smell this for me, would ya?

December 4, 2022 7:37 PM

I have been trying to identify a perfume I own whose label has rubbed off. Is there somewhere/someone I can send the nearly-empty bottle, who has a more knowledgeable nose than I do?

It's a rollerball, chartreuse body with a black top, about 4.25" long. The only thing I can read is black text on a white oval, "eau de perfum" (very helpful, I know). I acquired it between 2012-2015. The vibe is fresh, girly, and young.

Here's the thing: I am bad at IDing perfume notes. My nose doesn't know the difference between gardenia and lily, "fresh" scents or "green" ones. I've ordered a few samples that look like my bottle, but none of them are it. I posted on Fragrantica, a perfume enthusiast site, to no avail.

I do not live near a department store with perfume salespeople, otherwise I would take it there and ask them to help me out.

posted by wintersonata9 to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (13 answers total)

Best answer: You can try posting a picture of it on the subreddit r/fragrance. I’ve seen some pretty impressive fragrance bottle ID-ing there.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:48 PM on December 4, 2022 [8 favorites]

Best answer: If you're open to saying, what was the geographic location where the bottle was acquired? (I see it was the lost & found at work, but could be helpful to know a likely origin of purchase). Could you also post pictures of the spray nozzle, and perhaps the bottom or back if there's anything at all there?

I tried searching by bottle color on Fragrantica, since the rollerball edition is likely to be a riff off the main bottle, but I couldn't spot any likely logo matches.
posted by rachaelfaith at 8:55 PM on December 4, 2022

Best answer: Try taking a photo of the bottle against a neutral background and do a reverse image search. I tried, but the ruler in the photo is throwing it off.
posted by mezzanayne at 9:06 PM on December 4, 2022

Best answer: Seconding r/fragrance and adding r/femfragrancelab!
posted by chaiyai at 10:10 PM on December 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Agreeing that it may be one of the Donna Karan "Delicious" line - those are very fresh, girly, fruity scents.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 2:36 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: What else can you tell us about the bottle? Is it plastic or glass? Is there writing or a sticker at the bottom of the bottle? It looks like there was previously a pattern all over the bottle - do you remember what it was?

The double lines in the logo reminds me of Tocca, which also uses some green in their packaging. I see that you ordered a few scents of theirs though. I don't think it's So Delicious because the top notes of that perfume are very strong apple scent.

Victoria's Secret has rollerballs with black caps and would have been pretty popular at the time. But I didn't see anything with chartreuse packaging. Nest also does black caps but their bottles are square.

The logo and little starburst in the logo is pinging something for me, but I can't remember exactly. I will keep thinking!
posted by pumpkinlatte at 6:28 AM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The colours are making me think it’s from Crabtree and Evelyn Although when I search for their perfume rollers everything I see is clear glass.

That chartreuse colour is pinging something for me too. I feel like for a little while there was a Mall store that used that colour scheme with a name like “______ Naturals” or “_____ Organics” or “Earthbound ______”.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 7:40 AM on December 5, 2022

Best answer: Were you more likely to buy your scents at a drugstore or somewhere like Target, or from a company like Avon, or are you more likely to buy them in a department store?
posted by haplesschild at 9:05 AM on December 5, 2022

Best answer: Rachel Syme is on Twitter and has an encyclopedic knowledge of perfumes
posted by bilabial at 11:12 AM on December 5, 2022

Response by poster: rachaelfaith - Geographical location: California Bay Area.

pumpkinlatte - The rollerball bottle is glass. Nothing on the bottom. The design is not on one big sticker that I can peel off, looks like it was applied directly to the glass. The pattern was little starbursts.

haplesschild - I am absolutely the kind of person who likes scents from Target etc. This smells like something of that sort. Not a $$$ scent or the super complex ones in sniffy inserts of haute couture magazines.

bilabial - I caught Rachel Syme doing her perfume genie thing last spring! She suggested Monyette Paris. No dice.

Will take fresh pics, try Reddit, and report back!
posted by wintersonata9 at 1:44 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

this says smelling like pear means that it is less acidic.
posted by aniola at 9:50 PM on December 5, 2022

Best answer: My perfume expert friend guessed Tocca Florence which you've ruled out, but when I told her your "like biting into a ripe pear and eating a forkful of birthday cake at the same time" line from the Fragrantica post she said "Well, I know what does that now, but it didn't exist when that rollerball was new because it's an Ariana Grande perfume and she and that rollerball are like the same age." Might as well give Thank U Next a sniff though in case it's a good replacement, she describes it as "pear and birthday cake although with light coconut frosting."
posted by babelfish at 8:52 AM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I tried Reddit and my post got taken down. No luck in the general help thread where I was redirected to post.

babelfish - Your friend is a goddess. I ordered a small sample of Thank U Next and the vibe is 100% in the realm of my mystery fave. Even if I never identify it, I am very grateful to your friend for her recommendation!
posted by wintersonata9 at 11:00 AM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]