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Portia
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Hello Fellow Fumies,
At APJ we have a Saturday Question. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it’s a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.
The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back regularly and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them. The aim is to generate real conversation and connection even though we are scattered around the globe.
Saturday Question: What Perfume Type Do You Most Wear?
There are SO MANY variants nowadays it’s hard to pick what and where things fit. What I’m wondering today is which fragrance style gets the most spritzes around your place. Fougere, Chypre, Fruit-chouli, Big White Floral, Oriental, Woody, Aromatic, Citrus, Floral or Leather? Maybe a combination of these like a Leather/Oriental, Floral/Chypre or Woody/Aromatic.
My Answer:
Chypre. There is more than one style of chypre nowadays. Chypre, Fruity Chypre and Floral Chypre are the three main overarching categories on Fragrantica but even within these there has been change with patchouli, oudh and other base notes being brought in to replace the oakmoss so thoroughly reduced in allowances. Most of them I find attractive to a greater or lesser degree and if done well I’m probably going to want it on my skin.
Favourites include Miss Dior (vintage), Liberté, Niki de Saint Phalle, Aromatics elixir, Bandit, Silences, Bottega Veneta, 34 boulevard Saint Germain and many others.
Chypres, for the most part. But lately I have become addicted to Patchouli fragrances. I absolutely destroyed a bottle of Jovoy’s Psychédélique, and likewise showed no mercy to Andy Tauer’s Patch Flash and Une Amourette from ELDO. I am currently anxiously awaiting delivery of Von Eusersdorff’s new Patchouli Balmy. Today I shall wear Guerlain Nahema with Santa Maria Novella Patchouli.
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In the beginning of my perfume journey I used to wear chypres quite a lot. Sometimes I wish I could be more loyal to this family 🙂
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Hi rprichpot,
Patchouli! So good and so multifaceted. Exploring the patch realm is awesome fun.
Portia xx
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I was going to go with Ladylike Florals, but looking at my tray of office scents it looks like I can be even more specific, namely Iris: No. 19, Iris Poudre, Ferre, Bas de Soie, the Prada absolute iris, L’Heure Exquise and (just this week) Masque Milano L’Attesa. This is rather a turnaround from my former “eh, rich lady handcream” opinion of the note.
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I’m taking notes, Annie! Iris has become sorta an addiction for me these last few weeks.
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Oh my! Iris is my choice of the moment too. Cannot get enough! I’m scribbling your perfumes down now too. The colder, the better.
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HA! Quite the 180 AnnieA.
Once iris hits there’s no turning back. Have you tried Equistrius by Parfum d’Empire?
Portia xx
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I did, but it was before I went completely bonkers over iris and now I am apprehensive that it would be another I.must.have.now.
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The only perfume on your list that I haven’t tried is Ferre, and the rest are my favorites as well.
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I have to say citrus, because the green chypre seems to have disappeared as a meaningful category. I couldn’t live without galbanum and other bitter green notes. Most of my floral perfumes have citrus or green notes as part of the composition.
Funnily it also looks like I own many scents in the “Woody Floral Musk” group, when I look them up on Fragrantica. In general I have a complicated relationship with many modern musks and certain wooden notes!
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Hey Ingeborg,
Woody Floral Musks! Boy you are into a niche offering, or is it quite a big group?
Portia xx
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It may just be me not understanding the system on the Fragrantica page?? I was looking at how a long neglected fragrance like The Beat had been described by them and also a few other perfumes.
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Florals. No surprise here. I love the fragrance of flowers! And patchouli. I recently sampled a patchouli that I fell in love with, Marina Barcenilla Patchouli Clouds. I must sample the rest of her line. I always get very excited when I find a perfume I love because I love few, though I do like many.
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I like my perfumes as I like my songs or films: diverse but if I had to round it up I guess the types I reach for most often are chypre, leather and floral, sometimes mixed together. Perhaps, it would be easier for me to say which category I almost never wear (nor own): aquatic scents. I do like the note of salt but it often morphs into something strange on my skin.
