Wednesday, December 31, 2014

It's the End

Not of my blog, I have too big of an unsniffed pile of decants to be worn and reviewed and still waging a war on trying to finish at least one or two bottles of perfume. It's the end of 2014 and I've got nothing but a bunch of rambling for a blog post even though I can copy a few and the the best of thing or a year in review but nothing specific springs to mind.

Let's just say that I really need to finish a bottle of Shalimar and no 5 before I really start adding bottles of perfume to the hoard. It's due to the fact that I've spent way too much time and money scouting E-bay, Beauty Encounter and Surrender to Chance getting back ups and ignoring a good chunk of my collection. I was scouting E-bay for a lot of vintage stuff but getting very little vintage and Beauty Encounter got a lot because of Fendi's Theorema. But I am thinking when things calm down in mid-January, I'll get that one last bottle of Theorema for my collection because I am still scratching my head over why Fendi discontinued it.

But on Monday, I saw my last movie at the movie theater for 2014 and that was the last installment of the Hobbit. In a way, I am sad because I have no Middle Earth to look forward to. I loved Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit and I always looked forward to when they came out in theaters. But most movies just don't catch my attention because of the fact it's either trash, super heros, kind of like porn, or just plain bad. I'm hoping that Hollywood takes note that not everyone wants this bad stuff or the Hunger Games.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Guerlain Shalimar Ode a la Vanille EDP Review

After spending the month with mostly wearing Jicky and Shalimar, it's time to really get going on a Shalimar flanker review. Shalimar seems to be the classic that has at least a million flankers and most either sound like a very toned down version and not worth trying out. But then I heard about Shalimar's Ode a la Vanille that did seem to be the best of the bunch.

I am one of those who doesn't exactly approve of flankers of any kind but abhor flankers of classics. No 5 Eau Premiere was very good, no 19 Poudre was a disgrace to the original no 19. But Ode a la Vanille is very good. Ode a la Vanille could be mistaken for the original Shalimar just like L'Heure de Nuit could be mistaken for L'Heure Bleue. But after spending more time with Ode a la Vanille, I started to smell the difference between the two Shalimars. Believe me, it does take time to notice. But the first thing to hit me was that the citrus was a little sharper and a little more noticeable in the beginning of Ode a la Vanille. In the regular Shalimar, the lemon isn't sharp but noticeable. I've never smelled a chocolate note in Shalimar and that came as a surprise when I was starting to get into the dry down phase of Ode a la Vanille. I'm not exactly sure if I like chocolate in my perfume. But the vanilla is a little creamier in Ode a la Vanille.

The Shalimar structure is definitely in Ode a la Vanille and if you got a bottle of the regular Shalimar, Ode a la Vanille isn't exactly needed in a collection but Ode a la Vanille is a limited edition so I say stock up if you love Shalimar. Ode a la Vanille is worth seeking out in large decant form or a bottle or two.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Vintage Chanel no 19 EDP Review

A couple weeks ago I managed to score a half used bottle of Chanel no 19 9the 1.2 ounce bottle) in EDP form off Ebay and did a side by side comparison. Let's just say that I love no 19 in EDP form and it doesn't matter if it's vintage or the current version even though the current version of the EDP is kind of getting trashed.

I know this bottle is vintage because by reading up on vintage no 19, the color of the juice goes from green to yellow but that's not unusual for colors to change with any perfume but there are differences between the current and vintage version. In the current version, the rose is the star and the rose is really bright. The galbanum is bright as well and very green. In the current version, I really don't smell a whole lot of the iris.

The vintage version smells like the current version of the EDP with a few exceptions. Let's just say it's much greener. The galbanum smells a little different and smells a little better than the current version and the rose is not as pronounced as I smell in the current EDP. Instead of little peeks here and there with the iris, the iris is more pronounced. But I do love the vintage and current version of no 19 in EDP form and I do hope that I will be able to find more bottles of the vintage EDP.

Monday, December 8, 2014

A Lazy Bum

I have been a lazy bum for the past year or so with trying new perfumes and when I do, they are not exactly the latest release. The perfume I might be trying out is new to me though because it's impossible for me to keep up with the latest releases. But my whole thing has been getting back up bottles, getting vintages and trying to use up what I have before I add anything new. And the only bottle that I am having any success with using up is my 3 year old bottle of no 5 in EDP form. It's because I do have a back up EDP bottle along with a backup EDT bottle. Now, if I could really get a move on with my 3 bottles of Mitsouko (current formulation). But Mitsouko requires a certain mood to be worn. But I do hope that after the holidays and things calm down a little bit, I will start reviewing perfumes on a regular basis.

But yes, vintage has taken over my perfume collecting habits and to the point of neglecting favorites houses or just one or two perfumes. I was wondering on how can I forget about my Amouages or about two thirds of my Chanels in favor of wearing the same two or three perfumes? Some of it is the situational stuff. Why would I waste my Amouages at my job or a good chunk of my vintages at my job? Most people wouldn't get them and plus because I deal with the general public, I don't really want some of my favorites spoiled by one nasty person.

Monday, December 1, 2014

It's Cyber Monday

It's after Thanksgiving and all I keep hearing about is Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And honestly, I'm already sick of hearing about this garbage. I am one of those who really hates going out and shopping no matter how good the deal is, except when The Perfumed Court or Surrender to Chance is having a good sale going on. But I hat going to brick and mortar store and dealing with other customers who are just outright nasty to other shoppers and the employees. I mean, folks, there is a reason for the season and no need to be nasty to others.

At this point, I can either keep Amazon Prime for $99 or I can ditch it. I'm really debating if I want to keep it or not. One one hand, the two day shipping is nice and having a Kindle makes it worth it to a degree but it's still $99 and I have until the 8th to decide if I really want to keep it or not.

Christmas shopping is just a huge pain in the butt for me. Christmas shopping does involve some kind of budget and figuring out who I am shopping for. I have decided to spend no more than $25 on every one that I am shopping for. At this point, I can check one of my grandmothers off my list due to the Fragrancenet Cyber Monday deal.

But I view Black Friday and Cyber Monday as days where people love to brag about what kind of new gadget or some hot toy or gaming system. To me, gift giving isn't about what you get someone or the cost of the gift, it's the thought that was put into the gift.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Vintage Givenchy III Review

I always keep forgetting that chypres seem to do best in cool or cold weather. They can be horribly moody or downright nasty in warm weather. On Friday, I was wearing Mitsouko in a store that was overheated and Mistouko was just vicious to me and when I had gone outside, she was singing my praises. Even though Chanel no 19 (EDP) likes warm/hot weather, she really blooms in cooler weather.

But this leads me to vintage Givenchy III. I have a tiny spray decant that I had tested out but I am not sure if this is an EDT or an EDP version. But after wearing it last night, I can defiantly identify this as a chypre. My nose says that this is a cross of Mitsouko and Chanel no 19. But III leans more to Mitsouko. The galbanum and rose lends to the no 19 association but the rose in Mitsouko. I do smell aldehydes in III which does seperate III from Mitsouko. If it were not for the aldehydes and galbanum, I probably would have taken III for Mitsouko. But I really do like III and ordered a large decant.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Starting New

It's not winter to me until I see snow on the ground and winter has hit Cleveland. But I have noticed that I'm not one that indulges in nail polish or matching bath and body products often. When you work in food service, nail polish on fingers is a no go but I do polish my toe nails from time to time. But now is the time of year where I do my toes quite often. I think now is the time to start back up with doing my toe nails again.

I have tried many brands of nail polish but have found that OPI seems to be the best of the bunch. The quality, even though it seems to have gone down a little bit, is great. I have about 3 or 4 days of wear before there is chipping. I'm sure if I had my fake nails again, the lasting power would be at least two weeks. What gets me about OPI is that it seems like every week there is some sort of new collection of colors out. And there comes a certain point to where I have to say no. The Russian and German collection are enough for me. It seems like they have so many cute, clever or funny names for nail polishes and not enough colors in the world to match them with.

