Monthly Archives: September 2010

Perfume thoughts

Perfume thoughts September 9, 2010 Comments: 2

I have a really good excuse for not writing more often since I got back from my vacation. It’s not that I don’t sniff perfumes every single day and write notes, it’s the fact that my home laptop is broken so once I get home, the chances of me writing a post are practically non-existent.
Hopefully, that will be remedied very soon so I’ll try and write more often.

In the meantime, I’m in the throes of a terrible shopping madness and want to wander around doing just that all the time. Of course, that means that after work, I head straight home, especially taking care to not go near any perfume stores. And I cannot tell you how much I want to go into one and sniff all the new niche things they acquired in the last few months.

If you know me (from reading my posts this last year and a half), you can probably guess I won’t be able to hold out much longer. And I’m preparing a list of things I want to try – some in Viktor Koncept and some in Institute Parfumeur Flores.

The problem is (yes, I am a shoppingholic) I can’t walk out empty handed. First, chances of trying several scents that I know are on the list because I read good reviews and not liking any of those enough to want it are again practically nil, and then finding something I really like and not buying it?! Impossible.

Have I recently mentioned how I’m trying to save money (or not spend so much)? I’m just very lousy at it so maybe I should stick with stuff I am good at – like spending money. 🙂

Anyway, I seem to be going through a period where almost all the things I try I like very much so I have several scents I am going to talk about soon.
I noticed how once I loose my momentum (or things fall out of schedule), it is terribly hard for me to get it back. It goes for everything, writing, pilates, my eating schedule. So, I’m trying to learn some self-control.

While I’m doing that, I’ll try and write more often to get more practice.

Sherrilyn Kenyon: Chronicles of Nick, Infinity

World of Books September 6, 2010 Leave a comment
Well, I can certainly count on Sherrilyn Kenyon for some good paranormal action. This one is YA but once you get hooked on an author, it doesn’t matter what type of book comes out if it’s on the level with previous ones. Ok, so I don’t love all of her books but I did enjoy many of the Dark Hunters books to keep on buying them and enjoying them.
And that brings me to Nick Gautier. I saw some reviews before I got my hands on my copy and most of the problems reviewers had with this book was lack of knowledge about the world where all this is happening. It is very true. While reading, I kept thinking how I know all the characters already Kyrian, Acheron, Simi, Nick’s mother, all the different paranormal factions, who squires are, etc.
I can see how it might detract from a complete reading experience.
Before you continue reading, some spoilers are ahead.

The Dark Hunter books are set in real time (I mean when they come out, that’s approximately the time they are happening). We get to know Nick as a grown man (not very grown, but no longer a teenager). And stuff happens to him in those books.

Here, we follow Nick when he is 14. I for one, couldn’t have guessed what Mrs Kenyon was going to do with the fact that it’s Nick’s childhood and I’m a bit scared where she’s going with it.
Because, you see, Nick is reaching through his adult persona (who is terribly powerful and can tip the balance of the world) to his teenage self in the hope of changing his own future. I love the premise because I know why would he want to do that and it will make his teenage life that much more interesting, but what happens to the world where Nick’s childhood is changed and all the Dark Hunter stories are already written and have happened. You change the life of one person and inevitably, everyone that person is connected to has to feel the backlash. So, that is what I’m scared of but I’m keeping my hopes up. So far I was never disappointed by Ms Kenyon (I could do with her characters not having to suffer so much but those are her stories to tell after all).

Now I’m off to check when is the  next Nick installment coming out. 🙂

I do love coconuts

World of Perfume September 2, 2010 Comments: 8

As I live in a country where coconuts don’t grow, it’s actually, now I think of it, a wonder how I seem to know forever now what it smells like. Probably since the first time I was taken for a beach summer vacation by my parents. The coconut note was quite dominant  in sunscreens then (well, it still can be found everywhere today as well). It was definitely the first tropical note embedded in my mind forever.

Unfortunately as I grew older and wanted to try and discover all kinds of cosmetics, I stumbled upon several different products pairing the coconut with vanilla and ending up with seriously upset stomach. That smell is also embedded in my mind as an example of how two things that smell so nice by themselves and sometimes together as well, can be made into an obnoxiously artificial and nauseating thing.

