New vs. Old

Many classic perfumes have gone through reformulations. The longer a perfume has been in circulation, it's a given. There are many reasons why reformulations happen and it can be very annoying or down right infuriating. I understand why some reformulations happen. Some ingredients are either banned because of allergies, harvesting is cruel or some become endangered. I understand why some things have to be outright banned or severely restricted. But I'm never a fan of having things banned due to allergies. Perfume is not essential to living, it's honestly not. Food is essential to staying alive. But I am strange when it comes to the vintage and current stuff.

Let's take Mitsouko, probably the most talked about reformulation. I like both the current version and I also like the vintage version. Since they have restricted oak moss, Mitsouko hasn't quite been the same. But the reformulation is still beautiful. Even though I don't wear Mitsouko as often as I should, I'm finding myself drawn more and more to the current version of Mitsouko than the vintage version and wearing the current formulation more. I don't know why I am drawn to the current formulation more but I'm thinking that the current version is a little brighter than the vintage version.

Chanel no 22 is another one. At first, I didn't like no 22. I found the EDT version to be too harsh and the vintage version to be smoother. Eventually, I started to enjoy no 22. Now I thing that I wasn't prepared or used to the powder and incense combination. I haven't tried the EDP version of no 22 so I can't comment on the EDP version. The version that I enjoy the most is the extrait version. It's rosier and more subdued. Powder bombs are hard to wear and harder to pull off.

Dealing

I'm still having a very difficult time with losing my dog. There are so many habits that are so ingrained and in a lot of ways, I forget that Charlie is gone. I miss seeing her in her "spot" on the couch, on the bed. I miss her barks when she wants somebody to pay attention to her because she is lonely. There are just so many quirks that I miss and some that used to annoy me. My other dog, Jake is having a difficult time without his four legged buddy, too. Yesterday, a deposit was made for a Lab puppy and now, it's a two week wait before the puppy can leave her mother.

Yes, we could have adopted a Lab but pet adoptions have gotten a lot more complex than what I remember. The rescue people want to take a look at your house, property, other animals if you have them and who knows how many interviews that they want. I get the fact that checking out the house and all and one interview but some things have gotten blown out of proportion. Any more than one interview and a home visit is overmuch. I get why the home visit and interview is important  but in some ways, some rescue groups act like they don't want you to adopt a dog. An animal is adopted because they are very much wanted.

Losing My Dog

It's Friday the 13th and it's a horrible day. Last night was a difficult night. My 13 year old black Lab, Charlie had a rough night. After she ate her supper and received her medication, she suffered a seizure and lost her ability to walk. Over the course of 4 days, her quality of life went down hill. My family and the vet think that she was probably dealing with a form of brain cancer due to symptoms that she was displaying over the past month. A couple hours ago, we had to put Charlie down and I have spent the whole day as a sobbing mess. I know my other dog knows that Charlie is gone and won't come home. Well, she will come home but not in dog form but in ashes. I swore that I wouldn't wear perfume but ended up wearing Lolita Lempicks (the original, not the flankers). I don't know why I did it and I don't know too much right now except that Charlie is gone and I won't see her anymore.

Dior La Collection Couturier Parfumeur Grand Bal Review

I will admit that I have never been the biggest Dior fan girl. Nothing has really moved me in terms of Dior. Diorissimo doesn't it for me, even in vintage form. Current released (Dior) kind of gross me out and annoy me. I will explain with Grand Bal.

I do have a liking for jasmine dominant perfumes with Sarrasins being my favorite. Jasmine can be a little difficult because under the wrong circumstances, jasmine is abhorrent. Overwhelming and cloying. Grand Bal has jasmine in spades, you can't miss it. At first, I thought that I was smelling tuberose, which is my arch nemesis in terms of perfume but it was the jasmine. The jasmine and tuberose thing reminded me of Nuda but even though tuberose isn't listed in the notes that I see, I'm pretty sure it's in there to add some creaminess. What got me was the whole watery thing in Grand Bal and I loathe things watery. I'm thinking that Dior used calone and won't fess up to using it. Yep, Grand Bal is this whole watery jasmine mess that just doesn't work. If it doesn't work in the EDP version of Diorissimo, it won't work in Grand Bal. Grand Bal was just a huge mess on my to where I can only smell a watery jasmine that was done horribly.

