I wrote about iris perfumes so many times that I was sure we have previously covered this topic in one of the SQ posts. But I checked – and no, we didn’t. So, shall we?

Saturday Question #265:

What are You Top 5 Iris Perfumes?

Provided you do like this note in perfumes, what are your most favorite irises in your collection? (Any formats above a sample count.)

My Answer

I like iris in perfumes, and in the past, I did a couple of Month of Iris projects where I wore only iris-centric perfumes for the whole month (albeit a short one, February). It was hard to choose just 5, and I feel bad leaving some of my favorites off the list, but I can’t break my own rules, right? So, here we go, in alphabetical order by brand – not to worry about which one I like the most:

Chanel №19 Parfum
Frederic Malle Iris Poudre
Armani Prive La Femme Bleue
Le Labo Iris 39
Xerjoff Irisss

I love them all, but it seems like I can’t recommend any of them! La Femme Bleue was a limited edition, so it’s long time gone, No 19 parfum isn’t on the brand’s site (but it might still be available at one of their boutiques), Iris 39 and Iris Poudre are bleak copies of their original selves, and Irisss is still available but I don’t know how seriously it was reformulated. It will be interesting to find a new iris favorite among the currently available perfumes.

How about you?

What are You Top 5 Iris Perfumes?

Last week, as I was checking my collection for Serge Lutens bell jar bottles, I realized that I haven’t worn De Profundis in about 18 months. I rectified it since then and confirmed that I still like that perfume. But since then I was thinking about all the perfumes that I own and like (at least, I think that I still like them), but never choose to wear.

Saturday Question #264:

What Perfume in Your Collection Do You Still Like But Haven’t Worn in a While?

Since you ignore that perfume (perfumes?), you might not know for sure that you still like it, but unless you know otherwise, you can assume that you still do. Why do you not reach for it?

My Answer

I decided not to check anything but bottles – full and travel – while looking for neglected favorites. It was slightly depressing: I have so many beautiful perfumes! Why don’t I wear them more often?!

I’m positive I still like Coco Chanel. But I haven’t worn it in more than 2 years. Ineke‘s Hothouse Flower seems still very attractive – and yet, it didn’t get any skin time in the last 3 years. And I’m not sure if I can still claim liking Champs Elysées by Guerlain because the last time I wore it was… 9 years ago.

Why?.. Too many perfume decants that are more easily accessible than bottles tucked away on a shelf. New favorites competing for my attention. And probably working from home for the last several years. I will try to rotate perfumes in my collection better. Because I’m sure that if I look at decants as well, I’ll find many more perfumes that never get into the rotation and sit on the shelf or in a drawer forgotten. But if you were to ask me, I would have told you that I still liked them.

How about you?

What Perfume in Your Collection Do You Still Like But Haven’t Worn in a While?

Last week, as we discussed perfumes we’d like to get back in our collections, Hamamelis mentioned Iris Silver Mist, and that sparkled a memory. 12-15 years ago, Serge Lutens perfumes were quite popular in Perfumeland in general, and bell jars were something that people talked about with bated breath. Those who were lucky to travel to Europe (or have a perfume mule) would proudly present their prized possession, and others would be in awe of the beauty. Around 2012, those bell jars finally made it to the US. The price was steep by those time’s standards – about $300 for a 75 ml bell jar, much more expensive than those were in Europe. But at least they were here.

These days, I don’t hear about Lutens perfumes too often, and I don’t know if any store in the US still carries that line after the demise of Barneys. But Serge Lutens website offers all perfumes, including bell jars (with just $9 delivery fee). And the prices today, 12+ years later, are $320 for a bell jar, which in today’s prices doesn’t feel as exorbitant (not that I’m prepared to pay it now). It has been a while since the brand released the last new bell jar, but still…

Saturday Question #263:

Do You Own Any Serge Lutens Perfume in a Bell Jar?

If yes, which one(s)? If now, was the price the only deterrence? Or did you not find any in the line to love? Or did you not like that format?

