Remember when The CEO gave me carte blanche to pick out a new fragrance as an anniversary gift? (Wasn’t that sweet of him? Yeah, I think so too.) It’s been two months now – almost three – and several fragrances have been tested, and still no decision on anything from The CEO. I agreed to let him pick out something with me, and I wasn’t getting one “pick.”
I remember that sometime about… gosh, let me think… maybe 15 years ago, I asked him if there was a particular fragrance he liked, so that I might start wearing something he would enjoy. “Well, there was one that A– [an old girlfriend] used to wear, called [Karl Lagerfeld] Chloe. I liked that.”
“I used to wear Chloe!” I exclaimed. “I liked it in high school, but I don’t think I could wear it now. Too bound up with high school memories.” Absolutely true. But also, A– was something of a snob. I knew her, of course, since we were all at Governor’s School together. I never liked her, and you could not pay me to wear a fragrance that might remind The CEO of her. “Anything else?”
He shrugged. “I don’t really know any other ones,” he said, apologetically. And we left it there. For an anniversary he bought me a bottle of Elizabeth Arden True Love, which I thought was a sweet gesture, even if I didn’t absolutely love the smell. It was pleasant, and I wore it for a few years, until the bottle was nearly empty and no longer smelled right. (I did not know then about the importance of keeping fragrance out of direct sunlight.) I didn’t buy another fragrance until a few years later, when I picked up the original version of Victoria’s Secret Pink – a fresh, green peony floral. I wore that for at least three years, until it too was gone and I started doing wacky things like googling for “perfume review.” Which led me to Now Smell This. The rest, as they say, is history.
Finally I started the active selection phase. “What do you think about this one?” I asked, of LeLong pour Femme – of which I already have a 15ml decant, but I figured if he really likes one I already have, there’s no need to get more.
“It’s very nice,” he said.
“Just nice?” I asked, double-checking. He nodded. “Well, which one do you like best?”
“Well, I haven’t knocked anything off the list yet. You mean I’m supposed to rank them?”
“Yes. Yes, exactly. Tell me which one you like best,” I said.
“What, you can’t get all of them for $75?” he wanted to know, eyebrows together. I told him no. “Am I supposed to be telling you what I smell in there? What if I’m wrong? I know Gaze is getting good at this, but I’m not.”
“Oh, no,” I assured him. “You don’t have to tell me what it smells like – just thumbs down or thumbs up.”
“Well, that I can do happily,” he told me.
So I started the sniffage in earnest, testing new fragrances as well as scents of which I already own at least decants. As the days went past, I got the following comments and recommendations:
Parfums DelRae Amoureuse: “That’s definitely good. You can buy that.” Yeeeah. Like I’ve got $135 to throw around.
Guerlain Elixir Charnel Floral Romantique: “I like that. It’s flowery, but it’s also just – okay, it doesn’t smell exactly like flowers, it’s just that you smell good.” Yeeeeah. Like I’ve got $225 to throw around. Well, at least he’s got good taste.
DSH Chypre: “Ugh. No.” I actually love this stuff – for myself, not for him – so I managed to scrounge another couple of samples, of this and of its inspiration, Coty Chypre. It isn’t pretty by any means, but it’s compelling.
SSS Jour Ensoleille: “Pretty. Lots of flowers.” Me: Really? I smell hay in there. And honey. You smell the honey? The CEO: “Uh, no. Just flowers. Where do you come up with this stuff? Hay? No. I mean, it’s pretty. But it’s just flowery.” I am still thinking about this one because I love how rich and languorous it smells, but it’s not currently in the rotation at Sonoma Scent Studio. It can wait, and it’s rich so maybe a sample or two will do me anyway.
Lancome Tresor: “Eh. It’s okay, I guess.” That’s really a No, if you ask me.
Penhaligon’s Violetta: “Uh, not that. It’s weird. It smells like holistic medicine.” What a shame – I really like Violetta.
Tauer Perfumes Zeta: First, he stared at me nonplussed. “This?” Yep. “Well, it’s flowery,” he said doubtfully. “I don’t know. It smells okay, it’s just sort of – well, boring.” I concur. This is the rare Tauer that I don’t either really like or really hate. I can’t even muster an opinion about it.
