Infini EdT by Gerard Lefortis for Caron 1970

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Post by Portia

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Hey Fumies,

Recently I found a bottle of Infini on someone’s Sale Doc in one of the FaceBook perfume forums. It was a good price and because I love the parfum so much I thought it a good time to grab the EdT as well. It arrived the other day. WOO HOO!

Infini EdT by Caron 1970

Infini EdT by Gerard Lefortis

Infini Caron FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Jasmine, narcissus, lily of the valley, aldehydes
Heart: Rose, tuberose, lilac, iris
Base: Vetiver, musk, sandalwood, tonka bean, amber

I keep returning to Caron Infini, it’s so easy to wear and though it’s a big sensational powerhouse I never feel like I’m skunking a room in it. The EdT has a bit more throw, a lot more sparkle and feels like a light hearted person of the parfum. Less burnished, less intense but with a more gregarious personality. If Infini Parfum is Helen Lawson from Valley Of The dolls then Infini EdT is Gidget.

infini-edt-by-caron-sally_field_as_gidget-wikipediaWikiMedia

Shrieking narcissus, sparkling and fizzy, tempered by cool lily of the valley. Then infinite becomes a bouquet that is impossible for me to pick out the floral notes. A sweet white floral with noodles of backing ingredients creating a lavish silk sari with beautiful mirror work that sparkles and gives lift.

The heart stays around for ages and its all gorgeous creamy flowers till you realise that underneath the bouquet the amber and sandalwood have been creeping in and unbeknownst to you the are taking over the whole fragrance as we head towards dry down. Much less animal than the Parfum Infini EdT is a friendly and engaging younger sister. I love to wear them together so the deep burnished depths float under the scintillating fun of EdT.

infini-edt-by-caron-summer-still-life-pixabayPDI

Further reading: Yesterday’s Perfume and The Non-Blonde
The Perfumed Court has EdP samples starting at $3.50/ml

Have you tried Infini?
Portia xx

Cookie Queen’s Adventure Photo Essay

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Post by Val the Cookie Queen

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Hello all you APJ Perfumistas and Bikers!

Each year my husband attends the Eurobike International Trade Show in Friedrichshafen, Germany. It´s freaking enormous, supposedly
the biggest bike show in the world. He needs two days to get around it. Journalists, superstars from the downhilling world to The Tour de France,
plus the industry visitors make up the some 45,000 in attendance on the trade days, along with an extra 20,000 bike fans on the public day.

 

Friedrichshafen is on Lake Constance, also known as the Bodensee. The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. I decided
to grab a ride to Friedrichshafen with Chris then hop on a bus to Zürich, meet Vero for lunch, and hop on a bus back again. Why not? Life is too short
to sit still.

Cookie Queen’s Adventure

Bikes, Ferries and Caron Perfume
A lunch date at the Hammam in Zürich with Vero Kern
A Photo Essay

I got up at 03:15 and opened the fridge door for a drink. A large glass of what had been Oma`s frozen cream of pumpkin soup fell out of the door and
smashed on the kitchen floor. By 03.30 I was vacuuming up the last bits of glass and the cat thought I had lost my mind. We were out the door by
04.30 and on our 350 km way. I got out in Friedrichshafen and an hour later was on the bus. By 13:30 I was in Zürich with Vero and by 16:00 I was heading back to Friedrichshafen. Anyway – here´s some piccies.

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #2On the ferry crossing from Friedrichshafen to Konstanz. 15 minutes. Absolutely gorgeous.

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #1Frierichshafen. Home to the Zeppelin.

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #4

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #12

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #3Isi, Vero’s superstar dog meeting me at the central station in Zürich.

 

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #7

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #5

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #6

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #8

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #9Lunch at the Hammam Basar. Fantastic salad followed by thick Turkish coffee fragrant with cardomom.

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #11Ferry back from Konstanz to Friedrichshafen. Stunning.

