All Invited! ♥ ♥ ♥ Sniff 'n' Speak Saturday, April 4, 2009 ★★★ Florals

Thanks for the reminder, Q.!

What are we doing this year to make it different? Any specific flower/group of flowers (white, yellow, red or spring/green) to concentrate upon? Olivia G. fragrances (whose birthday will be on April 9th)? Or, everything goes?

Yes, this IS a big category! Would a narrower focus be a good idea?

I have a few samples I can try out for SnS Saturday. I love having an 'excuse' to try them all out at once hehe

There are two suggestions:

1) Tuberose-gardenia (not an easy one, but who said it has to be easy?!);
2) Spring blooms (daffodils, tulips, lily of the valley, irises, orange blossom, fruit tree blossoms, violets, etc.).

I'll be able to go for tuberose but not gardenia, since that's one note I purposefully do not own, so tuberose gets my vote... Thanks for getting us thinking about this in advance, Ms. Twolf and Ms. Q!

So we could do tuberose AND/OR gardenia. Or if we want to broaden the category, we could add jasmine. A white tropical floral extravaganza!

Florals.. my *favouritest* category [insert irony] - this one will be a challenge for me. Will I stick to my "safe" florals, the ones I know I love? Hiris, Bois d'Iris, Blush, Datura Noir, Ava Luxe Madonna Lily... that's about it, innit? Well, Safran Troublant may count as a rose. Or should I go way out there with something flowery and un-me? Any recs for florals for someone who has a hard time with them?
Depending on the weather I'll be honouring Ms. Giacobetti with her glorious Hiris anyway on the 7th.

I love florals and I go for tuberose. If I'm not going to test Goutal Gardenia passion again? But that's mostly tuberose I have heard,

Veuve, you are set with MJ Blush -- jasmine, gardenia, light fruity notes, fun.

I like the Spring blooms suggestion myself.
I feel that if we opt for the tuberose &/or gardenia most everyone will wear FRACAS or EL Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia for availability sake. (That may just be a nightmare of mine own, so forgive me please.)

Good point. I'm actually more in the mood for springlike florals right now. We need someone to decide! Maybe you, Twolf, or Quarry???

"How about jasmine?", said the jasmine lover. But it could give people a fair number of available choices (Joy, Alien, A La Nuit, etc., etc.)

Florals is one category where I don't have to scramble. If it's decided soon whether it will be one subset of floral and if so what type, I may be able to mail some samples in time to those who are interested or in need (I've got tuberose, gardenia, jasmine, white flowers, and roses covered).

I would say if you can find a flower blooming somewhere in the world not necessarily under your back porch (CBIHP I Am Dandelion, get it! ) and there is a scent for it, go with it. I am sure jasmine, gardenia and many more are blooming somewhere this coming weekend. So are dogwood, plumeria, even roses!

Personally I will go with lily of the valley, although historically it is the flower of May. Not an easiest flower for me (artificial, metallic, sharp, excessively green or overly sweet) but I have accumulated three or four lily of the valley samples I would like to wear.

Sounds great, Quarry!

If anyone wants a sample of Molinard Muguet or Delrae Amoureuse, PM me.

Spring Blooms sounds good to me!

Sprimg Blooms !
Like Chamade, Grand Amour, so many others...
Irises, violets, daffodils, narcissus,pansies ...
I'll be in NYC- away from computer-
But I think- probably Rainwater and Violets-I'm such a soppy fool.

OH BOY!!

Like BlackCat I'm a fleuriste and the only problem will be eenymeeenymineymoe-ing....maybe I'll Astaroth....

Got company coming and may be late in posting but BOY am I IN.......

Decisions, decisions.

Another vote for Spring Blooms, and my pick will be Annick Goutal Eau de Charlotte with its mimosa and lily of the valley notes.

