A few reminders: The meetup poll is still open! It's not too late to find local perfumistas (and if you emailed me to join the Philly / King of Prussia group, I'm waiting for any stragglers and will send a group email next week). We're still accepting entries for the Prix Eau Faux. And the swapmeet will take place next Saturday.
Today: a few questions. As always, answer as many or as few as you like, or just talk about something else.
1. Do you have a line in the sand for what you'll spend on a full-sized bottle of perfume?
2. You have to vote one perfume in your collection off the island. Which one will go first, and why?
3. You're off on a spring vacation to a city you've always wanted to visit. You can take only one perfume, which one will it be? (And do tell us the city too!)
Note: top image is First crocus on black [cropped] by Sheila Sund at flickr; some rights reserved.
Today I’m in charge of the library, a daunting prospect no matter how many times I’ve done it before. I’m wearing Aromatics Elixir for self confidence, and I’m hoping for abquiet, incident-free day. I might be back later to answer those intriguing questions…
I’m womaning the helm here at my library today too. Fingers crossed for an uneventful day for both us us!
Whoo, fellow biblio! How did your day go? We hosted two community programs and weathered one heart-stopping ILS server blip… but we made it!
I hope it does end up being incident-free for you! …That said, ooh, I really want to be in charge of a library for a while!!! Though it might end up looking like that scene in The Mummy when Evelyn knocks over all the bookcases! ????
It’s never as glamorous as you might imagine. Think: unruly teenagers and bathroom messes.
No, I know what you mean with public libraries. I was thinking more along the lines of the beloved university libraries I pretty much lived in through 3 degree programs.
Our original library was a single, beautiful branch founded by a world explorer who retired to our county. He stipulated that women must manage it, right down to choosing all of its books. It still stands (repurposed as a conference hall) and is exactly as you describe: beloved.
*spoken in brassy ’40s dame voice* Kid, the stories we could tell ya would curl ya hair…
A world explorer!? Awesome. Re public libraries: I was referring to the likes of rampaging teenagers. College libraries also definitely have their share of, erm,…interesting goings-on.
I confess I’ve never watched The Mummy, but a quick peek at this scene via youtube had me hoooowwwwling.
It’s totally me–right down to the Egypt connection. I once ended up windmilling my arms like a cartoon character at the edge of an excavation trench to avoid falling directly on a 3,000-year-old mudbrick wall. It was probably just as funny as poor Evie.
SOoooo. . . this seems like an opportunity to admit to my great library caper in college. I discovered that the college library closed at midnight, and some time after that, college security did a sweep. Out of boredom, mostly, I hatched a plan to hide from security and have the library all to myself one night. . . I succeeded in avoiding security, enjoyed wandering around on my own a bit, and left strings of Christmas lights and a bowl of M&Ms as evidence I was there. Not the most devious of plots, I admit, but it seemed like quite the adventure at the time!
Ha! Love it. Little delinquent, you!
If you tried to pull that in my library, the motion sensors would put an end to your fun pretty quickly. We had a teen try this a few week ago.
A rite of passage! Either that, or looking for the portal to Narnia….
That is so awesome!! I seriously contemplated trying to stay overnight in my last uni library, but that was due to the fact that I really didn’t want to have to go back onto the iced-over streets outside. ????
We’ve had so many patrons ask when we’re going to become a 24-hour facility. I tell them, as soon as library administration buys us a Slurpee machine.
Or a bar. ????
The bar would be employees only!
I love this! You’ve very nearly lived out the Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler fantasies I’ve been nursing for some 25 years now!
OH YES!
NEW SPRING BREAK PLAN!
OhgoodnessgraciousYES
Dream come true!!
You know… our local science museum offers sleepover nights for kids at specified times. Wonder if the library would consider something similar?
Well, I must admit I had no idea public libraries were such a den of iniquity!! Pretty sure here in the “Land of the Old” (I’m including myself in that category!) the only frenzied activity is us ladies of a certain age mowing down bystanders in a mad dash to lé toilet!
Hee!… Every Friday, a big group of “ladies who lunch” meet at our branch to play mahjongg. They are a scream– cynical, snarky, and totally hilarious. A whole roomful of Elaine Stritches. I want to be them when I grow up.
I had a college friend (this was in the 1980s – no motion sensors back in teh day!) who accidentally fell asleep in one of the libraries… she’d pushed two of the comfy chairs together and sacked out. Woke up about 3am wondering where she was, couldn’t get out because the library was locked. Luckily, she could get to the phone on the front desk and was able to campus security to let her out.
OMG! Something very similar happened at my first library job! My coworker’s 12-year-old son fell asleep at a study carrel while waiting for her evening shift to end, whereupon they would walk home together. He didn’t wake up until the cleaning crew found him at 11:00pm. Meantime, she thought he’d never arrived and called the cops when she didn’t find him at home. He was grounded until, oh, about age 30….
Why, you scamp, you!
The M&Ms were appreciated more than you could know. Chocolate is nectar to biblio-butterflies.
Love this. My childhood dream was to get looked in a bookstore overnight, so I can browse and read all I wanted. Obviously did not think about any of the practicalities though!
Finally (7pm) I get to do the quiz!
1.The price of a Serge Lutens bell jar of De Profundis is about my limit, but I’m a good saver-upper and willing to put pennies aside for it over the long term. A VERY long term.
2. I would vote off Chanel No. 5, because it’s ubiquitous and I’d surely catch a waft of it on the wind from some other nearby isle.
3. I would happily head off to Reykjavík with a spray bottle of Absolue Pour le Soir.
Loved your answer to #2– that’s a clever way to choose!
And also appreciated your wonderful comments (and the others you inspired) about libraries. Great posts!
I agree, the library chat was really fun! One way or another, everyone has a story about the public bookshelf…
I like No.5, but I somehow feel that it’s not needed to complete my collection when it’s in so many others’.
Now, Cabochard on the other hand…
Reading from bottom to top so didn’t see this until now, but twins re nr. 3! Must sample APLS then????
Let’s link arms and light up the town!
Oh that sounds like a perfect place to wear APLS! Genius.
Our library is undergoing a massive multi-million dollar renovation. I’m not sure I agree with how the town is spending the money since I rarely saw much activity there. I used to love going to the library. Maybe now that there are fewer and fewer bookstores to browse people will start going to libraries again and the book selection will improve. Out library was rather sad.
Ah, I hear you. The problem is how to allocate the dollars. Spend it on expanding the structure? Updating the interior? Improving the collection? Adding more technology? So many things to consider… and of course libraries serve a different purpose than in the past. They’re community centers now, and often take the place of disappearing bookstores, museums, and playgrounds.
Our system recently installed a MakerSpace in the headquarters branch. 3D printers and sewing machines! Interesting.
My hometown just renovated not only the main library downtown but one of the other seven branches as well – lots more technology, more books, more resources. Olenska’s right, libraries are more like community spaces now.
Sampling some Teo cabanel Alahine, Oha, & lace garden
Someone get the enabler pin for me sampling this house- raise your hand
Beautiful sunny day and heading to the Central Park for a picnic with the little ones.
1. 300.00
2. No 5
3. I have never been to Montreal and we are going this spring – maybe these samples from Teo cabanel
I am from Montreal. I love the city during spring. Let me know if you need any info.
Enjoy your visit.
I know Montreal is on my Mr. Spicebomb’s bucket list. We are sure to get over there someday!
We are going in early April and have a newborn and a toddler. Any suggestions? You can email me too sandrabenedict at gmail dot com
Yes! Hera please email me
Have only been to Montreal once… in 1990! Bitter cold in late November – I’d like to visit in spring.
Six thumbs up for Teo Cabanel.
It was probably either mals or me who did the Alahine enabling – I’m willing to share custody of the pin
Yes pins all around! So far Alahine is amazing- a lot of sampling I have done lately are duds!
The perfume sniffer also gets an enabler pin
I’m dying to try Alahine. Also dying to know how to pronounce it. Pretty sure it’s not Ala-hiney…
BTW, Lovetosmellgood, your encouragement yesterday worked. I resisted a FB purchase with strength and determination, but the bottle whipped out a pistol and insisted on being bottle-jacked. I need some major confession time with Donatella…
I also need to know how to pronounce it and you should Alahine
Donatella will forgive you-
In any case I am sure you deserve it, did you end up going to NM or somewhere else?
There is a mall not too far from me with a Nordstrom and a NM. I hit them both and had a solo sniffapalooza!
I don’t know for sure. I say “A-la-HEEN.”
Me too
well this is an interesting question I’d never considered. The French don’t pronounce “h” the way we do…pronounced opital, instead of hospital, eau-tel instead of hotel. We need someone francaise to weigh in.
Maybe someone who speaks french can help
Ooh, well, I don’t know the perfume at all, but if it’s just pronounced like normal French, it would be “A-la-een,” as some have suggested
far fewer accented syllables in French than in English, no aspirated h’s of course, and certainly absolutely no diphthongs.
My inability to write that in IPA tells me I have got some studying to do. Oof, how quickly we forget.
