Theodoros Kalotinis Jasmine of Athens Review

You know that tuberose dominant perfumes used to be something that dispised until recently. But the funny thing is that I always had a love for jasmine dominant perfumes. In the past few months, I have been buying cheap bottles of perfume and samples from Luckyscent but it's more the sample buying than anything else. And poking around Luckyscent, late at night, I stumbled across Jasmine of Athens and figured that I was going to give this a go.

I was hoping for a jasmine bomb type of perfume, kind of like A la Nuit. Jasmine of Athens is decidedly not a jasmine bomb. I only got a shit ton of jasmine in probably 5 minutes and then it turned into some kind of generic vanilla perfume with a handful of bananas thrown in. The jasmine tries to peak out but all I am getting is vanilla. In all honesty, I was mentally spitting out all kinds of profanity. With niche, I do expect something a little bit more. Jasmine of Athens was lacking on so many levels. No jasmine bomb, too much vanilla and it didn't need bananas thrown into the mix. For $55, I expected something a little better. If I want something vanilla, I would slap on some Vanilla Flash. But with a banana, I think that anything with banana isn't my vibe. So I think that I will stick to the tried and true A la Nuit and Sarrasins for my jasmine needs right now.

For a while, I was doing just fine by not getting more bottles of perfume and refraining from full bottle blind buys but this was a stupid move. The only two things that were remotley good was I didn't spend boatloads of money on this one and one of my friends fell in love with this one, so I gave it to her.
 

The Only Time I Feel Like a Millionaire

 It's that time of year again. The time of year where you either owe or get a refund. It's tax season and I just filed my taxes. For me, it's the only time where I feel like a millionaire because I get a refund. Since I don't have dependants, my refunds are small. This year's tax refund is a little bigger.

On one shoulder, I have a voice saying that I should get one of the many perfumes that I haven't bought yet but really want and the other shoulder, I have the sensible voice saying that I can't do that. With a larger cellphone bill and I am making sure that this year is the year that I follow through with bankrupcy. I scoured the Ohio missing money website and saw that I did have something and it is a fairly big amount. With the tax refund and that "missing money", I would have enough to pay a lawyer for the bankrupcy and have enough left over to pay for my larger cellphone bill and not have to worry so much. Plus, I am on the using up decants and sample challange. So I don't exactly want to go adding more full bottles or decants to my collection.

One of the bottles of perfume that I really want is a larger bottle of no 5 parfum and the other is a current version of no 19 edt or maybe the parfum version of Coco. There are some niche bottles that I would like but I am drawing a blank on which one would I like the most. Maybe I will go with an Andy Tauer offering but the perfume buying is going to be much farther down the road.

Rogue Perfumery Chypre Siam EDT Review

 Not too long ago, I did buy a discovery set from Luckyscent. It seems like more and more niche perfume houses are offering discovery sets. Discovery sets didn't seem to be as common back when I fell down the rabbit hole. Mainstream perfumes did have some of those mini perfume sets but the ones I mainly saw was from Calvin Klien or whoever made the Curve line up. So it was the low end perfume houses that offered those. But since more and more niche brands are offering discovery sets, I have been more of on the hunt for those. Discovery sets are a little more cost effective than a full bottle blind buy.

So I did decide to bite and get a discovery set of Rogue Perfumery. The price was right for how many of the Rogue Perfumery offerings. I was impressed with the packaging. The very outer part was almost like a jewelry box and when I opened the box, all the perfumes were in a velvet bag with a card that listed all of the perfumes in the bag along with the the notes. What took me by surprise was that the samples were 1.5ml and instead of spray samples, they are rollerballs. Most discovery sets that I have gotten were either dabbers or spray decants so this was new territory for me.

The first one that I pulled out was Chypre Siam. I did get a little bit of lime but then the mossiness from the oakmoss hit. And the oakmoss component is huge in this one. One would think that with a more realistic oakmoss smell, it would be a vintage Mitsouko. But the longer that this was on my skin, I was wondering and asking on where have I smelled this before. Then it came to me. It was like vintage Mitsouko and vintage Obsession got together and Chypre Siam was the end result. Once I made the association, I couldn't smell much else, even after two seperate wearings. With a rollerball application, the projection is probably not as strong as a spray. But with this being an edt formulation, I got a solid 7 hours out of Chypre Siam.

Would I ever get a bottle? I don't know, the Rogue Perfumery prices are reasonable (in terms of niche) when I go to Luckyscent. But I am going to see how the rest of the discovery set plays out. But I am really interested in the rest of the set due the fact that this is a perfume house that thinks more outside the box.

