Happy Tuesday, and happy Penguin Awareness Day! What fragrance are you wearing?
I'm wearing vintage Caron Tabac Blond, one of Angie's 26 Vintage Fragrances Every Perfumista Should Try.
Reminder: this Friday, 1/23, will be Layered Friday: layer two or more fragrances, or layer fragrance(s) with a scented body product.
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2015, where I'll try to always have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is antarctic penguin [cropped] by Christopher Michel at flickr; some rights reserved.
I’m wearing undiluted Vetiver essential oil.
You smell great!
Thanks. And it’s true. I do smell great. Vetiver essential oil is a whole perfume unto itself and it’s very affordable. I love it.
Also, PSA for Canadian readers:
My freebies are still available over at the freebiemet. Samples of Timbuktu, passage d’enfer, Avignon, agrumi amari di Sicilia, rose anonyme and silver iris.
+ oolong infini
Hello Jonas,
Do the freebies cross over to Illinois with ease?
thanks, just checking.
Canada only. Sorry.
Wearing A*men pure wood.
Great scent!
Agree!
Estee Lauder Knowing – I don’t know why I don’t wear it more often, its fabulous.
I don’t know why they don’t promote it more. Or any of their older ones, for that matter. At least they still make them, I guess!
I stopped by Nordstrom Men’s Fragrances and there were several bottles on display.
I’ve always wodnered how that works exactly. They just rely upon certain people knowing these scents still exist? So much of the time, they’re not even on the counter.
I guess, they rarely have them out. Perhaps it is not worth the $ to promote them.
I think Lauder relies on repeat sales to existing fans. Interestingly, Knowing is the only Lauder scent that Canadian luxury retailer, Holt Renfrew lists on its web site.
you smell great! This one is on my list. (Is it possible to have too many chypres?)
It’s possible to have too many chypres, but not too many rose chypres. (Logical impossibility? Bah)
One cannot have too many chypres of any kind.
I have a scent phobic boss who always compliments me on my perfume when I wear Azuree or Knowing! I giggle inside!
Thank you all for your enabling comments!
I’m sampling Memo Kedu which I like and think would be a work-appropriate scent
Good!
Yes it is good to be thinking about work appropriate scents again even though I haven’t started the new job yet
I am wearing Givenchy III (Les Mythiques version) put in my mind after reading Angie’s review yesterday.
GIII is so wonderful! I was doing research on classic chypres last week, esp. looking into the original Estee Lauder Private Reserve, and when I read so many were like “…smells like GIII” or “…. like GIII”, then I went and put some on! It is really good stuff, and I don’t wear mine as much as I should.
Crazy days! Yesterday was both my birthday and the start of 2 weeks leave, so i got all inspired and decided to paint my living area… 2 days and 8litres of paint later… finally!!
So headed off to the beach for a swim and im a little burnt so am currently slathered in LUSH Sikkim Girls body cream, which is really rich and moisturizing.
My present to self though also arrived today!!
Mary Greenwell Plum 50ml that I bought for $45
Diptyque Olene, because it smells just like the sambac jasmine ive got growing, and
Habanita shower gel and lotion. I ended up wearing both Plum and Olene today
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy birthday! Enjoy your time off!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday! Those are nice self-presents!
Way to get that room painted so quickly! Bravo!
I’m a bit envious you can go to the beach to relax.
I did have help! My ex and I are still friends and he has time off work too so he helped rollering- I think id still be there now otherwise!
Having a fabulous coastline 10min away is a dream really, I ought to go more often…
Happy Birthday!
Yay, happy birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday! Here in snow-covered land, I envy you your swim!
Ive never even SEEN snow! :-0 lol
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Happy happy!
Happy birthday! Sounds like you’re having a great time.
Happy Birthday, and the Habanita bath products sound divine! I love that stuff, and I can’t even imagine emerging from a steamy bathroom in a cloud of it!
Ive only sniffed then from the bottle so far, waiting for cooler weather to try, but yes! I couldnt resist- a Habanita bath sounds divine doesnt it?!
