Inbetween Holidays

 Christmas is finally over and we are coming up on New Year's. I have no plans for New Year's and I don't want any plans for New Year's. So New Year' is going to be pretty quiet. I'm not in a certain age group that has to go out for New Year's. The drinking and parties were never my thing but that has lost it's allure.

Christmas was pretty quiet. Got together with some family members and exchanged gifts. What did annoy me is that instead of Christmas being on one day, it took two days to be done and over with. Had to celebrate with one group one day and the day after, the other group. It was a nonstop Saturday and Sunday. The biggest gift that I received was a $100 gift card to Sephora. I do like Sephora to a certain extent but it's not quite my thing. I am currently hanging on to the thing until Sephora hs their spring VIB sale. I have my eye on a couple things and want to take 15% off in conjunction with that gift card. But I'd like to pay down that Sephora credit card before I start doing any kind of damage. 

Since the new year is almost here, I am making some serious resolutions. I think at this point, I have to start making them and actually work on keeping them. I want to not buy another candle until 80% of my candle collection is finished. I've ended up adding 1 too many candles to the collection instead of using. I want to use up some bottles of perfume before I go adding more. Yeah, I say that after I receive a Sephora gift card and used some Ulta rewards to get 2 bottles of Chanel perfumes (had enough points to pay for the entire purchase). I just want to get myself into better financial shape this year and I figure that those 2 things would be a better start. I think that with how the pandemic has carried on, I really started to slide back into old, bad financial habits and I need and want to get pointed in a better direction. It will be hard but I do need to do it and I want to put in the work on accomplishing this. I'm looking at ways that I can reduce spending or make my paycheck go a little farther. I am making some plans to start achieving some goals. Let's hope that the vet bill coming up is less than $200.

Let's Talk Mascara

I don't talk about makeup a lot and it's very rare that I deviate from what I like. Mascara is one of them.

For a long time, any drugstore brand of mascara would do. Then I discovered Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara at Sephora and I was hooked. No other mascara made my lashes look anywhere near as good. They looked fuller and longer. Mind you, I had never spent so much cash on a tube of mascara and I don't think I will ever quite get used to the almost $30 for a mascara. This is coming from someone who has spent tons of cash on Amouage perfumes.

On Sunday, I had a Mannheim Steamroller concert to attend too. I couldn't for the life of me find a tube but managed to find a mini tube of the Better Than Sex waterproof mascara. I've never tried any kind of waterproof mascara in my life and it was going to be the first time ever using it. The mascara did what I expected it to do but holy shit, the mascara didn't want to come off my lashes until today. I did notice that when I was putting on the mascara, that it had a bit of a funny smell to it. The funny smell wasn't horrible or stick around, it just was a little odd to me.

I was having a little trouble with picking out a perfume for Sunday's concert. The concert was more of a classical type of Christmas music type of deal and I wasn't going to bust out any of my heavy perfumes or go spraying some on. I was looking for something more subdued and more of what people are more used to smelling. I could have dabbed on Jicky or Shalimar or I would have went with no 5 or no 19. In the end, I went with the no 22 extrait. The more I thought about things, Shalimar extrait probably wasn't the greatest idea any more than me dabbing on Sarrasins. I didn't want to go scaring the locals and it wasn't a rock concert. When I went to the Rammstein concert, I remember wearing Sarrasins and when I went to see Santana, I wore Coromandel. It's just a constant game of what is appropriate in any given situation. There are some people that just don't give a shit and will wear a cloud of Obsession to a funeral (never experienced it but heard some stories). When I am at home or have a day off and not going out or will be out for a couple hours, I'll wear what I want.

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.
 

De Profundis and Other Stuff

Saturday, I had to attend a funeral in the family and I wore De Profundis. Now I haven't worn De Profundis in a very long time and De Profundis seemed to be the most appropriate for the occasion. I have the old bell jar version and was thankful that it was a dabber. I think spraying De Profundis would have been a little much and most of my collection would have been too much.

I could have gone commando to the funeral but I seem to have a perfume for just about any occasion. I don't wear Serge Lutens offerings so much anymore. After a while, I had lost interest in trying out Serge Lutens offerings. Price point was one factor and the other was availability. Anything from Serge Lutens has gotten a little harder to find without paying sky high prices.

It seems to be the final push for many retail companies for online orders. I know that Ulta has sent me e-mails telling me that the 14th is the last day to order anything online for order to reach doorsteps by Christmas Eve. At this point, Christmas shopping is pretty much done. At this point, I am just exhausted. Exhausted because it's the holidays. Sick and tired of hearing a million different versions of Jingle Bell Rock, Santa Baby and all the rest of  Christmas music. People somehow get nastier this time of year. Only a week and a half before Christmas Day arrives.

I don't know if this is good news or bad news for me but I have so many points with Ulta that I can load up on Chanel perfume and not bust a sweat. And I mean really load up on Chanel. What I would like to see from Ulta is no 19 in any concentration or the gigantic bottles of no 5. Hell, I would love to see is the extrait version of Coco Mademoiselle or no 5. I am not going to hold my breath anytime soon with that.

Candle Day and it's Aftermath

I failed at refraining from the Bath and Body Works Candle Day sale. I had only bought 2 and 2 is quite enough. Even though there is a single wick candle sale, it's a big fat nope for me at this point. There is just no more space for candles and that is a fact. At this point, I've become so burnt out by candles, I honestly don't want anymore and don't need anymore. I am going to use the ones that I have and when summer rolls round, I can assess the situation and work from there. How Bath and Body Works went about their Candle Day event was a little better. Even online, you "waited in line". I still had to wait "in line", I was able to do other things, like pay a couple pesky bills. Sure, the price went up and you could only get 18 candles in one sitting but I think the execution was a little better. The waiting in line for the website, I think, prevented Bath and Body Works from selling out within and hour with online sales. I think that corporate figured out how pissed people got with last year's Candle Day sale. What made it a little nicer for me was that since I am a rewards member, I had some early access for it. But after getting 2, I wasn't too enthused with acquiring more candles.

 It's amazing that Christmas is two and a half weeks away. I am just waiting for one gift to arrive and I will have all of my gifts. The ones that I have already are not wrapped yet. I'm more of the person that waits until the 23rd or the 24th to wrap gifts. At this point, I want Christmas to be done and over with. I am tired of looking at all of the crap that I have gotten others and just want it out of my closet. Before I know it, it will be Christmas and I can start clearing things out of my closet and give those gifts. But until Christmas arrives, I will be second guessing myself. Did I get enough for one person or too much? My bank account is saying that I've bought enough for everyone.

I don't have much of anything planned for Christmas Eve or Christmas day. I know that I am going to be working Christmas Eve but off Christmas day. I think that it's going to be a pretty quiet Christmas. After what happened with Thanksgiving and an elderly relative, I want a quiet holiday. No fuss, no drama, just a simple dinner and the Call the Midwife Christmas Special.

