Wearing Timbuktu

Uncategorized October 14, 2009 Comments: 2

I was finally wearing Timbuktu today, after sort of going around it for months. Now, one would wonder why would someone buy a bottle of a scent and do one’s best to avoid it as long as possible? Well… What I had in my mind of Timbuktu was both true and imagined. I remembered it as a dry incense thingy that just, you know, is, well, only ok. How wrong I was! It is incensey and dryish but there’s so much more to this scent!

My untrained nose gets this smokey incense that slightly burns my nose, a bit later mixed with dry fruit (that’s how I feel it) and some patchouli. This is an EdT but it lasts all day on me and is just wonderfully strange. 🙂 I lack better words to describe it.

Notes by Luckyscent: green mango, pink pepper berries, karo-karounde flower, cardamom, smokey incense, myrrh, vetiver and patchouli.

What I actually found fascinating today is that this is a scent you have to be able to wear. It is without a doubt a masterpiece but not exactly in the perfume terms per se.

I’ve been really stressed out lately and frustrated and felt like my back was slowly lowering toward the ground under all the accumulated hardship. On top of it all, I have a cold. And this morning, I decided it was time to take Timbuktu out again. As soon as I sprayed it on, I felt I was breathing easier. Which is really strange because having a cold sort of limits the enjoyment of a perfume – usually the first spray makes me sneeze. What I mean is it didn’t clear my nose, but it cleared my head. I felt like someone took the burden off my back and I was finally breathing easier after quite a while. And the result was that I knew what my path from now on should be. That is some good work for an edt if you ask me. 🙂

I believe there will always be a bottle of Timbuktu in my perfume closet/drawer/room (ok, hopefully it won’t be that bad that I’ll need a room). We all sometimes need someone or something to reconnects us with our unconscious self which might know the way forward but is unable to communicate it to our conscious self and now, I have a solution. For myself of course. But I suggest you give it a try. You never know what your unconsciousness might tell you…

And beware, it might not be easy or expected or something you like. But it still might be necessary.

Finally flying

Uncategorized October 13, 2009 Leave a comment

While I’m still not in the mood to write, I’ll just post some photos from my Friday jaunt. We went flying in a balloon! 🙂 It was great, albeit short (only an hour) and totally fun. It turns out you don’t get cold in a balloon (we took precaution with clothes and the guy laughed at us). Turns out the hot air (gas) going into the balloon keeps everyone in the basket warm. 🙂

So here are some photos:

Meadow where we started from:

The balloon is up and ready:


Slowly going up:

View from the balloon:

Some more:

At 782 meters:


And slowly going down:

All the photos are mine.

WoW: Sabrina Jeffries

Uncategorized October 10, 2009 Leave a comment

Finally! It took me quite long these last few days to finish a book. Any book. Because I have 3 more waiting half-read until I decide what I would like to read. I suppose it is a consequence of how I’ve been feeling lately – nothing seems to be able to lift my mood for a longer period of time. I’d actually rather not discuss it here, but in short, I hate politicians and the way they “run” my country. One of these days when my frustration reaches its peak, I’ll talk more about the climate we live in here.

Enough of that, on to Sabrina Jeffries. You can trust Mrs Jeffries to lift your romance mood right and proper. 🙂 What upset me on the other hand is that she also has a book series on a school for heiresses (girls) same as Mary Balogh. And I kind of got lost who wrote what and what are the characters and stories from which series. My advice is, now both series came to an end, stick to one, and then read the other. In my case that’s completely unachievable since the moment I discover a new author I like, I don’t wait for the series to end (unfortunately) so I kind of lose the previous stories (unless I google and somewhat refresh my memory). Anyway, I lost the thread with School for heiresses even though I have all the books and have read them (I’ll just go through them again – I do find them that good). 🙂

Since I already mentioned Mary Balogh’s school series, just to give a short comparison. I love both series but it somehow seems Balogh’s series is more serious while Jeffries has more fun with her characters and the overall style of writing. I might be mistaken, it is a while since Mary Balogh’s books were front in my mind, what I usually have in my head, after a month or so after, are impressions.

