Happy Almost-Friday! It's also International Plastic Bag Free Day. Author birthdays today: Franz Kafka, MFK Fisher, Tom Stoppard, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Rohinton Mistry, Dave Barry. What fragrance are you wearing?
I'm commando for a day at the beach, but I'll be in Guerlain Mandarine Basilic this evening.
Reminder: on 7/4, wear a fragrance with a basil note, if you have one.
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2025, where I'll try (but usually fail) to have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is Genovese Basil. Ocimum basilicum. [cropped] by Swallowtail Garden Seeds at flickr; some rights reserved.
Hello.
Sotd is Amouage Epic 56.
Does anyone have tricks to make nail polish dry faster? They always seem to take forever to dry. They are kinda mushy and prone to dings even after the 2hr mark. One of the main reason why I only bother to do my nails once in a blue moon. So frustrating!
Yes, eager to hear about a no fail topcoat or the like.
Quicky dry everything!
Seche Vite is an excellent quick drying top coat.
Seconding this, although it does tend to get thick and a bit sticky after the first third of the bottle is used up. The stickiness is only while it’s wet, mind you, but it causes the polish to shrink away from the edges a bit. And using polish thinner on this just ruins it.
It doesn’t work with regular thinner but there is a Seche thinner that works very well.
Oh, good to know!
Thanks! Good to know, will grab a bottle 😀
I’ve been having good luck with Dear Sundays top coat. It doesn’t dry as lightning-fast as Seche Vite, but it does go on very smoothly and doesn’t take forever to dry. It also comes with a brush that’s slightly rounded at the tip, like the newer Essie ones, which makes it easier to follow the curve of the nail bed. (The Zoya brand also has that kind of brush, but I did not care for their top coats at all.)
I haven’t heard of Dear Sundays but it does sound good. I might pick that one up as well.
I love Essie and Zoya colours so I have a few bottles. I didn’t care for their top coats, matte or otherwise.
I also use the drying drops-think OPI makes it. That speeds things up, and if I go to bed after doing my nails I might not get sheet makes in my mani 🙂
Oooh drying drops sounds important! I tried drying spray but it was a fail. Didn’t do anything and I had to protect my work surface because it got everywhere.
I am with carole on the drying drops!
I love Seche Vite top coat. my nails (hands) last for a week, and toes for two weeks! I apply it to the last layer of polish when it’s still a bit tacky, it provides a nice hard, glossy finish.
So I don’t need to wait for a dry surface? Good to know because I’d wait like a dummy.
I have had acrylic nails for a lifetime, but my nail gal used to always use Out the Door Super Fast Drying Top Coat. When she quit using that one, I bought it for whenever I wanted to freshen my nails up a bit. It works great and can be found at many Walmart or Target stores.
Thanks! I will go look for a bottle of this.
Epic 56 is gorgeous and I am hoarding my decant because I can’t replace it right now.
The whole extraits collection is really well done. I recommend Guidance 46 as well.
I will have to try some of these quick-drying tips, so thanks to all of you. I always do my nails at night before bed in order to avoid smears and just use the Sally Hansen 2-in1 base and topcoat and doing that usually works for me.
I have to do them a couple of hours before bed or I’ll wake up with sheets marks all over my manicure. 😭
I’ve never used a topcoat when I do my nails, so I’m following this thread with interest.
I’ve never used a topcoat when I do my nails, so I’m following this thread with interest.
Wearing Un Jardin Sur le Nil for a hot day.
Dave Barry! I loved his column and have several of his books. He writes humor for readers. I haven’t kept up with him.
I have not really kept up with him either, but he did used to crack me up.
Dave Barry’s newspaper column was awesome.
Wearing a sample of Essential Parfums Orange x Santal on the first day of July’s first heatwave.
I bought this sample specifically for the CP, mainly based on this description:
“The bright juice of the orange is offset by the aromatic bitterness from its peel, rounded out with green basil from Egypt.
