Another Old Favorite...Memoir

 I do keep spending time rummaging around that huge tub of perfume that I do have and I pulled out a really old favorite, Amouage Memoir for women.

Back when I was pretty new to the world of perfume, I longed for bottles of Lyric and Memoir and eventually got bottles of them. For some reason, I haven't worn much of Memoir and I don't have a great reason to hoard Memoir. With the direction that Amouage seems to be going in terms of not being able to find a whole lot in the way of bath and body stuff and I can't seem to find Ubar anywhere, I have been slowly getting back ups of the Amouage offerings that I love. I don't know exactly why I stopped wearing Memoir but I did. I was probably busy trying other things.

Even the pickings on discounters are getting a little slim.I still am trying to curb the frivolous buying and I am making every effort to not go buying everything in sight. In years past, I could go to discounters to get my bottles of Amouage but I'm not seeing the selection and I am blaming Covid for it. While I did snap up a back up bottle of Memoir, I got another back up of Lyric to cover my behind. I will get that back up of Epic eventually but I am not going to get that bottle right now. I have other things that I need to be worrying about.

Bath and Body Works has started their semi annual sale a few days ago. While I did imbibe, I didn't see tons of offerings that really wowed me. It wasn't the price points, it was the scents that were offered that I wasn't too wild about. I just grabbed what I could use for birthdays and Christmas gifts and now I am just waiting for it to arrive on my door step. I would have loved it if Night Blooming Jasmine and Gardenia Lily was brought back along with Milk and Honey. Bath and Body Works said that they had no plans to bring those back but they might at a later date. With that answer, I doubt that those will be brought back.

End of Vacation

Today is my last day of my vacation and it will be back to reality. I am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Monday is a day I normally have off but it's a holiday and I need to go in. It was a week that I didn't do a whole lot.

On Monday, my parents and I went to a winery for my mom's birthday and it was nice. I have noticed in Northeast Ohio that wineries and breweries have become a big thing. So I think that my parents have been thinking about hitting those a little more since they are both retired and quite a bit of the COVID restrictions have lifted.

Thursday was the day that we went to the natural history in Cleveland not realizing that it was undergoing renovations. All they had going on was the outdoor wildlife exhibit and a small 3D movie thing. We saw the Lucy reconstruction and a full triceratops skeleton. Yes, we did see the movie and went outside to see the animals but all in all, that trip was a bust. I have been trying to find free or low cost things to do since I was low on funds. Yesterday, my dad and I went to see a Civil War reenactment and it was alright but there are probably better ones that are coming up this summer.

I am finishing up two candles and will be starting 2 more on Tuesday. So this week I was only able to get through 4 candles. Weather wise we had sunshine but a couple of those days were pretty chilly and I was a little paranoid about having candles burning with how my mother is always complaining about it. I am trying to whittle down my collection a little bit more before I start adding to it again.

There is some good news on the financial front. That Afterpay balance was paid off and the account had the freeze removed. But what do I do? I made the plunge and bought that bottle of Gris Charnel. Sure there are things that I want but I don't want to find myself in the same situation that I just got out of. At this point, I am sitting on my hands and not going over to Luckysent or Bath and Body Works to load up on things that I don't need. I probably shouldn't have gotten that bottle of Gris Charnel but it's something that I have been wanting for a while and the extrait was a little to rich for my blood even though it is a 100ml bottle. Now if I could get a show on the road to finishing up decants a bottles of perfume.
 

Vacation and Gris Charnel Extrait Review

Today is my 1st official day of vacation. I do have a couple things planned but one of them has to wait later in the week. I tried really hard to have some kind of funds to do more but with the last of the large Afterpay payments, I was left with precious little until payday. I am just happy that I am almost there with having Afterpay just about paid off.

I am hoping that I am going to have used at least 4 or more candles used up. The weather will be warm and I can have the windows open and that means that I can have more than one candle going. I have 2 candles going at the moment and I am hoping that by Tuesday, they will be finished. At this point, I think that one of them will be finished off by tomorrow.

