...With 1200 new perfume releases a year I haven't bothered to keep up.I was interested in the new Boucheron but it failed to fire. It's fun reading all your assessments though. I am a Jean Claude fan and I need to revisit Jour D"Hermes in a non perfumed environment.

...Nuit Etoilee EDP

...For me it was always Eau de Rochas but now it's Eau du Sud

...Dulcemio:It doesn't have to be civet-laden to qualify, does it?I can't believe I'm saying this, but has anyone tried Kim Kardashian's "Pure Honey" ? Some of the reviews sound good. (If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time ever that I've inquired about a celebrity scent, and it's a celebrity that I DO NOT admire to boot! So, someone please alert the media.)Or anything that has a similar description from a better "house." I would like to find a honey scent where honey is detectable but not completely dominant, and just a little sweet, with some light flowers and wood, maybe a little resin.Alahine by Teo Cabanel is well worth trying for these accords

...Thank you Dulcemio. The fact that he was willing to get up, shower and use a fragrance was enough for me. He was such a trooper. He wore Aramis Devin when I met him and even though it's different now, (the point of the thread we are contributing to) it still sets my tummy to butterflies.

...post, Omni."but I never said because that would have destroyed his confidence." Such a loving thing to do.And "IF" only we all re-read and took Kipling's words...

...My daughter will dab the corpse with Bal a Versailles when I die. The old bod will sure as hell smell different then, full of embalming fluids, but the Bal and I won't mind that we smell different - and the same. For a time my husband had to take a drug that altered his body odour; mixed with his Ungaro III, it wasn't the greatest, but I never said because that would have destroyed his confidence. Perfume gives us confidence, yes? A poem by Rudyard KiplingIF you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,But make allowance for their doubting too;If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,Or being hated, don't give way to hating,And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;If you can meet with Triumph and DisasterAnd treat those two impostors just the same;If you can bear to hear the truth you've spokenTwisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,And lose, and start again at your beginningsAnd never breathe a word about your loss;If you can force your heart and nerve and sinewTo serve your turn long after they are gone,And so hold on when there is nothing in youExcept the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,If all men count with you, but none too much;If you can fill the unforgiving minuteWith sixty seconds' worth of distance run,Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

...Omni:Hi Franfran, I would love your take on Gwen Stefani's Lamb and Kate Moss's Vintage.Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B. or simply L may be something for clean...

...Scarletting:"Lovely" by SJP is the quintessential job interview perfume. It's the pinnacle of a clean, generic musk scent. I can't think it could offend anyone if it tried. Boring, sure... but what it does, it does well. "Truth or Dare Naked" is a rich, mature gourmand. Not sure why it has so many 0-20 votes though. While everyone is entitled to an opinion, in cases like the above it does make me wonder if some people login just to slate a brand they don't like. Also, "Instinct" by D&V Beckham is a great fragrance for the price. For $10 you just can't go wrong.There's a review of Davd Beckahm's Instinct on Basenotes about being a perfume snob that cracks me up. Big hearty chuckle

...Hi Franfran, I would love your take on Gwen Stefani's Lamb and Kate Moss's Vintage.

...I second Truth or Dare and Fancy Nights. I don't like Halle or Lovely. Today I followed a woman's sillage (she looked friendly) and I commented on her perfume. She said it was 'Charlie Blue' and that it was an old bottle that she kept cool and dark. Good God, it was lovely on her!We had a lovely interchange about perfumes, was great.

...My Mother worked as a housemaid in International Hotels. Quite often a house guest would consider the small amount left in a bottle as not worth packing and would leave it behind. Sometimes there would be a forgotten bottle and there was no way of reuniting it with the owner once they were in the air to another country. We live at the bottom of the world. My perfume collection began this way in the late sixties and I knew most mainstream French perfumes by the time I was a teenager; they ruined me for the drug store fumes such as Charlie, Intimate, etc. The perfume supply dwindled when my Mother went to work in Cinemas, not hotels. She is eighty seven now, still loves perfume. The early days made me a chypre sister, I never say never, but very sweet perfumes are not my bag, baby (Move over Austin Powers) I took them all for granted, gave them away to favorite girlfriends, had multiple bottles of Chanels, Femme, Fidji, Zen,Ma Griffe, Shocking, and many more from Rochas and Caron. I didn't discover Bal a Versailles until the late seventies. My Mum left my house the other day with my Ce Soir Ou Jamais, she loved it more than I do and I can't say no to her when we shared so much at the beginning.

...Dulcemio:Triffid:"Eau Dynamisante" from Clarins is an inexpensive classic that might fit the bill - I use it as a herbal pick-me-up fragrance and it contains a selection of what you desire: citrus, coriander, caraway, cardamom and rosemary. Woody/patchouli base but quite different to Aromatics Elixir.Ooh, yes, this one! I once owned a bottle of "Eau Dynamisante" and it was very nice, very herbal, and just as Triffid describes.I second Eau Dynamisante and wish to present for consideration 'Eau du Sud' by Annick Goutal. There is a freshness to 'Noa' that Tania Sanchez commented on as Cilantro (coriander) but I can't agree with her. It is very easy to live with though

...For me personally EL 'Beautiful' is the 80s. Did Vanderbilt come out in the 70s or the 80s?

...Noa by Cacharel has it, in the dry down, somewhere from between the bosom, or the heat of a chest, it does appear. I'm not imagining it, although I thought I was until other reviews confirmed it. Hmm, today should be a Noa day

...A cool change is forecast for Xmas Day. Here ,downunder, that is a chance for me to wear Mon Parfum Cheri par Camille. I adore stewed plums, the big Black Doris variety are so fragrant. And the scent of Xmas mince pies won't clash with MPC too much, not for long anyway

...Pipette:I don't know whether it is my particular skin, but the lasting power of "Nuit Andalouse" by MDCI Paris is practically nil. I keep on reapplying it and other than a sort of Grand Marnier liqueur orange waft, there is not much. Big failure considering such an expensive scent.But, "Le Rivage des Syrtes" by MDCI Paris has very good lasting power and a certain crispness, and so has the sweet and delicate "Vepres Siciliennes". All those scents come from a sample program which is very reasonable for a nice coffret with either 5 or 8 minis.Thanks Pipette, you are great at finding these lovely sample sets.

...Oh Sleuth, move to 221b Baker St. Bravo, some revealing threads there from Christine Nagel. Thanks muchly

...Tnahowru:Having recently joined you all I have been ordering and testing a different perfume sample every day. The only one so far with any lasting capability has been Portrait of a Lady. I was shocked that I could still smell it at least 24 hours later.POAL just happens to also smell better at the end of that time too. I had to keep smelling my wrist, I loved it so much.I think that Ambre Dore by MPG has a half life of plutonium. Very much a winter perfume it is too dense in summer. My next fume is Mon Parfum Cherie par Camille. The hesperidic scents of summer tend not to last more than an hour. Eau du Sud, Prada Infusion D'Oranger, Christalle, Tuscan Soul all take one look at a puffy white cloud and go to join it. I must get my hands on POAL.

...The Hermessences are also quite nice and well worth sampling... 8)I'll have to try further afield for those but I shall put them on the watch list.Omni, love the Doblis comment. Reading notes and reviews, I fancy I would love it too, though the name does remind me of a dead horse. Jour d'Hermes is...