Andy Tauer Orange Star Review

When Portia had done a post on Perfume Posse for free shipping if you bought something from Andy Tauer's website. I think it was specifically for the travel sprays that come in a set of three and I was sold. When you think about it and the American dollar compared to the Swiss franc, $120 for 3 15ml travel sprays is a pretty good deal. It's a good deal knowing how expensive niche perfumes can be (Amouage, Xerjoff). What sold me even more is that you aren't limited to one perfume, like other perfume houses seem to do, but you could chose 3 different ones. Yes, I was sold and bought myself a travel set of three different perfumes that I have never tried before, which may or may not be the greatest idea. I had chosen Orange Star, Eau D'Epices and PHI Une Rose de Kandahar. All three arrived on my doorstep on Wednesday and I had forgot something. I forgot that if you order something from overseas, you do have to sign for that something.

I was so excited and tore open the package. I was just expecting to have the three travel sprays and the invoice but not all of what was in there. Lucky Scent sends about 3 or 4 dabber samples when you order something and dabbers don't do it for me unless it's pure parfum. In a little metal container, there were 5 spray samples. These spray samples are not little spray samples but they must be around 2mls. I wasn't expecting the little note thanking me for my purchase either, so yes, it blew my mind.

The first one to be tried was Orange Star. I'm very fussy about citrus because half the time, citrus smells just like oven cleaner and other times, my stomach just churns because it smells powdery or dusty. Orange Star manages to stay away from the powder. In the beginning, Orange Star flirts with the whole oven cleaner thing then decides that going that route sucks. I get a little bit of a shaving cream vibe along with the typical Tauer base. There is no mistaking that this isn't anything but an Andy Tauer creation. Orange Star is a little bit on the sweet side but not much, which would make it easier for a guy to wear. The longevity is fabulous because I was able to go for a full 8 hours before I needed to spend more time with it.

I'm not sure if it is bottle worthy for me but it is definitely large decant worthy for me. So yes, my Amex is eyeing me with heavy dissaproval and hoping that I won't bother to order a bottle because I have enough decants and full bottles to last a lifetime.

Guerlain L'Heure Bleue Vintage Parfum Review

My hunt still continues for a bottle that is reasonably priced vintage L'Heure Bleue. But so far, I'm coming up empty. Vintage L'Heure Bleue is hard to come by and expensive and yet I keep looking.

By chance, it was either The Perfumed Court or Surrender to Chance was having some sort of sale and I pounced on a very small decant of the vintage parfum version. At that point, I could only afford a fourth of a milliliter. I wasn't about to have a repeat performance of what I did with Chanel's Cuir de Russie. I actually put Cuir de Russie in a spray decant and naturally sprayed, Never again will I put pure parfum in a spray decant. Pure parfum is meant to be dabbed, not sprayed. I think that a roller ball would be the only way I could do the application of parfum. Dabbing is really not me deal, so it's either spray or roller ball.

I do not have the current version of LHB in parfum form but I do have the current version of the EDP that I hardly ever reach for. Since I am not spraying the vintage stuff, LBH parfum isn't as loud nor the huge powder bomb that the EDP is. But the vintage is pretty close to the current EDP. The orange blossom is a little more pronounced along with the anise. The musk is a little different since it comes from a time when there were no regulations on ingredients. The musk gives a animalic growl. It's not the animalic growl that makes vintage LHB a total skank bomb like vintage Bal. Sadly, like most Guerlain parfums, it doesn't last on my skin. I would like to have this last a little longer my skin. The vintage LHB is worth seeking out and trying.

Amouage Interlude Man Review

Last night, I was seeing if I could pull myself out of my perfume rut by wearing something new. I went through my bag and pulled out Amouage Interlude Man. Interlude Woman wasn't exactly my deal initially but it is slowly growing on me. Interlude Man is quite different.

I do see the similarities between man and woman but Interlude Man really isn't my thing. On my skin, I get nothing but that dirty, stale ashtray thing and I know what I'm talking about. I am a smoker myself and I have been to too many places where there have been to many of those ashtrays and with dirty and stale, you get the whole sour note on top of it. I really think that it is the agar wood smoke combined with the oregano that is causing this on my skin. This ashtray note lasts and lasts on my skin and this doesn't lead to any kind of development. I have never known Amouage to have poor lasting power and this definatly  has the Amouage lasting power of at least 8 hours on my skin. With the dirty ashtray element, I won't be getting a bottle of this anytime soon. Good thing because Amex is breathing a sigh of relief.