Do you think you’ll ever buy one [more]?

My Answer

I have two! The first one, De Profundis, was delivered from Europe by a friend after I overcame my initial preconception against the name. I bought and wore the second one, Boxeuses, as an invisible armor during a couple of rough years at the end of my long stretch at the company I worked at then, including the last day, as I was leaving for the next job. I still enjoy both, though I just can’t bring myself to using perfumes from those bottles: I keep decanting them into a much less glamorous containers keeping perfumes in bell jars pristine.

I am not sure if I would buy another perfume in that format if it is available in a spray bottle as well. The closest contender would probably be Bas de Soie, but it really pains me to pay a bell jar price for perfume I should have bought in a regular bottle when it was available.

How about you?

Do You Own Any Serge Lutens Perfume in a Bell Jar?

Last week’s topic clearly wasn’t a favorite of my loyal readers: some didn’t participate at all, some still refused to part with any of their bottles even theoretically. Let’s try the other way around.

Saturday Question #262:

What Perfume Would You Get Back If You Could?

The condition is: you previously had that perfume in your collection – not a sample, but anything else from a decant (the smallest allowed size 5 ml) via minis and travel bottles to a full bottle can play. It doesn’t matter if perfumes are still in production, discontinued or reformulated. In this fantasy poll you can wish for any version of any perfume – as long as it fits the criteria.

My Answer

Since in the last 15 years I haven’t finished any bottles that I loved without replacing them, and I’ve bought most perfumes I tried and liked, my choice is between something mainstream that I wore before falling into the niche rabbit-hole and perfumes that were discontinued before I could get them.

My choice is Deneuve by Avon. I had only a decant of it shared by a kind friend, and every time I wear it, I feed sad that once my decant is gone, I won’t be able to replace it. Vintage bottles can still be found online, but I wouldn’t trust it to be in a wearable condition. It is a wonderful green chypre. You might like it or not, but when you smell it you know that what you smell is a real perfume and not some conceptual art or abstract scented product. If I could, I would have magically conjured a bottle of Deneuve.

How about you?

What Perfume Would You Get Back If You Could?

Let’s do a mental exercise. Just for fun. Don’t worry: nobody will hold you to whatever choice you’ll make answering this week’s SQ.

Saturday Question #261:

What One Perfume Would You Vote Off Your Wardrobe Island?

It has to be a full bottle (presentation-wise, it doesn’t have to be actually full), so no decants, travel or mini bottles! It has to be a perfume that you used to wear at some point – and not just got someone else’s castaway (“I know you’re ‘into perfume’ – here, take this one, I do not use it”-style). It can’t be a perfume you’ve already consciously decided to “retire” but just couldn’t or didn’t want to part with. Just look at (or think about) your perfume wardrobe and name one bottle you’d let go if you had to make this choice.

If you have a “good” candidate, tell us how you got it in the first place and why you don’t want it any longer. If you don’t have any such perfumes, you still have to choose one (that’s the rules of this game!) and explain your “Sophie’s choice.”

My Answer

I constantly put myself in this situation: I come up with a question – and then I’m not sure how to answer it myself!

After spending some time going through my perfume collection in my head last night, I fell asleep. (Hmm… maybe I should start using this method as a sleep aid?) Today I went through the database and came up with a list of 7 “maybes.” One was a gift – so, not ready yet. One was kind of a swap… and it’s discontinued/rare, and the bottle is cute… Nah, it’ll die in my collection. In the end, I decided to go with the one that was the latest to my collection (out of the five considered) – Ilio by Diptyque. I bought it almost four years ago (here’s the story – I should have known better by that phase in my hobby!), and since then, I have chosen to wear it… exactly two times, both soon after the purchase. I am not sure I even thought about it since then. So, I suspect I wouldn’t even have noticed if it had decided to abscond and join the secret all-perfumista army of MIA fragrances.

How about you?

What One Perfume Would You Vote Off Your Wardrobe Island?

