I’ve trawled the internet in search of the most comprehensive list of House Guerlain’s fragrances and I’ve found the most comprehensive to be:
Wikipedia’s article on Guerlain
Basenotes database on Guerlain
and
Fragrantica’s list of Guerlain fragrances
What I plan to do with this list is a surprise! If anyone has any other databases or sources for Guerlain’s fragrances please let me know. 😀
Nah, I don’t hate how it smells or anything. My relationship with Coco Mademoiselle has cooled off even more since I last smelled and reviewed it. I have a bottle of it, mostly full, kicking around but I don’t wear it very often or at all. I’m bored of it, to be honest. Up until recently, I thought of it as the generic women’s version of Acqua di Gio.
Keira Knightley is Eating This Perfume Bottle
See, I don’t actually hate Coco Mademoiselle. It still smells just fine to me. I just hate smelling it from a hundred feet away.
A few days ago I was at a job interview, clutching my print and digital portfolio to keep them from spilling out of my lap. Another candidate had just entered the room. She was nice, smiled at me as she passed by, except I didn’t notice anything else about her because my nostrils filled up with Coco Mademoiselle and burned the back of my sinuses.
I love a good, strong fragrance as much as the next smellies fan, but there’s something to be said for exercising a bit of restraint. Especially when you’re going to be sitting with other people in a small office space (or waiting area). We sat there for about 30 minutes, both of us trying to fill out our respective employment forms and both of us rapidly coming to the conclusion that her perfume was too strong.
I was trying hard not to make it obvious that it was bothering me, but my sinuses have gone crazy since moving to a place covered in flora, fauna and other things that enjoy pollination.
“Excuse me,” she says. There’s a bit of embarrassment in her tone. Her voice also drops into a whisper. “Is my perfume too strong?”
I make that weird pained/wince face that some people make when they’re about to deliver bad news and they’re afraid some giant disembodied hand is going to fly out of the sky and slap them. “A little bit.”
“Shoot.” She’s smelling her wrist now. “I only did four sprays. Can you believe it? I was actually worried it wouldn’t be enough.”
She was up first, I wished her luck. She looked really concerned but put on a brave face and emerged 45 minutes later to wish me luck as she headed out the door with a strong trail of Coco Mademoiselle following her. In the end, I got the call telling me the company went with someone more experienced with print advertising as opposed to what I do and I went on my merry way. But not without remembering how the tiny interview room reeked of Coco Mademoiselle or the three creative directors who were fanning their noses when I walked in on them.
Another instance of Coco Mademoiselle abuse occurred during a commute to work. I used to hop on public transit every day and while the usual odor of mild annoyance is an appropriate enough backdrop, a woman who had a particularly affectionate view of Coco Mademoiselle sat beside me. I was hit with the initial scent before she sat down and proceeded to spend the next hour (glad I no longer have to do that commute) growing more and more nauseous while the people around me “discretely” covered their noses.
See, here are three things I’ve noticed with Coco Mademoiselle. I often smell it on young women, I often smell it on professional women, and I often smell it way too well. For some reason, Coco Mademoiselle is a particularly potent fragrance. Despite its potency, there are still people who think Coco Mademoiselle needs to be sprayed more than twice. I’ve even witnessed a sales associate spray Coco Mademoiselle all over herself eleven times, windmilling her arm like an out of control electric fan. That spot in the store didn’t stop smelling like Coco Mademoiselle until 48 hours had passed.
Here’s the moral of this shaggy dog tale, Coco Mademoiselle is strong stuff. I like it just fine, but easy on the trigger.
Thanks to Steve from The Scented Hound and a reader who told me that my comments weren’t working. This happened after the theme change where the functions written into the theme did not allow for one of my comment plugins. This resulted in comments being sent, but never actually getting into the queue even though they appeared to be sent successfully.
So if you tried to send a comment since Monday and it didn’t show up, that’s what happened :-(. I was really suspicious that something wasn’t working right when for a week straight, there hadn’t been any spam (sad). Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you Steve and Amanda for bringing this to my attention. The comments should be working now!
