This is Stupid

I was going to do a review of Rouge Perfumery's Jasmin Antique. Well, that is not happening right now and I have a fair bit on what I want to say about it.

When I was reading either today's scent of the day or the 3 day weekend, there was something mentioned about the Chanel Les Exclusifs line extraits and had to go and take a look and there was a vain hope that there might be a more "affordable" option on any kind of no 5 extrait that wasn't the family sized version of no 5. When I saw what looked like the extrait is back in stock, I took a look. That seemed to be a huge mistake. It looks.like they rebranded/redid the whole extrait thing. If you just want the extrait itself, there is only 1 size and that is a 30ml bottle and that will set you back $440. But if you want it to come with a stupid case that has something that will help you open the bottle that is and extra $100. Yes, I had to do a double take at the whole set up was $550.

When I was that, all I could think about how stupid the whole set up was. For $400 I could buy an Amouage at full price or go to a discounter and get 2 Amouage offerings and those would be 100ml not 30ml. I could get a Serge Lutens bell jar for that price and those are 75ml. And all the while, kicking myself on not stocking up on the no 5extrait when I really had the chance 2 or 3 years ago or even when I started collecting perfume and 7.5ml of extrait set me back only $95. But that was a long time ago. It looks like I will be rationing what I have of the opened extrait and keep my sealed vintage sealed until I can nab more extrait.

 

Chanel No 19 EDT Review

You know how I blogged a little earlier about the Sephora spring sale? And said I would spend no more than the allotted $45? I failed by about $25. I didn't spend any of that on perfume. It was mainly on the Drunk Elephant body wash and lotion and some skin care stuff. Some of this was to finish up the Mother's Day gift and finish up my mother's birthday gift. I wasn't exactly game for even attempting to justify another bottle of perfume. I just recently got a bottle of no 19 and that leads me to this whole post.

For the past year, I have been flirting with the idea of getting a bottle of the most current version of the edt. I have three bottles of the edp and two bottles of the parfum. About ten years ago, I was getting buying tons of vintage perfume and two of those bottles were a kind of vintage edt versions of no 19. I don't know when Chanel had travel spray bottles of no 19 so I am guessing they are probably from some time in the 80's at the earliest and maybe the 90's at the very latest but I am more leaning towards the 80's.

I fell head over heels in love with the no 19 edp, it took me a little longer to understand and love the edt version. The vintage edt is a very leathery, green rose but this current version is very different. In the first hour, I was very confused. I have never recalled the vintage edt to be over the top iris, the over the top iris is something that I associate with the parfum version of 19. Even the edp doesn't have that whopping dose of iris that can be identified right away. Then things started to get even stranger. In all three concentrations, there was a huge dose of rose and I don't recall the rose being plush and in the current edt, the rose takes on a heavy more plush type of deal. Nor am I a fan of the powdery type of note that just doesn't fit. The brightness and green smell is still there but it doesn't quite get there and the leather has been scaled back and had to go looking more the leather. It seems like this version of no 19 was trying to smell like the edp, parfum and edt all in one. With that being said, it seems like the latest version of the no 19 edt is trying do too much and things are getting lost along the way. Reformulation is inevitable but this is getting a little nuts. I think that I am going to need a few more wearings to fully gage on how much I like this version.

 

Rogue Perfume Champs Lumaires Review

 

Rouge Perfumes is my latest perfume house discovery. I have been slowly working my way through my discovery set. I was really starting to get bored with constantly wearing the same 2 or 3 perfumes and needed a break. And since I adore Flos Mortis, I figured that I would give Champs Lumaires a go.

Champs Lumaires is another tuberose heavy perfume. I had initially thought that Champs Lumaires would be a lighter version of Flos Mortis. The tuberose is the only thing that both have in common. Flos Mortis is a raunchy tuberose, Champs Lumaires is a more polite tuberose. But I did notice something a little on the goofy side though. There was a banana chew type note. I wonder if it is the coconut that is giving that kind of vibe or something else. The banana vibe smells artificial and I am going to have to give this another go at a later date.

In other news, partially out of boredom and the other part of curiosity is I was looking at the Chanel website. I wanted to know if Chanel had their no 5 extrait/parfum bottles back in stock. The only version of the parfum version was the grand extrait version. Then I hit the chat button. When asked, I was just told that they do have the grand extrait version for sale and to sign up for the newsletter. My not so hot retort was that not all of us can spend what probably be 2 or 3 months of a mortgage payment or rent on a bottle of perfume. I was looking for just a quarter ounce of the extrait for gifts. I know I am signed up for the newsletter but I am not into the Chance line up and I have enough makeup at the moment. So I am still hoarding what is left of my extrait.

