Saturday Question: Which House Best Represents Fragrant Luxury To You?

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies

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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.

 

Over 100 responses I will draw a Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
This week:
Sample Pack

  1. L’Insomnuit by Piguet
  2. Loud Amber Rose by Montale
  3. Blanche Immortelle by Atelier Cologne
  4. Ilene by Diptyque
  5. Mandarine by L’Artisan

 

Last Weeks Winner: Matty

eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with your address please

Saturday Question: Which House Best Represents Fragrant Luxury To You?

All of us have such different definitions of luxury. What house makes us feel like we’ve made a luxurious purchase? How do they do it? What is your luxe trigger? Are you most inspired be heredity like the Guerlain, DIOR and CHANEL lines. Is it the expensive packaging like Vero Profumo, Fueguia 1833 or Cartier. What about the juices ingredients, like in Roja Dove, Parfum de Nicolai or Bogue; do they play a role? Is it the unavailability like UĖRMÌ, 19-69 or Map Of The Heart or the almost bespoke, small batch, limited run indies like Mandy Aftel, DSH Perfumes and Fort & Manlé. Whatever floats your luxury boat, we want to read about it. Don’t just tell us what but give us a why.

My Answer:

By far the most luxurious brand for me to buy is Neela Vermeire Creations. Opening the NVC plastic and touching the purple box, picking up the bottle and spritzing a new acquisition is one of my fragrant lifes great luxurious joys. Knowing I have a bottle and can now spritz to my hearts content, WOO HOO!

I know that Bertrand and Neela have this fraught battle every time to release a perfume. It has often been repeated that Mr Duchaufour says she is his most exacting customer and that each scent takes more mods than any other brand. I also know that NVC juices cost up to 7 times what most independent multinational sellers include. The bottles are so different to anything else offered and are designed by the best in the business Pierre Dinand. Their packaging has been a constantly evolving quest for beauty, luxury and strength. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, I know Neela to be a perfectionist with a vision who puts heart and soul into creating something unbelievably special. The only thing that could make the brand more luxurious to me is if they did bath products to match their fragrances.

My Saturday Question to you is:

Saturday Question: Which House Best Represents Fragrant Luxury To You?

114 thoughts on “Saturday Question: Which House Best Represents Fragrant Luxury To You?”

  1. This is a tough question for me , P!!!!

    I guess personally Chanel and Dior and Guerlain don’t represent luxury to me because back in the late 1970s and early 1980s they were not so exclusive and could be bought for a reasonable amount of money at local department stores. I wore many many many fragrances from these fine houses back then as a teenager/young adult and I was far from the epitome of a “luxurious woman”. In those days I don’t remember there being “exclusive” lines or “prive” or limited editions being churned out by these houses.

    I guess for me what I would consider luxury are the bottles that I treasure from indie and artisanal lines like 1000 Flowers, St. Clair Scents and Sonoma Scent Studio. They are well thought out, well crafted with love and attention and are not mass produced so not as easy to come by. I am a very simple woman in my old age and for me this is luxury.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you Brigitte….but I’m having a problem getting in touch with Portia. I’ve E Mailed but it keeps bouncing back. I’ve also used the contact form but no reply. I don’t really know what else I can do. I wouldn’t want Portia to think I was ignoring my win. I’m also thrilled about this because I never usually win anything X

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      • Are you using the underscore between Portia’s first and last name? it’s this _ ……the upper case symbol on the top row of the keyboard next to the number zero…..not the dash (-) but the underscore (_). How do I know this? because the first time I tried to email Portia six years ago I had NO idea what an underscore even was so I had to google it! Hope this helps. And also, don’t forget the “au” after the yahoo dot com

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        • Thank you for your reply… Yes I am putting in the correct E Mail address.. I checked a couple of times that I was doing it right. I’ve had a reply from Portia on one of my replies to a comment, so I’ve mentioned trhat I’m trying to get in touch. Hopefully Portia will see that.

