All Invited! ♥ ♥ ♥ Sniff 'n' Speak Saturday, Sept 5, 2009 ★★★ Opposite Gender

Oh have I been looking forward to this one! Going to try and wear something shamelessly feminine, will be making my choice at some point this week.

Fun! I was just thinking how I should wear my "masculine" frags more often. I'm definitely going with something I haven't worn in a while; Rocabar, Envy for Men, or B*Men would all qualify.

I have something I've been saving, a sample that Taolady sent me. I haven't even take a sniff yet. I want to be surprised.

I'm definitely going to play along w/ this one! I'll try to wear my most manliest frag. I wonder what that would be...hmm...M7 maybe?

My sister has a bunch of bottles lying around, maybe I should go and give Marc Jacobs Daisy a run.

Cool! I may go for my sample of Black Orchid, Alien, or my wife's L'Instant (pour femme). I will NOT wear Diorissimo. No. Never. 24, Faubourg - no problem. But never Diorissimo. Never, never, never, never, never.

I'm thinking L'Instant PF or Marc Jacobs Daisy/Lola, as yet undecided, any reccomendations?

I have several great masculines so I am looking forward to this one! I know I will at least wear some Invasion Barbare. . . .

Aaaa, come on! Be a man!

My most "manly" is MPGs Parfum d'Habit followed by Crown Park Royal. Either one...

(Today I wore YSL L'Homme and it is very floral...)

Thinking about wearing Endymion, but I may look for something new for such an occasion.

I've decided on Fracas!

I think I'll wear my bf's Dior Homme Intense.Never tried it before,and the notes seems interesting to try from a female perspective

Oooh heck, am looking forward to this one, don't know what I'll wear though!

Tested Acqua di Parma Colonia Intensa yesterday evening because I wanted to wear it today. I liked the spiciness and dryness and there was a bit sweetness too. When I woke up in the middle of the nignt I sniffed my arm. I could still smell it (+). But then the smell made me feel a bit sick (-) so I don't want to wear it today. But at least I have tested.

I'll probably wear the BIG LADY of them all, Youth Dew by Estee Lauder. Hey, if you're gonna go for the opposite gender, you might as well go big, right?

I can't join today, but i still wanted a small part in this so I put some of my husband's DKNY Be Delicious Man on my wrist the other day.

Unfortunately I just couldn't get over the fact that I smelled like my man...it didn't come out very well on my skin, mostly quite sour apples. I will have another go with something else in a few days. Maybe Dad's Farenheit?!

Anyways, have fun today. I'm preparing a party and I'm deciding what to wear for that. It'll have to be one of my own frags though :-).

Following Mikeperez23's lead and wearing Youth Dew on one arm (and J'Adore on the other).
Will report back later.

If I wasn't going to Zurich today I'd be giggling all morning trying to decide between Yatagan and well, something equally rugged and butch. (Is there anything?) But I'm going to be out in public with my family and a dear friend who's visiting. He's Small's Godfather and he's a wonderful man.

So since my hubby is totally non-fragrantic, I'm hoping The Godfather will be excited at the prospect of sniffing a few things today. I suspect I'll go with either Christian Lacroix Tumulte Pour Homme, which is a really nice incense over cedar, or Lollita Lempicka Au Masculin, which is kind of like LL. If we get to go into Oswald's Parfumerie, maybe I'll get to try a couple of things, so I want to keep my own perfume level down a bit in case.

This evening, I can let the Yatagan loose. Yahoo!!!!

Was planning to wear Amouage Gold Men to a get-together later today, but in the spirit of SnS Saturday, i will wear my wife's Amouage Ubar. I am actually excited already!!!

OH GOODY!!

I got quite a few fella's frags and am gonna wear as many as I can today in honor of the opposing sex...VIVA YANG ...from YIN!!

Starting off with a sample of the SUPERB Eau Sauvage...Top Notes: Lemon and Rosemary; Middle Notes: Petitgrain and Basil. Base Notes: Vetiver....(but is sure smells like there's a lot more in there than that! Viva Roudnitska!!

Will continue to report.

(And - OH! - Perfaddict - you smell DIVINE!!)

I often (most of the time?) cross the marketing/gender barrier, so today I'm wearing one of my most worn favourites: Chanel No 19 edp.

Slightly bitter green, grassy, floral, musky. Fresh, versatile, never offensive, but full of character. What's not to love?

