Katie's Perfume Collection: Part 5

And here it is -- the final installment of my 5-part perfume collection series! Hmmm...that exclamation point signifies a tad more perkiness than I was actually able to muster in this, the last ten minutes of my hour-plus filibuster. That’s right, a solid 60-odd minutes of free-form fumey blah-blah. The perfume version of They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?. I think it tells you everything you need to know that by Part 5, my director-slash-husband had long since abandoned watching me on the monitor and was instead lying prostrate on the floor behind the camera, eyes shut. I’d like to imagine he was marveling at all I had to share with the world on the subject of fragrance. But I think he was concentrating on trying not to cough. Despite my valiant efforts to verbally archive my 60 bottle collection, I managed to leave one perfume out: Comme des Garçons Daphne. So it’s 61 bottles in all, which clears up that counting confusion I was experiencing in Part 1. I’m pretty relieved I don’t have 71 perfumes after all, because that would be crazy. Because 61’s so not...crazy. Uh.... Here are the fragrances discussed in this video: 1. Chanel No. 5 Eau Première 2. Etro Sandalo 3. Miller Harris Fleur Oriental 4. Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan 5. Aveda Yatra 6. Christian Dior Diorella 7. Estée Lauder Youth Dew Amber Nude 8. Clarins Eau Dynamisante Click on the fragrance names for more information. Smell along with Katie: Perfume Collection Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

18 comments:

  1. A response video?! My husband would be comatose by Part 5. And if I asked him to participate any further, he would simply pack a bag and drive to a remote location. Leaving his cell phone behind. Next to the video camera.

    I stopped trying to count my bottles a long time ago. I have backup bottles, vintage and modern formulations, different concentrations and how do you deal with that? My vintage collection (many of them partial bottles) really exploded the bottle count. My great-grandchildren will be inheriting quite a collection.

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  2. Oh I am so very sad that this was the last installment your perfume collection! You must get more perfume!

    As far as a response video, that would require that I retrieve most of my collection from the "cool, dark places" that I have hidden it in.

    If my husband knew the extent of my collection, he would promptly divorce me. Or possibly hold a lemonade-like stand on the corner of our street to get rid of them.

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  3. I had a lot of fun watching your collection videos and hearing your thoughts as you made your way through the forest of bottles. I agree with Chefronswife, you really must buy more perfume! :)

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  4. I've gotta say I love the free form perfume raves. I get the impression that you would be an awesome yet dangerous perfume shopping partner. Can we have a part 6 dedicated just to Comme De Garcons Daphne? pfft. I kid. I <3 the 2 CDG perfumes I've tried though so I am curious.

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  5. Melissa, oh how I would love to paw through your collection. And don't kid yourself that the grandkids will ever care about any of this great stuff as much as you do. (I'm thinking of my dad's sorrowful realization that no one values his collection of scholarly books on religion and tomes on political science written in Russian the way he does.) Why are kids so ornery and pig-headed and filled with ridiculous interests of their own?

    Chefronswife, I'm laughing at your "my husband would divorce me" remark, because I was reluctant to trot out my full collection for the very same reason. I have most of the bottles tucked away, with a handful of "high rotation" beauties in a more accessible spot. It's a lame attempt to make him think those are my only perfumes.

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  6. thea, lucky you - more free form raving on the topic of CdG Daphne can be found here:
    http://www.katiepuckriksmells.com/2010/03/comforting-scents-for-uncomfortable.html

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  7. I enjoyed this series very much. I like how you included ones from your own "olden days"...it's always interesting to see what we used to think was the ultimate best for me fragrance. Like everyone else, I seem to have thought I'll stick with one fragrance...that's what I know HOW to buy....and now I'm totally promiscuous and have 5 or 6 things going on all day long (morning comfort) (experimental samples) (grownup in the day light) (back to comfort.

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  8. Cheryl, I do like to hold onto old favorites I no longer wear, because they're like an olfactory photo album.

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  9. Brava Katie, what can I say, your collection is soooo hot.

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  10. Katie - I watched this again and giggled to myself...

    I worked for Clarin's in Middle Georgia once and I had a customer who would always come in to buy "That Odie-Namy-Saint stuff" Huh? Oh yeah! Eau Dynamisante!

    I personally love me some "Odie" as I have called it ever since.

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  11. Thanks so much for this series. I like all your reviews, but I must admit a particular fondness for this more conversational approach. I share chefronwife's hope that your collection will grow so we'll get chatty videos like this in the future. Listening to you talk is fun!

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  12. Thanks elizabeth! I'm sure I'll work in some more free-form fume-scattin' at some point.

    Chefronswife, "Odie" is funny. Wasn't there a cartoon skunk named "Odie Caloney"?

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  13. I just loved how you described Ambre Sultan. It's exactly what it reminded me: hot rockrose bushes warming in the sun to release their labdanum scent, surrounded by more herbaceous scents from the sage and thyme on the Mediterranean mountains. Have you ever experienced that?

    P.s. You're not alone your little problem, and I hope you will believe me though I don't think I have the skills or the crew to show you a video of my collection ;-)

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  14. Ayala, here in southern California, we have the mountains filled with sage, thyme, chaparral, all baking fragrantly in the sun. But we don't have rockrose, and I'd love to experience that symphony of smells in the wild!

    Ha - the "crew" you refer to is my husband!

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  15. Katie, the baked Californian mountains must smell haunting... I think you would love the Mediterranean ones with all the labdanum.
    Way to go for your crew!!!

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  16. Katie, how do you arrange / store your perfume? do you shelf them in a nice cabinet? do you display them? do you mind to post a picture? thanks !
    Elaine

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  17. Elaine -- I don't display my bottles, they're all tucked away in a cabinet I had built into the hall closet. There was some "dead space" under the closet (which is built into the wall a foot off the ground), and that was transformed into two shelves of storage space. It's dark and stays cooler than the rest of my place.

    I should get around to snapping a photo...but it's not that photogenic!

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