Chanel no 19 EDT

I am a tad disappointed in myself. I made the mistake of going back to browse the Chanel website. It was to just window shop and check if Chanel had their parfum version of no 5 back in stock. No such luck right now and I still find that strange. I am not sure why Chanel would go and discontinue the parfum version of the perfume version that put Chanel on the map. So the only pure parfum that Chanel is selling right now is from the Les Exclusifs line or the Grand Extrait. How many people honestly have a few grand sitting around to spend a bottle of perfume if you want the family sized bottle of no 5 parfum? I sure as hell don't. I am lucky at this point if I can get one bottle of nicer perfume once a year than, I don't know, Cheirosa 62 or Happy.

So I caved and got a bottle of no 19 edt. I do have a fair bit of the edp and just about out of the vintage-ish edt. I was kicking around the idea of getting a bottle of the edt for a while but never did get around to ordering a bottle. I did play this off as I won this in a raffle to avoid the stink eye at home. Any package that I get gets some kind of comment. I can't use the rewards excuse right now. I used up all of the use it or lose it points around Christmas or by the 1st of the year. So I am still trying to watch the frivolous spending and with the bottle of no 19; I am more on the losing side of this. The only good thing is that I haven't spent a penny of the savings account, worked on the Afterpay balance a little bit more and haven't bought anything from Bath and Body Works. So in some respects, I am doing ok but want to get a move on with the actual saving and getting Afterpay paid off and keeping it paid off. One day and one step at a time is all I can do right now. Let's hope that I can make a little more progress as time moves along.

What I am really waiting for is for my dogs' Barkbox to arrive. Normally I get a notification when it has shipped and a tracking number but I am not seeing any of that. When I check the website, it just says it was shipped but with no tracking info. If nothing shows up in the next couple days, I will reach out.

 

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.

Out of Stock? And Other Things

My computer is still being an ass and I still can't get a whole lot to work on this stupid thing. Too many things get "timed out". I can't exactly do much of anything on this stupid thing, even Blogger is having a tough time. So I am a little frusterated with a few things and might have to switch to my really old and crappy laptop to get some of the results that I want in terms of blogging.

My mother is back in the hospital and this time she is in a place where the staff is better able to manage her care for the time being. I don't know how long she is going to be there or what is going to happen. So with missed time from work, things are going to be very thin for a while. But what makes a couple things easier is that the Father's Day gift has already been paid off and my dad's birthday is in August. 

You know how I wasn't exactly enthused with Cheirosa 62? Now I am smitten and I never exactly expected to be smitten with it. For what it is, I think it should be priced more like the Bath and Body Works line up. I still think that it is a little overpriced for what it is. I did break down and did get the 8 ounce bottle of the body spray and after that bottle is gone, it probably won't be replaced and I will probably be sticking to the lotion which is a little more reasonably priced. But with all of the perfume that I already have, it might be a while and I have two one ounce body sprays which will make that other bottle last a whole lot longer. If I only had a handful of perfume, that body splash would be gone pretty quick. But there have been perfumes in that past that I have either disliked or outright hated but then fell in love with it for some reason, or developed some kind of liking for it.

While I was poking around and planning my next purchase of Chanel no 5 parfum, I kept noticing that many of the major retailers that carries Chanel have been out of stock of the parfum version. In a tizzy, I go to the Chanel website and see that Chanel isn't carrying the parfum version of no 5, no 19, Coco and Coco Mademoiselle and I find that a little strange, Why would Chanel get rid of the parfum version of anything, especially no 5? No 5, along with Coco Mademoiselle are their flagship perfumes. Unless there are issues with production or shipping. I am dreading that no 5, especially in parfum form will be reformulated, even though I am not really in the market for a bottle right now. I am hoping that when Sephora has thier fall sale, it will be back in circulation but if it isn't, it won't be the end of the world. 

Eau Premiere Thoughts

For a good, long while, I couldn't get enough of no 5 Eau Premiere or any version of no 5. The only version of no 5 that I can't get into is L'Eau, to my nose, it bears no resemblance of no 5. But for some reason, any no 5 variation had dropped off my radar. I think that I was sidetracked by other things, especially MAC lipsticks and my recent tuberose love.

But when I couldn't get enough of no 5, I was more obsessed with the EDT and extrait version and it was to the point of ignoring my first no 5 love, Eau Premiere.

