Monday, February 28, 2011

Vera Wang for her

Today's review is Vera Wang for her. This is one of the few truly floral perfumes that I like. It's bordering on love. What attracted me initially to the perfume was the cala lilly and gardenia. I can't make out either note nor the rose that is listed. I find it to be a well blended perfume ment to be worn during spring. I think it is a heavy floral too heavy to be worn during summer especially when it is 90 degrees out. The reason why I recommend spring is because that time of year where it is warming up but still cool. Would I buy this again when my bottle runs out? Probably not but I wouldn't mind it if someone gave this to me as a gift. I must admit that while it smells good on me, it smells better on my mother. Now she is asking for her own bottle for Mother's Day or her birthday.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Everywhere I look

Just about everywhere I look, I seem grown women and teenagers with layer upon layer of makeup and glitter. I don't wear a lot of makeup myself and it makes me raise an eyebrow. I normally just wear mascara and lip gloss or lip stick depending on which I grab first thing in the morning. I only wear makeup to work and really nowhere else. Putting on those things take a couple minutes at most. If I am feeling ambitious, I will smudge on a little bit of eyeshadow but that's it. I don't bother with concealer or foundation unless I have a huge pimple. I view it as I am not here to impress anyone with my looks. To me, wearing mascara and lip gloss makes the statement of that I do give a crap on how I look but I am not going to spend a half an hour or more piling on more makeup. My main statement is perfume. But perfume does not replace regular bathing as some would like to think so. But I never understood why so many decide to wear tons of makeup and for what reason? Why have eyeshadow in every conceivable color?

Monday, February 21, 2011

About to jump into getting decants

After kicking around the idea of getting decants, I've decided that I am going to try it. There is one or two Serge Lutens's scents that are from his non-export line that I have been dying to try but didn't know how to get my hands on. That was until I learned of decants from the Perfume Shrine blog and a few other blogs. One of my biggest things is trying to find a reputable site to get decants. I don't want to put my hard earned cash as risk. It doesn't mean that I won't spring for one of the Amouage perfumes that I've been wanting. I'm still no closer to deciding which one that I want. The only one that I have added was Amouage Ubar to the possibility. It always boils down to my paycheck.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

The anti-review

Chanel no. 5 has been reviewed to the point of nausea so I won't review it. But why is it in my perfume collection? For me, no. 5 is the go to perfume if I don't know what to wear on any given day or don't want to spend too much time or thought on what perfume I am going to wear. It's my perfume of last resort that is what I consider classy and doesn't fall into the 'blah' catagory. I have a few bottles that are just sitting on my dresser and probably have not used them in about a year. I find it to be a perfume that can be worn year round and don't have to reapply throughout the day. Chanel no. 5 serves it's purpose as a perfume that can be dressed up or down like a rope of pearls.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Frapin 1270 and Serge Lutens Daim Blond review

My odyssey with my Frapin 1270 began the day after Thanksgiving. I had ordered my bottle of Frapin 1270 from The Perfume Shoppe. After about a week and a half, I noticed that I had not received my order yet or even an email saying that it was shipped. I did initially figure that with the holidays that it may be taking a little longer than usual especially since they are located in Canada. Then after about two weeks, I received a phone call saying that there was a mix up and that they didn't receive the Frapin in their order and they did have a bottle of it but it was not in a box. I said that was okay and it was shipped to me. I'm probably going to have to think twice before I order anything that is not located in the US due to the fact that I would have to be home to sign for the package. With my wacky work schedule and living in a rural area, it's not practical and kind of a hassle to sign for something.

Now on to the review. It's going to be a side by side review. When I first sprayed Frapin 1270, I thought I grabbed the wrong bottle. Frapin 1270, to me, smells almost identical to Serge Lutens Daim Blond. But Frapin is more candied fruit than Daim Blond. Both contain leather but I can't smell leather in Frapin 1270. Frapin 1270 is a spicy, candied fruit deal. I've never been fond of fruity perfumes but this one works on my skin probably because of the spiciness of it. I did note with the Frapin 1270 that there was a boozie smell to it. It was very prevailent in the beginning but did calm down during the dry down but remained throughout.

