Your favorite women's fragrances?

[Mayk]

Daytime - Chanel #5
Evening - Creed Love in Black

 

[autumngems]

I wear mainly Clinique Happy and have for years, love the citrusy but not overly strong scent. I also wear some Bond #9 and Coach.
Funny, I just got home from grocery shopping and a women walked by me and nearly knocked me over with her perfume scent, it was wayyyyyyyyyyyyy strong.

 

[windblownhair]

Day - Yuzu Rouge by Perfums 06130
Night - Flowerbomb by Victor and Rolf

 

[jstarfireb]

I'm completely out of the perfume loop. I usually wear whatever comes in the free gift with purchase of whatever skincare product I'm most into. Right now I think I'm using something from Victoria's Secret, which is a bit flowery but better than nothing. My preferences are for Elizabeth Arden Green Tea and Red Door. I don't like anything too citrusy, flowery, or spicy. I prefer just a light wisp of fragrance.

 

[Meezermom]

I love fragrances too. Big time. Lately, my favorites have been Musk and Donna by Lorenzo Viloresi, Carnal Knowledge and Lipstick Rose by Frederic Malle and Vanille Tonka by PDN. That was just this week.

 

[pandabee]

I am very lazy when it comes to perfume...it's so hard to find the right one too! haha. I used Tommy Girl for a long time through high school...still have a bottle and a half (thought I would need a backup back in high school ) but lately, my favorites rotate between philosophy amazing grace (I only have the spray though, so sadly it's not very strong), aerie katie, and harajuku lovers love. I don't like the musky ones as much as citrus but I don't like overly floral ones either. I had a bottle of hand lotion from aerie (their original signature scent) and everytime I wear it I get compliments (both guys and girls) but sadly I never bought the perfume! I only have a half tube left of the lotion and about a half jar of the shimmer body cream left of it so I use that sparingly.

 

[missy]

Lots of perfume deals online right now!!
Surrender to Chance is having 20% off with the word GRATEFUL.
I just ordered a 2ml sample of Guerlain Elixir Charnel Gourmand Coquin (thanks pinkjewel) and Le Labo Vanille 44 as well as Lea St Barth and a few others...cannot wait for it to arrive. MMmmmm, hope they are smelly great!

Hope others can take advantage of the 20% discount!

 

[ksinger]

My go-to hasn't changed in 20+ years - Tresor by Lancome. There are others of course, but that is my fallback.

Several that I once like quite well have been discontinued. There was a damask rose scent by Crabtree & Evelyn, and green tea one
called Song de Chine by them also. Both no more. Irritating.

I wear Marc Jacobs, and Daisy, which unlike many here, lasts quite well on me. I also have Versace Crystal Noir, White Linen,
and Goldleaf & Hydrangea (think it's just called Goldleaf now).

The Marc Jacobs, Daisy, and Crystal Noir were all given to me by my husband, who has, by his own admission, a very coarse sense of smell.
HE can't smell any of them on me, seriously. It pains me. But he knows I love perfume and so gifts me with it. How does he do it? There
is a small independent shop here, owned by a seriously good nose. My husband described the bottle of the perfume I like (Tresor) and the guy
in the shop took it from there. He's very good, IMO.

 

[rainydaze]

This thread is great! I am out of the scent loop too, but I'm inspired to check some of these out once the holiday shopping craze dies down a bit.

I get headaches with many perfumes, so it's tough for me to find ones I like *and* can wear comfortably. Because of that, I continue to wear Calvin Klein's Obsession and Body Shop's vanilla oil.

I used to wear Crabtree & Evelyn's Savannah Gardens body lotion and get compliments all the time on it. The discontinued it, then brought it back as so many people were up in arms.

My DH still teases me about a time we were in Home Depot and a fella walked by who's scent was, um, alluring. I couldn't help myself - I went over and asked him what he was wearing (with DH there!). It was Armani Code if I recall, and you can bet your bottoms I bought some for DH! It must not react the same on him though, as it doesn't smell quite like I remember it. To this day if I put on perfume myself he will say something like 'Aw, you going to hang out with your Home Depot buddy?!' It's all in good fun!

 

[tuffyluvr]

Missy--I love luckyscent! I am super sensitive to perfume. I didn't wear any for most of my 20s because I felt like I smelled like dead flowers or a strip club every time I put on perfume (because I was wearing the wrong scents for me).
In high school I wore Tresor and Donna Karan Chaos (discontinued, I think?). When I started trying out perfumes again in my late-20s, I became really snobby about fragrance--I didnt want to smell like everyone else, so started looking for less mainstream fragrances.

