Category Archives: Perfume thoughts

The Oil in the Alabaster Box – Spikenard Giveaway

Joint blog project, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume March 22, 2013 Comments: 18

Alabaster Box

A Guest Post that will be appearing on several blogs today in preparation for the celebration of Easter. Featuring my favourite character from the New Testament, one whose name I share (my Christening name that is).
Today we taking a fragrant journey back in time with Jordan River from The Fragrant Man.

We also have a gift to give away. 🙂 Brie in New York has made some spikenard foot oil especially for this post. If you would like to encounter this scent and look after your own or your loved one’s feet please leave a comment below.

The gift recipient will be announced on Easter Sunday and mailed to you on Tuesday.

Spikenard or nard originates in India and Nepal, high in the Himalayas. The root of the plant is the source for one of the rarest and most precious oils.

Brie would like to say that she is not a professional perfumer. This is an interest for her. She blends with the best of intentions, carefully choosing oils for their healing properties as well as for the enjoyment of smelling. Brie says that spikenard is quite tenacious and challenging to work with as in her experience it takes over the blend (similar to tea tree oil).

Are you spending too much on perfume? Here is a scented tale for you.

The Oil in the Alabaster Box
There are many faiths in this world. There are also many myths and legends. It’s up to you to find the truth on your fragrant journey. Let’s travel to the east this Easter to visit with a woman living on the boundaries of her culture. She has recently met a man. She believes him to be her spiritual guide. He is surrounded by men at a dinner party. She is uninvited and has to make her way past the guests to be able to offer her teacher a scented gift. The gift is spikenard oil, a costly perfume ingredient which at this volume, a Roman litra, costs the equivalent of spending a year’s salary on a scent; a scent so potent that the home where this story takes place becomes filled with fragrant air.

image

The room grew still
As she made her way to Jesus
She stumbles through the tears that made her blind

She felt such pain
Some spoke in anger
Heard folks whisper
There’s no place here for her kind

Still on she came
Through the shame that flushed her face
Until at last, she knelt before his feet
And though she spoke no words
Everything she said was heard
As she poured her love for the Master
From her box of alabaster

Don’t be angry if I wash his feet with my tears
And I dry them with my hair
You weren’t there the night He found me
You did not feel what I felt
When he wrapped his love all around me and
You don’t know the cost of the oil
In my alabaster box

– lyrics: Janice Sjostran
for chanteuse Cece Winans
– an interpretation of Mark 14:3-9

Judas the accountant thought this money would have been better spent feeding the poor. Nevertheless the teacher accepted this gift from a woman’s heart.

Jesus looked at her with a smile “your deed will never be forgotten. Your story will be told throughout all the lands and for all time and in ways you have never even dreamed of“.

Little could she have imagined that one day the story of her alabaster box would be told on the World Wide Web.

– a Roman litra ~ 327 grams


Album Version – Cece Winans – The Alabaster Box
A more melodic version.

Ines:

I’m guessing that by now you all know who was the person I spoke of in my introduction. Long before I had any connections to the world of perfume, back when I was a child choosing to have a baptism after the fall of communism, my heart chose the name of Magdalene. She was the character from the New Testament I somehow understood the best and felt a connection to. It was only recently I learned she was also the patron saint of perfumers (shame on me for being so slow in learning that information).

Although that is no wonder if she chose such a precious fragrant gift for Jesus. 🙂

Visit other participating blogs for more chances to win. 😉

Australian Perfume Junkies

CoolCookStyle

Scents Memory

The Perfume Dandy

Let’s hear it! Where do you apply perfume…

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume March 12, 2013 Comments: 32

apply shalimIt only dawned on me yesterday that I am the most conservative type of person when it comes to perfume application. That was a bit of a shock! 🙂

As that is the label I would never apply to myself.

Anyway, my perfume applicating ways haven’t changed much in the recent days but I did evolve from applying it on the sides of my neck and sometimes doing a sweep and applying some on my decollete as well, to taking advantage of the fact that I have short hair and applying some on the back of my neck, thinking it would make for a nice sillage circle. 🙂

So that’s what I’m doing these days.

Which is what got me thinking – what are the places where you apply perfume? Do you have some more innovative ones? Do some work better than others?

The only time I have perfume somewhere else on my body is when I’m testing it. And that only applied to arms.

