Scent/Fragrance of the Day thread

Heh, went with Yatagan largely through indifference, but I notice that the sweater I pulled on has a good dose of Chanel Chance on it.

Originally Posted by rach2jlc

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Some time give Le Labo Patchouli 24 a sniff. If you found the Black uninteresting, I'd be curious to see if the Le Labo (made by the same "nose" and somewhat related to each other) would more spark your interest. It's really a unique one...

I will.

Le Labo's Vetiver 46 was my first scent purchase, and I still like it, though it is pretty powerful and serious stuff. I bought it on a family perfume day when we all went from store to store smelling different things and talking to the various reps. The L'Artisan rep at Barney's were really good and spent a lot of time explaining things to my daughters. He was much better informed than the clerk at the L'Artisan shop on Madison Avenue.

While I found the whole Le Labo vibe a bit silly and off-putting in its pretentiousness, I won't let that get in the way of trying something if it is really good. I recall that Luca Turin is a big fan of their Patchouli 24 and I enjoyed his little review of it.

Yeah, I have a love/hate thing with Turin, though it's been some time since I read anything of his, so I'm really not an "expert" in his work. With scents, I like seeing the notes, which "nose" made it, and then go and sniff on my own, unencumbered by others' opinions. But, Turin goes back and forth with me between being very clever and "getting it" and then being so subjective that he sometimes misses the boat for some odd incomprehensible bias.

Originally Posted by rach2jlc

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Yeah, I have a love/hate thing with Turin, though it's been some time since I read anything of his, so I'm really not an "expert" in his work.

With scents, I like seeing the notes, which "nose" made it, and then go and sniff on my own, unencumbered by others' opinions.

But, Turin goes back and forth with me between being very clever and "getting it" and then being so subjective that he sometimes misses the boat for some odd incomprehensible bias.

I like Turin's writing very much for his discretion. When he hates something - the review is just long enough so you know he hates it - no beating a dead horse. When he loves something - he goes on for pages why scent X is so great.

But yeah, there's a bias (hello - Chanel PE one star - WTF?) and he doesn't always give a scent his full attention (Amber Absolute a subset of YDAN - WTF?), but he's all we have at the moment.

BTW - if you've not read the Emperor of Scent, track that one down. It's a great read.

Originally Posted by Thomas

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I like Turin's writing very much for his discretion. When he hates something - the review is just long enough so you know he hates it - no beating a dead horse. When he loves something - he goes on for pages why scent X is so great. But yeah, there's a bias (hello - Chanel PE one star - WTF?) and he doesn't always give a scent his full attention (Amber Absolute a subset of YDAN - WTF?), but he's all we have at the moment. BTW - if you've not read the Emperor of Scent, track that one down. It's a great read.
Yeah, I need to read more of his stuff... I admit a bias for his bias. lol I just get turned off too much by fragrance reviews in general... scent is so ephemeral that aside from notes and the "nose" who made it... I think it best to sniff on one's own. With Turin, another forum member on another site once said it best. "One ought to read like like one listens to a Radio talk Show Host." In other words, lightly, with a grain of salt, and perhaps as a provocation to think/try something new, not necessarily as having any sort of "word" on quality or judgment. Most of the members here know/do that with no problem... but at places like Bnotes and such, so many people take his word for gospel and use it in determining which scents they like/try/don't like, etc. OR, they use Turin for support/endorsement of choices that maybe they wouldn't make on their own. Groupthink... it's teh interwebz worst attribute!!!

Originally Posted by Thomas

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I like Turin's writing very much for his discretion. When he hates something - the review is just long enough so you know he hates it - no beating a dead horse. When he loves something - he goes on for pages why scent X is so great.

But yeah, there's a bias (hello - Chanel PE one star - WTF?) and he doesn't always give a scent his full attention (Amber Absolute a subset of YDAN - WTF?), but he's all we have at the moment.

