Today's poll was suggested by reader SuddenlyInexplicably. Tell us your perfume fantasy — a trip to Paris or London or the Middle East? The best estate sale ever? Custom perfume by a particular perfumer?
Note: image is Forest Buddha [cropped] by malfet_ at flickr; some rights reserved.
I wish I could go back to the early ’60s and smell my mother’s Rumeur again. *That* one. No other. I smelled a supposedly vintage juice a few years ago and already it wasn’t the same.
I also wish NST had an editing function so I could add the word ‘go’ after ‘could’ in my first sentence. 🙂
Bela, if it’s any consolation, I read your comment and didn’t even notice a word was missing. I usually notice typos in other texts but not very often in blog comments.
I’ve always wondered about Rumeur. It’s one of the old Lanvins that I haven’t sniffed yet, and, of course, even if I had, who knows which one it would be. Nonetheless, I’m very fond of the old Lanvins that I do have – they don’t make ’em like that anymore!
I don’t notice typos in blog comments either. I’ve had my iPad create plenty for me by autocorrecting words and stuff so I don’t even care about those things. I blame the technology, not the person using it sometimes.
Poodle, you know you can turn autocorrect off, right? It’s almost the first thing i do these days when I get a new electronic toy.
I know but then I have to type really carefully so it’s a trade off. Once in a while it corrects the wrong thing but usually it’s okay.
Sorry — it’s so annoying to not be able to edit, I know.
You don’t care: you can go in there and tweak – on the odd occasion you’ve made a mistake. Not fair. LOL!
HA — it’s totally true! I can even edit my comments! I will go fix your comment to make up for it (a tiny bit).
A place where I can smell all the great classics and long-discontinued fragrances in their original form (I’m not sure how hands (nose?) on you are allowed to be at the Osmotheque).
On a more realistic note, I’ve been looking for The Perfect Summer Floral for years now. I did finally succumb and order a set of OJ Tiare travel sprays during yesterday’s promotion so I’m hoping it’ll do the trick.
To play at the Osmotheque w/ no supervision — that would be fun!
Yes!
my fantasy would be to be able to get samples (not just a spritz on a blotter or wrist) of the things I’d like to try without the pushiness or second-guessing of the floor manager – looking at you, Chicago Barneys…
Oh, and included in these samples would be the original Chypre…
SOTD Eau de Gloire
Nancy, you smell GORGEOUS! Eau de Gloire is such fine lavender with just a delicate, enough spicy feeling!
Oh yes! A sample fantasy–anything you might want to sniff, easily grabbed in a sample format to continue to try without any suspicious glances! My sample fantasy includes making the harder-to-find easier to find, too!
I wonder if we had really great perfumes easily on hand if it would *improve* the general quality of perfumes over time or if we’d end up with a lot of less memorable stuff like you currently find at Macy’s?
Share your scentiment but not going to happen as long as cost drives the bottom line.
My dad and I were discussing this same effect on household items just the other day–I would rather have an old thing than a newer one, if I know that it will be quality. Sadly, the desire for low cost/high profits does not seem to be pushed back from a consumer desire for quality. The only solution we could come up with was education–make sure we point out how nice things are. So maybe NST is a force for improving/maintaining quality scents?
That’s strange, at the SF Barneys, if you’re anything like a regular customer they’re very generous with samples. They almost insist that I walk out with a couple every time I go there.
I’m hardly a regular at the SF Barneys (though I hope to be someday!) and they’re still very generous with samples, in my experience.
Definitely time travel, preferably as a sort of invisible spirit who could nonetheless sense everything without having to worry about fitting in, or any other practical limitations. I’d love to float around in time experiencing different eras first hand and sniffing the perfumes of the time in their original settings. 🙂
Sounds great Nozknoz! I’d like to go back to Antient times and see what perfume Pharaohs and Cleopatra were wearing.
YES!
Love it. Whenever the female characters are sitting at their vanities in period dramas (like Downton Abbey) I always wonder what they are spritzing…
Exactly!
It would be much easier to use the time machine to bring those glorious old scents to us! Then we wouldn’t have to worry about clothes, mores, etc.
OK, I’ll include the ability to bring back bottles in my fantasy! 😉
Yay! Where do I sign up?
Today I’m sampling Green Orange & Coriander by JO LOVES…
Last week I wrote them an email with a question if there’s any place where I could purchase samples of their fragrances. Within two hours I got a reply from a very nice lady. I had a nice online conversation with her and she offered to send me free samples of fragrances I wanted to try.
Now off to fantasies. I wish I could go on a perfume spree in London (this might come true next year). Another one – to have a bespoke scent created by Daniela Andrier. And I would love to design a bottle of a perfume, not to mention I’d love to create perfume myself one day!
