Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

Saturday Question #19:

What Was The Best Fireworks You’ve Ever Seen? (And Perfume To Go With It)

For the half of my readers today is just another summer day. For me (and those who live in the U.S.) this 4th of July is going to be the strangest in … probably our lives (definitely, in all my years in the U.S.): all fireworks in the country have been canceled because of Covid-19, and the celebration will be happening mostly online.

So, since we can’t have real fireworks, I decided to dedicate this Saturday Question to your memories of fireworks. What was the best fireworks you’ve ever seen? Where was it? When? Which perfumes would you characterize as or associate with fireworks – loud, sparkling, explosive?

My Answer

I love fireworks. When I was growing up, those were rare: we had them once a year for the Victory Day (a holiday that commemorated the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945). City where I lived had those fireworks every year on the city square – the eighth biggest city square in Europe. For a child, those seemed grand and impressive. But even as I got older, I remember being completely smitten by the domes of lights falling down on us as we stood at that square.

When we moved to a quiet North California suburbs, the first year our friends took us to the 4th of July celebration fireworks over water, I was disappointed beyond belief: those limp shots happening every 10-15 seconds, one, sometimes two at a time, could barely qualify as fireworks. Over years, I learned that this was how those were done in small cities around where I live now. To this day I do not agree with a 20-minutes shooting of a single charge at a time leading to 30 seconds of something that looks like fireworks as I understand that word. I would have preferred 5 minutes of intense, big, bright and loud – real fireworks. But with crowds gathering to hold a good spot for viewing a couple of hours before the event, 5 minutes would seem like a bad bargain – so, until the last year they kept doing it in exactly that manner. And I kept watching it every year.

And then one year our friend who was into sailing invited us to join him on a boat for a water fireworks show for the KFOG radio station KaBoom concert. I didn’t know what to expect, so everything what happened was a huge surprise. I’m sure, it looked great from the shore, but from where we were on the yacht it was magnificent. Fireworks were happening just above us. Firefall streaming from the sky: just mesmerizing! It was the best fireworks I’ve ever seen.

I thought for a while about which perfume I would associate with fireworks. Surprisingly, it wasn’t easy, which is strange since I like loud and striking perfumes. But I fond one: Portrait of a Lady by Frederic Malle. I know that this is not an image that this perfume traditionally evokes, but it is one of the loudest perfumes I own and wear (I’m not counting Angel since I do not wear it any more – otherwise that shooting star would have been my choice).

Now, it’s your turn.

What Was The Best Fireworks You’ve Ever Seen? What Perfume(s) Would You Associate With It?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.

Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

Saturday Question #18:

Do You Wear Perfume to Bed?

We’re not talking about enjoying throughout the night (or, much more rarely, even in the morning) whatever is left of perfume you wore earlier that day. But do you intentionally apply perfume before going to bed?

I remember a couple of years ago I was impressed by Ines’s (All I am – a redhead) ritual of spraying Shalimar on her mattress when changing sheets. Do you have any rituals related to sleep and perfume?

My Answer

Many years ago I posted on the topic, but in short: while I do not mind wearing perfume to bed, I rarely do that. And when I do, I use perfumes that I do not wear otherwise. I call them “sleep scents.” Usually I apply those from a dab bottle to one or both wrists.

Some of perfumes that I wear like that: Sonoma Scent Studio To Dream, Aftelier Perfumes Honey Blossom and DSH Perfumes Lautrec. Sometimes, to help me sleep, I use lavender oil. And recently I’ve added Jo Malone‘s Lavender & Musk pillow mist to my arsenal of night scents.

I do not wear perfumes to bed too often. Mostly, because the last thing I want to do before going to bed is to think (again!) about what perfume to wear. But probably if I were to make myself a small set of sleep scents through which I could rotate and put it in the drawer of my night stand, next to my hand cream, it might be easier for me to incorporate that in my nightly routine.

How about you?

Do You Wear Perfume to Bed?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.

Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

Saturday Question #16:

Do You Participate In Perfume Splits?

We all buy bottles – full priced, discounted, used or vintage. We buy samples and decants from decanter or subscription sites. And we swap perfumes with others. But do you participate in the “not for profit” perfume splits, in which somebody buys a new full bottle and shares portions of the juice “at cost” (price per ml plus decanting supplies and shipping)? Where do you find those splits? Do you ever host them? Was your experience with splits rather good or bad?

My Answer

For a while I was wary about splits. Somehow buying decants from TPC felt safe, while private sales seemed uncertain and suspicious. I had no reason for that, I just feared it as something unknown, never tried before. But once I successfully went through that process several times, I realized that in many cases getting a 5 ml decant from a friendly split costs close to buying a small sample of the same perfume from a decanter site. And if you end up not liking it, you can always swap it with or pass onto a friend.

