...My French skills have diminished after years of non-practicing but I can still communicate enough during a vacation :-)As for Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Greek, Dutch and Russian : here goes the scope from "rudimentary skills" to "hardly knows the alphabet" :-) Would like to keep up with Dutch as I was forced to stop with my lessons (they did not have enough students to establish a follow-up semester) :-/Have a video course of Russian and Mandarin at home....maybe I will challenge myself with these this year. Ni-hao and strasdwujdje :-)I love languages but hardly find the discipline and time to continuously study them with care and devotion....well, maybe also bits might come in handy one day :-)My mother tongue is German, btw.

...Guusje:I do not do seasons, only moods 8) I find it to limiting to keep the lighter fresher ones for summer only... they are so uplifting some grey cold days :D And the warmer, darker ones can be a cosy blanket to give comfort on gloomy days in summer.Besides, I found out that insects stay away in summer if I wear woody scents :-) What a great argument to wear Original Aouds when it´s hot outside :-)All in all I like wearing about 98% of my scents all year around, with a few exceptions only...but I like your suggestion to also wear a sparkling green scent on a grey and rainy day. Nice idea ! :-)

...When I started to wear perfumes (back in the late 80s as a teenager) designer brands were all which was available in perfume stores. My first perfume loves were from CHANEL (the good old "Coco") and Calvin Klein ("Obsession") amongst others.The 80s were full of heavy, daring and provocative scents which nowadays are considered outdated, I suppose.They were good, they had a vast influence on my taste until this very day and they represent an olfactory era long gone.I had many perfume love affairs, orientals and fruity, green and floral, masculine (feeling daring at 25 wearing Tommy Hilfiger for Men) but I returned to my roots, so to speak.Various reformulations changed what I loved back then (but I do still enjoy Coco a lot), leaving those perfumes behind which did not stand the test of time."Samsara" stayed and makes my heart sing."Obsession" changed a lot and I cannot stand it anymore, even though it all started for me finding this scent strip in a VOGUE magazine, aged 15, searching for glamour and grown-up flair.Back then designer perfumes were the thing to have, they were status and showed one´s taste. Sorry for my long post but I would like to share all this with you....When I first encountered Parfumo (I was looking for a perfume comment) I entered a world of undescribable variety and I learned a lot about perfumes. I had many bottles in my life but I never really dug into the matter and never cared about notes.It was when I came into contact with more and more very special and artful perfumes that I discovered the limits of so-called "mainstream" designer perfumes. Most of them I knew, the new ones were exchangeable in their similarity and I still deeply dislike this repetitiveness. So niche was the way to go and I found exciting new fumes, taking me on journeys where I never was before.All in all I think that niche is my preferred hunting ground now but once in a while I discover a new treasure amongst the designer perfumes. Not all of them are crap and not all niche scents are great. The last two really daring designer scents I come to think of are "Prada Eau de Parfum" and "Angel"...or "Black Orchid".Some hidden treasures amongst designer scents are "Azuree", "Knowing" and "Private Collection" by Estee Lauder.Niche is wonderful but its roots are based in classic designer scents. They continue where mainstream stopped the journey.

...Hi Louce :-) I noticed that woody scents keep away mosquitos and other unpleasant insects :-) A big argument for wearing die-hard orientals when it´s hot :-)Wearing sticky orientals in hot weather is not difficult for me either (considering certain crucial exceptions such as Angel, Alien etc.). As a nice proverb says "The dosage makes the poison." :-)

...Hi I wonder which fragrance group / s you like ? Do you stick to one in particular or do you enjoy a rather wide spectrum in perfumes ?As I am a person who gets bored easily and who loves variety in general I use various scents out of these groups :orientalsgourmandschypresfloralsleathersHence, I have no signature scent (not even one per group). Am looking forward to your posts.

...Hi EveryoneI wonder if you have one (or more) scent/s which you love all year long.As a lover of heavy and rather sweet fragrances I find it quite hard to name such a scent as most of my beloved treasures are more or less only suitable for autumn and winter...well, at least if I adhere to some common sense :-)However, I find Hermès´"Un jardin sur le Nil" quite nice in all seasons, due to its fruity-green woodiness.Same with "Cristalle Eau Verte" (which is sparkling and uplifting).

...Last one in the list was "Spiritueuse Double Vanile" by Guerlain.