I wore nothing but Egyptian Musk for several years. It's what I wore when FI and I first started dating, and he is obsessed with it. However, one of my best friends ruined it for me. We lived together for a few years, and she liked my egyptian musk so much she started wearing it. I was not very happy about that, but what's worse, she started wearing way too much of it! Yuck!!! It's one of those "less-is-more" fragrances and feeling like I was eating clouds of it every morning turned me off to it.

I smell best in musky-floral-woodsy scents. Certainly not for everyone, but they work with my chemistry. My mom wore Fracas--a pure, fresh white floral. It smelled like fresh gardenias on her and I always adored it, but it smells foul on me. Lately I have been alternating between Kai (with just a dab of my egyptian musk to make it muskier) and Bruno Acampora Seplasia, which I love. It's clean and almost soapy but has depth from musk, ylang-ylang and patchouli.

 

[sugarski]

My go-to hasn't changed in 20+ years - Tresor by Lancome. There are others of course, but that is my fallback.

Several that I once like quite well have been discontinued. There was a damask rose scent by Crabtree & Evelyn, and green tea one
called Song de Chine by them also. Both no more. Irritating.

I wear Marc Jacobs, and Daisy, which unlike many here, lasts quite well on me. I also have Versace Crystal Noir, White Linen,
and Goldleaf & Hydrangea (think it's just called Goldleaf now).

The Marc Jacobs, Daisy, and Crystal Noir were all given to me by my husband, who has, by his own admission, a very coarse sense of smell.
HE can't smell any of them on me, seriously. It pains me. But he knows I love perfume and so gifts me with it. How does he do it? There
is a small independent shop here, owned by a seriously good nose. My husband described the bottle of the perfume I like (Tresor) and the guy
in the shop took it from there. He's very good, IMO.

Ksinger, I feel your pain. I used to LOVE the C&E Carnation scent (I only bought the soap) and they d/c'd it a few years ago and I can't find anything like it. It was a wonderful clean/spicy scent.

I've collected perfumes for a long time now. My all-time favorites are Chanel No. 5 Eau Premiere (which I find suits me much better than the original No. 5), Chanel Bois des Iles, and Annick Goutal Eau d'Hadrien.

My newest bottle is Isabey Gardenia, which I think is the most beautiful creamy gardenia scent.

 

[sugarski]

I wear Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue as my everyday scent but do enjoy switching around. Some other favorites are Chanel Chance, Ralph Lauren Romance, L'Instant by Guerlain, Ralph by Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Blue, Juicy Couture and Calvin Klein Euphoria.

Used to wear Jessica McClintock as my everyday scent for years. Also was a Clinque Happy fan and Opium was my fav all through High school & into my early 20's. My tastes are really all over the place. I could spend hours trying out new perfume and have always been addicted to looking for new scents. My mom always wore Guerlain Shalimar and still does. When I was little she would put a few dabs on me and I felt so grown-up.

I'm going to try several listed in this thread!

Me too, woofmama! My mom always smelled like either Joy or Shalimar when I was growing up. Recently she told me she thought Shalimar was now too heavy for her, so I bought her a bottle of Shalimar Parfum Initial (a lighter flanker), and she loves it!

I have Joy and Shalimar in parfum on my dresser, too. Both such beautiful scents. I somehow don't wear them very often, but they are special to me because of my mom.

 

[hawaiianorangetree]

Ange Ou Demon by Givenchy

I picked this one out last weekend as an Xmas gift from my MIL.

(I feel like I am following you around ATM).

 

[monidda]

Perfume's are another love( read addiction) of mine, i currently have 84 different bottles but my favourite are
Tom Ford Black Orchid
Versace- Crystal Noir
and my absolute guilty please is
Armani Prive Rose D'Arabie
This last ones cost a ridiculous amount of money (£185 ) but I NEED to own it so I splash out but keep it for special occasions.

 

[Jennifer W]

I love perfume! Lorelei educated me on the topic, I feel like I owe her a debt of gratitude there!

My favourite is vintage No5, the original formula. It's getting harder and harder to track down, but I have a reasonable stash laid down. Having seen the price of the original formula parfum on ebay these days, I reckon I could retire if I sell my collection.

I also like No 19 Poudre, and 19 in the parfum version (not so fond of the EDT for some reason).

