Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Guerlain Mitsouko EDT Review

I do not know what possessed me to try out Guerlain's Mitsouko in EDT form but did. I'm kind of glad that I did though. I wore the EDT version of Mitsouko on Saturday. At first spray, I can immediately identify it as Mitsouko. From the get go, there are differences between the EDP and the EDT. I still get a blast of bitter peach in the beginning but the peach in EDT is toned down and not as bitter. I did enjoy that greatly. About a half an hour in, I smell the oak moss, rose, and jasmine. These were toned down a little bit but not much. What disappointed me was the lasting power of the EDT. I have said time and time again, that I have a hard time with EDT's because of the lasting power on skin. After the EDT disappears in an hour and a half, I sprayed on clothing and had it last two hours on my skin. I liked the idea of Mitsouko being toned down a little in the EDT version because the EDP can be too much. The lack of staying power has turned me off the EDT version. I just wish that EDT's last a little longer on my skin.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Dior Granville Review

I've been meaning to try and review this and don't know what was stopping me from doing this. I think that I got sidetracked with other perfumes. I haven't had any kind of experience wearing Dior perfumes nor any that are pine dominant. At the time, I was going through a phase were I was getting perfumes that are not available in the United States or the ones that you would have to travel half way across the US to get it. By reading the description on The Perfumed Court, I was intrigued and bought a 2.5ml decant of this. By reading review, I was even more intrigued. Pine needles, thyme, and rosemary is what comes to mind for masculine perfumes and not something you would think would be in something that is marketed to women. Upon first application, all I get is something akin to rubber and pine needles. I find it to be interesting even though I don't exactly like how huge the rubber note is. The rubber note fades somewhat but stays all throughout the wearing. After the larger than life rubber note calms down, the pine needles get a chance to shine. After a while, the rosemary and thyme come out to support the pine but they don't take over. The base notes of woods, and I'm guessing it is either velvetier or sandalwood that are the base that really come out but don't overtake the pine. No matter where I look, I cannot find out if this is an EDT or an EDP. If this is an EDP, the staying power is weak. If it is an EDT, the staying power is decent on my skin because I get about 5 or 6 hours of wear time on my skin. I do find this to be likable but I don't want this bad enough to drag myself halfway across the nation or the world to procure a bottle of this. One reason is the size of the bottles they are kind of like the Chanel Les Exlusifs line before they gave the option of either a 2.5 oz or 6.8 oz bottle. Another reason is that Granville gives off the vibe of Chanel's Sycomore which I already have the 6.8 monster bottle.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

I must have Chanel on the brain

It seems like for the past week, I have thought and worn nothing but Chanel perfumes. I think what triggered it was finding out that no. 19 in EDP form is out of stock on the Chanel website (if you live in the US, it is on back order). Come to find out that no.19 is being sold in parfum form and from what I hear, it is faboo. Even though it's only a quarter of an ounce and $105 USD, I'm going to look forward to having this land on my doorstep every 90 days. I failed to stock up on no.19 in EDP form, I'll load up on the parfum. At this point, I can't justify getting more no. 5. I already own a full bottle of no, 5 in EDP form, Sensual Elixir, and Eau Premiere.

On top of escaping the Chanel website with just the no.19 parfum, my mother informs me that she wants a Kindle for her birthday. Let's just say that I am not thrilled with that idea. I can't help but groan at the fact that it will be another gizmo that will be beyond her that I will end up messing with because she can't be bothered to learn how to work the thing or won't use it. For Christmas a couple of years ago, she wanted an iPod like the world was going to end. I buy her one and it just sits and she never uses it, let alone taken it out of the box. My dad jumped on the idea of getting her a Kindle so it looks like I have to get over to Amazon to get one and get two day shipping so it comes in time for her birthday. We shall see how this goes.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Guerlain Nahema EDP Review

I've been off and on dabbling in Guerlain perfumes. I've smelled and worn Mitsouko, didn't care for it overly, loved Shalimar, and Spiriteueuse Double Vanille was somewhat of a disaster. Now I must admit to defeat with Guerlain's Nahema EDP. I was starting to go through a little hyacinth kick and wanted to see if I could find a second Guerlain that I could love. I ordered a 2.5ml decant of this and when I got it, I immediately sprayed it on. The first wearing of it, I smelled nothing but jam. In the 4 wearings afterwards, I still got jam but the rose came out to play. The rose was a little strange that I couldn't place and then it hit me. The rose smelled like a rose bouquet and the roses were bruised, giving off a jam like vibe. I smell just bruised roses and jam and nothing else. It's one of those perfumes that doesn't seem to have any kind of anchor on my skin. Staying power is halfway decent but it gets annoying after a while. The reason that I am admitting defeat with Guerlain is that it is a perfume house that doesn't mesh well with me even though Shalimar does. Maybe I just don't really get Guerlain but I don't really find Guerlain to be agreeable to me.