Are my friends and my friends-to-be doing fine? I hope so!
Hi Lucas – so nice to hear about JO LOVES. Perfumers should all be so generous, it would probably help their sales a lot!
If I could go to London this weekend I’d hit the Ormonde Jayne boutique!
Hi Lys! With which JO LOVES are you planning to help their sales?
Forgot to mention that I also had a lovely email conversation with Serge Lutens representative. I’ll be getting the newest version of their perfume book and they’ll toss in some sprays too, they asked which I’ve been interested in.
No surprise, Ormonde Jayne has a nice Olympics discount, they newslettered me about it. I recently got OJ Man and Zizan from a generous US friend.
I read “I would probably help” instead “It would…” sorry :-*
Yeah, I can’t help JL’s sales until I try their products, but I know when an SA or store goes out of their way like that, I try to be their customer.
Before I was a customer, I had a Tom Ford rep send me a package with six samples, twice, unexpectedly, following an inquiry on discontinued Velvet Gardenia!
JO LOVES and Ormonde Jayne are on my must try tist, and I’ve been needing to contact SL so this is a good reminder.
Hope that you’ll be able to try Ormonde Jayne and JO LOVES really soon. I never had a chance to try Tom Ford’s especially those Private Blends.
Isn’t it great when companies are generous with samples when you simply contact them to ask about stockists, etc? It happened to me several times, most memorably when Diptyque sent me mail bag full of samples of their perfumes and body products. I was bowled over and now make a point of buying from them at least once a year (I love their candles so it’s no big ask).
I think that those generous brands make an amazing job. Especially that many of that brands are not selling in Poland so thanks to their generosity I could try perfume from their range.
Wow, that Dyptique bag sounds amazing. Wish I got one too. So far I only know Philosykos, and we didn’t become friends.
Yes, Diptyque are the best. Every time I make a purchase at the San Fran boutiuqe the manager showers me with samples. OK, that’s with purchase.
But when I came in for the very first time she did the same — and I did not buy anything that day! (I came back the next day though). And everyone who had ever set foot in the store while I was there left with at least one sample from her. She did not rush anyone to get anything. She encouraged to take a sample, wear it and make a choice. Definitely a dream come true!
Sounds like a real, passinate sales assistant. Wish I had them in Poland. When I go to Douglas or Sephora here I’m always “attacked” by those girls asking “can I help you sir?” The problem is they know less about me, they’re not even up-to-date with newest releases.
Yeah, the SF Diptyque store is lovely. I’ve been meaning to go back there and make a purchase (probably Eau Trois or Eau Lente).
Lucas, we’re going to wait patiently until you produce that Prada Candy Man you dreamt of some time ago…
Yay! Thank you so much!
I wish the older perfume houses would allow you to order their discontinued scents once a year. Small batches wouldn’t kill them.
I wish I could smell Biba again, and I wish I had stocked up on Parure. SOTD, 1000.
Wouldn’t that be awesome?
Yes! I’d stock up on all kindsa older Cotys…
I would be WAY into that.
Fantasies are allowed to be greedy, right? Okay, so: I discover a scent twin living next door. But, surprise! She has decided she is more of a signature fragrance person. All year she has worn something I don’t really like, or already have. The rest of her frags, well, she is looking to re-home them somewhere where they will be loved and nurtured. She happens to be very wealthy and has no interest in selling them – so long as they will be cared for. Okay, now it gets more elaborate. This lady has lived all over the world. I don’t want to be hectically overwhelmed, so lets just say she has a wonderful collection of Frederick Malle (which you don’t get where I live and none of which I have ever smelled). She has rumored wonders like PoaL, Carnal Folwer and Iris Poudre, among others. Also, she went through a Lutens phase and now has Vetiver Oriental, Sa Majeste La Rose and Chergui. She once received Cuir de Ottoman as a present – but she is not sentimental at all – so now it belongs to yours truly! O, and not to forget some little extras like Incense Rose, Songes, Bottega Veneta…
Did I mention that she is giving me a fridge to keep them all in. Lucky Girl.
I like your fantasy, Merlin! 😀
I would settle for having a perfumista friend/neighbor! (Not that I’d say no to some free bottles!)
Yeah! Any element would be a +
That’s neat! 🙂
I wish I could borrow a time machine. When I was a child, I helped my parents clean out the homes of two great-aunts who died with no living spouses or children. Both women were reasonably well-to-do and had exquisite taste in furniture and jewelry. Both women also had extensive perfume collections – I remember seeing tiny Chanel parfum bottles and who knows what else. One of these great-aunts had a makeup table completely covered by perfume bottles. “Oh, there’s no way these could still be good,” my mother said as she swept them all into a giant garbage bag. Who knows what treasures were right there in front of me, waiting to be sniffed? I’d love to go back in time and rescue those collections. Even better, I’d love to go back and chat with my great-aunts about perfume. Judging from the number of bottles, they had more than just a passing interest in it.
