A la Nuit Revisited

 There was a time where I was new to the world of perfume collecting. Most of what I had smelled and bought was mostly from either the drug store or Bath and Body Works. For most of my life, I never paid a whole lot of attention to perfume. Growing up, the adults in my life didn't wear perfume on a daily basis. If they ever did wear perfume, it mostly bypassed me because I never paid too much attention to it.

Chanel's Cuir de Russie changed all of that. I am not sure how or why I got an email from Chanel about the Les Exclusifs line but with Cuir de Russie it was off to the races. 

It seems like just about every perfumista's journey with niche starts with exploring the house of Serge Lutens. Feminite du Bois was my first Serge Lutens and then I branched out a little more. A la Nuit was probably the second one I got. I must not have been paying attention to it or my nose was goofy. Or the latter option is that I wasn't all that great at picking out individual notes about perfume.

People had said that A la Nuit was loaded with indoles but at the time, I wasn't so good picking that stuff out. All I got was some kind of sweet floral that might have smelled marginally poopy. While I was trying to find something else, I found a decant of A la Nuit. Of course I had to give this another go.

I hadn't worn A la Nuit in years and wasn't expecting a whole lot. I still got the jasmine and now I am finally getting all the indoles that people were talking about. A la Nuit is a lovely perfume that I probably wouldn't reach for as much but still lovely. I do prefer Rose de Nuit or Sarrasins for my skank needs in terms of Serge Lutens.

I am still not happy that so many Serge Lutens perfumes are out of reach. Out of reach due to price and I am not the biggest fan of the bell jars. My take is well over $300 for a 2.5 ounce bottle isn't much of a deal.

Vacation Recap

I ought to be reviewing the latest Tauer release but really shouldn't be. It might have arrived on Saturday but today was the first time wearing it and I think I need to spend a little more time with it before I can give an honest review. Since I go back tomorrow, might as well give a recap.

 You know how I said that I was cracking down on expenses? I am not sure about the two sets of bed sheets. When I was going through my bedding, I realized that my winter sheets are pretty much shot and I had only one set of sheets for my bed. I had initially set off to only order one set of bed sheets. In theory, you have one or two sets of bed sheets and be fine. But that flannel sheet set with dogs on it was too cute and the price was good and I don't know what possessed me to get a set of bed sheets in the color black. But I have a set of black bed sheets now. It seemed like I was accumulating quilts and throws since last year and bed sheets never entered the chat to remind me. So when I get a spare minute, I will run those things through the wash and see how it goes. Sooner or later, I will get a set of there's in green but I need pillows a little more. So I am going to have to use up the last of my Amazon gift card to round out the new bedding.

So since I have been looking at more things to be cut and used up, I did manage to accomplish some of that. I did manage to combine two Bath and Body Winter hand soaps. What was the point of having two half full hand soaps of the same smell. I was so close to being able to do that with a Leather and Brandy one but not quite. I think by the end of the week, it will be another hand soap that will be used up. I did manage to finish a half a candle, one full candle and start a new one. So I am proud of myself to do at least that much. Especially since I wasn't able to finish any decants, full bottles or minis while I was on vacation. At the end of the day, trying not to spend money of frivolous things every week is hard. I did make some changes and culled a few things earlier this year but with some freed up money brings a different temptation. That $50-$60 every month from not having so many subscriptions makes a part of me want to spend it on the fun stuff when I really shouldn't. So I want to do is shop my collection a little bit more and see what else I can use up.

What was disappointing was the fact that I wasn't able to do much of anything for my vacation. I wanted to see the new Downtown Abbey movie but plans for that never materialized. I think I should have said to friends and family is that my vacation time is precious and I am not about to waste that on the maybes or bailing at last minute. I think that I should have taken an Uber to the theater and just saw the movie by myself. I am hoping my last vacation of the year will be a bit better bit that is the week after Thanksgiving.

We Have to Break Up

 

No, I am not quitting blogging nor am I quitting perfume. I have to break up with Bath and Body Works. Bath and Body Works has changed too much for me and it's probably past time to do it.

My most recent purchase from Bath and Body Works was the Cucumber Melon line up. You know, the body wash, the lotion and the body spray. The lotion and body wash are a Christmas gift to someone who loves bath stuff and loves Bath and Body Works. So they had a sale of $5.95 body care items, I got the Cucumber Memo body spray for old times sake. And this is where I have to break up with Bath and Body Works.

