All Invited! ♥ ♥ ♥ Sniff 'n' Speak Saturday, May 1, 2010 ★★★ FRUITY

OMG- I have nothing fruity to wear - off the top of my head.
Mitsouko - peach note.
Carnal Flower- melon note. Arrggh ! I can't think - must.look.at.sample.box.

I'm generally not a tootsie-frootsie kinda gal, but in the spirit of BN and SNS Saturday, I'll go for it.

Fruity is a tough one for me...maybe Calyx!

Well, I have my Jardins from my House of Hermes, or I have some samples to work through. Or Mauboussin...or. I don't know yet. Probably a sample of L'Artisan Mure et Musc Extreme. I've been into a little musc of late. Of course, I have to remember to play on Sat!

Since this Saturday is also May Day, can anyone recommend any fruity, lily of the valley scents?

Some background from http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/france/labor-day :

King Charles IX of France was presented with lily of the valley flowers on May 1, 1561. He liked the gift and decided to present lily of the valley flowers to the ladies of his court each year on May 1. Around 1900, men started to present a bouquet of lily of the valley flowers to women to express their affection. The flowers are a more general token of appreciation between close friends and family members these days.

I might go for Keiko Mecheri Ume, or Santa Maria Novella Melograno. Hmmm...sweet & sour plums or pomegranates???

Oh boy - Ume!!

Or All About Eve (apples) - or one of the pampelmousses? Sira des Indes (bananas)???!!!

Then there's all them raspberries....(Missoni!! Insolence!!! Sex on the Beach!!)

FIGS!!!

Honey and Lemon...Pink Lemonade...the loukhoums??? ....

Oh boy!!

I feel just like Taolady about this one!

One of my favorite fruity scents, aside from Mitsouko, may be Frapin 1270. Although there are some good lemon frags; Eau D'Hadrien, Nuits D'Hadrien, & Profumum Aqua Viva. There's also the glorious orange creamsicle frag by Profumum- Dulcis in Fundo.

I'm going to wear L'Occitane's Peach Blossom. Definitely fruity, fun, light, easy, not elegant at all. My middle school students LOVE it, my husband says it smells like baby food, and as for me...well, I own it, don't I?

Good morning! (in europe)
I start with LUX Mona di Orio, a sparkling, brilliant, candied lemon warmed from the sun.
A mediterranean lemon, tree is near hills covered by cistus, as in my garden.
I smell amber and galbanum in drydown

SNS shows up the huge gaps I have in my wardrobe!

I have dug in the 'not currently wearing' box and come up with Emporio Armani She and, for the evening, Emporio Armani Night She. These were put away for being too 'perfumey'. They aren't true fruity florals, but the top notes look worthy of today!

Starting out with the first:

Top Notes: Pineapple, Bergamot, Pear, Tangerine
Middle Notes: Muguet, Orris, Jasmine, Heliotrope
Base Notes: Tonka, Sandalwood, Cedarwood, Musk

The fruity top notes are soft and nicely blended, the pineapple sticks out the most, not fresh but creamy. I have a stuffy nose, today, which usually erases 'green', so this is probably a bit skewed! They are also quite fleeting, leaving the floor clear for a clean, pretty floral. Of note for Taolady, The Guide describes this as 'woody peony'!

Hi all,

I've been enjoying the spring here, hence no activity from me in a while. Thought it would be a nice idea to check in here to learn more about my least favourite category.

I've gone through my collection and found a couple of candidates for today; Guerlain's travel exclusive from a few years ago Love is all, which has notes of passionfruit and mandarin. In the end, I decided to go for Comme des Garcon's Rhubarb from Series 5 - Sherbert.

Notes include bergamot, lychee, rhubarb and orchid sap on a vanilla base.
It opens up tart and green, but the rhubarb is very much present from the start. Is there a hint of cardamom? I'm not sure, it's not listed as a note. Nothing much happens for quite a long time, it stays sharp and tart. Very nice and spring like, really makes me wish the rhubarbs in my garden were ready to pick so that I could make a lovely pie. Come the drydown, the sharpness looses its edge a little to give room for some creamy vanilla. The rhubarb is still very much present.

Starting off S'n'S Fruity Saturday in Berkeley Square Fig and Cherry. (Thanx Wordy!!)