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #13Evening with Chris. (Ice cream makes nice pictures but I don’t like ice cream, I really don’t.)

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #14Next day. Heading to the bike show. Cookies for our dealers. SOTD was vintage Caron En Avion Extrait by Ernest Daltroff: featuring carnation, jasmine, neroli and opoponax. A gift from Vero. Thick dark deep orange, spicy, lush and leathery, What a joy.

 

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #15

Bike Desires. Me looking at the new Rotwild Electric bike. €7000. Do not let anyone tell you electric bikes are for old people. And the below shot is a 12 speed SRAM Eagle cassette. ( for the biking perfumistas amongst us 😀)

Cookie Queen's Adventure Sept 2016 #16

Fragrant Biking Bussis
CQ

N’Aimez Que Moi by Ernest Daltroff for Caron 1916

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Post by Willa Zheng

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Hi reader,

“Love no one but me” from the venerable but nowadays much overlooked House of Caron is, in my humble opinion, one of the great romantic perfumes of 20th century. Launched during the height of WW1, it also happens to celebrate its 100 year anniversary this year.

N’Aimez Que Moi by Caron 1916

N’Aimez Que Moi by Ernest Daltroff

N`Aimez Que Moi Caron FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lilac, violet, rose
Heart: Iris, cedar, vetiver, sandalwood
Base: Vanilla, amber, musk, oakmoss

Fittingly for a perfume that sounds like an Edith Piaf love song, N`Aimez Que Moi opens like an old skool rose fragrance – geraniumy and drenched in clove-like eugenols that IFRA could banish this juice at any moment. My 22 year old, Miu Miu wearing work colleague says it smells just like her grandma. Well darling, your grandma has excellent taste.

Five minutes in, powdery, cosmetic-like notes such as violets and lilac emerge to join in the waltz with garden roses. Ever prised open the lid of Caron’s famous loose face powders? This is its fragrance!

Ten minutes later, woody chypre base notes creep in to give the fragrance a bit depth and some character. The main experience of wearing N’Aimez Que Moi conveys a big, radiant rose fragrance sitting on a dry layer of sandalwood. Emotionally, it’s the olfactory equivalent of an operatic Aria. The wearer of N’Aimez Que Moi is beautiful, assertive and yet lamentful.

The drydown of N’Aimez Que Moi, which emerges after about 4 hours, is a classic vintage chypre-base comprised of amber, musk and oakmoss, not dissimilar to the base of vintage Arpege. It creates a heavy, dark, rounded base that is a nuanced melange of the sweet, the skanky and the dirty.

My N`Aimez Que Moi edp (vintage 2007) has moderate to heavy silage, depending on the body heat of the wearer. Like an olfactory forget-me-not, this edp sustains itself for an impressive 12hrs +.

Further reading:
LuckyScent has $100/7ml extrait
Surrender To Chance has extrait samples from $5/0.5ml

Do you have a favourite Caron?

Narcisse Noir by Ernest Daltroff for Caron 1911

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Post by Portia

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Hi there Vintage Vamps,

A while back I stumbled across someone’s Sale Document in Facebook Fragrance Friends and on the list were some lovely fragrances that I really wanted to try in their vintage form. One in particular was the last couple of ml of a Caron scent that was, and still is, based around one of my favourite notes Narcissus, it is Narcisse Noir…

Narcisse Noir by Caron 1911

Narcisse Noir by Ernest Daltroff

Narcisse Noir Caron FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: African orange flower, narcissus
Heart: Jasmine, orange, tincture of rose
Base: Vetyver, musk, sandalwood

Narcisse Noir opens with a lovely soapy orange blossom curled around narcissus. Not the potent feral narcissus of the absolue, here it is softened and sweetened, draped elegantly over lashings of musks and sweet smooth and creamy sandalwood. This is OLD! because I can smell real animal musk. Yes there are some sweet flowers in the heart but they seem to be only ornaments to the narcissus, sandalwood and musk.

