It's Tuesday (I checked). PSA: the swapmeet will be open for another week! What fragrance are you wearing?
I'm in L’Eau de L’Artisan. This morning really called for coffee, so instead of tea I'm drinking a cup of Chameleon Cold Brew coffee (coffee from a jar!) with milk and cardamom.
Reminder: 5/22 will be World Goth Day — get your goth on! (Need help? Here's the wikipedia page on Goth subculture.)
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2020, where I'll try to always have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is detail from Still Life: Tea Set, about 1781–1783, by Jean-Étienne Liotard via The J Paul Getty Museum; some rights reserved.
I am joining you in coffee instead of tea today Robin.
Juan Valdez for me..French Press
SOTD la danza delle libellule
I started to read My Brilliant Friend
… and yesterday we started to watch The Last Dance on ESPN.
Am I alone when I say I was absolutely in love with Micheal Jordan when he played for the bulls?? I told Mr L this last night while watching it. I am pretty sure I was sweating through the first episode.
I haven’t watched The Last Dance yet, but I’m totally with you on the Michael Jordan fan club.
When he took time off from the NBA, we were fortunate to watch him when he played for the Chicago White Sox (Grapefruit league in Sarasota).
It’s funny, seeing professional athletes up close and in person makes you realize how amazingly fit they are.
oh yes, I am on board with the up close and personal observation.
FYI, I had peanut butter and toast (again) this morning. My waistline is not thanking me..but its soooo good..
Can you believe I don’t know how to make coffee? I was never a regular coffee drinker.
My Brilliant Friend is wonderful. Read it a few years ago, and just finished season 2 of the HBO series.
I need to add this book to my reading list!
Dissenting voice: hated the first ~50 pages of the book so much that I had to stop reading it.
Given all the enthusiasm around it, I might give the show a try?
Sometimes, it helps to put the book down for a bit.
It didn’t do it for me, either, Koyel. I just finished The Scent Keeper. Got up to re-apply perfume every time I sat down to read.
The show is very true to the book, & EF was one of the writers. So maybe if you hated the book it will not suit you?
Books and perfume speak to all of us differently.
I have 3 ways to make coffee at home. With zero waste if you compost.
Easy like Sunday morning-French press: add coffee & hot water, stir, press down plunger. The end
Moderate- Manual espresso machine. Pack coffee, push down, twist on, push button. Add milk for some foam.
Hard-Turkish coffee. Add a certain amount of freezing cold water to a certain amount of coffee and sugar to taste and place in a birki on the stovetop. After mixing don’t touch it. You can’t alter anything after placing it on the stove. Watch like a hawk for the bubbles, but as soon as you look away it over boils and you get no creme. The end.
This was all very sarcastic..hope you know me by now.
Forgot to mention after you finish drinking your Turkish coffee, flip cup over and read your fortune…
And then clean your house, mow the lawn, and your neighbor’s house too!
I need this much coffee in my life right now!
We have four methods at home. Usual is pour-over (Melitta filter) into mug. French press. Aeropress Manual espresso. Nespresso machine.
The usual pour over was born out of lack of space for coffee maker.
I’m a pour-over, mostly. Also use the Latin colador (or “coffee-sock” as I like to call it). An Aeropress may be my next purchase…
My method: let husband make his own.
Best technique ever.
I’ll go you one better: get darling hubby to choose an espresso maker that’s so complicated I can’t do it – he has to be the one making coffee for us both every morning. If anything happens to him I’m going back to french press.
Great idea, SheriG!
Clever
Coffee always tastes better when my fiance makes it for me, so that’s how I manage to get him to do it every morning.
excellent call, Nancyl!
?
Heh, that is my method as well. (I am not a coffee drinker. Love the smell, don’t love the taste.)
Same here, pixel!
I have the same Melitta pour over coffee pot that I have had since grad school–nearly 40 years ago!!!! Still makes the best coffee–and easy clean up.
I second that review!
We’ve almost finished watching The Last Dance. I’ll be curious to hear what you think of Michael Jordan after you finish. He’s incredibly talented, but super competitive to an extreme. A difficult person to be with, I would think.
That makes sense (the difficult persona)…
Huge Bulls fan back in the day, loved Scotty and Horace and had all the respect for Jordan, but I am resisting watching *The Last Dance* because I know what a jerk he was and don’t really want to watch it over again. Even though its his production, seems like they didn’t pull many punches. What bothers me is the idea that his behavior was part of his greatness. There are a lot of counter-example to that!
How do you compost in the big city? Just curious.
we have a green market (farmers market) Saturdays in the city and you can bring your compost (also textile recycling, battery/appliance recycling)
So how we manage is in the winter we keep it on our balcony until Saturday. Now, we keep it in a bag in our freezer so it doesn’t smell.
If we miss Saturday or are away, there are other places in the city that have collections during the week and you can drop it then.
In SF, when I lived there, the bin was in your trash area which made it so much easier.
I’m wearing Angelys Pear, which oddly enough does not smell very strongly of pear. It’s a nice summery fragrance with some fruit. Not PdN’s best,b ut very enjoyable none the less.
Tea is a lavender oolong from Palais des Thés.
