#Penhaligons

[theshoegirldiaries]

#Scentoftheday round-up from my Blue Perfume Week last week (sorry, the rest of my reviews of these will come soon, it's stressing me out how behind I am on absolutely everything at the moment), L to R; Dior Dior Addict EDP, Flower Knows (Moonlight Mermaid) Luna Goddess Tree EDT (or Luna "Goodness" Tree as it said all over my packaging), Miu Miu Miu Miu EDP, Britney Spears Midnight Fantasy EDP, Lanvin Les Fleurs de Lanvin Blue Orchid EDT, Moschino Funny! EDT and Penhaligon's (Portraits) The Blazing Mr Sam EDP.

[thefashionfold]

Best niche perfumes for 2025 by season - difficulty rating included!

See the full list at https://www.thefashionfold.com/best-niche-fragrance-for-2025-by-season-difficulty-rating-included/

[charlieschoice]

[itsnotkathyyyy]

i’m literally broke

[bruh-incoming]

Can we normalize bullying fragrance companies to start up discontinued fragrances again?

Yes this about penhaligons roaring radcliff

[spindly-is-missing]

Rough day for people who got weirdly into the Penhaligons Portraits lore (because there’s LORE to this line) and highkey ship Yasmine and Lady Blanche (age gap feline Yuri my beloved) but found out they gave Blanche A BOYFRIEND???? Who smells like PISTACHIOS??? FUCK THAT.

(This is effecting literally no one but me)

I need to be sedated, more under the cut so this post isn’t a million miles long

My heart hurts for Yasmine, my poor meow-meow

Wouldn’t it be so funny if I wrote a fic about this once I’ve finally finished my requests?

Also I’m not writing about actual bottles, silly. They have actual face claims. Official, straight from the website:

Dude, let’s kill the horse

[javierfashionbazar]

THE BLAZING Mr. SAM Penhaligon's CUIDADO QUE TE VAN A SALIR CUERNOS DE TORO

[dandelioninajungle]

Some nights you just need to have a really really hot shower before bed and then climb in with nothing but lots of perfume on.

[femchef]

Ok before I do the second one, I forgot to note: Halfeti is probably best considered a cold weather scent; would be WAY too strong for warmer weather, as it would probably get very cloying.

Also - definitely long lasting - I only sprayed the pulse point on my left wrist once and rubbed both my wrists together; when I woke up 7 hours after I still had some lingering scent on my skin.

Time for the next one!

A City on Fire from Imaginary Authors:

Ok I’m spraying skin on:

DRY DRY DRY - gin and vermouth, BURNING - bright dry and crisp like burning clean cedar and pine resin, juniper berries?

It is very strongly campfire - if this was a night time in the woods campfire I was sitting over it could not be more spot on for that!

Ooh this is very sense memory inducing - I like the smell of smoke and fire so it’s very comforting actually?

After about three minutes it’s turned into a warm flame and resin scent, very pleasant so far!

It lingers oh my god. I like it but I think this would be very annoying in hot crowded rooms or in hot weather. Tbh I think it would make people panic and look for flames in close quarters so be mindful with that.

10 minutes in -

It’s a very clean scent for me skin on - I think it’s a really polarizing one and I can definitely see why? A lot of people say it makes them smell like a bbq or like smoked sausage, so totally fair.

I cannot get over how breathing the scent in mimics the ‘cold air breathing in warm fire smoke outdoors’ feeling I’m really fascinated by this?!

It’s a little cypress-y now, still giving those cold vermouth and gin vibes. Yeah I love this one, oh my god.

15 minutes in - it’s gone wood smoke and a little bit incense now, wild but it really is doing this, banked ember imitation, I don’t know what to call it? It’s sweetened in a dry, very woodsy way, but not sweet like sandalwood.

Oh interesting - about 20 minutes in I’m getting smoke from a blown out match and charred wood! Ok that’s a cool effect!!

