Here are three perfumes I tested in the past few weeks and couldn’t love at all . Sometimes there is no other solution than to scrub (and scrub and scrub, because did you ever try to get rid of a Tauer?)… I don’t want to offend anyone, these are my personal opinions only, and tastes are different…
Tauer Tableau de Parfums Miriam:
This is supposed to be similar in feel to the wonderful SSS Nostalgie, but on me, it is decidedly not. The drydown might be great, I wouldn’t know. I had to scrub it off every time I tried (and I won’t anymore), because the topnotes just make my skin crawl. It is such an unpleasant aldehydic fizz that is so pervasive my nose starts to quiver and tremble. Miriam is not for me and that was a huge disappointment indeed.
Miriam was created by Andy Tauer and includes notes of fresh citrus accord, geranium, violet blossom, rose, jasmine, ylang, violet leaf, lavender, vanilla, orris root and sandalwood.
Guerlain Floral Romantique:
Wow, such a perfume coming from the esteemed House of Guerlain as a part of an exclusive collection, takes some cheek. This is the most generic white floral to ever come from Guerlain, but it can be found by the dozen in other mainstream houses for a tenth of the price. It is one thing whether I like that perfume or not, but another, for Guerlain to sell something so unimaginative and repetitive, as an exclusive offering for a steep price. If I didn’t know and love so many other fragrances from Guerlain that I truly love, I would be very, very concerned about the future of this house. Catering to the masses is not the way to stay on top. Because – hello? this is a luxury business. The price alone does not luxury make.
Floral Romantique includes notes of mandarin, petitgrain, ambrette seeds, yerba mate, carnation, jasmine, lily, tiare flower, ylang-ylang, cedarwood, smoked tea, benzoin, chestnut and was created by Thierry Wasser.
Histoires de Parfums 1969:
Coffee in a perfumes makes me queasy. It was the same with Bond N°9 New Haarlem, and it is the same here. Maybe that is because I am an absolute wimp who never drinks coffee either… 1969 is a mess on me, an overthrown cafeteria cart, where coffee and juices and snacks are all jumbled together and clamor for attention. Wearing it makes me crave a cleanse and a zen meditation session. The spirit of chaos that the year symbolizes has been captured perfectly though.
1969 was created by Gerard Ghislain and includes notes of fruit of the sun, peach, rose, white flowers, cardamom, clove, patchouli, chocolate, coffee and white musk.
What are your recent scrubber discoveries? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
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I’m being very careful when testing unknown perfumes: I try to apply the tiniest amount first to see what I think, if I need warm water and soap (or a creme brulee torch in case of Tauer’s perfumes ;)). And I have a high tolerance to perfumes I’m testing: I wouldn’t be able to wear many of them but I can tolerate it as a patch test on my wrist for a long while.
But just a couple of days ago I came across a perfume that I was about to scrub and I’d have done it if it hadn’t been the smallest application. So I decided to let it be since it’s very unlikely I’ll make myself to go through it again (though I might). The prefume was Tea Rose by Perfumer’s Workshop. I’m so glad I have many favorite rose perfumes – otherwise I would have concluded that I hated rose perfumes.
I don’t spray a new scent with abandon either, caution is of importance!
Hm, never heard of Perfumer’s Workshop, and your experience won’t make me go looking for it either. 😉
Lol, “creme brûlée” torch! Zeta didn’t even make it onto my skin, but I torched the outer packaging it came in 😉
Not tried Miriam, but I think most likely that it won’t be for me!
1969 I didn’t care for – too peachy – but it wasn’t a scrubber as such (though one or two other HdPs my memory has now blotted out were I think!).
Floral Romantique I liked and never thought of it as a lazy creation at the time, though it is a pretty upmarket line so I know what you mean. I was just pleased to find an Elixir that wasn’t too cloying and rich!
I remembered that you liked Floral Romantique, it is nice, but just sooooooo predictable and unimaginative, it irks me that it is part of an exclusive line.