I’m not really into goths, allthough I do think MPCPC would fit the bill very well.
Glad to hear AP is enjoyable even if not her best. And glad to hear it is not overwhelmingly pear!
The pear in Crystalline lasts longer and is more prominent. And it’s not the same sort of pear.
Lavender oolong must be a great tea!
It is. It’s quite a green oolong and it provides a great back drop to the lavender.
I have a sample of Angeles Pear, and I like it just fine. It doesn’t wow me, but it’s pretty and pleasant.
Oooooooh, that lavender oolong sounds VERY tempting!
I really like L’Eau de L’Artisan, and I’ve been considering some new summer scents. Is it as fleeting as I remember?
Yes, a few hours!
Zoe by Fresh Scents by Terri. The same Terri who now owns Kyse. Love this fragrance ???
Commenting early today and just finished reading yesterday’s posts after having to stop midway yesterday due to mom duties. So this is actually meant for Calypso!
Why is Las Meninas the best painting ever painted? It was the image printed on my Prado tickets last January, BTW. Just asking, not contesting, as I am a Velazques groupie since I was eleven years old, with no internet (obviously!!) and limited library access.
But I read a book called I, Juan de Pareja and Velazques was portrayed as ascetic, driven but fair. Strange what influence books have on our development.
SOTD Nada
I did make that pronouncement somewhat grandiosely, I admit, but many people think that including a lot of important artists. (If you go to Madrid you can walk down the street from the Prado to the Reina Sophia and see a roomful of variations that Picasso painted on it.) First, many people think Velazquez excelled simply in terms of painting abilities, being able to render surfaces and textures, as well as people and faces. Second, the painting has an exceptional array of things incorporated into the scene, including windows, doorways, mirrors, and other paintings. And third, the conceptualisation is incredible, since he shows himself in the scene painting a large painting (perhaps this painting itself?) while the many people in this scene curtsy or bow to some unseen visitors, thought to be the king and queen themselves who are visiting the scene in order to check on its progress. Their faces are dimly reflected in the far-off mirror in the background. This means that Velazquez paints himself doing the painting while they watch, but sort of centers himself in their gaze as if to take a higher place than theirs. It is endlessly fascinating to reflect on. And in person, it is so gigantic! It’s unbelievable! If you want to read more on this, it’s very interestingly discussed by Foucault in The Order of Things. The one comparable painting to it is Vermeer’s The Art of Painting, which is in Vienna, and is also a truly amazing depiction of a painter at work. So at least for philosophers who find these self-representations fascinating, these two are just the very best. https://www.johannesvermeer.org/the-art-of-painting.jsp
Oh I had to Google that painting. Amazing! I remember reading Madness and Civilization when I was in my 20’s and really enjoying it, but honestly, my memory is so bad I can barely remember anything other than that.
There seems to be an abundance of children in that painting. Is that usual for the time period? Or is this a specific group of people in history? Just curious…
The little blond girl is the child of the king and queen, and the focus of all their hopes and dreams, and the other children are the Ladies in Waiting, which is what Las Meninas means in Spanish. Securing the succession was a focus for any ruler of that era, and why they had their genius court painter making a painting of the little girl. There are lots of paintings of that child around.
I did look up the translation of the word “Meninas” but it makes much more sense when I understand the history behind it, so thanks for your explanation!
So, you see the child, who has some sense of the importance attributed to her, but she is still just a little girl with no understanding of why she is important, and most of the other little girls are just little girls, with no understanding of what a privileged life they lead, and then there is the dwarf dressed up as a little girl, with a sense of dignity and understanding of the role he plays, and there are the adults acting out their roles, and the paintings on the walls, which are paintings of the doings of this House, it’s role in history, and all those paintings are paintings of the real paintings of the real events, if you see the original up close and then there is the painter watching it all, recording it all…. and the dog, why is the dog in the foreground? So much going on here, I love this.
Well, thank you! It’s a very “circular” painting, no?
I love learning these kinds of things. But I feel a great despair concerning my ignorance of so many things in this world…?
But after this was done they had a son, so the artist painted over the crown that the maids were handing her. Also this is in a real room on the palace.
Yes, the pictorial presentation of self-awareness, the chosen response to power, the awareness of the choice of how to respond. When I was teaching Art History to junior college students, it was always fascinating to see which students would be interested in this painting, and which ones couldn’t even pay attention to it. I hope those student turn back to this over the course of their lives…
I spent days in the Prado the last time I was in Spain, which was a long time ago. I hope to go back, but now, I don’t know when that will be possible. Valezquez and Titan are my favorites…
Well, that painting made me go down the Las Meninas rabbit-hole…
Sorry, I will stop now. But, if you ever get to Madrid, it is well worth it to see the original in the Prado…
I often discussed it in teaching intro Phil of Art classes. Some students did get pretty engrossed in it. Then in a subsequent class I would show them some of Picasso’s variants and they would sit bolt upright and shout “Las Meninas!” It was the best moment of the whole semester.
Love it when that happens!
Dear Calypso and Meredifay
Thank you so much! The knowledgeable and cultured people commenting on this blog are why I keep reading. It has long ceased to be about the perfume -please don’t tell Robin!
