find a signature scent

Go to Perfume Bay and put the word “vial” in the searchbox. I just came up with 423 results, most are about $1.99 each. Fun!

First released in 1945, and reformulated in 1989, Rochas Femme has notes of bergamot, peach, prune, rose, immortelle, jasmine, ylang-ylang, ambergris, musk, oakmoss, and sandalwood.

This smells very good, right from the start. But it is so strong! I feel like it precedes me, goes through the door before I do. And while I would enjoy getting a whiff of this while passing a woman on the sidewalk, I don’t think I would want to be trapped in an elevator with her.

Ugh, I need to scrub this off, I can taste it in the back of my throat…

Today I am testing and loving Caron Parfum Sacre. According to the website, this is a spicy Oriental, with notes of myrhh, musk, vanilla, rose, jasmine, pepper, cinnamon, and coriander.

It seems very fresh to me, a good daytime scent, but unlike anything I have ever experienced before. Bottle-worthy!

Lately I’ve been lurking at Basenotes, “Your independent guide to the world of perfume and fragrances.” Wow, these people know everything there is to know about every perfume ever made. I started on a nostalgic journey trying to remember every perfume I ever had, and those I remember my mother and grandmothers wearing. So many memories are tied up with scent!

So finding a signature scent will be a tough one. I’ve decided that what I want to do first is to find a … boudoir fragrance. Since my husband’s eyes roll up in his head when he smells leather, I am going to explore the leather scents first. I found a great deal on eBay for 24 samples of leather-scented perfumes, they are due to arrive any day now. I am most excited about trying Tabac Blond by Caron; Cuir de Russie by Chanel; and Cuir Mauresque by Serge Lutens.

This is going to be hard. I’m not one to wear fragrance daily, but for special occasions I used to like to wear White Shoulders. They have reformulated it now, it smells NOTHING like the few drops I have left. I guess I just need to sample a few everytime I am near the perfume counters…