Elie Saab and Balenciaga (they reminded me my rule #1 : the very first sniff should be on a blotter and not on my wrist – however the friendly SA is trying to convince me otherwise…)
That is a good rule, especially when it comes to some mainstream fragrances. 😉
I’m with you on the Miriam. I wanted to love it, was excited to try another retro aldehydic, but it kind of went supernova on my arm, and didn’t want to let go! I was sad.
My other sad discovery was Mon Numero 10. I love Mon Numero 1, but 10 was just…scary. Again, too over-the-top to wear.
1969 I felt MEH over, it just didn’t go anywhere with me.
My happy discoveries have been Shiseido’s Koto (a soft, subtle aldehydic chypre’) and Malle’s En Passant. Heavenly perfumes indeed!
So glad you had the same experience with Miriam. Mon Numero 10 was pretty bad too.
En Passant is dreamy, it was my first niche perfume.
No recent scrubbers for me but I’m rather slow in testing lately.
Btw, you doon’t like coffee in your perfumes? Feel free to pass them on to me – I love New Harleem (I mean what’s not to love?!). 😉
And I like 1969 just fine as well.
I’m wondering about MIriam though – I’m not really an aldehyde fan myself…
I will pass on those two to you! I’m glad they come to a good home.
I see that you’ve already promised 1969 to Ines, but I just wanted to mention that I enjoyed it a lot on my vSO (on one sniffing trip I was out of usable skin RE and he allowed me to spray it on him). I haven’t tried it on my skin since then but I will eventually.
Please feel free to send 1969 to Undina – I have a little decant already. 🙂
No-no-no, I didn’t mean me – I meant that Birgit might want to try it on Mr.O. 🙂
If he has read this, he won’t let me! 😉
Miriam is one I’m definitely on the fence about, it’s almost a bit TOO Tauer for my liking.
I haven’t had a proper scrubber for a while, but the last was a REAL scrubber – Mon Parfum Cherie Par Camille by Annick Goutal. Vile with a capital V 😛
Ah, I was curious what you’d make of Miriam.
I was so sad about the Goutal, I couldn’t stand it either, but I had such high expectations for it. 😦
Interesting. 🙂
I’m the lucky recipient of that sample and to me it seems like the only Goutal so far I could wear. 🙂
Oh! I forgot about that disaster. Though I courageously let MPC die on my skin without scrubbing it off – though I felt like doing that from the first second.
MFK absolue pour le soir, just a cumin mess on me, I lasted about 10minutes then went to scrub. Such a shame as I love the cologne version. I was too much of a wimp to give it another try anywhere near my skin so I tested on tissue paper, I have to say the tissue wears it far better than I do.
I’m so with you! I wanted to love Absolue as well, but it is pure cumin on me – horrible.
Yes!!! This one too. I got some on my fingers recently while re-organizing my samples and had to stop everything trying to wash it off. But I plan to try one more time. If I’m brave enough.
I’ve tried it about five times now: four times it was a
cumin disaster, once it was great. Which drives me crazy! 😉
Okay, I can be honest with myself…I have a feeling that I can no longer convince myself to LOVE LOVE Absolue. I don’t mind cumin, really but something in it doesn’t work very well on my skin.
I know the feeling of having to give up on something, although you really want to love it.
I have tried it on twice and if it doesn’t work on the third try then it’s a total strike out for me! I’m willing to try this one again..
Oh it is nice to stop and consider the scrubbers for a moment, it can be quite personally enlightening plus EVERYONE has an opinion!
My last three major scubbers were:
PG Musc Moari – somehow I manage to actually curdle the chocolate. It smelt like milk that has been in the fridge for a month past its sell by date on my skin, yet wonderful on the blotter. (As an aside this was tempered by Cadjmere which has shot to the top of my wish list, it’s just the spring weather that holding me back from the actual purchase).
SL EL Attarine – I used to like cumin in perfume, but this may have turned me into a complete cumin-phobe (I’m not sure I can forgive it either, it has quite ruined PdE Ambre Russe). I smelled like I had just completed a ten mile run and celebrated with a curry.
