End of an Era...Sort of

One of my new year's resolutions was to finish things and not add anything more. So far, it's some mixed results. The fact that I have added 3 full bottles to my collection and haven't finished a bottle of anything is the bad part. But I haven't added any body products and in fact used some of them up.

I have finished another Sol de Janeiro Cheirosa 62 hand cream, 2 Gold Bond hand creams and 2 foaming hand washes from Bath and Body Works. But the most notable thing that I have finished is the Amouage Lyric body butter and I am a little sad about that because it is a bit like an end of an era because finding Amouage bath and body stuff is as rare as slug's teeth at the moment. So there is nothing to replace it with. I just can't find the matching bath stuff for the older Amouage offerings. If I can, it's a little too pricey for me. So the era of Amouage body stuff is pretty much over since I do like the concept of matching bath and body stuff that matches any given perfume. But I am still salty about my aunt knocking over my Memoir body cream and very little of it could be saved and I am still looking for my bottle of Memoir. I know I have it somewhere but I just can't find it.

I think that I am a little sad that I used up the last of the Lyric body butter was because Lyric was one of my first niche perfumes that I fell head over heels in live with and when I saved up enough money for a bottle, my love deepened because I could quit buying large decants only to drain them pretty quickly. I am still in love with Lyric but I do have to admit that even though I have one of my full bottles sitting on my nightstand, it doesn't get as much wear as it used to. I do have a backup bottle and a travel spray set when Amouage still had their travel sprays. I think a year or two ago, they pretty much did away with those as well. But I will admit that I do see less and less Amouage being sold in the way of discount sights like Fragrancenet. I do wonder if Amouage is doing what Chanel did way back when is putting an end to their perfumes being sold just about anywhere. I will keep hoping that the body products will make a comeback.

Winter Storms

I am going on day 4 out of 5 of wearing Cheirosa 62 and looking for a break. And that break will arrive tomorrow. When I clock out at 7pm, I will be off for the next few days and that can't come soon enough.

The reason it can't come soon enough is that later tonight a nasty winter storm is headed my way. It's been a strange winter this year. It's been a lot of small winter storms and it's a bigger winter storm headed my way. So I am doing whatever cleaning up I can do before work and make an effort to finish up after I get home from work. But probably the most important thing is that I make sure everything is charged, especially my phone. I do need to get an extra gallon of milk and maybe a couple snacks. I have more than enough caffeinated drinks to get me through and food but I do have a hankering for some snacks.

What I worry about is the loss of electricity. Even though we have a generator, the generator is gas powered and I have to fill up a gas can or two to make sure that when we dig ourselves out, we will really be alright. I have my candles picked out, just in case. I don't have a lot of candles picked out but I want to have just enough but had a harder time picking out perfume for the next few days.

My choices are Narciso Rodriguez for her, Lyric and my stand by is no 5. I am still debating if I want the edt version or the edp version. Both smell like no 5but they are different. There are tons of others in my collection but this were the ones that won out. I very well could go with Eau Premiere as well. I don't exactly want to give myself too many options so I do not get overwhelmed with choices. I remember when there was another storm and loss electricity and I wore Mitsouko for the duration and I don't want a repeat performance of being that kind of irritated.

Retail Therapy and Lyric

 Ever since Luckyscent had that free shipping sale on no matter how much you spent, I did have a little bit of a bender. Instead of using up more samples, I just ended up adding more to my stash. Then I preceded to hop on over to Fragrancenet and ended up with a bottle of the edt version of Narciso Rodriguez for her and a mini of Obsession. I made the mistake of browsing Fragrancenet again and saw that there was a 50ml bottle of Amouage Lyric for around $120. As much as I love Lyric, I didn't bite. With three 100ml bottles and the travel spray set, I couldn't quite justify that, even with Afterpay. I had to remind myself that I ordered a Rogue Perfumery discovery set, a MAC lipstick and a lipliner and had to order my sister's birthday gift. And I have to keep in mind that I my cellphone bill is higher and it's slow at work. I might be filing my taxes and getting a tax refund but that still does not justify another bottle of Lyric or any more full bottles of anything right now. I need to take a break.

