Monyette Paris Coquette Tropique Review

Many months ago, I was poking around Luckyscent looking for a good bargain. For the past few years, my perfume budget hasn't been that great and full bottles are a rare treat. I wasn't too serious about finding anything that I could afford but when I stumbled on Monyette Paris Coquette Tropique for $10 and a box of tea, I figured for $10, what do I have to really lose?

For $10 I really didn't have high standards or hopes for this. I was hoping for something cheerful, nothing too serious. For crying out loud, I do have perfumes that are cheap, cheerful and smell good. Coquette Tropique missed the mark in a big way.

I get a huge blast of tuberose that lasts from start to finish. The list of notes say gardenia but gardenia in perfume is a construct of tuberose and something else. So the gardenia note is a lie. I don't know what I am exactly smelling after but it smells incredibly cheap and fake. The fruit and flowers smell like they are either rotting or artificial. Something about this whole thing just made my stomach roll and not in a good way. There is nothing tropical or flirty in this one. In a way, I was kind of hoping for the lines of Worth Courtesan.

The good thing at this point is that this was $10 and not the original $45. Forty-five dollars for an eighth of an ounce of oil. I am happy that I didn't sink that kind of cash into it. I know that I won't be wearing this again.

Chanel Coromandel EDP Review

I actually decided to get a decant of Coromandel off of E-bay. The seller shipped it out pretty quick and I got it pretty quick. I have been pretty wary of the Les Exclusifs line since they went from the EDT to the EDP formulation. Anyone familiar with Chanel knows that no matter which formulation of any of their scents are going to smell different.

Take no 5 for example. The parfum will smell different than the EDT and the EDT will smell different from the EDP. But they all smell like no 5 but certain things might be emphasized in one formulation but the next formulation, something else is emphasized.

After trying the EDP version of Cuir de Russie and not being to amused, I was a little reluctant to get a full bottle of Coromandel EDP without trying it out. I was pretty late to the party with Coromandel. When I tried Coromandel, my 5ml decant was half evaporated and STC and TPC were not and still not allowed to sell any decants of Chanel. So I had reservations about decants off of E-Bay for a long time due to the fact that I had a pretty good chance of getting something fake.

When I ordered my decant of Coromandel, the only available size that the seller had was 10ml. I was looking for more of a 3ml size. The EDP does smell like the EDT but with a few differences. I found the EDP to be more sheer but in a way, smoother than the EDT. I noticed that the patchouli was a little smoother and a little quieter. I noticed that there wasn't as much projection. I expected this kind of projection along the lines of a parfum. The lasting power is much shorter though. The EDT gave me 6 hours of wear but the EDP only gave me 4 hours.

I wouldn't mind a full bottle of this but I am still kicking myself for not getting a bottle of the EDT while the prices were still fairly reasonable. I do want to try the parfum version on this one and I am sure that it's glorious.

That Time of Year

Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone. I've never been the biggest fan of Thanksgiving. I think it's my distaste for football, eating so early and turkey. Yes, I am not a fan of turkey and I think it's one of those take it or leave it foods.

What annoyed me the most is an overflowing e-mail about the deals. The e-mail bombing started on Wednesday and didn't let up until this morning. I looked at a couple of them and didn't find the deals to be appealing. Bath and Body Works is the only one that is still bombing my e-mail account. The Bath and Body Works deals have been pretty good but I haven't bitten yet. I am waiting for their big candle sale on Saturday. A 3 wick candle for $8? Count me in and those normally cost $24.50 full price. Most of the time, Bath and Body Works has some kind of deals on their candles but more than half off is pretty good. I love a good deal but I am not in the market for a whole lot at the moment and I gotta be pretty selective at this point due to my cash flow being a little wonky. But can't be too selective with some relatives living out of state and have to keep shipping cutoff times in mind.

There aren't too many perfume blogs that I really read anymore. I used to read quite a few blogs but things changed. Some stopped blogging for various reasons, some don't post as often, or just don't fit into my reading habits anymore. The Non-Blonde Blog was one of the blogs that I would read but in the past couple years, it just fell through my reading cracks. A few weeks ago, I went to see what was posted and I didn't see too many posts. What shocked me is when someone on Now Smell This had said that there was a post that the author of The Non-Blonde, Gaia, had unexpectedly passed away. Then the Perfumed Posse reported another death in the perfume community. I've never followed video blogs but it's still sad to see this stuff happen.

E-Bay and Thanksgiving

We are two days away from Thanksgiving. My family and I are hosting and know that 3 people are probably going to be spending the night. For the past couple days, I have been doing a lot of picking up, organizing and some dusting. I am still going to do more in between shifts at work. I am dreading work though, knowing it will be a mad house.

But with Thanksgiving comes Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I still can't believe that some companies think that Black Friday starts on Thanksgiving evening. That just rankles me to no end. In my opinion, retail workers are not important or essential on a holiday. Forgot that extra dozen of eggs or not quite enough rolls isn't important. If your not a nurse, doctor, firefighter or police officer, retail employees are not a vital. I am wondering what deals that there are going to be. I'm not so interested in buying something, most of my Christmas shopping is done. I think that I am really just interested in what Bath and Body Works is going to have for sales. For the family that lives close by to me, I am pretty much done except for a few odds and ends. I haven't committed to anything yet.