I participated in several splits in a designated Facebook group. Then I moved to mostly doing it a couple of times a year during NST’s splitmeet episodes. And then a couple of years ago I started hosting my own splits there as well.

So far, all my splits – both as a participant and a host – were successful: I bought decants for perfumes I wore for a while and was done with them; I bought decants that lead up to a bottle purchase; and I bought and shared bottles of perfumes I wanted to have without feeling guilty because of adding another 50-100 ml of perfume to my ever growing collection.

Last week I went through all the offerings from the most recent NST splitmeet post – and didn’t find any perfume of which I’d like to have even 5 ml. It seems that with the explosion in the perfume industry perfumistas’ interests are spread wide: out of about 30 offered splits, the equal number closed and didn’t get any interest – eight each. The rest (about 50% of all) got some participants but didn’t generate as much interest as hosts planned. What is interesting: it looks like most hosts plan to go through with the purchase, even though they didn’t get “full funding.”

I was slightly disappointed: not that I had in mind any particular perfume that I was looking to buy, but I hoped to see something offered that I’d like to get. Since it didn’t happen, I had to host my own splits.

Do You Participate In Perfume Splits?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.

This week is quite unusual for my blog: two posts were published already, which makes this one a third post in a week. If any of you were wondering, this will continue for a while: in addition to the weekly Saturday Question lead by me (mostly), two resident writers (after a while, I can’t call them “guests”), Narth and Portia, will be posting alternating every two weeks each. And I plan to do one additional post every second week.

Also, it happened just by chance that my previous post’s title was done in a question form. And while it was a rhetorical question, it sparked a conversation similar to how it happens with Saturday Question posts. So, it feels a little strange to do a second post with a question just two days later. But it’s already a tradition, right? So, let’s do it anyway. And the topic I chose was inspired by one of the dialogs in comments to that recent post.

Saturday Question #15:

All-natural or “All-artificial”?

From what I can get, most of my readers prefer “mixed-media” perfumes, so this part is clear. But what about the two extremes – perfumes that use only natural ingredients and those that are based on manufactured molecules? Which of the two would you choose if you had to?

My Answer

I tried a fair number of all-natural perfumes, and most of them didn’t work for me. At best, I thought they were pleasant scents but not perfumes that I’d like to wear. But most seemed straightforwardly unpleasant. Currently in my collection there are two all-natural perfumes that I like a lot – Hiram Green Arbolé Arbolé and April Aromatics Unter den Linden. On the other hand, there is just one perfume that certainly has no natural ingredients – Escentric Molecules Molecule 01. So, on the surface it would seem like a 2:1 ratio.

But then I consider that while all-natural brands make sure to point out that fact, most brands do not advertise “no flowers were harmed in the making of this perfume.” So, it is extremely likely that I’ve been enjoying many more “all-artificial” perfumes than I realized. Taking that into consideration, I’d say that for me man-made perfumes are a safer bet (though, I hope never to have to make that choice).

How about you?

All-natural or “All-artificial”?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.

Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

Saturday Question #14:

Do You Wear the Same Perfume Two Days in a Row?

I doubt any of my readers are of a “signature scent” type. At least not any more. But how about wearing the same perfume for two or more days in a row? Do you ever do that? If yes, when and what perfumes?

My Answer

I can still remember times when I could wear the same perfume for several days or sometimes every second day alternating just a couple perfumes from my wardrobe. But in the last 10 years I hardly ever wore the same perfume twice even in any given month – let alone for two consecutive days.

A couple of exceptions from this rule I can think of are my trips to Hawaii and my Imaginary Signature Scent experiment from many years ago.

In Hawaii I usually wear Bronze Goddess every morning (taking it from the fridge and using it as a cooling mist over my body), but, first of all, it became a tradition for me, and second, with all the swimming, sweating and showering, when in Hawaii, I manage to wear 2-3 perfumes per day, so repeating Bronze Goddess doesn’t feel restrictive at all.

During the experiment that I mentioned (and linked to) above, I chose one perfume and wore it for (almost) a week. I described what I thought and felt about it in the post Imaginary Signature Scent: A Conclusion, but in short, while I can manage that kind of experiment, even without an unrepairable damage to my relationship with a test subject perfume, I would prefer to never do that.

Do You Wear the Same Perfume Two Days in a Row?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.

Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

Saturday Question #13:

Do You Currently Own Any Back-up Bottles?