Travelling Gal very kindly sent me a sample of all the new Chanel boutique fragrances (Les Exclusifs) and there are some really nice fragrances amongst them, really wonderful dark, rich and complex scents.

I least like light smelling things with sugary vanilla notes.

 

[beaujolais]

Thanks all, for the new ideas.

Someone mentioned Green Tea - I adore Green Tea (Elizabeth Arden).
Also love Diptyque Philosykos
Lauren by Ralph Lauren
Happy

Now, here's one for discussion - Angel. I won't comment on it right now; want to see what you all say.

 

[Enerchi]

My favorites are dolce & gabanna's Light Blue and Coach. On my skin, they are light enough but have a warmth and soft fresh floral scent that I just love.

 

[Circe]

Y'know what I love? When I smell a thing, and it's so delicious that I just keep wanting to smell it, and keep trying to remember what it smelled like, figuring out where the heck I've smelled something similar - is it vanilla? roses? lavender? that weird lovely smell I get around French food sometimes - what is that, thyme? - and then I just cave and go and get it and get to smell it indefinitely.

Sometimes, it backfires. Angel smelled so amazingly wonderful on my best friend from my masters year, I went and bought a bottle ... and it just smelled like cheap caramel on me. I wound up gifting her the bottle. But I still love to smell it on her.

But my grad school roommate? Her best gift to me was an introduction to Flowerbomb, which is wonderfully intoxicating. Don't settle for any of the spin-offs - the Rose version loses all of the interesting contradictions.

Hanea Mori Butterfly is a red-berry composite that winds up smelling like vanilla, but not, which never fails to earn me compliments: for that matter, almost anything vanilla-based works with my phenotype. My current favorite? Shalimar, which I discovered via a cheap-cheap-cheap bottle of the eau de cologne at Loehmann's (of all places). At first I mocked the gasoline note, but when it dried down, I had to go and buy a bottle. And then a bottle of the parfum. And then a bottle of the Ode de la Vanille. And then a bottle of the Spiriteuse.

AT ANY RATE.

You know my great disappointment? How my skin eats citrus and lavender. Though apparently, this is predictable and based on body type? I went to the Guerlain counter the other day, hoping against hope my body chemistry had shifter after the pregnancy, and the nice lady behind the counter looked at me pityingly and said, "Oh, honey. You are a pink-skinned white girl. Shalimar will smell so much better on you." SHE KNEW. Any of y'all know which scents go with which skin/body types?

 

[makemepretty]

I wear La Chasse Aux Papillons but it's pricey so when my budget is a bit smaller I like to wear Trish 9 Blackberry & Vanilla Musk(9 just happens to be my favorite number).

 

[missy]

Y'know what I love? When I smell a thing, and it's so delicious that I just keep wanting to smell it, and keep trying to remember what it smelled like, figuring out where the heck I've smelled something similar - is it vanilla? roses? lavender? that weird lovely smell I get around French food sometimes - what is that, thyme? - and then I just cave and go and get it and get to smell it indefinitely.

Sometimes, it backfires. Angel smelled so amazingly wonderful on my best friend from my masters year, I went and bought a bottle ... and it just smelled like cheap caramel on me. I wound up gifting her the bottle. But I still love to smell it on her.

But my grad school roommate? Her best gift to me was an introduction to Flowerbomb, which is wonderfully intoxicating. Don't settle for any of the spin-offs - the Rose version loses all of the interesting contradictions.

Hanea Mori Butterfly is a red-berry composite that winds up smelling like vanilla, but not, which never fails to earn me compliments: for that matter, almost anything vanilla-based works with my phenotype. My current favorite? Shalimar, which I discovered via a cheap-cheap-cheap bottle of the eau de cologne at Loehmann's (of all places). At first I mocked the gasoline note, but when it dried down, I had to go and buy a bottle. And then a bottle of the parfum. And then a bottle of the Ode de la Vanille. And then a bottle of the Spiriteuse.

AT ANY RATE.

You know my great disappointment? How my skin eats citrus and lavender. Though apparently, this is predictable and based on body type? I went to the Guerlain counter the other day, hoping against hope my body chemistry had shifter after the pregnancy, and the nice lady behind the counter looked at me pityingly and said, "Oh, honey. You are a pink-skinned white girl. Shalimar will smell so much better on you." SHE KNEW. Any of y'all know which scents go with which skin/body types?

