Category Archives: I’ve been thinking

Contemplating Christmas perfumes

I've been thinking November 21, 2011 Comments: 28

Not to say that I’m contemplating what perfumes I’m going to wear around Christmas but I feel this very strong need to wear some of those evoking Christmas time – now. 🙂

It’s dark, cold and frosty outside and I can’t help but want warm, spicy, Christmasy fragrant perfumes wafting around me.

And of course, when I realized that is what I wanted, I also realized I don’t have that many ideas on the topic.
Here are those that came to mind (you will probably notice they are all by a single perfumer):

Piment et Chocolat – spicy and warm, lightly chocolatey

Festive – evoking fir trees and fun in the warmth of a fire

Nourouz – smelling of juicy pomegranate and holiday warmth

Gingembre – I could use the smell of baking cookies

I could also include Sienna, smelling very cinnamony, and Cimabue smelling clove-y.

Ok, so these are the ideas I had but I would like to enlarge my choices if possible, so please, ideas and suggestions are very much welcome.
You can tell from my choices what I would generally like in my Christmas perfumes but I would love to hear what are your associations when it comes to perfumes that evoke Christmas for you.

What is happening?

I've been thinking November 15, 2011 Comments: 15

It seems my blog is turning into my thoughts on everything else but perfume but I can’t help it at the moment.

Spurred by reading for my thesis, news from the world and just some thoughts of my own (which do tend toward depressing these days), I can’t help but wonder where are we as a world headed?

It hit me 5 minutes ago that my life dependant on resources outside of me was in a downward spiral and as optimistic and positive as I am, I must confess that at this point, I don’t see the trend either stopping or reversing.
Quite the contrary, it seems to be accelerating toward the deep end.

So, that is why I asked what is happening? But more to the point, why are people so mean and selfish as to have brought this upon the world at large, and more specifically, my own country?
Croatia is the slowest European country to start coming out of the recession, meaning, we still haven’t begun to climb out of it, and talking to everyone here (who still has work), it doesn’t seem it will happen any time soon.
I won’t go into details why that is so, but it has a lot to do with the mean, selfish, hypocritical and just plain bad people.

Basically, if I am starting to think it can only get worse, and I have a good job and live relatively protected from the worst of this recession, how do other people fare?
And not just here but all around the world?

And as I’m being honest here, I really wish I wouldn’t worry about things like this. It’s hard for me these days to feel truly happy and satisfied with the world I live in, this is only making me feel worse.

And the bottom line is, is there anything I can do about it? On a larger scale than being part of an ignored demonstration…?

The smell of winter

I've been thinking November 14, 2011 Comments: 14

Finally, it arrived.

Not the actual winter but the hints it’s giving out before it comes.

The smell of snowflakes in the air.

The cold that smells blue.

The anticipation of air turning and sun blazing white.

Ok, so I really didn’t smell the snow in the air (but I don’t think it can be far now) but the rest is here.

We’ve had  a long summer and a strange, humid autumn that made everyone sick and today, finally, the air is bracingly cold, the sky is finally showing signs of losing the clouds and the smell of winter is in the air.

I love the smell of each of the seasons but I especially love the smell of winter. After all, it is my season (as I was born in winter).
I hate being cold but I can’t help feeling that when I smell the winter in the night air (as it seems it’s always night now), I feel at ease and comfortable.
There is something in this cold, night, starry air that feels as much me as it can.

I still don’t know why that is that I feel winter is the time of year when I feel most comfortable with everything. Walking in the cold and enjoying Christmas decorations (which are almost here) and then coming home into the warmth and enjoying being comfortable and cocooned in it – not to mention all the perfumes making me feel warm and fuzzy and happy.
The truth is – only the winter perfumes make me feel truly happy and truly me. 🙂

But, even though this might sound like I will be writing more often than lately, I do think it won’t be the case as some of my personal (delayed by me) obligations will have to take precedence over everything, so I believe I won’t be writing as often as I’d like, but I hope that I’ll be here at least once a week until Christmas (and the rush) passes.

Am I being too harsh?

I've been thinking October 19, 2011 Comments: 8

I don’t know how many of my readers are aware that I am a total cosmetics freak. It was my first love, I adore testing stuff and I’m always on the lookout to try something new.

But it hit me today when I was applying my perfectly ok face cream.
There aren’t that many cosmetic products that wow me.

Those that actually deliver what they promised, or work in a way that would make you notice.
And that is why I don’t talk much about them. Although I wish I would because that would mean there are some truly spectacular products out there available to everyone.
Because I don’t really like to pay a huge amount for a body cream. Or any kind of cosmetic product. Ok, so what I am willing to pay is huge to my mother, but when compared to other cosmetic prices out there, I consider myself rather conservative. 🙂

The last two things that worked really well for me were:

Afrodita Cinnamon AHA Forte Anti-cellulite cream – I don’t use it enough for an anti-cellulite effect to be noticeable but the AHA part works great.

