How did The Perfumed Court begin? We each had separate businesses on eBay and some of us on a website as well. April 2006, eBay decided to ban decant and sample sales for reasons that have never been clear to anyone. Prior to that, a couple of us had been talking about doing a joint website together, combining our product so we could offer more in one place. After that, we all got together and decided to create The Perfumed Court since the costs of creating an easy to navigate website with a lot of features is very, very high, and we could all offer a lot more together in one place and split the start-up costs and ongoing costs.

I have noticed that you only occasionally pass value judgment on the scents themselves, just the notes and maybe a bare description (much appreciated because it does not cloud the imagination). But it makes me curious about your personal tastes. Do you four mostly agree on scents, or do you have wildly varying styles? Our tastes are probably as different as the individual population, but I do find the longer you play in perfume, tastes tend to run together to some degree. You can definitely appreciate a well-made scent, whether it is department store, vintage, or high end niche. The magic is in the composition. When done well, even if it doesn't appeal to your personal taste, you can admire the skill and talent that went into making it.

The Perfumed Court provides a service unique to few, but it stands out particularly in your comprehensive ability to source rare perfumes. How do you do it? What's the secret to finding a difficult bottle? We all have our specialties. Some of us are great at finding rare vintage things, which takes a tremendous amount of patience and skill. Some of us are good at spotting the latest thing coming from some obscure shop in Europe or having contacts in Europe that will ship to us. Each of us does take a trip to Paris or Europe at least once a year to pick up things that we can't get shipped at all or easily, plus to spot hidden treasures in the stores in Paris and London. It's time consuming and heart-breaking sometimes. Nothing is worse than getting a hold of some obscure Guerlain treasure, opening it and finding out it is alcohol that you paid several hundred dollars for.

I know this may be an impossible question, but if you had to stick to just ten must-tries, which ones would top your list? This is harder than you know, and each of us would have four different answers. Here is Lisa's list: People of the Labyrinths Luctor et Emergo, Caron Tabac Blond, Guerlain Vol de Nuit, Shiseido Nombre Noir, Montale Black Aoud, Coty Chypre, Chanel No. 5, Serge Lutens Tubereuse Criminelle, Dior Diorissimo, Thierry Mugler Angel. [Editor's Note: Dangerously close to mine.]

Labels: beauty notebook, perfume, samples, the mnemonic sense, the perfumed court