I don’t think it’s French, despite the Teo Cabanel background. Alahine is a place in Mali, so I presume it would not necessarily follow French pronunciation rules.
But heck, I dunno… they speak French in Mali as well as Arabic.
Interesting thought..when I first saw the word I thought it was Arabic…
I would go for a la een a, too since the H is not usually pronounced, but who knows.
A la een it is!
Lovestosmellgood:
If you can fit it into your itinerary, do try to fit in the Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun exhibition at the National Gallery in Ottawa. An extravagant perfume evocative of pompom roses and copious amounts of face powder would be very apropos!
http://www.gallery.ca/vigeelebrun/en/index.htm
Unfortunately we had to cut Ottawa out of the trip! We thought it would be too much this time around. Thanks for you suggestion The distractedphd
I’m still in my pre-pre-shower ISM. I don’t think we are probably going to do much today. But I am in the mood for either Sarrasins or vintage Bal. I’m in the mood for serious skunk but can’t figure out what would be better.
2) I wore Viva la Juicy in my pre-perfumista days, but I recently tried it on and it seemed so synthetic and cheap. I couldn’t give this away to friends because they would have been suspicious, and so last week I left it on the bathroom counter in a restaurant. Hopefully it has found a good home.
3) One day I would like to visit Florence. If I could only take 1 perfume, it would probably be Caleche EDT because it’s so versatile, and wouldn’t compete with the aromas of food and wine which would be a big part of the vacation. I haven’t tried the other variations of Caleche, but I’m sure they would work just as well.
That should have been a separate comment.
Better at the restaurant than at work
Lost and found goodies usually end up with the hostesses, since they guard the front. I would have loved to have found something like this as a 17-year-old restaurant host!
Oh, great questions!
1) Do you have a line in the sand for what you’ll spend on a full-sized bottle of perfume?
Depends on the size of the bottle and concentration of juice????
2. You have to vote one perfume in your collection off the island. Which one will go first, and why?
Guerlain Terracotta. Because I don’t like it. It will be making an appearance next weekend in the swap-meet!
3. You’re off on a spring vacation to a city you’ve always wanted to visit. You can take only one perfume, which one will it be? (And do tell us the city too!)
Paris, of course! I have been, but would love to return and really focus on history, art, and perfume shopping! I think I would go sans perfume, anticipating a glorious scented discovery in one of the many flagship stores in the city.
I almost said Paris, but I truly think I’d need a month to do everything I’d NEED to do while I was there! Spring break simply isn’t long enough.
Well, if you skip sleeping, you may be able to pack a lot more in????
Key insight. I have a number of friends whose home countries I’d really like to visit but sufficient time would be essential to those trips!
Your Terracotta is welcome to come live with me, if it turns out I have anything swap-worthy for you!
Ok, we shall see next week! I have a few bottles to swap (and some I am just happy send to a new home, no swappage necessary) ????????
I will also take your Terracotta if anything I have suits you!
Kelly, see my response above. We can talk next week ????
1. Not sure how much a Guerlain extrait is these days, but that’s probably my upper limit.
2. Songes. It’s beautiful, but big white tropical flowers just don’t work so well for me.
3. Amsterdam, because friends of mine just went there and reported that it was one of the most beautiful cities they’ve ever seen. Also, tulips! I would bring Diptyque Eau Rose (and the Rosaviola solid perfume because they work so well together. Is that cheating? Oh well).
I wanted to love Songes, but I just couldn’t ignore the cumin note.
I thought I loved Songes at first, but the last time I tried it I had to scrub. It reminded me of Fabreeze.
Amsterdam is amazing! We went last summer.
Allow me to be off-topic today.
I have taken out my essential oil diffuser again (you know, one of those with a tea candle below a small bowl) and I was wondering if any of you ever tried to dump some perfume instead of EO on there. I’m thinking it could be a good way to use up some samples, but I’m not sure if it will diffuse properly (and I don’t want it to be a fire hazard either, obv.)
Yeah, I wouldn’t use any perfume in any object heated by a live flame. Even straight up essential oils can combust. Unless it’s a liquid designed for use in that type of vessel, I wouldn’t risk it. But that’s me. My father was a firefighter for the city of Chicago for 25 years. He was quite nonchalant about fire hazzards, sadly. It was an ongoing joke because after he retired and moved to Florida, he accidentally set the dumpster in the ally on fire. All kinds of engines with very loud bells arrived on scene, so of course the retired fireman had to go look and see what was going on. He came back in the house quite abashed, I must say.
Hilarious! My Mr. Spicebomb’s father and brother are both fireman. First time his dad came over to my house, the FIRST thing he did was look for my alarm. And commented that I don’t have one upstairs, too.
Ha! So funny! My dad WAS a stickler for smoke alarms, I will admit. Beyond that, as kids, we didn’t even have a clue what an “escape plan” was. He was a smoker and all his vehicles ended up with burn holes in the driver’s seat. Sometimes I’m amazed we all lived to joke about it ????
Haha! What a story!
Well, I thought it probably wasn’t the best idea. Glad I asked.
For what it’s wort, you probably don’t need the heat source anyway. If you put liquid perfume in a bowl, I should think it would diffuse/evaporate very quickly without further intervention!
Heh, and for what it’s worth, too
I’ve done it but I’ve added a bit of water to it as well to prevent it from burning off too quickly.
1. Line? What line?! Sand is so easily shifted and drawn upon.
2. There are some early acquisitions that I truly never wear. I keep them due to nostalgia, mostly, but probably wouldn’t be sad if they wandered off.
3. In spring I want DRY HEAT, for a time that is usually cool and soggy at home. I am terrible at choosing the right scents for such places, though, as I have little practical experience. I brought about 10 samples to Vegas last time I went, and nothing really seemed *right*.
And honestly, I’m struggling to figure out where to put myself in my imaginary travels–I want to see everything and I’ve traveled so little. Feel free to sign me up for someplace warm and surprise me!
Spot on answer to numero uno! As far as numero tres, when I went hiking in the Grand Canyon last year, I took only a small decant of Box of Eels- it was like a cool drink to me! But I think that one has the rare quality of being just what you need, just when you need it, if that makes sense.
I find that I wear BdI in warm weather more often than cool–it is an odd, surprising little shapeshifter, and seems to be MORE in the heat in a wonderful way. And I agree, when it’s right, it’s right!
1 and 2 are all too precisely how I feel!
My bottle threshold used to be pretty low but after seeing some decants evaporating, I have a new appreciation for the value of a bottle. As in, one day I will take the plunge on Vanille 44 (yikes.)
And my early bottles…yeah. A couple I don’t wear and another I bought a backup of (?!!) that will surely never be opened. Yet hard to cut for sentimental reasons. Marie Kondo would not approve but luckily she is not the boss of me
Great minds! It seems that whenever I set limits, I discover that they are merely guidelines.
I like bottles. Decants just seem so unromantic. I make up for it by being pretty good at only buying things I love. That’s some sort of frugality, right?
You’re way better at choosing bottles than I am. I am too easily driven to a buying frenzy by a discontinuation or a discount or heaven forbid both! Not a great way to make reasoned choices about my collection. Decants actually have served a good purpose in this regard for me–requiring myself to finish at least a few mls before I commit to 50 or 100 in bottle form has saved me from some bad choices.
Counting on decants as a supply to last more than a couple years tho…
1. I can’t spend over $300 for a perfume. I’m going to be sad when the Hermessences reach that point.
2. I edit pretty regularly but if there was a market for it I’d sell my Cedre in a second. Maybe during the freebie meet.
3. I want to go to Berlin! My dream city. I think I’d take a huge splash of Diorella. I’m definitely obsessed with vintage Diors right now.
I actually went and sniffed all the current forulations at Saks. Diorama wasn’t bad, Dioressence seemed pointless, Diorissimo too clean, and Diorella smelled so spot on I want to do a side-by-side with vintage.
Ack! I love Cedre and plan on listing quite a few swap bottles next week! Please seek me out!
Oh yay! Lucky day. I’ll keep an eye out.
I will say it is VERY gently used. A friend went to Paris and got the complete wrong one! Of all the luck. I would never tell her though….
Oh no, really?? How crushing! Dare I ask what it was supposed to be?
Miel de Bois. She saw the exports in Sephora and asked them. I blame Mr Lutens for having so many tiers!
Oh drat!! Yes you’ve def identified the source of the problem–since presumably MdB was not in Sephora, I can just see the SA telling your friends it doesn’t exist. Blarg. Did you ever get an MdB bottle?
I had a very similar near-miss recently, with a perfume mule arriving back stateside with the report that an SA had tried to talk him into buying something different, and so instead of the bottle–which I’d even located on sale!!–he brought back a test strip from a brand I’d never heard of, to consider “for next time”.
…it turned out to be a very cruel joke ???????? Got me pretty good with that one, I’ll admit.
Loved your story about the perfume mule joke!
Ha, gvillecreative, I will be sure to let him know you enjoyed–he’ll be glad to hear it since I myself took a little while to see the humor in it
Thumbs up on Berlin! I would love to go there as well on a SPring break. So much to see and do and experience!
Happy Saturday!