And, a sample of Guerlain’s serum and cream that the most generous Birgit sent, but being me, I managed to forget the name, I only remember it was anti-age (and blue).
But worked wonders to make my inner radiance come out. 😉

So, what do you think about most cosmetic products you use? What really stood out lately?

Growing as people

I've been thinking October 4, 2011 Comments: 8

I completely lost my thread. 😦

I went to answer the comments on the blog and my post title disappeared from my mind. This one is the closest approximation but the really good one is missing.
Maybe it will come to me in sleep. 🙂

Anyway, I had a sort of epiphany today (and the usual place where those happen is bathroom). 🙂

It doesn’t matter what the precise subject was, let me just say it was on relationships (the opposite sex ones) and I realized that the older I am, some things seem to fall into place and I understand those types of relationships better (in this case mine). I also seem to give my partner more understanding for things that would drive me up the wall before.
I’m happy for myself and the feeling that I’m growing as a person. Giving someone else the benefit of a doubt or even, trying to put yourself in their position seems to be nowadays a lost art. Ok, maybe not lost, but not really practised a lot (so, on the road to extinction).

I know I’m far from perfect but I also know I want to be a  better person. I want to feel happy and at ease with myself, knowing I didn’t do any harm to anyone (intentionally).
At the same time, I’m aware that will not always be possible and people will refuse to listen and hear.
But hey, we do live in an un-perfect world.

Would it be perfect if we all strived to better ourselves? And as optimistic as I am, I don’t really think that will ever be possible. But we could all strive to be better and grow as people.
Eventually the world would be such a better place for our children.

P.S. I don’t want to delete my post, but it feels like meanderings without any goal. 🙂
It also feels like I’m following the footsteps of famous Croatian writers, finding inspiration in wine. 🙂

Your favourite perfume moment(s)?

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts September 24, 2011 Comments: 11

I’m finally reading Essence of Perfume by Roja Dove and can’t help but ponder the subject.
Not that I don’t ponder perfumes as a subject regularly. 😉

But at one point, it hit me.

I have a favourite perfume memory!

It was the moment I smelled Shalimar and fell in love (that wasn’t even close to my first try).
Closely followed when the same thing happened with Vent Vert and Chanel 19.

Do you have a favourite perfume moment? More than one?

Some of my thoughts for the freshly anointed (a.k.a budding perfumistas)

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts September 15, 2011 Comments: 24

There’s been a lot of posts written about advice for budding perfumistas, so this is not advice, these are the things I learned in the process of becoming one. 🙂

1. Once you start calling yourself a perfumista (perfume lover, perfume geek, however you want to call yourself), IT’S FOR LIFE. There is just no way you are going to go back to that time in the past when your nose could distinguish only the most common things. And dismiss them in the next instant.

2. However do you start, ordering an army of samples and getting lost in their perfumed sillage or taking time with one by one, it will still take a couple of years of constant smelling for your nose to learn enough so you can finally smell and name the nuances.

Take your time, the journey is lovely and fragrant.
3. After learning this works for me, I actually read it on one of the perfume blogs as proven fact. Nowadays, when I smell anything, I breathe in several quick breaths instead of one long one. Pretty much like a dog sniffing out something. 🙂 Works much better.

4. Once the fragrant world opens its doors and lets you in, you will be joyfully smelling everything in your path as you probably won’t be familiar with the smell of so many things you live surrounded with. And you will start cataloguing them in your mind.

5. Your sense of smell will improve and you’ll be able to detect whiffs of things people around you won’t be able to smell.

6. Don’t got for naturals if you haven’t had previous experience with essential oils and are unfamiliar with the way they smell. Naturals are a perfume category for itself.

7. Pretty much the same goes for vintage. It takes time to understand and like perfumes from days past. But you will. 🙂

8. The perfume community is full of the most lovely people you are ever going to virtually meet (and some of them you might actually meet in real life). Finding beauty in such an ethereal thing like perfume is not something many people actually appreciate and my thoughts run in the vein of perfume people being positive and optimistic to find and actively search for beauty in those little wispy whiffs.

9. Frustration with mainstream will abound. But sometimes, a gem will be found among those shelves of synthetic fruity-florals (or whatever the current vogue).

10. At one point, you will be sure samples procreate and have children of their own. Beacuse they will take over every free space you have (and those that aren’t free, too).

