Vintage Chanel no 5 Parfum Review

No 5 is one of those perfumes that does get lost in the shuffle when I am deciding on what I am going to wear for the day. The parfum versions are located in the front while the spray bottles are more of in the back. Don't ask me why but they just are. Parfum wise, I have about 4 bottles while the EDT and EDP have two bottles. My parfum comes from E-Bay because that is my source for vintage perfumes. But with Chanel no 5, I do need to be careful. People will pass off a counterfeit perfume as Chanel no 5 and that had happened to me once.

I haven't gotten a bottle of no 5 parfum in probably 5 years due to many things and reasons. I had noticed a while ago that Chanel had really started to ramp up the price for every size of their parfum. Ninety-five dollars for 7.5 ml of extrait was hard enough to part with but $130 in not in the budget. What I am willing to pay for an Amouage as opposed to a Chanel is different. But let's get to the review.

Last night, my resolve failed me and instead of wearing vintage Bal in the evening (Now Smell This challenge), I had opted to wear some vintage no 5 extrait. The bottle that I had tried was probably from the 1950's. I had noticed that the top notes were damaged, but smelled like the top notes of Chanel no 5, so they haven't been totally destroyed by time. After the damaged top notes wear off, it definitely smells like no 5. In the vintage EDT, I noticed the nitro musks and the nitro musks gave no 5 tons of sexiness without being skanky. But the bottle of extrait I am trying out is different. I noticed that the nitro musks are giving the extrait a skank note that smells strange in Chanel no 5. The skank note reminds me of the skank not in Amouage Gold, which is almost like a twin sister of Chanel no 5. I think that I do prefer Amouage Gold to no 5 in extrait form.

Guerlain Habit Rouge EDT Review

A few days ago, I was craving a new perfume to test out. It was one of those days where I had to be at work at 5 in the morning, so I didn't have the time to really spend any kind of time nor the inclination to make an effort. So it became Guerlain's Habit Rouge in EDT form. I had packed Noontide Petals in case Habit Rouge was an epic failure.

I figured that since it was a classic and I hadn't done any prior reading up, it would be fabulous on me. Guerlain and I do get along, most of the time. When I first put Habit Rouge on, I got lemons instead of a vague citrus note. Fresh cut lemons and I loved it to pieces at that point. When the lemon faded from the top and other notes started to come into play, I wasn't so enthused. I started to get a lot of Diorella, that earthy fleashiness. The type is that at the end of the day in the sun and that squeaky clean is gone. That stays to the end. I did get some vanilla and some herbs. The vanilla took me by surprise because I normally associate the vanilla and the lemons with Shalimar, which is pretty feminine and I don't know any man that I see on a regular basis that wear Shalimar or even wear Shalimar. The herbs had said Jicky to me and it's funny that Guerlain took the basic composition of Jicky and made Shalimar with it. I think that Guerlain took both Jicky and Shalimar tweeked them both a little bit to get Habit Rouge. Yes, a masculine Shalimar, which in itself, isn't such a bad idea. I have yet to try Derby and Veviter and Jicky was probably the only Guerlain that men had ever dared to wear. For an EDT, this lasts about 6 hours on my EDT eating skin and that surprised me.

Do I like it? I'm not sure and I will have to wear this a little more. Wear it more so I can understand it and end up enjoying this.

Ubar Relaunched

 Now is the time where I really get a move on with the revisiting the things from early in my perfumeista journey. Back when I started blogging about perfume, I feared not liking a perfume and saying so on my blog. My tastes have changed and I have become less afraid of saying what I think about perfume. If I think that something smells like a really bad fart, I'm going to say so, if it smells wonderful, I'll say so too.

When I had first tried Ubar, I almost physically recoiled. I thought that I got a decant that was bad or someone wanted to play a prank on me. It did smell like the Off bug spray with flowers somewhere in there. At the time, I had made every effort to make friends with Ubar but Ubar wasn't having it. I really think, at the time, I predominantly wanted the cheapest Amouage perfumes. At the time, it was $250 for a 3.4 ounce bottle and that was a bargain for an Amouage if you wanted to pay full price. Now I know better and can find it cheaper.

Since a few years have past and I haven't had a decant in any form, I had ordered one when STC was having a sale. I figured that if I have fallen in love with a few perfumes that I initially hated, I should give Ubar another go. After I had worn it a couple times, my opinion has somewhat changed. Does it smell different? Yes, probably due to some reformulation. The bug spray note doesn't seem to be prominent in this and I get more of a floral note to this. Ubar still lasts forever and isn't the best to wear when you are working in a bakery. Heat makes Ubar really bloom. Has my opinion changed? Yes, I am starting to like this one and I'm thinking that I will eventually fall in love and get a full bottle.

