Of Shalimar and Decants

When Portia on Perfume Posse announced that she was getting back into the habit of using up samples and decants for the year of 2025. I leapt at the chance of using up some of my decants and samples as well. I figured that with all the decants and samples that I have, I really should start using some of what I have. The decants that I am currently working on is Patou Joy extrait, Amouage Honour and one of my decants of Diagilev. I figure to start out with 3 a month and stick to my dabber samples right now. If I can work on getting more than 3 a month, that would be awesome and it would be a bonus if I could actually use up some travel sprays and full bottles this year as well. But with the 3 that I mentioned that I am working on, I am almost done with those. And when I finish those 3, I will move on to something else.

But what do I do when I commit to this decant challenge/resolution thing? I order 2 more decants. I ordered another decant of Tigress Musk and a sample of Memoir Man. I think that since that I don't order decants too often anymore, it's okay, I just won't get more samples for a long while. What works a little more in my favor is the TPC doesn't do as many sales as they used to and I can't recall the last time that STC had a sale. I figure with inflation and all, it's not exactly worth it. Without sales and coupons, I am less tempted to buy. But I am doing that even with groceries (looking at sales and coupons). I am only trying Memoir Man because I haven't tried too many of Amouage's men's offerings and maybe I should try more. I did try the men's version of Lyric and Epic way back when and wasn't too terribly impressed. The men's version of Gold was something I liked much better than the women's version. But we shall see how Memoir Man fairs.

There is a reason that I did mention Fabrege Tigress Musk. Earlier, I did pull out one of my bottles of Shalimar and sprayed an unhealthy amount. The Shalimar bottle that I used was when it was the early days of my perfume journey. It's kind of vintage but not really and I haven't pulled out a vintage bottle of Shalimar or vintage anything in a long time. Shalimar was always a lovely perfume on my skin. But I had forgotten how slutty Shalimar is. It's not exactly vintage Bal a Versailles or MKK but the sluttyness is there. When I sprayed Shalimar, I started to get a really wicked craving for Tigress Musk and naturally it's in the pile of decants that I can't get to at the moment. The decant of Tigress Musk that I have already is probably half full. The reason that I only ordered a decant is because getting a full bottle never quite works out. When I remember to look, it's either not available or the cost is a little over the top for me.
 

What Not to Wear Out of the House

I have some good news, the bottle of Arabie that I thought was lost has been found. Somehow, Arabie ended up is a random toiletries basket. I'm blaming the puppy and her learning how to counter surf and then my mother throwing it in that basket. The vintage bottle of L'Heure Bleue has arrived and I am ecstatic. I haven't spent a whole lot of time with it, except for gazing at the bottle marveling on how small a 1.6 ounce bottle of EDC is.

I have compiled a list of perfumes that I can only wear alone. I think that every perfumista has a handful of perfumes that they only wear when they are alone in the house. Those perfumes can be too skanky or there is something about them that renders them not fit for public.

Amouage Gold for men and women: I honestly don't thing that it's the structure of the perfumes themselves but I think that it's the whopping dose of civet (or is it ambergris?) that makes this too poopy. The men's version has a whole lot less going on and I am more apt to wear the men's version then the women's

Patou Joy: I have yet to try the extrait version of Joy, so I can't comment on it. I have the EDP version and I do love Joy. I love how the jasmine and rose play well together. The rose and jasmine is bright, not at all powdery and don't compete with each other. But Joy has a noticeable cat pee type of note that I think that the jasmine probably creates.

Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan: What seems to be the musks to end all musks. I personally love it but while people like it on me, they just simply don't like the perfume itself. So it's regulated for the alone pile. But it's not the sluttiest perfume I own and that's vintage Bal a Versailles and I wear it out of the house and everyone swoons.

Difficult

It's a new year and I haven't really been inspired to blog about anything until today. For the past few days, I have been wearing Chanel no 22, Patou Joy and Shalimar and had a few half baked blog posts in mind but one stuck out in particular when I wore Joy.

Now, Patou Joy is one of my perfume loves because of the huge jasmine note and I love a huge jasmine note in perfume. Joy has that whole indolic jasmine and rose combination going on. It's bright and sunny but not 'heavy' like one would get in Nuda due to my arch enemy, tuberose. But Joy is difficult to wear because of the indoles. On Thursday, I wore Joy because I haven't worn in at least 6 months and people were yapping about cat pee and I realized that I don't wear Joy that often because people keep complaining about the cat pee and I don't even have a cat. Then, I did realize why I really don't wear Joy too often.

Chanel no 22 in vintage form is another one that can be a little difficult because of the powder. It's funny though, in the current formulation of no 22, there seems to be a whole lot less of the powder note but people do say that it smells funny or like bug spray, so I guess winter wear of no 22 is out of the question.

Previously Loved

Right now, it seems like I am in a little bit of a dilemma. I have always loved jasmine dominant perfumes and had longed for A La Nuit for a while. But now, most jasmine dominant perfumes drive me up the wall.

For the past two weeks, I've been trying to wear A La Nuit off and on and it's not working. It's become like Fracas and most tuberose perfumes. Just too much no matter what is going on. I do have to agree with Tania Sanchez on A La Nuit that it's "Death by jasmine". It's funny that I've never had much of an issue with A La Nuit before but now I am finding it a little too dense. In the past two weeks, I have worn Patou Joy in EDP, Serge Lutens Sarrasins and Diorissimo in EDP.

While Sarrasins and Joy were fabulous smelling on my skin and wasn't horrifically overloaded with jasmine. Diorissimo was a lily and indolic jasmine overload and I'm just not understanding this. I love an idolic jasmine but apparently the jasmine can't be too dense and white flower and must have something that will stand up to the jasmine.

Sarrasins is one of my favorite jasmine scents. The jasmine is indolic but there is a wonderful leather note in Sarrasins that keeps the jasmine in check. But I have noticed in Montale's Jasmin Full, it's more of a clean jasmine, a mainstream jasmine. I have noticed that Jasmine Full has a certain stickiness to it. Some days, it's the feeling after I ate too many jelly beans or the sticky hand feeling.

Patou Joy EDP Review

Finally, I've been motivated to test out a new perfume. It was somewhat of a choice on to which to test out. Either Patou Joy or Donna Karan's Jasmine and Joy won out. The last two perfumes that were instant love was Deneuve and Amouage Lyric and Joy comes close. Joy is a classic perfume that was created during the Great Depression and was marketed as the most expensive perfume.

When I first apply Joy, I get a huge blast of bright rose, similar to Chanel no. 19 EDP, then it's a mildly skanky jasmine. During the wearing, the rose and jasmine alternate is being dominant notes and I do like that. I like rose and love a skanky jasmine but what trips me up in any perfume is tuberose. The tuberose periodically peeks out under the jasmine or the rose. The tuberose is not overly creamy and is not overwhelming to me. It's just a little hint once in a while. Lasting power and sillage is about average for Joy.

Would I get a bottle? It's debatable but large decant worthy.