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Perfume Chat Room, November 22
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Perfume Chat Room, November 22

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 Saturday, November 22, and it is almost Thanksgiving! I really enjoy Thanksgiving, because I like to cook, I love having my family around, and I enjoy setting a formal dinner table since I do that so rarely! I also love the scents that come with Thanksgiving, mostly from the aforementioned cooking. I grow many of the herbs that I will use: actually parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, as the song says. Their fragrance is alluring even before I start cooking.

I already know what my holiday fragrance will be: this year’s Shalimar flanker, issued in honor of the perfume’s 100th anniversary. Shalimar l’Essence is the first Shalimar I’ve really loved, though there are a couple of other “editions” I have liked very much, such as the eau de cologne formulation. My lovely husband brought me a bottle from his recent trip to Las Vegas, where there is a Guerlain boutique. To my nose, it has all the charm of the current eau de parfum minus the burnt rubber smoke that I always get from that. It’s very vanilla-centric without being sweet; it becomes soft and powdery, and it lasts for hours on skin and days on fabric.

I like it so much that I got the bigger bottle for my own Christmas gift from lovely husband! In fact, when I was picking it up at the big department store in our city’s biggest mall, I even persuaded a much younger woman to try it. She was browsing among the Guerlain scents, and I pointed out the tester and suggested she might like it. Then I moved along. She came rushing up to me a few minutes later, holding out her arm for me to sniff and exclaiming how much she loved it. She was browsing with her fiancé so I’m pretty sure they left the mall with a bottle. Do I get my enabler pin?

Do you have any special traditions, recipes, or scents for Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it? Or for other holidays at this time of year?

P.S. As always, I’m very thankful for all of you who read my musings here and especially those of you who share your own thoughts in the comments. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Bottle of fragrance with turkey-shaped top
Golden Turkey Wallflower; Bath & BodyWorks.
Perfume Chat Room, October 31
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Perfume Chat Room, October 31

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, October 31, and it is Halloween! Happy Halloween, fellow fragrance fans!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is a big deal in our neighborhood. They actually block off some streets in the middle of the neighborhood to keep cars out and allow for safer trick-or-treating. And tonight’s weather is perfect, so I’m sure we will see many kids in costume! We’re ready!

On a fragrance topic, I was delighted to get a request this morning from my niece who is getting married next fall, asking if I would do a workshop to make wedding fragrances for her and her fiancé. I’m so tickled! Of course I said yes, and have asked her to send me the names of some scents they enjoy. Luckily, there’s a niche fragrance boutique nearby that holds these workshops, so I’ll ask one of my daughters (who will be a bridesmaid) to go with me.

I’m very curious to find out what scents the happy couple particularly like. It’s always interesting to hear what their generation does and doesn’t like in fragrance. Our son stopped by the other day to pick up some things, and he smelled great — it was the Azzaro Most Wanted Parfum that he asked for and got last Christmas.

Any thoughts on or experiences with wedding fragrances? Do tell!

Perfume Chat Room, October 24
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Perfume Chat Room, October 24

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.

My husband just got back from a work trip to Las Vegas, where he stayed in a hotel with an onsite Santa Maria Novella boutique. He asked which of their fragrances I might like, and since I already have a couple and didn’t know much about the others, I requested their discovery set. Voila!

Discovery set plus extras

The discovery set includes: Aqua Della Regina, Fresia, Rosa Gardenia, Rosa Novella, Angeli di Firenze, Melograno, Tabacco Toscano, Pot Pourri.

I’m trying Aqua Della Regina tonight, and I like it a lot! It’s very bright and aromatic, totally unisex. I look forward to trying the others! Do you have any favorites from Santa Maria Novella? We loved visiting their location in Florence some years ago.

Perfume Chat Room, October 19
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Perfume Chat Room, October 19

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 Sunday, October 19, and I am the lucky and grateful recipient of several new fragrances! Our oldest daughter returned from her trip to Italy with a roller bottle of extract de parfum from Casa Amalfi, called Blue Grotto. It’s a very pleasing, unisex, citrus aromatic, launched in 2025.

My husband just got back from a work trip to Las Vegas, where he stayed in a hotel with an onsite Santa Maria Novella boutique. He asked which of their fragrances I might like, and since I already have a couple and didn’t know much about the others, I requested their discovery set. I also (shame on me) admitted that there is a new fragrance I was eager to try: the 100th anniversary flanker to Shalimar, Shalimar L’Essence.

My lovely gift!