It is always tough to remind myself that I shouldn't be going and spending money on fun things with no regard for tomorrow or three months from now. The only thing is that I haven't been adding to my candle collection. But even though I am not adding to my candle collection, I am not using up any candles either. But I am hoping that if I burn one candle for an hour or two a day, I can start to get moving on my collection. But I am going to stick to my days off. When the weather gets warmer and I can have my windows open, I can burn them for longer.

But back to the Narciso Rodriguez for her. I found that the perfume has grown on my and I now have a liking for it. A one ounce bottle for a shade under $40? Sold! What is really catching my eye is that the bottle is black and I mean solid black to where I cannot see how much perfume is actually in the bottle. I have tons of vintage Bal a Versailles that are completly white and have no real way to tell how much perfume is actually in there. Weighing the bottle in my hands does not tell me a whole lot.

Now we have to circle back to Lyric. I have no idea on why I am not wearing Lyric too much. For the longest while, I was wearing Lyric at least once or twice a week but just stopped. Maybe it's because I am trying to show other perfumes that I own at least some affection? Or maybe I just needed a break from wearing Lyric. But I do think that I might start wearing Lyric for the hell of it on Sunday.

More Exceptional Extraits

It was either yesterday or the day before I had gotten an email from Amouage. Normally, I delete emails from my inbox. I think what made me open the email was the fact that there are going to be more Exceptional Extraits coming out. The email didn't say which ones, so it's going to be a surprise on which ones.

For a long time, I did have a real thing for Amouage. Up until either Honour or Beloved, if Amouage was rolling out a new perfume, I badly wanted to get my paws on it. But after either Honour or Beloved, I really didn''t care so much. I don't know what exactly changed. Maybe it was similar to Serge Lutens. It seemed like both Amouage and Serge Lutens seemed to be releasing perfumes every 6 months or so. So in ways, I lost interest. At the time, I had all the Amouage offerings that I more or less wanted. For a long time, my Amouage holy grail was Lyric. It took me around 2 years to save up for a bottle of Lyric. I don't think that I will ever forget that the lady who ran her online shop, called me and said that she was out of the 50ml bottle that I had ordered and offered me one of the 100ml bottles for the same price. Of course, I jumped at the chance to get a larger bottle. But back to that email.

I am not exactly enthused by getting that email saying that more were going to be released. The sheer cost of those full bottles. Even on discounters, the price is still out there. But I always try to keep in mind that Amouage has never been cheap. But after having the regular extraits and body line pulled from their shelves, my thoughts were that those were either sold out or discontinued. I didn't exactly think about the fact they were shaking things up. The other reason on why I wasn't so enthused is because I don't exactly want Lyric to be on this go around of the Exceptional Extrait releases.

While I did manage to get my hands on a sample of Epic 56 and Honour 43, I wasn't quite head over heels in love. I would like to have a full bottle of Epic 56, it's not so vital for me to find a way to get a bottle. Honour and I have a pretty strange relationship. One minute, I can't get enough of it and then the next minute, I can't stand it. So Honour and mostly avoid one another and I am happy that I could never quite commit to getting myself a bottle. But I do think that I should have just gotten Honour instead of Gold. In theory, I should love Gold because I love no 5 so much but Gold smells like I stepped in dog poop.

Make no mistake, I still love and adore Lyric. My adoration for Lyric is well known. My collection of Lyric is three 100ml bottles, travel spray set and matching soap and lotion. The only thing that I am missing is the extrait bottle that Amouage used to sell a year or two ago. But the reason that I don't want Lyric to be a part of the Exceptional Extrait is the fact that I don't want to have that full bottle craving that will last for years. But knowing on how my luck seems to go, it will be an Exceptional Extrait. If it goes that way, I will probably move heaven and earth just to get my hands on a sample and who knows what I would do to get my hands on a full bottle. I just love Lyric that much. Sooner or later, I will find myself in better financial shape to get a bottle. I am hoping that by year 2026, my finances will be in better shape.
 

Valentine's Day

 It's Valentine's Day here and for those who follow the Catholic faith, it's Ash Wednesday. I work in a bakery and had to deal with the overload of paczi yesterday. If I didn't work at a bakery, I wouldn't have had a clue about Fat Tuesday or Ash Wednesday. But the paczi that we sell at my store is an overrated jelly doughnut. You would probably have a better paczi if you went to an old school Polish bakery.

