Synchronized Fridays 2021

[teardrop]

l have an idea for tomorrow, but it's not something l'd wear at work. l might wait until the evening or possibly synch a day late. lf you can call that synching.

[incense+heliotrope]

Fairly sure that I'll be Synching in Comme des Garcons Black tomorrow.
I sampled this on card at the Comme boutique in Glasgow a few years back and liked it, but ended up buying Avignon and Zagorsk. Afterwards, I remembered it as mostly dark vetiver - too similar to Encre Noire and Etro Vetiver, so I thought. Bought a decant last summer - on my skin, the vetiver is less pronounced, and I get warm dark brown spices, tar, leather, and licorice. I finally bought a bottle in the autumn.

[CuddleCat]

In sync with Le Cri / Le Cri de la Lumière by Parfum d'Empire. First tried a sample about a year ago and finally found an Australian perfume shop that stocked the Parfum d'Empire range last month. I was originally going to purchase from the US but covid happened and I decided against placing an international order with all the covid related postal delays.

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

It took me five years to find a bottle Mitsouko Fleur de Lotus so I could go with that, after a day with Antaeus.

[kewart]

I am going with Bombay Bling.
I have been dragging out my decant
of this for ages so decided to order a full bottle as soon as I was
financially able.
I call it my pandemic indulgence!

[ClockworkAlice]

I'm synching with Calvin Klein Contradiction - a scent I loved in my late teens and early twenties and ten to fifteen years have passed until I actually bought a bottle.
I was given a generous carded sample (maybe 2.7 ml or something) of this when I was maybe 15, 17 or something and I cherished it.
It was my most grown up, sexiest, classiest and coolest scent next to my Escadas, Pumas and various drugstore supercheapies I got as gifts through the years (and also enjoyed very much, too). I dabbed it very frugally on occasions, and so this sample lasted me many years, guiding me through various dates, outings to clubs and so on and so on. I liked the name and the idea of contradicting elements in one scent. I liked the cool, metallic eucalyptus and warm drydown, and it felt "classy" to me. It was "my" scent - but no one knew me by it as I dabbed it rarely and just in tiniest drops. I still have some perfume left in that sample!

Now of course, I couldn't afford something as expensive as a Calvin Klein as a teenager or student myself (concert and festival tickets and new leather combat boots were my top priority for my savings these days), but later on, when I started working and having more money and started thinking that maybe I should get some perfume for myself some day instead of just using whatever I got as gifts from relatives, I started thinking that maybe I could get this one if I saw it somewhere. But of course I didn't. Contradiction was already several years old when I got a sample, and perfumes just don't eternally sit on the store shelves unless they're really popular.

Fast forward several more years, I finally become interested in fragrances, I find Basenotes, I find out about discounters, and browsing through one of the sites I actually find Contradiction, boom!
Naturally, it was one of my first perfume purchases.
It still smells the same, after all these years - both just like I remember and in reality, as I found my old sample in old boxes to compare. When I wear it, it takes me back.
But I don't love it anymore, and I don't think it's my -iest scent, and I wouldn't buy it again. I am spoiled of choice already. And I don't like the top notes and I have to suffer through the hairspray start for an hour or two until I'm left with the drydown I truly like - I never had to experience the top notes back then as I was just dabbing it from the sample.

It is my nostalgia scent, my madeleine while in search for a lost time, and as a true nostalgia scent, it brings me more sadness than joy. But that sadness is rather bright.

[PStoller]

9CF387E0-FD78-4C90-A3C8-8BD01CAE1119.jpg

Aigner Super Fragrance for Men

[tdem1961]

In synch with Donna Karan Black Cashmere. I had a bit of this years ago, but it got harder to come by and ended up fetching crazy prices on eBay. I all but gave up then recently lucked into a used bottle. It’s so rich and complex that a little goes a long way.

[HouseOfPhlegethon]

I'm synching with Calvin Klein Contradiction - a scent I loved in my late teens and early twenties and ten to fifteen years have passed until I actually bought a bottle.
I was given a generous carded sample (maybe 2.7 ml or something) of this when I was maybe 15, 17 or something and I cherished it.
It was my most grown up, sexiest, classiest and coolest scent next to my Escadas, Pumas and various drugstore supercheapies I got as gifts through the years (and also enjoyed very much, too). I dabbed it very frugally on occasions, and so this sample lasted me many years, guiding me through various dates, outings to clubs and so on and so on. I liked the name and the idea of contradicting elements in one scent. I liked the cool, metallic eucalyptus and warm drydown, and it felt "classy" to me. It was "my" scent - but no one knew me by it as I dabbed it rarely and just in tiniest drops. I still have some perfume left in that sample!

