I can’t really say I shared the perfume love as what I chose requires more getting used to than what people generally smell in mainstream stores (god, that sounds so condescending). 🙂
Anyway, yesterday I shared my love and a little bit of my collection with my female colleagues. I already had several perfume-y coffees with one who then spread the word. So that is how yesterday I ended up giving them a crash course through what perfumery offers if you know where to look.
I admit to being ambitious and offering them 22 perfumes to try. 😀 That was mean of me. 😉 And they did!
I never expected them to find anything to love among them, my goal was to make them understand how many more notes and possibilities exist out there and that they should try and figure out if they possibly like something and might want to discover more.
What I learned surprised me. 🙂 It seems people (women in this case) are fed up with sweet perfumes. That was what everyone kept saying, I don’t want anything sweet. And the general consensus on what they found good was also surprising (although it shouldn’t be as I love it as well).
I made them cheat sheets with all the perfumes so they can take notes for themselves
That was Monegal’s Cuirelle. 🙂 Closely followed by Tom Ford’s Tuscan Leather.
I shouldn’t get surprised anymore that Cuirelle is such a hit among people who smell it. Especially after reading Birgit’s interview with Ramon Monegal where he said his favorite perfume is “true leather”. It’s obvious he knows what to do with that. 😉
It was a boisterous gathering (all perfume gatherings somehow end up boisterous) and we laughed a lot. I heard some interesting adjectives being ascribed to perfumes:
– smells like toothpaste (for Vamp a NY)
– lemon peel! (Bigarade Concentree)
– Terrible! Smells like sweat. Just too much. (Tubereuse Criminelle – I had to bring that one for shock effect) 😉
– Toilet cleaner (Tuscan Leather) – actually have no idea how that came about…
We agreed to meet again with a selection geared more toward spring and summer in a couple of months.
I definitely hope to keep this up until their perfume vocabulary upgrades from: It’s interesting/ok/sweet/too much, to – Oh, I smell white flowers/amber/green stuff, etc..
That’s not asking too much, is it? 😉
Tagged: drunk on perfume, new perfume, niche perfume, perfume gathering
All I am - a redhead 
This is fabulous, Ines. Good on you. I bet you’re all going to get a lot out of these little fragrant sessions.
Oh and well done for bringing Tubereuse Criminelle. That would have been fun and opened up their horizons in one swift sniff!
Do keep us updated.
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He, he Tara, we’re agreed then on the “benefits” of letting them smell TC. 😉
If I do say so myself, I think it was a bit eye-opening for most of them.
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Sounds like the ladies you met with really enjoyed this, Ines. Good for you!
But ohhh, no. Did they really say Vamp a NY smells like toothpaste? I’m covering Vamp’s ears … I just took her out on the town a couple days ago, and she smelled like candy and spice in the cold winter air, but candy and spice in a very fabulous way. 😉
Hope you’re staying warm in Zagreb. Looks like you had a nice assortment of beverages at that perfume get-together. 🙂
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Yep, Suzanne, turns out newbies to the perfume world do not appreciate the lovely wonder that is Vamp a NY. 😉
I never tried it in winter but now I will. Although we’re not actually having winter. It’s been rather warm for the past couple of months and a cold spring is basically here for a while now.
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My insights in almost every perfume is: interesting/ok/sweet/too much but I hope I will change it eventually, because that is so much you can sense just by smelling it is amazing!
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Edo_edo, I’m pretty sure I speak for most of us when I say we all started with interesting/ok/sweet/too much. 🙂
I still remember when I first started smelling perfumes for real and reading the reviews, thinking, that’s not possible, how can anyone smell all these things?! I don’t get any of that.
You’ll be there in no time, you’ll see. 🙂
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Oh what fun!!! And I love hearing all the comments. Cannot wait to read about your next session.
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And I can’t wait to have it. 🙂
Although I don’t think it will happen before end April/beginning May…
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It sounds like so much fun. id you really make them sniff 22! perfumes. well done you 🙂
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That should read; DID not id…
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I didn’t exactly make them but once they were there, they all decided to try them all out. 🙂
Like Gandalf would say about Bilbo, All I did was give him a light push out of the door… 😉
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[…] afraid to show our love and sense of fun (Ines is making a very good example in her post ”Sharing the perfume bug”), in the long run, things might get better here as well. EU laws are tough nuts to crack, […]
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Re you sure the comment about a toothpaste didn’t come for Tubereuse Criminelle? ;-P
You’re doing a good thing: keep converting one person at a time! And keep telling us about it.
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He, he, I was actually thinking the same thing so I checked. 🙂 It was Vamp a NY. I was surprised as well.
I actually checked many of their perfumes after hearing the associations – just to be sure they are smelling what they say they’re smelling.
I’ll do my best with converting but I can already tell some of my older colleagues won’t let me. (the younger people can’t know better syndrome)
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As just another human being who is younger you, of course, cannot know better! I’m well familiar with that one. But! If something is your hobby to which you pay a lot of attention and for which you spend a lot of time might take off that age prejudice. They still will think that you’re weird for having these knowledge and hobby but they might be inclined to listen.
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😀 😀 😀
You got the part about people thinking me weird quite well (not just when it comes to perfumes, many people think that when they hear how much time I spend reading).
But yes, you are right, once people learn how much time and love you invested into something (and when you can conjure a perfume from your collection that they didn’t even know could knock them off their feet), well, I just might get my way. 😉
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As a bit of a perfume evangelist myself – albeit usually one-on-one – I heartily approve of this gathering with your colleagues to share the love. Great idea to stage one in summer too. Given that you and I have pretty divergent taste, I wonder what they would have made of any selection I’d have brought along – ‘wot no leather’ and ‘too sweet’, probably! Yes, it is weird, as I get older, I am being more drawn to sweet perfumes, not less. Oh, and I like the lady’s style – the one who teamed her green dress with orange tights. And the glasses of wine!
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Oh, the girl in the green dress is actually Russian and has an incredible dress style. And is more into perfume than any of the others there.
I think whatever you would have brought with yourself, there would be something for them to fall in love with. It’s actually the novelty that appeals to most newbies to perfume world (I would think).
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That is great idea! It is good to give them very different perfumes, that allows wider look to the matter. If you don’t try enough different perfumes you can hardly decide what you actually like. Very, very good!
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Thanks!
That was exactly my thinking. It’s hard to know what you like if you always smell the same stuff.
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This looks very fun! I wish I could have been there to join in. As for your vocabulary wish, that seems perfect to me. I am pretty much stuck at the equivalent of “smells green” phase, and I think I am doing okay? 🙂
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Ha!
I know you’re past that stage. 🙂 You just want me to compliment you on your good nose. 😉
I wish you could have joined us as well – with your own selection. It would actually be fun to see what would other perfumistas choose as their intro into the perfume world…
I think I’ll do a post on that and ask. 🙂
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