That Moment

Sometimes with perfume, you find ones that you love right away, some that you hate from the onset, and those that take a little while. Deneuve was on that I loved right away, Ubar was one I hated right off the bat and now we get to Amouage Jubilation.

I didn't much care for Jubilation in the beginning because I didn't give it enough time and wearings to make the whole decision that I did kind of like it. There are plenty of perfumes that I have tried months or years later that I just don't like. But Jubilation has an interesting back story for me. I had tried Jubilation fairly early on in my perfume journey, back when I first took the plunge with buying decants. At the time, I tried to like it, I mean really tried to like it. It was Amouage and I had wanted to like Ubar but that smelled like bug spray with a hint of flowers to my nose. Fast forward a few months ago, I had quite a bit of Christmas gift cards on Amazon that I hadn't spent yet. I was going to get Beloved but accidentally bought Jubilation instead. I thought I had bought Beloved but didn't. I couldn't go and return it since Amazon really doesn't accept returns when it comes to perfume. So I was kind of stuck with Jubilation. But then, I started to crave it for some reason. I sprayed it on and it was love. I'm thinking that Jubilation was reformulated and made it more wearable for me.

Maybe I should give some others in my collection a second look.

Tauer Une Rose de Kandahar Review

This month, I have been the laziest blogger. Every time I get an idea, I realize that I have already blogged about it in one form or another. So it left me with wearing something new to me to review. And I kind of got busy with looking at Une Rose de Kandahar from Andy Tauer. And I'm not getting it and I have tried it off and on for the past couple months.

I have always loved and respected Andy Tauer's work, there have been a couple that haven't exactly worked out for me. I love how Andy Tauer has made me see a couple notes through new eyes. But Une Rose de Kandahar is something that I'm not understanding. I don't understand what I am smelling. I'm smelling rose, a dusty rose. The dusty part is not overwhelming or bad, I just don't get the dust part in perfumes too often. With the rose and how dusty it is, I start to get a shaving cream vibe to Kandahar. I haven't smelled a shaving cream this big since I tried Bois 1920 Sushi Imperial. A couple other bloggers have mentioned that they get the apricot in Kandahar but I am not smelling it. But at this point is starting to fade away, leaving with with the dust and the Tauer base that I can more often than not, pick out a mile away. I do love the Tauer base because I find it interesting. At this point in Kandahar, I'm getting the tiniest hints of an animalic note. It's nowhere near the league of Shalimar, let alone vintage Bal but I can pick it out when I sit and look for it. Like a lot of Tauer offerings, I get at least 7 hours of wear out of this one. Kandahar bears no resemblance with Une Rose Chypree or Une Rose Vermeille because I can't smell it.

Would I get a full bottle of this? I don't know because I don't know if I love it or not but I do like it. A 15ml travel size suits me for the moment. Like many Tauer scents, this one is better as a fall perfume or maybe an early winter perfume. Une Rose Vermeille and Ingrid are my summer Tauers.

Beginning of Fall

So it's the beginning of fall and that means that it's time to start switching over to the fall/winter stuff. Even though it's still fairly warm out, the days are starting to get a little cooler and the days are definitely shorter.

Chanel's no 19, no matter what the concentration, is fabulous in it's own right. But it's not exactly fitting in with the shorter days. No 19 is just too bright for fall and winter. For some reason, no 19 makes me even colder in the winter and fall. Bright and sparkling just don't fit with fall and winter.

I have found the while I do love L'Heure Bleue, spraying is just too much for my nose. Too much powder and the powder is huge when sprayed. Since I have managed to score a 3/4 ounce of the parfum version (vintage) a few weeks ago, L'Heure Bleue works even better for me. In the next few months, I will probably spring for a bottle of parfum. But L'Heure Bleue is a great perfume for the dead of winter but can be kind of iffy in fall but it's really good for the cold fall nights.

Some of the fall transition perfumes I do wear year round but they seem to do better in the fall. Theorema in all of it's candied orange goodness, Shalimar and it's vanilla and skank, vintage Bal and it's through and through straight up skank, and let's not forget LADM by Andy Tauer that suits a fall bonfire.

This makes me kind of wish that there were more perfumes that transition well from summer into fall. Are you listening to me perfume gods? It's either perfumes for summer that are as light as can be or the bombastic things for winter when it's only 2 degrees out.

The Second Look and Le Labo

What perfume warrants a second look? Is it a couple days? A couple months? Or a few years? I was looking through my Amouage sampler that I had bought a couple months ago for no good reason and I am sort of thinking of retrying Honour and Reflection to see if my opinions have changed on them. I know that I have said that they are similar or almost identical to each other. But fast forward a few years and I think that I need to take a fresh look at the both of them. Ubar wasn't in the sampler set and I still have yet to muster up any courage to order a decant to give Ubar another go.

