December Blind 3x3 Sniff

Sugar plum fairies, you say?

Hmmmm.....



Sounds appropriately festive!

Mine came today, and I'm resisting the urge to sneak an early sniff.....A beautiful nutcracker-themed hint, too....Thank you, Twolf, for hosting a generous 3x3!

Love the poem re-write!

I have the samples in hand - thank you very much!

And I eagerly await instructions....

Nothing at the PO yesterday (Weds) - will check again this afternoon and report back. If I don't post before 7pm, assume they have *not* arrived yet.

When did the others receive theirs? Are you both in the US?

I'm in the Northeast US (About 8 hours due south of you) and I got mine yesterday. If they all went out at the same time, I'd guess yours would arrive today or tomorrow!

Twolfie dear, your poem reminded me so much of your wonderful 'Teasers' Something I will never forget.

Good luck to you and to all participants.

Irresistable, those "Sugar Plum Fairies"

I've done a search and I'm coming up empty...does anyone know where I can find a quick rundown of the rules of the game? I don't want to blurt a guess out of turn or anything! Now is a good time to review....

OK...I wasn't sure if we were supposed to hold off on public guessing until a certain time or anything...So, you or Darkdreams will say "GO on A!" and then we can start discussing and guessing. Then, we wait to get a "GO on B" before delving in to that....and so on?

I can't wait! My samples are sitting here in my desk drawer, taunting me with their mystery!

Hello, nothing at the PO earlier today. I will go again tomorrow morning before noon and post back as soon as I know. ARGH.

Going to the PO in about an hour, will most likely be in by noon Eastern time and will post here to let everyone if the samples have arrived. Fingers crossed that Canada Post's dogsled teams have delivered the goods!

Nuthin'...which means it'll now be Monday at the earliest. Sorry about this, delaying it all.

No fuss from me, LBMN...I have a crazy holiday-preparation weekend ahead of me, so next week will actually be more convenient for me than this weekend would have been!

Stay warm!

Still nothing. I have no problem with you all going ahead with the first sniffy if everyone is impatient! Will post tomorrow afternoon if they have arrived!

I'm happy to wait. It seems only fair.

It seems the mail is taking longer than usual this time of year...

I don't mind waiting...it would be a shame to let the post diminish the fun!

Still nothing. Can anyone confirm what day these samples were sent out? Again, if you want to get started on sample A, I don't mind. I'll be checking again tomorrow afternoon.

Some packages I have sent to Canada have taken over 2 weeks, despite what the USPS says.

Well, I just called the PO and there's a "small package" there, so I'm off to check what it is. Fingers crossed please. And if it was sent on the 3rd, yep, this is not a weirdly long time. It's not the USPS it's the Canadian postal service. They suck.

WOO HOO! They're here! I need to take a couple of hours to get my sh** together but will be back very soon, and as soon as we get the go ahead, to start sniffin'. So excited.

Oh, yeay! I'm ready when the others are!

OK, I'm not going to say anything about sample A yet but before I do get into commentary on the samples what I WOULD like to say is that I am a bit of a noob at picking out specific notes in perfumes. I worried a bit about making 'mistakes' if I participated in a Blind Sniff but I've decided I'm going to disallow any self-second-guessing and just try to give my honest impressions. My impressions may be a little less specific than those who are more experienced - I hope this isn't too annoying or vague, but I really did want to participate in one of these and am genuinely bubbling over with excitement here.

Also want to say thank you to everyone for your patience with Canada Post.

I'm in the same boat, LBMN, both in terms of nose and excitement! It will be fun to see what our more impressionistic noses come up with!

Nice. So we start tomorrow morning?

Chiming in just to wish good luck to the sniffers and to thank Ms. Twolf for hosting this round. Here's a little treat to get you into a sweet mood.



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH9vYiqDX5o"]YouTube- Dance of the sugar plum fairy from The Nutcracker (Mariinsky[/ame]

I'm up early today, so I guess I'm the first to check in!

Sample A is a very pale yellow. It's a typical consistency for an EdT or an EdP, not an oil, etc.

sniff from the vial? Sweet to my nose, and...minty?

***

I've now dabbed a bit on my wrist and it's a definite mint top note...I'd say Peppermint, not spearmint. Sometimes I get a piney note in mint perfumes, but this one is straight up peppermint out of the gate.

Wow. On my skin, that peppermint top note didn't last as long as it took me to type out that sentence. The drydown is already upon me, I guess! The mint had me expecting gourmand, but this is definitely some kind of floral...it actually reminds me of Estee Lauder Beautiful quite a bit.

