It's Tuesday, plus Heritage Treasures Day in the UK. Birthdays: Alice Paul, Clarence Clemons and Naomi Judd. What fragrance are you wearing?
I'm in Maya Njie Vanilj. Tea at the moment is a blend of three black teas from Upton (Christmas Tea + Old South Meeting House Blend + a teeny pinch of Lapsang Souchong).
Reminder: 1/14 will be Foody Friday...wear a gourmand or foody fragrance. (This is a repeat from 2015)
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2022, where I'll try to always have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is High Tea_5 [cropped] by InstantReplay at flickr; some rights reserved.
In Teo Cabanel Barkhane.
Busy day, so back to read comments later.
Happy Tuesday!?
Happy Tuesday pl67!
Thank you, Robin! ?
Good morning!
Sotd is V&R Bonbon. The bottle is not the easiest to hold but it is cute.
Currently drinking Marco Polo Tea from Mariage Freres.
Plus, cp points đ
I’m wearing Pomegranate Noir, since that is the closest I found to foody in my sample box. I always forget about it, but then I am not a great Jo Malone fan. This one is good.
One of their better efforts, even if it is not a personal favorite.
Iâm in Azemour today, which is blending surprisingly well with the remnants of something slightly vanillic on my sweater cuffs.
Oh yum!
Iâm in Vanille Insensee. Not gourmand imo but food related because: vanilla.
Today is the day of my birth, and itâs been a pretty good day so far. The sun is shining, I stopped at the big box coffee chain to redeem my free birthday drink, and then I got to work to find out I am receiving a (sizable) bonus this month!? Plus lots of texts from family and friends.âșïž Oh happy day.
Happy, happy, happy birthday, mtg! Sounds like you are having a fantastic day! Enjoy! ????
Happy birthday to you! It’s so terrific that you’re having a great day!
Happy birthday! So glad to hear everything’s conspiring to make it a good one!
Happy birthday and congrats on the bonus!!
Happy birthday!!! ?
Cheers to having a fantastic day!
Happy Happy birthday ????
Wonderful – happy birthday, mtg!
Happy happy! Congrats!
Happy birthday! Enjoy your day!
Happy Birthday!
Congratulations on the bonus too!
?
Happy Birthday! You smell wonderful and sunshine and work bonus in the bargain – now, a tray of those treats in Robin’s picture of the day is all you need to celebrate!
Happy birthday to you! So glad to hear your day is going well!
Happy Birthday! Do you still need to get your insider bday gift from Sephora?
Happy Birthday! I hope the day continues to be filled with good stuff!!
Happy birthday mtg! Glad to hear youâre having a fabulous day. With your bonus, is it time to look at that wishlist? ?
Happy Birthday! Sounds like a great one so far!
Happy Birthday!
What a wonderful post. Thanks for sharing your great day!!! Happy Birthday wunderkind đ
Happy, Happy Day!!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday, MTG!
A very happy birthday to you madtowngirl!! Enjoy that bonus, that’s a lovely present.
Oh, happy birthday. A bonus is a nice gift!
Many happy returns, hope the end of your special day will be even more spectacular.
Happy Birthday!Hope it is a great day and year for you!
???
Happy Birthday! ???
Good news on the bonus!
Thank you so much everyone! You all are making my day!?
Happy Scented Birthday, madtowngirl! Keep warm and enjoy your special day! ?????
Happy birthday!!!
Happy happy birthday!!
Very happy birthday to you!!
Happy Birthday! I hope you had a wonderful day!
Happy birthday! Glad your day sounds really nice!
I got three samples in the mail yesterday and tried one of them, YSL Black Opium: later in the day I tried Dior Sauvage Elixir, which is *shockingly* bad, actually revolting, the worst lavender I have ever smelled. Today I put on Calvin Klein Obsessed for Women, which advertised itself as âthe reinvention of an iconic fragranceâ, a strange joke, unless that iconic fragrance is CK One: this has literally nothing in common with the original Obsession, and is instead CK One with lavender added. And itâs nice! Itâs an entirely unisex fougĂšre, fresh but not aggressively so, friendly and approachable. I wouldnât buy it, but Iâd wear it. I am wearing it!
Glad you had one winner out of the bunch! Iâll try the CKO if I run across it. I would never have considered touching that one without your post, as I can absolutely not wear the original Obsession.
Oh, you’re on safe ground with Obsessed. It shares not one single note with the original: they could scarcely be more different. And I used to love Obsession, back in the day: in the eighties it seemed very sophisticated and sensual (because I knew nothing).
Just thinking about Sauvage would be enough to talk me out of trying the Elixir.
Glad you found a decent one in the bunch!
Sauvage is bad but Elixir is horrifying. I truly don’t understand it. I threw the sample away because I don’t even know anybody who would want it, and I wouldn’t want to smell it on them anyway.
I actually liked it enough to get a bottle. But this is what makes our community interesting.
