Which line do you like the most?
Who has the best track record of creating only perfumes you love?
If there was only one house you had to choose for the rest of your life who would that be?
My Answers:
I ask myself at the moment why I ask such hard questions I have difficulties answering myself. 🙂
I am trying to whittle it down to one brand, but I can’t seem to decide between the last two still in the running.
Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle versus Guerlain.
One the one hand Guerlain should win, because of its history alone. There are more fragrances to chose from too. But the recent offerings have been so dissappointing they were almost a non issue for perfume lovers.
That is where Malle comes in. There is a limited number of perfumes, but I love each and every one (the exceptions are Carnal Flower and Fleur de Cassie, but I have not given up hope that I may come around one day ;)) and every new launch has me exited and has not left me disappointed yet.
So what do do? Who to choose? Do I have to?
I might just wimp out and say that is my blog, I refrain from answering.
Better yet, I bend the rules: you may state two perfume houses as well. 🙂
I am looking forward to hear your favorites, your island perfume house(s)!
Olfactoria's Travels 
Ooh! Good question B.!
I really like L’Artisan, and have had really good luck with them so far; they consistently create interesting and wearable fragrances, for prices that, while high, certainly won’t break the bank of a careful shopper.
Also, I really, really like Parfumerie Generale. I own four of five of PG’s fragrances, and each one is pretty much love.
Then again, I’m falling pretty hard for Amouage these days too… and of course there’s Guerlain… and I’m really liking the Chanel’s. Too hard to choose!
No, I think I’ll stick with my original assessment. I have given this some thought previously, and I think that if I had to limit myself to one house for the rest of my life (!) it would be L’Artisan. 🙂
Oh yes, L’Artisan, very good choice! I had a high success rate with them too. I am glad I don’t really have to choose to let all the others go, though. 🙂
Dee, I am just really getting into the Parfumerie Generale line (only tried Cuir d’Iris, Aomassai and Felanilla so far) so I’d love to know which 4/5 scents of theirs you own. You too B, if you love any of theirs.
I only have Felanilla and Jardins de Kerylos which I love and I long for Iris Taizo and Bois Naufragé. I’ll leave the stage to Dee on that. 🙂
Thanks B, it’s good to have pointers with a largely unknown range.
B., I swear, I keep meaning to send you some Iris Taizo–what a nut I am! Next care package… 🙂
Yay! ❤
I have (and love)
1. Brulure de Rose
2. Bois Blond
3. Iris Taizo
4. L’Ombre Fauve
5. Felanilla
Tara, that is the order of acquisition, and since I love such different aspects of each, it would be hard to pick a favorite! Jardins de Kerylos is on my “to sniff” list, as is Coze!
Thanks very much Dee, I’m so nosy I know! It’s just great to know what other people have “full bottle love” for – especially as we share a passion for the wonderful Bois des Iles 🙂
Ha, well, I’m super nosy, so I can relate 😉
Hard choice but Malle wins out just because of Une Rose .
You make me reach for Une Rose today, such a great perfume.
I can’t understand either why you need to aks such difficult questions. 🙂
I’ll go with 2 houses – Serge Lutens and Parfumerie Generale but if I were to choose a someone with the best track record for me, then it’s B. Duchafour.
So, I guess that makes it 3 then?
I guess it is a bit masochistic 😉 But after the thought experiment of limiting oneself, isn’t it nice to have all the choices back all of a sudden? 🙂
Picking a perfumer is a great idea, especially one as prolific as Duchaufour.
B this is so hard I can’t possibly choose! For me it’s between Guerlain and Chanel. I love Guerlain as a house the most because they are all about the scents and their (mainly) older perfumes have such unique characher and lovely romantic stories behind them. Their creations are so precious to me. However the perfumes I actually wear the most – day in, day out, -are Les Exclusifs. I guess I am in love with Guerlain but married to Chanel 🙂
Haha, that is a hard choice indeed! 🙂 I love your comparison!
But it is indeed asking too much of us to stay monogamous when it comes to perfume, there are too many great ones…
“in love with Guerlain but married to Chanel” How poetic!
For the rest of my life ? Oh, no – there is no such ! If I’d name L’Artisan it’d mean there’d be no Guerlains and Serge Lutens anymore ?
See, you have already narrowed it to three (and left out Chanel!!!)… 😉
Oh, I left out loads of them (all my ladies : Ormond Jayne, Jo Malone, Annick Goutal, Mandy Aftel, etc., etc.)
I think we can all agree that we are glad this is only a hypothetical question. 🙂
My favorite perfume house has been Serge Lutens for a long time as I am using Féminité du Bois since it was launched, recently adopted Filles en Aiguille, and like most of the Serge Lutens fragrances. I like his bold choices of perfumes, mysterious scents, woody, spicy, with often incense in it.
I also love several of Lutens’ perfumes. Great choice, Celine!
I have 3 bottles of Ormonde Jayne and want 2 more, so I think she is winner the bottle battle in my cupboard. I love 4 Andy Tauer’s, so he’s close. I love 3 Chanels, 2 Parfumerie Generale’s and 2 Dyptiques and 2 Parfums de Nicolai and 2 Penhaligon’s, in a four way tie for fourth place.
Ormonde Jayne is a good choice, there is no bad fragrance in her line-up. But you’d have to leave all the others behind… 🙂
Talk about a hard question…If I were forced to answer at gunpoint, Heaven forfend the thought, it would be …Serge Lutens, for the sheer range and scope of their creations. There are not a few passionate loves (and certainly one passionate loathe as well!), and I foresee at least five bell jars in my future aside from the ones I already have. (Jeux de Peau is on its way, yippie! 😉 )
For a challenge, for beauty, for restoring my faith in perfuming and creating some of the most stunning scents in recent years, I hand a love letter to Andy Tauer. For nostalgia, for my first ever perfume buy, and for history, it would have to be Guerlain. I’ll overlook Idylle and Insolence (ergh!) since they also reissued Sous Le Vent, an old and never-forgotten love. And for the Hall of Fame moment, the one perfume I shall never, ever live without simply because I can’t…it would be Chanel, for Chanel no. 19 in all its permutations. One perfumer…Jean Claude Ellena, for creating so many perennial favorites…Un Jardin Sur Le Nil, Thé Verte and Thé Verte Extrème, Iris Ukiyoe….
Monogamy…schmonogamy! 😉 How can I love just one, when so many love me back? 😉
T., I can NOT wait to read your review of Jeux de Peau!
*chimes in* Me too!
Well said, T! (As always!) I find that posing such a question lets me appreciate the variety found in my collection much more, but things one can live without become clear to. There are not many though! 🙂
I just love Dawn Spencer Hurwitz her natural perfumes are special and crafted with love and care.
That is so right, Taffynfontana! DSH Perfumes are wonderful and Dawn is such an approachable and lovely person, she really deserves even more recognition.
I think more in terms of favorite perfumers than favorite houses (I love Calice Becker, Maurice Roucel, Laurie Erickson, Andy Tauer), but I must say I have a big soft spot for Estee Lauder! 🙂
I also follow perfumers more than houses. Estée Lauder has a deeply American vibe that does not resonate as much in Europe, I think. But that is just my theory. 😉