Normally I wear Narcisse Noir and just let myself float freely on a cloud of its loveliness. It’s weird trying to parse notes of something that I have had so much enjoyment out of as a whole and finished creation.

Narcisse Noir Ryan Somma Jonquilla Daffodil FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

The heart gives me a hint of indolic skank but nothing that would upset the vicar (sadly) and orange does make an appearance, it’s a juicy and pithy orange quite rounded and I had never noticed it before today’s wear. Narcisse Noir is much more multifaceted that I ever thought, light, shade and nuance that wearing as a fragrance just doesn’t show. Even a fruity rose rears its head, not a loud one but when I look for it after reading a note list it’s there.

Basically the fragrance then takes hours to dry down. Instead of making great changes it smooths and creams its way to a hum that just shimmers above my skin making me smell divinely better than I really do.

Narcisse Noir red-roses Hans PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Further reading: Now Smell This and Yesterday’s Perfume
Galaxy Perfumes has EdT $85/50ml (the only bottle I could find online not on eBay or Amazon)
Surrender To Chance has samples from $3/ml

Did you ever spend time with Narcisse Noir? Will you miss it when it’s gone?
Portia xx

 

Bellodgia by Ernest Daltroff for Caron 1927

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Post by Portia

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Hey there APJ,

Lately we have been unpacking boxes and I’ve bought some new plastic decant cases to house my ridiculous collection in. Jin found them for me at Bunnings (our hardware hangars) and they’re meant for tradesmen to put their bits & pieces in for easy access.

Tactix 8 Compartment Storage Box BunningsPhoto Stolen Bunnings

Portia's Decant Case

Well, now my decants are easy access. Yes this is only the first of two. Yes I will need a smaller one also for all my 2-3ml decants, anyway…..

While doing the reorganising I found a couple of my old loves that have been packed for over a year….

Bellodgia by Ernest Daltroff for Caron 1927

Bellodgia FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Carnation, rose
Heart: Jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, violet
Base: Musk, clove, vanilla, sandalwood

Tonight I had a bath with a couple of drops of my original Bellodgia Bath Oil. You have no idea how lavish it feels to be submerged in a bath and to smell only the sweet, crisp, warmth of Bellodgia wrapped around you like a cashmere shawl. Quite overwhelming and it sent me off to fairy land. As you can see in the pic below I am very sparing and have only used a small amount of my 15ml, one drop in the bath is enough.

Bellodgia Caron Bath Oil

Bellodgia has been reformulated many times and I did try the new one in the square bottle recently. It’s very nice but has lost quite a bit of what I feel makes Bellodgia so special. If you’ve never tried the old you will still think it very lovely and so do I if I think of them as separate entities.

I love the opening, so rich with promise and pungent. The crisp minty/clove/carnation/rose crackle cutting through the hearts floral vanilla bouquet and to a rich warmly spiced dreamscape of woodsy vanilla at the end. The lasting power is extraordinary and one hefty vint-ish EdT spritz over my already lightly scented skin and a couple of vintage parfum dabs are all I need to sail through an evening and into morning smelling ferociously good.

Caron-Bellodgia-Eau-De-Toilette EssentialMallPhoto Stolen EssentialMall

If you want to read a full appraisal please go check my earlier Bellodgia post on APJ, it gives a much fuller account of the ride but tonight I really want to enjoy the gorgeous full Bellodgia experience without taking it apart and stealing a little bit of the magic. Tonight is all about the ride that Ernest Daltroff created for us to take. I’m going right now…

Further reading BoisDeJasmin and Olfactoria’sTravels
EssentialMall has the purple leather encased 30ml EdT for $51
SurrenderToChance has a selection of Bellodgia samples

How is your decant and sample collection housed? Don’t you just love my plastic packers?
Portia xx