The lasting power of Grand Bal is 9 hours on my skin and that's 9 hours to long with some pretty hefty sillage. Good thing that I am not willing to part with $210 for this.

Andy Tauer Lonesome Rider Review

I will admit that I am a huge fan of Andy Tauer and his work. Yep, I'm a fan girl. Even though I might not like some of his work, Andy has consistently released some good, if not great work. And I have enjoyed most of what I have tried.

About a week and a half ago or two weeks ago, I had ordered LADDM from Andy Tauer's website instead of Luckyscent. Ordering from Andy's website works out a little better than Luckyscent in terms of price and I'd rather that money go directly to Mr. Tauer and not Luckyscent, I'm strange that way. I did run into a little issue with the website and never received an e-mail confirmation. I had checked my junk e-mail and trash folder to make sure I hadn't missed it. Nope, it didn't arrive in my inbox. I had contacted Mr. Tauer and had explained my situation and was wondering if everything went through like it should. Mr. Tauer had e-mailed me back and said that he would take it up with his IT people and was sending me something special in the mail for my inconvenience. For me, it wasn't any kind of inconvenience, just a very minor annoyance. When my package of LADDM arrived, it was just the perfume itself but there was another package. Inside, there were 5 samples and a note. It was very sweet of Mr. Tauer to do that. Inside, were a few that I haven't tried yet and Lonesome Rider was one of them. Naturally, I had to try it.

First blast was the grapefruit. Normally, any kind of citrus bugs the shit out of me but the grapefruit is bright and almost effervescent. The leather comes into play about a minute or two later. The leather is not the plush leather of a worn handbag or Chanel's Cuir de Russie. I am strongly reminded of brand new shoe and a shoe store. At 10 minutes in, I'm not so sure if I'm liking this so much. I keep looking for that whopping dose of Tauerade that I'm so familiar with and not finding it, well, not a lot of it. The cistus does poke through along with some floral notes that I can't identify at this point that ties all of this together. The lasting power is about 8 or 9 hours on my skin with some projection and that's normal for Mr. Tauer's work for my skin except for the projection. I usually get a little more projection with the Tauer line. I think that this one just isn't for me and I am okay with that. I will keep sampling Mr. Tauer's work and keep buying it.

Family and Visiting

It's always the same song and dance that seems to happen everywhere. Out of town family members some for a visit. In January/February, I was pretty excited. Earlier this month, I was excited but now, not so much.

I have two Labs and my dogs shed. Tufts of hair everywhere, dirt from their paws are everywhere. My house has never been spotless and pretty cluttered. My house is still sanitary but my sister is the type that will be judging. She knows that the house is cluttered and I have dogs. I figure that I will have some deep cleaning to do before she and my nephews need to be picked up from the airport. Mind you, I'm not going overboard, the bathrooms will get a good cleaning as opposed to a surface clean, make sure that everything is vacuumed and mopped and I have something set up in the guest bed for sleeping. Somehow I must manage this before Tuesday between work and watching Call the Midwife on Sunday. I'm not amused with what needs to be done but I do have a game plan on how to tackle the cleaning.

Along with the cleaning is making sure the house is somewhat stocked with snacks. My nephews are in grade school and probably are growing out of that fruit snack phase and wondering on what to do for snacks. It's just a lot of confusion and I am going to wait and see with this stuff.

Amouage Jubilation XXV Review

I have slowly been wading through Amouage's men's offerings. I think that I just have Gold for men left to try.

At first whiff, I get the incense and a big slug of it. At a closer sniff, I get a little bit of orange that peeks out and a little bit of rose. The rose and orange peek out once in a while but they are not really in the forefront. I do get some patchouli in there that gives it some earthiness. Patchouli and I are definitely not the best of friends but the patchouli isn't annoying and it's smoothed out by the oud. I couldn't place what Jubilation XXV smelled like at first and then I knew. Jubilation XXV is mostly a dead ringer for Comme des Garcons Avignon. I swear, it's almost Avignon but a little more expensive smelling. Probably because Bertrand Duchaufour created Avignon and Jubilation XXV. Jubilation XXV lasts on my skin for about 6 hours and I wasn't thrilled about that. I expected better from Amouage and I'm used to 10 to 12 hours from the women's offerings.

I've been underwhelmed and disappointed by the men's offerings from Amouage. The men's versions are thin and nowhere near as impressive the the women's versions (especially the ones up to Honour). Jubilation XXV doesn't fit the bill and I am not amused.