1) I am sure I have a line, but if I absolutely loved the fragrance…
2) Jacomo #2 maybe? I go back and forth on this one.
3) Paris with my new HG: YSL Cinema. I’ve never been and Cinema is so wearable/enjoyable – even if I go sniffing and buy something new, I’d love to build memories (that smell of Cinema) of Paris with a special person.
Paris is a popular destination today! You guys are all trying to sneak in perfume shopping
1. Limit is $300, and I can only do that for 100ml of something I really love.
2. I have several I’m preparing for sale on ebay – backups I don’t really need, mostly, but also my bottle of Tocade has become unbearably smoky.
3. I’ve never been to Paris! I might take a decant of Mary Greenwell Plum, but I’d expect to shop while I was there.
Wearing Ostara today… every time I wear this, the ylang is more prominent and I like it less. Boo hiss! I swear that the mfr sample was less ylangy and sweet.
Same limit but mine is based on those dratted bell jars! 75 ml is not enough but some of them are so heavenly….
Well, okay, yeah, I did buy a partial bell jar of La Myrrhe ($120 for about 30 mls!).
Perfect solution.
have a full bottle of Plum — if you’re in need of a decant, email me at kgoodw2 at the hotmayls
Oh, thanks, but I’m stocked up! I bought a decant a couple of years ago and I’m still using it as a purse takealong, while my bottle sits safely at home (gah, that cap is so heavy I couldn’t take it anywhere anyway). Very kind of you to offer.
Well, today I am trying Tauer’s “Lonesome Rider” but on my skin the poor old rider got so lonesome he upped and left. I still have enough Tauer samples for a Tauer week, probably some time in April.
To the questions:
1. I spent £250 on Amouage Sunshine Man and in retrospect that was too much (especially as I now know where to look for decants). So I think my limit is more like £200. And that’s a limit, not a target. ;^)
2. I got a FB of Caron “L’Anarchiste” before Christmas, which I find thin and metallic. I’ll give it a second chance in warmer weather but it will shape up or ship out before the year is out.
3. I’ll be taking a break in April and am trying to decide between Kyoto and New York. I would need something to use day or evening, and versatile enough for cooler or warmer days as either are possible. I think of the perfumes I own either Chanel “Pour Monsieur” or Salvatore Ferrogamo “Vendemmia” would hit the spot.
Hiya, if New York is your destination, do let me know (email info via clicking my name). A bunch of us would love to meet you.
That would be fun, and I might end up stumbling into Aedes de Venustas through navigational error…
Or better yet, get really lost downtown and end up in Brooklyn to Twisted Lily…
NYC is great -come here
She could also visit the workshop of CB I hate Perfume in Williamsburg!
I second that sentiment!
April (and May and October) can be a wonderful time to visit New York. When I lived in the NE US we encouraged family and friends to visit us during those months to enjoy the milder weather and smaller attendance at museums, shops, and popular points of interest.
Having never been to Japan, or anywhere west of the continental US left coast, I would go to Kyoto anytime at all. Spring in Japan sounds perfect.
Kyoto is wonderful in the spring. We try to go at Cherry Blossom Festival time. Even though everywhere is crowded, so many places – like the summer pavilions, are only open during this time. Of course, one could wear CdG Kyoto, or Hinoki!
1) About 300 €/$/Fr, 2) quite a few, starting with yesterday ‘s retry of améthyste (durbano) 3) if I had time: Amsterdam, mainly to see the H Bosch exhibition in his hometown, I guess something slightly skankish, l’air de rien, maybe?
Oh, the Bosch exhibit! I am longing to see that!
I got my fill of Bosch at the Prado. The subjects and themes were really creepy.
and I won’t make it: the exihibition ends quite soon, and it is about 1 hour away from Amsterdam
1. I’ll set the soft limit at $350, because that is just slightly more than I’ve actually spent before. I can’t see really doing it though, I’m more at an enjoyment place than an acquisition phase.
2. A few things that d bought early in a discount store, when in a furious frenzy. Love, Peace, and Juicy would be a case in point.
3. I’d prefer to go far away from any city. A cabin on the water on an island like Saltspring or Galliano would be my speed. I’d keep it simple and bring Eau des Merveilles, since I never tire of it and I think it would fit the occasion.
I liked Peace, Love & Juicy! But I didn’t buy it, and maybe I wouldn’t wear it much either.
1. I tend to think more along a “price per ml” scale than bottles. I paid $25/ml for my Amouage Homage attar but I don’t think that was too much given how concentrated it is. Box of Eels parfum is $13 and I would pay more if I had to because I love it. Generally I like to keep scents under $5/ml unless they are exceptional.
2. Tiziana Terenzi White Fire is going to the Swapmeet. I like it but it doesn’t last on me and the huge chunky bottle is taking up too much room in the perfume cupboard.
3. I lived in NYC for 22 years but haven’t been back since before 9/11. It’s nice in spring, not too hot or humid. I’d probably wear California Reverie or Lys Carmin, something light and pretty that says “Spring!”
I got a half bottle of Tribute Attar right before they stopped selling the attars.
Me too, and I feel so lucky to have it! The prices now–when you can get some–are crazy. I’ve seen $200 asked for 1ml.
1. 150, or so. I have kids to raise, lol. Coveting a FB of Mohur Extrait, though, so my line is more likely written in the air, with smoke.
2. Beautiful. Bad memories from a time when I had very low self appreciation. Well, I dumped the guy the very day he tried to impose censure on my opinions, so maybe I was not that bad, after all.
3. Seattle during Fall. I’d take Femme.
Three cheers for you–strength under such trying circumstances is something to be so proud of!
Thank you! ????
Oh, number 2 sounds like a good memory. Standing up for yourself is always a GREAT thing!
Isn’t it? Actually, after writing it down, I think I’ll finally be able to appreciate Beautiful from another angle.
1) Probably $200 but I’d try to get a discounted or split or used bottle first.
2) EL Sensuous will be taking leave soon. I think I’ve worn it twice since I bought it. That one really went from love to hate pretty quickly, but I also bought it impulsively. So there’s the lesson. Fortunately it was cheap.
3) Right now, I’d take a trip to anywhere since it’s been over a year since an actual vacation. I was looking at photos my friend sent me of her trip to Big Sur, and it’s looking heavenly. I’d bring Dune and SSS Forest Walk on that trip.
My real upcoming trip will be to the city of Brooklyn when we move (back) there in a few weeks. Dreading the moving part, but excited about our new place.
Oh wow! Big move but closer to Twisted Lily. Somebunny’s going to be in trouble
A wee bit closer
Good luck in Brooklyn- don’t forget to come to the island once in awhile
Thanks! I’m on that big ol’ island every day for work.
1) My upper limit used to be around $150, but then I met Lyric. What’s a girl to do?
2) My Arquiste-for-JCrew 57 will be offered up at the swap meet. I almost like it, but it’s just a titch too sweet for me. Ever on the prowl for the perfect whiskey scent…
3) I’ve had it up to here with cold, rainy weather at this point, so my dream vacation at the moment is somewhere where the sun is golden and the rocks give off warm, mineral whiffs and the air is dry and salt-tinged from the very nearby clear turquoise sea, and the hills are fragrant with herbs, and I can eat my fill of seafood and lemony things. This is sounding like the Mediterranean coast somewhere between Provence and Positano. And I’ll be bringing Neroli Portofino, which I rather fell in love with this week (though really can’t afford…)
Oh my! You’re teasing me cruelly with your weather- we should do a switcheroo because I just now closed my windows and turned on the A/C. It’s that hot today????
Hmm — maybe we need a perfumista house-swap event! I can’t *wait* for hot weather. I don’t even really remember what my bare legs look like, at this point…
It is the house of Amouage that has proven to me that I really don’t have a firm bottle price limit.
Ahem is it though??
Ok. Fair enough. Malle has been known to push my limits, too.
Well I was thinking of a certain Guerlain
but ha yes I suppose there are a few options!!
Ah yes. Forgot that one, somehow.
Is that the sign of a problem?
On the contrary, I’m sure it signals a beautiful zen acceptance
My limit is $300 but I’ve already promised myself a bottle of JAR Shadow whenever I graduate acupuncture school and Orlov Cross of Asia keeps daring me to cross that line before then
After My Own Heart could go away without a problem since I prefer Desarmant for my lilac hit
My actual spring vacations this year will be a couple of days in NY/NJ in April to see the cherry blossoms at Branch Brook Park (more trees than Washington D.C.) and maybe the Brooklyn Botanic Garden as well so I’ll probably wear something springish — SOTD is Sous Le Toit de Paris and that would work well. I’ll also be going to Cleveland/Oberlin in May for my 25 year college reunion and will be heading to Indigo Perfumery almost as soon as my plane lands so I’ll probably start unscented and spend the rest of the weekend in whatever I purchase
Bonus note– the crocuses are coming up! Flowers! Color! Spring! Glorious spring!
Looking forward to our trip to Indigo!
Our crocuses all appeared at once, yesterday! We have a bunch planted right into the grass and there were far fewer last year so I thought maybe they were all eaten by the squirrels, but now this year they have rebounded.
