Thursday, December 14, 2017

Caron Aimez Moi Review

Caron is a perfume house that I've never explored but I had gotten bored with my current collection. Yesterday, I was bored with my collection and I pulled out Aimez Moi. Looking at the translation of Aimez Moi, the name translates to Love Me and the whole love me just sounds clingy and stalker like. This is pretty much a flanker of another Caron offering that is escaping me but I'm too lazy to look for the actual perfume title.

At first, I didn't know what I was smelling but the whole thing was familiar to me. The first thing that smacked my nose was the anise. I have always been a little iffy on anise because it does smell like black licorice and black licorice is something I have never liked. The anise does settle down a little bit but the anise isn't a smooth anise. The violet and heliotrope comes out to play and on my skin, they are not playing nicely. I get a little bit of a water note and I am thinking that the magnolia is the cause but the vanilla keeps the magnolia from getting too watery. I smell the thinnest thread of tonka in Aimez Moi. Tonka smells a lot like vanilla to my nose and it keeps everything from either running away or totally falling apart. After a while, I realized that this smells like Guerlain's Apres L'Ondee. I swear that this is Caron's version of Apres L'Ondee. I do get some references to the original Lolita Lempicka but Aimez Moi is too soft to be a sister but maybe a 2nd cousin.

Aimez Moi doesn't do anything for me, it just sits on my skin. I don't get a whole lot of development and this one is an EDT that lasts forever on my skin. So a bottle won't be added to my collection.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

CdG Jaisalmer EDT Review

Since I have been very slowly working my way through the unworn bag, it means that I am really not getting to finish trying CdG's Incense line. I have loved or at least liked what I have smelled with the whole line. On the perfume blogosphere, Avignon and Kyoto get the most love out of all. Now, it's time to look outside of those two perfumes.

I've spent the past couple days wearing Jaisalmer and now it's time to review it. Thus far, I have liked the CdG Incense line and Jaisalmer is no different. Jaisalmer is dry but not exactly bone dry, sweet but not really. The note that really dominates is the wood note. It's guaiac wood but I interpret it as cedar chips. If you ever had to change a guinea pig cage, you'd know the smell. With the wood, I get whiffs of what I think is pine trees. Then the incense starts to come out in droves and plays nicely with the wood. I do get cinnamon in the whole thing. The cinnamon keeps thing warm and adds a touch of sweetness without it being a dessert type perfume. My biggest gripe would be the lasting power. My skin eats EDT's within 4 hours and I only get 2 hours with Jaisalmer. If there was a lasting power greater than 2 hours, I'd probably be buying a bottle. At $95 and 2 hours of lasting power, I won't be getting this.

Monday, November 27, 2017

It's Holiday Season and Guerlain Samsara EDP review

It's now the holiday season and I am dreading the next 5 weeks. Nothing but holiday parties, gift shopping and all of that. It seems like everyone is in a rush and in a bad mood, driving themselves crazy.

I think that people are driving themselves crazy with the whole having a perfect Christmas thing. Nothing is perfect and that perfect stuff is in your head. Some of it has got to be insecurity and people just want to impress their family and friends. It's Christmas, enjoy it, the world is not going to end because it wasn't perfect. Since Black Friday has since passed and we are on Cyber Monday. Did I go shopping? You betcha, and spent more than I really should have. My version of shopping is going online and getting it because I loath crowds. My e-mail is getting bombed with deals but the discretionary spending money is gone for a couple weeks and all I have to do is hop to the Toys R Us website for my nephews and I can call it a day.

Today was the day that I went into the unworn bag and pulled something out to wear. The reason was that the unworn and not reviewed bag was overflowing and now I have more on the way in terms of things to review. It turned out to be Samsara in EDP form. I was hoping it wouldn't be one of those typical '80's perfumes. In a way, it was the normal run of the mill '80's scents but quieter. I smell a whopping dose of creamy jasmine that stays front and center throughout my journey. Eventually, I get some fresh green note that follows the jasmine. I think that it's to tone down the jasmine note but Samsara evolves a little more. I get hints of tonka bean with an undercurrent of vanilla. This is the most modern version of Samsara and it does seem to be a little rough around the edges which bothers me a little bit due to the fact that I like my perfumes well blended and smooth. Lasting power for me was about 6 hours. Don't think that I would get a bottle though, my 8ml decant will suit me just fine.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Vacations and Writer's Block

Last week, I had found myself on vacation and didn't have anything planned for it. It turned into almost a week of running around trying to help an elderly grandmother who just had a knee replacement. Even though she expected me at her house everyday, I only was able to do 3 days. My grandmother is a incredibly demanding person that has no concept of time nor does she take into account that it takes 45 minutes for my family to arrive at her house. It seemed like every time she asked you to do something, she expected it to be done the nano second she asked. So in dealing with that and a couple other things, I am still tired. And now we are close to Thanksgiving and I am not looking forward to it.

It's been really tough to even attempt to wear and review anything. I live in a household that doesn't really like perfume. So it is fairly rare that I am home alone to really try anything but sometimes, I just say screw it, I am trying something new.

Monday, October 30, 2017

Amouage Jubilation 25 Extrait Review

I have always had a thing for a few of Amouage's early works. Memoir, Epic, and Lyric are the ones that I love the most. Dia and Gold took a little while for me to love but I haven't been that enthused by Amouage's work after Honour with Beloved being an exception. Maybe Christopher Chong has lost a little bit of his direction or after so many Amouage classics that the bar is probably set a little too high.

For the past few mornings, I've been wearing Gold (women's version) before my shower. For quite a while, I haven't been wearing Gold. I've always known that it was a grand perfume and that I don't have many occasions to wear it to. Sunday morning was the morning of doom for Gold. For some reason, it infuriated my mother who said that it stinks and to throw it out. I had forgotten how animalic it was. Gold is much more than Chanel no 5 on steroids. Dia is no 5 on steroids. I still wouldn't go calling Gold skanky or high class skanky. So I guess I will be wearing Gold when everybody is out of the house. But you didn't come for me yakking about Gold.

It took me a really long time for me to love Jubilation 25. Don't get me wrong, I do love Jubilation 25 but there is something about her that won't let me wear it on a regular basis. I say it's the fruity aspect of it that makes it impossible for me to wear it frequently. Mitsouko and I have the same issue. Yesterday afternoon, I applied my dab of Jubilation 25 in extrait form. Holy crap, is it good. There is a depth and richness to it that made my jaw drop. The bloom of Jubilation 25 takes a little longer to open up and have people notice. From trying the Lyric and now the Jubilation 25 in extrait form, they still smell just like the EDP's but it's deeper and richer. it's not like the Chanels and every concentration seems to smell different. For reasons that I can't fathom, Amouage has the full bottle extraits in 1.7 ounce sprays and very few perfumers have extraits in spray form. I'm happy to say that it was a good thing that I only got a dabber and not a spray decant. Only a dab will do ya and this lasts  for an effortless 10 hours on my skin.

Monday, October 23, 2017

A Week with Amouage

Last week was a week that I did spend with Amouage. I'm not talking about spending 3 or 4 days but all 7 days. I don't know why I did it but I did.

Two years ago, I had a wedding in Texas that I had to go to and had only one perfume with me. It was tough being 1,100 miles from home and not being able to have access to my perfume collection. Could I have taken a couple decants along with me? Yeah, I could have but I wasn't going to explain my decants to security (I wasn't about to drive from Cleveland to Texas). Texas that week was hot and the perfume of choice was Chanel no 19 in EDT form. I was happy to get home a spritz some vintage Bal.

Spending a week with one perfume house when you have multiple offerings is a great thing. I was still able to wear a different perfume every day and not be so bored out of my skull. There were a couple Amouages that I wasn't able to get to (decants that are haven't been worn and reviewed) but in the end, I was a little bored with hanging out with Amouage.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Amouage Epic Man Review

It's known in the perfume world about my of Amouage. Amouage is one of those houses that commands respect. Amouage has never been overly edgy but they do go into the edgy territory a little bit and they do the east meets west phenomenally well. Amouage does pay homage to the Arabic tradition and the Western tradition of perfumery and it shows in their offerings. The newer ladies versions has left me underwhelmed and I really didn't like them. I'll have to give Myths a try to see if I like it.