Come and Gone

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone and I was hoping that I would be done with Christmas shopping. I'm waiting to hear back from my sister on if she wanted a Christmas gift and I might have to shop for another relative but that is going to have to wait right now.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday has left me underwhelmed and wondering why I got myself all excited. I didn't save a ton on Cyber Monday with Amazon and Ulta sales were not that great. I will admit to picking up Romance Parfum and hoping over to Luckyscent to nab a Etat Libre d'Orange sample set. The price points were right up my alley and Ulta was offering a nice coupon and some bonus points. I can't see myself anymore perfume for quite a while though. Working in retail means that after the new year, I will most likely be working less and will have less income to truly indulge in any kind of frivolous spending. I'm okay with spending less but really have to spend tons less. One of my dogs will be going to the vet sometime in January and money needs to be set aside for the vet.

I am still spending tons of time in Chanel no 5, trying to finish up a bottle of edt and edp and it's been a journey. I want to finish them but it's always Lyric and Happy that keep sidetracking me and especially on days off. But last night, I really wanted Coromandel. After wanting Coromandel for so long, it kind of was pushed back and not worn so much but last night was not one of those nights. I am going to try and see if I can really get the show on the road with wearing what I have and finishing the bottle but I keep saying that but I always seem to accumulate even more perfume.
 

Ralph Lauren Romance Parfum Review

Thanksgiving and Black Friday has come and gone and I am exhausted still. I had an elderly relative that was none to steady on her feet that was constantly up and down and having everyone be a gopher for her. The constant needing someone to get her something and kept the whole family up. I don't know what it is with the elderly, always interfering, constant following and always wanting something to eat and drink. We packed up this elderly person and did take her home today and it's blogging time and time to relax.

I noticed that my email boxed wasn't filled up with Black Friday deals on Friday. In years past, retailers would overload my inbox but I think with the pandemic, they are spreading their deals out more over the weekend. But I noticed that they haven't been very good. I keep hoping that Ulta will have a points multiplier and some better deals on Monday. Maybe Amazon will have some good deals on Monday so I can finish my Christmas shopping and be done with it. I've already spent enough at Bath and Body Works for some stocking stuffers and as always, some candles.

Yesterday, I tried out Ralph Lauren's Romance in parfum form. I got this when Sephora was having their holiday sale and I figured that a travel spray wasn't going to break the bank and if I don't like it, I could give it to my mother. I haven't smelled the original Romance in forever and Romance in parfum form intrigued me. Parfum is usually pretty expensive and when I find parfum for cheap, I have the tendency to pounce on it. I've been wearing tons of no 5 and Coco Mademoiselle recently and I wanted something a little different.

Since it's been so long since I have smelled Romance, I have no memory of it. Romance is definitely a floral perfume and for the longest while, I couldn't place what Romance reminded me of. Eventually, it came to me. Romance was in so many ways like Chamade. Chamade has an oily type of hyacinth that Romance doesn't have. But Romance does have a little bit of an oily feel to it. What keeps Romance from being a total Chamade rip off is that there is a noticeable blackcurrant note that I do rather enjoy. Then I was reminded of Pleasures for women. Yes, it smells like Pleasures and Chamade combined with maybe a little of Au Coeur en Mai. I found that projection and lasting power were alright and I am alright with that. Not everything has to be fabulous. I find Romance parfum to be pretty good and worth having the travel spray at least
 

Clinique Hint of Citrus Review

 It looks like I won't have a snooping relative coming over and spending a few days with me. This snooping relative is the one that loves to open other people's mail, especially to find out how much cash they have. They decided that they were going to stay home since there are no televisions in bedrooms and Fox News has been blocked. Televisions don't belong in bedrooms in my opinion. 

On the other hand, I made a somewhat decent Sephora run and don't really have any desire to purchase anything from Sephora anytime soon. Most of the time, I only really shop at Sephora when they have their November and April sales. I find that most of their stuff is somewhat more than I am willing to spend.

I haven't paid much attention to Clinique line outside of Happy. But I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to the Happy lineup in years. I love the original Happy and Happy Heart but for so many years, I either wasn't interested in perfume or was getting other perfumes. In the years that I wasn't into perfume, outside of passing moments, the money wasn't there. The whole broke ass college student thing. I was more worried about tuition and books than buying that bottle of perfume. And when I dropped out of college, it was the whole low level retail thing and the cash wasn't there. And slowly, what little perfume I had, dwindled down to nothing.

But when I saw the little Happy mini set at Ulta, I pounced. I mainly wanted to try Hint of Citrus and the price was right for me, I figured that if Hint of Citrus sucked, I had the others to enjoy at least. I find that Hint of Citrus really isn't really what I would call a flanker. Hint of Citrus flirts with the idea but never goes into the flanker territory. I mainly smell grapefruit and some floral hints but nothing ties Hint of Citrus to the Happy line and I spent a few hours trying to find the relationship. But got nothing of the sort and thought that this could have been a Theorema dupe of sorts. I will admit the bottle was cute and did kind of like the grapefruit note but I am not really a fan of Hint of Citrus. I don't dislike it or hate it, I am just not impressed with it

Since I am not really a fan of this, I will have to say that outside of the mini set, it looks like Hint of Citrus was discontinued years ago. I don't think that Clinique was ever in the habit of discontinuing any Happy flankers but there might have been a few. This sample mini set might be a testing the waters bit to see if Hint of Citrus would be possible either as part of the Happy line up all year long or just a seasonal thing, just like Wrappings is a seasonal thing.

Her by Burberry Review

 The holiday Sephora sale has started already but I have to wait until the 9th before it begins for me. Simply because I am a VIB member but I can afford to wait. I don't want a whole bunch but a couple things are Christmas gifts. Sephora isn't a place that I shop too often. For most of my makeup and to a lesser extent, perfume, that honor is pretty much reserved for Ulta.

About a month ago, I got a little gift set thing of Her by Burberry and now I have gotten around to testing it out. I do love travel sprays and those little gift sets that have a lotion and travel spray. The one I got had the travel spray and a hand lotion and was inexpensive enough. I have been interested enough to start exploring the Burberry offerings. I wasn't too impressed with Brit and I figured that I shouldn't judge a house by trying just one of their perfumes.

For the first couple minutes of Her, I thought it smelled alright and might like it. Nope, I don't like it at all and it's to the point of hating it. I am definitely not a fan of overripe/rotting fruit note and Her has that in spades. Amouage Lyric flirts with overripe but never goes in that direction but Rochas Femme and Jubilation 25 do. Jubilation 25 is something I don't reach for often and I don't wear Rochas Femme and I have a decant of that one. Anything fruity is a crap shoot, I either love it or I hate it and Her by Burberry is a hate. I have a mini of Her Blossom and will give that a try eventually but if it's another no go, then Burberry is just not for me.