I really am a conservative perfume wearer it seems…

A Dozen Roses

Joint blog project, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume February 11, 2013 Comments: 27

Participating in joint blog projects is always fun. 🙂 A big thank you to Ayala for inviting me to think about roses and name a dozen in any way I find them interesting.

I realized, roses feature as people, places and ideas in my mind – so here, in short order are those that managed that:

The Poison Rose – Paestum Rose by Eau d’Italie

I realized not everyone agrees with me on this one, but I still think of it as featuring thorns while you wear it.

The Seductive one – Lyric by AmouageDozenRosesX12

Sweet and seductive. If you are not careful, you might not even realize it’s a rose. Or that you are seduced.

Spending a day at the SPA? – Eau Egyptienne by Cinq Mondes

Easy to like and enjoy during the day where enjoyment and relaxation are the order of the day.

The sexy-contemplative rose – Costes by Costes

I’d say it’s sexy if worn by a contemplative man, I don’t think many would agree women are sexy when being contemplative. 😉 Or am I wrong? A great review by Suzanne.

Is that a siren coming out of the sea?! – Rosam by Histoires de Parfum

The strangeness that is this perfume can shortly be summed up by what a strange sight it would be seeing a siren.

The Prim British Rose –  Mohur by Neela Vermeire

Rose-cheeked Miss drinking tea.

Can it be called a rose? – Jabu by Mona di Orio

Possibly not, but there is some rose in there and it deserves a mention for being a perfume evoking happiness.

Dark viney rose – Baie Rose by Le Labo

Hmm, a rose perfume for Batman perhaps?

Dangerously sexy and seductive – Worth Courtesan

I talked about it yesterday – if you want to get noticed, you need not look further. 🙂

Rose for dessert – Rose flavoured rahat loukhum

The most decadent non-chocolate sweet ever. Leaving a dusting of sugar on your fingers so you have to lick them as well.

It’s been a pleasure and now for some more, please visit other participating blogs:

Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

Joint blog project, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume February 9, 2013 Comments: 17

By Asali

It is my pleasure to invite you to a 4 day birthday-perfume-blogger-bash.

I hadn’t known Ines for long, before I realised that our birthdays were only one day apart, and when Undina wrote her story about finding a Guerlain in Las Vegas , I realised that her birthday had to be close to mine and Ines’. I thought that this would be an ideal opportunity for a 4 day long birthday-celebration. And luckily both Ines and Undina agreed.

As a child I loved the excitement of birthdays, the presents, the cake, the guests and all the surprisesAquarius4 the day consisted of. I am aware that I probably kept this excitement a great deal longer than most of my friends. One thing about becoming an adult was realising that if one wanted a birthday party, one would have to make the party and arrange the surprises if there were to be any. Celebrating one self, seemed such a hard thing to do, and has made me hesitant of any bigger celebrations over the last many years. However Feb 9th 2013 is the date where finally I will have finished a lot of things which have burdened me over the last year; I’ve sold my old flat, moved out, I managed to find a new flat (although it won’t be mine till later in the year), I will have finished an exam, for which I definitely did not have enough time or energy to study, and I will finally be able to find more time for the things that matter and things that make me happy. So this year, on my birthday, I will not be shy of celebrating, I’m determined to have as much fun as possible. So why not also celebrate with you here?

Of course this should be about perfume too, so here come the scents of my birthday 2013.

It will most definitely start with the smell of freshly ground coffee, shortly followed by a cup of the hot drink itself, and a croissant. Hopefully I’ll wake up and smell the coffee…

I was planning to wear something light during the day, so that I can wear something different for the evening. Light in all ways; light-hearted, easy-going and a bit fleeting. I am thinking the new L’Heure de Nuit; because it’s L’Heure Bleue without the melancholia, and for this occasion that’s just perfect. It’s elegant and a bit cheeky, but only slightly so. Despite the name, I think of this for daytime wear and when it will have evaporated I’ll wear my evening perfume.

I plan for there to be enough champagne for the evening – I haven’t thought of much else, just as long as there is enough champagne; and to match that, I’ll wear some happy-bubbly, sparkly, head-high- stilettos on – Arpège. My bottles are well packed away (and alas the purple peep-toe stilettos too), but I do have a sample of the Eau de Arpège, and I plan to spend it all.

