I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time

[lunabee34]

Let's talk fantasy perfume, fellow scent aficionados.

Tell us about a perfume you've always wanted but never been able to find. This can run the gamut from, "I wish I could find a perfume that has X, X, and X notes," to "I wish I could find a perfume that smells the way looking at Cate Blanchett makes me feel inside."

I'm really interested in hearing about the perfumes you wish existed that don't.

Comments

[snippy]

I want Comme des Garcos original EdP with rose, and I want it to last more than 4 hours on my skin.

I want to smell like lime, chocolate, and cardamom.

I want to smell like Holtzmann in Ghostbusters makes me feel.

[lunabee34]

Staying power. *sigh* I wish I could get Chanel Eau de Cologne to last even an hour.

These sound fantastic.

[musyc]

How fun! I like Shalimar because it makes me feel like pearls and piano, long gloves and a tall microphone.

I wish I had a perfume that made me feel like stone circles in the mist, fog rolling across castle battlements, the scent of lightning in the air. (BPAL's Glasgow is amazingly close to perfect on that, for me. Mmmm, heather.)

Alternatively, a perfume that feels like a warm cup of coffee cradled in both hands, an apple orchard behind me, crisp leaves under foot, and a bonfire just before sunset.

ETA: Thought of another one! A perfume that feels like lying on a thick blanket on top of a hill, watching meteors streak through the Milky Way.

[lunabee34]

These are so evocative. I love it, especially that last.

I think BPAL is really good at coming up with descriptions like this but rarely do they follow through IMHO with scents that actually evoke that description. Many times, their scents are the opposite (like Dirty smelling like dryer sheets).

[musyc]

I have a bottle of Storm Moon from them, and every time I wear it, I get people snuggling up to me because it smells exactly like fresh, clean laundry. XD So not very stormy, apparently!

[subsequent]

I'd really really like some perfumes that use Australian flowers/smells - we've got a lot of unique plants and I want something that feels a little more like home.

I'd love a proper Boronia perfume - everything I've smelt so far that apparently has it as a note doesn't even come close to the plant itself (I will buy a whole shrub of it, as in an actual pot plant, when they bloom just for the smell: they're hard to keep alive, but they're worth it as a kind of bouquet).

I'd love a perfume with the smell of the Australian Bush after rain - yes, Eucalyptus, but so much more as well.

I'd love a perfume to really play with a gourmand aspect of musk - I've grown up with Musk Lifesavers and Musk Sticks, and knew the taste as candy long before I ever encountered it in perfume. (Marshmallow by MOR comes close, but then, it's a little too sweet).


I want the smell of our Lemon Myrtle, Cinnamon Myrtle, desert dust and beach edges. Of being in the outback, looking up at the stars.

Ah well. I can dream.


On a less home grown note, I'd really like a nice coffee (espresso/latte) perfume. Most of the coffee ones I've tried end up smelling like burnt coffee, just too bitter...

[lunabee34]

I love all the regional notes you've listed here, a perfume with a real sense of place.

I'm having a hard time imagining musk in food, but I'm so intrigued. That sounds very cool.

[subsequent]

I imagine it'd be an acquired taste for some, but I could easily eat an entire bag of musk sticks in an afternoon if I didn't watch myself! They're a very - clean, I guess would be the word - sweet white musk, and slightly chalky. Yum.

Same with rose, in a way - I love the flavour as Turkish Delight, as Rose Jam, etc, but it's not something I ever see much used as a gourmand note.

A lot of "food"/"non-food" smells are just down to cultural divides :)

[rydra_wong]

Have you smelled Serge Lutens's Louve? Cherry-almond-vanilla, but also plenty of white musk, plus rose in the middle in this very gourmand-y context.

[subsequent]

I haven't, but that sounds really interesting! Thank you - I'm going to have to check it out!

[rydra_wong]

People either seem to recoil, mumbling about "cherry cough syrup" and "shampoo", or love it (mumbling about "cherry cough syrup" and "shampoo" *g*).

I find a lot of sweet scents sickly and unpleasant, but this is weird enough (in a Lutens-ian way) that I really enjoy it.

[lunabee34]

I love rose flavored things as well. If I ever get a chance to try musk flavored food, I am definitely giving it a try!

[full_metal_ox]

Same with rose, in a way - I love the flavour as Turkish Delight, as Rose Jam, etc, but it's not something I ever see much used as a gourmand note.

A lot of "food"/"non-food" smells are just down to cultural divides :)

An olfactory combination I've longed for--however implausible this might sound--is intense velvety red rose plus cherry Swedish Fish (back when my pancreas was up to it, I used to snack on the latter and pretend to be a langsuir--apparently they can be placated with fish, and the candy's stained-glass-like blood-redness seemed curiously apropos.)

[subsequent]

No lie, that actually sounds awesome!

[druidspell]

I wish I could find a perfume that makes me feel suitably witchy while smelling 0% of sandalwood or any kind of musk.

[lunabee34]

Perfume makers do seem to always put certain notes together, don't they? It's hard to find one note without the other sometimes.

[rydra_wong]

... could you be more specific about "witchy" (either in terms of any scent notes or what kind of witchiness you're after)? I might have some ideas.

For example, IIRC Lush's The Smell of Weather Turning actually does smell just like the weather immediately before or immediately after a storm, in the British countryside at least. And was originally based on a concept from a witch:

https://www.lushusa.com/Article_The-Smell-of-Weather+Turning.html?fid=behind-the-scenes

[lunabee34]

That sounds seriously cool.

[musyc]

Ooooh, that sounds awesome. Note to self! :D

[full_metal_ox]

Your profile shows you to be (or have been) a serious Dramione fan; BPAL has a thematically Slytherin-compatible fragrance that doesn't list either of the ingredients you're seeking to avoid:

https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/ars-amatoria/le-serpent-qui-danse/

[musyc]

Ooooh, thank you for the link! That does indeed sound thematically appropriate. XD

[subsequent]

Eau Des Mervielles / Elixir Des Mervielles by Hermes potentially? They're some of my favourites, and nary a whiff of sandalwood or musk in sight.

Or Ambre Narguile for a kitchen!witch.