Thanks, and our lips are sealed!
I only discovered this now after spending 10 minutes on the Wikipedia page for Las Meninas, and realizing it would have to wait until after dinner, too much to learn.
And surely you don’t think it would be worth doing this blog for all these years just for perfume? Seriously!
Super-fans like you two probably know this, but Picasso was obsessed with Las Meninas and painted quite a few strange but interesting versions.
I love this painting, too, and use it to teach literature students how to read something closely. They’re always pretty sure the Lord Chamberlain on the steps has some sinister purpose!
Modern students see everything with a practiced but uncritical Film frame of reference. A lot of them have auditory responses to things as well. Back lit spooky guys leads to B grade Horror film sound tracks …
Ha! Exactly. When I ask them why, they usually say, “Well, he’s lurking in the background. In or out, dude.”
“Um, class, it’s a still painting. He can neither come further in nor go further out.”
Yes I did mention the Picasso’s above.
Ah, that’s what I get for only reading the first few posts!
SOTD = Durga, the tuberrose powerhouse…love this stuff…
Love that image of the tea set….Robin you get the best pics.
Thank you! It’s the breakfast somebody should have brought me this morning, ha!
You are smelling Grand!!
I’m in the mood for neroli, my SOTD is Jo Malone’s Orange Blossom.
I’m headed out for my four-mile walk, my goal is to walk at least three miles every day.
Have a great day all!
This morning I did a 15 min ab work out where I did only 5 min (1 set) and then made toast.
Excellent!
I hate ab work, I’d rather swim a mile or run four vs. doing any sort of abdominal work….
I am very happy, I was able to run half of the four-mile walk and met a few nice pups along the way.
Omg, you are my opposite. I’d rather throw myself off a building while doing abs than run! But meeting pups while out is always amazing. Congrats on an awesome circuit!
That sounds like my favorite kind of ab workout.
Very funny! Some days are just like that.
Good for you, SmokeyToes! Glad you enjoyed the walk (and more importantly, that you made pup friends).
One very cute poodle with a serious under-bite and a few mini doxies! WOOF!!
I’m also wearing an eau, this one Eau de Cartier Concentree. I love the pepper that this has on my skin. I think, based on the notes, that it is the coriander. This is from a sample, which I think I’ve worn only once before. I like it well enough that I just ordered a small bottle off of ebay via Beauty Encounter.
I like EdC , can’t remember if I tried the Concentree or not but I dithered over a bottle of the regular for a long time, then never did get it.
It seems a long time since we got an Eau de Cartier flanker — I want one!
The opposite of goth in En Voyage A Study in Water which is an aura rather than a perfume. I like it’s gauziness and the way I just get a whiff of something nice once in a while all day.
What a fascinating-sounding fragrance. I must find some to try.
All wrapped up in Chinchilla. My Lush order brought me a bottle of Lord of Misrule shower gel and it’s been putting me in the mood for all my cozy/earthy perfumes.
Chinchilla ?
I’m in Tea for Two because Miss Goldsmith mentioned it yesterday. It’s wonderful. Maybe I will need more. I wonder how different a new bottle is or if I can find it at discounters?
Discounters
For sure discounters or eBay. It is a good one!
Hi all!
Not very gothy today in my vintage Dzing. But man is it lovely! And lasting pretty well, too.
Have a great day.
You smell fantastic! Dzing! Is one of the first non-mall fragrances that I tried, and quickly came to realize there was a world of very different fragrances out there.
I l over Dzing! also. I’ll never forget a Bloomingdale’s SA laughing at me when I told him that, though (and he worked the L’Artisan counter, too).
SOTD is SL Cuir Mauresque which arrived a day earlier than it was supposed to. Shut the front door! So, I anticipate getting the swappityswaps out this week.
Tea is Trader Joe’s Vanilla blend coffee, with a bagel on the side.
Had a lovely socially distanced visit with an old friend yesterday. We sat on the porch and talked for a couple hours while the rain poured down. Alas, we didn’t come up with a fix for the worlds greatest problems.
Not hugging is hard. ?
That’s great you were able to see a friend! I know about the hugging. Another friend of mine just had her birthday this past weekend and was able to visit her daughter and family (they’re all in Massachusetts) and sit out in their yard, but not hug her little grandsons, and it was so hard for them all. I sympathize.
Especially kids! They need hugs- a lot of them!
It’s kind of double edged in that on a certain level, I’m quite happy being solitary, but on another level, a level I rarely visit, it brings home how much I miss meaningful conversation. I love T-Rex, but she’s not interested in Foucault, paintings, or learning for the love of learning. She excells at humor and love though, so there’s that ??
Not being able to hug friends or family would be SO hard for me.
My Mom is coming for a visit tomorrow (in the garden, socially distanced). Her plan is to throw a sheet over each of us so she can give us a hug… now, I don’t know if that’s a really scientifically sound idea or not, but I did think it was creative.
Woke up in CdR today. I haven’t worn CdR in forever and it seemed like a good bedtime scent. Now I am post shower and did my review, I think I will wear the current version of the original Miss Dior. Currently sniffing Deneuve extrait that is still in the bottle. I just wish that I didn’t have to wear the quieter perfumes to work in the smallest doses just to fly under the radar.
