It's after Thanksgiving and all I keep hearing about is Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And honestly, I'm already sick of hearing about this garbage. I am one of those who really hates going out and shopping no matter how good the deal is, except when The Perfumed Court or Surrender to Chance is having a good sale going on. But I hat going to brick and mortar store and dealing with other customers who are just outright nasty to other shoppers and the employees. I mean, folks, there is a reason for the season and no need to be nasty to others.
At this point, I can either keep Amazon Prime for $99 or I can ditch it. I'm really debating if I want to keep it or not. One one hand, the two day shipping is nice and having a Kindle makes it worth it to a degree but it's still $99 and I have until the 8th to decide if I really want to keep it or not.
Christmas shopping is just a huge pain in the butt for me. Christmas shopping does involve some kind of budget and figuring out who I am shopping for. I have decided to spend no more than $25 on every one that I am shopping for. At this point, I can check one of my grandmothers off my list due to the Fragrancenet Cyber Monday deal.
But I view Black Friday and Cyber Monday as days where people love to brag about what kind of new gadget or some hot toy or gaming system. To me, gift giving isn't about what you get someone or the cost of the gift, it's the thought that was put into the gift.
Monday, December 1, 2014
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Vintage Givenchy III Review
I always keep forgetting that chypres seem to do best in cool or cold weather. They can be horribly moody or downright nasty in warm weather. On Friday, I was wearing Mitsouko in a store that was overheated and Mistouko was just vicious to me and when I had gone outside, she was singing my praises. Even though Chanel no 19 (EDP) likes warm/hot weather, she really blooms in cooler weather.
But this leads me to vintage Givenchy III. I have a tiny spray decant that I had tested out but I am not sure if this is an EDT or an EDP version. But after wearing it last night, I can defiantly identify this as a chypre. My nose says that this is a cross of Mitsouko and Chanel no 19. But III leans more to Mitsouko. The galbanum and rose lends to the no 19 association but the rose in Mitsouko. I do smell aldehydes in III which does seperate III from Mitsouko. If it were not for the aldehydes and galbanum, I probably would have taken III for Mitsouko. But I really do like III and ordered a large decant.
But this leads me to vintage Givenchy III. I have a tiny spray decant that I had tested out but I am not sure if this is an EDT or an EDP version. But after wearing it last night, I can defiantly identify this as a chypre. My nose says that this is a cross of Mitsouko and Chanel no 19. But III leans more to Mitsouko. The galbanum and rose lends to the no 19 association but the rose in Mitsouko. I do smell aldehydes in III which does seperate III from Mitsouko. If it were not for the aldehydes and galbanum, I probably would have taken III for Mitsouko. But I really do like III and ordered a large decant.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Starting New
It's not winter to me until I see snow on the ground and winter has hit Cleveland. But I have noticed that I'm not one that indulges in nail polish or matching bath and body products often. When you work in food service, nail polish on fingers is a no go but I do polish my toe nails from time to time. But now is the time of year where I do my toes quite often. I think now is the time to start back up with doing my toe nails again.
I have tried many brands of nail polish but have found that OPI seems to be the best of the bunch. The quality, even though it seems to have gone down a little bit, is great. I have about 3 or 4 days of wear before there is chipping. I'm sure if I had my fake nails again, the lasting power would be at least two weeks. What gets me about OPI is that it seems like every week there is some sort of new collection of colors out. And there comes a certain point to where I have to say no. The Russian and German collection are enough for me. It seems like they have so many cute, clever or funny names for nail polishes and not enough colors in the world to match them with.
But body products are even harder for me to buy, let alone use. Before I had a million bottles of perfume, I had maybe one or two full bottles of actual perfume but was big into Bath and Body Works. Now, I have to think about if I really love a perfume to see if there are any matching body products. Dia and Lyric are the only two perfumes that I own that have the matching bath and body products. And I haven't used them yet. It just seems like a huge commitment to start using bath and body products because somehow I have to actually finish the whole shower gel and lotion in a month or two and I am pretty fickle when it comes to perfume. It is hard for me to really want to wear a perfume for more than a day or two at a time but layering a perfume with matching body products is probably overkill.
I have tried many brands of nail polish but have found that OPI seems to be the best of the bunch. The quality, even though it seems to have gone down a little bit, is great. I have about 3 or 4 days of wear before there is chipping. I'm sure if I had my fake nails again, the lasting power would be at least two weeks. What gets me about OPI is that it seems like every week there is some sort of new collection of colors out. And there comes a certain point to where I have to say no. The Russian and German collection are enough for me. It seems like they have so many cute, clever or funny names for nail polishes and not enough colors in the world to match them with.
But body products are even harder for me to buy, let alone use. Before I had a million bottles of perfume, I had maybe one or two full bottles of actual perfume but was big into Bath and Body Works. Now, I have to think about if I really love a perfume to see if there are any matching body products. Dia and Lyric are the only two perfumes that I own that have the matching bath and body products. And I haven't used them yet. It just seems like a huge commitment to start using bath and body products because somehow I have to actually finish the whole shower gel and lotion in a month or two and I am pretty fickle when it comes to perfume. It is hard for me to really want to wear a perfume for more than a day or two at a time but layering a perfume with matching body products is probably overkill.
