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Perfumes are one of my favorite wastes of money! Whenever I buy one, my first thought is, "Yay!" and my second is, "There goes my coffee budget!" But it's worth it.
Smelling good or just smelling something (or someone) that smells good is such a mood-lifter. It's like one of those memes: I don't buy perfume often but when I do...
... I try to shop smart. I rarely blindly buy full-size perfume. That's what sites like the ones I list at the end of this post are for.
Also, I signed up for PopSugarDabble and they regularly send out free samples from Macy's. So, yay. When I am curious about a scent, I check Frangrantica where I can get an overview to see if the notes are to my general liking and to read reviews from other users. Some of those reviews are hilariously brutal! So, I do try to limit my perfume buys and I do try to put a lot of thought into it before I spend even one dollar.
However, I did make 2 blind buys that I will never regret. More on that in a moment. For now, here is my list of the perfumes I've bought or sampled and whether or not I liked them and why. I am mostly having to refer to any Fragantica or Macy's reviews I wrote in the past couple of years. I will link all I can find to Fragrantica for you to read more about the scents for yourself.
The Worst (IMO)
- Keep Glazed (from The House of Oud). I got to try this from a niche house sample sent to me (I didn't even ask for it, so...). It's described as being "sweet, fruity, tropical, vanilla, coconut, citrus". Sounds amazing but, it was a big nope for me. Did not live up to the hype. I don't generally like anything with "oud" in the name so I shouldn't be surprised.
- What About Pop (The House of Oud). This is said to be "sweet, vanilla, lactonic, caramel, woody". Another freebie that I loved the sound of but didn't like. Maybe it's the "wood"? I mainly smelled Vaseline in this one. I guess this whole line is more like The House of Nope for me.
- Juicy Couture (Juicy Couture). This brand is home to 1 of my favorites but this isn't it. It's boring. Thank goodness I got a discounted set of it in stick form. I don't think I paid but $10 for 3 of the little tubes. I think the "green" among the accords is what ruins it for me. So, nope!
- Irresistible Givenchy Givenchy (Givenchy). A free sample, thank goodness. Described as having "musky, powdery" notes (which I love) but the "woody" (yep, there it is), "iris" and "fresh" makes it smell like soap. Not good, clean soap but just boring and generic, sales-bin soap. Says something about places I've shopped...
- Soft (Al-Rehab). Saw on Amazon for cheap and liked the idea of "citrus, caramel, vanilla". It made me smell like a man. Not a bad-smelling man but more man than any woman. If that makes sense - because I do have a couple favorite por homme scents. I also tried Al-Rehab's Golden Sand and it's another non-favorite.
- Dreams (Mariah Carey). This one surprised me by being so bad that I think maybe I got a fake. How the heck can "vanilla, sweet, powdery" come off like this??? It smells so cheap and Barbie Doll-like that I am still horrified. Usually, when I don't like a certain perfume, I can pass it along to someone on whom it smells better. This was so bad that I demanded that Amazon give me a refund and I trashed it. I told them that if it wasn't a fake, Ms. Carey should claim that it is. Got my refund.
Okay, that's not a full list but you get the gist. I hate woody smells, and smokey or harsh notes but love soft, vanilla, caramel scents. Next up are the ones I gave away or that just sit in a drawer to be blended with something else.
The "Meh" Collection
- The Only One (Dolce&Gabbana). I am still super-ticked off about this one. I used a gift card to get a roller-ball from Sephora. I shouldn't be surprised. The description mixes my favorites (caramel, sweet, powdery, vanilla) with "violet, coffee, warm spicy". Who does that? And why? This doesn't reek but it smells (on me) like warm hair grease with a spritz of perfume to kill the hair grease smell. I gave it to a nephew who can wear any scent and smell amazing. Have at it, buddy!
- The Mix:Bar collection (Target) is decent. I tried a sampler set and liked a couple. However, the Coconut Palm and Sparkling Hibiscus were okay but forgettable. The Mix:Bar collection is a budget line and the scents fade as fast as they dry on your skin, My hair will hold a scent longer so that's how I use the rest of this sampler. These two just didn't "whelm" me one way or the other. For my hair and undergarments, I do like the Cloud Musk (it really does mimic Cloud from Ariana Grande) and Vanilla Bourbon. They were good but so weak.
- Vanille (Solinotes). Another "budget" line I found on Amazon and as weak (or weaker) than the ones from Mix:Bar. I it and the Tonka scent with Google Reward Points and use them as hair scents.
There are some others but all too forgettable to waste time mentioning. I will suggest that, if you get a perfume that is almost but not quite there, try layering it with other scents or a scented powder or lotion. That will sometimes unlock hidden magic.
Now for my fave-fave-favorites! There was a time when I wore a lot of Guerlain and Versace scents. Those times have passed. I needed to break out of old habits and explore things more in my ~hahaha~ "budget". I'm glad I started looking not at bougie names and prices and started paying attention to my favorite notes - regardless of what's on a label. I now have **** scents that I claim as staples.
