stonepicnicking_okapi (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2019-08-20 09:15 am
stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2019-08-20 09:15 am
Entry tags:
The Nose Knows: Adventures in Perfume Sniffing
From The Hound of the Baskervilles:
There are seventy-five perfumes, which it is very necessary that a criminal expert should be able to distinguish from each other, and cases have more than once within my own experience depended upon their prompt recognition.
Following Holmes's example, I decided to do my own investigation in scent! On impulse, I bought a set of samples of vintage perfumes from The Pefumed Court and I've set about wearing one a day. Here are my thoughts on the first three: Tabac Blond, Narcisse Noir (both by Caron) and Chypre by Coty.
The first thing I learned is that I don't have a very sophisticated vocabulary for expressing what I'm smelling, but I hope that will improve with time and practice.
1. Tabac Blond by Caron. I'd read about this fragrance but I was disappointed. I think it may be a case of liking language more than the things language expresses. It smelled like warm baby powder to me. It made me think of the big, floofy auburn wig I saw a much older lady wearing at the snowball stand last week. Maybe I got the reformulated version? But this is suppose to be a vintage set so I don't think so. I definitely didn't smell tobacco of any kind.
2. Narcisse Noir by Caron. This perfume is mentioned in Noel Coward plays and old Hollywood films. To me, at first, it smelled similar to Tabac Blond but fruiter. Like Fruit Loops baby powder [Fruit Loops is an American breakfast cereal for the unfamiliar] BUT it did allow me to experience the fact that perfumes change over time as you wear them. It smelled much more floral at 3 pm than it did at 11:30 am. It smells like great-grandma at first and yesterday I had to be in the car chauffeuring the boys to a lot of different appointments and I nearly gave myself a headache.
3. Chypre by Coty. EDT (eau de toilette). One sniff of this and I said, 'Now THIS is perfume.' When I think 'perfume,' this is what I think. Chypre is a descriptor in itself in the perfume world (meaning bergamot top note, floral heart, and mossy base note) and the Coty fragrance is iconic.
None of these, however, are 'very me.' And none fit my soccer mom in a beat-up minivan lifestyle :) I felt very silly last night watching Okapi Minor's practice and wearing a perfume belonging to Alexis Carrington [Joan Collins' character from the old American soap opera Dynasty]. So if any of my gentle friends would like any of these once-tried samples (they are in 1/2 ml vials that are 1/2 filled so very tiny samples) and feel comfortable privately sending me a mailing address, I'm happy to put them in a padded envelope and post them.
There are seventy-five perfumes, which it is very necessary that a criminal expert should be able to distinguish from each other, and cases have more than once within my own experience depended upon their prompt recognition.
Following Holmes's example, I decided to do my own investigation in scent! On impulse, I bought a set of samples of vintage perfumes from The Pefumed Court and I've set about wearing one a day. Here are my thoughts on the first three: Tabac Blond, Narcisse Noir (both by Caron) and Chypre by Coty.
The first thing I learned is that I don't have a very sophisticated vocabulary for expressing what I'm smelling, but I hope that will improve with time and practice.
1. Tabac Blond by Caron. I'd read about this fragrance but I was disappointed. I think it may be a case of liking language more than the things language expresses. It smelled like warm baby powder to me. It made me think of the big, floofy auburn wig I saw a much older lady wearing at the snowball stand last week. Maybe I got the reformulated version? But this is suppose to be a vintage set so I don't think so. I definitely didn't smell tobacco of any kind.
2. Narcisse Noir by Caron. This perfume is mentioned in Noel Coward plays and old Hollywood films. To me, at first, it smelled similar to Tabac Blond but fruiter. Like Fruit Loops baby powder [Fruit Loops is an American breakfast cereal for the unfamiliar] BUT it did allow me to experience the fact that perfumes change over time as you wear them. It smelled much more floral at 3 pm than it did at 11:30 am. It smells like great-grandma at first and yesterday I had to be in the car chauffeuring the boys to a lot of different appointments and I nearly gave myself a headache.
3. Chypre by Coty. EDT (eau de toilette). One sniff of this and I said, 'Now THIS is perfume.' When I think 'perfume,' this is what I think. Chypre is a descriptor in itself in the perfume world (meaning bergamot top note, floral heart, and mossy base note) and the Coty fragrance is iconic.
None of these, however, are 'very me.' And none fit my soccer mom in a beat-up minivan lifestyle :) I felt very silly last night watching Okapi Minor's practice and wearing a perfume belonging to Alexis Carrington [Joan Collins' character from the old American soap opera Dynasty]. So if any of my gentle friends would like any of these once-tried samples (they are in 1/2 ml vials that are 1/2 filled so very tiny samples) and feel comfortable privately sending me a mailing address, I'm happy to put them in a padded envelope and post them.