Category Archives: I’ve been thinking

Musings on the subject of Harry Potter (again)

I've been thinking August 8, 2011 Comments: 22

There is a good saying in Croatian that I cannot translate into English and retain the same idea. But the gist is that while everyone talks about different subjects, the person in question always returns to the same.
In my case, that would be Harry Potter.
Well, it is the season after all, what with the last movie playing. 🙂

Since I’m on vacation, and I obviously needed it (vacation that is), as the only thing I can read at the moment is HP. Not being interested in reading is in my case a serious sign that I am stressed out. So, I’m de-stressing through HP, as that one always works.
And here are my musings on the subject:

  • The HP series ALWAYS works when I need to relax and find peace and calm in my life.

  • I hate the fact that the movies made me forget so many details from the books (especially beginning, as I usually skip that and read the longer books).

  • I don’t know how many times I re-read the series, but I seem to be getting all the hints as to what is to come, only now. I can see where certain points in the story are going to come back later on as important details as to what exactly is happening. And I think Rowling is a genius the way she incorporated those little hints all over the books.
  • Books are much better at getting Harry’s tragic and black childhood understood. Movies cannot transfer that bleakness onto the screen. Nor everything going through Harry’s mind. Which brings me back to the question how much can people actually get from the movies.

  • I need to learn to read more slowly. Because I think that is the reason why I missed many little gems and hints hidden in the stories.

  • I wasn’t sure movies ought to have had so many fun moments (especially later on) but they are there in the books as well. And I laugh much more this time around reading. I’m frustrated much more too, though.

  • Bravery is something you are born with. So is the ability to be a true friend.

  • I wish there was more of the backstory what happened between Hermione and Krum.

Comforting thoughts

I've been thinking July 7, 2011 Comments: 6

– In a week from now, my exam flurry will be over.

– Also, by that time, I will have watched the last Harry Potter movie (an extremely happy and comforting thought).

– Only three weeks are left until my 3-week long summer vacation.

– It’s barbecue season.

– Tomatoes finally taste the way they are supposed to.

– Beer tastes better in the summer.

– I might finish my post-graduate studies by the end of the year (finally).

– Short-haired is how I feel best in the summer.

– And one that isn’t comforting (but makes me feel lazily happy) – it’s too hot to exercise and I just can’t do it until temperatures fall back under 30 degrees Celsius.

I’ve been thinking

I've been thinking June 10, 2011 Comments: 16

I’m learning to go with the flow.  I mean, I have so many things in my head I want to do but realization is dubious as I don’t have enough time to do everything and get a good night’s sleep (even not going through with everything I want to, I don’t get enough sleep).

I don’t really feel I accomplish much, I usually just feel lazy and therefore add more pressure on my already tired self. That is why I said I’m learning to go with the flow (but I still can’t help but want to change it). 🙂

This of course applies to perfume reviews. I keep writing notes but I constantly feel I need to work more on them so I don’t post anything. And then the longer I don’t write, the more I feel like it’s no good what I’ll write so I just postpone it again.  Ok, this week even if I wanted to write, it would have been difficult.

That’s why I get so jealous of Birgit of Olfactoria’s Travels, she has 2 little children and manages to write each day (sometimes more than once!). 🙂 I’m happy if I get 3 posts a week.

Anyway, I can see I’m rambling without any clear goal (I tend to do that sometimes).

My conclusion is this, I won’t force myself to write but I will try my best at writing as often as I can because then it really flows easier. Because if I make a break, it’s always hard to get back into writing.

And I’ll leave you with a useful advice you don’t need because you all probably already know this but I got a free sample so I tried it.
Lacoste’s Joy of Pink (and it’s NEON pink) is that terrible fruity-floral (more fruity than floral) synthetic musk concoction springing everywhere these days that just seems to get more force the longer you wear it.
So, I guess it will probably sell well.

I’m a coward

I've been thinking May 25, 2011 Comments: 10

And I only realized it today. 🙂

The thing is, I love my perfume collection and I love smelling strange perfumes and wearing them. But it seems I only wear those strange/loud/interesting/scary/extremely loveable things when in a private setting.
I never wear them to work.

This realization hit me when smelling Incense Extreme by Andy Tauer and thinking how this morning I wanted to put it on and wear it to work, only to stop myself considering the fact that there will be people around me who might not appreciate my new-found love of incense. Btw, I do plan on following this with a review.

So, even though I’m highly tolerant of dirty, lush, loud, strange (you get the idea) perfumes, my bottle collection seems to be mostly made of perfumes that are safe to wear to work. The rest are usually decants (ok, yes, occasional interesting bottle makes it into my collection but they are a small minority).

Now tell me, is there anyone else out there who is a bit of a coward or is it just me?