I'm not following Valentine's Day either. I might be off but I am not with anyone, so I have nobody to celebrate it with. I am waiting for tomorrow because I want the half priced Valentine's candy. But we shall see if I really want to be out and about tomorrow. Probably not though.

I'm pretty sure that many people have bought their significant others jewelry, candy, flowers and perfume. I was thinking about that I think would be great perfumes for a Valentine's gift. Then I got to thinking about a list of solid choices for Valentine's perfumes, even though I am bathed in the traumatically discontinued Fendi Theorema. The people at Fendi were total morons for getting rid of Theorema.

I have to start off with Lyric. Since the Valentine's colors are red, pink and white, the bottle fits with the general color theme. Since roses seem to be the most gifted flower on this day, the spicy rose of Lyric fits the day. Lyric is one of my most loved perfumes and probably the first Amouge that I fell head over heels in love with and then Epic was my second. Yeah, Amouage is expensive and probably the most expensive brand on this list but you only live once.

The original Shalimar is going to have to be my 2nd choice in all of it's vanilla goodness. Shalinar isn't a straight up vanilla thing, there are more moving parts. There is the citrus aspect of it and whatever else is in there to make Shalimar a little on the slutty side. I haven't tried too many of the Shalimar flankers outside the Ode a la Vanilles. Shalimar is pretty affordable but the Ode a la Vanilles from around 2010/12 and crazy expensive if you can find them.

My third choice would have to be the tried and true and probably my lamest pick on the list is Chanel no 5 in extrait form or the edt form. You could possibly get away with the edp version but the extrait and edt are the first two versions of no 5 that came out. I would ignore all the other no 5 flankers for Valentine's Day. Coco said that she wanted no 5 to smell like a woman and not a flower. In the '20's, that was revolutionary in terms of perfume but that would be a whole different post. With no 5, outside of the aldehydes, no other note sticks out but no 5 wants you to move in a little closer.

I was thinking of putting Mitsouko on the list but outside of perfume nuts, who really would seek out Mitsouko? She is a little too strange and maybe a little too harsh for a lot of people. I am thinking it's a little too strange. I am leaving out vintage Bal a Versailles due to the fact that it's vintage and can be a little on the pricey side. Plus I don't think that most can deal with the outright slut in vintage Bal a Versailles.

Trying to Use Decants and Vintage Bal a Versailles

 I've started to do a little bit of what Portia from the Perfume Posse is doing. She is using up some of her decants and maybe some bottles. The idea makes perfect sense though. When you've got a million bottles of perfume already and billions of perfume decants running around, things start to happen, especially if you have some dabber bottles of perfume. So after finishing off that bottle of Chanel no 5 edt, I want to get into the spirit of that and actually do it. Thus far, I have finished a dabber decant of Lyric edp and a decant of Lyric extrait. I have tons of Amouage Lyric and I figured that it would be a great place to start. It's all in the baby steps people, all in the baby steps.

I was rooting around that huge perfume tub that I have in the "guest" bedroom. That guest bedroom is kind of like our formal dining room table. The rooms that nobody in my house really uses but it's a place where tons of things just end up. I am not exactly sure why a was rummaging around in there but I was. Two things occurred to me. 

The first thing is to organize the stupid tub. Things are on their side and they shouldn't be. That makes everything more prone to spilling and what is even more important is the potential for things to break. When you have a fair bit of vintage perfume, you can't afford either of those. Because vintage is, you know, expensive.

The second thing would be evaporation from the dabber bottles. I had found what is probably my largest bottle of perfume. My 9 ounce lyre bottle of vintage Bal a Versailles showed some signs. I'm thinking that 2 forces with that bottle are at work. The outside of the bottle smelled like vintage Bal a Versailles but the bottle was sealed and I remember the bottle being a little fuller than it is now. I'm thinking that since I found that bottle more on it's side, I think that the alcohol content of the perfume started working on the unbroken seal of it. I think that I probably have more vintage BaV than I know what to do with but I am not exactly a fan of evaporation. It's all the more reason to go through all of my perfumes that don't have a spray mechanism and really start using them up. Then I won't have to freak out so much over evaporation and I might manage to create some space. Now if my candles would quit multiplying, I would be happy.