I haven't really delved into the men's offerings of Amouage and I decided that since I had a decant, to give it a whirl. The last men's version I tried was Interlude (man) and it was horrible on my skin. Nothing but wet, stale, half smoked cigarette in a really dirty ashtray. Lyric Man left me cold. So I was hoping that Epic Man would leave me singing. Not so much.

When I first put Epic on, it smelled like a generic men's cologne. A little watery but gave a promise that things would get better. Not so fast, Epic Man still stays on the watery side from start to finish. After the first few minutes, I do smell some frankincense coming to the forefront and does create a thread of it through out the composition. But I mostly smell some wood notes in there and maybe a little geranium but not much else. The lasting power of this was only 6 hours long and I have always expected more from the Amouages in terms of lasting power. The women's versions have a lasting power of at least 10 hours or more on my skin.

While Epic man is somewhat likeable to my nose, I definitely won't be getting a full bottle. With the men and women's Amouages, there is no kind of tie in with the men and women's version (Lyric, Epic, Interlude) that makes it any kind impact or suggests that it can compliment the other. I'm thinking that I should stick to the women's versions of Amouage.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Pre-Reformulation SDV

Since my computer is being a butt, I am writing this on my Kindle. The weather has gotten much cooler and now I can start wearing my heavy hitters. After digging in my unworn bag, I had pulled out a small decant of SDV. I had to take a closer look to why I had a decant in there in the first place. On the label, it has the pre-reformulation 2007 on it, so I had to test it out and do a comparison with the current version.

Guerlain has always been able to make vanilla sing. I had learned to love vanilla a little later in my perfume journey and how I like my vanilla. I like my vanilla either burnt, boozy or inedible. Spirirtuese Double Vanille delivers on all three. The pre-formulated version is smoother, quieter and less boozy than the reformulation. But SDV is still fairly loud on me and has the half life of plutonium on skin, reformulated or not. I would like to have a bottle of the current stuff but it's not in the cards right now.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Too Many Changes

It's very rare that I step foot in a retail establishment. The only one that I actually set foot in on a regular basis is a grocery store. So, it's not often that I go into other stores due to the fact that so many are at least a half an hour away.

Saturday, after work, I met a friend for some ice cream at Mitchell's to catch up with him and we decided to see what Bath and Body Works is doing. About 5 years ago, I noticed them making some changes. The nearest Bath and Body Works nearest to me is a stand alone store, so their stocking and selection may be different than that is going on with the mall stores. Bath and Body Works is not what it used to be. The emphasis was mostly on their bath stuff, not so much on the home stuff. Gradually, it has changed over. The store that I was in, didn't seem to have a lot going on in the way of the bath products and mostly seemed to be candles and stuff for the wallflowers. Two or three seemed to be one of the staples of their collection (Moonlight Path, Japanese Cherry Blossom). But the biggest changed that I noticed on how seasonal Bath and Body Works has gotten and they never have been very seasonal. I was a little saddened on how much they have changed and most of the seasonal stuff didn't smell too good. The only one that I fell in love with was the Heirloom Apple which I did buy four of the 3 wick candles. I wish they still sold the little one wick candles.

Bath and Body Works seems to have really gone downhill after they decided to start "retireing" some of their most popular items. Cucumber Melon, which has always been popular since my high school days (around 20 years ago) was retired in the past 6 or 7 years. It seems to be a little sad that it's not the store that I remember.

Saturday, September 30, 2017

Vintage Chanel no 5 Parfum Review

No 5 is one of those perfumes that does get lost in the shuffle when I am deciding on what I am going to wear for the day. The parfum versions are located in the front while the spray bottles are more of in the back. Don't ask me why but they just are. Parfum wise, I have about 4 bottles while the EDT and EDP have two bottles. My parfum comes from E-Bay because that is my source for vintage perfumes. But with Chanel no 5, I do need to be careful. People will pass off a counterfeit perfume as Chanel no 5 and that had happened to me once.

I haven't gotten a bottle of no 5 parfum in probably 5 years due to many things and reasons. I had noticed a while ago that Chanel had really started to ramp up the price for every size of their parfum. Ninety-five dollars for 7.5 ml of extrait was hard enough to part with but $130 in not in the budget. What I am willing to pay for an Amouage as opposed to a Chanel is different. But let's get to the review.

Last night, my resolve failed me and instead of wearing vintage Bal in the evening (Now Smell This challenge), I had opted to wear some vintage no 5 extrait. The bottle that I had tried was probably from the 1950's. I had noticed that the top notes were damaged, but smelled like the top notes of Chanel no 5, so they haven't been totally destroyed by time. After the damaged top notes wear off, it definitely smells like no 5. In the vintage EDT, I noticed the nitro musks and the nitro musks gave no 5 tons of sexiness without being skanky. But the bottle of extrait I am trying out is different. I noticed that the nitro musks are giving the extrait a skank note that smells strange in Chanel no 5. The skank note reminds me of the skank not in Amouage Gold, which is almost like a twin sister of Chanel no 5. I think that I do prefer Amouage Gold to no 5 in extrait form.

Monday, September 25, 2017

Guerlain Habit Rouge EDT Review

A few days ago, I was craving a new perfume to test out. It was one of those days where I had to be at work at 5 in the morning, so I didn't have the time to really spend any kind of time nor the inclination to make an effort. So it became Guerlain's Habit Rouge in EDT form. I had packed Noontide Petals in case Habit Rouge was an epic failure.

I figured that since it was a classic and I hadn't done any prior reading up, it would be fabulous on me. Guerlain and I do get along, most of the time. When I first put Habit Rouge on, I got lemons instead of a vague citrus note. Fresh cut lemons and I loved it to pieces at that point. When the lemon faded from the top and other notes started to come into play, I wasn't so enthused. I started to get a lot of Diorella, that earthy fleashiness. The type is that at the end of the day in the sun and that squeaky clean is gone. That stays to the end. I did get some vanilla and some herbs. The vanilla took me by surprise because I normally associate the vanilla and the lemons with Shalimar, which is pretty feminine and I don't know any man that I see on a regular basis that wear Shalimar or even wear Shalimar. The herbs had said Jicky to me and it's funny that Guerlain took the basic composition of Jicky and made Shalimar with it. I think that Guerlain took both Jicky and Shalimar tweeked them both a little bit to get Habit Rouge. Yes, a masculine Shalimar, which in itself, isn't such a bad idea. I have yet to try Derby and Veviter and Jicky was probably the only Guerlain that men had ever dared to wear. For an EDT, this lasts about 6 hours on my EDT eating skin and that surprised me.

Do I like it? I'm not sure and I will have to wear this a little more. Wear it more so I can understand it and end up enjoying this.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Ubar Relaunched

 Now is the time where I really get a move on with the revisiting the things from early in my perfumeista journey. Back when I started blogging about perfume, I feared not liking a perfume and saying so on my blog. My tastes have changed and I have become less afraid of saying what I think about perfume. If I think that something smells like a really bad fart, I'm going to say so, if it smells wonderful, I'll say so too.

When I had first tried Ubar, I almost physically recoiled. I thought that I got a decant that was bad or someone wanted to play a prank on me. It did smell like the Off bug spray with flowers somewhere in there. At the time, I had made every effort to make friends with Ubar but Ubar wasn't having it. I really think, at the time, I predominantly wanted the cheapest Amouage perfumes. At the time, it was $250 for a 3.4 ounce bottle and that was a bargain for an Amouage if you wanted to pay full price. Now I know better and can find it cheaper.