I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of oriental scents but Shalimar and Angel are my go-to perfumes whenever I’m in need of a boost.
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Is this a trick question? LOL 🤣 But seriously I love all genres and really can’t pinpoint which is my favorite… and the hundreds of bottles drained over the years cover just about every category 😁
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I lean heavily toward orientals in fall/winter, then mix it up in the warmer months. But my collection covers most of the bases. Rarely wear the big white florals, though.
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Love me the big white florals and heavier orientals over winter, BUT this year has been different. I’ve reached for ice cold irises and old school chypres.
Summer will be a mix this year of JCE era Hermes with cheap citrus sorts.
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Kate, since you like cold irises do you perhaps say anything nice (or not) to say about Iris Silver Mist by Lutens? I’m considering a blind-buy.
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Hi Diana. I have never tried it, sadly. Not even sold in Australia. My love for cold iris is new, so looks like we are both in for a surprise. K xx
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this is a hard question but I say they are probably woody fragrances though my most fav. category may be chypre floral but chypre floral are now rare species
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For me this is a seasonal question. In the warmer weather, I like citrus scents. When it gets cold, I gravitate towards leather and wood, especially oud. Dirty rose fragrances are also good this time of year.
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Gosh, such a difficult question. I think I’m similar in my thinking to Greg in which it is seasonal/. Particularly in the cool weather I prefer woody Orientals, and in the heat big white florals. However there are really no rules set in stone. I have noted strangely though that in recent weeks , the soft delicate powders like Amazing Grace have been seeing a lot of skin.
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Portia, I love that you wear 34 boulevard Saint Germain. The little bit of an overripe aroma, plus the slightly spicy notes, it makes me weak in the knees every time I spritz from a generous sample a perfumista sent me. If I ever use that up I will have to buy a bottle. I will wear some tonight.
Citrus-floral-woods get most of my attention. Here are a few I wear regularly:
Infusion d’Iris citrus-iris-cedar
Jour d’Hermes citrus-white flowers-woods
Jardins de Bagatelle neroli-tuberose-woods
Vol de Nuit citrus-green floral-sandalwood
No. 5 edp aldehydes + all the good stuff
And I love colognes. I wear a lot of 4711 in summer, plus Cologne du 68, Eau de Guerlain, and more year round. Eau des Merveilles, Apres L’ondee, Hiris get a lot of wear though they fall in different categories. Whatever the notes may be, if it smells good, it is good!
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I’m with Brigitte on this one! All of them.
Well, most of them: I’d leave out sugar bombs, calone-heavy stuff, and the super-ripe ouds, but otherwise, I’m helping myself to the full spectrum of scented loveliness.
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Ha! Historically I have also worn sugar bombs (Pink Sugar) and calone heavy (New West for Women) and ouds (Eden Botanicals agarwood)…..I love that you love everything else!! There is so much variety these days and so much to pick and choose from it is challenging for me to remain monogamous 🙂
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Those are also on my no-fly list! Sometimes BWFs punch me in the nose too — gardenia is a culprit, which is so sad as the actual flower is so lovely…
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My favorites are Chypres, Orientals, and Floral Aldehydes. That covers so many fragrances so I suppose I love a wide-range of fragrances!
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Blimey, that is a bitch question. Cannot answer it. But if you forced me I would probably say jasmines, muscs, and leathers. But that is not a type huh? Smacks head on desk. xxx
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Doing your best Cookie Queen, that’s all we can ask.
Look after that pretty head please.
Portia xx
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Probably green fragrances the most. Also Chypres in Fall/Winter/Spring. This Summer, I am all about the citrus. It is too hot for anything else.
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A year ago I went through the exercise of choosing my Top 20 perfumes using different methodologies. After that I analyzed the final list and discovered that oriental florals were represented the most among my favorites. So if I had to name just one, that would be it. Though I hope I’ll never have to choose.
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Definitely florals for me, with a leaning toward green florals, but I can go floriental, woody floral, leather floral, etc.. The one floral category that leaves me mostly unmoved is fruity floral. Most are just too sugary for me.
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