So, for a while now, I’ve been considering getting my “girlfriend” (it’s not official at the moment due to things that happened in the past that make it inappropriate at the current time, but we are essentially together) a nice perfume for a while now. She knows that I love scents and have a lot of colognes and perfumes, and she recently wanted to smell them. The next day, she said she wanted to get a nice, “real” perfume for herself, as up to this point, she has been wearing cheap perfumes and body sprays which, while sometimes nice, simply lack the balance and complexity of a great scent. We both love Michael Storer’s Kadota (green leaf, jammy fig, musk, tonka, date, sandalwood) which is delectable creamy fig scent that drives me wild. She also quite liked Storer’s Stefanie (recreation of gardenia headspace) and Yvette (gourmand scent with vanilla, white chocolate, tarragon, and others). So, I was considering getting one of those, but first I just wanted to ask if you have any suggestions?
One idea that would be fun and affordable is go to Sephora(can buy online too, and that way you get free samples and free shipping!) and get one of those fragrance sampler sets. There is one with 12 tiny samples of popular scents for $50 and she can choose her favorite and turn in a voucher for a full size bottle. Same deal for the $75 one, only that has 9 fragrances in larger bottles that look like minis of the real thing (SO CUTE - i’m getting that one! Last year i got the 12 sample one - so fun.). She’ll have so much fun trying different perfumes and there’s something for everyone in these sets, and ultimately she’ll get that “real”, or designer, perfume she’s been looking for!
Jasmin and the crew sent me a bottle of Genvieve by Michael Storer a while back and let me tell you its absolutely amazing. I get so many compliments on this scent.
Like Kath suggested, If you go to his site he sells a sample pack so you can smell all the scents. Maybe that is the best way to go before making a big purchase.
I bought a sample pack from Storer’s site when Androtics first started up their little partnership. I loved all of them, perhaps with the exception of Winterstar, which just didn’t seem as unique to me. I think I will buy another sample pack from him and maybe decide on one of his scents to buy for myself as well.
I loved all the Storer scents, but Winterstar was actually my least favorite. However, I haven’t had any in quite a while and I really can’t even remember why I didn’t like it as much as the others. As far as his scents for females, I think most of them are fairly feminine. Stephanie is a very realistic gardenia headspace (which I love) and Yvette is an absolutely delicious gourmand scent, with hints of vanilla, licorice, and chocolate. Genvieve is a complex rose scent, but I don’t have it any more, so I can’t really give much of a description. If you like spicy, woody fragrances, you might actually like Winterstar more than I did, and you might like his men’s fragrances as well. I would suggest emailing him and ordering a sample pack and smelling them all yourself. It’s only about $15, and you get to try all the scents he currently produces.
You might also find a perfume site like Luckyscent or something and get samples of some of the Montale fragrances. They use a lot of oudh and sandalwood, which have deep, resinous woody qualities that I love. I wear Montale’s Black Aoud a lot and love it, and my girlfriend always tells me I smell extremely sexy when I wear it. I believe it’s a unisex fragrance, so maybe try a sample of it and see what you think. Very powerful and pungent. It doesn’t take much.
As much as I love trying out new scents, I feel I know hardly anything about them at all. Really, I would suggest just buying a few samples that sound interesting to you and trying them out. Usually, online perfume outlets will sell small (1mL?) decants of scents relatively inexpensively, around $3-5, so you can sample quite a few, and they actually last quite a few applications. If I think of any more suggestions, I’ll let you know.
A GREAT resource for perfumes & colognes is basenotes.net. Super friendly people there.
I wear both women’s perfume & men’s cologne. The colognes I wear don’t have that “cologney vibe.” Rather, they’re just scents that smell good. For example, Burberry Brit, Lolita Lempicka au masculin, Clinique Happy, and Clean Shower Fresh.
Unisex, I like Bvlgari Black, Gaultier2, CK be, & Mugler Cologne.
Women’s, I like Pink Sugar Sensual, Gaultier Madame, & Burberry Brit.
Kate Walsh has a new fragrance out available on gasp HSN, that I positively fell in love with, and I think it’ll work well with the mones I just got. It’s called “Boyfriend.”
For my part, I prefer scents which are “sweet” and “gourmand”. I love collecting perfume so much!
Here are my choices in perfume: Britney Spears Fantasy (my boyfriend loves it), J-Lo Live, I Love Love Moschino, Escada Touch Of Pink, Sophie Solid Perfume, Hypnotic Poison
Choices in cologne: Calgon Marshmallow, Calgon Cotton Candy, Calgon Get Juiced Coconut Pineapple, Bath and Body Works Chocolate Amber, Victoria’s Secret Strawberries and Champagne, Victoria’s Secret Romantic Wish, Victoria’s Secret Beauty Rush Appletini, Bath and Body Works Japanese Cherry Blossom, Victoria’s Secret Ravishing Love
My fragrance wish list: Sexy Little Things Noir™ Love Me™ Eau de Parfum, Rapture®Cologne Spray, Victoria’s Secret Bombshell Summer Eau de Parfum. Sexy Little Things Noir Eau de Parfum
My all time favorites Chanel No.5 (this has been my go-to in non-romantic settings for years. . .the key is to wear the bare minimum for it to stick with you, otherwise it smells more like “cheap, old lady perfume”
For romantic settings, I like “Midnight Poison”
I recently got ahold of a sample of “Boyfriend” and I have to say I love it.
Inexpensive colognes and scents I mess with: “Dark Vanilla” (went off market in '96 but some ebay and amazon sellers have it) VS Amber Romance, Aquolina Pink Sugar, LAVANILA Vanilla Coconut, VS Pink, and a friend of mine owns a soap and incense company and I LOVE the scent (available in almost all her products) called Gypsy Moon (it is a Rose, Cinnamon and Patchouli combo purported to be modeled after an historical account of a scent that Queen Elizabeth I wore.) I also like Bodycology (cheap bath stuff) shower gel and body lotion in Brown Sugar and Vanilla.
On a side note, I recently stopped taking hormonal birth control and now all my perfumes smell different on me (yes I understand the things that could be reasons why, but I still find it disconcerting at times)
My favorite scents are Paco Rabanne Calandre for women, True Love by Elizabeth Arden, Very Cool by Tommy Bahama and my ABSOLUTE FAVE is Ce Soir Ou Jamais by Annick Goutal(pricey, but so worth it)