Friendship

I've been thinking January 24, 2011 Comments: 6

I was at a friend’s child birthday this evening and had  a great time and also came to a great realization (after a glass or two too much wine). 🙂

I’ve been talking to my boyfriend’s friends and it turned out, they were my friends as well. I never saw them as such until this evening. And I really need  to work on my self-esteem if it surprises me so much that people consider me their friends.As this wasn’t the first time this happened.

So, basically, all I wanted to say is, a big thank you to all my former, present and future friends. I love you all very much even though I might not show it all the time. Or most of the time. But I do appreciate the support, friendship and love you all offer.

P.S. Yes, I do get emotional  and quite honest when I have a glass of wine too much. 🙂

Thinking about perfume

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts January 16, 2011 Comments: 22
That’s what’s been on my mind lately. Perfume thoughts of all kind.
The fact that your traveling friends can bring wonders from around the world without you having any shipping costs. The fact that it still costs a pretty penny getting a bottle from Paris (because the same bottle costs a pretty penny).

Also, have you noticed how at all times if you take care to follow these things (and even if you don’t), there are numerous possibilities of acquiring perfume for less money than what’s in stores? For one, I always seem to stumble upon Carol’s Niche boutique sales (like the blizzard one yesterday). So close after my Paris bottles is really not something I though I’d be doing, but I just couldn’t skip it. And besides, I’ve been happy about it ever since.

One thing I learned about scents is, the more you let go, the more happiness they bring. Josephine from Notes from Josephine had  a recent post about awfulness of January which I seem to be feeling as well. The only thing sure to make me smile is perfume (and pilates and zumba but they do not happen as often).
And then I came to a sudden realization after smelling one Roja Dove perfume and all the outlaws. The more you let go of your conscious mind in trying to register what you’re smelling, the more the universe of that perfume opens up to you.

First time I smelled the Roja Dove Unspoken, I now realize I was prejudiced by the swapper’s opinion (she said it wasn’t his best and didn’t really like it). Today, I wanted to smell anything, just to let my mind wander around it and I let go. And I stepped into the universe of Unspoken. I do realize that this cannot happen with every perfume one tries, some of them don’t even have a house to let you in, let alone a universe. But Unspoken does. And all of the Outlaws do. It might not be the universe the appeals to you but it’s still a universe.

Now I’ve written this, it feels like I might be exaggerating. But when I say a universe, I mean a world of its own, and universe just sound better (and looks better in my opionion). 🙂

I do want to talk about perfumes I’ve been smelling (and the rest of Outlaws) but for some reason, I can’t. I can talk about perfume generally but each time I sit down to write a review, it doesn’t feel right.
I know it will soon but at the moment I seem to be enjoying perfumes privately.

Pics by: http://www.apod.nasa.gov/ and grand_universe_by_antifan_real

When things go awry

I've been thinking December 14, 2010 Comments: 2

And that’s the way they seem to be going the last few days for me.

First, I managed to completely miss the meaning of the name Carnation for Mona di Orio’s perfume. Ok, that one is not that strange when I consider my state of mind (and concentration) these days but still makes me feel stupid. Not to mention all the typos I keep making.

Then, while I was checking some blog stats, at some point I seem to have reloaded the blog template which then promptly turned white. I have no idea why but trying to put it back, the only way I managed to return it to its former black status was by losing all the sidebar information and that wasn’t an option.
Luckily, I didn’t save that option but returned to white and then went on in search of something similar to what it used to look like. That’s why you might have noticed something different in the look of my blog.
Now I just have to learn to live with it. I don’t mind change, but I prefer it happen when I instigate it and not outside forces. I really liked my black look.

A quick word

I've been thinking November 27, 2010 Comments: 12

Prompted by new Luckyscent sample pack and Mona di Orio scents.

One of the most important things I learned about the world of perfume is that you cannot just jump in. You cannot go around gathering ideas from what bloggers are writing about, what smells good or is new and interesting at the moment, what the classics are, etc.

If you have no knowledge outside your perfume store and absolutely general and often bad releases we see (smell) each day, you cannot just start smelling stuff at random by reading about what people find great.
I mean, you could (as I did) but most of the time, I failed to come to the same conclusion.

Learning about perfumes (and their constituent parts, i.e. notes) is a long and pretty much never-ending process. And I know this for some time now, but it became very clear tonight after trying some Mona di Orio perfumes. I tried some of them a year and half ago and kept wondering what was in there that everyone liked so much?!
Well, now I understand, and I already have my favourite – Jabu.

But the point I’m trying to make is, you need to take baby steps. Learn a general road of notes, start with some easily likeable but different houses (my favourite for that is L’Artisan Parfumeur) and take it slowly then. Trust me when I say, it takes a while for Mona di Orio (and in my case chypres) to register on the right scale.

And the most important thing – the more you smell perfumes, the more you understand them. There is no other way.

Not a quick word after all. 🙂

I’ve been thinking – about being in balance

I've been thinking October 14, 2010 Comments: 9

When I said the other day that I meant to write more, I did actually mean about perfumes but it seems now I’m still at the point where I’m talking more about my thoughts than perfume. Oh well. It’ll get better.

