Shalimar Millesime Vanilla Planifolia Review

I have been on vacation all week and swore to myself that I would wear something that I have never worn before and review it. I probably could have reviewed this Monday or Tuesday but it wasn't quite in the cards for this week. It's been a week of dealing with garbage relating to my grandmother who resides in memory care and I wasn't so up to reviewing anything.

It seems like at least in the past couple years, Guerlain has been cranking out flankers of Shalimar. I think Guerlain picked up on people missing the Ode a la Vanille flankers and probably thought it was a great idea to creating more Shalimar flankers. The biggest problem that I have with the slew of Shalimar flankers is that most of them are limited editions. Shalimar and it's flankers have always been on the more "affordable" side but it's still a little too much for me price wise.

After dithering on getting a sample, I got a dabber sample from STC and it's been sitting on my dresser, begging to be tried. Parts of me wanted to give it a go but I was hesitant to. What if I fell in love with it? I love the original Shalimar and love both the Ode a la Vanille flankers but the Odes are long discontinued. So on Tuesday, I gave it a go.

The first time I tried it, I thought that I had put on some Spiriteuese Double Vanille. I figured with all of the perfumes that the ladies at STC had, they could have mistakenly grabbed the wrong bottle and given me SDV instead. After a few minutes, I started to smell what I knew to be Shalimar. The issue is that the SDV parts seem to overpower Shalimar. Guerlain has always been very good at a classy vanilla perfume. But this is a little different It's like SDV and Shalimar had a love child and it's name is Millesime Vanilla but this version of Shalimar is closer SDV than Shalimar. While I do thing that this version of Shalimar is fairly awesome, I think that you would be better off layering SDV with Shalimar or just wear SDV on it's own.

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.

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.

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.
 

Sephora Spring Sale

Fat Tuesday has come and gone and now we are in the season of Lent. I've never practiced any kind of religion but know about some of this stuff due to working in a bakery. Every holiday has it's own special dessert of some kind of bread. But I am happy that Fat Tuesday is over and I do not have to look at a paczki for another year.

The great thing that came out of Fat Tuesday was a Sephora announcement. I am a VIB member, the spring sale starts on April 5th for me. Honestly, I can't wait for that sale to arrive. I have decided on that massive bottle of CM Intense and I am probably not going to get that bottle no no 5. I am still on the fence about a backup bottle of Shalimar though. But when that windfall comes, I will probably get a backup bottle. I don't want to go hog wild at this sale since I want to get ahead of somethings and I have that vet appointment with Sunny coming up. But we shall see how this goes.

The First Full Day

 This is the first full day that I don't have Jake with me. I am still crying and trying to cope. Today is the first time I woke up and Jake wasn't there. The first day that I wasn't able to give him his good morning kiss and cuddle and last night was the first night that I wasn't able to give him a good night kiss and cuddle. I had a doctor's appointment today and it was the first time in almost 13 years he wasn't there to run up and greet me when I came home. Today is the first time that a Barkbox will come and he won't be there to tear open. I was hoping that this month's Barkbox would come earlier for him and Sydney to tear open. It will be Sydney's first Barkbox to open alone. As I am typing this, the Barkbox has arrived and I am sobbing. Sydney is confused but she knew Jake was sick and she was there when we put down Jake. I wanted Sydney to say good bye and I am happy that we took Sydney along with us. We took her with us and thought she could say good bye to Jake and maybe understand the process and that Jake had died. Death might be a part of life but losing Jake doesn't make that fact any easier. Jake was my buddy and it's going to be even harder tonight when Sydney and I go on our walk at night. Jake won't be there and I won't get to walk him anymore.Some time next week, I will be picking up his ashes and paw prints. I am not sure how I will be able to face that fact. Today is the first full day that wasn't spent giving Jake his medication in globs of peanut butter. My appetite is pretty much shot where all I want is a mouthful of food and don't want anymore food. Watching Dr Pol on TV brings me no joy it's not a whole lot brings me joy at this point. Looking at Jake's leash, I know that I will never be able to take him to the park again for even more walks. Jake really did love going to the park.