But body products are even harder for me to buy, let alone use. Before I had a million bottles of perfume, I had maybe one or two full bottles of actual perfume but was big into Bath and Body Works. Now, I have to think about if I really love a perfume to see if there are any matching body products. Dia and Lyric are the only two perfumes that I own that have the matching bath and body products. And I haven't used them yet. It just seems like a huge commitment to start using bath and body products because somehow I have to actually finish the whole shower gel and lotion in a month or two and I am pretty fickle when it comes to perfume. It is hard for me to really want to wear a perfume for more than a day or two at a time but layering a perfume with matching body products is probably overkill.

Monday, November 10, 2014

I'm Back

Well, I am back from my vacation and it's time that I start blogging again. While on vacation, I didn't get one chance to do any kind of sniffing at any store, nor go to a flea market to look for any vintage bottles of any thing. So I was surviving on no. 19 edp and a decant of Iris Silver Mist. I kind of forgot and decided not to take Theorema with me. I didn't take Theorema with me because I was really craving no. 19 and Silver Iris Mist. But half way down to Virginia, I realized that all I had for perfume was a bottle of no. 19, Silver Iris Mist and vintage Mitsouko and I had a whole week that I had to live with one bottle and two decants. About half way through my trip, I did tire of iris and wanted my orientals and aldehydes but was stuck with what I had brought with me.

But after having to run to Walmart with my sister and helping her pick out a new nail polish, it hit me that I wanted to start wearing nail polish again to quit biting my nails. And picked up OPI's Do You Lilac It. So I am starting to really get into OPI's German collection from two years ago. But from comparing Do You Lilac It and An Affair in Red Square, it seems like the quality of OPI has gone down a little bit. I could go a week and a half without chipping with the older stuff but only a couple of days with the new stuff. But I love a lot of OPI's names for different colors and a couple of their collections (Russian and German collection).

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Traveling and Fall

The date of leaving for my trip is approaching and I am no closer to picking out a vactation scent or two. Should I stick with just bringing Jicky and Theorema and just be done with it or go for Shalimar and call it a day? I doubt that I will be doing any kind of sniffage while in Virginia so I probably won't be adding anything new to my collection. But at this point, not adding anything new to my perfume collection can be a blessing since I have about 30-40 bottles and about 100 decants of various sizes running around.

In a sence, I do fear packing. I'm always afraid of not packing enough clean underwear for some reason and cannot fathom why. It's not due to being in some sort of accident. This just isn't logical in my book.

Fall has brought not only the transitional and heavy hitter perfumes but also the long sleeves. Which means that naturally perfumes is going to be more of on my shirt sleeves than anything else. So even more care is taken when I am picking out a perfume. I'm not stuck with a perfume for just one day, I can be stuck with one perfume for 3 or 4 days.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Serge Lutens Bois et Musc

Slowly but surly, I am working my way through reviewing my pile of perfumes needing to be reviewed. And most of that pile seems to be a sampler set of some kind. And I landed on Bois et Musc for review.

I do have a somewhat troubled history with the Serge Lutens line for a few reasons. One is the import/export thing and that most of his offerings are one extreme or the other. Or most of the offerings are a variation of something he has already done before. I have managed to smell a few that I did fall head over heels in love with (Sarrasins, A la Nuit, De Profundis just to name a few).

After my morning/afternoon wearing of vintage Mitsouko wore off, I put on Bois et Musc. I knew upon first application that this was a variation of Feminite du Bois. Variation, I mean that it smells kind of like a stripped down version of Feminite du Bois. But Feminite du Bois is the basis for most of Serge Lutens' creations. Since I already have Feminite du Bois, I see no need to own Bois et Musc. But lasting power is about the same as most of what I have tried with the Serge Lutens line.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Perfume is Getting Really Crude

I ought to be reviewing either Hedonist or Une Rose Chypree but I just can't review any perfume right now until I get this off my chest. I'm not liking a lot of perfumes right now. After floating around people, I am convinced that nobody is really not paying attention to perfume. Or many people are too lazy too seek out what actually smells good.

But the current state of perfume isn't exactly helping matters either. Think of all the perfumes that are released every month. Most do smell crude, rushed or just plain bad and it seems like half of them is something I've already smelled about 1,000 times before. So it seems like there are going to be no new perfumes on their way to becoming possible classics like Chanel no 5. Offerings for men have really gone down as well. The same old boring citrus, god awful musk and aquatics have left men smelling really bad. Bad as in that you can spend $500 on an outfit but bad perfume and make up (women) can destroy the whole look.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Mazzolari Musk EDT Review

I am always on the prowl for new (to me) perfumes loaded with skank and a while back, I had ordered from Surrender to Chance a musk sampler set. I had forgotten that I did order it and really need to get going on trying this out.

Last night, I was trying to figure out if I should wear Montale's Ginger Musk or Mazzolari's Musk and I picked Mazzolri Musk. At first, I couldn't make out what was going on because Musk us a little spicy and maybe a little acrid to my nose. Then it's just straight up musk and maybe some spices to keep from being really boring. But in a sense, it is boring. Musk is laundry musk trying to be that girl who is trying to hint around that she my be an animal in bed. But it doesn't work out that way because it's cuddly and pleasant. I would like to keep a small decant around but not a 100ml full bottle of it.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Travels and Events

It seems like every time I turn around, I am planning another trip. And with planning a trip, means packing. picking out and packing clothes is pretty easy for me. For me, it's the making sure I have a car charger for everything. And I mean everything, the cellphone, tablet, and now my Kindle "needs" one.

But since I always seem to travel in the fall, I have to take a new look at my perfume collection. Fall can be a goofy time of year for perfume. It's the transition from the fruity and floral stuff to the heavier oriental perfumes. I honestly don't have  lot of transition perfumes in my collection or the floral/fruity stuff, it's the heavy orientals or the aldehydes. Sometimes I wonder if I should just stick to taking Jicky and no 5 and leaving the rest. Or maybe take Theorema just in case. I'm thinking L'air du Desert Marocain due to the fact that it seems to be evaporating in front of my eyes. Not having all of my collection sends me into a panic attack because I am always afraid that I may want something that I didn't pack.

Now for a little change of pace, funerals and perfume. Yes, funerals and perfume since I have to attend one tomorrow and I am at a loss on what to wear. It's for a relative that I may have met once or twice in my life and I am about to search my closet for cloths that might be appropriate but perfume is always tricky when we are dealing with funerals. Cuir de Russie? The trusty no 5? Vintage Mitsouko? I have no idea at this point, knowing that skank is out along with anything loud.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Ormonde Jayne Woman Review

Yesterday was a day where I had to say screw it and just try something new. And I pulled out my large decant of Ormonde Jayne Woman to wear. And I am not sure what to make of it.

At first, there was something familiar about it, something that I already own in my collection. The something familiar came to me early this morning and it was Chanel Sycomore and looking around, there are lots of woods like cedar and vetiver. Then something else struck me as kind of familiar, Fracas. Even though tuberose isn't listed as one of the notes, I smell it. Looking around the internet, I'm seeing jasmine. I've never been a fan of tuberose even though I do like jasmine and many big white florals. At the end of the day, Woman just doesn't suit me because I find it to be harsh. I don't know which note it is making it harsh to my nose, but I can't stand it. Hopefully, my other unsniffed decants will be winners.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Random Sniffage

After having a week away from my job, it's now time to recap on what kind of happened perfume wise during my vacation. Did it involve perfume buying? Yes, but who really wants to her that? It did involve a lot of general being out and about. I really wasn't interested in the whole going to the mall or beauty supply places but it happened anyway.