Jean Patou pour Homme Privé



I have a sample that Taolady sent me in a care package (thank you Taolady! ). I decided to save it for this very Sniff ‘n Speak and this is my very first sniff of it ever. It has a bracing beginning, which doesn’t usually bode well with me, but it transitions into a lovely woodsy vetiver and I get an impression of cool earthy iris (is it in there?), and a slight sweet spiciness that must be the lavender, which rather than dissipating becomes more apparent as the fragrance develops. It’s very, very nice, intoxicating really. What a great composition! Refined, restrained, clean and gentlemanly, yet sophisticated and sensual. I think whatever the parts are, and I’m no good at picking them all out, the sum of them is greater. I feel very comfortable in this fragrance this morning, and I'd love smelling this on a man. I love Grey Flannel, and this one seems similar – but more the real deal.

Today I'm wearing Jolie Madam by Balmain, my favorite leather.

I'm in EGOISTE! this morning (sorry, that commercial has branded that in to my brain. I cannot read the word without hearing the shrill screams....)

Spicy, and a little bit sweet. The casual passerby is probably assuming that I am wearing an unusual woman's fragrance. On a man, I'm sure it just comes off as worldly and sophisticated, but on me the feminine side really comes out to play!

PS: I did not know that Red Shirt existed, but I believe the world is a better place because it does.

I am so very manly in Green Irish Tweed. This one was love at first sniff, and I sometimes think about hiding DH's Prada so he will HAVE to wear this one.
It doesn't smell quite as fab on me, but it is still makes me smile.

Today I'm in Dior Homme Intense.I love the original,so i was curious about this version. The notes are:

Lavender,Iris,Vanilla,Amber,Cedar,Vetiver.

My first impression from the bottle is a quite masculine and sweet fragrance.On my skin it doesn't seem that masculine however.This is defenitely a gourmand scent to my nose.The dominating notes to my skin is vanilla,Amber and Iris.


I would say it comes out as a mixure of Musc Ravageur and Lolita Lempicka( the female version) on me. Defenitely wearable for a woman,but it's quite loud,so you should wear it with confidence. It also has a little bitterness to it. Not sure what notes that causes it.All in all I have to say that even though I like the scent it's not something i would wear that comfortably.I prefer the original on me.The drydown is all about vanilla.Not too different from L by Lolita Lempicka. Is this a Roucel creation?

When I 1st sniffed M7 it had wrongly been placed at the Women's Frag counter of the dept store. I tested it and LOVED it, it wore beautifully and I thought "wow how cool of YSL to be so forward and modern with this feminine scent"


OK have to admit, I don't like to wear masculines but this one is GORGEOUS


Libertine, I'm jealous!! Waiting for my bottle of edp

I just don't wear masculines, not sure why. If I love a masculine scent I automatically want to smell it on a man. Funny, this sniff n speak really has me thinking- wondering why I cannot get my head around wearing a man's frag. With my little M7 incident, as soon as I found out it was for men, I knew I just wouldn't wear it. Weird.

I'm wearing Creed VIW today which is kind of cheating, it's not really masculine smelling at all but when hubs wears it I could just bite him he smells so good.

One of my favourite Sniff 'n' Speaks ...

Decided against going with one of my 'everyday' so-called masculines (I have many), and to have a play with something unusual. It was a toss-up between A*Men Pure Coffee and Carthusia Uomo ... I went for the latter.

What can I say? This is Daddy circa 1979, in the days when he looked and dressed like Tom Selleck. How to describe it? Loud, clean, soapy, pine-y, lavendery, citrus-woody, peppery. Utterly conventional, dated and oh-so Mediterranean. Reasurring, familiar, macho: a gold medallion nestling in chest hair.

Antaeus

I tried Fleurs du Male by Gaultier and it did not suit me.

According to all those ads from the launch--a handsome man in a bathtub of white flowers (OK, some of your know the reference here)--I expected something a little more floral. Not a purchase for me.

I will stick to my more recent "olfactory transvestism" by keeping my YSL L'Homme, thank you.

I will spray a little Bulgari Black a little later for the evening, its the only real masculine one I have at the moment, as I only have a small collection. Wanted to join in though!

I will be wearing Geranium PM by Malle from a sample provided by my good friend Sybarite.
Minty fresh on a hot day!

Well, I had to be on an airplane this morning, so couldn't be too daring. I'm wearing Czech & Speake Citrus Paradisi. It's pleasant, but bears no real resemblance to paradise on my skin. Later I'm going to try C&S Cuba.

