It is Starting to Feel Real

My trip to California is starting to feel real. It hit me that I have a shade over two months of waiting. I am close to paying off Afterpay and Klarna and at this point, I want to pad my checking account a little more but still have a good amount in my savings. 

But I had to really think about a couple other things. One is which BNPL cards do I want to take. Do I take Klarna or Affirm? I am leaning towards Klarna due to it's higher limit and I can use it in more places. But the decision that I made in the past 12 hours is to apply for a credit card. A pre approval from Capital One came in the mail. For the past month, Capital One has been sending me some letters about a pre approval and when I thought about it, getting a credit card for my trip might be a wise idea. With my lousy credit, I didn't expect any kind of approval. To my surprise, I was given the Quicksilver One. It might be a $300 limit with a $39 annual fee but I will take it. I hope that I won't mess this one up. I will have to remind my sister that I don't have tons of money and say that I have been working on getting a couple things squared away in terms of finances.

I am still thinking of which perfume I am going to take. I don't expect to go and do any kind of perfume shopping or sniffing during my trip. My idea of taking that vintage bottle of no 19 edp still stands. It will be hot when I will be in California and it would probably be a great idea to just finish that bottle. I could take that bottle of Nasomatto Nuda or Number One Intense but I think that I should take only 1 bottle. Since I will be traveling by my lonesome, maybe on the way back, I can check out duty free. Doesn't mean that I buy anything but if I remember, I will take a look.

In my using things up resolution, I used up more stuff. I used up the little bottle of the Lush Sleepy body wash and a little bottle of the Cheirosa 62 body wash. Now if I could use up the lotions, I would feel better. I found a little dabber sample of Serge Lutens MKK and decided to use that up if nothing else, just get rid of it. I still have to larger decants of MKK. The upside is that I am not buying more stuff to drag into the house and setting myself back when more than I already have. If I could find a way to use up those lotions even faster, it would be a great thing.
 

Look at What I Just Found

I know that I did chronicle at some point of not being able to find some bottles of perfume. The most notable one was Amouage Memoir and to a lesser extent, Zagorsk. I did wonder where my full bottle of Jubilation 25 and the original Hedonist.

Yesterday was a day that I decided to work on more perfume organizing. I made it mostly through. I knew that I had one backup bottle of Lyric but it turns out that I had 2 backup bottles of Lyric and have a quarter used bottle of Lyric on my nightstand. So if Amouage decides to discontinue Lyric (I hope the hell not), I will be okay but will probably try and grab another bottle. So I went through 2 of the tubs with no luck finding Memoir or Zagorsk. I did end up throwing quite a few evaporated dabber samples and perfume packaging. But I also combined some half used bottles of body wash and some shampoo. So in a way, I made it into something marginally more productive. Well, my resolution is to use up/get rid of stuff is happening, just happening slowly but I am not adding any more stuff that what I got at the Sephora sale.

When I didn't find the bottle of Memoir or Zagorsk, I was about it just give up and say that it was most likely either gone for good or somewhere still in the house. But I pulled out a box of what I thought were just candles, turns out had some perfume in their as well. That is when I found Memoir, Jubilation 25, Zagorsk and Hedonist. They were hiding in one of the many boxes that I store candles in. I am not sure what possessed me to put those perfumes where I store candles but I did. 

The reason why this has been bothering me was that Amouage is pretty pricey and not too many can sink $250 and up for one bottle of perfume. I know that I can't do that anymore. I was worried when I couldn't set my hands on my full bottle of Jubilation 25 or Zagorsk. Well, Zagorsk wasn't a huge deal but losing a full bottle of Amouage is.

While I am happy to have found some of my perfumes, I am still trying to locate my travel spray of no 5 Eau Premiere and my travel spray of Hedonist. I have the Hedonist travel spray in Iris and Cassis but can't find the original Hedonist in the travel spray. I got the Hedonist travel set when I actually had fun money on a regular basis and it was when Luckyscent carried the Victoria Minya travel sets. I could go over to her website and buy it but I keep chickening out and remember that I am on a perfume no buy thing. I do have the Eau Premiere travel refills but the spray mechanism that would work is currently being used for the edp version of no 5 since the travel spray hasn't been used up yet. I just wish I can find those two damn things.

 

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.

 

End of an Era...Sort of

One of my new year's resolutions was to finish things and not add anything more. So far, it's some mixed results. The fact that I have added 3 full bottles to my collection and haven't finished a bottle of anything is the bad part. But I haven't added any body products and in fact used some of them up.

