The Big Question: Sadly Not in Smell-O-Vision
Francesca and Plumcake want to know:
What is your signature scent? Do you change it with the seasons? Have you ever had a perfume “turn” on you?
101 Responses to “The Big Question: Sadly Not in Smell-O-Vision”
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December 6, 2007
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June 3, 2009
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I am partial to dessert scents. My usual fragrance of choice is Amour de Cacao by Comptoir Sud Pacifique. I occasionally dabble in other scents, but I always come back to that one.
My signature scent is Happy by Clinique, and my equal favourite is L’Occitane Green Tea & Mint (which is great for summer).
Calyx by Prescriptives. I’ve been wearing it nearly every day for fifteen(?) years. I don’t like many perfumes, but Calyx is different, somehow. Earlier this year I searched for months for something new and pretty to wear at my wedding, so I’d remember my wedding day whenever I smelled the fragrance, but I couldn’t find anything that both my husband and I liked–almost got Fracas, but my husband didn’t like it much. MEN!
I generally keep this secret close to my heart, esp. since the scent is such a difficult combination to decipher in person, and I love the air (pun intended) of mystery. But it’s too potent to keep all to myself.
My favorite is Jasmine Vanilla by Bath and Body Works. It’s not too musky, not too flowery, and at 27, is very age appropriate. Plus, it drives men WILD. I actually had a male aquaintence think I snuck up on him in the mall – he was just passing B&BW store. When he figured it out, he sniffed all the testers until he found the scent I wore. Next time I saw him, he proudly relayed the story about how he “found me out.” So… that example was a little creepy, but mostly the response is very flattering.
Perfume gives me the heebie-jeebies. I don’t much care for it on others, and I won’t wear it myself. Cologne on a man is a huge turn-off. Not sure why this is. I’d like to like perfume, but I don’t.
Philosophy’s Amazing Grace. It’s generic and wildly popular but I really love it. I get lots of compliments on it, too. I switch to YSL Paris when I want something spicier and more grown up.
I love vanilla based perfumes. I don’t wear a perfume daily, but I love the Body Shop’s vanilla or vanilla spice body wash. When I want to kick it up a little, I use a vanilla perfume by Comptoir Sud Pacifique.
I don’t recall ever being turned on by a woman’s perfume – but one whiff of the cologne my husband was wearing on our first date & I swoon :-)
I can’t wear perfume – something about the alcohol base doesn’t seem to work well on my skin – it just doesn’t smell right. I wear perfume oils or essential oils. My favorite is sandalwood – but true sandalwood is REALLY expensive and not all that easy to come by – and just a tiny bit will work for the day. When I was younger I added a little dab of rose essential oil too, but that is too flowery for me now. I really like the scents that Lush uses on their products especially the Karma – but some people react badly to patchouli!
Happy Heart by Clinique. I wear it year-round, except when I switch to Chanel no. 5 in the winter. Old-school, I guess…
Judy, I used to wear Chanel No. 5 and also Coco. I can’t wear them any more because I developed some sort of reaction to them — they burn my skin. I have the same problem with other strong scents like Obsession and Opium. I miss them. :(
Argh. I could narrow it down to my three favorites, but I don’t wanna. There are about 40 bottles on my dresser. Yeah, I change with the seasons (although I wear my favorites year-round). I change with the day, I change with the outfit. Heck, I’ve been known to match my perfume to my shoes…
I bought a purse-sized roll-on of the Stella McCartney scent early this summer and loved it. For special occasions in winter I tend towards F by Ferragamo. It’s a little too strong for me to be comfortable with on a daily basis, but the warm spice of it is great for holiday parties or a night out.
My favorite thing, though (and I love it for many reasons, not just the smell – it also happens to be the best moisturizing lotion I’ve ever used), is Johnson & Johnson Shea and Cocoa Butter Baby Lotion (http://www.amazon.com/Johnsons-Baby-Lotion-Cocoa-Butter/dp/B000H3F226). It works really well, isn’t greasy, and it’s got a lovely, light, warm smell that I love.
I love the scent of orange blossoms, so when I wear perfume I usually wear that. Occasionally I will wear a carnation-scented perfume oil, which has a very spicy aroma.
4711 – my mum’s scent.
I’m very fond of Jo Malone scents — currently wearing White Jasmine and Mint — though I also love Blue Agava and Cacao. Like Style Spy, I have a big wardrobe of scents, which I switch according to mood. I also like to layer scents, so that I smell only like me. (Learned that trick living in France.)
