Andy Tauer Vetiver Dance Review

We are inching towards spring and I am still annoyed with Amazon. I had cancelled my Prime membership so I could use my Amazon gift cards for Give the Gift of Prime for myself. I purchase Give the Gift of Prime and go to redeem but it was a no go. They are telling me that I am a Prime member already. So that means that I am going to have to wait until tomorrow to redeem. If I can't redeem tomorrow, I will not be happy. I should be able to redeem the gift of Prime on the day that I choose, not the day after my membership officially ends, which is tomorrow.

Since we are inching towards spring, like I did say, I wanted to give Vetiver Dance by Andy Tauer another go. I did try it a while back but didn't review it. I was looking at my unreviewed pile, wanting something new and Vetiver Dance spoke to me.

At first, I got a lot of green and something grass like. I haven't had a ton of experience with smelling vetiver as a dominant note but the green and grass like is probably vetiver. After a couple minutes, I gent hints of citrus peel and when I look at the listed notes, I see grapefruit peel. I kind of smell the grapefruit part but can't really. I do get lily of the valley that hums quietly in the background and it adds a really nice touch. Vetiver Dance isn't really masculine nor is it feminine but has an androgynous feel to it.

I do find that Vetiver Dance to be a really good early spring perfume. Lasting power one me is about 5 and a half hours. I do have a strong liking for this Tauer and it's borderline full bottle worthy for me.

Spring is Coming

Okay, the little "pupsqueak", Sydney is a year old and she is still as crazy as ever. I thought that BarkBox would really be a big help. Even though the BarkBox subscription we have goes back before Sydney, it's still strange to have two dogs with two different needs. Jake likes plush, squeaky toys to whip around or just carry around. Sydney on the other hand, needs Nylabone type toys. Kong toys won't work with Sydney, she chews right through them. So I can't quite find the right combination of Barkbox that fits the both of them. The Deystroyer's toys or regular toys are a fit for Jake but not Sydney. The Super Chewers don't fit Jake and half the time, are too big for Sydney. So the search continues for something that suits. I like the fact that BarkBox makes every effort to help, it's just having two dogs with two different toy requirements that's the problem.

So spring is supposed to be on it's way. I'm waiting for warm weather, wearing short sleeves again, not needing to wear a coat every time I am outside. I am waiting most of all to break out all of my spring/summer scents. I don't have loads of spring/summer scents but I still can't wait to break them out. No 19, no matter what the concentration, En Passant, Courtesan, Deneuve, and Un Coeur en Mai. Thus far, I can't place Noontide Petals except in the late winter, very early spring where it is still cold.

Here is Jake:

Here is Sydney: Sydney on her 1st birthday, look at how big she has grown from puppy hood.

Sydney, when we first brought her home.----->

Guerlain Cuir Beluga EDP Review

Off and on I have thought about getting a decant of Cuir Beluga for years. But never quite did until recently because it always seemed that other things were catching my fancy. I got my little decant a few days ago and decided to test drive it yesterday.

At first, I got this strange powdery smell that I couldn't place. Well, I just couldn't place the whole damn perfume, I knew I smelled it before from Guerlain but couldn't figure it out. Eventually, I did figure some of it out. To me, this was basically Tonka Imperiale. I did enjoy Tonka Imperiale but do not like Cuir Beluga. From start to finish, I did get a Play-Doh/chemical/plastic smell with a sweetness overload. I did smell a whole lot of tonka and a hint of vanilla but not enough to even begin to redeem itself. Lasting power is around 7 or 8 hours on my skin but that was 7 or 8 hours too long. I view this as money saved.

Retail Confuses Me

Okay, I am not too confused but more of flabbergasted. I'm a huge Amazon fan and have been for a number of years. I wasn't too thrilled with the price hike of Prime. I'm old enough to remember when Prime was only$79 per year. Then came the hikes of $99 and then $119. With every price hike, I have to reassess the the reasons that I have Prime. In a few days, Amazon will let me know how much Prime has saved me and that is going to be the deciding factor if I keep it or not. Hopefully, in the next few days, I will have a better idea on how much I had saved and if it's worth keeping Prime.

I am not a Whole Foods shopper, I have never set foot in one. I don't make a whole lot of cash and know that I can't afford Whole Foods and similar stores. So I am stuck with Aldi, Wal-Mart and my local grocery chain. Many grocery store chains do carry gift cards to many different places. When I look at the gift card sections, I always look for certain gift cards. The gift cards I mostly go for are Ulta, Sephora and Amazon. Gift cards can be great things for me, if I have a few extra dollars, I pick up a gift card. Gift cards in a way force me to set aside money for gifts.