Reader, I love it. I was pretty sure I would, and I knew that at least I would like it, based on the reviews I had read, which prompted the blind buy. It is really gorgeous, and I say that as someone who has had a mixed reaction to Shalimar and flankers. Of the older versions, the one I’ve liked most was the eau de cologne, because it didn’t have a strong tarry note, which is what “leather” notes in fragrance sometimes smell like to me.

Enter the 100th anniversary flanker, in its beautiful bottle!

Shalimar L’Essence

It has lots of vanilla, with just a soupçon of lemon at the start, then just a hint of lavender and leather or tobacco, undergirded by iris and rose. It lasts for several hours on my skin, and a little goes a long way; I’ve been applying light sprays to my wrists and one at the base of my neck, and that’s plenty. I will enjoy getting to know this new addition, created by perfumer Delphine Jelk.

Do you have a favorite version or flanker of Shalimar? Have you tried this new one?

Perfume Chat Room, October 3
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Perfume Chat Room, October 3

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, October 3, and I’ve been reading a lot about a recent report on COVID-related loss of sense of smell (hyposmia): Loss of smell may linger years after COVID-19. Interestingly, the study also showed some loss of smell among people who hadn’t noticed it after an infection.

Did you lose any of your sense of smell after a bout of COVID? Is it back to normal? I’ve read about people retraining their noses, using some of the methods I think perfumers use to improve their sense of smell. I feel thankful that I haven’t experienced hyposmia, which can have quite a negative impact on wellbeing.

On a more cheerful note (pun intended), have you changed your regular scent rotation to welcome fall?

Perfume Chat Room, September 28
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Perfume Chat Room, September 28

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 Sunday, September 28, and we’re having a mix of weather this week before the possible arrival of tropical storms/hurricanes on the East Coast. I live far enough inland that hurricanes usually affect us only insofar as we can get heavy rains and wind from their edges, but as Hurricane Helene reminded us all a year ago, an inland location is no guarantee that one won’t be more seriously impacted. However, Helene was preceded by many days of heavy rains, so the ground was already soaked and couldn’t absorb more. Lately, it has been very dry here, so that’s less of an issue.

This weekend’s SOTD was D.S. & Durga’s White Peacock Lily, from a decant. It is a strong white flower fragrance with some aquatic notes. I’m not a big fan of strong white florals, but this has enough other notes that I’m not overwhelmed as long as I spray it with a light hand. It has a touch of grapefruit in the opening, which cuts through some of the sweetness, and another opening note, oleander, is the first white flower I smell. It moves quite quickly into the middle notes, which are dominated by white lily and jasmine. The jasmine is more green than indolic to my nose, which helps lighten the white lily.

Like many white florals, this one elicits strong reactions. Some people love it, others hate it and scrub it off. I fall in between. I don’t hate it, but I might if I applied it more lavishly. And it does last a long time, so if you don’t like it, you will have to scrub!

I haven’t tried many D.S. & Durga fragrances, have you? Any you particularly like?

White peacock, Lake Maggiore, Italy

Perfume Chat Room, September 19
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Perfume Chat Room, September 19

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, September 19, and boy, has it been a week here in the USA. All the chaos and unprecedented actions are affecting my ability to focus, but I’m trying to keep making time and mental space for things I love. AND we’re going to see the Downton Abbey movie this weekend with longtime, beloved friends, so I’ll enjoy a bit of escapism while I plan the letters I will write, the protests I will attend, the modest donations I will make (on top of the modest ones I already make). It really does feel as if we live in a looking-glass era, where bad people are lionized and actual heroes are ignored.

Today I’m wearing a fragrance I got in a grab bag at The Barnes Fragrance Fair outside London this spring. It is a relatively young event; it started after COVID lockdowns, I believe.

It is a showcase for British independent perfumers, like Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays. She had a display there and she taught perfume-making workshops like the one I did at her studio the week before.

4160 Tuesdays display

Just going through some of the photos I took does cheer me up, because it reminds me that there are so many creative, kind, interesting people all around the world. If you get a chance to go to the Barnes Fragrance Fair, do it! So much fun!

Back ro my scent of the day: Sunset Riot Intense. As the name suggests, it is a 2024 flanker to the original Sunset Riot, launched by AllSaints in 2018. It is a unisex amber, spicy floral with a strong undertone of cedar.

I suspect this comes from a use of ambroxan, a synthetic molecule that is commonly used to create a dry, amber, musky scent. Some perfumksts really hate it and can’t to.erate it in fragrances, but I don’t have such a strong reaction to it. It’s just not really my thing. As regular readers here know, I’m much more drawn to floral and green fragrances, even chypres.