BTW - if you've not read the Emperor of Scent, track that one down. It's a great read
That one is by Chandler Burr, about Turin.
It is not a bad read, but I am always distracted by the knowledge that Burr is a second-rate Turin. In every respect. Though Burr is a professional journalist, Turin is a better writer. Though they both review perfume, Turin has a better ability to recognize and then explain what he is smelling. And Turin understands the science and business better. And unlike Turin's reviews, I think Burr's reviews are mostly gibberish and florid descriptors un-moored to the scent. I would not be surprised if he has a library of them written in advance and he just attached one to whatever he is supposed to be writing about. Nonetheless, I liked Emperor of Scent because the subject is interesting. Secret of Scent, written by Turin is also really interesting, though a bit more technical.

Originally Posted by rach2jlc

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Yeah, I need to read more of his stuff... I admit a bias for his bias. lol I just get turned off too much by fragrance reviews in general... scent is so ephemeral that aside from notes and the "nose" who made it... I think it best to sniff on one's own.

With Turin, another forum member on another site once said it best. "One ought to read like like one listens to a Radio talk Show Host." In other words, lightly, with a grain of salt, and perhaps as a provocation to think/try something new, not necessarily as having any sort of "word" on quality or judgment. Most of the members here know/do that with no problem... but at places like Bnotes and such, so many people take his word for gospel and use it in determining which scents they like/try/don't like, etc. OR, they use Turin for support/endorsement of choices that maybe they wouldn't make on their own.

Groupthink... it's teh interwebz worst attribute!!!

That comment has some validity - first and foremost, one should read Turin's reviews because they are enjoyable. Second, they often contain lots of information about things other than what the perfume smells like- bits about how it came to be, how it was changed, the industry, the arts - whatever. Third, while his opinions are subjective, he is pretty precise when he does describe things and, as mentioned above, he has a gift for clarity. One way to think about it is that if he describes something that is there, it is there. But if he omits something, it doesn't mean it isn't there. It may just mean he didn't care about it, even though you might. I suspect, rach2jlc, that someone like you would get a lot more out of his Guide than I do. That is because he does a very good job (I think) of linking scents to each other, to their perfumers and to their time. The better a mental library you have, the more you will appreciate those comments.
Perhaps I am just a fanboy, but coming across him was like coming across a rare genius. You know it when you see it and he seems head and shoulders above most not just in this genre, but in others too.

Originally Posted by dopey

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That one is by Chandler Burr, about Turin.
It is not a bad read, but I am always distracted by the knowledge that Burr is a second-rate Turin. In every respect. Though Burr is a professional journalist, Turin is a better writer. Though they both review perfume, Turin has a better ability to recognize and then explain what he is smelling. And Turin understands the science and business better. And unlike Turin's reviews, I think Burr's reviews are mostly gibberish and florid descriptors un-moored to the scent. I would not be surprised if he has a library of them written in advance and he just attached one to whatever he is supposed to be writing about. Nonetheless, I liked Emperor of Scent because the subject is interesting. Secret of Scent, written by Turin is also really interesting, though a bit more technical.


(...)

Burr seems nice enough but I could not agree more with your statement. Secret of Scent was severely recondite (but still interesting) and I was going by context and college chemistry to get me through.