French oak moss provides a chypre accord, while natural French cypress wood and Australian sandalwood anchor the luminous top notes.”
The orange note is wonderful – it captures the whole fruit, with both juice and peel. It’s quickly joined by basil and cypress, though orange remains dominant at this stage.
Later, it fades, giving way to sandalwood. The drydown is basically sandalwood – pleasant but not amazing. It leans more toward a candle or body lotion type of sandalwood, rather than the exquisite sandalwood/cypress blend of Tam Dao.
So: I love the opening, and the drydown is definitely wearable, but it’s not as interesting or memorable as the top.
I keep waffling on this one, Glannys.
Your description is just lovely.
I went out after writing that comment and kept getting wafts of orange, cypress and basil – very natural-smelling and refreshing. Maybe it needs heat and sun to bloom properly. Definitely a summer scent!
Did you find it leans masculine? That is what I heard about it, but it sounds really nice.
Very unisex, in my opinion
Glannys this is an intriguing comment. I hit a FB of eucalyptus forward Desertland in May and it just didn’t smell right. This weekend in going to give it a shot of fun & heat then smell what happens.
That sounds really good to me, I love all those notes.
Funny how some perfumes really LOVE the heat!
Enjoy the beach, Robin!
I’m about to go upstairs and put on one of my new Spoturno samples, probably Barbacaja. Have to get the kid to summer school; I’m riding the bus with her the first day, though it shouldn’t be hard for her to figure out (walk a block, get on a bus, get off in front of the school). But it’s a different school than her normal one, so I’ll do it the first day.
Thank you, I am!
Hope the school bus route went ok for day 1 and you are trying something beautiful 🙂
I’m currently wearing Mandarine Basilic, so great minds, Robin. Enjoy the beach.
Hey twin! And thank you, I am.
Mandarine Basilic sounds great, will have to try it. Meanwhile, I’m in Le Galion Iris this morning. Haven’t worn it in a long time, and I’m loving it — it’s the carrot-iest iris in my collection, also possibly the flower-iest.
I love a good carroty iris!
I don’t need another Iris, but I may have to try that one.
Too much of a good thing is wonderful! -Mae West
Ooh, carrot-iest is speaking my language!
Enjoy your beach days, Robin!
I’m in a lot of Apres La Mousson-I love this scent. I have no Calone nightmares, cause people here don’t tend to wear fragrance at all. I’m looking forward to my first beach days-maybe this weekend 🙂
Thank you Carole! And hope you get to the beach too.
Hi all, my SOTD is Clarins Eau Ensoleillante, not CP compliant, but a nice choice for a warm day. Herbs, greens, Patchouli, Osmanthus, and linden…
That does sound really nice. Hot here too!
Just made myself take a half hour walk, as I anticipate being cooped up due to sweltering conditions for the next couple of days. As well, though my allergies are typically at their worst in the fall, they’ve been bad this summer too. Had to use about 3-4 times the prescribed doses of ipratropium this morning. Am in Heure Exquise, simply because it’s stashed in the fridge!
I love a fridge scent in the summer. Boo to summer allergies…
Keep cool, you smell great.
Yuck and double YUCK to seasonal allergies!
Haha! (cackle of triumph) It turns out that my AB Mantes-la-Jolie has basil in it!
Mantes La Jolie is a lovely green fragrance –what a nice memento from Paris!
Points!
It’s a cool morning here and I’m currently wearing Stella. I do have a fragrance with basil planned for tomorrow. We still have guests. Getting ready for the next camping trip to the San Juan Islands.
Will you be camping with your guests?
Bon courage my friend! I hope you are getting ample breaks with all of your summer guests. Camping in the San Juans sounds wonderful and hopefully relaxing 😎
It’s a busy errand day for me.
I’m wearing TM Alien eau Sublime. I think I will thunk it by the end of summer.
Will you miss it? Alien and its flankers always intrigued me but it’s too much somehow for me to wear.
