mini Pass the sample: fruity

Moi! On return I'll send you some Mollie Parnis, which is green/astringent/peachy/plummy fruity.

Aren't you sweet to start this cacio
I have smelled most of those, except the ASAQ oils. But you describe them so charmingly (canned fruit salad?! my absolute favorite Catholic school dessert)- so, I must participate.
Could I add nez a nez's fruity concoction Bouche Baie to the packet when it gets to me?

Very kind,cacio! Can I join please?

Have been very interested to try Visa. Have only tried 1969 from this group. Will be happy to add my sample to the package so testers may be more lavish with 1969.

Hello, cacio! Can I please join too? I can add samples of Frederic Malle's Le Parfum de Therese and now discontinued Gucci Accenti which is to me the most beautiful peach chypre ever.

What a lovely idea! Thank you for starting this Cacio. I would love to be included if that is ok, and I can add MPG Fraiche Passiflore to the mix.

Received! Looking forward to sniffing and passing on—who's next? pm me your address.

Enjoying this. Fave so far is Piguet Visa. I applied before bed and woke up to a cherry pipe tobacco vibe. Overall these are candied fruits, and even range into marzipan or loukhoum territory, at least to my nose. Will add Mollie Parnis to the pass around.

Yep, 26 hours later and the Visa sample on my forearm still has presence! Comforting, quite a departure from my usual tuberose/clary sage/animalic proclivitis. I could learn to like this.

Malik Al Atoor has that near-toxic bitter almond aspect, I wanted to check the return address didn't read Lucrezia Borgia . I also get hazelnut and lots of incense. Very bitter, it has an attract/repel duality for me.

Histoire de Perfume 1969: candied citrus + powder and white musk. Pleasant, not complicated.

Lutens Boxeuse: I really liked this one, too. 1st impression on paper was marshmallow and berries. Later I got honeyed coriander and smoke, overall a fruity leather.

Next up: Paradox and Al Maawiyah, tho not tonight. Too tired to appreciate.

ASAQ Al Maawiyah (oil): on application I get citrus + cherry, dessert after lunch.
Paradox: minted lemon drop.

This sounds interesting, how does it exactly work? (sorry, I'm a bit of a newbie)

AWESOME! I'll join Though the bf wont be happy with even MORE perfumes entering our home...

Apparently I'm slightly obsessed...


EDIT: Can I join? Since I'm not in the USA?

Hi, been utterly swamped at work lately, and the weekend is more frantic than restful; I plan to mail to the next person on Tuesday or Wednesday, along with the MPZG Fraiche Passiflore, and maybe one or two of my own—thinking here of Mollie Parnis and Alexandra Markoff No Regrets.

Alright, if there is let me know thanks!

Hi, I've been overwhelmed lately by work and fatigue issues. First priority tonight is to decant my contributions, then pack. Mail or UPS tomorrow. Sorry for the delay. I'll also look at the samples and advise as to how much is left. I am adding Mollie Parnis and Alexandra Markoff No Regrets, even if I did once describe it as a marshmallow dipped in motor oil placed next to a strawberry that got lost at the back of the fridge. Cestrum nocturnum's contribution will be there, too.

Fraiche Passiflore is a wonderful scentfor a summer night—with dancing; I want to put a flower behind my ear when I wear this. The fruity vibe is a natural and not over-sweetened lemon + strawberry. Thank you, cestrum!

The sampler is packed and ready to send to knit at night. IMO, there is enough to add another sniffer or two, at least of cacio's samples. My two contributions are in 2 ml vials, and the Mollie Parnis will be a small sample as I really do wear this and waited for 5 years for some to show up on ebay after i used up my original.

Lovely evening to all.

Yay!

Bonjour, friends in scent. I received the "baton" as it were from jujy54 in today's mail. I will begin sampling & reporting after my evening toilette. sooo excited!!!

Looking forward to your posts, knit at nite.

here we go...thanks cacio, jujy54 and cestrum nocturnum:

Boxeuses I get deep and dark plum, a beautiful hint of resin. Where the heck is the leather? Not on my skin, apparently.
It is still a handsome fragrance, however, which has the signature Lutens/Sheldrake darkness without feeling like you could not wear it in public. Adaptable. Unisex.

Visa Yummy YUM. I really need to explore the Piguet house more. I have vintage Fracas (in spades and I rarely wear it because it's just so overtly bombastic.
Visa is understated, classy, yet rich in the fruit and spice. I don't get the Angel comparison oft made- it's not overtly bombastic enough for that Plus no chocolate note.
This is wearable anywhere by anyone.
I do see a similarity to two fruity/spicy faves I have- Mauboussin, which is drier, and Silences Purple, which is sweeter. I may need to get a bottle of this at the LV Meet-up.