I'm happy with spring blooms - sign me up! Wonder if AL's "Midnight Violet" is spring-y enough. It's one of the few violet-based scents I can pull off. (Love the smell of fresh violets, but somehow most violet fragrances end up unappealingly powdery and 'fake' smelling on me). I may break out the Diptyque Jardin Clos and/or L'Artisan's Jacinthe de Bois... Maybe I'll just throw all of them on and attend the S&S as a wild-flower-spring-garden bordello.

Quarry, I picture you saying "Spring Blooms" like the guy on Iron Chef.
I might have to have a scent of the morning, the afternoon, the evening...

Sweeet. I was thinking that I couldn't identify a spring bloom if I wanted to. But I have a sample of Chamade, not yet tried, courtesy of Twolf. Great! I'm all set.

I can't wait! I am a fool for florals, though not a big fan of tuberose or gardenia. So I will go with the "spring flowers" suggestion, since I have many that will happily fit that bill.

I have MANY florals in my wardrobe and admire a ton of others. And even in the chypres, orientals and colognes, it's often the floral notes that sing out at me. Having said that, herbs, spices, resins, and abstract aromachemicals get me excited too. It's just that there is something that specifically speaks to my nature about certain florals. Jasmine is so sensual, warm, feminine, complex - and if properly done, a little bit skanky; how could you not be mesmerised by it? And the wonderful, milk-honey and sunshine scent of yellow - mimosa - there aren't many other scents that really make you think of optimism and light in the same way.

So, it would have been easy for me to default to a whole bunch of scents! I decided to pick something a little different: one from a sample I've not tried at all yet (so it'll be a new experience) and one from my wardrobe (something I bought in Chicago and have treasured and admired, but rarely worn; partly because it was so expensive that I'm almost scared to use it!).

The sample
Un Matin d'Orage by Annick Goutal
Meant to be: "stormy gardenia in a Japanese garden"

Official notes: Sicilian lemon, shiso leaves, ginger, gardenia, magnolia, jasmine sambac, (frangipani) champaca.

My impressions: There's a very sharp ethanol-alcoholic-chemical note (seems more than just the alcohol evaporating) in the opening. It smells industrial in an unpleasant way; a real chemical-spill note. Not a good start. I almost can't get anything past it, it sits there in front of the somewhat blousy, but sweet and delicate floral that's trying to get through. If this "floral chemical spill" impression doesn't go away my lovely new blurb for this might be "not only a scrubber, but something you could probably scrub with."

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From my wardrobe
Un Parfum de Charmes et Feuilles by The Different Company
Meant to be: "enchanted forest with fauns and fairies"

Official notes: Marjoram, peppermint, sage, serpolet, jasmine sambac, grapefruit, clementine and patchouli.

My impressions: I love the opening; mint and herbs and citrus; just one of the most accomplished and sophisticated openings I've come across and here's the thing I appreciate most - it does not smell of "yet another cologne". With a herbal citrus, you'd usually be heading in that direction straight away (which is not bad; I love a good cologne, but it's just delightful when there's a surprise like this). It might be the mint or some clever synthetic element that's taking it away from the cologne territory.

Jasmine starts to come through pretty early; the smell of it here is almost a texture to me - where the opening was jagged green and yellow lines, here comes jasmine, all brown and fuzzy. It doesn't sit there separately from the earlier notes at all; which is great, but one comical thing happens - the addition of jasmine suddenly makes the citrus-herb concoction smell soapy and the skanky undertone of jasmine is (either on its own or together with some added animalics like synthetic civet) creates a bit of a bad-breath and/or bathroom smell that just lingers at the edge of your perception.

For the rest of the development, the scent flip-flops between a herbal floral and old-fashioned bathroom soap.

It manages to be very sophisticated, very moorish, but a little bit unsettling.

I'd change the description to "An enchanted bathroom".

