Thoughts, L'Air du Desert Marocain Noir and Upcoming Vacation

When I hopped onto Now Smell This, I did see the post of a new Andy Tauer offering. It seems like Andy Tauer has gone crazy with all of these new releases. When Luckyscent was offering some kind of deal on some samples of the reimagined Rose Flash and Vanilla Flash, I jumped on that. But last night, I don't recall seeing the new Andy Tauer L'Air du Desert Marocain Noir but I was looking to get a bottle of the Rose de Kandahar perfume.

For the longest time, I did want a bottle of the Rose de Kandahar and finances never quite worked out to shell out a little over $200. Imagine my surprise that.is $300 and the price for just about every Andy Tauer offering has gotten stupid expensive. Someone mentioned that it was the tariffs that caused it. Yes, the prices of everything has gone up, tariffs or no tariffs. But I wasn't expecting the prices to be that high for a beauty product. But back the the Noir, I did order a sample to test out, even though I haven't been wearing a whole lot of new things.

So I am coming up on my third vacation of the year. The only real plan that I have is seeing the final Downton Abbey movie. Towards the end of the TV series, it was pretty worn. There are so may story lines that can be recycled before people lose interest. The first movie was good, the second one was okay but I think after the first movie, it really should have been put to bed.

What I am looking forward to is being able to test new things if I want or wear old favorites. I am hoping to finish the candle that I have going in the next week and I hope to start another.
 

Sezzle and Getting Older

I don't know how this got to be somewhat of a financial review spot. I still am not in with PayPal, Klarna or Affirm and I am okay with that. But somehow, Sezzle decided that I would be worthy enough to be able to use $150.

Let's just say that it works like Afterpay and Zip or like any BNPL service. Like Zip, you do have to pay a $4 finance charge. With Afterpay, I am not spending $4 to use the platform and maybe be able to use the limit I have been given. So, like Zip, I can pay some bills with it, if I am running short of funds but it won't be something I would use often.
 

Getting older sucks. At the ripe old age of 42, my knees are starting to bug me and I am not thrilled with the prospect of having to make a doctor's appointment for knees that hurt. But I fell on one knee and that one really isn't getting much better. Nor am I thrilled with the idea of having to make an appointment for a dermatologist for getting some skin tags removed before I start picking at them. I am not going to worry about my hair turning gray but I do want the hair on my chin to disappear and will look.into that nut that isn't quite so important.

Getting older sucks when one gets excited about finding really good deals, especially online for very basic stuff like toothpaste or shampoo. And I have taken to deal shopping for stuff like that. Since I put discretionary spending on hold, I have to get a little bit excited about something.

It was either Thursday or Sunday, I wore Epic 56 from one of the two dabbers that I have. When I visited my mother in the hospital that day, she said that I smelled really good. But for a good long while, I couldn't place which perfume Epic 56 reminded me of. Then it eventually came to me. Epic 56 is a fancier version L'Air du Desert Morrocain. It has been a while since I have worn the original Epic and LADDM but I am sure that the original Epic would be the same thing.

Fall is Coming and Evaporation

So much of this year, especially this summer has been mostly spent in Chanel no 5, Coco Mademoiselle and Lyric. Today's perfume is Amouage Epic. Epic is more of a fall type of perfume to my nose for some reason. It just reminds me of fall.

Now that we are creeping into fall, it's time to begin breaking out the fall perfumes. I don't have a lot in the way of transition scents or ones for fall. The main one that I have is LADDM. 

I did notice that the perfume in the bottle evaporated a little more and I haven't been wearing it in quite a while. I took a look at the bottles that I have on my dresser and noticed that my Andy Tauer full bottles seem to evaporate much quicker than the others. I think that this is probably the main reason why I really don't have too many full bottles from Tauer Perfumes. I really think that it's the bottle design that is causing the whole problem with evaporation. Evaporation is the bane of my existence when it comes to perfume. I hate throwing out decants due to evaporation and had to do some of that last week with my unworn and not reviewed stuff and I need to do that again with that makeup bag to see if there are a few that I do need to pitch. So I guess this fall is going to be pretty heavy on LADDM and a couple other Tauer offerings and will probably have to push myself to just finish those bottles and not have to worry so much.