I do not wear old Miss Dior enough!
SOTD: Alahine (note to self: do not spray in the bedroom as this one will wake my husband and he will not be happy)
Tuesday and must be quite windy out as the windows are making a lot of noise.
Roasted sweet potatoes and made cookies today already! Coconut-lime sables if you must know
You must be a really good baker if you can handle those crumbly cookies!
The trick is to cut them in circles and bake in a muffin tin. When they bake they get bigger and fill out the tin a bit and make perfect circles!
Great tip!
Now I have to research what a sable is. Not a cookie I’ve (knowingly) experienced before!
Alahiiiiine
I love how I smell!
i miss mals.
I do too!
you smell beautiful!
Adoration for Alahine!❣️
Heading out for the day. Wearing Cap Neroli.
Had to take off my Fitbit. The band was causing a weird rash that looks almost like a burn. And I don’t wear the band tight. I’ll let it calm down, clean the band and see what happens. I do have a new band tucked away.
I cannot wear fitbit bands but think if you wash it, it gets a little better. I have a leather one I got from Etsy that is beautiful (two shades of pink, but they do all kinds of two-tone leather bands) and have had also good luck with metal bands (also not Fitbit brand).
If you have a link to the store, I’d appreciate it. My sister had same problem with Fitbit.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/746302260/fitbit-versa21-watch-band-handmade?ref=shop_home_active_33
For metal bands, Amazon vendors seem to have better prices but the leather one is so pretty!
How’s it looking outdoors by you? Still crazy quiet on the UWS. Parks are busy though.
It’s actually almost pretty normal out there. Our neighborhood is quiet by nature.
But…as I move toward 3rd Ave and Lex, it’s noticeably quieter.
mmm, Cap Neroli is lovely. I wore some from a sample over the weekend. It feels very French to me.
I hated the band that came with the Fitbit, so I bought two of the metal ones off of ebay…..love them and have had no problem since.
Is it a plastic or silicone band? Do you wear it all the time?
I got an apple watch as an incentive to participate in a long-term study of blood pressure interventions, so I stopped wearing my Fit Bit, but I miss it. It has many tracking feature the Apple watch equivalent apps just don’t measure up to. I refuse to be the uber nerd who wears an Apple watch on one wrist and a Fit Bit on the other, but I think about it from time to time…
Currently compiling a list of OB samples to get the next time I go to Lucky Scent…this goes on the list!
Oh that cracked me up. In a past life I was in the jewelry industry. At one gig, I worked with and for some serious watch aficionados. We’re talking people who would spend 5… 10… 20 thousand dollars on a watch. There was a guy who would wear one on each wrist.
Aside: I have held in my hand a $500K watch. Insane.
Good morning Y’all!
I’m wearing a bit of last night’s Bath and Body Works Lavender and Sea Salt (which has amazing staying powder for a body mist!) and Versace The Dreamer. Lavender and Iris playing nicely together!
Jada, can you describe how The Dreamer wears on your skin, if you have time? I’ve almost bought that several times at Marshall’s, but never taken the plunge.
oh, yes also very interested. I am always looking for another Iris, but I am tired of being disappointed…
Of course! It’s very very light on my skin….I always do 2 sprays for work and it’s a skin scent. Mostly the powdery iris, but I definitely get the tobacco in the background. Starts out a little “barbershop”/masculine when I first spray, but this is definitely unisex. Worth the money if you are looking for a soft, close to the skin iris!
Tobacco is a rule out for me.
Thanks for the description! As long as the barbershop passes quickly, this one might work for me. ?
You made want coffee, Robin. I am going to make a cup for myself either now or after eating.
I am testing Maria Candida Gentile Burlesque, which I saw mentioned as a gothic fragrance, and I think it fits the bill. Dark animalic powdery iris with patchouli is what I am getting so far. Dark purple lacy dress (maybe some leather parts), dark makeup, puple hair – this is the look that would go with this perfume.
*made want = made me want
Ooh, that sounds great!
The dry-down ia a bit of let-down for me – too sweet. Otherwise very good.
I love sweet, not a problem for me, although Elisa’s powdery comment is a bit of a red flag.
It’s a cosmetic-y powder- smells like rice powder to me- not unlike Kenzo Amour.
Perfect! I liked Burlesque quite a bit, though I’ve moved away from powdery perfumes in recent times.
Ooh, I love Kenzo Amour! Not a problem then.
I have on remnants of St Clair Eve which I will replenish later this morning. My coffee of the day and most days is Sumatra Mandehling made in my Cuisinart coffeemaker. I make it very strong and pour in a lot of half-and-half, and four cats line up for their little bowls of cream too. I have now taken to buying goat milk at the grocery store specifically for them because it’s better for them than cow milk. Can someone say “spoiled”? I am doing work today on reviewing (“refereeing”) an article that discusses some of my own work and it’s quite gratifying, even if it did take ten years…. Long story. we have a gloriously sunny day but it’s going to hit 95 or more and maybe break a heat record… and my car needs to go to the shop for a/c repair since the fan won’t come on. Boo-hoo. Robin, that painting is gorgeous! I love it!
