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Post by Portia
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Heya Crew,
My mate Scott and I often talk about our love for Department Store and Drug Store (Chemist in Australia) fragrances. Many of our vintage loves are from the genre, also some of the designer and celebrity scents, as well as the huge multinational beauty companies. The mainstream has an enormous range and encompasses some of the best and worst of todays perfume market. So today we ask you a question……
Mainstream Mania
Department + Drug Store Gems
What do you love from the Department or Drug Store?
We spend so much time talking vintage, niche, indie and natural on the Scentblkggoshpere but what is your easy to find, grab it anywhere, no need to hoard it fragrance? I have a few but let’s chat about two nearly empty samples I’ve had rattling around in my box and one bottle that I adore today.
Dana Tabu EdC 1932
Top: Bergamot, Spices, Coriander, Neroli, Orange
Hear: Clove, Ylang-ylang, Oriental rose, Jasmine, Narcissus, Clover
Base: Amber, Benzoin, Oakmoss, Musk, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Vetiver, Cedar, Civet
Tabu is one of my favourites, it’s so pickable in public and one of my friends Lyndall has worn it forever. I have some of the older perfume and EdT but my absolute favourite version is the modern EdC. The opening notes smell like a sari shop in Alwar, Rajasthan that I love to shop at when in India. No idea what I’m smelling really because Tabu smells only of itself. Interestingly for me Jean Carles who created Tabu also created such fragrant luminaries as Shocking by Schiaparelli, Miss Dior, Indiscrete by Lucien Lelong and Ma Griffe by Carven: quite a roll call.
Prada L’Eau Ambrée 2009
Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, Citruses
Heart: Patchouli, Rose
Base: Ambergris, Opoponax, Vanilla
Prada L’Eau Ambree is so weirdly named because to me most of the fragrance smells of anything but amber. The cool, wet, juicy citrus opening that morphs into a dirty patchouli/rose and wet cardboard. Finally I get a resinous salted vanilla that is completely inedible but dark and mysterious. I love the mood changes and byplay in L’Eau Ambree, it’s all about surprise and it never plays it safe. It’s not often talked about by the perfumista crew and that’s strange to me because it’s a solid fragrance that tells an enjoyable story.
Lancôme Trésor in Love 2010
Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Pear, Nectarine, Peach, Pink pepper
Heart: Jasmine, Peach, Taif rose, Violet
Base: Musk, Virginia cedar
Recently my mate Victoria at EauMG talked about Trésor In Love and I have always gravitated towards Lancôme Midnight Rose in the same bottle but purple. While looking for something else I came across 5ml of Trésor In Love and have been using it as my morning wake up scent to the point that it’s almost gone. As Victoria says, “It reminds me of a many perfumes launched around the same time that are like an abstract fruity-floral with clean, synth ambers.” Somehow though Trésor In Love is a more comfortable, easy wear, life is fun, zingy fragrance than most of the others and I find myself really enjoying the ride.
So what is your Mainstream Mania? Share your readily available favourites in the comments below please?
Portia xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 