Since a few years have past and I haven't had a decant in any form, I had ordered one when STC was having a sale. I figured that if I have fallen in love with a few perfumes that I initially hated, I should give Ubar another go. After I had worn it a couple times, my opinion has somewhat changed. Does it smell different? Yes, probably due to some reformulation. The bug spray note doesn't seem to be prominent in this and I get more of a floral note to this. Ubar still lasts forever and isn't the best to wear when you are working in a bakery. Heat makes Ubar really bloom. Has my opinion changed? Yes, I am starting to like this one and I'm thinking that I will eventually fall in love and get a full bottle.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Candles Galore

I've made no secret about that I live in a semi rural area in Northeastern Ohio. This is an area that requires a car to go just about anywhere and everywhere. Living in a semi rural area means living with power outages on a regular basis. Power outages can last anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple days. My family does have a generator but the generator only is powerful enough to let us have running water and keep the fridge cold. This is where candles are a must.

I am a candle collector out of necessity and not out loving candles for the heck of it. I view it as might as well try to find some kind of enjoyment somewhere. I've always found that Yankee Candle wasn't my thing because their candles really didn't smell like what I wanted. Vanilla didn't smell like vanilla or the lilac didn't smell like lilac. I'm not a fan of their uneven burn. You get the picture. I will be honest that I'm not a person that will spend a ton of money just for 1 candle. When I'm out and about and replenishing my supply, I'm getting 5 or 6 candles at a time. My favorite place for candles is Bath and Body Works.

There are certain ones that I like when it comes to BWW candles. Most of the time, the ones I like are seasonal candles. Lilac Blossom is probably the only non-seasonal one that I really enjoy. It smells just like lilacs in bloom. My other favorite is probably the Farm stand Apple or what ever they want to call it on any given year. The apple is just plain old apple, not apple pie or any of the variations. Yes, I don't like tons going on with my candles scent wise, I'm more of a soliflower type of person.

Friday, September 8, 2017

Going Through the Pile

After 10 years and a lot of money spent in pursuit of perfume, I've accumulated a lot of full bottles and even more decants. I've made more of a habit of going through my worn and reviewed decant bags for culls. I always manage to toss a few empty decants and use up the small ones that have only a wearing left. Doing that much has proved to have some benefits. I have more space in the make up bag to go through my unworn and not reviewed bag.

The problem has always been the same for me. I seem to be kind of reluctant to work my way through the whole unworn bag. At this point in the game, my full bottle collection is big enough, it's probably close to 60 bottles and it's been quite a while since I've counted. So I can't really justify smelling a whole lot of new stuff and end up falling in love with something. I don't want to fall in love with any one perfume because finances are still under massive amounts of strain to the point of decants of the things I love that I don't have full bottles of can be hard to justify and only a small spray decant is all I can afford. This is what happens when you have already sunk a small fortune into your teeth and will keep spending a small fortune on more work. Dentists cost a lot of money and I always try really hard to space my dentist visits 2 or 3 weeks apart if I can.

I know that I honestly should either E-Bay or donate the perfumes that I bought blind and I really don't like. I have them in a box, ready to go. Most of the time I either forget, procrastinate, or my hoarding perfume comes out. For some reason, it takes me a while to throw worn out or torn clothing out. Don't ask me why it takes a while for me to get rid of stuff but it does.

What I am starting to do now, is take a look at what I had worn and reviewed already and take a closer look at some. I have started to wear some of the perfumes that I said I didn't like or hate it to see if I still hate them. In the beginning of my perfume journey, I reviewed some perfumes that I didn't like but in truth, didn't like one bit. I didn't want to go trashing a perfume. After a while, I did lose that aversion and now I have no problems saying that I don't like something. So I am taking a look at a few perfumes that I hadn't liked before and wearing them again to see if something has changed. Just like everything else, it's gonna be slow going for me.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Guerlain Shalimar Ode a la Vanille Madagascar

I have always loved the original Shalimar since I first sprayed about 8 or 9 years ago. I keep wondering about why I am not wearing Shalimar more when I do reach for it. But I was a little late to the party and a little miffed at why Guerlain would release two flankers of Shalimar. I was asking on what were the differences and why were they needed.

I already reviewed the Mexique and managed to snap up to bottles. It was time for me to seek out the Madagascar version to see what the difference is. This version of Shalimar smells like Shalimar but there are differences between all three (original, Mexique, and Madagascar). The Madagascar version doesn't have the huge citrus note. The citrus is still there and noticeable but not overwhelming and not as sharp. After a while, the citrus does fade way back into the background and lets me smell the rest of the composition. The vanilla is much deeper and much more smoky and I haven't really noticed it in the other two. What I really enjoyed was how slutty this version of Shalimar is. Mexique and the original Shalimar are pretty slutty but Madagascar takes this to a whole new level. The skank level is almost on the level of vintage Bal. It's a pity that I only have a pretty small decant of Madagascar. It's also a pity that Mexique and Madagascar are only limited editions, long discontinued. It's much easier to find the Mexique version for a somewhat decent price where when I find the Madagascar version (it's rare to find it), it's an arm and a leg. I will try my best to console myself with having the Mexique version.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Ulta vs Sephora

On Monday, I had stopped by Ulta with the intention of only returning the eye shadows that I had ordered online. That didn't happen, I mean, I returned the eye shadow but didn't just leave the store to finish up my errands. I made the mistake of looking at the sale fliers that they hang in their windows and saw the nail polish sale that they were having. Buy two, get one free and I could mix and match brands. So what did I end up doing? After my return, I did take a look at the Iceland collection. Sometimes you really need to see the color of anything in person before purchasing. I will maintain that this fall/winter collection from OPI, while nice, is a little on the drab side. I expected at least one red but they had a brighter pink and that was it. But I did fall in love with the Check Out the Old Geysirs and This Isn't Greenland because they were pretty unusual for OPI.

I have never spent a whole lot of time with Ulta and have always been pretty dismissive of Ulta. But being broke ha made me reasess my elitism when it comes to places like Sephora and Ulta. I always thought that Ulta was a poor man's Sephora but I don't think it's the case when I took a closer look. Ulta is a place that sells much more than fancy make up and skin care. Ulta is not like Sephora in that respect. I think Ulta figured out that Sephora seems to cater to a wealthier demographic and not everyone wants to spend tons of money on make up, hair care and body care. But there are people like me, who are tired of the drug store stuff and have a little more to spend on quality. I had found most of my favorite brands (SkynIceland, Urban Decay and Too Faced) at Ulta to win me over from the Sephora camp. I haven't really looked at the perfume section the few times that I have been in the store but didn't really have a whole lot of time to look at them.

Sephora isn't what it used to be, I don't think. It seems like they have raised their prices and the selection has gone down in the stores. Online is a little different due to the fact that they have online exclusives and most of the time, they are sold out of them. I don't see as many full Sephoras in malls and find more free standing Ultas. Well, I'm not really in Sephora's target demographic and I'm okay with that.

The biggest difference between the two is that Ulta runs a lot of sales and I do like a good deal on stuff I am going to use. Sephora never seems to run too much in the way of sales and when they do, it's not a good sale and something that I am not interested. So at the end of the day, it's going to be Ulta for make up and some body stuff.

Sunday, August 27, 2017

The Height of Depravity

I'm typing this on my Kindle, so forgive any kind of spelling mistakes and punctuation errors. Ever since tablets and all the ilk became affordable, along with wi-fi being pretty cheap, I really don't use my computer anymore. Well, not a whole lot. I mainly gave up on owning a computer and having an iPod.

The reason I gave up on iPods is that I am not exactly happy with Apple. For the longest time, iPods were fairly cheap and when the battery wouldn't hold a charge for more than 5 minutes, it seemed to be a whole lot cheaper just to buy a new iPod than replace the battery. Well, now that my beloved Nano's battery gave up the ghost, they're charging $100 or more to replace a stinking battery and discontinued all of the iPods except the Touch. I have got to be the only one that sees the Touch for what it is, an iPhone without the phone. How much longer before they drop the Touch? I'd rather keep my music and phone separate and wish that Apple would quit jamming the iPhone down my throat and keep at least the Nano or Shuffle but give the Shuffle a little more space for music.

