Serge Lutens Rose de Nuit

I was especially excited to sample this one as the consensus seems to be that it's a dirty little rose.

I had a long day yesterday and it was after nine by the time I'd run my after-work errands and taken a bath. I cautiously painted a thin layer of Rose de Nuit onto the inside of my elbow. It went on absolutely amazing, not a dirty rose so much as a synthetic one, maybe the year 2182's interpretation of the long-extinct English rose? Anyway, I loved it.

As the scent dried down it started to smell familiar to me. What was that smell? It was dry, and it reminded me of something I knew I'd smelled pretty often. And then it hit me: it smelled almost exactly like my ex-husband's aftershave. I don't know if it was the amber or the leather note I was reacting to - I can't even remember what brand of aftershave he used - but once I made the connection my stomach dropped.

This one wasn't a scrubber, it was a drinker. I got out the Jack Daniel's and diet ginger ale and settled into a "Mad Men" episode on DVD. I didn't wash the perfume off. Who says we shouldn't celebrate melancholy?

Prada Infusion d'Iris

It's true what they say over at Now Smell This - the salespeople at Sephora are more than happy to make up samples for you! I was in there looking for blush and ended up with a tiny spray vial of Prada's Infusion d'Iris to take home.

There's a lot to love about this one. It's flowery without being too pretty. It's cool and dry. There's a note of melancholy in its clean iris smell, not funeral flowers, but maybe a vase on top of a piano that no one's played in months. It's elegant, but in no way fussy.

Right away I got iris and the cedar. Even though there are orange blossom and mandarin notes in this one I haven't picked up on those as much. Infusion d'Iris doesn't change on my skin the way some perfumes do, it just does a slow fade.

Well, maybe it's not fair to say "slow fade." This perfume didn't last more than two hours on me yesterday. It could be the weather - it's been hot and muggy for weeks, downright tropical. The only one of my perfumes that has made it through to lunchtime lately is Coco Mademoiselle. I'm giving Infusion d'Iris another few days. I absolutely love its quiet, cold stillness. I'm already tempted to buy a bottle.

This was my first iris. So, do I like iris? Hell yes. I can't wait to try another one.

How Did I Get Here?

If you're reading this I must have worked up the nerve to de-lurk over at Now Smell This or Base Notes.

I'm Kate. I recently spent almost six months out of work hoping against hope that my bottle of Chanel No. 5 wouldn't run dry before I got a job offer. (It didn't!) Since I didn't do much besides troll the internet for jobs or hit up the gym or the grocery store, it was the only thing in my life that was even a little bit glamorous.

I've been a casual reader of Now Smell This and Bois de Jasmin for a few years. Now that buying a couple of bottles of perfume won't break the bank - especially if I stick mostly to decants! - I'm ready to start a real collection. And, hey, I'm stimulating the economy.

I really loved Angela's post at Now Smell This about becoming a perfumista and decided I fell pretty squarely into stage two. And yes I did just learn to pronounce "chypre." What can I say, I took Spanish and German. Let's call this the slutty summer abroad of my perfuming life - I'll try anything right now. Feel free to help me add to my To-Do List.

Here's a quick rundown of perfumes I have known:

Love's Baby Soft
Purchased at a drugstore, probably around 1990. It smelled a little better to me than the scent strips in Sassy or YM, but not much. When I sprayed some on my skin it smelled like...deodorant. By the time the Nirvana song came out I had abandoned the Love's Baby Soft for good.

Cacharel Noa
I asked for this for Christmas the year it was released. It was actually pretty lovely, and maybe even something I would wear now. But...knowing nothing at the time I picked it for the bottle.

Lucky Brand Lucky You
I have a soft spot for this one. To me it smells like roses and ginger ale.

Givenchy Very Irresistible
This was a watershed purchase because I actually went to the perfume counter and tried it out before purchasing! Granted I didn't know anything about top notes, heart notes and base notes and probably would have guessed that drydown is something you do to a boat. But...I can kind of see how I went from Lucky You to Very Irresistible. They're both sweet florals.

CB I Hate Perfume Crushed Fig Leaf
What? How does someone go from schlocky department store fare to the latest in avant-garde niche perfumery?! It was a happy accident. I live within walking distance of the CB I Hate Perfume gallery, and Christopher Brosius' "scent museum" was enough to make a convert out of me. He helped me try stuff out himself (this was a couple years ago, now there are trendy sales associates who do that) and I think he was surprised at the way Crushed Fig Leaf smelled on my skin. It's very feminine on me somehow. I was surprised by how many different smells were bottled up, and how different they smelled on my skin than they did in the air.

CB I Hate Perfume Tea/Rose
This is the most beautiful smelling perfume at first blush and I was thrilled the whole walk home. Then all of a sudden I decided I smelled like Miss Climpson in Strong Poison did when she had to fake her way through a seance after a long day in various tea shops. The rose had faded away and left me smelling - no, stinking! - of black tea. I wore this one for a few weeks and then gave up.

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle
I got this off eBay. Total impulse purchase. Luckily, I totally dug it. Coco Mademoiselle is polished and ladylike without being frumpy. I wore it happily for a year, and then bought another bottle. My first repeater!

Issey Miyake L'Eau d'Issey
This one is just too pretty for me, plus it disappears completely within an hour. I got it as a gift, and I still wear it sometimes if I'm going somewhere where a stronger perfume might annoy people. Gym, post office, date with a vegetarian. I think that L'Eau d'Issey might have prejudiced me against floral aquatics. I'll have to work on that. (I'm supposed to be trying everything!)

Chanel No. 5
I put off trying Chanel No. 5 for two pretty stupid reasons. First, I was afraid I wouldn't like it and then have to defend my own taste in perfume to myself, and second, I had heard it was for older ladies. See, stupid reasons! I ordered a sample and wore it everywhere for four days straight. This was love. As with Coco Mademoiselle I could follow the smell through its three distinct stages, but this time around I loved all of them. Chanel No. 5 is what it is: a little loud, maybe even pretentious. I feel like I have to wear red lipstick when I wear it (or vice versa) and I'm glad because I love wearing red lipstick. For me Chanel No. 5 is not about being sexy or even confident, it's more about deciding that today matters.

So that's my story! I spent most of this weekend feverishly clicking around NST and Perfume Posse to put together a list of about 20 samples to order from The Perfumed Court and Luckyscent. I can't wait to get started.