Monday, June 27, 2022

The Current State of Affairs

On Friday, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. These conservative judges said that Roe v Wade was unconstitutional and the decision should be left up to each individual state. The problem with the decision going back to the individual states is that half of the United States will have either outright banned abortion or put severe restrictions in place. 

I'm not understanding how the Supreme Court can rule that Roe v Wade is unconstitutional but hold the case of Buck v Bell constitutional. Buck v Bell was a court case giving license to forcibly sterilize the disabled and people of color. Yes, if a judge decides that I am "feeble-minded" I can be sterilized without my consent. This is what disabled women, like me, fear. That kind of loss of autonomy. The autonomy to have an abortion if I needed/wanted one and the ability to have children if I chose to have them. 

This whole thing makes me wonder what next will be considered to be unconstitutional. My right to vote? My right to have a bank account or credit card in my name. It wasn't until the late 70's or early 80's that a woman could open a bank account, credit card or get a bank loan without a male relative's signature. It wasn't until 1993 that marital rape was a crime in all of the 50 states. 

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Pleasures Body Lotion and Amouage Honour Bath and Body Stuff

 While I was on vacation a couple weeks ago, I kept meaning to post something but never seemed to come up with anything. If I did think of something, I forgot, then time really got away from me and now we are at the end of the month. And I don't really talk too much about perfumed bath stuff. I managed in the past couple weeks to start using Estee Lauder Pleasures body lotion and Amouage Honour soap and body butter.

I don't really get into bath soaps and lotions too much any more. In high school and when I went to college, I loved body washes and lotions. When I fell in love with something at Bath and Body Works, I had to have the matching body wash, lotion and mist. Back in the late 90's and early 00's, Bath and Body Works was cheap and cheap was my budget. 

Since my perfume collection has grown, my bath collection didn't. Most of my perfumes don't have bath and body lines, so regular soap and unscented lotion will have to do. Chanel, Clinique, Estee Lauder and Amouage are the only ones that have a full bath and body line. Truth be told, that suits me just fine. I don't really need tons of bath stuff since I am trying to use things up and get rid of things.

When I was testing the Pleasures body lotion, I wasn't expecting to be impressed with it. Until I was impressed with the body lotion. I was expecting it to be either not moisturizing enough or too heavy. I was also expecting it to be either overwhelming with perfume or bear no resemblance to Pleasures. It was the right amount of perfume and moisturizing enough without being too heavy. I have dry skin with really scaly elbows and my elbows need all the help they can get. When you spend almost sixty dollars on a lotion, my expectations are a little higher than what I would spend at a grocery store for some lotion.

It took me forever to finally open and use the Amouage Honour woman bath stuff but I finally did. I can never make up my mind on if I like or love Honour woman. Honour woman can be equal points of love and annoyance for me. Honour woman was the last Amouage that I really paid attention to. I didn't pay too much attention to Beloved. I think that was when Amouage was really starting to release tons of things at once and it got to be too much for me.

Amouage packaging has always been on the decadent side but Amouage is a house that knows that if someone is going to spend the money, the details of everything matter. When I opened the bar soap, it was the engravings on the soap that really wowed me, just that little detail amazed me. Yes, the little decorations will wash away but it is still awesome. The bar soap didn't really lather up too well but I have the same issue with my Epic bar soap. The body butter was mostly decadent but in terms of moisturizing properties, it wasn't moisturizing enough for me. It definitely smelled like Honour but I found the smell to be a little too dense.

What I have noticed is that it is harder and harder to find Amouage bath and body stuff. I am having a harder and harder time trying to find Epic, Lyric and Memoir in bath and body stuff. I think even Amouage might be having problems too getting  supplies in to make these things. I am running pretty low on Lyric and Memoir bath and body things. I'm hoping that I can start replenishing my stock soon enough.