Serge Lutens' Gris Clair for me:

"a rich floral fragrance with notes of lavender, amber,
tonka bean, iris, dry wood and incense"

Wearing a few Czech and Speake soliflores:
Mimosa: more jasmine on me. Only got mimosa in the beginning - was like Champs Elysees mixed with A la Nuit. A few minutes later the jasmine got rather stinky/indolic and now it's very much like soap.
Neroli: started out harsh and bitter but dried down beautifully. Smooth, sweet neroli/orange blossom (not sure which is which by smelling).
Rose: smelled like these bath products I used to have. Now smells a bit aldehydic. My nose is starting to itch again.
Dark Rose: tea rose and patchouli? Not bad I spose.

Once we settled on spring blooms this was an easy one for me.
Stately Somerville Manor has lilacs all around it and nothing means spring more to me than standing on my front posrch after a spring rain smelling the lilacs.
The scent I've chosen for today captures that near perfectly.

Frederic Malle En Passant

One of my favorite scent associations is the smell of lilacs and the assurance that that smell lets me know winter is over for another year. Lilac is one of those notes that is notoriously hard to execute well. Most times it is used with a heavy hand and it comes off smelling like a heavy-duty air freshener. Then you have someone like Frederic Malle give Olivia Giacobetti, in 2000, the opportunity to create a scent around lilac and you get En Passant. Ms. Giacobetti has had transparency used to describe many of her scents and in En Passant that quality reaches its apex. From the top the lilac comes across boldly and for a moment I worry that the air-freshener quality is about to take hold. I needn't have worried because the heart is where Giacobetti's trademark transparency takes hold. She tones down the lilac and pairs it with a watery accord. This is how lilac smells to me after a spring rain as the breeze wafts the scent through my window. It is at once heady and close but yet subtle and far away. The brilliance of this scent is that this level of delicacy is maintained for hours on my skin. In other perfumes these kinds of delights are fleeting, in En Passant it is not. As this develops I finally begin to get hints of the wet earth the lilacs are planted in as there is a noticeable greenness that appears. The note list would seem to make cucumber the note responsible for this but it has much more of a wet soil quality to my nose. The one funny note that peeks in and around this scent as it develops is the wheat note which smells like freshly-baked bread, it never lingers for long but it plays peek-a-boo with my nose throughout the heart and base of En Passant. Once again the freedom Frederic Malle has given a perfumer has resulted in one of their best pieces of fragrant work. En Passant translates to "in passing" but it also refers to a chess move which, is not often seen and, is the only occasion in chess where the capturing piece does not move to the square of the captured piece. Olivia Giacobetti has also created a transparent lilac masterpiece that is also a rare piece of artistry.

Gosh, the weather is not calling for spring blooms at all. I will compromise and wear Bois de Violette.

UPDATE
After 2 hours both Chasse scents had faded to pale shampoo.
I'm now merrily swimming in En Passant


But here's my original post:


I was going to go with En Passant (you smell terrific, Somerville MM, and that's an excellent review), but then my dogs trotted after two white butterflies on their morning walk, and the jasmine was blooming in the back yard, so I was inspired to put La Chasse aux papillons on my left arm and La Chasse aux Papillons extreme on the right.

Despite the names, and as many others have noted, these floral, springtime scents, are quite different from one another.

The regular Chasse is sparkly, the Extreme more thick and buttery.I was told at a workshop held by l'Artisan Parfumeur that a top note of narcissus absolute, violet leaf in the middle, and and base notes including hay, and leather notes are responsible for the rich character of the Extreme.

The original Chasse, built on a base of ylang ylang and tuberose, just doesn't last on me at all. This is a shame, as it is so pretty without being cloying.

After an hour, even the more tenacious Chasse aux papillons extreme has lasted only close to the skin. It would take a lot ore spraying to get any sillage.

