...I really like Scentbird and their flat rate for a monthly designer perfume of your choice. My first month's choice was Elie Saab "Le Parfum" and the second month's choice was Histoires de Parfums "Ambre 114". The size is okay and comes in a nice case the first time, and after that in a decent paper case. After a month's worth of daily spraying, there is still perfume left ... On to the next month, this time it will be Amouage "Dia Woman".I am highly pleased. Too bad I did not know about this service before, I could have saved myself many high priced full bottles. Take tiny samples from LuckyScent, you will say. Yes, okay, but they are very tiny.This size is reasonably priced and permits you a full month, or longer, of full blast spraying testing power.Pipette is not affiliated with this company.

...Yes, it is true that even though we are led by the nose through clever advertising, perfumes as such are an enjoyable matter down to the tiniest molecule. One of my New Year's resolutions was not to add any more expensive bottles - I have failed miserably.Spray away.

...This may be of interest for want-to-be future perfumers - Viktoria Minya's insights into the business, an interview by Kafkaesque.

...That is the case here, we are sniffing through the end product. And are applying our own fantasies ... I have the stock, and it is doing fine, pays the rent, and an oil stock (evil smelling things) can do the same. But each year I enjoyed attending the Meeting and it was held in a room full with beautifully groomed people talking shareholder talk and listening to the presentation which was live-streamed ... Here is an article, published a while ago, which provides a look behind the scenes ...

...IFF - I am so miffed with them. They are holding their annual meeting in Neuilly (near Paris), France, so only the rich shareholders can attend ... always was fond of them just to be in touch with the perfume industry ... the stock is doing extremely well, so that is good.

...Nice evaluations. Ellen Covey would be pleased to read this.

...Stay calm - take a deep breath. It is all a matter of organization and setting clear priorities. Your developing baby needs you most, your other children need you next, your partner needs your comfort of what he is doing in the upcoming turmoil. I would not call it an ordeal, after all, the move is planned to improve your lives.Throw out things instead of moving them. De-clutter. Make sure the contracts you are signing are sound and enforceable.Then, spray something on that does not make you gag with your pregnancy and forget about weekly discussions on Parfumo ... until you are calm ... and then it will be a pleasure for us to read, as we have in the past.Good luck, my perfume friend.

...What most people don't know about me better remains secret and Facebook and Parfumo are not the venue to tell the world.

...At least you're working, I mean, contributing to this Forum. I am guilty of only reading as my real life took over. See photos.

...There is a service that you could try - whether the website is down only for you - or for everybody. Into the search field type the company you are looking for.Sometimes the websites vanish - when it is a "fly-by-night" operation - sometimes it could just be a technical issue. http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/

...I don't "pretend" to be a writer ... I am just practicing. Reviews are one thing, a longer blog is another. To be heard is fun.

...People congregate for different reasons. Facebook is for family and "friends" and generally a photo vanity fair.Perfume sites are informative and a gathering place. Apicius said it well for the commercial reasons to simply run a successful website. We as consumers, fellow enthusiasts for perfumes and general internet users have the freedom and the pleasure to avail ourselves of all opportunities to post and participate in the exchange of thoughts and impressions. If I find that have to pay to get my two and a half cents of worthwhile wordings about a perfume published, well, then I don't write reviews there and pick another site, like PARFUMO, but I don't abandon Basenotes because that community has lived through many transformations and has recently been overhauled magnificently.

...Looking at my personal collection - France is winning hands down.

...Thank you for starting such a nice thread, a feast for the mind and the soul.

...When our mothers or grandmothers had only a few perfumes, they were reserved for special occasions.Now that we have a plethora of perfumes, and decants, and samples - the choice is not that simple But, we can impose a certain discipline on ourselves to mark special occasions with special perfumes.The idea for this topic came to me from fellow member ScentFan when she asked herself which three perfumes made her the happiest, in contrast to those that she respects and admires. Those, I suppose, are reserved for special occasions. I have ordered "Divine" for Christmas. The package has arrived from France. But, the actual opening and unveiling so to speak will only be on Christmas morning, the 25th. Do you, too, purposely postpone the pleasure and deliberately mark special days with certain scents?

..."Guess there is no hard and fast logic to it." ScentFan - I love that statement. That is so true. Perfumes are no hard science, except in the process of making them. Then the perfumer follows the formula. Andy Tauer in his blog often described how he changed the formula, as he went on and forward in the creating process.Then - after that - commercial considerations come in to tweak the formula.Then - after that - pinpointed advertising assaults the prospectiver buyers' subjective mind.Finally - we poor uninitiated ones - are trying to make sense of it all. But now I digress ...

...No, dear Cincy, that is not the list I was referring to.When you put into the field "What are you wearing" your so-called scent of the day, underneath that is a mention "Full overview" - so the user clicks on that and finds: "What should I wear" - "Often worn" - "Rarely worn" - "Recently worn".So, it may spring to reason that the three top perfumes under "Often worn" are the ones most often worn and I presume that those are the ones that make the wearer most comfortable (= happy). Of course, one has to do the input when one changes the perfumes; otherwise that personal list cannot be up-to-date.What now, if at times one perfume was often worn and made it into the top three, but was now given away or discarded as - like I said before - the personal taste has changed? Under this theory, the top three are not accurate. You can also look into your closet where the perfumes are stored, the ones in front are most often used and make the wearer the happiest. Like a piece of clothing that fits so well that one forgets one has it on.

...Wouldn't the happiest three be those that are worn most often according to the PARFUMO recording method? ***************As I walked away from the computer, my brain started to re-think the topic. Notice that Briarthorn "had to get back to this subject" and that Pipette put a question mark after her input.The PARFUMO records will show under the caption "Most often worn" the first three. But it is not an accurate record. Taste changes. Perfumes worn are not like a tatoo semi-permanently engraved on the skin. Therefore, a definite statement cannot be made.Perhaps this elaboration can be more diligently discussed in form of a blog, although this Forum also offers a spot to reminisce about the matter.

...Briarthorn:Thanks for the link. I'll be sure to give it a read. Do you read German? Otherwise, you may want to run the article through a computer translator, and most of the good vibes will be lost. That's too bad. But the quality of the perfume remains.

...Vanilla cookies, Gingerbread houses, Chocolate cookies, Marzipan balls, Christmas Stollen -which holiday aroma scented perfumes come to your mind?"Anima Dulcis" by Arquiste - with its cocoa powder and chili spice"Cinnabar" by Estee Lauder - with its cinnamon presence"Coromandel" by Chanel - with its marzipan aromaCountless gourmet scents would fit the bill.I am still looking for something that smells like the German Spekulatius cookies ... **********************************************************************Hello, the International Members:Which perfumes match your country's cookies and Holiday goodies? **********************************************************************