In my area, where my local Borders used to be, an Ulta beauty supply store moved in. Yes, it happened a couple of years ago but I still miss Borders and haven't gotten used to the sight of Borders being gone. Wednesday was the first time that I actually set foot in Ulta and I have never been inside. I was curious to see what was inside. I wasn't expecting Ulta to sell perfume but they do. Let's just say that the perfume selection is pretty similar to Sephora but in some respects maybe a little better. Ulta is trying to be like a cross between what would be the normal drugstore fare of make up and hair care and Sephora. The reason that I say that it is like Sephora is that it offers higher end perfume not the general stuff like CK Obsession and the like. To tell you the truth, I was surprised to see Chanel offerings (no 5, Mademoiselle, Noir) and some Guerlains. Mind you that a lot of these perfumes are sold at Macy's but Ulta is not Macy's where I can find a whole lot more than just the best sellers. And best sellers is pretty much what is sold in Ulta. I didn't expect the whole Chanel line and all of the variations of no 5 but that is somewhat impressive.

I was at my local mall briefly while getting a couple blouses and noticed that they had a little baby Sephora in my local Macy's. Naturally, I poked around and didn't see too much that interested me in terms of perfume. Mostly because the baby Sephora was that tiny. On the upside of going into Sephora, I did find the Kat von D lipstick in Hellbent. For the longest time, I couldn't even find it on the Sephora website.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Back Up Bottles

Sometimes I love just random thoughts that can just pop into my head and this current random thought is back up bottles of perfume. It came into the question of can ordering back up bottles of any perfume be fun? To me, the answer is yes and no.

Take the recent rumor that Chanel no 5 was going to have to be reformulated due to materials either being banned or used in minuscule amounts caused me to panic. That's when I had ordered the largest sized back up bottles of the EDT and EDP. Or when I find out that Fendi does have the tendency to discontinue perfumes after a couple years, I went on the hunt to get two bottles of Theorema. But this was also a time when I was scouting E-bay for bottles of reasonably priced bottles of Deneuve and vintage Shalimar. Or when I panicked when I heard that Nuda was going to be discontinued, I had bought that second bottle.

In my mind, getting the second bottle of any perfume can be fun. Especially when it's ordered online and you anxiously wait for the package, hoping that the bottle isn't broken. But when the 3rd bottle is ordered or you went into the store and got it, it's pretty much like running in to the grocery store for milk, eggs and bread. That's what it was like when I had chickened out with getting my 3rd bottle (2nd back up) of Mitsouko and not chose L'Heure Bleue. I don't know why that happened but I probably was worried about the 1st couple weeks of wearing L'Heure Bleue a lot I would be very sick of it and wished I had just gotten a large decant.

Sometimes I do think that I should stop at maybe 1 bottle of any given scent.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Of Dogs, De Profundis and Death

The past couple weeks haven't been exactly good. The week proceeding Labor Day and a few days afterwards are defiantly good in my family. It always seems to be the time of year where it's either one of my dogs gets really sick where we might have to put them down or we do have to put them down. This time, we did have to put down my elderly dog, Bailey. Bailey was always a special needs dog that always had the odds stacked against her. When she was four months old, she was diagnosed with epilepsy and 3 vets counseled us to put her down because they thought she wouldn't live to be a year old but we didn't give up on her, knowing that it would take time and the right dose of medication. Bailey was put to sleep two days ago and I haven't really been able to stop crying since. I know that she was 14 years old and she was really old for a Lab but I knew that it was time. I just wanted her to have one more good summer before things got really bad. For some reason, the day she died, I sensed that it was her last day on earth, I gave her tons of her favorite dog treats and a rawhide before going to the vet to look at a huge blood blister on her ear. On the way to the vet, she had a huge seizure that she never really came out of, then I knew that it was time to let her go. On the day she died, I do not know why I decided to put on Serge Lutens De Profundis but I did and I wore it yesterday as well.

In Bailey's 14 years, I dealt with her chronic ear infections, many allergies, getting into stuff that she shouldn't have, eating a 3 pound bag of M&M's, almost getting hit by cars and yet she survived it all. And gave me many kisses, brought me shoes and showered me with love.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

L'Heure Bleue and Mitsouko

Ever since I 'got' Mitsouko and L'Heure Bleue and have worn them quite frequently, I have come to a few thought on the both of them. Both of them shouldn't be worn when it's 80-85 degrees out. When it gets to be in the 70's, things are a little dicey. The top notes are fine and I love the top notes in heat but when the middle notes come out to play, there is trouble coming to paradise. Be cause there is something that is starting to smell sour in Mitsouko's case and something too powdery and sour in L'Heure Bleue's case. I'm not sure on what gives on that. With Jicky, Apres L'Ondee I am not getting any of this funk and Shalimar is the same. I can wear Shalimar in heat and there is no problem. I'm thinking thaat in Mitsouko's case and smelling similar things, I just have a hard time with chypres in general.

So I am thinking that L'Heure Bleue and Mitsouko really need to be worn during the winter. An that's when I really get them and I can enjoy their sensuality.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

It's Just Not Happening

I can't believe that it's already half way through August and I haven't blogged a thing. I know I should write a review of either Avignon or Shalimar Ode a la Vanille but I can't think of  thing to say that maybe both of them are not exactly my 'thing'. I am beginning to really wonder about this summer. A couple years ago, we had a 4 month stretch of nothing but 90 degree plus and living in air conditioning. But in Cleveland, it's been a cold summer and that must be bringing out some new dimension of apathy to were I am not motivated to smell, let alone review that huge pile of perfumes that haven't been smelled yet.

This summer has been marked with falling in love with L'Heure de Nuit, and being able to find a couple bottles of Theorema. But this summer has also been marked with thinking that I do want to wear a certain perfume but it turns out to be a big old no. Just like I put on Avignon to maybe review it, it was a massive not happening today. I'm hoping though to get some thing to review.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Chanel no 5 Velvet Body Cream Review

I've said a few times that I have really dry, sensitive skin and it take forever to find something that works body wash and lotion for me. A couple months ago, my mother who does like to wear no 5 from time to time, got a gift set of no 5 and randomly gave me the body cream stuff. Well, I didn't intend to review it but a few things need to be said about it.

Way back when, before I was a perfume nut that I am now and still was wearing only Clinique Happy and Estee Lauder Pleasures, I had tried the no 5 hand lotion tester at a local department store. I recoiled at the smell of the hand lotion and couldn't wash it off fast enough. For a while, I had never gotten around to testing the actual parfum, EDP, or EDT until 3 or 4 years ago and figured out what people were talking about.

Now that I've spent all day, yesterday, out and about with wearing the body cream and not having a back up to wear, I've come to the conclusion that Chanel bath and body products and I don't get along at all. The no 5 body cream doesn't really smell like the no 5 that I am familiar with. Here and there, I get whiffs of maybe it is no 5 but not often. I didn't layer the body cream with even the EDT because the body lotion is very strong and layering would have made it suffocating. I guess I will be sticking to just no 5 in either the EDP or EDT form and not use the body products since they do smell a little on the sour side to me.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Hermes Hiris EDT Review

For the past couple weeks, I've been testing out my now almost empty decant of Hermes Hiris. Ever since I read The Guide's review on Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist, I was pretty wary of wearing any iris dominant perfume. My train of thinking was why would anybody want to smell like a dirty carrot and I could go to my kitchen, cut up a carrot and save myself some money. But after smelling Iris Silver Mist and no 19 in extract form, I do like iris as a dominant note, especially when it is hissy and carroty.

Hiris starts out as carroty and hissy to the point of being harsh. After about 10 or 15 minutes the harsh aspect dies down and the carroty aspect dies down a little bit. Then the other flowers come out to play and the whole composition does sing and I do love Hiris and Hermes take on iris. But in the extreme dry down, I somehow get liquid Dial soap. The Dial soap that's orange colored. Now, I love the smell of the orange colored Dial soap but not when it's the extreme dry down of a perfume. What holds me back on even considering getting a full bottle is that I only get an hour or two of wear time. So no, I can't get a bottle of perfume that doesn't last on me.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Summer, No Wear, Multiple Wear

So far this summer, I've come to discover the joy of wearing multiple perfumes through out the day. It used to be I only wore one perfume a day no matter what the season but now that's changed. Since summer hit and my perfumes (except for Amouage) fade a little faster, I've been wearing at least two different perfumes at some point during my day. In the morning, I could be wearing no 19 and in the evening, I could be wearing Jicky. Now, if I could remember to reach in that unworn and reviewed bag to wear new things.

