...Started with "Si Lolita Eau de Minuit" and now enjoying "Alien Aqua Chic (2013)", what a lovely day!

...A case in point: "Mitsouko". There are the stories about how the name came about, because there is certainly nothing Japanese about the fragrance, but I personally think it was a sort of a marketing ploy of its time when rich European folks were high on japonaiserie and chinoiserie and consumed anything even hinting at ~oriental~ ~exoticism~ with gusto. In other words, same thing that goes on today, since the name is part of the marketing. Also in niche perfumery.ADDENDUM: I also think about this when non-French perfumers give French names to their products. It's the lingua franca of perfumery but it still comes off as somewhat pretentious when there are 6500 languages in the world to choose from.

...I've been in the no-fragrance team for as long as I've had to buy my own washing and laundry products (since age 15). As far as I know I am not hypersensitive to smells but I like to keep my nose as unperturbed as possible and I think that's part of why I enjoy perfume. I am usually pretty aware of smells in my environment and the less added fragrance (that doesn't come from other people's perfume) there is, the better.I generally like my fragrance to be personal and intimate and certainly not coming from a washing machine. I also smoke, which is somewhat at odds with the rest of my philosophy, but I really like the combo of Alien's nuclear jasmine and menthol cigarette on myself. Better than the cigarettes alone, and Alien sticks to my wool sweaters for days until I wash them.Wrt the plastic smell, I think it depends on what kind of a house you live in and what materials have been used over time to remodel and repair it. I lived in a recently renovated flat that had that plastic smell about it and my then-boyfriend had constant respiratory problems until we moved out of there.

...LIDGE = L'Instant de Guerlain I believe :)I am also intrigued by Frédéric Malle's selection, so much so I almost bough a travel spray set blind... But luckily sense intervened and I'm back to reading reviews and looking for samples before committing to a full bottle.

...Bought blind because of Sherapop's review, "Insolence Eau Glacée". Liking this!

...Lol! I am definitely somewhere between the eager novice and the housewife (even though my actual living situation is far from that). I have little patience for the really hard-to-understand perfumes - although I will give each one that I get my hands on a fair trial and control for factors that might turn an experience sour for me before writing anything off as unwearable. I hold on to my samples because my tastes and personal chemistry will probably change a lot as I age (see: Mitsouko, a true olfactory love but not one I could yet pull off). Also this:I am the "Perfume is for use" collector and partly go to great lengths for getting my hand on a bottle of a juice I find promisingMy thoughts exactly! Also I try not to hold on to perfumes that I wouldn't use. I have very little storage space and precious few full bottles, and if I am not convinced by a perfume, I take a decant for reference and try to find the bottle a good home.That reminds me -- do you have any particular criteria for committing to buy a full bottle?

...Digindirt:Pipette:You are running this well. I have seen the photo with the wall full of "restaurant order" tickets. Good luck furthermore, for a very good cause.Bottle and Decant donations are still coming in but no ticket sales today despite my Black Friday (a week early) sale.I finally won one of Venus' giveaways, must be Karma :DIs it still possible to participate somehow?Anyway on topic (flogging this dead horse again), I found Fragrantica first and still love it as a source of information. I have precious little idea of what went/still goes down in the forums, I never even got that far, just didn't seem like a place for me... I just got tired of wading through some truly worthless comments in perfume reviews and article comments and have since been more active in a local discussion board than either F or Parfumo. Lately though I've been frequenting Parfumo, generally for the same reasons stated by others here. I like lurking and reading through topics (even the long ones lol) but I hope my contribution stays positive, I like this site a lot!

...Yess! I was 2 when "LouLou" was launched and I remember my favourite aunt wearing it at the turn of the 80s and 90s. It was one of the first perfumes I got for myself (a mini) this autumn. :) The fragrance doesn't make it onto my top lists but it is memorable, in both good and bad.

...Fragrances I couldn't even imagine wearing during the warmer seasons but have captivated me now that it's snowy:"Coromandel""La Fin du Monde""Chergui""Jicky"Nice lists, I will def be trying out some of your faves!