Yes it is! I am now reminded of the first time I got a sample of Angel, and just the smell of the closed sample in my house was so unacceptable that I sealed it in a baggie and carried it to the outside trash can.
YSL Cinema called my name this morning. I went early to the grocery store thoroughly masked. Now at my home desk with coffee and a slice of homemade apple cake. But no yoga yet.
I like your food and coffee choices
đ
I like your food choice and your shopping habits. I went to Target yesterday morning, masked, and it was blissfully deserted.
One thing I’m going to continue with even when things ease up (they will, right??) is the early morning grocery shopping trip. It makes life soooo much easier.
It might be time for me to switch up when I go grocery shopping. My usual time is getting crowded, and at least half the shoppers aren’t wearing masks.
I just saw our governor declared a public health emergency so perhaps a mask mandate is coming soon.
The small, local grocery store I shop at never took down its “Please wear masks to help keep our employees safe” signs. Same for Wegman’s.
I did see that news story. Looks like Delaware has beaten NJ to a mask mandate.
Drinking oolong tea and wearing Or du Serail today. Or du Serail is the first fragrance with a coconut note that I enjoy!
You smell fantastic! I love Or du SĂ©rail.
Seconding this!
Thirding this!
In Arquiste The Architect’s Club today.
I like that one a lot. Itâs a like for me, but itâs also the only perfume my husband has ever expressed any enthusiasm for. You smell great today!
Thank you đ
You smell very classy! It’s an exclusive club!
Thanks. Interestingly not to many people bring up this perfume from Arquiste.
Sniffing a sample from the 4160 Tuesdays January Joy Box called British Summer. Will switch to something else after my shower.
That’s a funny name though!
Sounds like @catficionado enjoyed it more than you.
Itâs okay, but I wasnât in the mood for a full wearing. Will give it another go later.
Slow Dance
Amber Smokey Sweet
â€ïž
Ack, there are too many perfumes…I had to google to remember that’s a Byredo!
Good morning!
Doing my occasional peeking in to the site. ..
I hope 2022 is better for all than 2021 or 2020 were. I’m sure everyone has had more than enough of plague and fire and flood.
If I smell of anything, it’s baby lotion or sweet almond oil lotion, with the occasional variation of lemon body cream.
Blooming on the dining room windowsill are: Jasminum sambac ‘Maid of Orleans’ and Jasminum humile ‘Revolutum’, a lightly-scented yellow jasmine. On an upstairs windowsill, the patchouli flowered and is now going to seed. A lemon verbena and apple scented geranium are still alive.
As for non-scented flowers, a ‘Red Lion’ amaryllis bloomed at Christmas time. Outside, a couple of weeks ago, I picked two buds from the ‘Rouletii’ miniature rose that is in a very sheltered spot and apparently quite confused as to when to go dormant, considering how the weather has been running hot and cold.
The “milk-and-wine lily” crinum and the ginger lily (butterfly ginger) finally went dormant, and I put the pots in the shed, where they will be sheltered from the wind and some of the cold.
After planting dozens (hundreds?) of daffodil bulbs, I ended up digging up some that apparently didn’t need to be chilled, or had had enough cold days in the fall. I suspect that the majority are in the tazetta family, but some are probably jonquils, and I think some were ‘Tete-a-Tete’ miniature daffodils. They’re in a couple of pots in the house now, and continuing to sprout. Also in pots are the tender ‘Grand Soleil d’Or’ narcissus, also in the tazetta family. One of them is in bud. I believe I’ve said before how I’ll hear all about it if it doesn’t have the delicate, sweet, pleasant scent that it’s advertised to have. lol!
I’ll see which of my poor, confused garden plants survive the winter. Most are pretty hardy, though some remain extremely confused by the variable weather patterns, especially when we have a string of warm days.
Though I was very tired of planting bulbs by the end of November, I’ve recently been ordering summer-blooming bulbs and other plants. I’m trying to stick with plants that don’t need a deep hole dug for them. lol! I was inspired by the gorgeous pictures in The Flower Yard by Arthur Parkinson, and got some of the sorts of gladioli and dahlias he likes. Mr. Parkinson plants many of his flowers in large pots, including dolly tubs(?) — old-fashioned washtubs, I think — and old troughs with holes drilled in the bottom. He also fights the battle of keeping gray squirrels from digging up and eating tulip bulbs. I was right there with him on that one.
Take care, folks! Virtual hugs to those who could use them! đ
Oh, I forgot to say, today’s tea is Bigelow’s decaf chai. đ
A friend of mine mentioned her confused bulbs – daffodils up several inches with the worst of our zone’s cold gearing up! I’m doing a sort of “let the strongest survive” test with papyrus and geraniums. I am keeping the dormant plants in their pots in my garage, which is unheated but gets a lot of warmth from the house and some afternoon sun. I have had geraniums survive this way before. Also, I had a pansy still with a bloom or two survive several days of below freezing temperatures. A night and day of single digits and teens finally froze it.