Happy Birthday Perthgirl!
What do you think of the Plum?
It was actually a blind buy because it was so cheap (half price at strawberrynet plus other discounts) and I’d read such positive reviews.
The weather isnt ideal for Plum- way too hot- but it really is a pretty scent, fruity with a beautiful warm drydown. I look forward to cooler weather wearings
Happy Birthday Girl!Hope your day was awesome!
WUT $45 for Plum??? What a great deal!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Mmmmm sounds lovely. Happy scented birthday!
Thanks so much for all the lovely birthday wishes! You really are a fabulous lot!
Wearing Aerin Lilac Path. Really lovely. Trying to decide whether to get it while NM has a really nice-looking Estee Lauder GWP going on right now. Even in Arkansas, they seem to be able to tempt me!
I love lilac perfumes. I was at Nordstrom recently, and that was the only tester from that line that was missing
Have you tried Desarmant yet? It’s a lovely lilac leather. I need to get some decant vials but I’d be happy to send you some if you email me– my screen name is my yahoo address
That would be great. Emailing you now. How was the NYC swapmeet?
It was great– it was a lot of fun to try on different things and to see how much better a scent smelled on a recipient or even how different it smelled on different people. Missionista provided decant vials so we could get a little bit of some scents if we didn’t want a full bottle. We’re definitely planning on meeting again
Wearing a liberal dose of my SL Santal Majuscule sample. It smells like a splintered off piece of Jeux de Peau with a dash of added rose and cocoa on me. Pretty, but boring. I would probably love it if I didn’t know about JdP.
I felt EXACTLY the same about Santal Majuscule! I would have loved it if I hadn’t already been thoroughly seduced by Jeux de Peau, which I bought as soon as I smelled it.
Hehehe. I too bought a bottle of Jeux de Peau the very same day I tried it. It’s such a fun and fascinating fragrance. I’m waiting on my bottle now- it should be delivered today! Yay!
If you’re anything like me (and it would seem you are) you’re going to get SO MUCH use out of that bottle, and so much pleasure too. It’s absolutely in my top 5 Lutens scents.
Have you guys tried Vetiver Oriental? I also think it has a ton of overlap with Santal Majuscule. It seems like they are doing for sandalwood what they did for cedar with FdB, BdV, and all the other “Bois” scents.
I am wearing Carnal flower today, normally i don’t wear this in winter but somebody mentioned here that it was great on cold days and I agree.
I must remember to wear mine soon…
Angela’s review of Balenciaga Cialenga and discussion of green chypres reminded me that I have a mini of Ralph Lauren’s Safari. I don’t know if it is considered a green chypre, but it is definitely green. This is described by Fragrantica as a green floral. So far I am liking it, but it does have a rather clean, soapy feel. I think that I prefer something a little more herbal.
I have always thought of it as a green chypre, and a firm favorite. You smell great!
You should try Estee Lauder Aliage if you haven’t.
Safari is definitely a green chypre, and very very wearable! It is my fav go to green chypre after No 19.
Oh, I love Safari! It took a while to grow on me, though – I had started with trying the parfum, which can get a little sweet down in the base. The EdP is wonderful, though.
I don’t find it very chypre-ish, though… that may just be me. I’d say it bridges green chypre and green floral, the same way that No. 19 does, but it’s a warm green where No. 19 is cool.
I am wearing En Voyage Captured in Amber today from a sample. Super cozy with a little drizzle of chocolate to top it off- a nice combo for me although I know many are horrified by a chocolate note in perfume. This is very subtle and great on a cool sunny day like today.
I love chocolate in perfume and I’m horrified by many traditional perfume notes
Of that Envoyage Chocolate trio, Indigo Vanilla and Cafe Cacao are on my to-buy list
I wore cafe cacao last night! DELISH!
I second kindcrow’s comment – we like what we like!
De gustibus non est disputandum
I hate chocolate in ma parfum, moi, but totally agree with you on liking what you like no matter what people think.
I will take allllll the aldehydes, thank you.