What I mean by the height of depravity is that since I am not so hindered by dial up or wires, I can surf the internet, blog, read, or watch TV from my Kindle. The bathroom, the kitchen, outside, the doctors office, wherever. The only time I am hindered is when my battery is low or dead, then I need a wire.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Chanel Cuir de Russie RDP Review

Remember when the announcement came out about Chanel converting the Exclusifs line from EDT to EDP? Well, I finally tried that decant I had of the Cuir de Russie EDP. Cuir de Russie was the perfume that really made me fall down the rabbit hole in terms of really loving perfume. At the time, I didn't know about decants and where to buy them or anything about perfume. Here I am 10 years later and a massive collection.

When I heard that Chanel was converting the Excluifs line from EDT to EDP, my reaction was kind of goofy. Some of me was the whole it will still be the same scent and it will still smell as wonderful as the EDT. The other part that was more knowledgeable said that all the Chanel formulations smell different. So back when TPC still had Chanel offerings, I grabbed a sample of Cuir de Russie EDP for a comparison and I think that I should have grabbed a small decant of no 22 EDP while I was at it.

The EDP still smells like Cuir de Russie but it is different. I find that the EDP is harsher and a little less blended than the EDT. The CdR is EDP form seems to be flatter and less rich than the EDT. I don't exactly know how or where is it flat but it is flat. The EDT is richer, more plush than the EDP. I think that some of it lies in the fact that the EDT has a lot of skank to where the EDP has taken the skank to nonexistant. The harshness in the EDP in mostly in the beginning but lasts until the dry down.

When it boils down to it, the EDP for Cuir de Russie is not a great, let alone good perfume worthy of the Chanel name. It's a good thing for me that I had bought the econo sized bottle before there were size choices of the Cuir de Russie in the EDP form. Hopefully, Chanel hasn't messed with the parfum. Needless to say, the only version of Cuir de Russie from now on will be the parfum.

Monday, August 21, 2017

Nail Stuff

Is there anybody out there that's like me with nail polish. My nail polish and doing my nails is a little wonky. I am not really so much into the whole doing my nails (even my toe nails) on any regular basis. I used to years back. Having nail polish on my finger nails and working in food service doesn't really mix. It's frowned upon to have it on nails. But I've had a hankering for what nail polish I can add to my collection and my usual go to for nail polish is the OPI brand. I had seen that the collection this time was called Iceland. I've always loved the play on words/names that OPI does.

I had to take a closer look on this collection because it looked a little on the drab side with maybe one color that I liked. It looks like a couple are either drab or just too boring for my liking. Since Amazon doesn't really have the collection and what they do have would take weeks to ship to my house, I went to the Ulta website and created an account to get the two that I really liked and a couple of small things for Christmas gifts. What has amazed me is the price of the OPI nail polishes. I don't recall them ever being so expensive and I guess that it's a good thing that I am not overly obsessed with polishing my nails.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Things That Make Me Wonder

A few years back, I was a massive nail polish junkie. Well, I had fake nails that I went to a nail salon once a month to have filled and all. Usually, I bought the nail polish that I wanted for the month for the reason of touch ups and if I wanted to, polish my toe nails the same color. But after a while, fake nails got really expensive and I stopped. Would I like to start doing that again? Yes, I would but I work in food service and it's frowned on and can run on the expensive side when you do it long term.

When I stopped polishing my finger nails, I kind of stuck to doing my toe nails to start using up most of the nail polish that I do have. Since I've done that, I've looked at the OPI nail polish collections after the German collection. Nothing really caught my eye, then I saw the Iceland collection. For a minute, I squealed because I thought that it would be a wonderful line. Taking a closer look at it, it's either somewhat of a rip off of my favorite Russian collection or the colors are kind of awful. I see two, maybe three that I would like to get. At this point, I'll probably get one. I'm kind of wondering about OPI since they don't have the selection of color anymore that I can get excited about.

Since I have been making an effort with using my full bottles, last night, I decided to spray on Amouage Lyric. Lyric was my first Amouage love and saved up for at least 3 years before I was able to buy a bottle. My full bottle has been sitting in the back of my collection untouched and rarely worn for 5 years. I had mainly been wearing my decant and travel spray but neglected the bottle. Something funky had happened. I initially thought that Lyric had gone bad. Then I sprayed a little spray this morning before my shower and was confused again. I was wondering if it was because I had a couple other perfumes on my robe sleeve or what I had been wearing was a post reformulation batch. I am going to have to wear this for a few days just to make sure.

Monday, August 7, 2017

Is There Progress?

I was looking around, thinking about what I should wear in terms of perfume today (Une Rose Chypree, in case you were wondering). The thought occured to me that I haven't bought one bottle of perfume since I had bought a bottle of L'Heure de Nuit back in February. Yes, I was poking around E-bay off and on since then and Luckyscent but haven't pulled the trigger on any full bottles. It isn't a total victory though.

Have I bought decants, yes, it's all I can really afford right now in terms of perfume. Financially, things are tight and I must start thinking ahead. It may be too early to think about my nephews and their birthdays in November, Christmas in December. I got a plan for that. If I have an extra $10-$15, it will be Amazon gift cards to put on my account and then have the ability to afford something for the people I shop for. At the end of the day right now, I do have to think about the future.

Have I made some progress with my perfume collection? Yes and no. I haven't finished one full bottle of anything and I haven't even started with selling anything on E-Bay with the stuff I either don't wear nor the stuff that I don't wear anymore. But I have made some progress with my decants. The progress I made is that I used up the ones that I had only one or two wearings left. But some of my focus has been wearing a couple more bottles exclusively. I kind of fell into wearing my Andy Tauer perfumes a little more frequently and also seeing if I can finish off that 1 ounce bottle of vintage Bal. I would like to see if I can actually manage to finish a bottle or two this year.

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Perfume Minis and Other Things

Cleaning has never been my favorite thing to do, nor replacing things that need replaced. But both needed to be done. I'm not one of those who has to scour everything once a week, I usually do that once or twice a year. The rest of the time, it's some maintenance (vacuuming, minor cleaning). After putting off cleaning my bedroom for about a year, I went through and sorted out some stuff to throw out or donate. You don't realize how much you really own until you start to go through things. Part of the reason is that I had bought a new mattress because my old one was falling apart. I needed more space to maneuver the old and new mattress.

I periodically do poke around for perfume minis. Usually I find them when I am doing my vintage searching on E-Bay. Most of the time, I find them through searches of  vintage L'Heure Bleue, Mitsouko and Deneuve. The mid to late '90's must have been the time where sample vials of perfume of minis that sprayed must have become more common. But minis must have been the decants. Where people could spend maybe a dollar on a mini to try out at home. Or they might have been those free with purchase or cost a dollar or two if some couldn't afford a full bottle. But minis don't seem to be common anymore in the land of travel sprays, TPC, STC and perfume companies getting on board with spray samples for people to take home. No, I am not talking extrait bottles because those are not minis. I do have a few minis myself in my collection. they are predominantly Deneuve. The Deneuve minis are the ones that I mostly see and for a fairly reasonable price on E-Bay. Let's face it, even partially full bottles of Deneuve are pretty pricey and the minis are wither the EDT or the extrait. But I've never been overtly enthused with spending what seems like a million dollars for a small amount of perfume.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Vintage Chanel no 19 EDP Review

Chanel no 19 is one of those staples in my perfume collection is one of those perfumes that doesn't really get a whole lot of wear anymore. For a while, it was my go to perfume for many occasions. But in the past 2 or 3 years, my collection has really expanded and it is not exactly on my radar so much anymore. When I had applied the vintage version of Chanel no 19 EDP for a bed time scent on Sunday, I had to take a look at both the vintage and the current version. Yesterday, I put some of the current EDP to really take a look.

I had noticed with the vintage that the opening is much sharper and much more astringent than the current version. After the bite of the beginning wears off, and it wears off massively, the rose comes into play. The rose isn't as clear, the rose is now powdery and that is something that I haven't found in the current version. A powdery rose is not something I exactly like. The iris in no 19 is not carroty and earthy and it seems like the powder had kind of gotten that too. The vintage version seems to have some serious staying power over the current version.

At the end of the day, I prefer the current version of the EDP but I'm starting to favor the EDT version due to the fact that in green perfumes, I don't like much more than the barest hint of powder. I find it kind of sad in some ways that Chanel is not my most favored house anymore in terms of perfume. I think in some ways, Chanel has kind of lost Coco Chanel's vision and direction. Coco Chanel had revolutionized women's clothing and revolutionized perfume as we know it.