Not spoiled, just well loved. ?
I love the image of four little bowls in a row with 4 cats in a row…
Eve is so beautiful, isn’t it? I intend to compare it to Pandora again at some point but will likely squirrel! out. Come to think of it, those potent samples might suffice. What made you decide on Eve over Pandora?
I did like both but Eve seemed so much lighter and brighter, more upbeat and happy. I thought Pandora was a bit more like Casablanca which I love. I had a small bottle, but used it up. Now I plan to buy another.
I went back and forth, but I ended up preferring Eve as well.
I also pour a lot of half n half in my milk as well, but I buy the soy silk half and half
I’ve yet to be able to find the Silk half and half here.
Sample of Hermes Musc Pallida arrived. To me, it smells like an iris soap, maybe a bit sandalwoody. I also do not care for the oily formulation. Very weak, to my now. Meh.
Better news: this morning I remembered that I have a long-hoarded large sample of the original Xerjoff Irisss. Heh, heh, heh.
Irisss is a true iris, but unlike SL Iris Silver Mist and most real irises, it is relatively warm and spicy in tone rather than cool.
Hence not the ideal Goth fragrance, although I guess any iris earns some points. My true Goth entry this week will be AG Mon Parfum Cherie par Camille, which is Jacques Fath Iris Gris’s Goth granddaughter.
When you speak of Goth iris, Iris Nazarena pops up in my mind immediately. Or Iris Cendre (Naomi Goodsir).
Those are great ideas, too, Lucas!
(I wish I would get off my derriere and organize my samples so that I could find them!)
Oh, the AG crossed my mind too for a goth perfume, although I don’t like it much.
I have to be in the right mood to wear it.
First day in the lab this week. Seriously, I haven’t been in for 2 days and so much work piled up I didn’t manage to take care of everything today.
Wearing Jul et Mad Stairway to Heaven.
Hopefully your work partner is pulling his / her weight!
We both do completely different things and I think she has it harder than me
Cloudy this morning with rain supposed to arrive this afternoon. I’m wearing The Ruthless Countess Dorothea. This afternoon is devoted to pet care, the dog gets his nails trimmed and Bertie Wooster is going to the vet, I think he has a UTI.
Oh no, wishing Bertie Wooster the best!
Poor baby, hope he feels better soon!
You smell great. Healing vibes to Bertie Wooster!
Awwwwww, poor kitty! I hope that Bertie Wooster is feeling better soon.
Oh I love Bertie Wooster as a pet’s name! Such good books.
I am on my second Vietnamese coffee, which is how I’ve been preparing my morning brew for the last few months. Intense.
To offset the deep, dark, gothic nature of the brew, I’m wearing House of Matriarch Trillium, which is a bright green, herbal concoction with tea notes.
Happy Tuesday, all.
I love that coffee but I truly can’t sleep any more if I drink it. Sad. I suppose the concept of decaf Vietnamese coffee is too absurd?
OH, just don’t tell anyone you made it with decaff…
I love Vietnamese coffee. I wasn’t a coffee drinker until my late thirties but I think I’d have changed my mind about coffee earlier if I’d known about Vietnamese coffee.
I just received Chanel N. 19 eau poudre. I treated myself as a reward for finishing teaching the Spring semester. It’s beautiful, very light.
You have to reward yourself once in a while.
Such a pretty one! You smell great!
That Poudre is lovely! Nice choice!
Now I want tea and toast.
I’m wearing Zelda by En Voyage. I should really check out more of this line.
Zelda is a gothic beauty, at least on me. You smell wonderful??
In Aedes Venustas – I have, over the course of a couple of swapmeets and swaps, collected a multitude of little decants and it only occurred to me today to consider getting one spray bottle (I like the twist up ones) and put them all together. If anyone has recommendations for where to get one or which ones are good in terms of evaporation, let me know and thanks! Been busy over at the swapmeet, thanks for hosting that Robin, I love looking through lists, exchanging emails, working out swaps etc. Just plain fun!
Happy Tuesday.
Glad it is fun!
I’m drinking my last cup of Rishi Masala chai this morning.
SOTD: L’Occitane Eau des Baux and IA Memoirs of a Trespasser. These work well together! The IA is gorgeous. Waaaant.
I want a bottle of that too!
Will you get more of the Rishi chai?
My perfume matches that terrific paining posted by Robin this morning. I’m in Bal à Versailles edt, and am radiating fragrance. This one definitely wears me, but I don’t care.
BaV is is wonderful, especially if it’s vintage.
Oh you do match!
That’s my favorite hour when the living room is bathed in sunshine, amazing weather today, 21 Celsius and sunny.
In the sparkling Baiser Vole EDT. I also have the Essence de Parfum (whatever that is) but it’s a vanilla bomb more suited for colder days.
You smell great Aurora, maybe I will wear that this week.
Thank you Robin, BV is a classic in the making, I think.
Commando at present, but I am hoping to have the opportunity to wear Romanza later on. I’ve enjoyed thinking about what I could interpret as being goth perfumes, and have come up with a bunch!
Thanks for reminding me to wear Romanza, this is the perfect time of year for it.
