Perfume Bottles

In my massive collection, I don't have too many dabber bottles. Most of the ones that I do have are either vintage BaV, minis or pure parfum bottles.

There is a pretty good reason on why I don't have too many of them. I've spilled a few of them. With the ones that I have spilled, I managed to save a fair bit of perfume but I don't really want to take too many chances at this point. 

Since last year, I've had Coromandel and no 5 in pure parfum form sitting on my dresser, untouched. Well, this past week, I decided to rectify that. I really wanted to try Coromandel in pure parfum form. Anyone who is familiar with Chanel, knows that every concentration smells a little different. But I had forgotten how much of a pain in the ass opening an extrait bottle of Chanel can be. Trying to get the string undone and then trying to get the stopper out without shattering or spilling the bottle. I had gotten Coromandel directly from Chanel and no 5 from Sephora.

I had an easier time opening no 5 than I did with Coromandel. What I am thinking is that since no 5 is a huge seller, there might not be such a huge need to really seal the bottle. Coromandel was damn near impossible, probably since Coromandel isn't as widely known to the general public. So who knows how long my bottle of Coromandel was sitting around before it got to me. I was incredibly paranoid of spilling my bottle of Coromandel; knowing that if I broke/spilled the bottle, I wouldn't be getting another bottle anytime soon.
 

Combining Decants

My decant collection seems to have stopped multiplying for the most part. Which is a good thing because I was running out of containers to put them in. For many years, I was buying decants like it was going out of style. Now since that funds are not what they used to be, the decants have stopped reproducing. Getting travel sprays have been on the up but I am not buying nowhere near as much perfume as I used to. There are perfumes that I would love to buy but my bank account says no and I do have enough perfume and I do need to give it a rest.

 A few days ago, I started to go through all of my decants. I don't completely know how I managed to get multiple decants of some of my perfumes but I did. Some multiples I do know why. The problem with the decants that I have is evaporation. While I was looking at all of the decants, I was looking on which ones that I could combine. Three decants of Diorella, combined, 2 decants of Tigress Musk, combined them too and so on. I didn't go mixing all whilly nilly here but it was enjoyable to go and get rid of some of those decants and create some space. It was just extra space that I am not going to be filling up anytime soon but it just felt good to create some space. While I was going through that stuff, I managed to finish off a decant of Amouage Memoir.

There is more good news, I have made some progress with my candles as well. I have used up a few candles and have sorted through my candles. The ones that I don't want have been weeded out and I am debating on either donating them or giving some for gifts. I haven't quite figured it out yet. As we are halfway through summer, Bath and Body Works is starting to roll out their fall stuff. Thus far, the only thing that is interesting to me is the Apple Weather candle since they haven't released their Honeycrisp Apple candle. I have enough of the Apple Weather and Honeycrisp Apple but I always want more of them. But if I purchase more candles, I will just undo whatever progress I have made.

BDK Gris Charnel EDP Review

 Buying perfume blind is usually a bad idea. What if the perfume suck? Most places that sell perfume won't accept opened perfume bottles, even if you have an allergic reaction. Then you are stuck with something that you think sucks and out of money. Buying a travel spray blind is still a bad idea, maybe not a huge bad idea but can still be a bad idea. But sometimes it really can work out. For me, a travel spray of Gris Charnel EDP did work out.

A few months ago, I had gotten an email from Luckyscent about travel sprays and I went to take a look. I don't often visit Luckyscent but once in a while it's worth taking a look and occasionally buying something. And I did get that Frapin 1270 travel spray and also the Gris Charnel EDP travel spray. I've heard people talking about Gris Charnel and never quite got around to seeking it out. Then when my package arrived, my travel spray languished a little while longer until Sunday.

Very rarely do the clouds part and the angels started singing in terms of perfume for me. The last one that I can recall was either Lyric woman of the much lamented Deneuve. Gris Charnel is one of those perfumes that the clouds did part and the angels started singing. 

At first, I thought it was coconut but I realized that was the fig. If you know anything about dried fruit like cherries, raisins, it had almost a mouth feel of the fleshy part of the dried fruit and not the skin. The last time I had any kind of mouth feel with a perfume was Andy Tauer's tragically discontinued URV. The fig remained prominent throughout the wearing and did mellow out some. I got some whiffs of cardamon and more whiffs of tonka. I do have a love hate with tonka. Tonka has the tendency to overwhelm whatever else is in the perfume. Tonka is a difficult note for me, it's a vanilla but not a vanilla. But the sandalwood and tonka lend a creaminess and a sweetness to Gris Charnel that doesn't go overboard. The lasting power on my skin is about 6 to 7 hours and I do wished that it lasted a little longer on skin.

Gris Charnel is definitely on my to buy list and it's been a long time since I've had a perfume that goes on that list. Especially after the first wearing. When I order a bottle for my birthday, I am going to have to order a sample of the extrait version to do a side to side comparison.