September was warm and pleasant but autumn is already in the air: I start looking at the direction of favorite amber perfumes.
I was swapping a lot of samples with Perfumeland friends so between that and several new releases from favorite brands my testing went up significantly. I included some of the personal stats in the post but this month I decided again to entertain you with some calculations I ran based on Birgit’s (Olfactoria’s Travels) recent Bottle of the Month article (and a generous giveaway). She asked participants to name a favorite flower and a perfume based on it. Picture below is a graphical representation of the choices.
For those who prefers numbers (flower – number of votes): Rose – 20; Tuberose – 11; Jasmine – 10; Iris – 10 (it was my choice and it correlates to my personal stats numbers for notes below); Lily – 7; Gardenia – 7; Orange blossom – 4; Lilac – 3; Osmanthus – 3; Lily-of-the-valley – 3; Violet – 2; Narcissus – 2; Hyacinth – 2; Tulip – 2; Carnation – 2; other flowers – 11.
Quick September stats:
Numbers in parenthesis are comparison to the previous month’s numbers.
* Different perfumes worn1: 25 (+3) from 18 (+5) brands on 29 (+4) occasions;
* Different perfumes tested2: 52 (+28) from 25 (+10) brands on 60 (+33) occasions;
* Perfumes I tried for the first time: 22 (+13);
* Perfume house I wore most often: Guerlain;
* Perfume house I tested the most: Dior and Guerlain;
* Most popular notes (only from perfumes I chose to wear): top – (not counting bergamot) neroli, galbanum and orange; middle – (not counting rose and jasmine) iris root and ylang ylang (stays
the same for the last several months); base – musk, vetiver and sandalwood;
Are you surprised by the choices others made for a favorite flower?
1 For the testing I apply a perfume to one area on my arms easily available for the repetitive sniffing. But, most likely, I’m the only one who can smell it. I can test two, sometimes even more perfumes at the same time.
2 When I wear a perfume I apply it to at least three-four points and usually I plan to spend at least 4-8 hours with the same scent so I’m prepared to re-apply if the original application wears off.
Image: my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
I was not surprised at all with the favorite flower choices. You are so disciplined about keeping track of what you’ve tested and your thoughts about them. And you test A LOT. Me? Since the only way I apply perfume is to spray around the top of my head, I barely get to test one a day and during weekends and holidays only. Basically, it would take me half a year to test what you did in September alone!
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I dedicate a work week and any going-outs for wearing my favorite perfumes. But week nights as well as work from home days I leave for testing. For me to wear a perfume I should either love it from the first sniff or to go through several testing and decide that I like it. Usually it’s one out of ten, maybe even less. And since I do not usually write reviews I do not need to spend too much time with those perfumes that I didn’t like on the first or second try.
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Actually I was surprised tuberose was so high. And lilac isn’t higher? But I guess it’s not that common. I feel bad for the carnation!
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I was also surprised by tuberose. Probably because it doesn’t work for me. And also nobody named mimosa. Probably because most people don’t consider it to be a flower (though it’s not less of a flower than orange blossom, right?)
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These statistics are fascinating! It’s good to see Osmanthus get some love too :-)
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I was also pleased seeing my favorite flowers getting some love.
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I like the inventive way you assembled the graph, in terms of corresponding sizes, right? Some of these were a surprise, like lily of the valley and tulip. And I agree that you are a very efficient tester! (P.S. My labelmaker arrived. Thanks for the recommendation in one of your know-how posts. I feel much more organized now.)
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About a labelmaker: I just recentlu found out that (at least for my) there are different colored labels: black on white, white on black, black on clear and black on gold – so you can choose whatever feels more like you.
And yes, you’re absolutely correct: those sizes are relative to the number of answers for each flower.
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Can one lemming a labelmaker? I actually ended up getting another brand but would not have thought of getting one were it not for reading your how to decant post. I also bought the parafilm and it worked out quite well with my most recent (and actually my first) swap meet at NST.
I have to look for the clear labels…I just have the white paper with black ink.
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I’m more than happy to take the blame for your labelmaker lemming :)
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Very entertaining — and happy statistics, Undina. Rose and tuberose are my favorites … so glad they beat out jasmine, hee! :D And as basconbiscuit says, I’m glad too that osmanthus got some love. It’s such an exquisite floral, I think it deserves more love, actually. :)
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Thank you, Suzanne. Actually it was quite entertaining to work on this statistics post – thanks to Birgit for supplying good data :)
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What a lovely presentation! You make statistics look really good! :)
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Thank you, B! And thank you for coming up with questions worth reporting on.
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jasmine, neroli and bergamot are notes that are *almost* present in most of my perfumes. Glad to see you like them too
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Yeah, those notes are omnipresent in most perfumes – that’s why I just mention them and for monthly stats go for the next highest contenders since those usually change from month to month.
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I’m surprised jasmine wasn’t higher up in the list. And I’m surprised rose got almost twice as many votes as the next flower. That said, I would vote for rose myself :) It would be very interesting to ask the same question in half a year, just to see how the change of seasons affect the choice of favourite flower, don’t you think?
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If I had to choose rose-centric or jasmin-centric perfume I’d choose the rose one. Those in most combinations those go hand-in-hand together.
If the question had been “your favorite floral note in a perfume” the responses could have been different dependent on a season. But the way it was phrased, I don’t think most people change their favotire flower based on the time of the year. It’s an uber category.
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Yes, I took the question to be “What’s your favorite flower, in the real world” — not your favorite floral note in perfume. The answers are definitely different for me!
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The top honors going to rose surprises me too, I’d have thought tuberose would be the most popular, and I wish there were more carnation and narcissus scents. You can apparently get carnation eo, Eden Botanicals sells it, but perfume houses don’t seem to go for it. Eugenol all the way, and now that’s off the menu.
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It’s funny how people who like tuberose think it didn’t get enough love and those who don’t like it are surprised it got as high as it did.
I’m testing some carnation perfumes and will report back once I’m done.
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I can’t say I’m surprised by the rose ranking as number one but I am surprised by the disparity between it and the second runner-up. I’m a lover of tuberose through and through.
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Rose was a definitive leader in that race. I think it can be explained by the fact that rose in perfumery is explored for centuries. Rose-centric perfumes are very different: from the innocent pale pink girly rose to a dark and seductive red rose that works for both men and women.
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I still say my favorite flower is The Venus Fly Trap. It must be under “Other Flowers 11” (I think I saw that movie when I was a kid …the one with Frank Sinatra in it) Anyway my dear you amaze me and inspire me to be more diligent and take notes of what I am wearing. I love your posts!
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Thank you, Lanier.
I don’t remember The Venus Fly Trap to have any scent. But maybe I saw a wrong one?
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I don’t get the love for tuberose. Rose yes, tuberose just doesn’t do it for me!
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Hear, hear! :)
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