What's in the Bag?

It's nothing unusual for me to carry perfume in my purse. My purse might be on the smaller side because I am not a fan of a huge purse. There is something about large purses that don't do it for me and I see so many women, especially young women who don't have children that have these massive purses. What the hell are they carrying in those things to begin with? Their whole entire life?

There is a reason that I carry a smaller purse. There is less potential for things to get lost or forgotten about at the bottom. Less stuff that might get broken or leak. A smaller size means that I have to be a little more sniper like when it comes to putting things in there. Of course, I carry my wallet, cellphone and my iPod (Yes, I still use an iPod), mascara, lipstick and lotion. But I always have a mini or a travel spray in there.

It's more than if I forget to put on perfume before I leave the house or to reapply after what I am wearing fades. If there is something that happens to the house, where everything is a total loss, I won't exactly be starting over from square one in terms of perfume. I can tolerate losing many things but there is something about the thought of losing of selling my collection that scares me for some reason. I can't explain that feeling but losing my dogs and perfume seems to conjure up that feeling.

Currently, I have a mini of Les Annees 25 BIS, travel spray of Lyric and a travel spray of no 5 Eau Premiere in my bag right now. Those 2 might be an odd mix but there is a little bit of a selection going on in there. While wearing Les Annees, I have forgotten how good it is and don't regret getting a bottle but regret no getting the original one when I had the chance.
 

Another Old Favorite...Memoir

 I do keep spending time rummaging around that huge tub of perfume that I do have and I pulled out a really old favorite, Amouage Memoir for women.

Back when I was pretty new to the world of perfume, I longed for bottles of Lyric and Memoir and eventually got bottles of them. For some reason, I haven't worn much of Memoir and I don't have a great reason to hoard Memoir. With the direction that Amouage seems to be going in terms of not being able to find a whole lot in the way of bath and body stuff and I can't seem to find Ubar anywhere, I have been slowly getting back ups of the Amouage offerings that I love. I don't know exactly why I stopped wearing Memoir but I did. I was probably busy trying other things.

Even the pickings on discounters are getting a little slim.I still am trying to curb the frivolous buying and I am making every effort to not go buying everything in sight. In years past, I could go to discounters to get my bottles of Amouage but I'm not seeing the selection and I am blaming Covid for it. While I did snap up a back up bottle of Memoir, I got another back up of Lyric to cover my behind. I will get that back up of Epic eventually but I am not going to get that bottle right now. I have other things that I need to be worrying about.

Bath and Body Works has started their semi annual sale a few days ago. While I did imbibe, I didn't see tons of offerings that really wowed me. It wasn't the price points, it was the scents that were offered that I wasn't too wild about. I just grabbed what I could use for birthdays and Christmas gifts and now I am just waiting for it to arrive on my door step. I would have loved it if Night Blooming Jasmine and Gardenia Lily was brought back along with Milk and Honey. Bath and Body Works said that they had no plans to bring those back but they might at a later date. With that answer, I doubt that those will be brought back.

Seeking the Familiar

Since I am still working with that strict budget, I have been seeking out some of the old, familiar perfumes. Perfumes that I had bought early in my perfume journey and wore the shit out of. So since I have been cleaning some things out, I've been finding a couple things.

Chanel no 5, no matter what the concentration is one of those old favorites and a soothing one at that. I have the EDT, EDP and parfum all on my vanity. And that reminded me to pull out my bottle of no 22 EDT. I haven't gotten around to trying out the EDP due to lack of funds and I don't need to be on E-Bay looking for decants. I don't need to get burned because people like to sell Chanel dupes.

I found a large decant of the current batch of Diorling, right before it was discontinued and a vintage bottle of it. I am still kicking myself for not getting a bottle or two when I had the chance. Even though the people at Dior told me that they have no intention of bringing back Diorling, one can hope and keep pestering them about it. If they can keep cranking out these J'adore flankers, they can bring Diorling back for a limited time for me to nab a couple of bottles.

An old favorite that is comforting is Mitsouko. It doesn't matter if it is vintage or current to me, I adore Mitsouko. I don't pull it out often enough and wear it and I did pull out a bottle of a newer version of the EDP and a vintage EDT. The EDP that I did pull out was from probably 10 plus years ago, so no honest to goodness oakmoss in that one. I have tons of the vintage EDT and I am still trying to get a stopper to come lose from my huge bottle of Mitsouko.