Ajaq Malik Al Atoor Warm cigarette ash, followed by cold cigarette ash.
Waiting for the fruit....waiting. While waiting, I will say I have never spontaneously gesticulated with both hands waving noooooo in front of me in reaction to sniffing something. That just happened on the second sniff.
Still waiting for the fruit. Nope, it's a scrubber.
- cacio you had pretty much the same reaction for diferent reasons.

Ajaq Al Maawiya i will not hold it against Al Maawiya that it is from the same house as the previous sample. OK. What a relief...
Very pleasant green and ripe citrus, a touch of white floral and then it stayed in a holding pattern.... It could be something one comes across at a health food store or street fair. Very pleasant scent, but not really a perfume, either. Too bad, has potential.

HdP 1969 I have a travel size of this in my collection so I won't spend much time on this. An acidic peach top quickly morphs into cocoa and patchouli / musk on my skin. It's really fun!

Jacomo Paradox I really like this house overall but Paradox smells super synthetic & slightly medicinal to my nose, like a throat lozenge. Jujy said lemon drop- I can agree with that.
That honey note is so screechy, it doesn't remotely resemble real honey.
This is neither refreshing, nor soothing- an all around late 20th century mall smell for men who are afraid of really exploring scents.


MPG Fraiche Passiflore Juicy Juicy fruit. The kind of ripe fruit that drips all over your hands and makes you sticky when you eat it. How do they do that?? Excellent work.

Alexandra de Markoff No Regrets SHRILL in the opening and the white florals remain shrill through the mid-phase, to my nose. I rather like the little bit of booziness in it, but that did not temper the overall effect into smoothness enough for me to feel comfortable with it.
I looked this up and cannot believe this was only created in 1994- it seriously seems much older in style than that. Definitely has quality ingredients but this one has way too much going on for me to appreciate it. It is a scent which would wear me, instead of the other way around.

Mollie Parnis- Perfumed Lady and following sniffers may not get to try this. Seriously, I understand why this scent haunted jujy54 and she had to hunt it down like a dog.
It has the most beautiful realistic delicate peach note !!! Seriously terrific stuff.

That's all folks.
I will get the package off to Perfumed Lady in the next two or 3 days, adding Bouche Baie by Nez a Nez..

You're making me want to try to get a decant of this!!

Knit, great post! You and Jujy have me very excited! I better see some Mollie Parnis or I'm telling!

I'm far from being an expert in fruities, folks- you'll have to bear with me as I learn! Will admit to having a fondness for some fruitchoulis; hoping I'll love some of the more sophisticated fruity scents, too.

Mollie Parnis is the only fume I hoard. I have a scant 50 ml plus about 5 ml of extrait. BN is so about sharingI have enough vintage Antilope to go around > 150 ml in allI do get joy from sharing my faves so I feel truly torn. knit at night, does MP remind you of any other fragrance? In all my years I never found anything else quite like it, tho, take away the peach and add some fond du ashtray, and it seems cousine to vintage Miss Balmain. Or is that just me?

psknit at nite, you did see what I had to say about No Regrets, yes? If it hadn't been such a dirt cheap blind buy, it would have been plenty of regret. Marshmallow dipped in motor oil + rotten strawberry. I did review it suggesting it still might be the perfect dance club masculine, tho I'm not really sure why I said that! I was in a moment...

Just wanted to explain my jones for Mollie Parnis, if you haven't read my review:

I bought this when I was 23 or 24, in 1978, at Cleveland's premier dept store, Halle's, 50 ml of EdP for the then-extravagant sum of $28.00. It was just me, a perfect fit. I had no idea perfumes could be discontinued, my previous fume experiences being warhorses like 4711, Chantilly, and Shalimar. Anyway, I had this bottle into the 90s, and cherished the dregs on the bottom after that, opening for an occasional sniff. As I mentioned, it was 5 years of ebay vigilance and considerable shekels to land some more, so that is why I'm more selfish about it than any other. I've never seen this at TPC or anywhere besides my ebay finds. knit, as you pass it around, I would say to the others that even a sniff of the open vial will give you a hint of its magic.

ps—knit, I am so glad you enjoyed MP. It really is hard not to share.

ok dears. I have had a hellacious work week, but I am free tomorrow and will mail package to the next sniffer!

