Here’s an amusing mini-anecdote with which to start the weekend.
The other day, a young lad was shown into Madame Persolaise’s office, something which happens on a regular basis in her line of work. He immediately took a deep breath, raised his voice and declared, “It always smells so posh in here!”
“Maybe it’s my perfume,” she said.
“Yeah, definitely! It’s well posh!”
She did her best not to smile as she delivered the stern words for which he’d been summoned.
Out of the mouths of children…
—
I’m tempted to use this story as inspiration for a silly Saturday game. No prizes; this is just for fun. Try to name the perfume which elicited the boy’s reaction. Leave your guesses in the Comments section. I’ll give you more clues during the course of the day, but here are a couple for starters:
The fragrance in question is less than twenty years old (there seems to be some blogosphere confusion about exactly when it was released) and it has two words in its name.
Who’s going to have the first guess?
Persolaise.
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So madame Persolaise is in the line of work that requires her to young boys on a regular basis !!!! I can't guess the fragrance yet but will pop back .
Angela, I'm looking forward to seeing what your guess will be.
Well, I'll play: Cashmere Mist…? (I would have guessed she'd wear a fragrance you'd mixed up just for her without your hints.)
Yayy, someone's been brave enough to get the ball rolling! Thanks for playing, Alice. A good guess, but no. Here's your next clue: the perfume in question doesn't come from an American house.
Dolce Vita? (I really didn't think it would be an American house
Okay, Alice, now you're in the right country. Next clue:
First word: 5 letters.
Second word: 6 letters.
Would that be "right country" as in the home of Dior or people who speak Italian? : – )
I can offer you two names with the correct letters from France, but the timeline is wrong if Mme P's scent is from the early 80s, as I infer from your earlier comment.
Apres L'Ondee
Belle D'Opium
Do you award marks for effort? If you could kindly clarify provenance, will happily have another go!
I don't know when this one was launched, but the letters fit: Lapis Lazuli by Galimard?
Vanessa, yes, Dior's home country is right: the perfume Madame P wore is French… but it isn't from the early 80s. It's less than twenty years old.
And you can have a point for effort.
You can guess as many times as you like; this is just for a laugh.
Alice, sorry, no, that isn't it. Have another go.
How about Rouge Hermes?
Alice, sorry, no.
Let me try to think of another clue.
…
Okay, how about this:
The perfume in question is one of the best known and most popular releases of its house.
I wanted to say Jolie Madame, by Balmain, because it fits with Madame Persolaise, but it is too old! Back to the drawing board…
: – )
Vanessa, I suppose it's a bit mean of me to keep you all dangling like this
Trust me: the perfume is quite well known. I'm sure it won't be long before you guess it.
Can you reveal if we are talking mainstream brands, only the niche French houses don't strike me as having "best sellers" in quite the same way?
I've run Chanel, Dior, YSL, Givenchy, Houbigant, Hermes, Guerlain, E Coudray, Gres, Balmain, Creed and Cacharel through the letter counting twangulator to no avail. Hmmm…
Eclat d'Arpege if I may discount the elided preposition?
Ambre Sultan?
Bingo! Alice wins!
Well done and thanks for playing.
And full marks to Vanessa for perseverance!
A fun diversion…I imagine a young boy would find it posh!
Well done Alice! So it was niche, then – Annick Goutal, Rance, Nicolai, Montale, MPG and Lutens were next in line for the twangulation process, having also drawn a blank this evening with Chopard, Laroche, Gaultier and Boucheron – but with such a scattergun approach it was always going to take a long time… : – )
Alice, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
To be honest, I was impressed that the lad found it posh. I would've thought AS's decidedly eastern feel might have prompted quite different responses, but no: he gave Lutens a definite thumbs up.
Vanessa, is Lutens still niche? I'm not so sure… but perhaps we'd better not open that particular can of worms on a Sunday morning. In France, you can buy his range in many Sephoras, which is just about as mainstream a context as you could possibly get.
But anyway, I appreciate the fact that you took my little game so seriously
Thanks for playing!
I guess I was thinking of Lutens' nicheness in global rather than Franco-specific terms? It's considered niche in my part of the world, certainly. : – )
Now you mention it, I have seen SL in a Paris branch of Sephora and also in Douglases in cities like Frankfurt and Basel, but it sounds as though more branches are stocking it these days.
Fun game, anyway – and the Basenotes Directory got a good work out! : – )
If you live in the South of Arkansas (like me) rather than the South of France, Serge is certainly niche!!
Congratulations Alice , I was lost.
Vanessa, I'm glad you enjoyed it… and yes, thank goodness for the directory!
Alice, fair enough
Angela, I'll try to do an easier one next time