Shalimar

 Today seemed to be a day where many people, myself included, wore Shalimar. This is due to the fact that on Now Smell This, the Friday community project is to wear something vanilla in perfume. It looks like a few were starting out the week with Shalimar. But I did get into some thinking about Shalimar.

It seems like in the past year, Guerlain has released flanker after flanker of Shalimar. There were a couple times that I did have the means to get a bottle but something else demanded my financial attention. So the last time I managed to try and really like a Shalimar flanker is when the Ode a la Vanilles came out. At that time, I had managed to get my grubby hands on the Mexican version and not the Madagascar version. So off and on throughout the years, I have looked around to see if I could get a sighting of the Madagascar but whenever I did see a bottle, it was major money. For some reason the Mexican version seems to be the easier to procure one and it might be that more people might have liked the Madagascar one. I know that I appreciated the Madagascar one more. I found it to be richer, a little more smokey and just enjoyed it more. It's not to say that the Mexican version isn't great, it is but I prefer what I prefer. And I am kicking myself for discovering the Parfum Initial version of Shalimar long after it was discontinued.

But I am not exactly thrilled with all the limited edition flankers. It seems like if I manage to get one and either really like it or love it, it's gone before I can get a backup bottle. Then I scout E-Bay and see that it's more than a car payment and the bottle might be half empty. Paying upwards of $150 for a half used bottle of anything isn't happening, those days are long gone. This means that I must make a better effort to enjoy what I have and start using up what I have. But that is easier said than done.

Perfume Spillage and Shalimar

Once in a great while, I do have some very unfortunate perfume accidents. There were instances of spilling some of my perfumes. Cuir de Russie, vintage Bal a Versailles and a bottle of vintage Mitsouko fell victim to being spilled. I did manage to save most of the actual perfume but what was spilled was soaked up by my carpet. Eventually, by weekly vacuuming and the periodic steam clean, you can't smell that now. But there was an unfortunate accident of a broken decant. I was in my bathroom about to take a shower and my decant of Rose de Nuit got knocked over and shattered all over. There was no saving anything. Even with mopping the floor, my bathroom smells like a slutty rose. It was my only decant of Rose de Nuit and decants of it are a little pricey and a bell jar is out of my reach. I am hoping that a tax refund will get me a bottle. But that's a ways away and if something else doesn't grab my attention.

There seems to have been quite a few Shalimar flanker releases. It seems like it has been so rapid fire that I can't keep up with it. I try to kind of ignore the Shalimar flankers for a reason. When I first discovered Shalimar, the Ode a la Vanille flankers were limited editions and production on those had stopped. I spent way too much time trying to procure a bottle or two. The only Ode a la Vanille that I could find were the Mexique ones and if I did find the Madagascar, it was way out of my price range. I will be honest, I think that the Madagascar was the better of the two. The Madagascar seemed to be in more of the spirit of Shalimar.

I do have a decent amount of Shalimar. The edp version, vintage edt, vintage parfum and the Odes. With a bottle of my dresser, I have no idea on why I don't reach for Shalimar that often. It's gentle, plush but not too plush leather, the civet of ambergris lends a sensual element. But let's not forget the vanilla. It's not an edible smelling vanilla, nor does it smell like something a tween/teen or early twenty something would wear. I think that I am going to have to make a habit of wearing Shalimar more often, even though my mother says that Shalimar is dated. And this is a woman who's go to perfume is Light Blue or anything Dolche Gabbanna. So I will keep wearing Shalimar anyway.
 

Spring Can't Come Fast Enough

 

I think spring might be on it's way to my neck of the woods. I am slowly starting to see some warmer temps and more sunshine. I am still waiting for that freak snow storm or two. Winter never seems to go quietly in Ohio. I can't wait to open the windows, start wearing short sleeved shirts, not having to deal with coats and the whole lot. That means that the transitional perfumes will be getting some love. I don't have a whole lot in the way of going from winter to spring.

Going from winter to spring is when the lighter orientals come out. Even though my pajama sleeves are drenched in Amouage Lyric and have been way too lazy to throw a load of clothes in the wash, I am starting to crave Shalimar and Theorema. Mostly Theorema is what I want. I have no damned reason why Fendi decided to discontinue Theorema but it's been discontinued for a while. It's sweet but not annoyingly so nor is it heavy. I'm happy that I managed to get a healthy supply before Beauty Encounter ran out of stock. When I got Theorema, the price was alright but try to find it now and for a decent price is a bit of work but I am not interested in even trying to find a decent price for something like this at the moment. I have never been able to track down any of the parfum version without going bankrupt. Vintage and discontinued perfumes are notoriously expensive.

I did make a mention of Shalimar, in all of it's oriental, slutty glory. While I do love the current and vintage version of Shalimar, I truly love the Ode a la Vanille flankers and I am kicking myself for discovering the Ode a la Vanille flankers so late into the game and especially not being able to snap up a bottle of the Madagascar one. I keep a small flame of hope alive that Guerlain will brink back the Ode a la Vanille flankers.

