It's fascinating reading everyone's takes and experiences with perfume. You're all so well-informed!
As some of you know, I am not a perfume person but started sniffing as a way to treat my covid anosmia.
It's been a wild ride and it's quickly becoming a real hobby!
The anosmia comes and goes, and each time my sense of smell returns, my experience of a particular fragrance will be different. It turns out there are periods when scents are "dull", for want of a better word, and so I'll think I'm smelling something completely, only to discover later that I was "missing" half of the notes.
A really good example of this is
Vilhelm's Mango Skin. The first couple of times I tested it, I thought it was a very likeable fruity perfume that would be easy to wear. However, as my smell returned to full capacity, I discovered a totally different side to this fragrance. It starts fruity then evolves into a really dirty kind of smell. I asked my SA and she said it did the same on her skin, so I quickly learned not to trust my nose, even when I think it's working.
I'm very lucky to have discovered a few perfumeries around so I've been able to test a lot of niche fragrances for free. I feel quite guilty at how easy the access to these has been for me, while my perfume-loving friends have to rely on decanters. I do feel the experience is wasted on me with my limited knowledge and bouts of anosmia, but I have been having fun and learning a bit as I go. My SA is aware that I'm only testing as treatment and has been playfully suggesting various scents because she finds my anosmia fascinating (and amusing!)
Sadly, I have found that there are many houses that I can write off completely because there'll be something in all their scents that doesn't work for me. I don't know if that's normal but, it's been the case for me so far.
Born To Stand Out is one example. A new-ish house that my SA keeps pushing on me, saying it's the most popular house and her customers love it. Everything I have sampled from that brand starts out pretty, then becomes very chemical-smelling and makes me severely nauseous. I don't know what's in the base but it does not agree with me.
The last one I tried was
Sugar Addict and it was painful from start to finish. No sugar, just a lot of abrasive chemical spice.
Add to that
Maison Rebatchi (everything smelled like a skunk had sprayed me). My SA's face at my reaction was priceless. I don't think I've made anyone laugh that hard in years!
Matiere Premiere's fragrances were all good, although not my style at all. The one I remember most was
Parisian Musc because I thought it was a "pretty girl" perfume (whatever that means)...but I'm not a pretty girl, so
They lasted all day and were difficult to wash off, so if longevity is a consideration for anyone, I'd recommend sampling this house.
Parfums de Marly all gave me instant headaches, while
Memo Paris/Floraiku mostly gave me allergies (exceptions being
Marfa from the former, which is a light citrus-tuberose; and
One Umbrella for Two from the latter, which smelled like blueberry and cannabis- why would you want to smell like this?) Since they're the same company, I guess it makes sense that they share an ingredient I'm allergic to.
On the other hand,
Les Liquides Imaginaires has been a really fun house for me to test.
L'ile Pourpre is a lovely spiced fig (heavy on the spice) that is so cosy! I'll probably get a bottle at some point because it was just so relaxing to wear (if that makes sense). Fig has proven to be a note I get along with!
I also tried
Desert Suave once and it was a really interesting gourmand. I couldn't smell it fully so will have to try it again when my nose behaves. Also,
Abyssis was the most realistic 'ocean' fragrance when I smelled it. I would really like to try that again. I can't think of any occasions to wear those last two but, they're really interesting.
These frags are hard to find so I'm not sure if I'll get the chance again, but I'll jump on it if I do.
Diptyque was another fun one to test. They'll give out samples for free in their store, so I asked the SA there to choose their faves. I knew of their candles but was exploring their scents for the first time and it made sense to trust their judgement. The one I remember best is
Eau Duelle, which is a smooth vanilla-incense. If anyone is fond of incense frags, this one lasted a full day without being too strong or projecting too much.
It's the first incense not to give me an allergic reaction, so while I don't want to smell like this, I'm happy to have experienced it without trouble.
I liked everything of theirs but they all dried down the same, and I think I prefer them as candles.
Serge Lutens was another that was really interesting.
Five O'Clock eau de Gingembre smells just like a ginger snap cookie (meanwhile,
Jo Malone's Ginger Biscuit smelled like savoury, oregano-infused bread dough? Perhaps my nose not working that day; I can't be sure!
)
Un Bois Vanille smelled like a vanilla-scented candle. I mean, you could smell the wax! I don't know how they did that. It was weird, lol.
The ginger was the only one I would wear but it was really interesting to test them all, especially as I could smell everything sharply that day.
BDK was another house that kind of worked for me and where the fragrances lasted 10 hours or more. Recently, I was given 5ml samples of
Gris Charnel, Creme de Cuir and
Tubereuse Imperiale by my SA.
The
tuberose was very bubble gum like to me, which I found odd, but I had several people ask me what I was wearing so they could buy it.
Creme de Cuir smelled different every time I wore it at different stages of anosmia recovery, but ultimately, on my skin it smelled like old school men's aftershave. I gifted that sample and it smelled far more interesting and smoother on the person I gave it to. I guess the issue there is more skin chemistry than partial anosmia.
Gris Charnel was a journey! It started off very abrasive so I ignored the sample for a bit. Then, when I returned to it, I found it had really developed into a lovely, creamy sandalwood. It still starts with a spice punch but it's more mellow with time and smoothly transitions into the creamy base. I can see why it's so popular but it's definitely one that opens up with more use. If I'd gone off my initial impression, I would have discarded it.
The rest of the house's offerings were not for me, though. The funny thing is, every time I go into the perfumerie, there is someone buying a bottle of
Pas Ce Soir. It's so popular! My skin makes it terribly sour so I sadly don't know what other people are smelling.
I'll have to keep sniffing things and seeing if my perception changes and if the anosmia can be fully cured. It's frustrating to go in and out of it because I can never trust my own nose. There was stuff I smelled a year ago that was lovely then but, now I recoil from it. It'll be interesting to see where I am a year from now.
Thanks to all of you who answered my questions along the way. It feels weird to share my uninformed thoughts but I hope nobody minds.
Oh and I must say, the highlight of my experience has been sniffing some
Henry Jacques along the way (which I've already posted about up-thread). I will likely never experience those fragrances again but, I feel very lucky to have had a quick brush up against that world. I still feel like it's truly one of those where one bottle of their exquisite perfume will be all that one needs.
As for Tatiana, I suspect that the version currently available is not the same as the older ones. I am hoping to find something that is currently available that more closely matches the sesame oil. It would be very difficult to find an exact match though, but hopefully we can find something in the same family of scents that would be a good match.
In fact, it's quite lovely. My White Shoulders bottle is pure parfum, .25 oz and several years old. Looks like it's not available in parfum concentration anymore. White Shoulders in cologne strength is available very inexpensively but it's not as nice as the parfum. I will continue to explore other perfumes similar to White Shoulders to see what else is out there that could potentially resemble the sesame oil.
I felt like I was right there with you. I love that you have a fragrance equivalent of an LBD. I'm now thinking that I need to find mine! 
Perhaps if I write another story about one of my other favorite perfumes, I will keep that in mind.