Candles Galore

I've made no secret about that I live in a semi rural area in Northeastern Ohio. This is an area that requires a car to go just about anywhere and everywhere. Living in a semi rural area means living with power outages on a regular basis. Power outages can last anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple days. My family does have a generator but the generator only is powerful enough to let us have running water and keep the fridge cold. This is where candles are a must.

I am a candle collector out of necessity and not out loving candles for the heck of it. I view it as might as well try to find some kind of enjoyment somewhere. I've always found that Yankee Candle wasn't my thing because their candles really didn't smell like what I wanted. Vanilla didn't smell like vanilla or the lilac didn't smell like lilac. I'm not a fan of their uneven burn. You get the picture. I will be honest that I'm not a person that will spend a ton of money just for 1 candle. When I'm out and about and replenishing my supply, I'm getting 5 or 6 candles at a time. My favorite place for candles is Bath and Body Works.

There are certain ones that I like when it comes to BWW candles. Most of the time, the ones I like are seasonal candles. Lilac Blossom is probably the only non-seasonal one that I really enjoy. It smells just like lilacs in bloom. My other favorite is probably the Farm stand Apple or what ever they want to call it on any given year. The apple is just plain old apple, not apple pie or any of the variations. Yes, I don't like tons going on with my candles scent wise, I'm more of a soliflower type of person.

Going Through the Pile

After 10 years and a lot of money spent in pursuit of perfume, I've accumulated a lot of full bottles and even more decants. I've made more of a habit of going through my worn and reviewed decant bags for culls. I always manage to toss a few empty decants and use up the small ones that have only a wearing left. Doing that much has proved to have some benefits. I have more space in the make up bag to go through my unworn and not reviewed bag.

The problem has always been the same for me. I seem to be kind of reluctant to work my way through the whole unworn bag. At this point in the game, my full bottle collection is big enough, it's probably close to 60 bottles and it's been quite a while since I've counted. So I can't really justify smelling a whole lot of new stuff and end up falling in love with something. I don't want to fall in love with any one perfume because finances are still under massive amounts of strain to the point of decants of the things I love that I don't have full bottles of can be hard to justify and only a small spray decant is all I can afford. This is what happens when you have already sunk a small fortune into your teeth and will keep spending a small fortune on more work. Dentists cost a lot of money and I always try really hard to space my dentist visits 2 or 3 weeks apart if I can.

I know that I honestly should either E-Bay or donate the perfumes that I bought blind and I really don't like. I have them in a box, ready to go. Most of the time I either forget, procrastinate, or my hoarding perfume comes out. For some reason, it takes me a while to throw worn out or torn clothing out. Don't ask me why it takes a while for me to get rid of stuff but it does.

What I am starting to do now, is take a look at what I had worn and reviewed already and take a closer look at some. I have started to wear some of the perfumes that I said I didn't like or hate it to see if I still hate them. In the beginning of my perfume journey, I reviewed some perfumes that I didn't like but in truth, didn't like one bit. I didn't want to go trashing a perfume. After a while, I did lose that aversion and now I have no problems saying that I don't like something. So I am taking a look at a few perfumes that I hadn't liked before and wearing them again to see if something has changed. Just like everything else, it's gonna be slow going for me.

Guerlain Shalimar Ode a la Vanille Madagascar

I have always loved the original Shalimar since I first sprayed about 8 or 9 years ago. I keep wondering about why I am not wearing Shalimar more when I do reach for it. But I was a little late to the party and a little miffed at why Guerlain would release two flankers of Shalimar. I was asking on what were the differences and why were they needed.

I already reviewed the Mexique and managed to snap up to bottles. It was time for me to seek out the Madagascar version to see what the difference is. This version of Shalimar smells like Shalimar but there are differences between all three (original, Mexique, and Madagascar). The Madagascar version doesn't have the huge citrus note. The citrus is still there and noticeable but not overwhelming and not as sharp. After a while, the citrus does fade way back into the background and lets me smell the rest of the composition. The vanilla is much deeper and much more smoky and I haven't really noticed it in the other two. What I really enjoyed was how slutty this version of Shalimar is. Mexique and the original Shalimar are pretty slutty but Madagascar takes this to a whole new level. The skank level is almost on the level of vintage Bal. It's a pity that I only have a pretty small decant of Madagascar. It's also a pity that Mexique and Madagascar are only limited editions, long discontinued. It's much easier to find the Mexique version for a somewhat decent price where when I find the Madagascar version (it's rare to find it), it's an arm and a leg. I will try my best to console myself with having the Mexique version.