites.
But they keep coming out with new ones, and my curiosity about them is such that I must try them!

Inevitably I like one or two. And so the collection grows. Slowly, but it grows.

Keeping the number down is a problem, isn't it? We all have to have a few non-HG fragrances, too, no???

Ah, the elusive Holy Grail scent! I have many "almost theres", but as for the
"one and only", I doubt if I shall ever find it. Isn't the fun in the chase anyway?
The nearest ones I have found are : Iris Poudre (Malle), Feminite du Bois (Shiseido)
and L'Infante (Divine). The haughty Ivoire tempts me now and then too, but then I
long for something more warm and earthy like Nirmala. I suppose I too am suffering
from olfactory promiscuity - although in real life I am a one-man woman.
Keep searching fellow perfumistas.....keep inventing all you illustrious noses -
one day we may meet in the middle.

Holy grails?
No. HG does not have plural. It is a one and only. it is unique by definition.

For me it is all about the Quest.

i do not believe in perfume HG. That sole notion is disrispectful to all the jewels I have in my collection. Finding my HG would mean that my EDT crusade has to stop... I aint stopping nothing! Ok I am in hiatus because I am poor, but I will continue finding perfect scents... eventually.

I love Sakecat22's notion of "mindless wears" - I can relate to that too - Cristalle, Jasper Conran Woman, Omnia Crystalline, Perles de Lalique.

Haunani, it is a shame for you having to grapple with hot and cold weather scents, requring you to split each category. Our "blah" weather means I can have twice as many categories, yippee! I am trying to limit my HGs/"close enoughs" to a round 20 myself, and am still working on the list...

May we know what this captivating scent was, so we can add it to our burgeoning "to hunt" lists? Did you get the same "gut wrenching, visceral" response that tdi and I had to 31 rue Cambon? Perhaps not ideal at bedtime, but I say welcome any time!

My misreading - I mistakenly thought the "new HG scent" was a discovery amongst the latest batch of samples you were testing last night, rather than a reference to the recent discovery of Carnal Flower. Must keep up!

I believe that you can have different holy grails depending on different times of your life...when i was younger I became addicted to Bal a Versailles and everyone would know me by the perfume I wear...as I grow older, ive just recently found my second signature scent...Noir de Noir by Tom Ford and found it delectable...although I agree with some that you can have a signature scent but not a HG...I THINK im still looking for one

We'll look forward to it. Unless I get run over by a bus, Basenotes will still be going...

Grant, please don't play in traffic!

I like to think that part of the pleasure in these threads is sharing nice things.
So to return to the theme of pilgrimage, quest...
The closing portion of a beautiful poem, "Ulysses" by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are,
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Wow, I remember that poem from my English studies at school!, and that last line is the very devil to enunciate.

Don't you dare!

Great thread, and I am enjoying reading everyone's responses.

It is nearly two years since I began my search for my Holy Grail, and the funny thing is that I started exploring perfumes with the thought solidly in my mind that I would find THE perfume that would be the perfect expression of my inner self. it would unlock me, unleash me, envelop me, be an extension of myself, I had really high expectations. I found so many lovelies along the way and gave up the notion of a Holy Grail. I "played the field," so to speak. Slept around shamelessly, scentually speaking.

Funny thing though.
I got married in July, and when choosing my wedding fragrance, I just knew which one it would be. Attrape Coeur by Guerlain. "Heart Trap." Once I wore it on my wedding day, I couldn't get enough of it. It extended that experience of the expression of love I was engaging in on my wedding. It made me feel receptive to love, womanly, open to my beloved and I wanted to feel that way continuously. If I had an infinite amount of this perfume, I could possibly wear it daily, but of course I don't. Perfume is finite after all. But the feeling goes on.

So can I call Attrape Coeur my Holy Grail? It has just the right amount of warmth, the right amount of sweetness, the right amount of softness, it's a beauty. I notice that since this experience, I have a tendency to pare down my wardrobe, I have quieter feelings towards my fragrances, like I 'm going through a settling down period. I want to simplify. I feel satisfaction wearing one perfume for a week, rather than flitting here and there with too much variety. I want to spend more time with a single perfume, experience it deeply, meditate on it, know it, be with it.

Two other perfumes I am feeling this affection and connection with are
Chanel no. 5 and Chanel no. 19. They satisfy me, I can exist comfortably side by side with them, they complement me, they don't over embellish me, they are familiar, there is an ease when I wear them. I don't have to think too much about them when I wear them, they don't demand overly much from me. I guess this is what my notion of a Holy Grail has become for now.

I loved reading your sweet story, rtamara4!

And to all of you, I'm already worried about my 16 HG plan. I think it's going to be too limiting, LOL.