Shopping

I have been working on curbing needless shopping, especially when it comes to things that I do not need. Let's say it is really difficult to do. I have made progress but I did back slide on that a little bit. My mother ended up in the hospital on Friday night and they say she might be coming home on Thursday. So I did back slide a little bit and after looking back on the past month, it is starting to look like it's been marginally more than a little bit. 

The things that were on the excessive side were those two Luckyscent orders. One was the Hiram Green sample set and the second order was the spray decants of the two new Andy Tauer releases. The Bath and Body Works order was on the excessive side too, in its own way. I didn't need that single wick candle or those three hand soaps. They might have been on sale but I still didn't need them. I am having a hell of a time trying to use up what I already have. I am hoping that I can make progress on the candle that I started three weeks ago.

The past Prime Day, I was getting some of the essentials. You know, the boring stuff like vitamins and toothpaste. So I did find the vitamins that I really wanted and used my gift card for that and a set of jasmine and gardenia candles. Those two candles are little and would make either a house warming gift or a birthday gift. The good thing is that I haven't hit up Ulta or Sephora. I know that I am probably going to lose my diamond status at Ulta this year and I am okay with that. I will just have to remember to use those points before the end of the year.

Since I am getting back on track, I have to really behave these next few weeks. I have a vacation coming up and I want to make sure that I do have some kind of fun money for it. On Sunday, I did.notice that I was getting low on the chai reach concentrate. When  I was starting the checkout process, there was something that popped up about bed sheets. I do need some bed sheets but it wasn't that night on the priority list. But I did cave and got some new bed sheets in black. I don't know what possessed me to chose black, but I did.

The only good thing right now is that I haven't gotten a full bottle of anything at this point.

Some General Stuff

My folks have left for their trip on Saturday and I am starting to really enjoy the peace and quiet. Most of Saturday was spent on doing projects that I planned on doing after the whole airport drop off. Yesterday was a whole lot of nothing with the electricity going out. The vacuuming that I had planned along with a few other things went out the window. When the electricity came back on, it was mid evening and I just wasn't up to the cleaning. Today it was just some of the vacuuming.

Thus far, I finished up 1 partial candle and 3 that are burning now. I hope to have those finished off either tonight or tomorrow before I start 3 more. I just want to create more space and what faster way to do that is to burn candles? With 60ish candles and with not a lot of space, they have to get used. I still have a goal of using 6 candles before my folks come back. Especially before my mother comes back because I want to use 2 Honeycrisp Apple candles. I am trying to use up candles that are not my thing or thing anymore. Fresh Balsam, Rosewater Ivy are 2 that I did enjoy but not so much anymore. The Fresh Cut Lilacs I still enjoy to a certain extent but it's a candle that is just too potent to be burned for very long. I am starting to find that while I like heavy hitters in terms of perfume, heavy hitters in candles, not so much.

Sephora has their point multiplier thing going on right now and if I remember right, it goes until Saturday. I did brake down and used that $10 credit and the point multiplier for a bottle of Coco Mademoiselle EDT. If anyone who is familiar with Chanel knows that parfum, EDP and EDT smell slightly different. But I have noticed with the Chanel twist and spray minis that I have, they seem to have either an evaporation issue of the spray mechanism isn't the best since I noticed that with the Coco Mademoiselle Intense that I have, there is some condensation around the spray part. If CM or no 5 were my signature perfume, this would not be too much of an issue. At this point, I am sure sure that I would be getting any more of the twist and sprays. Travel sprays are an awesome idea but the execution isn't quite there.

I could have ordered that bottle a little later but want to have any kind package delivered before people come back from their travels. I don't need them questioning me about a Sephora package or an Amazon or my Tazo chai tea order. I've made a huge dent in not ordering things. The next time Bath and Body Works will be getting any of my cash is when Candle Day comes and I can stock up a little more with the Winter candle that I enjoy so much. Until that day comes, I hope that I can get through more candles.

Didn't Chicken Out This Time

 Those small financial windfalls did come in and I did get that full bottle of Coromandel after wanting a full bottle for a few years. Last year, I did have an opportunity to get a bottle but chickened out. Every year, for a few years, I did have the chance to nab a bottle but in every year, something else took precedence. The unexpected big bill or something else was going on and the majority of the funds went to that or I just wimped out. Spending $200 or more for a bottle of perfume is sheer insanity to me right now and there was a time that I wouldn't have thought twice about spending that much.