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  3. There are so many super luxury houses out there, and still i would go with Amouage. Even if the presentation is kinda simple in comparison with other houses, imho Amouage has his own thing and charm with those classic bottles. Also the scents are really unique and refined, it screams luxury in my eyes. Other mentions would be House of Oud and Guerlain Collections Exclusives (those bottles are pure love).

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I’m going old school with Chanel, although Brigette consicley points out compelling reasons why she has chosen otherwise.
    I think over the years Chanel has produced consistently good if not great fragrances. Very much appreciated is their refusal to follow fragrant trends. They stay in their classical lane without veering too far out of it. Nevertheless they manage to move forward giving a clear nod to evolution by injecting their scents with a modernity that keeps them at once fresh and relevant. I like that. Bottle design again, deserves cudos. Elegant, simple and chic. Finally a comprehensive bath/body line rounds out their profile proving to me that Chanel is the epitome of classic, never-out-of-fashion, timeless, luxe style and scent.

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  5. The first name that popped into my head was Chanel. I have this idea since my adolescence when one of my friends had a honking big bottle of No5 at the tender age of thirteen or fourteen. The fact that I didn’t actually like the fragrance did nothing to dispel the wonder of her parents buying this for her birthday or Christmas present as I knew how expensive it was. My presents consisted of something by Lentheric or Yardley, not that I was complaining at all. (She also had her own ensuite bathroom. Her folks had pots of money😮).
    Chanel have always produced quality fragrances and the addition of their body products have cemented the idea firmly in place. Their velvet body oil is especially luxe.

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  7. One house that focuses on Fragrant Luxury is Roja Parfums. I don’t own any FB and no FOMO either because there are plenty of other luxury houses whose perfume line I enjoy (Chanel, Guerlain, Hermes, just to name a few). If you were to ask me 4-5 years ago, I probably would have named Clive Christian but nowadays, they seem to be run of the mill with too many new perfumes included in multiple launches each year.

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  8. I would choose the house of Vero Kern. All her perfumes are complex and elegant – they are relatively rare, and having to strive for them gives them that exclusive quality. And like Neela, Vero is exacting and a perfectionist.

    But what do I know – I’m just a Mito fangirl!

    Liked by 2 people

  9. I was tempted to say Chanel, because the totality of its perfume, fashion, history, couture, etc. all define luxury for me. But for fragrant luxury alone, I’ll say Jovoy Paris, for a very particular reason. I visited their London boutique this past May, and the warm welcome I received, the personal attention, the luxurious interior, the gorgeous fragrances in gorgeous bottles, the more exclusive area downstairs where I was shown the vault (!) containing huge lumps of real ambergris = LUXURY. I must write a full post about it before I forget the details!

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  11. Vintage Guerlain bottles are it for me: their gold and enamel canisters are to die for. If I had to choose from the modern brands it would be Dusita parfums, Patou, maybe the House of Matriarch: I won a bottle from them, unpacking it was almost as great as wearing the fragrance itself.

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  12. Hmm… tricky. I am going back and forth between two approaches. Firstly, the weighty bottles, crisp tissue, be-ribboned boxes and nicely tied bags of Chanel and Hermes (Hi CQ!) with a special nod to the padded cylindrical boxes with cotton travel bags and insanely good service from the Dior Privee crew which all feels pretty fancy as part of a luxe shopping experience. Secondly, the ingredients, expertise, vision, playfulness, and sheer love that goes in to the best of the artisan/indies–Vero Kern, Slumberhouse, Bogue, Papillon, Mendittorosa, CBIHP, naming just a tiny handful–feels like the luxury is in the perfume (though most of those also have strong bottle game.) But both approaches rock the attention to detail.

    I enjoy the kick from the indulgence of the first approach but my heart belongs to the latter (same with clothes, too, I think…more indies than big names.)

