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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 Secret Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
Last Weeks Winner: Matty
eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with your address please
Saturday Question: When Did You Spritz and Regret?
That stomach clenching feeling when you instantly Spritz & Regret. You’ve made your choice, picked up the bottle or sample, given yourself five healthy shots and OMG! What the hell have I done?
Come on, we all have at least one story of disaster in us. Personally I have a bunch of them. Please share yours in the comments.
My Answer:
The only holiday I even flew First Class was back in 2014 with my buddy Michael because we had grabbed the most ridiculously good deal from Sydney to London on Thai. It was unbelievably wonderful. Basically you get a single sized bed space to yourself with everything you need. Catering is fabulous and constant. The onboard bathroom is enormous and it went swimmingly.
In the First Class Lounge in Bangkok they have fully equiped bathrooms so I decided to have a shower to wash the stink of flying off. After the shower I stupidly dropped and smashed my 10ml travel of The Different Company Oriental Lounge. Not having my glasses with me, and refusing to go scentless I grabbed one of the 10ml decants from my Travel Frags and gave myself five chest spritzes before the smell hit me. A*Men! Seriously? What the hell was it even doing in my Travel Frags. Needless to say our run around Bangkok for dinner with a mate (which included a bomb exploding at the end of our street) and the whole flight to London Heathrow were FULLY FRAGRANT!
At the end of the flight as we disembarked Michael was laughing because I still smelled so full on.
Woweeeee I’m first to respond !!! How exciting. I can only think of one scent at the moment which made me recoil in horror. Lush’s Breath of God, which comes as a solid perfume ,not dissimilar to a roll on deodorant. It smelt like decaying flowers, but not in a good way.
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I like Breath of God 🙂 Sorry it tried to kill you.
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😂😂😂😂
Crickey, you make me laugh.
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Ahhhh, Poor Sally-Anne,
I used up one of those sticks early on in my perfume addiction.Isn’t it interesting how differently fragrance smells on people.
I love Crikey’s comment. It had me laughing.
Portia xx
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I can’t recall a time I ever regretted wearing something for a particular moment. Saffy’s response, though, made me think of Aftelier’s Cuir Gardenia…. Rotting flowers on me. In fact most of the Aftelier line does not agree with my skin chemistry so I have given up sampling.
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They “don’t agree with me either”. Not a single one. Nope.
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Hey Brigitte,
What a shame! It must be something Mandy uses in her bases that doesn’t agree. Bummer.
I bet your wallet is happy to find a house you don’t need to be on top of.
Portia xx
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Ha, yes! Wallet is happy!
A few folks mentioned that it might be the Ambergris in the base that reacts with my skin.
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I was walking through the streets of Vienna with APJ Sandra four years ago. Lady Jane Grey has given us a sample of OJ ‘s Vanille d’Iris. We both decided not to do the usual spray-it -on-paper-just- in-case thing, and each gave ourselves a hefty spritz. Dear Lord, that stuff was so bad. An über-scrubber that even a Brillo pad could not touch. It was afterwards that we found out it was just as bad on LJG. Still wonder if the sample was a dud.
I recently did the same thing with the one of the newest Serge’s – can’t remember the name, Death by maple syrup … nasty AF. Got that off immediately with a MAC wipe. 😆
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I love that Vanille d’Iris story Val. So funny because I found Vanille d’Iris to be on the tame and safe side.
I think you’re talking about Le participe passé? The new Serge that smells like a treacle version of some of his earlier work. Very polarising.
Portia xx
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I gave a hefty spray of Bond No 9 I Love New York. I quite like a gourmand but this was too much. I did overspray, maybe not so bad with just a little spray. I might just try that.
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Congratulations Matty. Goodies for you.
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Thank you Cassie. I hope Portia gets my E Mail. I’ve been having problems with E Mails lately.
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Congratulations on your win, Matty!
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Thank you Diana. Can’t wait for my little parcel to arrive.
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Yes, got your email sweetcheeks.
Portia xx
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Forgot to say congrats, Matty!!!!!
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Thank you. I need a bit of cheering up this week. This will do nicely XXXXX
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Well done on your win, Matty
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Congrats on getting goodies!