Mals, you send me all the chocolate you don’t want and I’ll send you all the aldehydes I don’t like
Mais, if you save some chocolate for me, I’ll send you all the tuberose and BWF’s I don’t like but you love!
Love the penguin photo! I’m wearing Russian Tea.
I still need to try that one!
Me too! It’s on my top 5 to try as soon as my “no perfume money spending” restriction expires! April seems like a loooong wait…
My perfume-buying embargo ended last week (it started at the beginning of October) but I rationalized that swapping didn’t count, because technically the money was only spent on postage. Just a thought.
Oh, We are totally on the same page! Lol! I just participated in the Freebiemeet and some additional swaps as well, so I am still going strong! Just saving greenbacks for a special purchase
Now that your embargo has ended, what’s at the top and of your “to buy” list?
Last week I found a tester of Ted Lapidus White Soul Gold & Diamonds that was well within my no-more-than-$20 limit for blind buys. Francis Kurkdjian and orange blossom! And very affordable! I’d even found a sample of White Soul, and thought, “I’d really like this if it had OB instead of tuberose.” It turns out that this is my first experience with the OB/grape soda effect. I’m still experimenting with lighter application/layering etc.
And what are you saving up for, if you don’t mind my asking?
SOTD is Chanel Bois des Iles. I haven’t wanted to wear this in a while but it is not so blisteringly cold so it suddenly sounded good again!
Oooh, that does sound good today. It’s not overly cold here either, but still winter temps. You smell great
BdI is like wearing a thick chocolate brown cashmere stole!
It’s in my regular rotation every season but summer! Love it.
In the spirit of Friday’s upcoming layering project, I’m wearing Kiehl’s musk lotion and Lush Lust.
I still have yet to (see if I can) smell Kiehl’s Musk, but that Lust is heavy on the indoles. Does the Kiehl’s tone it down or amp it up?
Definitely nothing being toned down here! I think both kind of make the other even less fresh/clean
Yikes!
Robin, thank you for bringing Penguin Awareness Day to our attention. I can’t believe I’ve lived in ignorance of such an important day for so long.
SOTD is Joy, since I got inspired to put some on while doing decants last night. It’s really good in the cold weather.
Hey. Be aware. Of penguins.
Finding out it was PAD made me so unreasonably happy I had to share it with my daughter. (See, penguins are kind of our “thing.” Started with her stuffed one when she was 3… went through her “Tacky the Penguin” book when she was 5… all the way to the penguin emoticons we send each other on Facebook.)
Thank you so much! <(")
And don’t we all love that a penguins go to defense on land is projectile pooping? Makes me love those little guys even more!
So, have you counted penguins at penguinwatch.org? You could help some Antarctic scientists. . .
Afraid not. The projectile pooping was a non starter for this girl!
I am layering too-
Chanel’s Eau de cologne with Soir de Lune lotion.
Happy Tuesday and great photo!
I sprayed on Coach Poppy Freesia Blossom for something floral that feels OK in colder weather (to me, at least).
It’s been a hectic morning at work. Boss is back from a business trip so the office is a whirlwind of energy and activity again. After fielding lots of calls and appointments, seeing that penguin immediately elicited an internal “AWWWWWWWW!!!!” and a smile
Cuteness!
Had a weird clueless-as-to-what-to-wear moment this morning so I threw on Opus V by Amouage before running out the door. It’s not bad. I’m liking the oud and iris combo.
Great photo! Those chubby little legs are adorable.
My SOTD is La Violette by Annick Goutal.
Oh, I love this one in spring! I’s a nice green violet.
It’s, not I’s.
That’s a pretty one.
I’m in a tiny, tiny quantity of vintage Bal a Versailles parfum (dunked the plastic rod into the sample vial and drew it across my skin, three times) and it is AMAZING, earthy and sexual without being overbearing or obvious. I hate to think of someone spritzing themself repeatedly, though….
I’m scent twins with you today, from my vintage mini. Yep, a dab will do ya! That’s all that’s needed. You described it so well, it’s lovely on a gloomy, chilly day here.
