Could you wear a new fragrance every day? I Scent You A Day does – and that’s why she’s our Blogger of the Month

Even by our standards, putting a new fragrance through its paces – from dawn to dry-down – is quite a challenge. So we take our hats off to Samantha Gough, whose blog – I Scent You A Day – has documented her quest to do just that, since January 2013.

As regular visitors know, each month we showcase the work of a blogger – and this time, it’s Sam’s blog. As she explains, ‘IScentYouADay means I review one perfume a day and then tell you about it.  It may be a fragrance you want to try, or it may be a fragrance that makes you run for the hills screaming with horror.  My opinions are merely subjective. You may be largely lustful for Leathers or violently dislike Violets.  Perfume is like poetry: there’s no right or wrong.’ (A philosophy which chimes perfectly with The Perfume Society‘s, NB.)

‘This is a true journey for me in so far as I am a passionate pilgrim, learning as I go. I would love you to share my discoveries as I explore the endless landscape of the Perfumed World, often bravely ending up in a dusty discount chemist, or epically scrolling through fragrance websites long after I should be in bed.’

‘I also want to prove that having a perfume obsession can be done affordably, without shelling out for 365 bottles. I will borrow bottles, unearth bargains, syphon samples and try not to bankrupt myself, or you, in the process.  Watch me as I either repulse or attract my husband, gasp as I greet the postman with joy as another box of tiny samples arrives,  and when all else fails, pity me as I trudge to my local perfume store and ask to be squirted. One day I will get to keep that Guerlain bottle…’

She also occasionally writes longer features – ‘Perfume for Paupers: How to Smell Great on a Budget’ is definitely worth a read. We got to know Sam when she began posting reviews of samples from our Perfume Society Discovery Boxes – and we really enjoy her writing.

So here’s a taster – almost literally! – via her review of the stunning Agonist Vanilla Marble, from our Scent with Love Discovery Box, which perfectly conveys its mouthwateringly seductive qualities.

Agonist Vanilla Marble: How Vanilla Should Be Done

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Agonist is a Swedish perfume house that is the brainchild of Christine and Niclas Lydeen. With Christine’s fashion background in Paris and Niclas’s design flair, together they launched Agonist in 2008 and their popularity as a major niche house is snowballing.

This is the first Agonist scent I have reviewed, although not the first I’ve tried. I shall be revisiting the other two I have after this, since Agonist Vanilla Marble really piqued my interest.

You may know of my oft lamented vanilla ennui, but believe it or not, this new take on vanilla has won my heart. Agonist Vanilla Marble somehow manages to use the warm butteriness of vanilla with none of the added sugar.

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Top notes are tiaré flower, vanilla and almond. Now despite not being a fan of gourmands, I really like almond in vanilla scents. It seems to make this one more of a liqueur and is a welcome step further away from the smell alike confectionery scent that we are currently saturated with at beauty counters. Tiare flower always smells like floral coconuts to me and in this instance, it gives Vanilla Marble a lovely hint of pipe smoke.

Middle notes are orchid, white fig, amber and patchouli. I didn’t catch orchid, but the hint of sultana like fig is in there, along with the welcome warmth of amber and the subtle spikiness of patchouli. The base notes are tonka bean, sandalwood, more vanilla and benzoin.

All in all, this is has a coolness as well as a warmth, reminding me of a milky bar straight from the fridge , but with a grown up tobacco vibe and a golden heat that makes for a cosy, unfussy, not overly sweet vanilla scent that becomes slightly addictive the more I wear it. Equally good on men or women, this is a real gem and gives me hope that a good vanilla scent, done well, will still always be worth doing. Imitators need not apply. This is how vanilla should be done.

Stockists: My sample was from The Perfume Society Scent With Love Discovery Box, available from here. You can buy Agonist Vanilla Marble from the Agonist website or from Liberty or Selfridges.  The full list of international stockists  can be found on the Agonist website, where they also provide a sample service and a rather nice discovery box.’