Montaigne by Richard Fraysse for Caron 2007

Hi there Frag Family,

Caron is a fragrance house that is very hit and miss for me. A bunch of my all time favourite fragrances are from them. With Bellodgia I have a horde of the parfum as well as an ample stash of the EdP. Infini, Parfun Sacre, Nocturnes, 119, Nuit de Noel, Tabac Blond and Royal Bain are all in my collection and that’s a LOT from one house. There are a bunch that don’t work though, and they REALLY don’t work, so it’s always nice to find a new one that does. My frag buddy Scott and I were shopping the importer sale the other day and we spied a Caron I’d not yet tried…..

Montaigne by Richard Fraysse for Caron 2007

Montaigne Caron FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Jasmine, coriander, bitter orange, mimosa, tangerine
Heart: Narcissus, black currant
Base: Sandalwood, amber, vanilla

So my batch code tells me my Montaigne is a 2007, so re-released with the reformulation and I think it did not do so well. It’s certainly not one of the Caron’s you read or hear much love for, Victoria at Bois de Jasmin delightfully scathing of the sandalwood accord and the frag in general. Her nose is 100 times better attuned to picking such things and I miss the screech completely. Maybe my bottle has had a lot longer to settle?

Opening spritz has me smelling this fabulous fruity hairspray and makeup scent, there’s something completely over the top and carnival about Mointaigne, it feels irrepressible to me. It’s so perfumey it’s almost a caricature of perfume. honestly the notes bear very little resemblance to what my nose and brain smell. I get a high octane, 100% synthetic, dance all night, laughing, singing along, party girl scent. If ever a scent swang from the chandelier then Montaigne is it.

montaigne-caron disco PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Part of me is just laughing inside at how much fun someone wearing Montaigne could have.

Basically Montaigne wears pretty linearly for me, hairspray, nailpolish, makeup mixed with fun fruity tingles and a very thin dry down with a little amber/woods but really it is just a soft wash of sweet woods with a shade of fruit. This wash wafts softly around me for a few hours, longevity is quite good.

Further reading: Perfume Posse and EauMG
Beauty Encounter has $45/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4.50/ml

Do you have a Caron favourite? Tell me…. and why?
Portia xx

Infini Parfum by Gerard Lefortis for Caron 1970 (reformulation)

Hello Lovers of Fine Fragrance,

Not so long ago I splashed out on myself. When life goes right it’s important for me to reward myself if I’ve made something happen and yes, you guessed it, I bought myself some fragrance. A 3ml Caron Infini parfum spritzer from Surrender To Chance. I’m not going to lie, it was a bit pricey at $23 for 3ml but OMG was it worth it! And really it cost around the same per ml as if I’d bought a 15ml bottle, so quite good value for what I was getting.

Infini Parfum by Gerard Lefortis for Caron 1970 (reformulation)

Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Jasmine, narcissus, lily of the valley, aldehydes
Heart: Rose, tuberose, lilac, iris
Base: Vetiver, musk, sandalwood, tonka bean, amber

When Infini opens it is with a scintillating sparkle, so outrageously lavish and hefty like a warm comforter made in patchwork of some exquisite silk brocades that is at once heavy and enveloping but at the same time the light plays in and over the fabric making it appear diffuse and spacious. This is a lovely aldehydic BWF that was designed as an ode to astronauts and space travel first created by Ernest Daltroff in 1912 but then recreated and reformulated in 1970 by Gerard Lefortis

There is some green and earthy note behind the white flowers that grounds Infini and makes me feel like someone shooting for the stars rather than going out to see them (Yesterday’s Perfume says it’s a Coriander) and I think the vetiver is more present than as a simple base note. My feet firmly planted on the ground looking towards the infinite, like I am on the brink of something enormous. So pretty and perfume-ish, probably a million times too much for most people’s tastes who are not perfumistas or from an older generation when perfume was beautiful and you were proud to be fragrant. There is still a lovely shot of skank running through Infini and I’m wondering if my decant is a little vintage.

