Of Shalimar and Decants

When Portia on Perfume Posse announced that she was getting back into the habit of using up samples and decants for the year of 2025. I leapt at the chance of using up some of my decants and samples as well. I figured that with all the decants and samples that I have, I really should start using some of what I have. The decants that I am currently working on is Patou Joy extrait, Amouage Honour and one of my decants of Diagilev. I figure to start out with 3 a month and stick to my dabber samples right now. If I can work on getting more than 3 a month, that would be awesome and it would be a bonus if I could actually use up some travel sprays and full bottles this year as well. But with the 3 that I mentioned that I am working on, I am almost done with those. And when I finish those 3, I will move on to something else.

But what do I do when I commit to this decant challenge/resolution thing? I order 2 more decants. I ordered another decant of Tigress Musk and a sample of Memoir Man. I think that since that I don't order decants too often anymore, it's okay, I just won't get more samples for a long while. What works a little more in my favor is the TPC doesn't do as many sales as they used to and I can't recall the last time that STC had a sale. I figure with inflation and all, it's not exactly worth it. Without sales and coupons, I am less tempted to buy. But I am doing that even with groceries (looking at sales and coupons). I am only trying Memoir Man because I haven't tried too many of Amouage's men's offerings and maybe I should try more. I did try the men's version of Lyric and Epic way back when and wasn't too terribly impressed. The men's version of Gold was something I liked much better than the women's version. But we shall see how Memoir Man fairs.

There is a reason that I did mention Fabrege Tigress Musk. Earlier, I did pull out one of my bottles of Shalimar and sprayed an unhealthy amount. The Shalimar bottle that I used was when it was the early days of my perfume journey. It's kind of vintage but not really and I haven't pulled out a vintage bottle of Shalimar or vintage anything in a long time. Shalimar was always a lovely perfume on my skin. But I had forgotten how slutty Shalimar is. It's not exactly vintage Bal a Versailles or MKK but the sluttyness is there. When I sprayed Shalimar, I started to get a really wicked craving for Tigress Musk and naturally it's in the pile of decants that I can't get to at the moment. The decant of Tigress Musk that I have already is probably half full. The reason that I only ordered a decant is because getting a full bottle never quite works out. When I remember to look, it's either not available or the cost is a little over the top for me.
 

BDK Rouge Smoking Extrait Review

I guess that I did luck out with the new Exceptional Extrait from Amouage. It wasn't Lyric. My adoration for Amouage knows no bounds and that is today's scent of the day. If Lyric is the next release, I will spit nails since I don't need another massive craving for a new bottle.

I figured that it was time that I actually bothered with testing something new. And since I fell in love with Gris Charnel, I figured I would try BDK Rouge Smoking extrait. Gris Charnel was one of those blind buys that really did work out. When I was buying my bottle of Vanille Banane, I put a sample of BDK Wood Jasmin in my cart as well. So when my bottle and Wood Jasmin arrived, a Rouge Smoking sample was in there.

When I wore Rouge Smoking, I couldn't help but think that I have smelled this before. I just couldn't place what perfume that it smelled like. It bothered me for the longest time, well it was two whole wearings that it bothered me. Then it hit me, it was pretty much a dead ringer for Tom Ford's Lost Cherry. Maybe it's the less trashy version of Lost Cherry. But with Rouge Smoking, I detect s stronger tonka note. Tonka is one of those notes that took me forever to figure out why I might not like certain perfumes. The tonka kind of amps up the sweetness of the whole perfume and I am pick about the sweetness in any perfume. If it is a thick, syrupy type of perfume, I despise it. Or if it is too fruity, I am not exactly a fan. At this point, I am not a fan of Rouge Smoking. From a dabber, the lasting power is pretty good. Again, since I am not a fan, I would hate Rouge Smoking if it were sprayed. At this point, it's money saved. Saved because I didn't spring for a travel spray without smelling it first. 

Lately, I have been guilty of springing for travel sprays instead of just getting some sample for the same price. But the travel spray buying and full bottle buying has stopped. One, it's not sustainable, two, it's kind of stupid. I can order a hundred travel sprays and only find a couple that I love, a couple that I like and the rest of them suck.
 

