Come and Gone

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone and I was hoping that I would be done with Christmas shopping. I'm waiting to hear back from my sister on if she wanted a Christmas gift and I might have to shop for another relative but that is going to have to wait right now.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday has left me underwhelmed and wondering why I got myself all excited. I didn't save a ton on Cyber Monday with Amazon and Ulta sales were not that great. I will admit to picking up Romance Parfum and hoping over to Luckyscent to nab a Etat Libre d'Orange sample set. The price points were right up my alley and Ulta was offering a nice coupon and some bonus points. I can't see myself anymore perfume for quite a while though. Working in retail means that after the new year, I will most likely be working less and will have less income to truly indulge in any kind of frivolous spending. I'm okay with spending less but really have to spend tons less. One of my dogs will be going to the vet sometime in January and money needs to be set aside for the vet.

I am still spending tons of time in Chanel no 5, trying to finish up a bottle of edt and edp and it's been a journey. I want to finish them but it's always Lyric and Happy that keep sidetracking me and especially on days off. But last night, I really wanted Coromandel. After wanting Coromandel for so long, it kind of was pushed back and not worn so much but last night was not one of those nights. I am going to try and see if I can really get the show on the road with wearing what I have and finishing the bottle but I keep saying that but I always seem to accumulate even more perfume.
 

Ralph Lauren Romance Parfum Review

Thanksgiving and Black Friday has come and gone and I am exhausted still. I had an elderly relative that was none to steady on her feet that was constantly up and down and having everyone be a gopher for her. The constant needing someone to get her something and kept the whole family up. I don't know what it is with the elderly, always interfering, constant following and always wanting something to eat and drink. We packed up this elderly person and did take her home today and it's blogging time and time to relax.

I noticed that my email boxed wasn't filled up with Black Friday deals on Friday. In years past, retailers would overload my inbox but I think with the pandemic, they are spreading their deals out more over the weekend. But I noticed that they haven't been very good. I keep hoping that Ulta will have a points multiplier and some better deals on Monday. Maybe Amazon will have some good deals on Monday so I can finish my Christmas shopping and be done with it. I've already spent enough at Bath and Body Works for some stocking stuffers and as always, some candles.

Yesterday, I tried out Ralph Lauren's Romance in parfum form. I got this when Sephora was having their holiday sale and I figured that a travel spray wasn't going to break the bank and if I don't like it, I could give it to my mother. I haven't smelled the original Romance in forever and Romance in parfum form intrigued me. Parfum is usually pretty expensive and when I find parfum for cheap, I have the tendency to pounce on it. I've been wearing tons of no 5 and Coco Mademoiselle recently and I wanted something a little different.

Since it's been so long since I have smelled Romance, I have no memory of it. Romance is definitely a floral perfume and for the longest while, I couldn't place what Romance reminded me of. Eventually, it came to me. Romance was in so many ways like Chamade. Chamade has an oily type of hyacinth that Romance doesn't have. But Romance does have a little bit of an oily feel to it. What keeps Romance from being a total Chamade rip off is that there is a noticeable blackcurrant note that I do rather enjoy. Then I was reminded of Pleasures for women. Yes, it smells like Pleasures and Chamade combined with maybe a little of Au Coeur en Mai. I found that projection and lasting power were alright and I am alright with that. Not everything has to be fabulous. I find Romance parfum to be pretty good and worth having the travel spray at least
 

Clinique Hint of Citrus Review

 It looks like I won't have a snooping relative coming over and spending a few days with me. This snooping relative is the one that loves to open other people's mail, especially to find out how much cash they have. They decided that they were going to stay home since there are no televisions in bedrooms and Fox News has been blocked. Televisions don't belong in bedrooms in my opinion. 

On the other hand, I made a somewhat decent Sephora run and don't really have any desire to purchase anything from Sephora anytime soon. Most of the time, I only really shop at Sephora when they have their November and April sales. I find that most of their stuff is somewhat more than I am willing to spend.