The Most Loved
By the way, you will notice a trend here that still surprises even me
Fancy (Jessica Simpson). All I ever knew about her was to do with some chicken or tuna thing she said. But this perfume... Baby girl done went and did it. The others on this list are in no particular order but this is number one. It was a blind buy recommended after I loved another scent on this list.
This is everything - ev-ver-ree-thing - that I love in perfume. It's got the "sweet, vanilla, caramel, powdery" cloud that I always wanted. There's some amber and almond there with a tiny bit of floral to hold it all together. It's been years since a scent smelled so marvelous on me that I always get asked what I'm wearing. A receptionist at a doctor's office liked it so much that she actually wrote down the name.
Not A Perfume (Juliette Has A Gun). Fancy is my flirty perfume but Not A Perfume is my I'm-grown-and-killing-it perfume. It's very soft but memorable. Actually, I describe it the same way I did a former favorite, Glossier's You, as being like very soft and powdered tissue. Not toilet paper but the fancy wrapping tissue I'd get with Nordstrom gift boxes. Weird, yes, but that's what it reminds me of. It's a lot of powdery, soft, and feminine quietness in a bottle. "You" was like that until Glossier changed something.
Not A Perfume is not a cheap perfume so I get a 5ml bottle for around $16 from the Scent Split decant site. I do the same for my 2 other favorites from the same designer Citizen Queen and Vanilla Vibes. Vanilla Vibes is one I will live without in favor of the other two. It's got a tangy vanilla, well, vibe to it that I love when I love it and am just "meh" about with I don't. Of all three, Not A Perfume is right after Fancy for me.
Another top one is Fantasy - Intimate Edition (Britney Spears). I told my friend that I don't know what else these little gals are doing in life, but they did it for real with their perfumes. I bought this blind after reading about the accords, which include all my usual:
When you compare it to Fancy's...
... you see how similar they are. Fantasy is a bit more playful than Fancy. It's almost like the 2 scents really reflect the two singers' public personas. What surprised me is that Fantasy is more "grown up" than I expected.
Finally, there is another one by a youngster - could I have designed such scents at their age? - and it's Cloud (Ariana Grande). I should not be surprised that I like this so much when looking at the accords:
What did surprise me is, again, how simple and sophisticated this is. I only have a decant for now but I might have to get a bottle soon. I get a lot of compliments - the sweetest one from one of my brothers who said, "That's by who?" LOL
That concludes my top-top-top favorites list but I have to give an honorable mention to another little floozy (just kidding, people, don't go off on me!) and that is Paris Hilton's Can Can. Actually, I stole a vial of this from one of my nieces and ended up buying some more later in a discounted tester bottle (off of eBay I think).
I wasn't crazy about it the very first time my niece let me try hers. When I tried it later, it was beautiful. It's one that I love to layer with others - the Solinotes Vanilla or Mix:Bar's Cloud Musk - but it plays well solo, depending on how hydrated I am or what the weather is like. I won't go out of my way to buy this unless it's on sale, a decant, or as a tester but I do like it quite a lot.
Other honorable mentions:
Just Because
I've said that I have (and do) wear or enjoy fragrances for men - not just on them but... This is one that I like so much that I spray my pillows with it (you know, in lieu of having an actual man in my bed ~sigh~)
Fahrenheit (Dior). This is probably the most irresistibly attractive fragrance for men that was ever designed. The price reflects it! I did get a microdose and every now and then, I take a sniff. It's just a great smell and I can actually wear it quite well. The first time I ever caught a whiff of it is when a coworker walked past me. I just about fell out of my chair trying to follow the sexy! LOL
Habit Rouge Eau de Toilette (Guerlain). I have always called this the brother to my beloved Shalimar. I can no longer wear Shalimar well so I sometimes cheat and dab on some Habit Rouge.
Emeraude (Coty). This is from my youth and was my first "real" perfume. I still keep a bottle of the vintage around (found on eBay). I will spray it on my hair and undergarments when I just want to feel pretty for no reason. Again, can you spot why it's a favorite?
The patchouli is probably the only surprise other than the woody note. I never even notice that when I wear it. I just get a lot of powder and soft vanilla.
So that's it. I will most likely not try too many new perfumes in 2023 now that I've found my Greatest Hits List.
By the way, I have mentioned here before that you don't have to go broke (or hungry, cold, or homeless) when treating yourself to perfume. There are a lot of sites for buying decants and places where you can get microdoses of perfumes. Also, try buying samples or testers from reputable eBay, Poshmark, and Mercari sellers. If you want to get regular vial-size perfume to try, check out one of the subscription services. And don't forget to sign up for something like PopSugar Dabble. Personally, I use the following sites and have never had problems.
Hope you all go into this New Year with blessings, hope, and peace.
Peace
--Free
