Occasionally, I try a perfume for the first time and feel an immediate rush of excitement. It smells so wonderful, so perfect, that I think I’ve discovered a new favorite. But then, on subsequent tries, I can never recreate that initial feeling. The magic seems to vanish, leaving me wondering if I imagined it all.
Saturday Question #248:
Have You Ever Experienced a Chimera Scent?
Has that ever happened to you? Do you remember any specific perfumes that behaved this way? Have you ever been able to recreate that initial feeling with the same perfume?
My Answer
As it’s clear from the introduction to this post, this has happened to me more than once. I’d discover a perfume that seems perfect on the first try, only for that magical connection to slip away on subsequent wears. Luckily for me, these discoveries would occur before I paid for a full bottle. And still it feels disappointing.
Atelier des Ors has never been “my brand.” Those perfumes that I tried, I didn’t dislike, but none of them clicked with me. To explain how much I didn’t care for the brand, I must share that I refused free samples that a fellow-perfumista who worked with the brand at that time offered to send me: based on the previous experience, I didn’t expect to like other perfumes from the line, and I wanted to avoid an awkward explanation why I wouldn’t be writing anything positive about the brand.
On my visit to ZGO, a San Francisco-based perfumery, I tried a relatively new perfume, Pink me Up, only because I was fascinated by its color and thought that the name was a clever play on it. I liked it very much. The opening fruity-champagne burst was so appealing and carefree that I felt falling in love with the scent with each next whiff. It was one of the five samples that I bought there this day.
A couple of days ago, I tried Pink me Up again, for the last time. My sample is empty. Never once in these 15 months was I able to relive the scent I smelled at the store. I kept hoping it was an anomaly, and the next time I’d experience perfume I liked the first time. It hasn’t happened.
I do not have a theory why it happened in this case. Was my nose conditioned by the dozen of other perfumes I tried before it? Was I just excited to be at a great perfume store after a couple of years of “sensory starvation” caused by quarantine restrictions on travels? Was I seduced by the bottle?
It reminds me of wine tasting at vineyards. There, a wine sampled in the picturesque surroundings of a winery can seem extraordinary. Yet, when that same bottle is opened at home, it might not live up to the memory. Interestingly, with wine, the opposite can also happen: a wine that seemed just “nice” (bought on the trip in lieu of paying for testing) can transform into something special when enjoyed in a more relaxed, familiar setting or with good food. I don’t remember that ever happening with perfumes though.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
Hey there Undina,
I often find the bottle I buy doesn’t smell like the tester. It gets oxygenated and lives under bright lights, of course it’s not the same, but I’m always surprised. Another thing is when the Le Labo crew makes you a perfume it then seems to take a long while to settle and become magic.
Portia xx
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I think we’ve had similar experiences on both fronts, Portia. When I fall for a scent I’m often in the mood for discovery, so maybe my nose reads more into the top notes and/or what’s been concentrated on the nozzle of the tester bottle.
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Interesting Nose Prose, Yeah, the nozzle and tube would definitely be more oxygenated than the rest of the juice.. So it must be different to the rest of the bottle.
Portia x
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That’s a great point! I didn’t think about it this way, but I bet that many testers and samples that were partially oxidized might smell different from a new bottle.
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Sometimes I spritz a decant out and then leave the bottle to mature with some air in it.
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I’ve just brought a tester of a Chanel perfume, and it isn’t quite the same as the sample I bought from an online sample site. I have just been puzzling over that. Less powdery, less intense, though I believe it is genuine.
I have had the chimera experience a few times, including early on in my hobby when I bought my first bottle – L’Artisan L’Été en Douce. Never could recapture that linden top note and regretted the purchase.
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Apparently they have done a full No 5 makeover in the last year or so Vanessa. It is different.
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I would have to say Tauer Perfumes. I’ve sampled № 02 – L’Air du Désert Marocain and Au Coeur du Désert and initially found them wonderful. Subsequent samplings just never replicate the level of interest I first experienced. This would be the primary reason I don’t own a single one from the brand.
I would agree with Portia with regard too Le Labo. Because these perfumes are mixed up one by one, the final result can be slightly more or less interesting.
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I think that perfumes created by hand might need to macerate for a while to get to the final stage. Not unlike some alcohol drinks.
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True, Undina. The two Le Labo I own have truly blossomed after almost 14 years. Unfortunately, alcohol drinks don’t stick around that long in my house.
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I’ve had a chimera scent experience but the reverse of what you describe. I didn’t like SJP Stash at all when I sniffed it in the store. But I did spray a blotter strip, and took it home. Over the course of several days, I kept smelling this wonderful scent that I couldn’t identify or find. Turned out it was the Stash blotter strip, which I finally found in a pocket! So of course, I went out and bought it. I still like it very much.
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I’ve had a similar experience where the bottle doesn’t smell like the sample. Very frustrating!
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