I haven't paid much attention to Clinique line outside of Happy. But I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to the Happy lineup in years. I love the original Happy and Happy Heart but for so many years, I either wasn't interested in perfume or was getting other perfumes. In the years that I wasn't into perfume, outside of passing moments, the money wasn't there. The whole broke ass college student thing. I was more worried about tuition and books than buying that bottle of perfume. And when I dropped out of college, it was the whole low level retail thing and the cash wasn't there. And slowly, what little perfume I had, dwindled down to nothing.

But when I saw the little Happy mini set at Ulta, I pounced. I mainly wanted to try Hint of Citrus and the price was right for me, I figured that if Hint of Citrus sucked, I had the others to enjoy at least. I find that Hint of Citrus really isn't really what I would call a flanker. Hint of Citrus flirts with the idea but never goes into the flanker territory. I mainly smell grapefruit and some floral hints but nothing ties Hint of Citrus to the Happy line and I spent a few hours trying to find the relationship. But got nothing of the sort and thought that this could have been a Theorema dupe of sorts. I will admit the bottle was cute and did kind of like the grapefruit note but I am not really a fan of Hint of Citrus. I don't dislike it or hate it, I am just not impressed with it

Since I am not really a fan of this, I will have to say that outside of the mini set, it looks like Hint of Citrus was discontinued years ago. I don't think that Clinique was ever in the habit of discontinuing any Happy flankers but there might have been a few. This sample mini set might be a testing the waters bit to see if Hint of Citrus would be possible either as part of the Happy line up all year long or just a seasonal thing, just like Wrappings is a seasonal thing.

Her by Burberry Review

 The holiday Sephora sale has started already but I have to wait until the 9th before it begins for me. Simply because I am a VIB member but I can afford to wait. I don't want a whole bunch but a couple things are Christmas gifts. Sephora isn't a place that I shop too often. For most of my makeup and to a lesser extent, perfume, that honor is pretty much reserved for Ulta.

About a month ago, I got a little gift set thing of Her by Burberry and now I have gotten around to testing it out. I do love travel sprays and those little gift sets that have a lotion and travel spray. The one I got had the travel spray and a hand lotion and was inexpensive enough. I have been interested enough to start exploring the Burberry offerings. I wasn't too impressed with Brit and I figured that I shouldn't judge a house by trying just one of their perfumes.

For the first couple minutes of Her, I thought it smelled alright and might like it. Nope, I don't like it at all and it's to the point of hating it. I am definitely not a fan of overripe/rotting fruit note and Her has that in spades. Amouage Lyric flirts with overripe but never goes in that direction but Rochas Femme and Jubilation 25 do. Jubilation 25 is something I don't reach for often and I don't wear Rochas Femme and I have a decant of that one. Anything fruity is a crap shoot, I either love it or I hate it and Her by Burberry is a hate. I have a mini of Her Blossom and will give that a try eventually but if it's another no go, then Burberry is just not for me.

I've noticed that when I first started blogging about perfume, I always tried to like everything and find something good to say, even if I didn't quite like it. Around 10 years in, I am not afraid to say that I don't like something or just plain old hate it and I am pretty much going to say it outright. Being a perfume nut for so long and testing so much, I know what I like and don't like. I'm not afraid to say that I still love Clinique Happy or Estee Lauder Pleasures even though they were my high school defaults. I don't quite look down on things that are cheap but sometimes do. Now I must wash the Her by Burberry off and put on something that I love to pieces.

Clearing Out the Old

I spent a little bit of time on Sunday going through and getting rid of my make up and finished the job today. You have no idea on how much I threw out. It was tons of eye shadows and lots of scary looking lip gloss. I am in a serious de-cluttering mode. I just want to either use things up or just throw them out.

When I was going through everything, I didn't quite realize how many Kat von D eye shadow palettes that I had. What in the world was I thinking? Getting those palettes full of shimmer and phenomenally strong colors. Medium or dark purple? I don't have wicked mad makeup skills to work with anything outside of neutrals that are pretty close to my skin tone. I'm pretty basic with eye shadow and the two palettes that I use are the original Urban Decay Naked palettes., especially the mini palettes.