I almost always wear Lemon Verbena. I’ve tried other scents and go through phases but my bf (and the one before that) always start sniffing at me when I’m wearing it, unlike the other scents I’ve tried. I’ve tried many different brands and am currently liking L’Occitane’s version but they’re all pretty great.
Shalimar or Angel for winter. I’ve never found one I like for hot weather.
Another vote for L’Occitane. I use their Ammande in the winter. The body lotion is to die for. I bring it with me for my pedicures and now all the nail techs use it. In the summer I switch to Jessica McClintock. It’s a nice light fruity floral. I have been toying with trying Lemon Verbena for summer and after reading Lucy’s comment, that clinches it.
I hadn’t even though seasonally. My favorite summer scent is suntan lotion. Tacky, you say? Heaven, I say. :-)
i don’t have a consistnetly good sense of smell so don’t wear things myself generally, as i worry about having too much on. I second the love for Occitane scents. So fresh and not cloying. Also love Demeter’s gin and tonic. Dolce and Gabanna’s pour homme is so warm and spicy and nice that it made me have an almost crush on a coworker.
I loooove perfume and have lots of different scents for different moods, weather, occasions. Chanel Coco is the closest thing I have to a signature scent. I was wearing it the night I met my husband, and 25 yrs. later it’s still his favorite, but he likes others now as well. I tend to like rich incense, woods and orientals in colder weather (Parfums d’Empire Ambre Russe, Donna Karan Black Cashmere, Comme des Garcon, for example) and lighter scents in summer (Bulgari Au The Blanc; Hermes Jardin Sur Le Nil; Parfums de Nicolai Vie de Chateau & Fig Tea.) Scent makes me happy the way that music, chocolate, good books and old movies do.
My favorite is Caron’s Tabac Blond. As Luca Turin said, “Tabac Blond is a woman smoking cigars and driving-not being driven-way too fast.” (Which is me, )
I have a soft spot in my heart for Vanilla Fields by Coty. When I was in school a GF of mine told me that men go crazy for vanilla scents. I laughingly told my mom about her theory; and for a joke, my mom bought me a bottle. I got so many compliments the first day, I wore it every day for about 6 years. I swear I got an average of a compliment a week over that 6 years from both men and women. It must be a great match for my chemistry, but I’m a bit too “mature” for it now.
I actually don’t have a great sense of smell either, thus my love of lemon verbena. Even when I put on too much, it is never so strong that it is offensive to others. Also, it doesn’t clash with food, something that is important to me as I love to cook and entertain.
I love the smell of suntan lotion, too! And the smell of chlorine — it brings back happy childhood memories of summers spent at the beach and the pool.
I don’t care for perfume on myself (to the point I get scent-free detergent and deodorant) and I don’t care for it on others (it seems that those who wear the most perfume have the worst taste in it), but the smells of garlic frying in olive oil or bread baking are enough to make me swoon. I also like the smell of mothballs — it’s what my grandma’s house smelled like.
I LOVE perfumes! My favorite scent right now is Burberry Brit. But for old times sake on the weekends, I like to wear Love’s Baby Soft around the house! My guilty pleasure to make me feel young again!
I love Pleasures Exotic layered with some cheap vanilla body spray in summer. Also Beyond Paradise. I used to wear Beautiful, but then I just didn’t like it so much anymore. I can’t seem to find a winter scent. A lot of perfumes give me horrible headaches, so it’s hard to find something I like that also doesn’t hurt me.
Un Jardin sur le Nil by Hermes, innocent and sexy and the best scent in the world
My husband is sensitive to a lot of scents, so I have to be careful what I wear. I’ve found a few scents that smell good on me and don’t set him sneezing and wheezing and cross-eyed with headaches, and I rotate them seasonally.
In the spring, I use a lot of Stile Jade Blossom, phasing that into Ralph Lauren Rocks for summer, which phases into DKNY Be Delicious, and then into Ralph Lauren Hot for winter.
Sometimes I mix it up — I don’t like wearing the same scent day after day — so, for example, today I am wearing the Rocks even though it’s snowing. And the Stila is what’s in my gym bag, so on exercise class days, that’s what I wear year-round.
Chanel No. 5 — I’ve worn it ever since I was eighteen years old. I still adore it and do hope it never turns on m!
Count me among those who can’t wear most perfumes. Anything with a hint of floral interacts with my skin in a way that makes me smell like I ran across some rancid dog do, rolled around in it, then spritzed cat urine for a finishing touch. I love essential oils and lotions… anything without an alcohol base or strong floral notes generally works. Cucumber/melon scents are a definite fave.
