Perfume | The Scented Hound

March 15, 2014
by The Scented Hound 26 Comments

Yes Virginia, there ARE plenty of vintage perfume lovers out there!

Once again, I found an estate sale up in Maryland where there was going to be some upscale perfumes for sale. As the sale was to start on Saturday morning at 8am and they were taking numbers for first in the door starting at 7am, I made sure that I was up early to head 30 miles away to stand out in the dark to get one of the first numbers. To my surprise, my hubby wanted to come with me (getting up at 5:30am…I think my crazed madness for this all provides some amusement to him) and we were standing at the door at 6:45. You think that I would have been number 1, but instead my number was 9. The people in front of me seemed to be pretty innocuous and I was hoping that they were. My hubby for the past week was asking why we needed to be there early because who want to buy old perfume? He probably was right, no one but me.

So 8am sharp the door opens and who wants to buy perfume? Everyone wants to buy perfume. There was a mad dash by 4 people in front of me and they were hogging the space getting first grabs (OK, they were first so they got first dibs, but from my vantage point…well, you know). In any case, I ended up getting some sweet items, but what I really wanted was the unopened vintage Magie Noire’s, which there were 2 parfum extraits. I had to settle for the 7.5ml used version with the missing top. But for $5, who cares.

So what else did I get? A 7.5ml bottle of vintage Molinard de Molinard parfum extrait in a Lalique bottle that was still in its cellophane. It is a beautiful gem of a bottle and I love the juice, all smokey and leathery in the beginning, only to turn into a light fruity breeze in the end. I am more of a Habinita fan, but I love this little jewel.

I also got a 7.5ml bottle of vintage Lagerfeld, KL parfum extrait. Again, still in the cellophane. Deep rich and rather manly, I have the feeling that I’ll be wearing this alot.

And then there’s the 30ml bottle and 7.5ml bottle of Guerlain Samsara parfum extrait. I only had a tiny bottle of vintage Samsara EdP as part of my collection, so this was a real treat. And to be honest, I don’t need the 7.5ml bottle, so if anyone in the US is interested, I may be willing to part with it. Just drop me a line. Funny, I was able to check the codes to see what year they are from and both are from 1989. However, the large box has no bar code and the small box does, so it’s right in that period where bar codes started coming into existence.

Overall, I’m glad I got up early to get to the sale. But since I now know that there are other vintage perfume hunters out there, I’ll make sure that I get there at 6:30 next time rather than 6:45!

And I need your help on naming some perfumes. The following photos are for a sale coming up right around the corner in a couple of weeks. I believe the yellow box is L’Air du Temps but can anyone identify what else is on the table?

March 4, 2014
by The Scented Hound 19 Comments

PERFUMED RESOURCES

A couple of times a year, there is something called the Big DC Flea Market that comes to town. Vendors from around the region come to show their wares; some good, some bad. It can be fun to see if you can find yourself a good bargain or treasure of some type. Typically, I have found that if I do find some perfume, its overpriced and/or the bottles are in bad shape. Yesterday, I saw various bottles, of Opium, Lanvin’s My Sin, Worth’s Je Reviens to name a few; all of which were not a good enough deal for me to go after. I then ran across another vendor who a 1/2 filled bottle of vintage Van Cleef and Arpel’s First Parfum (which I found I loved this summer, well, at least the EdT) and a full heart-shaped stopper bottle of some unknown Guerlain (it’s massive, it has to be at least 2.5 ounces). Now, the Guerlain didn’t have a label, was huge and had the Baccarat stamp on the bottom. I knew it either had to be L’Heure Bleue or Mitsouko. The sales lady said that it was sealed and had never been opened as far as she knew. From the amount of liquid in the bottle I figured that was true. So, she said she wanted $75 for both…I offered her $60 and walked away with these two to add to my collection.

I can appreciate a pretty perfume bottle with juice in it, but I really want the juice. So what to do about getting that stopper out of the bottle? Luckily I remembered that I had read an article on Perfume Shrine stating how to open a stuck stopper through the use of rubbing alcohol. I ran to the drugstore and got myself some alcohol and 15 minutes later the bottle was open. The juice revealed a deep rich civet heavy fragrance of yesteryear (it is definitely not MItsouko, so I figure it’s L’Heure Bleue). I have no idea how this has been degraded, but to me it smells wonderful. And the bottle is big enough so that I can get my index finger down into the bottle. What a treat.

So where is this taking me?…I decided that I keep running into these fantastic articles and blog entries that are informative and helpful, so I decided to launch my Resources page. As I find an interesting or helpful article I’ll link them to this page. I hope that you find the articles and links to be useful and feel free to send your recommendations to be included on the page. And yes, how to get a stuck stopper open can be found on the page. I’m ready to find my next great deal!

February 23, 2014
by The Scented Hound 8 Comments

New Release: Nocturnes (2013) by Caron

This review is based on the 2013 Nocturnes release that is part of the Caron La Selection collection of fragrances.

WHAT I SMELL: Nocturnes opens bright and beautiful and very similar to one of my all time favorites, Givenchy Ysatis. It’s bold with florals highlighted by gorgeous ylang-ylang and warmed rose with hints of pepper; although this is perfectly blended so that notes are hard to distinguish on their own. Soon enough the Ysatis like boldness upon first application starts to retreat and you start noticing the tuberose a bit more. But it’s a soft tuberose and one that’s rather comforting and pretty. The fragrance doesn’t change much after this except that the vetiver woodiness becomes more prominent. Nocturnes is pretty, close to the skin and an overall lovely surprise.

Nocturnes Notes: Top notes are orange, rose and neroli; middle notes are jasmine, tuberose and ylang-ylang; base notes are sandalwood, vetiver and musk.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: A lilting melody.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE NOCTURNES: uncomplicated, pretty, endearing

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT NOCTURNES: Perfume Shrine. I can only find additional reviews for the older version of the fragrance.

BOTTOM LINE: I can’t say how this compares to the older version of the fragrance, but this is really quite pretty, but nothing groundbreaking. Nocturnes is the perfect fragrance for when you just want to feel content and happy as there’s nothing dark about this at all. It would be perfect for the office, or running errands in your jeans. I have read some complaints about the new Caron bottles that are part of the La Selection collection where people thought that the bottles were too boring and masculine. I think they’re better in person than in pictures. They’re simply designed, heavy in weight and the cap is magnetized so that it won’t fall off of the bottle. For me, the new bottles definitely work!

Bone Rating: 3.5 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Floral Woody Musk
Classification: Feminine
Expense: $126 for 100ml EdP