I think it’s a really good flanker, but I don’t think I will miss it too much. I still think the original is best. I would miss that one more.
Getting errands done can be oddly satisfying. But it does depend on the tasks at hand.
Post shower Chanel Paris – Deauville lotion and fragrance.
Cause I had to have both.
I do really love the Eauxs for the summer.
Perfect basil scent. I will be wearing that tomorrow.
Smelling lovely today, apsara!
Happy Almost Friday Lovely NST!
Full bottles:
IA How to Say Bicycle in French
Oribe Desertland plus matching body crème.
6 IA samples (Fox in the Flowerbed was my favorite)
Josie Marian argan oil scented sugar scrubs and body crème (Topless Tangerine favorite – but how is a tangerine topless???)
Lush Sleepy shower gel & lotion replenishment
PF Csndle & Co Ojai Lavender (lav + mint + tangerine) & Golden Coast (eucalyptus, lavender, paleo santo, redwood)
Retail therapy was for a submersive scent experience.
I think you maybe meant to put this under Donatella’s section but that’s ok. We still see what you bought this quarter.
Gosh Kris! What would I do without you looking out for me? My excuse: 4.5 hrs sleep last night because I apparently dropped my credit card while out and someone went on a spending spree -16 transactions thousands of dollars. I was up from midnight to 2 am going over charges with CC fraud investigations. I’ve been a mess, losing things, dropping things but this was thé worst. Everything else came back to me immediately.
Oh, no. Slow down and take deep breaths.
Solid advice. Taking deep breaths of Sotd Laundry Day by Abel. Uplifting & optimistic just what I need to make it through.
😱 I’m so sorry, what a scary mess to go through. Hope it resolves itself quickly and positively and I also hope that in the very near future life settles down and gets kinda boring for you – I’ll bet you’d like that!🤗
Omg- blessed boring-ness!!! Come to Maaa-ma !!! Maybe I should change my moniker to LesMessyiesse ?
Oh noooooo. Hope it is resolved quickly.
Thank you sp!!! All good wishes heartily appreciated and embraced !!!
Dang LesLiesse. I’m sorry you had all that trouble. I have had that happen and now lock my cards when not in use. I haven’t figured out how to lock my debit card though.
I have never done that online. But you recommend it? I hardly ever pull my card out anymore with everything going on.
Wow, so sorry! What a huge hassle.
Yes it is Robin ! Btw another fascinating collection of birthdays. Learned so much about Gilman & Mistry !
Oh, what bad luck, glad you won’t get charged for the fraudulent charges, last year someone opened an account in my name but fortunately the bank in question realized quickly, still I was upset, so understand what you are feeling at the moment, + 2am!
Identity theft is rampant, and I appreciate the steps banks are taking to protect us all!
ZOMG! Your credit card getting lost was horrible luck. I hope that financial institution did right by you. What an effing pain.
Yes, and when they questioned me on not disputing the mortuary charges I had to share about my aunt’s passing and why they was a legitimate charge. Blub City! Not BUB but Blub 😭
Maybe they mean topless while wearing Topless Tangerine? Sounds intriguing…
Oops – that was for LesLiesse!
😆😆😆 more skin exposed for fragrance I guess!
SOTD is the beautiful Dusita Splendiris.
It is hard to know what to wear in this heat and humidity today. I am going to stay inside most of the day and read. Reading a very good book titled The Letter Carrier. It is the B & N book club pick for July. The book’s author is from Italy (Francesca Giannome) and it has been translated by Elettra Pauletto. The setting is Italy and is about a woman that meets her soulmate, but he is married to someone else. There is much more to it, but that is the condensed version 😉 by Kris. I am really enjoying it.
Gosh this novel sounds so intriguing! While I don’t know the scent you’re wearing, may I say that Splendiris is a poetic name! Does it live up to its Splendid Iris ?
Yes, it does. It is a beautiful iris and can be found for a good price on many discount sites. Many here wear it. The only complaint I have is that it’s not the most long lasting.
