Philip Goutell

Get your own

Sample Bag

of my original perfume creations for women
... plus my distinctively original creations for men

Lester's Sample Bag holds TWO 3ml spray sampler vials of EACH of my FIVE women's fragrances (Manama, Summer Air, Pink Gardenia, Code Name 'Paris', & Toxic Woman) ... plus TWO generous sampler bottles of each of my TWO men's fragrances (Toxic & Blackberry) plus TWO bonus spray samplers of Manama, my newest creation ... a rose-based fragrance that just lasts and lasts (unlike so many other fragrances you've used!) — that's sixteen (16) samplers in all ... enough perfume to keep you scented for a month or more .... all for just ten dollars plus shipping.

Perfume is about beauty and the discovery of unexpected pleasures. The lover of perfume knows that there is always more; always another scent that goes beyond the familiar and expected. To be a lover of perfume is to live a never ending voyage of discovery.

We each have scents that are most attractive to us but, just as the eye can learn to take pleasure in new visual representations that, at first, are shocking (consider forward fashion and modern art), so too can the nose "adjust" to new aromas that may venture quite far down the path from what your mother wore.

My perfumes for women

When I develop a new woman's fragrance, my usual purpose is to create a pretty, long lasting, wearable fragrance. My starting point is a particular aroma that I can "think," or sometimes just an idea. Often the path from that original idea to the finished fragrance is a lengthy one, a bit like working yourself through a maze where, from above, you can see the starting point and the ending point but the path that lies between them is complex. Code Name 'Paris' falls into this category.

At other times the process from start to finish is more direct. I experienced this both with Pink Gardenia and Summer Air. With Pink Gardenia the whole concept and formula came together almost too easily, so the real "work" was testing and rejecting various alternative paths, to make sure that I had, after all, selected the best solution right out of the gate.

For Summer Air the only "problem" was trying to explain to others what I smelled on a summer day in the front yard of our house as the breeze blew a particular fragrance my way from my wife's flower garden. I seem to have sensed that aroma in a way that was, and is, uniquely my own.

Toxic Woman is my exception to my "nice" fragrances for women. This one is for women who would like to be smoking cigars, only they don't smoke. That might be one way to put it.

Toxic Woman is entirely a masculine fragrance but I seriously believe that certain women — feminine women, but perhaps a bit on the rebellious or independent side — will be happy to wear it from time to time.

Now my next fragrance — to be released in September, 2009 — is a work of pure romantic, exotic fantasy. There's a pre-release sample of it in my current Sample Bag.

My masculine fragrances

What choices do men have in fragrance? There are the traditional colognes that trace their history back to monks, Italians, and Germans and follow traditional formulations: citrus, lavender, and a touch of vanilla (coumarin). Originally it was sold as a medicine. Over the years newer "colognes" for men have been offered but two problems nag: First, with a very few and great exceptions, these fragrances were designed to be pleasing to a woman and bland to the man. Second is the problem of over use, a problem that turns others — both men and women — away from the whole concept of men's cologne.

So now men, guided by women, gravitate to that fragrant soap substitute, the body wash, formulated to be pleasing to all, offensive to none, and with scents that are not intended to be particularly interesting.

The masculine fragrances which I offer — Blackberry and Toxic — are intended to function more like aftershaves but for use on the body rather than the face. (Personally I like to splash them on my chest.) Like aftershaves, they are intended to provide a "wake up" aroma, but to last longer so that their fragrance continues to please the wearer well on into the day.

My Sample Bag

My Sample Bag is a great way for you to discover my work and to discover whether one or more of my fragrances "works" for you.

Unlike popular, mass market offerings, my fragrances were not created to please everyone. They are not intended to have universal appeal. They were intended for some women and men — those whose sense of aroma beauty can be trained to "synchronizes" with my own. But most important, my fragrances are intended to be enjoyed. They are intended to be wearable daily, with the exception of Toxic Woman which is clearly a more "occasional" fragrance.

To discover your affinity for my creations, purchase my Sample Bag and experience ALL of my creations for yourself.

Philip Goutell

Lightyears, Inc.

Click on image to enlarge

Lester Frogge comments:

"Samples, nothing. They're giving away the store! Too much! Too many! Next they will want to make up for it by giving me a pay cut! It's crazy. They should be thinking about making money! They should be charging more! Good golly, these perfumes are EXPENSIVE to make, and say nothing about the weeks and months that go into developing the formulas."

"But I'm supposed to be the positive voice. I'm supposed to be the one who encourages you to BUY. That's really not such a bad job as I like EVERYTHING we sell."

"But let's be realistic. You're not me, and I don't buy perfume. There are enough great scents down at the pond and in the garden, so I have no need. So you probably won't like EVERYTHING we sell, but that's not a problem. It's not expected. But I would be willing to bet my cousin's toadstool that you WILL like at least one (more likely, two or three) of our fragrances. But, at the moment, you don't have a clue as to which ones they will be."

"That's why we have this Sample Bag deal. You buy the bag for just ten dollars and get ALL our current fragrances plus some bonus samplers plus a full, 1-ounce bottle of something nice, though I can't tell you which fragrance it will be and I can't promise that everyone will get the same fragrance."

"So there's the deal."

Hop on it."

...and others comment too... ... members of our Evaluation Board, honorary members, and other friends of fragrance. We invite your photo and comments too.

	"I'm always skeptical of samples because I'm never sure you're really getting enough to test the fragrance — and if you LIKE the sample you find yourself hoarding. This one was a good deal and I really did enjoy three of the fragrances I received."

	"The big bottle — the 1 oz "sampler" — was so good that I found myself using it regularly and almost forgetting to try the other fragrances. (I tried the male fragrances on myself and THAT was interesting — nothing like the regular men's fragrances at the mall."

	"I was a little surprised by the "bonus" samples. Yes, I could see why one of them was being phased out. But I find myself attracted to it anyway and I've started to wear it from time to time. I may actually miss it when it's gone."

	"The offer is slanted toward women, which probably makes sense and it will give the woman who loves Summer Air a chance to give Toxic Woman a try. If I was a man, I'd forget the samples and just put my money into a bottle of Blackberry."

	"Why didn't you put a value on this one? Like it's a $65 value or something for only ten dollars. There's so much in this package that you could go for months without ever having to buy a regular size bottle."

	"This isn't a fragrance I'm supposed to evaluate — it's a deal. OK, it's a good deal but I'd have liked to have seen more generous samples of the men's fragrances, Blackberry and Toxic."