I have a preliminary guess, but as I'm the first to comment, I'll PM Twolf rather than spoil the fun. (As if I'd be even close, LOL.But, just in case I've lucked upon the answer, I'll keep it off here for now....)

I will say that my first sniff made me assume that this must be the dept store or perhaps drugstore scent. The surprising drydown made me think department store....And, yet, my preliminary guess is a niche scent. So, who knows?

Sample A: same colour as light white wine (in fact the samples all look about the same colour)

Out of the vial: smells floral and perfume-y to me, and I think I'm getting something 'fresh' - dept. store or drugstore is my guess

On skin, 1 min: Sweet-ish, but not foody/gourmand. And yes, is that peppermint? Again there is a fresh note. At this stage I find this inoffensive and unremarkable. Don't dislike it but there's nothing special about - or, nothing that would make me perk up and go "oh! niiiice!" It's crisp-sweet, not cloying-sweet right now. Is there any bergamot?

5 mins: Has more body now, although it still isn't foody to me, the sweetness is coming out. Smells very sugary (sugar? honey?) at this stage and the freshness is almost gone. It's a thin, sweet frag right now, and still floral although I cannot ID the floral notes (freesia? rose? lily of the valley?). Is there some kind of candied fruit here? I don't know if I've taken the Christmas theme too much to heart but it *does* smells Christmassy.

15 mins: Sweet and spicy. Warm, but not thick. Cinnamon?

OK, those are my initial impressions. I am with YouCanCallMeMo - this definitely seemed like a dept. store/drug store/lower-end frag at first, but this sweet/spicy thing is making me think niche. I think I'll stick with my initial guess. It also smells modern. 90's or later, if forced I'd say post 2000. More Oriental then Gourmand, to my nose. Definitely feminine.

Initially it had me thinking of Dior or Calvin Klein (newer CK), now it has me thinking of B Never Too Busy To B Beautiful line, which I find has the same sweet/spicy qualities in the 3 or 4 samples I've tried.

Am stumped.

This is remaining sweet but getting less-floral and more-spicy as it dries down.

EDIT: I don't think this is Botrytis, but it has many of the same qualities.

One fragrance I know of that has a surprising mint up front is Biagiotti's 'Roma'. So I'll throw that out as a first guess.

Now that we have guesses in the ring, I'll go ahead a say that the guess I PMed to Twolf this morning was Diabolo Rose by Parfums de Rosine. I based this on a directory search for a few of the notes. This is the posted list for Diabolo Rose:



Top Notes: Sicilian bergamot, Peppermint, Essence of rose.
Middle Notes: Lily of the valley, Peony, Rose absolute.
Base Notes: Amber, Musk, Sandalwood, Yerbamate.

Oh, good guess Kumquat. But I think they would have been mentioning a strong pepper note that hangs around with Roma. Still, you could be right.

Twolf will probably be online soon but until then...keep on guessing. None of the above mentioned ones is it.

Jo Malone White Jasmine & Mint?

I'm amazed at how few minty florals I can even track down out there!

Heh, I'm almost hoping nobody gets this so the game can last longer. I feel like I'm 5.

I'm right at the tail end of the drydown now. Right now it smells totally generic to me. Generic sweet, possibly vanillic, sandalwoody drydown. I'm almost tempted to guess if this is a celeb scent? Argh it's probably something really high end now I've said that.

Cello - I wondered about pepper. It has a pepperiness to it, at one stage, but I can't put my finger on it. Pink pepper, maybe?

I'm interested to see if Rogalal smells the peppermint in the opening. I want to give it a second round to make sure of that...have you applied it again, YouCanCallMeMo?

It is not the Jo Malone one. I don't want to reveal more than Twolf would like to, but I'll say that perhaps you should not dwell that much on that minty note. Try to identify some other ones perhaps?

OK, I just reapplied...Crikey, I'm awful at separating floral notes...it seems to be a well-blended mix...

Let's see....There is an almost cedary mustiness under there...but, I hesitate to call it cedar...And something foody in the middle, kind of candied, all mixed in with that very heady floral blend.

Hi all,

I'm at work and it's finally lunch time, so I can write.