I've noticed that when I first started blogging about perfume, I always tried to like everything and find something good to say, even if I didn't quite like it. Around 10 years in, I am not afraid to say that I don't like something or just plain old hate it and I am pretty much going to say it outright. Being a perfume nut for so long and testing so much, I know what I like and don't like. I'm not afraid to say that I still love Clinique Happy or Estee Lauder Pleasures even though they were my high school defaults. I don't quite look down on things that are cheap but sometimes do. Now I must wash the Her by Burberry off and put on something that I love to pieces.

Clearing Out the Old

I spent a little bit of time on Sunday going through and getting rid of my make up and finished the job today. You have no idea on how much I threw out. It was tons of eye shadows and lots of scary looking lip gloss. I am in a serious de-cluttering mode. I just want to either use things up or just throw them out.

When I was going through everything, I didn't quite realize how many Kat von D eye shadow palettes that I had. What in the world was I thinking? Getting those palettes full of shimmer and phenomenally strong colors. Medium or dark purple? I don't have wicked mad makeup skills to work with anything outside of neutrals that are pretty close to my skin tone. I'm pretty basic with eye shadow and the two palettes that I use are the original Urban Decay Naked palettes., especially the mini palettes.

Yes, I threw out a bunch of lip gloss too. Just like all of the eye shadow that I threw out, the lip glosses were pretty ancient as well. Like 7 years old or older and were really looking sketchy. And I realized that lip gloss isn't my thing anymore but lipstick. But what has amazed me was the amount of lipstick that I have bought in the past 6 months and I hung on to those. I am seriously going to have to start wearing lipstick again.

Since I have seemed to have doubled down on the de-cluttering, I've doubled down on trying to use up one bottle of Chanel no 5 edt and one bottle of no 5 edp.  My collection of no 5 is truly horrifying and just want to slim that down a little bit. But I seem to be talking out my butt a little bit when I am waiting for the Sephora sale to start in a little over a week. My mother asked me to add a lipstick that she wants to my back and I have a cheap brush set and another travel spray added to my cart. But I want to start using up my make up. Now if I could really quit getting so many candles, I'd be in better shape.
 

Vacation is Long Over

 Vacation is long over and I am grudgingly back at work. While on vacation, I didn't manage to try any new perfume or use up any bottles but did manage to use 3 candles and start a 4th. That 4th candle is almost finished and will be finished by tonight.

What I have noticed about my candle collection is the quality of the 3 wick candles has gone down. Before the pandemic, I never had an issue with the wicks themselves, with or without a wick trimmer. After the first burn, the candle stays barely lit (very small flame) and that is with a wick trimmer. Without a wick trimmer, it's the same thing, an incredibly small flame. The biggest thing that I have noticed is that when the candle reaches the half way point, the candle starts to either not smell that great or not smell good at all. I have found that the single wick candles are the only ones that have maintained a decent wick. The type of wick that doesn't give a tiny flame after the first time the candle has been lit. The 3 wick candles that I have bought before the pandemic burn just fine but I am slightly hesitant to use them but will eventually use them after I have used all of the post start of the pandemic 3 wicks. But I will have to say at this point, I will definitely be burning single wick candles after all of my 3 wicks are gone. Yes, I am giving Candle Day a pass this year, after last year's Candle Day. Last year's Candle Day was poorly planned and executed.

My go to candle company has always been Bath and Body Works. I've tried other brands but have always gone back to Bath and Body Works. I haven't had issues with tunneling, decent burn times but there is one thing that brings me back. While there are quite a few offerings that I just plain don't like or just not my thing is how realistic some of the offerings can be. Honeycrisp Apple, Evergreen and Fresh Cut Lilacs are three that spring to mind. No funky supporting notes, not artificial smelling; just smelling like the name on the candle.

Perfume Minis and My Last Vacation

 Since the holidays are coming up, all kinds of perfume sets are coming out. Sample sets, travel sets and minis. For many years, perfume minis were normally only given as a gift with purchase or sold as part of a gift set. Now minis are sold as sets. 

Let's face it, minis are cute and they serve a purpose. They are for the most part, pretty affordable. Yes, Amouage has minis but Amouage isn't really the most affordable perfume house. Sometimes niche minis or sample sets can be pretty affordable. You just have to dig a little bit.

What I like about minis and sample sets is that I can try some stuff out before I will commit to anything. Most of the time it is possible to travel with minis but not always. If they are the dabber minis, there is a very real risk that the lid will pop off and spill all over a purse and that is why I don't put any of the Deneuve minis in my purse. I'm not taking that chance of having a discontinued perfume spilling and making a mess out of my purse. Deneuve can be difficult enough to find and prices have gotten to be pretty outrageous. 

I am currently on my last vacation for the year and I just finished one candle and I hope to finish one or two more before my vacation is up. I don't have too much planned right now I am just trying to relax and enjoy my vacation. Before I know it, I will be handed another vacation form and will have to plan next year's vacations. What I am going to do is probably space my vacations out a little bit more and maybe plan things to do a little bit better. I don't know if I will be taking any kind of trips but I would still like to space them out a little more and save up more cash for them at least.

Burberry Brit EDP Review

 There are many perfume houses that I used to pay attention to but don't anymore and there are perfume houses that I haven't paid much attention to from the get go. I used to be an avid follower of Amouage, Serge Lutens, Chanel and a couple others but there came a point to where I mainly stopped avidly following some perfume houses. Amouage after Beloved, Serge Lutens after De Profundis and I can't remember when I really kind of lost interest in Chanel. I haven't been keeping tabs on Andy Tauer offerings either; probably when a lot of his line got the axe.

There are too many perfumes houses out there and they release so many perfumes a year and Burberry is one house that I never paid attention to. I have no real idea why. Maybe because the line up didn't impress me too much or just wasn't interested. It could be that I was too wrapped up in either vintage or niche to really take a look. Now that I have taken a little bit of time to explore Burberry, I have Brit to review.

But speaking of reviews, while I was reading reviews from Sephora and Ulta, along with reading the product descriptions, I had to laugh. People kept saying that this was a sexy perfume and I'm thinking about how horrified they would be if the actually smelled vintage BaV or Shalimar. Those are sexy perfumes if not outright slutty. I guess laundry musk with fruit notes is sexy.

I am used to wearing complex or demanding perfumes and Brit was pretty undemanding. For a while, Brit was demanding my attention and couldn't figure out why. I knew I smelled something similar to it and owned something similar and couldn't place it. Then I realized I was strongly reminded of the original Hedonist. Yes, Brit is a striped down dupe. It's Hedonist without the booze and maybe a little too much tonka. For all of my wearing I couldn't get Hedonist out of my head and tonka out of my nose. I can be a little iffy on tonka. It's the whole trying to be vanilla and something akin to almonds. The lasting power for my little roller ball is pretty much 8 hours and I am okay with that. For me, a perfume that lasts only an hour or two on skin isn't really worth wearing. I think that I am just going to stick to having just a roller ball for reference and not go for a full bottle.