Infini Caron Bride & Groom WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Distinctive and glamorous as Infini is I think it would make an excellent choice for wedding fragrance, it has such a beautiful floral wantonness that no husband could resist and your sillage will leave the one’s not lucky enough to grab you wishing that they had, at least once.

Infini parfum lasts for hours, even on my skin, and I have amped up the amber sweetness that I can still smell in the morning with an animal purr behind it that could be me and could be the remnants of Infini.

Infini Caron FragranticaEdT Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Bois de Jasmin writes: Infini: The original Infini is a velvety aldehydic floral with the rich iris, lilac and tuberose heart wrapped in tonka bean and vetiver. Infini today is similar, but the quality feels poorer, with the synthetic sandalwood overtaking the drydown. Still, it is an interesting floral idea.

Further reading: Yesterday’s Perfume and The Non-Blonde
Beauty Encounter has $120/15ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $4/ml

Have you done some Caron time lately? Tried Infini Parfum? Tell me, I love to read what you guys are thinking.
Loads of love,

Portia xx

 

Fragrances for Feeling Good: Michael Bublé

Hiya Happy Huffers,

So one of my fave singers is Michael Bublé. I don’t find him sexy or hot but he seems to be sweet and has an endearing way about him in his work. Like he knows he is not the coolest but that his amazing voice completely overrides everything else, he also seems to have a sense of humour. V Important!

Feeling Good Michael Buble Man alive FlickrPhoto Stolen Man Alive! Flickr

Feeling Good Michael Buble Dallas Bittle WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

What does Michael Bublé have to do with fragrance? Nothing really except I wanted a reason to write about a couple of my “Feeling Good” fragrances that I love to spritz at any time.

Amoureuse FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Amoureuse by Parfums DelRae seems to be a constant winner for me lately, a lovely spicy lily and white flower with some water and honey skank. I just can’t get enough of its feral beauty and have used nearly half a bottle since I got it from Madeleine’s unloved box. I don’t understand why Amoureuse makes me smile but every time I spritz, there it is. Pearly whites aglowing.

Bellodgia FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Bellodgia EdP and Parfum by Caron are a super stand by glamour set. The EdP gives projection and the Parfum gives glossy, glowing depths. This carnation, white flower and musky woods oldie still packs a punch in its newest incarnations and if you can get some vintage you are in for a very special treat. If Feeling Good is about feeling invincible, powerful, glamorous and elegant then Bellodgia fits the bill.

Feeling Good Michael Buble Shalimar edc PriceRitePhoto Stolen Price Rite

Shalimar EdC and Parfum are a killer combination. There is something very bright about the EdC that gives it an extra sparkle above all the other Shalimar strengths, pair that with a couple of dabs of vintage Shalimar Parfum and you know it’s going to be a bumpy night full of fun and outrageous high jinks. A little secret, I hate cleaning, but when I wear the Shalimar combo it goes by in a cloud of extra special glamour.

Feeling Good Michael Buble Aromatics Elixir Perfumer's Reserve Clinique FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Aromatics Elixir Perfumers Reserve Extrait by Clinique has been doing loads of work in the last couple of months, though we are warming up here in Sydney it is still being dabbed so preciously. The whole experience of taking the pedestal box lid off, getting the magnificent dark glass molded into a fabulous flower at the front bottle out, tilting, dabbing, breathing in that first fabulous moment of fragrance. It all conspires to make me happy. A beautiful fragrant ritual, and the extrait lasts for hours and hours on me.