As much as I do not care for the most new brands these days, a brand created by one of the most prolific perfumers of 2010s, Bertrand Duchaufour, seems deserving at least a consideration.

Saturday Question #260:

Have You Tried Any L’ENTROPISTE Fragrances?

If yes, did you like any of them? If no, do you plan to?

A bonus question: Do you have any favorite perfumes created by Bertrand Duchaufour?

My Answer

I have not tried any of these perfumes yet. I would have been tempted to get a mini-discovery set from the brand’s site, but shipping to the US almost doubles the price of already quite spendy samples. So, I’ll probably wait until I can try them somewhere at a store or at least buy with the local delivery rates.

I remember a couple of years when Mr Duchaufour would release more than 20 perfumes per year. So, for some reason I thought I would have more perfumes created by him. But according to my database, I’ve ever tried just 46 perfumes where I know he was the nose. And out of those, I counted only 8 strong favorites – Naomi Goodsir Or du Serail, Neela Vermeire Creations Bombay Bling!, Ashoka, Pichola and Trayee, Parfums MDCI Chypre Palatin, The Vagabond Prince Enchanted Forest and L’Artisan Parfumeur Traversee du Bosphore. And even then, I have full bottles only for the first two, and with the rest – just travel bottles or decants. I wish I didn’t miss the opportunity to buy Traversee du Bosphore while it was still available, because that one and Bombay Bling! are the only two from the list I will miss once I’m done with what I have.

How about you?

Have You Tried Any L’ENTROPISTE Fragrances?

I started thinking about this topic when I read that Domino’s Pizza, an American multinational pizza restaurant chain, for the recent Valentine’s Day had launched a limited edition perfume, Eau de Passion, inspired by their most popular pizza, Pepperoni Passion. It wasn’t openly sold, but you could enter to win a bottle of it somehow (I’m not sure about details). They liked that idea so much that recently they continued the theme in their April’s Fool FB post. It wasn’t a completely novel idea: Demeter had their version of Pizza perfume in 2012, and it looks like it’s still in production. And it looks like at least a couple more of the less known brands cooked up their own pizza-inspired perfume recipes. So, let’s talk about pizzas and perfumes. And taking into consideration how geographically diverse my loyal audience is, I thought this topic might be deeper than it seems on the surface.

Saturday Question #259:

Do You Like Pizza? How About Pizza Perfume?

Do you eat pizza? If yes, do you have a favorite? Have you ever smelled any of the pizza-inspired perfumes? What do you think about the idea?

My Answer

Story time! Since I haven’t done real perfume stories for a while, I’ll use this SQ post to tell one of my stories.

I grew up without pizza in my life. We just didn’t have that in my native country. I am not sure I even knew about that food. Many other foods, even more exotic, I knew at least from books or movies, but somehow pizza wasn’t a part of that learning avenue. And then around the time I started university, the first pizza restaurant opened in my city. Chicago-style deep-dish pizza was the closest our first pizza resembled. It smelled divine, it tasted great, and it seemed totally worth the 40-50-minutes waiting in line to get seated and order it.

Even before coming here, from the friend who came here first with his parents and worked for a while delivering pizza, we learned that local pizza was completely different from what we knew as “pizza” back at home, which was confirmed when we moved to the US. The fact that pizzas would be usually ordered from (as I still think horrible) chains didn’t help. I refused to eat it.

After many years in the US, I kind of accepted the tradition of ordering pizzas to the office or improvised parties and resolved to eating just toppings leaving most of the crust on my plate. My co-workers and friends laughed looking at me scraping the toppings from the next slice, but at least I participated.

And only decades later, I discovered that pizzas made by good Italian restaurants were quite tasty. So, from time to time, we order a pizza at one of my favorite restaurants (to dine in or to take home). The one I like the most is a pizza with prosciutto, burrata cheese, eggplant and arugula. I am still not a fan of any “traditional” pizzas. Pepperoni is not something I would eat in any form, and as a pizza topping it seems even less attractive.