When I first got Jake, I wore Shalimar and I am trying to honor our time together with Shalimar today. Is it bringing me comfort? Not really. I just want Jake here with me and alive.I might still have Sydney but she is just as lost as I am and she is confused on why Jake isn't here. She doesn't quite understand that Jake isn't coming home alive but in an urn. I know that Jake was sick and his quality of life wasn't good and putting him down was the only option left but it wasn't what I wanted.

Guerlain Shalimar Parfum Initial Review

 I've ignored a good many flankers and most of them seem to be the Shalimar flankers. I've never had the burning desire to try a good many of them but then fell in love with the Ode a la Vanille flankers long after they were discontinued. But I bit the bullet and tried out Parfum Initial.

Parfum Initial upon first sniff does share some of the Shalimar DNA but I didn't understand why it had the Shalimar name attached to it. I didn't smell the vanilla in Parfum Initial and I did expect vanilla to play a roll in a more scaled back version. I find that the citrus smells a little goofy to my nose and I'm not quite sure if I enjoy it or not. Even the musky parts are a little goofy but I was reminded of Le Labo Labdanum 18. Labdanum 18 has that fizzy, Coke like funky type of musk. Parfum Initial could realistically be more of a flanker to Jicky than to Shalimar. 

I found that I really do like Parfum Initial where it falls into love category. What mostly kept me from trying it was the fact that it was discontinued for quite a while and at this point, I can't go sinking a whole lot of cash on discontinued perfumes nor wild goose chases.

The reason on why I said that it was discontinued for a while is that it looks (according to the Guerlain website) like Guerlain did bring back Parfum Initial. But it looks like that it's part of the Les Parisiennes line up under the name L'Initial. from whatever information that I could find was people where saying that it was almost exactly like the original Parfum Initial. I am taking it with a grain of salt due to the fact. Reformulations happen for various reasons and not always for the better. Since I don't have a decant of L'Initial, I can't say how close it is to Parfum Initial but if it's almost identical, I would have considered a bottle since I do love Parfum Initial. The price point is what is holding me back. I'm the type of person that can't exactly justify a $280 for a little over 4 ounces of perfume anymore. The last time I spent that much was on a bottle of L'Heure de Nuit. Loving the Les Parisiennes bottles but not the price tag though. Maybe when things get much better than I can consider a bottle but I'm not in a position to spend a shit ton of money on one bottle of perfume and I've probably spent more than I really should have this year on perfume.

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.

Vintage Shalimar Extrait Review

I have finally cracked open a bottle of vintage Shalimar extrait and wore it. I don't wear Shalimar that often for some strange reason. For quite a while, I was prowling E-bay and was always on the hunt for reasonably priced bottles of vintage Mitsouko, Shalimar and Jicky. I was mainly looking for the teardrop bottles and if the price was reasonable, I got it. If the bottle was sealed, bonus. Somehow, I managed to score two unopened bottles of vintage Shalimar extrait and one of the bottles was from the 1950's and the other is probably from the 1960's. The one I am reviewing is from the '60's.

The first blast was a whole lot of citrus, something lemony. Since it is vintage, the citrus smells a little bit damaged. Then the vanilla and leather do come out. I've noticed that the vanilla and leather doesn't come as far out in the extrait like in the current EDP, which I am the most familiar with. Nor do I get an animalic growl, well maybe a faint trace of it. Maybe I am too used to the skank in vintage BaV, Keihl's Original Musk and MKK.

After wearing the extrait and then wearing the current EDP version, I had remembered why I don't wear the original Shalimar too much. I don't wear it much because I am not a huge fan of a large dose of citrus in an oriental perfume. I really do enjoy the Shalimar Ode a la Vanille. The Ode a la Vanille does bring the animal growl out and amps up the vanilla while toning down the citrus aspect. But at the end of the day, I wasn't moved by the vintage extrait of Shalimar and that is probably a little sad.