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Thank You Old Herbaceous. I need something to look forward to. X
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I think sometimes in our enthusiasm to try something ‘new’ our hands go trigger happy. At least you have a few more mls in your sample to go easy next time.
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I’m very heavy handed in everything I do !!!!
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As am I with the fragrances.. I always spray lavishly.
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My two worst disasters were in airports. First was in Crete years back during a heatwave. Stupid stupid me sprayed Angel. Omfg, I nearly keeled over. Ran to the bathroom to scrub. Sudden darkness, the power went out. No air con 😱 And wouldn’t you know it, the one bloody perfume that glued itself to me. Had to endure the after effects for more than an hour in airport and a four hour flight. Next gobshite moment was on my way to Miami. Oh yes, that’s a lovely bottle there, what is it? Tom Ford White Patchouli, okay let’s have a good spritz. Waaaah get it offa me nowww! Luckily one of my friends had wet wipes in her handbag so we stood there with her scrubbing my arm with vigour. Had a lovely glow on my inner arm for a while after that escapade. Could still smell the awful stink remnants for the whole several hours on the plane. Lesson learned. I always spray into the air first and sniff now.
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After Airport disasters I do that now. Spray in the air first. Hope no one walking past !!!!
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Airport sprays seem to be a theme!
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The devil makes work for idle noses😉
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OH NO!! There is NO ESCAPING the airport spritz. Fortunately most things disappear on me fairly quickly. Anyone with skin that frags stick to though needs to be very wary.
Pottia xx
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Angel is HIDEOUS even sparingly dabbed in Winter. How you didn’t cause others around you to also faint is amazing. I once worked with a lady whose sig scent was Angel….and oh my Lordy…the only person I preferred not to work with because I felt so nauseous being in close quarters to her.
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I can just about cope with someone else wearing it. My daughter’s friend smells fab in it.
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I have a co worker who smells fab in it too.
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My latest regret is my own bloody fault, bought SL Gris Clair years ago,for Mr B which has been neglected for ages. Tonight on Date Night he resurrected it. Big Time. Nearly ruined my lovely dinner!
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OH NOOO!! Gris Clair? It seems like such an inoffensive scent JackieB? WOW
Portia xx
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So for my flight to y’all up in Sydney I panicked in the airport and sprayed myself with 6 sprays of Bracken Woman, which is already a strong perfume. I don’t regret it for the fragrance, I regret it because I must have radiated through the WHOLE plane and was That Horrible Person With Too Much Perfume In An Enclosed Space. Nobody said anything to me, possibly because they’d already passed out. Oops!
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Ha! I have been the person and horrified myself. I’ve even done with the exact same perfume as I love Bracken but it is for sure strong and once in a while I think, “oh no, who am I making want to die?” Portrait of a Lady is another offender. I spray happily and then realize that I am killing an entire room. Now it’s one or two small spritzes or save it for home. Although another part of me thinks I am doing a public service. Tee hee.
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HA HA HA HA HA!!
I love that meme.
I’m not saying you’re wearing too much perfume but the canary was alive before you arrived.
Portia xx
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Flowerbomb. I put on my usual lavish spritz prior to meeting friends for happy hour and dinner. I had that queasy feeling while driving to the restaurant, and the scent seemed to increase in intensity as time went on. A lady at the table beside me was thoroughly offended and was not shy about letting me know. I was mortified. My sister will occasionally wear Flowerbomb and I can’t sit in a car with her, I need adequate ventilation! And I agree with others, from then on I always sample new fragrances with a dab on my wrist or spray in the air, never spray on myself with abandon!
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My daughter just inherited a bottle of Flowerbomb from a good friend and she adores it. Smells great on her too.
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Funny how our noses and skin are so different! My sister loves Flowerbomb as well. And my sister dislikes my Chanels on her!
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I agree 😃
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WOW! Flowerbomb is a powerhouse but I wouldn’t have thought it was so offensive. How many spritzes Kathleen?
Did you move away from the offended party or punch their lights out?
Portia xx
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Completely my fault, I overspritzed Flowerbomb and it didn’t settle down! The woman at the table beside was over the top drama so we moved.