When Eau Premiere first came out, I was a little hesitant to try it. My dislike of no 5 came from when I was at a perfume counter. My hands were horribly dry and didn't have any hand lotion on me. So I figured that I would give the no 5 hand cream a try. It was either the hand lotion was old and gone off or the lights from the counter itself made the lotion go bad and then I had a dislike for no 5.

Fast forward a few years when Eau Premiere came out, I had ordered an eye shadow from Chanel and for some odd reason, I picked out a sample of Eau Premiere to try. But when I did, my opinion of no 5 had started to change to maybe no 5 isn't so bad. What really changed my opinion of no 5 is the Sensual Elixer. When I was at the mall, I bought the Sensual Elixer instead of Eau Premire. The Sensual Elixer is long gone and if you can find it, it's stupid expensive and stupid expensive isn't my thing right now. When I realized my mistake, I went over to the Chanel website and ordered myself a bottle. At the time, Eau Premiere wasn't sold in the traditional Chanel bottles and there were many sizes. Today, I think that I probably should have gotten the 5 ounce bottle of Eau Premiere when it was being offered but that was then, tI don't know when Chanel did away with some of their larger sized bottles of Eau Premiere and the old bottle that it used to come in but it did happen. There is very little in the Chanel line up that is over 100ml. Most people are not seeking out the Les Exclusifs line.Outside of the Les Exclusifs line, the 200ml bottles are either no 5 edp or Coco Madamoiselle. But I was pleased to see that Eau Premiere has a travel spray and when that happened, I snapped that up. Currently, my travel spray set is MIA but I have a general idea of where it might be but I am not quite ready to tear apart a room or two to try and find it.his is now. I am trying to save some money and not spend it.

 

Coming Down to the Wire

In a little less than 7 days, I will be having gallbladder surgery. I keep thinking if I should honestly wear perfume the day of my surgery. The last time I had surgery to have 8 teeth removed, I wore perfume but this time it's a little different. The first time, it was my teeth and this time around it is going to be on my stomach. If what I am reading is true, it's no lotions or perfumes. But I am thinking of the tiniest smidgen on my ankles.

Will I be going for heavy hitters like any of my Amouage offerings or some vintage Mitsouko? It's going to have to be a hard no. The last time I had surgery I wore Chanel no 22. I can't help but think that it might work better this time around. When I wore no 22 for my teeth, there was only the EDT version and the parfum hadn't been released yet. Since I have the parfum version, I can put the smallest dab that I can on my ankles. I could go the Sarrasins or De Profundis route but I honestly don't think that it would fully work. Sarrasins is too much of a slutty, leathery jasmine but actually De Profundis might work but I am not fully sure I would want to wear De Profundis for my surgery. At this point I am limiting myself to perfumes that I can dab on my ankles. I am sure that I have a few others that I can use as well but I have so many strong perfumes.

Another option for me is maybe a dab of no 19 extrait. Less is more at this point when it comes to the day of the surgery. It's a different version to the title of Why I wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy type of deal. Worst case scenario is that I don't wear perfume but instead of my ankles, I might just go with in between my toes. What I am looking forward to is being able to wear what I want when I want. Maybe I won't be wearing so much no 5. There is the other option of that is exactly all I will wear while on medical leave even if I don't wear anything on the day of my surgery.

 

Stuff to Cull

After all that moving stuff around and putting things away on Monday, I still haven't even tried to tackle my closet. There is something about cleaning out a closet that is kind of overwhelming. Sorting through things is tough. What to throw out, what to donate or what can be sold is tough work. I think that tons of people like me probably have more of an unhealthy attachment to stuff.

I am looking to sell quite a bit of my perfume collection. One reason is that my collection has gotten a little too big. When you have over 200 bottles of perfume, how can one go through all of that? Some things I have outgrown, some I hate, and there are some that I have too much of. I have some idea of which bottles that I want to sell off and which ones that I definitely want to keep.

The first perfume house on my list is Serge Lutens. I want to keep Arabie, Cherugi, one bottle of Feminite du Bois. The ones that I really want to hang onto is De Profundis and Sarrasins. De Profundis and Sarrasins were the bell jars that I had wanted for so long. I had gotten both of them off of E-Bay before the bell jars became not so exclusive. I fell in love with Sarrasins because of it's slutty, leather/jasmine combo. But I was attracted to the deep purple color first before I smelled it. De Profundis was based on either the Oscar Wilde reference or Bible. The color of De Profundis didn't help either. I enjoy the chrysanthemum note in De Profundis as well, you don't smell that too often in perfume. Maybe Serge Lutens eventually realized that he was cutting off his nose to spite his face by kind of ignoring North America in terms of the bell jars. I still want Iris Silver Mist and Rose de Nuit but that's not in the cards and I am trying to get rid of some stuff and make some money.

