Sezzle and Getting Older

I don't know how this got to be somewhat of a financial review spot. I still am not in with PayPal, Klarna or Affirm and I am okay with that. But somehow, Sezzle decided that I would be worthy enough to be able to use $150.

Let's just say that it works like Afterpay and Zip or like any BNPL service. Like Zip, you do have to pay a $4 finance charge. With Afterpay, I am not spending $4 to use the platform and maybe be able to use the limit I have been given. So, like Zip, I can pay some bills with it, if I am running short of funds but it won't be something I would use often.
 

Getting older sucks. At the ripe old age of 42, my knees are starting to bug me and I am not thrilled with the prospect of having to make a doctor's appointment for knees that hurt. But I fell on one knee and that one really isn't getting much better. Nor am I thrilled with the idea of having to make an appointment for a dermatologist for getting some skin tags removed before I start picking at them. I am not going to worry about my hair turning gray but I do want the hair on my chin to disappear and will look.into that nut that isn't quite so important.

Getting older sucks when one gets excited about finding really good deals, especially online for very basic stuff like toothpaste or shampoo. And I have taken to deal shopping for stuff like that. Since I put discretionary spending on hold, I have to get a little bit excited about something.

It was either Thursday or Sunday, I wore Epic 56 from one of the two dabbers that I have. When I visited my mother in the hospital that day, she said that I smelled really good. But for a good long while, I couldn't place which perfume Epic 56 reminded me of. Then it eventually came to me. Epic 56 is a fancier version L'Air du Desert Morrocain. It has been a while since I have worn the original Epic and LADDM but I am sure that the original Epic would be the same thing.

Amouage Epic 56 Review

A while back, TPC had a little bit left of the Amouage Epic 56 in stock. Since I adore the original Epic, I had to nab a little dabber. I haven't seen TPC offer it again and haven't seen it at all at STC. When I got it, I figured if I wouldn't be able to find it ever again on those sites, I'd have to make that dabber last if I really love it.

So Monday, I decided to give Epic 56 a test drive. And holy shit, is it good. It's Epic on steroids. A deeper, richer Epic. Yes, I love it in all of it's spicy, rosy goodness that made me fall in love with the original Epic. It's a little on the stronger side but this is Amouage and most of their older offerings are pretty strong.

I did a comparison of the extrait version of Epic (also dabber) on Monday night and the extrait of the original Epic does have the same potency but the original Epic extrait doesn't have the depth and richness of Epic 56.

I do love Epic 56 but at a price tag over over $500, it's not for me. I can get a little bit more from the Amouage website since they have the sample set of the exceptional extraits. I think that if Lyric was released as an exceptional extrait, I would truly be screwed since I really adore Lyric.

 

 

That Shit You Ain't Ever Going to Afford

Did you ever have those types of perfumes that you know damned well that you will never be able to afford? I have a few that I will never be able to afford. Unless I come into some kind of cash. My tax refund is going to be used on sensible things that I need. But that tax refund is going to be tiny this year because of tax law changes.

There are a few that I know that I will never be able to afford on my own. When the price of food, rent and other necessities take precedents and paychecks are not that huge, some of the things I want are way out of my price range. 

I want that trip to either Iceland or Scotland but I know god damned well that's not happening anytime soon. There are places even in the US that I want to go but I don't have the cash to go do them. I keep hoping that something works out for even a weekend get away. Every time I get asked from family on why I don't go anywhere, I get a little snippy. It's great that my cousins make enough to afford to go on these vacations but I don't have the financial luxury to do that. I'm more interested in keeping a roof over my head and food on the table. My priorities have to be a little different.

But right now I am looking at the Amouage extraits and the prices. I'm looking at Lyric, Epic, Epic 56 and Jubilation 25. But who really has $400 or more lying around to spend on a perfume? I sure as shit don't and would love to spring for one of those bottles but have to content myself with the dabber vials from either TPC or STC. Rarely to I take a look at perfume discount sites for Amouage.

Outside of those bells jars of Sarrasins and De Profundis that I got in more financially stable times, any other bell jars are out of the question. It's not worth looking at the Serge Lutens website. I just don't want anymore sticker shock at this point.

 I do have perfumes that I would like to get but I have to take stock on what I can really do if I save my pennies. I wonder what other people's limits are in terms of price when it comes to perfume.
 

Vacation Time

It's vacation time for me right now. It's a week of pretty much lounging around and not doing a ton of stuff this week. Mostly playing Xbox, maybe going to see the new Downton Abbey movie and might go to the old Mansfield Reformatory.

For a while I had this seasonal allergy that turned into a cold and now turned into post nasal drip. With that going on, I hadn't wanted to really wear perfume. Well, I really couldn't with my asthma kicking my ass. The only perfume that I could really tolerate was no 5 edt and at points, that was a bit of struggle. If I tried to wear perfume, any perfume, there was a very real chance of an asthma attack.

I haven't been been burning my candles and I was hoping for a while that I could start up again. There is someone in my household that started to develop hives and candle burning pretty much went out the window. Said person is still getting hives and I am thinking that my candles are not the problem. The reason why I really wanted to burn some candles is just to create more space in my room at this point.

There isn't a whole lot going on in the perfume front for me. There isn't a whole lot of room in the budget for perfume at this point and I've kind of went nuts in terms of perfume this quarter. The only thing perfume wise that I've gotten was decants of Epic 56 and Honour 43. I might regret that purchase in a way. My love for Epic Woman is well known and I do have a liking for Honour Woman. But we will see how that goes.  In ways, I kind of hope that I don't fall in love with either of them due to the cost of a full bottle isn't what I want to spend and no decant places really carry decants. I was lucky enough to nab decants of them at TPC but I haven't seen any decants in other places. Spending $500 on a bottle of perfume is a little rich for my blood. I mainly stick to the discounters for Amouge perfumes. If Amouage had Lyric as an exceptional extrait, I probably would be really screwed since I adore Lyric.

Amouage Epic 56 Thoughts

It's been a really long time since I have really paid attention to Amouage offerings. The last time I really paid attention to Amouage was when Beloved was released but after that, I wasn't so interested.

But when Amouage started to release some exceptional extraits, I sat up and took a closer look. From what I can gather, there was extended aging and a higher oil concentration. Amouage has only done 4 as the exceptional extrait but with the ones that have been released, only Epic 56 stands out. 

I love Epic and do want to try it. Epic was my first Amouage love and first full bottle from Amouage. I loved the green bottle and inspired Epic. I will admit that I want to try Epic 56 and get it but dropping $480 on a bottle of perfume scares me and I think that it should. I mean, $480 is quite a bit  of cash, even for Amouage and I don't give a shit if it's for 100ml. But not all is quite lost for me. The Amouage website is offering a sample set for the exceptional offerings. For all four of them, it would set me back $55. But I am not so interested in the others, just Epic. If they had Lyric in the exceptional extraits too, I would have jumped on it.

Lyric and Epic are the two Amouages that I reach for most often but I seem to reach for Lyric more often. I just adore Lyric and the first time I tested Lyric, the clouds parted and the angels started singing and I started saving up for a bottle of Lyric. There was a time that all I wanted was a bottle of Memoir and did get a bottle but I hardly ever reach for it. I have no idea why I don't reach for it too often, other than the fact that it's maybe too sweet and has a static sort of smell to it.

I am going to hold off until maybe mid next year to do anything with that sample pack of those extraits. Maybe I might get the travel sprays of Epic. I am just a little scared of trying out Epic 56 and falling in love with it.