PdE Yuzu Fou – I will retest this when I am feeling braver, I just don’t think I was expecting it to be quite so savoury.
Sorry!
Haha, I had to laugh about your characterization of El Attarine, totally agree!
Too bad that Musc Maori turned out so badly for you. 😦
I recently sampled Pardon by Nasomatto and that turned ugly. It became metallic on me and made me nauseous. It took 2 days to get that smell out of my head. Also agree with you on 1969, fun concept, but not fun to wear.
I have heard very diverging opinions of Pardon, which makes it somewhat intriguing.
What is funny is that while I found it repulsive, my better half said it was lovely!
Men! 😉
:))
Hum Miriam by Andy Tauer, I’ll will discover it really, and his auhor, april 3rd being so kindly invited to a cocktail in Marie-Antoinette store in Paris…..
I’m so glad to meet Andy Tauer and, maybe, discover at last other scents by him.
But I could smell Miriam and really, you’re right, it’s impossible for me to wear…..two powdery but really in a bad way, as if you could feel the powder on your skin, and soap bubbles……
You wrote it should be close to Nostalgie, oh my G., I agreed, not AT ALL.
My regret is not to bear SL’s scents………they become awful on my skin whereas many of them are so beautiful……
How lovely you are going to meet Andy Tauer, have a wonderful time at the cocktail, Florence!
It’s strange that SL doesn’t work for you. I have a love/hate relationship with his perfumes, the only one I love without reservations is Ambre Sultan.
My last “scrubber” was Burberry’s Body. It made me absolutely ill.
I can totally relate, Kathleen!
Tauers are so potent! The Guerlain just sounds rather underwhelming for an exclusive, like you say. I know what you mean about coffee, I don’t drink it either but although I quite like the aroma, I can’t imagine wanting to smell of it.
I’ve been wracking my brains all morning trying to remember a recent scrubber but I guess my testing rate is pretty low these days and I’m not terribly adventurous, to put it mildly. So instead I will share my first ever scrubber, Lorenzo Villoresi Garofano. It really smelt like decomposing rubbish. At the time I was quite excited and proud to have experienced my first scrubber though! A perfumista rite of passage 🙂
Okay, I won’t go anywhere near Garofano now! 🙂
Wow! Miriam was a scrubber? That is interesting— I know that Mals loves it; must be something in it that just hates your magic skin! 😉 At least you have Nostalgie when you are in the mood for a vintage floral.
I love coffee, and the thought of living with out it causes a mini panic attack (I’ve been contemplating giving up caffeine for “health”; not likely to happen), however, 1969 sounds repulsive! I did laugh out loud though at your description “where coffee and juices and snacks are all jumbled together.” When I read the word “snacks,” I nearly lost my coffee! LOL.
The last fragrance that sent me to the sink scrubbing with steel wool was (drum roll please) Cuir de Russie! But since my review therapy treatments, I have completely changed my mind about it. It’s beautiful!
I’m trying to duplicate that experiment with Fracas, but it’s not going so well. I have not scrubbed, but it’s taken all my courage not to (my stomach is getting stronger).
I love mini-reviews! They’re tops 🙂
Tops indeed! 😀
I’m so curious to hear all about your Fracas experiment eventually!
Dee, I have no doubt your Fracas experiment will work. 🙂
What’s not to love about a white floral? 😉
🙂
My last scrubber was 3 Fleurs by Parfum d’Empire. There’s something about certain iterations of violin-level florals (rose, jasmine, tuberose) that go horribly shrill and/or rancid-water-in-the-bottom-of-a-vase on me.
Oh yes, I think this is the only one in the entire line I can’t abide either (that and Fougere Bengale, but that is a cumin problem).
I love your ‘violin-level florals’. I’d apply that to Elie Saab. Not quite a scrubber, but close.
I’m a big coffee addict and I love coffee perfumes to from New Harlem to Thierry Mugler Pure Coffee. Njami.