But it actually happened but I had to wait a little bit longer though. My older Lab, Jake, needed to have   surgery to get that fatty tumor removed and that took some precedence over Coromandel. I was expecting that surgery to cost more than it did. I could have gotten the larger bottle but decided against that. There is no freaking why that I could use up a 200ml bottle somewhat quickly. The bottle is on it's way and I am pretty content right now. Another bottle of perfume will be purchased this year but I am just going to hold off on that on this point.

Jake is doing pretty good. The vet had said that was a fatty tumor with a couple nodules but from looking at the nodules, looks like it would be some slow growing cancer that just keeps coming back with or without chemo. The nodules were still "with in parameters" so there probably wasn't any kind of indication that it was end stage cancer. Jake is and the vet said that he's pretty healthy, spry and old age would probably get to him first. Even Jake is 10ish, I think that if the surgery buys a year, it's money well spent. As long as his quality of is good and happy, I am happy. It's quality not quantity.

My candle collection keeps getting bigger and bigger. It seems like as soon as I use one, three more candles are taking it's place. But now since I have mainly run out of candle space, I have no choice but to not buy more and really start using them. Even if I have to start burning two at a time.

The Illusion

I have been so tempted to get a new bottle of perfume. When the stimulus packaged passed, I was thinking of getting a new full bottle but I had to really stop myself a few days ago from pulling the trigger. The quarantine and a couple other things made me a little hesitant on getting one. My game plan is to pull $10 or $15 per week out of my bank account and set it aside. Yes, cold hard cash and then when most, if not all of my drama is fixed, I will get that new bottle. There is something that is helping the tiniest bit.

A couple days ago, I had bought two bar soaps from Chanel. I arrived too late to snatch up some no 19 bar soaps and that left me with no 5. I've never really had a massive fixation on getting matching anything when it comes to bath products. In high school, I kind of did and that was back when Bath and Body Works was affordable and most of their things actually did smell good. But that's faded and I moved on to other things and not all of them haven't been pleasant. What I am waiting for is the Sephora sale so I can get the body lotion. Between the bar soaps and the body lotion, I kind of gave myself the illusion that I did get a full bottle, even though it's no 5. I still don't understand Chanel prices at all. What they charge for soap and lotion is pretty ludicrous. The prices of the perfume is even worse. Think about it, Chanel is mainstream and I don't get the logic on why they need to be that expensive.

The orders that I made online still are not moving along. It's still as aggravating as ever. No updates or anything. Gap sent me something a couple days ago about Covid-19 and they are cleaning or some such thing. My question is how much cleaning do you need to do before you decide to ship a package? It was two weeks ago that I placed an order.

Life Suspended

Right now, life is kind of lousy. With family illnesses, some financial drama on top of Covid-19 shutting down everything, I can't catch a break at this point. I made the decision to hold off on getting a new bottle of perfume and just about all frivolous spending. I doesn't mean I won't get myself something nice but even with the stimulus package, I really have to seriously cut back on trivial spending. And I just wrote that sentence as I place an order for 2 Chanel no 5 bar soaps.

But the things that I have ordered at the beginning of the month, haven't even shipped yet. My Gap order that I placed over 12 days ago hasn't even shipped, my dogs' BarkBox has shipped 5 days ago and it's sitting somewhere in Indiana. When I placed my Skyn Iceland order a couple days ago, Ulta had let me know yesterday that with the Covid-19 virus, things are taking longer to ship and when they ship, it's taking longer to get to my house. I know that the stuff I have ordered isn't essential stuff and a couple things are for birthdays in mid-May. But it's the annoyance of so many things. Nobody can really go out and do anything, if you order online, it takes forever to get a damn thing. Even Prime Pantry orders are taking at least two weeks to get to anyone's house. I am pretty sure that the post office, UPS and FedEx employees are feeling the strain of all of this. I am hoping that things get back to normal soon.