Moschino Funny!: “Nice and light. Very clean.” That was a trick question – I bought a bottle last fall for $18.
Moschino L’Eau Cheap and Chic: “That smells like something you clean the floor with.” Yes, it does.
Mary Greenwell Plum: “Very nice. Flowers and something else, kind of a throwback thing? It’s pretty. Very dressy.” I love this stuff, and my decants (thanks, Vanessa!) are rapidly disappearing. I would have asked for a bottle for Christmas, but the retail outlet that handles distribution in the UK – House of Fraser – does not ship to the US.
Nobile 1942 Chypre: “I guess it’s okay. Kind of boring, actually.” It bored me too.
Michael Storer Stephanie: “It’s… really sweet. I don’t know. No, I don’t like it all that much. It kind of bites my nose.” It’s the pepper. Some people don’t like that.
Maison Francis Kurkdjian Lumiere Noire pour femme: Full disclosure – this thing gets me all hot and bothered, which The CEO is fully in favor of. So despite the fact that he finds it just “okay,” in terms of actual smell, this one gets two snaps up and a circle. However I have a 10ml decant, and a full bottle’s out of my price range ($165 for 70ml, I think), and maybe this thing is a little dangerous so I don’t need a full bottle… incidentally, Elena at Perfume Shrine says that this fragrance was originally a bespoke perfume composed for Catherine Deneuve, who after it was completed agreed to let MFK market it. I have never smelled the floral-chypre-to-die-for, discontinued, Deneuve perfume, but if it smelled anything like Lumiere Noire, it must have been wonderful.
Penhaligon’s Amaranthine: “I like it. It’s sort of milky. Very calm.” (See, there is a reason I can wear it to church – it’s milky and calm. No sweaty thighs on me. I have a small decant, thanks to Joe A.)
Guerlain Idylle edt: “That’s pretty. Have I smelled that before?” Yes. I didn’t like the EdP original – I mean, I really hated the EdP. However, the EdT I found in the Philadelphia Duty Free shop, on the way to Malta in the spring. So I tested it, and it stayed nice for several hours. However, I already swapped for a decant of it (thanks, Karin!).
Vamp a NY: “I don’t like that. It’s really sweet. Sort of weird.” I have a decant – and I love the Vamp, so I’ll just have to wear it when he’s not around.
Guerlain Pamplelune: “That’s pretty. Smells like… lemons. And flowers. I like it.” I like it too, so I swapped for a mini bottle.
Guerlain Samsara EdT (modern): “That’s sort of nice. Is it cheap? It smells sort of cheap. But nice. Vanilla.”
Chanel No. 19 EdP: “That’s rather pretty, actually. Different.” I asked if he was sure, because he’d smelled my vintage EdT (bought on eBay for cheap!) and disliked it. The EdP is softer and rosier, but it’s recognizably No. 19. “I didn’t like it before? Hm. I don’t know why, because it’s pretty.”
Chloe Love, Chloe: “That is perfectly disgusting.” It’s probably my skin, but I concur. It was extremely unpleasant. Gaze actually recoiled from my arm in horror.
Oscar de la Renta Esprit d’Oscar: “That’s pleasant. But merely pleasant.” Yeah, that was my take too.
So it actually turns out that I had plenty of green lights and a few reds, but nothing that had lit up The CEO’s pinball machine, except Amoureuse (and Citizen Queen, but that’s another story). And then I managed to swap for a partial bottle of Amoureuse, so I have that now. And I made another last-ditch effort at determining his preferences.
I asked, “So do you have a favorite of all the fragrances I’ve been testing? Is there anything you really, really like?”
He considered. “Well, to be honest, I think I like the one you bought in Rome the best. I really like that one.” So he likes Ferre 20? I like that one, too. Guess I should wear it more often – I’ve been saving it for dates.
The upshot of all this testing was that I stopped waffling around and thinking up things for him to test. I bought a bottle of Mary Greenwell Plum, which I’ve been lusting for for more than six months, since the first time I smelled it. Plum has become something of a fallback fragrance for me, not exactly a signature because I wear so many different things, but the always-right, versatile, Feels Like Me fragrance. It is not yet available in the US, although the word was that it was supposed to hit US distribution by June of 2011. I bought it on eBay, from a seller in the UK.
