Last week we discussed Les Exclusif de Chanel, so I thought it would be interesting to try another grand house – Dior.

Saturday Question #169:

What Is Your Favorite La Collection Privée Dior?

Do you love any of them? Too many or not at all? Do you own them? Do you wear them? What was the last new one you tried?

My Answer

My relationships with Dior cooled off when they stripped my favorite Miss Dior of its name to promote the “impostor” pink juice (not even in the original kind of interesting formulation!). And then they repackaged their Privée line. I didn’t mind it in principle, but they released so many new perfumes that I felt completely lost and overwhelmed. So, I am not even sure which perfumes I tried and which I didn’t. The last one that I tried and liked was Vanilla Diorama. I don’t want a large bottle of it, but I like it enough to wear it from the sample a friend sent me.

Technically, I do not have a favorite La Collection Privee perfume since 2 I own came from the pre-reformulation La Collection Couturier Parfumeur line. But since “my” perfume is still present in the updated collection, I will nominate it: New Look 1947, the first full bottle I bought from this line. It feels very elegant. It is present but quiet. Slightly powdery, with a exquisitely balanced floral and amber notes. Tenacious but not tiring.

How about you?

What Is Your Favorite La Collection Privée Dior?

Last week brought an unexpected interruption, and I couldn’t publish the SQ post. But I’m back, and I’ll try not to skip these traditional posts in the future.

Saturday Question #167:

What Do You Think About Opaque Perfume Bottles?

Do you like them? Do you own them? Or do you avoid them?

My Answer

I have mixed feelings about opaque bottles: many of those I’ve seen were beautiful. I almost bought Chanel Coco Noir even though I wasn’t that enamored by the scent. And I would have bought Chanel No.5 Red Edition if I hadn’t missed it – and I don’t even like No. 5!

But when it comes to owning and using those perfumes in opaque bottles, it bothers me that I can’t clearly see how much juice is left in the bottle, which is especially annoying with heavy, quality bottles. I know that it is not rational: I won’t go through most bottles I have, so it’s not like I need to be prepared or will buy a backup bottle. And still.

How about you?

What Do You Think About Opaque Perfume Bottles?

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?