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Idea: What about a lily of the valley --or violets --sampling group? USA

post #1 of 19
4/12/11 at 6:55am
Thread Starter 
I'm just batting around an idea for a future sampling group -- or several. We have roses and lilacs going around now and people seem to be enjoying comparing different renderings of a floral note.

Would there be interest in compiling a violets or a lily of the valley soliflore group? We could all pitch in dabber vials of whatever we have to share and pass them around. (It doesn't have to be right now; maybe in a month or two, since we are about to start the Hermessences samples pass.)

Here is what I currently have (excluding samples, which might add more):

Violets:
AG La Violette
Berdoues Violettes de Toulouse edp and edt
Penhaligon's Violetta
B&BW Violet Bouquet edt


Lily of the Valley:
Coty Muguet des Bois (cologne from 1990s)
Coty Muguet des Bois (current version)
Berdoues Muguet Precieux
C&E Lily of the Valley edt (two versions ago-- from the 1990s)
Guerlain AA Lilia Bella
California Perfume Company (Avon) Lily of the Valley edt
Demeter Lily of the Valley cologne
Mary Chess Lily of the Valley cologne (very light and powdery, mostly down to its base notes; from the 1950s)
vintage April Showers Lily of the Valley (it's rather weird; still might be interesting to sniff as a curiosity)


Does this interest anyone?

Other possible single note groups:
linden (I have 2)
verbena (I have 4)
orange blossom (I have 3)
fig (I have 3)

Any of these could be worthwhile if we put our fragrances together.

Again, this is just to see if the idea appeals to anyone.
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post #2 of 19
4/12/11 at 7:40am
I'd be interested in this. I'm still learning notes, and since neither I nor my family ever did much gardening, flowers are kind of a blur to me. I can get samples of a lot of things from the shops around here, so if there's anything you want from MPG, Profumi di Firenze, L'Artisan, Lutens, Penhaligons, Histoires, Tokyo Milk, etc., let me know - probably just 3 or 4 because I don't want to be too greedy at stores I'm going to continue to frequent.
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post #3 of 19
4/12/11 at 7:50am
Out of Thank You's, as usual, but I think this is another terrific idea from you, 30R.! Endless possibilities, we all realize that.

I have smelled all of the violet scents in your list (plus a ton more!), but I regret that I will have nothing to add to the pack (only as a joined effort with someone else in consolidating our samples).

Lily of the valley is a notoriously difficult note -- but it makes it more interesting for many people. I have a very small sample of a sought-after Guerlain Muguet 1999 extrait and will be willing to share -- possibly for sniffing out of a vial only.

Other notes you have mentioned are always of interest, I thought.
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post #4 of 19
4/12/11 at 7:53am
Thread Starter 
I wouldn't want to limit this to contributors, Twolf. But the more juice, the merrier-- of course.

I do think glass vials might be better than atomizers for this, so people could do side by side testing. Maybe I'll buy some of the longer glass vials-- .7 ml short vials are too small for this purpose.



Back later-- time to take the cat to the vet for his annual physical.
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post #5 of 19
4/12/11 at 8:01am
It'd be interesting to hear people's comments about Lily of the Valley. LT says that current material restrictions make good lily of the valley impossible. (This seems to be the case for Diorissimo at least). But I notice that your list includes many vintage things.

cacio
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post #6 of 19
4/12/11 at 9:22am
I have some violets!I could add Insolence by Guerlain,Penhaligon's Victorian Posy and I have most of a 1.5ml TPC decant of Lolita Lempicka-if you'd rather have it in a dabber,that's no problem.I'm ordering some 1ml dabber vials shortly,anyway-are those large enough or should I also add some larger ones?I'll keep thinking,I may have some other violets.

Matildaben,if you have access to Penhaligon's,Violetta would be wonderful to include,also Night-Scented Stock.I could add the latter if it's unavailable but Penahaligon's does have those nice large vials!
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post #7 of 19
4/12/11 at 9:28am
Thread Starter 
Well, now, there are violets and there are violets.

There are soliflores where the primary impression is violets (like Violetta or Violetta di Parma) and there are the multitudes of other perfumes that have violets in them but are not primarily violets fragrances (like Insolence and Victorian Posy). We'd have to figure out what we wanted to do, I guess.

