Perfume Wish List

Okay, when I get obsessed with something, I get into this spree of can't stop, won't stop. Do I think I have plenty of perfume to last me through the year? Yes. Are there still bottles that I want? Absolutely. Especially working in food service where I definitely need to look and smell great all the time, there's just not a limit.

I purchased decanted samples of these scents and I want to eventually get a couple of these in full size bottles. I am going to leave a few alone and pass the list on to Shaun, because he was interested in buying perfume for my birthday and Christmas but I never had anything I wanted.

DKNY Be Delicious Fresh Blossom: If I could go back in time, I would have tried Red Delicious before buying it and realize that I like this one a hundred times more. I do still like Red Delicious and I'll definitely continue to wear it, but there's a bottle of this unboxed on Fragrancenet.com for $32.99 and I'm really considering getting this one because it smells great. The notes include Apricot, Cassis, Grapefruit, Smooth Skin Accord, Blond Woods, Jasmine, Rose, Apple, and Muguet. I don't even know what half of those notes smell like on their own, but I like them together.

Gucci Flora Gorgeous Gardenia: I was really bummed when I couldn't find Gucci II anywhere, so I decided I was going to see if there were any other Gucci perfumes I wanted to try. There's an entire Gucci Flora line, but the Gorgeous Gardenia one sounded the best to me. Notes include pear, red berries, gardenia, sugar, frangipani, and patchouli. I really like the smell of this one, but it's pricey. This is $50 on frangrancenet.com, but it's over $100 retail for the 3.3oz bottle. This is one I'll probably save for a later date or get a smaller bottle.

Gucci II: I'm lovesick over this stupid perfume and I haven't even smelled it yet. I almost don't want to talk about it. This is probably going to be a blind buy and I think the scent has been discontinued. The notes include a blend of tart, tangy fruits, cassis, blackberry and a mix of red berries, orange, violet, jasmine, freesia and peony. I want this so bad. I am currently bidding on a bottle through eBay, but I know what I'm willing to spend. If someone beats my bid, then I'm definitely not spending more. It's possible that I would settle for a tester bottle without that large glass cap.

Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh Delight: I got samples of both this and the regular edition of Daisy Eau So Fresh. I ended up not really liking Daisy Eau So Fresh, but I do like this version. This was a limited edition release, so I'm sure this is going to be hard to find. If I decide to buy this perfume, I may end up getting one without a box or a bottle that has been used. I don't see an issue with purchasing perfume that someone didn't like and they used a little bit of it, especially if it ends up being a good price. The original has top notes of grapefruit, pear and raspberry with middle notes of rose, jasmine and apple blossom. The Delight version has notes of sweet, run-ripened apricots and blood oranges and high notes of pink pepper and white tea. 

Admittingly, I did blind buy a limited edition bottle of an Eau So Fresh, but I think it was the Eau So Fresh Sunshine. It was an unboxed bottle, but the picture looked like the sunshine edition with brighter flowers. When it comes in the mail, I'll find out which one to cross off my list. If they end up smelling similar, then I definitely don't need both. 

Hugo Boss Boss Femme: This is just such a random perfume choice. I noticed that a lot of the scents in the pink bottles were what I was looking for, so I clicked on this one. The notes were Tangerine, Apricot, Freesia, Jasmine, Fleur de lys, Blackcurrant, Rose, and Lemon Wood. Now that I know what I like in a scent, I decided to try this one out. As this perfume is a bit heavier and expensive, I'll probably end up filing this one away for a bit. I feel like I have plenty of perfumes to wear in the winter, so I might ask for this for Christmas next year. It's only $35, but that's only for a 2.5oz and many of the other ones are 3.3oz for that price or a little more.

Versace Yellow Diamond: I should have known this was coming. I'm so hooked on Versace Bright Crystal Absolu that I had to try another one of their scents. I really like this and it isn't that expensive. This is an EDT, so not as strong as an Eau De Parfum. It's listed as $42 on fragrancenet.com, which is more than I'd like to spend on perfume now that I have as much as I do. This is also another scent I'll end up saving, but maybe not until next year. I think this would be a nice spring scent, so I might wait until I have a coupon. The notes include lemon, mimose, pear, freesia, bergamot, water lily, neroli, guaiac wood, musk, amber. I think it smells fresh and nice.

Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream: I'm conflicted on this one, which is why I made sure to leave it at the bottom. It was the first Marc Jacobs perfume that I wanted, but now that I have a bottle of Daisy Eau So Fresh, I don't know if I can warrant purchasing this one. As an Eau De Toilette, it's too expensive. The cheapest I can find it is $55, and that's without a box. I'm still leery about purchasing tester bottles because I like having the fancy caps on my perfume. This is another scent that I will file away, and it I happen to find a bottle on eBay that is half full, I might splurge if the price is right. The notes are blackberry, wisteria, coconut, lychee, pear, and grapefruit, so it is right up my alley. I'm not even sure why it's so expensive.