...I really like Rihanna's "Nude". It's a fruity floral celeb fragrance so I understand it may seem like a teen thing but it is far from the sappy sweet concoctions I usually associate with this target market and price range. Has quite a credible sandalwood at the base, too, which I can't get enough of. I can find this in Finland for under 30€ and it gives incredible value for money, I imagine it's loads cheaper elsewhere.

...Lol, incense is either too heavy or puts me in a wholly different mood than a day of work would require. I love "Alien" and many of its flankers and wear "Alien Aqua Chic (2013)" most days but sometimes they are just too heady...

...Triffid: "Dot" is definitely an odd one! I did, however, consider it as an age-appropriate gift choice for my young pre-teen neice - a cross between the grown-up concept of owning a fragrance and a funky, toy-like dressing table ornament.I find that Marc Jacobs straddles that line between kitsch and chic, often very successfully in his bottle designs. It's a rare feat in a world where the clean, austere lines of Chanel are the epitome of class and refinement that so many perfume houses emulate. Instant marketing edge.But there is something else to Chanel's packaging -- a brand with a clear unified look across its range becomes instantly recognizeable. Think Serge Lutens or other houses with the same simple bottle designs for all their perfumes -- they are calm in a sea of bright colours and plastic frills.Then there is the other extreme, houses like Thierry Mugler who wary their bottle designs a lot yet always retain some recognizeable quality about them. I don't like "Angel" for instance, but I have to appreciate the bottle designs on it and its innumerable flankers -- they are things of beauty in their own right, nevermind the juice.

...Epimedes:"Eau du Sud" by Annick Goutal has that effect on me. And coffee.Lol! I wonder if anyone has made a good coffee perfume... I will check out Goutal's line, coffee or not.Dolby:Jasmine also has a powerful effect on moods (check out clinical trials on it) but I find it mellower and more comforting. Still, very good to inject some positive outlook during those grey winter days.Oh, I had no idea and will definitely look up some! I love jasmine, even the radioactive GM strain of the "Alien" family, and wonder if this is the reason why I love those fragrances.For me, Versace's "Versense" works really well. Not too crisp or sour, has some fig/wood complexity to it underneath the citrus, and lucky for me it is widely available and affordable :)

...Some days the mornings are just too early and outside of the bed it's just too cold. Do you have any fragrances that help to instantly lift your spirits and energize you against the trials of the day?

...LovingTheAlien:http://www.coty.com/brandsFrançois Coty gave us Chypre, though. If that's not a huge contribution, I honestly don't know what is or what more could you possibly want.Anyhow, I pass by most big name brand scents these days. And surprisingly enough celebrity fragrances have consistently turned out better than I dared hope, which isn't much really, but it is something. I'm just hoping that the blandness afflicting designer perfumes now is just a fad that will subside just like the huge oriental fad subsided.I don't know about "damage": the good stuff will still be there (unless it gets discontinued, but life without a specific perfume is possible, who knew) and I vote with my wallet, hoping somebody takes a hint some day. But I am worried about the gradual banning of crucial perfume ingredients. It's like asking dairy products to be banned because I am lactose intolerant and get a tummy ache if I ingest any.

...Blech, the Opium cases are trying so hard to look like inro it's not even funny. Anyway, has nobody brought up Serge Lutens's round-base bottles? They are gorgeous in their simplicity, IMHO rivalled only by the classic Chanel carré bottles in understated elegance. SL's rectangular bottles are beautiful too. To wit:Chanel gets extra points for sticking with similar bottle designs with only a few exceptions, which look good too (I'm leaving the smell out of it). Also I love the Guerlain Aqua Allegoria and Abeille bottles, so glad somebody posted them!Tom Ford's Private Blends are nice in the classic simplicity department, too, making me think of old medicine bottles.Mugler bottle's then are almost always at least interesting if not brilliant. The Alien, which is my signature scent, has a gorgeous bottle; so does Womanity, even though it divides people into love/hate camps (both the bottle and the juice). Les Parfums de Cuir flankers are also cool, and look like Alien's offspring. And I hate to admit it because I hate Lady Gaga's music and persona with a vengeance that her perfume bottle looks striking, somewhat reminiscent of Alien.But I don't get how could anybody NOT love the fairies on Féerie bottles? They are so cute!Or how about Pleats Please? Love the bottle design, tempted to buy the perfumes just because of that...