Backups and Obsessive Loves

 

My Chanel package arrived on Friday and you have no idea on how quick I ripped open the package. I haven't ripped into the cellophane yet as I am still gazing at it. It did cross my mind about maybe picking up that Eau Premiere travel spray but ultimately decided against it. I honestly do have enough no 5 to last me quite a while. Maybe at a later date will I get that. Or that 5 ounce bottle of Estee Lauder Pleasures. Decisions don't have to be made today or any time soon about new bottles of perfume. Ever since the last third of last year, I haven't been buying a whole lot in terms of perfume, even decants. I had some other worries and not a whole lot in terms of fun money to even really contemplate buying anything and when I did, it went to candles for some strange reason. Well, candles are cheaper than perfume, right?

What got me to thinking of obsessive loves is Amouage Lyric. Lyric, I think was one of my first major loves when I did fall down the rabbit hole and waited quite a while to procure a bottle. Spent most of Sunday debating on if I should get that a back up bottle or not and eventually did get that back up bottle of Lyric. I have been wearing the snot out of Lyric recently. 

I've had many obsessive loves when it comes to perfume. The type of obsessive that I wear that perfume most often and I do quite a bit to get a few bottles. It seems like every perfume person has back ups of certain perfumes and even those back ups have back ups. There is always the fear of reformulation or any perfume being discontinued. 

Mitsouko would be another perfume that I have a shit load of. I have two bottles of current formulation but even more of the various vintage versions. Gotta compare between vintages and how the newer bottles fair.  But the longer the perfume has been in production, the greater the chance of reformulation. Hence why I do try to grab back ups of perfumes that I love.

Didn't Chicken Out This Time

 Those small financial windfalls did come in and I did get that full bottle of Coromandel after wanting a full bottle for a few years. Last year, I did have an opportunity to get a bottle but chickened out. Every year, for a few years, I did have the chance to nab a bottle but in every year, something else took precedence. The unexpected big bill or something else was going on and the majority of the funds went to that or I just wimped out. Spending $200 or more for a bottle of perfume is sheer insanity to me right now and there was a time that I wouldn't have thought twice about spending that much.

But it actually happened but I had to wait a little bit longer though. My older Lab, Jake, needed to have   surgery to get that fatty tumor removed and that took some precedence over Coromandel. I was expecting that surgery to cost more than it did. I could have gotten the larger bottle but decided against that. There is no freaking why that I could use up a 200ml bottle somewhat quickly. The bottle is on it's way and I am pretty content right now. Another bottle of perfume will be purchased this year but I am just going to hold off on that on this point.

Jake is doing pretty good. The vet had said that was a fatty tumor with a couple nodules but from looking at the nodules, looks like it would be some slow growing cancer that just keeps coming back with or without chemo. The nodules were still "with in parameters" so there probably wasn't any kind of indication that it was end stage cancer. Jake is and the vet said that he's pretty healthy, spry and old age would probably get to him first. Even Jake is 10ish, I think that if the surgery buys a year, it's money well spent. As long as his quality of is good and happy, I am happy. It's quality not quantity.

My candle collection keeps getting bigger and bigger. It seems like as soon as I use one, three more candles are taking it's place. But now since I have mainly run out of candle space, I have no choice but to not buy more and really start using them. Even if I have to start burning two at a time.

Serge Luten Muscs Koublai Khan New Review

 

A while back, Serge Lutens did some rearranging with packaging. For some reason that means that chances are that the perfume is going to be reformulated. I had to hop on over to TPC to get a small decant to check (Ciel gratto bottle).

I will admit that I do love musk in perfume. Musk can add depth and richness to a perfume. I love vintage BaV, Kiehl's Original Musk and don't wear them too often. Sometimes musk can go sideways for me like it did with Amouage Gold Woman.

I never had gotten around to getting a bottle of Muscs Koublai Khan while I could and now it's gotten out of my price range but honestly, I am okay with that; considering how large my collection is already but onto the review.

While I do have a couple older decants and have worn them off and on for the past few years, my latest yet smallest decant it the most recent. I've noticed that MKK is a more sheer, less slutty and not as long lasting. MKK is still pretty slutty but it's quieter and doesn't seem to last as long on skin but still the same perfume to my nose. But I don't love this reformulation to get a bottle.