I guess I’m more of a tea person. 😉
Miriam is also horrible on me ;-(. Otherwise I like Tauer’s perfumes ….I just really can’t stand Zeta, it makes me nauseous.
I like many Tauers, but this one… phew. 😦
My last scrubber was Tauer’s Le Maroc Pour Elle. It was too Haight-Ashbury headshop for me. I might give it another shot just because I hate giving up so easily on fragrances. Maybe it’ll work better if I’m wearing a velvet skirt with granny boots dodging the draft on my way to a Grateful Dead concert…haha
Haha, that is a lovely image (aside from the draft dodging of course). 😉
For what it’s worth, I don’t think Miriam and Nostalgie are very much alike. Miriam reminds me of Guerlain Vega, and it’s not to my taste either (I don’t like aldehydes to be so sweet). Nostalgie on the other hand reminds me of Joy and I love it.
My last scrubber was another Histoire de Parfums, the Marquis de Sade one. It was FILTHY on me. I put the sample away for later, hoping I was just having a bad skin day. All I smelled was raunchy patchouli.
Before that, I had to scrub Dioressence, sample dating to the ’80s I think. Again, totally raunchy, like sweaty peaches. Not good.
Funnily enough, I like Vega! 😉 More than any other aldehydic floral actually. Seems like there are no rules for what I like and what not… 🙂
Too bad that 1740 didn’t work for you, I like it, but I can see how it turns filthy though.
I must have a strong stomach, I like Miriam (carefully dosed) and love Zeta :-). There are other Tauers that are scrubbers on me (URV and Reverie au Jardin comes to mind).
Tauers are scrubbers in a good way though, “better to listen to the bowstring that breaks than never taking aim” to qoute the swedish poet. Sort of like my scrubber par excellence Lush Breath of God…
Latest scrubbers (and not in a good way) Buberry Body and Love Chloe-disgusting!
I love that quote, it is so true when it comes to Tauer. I felt bad for slagging Miriam, when I admire him so much, but I hope everyone knows that. 🙂
Ah…Musc Maori, was on my list…
Cannot think of a recent Scrubber, I think I have come to the conclusion that I am just going to save the $ and go for a full bottle of Mona di Orio or another that I have small decants of and truly do love. I do enjoy reading others’ comments!!!!
I didn’t think Musc Maori was such a polarizing scent… interesting.
Which Mona di Orio are you going for?
Vanille or (OUCH, IF I get the nerve to spend the $) her Oud.
Hmmmmm. Great choices. 🙂
Pretty much anything with a lot of tuberose, really. Cannot come to terms with that note.
The two-three by killian samples I have tested so far with the execption of back to black.
Gucci Rush – both of them.
Guerlain l’heure bleue – perhaps the worst of the bunch.
Oh, L’Heure Bleue – I recently tried a vintange extrait, my God it was so beautiful. I’m craving it ever since, no comparison to the current formulation especially in EdP and EdT.
Did you try Le Labo Tubereuse 40? This one might be your tuberose…
Now that was a lot of fun!!
Very healthy too when many blogs sound like PR work. I’m proud of you ☺
😀 Thank you.
Sometimes it’s healthy to vent a little. 😉
I didn’t care for Miriam or 1969 either, but now you make me want to try them again, just to be perverse. 🙂
I think it’s been a while since I met a scrubber. I thought Judith Lieber’s Topaz was the most revolting thing I’d smelled in a long time when I sniffed it on a blotter. I tend to test on my skin with complete disregard for my own safety or well-being but Topaz came at me at a big sniffing party (at Sniffapalooza, in fact) and fortunately it was on paper. Bleah.
Haha, sometimes even a negative opinion makes us try somehing, I’m the same. 🙂
So disapointed with the new MFK Oud. I had such high hopes for this, but it was just a horrible Fruity/Saffron chemical mess – awful.
Oh, that does not sound good. I’m all oud-d out, so I won’t even try it, I think.
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