Fragrance Thread

[gimmegimme]

what can you tell me about the use of candles by for example, dyptique or CDG?

i am contemplating buying one, but i don't know if it justifies the price tag.

If i let a candle burn for one hour, will the smell last a lot of time in the room or do i have to let it burn continously?

Sort of depends on the candle...I think the technical term for the smell lasting power/distance is the "throw". You'll definitely notice a big difference between a Diptyque candle and something you buy at a junk store. If its the candle version of a particular perfume, they use the middle-notes typically.

You won't have to let it burn continuously to smell it...like you said, for an hour or two. The problem is that you'll grow accustom to the scent and won't notice it after an hour or so anyway, unless you leave the room and come back. Some candles are strong enough that you don't even have to light them for them to scent the room.

[gimmegimme]

what can you tell me about the use of candles by for example, dyptique or CDG?

i am contemplating buying one, but i don't know if it justifies the price tag.

If i let a candle burn for one hour, will the smell last a lot of time in the room or do i have to let it burn continously?

Sort of depends on the candle...I think the technical term for the smell lasting power/distance is the "throw". You'll definitely notice a big difference between a Diptyque candle and something you buy at a junk store. If its the candle version of a particular perfume, they use the middle-notes typically.

You won't have to let it burn continuously to smell it...like you said, for an hour or two. The problem is that you'll grow accustom to the scent and won't notice it after an hour or so anyway, unless you leave the room and come back. Some candles are strong enough that you don't even have to light them for them to scent the room.

[Egpt]

Sort of depends on the candle...I think the technical term for the smell lasting power/distance is the "throw". You'll definitely notice a big difference between a Diptyque candle and something you buy at a junk store. If its the candle version of a particular perfume, they use the middle-notes typically.

You won't have to let it burn continuously to smell it...like you said, for an hour or two. The problem is that you'll grow accustom to the scent and won't notice it after an hour or so anyway, unless you leave the room and come back. Some candles are strong enough that you don't even have to light them for them to scent the room.

i decided to give the candles a try and i bought the Baies one, i wanted to get the figuer one but it was sold out already. i liked pomander better, but since it was going to be a gift for my mother i thought baies was a safer choice for her.

in terms of eau de toilette, today i smelled all of them, and i liked 5 of them a lot. they were Phylosikos, L'eau , Tam Dao, L'hombre dans L'eau and OPÔNÉ.

hopefully in the next week i will be able to make up my mind for one of these

[Egpt]

Sort of depends on the candle...I think the technical term for the smell lasting power/distance is the "throw". You'll definitely notice a big difference between a Diptyque candle and something you buy at a junk store. If its the candle version of a particular perfume, they use the middle-notes typically.

You won't have to let it burn continuously to smell it...like you said, for an hour or two. The problem is that you'll grow accustom to the scent and won't notice it after an hour or so anyway, unless you leave the room and come back. Some candles are strong enough that you don't even have to light them for them to scent the room.

i decided to give the candles a try and i bought the Baies one, i wanted to get the figuer one but it was sold out already. i liked pomander better, but since it was going to be a gift for my mother i thought baies was a safer choice for her.

in terms of eau de toilette, today i smelled all of them, and i liked 5 of them a lot. they were Phylosikos, L'eau , Tam Dao, L'hombre dans L'eau and OPÔNÉ.

hopefully in the next week i will be able to make up my mind for one of these

[gimmegimme]

i decided to give the candles a try and i bought the Baies one, i wanted to get the figuer one but it was sold out already. i liked pomander better, but since it was going to be a gift for my mother i thought baies was a safer choice for her.

in terms of eau de toilette, today i smelled all of them, and i liked 5 of them a lot. they were Phylosikos, L'eau , Tam Dao, L'hombre dans L'eau and OPÔNÉ.

hopefully in the next week i will be able to make up my mind for one of these

Baies is the only candle I've ever bought for myself...so I'm sure she'll like it. L'Ombre Dans L'Eau is the same scent. The 5 you liked are basically their 5 biggest sellers. I think you can even buy them in a set in small, 15ml bottles.