Yes, I sniped. No, I’m not sorry. I looked at how much it costs to buy a bottle at the House of Fraser website (£60), checked with Yahoo! Finance as to how many dollars that is (way too many) and then bid a maximum of £60 with the snipe site. That was how much I was willing to put into it, and I bid that amount. It turned out that my bid was the highest, and the final sale was at about £41 ($63), so including the shipping, I paid about $78. I know it costs a lot to ship the bottle because of that darn heavy gold-plated cap, which I could not possibly care less about. I just wanted the magic juice.
And it came in the mail, about 10 days ago, and it is perfect. Cute pink box, pleasant-to-hold rectangular bottle, ridiculously heavy cap, wonderful smell: perfect. Thanks very much, CEO. Rotsa ruv, as Scooby Doo would say…
I absolutely love your stories! While reading I feel involved. I don’t look through them, don’t move from one bullet point to another… Well, I almost never do it with any posts I choose to read but with yours it comes completely natural – so thank you for enjoyable reading.
And I also want to say that your husband was a good sport when it came to helping you with the choice.
I’m so glad that you’ve got Plum! You may say what you want, but I do consider it to be your signature scent (and I think I’m not the only one). It would be interesting to count how many lemmings you’ve created by praising this perfume almost every week for the last six months.
Thanks very much, U!
Yes, The CEO was being a good sport about the whole sniffery thing. Seems he likes white florals and floral orientals, in general, the girlier the better… fine with me, I like them too.
I do think Plum is just gorgeous! Maybe it is my signature scent…
Ooooh!!! Wonderful story, Mals. As I was reading, I decided you should get Plum because I know how much you love it. And that’s what you bought! That’s awesome! And better than that, the price was perfect! How often does that happen? The perfume you really want is the one you can actually afford!? CONGRATS on your bottle!!!
Oh, I KNOW! I paid $78 for a 50ml bottle of Plum??? Go me! I started with an unsniffed 5ml split and then I begged and shamelessly pleaded until I found a friend in the UK willing to split off 20mls for me in a swap… I have 10mls left. I don’t think I’ve ever run through anything else so fast.
Hmmm. Now I’m yearning for plum.
I’ve given up on asking the DH what he wants me to wear. He’ll hate something and the very next week will love it. And I’ve gotten so few unqualified yesses from him that I just get stuff for myself and hope he’ll like it — if he doesn’t, and I do, then I wear it when he’s not around. People ask me what the secret of a 20+ year marriage is: it’s compromise!
Men. FIckle beings.
I do get a knee-jerk YES reaction from him with Citizen Queen, but that’s the only really consistent one so far.
That was a fun post! The CEO seemed impartial to most of the scents until he got to Love, Chloe. “That is perfectly disgusting” is a pretty sure sounding statement! LOL
My best friend and I had a little sniffing party a few days ago. She suggested I post her impressions, some of which were hilarious, but insulting to the perfumers 😉
Enjoy your lovely Plum!!
Oh, looking forward to what your friend thought – that ought to be funny.
If I thought something I was testing was awful, I didn’t generally take it to him for an opinion. (He just happened to be in the room when Love, Chloe hit its full disgustingness.)
Congrats on finally getting a bottle of MGP! I still need to smell it.
I think Love, Chloe is overrated. It’s too sweet and really loud and kind of bathroomy. I went sniffing with a friend recently and we both tried on 4-5 things and the Love, Chloe on her wrist just kept ringing out way ahead of everything else. Maybe it’s better dabbed than sprayed ….
You know, I can’t even come up with words to describe how Love, Chloe was awful on my skin, but “loud” and “too sweet” are not the ones. Weird, huh? It was more like… really old makeup. You know, powdery and cold-creamy, and waaaaay out of date. More chemical next to the skin than in the waft. Yuck, though.
I did pull mine out of the mini dabber bottle and put it in a spray atomizer.
I can send you a bit of Plum… I’ll email you. I’m doubtful that it’s your kind of thing, but we’ll see!
