Still Here!

Time again for my once-a-month post! I just don't have as much to say as I thought would when I started this. Kudos to all you fabulous bloggers who post daily - or even regularly! I'm about to leave on vacation, going to Los Angeles for several days. My daughter has been out there for the whole month dancing at The Edge and I'm flying out there and then driving back with her, all 1200 miles. Soooo not looking forward to that driving part! But I AM looking forward to seeing her in a few of her classes because she is so very talented and since she graduated from high school, the opportunities for me to actually see her perform have been few and far between. And while I'm on the subject of dancing, I am so glad that So You Think You Can Dance is back on. I do believe this is my favorite reality show. All of those kids are so good, the choreography is (for the most part) of very high quality, they have interesting music and I just LOOOOOOVVVE dance!!! Maybe even more than perfume, but it's really too close to call. Here's a clip of my favorite dance this week.



I fully intend to shop when I get there. We will absolutely visit the ScentBar, the Farmer's Market and The Grove, maybe the Beautyhabit store, Barney's, hopefully we will have time to go down to Costa Mesa to the South Coast Plaza, whatever else we have time for before or after the daughters' classes....



Hey, and look! The Droop is growing up!

Whoaaaa!

Just a real quick post because I have to get to bed! I ordered a bunch of samples from OuchiWowa Dumdididum. Okay, you know who I mean, that place in Germany, First in Fragrance. DearDaughter and I were talking about perfume a couple of weeks ago and it so happened that during the conversation, those provocatively named perfumes by Etat Libre D'Orange came up. Being a 20-year-old, she was immediately fascinated by the concept of Secretions Magnifique and Putains de Palace. So I ordered samples because what DD wants, DD gets. Yes, I know it's my fault.

First, let me say, this place has very generously sized samples. They're all in those 1.5 or 2 ml atomizers so there's plenty to go around! Which is not necessarily a good thing.... From the reviews I had read of Secretions, I was expecting claws and fangs to come out of the spray nozzle. But it's not that bad. No way it's going on my skin (but it did go on daughter's!!), but it's not totally stomach-churning. There is a very metallic tang to it that made my daughter think of the way her toes smell after a particularly brutal day at the dance studio when her toes are bleeding and it mingles with sweat to produce an absolutely lovely accord. Too yummy!

Now onto Putains de Palace. This doesn't smell half bad at first, but then it develops a sort of plastic-y smell. Okay, that's about gone now. This is very strongly floral, almost too strong. I think it's making my stomach hurt...or maybe it's my lunch not sitting well. Hmm, I think I'll go and try to wash it off. Excuse me.....

So Many Perfumes!!!

It's been forever since I updated here, but I guess it's okay since I'm the only one who reads it! My time has been consumed lately with my newest addiction, swapping on MakeupAlley. I only thought I had lots of samples and decants before - now I literally have no place to put all the things I'm receiving. Many of my lovely samples are still in the boxes in which I received them, when I want to try a particular one, I have to stop and think where I got it from to know which box to look in. I've got to find a system!

I have discovered that I love the house of Balmain. A while back I posted about Jolie Madame, now I have fallen in love with Vent Vert and Miss Balmain also. Vent Vert just makes me so happy I can hardly stand myself. I am indeed a green note ho. It's bright and sharp yet smooth and just really lovely. One of the listed notes is galbanum and I believe I've loved everthing I've tried with that. Miss Balmain is more girly, with gardenia, citrus, coriander, jasmine, rose and amber. I can't really provide a good description of it because I don't necessarily smell those notes, it's very well blended and just smells yummy and sunny! Now I need to seek out more Balmains, because I have so much room for them... And on a side note, these are the longest lasting EDT's I've ever tried!

Now to my latest discovery. Bath & Body Works Temptations Iced Tea Twist shower gel. I have taken three showers since yesterday afternoon just so I can smell it some more. I keep hanging out in the bathroom because the smell lingers there. I'm sitting here waiting for the mall to open so I can go buy the lotion and home fragrance oil. It's absolutely wonderful! It's a very simple smell, just like fresh-brewed ice tea with lemon in it and they captured it exactly. I want to fill up the tub with it and just sit in it forever. I'm trying to decide how many more bottles of the shower gel to get. They usually just make these things for a short time and I'm trying to balance how long the stuff will stay good against ummm....the rest of my life!

