Worth Courtesan and Door Dash

Since today is the unofficial start of summer in the US, I got to thinking about some of the summer like perfumes that I have and how I can't access most of my collection. The only on that I was able to get a hold of was one of my unopened backup bottles of Worth Courtesan. Courtesan is probably the most summery perfume that I own. But I noticed some things with it.

The first thing that I noticed was that the cap and spray mechanism are not compatible. The cap takes the little spray part right off the rest of the spraying mechanism and the base that is attached to the bottle has condinsation issues. So the cap, more often than not has some of the perfume itself in it. Who ever did the bottle and spray design was an idiot that didn't think this through. Courtesan isn't so easily purchased like Chanel no 5 is. Online retailers only have it intermittently, making backups a little harder to procure. With the sprayer being all wonky means that evaporation is a massive threat.

The second thing that I have noticed with Courtesan is that Courtesan has the lasting power of nuclear waste on my dry skin. With how fruity and light Courtesan seems to be, that is a remarkable feat to be that long lasting. My dry skin eats perfume like there is no tomorrow. I can apply Courtesan at 8 in the morning and I can still smell it at 8 the next morning. I had forgotten how long lasting Courtesan is. So with those two issues, I think that I will be wearing Courtesan a whole lot more.

Two or three years ago, one of my guy friends had gifted me a Door Dash gift card. Some of it was a joke but maybe he might have gotten it from someone else and he had no use for it. Maybe he figured that since I don't drive, I would probably have a little more use for it than he would, since he drives. So I used that gift card today. I had a hankering for some fast food, a promo code to make the price just right for me to use. There have been a couple times where I was in a bind where I had to use a delivery service for groceries. Delivery services like Door Dash and Instacart are freaking expensive so I make an effort not to use them too much. I know it's about the convenience but a $10 fee at the low end and a tip kind of makes that a little out of price range to have it on a regular basis. One of my friends is totally blind and only gets $600 a month in disability is reliant on these services. She has said that even with a roommate and having food stamps, it's something she has to use because it's difficult for her to find any kind of ride or help to go grocery shopping. Yeah, having a disability can be expensive and time consuming. But it was kind of nice to just get a burger and fries and not have to deal with any kind crowds
 

Is it Spring Yet?

Sunny has taken to letting me sleep a little later. Sleeping in with a puppy is great but it doesn't change the fact that having a puppy that's only 3 months old is still exhausting. Too many late nights with super early mornings.

I think that spring is slowly coming but I really want spring to arrive right now. Cleveland is starting to get some warmer temperatures but it's either full of rain or windy but it's starting to warm up.  

With spring coming and all, that means that I can start pulling out my spring summer offerings. I don't have tons of them but I do have some. But naturally, Sunny's crate in my bedroom is blocking the area to were I keep most of my perfumes. I can move it but I am not so interested in rearranging stuff to even attempt to get them. So right now, I have to make due with just having Courtesan, no 19 and some Deneuve. I am okay with having just three out right now. I want to start really using that leaky bottle of Courtesan and I am still not happy with Worth for discontinuing Courtesan. I used to be able to get Courtesan for a reasonable price but I can rarely find it now. Deneuve is long discontinued and has gotten horribly expensive, even for minis and I'm probably not going to be wearing that tons but when you have a nice stock of it already, so I don't want to go hoarding it either.

Still waiting for my tax refund to arrive in my bank account so I can get ahead of some things. That is what I am really waiting for. Yeah, I am looking forward to the Sephora sale but I want to go and get ahead of some stuff. When I always file my taxes and get a refund, I get impatient with the IRS. The refund is money I actually earned and I am not too thrilled with the whole interest free loan thing. The IRS is pretty quick to demand payment if you owe but takes forever if you are owed some money. Now let's see what happens Monday to see if I can get a date on when I can get ahead of some stuff.

Spring Seems to be Here

 It looks like the weather has skipped over spring and went straight to summer type weather. Ohio weather just does it's own thing. I am just sitting around trying to muster some kind of focus to see what I can come up with but it's not working out to well at this point. Just too much anxiety and with a couple problems with my health insurance not wanting to pay for a test, and hasn't wanted to for months, what happens is is going to happen. The more specialized the test means that it's more expensive and naturally, I can't get the authorization for it no matter what. But I can't exactly go paying for that test on my own. I can't afford to worry myself into a panic attack over something like this, it's not going to change what has already happened.

Since there have been summer temps this week after boatloads of rain and cold, it looks like it's going to stay warm, if not hot. I could have dug of Diorissimo but wasn't exactly feeling it and dug out some vintage Chamade instead. I'm going to tell the truth, I think that Chamade is much better than Diorissimo when the weather heats up. I think that I enjoy the hyacinth and the crush green stems are better suited to hotter weather. At this point, I've pulled out what is pretty much going to be the bulk of my summer perfume collection.

