I need a vacation! All my thoughts are about a vacation. So, let’s talk about perfumes on vacations.

Saturday Question #182:

What Perfumes Would You Take To A Tropical Vacation?

Imagine this: tomorrow you’re going for a week-long vacation at some lovely tropical destination. You have checked-in luggage, so you can bring full bottles, travel/mini bottles, decants, or even samples – anything goes (I mean, flies). Which of your perfumes would you bring?

OK, the “vacation” part is theoretical – you might not even like tropical vacations. But the “perfume” part should be real: we’re not thinking about ideal perfumes for that vacation or something that you think would be nice to have and try there. Instead, we are looking at our collections to pick the most appropriate set to bring with us should we get unexpectedly invited on such a vacation tomorrow.

My Answer

As I said, I need a vacation. I need a vacation to wear my perfumes. The combination of different reasons (though nothing too dramatic, in case anyone would be worried) resulted in me skipping wearing perfumes for days. Not because I didn’t want to wear any, but because I didn’t have any energy to spend on figuring out the right scent for the day – and having a “wrong” one felt like an additional insult, so it felt safer not to make any decisions. I still did some testing (with my usual 1 to 10 ratio of “like” to “meh”), but I miss wearing perfumes. And a tropical vacation is a perfect way to address the issue.

It is perfect not only because I enjoy spending time in the tropics (Hawaii, in my case), but also because over the years and trips, I collected a perfect set of perfumes that for me epitomizes Hawaiian vacation.

I know that I mentioned many of these more than once (in each report on my previous vacations and then some). But if even I couldn’t remember all of them without peaking at those posts when, a couple of days ago, I started fantasizing about my tropical perfume wardrobe, I will do it again:

1. Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess (in the last 15 years, a full bottle accompanied me on each of my visits to Hawaii)
2. Ormonde Jayne Tiare and Frangipany
3. Yosh Ginger Ciao
4. Byredo Pulp and Bal D’Afrique
5. Parfums DelRae Bois de Paradise
6. L’Artisan Parfumeur Traversee du Bosphore
7. Serge Lutens La Dompteuse Encagée
8. Moroccanoil Brumes du Maroc

One more perfume that is not Hawaii-specific but the one that always travels with me everywhere is Diptyque Volutes – my vSO’s and mine shared perfume for planes (I decant it in a tiny roller bottle, and we use it sparingly not to disturb fellow passengers).

Now the only question is… Do I need the second checked-in suitcase?

How about you?

What Perfumes Would You Take To A Tropical Vacation?

With (at least) dozens of perfume bottles and probably hundreds of proper perfume decants and samples, what would possess you to put on an unknown juice?

Saturday Question #180:

Do You Ever Wear or Test Unlabeled Perfumes?

Tell me if that never happened to you, but most of us in our more or less organized collection of non-manufacturer containers come across a decant or vial either without any label or with something illegible due to the previous contact with the content of said container. What is usually the fate of those? Do you dare to put them on your skin again? Do you try to remember or figure out what it was? Or do you relegate them to a slow, evaporative demise in the depths of your collection?

My Answer

I cannot claim that I’m an organized person. Neither am I completely disorganized. Probably, it’s something in between. But when it comes to perfumes, it is almost impossible for me to have some unidentified vial lurking in my drawers, boxes and other convenient places for storing perfumes that I don’t count as my perfume wardrobe. So, most of my vials, sprayers, decants and other thinkable perfume vessels have nice labels – original or those I printed on my label maker.

Yet sometimes… How many times can one genuinely believe that she would remember what she decanted into that generic Nordstrom-provided sample vial, planning to print a label “tomorrow” just to discover a couple of weeks (or months) later that she has no recollection of what it was? Well… Let’s say it happened more often than I would expect from a reasonable and reasonably organized person. Those unnamed and unsung heroes of department store offerings never make it to the skin: not that I make a conscious decision not to try them, but I keep deferring our time together… until one day I discover just faint remnants of the scent in the empty plastic tube.

Recently, though, I discovered an unusual sample without a label: a tube of one of the Guerlein‘s L’Art & La Matière perfumes – one of those branded 4 ml tubes they used to fill at a counter. At some point, it probably came with a paper box with a name written on it, but somehow, it ended up in a box with another perfume from the same line but labeled. These aren’t the same perfumes (both by the scent and color), and I know that I liked it enough to decide to wear it but not enough to buy a bottle. But that is where my memory ends. I’m sure that many years ago when I decided to “consolidate” it into that box with Rose Barbare I had absolutely no doubts that I would remember what it was… I don’t. But it doesn’t really matter: since it has either been discontinued or reformulated now, I don’t need to know what it is. I like the scent, and I’ll wear it until it’s gone.

How about you?

Do You Ever Wear or Test Unlabeled Perfumes?

Now that I know how many of my readers perceive the acronym B&M, I’m being cautious and spelling it out.

Saturday Question #179:

What Is Your Favorite Local Brick-and-Mortar Perfume Store?

The question is not about Harrods or Luckyscent (unless you live nearby and visit them at least a couple of times a year). I’m curious about your local “go-to” place. Where do you go to smell something new without paying for it? It doesn’t have to be a niche store, but just any place where you know you’ll try something you haven’t tried before.

Do you ever buy perfumes there?

My Answer

For many years, Barney’s San Francisco was that place for me. They carried many niche brands that weren’t available elsewhere – Serge Lutens, L’Artisan, Le Labo, Frederic Malle and many others. After its closing, Neiman Marcus in San Francisco became my favorite: they didn’t have that many niche brands, but they carried many “boutique” lines for Guerlain and Dior, as well as some other popular brands – Memo, Acqua di Parma, Perris Monte Carlo and others. These are not my favorite brands, so even though the Neiman Marcus store that is closer to me doesn’t carry the same variety of brands, a shorter trip combined with free parking made it a more appealing option.

But this week, I discovered a new favorite: ZGO Perfumery in San Francisco. I knew about that store for years and even bought some samples and Mariage Freres teas from them, but I’ve never visited it before. But earlier this week, I decided to investigate that store when I took a day off to run some errands in San Francisco that couldn’t be done over a weekend.

I loved it! A welcoming atmosphere, friendly salespeople and a wide selection of niche brands. It was a slow day, and I spent there more than an hour figuring out first what I wanted to smell on paper and then which samples I wanted to buy. I chatted with two sales assistants (not at the same time) – they were, as I said, friendly, knowledgeable and absolutely not pushy. I went through dozens (if not hundreds) of perfume bottles, carefully deciding which ones would get a nozzle sniff, which would make their way onto a paper strip, and which remain in place getting just a glance.

While from their website you can buy any number of samples, in the store they usually allow 3 samples ($5 for a 1 ml spray sample). But an above-mentioned slow day and all that, so I left with 5 samples of perfumes that I liked enough to want to try on my skin (and pay for it). I will do a separate post about them once I spend time wearing each one, but in general, I think it was a successful trip (and the parking, if you can find it, is free, which feels like a special treat when you visit San Francisco). The one that I decided to wear from the tester bottle instead of asking to buy one more sample was Atelier Materi Iris Ebene. It was a big mistake! I liked it a lot. So now I’ll have to get a sample of it anyway!

I rarely buy perfumes from brick-and-mortar stores because I rarely feel the urge to buy something on the spot. And when I know what I want, I usually try to find, if not a deal, then at least a GWP or some other incentive to spend money. But if I am ever on the market for a brand that doesn’t do sales, I will definitely go to ZGO Perfumery.

How about you?

What Is Your Favorite Local Brick-and-Mortar Perfume Store?