Now the insanity from the 4th of July weekend is over, I can reflect on my perfume habits that come from a holiday. The day before the 4th, I entirely forgot to wear perfume that day and I had a decant of no 22 in my purse. Then on the 4th, I went to an ox roast/festival thing sporting vintage Bal in EDP form. I don't know what it is, but I adore wearing vintage Bal to festivals. Then it became Theorema and Shalimar later on. Right now, I don't have the heart to open my vintage, sealed Shalimar from the '60's. But starting to use the already opened vintage versions of Shalimar and adore them. The animalic growl is a little stronger than the current formula.

Monday, June 30, 2014

Comme des Garcons Kyoto EDT Review

Now it's time for a review after yapping/whining about perfume shopping. And not really blogging in general. But last night, I had randomly pulled out Comme des Garcons Kyoto. I have been meaning to give Kyoto and Avignon for a while now but Kyoto was the one that I had grabbed first.

At first application to skin, I immediately couldn't smell Kyoto. My first reaction was annoyance because I really wanted to try Kyoto. Then I took another sniff. Then I smelled Kyoto and Kyoto reminded me of a couple of perfumes that I couldn't quite remember. Then I had remembered Zagorsk and Chanel's Sycomore in my collection. Kyoto smells kind of like a cross between those two but resembles Sycomore a little bit more. I've noticed that Kyoto is just as dry as Sycomore but not as austere as Sycomore. I really don't smell a whole lot of incense in Kyoto but I do like it. For me, it's one of those perfumes that teeters on the edge of full bottle worthy. But there are two things that do hold me back. Kyoto is an EDT and doesn't last too long on my skin and since the price went up on this line, it might be a while before I do take the plunge to buy a bottle.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

The Casual Buyer

Lately, I have found myself haunting Ebay a whole lot more in my search for a vintage bottle of Mitsouko and came to the question of being a 'casual buyer' on Ebay. The type of buyer that might poke around Ebay for a few days, might buy a couple of things and then disappear for a while. Yes, I am that kind of buyer when it comes to Ebay. But I spend more time looking than actual buying but I might come across that vintage bottle of Mitsouko for $40. You just never know with Ebay. Ebay has come in handy due to the fact that there are no Goodwill stores or Salvation Army that are close by or not in the seedy parts.

From time to time, I really do look for that vintage bottle of Mitsouko or Deneuve and always shake my head at the price tag for a partially used bottle. But I've always had some pretty good luck when looking for and getting full and partial bottles of vintage Shalimar. I may not exactly be able to afford the ones dating to the '60's or earlier but there is quite a bit of vintage Shalimar out there that people want to get rid of.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Is Light the New Term for Sweet?

Yesterday, this thought was floating around my mind when one of my guy friends commented on my wearing of Shalimar. I make every effort not to be heavy handed when I am applying perfume. But I was wondering how can Shalimar be considered light? Or is light the new term for sweet? I'm just thinking that he is confusing sweet with light. Now Shalimar is a lighter oriental but when over applied, it's not light, it's suffocating. Tocca Giulietta is light, Chanel no 19 is more of on the light side but I still wouldn't call Shalimar 'light' nor would I call Mitsouko 'light'. Then, I asked him how can he confuse light and sweet when he has been hanging around me for the past couple hours? Something that is loaded with vanilla is not light. I sprayed A Scent and gave him the blotter and said that it what you call light. But he really doesn't get it and this is the guy who buys his mother perfume at Christmas every year. Since his mother has no real sense of smell, she over applies everything.

I view perfume as an art form and should be smelled carefully before deeming them light, heavy, sweet. Sometimes the initial impression might be light but after a couple minutes, it actually may be sweet. But I'm not sure if most people just don't know how to use their sense of smell or they are too used to these your skin but better perfumes.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Guerlain Apres L'Ondee EDT Review

I've finally got around to wearing something new. Not exactly got around but kind of got out of that rut of either finishing off my smaller decants or just wearing the same old things. For a long while, when I was reaching for full bottles, I was reaching for my no 5 in EDT form. And I still am fixated on L'Heure Bleue and L'Heure de Nuit. It took me a while to get L'Heure Bleue and now love it. I love L'Heure de Nuit but just can't bring myself to drop almost $300 for a shade over 4 ounces of perfume, so a large decant is gonna have to do. But both of those bring me to Guerlain's Apres L'Ondee.

For a while during my wearing of Apres L'Ondee, I couldn't place what perfumes that it smelled similar to. Then in the dry down it hit me, L'Ondee smelled like a very stripped down version of L'Heure Bleue. If L'Heure de Nuit was somewhat stripped down, L'Ondee is even more stripped down. Then I looked online and found that L'Ondee was created in 1906, a mere 6 years before L'Heure Bleue and over 100 years before L'Heure de Nuit. Comparing the three perfumes, they share similar notes. I was really loving Apres L'Ondee but the only formulation that I am seeing online is the EDT formulation. Guerlain EDT's and I don't exactly mix unless they are the vintage versions. So Apres L'Ondee only lasts about 3 hours on my skin and it sticks really close. When sprayed on clothing, I can get maybe 4 and a half hours. Not all is quite lost for me because I can enjoy it's two siblings and not be missing much. But it was fun wearing L'Ondee while it lasted.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Guerlain Tonka Imperiale EDP Review

The whole going through Amazon to get  full bottle of Theorema didn't pan out and I am getting a refund. But I did make sure that I was unhappy with the whole situation because it was described as being sold as Theorema but instead Amazon was shipping out Fan di Fendi. I had said that if Amazon is going to sell Theorema and describe a product being sold as Theorema, I should expect to get exactly what I had ordered, not something else.

I had been testing some vanilla perfumes or vanilla like perfumes and had always debated on trying Guerlain's Tonka Imperiale. I'm always a little wary of trying perfumes with a hefty price tag. What if I fall in love with it and finally save up enough to get a full bottle and it's been discontinued and have to wait it out on Ebay?

Tonka Imperiale reminds me of Spiriteueuse Double Vanille in many ways. Just maybe a little more nutty, little less smoky and vanilla like. Tonka Imperiale could possibly be a kissing cousin to Havana Vanille or it probably resembles Havana Vanille more than it does SDV. Could it resemble Shalimar? Maybe in Shalimar's dry down if one can ignore Shalimar's citrus note. While I do like them both and lasting power is good. I'm not sure if I want to shell out $260 for 2.5 ounces. Yes, I still do have a hard time with vanillas due to the fact that there are two routes that vanilla likes to go. It's either cupcake territory or burnt or smoky and sometimes they turn sour or bitter in the end of the wearing.

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Going Through My Collection

I've been going through a mini phase of going through my collection of full bottles and wearing them. I have been testing to see if I still love them or even still like them. For one thing I need the space on my dresser because in the past year, I've added more than I have wanted to. Yeah, having about 30 bottles has gotten a little overwhelming.

Since going through my collection, I keep forgetting how wonderful Shalimar is and why I am not wearing it more often. L'air du Desert Marocain has gotten a lot of that same treatment of being ignored. So has Chanel's Sycomore. I think with the latter two, they are in the same vein of being mostly bone dry and they require a certain mood to be worn.

What made me decide to go through some of my collection is that I have been looking for a bottle of Theorema EDP to add to my collection even though I have a huge decant of it. Well, I did fall head over heels for it. I went to Amazon and found a bottle for a reasonable price. I ordered a bottle and with a couple recently discontinued scents, I've ordered and gotten said discontinued perfumes. Not this time. Instead of sending me Theorema, I got Fan di Fendi and the lotion that came with it. I was not happy. I e-mailed Amazon to let them know I received the wrong thing and that what I ordered was a 1.7 ounce bottle of Theorema and the picture was Theorema and I wasn't happy. They let me know that they are sending me the right item and that I could keep the wrong item. I sure hope that I get the right item this time.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Previously Loved

Right now, it seems like I am in a little bit of a dilemma. I have always loved jasmine dominant perfumes and had longed for A La Nuit for a while. But now, most jasmine dominant perfumes drive me up the wall.