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Mine was Lolita Lempicka on a hot day. The first spritz didn’t seem like enough, so one or two more (inside, in the air conditioning). Stepped out into the hot day and I was instantly overwhelmed. I save that one for cold days now, one spritz only. (I’m not counting every time I decide to try Angel again and have to go for the loofah.)
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Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!
So weird that Lolita Lempicka overwhelms. I can go 11 sprays, no worries, no overwhelm.
Portia xx
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It’s interesting that Angel has been mentioned a few times already. Angel is the only perfume (besides Flowerbomb) that I can’t tolerate smelling on anyone, and I’m not easily offended by fragrance. A woman at my gym would wear it all the time and I couldn’t stand to be near her.
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I know I am in the minority but I loved Angel when it was first released.
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Way back when Angel was fairly newish, I purchased it and wore it for a time. I didn’t ever love, love it; however, I thought it was interesting and different from anything I had. Over time it became too cloying and I gave away my bottle. And now it’s a big Nope, even on others.
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I think because it became so ubiquitous and so oversprayed everyone got sick of it. Giorgio and Poison the same.
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I believe that is true. Too much of a good thing? And everything in moderation!
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Giorgio, oops 😬 might have been me.
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Cassie, me as well. And I was wearing it before anyone had even heard of it.
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Oh no!!!! Angel in a gym? Terrifying!
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Last june i visited the Harrods Perfume boutiques in the upper floor and went looking for the Malle Perfumes. Sadly i gave my self a spray of lipstick rose, which does not smell like lipstick on me, but just like those violet dragées, you can get in France, but 10times amplified. Could not scrub it off, so had to smell like sweets for the rest of the day.
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Are violet dragées lollies Tanja? What a great name.
HA! Lipstick Rose can be BIG too.
Portia xx
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I’m sure some here will take umbrage at this, but the nose knows to what it must say NO! I had an unfortunate encounter with Guerlain’s Nahema EDP, which many people adore. It is one of the only fragrances I have ever scrubbed off, after valiantly trying to like or just understand it for an hour or more. I really don’t know why it didn’t work for me, as I like or love most Guerlains and rose scents, and I was really looking forward to this one. I know I’ll try it again, but I’m a little reluctant …
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Nahema is a big No for me too – fortunately I was lucky to have first spritzed it on paper, so I was able to run out of the store far away from it.
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Nahema is a no for me too, although perhaps less virulently!
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Hey OH,
Did you ever try the Nahema extrait?
Next time you win remind me to put a dot of it in for you. Whole different experience.
Portia xx
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Thank you! I’ve never tried the extrait , only the EDP. Gonna try it again when I work up the nerve.
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I once picked up the wrong travel spray and gave myself SEVEN spritzes of Alien Essence Absolue before I registered which scent it was. And no time to shower before getting the bus and train to work in a nuclear cloud of jasmine. I think I gassed the whole carriage with that. Maybe the whole train.
One. One spritz was the right amount. I’ve never been able to wear it again.
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oh. yeah. and there was that time at college where I had a little bottle of Body Shop tea rose oil. I hadn’t screwed the lid back on properly and it fell over on my desk while I was out–probably the cat mucking about–and soaked into a stack of my books. Thirty years later, I still associate James Joyce with the smell of tea rose. (My copy of Ulysses carries a trace of the scent to this day.)
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I once had a mini of Poison leak in my bag. And then there was the Gucci Rush in that crappy plastic container that leaked on my desk at work back in the day when I shared an office with a perfume despising co-worker….she went on and on for days about my Rush.
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It’s beyond nuclear. Oof.
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Thierry Mugler has a LOT to answer for.
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Nuclear cloud of jasmine! Love it, LOL!
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Wooh, that was a BIG perfume day.
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There was a Miller and Beteaux perfume – a line I usually like – that I sprayed amply because I loved the opening. I bought a bottle then a half hour later it become an exact dupe of Dove soap, a smell I loathe and that sort of gives me PTSD. Fortunately I was within site of the shop and the lovely owner let me return it.
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Berteaux! If that is even the correct spelling.
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For many many years Dove soap was my husband’s only scent …the original one….now there are probably 10 variations on that theme.
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Oops, hope no offense taken! I think someone would have to be as close to me as a spouse or a child gets before I’d notice it. On my own arm? I wanted to cut it off.