Ah perfume, one topic I could type about all day. I have a large scent wardrobe and like Style Spy, often match my perfume to my outfit. I used to go for a variety of designer scents but once I found Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab ( http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/welcome.html ) and started trying their hand blended scents I’ve hardly picked up those other bottles. I love the uniqueness and the gentle throw that these scents have and they’re all natural and have no alcohol so I find I get less negative reactions to them.
I tend to like dark florals like Shadow Witch Orchid or Queen Mab (“A very complex scent, both shadowy and fierce: black orchid, sandalwood, night-blooming jasmine, osmanthus, Somalian rose, and Chinese musk”) and spicy foody scents like Chimera (“The fiery, volatile scent of cinnamon, thickened by myrrh, honeysuckle, and copal”). My favorite compliment ever came last December when I was wearing Chimera and a guy giving me a hug said I smelled like “Sex and Christmas…in a good way, a very good way” and then he hugged and sniffed again.
I like my perfume to be very subtle, just a hint of scent in the air around me, noticed mostly when you get very close, for a hug or a kiss or a snuggle. I also wear a scent locket quite a bit which has holes for a scent to escape out of. As your body warms the metal it diffuses the scent into the air. It’s a great way to use a scent that doesn’t work with your skin chemisty and perfect for lifting to your nose for a burst of lovely fragrance every now and then.
My new favorite is Peace Train by GapBody, since I adore lavender. Before that, I wore Caswell-Massey’s lavender scent occasionally, but it tended to be too strong for everyday wear.
For nights out or special occasions, it’s always Chanel No. 5, since I was 20 years old. :D
I’m a Chanel No. 5 gal myself, interspersed with Estee Lauder’s “Beautiful”. I used to wear “Passion” (the Elizabeth Taylor scent) in the mid 80′s but it smells “dated” to me now.
I wear Armani’s Acqua di Gio for Women year-round — yes, they make a women’s version. It’s very light, classified as a “water” or “ocean” fragrance. I just think its nice and has a fresh scent, very girly.
As for a perfume that turned on me… Amariage. I used to wear that all the time, loved it, was my signature scent. Then, one day out of the blue, it happened. I suddenly smelled like a grandma, and that was the end of that.
I love trying all different kinds. I’m currently on a “body splash from Bath & Body” kick, mostly due to being in school most of the day & not wanting to overpower my classmates & friends. Obsessions of late: the Brown Sugar & Fig, and the Velvet Amber.
Otherwise, I try to keep a rotation: Be Delicious when I’m feeling more sporty/”All American Girl”, Burberry “Brit” for that in-between-casual-and-office mood, and “Lovely” by SJP when I’m feeling more ‘serious’. I ALWAYS come back to Poison by Dior, but I haven’t yet dropped the money on that. It just smells exquisetly sultry to me, and I love it – I just don’t have many occasions to wear it.
And I HAVE had a fragrance turn! I was shocked – I didn’t realize that was possible. In college, I SWORE by Romance by Ralph Lauren. It was innocent and sweet and delicious and just a tad bit sexy – everything I was looking for. About a year after I’d graduated, it just smelled…sour? I still can’t quite place the ‘scent’ it developed. Maybe it was the Fragrance Goddesses’ way of telling me to move past the college phase of my life…
I wore #5 all through high school, but now I wear Chergui or Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens.
For a year or two, I wore Cher’s Uninhibited and would literally have men turning around to chase after me. Sadly, she stopped making it… although, I have been able to do a lot more with my life now that I don’t have as many men sniffing my neck all the live-long day ;)
One Christmas when I was 13 or 14, I got nearly 10 bottles of Love’s Baby Soft, which after 10 minutes on me smells like Play-dough.
Dior’s Addict is my fave traditional perfume, but lately I’ve been wearing a mix of Lush’s Karma and Demeter’s Vanilla Cake Batter for a little more subtle, daytime scent.
I’m one of the no perfume contingant. I go fragrance-free in detergents, deoderants, etc. I’m just too darn sensitive to too many different perfumes. I’ve been known to feel ill when someone else in the next room is wearing perfume.
Then last Christmas, my next-door neighbor gave me a set of scented bath items. They were just generic bath products produced in who-knows-whereville by nobody in particular…but if I could get another set, I’d pay a king’s ransom to get it. Everything smelled like coffee (one of my favorite smells in the world), and IT DIDN’T MAKE ME SICK!!! I’m carefully rationing out the remaining bits and fully expect to cry when I’ve used the last bit of lotion and drained the last bubble out of my bath.
Oh, and Class-Factotum? I’m completely with you about garlic in olive oil and fresh bread. Food smells are the ones that turn me on.