For the past two weeks, I've been trying to wear A La Nuit off and on and it's not working. It's become like Fracas and most tuberose perfumes. Just too much no matter what is going on. I do have to agree with Tania Sanchez on A La Nuit that it's "Death by jasmine". It's funny that I've never had much of an issue with A La Nuit before but now I am finding it a little too dense. In the past two weeks, I have worn Patou Joy in EDP, Serge Lutens Sarrasins and Diorissimo in EDP.

While Sarrasins and Joy were fabulous smelling on my skin and wasn't horrifically overloaded with jasmine. Diorissimo was a lily and indolic jasmine overload and I'm just not understanding this. I love an idolic jasmine but apparently the jasmine can't be too dense and white flower and must have something that will stand up to the jasmine.

Sarrasins is one of my favorite jasmine scents. The jasmine is indolic but there is a wonderful leather note in Sarrasins that keeps the jasmine in check. But I have noticed in Montale's Jasmin Full, it's more of a clean jasmine, a mainstream jasmine. I have noticed that Jasmine Full has a certain stickiness to it. Some days, it's the feeling after I ate too many jelly beans or the sticky hand feeling.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Guerlain L'Heure de Nuit Review

Guerlain is one of those perfume houses that I have come to love. I've had a hard time liking, let alone loving a good most of what I have tried. It took me a long while to love Mitsouko, L'Heure Bleue and understand Jicky. But I understood and loved Shalimar right away. But I realized one thing about Jicky. The EDP version of Jicky doesn't last all that long on my skin, even when wearing a thicker moisturizer. I had ordered a fresh bottle of it and was so excited to spray it on my skin. I had gotten about 4 or 5 hours of wear before it petered out to nothing. Boy, I was disappointed and Shalimar in EDP kind of does the same thing too. But Mitsouko and L'Heure Bleue (in EDP form) simply last forever on skin. So there is a lot of head scratching there.

With flankers, there is a lot of pearl clutching going on on my end. Especially when it comes down to classics. No. 19, no. 5, Shalimar, and now L'Heure Bleue have flankers. Even though I like Eau Premiere and now L'Heure de Nuit, classics really shouldn't have flankers.

For the past three days, I have been wearing L'Heure de Nuit. At first, I was kind of unimpressed. It did smell exactly like L'Heure Bleue and I felt a little on the cheated side, Then on the second day, I smelled a whole lot less powder and maybe a little more on the flirty side. With L'Heure Bleue, I got a whole lot of powder with maybe some flirt deep down. L'Heure de Nuit when compared with L'Heure Bleue, there is a whole lot of flirt on L'Heure de Nuit. The flirty part is almost skanky unlike Mitsouko who makes you dig for the sensual or Shalimar that has an animalic growl to it.

While I really do love L'Heure de Nuit, I hate the price tag for 75ml. For almost $300 and packaged in a bee bottle, I just really am not able to fully love it like I should in spite of the color of the juice being blue. I'm guessing that I will have to make do with large decants and my bottle of L'Heure Bleue.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Kat Von D Make-up Review

Yesterday, started off to be a pretty good day for me. I managed to finish off that vintage Mitsouko EDT that only had one or two small squirts left and when that faded, I finished off another small decant of Sarrasins. Then, I checked my email and discovered that waiting in my inbox was overflowing with perfume deals. So I just added more to my collection. And it looks like that I will be able to order Sarrasins through the Serge Lutens website. Right now, I am verifying this. For the past few years, I have been drooling over Sarrasins and a couple other bell jars. The price tag at Barney's had me raise an eyebrow and on the Serge Lutens website, I have to raise an eyebrow. For 75ml, it's about $300 and I am not exactly thrilled in wanting to pay that much and even 75ml of Mitsouko EDP doesn't even cost that much! I didn't decide to blog so much about that but about makeup.

After a few years of either not being able to afford makeup or having it fall of my radar, I have somewhat got back into the habit of wearing it again and forgot how long it could take to put it on. After receiving a gift card to Sephora, I had the opportunity of getting an eyeshadow palette from Kat Von D which I had been looking at. I did enjoy her lipstick in Hellbent. I actually bought two different palettes and have worn them for a little bit. Sinner and Beethoven were the two that I have been experimenting with and both palettes are very similar in colors. I did enjoy experimenting with the colors but did find them a little too glittery for my liking and the glittery part did catch me off guard even with the neutral colors. While I liked the set up mostly, I had a hard time with the fact that the eyeshadow itself was not compacted and seemed pretty loose compared to other brands of eyeshadow that I have used. What really took me by surprise is that in Sinner, there is no applicator brush to apply the eyeshadow, instead there was eyeliner instead of a brush and had to hunt one down. Thus far, after a lot of experimenting, I'm not exactly thrilled with the Kat Von D eye shadows even though I like the eye primer that I got.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

General Stuff

At this point, I'm none to thrilled with trying to deal without a microwave. Yes, I know that it can be done but when it's busted and can't be fixed there are a lot of things that one must plan out meal wise long before. My microwave was less than a year old and was destroyed by my elderly grandmother. I do suspect that she is in the early stages of dementia but her problems of not being willing to pay attention to what she is doing dates back about 25 years. My grandmother was yapping on about how much she doesn't like Dunkin' Donuts coffee while chugging a huge cup of it that she got there that morning, wanted it reheated and she destroys it by interrogating me about what I'm doing (doing dishes). Naturally, she presses a lot off buttons to heat it without looking and the stupid thing is locked. I looked it up online on how to fix it and it can't be fixed and the warranty is voided because of her. I shouldn't be complaining but since she has already destroyed two of my cellphones and a laptop, replacing this kind of stuff gets expensive when there is no remorse of offer to help cover the cost to replace it. I tremble to ask about what it cost for my aunt to replace a brand new oven because she totally destroyed it.

At this point, I'm trying to figure out if I should just bite the bullet and finish my midget decant of Mitsouko EDT. I have a larger decant of vintage Mitsouko but I do have the tendancy to hoard my vintage perfumes. Or just go with wearing my current formulation of Mitsouko EDP. It's not too funny after a while when I got this huge collection of perfume and trying to figure out what I am going to wear. Now, Shalimar Ode a la Vanille has entered the picture. I'm thinking of wearing it just to see what the fuss is about this flanker.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Sometimes I am

Sometimes, I am a bottle slut even though I am mostly not. But what did catch my interest, is in buying a couple full bottles and an e-mail from Chanel, is changing bottle designs. The Chanel bit was the only one that kind of did rile me due to marketing.

Let's take Chanel no. 5, the larger sized (1.7 and 3.4 ounce) EDP versions and the parfum version has the classic Chanel design bottle wise while the no. 5 EDT and most Chanel EDT versions don't come in the classic bottle. But the Chanel Eau Premiere bottle was somewhat of a cross between the EDT bottles and the EDP bottle. I was okay with that because Eau Premiere did mostly smell like no. 5 but I considered it something different and did warrant something a little different. But I signed up for news letters from Chanel and was mainly getting a lot of emails about Coco Mademoiselle and all of the Chance flankers, I never much paid attention because I'm not really interested in Mademoiselle of the Chance flankers. But now, Eau Premiere is now packaged in the classic Chanel bottle and I am not impressed. But I am thinking that the younger crowd did want the classic bottle and maybe the 5 ounce bottle was a little over the top. After owning 2 of the huge 6.5 Les Exclusifs line, I can relate and wished that Chanel offered the 2.5 ounce bottles of the Les Exclusifs line much earlier. But still, it annoys me and for no real reason that I can fathom.