Back when I had a perfume spree, I did receive a dabber sample of the Gris Charnel extrait. Naturally, I had to try it but in some ways, I didn't. I have the original Gris Charnel on my to buy list and my rational was that if I love the original so much, what will the extrait going to do to me? With dabbers, you don't always get the best reading of a perfume. I would have rather had a spray vial but Luckyscent isn't one to give out spray vials very often. But I am not exactly one that orders from Luckyscent too often.

I was at a wedding yesterday and had to give this a go. I didn't want to go with anything too loud and the dabber of Gris Charnel extrait fit the bill. When I am going to be in tight quarters or a subdued affair, a dabber vial can be a great thing. You know when you spray or dab that kind of perfume that really works on you? I got that with the extrait version of Gris Charnel. The clouds parted and the angels started to sing. I find the extrait to be deeper and richer than the original EDP version. Since this was from a dabber, I can't discern lasting power or how big of a fragrance cloud it creates but I loved it for the whole 5 hours that it lasted on my skin.

As much and I love the extrait in all of it's fig glory, I am having a little trouble stomaching the whole $280 price tag. I think that I will have to content myself with the Gris Charnel EDP travel spray right now.
 

Chanel 1957 EDP Review

A few months ago I had blogged about that random Chanel sample box. When I had gotten it, I was a little taken aback because I hadn't ordered anything recently from them. In that package was a carded sample of 1957. Today I finally got around to trying out 1957.

When I first applied 1957, I got a shit load of musk and iris.For a few minutes, I couldn't recall which Chanel that this reminded me of and then it hit me. I was reminded of no 19 Poudre which I dislike. But I was committed to giving 1957 a shot. Even when I first applied it, it struck me as something very Chanel. There is a certain way that Chanel uses iris and some musks that lets me know that it is a Chanel offering. For a while, I was liking 1957 and then, I wasn't so enthused due to my dislike of no 19 Poudre. I have always had a difficult relationship with citrus as well and there is tons of citrus in 1957. The citrus is strongest in the beginning but calms down a little bit but still plays a big part of 1957.

I don't expect to like everything that I try from Chanel but after the initial half hour, this wasn't my thing. Not every Chanel offering is going to be like no 5 or even Coromandel to my nose but after the first half an hour, I just really disliked the whole thing for some reason. At this point, it's money saved towards that bottle of Gris Charnel.
 

Seeking the Familiar

Since I am still working with that strict budget, I have been seeking out some of the old, familiar perfumes. Perfumes that I had bought early in my perfume journey and wore the shit out of. So since I have been cleaning some things out, I've been finding a couple things.

Chanel no 5, no matter what the concentration is one of those old favorites and a soothing one at that. I have the EDT, EDP and parfum all on my vanity. And that reminded me to pull out my bottle of no 22 EDT. I haven't gotten around to trying out the EDP due to lack of funds and I don't need to be on E-Bay looking for decants. I don't need to get burned because people like to sell Chanel dupes.

I found a large decant of the current batch of Diorling, right before it was discontinued and a vintage bottle of it. I am still kicking myself for not getting a bottle or two when I had the chance. Even though the people at Dior told me that they have no intention of bringing back Diorling, one can hope and keep pestering them about it. If they can keep cranking out these J'adore flankers, they can bring Diorling back for a limited time for me to nab a couple of bottles.

An old favorite that is comforting is Mitsouko. It doesn't matter if it is vintage or current to me, I adore Mitsouko. I don't pull it out often enough and wear it and I did pull out a bottle of a newer version of the EDP and a vintage EDT. The EDP that I did pull out was from probably 10 plus years ago, so no honest to goodness oakmoss in that one. I have tons of the vintage EDT and I am still trying to get a stopper to come lose from my huge bottle of Mitsouko.

