Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.
Saturday Question #10:
What Are Your Favorite Perfume Names?
Earlier this week Narth posted a review of perfume she liked despite its questionable name. Seeing a lack of enthusiasm for that perfume, I thought that we should go into the opposite direction and share those perfume names that inspire us.
What are perfume names that you think are beautiful, interesting, funny or clever? To make it slightly harder, let’s consider only perfumes from the current century (created in 2000 – 2020). You do not have to necessarily like perfume itself since the question is specifically about names. Which names do you like (for any reason)?
My Answer
When I started thinking about it, I realized that once you discount Shalimar, Chamade and Vol de Nuit, it gets harder to come up with something that fits the criteria.
But after thinking for a while, I thought of three names that I like (and I happen to like perfumes as well). The first that came to mind was Felanilla by Pierre Guillaume Paris. I know, I’m biased, but I just loved this word forged with a cat in mind. When I think of it, I feel a purr raising up my throat.
The second candidate is Splenderis by Parfums Dusita – one more clever word play with my favorite perfume note. There are several more great “iris-based” names, but I’ll leave them to others.
And the last one I want to mention, is a simple word combination, not frivolous or playful but rather regal: Bronze Goddess by Estee Lauder.
What Are Your Favorite Perfume Names?
Undina's Looking Glass 
LOVE this Saturday question Undina,
Madonna’s Truth or Dare is a fave, YSL Jazz always sounded very cool to say and Beyond Paradise by Estee Lauder is another.
There are so many but I like the idea of keeping it to three like you did.
Bronze Goddess is a fabulous name, agree 100%.
Portia xx
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I agree that Truth or Dare was a great name. Not sure that I knew about that YSL perfume, but yeah, good name. And I completely forgot about this EL perfume but I remember liking it (and it’s bottle) in my pre-perfumista days. It’s not in production any longer, is it?
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Undina, Jazz is a mens fragrance from YSL. It was my scent for a couple of years and it smelled fabulous. Recently I was given a vintage bottle and have been wearing it again, that’s why it popped so easily into my mind.
Yes, Beyond Paradise is still in production but it’s gone into the nondescript bottle now so all that lovely glamour is dead, just the cool watery jasmine scent remains.
Portia xx
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One of the things I liked about EL was that they had different bottles for each perfume. Standard bottles for the line is a more modern and definitely more economical approach, but it’s also more boring, in my opinion.
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100%
Those bottles were so beautiful. I feel the same about Guerlain changing from their incredibly expressive bottle range to the style of bottle I mentally associate with those finicky, wrought budget bottles from the drug store in the 1970s thing to look posh. Also sad that Annick Goutal changed their bottles, even though I do like the modern ones. LOVED how colourful some of them were.
Portia xx
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Don’t even start me on AG! I got several perfumes just for the colored bottles! (Well, almost just for bottles :) )
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HA! Ninfeo Mio? That blue!
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Nuit Etoilee (sp?) – dark blue :) I also have a white one (for the bottle), an empty light green for Petite Cherie EdT (the EdP that I currently wear is transparent) and black Ambre Fetiche. The last two I actually love perfumes.
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OMG! They used to do BLACK Ambre Fetiche. Wow. That would be stellar. I think mine is clear.
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Sorry, I didn’t read the cut off dates in my impatience to get answers up.
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Portrait of a Lady – Frederic Malle
Tears of Iris – Gucci
La Vie Est Belle – Lacome
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I thought of naming PoaL as my choice but then decided to leave it to others :)
I think that Tears of Iris is such a great name that I plan to try this perfume when we’re back to normal, even though I wouldn’t have otherwise. Have you smelled it already?
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Psst…I was thwarted when I tried to purchase this in December but my black belt in shopping was put to good use recently at 25% off (partially offset by sales tax). This will be up for split. The bottle is unopened as yet but I may wear it for Iris Week!
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Sounds interesting! :)
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Tears of Iris is a beautiful name :)
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I thought of 3 perfumes and then found they are all by Olivia Giacobetti. Two were launched in 1999 so are just out of your cut-off. They were Passage d’Ebfer and Dzing! So I’m going for En Passant released in 2000.
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Dzing! is such a funny name, the perfume is great too
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I love that it perfectly captures the circus theme. Sadly discontinued.
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Discontinued? Really?
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French names are harder for me: even when I know the translation, they don’t feel the same as when I read them in English. But I agree on your name choices. Especially En Passante.