Monday, November 10, 2014
I'm Back
Well, I am back from my vacation and it's time that I start blogging again. While on vacation, I didn't get one chance to do any kind of sniffing at any store, nor go to a flea market to look for any vintage bottles of any thing. So I was surviving on no. 19 edp and a decant of Iris Silver Mist. I kind of forgot and decided not to take Theorema with me. I didn't take Theorema with me because I was really craving no. 19 and Silver Iris Mist. But half way down to Virginia, I realized that all I had for perfume was a bottle of no. 19, Silver Iris Mist and vintage Mitsouko and I had a whole week that I had to live with one bottle and two decants. About half way through my trip, I did tire of iris and wanted my orientals and aldehydes but was stuck with what I had brought with me.
But after having to run to Walmart with my sister and helping her pick out a new nail polish, it hit me that I wanted to start wearing nail polish again to quit biting my nails. And picked up OPI's Do You Lilac It. So I am starting to really get into OPI's German collection from two years ago. But from comparing Do You Lilac It and An Affair in Red Square, it seems like the quality of OPI has gone down a little bit. I could go a week and a half without chipping with the older stuff but only a couple of days with the new stuff. But I love a lot of OPI's names for different colors and a couple of their collections (Russian and German collection).
But after having to run to Walmart with my sister and helping her pick out a new nail polish, it hit me that I wanted to start wearing nail polish again to quit biting my nails. And picked up OPI's Do You Lilac It. So I am starting to really get into OPI's German collection from two years ago. But from comparing Do You Lilac It and An Affair in Red Square, it seems like the quality of OPI has gone down a little bit. I could go a week and a half without chipping with the older stuff but only a couple of days with the new stuff. But I love a lot of OPI's names for different colors and a couple of their collections (Russian and German collection).
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Traveling and Fall
The date of leaving for my trip is approaching and I am no closer to picking out a vactation scent or two. Should I stick with just bringing Jicky and Theorema and just be done with it or go for Shalimar and call it a day? I doubt that I will be doing any kind of sniffage while in Virginia so I probably won't be adding anything new to my collection. But at this point, not adding anything new to my perfume collection can
be a blessing since I have about 30-40 bottles and about 100 decants of
various sizes running around.
In a sence, I do fear packing. I'm always afraid of not packing enough clean underwear for some reason and cannot fathom why. It's not due to being in some sort of accident. This just isn't logical in my book.
Fall has brought not only the transitional and heavy hitter perfumes but also the long sleeves. Which means that naturally perfumes is going to be more of on my shirt sleeves than anything else. So even more care is taken when I am picking out a perfume. I'm not stuck with a perfume for just one day, I can be stuck with one perfume for 3 or 4 days.
In a sence, I do fear packing. I'm always afraid of not packing enough clean underwear for some reason and cannot fathom why. It's not due to being in some sort of accident. This just isn't logical in my book.
Fall has brought not only the transitional and heavy hitter perfumes but also the long sleeves. Which means that naturally perfumes is going to be more of on my shirt sleeves than anything else. So even more care is taken when I am picking out a perfume. I'm not stuck with a perfume for just one day, I can be stuck with one perfume for 3 or 4 days.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Serge Lutens Bois et Musc
Slowly but surly, I am working my way through reviewing my pile of perfumes needing to be reviewed. And most of that pile seems to be a sampler set of some kind. And I landed on Bois et Musc for review.
I do have a somewhat troubled history with the Serge Lutens line for a few reasons. One is the import/export thing and that most of his offerings are one extreme or the other. Or most of the offerings are a variation of something he has already done before. I have managed to smell a few that I did fall head over heels in love with (Sarrasins, A la Nuit, De Profundis just to name a few).
After my morning/afternoon wearing of vintage Mitsouko wore off, I put on Bois et Musc. I knew upon first application that this was a variation of Feminite du Bois. Variation, I mean that it smells kind of like a stripped down version of Feminite du Bois. But Feminite du Bois is the basis for most of Serge Lutens' creations. Since I already have Feminite du Bois, I see no need to own Bois et Musc. But lasting power is about the same as most of what I have tried with the Serge Lutens line.
I do have a somewhat troubled history with the Serge Lutens line for a few reasons. One is the import/export thing and that most of his offerings are one extreme or the other. Or most of the offerings are a variation of something he has already done before. I have managed to smell a few that I did fall head over heels in love with (Sarrasins, A la Nuit, De Profundis just to name a few).
After my morning/afternoon wearing of vintage Mitsouko wore off, I put on Bois et Musc. I knew upon first application that this was a variation of Feminite du Bois. Variation, I mean that it smells kind of like a stripped down version of Feminite du Bois. But Feminite du Bois is the basis for most of Serge Lutens' creations. Since I already have Feminite du Bois, I see no need to own Bois et Musc. But lasting power is about the same as most of what I have tried with the Serge Lutens line.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Perfume is Getting Really Crude
But the current state of perfume isn't exactly helping matters either. Think of all the perfumes that are released every month. Most do smell crude, rushed or just plain bad and it seems like half of them is something I've already smelled about 1,000 times before. So it seems like there are going to be no new perfumes on their way to becoming possible classics like Chanel no 5. Offerings for men have really gone down as well. The same old boring citrus, god awful musk and aquatics have left men smelling really bad. Bad as in that you can spend $500 on an outfit but bad perfume and make up (women) can destroy the whole look.
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