******** Interruption by Mimi The Bad **********

Fabulous thread and great reading !

Okay - continue ! :

No worries, Knit! You were a quick sampler, anyway and I won't take long, either. You aren't holding anyone up!

It finally went into the mail Monday. Hope the US Post office does me proud.

The samples are with me now, safe and sound. Thank you, Knit! I'd say the P.O. did an amazing job on this, very fast! And thank you cacio!

Have started with the far too masculine for me Boxeuses. Got lots of fruit up front, then some burnt-smelling leather and now no trace of fruit is left at all really, just a smoky, slightly tarry leather. Maybe a teensy trace of plum in the background but this is really all about the leather on me. Not for me, but interesting to say the least.

I will try to be pretty quick with these- all of you still waiting, please be sure you have PM'd your address to the person ahead of you. We're getting down to the last few testers- won't be long, gang!

I'm finding that interesting, too cacio. Must be either a very skin chemistry dependent scent or a difference in noses. But yes, plenty of leather here! If I got more of that gorgeous fruit, I think I'd love it.

Have just discovered that Visa is leaking- not to worry though, it's still half full. I have plenty of little decants so I will transfer this to a new one. Only a minimal amount was lost, it looks.

Go USPO!!

Wow- a HUGE variety of comments on Boxeuses, indeed.

This morning, I've been sampling the Abdul Samad Al Qurashi scents. Our thoughts will not be much closer on these!

Al Maawiya- a scrubber! Got lots of sweet, syrupy fruit and piercing soapiness. Similar to the sensation of having gotten the bubbles of a fruity face wash up the nose. Typical young-ish mall scent. A headache-maker!

Malik Al Atoor- I like this one better. But then, I am a greenie girl; this one already has an unfair advantage with me. Love the green opening, seems to be some good quality galbanum there. However, this is not a "real" perfume- it's just a scent. A scent I enjoy, just not for wearing. Needs more work to truly be a perfume composition.

Agree re: Malik Al Atoor, PerfumedLady, maybe the bitter almond I described was the galbanum. My two favorite gabanum scents are Estee Lauder Private Collection and the uncompromising Weil de Weil.

cacio, I checked- no mix-up! This is hilarious to me, how different noses/skin can be! I think you and I agree on a good number of fragrances, so this is especially baffling!

I definitely get what Knit perceived as cigarette ash in Malik and like her, little fruit. Also see how it could read as bitter almond for jujy and I agree with you, cacio about a metallic vibe. What you said about Al Maawiya is exactly how I feel about Malik Al Atoor- a "collection of good smells" (to me, at least!). And I definitely get your white flowers in Al Maawiya- but it was unbearably sweet on me. I like the bitterness in Malik but it lacks any intricate details surrounding it, the light and shadows.

Well, no one can say we're not an entertaining sampling group!

Jujy, I keep hearing how great Weil de Weil is, will be sure to sample!

Just realized what I'm saying up there- that bitter almond, metal and cigarette ash are good smells! Only a weirdo perfumista would say that!

Yes, must be some galbanum in Malik; still getting traces of sort of a stale ashtray smell (get this with Cristalle EDT and No.19 as well but only briefly). Very chalky and dry. Don't know why I enjoy this effect in perfumes so- I really doubt we'll ever see a craze for galbanum-themed perfumes like we have with ouds, iris or incense!

I agree with you on the Al Maawiya, cacio, it was quite pleasant. Were these samples labelled on the bags only? I don't recall. if so, you may be correct- and I mixed them up when returning to the bag, so traumatized was I by Malik Al Atoor

Yes, both vials and baggies are labeled. Colors match as described also. Guess it's just me!

Oh, jujy. I am in your Mollie Parnis this morning. Yes, see why you scraped and scrounged the ends of the earth for this! Wow!

This is classical but so easy to wear! Elegant in a completely un-stuffy way. Starts off with a tuberose blast on me- which I'm not crazy about but tolerate in many scents because I know that tends to settle down and turn into something wonderful. And this sure did! Such a moving peach note, so charming. Florals, fruits & spices come together in a seamless blend. I love this; bless your heart for sharing a scent that's impossible to come by! This will be like Coty's La Rose Jacqueminot for me: I may never own it (though I'd love to in both cases!) but I'll never forget it.

Jujy, have you tried MDCI's Enlevement au Serail? It's the closest scent I can think of- but it lacks the peach of Mollie Parnis. Uses oranges instead. But very similar flowers and spices and a similar delicacy in the composition, though I think EaS is a bit louder. Don't think you'd find it a suitable replacement; rather, it may be a scent you'd like on its own merits.