Originally Posted by dopey

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That comment has some validity - first and foremost, one should read Turin's reviews because they are enjoyable. Second, they often contain lots of information about things other than what the perfume smells like- bits about how it came to be, how it was changed, the industry, the arts - whatever. Third, while his opinions are subjective, he is pretty precise when he does describe things and, as mentioned above, he has a gift for clarity. One way to think about it is that if he describes something that is there, it is there. But if he omits something, it doesn't mean it isn't there. It may just mean he didn't care about it, even though you might. I suspect, rach2jlc, that someone like you would get a lot more out of his Guide than I do. That is because he does a very good job (I think) of linking scents to each other, to their perfumers and to their time. The better a mental library you have, the more you will appreciate those comments. Perhaps I am just a fanboy, but coming across him was like coming across a rare genius. You know it when you see it and he seems head and shoulders above most not just in this genre, but in others too.
This makes sense, absolutely. I think my problem and admitted unreasonable bias hitherto with Turin has been a sort of "Armani bias," meaning that I guess my complaint with him is the way many people (NOT you, of course) TALK about his work or use it as a way to belittle others... kind of the same way a lot of Armani wearers seem to think that they are god's gift to clothing, even though Armani doesn't (in and of itself) make bad stuff. For example, on some fragrance fora, some so-called "experts" will use Turin to talk down to other people who may not agree with them or with Turin about a scent. When somebody says, "Eh, XXYY didn't mesh with my nose," they'll say "Well, Turin says blagh balgh blagh" and use it as a thinly veiled slight, as though Turin (or XX senior member of Forum Y) knows my nose better. So, that coupled with his admittedly dismissive tone or very short-sampling of many scents (as T mentions above), it just sort of didn't sit well with me initially. I usually take at least a month of sampling before I make my mind up about a scent... that's why I love 10ml decants so much (it gives you about 80 sprays/uses... PLENTY to make up your mind fully about a scent where a 1ml Department Store sample cannot). So, I do need to read more of his stuff and, given your remarks above, just might do that during my Winter Holiday. It's good to approach stuff "cleanly" from time to time. Often, true geniuses are never the problem, it's the non-geniuses and what they do with their work (this is especially true in philosophy... maybe it's true in "scent" as well) Oh, btw... Sisley Eau de Soir for me today. I like it a lot; it's got depth, richness, something crisp... but it definitely isn't full-bottle worthy for me, especially given how much they want for it. I also got a sample of the matching body creme which is heavenly... but not for $90.

today seemed like a good day for L'Artisan Voleur de Roses...

Picked up some Chanel Cuir de Russie pure parfum today. It finally came in.

Angel today, I must say my tastes have changed alot, years ago I thought this was the greatest..
Now its literally making me sick even though I put hardly any on, I'm going to have to get rid of this stuff...

Originally Posted by FlyingLotus

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Angel today, I must say my tastes have changed alot, years ago I thought this was the greatest..
Now its literally making me sick even though I put hardly any on, I'm going to have to get rid of this stuff...

+1000
total scrubber in my book!

Any of you guys tried \tL'artisan Mure et Musc Extreme ?
The description of smelling like blueberry pie has me a bit intrigued...
Going to have to see about a sample of this one.

Originally Posted by FlyingLotus

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Any of you guys tried \tL'artisan Mure et Musc Extreme ? The description of smelling like blueberry pie has me a bit intrigued... Going to have to see about a sample of this one.
^It's a neat one and I used to have a bottle, but DEFINITELY sample it first. It's sweet and fruity, but very musky (as the name implies). It is a hard scent to describe and not entirely unpleasant, but it isn't everybody's cup of tea. I don't know about the blueberry pie comparison, but in any case, it does have a certain gourmandy sweetness to it. You have to ask yourself... do I want to smell like musky, sugary fruit?

Originally Posted by FlyingLotus

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Any of you guys tried \tL'artisan Mure et Musc Extreme ?
The description of smelling like blueberry pie has me a bit intrigued...
Going to have to see about a sample of this one.

Originally Posted by rach2jlc

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^It's a neat one and I used to have a bottle, but DEFINITELY sample it first. It's sweet and fruity, but very musky (as the name implies). It is a hard scent to describe and not entirely unpleasant, but it isn't everybody's cup of tea. I don't know about the blueberry pie comparison, but in any case, it does have a certain gourmandy sweetness to it. You have to ask yourself... do I want to smell like musky, sugary fruit?

I have a bunch of samples from the shop. I gave them to my daughters. If you want one, PM me and I will see if I can pry one loose. No promises, though.