Yup, same here. I wish I was old enough to have realized what my mom was tossing when she did the exact same thing.
I fear my fantasy isn’t very original!
I want to fly to Paris and spend a couple weeks, maybe a month?, sniffing perfume, looking at beautiful fashions, wandering the Louvre and Notre Dame, eating wonderful food, and generally surrounding myself with beauty and sybaritic joys! In my fantasy, I’m either with a very good friend who enjoys much of what I enjoy, or with a fella with whom I’m thoroughly in love. *sigh*
I love this fantasy, may I join? Shall we go to Prada boutique?
Absolutely!
I wonder if they would have their boutique perfume collection.
Either finding an unopened Guet-Apens at an estate sale, or having Maurice Roucel design something just for little ol’ me. I don’t want much, LOL.
Ooh. I want a custom fragrance made, too! But maybe I wanna camp out with Jean-Claude Ellena in his little cabin in the woods for a while (as we discuss the notes that just suit me so perfectly)?
SWOON (at the Guet-Apens bottle)
SWOON (at Roucel)
DOUBLE-SWOON!
My fantasies:
1. All perfumes should be available in 9ml, 15ml and 30ml.
2. All bottles, specially the ones 50mls or more, should come with an airtight screw-top to make it easier to decant.
3. No restrictions whatsoever with mailing perfumes all over the world.
4. A free trip to Paris with a perfumista escort to all the perfume houses, free-rein to sample any and all perfumes AND free samples of any and all perfumes.
ad 1. And 25ml too! It’s a perfect amount 🙂
ad 2. Agreed. Kudos to Annick Goutal and Atelier Cologne they have removable sprayers
ad 3. So that you could send me more samples with an ease and vice versa
ad 4. No discussion, I’m going with you!
“2. All bottles, specially the ones 50mls or more, should come with an airtight screw-top to make it easier to decant.”
YES, this would fulfill my fantasies.
I join you in the mailing wish – I really haven’t gotten into swapping, mainly for lack of time, but also due to the regulations and scary fines.
9 ml! That’s better than I’ve even hoped for.
OOOhhh.. I want to go to the Osmotheque and smell all the perfumes you can’t find anymore, like the original Chypre. And I second Lucas’ post about getting a time machine and smelling what the Pharaohs wore. I totally want to know what Cleopatra smelled like. And I want to have the money to have Mandy Aftel make a custom perfume for me, complete with the studio visit and everything. It would be worth it just to see her studio. And I want to have the money to buy a full bottle of something sometimes.. or maybe just lots more samples.. or both. And if had lots of money, I’d want to go perfume shopping in New York so I could visit CB I Hate Perfume and Aedes and all these places I hear about.
Anyway.. off to go apartment hunting. SOTD is Samsara EDP. This is one that I hardly ever wear, I guess because I never feel quite fabulous enough for it. Today, however, I don’t care.
Good luck on the apartment hunting!
Thanks! If it works out the way I want, the part about having the money to sometimes buy an actual bottle of something might actually come true. 🙂
But the more you wear that Samsara, the more fabulous you feel! 😉
Hee.. Well now I need to do that and see if it happens. 🙂
In my fantasy, I happen upon the estate sale of a perfumista. The person handling the sale want to offload the huge collection of used perfums because it’d be such a hassle to sell one by one. So, empathetic to his plight, I plunk down the cash & load the boxes into my car.
I’d happily share the stash with fellow NSTers, of course!
I had a (real) dream that was very similar!
BREAKING NEWS:
A vast stand of sandalwood trees was discovered, is being managed with an eye toward sustainability, and has been opened up to exportation under fair-trade guidelines.
Perfumers have agreed not to include the word “oud” in a perfume name or its list of notes unless the fragrance actually contains oud.
The IFRA amended its list of restrictions, removing eugenol from the list but adding ambroxan.
Jean Paul Guerlain has returned to active duty, joining Thierry Wasser as co-head perfumer at Guerlain, with each Wasser release being matched by a new JPG exclusive.
It’s reported that the new Coco Noir smells like Borneo 1834 infused with a tiglate-laden gardenia accord.
I reread the poll question and obviously this list is too much fantasy!
That fantasy Coco Noir accord is my hope for Luten’s upcoming “Un Voix Noire.” So my REALISTIC perfume fantasy is that I hope Un Voix Noire’s gardenia has mushroom, earthy, and cacao accents.
should read “Mysore sandalwood trees.”
Great list, Lys! So glad we still have Uncle Serge to make some of our dreams come true.
