Sunday, August 28, 2005

Perfumes

katiedid has a lovely list of summer fragrances. I want to try them all! But in 下北沢 there is a lovely little store called Art et Parfum that lets you buy small amounts of whatever fragrance they carry. They also make their own blends. I bought 2 types last time. One very sweet Salvatore Ferragamo scent, and one freesia scent apparently produced by an American flower shop. They're both quite nice, but I can't tell how they smell on me. :D Fragrances are a very funny thing. Anyway, it's really fun to try different perfumes.

By the way, perfume is 香水(こうすい kousui)in Japanese.

I also think it's amusing that Ferragamo features three languages on their site. Italian, English, and... Japanese! Who do you think their biggest customers are? Heh.

4 comments:

katiedid said...

Aw, thanks. It was rather fun to write up a list of nothing but perfumes that I happen to like.

Since you're in Japan, lucky you will be able to find some I've wished I could get my hands on here. Or at least more easily. You must promise me that if you chance upon Shiseido's White Rose you'll give it a sniff. And
share your impressions even if you have a spare moment to write about it. I've been terribly curious about
what it might be like ever since I read this article Chandler Burr wrote for the NY Times several months back.

That's neat you can get small amounts of all sorts of things at that shop. I'm jealous - I wish I had a place like that around where I live.

kuri* said...

I read that article you mentioned, and White Rose sounds fascinating! Time for a trip to Ginza.

My sense of smell is not so developed though, so I probably won't be able to appreciate the fragrance the way Burr does.

Burr's article was really interesting. Duty Free shops always seem to be hopping with Japanese customers buying perfume, so I didn't realize that the market was so different. It is certainly changing though. Perfume seems very popular with young people. There are a couple guys at my work place who wear a lot of cologne too. My own interest in perfume hit a high when my Japanese friend introduced me to YSL's In Love Again.

Yeah, the little perfume shop is really fun. The only issue is that the store's selection is understandably limited, so I can't try everything that I'd like to. Probably nothing on your list is available there.

katiedid said...

My list is actually slightly obscure for even here in the U.S. likely enough. I'm weird in my preferences even amongst perfumistas.

In Love Again has been quite popular on the fragrance forums I like to drop in on. You and your friend must have lovely taste.

I can see what you're saying about the younger population in Japan, though. Generational differences happen no matter what the country is. I actually wish more men in the US would don cologne or perfume. It adds to their allure just like it does with women when worn appropriately. ("Appropirately" meaning not doused in the stuff. Something men in their teens and twenties just can't as an aggregate seem to ever quite catch onto.)

kuri* said...

weird means distinctive. It's good to be different. I like the smell of Calvin Klein One for example, but it was so ubiquitous that it was really boring.

I'd like to think that I have good taste in perfume, but I think I probably have very average taste, if any at all.

Yes, more people should definitely wear perfume in general. Personally, I worry about putting on too much though, so I tend to wear none at all. I really think my nose acclimatizes very quickly to the perfume I wear so I can't tell if I'm wearing it too strong. As a result, I can't tell if it suits me either! I wonder if the people who wear too much perfume have the same problem about dosage :)