The drydown of the vintage stuff is just fab.
It really is — I’m about eight hours in and the base is just intoxicating. I could wear this forever.
BaV definitely needs a lot of control to not overapply. Just the smallest bit of it melts into your skin. The vintage is the best!
Vintage BaV is wonderful. You smell great!
I’m trying some of a small decant of L’ Artisan’s Haute Voltige, it gets downright hate on a lot of the review boards, but I’m finding it is really rather nice. True the notes I’m getting are rather different from those listed, so my perception may be off this morning.
I’m in Dzing! again but I’ve come to the conclusion that this is a warm weather/summer frag for me. I also get no sillage with it in cooler weather. I’m in four sprays (a lot for me), it’s only 11am, and I can hardly detect it.
Wearing Ferre on Keep It Simple Tuesday. There is no longer a need to do any knitting for penguins, but here is the winner of Cutest Picture Ever:
http://tinyurl.com/luubxmk
So stinking sweet. Thanks for including the link!
!!!
Wow.
The Penguin Books one is the best!
My goodness. It amazes me that people go above and beyond what is needed without prompting or thanks. A simple sock-like thing in a single color would suffice, and yet people take the time for ruffles and rainbows and intricate designs. Kind of restores my faith in humanity a bit.
FM Lys Med today — I think I’m going through a midwinter burst of denial via summer fragrances.
I’m doing a tuberose week, I think–yesterday was Moon Bloom and today is Tubereuse Criminelle.
Joining you!
(…well. Not in Tubby Criminal. I still haven’t gotten over that one. But in Tuberose Week. I’m Moon Bloom-ing it again today and hoping for better longevity.)
Is the Moon Bloom sticking today?
Nope. It’s GONNNNNE. Carnal Flower, which I did on the other wrist, is still there. Granted, I’m dabbing MB from a sample vial, but it’s more like “pouring on” than “dabbing.” Spraying might help, but I didn’t spring for the spray sample.
Don’t get me wrong, MB is really lovely. But CF is beating it for longevity, hands down*. And am I really smelling *rose* in MB? I forgot to check the list of notes, but I could swear I smell rose under all the tuberose.
*Incidentally, Vamp a NY, which is also an all-natural tubey frag, lasts for 10 hours on me. For that matter, if I dab from my 7% tuberose EO in carrier oil, that lasts for several hours as well.
I’ve been on a tuberose kick for about a month now–mostly between Moon Bloom and Carnal Flower. Today I’m trying my Beyond Love sample/dabber vial. Just applied recently, it seems more jasminey than tuberose-heavy.
Hmm. I had one of those travel bottles of Beyond Love before deciding to pass it on to someone else because I was never wearing it… I don’t remember a lot of jasmine in it. I notice it in Carnal Flower.
If I’m being really honest, I fell harder for the Le Galion Tubereuse than for Moon Bloom. I’ve made serious inroads on that LGT decant.
Penguin awareness! Thanks for the heads up. I’m now extra aware of their cuteness, although, I’m not sure that’s what they were going for.
I’m unscented so far. I was too tired to sleep last night so didn’t get up until REALLY late today and thought I would peruse the comments for inspiration. I may just go with one of the FSW oils again as I’m going to laze about in the sun today and read about lichens, with perhaps a stroll around the pasture to spy on the wildlife.
Chanel Beige today. Can’t recall when i wore this last. Has the honey floral mix I craved when i woke up.
Love penguins. What scent would a penguin wear? Would it be chilly and fishy?
Elizabeth and James Nirvana White and Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black, perhaps.
Nice. Makes sense.
Definitely chilly. I’m imagining something with marine notes and perhaps sea vegetation and ambergris.
Totally. Much more tasteful than my “fishy” comment
I’m wearing Sublime Balkiss, perhaps inspired by the January thaw…
I’ve got a small bottle of it, which came with my order from TDC when their estagnons were still cheap. I like to wear it from time to time, although it will never replace my beloved Divine Bergamote as my favourite TDC creation.
Fourreau Noir. One of my fav Lutens. Always reliable.