Taolady, I love Eau Sauvage! And Quarry, what a good idea to pull out the Red Shirt sample! I liked that one best from our blind sniff.

I ended up in Michael Kors Michael for Men. What a beauty! Big 'n bold yet elegant; ultrasuede leather and smooth tobacco with a kick of booze and a touch of candied fruit. It's evocative of oak-paneled libraries, of sinking into an overstuffed club chair with a good book and a snifter of cognac, a humidor of Cohibas within easy reach on a lacquered end table. Gender-bending never smelled so good!

I'm certain I'll be reaching for this a lot more often in the coming months; although weather usually has no bearing on my scent choices, this one feels especially "autumnal" to me.

top notes: bergamot, elemi, cardamom, tarragon, star anise, thyme, coriander
middle notes: pipe tobacco, suede, incense
base notes: patchouli, dark plum, sandalwood, dried fruits

Guerlain Heritage, edt.

Notes: Lemon, Lavender, Bergamot
Coriander, Pink Peppercorn
Patchouli, Cedarwood, Tonka Beans, Vanilla

This opulent masculine loses something in the translation from the husbands skin onto my own! Truly, one of my favorite scents to sniff and snorfle on my man...Heritage goes very soapy/patchouli on me...save a small sprig of lavender. After about 3 hours of wear, it's mostly faded, leaving a slight animalic remnant - who knows where THAT's coming from???

All in all, I've always wondered if this one would be a winner for me...now my curiosity has been satisfied - the answer is "no".

Gosh I forgot how strong Youth Dew is. OMGoodness...((opening windows in my house))

I just went out to get the mail...I thought there was a hint of Youth Dew in the breeze!

I believe it. LOL.

I remember the story going, that Estee Lauder, before she became a cosmetics giant and she was just starting out - that she would go around to the department stores and take bottles of her perfumes and makeup and try to get stores to buy them. One day she supposedly (intentionally) dropped a glass bottle of Youth Dew bath oil on the floor so that it would stink up the whole fragrance department. Women kept coming up to the SA's asking what that scent was that they smelled, and that's how she got the store to stock it.

Can you imagine? I bet the floor smelled like YD for more than a week.

Seriously - it is a wonderful fragrance. Right now it's in that cinnamon/amber stage and it smells SO good.

Tom Ford Grey Vetiver

Notes: vetiver, grapefruit, nutmeg, orris, orange blossom, aromatic sage, pimiento, amber woods and oak moss

The notes I smell most in Tom Ford's Grey Vetiver are vetiver, mixed citrus which may include grapefruit, bergamot and lemon, vague and nondescript woody notes, and a herbal accord which is reminiscent of rosemary and lavender. There is a slight plasticky note in the mid-development which reminds me of the creamy floral accord from Tom Ford's White Patchouli. In the context of Grey Vetiver, it gives a bit of sweetness and roundness to an otherwise rather dry and astringent composition. The vetiver is of good quality--it starts nutty and ends smoky and dry. The vetiver is much more subdued in GV than it is in vetiver powerhouses such as Lalique Encre Noir, although it is obviously vetiver from a similar source as EN. Later in the mid development, as the vetiver is transforming, there is a stage where the combination of vetiver with the creamy floral and herbal accord is quite pleasing--it is refreshing and uplifting without being heavy or harsh. Late in the development, the early creamy floral transforms into the same soft woody accord from White Patchouli, but this time is overlaid with smoky vetiver, very faint mossy notes, a masculine musk and persistent herbs. This would be an excellent alternative to lighter vetiver scents such as Guerlain Vetiver or Comme des Garcons Vettiveru. Gray Vetiver seems modern but not edgy, longevity and sillage are moderate--a great all-around masculine fragrance, and sure to be a crowd-pleaser.


Creed Original Vetiver

Notes: Vetiver from Haïti, Mysore sandalwood, iris from Florence, musk and ambergris, deep wood notes, mandarin, bergamot from Sicily, ginger (from creedfragrances.co.uk)

Lemon, bergamot, amber, musk, and rosewood are the most prominent notes when Original Vetiver is first sprayed. I am wondering where the vetiver is. Even after the fragrance has dried and is starting to settle, I do not smell any vetiver. What I do smell is basically a very woody-lemony cologne with soft amber-musk base. It's really not bad, but I would not classify it as a vetiver fragrance. The ingredients seem to be of reasonably good quality, however, I am having a very hard time getting excited about this fragrance. OV is Boring with a capital "B". It just SITS there, being lemony, woody and a tad spicy--in a nutshell, OV is mostly a soapy traditional scent and a bit thin on the base notes. This fragrance has none of the sparkle and beauty I would expect from a traditional scent made by a prestige house. I hesitate to suggest it as a good, all occasion, light and fresh fragrance because it is too expensive for what it is.