The choices for summer are Deneuve, Chamade, no 19 and Worth Courtesan. Yes, three of them are greens and the other is a fruity type of perfume. I really want to start working on Courtesan since the bottle that I have going is pretty wonky and seems to be evaporating and with no consistent way of being able to get more (without breaking the bank), I'd rather it not go to waste. This doesn't mean that I won't wear other perfumes but I think that these will be probably be the most predominant perfumes.

Worth Courtesan

 Worth Courtesan was one of my first perfume loves when I fell down the rabbit hole. I fell in love with it's fruity goodness and I am not a big fan of fruity perfumes in general. I fell in love with Courtesan's flirty, mildly spicy nature too. At the time, it was pretty hard to track down in the US but did manage to snag a couple bottles at a reasonable price.

For a while, it seemed to be around and easily ordered online in the US that didn't break the bank. For quite a while, I didn't seem to wear Courtesan too much. When I wore Courtesan a few times last year I noticed some kind of condensation inside the cap of the perfume and the base of the spray mechanism, I wiped things up, didn't find anything that would warrant the condensation. I went to apply some Courtesan last night and noticed that there seemed to be a little bit of evaporation going on. Not a huge amount but still a somewhat noticeable amount to my eyes. I take off the cap and perfume dribbles everywhere. And I mean everywhere, all over my hands and some trickled down my forearm. The spray mechanism is now wonky and I am pissed at this point. It seems like recently that I haven't had a whole lot of luck with spray bottles. 

I spent an hour or two last night scouring the internet looking for bottles for sale and came up empty handed. I saw one or two bottles for major money and the shipping was killer as well. I am not fully sure if this has been discontinued or not but I know that this bottle of Courtesan will probably be my go to summer perfume. I seriously don't want to lose a bottle to just evaporation. There doesn't seem to be any kind of information on Courtesan let alone information on if it is still in production or not. Let's hope that the perfume gods haven't decided to pull a fast one on me.

Tired of the Heat

I am going to start by saying that this craziness has to stop. These assholes have got to stop throwing toddler worthy temper tantrums over having to wear a mask inside a store. These businesses have the right to make you wear a mask if you are going to shop there. It's private property, not public. You have the right to shop elsewhere if you don't want to wear a mask. People need to quit coughing on food in grocery stores, it's gross and it's not cute. People need to quit coughing on other people (willfully) and those who are immunocompromised seem to be getting the brunt of this nonsense. Just quit it.

At this point, a heatwave has hit northeastern Ohio and I am really feeling it. Temps in the 90's and had to turn on the air conditioning. My perfume habits have changed, not only because of the weather but because it seems like perfume is the new smoking. I can't wear perfume at work anymore and it has made me lose some interest in perfume. With my work schedule being changed because of Covid-19, I don't really get to wear a whole lot of perfume and enjoy it. The interest is still there but society in general has taken a lot of the enjoyment out of it.

Since it has been either really warm or really hot, I have had a fixation on wearing CdG Kyoto. It's cool, dry and not aggravating. Kyoto isn't really loud either, so it's a great perfume for heat. I rediscovered Worth Courtesan. I remember when I was new to the whole perfume scene and I was obsessed with it but couldn't find it in the US. I managed to snag a bottle off E-bay and one off of Amazon a few years ago. Funny thing is that you can't find it anymore, Courtesan might be discontinued, I'm not sure though. Courtesan is a great summer perfume, not to heavy or dense. Just a flirty, fruity perfume. Yesterday night, I pulled out Feminite du Bois and had forgotten how lovely it was. FdB was either my first or second full bottle from Serge Lutens. FdB might not be the greatest for extreme summer heat, but it is lovely.

Peek a Boo Spring

After a very long winter with nothing but storms and sub zero weather, it looks like spring is trying to get here. For the past week or two it's been a couple flashes of spring then it's the biting cold with maybe a heavy snow. Now we are starting to get temperatures in the 40's on a consistent basis.

Now, I don't know how to perfume myself when it first gets warmer. This winter has been marked by wearing quite a bit of no. 5, Amouage Gold, Epic, and Lyric and not really trying out new stuff. I really want to start wearing Courtesan and no. 19 EDP form but I think that it might still be a little too cold for those to. I think that I'm sick of wearing dense, bombastic scents and want something a little lighter. So even though I'm kind of sick of orientals, I'm thinking either Shalimar or Havana Vanille might do the trick. Both Shalimar and Havana Vanille are orientals that are easy on the nose and don't seem to be loud or dense or maybe Mitsouko even though the Empress is a chypre. Mitsouko can be a great transition scent.

It's somewhat of a good thing that I've kept up with dealing with my using what decants that I already have. I remember wearing and liking Diorissimo and now found the small decant that's been floating around in my make up bag of decants. Trying it now, all I can say is wow and now I want a full bottle of it along with L'Heure Bleue which I've come to love. Now if my bank account would stop trembling at the thought...