I love the bulbs in our garden (some tulips, some hyacinth, a bunch of grape hyacinths and little daffodils) but we lost our landscape person and apparently it is beyond me to ever remember when to plant which bulbs. đ Next fall, I’ll try to remember to get some bulbs and plant them!
Hi! Sounds like you will have a beautiful showing think spring.
Getting ready for my first Zoom meeting of the day, and I’ve prepped by spritzing on some Osmanthe Yunnan, for the extra cheer and freshness.
Itâs a pity the others in the meeting canât experience how good you smell.
ooo, you smell good today!
In ELdO Fat Electrician today, so (sort of?) CP-compliant with the vanilla. It’s my last day in a job I’ve been seconded to for the past year, and I’m finishing up with a whirlwind of meetings. I’m going to miss the small team I’ve been on, but I’ll be glad to be getting back to some meatier strategic issues in my old job (all of which, apparently, are in the same state as they were before I left; things move slowly here).
You smell good, and very classic!
You smell nice. Everything in the same status as before would irk me if there was an expectation that someone else will carry your BAU work while you were seconded.
Basically all of the strategy team got seconded to an “agile,” “transformation” office. So, there wasn’t anyone to carry it on — that’s why I chose to go back. đ
Iâm in Papillon Bengale Rouge today and looking forward to how my cardigan will smell on Friday. ?
Tea is Fortnum&Mason Albion blend and Cultured Cup Creme de Earl Grey.
That is a gorgeous scent.
Thank you LizzieB!
I love Fortnum and Mason teas – Rose Pouchong is my favorite, but I finished the last of it yesterday.
I looked up your tea, and the packaging is so pretty! Albion is the first F&M tea Iâve tried and Iâm impressed.
Don’t get too passionate about the rose tea though – I think it can’t be found easily in the US, and I have not found a good replacement for rose tea here.
However, Williams Sonoma carries some F&M and I just bought their advent calendar for a good discount – still pricey per tea bag, but a good way to try a wide variety of their teas! So I guess you get an enabler pin right there!
(also: the calendar has the rose tea in it)
Woo hoo, a tea enabler pin! ? ?
I had that advent calendar this past December and really liked it. The Sicilian Lemon & Ginger, and the Apricot, Honey & Lavender were the surprise favorites for me (I’m usually not a huge fan of tisanes/herbal teas).
In POAL today, not CP compliant except for that whiff of peppery raspberry in the opening. Needed something Big and Goddesslike to face certain elements of today, including a potentially very uncomfortable conversation with Littles’ dad this afternoon, and the increasing unease around the skyrocketing infection rates here and news of a new (voluntary) stay-at-home order. Awake since 4am, bleurgh. Meanwhile, though, I got in a great morning walk with one of my in-town friends after we dropped our sons off at school, and the sun is glorious.
Good luck today Isabella!
I’m sending you good thoughts for dealing with all the hassle.
Good luck, Isabella! Sending positive vibes!
Good luck with the conversation — glad you’re able to enjoy the sun and the little moments with friends.
You smell gorgeous and I hope it will provide a suitable armour for today’s challenges.
I remember having those very uncomfortable conversations when my daughter was young. Sending you the very biggest and best and most positive vibes!
Thank you! I do hope that this period of time is a “young growing pains” phase for this whole co-parenting adventure, and that it’ll all be much more hum-drum as time goes on.
Oh!POAL,I’ll always have a soft spot for this one.You do smell glorious!
I’ll admit that the first time I tried it, I loved it but felt like I didn’t have enough stature, somehow, to wear it. That I’ve grown into it makes me feel very grown-up, in a good way!
?+?and this too shall pass.
It’ll probably be ?, but heartily approve of both the philosophy and the method!
???!
Hope it goes/went well this afternoon. You smell great (and powerful).
It totally worked! I think I’ve finally managed to perceptibly turn the rudder on this tricky relationship, and I credit the good elves at Frederic Malle entirely. And, of course, all you kind NSTers! ?
Proud of you Isabella.
You deserve all the credit!?
w00t w00t w00t! Glad to hear that today’s outcome was a good one.
Yay!!
So glad it went well! Smelling fabulous must have helped:)
About as CP compliant as one can get in Gourmand Coquin. All chocolatey goodness.
Temps have rebounded to a balmy 13. Iâm just finding it all so fascinating living in a cold climate. The deer got over the fear of the big bucket in our back area and chomped happily on corn yesterday at dusk. Sometime in the middle of the night, some creature tipped it over.
My Verilux âHappy Lightâ light arrived yesterday so tried it while drinking coffee. Need to figure out placement. Advice welcome.
Packing up the Christmas Village today. First step in putting away holiday decor, which my husband would leave up year round if he had his way.
How lovely to see deer feeding. Enjoy your day.
I received a Verilux last week and even on the lowest setting it’s pretty bright. I have placed it, perpendicular, in front of my computer and still try not to look directly at it. Will report back whenever I am overcome with joy!