I love when MP is appreciated! Thanks for the MDCI suggestion, I will have to try that. Perfect for me too, as a retired opera orchestra musician!

I love a "fond du ashtray" note, best example of it IMO is vintage Miss Balmain, and I think a galbanum pass around is a great idea! I'm in over my head right now, but maybe in late july, early august.

I think that's a brilliant idea! Count me in for that! I could probably even supply some samples!

I sniffed Enlevement au Serail and Mollie Parnis in their vials side by side. Similarity was striking enough to me that I decided to re-sample EaS this evening. It is certainly louder and a bit sweeter but the florals in both are very much alike to my nose; spicy and tea-like. I don't remember seeing peach listed as a note in EaS but it may be there. While it's definitely more orange-y to me than MP, it does have that fuzzy peach skin feeling in the drydown.

Jujy, I'm the second sampler from this vial of Enlevement au Serail but there is at least half of it left. If that's enough for you, PM me and I'll be happy to send it along. You did share your dear friend Mollie with us, after all!

Yes, there is peach in EaS. I am mighty afraid to smell Mollie Parnis now.. Gucci Accenti is also a nice peachy floral chypre, a bit faraway from EaS but still great stuff. It is discontinued, but much easier to come by on Ebay. I can send it to you Jujy, if you would like.

I also love galbanum sample idea, will have to dig through my samples as well, maybe I will find something worthwhile.

^ Ah, thank you my dear, Whitefluffy. I did look up those notes but you know I couldn't remember if I actually saw peach, or if it was just "peachy" to me! And I do get the citruses, which I remember reading- so that throws me off a bit. I think maybe you'll like the Mollie Parnis, too!

Starting to wrap it up here; have four more samples down.

Bouche Baie Really liked this! Not my usual style but I may just need to order a decant or more samples. A fluffy jasmine meringue; not too heavy, not too sweet. So happy and summery!

Paradox Yeah, Turin really overstated it with this one. Not bad, just not earth shattering. Overly sweet to me, though I do like the drydown.

Fraiche Passiflore Passion fruit is not a scent I particularly enjoy but I do say this is well done. Very juicy!

No Regrets Lol, this poor thing. I agree with jujy's description 100% but have to add that I believe some wine cooler has been spilled in the fridge, too! It is helping me to confirm that I'm not much for boozy scents, though. There's a learning experience in every sample!

Have Visa left and 1969, of which I already have a sample here. May be mailing this on as early as tomorrow afternoon; by Wednesday for certain.

Bouche Baie was not my usual style either, Perfumed Lady, gourmand being my least favorite type but BB is a very happy scent and my bottle is a wonderful souvenir of the New Orleans Basenotes meet-up. I find I wear a light spritz frequently at work. There were some other nice scents in the Nez a Nez line, too.

Can't wait for your impression of Visa

I think you made a beautiful choice with your souvenir, knit! I see the bottles look as elegant as Bouche Baie smells, too! One thing that pleased me so much about BB was that I found it unique (really don't know a thing like it) but I can't imagine it ever offending. I'll bet it does do nicely at work. I can see gourmand lovers flipping for it but it can certainly appeal to lovers of pretty and clean but interesting jasmines, like me. Will definitely explore Nez a Nez.

I also must explore more Piguet fragrances. I can pick out Fracas & Bandit whenever I'm near them but they've never touched this skin. I can sense their beauty and the fine work that goes into them but they have always felt too big for me. Like a dress a few sizes too large; I feel I can't "fill them out", lol! Shame on me for never looking deeper, though- Visa may just be my perfect leather. Smoooooth! Gorgeous peach on top; I could really end up oversprayed with Visa because of that peach. If I had a bottle, I'd be topping up all the time to smell it again! I find it wonderfully balanced, fruits, flowers, spices, leather & vanilla (love the vanilla note here) all play at the same volume for me. Yes, has pretty strong projection but certainly not as potent as some. Tenacity to spare. Not the same thing as Angel at all to me. Hope a FB falls out of the sky and into my hands!

Package is ready to go to the P.O. in the morning. Will give my 1969 sample another wear tonight and gather up my thoughts for a last post!

For some reason, when people like a Mollie Parnis decant I've sent them, it's like being told my children are beautiful and smart!

http://www.sweetscent.com/cart/shopd...+PARNIS%2CTYPE

Anyone tried this?

Or even seen this?

http://shop2.pageland.com/Item.cfm?S...D=7640&Search=