Wait a Minute, Thought You Couldn't Get This One

Apparently, Worth Courtesan has landed in the US. Every time that I have looked for it on Amazon or any other online place, it was labled out of stock or some such thing. Well, Ebay was the only place that I could find it and me getting stuff there is a very recent thing. I knew for the longest while, Courtesan was sold only in Europe. Even though I have a bottle, I want a backup and don't really want to go to Ebay for another bottle. Ebay is still scarey for me. I'm wondering on how the hell did I miss this fact that I now can find Courtesan here in the US and Amazon has it for a reasonable price.

Even though there are a lot of people who won't use Amazon for getting perfume, I'm less adverse to it. Yes, I get my Chanels from the Chanel website or the Chanel counter at the mall because the 3rd party sellers want a fortune ($100 or better) for a 1.2 ounce of no. 5. But I will use the 3rd party for my Amouages because I've had nothing but great experiences with Lady Ruth Perfumes. But normally, when I do get perfume from Amazon, they are pretty reasonable and sometimes you can get a bargain. I did manage to get a bottle of 1.7 ounce of Joy in EDP form for about $$60 instead of the usual $80 or more.

Hoardin Vintage and Hard to Find

I have found myself hoarding some of my perfumes. Hoarding in the hoarding the 3ml decant of vintage Mitsouko EDT and the 8ml of vintage Chanel no. 22 and not wearing them a whole lot. Don't get me started on my 16 ml of Deneuve extract or the mostly full bottle of the EDT.

The reason of why I really do it is because vintage can be hard to find or out of reach price wise. When I find a bottle that is halfway full or mostly full for a reasonable price, I try and see if my budget allows for it. Thus far, no, but next couple weeks, I should be able to.

Ever since I have joined Ebay, I have found a reliable source for full bottles of Worth Courtesan but none for full bottles of Sarrasins. It kind of bothers me that something may be readily available in Europe but not in the US. I know for a split second Barney's had the bell jars but the prices were horrible. I would love it if the Serge Lutens non export line were available in the US. Say, 5 or 6 would be sold full bottle wise then back to the non export line then it would be the the next 5 or 6. Not everyone has the desire to fly to Europe nor the means. It would take me 6 more years to save up for a trip to Paris. I know there is Surrender to Chance and The Perfumed Court but certain decants cost quite a bit if a perfume is not available in the US.  Discontinued, I understand.

I do hoard my vintage collection most of the time is that there never seems to be a situation or good time to wear these. I'm not wearing vintage anything to work is I've dealt with too many nasty people and bad situations where it has ruined some of my perfume collection. Or it is a family situation that has utterly ruins a perfume for me. It's kind of funny how something like perfume can get ruined by something or someone.

Ebay

After flirting with idea of Ebay for years, I've finally signed up for an account. Ebay has always scared me because I have always been afraid of being scammed. And sometimes the cost of things. What finally made me take that plunge was trying to track down a few bottles of vintage perfumes and maybe find a couple that are not sold full bottle wise in the US.

Thus far, I've made only one purchase (Worth Courtesan) and waiting for it to arrive. I have a large decant of Courtesan and a full bottle of Courtesan was fairly inexpensive so most of this is hanging on how good my experience is going to be. I hope that it is good and I am going to get the real thing because I am eyeballing some vintage no. 19, no. 22, Deneuve and Mitsouko.

How in the World

With this perpetual heatwave has brought out a monster craving for jasmine dominant perfumes and let to something strange. By digging through my huge, and I mean huge, pile of decants, I've managed to accumulate 3 decants of A La Nuit, 4 decants of Sarrasins, 2 for Deneuve and Courtesan and a few others. I'm not exactly happy that Serge Lutens hasn't made Sarrasins available to the folks who live here in the US but I'm not Serge Lutens and unfortunately, don't get to make that choice of which is an export and which is not. So, I make due with decants of Sarrasins because I don't have means to go to Paris. But I'm still a little embarrassed to have that many decants of the same 5 or 6 perfumes.
My skin is insanely dry year round but I am having perfumes vanish on me without warning. Even though I am chugging lots of water and using a fair amount of lotion, perfume is still not sticking around on my skin. I'm not happy because I have a slew of perfumes that I really want to try and review but I want to know about the staying power of any scent before I can review.

Worth Courtesan

I stumbled upon Worth's Courtesan on the Perfumed Court looking for skanky perfumes. Courtesan is supposed to be a skanky perfume but I am not getting any kind of skank. Initially, I was wary of getting a sample because a lot of notes listed are fruit notes. After wearing Courtesan for a few hours, I get flowers with a hint of fruit. Courtesan is a sweet, skin scent with a weak note of seduction. It's nice and likable but it is a perfume in transition. Courtesan seems to be trying to go from being a fruity floral mess to something very seductive, a real woman's perfume. The Perfumed Court is the only place I can find Courtesan without going on Ebay. Ebay just scares me and that would be another post. Staying power is good and sillage is minimal. I probably won't get another 1.5 ml or any decant once I finish this one. It's pleasant but it doesn't move me in any way to the point of where I have to get another decant or take the plunge into Ebay.