Newbie perfume questions - Advice appreciated :)

I'm rotten at identifying families and notes, myself. However, I know enough to say that you have good taste. Mmmmmmm. nice stuff!

I'm no help on the families! I don't know what my favorite scents have in common other than the fact that they are consistently categorized by others as "Chypres." Which, is nice to know, but I can't for the life of me smell what is common between Mitsouko and Givenchy III that makes them both chypres!

Speaking of which, based on your comments and likes, I recommend trying both of those above mentioned scents. I think you'd like them both!

Chanel is floral-aldehydic; Crystalle is a green floral I believe. I'm not familiar with Van Clef or L'Air du Temps. What might help is to read the reviews for these fragrances in the directory -- that way you can see what/how others put their olifactory impressions into words. Some of the reviews are pretty detailed with in-depth exploration of notes. I've found that pretty helpful personally.

If you like Chanel No 5, also try No 5 Eau Premiere.

If you like Chanel style in general, I'd recommend trying Chanel Les Exclusifs collection -- I suspect you might especially like Bel Respiro (green floral) & 31 Rue Cambon (modern chypre); Coromandel and Sycomore are also good. I've not smelled the rest -- I believe the range also contains No 18, Beige and maybe more. Not sure if Cuir de Russie is part of the Les Exclusifs range, but it's a wonderful floral leather (more floral to me than leather). I realize Les Exclusifs are darned expensive, but you can often find small decants to sample (such as at Scent Splits wiki -- just google it).

I get Chanel-like vibe from Parfums MDCI Promesse de l'Aube and Enlévement au Sérail; samples are available at Luckyscent. (I don’t ever intend to pay full price for a bottle, but the line is worth sampling. MDCI also sells a "discovery pack" of 5 X 10 ml different bottles for about $90 US, which is a fair deal, if you are ever feel like getting more than a sample.

Last, but not least, I find "No 5-like" beauty in Parfum de Nicolai Odalisque; it's a beautiful green floral (not as sharp as Chrystalle was to me). The line is much more affordable than MDCI (relatively speaking of course). If you fall in love with Odalisque, you can get a 30 ml bottle for slightly over $40.

It think samples and decants are a better use of your money at this stage than ordering full bottles blind (and definitely much more fun!)

It appears (and keep in mind that I have limited perfume knowledge ) that your favorites tend to have jasmine, rose, sandalwood, and ylang-ylang. And either vetiver or galbanum or both, for that sharp green. Cedar also seems to repeat among your choices.

I'm guessing that it's aldehydes that makes the fragrance "not flat" for you. People seem to refer to aldehydes as seeming "bubbly", "effervescent" and other words that seem like the opposite of flat.

My second guess on flat or not flat is the absence or presence of the sharp green note.

Crayfish

I am also a newbie, but Chanel No. 5 caught my attention! I love it so much, but I can never seem to find it at a good discount. But it is so luxurious - that is the word I use to describe it. Decadent!

If you are looking for a new scent that will leave 'a trail', I have been wearing Calvin Klein Eternity for Women for several years, and I have had complete strangers (on the bus, subway, on a cashier's line in a store, etc) ask me what fragrance I am wearing because it smells so good. My honey bought it for me - he has this habit of buying me the women's fragrance of whatever men's brand he buys for himself (i.e. Eternity, Ralph Lauren Romance, and the one that didn't work - Polo Sport). But, a scent always smells different on everyone (i.e. Polo Sport smelled great on a friend, but on me - it smelled like urine - seriously!)

RL Romance is another good one. But, Eternity is my fave! JMHO. Hope I helped!
Good to meet you!
Andi

As it happens, your favorites are mostly aldehydic and green floral scents (the former are classified by the perfume taxonomist Michael Edwards as "soft florals"). Chanel No. 5 is the archetypical aldehydic floral scent, and Kess is right to suggest you may enjoy Chanel's Les Exclusifs collection, especially No. 18, No. 22 and 28 La Pausa. Some other fine aldehydic floral scents (and near relations) you may enjoy include Piguet's Baghari, Annick Goutal's Heure Exquise, Iris Poudre, Azzaro Couture, Acqua di Parma Profumo and Acqua di Parma Iris Nobile, Estée Lauder's Alliage and Private Collection, Ivoire, Van Cleef & Arpels First, and Yves St. Laurent Cinéma.

Happy hunting!

Just thought I'd mention these few outstanding creations if you want to leave a trial behind you:
Aimez Moi - Caron (1996) - fresh, rich and woody
Montaigne - Caron, the current re-release version is simply beautiful, a classic and still as chic as ever
Patricia De Nicolai's Number One or Sacrebleu are certainly wonderfully heady, sumptious and decadent contenders.
Hope you enjoy trying all the different fragrances!

Even if my answer comes a bit late, my personal advice on this subject:

Male frag somewhat reminding of Chanel No.5- Knize Ten
Female frag somewhat reminding of Chanel No.5- Balenciaga's Le Dix

In spite of the many differences between them, these two scents have a few common points: citrus floral opening, old-school leathery dry down, exhaling both richness (sensual, warm, magnetic) yet impeccable distinction.

If you want an interesting masculine take on "sharper more citric/green opening, softer more floral drydown", try out Antidote from Viktor & Rolf.