Let's talk candles at this point. I am still working on trying to whittle down my collection and it's been really slow going right now. It seems like as soon as I finished 8 of them, I replaced 6 of them. I'm about to finish up to more candles and will have them finished by tomorrow at the very latest. But I do think that I should lay off trying to use up the single wick candles and really attack the 3 wick candles. The 3 wick candles just take up so much damn space and I need the space. Do I need that space? Not at the moment but would like to have some kind of extra space if I do need some. What I am fighting against is that Bath and Body Works has released their Honeycrisp Apple and Apple Weather candles and then soon enough Winter and Evergreen will be released. I'm still torn on if I should burn to 3 wick candles at a time or just one 3 wick candle. I have no idea yet.
 

Quickly Evaporating

 Recently I have been wearing the same few scents over and over again. Can't seem to get enough of Lyric, no 5 or Deneuve it seems like. I haven't been wearing a lot of my Andy Tauer perfumes. After that LADDM mini breaking and a fair chunk spilled on my hand, I haven't been wearing them too much. So I took a break.

After going through a couple perfumes, I took a look at the Andy Tauer bottles that I had on my dresser. In spite of me not really wearing them for a couple months. it looks like some evaporation took place. I do find that a little strange though. The bottles of Noontide Petals, Une Rose Vermeille are older bottles and I have worn them but they shouldn't really be as low as they are. Noontide Petals and URV aren't that terribly used up but LADDM is a fair bit lower. I'm not so upset that LADDM is somewhat evaporating in all honesty since LADDM is still in production whereas the other two are not. I am honestly thinking that it's the whole design of the bottles and spray mechanism that is probably the issue or even the cap itself that is the issue. 

With everything going on with the evaporation and looks like Andy Tauer is revamping his whole lineup, I am currently reluctant to get and more Tauer perfumes at the moment. I don't veiw that as such a bad thing though since I have to much perfume already and really ought to start using up full bottles.

More Accidents

 

Yesterday was a little bit of a panicky day. I was getting ready for work yesterday, somehow my little mini of L'Air du Desert Morocain got knocked over onto some tile and broke. Well, the corner broke and some of the perfume came out. I managed to save most of it and I spent hours trying to find what little I had of decanting supplies to salvage the rest of it. I found the last 3ml empty decant after I ordered 4 5ml travel sprays off of Amazon. Eventually I was going to condense some other decants in the interests of space. I have so many decants of LADDM and I am going to move those into one of those 5ml decants. But when I was transferring that mini to the empty decant, what was probably 1 or 2 ml went all over my hand. As much as I adore LADDM, it was too much, even when I washed my hands. So I spent all of last night and most of the morning in way too much LADDM. I think that I am going to give LADDM a huge rest for a little bit. I hate it when things like this happen. I have had it happen to a bottle of vintage Bal a Versailles and Mitsouko and managed to save a fair chunk of both. I missed out on grabbing a bottle of Une Rose Vermeille and I am a little bummed about that but things didn't pan out the way that I hoped

Bath and Body Works is really starting to drop their winter/Christmas offerings. I don't give a crap about their body products anymore, I just find them to be overpriced for what they really are. What I really go for is their candles. I was excited when they finally brought out the Winter candles along with the Fresh Balsam. It seemed like it was either yesterday or the day before they finally brought out the Evergreen candles. I love the Fresh Balsam and Evergreen during winter. The Frozen Lake is nice enough but I don't consider that one to really be a wintry type of candle. When Candle Day hits, I will stock up on the Winter, Evergreen and Fresh Balsam. Well, we shall see how much cash I can stockpile for Candle Day, namely in the form of gift cards since it seems like I get most of my candles around Candle Day and shortly after Christmas.

Tauer Les Annees 25 BIS Review

In mid-September, Andy Tauer did release a new review. At this moment, I can't remember the name of it and I do have a decant but haven't tested it out. But a couple weeks ago, Andy Tauer had a surprise release. He released a flanker of Les Annees 25 BIS. From his em-mail, the impression that I am getting is that he was surprised on how fast the original sold out. Granted, it was a limited edition with only 500 bottles made. I hoped that this will be more of a permanent part of his line up. I was lucky enough to get a 5ml mini directly from his website. I ordered within a half an hour of getting the e-mail, I was that eager to test this one out.

Since I haven't put this in a spray decant, this is from dabbing Les Annees 25 BIS. It is so much like the original Les Annees but yet it's a little louder but yet a little smoother than the original. It's kind of like what happened with L'Air du Desert Marocain and Au Coeur du Desert. Louder yet smoother at the same time.