Sephora

I have said for a while that I do think that Ulta has been a better store than Sephora. There was a time where I never even knew Ulta existed, Then about 4 or 5 years ago, I knew that Ulta existed but thought that it was a beauty place that was for cheap make up. But things did change. Sephora used to carry my Skyn Iceland face wash and moisturizer but quit carrying the line. Then I switched to Amazon for my Skyn Iceland stuff but took a look at Ulta. Ulta did sell Skyn Iceland and Ulta started to knock Sephora off it's pedestal. When I figured out the Ulta Rewards, sales and coupons, Sephora was brought down. I hardly ever shop at Sephora.

Today was the first time in over 6 months that I have gotten anything from Sephora.Why? Sephora had a sale going on and a couple things that I had my eye on that Ulta didn't have. I spent $20 more than I should have but I am okay with that. I couldn't justify buying a bottle of perfume but was tempted to use the sale to snap up a bottle of Coco Mademoiselle but managed to say no and walk away from that. If I spent enough at Sephora and my coupon was a 15% or 20% off, I probably would have.

One of my biggest gripes about Sephora and Ulta is the Chanels. Ulta does not let one buy a bottle of Chanel online but Sephora does.Chanel and I have a little bit of a contentious relationship. I do own and enjoy many Chanel perfumes but never was enthused with sizing or prices. I do wish that the prices of any of the Chanels were a little lower and the sizing was a little better. I would like there to be 30ml sized bottles. But my biggest gripe will always be about the Les Exclusifs line, sizes and prices.

At the end of the day, I am pretty stoked about my Sephora purchases. I got myself two lipstick samplers and a mini of the Kiehl's Ultra face cream. It's late fall and we are going into winter and the Skyn Iceland Cloud cream won't cut it when the dry air really does hit. I am hoping that this stuff will work and if it does, it will be fabulous.

Back and Forth

I am failing miserably at this whole not buying full bottle stuff. I haven't bought anything yet but seriously looking at the Chanel travel sets. I honestly shouldn't even be trying to look but yet committed to what is the best bang for my buck. Thus far, I can't decide if I want to go with Coco Mademoiselle or no 5. I am leaning to Coco Mademoiselle due to the fact that I do not have any of it in my collection and loads of no 5. I am spending way to much time on this trivial thing. But with being on the Chanel website so much, it's made me think about my perfume journey a little bit and how much I have probably spent. At this time, I am more interested in getting travel sets instead of full bottles. But still a little annoyed, it seems in this respect with Chanel, I seem to be getting more packaging instead of perfume for the price I am thinking of paying.

In year past, it didn't seem to matter too much on how much I have spent on any one bottle of perfume. It didn't matter so much if I smelled the perfume before I bought it, $130 for under an ounce of perfume, sold! A 50ml or anything for over $200, why not? But circumstances did change and that meant that dropping any kind of money on perfume had to be thought about and limited to a couple times a year. Then I had to think very carefully. It boiled down to how much I could afford after my bills were paid. It's been tough and I am hoping that by the end of the year, I can nab a bottle of Coromandel.

Of TV Shows and Rewards

I am not the biggest TV show watcher, I have a select few that I watch. But sometimes I do have to call it quits on a TV show. The longer the show runs, the more potential of it going bad. I was really big into the Chicago series (Med, PD, and Fire) but now I have given up on them. Chicago Med hasn't been that great for the past two seasons, PD wasn't that great last season but Fire isn't worth watching anymore. I was a fan of Fire since day one but the beginning of season 8 was what made me give up on the whole series. I would have went with someone else dying and the story lines are stale at this point.So yes, I have got to find something new.

This past month, I have spent quite a bit of money at Ulta. Since September was my birthday month, I was able to score double points. Then there was a double points promo that was going on and scored a little more in the points department. I log onto Ulta to see how much I have accumulated so far and my jaw dropped. I had managed to accumulate 755 points and that equals out to $30 that I can take off my next purchase or save them and rack up more points and then get something else for myself. This is what I love about Ulta, is how the rewards system works. The most I have ever accumulated in previous years was about $15 or $20 and this is a record.

At this point, the past few days have been strange.Today and tomorrow, people are filming a movie. It is pretty cool to have that happen in my small town. But that means, I am boxed it at the moment. Can't exactly leave my street at the moment but that's okay, I don't have any place to be. I am currently poking around the Internet for the best price for the Amouage Lyric body butter. So far I am not having a whole lotta luck but found something strange. Walmart is now selling Amouage product from their online store. I had to take a look ar it and after taking a look, most of them are being sold through third party sellers. Some of the prices are pretty good but I am not willing to take that chance of it being fake. I would not have pegged Amouage allowing Walmart to sell their stuff.