Nothing to Wear

Come lately, I have found myself standing in front of my perfume collection with nothing to wear. It's kind of an oxymoron to me. I have all these full bottles and decants and yet can't find one perfume to wear. Let's face it, I have boatloads of Chanel, Amouage, some Andy Tauer and many others and not a whole lot gets a lot of wear.

I am finding myself in a rut. I find myself wearing the same handful of perfume over and over again and have been doing a lot of neglecting. I have tried out a few of my samples that I have not reviewed yet but I'm too lazy to review them. Yet the unworn and unreviewed pile keeps growing by the minute.

With the substantial collection that I have, I don't know how I can end up with nothing to wear. So everyday, I have taken to reading Now Smell This and the SOTD posts to see if I can get inspired with what I haven't worn yet or in a while or continue on with what I might have been wearing a couple days in a row. I hope this rut breaks soon.

Guerlain Les Parisiennes Liu Review

I keep trying to review Guerlain's Liu but I am having some trouble with. But here it goes. There are some conflicting stories about the beginnings of Liu in the perfume world. Probably the most realistic one is that in the 1920's just about every perfume house was doing an aldehydlic perfume to copy the success of Chanel no 5. At the time, Chanel was not the fashion icon as we see it today but an upstart. But I think that Guerlain, to a certain extent, wanted to keep up on the current fashions and this was probably another way to keep current.

When I first spray Liu, I thought that Liu was no 5 in EDP form word for word. For a while, while I was wearing it, I pretty much ignored it and thought I dodged a bullet. Then I took another look. After the first 20 minutes, the aldehydes were not as oily as no 5 EDP. The powder aspect that I smell is not like I would get no no 5 or no 22 but more of in the line of Amouage Dia. I smell more of the jasmine and neroli in Liu than I do in no 5. Lasting power in Liu is great because I get 8 hours of steady wear before Liu fades into nothing.

Would I ever consider getting a full bottle? Since I have enough Chanel no 5 and no 22, a full bottle of Liu, I am having a hard time justifying a full bottle. As much as I love the bottle that Liu comes in, the 4.2 ounces is more than I need and the $280 price tag is a little hard to swallow. So it's large decant for me.

The Short List, The Long List. How do you do it?

It seems like every perfumista has a few lists. The list for perfumes they don't like, the ones they like, the ones that they love. There could be a list for notes, perfume houses and such but that isn't what I'm so interested in. It's the list of the to buy. I wonder how others do this. Is there a short list, a long list or something totally different?

Usually when I initially fall in love with something, I will order another decant but a little larger decant. If I drain that larger decant, I take a look at my full bottle collection and see how much I love it and if I already have something similar in my collection. If I don't, I take a look at the two lists that I have going. One list is what I call my "short list". The short list is the ones that are the ones that I want the most. The "long list" is the one for the ones that I can wait for a while before buying. What can be great about the long list is that I often do retest later on (sometimes I have a squirt or two left of a larger decant) to see if I still do want a full bottle and most of the time, I don't. I usually find it larger decant worthy and not a full bottle.

The short list perfumes are funny things. I love them and want a bottle but there are things that make me stop short on getting a full bottle. Most of the time it is price that stops me and I figure out how long it would take me to save up for a bottle. And sometimes it's how big the bottle is (I'm looking at Liu and L'Heure de Nuit). I can justify the cost of Guerlain's Liu due to the fact that for a shade over 4 ounces, yes, it can cost a shade over maybe $200 but I'm not sure yet if I want to spend almost $280. There are a few others on my short list that I would like but perfume prices are starting to kill me along with smaller bottle sizes because I am like a few other people, I want the most bang I can get for my buck.

Clothes Shopping

I'm not one of those that enjoys clothes shopping. Clothes shopping is akin, for me, like going out and getting milk and toilet paper because I am either out or almost out. I always loved watching What Not to Wear on TV when it was on and did get some ideas. But it was the bad clothing that drew me in.

But going clothes shopping, even online, is a chore. I am 5 foot 4 inches and I am in a dead zone when in comes to a lot of clothing. I am more often or not swimming in shirts or the shirts are way too small and tight. Finding pants are even worse. Most of the time, they are too long for me and I mean way too long on me. When I do find something that might work, they are way too short.

Let's get back to the dead zone of being 5 foot 4 and a size 18. The dead zone is more of my height that it is my weight. I think that quite a bit of the fashion industry forgets that there are those of us who are not 6 feet tall and nor are we just 5 feet tall. A good chunk of women are not a size zero. I wish there was more uniformity in the clothing industry that would make it easier for shorter girls like me to get clothes that actually fit.