One of the YouTube creators recently did a short video on the scent that, according to researchers, people consider the most pleasant. Of course, even before they ran a mini-poll asking to choose from the 4 quite ubiquitous aromas, I knew the answer – that’s why I won’t even try running it here (hence the topic). But I looked up the study, and I thought that the conclusions were interesting:

• Culture plays a minimal role in the perception of odor pleasantness.
• Individuals within cultures vary as to which odors they find pleasant.
• Human olfactory perception is strongly constrained by universal principles.

Odor preference rankings were collected from nine culturally and geographically diverse populations. These included the three hunter-gatherer groups, Seri from a coastal desert and Maniq and Semaq Beri from tropical rainforest, one shoreline forager, Mah Meri, from a tropical coast; one swidden-horticulturalist, Semelai, from tropical rainforest; one farmer-foraging community, Chachi, from tropical rainforest; one subsistence agriculturalist community, Imbabura Quichua, from temperate highlands; and two urban dwellers from industrial and postindustrial communities of bustling urban settings, Mexican and Thai. The data from these nine communities were then related to available data from a large dataset on odor preference collected from urban dwellers from the USA (New York City).

If you want to read through the study, here’s a link.

Saturday Question #166:

What Is Your Favorite Vanilla Perfume?

Similar to bergamot, rose and jasmine, vanilla is a “usual suspect” in many compositions. But this question is about perfumes where one can unmistakably pinpoint that ingredient as a main player.

Do you have many vanilla perfumes? Any? How often do you wear those?

My Answer

I do not love vanilla in perfumes. I do not dislike it either. Over the years, I found 5-6 vanilla-centric perfumes I like and wear. Vanilla perfumes are my rainy day perfumes. Vanilla perfumes are my sick-day-but-still-don’t-want-going-commando perfumes. And sometimes those are “just because” – but not too often.

Today I wore Le Labo Vanille 44. I’m on my second decant, which means that I like it. If it weren’t for Le Labo’s idiotic “city exclusive” gimmick, I would have probably bought a small bottle of it by now, despite the price. I’m still contemplating getting a bottle of Tauer‘s Vanilla Flash. But my #1 vanilla perfume is still Mona di Orio Vanille.

How about you?

What Is Your Favorite Vanilla Perfume?

I can’t believe I haven’t asked this question before – it seems so obvious. But let’s do it today.

Saturday Question #165:

Do You Layer Perfumes?

Often? Sometimes? Never? Intentionally of accidentally? Do you have any favorite combinations?

My Answer

Not much changed since my post Perfume Layering: Truth or Dare? from 10 years ago: I still like the idea of layering perfumes, and I still own a huge number of Jo Malone perfumes that are “layerable,” but I have so many wonderful perfumes in my collection that it feels unnatural to experiment with mixing them. But now when I’m writing about it, I feel an urge to do some combination with perfumes of JM’s Tea Collection that I have. Earl Grey & Cucumber will combine nicely with Sweet Milk. I will probably try to do it tomorrow.

How about you?

Do You Layer Perfumes?

Many of us have extensive perfume collections, so each perfume gets just a fraction of wear time. So, I understand that it’s a tough question.

Saturday Question #162:

What Was The Last Perfume You Finished?

It doesn’t have to be a bottle; a decant will do as well. Will you repurchase it?

My Answer

It has been a long-long time since I finished anything! I have a couple of bottles that are close to the end (I have backups for them), but I can’t even remember the last bottle I emptied.

But today, I sprayed the last 4-5 sprays from the decant of Guerlain Cuir Beluga. Every time I remembered to wear it, I thought it was great. Cuir Beluga is one of the perfumes that I should have bought years ago. Now? I don’t know. Once my “no-buy” is over, I’ll check the latest reformulation and decide.

How about you?

What Was The Last Perfume You Finished?

One of the answers to the question about being a perfumista from a couple of weeks ago was “I know what a ‘nose’ is and have several favourite noses,” which, in my opinion, is one of the significant indicators of someone being “into” perfumes. I still can remember the time when I didn’t even think that there was anything else to my favorite perfumes beyond a brand name.

Saturday Question #161:

Who Is Your Favorite Perfumer?

Do you have a favorite perfumer? How do you define this? Do you follow that perfumer’s work?