Our new baby has also been keeping me busy. We named him Rupert and he has already become an invaluable part of the household. He's the rowdiest little thing and a complete mess, will chew on anything that he can reach, so we have to constantly watch him so he doesn't damage himself. The other two hueys keep an eye on him too, but they don't always know what's dangerous because sometimes they're troublemakers too! Want to see another picture of him? Good, because here he is!

You see all those cords? I've moved them since then :)

My New Baby!!!

Don't really have much to say about perfume today, except that I wore Hermessence Ambre Narguile last night and I just love it! It kind of reminds me of Todd Oldham's perfume with that top note of Carmex. Yummmmm....

On a completely unrelated note, I just had to come here to post a picture of my new baby.

The breeder sent me this picture last night and I am so much in love! He is a blue long haired Chihuahua so now we'll have the complete set. We already have a white one, a black one and my parents have a red one (she is BEAUTIFUL). He's only five weeks old right now, so we won't go pick him up until the end of March. I can hardly wait. We'll probably make a side trip to Barneys and maybe the Chanel and/or Hermes boutiques to feed my perfume habit :)

And it begins again...

I just realized that all of these perfumes I have been so lovingly acquiring since November will soon be off-limits for months. A partial listing of these are:

1.the beloved SL Chergui

2.Costes

3.Robert Piguet Baghari

4.Chanel Coco

Notice anything? Yep, they're all very warm, cozy scents. I live in West Texas, where summer begins approximately the 2nd week of April. No kidding. We usually have several days where the temperature is around 100. Mid to upper eighties is the norm and there's lots of days in the nineties. I can't wear those fabulous 'fumes when it's 95 degrees! The above picture is actually what the landscape outside the city looks like! We're at the edge of the Chihuahuan desert.

I used to almost exclusively wear light, "green" type perfumes but I had kind of gotten away from that lately. So now what are my options? I have a couple that might work, but I need waaaaay more than that! I'm thinking Davies Gate Garden Made and Isabella Rosellini's Manifesto will continue to be just fine, but I am open to more suggestions. And okay, I'll try that Philosykos again just because Sweet Diva has been so nice :) But really, I still need more than that. At least 3 or 4 per week........

Iris, Iris, Iris.......

Me and iris, we're having us a rumble. I just don't know what to make of this note, and my brain has fallen back on pseudo-science to make sense of it. Iris smells incomplete to me. There seems to be something scooped-out, or hollow, about it. I keep conjuring up this mental picture of an antigen-antibody reaction. Iris would be the antigen floating about looking for its' mate (the antibody). In some perfumes, i.e. Chanel No.19; 24,Fauborg; Baghari; Fragonard Grain de Soleil, etc....iris apparently doesn't offend my sense of completeness at all. In others such as Iris Silver Mist (I'm sorry! Please don't throw me out of the blogworld!) and Iris Poudre, I keep wanting to add something, anything...?


I went searching on Osmoz and found that the ones I like all contain jasmine and three of them have orange blossom and bergamot as well. So, in a MASSIVE leap of...something, I have decided that the indolic scents of jasmine and orange blossom are my iris antibodies! Hey, I just made this connection as I was typing this! Five minutes ago, I thought maybe I just didn't like iris in the top notes, but it was okay in the middle or base. But I like my new idea better. And it's interesting because I don't really care much for jasmine or orange blossom alone or even as predominant notes. Apparently I don't like indole that much either. We actually use indole as a reagent in microbiology, if anyone cares. It's one of the reactions (positive or negative) used to differentiate and thus identify bacteria. I have no idea what the relationship is between that indole and the indole in jasmine and orange blossom. New research project maybe?

On a related note, here is a picture of my perfume critics.
They are long-haired Chihuahuas. The black one is named Stanley and belongs to my daughter and the blonde one is Poo and he's my baby. Anytime I put perfume on, both of them come running to sniff my wrists. And they have definite preferences! Of course, being dogs, they love musk. Anything that has a good dose of musk gets licked right off. Which is strange, come to think of it. Surely perfume doesn't taste good (except for the Dessert line, and please...we don't go there). And they seem to like those indolic smells too. Dare I say it may be the poo-poo accord?

