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, June 7, and we’re back from our trip to France! It was an amazing trip through Normandy and Brittany, where we visited D-Day sites, prehistoric standing stones, landscapes of great natural beauty, and several museums along the way. We also enjoyed many outstanding meals, including our first ever dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant. All in all, it was a wonderful, though delayed, celebration of major birthdays, wedding anniversary, and graduations; this was the trip we had planned for the summer of 2020, which of course we had to cancel. It is also likely to be our last big trip to Europe with the whole family, as our three young adult children now all have full-time jobs, significant others, and more scheduling challenges. So we pulled out all the stops!

I did not come home with any fragrances, but I was able to try some really nice ones in the duty-free area of Charles de Gaulle airport. The Guerlain extraits were so luxurious! I sampled Iris Pallida and Rose Centifolia. Just gorgeous! I also tried Chanel’s Comète and was unimpressed. Quite pretty, but it may have suffered by comparison with Guerlain’s Iris Pallida extrait, which was simply stunning. If I were longing for a powdery Chanel iris eau de parfum, I’d probably be satisfied with No. 19 Poudré, at a much lower price.

We also visited the garden at Christian Dior’s childhood home in Granville, which inspired many of his designs and fragrances. It was absolutely beautiful, and all the roses were in full bloom, including a lovely, fragrant one named “Jardin de Granville.” I wish it were available in the US, to add to my own garden!

A big thank-you to rickyrebarco, whose package with Nicolai’s Une Fleur En Mai and another lovely goodie arrived while we were away! They’re both beautiful, and I love them. I’m wearing Une Fleur En Mai today!

We won’t be traveling overseas for the rest of the summer, though London is a possibility this fall, and we may go visit family in New Hampshire in July. Do you have any summer travel plans? Any planned acquisitions of new fragrances? Do tell!