In Your Opinion: 314 posts

It’s spring (at least, in theory), and it’s time for de-cluttering and paring down. Some of you mentioned that your perfume wishlists are getting longer and longer and asked me to run a thread in which all of us can give our recommendations on how to streamline our choices.

Please post your wishlists and comment on the wishlists posted by others! Let’s see which fragrances we loved and which we found disappointing. Of course, perfume preferences are a personal matter, but we might as well have some fun with it.

Happy Easter! We wish you a great holiday weekend, and we will return on Tuesday.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

Our “Recommend Me a Perfume” is here today. I’m already craving spring, but we still have snow on the ground and my favorite warm fragrances are in heavy rotation.

How does it work:

1. Please post your requests or questions as comments here. You can also use this space to ask any fragrance related questions. To receive recommendations that are better tailored to your tastes, you can include details on what you like and don’t like, your signature perfumes, and your budget.

2. Then please check the thread to see if there are other requests you can answer. Your responses are really valuable for navigating the big and sometimes confusing world of perfume, so let’s help each other!

To make this thread easier to read, when you reply to someone, please click on the blue “reply” link under their comment.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

How do you organize your perfume collection? How do you store your fragrance samples and decants?

Last week my reader Ariadne asked how I keep my samples organized. I would love to tell her that I have a state-of-the-art system in place for tracking my samples, but the truth is that my method is more chaotic than systematic, and I just rely on my memory to recall where on earth I stuffed that sample of Britney Spears Curious or Francis Kurkdjian Amyris. Since my memory is far from infallible, it means that I often spend a fair bit of time digging through piles of samples or boxes of decants.

Now that I’ve presented you with the worst possible organization system–I dare anyone to top it, I would love to hear how you organize (or would like to organize) your samples. Ariadne and I need your inspiration and help!

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

What lies outside of your perfume comfort zone? Which fragrances are still challenging for you?

The other day I voluntarily donned a perfume called I’m Rock and immediately regretted my choice. I decided to test my boundaries wearing a sweet gourmand fragrance, but when I’m Rock turned into a candy factory on fire, I cut the experiment short. I don’t have a strong sweet tooth when it comes to fragrances, and I’m Rock wasn’t the best choice.

Another group of scents that I don’t enjoy are the watery, aquatic perfumes, even if they are well-made like Issey Miyake. An accent of watery notes can give a gauzy, weightless effect to rich florals like Marc Jacobs for Her, but a generous dose smells sharp and cold to me.

I still keep on trying scents, even if I suspect that they may not fit the bill for me. Hope springs eternal that I may nevertheless find a hidden gem. At worst, if a perfume turns out to be a scrubber, some makeup remover (the kind designed for waterproof cosmetics works best) is all it takes to remove the offending scent. The thrill of discovery is worth a few duds.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin, parrots testing the Belgian winter.

Our “Recommend Me a Perfume” is here today.  It’s a cold February day here in Brussels, and all I want is something warm and comforting.

How does it work: Please post your requests or questions as comments here. You can also use this space to ask any fragrance related questions. To receive recommendations that are better tailored to your tastes, you can include details on what you like and don’t like, your signature perfumes, and your budget. Then please check the thread to see if there are other requests you can answer.

To make this thread easier to read, when you reply to someone, please click on the blue“reply” link under their comment.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin