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.

 

Rogue Perfumery Chypre Siam EDT Review

 Not too long ago, I did buy a discovery set from Luckyscent. It seems like more and more niche perfume houses are offering discovery sets. Discovery sets didn't seem to be as common back when I fell down the rabbit hole. Mainstream perfumes did have some of those mini perfume sets but the ones I mainly saw was from Calvin Klien or whoever made the Curve line up. So it was the low end perfume houses that offered those. But since more and more niche brands are offering discovery sets, I have been more of on the hunt for those. Discovery sets are a little more cost effective than a full bottle blind buy.

So I did decide to bite and get a discovery set of Rogue Perfumery. The price was right for how many of the Rogue Perfumery offerings. I was impressed with the packaging. The very outer part was almost like a jewelry box and when I opened the box, all the perfumes were in a velvet bag with a card that listed all of the perfumes in the bag along with the the notes. What took me by surprise was that the samples were 1.5ml and instead of spray samples, they are rollerballs. Most discovery sets that I have gotten were either dabbers or spray decants so this was new territory for me.

The first one that I pulled out was Chypre Siam. I did get a little bit of lime but then the mossiness from the oakmoss hit. And the oakmoss component is huge in this one. One would think that with a more realistic oakmoss smell, it would be a vintage Mitsouko. But the longer that this was on my skin, I was wondering and asking on where have I smelled this before. Then it came to me. It was like vintage Mitsouko and vintage Obsession got together and Chypre Siam was the end result. Once I made the association, I couldn't smell much else, even after two seperate wearings. With a rollerball application, the projection is probably not as strong as a spray. But with this being an edt formulation, I got a solid 7 hours out of Chypre Siam.

Would I ever get a bottle? I don't know, the Rogue Perfumery prices are reasonable (in terms of niche) when I go to Luckyscent. But I am going to see how the rest of the discovery set plays out. But I am really interested in the rest of the set due the fact that this is a perfume house that thinks more outside the box.

Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Banane Review and Sub Zero Temps

There are some notes that are not often used or at least featured prominently in perfume. Pine is one of those notes. I haven't smelled pine featured so strongly in perfume until I tried Dior's Granville and then in CdG Zagorsk. So pine isn't featured too often. Maybe due to Pine-sol or Christmas tree associations. Banana is another note I haven't smelled in a perfume. I have smelled fruity perfumes, citrus perfumes but nobody seemed to use bananas. Until I met Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Banane.

I was attracted to Vanille Banane partially due to the price point and the fact that banana took more of a center stage. So I decided to take a gamble on this one. For 30ml at a shade over $50, what did I really have to lose?  If I didn't like it, it wasn't going to be a huge loss.

Let's just say that I am not fully sure if I like Vanille Banane. The banana isn't like a fresh banana, I am reminded of either banana candy or those banana flavored popcicles that I loved as a kid. So the banana is an artificial smelling banana. But the banana doesn't last too long. When the banana dies down a little bit, I do get some vanilla and maybe a little bit of a whipped cream type of smell. But after that I get pretty much nothing. For $50, I did expect a little more. It has more of a Bath and Body Works vibe and smell to it and Bath and Body Works is cheap. I honestly did expect a little more, I expected more along the lines of Clinique Happy and Clinique Happy is a cheap and cheerful type of perfume. At this point, I am not fully sure if I like this or not.

Maybe I am not so sure about Vanille Banane is that Ohio is locked into some sub zero temps and will be until Wednesday. So my focus is not going outside and to stay warm. The only day that I need to actually go out in this weather is tomorrow for work. And I am not looking forward to going to work. I did wimp out today though. I was supposed to go out and get dog food but instead, I had it delivered to my doorstep. I could have done a little bit of grocery shopping to but I wasn't game for grocery shopping today, that's going to be tomorrow.
 

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.

Philosophy Amazing Grace EDT Review

 When I made diamond status on Ulta, I had a choice of a perfume mini or something with makeup. Naturally, I had to choose the mini. If I remember right, the only option was Philosophy Amazing Grace. Amazing Grace has been around for a while and have never gotten around to trying it out. I've just never got around to even trying any of the Philosophy line.

Amazing Grace has been around since 1996, just as I was entering high school. I don't remember anyone in high school wearing it, it was mostly Happy, CK One or Cucumber Melon that permeated the halls and classrooms of where I went to school. People might have worn it but for high school students working part time jobs, it probably wasn't all that affordable and probably a little more difficult to find. Happy was probably pushing it in terms of affordability.

Amazing Grace is not all that amazing to my nose. It's a lily and musk type of thing. The musk is a clean type of musk and I am not smelling the sexiness of the musk at all. People who have reviewed it as a sexy perfume due to the musk and I have no idea how they can call it sexy. Maybe MKK and BaV has spoiled me or ruined my nose in what I consider sexy. I did have a bit of a liking for the lily note but this perfume really smells like something from the 90's. The whole clean, your skin but better type of thing. It's really not my thing but might have been a thing for me when I was in high school. Mercifully, the edt didn't last too long on me and think Ulta maybe could have done a little bit better when it came to the choice of perfume mini when there are probably better perfumes out there. The whole your skin but better thing has really got to stop in the perfume world. What's the point of your skin but better in terms of  perfume? I will admit that I want to wear a perfume that smells like I am wearing perfume.

Chanel no 5 Eau Premiere and Coco Mademoiselle EDT Review

When my parents were in California, I did spend tons of time in no 5 Eau Premiere and starting to look at a back up bottle or get the travel spray. Or I could go for an econosized bottle of Coco Mademoiselle Intense but haven't made up my mind. There is a little more room in my budget than I initially thought for adding something new in terms of perfume. 

I had forgotten to mention that when my parents were gone, I managed to finish almost 10 candles. My initial goal was at least 6 candles but I decided, fuck it, and burned more than 2 at a time. Since I am currently on vacation myself at the moment, I intend to try and finish at least 3 or 4 candles this week. Every candle that I use up is a small victory because that leaves me with more space and right now I need to free up some space. Now if I could finish up some decants and finish off a no 5 extrait bottle, I'd be even happier. The using things up and throwing things away is slow going but progress is being made because I am using up candles and getting rid of more clothes and not adding anymore of those.

My love for Coco Mademoiselle is pretty new. I know I loved it right when it came out but when it came out, every woman seemed to wear copious amounts of it and I could never really afford to keep a bottle in rotation. Then came the lotion on a new cut and I was really turned off to Coco Mademoiselle. Every good perfume nut seems to know that any Chanel fragrance can smell differently in various concentrations and I was kind of curious to see what the EDT version of Coco Mademoiselle was. What I found is that the EDT version was heavier on the citrus but a much less concentrated version of the EDP, I don't recall ever trying the extrait version, so I can't comment in that department. The biggest differences is that the EDT lasts nowhere near what I expect from a Chanel EDT. Chanel EDT's last quite a while on my perfume eating skin but not this one. At best, I get 4 or maybe 5 hours before it fades into nothingness. The lack of projection is something to be noted as well. The EDP has more of a presence than the EDT. I am happy that I didn't get a huge bottle of this due to the fact of lasting power and lack of projection. This would probably be great when it's 90 degrees out but want to wear Coco Mademoiselle.

Molinard Vintge Habanita EDT Review

I have finally found a spare moment to blog. It's just been a little strange around here. I have been having a little trouble trying to find the time and even more trouble getting to have more than 30 seconds on the computer without someone needing to use it.

It has been years since I have worn Molinard's Habanita. Almost 10 years and it was in the beginning of being a perfume fiend. After being a perfume fiend for around 10 years, my nose and tastes have changed and will keep changing. I remember liking Habanita and have a small decant of the vintage EDT. I am not going to yap about the history of Habanita, well not really. I don't know how old my vintage decant is but it probably is a fairly new vintage, if that makes any sense.

I get a slightly fruity type of oriental. I am not talking the fresh type of fruity smell, more like a cooked type of fruit. My nose can't pick out any one kind of flower but it does have a floral aspect to it. I think the flowers keep Habanita from going straight up Shalimar. What bothers me the most is that distinct plastic, powdery doll smell. I keep wanting to say Barbie but my nose leads me into the baby doll type of deal that I probably played with when I was really little.

Vintage Habanita was a bit of a let down for me. I wanted something maybe a little more on the skanky side, a little smokier, just a little different and maybe a little more complex. Maybe I am so used to my older perfumes being more complex and having more working parts. Maybe it's because smoking doesn't shock anybody anymore, especially a woman smoking in public. Women smoking led to the development of Habanita and I think that Molinard dropped the ball a little bit when creating something for skin.

Chanel Jersy EDT Review

After Portia's post on the Perfume Posse yesterday, I hunted down my itty bitty decant to try out. When I found the decant, it was almost gone, so wearing and reviewing it is at the moment. I probably could get another wearing out of it but I'd rather not.

Jersey is full of lavender with hints of clean musk. The first split second I thought it was Chanel tries to imitate Guerlain's Jicky. I do have a liking for Jicky but I am realizing more and more that a lavender dominant perfume is not my thing. Jersey has the connotations of laundry soaps and softener and home fresheners. But somewhere after 10 minutes, there is something about it that makes me feel under the weather. It could be that lavender has been overused in so many home products, to the point of sickening. There were moments where I thought this would work and I could like it but it became a nope, this isn't happening. This had a chance of being something that I might like but Jersey is too simple and familiar. I noticed that it lasts on my skin at least 7 hours. That is one thing Chanel has done rather well, make an EDT last on my skin for much longer than two hours.

My biggest beefs with Chanel at this point, is that Chanel is becoming a too expensive and is starting to price themselves out of the market. I have not been thrilled with their reformulations nor the changing the Les Exclusifs line from EDT to EDP. I know that they did a number on Cuir de Russie when they switched over to the EDP concentration. I haven't been fond of recent releases either because it either smells cheap or it smells like something that I already haven't smelled a thousand other times before in other perfumes.

Let's just say that a bottle won't be purchased and my bank account is incredibly happy over that fact.

La Maison de la Vanille Vanille noire du Mexique Review

I have been dithering on writing a review for far too long at this point. Now it's off to the races with a review.

Off and on for the fast couple weeks, I have been wearing La Maison de la Vanille's Vanille noire du Mexique. It's a goofy one to me. I get the basic layout of two different perfumes. I mean, really I do. I get Shalimar Ode a la Vanille (the Mexican one) and L'Artisan's Havana Vanille (or Vanille Absolutment or whatever they called it before the discontinued it). It has the basic Ode a la Vanille layout nut without the naughty bits but also had the thinker's parts of Havana Vanille. Havana Vanille was huge on the tobacco and the rum and Mexique doesn't have any of that but hints around at it.

Mexique is kind of a funky perfume because it plays off of two perfumes but yet, it's it's own perfume. I consistently get about 7 hours of wear out of this and make skin eats EDT's for breakfast. What I am really loving is the price tag of Mexique. For $60 and a 100ml, that's a really good bargain in the niche/hard to find. What makes me a little hesitant of purchasing a bottle is when I bought the sampler, the spray mechanisms caused for quite a bit of evaporation. That's what happens when spray mechanisms are put on by manufacturers. I hope that in the next couple months, I will take the plunge and just get a bottle. Since Shalimar Ode a la Vanille was a limited edition and Havana Vanille was discontinued, this fits the bill for me in terms of a vanilla.

CdG Monocle One Scent One: Hinoki

For a while, I have really liked the smell of incense and a little bit of a fan of woody scents. For the past two weeks, I have been on and off wearing Kyoto, Avignon and Incense Flash and remembered that I did have CdG Monocle One Hinoki to try out.

I wasn't exactly sure of what I was smelling at first. Something chemical like. It's been forever and a day since I have smelled turpentine and I think that that is what I might be smelling. Then I smell the cypress and cedar but I don't get a whole lot else except for hints of pine.

This one smells almost identical to Kyoto and with a lasting power to match. My skin eats EDT's for breakfast and I only get about 3 hours worth of wear. I find that Hinoki to be pretty harsh and not very wearable to me and definitely not worth the $120 price tag. Shit, I find that the incense series from CdG a little pricey for what they charge. If I am going to spend more than $50, I do want a little more than 3 hours of lasting power and something a little smoother than this. It's been a difficult couple weeks for me and I am not in the mood to deal with perfumes that charge tons of money for a full bottle but smell like a hundred other perfumes that I can get for $30. I'm tired of perfumes that charge an arm and a leg and smell like someone put a perfume together in 10 seconds and they end up smelling harsh or just a hot mess. It makes me wonder about the state of perfumery.

Kiehl's Original Musj Blend no 1 Review

For some strange reason, I had a wicked craving to try something new but that something new had to be a musk perfume. I do have a liking for musk, even the laundry musk smell. Even laundry musk in a perfume can smell pretty sexy in a perfume depending on the other notes. L'Heure de Nuit smells sexy with the laundry musk to my nose. This time, I pulled out Kiehl's Original Musk Blend no 1 to test out.

The first couple minutes, I couldn't get much of anything when I first sprayed, just a vague floral element. Then it was a holy crap moment when I could really smell it. A slutty musk with flowers. I can't really pick out one single floral note, okay, a hint of rose. The floral aspect isn't huge but I think that the floral aspect is to keep the musk in line. To keep the musk from getting too out of line and not go down the full on skank in a bad way. The musk is definitely a player in Original Musk. The musk likes to flirt with the clean side of things and the dirty side of things but mostly in the dirty. I find the whole perfume to be pretty awesome. If you find that vintage BaV is too slutty and dense but like it in theory, Original Musk would probably be more of up your alley. The lasting power of this one is about 7 or 8 hours on skin. For an EDT, that is pretty awesome to my EDT eating skin. Projection is pretty mild and not in your face.

I did thourghly enjoy Kiehl's Original Musk no 1. Would I get a bottle? The answer is a resounding yes! I did look online and find that Original Musk no 1 is under $50 for a 1.7 ounce spray. In the world of perfume, that is pretty much free. I think that I will get this for my birthday in September.

La Maison de la Vanille Vanille sauvage de Madagascar Review

I spent part of yesterday cleaning up and organizing and found my sampler/travel set of La Maison de la Vanille. I had figured that I really didn't need the box and went to take the decants out and noticed something that really ticked me off. One of the decants was two thirds gone. All of the others seem to be okay, evaporation wise. I don't think that the planning for this travel set was thought out and executed all that well. So guess which one is getting reviewed? Vanille sauvage de Madagascar.

At first, I get a whopping dose of something like alcohol and I wasn't amused by this. Then the vanilla shows up. The vanilla is a creamy type of vanilla in the way of more like a buttercream icing. I've said time and time again, I like my vanilla inedible and this one is in the edible camp. I don't get much development except maybe some incense and the tiniest hint of musk. Towards the end, I get something that smells like chocolate. Chocolate is meant for eating and shouldn't be used in perfume. Lasting power for and EDT is pretty decent. A full bottle is $60 and that is a really good price but I'm saving myself the $60 and not getting a full bottle of this.

Yes, I am pretty crabby. From the two I have tried and reviewed thus far, I don't consider La Maison de la Vanille to be a niche perfume line. It's not about price but this smells more of what I would see in either Target's or maybe even Kohl's. But to sell at Luckyscent, next to Amouage and Andy Tauer offerings?

La Maison de la Vanille Vanille givree des Antilles Review

Thus far, it seems like I have wasted more time and money at Ulta and Sephora. Last Saturday, I was starting some Christmas shopping and ended up at Ulta. After poking around the little perfume section that mine has, I smelled Chanel's Gabrielle. I didn't spray any on due to the fact that I was wearing Amouage Epic and forgot to pack some decanting supplies. From what I could tell, it was mediocre at best and something I have smelled a million times before. I think that Chanel can do a better job when creating new perfumes.

But I have to get going on this review that has been floating around my brain and sitting in my drafts section of my blog. I have started to really explore vanilla perfumes and stumbled across the La Maison de la Vanille travel set. For 5 15ml coming in at $50, it was a bargain. For $50, I am not expecting them to be SDV or Havana Vanille but I am expecting something a little better than something cheap smelling. So for the past week, off and on, I have been wearing Vanille givree des Antilles.

At first spray, I get a very mellow, slightly inedible vanilla. Then things get a little funky and I couldn't place what kind of took over. It was a shaving cream note that started to dominate. My nose has always found a shaving cream note to be a funky note that tries to add a creamy type of vibe. But the issue becomes the threat of the shaving cream note completely turns me off. The vanilla was slightly inedible, like I had mentioned before but not far enough over for me to enjoy it. This one lasted about 5 hours on skin before fading out. That's pretty good for an EDT but a full bottle isn't in the cards for me.

CK One Review

I think that it's time for a blast from the past. When I was in high school, the girls (myself included) mainly wore Happy, Pleasures and Bath and Body Works Cucumber Melon. But then I remembered that CK One was something popular. CK One didn't seem to be hugely popular with the girls in terms of it being worn but seemed to be popular with the guys. Even though it's marketed as unisex. For some reason, I find androgynous a better term and a little classier than unisex.

When I was looking for a list of notes, I found that it was launched in 1994, shortly before I  hit middle school so maybe that's why I didn't smell a whole lot of it. I do remember seeing a ton of Calvin Klein ads for this and a few other offerings that were unleashed at this time. Black and white commercials in the age of color TV is pretty memorable.

CK One starts out with a whole lot of fresh cut lime on me. Which is pretty unusual since I can't find lime listed anywhere on the official list of notes so it's probably the pineapple and bergamot creating that note. After a couple minutes, I get hints of of cedar and maybe a little musk but the biggest thing that I noticed is how green in was and how linear that it is. There is no development One is pretty much the same from when you first apply it to when it peters out into nothing on skin. I don't remember ever owning a bottle but I might have but I think that my sister did have a small bottle of it that I snuck a small squirt. So yes, not a whole lot of change from the beginning to the end. It's pleasant, easy to wear and dirt cheap on FragranceNet and maybe a little pricier on Amazon but the 6.7 ounce is the most bang for your buck no matter what. For an EDT, the lasting power and projection is pretty decent, about five and a half to six hours on skin. I'm not impressed enough to own a bottle, even for old times sake but a decant will do.

