In “A ‘fume of one’s own,” I asked for your help selecting a birthday present for Mr. Howe: a new fragrance that would be all his own, something neither a hand-me-down from my side of the cabinet, or a pilfered spritz (I’m nervous watching him blissfully spritz away my precious pre-reformulation bottle of SSS Champagne de Bois…).
He tested his way through many of your suggestions, and thankfully found that Amouage Gold is “Nice, but I don’t love it.” Whew, close one!
Being the sort of perfumista that pushes product on unsuspecting co-workers, a few suggestions were knocked off the radar by recently having been adopted by friends (Timbuktu, Wonderwood), and anything already in the cabinet was disqualified as well (Bois des Iles, Traversee du Bosphore, Dzing!, Vanille Absoluement, etc.).
So, what did we choose? Something from left-field, which I’ll tell you all about:
After I posted my call for help, I smelled the most gorgeous thing on a customer while at work. It was powdery and warm, rich and quite feminine— and I smelled it on an old man! When I asked the gentleman what he was wearing, he seemed slightly embarrassed, and told me:
“The name is silly, but I really like it. It’s called Midnight in Paris.”
Which I enthusiastically countered, “Oh, the new one from Van Cleef & Arpels?!”
This greatly impressed the chap, and led to a fun, if brief, discussion about perfume: this old fella was a perfumista!
Fortunately, I had a sample of MiP at home already, which I produced and left on the desk of Mr. H, who was pleased with it, especially when I told him my story of smelling it In The Wild on an old man (he’s really looking forward to becoming one himself).
Success!
Thank you all for your suggestions— let’s do this again next year!
beauty on the outside 
Lovely! What a nice way to find the right perfume.
I admire that customer of yours, he seems like my kind of guy. Such chance encounters of the fragrant kind are rare and beautiful…
Oh, and Happy Birthday, Mr H! 🙂
It was so much fun smelling something really spectacular In The Wild like that! And I had tried that fragrance when it came out, but wasn’t (initially) impressed at all— apparently, it’s all in the waft…
I really love meeting people who love perfume, it always makes my day!
I’ll send him your regards, however, it is still a few weeks away.
Speaking of… your birthday is coming up soon… 😉
Well shave my beard and call me baldy (as my father would say)! Who woulda thunk? Did you actually say to the guy that you were looking for a perfume for your husband, or would that have embarrassed him even more?
MiP slipped right under my radar, but I see it has some favorable reviews out there, including one from Octavian, no less.
Is the new CdB very different from the old?
Isn’t it funny? No, I didn’t tell him I was looking for a new scent— in fact, when I smelled it, I thought it was wafting from his wife! I asked, “Who smells spectacular?” He was embarrassed, but I think he was pleased too 🙂
MiP is pretty great— it’s just another example of my passing over something too soon (I wrote it off pretty quickly when I first sampled it). It may never achieve the cult status of Black, but it’s damned good juice!
New CdB: I haven’t tried it yet, but you can be sure that I will as soon as it’s done! I think that Laurie is still working on it, and she says that the new version is almost identical to the original— just some slight rebalancing to account for the dryer labdanum.
Excellent! I love Midnight in Paris, and how appropriate for anyone you want to snuggle.
(I’ll just mention I’d say “oldER man”, as someone who just had a birthday – feeling sort of sensitive over here. 🙂
LOL, the “older” man was probably at least 70, which added to my surprise that he was wearing a newly released niche-esque fragrance!
In our house, we believe that the older we get, the better we get, and are looking forward to the Golden Years 🙂
I haven’t even smelled this perfume! I vaguely remember reading about its release but I don’t remember seeing it at a store. Of course, now I’m curious.
I’m glad you found what you were looking for (and dodged that Amouage bullet ;)).
It’s really nicely done Undina, but of course, it’s not exactly the sort of thing to send perfumistas off a cliff chasing the piper 😉
Off topic, but tonight I’m wearing Tuscany per Donna, which your blog tipped me off to! I got a tiny little bottle of the Parfum, and Matt and I both like it quite a lot (though it doesn’t, unfortunately, remind me of Iris Poudre).
I am seriously glad that he didn’t love Gold Woman! That would mean less perfume for me 😉
I’m in the middle of re-testing these two in the light of a new recent discovery. I’ll share my thoughts soon.
TpD and IP? I can’t wait to read about it!
Well done you for having the guts to ask what perfume it was and thus finding Mr. H’s ‘fume! From the name I thought it was a feminine but looked it up and see it’s for men with a very nice notes list indeed. Great story too!
That “Homme” designation is so silly, but then, with such a romantic name, men probably wouldn’t try it otherwise 🙂
It’s femme leaning for sure— I was actually surprised that we ended up with an actual men’s fragrance, since M tends to shun those on principle, lol!
I am already kicking myself for insisting on getting him something that he “won’t have to share,” because, of course, I want to wear it too. 😉
I love that M is so astute that he won’t put up with the pap that usually passes for men’s fragrances!
LOL, I’ll tell him you said so 😉
Oh, excellent! MiP is one of the minis I bought for Gaze (he hasn’t worn it recently… hm. Wonder if he’s misplaced it) after he smelled some samples and mentioned he liked it. I thought it was delightful as well.
Gaze has taste! I love hearing how the sons of perfumistas are becoming perfumistas in their own right 🙂
Perhaps he keeps it in his knapsack, for applications on the go? it’s so easy to wear, and easy to like. I’m looking forward to sniffing it on M.
Sounds delicious! And if he ever tires of it now you have a nice long list of other things to try…
… or apply to next year’s birthday!
I’ve not tried MiP, but I can only remember reading good things about it! Yay for Mr. Howe getting his own scent.
It’s nice— a good choice for the discerning gentleman 😉
Oh what a fun story! And I am still savouring your phrase “pilfered spritz”. I might have to pilfer it myself some time. On an attributed basis, naturally… : – )
😉 Please do!