I said earlier this week that I find it very hard to say I have a favourite anything- I couldn’t tell you my most beloved film or song and I’m not even sure what my favourite colour is.
Given my love for perfume and wearing or trying different fragrances it is not surprising that I don’t have one scent I only wear. Perhaps surprisingly, given my refusal to be tied down by films or even a colour, I do see the appeal of having one scent that is eternally your fragrance, as much a part of you as the particular shade of your eyes or the way your hair parts.
I don’t write about my most adored fragrances nearly enough here- we got all caught up in trying what is new, or what is hard to find, or special editions and perhaps don’t write enough about what we love and have continued to love. So for the record, in no particular order, my favourite ten perfumes (at the moment!); the ones I think should live forever are:
Guerlain L’heure Bleue,
Guerlain Apres L’Ondee,
Guerlain Mitsouko,
Guerlain Nahema pure parfum,
Chanel 19,
The Different company Sel de vetiver,
Caron Nuit de Noel,
Monsieur Balmain,
Diptyque Philosykos
and Ormonde Woman.
There are more loves but these ten scents are in the so wonderful I don’t quite know what to say category. I would like to find a jasmine for this list but the search continues.
Picture courtesy of www.allposters.co.uk
17 comments:
Daer Rose,
This si SO interesting - I am with you on most of these, but I just wanted to say a bit about L'Heure Bleue, which I first sniffed when I was a penniless student, but was immediately hooked. I'd never been interested in fragrance before, and this was the one which sparked my obsession...
Now I'm lucky enough to own the extrait, and wear it on special occasions!
Best wishes,
Linda
Dear Linda,
I'm very glad it's so interesting- I know what you mean, I love to know other people's favourites.
Virtually no scents rival that Guerlain trio of Apres L'Ondee, LB and Mitsouko for me-. I think it was Apres L'Ondee that really began the obsession for me. I smelled it by chance wandering through the now defunct Dickens and Jones and just thought wow- that got me into the Guerlains and I was a gonna!
I only have the LB EDP, I would love the extrait, one day. It is absolutely the most beautiful perfume.
Well no one can accuse you of not having good taste when it comes down to your fragrances.
Great list. Vintage L'Heure Bleue was my gateway drug to the Guerlains, no doubt about it. I always enjoy reading your posts, so thanks!
I love your list... all very unique fragrances. Your taste is excellent!
A wonderful love letter....xv
I wil definitely try one or the other. Where would you recommend to go, i.e. what's the best perfumerie in London? I have to say I feel slightly overwhelmed by big department stores a la Harrods. The loud music and all the spritzer girls make my brain go woo-woo-wah-wah, and I only want to leave.
Oh, that's a very good list. Lots of Guerlain loving there. I quite love Ormonde Woman too. xx
Hi Jen- why thank- you! I do love all of those a great deal- although I notice that more of them are winter perfumes- but then I was born in winter and it is winter for a great deal of the year here.
Hi Aimee- great to hear from you and have just read some great posts over at your blog. You are very good at keeping up with trying everything. I'm so glad you enjoy the blog, it's always lovely when people say so.
Daily- thanks ;-) I think I am a total capricorn, I think I'm avant garde but really i go for classics- and future classics
Hi Vicki- yes I guess that is what it is- thank you
Hi MM- My favourite perfume destinations in London are Liberty and Les Senteurs.
Liberty is still a department store but they mostly leave you alone in the fragrance room (although not so much in the malle and le labo areas) and you can sample away listening to French jazz and drinking in the perfumes.
Les Senteurs is really great- they are really knowledgable and passionate but not pushy- except to get you to smell millions of things! They are very good about samples- or they have a great website which will post you samples.
Also an honorable mention to Fortnums- very peaceful and an amazing selection of the classic Guerlains- oh and sometimes big bowls full of samples!
Hi Top Bird- I do like the classic Guerlain's- lots of perfumistas love the first three but I think Nahema is a bit more controversial! Ormonde Woman has more fans than I had realised I think- I think it's brilliant- and i like the house, modern but classic.
If you are after a jasmine, do try the le labo one - it is a very good one, and makes me feel like I am in the sh=outh of france in high summer whenever I wear it...
Hi Fabhat,
I have tried it and it's a serious contender. I am mulling over a full bottle purchase. It's absolutely lovely isn't it- eye wateringly expensive but stunning. I am also thinking about Jasmin De Nuit.
Oh, Jasmin de Nuit (TDC) is a scrumptious thing. :)
It's hard to nail down loves for me, too. And yet...I know there are things which reliably take me to a happy place...whether it's happy chipper, happy nostalgic, happy pensive...what have you. It's fun to see Sel de Vetiver on your list; that's the one scent I succumbed to purchasing for DH with an ulterior motive--II love it on either one of us!
L'Heure Bleu hit right into the zone from the first moment I experienced it, and has stayed from every opening to tapering ever since. Mitsouko, on the other hand, was a long term pattern of revisiting until one day it finally struck.
It's fun to sometimes at least rummage through your brain and try to come up with these lists, isn't it?
Scentscelf- it is delicious and I do love the different company. JDN, miller harris jasmine vert and Le Labo are the contenders at the moment. I also made myself a scent with jasmine oil that I rather love (even if i do say so myself!).
Sel De Vetiver would smell incredible on a man. I just love it- I adore vetiver anyway and anything salty.
I struggled with Mitsouko a little bit- then one day- bam when you start to smell the peach I think you open a window into a different scent. One day I would like to have red hair and wear a green dress and some Mitsouko out on the town.
I am one of those whose perfume is as much a part of me as the colour of my eyes. Dior's Diorissimo. But only in the esprit d'parfum, which I am happy to say is being relaunched in November under Dior's "Classic Fragrances" line. If they have tampered with it heads will roll!
I am intrigued by L'Heure Bleue. What is the fragrance?
Pamela- I remember you saying you had to track down what was happening to Diorissimo. It's a very lovely fragrance, i did think about it for the top ten actually!
I totally agree on the love for Jasmine de Nuit - the best jasmine I have ever worn .
Hi Carol- thanks for stopping by. Yes it's a wonderful scent, it's such an interesting house and the quality of the raw materials is staggering.
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