I almost forgot about S&S day! Phew! Florals are such a broad category it's hard to decide which to wear, there being so many good ones. I believe I've picked one for my SOTD, and those that are 'runners up' I will sample and report on. One aspect of florals I'd like to highlight is that when combined with non-floral notes, the entire composition is greatly enhanced from both ends - the florals are boosted and the non-florals are boosted. Sometimes you will also get the 'yellow and blue make green' effect whereby the combination of florals with non-florals essentially creates a 'new' note, much like the chypre ghost note is created when you mix bergamot and oakmoss. This also happens mixing florals with other florals, creating lush accords that do not smell like their component parts. I have a few in mind to highlight - I just need to shower and get my day rolling. I'll be back.

Can I jut say that Richard James Savile Row has the nicest tuberose accord. Ladies & gents - you must try it if you get the chance.

Most women's fragrances have tuberose with the volume turned up a little too high, but RJSR manages to open with a very distinct tuberose note, but not too indolic or aldehydic - it's rather dry and very crisp. It has that 'spray starch' smell I get from Maharanih by Parfums di Nicolai (what is that?) but it only enhances the floral effect.

Miles away from the Fracas and Michael Kors of the world. Very dandy, if you ask me.

I have sort of a crazy day today- soccer fields, art lessons, and a fundraiser tonight. So, I decided to do a "flight of florals" since it is a long day with lost of outdoor time and showers thrown in and I think I can get away with transitioning scents. I also wanted to do it chronologically. So the menu for today is-
Chanel no. 22 (1922) to start- aldehydes to start but quickly followed by jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang, and tuberose. I will definitely be the best smelling mom on the field! Then in the afternoon,
Diorissimo (1956)- muget and ylang ylang in the top notes jasmine in the base. For tonight,
Carnal Flower (2005)- Big tuberose and jasmine on me.

Should be a fun ride!

I'm attempting to stretch today's SnS into a whole weekend experience. I've had to dig deep into the sample box to find suitable frags since my fragrance wardrobe is really slim on florals. (I think most of what I call floral is really floral-oriental.)

I'm wearing Molinard Violette today. I didn't think I was going to like this, I still sometimes struggle with preconceived notions about florals in general and soliflores in particular. I am happily surprised! Violette smells so happy, so Spring-like. My late mother-in-law had violets that would grow wild in her side yard. I always admired their bluish-purple color, their dark green heart-shaped leaves. I thought they looked so cheerful.



Violette captures that bluish-purple color to me. It is sweet, yet fresh too.

This is making me want to explore violet scents more deeply. I'm reading Quarry's sampling this morning with interest.

Today I'm trying on Guerlain's Chamade.

It goes on a beautiful bouquet of lushness. I guessed carnation and gardenia-- according to the charts, it's hyacinth and jasmine. It was a little bit of a quiet entrance, but bright enough to stir my imagination, and creamier than most florals I've tried (which doesn't say much.) At any rate, I rather liked it, enough to seek out that flower. If it is the jasmine, it isn't a dirty one. If it's the hyacinth, it's as beautiful to the nose as it is to the eye!

The middle notes are said to be ylang-ylang, galbanum, and blackcurrant bud. Something here turned Chamade sweet and spicy, which was cool as far as the development of the perfume, (taking such a sharp turn from the top notes is intriguing...how'd they do that???) but was not what I wanted this morning. My nose was disappointed, because the opening was so fresh and lush. I don't like it. It's reminds me of an '80s perfume I bought a mini of when I was twelve. I didn't like it then, either.

The base notes, according to the BN pyramid, are vanilla, woody notes, and balsamic notes. Vanilla is iffy with me. I love it in Tocade but can't deal with it in Addict. Apparently I'm not fond of balsamic notes.. It seems I tried something else recently with balsamic that I didn't care for.

In short, the middle and base of Chamade fail to live up to the brightness of the opening. It is, at this point, not something I'll wear again. I think I'll slip into some Pure Poison a little later.

I went with Cornubia, it's more oriental than floral but I had to wear one of my recent purchases. It smells like delicious bouquet of flower incense and musk, with maybe a tad of leather and tons of powder. I like it even if its a bit cloying.