1. Well it depends on who is buying. If it’s a gift for me, then the buyer should spend at least $100 or I will be very very disappointed in them as a friend. If I’m buying, then it becomes some sort of emotionally adaptive string theory.
2. Gilligan. I vote Gilligan off the island. Seriously, I’m going to be voting almost all of my frags off the island and just keeping a few.
3. I just had a few hours there in January, so I definitely want to return to Pondicherry for an extended stay. And strangely the only frag I can imagine wearing there is Traversee du Bosphore or possibly NV Bollywood.
(#1 was a joke)
It made me laugh!
Hilarious I am still laughing
Excellent.
I laughed really hard. Hilarious!
???? laughing HARD over here!
I passed through Pondicherry just over a month ago, and thought it would be fun to wear “escale a Pondichéry”… it didn’t work at all! In general I found the south Indian climate to be difficult for scent wearing, everything seemed to disappear immediately, my best default option was “Cologne Grand Cru, Assam of India” which I bought for the trip and for the cute elephant bottle
Assam of India sounds perfect for South India! I brought a decant of Santal Carmin with me for the trip and under the clothing it lasted ok but was borderline a little heavy for the climate. It was nice when I was sick to have a pretty scent alternative to some of the other aromas
Hope everyone’s having a good Saturday! SOTD is Dame Perfumery Cassis, Rose & Sandalwood.
1) Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) a very tight budget limits me to deeply-discounted FBs at the discounter sites. It’s like a sport looking for insane bargains! But, in theory, I think the line depends on the price-to-concentration/size ratio.
2) I think I’d have to vote off Vivienne Westwood Anglomania because I find it too sweet now. I’d have to keep the bottle, though, since I got it on a trip for my last graduation ceremony.
3) How about a spring vacation to Madrid? That would be nice. I’d take a travel-size of something cheap and cheerful, like Pacifica Nerola Orange Blossom, so I could slap on a spritz and go for the day–and have plenty of luggage space for buying a perfume souvenir!!!
IMHO the sport of discount shopping is half the fun!
Agreed!
Oh, Madrid… I’d love to go there as well.
It seems like a city I could just stay and live in quite happily.
Last-minute PSA: the San Jose meet-up is TODAY at 2pm at Valley Fair mall, in front of the Bottega Veneta shop:
https://www.westfield.com/valleyfair/stores/all-stores/bottega-veneta/54887
Please join us if you’re in the area! And bring samples if you’d like to do a sample swap.
Now back to the serious weekend poll business.
1) Limit? What is this word? I do have a limit for blind buys: $40. Errrm, except when I exceed it. Sigh. You’ll be seeing some of those at the swapmeet. BTW, according to Pixel’s Perfumath Rules, if you buy a FB and also get rid of it in the same quarter, why then it doesn’t appear on Donatella’s radar, now does it.
2) Check back next week for my latest rejects
3) Travel! I’d love to! But instead of a spring break, I’m on the hook for jury duty next week. urrrrrrrrg. Now do you wear a polite perfume to jury selection, or do you wear something so offensive you hope it’ll get you thrown out?
3. Definitely offensive. But it has to reach the lawyers, not just the other poor potential jurors. You could also pretend to be racist or have Tuberculosis.
*I’m not against jury duty. On most days I’d happily serve. But if it interferes with the possibility of vacation all bets are off!
This is a well-established principle of perfume accounting and thus some of us actually report NEGATIVE perfume spending some quarters! It’s all perfectly logical you see.
Yay, hope the meetup is fun!
It was! Oakland Fresca, Clarissa, Sunnlitt, Cazaubon and I had a good time sniffing and swapping. Maybe we’ll do SF one of these days
#2 is known as PIPO inventory, to us accounting types. (Perfume In Perfume Out.)
1) I haven’t found a “true” line yet, as I am usually happy with a small 5ml decant. The more outrageously prices perfumes (looking at you, Roja Dove) generally don’t move me enough to be FB worthy.
2) Easy choice, Coqui Coqui “Fleur de Naranjo.” I got caught up in the hype of this brand and thought that $62 for 100ml was an okay risk for a blind buy, especially for an OB scent (my favorite). Unfortunately, on me this smells like straight up dryer sheets and gives me a headache to boot.
3) Montreal! Spring always make me want citrus, so maybe a travel atomizer of Agonist “Solaris” which is like sunshine in a bottle for me.
Ugh, dryer sheet.
1. $125 for something I don’t have a lot of experience with. (Have only sampled, worn once or twice, etc.) Would gladly spend more for something really special, but I haven’t found that bottle yet.
2. Bandit. To be fair, I picked this up at a flea market in Vegas and may have gotten a fake. It is sharp at the opening with some old fashioned powder. I don’t get a lot of leather until it dries down and even then it’s still too sharp. It smells like pot, not that I would know anything about that.
I imagine this is what the color Chartreuse Yellow should smell like. My mom told me I smelled like dirty socks when I wore it around her. Whatever is in this bottle, it’s not me and I don’t get it. But I’ve never been able to toss it, either.
3. I’m going to pick New Orleans because there’s a slight possibility that I end up there in a couple of weeks. My perfume would be Histoires de Parfums 1969. I’m pretty sure it was designed to reflect San Francisco in the 60s, but that fun, spicy, sweaty vibe seems applicable to New Orleans too.
Fun poll – I like anything that makes me dream of travelling to new places!
I think you Bandit is a fake. I have vintage and it will slap your lil ol hiney with it’s black leather clad bog person’s hand for hours.
Sajini, you’re killing me with comments????
Could be a fake, or maybe it has just aged badly. But maybe not. Every time I try it I find myself trying to duck the shiv that Bandit is waving around…
1.Limit: 300 clams
2.Off the island: JM Lime, Basil and Mandarin
3.Venice – I love the light in the springtime. I might not bring anything, just hit duty free. okay, well..Tauer Incense Flash.
SOTD- Theraflu
Theraflu Honey Lemon smells nice. Feel better soon!
Thank you????
I cannot smell it or anything
I love “clams”.
Feel better!
1. I don’t understand the question.
2. I have a hard time letting go, but when I do, the bottles go into permanent perfume camp with no parental visitation rights (basically I throw the bunch inside a box inside another box and fob them off anonymously to charitable organizations that pick up donations in a big truck — they don’t keep track of who donated what)
3. I would pick a city I have never visited so Vienna it is. I will bring Chanel No. 19 EDP.
Bwah-ha-ha to #1. You wouldn’t be thinking of that limited edition Mitsouko bottle now would you?
LALALALALALALALA
Dying laughing.
Cracking up over #1
Haha, me too.
???? to #1!
hahahahaha! You have a superior mind, Hajusuuri!
It’s ironic then that I didn’t understand the question
LOL!
Donatella has put a protective force field around you, hasn’t she
1. Classic Hajusuuri answer.
Ha! ???? Your comments always make me laugh H!
Your answer to the first question is so you. I am picturing you with a tilted head and a puzzled look on your face and it’s too funny.
Agree, it’s a meaningless question regarding a metaphysical object!
Haha. Too funny..
1. I can’t picture myself paying more than about $150 for 100 ml of edt or edp. There are a few at Hermes that could move me past $250 in a moment of weakness. Almost every full bottle I have was bought second-hand or deeply-discounted, so there’s that.
2. Le Jardin de Monsieur Li is not yet voted off the island, but Monsieur is in time out today. Not sure if it’s my nose, the weather, the difference between my dab sample and a new spray bottle, or just the day of the week, but Monsieur Li, you are getting on my nerves. I’m a Jean-Claude Ellena fangirl and Hermes-o-phile, so no hard feelings.
3. Arigatou gozaimasu, Koenigsberg. Thanks to your travel musings, I am spritzed with Iris Ukiyoé and ready to visit Tokyo via my couch and Lost in Translation. Kampai!
Perfect scent and movie pairing!
Oh no about Monsieur Li. I would give him a few more chances!
I have also have varying impressions of Monsieur Li. But maybe that’s to say there’s every chance it will change back to something you’ll enjoy?
Kampai Tiffanie! This year is a significant birthday and significant anniversary. Very tempted to do a ‘4 capitals’ tour to take in Nara, Kyoto, Kamakura and Tokyo. Not least as I work freelance and will complete a contract just in time to take an April break – if we don’t do it this year, will we ever have such a chance again? :^)
I think I’d be hard pressed to go over $200. I’d more likely save $$ and do a decant or a split.
I have some bottles from TJ Maxx that I should cull. I tried Candy L’Eau from a past freebiemeet and think it belongs in a future one.
I have this desire to go to Spain. Madrid and then maybe south. I just sprayed on my Le Temps d’une Fete for the first time in many months, so that could be the spring scent to bring….
Many years ago I took a sleeper train from Madrid to Granada – waking up and watching the dewy hills speed by in the quiet of the early morning sun was very special. Much more recently, we travelled around Andalucia by train – Málaga-Sevilla-Cádiz-Córdoba-Granada-Antequera-Málaga. You could switch between citrus scents and Arabian influenced perfumes as you explored vast sunbaked plantations of olives, city squares lined with orange trees, Gothic cathedrals, Moorish palaces and Roman ruins. Madrid and the South would do very nicely!
