Christmas Present Wishlist - Perfume Sample Set from Etat Libre D'Orange

When I wrote about Perfume Sample Sets last week, I knew that there would be some genius ones that I would forget to mention. A few days ago I was reminded on Twitter that there is an excellent Etat Libre D'Orange sample gift set. It's called the Coffret Prestige and consists of 16 x 10ml miniature bottles. 

At the Lucky Scent website the price is $150. It's also available from the Etat Libre D'Orange website for €120.

I like Etat Libre D'Orange because it's quirky and tongue in cheek. The perfumes don't necessarily get the best reviews ever, but it's a fun brand with some entertaining ideas and concepts.

New Store on Sloane Square - Ormonde Jayne

There's a brand new Ormonde Jayne store on Sloane Square. Infinitely more accessible (for me) than the Royal Arcade, so I'm looking forward to visiting very soon. 

The Ormonde Jayne Discovery Set featured in my recent blog post about sample sets for Christmas gifts. Worth considering.

Link Love and Festive Decoration Ideas

Link Love

I always have that *gaah* feeling when I read about other bloggers' perfume finds. Having wrestled with the green-eyed monster, LondonMakeUpGirl's review of Roxana Illuminated perfume is definitely worth a read.

In Vienna there is a showroom dedicated to one lonely perfume. I can hardly believe it. Read about it at Olfactoria'sTravels.  

An intervew with one of the co-founders of the brilliant Atelier Cologne at CaFleureBon.

EauMG has a Christmas gift list for your favourite goth.

GetLippie recommends a some luscious scented candles in her Christmas picks.

Did I mention that I love Christmas decorations?

This felt ball Christmas decoration looks wonderfully festive. If I get round to making one I'll post a photo.

Forget traditional Christmas cake. This is THE cake that I'm going to be making with my children during the holidays. 

Some beautiful suggestions for Christmas gift wrapping from StyleMePretty. 

Gorgeous pom-pom wrapping ideas from BugsandFishes.

Christmas Present Wishlist - Perfume Sample Sets

There's no doubt about it, perfume sample sets make a lovely Christmas present. Here's my pick of the bunch, ranging from quite economical to absolutely lavish.


The Bond No 9 Bon-Bon Box is covetable for its multi-coloured sweetie-paper packaging alone. This set of 18 different 6ml samples will set you back an enormous $260. This isn't actually bad value at only $2.40 per ml, but it's a hefty investment.

The Ormonde Jayne Discovery Set includes 12 samples of 2ml each, for a bargainous £42, which is £1.75 per ml. As a fan of Ormonde Jayne, this is a great set to own.

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For devotees of Penhaligon's you could try the economical Scent Library for £15. It includes 10 samples of both male and female Penhaligon's fragrances. The samples are probably 2ml sizes, which gives a price of £1.33 per ml.

Make your own selection of Tauer perfumes to  create a unique Discovery Set at $31.30. This is pretty pricey at more than $4 per ml, but as Tauer creates some truly distinctive  fragrances, this might well be worth the investment.

At the luxury end of the market, the Clive Christian Traveller Sample Set includes 3 fragrance samples in 10ml sizes bottles. For the total price of $310, that's just under $1 per ml, which is less than half the price of the Bond No 9 samples. You just need to make sure that this gift recipient likes at least one of these Clive Christian scents.

At Hermes you can select 4 perfumes to create a bespoke coffret of 15mls samples from a total of seven Hermessence fragrances. At €100 this works out at pretty good value for €1.66 per ml. And finally, the Parfumerie Generale collection of 20 perfumes for €430. The sample size is 15ml so this works out at excellent value: €0.69 per ml.

Happy shopping.

New Lalique Book Signing at London's Lalique Boutique

The Art Of Rene Lalique is a new book by Christie Mayer Lefkowith. 

It illustrates the journey of Rene Lalique from his time as a jeweler until he was commissioned by Francois Coty to design their beautiful perfume flacons. As a result, Rene Lalique revolutionised the perfume industry. His designs elevated the presentation of perfume and powder boxes to the level of an exquisite art form.

On Tuesday November 30th 2010, Christie Mayer Lefkowith will be making a personal appearance at the Lalique Boutique, 47 Conduit Street, W1 for book signing.

Recent Perfume Haul - Latest Exchanges

Stacks of new perfumes have been dropping through my letter box over the last couple of weeks. Thanks to everybody who has already traded with me. If you're interested in making any perfume exchange, you can see my list here.