That’s a fantastic list, Lys!
I laughed out loud at the ambroxan going on IFRA list. I’m with you!
Totally agree on the eugenol — I want my Floris Malmaison back!!!
Oh yes.
Well, the species of Sandalwood that grows in Mysore is being cultivted sustainably and ethically in Western Australia for use as a perfumery material, so that fantasy is close too reality!
The Australian sandalwood smells completely different to my nose. It lacks creaminess and there is a sharpness and thinness to it’s nature. Somehow it lacks a certain depth for me. The perfumes I’ve smelled featuring Australian sandalwood just didn’t hit the spot for me, sadly. I’ll continue to covet the tiny, tiny (and no longer available) Nemat Sandalwood sample I received as a gift and morn this loss which hasn’t yet been convincingly reproduced…..
Good point and something I didn’t know! Just looked it up and if I read it right it looks like the plantation in Australia is getting their first “harvest” in 2013 – very good news and wish fulfilled!
*
KRL, I only knew about the one type of Australian sandalwood too, but apparently as Annemarie says they started growing Mysore-type (santalum album) sandalwood on a large scale in NW Australia.
Yes, there are a couple of different species grown in Western Australia, and one of them is the same species as at Mysore, Whether it smells the same remains to be seen!
Google ‘Mount Romance’ and sandalwood and you should get there.
No such thing as too much fantasy, Lys. That’s the point, right? 🙂
Lys, totally agree on the sandalwood comment:)! Also for oakmoss, pretty please… I’ll grow them myself, if need be.
My next fantasy is that Signor Villoresi invites me kindly to take a tour in his Salon in Florence, to sniff and sample all the gorgeousness its loaded with. And have sample gifts of all his creations. Plus seventy-seven HUGE bottles of Alamut.
The same amount of Ambre Sultan.
A casual lunch with JCE. I’ll listen, he’ll talk. And he’ll wear Bois Farine. (oh, don’t ask…)
Last, I want to go back in time and yell at my paying-job-having self
to STOCK UP! I’m running out of my favourites, and hating the shoes and bags I bought back then instead of Féminité duBois.
Oh and just one more: bring back those beauties like Jicky and Black Cashmere to actual store shelves. Just knowing they are there, life would be easier…
Great poll, by the way:).
I have to check…I thought my local NM had Jicky. But it’s been ages since I’ve seen Black Cashmere in a department store.
I wish I still had every old fragrance I ever owned, filled bottles in mint condition.
Ooooohhh with a name like that. Yes.
I have to admit, I fantasize about smelling Farouche. And many other discontinued vintage fragrances.
That’s an excellent wish, Farouche!
Oh, ditto! And it seems like not asking *too* much 🙂
Great wish! I’m fourthing this, especially as so many of my scents were oakmoss laden!
Mine, too. I’m especially dreaming of my old bottle of original Miss Dior.
That’s what I wish for too – Give me back all my oakmoss and nitro-musk goodies!
Bring Jacques Guerlain back to life to create for the 21st century. I’d like him to make a truly great oceanic that comes in extrait as well as EDP and EDT.
At an antique shop, I spy a Bouquet de Faunes bottle for $100.
My dream is to go to Grasse and make my own perfume.
Interesting! Wonder what he’d think of today’s fragrance market.
Ooooohhhh, I’ll share.
Every perfume house I’ve bought a FB from, full price, at their boutique, at a brick-and-mortar department store or through an online venue like LS send me a spray sample of their new releases in the mail. So that I know that I can test the perfumes from the houses I already know and respect in the comfort of my own home and leave the store visits for learning about new and different things.
The only brand free from this obligation is Diptyque since I need an excuse for visiting the San Fran boutique, chat with Madeline and pick some surprise mini candles in addition to other lovelies.
Oh, that would be perfect!
I would like custom perfumes in the sense of versions tailored to my nose, e.g., Guerlain Vetiver pour Elle with the musk dialed way down.
I’d also appreciate it if the company that owns the formula for Iris Gris would whip up a bottle for me! 🙂
Smelling Iris Gris is part of my fantasy, too!
Mine, three.
Another one: to walk into a thrift store on a rainy day and find something lovely and real in there, something which name I will be able to recognize and clutch with both hands trying to make my heart be still…
Perhaps something like an old bottle of Mitsouko or Patou Caline or Nina Ricci Fleur de Fleurs, or an old — OLD! — version of First…
…be still my heart!!
Angie is the only one I know that manages this regularly.
I can understand your feeling about (very old) First. I still have a few teeny drops of perfume from a sample vial I received the year after its initial release. It is one of the most glorious smells I know. *SIGH*
Yes!