Ohhhhh, that all sounds so lovely! Madrid could be for my husband, the classic city night owl and then south for me to be outside in nature and sun a bit more…. I’ll remember your recommendations…
SOTD= Diorissimo EDT + a dab of vintage AvaLuxe Casaque on one hand and a dab of Oriza Muguet Fleuri on the other – LOTV bomb land! I think I smell great and no one else has remarked upon it… so I am a happy woman.
1. Agree with the shifting sands comments…whatever line I had was smashed the second I applied my first dab of Mohur Extrait…
2. Timbuktu! I wanted to love you, but I get bug spray, burning eyes and a runny nose from you…you are outta here!
3. I would dearly love to see the Bosch exhibit in Amsterdam and then spend some time on a houseboat floating around the canals of Holland…
Mohur Extrait, the end of all good intentions.
Your layering sounds really great.
It’s PELTING rain here today, so I went with Or du Serail to counteract the cold and wet.
I SO wanted to dig in the dirt this weekend. Seems it is not to be.
Me too! Right at this moment the sun has come out – complete tease, because in another five seconds it’s gonna start bucketing again … I just know it! And the back yard is so pretty now. Unfair!
1. I will not spend more than about $75 since I get a lot of freebies through work and I have enough juices right now for the rest of my life!
2. Disappointed in Lolita Lempicka L’Eau Jolie (must be the neroli) but happy with L’Eau en Blanc and Sweet. Don’t like sweet fragrances but the latter two are eminently wearable, light and lovely.
3. Barcelona to see the Perfume Bottle Museum, eat tapas, and go to the various art nouveau sites.
oh good you reminded me about the Perfume museum. I’ll be in Barcelona for a few days in early July!
Great, hajusuuri! Hope you’ll report back to us. In the meantime, view Museu del Perfum Barcelona by Leah Lefevre on YouTube for a great preview.
Ugh, am I the only one who HATES spring forward? Anything that cuts into sleep time makes me grumpy.
Will agree with others about the $300 threshold. I’ve a bag full of perfume rejects, some of them very nice FBs. Will either swap next week, or try to offload in some way that avoids listing on ebay.
For travel, my domestic/U.S. adjacent getaway cities are Sedona and Taxco MX. International picks would be Barcelona and Malaga. Never been to any of those places. For the desert, I’ll pick AG Neroli and for Europe, Heure Exquise or vintage Diorama (stocked up on so much on ebay that I REALLY need to start consuming).
Nope, you’re DEFINITELY not alone. Spring forward is horrible.
Springing forward always leaves me lagging behind. When you get a certain age (ie: old like me????) , you’d consider selling your soul for a good night’s solid sleep.
It’s so true.
I hate daylight savings altogether, I wish they’d abolish it.
I don’t hate it, but I think DST comes too early and lingers too late in the fall. End of April and beginning of October would suit me fine.
Yes! Didn’t it used to BE that schedule? And then somebody or other (Jimmy Carter comes to mind, but I could be mistaken) decided it would save money to adjust when daylight saving time starts and ends, and all that really happened was that the energy consumption shifted from evening to morning? The one thing I’m sure I will enjoy about retirement is waking up with the sun. Too bad retirement is still a ways off for me.
It was George Bush II who suggested changing it, and it went through.
Ah, I knew someone would know. And of course I should have remembered that the change was more recent than the Carter administration. Thank you!
For a number of years, beginning in 1967, it was from the end of April to the end of October, except for a short time from 1974-1975 when it was year-round. In 1986, the beginning time was moved back from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April. In 2007, it was extended again to run from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November. I personally hate it, being a night owl and also now dealing with perimenopausal sleep disruption. By the time I get to sleeping soundly, I only get 4 or 5 hours of good sleep before it is time to get up for work, and DST just compounds the problem. Going to bed an hour earlier just means an extra hour lying in bed not sleeping. If they do have to inflict DST on us, couldn’t they at least make it exactly half the year, say from the end of March to the end of September, to make it roughly coincide with the equinoxes? That way, both the DST fans and we DST haters would get our way for six months of the year.
Springing forward is the worst. If they did it in the middle of a workday I might be able to muster up some support for it but taking an hour away from my weekend is just cruel.
Brilliant!
I always hated it until I had a kid… then they sleep an extra hour in morning and it’s luxurious. It’s fall back that I hate now, especially since I already have an early riser! For a while about a year and a half ago he was getting up at 4:30.
1. My limit is around 300$
2. SL Une Voix Noire , unfortunately doesn’t work on me
3. I would like to visit Rome and my perfume will be FM Eau de Magnolia
Yes and yes to #3!
I’ve found my upper limit has gone up as our dollar has gone down
The prices in US dollars didn’t used to be quite so scary.
I can think of lots of FBs I wouldn’t replace, but nothing I no longer want to have. That might be in part because I agonise for so long before I buy a bottle that I’m emotionally invested before I lay hands on it.
There are so many places I’d like to go, but right now it’s Paris to buy perfume, I hope to go next year and I’ve already started my list of what to buy where!
I’m a grad student, so my limit is $100 unless I’m saving up for something.
Today I’m wearing Dzing! I have a sty in my right eye and it’s making me grumpy, but Dzing! is helping. It goes nicely with the Voluspa Chestnut and Vetiver candle (Fat Electrician in a candle, basically) that I’m burning to help motivate me to get some chores done in my room. We’ll see if how they both stand up to the kao soi that’s about to be my lunch, though.
Oh, and I’d love to visit Buenos Aires today – I watched rather a bad movie set there last night that, nevertheless, made me very curious to visit. Not sure what I’d bring. Something BWF-y, maybe.
Right there with you on the grad student–>$100 limit thing
it’s hard having expensive taste on a student stipend!
At least perfume lasts longer than Scotch, which is the standard expensive taste people in my discipline develop!
Unfortunately for my bank account, I also have a Scotch obsession
Still wearing No5 EDC. Went to Boots to spray current EDT to see how it matches. Well, it has aldehydes. It’s very blended and smooth though and rather nondesript otherwise. Sort of wondering what the current Parfum is like but they’ve no testers.
1/ £100-£120. Most I’ve ever paid was 105€ for PoaL traveling sprays with a 15€ discount voucher. Twas initial lust, then it moved swiftly into ‘nice but not really’ camp, donated some of it away, still have some left I never wear cuz there are other things. Yikes.
2/ Cedre.
3/ I’d like to go to NYC one day. Would probably pick something like No 19 to go with it.
I read your post rather quickly on my iPhone and initially went to Boots to pray…
Who among us has not said a quick prayer in front of a row of perfumes for sale?
(“Lady Donatella, grant me the bank balance to afford the perfumes I love, the strength to resist those that are only passing fancies, and the wisdom to know the difference!”)
Perfect!
“O Serge Lutens, I am not worthy to to receive you, but only say the word and out comes my credit card”
Hahaha! Yes I daresay some of us would have no trouble filling a Book of Uncommon Perfume Prayer!
“Lead us not into reformulation, and deliver us from IFRA. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the oakmoss, for ever and ever. Amen.”
Ah yes Boots otherwise know as the store I cannot resist/ need to pray/ go in to get calm in too. Imagine my delight when I found them in Bangkok! The others are bookstores and now of course perfume stores
Wow!! The land of bookstores, perfume stores and presumably as much Thai food as a person could eat is basically my idea of heaven. Please tell me everything!
I noticed a few people are putting Cedre in the inflatable dinghy with a flare and a paddle. I blind bought Cedre and really did not care for it although I’m sure some people love it. It was a little too much cinnamon potpourri for my taste.
haha, poor poor Cedre. I will take all of the Cedres under my wing. (I have a half-full bottle of Arabie that I like okay, but doesn’t suit me at all, and so that one has gotta go next week.)
Speaking of prayer, I pray I’ll have something on my to-swap list for your Arabie and Schneeze’s PoaL! Funny how different people have different tastes
I’m off topic again. I just wanted to thank everyone for all the kind words last weekend. I didn’t have a chance to read them until late on Sunday and by then it was too late I thought to reply to them. It’s nice to know people are thinking of me and my dog.
Sadly, it was a long bloody (literally) week and it seemed like the tumor was growing right before our eyes. Mel’s breathing seemed to get a bit worse and the bleeding was pretty bad. He seemed like it was starting to hurt to eat and he wasn’t sleeping as well as he had been. Yesterday my hubband and I decided we couldn’t let him go on like that so we made that final trip to the vet. We are both feeling pretty awful today even though we know we did the right thing. He was my hubby’s best buddy so he’s pretty devastated. Kinda like I was when Greta died. It will take time to adjust to his absence and the new normal of the house.
On a happier note, I’m hoping I can find a bit more time to chat on here again.
I’m so sorry to hear about your dog. I had to make the same decision about my cat a few years ago, it was the right thing to do, but very hard. It leaves such a gap.
It does leave a gap. The house seems so strange.
Oh Poodle so sorry to read about this. As all dog lovers and carers know the right and kindest decision is always hard to make and leaves us grieving. We also know it will pass. Wishing you and your husband comfort.
and catlovers! I am one too.