According to Fragrantica, these are the notes of Sunset Riot Intense: “Top notes are Pink Pepper, Mandarin Leaf and Freesia; middle notes are Moss, Orange Blossom and Jasmine; base notes are Leather, Amber, Musk, Cetalox and Cedar.”

Honestly, I didn’t smell those top notes at all. Of the middle notes, I smell some light orange blossom and jasmine, but not much of either. They do lighten up the listed base notes, though, which don’t smell nearly as heavy as they sound. I don’t really smell leather, unless it’s a suggestion of suede (and I like suede!). I do get the amber, musk, and cedar. So basically, I think I’m smelling a light jasmine-inflected ambroxan. Pleasant enough, but not my thing and not something I’d shell out a lot of money ones to buy. I might feel differently if I were more drawn to masculine scents, though, and I can see many men really enjoying this, and their partners enjoying it on them.

Have you tried any AllSaints scents?

Perfume Chat Room, September 14
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Perfume Chat Room, September 14

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 Sunday, September 14, and this week it’s time for my husband’s birthday! Yes, we’re both Virgos, and the less said about that, the better, lol.

I have two fragrance tidbits to share: one, our second daughter recently returned from Greece (where she and a friend had the BEST time), and she brought me a very nice fragrance she found in a boutique in Athens called La Maison de Stefanie. The fragrance is called Artemis, and it has an intriguing opening that smells like a mix of fruit and spice, but nothing like apple pie, for instance. I think the fruit may be fig. I’m still puzzling over the spice notes.

The other is that my BFF who lives in Florida felt the deep need for self care and re-centering that many of us in the USA are feeling in these disorienting times, and she got herself an item from her wishlist: Amouage’s Existence. She’s in heaven! It is centered on a muguet accord, so you know I’ll have to go try it locally. Have any of you tested it?

That’s all for now — gotta go think of birthday plans for my beloved.

Van Cleef & Arpels jeweled lily of the valley clip with diamonds and emeralds
Van Cleef & Arpels jeweled lily of the valley clip; photo from Van Cleef & Arpels.
Perfume Chat Room, September 5
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Perfume Chat Room, September 5

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, September 5, and it is my birthday weekend! My lovely husband surprised me with an early present of a large gift card from David Austin Roses, my favorite roses which are both beautiful and fragrant. As he knows, I would much rather be given rose bushes than bouquets, lol. Rose perfume is always welcome too, of course! And he has given that too, most notably the gorgeous rose star he brought me from Dubai some years ago, and Penhaligon’s Elisabethan Rose 2018.

I had intended to write last Friday about DragonCon, the massive fantasy/anime/cosplay event that happens here every Labor Day Weekend. The perfume maker Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab exhibits at it, and my daughter (who goes every year) was kind enough to bring me samples and other freebies, last year and this year. Alas, I didn’t get organized fast enough to write a post last Friday!

The sample I wore last week and again today is Bruised Violet Compound. The website describes it as having notes of crushed violets, red currant, patchouli root, and Spanish moss. Mostly what I smell is violets, and it’s very appealing. The website also says it “promotes vigor in the undead and relieves the discomforts and complaints so common to incorporeal spirits.”

I’m very amused by the goth names of the fragrances created by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. Have you tried any of their scents?

Perfume Chat Room, August 22
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Perfume Chat Room, August 22

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, August 22, and we are having seesaw weather again! It veers between very hot and humid, and cooler but with sudden torrential downpours. Next week, we’re supposed to get a stretch of cooler weather without the thunderstorms. I’ll believe it when I see it! Meanwhile, in the SLOW process of reorganizing and tidying, I came across an early favorite in my fragrance journey, the discontinued Blasted Bloom by Penhaligon’s. It was a gift from my husband that he brought back from one of his work trips, and he chose it himself. The man has great taste!

I still love Blasted Bloom and I was happy to wear it again. It suits this unpredictable but mostly hot and thundery weather, with its notes of sea water and green leaves. It’s very refreshing without being citrusy.

The landscape that inspired Blasted Bloom.

On another note, I find myself surprisingly excited by the 100th anniversary release of Shalimar! I know some of you are huge, longtime fans; I’m not, though I like it now, more than I did ten years ago when the only version I found approachable was the eau de cologne (I know, I know). Shalimar L’Essence sounds really great, and I like the bottle design. It is supposed to be available starting September 1, have any of you pre-ordered it or planned to rush out to get it asap?