I thought I wanted something bright and citrusy today, so I decided to sample Creed Erolfa. This is a little too much sweet, juicy citrus for my taste. The salty aquatic notes don't do enough to balance this for me.

Top: Ozone, Sea Salt, Marine Algae, Seaweed, Morrocan Tangerine, Lemon, Bergamot, Orange, Mandarin, Lime,
Heart: Violet, Honeydew melon, Cyclamen, Jasmine, Ginger, Coriander, pepper, Caesarean Basil, Rosemary, Cumin, Pine,
Base: Cedar, Sandalwood, Musk, Ambergris

You all smell fantastic! I'm in the spectacular Invasion Barbare, as planned. I love this one so much, I doubt I'll be wearing any other scent today, but one can never tell.

I think this might be my first SnS (or at least the 1st one that I actually wrote something, rather than living vicariously through the thread)...

I decided to use the excuse of SnS to try a sample of AdP's Colonia Intensa.

I've owned Colonia for years now...and while we all hear/know about its unisex design, I find that it dries down to a very feminine rose-centered fragrance. I was curious to see how if Colonia Intensa has the same evolution.

Colonia Intensa opens bright and green, with wafts of citrus...

So far, just a few minutes into the drydown, green-ness is still prevalent, but with the sparkle of the topnotes significantly toned down. Much more muted, warm...similar personality, if you will, to Colonia...but no floral...at least, not yet...

Am looking forward to see how it evolves through this beautiful sunny Saturday...

...copied, no doubt, from the success of Coty's La Rose Jacqueminot:

"The year was 1904. The place was the Grands Magasins de Louver, a major Parisian department store. Coty had come to show his latest creation, La Rose Jacqueminot. None of his previous creations had found a market. But instead of being enthusiastic, the store's buyer was showing Coty the door — without allowing Coty to even open the bottle!

At this point Coty — by design or in anger — smashed his sample bottle on a counter or on the floor. Immediately the aroma of La Rose Jacqueminot filled the air ... and brought women swarming to Coty's side, asking the name of this wonderful fragrance ... and where they could buy it. (It has been suggested that Coty paid them for this enactment.)" http://www.perfumeprojects.com/museu...oty_0079.shtml

P.S. Eau de Baux still going strong!!

Started out in Tiberius ( :wave: Quarry)

Then sampled many wonderful masculines today including:

Habit Rouge
Dior Homme
Body Kouros
M7
A*Men Pure Malt

Some of these could definitely make it into my regular rotation

I'll probably try these one at a time over the next few days.

Leesee, Invasion Barbare is one of my absolute FAVORITES! Enjoy.

As a confirmed "bi-scentual" woman, I have a lot of masculines that I wear regularly and enjoy.

Today, however, I'm just back from a family vacation (Ontario for 4 days, NYC for 1), smack on the heels of the PHENOMENAL Boston BN get-together... Didn't even realize the S&S was coming up, but it turns out I did fine, wearing one of my impulse purchases from the BN extravaganza: Bond No. 9 Brooklyn. It's marketed as unisex, but seems to have been labeled more traditionally "masculine" (fine with me!). I can see how this could smell fairly pedestrian as a 'masculine,' but on me, it's a lovely light cardamom/transparent floral and leather. I pull up any and all sweet notes in this, so it's LOTS of fun! I envision walking past someone with a good nose who stops in their tracks as I pass, turns over their shoulder and thinks, "Wow - She's *interesting*..."

Brooklyn notes: Grapefruit, Cardamom, Cypress-wood, Geranium Leaves, Juniper Berries, Cedarwood, Leather and Guaiacwood.

Today it was Original Vetiver by Creed. I actually had never tried it. It was nice and clean on me. Very much how I would love a man to smell. It's a bit soapy, but I like that...clean and soapy are guilty pleasures of mine. My only complaint is that if fades very fast. I spritzed this morning around 11 and by 1pm it was a faint pleasant memory.

Lara, interesting--OV on me has lasted all day. The drydown is really quite nice, but I doubt I would have the patience to get through the first 8 hours of it on a regular basis. I agree--clean and soapy!