Now of course, I couldn't afford something as expensive as a Calvin Klein as a teenager or student myself (concert and festival tickets and new leather combat boots were my top priority for my savings these days), but later on, when I started working and having more money and started thinking that maybe I should get some perfume for myself some day instead of just using whatever I got as gifts from relatives, I started thinking that maybe I could get this one if I saw it somewhere. But of course I didn't. Contradiction was already several years old when I got a sample, and perfumes just don't eternally sit on the store shelves unless they're really popular.

Fast forward several more years, I finally become interested in fragrances, I find Basenotes, I find out about discounters, and browsing through one of the sites I actually find Contradiction, boom!
Naturally, it was one of my first perfume purchases.
It still smells the same, after all these years - both just like I remember and in reality, as I found my old sample in old boxes to compare. When I wear it, it takes me back.
But I don't love it anymore, and I don't think it's my -iest scent, and I wouldn't buy it again. I am spoiled of choice already. And I don't like the top notes and I have to suffer through the hairspray start for an hour or two until I'm left with the drydown I truly like - I never had to experience the top notes back then as I was just dabbing it from the sample.

It is my nostalgia scent, my madeleine while in search for a lost time, and as a true nostalgia scent, it brings me more sadness than joy. But that sadness is rather bright.

This is a great story / history, even though it isn't a favorite of yours.

[HouseOfPhlegethon]

I'm wearing the same as last Friday, Unforgettable by Revlon. I adored this when it first came out and went through a few bottles. Then, it disappeared. I didn't think much of it, as I had moved on to other fragrances. Fast forward to recent years; I thought I'd try it again, discovered it was discontinued, and began searching online. The bottles I could find were outrageously priced. Uh-uh - not paying a hundred or more for a drugstore cheapey. Eventually, I found one for "cheap" around 20 or so dollars. It is as glorious as I remember. It takes me back to my younger days, when I didn't have a care in the world. It also reminds me of Christmas, as that is when I received my first bottle...

[ClockworkAlice]

I'm wearing the same as last Friday, Unforgettable by Revlon. I adored this when it first came out and went through a few bottles. Then, it disappeared. I didn't think much of it, as I had moved on to other fragrances. Fast forward to recent years; I thought I'd try it again, discovered it was discontinued, and began searching online. The bottles I could find were outrageously priced. Uh-uh - not paying a hundred or more for a drugstore cheapey. Eventually, I found one for "cheap" around 20 or so dollars. It is as glorious as I remember. It takes me back to my younger days, when I didn't have a care in the world. It also reminds me of Christmas, as that is when I received my first bottle...

This is a beautiful story, too! And I'm glad to read that you were not only able to find it again, but also still find it as glorious as before.

[HouseOfPhlegethon]

This is a beautiful story, too! And I'm glad to read that you were not only able to find it again, but also still find it as glorious as before.

Thank you!

[Ebenas]

Just woke up after an afternoon nap (because lockdown) thinking I wanted to wear something deep and enveloping.. Vero Onda came to mind. Then I realised it was Friday and decided to check synchronicity rules for today.

There are a few candidates but the one that really fits the bill is Jungle (Elephant) by Kenzo, not because it's difficult to find, but because I spent years in a kind of repeating brief encounter affair with it. I used to (sob) travel a lot for work and would very often spray on some Jungle in airports but never got around to buying it - god help the people sitting beside me - it's not exactly subtle. After several years of this, reader, I bought a bottle (and got a lovely decant from the wonderful Cook.bot so am stocked up for the foreseeable).

Back to today - I mulled over the instinct to wear Onda and the reasons to wear Jungle, and realised that I'd also waited for Onda. It was one that kept coming up as something I thought I'd like. I never saw it for sale, and when I finally decided to get some online, it was just after Vero Kern died, so it was in short supply. I eventually found a bottle of extrait, which I treasure.

So, I'm wearing Onda now, and may add some Jungle as a scent for the evening - they're both powerhouses, but Jungle lasts so long, it's definitely better applied second (if at all) today.