My Answer

I’ve never been good with names. Writers were probably the extent of my ability to remember names. I could go through several book chapters without remembering characters’ names but just visually recognizing a combination of graphemes. Actors, singers, politicians, etc., have to be very significant for me to remember their names, not even actively to say it but even as a passive recollection when someone else refers to them. So, while I appreciate the work perfumers do creating perfumes I love and wear, and I even add this information to the perfume’s description in my database, I rarely remember who was the nose for those perfumes I wear – unless they are brands’ creators. So, when I asked today’s question, I wasn’t sure what  my answer would be.

I know and recognize many names. But without checking the database, I wouldn’t have been able to choose the one. After running some queries, I now know that not only did I try the highest number of perfumes created by Bertrand Duchaufour, but also, out of those I tried, I liked more perfumes created by him than by any other perfumer. It probably means that Bertrand Duchaufour is my favorite perfumer. Though the last new fragrance from him I tried was Corpus Equus for Naomi Goodsir (2021). I checked Fragrantica, and it looks like these days he creates perfumes for brands I haven’t heard about before, which makes me less interested in these new creations.

How about you?

Who Is Your Favorite Perfumer?

When several years ago hajusuuri asked if longevity mattered, most of the respondents answered negatively. Many of you mentioned that it would not stop you from loving or buying perfume. But what if you could choose?

Saturday Question #160:

What Is Ideal Perfume Tenacity For You?

How long do you want your perfumes to last with the initial application?

My Answer

I didn’t remember that previous question (and it’s not surprising since it wasn’t mine). I came up with today’s SQ one morning recently when I woke up and thought that I liked that I could still smell the perfume I wore to a party the night before. And later, when I checked the list of questions we’ve done (as I always do), found that one and read through the discussion, I discovered that I gave the same answer back then.

I rarely wear perfume to bed intentionally. But when I wear perfume that stays on my skin and hair through the night, it makes me happy. Though, I’m glad that I have in my collection some perfumes that I can wear for 3-4 hours – and then replace with something else. Or reapply – if I feel like doing so.

How about you?

What Is Ideal Perfume Tenacity For You?

I’m not sure if this prompt can be considered a question but why not to do something different? I know that this meme/trend has been around for a while, but I’ve never played this one before – so, I invite you to join me.

Saturday Question #159:

Tell Me You Are a Perfumista Without Telling Me…

My Answer

These are my three attempts:

1. When planning any trip, I always check if the destination has specialized perfume shops and visit them.
2. I put on perfume before taking a shower (to test something new that might be a scrubber).
3. My truthful answer to an SA’s question, “What [kind o] perfumes do you like?” is more confusing than helpful to them.

Now it’s your turn.

Tell Me You Are a Perfumista Without Telling Me…

I can’t believe it’s Saturday again! I mean, I don’t complain; I enjoy the upcoming weekend. But I’m amazed how time flies: I had a post almost done that I planned to publish on Tuesday… then Wednesday… then… Well, now I’ll wait until after Portia’s Tuesday post, but hopefully, the next week will pace itself.

Saturday Question #158:

What Was The First Perfume You Bought?

I didn’t want to make the question too long, but I meant “perfume you bought with money that you earned.” So, it’s not about perfume you acquired with saved lunch money or money gifted by a relative but with salary/gig/etc. money that you received in exchange for your time and service.

Is it currently in production? If yes, how different is it from the one you bought then? Do you still have that perfume in your collection? Do you still like it?

My Answer

The very first perfume that I bought was a mini bottle of Yves Rocher Nature perfume. I wrote about it 12 years ago as an episode in my Week-long Test Drive series WTD, Episode 2.6: Nature by Yves Rocher. Even then, it was already discontinued. But by that time, I already went through half of one large bottle of it (it went off before I could finish it, so later it became one of the display bottles in my Thinking outside the Box project) and bought another large bottle, which I still have in my collection.

Years ago, I ran an experiment – Imaginary Signature Scent – where I tried to wear just one perfume for a week. I chose Nature for that exercise, and my conclusion was that even though I still liked it, I wasn’t ready to “go steady” with just one perfume. Any perfume.

I still wear Nature once in a while, and thanks to the fact that I keep decanting perfume from the large bottle into the original mini bottle that I bought decades ago, the fragrance in the second large bottle is still good. I like it enough to enjoy it when I decide to put it on, but I never think about wearing it again – until something like this post reminds me.

How about you?

What Was The First Perfume You Bought?