My second house has to be Amouage. I want to get rid of Beloved and Gold woman. I could never truly like, let alone love Beloved enough to wear it too often. And let's just face it with Gold woman, it smells like I stepped in dog poop and it never seems to come off skin so easily. I am on the fence the Ubar and Memoir. But Lyric is my first love from Amouage that I fell in love with. If I had a bottle of the extrait, I would be really happy but I am trying to get the collection down to a manageable level. The other two that I want to keep is Jubilation 25 and Epic. It took me a while to come around to Jubilation 25 and Epic and I are kind of feuding a little bit. It has to be the oud in Epic and I don't like too many oud perfumes. It was that one really hot summer day with stupid amounts of humidity that soured my relationship with Epic right now. But I should still keep one bottle of Epic.

The third perfume house on my list right now is Chanel. I want to unload most of my no 5 bottles and probably Sycomore. I haven't fully thought about all the Chanel offerings that I own but do have an idea of what I want to keep. My bottle of Coromandel stays along with one bottle of no 5 edt, no 19, and no 22. I have so much no 5 it isn't funny so a large chunk of that would go. I would probably want to keep my massive bottle of Coco Mademoiselle Intense as well.

There are other random perfumes that I know I want to keep. I do want to keep my vintage Mitsouko and Deneuve along with a healthy chunk of my vintage Bal a Versailles bottles. I spent a good chunk of money on those and they smell so good. I can rebuild a my collection but some sacrifices have to be made in terms of my financial health and I need some physical space at the moment.
 

Amazon Prime Day and Chanel no 5

 Well, tomorrow and Wednesday is Amazon Prime day. I am not exactly buying anything for me because there is nothing that I truly need but I am doing some shopping for other people. What was going on with my Kindle was that I had too many background things running and that is what was draining my battery and part of the reason of why the stupid thing wasn't charging. My mother needs a new Kindle because hers is just about dead. As soon as I order her that Kindle, I will be redeeming a $25 gift card and order my dad that one of those Xbox games that he has been thinking about for his birthday. If there is anything left over with that gift card, I will either buy a cheap book or an episode of Daria. Daria is one of those MTV shows that I loved and that was when MTV was still pretty good. But we shall see.

But for the past couple months, I have been wearing a whole lot of Chanel no 5 on days that I have to go to work. The only formulation of no 5 I won't wear is the parfum. The parfum is just too fabulous to wear to work. It's a good thing that I have so much no 5 that I can wear it with abandon. The only other perfume that I have been wearing to work is CdG Kyoto. With all the heat that we have been having, I want something a little more dry and cooling. I could probably go for L'Air du Desert but it doesn't have the cooling effect that Kyoto does.

I still haven't gotten that stupid dresser into my bedroom. It seems like every time I want to do just that, my mother changes her mind. What I had to do is tell her is that I am tired of most of my belongings spread across three rooms. I would love to get that dresser in my room and go through my clothes and figure out what do I want to keep, throw out or donate. What I truly want to do is actually use some of my candles. I have no place high enough to use my candles. My nightstand is too low, the high boy dresser has a TV and I would rather not destroy that. I would love to have a spot to show case some of my perfumes and have a little more selection than what I have now.

Neela Vermeire Pichola and Luckyscent

 Ever since the verdict for the Trump trial came down on, what was it, Thursday, I have been avoiding Twitter and most news sites. Too many people saying that the former president wasn't guilty. Well, the justice system worked as it should have and we don't always get the outcome that we want. I won't comment anymore about that other than I was wearing Mitsouko that day.

For the most part, I have been avoiding Luckyscent. If I do go to the Luckyscent website, it's mostly to window shop. But this time I wasn't quite so lucky. When Luckyscent sends me emails about discounted items, I do look but I don't partake. Most things, even when discounted are either out of my price range or sounds like something that I would hate. I was just poking around the sale items and stumbled upon the Neela Vermeire Pichola travel sprays. The going rate for 2 15ml travel sprays  was $96. I wasn't exactly going to complain about the price for an ounce of niche perfume. So this purchase was unexpected and will have to be probably the only perfume purchase that I will make for the year. Mind you, I know I have a Neela Vermeire sample set running around somewhere but I just don't know where.

