Perfume should always play with naughty. What is naughty? It's referred to as "skank." First coined by March at Perfume Posse in January 2006, she refers to it as "Skank is not gracious, or nice, or even fundamentally pretty. The Skank is about sex, and only sex. It's a rump-grinding, head-shaking invitation to a booty call, no matter how politely the scent's been dressed up at the opening."
This is the sex in perfume, and it's been there even back in the days when the hems of dresses never got above the eyelet lace-ups of their Victorian boots.
To read more about what is skank, sex in pefumes, read Tim Girvin's blog where he also talks about this sampler pack (as it used to exist in my other store before we moved here, so the link in that article is misdirected).
Your sampler pack will include a sample of each of the following scents. Samples are all 1/2ml, but larger sizes are available.
I’ve tried so many of the discovery sets from surrender to chance. This is my fave one. I’ve been using the samples on and off for months. Each scent is so special. The marlou one is just insanely beautiful. I also like papillon and femme rochas. I really love this site for introducing me to new things!
This set taught me quite a bit. I learned that I like animalic scents in the background. They give cohesion, excitement, and power to the perfume, but as a predominant scent not for me. For Her (floral/patchouli), Salome (Indian incense/Scent of Samadhi), and Femme (floral/balsamic/musk) were beautiful, womanly, and very wearable. Bal de Versailles (cinnamon incense and warm spices) and L’Aire de Rien (powdery leather) smelled like great incense scents, but I wouldn’t choose them as perfume. Musc Kublai Khan crossed the line for me into hippie yoga class and sweaty horse. Courtesan was an indescribable kaleidoscope of notes that ended in a surprisingly pleasant dry down. More than just sexy, I feel like animalic notes take a perfume from girl to woman; at the right dose.
I’ve tried so many of the discovery sets from surrender to chance. This is my fave one. I’ve been using the samples on and off for months. Each scent is so special. The marlou one is just insanely beautiful. I also like papillon and femme rochas. I really love this site for introducing me to new things!
This set taught me quite a bit. I learned that I like animalic scents in the background. They give cohesion, excitement, and power to the perfume, but as a predominant scent not for me. For Her (floral/patchouli), Salome (Indian incense/Scent of Samadhi), and Femme (floral/balsamic/musk) were beautiful, womanly, and very wearable. Bal de Versailles (cinnamon incense and warm spices) and L’Aire de Rien (powdery leather) smelled like great incense scents, but I wouldn’t choose them as perfume. Musc Kublai Khan crossed the line for me into hippie yoga class and sweaty horse. Courtesan was an indescribable kaleidoscope of notes that ended in a surprisingly pleasant dry down. More than just sexy, I feel like animalic notes take a perfume from girl to woman; at the right dose.
I can't imagine rating any sample set below a 4-star because I would never want to discourage experimentation in such a subjective subject. This set was super interesting and I was really intrigued by the descriptions. Some of them are really complex and earthy, musky, really enticed my imagination. Some others were to me too much. To each his nose. I think the Ava Gardner picture is a good match to this set. There is intention here, there's pretty direct communication. They set an agenda, and an atmosphere.
I had such fun testing the various scents in this sampler, both on myself, and for my significant other (who, alas, might as well not have a nose at all--every once in a while, something smells "nice"). For me, it came down to a draw between Miller Harris L'air de Rien and Penhaligon's Amaranthine. I liked most of the others as well, but some didn't have much lasting power on me (Jicky, Bal a Versailles, Worth Coutesan) and others were quite similar to scents I already own. Rochas Femme smelled like a scarf you might find in a vintage pocketbook--not unpleasant, but very old fashioned. Montale Oud Cuir d'Arabie smelled far too much like a combination of horses, horse sweat, and old leather for me to consider wearing. It's a very familiar, again not unpleasant, smell, but most folks take showers after a long ride, precisely so they won't smell like that! The Party in Manhattan gave me a headache; to me, it actually did smell like someone else's used underwear, so off it came after about an hour. All in all, this is one of the most entertaining, informative samplers I've purchased. Who knew what other people find sexy? Give it a try. (It would make a great gift for a friend who is just starting his or her perfume explorations.)