Samples, Samples and More Samples

I am still obsessed with some home based stuff. I am currently looking at corner shelving to put my perfume collection on since I am still working on my clothes situation. It's the getting rid of throwing stuff out and donating stuff that has been a huge challenge so far. It's amazing that how much stuff can be accumulated in such a short amount of time. But at this time, I am still looking at the Bath and Body Works wallflower refills. I am gearing up for having enough of them to last me a year before I need to stock up again. I am pretty picky on candles and room sprays. Most are either too strong or just smell strange. my favorites are the apple or lilac ones. The pumpkin apple or whatever they pair the apple with doesn't do it for me due to having just a very faint apple smell that's drowned out by the cinnamon, clove and other things that have been added.

Yesterday, I hopped on over to Andy Tauer's website to just bite the bullet and just order a mine of Les Annees 25. For some reason, when I went to check out, there was an issue. My order couldn't be completed and I was left scratching my head. I figured that I should check out Andy Tauer's blog to see if there might be any info and there was. Apparently, there is a problem with some kind of government agencies/post office that are starting to kick back sample packs and minis back to Andy Tauer. So right now, no more sample packs will be mailed to the US and I think a few other countries. I hope that this isn't permanent but it just might be. The funny thing about this is that Andy Tauer is still able to ship full bottles out to the US and that doesn't make any sense but when dealing with the post office/customs, nothing ever makes any kind of sense.

With that stuff said, I would rather order samples, minis and full bottles through Andy Tauer's website and not Luckyscent or anywhere else. I would rather the cash I am paying going directly to the perfumer and not some middleman.

The Full Bottle Hustle

It is now a rarity for me to purchase a full bottle of anything. The past two or three years, I've gotten around 6 or 7 bottles (I think) of perfume. Necessity has made it to where I can't just end up spend any kind of money on a full bottle of perfume very often. Want that bottle of Lonestar Memories? Gotta wait for it. It's difficult o get out of the habit of just buying full bottles. I have worked out a budget of what to get and when.

I have blogged about which full bottle was next. I couldn't decide on either Ubar or Lonestar Memories. I spent at least two or three weeks going back and forth and just yammering on about how difficult the choice was. In the end, I went with Ubar. Fragrancenet was offering a 1,7 ounce bottle for $105. Yes, it was that cheap. I was a little unsure if I wanted to pull the trigger. Beauty Encounter, Amazon, Luckyscent and any reputable place that sells Amouage, only sells the 3.4 ounce bottles. So I have never seen Ubar sold in a smaller size than a 3.4 ounce bottle. The price sealed the deal for me because Lonestar Memories turned out to be a little more expensive than Ubar. Maybe I will get Lonestar Memories later on in the year or there is a really good sale in the next couple months.

After every full bottle purchase, I want to go and buy another on my wish list. I do have to step away. Because the new rule for me is that I can only pick one perfume and not two. After about a couple hours, I am okay because I had saved up enough fun money to get a bottle of perfume. If I could only keep away from buying so many decants.

Andy Tauer Lonesome Rider Review

I will admit that I am a huge fan of Andy Tauer and his work. Yep, I'm a fan girl. Even though I might not like some of his work, Andy has consistently released some good, if not great work. And I have enjoyed most of what I have tried.

About a week and a half ago or two weeks ago, I had ordered LADDM from Andy Tauer's website instead of Luckyscent. Ordering from Andy's website works out a little better than Luckyscent in terms of price and I'd rather that money go directly to Mr. Tauer and not Luckyscent, I'm strange that way. I did run into a little issue with the website and never received an e-mail confirmation. I had checked my junk e-mail and trash folder to make sure I hadn't missed it. Nope, it didn't arrive in my inbox. I had contacted Mr. Tauer and had explained my situation and was wondering if everything went through like it should. Mr. Tauer had e-mailed me back and said that he would take it up with his IT people and was sending me something special in the mail for my inconvenience. For me, it wasn't any kind of inconvenience, just a very minor annoyance. When my package of LADDM arrived, it was just the perfume itself but there was another package. Inside, there were 5 samples and a note. It was very sweet of Mr. Tauer to do that. Inside, were a few that I haven't tried yet and Lonesome Rider was one of them. Naturally, I had to try it.