But with the Prada Infusion d'Iris travel spray (Sephora now carries the Prada Infusion line) and now the Pichola travel spray, it seems like I am really starting to get into the whole travel spray thing. I have plenty of the Chanel travel sprays but I find those to be a little on the bulky side for travel sprays. If space in my purse is at a premium, why do I want to have something so bulky? Most travel sprays that I have are pretty sleek and don't take up the amount of space that a Chanel spray does. I love travel sprays to keep in my freezer coat for when I need to be in the freezer.

I am going to have to kind of take back about not being able to spend money on perfume for the rest of the year. I have a little over $250 worth of Ulta points that I can use. What I am probably going to do is see what I can bank towards either my birthday or maybe around Christmas. I think that those Ulta points might come in handy later on in the year. Since Ulta has started to carry the Tocca line, I have been eyeing the Guiletta perfume. Maybe I will get Guiletta and another bottle of the original Coco but we will see that the end of the year will bring.

Vacation is Over

Tuesday was the first day back from my vacation. When my alarm went off, I grudgingly got up and grudgingly went to work. After having 9 days off, I wasn't happy to go back to work. But I knew that the bills were not going to pay themselves, so I had to go back to work. Taking this week as a vacation week wasn't an option due to the fact that we are coming up on Memorial Day weekend. The corporate suits made the decision that no employee could take a vacation during holiday weeks but yet they are probably able to.

I have said in the past that I am not one that shops at Sephora too often, Ulta supplies most of my makeup and body care needs. I am still hoping that Ulta will start to carry either no 5 in extrait form or any of the Chanel extraits. But I'm not so interested in that at the moment. I was just window shopping and I don't know how or when Sephora started carrying Prada's Infusion lineup but they are now. This must be a new thing though. What excited me was Sephora is carrying travel sprays of the Infusion d'Iris and probably carrying more of the Infusions in travel spray form. I do love Infusion d'Iris and the price was right for the travel spray and I snapped one up, even though I really shouldn't have. What would really make me shop at Ulta exclusively would be Ulta carrying the extrait version of no 5 or even carry the edt version of no 19. I have enough points to pay for both. Well, I have enough points to pay for one of them but would be able to pay for the other down the road when I build up enough points.

With it being almost June, there has been talk on Reddit on the upcoming semi annual sale. Usually there is a semi annual sale after Christmas and another one that begins in June. I am a little bit interested but not really. When the after Christmas one happened, I was always a day late and a dollar short when I would try to snag a couple Sweet Whiskey candles. The reason I am not so interested is that I haven't been excited about this year's candle releases and I have so many candles already. If they release some of last year's fall/winter candles, I might get one or two. I am not setting aside a lot of money to partake in the sale since I have bigger things to worry about.

My Chanel no 5 Journey

 It's a well known fact that I do love Chanel no 5. The first bottle that I had purchased was the extrait version around 10 or 12 years ago and promptly drained or my mother nicked it. Then I got a 50ml bottle of the EDP that is about two thirds empty.

Before I got serious about perfume, there was a time that I tried the no 5 hand lotion at a department store and I promptly hated it. I don't recall exactly why I hated it but I honestly think that the lotion might have been improperly stored and had gone rancid or I was trying the wrong no 5. But when I had bought my first extrait bottle, it was $95 for a quarter ounce bottle. But the first version on no 5 that I really understood was Eau Premiere when I tried it at a department store and bought a bottle. But when I arrived home, I realized that I had bought the Sensual Elixer, which has been discontinued for years. But I ordered a bottle of Eau Premiere a couple days later.

So fast forward at least a decade and how many bottles of perfume later, I have tons of Chanel no 5. The only no 5 that isn't in my stable is the L'Eau version because it has no resemblance to any other version of no 5. But when I finished that bottle of no 5 edt, I kind of took a little bit of a break but opened a brand new bottle of the edt and almost physically recoiled. Chanel has messed with the edt version. I knew that the edp version was messed with and kind of liked it. But after wearing my first bottle of no 5 edp, I am pretty annoyed with Chanel at this point. Because no 5 isn't something that I exactly recognize anymore. No 5 has been reformulated. Reformulations do happen but not to this extreme. I can't comment about the extrait being reformulated because I don't have any older bottles to compare it to. But the luminous nature of the edt isn't there and the sharpness of the edp isn't there. So it looks like I am going to be sticking to Eau Premiere for a very long time. 