Lyric is another perpetual favorite for me. I love wearing Lyric in all of it's spicy, rosy goodness year round but I love it especially in the heat of summer. It took me a long time to actually get 1 bottle of Lyric but I am glad I did get that bottle and got the travel spray and a back up bottle. I have no clue with what is happening with Amouage. I can't find the Lyric or Epic bath product and there isn't any Ubar to be had anywhere. Let's hope it's a supply chain issue with the ingredients.
 

That Shit You Ain't Ever Going to Afford

Did you ever have those types of perfumes that you know damned well that you will never be able to afford? I have a few that I will never be able to afford. Unless I come into some kind of cash. My tax refund is going to be used on sensible things that I need. But that tax refund is going to be tiny this year because of tax law changes.

There are a few that I know that I will never be able to afford on my own. When the price of food, rent and other necessities take precedents and paychecks are not that huge, some of the things I want are way out of my price range. 

I want that trip to either Iceland or Scotland but I know god damned well that's not happening anytime soon. There are places even in the US that I want to go but I don't have the cash to go do them. I keep hoping that something works out for even a weekend get away. Every time I get asked from family on why I don't go anywhere, I get a little snippy. It's great that my cousins make enough to afford to go on these vacations but I don't have the financial luxury to do that. I'm more interested in keeping a roof over my head and food on the table. My priorities have to be a little different.

But right now I am looking at the Amouage extraits and the prices. I'm looking at Lyric, Epic, Epic 56 and Jubilation 25. But who really has $400 or more lying around to spend on a perfume? I sure as shit don't and would love to spring for one of those bottles but have to content myself with the dabber vials from either TPC or STC. Rarely to I take a look at perfume discount sites for Amouage.

Outside of those bells jars of Sarrasins and De Profundis that I got in more financially stable times, any other bell jars are out of the question. It's not worth looking at the Serge Lutens website. I just don't want anymore sticker shock at this point.

 I do have perfumes that I would like to get but I have to take stock on what I can really do if I save my pennies. I wonder what other people's limits are in terms of price when it comes to perfume.
 

Talking About Lyric

It's been a while since I've talked about Amouage Lyric. I remember many years ago when I first smelled Lyric from a sample from Luckysent. I think that I might have bought either Epic or Dia but I am leaning more towards Epic. Then I fell head over heels for Lyric. Even in more financially secure times, it took me at least a couple years and burning through countless decants before I ordered a full bottle of Lyric. Then a a couple years later, a travel set arrived at my doorstep. My back up bottle of Lyric was bought a couple years ago with some extra cash.

Ever since the pandemic, I've been hunting for Lyric body products from discounters and having no such luck. Even the official Amouage website doesn't even have the Lyric bath and body stuff. At discounters, I could find all kinds of Amouage Lyric but not so much anymore.

A few days ago, Luckyscent sent me an email saying that they had some specials going on. Out of boredom, I decided to take a peek and my jaw dropped a little bit. Lyric is on sale on Luckyscent. It seems like if Luckyscent has some specials going on, it's either they want to get rid of some old stock or there are some perfumes about to be discontinued. I'm hoping that Lyric doesn't get discontinued because even with Afterpay, another bottle of Lyric isn't in the cards for me. Last year, the pandemic didn't hit me as hard as this year. I think with rampant inflation and the Ukraine invasion, things are not looking up for me in the world of money. But I always hope that things will turn around for me soon.
 

 

The Same Stuff Over and Over Again

My mother cut her California trip short and is now home. So much for some of the projects that I had planned to do. Three of the candles that I had started, refused to stay lit and in the trash they went. I have already finished 2 candles yesterday and will finish 2 more today. I have no freaking idea on what candle I am going to start now but that's okay at this point.

I was none too happy when I found out that a trip was cut short. I had made a decision to redeem most of my Ulta rewards points and get a bottle of no e Eau Premiere and another bottle of no 5 edt. I figured that it would arrive before my parents came home and they wouldn't see any kind of packages and gripe about it, even though I redeemed my Ulta points for them.

