My goodness. Is the cousin throwing this party for herself? When I turned 60, three friends took me out to dinner at a mid-priced place in town and chipped in for a $100 gift certificate to Saks. I was delighted. Now I’m retroactively bummed.
Until I read this thread I had totally forgotten about Shalimar, the perfume my mother wore on the rare occasions she and my father went out to a party or event. The smell was overwhelming and seemed to waft all over the house and linger for ages. It gave me an instant headache–but then I react that way to many perfumes, which is why I’m generally pleased that in recent years women seem to wear it less frequently or stick to lighter scents. On the occasion I’ve been stuck in an elevator or small space with someone who is wearing a heavy scent, I feel positively woozy.
I haven’t heard of many of these scents. My current favorite is Flowerbomb by Viktor and Rolf. Marc Jacobs Blush was my last favorite but was discontinued several years ago.
This brings up an interesting corollary question-how many spritzes do you use (or dabs, if you’re using parfum), and where do you put them?
I flip my hair over and do one spritz at the base of my skull, in my hair, and one spritz on my lower abdomen (trying to be deliberately vague here). People tell me my hair smells so good all the time, and what shampoo do I use? Heh it’s not the shampoo
I wash my hands so much it makes no sense for me to spray perfume on my wrists-it’d be gone in 30 min, lol.
@MotherOfDragons, LOL! L’Air du Temps is one of the few perfumes that doesn’t give me a wicked headache. It smells really good on me, too. Perfume is a matter of preference and chemistry.
A lot of modern scents smell like bug spray to me.
One spritz at the back of my neck in hair, and one on inner elbow. I have one perfume that is too strong when first sprayed, so if I want to wear it, I spritz it at my ankle, and it is the right strength from that distance.
@Massmomm I totally agree-what smells good to me (and on me) can smell completely different to others.
Obviously L’Air du Temps is fine and classic, but I can’t stand it. I used to call Estee Lauder’s Youth Dew “Youth Pee-you” because it smelled like urine to me. Jean Nate stuff was the same.
I usually let my husband pick out my perfumes since he is super sensitive to perfumes, and can only tolerate a few. Luckily they seem to be the expensive ones that smell delicious :D.
My 16 yo got a perfume for Christmas that smelled SO BAD to me that I had to ask her to find another one-the stinky one was a Katy Perry one. I ended up getting her Prada Candy, since it was one of the few that she liked that didn’t smell horrendous to me. My 18 yo has been wearing Ange ou Demon from Givenchy for a few years since she found it at the French pavilion at EPCOT. It’s pretty powerful, but dries down well on her and definitely goes with her personality.
I would not recommend buying perfume as a gift. People like different smells and even most expensive perfume one likes can irritate and give headaches to another person.
@Massmomm, I am not miffed at the cost of attending - I’m just miffed that she didn’t put “no gifts” on the invite. I think it’s tacky when you know it’s not cheap for anyone to come. It’s not like this is a wedding. I’m not the only cousin who feels this way.
I wouid have made a donation in her mom’s memory if there was a “no gifts please” on the invite.
That’s my budget because that is what we (the 1st cousins) spend on milestone b’day gifts for each other.
Perfume is such a personal choice. I love some of the classics noted here, but I’m not the birthday girl. And, on that personal note, I might not want something too floral or too spicy…or that reminds me of someone else’s personal favorite scent.
I do like the idea of a girly gift like perfume. But for an established woman, presumably with her own resources and style, why not a less expensive classic and then go ahead and make the donation to the Parkinson’s org? It’s thoughtful. It’s not about how much the perfume cost.
“I honestly don’t know what she likes but I don’t care.
If she doesn’t like it she can toss it or give it to her daughter.”
I sorry to say but that’s sounds terrible. To me giving a gift is something thoughtful and in a way giving a blessing to the person having a birthday and this is a relative. I would not want to be a receiver of a gift given by someone so miffed about giving one or who feels forced too. I would rather receive no gift and just some sincere wishes showing that I am cared for.
Personally I would be hurt if I spent a lot of money on a gift and it was just tossed because I don’t have the luxury to throw money like that. For me that amount could buy me a lot of things that I truly need but to each his own.
I try to give gifts without emotional strings attached, but I will admit that people who obviously don’t give a crap about my gifts tend to get crappy gifts from me.
It sounds like @emilybee knows her family pretty well and is fine with the perfume being liked or not liked, and enjoyed the process of hunting it down and picking it. I enjoyed this thread, so there’s that side benny too
As far as how many “spritzes” - I have been using a Coach rollerball perfume and I LOVE applying the scent that way. It goes right where I want it and I never seem to put too much on.
Not every scent comes in rollerball form I know, but for me, that is where I am going to start looking when this one runs out.
@surfcity I like the travel sizes of perfume. Do you have to apply much with a rollerball perfume?
Do most of you wear a different scent depending on the season or do you wear the same one all year long.
I personally don’t wear perfume because the scent is too heavy for me and I am sensitive to that but some companies will make a coordinating body spritz which I will use that is not as strong.
I used to think I hated perfume or scented anything, but I’ve really started to enjoy Jo Malone candles in my house, and, for Christmas, someone gave me this: (Ambra room diffuser by Dr. Vranjes.)
It makes my main living area smell so warm and toasty, not cloying at all. I love it! So now I’m thinking of venturing into the world of perfume, and I look forward to trying the ones mentioned here.
I mostly use Dior perfume. I used DIORISSIMO for many years and now switched to J’Adore. I recently got a Balenciaga tester and liked it. Maybe I will tell my DD that I like it and my DH will give it to me for Valentine day ;)) Guess who is his gift advisor?