First blast was the grapefruit. Normally, any kind of citrus bugs the shit out of me but the grapefruit is bright and almost effervescent. The leather comes into play about a minute or two later. The leather is not the plush leather of a worn handbag or Chanel's Cuir de Russie. I am strongly reminded of brand new shoe and a shoe store. At 10 minutes in, I'm not so sure if I'm liking this so much. I keep looking for that whopping dose of Tauerade that I'm so familiar with and not finding it, well, not a lot of it. The cistus does poke through along with some floral notes that I can't identify at this point that ties all of this together. The lasting power is about 8 or 9 hours on my skin with some projection and that's normal for Mr. Tauer's work for my skin except for the projection. I usually get a little more projection with the Tauer line. I think that this one just isn't for me and I am okay with that. I will keep sampling Mr. Tauer's work and keep buying it.

The Second Look and Le Labo

What perfume warrants a second look? Is it a couple days? A couple months? Or a few years? I was looking through my Amouage sampler that I had bought a couple months ago for no good reason and I am sort of thinking of retrying Honour and Reflection to see if my opinions have changed on them. I know that I have said that they are similar or almost identical to each other. But fast forward a few years and I think that I need to take a fresh look at the both of them. Ubar wasn't in the sampler set and I still have yet to muster up any courage to order a decant to give Ubar another go.

Every year, Le Labo decides to release their city exclusives to the general public. I liked the idea of being able to buy the city exclusives without having to travel to another city to get a bottle. Then Aldehyde 44 was discontinued and then I kind of liked the idea. Now that it's that time of year, I was curious as to pricing and if there would be something I would be interested in. Once in a while, I am not adverse to spending $250 on a bottle of perfume. If I were, I wouldn't have any full bottles of Amouage sitting on my dresser. I do have limitations of some of this. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the prices for a 1.7 ounce bottle. Almost $300 for a 50ml bottle. Serge Lutens sells his bell jars at Barney's for $300 and I would get 75mls. I haven't bought a Serge Lutens bell jar yet from Barney's but I'm thinking about it. Everyone knows that they have limitations and I have mine that I rarely cross. If I do cross a limitation, I must really want something. This time, I'm not crossing it.

Stuff, Stuff and More Stuff

It's rare that I get any kind of compliments on my perfume wearing. But then again, my perfume collection contains a lot of "weird" perfumes that to a lot of people are too odd to smell good. So it is an event when I am complimented on my perfume and asked what am I wearing. A couple days ago, I was wearing vintage Mitsouko and was asked about it because it smelled good. It's funny how my vintages are the ones that people compliment me on. Current no 5 or Theorema? Nope, no compliments but vintage Mitsouko and vintage Bal a Versailles do. It kind of makes me wonder if people are a little tired of the fruity floral or patchouli mixes. But these wimpy things went out of style a long time ago.

But I've noticed that I really must stay off of E-bay and ignore Beauty Encounter's emails of 20% off. Due to the fact that I can't stop looking for vintage perfumes. But sometimes, ordering things can be annoying. I found a half used bottle of vintage Mitsouko on the 14th and it's now the 23rd and it hasn't arrived at my doorstep as of yet. Looking at the tracking number, it's been at the Kent, WA USPS facility since the 18th and hasn't moved since. But the almost full vintage Jicky that was ordered on the 19th, is going to land on my doorstep today. I am about to contact the seller for the Mitsouko and ask or contact USPS and ask what is the deal. Because when I pay good money for something, I kind of do expect decent service and whatever I bought in a reasonable amount of time. It's rare that something like this happens to me. But if I could just make up my mind on that sealed vintage no 5 and a large bottle of Havana Vanille, life would be great.

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.

Wow,

I will have to admit that I have fallen in love with Chanel no. 22 and figured after piddling around and trying to decide if a decant was sufficient enough, I ordered a bottle. What I didn't know is that if you order through the Chanel website, tax is charged now. Shopping online is where I mostly do get most of my perfume, books, half of my clothes and a few other things. Mainly due to not paying out the wazoo for tax. This must be a new thing for Chanel.