Serge Lutens's Daim Blond is very similar but very different. I found it to be very linear on my skin. I had a very prevalent apricot smell with a hint of leather. It has been a while since I have worn it.

I find ultimatly that the Daim Blond is the prim and proper sister to Frapin 1270 were Frapin 1270 is the boozy sister that can never quite seem to sober up. Daim Blond is more for daytime/office. Frapin 1270 is more for a night on the town (not like that will stop me from wearing it to work).

Frapin 1270 has found a permanant place in my rotatation of frequently worn perfumes while Daim Blond is more or less regulated to languish on my dresser top to be passed over. After I finish my Daim Blond, I most likely won't be getting another bottle. After my bottle of Frapin 1270 is finished, I will be getting another bottle even though it is on the pricey side.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's Day and random perfume stuff

It may be Valentine's Day here but I'm not interested in that. It maybe a another holiday of more often than not, tacky or bad gifts, candy, and fancy meals. Somebody asked me on how do I pick out a perfume I am going to wear on any particular day. I tell them flat out that I wear perfume to please me. I don't wear it to please anyone else. I take into account on what season it is. I don't want to be suffocating under Calvin Klien's Obsession in the middle of July when it is 90 degrees out and the humidity is unreal, so I am going to pick something a little lighter. Most of it depends on my mood and what I do have a taste for. A lot of the time I have it narrowed to 3 or 4 perfumes. I'm not interested in what the people around me think of my perume choices. I am wearing this for me. I'm tired of the Coco Mademoiselle and anything that is popular at the moment ad nauseam. I firmly believe that perfume should not be used to disguise bad body odor and poor bathing habits. We live in the 21st century and many of us have access to running water and the ability to bathe. I went to school with a person who had bad bathing habits and would cover it up with cologne. He was told by teachers and students alike that baths were needed. He was in two of my classes and every single time my asthma would act up. I mentioned it to his teacher's aid that his bad BO was the cause of my asthma acting up. Her response was that he had a disability and I had to deal with it. My retort was he has full use of his 2 arms and legs and knows how to bathe and I was not going to buy that excuse. He knows he stinks and is using the disability ticket to break social norms by not bathing. I also made the comment of I was not willing to earn a stay in the hospital due to such stupidity from both thier parts. I'm happy to say that my asthma is very well controlled. I can't find any good excuse for bad BO or refusing to have good hygiene and then trying to cover that up. Perfume and cologne in this day and age are not ment to be used like that.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

I believe I have become jaded

I really do believe that I have become jaded with my perfume choices. I have become the type that is not keen on mainstream perfumes. What I consider mainstream is Chanel, Calvin Klein or anything that you can easily get in department stores. Most perfumes in department stores are starting to smell alike and I am having a hard time wearing any of them. Maybe it is because I am 28 and there are not too many perfumes that are geared for people in thier late 20's and early 30's. I am not of a certian demographic to teens and early 20's were there is a market for fruity florals or mid 30's and up where there way too strong or isn't quite my style.The new perfumes now just seem to be made from the same cookie cutter. It may have been that way for many years but since I have really started to pay attention to perfume, they all seem to smell alike. Nothing in the mainstream that is new is grabbing my attention to ask. There are some popular perfumes in my perfume collection stable. Some of them I am not fond of, some I love to no end. Chanel no 19 is one example. I cannot cuss Chanel out for issueing out no 19 in perfume form this past winter because it is divine. I have mentioned before, I don't go for eau de toilette versions because they fade so fast on my skin and they have the tendancy to smell like a chemically treated pile of mulch that stinks like it is about to go out of fashion. I hope Chanel decides to make the eau de parfum version a permanant thing and not make it so it may come out once a year or every couple years. Vera Wang's Sheer Veil is another one that I love that is a mainstream. It doesn't evolve into a fruity mess or any kind of mess on my skin.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Okay, Amouage, you have created a real monster