I would love a bit of Plum! But why do you think it might not be my thing? I think was going to send you something too — oh, I have a mini of Daisy I thought you might want ……
Gotta admit I was rooting for Plum along the way but I was beginning to wonder if it was going to make an appearance, you tease! Congrats on the bottle. I want to smell this at some point but I am not sure I could wear it without thinking of you. Which isn’t a bad thing BTW.
I do hope you’re spending time on your writing…..I’m with Undina about enjoying the posts.
Awwwww, you couldn’t wear it without thinking of me?
It’s been pretty busy lately, but I am working haphazardly, at least.
Ha! As I was reading, I knew you’d get the Plum. 🙂 And the CEO does a better job sniffing and describing than my husband does. Me: “Here, smell this. What does it smell like to you?” Him: “Perfume.”
“Perfume”! Yep. Yes, honey, it sure does… He was all panicky about it until I told him he just had to do a thumbs up or down, and that took the pressure off.
I just want to tell Aparatchick that I’m jealous her husband will even smell her perfume. When asked to smell something, mine usually says, “Do I have to?”
Ha!
I’m pretty impressed with the CEO’s taste. It just goes to show that you can know next to nothing about perfume, but once you start sniffing around, you can recognize quality when you meet it!
I think you’re right. Of course, “quality” does not mean that you necessarily like it, but that does play a part.
Of course, that’s true. I can appreciate many scents that I would never wear. I have to say, I agree with the CEO on all of his verdicts on the scents I’ve smelled: Amoureuse, SSS, Violette, Zeta, MFK, Amaranthine, Vamp, Samsara, Love, Chloe and Oscar Esprit. Especially agree on Love, Chloe which I just tried the other day 😦
It’s a good man that will smell perfume routinely and give you his input. Go, CEO!
MGP is the perfume you have been ‘twirling’ about for a long time – so glad you scored a bottle!
I find that, no matter how many perfumes or samples I acquire, a few ring out as my favorites, sometimes in spite of my best efforts to love others.
Enjoy!
I am pretty stoked about the Plum! Loved it right from the first minute, have continued to love it, can’t imagine not loving it.
I agree, your posts are a delight to read. And it was fun to read all the candid responses from the CEO too.
Aw, thanks! And yes, The CEO had something interesting to say. My older son (“Gaze”) is always good for evaluations, too.
Go Plum!! Glad to hear that won out as I was rooting for it, after hearing you praise it for so long.
I finally got to try it and love it as well. It reminds me a bit of one of my discontinued Cartiers.
As someone else said, you’re lucky to have a hubby who’ll play along. When asked for his opinion, mine just shrugs and says, “It’s perfume — it all smells good.”
(It ALL smells good? Even I don’t say that! But at least he is appreciative.)
Glad you’re enjoying Plum too.
Hi Mals, sorry for late comment. I’m so glad you got that Plum, I know how much you like it.
Deneueve is wonderful. Here’s the review that caught my eye and prompted me to buy a small, half-full bottle of the extrait, and, later, a back-up:
http://thenonblonde.blogspot.com/2011/06/deneuve-by-catherine-deneuve-vintage.html
To me there is a brief moment when Deneuve resembles the sharp, herbal quality of EL’s Private Collection, but don’t be put off (I know how you feel about EL!). It develops into something richer and rounder, less aloof than PC. It is very grand and perfumey tho’. It is interesting that PC survived and Deneuve did not.
Deneuve is pretty rare. I vaguely recall reading on DSH’s blog that she had a Deneuve-type fragrance until there was a problem with the availability of one of the raw materials, and she had to discontinue it.
Enjoy that Plum
You have BACKUP Deneuve?? Wow. I had considered getting a sample of the DSH version, but looks like I put it off too late… good thing I jumped on her Chypre when I did, looks like she’s completely out of it now.
I like the smell of PC. It is (as always) something in the Lauder base that does me in.
ooh what a fun post!! I am thoroughly enjoying going through your older posts. And you are creating too many lemmings!! *shakes head disapprovingly*..I need to find a sample of this..
It was fun to write! Thanks. I do love Plum. Tough to find a sample unless you live in the UK or buy one from TPC or somewhere…