Clinique Wrappings Review

 

For the past few nights, I have been wearing Clinique's Wrappings. I  have heard of Wrappings mentioned on the Now Smell This blog but never tried it. Last year I did buy that set from the Clinique website and now got around to trying it. It was cheap enough and if I either didn't like it or didn't get it, it wasn't going to break the bank. That is one of the things that I have always liked about Clinique is the affordability of their products.

When I first sprayed it on, I smelled nothing and was thinking about how I was gypped. Then I started to smell the moss that reminded me of vintage Mitsouko. If anyone is familiar with vintage Mitsouko, they know the inkiness of real oakmoss and I smell the inky oakmoss. But that moss note is green but not like the green of Chanel no 19. I was really enjoying the oakmoss and green but then things changed. The green oakmoss was still a player but I got something astringent that I couldn't put my finger on and still can't. Then came out an overripe fruit note but this kind of overripe fruit smells like it's starting to rot. Then I was strongly reminded of either Dioressence or Diorella but definitely a Dior perfume. I remember that I don't much care for either of those Dior offerings. But overripe/rotting isn't exactly my thing but the extreme dry down on my pajama sleeve reminds me of the overripe of Jubilation 25. I just don't now what to make of this and definitely don't know why this is only offered during the Christmas season. I really don't peg this as a Christmas type of scent, more of the dreary January and February type of scent. I'm also not really understanding the hype over this perfume.

The lasting power of this one is about average with about 6 hours on skin. When Wrappings is available it's no more than $35 for the perfume and lotion. The goofy thing is that the perfume bottle itself isn't even a full ounce. I don't think at this point that I will be seeking this out again (to purchase) and probably won't reach for my bottle very often.

Random Stuff

 

It looks like I will be getting that bottle of Coromandel that I have been wanting for the past couple years. Probably in the next month if all goes according to plan. I haven't been able to buy a lot of perfume in the past few years, especially the past year. Things financially haven't been that great for me and a lot of other people this past year. Even though I have worked through the pandemic, prices of so many things have gone up and my paycheck has remained the same. I haven't really been able to buy decants like I used to. Yes, I have bought candles but have always waited for pretty good sales and looked at my bank account first before I did buy any.

Speaking of candles, I mainly get mine at Bath and Body Works and they might not be the cheapest ones around, but I like the quality. I might not like foody or super sweet, I have a few seasonal ones that I like. With that brawl that happened in an Arizona Bath and Body Works, I can't fully be sure on who is fully to blame for that, employees or customers. I have seen and experienced shitty behavior from employees but have experienced even shittier behavior from other customers. I can't really go blaming the pandemic for this, I have to go with the corporate culture. Customer is king and the customer is always right have let customers get away with bad behavior for too long. This is going to be a wait and see type of thing since I am curious on the outcome.

Spring Can't Come Fast Enough

 

I think spring might be on it's way to my neck of the woods. I am slowly starting to see some warmer temps and more sunshine. I am still waiting for that freak snow storm or two. Winter never seems to go quietly in Ohio. I can't wait to open the windows, start wearing short sleeved shirts, not having to deal with coats and the whole lot. That means that the transitional perfumes will be getting some love. I don't have a whole lot in the way of going from winter to spring.

Going from winter to spring is when the lighter orientals come out. Even though my pajama sleeves are drenched in Amouage Lyric and have been way too lazy to throw a load of clothes in the wash, I am starting to crave Shalimar and Theorema. Mostly Theorema is what I want. I have no damned reason why Fendi decided to discontinue Theorema but it's been discontinued for a while. It's sweet but not annoyingly so nor is it heavy. I'm happy that I managed to get a healthy supply before Beauty Encounter ran out of stock. When I got Theorema, the price was alright but try to find it now and for a decent price is a bit of work but I am not interested in even trying to find a decent price for something like this at the moment. I have never been able to track down any of the parfum version without going bankrupt. Vintage and discontinued perfumes are notoriously expensive.

I did make a mention of Shalimar, in all of it's oriental, slutty glory. While I do love the current and vintage version of Shalimar, I truly love the Ode a la Vanille flankers and I am kicking myself for discovering the Ode a la Vanille flankers so late into the game and especially not being able to snap up a bottle of the Madagascar one. I keep a small flame of hope alive that Guerlain will brink back the Ode a la Vanille flankers.