Victoria’s recent post about Place Vendome (http://boisdejasmin.com/2012/08/belgian-perfume-treasure-place-vendome-perfumery.html#more-11609) had me fantasizing about a visit there. I’d love to be left alone in the store for a weekend, sampling through all the concentrations of the Chanels and lusting over the Guerlains and SLs…
Oh Yes! A perfume lock-in. I have read several reviews of this parfumerie and it sounds divine.
Happy Saturday everyone!
I’d love to go back to a time before all the wacky restrictions and smell scent the way they originally were done. I’d love to have all the perfumes that my mom or I have tossed out through the years without knowing what a dumb thing that was to do. I’d love to have a store close by where I could easily find and sample something other than the latest fruity floral. I guess I’d like a lot of the same things the rest of you do.
It’s a dismal day and I’m on Martha’s Vineyard. The traffic is insane because no one is at the beach. We came back to the room to escape the insanity and take a nap. We were here to work an event that got rained out. Thank god for wifi. Oh, and the complementary sherry in the room is nice too.
Love a bit of sherry!
I have been blessed with the chance to travel extensively for work and pleasure. I’ve been to more than 50 countries. So my perfume fantasy at one time took place in Boston, where I lived for a decade. After discovering the perfume book by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez and learning that they lived around Boston, I used to hope to meet one of them at a perfume counter in town. Since it was a fantasy, my sense of smell, power of description and wit would all have been equal to theirs, and we would have bantered away and become fast friends!
Great wish! I’ve often felt that reading The Guide was like sitting next to the two most interesting people at a fabulous dinner party and saying, “Tell me more!”
I did actually attend a seminar where they spoke and chatted with attendees as they signed copies of the book – it would be great to hear more from them.
Paris would be nice, but what I would love would be a perfume tour of Italy and Spain (either I could magically speak the languages or I have a handsome multilingual guide). I would be on the look out for local brands, and styles of perfumery outside the mainstream of French and American perfumery. I think what I’m on about is perfumery that matches local places: the local materials, and the tastes of the local people. A bit like a food tour. (Of course actual food and wine would be a key feature of this experience too!)
The internet makes it possible for us to obtain perfumes we never could before, but sometimes I feel as if even niche perfumes are released to appeal to a ‘global’ market – the customers could be living anywhere in the world – and are disconnected from day-to-day life in actual places. Hope that makes sense?
That makes sense to me, Annemarie. As one example, I think this is why Manoumalia is so appealing to me — it seems to use an olfactory language that’s specific to a certain place and certain cultures, and isn’t beholden to French or American ideas of what perfume should be.
Oh nice! I’ll check it out, thanks.
My dream is that either that Bath and Body Works has colognes and bath stuff as nice as Jo Malone’s, or that Jo Malone has colognes and bath stuff as cheap as Bath and Body Works…
Yes, JM is overpriced, especially where I live (Australia). And I don’t have a BBW to compensate!
Tom ford asks me to marry him ! I move into his mansion and enjoy the rest of my life as his wife and muse for all his next creations,
Hey, I like this fantasy!!
My fantasy would be to have a personal perfume made by Maurice Roucel, that smelled of my life and the people i love: my father’s Old Spice, my mother’s Bal a Versailles and Le De, my grandmother’s Je Reviens, my first boyfriend’s Grey Flannel, the scent behind my husband’s ear, my first, Chanel No.5, and my fave (among hundreds), 24 Faubourg. Include notes of har-tru tennis court, freshly cut fairway from Pebble Beach (this is a fantasy, remember), ivory (fake) piano keys, sun, sand and surf, the smell of a baby’s head (I think Laura Ashley Emma came close), the slightly acrid scent of my teenage son’s room, and very slight but detectable notes of Nag Champa, with a touch of dried ink from something wonderful that’s been written.
Nice!
Julie, I think you just wrote something wonderful!
Lovely post 🙂
I was recently given a perfume fantasy for my birthday.!!
A train ticket to London with some (not enough!!) money to spend. The day was very hot (not ideal for sniffing as it turned out.).
I visited Nicolai, Les Senteurs, Peter Jones, Ormonde Jayne, Liberty and Selfridges, ending up at L’Artisan to enjoy the banter between the author and perfumer illuminating the creation of Seville a L’Aube. I loved my trip and returned home with the latter ‘fume which has joined my Great Perfume Loves and some OJ Osmanthus lotion (to layer with my OJ Osmanthus another Great Perfume Love).
Some day, I’d like to do this again but in a different season. The heat really affected many perfumes I tried, and was quite unbearable in the Nicolai boutique and Les Senteurs so I’d really like to go back to both of these, and also try me some Angela Flanders in the East End.
Sunset, sorry to hear that the heat somewhat spoiled your perfect shopping trip — but your visit to L’Artisan sounds wonderful! Definitely fantasy-worthy.
