When I was asked to be part of the ones who mentioned their 25 all-time favorites today, I was pleased to be a part of it! While bread is the staff of life, perfume is the essence of life. What would bread be, without the scent wafting from the oven or as we eat it!

There are many ways to delineate this, and I’m going to use some of each: houses, notes, personal history to me…

I really couldn’t keep it to 25, not when I consider adding my favorite niche houses and vintage (which we weren’t supposed to include.)

I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed cataloguing them. I tried to include a wide price range, from very inexpensive up to the more pricier ones. Let me know your thoughts!

Karin
See the others here:
Ayala
PerfumeShrine
Gaia, thenonblonde

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

To start off:
For Men (or women — I wear them)
Angel pour homme by Thierry Muglier
L’instant pour homme by Guerlain
Isfahan pour homme by Ormande Jayne
Obsession pour homme
Old Spice
Ormonde Man by Ormande Jayne
Borneo 1834 by Serge Lutens
Cedre by Serge Lutens

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Perfumes that have a personal history for me:
Coco (this smells wonderful on my daughter-in-law)
Desert Flower or Intimate (my mother wore these well, may her memory be a blessing)
Rive Gauche (vintage)
Shalimar (vintage) (or parfum today)
Tabu, its headiness for that day
80’s fragrances that smelled great on others, but were way too strong for me.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

By Houses:
If I listed them under notes, for the most part I didn’t list them under Houses.

Bond No 9
Chinatown
Scent of Peace

Caron (gotta mention them)

Chanel
Bois des Iles
Cuir de Russe
Cristalle, No 5, 19, 22 (Though I don’t wear them well, they need to be mentioned as classics.)

Dior
Dioresscence
Dolce Vita (I wore this a lot when it first came out.)
Miss Dior

Guerlain (I could mention more.)
AA Mentafolia
Attrape-Coeur / Guet-Apens
Chamade
Chant d’aromes
Parure
Mitsouko
Vega
Vol de Nuit

Estee Lauder (I like the solids, especially.)
White Linen with Cinnabar (I used to wear this.)
Sensuous (Haven’t bought this yet, but I likely will.)
Youth Dew

Hermes
Caleche Fleurs de Mediteranee (Neiman Marcus only)
Hiris
Eau des Merveilles
Un Jardin sur le Nil
Un Jardin Mediteranee
Vetiver Tonka

L’Artisan
Ananas Fizz
Bois Farine
Fou d’Absinthe
Mure et musc
Timbuktu

YSL
Nu
Opium
Rive Gauche (vintage, I cannot tell a lie)

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Notes
I generally put categories here that I don’t wear a lot of or that stand alone, like Lily of the Valley.

almond
Cinema by YSL
Poison Hypnotic by Dior

Rose (Generally I cannot wear rose — there are a few more I could add, if you are interested.)
Bvlgari Rose Essentielle
Elle (modern rose) v. Paris (which I cannot wear) by YSL
Kelly Caleche by Hermes
Stella
T’aif by Ormonde Jayne

Lily of the Valley
Diorissimo

Floral
Bvlgari or Voile de Jasmine by Bvlgari
Cristobal by Balenciaga (beautiful bottle!)
Heure Exquise by Annick Goutal (aldehydic also)
Flower by Kenzo Oriental
Kenzo Flower le parfum (red bottle)
L ‘ i n s p i r a t r i c e by Divine
Madame Rochas by Rochas (aldyhydic also)
Light Blue by Dolce and Gabbana

Gourmand
Angel, when in the mood, esp the extrait

Incense
Angelique Encens by Creed

Iris
Bois d’ Iris The Different Company
Infusion d’Iris by Prada
Iris Ganache by Guerlain (beautiful bottle, a little sweet for me.)
Iris by Molinard
Iris Poudre by Malle

Orange (I could have added a lot more to this as it is one of my favorite notes.)
Bigarade Concentree by Malle
Mandragore by Annick Goutal

Sweet Patchouli (yum!)
Ayala and Neil Morris
Prada
Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille

Woods (love ‘em!)

Chypre
Cabochard by Gres (vintage parfum) (Miss Balmain, which I cannot wear, takes this to the limit.)
Knowing by Estee Lauder (A little goes a long way, unless this is your Holy Grail, but don’t knock someone out! Again, I like
the solid.)

Greens
Cialenga by Balenciaga

Oriental/Spicy
Anne Pliska
E. Coudray Nohiba
Euphoria by Calvin Klein
Le Baiser Du Dragon by Cartier
Organza Indecence by Givenchy
Prada
Tolu Ormonde Jayne

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Niche Houses
Andy Tauer (He has some fabulous fragrances.)
L’air du desert marocain

Ayala (Let her help you choose what you like in samples. Lovely fragrances!)
Espionage
Film Noir
Finjan

DSH(I love all the ones I’ve chosen to sample. A very deep line of scents.)

MPG (Love these!)
Or des Indes
Secrete Datura

Neil Morris (Each that I sampled was delicious — choose notes you love.)
Dark Earth
Dark Season

Ormonde Jayne (I bought the sample set and liked them all.)

Serge Lutens (Simply choose what you like.)
His Bois series

Sonoma Scent (Reasonably priced, well made. Choose what you love. Laurie is great!)

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Strictly for fun
Avon/Mark
Tahitian Holiday
Greek Isles
. . . . .

Any fragranced lotion you like from Make Me Smooth or Bathed and Infused. They are so reasonably priced, you can choose a bunch! Go by notes you like. I’ve only been wrong for me a couple of times. And they’ve been right for someone else.

. . . . .

Pink Sugar by Aquolina, layers well. Takes the harshness off fragrances that may seem too dark. Conversely, they balance the intense sweetness of this.

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Perfume review, Perfumes