...Question: I've been searching for NM "Fireside" for the Autumn...is it discontinued?

...Greysolon:Hayven, I have a feeling you meant boozy in terms of liquor. But I'm going to follow Flavorite's lead and suggest a wine scent that is great for fall: "Dzhari" by Phaedon. It's a blend of Malaga wine, dates and terra cotta with a hint of smokiness. It's very rustic, deep and earthy. The scent of wine and dates are a great match. Dzhari has a fairly assertive personality but cool weather keeps it in check so it's perfectly suited for fall days when leaves are in full color. Dolby wrote a review of it that is spot on.Ooooh, Dzhari sounds delicious!

...Dlane1953:Flavorite--I didn't want to copy your entire quote here, but here is my response to your words.Democracy in action. YES! Ultimately, it's all about what we the people think, not what the self-styled experts think. I have a strong dose of skepticism toward the experts in any field that relates to matters other than the most basic human needs (food, shelter, etc). The caveat here, however is that we need to be educated consumers--I don't want my purchases determined by the latest celebrity frag release. Educate the nose!I'm looking forward to receiving these samples. Many thanks.Yep. Knowledge is power. Enough said! Enjoy the package.

...Hayven:Aside from a variety of topics that irritate me a bit (some as mentioned in prior posts), the one that gets me is the perfume of choice for a wedding day. You picked the flowers, the venue, the dress, the shoes, your bridesmaids, your maid of honor, and all else; why can't you pick a perfume for yourself? You're better off getting a fragrance consultation from a department store, which is just as free and more effective than getting blind advice from people on the internet.However, I shut my typing mouth over there and complain about it here instead. :DYou got that right...Brides are famous for turning from sweet lovely princesses into malevolent despots in a few short weeks/months during wedding planning---then they can't choose a fragrance for their own special day (?) it seems odd. Not to mention- maybe it is just a custom in some places but, about 75% of the weddings I've been in/to had (just the one). The Best Man (Groom's Man), the future M-I-L or the Maid of Honor or even the Groom gives a special Perfume to the Bride- Our Best Man (also a male model with gobs of style and panache) gave me Gucci II which was perfect for the early Fall wedding outside- I still have almost a full bottle but, it worked and I didn't even have to think about asking 50 strangers what to wear to my own wedding. I guess, well, inexperience and nerves make people do strange things sometimes...

...I recently applied a dab of Philosophy's "Amazing Grace" after a shower and right before bed and my husband- who rarely notices any of my fragrances, woke up out of sound sleep yelling that he thought perhaps one of the "Box Elder Bugs"/"stinkbugs" we saw earlier in our yard had gotten inside the bed room and gotten angry (they release a horrid smelling defense substance when attacked- like skunks, only more like herbal grassy garbage). Then I said smell my arm and he said "Yes, that's what I smell. You'd better get out right now and shower again!"

...I settled on the Santa Maria Novella- Scotch Broom- Ginestra...it's a show stopper! I will put this with my big lady adult fragrances and wear it when listening to Arias... I am glad I didn't go with WWDIPIS- after testing that one- I was hungry but, it's not for me. L'Artisan's Mechant Loup- I put on before bed and I went to sleep smelling like a hazelnut and honey lamb...I woke up smelling like an insane manly werewolf! As for Ginestet Le Boise- I have to have that bottle... So it's next on my wish list, but I am happy to welcome SMN Ginestra into my meager collection- it's a solid green scent with excellent sillage and reminds me a bit of Chanel's "Cristalle"...that will do!

...I found (the Shiseido version, more so)"Feminite de Bois" to be Boozy fruit- or maybe stewed and jammy. Keiko Mecheri's "Ume" is just like Umeboshi Liqueur to me. Also Fresh "Sake", Frapin's "1270", Omnia Profumo's "Madera", and my personal favorite boozy fruit fragrance- Ginestet "Botrytis" (smells like Sauterne wine). I'm sure I'll think of some more once I've had some booze and figs.

...Flaconneur:I have sampled all Le Labo and I found I couldn't live without their "Anis" room spray. As far and their fragrances go, nothing I had to have.hhhmmmm- interesting- I should sample their room sprays. I never think about atmospheric enhancements because 2/4 of my pets & hubby have asthma/allergies and the vet actually wrote in my instructions "No fragranced dryer sheets, laundry detergent, Febreeze, fragrances" So I live in a sensory deprivation tank with them. They will have to pry my perfume samples from my cold dead hands...but I wonder if maybe a higher quality of room spray might be the answer to the allergy/irritant issue...I'll be living in a beautifully scented cardboard box soon, thanks to Le Labo- ohhh back to their website I go!

