you may be wondering... why is it scents and smells 2.0 and not 1.0? where is the first one? surely by definition 2.0 implies the existence of 1.0? and the answer is.. uhhhhh i just haven't finished the first post (which is about my candle collection) (that i started writing in 2021) (yeah). but ignoring chronology and doing what i want is my passion so uhhh here is my fragrance collection review scents and smells frankenpost. disclaimer that i am not a perfume expert by any means i just have impractical hobby and extreme hyperfixation. and did i mention i love scents and smells.
my collection*(roughly in order acquired)
1. chanel - chance eau tendré
top: quince, grapefruit / heart: hyacinth, jasmine / base: musk, iris, virginia cedar, amber
a classic fruity floral, sometimes this pulls a little too sweet but generally a safe choice imo. it's really versatile and i like this one the most out of the famous chanel fragrances, i think no. 5 and coco mademoiselle both skew more powdery and cloying... old lady scents etc etc. i prefer the edt over the edp even though the difference is quite miniscule, i just think the edt is slightly fruitier while the edp is sharper in terms of the florals, but both drydown to a floral musk. overall just a very uncomplicated fruity floral for summer or spring. this doesn't last the longest, but i still get decent wear out of it.2. ouai - melrose place
top: champagne, lychee, berry, pink pepper / heart: rose, peony, freesia, bergamot, jasmine / base: white musk, sandalwood, cedar, amber
ouai successfully suckered me in with the beautiful fruity floral fragrances in their products... first the heat protectant spray (rue st. honore), and then their dry shampoo (melrose place). i honestly can't speak to the efficacy of the dry shampoo i feel like i have yet to find any dry shampoo that truly works for me but this smells sooo nice and does an okay job. i will truly forgive anything as long as it smells nice and is not actively making my skin/hair/etc worse... i love the freesia rose peony trifecta in addition to jasmine my beloved, it's a very airy floral blend that i would also consider a safe choice. longevity again isn't amazing, but it's a good fresh out the shower scent. used to be my go-to.
top: pear accord, bergamot, black currant / heart: lily of the valley, jasmine, rose damascena / base: musk, vanilla, ambrox
the largest sized fragrance in my collection to date--it was gifted to me and i was obsessed with it at one point but ummm now i have 100ml and no idea what to do with all of it i literally use it as room spray at this point...i think i liked it at the time for the white florals and brightness, it's an extremely fresh scent. but overtime it's gotten a little too sharp and powdery for me, the drydown skews more cleaning product-y than i initially remember... :'( always a sad day when you fall out of love with ur perfumes. and are stuck with 100ml of it. maybe i'll fall in love with it again someday... who could say.
top: ambrette, nesberry / heart: magnolia, sandalwood, violet / base: cedar wood, musks, vetiver
it girl scent, one of my first niche fragrances... she is That Girl! i honestly don't remember if i got this before ningning revealed she wore it or after.. maybe it was at the same time perhaps i subconsciously gravitated towards it despite not having smelled it in person before acquiring it.. i just knew it was going to be good. and it was! can't really even begin to describe how it smells but this is very amber + violet heavy, which is really really nice... the little peek of magnolia makes it the perfect balance of woody and floral To Me... like it's just so distinctive and a really effortlessly cool girl fragrance to me.5. juliette has a gun - pear inc
top: pear accord / heart: cetalox / bottom: musk
so fucking sad i lost this omg.. the very fragrance that put me on to pear scents i miss her dearly. i do think jhag is kind of fucked up for making their travel sizes 7ml instead of the normal 10ml for the same price as other travel sized scents like way to be stingy as fuck...but this is one of my favorite perfumes from them nonetheless. extremely simple, but that's the charm of it imo. i think it's pretty suitable for any season due to the drydown being primarily musk--i honestly would love to repurchase this in the near future.