The short glass vials hold .7 ml when capped. They only hold 1 ml when filled to the brim and uncapped.
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post #8 of 19
4/12/11 at 9:34am
Oh,of course!Only include them if you want-no offense taken if you choose not to.
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post #9 of 19
4/12/11 at 9:39am
Thread Starter 
I didn't mean to imply that we should not do as you suggest, PerfumedLady-- that would widen the possibilities of included fragrances dramatically. But it would be a different sort of group than soliflores, that's all.

The purpose of this thread is to explore what people are interested in doing, so your suggestion is as valid as any.
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post #10 of 19
4/12/11 at 10:11am
La Muguet by Annick Goutal is one best soliflore lily-of the-valley i know !I have a full bottle and i can send a vial to USA if interested!!
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post #11 of 19
4/12/11 at 10:31am
Thread Starter 
That is very sweet of you, sophi. I will keep your kind offer in mind if we end up doing this.
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post #12 of 19
4/12/11 at 12:10pm
My only violet is Jolie Madame, but it is the vintage version! I have diorissimo. I am thinking of buying Chloé Eau de fleurs Neroli.
By all means, let's give it two months or so, when I'll be back again!
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post #13 of 19
4/12/11 at 12:33pm
Thread Starter 
I agree-- let's put this on hold. I just spent some time writing the original post for the Hermessences (to be posted tonight 10 pm sharp Eastern time) and I am exhausted just from working out the wording! LOL.
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post #14 of 19
4/12/11 at 7:51pm
I have some Murmure by Van Cleef & Arpels and (a whopping lot of )Jessica McClintock (what can I say ?-It's one of my Mom's Favorite scents and it was a great buy on ebay )I also have Cristalle.
If Lolita Lempicka is needed I'm willing to buy a bottle(was going to soon anyway)TJ's has it for $20.Paris-Ysl,F-by Ferragamo , White Shoulders ,and Most Precious all seem pretty violety (paris is more rose but still interesting for comparison).
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post #15 of 19
4/12/11 at 8:11pm
Thread Starter 
I used to work with a woman who wore Jessica McClintock. It smelled like the best LOTV on her! So I tried it...it smelled awful on me! I've tried it a few times since then and it's just as bad on me now as it was then. So strange how that works....

Realizing I have probably bitten off all I can chew for now, I will have to wait on this idea. But if anyone else wants to organize this, I will happily contribute samples.
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post #16 of 19
4/13/11 at 5:44am
I'd be happy to organize and send, I just don't know enough about notes to pick out which ones to try. But I LOVE the idea since I'd like to try as many different notes and learn as much as I can.

Big thanks to 30Roses. I'm learning so much and loving the journey.
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post #17 of 19
4/13/11 at 5:59am
Thread Starter 
In a couple of months I'll revisit this and will be able to do the organizing then. Meanwhile, I would like to know this:

Would most people prefer soliflore groups (my original idea, which is focused but limiting) or broader sampling of fragrances with LOTV or Violets notes, but not necessarily soliflores?

I've been thinking about what I've learned along the way, while organizing these sampling groups. And one of the things I've learned is that groups that have a lot of samples (like the Penhaligon's or the 30 rose samples) are very different from groups that send out just a few samples, simultaneously, to a lot of people (like the Malones or the lilacs.)

The former are ponderous and slow-moving, take months and months to get through (we still haven't finished the Penhaligons' and 2 boxes are in limbo-- must contact a mod today), and interest is lost as people wait for the box to get to them-- but eventually they do enjoy the testing.

The latter type of group moves fast and generates more interest and reviews, but only works if there are multiple samples of just a few fragrances.

With a LOTV or violets group, if we include a broad sampling of all sorts of perfumes that include LOTV or violets notes, the group will function like the roses and Penhaligon's groups.

So the question is, really, what sort of sampling groups do people prefer? The slow sort with a ton of samples, or the quick sort with fewer samples? And which would you prefer for this particular group?
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post #18 of 19
4/13/11 at 7:19am
Just as a reader, I think the discussions are more fun and informative with the fast-moving group with few samples. I can see how that would be more challenging for the organizer, though, to acquire duplicates of samples.
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post #19 of 19
4/13/11 at 7:23am
Thread Starter 
Yes, and simultaneous multiple mailings also mean more decanting and more postage for the organizer-- and more postage for the contributors who have to pay postage to send to the organizer and again to ship to the person after them on the list.
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Basenotes › Basenotes Forums › Fragrance Discussion › Female Fragrance Discussion › Idea: What about a lily of the valley --or violets --sampling group? USA