What a wonderful trip (despite the heat)! And a belated happy birthday! 🙂
AMAZING that you got to hear Bertrand Duchaufour and Denyse Beaulieu. Was there anything that especially interested or surprised you in what they said?
The best bit was, as the story evolved, being handed scent strips with the individual notes of orange blossom, magnolia, incense and Seville lavender. There was another note which I don’t remember very clearly possibly beeswax. BD signed my bottle too!!
Oh, that’s so cool!!!
What a perfect birthday!
I don’t want much, just 1) for all SAs that are aggressive to disappear so I never have to run the gauntlet of obnoxiousness and 2) that any perfume that I adore stays in production, never gets reformulated, and actually goes down in price
2nd both of those!
Time travel to the 70s and experience Cristalle for the first time.
Ha…I did that in the 70s, but sadly can’t remember. I did buy a bottle, so it must have been a pleasant experience.
A trip to Paris for sure.
Better prices are on USA.
Best custom is for Cartier.
I would take all of that 😉
I have been to Paris on a 3 day perfume trip end of march! It was unbelievable. We visited Hermes, l’artisan parfumeur, Frederic Malle, Shiseido (favorite!), Different Company, Francis Kurkdjian and Guerlain. You have to do this with perfume addicts. When I look at the pictures I can go there again in my dreams!!!
Sounds fabulous! What did you buy?
From Shiseido a beautiful bell bottle of Fourreau noir,( not available in Holland) l’artisan parfumeur: Mon numero 9, Hermes bodylotion Voyage and we were spoiled with so many samples like eau froide. I told myself not to buy anything the next year, but…… I don’t think that will be possible, haha. Going to Amsterdam next week I want to try Attache-moi by ICONOfly and the latest perfume by Mona di Orio. There is too much I would love to try. So a perfumista’s life is never dull!!!
1) IFRA will finally outlaw… IFRA!
2) A custom made scent by Jean Paul Guerlain
3) A perfume shopping trip to Paris (and as this is a fantasy, with unlimited funds)
4) The aforementioned time machine to bring forward all of the great, lost scents
Would love to see IFRA do itself in!
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this one. All I can think, is instead ob buying perfume, I can get emit fragrance from my skin with a thought. “I want to smell Ta’if parfum.” “Done.”
I may be flirting with insanity…
It’s only a matter of time before technology catches up with dreams!
I loved Lys and Rappleya’s posts. I would have said something like that, though less eloquently.
If I can stretch the perfume fantasy a bit, I’d like to be 21 again, living in 1919, and have a handsome Doughboy bring back Parisian perfumes for me; his choice.
If that’s too extreme, then how about this one: could I be dressed in a printed silk georgette dress with hat and gloves, walk into a 1935 drug store here in St. Louis, and pick up a few bottles of various Coty scents?
If I have to restrict my fantasty to the present day, I would love to stumble across a cache of about fifty or sixty various chypres from the Perfume Intelligence list, maybe in some dusty antique store owned by a retired hockey player who has no idea:
http://www.perfumeintelligence.co.uk/library/perfume/c/c5/c5p7.htm
Earlier I posted a perfume-fantasy, but I now have an even better one. In my utopia not only does everyone have access to food, education, air-conditioned shelter, designer clothes, and unconditional love and support – but also to perfume- of all types – as a matter of personal rights…of course…
How else does one achieve a civilised society?
Yes! To live in a world where your scent is universally accepted as an important part of personal expression! (Rather than a liability to be warned against in public places!)
Ok. So I mentioned this thread to a fella, and he suggested the following fantasy: that a beautiful woman would spray a little of several scents around her body and let him seek them out and try to identify them. I know, takes “fantasy” in a new direction, but had to share! (Hopefully without offending anyone!)
AND totally OT, but I have to share! I put an offer up for a house yesterday! I’ve got all sorts of nervous tummy rumbleys, but maybe I’m about to own my first house. 🙂 (Or they’ll reject it. . .eep!)
Good luck and congratulations!
Seconding that. And I wouldn’t mind the same fantasy – with a man though – since I’m a herero- girl!
Thanks!
And yeah, kinda a lovely image, isn’t it?
Good luck, Marjorie! And your fantasy is terrifically sexy.
Thanks! He’s a pretty sexy fella, too!
MR, yes; buying a first house is exciting and terrifying at the same time! (Sorta like your fella’s fantasy…). I wish you success with both. 🙂
I think I’m vacillating between total panic and excitement every .5 seconds! It’s a very practical house and pretty, but not in my ideal location, although I think the neighborhood is on its way up. I hope it’ll be a good starter home, at least!