Alright - this scent is meant to evoke strong scent and sense memories - the maker is Josh Meyer - I’m not sure but I think he’s a part owner or owner of Imaginary Authors? It’s an indie perfume brand - that’s a thing - and he’s responsible for most or all of the perfumes on offer, so I *think* it’s his company but don’t quote me on that.

The story they’ve conjured for this perfume is classic film noir/vintage gumshoe detective mystery aesthetic.

The IA website lists the following notes:

Cade Oil, Spikenard, Cardamom, Clearwood, Dark Berries, Labdanum and Burnt Match

The fragrantica review website lists a little different:

Top: Burnt Match, Juniper, Labdanum

Bottom: Jatamansi, Cardamom, Wild Berries

Ok so - Cade oil makes sense - that’s an oil from the juniper plant so that explains the gin-juniper. Spikenard I had to look up - common name is muskwort, so I suspect that’s the base; I’m given to understand that musk and oud are valued both because of their scents and because they lengthen the life of scents.

I definitely get the match - I wonder if the berries are the point at which it sweetened slightly? I wouldn’t say I ever got a berry or fruit odor.

The cardamom contributes to the cooling effect in the back of my throat I think, but the Jatamansi is a variety of camphor which would explain the cypress. Interesting - I looked it up and found out clearwood is a soft variant of patchouli and lacks a lot of the things that (for me) I don’t like about the original.

Labdanum is an herb used in creating vermouth - which explains the strong impression of that!

It’s been about 45 minutes - and this has definitely softened out into a cedar, cypress candle blown out scent. I don’t mind it at all, I find it very pleasant? For SURE would not recommend wearing in hot weather unless you want to smell like 4th of July but this is really lovely to me?

If I had to pick - for me, personally I think the A City on Fire is more compelling - the Halfeti og was lovely but this is so interesting???

Both of these scents could be considered masculine leaning, so someone who prefers masc presenting will probably enjoy one of these and get a lot of cold weather mileage. I would definitely obtain samples before making a purchase - these are both fairly powerful scents and I think they will set off people who are sensitive to the various odors in the notes above in a distressing way.

Ok well two responses is enough to get me going about the perfume thing, so I will try doing two and maybe doing two more in a few days?

Generally I spray these directly on a folded quilted paper towel - but now I’m going through and just trying them on skin; note that skin on is completely different - I’ve already had a rough experience with that I’ll get into another time, it was wild.

Ok so for the first one:

Halfeti (original) from Penhaligons - I’ll give you impressions first and details after.

So I actually let this one breathe a bit - it smelled completely different the first time I sprayed it as a sample a few weeks ago from just now, so apparently letting perfumes air or maturate is absolutely a thing. I definitely did not like it the first time I sprayed a test.

Sprayed skin on - first it’s a full nose of the scent I get in the back of my throat from sipping a nice old-fashioned; a little unexpected, warm, silky, cold dry nutty full taste.

After about three minutes - cold and sharp, pleasant earth scent; fruity roses, rough tree bark spice scent.

Oh I really really like the cold earth scent on my skin that’s neat.

About ten minutes past - it’s coming up roses right now. Not powdery or soapy. Underneath is coriander and the cold earth scent is turning into saffron which is probably why it’s familiar - I don’t actually like saffron much because it’s overpowering in the storage closet at work and whenever I open it I get a face full, but I like it in things as part of other scents. So cold earthiness is from that. Lot of cinnamon, cardamom and clove now too - oh the roses have petered off that’s interesting!

Spicy and creamy now - it’s settled I think. Very nice!! Way better than the first time I get why people love this one so much!

Ok so Halfeti (named after a place in Turkey) has a listed designer - Christian Provenzano - which, apparently perfumes don’t always have a creator(s) sign off on the product so that’s a thing I suppose.

This one is from the company’s Trade Routes collection - ostensibly all of the perfumes are designed to make you think of the places they were inspired by. This one has levels of scent; in other words Halfeti is designed with the intent that you experience different things over a period of time (speaking of, it’s suddenly gone powdery and sweetened just now).