Ok, now that I put that off my chest, I can get to the subject of the post. Honoré des Prés. Or more precisely, Olivia Giacobetti. Or to be completely clear here – Love Coco.

After being lucky enough (and fast enough) to win a sample of Vamp a NY (and fall in love with it) from Grain de Musc and reading a really good review by Nathan Branch, I knew I had to get my hands on the coconut thingy. And I was right. 🙂 I just love it when I buy something unsniffed and it turns out a complete success.

It is difficult to describe a coconut perfume since, well, the most true thing you can say is that it smells coconuty (you surely didn’t know that?). 🙂
Luckily for me, even though the notes mention vanilla, my teenage nauseating experience was firmly forgotten with the first sniff of this joyful elixir.

I don’t know how many of you had the chance to use or smell coconut butter (which has some seriously good hydrating properties) but that is the closest smell Love Coco gets to. It’s not too sweet, it’s exactly like that coconut butter, like there is some bark mixed in with that milky-nutty lushness.

I feel a bit stupid saying this, but adding that coriander leaf into this mix was a stroke of brilliance. I mean Ms Giacobetti obviously knows what she’s doing. I would never guess that coconut smell can get this wonderful herbal sharpishness and spiciness. Makes me want to breathe it in more and more. And even though I forswore wearing coconut scents during my teenage years, I obviously found one that made me change my mind.

The good thing is, I cannot see myself wearing this outside summer, beach ambient so my bottle is going to last a while. That is, I’m hoping it will because I keep spraying my arms so I can inhale it during the day.

Notes: coconut, coriander leaf, vanilla.

Pic by: http://www.honoredespres.com/

Rick Riordan: Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian

World of Books September 1, 2010 Leave a comment
I have to admit, I kept postponing reading this book because I thought it wasn’t going to be that interesting (I kinda got that idea after finishing book 4). I was wrong. It was exactly the opposite of what happened with Keri Arthur in my previous post.

The action started right from the beginning, and Percy is 16 now (I think) so the tone is not light-hearted and people start getting killed from the get-go.
The story revolves around the prophecy that on his 16 birthday, a hero (child of an olympian god and mortal) will have to make a choice that will either destroy the Olympian gods or not. I won’t give details what else was missing from the prophecy in the previous books.
Anyway, I couldn’t guess where the story was going to go and especially how it was going to end. Ok, I could have guessed they were going to defeat the Titan Kronos but that is what everyone knew.

What I found interesting was that the end came with the possibility of some other important quests in the future. Now that I read this last installment, I’m actually happy with that possibility.

I hate it when I have an idea about what the book is going to be like and it’s obviously wrong. How many other books have I missed out on like that?

Keri Arthur: Moon Sworn

World of Books September 1, 2010 Leave a comment

I feel a bit bad that all I do lately is talk about books when I started my blog because of perfumes but I need to get these books off my chest and in the mean time, I am smelling many different things and will talk about them soon, I promise.

I was a fan of Keri Arthur even before her Riley series kicked off. This is the last book in the series (for a change, it seems most series these days go on indefinitely).

At the beginning of the book, I got a bit scared that this might veer in the wrong direction than what I anticipated from Riley books. The last one ended when Riley had to kill her soul mate (which is really bad for a werewolf since you only get one per life). Even though she is half vampire, half werewolf, it almost killed her and we get into Moon Sworn reading a lot about how she is questioning everything about her life and should be grateful for Quinn but her soul is shattered and so on and on. You see why I got a bit scared?

Anyway, the plot suddenly gets transported into action and that’s when things start to get interesting.
Even though the book kept my interest, I got the feeling it lacked more meat concerning the story itself. It was kind of flat. It feels like previous Riley books weren’t so easily predicted as this one.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad, it just didn’t live up to my expectations which Keri Arthur raised herself. I saw a lot of reviews saying how great this book was and if you enjoyed the rest of the series, this one will fit nicely. I just wonder is it me or did anyone else feel like this?

Pic by: http://www.keriarthur.com