Perfume Fanatic Jargon
October 5th, 2006
It’s been on my mind for a while to do a post on perfume fanatic jargon because, let’s face it, we speak our own language, only understood by the fellow afflicted and/or others in the know. I love perfume jargon, for obvious reasons, but also for the fact it’s so easy to learn and extremely exciting to teach. Today I’ll mostly talk about the jargon adopted at certain online perfume communities (Makeupalley, mostly). I realize I cannot mention everything in one post, so please feel free to add your own ideas in comments.
Abbreviations
FBW - the obvious one, one of the first questions that usually pops in your head when you smell a new scent. Is it Full Bottle Worthy?
HG - the never ending, often futile quest for the Holy Grail perfume.
WUFS - this one is my personal concoction (copyrighted - ha!). Wow Upon First Sniff.
WUFT - same as above, except Wow Upon Further Testing.
YSBB - I threw this one in here to add some variety. Your Skin But Better. I personally don’t use it much.
PO - yes, it’s part of the perfume jargon and an integral one, might I add! No, not Pathetically Obsessed. Simply, Post Office.
Needless to say, a vast array of abbreviations is used for perfume names/houses - from the proverbial MKK (Muscs Koublai Khan by Serge Lutens), POTL (Luctor et Emergo by People of the Labyrinths) to such commonly loved perfume houses as SL (Serge Lutens), FM (Frederic Malle), CdG (Comme des Garcons), and the like. Basically, if it can be abbreviated, it certainly will be.
Terminology
Sillage - a trail of scent a person leaves behind or is followed by. Not all perfumes have sillage, and sillage is not necessarily an attribute of a good quality perfume. In fact, I could name a few with devastatingly awful sillage. But not today.
Lemming - the word “is often used in slang to denote those who mindlessly follow the crowd, even if destruction is the result”, based on the Wild Wilderness film that “popularized, using staged footage, the myth that during population booms Norway lemmings [rodents] become suicidal and leap en masse off cliffs into the sea.” (Wikipedia.org) The word has been adopted amongst perfume aficionados not as much for its tragic connotation as for following the crowd aspect, usually after reading about a certain fragrance. Can be used both as a noun and a verb. I quite like the adverb version of it, lemmingly, so you might see me using it in the future. As in, “I sniffed it lemmingly.”
Decant - perfume poured or sprayed into a certain size bottle, usually smaller than the original bottle. Typical decant sizes are 2 ml, 5 ml, 6 ml, and 10 ml. A decant is something you want to get if you don’t want to/cannot buy a whole bottle or just want to sample a scent.
That’s about it for today. I’m looking forward to reading your ideas! Happy weekend, all!
Image source: www.store.perspicuity.com
Entry Filed under: This and That
25 Comments Add your own
1. chaya ruchama | October 6th, 2006 at 5:43 am
Good morning, dearest…
LOVE that lemming !
I will happily refer others to this helpful post for the neophyte / uninitiated…
Have a wonderful w/e !
2. Elle | October 6th, 2006 at 6:49 am
Great post! I’d also add d/ced for discontinued - an incredibly distressing term as far as I’m concerned since it alll too frequently is associated w/ one of my HGs.
3. Sara | October 6th, 2006 at 8:18 am
One acronym I made up and use frequently is WIFFY (worth the ‘effin freight from France) ex: For me, Metayls is completely WIFFY!
Another I made up and use while shopping online is FIRE (fragrant internet retail experience).
have a great weekend!! sara
4. Marina | October 6th, 2006 at 9:02 am
This post is WUFR.
5. IrisLA | October 6th, 2006 at 9:12 am
Adding “sniffa” or “sniffalooza.” A gathering of fragrance addicts for the purpose of trying scents.
6. Kelley | October 6th, 2006 at 9:22 am
The one we use a lot on Basenotes is…sotd. A nice abreviation for “sent of the day”. That comes in handy when you have a huge wardrobe of scents.
7. violetnoir | October 6th, 2006 at 10:37 am
LMAO! TIA!
Hugs!
8. Judith | October 6th, 2006 at 11:13 am
Love it! Acronyms-R-US. And you might add at the end, for newbies,
HTH!
9. Judith | October 6th, 2006 at 11:14 am
PS Anyone who know first used “lemming” in this sense? She deserves a tremendous hand!
10. Patty | October 6th, 2006 at 11:45 am
Perfect! How about PINO for Price is No Object — reserved for bottles of L’Artisan’s single crop Grand Cru, so we all know to work on that bank loan ahead of time.
Great Idea, Ina!
11. Ina | October 6th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
Chaya, thank you!
12. Ina | October 6th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
Elle, yes, a dreadful word for us, perfume maniacs.
13. Ina | October 6th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
Sara, LOL! Brilliant!! WIFFY! I’m still laughing…
14. Ina | October 6th, 2006 at 6:20 pm
Marina, you mean, Wow Upon First Roaring?
15. Ina | October 6th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
Iris, definitely Sniffa! Yes! Sniffa, Sniffage, and the like.
16. Ina | October 6th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
Kelley, perfect! SOTD!
17. Ina | October 6th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
Robin, LMAO referring to laughing about a perfume? As in, you love it so much it makes you laugh vigorously?
18. Ina | October 6th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
Judith, definitely. A briliant use of the word. HTH!
19. Ina | October 6th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
Patty, love yours! PINO! I wish I could just use it all the time. Sigh…
20. Vimal Solanki | October 8th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
CLOYING is a term used by many to describe a fragrance that is too sweet, heavy and dense [and therefore sickening]. It is never used in a positive context. It describes a sensation of being wetly inundated, with the feeling of suffocation, as if something’s caught in the back of the throat. Not a nice feel! Perfumes rich in sweet, patchouli and powder notes are often described this way. Example err.. Angel.
21. moon_fish | October 11th, 2006 at 4:42 am
I love the post!
Lemmings and HG are going to be in Russian too.
(I give a link to my friends)
22. Ina | October 11th, 2006 at 9:31 am
Sergey, thanks for doing the same in Russian! I’m thrilled to read the comments.
23. Aromascope » Perfum&hellip | March 6th, 2007 at 12:29 am
[…] In my perfume fascination years, I sort of established my personal classification system. I’m sure any perfume aficionado has their own - it goes without saying. Lately, I’ve been pondering over mine, wondering if there’re any more categories I could invent. Some of this has already been covered in my Perfume Fanatic Jargon post. For instance, the easiest and my favorite category is Wow Upon First Sniff. Some other ones include Save It For Later, Over My Dead Nose, Must Own Now, Another Fruity Floral. The most recent addition to my system is Perfumes I Respect But Fear. The usual candidates are typically perfume VIPs - flawless, unique, sophisticated, etc. Yet I find myself admiring them from afar, so to speak, for they inspire certain fear. Below are some of the scents that have been officially added to the category: […]
24. SniffQ | March 6th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Can someone tell me what ‘indolic’ means? I’ve looked it up and can’t find it defined as an adjective anywhere. From context, it seems to mean something similar to animalic. But I’d like to know from the experts here. Thanks.
25. Ina | March 6th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Quinn, derived from “indole”, here’s what it is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indole
Yes, it’s similar to animalic. In jasmine scents, it refers to that fecal accord.
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