But I noticed something. There are some perfumes that I buy over and over again. No 5 in many of it's concentrations, Mitsouko, vintage BaV, Amouage Lyric and Epic seem to be the ones that I have the most of. I will admit that after no 5, I haven't gotten the other ones listed in quite a while. But with vintage Mitsouko and BaV, I haven't been prowling E-Bay for them. Amouage is getting harder to find a discounters and my beloved Deneuve has gotten so stupidly expensive, especially for minis. So no 5 it is.

I do wish the no 19 was a little more widely available and if Ulta carried it, I'm sure I would have stocked up even more. But Ulta and even Sephora mostly focus on best sellers but that seems to be most department stores that focus on things they know that they can sell pretty easily and even with my healthy supply of no 19, I don't reach for it often enough. I really ought to start wearing some other stuff that I have.
 

Amouage Epic 56 Thoughts

It's been a really long time since I have really paid attention to Amouage offerings. The last time I really paid attention to Amouage was when Beloved was released but after that, I wasn't so interested.

But when Amouage started to release some exceptional extraits, I sat up and took a closer look. From what I can gather, there was extended aging and a higher oil concentration. Amouage has only done 4 as the exceptional extrait but with the ones that have been released, only Epic 56 stands out. 

I love Epic and do want to try it. Epic was my first Amouage love and first full bottle from Amouage. I loved the green bottle and inspired Epic. I will admit that I want to try Epic 56 and get it but dropping $480 on a bottle of perfume scares me and I think that it should. I mean, $480 is quite a bit  of cash, even for Amouage and I don't give a shit if it's for 100ml. But not all is quite lost for me. The Amouage website is offering a sample set for the exceptional offerings. For all four of them, it would set me back $55. But I am not so interested in the others, just Epic. If they had Lyric in the exceptional extraits too, I would have jumped on it.

Lyric and Epic are the two Amouages that I reach for most often but I seem to reach for Lyric more often. I just adore Lyric and the first time I tested Lyric, the clouds parted and the angels started singing and I started saving up for a bottle of Lyric. There was a time that all I wanted was a bottle of Memoir and did get a bottle but I hardly ever reach for it. I have no idea why I don't reach for it too often, other than the fact that it's maybe too sweet and has a static sort of smell to it.

I am going to hold off until maybe mid next year to do anything with that sample pack of those extraits. Maybe I might get the travel sprays of Epic. I am just a little scared of trying out Epic 56 and falling in love with it.
 

Backups and Obsessive Loves

 

My Chanel package arrived on Friday and you have no idea on how quick I ripped open the package. I haven't ripped into the cellophane yet as I am still gazing at it. It did cross my mind about maybe picking up that Eau Premiere travel spray but ultimately decided against it. I honestly do have enough no 5 to last me quite a while. Maybe at a later date will I get that. Or that 5 ounce bottle of Estee Lauder Pleasures. Decisions don't have to be made today or any time soon about new bottles of perfume. Ever since the last third of last year, I haven't been buying a whole lot in terms of perfume, even decants. I had some other worries and not a whole lot in terms of fun money to even really contemplate buying anything and when I did, it went to candles for some strange reason. Well, candles are cheaper than perfume, right?

What got me to thinking of obsessive loves is Amouage Lyric. Lyric, I think was one of my first major loves when I did fall down the rabbit hole and waited quite a while to procure a bottle. Spent most of Sunday debating on if I should get that a back up bottle or not and eventually did get that back up bottle of Lyric. I have been wearing the snot out of Lyric recently. 

I've had many obsessive loves when it comes to perfume. The type of obsessive that I wear that perfume most often and I do quite a bit to get a few bottles. It seems like every perfume person has back ups of certain perfumes and even those back ups have back ups. There is always the fear of reformulation or any perfume being discontinued. 

Mitsouko would be another perfume that I have a shit load of. I have two bottles of current formulation but even more of the various vintage versions. Gotta compare between vintages and how the newer bottles fair.  But the longer the perfume has been in production, the greater the chance of reformulation. Hence why I do try to grab back ups of perfumes that I love.

Valentine's Day and Amouage Lyric

 

Valentine's Day is winding down and there is another winter storm coming. Valentine's Day isn't a very interesting holiday to me. Probably because after the 5th grade, there were no school parties that were held and the joy of the whole day ebbed away. So Valentine's Day is just another day.