Circe, it depends on your body chemistry and skin type - dry, normal, oily. My skin is very dry and fragrances don't last too long on me. That's why I carry around a small atomizer to refresh during the day. Makes me feel good when I wear my favorite perfumes. Not sure what being a pink skinned white girl has to do with it but being one myself I can tell you what smells good on me. SDV which you mentioned, Hermessence Vetiver Tonka, Vaniglia de Madagascar (ss farmacia), Tihota (if you can find this anywhere get it!) and more many of which I already posted about above and in the other perfume thread Sharon linked. When I was younger I liked Hanae Mori and Shalimar so maybe we have similar body chemistries and perfume preferences. I also hate Angel (on me).

Oh, and I love lavender and Vanilla scents right before bed and I have La Vanilla lavender that I spray right before bed. So relaxing and delicious.

 

[Maria D]

I really loved Miracle Forever (Lancome) but they stopped making it. What part of "forever" did they not understand? I've been using it as my signature scent for the last 6 years but now I've got to find something else. I don't like regular Miracle.

How do you go about shopping for fragrance? I can only try on one at at a time if I want to see how it smells on me a few hours later. When I was younger I used to have a whole collection of bottles but they would turn after a while because I don't use them fast enough -- hence the search for a signature scent. My favorites were Tresor, Opium and Chanel No. 22 but I think the first two would be too heavy now and the last one has been discontinued. I'm a pink skinned white girl too. Any suggestions? I tried on some Chance (Chanel) the other day and that was promising.

 

[missy]

I really loved Miracle Forever (Lancome) but they stopped making it. What part of "forever" did they not understand? I've been using it as my signature scent for the last 6 years but now I've got to find something else. I don't like regular Miracle.

How do you go about shopping for fragrance? I can only try on one at at a time if I want to see how it smells on me a few hours later. When I was younger I used to have a whole collection of bottles but they would turn after a while because I don't use them fast enough -- hence the search for a signature scent. My favorites were Tresor, Opium and Chanel No. 22 but I think the first two would be too heavy now and the last one has been discontinued. I'm a pink skinned white girl too. Any suggestions? I tried on some Chance (Chanel) the other day and that was promising.

Hi Maria, I like to research scents containing the notes I love and then if I cannot sample at a perfume store in my area I will order samples online at my go to online sites. Lucky Scent, The Perfumed Court and Surrender to Chance.
http://www.luckyscent.com/

http://theperfumedcourt.com/

http://surrendertochance.com/

I wear each sample for a few days to decide if I like it. It evolves throughout the day as the top notes evaporate and you can decide what you think of the perfume in a truer fashion-in real life so to speak.

Some good websites to research perfumes are
http://www.fragrantica.com/
http://www.nstperfume.com/perfume-fragrance-reviews/
http://fragrancetalk.com/
http://www.basenotes.net/fragrancereviews/

Makeup alley also reviews perfumes.

Hope that helps!

 

[Maria D]

Thanks so much Missy - I did not know there were places you could order samples from; very helpful!

I have read all kinds of reviews on fragrantica but I'm just not enough of an afficionado to make meaningful sense of them. I don't know soft spicy from balmy from sweet...and never really dissected scent into top note, dry down, sillage and what have you. In fact, I don't know what sillage means!

 

[tuffyluvr]

Missy--you've inspired me to re-start my quest to find the perfect fragrance... I ordered about 10 samples from luckyscent last night! Can't wait for them to arrive! I never realized they have a B&M here in LA either?!? I will definitely be taking a trip down there to sniff everything!

Does anyone wear Jo Malone nutmeg and ginger? It smells wonderful on FMIL--I bought her the lotion and edt set for Christmas last year. Was going to get her something from Jo Malone again, and I was trying to find a nice compliment to the nutmeg ginger so she can change it up.

 

[rosetta]

Thanks so much Missy - I did not know there were places you could order samples from; very helpful!

I have read all kinds of reviews on fragrantica but I'm just not enough of an afficionado to make meaningful sense of them. I don't know soft spicy from balmy from sweet...and never really dissected scent into top note, dry down, sillage and what have you. In fact, I don't know what sillage means!

I think of sillage as the aura of perfume around you. Some perfumes you can smell from miles away, others you have to sniff up close.

 

[missy]

Thanks so much Missy - I did not know there were places you could order samples from; very helpful!

I have read all kinds of reviews on fragrantica but I'm just not enough of an afficionado to make meaningful sense of them. I don't know soft spicy from balmy from sweet...and never really dissected scent into top note, dry down, sillage and what have you. In fact, I don't know what sillage means!