[Cook.bot]

Ants, meet Grasshopper.

I searched my memory and pored over my wardrobe for any scent that had involved a long wait or a frugal saving-up-for, and came up with nothing.

Just too much of a hedonist, I suppose.

[Trilby Lark]

I deny myself nothing.

[PStoller]

I assumed a long search was three days.

[Ken_Russell]

Can choose most of the wardrobe anyway, having waited (and previously fantasized, planned, budgeted, searched for, gotten info and/or dreamed) quite a bit for most scents currently owned and regularly used.
Yet likely to choose Grey Flannel, simply because this belongs to the fragrances that do qualify for a particular kind of longing (s) and/or long term wait, love/loss then reuniting, anxiousness, extreme self-consciousness, waiting etc. most of the other scents in the current lineup did not experience nor cause (yet). At least never to this extent.

[Cook.bot]

I assumed a long search was three days.

Ah, we both apparently subscribe to Cyreniac units of measurement.

The Cyrenaics taught that the only intrinsic good is pleasure, which meant not just the absence of pain, but positively enjoyable momentary sensations. Of these, physical ones are stronger than those of anticipation or memory. They did, however, recognize the value of social obligation, and that pleasure could be gained from altruism.

[Ken_Russell]

Glad to have joined the sync with Grey Flannel

[SmokeAndSky]

I'm wearing Jour d'Hermes, I've wanted this one for maybe 5+ years?
Just received a big 2.87 oz tester bottle of it from BeautyEncounter today.
It's not quite as exciting as I'd hoped. I think that fragrances need to settle after their journeys through the mail.
However, I'm happy to have this in my wardrobe and check it off the list!

Has anyone else worn this often, and can compare it to Jour d'Hermes Absolu? I have the Absolu version, which seems much sharper and stronger. Am I off base here?

[SmokeAndSky]

Oops.

[SmokeAndSky]

This is a great story / history, even though it isn't a favorite of yours.

I agree, it's a lovely story!

[SmokeAndSky]

It took me five years to find a bottle Mitsouko Fleur de Lotus so I could go with that, after a day with Antaeus.

Mitsouko Fleur de Lotus: that's an obscure one for me, and I've been engaged in perfume as a hobby for the last 10 or 11 years. Thanks for something new to me!

[LiveJazz]

I guess it's Lauder Azuree for me. It's less that I was denying myself or anything and more that I just put it off for a really long time for no good reason. It's fantastic, and in hindsight I have no idea what took me so long.

[teardrop]

Synching this evening with Bruno Acampora's Jasmin T EDP. l first tried the oil version, simply named Jasmin, around 2009, & found it the most delightfully dirty jasmine l'd encountered. l always wanted a bottle of the EDP as l prefer to spray, & l finally found one in the Luckyscent sale in 2019, almost exactly ten years later. l don't wear it often as it's powerful, but the drydown is just seductive as l remember it.

[incense+heliotrope]

I'm glad to hear all your accounts of how you waited (for whatever reason) to buy a scent, and are then thrilled with it.
It is the same for me : I cannot get enough of CdG Black; far better on skin than on card. It is about to overtake Penhaligon's Elixir as my 'most worn in the last year'. This is serious indeed.

[knit at nite]

Vivienne Westwood Boudoir

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

Mitsouko Fleur de Lotus: that's an obscure one for me, and I've been engaged in perfume as a hobby for the last 10 or 11 years. Thanks for something new to me!

It's really nice. It's certainly worth sampling if an opportunity presents itself.

[SmokeAndSky]

A little update: Jour d'Hermes was wearing pretty softly, so I sprayed on some Moon Dance by JHAG for the evening. I fell IN LOVE with this perfume SO HARD. Hunted and hunted and hunted for a bottle that wouldn't break the bank. Got it after quite some time, and then... wore it once or twice. YEARS have passed since I last sprayed it.
Do any of you have stories like that?

[Rick58 & Beth62]

I wrote this yesterday and forgot to hit the post button:

I’m syncing in the EdP version of Ma Liberté by Jean Patou. I’d gone through two bottles of the EdT since it’s release in ‘87 just on my own, and Rick’s gone through another two in the past two years.... But I never got my mitts on the EdP because of its limited production runs. I scored an almost full bottle last fall from a very nice lady in Greece who was liquidating her MIL’s estate. Yep, it was definitely worth the hunt.