Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Acquired taste


I seem to do more thinking about perfume lately than actual smelling. Yesterday I came home and there was a package from Niche place waiting for me - I ordered without smelling it, just from reading about it, Tommi Sooni, Tarantella.

Of course I had to try it straight away, without thinking about notes or anything regarding a review, all I wanted to see was if I made a mistake or not. :) And it seems sometimes it's ok to risk. I liked it although my initial thought was, this smells real good but it's not what I usually go for. What I usually don't go for are aldehydes, chypre and roses. Well, all I can say is that this seems to be changing. I started giving more wrist space to roses and getting surprised by the results. Aldehydes have just wormed their way into my fragrance wardrobe, now all it takes is for me to start loving the real chypres. That still might take some taste acquiring. Ideas wanted and needed! I mean, I have tried several of the more famous ones, but I'm still waiting for the bells to start ringing when I smell one and my knees going week. You know, all the signs that this is probably the one that will stay with you for the rest of your life. It might leave for a couple of months, but will eventually come back. For now, one that I would like to wear without fighting it would be just fine. Like it just happened with Tarantella. I don't know yet if it's going to be a life long relationship but it will last a bottle. :)


I figured, perfume groups are like food. I seriously didn't like sushi when I first tried it. Then, I got the opportunity to try it again and it was ok, but not something I would ever want to eat. Nowadays, there are days I need to go and get a bite because it is exactly what I crave.


Even though I smelled Tarantella briefly, I know it is going to be one of those bottles that I will crave occasionally and will know exactly when I want to wear it.


Like I know when I would like to wear Amouage Lyric, the only problem is I don't own a bottle of it so that is kind of a hindrance. But that rose went straight for my knees and I didn't even recognize it.


I plan on giving them all a proper review (I still have some Lyric left in my sample - I'm saving it).


Btw, while writing this, I was looking for chypre ideas and found that the Perfumed court has a beginner's list of things to try regarding chypre. :) I think I tried all of those, and none of them made my knees go weak (ok, maybe vintage variants of some of them would, but they are rather hard to find).



P.S. If someone has a bottle of Lyric and doesn't know what to do with it, please, just remember I'm here and I need one. :)

11 comments:

  1. yay , it arrived safely !
    There is alot of vetiver hidden in the heart of Tarantella , so you do have to like vetiver .
    It is a classic , and a rare one...

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  2. Oh, Lyric... I adore Lyric. Have a decant which I treasure!

    It's taken me a long while to make friends with chypres, but it's slowly happening.

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  3. I don't think I will every come round to rose in fragrances. But it's funny the way that you can go from not liking something to actually quite liking it. I'm feeling that way about amber. I hated it to begin with - but now it's almost found a place in my heart.

    Thanks for a couple of great links too.

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  4. Wow, I had never heard of this one - or the house! I love rose scents and made a special study of them in 2008, getting hold of 30 odd samples and systematically sniffing my way through them. As a result Rose has been seriously upgraded from a scented drawer liner note.

    Rose and aldehydes? Hmm, maybe Rose D'Amour by Les Parfums de Rosine?

    Aldehydes generally makes me think of Bois des Iles and Le Dix, also a couple of the Divines - L'Ame Soeur and maybe L'Infante.

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  5. Carol, if this is what classics smell like, it's no wonder everyone wants a bottle of a true classic (I guess that means finding a vintage one...)
    Can't wait to give it more time to enjoy it. :)

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  6. Mals, you're there (lucky you) but I'm slowly finding my way to chypre ground. Very slowly. :)

    SS, it is strange how those things change. If there is one thing I learned, it's never say never. :) If you do, it's about to come crashing through your door a month later.

    Flittersniffer, my list of things to try is getting longer and longer. I'm not sure though I'm brave enough to try another rose and aldehyde scent. What if I don't like it and it makes me dislike them again? Although I know I cannot stop now. :)
    Thanks for the suggestion.

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  7. I'm not a huge chypre fan, either, at least of the old-fashioned varieties. Several of my all-time favs are "modern" chyres: "Amoureuse" and Tom Ford "PB Noir de Noir." Now, I wouldn't call them chypres, but they do, so, do with that as you will.

    But then I tried vintage "Bandit" and that was like a whole other country. Not what I'd want to wear everyday, but knees just as weak as you please.
    (I love "Lyric" too!!)

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  8. LCN, now that you mention it, I really love Amoureuse but I don't think of it as chypre either. :) Hmm, you know, the further I go, more and more I get the feeling that I haven't learned much and most of what I know is somehow either wrong or seriously lacking in substance. :)

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  9. LCN, now that you mention it, I really love Amoureuse but I don't think of it as chypre either. :) Hmm, you know, the further I go, more and more I get the feeling that I haven't learned much and most of what I know is somehow either wrong or seriously lacking in substance. :)

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  10. Oh funny, I also hated sushi the first time I tried it. It acually was for my BD. My future husband took me to a sushi restaurant... I still remember the shock of eating raw fish :-) Now i just LOVE sushi! And as for perfumes, I think tastes do change... I used to like fresh cool notes and now I like warmer fragrances on a sweet side...

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  11. So your husband is there to broaden your gourmand horizons? :) I barely convinced my boyfriend to try it and I don't think he'll repeat the experience again. :)
    As for perfume, I am currently very stuck on warm orientals. I hope spring will change that.

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