My warped mind thought about what would happen if you chose to MarieKondo your stuff and you have to ask yourself âDoes it spark joy?â ?
I bought a verilux last year and its on the bookshelf right next to my desk and laptop. I like it a lot and change the lighting through out the day.
Sigh, I’m thinking it’s time to take down our Xmas tree. But I’m also thinking I may leave up the lights on the wall, and the red curtains. December was so gray and dreary here, it was so nice to have the pretty lights; and it might continue to be nice to have the pretty lights for the rest of the winter.
I was going to take the tree down over the weekend, husband said please leave it, we need it. So I did đ
Wearing Eau Premiere today. Still feeling a little sluggish from the booster. Going to the vet on Saturday. Jake seems to be going downhill and we want to know if something is bothering him.
You smell great. Sending best wishes to JakeâŠ.hope its nothing serious.
Good luck with that vet appointment.
Hope everything goes well at the vet.
I’m wearing Angel Muse for a 17 degree day.
I’m in the market for a food vacuum sealer. ( not expensive, but not crap either)
I’ve been trying to buy in bulk when I can and I have heard it’s better than just using freezer bags. Is this true or just another gimmick?
How long are you planning to keep the food frozen? Also, buying in bulk sometimes means that the food is already split into smaller packages.
Oh.. well what I mean is that if I buy family packs of beef and chicken it’s cheaper than buying the smaller packs. I can’t cook the whole pack at once so I would want to break it down to dinner portion sizes and freeze until needed.
Thanks for the clarification!
My sister swears by hers. She buys at Costco for her two person household and uses it a lot. Even with freezer bags, I sometimes see freezer burn. There is a learning curve in terms of judging the amount of bag material needed when using, but sheâs always considered it a minor thing.
She lived on Kauai for years and when she moved back to Texas, her foodsaver was one of the few items that made the cut to bring with her. Hope this helps!
Yeah, I am a little concerned about the different bag sizes. I see they sell variety packs so I might start that way.
This makes sense to me. I suggest taking note of the size of the bags and the size of the item you put in. Iâve learned my lesson with Tyvek-like envelopes (for packages).
Scent twins! We smell great ?
Indeed we do!
Interesting. Now that we have a Costco membership, I may consider that. ButâŠwe need to get our second freezer moved in. I generally just use Press N Seal and then put in freezer bags.
What is press and seal?
It’s a specific kind of plastic wrap that is pressure sensitive. It feels a little sticky to me, too. Some NSTers have sent me samples and decants wrapped with it instead of Parafilm.
Made by Glad. One side is sticky, so instead of wrapping like with clear cling wrap, you press it together to create a seal. Takes some getting used to and can be quirky but it works,
Hey, I’m scent cousins with you today, too!
I saw that!
In Eau Suave by PdE, from a sample, so totally non-compliant. I’m having fun exploring all the PdE scents I have not tried before.
It occurred to me this morning that I would love to find a perfume that includes the scent of Pinus Cembra (I had to look that up) – also called Swiss Pine or Stone Pine (the swiss call it Arve and the Austrians call it Zirbe). The wood chips of this pine smell really nice and the scent of the wood is believed to have some therapeutic qualities (but I really just like the scent), and I would love to find that scent in a fragrance. I’ve tried Woodcut by Olympic Orchids, but that’s more lumberyard-y to me. Sequoia by CdG is nice but really reminds me more of eucalyptus trees. If anyone has pine suggestions, I’d love to hear them! đ
Iâll give you the same suggestion I gave meredifay a week or so ago: Pineward Perfumes have pine-forward perfumes. Thereâs a sample set available. I have the sample set but have not tested any.
Thanks for the recommendation! I will take a look.
I thought I had no foodie scents, but it turns out I have enough for the rest of the week!
Today’s is Diptyque’s L’Eau. I am all the cinnamon and clove. I can’t fathom why they called this L’Eau. There is nothing classically cologne-y about it, nor aquatic in any way. The scent is not a light summer trifle either. This is a perfect cinnamon/clove/carnation winter spice melange though, ideal for the frigid day we are having.
I agree! You smell nice!
Intriguing description of that Diptyque! Thanks for the short perfume review.
I wondered if they meant it more in the sense of L’Eau (de Diptyque) …
Revisited more of my rejected decants this AM, and decided, once and for all, Mugler Supra Floral is just not for me. I love the name so much that I am genuinely disappointed đ !
Scrubbed and applied Cassili, given to me by a very generous NSTer, and now is all well with the world.
My decant from Royalty Scents of the Mugler has about 4 or 5 mls left in it. Anyone CONUS-side want it? Ping me at ann dottie eisenberg attagirl comcast dottie net if you do.
Oakland Fresca!!!!
????
?
My tea was strong coffee.
Back to back meetings no camera as I just now got out of shower.
Passage d Enfer to pay homage to the lovely Tiger bottle.
I saw that bottle. Itâs very tempting!
