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Saturday Question: Best Perfume Names?

Hello Fellow Fumies,

At ULG we have a Saturday Question. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it’s a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back regularly and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them. The aim is to generate real conversation and connection even though we are scattered around the globe.

Undina has found herself unwell so I’m filling in today.
Portia xxx

Saturday Question: Best Perfume Names?

SO MANY amazing names for the scents we wear. From the simple to the sublime and ridiculous. Some are long, short, crazy, meaningful, over the top and others are zippy, attention grabbing, exotic, creative, thought provoking, impossible to say or descriptive. What are your favourites? What makes you take notice (or cringe)? What makes you want to tell your friends what you’re wearing? Is the name important at all?

My Answer:

OK, for me the name should be easy to say, simple to remember and hopefully not stupid or douche-y. An evocative name that falls easily off the tongue and inspires interest. Some good ones include: YSL Opium and Rive Gauche, DIOR Granville and Miss Dior, Gucci Bloom and Guilty are all stellar. I like Special For Gentlemen by Le Galion, Slowdive by Hiram Green, Black Saffron by Byredo, Patou Joy and Exultat by Maris Candida Gentile.

I think my favourite name of them all is Shalimar by Guerlain.

Named for the famed Lahore Mughal garden created for Shah Jahan, who also had the Taj Mahal built in honour of his favourite wife. Shalimar Bagh was built in the 1640s and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and major Pakistan tourist destination. When I spray Shalimar all of that names history runs through my wearing of it and I often think about my time in India visiting the relics of past rule.

Just as an addition. One perfume I never bought because the name seemed so dumb and I would have hated being asked what it was: I Love My Man by Dear Rose. If it had have been even a slightly better name I would definitely own a bottle and probably a back up.

My Saturday Question to you is:

What are the Best Perfume Names?

36 thoughts on “Saturday Question: Best Perfume Names?”

  1. Thanks for hosting The Saturday Question, Portia, and Undina-feel better soon :)

    Hands down for me-D’zing! It’s perfect. I’ve loved this scent since I first sampled it, maybe 20 years ago (is that even possible?). Quirky and unusual but always wearable-this is a favourite for me. Even the original bottle label, with the woman riding a tiger in red shoes-perfect.

    I also enjoy Jour de Fete, also from L’artisan. It’s perfect and sums up the scent perfectly. There’s an older Catherine Deneuve movie called Mon Season Preferee, and in one scene the matriarch is outside, picking cherries from her cherry tree to decorate a small cake she’s just made. That scene reminds me of this fragrance, and vice versa. The idea of a small plain delicious cake, fresh air, sunshine. Almond extract. You get the picture :)

    I think the name matters. If I didn’t like the name it would put me off the fragrance.

    Excellent question, Portia, and thanks for always making me think.

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    • Hey there Carole,
      How interesting that both your favourite names came from L’Artisan.
      That movie tie in is so cool. I’ve never heard of that movie but love how gorgeous Catherine Deneuve was. I wonder if I can find it streaming somewhere?
      Portia xx

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      • I saw it maybe 20 years ago, on DVD. We had gone to a store that was selling vinyl records, and it also rented (yes rented-like Blockbuster) DVDs. The movies were arranged by director. I have been reading about movies for years and finally could access some of them. So I did lol, and there was a box set of Andre Techine. This was one of the films. It was really Kieslowski’s films that did me in-anyone else here watch Red, White, and Blue? Maybe Blue is the best known, with Juliette Binoche. I find it easy to relate movies and scents, and I also love it when I see perfume bottles in films :)

        On that same trip we went to Shoppers (drugstore which sometimes sells really nice cosmetics) and they had a loyalty points program with extra points-and an intense sale on Guerlain. I was in heaven. Stuff was practically free. It all came during a rough patch professionally so it was this enormous treat in the middle of a bit stressful time.