11. Don’t worry if at one point you lose all enthusiasm for smelling and you feel you’ll never get it back. It happens. It also never lasts long. 🙂

12. Thanks to Undina who reminded me – NEVER SAY NEVER. 🙂 You might think you don’t like a perfume family or a single note, but it’s just a question of discovering the right perfume that will open the door into the previously forbidden smelly teritorry (you just wait and see). 🙂

P.S. I plan on updating the list when something new occurs to me.

One of my loves for life – pilates

I've been thinking September 6, 2011 Comments: 9

I’m at a sort of crossroads when it comes to my training routine.
For some 7-8 years I’ve been going to my local gym for pilates and occasional workout class but always pilates.
And it took me some time to achieve what I thought was a balance, I wasn’t as pilates-fit as our trainer but I felt good changes in my body and actually grew a whole centimeter. 🙂

But for years now, I feel like I’m only maintaining the level I achieved and I can’t seem to cross it. Then it dawned on me.
We are a large group there (at least 20, usually more) and our trainer only instructs us, she doesn’t go around improving our posture and setting us straight in positions we are supposed to achieve.
And I want to improve – I can feel my spine losing its mobility just for the 3 months I’ve been away from it.

So, I’ve decided since I love doing pilates, to go to a real pilates studio and exercise in a small group of 5 where the trainer is always there to make you do the exercise right (and basically torture you). 🙂

There were 2 studios that  I decided to try and now I’m having a problem. I mean I decided to go to the second one, where they do straight Pilates pilates and not STOTT pilates which seemed interesting to me when I went for a class there.

One of the things I love about both pilates studios I’ve been to, is that the atmosphere is completely different than from the gym. They are more oriented to the individual and it feels more welcome and you feel like someone is actually paying attention to what you do.
Of course, this is going to cost me twice as much as my usual gym card did, but I’m willing to try and see if it works (and from the 2 classes I’ve been to, I can’t see how it won’t).

Hmmm, if you were wondering how did I get to explaining my pilates studio choices from pilates being the love of my life, well it’s easy.
I love it so much and I saw that what I did wasn’t getting me anywhere, so I decided to change my routine pattern that was a normal part of my life, and go for something new and more demanding.
I am ready to face my new pilates life. Beacuse I love it so much.

And I hope after a few months of training in a little group and learning better pilates postures, I will go for an instructor course.

Beacuse this love of my life brings more fullness to my life the more I invest myself in it. Isn’t that what true love is about?

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

Your nightmare fragrance? Inquiring minds want to know…

I've been thinking August 30, 2011 Comments: 25

My collaborator Asali came with a very good question today, one I haven’t yet seen posed anywhere and I like the challenge of answering it. 🙂

So, the question is, what would be the notes of your nightmare fragrance?

Here is Asali’s nightmare fragrance:

Top: Aquatic/ ozone/ tequila (or the wodka note of Ambre Russe!)

Heart: lychee, watermelon, Lily (the indolic-cats-piss-one) and an overdosed Tuberose (like the IPdF)
Base: OUD, and the synthetic white musk. Somewhere in there you can throw some dill and star anise, and I’ll be sure to get ill from sniffing it.

I’m almost with her on the notes of her nightmare fragrance, but I adore Ambre Russe (and have to re-smell it now because I’ve missed the wodka part). 🙂

Here is mine:

Top: aquatic note, synthetic fruit (berries and peaches usually),
Heart: watermelon, cheap almond note, milk
Base: Synthetic white musk

I shudder just thinking about it.

So, let’s hear it – we look forward to the possibilities out there. 🙂

P.S. I reserve the right to add a note or two to my original thoughts.

Feeling gluttonous and ready to write

I've been thinking August 25, 2011 Comments: 8

Luckily for me, the gluttony is only perfume related. 🙂

I feel so very lucky because in the last month or so I received so many wonderful packages, some from swaps, some I ordered, and some just because perfume people are very generous.

I’m nowhere near to smelling them all and I feel it’s going to take some time before I even smell them once, let alone write about them.

But, and I hope the feeling lasts, I feel eager and ready to write about many wonders I’ve been smelling recently so I hope to get on with it soon.
The only problem I have at the moment is the intense heat here so coming home and sitting behing a computer writing is not even remotely comfortable (no AC there).

Hopefully, the heat will dissipate somewhat (and soon!), although judging by forecast, not much but at least it won’t be 37 degrees Celsius in the most humid town I’ve ever been to. I actually don’t feel well most of the time.

Anyway, I want to get some reviews done about perfumes and people who deserve more recognition and about some perfumes that get recognition without any help. 🙂 Many of which landed in my lap without much work from me.

Like I said, I feel very lucky. 🙂

Pic is mine.