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.