Ooh, it’s nice to see another fan!
Inspired by Calypso from the last few days, I’m wearing St. Clair Eve. A gorgeous and powerful perfume. I am also considering a bottle once my sample is gone, and I now have less than half my sample left. I’m kind of shocked I haven’t bought any bottles from them yet. But I guess since I like everything I’ve tried from her (Diane St. Clair), I’ve had trouble narrowing in on a favorite.
I’m facilitating a meeting in about an hour that I’m a little nervous about. So a beautiful perfume and a cute shirt were needed for strength today. I’m wearing this Uniqlo x Marimekko top today in the blue and pink-lavender: https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/product/women-short-sleeve-t-shirt-marimekko-427245.html
Cute top. Good luck with the meeting !
Thanks, lillyjo!
I was admiring those Uniqlo Marimekkos the other day, therabbitsflower!
I have had exactly the same problem with brands that I really like. In my case, Heeley is a good example. Which one to buy???? And sometimes I end up not buying the one I like best because I have, for example, other leathers, so I should buy something different, and so I bought Verveine, which is unusual and distinctive, but I’m forever annoyed that I didn’t buy Cuir Pleine Fleur — and now it’s discontinued?!? ?
Very cute top. Also looks way more expensive than the price in your link.
Indeed! I agree. I’m contemplating the black and white version.
love the top!
That top is adorable! It would look awful on me. I want that “pocketable long parka” in black and white, which is surely the most boring thing there. Plus I want the same print in the sleeveless a line dress, and I promise not to wear them together.
Dryad. Surprise!
Beautiful! I think that Liz Moores has a goth vibe about her, so that must be suffused into her creations too.
Slept amazingly well and woke up refreshed for the first time in weeks.
SOTD is Chinatown, my gateway drug. and it is a happy, hopeful fragrance for me.
Restorative sleep is a miracle worker, yes? ?
It is a happy fragrance. I don’t see colours with fragrance, but sense moods!
Tresor on one wrist and sampling Lyric Woman on the other..two very different roses but both good ?
Happy Taco Tuesday for those who celebrate. ?
Yep! That’s our every Tuesday, right back at ya!?
It’s 10am here and I’m already exhausted. A pseudo-manager joined our team a few months ago, and I haven’t had to work with him until a couple weeks ago. Now that I have to work with him, I find him to be completely insufferable. He is a super-micromanager and is the reason I’ve been complaining about too many meetings lately. He was on PTO yesterday, and comparing the calmness I felt yesterday vs. the stress and high BP I’m feeling today really highlights what a problem he is. I really need to escalate this issue. I’ve told my manager and she says she’ll talk to him, but let’s see if she does and if that affects his behavior.
The gorgeous dregs of my Ginger Piccante decant are doing their best to keep me from losing my mind.
PSA, added an item to my swaplist
Pseudo-manager! LOL! Sorry for the aggravation and energy suck – those sorts of people are the worst.
Thank for your support, meredifay >.< they really are!
Bad managers make every work day a misery. Sorry it’s like that for you right now!
Yikes! Hope your manager helps!
Gasp! I had dealings with one of those in\! They were nicknamed the Meeting Monster, calling all-afternoon meetings for our committee every couple of weeks and then doing NOTHING except, it would seem, go to other meetings…
People who call meetings for the sake of having meetings are jerks. Useless jerks, at that.
I wanted something easy to wear and cheerful today, so I thunked my decant of California Reverie. I’m heading out to Krispy Cream donuts. Today they are giving away a free dozen for kids that are graduating this year. I hope the one near me is participating. I tried to call first but they are not answering the phone.
Mmm donuts.
Nice! I hope you got some donuts!?
I’m so hungry right now I could down about half a dozen donuts haha.
Hope that your donut run was successful!
Love the painting, Robin!
SOTD = April Aromatics Bohemian Spice
I may end up doing a patchouli week as I associate it with goth. Bohemian Spice is out there – resinous, incensy and spicy patchouli. It is wonderful! Click to see Bohemian Spice’s companion ??
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAYFMcUhW0C/?igshid=1soxqzirrbnt4
In other news, the Swapmeet is still open! If you’re looking for mine, my original Swap List was posted on May 16 at 11:58pm. At the bottom of the thread is a re-cap of what remains available. I am also happy to entertain requests. With that said, I am looking to swap for your donation to an organization that is supporting feeding the hungry which means that you won’t be falling off the No Buy wagon; this is another perfumath principle. ?
https://nstperfume.com/2020/05/16/the-swapmeet-episode-16/
You smell great, hajusuuri
Someone (maybe you?) once gave me a sample of BS and it was fantastic but also too much for me.
Possibly. 8 sprays and all is right with the changed world.
That owl is freaking adorable
Isn’t he? So so cute!
Almost twins haha! It’s such a good one!
That owl is insanely cute! ?
I found a forgotten sample of Tom Ford Champaca Absolute today, and it’s lovely. I’m sure I stashed it away thinking, “but I will never pay that price for a big, honeyed floral that might irritate my coworkers!”
It’s probably also the exact opposite of goth.
Such a pretty one! You smell great.
I’m rather Goth today, perfume-wise anyway, in TF London. Another chilly rainy day here.