As to pizza perfume… Definitely no. I am not even curious to smell it. There are not that many food-related scents that I would find attractive as a personal scent. And nothing about pizza, even the best one, is associated for me with perfume I would wear.

How about you?

Do You Like Pizza? How About Pizza Perfume?

Thank you to Portia for holding the fort last week. I’m back and feeling better. But my last week’s malaise brought us this topic.

Saturday Question #258:

Have You Ever Lost a Sense of Smell?

If yes, how long did it last? Did you keep wearing perfumes? If you were to experience these for a prolonged period of time, do you think you would keep applying perfumes?

My Answer

Last week I got sick. It was some type of a virus that goes around. Several of our friends got it, then my vSO followed them. I was the last one to finally succumb to it. I thought I escaped it, but almost a week after my vSO got sick, I eventually followed him. Not a fun experience. Do not recommend.

One night, feeling feverish and thirsty, I took a sip from the bottle of Smart Water on my night stand and in half-dream thought: “So, now they decided to reformulate this water as well?” Water didn’t taste the way I remembered it. The next thought woke me up: “Wait a minute… It’s not a new bottle, I had some water from it the day before, and it tasted fine…” I immediately picked up my Vicks VapoInhaler – just to confirm my suspicion: I couldn’t smell neither menthol nor camphor, both of which are very well represented in that inhaler. “Can it be that I do have Covid?” – I thought and went back to sleep, since there was absolutely nothing I could do at this point.

It wasn’t Covid after all, and a day later, as the inflammation in my nose subsided, the sense of smell came back. But before it restored, I was extremely upset thinking that it would have been quite unfortunate if I were to lose my sense of smell for any prolonged period of time (I didn’t even consider a possibility of a permanent loss!). I didn’t wear any perfume while I was sick (I couldn’t get out of bed, so perfume wasn’t a priority), but I was thinking that once I feel better, I would put something on – even if I can’t smell it for a while. Luckily, I didn’t get a chance to live through wearing perfumes without being able to smell them. But the thought was scary.

Have You Ever Lost a Sense of Smell?

It’s been three years since Atelier Cologne disappeared from most markets. At first, I thought they had only withdrawn from the US and Canada, but it seems that, aside from old stock at various discounters, their presence is now limited to online sales in Europe and about ten brick-and-mortar stores in Asia. So while some of us still have bottles to enjoy, for many perfumistas, it’s become just another name in perfume history – and for the next generation of perfume enthusiasts, it probably won’t even be that. Atelier Cologne’s fresh yet long-lasting citrus compositions were fun, but they weren’t groundbreaking, aside from introducing eau de parfum concentrations while still calling them colognes (or cologne absolue).

Saturday Question #256:

Do You Miss Atelier Cologne?

Were you a fan of the brand while it was around? Do you have any of their perfumes in your collection? Will you miss any of them when they are gone completely?

My Answer

Atelier Cologne was one of my favorite brands. I can’t believe that I published my Brand Appreciation post about them almost 10 years ago! I still have some perfumes left, and I’m not sure I’ll use them up before they spoil. The only perfume that I will actually miss when I don’t have it any more is my most favorite perfume from the brand – Clementine California. Not only I enjoy how it smells on my skin, but also because of the “photo shoot” for that post, it reminds me of Rusty (he had such an angelic look on those photos!). Now I need to negotiate with myself that I do not need a backup bottle. Or do I?

Still, I’m sad about the brand’s fate. I still don’t understand why large companies do what they do buying good brands and destroying them. There were some talks about Atelier Cologne coming back “rebranded” – whatever it means and for whatever reason the parent company thinks it might be better/easier to do that than keeping the brand present on the market without a 3-year hiatus. If it happens, I will try them. I saw that Atelier Cologne released this year Mandarine Fauve, a fruity chypre with the notes citrus, green mandarin, fir and patchouli. Notes sound like something that I might like, but so far I liked just a single creation of Maurice Roucel, who is a nose behind this composition. But I will try it if I ever get a chance.

How about you?

Do You Miss Atelier Cologne?