WendisParade

As of 2026 this is a fantastic perfume deal. I've been wearing this a lot this winter and the fragrance profile blends perfectly with the weather. This has a smooth citrus top over honeyed florals, and as the perfume warms up it become distinctly creamy and warm under the flowers. The drydown is a sandalwoody floral with a lot of vanilla sweetness ... the whole thing is very smooth and easy to wear. I can't imagine anyone not liking this, so it's a versatile fragrance, too. Love the perfume, the price is nice, and it's in a pretty rose - gold bottle, too. Highly recommended!

Obligatory I'm a Guerlain Girl and I really love the Original Queen Shalimar.

I'm not going to go too crazy describing L'Essence, and I'll try to be brief. L'Essence has a short poof of bergamot shining over smooth waves of vanilla, with a lot of powdery iris as it warms up, and a few drops of leather, resins, and musk, as a nod to original Shalimar. I do not detect the rose absolute note.

The vanilla is stunningly gorgeous. It just is. It wears perfectly, and I'm not even a vanilla hound. I compared L'Essence to Spiritruese Double Vanille, and honestly, I like L'Essence better. It's smooth, warm, enveloping, with little drops of iris, leather, musk ... but the Vanilla stars.

When I first got this I definitely liked it, but I was compelled to wear it more and more, and the more I wear it, the more I love it. Sometimes perfumes just wear comfortably and perfectly and this is one of them. Fantastic lasting power, but not too much to where it gets grating. The vanilla is a joy. There's enough original Shalimar with the leather, iris, and musk.

Guerlain hit a triple home run for their anniversary. I adore this, and I'll get a backup, too. If you like vanilla, if you like Guerlain, if you like Shalimar, definitely try this out, and more than once. I'm actually surprised at how much I love this.

E & J Nirvana Rose has become one of my favorite roses. It is a gorgeous, expressive, dark rose that wears beautifully. I really wish that the Olsens had stuck around for a bit longer, as I really love almost all of their perfumes, and I think that they had more to say, fragrance - wise.

So this rose is somehow dark and jammy at the same time. The rose is not shy, nor overtaken by any other notes. It is the Star of the perfume. The geranium lends a wonderful bitterness to the rose, as well as a bit of green. I dare say this is spiky vs. spicy, it reminds me of a green vine with thorny spikes, snaking through the whole thing. The base is very woody with vetiver and patchouli, dry, and not artificial at all (no overwhelming "amberwoods" or anything like that here.)

This is dry, woody, dark, and completely unsweetened except for a rich rose jam that does soften things a bit. I love rose heavy perfumes and this hits the spot -- it truly makes me feel sophisticated and mysterious when I wear it! I'm glad I have a backup of this. Fantastic job, E & J!

So just to make clear, this perfume was born in the 1980s, as a new concentration of No 5, the Eau de Parfum. As with time and reformulations go, this version is drifting even further away from the OG Extrait, EDT, and EDC of 100 years ago.

My review is for a 2018 version, in the Red Bottle. I find that Chanel No 5, in today's versions, is veering even closer to that of the Eau Premiere and L'Eau. It's powdery, soft, elegant, and I can't imagine anyone becoming upset by this (I have the old EDC, and that old gal would definitely upset people.)

The aldehydic top is clean, tinged with lemony citruses and a hint of soap, and reminds me of a high end face wipe. The florals in the middle are dominated by jasmine and bright ylang ylang, then iris, then rose, and then a white flower that lends a bit of starch to the whole thing. The jasmine used here is not indolic or dirty, but it is still strong, but yet not candied, so people now may be put off by it lacking in sugary sweetness. The iris flashes, the ylang ylang sings, the rose warms, and eventually the aldehydic face wipe accord is replaced by a distinct powder that Chanel No 5 has always had.

Even in the 80s perfumers weren't using any civet, but the bases back then still had a bit of earth and rough to them, using oakmoss, vetiver, leather notes, things to lend a bit of darkness. Well fear not, most of that has been replaced with Vanilla. The dry down is damn near vanillic on my skin, with a hint of sandalwood and vetiver. Vanilla then woody. The woods smell nice and natural, no awful twigs of amberwoods coming thorough to poke the entire thing in the wrong way.

I like Chanel No 5 in Eau Premiere and L'Eau a lot, in fact, so this isn't a negative, but as the years go by No 5 is becoming more and more brightened and the dark facets are being removed. It's moving closer and closer to what the newer flankers smell like.

Still, it smells elegant, it is a versatile fragrance, I like the florals and the powder, I even like the vanilla woods drydown. It's kind of recognizably No 5, just a lot cleaned up and way more vanillic than my vintage 80s bottle. Lasting power is decent (6 to 8 hours) and it's a nice grown up perfume.

Samsara is my favorite perfume, ever. I love it. I purposely bought enough vintage bottles, in both EDP and EDT, to last me the rest of my life. Probably the rest of my afterlife, too, if I could take them with me. I have the clear glass bottles from the 90s, and the true expression of Samsara, the iconic Red Samsara bottles.

It took me the longest time to get to Samsara Shine, I'm not sure why. Normally I'm a flanker ho. Yes, they can get irritating and redundant and formulaic, but if I like a style of one, I'm willing to look into a reimagined framework of another. Anyway, Samsara Shine came out in 2001 and has been discontinued for how long, but its managed to be one of those perfumes that reliably hangs out on the grey market for years, at an affordable price, too. It seemed like Samsara Shine existing on Ebay was enough, until recent years when perfume prices across the board have been skyrocketing, even the vintage ones. So I carefully waited until I could find a bottle at around $65 before pulling the trigger.

They could have named this Samsara Douce Delices or something, as Shine is undeniably, unabashedly a sweet version of Samsara. Sweet notes have always existed in Samsara, but they were in tandem with all the other things going on in the fragrance. Immediately I can smell almost caramelized red berry fruits, bright, sweet red, I've seen some note list it as "pomegranate" which I can really see. This isn't a dry, bitter blackcurrant, this is Red Berries we're talking, lit up by bergamot, and a wash of sunny green citrus that turn into a beautiful note of fig leaves. Citrus - red berry - green - figs. And already I can feel the vanilla on board, the vanilla shows up the entire time.

As Shine wears a bit the jasmine and ylang ylang come out, and the woods. The jasmine is very pretty, and still floating with the green fig notes, with the ylang ylang lighting everything up. On the dry down is the Samsara sandalwood with a LOT of vanilla -- it's really an ambery vanilla accord with a lot of sandalwood propped up with polysantal. That's when this perfume smells most like old Samsara.

I had a hard time wearing this the first few times I tried it. It's really too rich and sweet for hot weather, but in the cooler months I've liked it a lot. I also think that this perfume is really unique. Sure, Samsara Shine is sweet, and we live in times awash in sweet, but it's not sugary nor "gourmand" as the sweet is all from fruits and a true vanilla. There aren't a ton of fig perfumes, and here Guerlain was sneaking it into Samsara almost 25 years ago.

I'm glad I finally got a bottle before it disappears completely. Anyone who LOVES Samsara should maybe seek this out. Thanks for reading!