I’m in Moschino Funny. Out of season, but I had a craving.
That’s quite a good one. Very crisp and uplifting.
Love it in summer.
I wore it recently, just to spite the winter grey- and darkness. I like it a lot, it’s fun.
While I’ve been “scentless” for most of the day, having just returned from work, I’ve sprayed myself liberally with Songes EDP. I feel great.
Mmmmmmmm.
Hove Carnaval – not flashy but it’s giving lovely flowers hours after application – different flowers that the first hour…. I love this.
SOTD is Coco edt.
Going through my Performance Review at work today! Yikes! (probabbly shouldn’t be on NST right now! LOL)
I needed a security blanket to get me through this, so I went with Héritage de Guerlain. 3 hours to go and it will be all over!
Best of luck!
Good luck!!
Wearing No. 5 Eau Premiere. It’s so darn pretty.
This is day two of “I’m tired of wearing winter perfumes!” I was going to try an Annick Goutal as per yesterday’s posts but I didn’t have time to get out my samples. Eau Premiere is doing quite nicely; so, no regrets.
SOTD Bulgari Au Parfumee au Thé Rouge.Finished the bottle(50ml) this morning.Feels like an accomplishment!Lol!Finished a Kiehls Musk Blend No.1 yesterday.Empties are a 2015 resolution,people!Happy Week NST!
2 empties and it’s still January! Bravo!
Thanks!More empties to come!
Well, if empties are the goal, you’re definitely on track! This weekend I bought a nearly empty bottle of Bulgari Femme (is that the name? The taupe bottled ’90s frag.) for a dollar at the Goodwill – about 10ml left and I’m excited that I’ll probably drain it. Sure, it may be “cheating,” but perhaps it will snowball and I’ll make bigger dents in other bottles.
I think it might just snowball,yes!I’m also already excited to drain the next one!Even if it’s just a 2ml sample.
Started out by trying a vintage sample of Shiseido Inoui, which seems to have lost its oomph… sad. It sounded so “me.”
Then moved on to Vero Profumo Onda. Which might be the worst scent I’ve ever tried. Sorry, I know everyone loves it, but it has irritated my eyes and sinuses something fierce, first time any perfume has ever done that.
Sigh, Bad Perfume Day.
PSA: I’ve got samples (to the US) over on the freebiemeet also. Very willing to throw in the Onda too….
Omg! Onda! I am crying over here that she is not agreeing with you! That is a true TRAGEDY!
I’ll be happy to encumbered with whatever Onda you want to offload
Oh no Pixel, that’s the worst. :/ I hope you can turn it around tonight or tomorrow!
Oh, I think Inoui is gorgeous. Sigh. But I think you have to be a green-floral lover… and it’s possible that the sample’s gone off, too.
Put on something you love and forget the BPD!
I love green, I had such high hopes for the Inoui. It’s so faint though, I think the sample is just bad. I still have faith in Inoui
Currently going commando here at work (that’s perfume commando, don’t get excited) trying to rid my wrists of Onda. I plan to put on something I *know* I like when I get home tonight!
Deva, contact me at emc dawt 7 1 1 7 in ggggmail land if you want that Onda, it’s got to GO.
I’m emailing you now! Thanks
La Fille de Berlin from a spray sample. This is what got me started on my rose kick. A full bottle is in my future, but I now wish I’d grabbed it at a significant discount from either Beauty Encounter or Fragrancenet before Black Friday and they were still available.
Maybe they’ll come back? Here’s hoping. After starting my perfume collecting career by spending full price on several Serge bottles, and I’m hoping to avoid doing so now that I’m in the more reasonable stage of my obsession :).
Im sure they’ll be back. Have you tried putting your name on the waiting list at Fnet, and they’ll email you when it’s in stock? It’s definitely worth having a fb of..
Today I have Alahine on one wrist and ambre 114 on the other. Alahine is okay but reminds me a lot of What We Do In Paris is Secret and maybe even Or du Serail. I’m not sure how much the notes overlap our if it’s just my nose (or my chemistry really amplifying a couple common notes).