Hot and humid is hard to pick perfumes for. But one that worked wonderfully (for me) was the original Alaia EdP. The Chanel Eaux are another excellent choice.
I added The Letter Carrier to my reading wish list. My library has a copy, but it’s in Spanish! 😆 I’ll be on the lookout for one in English.
I’m wearing Santal Exotique today, from The Exotic Island Perfumer. I remember hearing that his business was destroyed by Hurricane Maria in 2017, but I haven’t heard anything since. I love Santal Exotique–it’s a rich, spicy sandalwood that reminds me of Champagne du Bois without the aldehydes.
Saving my one basil scent for tomorrow!
You may have introduced a lemming for Champagne du Bois…
My first sandalwood love, and still a high bar that few sandalwood scents can match.
Wearing Gris Charnel edp today while running a couple errands today. It just sounded appealing for a warm summer day.
Hope it made the errands easier 🙂
I’ve just confessed to Donatella, and I’m wearing one of my recent purchases, Sl’s Baptême du Feu.
Excellent.
My SOTD is the classic EL White Linen. It’s what I’ve been wearing for the Fourth of July holiday 🇺🇸for many years now; it just seems to fit. Fragrantica lists 22 notes in this scent – they just don’t make ‘em like this anymore! It layers nicely over BBW’s Sea Island Cotton body products and was created by one of my favorite perfumers, Sophia Grojsman.
Looking forward to tonight’s fireworks festivities in our town (most suburbs here are having their celebrations tonight) and hoping 🤞we get no rain, which is a possibility. It’s a wonderful community event with a DJ, lots of music, and games for kids. Temps are already over 90 and the high humidity has returned.
Wishing everyone who celebrates this holiday a safe and happy one! 🧨
Wishing you a happy, safe, delicious and fragrant 4th snd long weekend Laila!
Got a chance for unsettled weather out here for fireworks, too. Hopefully both of ours go off without any issues.
You smell wonderful. I always loved it when ann Ester Lauder “gift with purchase” included a White Linen mini.
Sophia Grojsman’s scents often have wonderful ooomph, even to the point of being Outrageous! 😉 Yvresse, Vanderbilt, and Jaipur also come to my mind.
I’m wearing Parfums de Nicolaï Eclipse, a lily of the valley with basil apparently.
I wore Eau de Guerlain last night which according to fragrantica has basil as well.
Eau de Guerlain is my fave of all those Guerlain eaus, Cologne Imperiale, etc. You smell great, austenfan.
I adore Eau de Guerlain. 💚🍃
LOTV + basil?? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. 🤔
same! 🧐😂
But it do love both LOTV and basil.
It’s a beautiful scent and I was very surprised to discover it had basil according to fragrantica.
For a basil note, I’m in Basile Uomo, an inexpensive Italian chypre from 1987. I think it’s discontinued, but still affordable on eBay.
Along with the basil, I smell plenty of citrus, herbs, leather, and oak moss. Classic, old-fashioned stuff in the Paco Rabanne Pour Homme style.
Happy Thursday, everyone. Have a great 4th!
A basil chypre? You must smell amazing Daniel! Happy and fragrant 4th to you !
Thanks, LesLiesse! Same to you and yours!
My high school boyfriend wore Paco Rabanne. Such a great scent back then. I should look for it and see what it’s like now. 🙂
Enjoy whatever festivities come your way tomorrow!
Frozen cherries and yogurt smoothie
It’s a great relief to get seasonal weather, 24C today but summer is just starting so who knows about two weeks from now. For the CP today Romeo Di Romeo Gigli which I discovered in New York when it was released and tonight Lush Sappho which definitely has a welcome vintage vibe.
Just put cherries on my shopping list! Thank you for the inspiration! I enjoy ready the smoothie of the day (smotd?). I don’t know either scent but on first reading I thought it was Romeo o Romeo as in the balcony scene.