So, after finding my bearings, I enjoyed the book immensely, and the sexy hot scenes which abound. Ok, maybe not abound, but you don’t have to wait half a book for a steamy scene (sometimes even longer) since they are interspersed all over the book. And are quite good. 🙂

I read ‘Dont Bargain with the Devil’ and now I have one more left until I reach the end of series – which is of course the book where the head mistress finds love as well. 🙂 One with the misterious cousin Michael with whom she corresponds through all the books but doesn’t know who he is. I can’t wait to discover it myself! 🙂 Ok, so, I peeked a bit at a spoiler on amazon… It couldn’t be helped, I don’t have time to start reading at the moment and I wanted to know. 😉
Anyway, if it isn’t clear from what I wrote until now, Sabrina Jeffries is definitely one of top romance writers in my book. 😉
One whose books I buy whenever I can find them (or they come out) even though the excerpt might not sound terribly interesting.
Excerpts are often misleading.

Wandering around, sniffing

Uncategorized October 7, 2009 Comments: 4

Lately I ask myself quite often what do I do with my time because I can certainly say there is a definite lack of it in my life. So, I didn’t have time either to smell something for a proper review or even to read a book yet (that is definitely stressing me out) so I’ll talk today about what I’ve been smelling the last few days.

Last Saturday I was at a vintage (grape harvest), and it’s been a while since I actually walked through a real type of a village. You know, the one where there are farm animals and barns? It doesn’t smell nice but I can tell you, I really enjoyed smelling something so different from my everyday life. 🙂 Vintage itself is an experience I adore. Although I slept like the dead that night. 🙂

Now, on to my lack of time. I barely managed to try two scents this week that are on my list lately because they’ve started appearing on blogs. I read last week a lovely review by Divina of Boss Orange and been meaning to try it since then, but I only managed to do it yesterday and that was unsuccessful as it turned out. It seems the SA sort of missed most of my hand when spraying it on, so there was nothing to smell after some 20 minutes. I did like the fruity opening (the apple is lovely) but now I have no idea what goes on next so I’ll have to repeat the experience. Oh, well, with the rate I’m going, it will be sometime next week. 🙂

The other thing I wanted to try was Si Lolita and although I plan on trying it again just to check, I think a bottle is coming my way. 🙂 Though it makes me wonder how come it didn’t come out before summer because I can definitely see myself wearing it through the summer with its opening of childhood memories of sunscreen (was it Coppertone that had that particular smell?). Someone mentioned on one of the blogs I follow regularly the name of that particular molecule/note but I forgot (as usual). 🙂 Oh, well, I’ll find it again sooner or later.

I’ve been thinking…

I've been thinking October 1, 2009 Comments: 4

Yesterday I was at my French class and as always, had a great time. But afterwards I started thinking about stuff we discussed in the class (it’s a conversation class). The thing is, the group consists of several people my age (around 30) and we have 3 older ladies (they are all retired, so my guess is they are over 65). What I was thinking yesterday is how great the group functions. We’ve been together in this state for years now and I realized yesterday that what I find fascinating is how much we can learn from each other. One of them is a mathematician, one was a professional dancer and the third was the equivalent of a highly sucessful business woman. They are completely different but all three have kept their interest in life and additional activities and I hope one day, my retired life looks similar (and I get to spend time with young people). 🙂

On to some perfume news. I’m over my fear. 🙂 I got my package from the Posh Peasant yesterday with Coquette Tropique by Monyette (and the wonderful big candle) and I tasted summer again.

Notes: Hibiscus, Gardenia, Plumeria, French Anjou pear, Madagascar vanilla

I was looking for melon in the notes because I could have sworn I smelled it, but it’s not listed. Anyway, I’m a bit angry with myself because I had a product this summer that smelled exactly like this (hair or body), and I can’t recall what it was. What it did was make me happy I tried it because it transported me straight into summer. I am really looking forward to wearing it next summer. Such a lovely creamy tropical smell.
The other thing I tried today was Kinmokusei by Ayala Moriel.

Notes: Ambrette (musk) seed, Coriander, Green tea, Linden blossom, Olive tree resin, Osmanthus, Sandalwood, Tabac blond, Wild orange.