But since Amazon has bought Whole Foods, my local grocery chain is about to discontinue selling Amazon gift cards. I expected this to happen much sooner but I was still surprised at the the little tag. I had initially thought that it was some kind of promo at first but in a couple days, Amazon gift cards will be no more at my local grocery chain. I had asked about it but corporate gave me a standard reply. I think that my local grocery chain didn't want any more cash going to Amazon. I bought a few gift cards and will be relying on Amazon for gift cards. I think I am a little disgruntled with changes and price hikes.

La Maison de la Vanille Vanille sauvage de Madagascar Review

I spent part of yesterday cleaning up and organizing and found my sampler/travel set of La Maison de la Vanille. I had figured that I really didn't need the box and went to take the decants out and noticed something that really ticked me off. One of the decants was two thirds gone. All of the others seem to be okay, evaporation wise. I don't think that the planning for this travel set was thought out and executed all that well. So guess which one is getting reviewed? Vanille sauvage de Madagascar.

At first, I get a whopping dose of something like alcohol and I wasn't amused by this. Then the vanilla shows up. The vanilla is a creamy type of vanilla in the way of more like a buttercream icing. I've said time and time again, I like my vanilla inedible and this one is in the edible camp. I don't get much development except maybe some incense and the tiniest hint of musk. Towards the end, I get something that smells like chocolate. Chocolate is meant for eating and shouldn't be used in perfume. Lasting power for and EDT is pretty decent. A full bottle is $60 and that is a really good price but I'm saving myself the $60 and not getting a full bottle of this.

Yes, I am pretty crabby. From the two I have tried and reviewed thus far, I don't consider La Maison de la Vanille to be a niche perfume line. It's not about price but this smells more of what I would see in either Target's or maybe even Kohl's. But to sell at Luckyscent, next to Amouage and Andy Tauer offerings?

The Full Bottle Hustle

It is now a rarity for me to purchase a full bottle of anything. The past two or three years, I've gotten around 6 or 7 bottles (I think) of perfume. Necessity has made it to where I can't just end up spend any kind of money on a full bottle of perfume very often. Want that bottle of Lonestar Memories? Gotta wait for it. It's difficult o get out of the habit of just buying full bottles. I have worked out a budget of what to get and when.

I have blogged about which full bottle was next. I couldn't decide on either Ubar or Lonestar Memories. I spent at least two or three weeks going back and forth and just yammering on about how difficult the choice was. In the end, I went with Ubar. Fragrancenet was offering a 1,7 ounce bottle for $105. Yes, it was that cheap. I was a little unsure if I wanted to pull the trigger. Beauty Encounter, Amazon, Luckyscent and any reputable place that sells Amouage, only sells the 3.4 ounce bottles. So I have never seen Ubar sold in a smaller size than a 3.4 ounce bottle. The price sealed the deal for me because Lonestar Memories turned out to be a little more expensive than Ubar. Maybe I will get Lonestar Memories later on in the year or there is a really good sale in the next couple months.

After every full bottle purchase, I want to go and buy another on my wish list. I do have to step away. Because the new rule for me is that I can only pick one perfume and not two. After about a couple hours, I am okay because I had saved up enough fun money to get a bottle of perfume. If I could only keep away from buying so many decants.

A Harsh Mistress

Come recently, I've been rearranging my perfume collection. Pulling things that I don't wear too often to the front and things that I have been wearing quite a bit to the back. It's the whole forgetting about which bottles I have and why I bought them. So it's the whole trying to use up what I already have. Forgot that I had a bell jar of Sarrasins and De Profundis and I remembered the joy I felt to finally have a bell jars of two scents that I loved. And yet I still kind of hoard them. Then I started to wonder why.

Perfume is a harsh mistress when it comes to collecting. I haven't counted how many bottles of perfume that I have but I have a lot. Every time I gaze at my collection, I ask, "Do you really know how much you've spent on full bottles alone?" Truth is, I don't and I don't think I really want to know the answer to that question. I figure that I have probably spent almost a year's wages or a little more than that over the span of 10 years. Vintage finds, high and low end offerings, some discounted, some not and with the vintage finds; I might have spent more than what I should have on a few bottles. Back up bottles played a roll too, the fear of anything being discontinued is real. And yet, I want to add more to my collection.

I've had many collections and I have found that perfume has been the most demanding and expensive to date. Books, makeup, nail polish have been fairly cheap compared to perfume. Amouage, Serge Lutens bell jars don't come cheap and I don't really have the means to snap up bottles left and right anymore. So the perfume buying has slowed down and I don't even buy so many decants anymore. I still love perfume but I really need to start using some full bottles up and add only 1 or 2 more bottles to my collection.