Saved by TiVo

I'll start out with an attempt to talk perfume, because that's why I started this. Right??? But I have come to realize that I know nothing, so I just blather. Last night I wore Baghari by Robert Piguet and it might very well be full bottle worthy. Because....I smell fabulous, if I do say so myself. I lack the skills to adequately describe this perfume. It seems very well balanced because I really can't pick out all the listed notes, which I will not go into. If you want to read a review by someone who actually knows her stuff, please go to Bois de Jasmin for what I really meant to say. To me, it smells kind of incense-y, but I notice that there is no incense listed. This is just right for someone who wants to wear an incense perfume but doesn't actually like incense. You know, like white Zinfandel being the wine for people who don't really like wine? Yeah, I don't like wine either. What a philistine.... But seriously, this is veerrrrrry nice.

Now on to something else to blather about. I woke up yesterday to the realization that I am going to hell. Or at least, my TiVo thinks so. Some background....back in August, I purchased a TiVo. The upcoming fall TV season looked interesting and I go to work at 8:30 p.m. and my daughter has dance classes and a fairly active social life. So TiVo seemed to be the answer as far as actually getting to see some of these shows that looked good. The TV in the living room was quite a few years old and lacked a place to attach this newfangled contraption, so we put TiVo in the kids' room. I have a desktop computer, printer and laptop set up in a wireless network, so we just added TiVo to it and named him Bob, because it's much easier to type. For various reasons which are too stupid to go into here, we got a second TiVo right before Christmas. He went in my room and is named George.

Yes, that George. He sits right on top of my TV. Unfortunately, he doesn't look quite as good in person as in pictures. But I love him anyway. Anyway, if you are familiar with TiVo, it randomly records things that it thinks you might like based on what you have recorded in the past. It also has a page with "Suggestions" for upcoming shows which it will record if you don't stop it. I happened to wake up a couple of times yesterday and noticed that George was recording. So when I actually got up, I checked it out, and George had recorded 5 hours of religious programming! Not historical shows about religious figures or the religions themselves, but those 30-minute shows where someone sits on a couch and talks about how we're all going to hell unless we let Jaaaaysus into our lives and hearts. Now, I don't want to get into any kind of religious discussion here, but these people irritate the crap out of me. And here they were recorded on my George! So then I got to looking at the suggestions page and there were Four! Full! Pages! of upcoming religious shows ready to be recorded! That's just crazy!

Since my life is an open book, here is a list of the things I have recorded on my George.

1. Prison Break

2. Heroes

3. Battlestar Galactica

4. CSI

5. NCIS

What do we suppose in that list gave George the idea that I wanted to watch Creflo Dollar? And then I had another epiphany. Two days ago, my network suddenly told me that a new TiVo had joined. Until then, it had been unable to tell that there were TWO TiVo's connected, it just thought there was one. Now it knows that there are two, and suddenly I can see Bob on George and the kid can see George on Bob and we can transfer recordings between them over the network. So maybe George actually thinks the kid is going to hell. Or that I'm going to hell for raising the kid. Or.....I'm not really sure. I don't think George likes me all that much. I used to have a Season Pass for Top Chef too, but he recorded every single show on The Food Network for 24 solid hours. I deleted Top Chef , because really, it's not even on the Food Network and I don't like cooking. Once he recorded a TVGuide channel close up on Jude Law. Noooo idea what that was about. Maybe showing that he's not afraid of a little competition? We need to work on our communication skills. I'm not sure I can sleep well in the same room as George knowing how he feels about me.

Thoughts of Gardening

It was somewhat warm here yesterday, around 60 degrees, and I got to thinking about Spring. I have periods when I'm really into gardening because there's really nothing quite like looking at your yard and seeing blooming flowers and realizing that you had a part in it. The last couple of years weren't great for me health-wise, and I really let it slide. But I got myself all fixed hopefully and we'll see if I can get back into it this Spring.


One of the great things to do in Texas in spring is to visit the Hill Country. The roadsides, fields and yards are full of native flowers and it's just breathtakingly beautiful. There are bluebonnets, indian paintbrush, winecups, evening primrose and hundreds more. And they're just there! Nature plants them and waters them (hopefully) and we just get to enjoy.