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My all time favourite name is In Pursuit of Magic from Diane Pernet. The name sums up my love of perfume and the quest for the perfect one that will make me happy – and beautiful and rich …LOL. It is such a pity that I don’t care for it. On me it smells so much like a weed farm on fire I’d never make it past a security dog. Tested in Liberty’s one afternoon it made heads snap round in alarm all over the shop floor. But the name still makes me sigh…. If I ever have a perfume made for me I might steal the name
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I am with you on both counts – a perfect name and not having any desire to wear perfume you described.
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I love lots of the Guerlain names but they don’t fit the dates.
Another vote for Bronze Goddess.
I like Iris based perfumes, so, Irissime Jacques fath.
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I love that name too! As well as the fragrance. Was lucky enough to snag a bottle when I was in the UK last May.
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I don’t think I’ve ever smelled Irissime. Now I’m curious to try it – for name itself if nothing else.
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You made this harder with the time limit! I love the series of names Diorissimo, Diorella, Dioressence, Diorama, Diorling, etc. but those are pre-2000. Later names I like: Un Jardin Apres La Mousson; Snowflakes of Venice; Smudge Nebula; Choeur des Anges; Dryad; An Excess of Carelessness; Doe in the Snow; so many others by the clever Sarah McCartney. Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has many lovely names for her scents, too.
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Sarah McCartney comes up with the best names!
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When I started thinking about the names, I realized that I didn’t care for long(er) names made like phrases, and because Ms McCartney likes those, I wasn’t considering that brand’s names. But you’re right, some of them are great.
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Impossible Iris(!), Tralala, Safran Troublant, and L’Ombre Fauve spring to mind. I also have a soft spot for Apres L’Ondee and Attrape-Coeur. Others will doubtless come to me by and by…
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Impossible Iris was one of the “iris names” on my mind. I think it’s a fantastic name. Tralala makes me smile every time I see that name. I should probably write a post about my associations for it… after checking that I haven’t done it yet :) (sometimes it’s hard to remember whether I’ve already done something when I have it in the queue for too long).
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That is such a fun, yet difficult question, because how do you separate the two? I don’t like the whole Hermes Jardin series, but agree there are good names, but how can I choose them, when the story and perfume doesn’t seem to match? I suppose the reason I love many of the old names is because of how they match the sentiment of the perfume. Another JC Ellena name I like is l’eau d’hiver, but again I don’t really get anything winter about it.
I do like the En Passant name, but again I’m biased because I also like the perfume.
Ok, three perfumes that I instantly thought of, where name matches perfume and I like both a lot are April Aromatics: Irisistible and Unter den Linden and By For Strange Women; winter Kitty ( love that name) she has other really good names, like violin in the attic, I think is one…
One more comes to mind. Since I neither like nor dislike the perfume, I assume this is what really fits the bill as I am unbiased: Naomi Goosir Nuit de Bakelite. That’s a great name…
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In general, I agree with you on the connection between the name and our feelings towards particular perfume, but in your post there’s an example of how it might be not related: even though Irisistible is one of the most unpleasant perfumes on my skin, I loved the name and mostly because of it kept trying this perfume despite the previous results with it. Finally, I gave up a couple of weeks ago and decided to pass the sample onto somebody else hoping they’ll have a better luck with it.
It seems I cannot access your blog either by the designated url or the WP one. Have you decided to hang it up?
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I did actually, I kept having to pay for the special site through a host, and I decided I wasn’t coming back to perfume blogging in the same way again. I wanted to get it over to the original WordPress, but didn’t get around to doing it, and don’t know if it’s possible any longer… Niche has become too mainstream for my taste, and new bloggers/ vloggers etc seem to have an agenda I can’t associate with. I loved writingand reading about perfume as everything was still difficult to get, so one could get an idea about something before ordering samples, or one could have discussions, I suppose that’s why I love these questions :)
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It looks like your original site is just in private mode. Have you tried opening it?
If you want, you can add me as a temporary admin to your WP site, and I’ll try to help to figure out what needs to be done.
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I like names that try to embody a whole character that can be found in real life, such as the personas from St Giles—The Writer, The Tycoon, The Stylist… Frederic Malle’s French Lover also fits that bill.
Not so keen on the Penhaligon’s Portraits names as they are individual, made-up characters.
Interesting question. Makes one think!
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How do you feel about EldO’s “characters”? Fat Electrician, for example? :)
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I suppose those are somewhere in between!
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Great theme for a Saturday Question!
