Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Vera Wang Sheer Veil

This time of year, I am a little sick of my amber/oriental scents since it has been a very long and cold winter. Since it has been warm, I have been wearing Vera Wang's Sheer Veil. It is floral overload. What attracted me to this perfume is the gardenia. I love gardenia in perfume and I only get a very tiny hint of it. Sheer Veil is a perfume that does have staying power on my skin but silage is another matter. It is a strong perfume, so I only have to use a tiny bit. I am not overly keen on it because it is a straight up floral perfume. It's more for the late spring or early summer before the really hot part of summer sets in. Just like the Vera Wang by Vera Wang (women's version), it is in a simple bottle. I think that Vera Wang doing what Chanel did with perfume bottles, make it a simple, yet eye catching bottle. But that doesn't trick me into buying perfume, I want to smell the perfume, I don't care about the bottle and how flashy it is.
But it's not really me. After my bottle is gone, will I get another bottle of it? Probably not but wouldn't really care if it fell into my lap. I would probably give it away or trade it for another perfume.

Finally found a really good vanilla perfume

Well, I have found a vanilla dominant perfume that is bottle worthy. I am not one for a perfume that is vanilla dominant. I broke down and bought Havana Vanille from L'Artisian. Havana Vanille is now going under the name of Vanille Absolument. I ordered the 1.7 ounce perfume from Amazon.com and used my $25 giftcard. I ordered a sample of it and dabbed it on my wrist and it isn't one of those cupcake like smelling vanilla perfumes which I dislike. I will review this when I get my bottle and spray it on. To my nose, dabbing a perfume can smell completely different than a sprayed perfume.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Amouge Dia review

I have been wearing Amouage's Dia for the past few days and decided to review it. Needless to say, I am blown away by this scent. I'm having trouble finding the words to describe it adequately. There is a fizzines element going on with the aldehydes that I love to no end. The silage is not overbearing and wears close to the skin. Dia meant for an early spring scent. Just when it starts to get warmer when you start going into spring but not a summer scent when the temperature is hitting 80 degrees or more.

Friday, March 18, 2011

In this economy...

I've had to change a few things. Okay, I've had to cut back on certian things. My make up routine had to change. I used to wear foundation, but not anymore. I ran out of foundation a year ago and just don't have the extra funds to keep buying it. I simply can't justify the need to replace my foundation every 2 months. I have had to forgo the wearing of eyeshadow everyday. I'm down to 2 eyeshadows and 1 of them is on it's last hurrah. My makeup routine was pretty simple but as the cost of just about everything went up, I really realized that how fast the little things added up. It's always the $5 here the $10 there that can make the difference. Perfume is a little different for me. A 1 ounce perfume can last me for a good year or more, but I have plenty of perfumes to use up.

I cut out a lot of my cell phone extras. I dropped my text message package. I used to pay an extra $4.99 for 400 messages. A good most of my friends either disabled the texting feature on thier cell phones or just stopped texting altogether. So there isn't much of a need for a text message package to keep it. I have switched to a cheaper plan because I use nowhere near the 1,500 minutes a month that I am allotted. I am lucky if I even hit 400 minutes a month so 700 minutes is a better deal.

Groceries is another big thing. I really have to look at the grocery store fliers that come in the mail and look them over. I've had to make decisions on what do I really need and how much do I have to spend on 2 weeks worth of groceries. Coupons have helped me out tremendously. If it is something I eat on a regular basis and on sale, it's good. A great thing is when I can use a coupon on top of it. I freeze a lot of my meats (roasts, chicken thighs, etc) when there is a phenominal deal because meat has really gotten expensive. I have gone the generic brand food instead of name brand food. I haven't noticed the difference between generic brand macarooni and cheese and the Kraft version.

I've combined and eliminated some of my errands. Since I live in a rural area that doesn't have a bus service like the RTA, I have to be careful with gas. The price of gas fluctuats so much that I've had to combine trips and think about how vital is something before I head out.