But I did like how Andy Tauer seemed to revamp his bottle design after just getting Une Rose Chypree. The wooden cap to his line was a kind of a bad fit for his sprayers because they never did stay all that well and they seemed to absorb every other scent imaginable. But when getting Une Rose Chypree, I expected it to look exactly like Une Rose Vermeille because it looked like it when I bought it off of Luckyscent. I was in for a pleasant surprise when the bottle color was brown, plastic cap and the fact that it didn't have the glass beads. Which was cool in away but I'm one of those who if it's a 50 ml bottle, I want the most perfume available and not have something that isn't much more than a filler no matter how cool it looks.

For a long while, I was flirting with Viktoria Minya's Hedonist just because it has many of the notes that I do love in a perfume but wasn't so thrilled with the price since the bottle was filled with crystals and dropped from 50ml to 45ml of perfume. But I did get it and the presentation from the box to the perfume is phenominal and it's like buying a full bottle of Amouge in many ways just by looks alone. I figured that this is Minya's first perfume, presentation probably means quite a bit and just by taking off the cap and getting a whiff, it smells like it's a little more worth the price point.

But at the end of the day, with my perfume collection, buying huge bottles is not my style anymore. If I were looking to be loyal to just one or two perfumes, a larger bottle would be worth it but since I have about 30-50 bull bottles of perfume, it's less is more. And niche perfumes are a little more difficult to obtain and I am kind of forced to do more online shopping than I would really like but I do love the thrill of knowing that a package is arriving at my doorstep on a certain day, it's like Christmas.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

One of Those

Did you ever go through your decant collection to find multiple decants of the same perfume? It maybe one of those that you got way back when and tried once, maybe got it when you were starting out with perfumes. Then comes the wanting to use up decants and then you find way too many multiples. It can be a little funny to find that I've got 2 decants or more of certain things. But when I take into account that some of them are vintage or can't get them here in the US, it's not too bad.

After rooting around my decant pile, I found, not one but two fairly large Muscs Koublai Khan decants. MKK is one of those polarizing perfumes that I can never make up my mind about and I'm one of those who loves skank in perfume. On one hand, I do love it but the people in my house hate it because it smells like I've been sleeping around all weekend and never bothered to shower. All I'm getting is clean skin that's been warmed by the sun and some clean sweat. And due to the fact that maybe they are smelling something, I am not, I really can't make a fair judgement on it. So, I don't wear it or when I do remember to wear it, I make sure that I'm alone in the house and not going anywhere.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

The Neverending Collection

As cumbersome as my collection of perfume might be, it never seems to be quite complete. There is always something new to smell. I'm using the term 'new' kind of loosely. There are perfumes that have been floating around perfume land for a few years that are new to me or the latest release that I've gotten a hold of. I'm always looking for a new love and vintage versions of some of my favorites. But I kind of made a vow to try not to get any more bottles until I use up more of my decants and try and finish off a full bottle or two.

What did inspire me to kind of write this was Perfume Posse's "You Know You're a Perfumista if..." post and it got me to thinking of a few things with my collection. Yes, I do need that half full back up bottle of Deneuve because they don't make those kinds of perfume so much anymore and it's a discontinued perfume. Besides, it's a shining example of what a celebrity scent should be like. Yeah, I do need the vintage tear drop versions of Shalimar. Hey, past generations of Shalimar had a different yet distinct animalic growl than the current version. But even the newest version of Shalimar is still pretty close to the vintage versions but there isn't much of an growl to it anymore.

Sometimes, I like having various concentrations of the same perfume. Take Chanel no. 19 for example. The EDT is a very butch leather/ iris type and not exactly my thing since I like my leather to be plush. Extrait is more of a plush iris and toned down leather and more of my thing even though I do like my iris to be hissy and carroty. The EDP really rocks my socks though. It was a bitey galbamnum with a bright rose.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

A Cumbersome Collection Thoughts

I was going to review Andy Tauer's Noontide Petals today but right now, I can't. I think it needs more time on skin before I can review it.

But after spending the better part of an hour trying to pick out a perfume yesterday, something came across my mind. If I could redo my perfume journey, what would I redo? First, I wouldn't have changed my first perfume nor the size of Cuir de Russie (Chanel) that had me fall down the rabbit hole. Instead of getting Chanel's Gardenia, I would have gotten no. 22 and maybe have skipped Chanel Sycomore entirely. Also, I would have gotten into decants much sooner than I did, not wait a couple years and might have saved me some money. And some space.

At this point, trying to finish a bottle of anything is tough when you have a large collection of perfume.I'm mainly trying to finish off one of my bottles of no. 5 because I really don't need that many back up bottles of it. I really don't. With no. 5, I love it but it's not the head over heals love that I was hoping for. My back up bottles of no. 5 was partially fear of reformulation and the EDP version on the website had said limited edition.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Miss Dior Cherie Blooming Bouquet EDT Review

I have no idea what has happened to me come recently. But it seemed like Le Labo's Aldehyde 44 was a blatant ripoff of Chanel no. 22 and now it's Miss Dior Cherie Blooming Bouquet's turn. This is just riling me to no end.

Yes, I refuse to call Miss Dior Cherie by what Dior wants us to call it simply Miss Dior. Nope, Miss Dior came out in the 1947 not this current thing that masquerades around as Miss Dior. When I first applied Blooming, I couldn't help but think that it smelled familiar and couldn't place it. Then 5 minutes in, it hit me and I couldn't decide if it smelled just like Coco Mademoiselle or Badgley Mischka EDP. It leans a little closer to CM and maybe a little fruitier. Even though I did drain a bottle of CM, I didn't care for the fruity patchouli vein and in a lot of ways, I still don't. The biggest problem with Blooming is that it is in EDT form and it only lasts for two hours on skin and a half an hour on clothing. At this point, if this one appeals, go for CM or Badgley Mischka.

Dab, Splash, Spray

Looking at my perfume collection, I did notice that most of my collection is in spray bottle form and not a splash bottle. And it got me to thinking of what I do prefer in a perfume bottle and in decant form. From what I have seen is that splash bottles are not really all that common. So most of my splash or dabbing bottles are either vintage perfume or perfumes in extract form. I'm not counting some of those carded samples that I've got because the full bottles of those perfumes come in spray bottles.

As much as I like the whole idea of dabbing and splash bottles, it just doesn't really suit me to dab due to a few things. I will admit that I can be a butter fingers and with how my luck can run, I most likely would uncork or unscrew my splash or dabber bottles and the bottle would either break or spill all over me. Or the very real chance that I would really over apply the perfume. To me, spraying lets me know a lot faster if I over applied.

But what I'm actually jonesing for is the Guerlain extracts in those spray tester bottles and I'm having no real luck to finding a bottle at a reasonable price. Well, when I do come across them, it costs almost as much as the regular retail bottles. The reason why I am looking is because it seems like I have a bigger issue of evaporation with the extract bottles. Yes, I can decant it but I haven't mustered up the courage to do it yet.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Diorissimo EDP review

Quite a while back, I had reviewed my decant of Diorissimo EDT and remembered enjoying it while deploring the length of time that it lasted on skin. Diorissimo in EDT seemed to last about 4 hours on my skin and I kind of like not to reapply throughout the day.

For a while, I did pretty much forget about Diorissimo until I came across my small decant of it and wore it for 3 days until I emptied the thing. Then it did become love and I couldn't exactly justify getting any sized bottle of the EDT form. Not really thinking that the EDP would be any different than the EDT, I had bought a bottle. Boy, was I wrong about the EDT and EDP being different.