Yes, I threw out a bunch of lip gloss too. Just like all of the eye shadow that I threw out, the lip glosses were pretty ancient as well. Like 7 years old or older and were really looking sketchy. And I realized that lip gloss isn't my thing anymore but lipstick. But what has amazed me was the amount of lipstick that I have bought in the past 6 months and I hung on to those. I am seriously going to have to start wearing lipstick again.

Since I have seemed to have doubled down on the de-cluttering, I've doubled down on trying to use up one bottle of Chanel no 5 edt and one bottle of no 5 edp.  My collection of no 5 is truly horrifying and just want to slim that down a little bit. But I seem to be talking out my butt a little bit when I am waiting for the Sephora sale to start in a little over a week. My mother asked me to add a lipstick that she wants to my back and I have a cheap brush set and another travel spray added to my cart. But I want to start using up my make up. Now if I could really quit getting so many candles, I'd be in better shape.
 

Vacation is Long Over

 Vacation is long over and I am grudgingly back at work. While on vacation, I didn't manage to try any new perfume or use up any bottles but did manage to use 3 candles and start a 4th. That 4th candle is almost finished and will be finished by tonight.

What I have noticed about my candle collection is the quality of the 3 wick candles has gone down. Before the pandemic, I never had an issue with the wicks themselves, with or without a wick trimmer. After the first burn, the candle stays barely lit (very small flame) and that is with a wick trimmer. Without a wick trimmer, it's the same thing, an incredibly small flame. The biggest thing that I have noticed is that when the candle reaches the half way point, the candle starts to either not smell that great or not smell good at all. I have found that the single wick candles are the only ones that have maintained a decent wick. The type of wick that doesn't give a tiny flame after the first time the candle has been lit. The 3 wick candles that I have bought before the pandemic burn just fine but I am slightly hesitant to use them but will eventually use them after I have used all of the post start of the pandemic 3 wicks. But I will have to say at this point, I will definitely be burning single wick candles after all of my 3 wicks are gone. Yes, I am giving Candle Day a pass this year, after last year's Candle Day. Last year's Candle Day was poorly planned and executed.

My go to candle company has always been Bath and Body Works. I've tried other brands but have always gone back to Bath and Body Works. I haven't had issues with tunneling, decent burn times but there is one thing that brings me back. While there are quite a few offerings that I just plain don't like or just not my thing is how realistic some of the offerings can be. Honeycrisp Apple, Evergreen and Fresh Cut Lilacs are three that spring to mind. No funky supporting notes, not artificial smelling; just smelling like the name on the candle.

Perfume Minis and My Last Vacation

 Since the holidays are coming up, all kinds of perfume sets are coming out. Sample sets, travel sets and minis. For many years, perfume minis were normally only given as a gift with purchase or sold as part of a gift set. Now minis are sold as sets. 

Let's face it, minis are cute and they serve a purpose. They are for the most part, pretty affordable. Yes, Amouage has minis but Amouage isn't really the most affordable perfume house. Sometimes niche minis or sample sets can be pretty affordable. You just have to dig a little bit.

What I like about minis and sample sets is that I can try some stuff out before I will commit to anything. Most of the time it is possible to travel with minis but not always. If they are the dabber minis, there is a very real risk that the lid will pop off and spill all over a purse and that is why I don't put any of the Deneuve minis in my purse. I'm not taking that chance of having a discontinued perfume spilling and making a mess out of my purse. Deneuve can be difficult enough to find and prices have gotten to be pretty outrageous. 

I am currently on my last vacation for the year and I just finished one candle and I hope to finish one or two more before my vacation is up. I don't have too much planned right now I am just trying to relax and enjoy my vacation. Before I know it, I will be handed another vacation form and will have to plan next year's vacations. What I am going to do is probably space my vacations out a little bit more and maybe plan things to do a little bit better. I don't know if I will be taking any kind of trips but I would still like to space them out a little more and save up more cash for them at least.