More Exceptional Extraits

It was either yesterday or the day before I had gotten an email from Amouage. Normally, I delete emails from my inbox. I think what made me open the email was the fact that there are going to be more Exceptional Extraits coming out. The email didn't say which ones, so it's going to be a surprise on which ones.

For a long time, I did have a real thing for Amouage. Up until either Honour or Beloved, if Amouage was rolling out a new perfume, I badly wanted to get my paws on it. But after either Honour or Beloved, I really didn''t care so much. I don't know what exactly changed. Maybe it was similar to Serge Lutens. It seemed like both Amouage and Serge Lutens seemed to be releasing perfumes every 6 months or so. So in ways, I lost interest. At the time, I had all the Amouage offerings that I more or less wanted. For a long time, my Amouage holy grail was Lyric. It took me around 2 years to save up for a bottle of Lyric. I don't think that I will ever forget that the lady who ran her online shop, called me and said that she was out of the 50ml bottle that I had ordered and offered me one of the 100ml bottles for the same price. Of course, I jumped at the chance to get a larger bottle. But back to that email.

I am not exactly enthused by getting that email saying that more were going to be released. The sheer cost of those full bottles. Even on discounters, the price is still out there. But I always try to keep in mind that Amouage has never been cheap. But after having the regular extraits and body line pulled from their shelves, my thoughts were that those were either sold out or discontinued. I didn't exactly think about the fact they were shaking things up. The other reason on why I wasn't so enthused is because I don't exactly want Lyric to be on this go around of the Exceptional Extrait releases.

While I did manage to get my hands on a sample of Epic 56 and Honour 43, I wasn't quite head over heels in love. I would like to have a full bottle of Epic 56, it's not so vital for me to find a way to get a bottle. Honour and I have a pretty strange relationship. One minute, I can't get enough of it and then the next minute, I can't stand it. So Honour and mostly avoid one another and I am happy that I could never quite commit to getting myself a bottle. But I do think that I should have just gotten Honour instead of Gold. In theory, I should love Gold because I love no 5 so much but Gold smells like I stepped in dog poop.

Make no mistake, I still love and adore Lyric. My adoration for Lyric is well known. My collection of Lyric is three 100ml bottles, travel spray set and matching soap and lotion. The only thing that I am missing is the extrait bottle that Amouage used to sell a year or two ago. But the reason that I don't want Lyric to be a part of the Exceptional Extrait is the fact that I don't want to have that full bottle craving that will last for years. But knowing on how my luck seems to go, it will be an Exceptional Extrait. If it goes that way, I will probably move heaven and earth just to get my hands on a sample and who knows what I would do to get my hands on a full bottle. I just love Lyric that much. Sooner or later, I will find myself in better financial shape to get a bottle. I am hoping that by year 2026, my finances will be in better shape.
 

The Wonderful World of Grocery Delivery

Ever since I have started to subscribe to Walmart Plus, I had been slowly transferring quite a bit of my grocery shopping to Walmart. Most places that are around me don't have something like Amazon Prime or Walmart Plus and if they do, it's more cash than I am willing to pay. Since I have spent a couple days going through all of my subscriptions and saving myself $50 a month, I am just not willing to spend money on another subscription that I might not use often enough to keep using it. Barkbox, Amazon Prime and Walmart Plus are enough for me.

The reason for Walmart Plus is because of the fact that I don't drive, limited financial means and live in a rural area. So grocery delivery is a lifesaver. With Walmart Plus, I can basically get all the groceries delivered and not have to pay massive amounts in delivery fees. If Walmart doesn't have any item but Target does, I might just bite the bullet and just spend the $10 for delivery. It just depends on how badly I need said item and what is the cost of item is. I might have an Aldi that isn't far from me but it's a pain in the ass to make arrangements to get there for groceries. The grocery store that I work at has gotten a little too expensive and ever since the beginning of Covid, they don't carry about half of what I consume. So Walmart is my only real option. I could go to Target but Target is a little too fancy and a little too expensive for food.