Since I am working off a couple dabs from 3 days ago, I have to give this another go today and see what else that I can get from BIS. But from what I am remember that BIS is pretty much full bottle worthy and I hope it sticks around in the line up for a while.

Spray Bottle Evaporation

Things are just goofy right now. I have been working on straightening up some finances. When I took a look at things, I realized that there were a few subscriptions that I really needed to be cancelled. The Harry and David Passport thing, the Sephora 2 day shipping and a few other things had to get cancelled. A couple of those things were charged monthly and a couple things were charged yearly. The things that I had to get rid of, I wasn't using them enough to warrant the money spent on them. The only subscriptions that I did keep was Amazon Prime and my BarkBox. My rough estimate is that I have save about $175 per year but I have to begin the second phase of reworking finances. Work has been really slow and slow means less money coming in and there are things that have to go.

In my streamlining flurry, my attention did turn to my perfume. Buying full bottles have pretty much came to a stop and decants have come to an almost complete standstill. Which is a good thing for me, it is allowing me to take a look at what I have and see what I can start using up before I can even begin to add anything more. This led to rearranging some of my bottles.

After doing a little bit of rearranging of perfume bottles, I got a bit of a surprise. A bottle of Amouage Epic for women and L'Air du Desert Marocain are both showing signs of evaporation. Yes, two of my spray bottles are showing signs of evaporation. The LADDM bottle always seemed a little bit sketchy but Epic was a bigger shock. Just under Epic's cap, there is some perfume and a couple signs that this might have been going on for maybe a month of two. I am thinking that maybe one of my dogs was doing a counter surfing thing and knocked the bottles of LADDM and Epic of the dresser and the spray mechanism got goofed up somehow and now there is evaporation. I've never had an issue with evaporation issues with my spray bottles and I do have issues with spray decant and dabber bottles evaporating. I guess I need to wear the snot out of LADDM and Epic and be grateful that I do have backup bottles.

Spring is here to stay

It looks like spring is here to stay. I have been pretty busy. With the new puppy and many changes at work, I don't have much of a motivation to blog or try anything new. But since the weather is much warmer, almost unseasonably warm, it's difficult with my perfume collection.

A few days ago, while having the new puppy outside to use the bathroom, I end up getting stung on the top of my head by a hornet. I don't know why but I remember wearing vintage Bal that day. That's the little dickens to the left. I have forgotten many things with having a puppy in the house. How often I need to take them out to go to the bathroom, playing, chewing everything, even hands and much more. Right now, she is napping on the couch downstairs, so I have a little bit of time to blog.

But back to the hornet sting and vintage Bal, I had to take a look at my collection. Most of my collection is on the oriental side or kind of on the sweet side. I don't have much in the way of stuff that will keep the bees away or be overwhelming. I have Chanel no 19, Mitsouko on cooler days, Deneuve might be a little sketchy and LADDM. So I have just four perfumes that probably would bet me through spring and summer but I'm not counting on it. I am looking for another spring/summer perfume that won't attract bugs and things that sting but coming up short with what would be good.

Andy Tauer Au Coeur de Desert Review

My  pile of unworn and not reviewed decants has reached epic proportions. It used to be just a massive pile of decants. With the holidays and the sales that went on, I reached that threshold of epic. It's come to the point of that I have to start wearing and reviewing them. Instead of going into the bag to grab something, I reached for one of my newest decants, Andy Tauer's Au Coeur de Desert.

When I first heard about Au Coeur de Desert, I was a little horrified and a little curious. From what I read, it sounded like a straight up flanker and it is pretty much true to me. I have never been any kind of fan of flankers, especially when it comes down to cult classics and classics. There are very few flankers of perfume that are well done. No 5 Eau Premiere is one of them, the Shalimar Ode  a la Vanilles are another example of flankers done well. But I am not blogging about them.

Curiosity got the better of me and STC was having a 15% off sale, so it made the price of a 5ml decant more palatable for me. Did I need a 5ml? No, a 2ml decant would have worked but I wasn't sure if I would need a lot of wearing for this one. So onto the review.

