Classified Ads: Reader Swaps Amouage Candles. Takers?

A dear reader of mine wants to swap some Amouage candles she has got (but never lit), preferably for vintage Guerlain Mitsouko or Caron Bellodgia perfume or alternatively "for something pretty and happy", as she specified.
The candles are in their original packaging and are unlit: Amouage Oriental Oud and Divine Oud are both intact in their original sealing, Eternal Oud has been opened only to be sniffed.
These are perfect for the holiday season. Preferably US shipping.

These are a $90 retail value each. Anyone who thinks they have something swappable for these, please comment below stating what you have to offer, so she can read, and watch this space for her pick/comments so she can eventually contact you through email.

Giveaway: Tauer Advent Calendar & Musings on Perfumes to Be Confused

First things first: We are honored to participate for the 6th consecutive year in the Advent Calendar of Tauer Perfumes. You know what this means: prizes by Andy Tauer!!! The winner can pick an Explorer Set from Tauer, 3 x15ml fragrances of scents of your choice! Cool, if you ask me.  (it even gives the choice on some of the less popular but quite interesting in my books Vetiver Dance, Incense Extreme, Carillon pour un Ange, Zeta, or Noontide Petals, among many others such as the gorgeous and limited Phi Rose de Kandahar or the modern classic Une Rose Chypree.
Enter a comment on this post, below, to be eligible.
[NB. Limitations/shipping restrictions apply. Find them on bottom of this post].

And now on to musings on something that happened to me recently and put me into thinking.

I smelled a GORGEOUS scent on a very efficient and smart lady the other day. She was wafting it copiously, but the scent wasn't at all "thick" nor "cloying", it trailed beautifully as we walked through a gallery display, she guiding me, I listening attentively, distracted only by the amazing sillage. Initially I thought it was something along the lines of Teatro alla Scala (Krizia) which is a beautiful spicy oriental with a rich, satiating citrusy top note that I know pretty well, own and wear myself (and was wondering whether this is the trail I leave behind!). The lady in question was munching on a juicy mandarin at the time, too, as she was showing me around.
Before parting I had to confirm. I asked, point blank. Turns out it was .....Aromatics Elixir (which I otherwise recognize immediately on other people, I am practically surrounded by it, Athens adores this fragrance), her "signature for 20 years", as she added. Plus juicy mandarin orange...

And I got thinking. Much has been made of the growing resemblance of Aromatics Elixir by Clinique to (parent company) Lauder's Youth Dew and orientals in general. Maybe there's a bit of truth there, though I always remembered AE as very patchouli rich and powdery-mossy, and still do. But surely there are other elements at play and I assume we all have gotten confused as to what someone wears at a given moment, even if it is something we know perfectly well and could otherwise pinpoint.
Do you have such examples? What was it that confused you and what did you confuse it with? I'd love to read in the comments.   

LIMITATIONS: The draw is worldwide. Some exceptions apply: Italy, Spain, Croatia, Russia, Greece (Swiss FedEx cannot ship there). The prizes will be shipped for free from Switzerland, through FedEx. Local taxes, VAT, and import fee may apply and are not covered by Tauer. The winner is responsible to make sure that they are allowed to import the prize.
Tauer ships to the address given and do not contact the addressee afterwards nor will use the contact information for any other purpose than sending the prize, nor will they forward the address to anybody else except for the purpose of shipping the prize to the winner.

Poll: Your Most Worn Fragrances in 2014

In the interests of research (if you have been following the Best Seller and Best of/Top annual lists you know how historical archiving warms the cockles of my heart) I am throwing out a question to you, dear readers, today.

As simple as that: Which fragrances did you wear most in 2014? Not need for elaborate statistics, I need your assessment and feeling.

It could be something mainstream from Cartier (La Panthere launched this year) or Armani's Si (last year) or more researched, something from niche such as Aedes de Venustas Oeillet Bengale or Copal Azur or even artisanal such as Phi Rose de Kandahar by Andy Tauer...It could also be something older, such as Chanel Coco, which many readers rediscovered, or a celebrity perfume, or a natural oil, no shame in anything....Please divulge!
I will do a sum up and include it as an addendum on the Best Of 2014 List to follow.

Limited edition of Serge Lutens L'orpheline

One of the loveliest designs on perfume bottles sneaked itself into my inbox. The Christmas edition of one of my most worn in 2014 fragrances, L'Orpheline by Serge Lutens, has a spectacular engraved bottle Édition gravée “Croix de cimetière” (i.e. cemetery cross). I admit that although I'm not exceedingly particular about bottles (compared to the contents, I mean, otherwise design interests me immensely), this one caught my breath.

" Elle se met en quatre pour vous faire plaisir. L’orpheline, c’est du fer en dentelle. "
- Serge Lutens

She is so eager to please you. The orphan girl, iron dressed in lace.

Feast your eyes on it, because this super rare edition of L'Orpheline comes in only 9 numbered and dated bottles, monogrammed SL,  fetching really high prices.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine:
Fanciful Perfume Bottles
Serge Lutens News & Perfume Reviews

Guerlain Christmas Collection 2014: Coque d'Or and more...

borrowed from excellent beauty blog Musings of a Muse

The makeup and body products collection by Guerlain for the 2014 holidays this winter is stunning! Inspired by the opera and the ballet, it takes its references from Piotr I. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet and Igor Stravisky's Petroushka (Petrouchka in French) ballet and L'Oiseau de Feu (the firebird), as well as Guerlain's own archives of perfumes, with Coque d'Or.

The star of the collection is no doubt Coque d'Or, an iridescent perfumed powder for body and hair with a retro style "pouf" pump that retails for 79 euros. The bottle design in gold reprises the mold for the legendary  Coque d'Or, an old Guerlain fragrance for which the flacon could not be repeated because the factory producing it had been bombed during the war. The re-use of bottle and name for makeup products (and specifically for the body powder for the holidays) follows into the steps of the previous Vol de Nuit and Liu offerings.

via The Style & Beauty Doctor

The rest of the collection includes Palette Petruchka (available at Sephora),  a palette on two layers (as shown above) for eyes and cheeks (€77), 2 eyeshadow duos, one called Cygne Blanc (white swan) in pearly white and lilac, and the other Cygne Noir (black swan) in plum and black, which are €40.50 each. There is the loose pearls of powder product in the Meteorites mold, this year's edition being Perles d'Etoile , i.e. pearls off a star (€49) in a luxurious, collectible gold pot. There is a diaphanous gold lipgloss named L'Oiseau de Feu (€29)as well as the corresponding gold fleck nail top coat (€23.50). Last but not least, a golden metallic nail polish also named Coque d'Or (€23.50).