Where is the confused-face emoticon? I like WWDIPIS, haven’t tried the Serail… love Alahine and am not really getting the relationship between the two.
I could be wrong, though.
I think maybe my skin super amplifies the honey/sweet/gourmandy facets, which makes them smell similar to me. I could easily be totally wrong though!
imanoob!
It’s possible. I get tons and tons of florals in Alahine, which is probably what makes it wearable for me as I don’t care much for ambers.
I’m in Or du Serail today – spicy/ambery tobacco goodness. Haven’t tried either Alahine or Ambre 114, but just looking at notes I would have guessed that the Ambre would remind you of the Serail more than the Alahine would. But Serail’s fruity/tropical notes stay waaay in the background on me … and as you say, it could just be how the notes play out on you.
Ah lucky!! I recently wrote my review of Serail and I likened it to rivers of molten lollipops. I get soooo much sweetness, no spice, and then some amber with a tiny bit of tobacco.
That’s what it does on my mom too – such a shame. But … more for me!
The lavender in Alahine made it really distinct from other ambers for me, but I didn’t get much sweetness. Or du Serail I’ve only tried once. It started off lovely and warm and rich and not too sweet, but developed that darn rubbing alcohol/possibly iso E super note. (Stupid nose, always ruining perfectly good perfumes for me.)
Today I am wearing Orange Sanguine by Atelier. The burst of orange does does something to me! And with the type of weather we are having today (around 70 degrees in Houston, TX), it fits the bill.
I sampled that on one arm last night, with Vanille Insensee on the other arm. Perfume creamsicle! (Kidding, but it was a nice combination.)
I’m wearing Elie Saab Le Parfum today, from a mini I picked up over the weekend. I went to an import grocery store that I like over the weekend, and lo and behold, a new discount perfume shop had opened up in the same shopping center. So of course I had to go in and check it out.
I like it, but I think a mini is about the right amount for me. I’ve seen it at Marshall’s on occasion, but I’m glad I didn’t go for it. I get a little of that raspy “wood” thing in the base, but at least it’s not much. I remember not minding that note in the beginning of my fumiehood, but I’ve grown to dislike it. The orange blossom bit is nice, though.
Did you get the edp? I think the edt is easier to wear, if you haven’t tried it.
Balmain Jolie Madame today, felt like pretending to be grown-up and bossy ;). On my way home I sneaked into one of our main department stores and tried CK Reveal and the new Narciso. Both very likeable and nice winter scents, but neither rocked my world. Good to know there still are gems to be found in the mainstream scents :).
Jolie Madame does tend to straighten one’s posture!
A little Gaiac 10 from a decant from my latest swapping. Light cedary/woody incense without the fake woods thing I’ve been hating lately. Incense without smoke?
Perfect for the sun streaming in through my window (less perfect for my day of planned intense cleaning/recovery from residual dust and debris caused by renovations on other apartments in my building.)
Still trying to work my way through some samples during school holidays so it’s 4160 Tuesday’s what I did on my holidays today. It smells like coconut sun oil and beach air to me but my daughter just asked me why I smelled like watermelon!
I’m wearing Tocade… And am in a near-panic because I can’t find my Ormande Jayne samples! I’m starting to think that I threw them out by mistake when seized by a cleaning fit several months back…
Don’t panic! Things often turn up after you’ve stopped looking for them.
SOTD = Serge Lutens Chergui
It was super handy so I picked it up and gassed myself. This is one perfume where more is more…too little and it’s bug spray. I’m spraying from a 10 mL atomizer (I just keep filling it from my FB). I used 5 sprays and whoa, i get honey chocolate amber with a touch of tobacco.
I’ll have to get a decant, I guess. Dabbed from a sample it didn’t grab me, and when it comes to perfume, more is often more for me.
SOTD is Prada Amber, from a sample I got last week. Very nice, I think I like it better than both Prada L’Eau Ambree (which I could hardly smell) and Hermes L’Ambre de Merveilles (just a little too sweet).