It is an osmanthus soliflore and if that’s what an osmanthus smells like, I like it. It almost went overboard into too heady-sweet category but in the end, it balanced out nicely. The beginning was great though – aromatic peppery opening with wild orange. Wonderful!
I find this a lovely autumn scent I am going to wear this year. I ordered this guessingly, some time ago (there was some kind of a sale beginning of the summer I think) and I still need to try the two samples I ordered with it (Ayalita and Espionage).

Btw, Kinmokusei is the Japanese name for osmanthus.

I’m scared

Perfume thoughts September 30, 2009 Leave a comment

This week has not been kind to me so far and it seems to have spilled over onto my love of disovery. After discovering treasures last week, now I’m scared to test anything new for fear of it being not good enough (which given the amount of bad or mediocre in the perfume industry, is not actually so far off the target). I don’t know what to do now, but hope it will pass. In the meantime, I sniff things I know I liked and I try learning more from them. It’s actually working, I can tell that my nose has progressed from 2 years ago when I started this road of discovery.

That is not to say that there isn’t so much more to discover but it’s heartening to realize there was actually some progress along the way. 🙂 Since I’m not a terribly patient person. 🙂 What an understatement. 😉

So, no particular perfume or book to talk about today, just my thoughts. I hope I’ll be able to try the Van Cleef & Arpels collection everyone has been talking about lately and saying such lovely things. Maybe that would be a less scary road forward. 🙂 Chances are I will like them.

Enough of my bad mood for today. Hopefully, soon I’ll write about a new discovery that lifts both my heart and mood. 🙂

Pic of my Paris visit (I so want to go back and enjoy it some more).

WoW: Julia Quinn

Uncategorized September 29, 2009 Leave a comment

This week’s author is Julia Quinn, and the book Minx. I do think I’ve already read Julia Quinn before but must say that I usually read covers and if the excerpt doesn’t sound promising, I don’t buy the book (unless it’s one of my established writers). 🙂

So, I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the excerpt but thought it might be ok. Well, her books are not about steamy sex scenes, I can tell you that. You get some kisses and in the end the book progresses accordingly, but almost the whole book is more concerned with emotions. One good thing I can say about that is, it’s been a while since I actually felt my chest constricting with emotions from reading what the characters are feeling (maybe I was just in the mood but I don’t think it was that). I don’t know if you remember the feeling of unrequited love or just feeling completely in love with someone who is not returning that love the same way and that feeling of tightness in your chest that can accompany such anguish. Well, Ms Quinn has managed to evoke it in me. And that makes her good in my book. Now, I’ll just have to check whether she can repeat the experience. 🙂

And I do like the heroine, a cheeky brave girl of 20 (going on 21). Most of the time she is funny. And one of the first things that seduced her future husband was the smell of lemons coming from her (her hair). And that fact that he is fascinated by her smell is repeated several times in the book.
Well, I don’t think anyone is going to remember me by the same fragrance my hair or my skin may be emitting… 🙂

So much to learn and discern

Uncategorized September 25, 2009 Comments: 2

First off, I need to learn more about Ava Luxe line. I tried yesterday no. 23 (I managed to forget I have swapped for it) and almost swooned how great it was. And after smelling it for a while, it hit me. It reminded me strongly of DK Black cashmere. Now I’ll need to try them side by side.

The thing is, this happened the other day as well. I finally tried Lily Bermuda’s Somers (which I was lucky enough to win at Perfume shrine). I decided to try that first after reading the notes and thinking it sounds just for me. It struck me as a masculine (I tend to put most masculines into a unisex category) and after a while I realized it reminded me terribly of Kenzo Peace.

So, I decided to sniff them side by side. Turns out I still have a lot to learn and discern. Nope, they don’t smell that similar when put side by side. Peace is such a stronger and more forceful but basically level structure. It smells more uncouth than Somers. Somers has a more lighter dry opening that is spicier than Peace. The thing is Peace does not have that many notes as Somers and it is clearly visible (smellable). I like Peace well enough but Somers beats it – gives it more range and depth and something keeps happening all the time.

It was only in the drydown that they came quite close – maybe it’s just my still beginner nose, but I don’t think if I didn’t know on which arm I had which, I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.