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          • I do remember! It’s Shoppers so they wouldn’t have anything too out of the ordinary but I bought Shalimar parfum, Samsara EDP, about three containers of Les Meteorites in different shades, two really beautiful eye shadow products. There was a smoky brown and a beautiful green. The containers were made of some kind of expensive metal, and they had beautiful curves in the metal. A few single eyeshadows, also in those astonishing containers. A blush called Tendre Auroa which was a light ocular and really changed how I looked at cheek colour. A Lipgloss, a lipstick in those beautiful meals-like three cubes stacked on top of each other and two eye kohls. I know it sounds like a lot but because of their sale and the points program it was less than $200 CDN. Normally the Shalimar alone would have cost that much.

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  3. I have a few “Best Perfume Names” to share, and directly from my collection. 😉

    • The Infidels – Agonist
    • The Odd Fellow’s Bouquet – Atkinsons
    • Dark Vinyl Musk – Bohoboco
    • Pulp – Byredo
    • Burning Leaves – CB I Hate Perfume
    • Jump Up and Kiss Me Hedonistic – Clive Christian
    • Black Vines – Kerosene
    • Bloody Wood – Liquides Imaginaires
    • Woody Conjure – Signature Fragrances London
    • Chicago High – Vilhelm Parfumerie
    • Moon Carnival – Vilhelm Parfumerie

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  4. I hope Undina is feeling better soon. I agree with Alityke on those Tom Ford names. Awful! As for the best maybe Samsara from Guerlain, Hypnotic Poison from Dior. Others I like are Fat Electrician from ELDO, YSL Opium. And finally, Lush, Serge Lutens and L’Artisan can always be relied upon for some good/weird names.

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  5. I must be in a negative mood today, because I’m thinking of more I don’t like (TF, any that are just numbers) than ones I do. I’ve always thought L’Heure Bleue was a beautiful and evocative name, although not my favorite perfume. I prefer elegant over twee and cute or provocative.

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    • L’Heure Bleue is a gorgeous name Cynthia.
      Though I think there is a place for the cute and provocative there has to be some wit or smarts involved. Just saying something is F**cking Fabulous does not make it so.
      We all do tend to think what irks us, because that’s the most visceral response. That’s human nature.

      Portia xx

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      • Ha ha, well put! My feelings exactly! In the more fun category, one that gets me every time is fragrances that refer to places. I am a big traveler, or at least I used to be, so this gets my curiosity every time. For example, I lived in Singapore for many years. Sentosa is a richy rich island connected to Singapore. Simone Andreoli came out with a fragrance called Sentosa, and it’s in my wheelhouse, ambery and woody. So I like it and own a bottle, but yes, I like it more because the name evokes memories of a place I have a connection to. I know this is an overdone trend, but I still like it!

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  6. I like the old Goutal names a lot, Mon Parfum cheri par Camile, Songes, Quel Amour and Ce soir ou Jamais…Also Melkmeisje by Baruti, now called Onder de Linde. And Neela’s names, Trayee, Ashoka, Niral…best wishes to Undina!

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  8. I can tell you what names I don’t like, all the newer Amouage single word names that seem to have no connection to the scent. I can’t remember them and they don’t make me curious about what the scent is.. Search, Lineage…?? But maybe it is also the fact that I’m growing increasingly despondent about the brand overall…

    Names I like are more whimsical like “What I do in Paris is Secret” or “Orris Forest” or “Echos of Silence”. French names are pretty but I butcher the pronounciaction so much, I can’t love them.

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  9. I can tell you what names I don’t like, all the newer Amouage single word names that seem to have no connection to the scent. I can’t remember them and they don’t make me curious about what the scent is.. Search, Lineage…?? But maybe it is also the fact that I’m growing increasingly despondent about the brand overall…

    Names I like are more whimsical like “What I do in Paris is Secret” or “Orris Forest” or “Echos of Silence”. French names are pretty but I butcher the pronounciaction so much, I can’t love them.

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