No 5 Eau Premiere and Other Things

I've been wearing boatloads of Chanel recently and already bought boatloads in the past year and I am taking a little bit of a break from the house of Chanel. It's the fact that I have seemed to neglect so many of my other perfumes. Amouage, vintage BaV and a few others have been seriously neglected.

Initially, when I bought that travel spray set of no 5 Eau Premiere, it didn't smell like it had been tinkered with. Eau Premiere has been tinkered with. I mentioned before that the current edp smells quite a bit different than what I had gotten 6 years previously. My full bottle of Eau Premiere was procured when Eau Premiere made it's debut. The Eau Premiere tinkering is more along the lines of what happened with the current no 5 proper edp. The reformulation is slightly noticeable but not something huge. I still love Eau Premiere but hate reformulations. I get that reformulations happen for many reasons but there is no reason to screw up a perfume, especially if it is a classic.

We have barely started fall and Bath and Body Works has started to drop their winter line up. This is just insanity, it was maybe mid July, that Bath and Body Works started to drop their fall line up. It seems like seasonal line ups are released earlier and earlier. Especially this year though. Not sure if it is because the pandemic is still going on or what is going to be happening with the whole Christmas season and the American postal service. Every time that I watch the news, the news people seem to be asking store owners about the Christmas season. The answer always seems to be the same, they don't know what they will be getting in their shipments or even if they will get anything. I am about 2/3's done with my Christmas shopping but with the postal service, I will probably need to order things earlier than I really want to.

Yes, the Winter candle from Bath and Body Works has just come out and I did order 3 of them. I wasn't able to really stock up on them due to a poorly planned out Bath and Body Works Candle Day sale. I'm still trying to use up or get rid of candles but yet, I still end up getting more. I have half a mind to see if there is one consignment shop near me that will off load some of these candles or maybe I could donate some. I'm all set on apple candles though.
 

Tom Ford Lost Cherry Review

I never really paid too much attention to Tom Ford's perfume line. The ads were a big turn off for me and some of the names of whatever was being sold got my attention but wasn't making me run out to test anything, let alone buy. Just a little too crude for me. The last reason on why I never paid a whole lot of attention is the price tag. An Amouage price for a 1 ounce bottle is not really in the cards. But I am happy that there are some travel sprays available.

I've always liked Tobacco Vanille and did nab a 10ml travel spray and then recently had gotten a travel spray of Lost Cherry. As a general rule of thumb, it's not the greatest idea to buy a perfume blind but I got the travel spray of Lost Cherry blind. I wasn't sure how much I would like it but I was looking for another transitional perfume.

Lost Cherry starts out with a blast of cherries. The sour, candied type of cherries followed by almonds. The cherry note kind of fades when the almonds come on to the scene but is never out of the picture. Tonka bean comes in shortly after the almonds and kind of takes over the whole thing. I have always been kind of on the fence if I like tonka bean in a perfume. It always kind of overwhelms a perfume. I think that I would have liked no tonka bean or far less tonka bean than what was put into Lost Cherry. Lost Cherry would have probably been a better perfume and I would have seriously looked at saving for a full bottle. I really enjoyed the sour cherries and almonds. Lost Cherry lasted about 8 hours on my skin and had some decent projection.

 

End of Vacation and Bombay Bling

It's the end of my 3rd vacation and I go back to work tomorrow. I always hate the 1st day back at work after vacation. The getting back to the daily grind is what always trips me up. I really didn't do too much really. What I did manage is to use up 3 candles and I am happy with that. And before I know it, I will probably be stocking up on the Winter candles from Bath and Body Works but before that happens, I seriously need to get going on using up some of the candles that I already have. I do have a game plan set out and another vacation coming up to really use up more.

I kept meaning to review Neela Vermeire's Bombay Bling for a couple weeks now but now is the time to do it. Fruity perfumes were never quite my thing with the exception of very few (Courtesan and Theorema). I was hoping for something along the lines of Courtesan but Bombay Bling wasn't even close to Courtesan. When I wore Bombay Bling for the first time, it smelled familiar to something that I have already tried before and it took all of the 1st wearing and part of the 2nd to figure out which perfume that it reminded me of. It was Frapin's 1697 but it was probably no accident that both of them smelled so similar. Bertrand Duchafour created both. Bombay Bling is a little more stripped down version. The fruity aspect isn't a cooked smell or a fully ripened type of thing. The fruit is almost ripe but not quite there. Bombay Bling isn't booze soaked like 1697 but in so many ways Bombay Bling is like 1697. Bombay Bling sits closer to skin, closer than I am used to but that's not such a bad thing though. I found that Bombay Bling didn't exactly last too long on my skin. The longest that it seemed to last on my skin was about 5 hours.

Luckyscent has full bottles and a travel spray available and I think that I would probably go for the travel spray. Yes, I would like to add this to my stable but I seriously am done with perfume buying at the moment. My bank account can't sustain anymore perfume purchases right now and I really need to start finishing off some bottles.
 

Essential Parfums The Musc Review

I do enjoy slutty perfumes and do have a love for musk in perfume. While shopping on Luckyscent for that Viktoria Minya Hedonist sample set, I picked up a 10 ml travel spray of Essential Parfums The Musc. I figured that the price point for 10mls was pretty good.

What I thought it might be like and what did happen were two seperate things. When I see anything musk in a title of a perfume, I expect something more in the vein of MKK or Kiehl's Original Musk. Or maybe along the lines of even vintage BaV or Tigress Musk. Yeah, I do expect at least something sensual to outright skank. Musc was a whole lot of nothing. Shit, I didn't get any kind of musk until the very end. The musk at the tail end was more of a generic, non-offensive type of musk. I want my musk to do something, have some kind of growl or hint of something more. Musc was more of a lavender and a few things that I can't identify. I find it to be more of a functional perfume or a maybe your skin but better type of perfume. 

I found Musc to be pretty annoying due to the fact that it was neither hear nor there and definitely wasn't all that musky. This seemed to be more of what my sister my like. The type of perfume that is you don't want people to know that you wear perfume but are wearing perfume. The whole composition did annoy me because it just sat there doing nothing. The lasting power was about 6 hours on skin with little projection. I think I might pull this out at a later date to see if it smells a little different.

It's Vacation Time...Again

 

So it's vacation time for me again. Since I punched out on Friday, I am been doing nothing but lounge around. I did a couple odd cleaning jobs but nothing truly major. I don't have anything planned even though tomorrow is my birthday. I just haven't had much motivation to do many things or plan things. It's the thought of doing some things at my own pace and not having to plan many things around my work schedule that excites me.