It's already smelling like a garden in here! I think I might switch to En Passant, or perhaps a violet scent, for evening. Yum!

But my first thought for today was carnation. I just love the clove-y spiciness of the true carnation flower. My SotD is DIANTHUS, by Etro. Isn't the bottle wonderful?



The notes listed here at BN are Orange, Bourbon Geranium, Centifolia Rose, Pink Pepper, Ginger, Carnation, Woods, Musk, Cedar, and Vanilla.

I love the way the bright orange, the mellow woods and the vanilla complement the clove of the carnation. This is a fragrance that I think could be easily worn by men and women, and it's much easier to wear (and prettier, I think!) than the beautiful but heavy-hitting Caron BELLODGIA.

I'm wondering if my choice (Chamade) can really be considered a floral? It definitely seems more oriental in nature to me. The florals lasted all of five minutes.

After much consternation, I'm wearing Dior's Diorama EdT - the re-issue. This is an example of the 'bouquet' of flowers effect, and the combination in Diorama is so rich and lush that it literally has a buttery feel to it (probably from tuberose). There's a touch of melon/citrus, but not much compared to it's little sister, Diorella. I had heard that the re-issue has little to do with the original Roudnitska creation of the same name. Thanks to Brielle87, I was able to sample the original EdT and I can report this is not true. The original is smoother and greater breadth (perhaps because it contains now-banned ingredients), but the re-issue is definitely an excellent approximation of the original. You can buy the re-issue and not feel bad you can't hunt down and afford a vintage bottle.

My runners-up for what my SOTD was going to be are Serge Lutens Sarassins - my favorite jasmine fragrance that is both sweet and 'green', and the unique CB I Hate Perfume To See a Flower. TSAF is unique in the quirky CB way, specifically it recreates a trip to the florist. It starts off smelling like topsoil, then green notes emerge, then finally a white floral base. If you haven't tried it, it's worth springing for a 2ml oil sample, available on the CB website.

As I did last month, in honor of S&S Saturday I'll provide a give-away. If you're curious about Diorama (re-issue), PM me your address. I have enough for the first 3-4 people.

I have been going with the unpopular choice -- lilies of the valley ("Worst Fragrance Note" thread -- out of 99 replies 12 list it as a difficult, hated or yikes!, it is more than 10 per cent) these couple of days. Why don't lilies of the valley get more love? Millions of women around the world and over the past two centuries can't be all wrong, as EVERY respectable house came up with some sort of scent based on lilies of the valley. Ernest Beaux ( Bourjois Premier Muguet 1955), Henri Robert (Coty), Annick Goutal, Jo Malone, Ayala Sender are just a few noses who were playing with this note too.

There are two images in my head when someone speaks about a lily of the valley woman -- it is either a very young girl in an Easter colored dress with ribbons and ruffles or a very old grandma (Miss Marple type? Queen Elizabeth?) wearing her dark skirts, Easter colored blouses. and sensible shoes. None of them exactly fit the definition of provocative, sneaky, sensual or vamp. No wonder Serge (Chris Sheldrake) does not have guts to flirt with the flower of innocense, vulnerability and purity, it just will NOT sell in a modern day society, I will shut up.

Personally I do not think I can easily wear all lily of the valley fragrances either -- part of it being due to "Do not eat" scare as all parts of the flower are poisonous (42 toxins according to Wiki? or, is it more now?) and another part is being "Do not pick up" developed in the 80-s as the flower itself became more and more rare. I know, gardeners can grow them now in their back yards now and they are spreading to the category of overwhelming weed -- seas of green leaves producing very few fragrant bells if any, but to me lilies of the valley are always associated with family time with my dad when we would go to the woods to pick them up under the shady trees and put bouquets in antique glasses and they would perfume the whole room (dad could not sleep in that room and guess who got stuck living with the magical smell for 5 or 6 days?).