I will admit that I would love to have another bottle of the extrait version of no 5 but the prices of Chanel have gotten to the point of being ridiculous. To the point of I can't exactly justify buying any of Chanel perfumes. Out of all of the no 5 offerings, Ulta doesn't carry the extrait version of no 5 and I have almost enough points that I would get a quarter ounce bottle. But things haven't worked out that way at Ulta.

BDK Tubereuse Imperiale Review

Since I went wild with Gris Charnel, I decided to test out another BDK perfume. Luckyscent was having a 10% off and free shipping on everything in their store, I made a jump for the Tubereuse Imperiale travel spray, even though I probably shouldn't have done it. It's not all that often that Luckyscent has a sale. I try not to regret things and I am trying to not spend money all wily nilly here, I have things that I need to pay for and I just have to spend less in general. But I figure for a grand total of $43 (tax included) for a 10ml travel spray, what did I have to lose?

It was my parents' 43rd wedding anniversary today and they decided that I was to tag along for dinner. I was thinking about wearing Tigress Musk but that wasn't exactly suited to the occasion but I wanted something a little different from my normal stuff. And after that 18 hour power outage from Friday night to Saturday afternoon, I was a little sick of CdG Kyoto.

This tuberose is a strange one. It doesn't smell like a fully mature tuberose bloom, more of a young bloom. It's like when a rose bud is just starting to open and give off it's scent. I did notice that it has a marginal green type of smell but also has a little bit of a metholated type of smell, like I smelled in Tuberose Criminalle. But there was something in the whole set up that reminded me of something else that I owned and I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly which one. All through dinner it was bothering me. Then it came to me, the supporting notes gave a distinct the form of the original Chanel Coco. As much as I do like Coco, it does have that 80's vibe to this. But if Coco were to be updated, I would like it to go more of Tubereuse Imperiale without altering it to the point of not recognizing it.

The tuberose does fade into the background but not fully into the background. The spices do come out to play a little bit more and since I am in the dry down, I am smelling a little bit of vanilla, it's not a whopping dose but it's in there. I applied this at 3 this afternoon and it's a little after 11 and it's slowly starting to fade. Personally, I would and will stick to the 10ml travel spray because I can't really justify a full bottle of this, even if I do like it a fair bit.
 

Getting Back to the Basics

Since I have made the decision to declare bankruptcy and working on scrapping together the money for stuff related to that, I am starting to get back to some basics. I mean really starting to get back to basics.

These past couple weeks have been really hard. Bath and Body Works had a BOGO candle sale and 2 of those 40% off everything in the store sales. I only participated in the first one and that was it and I did get a little bit and that little bit was no more than $25. I had to draw the line somewhere and what I want to start doing is start using up my candle collection. This spring and summer, I really want to make a dent in my collection. Spring is on the way and with working 3 days a week, I believe that I can make a decent dent in my 84 count candle collection. What is working in my favor is that even though there is that Bridgerton collection, I did get the Diamond of the Season single wick candle. If I am not to impressed with that candle, I don't think that I would be too impressed with the others. By September, I want to get down to under 60 candles. I figure with the the temps creeping up and the notion of being able to leave windows open, I can have 2 candles going at a time. If I have 2 candles going on at once, it's probably going to have to be the single wick ones only.

The only thing from Ulta that I am probably going to be buying are the Tula hair, skin, nail and gut health gummy vitamins. I have to remember that I am trying to save money to get rolling on the bankrupcy but I also have to really watch myself during the whole process. I don't want to get the stink eye from anyone and not have it go through. I want to able to explain everything that I can, even though the lawyer said that a trustee is really making sure that I am not hiding assets or money and that I really am broke.

Even though I am on a full bottle no buy type of deal I did partake in the Luckyscent sale but I had only gotten myself a travel spray of the BDK Tuberose Imperial and a rollerball of Clinique Happy in Paradise. Those are birthday gifts so those can be explained, I think that any gift giving that I do, has to be a modest amount. I am almost tempted to hang on to the Happy one even though I have so much of the original Happy as it is.

But where I have really gotten back to basics is with my perfume collection. I've started to really go back to wearing my Chanel perfumes and to a lesser extent, some of my Amouage perfumes. I've been wearing a whole lot more of no 5 and some Coco Mademoiselle. On days off, I have been wearing tons of either Lyric or Epic. But I am trying to see what full bottles I can use up as well. I think that it would be a pretty wise idea to see what perfumes that I can use up and make my collection a little smaller and a little more manageable. So I think that I should start to focus more on 2 or 3 perfumes and see what I can do with finishing some more bottles. But I think I am going to go with the smaller bottles first. I think that I ought to start using up my decants as well.