• Top Notes
• Cassis, Apricots, Sweet berries, Cherry blossom.
• 
  Middle Notes
• Sweet Soft Figs, Musk.
• 
  Base Notes
• Cedar, Amber, Musk

Despite it's modest cost and unlikely combination this is a fun frag of some breeding that on me is more fig than cherry and the cherry is lifelike and not icky.

Since it doesn't last more than a couple hours I'll be taking along a spritzer of something else (mystery!) for the rest of the day cuz I'm gonna be out for a long time.

Can't wait to see what you guys'll be sporting!!

(Am RULLY jealous of that Frapin. Hmmmnnn. Don't I have a sample of that somewhere....)

I'm wearing Thierry Mugler Innocent. Playful and fresh but with a little warmth to it so that while it features fruity, berry notes, it's not just another bowl of Froot Loops.

I dabbed L'Artisan Mure et Musc Extreme on my forehand this morning, not wanting to commit fully since it is a new to me sample. Smart choice. There are berry notes, but I can't distinguish which ones. And there is musc. The berries keep the musc smelling light and clean, but this is rather boring to me. I'll be moving on to something else soon.

I fudged a bit and chose to wear Patou's Colony today. It's not a single fruit, and it's not a bowl of fruity florals. But it is a fruity chypre with a predominantly sunny pineapple note. Perfect on this cloudy soon-to-be-rainy day.

Happy May Day to everyone.

Happy May Day, everyone! I can't believe it's already May 1 and time for another Sniff 'n' Speak.

I've moved away from the fruity and fruity-floral fragrances in the last few years, but I do have a few on hand.

My choice today is With Love . . . Hillary Duff.

Full disclosure: I'm 40 years old, very much NOT a teen and very much out of the target market for this fragrance. It was love at first sniff anyway. With Love as probably as close as I will get to a real mangosteen fruit in my lifetime.

Notes: Milk, Fruit, Mangosteen, Musk, Flower, Exotic Spices, Amber, Cocobolo Wood. On my skin, it's a slightly fruity scent, nicely tempered by anise and warm woods.

From the fragrance's website:

Oooo boy. I started off on the TOTALLY wrong foot with Axe Dark Temptations, my new cheap fling. It has a fruity note buried under the chocolate, aquatic, and floral notes, but I'd say that's stretching it. Not sure if I'm ready for fig today, either. This may be a call for the new CH Men, or Amouage Jubilation XXV. Either that or dig into my feminine samples....

Creed Acier Aluminum: Juicy Fruit, anyone? I really love it. Lots of compliments whenever I wear it. Should be a cold weather only fragrance, but I wear it year round. Damn the torpedoes. So daring, I know.

I'm wearing Tropical Passionfruit EDT by Bath and Body Works for today's SnS. I shop at B&BW for hand soaps and occasionally body sprays, but I've never bought any of their EDTs. A few months ago, 30 Roses sent me this bottle as a RAOK. She had remembered I mentioned the Tropical Passionfruit as one of my favorite scents in the foaming hand soap line. I like to put tropical or "fun" scents in the guest bathroom.

Notes include:
Top Notes: Mandarin Orange, Passion Fruit.
Middle Notes: Apricot Nectar, Osmanthus Four Seasons, Papaya.
Base Notes: Creamy Musks, Coconut Milk.

To me, it's all about the fruit ... juicy tropical, sun-sweetened fruit! It's very much a fun scent, nothing serious or stuffy about this one. I probably wouldn't wear it to work, but for a laid back weekend morning like today, it's very nice. It puts a smile on my face.

Some excellent choices, here. Everyone smells so good today. I had completely forgotten about Mona di Orio's penchant for fruit. Some may like to try her Nuit Noir for the dark orange guinee. (Sorry, I can't seem to make my accent marks work) I'm also a big fan of Patou's Colony. It's really smokin' hot, IMO. I'm wearing Frapin-1270. It's a lush blend of fruit and vanilla that reminds me of a Christmas cake. It's unusual because normally fruit is too sweet for me. This one is combined with deep chocolate tones so it has a rich, dignified quality I find endearing.

1270 Notes; exotic woods, spice, raisin, vine flowers, pepper, candied orange, nut, hazelnut, prune, cocoa, coffee, leather, woods, white honey, vanilla

I'm wearing Lilly Pulitzer Squeeze this morning...


