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Perfume Chat Room, January 15

Welcome to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly. This is meant to be a kind space, so please try not to give or take offense, and let’s all agree to disagree when opinions differ. In fragrance as in life, your mileage may vary! YMMV.

Today is Friday, January 15, and I can’t believe we are halfway through January already! I live in the Southeastern United States, and we can already sense the advent of spring. The days are getting longer, the sun is rising earlier, and some brave flowers are emerging. I have hellebores in bloom, and some hardy daffodils are poking their green shoots up out of the earth, though it will be a while before any bloom. I’m not yet ready to break out the full-on spring floral and green scents I love, I’m still wearing my “warmer” fragrances like L’Ambre des Merveilles, which I finally bought in 2020. This week, I’ve been enjoying Covet by Sarah Jessica Parker, which is between “warm” and “floral”. It is a true bargain beauty, widely available for less than $25 for 100 ml. I found a bottle recently at T.J.Maxx on clearance for $18.

Speaking of T.J. Maxx, where I was delighted to discover a bargain reissue of my beloved Anne Klein II , last week I found a bottle of that same reissue there at my local store, labeled with a price of $49.99. No, no, no! I’ve bought a few backup bottles there and not one cost more than $14.99. The reissue is great, and another bargain beauty, but the vintage original goes for ridiculous prices online. If you’re tempted, make sure you don’t pay vintage-zone prices for the new version; look on the box and the small print will say Made In China and distributed by Palm Beach Beaute LLC.

I read and participate regularly in the comments on a favorite blog, “Now Smell This”, which always has a weekly Friday “community project” in which readers wear a fragrance they have which fits a shared theme. This week’s theme (so creative!) is to wear a fragrance that reminds you of this year’s Pantone “Colors of the Year”, which are currently “Ultimate Gray” and “Illuminating” (a bright yellow). So today, I will wear another bargain beauty, Elizabeth & James’ discontinued Nirvana French Grey. It and its sibling, Nirvana Amethyst, are all over the bargain brick-and-mortar stores for under $20 for 50 ml, and well worth that price. All the Nirvana fragrances have been discontinued, so if you like them and you find them for a great price, stock up!

What’s new in your world, fragrance or otherwise? How is 2021 looking for you so far?

16 thoughts on “Perfume Chat Room, January 15”

  1. I love finding out each year what the Pantone color(s) of the year will be. After reading your post, I decided to try my sample of Les Nuits d’Izu by Keiko Mecheri, as it is supposed to feature yuzu, a yellow fruit! However, after a blast of good hairspray in the opening, it becomes a rich, creamy floral, and I can’t really detect the yuzu. The perfume is very unobtrusive.

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  2. I’m trying Bruno Fazzolari’s Au dela Narcisse for the third time, as it seems to be more lovely on my scarf than skin! The newer Au Dela also seems great at first, but morphs into that odd musty old smell that I think is oakmoss. That’s odd to me, as I love green and woods, but perhaps oakmoss has it’s own, different character. There is something tart and lovely about the opening, so I’m not giving up! I also love Illuminated Perfume’s Vespertina (natural) which I believe is rose with some oud. I’m excited to learn more about scent this year! I think I’m looking for scents that I connect with deeply, as I want some comfort amidst this ongoing chaos! INFP here, so you can probably understand.

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    • Thanks for commenting! I’ve found that my fragrance hobby has been a great comfort and distraction. I think I have a sample of Au Dela Narcisse, I’ll have to find it! I love green scents and oakmoss, also galbanum.

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  3. I’m trying Bruno Fazzolari’s Au dela Narcisse for the third time, as it seems to be more lovely on my scarf than skin! The newer Au Dela also seems great at first, but morphs into an odd musty old smell that I think is oakmoss. That’s odd to me, as I love green and woods, but perhaps oakmoss has it’s own, different character. There is something tart and lovely about the opening, so I’m not giving up! I also love Illuminated Perfume’s Vespertina (natural) which I believe is rose with some oud. I’m excited to learn more about scent this year! I think I’m looking for scents that I connect with deeply, as I want some comfort amidst this ongoing chaos! INFP here, so you can probably understand.

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  4. Hey OH,
    I so often miss the NST event. It’s a super awkward time in OZ and by the time I remember there’s 300 comments.
    So I’ll do it here. Was wearing Gris Dior for part of today. YAY!

    Tonight for dinner with friends I wore Ashoka, the cream fig and woods by Neela Vermeire.
    After cleaning the place I am now drenched in vintish Samsara from just before the turn of the century.
    Portia xx

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  5. The colors this year are yellow and grey, interesting ones. Yellow makes me think of the sun, ylang ylang, daffodils, amber and grey, ambergris maybe or musk.

    Il Sale et Dune by Profumi di Firenze smells very sunny to me as does Puredistance Gold. YSL’s Cinema I always associate with the sun and the colors gold and yellow. Grey brings to mind CDG Concrete maybe and Liquidnight by the perfumer that did WWDIPIS, What we do in Paris is Secret. .For some reason Liquid Night reminds me of grey asphalt streets and people partying on those streets.

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  6. Recently, I had a “fall out” with NST. It’s not the forum, it’s me: my mornings got impossibly busy (meetings, in which I have to participate actively), and by the time I get some space to breathe, even if I were to post comments to other people’s comments or do my own post, nobody is around any longer – so, it feels kind of stupid to talk to myself in the crowd 🙂

    I’m not good at pairing perfumes with colors (or anything to that matter), so I didn’t. But I wore gray clothes yesterday, and today I played with eye shadows, one of which was yellow. Does it count? 🙂

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      • Taking into the consideration that I haven’t worn any eye shadows for the last 10 years, I’m not sure which colors I will be able to wear. But it doesn’t prevent me from playing with those colors. Especially these days when nobody but my vSO sees me most of the days 🙂

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