Thanks. We’re doing okay after a few long chats. It was time.
Oh I am so sorry for your loss. I hope lots of good memories comfort you both.
Most memeories of Mel are of him under a blanket somewhere in the house. I’d never seen a lazier dog. We used to joke that when he’s gone we could just throw a blanket over some pillows on the couch and it would seem like he’s still here.
Haha, that is too funny and too sweet! Thank you for sharing
Poodle, so sorry for you and your family, both two legged and four! What you chose to do was the epitome of compassion and mercy, and surely Mel understood this, and was grateful. Keeping you in my thoughts.
I hope somehow he knew that. It’s so awful when you have to make the trip to the vet knowing what the outcome will be.
Thanks. Stella-monster is providing much needed comic relief.
I’m so sorry to hear about your dog, but he clearly knew you loved him. I hope the adjustment isn’t too painful.
I’m going to miss him but it is a relief to not have to watch that damn tumor grow anymore. It’s strange without him in the house.
Poodle, I’m so sorry for your loss. Keeping your and your family in my thoughts.
Thank you.
I’m so sorry about your pup. I’ve been there, and it’s really hard.
When you bring them home, you bring home that bit of heartache as well.
That is very true. We had a very sweet, wonderful boy cat for two years only – he was middle aged when we adopted him. But we gave him a loving home and that comforts me. I still miss him, though.
So sorry for your loss, Poodle. May you and hubby find peace and comfort in knowing you made the most compassionate decision.
We’re doing better today. Thanks.
I’m so sorry, this is such a tough situation to go through. I dread this every day, but bless you for recognizing that the suffering had to end. I wish you peace in your time of grief.
We knew it was coming and when he seemed like he was starting to lose the fight we knew it was time. We’ve been day to day with him for a while. Thanks.
I’m so sorry for your loss. Strangely, I woke up this morning in tears because I had dreamt that my dog had passed away. Our pets really take an important place in our hearts, don’t they? The only thing to do is to love them as much as they love us and make sure they have the best life possible. I am sure you made the right (but oh so difficult!) choice.
Oh, I hate those dreams.
I’d like to think I did everything I could do and then some for him.
So sorry. It’s hard bc pets become part of the family. ????
They certainly do. Thanks.
I’m sorry, Poodle.
Thank you.
Oh Poodle, you are such a sweet soul. I’m very sorry for your loss and I will keep you and yours in my thoughts and prayers. Big hug xo
Thanks, Holly. Hugs to you too.
Oh dear, my condolences.
Thank you.
Oh no, that is the worst. I am so sorry. I hope you and your husband find peace in the happy memories.
We’re doing better today. Hubby had a chat with my brother last night and I don’t know what he said but it worked. I didn’t think my brother had it in him.
Such a difficult adjustment, Poodle. Hope you two take care of yourselves.
Thanks.
Oh, how heartbreaking. I am so sorry.
My good friend said to me when we had to make the same difficult decision is that it is so hard to be strong for our pets, but we don’t want them to suffer anymore. Sending hugs!!
I think our pets are stronger than we are. He battled hard.
Thanks for the hugs.
Thank you.
I’m so sorry, Poodle. I’ve been thinking about you this week and hoping you might have a little more time. My deepest condolences to you and your husband.
He had a good long life. The vet I used to work for always said “better a week too soon than a day too late”.
So sorry about your pup, Poodle. Even though we know we’re doing the right, responsible, and humane thing, it’s still hard. As my vet said when I had to have my beloved cat put down a few years ago, “we suffer so that they don’t have to.”
Ain’t that the truth!
So sorry to hear this, Poodle. Very hard and definitely will take time. Animals are part of the family, aren’t they. Big hug.
Big hug back.
I know how painful it is, but I’m convinced you did the right thing. Hugs!
Thanks.
So sorry poodle, of course it will be a really difficult time, adjusting to your’e doggy’s absence. Sending positive thoughts.
Thanks. The other two are trying hard to distract us.
Oh no, I am so so sorry to read this. My condolences.
My cat has lymphoma and recently had to undergo surgery. He’s ok for now, but I don’t know how I’ll cope if things get bad again and we have to put him down. I can’t imagine how you must feel, and hope not to find out for a long, long time.
I hope your kitty is okay for a good long time. I’m glad they were able to do something for him surgically and that he’s okay for now.
Thank you very much <3
Oh so sorry for your loss!
Thank you.
So sorry about your dog, we had to do that with our cat a couple of years ago. It’s the merciful thing to do, but still, so hard. Wishing you peace.
That’s two dogs in less than two years. I hope we’re done with that type of vet visit for a while. Thank you.
Your compassion for Mel has been so moving. I’m sorry for your loss.
I’m not very good with kids but with the furry little ones my maternal instinct is quite strong.
I am so sorry for your loss. Pets really are family members, and losing one hurts like heck. We have had to make that same decision for cats who had cancer, and it is gut-wrenching. Just a few weeks ago I had to make that trip to the vet for one of our kitties. Not cancer this time, but kidney failure. He had stopped eating and was just skin and bones. He was 19, so he had a good long life, but I still felt horrible. The other cats kept looking at us as if to ask where he was, and of course there is no way to explain to a cat.
I’m so sorry about your kitty. A friend of ours just lost theirs and she was 17. It’s rather amazing how long some cats live. When they stop eating that’s a strong sign that it’s time. I think it’s just natural to feel horrible about it. Even when you know you did the right thing it still hurts like hell to not have them around anymore.
My deepest condolences on the loss of your beloved pet. I had one cat with a mouth tumor and another with ear cancer, so I know about the ‘bloody’ part, too, and eventually had to make that same trip as you with each. I hope you find comfort in the care and love you gave him until the end, and may warm memories make a smile or two break through your tears. Hugs to you.
Dear Poodle,
I am sorry to hear about your dear Mel.
I can empathize. We had to put down our Golden retriever, Tonka, on Tuesday: his leukemia was far too aggressive. He had the best medical care (my sister is a vet) but even the ‘rescue treatment’ did not work.
He fought valiantly for 15 weeks. We bathed him in oodles of love, spoiled him with his favorite lamb meatballs, revisited his most “puphood” parks, made snow angels for the last time…
He had the sunniest disposition and made every place a happier one.
I am grateful that he left a trace in my life.
Looking at his photos is painful. But as you know, in time, grief will sink into our subconscious and it will be easier to cope.
Hugs.
I am so sorry for your loss. It’s so hard to lose our pets, even when we know that the decision we’ve made is for the best.
Poodle, I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s hard to find the words to ease your pain, but I hope your other dogs know better how to console you and your husband. They know you are loving and caring ‘parents’, and Mel knew it too.
Spring break in Havana please, ideally this spring break! I think I’d wear something jasmine, in the mood for a lush floral and some weather to make it bloom. Not to mention a peak at Havana sooner rather than later.
Oh, I will join you!! Sounds perfect.
Hey, when commercial flights start, just name the day and I’ll meet you at the airport! Tourism’s still banned but journalism’s one of the valid reasons for U.S. travelers to go–“Fragrance Shopping in Havana” seems like an important topic for NST to cover!
Works for me! My mother went last year and loved it.
My sister likewise, I was so jealous she went without me!
I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than $600 for anything, and that was a vintage perfume in a beautiful bottle.
The only perfume I really covet right now is Roja Dove Diaghilev, but the $1,150 price tag is holding me back. That, and my annoyance that Roja only offers this extrait in a 100-ml size.
Wow, you could bequeathe what remains to your great-great-great-great granddaughter. That’s a whole lotta extrait.
Or be prepared to host a very elaborate split! (Actually since 5ml is $140 on STC, I bet there’d be at least a few takers on a cost + supplies/shipping split!)
Personally, I’d be afraid to try to split something that expensive from a spray bottle. I haven’t figured out how to do it without some wastage.
I found a seller on bonanza who had a good price and bought a couple of 5-ml decants. In reality, that’s all I “need.” It would be so much more esthetically pleasing and secure to have a small bottle, though. (It’s always the expensive decants that evaporate, isn’t it?)
Very true about the decanting process. I’ve gotten a good deal better with practice (patted myself on the back yesterday making a decant where I didn’t so much as get any on my fingers!!) but in the end one’s still a little bit at the mercy of the sprayer. Won’t name names but goodness there are some that are just wretched. Though I’d sure hope the Rojas would have only the best in such details!
Yes, Deva, one would have to have a flamboyant personality and lifestyle to use up a 100-ml bottle of Diaghilev!
Yeah, the big bottle/big price tag thing really stinks. (heh) Seriously, though, Roja, shame on you.
I know, and he does have adorable smaller bottles for many of his perfumes – why not Diaghilev???
And why doesn’t IFRA do useful things like mandating small bottles?
I bought my one Roja Dove when NM had a gift card event that included beauty. Using perfume logic, I calculated a respectable discount, then planned to use the gift card only for something on sale in the future.
Thanks, that’s useful to keep in mind!
1. $199, including tax, in general. Currently, $19.99, including tax, in keeping with current budget. Sigh.