No birthday is complete without gifts and wishes, so here they are:

My perfumed gift that I’ll grant myself (sooner or later, it’s been on the list for long enough) MDCI Promesse de L’Aube.

My birthday perfume-wishes include (I’m being adult and restraining myself here, pretending to be a person of measure): Vintage L’Heure Bleue parfum and Puredistance Opardu.

Please spend my birthday with great enjoyment. See you tomorrow.

 

A big thank you to Valerie Rodriguez for creating the wonderful pics for us to have for this perfume bash. 🙂

Does every perfume smell perfect?

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts January 22, 2013 Comments: 17

It’s a thing I asked myself today.
Today I applied Cuir de Russie and forgot about it, as it seemed to have blended with my skin, unlike yesterday, when Back to Black first choked me with tobbacco leaves and then presented the bad kind of honey note. I guess my skin killed it.

Anyway, it got me thinking, does there come a time when you apply a perfume and it fits like a glove and practically seems perfect, even though you applied it before and were underwhelmed? Or just ok with it.
Or, a better way to explain it – you know you have a mediocre (at best) perfume but you put it on and it seems perfect? And you wonder how that happened.

The next time you apply it, the magic is gone.

So, that’s what got me thinking – does every perfume have its day of being perfect?
The only problem being finding what day it’s going to happen.

What do you think? Am I being optimistic (idealistic)? Did it happen to you?
It happened to me. Keeps on happening actually. But I can never guess when or why…

Ghosts of Perfume Past, Present and Future

Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume December 21, 2012 Comments: 23

Welcome to another Christmas-y blogfest! 🙂

Organized by Natalie of Another Perfume Blog with the name coming from Undina of Undina’s Looking Glass, bloggers will be posting their own thoughts on Ghost of Perfumes.

As we’re doing this right before Christmas and on the first day of winter, my thoughts naturally turned to smells and perfumes associated with this period.

I believe one of the first smells I ever associated with winter and the one I enjoy the most in this period, is the smell of snow in the air. Sometimes the air will smell of snow even though none will appear.
miris snijega
It might not really be the smell of snow, it could just be the crisp, cold air of bright winter but as days like that are hard to come by in Zagreb (the air is neither clear nor bright), on those rare occasions it smells like that – it reminds me of snow. The way air smelled in my childhood when it snowed or when we went skiing in the mountains. The one you breathe in as much as you can and the one that feels like it’s bringing health back into your body with every inhale.

If you know of a perfume that smells like that, I would very much like to know. I know one will eventually appear – it happened so far several times when I wished for a perfume to fit the idea I had in my head. This is the Ghost of Perfume from my past.
vanič
As for ghosts of present perfumes, I will be calling those forward before Christmas when I plan on doing vanilla crescents (that’s my free translation of the name of cookies) and again the meringues with cinnamon and almonds.

The warm scent of vanilla and spices will work its magic and I expect bring more calm into my life (and pleasure to my taste receptors). The perfumes that evoke such sweet and spicy things – Spiriteuese Double Vanille (review by Olfactoria), Piment et Chocolat, and basically any warm vanilla or warmy spicy oriental (some ideas would be welcome on this part as well). 😉

My future perfume ghosts still tease my mind.

Those are the perfumes I imagine when I read the notes and then when they come, they are not what I imagined. Not that they are bad, just not what I imagined.
boži kolači
The smell of Christmas trees, candles, mulled wine and cookies. As a perfume. All at once.

The dry smell of dirt and asphalt during summer in the city.

The green, wet smell of spring.

Please visit other participating blogs:

Olfactoria’s Travels

Another Perfume Blog

EauMG

Muse in Wooden Shoes

Undina’s Looking Glass

Suzanne’s Perfume Journal

ChickenFreak’s Obsessions

I’m lost

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume November 20, 2012 Comments: 15

I believe it’s the case of as I know more the less I feel I know.
I am getting a bit lost among my perfumes (and perfumes in general).
Each morning I stand in front of my stash and I have no idea what to put on. I don’t seem to be able to see the trees in the proverbial forest (I’m getting it backwards). 😉
I can’t seem to figure out what exactly is it I want to wear. I like the choices I make, after all, there is a reason I own those decants and bottles but something is not clicking.
I am prone to blaming it on stress ( stress is such a great thing, you can blame it for everything) but I think it’s more likely the case of me not getting as familiar as I should with both my collection and the perfumes outside my ‘comfort’ zone. I realized yesterday I’m a bit stuck in the groups I like when I went to a little sniffing session in Flores here.
I decided to try CDG Daphne again and realized I now liked it. I tried it twice before and completely dismissed it.
I think that the fact so many perfumes go through my hands makes me lose focus of the things I love and enjoy and that is how I lost myself among the perfumes.