On the positive side, the new contact form works like a charm! 😀
I don’t think I can argue for any Demeter fragrances being works of art, unless we felt like having a long drawn out conversation about Marcel Duchamp (I never want to have a long drawn out conversation about Marcel Duchamp). But they are very fun to try and some of them are just spot on in terms of what they’re supposed to smell like. With the buzz surrounding the upcoming release of Demeter’s Dragon Fruit scent, I decided to go through my list of tried Demeters and pick out some favorites.
Thunderstorm
While some argue that it doesn’t smell much like a thunderstorm, this one takes me back and entices some memories of a rumbling sky and rain falling from a thatched roof. I also have to give it credit for teaching me an awesome word; petrichor.
Babar! Demeter! My childhood!
Earl Grey Tea
For those times when I want a cup of tea, but am too lazy to actually go make one. Demeter’s Earl Grey Tea comes the closest of all fragrances I’ve tried to smelling like actual earl grey tea. It falls apart a bit at the end, taking on a bit of dirt and grit, but it’s a great approximation nonetheless.
Dirt
A fan favorite. Dirt smells just like what you expect it to smell like. Results may vary as my yard dirt smells a bit more bitter than this. But it’s a good approximation for those times when you want to smell like the earth but don’t want to rub actual dirt all over yourself.
Tomato
I’m actually not a big fan of tomato smell. Or at least I keep saying that, but when you stick a tomato in my hand, my first impulse is to always smell it. Demeter’s Tomato reminds me more of the leaves than the tomato itself. It’s crisp and vivid and delightful–even for someone who doesn’t even like the way tomatoes smell!
Laundromat
I’m consistently surprised by how many people ask me about fragrances that smell like clean laundry. Laundromat reminds me of childhood, of pulling clothes out of the dryer with my mother and folding them. While I no longer have such affectionate feelings for laundry folding, I still love the smell of clean clothes.
Jolly Rancher Green Apple
Ever wanted to relive those youthful days during recess on the playground? Where the most you ever had to worry about was the math quiz on Friday, what to write about for your book report, and waking up on Saturday to catch those sweet, sweet cartoons? Jolly Rancher Green Apple takes me back to those days and, for some reason, reminds me of Babar.
Barbados Cherry
Barbados Cherry (Acerola) is one of my favorite things ever. The tiny little berries, the tart taste, the beautiful flowery aroma. Demeter does their best with this and I think it’s somewhat off. But Barbados Cherry still smells fantastic, and I gotta give Demeter credit for their homage to a very understated fruit.
What about you? What Demeters have you tried and which ones do you like best?
The new blog style has landed. I’m working on customizing it so it might change its appearance a bit in the next few days. I’m already liking it a lot more though, with its simpler features!
I gave this layout a few months to grow on me and it just hasn’t. There’s something sterile about it that doesn’t appeal to me even though I really do like the features. I’ll be uploading a different layout sometime next week that will hopefully work out a bit better!
I really wish stores that sell perfume would stop displaying their testers under super bright lights (looking at you, Sephora). It degrades the perfume inside of the bottle and eventually alters the smell. That’s not to mention the heat those lights give off are not very good for the juice either.
Shalimar Ad
I wonder if anyone has ever literally taken a perfume bath. And not like spraying a couple of spritzes into bathwater. But a situation where they bathe in a tub of Eau de Toilette. I bet it’s terrible for your skin and hair and doesn’t even smell that good and you’ll probably get bored of the scent long before it leaves you.
I wish factices were a lot easier to locate and buy. I’ve wanted a giant quality Shalimar factice for a while for the sole purpose of just–having it.
Speaking of Shalimar, I didn’t realize it before how much the new ads for it have changed. Not sure I like the direction they’re taking it either. Then again, I tend to prefer the classic ads anyway.
When will I ever just bite the bullet and buy that bottle of vintage Chypre de Coty off my friend like I always wanted? Is it because I’m worried it won’t smell as good as I think it will? If that was the case, why do I keep going to my sample to reaffirm that yes, Chypre de Coty still smells awesome.