[gimmegimme]

i decided to give the candles a try and i bought the Baies one, i wanted to get the figuer one but it was sold out already. i liked pomander better, but since it was going to be a gift for my mother i thought baies was a safer choice for her.

in terms of eau de toilette, today i smelled all of them, and i liked 5 of them a lot. they were Phylosikos, L'eau , Tam Dao, L'hombre dans L'eau and OPÔNÉ.

hopefully in the next week i will be able to make up my mind for one of these

Baies is the only candle I've ever bought for myself...so I'm sure she'll like it. L'Ombre Dans L'Eau is the same scent. The 5 you liked are basically their 5 biggest sellers. I think you can even buy them in a set in small, 15ml bottles.

[headcoat]

Anyone know any discount codes for Serge Lutens stockists? Beautyhabit's codes dont work on SL, Aedes never has sales/codes

Also looking for discounts and codes on L'artisan and Costes candles. Help a brutha out.

And heads up: 25% off on CdG Incense frags and candles at tobi.com till the end of the year. Cheapest you'll likely find on these.

[lithiumsys]

Has anyone sampled the CdG Cologne series 4 scents? Opinions?

I'm looking for a new cologne, but don't really know anything about fragrances. Are citrus scents during the winter a complete no-no?

[gimmegimme]

Anyone know any discount codes for Serge Lutens stockists? Beautyhabit's codes dont work on SL, Aedes never has sales/codes

Also looking for discounts and codes on L'artisan and Costes candles. Help a brutha out.

And heads up: 25% off on CdG Incense frags and candles at tobi.com till the end of the year. Cheapest you'll likely find on these.

For L'Artisan, use "MUA" on www.beautycafe.com. I think Beauty Habit's annual sale is over for SL's. I think you can use the same code to get free shipping at Luckyscent. Try TOUTIE for a discount at Beautyhabit.

[gimmegimme]

Has anyone sampled the CdG Cologne series 4 scents? Opinions?

I'm looking for a new cologne, but don't really know anything about fragrances. Are citrus scents during the winter a complete no-no?

They're quite nice actually...but short-lived because they are a cologne (cologne is the word used for a traditional recipe of lavendar, citrus and orange blossom). Vettiveru was my fav from the lot.

Wear whatever you want...there aren't really any no-no's, per se. Most people like lighter citrusy stuff in the summer and warmer, heavier stuff in the winter, but its a personal preference.

[lacquered]

sampled the guerlain mitsouko you rec, gimme. Unfortunately, I didnt like it. Smelled bit too feminine for my liking. Also tried most of the lutens line, and tried on the gris clair twice, just to be sure what it really smelled like on my skin, which I thought was bit rusty metalesque. Just gonna get the different company's bergamote instead. Do you know where to get them in hong kong, gimme?

[sarcastic]

I dont know pretty much anything about colognes, but could someone recommend me a clean scent? Compared to the awesomeness smell of Axe I smell around school pretty much all the time I wanted to stand out and smell nice. ( I personally hate Axe but everyone else uses it.) Supposedly Aqua Di Gio is amazing but is there anything else you guys could recommend if I dislike it because i'm taking a trip to Sephora soon

[tangerine]

I dont know pretty much anything about colognes, but could someone recommend me a clean scent? Compared to the awesomeness smell of Axe I smell around school pretty much all the time I wanted to stand out and smell nice. ( I personally hate Axe but everyone else uses it.) Supposedly Aqua Di Gio is amazing but is there anything else you guys could recommend if I dislike it because i'm taking a trip to Sephora soon

Not all Sephoras will have all of these, but the one near me does:

Terre d'Hermès

Chanel Allure Homme

Chanel Allure Homme Sport

Guerlain Vetiver Sport

I would say those all have a pretty clean scent to them.

[Egpt]

even though i never bought for myself, i like Chanel Allure Homme Sport a lot

[polishmike]

Too Many New Fragrances

And Stagnating Sales Lead

Some Brands to Go Upscale

By CHRISTINA PASSARIELLO

December 24, 2007; Page B1

PARIS -- After years of gorging on celebrity scents and fashion-house fragrances, consumers are turning up their noses at designer perfumes.

"The offer is so enormous, you get lost going into a perfume shop," says Daniela Andrier, a perfume-maker at Swiss fragrance company Givaudan SA. "It's like eating off a plate with too much food and you lose your appetite."