...Flavorite:What are some of your best unexpected scores/deal in men's colognes? I just walked into a random little fragrance shop and picked up 3 (3.3 ox) bottles of Helmut Lang for Men cologne (I find it very unisex) at 50 usd a piece! Retailing at 299 usd a piece online...I am delirious! How about you any super deals you want to share?!The punch line is...my husband doesn't like it at all! He'll stick with the fabulous Five O'clock au Gingembre by Serge Lutens, he's stolen from me. Its not for me either...I am so smitten with Le Labo Musc 25 & Bruno Acampora's Musc right now, I can't see past my own nose at this moment...Well, onto the shelf they go!

...Dlane1953:I think Flavorite's generous offer of samples is a wonderful idea. I enjoy writing reviews, but I'm retired and can't afford to add untold amount of perfumes/samples to my collection. If you decide to follow through with this kind offer, please let us know by posting in the forum. Many thanks!PS: you might find that the cost of shipping adds up over time. You might consider asking us to reimburse you for shipping if the costs mount. Just an idea.This is actually Luca Turin's fault...I paid 25 bucks for his book of perfume reviews and some of his are so frustratingly limited...I think many much better opinions come from Us, the average fragrance users. I'd rather spend 25 bucks getting samples I've got just sitting around out to Us than to him and his publishing company. Ok, got the first 3 sets packed addressed and ready to go out tomorrow- including one for you! I wrote a detailed list of what I ended up putting in each little package under the "Samples for Swap" topic. I may not be able to do this very often, but got these covered. I had so many samples that I tried didn't like and I'm done with...it's worth it to pass them on because other people's opinions matter- at least for fragrance reviews! Thought I'd light a match and soon, maybe there will be a whole forest fire of sharing!

...Apicius:Some time ago, I was working in Wolfsburg (Yes, Volkswagen!).There was a small old fashioned perfume shop that I loved to drop by. The owner kept a small but well-selected portfolio. I loved to discuss perfume with her and I believe, so did she.She had a few discontinued perfumes that I was lucky to find. I got the Arcus by Amouage for 50 € off. At another occasion she gave me her half-filled tester of Chanel's Pour Monsieur Concentrée along with my regular purchase.The most precious gift I received along with my regular purchase however was a miniature of Patou pour Homme.If I am visiting another city I always look for the small perfume shops. Our hard-to-finds are their shelf-warmers!Yes, it is so true...many hidden gems- it's like uncovering buried treasure!

...What are some of your best unexpected scores/deal in men's colognes? I just walked into a random little fragrance shop and picked up 3 (3.3 ox) bottles of Helmut Lang for Men cologne (I find it very unisex) at 50 usd a piece! Retailing at 299 usd a piece online...I am delirious! How about you any super deals you want to share?!

...SystemeD:Flavorite, that's a wonderful list.I love and own L'Eau de Kasaneka and Penhaligon's Elixir, but now I absolutely must try both of the Lubin fragrances you mentioned.And I had not heard of Vrai, although I have a couple of other Fragonard fragrances in my collection. That house is so affordable -- should I blind buy the Vrai?I am trying not to do anymore blind buying ever (it has only worked for me about twice out of the last 30 bottles---it really depends on how much you can handle in possible disappointment, because I've read (on another site) several people thought that Vrai was really unappealing...now that being said, perhaps they just don't like cardamom as much as we do, or perhaps they like their scents with a bit more sillage...that could be the case, while I like it enough to get a fb- it's a very light sillage scent, some might consider watery and weak. p.s. I just stopped in a duty free shop and tried Hermes Voyage finally! What a true spicy cardamom treat! With better sillage...it has moved to the top of my full-bottle list for this Fall! Personally, I'd go for that one blind, with no reservations before Vrai. Happy shopping!

...SuperSniffer:Big fan of Poivre 23. I wouldn't drop the money on it but I like it. I would love to sample the rest of the city exclusives but I don't want to go broke on samples.I know what you mean! Even the samples are a hefty sum! I have just sampled Limette 37. Poivre 23, Vanille 44 and Musc 25 and I feel they are all high quality and very longlasting on me (about 24-48 hours- through at least one shower!) So they do try to add value with longevity and quality, but still...none of them other than my favorite Musc 25 would even enter the realm of full bottle due entirely to the cost versus benefit and IMO, mediocre bottle design concept. Still I'd never turn down a chance to sample the city exclusives while they are around. It really serves Le Labo no benefit financially to price the samples out of universe-