The notes for Halfeti (original):

Top: Cypress Leaf, Saffron, Cardamom, Artemisia, Bergamot, Grapefeuit

Mid: Rose, Nutmeg, Jasmine

Base: Oud, Cedar, Leather, Sandalwood, Amber, Tonka Bean, Vanilla, Musk

So I can definitely get the sandalwood, the tonka and vanilla are the creaminess with it so those blend nice I think. It’s not too sweet, which sandalwood can get sickly so I appreciate it’s not too cream sweet. I didn’t really pick out leather in this for me. Or the nutmeg - I never got that. The bergamot and the grapefruit probably contribute to the spicey quality but it’s not citrusy at all for me. I didn’t get much jasmine off of this go either - and I’ve never smelled artemisia by itself so I can’t say if I’d pick it out or not.

Ok gonna take a break and I’ll come back later with the second perfume!

[theshoegirldiaries]

Night time fragrances last week, L to R; Anna Sui Sundae Mellow Yellow EDT, Versace Dylan Turquoise EDT, Marc Jacobs Daisy Love Paradise EDT, Penhaligon's (British Tales) The Favourite EDP, Carolina Herrera (Herrera Confidential) Nightfall Patchouli EDP, Christian Dior (La Collection Privee) Sakura EDP and Anna Sui Sundae Pretty Pink EDT.

[hyumjim]

[cleopatragirlie]

[mugueteva]

birthday perfume that i’ve been dreaming of for years…

happy birthday to me :)

[mankillercalledbunny]

One of the problems with being both a nerd and someone with a minor special interest in fragrance and perfume is that I put in a casual throwaway mention of someone's cologne and immediately went "wait what could that be" and proceeded to compile a list of options from MY OWN SAMPLE COLLECTION (bar Eau de Audacity which I've smelled but they didn't have a sample of when I went)

Anyway if anyone wants "warm amber" fragrance recs to imagine your character wearing to a gala, here you go, I've added descriptions but they're usually a vanilla, resin, and/or incense base with some kind of spice, tonka, leather or wood note as the focus (though there are a few surprises), and I've linked their Fragrantica pages for more detail! Several of these are cross-recommended for each other, so if you like one on the list it's worth checking out a couple of the others.

Penhaligon

The World According to Arthur (my all time favourite, wore this to my wedding reception)

Terrible Teddy (another favourite, amber incense and leather)

Eau de Audacity (bold, orange blossom, frankincense and pepper over vanilla and leather)

Le Labo

Vetiver 46 (woody with strong vetiver and spice notes, the vanilla and amber take a back seat)

Kuumba Made

Amber Paste [now discontinued] (Musc Rav's sneaky cheaper alternative; opens pine resiny but quickly settles into a gorgeous vanilla tonka blend that lasts AGES)

Amber & Sandalwood (similar to above with more wood and resin rather than sweet)

Frederic Malle

Musc Ravageur (complex head turner that opens with with lavender, bergamot, then shifts to clove and sandalwood on a vanilla tonka base)

Maison Francis Kurkdjian

Gentle Fluidity Silver (beautifully blended juniper and nutmeg over bergamot, cedar and vanilla, a clean, woody amber)

Grand Soir (hits like vanilla bourbon, softens out as it goes; not for people who have sensitive noses or an aversion to boozy scents)

Diptyque

La Duelle (vanilla-forward with woody and spicy/smoky notes)

[bebemoon]

a look featuring my current favorite selkie dress | requested by @allthestoriescantbelies

selkie "the ivory carriage" voluminous organza gown w/ ruffled lace trim

simone rocha bell charm crochet ballerinas in silver

antique embroidered silk bridal bow, c. 192o's

penhaligon's "luna" eau de toilette

dilara findikoglu "boleyn" pearl choker w/ custom silver initial pendant

[vintagedamesandbroads]

Susan Penhaligon 🥰