Notes for Peace: musk, heliotrope, cedar, tonka bean, mandarin, vanilla.

Notes for Somers: bergamot, cedar, cardamom, licorice, black tea, nutmeg, coriander, geranium, sage, gaiac wood, olivewood bark, incense, suede, amber.

Soon now I’ll do this with No. 23 and Black cashmere, but before that just to compare the notes:

Black cashmere: saffron, clove, rose, white pepper, Ethiopian incense, vanilla, amber, patchouli, African wenge wood

No. 23: Sandalwood, Hawthorn blossoms , Acacia, Rose, Himalayan Geranium , Lavender, and Musk

See? Much to learn and discern. I can’t wait to try them side by side.
Picture by: ava-luxe, via /www.etsy.com

WoW: Stephanie Laurens, Bastion Club

Uncategorized September 23, 2009 Leave a comment

I finally finished yesterday the last book in the Bastion club series, Mastered by Love, the one dealing with the mysterious Dalziel (turns out he’s the Duke of Wolverstone – such a cool name). Anyway, there’s a new series by Mrs. Laurens in the making and I can’t wait to get my hands on that as well, since the Cynster series is coming to an end as well. Well, SL (in this case Stephanie Laurens and not Serge Lutens) is quite proliferous so I’m not scared there won’t be more of the same type of historical romance I got used to reading from her. 🙂

She’s definitely one of my favorite historical romance writers (more will be featured in WoW as I go through them). Like I was saying the other day with Mary H. Clark, all novels follow the same structure but when you know what to expect and enjoy it, well, it is certainly fun to read them. My expectations are not big for such type of romance and I cannot understand all those people who get upset because sometime the writer is not up to the level of the previous book for example. I don’t understand such strong feelings regarding this type of literature but hey, I usually don’t get too upset in my life as a general rule (could be because I’m an Aquarian).

Anyway, I got my dose of steamy sex scenes, fun conversations, some crime and one-upping men (love that part). Although it’s always about partnership in relationships. That’s why she is one of my favorites among many I have read (some tend to talk about partnership but it leans more toward male partnership, that’s why I’m no longer interested in Johanna Lindsey although I still do read her novels as well).
The Bastion Club is a series revolving around men who were British spies during Napoleon wars and are now back and trying not to get caught in marriage by tonnish mamas. Eventually, of course they all fall in love but have a slightly hard time convincing their chosen brides they should marry them. 🙂

Now, I’m very much looking forward to Black Cobra quartet by SL – first novel will be out at the end of October. Yeey!

Picture by: http://www.harpercollins.com

Saying goodbye to summer

Uncategorized September 22, 2009 Leave a comment

I can’t help it, it makes me feel sad (even though I do not prosper in the heat) that the summer has ended. The fact that I’ll have to wait for almost a year to enjoy drinking morning coffee at a table looking at the sea and drinking in the sun and the heat and the smell of sea just makes me sad.

So, to mark the end of summer and the beginning of autumn (and the period of those lovely warm scents that are just waiting to be picked up), I’ll talk about a summer discovery that I am somewhat ambivalent about.

I am talking about Avon’s Brazil Beat. 🙂 Don’t ask how I came to own that, sometimes I wonder myself at the things I manage to acquire. I’ve learned that I am not a huge Avon fragrance fan, and can for the time wear only their CL Absynthe.

You wouldn’t believe how difficult it is to get notes for this. As a matter of fact, it is so difficult that all I got is: fruity notes and floral notes (and some places note a wood drydown – although that part is well hidden in the fragrance).

What you get is exactly what it says. A whole lot of juicy fruit, not so much floral for me (although you won’t mistake it’s not there) and just a lovely, exuberant juicy fragrance. OK, so maybe that does not sound very promising but I can’t really say I don’t like or that it’s bad. In small quantities, not to make it too exuberant, it’s a happy, summer, girl thing. It smells like a bouquet of juicy orange/red fruits. I like smelling it although I don’t quite think I’ll be wearing it. It’s just too exuberant for me with all that youth connotations and fizzy sweet summer cocktails it brings to mind. But it makes me wonder how would the air around dancers to brasil beats smell like? Who knows, maybe I’ll find out one day and it turns out it smells fruity?