I had initially set a goal of using four candles but from what it looks like, I might get through two and might start a third before I have to head back to work. While I was poking around the internet, to see if there were people who did have large candle collections and there are. There was one interview/artical about someone who has around 500 candles. This woman always seems to have 4 or 5 going at once either at home or in her office. I'm the idiot who has trouble finishing one or two a week and I have around 70. I swear that I am trying but I think I've just have had enough of candles and will have to start using them 2 at a time. I might get a couple Winter (actual title) candles when Bath and Body Works has their candle day sale. But I have to find a way to use up or get rid of some candles to make space. I just need some damn space. I think that I have no other choice but to burn 2 at a time.

For the past few months, I seemed to have been buying quite a bit of perfume. It just seems like this past year has been the year for a flurry of perfume buying. I always seem to do the Now Smell This quarterly damage polls, even if I don't buy anything, I still participate. Mostly go to see what other people indulged in and that does give me some joy to know that there are other people that enjoy getting new bottles of stuff, even if it's a back up bottle of something that they love. And that brings me to my love of Chanel.

I do own and enjoy many Chanel products and a decent chunk of my collection is about Chanel. Yes, I still love my Amouage bottles, Andy Tauer offerings and Guerlain but I find Chanel to be a little more accessible when it comes to how easily I can get their products. Guerlain's new stuff might be easily accessible but not the older stuff. My style is not hiking all the way to an upscale place to get a bottle of Mitsouko or LBH. Chanel no 5 is something that I can kind of get anywhere and not go out of my way to get a bottle but Coromandel is a little different though.

If you are not by a proper Chanel boutique, Coromandel and the entire exclusive line is readily available, most of the time. I am going to have to admit to the fact that I impulsively bought the extrait version of Coromandel. Spending over $240 for a half an ounce of perfume is one of things that I'd never thought I'd do again but it will be quite a while before I can do anything like that again. I just can't keep going frivolously doing it and at this point, just don't really want to. I will admit that I did enjoy getting those bottles of perfume.

Living Dangerously

Fall is quickly coming to Ohio and I have already started rotating some of my collection. I am starting to put away the more summery perfumes and getting out some of the fall stuff. When fall starts to arrive, that means county fairs come and that means that I have to start rotating stuff. Not all of my summer stuff has been put away though. We still might get a heat wave or two and I would still need a lighter perfume to wear.

When I went to my county fair yesterday, I wore LADDM. I wasn't about to waste no 5 or anything fancy really. LADDM seems to suit fall pretty good and does suit a county fair. I think that fall suits LADDM the best. LADDM congers up bonfires, clam bakes and just about anything fall.

For the past few days. I've seemed to have been living dangerously. For me at least. A while back, I did some bonehead things and got into some trouble with credit cards. I've gotten it about half way paid off and haven't even tried to apply for anything new. Until about Saturday when I was poking around the Ulta and Sephora websites. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular but did impulsively applied for their credit cards and got approved. Low limits but having the chance of things growing as things improve but it's nice to have some new credit. Sephora has a couple Chanel things and sizes that I can't find at Ulta but the Sephora card probably won't be used all that much but it will be a great tool to have in the future. I did use both cards and took advantage of the discounts. Had my eye of no 5 extrait and the full sized Coco Mademoiselle travel sprays. But I am making a point not to charge very much on both of them and in ways those two new credit cards are serving a purpose. One reason is utilization and the other is that they are places I both shop, even though I mostly shop at Ulta. I am just going to pay them off in a couple months and probably not going to use them for a couple months afterwards. Not like I really needed those two new perfumes and credit cards but it's nice to have a little back up in terms of credit.
 

Fall is Coming and Evaporation

So much of this year, especially this summer has been mostly spent in Chanel no 5, Coco Mademoiselle and Lyric. Today's perfume is Amouage Epic. Epic is more of a fall type of perfume to my nose for some reason. It just reminds me of fall.

Now that we are creeping into fall, it's time to begin breaking out the fall perfumes. I don't have a lot in the way of transition scents or ones for fall. The main one that I have is LADDM. 

I did notice that the perfume in the bottle evaporated a little more and I haven't been wearing it in quite a while. I took a look at the bottles that I have on my dresser and noticed that my Andy Tauer full bottles seem to evaporate much quicker than the others. I think that this is probably the main reason why I really don't have too many full bottles from Tauer Perfumes. I really think that it's the bottle design that is causing the whole problem with evaporation. Evaporation is the bane of my existence when it comes to perfume. I hate throwing out decants due to evaporation and had to do some of that last week with my unworn and not reviewed stuff and I need to do that again with that makeup bag to see if there are a few that I do need to pitch. So I guess this fall is going to be pretty heavy on LADDM and a couple other Tauer offerings and will probably have to push myself to just finish those bottles and not have to worry so much.

Let's talk candles at this point. I am still working on trying to whittle down my collection and it's been really slow going right now. It seems like as soon as I finished 8 of them, I replaced 6 of them. I'm about to finish up to more candles and will have them finished by tomorrow at the very latest. But I do think that I should lay off trying to use up the single wick candles and really attack the 3 wick candles. The 3 wick candles just take up so much damn space and I need the space. Do I need that space? Not at the moment but would like to have some kind of extra space if I do need some. What I am fighting against is that Bath and Body Works has released their Honeycrisp Apple and Apple Weather candles and then soon enough Winter and Evergreen will be released. I'm still torn on if I should burn to 3 wick candles at a time or just one 3 wick candle. I have no idea yet.
 

Guerlain Shalimar Parfum Initial Review

 I've ignored a good many flankers and most of them seem to be the Shalimar flankers. I've never had the burning desire to try a good many of them but then fell in love with the Ode a la Vanille flankers long after they were discontinued. But I bit the bullet and tried out Parfum Initial.

Parfum Initial upon first sniff does share some of the Shalimar DNA but I didn't understand why it had the Shalimar name attached to it. I didn't smell the vanilla in Parfum Initial and I did expect vanilla to play a roll in a more scaled back version. I find that the citrus smells a little goofy to my nose and I'm not quite sure if I enjoy it or not. Even the musky parts are a little goofy but I was reminded of Le Labo Labdanum 18. Labdanum 18 has that fizzy, Coke like funky type of musk. Parfum Initial could realistically be more of a flanker to Jicky than to Shalimar. 

I found that I really do like Parfum Initial where it falls into love category. What mostly kept me from trying it was the fact that it was discontinued for quite a while and at this point, I can't go sinking a whole lot of cash on discontinued perfumes nor wild goose chases.

The reason on why I said that it was discontinued for a while is that it looks (according to the Guerlain website) like Guerlain did bring back Parfum Initial. But it looks like that it's part of the Les Parisiennes line up under the name L'Initial. from whatever information that I could find was people where saying that it was almost exactly like the original Parfum Initial. I am taking it with a grain of salt due to the fact. Reformulations happen for various reasons and not always for the better. Since I don't have a decant of L'Initial, I can't say how close it is to Parfum Initial but if it's almost identical, I would have considered a bottle since I do love Parfum Initial. The price point is what is holding me back. I'm the type of person that can't exactly justify a $280 for a little over 4 ounces of perfume anymore. The last time I spent that much was on a bottle of L'Heure de Nuit. Loving the Les Parisiennes bottles but not the price tag though. Maybe when things get much better than I can consider a bottle but I'm not in a position to spend a shit ton of money on one bottle of perfume and I've probably spent more than I really should have this year on perfume.