I don’t really like when fragrance is named just with numbers – unless it’s a date/year, like in case of 1725 from HdP that I really like.
My favourite perfume names include Cierge Lune (Moon Candle), Mon Seul Desir (My Only Desire), Nuda Veritas (Naked Truth), La Chasse aux Papillons (The Butterfly hunt), Winter Palace, Niral (it sounds a bit like Neela, brand founder and “ir” immediately hints iris to me), Daimiris (because suede + iris), Lumiere Blanche.
There are so many clever perfume names out there
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I do not like numbers, unless it’s Chanel ;)
French names are hard(er) for me since not only I don’t know it enough to understand most of the names without looking them up, but even when I know what they mean, oftentimes I do not “feel” them (and I definitely cannot pronounce most of them :) ).
Daimiris sounds great!
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Idylwild (ineke); Lonesome Rider (tauer); Alahine (teo cabanel).
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I like all three of the names (and perfumes as well :) ).
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Salome or L Air de Rien are good names, I think
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I had to translate the name (to say that my French is limited would be a compliment), and I agree that it’s a good name.
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Hm, I’ve not checked any dates, but off the top of my head I’d say Voleur de Roses, Neroli Outrenoir and the Peradam.
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After translating and running searches, I should say that both Voleur de Roses and Peradam are great names! I wonder if perfumes fit them well…
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French names sound nice when someone other than I am saying them (I am awful at French pronunciation) so I think I gravitate towards easier to say ones like any of the Amouage names, “Interlude” is probably my favorite name. I also like “What we do in Paris is Secret” and “This is not a blue bottle” by Histoires because they are fun.
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Yeah, my French pronunciation is even worse than English, so I gravitate towards those names that are closer to English. Otherwise – good luck to anyone who wants to discuss those l’/d’/etc.-something with me ;)
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I like names like Panda (it is easy to think about bamboo when wearing it), Le jardin du poète, Citizen Queen and many others. Sometimes the name hints at something sensual, and I find nothing but laundry type musk! Also, what can be associated with winter seems to depend on cultural references.
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Yeah… I suspect climates also play a role in imagining anything weather-related.
I know that many people like Zoologists, but for me perfumes named after animals are rather a turn off (felines excluded ) ).
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I don’t associate perfume names with the contents. Some that I like include:
Guerlain Cuir Beluga
4160Tuesdays Eau My Soul
Guerlain Mon Precieux Nectar
April Aromatics Calling All Angels
Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist
Slumberhouse – all of them!
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Silver Mist is a beautiful name. And I liked Calling all Angels name (can’t remember if I tried perfume – most likely, I did and didn’t like it, but the name is a good one).
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Etat Libre d’Orange has some of the best names in the biz: Fat Electrician, Putain des Palaces, I Am Trash. Provocative names aside, they are very wearable.
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I can’t put those aside ;) – that’s why I don’t even test this brand’s perfumes any more. I don’t want my perfumes to be either provocative or controversial.
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Fair enough, Undina.
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Lune Feline, it just rolls off the tongue so seductively
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Somehow I’ve never heard this name before, even though at least once I was at a store that carried the line. Great name!
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This is a hard question.. sometimes I only love a name in conjunction with a bottle (Tiger’s Nest). I’ve already mentioned this one in the Lavender thread and I have to say it is a PERFECT name to me, full of charm and simplicity and fitting the perfume beautifully: Chanel’s Boy. I love it. I hope to own a bottle some day.
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Tiger’s Nest bottle is nice. In general, I’m partial to a feline-themed… everything :)
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Favorite perfume names…. Lancome Parfait de Roses, Tuberoses Castanes, Lancome Tresor (love that name), Xerjoff Irisssss, Splendiris (a great one) and Guerlain Shalimar. I’ve always loved the name Shalimar, sounds very ancient and exoti and the same with “Samsara.”. Lanvin’s “My Sin” and Dana “Tabu” are great names also. Perfume names need some intrigue and naughtiness, I think. I like the names of Neela Vermeire’s perfumes also, with the connections to places in India. Bombay Bling is a favorite, as are Nirmal and Ashoka. I’ll pass on Tom Ford and Kilian’s silly names for perfumes. LOL
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I liked a couple of By Kilian’s names, which strangely correlated with perfumes that I liked – Prelude to Love and Love & Tears. But the rest were “too much” for me. Tom Ford… I’d prefer him sticking to ingredients names in perfumes: with his juvenile playfulness he ruins perfumes to me.
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