Is Agonist still absurdly expensive? Yes.
So they have this show coming soon to some channel I forgot the name of called Collection Intervention. It’s silly and all. But it makes me wonder if I’ll ever amass as much perfume as that guy amassed Star Wars memorabilia.
I’m not one for hot weather. Don’t ask me why I moved to Florida of all places. So I’m usually hanging around inside and staying out of the heat during these hot summer months. But when I do go out, the high heat has me running to a few summer standbys and I came to realize that I reallylike coconut.
Image credit: Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen
Virgin Island Water by Creed
I’m actually running low on the small bottle I have of this. And while many Creeds escape my understanding, Virgin Island Water remains one of the best interpretations of coconut I’ve smelled yet. I’m looking for other (preferably more affordable) alternatives. But until then, I’ll keep riding the sliver of fragrance I have left in the bottle of this perfume.
Vanilla Coconut by Susanne Lang
Vanilla and coconut has been done to death in the fragrance world. I love the combination so I’m happy to have the myriad of choices. And if I were to grab a cliche, it would be this one because it’s a very nicely composed fragrance with a tropical feel–perfect for these summer months!
Coconut Lime Verbena by Bath and Body Works
I like what I like and I happen to really like this. Painfully simple, very affordable, and comes in a huge bottle. Coconut Lime Verbena reminds me of clean, fresh leaves. I had a bottle of body wash in this fragrance and used that up in a couple of weeks. I can’t get enough of this stuff and it just screams summer to me.
Maybe it’s because my mother had cravings for coconut when she was carrying me. Or maybe it’s all the coconut I ate as a child. Or maybe it’s the sheer frustration of not being able to get my hands on a good coconut despite being so close to the tropics but I’ve really been craving these three particular fragrances lately.
Seems I can’t turn a corner these days without hearing someone wrinkling their nose at perfume usage and spouting some puzzling facts about how they’re full of chemicals and poison and will harm everything on your body from your organs, to your skin, to the pockets on your shirt. I’m wondering when this fad in the whole “chemical free” trend is going to end. I touched upon this subject last year in relation to perfumes and people’s fear of it giving them cancer.
I still see people worrying themselves sick over whether or not fragrance usage (be it themselves using it or someone nearby) causing them permanent long-term physical damage. What I often observe when I delve a bit deeper into these fears is a lack of understanding about how fragrances actually work. There is also a belief that perfume fragrance chemicals and the fragrance chemicals in ordinary household things are somehow different.
Dior Hypnotic Poison Ad
If you do happen to be wondering if wearing perfume is safe, then go down this list and think about what you use on a daily or almost daily basis:
That’s only a few of the things that I could think of off the top of my head that have some sort of fragrance chemical applied to them that people would find themselves using on a daily basis. As a friend of mine who decided that she would one day like to eliminate all “man-made” fragrances from her life would tell you, eliminating everything scented from your home is much easier in theory than it is in practice.
And furthermore, unless you have a medical condition that makes you extremely sensitive to scents, why worry so much about perfume when the chances of you using any number of the above fragranced products on a daily basis are relatively high? And given the nature of some of those fragrances and what they’re used for, they’re often much stronger and heavier duty than what you’d find in a perfume if they’re expected to perform their jobs in a harsh environment like Windex or some other household cleaner. Even the products that are sometimes sold as “non-scented” actually have chemicals whose purpose is to block scent.
So why are we so crazy about being chemical free anyway? I hate how the word “chemical” has become so taboo. Like just saying it will make people flinch away. Marketing and media outlets don’t do the word any favors either, often calling anything that could have an adverse affect on someone a “chemical”.
Which is why all this brings me back to a very old (and very cliche) standby: The Dangers of H2O. Water, itself, is a chemical. Our bodies are made up of chemicals. Some scientists argue that our emotions are just the result of chemical reactions.