Yep! ?
My tea was also strong coffee after lunch!!
Yesterday was Mancera Wild Cherry and today it was 3 sprays of Neela Vermeire’s Ashoka.
Tonight will be something else after I take a post work shower!!
And I did have 1/2 latte later in the afternoon myself đ
Jovoy’s Remember Me is one of my more foody perfumes, and seems just right for today.
That one sounded nice.
Good Morning!
1) SOTD: In Wild Vanilla Orchid after my strength workout today!
2) Early AM but with a much need break before Afternoon. One of the team members is sick ( is self quarantining just in case) so will be picking up a small project he was going to do on Thursday.
3) Super Generous Pixel send me her travel spray of the new Iman fragrance. What is in the bottle is NOT what I was expecting, and perhaps for Pixel as well? I was expecting a rosier, warmer Terre Hermes- which would make sense for the time frame of Iman’s marriage, and both Bowie’s & Iman involvment in fashion?
Instead, you get this very screechy very synthetic (in a bad way) scent of vanillin, bad amber and a bad floral melange. Shame.
She also sent me a couple of Diptyque samples, so hopefully that will go better!
4) Thank you for the advice re: 401K. I found out that the max is 18.5/year pre tax. While that would leave me skint, that is still very intriguing to see how it all works!
Ya that Iman scent was terrible, lol. Bad, bad Iman.
Such a shame. But what I would expect all the same.
Re: 4) Annual limit is $20,500 for 2022. Those over 50 can contribute an additional $6,500. If you end up with more than 1 employer, you are supposed to monitor your own contributions. If you over-contribute, you can request for the overage paid back to you (net of tax) and reflected as income by April 15th of the following year (not based on when you file your tax return).
OMG- Thank you! I was working off old info.
That would still leave me skint but given that I am now working 2 jobs, possibly 3 ( I may be consulting later on this year) we shall see!
Oh my. It looks like I have two costly expenses coming up! The car has started making an unusual rat-a-tat noise, and the dryer has developed a squeal when the drum turns. Both the car and the dryer have been without problems up ’til now, and the dryer is 14 years old and the car is 7, so I can’t complain. But still, there are so many other things besides repairs I’d like to spend money on. SOTD is Pomelo Paradis, because it is so cheerful. And pomelo, for food CP.
Pomelo Paradis is so wonderful, you smell great!
The beginning of this year hasn’t gotten off to an auspicious start for appliances!
Last Wed, the replacement washing machine arrived (the previous one started acting up in Nov), then Friday the microwave died. Fortunately, there’s an appliance emporium a few suburbs away. Placed my online order for the new one at 1 pm, and one of their in-house vans had it to me by 3 pm, sans delivery fee.
Could use a new vacuum, but am tired of spending on these boring household expenses as well.
Creepy coincidence time! My clothes washer started squeaking yesterday during the rinse and spin cycles. I am dreading calling a tech to look at it, because I have a sneaking suspicion that things could be Very Not Good.
Your dryer could have something as simple as a loose belt, foxbins.
That’s what I was going to say about the dryer.
Iris Malikhan again today becauseâŠwhy not?
First teaching day today in Galway. I am exhausted. Just finished a supper of really good fish and chips (takeout) and the first beer Iâve had in months â am ready, at 6:30, to go to sleep.
Tomorrowâs mission: thanks to Eschmelingâs comment yesterday, Iâve discovered that there is a whole entire standalone Cloon Keen store not ten minutesâ walk from my apartment.
Next question for the group: it looks like I will have a tiny bit of free time in Dublin on Saturday â seriously not more than an hour. Itâs possible that I will just have to go to the hotel for a short nap (the schedule is packed on F/Sat/Sun), but if I have the energy, where should I go in central Dublin to sniff lovely things?
Ooh, I know this one! Pop into Parfumarija at 25 Westbury Mall. I had a grand time sniffing and chatting with the SA who was lovely and helpful. I have just spritzed on some L’Eau d’Hiver from the 30 ml bottle I bought there.
P.S. Brown Thomas, 88-95 Grafton Street, has many fancy perfumes.
Thank you! Parfumeria looks to be a ten-minute walk from my hotel, so if I can walk at all by that point, I will check it out. Will probably skip Brown Thomas for now, since we have one (smaller than in Dublin, I am sure) in Galway.
Hope the teaching went well!
Bill Blass Nude today because I had a sudden urge for it. Always wonderful.
I love this one, too.
Ooooh, I think you gave me a sample of this one. It is indeed wonderful. And you smell divine!
I am claiming partial points for Calligraphy Saffron, that called to me today. We both had our booster shots this evening after work from the communal vaccination team. Great organisation, we were in and out in less than 40minutes. The boyfriend had immediate swelling of his injection site and is nursing a cold pack.
had an improvised dinner with fish finger burgers (homemade buns from the freezer) and fermented green tomatoes.
Glad i can stay at home tomorrow if i feel not well.