...Apicius:Flavorite:Hopefully more people will just throw in a few words about any and all fragrances they've been exposed to so we will have as much opinion content and reviews as other sites as soon as possible. I have tons of samples that I've checked out and I'm done with if anyone will agree to write a short or long review on this site for them and they are state side- wants to try them email me- in the US- I'll just send them to you for free...anytime!This is a very good way to support Parfumo, Flavorite!When the German site was still very small in 2010 I did something similar. (The Souk and the trading came much later). I bought a little funnel and a box of empty spray samplers and gave away samples of my favorite perfumes. There was one condition: the user who received a few of my samples would have to agree to write a review after testing. It worked out in about 90%. Soon, other users did the same, and this was how we got some content and some discussions to start. I never gave away perfume samples that I do not own the regular bottle as I like to keep them for reference purposes.Nowadays, I stopped doing so since sample swaps have generally replaced the giveaways, and because Parfumo.de is going strong and reviews about nearly all of my perfumes are being posted without that kind of help.If you have a big perfume collection as I do it is very likely you will not finish any of your 3.4 oz bottles before they get rotten, so why not give away some samples to friends from Parfumo?I agree!... let's 'pay it forward'... we will all benefit in the end if we have the best reviews and most reviews of any other site out there. In fact, I'm going to post a separate topic listing sets of 3-4 free samples from various houses/groups- the samples are just sitting around and will go bad after a few years anyway since they've already been decanted by luckyscent, surrender to chance, etc. If you live in the US/Canada and you want to try them send me your address...it may take me up to 2 weeks for them to arrive but I'll spot the 2 bucks here any there as long as you write a review with 2 months. Even if you just say "I tried this and it didn't work for me because..." that is good information, as far as I'm concerned because I live someplace remote so a lot of fragrances I have to blind buy or gamble on or make my decisions from these types of reviews, so other peoples opinions are very important to me.

...Ok, some of these sound so wonderful! I must try them soon! Thanks for all the great input!

...Digindirt:Interesting Flavorite. I've noticed that I cannot give awards to certain members there. Very strange.Yep, Bingo! I noticed that too before I left...certain members had written lovely reviews but when I tried to give awards it popped up that 'this member is banned", etc/ or it just wouldn't process...well know I know why. Very High school. Glad I'm out of it.

...Seatonica:Pipette:I got an official warning in a private message from the owner of Fragrantica not to "solicit" any more. One of too many letters praising the lovely Parfumo site must have been either intercepted, or worse, that member which I recruited told on me :shock:OMG! Hmm, makes me wonder...This story made me recall that also one time mentioned a great website for general perfume definitions was for answering terminology questions--not evening a review site for the serious learners like "What is a Chypre, etc.". I found a really neat site-non profit not a forum, not competing at all with Z's site. But I put the link it as a helpful tip. and I got a negative response saying basically that this information was not welcome and now I am wondering if this along with a few other unintentional innocent "slips" trying to spread honest info for fragrance lovers lead to my problems over there. Whatever! I don't like all that pomp & circumstance and fake snobbery anyway they can keep there espionage and backstabbing, we've got a good clean site here and I don't miss the bad attitudes over there one bit. If we are missing anything- it's content and that just takes time- it is why I spend what free time I have trying to test and comment of fragrances. I'd like to suggest a new topic too, of new innovative features that are not the same as on the other sites, but even better- I know we have some IT people who are also Fragrance lovers...let the creativity flow! Hopefully more people will just throw in a few words about any and all fragrances they've been exposed to so we will have as much opinion content and reviews as other sites as soon as possible. I have tons of samples that I've checked out and I'm done with if anyone will agree to write a short or long review on this site for them and they are state side- wants to try them email me- in the US- I'll just send them to you for free...anytime!

...Paprincess:Can anyone give me their thoughts on CB I Hate Perfume At the Beach 1966. Thanks!I've tested this one side by side with Bobbi Brown Beach and I found At the Beach was more true Coppertone Body Lotion smell, it is amazingly true to that scent memory. At the Beach is less floral and more hot baked skin than Bobbi Brown Beach. But they are very close to each other, IMO. I own a bottle of Bobbi Brown Beach and I will never be able to finish it- it is nice sometimes, but some days is very oily and can be too salty, sometimes almost like low tide. At the Beach was much more like sun baked skin, Sandy and that specific chemical that was used in Coppertone Suntan lotion in the mid 60s-80s. Both of these scents are definitely for the beach vibe and not just marine sea salt scents. If I had to chose again- I would have gone with At the Beach as more wearable. That's my take.

...Silverfire:PBullFriend:Whee! Fall is my favorite season & I always get a big mood boost when I see it's coming! Almost time for the smoky perfumes!!!!I agree completely. Fall is MY FAVORITE season, and when it comes, I feel more alive, more real, more of everything I want to be...For smoky woods scents, you can't beat "Norne" or "Jeke" -- both by Slumberhouse.Totally Agree!I love the cool chill in the air and some how, I can smell my fragrances more clearly at this time of year (probably the die back of the common airborne allergens). I love the smoke and the fire and the brilliant colors of foliage. But also the energy and the feeling of people...some people associate Spring with fresh starts and optimism...but I associate Autumn with New style fresh trends... that extends to my fragrance testing, I'm super excited right now to find out the next big trends in our fragrance world!