Vacation is starting to come to an end

My vacation is starting to come to an end with going back to work on Monday. I have only managed to use up 2 candles and started another 2 today. With my candle collection the way it is, I am burning the single wick candles 2 at a time now. It's been forever and a day since I have used one of my 3 wick candles, I don't think it would be the wisest idea to burn 2 at a time. I want my candle collection to be more manageable.

Since fall is fast approaching, Bath and Body Works is starting to drop their fall stuff. The only straight up apple that they have going is the Honeycrisp Apple wallflower plug ins. I don't have a need for the wallflower refills and don't need anymore apple ones at this point. I'm not a pumpkin fan in any way, shape or form and I have a difficult time with anything spice, especially cinnamon.

I did a few fun things during the week but mainly just hung around. I've never been one of those people who needed to be constantly on the go when I am on vacation. In regards to new perfume, I decided against a massive bottle of Coco Mademoiselle. Couldn't justify that one but went with the travel spray of no 5 Eau Premiere. Travel sprays are more of my thing at the moment. A little easier on the wallet and they seem to take up less space. I will admit that Chanel does shipping right, the packages arrive on time and undamaged. Well, Chanel does pack their orders incredibly well so there won't be a huge chance that what what you ordered arrives broken. Now if Walmart could do the same in regards to packaging but Walmart doesn't package anything well and needless to say, I would be lucky to get anything undamaged let alone, on time. Thanks to Portia on the Perfume Posse, I did get that Neela Vermeire discovery set. I kept meaning to test out the line but found that decants were pretty pricey but the discovery set fit the bill better. I mostly want to try Bombay Bling. I am hoping that it smells similar to Worth Courtesan. I'm not sure if Perfume-click.com is a reputable seller in terms of perfume or not but that seems to be the only place that has it and has it for something reasonable in terms of price.

Even though I am saddened that my vacation is ending, the countdown will begin until my next vacation in September. Am I making plans for this vacation? Not at the moment but saving up some pennies for my next vacation and maybe I can do something more. Probably not a whole lot more but would like to think of one more thing to do.

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.

Wearing Chanel no 5

My folks have arrived back home on Tuesday and happy to be home. It was a goofy 10 days though. Too many late nights and too many early mornings and with a retail job makes things a little crazy. The late nights, early mornings was due in part because of the dogs. They always wanted out but since they have a hard time staying in the yard, they could only be outside on a leash.

Things got pretty strange when I lost electricity on Sunday, the day after my parents left. The sun was out, it hadn't rained that day and it was out for almost 10 hours. The only thing to do was to sit tight and try not to flush the toilet or run water needlessly. I was getting pretty annoyed after a while since I was really starting to run low on battery life with my cellphone. The constant checking to see when electricity would be restored and trying to keep in touch with my family kind of sucked it up. When the electricity came back on, the computer didn't work quite right but obviously works fine now.

It does seem during those 10 days I mostly wore no 5 in various concentrations. Eau Premiere, the EDP, and the EDT but mostly Eau Premiere. I had the opportunity to wear many other things and did wear other things but mainly stick to no 5. Maybe it was more of a comfort thing. I am thinking about getting a back up bottle of Eau Premiere but not fully sure if I want to get one quite yet. My bottle of Eau Premiere is when Eau Premiere was first released. I am thinking that Eau Premiere mostly likely been reformulated and definitely been put into new packaging. I am not fully sure if I truly want a new bottle of anything right now.

Some General Stuff

My folks have left for their trip on Saturday and I am starting to really enjoy the peace and quiet. Most of Saturday was spent on doing projects that I planned on doing after the whole airport drop off. Yesterday was a whole lot of nothing with the electricity going out. The vacuuming that I had planned along with a few other things went out the window. When the electricity came back on, it was mid evening and I just wasn't up to the cleaning. Today it was just some of the vacuuming.

Thus far, I finished up 1 partial candle and 3 that are burning now. I hope to have those finished off either tonight or tomorrow before I start 3 more. I just want to create more space and what faster way to do that is to burn candles? With 60ish candles and with not a lot of space, they have to get used. I still have a goal of using 6 candles before my folks come back. Especially before my mother comes back because I want to use 2 Honeycrisp Apple candles. I am trying to use up candles that are not my thing or thing anymore. Fresh Balsam, Rosewater Ivy are 2 that I did enjoy but not so much anymore. The Fresh Cut Lilacs I still enjoy to a certain extent but it's a candle that is just too potent to be burned for very long. I am starting to find that while I like heavy hitters in terms of perfume, heavy hitters in candles, not so much.

Sephora has their point multiplier thing going on right now and if I remember right, it goes until Saturday. I did brake down and used that $10 credit and the point multiplier for a bottle of Coco Mademoiselle EDT. If anyone who is familiar with Chanel knows that parfum, EDP and EDT smell slightly different. But I have noticed with the Chanel twist and spray minis that I have, they seem to have either an evaporation issue of the spray mechanism isn't the best since I noticed that with the Coco Mademoiselle Intense that I have, there is some condensation around the spray part. If CM or no 5 were my signature perfume, this would not be too much of an issue. At this point, I am sure sure that I would be getting any more of the twist and sprays. Travel sprays are an awesome idea but the execution isn't quite there.

I could have ordered that bottle a little later but want to have any kind package delivered before people come back from their travels. I don't need them questioning me about a Sephora package or an Amazon or my Tazo chai tea order. I've made a huge dent in not ordering things. The next time Bath and Body Works will be getting any of my cash is when Candle Day comes and I can stock up a little more with the Winter candle that I enjoy so much. Until that day comes, I hope that I can get through more candles.

64 Reykjavik Distillery Landi EDP Review

 

When NST announced the community project of wearing a Nordic perfume, I had to go through my unworn and not reviewed bag to find 64 Reykjavik Distillery Landi EDP. I am not exactly sure when I had acquired this decant from STC bur it was probably a while back and it's not on the STC website anymore.

After spending some time with Google and seeing what information and reviews there are, I came up mostly empty handed with Landi. Yes, it's a brand and perfume that's pretty much unknown. Whatever reviews that I could find was pretty much gleaned from the perfume's website and those were pretty much one line or a couple of words. That doesn't tell me much or leave much of an impression.