Chanel no. 19 EDP Backorder

When I got an e-mail from Chanel stating that no. 19 in EDP form was available online for a limited time, I impulsively bought it. In 2010, I was still buying full bottles of perfume that I had never smelled before. I was still wary of getting decants. With Chanel no. 19, it was love at first sniff. I fell in love with the galbanum and rose combination. On Friday, I was looking to buy another bottle of no. 19 and found it on back order. I thought that it might of been a fancy way of saying that it wasn't to be carried on the Chanel website for US customers anymore. I end up contacting Chanel and asking if they were discontinuing no. 19 in EDP form here in the US. I did get an e-mail back saying that they were trying to get more back in stock. In the e-mail and looking at the website, it stated that if I ordered today, I would have to wait at least two weeks before it ships. I'm kicking myself a little bit for not getting another bottle when it was in stock. Do I need another 3.4 oz of no. 19 in EDP form? No, I don't need two bottles but I love it. I love it because the EDT fades on my skin after 3 or 4 hours and I have to spray on my shirt to get it to stay longer and I get a better version of rose and galbanum. As soon as no. 19 is back in stock, I'm ordering another bottle.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Decants

When I found out that the ladies at the Perfumed Court were parting ways, I was left wondering about trying new perfumes. I'm past that stage where I would read the notes online and if it sounds good, I would buy it. That led to a few $150 or more purchases that were not that good. I'll admit that about a year after I fell down the rabbit hole, I had heard about The Perfumed Court, I was a little wary. It took me a year or two before I mustered the courage to put in an order. One was a small decant of something I had already had a sample of (Amouage Lyric) and Sarrasins. Then I knew that The Perfumed Court was the real deal. But The Perfumed Court was usually on the pricey side in my opinion. Usually it was the cost of shipping that was sometimes more than the decant itself. Since the breakup, the price of shipping has gone down from $5.95 to $2.95. I'm guessing that there is only one person who is doing the shipping on The Perfumed Court, there is no need to have the shipping that high. After placing a few orders with Surrender to Chance and poking around there in general, Surrender to Chance does not offer the 1.5ml spray. I had ordered a few sampler sets and they did come in 1.5ml non-spray vials. I did not realize that until the galbanum sampler set arrived and I did look at the orders that I placed. Dabber samples are not really my style because I don't think that I can judge any perfume fairly. But it does give me somewhat of an idea of what something smells like. Sometimes, especially when I'm not paying attention, dabber vial will compel me to get a spray decant. But at the rate I've been going, I've been buying less and been trying to be content with what I already have.
Surrender to Chance and The Perfumed Court are similar in price. Sometimes, Surrender to Chance is cheaper in decants and other times, The Perfumed Court is cheaper. But I think at this point, I have not been in any kind of mood to really go and buy decants or full bottles. Even though I have been buying sampler decants this past week, it's only been 3 or 4 small decants. And I'm the one who was used to spending $200 or more worth of decants per month and normally they were large decants. It doesn't mean that I've lost interest in perfume, a larger cell phone bill, a Rammstein concert, Mother's Day, and my mother's birthday coming up made me realize that I don't really need to be getting as much.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Rammstein concert

This is not gonna be much of a perfume post because I haven't worn anything new to review. On the 6th of this month, I went to see Rammstein in concert in Detroit. They did have one here in Cleveland but tickets were not available. I think that the whole issue was radio station, even though they are not supposed to, bought up blocks of tickets. As soon as I saw that Rammstein was touring North America for the first time in about 10 years, I did buy tickets. It was a three and a half hour drive to and from Detroit. The long trip both ways was worth it. I've been dragged to two Transiberian Orchestra concerts, kicking and screaming. Even though both bands have tons of pyrotechnics, Rammstein's show is much better. When I saw TransSiberian Orchestra, I have already heard two weeks of nonstop Christmas music, I didn't want to hear anymore. During the trip up, I was debating on which perfume to wear. I ended up bringing six decants with me to try and decide. I ended up choosing Cuir de Russie and have broken my record. Instead of wearing a single perfume for two days straight, I've worn it for four days straight. But today is different, because I want to wear something different.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Bath and Body Works Gardenia Lily Review

I don't really have a lot of scents that are cheap but Bath and Body Works' Gardenia Lily is one of them. Before I fell down the rabbit hole and branched out, this was and still is, one of my ultimate great loves when it comes to great loves in perfume. When I was in high school (about 10 years ago), Bath and Body Works was very popular with girls and probably the most popular scent was Cucumber Melon. I loved it as well, but when I smelled Gardenia Lily, it was all over for me. Most of us at the time had part time jobs and 10 years ago minimum wage was a little over $5. We did have spending power but didn't have a lot of it. And Bath and Body Works has always been fairly cheap. When I was about to run out of the bath gel and lotion, I was in despair because it had been discontinued. I darted off to Amazon to see if I could find it and at a reasonable price. I was able to find it at a reasonable price and purchased 2 bath gels, 2 lotions and 1 body mist. Now fast forward three years and the prices for even the bath gel, it's $20 , lotion is almost $50 and the mist is almost $50. I just find that too much for products that were never that expensive in the first place.

Now on to the review. This is the first gardenia dominant scent that I fell in love with. First blast is gardenia, gardenia, and nothing but gardenia. After about 15 minutes, the gardenia settles down a little bit and the freesia comes out to play. No matter what freesia perfume I've tried, freesia always gives off a watery vibe. In this case I love the watery vibe because most gardenia dominant perfumes I have tried, I get a massive blast of creamy tuberose. I'm not a big fan of tuberose with a gardenia dominant perfume because tuberose does have the tendency to weigh things down too much and overtakes everything else. The lily does come out after 45 minutes to add and extra lightness without having the whole thing float away into nothingness. For Bath and Body Works, I find that even the staying power of the body mist alone has excellent staying power and manages to cling to skin for 10 hours. If prices were not so outrageous for what this stuff is, I would buy more. But I am going to have to use this stuff once in a great while and voice my displeasure at Bath and Body Works.