Congrats on getting your booster!
Good luck tomorrow tannina!
I had to have a CT scan yesterday and the first nurse kept failing to find a vein for the cannula. As usual I found myself apologising profusely for having âdifficultâ and âfineâ veins while secretly being on the side of the veins in question, thinking Iâd hide and squirm away too if ai saw that needle that big coming towards me. The second nurse came in and had a go, whacking the cannula in to a vein near my wrist that left me with a bump like a blackbirdâs egg. After the scan you have to sit for 15 minutes with the cannula still in ( in case you react to the dye). As usual I was still waiting 40 minutes later until someone noticed. âYou still there?â. âYes.â âOopsâŠâ etc. what does this have to do with perfume? Nothing really, except that I walked back to my car via an alley of lime trees, all in flower and smelling sweetly. Such a beautiful scent. The holly berries are just beginning to turn orange/ red in the graveyard. Wearing Dolce Vita again this peaceful morning.
I feel you on the veins. Mine are apparently an issue, as well — they always have to find the person who’s good at drawing blood when I approach.
There are definitely â vein whisperersâ in my experience
My sister in law is training to become a phlebotomist right now, so I’ve heard some of the stories from the other side.
Me three! I always end up bruised.
At least for the lime trees, kanuka.
Thank goodness that’s over and you can now think instead about the lime trees in flower, the holly berries beginning to turn and perfume!
That all sounds completely awful to deal with, so thank goodness for the linden trees and the peacefulness of the rest of your day. The last time I stood under a linden in bloom, it seemed like every bee in the state was humming in the flowers — it was the loudest tree I’d ever encountered. One of my favorite scents in the whole world, too.
Er, unless they were the *citrus* lime trees, in which case, also heavenly! đ
The staff are all lovely and itâs no drama at all, quite fascinating in fact. Linden treesâŠ.the only limes we get are $50kg in the supermarket.
I have small veins too so I tend to be the squeaky wheel when it comes to drawing blood. That said, drinking water right before hells although it may be fraught with the need to pee if then donât get to you timely.
It sounds all quite uncomfortable, glad you had those beautiful lime trees to comfort you on the way back.
As a fellow haver of fine and very sneaky veinsâŠall good wishes to you. Hoping for good results from your tests, and hurrah for the alley of lime trees.
âYou still there?â âYes.â
???!
And hereâs to dolce vita ?
Ack! That’s a nightmarish story! Needles give me the heebie-jeebies.
You and the lime trees (which I finally figured out are known as “Basswoods” in the Midwestern USA and which line the side street near my office) smell fabulous! Sorry about the blood draw bummer, too.
Wearing Angel Muse for the CP. Had my PT evaluation this morning and got scheduled for another month. Good news is I’m making real progress, got to put a shoe on my surgery foot and have been downgraded to a cane for balance so no more walker.
Excellent! Keep on hanging in!
Thank you!
Glad to hear you’re on the upswing! I hope the PT is helping — I was just thinking about two PT experiences I’ve had relating to past injuries and how those visits felt more like “care” than any doctor’s office visit ever has.
Boy that’s certainly true. Plus the therapist is good about praise and encouragement, which is appreciated.
Thatâs great news. Well done!
We’re PT twins, so glad you received good news.
If I’m not being too nosy, what are you in PT for? Hope it’s going well for you too.
For a broken wrist post-surgery.
Ouch!
Yay for making progress! That’s awesome news, being able to put a shoe on that foot.
That’s awesome!
Congrats on the progress! That’s great.
A shoe and a cane…huge congrats!!
I am CP compliant in Profumum Vanitas now. Berries, marshmallow and orange blossom. đ
Vanitas – that’s a good one that we don’t hear about much. Yum!
Happy Tuesday!
SOTD Rain(brand name) Twig.It’s a very light chypre fragrance,according to Rain,mostly natural,and botanical,although I am not always sure what either natural or botanical exactly means.It’s a fun fragrance,office friendly even!I tested the three they have in the range called Leaf,Twig and Nectar.I bought Leaf and Twig of which Leaf is actually my favorite.Proudly South African brand,which has been my mission since last year:to explore local perfumes and perfumeries.A friend of mine is muling another discovery from Cape Town:Adam Chancellor Madisson’s Absalom.Love the concept,the notes and the bottle is gorgeously oldworldy.I’ll post pics on my Insta,I should have it by Thursday.
Be well!
XO
I love it when perfumistas support a local brand. I could be wrong but NJ is a perfume wasteland ?
Oh how cool! Anyone who wants to see:
https://shop.rainafrica.com/
Back in Shalimar Body CrĂšme today.
I made my IG public again and will suffer the pesky DMâs because I wanted to show everyone who may not have ever seen a bighorn in the wild. The highlight of my stay in Nevada! And yes, thatâs T-Rex acting the fool in the sound clip.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CYmS4oEAjdl/?utm_medium=copy_link
Cheers!
Oh, this is beautiful, thanks!