About 10 days ago, I had tracked down a bottle of Worth Courtesan and had bought a bottle on Ebay. I had gotten a confirmation that it had shipped, but over the past couple days, I have noticed that the shipping label has stated that the electronic shipping info has been received and that was on the sixth. I am wondering what happened because it is now the 12th. Every time that things have been shipped to my house by USPS, I've had tracking numbers that didn't take this long to update. I'm starting to get a little annoyed right now. I'm giving it until tomorrow and then I am going to do something about it.

Ebay

After flirting with idea of Ebay for years, I've finally signed up for an account. Ebay has always scared me because I have always been afraid of being scammed. And sometimes the cost of things. What finally made me take that plunge was trying to track down a few bottles of vintage perfumes and maybe find a couple that are not sold full bottle wise in the US.

Thus far, I've made only one purchase (Worth Courtesan) and waiting for it to arrive. I have a large decant of Courtesan and a full bottle of Courtesan was fairly inexpensive so most of this is hanging on how good my experience is going to be. I hope that it is good and I am going to get the real thing because I am eyeballing some vintage no. 19, no. 22, Deneuve and Mitsouko.

Galileo Thermometers, 'cause I Want to Blog but Have Nothing

It's been a long day today. I've been on vacation all of this week and was lucky that someone was sick. That leaves me to come in and work. Every time I am on vacation by Thursday or Friday, I start to get a little bored. Today, was the day that only Mitsouko that would suit my kinks, so no perfume review right now.

Besides having a "strange obsession with perfume", my other kind of strange hobby is collecting Galileo thermometers. Ever since I have become a perfume fanatic, my Galileo thermometer collecting has been put on the back burner. But since signing up for Amazon Prime, it got my collection going again somewhat. Most think one is interesting but having multiple ones is a little freakish. If there are those who collect Star Wars figurines or KISS memorabilia, why shouldn't I have an unusual collection? I have noticed that where the thermometer was made can make a world of difference. Ones made in China, no matter what the size they are huge. The width in general is much larger and the base of the thermometer is thick and looks bulky. Thermometers that are made in Germany, have more of a hand blown look to them and tend to be smaller width wise and smaller, rounded bases. Both look that same, but the German ones seem to be made a little better with much more accuracy with temperature.

But not too many places seem to carry smaller Galileo thermometers. About three quarters of my collection ranges from 17 inches to 24 inches. When I started out, it was the bigger the better or if there was one with just red or green balls, it caught my eye and would get them. For a little bit, I saw a few that were only black and have two. But thermometers with one one color is a little harder to find. I do want the smaller thermometers and the color of the balls are really not as important as it was.

A trend that I have noticed is that companies now think it is great to have them in these wooden contraptions and it looks ridiculous. This adds more fuss than need be and I cannot fathom why people would spend $10 more just for cheap wood framing the thermometer.

Bath Stuff, Amazon, Shipping

Ever since I became a perfume freak, I was a bath stuff person. I was the type that easily spent $75 or more every two weeks at Bath and Body Works. I adored getting the body wash, matching lotion and the body sprays with the periodic candle. At first, I was in high school and that was what most girls were wearing at the time. Then, I was in college with not a lot of money to spare, so I mainly went without scented bath products. After college, I had some spending money but kind of fell away from Bath and Body Works and was more interested in perfume gift sets. The Vera Wang gift sets, in the beginning where what I was wearing, I don't know, 3 or 4 years ago. After a while, I became really bored with Vera Wang's Sheer Veil and her signature scent. Then it was Chanel's Cuir de Russie and it was all over. I went into wearing one or two perfumes for months on end with the periodic break on wearing something else to wearing a different perfume every day.

On Wednesday, I was inadvertently reminded of my nephew's birthday that is coming up real soon. I had forgotten about it and had to ask my sister what he had or didn't have or really wanted. She sent me a link for what he wanted real bad. She said that she could find it in any brick and mortar store and since I seem to be the queen of online shopping and online bargains in her eyes, she was sure that I would be able to track it down. And not pay a huge fortune on it. My first stop is always Amazon and I managed to find the Avengers action figure that he wanted and the price was pretty good. What made it even better for me was a month long free trial of Amazon Prime. For those who don't know, Amazon Prime for $80 a year, one can get free two day shipping. I was going to make sure my 2 year old nephew (going to be three) will have it and he will love me forever. And I can exploit this (free shipping) for my Galileo thermometer collection. Hey, I don't have a 9 inch thermometer in my collection yet, just 17 to 24 inches.

