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I love Heeley too! Zeste de Gingembre is perfect for wearing to the office in the summer. Which Heeley is your favorite?
It was so much easier smelling them this way.Brilliant idea!
I really love the style of this house.
French Flower in particular is beautiful but it is so thick I feel like I can chew it
My son likes several of the David Beckham line. I wish they would come out with a sampler.
I used to wear vintage chamade (I think extrait strength and EdP if I recall
For summer, do you like rose oud combos
I want to learn more about this
@jblended, very different in style from Italian fragrance, but have you tested
What fragrance notes do you like for summer? In extreme heat, I like citrus (and a bargain favorite used to be 4711). Depending on skin chemistry, grapefruit scents can be nice too. I also am fond of vintage EdC chanel 19; Cristalle.
See, here: https://boisdejasmin.com/tag/recommend-me-a-perfumeSome people amplify an accord they like (adding more vanilla to gourmand fragrances) or musk, amber, or patchouli to darken or dirty a scent. Or deepen a scent with oud, cedar etc
Hello, @jblended. I was halfway through a long answer to your post a couple days ago and came back to finish it only to find it didn’t save. So I am starting over and hopefully it will be all good this time. Please excuse me for the delay in responding. I had been hoping to try some iris fragrances and compose a reply with reviews but between travel and some other issues, this has not happened so I figured I would just reply instead of waiting for the ideal moment.I got to test it. I'd only warn you that I'm an amateur at this and am not sure my opinion counts for anything at all.
I tested iris-centred fragrances on 2 days, including L'atessa. Figure I should put down my notes on all of them.
The lighter ones:
Glossier You- there's something super harsh here. Scrubbed it almost immediately.
Orris Tattoo- a likeable, simple iris. Stuck around all day. Got boring quickly, but I can imagine it as a safe office scent.
Sonic Flower- leans closer to Tattoo than You but, as it develops, it smells like day-old perfume (a nice one, mind you, but stale-ish). Not sure if that's my skin or the fragrance.
The complex ones:
Iris de Nuit- It's a contradictory fragrance. It's dark. It's rooty. It's still airy, though. Not sure how they managed that but it's somehow substantial and light at the same time. It's also sharp and soft at the same time. The contrasts are interesting and sniffing it as it developed was fun. My personal favourite of the ones I tried.
Iris Malikhan- Iris and incense. I remember trying this before and thinking it's more incense than iris at that time, too. It's thick and suffocating. I scrubbed it both times I tried. My SA said it's the best example of iris, but to me, it's too, too much.
Lost Alice- It's soft, it's mostly iris, but it's very nondescript to my nose. The SA kept telling me it's complex and there's tea in there, but I may have been overwhelmed by Iris Malikhan to the extent that I couldn't smell this properly.
L'Attesa- This was like Iris Malikhan to me in that it was instantly too much. It was an iris bomb. The SA said it should be fizzy at first, then creamy, but all I got was thick, linear, overpowering powdery iris. It's somehow also waxy in texture. The longer it sat, the more waxy it felt.
I'm sure many would find it heady and lovely, but I dislike anything too strong. I love everything I've tried from Heeley because it's all transparent, but I can't do anything from Matiere Premiere because they're like being punched in the face with scent. Though Masque Milano's L'Attesa is not as strong as anything from Matiere Premiere, it is very present, very dense and I'd imagine it would leave a strong trail everywhere you went.
I also got to play around with some Musks the other day.
Musk K- wow, this smells like a Bounce dryer sheet. It immediately brought a crisp, starched white shirt to mind. However, there's something in the dry down that didn't work for me. Nice but, the price point is...ambitious, for what you're getting.
Soft Tension- This is something I need to try again because I couldn't figure it out. It's musky and light, but also very salty?
Mono Cachemire- The winner by a mile. Easy, clean, crisp, bright. I actually loved it on me. Very soft but could clearly smell it for 10 hours.
The price on all 3 of these seemed a bit much for what you're getting (soft, clean, laundry), but I can't deny they're all good enough to warrant that if you have the budget. I'd jump on the chance to own Mono Cachemire because it had me feeling really crisp during an extremely hot day.
It was really fun sniffing by note/category, rather than by brand. I found it easier to figure out what I liked that way.
I guess I need to learn more about specific fragrance notes. With my limited knowledge, for lighter scents, I would say I like clean, citrus, and slightly floral. I love the smell of grapefruit but I don't know if I've experienced it in a perfume. It sounds nice. I've written down your suggestions and will try to find them to sample.What fragrance notes do you like for summer? In extreme heat, I like citrus (and a bargain favorite used to be 4711). Depending on skin chemistry, grapefruit scents can be nice too. I also am fond of vintage EdC chanel 19; Cristalle.
The website bois et jasmine has a section for fragrance recommendations and a lot of interesting and informative posts
Some people amplify an accord they like (adding more vanilla to gourmand fragrances) or musk, amber, or patchouli to darken or dirty a scent. Or deepen a scent with oud, cedar etc
Rose is a floral note that is very popular with such additions (dark rose fragrances are very popular)
I have mentioned this story here once.
But every composition smells different on an individual person.
Thank youI have mentioned this story here once.
I was told in the perfumery shop Lustre smelled very special on my skin, very sophisticated. I thought it was a SA trick to sell it. By this time HG had made a new perfume. HG has been living in Gouda. Gouda is not far from the place where I lived i the NL. I made an appointment. He was also surprised and astonished how gorgeous the fragrance was on my skin. Shortly, I bought it.
I saw his working place, completely different from the Amouage factory in Muscat.
But every composition smells different on an individual person.
In the past my perfume friends and me were regulars at the different scent presentations. I remember vividly when Byredo was presented in Amsterdam, his herbal scent smelled with white flowers on my skin. I couldn't believe my nose. My friends didn't do either.
If a rose note is mentioned, you never know how much, if it is artificial or real rose oil. Trust your own nose and tastes differ.
Some fragrances are so perfectly blended and it is difficult to name the notes.
Of course, you can train your nose. I bought oils ( iris, ylang-ylang etc) My friend and me tried to find those notes in scents.
I am a rose-y fan, have collected a significant amount of rose-y scents ( sheisido, fueguia, guerlain, amouage). My new passion is Henry Jacques and mb Laurent Smal. Expensive but worthy every penny.
I have never sold any of my fragrances since the very beginning of my perfume way. I don't collect them. I have a perfume wardrobe.
@880 gives wise advices concerning shoes and clothing shopping strategy, and I use the same when it goes about perfumes.
And of course, I am lucky to find like-minded persons here to change ideas, news and information.
I feel the same about you 
Hello! I’ve been thinking about your quest for a summery fragrance and have some preliminary thoughts. The word sophisticated automatically brings Chanel to my mind. I second the suggestion of Chanel Cristalle. There’s EDP, eau de toilette and the au verte version. Chanel has changed the bottle design about a year ago and I haven’t smelled the updated versions but definitely recommend testing these. There’s also No 5 l’eau which is a light, citrusy flanker which might be worth a sniff.
I really like this idea of a seasonal capsule for fragrances and have gradually been doing something similar for a little while now. However I am not as disciplined as you and don’t keep track although I should since it seems quite insightful. This summer the driving force behind my fragrance capsule is….evaporation! I noticed a few of my vintage perfumes were slowly evaporating so they are in heavy rotation now. It has also firmed up my resolve to not buy any more vintages.