At the moment I got 9 liliy of the valley soliflores in this house, and 4 of them I wore last night:
-- Floris Lily of the Valley -- honest, sharp, green in the beginning, lasting, drying out to slightly musty powdery smell of old paper;
-- Bourjois Premier Muguet -- sparkling aldehydes, crystal clear blossoms, sweet woody base, lasting;
-- Molinard Les Fleurs de Provence Muguet -- a fantasy flower with elves and fairies and dry leaves in the beginning and metallic moth balls at the end, does not last long;
-- Caron Muguet de Bonheur -- clean and soapy take on the flower lacking sweetness and with acidic aspects coming to the foreground, as good old dusting powder would mask body odors. Too sloppy.

Today I started the day in Coty Muguet de Bois (older version, not the one available online for $9.95 in a long bottle) -- an ode to the whole flower with shady trees, little bulby roots, leaves, and miriad of tiny flowers, drying down a tad too dry and lacking sweetness to be my absolute favorite.

Continuing the day in Guerlain Muguet parfum -- my heart almost started flipping as I saw that whisperingleaves was wearing this same scent yesterday on the SotD thread -- rare and expensive, now produced as LE for May Day (French May 1st tradition of giving small bunches of lilies of the valley to the loved ones) and -- I heard -- only available at their Paris boutiques. It is beautiful in its creamy transparency, no sharpness or rough edges, no burning rubber or metallic aftertaste, it lasts and lasts and lasts. Everything else in the perfume world is a copy and not a good one (I read one BNer referring to the copies as phographs taken from the oil paintings, and in this case you would think of a 5 year old playing with their mommy's broken picture phone -- so bad are the flankers).

I also have Penhaligon's Lily of the Valley -- despite other florals used in its composition, it is too green, too fresh, too haughty almost trying to raise that little and undemanding lily of the valley to the cult status of rose or gardenia or something. Too pretentious to be my favorite.

L'Erbolario Lily of the Valley -- my favorite of the bunch including the beauty, longevity and price factor combined. Accurate, spick'n'span if you would. Sweet enough to balance the citrus in the opening and the woods in the base.

At the moment I do not have any CD Diorissimo, but I got butterflies in my stomach again earlier this week looking at Miss R's treasure of a bottle. I did like it back in the mid 80-s when my deskmate wore it in college and it did sit better on my skin (she had a sinus problem, I think). What not to love -- sweet blossoms, sueded base, lasting, pretty. Need to urgently revisit!

Great bottle, Haunani! Nothing says spring or simple and earthy to me like some Brit style Penhaligon's Bluebell, or Lily of the Valley. Once in awhile I get the urge for simplicity. These two (to my nose) are spring flowers yanked out of the ground, someone barely shook the dirt off the roots and then squished all the essentials out of them. Bluebell captures the chill of spring air so well. I've heard it was a favorite of Princess Diana. And the simple, innocent Lily of the Valley takes me back to when I was a little girl searching under Grandma's ferns for those elusive pretty little white bells. I'd come up, dirty knees and lightly crumpled sprig of flowers clutched in my fist-smiling from ear to ear. Finding those little bell flowers made me really believe fairies really could exist. After all, if these were in the world, why not a fairy?

Great start to the Sniff'n'Speak day!

Ah, this is hard, too many choices. Since I received the Le Labo sample pack this week, I thought I would start trying samples. Today I am testing Rose 31. A nice "dirty" rose with spices and woods.
According to "Now Smell This" the notes inlcude: Grasse rose, cumin, pepper, clove, nutmeg, olibanum, cedar, amber, gaïac wood, oudh wood, cistus, vetiver and animalic notes.

I liked this one very much and would consider having the travel size bottle. It reminds me a little bit of L'Artisan VdR, but more potent and dirtier.