Vintage Dioressence Review

It's time for a review her folks. I haven't done tons of exploring when it comes down to the house of Dior. For some reason, Dior hasn't gotten a much of my attention or held a lot of my interest to really explore for some reason. But a few days ago, I was really looking for something else to wear. I think that sometimes I get tired of looking at the same old bottles that are on my dresser. I know that there is a huge bag of decants that I haven't worn or reviewed but my eyes always seem to gravitate to my full bottles. So let's get onto Dioressence.

I will admit that the two vintage Diors that I have tried before Dioressence were Miss Dior and Diorling. But I did try the current versions before going the vintage route. I have not tried the current version of Dioressence so I really can't compare the current and the vintage. I also broke one of my rules with this one. I tested this at work. I don't test anything new while I am at work. What if it sucks? I might have access to running water but it's a public bathroom and I don't have a back up perfume with me. So no matter what happened, I had to ride it out because going without perfume isn't exactly an option.

Dioressence takes off with aldehydes and I do love aldehydes. The aldehydes are fairly fizzy and somewhat soapy. The aldehydes do play a very important roll and I will explain why in a moment. About 10 minutes in, I smell lemons. Not freshly cut or squeezed lemons, lemons are overripe to the point of rotting, along with the ambergris that lends the skank. I find the rotting lemons and ambergris to be a little off putting and strange. The aldehydes keep the rotting lemons and the skank from getting out of control and scaring people away. As the wearing goes on, the more I can discern that Dioressence is a chypre and I do love chypres and this chypre is a green one. The lasting power on this vintage EDT is about 7 hours long. On my dry skin, that's impressive. I'm going to keep an eye out for a vintage bottle and will keep a decant on hand because I do like this one a lot. It's not quite love yet but I think it will be soon.

Guerlain Derby Reissue Review

Since I am so slowly working my way through my bag of those that haven't been worn or reviewed, it was time to get something reviewed. This time my grubby fingers landed on the Derby reissue. I have enjoyed a few of Guerlain's classic offerings and thought this was worth a shot.

This starts of with a peppery citrus note along with carnation. At first, I couldn't figure out where I smelled this before. I swear that I smelled that before. Was that the opening of Christalle? I would have to give Christalle another go to refresh my memory. But then I realize that it smells a whole lot like Givenchy III which I do like wearing from time to time. There is a moss note that comes into play after a while giving Derby a little bit of a Mitsouko feel. The leather that I smell, doesn't exactly suit the whole thing. It smells kind of poopy and just doesn't fit. The lasting power with Derby is a decent 6 hours. Derby keeps fairly close to skin but is not a skin scent. EDT's are usually sit pretty close to me because I have dry skin and I was amazed with the fact that I got 6 hours of wear before this faded into nothing.

Since I don't care for Derby, I won't be getting a bottle of this. Which in some ways, a relief.

Comme des Garcons Series 3 Ouarzazate Review

It's has been a long winter thus far and I am feeling it. I just want to stay in bed and read or watch movies on my Kindle and not go anywhere. But alas, I can't. My elderly Lab isn't doing too good. She has always been a sturdy dog but in the past couple weeks, her age has caught up to her. She isn't too steady on her feet due to an inner ear issue and arthritis is causing some trouble on top of it. My family and I are giving her extra love and attention and her four legged buddy is giving her extra love too and she is milking it for all it's worth. I'm hoping that she will be OK for the next couple months so my sister can see her one more time.

I've fallen into a perfume rut for the millionth time of wearing the same few perfumes. Then I started to crave the Comme des Garcons incense line. I'd remembered that I hadn't tested one and had to go for it. Ouarzazate is the last on my list and  days, it's what I have been wearing on and off for the past few days. I have really enjoyed the series and kind of sad that there aren't more in this series.

Comme des Garcons isn't really known for flashy bottles or ad campaigns but I find the bottles to be utilitarian than anything else. But it's what's inside the bottle that is more interesting. I still have to look at the bottle because first impressions can be everything. But let's get to the perfume.

Ouarzazate starts out sharp and a little lemon like but there is no lemon note listed. I'm not quite sure what note is giving off that vibe. Then I notice the labdanum and vanilla off set that lemony note and soften the dominant note. The incense is huge in Ouarzazate but it seems rough and maybe a little crude. But with the labdanum, it becomes a little softer and more wearable. But with many EDT's I don't get much of a lasting power, only about 2 and a half hours at most. Quarzazate wears close to the skin. I can't see this one being added to my collection anytime soon.

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.

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.

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.