Perfume Diary #4

DKNY Red Delicious: I'm not knocking this perfume at all. I'm just saying that I'm not sure I should have blindly purchased the largest bottle out there. Red Delicious was discontinued, so I wanted to make sure I could still get it and enjoy it by purchasing the 3.4oz bottle. I really like the scent, and since it is discontinued, I couldn't get a sample from myperfumesamples.com because it wasn't available. That being said, I don't have a little spray bottle sample atomizer like I do with my other perfumes. I did buy a rollerball of this scent on eBay to touch up during the day. I think my biggest gripe with this perfume is that I don't like rollerballs. The ball always seems to get stuck and it takes forever to apply the scent. There is an upside, though. At least everyone else doesn't get assaulted by my perfume when I spray it on because it's only a rollerball. I'm going to continue to wear this one, but I am disappointed that it doesn't last very long, especially the perfume coming from the rollerball.

Vera Wang Princess: I'm not sure why I felt the need to include this scent, but I did pull it out of a drawer the other day to try it on. I only own a very small bottle of this perfume, and it happens to be one that doesn't even spray. The bottle is so small that it's just a dab and go perfume. I think I would have worn this more often if it did spray, because the dabber is just so aggravating. There isn't a way to get this on your skin without it getting everywhere. I've considered purchsing a full bottle of this beause I remember how much I used to like this fragnrace a few years back. I've wondered if it is possible to outgrow a perfume because everywhere I read reviews about how this is a teenage girl's perfume. I don't think this pulls too sweet on my skin, but the notes do include water lily, golden apricot, pink frosting, precious amber, lady apples, pink guava, mandarin meringue, dark chocolate, wild tuberose, vanilla chiffon, Tahitian tiare flower. Both the dark chocolate and pink frosting notes seem a bit much to me, but I can't pick those out when I smell this perfume. If I can find this for a good price and it doesn't end up being a seven year old bottle, it's possible that I will add this to my collection.

Gucci Eau De Parfum II: I just want to get this out of the way. I have not smelled this perfume, yet I'm seriously lusting over it. It's a Gucci perfume, so obviously it is more on the pricey side. I don't want to jump into purchasing this perfume, but the notes sounds like something I would really love. The top notes are orange, black currant, and mandrin. The heart notes are violet, blackberry, and fresh jasmine. The base notes are heliotrope, musk and cedar. Unfortunately, this isn't something I can find a sample of because myperfumesamples.com doesn't carry it. I also don't want to just buy a small bottle in case I love this perfume because then I'm going to need to buy a bigger bottle. I'm not sure what I want to do about it, but I know that I really want this perfume and I think I'm eventually going to end up buying it.

Perfume Diary #3

Jimmy Choo Exotic - My initial thought was blah, this stinks. It's a lot heavier than I expected it to be from the notes. I guess considering that it's from Jimmy Choo, you would want a perfume that only needs one or two spritzes to do the job. I worried about what I smelled like for most of the day, but I didn't notice that my perfume smelled overwhelming when I got home. I did add another spray and noticed that I didn't hate it. At first, I didn't think I could ever wear this out again, but now I actually think I might like it. The notes include grapefruit, raspberry, black currant, passion flower, orchid, and patchouli. It's possible that I initially smelled the patchouli, which isn't my favorite on its own. There is a possibility of actually liking this perfume, so I'll probably do another post.

Marc Jacobs Dot - This is one of those perfumes that I don't know if I want to purchase. Look at the bottle. The bottle is so cute. I'm trying to move away from how much I like the design of the bottle. It was much easier to get away from Honey because I ended up not really enjoying the scent. For Dot, I do like the scent. The notes for Dot are listed as red berries, dragon fruit, coconut, jasmine, honeysuckle, vanilla, neroli, driftwood, and musk. All the scent notes sounded great to me, which is why I ordered a sample. My only gripe with this perfume is that it doesn't last very long at all. My sample is almost gone because I carried the mini spray in my pocket and reapplied throughout the night. I think if I do purchase a bottle of this scent that I'll wait until the summer. I feel like the scent will probably linger better when the weather is warmer and it isn't really a winter fragrance to begin with anyway.

Escada Moon Sparkle: Ah. Back to this little gem. I'm so happy that I bought a full size bottle of this perfume. It smells so good. Right now, I think I can safely rank this as above DKNY Red Delicious but under Versace Bright Crystal Absolu. I'm worried about using up Bright Crystal Absolu because it costs so much money, but I think I've discovered my fall back scent. I actually shouldn't get to spritz happy with this one because I do think it is discontinued, but I'm sure a 3.3oz/100mL bottle should last quite a bit of time. I noticed that it's back in stock on Perfumania.com, so I think I can still get it. I did purchase a full size bottle on eBay and I got a much better price for it then than what is listed right now. I really love this scent so far and I don't mind that I need to touch it up to keep it fresh. It does last on my skin, but I like when you can actually smell this. One of the guys at work actually really likes this on me and keeps trying to think of what perfume it reminds him of. The first night I wore it to work he asked me what I wearing because he could smell me when I showed up for my shift. I think I may wear it when he's working just because.

