Quisquose

I have Nirvana Black and White as solid perfumes in their lovely, heavy little mirrored compacts. I found a vendor selling some unopened deadstock for just a few bucks apiece, and I bought several of each. I’ve not tried the EDP or rollerball. As a solid perfume on me, it lasts a couple of hours and is very tobacco-like with sandalwood with an aromatic vanilla base—as others have mentioned, it’s not a gourmand vanilla. I don’t pick up on the violet at all in this form. It’s a wonderful one to keep in my bag, and I’ve traveled with it several times. I find it very versatile and gender-neutral. Curious to try it in another form despite being discontinued.

Received a sample of various Tumi fragrances with an order from Macy's. This has a strong ‘synthetic pickle juice’ smell to me. That might be the most interesting thing about it—I find the profile to be very generic 'masculine cologne' beyond that. It's a pass for me, but it does stick around for awhile!

My first perfume, and a total blind buy because of the bottle and packaging design. I was working at a TJ Maxx in my late teens, just after this was released, and bought a set that included a bottle of Dolly Girl and a matching lotion. I didn’t know at the time that the bottle was based on the work of Michael Economy, who later became one of my favorite illustrators/graphic artists—he’s worked with Sui often, and many other fabulous luminaries such as Deee-lite and Lady Bunny. I’ll keep the bottle forever, but I cannot stand the fragrance itself. Headache-inducing! I tried to wear it, but it always smelled overwhelmingly sweet, powdery and old-fashioned in a dreadful way to me. One of the best bottles there is, though.