I do kind of hate having to watch the spending because I am overhauling my life due to money. I got depressed, buy this and you will feel better. I got bored or there was a good sale on something and I would buy something. It's the frivolous spending that gets me and that has to change. I have had to put up some boundaries with the people that I live with. Just because I work at a grocery store, I can't keep buying groceries for family members and not get the money upfront. The excuse of "it just popped into my head and we do need this" can't fly anymore. It's the little expenses that keep happening is wasteful and the wasteful spending just can't happen right now. But I want to see what I can do with the smaller changes right now.
 

More First World Problems

 It looks like Chanel has raised their prices, again. I know this is a first world problem but it seems like three or four months ago, they jacked up their prices. The regular lineup (no 5, no 19, Coco etc) is at least $10 more but the Les Exclusifs line is a different matter.

Chanel's Les Exclusif line started out as 6.8 ounces of the EDT for only $200. Twelve years ago, that was a bargain but that has changed. But lots has changed with the Les Exclusifs line. Now they offer a 2.5 ounce size, the line has expanded, EDT to EDP changes and some have a parfum version. In those twelve years, the prices have gone up. Back in March of2021, I had bought the Coromandel EDP and the cost was $200 for a 2.5 ounce bottle. Then in December of that year I had bought the parfum version of Coromandel for $240. The price of Coromandel parfum will set you back $305 for a half an ounce. The EDP of Coromandel will cost you $325 for a 2.5 ounce bottle and a 6.8 ounce bottle runs at $500. And that means that I won't be getting any of the Les Exclusifs line any time soon or any Chanel perfume for quite a while. I do wonder if Chanel wants to compete with Amouage in price. Amouage has always been expensive from the get go but the quality has always been there. The quality of Chanel can't compete with Amouage.

I do own quite a bit of both Chanel and Amouage and there are ways I can get bottles of Amouage for less. I can get an Amouage offering for less on Fragrancenet or Beautyencounter but Chanel keeps a vice like grip on who can and who cannot sell their stuff. But I think that Chanel has gotten greedy and at this point, I won't be getting anymore Chanel perfumes.

Valentine's Day

 It's Valentine's Day here and for those who follow the Catholic faith, it's Ash Wednesday. I work in a bakery and had to deal with the overload of paczi yesterday. If I didn't work at a bakery, I wouldn't have had a clue about Fat Tuesday or Ash Wednesday. But the paczi that we sell at my store is an overrated jelly doughnut. You would probably have a better paczi if you went to an old school Polish bakery.

I'm not following Valentine's Day either. I might be off but I am not with anyone, so I have nobody to celebrate it with. I am waiting for tomorrow because I want the half priced Valentine's candy. But we shall see if I really want to be out and about tomorrow. Probably not though.

I'm pretty sure that many people have bought their significant others jewelry, candy, flowers and perfume. I was thinking about that I think would be great perfumes for a Valentine's gift. Then I got to thinking about a list of solid choices for Valentine's perfumes, even though I am bathed in the traumatically discontinued Fendi Theorema. The people at Fendi were total morons for getting rid of Theorema.

I have to start off with Lyric. Since the Valentine's colors are red, pink and white, the bottle fits with the general color theme. Since roses seem to be the most gifted flower on this day, the spicy rose of Lyric fits the day. Lyric is one of my most loved perfumes and probably the first Amouge that I fell head over heels in love with and then Epic was my second. Yeah, Amouage is expensive and probably the most expensive brand on this list but you only live once.

The original Shalimar is going to have to be my 2nd choice in all of it's vanilla goodness. Shalinar isn't a straight up vanilla thing, there are more moving parts. There is the citrus aspect of it and whatever else is in there to make Shalimar a little on the slutty side. I haven't tried too many of the Shalimar flankers outside the Ode a la Vanilles. Shalimar is pretty affordable but the Ode a la Vanilles from around 2010/12 and crazy expensive if you can find them.

My third choice would have to be the tried and true and probably my lamest pick on the list is Chanel no 5 in extrait form or the edt form. You could possibly get away with the edp version but the extrait and edt are the first two versions of no 5 that came out. I would ignore all the other no 5 flankers for Valentine's Day. Coco said that she wanted no 5 to smell like a woman and not a flower. In the '20's, that was revolutionary in terms of perfume but that would be a whole different post. With no 5, outside of the aldehydes, no other note sticks out but no 5 wants you to move in a little closer.