By changing just a few things and over the course of a year, I have been able to save myself almost $800. I am working on scaling back a few more things. Stay tuned for that.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Purses

Lately, I have been observing women and noticed their purses. I'm not looking to rob anyone, but I have been looking at purses. It has gotten me to wonder on why so many women insist on carrying a huge purse. These purses are so big that they almost resemble suitcases or dufflebags. When I was a broke student going to a community college, my messenger had to double over as a purse since all the money that I made went to my tuition and books. So there wasn't money leftover to go and get a purse. I have observed that many women carry Coach purses. A Coach factory outlet store is no more than 20 minutes from where I live so it is natural for many women to get a purse from the Coach factory outlet. Then I have to beg the question of why did you go to Coach? There is a K-Mart, Kohl's department store, Target, and Walmart stores that are much closer and not to mention cheaper. I have seen the purse selection at K-Mart, Target, Kohl's, and Walmart. And sadly, the selection sucks. The selection sucks on so many levels. The quality of the purses are not worth the price. I am not paying $20-100 on a purse that may last only 2 or 3 months. I want a quality purse that is going to last me for a few years.

In the past few months, I have looked at my Coach outlet store and their selection isn't that great anymore. It just seems like in the past 4 years that the selection has gone way down. Maybe the economy has something to do with it or maybe because of where the outlet mall is located (in a semi-rural area). But every time I've set foot in there, it's full of people who are buying purses by the truckload.

The Coach stores that are not outlets are totally different. They do not seem to be as crowded as the outlet stores so it is easier to find an employee if you need help. I find that the selection is better than the outlet stores. I find that the layout of the stores and the employees a lot more agreeable to me than the outlet stores. The quality of the purses seem to be a lot better than the outlet stores. I view it as if I am going to sink $200 or more on a purse, there better be some phenomenal quality to the bag.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Luckyscent.com or Amazon.com?

I am facing a shopping dilemma for my next perfume purchase. It is were am I going to get my next perfume. I have noticed that Amazon.com's prices are really no better than luckscent.com's. Not even with shipping. What I do really like with luckyscent is the 3 free sample deal with a full bottle perfume purchase. That allows me to try new perfumes that I normally wouldn't have remembered or even considered trying. What does draw me to Amazon is that I have a $25 gift certificate sitting in my account with nothing going on and what my American Express rewards points are saying. Ever since American Express teamed up with Amazon.com on using reward points to pay for purchases, it makes the temptation to buy a new perfume even worse, even though I am no closer to deciding which perfume I am going to get next. What I don't really like about luckyscent's sample program is that they don't give too many samples that are spray bottle samples. Dabbing a perfume on me does not give me a clear picture of the perfume in question. I just get a vague idea of what something smells like on my skin. I want a clear cut idea on what something smells like on my skin. I know one thing though, I am leaning to getting my next Amouage perfume from Amazon using my rewards and maybe a little later getting another, less expensive perfume from luckyscent. I am a perfume fanatic and love my perfumes where it is an obsession. But I choose my perfumes with a little more care now. The reason being is that I have bought perfumes that are going to sit around. I don't hate them but I am not wild enough about them to use them on a consistant basis to use up the bottle.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

I don't have a signature scent

I am one of those people who do not have a signature scent. I know a few people that stick to one or two scents and never deviate from them. There are too many perfumes out there to try and review. Do I have a few perfumes that I use more often than others? Yes, but they are no where near "signature" scents. I go through periods where I love certain scents and wear them quite often then it maybe another 2 or 3 that I wear quite often. My grandmother is one person that is loyal to one perfume and doesn't understand my collection of full bottles of perfumes and samples. I do have the tendency to get bored easily with perfume and do prefer a selection of perfumes to choose from. My samples are the try before you buy sort of thing. I have found a few that are bottle worthy but I need to save up some money and decide on which one to get first. My mother is the same way as my grand mother but she has a very small handful of perfumes to choose from. But I am a maximalist that is always on the prowl for something new or interesting.