How Do You Smell Today? #4

Molton Brown's Coastal Cypress and Sea Fennel.

 

Diptyque L'Ombre dans L'Eau + Clean Rain + one pump of Amouage Lyric Man

 

Gucci's Rush, a blast from the past, which I must have bought on sale a long time ago, because I can't remember paying anywhere near the price it retails for today.

Remind me, Mr Ford, why did you decide to package this as a plastic box? I see the design inspiration is supposed to be a video cassette, but it doesn't really put me in mind of one, and I'm old enough to have owned a Sony Betamax.

Still, there are far worse bottles to look at than a tiny geometrical slab of bright red plastic.

I'm such a hoarder across the decades that I still have several of his Youth Dew Amber Nude products, and I think I have two unopened original M7 ones.

 

john varvatos dark rebel

 

dolce & gabbana pour homme

 

Vivienne Westwood Boudoir Sin Garden + Mancera Cedrat Boise

 

L'Artisan Parfumeur - Bana Banana

 

bleu de chanel eau de parfum

 

Diptyque - Philosykos (edp)

If only it would last longer..

 

ysl - l'homme

 

Perfume that I designed for myself during the Molinard workshop.

 

Given that I now spend so much time in my own company, choosing what perfume to wear is a chance to introduce some variety into the day... not to mention what gets rediscovered when I go excavating into forgotten corners of storage shelves.

Holding up well despite the years are two Serge Lutens samples, Cuir Mauresque and Muscs Koublaï Khan, the latter of which was always a disappointment. After reading all the earthy descriptions of musky sweat and leather, when all I get is a sweet, smoky powder.

I've also made the calculated gamble of buying the Private Blend version of Tom Ford's Beau de Jour instead of the relaunched one in the Signature Line. I never went for it during the time it was out, despite always being drawn to it, and I've regretted it ever since.

I haven't been able to get near a bottle of the new one to smell it, but after getting YSL Opium pour Homme based on recommendations and hating it, I promised myself that I'd never buy another perfume "sight unseen".

 

^ I seem to recall that someone in my dorm in college wore Opium and it smelled great. On me though, it smells like the cheapest drugstore eau What is it about Opium ...

In my world, lockdown doesn't call for perfume ... so I just smell clean I find scent a bit distracting tbh.

 

bleu de chanel

 

Eleventh Hour by Byredo....it's my favorite...totally intoxicating, mysterious, strange and gorgeous.

 

Houbigant Orangers en Fleurs, because I received four samples of it with an online order. For an eau de parfum, it's got no presence whatsoever - you'd be hard-pressed to smell it even if you sprayed it on your pillow before bed.

 

In order to streamline the amount of samples I own, I’m sitting down and making disciplined lists of products to finish off for good, which includes these tiny vials which come out occasionally, but are otherwise stashed away at the back of a drawer:

Frederic Malle - Iris Poudre
L'Artisan Parfumeur - Bana Banana
Serge Lutens - Cuir Mauresque
Serge Lutens - Muscs Koublai Khan
Serge Lutens - Borneo 1834

The Lutens samples are old, so I know none of them will compare to any current reformulations, the Bana Banana is a foregone conclusion because I already have a full-size bottle from last Christmas which I wear often enough, and the Iris Poudre smells of nothing on me at the start, and only faintly more when it warms up a while later.