So there is another winter storm bearing down on my neck of the woods and I have most of what needs to be done finished up. I did say earlier that I have 3 weeks worth of which candles I want to use. It's now up to 14 weeks and I usually go through a candle a week. Now I am just hoping that the power doesn't go out and if it does, doesn't stay out for long. I am not game for spending 2 or 3 days without electricity.

While writing this, I am awash in Amouge Lyric for women. I haven't been too keen on trying the new Amouage offerings. After I tried Lilac Love and another more recent Amouage, I couldn't bring myself to try anything new with Amouage. But Lyric was one of the first, if not the first great perfume love when I was falling down the rabbit hole and wanted a bottle for the longest time and finally got one about 5 or 6 years ago. I had initially purchased a 1.7 ounce bottle but the company that I ordered from ran out of the 1.7 ounce bottle but offered me a 3.4 ounce bottle for the same price that I paid for the 1.7 ounce bottle. I have taken to wearing Lyric a little more often that I have in the past year. With the travel set, full bottle and body stuff, it's easier to do. It's a perfume that I wouldn't wear to work but I wouldn't wear any of the Amouages that I have to work. I don't want to ruin Lyric with work.

Things That Make Me Wonder

A few years back, I was a massive nail polish junkie. Well, I had fake nails that I went to a nail salon once a month to have filled and all. Usually, I bought the nail polish that I wanted for the month for the reason of touch ups and if I wanted to, polish my toe nails the same color. But after a while, fake nails got really expensive and I stopped. Would I like to start doing that again? Yes, I would but I work in food service and it's frowned on and can run on the expensive side when you do it long term.

When I stopped polishing my finger nails, I kind of stuck to doing my toe nails to start using up most of the nail polish that I do have. Since I've done that, I've looked at the OPI nail polish collections after the German collection. Nothing really caught my eye, then I saw the Iceland collection. For a minute, I squealed because I thought that it would be a wonderful line. Taking a closer look at it, it's either somewhat of a rip off of my favorite Russian collection or the colors are kind of awful. I see two, maybe three that I would like to get. At this point, I'll probably get one. I'm kind of wondering about OPI since they don't have the selection of color anymore that I can get excited about.

Since I have been making an effort with using my full bottles, last night, I decided to spray on Amouage Lyric. Lyric was my first Amouage love and saved up for at least 3 years before I was able to buy a bottle. My full bottle has been sitting in the back of my collection untouched and rarely worn for 5 years. I had mainly been wearing my decant and travel spray but neglected the bottle. Something funky had happened. I initially thought that Lyric had gone bad. Then I sprayed a little spray this morning before my shower and was confused again. I was wondering if it was because I had a couple other perfumes on my robe sleeve or what I had been wearing was a post reformulation batch. I am going to have to wear this for a few days just to make sure.

Amouage Lyric Extrait Review

I really haven't worn my bottles of Amouage recently but the craving did strike yesterday. Yesterday was the day my dad had to go for a chemo class and I couldn't exactly go and clear out a room. Amouage has the ability to do that. What I did was used some of my Lyric bath stuff. Did I use the body butter? No, I busted out the hand lotion. The hand lotion is a whole lot less than the body butter in terms of scent. Then I proceeded to dab on the Lyric extrait.

The extrait of Lyric isn't as loud or bombastic as the EDP version. The reason I say loud and bombastic is that when any of the Amouage offerings applied generously, they are bombastic and really loud. The extrait is much softer and much more smooth than the EDP, if such a thing is possible. I noticed that it is far richer and deeper than the EDP. I'm thinking that it's the sandalwood that's the culprit for this. The lasting power is phenomenal for this and lasting power has never been a problem for any of the Amouages that I own.

I would love to own a bottle of this but I can't exactly afford over $300 for this one. Yes, that's the right price but it is a 1.7 ounce spray bottle. The funny thing is that I don't often see extrait of anything over one ounce let alone a spray bottle. Guess it goes on the long burn list of the bottle worthy list.