Can't Focus

For the past couple weeks, I haven't been able to truly focus on much of anything. I've been dealing with budget issues. Slow periods at work have meant that I have not been working a whole lot. That means that I might be lucky to have $5 to spend frivolously. There has been a lot of worry about not having health insurance and finding some that I can afford. But things have marginally improved and I now have some kind of health insurance that I can afford. It's stressful when you have a preexisting medical condition that requires medication. Insurance companies either won't cover you or will charge more than you can afford. Obamacare does need work and I do like what Obama tried to do and make health insurance more accessible to me but for a while, it wasn't quite there. So now I have insurance and now I don't have to worry so much.

Yesterday, I finally committed to opening one of those vintage bottles of Shalimar extrait. I was testing it out yesterday and the jury is still out. I did get a whopping dose of Play-Doh/plastic thing. I wonder if the citrus was off. I am going to have to spend more time with it. I did manage to try Kiehl's Original Musk Blend. I remember enjoying it quite a bit but I need to smell it again to give a proper review.

But recently, I have been really wanting my perfumes that are pretty loaded with that skank note. Vintage BaV, vintage Miss Dior, Shalimar, MKK are the ones I have been craving the most. But since I am working a little more, perfume skank just isn't part of it. The skanky perfumes are more or less limited to the pre-shower or bedtime when I need to be at work. So with my collection being kind of limited right now, it seems like I am wearing Chanel no 19 in EDP form more and more often. Any connoisseur of Chanel knows that every concentration of their perfumes smell different. The EDT being the most astringent, the extrait being a green, buttery, carroty iris and the EDP being a soft, green rose. They all smell like no 19 but something different is emphasized in all three. But the EDP is my preferred concentration because I find the EDT too sharp and astringent and the extrait just doesn't seem to be quite my thing. At this point, I think that finishing a bottle or two of no 19 is in my future.

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 Habit Rouge EDT Review

A few days ago, I was craving a new perfume to test out. It was one of those days where I had to be at work at 5 in the morning, so I didn't have the time to really spend any kind of time nor the inclination to make an effort. So it became Guerlain's Habit Rouge in EDT form. I had packed Noontide Petals in case Habit Rouge was an epic failure.

I figured that since it was a classic and I hadn't done any prior reading up, it would be fabulous on me. Guerlain and I do get along, most of the time. When I first put Habit Rouge on, I got lemons instead of a vague citrus note. Fresh cut lemons and I loved it to pieces at that point. When the lemon faded from the top and other notes started to come into play, I wasn't so enthused. I started to get a lot of Diorella, that earthy fleashiness. The type is that at the end of the day in the sun and that squeaky clean is gone. That stays to the end. I did get some vanilla and some herbs. The vanilla took me by surprise because I normally associate the vanilla and the lemons with Shalimar, which is pretty feminine and I don't know any man that I see on a regular basis that wear Shalimar or even wear Shalimar. The herbs had said Jicky to me and it's funny that Guerlain took the basic composition of Jicky and made Shalimar with it. I think that Guerlain took both Jicky and Shalimar tweeked them both a little bit to get Habit Rouge. Yes, a masculine Shalimar, which in itself, isn't such a bad idea. I have yet to try Derby and Veviter and Jicky was probably the only Guerlain that men had ever dared to wear. For an EDT, this lasts about 6 hours on my EDT eating skin and that surprised me.

Do I like it? I'm not sure and I will have to wear this a little more. Wear it more so I can understand it and end up enjoying this.

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.

Compliments and Perfume

I'm sitting at home looking outside and waiting for the snow to hit. Since I live in the snow belt in Ohio, we are expecting around 5 inches of snow. All the weather channels seem to be debating on when all this snow is truly going to hit. One says Thursday, another says Friday, and the last one says Saturday. So I don't really know at this point.