Lyric is another perpetual favorite for me. I love wearing Lyric in all of it's spicy, rosy goodness year round but I love it especially in the heat of summer. It took me a long time to actually get 1 bottle of Lyric but I am glad I did get that bottle and got the travel spray and a back up bottle. I have no clue with what is happening with Amouage. I can't find the Lyric or Epic bath product and there isn't any Ubar to be had anywhere. Let's hope it's a supply chain issue with the ingredients.
 

Something About This Month

There has been something about this month. I haven't been able to sit down and blog about anything. I have a few perfumes that I would like to review but I just can't focus long enough to get it done.

Since I am on a fairly strict budget, there really isn't a whole lot of extra cash laying around. I've had to take some extreme measures on budgeting. I've had to take a real close look at my grocery bill. I've had to cut out a lot of things to make a grocery budget last longer. Gone are most of the snacks. I only get snacks once a month and when they are gone, they are gone. If there is a buy one get one deal, I will take a closer look at it. Especially if it is something from the meat department, then I can freeze that into smaller portions so I cant take out what I need, when I need it.

But since there is no financial wiggle room, I am not able to get my normal face cream and face wash. Skyn Iceland is my go to when we are talking about face care stuff. And since I am out of the face wash and face cream, I have been relying on the gift with purchase Tula probiotic stuff. I am not impressed with the Tula face wash and cream. I find the face wash too drying and the face cream not hydrating enough. I have really dry skin and it's hard to find stuff hydrating enough without being too much. What pisses me off the most is the smell of both of them. They both have this fake rose smell that lingers. Don't get me wrong kids, I like the smell of rose but I am very picky on the smell of body stuff. I do have loads of Chanel and Amouage body products and I knew what they smelled like. That's why I got them but I don't want too many smells when it comes to my day to day soaps and lotions. I switch my perfumes quite often and I don't need some lingering smells from my soap and lotion.

The upside is that I still managed to hold fast and not buy anything from the Sephora spring sale. I wasn't mad about it when I first decided to give it a miss and still not mad about it. I know that there will be the fall sale and other deals coming but buying anything from Sephora or even Ulta isn't in the cards for me. Redeeming my free product from Bath and Body Works is going to have to wait as well. I still have tons of candles that I am trying to use and I have a couple of months before I use the reward.
 

It's Finally Warm Out

Well, it's Easter and I am happy to have the day off. Having an actual holiday off in retail is worth it's weight in gold. Especially after the shit show that I have dealt with the past 2 days at work. It was the whole thing of constant interruptions, too much to do and not enough time to do what I really need to be doing. Now I just need to get myself moving on Easter dinner but that really doesn't need to be started right now.

It's finally warm out and you know what that means? I can have my windows open and start to get going on having some candles lit. Currently, I have a Pink Lavender and Espresso candle going. Since it is going to be warm the whole week, I am hoping that I can finish off that Pink Lavender and Espresso candle and start a couple other ones.

Every time I seem to make progress with my candles, there is a really good sale from Bath and Body Works and I seem to pick up more candles. So it's to the point of where I don't have anymore space for candles and now have to start using them. My hope is to get my candle collection to well under 40. And this is part of the reason on why I haven't bought too many decants in a few years.

Let's think about it, when TPC and STC would have sales, I would load up on decants and it's the same way with candles. I just can't resist a good sale. But I have to start resisting sales with the cost of food going up. Even the price of dog food has gone up. So everything has become a big price comparison. With a nephew turning 2 in May, I'm looking at some gifts to get him. I've made the plan to only get him one gift and it's a good thing that he is going to be 2 and toys are fairly cheap. He's not going to be able to tell if I spent $15 or $25. As long as he has a gift that isn't clothes, I think he will be happy.

Even though Sephora is going to have their spring sale coming up, I am probably going to have to give this a miss too and I am not even mad. Even though Afterpay is awesome, I put a freeze on my account since I was starting to really abuse it. Afterpay is good in it's place but when you start to view it almost like a credit card, it's time to take a break from it. Besides, there isn't a whole lot that I really want from Sephora at this point.