Perfume Tag

Stefanie from Girl With The Curious Nose has created a perfume tag and you know there's nothing I like better than banging on about perfume, so I'm in!

1. Fragrance with the most memories attached?

Oddly enough, perfumes don't evoke that many memories for me - a) because for many, many years I was pretty much the only person I knew who had more than a passing interest in them, b) because I've always been fickle and never really had a "signature" scent, and c) because those that do have memories attached  tend to be both unpleasant scents and unpleasant memories - such as a horrid woman I used to work with who reeked of some cheap floral fragrance that I swear she went swimming in each morning. Nonetheless, two do come to mind. Whenever I smell someone wearing the original Joop I think of my gorgeous friend Dylan, who wore it in the early 90s, and was very patient about my persistent requests to sniff his neck. On some people that fragrance can be a bit meh, but on him it was just divine. The second is Opium, my first proper, grown up perfume after several years of Impulse sprays and The Body Shop White Musk. I can still vaguely remember my young self in my slinky black jersey dress with the plunging V at the back, high heels and proper seamed stockings, Marilyn Monroe platinum curls and red red red lipstick, thinking I was the bee's sexy knees with a waft of Opium surrounding me. Man, I had it going on. The perfume was brought back from the US by my then-boyfriend, a sweet guy I later dumped for a complete knob. Ah well.

2. Your most-loved perfume bottle? 

Honestly, I'm not that into perfume bottles. I know for most perfume lovers the bottle is half the fun, and having a display of beautiful glass bottles is something to show off, but for me... I just don't care that much about it. If I had to pin one down I'd say I've always been quite fond of Lolita Lempicka's blue apple bottle.

3. Which perfume do you wish was still produced?

Fendi Theorema. Oh my goodness, I LOVE that stuff. I didn't discover until after it had been discontinued, and I've had to content myself with buying regular decants from The Perfumed Court, but I would love a full bottle.

4. Favourite perfume advertising campaign?

I don't pay a lot of attention to perfume advertising, because it tends to be the big names that I don't have all that much interest in. However, I would have to say that the recent Old Spice campaign is not only the best fragrance advertising I've ever seen (albeit for a kind of skanky men's cologne), it's possibly the best advertising I've ever seen of any kind.



5. Best perfume-related discovery?

The Lip Print! The discovery of Stefanie's first blog led me to many new and fabulous perfume experiences - Wiggle Perfume, The Garden Bath, Van Cleef & Arpels First, and so on and so forth. Wait, does that mean she's the best perfume-related discovery or the worst? Lol.

6. Perfume that you expected to love but didn't?

Jo Malone Vanilla and Anise. It didn't smell like vanilla, the anise was very faint, and it just smelled like any number of perfectly nice but bog-standard perfumes. Disappointing.

7. Perfume you would give your left arm for?

A full bottle of Fendi Theorema, as mentioned above. Or Tobacco Vanille by Tom Ford, which is way out of my price range at the moment, but I suspect Su and I have worked our way through about three full tester bottles at Adelaide David Jones between us.

8. Top 5 favourite perfume notes?

Magnolia
Vanilla
Tonka
Iris
Honeysuckle

9. Perfume you wish would die a horrible death?

Obsession by Calvin Klein. Ugh.

10. Next perfumes on your "to buy" list?

I have a wishlist a mile long, but I've banned myself from any more perfume buying at least to the end of the year. I would say my most wanted are decants of Frederic Malle Carnal Flower and Vivienne Westwood Boudoir (I can't remember why, I just remember I really want to try it), and a full bottle of Van Cleef & Arpels Collection Extraordinaire Bois d'Iris.