😀It started with the wish to incorporate more fruits in my diet to reach the five a day. Romeo Gigli has the most confusing names ever, I think Romeo o Romeo sounds better.
I have a mini of the Romeo di Romeo Gigli in my cart. Still debating on some others.
Just finished off the last of the Rainier cherries in my fridge. On to the blackberries!
Thanks to yesterday’s comments, I dug out my Eau de Rochas, which I’d almost forgotten I owned. Very nice and CP compliant for this week.
Perfect!
I’ve been smelling great all week in my basil perfumes! Today I’m taking Zoologist Orchid Mantis out for another spin and still enjoying it. The basil note was noticeable in the opening. I’ve also work Mandarine Basilic, Jo Malone Basil & Neroli, and Sisley Eau de Campagne.
I wish I had an older bottle of Eau de Campagne. I got a new one at a discounter and I swear they’d added something like ambroxan, probably not that specifically but something bad. There was no fresh tomato leaf to be sniffed😏
Oh, that’s so disappointing. I’ve had a large decant from an MUA swap for a long time now. It sounds like I’ll have to seek out a vintage bottle if I want more after it’s gone.
Definitely.
SOTD = Dior Sauvage Elixir
So for whatever reason I kept thinking that I have EAU Sauvage Elixir but there is no such thing! Officially, it is Sauvage Elixir. All this to say that I will pretend it has basil …
Air purifiers? I’ve got a bunch. I really should check the filters.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/climate/best-air-purifiers.html?unlocked_article_code=1.S08.4TDe.8WOM66r7D35k&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
I have one air purifier that really came in handy this time last year, when multiple wildfires were burning along the Front Range. I’ve vacuumed out the air filters in it a few times.
I still have one air purifier in the box!
Another calm summer day with temps around 94 degrees F. However, this morning I received both an automated phone call and a text message from my credit card issuer about a potential fraudulent charge. Long story short: it was. And it had been going on since March, a recurrent charge. From a company I had never heard of, and never shopped at.
Those charges are getting refunded, and I am getting a new card in the mail. Guess I really do need to check my statements line by line.
SOTD = Cartier Baiser Vole EdP. Sample thunked!
Smelling beautiful. 🌸 Thunks are so satisfying. 🙂
Thanks tiffanie! I will enjoy each sample thunk I have, since one for a bottle is a long ways off.
Congrats on tthe thunk!
I used to never pay attention to those texts until I got hit with fraud a good number of years ago.
My brother has had quite a few of those texts. In one case, it was almost $1k worth of fraud.
I decided that paying attention was a good idea once I had a phone that could receive text messages.
Fraud has definitely got more prevalent, texting is what my bank does as well.
sotd = Orange Sanguine + Breath of God
Another lazy summer layering adventure that works! 😊🍊🧡 They both have citrus and woods which marry nicely.
I love fresh basil so much, this week’s CP inspired me to grab a basil plant at the garden center. I’ve had good luck planting basil in a particular spot in my front garden. Several of them have managed to overwinter and produce over multiple summers. Just gotta keep them watered on hot days.
I dug through the perfume cupboard and found a scent for tomorrow’s CP. Yay!
Orange Sanguine has one of the best opening accords ever!
🧡🍊🧡
If I had a bottle with me at work, I’d be wearing Eau Sauvage (the original) but this morning when it was cooler out, I turned to the beautiful Absolu Le Soir – no basil but lots of beauty.
Can’t beat lots of beauty, right?
Wearing Guerlain Pampelune. I’m not cp compliant but it was good on a warm day.
Jalapeno, if you’re reading, I found that Korres has a lotion with basil as a note. I believe it was lemon and basil; could be good for summertime!
I forgot about that Lemon and Basil lotion from Korres! It was mostly lemon on me, though.
Ah, good to know! I am babying a jasmine mini for some unknown reason; it’s sooo moisturizing! I know you’ve mentioned Korres often.