After throwing out tons of ratty shirts and bras, I had to do a little clothes shopping. First of all, I love Gap's essential shirts and more often than not, they have some kind of sale going on. I am not going to pass up 25% or 30% off when I just threw out 20 really ratty shirts. Naturally, I didn't order 20 shirts in one sitting, I ordered 5 and manage to score free shipping be cause I spent $50. What I like about Gap and their shipping, they are not so outrageous with the standard shipping. Victoria's Secret is a whole different matter though. I paid almost $11 shipping on 1 bra. That is just not cool to be all over the place with shipping. They never used to be so horrific with shipping. Looks like a brick and mortar store from now on for me.

I must have Chanel on the brain

It seems like for the past week, I have thought and worn nothing but Chanel perfumes. I think what triggered it was finding out that no. 19 in EDP form is out of stock on the Chanel website (if you live in the US, it is on back order). Come to find out that no.19 is being sold in parfum form and from what I hear, it is faboo. Even though it's only a quarter of an ounce and $105 USD, I'm going to look forward to having this land on my doorstep every 90 days. I failed to stock up on no.19 in EDP form, I'll load up on the parfum. At this point, I can't justify getting more no. 5. I already own a full bottle of no, 5 in EDP form, Sensual Elixir, and Eau Premiere.

On top of escaping the Chanel website with just the no.19 parfum, my mother informs me that she wants a Kindle for her birthday. Let's just say that I am not thrilled with that idea. I can't help but groan at the fact that it will be another gizmo that will be beyond her that I will end up messing with because she can't be bothered to learn how to work the thing or won't use it. For Christmas a couple of years ago, she wanted an iPod like the world was going to end. I buy her one and it just sits and she never uses it, let alone taken it out of the box. My dad jumped on the idea of getting her a Kindle so it looks like I have to get over to Amazon to get one and get two day shipping so it comes in time for her birthday. We shall see how this goes.

Decants

When I found out that the ladies at the Perfumed Court were parting ways, I was left wondering about trying new perfumes. I'm past that stage where I would read the notes online and if it sounds good, I would buy it. That led to a few $150 or more purchases that were not that good. I'll admit that about a year after I fell down the rabbit hole, I had heard about The Perfumed Court, I was a little wary. It took me a year or two before I mustered the courage to put in an order. One was a small decant of something I had already had a sample of (Amouage Lyric) and Sarrasins. Then I knew that The Perfumed Court was the real deal. But The Perfumed Court was usually on the pricey side in my opinion. Usually it was the cost of shipping that was sometimes more than the decant itself. Since the breakup, the price of shipping has gone down from $5.95 to $2.95. I'm guessing that there is only one person who is doing the shipping on The Perfumed Court, there is no need to have the shipping that high. After placing a few orders with Surrender to Chance and poking around there in general, Surrender to Chance does not offer the 1.5ml spray. I had ordered a few sampler sets and they did come in 1.5ml non-spray vials. I did not realize that until the galbanum sampler set arrived and I did look at the orders that I placed. Dabber samples are not really my style because I don't think that I can judge any perfume fairly. But it does give me somewhat of an idea of what something smells like. Sometimes, especially when I'm not paying attention, dabber vial will compel me to get a spray decant. But at the rate I've been going, I've been buying less and been trying to be content with what I already have.
Surrender to Chance and The Perfumed Court are similar in price. Sometimes, Surrender to Chance is cheaper in decants and other times, The Perfumed Court is cheaper. But I think at this point, I have not been in any kind of mood to really go and buy decants or full bottles. Even though I have been buying sampler decants this past week, it's only been 3 or 4 small decants. And I'm the one who was used to spending $200 or more worth of decants per month and normally they were large decants. It doesn't mean that I've lost interest in perfume, a larger cell phone bill, a Rammstein concert, Mother's Day, and my mother's birthday coming up made me realize that I don't really need to be getting as much.