I have stumbled on the Amouage perfume line and already bought two of them. I have Epic for women and Dia for women and love them. I will review those later on. But Amouage has really made me a monster. I am trying to decide on which one that I am going to purchase in the next 2 or 3 months. The samples I have (all womens versions) Gold, Lyric, and Jubilation 25. The Gold initialy as a fancier Chanel #5. I have yet to try Gold and Jubilation on skin. I get a lot of rose on my skin with Lyric. Rose more often than not, smells like raw sewage on my skin but with Lyric, it goes on beautifully. Even though I'm still learning how to read notes with my nose, certian notes are distinct to me and rose is one I can smell a mile off. From what I have smelled with Amouage, I smell quality and a company that isn't interested in being trendy. What does get me is that Amouage perfumes are not cheap at all. The cheapest Amouage perfume for women that I have seen is Reflection and a 1.7 ounce bottle is $235. The notes for Reflection do not excite me in any way but the bottle itself is eye catching. I would and do spend money on quality. My bank account is not going to let me head off to Luckyscent.com and buy anything. But I am off to try Gold and Jubilation 25 to make a descision and hopefully see which one of the three that I love the best. I have tried some of Serge Luten's perfumes and Arabie is the only one that I can say that I like/love depending on the day and my mood.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Kenzo Indigo Perfume review

Kenzo Indigo was an unsniffed impulse perchase from a year ago and I have gotten around to wearing it. Needless to say after a couple days wear, I am unimpressed. The reason being is that it smells like a generic drugstore perfume. It doesn't develop into anything on my skin. Indigo just sits on my skin and does nothing. That is something that I don't like in a perfume, when it's linear and justs sits. Maybe I have gotten jaded in the past two and half years due to reading perfume blogs. Maybe my tastes have changed I have gotten more selective with my choices. The bottle itself is pretty interesting but I am not willing to buy the men's version just because it completes the look that Kenzo was going for bottle wise.

Monday, February 7, 2011

I've already blown one of my New Year's resolution

I have already blown my New Year's resolution about perfume. I made the resolution to not buy anymore perfume until I use up at least 4 of my many 1.7 ounce perfumes. But this past year I've added 8 new perfumes to the mix. I am thinking of giving a few of them away. My sister is coming into town at the end of march and I am going to see if there is something that she likes enough to take with her. Right now, it's probably a good thing that my bank account is hating me at the moment because it will be a while before I will be able buy some samples from luckyscent.com let alone a full bottle of anything. I think that my dresser top will be thankful and there will be more room but quickly filled.

Online shopping Part 1

I love online shopping, I really do. I can shop day or night, I don't have to bother with making myself look presentable, I don't have to get into my car and drive anywhere. But I have to admit, the online shopping scene has really changed. And not really for the better. A little bit before the recession here in America, I did notice some changes. I've mainly shopped at Amazon.com for many years and prices went up a little bit but didn't give it much thought. What Amazon was doing was doing some kind of quiz thing and for every question you got right, you got a nickle off and it did add up especially if you stock piled the rewards. I can't remember exactly how it went but they have not done it in many years. Fast forward about 2 or 3 years, prices have gone up with Amazon quite a bit. Especially in the past year. Or course the prices of many things have gone up but this is getting out of hand. I've picked Amazon because it used to be my go to shopping website and probably one of the most recognizeable. I think it is because Amazon has gotten so huge as a company and the market has changed. On Amazon, I didn't see as many products that are being sold by other companies through Amazon. One of the things that I have really liked with Amazon was free shipping for orders over $25 if it is sold by Amazon. The Prime membership that they have has become a real hassle and I decided to drop it. My reasoning is why pay $75 a year when most of the stuff is sold by other companies are charging shipping and I can't get the free 2 day shipping that I'm paying $75 a year for? The sales and deals with Amazon are getting worse and worse. Why are they recommending that I buy something that I am not going to use? And they know I won't. What am I going to do with another set of soup bowls? I have 15 one of my kitchen cabinets. I am also finding less selection on Amazon than previous years. I used to find just about everything now, I do have totry and find it elsewhere. Part 2 will be posted a little later.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Chanel Sycomore

