It's Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and my area has pretty much gotten out of a snow storm. So things were pretty nuts at the grocery store for a few days. Yesterday, on my way to work, the roads were pretty horrible. Nothing but ice with a thin layer of snow on top and today wasn't a whole lot better. While the roads were bad, the grocery store was pretty busy.

So I am home, gifts are wrapped and I am just soaking the last few dishes before I can really put my feet up. After having lost electricity for a little over 24 hours, I do want to finish up the remaining dishes and have an easier time tonight and tomorrow morning. I am going to a relative's house for Christmas dinner, so all I have to do is make some mashed potatoes but I am not game for that right now.

I am pondering many things about perfume. What perfume should I wear tomorrow? Normally I do ponder this a few days before the holiday but I have someone that is in the hospital and with the storm and the other work related chaos, Christmas Day perfume wearing wasn't on my radar. Should I go with Theorema, like I did with Thanksgiving? Or should I go with  maybe Feminite du Bois? I have no idea on what I am really going to do. I'll figure it out tomorrow, I'm just going to chill right now and maybe read a book.
 

Boy Smells Hinoki Fantome Review

My final vacation of 2022 is over and now it's back to reality. I only managed to use 2 candles that week and only review one perfume. The only good thing that came out of that week was the fact that I managed to finish my Christmas shopping but now I'm waiting for the last few things to arrive. I'm hoping that I won't have one of those people that I either forgot about or popped up.

With what the weather people are talking about, I am expecting some wonky weather in the next week or two. So yes, I am happy that I've stocked up on candles. I have 2 more candles from Candle Day on the way. I was a little bummed when one of my candles came with the glass cracked. Since Bath and Body Works didn't have that particular candle in stock in their warehouse, I was issued a refund. I was kind of hoping that I would have the option of either a refund or if there was another candle that I would like. I don't have too many opportunities to go to an actual Bath and Body Works store and making a trip that I didn't need to make wasn't really an option. 

I actually managed to test something new last night and that something new was Boy Smells Hinoki Fantome. It was cheap enough when I nabbed a travel spray from Sephora's fall sale. The notes looked like something that would be a CdG Kyoto dupe. All I got was a poor imitation of Chanel's Sycomore or a half assed  CdG Kyoto. Let's just say that I was not amused. It was like Hinoki Fantome was either trying to be a dupe of both or just a dupe of one. Hinoki Fantome just seems like something that has been badly made. I will admit that you don't smell a perfume that is heavy on vetiver or woody notes. You don't smell too many incense dominant perfumes and this is no reason to just screw around and hope people like this one. This is a nope for me.

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 EDP Review

Off and on for a while, I've wanted  to get my hands on Baccarat Rouge 540. It was never a pressing thing for me to go and nab a sample. When I saw that Luckyscent had a Maison Francis Kurkdjian sample set that included Baccarat Rouge 540 in edp and extrait form, I jumped at the chance. I love sample sets. Sample sets allow me to try an entire line or most of a line. I always hope that there is at least one or two that I really like or love.

Baccarat Rouge 540 seems to have been a cult classic ever since it's been released in 2014. Everyone seems to have either raved about it or is raving about it, so my hopes were kind of high for this one.

I'm not so sure what exactly what I was expecting but I was hoping that one of two things were going to happen. Either the clouds were going to part and the angels were starting to sing or I would just fall in love. Well, it wasn't either one of those. I got something that smelled like perfumed dust that was maybe trying to go the Feminite du Bois route. I couldn't really pick out any one note but I was reminded of Feminite du Bois. But I did notice that this did smell like a more expensive smelling perfumed dust. For something that has more of an Amouage price tag, I did expect something that would be a little bit more impressive. Let's hope when I work my way through the sample set, I will find something that I enjoy but 540 in the edp form isn't for me.
 

Candle Day 2022 and Vacation

I did make it through the Bath and Body Works 2022 Candle Day sale. I think that this candle sale was probably set up much better. The price of the candles ($9.95) was awesome, I didn't have to wait in the online queue for too long and I managed to get most of what I wanted. Even though I had some Lavender and Linen in my shopping bag, they were sold out before I could get my hands on some. I was bummed about that but I am going to try some Leather and Brandy instead. I didn't load up on too many Winter candles because I have enough of those and I do need some lighter smelling candles that are geared for the winter weather. Now I am hoping that I will be able to snag some Lavender and Linen in the semi annual sale. Now I just have to wait until that pesky package ships.

For quite a while, I was worried about what price the candles were going to be for Candle Day. Last year, they were around $11 per candle and maybe a little less the year before that. Price always dictates how much of anything that I am going to buy. But for $9.95 per candle, I was able to get 12 candles. Could I have gone for the full 18? Yep, but I couldn't justify ordering that in a single sitting. I probably shouldn't have gotten 12 but after yesterday's 14 hour power outage, I think it was probably a good idea.

Today is the first day of my final vacation for the year of 2022. I have no plans for the week even though I have a little bit of cash until payday but I might see what kind of museums are around or any kind of low cost events that are going on. I am happy just to have a week that I don't have to be anywhere or events that I have to go to. I can just go at my own pace this week. Let's hope that I can motivate myself to do some actual perfume reviewing.