Good luck on the house! It is so nerve wracking when you put in that offer. I’m crossing fingers and toes for you.
Thanks, Poodle! I’m mostly hoping it will go through, but I have moments when I wouldn’t totally mind if it was just “practice” for another offer!
Congrats on the house offer. The fantasy sounds like a lot of fun and sensual. We have enough scents to try it.
Good luck with the house!
And the fantasy is hot! I totally wish I had a guy to try it out with.. lol
Just the other day I watched one of the episodes from the original Star Trek series with my kids, and had to explain about the food synthesizer thingy: you program it to give you what you want and out pops exactly what you ordered.
So of course I want someone to invent a fragrance synthesizer like that. Original formula Coty Chypre parfum, please. And Victoria’s Secret Victoria. Chanel No. 19 in older EdT formulation. And I’d love to smell Iris Gris, of course.
The replicator! That’s another fun poll: do you want a replicator or a holodeck?
Oh, now I’m torn…
My fantasy is to be Liz Zorn or Laurie Erikson and one more fantasy…that the perfume I like be in a store downtown and not cost an arm, leg, and torso.
Though I want in on Nozknoz’s and Rappleyea’s time machine, right now I’d settle for a reasonably priced stash of pristine vintage Cabochard parfum.
During the last, very stressed week, I desperately wanted to go to Barneys to sniff Iris Silver Midst.
I actually did just that yesterday (I will have to make up time next week). So here’s my report. These fragrances are only in the NY Madison avenus to store. Barney’s beauty and fragrances are in the basement (This is one store that makes more money selling the most expensive bags than lipstick, so the purses get the street level space.
When you take the staircase or elevator to the basement, the first thing you will see is a Le Labo mini-store and display of bottles. If you turn right, the back wall has a very long counter dedicated to niche perfume lines. Oddly, enough a bunch Serge Lutens export bottles are the shelf here. However, if you go directly opposite all the way accross the store, in a sort of out of the display is the full line including the exports.
A lovely lady named Karen allowed me to sniff to my heart’s content, but the only two that went on my skin were De Profindis and that Iris I kept reading about. She was perfectly understanding when I said that I wanted to let them develop.
The bell bottles, are thick beautiful glass in a very elegant but simple shape. I would love to have one on my dresser, except of course, for a scent this good, they should be stored in a protective dark space.
The prices for the export lines are about 285-300, plus NY sales tax, if you don’t have the stuff shipped. And yes, if you live in the U.S,, you can call and ask them to ship you a bottle.
While I was waiting for the scents to blossom on my skin, I had a makeup application. (I warned the artist that I was therefore for the perfume and was unlikely to buy much make up). The De Profundis was incredibly beautiful but somehow sad smelling. It disappeared from my skin.
I won’t describe my first impression of the Iris, because the description in the review published here years ago was spot on. (Robin, maybe you can post the link). However, what I found amazing was that, after I left the store and walked about a half mile, the fragrance mutated from beautiful but weird to glorious.
My recommendations are this. Barney’s has a fabulous gift bag with purchase which will be coming up in mid-September. If you are thinking of buying one of these, do it then. If you are going to travel to the store in person, do try on and then continue to shop (or browse) for a while to see how they develop..
And add an extra 25.000 to your budget, and walk down to MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) and see the exhibit of the KRAY brothers, some avante garde film makers.
Egads! My poor aching wallet. Is this fantasy or reality (that ISM is available at Barneys)? It’s not on their website. I had just about given up on getting a FB unless I find myself in London or Paris and it’s actually within walking distance for me when I start working in mid-town NYC in two short weeks!
You can find a note in their “windows” section that they have added the export section sold only in NY on Madison Avenue. Yes, they are there in Madison Avenue, but I guess Serge Lutens did not want them sold on the internet. (I don’t know why, do they think making them easy to purchase in the US will cut the sales in Paris?).
Wowzers! Thanks for the tip, Dilana! I feel a Barneys sniffa coming soon for yours truly 🙂
Thanks, Dilana, for posting about Barney’s beauty event! I knew it was coming up but didn’t know when. You are so right to make purchases then because their gwp bags are great!
What fun! And here it is:
https://nstperfume.com/2005/09/21/perfume-review-serge-lutens-iris-silver-mist/
Thanks Dilana and Robin.
Do you think NYC Barneys would do samples of the bell jar frags? I can’t make it to NY but I wouldn’t hesitate to do a mail order if one was right for me.
I met the Quay brothers, they are very mellow and project an eccentric vibe, I mean that in a good way (and they’re identical twins). Good to know about the exhibit, I love their work. Actually, good info all around!
My fantasy is that I win Publisher’s clearing house and have enough to be the ultimate perfume enabler -for myself and others.Just go buy entire lines(Amouage,Chanel, Serge,Guerlain,….)plus ancillaries of course!