Retail Therapy and Lyric

 Ever since Luckyscent had that free shipping sale on no matter how much you spent, I did have a little bit of a bender. Instead of using up more samples, I just ended up adding more to my stash. Then I preceded to hop on over to Fragrancenet and ended up with a bottle of the edt version of Narciso Rodriguez for her and a mini of Obsession. I made the mistake of browsing Fragrancenet again and saw that there was a 50ml bottle of Amouage Lyric for around $120. As much as I love Lyric, I didn't bite. With three 100ml bottles and the travel spray set, I couldn't quite justify that, even with Afterpay. I had to remind myself that I ordered a Rogue Perfumery discovery set, a MAC lipstick and a lipliner and had to order my sister's birthday gift. And I have to keep in mind that I my cellphone bill is higher and it's slow at work. I might be filing my taxes and getting a tax refund but that still does not justify another bottle of Lyric or any more full bottles of anything right now. I need to take a break.

It is always tough to remind myself that I shouldn't be going and spending money on fun things with no regard for tomorrow or three months from now. The only thing is that I haven't been adding to my candle collection. But even though I am not adding to my candle collection, I am not using up any candles either. But I am hoping that if I burn one candle for an hour or two a day, I can start to get moving on my collection. But I am going to stick to my days off. When the weather gets warmer and I can have my windows open, I can burn them for longer.

But back to the Narciso Rodriguez for her. I found that the perfume has grown on my and I now have a liking for it. A one ounce bottle for a shade under $40? Sold! What is really catching my eye is that the bottle is black and I mean solid black to where I cannot see how much perfume is actually in the bottle. I have tons of vintage Bal a Versailles that are completly white and have no real way to tell how much perfume is actually in there. Weighing the bottle in my hands does not tell me a whole lot.

Now we have to circle back to Lyric. I have no idea on why I am not wearing Lyric too much. For the longest while, I was wearing Lyric at least once or twice a week but just stopped. Maybe it's because I am trying to show other perfumes that I own at least some affection? Or maybe I just needed a break from wearing Lyric. But I do think that I might start wearing Lyric for the hell of it on Sunday.

Calvin Klein Obsession, A Blast From the Past

There are some perfumes that are pretty distinct to my nose and Calvin Klein's Obsession is one of them. The full bottle that I have is from either 1996 or 1997. So it can probably be considered vintage and I haven't smelled the 80's version. But I am not commenting on the 80's version.

When I got my first Obsession bottle in either 1996 or 1997, it was part of a gift set. When I got it, I was in high school. Even though I loved it, it was incredibly strong and didn't really wear it too often. I was usually wearing Cucumber Melon from Bath and Body Works or Clinique Happy during that time period. I did wear Estee Lauder Pleasures as well but not as often. Most of the time, I could only afford Cucumber Melon on a regular basis. A big bottle of Cucumber Melon body mist wasn't more that $10 in the 90's. So for two and a half hours worth of pay, I could mostly keep myself just in Cucumber Melon. And my other wasn't the biggest fan of Obsession. She said that it was too old for me. Maybe it was or it could have been the fact that so many women in the 80's wore heavy hitters and Obsession was one of them. So that bottle of Obsession that my grandparents gifted me for my birthday languished in the back of my perfume storage. Rarely do I take out the bottle to do a tiny spritz. It still is fairly strong and just like I remember. But this time, I am a little wiser to how I want to wear my strong perfumes.

When I was poking around Fragrancenet, I saw that there was a mini available and I figured that for $10 and some change, I will give it a whirl and see what has changed. Turns out, a fair bit has changed. I mean, it still smells like Obsession but it's thinner, has less projection and doesn't seem to last as long. It's just not the same and I am a little bummed. I know that reformulations happen all the time but even though Obsession is dirt cheap through discounters, it's not worth buying, even if it is a mini. It is sad when something that is more of a legendary perfume like Obsession doesn't smell like it should.
 

Parfums de Nocolai Number One Intense Review

In Ohio, we are in the depths of what I like to call the yucky part of winter. The holidays are long gone and there isn't much to look forward to. There might be Valentine's Day but when you are single, Valentine's Day doesn't mean much. So, it's just cold and wet. There are no movies that I want to see, nothing much going on with television. The only thing that is worth watching on television right now is All Creatures Great and Small on PBS but that's on Sunday.