2. EL Sensuous. I keep going back and forth on this one. A decant would be plenty, probably.
3. Hmmm Mmm tbd
i think that’s the second Sensuous I’ve seen put out to pasture. Maybe if it was the Noir version, it would get more love.
1. The most I have spent is 210 euro’s for a 200 ml Chanel Exclusive. I think my upper limit would be 300 euro’s or so. Another way to acquire an expensive perfume is to ask it as a collective birthday present, this has worked out really well for me and for the givers.
2. I have quite a few, some Lauders, Jour d’hermes as Ellena’s grapefruit is getting on my nerves and some are in purgatory (Tocade, Encre Noir, Cinema).
3. Tallinn (Estonia) and I think I would bring a decant of Fleur de Chine as Annikky enabled it.
PS the Bosch exhibition is in Den Bosch which is a lovely city to visit.
Love the concept of perfume purgatory ????
1. Do you have a line in the sand for what you’ll spend on a full-sized bottle of perfume?
I’m not sure exactly. At current finances, I don’t think I *could* spend more than $150 or so, but finances permitting, I guess I could go to $300-350 or so (about Amouage or Malle level). Too much more than that, and I think my standards would start to get a little ridiculous. I think I’d be expecting it to make me better looking and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound or something.
2. You have to vote one perfume in your collection off the island. Which one will go first, and why?
I have a few that could go, but even at the freebiemeet nobody would take them…lol. I might just start leaving them places and see if anyone picks them up.
3. You’re off on a spring vacation to a city you’ve always wanted to visit. You can take only one perfume, which one will it be? (And do tell us the city too!)
Oooh there are a lot of cities I would love to visit. In this particular fantasy, I’ll go to NYC, and I don’t even know that I would take any perfume because I’d probably be buying some while I’m there.
1. 300 dubloons but my better half says “there’s no limit! If you really wanted it and I had the money I would buy it”. that’s why I love him; he’s mad.
2. White Musk Libertine. I got it because I liked Robin’s review and as a teen I wore the original but I can’t wear it, I don’t know why. Wouldn’t miss it.
3. Florence (have never been, would love to go in springtime). Bel Respiro, airy, green and elegant, a perfectly understated spring fragrance that would make me happy.
Sorry if I talked you into it!
I’m a blamer Robin…. dreadful trait! Yes it was all your fault ????
Here’s a funny video about blame! Made me see myself and gave me a good laugh:-
https://vimeo.com/117375823
Very cute!
Has anyone tried Pinrose Gilded Fox?
$200 is my line in the sand; I just can’t justify spending more than that. And that great thing (and I wish more people, especially those new to perfume knew this) is that there are so many fairly inexpensive scents out there that are wonderful. There are several real gems in my collection that were under $20 – a 10th of my upper limit!
Voted off the island: Vent Vert. I generally love green fragrances, but this one I haven’t worn in years. It sits, unloved for the most part, in the back of the drawer.
My spring vacation? I guess it would be my autumn vacation, because my choice is Valparaiso, Chile. My brother has been there several times for work and loves it. Gorgeous scenery, great seafood, colorful architecture, artistic vibe – sounds perfect to me. I have no idea what the weather is like this time of year, but I’ll take Hermes Eau de Merveilles with me.
I love greenies too, but something about Vent Vert doesn’t sit well with me. The top’s great, and then it goes boring.
True. It’s like a smack on the face followed by a “There, there…”
I’ll actually be there for business before Easter. Looks like it will still be the tail end of summer, so warm and sunny. It’s such a colorful, nice place even though it’s a classic port city. Definitely can recommend it and Chile in general. Lovely country, lovely people! Do go if you get a chance!
Oh and what lines would you recommend with inexpensive perfumes? Thinking about getting the next sample order soon
Lucky you! Enjoy some seafood and Chilean wine for me.
There are a number of lines that I like:
Pacifica’s are a whopping $22 for a 30 ml bottle. I like their Tibetan Mountain Temple (spicy ginger – great in winter) and Lotus Garden (sort of the poor perfumista’s Un Jardin Sur le Nil).
Lush has sadly discontinued a number of perfumes lately, but they often make some of the more interesting things. They still sell Lust (in your face jasmine) and Sikkim Girls (white flowers).
Ava Luxe is an indie that I like. She’s particularly good with woods/resins. No. 23 (lovely sandalwood) and Cafe Noir (pretty much what it sounds like – coffee, smoke, vanilla, woods) are two of my favorites. $45 for 15 ml of highly concentrated edp.
Tokyo Milk has plenty of offerings – Honey and the Moon (sweet honey) and Sea and Sky (the poor perfumista’s Eau des Merveilles) are two I enjoy – for under $30.
Last year at the discounters – bless the discounters! – I bought Bvlgari The Vert, Roberto Cavalli Oro, Issey Miyake A Scent, Queen Latifah, & Rochas Tocade. The most expensive one on that list was $23.
So far I haven’t spent over 130 on anything. I’m not sure what my theoretical limit would be though if I found something I loved that much (and I was working again, ha!).
Off the island? Probably Jardin Blanc or Castana. They’re just not … me. Hopefully I can swap em!
I’d love to go to Machu Picchu. It seems so magical up there! I’d probably wear Douce Amere, just because I love that one lately!
1) I think anything over 1,000 dollars is just insane. And I haven’t bought anything that pricey. But I will admit I did get one that was marked down 300 dollars for being a tester and I damn well snatched it up. It was a Roja Dove. By the way, does anyone else think he must be kind of a self parody and a horse’s patoot? Despite his sometimes gorgeous scents.
2) I have embraced the fabulous idea of turning all bottles away, and then only turning them front wise when I have used them. That tells me who is being not used, and the winner off the island is…Traverseé du Bosphore.
3) I am going to Denver to “see a man about a horse.” He’s chubby, and said to be a teddy bear. I need a teddy bear horse. And his name is Damon, so I’m calling him Fat Matt Damon Horse. I believe I will wear a new on on this trip, which is the odd but wonderful Dries Van Noten.
I agree with your description of Roja Dove, and yet… I get annoyed with some of those who criticize him for being derivative. You can do far, far worse than to imitate the beautiful perfumes of the past, and why not?
My Personal Best is $450 for a bottle of Guerlain Metallica, but I can strive to beat that number. Like nozknoz, I would love The Diaghilev, but…but….
After a long hunt, I recently blind bought Antonio Visconti’s Coeur de Vanille. Now I have to reluctantly vote this gorgeousness off the island, i.e., sell it, as the smoke wafts havoc with my allergies.
London. No perfume needed because, well, Harrod’s.
Late to this, after a day filled with neglected laundry and cleaning.
1) I do not know, but I have not spent more than $150 for any one fragrance. There are so many lovely scents out there that are under that- including lotions and body oils- and discounters seem to have some incredible deals on mass market testers!
2) I culled a lot of unworn and undderloved perfumes when I Mari Kondo’ed my place, so what I have now makes me very happy indeed.
3) Oh, a spring city break! For me, on my budget, it’s gonna be Seattle or Ashland, OR. If Seattle, then my solid of Lust perfume- warm and floral and soapy under the requisite raincoat hood, perfect for wandering Ballard and Fremont. If Ashland, a decant of my Eau Universelle- so as to not to compete with the apricot, peach and plum blossoms in the air, and the smell of the mountain pine.
You can’t go wrong with either Ashland or Seattle!
1. Money permitting… No! If I have the cash, no amount is too exorbitant.
2. Oh Wow…. I have no idea….
3. Tokyo! And it would probably be A*Men Pure Coffee or Jo Malone Wild Fig & Cassis!
1) £230 is my absolute limit (for Amouage bottles) & that’s for Christmas & birthday’s. All my perfume bottles at other times are mostly partial/used or heavily discounted from eBay.
2) Bulgari’s Rose, I’ve had it for year’s and only use it as a room spray.
3) spring vacation, if only!- I would love to go to Madrid, and wander through the Prado, and explore all the art galleries, take in the architecture and sit outside cafes, drinking coffee, & drinking in the atmosphere! My perfume would be my travel spray of Seville A l’Aube. Absolute heaven.
Sunday midday and I’m in Cloon Keen Atelier “Lune de Givre”. I’m not long enough at this perfume lark to have found a note I hate (I still struggle to identify notes, to be honest), let alone enough examples of something I hate to have been surprised to find I like one of them. So the Community Project – which I know is only for Friday – doesn’t suit me this week.
Instead for the coming week that includes St Patrick’s Day, I’m going to try samples from Cloon Keen Atelier, which someone mentioned earlier this week. It’s based in my home town of Galway, Ireland and the samples are available from Les Senteurs in the UK. I don’t expect to like every sample or even most of the 7 samples, but it would be good to support a home town firm if there is something good.
Lune de Givre isn’t going to be that ‘something’ though. I really can’t smell it at all, so the musk is probably one that I am anosmic to. I’ll switch to something else later today. :^)
Switched now into Serge Lutens “Cèdre”. I smell cedar and spices, my partner can smell the musk (but I can not). When this decant is finished I think I’ll replace it with Chêne rather than another Cèdre though.