Shalimar and Books

 I haven't really done a ton of reading this year. With Covid, instead of having more time to read, I somehow have less time to read. I have either 3 or 4 books on my Kindle that I haven't even read. Hopefully I can find some kind of time to read them. A while back, I took a quiz for a $3 gift card for Amazon and now they send me the code to redeem the stupid credit. Funny thing is that even though I have books to read, I want a few more books. You see that my Chase account has these offers where if you spend some money at certain stores/websites, you get some kind of credit to your bank account. The catch is that you must use it before certain dates. I am sorely tempted and most books that I want are more than $5. What was it, my last post I blogged that I really have to watch the spending and no frivolous spending? I do have a couple that I am want to get and with the $3 and some cash back, I will keep it really cheap and limit myself to one book but keep it under $5 or less.

I am still trying to finish decants and bottles as well as candles at this point and I was looking for things that I haven't worn in a while. Yes, I want to try new things but can't afford to fall in love with anything at this point and wore some Shalimar Ode a la Vanille Madagascar last night and this morning. I like the original Shalimar but I adore the Ode a la Vanilles, especially the Madagascar one. For the longest time, all that seemed to be available was the Mexique one and it I did stumble across the Madagascar, it was and still is more cash that I am willing to part with. What sucks about the Ode a la Vanilles is that they were limited edition. Nothing can aggravate me more than limited editions and flankers. Flankers don't always smell good and nothing can sell out faster than a limited edition. I hope that the perfume gods send a message to Guerlain that they should release the Ode a la Vanilles again. I would love a bottle or two of the Madagascar one, especially if the price is right.

Sealed Vintage

I managed to liberate one of my boxes of perfume. The box I managed was a box full of dabber bottles. I still don't have shelf space yet but I did have to take a closer look to what I have in there. Most of those dabber bottles were extrait versions and a couple were my bell jars. Half of them were open and half of them were not. Two of them were the vintage Shalimar extrait and they were sealed.

No matter what the name of the perfume is, finding a sealed bottle can be difficult and finding it at a reasonable price is a rare thing. I do have a few sealed, vintage bottles of perfume and I always seem to wimp out on opening them. I worry about evaporation with dabber bottles, especially with vintage. I might have a substantial supply of vintage BaV and Mitsouko but I don't have a large supply of vintage Shalimar. Part of me is saying that life is short, start wearing it but the other part of me knows that vintage has a finite amount floating in the world and I should use the vintage sparingly.

Some of this rings true with discontinued finds. I have a few bottles of Theorema and Shalimar Ode a la Vanille that I want to wear with abandon but always seem to hesitate because I want to hoard.

Guerlain Shalimar Ode a la Vanille Madagascar

I have always loved the original Shalimar since I first sprayed about 8 or 9 years ago. I keep wondering about why I am not wearing Shalimar more when I do reach for it. But I was a little late to the party and a little miffed at why Guerlain would release two flankers of Shalimar. I was asking on what were the differences and why were they needed.

I already reviewed the Mexique and managed to snap up to bottles. It was time for me to seek out the Madagascar version to see what the difference is. This version of Shalimar smells like Shalimar but there are differences between all three (original, Mexique, and Madagascar). The Madagascar version doesn't have the huge citrus note. The citrus is still there and noticeable but not overwhelming and not as sharp. After a while, the citrus does fade way back into the background and lets me smell the rest of the composition. The vanilla is much deeper and much more smoky and I haven't really noticed it in the other two. What I really enjoyed was how slutty this version of Shalimar is. Mexique and the original Shalimar are pretty slutty but Madagascar takes this to a whole new level. The skank level is almost on the level of vintage Bal. It's a pity that I only have a pretty small decant of Madagascar. It's also a pity that Mexique and Madagascar are only limited editions, long discontinued. It's much easier to find the Mexique version for a somewhat decent price where when I find the Madagascar version (it's rare to find it), it's an arm and a leg. I will try my best to console myself with having the Mexique version.

Guerlain Shalimar Ode a la Vanille EDP Review

After spending the month with mostly wearing Jicky and Shalimar, it's time to really get going on a Shalimar flanker review. Shalimar seems to be the classic that has at least a million flankers and most either sound like a very toned down version and not worth trying out. But then I heard about Shalimar's Ode a la Vanille that did seem to be the best of the bunch.

I am one of those who doesn't exactly approve of flankers of any kind but abhor flankers of classics. No 5 Eau Premiere was very good, no 19 Poudre was a disgrace to the original no 19. But Ode a la Vanille is very good. Ode a la Vanille could be mistaken for the original Shalimar just like L'Heure de Nuit could be mistaken for L'Heure Bleue. But after spending more time with Ode a la Vanille, I started to smell the difference between the two Shalimars. Believe me, it does take time to notice. But the first thing to hit me was that the citrus was a little sharper and a little more noticeable in the beginning of Ode a la Vanille. In the regular Shalimar, the lemon isn't sharp but noticeable. I've never smelled a chocolate note in Shalimar and that came as a surprise when I was starting to get into the dry down phase of Ode a la Vanille. I'm not exactly sure if I like chocolate in my perfume. But the vanilla is a little creamier in Ode a la Vanille.

The Shalimar structure is definitely in Ode a la Vanille and if you got a bottle of the regular Shalimar, Ode a la Vanille isn't exactly needed in a collection but Ode a la Vanille is a limited edition so I say stock up if you love Shalimar. Ode a la Vanille is worth seeking out in large decant form or a bottle or two.