Youâre welcome!
Ahh, my desert-loving soul needed this moment!
Yay!
Nice! Saw the pics and the story yesterday although not from the link. Doggo was good and didnât spook the bighorns!
Yes, that one I saw on a different day. I was out walking doggo and it was nice and quiet. Came around the bend and there the old dude was! I had to run doggo back to the van, grab my phone, and run back! I didnât want him to decide to stomp or head butt doggo because her big mouth and the fact most wild animals see dogs as threats. He was so chill, ambling about like a geriatric. I hope he makes it another year because he moved quite stiffly, and he was hugely bloated, probably by worms. TMI, right?! But he was so majestic! ?
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
YW!â?
Magical, thanks.
YW!
Nice!!
They were so lovely! I canât imagine carrying those heavy horns around all day with nary a place to take them off and set them downâŠ
Oh Deva, that was so wonderful! I have only made one trip to Nevada to see Lehman Caves. It was also wonderful – maybe you know about it already: America’s newest National Park? Also, I saw one of the Bristle Cone Pine groves while in NV – truly a moving sight.
I didnât know!! I will research it tonight, although Iâm now in Arizona. Thanks for the tip!
Impressive! I haven’t seen those in the wild for ages.
Beautiful, arenât they?
Yep! And they were the mascots for both my high school and one of the universities I attended.
Thanks for sharing, Deva, that’s awesome to watch.
YW!
Thanks Deva!
YW!
Thanks for sharing, that is stunning! I will follow you on Instagram before you go private again. ?
Aw, thanks! Iâm glad you enjoyed them. If I wasnât on my way out I would have stayed and watched them feed, but we had a long drive ahead of us.
Great picture! And I know what you mean about the IG dweebs.
what fun, thanks Deva!
SOTD = Abaton Chinotto Gourmand EDP
I would not have heard of this brand were it not for the Sniffapalooza linking events. I have not had a whiff of one coming up but I will join whichever one I can. There were several in-person events at year end but I was too risk averse to participate.
Chinotto Gourmand smells like vanilla, caramel, Chinotto (I had the candy) and orange blossom.
https://www.instagram.com/hajusuuri/p/CYmV8pYpc1E/?utm_medium=copy_link
In other news, I am still quite devastated with Bob Sagetâs death. I grew up watching Full House and when I can, Americaâs Funniest Home Videos. There were a lot of tributes to him from his fellow comedians. Gone too soon. OTOH, I got a hold of the Betty White Turns 100 People magazine and I will savor it as much as I can under the circumstances.
I love the owl – is it painted wood?
Thanks! Yes, itâs painted wood. The orange and the dark purple sections have tiny pinprick dots that give kt a mlre dimensional look.
Oh wow! I don’t think I have seen a pic of that owl before. It’s stunning.
Thank you. Iâve included it a few times but usually several months apart.
I have been looking at all the tributes too. He seemed like a very kind man. After Norm Macdonald passed, Bob did a very heartfelt tribute to him on his podcast.
I hope he went without pain. I just heard today that Betty White apparently had a stroke 6 days before she died so one would think thatâs the cause of death.
I picked up the other two chinotto frags from Abaton after that sniffa event and have been seriously considering a BUB of of Fior di Chinotto because I love it so much. I should give my tester of the Gourmand another try; it might work better for me now that the weather is cold.
When I wore this after purchase, I pegged it as more appropriate for colder weather and here we are!
I suppose Iâm semi-complaint in Mona DiOrio Vanille. Itâs not foody, but it is vanilla.
Thanks to everyone who commiserated with me over my painting mistake yesterday. We repainted the room last night, and now it is so much better. I told my husband it will probably be the most beautiful bedroom in the world. He just rolled his eyes.
Glad you were able to repaint so quickly! It can be so tricky to know how a color will look at a large scale, and in a room’s particular light.
It was quite mild, 10C but foggy and drizzly, no sun.
I’m getting on with my crochet project, a pure wool blanket in two kinds of blue and terracotta, it helps somewhat with my wrist re-education.
I realized this morning that most of my foodie options are Angel and flankers, today it was Innocent for the CP and this evening I Profumi di Firenze Frangipane, a foodie flower I think and with all kinds of fruits thrown in.
Perfume cousins today!
?
Cousin here too! It’s a family affair ?
Hello cousin, I knew I could count on you for Angel flankers?
Vanilla twin in Outremer Eau de Vanille
A late hey, twin!
Hey twin!
I’m currently simmering a couple of cinnamon sticks in some water on the stove in an attempt to get some humidity into the bone-dry air. I’ve noticed that the cats’ drinking fountain has been evaporating more than usual, too.
Current temp outside is 22 deg F, or -5.5 deg C. Might be more of that coming for the weekend. I’d rather have snow!
SOTD = Angel EdP. After spending some time with Violette Angel, I decided to give the original a sniff. I would never have been able to pick out violet in this, but yep, it’s in there.