    Liked by 3 people

    • I’m right with you, although I like Chanel much more than Hermès, but my heart belongs to Slumberhouse, Papillon, Naomi Goodsir, Bogue etal.

      Neela Vermeire seems to hit the sweet spot of special juice and lovely packaging, so I may second Portia’s choice. I am also a huge fan of Masque Milano and unlike many, love the new bottles, even if it is all a little pricey.

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  13. I will ignore current era because I am not that impressed. Going back in time, it would be Shiseido for me when they used to release stuff like nombre noir and feminite du bois.

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  14. As much as it pains me to say it, Chanel. Not so much for the very bland Les Exclusifs line, but their mainstream are still so aesthetically pleasing, not loud and audacious, and feel wonderful to hold. The last of the big luxury brands to hold on to class and not succumb to the ‘costs a lot to look this cheap’ chic the others have gone to.

    Once Lagerfeld releases the reins, who knows where it will lead. When that happens, I will put Hermés at the top.

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  15. Hmmmm…… for sheer elegance and luxury I’d have to say Hermès. The fragrances are always so deliberate and a perfect reflection of the other side of the house; the luxe leather goods that got them started in the 1800’s. For current times I’d go with Frederic Malle’s Editions De Parfum; creating such utterly beautiful scents, always being on point, and consistently using top tier ingredients. So many keepers in their range.♥️♥️♥️ -Robert H.

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  16. I love the Roja Dove bottles. Their window displays in The Burlington Arcade in London are fabulous.
    The vintage Chanel and Guerlain bottles especially Mitsouko and Shalimar.

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  17. I think I will put Hèrmes as the number one, just because I think the perfumes go well with the luxury goods they sell. Perfect for those with “old money”, I would say.

    Then I think the by Kilian range of perfume does flashy packaging in a luxe way, and the perfumes do seem to be of good quality.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Oh and one more. I know many people hate Profumum Roma’s square plain bottles, but I love them and also love that they come with a metal funnel and a small roller ball into which you can decant for travel. The perfumes are luxurious too! And the 18 ml travel sprays are elegant and stand on their own without the need for a special case.

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  19. I decided to answer first and then go through the previous comments to see what everybody else thought.

    Since in general I consider all perfumes to be luxury, and, theoretically, if I were to love it, I could afford to buy almost any perfume (I’m not talking about those that cost thousands just because of the vessel they are presented in but most commercially produced perfumes), from this point the question I ask myself is whether I consider each particular one to be worth the price or not but if I buy it, I don’t feel like I’m buying [into] luxury.

    The only perfume brand I can think of that still seems somehow different is JAR. I’m sure it’s not a single such brand, and their prices, I presume, aren’t the highest out there, but I don’t know about any other brands with similar limited distribution and general availability: just a couple of locations with no website or presence anywhere else.

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  20. When you mention luxury, the first that comes to my mind is Amouage. It’s not about the price or visuals, it’s just that Amouage consistently keeps bringing great quality perfume to the market. And whether I like them or not, they have a touch of luxury surrounding them.
    On the other hand I’d mention Estee Lauder because they have this easygoing luxury the American way.

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  21. Chanel is consistent luxury in my life. From the classic white box with black trim and lettering, to the beautiful classic clean-lined bottles, to the fragrance/lotion/bath gel inside. I am always thrilled to shop on the Chanel website (sadly there is no boutique in Denver), and then receive my package. I have most Chanel fragrances including the Exclusives, and display the bottles on a pretty glass tray. Tres chic! The bath gel looks very luxurious int he shower too. Runner-ups are Roja Dove, exquisite bottles and box, and Aupohorie for same reason.

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  22. Oh for me, all the Lutens bell jars (obviously).
    All the Vintage Guerlain.
    Roja Dove & Amouage.
    I was thinking HoM, too. But the line seems “pure indulgence” rather than “sheer luxury.”

    Loving everyone’s choices!

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