top: sparkling pear, citruses, green notes / heart: water jasmine, salt, lily of the valley, rose / base: musk, sandalwood
immediately after discovering my newfound love for pear my beloved chloe put me on to ocean di gioia, which is acqua di gioia's lesser known cousin. it's marketed as an aquatic scent, which it is, but i find that the fruity florals come through pretty strongly. undeniably a summer scent, the sparkling pear and citruses make the opening sooo pleasant to me. the longetivity on this isn't bad tbh, if sprayed on my clothes i can smell it for days.7. maison francis kurkdjian - amyris femme
top: lemon blossom, pear, sweet pea / heart: amyris, iris / base: vetiver, musk, amber
bought this as a little milestone gift to myself... this is another scent that i fell in love with at the counter but don't reach for as much because it's pretty strong and leans more mature. the opening notes are quite citrusy, though not as citrusy as mfk's 724 which literally smells like sprite to me, and the drydown is balmy, mostly from the vetiver. i think amryis femme is best suited for winter/spring as the blend of iris and amyris with the woody notes can get a bit much if you're very active. this is probably my most woody floral to date, i tend to stay away from fragrances that lean too woody but mfk's blend makes it work.
notes: musk, gaiac wood, cedar, olibanum
gaiac 10 is a tokyo exclusive from le labo and it's one of those fragrances that seems to be quite polarizing. to me it's a very clean wood scent, subtle and skin-scent adjacent if not for the indolic hit of cedar-gaiac. some people get a meaty bbq smell but i personally haven't had that experience; i could see the savouriness of the gaiac leaning into that scent for others though. it does turn a little soapy for me but not in a bad way... it's just a very interesting scent overall, almost incense-like due to the olibanum but not in an overly spiced way. the projection is pretty terrible but the longevity is decent, i like the simple musk drydown. if i loved it more i'd probably be more upset about the price tag not agreeing with my budgeting sensibilities lol.
top: mate, tumeric, salt, cardamom / heart: narcissus, magnolia / base: vanilla, orris, co2 extracts
honestly wasn't sure where to stick this as i first got a travel size ages ago and then recently acquired the full size last month… one of the scents of all time, thé vanille is The vanilla perfume for guys who hate (stereotypical ubersweet gourmand) vanilla perfume. it's a green, clean smelling vanilla that leans a bit mineral. the earthy notes from the orris and cardamom complement the clean green tea so nicely, and the drydown is a mellow spiced vanilla. i know i've made it exceedingly clear how much i hate spicy notes but thé vanille almost feels like a skin scent with how inoffensive it is. just a very perfectly balanced and complex scent overall with decent longevity as well, i reach for this one a lot.
top: clementine, mandarin orange, juniper berry / heart: basil, star anise, pepper / base: cypress, haitian vetiver, sandalwood
MY IDEAL CITRUS/ORANGE/MANDARIN PERFUME she is the wave she is the moment. i decidedly do not like most spicy/woody notes but the star anise is really lowkey and works so beautiful with the rest of the scent layers... literally my number one summer scent of all time she is so perfect to me. it's not an overly realistic "plant"-y orange scent that smells too green, nor does it veer into smelling like cleaning product (which i don't automatically hate, but not what i usually look for in perfume). the drydown is strong on the vetiver, but not in a cloying overbearing way... decent longevity as well, i love smelling this on myself hours after initial application.
top: rhubarb, lychee, bergamot, nutmeg / heart: turkish rose, peony, vanilla / base: incense, cashmeran, musk, vetiver
i got this first not knowing about the existence of delina la rosee, which i later smelled and immediately was besotted by... but regular delina is good too. it's quite strong, definitely a winter scent for me and not something i would go heavy on the application. i definitely prefer la roseé's more watery, aquatic lean; it's like delina's younger sister. it just skews more fresh and wearable for me, while delina itself is a more mature rose scent with a creamy musk drydown. the incense note is probably what's making it not as good as la roseé in my personal ranking, but it's still a solid feminine rose-forward pretty girl scent.