Twolf, I Love Lily of the valley! Great reviews! For SnS I'm starting out in Armani Cuir Amethyste. A really nice Violet. It kind of reminds me of Channel Cuir de Russie's Butch Cousin. It's not as smooth or refined but it is a proper perfume and for the price it went for I'm not complaining! Thanks again arwen_elf!

On my right arm:
Fidji -- cool, sparkling floral melange with a galbanum edge
N'Aimez que Moi -- tepid violets and roses, powdery and old-fashioned

On my left arm:
Le Temps d'une Fete -- warm and cold at the same time, tons of narcissus
28 La Pausa -- chilly, green iris

And on both arms:
Dia -- not a true floral perhaps, but loaded with rose, very musky, very sensuous

Gres Cabaret for me - rose and a little lily of the valley. Not overwhelming, not too sweet, it's quite restrained, but I get a little waft of fragrance when I move which is lovely and comforting and it lasts well on my skin with a pleasing dry down. I bought my 7.5ml bottle of Cabaret to try after reading about it here (thank you ) and it pleases me so much that I'm planning a bigger bottle.

Yesterday when I was contemplating Sniff 'n Speak I thought of wearing Mahora, but then I woke up this morning and we've got torrential rain now and a very bitter wind after a couple of warm and sunny days and it just didn't fit. We do have daffodils and some primroses in flower and lots of new lambs in the fields here but it isn't very spring like today in North Scotland!

Wow! The N'Aimez que Moi is eating up all of the other scents on my right arm. So much for tepid. This is a velvet glove over an iron fist kind of scent. The Le Temps d'une Fete also seems to be encroaching on the others on my left arm, which does not surprise me as much, because it is a tenacious little charmer.

Twolf, I really enjoy lily of the valley (both the flower and the fragrance note) -- it's one of the few "white flowers that doesn't turn waxy and awful on my skin most of the time.

If Chris Sheldrake (or Andy Tauer, Neil Morris, Serena de Franco) is lurking or can be contacted... Let's have a SEXY lily of the valley scent for the grown-ups who aren't blue-hairs, folks! Challenge! Ready, go!

I decided to keep it light today in Claus Porto Wild Pansy body lotion, and I'll be adding Diptyque Un Jardin Clos later this evening.

I love the light, milky spring fragrance of Wild Pansy... satisfying without being wimpy or little-girlish. Clos de Bois is really spring in a bottle for me... despite the unexpected inclusion of a watermelon note, which somehow blends so gorgeously with the flowers that all I get is sweet rain. Glorious.

And my crocuses (in my shade-filled yard) finally came up! Yay!

Un Jardin Clos notes (from TPC): Hyacinths surrounded by white lilac, mimosa, and watermelon.

Started out yesterday in Guerlain's Muguet. Soft wonderful I am not in the mood for this often but when I am it is heavenly.

This morning L'Artisan's Iris Pallida wonderfully soft Iris. just the thing for Tai Chi in the park on a beautiful spring morning.

Started today with Beyond Paradise and YSL Paris, on each arm.

Beyond Paradise is basically a big floral with a massive dose of calone at the opening. It kinda creates an illusion of flowers floating in a tropical forest pool with a waterfall cascading into it, or how the Herbal Essences adverts would smell.
Then it turns into a soft, creamy rich buttery Tuberose with a cleaned up Jasmine note and stays there with a really soft woodsy note. Really very quiet.

Paris... needs little introduction. Green Violets, Roses, and Tea leaves. A rose bush in a garden tea party, where the ladies are all wearing hats. Very light powdery Moss note underneath the Rose. Dries to a Rose/Woody sortof thing.

For now I'm enjoying the floral earthiness of Bluebell. It has little lasting power, so later today I'm going to wear Joy--my favorite power floral.

I agree with Lizzie about the lasting power thing. I had to apply to my hair and clothes to keep it around at all. But that does work for me anyway, and I can get maybe 5 hours out of it if I over apply.

