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A fragrance snob is something I am absolutely not. I somehow maintain an open mind trying new scents and am always hopeful I'll run across a scent that is good to go. The releases over the last 5 years or so have left me wanting....really wanting. Since I am basically a designer guy who only sporadically samples / buys niche, I have found only one recent release that is bottle worth for me. Dirty English to be exact.....and even DE doesn't stack up as well as most of the classic juice I have. The very recent releases all have this mundane commanility to them and share a syntheticism that I find unpleasantly boring and unsatisfying. It's almost as if there's a house note that all houses share amongst themselves in some sort of collusive, covert practice. It manifests itself partially in the heart notes and especially in the base. This is not vintage snobbery. I believe I am an ingredient victim of days gone by. It could also be that, coupled with a possible addiction to the way accords used to be built, as opposed to present day creations. I guess I am just venting a little in this blog because I WANT TO ...

Phew. A scrubber. It has the same stinky, sickly sweet note that I detest in a couple of other yuck-bombs. (Beyond Paradise comes to mind :thumbdown: ) It's somewhat like a fake ginger, but I can't stay close enough to really ID the perp. Thank goodness for little cheap-o samples!

Another frag I keep hearing about and originally had no plans to try...but it smelled really nice on a co-worker. Not bad, like it ok, but probably wouldn't buy a bottle. Generic "sweet" floral, settles down nicely to a common vanilla-amber-musk base. Don't really get a "bang" out of this one.

Etro Heliotrope was part of my TPC order and came in a pre-made ?set? called Heliotrope For Beginners which contained this and two perfume samples from Geurlain. I?ll be completely honest ? I am very ?green? to the whole perfume thing, I love beautiful scents but as for identifying or categorising them I certainly have a long way to go! When I saw the set I though to myself ?What on earth is Heliotrope??? and being the curious, knowledge seeker that I am I ordered the set without even bothering to look up what heliotrope was. Thanks to Wikipedia I am now informed that Heliotrope is a flower and quite a stunningly, coloured one at that. Based on that brief description I was expecting a floral fragrance, however when I tipped some Etro Heliotrope from its small sample vial onto my wrist I was shocked and awed with what was a stunning, gourmand fragrance. It immediately made me think of an almond pie that my mother used to buy as a Saturday afternoon treat, rich, creamy and flavoursome. This scent was so captivating I could practically taste the almonds and vanilla. Notes from TPC (which I never read before ordering) ...

Okay, so I've read about others on here that have expressed the same..."why am I a junkie?" and "how to stop?" feelings about fragrance and I've come to a personal conclusion...I am like Captain Ahab ever-seeking his great triumph....or like the mythical unicorn...or a freakin pot of gold...you get the picture. I am looking for that scent that is so personally perfect to me (a signature) that it all stops...no more looking...take all the others away...I'm done. The problem is I'm not sure it exists anymore. The other variable to this odyssey is that as I seek, I change and thus so do my preferences....I see no end. Of course Ahab dies...so maybe I just enjoy the quest and shut up now.

In case it isn't obvious, I ordered about a billion little sample sprays from fragrancenet... I was a little cautious with this due to the supposed "star anise" note. I hate licorice/anise (I'm talking the real black kind, not the fake red kind). Luckily, all I'm really getting is the rose. Rose, rose and more rose. It's a sweet rose, but nice. Since I love rose, that's OK. Maybe a little generic "white flower", a touch of musk and vanilla, but mostly just rose. :thumbup: Maybe the regular frag is more complex. As it is I like this, but probably wouldn't buy a big bottle. I can get rose anywhere.

This idea was sparked by a thread in the Female Fragrance area and I think it's an interesting topic - does scent make someone sexy? What is sexy? I guess everyone would answer these questions differently and to me no amount of 'sexy' fragrance would make someone who had no confidence, humour or energy 'sexy'. I certainly do see how perfume can provide the illusion of sexiness and certainly when some who exudes all of the aforementioned qualities wore a fragrance that appealed to me - then yes I probably would feel all hot and bothered under the collar. But without those other components the scent is nothing but merely a fragrance to admire, which has no reflection on the person wearing it other than that they may have 'good taste'. Secondary to that the idea of 'sexy' is very subjective - some people have claimed that one need be mature to be sexy but I strongly dissagree. Being 'young' or girlie is certainly not mutually exclusive to being sexy - and for that matter I don't think 'young' and 'mature' are necessarily exclusive either! I know many a mature yonug person and many youthful people in their 50s, 60s and ...

So I live in Austin and I occasionally go to this wonderful little boutique Enchante. I've read on here from a few people that have had bad experiences here and I think it is unfortunate. Apparently the owner rubs some the wrong way, but once you talk to him for a while you might understand his perspective a little more in regard to the industry. He is always helpful to me and has sent me home with goodies to try and to critique. He has even asked for opinions on whether to order a certain line or not. My point is...get to know him...because he carries some great stuff and he is open to suggestions.

Yesterday and today I wore two fragrances that feature lavender in the top note. When I wore these two (Armand Basi Homme yesterday, and Rochas Man today), I had the distinct impression that I was smelling not lavender, but another, similar oil that I had smelled years ago: lavandin. Those some years ago, I had a bottle of Parfums Régence Lavandin. I tried to track down this scent on the web, but all I could find is the much more talked-about Kölnisch Juchten (which is in my current collection). I had two other bottles of Parfum Régence scent: Clary Sage and Oakmoss. These are also missing from Google searches, and sadly, also missing from my collection now. The thing about these Parfums Régence products is that they were very close to giving a genuine impression of the note named on the bottle, with just the minimum of other notes to make them wearable as stand-alone scents rather than as pure essential oils. An the weird thing about the Lavandin was that it didn't smell too much like lavender; it was more herbal, more camphoraceous. It's not that lavender oils don't have those characteristics too, but that the lavandin note was different enough so ...