Over the past few years, exclusive fashion brands such as Prada, Gucci and Hermès have been churning out new fragrances as a way to ensnare consumers who can't afford their $5,000 bags, but will splurge on a $100 bottle of "eau de toilette." Celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez and Celine Dion have also unveiled eponymous fragrance lines.

More than 200 new so-called prestige perfumes -- those sold in department stores and cosmetics shops, rather than lower-end drugstores or supermarkets -- were unveiled in the U.S. alone in 2006, according to the last available figures from market research firm NPD Group.

Yet despite the entries, sales of these high-end perfumes, which make up 60% of the overall fragrance market, have been slowing. Total revenue rose 3% to $18 billion globally in 2006, according to research firm Euromonitor, and is expected to grow even less in 2007. By comparison, the overall luxury goods sector has grown by about 12% this year.

Some perfume launches have proven to be big flops. Last year, YSL Beauté, the beauty division of fashion and retail conglomerate PPR SA that makes perfume for fashion house Yves Saint Laurent, pulled a scent, Nu, from the market five years after it was introduced. It also stopped selling a recent men's fragrance, M7, in the U.S. after sales stalled. A spokesman says other new YSL perfumes, such as Cinéma, have performed better.

The reason is olfactory overkill. To lure consumers, perfume brands have mounted huge advertising and distribution campaigns, selling perfumes in their own boutiques as well as in department stores and airport duty-free shops world-wide. They have also kept prices low; while high-end leather bags and sunglasses have steadily risen in price, most designer perfumes still cost less than $100.

"All the new perfumes resemble each other too much," says Bouchra Sentissi, 47 years old, who was recently browsing Sephora's aisles in Paris in a heavy fur coat. "They just change their packaging, but everything smells the same inside."

Ms. Sentissi, who has been loyal to Chanel No. 5 for many years, was looking for holiday gifts.

"Too fruity," she winced, pointing to shelves stocked with new launches from Dior, Cacharel and Gucci.

Besides turning off consumers, the plethora of perfumes has also hit bottom lines. With so much competition, many companies spend as much as $50 million to promote a major new scent. That's equivalent to an entire year of sales for most perfume brands, making it increasingly difficult to recover the costs.

"Perfume with longevity and huge profits has dissipated," says Wendy Liebmann, president of New York-based consultancy WSL Strategic Retail.

Some fashion brands have been trying a new strategy to make perfume an upscale purchase again.

Hermès International SA recently unveiled a new line of exclusive perfumes called Hermessence. The French fashion house's scents, such as a new lavender-and-licorice-smelling Brin de Réglisse, cost $190, or nearly twice the fashion house's major perfume lines such as Kelly Calèche.

The collection, which is only available in limited Hermès boutiques, is packaged in luxurious bottles and in travel-size vials that cost $135 apiece. There's even a $590 version of the perfume that is sold in a personalized leather cuff.

In April of this year, fashion designer Tom Ford unveiled Private Blend, a line of 12 scents -- evoking aromas such as tobacco, gardenia and cedar -- sold at trendy department stores such as Harvey Nichols in London and La Rinascente in Milan.

Italian fashion house Prada SpA was the first to tap into consumers' discontent in 2003. Designer Miuccia Prada dropped in on Ms. Andrier's lab at Givaudan outside Paris to discuss the idea of an exclusive floral scent.

Ms. Andrier got to work on a perfume comprised mainly of natural oils, rather than the synthetic ingredients that make up most fragrances on the market. Ms. Andrier's Iris, Carnation, Ambery Leather and Orange Blossom scents were introduced in Prada's boutiques, at $150 each. Like Mr. Ford's new perfumes and Hermessence, Prada's Exclusive Scents line is unisex.

So far, the new ultra-exclusive perfumes aren't reaping bouquets of profits, partly because they're so expensive to make.

For example, Chanel SA's new Les Exclusifs line uses greater proportions of pricey ingredients such as iris extract, which takes seven years to develop.

But, at $175 for a 200-milliliter bottle, Les Exclusif perfumes sell for the same price per ounce as Chanel No. 5, whose recipe isn't as costly to make though it's one of the most expensive fragrances on the market.