top: pear, citruses, apple / heart: ambrette, amyl salicylate, moss, jasmine / base: iso e super, cetalox, ambrettolide, helvetolide
theeee skin scent of skin scents TO ME. another 13 has that je ne sais quoi. literally the ideal pear tinged skin scent, complex in a way that's hard to describe in words. one of those extremely polarizing scents, i know quite a few people who are anosmic to it and to them i can only say i am so sorry u cannot be smelling what i am smelling. it's in the same family of "true" skin scents as juliette has a gun not a perfume and escentric molecules 01 due to the prominent cetalox and iso e super. i'm obsessed with smelling this on my clothes and myself after a whole day of wearing it... the longevity is quite nice and the subtle amber musky drydown is a dream.
other fave decants/samples:
> diptyque - do son
notes: iris, rose, african orange flower / tuberose, pink pepper / musk, benzoin
> glossier - you
> diptyque - do son
notes: iris, rose, african orange flower / tuberose, pink pepper / musk, benzoin
WHITE FLORALS MY BELOVED. honestly do son isn't a very complex or interesting fragrance but i don't need it to be. it just needs to smell good--clean and fresh--which it does very well. a delicate classic tuberose heavy scent, i know it's basic but idc i love it...
> glossier - you
notes: iris, pink pepper, ambroxan, ambrette
skin scents and pink pepper are you seeing a trend now. also kind of a polarizing scent in that some people either are anosmic to it or feel like it smells like newspaper... tbh i do get a bit of the newspaper but i literally don't mind it i think it's a feature not a bug. and the drydown is nice.
> valentino - donna born in roma
notes: black currant, pink pepper, bergamot / jasmine, jasmine sambac, jasmine tea / bourbon vanilla, cashmeran, guaiac wood
skin scents and pink pepper are you seeing a trend now. also kind of a polarizing scent in that some people either are anosmic to it or feel like it smells like newspaper... tbh i do get a bit of the newspaper but i literally don't mind it i think it's a feature not a bug. and the drydown is nice.
> valentino - donna born in roma
notes: black currant, pink pepper, bergamot / jasmine, jasmine sambac, jasmine tea / bourbon vanilla, cashmeran, guaiac wood
3/3 on pink pepper... also a conspicuous amount of jasmine notes in this one it's no wonder i love it... if there is jasmine i will be there no matter what.
> floral street - wonderland peony
notes: guavas. red berries, sicilian lemon / raspberry bloom, peony, violet / cotton candy, vanilla, resins, woody notes, cedar, vetiver
i'm going to be honest i'm not getting all that, especially not the base notes cocktail, but wonderland peony is still a lovely fruity floral nonetheless. super inoffensive and girly. love her.
> maison kurkdijan francis - gentle fluidity gold
notes: vanilla, amber, musk, woodsy notes, juniper berries, nutmeg, coriander
somewhat uncharacteristic of a scent for me to like considering the nutmeg and coriander, but gentle fluidity is really mellow and warm, the vanilla is sweet but not cloying.
there are probably more i'm forgetting bc i have so many samples but i've already put off finish this post for too long so... um... i'll update or something if i remember
> floral street - wonderland peony
notes: guavas. red berries, sicilian lemon / raspberry bloom, peony, violet / cotton candy, vanilla, resins, woody notes, cedar, vetiver
i'm going to be honest i'm not getting all that, especially not the base notes cocktail, but wonderland peony is still a lovely fruity floral nonetheless. super inoffensive and girly. love her.
> maison kurkdijan francis - gentle fluidity gold
notes: vanilla, amber, musk, woodsy notes, juniper berries, nutmeg, coriander
somewhat uncharacteristic of a scent for me to like considering the nutmeg and coriander, but gentle fluidity is really mellow and warm, the vanilla is sweet but not cloying.
there are probably more i'm forgetting bc i have so many samples but i've already put off finish this post for too long so... um... i'll update or something if i remember
my conspicuous inclination towards fruity florals notwithstanding, i do want to branch out and acquire a few niche designer decants outside of that scent profile soon... i've been looking at gourmands like bianco latte and indult tihota, lactonic scents like blanche bete, skin scents from liis, the famous nishane wu long cha, etc. the list goes on. perhaps it's time to check out of my perfume samples cart :') but i also have to save for nct dream tickets aughhhhh 🥹 the grief is neverending....
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