Most of us have SABLE (Stash Above & Beyond Life Expectancy – Vanessa ©) collections of perfumes, and, as much as we complain about the state of the industry, every year one way or the other we keep adding more perfumes than are being used up. So, chances of running out of any particular perfume are low – and still from time to time I hear about back-up bottles. Now, I’m curious how many of my readers currently have at least one back-up bottle in their possession.

A back-up bottle is defined as a produced by the brand bottle (of any size) that you have in addition to another bottle of the same perfume. It doesn’t count as a back-up if tor the same perfume you have an EdT, EdP, extrait and a “Poudre” flanker and wear all of them from time to time.

My Answer

Yesterday “back-ups” were on my mind. First, I read in hajusuuri’s post on Instagram, in which she mentioned having back-up bottles for two of Chanel perfumes.

Later that day I got a scare while reading one of the Roses de Mai Marathon’s posts on Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities. Writing about one of my all-time favorites Ta’if by Ormonde Jayne (if you’re not familiar with this perfume, read her beautiful review; if you are – take a look at the wonderfully chosen illustrations), Old Herbaceous mentioned that she didn’t see it on OJ’s US website and thought that it was replaced by Ta’if Intensivo. Immediately I regretted not buying a back-up bottle of it when one of the sites recently had a sale. It was a false alarm, I confirmed since then that the original Ta’if is still available. But now I know that I’ll be on a look-out for the next sale to get that back-up bottle.

Other than that, I have multiple back-up bottles for my life-long love Lancome Climat and 4 more back-up bottles for perfumes that I really like and went 60-90% through the first bottle – Jo Malone Sweet Milk and French Lime Blossom, Yosh Ginger Ciao and Les Parfums de Rosine Rose d’Amour.

Do You Currently Own Any Back-up Bottles?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.

Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

Saturday Question #11:

How Do You Decide What to Wear?

With all the bottles, decants and samples that you have, how do you decide which perfume to wear on any given day? (The question was suggested by Hamamelis.)

My Answer

Many years ago, when I had just 5-7 bottles, every morning I’d look at all of them and decide what to wear. Since I wore them all quite frequently, even before applying perfume I knew how it would smell, so I rarely chose a wrong one.

Once I started down the rabbit hole and accumulated some samples, every night before going to sleep, in my head I would go through everything I owned and choose what to wear the next day. I enjoyed this small routine, but the results were mixed since some of the samples I wore were new to me.

These days, since going through all of my perfumes in my head would be like counting sheep (with a predictable effect), instead, if I have 5-10 minutes in the morning, I’d read through the SOTD thread of NST to see if one of the comments would give me an idea. Sometimes, though less often, I would participate in a community project there (like this week when for 5 days I wore iris perfumes – Olfactive Studio Iris Shot, Histoires de Parfums 1904 (Madame Butterfly), Xerjoff Irisss, Parfums Dusita Splenderis and 1907 Mon Ame). But on most days I would just stay in front of the shelves with perfumes trying to figure out which of the perfumes that I haven’t worn in a while would fit the weather, my mood and any other variables I care to introduce that day. Since I wear mostly perfumes that I own and know well, the method works, and I rarely make a wrong choice. But I constantly have a feeling that I neglect some of my favorites just because I don’t see them or make my choice quickly without considering all the options.

How Do You Decide What to Wear?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.

Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

Saturday Question #10:

What Are Your Favorite Perfume Names?

Earlier this week Narth posted a review of perfume she liked despite its questionable name. Seeing a lack of enthusiasm for that perfume, I thought that we should go into the opposite direction and share those perfume names that inspire us.

What are perfume names that you think are beautiful, interesting, funny or clever? To make it slightly harder, let’s consider only perfumes from the current century (created in 2000 – 2020). You do not have to necessarily like perfume itself since the question is specifically about names. Which names do you like (for any reason)?

My Answer

When I started thinking about it, I realized that once you discount Shalimar, Chamade and Vol de Nuit, it gets harder to come up with something that fits the criteria.

But after thinking for a while, I thought of three names that I like (and I happen to like perfumes as well). The first that came to mind was Felanilla by Pierre Guillaume Paris. I know, I’m biased, but I just loved this word forged with a cat in mind. When I think of it, I feel a purr raising up my throat.

The second candidate is Splenderis by Parfums Dusita – one more clever word play with my favorite perfume note. There are several more great “iris-based” names, but I’ll leave them to others.

And the last one I want to mention, is a simple word combination, not frivolous or playful but rather regal: Bronze Goddess by Estee Lauder.

What Are Your Favorite Perfume Names?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.