It's rare that I ever receive compliment of wearing perfume but I do get them once in a while. Let's think about it, perfume wearing seems to be the new smoking. It really must be due to the fact that you get many people from all walks of life and all ages that wear way too much perfume. It's beyond way too much perfume in ways because people seem to bathe in them and one of the keys to perfume is restraint. I do have some strong perfumes and some that are bombastic and even my lightest ones, I make every effort to apply lightly.

But I do receive compliments when wearing perfume. It always takes me by surprise when I do get a compliment on my perfume wearing because most people I know just tolerate it. Or if they do like something, they keep it to themselves and they don't even ask. They probably figure that a lot of my perfumes are very expensive and a large amount are expensive. When you consider the price of certain brands (Amouage, Xerjoff) and discontinued or vintage perfumes, it can get pricey fast. The perfumes that I receive the most compliments are with some of the stranger perfumes in my collection. Here is the list of the ones that garner me the most compliments.

1. Mitsouko seems to garner the most compliments with people who are in their late 50's and 60's and it doesn't matter if it is the current version or the vintage version. Mitsouko is one of the oddballs in my collection that seem to baffle a lot of people and it's kind of the gold standard of chypres.

2. Serge Lutens Feminite du Bois is probably my first niche purchase that I don't seem to wear often enough and when I wear it, men always ask what I am wearing. FdB smells wonderful but different enough to get yourself noticed.

3. Amouage Memoir for Women. This one definitely gets a lot of attention from both sexes and all ages. I don't know what attracts people to me when I wear it but I probably wear it so well that it does

4. Andy Tauer Une Rose Vermielle. Probably one of the most approachable Tauer's that does get a lot of love. It is part of the fruity floral theme and probably one of the best of the genre. UNR doesn't smell cheap and it doesn't smell horribly expensive.

5. Guerlain Shalimar. Shalimar is probably one of Guerlain's most approachable classics and it's the gold standard of orientals. It's slutty enough to keep me happy and it is safe enough to wear in public and not scare anyone away.

6. Amouage Epic. The spicy rose that sports some gaic wood and oud. I can never quite pin point why I love Epic so and the compliments that go with it. But the Turandot  reference intrigued me in the beginning to give this a try.

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.

The Casual Buyer

Lately, I have found myself haunting Ebay a whole lot more in my search for a vintage bottle of Mitsouko and came to the question of being a 'casual buyer' on Ebay. The type of buyer that might poke around Ebay for a few days, might buy a couple of things and then disappear for a while. Yes, I am that kind of buyer when it comes to Ebay. But I spend more time looking than actual buying but I might come across that vintage bottle of Mitsouko for $40. You just never know with Ebay. Ebay has come in handy due to the fact that there are no Goodwill stores or Salvation Army that are close by or not in the seedy parts.

From time to time, I really do look for that vintage bottle of Mitsouko or Deneuve and always shake my head at the price tag for a partially used bottle. But I've always had some pretty good luck when looking for and getting full and partial bottles of vintage Shalimar. I may not exactly be able to afford the ones dating to the '60's or earlier but there is quite a bit of vintage Shalimar out there that people want to get rid of.

Is Light the New Term for Sweet?

Yesterday, this thought was floating around my mind when one of my guy friends commented on my wearing of Shalimar. I make every effort not to be heavy handed when I am applying perfume. But I was wondering how can Shalimar be considered light? Or is light the new term for sweet? I'm just thinking that he is confusing sweet with light. Now Shalimar is a lighter oriental but when over applied, it's not light, it's suffocating. Tocca Giulietta is light, Chanel no 19 is more of on the light side but I still wouldn't call Shalimar 'light' nor would I call Mitsouko 'light'. Then, I asked him how can he confuse light and sweet when he has been hanging around me for the past couple hours? Something that is loaded with vanilla is not light. I sprayed A Scent and gave him the blotter and said that it what you call light. But he really doesn't get it and this is the guy who buys his mother perfume at Christmas every year. Since his mother has no real sense of smell, she over applies everything.