For a picture of Samantha on her fragrant travels, see below. And do, do, do follow her fragrant meanderings at:

www.iscentyouaday.com

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Flash, bang, wallop, what a picture! More fragrant Instagrammers we think you’ll enjoy following…

Maybe it’s because our eyes are increasingly too weary to look at an endless scroll of words on a teeny screen.

Maybe it’s that with the prospect of Twitter soon allowing limitless soundbites, we’re slightly falling out of love with that social medium (while still posting regularly, anyway!). Half the fun is keeping it brief, eh?

And although we still hold Facebook dear, it seems that we’re not alone in finding Instagram a most enjoyable way to keep our finger on the pulse-point of fragrant thoughts and happenings. Scent may be about the nose, primarily – but it can be visually thrilling, too.

Among our own 6,500+ followers (and counting), there are some brilliant scented Instagrammers – and we thought we’d share a second wave of those we think you’ll love: vintage bottle collectors, brilliant brands and sexy shops. Just click on the blue name to find and follow. (And follow us here…)

1. Grandiflora Fragrance

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Grandiflora is Sydney’s most famous florist – and last autumn, founder Saskia Havekes launched her own signature fragrance line, a-swirl with white florals. Many of these posts combine our two greatest loves: stunning floral displays and beautiful bottles.

2. Atelier Cologne

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Christophe Cervasel and Sylvia Ganter, the co-founders of this ‘intense Cologne’ line, are both very visual – you’ve only got to look at the montages they create for each new fragrance launch. But their Instagram feed is super-colourful and fun – and features odd little ‘flicker-book’ or video, further bringing the collection alive. (See also main visual for this post from Atelier Cologne‘s Insta-feed.)

3. Memoirs of a Perfumista

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Nyal Dillimore is scent-obsessed full-time mum who dreams of opening her own perfume boutique and has a real eye for an arty Instagram shot or stylish montage.

4. Beaufort London

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From one of the new ‘rising star’ perfume houses, this Instagram feed is characteristically dark, moody and occasionally captures really atrocious weather (well, the name is inspired by the BeauFort wind scale). We’re blown away. (Almost literally.)

5. Odette Toilette

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A great way to catch up with one of our favourite perfumistas, the extremely witty and clever Lizzie Ostrom, author of Perfume: A Century of Scents. It follows her scented adventures and travels. (Above, see ‘Paula’, her travelling scent trunk – which is alas too heavy to lug around, as Lizzie explained to us in The Scented Letter). Great vintage bottle shots from Lizzie’s collection are regular highlights.

6. Scent of the Day

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This Instagram feed features mini-reviews of masculine scents – one for every day, as the name suggests. Sometimes packshots, often taken by the perfumista himself. One for the chaps, perhaps.

7. Peony Melbourne

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This Australian perfume shop’s feed has us wanting to cash in some airmiles for a visit Down Under. Absolutely swoonworthy flower shots show up alongside beautiful bottle pix, fabulous architecture (because we’re not only interested in perfume, right?) and even the odd scoop of ice cream. What. Is. Not. To. Love?

8. Guerlain

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The official Instagram account of the legendary French perfume house also brings us news of skincare and make-up, but it’s the go-to destination for official Guerlain news about upcoming fragrance launches. (And we really like the short films which often feature.)

9. Vetyyver

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Subtitled ‘A German perfume diary’, this guy’s a seriously cool photographer, documenting an impressive collection. If you’re looking to fine-tune your own Instagram shots and filter choices, there’s a lot to learn here.

10. Iscentyouaday

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An ultra-dedicated perfume blogger (who also happens to be a big fan of ours!), Iscentyouaday pledges to review a perfume a day (and succeeds) – her sub-title is ‘1001 Days of Perfume’ – and while featuring more than the odd cat picture (what IS it about fragrance fans and cats?), her Instagrams are sweet and often alert you to worthwhile posts such as ‘Perfume for Paupers: How to Smell Good on a Budget. And we like to think we’re all about encouraging new talent as well as showcasing established names.

Happy scrolling…!

Written by Jo Fairley