My employer released the results of the employee survey on when to return to work. Everybody wants to come back into the office by July! Of course, May / June / July were the only choices on the survey. GRRRRRR
Retirement. can’t. come. soon. enough
It will be here in no time. Hang in there!
Someone had the bright idea of sending a Return to the Office Survey. In a pivotal moment, someone asked if a good number said they will have childcare of safe commutation issues, how do we say you’re required to return to the office (or eventually lose your job if you don’t) and yes, we used the survey results to inform the strategy?
Great choice in perfume!
I am wearing just a touch of goth with Aromatics Elixir, which contains a bit patchouli but combined it with a very in-goth like summer dress with a wild matrioschka print
great combo
Hello scent twin!
Belated SOTD: LAP Tea for Two, as so many mentioned it here.
This is my only goth chick/cool girl perfume esp as my husband always says that I smell like a smoker when wearing this.
Have a good week, NST. You make the world a better place.
Ah, perfect goth scent!
Anubis for me today, still lying low with headache.
Oh yuck, two days in a row? Hope it goes away soon!
Actually I’m on day four, but it seems to be easing up a bit.
Hope your head is better soon. Hugs!
Thank you!
A 4-day headache sounds rather scary. Have you seen a doctor, or considered doing so?
Oh, it’s just a tension headache, it will go away when I’ve resolved the issue that’s bothering me. It’s painful but not of real concern.
LUSH What Would Love Do, which I’m quite addicted to, and npw that I’m back to wfh for the time being, I can smell it since, no mask. Such a relief not to wear a mask all day!
Speaking of Lush, I placed an order a bit ago (shampoo bar, body scrub, soap) that arrived yesterday and when I brought it in, the cracks in the box were leaking smelly powder. I opened it to discover it was full of bath bombs- which don’t look like they ship that well since many were chipped, and there was tons of powder from them in the bottom of the box. Ugh. Lots of cleanup, especially fine glitter ?Only some were in paper bags but others were floating freely amidst the packing peanuts.
I notified them and they didn’t want it back, so I gave them away to a few people in the neighborhood since I only have a shower here, bit mow I have bayh bomb trauma and my place smells like PEZ ?
(They are sending my products out to me and notifying the other customer as well).
WFH ??
I’ll take it! Though I know it’s subject to change at any time…
Glad you’re back to wfh! And hooray for no mask! It gets to be a long day with one on for sure.
Me too. It does, and it was like 14 hours some days because of public transportation. The stage 2 on my nose is finally starting to heal, lol.
Wearing a mask all day sounds like hell. So glad you got a reprieve.
You realize how awful it’s been when you finally take it off.
Glad to hear that you are working from home, but “Argh” on the bath bomb mishap. Not sure I could handle my house smelling like PEZ!
Yippee, WFH!! So glad you’re away from those emotionally toxic people for the time being.
Oh no on the Lush order; it sounds like you received someone else’s order on top of it arriving in such a mess! One year at Christmas I received another person’s order; like yours, Lush didn’t want it sent back. It was easier and cheaper for them to reship; everything did finally arrive quickly afterwards in good order.
Glad you were able to work mask-free today!
Wearing Tears of Iris on a sunny and breezy day.
What’s the longevity on you? 8 sprays about 1 hour for me – will have to retry another day.
One to three sprays last about five hours on me though it’s very faint. I guess it’s nose fatigue from the musk. Regardless, I really like it!
SotD = L’Artisan Parfumeur L’Eau du Caporal
I smell like 1985, lol, the year this scent was introduced. Woody vetiver, a little bit of an aftershave-y vibe, but a lot smoother.
Enjoyed reading comments today, only about halfway through. You are an intelligent, clever, and fun bunch of perfume people.
One of the LAPs I never smelled!
I’m wearing Lys Mediterranean . (Oh forget it, autocorrect, I’m tired of arguing with you.) I don’t like this in the winter and I don’t like it when it is really warm out so there is a small window when I enjoy it. It is working today.
Vanille Insensee for a day of sitting in meetings. Luckily I was able to keep my eyes open. I fell asleep last night as soon as my head hit the pillow only to be wide awake three hours later with a brain that would not stop thinking. I hate it when that happens. I don’t usually have insomnia two nights in a row, so I’m hoping I sleep like a rock tonight.?
Hope you get some sleep tonight. You smelled great today.
Wishing you better luck tonight! I find listening to boring lectures on youtube puts me right to sleep.
UGH, I hate those middle of the night wake ups! Hoping that you have sweet and uninterrupted dreams tonight. ?⭐
SOTD (thus far) is Habanita.
Love the painting, Robin. My Mom has been studying oil still life painting for some years now so I have come to really love old-school still lifes.
Song of the day = “Kodachrome” by Paul Simon. It was released on this date in 1973. ?
Wow, is it ever windy here today! There are green leaves and tiny branches all over the place, blown off the trees. Plenty of pollen coating everyone’s vehicles, too. Due to the wind, it is a little bit chilly, too. ?
SOTD = Aromatics Elixir, from the decant stash and someone here at NST. This is very definitely patchouli adjacent! It’s also a possible candidate for Friday…
I can smell you from here. Pretty windy ? here as well.