Both variations smell like Diorissimo but there is a huge difference when the top notes wear off. In the EDT version, it's a green lily of the valley with very little jasmine and musk serving as an anchor. But the EDP version from the get go is jasmine. Not any kind of jasmine but a whopping dose of indolic jasmine. I love jasmine and the more indolic the better. The indolic jasmine in the EDP version did take me by surprise but somehow it works in the EDP version. After a while the Diorissimo that I've become familiar with in the EDT version comes into play but never quite loses the skanky jasmine. The lily of the valley seems to be a little creamier in the EDP version and I am thinking it is because of the jasmine. I enjoyed the lasting power of this version of Diorissimo and I am hoping that Diorling comes out in EDP form and maybe there isn't such a strong sliced green pepper note in the beginning.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Peek a Boo Spring

After a very long winter with nothing but storms and sub zero weather, it looks like spring is trying to get here. For the past week or two it's been a couple flashes of spring then it's the biting cold with maybe a heavy snow. Now we are starting to get temperatures in the 40's on a consistent basis.

Now, I don't know how to perfume myself when it first gets warmer. This winter has been marked by wearing quite a bit of no. 5, Amouage Gold, Epic, and Lyric and not really trying out new stuff. I really want to start wearing Courtesan and no. 19 EDP form but I think that it might still be a little too cold for those to. I think that I'm sick of wearing dense, bombastic scents and want something a little lighter. So even though I'm kind of sick of orientals, I'm thinking either Shalimar or Havana Vanille might do the trick. Both Shalimar and Havana Vanille are orientals that are easy on the nose and don't seem to be loud or dense or maybe Mitsouko even though the Empress is a chypre. Mitsouko can be a great transition scent.

It's somewhat of a good thing that I've kept up with dealing with my using what decants that I already have. I remember wearing and liking Diorissimo and now found the small decant that's been floating around in my make up bag of decants. Trying it now, all I can say is wow and now I want a full bottle of it along with L'Heure Bleue which I've come to love. Now if my bank account would stop trembling at the thought...

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Reformulations and Skank

As of now, I'm looking to see if I had reviewed the current version of Bal a Versailles and not finding it. I'm sure that I did review it but just not overtly motivated in finding the review.

I absolutely adore vintage BaV in EDP form. I love all of it's skanky goodness but quite a while ago, I had bought a large bottle of BaV in EDT form because I didn't want to drain my 2 vintage decants. BaV (current version) is pretty cheap and easy to find online. Holy crap, the current version of BaV is horrible to the greatest degree and I mean horrible. I almost didn't recognize it because halfway through the dry down is when I did recognize it. And I wondered where the skank was is BaV in the current formulation and then I realized that the skank isn't there. Just wasn't there at all.

I love skank in perfume, I really do. Don't care if it's Sarrasins, BaV, Shalimar Cuir de Russie or MKK, I love having a perfume with an animalic growl to it. But there have been a few that are beyond skank and just flat out raunchy. L'Air de Rein is one that I cannot abide by because it is flat out raunchy and a little worse. To me L'Air smells like wet panties that have been worn for a couple weeks with out having to been washed. For some reason, I find it disgusting.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Chanel Coco Noir EDP Review

Whenever I get a new bottle of perfume that comes with perfume samples, I'm kind of honor bound to try the perfume sample. That's only if it's a perfume I have never smelled before. So when I got a sample of Coco Noir, I had to give it a go.

I had blogged previously about my dislike of flankers and Coco Noir is no different. I used to somewhat like Coco Mademoiselle and wore it often. Coco Mademoiselle was my first Chanel and I think that I did wear it when it first was released or shortly thereafter. This was before I wore perfume on a regular basis and had no knowledge of perfume. Why am I mentioning Coco Mademoiselle? Because Coco Noir is almost exactly like Mademoiselle and I'm not kidding. When I first sprayed Noir, it smelled really familiar and I couldn't figure out why. Then it hit me, Noir is the little sister of Mademoiselle. I find Noir to be a little more toned down than Mademoiselle and maybe a little more fruity.

Even though Coco Mademoiselle and Coco Noir last quite a long time on skin, I'm not sure that I even like these perfumes. Hell, I don't think I ever really cared much for Mademoiselle, I think I was more into the idea of having a Chanel bottle sitting on my dresser and how it actually smelled. I think with both Noir and Mademoiselle, the patchouli it the culprit on why I'm not enamoured with these two and that there is no similarity between them and the original Coco.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Multiple Bottles and Flankers

When I first started my perfume journey, I could never imagine owning more than one bottle and it never crossed my mind to own a flanker. I never imagined that I would have back up bottles, let alone vintage bottles, of anything about 7 years of perfume collecting. This horror of owning multiple bottles came when I had looked at my bottle collection and saw my stock of no. 5 in various concentrations and 4 bottles of Shalimar.

Some of this stemmed from the whole 'limited edition' bit that Chanel loves to peddle on the website. I kid you not, when you look at no. 5 (for a while it was) and no. 19 in EDP form online, there is the 'limited edition'. Since I love no. 5 and did hear about the potential reformulation, I did load up on the EDP and EDT form.

Shalimar, as good as it is, is actually not a perfume that I wear often. I either forget about it or it just doesn't suit that particular day when I think of wearing it. In this case, I don't have back up bottles in a literal sense. My back up bottles have been in the form of two vintage EDT bottles. At the time, I was still kind of wanting the tear drop bottle and vintage Shalimar is easy and cheap to find of E-bay.

I've never been much of a fan about flankers, especially when it comes down to classic perfume. My thought has always been, why mess around with a classic? No. 5 Eau Premiere was the first Chanel flanker that I tried and at first, I didn't like it. It smelled like a toned down no. 5 but it's messing around with a classic. I had tried no. 19 Poudre and was horrified by what it smelled like. No. 19 Poudre smelled a lot like Prada's Infusion d'Iris and nothing like the original no. 19. If you are going to mess around with flankers and classics, try to make it resemble the original perfume.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Adventures and Sniffage

For the first time in a long time, I found myself at an upscale mall. I usually avoid the mall like the plague due to the fact I don't like huge crowds of people and I don't want to be sprayed with the latest release. Most malls that I have been to have had an okay perfume counter at Dillard's and Macy's but the Saks Fifth perfume counter was something else. The perfume counter was massive and it offered a larger collection of things that I would wear.

My purpose of going to an upscale mall was to look for the EDP version of Jicky, hence why I was at Saks Fifth Avenue. Jicky is hard to find in stores that isn't the EDT version if you can find it. I find the Guerlain counter and was amazed that I actually did find Jicky but it was either the parfum or the EDT. I even asked if they had the EDP version but they didn't have it but offered to order me a bottle or get the parfum. I'm hardly at Saks Fifth, let alone an upscale mall, so obviously, I can't just go back for one perfume. But I don't often get the great customer service the way I did but I'm lazy and can't justify going to an upscale place for no real reason. There are people in my house that hold it against me that I own enough perfume. But I kept going back to getting a bottle of Mitsouko or L'Heure Bleue. In the end, I chickened out of L'Heure Bleue and got the 2nd back up bottle of Mitsouko. Yes, I've really started to enjoy L'Heure Bleue but it's still a little too sweet for me.

Even though it was Valentine's Day and I was at the mall, I did like the customer service that I did get. But I was surprised at the Dior counter because I was looking at finding a bottle of Diorling even though I've always had trouble with Diorling's sliced green pepper opening. But alas, they didn't have Diorling.

What did surprise me at Saks was the lack of the newest releases being pushed at people. Maybe people were looking more for the grab and go or maybe spending 5 minutes at most with a sales rep. But I did have some fun with being at a perfume counter.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Stuck in a Rut

It seems like I am stuck in a little bit of a rut. That rut is where I am wearing the same old thing. Chanel no. 5, the current version of Shalimar and from time to time either no. 22 or Havana Vanille. Right now, I can't even believe it because I do have a large collection of perfume and I'm stuck wearing the same four perfumes while I am trying to date my two vintage bottles of Shalimar EDT.