I am now hoping that by trying to smell my samples and getting to know better all I have, I will regain my focus and enjoy wearing the perfumes I have much more than now.

I do not plan on adding anything to my collection until I get a handle on what I have. Swapmania withstanding as I’m getting some lovelies through that. 🙂

Ok now that I’ve rambled through this post, I should say it was prompted by smelling Amouage Opus III.

I like it even though it’s not my kind of perfume but I can’t figure out whether I would wear it or not. Even though it reminds me of the dentist’s office for some reason.
Does this happen to anyone else? Something similar maybe?

Welcome! :)

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts October 28, 2012 Comments: 22

Here it goes.

This is my first post here, on WordPress and my new site. I sincerely hope this novelty brings a  much needed writing momentum to my life as I sorely need it.

Well, I feel the need, I just don’t feel I need to fulfill it. 😉

So, a big welcome to everyone and here is some champagne for all of us.

 

A place where summer still lives…

Perfume thoughts October 15, 2012 Comments: 12

This weekend I went to Split to attend a friend’s wedding.

As I went there with my girlfriends, of course I had the best of times. I was also lucky enough to enjoy a couple of days of summer as Split is located on the Adriatic coast, south enough to still enjoy warm days when the temperatures are over 20 degrees Celsius and the sea is as well (around 22).

Of course I took a swim while I was there – I can’t believe I could actually enjoy a swim in the middle of October and that the sea and air were warm enough for it to be an enjoyable experience. 🙂 (actually, it was rather hot in the sun)

Here are some of the photos I took:

Split Riva
 

View from Kaštel Stari
 

View from Kaštel Stari

From the beach

I’m back in Zagreb and even if I wasn’t aware the summer is long gone here (the cold is a good sign), my morning choices of what perfume to apply would be a good indication – vanillas are somehow on the top of the pile. 🙂

I didn’t disappear, I’m here and I smell great

Perfume thoughts September 30, 2012 Comments: 16

(at least I believe I do). 😉

It’s been a hectic few weeks and there are still some things I need to finish before I can say I finally closed several of my projects (some extremely long-term).
But the greater part of work is done and the things I have left to do are those that will bring me a feeling of strength, inner peace and fulfillment.

Before the race

Most if it will become apparent if I’m successful at it, after the next weekend when for the first time in my life I plan to run the half-marathon in Zagreb.
What worries me about that is that the last two weeks, due to many obligations I had (from the beginning sentence) stopped me from attending the trainings regularly. Out trainer told me that I shouldn’t worry, we did run 20km once already, just to take it slowly – I mean, I will not be racing anyone, I’m a complete beginner and for me the biggest success is actually finishing. But, still, I worry.

Well, you’ll know soon enough how well I did as I plan letting everyone know about the enthusiasm I will feel after running for so long (here we’re talking about more than 2 hours as I’m a really slow runner). 🙂
And I know there will be enthusiasm as that is exactly what I felt after running 20km for the first time and how I felt after finishing my first ever race of 12,4 km – the photos are from that day.

To get back to smelling great. 🙂
I attended an ISO education this whole week and as I was around new people in a relatively small room, I took more care than usual to what I was going to apply.


Just before the finish line

I can say that Cruel Gardenia always works for me as a great choice when around people in a work setting. It has a mellowness to it that makes anyone who comes close to you consider you less serious than you might appear.
As I was told by one of the attendees on the last day, I completely changed everyone’s initial thoughts about me being very strict and serious and looking like I’m going to only work and not have any fun at it.
So, in cases like that, a mellow perfume that is so easily liked seems like a good strategy.
The other perfume of my strategy was Iris Nobile by Acqua di Parma. Similar in the effect as Cruel Gardenia, only iris based.
I’m still wondering how different people perceive me from how I think of myself.

And as the nights are getting colder and colder, I’m finally again wearing Shalimar to bed. 🙂

P.S. I firmly believe the camere used for taking some of these photos adds weight. 😉