Oh I loooove Fresh Index’s menu of fragrances. My can’t miss? Patchouli Pure. mmmmmm…..
Love clinique happy heart for the grown up days and Anna Sui’s flight of fantasy for when i’m feeling girly.
I also sneak into my partner Happy for men, Obsession and bulgari.
From my mother i have a hoard of white linen – which can be a bit overpowering but has amazing staying power, beautiful, bulgari green tea, kenzo and j’adore. These are great for the days when a more mature vibe is needed.
i have a bottle of ylang ylang essential oil that i use very carefully since i can’t find any place that stocks it.
This year I’ve been wearing Rosewood by Banana Republic for fall and winter. I have gotten so many compliments on it, especially when I am wearing my RHPS costume where there is more exposed flesh (Yes, big girls can rock it way harder in lingerie than tiny girls!!) So far it’s been pretty good, but I have had a couple of favorites turn on me.
Lucky Girl, smelled great when I was 15, but 3 yrs later I find it smells sour and alcohol-y.
Warm Amber, by Bath and Body Works. Last year when I started wearing it, it smelled sweet, musky, sexy. Now it smells like black licorice and mold now. Makes me sad, seeing as how I bought that giant bottle…
I pretty much stick to what works for me (Ginvenchy Organza) Experimenting tends to result in mass evacuations of the building because of the fear that the stench wafting around the room is a biohazard or urban warfare….
This summer in Buenos Aires I picked up a bottle of Il Aroma di L’Erbario bebe cologne. It’s so common as to be sold in supermarkets in BA, but here in Los Angeles it’s a rarity. It’s a spicy mix with lemon and lavender. I wear it on the workdays.
On the weekends I wear Vanilla de Madagascar by an indie label that is sadly out of business at the moment, Scent by Spirit. The boyfriend loves it! :) Will need to find a new vanilla soon, I fear….
That being said, my signature scent since college for important events, interviews, etc. is Red Door by Elizabeth Arden. It’s confidence in a bottle, and people line up single-file to compliment the scent whenever I wear it.
I don’t wear perfumes often, but my favorite specialty soaps (I have skin issues) are licorice, citrus, basil, cedar, and almond scented. Not at the same time, though. I kind of want to start wearing scent, but I don’t know if I’ll find any that fit my particular tastes.
any suggestions for a good site on perfumes? i’m looking for one that has good descriptions of the what notes are in the fragrance as well as suggestions on what other fragrances a person might like based on thing they already wear. i very much regret not being able to wear cabochard de gres. it smelled so good a mossy adn woodsy at first but would leave me with a sweet smell that would give me a headache – kinda like the way patchouli is for people who don’t like it.
Like so many, I loved Chanel No. 5 and wore it from the age of 15 until just after I had my third child. Something changed and YUCK it smells awful on me!! After nearly fifteen Wilderness years, where I wandered from fragrance to fragrance, I have now found L’eau de Issey and it is DIVINE. I am in love again.
I also bounce around from fragrance to fragrance. My current fave is Faded Jasmine from Gap. Jasmine is the only floral scent I like to wear — all others are just too cloying (and of course, what does my mother always buy me? Floral scents!) I also love Angel — am hoping that the husband might get me some for xmas. Food scents, green scents and warm, ambery scents are the way to go for me.
I can’t say that I’ve had a perfume turn on me, but that’s probably because I’ve never stuck with any perfume long enough for that to happen. There are a couple of scents that I loathe, though — Estee Lauder Youth Dew being one of them, not because of the scent itself, but due to knowing people who would put on SO much of it that I would actually be able to TASTE their perfume going down my throat.
Aromatics Elixir by Clinique for the last 25+ years. It smells great on me, lasts forever and not everyone else is wearing it. At home I have several scented candles that work for different moods – lavender votives for those days when calm is needed, hyacinth and grapefruit tealights for parties. Olive oil and garlic when I need to cook up something special for Mr. Carol…
My current favorite is Allure Sensuelle by Chanel, but I only wear it when going out. My previous going out favorite is Omnia by Bvlgari, and I still wear it occasionally. Every day perfumes are Bvlgari Au the Blanc and Bvlgari original. In middle school/highschool, I wore Charlie RELIGIOUSLY. Thankfully, I am no longer stuck wearing drugstore perfume. :)
For years I wore Clinique Happy, and then switched to Chanel No. 5. But lately I felt as though I needed something a bit lighter, or different, so I have been wearing Neroli Jasmin from The Body Shop and I love it. It’s light and airy but also festive and a bit indulgent. I love it!