Dating my vintage Shalimar is taking a bit of work. It looks like one bottle might be somewhere in the 1980's (even though the seller said it was dated to the 1960's) and the other somewhere in the 1990's. Both of them smell like Shalimar and smell like an older version of it but I'm frusterated trying to figure it out when two different websites have two different things or my smaller bottle is from a different era. I think what is throwing me off the the stopper. Since my bottles didn't come with boxes, I can't be sure. Many people swear by getting Shalimar that's dated from the 1960's and earlier. But what's wrong with getting bottles a little later? I'm scratching my head over that one.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Le Labo Aldehyde 44 Review

This is gonna be a really short review because Aldehyde 44 smells like another perfume. I tried Aldehyde 44 for the first time yesterday and kept doing a double take all day. Reason being, Aldehyde 44 is mainly a toned down Chanel no. 22 but it's less harsh than no. 22. While no. 22 and no. 5 are sisters, Aldehyde 44 is more like a very young cousin trying to mimic those two.

I'm not exactly thrilled with Aldehyde 44 for the reason that it smells too much like no. 22 and that leads me to believe that someone was blatantly trying to do a rip off of no. 22. Even though I found no. 22's aldehydes to be harsh at first (still do at times), I did grow to love it. Another reason I'm not really rocking this one is that Le Labo may have wanted to create something that smelled a whole lot like no. 22 but it was exclusive to only Dallas so it was really niche. But Aldehyde 44's rose is much more prevalent than the rose in no. 22.

At this point, I don't like Aldehyde 44 nor Le Labo in general. I've reexamined Le Labo's Labdanum 18 and found Labdanum 18 to be Labdanum 18 to be a toned down Shalimar. It's one thing to nod to the perfume classics but when company is doing rip offs, I get riled. Riled in that fact that it makes me think that the perfumers can't think up new ideas or an interpretation of a note or two.

Many people who have smelled Amouage Gold for women compare it to Chanel no. 5 but they are two different perfumes. They might share some DNA but it never was meant to be a rip off. Amouage Dia for women is different though. It's the idea of Gold but with a whole lot less heft and it was made known that that was the case.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Out of Season Perfume

Here in Cleveland, the weather has always been pretty goofy and it's been a goofy winter. One day, I can be sitting in 2 feet of snow and sub zero temps and the next day, I can be sitting in the same 2 feet of snow and it's literally 70 degrees out. Hence why I don't rotate my perfume collection. But as of this moment, I keep craving my "transition" perfumes and my summer perfumes.

The heavy hitters like Amouage Lyric and Epic are kind of taking a back seat and now I'm wearing Chanel no. 19 and Deneuve. I find that Deneuve and no. 19 are more meant to be spring and summer scents. Even though those 2 are more of the lines of a chypre, I do find them to be more spring and summer. Not like the queen, Mitsouko, who demands to be worn year round. I just find both Deneuve and no. 19 too green to be worn in winter, unless it feels like a spring day in February.

But I have found that the EDT version of no. 19 is really not my deal. I know that it is the leather in the no. 19 EDT version that is the problem. I like my leathers plush like Cuir de Russie not astringent and butchy. The extract version of no. 19 I find to be a cross of the EDT and EDP but with a plush iris note. While I like (a lot) the extract version of no. 19, the EDP is the one that won my heart.

The state of Deneuve does sadden me though. It saddens me that I find it to be one of the greatest celebrity scents ever made, that it's discontinued and that it is getting harder and harder to find. Especially when you do find it, the price always seems to be just out of my reach even for a EDT mini so I kind of hoard what I've got. Every time I wear Deneuve, I cannot decide if I love the extract form or the EDT form better.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Comme des Garcons Series 3 Incense Zagorsk Review

For a while I've been flirting with trying the Comme des Garcons line but always found it to be a little annoying. Annoying in the how many series and lines do you need under your name. If you say, Chanel, it's either the regular stuff (no. 5, no. 19, etc) and the Les Exclusifs line and that suits me but what 30 million lines? It's over the top and maybe a little arrogant. But, let's get to the review.

I had bought Zagorsk from Luckyscent, unsniffed. I thought, for $80, not a bad price for niche even though it is an EDT. When I first spray it on, I get a massive blast of the iris. It's not the no. 19 in extract form or iris, which is on the plush side. This iris is like the blast I got in Serge's Silver Iris Mist, that hissy, carroty, maybe a little earthy blast. Truth be told, I kind of like my iris to be on the hissy side. The iris stays mostly front and center during the wearing. Then the pine needles start to come into play. The pine isn't what you get from the air freshener things you hang in a car but the walking in a pine forest and sniffing the needles and the sap. I'm not sure exactly where the incense is because it's been quite a while since I've set foot in a church for a mass but Zagorsk is on the dry side. Not as dry like Sycomore and a few others that I own are dryer than Zagorsk.

What bothers me about Zagorsk is that it might be an EDT, there is no real lasting power on skin. Even with lotion, I get maybe 3 or 4 hours at best, if that's the case, I'll have to spray on clothes. I've had Chanel EDT's at comperable prices and have lasted much longer. In that respect, I might hold off on trying any more of the Comme des Garcons line even though I really did enjoy Zagorsk.

*Sorry for the spelling mistakes, spell check doesn't want to work at this moment.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Tough Going

I did hear back from Amazon the same day I e-mailed them and I got the shipping refunded. In a way, I was hoping that they would do a little bit more for me but whatever. Ever since I fell down the rabbit hole of perfumery, I've been reluctant to get anything bath related to any perfume. Doesn't matter if it is No. 5, Shalimar or anything else. I have to say that just about all mainstream scents have matching shower gel and lotion. I'm well past the stage where I have to have to have the matching bath stuff. Matching bath stuff with perfume is great if you are faithful to 3 or 4 perfumes.

Right now, I am trying to appreciate what I have in my perfume collection but it's tough. I mean really tough. Using up the decants is easy enough but using up full full bottles is another matter.I swear to a higher power, I've got no idea where this sudden fixation with minis is coming from.

Is it boredom or the eyeballing two vintage Shalimars on E-Bay? I'm not sure but all I know is that my hankering for vintage perfume isn't really new. But after cruising E-bay (bad idea, I know) for minis and vintage stuff, I'm having a hard time believing some things. It's usually the pricing on many vintage minis. They can either be dirt cheap, which is a little suspicious or wildly expensive. Sometimes it is a little sketchy all around, if the bottle is full, then it's fake. Or sometimes the color for vintage is a dead giveaway because I know full well that with vintage perfume, the color does darken.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Fun with Amazon

I've always enjoyed shopping on Amazon and never had issues with their shipping. Until today, well I, should say yesterday. I had ordered a calender and few other things that have not arrived. I had ordered Serge Lutens' A La Nuit and had received that it maybe late. Where it was coming from and what weather conditions were, I was understanding but A La Nuit, much to my surprise, did arrive on time. Four items haven't made it to my doorstep and there was no e-mail to give me a heads up. Needless to say, I am not happy with Amazon and sent them an e-mail. We shall see what happens with this.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Serge Lutens Feminite du Bois Review

I'm finding it hard to believe that I haven't reviewed my very first Serge Lutens. What I mean is that when I fell down the rabbit hole and was really new to niche perfumers, I was buying bottles left and right. I was most intrigued by the reverence in the perfume world with Serge Lutens. I wasn't sure what the fuss was about and still kind of don't.

Feminite du Bois (not the Shisedo version) was the very first Lutens offering that I did get. It's a spicy, fruity, dusty combination that seems pretty linear. Even though cedar is listed in the notes, I don't get any kind of cedar. Stewed fruit and spice market seems to be a recurring thing in many of Lutens' work and I still don't know if I like the stewed fruit and spice combination. It always smells dusty to be because of Feminite du Bois. Sarrasins and A La Nuit seems to be the exception to this and to a lesser degree De Profundis. There is the lasting power of plutonium in many of Serge Lutens offerings when you get the full spray bottles. Spray decants seem not to give the longevity as the full bottles.

What I have noticed with many of Serge Lutens perfumes, is the color of the perfume itself. Red, orange, pink, purple and a few others. It is a little jarring to see that in a perfume when one is accustomed to seeing an orangey yellow or clear. I'm wondering if I was attracted to this line because of the different colors in the perfumes themselves. I really don't wear Feminite du Bois too much but it is nice for what it is though.