Landi is something marketed towards men but I think that Landi is more androgynous type of perfume. I find it to be pretty close to Andy Tauer's L'Air des Alpes Suisses or it at least has that vibe of that with a hint of Les Annees 25 BIS. Landi at first smells quite a bit like many other types of easy to find colognes but shifts to something a little more wood like and a little mossy but I can't really decipher individual notes. I find Landi to be pleasant and maybe something I have smelled a few times before. Lasting power on my skin is probably around four and a half hours. All I know is that I am not going to be seeking this one out. One reason is that it's a little too much cash for what it is and the second is that it's pretty hard to find. I'm not game anymore to really seek out the incredibly hard to find stuff anymore.

Bath and Body Works Cucumber Melon

Since BBW is having their semi annual sale, I had to circle back and pick up some Cucumber Melon. I was just entering high school when BBW Cucumber Melon exploded onto the scene. Just about every girl at my high school wore this one and I was no exception. After BBW came out with their Cucumber Melon, everyone else seemed to jump on the bandwagon.

After a while, probably shortly after I graduated from high school, I went onto smelling other things besides Cucumber Melon, Clinique Happy and Estee Lauder Pleasures. I really think that I was horribly bored with those three and didn't exactly have the means to keep buying them with college and all. 

I haven't smelled BBW Cucumber Melon in close to forever and I had no freaking clue on why I wanted to get some so badly but I ended up getting the body spray, soap and lotion for under $15. My view was that if I didn't quite like it, that $15 wasn't going to bankrupt me. I'm not exactly sure on what I was expecting but Cucumber Melon seems to be a little heavier than I remember and maybe not quite as long lasting as I remember. I remember something a little more airy but I could be confusing with more blasts from the past like Gap Heaven or Dream. But Cucumber Melon in many ways was pretty much like I remembered smelling at the end of the day. I think that wearing some Cucumber Melon will be a once in a while thing.

Maybe I have gotten pretty snobbish with perfume, maybe the formulations have changed or I just outgrew BBW offerings when it comes to their body products. I think that I will stick to the BBW candles but only purchase more candles when my stock runs low.
 

 

General Stuff

 Amazon Prime Day has come and gone and really didn't see much that caught my eye. That meant that I stayed under my $50 limit. I'm happy in a way that there was nothing in particular that I was looking for except an inexpensive funny shirt and garden lights for when my father's birthday rolls around in August. Better just to get that stuff out of the way early.

I am still making a concerted effort not to go hog wild when it comes to spending. A vet appointment is coming up a couple days before my parents go to California and I want to make sure that there are funds to cover the out of the ordinary cost. All I can say is that it's a good thing Prime Day is over and I am so over the Bath and Body Works semi annual sale. I've bought enough stuff this year from BBW and with over 60 candles and no extra place to store them, I can't even begin to think on what order to burn my single wick candles. I know I will probably be going through a fair bit of them when family members leave. That means I can seriously burn whatever I see fit. If I want to burn to straight up apple candles, I can do that. Or I can burn two or three candles at a time if the fancy suits me. I just have to make sure to air out the house before my folks come back.

Recently, I have been hankering for Mitsouko, especially the vintage EDT. I have a partially used bottle going but the mugginess is what kind of prevents me from busting her out. I love Mitsouko because she is a queen. She know what she wants and goes after it, she is not the type that extends friendship so readily, she knows that she is a sensual being but doesn't take just anyone into her bed. Mitsouko is a fearless and demanding queen. I think that I shall wear the queen before bed tomorrow since it's pretty hot outside.

Can't Get my Act Together to Post

I just can't seem to get it together to make any kind of post. It's getting to be pretty rare anymore that I actually try and review a new perfume. Some of the motivation is there and so is the desire but after being bitched at at work, I lost some of the motivation to try out new things. It's trying to wear and cherish what I do already have. The finances aren't there too for a lot of new perfume and I've spent more than enough on perfume this year.

There is some good news. I don't have to really scrimp tons at this point but still want to save up a little bit. In a about a couple weeks, I get to take my dogs to the vet for a rabies shot and a heart worm test. I'm budgeting for that and I have more medication for Jake than I remembered. I had forgot that my vet wrote a script for a 6 month supply. That is what happens with a supply like that, it's in what seems like a million pill bottles. I've pretty much worked out a food budget for when my parents are in California but I am not so worried about that. It's only going to be me while they are gone and the dogs will be home.

Right now, Bath and Body Works is having their semi annual sale going on. I was initially excited when I got the email the night before and when I went to the website, I wasn't too impressed with what I saw. Did they get me to part with some money? Yes, but not as much as they probably hoped. I stuck to 1 candle and two stocking stuffers. The sale didn't wow me like in years past and I am okay with that.

What I am waiting for is Amazon Prime Day, even though I don't think that the deals will be all that great. I don't need a new Kindle, I don't need an Echo or Fire TV, I am looking for books and a couple other cheaper things. But shopping Prime Day for the sake of Prime Day is not my thing anymore. It seems like the pandemic took it's toll on the sales and the sales aren't so great any more. I guess it's more cash in my pocket at the end of the day.
 

Already Making Plans

 A few hours ago, I was made aware of other people's travel plans. Plans that don't include me and I am okay with that because not all is lost. All I can think of doing is make plans.

The plans I seem to be making are bigger projects to do around the house. Nothing extravagant but I'd like to take care of a couple things. I would really like to really organize the laundry room, seriously clean out the fridge and take care of that huge pile of junk that sits on the dining room table.Things like that don't really get done when everyone is home.

The biggest thing that I want to accomplish is using up some more candles. I see the best way to do that when everyone will be out of town is to burn two of them at once. But all of these plans require some thinking and planning though. I have two dogs that like to counter surf, so I have to be home if I have candles burning. I've never had candles burning and left the house to go do something else. With sixty plus candles, I don't have much of a choice as to start burning two at a time and what better way to do it than when everyone is out of the house. The two scents that I have picked out so far are Honeycrisp Apple and Rosewater Ivy. But in the meantime, I need to keep burning one at a time.

More Body Stuff to Review

 Clinique Happy is a throwback perfume for me. Happy came on to the market my sophomore year of high school (I know that I am dating myself). A few girls, along with myself did wear Happy but it seems like we seemed to stick with Bath and Body Works Cucumber Melon. Working at minimum wage job for only 15-20 hours a week isn't a ton of cash and affording something a little more expensive than Bath and Body Works at the time was a luxury. When I was younger, and in high school, I did spend quite a bit at Bath and Body Works.

I don't ever recall trying out Happy's matching soaps and lotions but I now have had the opportunity to try out the gelato body cream. The body cream felt rich and decadent when I put it on after my shower and I really did enjoy the feeling while applying but I did notice about an hour in, the body cream doesn't seem to be enough for my dry skin. It might be leaving my skin feeling a little softer but not exactly moisturized. It might be due to the fact that it's almost 90F outside and pretty dry outside. This is where I think that I  have gotten a little too used to Chanel and Amouage body products. The Happy gelato cream does smell like Happy but there isn't a ton of scent to the cream. With Chanel and Amouage products, I don't really need to apply the perfume on top of the body products. This is probably a shrewd move on Clinique's part to get people to buy more but I'm not going to grudge them on that. I find the lotions to be nice enough but it doesn't really suit my needs in terms of lotion.