L'Artisan Navegar

Top Notes: Lime, Red pepper, Ginger
Middle Notes: Rum, Star anise, Black pepper.
Base Notes: Cedarwood, Guaiac wood, Incense

Tea, pepper, & incense... what's not to love?

Half my fragrance collection consists of feminines, so opposite-gender day is a bit redundant for me.

I took this opportunity to revisit two fougeres:

Parfum d'Empire Fougere Bengale

Fun as always. This seems less daring each time I wear it, though - perhaps I'm getting my weird fix elsewhere nowadays? It was almost comforting in its fougere-gourmand quality, like wrapping oneself in a nice warm blanket. I like the way tobacco and immortelle compliment the lavender-tonka accord.

Tom Ford Moss Breches

Impressed me more than on my first try. It's not really a fougere as I had been under the impression of, but it's a fragrance with a bit of an identity problem - not quite chypre, not really oriental. Interesting garrigue-herbal top notes quickly soften into a lightly honeyed heart, giving a feeling of dried herbs made into a sore-throat honey lozenge. The base is nice; a touch bland, but pleasant, an ambery-mossy vibe with a balsamic feeling.

Thanks to a sample from j4ck (thanks!), I'm wearing Coco edp by Chanel.

Really, it's about darn time I smelled this.

The top was perfumey peaches (peach aldehydes??) paired with a suede-ish musk. Quickly, a chocolate/vanilla base (more perfumey than gourmand, though) came in and melded with the musk.

This is actually quite nice, and not entirely unwearable by a man, if he's a fan of oriental-style fragrances.

One thing that struck me was the "perfumey" nature of Coco. Most scents now try to be a bit more literal. Peach smells like peach, vanilla smells like vanilla, chocolate smells like chocolate. In Coco, the "natural" smells all have a synthetic nature to them - not in a bad way (like smelling like cheap fake peach air freshener) but in an artistic, perfumey, classic way. Most scents don't use synthetics in this specifically intentional and artistic manner, and that made this a lot more interesting.

Nice one.

OK, so I'm a day late, but I DO love the SnS, so I'm still joining in!

With massive thanks to Petruccijc, I have a plethora of gents' frags to choose from and hope to work my way through all of them today and tomorrow. I'm saving the Carons for later, so right now I have on my left wrist Opium Pour Homme and on the right, Arpege Pour Homme

Opium Pour Homme
Basenotes Directory gives the notes as:
Top Notes
Star Aniseed, Blackcurrant.
Middle Notes
Chinese Galanga, Szechwan Pepper.
Base Notes
Fresh Bourbon Vanilla, Tolu Balm, Atlas Cedar.
And says this is a sweet male fragrance modeled on the original women's Poium perfume.

I didn't get sweet to start with. I got a blast of what I think of as 'aftershave' that is very definitely masculine. When I first got into perfumes, this was a very off-putting note/accord for me and stopped me trying a lot of masculine frags. I'm over that now, thankfully, but I do still find it drowns everything else out for me. (I think this might be a patchouli accord, but that's as close as I can get to pinning it down.)
As it warms and opens up on the skin, that strident note is fading a bit and becoming a little sweeter and richer. I do get some woods and spice and it seems to be getting a bit creamier. It is still very butch.


Arpege Pour Homme
Top Notes
Nectarine, Pink Pepper, Seville Orange, Neroli.
Middle Notes
Nutmeg, Iris, Maté, Jasmine.
Base Notes
Vanilla, Tonka Bean, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Precious Woods.

This is a masculine? It smells like a feminine with its sweet, light opening. Now it has been on skin for a few minutes, it's becoming more woody and warm, but its staying light and playful, and very enjoyable. I'd say this was a nice perfume, rather than a men's fragrance. Actually, I like it better on me than the women's Arpege. I will be trying this again and putting it on my 'if I come across a bottle for cheap cheap' list.

Ok, MIA yesterday [ because I was up at 1 am, to drive J to college]...
But I was delightfully butch in Yatagan.
Can't get more macho than THAT ;-)

I went for a second opposite gender day in H.O.T Always, and you could've fooled me as it behaved like a nice polite feminine leather scent. An enjoyable experience.

I too did a double duty gender bender and wore Aramis today. My skin doesn't make this break feminine until about three hours after application, when the cumin finally settles down. The cumin is very prominent on me, as well as the patchouli. Dries down like a glorious, classic chypre should.

Egoiste - i love it!