Monday, July 17, 2017

Chanel Stuff and Grad Party Mistake

Did you ever have an event that you had to go to and ended up wearing the wrong perfume? That happened to me yesterday. I had my cousin's high school graduation party that I had to attend yesterday. The party was lovely but found myself regretting the choice I made in perfume. After shuffling through my decants, I found my decant of Xeroff Irisss and wore that. By the time I sprayed it on 10 minutes before I arrived at the party, I regretted it. I had forgotten that it was a spicy iris and I like my iris perfumes to be carroty, earthy and rooty. I had nothing else with me and I gritted my teeth and rode it out. When I had gotten home, I quickly had to wash off the remnants and apply my vintage (I don't know how vintage) Chanel no 19 EDP. I am applying the current EDP for comparison and will probably review it.

I will admit that I do like window shopping. I decided to stop by the Chanel website and see if there was anything new coming out or had no 19 EDP come in more sizes than the 3.4 ounce bottle. And it was yes on both counts. Finally no 19 in the EDP form comes in a 1.7 ounce bottle. Even though I don't need another bottle of anything, but when I am in the market for a new bottle of perfume, I want smaller bottles. I had saw that Chanel is releasing a perfume called Gabrielle on August 19th of this year. From reading the description, it sounds like a BWF that I'm not exactly too interested in. It looks like there is most likely going to be a moderate note of tuberose and tuberose is my mortal enemy in perfume. If somebody gave me a sample, yeah, I'd probably try it in case but it wouldn't be something that I would seek out to try. I think I will be holding off on trying this for quite a while before seeking this one out. My rule still kind of remains that I must start finishing full bottles of perfume before adding more. Finishing decants are little victories too.

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Extrait Bottles

I do go through times where I take a really good look at my bottles of perfumes. And there have many times that I have waxed poetical on bottles and perfume bottle porn. I am somewhat attracted to perfume bottles, even though the perfume maybe crap, I'm still attracted. But now I'm intrigued with something in my collection. My various bottles of extrait. Guerlain, Chanel, Deneuve and probably a couple others.

Most of the extract that I have is vintage and more often than not, it's gonna be Chanel or Guerlain. Most current versions of extract is going to be in quarter, half, or full ounce bottles. You are not going to find strange sizes, except when you are looking around. Guerlain in vintage is pretty funky in terms of size. Let's see, I have two vintage bottles of Shalimar that are a third of an ounce and a bottle of L'Heure de Nuit that is either two thirds or three quarters of an ounce. I don't know why it really isn't done so much anymore. I think that it probably wasn't profitable anymore. I wish there were a little more choice in perfume sizes period.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Amouage Lyric Extrait Review

I really haven't worn my bottles of Amouage recently but the craving did strike yesterday. Yesterday was the day my dad had to go for a chemo class and I couldn't exactly go and clear out a room. Amouage has the ability to do that. What I did was used some of my Lyric bath stuff. Did I use the body butter? No, I busted out the hand lotion. The hand lotion is a whole lot less than the body butter in terms of scent. Then I proceeded to dab on the Lyric extrait.

The extrait of Lyric isn't as loud or bombastic as the EDP version. The reason I say loud and bombastic is that when any of the Amouage offerings applied generously, they are bombastic and really loud. The extrait is much softer and much more smooth than the EDP, if such a thing is possible. I noticed that it is far richer and deeper than the EDP. I'm thinking that it's the sandalwood that's the culprit for this. The lasting power is phenomenal for this and lasting power has never been a problem for any of the Amouages that I own.

I would love to own a bottle of this but I can't exactly afford over $300 for this one. Yes, that's the right price but it is a 1.7 ounce spray bottle. The funny thing is that I don't often see extrait of anything over one ounce let alone a spray bottle. Guess it goes on the long burn list of the bottle worthy list.

Friday, June 23, 2017

Comme des Garcons Avignon EDT Review

It was time to break out of my rut to try something new. For some reason, I was really craving Kyoto but decided that I had to try out Avignon instead. I do keep hearing about Avignon and Kyoto on Now Smell This on what people are wearing for the day. But after hanging out at with the perfume crowd online, it seems like Comme des Garcons Series 3 seems to be the best loved out of all the CdG offerings. Yes, next up on my list is Avignon. I am slowly working my through the line.

I have full bottles of Kyoto and Zagorsk and love them both, even though I really don't wear them often. Zagorsk and Kyoto are dry and Avignon is no different. Avignon is definitely not a happy perfume nor is it sad. I find it somber and not very uplifting. The incense note is even more massive and domineering than Kyoto and Zagorsk. I do smell some vanilla and cistus labdanum to keep Avignon from being too sad and dry.

At this point, I find after 4 hours, this one peters out and leaves me wanting more. Do I love it? Yes! Do I want it? Yes but can't afford a new bottle of perfume right now. CdG isn't one to impress anybody with this line's choice of bottle. Yes, there is no bottle swag to grab anyone really. But Series 3 is worth seeking out.

Monday, June 19, 2017

Guerlain Orchidee Imperiale Toner

Back when I had ordered my bottle of L'Heure de Nuit, I wasn't expecting a sampler of Guerlain's facial care stuff. Most of the stuff I knew wouldn't be a great fit for my skin and gave it to my mother but the toner looked like it would be a great fit for me. My skin care regimen is pretty basic and I don't use a lot of products. I normally use SkynIceland's glacial face wash and the cloud cream and that's it. I do use an astringent once in a while. What I mean by once in a while is when I have to be at work at 5 in the morning and I am not lazy enough not to brush my teeth but too lazy to wash my face or when it's really hot out. Since I have been out of the Burt's Bees rose toner, I decided to give the Guerlain toner a go.

Most toners/astringents tend to dry out my already dry skin (except my nose, which is oily and prone to pimples) but the Orchidee Imperiale toner didn't. Looking at the bottle, is was a moisturizing toner. Many have claimed that theirs is moisturizing but are not. This one is but I noticed that what ever moisturizer they use kind of doesn't absorb all that well into my skin. But my face didn't feel greasy for the rest of the day. What I noticed is that it does get a lot of dirt, grime and oil off of my face. Yes toners and astringents are kind of like a mini face wash for when you don't have quite the time to wash your face. The good news is that my face didn't break out nor did it develop any kind of irritation to this one.

In spite of it's flaws, I was looking at buying a bottle of this. When I looked online for this one, I got some sticker shock. For a 4 ounce bottle of this stuff, it was $140 dollars. I know that I have spent that and much more on a bottle of perfume but perfume lasts longer. I think at this point, I am going to stick to the Burt's Bees rose toner.

Monday, June 5, 2017

Jewelry and Cleaning

I'm typing this post and posting this from my Kindle, so forgive formatting issues and questionable spelling. Since I have been on a no buy of anything with perfume, I have been going through some of my stuff. You know, throwing things out, consigning things. I'm making some headway with my closet but cleaned out and thrown out a ratty T.V. stand and sold a nightstand that I didn't need. The last perfume I was able to buy was a bottle of L'Heure de Nuit in either February or March. I'm leaning more to the middle of February. It boils down to making sure that food is on the table and there is a roof over my head. It was fun while it lasted, when I had more means to spend on perfume. But I still have my collection to enjoy and quite a bit to test and review. But that's not exactly why I am posting.

I started to work my way through my jewelry box. I was looking at so much that I don't wear so much anymore. For the past 4 years, I have seem to have gotten into the habit of wearing the same 5 or 6 pieces of jewelry without thinking about it. Working food service, you don't have many options on what you can wear. Would they rather have you not wear any? Yep but companies know that it can't be totally stopped. No bracelets, no rings with stones, very small hooped earrings is about it. After gazing at the stuff I don't wear, most of my jewelry is not from the big box stores but from artisans that work from themselves. So my collection is not really what you are going to find on the market. Some of them are one of a kind. I would rather support those jewelry makers that don't work for the big box stores. Prices may be a little more expensive but I am getting something unusual and catches people's eye.