…spiked with top notes of exotic lychee, juicy pink grapefruit and candied red currant that mingles with spring lotus blossom and wild rose petals. The fragrance finishes with sun-drenched woods and water musk. (from www.lillypulitzer.com)

It's a cheery fragrance and the packaging always, always, always makes me smile. Not sure what fruity frag I'll do later. It's going up into the 90s F today and supposed to be 97 tomorrow. Earlier this week my husband had to scrape frost off of his car in the morning. Like flippin' a switch. Anyway, this type of weather is when I enjoy sweet fruity fragrances the most.

After morning Lux, now I'm wearing Soie Rouge MPG... Clove,peach, apricot, pineapple , but too much ripe

She has vanished, so a quick bath and my SotE steps up as my SoTA: Emporio Armani Night She.

Top notes: black currant, cranberry, cassia, hawthorn and bergamot
Middle notes: peony, cyclamen, magnolia, orchid, freesia, jasmine and lily-of-the-valley
Base notes: myrtle, sandalwood, patchouli and white musk

Again, the fruity top notes are a blink and you miss them. Berries are one of my avoid notes, but these aren't frooty and overipe. They are very dry (the cranberry effect?) and dusty - rather like a fruit teabag. It has that same bittersweet quality, too. Unusual. And then it departs from the listed notes, (again, probably due to my stuffy nose) and becomes creamy and licoricey, in a way that nowadays reads as quite masculine. Odd stuff, definately more challenging than her pretty, inoffensive sister and I guess that is why it was discontinued.

I chose Keiko Mecheri's Umé for today.


Artist: Ando Hiroshige

This fragrance is sweet and sour, fruity and floral, and delightfully wearable.

Notes (from LuckyScent): Persimmon, peach tree leaves, hints of bergamot and mandarin, Japanese wisteria, peonies and camellia sasanka, South Sea jasmine and Chinese osmanthus, Hinoki wood, Cambodian mahogany and mousse poivree.

The Sniff 'n' Speak Saturday is a great idea! I really like the L'OCCITANE Cherry Blossom. It explodes at first with a juicy and sweet ripe cherry scent and then shortly after settles down to a light cherry blossom and floral fragrance and within 1hr the dry down it smells mostly woodsy with a light aura of amber. It's a very sexy scent, the only drawback is the sillage is so shortly lived, 2-3 Hrs max. The S/A suggests wearing this with the perfumed body lotion to really appreciate the this beautiful spring scent.

Guerlain's Eau de Cologne Impériale was created for the Empress Eugénie by perfumer and founder of the House of Guerlain, Pierre-François Guerlain. It is described as "a blend of orange, lemon and bergamot associated with lavender and rosemary." This is "my" kind of fruity fragrance! I was gifted with a bottle of this but never opened it until last night. It's perfect for hot weather and since today is supposed to be a record breaker, it's perfect. This is the actual pyramid listed on basenotes: "Top Notes: Bergamot, Neroli, Verbena, Lemon, Orange Middle Notes: Lavender Base Notes: Cedarwood, Tonka Bean." Don't know where the rosemary has gone...... This scent is no longer on the Guerlain website. It is, however, available at several online discounters.

I did!! And I spritzed.

Here's what's in it: 1270 Notes; exotic woods, spice, raisin, vine flowers, pepper, candied orange, nut, hazelnut, prune, cocoa, coffee, leather, woods, white honey, vanilla (swiped from Kumquat)

But guess what!! The Fig and Cherry has won out - most gloriously!!

Go figure.

Serge Lutens Feminite Du Bois.

Ack! Fruity is my nemesis. Just about the only fruit notes I really like in my perfumes are orange/bergamot and plum. That said, in the spirit of the day, today I visited our wonderful SomervilleMetroMan at his Perfume School gig at Sak's... And bought Diptyque's L'eau De Tarocco. This stuff absolutely SINGS on my skin and makes me very happy to boot. Notes include orange, grapefruit, rose, cinnamon and saffron. Delightful! And damn hard to find in Boston since the Diptyque store on Newbury St. closed. Sak's was good enough to order for me from their NYC store, and give me the Perfume School discount to boot.

I chose to wear Anthousa Fig & Vetiver, to which I was introduced by a generous BNer some months ago. This one works especially well on me because it is green but not sharply green and the fig smells warm and sort of jammy. The scent has an overall fresh quality that I normally run from, since in my experience, "fresh" scents strike me as Windex-like. In the case of F&V, however, "fresh" translates as bright, sunny, and welcoming.