A little bit of AE goes a long way, even with the current stuff. I suspect the decant is vintage… it has a depth to it that is stunning. Intense!
Sympathizing with your crazy wind. The past couple of days here have been insanely windy.
Hope you don’t have any Red Flag Warnings as a result of your crazy wind!
Same weather here. And I loved Kodachrome. The kids today probably don’t know what that is.
Great song, and amazing pictures/film footage. The colors are so saturated it is incredible.
I love vintage AE; you are smelling fabulous! (I think I went through 2 small bottles way back in the day).
Was almost headed for Bohemian Spice this morning, but went for Avignon instead. I’m glad I did, it’s really helped give me a little serenity today.
Work complaint warning- I cannot for the life of me understand why some people just don’t seem to care about doing a good job at work. Even on days I’m not feeling it, I don’t want to be a slacker, especially when it’s something my director has asked me for directly. I have a feeling several people are going to get an earful from him by the end of the week.
We were almost twins then ?. As to not doing a good job, if they are still getting rewarded for sloppiness, it looks like they trained the manager well.
That’s the problem, they got away with it for a long time I believe. Unfortunately for them, I don’t believe they’re doing to get the same reaction from the current director that they did from the previous one…
Totally agree with you on the work thing. I hate being bored. For me, not aspiring to do a good job and not actually trying to work is totally boring. I’m also astonished whenever someone’s like, “I don’t have anything to do.” I have never, in any job I’ve had, not been able to identify a million projects or tasks that would improve efficiency or improve the quality of my own work life.
At home in Hyde *tips hat to Koyel* enjoying something I could never wear to work. I’m even thinking about a little spray of Moonbloom on the other wrist to see if it’s the best combo I’ve ever imagined or the worst.
Do report back if you try it (assuming you survive)
Oh, I just discovered I love Hyde after not liking it upon first sniff. You smell fascinating.
Miss Dior Originale
The Herb Society of America, Philadelphia Unit, figured out how to do a curbside pickup version of their yearly herb sale. Getting to Pottstown, PA at the right time in the morning to pick up the herbs I’d ordered was exhausting, but I’m happy I got them.
At home, two more sorts of iris are blooming, and the ‘Uchida’ lilies I got from Old House Gardens are sprouting. I put hardware cloth around the pot they’re in. Every time Dad or I go out into the yard, a groundhog or two or three waddle away from us and whatever plants they’ve been feeding on. I figure that the ones that are about a third of the size of the adults are pups, and the half-sized ones are half-grown. The pups move faster, more of a scurry. We still see a rabbit here and there, but we have a plethora of groundhogs.
When I read yesterday’s comments, CdG Avignon seemed to have a pretty good consensus for being a fragrance that would acceptable to goths. So I went with that for today. I’ll try this week to figure out what perfume I have that smells like clove cigarettes. I said late last night that clove cigarettes and incense were the scents I associated with goths.
Yay for fresh herbs! ? What did you get?
Today: chives, Greek oregano and more basil. Also scented geraniums and heliotrope. They customarily offer scented geraniums, ornamental salvia, and heliotrope at the Herb Sale. Also, in previous years when life was more normal, they’d have various bigger plants, including native plants, and some years roses and/or irises. That’s where I got the orris, several years ago, and a few Old Garden Roses.
Early May: Just after the experimental Zoom version of a cooking class from the Kitchen Workshop that I watched, which featured vegetable-based Greek food recipes, I got Italian parsley and basil. Also, I have leftover scallions that I got at that time growing roots in a vase.
Sometime in April: rosemary. Survived the winter: thyme, sage, lemon thyme, lovage, spearmint, apple mint, three or four other kinds of mint, lemon balm, bee balm. I’m sort of counting a very straggly and pale pineapple sage nursed through the winter on a windowsill. We’ll see what happens now that it’s outside.
I’m sure I forgot to list things, but I’m amassing my usual collection of herbs one way or another. One of those recipes called for chervil, which I’ve tried to grow at least once, but the cooking class teacher said we could substitute more parsley. Chervil is kind of hard to source around here. I’ll try again with dill on a day that I can plant it right away…
I was never a proper goth, but I did go through period of enjoying clove cigarettes. And today I enjoy clove in perfume. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Hi!
I can’t take the smell of tobacco smoke, but I’m okay with fairly smoky incense scents. I have clove essential oil and various carrier oils, but I know one has to be careful about putting clove concoctions on the skin. I may try for an incense and spicy carnation mix, which I’d likely enjoy even if it wasn’t accurate (lol), or try to figure out which of those “baking spice” sorts of perfumes or colognes smells most like clove.
I think of it as keeping me off the street and out of trouble. lol
Started my day in Bond No 9 Fire Island. It’s still hanging on a bit after nearly 12 hours.
Yesterday we noticed that there’s a giant bumble bee that seems to hang out in our yard. It was going to my Bleeding Heart flowers and seemed to really like the ones that were a bit past their prime, which I found interesting! And it looks like we have a family of robins in a nest hiding in the juniper tree which is right beside my Saskatoon bush; they are just waiting for the fruit to form so they can have endless lunches.