...SOTD : Femme Jolie by SSS . A kind parfumista gifted me a sample of it!Unfortunately it is discontinued nor does it show up in this database or at Fragrantica! Information can only be found at Basenotes or at some blogs. It is a wonderful spicy woody scent, reminiscent of (according to reviewers) Kenzo Jungle l'Elephant and Feminité du Bois.SOTN will be Fragonard Arielle.

...What made you choose Amalia? That's not a fragrance, but the name of the first-born from the Dutch prince (soon to be king) William-Alexander and Máxima. She'll be the first in line to become queen after him.

...Another reason for the diverse reactions may be that scent works on the primitive brain (limbic system), while at the same time smell is the least understood of our senses.So it brings up more emotions we can't channel as well into formalities. From all the answers I think Dlane1953 explained it best. In the US but also in my country (NL) fragrance is indeed seen as a frivolous expense, only to be worn on very special occasions and not as casual as we here do! Apparently , the country that is most crazy about perfume is Brazil, when it comes to seeing nearly 99% of the population wear something most of the time. That is what I learnt from watching the BBC documentary on perfume.

...Technically everyone here who distinguishes between the 2 words (sillage/projection) is right and I have no problem using sillage in English (with a French pronunciation).But what about German or Dutch? In Dutch it feels weird to say 'sillage' so I say 'projectie' or 'spoor'(Spur). What do Germans say?

...It's neat how this is a mix between a forum and a kind of FaceBook thing where you can almost totally personalize your pages. Parfumo assistant and discovery tools are also neat. 8)

...With batch numbers, a very common thing to do is to list the month of manufacture as a letter, followed by the year in 2 digits.So E10 will mean it is produced in the 5th month (May) of 2010. ABCDEF = Jan-JunGHIJKL = July - DecMost of the batches (different product!) list these at the very end, but Creed seems to put them right in the middle, e.gC42B11U02 looks like one that is made in Feb 2011. What the C42 or U02 means??? no idea, but the 42 is consistent throughout, so may pertain to Aventus. A at the beginning remains for quite a while, so one might think A to B is a significant change in formulation.. At the end.. who knows it has to do with a week within a month?? HTH!

...How interesting. You just saved me from trying to find pure oud: even the cheapest pure oud is about as expensive (or more?) as gold is.. thanks, but no thanks, especially when most say it smells like fecal matter (but that's what they say abotu indolic jasmine which I adore!) :wink: So, just will make do with the tamed down synthetic ouds whenever trying to explore that path.

...SOTD: testing Amber Absolute (strrrrrrong!) SOTN: one of my oldest miniatures , Rêve Indien (similar to Shalimar)

...Am entering the split routine, and bought 2.5 or 5ml decants fromAnima DulcisMusc TonkinLiraAmbreFig TreePiment BrûlantTea for TwoFrangipaniDatura NoirFurthermore also dipping my toe into the 2nd hand market, where I mostly try to buy full miniatures, which may or may not be a good way to get a vintage perfume at a reasonable price.Bought miniatures of Mona di Orio Ambre, Opium edt, Opium Secret de Parfum, Angel, Shalimar, Samsara, Chamade, Le Dé, Cabochard, Must de Cartier, Poison, Boucheron, Jaïpur, Dolce Vita, Organza, Organza Indecence, Carolina Herrera, Wish, Le Baiser! Also 1/4 of a bottle of Amarige :). Most of the miniatures still need to come in.. hopefully in decent condition.

...The problem with oud is that it can overpower everything else in a fragrance, even when there is only a small concentration of it.. at least that is what my nose detects. When testing Trayee (Neela Vermeire) for the first time, all I got was the oud note and not very much else, upon which I exclaimed "enough already with the oud hype!". Still, oud it is an intrigueing substance and I'd like to test some really high quality pure (higher concentration synthetic?) oud fragrances or better yet, one of the Arabian oils, which apparently is the 'real' thing.

...Batchnumbers are renewed with every batch made.. so if they make 1 a year, there's one for every year in existence. The factory where I buy from makes 6-12 batches a year for their most popular products, so seeing that many batch numbers for a fragrance that is only 3 years old isn't a total surprise. But still a huge PITA when you know there's so many fakes sold as 'real'.At least for this one you know it's a good imitation!

...Started with Voyage d'HermèsOnce this one will be gone (it lasts much longer than anticipated!) it will be sent out to a young parfumista. Upon the drydown I'm way more enchanted with it than anticipated at the start. on to which I bought as part of a huge amber-based sample pack ..a first!Then when that one is gone, another Patou:

...Seasonal pick La Petite Robe Noire (2012):Funny how you can go from like to dislike. Yesterday's patchouli bomb makes me shy away from other patchouli-laden fragrances that I first found semi-appealing. Recognizing the little black dress as the fruit-chouli bomb now! (not being swayed by the Guerlain label anymore)SOTN will be Joy (Patou). No surprises here as I've tested it a few more times and liked it every time.

...This morning (applied twice in 2 hrs): Sexy Angelic Afternoon & evening: Suddeny by Madame Glamour (dupe of Coco Mademoiselle)

...Two scents againSeasonal pick is another oriental vanilla, so for today: Ode a l'amour: House pick is Coco by Chanel: WTH am I doing wrong here? :?

...Cryptic gave the answer I wanted to give: a Playboy fragrance? But which one? VIP for her by any chance?

...wrong if it interferes with WORK! Administration for the last quarter of the year should have been FINISHED already , instead of needing to get a start on it! :oops: :roll:

...Maybe do away with the points and go with an emoticon system , like 'sleeping beauty' for non-active members and versus 'caught red-handed' for people that should not spend every living hour of the day on Parfumo (or other sites) yet do.Pipette only pointed to a seemingly unfair system where rating 8 pictures (was it 8 or even just 5) equals to writing 1 review. I do feel slightly intimidated in having to write a substantial review. My nose is only so-so (being a beginner and allergic to dairy to boot, while still ingesting it almost daily), but I enjoy looking/digging up information left and right and try to make sense of the notes as well as get to know the history.But regarding cats.. I thought it was funny how a few days ago, our cat started sniffing my wrist with perfume on. Since then I let her sniff my wrist more regularly. She's nearly always interested in the scent.And.. until THIS and the other discussion came up re cat+perfume pix started to wonder whether I should start taking cat+perfume pix too (from the rare bottles I do own) Apicius.. I can read German but that last word is cryptic! (ah, Loriot : http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosakenzipfel ) Got to brush up the language skillz!

...Oh boy.. whatever you do even with the best of intentions, some people are going to be offended. Ever since starting a business I'm continuously amazed at how annoying some customers can be , expecting things I can never offer. In any case, I happen to like the cat pictures.. sure they may not be 'crisp clear' but I think they are creative. Sofar I've barely rated any pictures because it would be a true time suck.

...Yesterday : PdE Aziyadé (seasonal pick) & G Nahéma (house)Today: Opium secret de parfum (seasonal pick) & G Samsara (house)Probably will go for the pure parfum Edit: how do you link to pictures?