Feeling Good Michael Buble  Aqua Allegoria Lys Soleia Guerlain FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Aqua Allegoria Lys Soleia by Guerlain gives fabulous tropical fruits, lily, ylang and vanilla with the teensiest touch of green. It is a super fun Feeling Good scent that is mainly tropical paradise but also harks back to Hollywood glamour. I also love the Aqua Allegoria gold tone cage on the bee bottle, it’s so cool and classic but a wonderful modern reinvention too. Thierry Wasser did such a good job with Lys Soleia

Last time I looked all of these fragrances were available to sample at Surrender To Chance

Michael Bublé – “Feeling Good” [Official Music Video]

Parfum Sacre EdP by Ernest Daltroff for Caron 1991

Hello Fragrant Friends,

I have had this beautiful fragrance in my wardrobe for a while, it is often grabbed for but then I think, “Oh No there’s only 30ml” and go for something else. As it’s been an unusually warm winter down here in Sydney the warmers have largely stayed in the closet. As you are about to go into Autumn up there in the Northern Hemisphere though, and I decided to wear this beauty, it is time I gave you a heads up on how it wears for me….

Parfum Sacre by Caron 1991

Parfum Sacre Caron Shopping.comPhoto Stolen Shopping.com

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cardamom, pepper, mimosa, cinnamon
Heart: Clove, orange, tincture of rose, jasmine
Base: Myrrh, vanilla, musk

Caron has chosen an interesting name for Parfum Sacre. Every person on earth has a different version of what’s sacred in their heads, combined of their upbringing, study, travel, personal thoughts and doctrine. Ernest Daltroff had his work cut out for him and I wonder what the brief was? It was 1991 so CdG wasn’t yet taking the incense by the horns and Lutens had only begun the idea of his Palais Royal. From my readings it appears that Bellodgia is an Italian town on Lake Como, somewhere near George Clooney’s Laglio house I’d hope. Could he be considered sacred? Plenty of people adore him….

Parfum Sacre Caron George Clooney House Lake Como LonnyPhoto Stolen lonny

So how does Parfum Sacre smell? On my skin it is bright, spicy and waxy at first, sharp and herbal as it burns off giving me a lovely pepper, cardamom and clove burst that if it was a good deal sheerer could be a modern wash opening, but it’s dense and fragrant, lovely in its complexity though I think I miss quite a bit of the nuance because the jasmine, cinnamon and rose are not featured players to my nose. The myrrh is king down the end and Parfum Sacre lasts for hours and hours. Even my scent hungry skin keeps it there, WOO HOO!

If you want to feel like a retro glamour movie star making a grand entrance and smelling like a billion dollars then Parfum Sacre is for you. NSFW unless you work alone or in a very airy office, Parfum Sacre can and will skunk if over applied. I was overly generous the other night at work, someone came in to give me a hug and started coughing with eyes streaming. It was a decidedly unglamorous moment and I felt really bad for him. It was the closeness I think but certainly less than ideal. So be careful with Parfum Sacre, sparingly unless you know you have 4 good hours of uncloseness. After 4 hours it calms to a dull roar and is pretty acceptable but still unsuitable for close working conditions or dining. Needless to say Parfum Sacre is one of my all time favourite cool weather fragrances, ever!!

Parfum Sacre Caron Gustave Moreau_-_The_Sacred_Elephant Google_Art_ProjectPhoto Stolen GoogleArtProject

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Another Perfume Blog
FragranceNet has $35/50ml unboxed before coupon.
Surrender To Chance has modern EdT & EdP from $3/ml, Older Version from $4/ml and Vintage Extrait from $15/.25ml

Parfum Sacre Caron St_Margaret_Mary_Alacoque_Contemplating_the_Sacred_Heart_of_Jesus WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Are you a Parfum Sacre fan?