So given all this chemical stuff floating around outside of you and inside of you, would a spray of perfume really hurt you in the long run? Who knows. All I know is that everything is chemical in some way or another, and my life is too short to spend it fretting about fragrances when everything is already so heavily fragranced as it is.
I’ve been seeing a lot of people ask how long their perfume will be good for before they throw it into the trash. Then I see people telling them that the shelf life of perfume is two years and after that, into the bin it should go. It was a little strange to see such a set date and time for the expiration of something like a fragrance, but maybe that’s because I’m sitting on a big pile of perfume samples with some having vintages going back to the 1920s. And believe me, they still smell pretty good.
So I did some digging–okay, I mostly picked up a box of Gucci Flora and turned it over. There it was; 36M or three years. Not the two year mark I was looking for but close enough. Oddly, I apparently picked up the only box I had with an expiration date on it first. Everything else was lacking in that little symbol that conveyed the message that when my bottle hit three years old, I should promptly huck it into the trash with some varying level of fear and disdain.
Chances are, I’ll probably still be using it five or more years down the road if it’s still good.
There are quite a few things I absolutely agree should have expiry dates to warn people before their products go bad. And while I can’t say much against all expiry dates, I do feel like calling into question the practicality of expiry dates on perfume.
In the first place, the expiration dates aren’t very reliable. At least, they haven’t been in my experience. I have a collection of perfume–like anyone else obsessed with fragrances would–most of them are anywhere from two to fifty years old and all of them are doing just fine. I can count the amount of times I had to throw out an old bottle on one hand–two fingers to be exact. Now we all know the dangers of anecdotal evidence, but I just can’t see the point of throwing out perfume because a date had passed because I’ve yet to experience a need to.
Some argue that perfume expiration dates are needlessly scaring people into thinking their perfume is only good to a certain amount of time before they have to throw it away and buy another (probably expensive) bottle. Others argue that the expiration dates can’t be verified because no one knows how long the perfume has been sitting on the shelf. Both good points and points I agree with. On the other hand, people are saying that perfume is a cosmetic and using expired product could harm or irritate your skin. And some people have had perfume expire on or before the expiration date on it.
This isn’t an issue that’s going to be decided on a blog calling itself “That Smell”, but it did make me curious. Mostly about figuring out the exact age of my bottles. And what do you know? There is actually a way!
The Cosmetics Calculator is a neat little tool that can usually give you a date of when your product was made. I’m not sure as to how accurate it is, and I use it as a good to know type of thing. I was also just excited that parsing those lot codes could so easy.
Here’s how you use the calculator: Grab your bottle of perfume, it probably has to be a major brand because only a limited number of brands are supported by that particular calculator. The calculator has a list of brands it supports too. Find the lot code, it’s often either on the box, on the bottle, or on both. Look under the bottle and box for the code it’s often in one of those two places. You’re looking for a four to five character code. Once you find your code, plug the code into the calculator, select the brand of your perfume, and you should be good to go.
Thankfully, Gucci was supported. So I put in my lot number and my perfume was apparently manufactured on April 28, 2009. So it’s been more than three years.
Oh well. I just sprayed myself down with some Gucci Flora about three times just now. And it smells great!
Clearly my “ancient” bottle of Flora did not go bad at the magical three year mark. See, perfume is one of those things that’s hard for me to to justify throwing away simply because it’s old. Maybe I just have a hard time of it because I have a collection of “old” perfume from the 90s that smells awesome and that I wear sometimes. Maybe it’s because I’ve associated people or memories to those old perfume bottles and those old scents and I can’t imagine throwing those away. Or maybe it’s because I’ve never had a perfume that was properly kept suddenly go bad on me yet.
Whatever it is that makes me keep these old scents around, I just don’t think it’s worth working myself up into a frenzy about all the old product I have. After all, I’m currently scented by an (apparently) expired bottle of perfume and I smell just fine. In the meantime, that Cosmetics Calculator is really fun to play with. Apparently, two of my perfumes were manufactured on the same day. Who knew!