Fredericksburg, Texas is great fun in the spring. Other times of the year too, but it's prettiest in spring. They have lots of tiny little houses, once called Sunday Houses, which you can rent for whatever length of time you are staying. We stayed in one once that actually had a white picket fence. It was SOOO cute! There are lots of quirky little shops and gardens all around. And one of my favorite places to visit, the Fredericksburg Herb Farm. They have some beautiful gardens with lovely walking paths, a retail plant shop, a retail perfume/skincare/aromatherapy shop with all sorts of things they make themselves, a cute little restaurant, and their own bed and breakfast house. I bought a perfume there several years ago called A+Cross. The listed notes are sandalwood, musk, vanilla, lemon, clove and chamomile. It's a very warm, comforting, sweet sort of a scent. Just a hint of lemon keeps it from being too sweet and the clove isn't overpowering.

It kind of got pushed to the back of one of my perfume shelves and I forgot about it. But I have it on right now and it's pretty yummy! It is a cologne, but it's longer lasting than several EdT's that I could mention. And....it's reasonably priced.

If you happen to make it to Fredericksburg, be sure to drive out of town a ways and visit Wildseed Farms. They have an onsite retail operation as well, but the real draw is the fields of flowers. They grow all their own plants and harvest the seeds to sell, so in spring there are just acres of flower fields. It's kind of awe-inspiring. I feel like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz looking at the poppy field.

It's been about three years since I've been there, so I may have to make time for a short visit again this Spring!

In the interest of spending a little more time talking about perfume. let's discuss Philosykos by Diptyque. This is a perfectly fine and dandy little smell, but I'm going to talk about it from a gardener's point of view. I don't necessarily get fig from this. I know that's what it is, but truthfully, a lot of plant saps smell the same. This is what it smells like when I trim that god-awful eleagnus shrub outside the front door. This is what it smells like when I deadhead spring flowers, pick shoots off the pecan tree trunk, pull (some) weeds. Add in a little dirt smell and this perfume is what I smell and smell like when I'm working in the yard.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that smell.....when I'm working. in. the. yard! But then I come in and take a shower. Because really, it would just be nasty to hang out like that in the house. And my mother would seriously question my sanity were I to take that smell into her house. Because she's a gardener too and would recognize it. So.. while I can certainly appreciate this perfume, I won't be wearing it from a bottle. I have a yard for that.

WooHoo!!

Look over there!! Over to the right. I finally managed to add something to my blog besides my rambling thoughts! That's my baby and he's pretty special. There's also a list of the blogs I read every day. I know, it's pathetic to be so excited by something that everyone else in the world has managed to do. But for some reason I have found this very difficult. I work with computers every day and I'm pretty good at troubleshooting and figuring things out, but I guess my brain just doesn't operate on the same frequency as the people who set up Blogger.

Now I'm going to go take a shower with some of the smelly good stuff my sister gave me for Christmas and think about how to get pictures into the individual posts on this silly blog. Showers are where I do my best thinking. Seriously, every lightbulb moment in my life has occurred in the shower. Then the challenge is to remember what I was thinking after the thirty minute shower has ended. And if anyone who happens to read this has any simple instructions about the picture thing, well......I don't believe in only trusting my showers.
P.S. I figured it out!!!!

Hey, and wish me luck. I recently acquired a rather large TV which my daughter and her friends have decided is ideal for watching the Super Bowl. So they're all coming over.

Mother - Daughter Perfumes

By mother-daughter perfumes, I don't mean that we put on the same scent and our matching Lilly Pulitzer pants and parade about in public. And no, we don't actually have matching wild print pants :) My child is almost as nuts about perfume as I am. She isn't compelled to seek out perfumes which have never been seen or smelled in these parts, but she must be wearing perfume at all times. This leads her to carrying at least two bottles of perfume in her purse which I am convinced will lead to an unfortunate-smelling incident at some point.

So, on to my point. Our taste in perfume is not identical and not always compatible. Dear child is a HUGE fan of violet scents. One of her favorites is Violetta di Parma. This is a rather uncomplicated, not terribly sweet violet (duh!) scent. Not sure if it's a soliflore, but it might be.
She can't go anywhere with me when she's wearing it, especially when going involves travelling in the car. Doesn't matter what I'm wearing, all I can smell coming from her when combined with my perfume, is a sour sweaty smell. I don't know how this happens, because truthfully, violets don't smell sweaty or sour. But somehow, when combined with ANY other scent, that's what it turns into. Any idea how that happens?

