Perfume Collection

Hi everyone!  Today I will be giving a brief overview of my perfume collection and some insights into a few fragrances that I really love.  I enjoy wearing perfume and trying out new fragrances and have built up a small collection of different fragrances over the past few years.

Let’s start with perfume oils.  I have three of these, all from the Body Shop, in the fragrances Clementine, sandalwood and tea rose.  These are very concentrated fragrances and you only need a tiny amount so the 15ml bottles will last a long time.  As you can see, I’ve barely made a dint in any of them.  They are fairly reasonably priced at around $18 each, however I think a lot of the scents have been discontinued (at the time I purchased these I think there was quite a large range, but now only four different fragrances appear on the website).

Clemetine (or Satsuma) is a citrus fragrance which is nice and light and perfect for summer when you don’t feel like a heavy fragrance.  Sandalwood is a spicy, woody fragrance which is much heavier and more suited to night time wear.  Tea rose is a nice floral.  It’s hard to say a lot about these as they really are what they say they are!  Whilst each oil has a single fragrance, they can be worn alone, or blended to make up your own customised fragrance.  I personally haven’t experimented with this as I’m not sure than any of the three I own would work well together but I can imagine, for example, vanilla and sandalwood being quite nice together.  They are also very long wearing.

Left to right: Clementine (Satsuma), Sandalwood, Tea Rose

Next up is Vera Wang.  As you can see, I am obsessed with the "Princess" perfumes.  I have just recently finished a 30ml of the original Princess and I have a 100ml in reserve (which I am planning to try to decant into the 30ml bottle).  This is a nice fruity/floral fragrance with strong hints of vanilla.  I wear this as an everyday fragrance.  Then, there is Flower Princess which is similar, but a little less sweet and more floral.  I get more hints of rose from Flower Princess.  This is also great for everyday wear.  I also have Rock Princess which I haven't opened yet, however I am planning to use this as an evening/night fragrance when my current night fragrance has run out as this is a more musky/woody fragrance.  Another thing I love about the Princess series, is the bottle design - it's so cute!!  I have tested Glam Princess as well (the newest addition to the series) and I really do like it - perhaps I will purchase it once I have finished one or two of my current Princess fragrances.

Left to right: Rock Princess, Flower Princess, Princess, empty Princess

Glam Princess - image sourced from www.fragrancenet.com

I have two Gucci perfumes: Flora and Gucci by Gucci.  Flora is a lovely, light floral with hints of citrus and rose, perfect for day wear.  Gucci by Gucci is quite a heavy spicy/oriental fragrance which I only ever wear in the evening/at night time.  The strongest notes I get from this fragrance are musk and patchouli.

Left to right: Gucci by Gucci, Gucci Flora

I couldn't really think of categories for the rest so I have just grouped the rest into what photographed nicely together haha!  So first up are the tall bottles, Hypnose Senses by Lancome and Viva La Juicy by Juicy Couture.  Hypnoses Senses is also quite spicy, but I find this light enough for day wear.  Viva La Juicy is a sweet floral fragrance, with hints of vanilla as well.  My sister wears this a lot and reports frequent compliments!  The bottle is gorgeous to look at as well!

Sorry, I couldn't get this to upload the right way up!  Top to bottom: Hypnose Senses and Viva La Juicy

Here we have Young Sexy Lovely by YSL and Romance by Ralph Lauren.  I probably have maybe three more days of wear left in Romance and I probably won't repurchase this.  It was a nice fragrance but I wasn't really crazy about it.  It's quite floral with strong notes of rose.  I use this for everyday wear.  As I mentioned the other day, I did quite like the newest edition to the Romance series, Summer Romance.  Romance Always Yours is also on my perfume wishlist.  Young Sexy Lovely is a very light fragrance with a strong citrus note.  Also for everyday wear.

Left to right: Young Sexy Lovely, Romance

And finally, Chloe by Chloe, Flowerbomb by Viktor and Rolf and Dreaming by Tommy Hilfiger.  This is the newer version of Chloe which was released in 2007 (there is an older fragrance of the same name) which is a nice, light floral rose-y fragrance.  I think this would suit casual use, however I haven't worn it on a regular basis yet.  Flowerbomb is quite a sweet floral fragrance.  I also get a hint of vanilla from this.  I love the bottle design of this one too!  Finally (I can almost hear sighs of relief!), we have Dreaming by Tommy Hilfiger, another sweet fruity/floral everyday fragrance.  I bought this in a 100ml on principle that it is generally the best value for money in terms of ml/$ but honestly, I am sick of it.  It's taking forever to use, so I think in future I will stick with either 30ml or 50ml because I enjoy experiementing with a variety of different fragrances and don't like being tied to a single one.

Left to right: FLowerbomb, Chloe and Dreaming

I should probably also mention that both my mother and myself are able to purchase wholesale priced perfumes through our workplaces and as such they are not all that expensive (compared to e.g. Daivd Jones, Myer etc).  I’m aware my collection is not huge by any means but it may be bigger than some so this is just a disclaimer for people who might wonder how a cash-strapped uni student such as myself can afford to buy all of the perfumes I have.  Also, my sister and I share some of these fragrances (we really share all of them, however some are "officially shared" as they were joint purchases).  Some I have also received as gifts for Christmas, birthdays etc.  Another disclaimer: I am aware that perfume doesn't keep forever!  I tend to have one or two on high rotation (at the moment, Dreaming and Romance) so they get used up within a reasonable amount of time.  Also, I store my perfumes in their original boxes and away from heat and sunlight which helps to extend the shelf life and try to refrain from opening them as soon as I get them and leave them in the protective shrink wrapping until I am ready to start using them.

I hope this is helpful/interesting to some people, I know I'm not an expert by any stretch but I did my best haha!