1. I don’t have a fixed line in the sand, but anything above 200 euro will give me pause and makr me evaluate if I really want it.
2. Right now probably Lumiere Blanche, because its a cold weather scent to me and not one I grab a lot.
3. Maybe Reykjavik or Dubrovnik and Nasturtium & Clover which is a new easy to wear favorite.
1. I don’t have a strict limit but can’t imagine going over $500. Not that I’ve even come close to that before!
2. If I had to vote off the island one of the ones I really do like it would probably be Chinatown. Occasionally it gets an edge to it that just rubs me the wrong way.
3. My dream of somewhere to go in spring is anywhere with LILACS! I grew up with them in Michigan and miss them terribly after 30+ years in Texas. So anywhere with them–Mackinac Island, Chicago, Vancouver, Norway…. I don’t want to do anything else but walk around and smell LILACS and admire their many colors.
PS Bought a bottle of Agonist Nordic Noir yesterday–speaking of Scandinavia–it’s marvelous. I don’t find it very nourish but clean and fresh in an interesting way–cardamom and mint–unusual. It’s my fifth Agonist bottle and I find myself wearing one of these almost every day.
should say “noir”-ish–darned auto-correct.
I hear you on the lilacs, Calypso. In the Pacific NW, they were in the garden of every house I ever lived in, but they don’t grow here in Florida. I timed my annual trip home one year just so that I could go to the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland, Washington. The gardens are small, but packed with lilacs – nearly 100 varieties. Ah, the scent of all those lilacs! Heaven.
That sounds GORGEOUS.
(Yeah, FL is too hot for lilacs. )
Kerosene Pretty Machine – a really nice perfume that smells of linden and other summer flowers and leaves. I see a full bottle of this in my future!
1. Now that it’s the time to start paying off my avalanche of student loans, coupled with my decision to reduce my teaching assignment in half, my budget is strictly $100 and no more. Not looking forward to living below the poverty line sans subscriptions to the symphony and opera. Wah! I am going to be so culturally deprived…
2. Bois Farine. I’ve tried layering it with all things sweet and nice but cannot stifle that cumin note.
3. Promenade under the linden trees along the Champs Élysées while wearing a spritz of a barely-there (at least on my skin) Jardin de Mr. Li. On an anti-social day, I would say P de N’s Odalisque in the black forest, Freiburg.
I am spending ALL of my March break on a conference paper that is due in three weeks. Why do I always do this to myself? I thought that I could use some olfactory inspiration to go with the synaesthetic sub-theme (writing about the materiality of musically suffused air in the visual arts ) so I lavishly sprayed on half of my cherished sample of Hermes’ AN. If I had anything with a tobacco note in it, I am sure that Baudelaire would approve!
p.s. My SOTD is clashing horribly with my coffee.
I’m sorry for the stress, but thanks for the very entertaining post
You smell great!
As a NSTer, perhaps it’s time to switch to tea ?
Why thank you Wendsue! By the way, I did brew a cup of Earl Grey and it was a much better match than my coffee.
If you are a fan of EG, hands down this is my fave:
http://sloanetea.com/products/heavenly-cream
Looks lovely, thanks!
I don’t know where you’re located or how old you are, but my experience is that many opera etc companies have discounted tickets for people under 40, or for teachers, and so on. It’s not the same as a subscription, of course . . . not nearly as glamorous! But if you’re in the nosebleeds, you can always pretend you’re in the first three minutes of The Red Shoes.
Good luck with the paper deadline! I have a dissertation chunk due this break, and a paper to make nice for journals, so I sympathize.
Argh! Its under 29 for the opera and 35 for the symphony! May consider getting a part time job as an usher. Then again, the point of going half-time is to dedicate more time to writing.
Bon courage with the dissertation! Finished mine in November and now prepping for my “debut” at the conference…
1. Upper limit for a full bottle–I guess ~$300, as this is the most I have ever spent. Three times in fact, all Guerlains–a 30 ml Vol de Nuit extrait, a 30 ml Apres l’Ondee extrait, and a 125 ml Vega EdT. I am not sure I should count the Vega, however, as I had a gift card, so it only cost me ~80 out of pocket.
2. Alahine–it has been sitting unloved in a cabinet for several years. It is gorgeous, but just not me.
3. I would love to be going on vacation right now, but I have nothing planned until August. I am trying to visit all 50 states in the U.S., so it would need to be a place I have not been. Maybe Charleston, SC. I understand it is really pretty in the spring with all the flowers blooming. I would probably take Secret Garden, as it smells like its name.
Alahine!
Tell me where your island is and I’ll show up in a canoe with a net to grab Alahine before it sinks! Unless Deva or mals beats me to it.
I will most likely offer it in the swap meet. If you have something to offer in return that I want, you can have it.
Charleston is lovely. (But if you go in summer, be prepared to sweat through everything you own.)
That is why I thought spring would be a good time to go
I live near Houston, so I know all about sweating in the summer. Hot flashes don’t help matters either.
Enjoying the BEAUTIFUL Spring weather this weekend! Just mowed the yard for the 1st time this season!
1. I don’t think I’d spend over $75 for a single perfume, and can’t think of when I ever have so far…..The most I’ve paid per ml is $65 for a 30ml Jo Malone. Ouch!
2. 1st scent to go: Guerlain Insolence. I want to love it…even appreciate it…but I just don’t. I don’t like it! It will finding a new home soon…..
3. Only one perfume? LOL How many days are we talking about??? It would have to be something light and easy for day, but still great for nights out on the town. We are actually planning our vacation to the Grand Canyon right now…..so what to wear there? Subject to change at any moment, but I believe I’d reach for Daisy. But please, don’t make me pick just one! HA HA
SOTD: Naughty Alice. Smells fresh and powdery clean after the yardwork!
JPG Classique EDT would probably be the first to go. It turns sour on my skin unfortunately. 2nd in line is probably Ormonde Jayne Ta’if. I have a 10ml travel spray from one of the splitmeets, but the current formulation dulls in comparison to the original sample I had when I first fell down the rabbit hole…
I’d go to Rome, and would take AdP Colonia if it were summer and Aedes Signature if it were any other season.
I’ve been thinking about the poll questions for a day now, and reading others’ responses, and have made little progress with mine. On line in the sand, my brain says $300, but I’ve never actually been able to convince myself that I love anything enough to justify that kind of money. I’m kind of a tightwad, I guess.
On voting off my island, I’m afraid to tell you all which is the clear frontrunner for that “honor” – Seville a L’Aube. Sigh. It just doesn’t work for me. (An aside – does anyone else find it and Hanbury to be remarkably similar?)
On cities, I stalled out. Seems like all the places I really want to visit aren’t cities – Skye and Provence are the two at the top of the list. For Skye, I think I’d bring Dune. For Provence I’d skip personal fragrance altogether and just wallow in the air there.
Wow, I live SA and I like Hanbury a lot but I find them to be utterly different. They must share some ingredient that overwhelms everything else in them for you..
Love Séville à l’Aube… please forgive my fat fingers and my supremely stupid spellchecker!
What is the similarity that you notice in them?
Hi Meredifay,
I’m not sure what the note is that bothers me in them both, but whatever it is reminds me a little bit of okra, or canned asparagus. Something slightly vegetal that almost but not quite makes me feel queasy. There are lots of orange blossom fragrances that I love, so I don’t think that’s it. I probably need to do an arm-to-arm comparison of Seville and Hanbury and see if I can come closer to pinning down what the problem note is.
Well, I confess, I have only spent close to my nominal limit twice – once for a tester bottle of Amouage, and once for a Malle I had saved up to buy (took me three years).
can I ask if anyone has recs for a tiare scented perfume? i love tropical flowers like pikake, jasmine, tuberose, gardenia, but I have tried the pikake oil from Kuumba, its a bit sweet for me, and I just picked up a sample of Alien Eau Extraordinaire at Bloomies which is supposed to be quite tiare heavy. i have not yet tried Montale’s tiare but I am a bit frightened of the coconut aspect….thank you and have a wonderful Sunday everyone!
Ormond Jayne makes a very nice tiare, which is in the Discovery Set. No coconut there, but the flower smell may not be as prominent as you might hope. It’s quite lovely though.
thank you very much!
I think Manoumalia merits at least a try. It’s unlike anything else on the market.
http://boisdejasmin.com/2012/04/les-nez-manoumalia-perfume-review.html
http://graindemusc.blogspot.nl/2009/06/manoumalia-by-sandrine-videault-for.html
This weekend was another fly by and now back to work tomorrow.. I need more relaxation!
My limit is probably $300 since there’s not been a scent that is over that amount that I’ve yet wanted. Mohur Extrait is much more than the $300 but I’d never need the full 50ml for this one, so a split works fine.
A scent that I wouldn’t miss if never able to smell again is probably Bulgari Au The Vert. This tea scent just never worked for me.
I’d like to plan a trip to Spain to see Madrid, Valencia, Seville and then the Balearic islands. I’d take with me a variety of scents, of course Seville A L’Aube, but also Terracotta for the beaches and a few Chanel’s for the cities.