Back in the day, I happily wore Cucumber Melon in high school by the gallon. Back in the mid to late '90's, it was all I could consistently afford. But when I went off to college, I couldn't afford perfume and didn't wear it for years. Even when I dropped out, I couldn't really afford perfume. It wasn't until Chanel's Cuir de Russie did I get back into perfume and haven't looked back since.

But back to Cucumber Melon and Bath and Body Works. The body spray bottle must have been updated some time in the past 10 or 15 years. It seems like they are trying to update their image by packaging. The packaging doesn't quite fit the whole vibe in store or out of it. I think when I gave a different Bath and Body Works body spray or two ago, I did get a distinct Play Dough element to it. I didn't notice a Play Dough note in Cucumber Melon when I first sprayed it on. When I first sprayed the whole song lyric of "hello, darkness, my old friend." ran through my mins for some reason. Then a nano second later, that damned Play Dough note came out and then I noped out of the whole thing. 

Even the candles are getting to be a little boring. I am tired of vanilla heavy candles or anything pumpkin. It is rare that I like food based smells that are not actually food and the Honeycrisp Apple or the Fresh Brewed Coffee are the two exceptions to that. I am not a fan on how the packaging changes from year for the same damn smell. Or I might find something really good and then never see it again. So after I redeem my last two rewards, I thing I am going to break up with Bath and Body Works. I think I have really grown up and moved on.

Financial Considerations

 

When there was a blip on my radar about the current tariffs in terms of perfume a post or two ago, I did think about there was no Chanel no 5 to be had. At least in the extrait form. So I am thinking that the edp, edt and Eau Premiere are still cheap enough for many companies to get but the extrait version of anything in terms of Chanel might not be worth the expense. The thing is that I have enough Chanel no 5 in every other formulation except the extrait. But the price of so many perfumes have gone up, and some horrifically so, I figured I might as well start setting some goals for myself.

With the whole BNPL thing, I have decided that in the next 6 weeks, I want to have Afterpay, Klarma and Zip paid off. My Sezzle account is paid off and Zip has only 1 payment left on it. My Klarna balance is less than $60 but Afterpay is sitting at a shade over $400. But the other part of my goal is to start saving some money and create a budget that is a little more strict. Does this mean that I won't go out and have some fun? I will still go out to eat and have fun but I have to be little more discerning about that.

It was my birthday earlier this week and usually I do get myself a bottle of perfume. For some reason, I haven't been quite up to getting a new bottle. With the tariffs and all driving the prices up, some of the stuff are simply out of my budget. But I will truly see in the next few weeks on if I want something new or just hold off in that department.

But cleaning up my finances has made me cancel my Doordash subscription and I decided not to get the Sephora same day delivery subscription. I remembered that on my birthday the same day subscription was going to be changed on my birthday and I made the point to cancel it beforehand. I did forget that I did sign up for the Door dash free trial and was charged $9.99 for it. I cancelled as soon as the charge went through. I still will "enjoy" the subscription for a month but that means I will probably use it once or twice if a hankering for Burger King or McDonald's hits but don't want to go out and get it.

Hiram Green Tryst Review

I am not sure what has been up with me come lately. It's either I am testing something or I am wearing the same old thing. But this time, it is a new to me brand and that is Hiram Green. Earlier this year, I had gotten the Hiram Green discovery set from Luckyscent. Luckyscent was probably running some kind of promo and Luckyscent isn't one to do too many promotions like a percentage off or free shipping on anything and everything. 

But Tryst is the first one up. First blast was something citrus and I have a very difficult time with citrus. But there was a big alcohol type blast for some reason because Hiram Green is supposed to be a natural perfume. While the citrus went way into the background, the orange blossom and honey came front and center and stayed there. I do love a slutty perfume but this is the kind d of slutty that I didn't care for at all. I don't know if it was the honey, orange blossom or the two being together but it smelled like I urinated in my pants and couldn't be bothered to change. Even though my sample is a spray sample and this is an edp, I found that the longetivity was lacking. I expected at least 8 hours but only had about 4 or 5 hours but in this case, it was a good thing. With the way things are going with inflation, I would have expected a little more. But I am not a fan of Tryst and I will not be getting a bottle any time soon.
 