Giorgio Armani SpA's most expensive scent, Privé, which costs $185 a bottle, uses raw ingredients -- such as bergamot, neroli and vetiver -- that are up to 10 times more expensive than those used for other Armani perfumes. The bottle, which is made out of African kotibe wood and caps made to look like jade and moonstone, is costly to manufacture as well.

Yet the scent remains unprofitable three years after its launch. French cosmetics company L'Oréal SA, which makes the perfume, says it's sticking to the scent because it hopes the cachet around it will stoke interest in Armani's more mass-market fragrances.

Working on Privé was like "a laboratory of ideas," says L'Oréal international brand manager Patricia Turck Paquelier. "How can we invent the next Chanel No. 5 that will last 100 years?"

Link

[homi29]

i just read through this entire thread because i was bored at a family gathering yesterday and at work today

i picked up CDG (original) EdD on a whim yesterday and i still cant decide if i like it or not. It's very medicinal and sweet but seems to go okay on my skin and 30mins or so after it smells very warm and inviting..

i love how different it smells, but now that i have a 50ml bottle i dont know how i'd feel about wearabiity over time

i suppose its a love it or hate it fragrance , but its years ahead of my previous buys in terms of how interesting it is ((clinque happy and burberry for men)

[sarcastic]

Not all Sephoras will have all of these, but the one near me does:

Terre d'Hermès

Chanel Allure Homme

Chanel Allure Homme Sport

Guerlain Vetiver Sport

I would say those all have a pretty clean scent to them.

Thanks for the recommendations, I checked them all out and sadly I didn't like any of them. I did find a cologne called L'Homme YSL which I think I'm going to buy, if not, I'll just stick with the Aqua di Gio

[jackierose]

[xcoldricex]

all i know is that im smelling very sombre right now because of this gris clair. loving it still.

gris clair reminded me of caron's l'anarchiste - even though they don't share the same notes.. maybe the metallic notes in both? on the fence on the lavender....

and damn SL's have crazy lasting power. i want to find one i'll like.

[keagan]

I just bought miel de bois by sl- just off the base notes.

But I want something that smells like death.

I want to smell like death.

help me gimmegimme.

[fearitself]

dolce and gabana

[concealed]

just bought some oxygen by lanvin

[Uncanny]

i just read through this entire thread because i was bored at a family gathering yesterday and at work today

i picked up CDG (original) EdD on a whim yesterday and i still cant decide if i like it or not. It's very medicinal and sweet but seems to go okay on my skin and 30mins or so after it smells very warm and inviting..

i love how different it smells, but now that i have a 50ml bottle i dont know how i'd feel about wearabiity over time

i suppose its a love it or hate it fragrance , but its years ahead of my previous buys in terms of how interesting it is ((clinque happy and burberry for men)

Don't forget you got it because you lost a rock-paper-scissors game while small freezing children watched from outside.

On a related note, I'm very happy about my recent pickup of CDG EdP. Great scent, although I've been told it isn't particulary masculine, which I'm fine with.

[Brienneoftarth]

i just picked up christian celle calypso tangerine. I've had it before but not for a few years. I love it. It starts off with an almost overwhelming burst of citrus but then settles down into what i guess is woodier and more masculine.

[polishmike]

for sale at the Monocle site. Did anyone see this at regular CdG stores?

[lacquered]

anyone knows where to cop The Different Company in HK? tried seibu, harvey etc, but cant find it.

[Ichigo100%]

Just bought the Dior Homme EDT from Sephora today. Must say it was worth the buy. Such a long lasting smell, the lavender really stands out once applied..

Although, I think they overpriced the 1.5ml because the bigger size online was the same price as the smaller version.. O well..

[ouss]

gimme sorry for the noob question, but whats the diff. between dh eau de toilette and dh cologne?

[gimmegimme]

gimme sorry for the noob question, but whats the diff. between dh eau de toilette and dh cologne?

DH Colognes:

http://eluxury.com/estore/browse/category.jsp?catId=cat20009&navChild=cat90038&brand=3806&brandName=

DH EDT:

http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P168103&shouldPaginate=true&categoryId=1073

DH Cologne is sort of the name of the collection of 3 colognes.

[gimmegimme]

anyone knows where to cop The Different Company in HK? tried seibu, harvey etc, but cant find it.

Im not familiar with HK, but you can purchase directly from their website. You could also call/email them for stockists (if you haven't already).