Monday, May 22, 2017

Serge Lutens Bois de Violette Review and Other Stuff

It's been really difficult to blog lately and I mean really difficult to blog about anything, let alone perfume. My dad had surgery almost a week and a half ago due to colon cancer and we are waiting for the biopsy results to come in. Having my dad home means less time to blog (not like I do a whole lot of it) and work leaves almost no time to write about perfume. I do still wear perfume but I haven't really attempted to wear anything new. Financial troubles have also taken their toll on me but I am starting to see some marginal progress. With financial troubles makes me hesitant to reach into my unworn bag of decants. I just can't afford to buy anymore perfume right now and buying decants is almost out of the question right now.

With finances being very out of wack, it is making me appreciate my perfume collection a whole lot more. I am being forced to be content with the collection that I do have and I am hoping that I can drain a few bottles and sell off the ones that I don't wear. I haven't gotten around to seeing if Goodwill will accept perfume. Maybe a consignment shop would work a little better.

I was craving something new to wear, my hand picked out Serge Lutens Bois de Violette. I've always had somewhat of a rocky road with Serge Lutens offerings. Some don't smell good to my nose or too fleeting. It doesn't help that his exclusive line is sold at Barney's for an Amouage price. A Serge Lutens perfume works better for me if I spray, not dab. Dabbing just doesn't work all that well for me considering. I can't fathom why Serge Lutens refuses to include spray tops with his bell jars just like he does with the export line. With his export line, you have the option of spraying or dabbing. I'm too lazy as well to decant my own perfumes.

In the review, there will be a lot of comparisons between Bois de Violette and it's eldest sister, Feminite du Bois. Feminite du Bois is actually the mother ship for the whole Bois line, so there will be tons of comparisons between the two. The whole structure of Violette is almost identical to FdB from top to bottom. I'm not kidding, in a blind test, I probably wouldn't be able to differentiate between the two. Not at first sniff at least but then the violet comes out to play. It's not a shrinking violet but not an aggressive violet either, the violet is more of the assertive type. Then the whole FdB thing kind of quiets down and hums along. The sad thing is that Violette doesn't last long on me with a spray decant. I maybe get 3 and a half hours worth of wear out of this. I don't know when Serge moved Violette from the export line to the non export line but it must have been in the past 3 or 4 years. Most export sprays that I have last me at least 8 hours. Will I ever get a bottle of this? Probably not because I already have a bottle of FdB in my arsenal. I wouldn't turn my nose up if someone gifted me with a bottle of it either. My wallet is thanking me right now.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Chanel no 5 L'Eau Review

It took me quite a while to love and enjoy the original no 5 in all of it's current forms. Since I now love the original no 5, I own the EDP, EDT, and some of the extrait and some of the extrait is the vintage version. I do wear no 5 on a regular basis. But when I learned to love Chanel no 5, I wasn't wearing it as I could have, which is quite a bit. Then Eau Premiere came out. I had bought a bottle within the first two months and wore it at least three times a week. I loved Eau Premiere in the beginning and I'm not sure what had changed to make me dislike it but now I do. This leads me to no 5 L'Eau.

When I had heard that Chanel was doing a new flanker of no 5, a little bit of me was horrified. I wasn't amused that they were messing around with their flagship perfume. Let's think about it, no 5 is their most famous perfume and most classic perfume. Mademoiselle gets a lot of press but it's not really a classic yet but probably one of their best sellers. Chanel had already played the flanker game with Coco and their Chance line and I am wondering why they need to mess around with no 5 by needing 2 flankers. So off I went to get my paws on a decant.

Every time that I try a new perfume, I always half hope that the clouds will part and the angels will start singing. That didn't happen with L'Eau. All I had got was something really generic with hints of the no 5 structure. I think that the massive citrus note and how it was presented did me in. The floral component was incredibly generic and the aldehydes were pretty faint in this. I could smell a relation to the original no 5. If Eau Premiere was the daughter of no 5, then L'Eau is the grand daughter. This could have been a blatant ripoff of no 5 by another company if I wasn't really into perfume. For an EDT, I do get some longevity with this one. I get about 7 hours of wear before it fades a way into nothing. Yes, I dislike it, and won't be getting a bottle.

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Tauerville Vanilla Flash Review

Yes, I actually did go ahead and test something new and now I have to review it. For the longest time, I thought I hated vanilla in perfume, especially if it was the dominant note. Vanilla had to be buried under a bunch of other notes before I would even try it out, Then came Havana Vanille (traumatically discontinued) and Guerlain SDV and to a lesser degree Tobacco Vanille. I figured out why I didn't care for vanilla too much. Most of what I have been smelling was the edible vanilla and I didn't like smelling like I just baked a batch of cupcakes. My vanillas must be inedible to be worn. This leads me to trying out Andy Tauer's Vanilla Flash.

For a while, I have been debating about exploring the Tauerville line for some reason. I love Andy Tauer's work even though I don't care for some of his offerings. That's OK though, there are plenty of Andy Tauer offerings to go around. When STC was offering a 15% or 20% off sale, I figured why not try it out? I might actually enjoy a couple out of this line.

First up was Vanilla Flash. Vanilla is the dominant note of this one (obviously) but it's not the cupcake variety. It's a slightly burnt vanilla with maybe a little hint of booze. Even after a few hours of wearing it, I thought that there might be a hint of tobacco in there lending the slightest leaning to Havana Vanille. There probably is a hint of tobacco in there. From start to finish, I did smell the Tauer base. The Tauer base isn't in your face like some of Andy Tauer's offerings and Vanilla Flash does need something to make it as something recognizable to be Mr. Tauer's work. A whopping dose of Tauerade would have rendered this as kind of bad. I was really impressed with the lasting power of Vanilla Flash. I had applied this one at 11am and by 10pm, the last of Vanilla Flash disappeared.

If you find that SDV is too burnt, boozy and expensive or Havana Vanille to be too hard to find and expensive, this is for you. What make this perfume even better, for a niche perfume, this is practically free. Luckyscent is selling the largest bottle available (30ml) for $63 and that it free for niche perfume. This is going on my wish list because it might be quite a while before I can get a bottle. Unless it gets discontinued like Ingrid did.

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Not Often Worn but Not Forgotten About

I can't believe that I went almost a month without posting a thing. It's been a wacky month for me and blogging kept slipping my mind. Mostly because I had nothing to blog about. Not wanting really to wear and review, nothing that I haven't blogged about at one point or another.

I think that everyone has a handful of perfumes that they haven't exactly forgotten about but haven't been wearing them either. It's more than you "forgot" about them. You just are not wearing them. The larger the full bottle collection and the bigger the decant pile, the harder it is to keep track of things. I might have to really force myself to wear and review a minimum of one or two perfumes a week to get the ball rolling.

I'm not talking about just vintage perfume. I'm talking about the current formulations of some perfumes. I do have a couple vintages that I am hoarding because I have so little of the vintage formulation. L'Heure Bleue is one of those vintages that I do tend to hoard. I do own a fairly current version of L'Heure Bleue but it's such a powder bomb and kind of a sad scent that doesn't get worn often. Yes, I don't find LHB to be a cheerful perfume to wear.

When I go to pick out my scent of the day, I gaze at my collection and tend to wear the same thing over and over again. But when I do wear something a little different, I wear it for days. Take Amouage Epic for example. Even though I somewhat wear it regularly, I will wear it for days on end. But it always seems to be the same ones that I will wear day after day.

Some that are not quite forgotten about are the ones that are more of a seasonal thing than the ones that can be worn year round. Many of the classic Amouages do seem to wear much better in the winter than any other time of year. Can you tell that I haven't been enthused by the latest released that I have tried with Amouage? Some of them I have worn but haven't reviewed.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Coty Chypre Vintage EDT

For the longest while, I've had a small spray decant of Coty's Chypre in my unworn pile. And when I was trying to make a decision on what I should wear, I noticed that my decant was almost empty due to evaporation. So I had to finish it and review it.