I think of sillage as the aura of perfume around you. Some perfumes you can smell from miles away, others you have to sniff up close.

That's right- it's the scent-trail a perfume. The smell it leaves or creates as its wearer moves or simply just stands.

Maria- I wish I could make some recommendations for you. I'm more of a vanilla aficionado though but the best thing to do is sample sample sample based on notes you would like to try. You can start at a department store to see what notes you might like before you go online and read descriptions and see if you would like to sample them.


Tuffy-I'm so excited for you! Please come back and update us once you have tried them. It's really so great when you find that perfect for you fragrance(s). I have a few holy grail perfumes right now. I always thought I would just stick with the one but I find that I enjoy variety too much and depending on my mood and the weather I switch it up.

One of my favorite perfumes for the colder weather is Hermes Ambre Narguile. Cinnamon, honey, amber, sweetened tobacco. Really comforting warm scent. You can buy a sampler from the Hermes store of 4 or 5 of their scents. They are all pretty good and it makes a great gift I think. Your MIL might really enjoy that if she likes the Jo Malone nutmeg and ginger.

 

[tuffyluvr]

Thanks so much Missy - I did not know there were places you could order samples from; very helpful!

I have read all kinds of reviews on fragrantica but I'm just not enough of an afficionado to make meaningful sense of them. I don't know soft spicy from balmy from sweet...and never really dissected scent into top note, dry down, sillage and what have you. In fact, I don't know what sillage means!

I think of sillage as the aura of perfume around you. Some perfumes you can smell from miles away, others you have to sniff up close.

That's right- it's the scent-trail a perfume. The smell it leaves or creates as its wearer moves or simply just stands.

Maria- I wish I could make some recommendations for you. I'm more of a vanilla aficionado though but the best thing to do is sample sample sample based on notes you would like to try. You can start at a department store to see what notes you might like before you go online and read descriptions and see if you would like to sample them.


Tuffy-I'm so excited for you! Please come back and update us once you have tried them. It's really so great when you find that perfect for you fragrance(s). I have a few holy grail perfumes right now. I always thought I would just stick with the one but I find that I enjoy variety too much and depending on my mood and the weather I switch it up.

One of my favorite perfumes for the colder weather is Hermes Ambre Narguile. Cinnamon, honey, amber, sweetened tobacco. Really comforting warm scent. You can buy a sampler from the Hermes store of 4 or 5 of their scents. They are all pretty good and it makes a great gift I think. Your MIL might really enjoy that if she likes the Jo Malone nutmeg and ginger.

Oooh, goodie! Thanks for the tip! I lurrve Hermes' fragrances, ahe loves perfume, so a sampler would be great!

 

[missy]

You're welcome Tuffy!! And the best part is that their sampler pack is very generously sized so each perfume sample really lasts a while for the wearer to decide if they love it enough to purchase a full bottle. I love all of their Hermessence series. I don't think you can go wrong with that choice. You get to choose the 4 you want in the gift I believe.

http://usa.hermes.com/perfumes/hermessence.html

http://usa.hermes.com/perfumes/hermessence/coffret-collection-15806.html

 

[tuffyluvr]

You're welcome Tuffy!! And the best part is that their sampler pack is very generously sized so each perfume sample really lasts a while for the wearer to decide if they love it enough to purchase a full bottle. I love all of their Hermessence series. I don't think you can go wrong with that choice. You get to choose the 4 you want in the gift I believe.

http://usa.hermes.com/perfumes/hermessence.html

http://usa.hermes.com/perfumes/hermessence/coffret-collection-15806.html

I don't think I can go wrong with this! Hermes' packaging is so beautiful that it makes such a special gift! Thanks again for the tip, chica!

 

[sapphirering]

I only have one perfume and it's cuir de russie by Chanel, but I hardly wear it.

Does anyone here blend their own fragrance? A few years back I attended a workshop by a perfumer and made my own solid perfume. It was a lot of fun. I then ordered a bunch of essential oils but never got around to doing anything with them. Blame the kids. I just dug them out this past weekend and decided to order a fresh stash. I have this hair oil called orofluido that smells crazy good to me so I'm trying to recreate that by blending essential oils. I ordered bergamot (my favorite topnote), rose, amber oil (which is really a blend not a single note), and vanilla. If it works out well, I can then make body oil, bath salt, etc in the same fragrance. I can't wait.