now, as you can imagine from the title (and from reading some of my previous posts), i have not been idle during those last two weeks of non-posting. indeed, i have been haunting different perfume stores (mainly the big turquoise one, but also three or four different ones in oslo, which actually were not sorted well - one of the ladies there didn't even know hermès! now, i don't expect somebody working in a perfume store to know every single fragrance in the world and every perfume house in the world, but hermès is not the smallest amongst them and doesn't exist only since yesterday... well. mainly they featured celebrity stuff and the general j'adore by dior and the one or other chanel.) and sniffing loads of bottles. i did also test quite a few on skin, most of them after reading a review or two, and i'll try to give you some of the highlights - and some of the failures...
after this post i was recommended to test dolce and gabbana's "light blue" and also chanel's "chance eau fraiche".
i personally think that chanel fragrances smell of old ladies with pink poodle hair, and while i don't have anything against these ladies, i just can't stand the smell on my skin. "chance" started off with a nice fresh note, but the rest felt just unbearable..
"light blue", on the other hand, also started nicely and fresh and stayed fresh - and turned into an ugly air-refreshener's smell (think a blend of "sea breeze" and "green apple") after half an hour on my skin. which was sad as i liked the opening a lot. not such a promising beginning maybe..
the next fragrances i turned to was bvlgari's "eau parfumé au thé ..." series, and as the red one didn't appeal, i tried both thé blanc and thé vert. while i don't really recall the blanc version as anything remarcable, i love the warmth of "thé vert". it feels simple and elegant, it is not sweet at all and just perfect for winter. the bad news here was the lasting power: it vanished after an hour, as it is an eau de cologne with a very light concentration. the good news is that there is an "extreme" version which stays an afternoon plus half an evening and even survives a flight from oslo to hamburg (i applied some at the tax free on my way back). so this one is definitely something i will want to own!
what came next? i had read about this one norwegian perfume, "laila", which at some points had been recommended as a nice substitute for an everyday floral such as "j'adore" (which i actually like). i took the chance to try it on spot in norway, and was way disappointed. it was boring and had a weird buttery tone inbetween which i didn't like at all..
the same day though, i tried prada's "infusion d'iris" which turned out to smell special and soft and powdery and had a lovely wooden base. it felt very well balanced and gave me a feeling that you can have after a nice bath with some lovely soap. it felt really clean. lovely.
as i know that i sometimes do like "male" perfumes just as much as "female" ones (or even more), i thought i'd try the male version of the prada fragrance. what a desaster. the review said that "infusion d'homme" contained the same ingrediences as "infusion d'iris", but in different amounts. thus, i found out that i do not like too much incense in my scent. the thing smelled buttery and ugly, well, in the way that cold incense smells. ush. another iris-scent which went just the same way (though i don't know if there is any incense in it) was hermès "hiris". nothing for me...
so. enough perfume for today. there sure is more to come!
after this post i was recommended to test dolce and gabbana's "light blue" and also chanel's "chance eau fraiche".
i personally think that chanel fragrances smell of old ladies with pink poodle hair, and while i don't have anything against these ladies, i just can't stand the smell on my skin. "chance" started off with a nice fresh note, but the rest felt just unbearable.."light blue", on the other hand, also started nicely and fresh and stayed fresh - and turned into an ugly air-refreshener's smell (think a blend of "sea breeze" and "green apple") after half an hour on my skin. which was sad as i liked the opening a lot. not such a promising beginning maybe..
the next fragrances i turned to was bvlgari's "eau parfumé au thé ..." series, and as the red one didn't appeal, i tried both thé blanc and thé vert. while i don't really recall the blanc version as anything remarcable, i love the warmth of "thé vert". it feels simple and elegant, it is not sweet at all and just perfect for winter. the bad news here was the lasting power: it vanished after an hour, as it is an eau de cologne with a very light concentration. the good news is that there is an "extreme" version which stays an afternoon plus half an evening and even survives a flight from oslo to hamburg (i applied some at the tax free on my way back). so this one is definitely something i will want to own!what came next? i had read about this one norwegian perfume, "laila", which at some points had been recommended as a nice substitute for an everyday floral such as "j'adore" (which i actually like). i took the chance to try it on spot in norway, and was way disappointed. it was boring and had a weird buttery tone inbetween which i didn't like at all..