Noix de Tubereuse is a perfume that I've liked for a while. Sadly, my husband isn't a fan. So I will be wearing this one secretly when he's at work.

Passion is unlike any other Annick Goutal that I've previously tried. This is how the Annick Goutal website describes it:

Passion is the first fragrance that Annick Goutal composed for herself. By recapturing the base of the scent Folavril, she added with her artistic talent all the heady white flowers that she loved so much.
Passion is a tailor-made fragrance, which looks like her, the one of a passionate woman, in love with life... 

Passion was launched in 1983 and includes notes of jasmine, ylang-ylang, tomato leaves, tuberose, patchoulie, oakmoss and vanilla. This all ads up to something that I should love, but at the moment it's reminding me of shaving foam. 

I've longed for some perfume from The Etat Libre D'Orange range, and finally I have one, Divin'Enfant. The ELDO website says:

..after the gentle top notes of orange blossom and marshmallow, breaks the unexpected accord of coffee, leather and cold tobacco...

I didn't expect to like this one, but it's so far it's been a lot of fun and easy to wear.

Then, out of the blue Miller Harris sent me some of their delicious Figue Amere. This is a fig fragrance with real personality. 

Today I received the delightful Cuir de Lancome. 

Traditionally I haven't been a fan of leather fragrances, but on first sniff, Cuir de Lancome is beautiful. I can see this one making a reglular appearance in my perfume wardrobe.

As if all that isn't enough, I've also been sent a sample of Serge Lutens L'Eau, which I've only tried briefly once before. I'm looking forward to wearing this one. 

And, three samples from Apothia Los Angeles: Pearl, If and Velvet Rope. I haven't even had a chance to try these yet.

More on all these perfumes soon.

Christmas Present Wishlist - Five Sexy Perfumes

Here's my roundup of sexy fragrances to buy your loved one this Christmas.

Houbigant Paris - Quelques Fleurs L'Original. It's said that this is Dita Von Teese's perfume of choice, so there's no questioning its sexy credentials.

What's more, the bottle and packaging are truly lovely. This re-release of a previously well-established fragrance would be a stylish gift for even the most difficult to please.

A sexy fragrance list wouldn't be complete without mentioning at least one Chanel fragrance. For me it's Coco by Chanel. A year ago, when I started my perfume odyssey, I would almost certainly not have liked this. But having tried a lot of perfumes in the meantime, I've now come round to the magical qualities of Coco. The smell defies description. For me there's a butteriness to it that is smooth and luxurious.

The golden lid and chunky design of the bottle add to the feeling of quality for Coco. 

The scent of the tuberose flower can be incredibly sexy. For the best of the best when it comes to tuberose fragrances, try Ormonde Jayne's Tiare. I don't (yet) own a bottle of this one, so here's a shot from Ormonde Jayne's website.

I find it impossible to stay away from tuberose when thinking about sexy fragrances. One that needs including on this sexy fragrance list is Miller Harris's Noix de Tubereuse. I've just made some delightful perfume trades with Carol from Waft and am now the happy owner of a bottle of this one. 

I wasn't quite sure about Noix de Tubereuse when I first tried it back in April. It's a creamy blend of almonds and tuberose - well that's how it appears to me. The Miller Harris description doesn't feature almonds at all, but I'm not budging. 

My final choice in this selection is Chinatown by Bond No. 9. For various reasons Bond No. 9 fragrances come in for a lot of criticism online. I rarely mention their perfumes. But Chinatown is one that I tried over a year ago, and I still really enjoy wearing. It's glamorous and sophisticated, despite the garish pink bottle. Do try it.

Christmas Present Wishlist - Six Fabulous Fig Fragrances

In the run up to Christmas, I'm going to be putting together some perfume present ideas. I'm kicking off today with everybody's favourite fresh note: fig. 

A good fig fragrance will not only remind you of the ripe fruit, it will also hint at earthiness and the wet leaves of a fig grove. Here are six great fig frags to choose from.

Number one on the list has to be Diptyque's Philosykos. Every woman (and man) needs a bottle of Philosykos as a reminder of the verdant days of spring and summer. Philosykos is mild and eminently wearable.  If that's not enough, it also comes in this gorgeous packaging in solid form for only £28.

If the man in your life isn't overly keen on wearing any kind of fragrance, then Heeley's Figuier may be the one to win him over. The no-nonsense bottle and packaging, combine beautifully with the uncomplicated fragrance of Figuier.