L'Air du Desert Marocain is one of those perfumes that is a cult classic and is well regarded. L'Air was one of those perfumes that I did buy blind and don't regret. I do have a massive liking and respect for Andy Tauer's work even though some of his offerings don't exactly agree with me. When I got my decant Au Coeur, I waited probably 3 days before trying it. Au Coeur is almost word for word just like L'Air but a little different. I find that Au Coeur is a little smoother than L'Air and a little less austere. Both still run on the masculine side of unisex but Au Coeur, not as much though. What impressed me the most was the sillage and lasting power on this one. Instead of getting 5 or 6 hours like I do with L'Air, I get 14 hours, yes, 14 hours of skin time. Then I realized that it was an extrait and not EDT or EDP. Au Coeur is definitely a on the to buy list but more of at the bottom due to the fact that I own L'Air and I don't wear that enough to justify a full bottle right now.

Evaporation

Did you ever get a bottle of perfume a few months back and have found that it seems to be evaporating fairly quickly? I'm not talking the parfum bottles that seem to evaporate fairly quickly without using them often.

Back in mid-April, I had purchased Andy Tauer's L'Air du Desert Marocain and have worn it 6 or 7 times, one squirt every time and it seems like it's evaporating. I've had Une Rose Vermeille much longer and have used it more and still looks pretty full. I'm thinking with the bottle design itself and maybe the materials used that contributes to that issue. I'm looking at the rubber ring at the base of the sprayer that might be part of the issue and at the very outside the wooden cap that could account for some of it.

Thus far, from what I've tried from Andy Tauer, his perfumes are well made and enjoyable, even though I'm still not wild about URV. The reason that I'm still not wild about URV is the huge raspberry Jolly Rancher component to it. Fruit in perfume is kind of sketchy because just about every current perfume (celebrity or not) is more often than not, loaded with fruit. But URV is a better quality fruity floral perfume. But I have noticed that Andy Tauer's offerings to have the tendency to fall off my radar.

But I'm trying to figure out the best way to deal with the evaporation issue. I get the fact that every time the cap comes off, I do lose a little bit of perfume before I decide to spray or not. But it is aggravating when most of my perfume collection in niche and niche can be expensive.

Tauer L'Air Du Desert Marocain Review

It's fall in Cleveland and it's the time for clambakes, apple and pumpkin foods. Clambakes in rural areas always seem to involve bonfires. And I always look to see what really compliments the dry weather and bonfires. For a long while, Chanel Sycomore always seemed to fit the bill or sometimes Mitsouko. But Andy Tauer's L'Air Du Desert Marocain really fits the bill for a lot of situations that has a roaring bonfire or a barbeque.

The full bottle Tauers that I own (3) always seem to get lost in my shuffle of Chanels, Guerlains and Amouages. I don't know why or how but they do. Probably because they can be so hard to match with events or the seasons can't cooperate to wear them, so I forget about them. But yesterday seemed to be a day for L'Air Du Desert Marocain.

L'Air starts off by being almost bone dry. I keep thinking that there is lavender in there but according to Luckyscent, there is no lavender in there. Bone dry isn't bad when it smells good, as L'Air smells good being almost bone dry. I really do enjoy L'Air and glad that I got a full bottle unsniffed.

More Online Shopping and General Perfume Stuff

I'm still a fan of online shopping even though I haven't had the greatest experience from Amazon. I've blogged about my love for the Tazo chai tea, and ordered some before Easter. When I had noticed that I had not received my package, I checked the wonerful link to check and found out that the package was damaged and could not be delivered. It took days to figure out what exactly happened and what was going to be done. It took me almost a week trying to find out what was going on and get a refund.

As fun as online shopping itself can be, it's the adventure. Even though I know what I bought, I love the waiting for the mail man or the UPS guy to deliver the stuff I ordered. Just this past Monday, I had bought Andy Tauer's L'Air du Desert Marocain, unsniffed from Luckyscent. I know that I had said in my last post, that I did not think that I would have a perfume budget, but after looking at some things, it turns out that I did have room for perfume.

The real reason I haven't really been reviewing perfume lately is because I haven't been able to quite describe four perfumes and cannot decide if I hate the, love them, or like them. I seem to be going through an odd phase where I seem to dislike a lot of perfumes and some of them are old standbys. I'm wondering if it is the days where it is in the '70's (degrees) and then the next day, it's in the '40's. But it can also be difficult when there is one dog in my house that seems to love licking perfume off my arms.