Now this is really surprising to me, but you know what goes wonderfully with any perfume? Chinatown by Bond No. 9. Yes, you read that right, Chinatown. This is DC's current absolute favorite. This perfume is loud, brash and I would never have expected it to play nicely with others. It blends beautifully with any of my ambery, floral, fruity or anything else perfumes. And foods! OMG! Take Chinatown to an Italian restaurant if you want to start salivating. Garlic with Chinatown is heaven! It's really good with curry too. I can't wear Chinatown myself because all the top and middle notes are gone within about ten minutes and I'm left wearing patchouli for approximately twelve hours. But the kid's welcome on any trip outfitted in this.

Nothing new today

I was going to be good and try some more samples and review them.....but I have a cold. So I'm just wearing "comfort" scents. Can't eat comfort foods cause I'm on a diet. And my back hurts. And it's FREEEEEEZING outside!!! The tree in my back yard is bent almost to the ground under the weight of the ice caked on it. Poor thing.

Anybody seen that cartoon where the old guy is standing there on a sidewalk wearing dark glasses and holding a tin cup, a cane, and dragging a seemingly dead dog (laying on its' back) by a leash? It's captioned "I am blind and my dog is dead." Man, that just cracks me up every time I think about it. Except when it's the way I feel. Like today. Okay, enough whining. I'm going to bed.

Whew, a couple of days off!

I kinda suck at this blog thing. I never was good at keeping a diary either. But in my defense, my work schedule has been baaaaad. I was scheduled to work six straight 10-hour shifts, but people who work in hospitals get sick too and call in, so I actually went in early a few of those days to help cover the absences so some days were closer to 12 hours. And when that happens, I mostly go to work, go to bed, and repeat. Man, we got some REALLY sick people around here.

But anyway, on to the important things in life.... perfumes. A hectic work schedule doesn't interfere with putting perfume on. Please keep in mind that my reviews will be very simplistic. I don't have a good grasp of all the notes yet, so these are just impressions.

1. Le Parfum de Therese - Frederic Malle. This is one that I had really been wanting to try so when I sprayed it on, at first I was disappointed. It's really tart, almost sour fruit. But then the sour wanes and after a while I smell rose and pepper. I really like that part...Hmm, maybe I should revisit Paestum Rose. But I digress. Then it goes back to the fruit and that's all I really smell but it's nice. While I'm wearing it, I like it okay but I'm not totally in love. And then I find myself thinking about it while I'm wearing something else. So this must really appeal to me subconsciously. I'm not sure that's enough to get me to buy a full bottle for myself. Have you looked at the price of this stuff? Sheesh!!!

2. Soavissima - Profumum. Not just no, but hell no. I'm sure this will fall into the category of too much information, but I have from to time skipped washing my hair for a day or so too long. And no, not if I'm leaving the house. I stay at home when I'm disgusting. And I had read that talcum powder helps absorb oil on the scalp. So you have dirty hair with powder rubbed through it. That's what this perfume smells like.

3. Jolie Madame - Balmain. Mmmm, I really like this one. It opens with violet (a nice violet, not like some I've smelled that are really strong and sharp), and then dries down to a soft, not-too-sweet leather scent. It doesn't last terribly long, but boy does it smell good while it's there. And guess what? You can buy it at discount so it's very affordable and you can spray all you want! Thanks to Sweet Diva for sending me this sample. I will definitely be buying myself a bottle.

4. Miel de Bois - Serge Lutens. Thanks again to Sweet Diva for this one. I had read that this was a love it or hate it scent. Well, I like it. I don't love it and probably won't buy a whole bottle but I do appreciate it. Luckily, I get no cat-pee smell from this. Of course, I don't have a cat and have never had a cat, so it may just be from lack of exposure. I'm a dog person (a tiny, foofy little dog person right now, but big dogs are cool too). Miel de Bois opens with honey and various woods on me. Now, honey can tend to have a peepee note to it, but I find that fades pretty quickly. This dries down to pure woods on me, no sweetness at all. If there were some sweet, it might be a real keeper, but it's a little harsh as is. Maybe layered with something to lend a hint of sweetness? Hey, I just had a thought! I'll try it with Clair de Musc! BTW, both my daughter and the other tech I worked with the night I wore this really liked it. My daughter actually followed me to the door to find out what I was wearing.

And that was my weekend at work! Oh, and it's not perfume, but this is my blog so I can branch out if I want, my house smells so good! I've been burning the Firewood candle from Henri Bendel home collection and I'm really loving it. I wish this was a perfume. It smells like a fire burning one of those fruity sweet woods and I just hover and breathe in.