Perfume Diary #2

Just a couple more scents for now. There's only so many I can wear at a time, of course. I'm sure that each one will have more than one spot in the Perfume Diary series as I decide which ones I like the most and which ones I'm willing to invest in a whole bottle. After all, this isn't like buying a $16 lipstick and hoping for the best. Some of the perfumes I'm testing out go for almost $100 a pop for the larger size bottle, like Bright Crystal Absolu which retails at $110 for the 3.2oz size.

Nina Ricci Nina: This is actually a scent that I liked when I was younger, about the same time I also wore Fantasy by Britney Spears and wished to have enough money to purchase a bottle of Vera Wang Princess. I never even owned a sample vial of this perfume. I only knew I liked it from the peel off in a magazine. Well, I finally got my hands on a small sprayer of this scent. The notes listed are apple, praline, lemon, peony, apple tree, lime, musk, cedar, and datura. It's the same fruity floral scent I remember, but it doesn't wear very long at all. It is an EDT, but I feel like it wore off pretty fast. This would definitely be something I would have to bring with me to spritz on again during the day. Overall, I really do like the scent. I just wish it lasted longer.

Coach Poppy Freesia Blossom: Coach has a quite a few scents in the Poppy range, so it was difficult to narrow it down to just one. Even now, I think I may need to dip back in just get the rest so I can actually compare and see which one I like better. The notes for this one are listed as bergamot, cassis, raspberry, strawberry, apricot, jasmine, orchid, freesia, vanilla, brown sugar, and musk. It's definitely one of my favorites that I've tried so far. I even had a coworker tell me that I smelled divine when I wore it, so that's saying something. I did notice that it wore off enough that I sprayed a little more on while I was taking a bathroom break, but this comes as an EDT and an EDP so if I end up buying a bottle I'll purchase the EDP instead. According to one website, this scent was listed as limited edition. I don't want to pay more than $60 for the large bottle of this, so I may wait until I see it on Perfumania.com and hope that it's a legitimate bottle.

Perfume Diary #1

Okay. This is something I want to do now that I'm starting to get into fragrance. Since I barely have time to blog about things I buy and swatch, this is perfect to actually write down my thoughts on products I've been using.

I recently sprung for my first designer fragrance, Bright Crystal Absolu by Versace, and have started exploring other scents that I might enjoy. I also purchased Red Delicious by DKNY and while I like Bright Crystal Absolu more, I do like the smell of Red Delicious.

Because I've ventured into trying scents, I decided to get a few decants online and order full size bottles of the ones I like the most. I hauled a bunch of 3ml decants from myperfumesamples.com and I've smelled about half of them and worn a couple just around the house.

I've come to realize that I most enjoy fruity floral scents, which I'm sure I knew all along.

In this entry, I want to discuss my initial thoughts on a couple.

Marc Jacobs Honey: I actually thought this would be one of my favorites, but now I'm not so sure. I'm going to wear this out of the house, but I also don't think this is really the most appropriate for winter. It opens as a floral and as it hangs around, never really transforms into the fruity floral that I thought it would be. The honey note turned out to be honeysuckle, which would be nice if there was something else to balance it. As it turns out, I'm not a fan of straight floral scents and this does kind of remind me of grass.

Miss Dior EDT by Dior: The first notes listed on the site was mandarin and tangerine and there was a strawberry sorbet note listed. I was fine with jasmine and violet as floral notes because I do like fruity floral perfumes and this is a popular fragrance. However, I think the patchouli and musk really overpower everything else in the fragrance. I don't know if I'm brave enough to even wear this outside, seeing as I've only sprayed this on my shirt and really didn't care for it. I know scents have to transform with your body chemistry, but this is the only one that I have sprayed on my skin. This just smells too strong for my taste.

Escada Moon Sparkle: I was most excited about this perfume because KathleenLights talked it up in her perfume collection video. I don't think this would have been something I would have selected on my own because I've never heard of Escada. All the other brands of fragrances I've heard of, but I think Escada is smaller and I don't believe their  perfumes are high end. Apparently, they release limited edition scents and then discontinue them. This one is from 2007 and is apparently still circulating. I believe this is supposed to be one of their more popular releases. Anyhow, it was only my list to try because of that video so I did a search for it not expecting it to be available. The fragrance notes listed were strawberry, raspberry, black currant, red apple, citruses, sweet pea, freesia, musk, jasmine, rose.  I really liked the idea of this scent. It was one of the first scents I tried on and I loved it immediately. I definitely leans more fruity than floral, but it's balanced nicely. I had no doubts about this fragrance other than it's an EDT (eau de toilette) and I was worried it wouldn't have staying powder. I was wrong and I loved the scent so much that I found it online and purchased a brand new bottle for $37 to add to my budding collection. I normally wouldn't be so rash about a purchase and I want to try out my new scents more before making another purchase, but I'm worried about the availability. I don't want to shell out an arm and a leg for perfume. My bottle is still on the way, but I'll probably do another post after it arrives.