There are many chypres out there still in production today but I think that Chypre may have been the first modern chypre. Chypre is slightly brutal with a few rough edges in it but it is wonderful. I find that it's more akin to Chanel no 19 or maybe a little like Chamade. The version of no 19 that Chypre is akin to is the EDT and not the EDP. No 19 in EDP form is a little smoother and a lot more rosy but there is no way that Chypre is like no 19 in extrait form.

While I did find Chypre enjoyable, I'm not so sure that I will be seeking out a bottle but maybe a small decant for reference. I am starting to prefer stuff that is in current circulation.

Saturday, March 18, 2017

L'Heure de Nuit and Bottles

After yapping, panicking and a little bit of whining, I did manage to get my paws on a full bottle of L'Heure de Nuit. It was somewhat difficult to find a bottle because it has been discontinued and I didn't know about it. There have been a couple of perfumes that were being discontinued and I did manage to become aware of it beforehand to get a couple bottles. Sometimes I find out and can only afford one bottle. So now the hoarding begins.

After my bee bottle had arrived, I don't know what I was exactly expecting but this wasn't it. Let me be frank, I own some huge bottles of perfume and I mean huge. I had bought Cuir de Russie and Sycomore before they came in a manageable 2.5 ounce bottle. I own 8 ounce bottles of Chamade and Jicky and a 9 ounce bottle of vintage Bal. So it was a little bit of a shock to see how little 4.2 ounces is compared to the bottles that I have mentioned. Maybe it's the fact that the bottle is like the Serge Lutens bell jars, they are round. But I was still excited to add a bee bottle to the collection.

It's not often that I actually do buy a brand spanking new bottle of perfume. Just can't afford that often. After the rush of tearing off the cellophane and opening the box, I have to gaze at the bottle.There is something about getting a brand new bottle of perfume, especially if it has been discontinued. A good most of my collection isn't in a cool cabinet but out in the open and mostly protected from light. Yeah, I'm sure that some are clutching their pearls but what's the point in having some good looking bottles and not look at them. I will admit to the fact that I can be a bottle slut once in a while.

Some bottles are pretty utilitarian when you look at them. The classic Chanel bottles are pretty plain and so are Serge Lutens' export line. Serge Lutens must have taken a couple notes from Chanel but still has his exclusive line in bell jars. But Guerlain might have been the first to create bottle swag to help sell perfume.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Chanel Cormandel EDT Review

It's time for me to just review Coromandel due to the fact that I've spent more time than I really needed to with it. I picked Coromandel due to the fact is that I've kind of been wanting to slowly work my way through the Les Exclusifs line by Chanel. My thought about the line is that Chanel is trying to get somewhat of a foothold in the niche department but still be mainstream. And I'm confused by that. Chanel's prices are already in the price range for niche but the Les Exclusifs line has some of the old offerings (Cuir de Russie and no 22 for starters) from way back when. Maybe they are marketing this line for perfume people like be who don't tend to shop mainstream and have smelled much more than the average consumer.

When I had first put on Coromandel, I smelled something akin to Frapin 1270 without the booze. I initially liked that but did need to wear it again because I knew that there was something that I was missing and it had something very familiar about it. On my second and third wearing, I knew what I was missing and what was familiar about it. It smelled an awful lot like Coco Mademoiselle. The patchouli and the fruity parts are tones down in Coromandel but still there. The thread of vanilla that shows itself an hour in tames the fruit and patchouli. I've said before that anything that has patchouli as a dominant player really isn't my friend. There is something about patchouli that I haven't come around to, probably the fact that it always smells kind of dirty to me. Yes, the patchouli is smoothed out and toned down but it's still there and still detectable to me. I will admit that Mademoiselle is a frenemy to me and Coromandel is a little more of a friend but not much. The decant that I have is at least a couple years old and obviously the EDT since the EDP version came out a couple months ago. Lasting power on my skin is about 6 hours and the sillage is about medium. Maybe my luck will change with Coromandel and I do fall in love with it but my track record with CM tells me otherwise.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

One of Those Times

I could be blogging about a lot of other things today but just not exactly motivated to do what I had initially wanted to blog about today (reviewing Coromandel). But a couple other things have popped up that makes today a day of being all over the place.

I've always been behind of many things in the perfume world. The latest releases, discontinuations and many other things. But the recent release stuff really doesn't bother me too much. Not like things being discontinued. I had finally decided to just bite the bullet and order that massive bottle of L'Heure de Nuit. It doesn't come in smaller sizes and it never seemed to be popular, even in the perfume circles. It could have been the musk in there that practically laundry musk but I love it in spite of that. I find L'Heure de Nuit easier to wear and a whole lot less powdery. Looking around to find a bottle, knowing that I was going to spend almost $300 for it. It was on a couple websites as being out of stock. After posting this on NST and getting a couple facts and a phone number, L'Heure de Nuit was discontinued and that a Neiman Marcus store in Houston, Texas had two bottles left. So I ordered a bottle and I am having it shipped to Ohio. Do I need a bottle that contains 4.2 ounces of perfume? My answer is hell no but how can I really resist a bee bottle? Did I blow my resolution for no new bottles? Yes but I view it as worth it. I wasn't exactly thrilled with the prospect of scouring E-Bay for a full bottle.

Yes, I have been staying off of E-Bay, so my New Years resolutions haven't entirely been broken. I don't need to procure another bottle of vintage Bal nor do I really need to look for more Deneuve or anymore vintages right now. Keeping up with my full bottles and decants is difficult as it is but I have made a little progress. I dumped out my worn and reviewed decant bag and threw out some empty decants (evaporated), drained a few and since I had a few decants of the same scent, I combined to make a little more room in that bag. Why do I need 5 decants of MKK where most of them are partially full? Combined those and made 2 larger decants. I had mostly threw out a lot of 2ml decants and a couple 3ml decants. It's always the smaller decants that always take up the most space. It isn't a whole lot of progress but it's progress.


Sunday, February 19, 2017

Amouage Lilac Love EDP Review

For once I am trying something that has come out in the past year or two. Normally I am trying things that have been floating around for a few years. But for me, Amouage always seems to get top billing in the review department, when I do get motivated to do a review.

Amouage has never been the most edgy perfume house. Amouage has done things that have been more of on the classic bend or presents something in a manner that is pretty new. I will admit that I am an Amouage fan girl and have tried most of the women's line up and own quite a few of them. Lyric, Gold, Dia, Epic and Memoir have a place in my collection and slowly I've been adding the bath and body stuff.

On to Lilac Love. I've been warned by other reviewers (on their reviews) that this is not a true lilac perfume. I was determined to eventually procure a sample and judge for myself. After the first spray, I smelled nothing which is normal for me when I am spraying a full bottle of perfume or a decant then I smelled Lilac Love. I am smelling tuberose right off the bat and tuberose as a dominant note or a prominent note is my nemesis. I don't know what it is but tuberose is too much for me but jasmine is not. Since I cannot find a consistent listing of notes, I will say that tuberose is in there as a dominant note. I do see some listings of a gardenia note but really folks, gardenia perfumes are a construct of tuberose and a couple other things to get is somewhat resembling gardenia. Next comes the heliotrope to thin out the tuberose but that doesn't really happen. The heliotrope just makes the peony and jasmine marginally more sheer, not thin it out. I really didn't get too much else other than those three notes. But I did start to get that watery note that was prominent to me when I did sample Reflection and watery notes bug me because they are in too many perfumes now. The lasting power is what I would expect from Amouage. Let's just say that I don't like this offering from Amouage and it is a good thing. My American Express is giving out a big sigh of relief because even though the bottle is pretty, I won't be spending $400 on this bottle.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Andy Tauer Noontide Petals Review

For the longest time I have been meaning to review Andy Tauer's Noontide Petals but never got around to it until today. There are some perfume lines that I somewhat have the tendency to buy blind and that has always been met with mixed results. Andy Tauer's offerings are one of those lines that I do buy blind and for the most part, it's worked.

I had bought Noontide Petals shortly after it was released and have worn it intermittently ever since without doing any kind of review. I don't know why but I'm thinking that the bottle is pushed more to the back of my collection and I cannot readily see it.