So right now, I am binge watching Vienna Blood. The whole show is based off of the Liebermann Papers by Frank Tallis. For a while PBS has this thing going on where they might have released a season or two for everyone to watch and then they would yank it and say if you want to keep watching this series, you have to have a subscription. So for a few years, I fought with getting a subscription and then I finally caved because I was missing some really nice programs. So back to Vienna Blood. It's kind of like this Sherlock Holmes vibe set in early 20th century Vienna. There were a few times that I had to look some things up. Late 19th and early 20th century, you had all of these political movements going on that were wreaking havoc. So with some stuff, I didn't quite understand the context of some things. I can binge watch Tales of Yanxi Palace but I am not up for 80 episodes that require tons of thinking right now.

Ever since the new year, I have spent way too much time cruising Luckyscent and Frangrancenet and probably shouldn't have spent any money. I didn't spend obscene amounts and the grand total is probably a a hair over $100 even though I am honestly supposed to be working on using up decants and samples. The only sample that I have used up is my Patou Joy extrait sample. I am working on getting back to not buying perfume samples and not buy full bottles. I just typed that sentence as a bottle of Narciso Rodriguez for her just arrived on my doorstep today. I am fighting the urge about the body wash and lotion since I want to use up my Amouage body products this year.

Since the Vanille Banane was more or less a bust, I decided that I would give Pafums de Nicolai Number One Intense a go. I have mostly given up blind buying full bottles and curbed the blind travel spray buying. The full bottle of Number One Intense was a little more of a gamble than Vanille Banane.

Tuberose was the bane of my perfume journey for the longest time. When Andy Tauer had his Sotto perfumes, it was either the gardenia one or the tuberose one that planted the seed for me to start liking tuberose. Then it was Serge Lutens Tuberose Criminalle that make my love for tuberose bloom. Now I can't get enough of tuberose. But I have to pump the breaks with getting new stuff and trying new stuff.

Number One Intense is a whopping tuberose perfume. The tuberose isn't apparent in the first five to ten minutes, it's a blast of green. Then the tuberose comes in. The tuberose is a heady, lush tuberose with hints of jasmine to flesh out the lush aspects of Number One. The green from the black current remains throughout but grounds the tuberose and jasmine a little bit. I do get some bits of rose in there but it's the smallest amount and when I do smell the rose, it's fleeting. This perfume is incredibly lush and full of curves. It's a curvaceous woman who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. A woman who isn't afraid of what she wants. The Intense part of Number One is true, this is a truly intense perfume with really good projection and lasting power. Number One Intense was pretty close to the clouds parting and angels stating to sing type of deal for me. This perfume is a keeper and will have a permanent place in my collection.
 

Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Banane Review and Sub Zero Temps

There are some notes that are not often used or at least featured prominently in perfume. Pine is one of those notes. I haven't smelled pine featured so strongly in perfume until I tried Dior's Granville and then in CdG Zagorsk. So pine isn't featured too often. Maybe due to Pine-sol or Christmas tree associations. Banana is another note I haven't smelled in a perfume. I have smelled fruity perfumes, citrus perfumes but nobody seemed to use bananas. Until I met Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Banane.

I was attracted to Vanille Banane partially due to the price point and the fact that banana took more of a center stage. So I decided to take a gamble on this one. For 30ml at a shade over $50, what did I really have to lose?  If I didn't like it, it wasn't going to be a huge loss.

Let's just say that I am not fully sure if I like Vanille Banane. The banana isn't like a fresh banana, I am reminded of either banana candy or those banana flavored popcicles that I loved as a kid. So the banana is an artificial smelling banana. But the banana doesn't last too long. When the banana dies down a little bit, I do get some vanilla and maybe a little bit of a whipped cream type of smell. But after that I get pretty much nothing. For $50, I did expect a little more. It has more of a Bath and Body Works vibe and smell to it and Bath and Body Works is cheap. I honestly did expect a little more, I expected more along the lines of Clinique Happy and Clinique Happy is a cheap and cheerful type of perfume. At this point, I am not fully sure if I like this or not.

Maybe I am not so sure about Vanille Banane is that Ohio is locked into some sub zero temps and will be until Wednesday. So my focus is not going outside and to stay warm. The only day that I need to actually go out in this weather is tomorrow for work. And I am not looking forward to going to work. I did wimp out today though. I was supposed to go out and get dog food but instead, I had it delivered to my doorstep. I could have done a little bit of grocery shopping to but I wasn't game for grocery shopping today, that's going to be tomorrow.