In the top, I get mostly carnation. Like some carnations are wont to do, it's quite bubblegummy. I think that minty spiciness is the spicy clove-like aspect of the carnation. I'm pretty sure they've added some cinnamon, too, which is giving sort of a candied quality to the whole thing. I'm getting other florals, too, but definitely secondary to the main smell, which is that bubblegummy carnation. I think it's muguet/lily of the valley, which gives the whole thing a sort of wet greenness that keeps everything floral. Or maybe some violet, which I find easy to miss, but does its thing to add a floral complexity and a sort of "upliftingness" to many scents.

As it dried, the carnation faded quickly, making room for a cassis note and eventually for rose. I think this is the candied fruit you guys are smelling. Of course, based on Twolf's hints, it's probably plum, but I smell more cassis than anything else. Maybe a pinch of strawberry or cherry, though.

It could be an aspect of the cassis, but I think I'm also smelling some safe white musk in the base, too. It's kind of creamy, which could be vanilla or sandalwood.

So, my official note questions:

carnation?
rose?
muguet/lily of the valley?
violet?
cassis/black currant/red currant?
plum?
strawberry?
white musk?
vanilla?
sandalwood?

Based on these notes and Twolf's hints, I think I'm ready to make a first guess. I'll pm, so as to not ruin the fun if I'm right (which I'm probably not, but a lot of the notes match, so I'll try...)

More thoughts I forgot.

I'm guessing it's an EDP, because it goes on pretty strong.

I'm guessing it's current, because it goes on pretty strong but fades fast (toploading?).

The carnation note can be a niche favorite (it's a house note for Caron, there are a few CDG's that use it, and it was featured prominently in one of the Lutens I recently sampled), but I'm guessing that this is a recent designer release.

In terms of genre, is "candy floral" an official description?

I'd be quite impressed if this is a drugstore scent, but not terribly surpised if it turns out to be niche.

I'm thinking the Christmas reference may be that combination of clovey carnation and cinnamon, which can have a Christmas candle sort of vibe (which I generally don't care for, but this smells quite good - I appreciate their restraint)

Perhaps that mustiness I sense is actually hints of carnation and violet, as it's more powerdery than a cedar would be....hummmm....let me reapproach my note searches.

J'Adore Anniversaire En Or? That's supposed to have plum, violet, rose, and something called "Crystallized Orchid," whatever that is.

Oh yeah... powder!

Maybe iris is a note?

When I think of powdery carnation, I think of Caron, which makes me suspect Nuit de Noel, but the notes don't match and if this is from 1922, it's been brutally reformulated...

Oh, man, now I need to go find the tea....

Ok...Look at that, Cinnamon Plum!

And, I also note that there are 4 teabags and 4 samples...Hm...Twolf is a crafty one!

I notice that all 4 teas are of English origin. This makes me want to give special consideration to the English perfume houses.

Well, my next guess was GOING to be Badgley Mischka Couture, but that seems less likely.

Energy by Anthony Logistics? That doesn't feel right.

How about Comme des Garcons Parfum? One reviewer describes it as "Christmassy!"

OK, one more guess and then I'm going to brew myself a cup of tea!

Comme des Garcons White?

Post #41 and #50? Me and YouCanCallMeMo?

OK, so just to confirm there is *no* carnation?

The opening is interesting because we've had 2 strong impressions (mint for CallMeMo and carnation for Rogalal) and neither are right? This got me thinking that for a brief moment in the opening I get a mentholated feeling - the feeling you get when you've got a Vicks throat drop in your mouth and you breath in. This reminds me somewhat (just this note) of the Aomassai opening, which was quite mentholated to me. What note can give this feeling? That isn't mint?

I'm going to guess peach for the fruit...if it is peach it's specifically the kind of peach I don't like in perfume, though. Too much, too sweet etc.

YouCanCallMeMo - this, especially the mid-drydown, reminds of J'Adore as well (the regular one, I havent smelled any of the flankers).

Another point that's just personal - I don't like this. It's too strong and too 'perfumey'. It's not a scrubber, though.

EDIT: Got another note guess - ginger?

Also, have we guessed the 'main' floral note yet?

EDIT EDIT: Wait, is CallMeMo right about the plum?

Weeee this is so fun.

Well, my CdG White guess was based on the thought the pink pepper you guessed in #41 and my house guess in #50.

Alternatively, I could have merely been right about the tea, or Twolf being crafty! (of course) And you could be right about the Celebuscent guess....

OK, Floris China Rose meets my "English House" guess, and has clove and peach and LBMN's Vanilla drydown discovery....

Is CallMeMo right about it being an English house??

EDIT: Is there jasmine in this?