I view perfume as an art form and should be smelled carefully before deeming them light, heavy, sweet. Sometimes the initial impression might be light but after a couple minutes, it actually may be sweet. But I'm not sure if most people just don't know how to use their sense of smell or they are too used to these your skin but better perfumes.

Guerlain Tonka Imperiale EDP Review

The whole going through Amazon to get  full bottle of Theorema didn't pan out and I am getting a refund. But I did make sure that I was unhappy with the whole situation because it was described as being sold as Theorema but instead Amazon was shipping out Fan di Fendi. I had said that if Amazon is going to sell Theorema and describe a product being sold as Theorema, I should expect to get exactly what I had ordered, not something else.

I had been testing some vanilla perfumes or vanilla like perfumes and had always debated on trying Guerlain's Tonka Imperiale. I'm always a little wary of trying perfumes with a hefty price tag. What if I fall in love with it and finally save up enough to get a full bottle and it's been discontinued and have to wait it out on Ebay?

Tonka Imperiale reminds me of Spiriteueuse Double Vanille in many ways. Just maybe a little more nutty, little less smoky and vanilla like. Tonka Imperiale could possibly be a kissing cousin to Havana Vanille or it probably resembles Havana Vanille more than it does SDV. Could it resemble Shalimar? Maybe in Shalimar's dry down if one can ignore Shalimar's citrus note. While I do like them both and lasting power is good. I'm not sure if I want to shell out $260 for 2.5 ounces. Yes, I still do have a hard time with vanillas due to the fact that there are two routes that vanilla likes to go. It's either cupcake territory or burnt or smoky and sometimes they turn sour or bitter in the end of the wearing.

General Stuff

At this point, I'm none to thrilled with trying to deal without a microwave. Yes, I know that it can be done but when it's busted and can't be fixed there are a lot of things that one must plan out meal wise long before. My microwave was less than a year old and was destroyed by my elderly grandmother. I do suspect that she is in the early stages of dementia but her problems of not being willing to pay attention to what she is doing dates back about 25 years. My grandmother was yapping on about how much she doesn't like Dunkin' Donuts coffee while chugging a huge cup of it that she got there that morning, wanted it reheated and she destroys it by interrogating me about what I'm doing (doing dishes). Naturally, she presses a lot off buttons to heat it without looking and the stupid thing is locked. I looked it up online on how to fix it and it can't be fixed and the warranty is voided because of her. I shouldn't be complaining but since she has already destroyed two of my cellphones and a laptop, replacing this kind of stuff gets expensive when there is no remorse of offer to help cover the cost to replace it. I tremble to ask about what it cost for my aunt to replace a brand new oven because she totally destroyed it.

At this point, I'm trying to figure out if I should just bite the bullet and finish my midget decant of Mitsouko EDT. I have a larger decant of vintage Mitsouko but I do have the tendancy to hoard my vintage perfumes. Or just go with wearing my current formulation of Mitsouko EDP. It's not too funny after a while when I got this huge collection of perfume and trying to figure out what I am going to wear. Now, Shalimar Ode a la Vanille has entered the picture. I'm thinking of wearing it just to see what the fuss is about this flanker.

Stuck in a Rut

It seems like I am stuck in a little bit of a rut. That rut is where I am wearing the same old thing. Chanel no. 5, the current version of Shalimar and from time to time either no. 22 or Havana Vanille. Right now, I can't even believe it because I do have a large collection of perfume and I'm stuck wearing the same four perfumes while I am trying to date my two vintage bottles of Shalimar EDT.

Dating my vintage Shalimar is taking a bit of work. It looks like one bottle might be somewhere in the 1980's (even though the seller said it was dated to the 1960's) and the other somewhere in the 1990's. Both of them smell like Shalimar and smell like an older version of it but I'm frusterated trying to figure it out when two different websites have two different things or my smaller bottle is from a different era. I think what is throwing me off the the stopper. Since my bottles didn't come with boxes, I can't be sure. Many people swear by getting Shalimar that's dated from the 1960's and earlier. But what's wrong with getting bottles a little later? I'm scratching my head over that one.