Comments on: Haunted Houses

By: Kathey

Kathey — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:59:34 +0000

I have been trying to locate a perfume that smells like my favorite scent. It was sold before the 90’s by Neiman Marcus and was called Fauve. Do you know if this is the same fragrance you reviewed? Unfortunately after Neimans quit selling it I inquired if they would give me the manufacturer and they said it was made by them and was not longer being made. It was packaged in a bottle that was trianguler and was the only fragrance I could find that did not make me sneeze. When you said in your review that it had a powdery smell I thought it might be the same. This Fauve reminded me of sachet . Do you know how to get in touch with the manufacturer so that I might get a sample? Any help would be appreciated because I’ve been looking for it for 20 years, that is how much I love it. I even bought a tiny sample bottle of the Neimans Fauve on ebay so if you know a perfume maker I could supply a sample.

By: Solander

Solander — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 17:25:40 +0000

Amarie – Thank you, I’m glad to hear I lured you out from your lurking! I don’t have your problem – my mother is sensitive to strong scents (even natural ones, like flowers) and never wears perfume. She has an ancient bottle of Charlie which me and my sister used to play with.

By: Amarie

Amarie — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:26:45 +0000

Lovely review, thank-you. I have lurked here a while, but you lured me out with Tabu. My mum has worn it all her life and more recently I found some vintage bottles for her- she has often complained how much it has changed since she started wearing it 4 decades ago. In saying that, I confess that I can’t wear anything that remotely smells like it- too close an association I guess. it even happened the other day in the middle notes of Or des Indes- a sudden vision of my mother. I love her but I do not want to smell like her,LOL.

By: Solander

Solander — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 17:25:59 +0000

Hello tabac, welcome! Fumerie Turque you say? Now I have to try them side by side too… I know I thought FT smelled like sitting in the shade of a cool stone house with the hot desert outside so perhaps they have a similar cool/warm, sunny/shadowy thing going on… But CN Scent Intense? I remember finding that one very sweet and bland and swapping it away… I do think L’Ombre has a bit more personality than that…

Ina – Thank you. Yes, Tabu surprised me too. I bought some different vintage minis and Tabu was definitely the one that had aged most gracefully. When smelling it side by side with the contemporary scents above I did get more of the vintage-styled chypre elements, but when I first smelled it on its own I thought it was rich, ambery and musky in a way that felt very up-to-date.

By: Ina

Ina — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 00:22:49 +0000

Tove, excellent comparison! Believe it or not, just a couple of days ago I dug out my sample of Tabu and smelled it for the first time. Wow! For a scent created in 1932, that’s quite something! I really do think it’s timeless.

By: tabac

tabac — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:45:03 +0000

First-timer here. I got myself Ombre Fauve after trying a sample and thinking it smelled a lot like Fumerie Turque (but for a lot less money). But it’s not got FT’s complexity; now I’m thinking the resemblance is to Costume National’s Scent Intense. I still like it but wonder what was going on with me when I first sampled it. Querelle is another I’ve got to try again. Ombre lasts quite a while on me – wish it had more personality.

By: Solander

Solander — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:38:57 +0000

Tom – Lust has a strange title indeed. Makes me wonder what kind of fetish or kink the perfumer has? I’ve heard there are bad batches of L’Ombre Fauve, or perhaps it needs aging or something? “All powdery and old-lady” is good! If you don’t like it you should probably stay away from Tabu since that one is a gazillion times more “powdery and old-lady” than Labdanum.

By: tmp00

tmp00 — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 15:28:18 +0000

Very interesting comparisons. I find Lust to be quite comfy and not at all like its title: I don’t find it as tomb-like as you but even if I did I’m strange enough to be comforted by that. L’Ombre Fauve just didn’t work for me and Labdanum was vexing: it kept changing and going all powdery and old-lady at any given moment and without warning. I’ve always wanted to try Tabu, there’s something sooo seventies about it. But there’s never a tester. Oh well.

Kelley- for me Querelle is like the result of a torrid fling between Chergui and Sel de Vetiver, starting over cocktails and ending over, well you do the math.

By: Solander

Solander — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:23:03 +0000

chayaruchama – You’re too kind!
And you beat me – Inga-Britt Swenson (Are you sure it was not Svensson? Swenson is the Americanized spelling so unless she was Swedish-American it ough to have been Svensson.) is more Swedish than I’ll ever get! I bet she was barefoot and had long blond hair too? “Den svenska synden” personified?

Marina – perhaps you’re right, perhaps Lust and L’Ombre are more similar than L’Ombre and Labdanum. At least I thought so the first time I tried L’Ombre, when I found it evocative of dark crypts and musty cellars like Lust. How about Tabu?

By: Marina

Marina — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:12:26 +0000

Great comparisons! I sort of see the similarity between Lust (a comfort scent for me too) and L’Ombre, but not between L’Ombre and Labdanum 18. I’l have to try them side by side.