I was feeling a bit queasy this morning, and even sprayed a floral (Parfum d'Empire Osmanthus Interdite), but it instantly nauseated me, so I scrubbed. I applied one of the most "nausea safe" scents I have--Miller Harris Tangerine Vert. It is primarily a citrus cologne, but it does have some floral (as do most fragrances).

Notes: Sicilian green tangerines, grapefruit, citron, marjoram, geranium, orange flower, cedar, moss, musk (from luckyscent.com)

The orange flower is quite prominent and it blends subtly with the other citrus notes. It has the effect of carrying the more fleeting fruit notes into the middle stage of the development. I am sure this fragrance is relatively complex, but the overall effect is that of a straighforward, well rounded, fresh citrus scent.

I said I was going to wear Pure Poison later, but I decided on something a little more chill-- Gap Heaven. I haven't worn it since last summer (before I began my BN journey) and I remembered that it didn't have much staying power. As it turns out, that is neither here nor there with this one, and it stays so true that another wet blast of jasmine is really quite satisfying, and refreshing. It's a simple, clean white bouquet.

I have learned something during my first S&S, that being that I really like clean jasmine. It was fun, also, armed with some new knowledge, to be able to fully appreciate something already in my wardrobe. I had to go give it another star.

Very nice reviews, folks.

I love florals and florals seem to like me. O.K., not all flowers--violet, iris, and LotV (sorry, Twolf and ComDiva--it's really shrill on me.) One of these days, I'll have to try some of the other spring blossoms, like narcissus.

Today I started with Matin d'Orage. Luckily, unlike Nukapai, I did not get what sounds like a really appalling note. Instead, it's lovely from top to bottom. There's a lot of lift and transparency to it, perhaps due in part to an ozonic note. I get no ginger, which is lucky for me, since I don't like it. But I do get stemmy sheer gardenia, tuberose, jasmine, and a few other flowers thrown in as well. Unfortunately, longevity isn't great--perhaps 3 hours, then very close-wearing for about 3 or 4 hours more. Then again, I'm a underapplier.

I then Astaroth'd to Fragonard Freesia. Freesia's another tricky note--it tends to go a bit cloying on me. This is simple and sweet but not too sweet. The downside is that it's "fresher" than I prefer my frags.

Tonight will either be Delrae Amoureuse or Czech & Speake Dark Rose. Can't wait!

Earlier today, I found a little gift boutique that had mentioned "perfumes" on their website. I was disappointed to find only 2, from Lady Primrose: Tryst Noir and Tryst Kiss.

I tried the second one:
Top notes: pink grapefruit, peaches, berries
Mid notes: roses, lilies, & jasmine.
Basenotes: caramel & sandalwood

It was loud cotton candy, and that's all. Even with my penchant for sweet scents, it was too much.

This evening, I'm giving a proper wearing to Parfums Berdoues Violettes de Toulouse:


Twolf had put it on my radar, and I finally found a bottle of the EDT at TJMaxx, on their clearance shelf.

Top Notes: Jasmine, Spicy Bergamot, Absolute of Violet Leaf
Mid Notes: Cyclamen, Almond Blossom, Lilac, Violet
Base Notes: Iris, Sandalwood, Sweet Musk

It's a little sweet, but in a light, innocent way, completely different from the day's earlier sugar bomb. Jasmine tends to scare me off, but it seems very subtle and well-blended in this fragrance. None of the floral notes stand out, and it's just a very quiet & pretty perfume. I think it will be really nice this summer!

Changed my mind and wore a more spring like fragrance Saturday 4th:

I tested Le Temps d'une fête from Nicolaï.

Notes:
galbanum, opoponax, mousse d’arbre
jacinthe and narcisse
bois de santal, patchouli, mousse de chêne.

It was a lot sweeter than I thought it would be, a nice and pleasant, spring like frag that didn't smell as much as other Nicolaï scents I have tried. I would give it three stars but I will wear it today too and perhaps my opinion will change a bit.