Thoughts, L'Air du Desert Marocain Noir and Upcoming Vacation

When I hopped onto Now Smell This, I did see the post of a new Andy Tauer offering. It seems like Andy Tauer has gone crazy with all of these new releases. When Luckyscent was offering some kind of deal on some samples of the reimagined Rose Flash and Vanilla Flash, I jumped on that. But last night, I don't recall seeing the new Andy Tauer L'Air du Desert Marocain Noir but I was looking to get a bottle of the Rose de Kandahar perfume.

For the longest time, I did want a bottle of the Rose de Kandahar and finances never quite worked out to shell out a little over $200. Imagine my surprise that.is $300 and the price for just about every Andy Tauer offering has gotten stupid expensive. Someone mentioned that it was the tariffs that caused it. Yes, the prices of everything has gone up, tariffs or no tariffs. But I wasn't expecting the prices to be that high for a beauty product. But back the the Noir, I did order a sample to test out, even though I haven't been wearing a whole lot of new things.

So I am coming up on my third vacation of the year. The only real plan that I have is seeing the final Downton Abbey movie. Towards the end of the TV series, it was pretty worn. There are so may story lines that can be recycled before people lose interest. The first movie was good, the second one was okay but I think after the first movie, it really should have been put to bed.

What I am looking forward to is being able to test new things if I want or wear old favorites. I am hoping to finish the candle that I have going in the next week and I hope to start another.
 

Juliette Has a Gun Not a Perfume Superdose Review

Today was Cleveland's start to football season. The only reason that I know this is that my mother is a huge Cleveland Browns fan and football is a huge thing in Ohio. I can care less about football and most sports in general. The only sport that I will have any interest in is hockey. For around $30 to $40, I can go to Cleveland and watch a Monsters game. Well, hockey can be pretty entertaining. But I have to wait a little bit before I go to a game.

Off and on, I have been looking at the whole Juliette Has a Gun line up. The ones that I have always been intrigued by was Not a Perfume. It's supposed to be a one note perfume and tons of people seem to go gaga for this one. I couldn't understand how people could go for a one note perfume. Then a thought hit me. They don't really want to wear perfume but they kind of do. And that perfume has to be as simple as possible but smells like you are wearing perfume. But the perfume itself has to be faint. But I tried out Superdose.

Fragrance net had a mini travel spray for a song and I figured that it wasn't going to break me if I didn't care for it too much. I can keep it for reference or I could love it later on down the road. When I first applied Superdose, I initially thought it was Light Blue and I was not amused. I hate Light Blue and can't understand how people love Light Blue. After 5 minutes, it smelled really familiar to something I already have. I kept trying to remember which perfume it reminded me of. Then it came to me. Super dose reminded me of Channel Sycomore. Now, I only have the edt of Sycomore and haven't worn it in forever and I am going to have to rectify that in the next week or two. But Superdose has the Escentric Molecules type of vibe to it. It smells very artificial and incredibly not something I would call a perfume.

There is no development in this perfume. It's linear like CKOne and I can be hot or cold on linear perfumes but most of the time, I am cold on that. With perfume, I want development on skin. I am not a fan of Superdose. I just am not getting the whole point of this. If I want linear, I will wear CKOne since CKOne has more personality to it. Superdose has no personality.

Narciso Rodriguez Pure Musc Review

 

So I did make it to the county fair yesterday. I did have a good time but I did pay for it this morning. Ever since my gallbladder surgery last year, I cannot have a lot of fried food. I had a milkshake, one corndog and a small serving of fries. I was hoping to find deep fried pickles but couldn't find them for some reason. I found some taco trucks and a Chinese food truck at the fair but wasn't interested. I did not go to the fair for Chinese food or tacos, I wanted deep fried junk food and to see the 4H animals.

For the past week, I have been poking around Fragrance net to find some pretty good deals on travel sprays. But for a while, I was looking at blind buying a bottle of Narciso Rodriguez Pure Musc and realized that I have a little mini running around to test out.Good thing that I did find it and test it out. For the first 10minutes, I enjoyed the living daylights out of it. After the initial 10 minutes, I was like, is this it? I was waiting for the whole thing to keep developing and stay enjoyable. But it got a little more annoying than anything else. I wanted it to go to the realm of Kiehl's Original Musk Blend. You know, kind of slutty but not really. I do get a little bit of orange blossom but mostly generic musk. It might be a me thing right now. I just expected a little bit more out of the whole thing but my opinion might change in a month or two.