Bone dry air twins! We are having spaghetti and meatballs so hopefully the cooking will help! You smell wonderful, though I am not sure I can pull off Angel. đ
I used to think I couldn’t pull off Angel, either. Not sure if the perfume changed, or I did. ??
I saw the first blooming violet of the year here this past weekend, on a long solo hike on the Marin coast. Nearly to the time of year when I put The Unicorn Spell into rotation in its honor!
Enjoy your little violets out in the woods!
I can’t say I would rather have snow. I will say that snow is more tolerable if it’s over 32 degrees.
Side by side the violet is much more noticeable.
It was cold enough to make my eyes water when I opened the front door for a quick peek outside. No snow in my forecast anytime soon, though.
I hope it humidified your house! It sure was cold when I just opened the doors and reached out to retrieve my mail. Brrrr, but I would rather the cold than the snow!
I think it may have done the trick! And now the house smells like Christmas in a good way. Mr. Jalapeno could smell the cinnamon in his man cave, aka the basement.
Keep warm and it’s a good idea to add cinnamon to the boiling water for a nice smell all over the house.
I also have lots of bay leaves I can use once the cinnamon is done.
SotD Elixir des Merveilles. Maybe CP points are in order with all that vanilla? Anyway, this was a random thrifting blind buy but glad it is in my collection now, though I remain a chypre/floriental kinda gal. BTW, Hermes and I have never had an “a-ha” moment with any of their offerings. But EdM is my favorite so far. I am really enjoying everyone’s comments and choices, too. And I really *do* want someone to deliver that pastry tray to me!
I have desperately tried to love the EdM line. The blue one is my favorite but it’s not a love.
Popping back in to say I just got done smelling the new Lush shower gel… the Temptation one. It indeed smells like apples. The cinnamon is also very prominent though, and reminded me of dentyne gum or Big Red.. not the cinnamon spice. I thought it was pretty good.
Thanks for the sniffing report! ??
Thanks for the report, Lillyjo! If it reminds you of Big Red, I may give it a try!
Thanks so much Lillyjo!
Late to the party. Probably no CP for me this week since I am not a gourmand fangirl. I could probably cheat and be gourmand-adjacent but, eh, lazy.
SOTM is Dior Forever and ever Dior. No I’m not stuttering, that’s the name. Apparently Dior is forever and ever a young girl…? This is a super light floral (freesia / clean jasmine / light rose) that’s a good match for the pale pink color of the juice.
And no, I didn’t mean to be wearing a spring bridal scent, I was just struggling with the cap and there ya go, I’m wearing it. I said bad words. I predict it won’t last long even though I sure got a good splashing.
Ah, those inadvertent sprays! I accidentally got myself right in the mouth with Lys Mediterannee once, still don’t understand how.
Got my shirt, face, and glasses. Fabulous. Thankfully, it was indeed gone in no time.
I’m working my way through OJ samples and today’s was Zizan. Sour lime and vetiver with a bit of cedar shavings. Too sour for my skin.
I’ll claim a sliver of a CP point for my tea: Cinnamon Roll black tea from Clipper Ship. That with a cinnamon, clove & clementine candle has my office smelling quite cozy today, which is comforting while people text-yell at me about how the court system moves at a snails pace, as if I have any control over that. đ
Ha! I had a meeting today where the team lead said as soon as they drop the file to the next group, theyâre done because if that next groupâs process fails, itâs THEIR process and her team jas nothing to do with it. So I asked if the intended recipients donât get what they were expecting, who are they going to call? There were alarmed looks.
Good for you!
I didn’t care for Zizan either – too much of that ozonic thing going on for me.
I tried three new samples last night and, fortunately, or unfortunately depending on perspective, I don’t need any of them…. New York by Fragrance du Bois…eh. Oud Vendome, I should have known better since I am not an oud lover. Lastly, Lilac Love because lilac but, meh… I prefer Opardu for my lilac fix.
I went with Five O”Clock Au Gingembre today. One of my favorite gourmands. It smells like earl grey tea and gingerbread to me. It was delightful on this freezing cold day.
Earl Grey tea and gingerbread sounds like the perfect nosh for freezing cold weather, too. ?
A violet Angel sounds intriguing to me also!
I am quite surprised at how much I am liking the violet Angel! I never woulda thought it. But it is so much fun, and just the right amount of sweet, even though I swear I get a marshmallow note along with the violets up top.
Hey Petunia!!! Are you in a testing kick?
I am. Nice to hear from you!
Iâm just checking in. Iâm wearing BK Rose Oud, and finding it rich and comforting. I had a bad fall on Sunday night and have some injuries, so saw a doctor yesterday and will go to another tomorrow. Iâm ok but lucky. Couldâve been worse.
Oh no! Sorry to hear that you took a bad fall and got hurt.
Oh dear, I’m so sorry to hear this! Glad you’re okay, and I hope the injuries are minor and heal quickly.
Oh no, I’m so sorry Calypso!!