I’ve been very slowly building a very small perfume collection, and to that end my husband gave me a sample set of DS&Durga perfumes for my birthday. It’s a set of four, and I had told him two perfumes from them I wanted to try, and he picked the other two, and omg I might like his picks better than mine? What? Anyways here’s some thoughts on one of those samples and on some other perfumes, two of which I own.
My Collection:
At the time of writing I’m wearing Cowboy Grass, one of my selections in the DS&Durga set. When I read the description and pictured this scent in the theatre of the mind, I got this perfume completely wrong. I imagined a summer hillside covered in sweetgrass, and this leans more spicy/medicinal. If you haven’t sat in the hot sun in the grass in the late summer and just absolutely HUFFED the scent of sweetgrass, you probably won’t get why I feel like this more astringent perfume is a let down. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice! It’s grassy, sage-y, and woody, but it isn’t what I wanted. Also this needed a dirt note. Someone point me in the direction of a sweetgrass perfume with a clay base note STAT.
Fumidus by Perfumum Roma my beloved, you will always be famous. I don’t care that even the rare positive review on fragrantica condemns you as “smelling like burnt tires” they don’t love you like I love you! Dear reader, close your eyes and enter with me if you will into the theatre of the mind (no I will NOT edit out a second mention of “the theatre of the mind”):
You jolt awake from a nightmare, the dream dissipating even as you try to grasp it. Something about reels, maybe dancing? About scrolls? Rolling over, you see your compatriots starting a fire using dried peat pulled from the very bog where you are camped. You pull your damp wool cloak closer around you and get up to join your friends by the fire. It is ~1000 BC, and you are on your way to Uffington to carve a great white horse into the hillside.
That’s what Fumidus smells like.
I don’t know what aldehydes are but I know what Chanel no.5 smells like so maybe I do. I mean what do I say about Chanel no.5? Everyone wants to be her and nobody can quite get there. It’s a classic, elegant perfume which was my Gran’s signature scent and so to me it smells like getting a hug from my Gran. It’s the perfume that’s pictured beside the definition of perfume in the dictionary. It’s also not for everyone! But as for me and my house we enjoy Chanel no.5.
I also have a wee bottle in my collection from the indie brand Champagne Socialist. They make remarkably good perfume oil dupes of famous perfumes and before I had a bottle of Chanel no.5 I had this roller bottle of an oil inspired by Chanel no.5. I wear it when I want to be wearing my perfume in a more subtle, close to the skin way. I’m not sure if they make this specific oil any more, which is a shame because it’s quite good.
Perfumes I’ve Tried Recently:
I’ve been looking for a ~*~summer scent~*~ and to that end I stopped by a drug store while out walking the other day, and sprayed Black Opium Over Red onto my arms/sweater. Opening: nice, complex, cherry forward. Dry down: boring department store vanilla. If I wanted a boring vanilla gourmand I would purchase a boring vanilla gourmand. Can someone just make a cherry perfume that doesn’t turn into vanilla and isn’t as overpriced as Lost Cherry by Tom Ford? Thanks*. Also can I just say that a gal used to be able to walk into a store and acquire a million perfume samples for free and now stores either don’t have them or make you pay like $6 for them, we used to be a real country. A bit ago I asked for a specific perfume sample** and the lady said “we don’t have samples of that but you could buy this Valentino discovery set for $40” Forty dollars???? VALENTINO?!? Don’t piss me off.
Recently I went tried on a spritz of Angel by Mugler to see if I wanted to resurrect my love for it and you know how scent is very tied to memory? I sprayed this and my 17 year old self appeared before my eyes and said “omg Angel! I saved up for a bottle of this! What did you do with it?” and I had to tell her that I THREW IT OUT: a crime. Still thinking about buying a bottle for old times sake but do I really want to walk around with my teenage self sitting on my shoulder?
I have an ongoing list of perfumes I want to try, so if any of my pals have With The Candlestick by Clue Perfumery or Dirt by Demeter or Poltergeist by Heretic and want to decant a ml or two, let me know.
* now that I think about it, Champagne Socialist probably has a Lost Cherry dupe, I should go check. Also this isn’t a Champagne Socialist advertisement psyop or anything, this is just my stream of consciousness talking and she alllllways wants to shop!^
^ shoot I checked and not only do they have a Lost Cherry dupe they ALSO have one of Electric Cherry…………..and it is my birthday month after all………..
** I asked for Alien by Mugler. Can you imagine suggesting variations on Born in Roma by Valentino (a syrupy vanilla scent for a prom queen which she’ll grow out of in 1.5 years) to someone asking for a weird white florals and amber concoction?
ggllyynniiss 
Leave a comment