Every year, Le Labo decides to release their city exclusives to the general public. I liked the idea of being able to buy the city exclusives without having to travel to another city to get a bottle. Then Aldehyde 44 was discontinued and then I kind of liked the idea. Now that it's that time of year, I was curious as to pricing and if there would be something I would be interested in. Once in a while, I am not adverse to spending $250 on a bottle of perfume. If I were, I wouldn't have any full bottles of Amouage sitting on my dresser. I do have limitations of some of this. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the prices for a 1.7 ounce bottle. Almost $300 for a 50ml bottle. Serge Lutens sells his bell jars at Barney's for $300 and I would get 75mls. I haven't bought a Serge Lutens bell jar yet from Barney's but I'm thinking about it. Everyone knows that they have limitations and I have mine that I rarely cross. If I do cross a limitation, I must really want something. This time, I'm not crossing it.

Andy Tauer Sotta La Luna Tuberose Review

It's no secret that I do enjoy Andy Tauer's work. I might not find all of his offering wearable on my skin but I do like or love most of Andy Tauer's creations and have quite a few. But I have made no secret of the fact that tuberose is one of my nemesis' in perfume. And yes, I willingly tried Sotto La Luna Tuberose. Because I keep hoping with a lot of tuberose dominant perfumes that I will find one that I work for me and that I do love.

I got a sample of Tuberose when I ordered those travel sprays from the Andy Tauer website. I wouldn't have picked out the sample myself so it was a surprise to find it. Ever since I got those 5 samples, I have been playing around with testing out Tuberose and one day, actually put it on skin.

When Tuberose first hits my skin, I don't get out and out tuberose right away. I get a huge amount of methanol and then a huge blast of vegital green and the green is more of the sliced green pepper vibe to my nose. Then the starring note, tuberose, comes out. The tuberose isn't what you find it many tuberose dominant perfume. This isn't Fracas in all of it's loud creaminess. This is a green tuberose. The tuberose is still in this one and still a dominant note. Tuberose isn't interested in being loud, brash, creamy and buttery and that is what seems to make tuberose difficult to me. Most tuberose dominant perfumes, to my nose, seem to just use tuberose and nothing else, no rose, no jasmine, no nothing else. It's nice to see that there are other notes that are in this that stand up to the tuberose and prevents the tuberose from getting overwhelming. In Tuberose, I haven't smelled the famous Taurade that is a common theme in Andy Tauer's offerings. The lasting power is about 6 hours on my skin and that seems to be the norm for my skin in the summer. Tuberose is an EDP and sold at the usual places.

I do have a liking for Tuberose and think it is at least decant worthy for me. I haven't decided if this is full bottle worthy for me. I'm happy right now to have a tuberose dominant perfume that kind of works for me but I think that I will have to spend more time with Tuberose.

The Large Bottles

Here is another post on bottle sizes, I think that it is a second post of bottle sizes, I can't be sure. But there are a few massive ones in my collection. I'm not talking about the 3.4 ounces of anything. Yes, 3.4 ounces can be a lot of perfume but I'm talking the bottles that are more than that. I'm talking those monster bottles.

It is rare to see huge bottles today. Huge as in more than 3.4 ounces in modern perfumery. Dior and Chanel have large bottles of some of their offerings but that is rare. I more often see incredibly large bottles of perfume regularly on E-Bay. The ones I see on E-Bay most often are vintage perfumes and the most common seem to be are vintage Guerlains. I do think that back in the '50's and '60's maybe even before, perfume was considered a huge luxury and you wanted the biggest bottle that one could afford. Now those bottles, even empty, are a pretty penny, if you go looking on E-Bay. Unless you have a really good thrift store, Goodwill or an antique store, you are limited to E-Bay, like I am.

Xerjoff Irisss Review

I'm getting on a roll right now, reviewing things. But like I have said, my unreviewed pile and mostly unworn pile of decants keeps growing and I really need to get a move on with going at it.

I have been meaning to get a decant of Irisss and wear it for quite a while. Now I finally have actually remembered to test it out to see what this one smelled like. I do love Serge Lutens's Iris Silver Mist and was hoping that Irisss would blow my mind when I smelled it. And I was hoping that it would be like ISM. Mind was not blown, the clouds didn't part and the angels didn't start singing.

After I first put Irisss, I got the airy, carroty, earthy opening that I could have sworn smelled just like ISM. I like my iris all carroty and earthy but I wasn't expecting something identical to ISM. Then after a few minutes, there was a shift. Not a huge shift but to my nose, there was a shift. The iris in all of it's glory was still there and dominant, the incense and woods came out to play. In ISM, there is a wood note in there and the wood note is smooth and lends support to the iris. The woods and incense in Irisss is jarring and doesn't quite mesh in Irisss. To my nose this makes, the woods and incense makes Irisss a little muddled and leaves me unimpressed. The lasting power on this is about 5 hours on my skin. For the price tag, I expected a little bit more and better. So now, my Amex can breath a sigh of relief and I won't be looking at Irisss anytime soon.