Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Amouage Beloved Woman Review

I have finally gotten around to trying out something new, well, motivated into something new. Friday and Saturday seemed like days were wearing an Amouage just suited me. I was about to wear Gold but then decided it was going to be Beloved. Sometimes, it can be tough to wear something new. What if I go out and don't have the ability to wash this off kind of thing. What also prevented me from trying this is when Beloved came out, it was a shade over $400. Hey, I do have limits on what I will spend on a perfume. Now, Beloved is less spendy but in a way only Amouage could be.

Amouage has never had the skin scent thing or what other companies call 'your skin but better' type of thing. When I wear Amouage, everyone around me knows that it's perfume. And Beloved is perfumey but overly so. I do get quite a bit of rose and powder in this one but it's not the powder bomb of L'Heure Bleue nor is it like the rose in a couple other perfumes I could mention. The rose aspect is more like the discontinued Le Labo Aldehyde 44 or the current formulation of Chanel no, 22. Beloved does remind me mostly of Le Labo Aldehyde 44 but Beloved does smell expensive and I love it. Now I have to start saving pennies to get this.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

A Post Got Me into Thinking

Periodically, Now Smell This has those quarterly polls where people can share what they had gotten perfume wise in a certain period of time. That post entirely slipped my mind and forgot to post it. I have gotten into a pretty regular habit of posting on Now Smell This but that post got me to thinking about my spending habits on perfume.

Some months, I don't spend much of anything on perfume except for a few decants but other times it seems to be massive quantities of perfume. And the past two three months, I've spent a ton of money on E-bay getting vintages. To some those might not count as full bottles because more often than not, they are either partially used, victims to evaporation, or minis. I'm thinking that my two best finds have been two vintage teardrop Guerlains (Jicky and Mitsouko) that were actually full. I knew the vintage Jicky bottle was going to be big but the 8.5 ounce bottle was a monster and don't regret it one bit.

Sometimes I do get the buyer's remorse and try not to feel that way. I think that buyer's remorse comes from the fact that I own so much perfume to begin with. But I try to live my life without regretting things but it can be difficult.

Friday, April 10, 2015

Bell Jars and Exclusive

I am not the type that is usually swayed by the look of a bottle of perfume but I do have my moments and many more moments of grouching about exclusivity of some perfumes. Ever since Chanel has come out with the Les Exclusifs line, there has been a little bit on unavailability but not much those come recently. When Les Exclusifs came out, it was only online at the Chanel site or the Chanel boutiques. But some of that has changed. How I can get them has not changed but the sizes have. I think that the prices of those bottles have made me do a double take and made me think twice about a bottle. But Chanel never has been one to have fancy bottles so there is nothing eye catching in that respect.

But Serge Lutens offerings have been a whole different matter. For the longest time, the US hasn't been privy to being able to get a bottle of the non-export line without going to Paris. Now the bell jars are being sold at Barney's and their stock seems to be dwindling but the bell jars are being sold on the Serge Lutens website to US customers. After I found a three quarters full bottle of De Profundis on E-bay for $165, I had a couple thoughts and was a little disappointed. I still love De Profundis, Iris Silver Mist and Sarrasins but it seemed to be the bottle itself that was the source of the disappointment. I don't know why I had thought that the bell jar would be larger for a 2.5 ounce bottle. I honestly think that I was seduced by the exclusivity of the bell jars and was comparing the size to my Chanel no 22 bottle and my Mitsouko EDP bottle. I couldn't help but think about spending $300 and over for a bell jar that a sprayer doesn't come with it and that I can get a 3.4 ounce Amouage for the same price. I think that it is spending time on E-bay and getting lucky. But I don't know what exactly I was thinking about the bell jar except that I might have over hyped it in my mind. I don't regret getting De Profundis and still want Iris Silver Mist and Sarrasins but it might be a while before I do.