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Hee hee hee…no offense taken!!! I don’t mind the smell but it used to drive me crazy that he never wore any fragrances. ☹️
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Years ago, we bought a house in Dallas, and the sellers clearly used the original Dove soap. The shower smelled so very strongly of Dove soap for the longest time. Fortunately, I didn’t mind the scent but was surprised how it lingered!
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It’s potent for sure!!!
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Hey Amy,
Miller et Bertaux. It took me years to sort that bloody spelling out.
Portia xx
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Ha! At least I got the Miller right!
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😀
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I go for years without thinking of the word “bertaux” and then twice in one day… these comments but also a conversation with Mr crikey about Maison Bertaux, the patisserie we used to go to (a Soho institution, with truly excellent pastries.)
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Overdosed on FM Musc Ravageur… had to roll the windows down on the way to work and scrub when I got in. But I still like and wear the scent.
Serge Noire was a major scrubber, tried the sample on since it was described as an incense, which I love. Nope, it was straight up truck driver sweaty armpit. I bagged up the sample and walked it outside to the trash bin, then scrubbed like crazy.
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LOL, truck driver sweaty armpit! Love that description!
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O M G! TaraC, now I want a bottle of SERGE NOIRE!!
Portia xx
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My first trip to NYC I found VCA Muguet Blanc, which had been talked up as the next Dioressimo. Ack! No, it was vile, and I was unable to wash it off, so it shrieked at me all day long.
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That is hilarious! I like Muguet Blanc quite a bit, but Diorissimo it ain’t.
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😁😁😁😁
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Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! I am loving these stories today. Hilarious AnnieA,
Portia xx
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Shrieked at you all day long!!! How awful.. bad enough if a scent smells yucky for a couple of hours, but even worse when it clings on like a toddler wanting his Mummy.
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I’ve spritzed Insolence and I deeply regret it. The whole room smells like it now and it’s killing me. The worst thing is, it happened before, and yet I keep on trying it on and hoping that one day it’ll behave.
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I love Insolence, but a little goes a long way. I’m very careful spraying lightly and n me.
I’d love the whole room smelling of Insolence though!
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Apparently even one spritz is too much for me 🙂
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HA! Diana, I triple spritz Insolence on my chest. Ahhhhhh. LOVE IT!
I am always on the lookout for Insolence Shower Gel at a good price because I reckon the whole apartment would smell amazing.
Portia xx
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And that’s one violet heavy fragrance that I can get on with.
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I have never smelt Insolence…and reading these posts makes me hesitant to do so.
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If you do find it, proceed with caution, Saffy 😉
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Congrats, Matty! So good to see your name in neon pink. 😉
Yikes, Portia! At least you had a bit of space to call your own.
I wore Fahrenheit to maths class on a stinking hot day in Year 10. Everyone complained and sought revenge on me a few days later. I was in the locker room and four guys from class cornered me and they each sprayed me with the most hideous scent I could think of at the time – Brut 33. I used to bitch at them for using it in the locker room at lunch. I HATED it. So, revenge was complete. Sort of. I then brought out my magnum – Poison. 😈
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Thank you….a bit of neon pink to cheer me up, as well as Portia’s pressies XX
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OMG! Those little SHITS Kate! I would have been furious.
Portia xx
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😂 Surely Poison is more of an assault rifle.
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I know; it is. 😈
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For me, the no-go note is immortelle, which I worked after a few encounters with perfumes I did not like; that turned out to be the common note. The dealbreaker was a sample of Afternoon of a Faun, which smelt exactly like the mythical creature had nodded off and started dreaming of having a massive curry with fenugreek rice.
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Ha! On me immortelle smells of sweet maple syrup….have you ever tried the essential oil? Gorgeous stuff.
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A few years ago I bought a random lot of imps/samples from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. One of them was Gore Shock. A novelty scent meant to remind you of horror films. Flesh, blood, sweat and metal. I put a tiny dab on out of curiosity and it’s fairly realistic and interesting but obviously not for regular wear. 5 minutes later my boyfriend walks in the door, White-faced and looking shocked. He tells me he had just spent the last half an hour across the street helping a man he and a friend found bleeding from a giant leg would after being attacked. I very quickly excused myself and went to scrub my wrist before he could notice the perfume.
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