Last night, I knew that I was getting pretty close to not having any of the Tazo Chai Latte concentrate. So I placed a delivery order thinking that everything would be fine. Was it fine? Hell no. I fully expected the $2 fleece throw to be out of stock along with another clearance item and not get those. Somehow I got the clearance items but was only able to get 1 of my Tazo chai. Since I wasn't charged for what I didn't get, I figured that I made the delivery time pretty early, I would place another order since maybe the Walmart closest to me might not have gotten their delivery truck yet and schedule it for much later in the day. Nope, didn't get that either. So now I am having it shipped to me and will have it by Sunday. I have already complained to Walmart about how the website needs updating. If Bath and Body Works can keep their website updated for ordering online and someone picks it up, why can't they? Other companies are able to do that. With all the money Walmart makes, they can't invest the time, money, people and technology to do that? So Walmart just said sorry but tough luck. If something went sideways with an order from Amazon, they would have offered a month of Prime for free. Barkbox would try to find some kind of solution to make it right. All to try and keep a customer. Maybe it is time to revisit the Walmart Plus subscription.
 

It's the New Year

 Now we are in 2025 and my New Year's Eve and day were pretty much low key. I got off work at 8 last night and let me tell you that New Year's Eve can be busier than Christmas Eve in a grocery store. One would think that in my neck of the woods, Christmas would be the bigger deal but ever since Covid, it seems like New Year's has become the bigger deal than Christmas. But I live in a rural area so I can only comment on what I see here and not in the suburbs. My aunts and uncles said that their grocery stores were packed but mine wasn't too horribly busy on Christmas. Maybe because I work in the bakery that now requires 48 hour notice for any kind of order, maybe people started to get their shit together to plan a little better. So after I got off work, I ate dinner, watched YouTube until about 11:30, watched the ball drop and then went to bed. At the age of 42, I am not game for dealing with drunk people in public in bars or driving. Plus, I don't have the tolerance for booze that I used to.

I managed to get New Year's day off and I just hung around at home. You know that mulled white wine thing that I was going to make? That didn't happen. There was too much chaos and drama in the kitchen with the pork roast and potatoes to make that happen. So the mulled wine is going to have to wait another time. But I was kicking around a few ideas for the new year.

My first idea would be to binge watch Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace and Tales of Yanxi Palace. Both of those shows are now on Amazon Prime so I can watch those in my room instead of watching them on my Kindle Fire. At this point, there isn't much on television right now. The new season on All Creatures Great and Small won't air on PBS until the 12th. Call the Midwife won't be on until spring and Grantchester will probably air sometime in the summer.

My second idea is to make a serious effort on using up my Amouage body products. This idea came about when I applied some Epic body butter. The body butters that I have from Amouage haven't gone off in terms of smell but the consistency of the lotion itself has changed. So I want to use the body butters up before the smell goes off. I didn't notice anything when it came to the Amouage soaps though. Yes, I decided that I wanted to go big or go home for the new year, especially since I wore Clinique Happy for New Year's Eve.

My third idea is to start getting back into playing some of my video games. I am still waiting for my Quake II game to arrive but since I am trying to make a concerted effort to reduce my spending, I want to appreciate what I already have. I want to replace window shopping and shopping itself with other things. I know that I can't entirely avoid shopping, I want to do less of it. I want this to be a year of actual change and not lip service.

Almost the New Year

Christmas feels like it's long gone already and it was only last week. Now we are already looking at New Years. I meant to do a blog post for after Christmas but either forgot or didn't have the time.

Today was the day that I had started to go through the massive perfume hoard in the guest bedroom. It wasn't so much to sort through to see what I wanted to get rid of and what to keep. It was the whole thing of what had evaporated and what I could really throw away. There were quite a few minis that I threw away, not because they were evaporated but they were ancient and really needed to be thrown out. I had to throw out a couple bottles that had gone off. But like I said earlier, I wasn't sorting to see what I wanted to keep and what to sell.