I noticed these last years that autumn is just not my time of year. Not that I don’t like it, I like it very much. The colors, the smells, the cold seeping slowly around my city, curled with a book while it rains outside and I’m warm, there is just so much to love about autumn. But it just isn’t the time of year when I feel at 100%. Or 90 %. Well, at the moment, I don’t think I’m more than 60% of my own self.

The things is, this spring, I felt I was completely in balance. I had managed to set my life so I would have time for all the things I love, I was able to write often and everything was moving at the right pace. Then came the time of bad stuff and after that, I just can’t seem to regain my balance. I try, and it seems I’m getting there and then something happens, and it seems I’m more behind than I was before.  At least, that’s the way I feel now.
I know life will eventually move into my “perfect” balanced routine but I wish it would happen sooner.
One of the things I noticed that happens each autumn is that I cannot get back into my training routine. I start normal when I get back from my vacation and it lasts a few weeks and then everything falls apart.
It seems to me I need to either learn to go with the flow of annual life for me (which is difficult because it makes me feel lazy) or I need to do something with my subconscience and convince it that it needs to let me pursue my ideas and needs at 100% of my usual self. Because I’m usually more concentrated and healthy and optimistic than I am now (or any other autumn until now for that matter).

At the moment, it’s only perfume that has the capability to make me sigh in relief. It’s worrying when I lose interest in books.  But perfume still holds the mystery and even when it’s bad, it’s still a new mystery to discover.

Like what I’m smelling today. Tom Ford’s Champaca Absolute. I’m baffled by it. I didn’t fall in love with it, for that matter, I’m not even sure I like it but it mesmerized me with this austereness emanating from it. That was my initial thought. Bitter and austere (and white). Then I took a look at the notes and noticed Tokaji wine and cognac mentioned first. They don’t seem to be in my decant. 🙂 I have no idea where they went, but believe me, I would have noticed if they were around. 🙂
Champaca Absolute certainly doesn’t qualify (IMO) as a winter scent and I need to try it once weather turns warm again. It holds an appeal I cannot understand. It is by no account my type of scent. But I cannot help smelling my wrist over and over again. I’m entranced by a perfume I would never have guessed had that ability. But then again, you never know what awaits you around the corner…

I’ve been thinking

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts June 28, 2010 Comments: 22

It seems that’s pretty much all I do these days and it’s rather unfocused as is. I’ve been unfocused and deconcentrated so even though good ideas for posts keep popping out of my head, I just can’t seem to find the focus and energy needed to write them down. But I guess we all have times like these…
Not to mention that on top of all that it’s that time when I get to feel sorry for myself, then I get angry with myself for feeling sorry but since I can’t do much about it, I get back to feeling sorry and I go in circles. 🙂 At least I know why.

But you know what? Even though my mind is unfocused, most of the time I feel seriously happy to be alive. I love my life. Oh, I see a lot that could make it better, but I also see a lot that makes it full and happy and fulfilled. And that is what is important if you want to feel happy. I love the people around me (my family, my friends, my colleagues, my virtual friends, my dog…), I love the little things that fill my life – books, perfumes, cosmetics, pilates…

I really have a lot to make me grateful. So I get doubly angry with myself when I start feeling sorry for myself for reading a post that was written sincerely and without trying to make anyone feel like he/she doesn’t belong to this perfume blogging community. There were actually two good posts written on the subject, the original by Denyse from Grain de Musc and the additional thoughts on the subject by The Non Blonde (you should read the comments as well).

I don’t feel like I’ve been blogging about perfumes for long or like I know much, but I like to learn and garner much pleasure from it. And there will always be people who might find their way to my blog and perhaps enjoy something I’ve written.

It is true that there are so many new scents turning up everywhere and perfume blogs as well, but it is still not as crowded as book blogs (although it seems the amount of new perfumes might be catching up with the amount of new books being published – hopefully not so many perfume blogs will appear as there are book ones).

And then, it also seems that if you are writing about perfume, you should probably decide where you want to go with it because there is just no way one person can keep up with everything. This of course does not apply to me because I never know where exactly I want to go with anything, I let myself be taken along. So anything that appears interesting or something by a perfumer I’ve come to love will definitely find its way to me. But also, all those lovely interesting samples coming from swap packages and Luckyscent sample packages.
Of course, these last two options are the ones where you are most likely to come across a mine. Like I did recently. I feel really bad for saying this but there is not a single thing made by Yosh that I like (and I’m wondering who does because they all end up smelling like some kind of washing detergent or fabric softener). They are not scrubbers but they just don’t even come close to being interesting to me.

So, this is what’s going through my mind these days. Hopefully, it didn’t come out as jumbled as it seems to me it has. 🙂
I hope soon I’ll be back to my usual posting.