the same day though, i tried prada's "infusion d'iris" which turned out to smell special and soft and powdery and had a lovely wooden base. it felt very well balanced and gave me a feeling that you can have after a nice bath with some lovely soap. it felt really clean. lovely.
as i know that i sometimes do like "male" perfumes just as much as "female" ones (or even more), i thought i'd try the male version of the prada fragrance. what a desaster. the review said that "infusion d'homme" contained the same ingrediences as "infusion d'iris", but in different amounts. thus, i found out that i do not like too much incense in my scent. the thing smelled buttery and ugly, well, in the way that cold incense smells. ush. another iris-scent which went just the same way (though i don't know if there is any incense in it) was hermès "hiris". nothing for me...
so. enough perfume for today. there sure is more to come!
14 comments:
Na endlich! Dachte schon du lebst nicht mehr! heute morgen ist eine Nachricht für deine Brille gekommen, sollte dann idealerweise heute rausgehen! Mach's gut Süße!
@ ragazzatoccata: ich hatte schon fast ein schlechtes gewissen und hatte bestimmt schon drei posts angefangen und hab's einfach nicht gebacken bekommen. egal. ich lebe noch =)
ich werde dann nächste woche mal dem briefträger auflauern in der hoffnung dass die brille heilöe ankommt! danke!
@ linnea: det är därför jag alltid testar pá huden efetrsom parfymer kan bli sá otroligt äckliga även om de luktar gott i början..
elizabeth arden green tea prövade jag ocksá, men den försvann sá fort att jag inte kände ngn dogft efter en halv timme längre. och det kan ju inte vara meningen heller =)
Sv: Nej basplagg är för evigt utvisade från min garderob! =)
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Jag har massvis med parfymer! Jag brukar byta från dag till dag och efter humör!
what about chanel allure? in a very small amount one of the best chanel scents, elegant and powdery and very near-to-skin, men love it. me too:-)
worth atry, it does not smell of old furs. but it might be a matter of time, i could not stand chanel scents before i turned 30, which you could call "old" ;-)
but i bet you will love the mediterran garden by hermes, that is the right stuff for you. fresh and woody. and the packaging is lovely.
Sv: åh tänk! Den kostade bara 20 kronor på loppis!
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OOOH, I want to smell the new chanel. It's funny about the 'old lady' smell. I usually wear chanel no.5 with one other fragraernce and it always makes me think of my grandmother. It is odd, that the fragrances we respond to now are very similiar to what say the 19th c would have found intriquing. Fresh fruity scents. The 'old lady' smell of today was teh avant garde of the early 20's with the musky exotic notes and bergamonty dusky smells we now associate with old ladies. I don't care tho, I still really respond to the 'old lady' smell. I guess, tho I am only in my 30's I see myself one day as one of the old ladies smelling of old chanel and with a Hermes scarf. Ahhhhh.
I like ur blog by the bye.
Sv: Tack! Vad roligt att du gillade den!
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Lila, I managed to finish my book this weekend, so the blog is now up and running (finally!). Simone x
This is a very interesting post. I find perfumes rather daunting--so many options and I have no idea where to begin picking one!
P.S. The comment from "Brittany" is actually from me. I was accidentally signed into my friend's account, but I fixed that now!
@ atomicliving: thank you! i promised myself to try all the chanel fragrances again when i am turned 30. that might just do the trick.. i would so much like to like them, you know...
@ simone: i'm looking forward to reading your blog - and your book =)
@ the clotheshorse: i figured that out for myself when i checked who "brittany" was and read her blog.. well, the whole perfume world is huge, and a lot of fun as soon as one kind of gets a grip. i'd recommend to start with asking friends, and sniffing the bottles they own and trying out those. then follows the part where you figure out what you like. i found it really helpful to read loads of reviews and get even some basic knowledge about perfume, such as "what is a top-note and why does it disappear so quickly". after that it's just fun, trying and sniffing your way through the stores. but never try more than two fragrances on a day, your nose might get tired!
Både "Laila" og den mannlige "Geir" er veldig oppskrytt synes jeg. De er ikke populære i Norge, men derimot i Usa, hvor de er fasinert av norske fjell og fjorder ;)Kan du gi meg et lite referat, hvis du får prøvd Infusion de Fleur d’Oranger neste uke? Jeg nesten dør av spenning :-)
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