Of Travel Sets, Rollerballs and Hoarding

This month seems to be a little lean for me in the wants of perfume. Not a whole lot of visiting E-Bay and Surrender to Chance. Just not interested right now, thanks a lot cellphone bill and activation fees. Yep, I switched cell carriers and the family and I got new phones, so there was some pearl clutching when I saw the first bill. But I was thinking and looking at my hoard of perfume.

With my collection, quite a number of it seems to be back ups. Back ups of discontinued and vintage finds but I'm still looking for that reasonably priced bottle of vintage L'Heure Bleue but coming up empty handed. So I keep looking. But after gazing at my collection filled with multiples and such, I asked myself on why I was hoarding some of this. Five bottles of Theorema, what the hell, I should be wearing this more often. A million bottles of vintage Bal, I am out of my mind, I need to wear this every night to bed just to finish one bottle of this. Nine bottles of vintage and new Mitsouko, I have to get that one bottle unstuck but I am starting on trying to finish one bottle of that. But there are a couple that I could mention but I have to get a move on.

Then after looking at all of that, my eyes landed on that Amouage Lyric travel set and that Tocca Florence rollerball. I like the idea of the travel sets and rollerballs. First off, they can be more economical than buying a full bottle. You might now get the equivalent of a full bottle but you can come pretty close. The Lyric travel set that I got came with 3 refills but had four total and it came to 1.32 ounces. So it was pretty close and with a FragranceNet discount, I had paid a shade over a $100, no joke. Now if the Epic set was a little cheaper, I would add that to my collection but I will stick to the two full bottles that I have and get the body butter. But the Tocca line has some decent offerings, perfume wise. What I have tried hasn't been earth shattering for me but it is a decent line. Not really niche but not exactly mainstream. The only brick and mortar store that I have seen them in is Sephora. Those that regularly shop/scout the perfume will have seen them already. But what I do like about the Tocca line is that they have created a rollerball version of their offerings. I like that because I don't really want a full bottle of Florence or pretty much any of them. I got the Florence due to the fact that Bath and Body Works wrongfully discontinued Gardenia Lily and Florence comes close but not quite enough to justify a full bottle.

But all in all, the fact remains that I must start to finish off a few bottles. My dresser is overflowing with perfume.

Amouage Dia Bath Products Review

Ever since I have tried the Lyric shower gel and body butter, I've been thinking about trying out Dia's bath stuff. But this time, I have the guest soap bars and the body lotion. I was wondering if the body lotion was going to be moisturizing enough and would the hand soap drying.

The guest soap did have somewhat of a nice lather but after using it once, it maybe isn't a soap to be used in the shower or bath. I'm going to use it anyway in the shower or bath. But this bar of soap isn't drying out my skin, which is a good thing when your skin is sandpaper dry. That is when I used the body lotion, hoping that it would be like the body butter.

The body lotion is different than the body butter. The body lotion is a little richer and a little more long lasting than your drugstore offerings of body lotion but I was thinking that this is from Amouage and Lyric set the bar to what I expected out of the bath stuff. But while the body lotion did it's job, I was a tad disappointed because I wanted a little more moisture for another hour or two (the body butter lasted at least 5 hours on me. But it did soften up my elbows and knees.

What is great about what I have tried with Amouage and their body products is that they haven't caused a reaction. I'm not itchy, don't have hives and they do stay put. The perfumed part of the whole bargain of Dia is not as huge as it would be in Lyric, so I can squirt a little bit of Dia along with the body products. I'm not sure I would exactly get these bath products of Dia again though.

All Over The Place and Amouage Lyric

My thoughts for blogging are all over the place that I can't exactly focus on one thing or a couple things that would make up one post. But all I know is that it is definitely going into summer and I am having trouble with my perfumes sticking around on skin for any length of time. Even my Amouages are not really sticking around. But the good thing is that I can wear multiple scents throughout the day.

Speaking of Amouage, I did bust out and try the Lyric body butter and shower gel. After using the shower gel, I kind of am stuck with staying with either using the body butter or the perfume version of what ever Amouage shower gel I used. But using the shower gel, body butter or lotion, then using the perfume would be way too much and probably kill everyone around me. But Lyric somehow gets me the stink eye from my family because they don't much care for Lyric. But I do have to say that the body butter is fabulous and much better than a whole lot of body butters I've used. It's much thicker and I need to use less of it. That says a lot because my skin is very dry.