I have finished another Sol de Janeiro Cheirosa 62 hand cream, 2 Gold Bond hand creams and 2 foaming hand washes from Bath and Body Works. But the most notable thing that I have finished is the Amouage Lyric body butter and I am a little sad about that because it is a bit like an end of an era because finding Amouage bath and body stuff is as rare as slug's teeth at the moment. So there is nothing to replace it with. I just can't find the matching bath stuff for the older Amouage offerings. If I can, it's a little too pricey for me. So the era of Amouage body stuff is pretty much over since I do like the concept of matching bath and body stuff that matches any given perfume. But I am still salty about my aunt knocking over my Memoir body cream and very little of it could be saved and I am still looking for my bottle of Memoir. I know I have it somewhere but I just can't find it.

I think that I am a little sad that I used up the last of the Lyric body butter was because Lyric was one of my first niche perfumes that I fell head over heels in live with and when I saved up enough money for a bottle, my love deepened because I could quit buying large decants only to drain them pretty quickly. I am still in love with Lyric but I do have to admit that even though I have one of my full bottles sitting on my nightstand, it doesn't get as much wear as it used to. I do have a backup bottle and a travel spray set when Amouage still had their travel sprays. I think a year or two ago, they pretty much did away with those as well. But I will admit that I do see less and less Amouage being sold in the way of discount sights like Fragrancenet. I do wonder if Amouage is doing what Chanel did way back when is putting an end to their perfumes being sold just about anywhere. I will keep hoping that the body products will make a comeback.

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.

Clinique Happy Bath and Body Stuff

It can be a difficult thing to find matching body products for perfume. Most of my niche perfumes don't have matching body products or they were discontinued (looking at you, Amouage).Unless something is a huge seller or the body products would be cheap to make and sell really well, none too many make matching bath and body products any more.

I know that Chanel focuses bath and body products on the no 5. Bath and Body Works has always done matching bath and body stuff since day one. I have only been able to find Estee Lauder Pleasures in lotion but no soap. But this leads me to Clinique Happy. A couple years ago, Ulta had stocking stuffers or the beauty stuff you could hang on your tree. So naturally, I snapped a couple of those up. How could I refuse a 5ml travel spray and 2 ounces of lotion?

Turns out that the 2 ounce lotion is some kind of funky lotion. I have had and tried the Amouage body butters and for a body butter, there was a firmer texter and it took a while to work into skin. This funky lotion is called a gelato and who knows why, maybe Clinique thought the term body butter was over used or wanted to draw some people in. I am just not so enthused with something just sits on my skin and takes forever to absorb.

I did eventually get the body wash and lotion. I find that the lotion doesn't quite moisturize enough. I find that the texture is nice but with my dry skin, I want my lotions to be a little more substantial, even in summer.

But the body product that really liked was the body wash. It cleans all the gross that has been accumulated. I love how much lather there is with the body wash and how it takes all the grime without fully stripping my skin.

I will admit that the Happy body care doesn't quite smell like the perfume but few body products smell like their perfume that they are supposed to go with. But I am mostly okay with that. With the way that Happy seems to deteriorate, I think I will mostly stick with the Happy products.

 

Sick and Stuff

So I have been sick since last Thursday and I am looking at going to my local walk in first thing. This is starting to look like a case of bronchitis but we shall see. All I know is that I haven't been able to sleep for the past two nights. It seems like as soon as I drift off, I have another asthma attack and then it's a nebulizer treatment. I probably should have gone yesterday or today. So I haven't been able to wear anything scented outside a little bit of the Cheirosa 62 lotion. So that means that any serious perfume wearing is going to have to wait.

It was a sad Monday for me. I had to do some cancellations. Two of the three subscriptions that I had, I had to cancel. I have no regrets about canceling Walmart Plus. For what I was paying, it wasn't worth the price. It was either half of what I ordered would be out of stock or my groceries would never arrive. The order would be delayed with no way knowing when anything would come and it seemed like every time you turned around, I had ordered groceries. So was wasn't too upset over that. The one that had to be cancelled was Barkbox. I had Barkbox for at least 12 years and my dogs always lit up when it came. So it's probably going to be around Thanksgiving or Christmas when I can probably get Barkbox again. People say that my dogs won't notice but I think they do when they have had something come for them every month. Today was the last Barkbox box that came. So I am saddened that I had to cancel Barkbox. The grand total might be a shade under $50 but I would have liked to hang on to Barkbox. But there are a few things that have to wait right now.

What I am waiting for is when Sephora will have their spring sale event. I am not holding my breath for the pure parfum version of no 5 to come back into stock. I set aside $25 in a Sephora gift card for a cheap bronzer and find something for my mother to round out her mother's day gift. I already have her birthday gift but I like to do a little grab bag for mother's day. Mother's day is always a week or week and a half before her birthday so it's a pick wisely on what to give her and when.