I’ve stated my perfume fantasy. But my general fantasy is to win the lottery. Like $365,000,000.00. That would make everyone in my family happy for the rest of our lives. Family=some friends too. I would build a dream house or get a famous architect to build me a Greek style home all white here and in Sanibel/Captiva Island, FL. I WOULD PAY OFF ALL DEBTS, NOT WORRY ABOUT CREDIT OR THAT PERSON/S WHO STOLD MY IDENTITY. IM LOCKED OUT OF MY BANK ACCOUNT BUT HUBS BOUGHT ME MONTALE’S AOUD BLOSSOM AND MUKALAAT. I LOVE MUKALAAT; IT’S LIKE A DREAM. EVERYONE SHOULD GIVE IT A SNIFF. I WOULD USE THE SAME CAR CAUSE IT’S NICE. I WOULD BUY MY HUSBAND A JEEP. I WOULD, DURING THE SUMMER TAKE MY KIDS TO COLLEGE TOWNS AND PICK OUT COLLEGES, PAY FOR IT TOO. I DO NOT THINK I WOULD LEAVE MY FORTUNE TO MY HUSBAND. I WOULD MY AUNT AND GIVE HIM ALLOWANCES FROM THE INTEREST. IF HE MARRIED THE ALLOWANCES WOULD STOP. IM JUST THAT KIND OF PERSON. I MAY CHANGE MY MIND BUT RIGHT NOW THINGS ARE ALL UNDER HIS CONTROL. I HAVE NO SAY SO. WINNING THE LOTTERY WOULD GIVE ME THE SAY SO. HE WOULD TREAT ME SO DIFFERENTLY. I WOULD GO BACK TO ACHOOL DURING THE WEEK AND COME HOME FRIDAY NIGHT. I WOULD GET ANOTHER DEGREE IN CULTURAL STUDIES AND THEN PURSUE A DOCTORATE IN SOMETHING RELATED. NOT ARCHEOLOGY BUT CULTURAL EXPERT, I LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT. I WOULD MOVE TO THE CAROLINAS. HAVE A HUGE SHOE AND PERFUME ROOM –SEPARATE. ALL MINE FITS ON MY DRESSER. JUST BARELY…IM GOING TO HAVE TO BUY A CHEST. IN OUR LOVELY NEW ( uppity neighborhood ) HOME I HAVE A SITTING ROOM–I WOULD DECORATE LIKE I WANTED TO AND THERE’S NOTHING HE COULD SAY. HE IS LOVE OF MY LIFE/ROUGH PATCH. HE JUST GOT HALF HIS SALARY PER YEAR IN A BONUS. HE THINKS HE’S THE CAT’S MEOW. I WOULD TRAVEL SEVERAL MONTHS OUT OF THE YEAR, 4 AF LEAST. BUT RIGHT NOW, ITS THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL AND MY HUSBAND WANTED ME TO SEND THEM TO SCHOOL. THEY’VE BEEN HOMESCHOOLED. TEN YEARS NOW. ONE ISN’T READY. I THINK HE MAY BE AUTISTIC. HE WON’T ALLOW ME TO DISCUSS IT. HES EMOTIONALLY VOID. VERY SMART/GENIUS. BUT EMOTIONALLY RETARDED. HE HATES THAT I COLLECT PERFUME. HE HAS NO FRIENDS, NO HOBBIWS EXCEPT BAMA FOOTBALL AND BEER. HE’S DEPRESSED AND BIPOLAR. HE FORBIDS ME TO TAKE MEDICATION MY DOCTOR PERSCRIBES ME FOR ADHD. HE WAS IN THE CAR SAYING I AM GOING TO FILE FOR DIVORCE IF YOU DON’T RIP THAT RX UP. CRAZY. I WOULD ALSO OR I SHOULD SAY I HAVE A FANTASY OF OUR RELATIONSHIP BEING LIKE IT WAS WHEN WE MARRIED. SO IN LOVE. HE WASN’T SICK THEN.
THAT’S ALL
To dolcesarah, You wrote your husband is the love of your life/rough patch. That said, I hope you can work through this as long as he treats you with respect. I hope things get better for you.
My fantasy is probably quite boring to most perfumist. I am very low matinence. I would be very happy to just be able to buy one new perfume a month. But I want to be able to purchase it from any place in the world, free and no hassels.
I’m late to the party(as usual) and commented above with my main wish, but just in case the perfume gods are still listening – Could someone please make a perfume copy of the scent that the original Herbal Essence Shampoo contained? Pretty please?
Oooh, is that the green liquid from the ’70’s? I was just thinking about that the other day while washing my hair. One of my all-time favorite shampoo fragrances!