After a long break from wearing Chanel's Sycomore, I decided to wear it yesterday. It's part of Chanel's Les Exclusifs line. I am not one to wear an eau de toilette because on my skin, there is no staying power. But this one does have have staying power with this one and some really good sillage with this one that doesn't overpower and makes everyone sick. But it is a strong smelling eau de toilette so it can't be spritzed with wild abandon. Even though it is listed as a women's scent, I list it as a more of a unisex scent bordering on the masculine side. Sycomore has a deep, woody smell and I can make out a faint hint of incense. I love my vetiver scents in the fall where I know it is going to stay cool and it's wonderful in the winter time. I find it to be a comfort scent when the snow is falling and there is a crackeling fire going.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Method to my madness

On an online forum that I belong to someone asked me about my perfume shopping habiits. Do I buy a perfume by how the bottle looks? Color of the perfume in the bottle? And the questions go on.

I mainly have niche scents so I can't exactly go to the nearest mall and smell them. I tripped over the websiteluckyscent.com a year ago and it is where I get a lot of my niche scents. What is great about lucky scent is that they have samples. Granted these samples are $3(USD) and up but they are little vials of perfume and you can try them before commiting to a full bottle. I don't want to commit $100 or more on a full bottle of perfume that I am going to hate and that will sit on my dresser for 10years or more.

I am not interested what color the perfume is in the bottle. The odds I run is that the bottle itself may be tinted or I am not able to see what color the perfume is. I simply don't care about that. Like my Amouage Epic perfume, the glass bottle is green so I have no clue on what the color of the juice is. I am interested in how it smells on me.

Does the bottle interest me? It may be eyecatching and make me look at it but it does play a role. I have some perfumes that are in interesting looking bottles (Kenzo Flower). But an interesting bottle does not make for a good or great smelling perfume. Some of my favorite perfumes are in some pretty plain looking bottles. Plain bottles are not a bad thing but it is a great thing when you are packing to go on a trip. I make sure that some of my perfumes can easily be packed into my carry on bag.

The size of the bottle matters. Does it come in different sizes? If they do, what are those sizes? Some perfumes come in only one size. One size fits all does not always suit for everybody. For those loyal to one or two perfumes and never travel, it's perfectly fine. For someone like me who does travel from time to time, it does matter. With travel restrictions when you fly, the limit it 3 ounces and more often than not a large bottle of perfume is 3.4 ounces. Not everybody (including me) was born with the gift of knowing how to decant perfumes.

I look to find out what the notes of the perfume I'm thinking of buying. I can't stand the note anise of my skin. I don't like smelling like a bag of black licorise with a flower or two mixed in. Everybody has thier own preferences. Some people love vanilla in thier perfume and can't get enough but others can't stand it. I am not a fan of vanilla and really don'tlike it when it is front and center or noticeable.

The biggest factor for me more often enough is the price tag. I ask myself did I like or love the sample enough to warrant a full bottle? Is the price a little too steep for my bank account to handle? Sometimes I really love the perfume but cannot justify paying $300 and up for a perfume (I'm looking at you Agonist). I do have limitations, sometimes it can depend on the time of year and what is going on at work.

My final factor right now is how strong is the perfume? Will it make an entrance before I do? I am a light sprayer but some perfumes are super strong so a very light hand is needed. Or am I going to end up applying this through out the day? A weak perfume is hardly worth any kind of money. I view it as a waste of money. I want my perfumes to last all day.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Prada Infusion D'Iris review

Over the past few days, I have been dallying in Prada's Infusion D'Iris. It was an impulse by from Amazon.com. I didn't smell it beforehand and have never tried anything of Prada's. The notes on the bottle are listed as: mandarine D'Italie, neroli de tunisie, bois de cedre, benjoin du laos, and encens de somalie. The perfume starts off with what hospitals use to disinfect air (air disinfectant) and on my skin it stays that way. The cedar and incense does give it an anchor on my skin but they are faint. Everytime I get a wiff ofit on my skin, I do want to scrub it off. It's not migraine inducing, I gotta scrub it off right away, but not something I really will wear. The bottle itself is pretty plain Jane and most likely going to get overlooked in my collection. This Prada is something that is probably going to take me 10 years to finish off, even though it is 1.7 oz. That's if I don't find someone who will take it off my hands.