It's been a fun few days with E-bay. My mother asked me to use my E-bay account to order her two collector's music boxes. She wanted a specific two Christmas music boxes and I managed to find them for a reasonable price. We get one still in the box with everything in it and the seller made sure that it was well packed. This one works perfectly. The second one came and the story isn't the same. When the box came, it looked like the box itself was falling apart and taped up by a two year old. The packaging looked old and battered and that was our first indication that something might be wrong. My mother opens the package and finds no adapters and a couple other things missing. But when she was making sure that the music box played music, it was off, the bells didn't work right and just seemed like it just wasn't working right. I contacted the seller and started a return. My mother had said that the music box doesn't work right and what exactly was wrong. And she did say a shame on you type of deal. Whoever the seller was got all snotty and attacked my mom a little bit and said that it "worked". So I am waiting on a return label and hope we get it soon to ship it back to the seller. If I don't find a return label, I am going to have to contact E-bay.

Tauer Les Annees 25 BIS Review

In mid-September, Andy Tauer did release a new review. At this moment, I can't remember the name of it and I do have a decant but haven't tested it out. But a couple weeks ago, Andy Tauer had a surprise release. He released a flanker of Les Annees 25 BIS. From his em-mail, the impression that I am getting is that he was surprised on how fast the original sold out. Granted, it was a limited edition with only 500 bottles made. I hoped that this will be more of a permanent part of his line up. I was lucky enough to get a 5ml mini directly from his website. I ordered within a half an hour of getting the e-mail, I was that eager to test this one out.

Since I haven't put this in a spray decant, this is from dabbing Les Annees 25 BIS. It is so much like the original Les Annees but yet it's a little louder but yet a little smoother than the original. It's kind of like what happened with L'Air du Desert Marocain and Au Coeur du Desert. Louder yet smoother at the same time.

Since I am working off a couple dabs from 3 days ago, I have to give this another go today and see what else that I can get from BIS. But from what I am remember that BIS is pretty much full bottle worthy and I hope it sticks around in the line up for a while.

Lipstick, Candles and Les Annes 25 BIS

It's been pretty interesting. I was eagerly awaiting some packages to arrive during my vacation. Since I am on vacation, I thought that my packages would be spaced out a little bit. Today, all my packages came today. BarkBox, Sephora and Les Annees 25 BIS, the only one that I am waiting on is my Old Navy package. I am trying to avoid the malls when it comes time to finish Christmas shopping. I hate crowds, the noise, children acting like plum fools and that irritating Christmas music. I am hoping within the next two or three weeks to fully be done.

When Sephora had those sampler sets of so many things, the lipsticks interested me the most. I have gotten sample packs in the past from Sephora but can't remember which ones exactly. That goes to show you how far I have strayed from Sephora. But the sample sets of lipsticks looked like a good variety but the sizes of those samples looked pretty decent. If you are going to part me from my hard earned cash, I expect some jumbo sized samples that I can wear for 2 or 3 weeks. Too many samples have been good for 1 or 2 measly wearings and can't help but think of the cash I could have spent elsewhere. But a couple of those lipsticks seem to be full sized. If the Urban Decay and Tarte are full sized or pretty close, I am happy. So I am set on make up right now and very curious on how the Kiehl's Ultimate Facial Cream is going to work and hey a 1 ounce jar was pretty reasonable but I hope that this will help with winter facial skin.

What surprised me the most is that the mini of Les Annees 25 BIS came in today and I expected it to arrive later in the week since I ordered it on Thursday. I am excited to try it and I hope that I do actually do a couple wearings to review. But I am teetering on the edge of ordering a decant of the Coromandel EDP off of E-bay but just not ready to pull the trigger just yet.

I was doing some cleaning and organizing last night and had to count how many candles that I had in my bedroom. The total count is 26 and Bath and Body Works is doing a special that ends tonight of buy 2 candles and get two free. Yes, I am sorely tempted but I think that I will just hold off on the whole candle bit right now. After counting how many candles I have at the moment and I am sure that the promo will come again, I need to burn some candles before I will buy more. I didn't realize that I had so many candles since I don't use them as often as I used to.

Les Annees 25 BIS

Only a couple months ago, Andy Tauer released L'Air des Alpes. I have finally gotten my decant of that after waiting pretty much a month for it but at least I got a decant to try. When I woke up yesterday and checked my e-mail, I saw that I had an e-mail from Tauer Perfumes. There is a surprise release called Les Annees 25 BIS.

In the e-mail, Andy Tauer stated that minis would be shipped to the US and I naturally snapped one up. I am wondering how different it is going to be from the original Les  Annees 25. I am still kicking myself for not getting a bottle of Les Annees 25 when I had the chance. I wonder if it is going to be like Au Coeur du Desert. Au Coeur des Desert is a smoother, quieter version of L'Air du Desert Marocain. A full bottles of Les Annees 25 BIS is being sold for $160 and I hope that this is not a limited edition.