Noontide Petals is not a different take on Chanel no 5 or no 22. The reason that I say that is because of the aldehydes. The aldehydes is really what makes no 5 and no 22 and that isn't the case of Noontide Petals. The aldehydes do give Noontide a bit of a lift but they are not effervescent. The aldehydes in Amouage Dia were effervescent but Noontide's are heavier and a little more oily smelling. That lift carries Noontide but isn't the whole thing nor is the characteristic Tauer base. Yes, this is definitely a Tauer creation more in the vein of LADM. Noontide is more floral and more feminine that a lot of what I have smelled. I can't pick out any one particular floral note but it is in there. What surprised me the most was when I was starting to get into the dry down, I smelled vanilla. This is not your SDV or Shalimar kind of vanilla or your cupcake kind of vanilla. The vanilla is very dry and not as noticeable as one would have it. Vanilla smooths out some rough edges and keeps Noontide from getting too dry and harsh. For an EDT, this is like many Tauer offerings, I get at least 7 hours of wear on skin.

I don't really see myself buying another bottle of Noontide after I finish this bottle. If I ever do finish a bottle of perfume.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Post New Year

We are three weeks into the new year and many have made New Year's resolutions. Every year, I make perfume resolutions with varying degrees of success. Even though I fail with them, I do have some successes. Let's face it, it's tough going. But I am happy that I have stuck to my resolution of not buying anything perfume wise yet because I am broke. Broke as in the fact that I did overspend with Christmas and the bills have come in. The bills have to be paid first before I can go and get or do anything fun. It may be months before I can add anything new to my collection. I'm looking at is as a good thing right now.

You know that perfume to buy list? I'm taking another look at it. There are some that I took another look at and went right into the maybe list and some others that are going into the I will get them eventually type of deal. It's made the list a whole lot shorter.

After looking at my massive, massive to me at least, I really realized that I really need to use up some of my full bottles. I have boatloads of backups and a few that are almost finished. I'm at the point of where I am determined to finish some of those perfumes. I have a vintage bottle of Shalimar that is a third full and just begging to be finished off. That bottle of Shalimar isn't all that vintage (probably a '90's version at best) and I can more than afford to finish that one off. That bottle of Cuir de Russie that I spilled? I can finish that off too in no time along with a small bottle of no 19 extrait. Then I think that I will finish off two bottles of vintage Bal that are half full. See? Not so hard when you figure out some of this. It can be the execution of the plan when it boils down to it.

I've also made some commitments to finish off some of the decants that are floating around my house. Take my word for it, I have tons of those and I do need to take a look to see how many have evaporated, how many have a wearing or two left and I must start wearing and reviewing more. Hopefully I will have some space on my dresser to add one or two new bottles of perfume. But I must finish at least 4 bottles this year before I can consider doing that.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Amouage Journey Woman Review

I've made no secret about how I am an Amouage fan girl. I have many Amouage loves and own a few bottles and fairly recently, I've been slowly working on getting the Amouage body products.

Slowly but surly, I have been working my way through my decants that I haven't worn or reviewed yet and my hand landed on trying out Amouage Journey for women. I really haven't explored the Opus line or the masculine offerings of Amouage in depth. I've tried a few of the masculine offerings but they don't seem to work for me in the way that the women's versions do.

Journey is not the kind of perfume that says it's an Amouage perfume. Epic, Gold, Lyric, Memoir, Ubar have Amouage written all over them and I view those as what a typical Amouage is. Journey is very different and wasn't what I was expecting at all. In the first two seconds of hitting my skin, I honestly thought that I was smelling one of my most hated things, tuberose. I have never enjoyed a tuberose dominated perfume, too suffocating for me. Then I realized that I was actually smelling the honey combined with jasmine. Now the jasmine is not the high pitched, shrill type of jasmine nor is it presented like A La Nuit or Sarrasins. Okay, the jasmine is more of the A La Nuit type of deal on my skin. So no skank from the jasmine but the jasmine is muted by the honey. During the time I was wearing Journey a few other things crept in. Was I smelling a tea note, apricots, osmanthus? I have no idea (I don't have a whole not of experience with those notes) but I think the structure of Journey had left me a little jarred. I was thinking that I have smelled this before but when and where? After rummaging around my collection, I found out. Pushed in the back of my collection was Viktoria Minya's Hedonist (I promise that I will eventually get to Hedonist Iris and Cassis). I popped open the can and took a quick sniff and bingo, there it was. Journey has pretty much the same structure and smell as Hedonist but the there was no booze note and Journey had a prominent jasmine note. I do like Journey but I'm not sure if I would pay over $300 for a 50ml bottle since it isn't love for me and I already own Hedonist. Maybe down the road, I will end up getting a full bottle but it's not in the cards for me right now.

Monday, January 16, 2017

Simply Pretty

Before falling down the rabbit hole of perfume, I never gave perfume much thought. I did wear perfume but I was quite a bit like many people, casual perfume user. I didn't seek out new things, didn't explore notes, nothing. I was into simply pretty. For years, I was a user of Estee Lauder Pleasures and Clinique Happy. If I wore other perfumes, they were of the straight up floral type.

Then came that e-mail from Chanel and getting that massive bottle of Cuir de Russie. I found Cuir de Russie to be pretty likeable but still wasn't sure of it, it wasn't what I was used to smelling, especially on me. Then I started to love it and seek out the perfumes that were not the simply pretty. I started seeking out the unusual, the animalic and the straight up weird. And I had found plenty of those and then started branching out into looking for vintages. When you starting seeking stuff out and trying new things, it gets expensive and fast. Now I am at the point of I have enough right now and I am trying to finish some full bottles perfume and decants. Let's see how long this lasts.

Now back to the simply pretty. Pretty and nice is just that, pretty and nice. But after a while, the pretty and nice failed to move me. I think it was the fact that I wasn't this person that was a teenager or someone in my early 20's anymore and did want the things that were a little more mature and maybe those that are a little more funky. Simply pretty and nice is more for the person who doesn't really love perfume, it's for the ones that are wearing perfume for the sake of wearing perfume. I do have a couple of perfumes in my collection that are pretty (Un Coeur en Mai for example), I find myself not reaching for them too often to seek out a lot of the simply pretty.

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Andy Tauer Au Coeur de Desert Review

My  pile of unworn and not reviewed decants has reached epic proportions. It used to be just a massive pile of decants. With the holidays and the sales that went on, I reached that threshold of epic. It's come to the point of that I have to start wearing and reviewing them. Instead of going into the bag to grab something, I reached for one of my newest decants, Andy Tauer's Au Coeur de Desert.

When I first heard about Au Coeur de Desert, I was a little horrified and a little curious. From what I read, it sounded like a straight up flanker and it is pretty much true to me. I have never been any kind of fan of flankers, especially when it comes down to cult classics and classics. There are very few flankers of perfume that are well done. No 5 Eau Premiere is one of them, the Shalimar Ode  a la Vanilles are another example of flankers done well. But I am not blogging about them.

Curiosity got the better of me and STC was having a 15% off sale, so it made the price of a 5ml decant more palatable for me. Did I need a 5ml? No, a 2ml decant would have worked but I wasn't sure if I would need a lot of wearing for this one. So onto the review.

L'Air du Desert Marocain is one of those perfumes that is a cult classic and is well regarded. L'Air was one of those perfumes that I did buy blind and don't regret. I do have a massive liking and respect for Andy Tauer's work even though some of his offerings don't exactly agree with me. When I got my decant Au Coeur, I waited probably 3 days before trying it. Au Coeur is almost word for word just like L'Air but a little different. I find that Au Coeur is a little smoother than L'Air and a little less austere. Both still run on the masculine side of unisex but Au Coeur, not as much though. What impressed me the most was the sillage and lasting power on this one. Instead of getting 5 or 6 hours like I do with L'Air, I get 14 hours, yes, 14 hours of skin time. Then I realized that it was an extrait and not EDT or EDP. Au Coeur is definitely a on the to buy list but more of at the bottom due to the fact that I own L'Air and I don't wear that enough to justify a full bottle right now.