It's a rarity for me for me to use one of those pore strip things. I've never had problems with pimples, acne or blackheads. Once in a while I do use the pore strips when the sides of my nose look a little clogged up. The original pore strips got some of the crap out and I wanted to see if the charcoal pore strips would work any better. This turned out to be a bit fat no. The only thing that I noticed is that it was just easier to see what kind of crud came out of my nose than anything else. Do the Biore pore strips really work? Can't really say for others but for me, they don't really work all that great.

I just seem to be striking out with a lot of things come lately and all that I am hoping for is that we actually do get rain tomorrow even if it's in the form of thunderstorms.

Spring Seems to be Here

 It looks like the weather has skipped over spring and went straight to summer type weather. Ohio weather just does it's own thing. I am just sitting around trying to muster some kind of focus to see what I can come up with but it's not working out to well at this point. Just too much anxiety and with a couple problems with my health insurance not wanting to pay for a test, and hasn't wanted to for months, what happens is is going to happen. The more specialized the test means that it's more expensive and naturally, I can't get the authorization for it no matter what. But I can't exactly go paying for that test on my own. I can't afford to worry myself into a panic attack over something like this, it's not going to change what has already happened.

Since there have been summer temps this week after boatloads of rain and cold, it looks like it's going to stay warm, if not hot. I could have dug of Diorissimo but wasn't exactly feeling it and dug out some vintage Chamade instead. I'm going to tell the truth, I think that Chamade is much better than Diorissimo when the weather heats up. I think that I enjoy the hyacinth and the crush green stems are better suited to hotter weather. At this point, I've pulled out what is pretty much going to be the bulk of my summer perfume collection.

The choices for summer are Deneuve, Chamade, no 19 and Worth Courtesan. Yes, three of them are greens and the other is a fruity type of perfume. I really want to start working on Courtesan since the bottle that I have going is pretty wonky and seems to be evaporating and with no consistent way of being able to get more (without breaking the bank), I'd rather it not go to waste. This doesn't mean that I won't wear other perfumes but I think that these will be probably be the most predominant perfumes.

Clinique Happy in Bloom EDP Review

 

Clinique has always been a pretty solid brand. Clinique has always been pretty affordable in terms of price. Where you can afford a little bit better than the drug store brand of makeup, skin care and perfume. Better than Bath and Body Works in terms of perfume too. I haven't really paid much attention to Clinique in about 20 years. Twenty years ago, I was a broke ass college student and didn't have the means to go replacing makeup or Clinique Happy. I couldn't even afford the drugstore stuff, I was to worried about being able to afford my classes and books and then I noticed that two of my favorite lip gloss colors were discontinued. But now it's time to take a little bit of a look at Clinique Happy in Bloom.

Any serious perfume nut seems to have a fairly dim view of flankers. Once in a while, there is a flanker that is very good and sometimes, even better than the original but not often. I don't take flankers too seriously and I do find them a little gimmicky and a company trying to maximize profits.

I do enjoy the original Happy and find it to be a really good spring/summer perfume and I do have to retry Happy Heart (the bottle I had gone bad). I wasn't even aware of Clinique releasing anymore flankers of Happy until I nabbed a little travel/sample set from Ulta. In Bloom does have the Happy DNA in it but it distinctly different. In Bloom is more of an aquatic type of floral deal that would work really well in late spring or early summer. The longer In Bloom stays on skin, the floral part takes the shape of muget and a very aquatic one at that. Most of the time, I do dislike perfumes that are aquatic but this doesn't bother me too much and I kind of like it.

In Bloom stays fairly close to skin and sticks around for about 5 to 7 hours. I still wouldn't really consider getting a bottle but I think that this travel spray will last me quite a while. Do I have the desire to test out the other Happy flankers? I don't see an overwhelming need to.

Amouage Opus I Review

 My massive bottle of Estee Lauder Pleasures arrived a few days ago and I am admiring the sheer size of the box. It always takes me a few days before I actually open the box to get to the bottle. My points balance from Ulta seems to be growing at it's own accord but I am banking those points for later on for a bottle of Chanel. I don't know which one and I do hope around Christmas time, Ulta will offer more travel spray options.

Currently, my mind is running through the list of things that I need to do tomorrow night and Saturday morning. It's always the stupidest, smallest stuff that gets to me. The never ending cleaning list, my mother's birthday is next week and want to finalize any kind of odds and ends I need to get before her birthday. But her gift is pretty much finished.

I haven't really kept up with Amouage after Lilac Love was released. I might have sampled something after Lilac Love but all I know is that I didn't really like what direction Amouage was going perfume wise. Still not very interested in acquiring more samples at the moment and definitely no full bottles. I've already spent too much cash on perfume and so early in the year.

While I did pay a whole lot of attention to Amouage, especially early on, I didn't pay too much attention to the Opus line. Amouage prices have always been a little scary for me but knowing what I know now, I can check out Fragrancenet and BeautyEncounter for my Amouage needs. 

Opus I is a strange tuberose dominant perfume. Normally, I abhor tuberose as a dominant note in any perfume. Tuberose is usually too dense and overwhelming and really overpowers everything else. The tuberose comes close on a few occasions to overtake everything else but doesn't quite to that. Opus I is described as a chypre and I do get that vibe. I think what keeps the tuberose from taking over is the old books note and I think that is why I am calling the tuberose strange. Opus 1 kind of hums along without being loud. Lasting power is about what I do expect for an Amouage, about 8 to 10 hours. Right now, while there are aspects I like, I am still not sure about the tuberose. At best, I can say that I am indifferent to this Amouage offering but I do think that I need to wear this a couple more times before I can make a sound judgement and hopefully pick out a few more notes.

Vacation Recap

 

My vacation is coming to a close and it is back to work tomorrow. Now I just have to wait until my next vacation but that is in August.

The weather was too cold and wet to really do anything. It was so much of a pain in the butt trying to find something to do that was indoors and I didn't need to make advanced reservations for. So I organized some things and cleaned up some things. 

I was hoping to get caught up on some stuff, like the books I had downloaded. I only got through two of them. I did manage to review a couple things and use up at least two candles and I was hoping to finish off at least 3 of them, if not more. Currently, I have a Rose Water and Ivy candle from Bath and Body Works going. My primary focus is really going to be on the single wick candles and not the three wick candles. I think that is where I kind of goofed up. Vanilla Bean Noel is nice but it wasn't my jam and I have two more of them to use. I am not so certain that I will enjoy the two White Gardenia ones that I have. The wallflower refill that's currently going is the rain forest gardenia. It smells like an aquatic tuberose and I have never been much of a fan of tuberose. My next candle is probably going to be a lavender cedar wood candle and after two heavy hitters, I need something less bombastic. Especially if I can't open my windows and keep them open at the moment.