See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Note on new Bellodgia reformulation from Perfume Shrine: Nothing to do with Parfum Sacre: Piu Bellodgia means “more Bellodgia” in Italian (fitting language since the original Bellodgia was inspired by the Italian countryside) but doesn’t appear to add more oomph to the already rich bouquet of the classicCaron Bellodgia. Reworked by Richard Fraysse, this was a composition that needed to adhere to the new IFRA directives on the regulation of eugenol/isoeugenol (spicy components used in fragrance replicating carnations, such as this one). The newer version is rosier than I get from my old bottle (which is a fuller floral symphony), with less of the spicy kick.
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Parfum Sacre Caron Allah-eser-green WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikimedia

Top 5 Perfume Wishlist 2013

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Post by Gabriella

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As many of you know, I had a bit of a cleanout of my collection last weekend, thanks to the terrific APJ sniff-together at Portia’s. Early on this journey, I made the mistake that many of us do, buying stuff too quickly without ample skin time or just falling prey to the thought: “Oh my god, everyone else loves this, I need to have it.”

Well, I’ve now gone back to basics. I will only acquire full bottles of fumes that have worn the test of time, the ones that when they hit my skin again and again are greeted with an enthusiastic “YES!” Samples and decants only for the ones that intrigue and stuff I just want to test and write about.

So, let’s just pretend that last’s week’s sale gave me enough money to buy five brand new bottles. What are those loves that I need to get?

Gabriella’s Top 5 Perfume Wishlist 2013

Bubblegum Chic by James Heeley for Heeley 2011

Bubblegum Chic Fragrantica

Jasmine is one white floral that doesn’t usually agree on my skin, but here it is perfect. Bubblegum Chic is playful green jasmine made more narcotic with the addition of tuberose. The name is apt as it’s playful and vampy at the same time. It’s that nonchalant, happy girl at work that once you get to know her has a hefty dose of je ne sais quoi.

Bubblegum Chic is available at Peony Melbourne $275/50ml Extrait de Parfum and Luckyscent $230/50ml Extrait de Parfum; Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $7/.5ml

Fleurissimo by James Henry Creed for Creed 1956

Fleurissimo Fragrantica

A lovely perfumista friend said I’d love it back when I was getting started in this game. Many years and bottles later, she’s still right. Grace Kelly associations aside, this is a magnificently elegant and understated white floral that just oozes sophistication.

Fleurissimo is available at Libertine Parfumerie $259/75ml; Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $3/.5ml.

Lady Caron by Richard Fraysse for Caron 2000

Lady Caron Fragrantica

Very much an unloved gem in my opinion, this perfume just makes me incredibly happy. It’s a floral chypre, but here the usual peach is replaced with raspberry, rounded out with jasmine and moss. Lady Caron is truly golden sunlight on skin. It also reminds me of those times my parents had proper dinner parties back when I was a little girl. It’s the wonderful melange of smells on my pajamas after kissing and hugging the beautifully dressed female guests. Comforting but very elegant.

Lady Caron is available at Luckyscent $95/50ml; The Perfumed Court samples start at $3/ml

Tubereuse by Richard Fraysse for Caron 2003

Tubereuse Fragrantica

You already know why thanks to my last review. But this is also very special to me for the very reason that it was the first fragrance I bought on my first romantic getaway to Paris with my gorgeous Mr M.

Tubereuse by Caron is available at LuckyScent, which has the EDP for $130/50ml and the parfum extrait for $150/15ml; Surrender to Chance has samples of the parfum starting at $5/.5ml

Tubereuse Couture by Pierre Guillame for Parfumerie Generale 2009

Tubereuse Couture Fragrantica

All you oriental/vanilla/patchouli/vetiver lovers must be shaking your heads and rolling your eyes about now, thinking “not another goddamn tuberose!!” but yes, more is more for me when it comes to the vampy flower. Tubereuse Couture like the aforementioned Caron is also a little bit of a sleeper when it comes to the genre, but it is divine. Here, sugar cane and banana leaf lend a lovely tropical vibe, but make no mistake, this is a scent for ballgowns, not the beach.

Tubereuse Couture is available at Luckyscent $100/50ml; Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $4.99/ml

So there you have it! My wishlist of loves. What would your wishlist look like?

With much love till next time!
M x