I had also started to go through my massive book collection to see what I can take down to Half Priced Books. I could donate them but most libraries in my area are not looking for what I read. The little library things in my neighborhood are very far and few. So it's either Half Priced Books or going in the trash. But I would rather try and raise some kind of monies and create some space in my house.

I keep saying that I am trying to make space and use things up and I swear that I am trying. Yesterday, I went through my bathroom and managed to combine half used shampoos and body washes. I also combined some face creams too. So I managed to recycle about 6 or 7 bottles along with throwing out some other junk. Every little thing that I can manage at any given time helps.

What is mostly good right this moment is that while I have been seriously working on clearing things out these past couple days, I really haven't been shopping. By not indulging in too much retail therapy, that means I am not undoing what precious little progress that I have made. Candle Day was a little bit of a bust for me this year and the Bath and Body Works Semi Annual Sale is lackluster. With the $40 Amazon gift card that my sister gave me for Christmas, I ordered Quake II for my Xbox, so I can start playing my Xbox a little more and not spend so much time with window shopping.

With it being so close to the new year, I am trying to make more serious changes. I would like to really start to crack down on my candle collection. By cracking down on my candles, that means actually using them. There is no need for me to have well over 100 candles. With the people that I live with, it is going to be somewhat of a tall order. They don't approve of having lit candles, even when there is a power outage. I want to spend less money in general as well. Eating out will have to be limited to once or twice a month and I am looking at quitting smoking as well. I know that not eating out much and quitting smoking will help my bottom line. I just want 2025 to be a good year.
 

Pre Christmas Stuff

It's coming down to the wire in terms of Christmas. I am sure that there is tons of panic going on in terms of shopping for presents right now. At this point, I am just waiting for my last one to show up and let's hope that it comes by Christmas Eve. If it doesn't, it's not going to be the end of the world. Sometimes what does annoy me is when a company says that when a certain day is the last day for getting a package by Christmas. I get that it is Christmas and lots of people ship lots of gifts from the week of Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve. I am just hoping that the last gift that I had ordered will arrive tomorrow.

I did do some impulsive things with the back pay and bonus. I still paid that monster cellphone bill but I wanted to make a nice Christmas for my dogs at least in terms of gifts. I did go crazy with the treats and dog toys. I view it as since they didn't get a Barkbox this month, I did want to make up for it. The frivolous thing that I did for myself and I know that I really shouldn't have was ordering a bottle of Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Banane, My perfume logic was that it 30ml for $50 and for perfume, that's pretty much free. It's not costing me a whole lot of money and what is the harm? 

But at the end of the day, money was spent a little too quickly. I made a resolution to buy only 1 candle from the Bath and Body Works semi annual sale and not buy anymore. There will always be other sales that I can go to and I can bank some rewards points from online surveys. But it is going to be a while before I do some fun things. I have more pressing matters at hand, like fixing up my teeth and getting more of my financial mess figured out. Nope, haven't filed for bankruptcy yet. There is something about pulling the trigger on that that's scary. Even though I don't own anything like a car or house, I am not a fan of what would be the invasive nature of the whole thing that freaks me out.

So the deal Christmas Eve is to work until 5, go home and finish wrapping my gifts. The dogs' presents are the only ones that I haven't wrapped yet and I am not quite ready to tackle that small mountain. For Christmas Day, my folks and I are going to my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate Christmas. I don't know if it is going to be a ham or a standing rib roast for Christmas dinner. All I know is that I am responsible for dinner rolls and wine. I already ordered the rolls and I have to pick out which wine that is needed. The wine selection is going to have to wait until I get off work.

I am trying to plan my Christmas Day perfume. Currently my choices are Theorema (tramatically discontinued), Lyric (absolutely adore) or vintage Shalimar (don't wear enough). I already wear a little too much Chanel no 5 and will probably be wearing it to work tomorrow when I brave my 12 to 5 shift at a grocery store. So wearing any version of no 5 on Christmas Day is a no go. I haven't made a decision on which one to wear yet.