Huh.

Over the past few days' sampling spree I have certainly learned a lot about my tastes. I still have a lot of samples to tackle, but I'm progressing!

Most importantly, I've noticed I can't stand musks. Every perfume I've tried in which musk plays a part smells sharp and pungent to me and is effectively unwearable. I finally figured out what it was that kept me from really, really loving Loulou which is otherwise a great perfume: the godawful musk. Mûre et musc is a no-go for me, as is Nuits de Tuberéuse (which was otherwise pretty, but soon taken over by musk). Narciso Rodriguez For Her would be glorious without the musk, which can in certain circumstances give a headache. Piguet's legendary Bandit is nothing more on me than pungent green florals made extra grotesque by its gigantic muskiness -- I couldn't detect any leather, at all. I could go on.

Musk amplifies the qualities in otherwise pleasant or interesting smells that turn them rancid to me. Woody + musky = horror. Green + musk = absolute horror. There is nothing wrong with either woodiness or greenness but musks tend to gobble them up and spit out some deformed monster insect repellent version of those notes. Probably due to their extensive use in laundry detergents they also underline any soapiness to the point I can't smell much else.

This is why it's important to keep smelling and taking notes, writing reviews or just blogging about it now and then. Getting to know your tastes and spotting the warning signs before you blow your hard-earned cash on something you could never ever wear. (Mûre et musc... le sigh, I wanted to like it but I'm really glad I didn't buy it blind.) I am so ready for some more leathers, ambers and chypres.