Figue Amere was my antidote to reading Robert Harris's scorched earth novel, The Road, earlier this year. The Miller Harris brand is perfect for 'natural' fragrance lovers, and Figue Amere is no exception.

You've seen the ads, now try the scent. Womanity by Thierry Mugler is by no means the most subtle of perfumes. Buy this if you want to score a big hit with the teenager in your life. They'll wonder how you got to be so cool.

For home fragrance fans, a scented candle is a welcome treat. The only fragranced candles that I buy are fig based. Figuier by Diptyque is potent and fabulous. It comes in white and green versions.

And last, but by no means least, my personal favourite Annick Goutal's Ninfeo Mio. Look at that bottle. What's not to love?

10 Recent Perfume Articles - Link Love

A selection of links to this week's best articles about perfume. 

The Independent reviews Bond No 9's latest release: Washington Square.

TrendLand revews Six Scents Series #3.

AnOther Magazine launches its perfume collaboration with Le Labo.

i-D magazine reviews Byredo's latest launch: M/Mink.

Grazia magazine takes a sneak peak at the new Issey Miyake fragrance: L'Eau D'Issey Florale.

The Daily Mail discusses Kate Walsh's new fragrance: Boyfriend. 

Tamara Mellon unveils first Jimmy Choo fragrance. 

Kate Moss visits Coty factory in Spain to see her new fragrance being manufactured.

Katy Perry launches her new fragrance, Purr, in a catsuit.

An article from February that provides a fascinating introduction to the Green Goddesses of perfume production: Mandy Aftel, Alexandra Balahoutis, Anya McCoy, Jane Hendler, Ayala Sender, JoAnne Bassett, Roxana Villa and Yael Alkalay.

MyPerfumeLife is One Year Old Today

MyPerfumeLife is one year old today. Yippee!

I love writing this blog and trying out so many new perfumes. More than that, I've loved meeting all the new people that writing this blog has brought me into contact with. Thanks to everybody who reads, to everybody who comments and to all of you of who have been so supportive over the last year.

If I get organised, I'll do a Friday give-away tomorrow, to celebrate the first birthday of MyPerfumeLife. In the meantime thank you so much for your support.

Here's a rare glimpse of the whole family eating fish and chip on St Ives beach in Cornwall last week.

British Vogue December 2010 - Perfume Ads

As you'd expect from the Christmas edition, this month's Vogue is a bumper issue for perfume ads. The inside cover is devoted to a new fragrance, Estee Lauder Sensuous Noir.

Acqua di Gioia, with their over-photo-shopped model. 

Charlize Theron is just a wisp of a person for Dior J'Adore.

Scarlett Johansson, looking bored for Dolce & Gabbana's The One. Why would they choose such a lively and vivacious actress and put her into such a corpse-like pose?

Guerlain's one page advert for their new fragrance Idylle.

Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf includes a sample. I'd forgotten how tooth-rottingly sweet this one is.

Tom Ford's double page spread for Black Orchid. This is probably the most memorable perfume campaignof the last few years.

Justin Timberlake for Givenchy Play. There's still something about that hat. Is it Dick Van Dyke?

Voyage d'Hermes. Refreshing to see something that steps away from the usual imagery.

Narciso Rodriguez For Her featuring the heavenly Carmen Kass.

Jean Paul Gaultier Classique X. The packaging and advertising for the JPG fragrance range have always put me off. But Classique X is acutally a fresh citrus. Who knew?

L'Eau d'Issey is keeing it surreal with its lily, tulip, bark still life.

Gorgeous photograph of the impossibly gorgeous Lara Stone for Prada's Infusion D'Iris. Feminine Things has some interesting things to say about this image.

Van Cleef & Arpels. Is their nuclear dawn image really doing the job?

Balenciaga Paris. Charlotte Gainsbourg is beautiful, but it's the bottle that sells this one.

Jennifer Aniston is perfecting her sad, lost-puppy look. Oh puhlease.

Chloe Love is still rocking the 1980s power dressing and big hair look.

Sisley's Eau du Soir. I love this brand. Don't say anything bad about Sisley, I'm a fan.

Juicy Couture's Peace and Love. This rather lovely campaign reminds me of The Face's iconic Summer of Love photos of Kate Moss.

Agent Provocateur. Bums and boobs all round.

Favourites for the month. Lara Stone for being downright beautiful. And Juicy Couture for projecting the Summer of Love whimsy.