May 11, 2008 2:00 AM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Oud is not exotic though. The cost of it is prohibitive, but it's an old ingredient in perfumery.

The availability factor would bother me more than the price. They don't sell it here?

May 11, 2008 2:03 AM,  Dain said...

Well, exotic doesn't have to be new. And my point is really that I find it to be a marketing gimmick. If you like it, that's very fine, but I find I soon get bored of perfumes that lack structural complexity.

May 11, 2008 2:23 AM,  Dain said...

By which I mean, I'm not knocking it of itself, but when it's used to mask lazy compositions.

May 11, 2008 2:55 AM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

It's definitely a marketing gimmick...but getting mainstream perfume buyers to branch out into niche perfumery in the first place, has to involve marketing gimmicks. A couple of years ago, it wouldn't have crossed my mind not to buy from Givenchy or Chanel or what have you...the mainstream houses. The sole reason I even started sampling niche fragrances is the buzz from the boards.

I figure, five years from now, or less, the whole niche perfumery thing will have played out anyway. Some houses will survive, a lot will fold, once the novelty wears off.

I'm going back over my samples now, one by one. It's a very different experience. When you first try a sample, you're wondering whether it's "full bottle worthy." If you decide it's not, it goes back to the sample pile; if you like it, it goes to the "under consideration" pile, etc.

But now, I'm not looking to buy anything. So I don't care if it's FBW or not. I just use it.

So far, with this method, I've experienced the same perfumes differently. I found Sublime didn't work. It's too young for me. Montale Powder Flowers didn't work. It just smelled...eh...I didn't get the same Chanel No. 5 experience I did before. AG Rose Absolue smells like really good rosewater, at best. SG Fleurs d'Oranger...like wonderful cleaning products.

The Tauer perfume is brilliant. Joy works, oddly.

I do more layering now...just throw together this and that, and see what happens.

May 11, 2008 3:00 AM,  Dain said...

You're definitely right about that. I have definitely reached a point where I have my perfume wardrobe, more or less, and I test for testing's sake, and I do look at it differently.

Sublime is nice, but just a little too sweet for me. I'm trying to get away from that.

IMO, No. 5 and Joy could be sisters.

May 11, 2008 2:02 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

You're right about the hokey-ness....it's annoying after a while. And many of the scents are not well-made. It's very "grab the money and run." In a few years, the serious houses, old or new, will still be there.

Sublime would have worked on me, ten years ago. It has this retro feel...seeing as "retro" has become generic for "old." :D This retro quality would work on someone ten to fifteen years younger than I am now, it would be charming. On me, it feels as if I never changed my perfume in ten years.

May 11, 2008 8:41 PM,  Dain said...

I feel that way about Organza Indecence. I'll keep my bottle, for nostalgia's sake, but I don't think it's likely I'll use it up. It was definitely from a time and a place.

I'm using the word "definitely" overmuch today.

I think Serge Lutens is the only niche that made it into my wardrobe in the form of Tubereuse Criminelle, though I may some day make room for Malle's Le Parfum de Therese. It'll seem dated in time too, I think. The SL syrup, it's like Guerlinade.

May 11, 2008 10:52 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

I have a sort of imaginary wardrobe...I don't want to buy everything I want, all at once. I feel at least some of the stash would end up going bad.

So I have the two Montales, Etro Heliotrope (down to the last 1/4 to 1/3 of the bottle, and keeping well), a few go-rounds of GF Ferre Lei...which is kind of nifty, a rose/LOTV blend similar to Crystal Flowers...and a purse size of AG Passion. The Lei is all but gone, which will leave me with four perfumes.

I suppose the next time I buy perfume, it will be Joy.