I tried Jo Malone Nectarine Blossom and Honey. BN database lists Clementine, Peach, Nectarine, Blackcurrant, Plum, Vetiver, Honey. Another source comes up with a usual top-heart-base structure:
Top notes are green notes, black currant and petit grain; middle notes are nectarine and black locust; base notes are vetiver, peach and plum.

This works as a very pleasant fruity scent for me. I don't get any honey (which I was originally interested in), but the formula "I bought it for... but I kept it for..." works for this one too. I bought a sample of it for honey and if I choose to get more of it, I'll do it for nectarine/peach. In fact, to me peach is everything about this smell.

I smell a very delicate nectarine/peach and a slight wind of a scent of blooming fruit trees which comes from a far. The peach I smell is not a peach you're eating with it's juice dripping down your chin, and it's not a platonic idea of a peach in Mitsouko. This peach is sitting on a plate, the plate is sitting on a table, the table is on an open patio, you're smelling the blooming fruit trees from the orchard, the breath of Spring comes with the light wind, you're about to have that peach for breakfast, and the whole day is ahead.

Usually when I try samples, I do one delicate dab at first, and with some fragrances this is more than you need. With this one I dabbed, got the impression, but it disappeared too soon. I reapply with a much heavier hand and got the same lovely dreamy smell for about three-four hours. This is decent longevity, but not great. I'm sure this scent will benefit from a full bottle with a sprayer!

I might get it if I feel a craving for a peach scent, this is the best peach I tried so far (and the first nectarine).

Thanks for the Sniff & Speak idea, this was fun!

After this morning I cheated a bit. SotA was Eau des 4 Reines by L'Occitane, a slightly fruity rose fragrance that I enjoy in hot weather. And this evening I'm wearing Coconut edt by Yves Rocher. Coconut is not a fruit, strictly speaking, but it will have to do. I'm not really in the mood for tart fruits this evening, although I wouldn't have minded something pineappley -- I must have a piña colada in mind.

Bond's Riverside Drive - a very nice pineapple. . . I almost cheated on the Acier Aluminum with Riverside Drive, but the rich drydown of AA got to me. . .

I ended up wearing L'Artisan's Premier Figiuer. Milky, sweet, tropical, and green, but a particular kind of green. Not a vegetal green, not a citrusy green, but an almost aquatic green; a very wet, fat, round kind of green. Ripe, I guess. This reminded me of En Passant because of that wet roundness, and I really was stunned to read it was by Olivia Giacobetti! These are very similar scents, I think, and really the main differences are a) the sweetness of PF and b) fig instead of lilac. Lovely, lovely. Perfect for spring.

The new Chance Tendre, from a sample. Very peachy. It reminds me of Tresor. Not exactly to my liking.

Third sniff&S.


Le Parfum de Therèse Roudnitzka

Top Notes
Mandarin, Melon, Jasmine, Pepper. .


Middle Notes
Violet, Rose, Plum, Nutmeg. .


Base Notes
Cedar, Vetiver, Leather

fantastic, wonderful .... notes are so well mixed

Missed SnS yesterday because I was travelling, but will catch up with y'all today by wearing Shiseido's Feminite du Bois with its massive vibrant cedaar and plum combo. I don't wear this one often, because it's just too big for me. I generally prefer the 'do-over' version that Bourdon created for Dior: Dolce Vita. But in that the fruit is more muted, as is the cedar. So today I'll wear the Big Bopper.

Warum, I love your description of this one.
I usually don't like fruity frags, but I spend a long time at a jJ Malone boutique recently trying to buy gifts.
I ended up buying this one for 2 people (who both LOVE it).

I then realized the two people are, of all my friends, the ones who have the closest "scent personality" to my own.

It would be so tacky for me to ask them for decants, wouldn't it?

Sorry for answering late, Nostalgie, I was traveling and with limited internet access. Thanks for kind words, and oh, this is funny about decants. I was in a similar situation recently, when I bought a perfume for my friend's birthday and then kept wanting to ask to use it because I just wanted to confirm how much I liked it. Luckily, my friend sent me a sample, and then I swapped for a 1 oz bottle. But my friend has a bigger bottle still!

I don't think it'll take me any time at all to finish my TPC sample of Nectarine Blossom and Honey. It's very lovely.