I was thinking of putting Mitsouko on the list but outside of perfume nuts, who really would seek out Mitsouko? She is a little too strange and maybe a little too harsh for a lot of people. I am thinking it's a little too strange. I am leaving out vintage Bal a Versailles due to the fact that it's vintage and can be a little on the pricey side. Plus I don't think that most can deal with the outright slut in vintage Bal a Versailles.

It Shouldn't Be This Hard

 For a long time, I have said that I was actually going to finish that bottle of Chanel no 5 edt. I keep saying it and it never seems to happen. I have no real idea on why I         can't just finish the damn bottle and be done with it. There is only two more wearings in the bottle so I think that by Wednesday, I should have the bottle finished.

Let's think about it, I have more Chanel no 5 in various concentrations than I know what to do with. So there is no freaking reason on why I should be hoarding this stuff. Especially since no 5 hasn't been discontinued and I don't think that no 5 will be discontinued in the near future. I don't think that it has been reformulated but reformulation is always a threat when it comes to perfume, especially the longer that a perfume has been in the market. Chanel no 5 in various concentrations is pretty easy to find.

Granted Chanel no 5 might not be the cheapest perfume out there and I have spent far more on other bottles of perfume. But for probably most people, the price of a Chanel perfume is the most they can spend on any kind of perfume. I do wish the the extrait version of Chanel no 5 was a little more affordable but I know Chanel can set their prices on whatever they sell. The extrait is the one that I have the least amount of and that is the only formulation that I kind of do hoard due to the expense. Eventually, I will get another bottle of extrait. At this point, I think that might be when Sephora has their spring sale sometime in March or April. And that is when I take Afterpay out of time out.

For me, Afterpay was an awesome idea when my limit was at $600. Since I am at a current limit of $1,400 it's not so awesome for me. It's too easy for me to get into the habit of just buying things since I make payments every 2 weeks. It's just all of those little purchases that seem to get to me. With those little purchases, I can find myself making 6 or 7 payments in the same week when I really don't pay attention. So my account is frozen until my payment plan is complete. I still do think that the BNPL concept is pretty cool and possibly a better option than credit cards. I think that a bottle of Gris Charnel extrait and no 5 extrait are still in that cards but I am going to have to wait until I get Afterpay all squared away and move out of the holiday season.

Perfume and Being Sick

 Somehow, I got some kind of summer crud that is going around work. I've had this garbage since Friday and I sick and tired of not being able to sleep due to all of the coughing. It's got to be all of the post nasal drip. No matter how many nedulizer treatments, blowing my nose or coughing up crap I do, I still end up coughing the night away. It's the wheeze when I am not coughing that really annoys me. I also am doing the cough suppressant stuff and sleeping with two pillows to no avail.

Even though I am getting my sense of smell back, I still don't really want to wear perfume. Most of the time, the only perfume that I want to wear and can wear is Chanel no 5 edt but I don't even want to wear that. My asthma doesn't seem to want to behave to well so I shouldn't even attempt any kind of perfume. I have already taken a couple days off from work that I probably shouldn't have but I don't really want to end up in the ER due to my stupid asthma.

With my birthday coming up in a few days, I'm really holding off on another full bottle of perfume. I put a freeze on Afterpay and is going to remain that way until it's paid off. I am probably get a few decants from STC or TPC. I haven't made decisions yet, I'm just trying to kick this whole cold bushiness.

The Dry Down Now Sucks

Did you ever have one of those perfumes that you have always loved but now there is something about it that bothers you? For me, Chanel no 19 is that one.

I discovered Chanel no 19 early in the days of when I went down the rabbit hole. It never mattered the concentration, I had to have every concentration and I do have every concentration. But my favorite concentration has always been the EDP. For many years, I have worn it with abandon and haven't worn it a whole lot in the past year for some reason.

In the EDP, I have always loved the sharp, very green rose with the iris back up. The EDT was a very leathery iris and the parfum was a powdery, carroty iris. But something seemed to change for me. There is something that happens right around the dry down is where something seems to go wrong. I can be rocking the top and middle notes but when I seem to go from the middle notes to the base notes, the musk and green part just seems to smell bad to me. I am not sure on what is happening. It could be the fact that I haven't been wearing a whole lot in the past year. So maybe what is in the spray mechanism is a little on the stale side.

I'm also thinking that maybe I have too much perfume and just can't get to a whole lot in my collection. What probably needs to happen is that I only have 2 or 3 perfumes out at a time and I start to use those and then move onto the next 2 or 3 perfumes. I am also thinking of maybe selling off some of what I have to make my collection a little more manageable.