perfume thoughts

Long time, no sea

Adriatic coast, Croatia, Perfume thoughts July 31, 2016 Comments: 6

Sorry, couldn’t help myself. 🙂 It’s been a long time since I wrote anything, and well, this post will come with sea photos. 😉

Yes, I’m on vacation. Finally.

I had (still have) time to think about what’s been going on in my life and pondering the reasons why I no longer have the time and/or energy to read and write. Honestly though, I haven’t come to any smart conclusions. Life takes you on a path and before you know it, all that once brought you pleasure as a hobby suddenly no longer fits into the hours in a day. I hate that.

So I spent my first week of vacation basically doing nothing. Just resting from the hectic pace my life is when I go to work.

I sleep a lot, go for a swim, do some yoga and pilates and read. I’m just doing things I enjoy and that bring me relaxation and hopefully, one of these relaxed days I will have an epiphany and realize how to make time in my routine for things that make me happy and relaxed.
Because when I’m happy and relaxed, nice things happen to me. Like talking to a neighbor and discovering a new perfume gem I now covet.

Cartier’s La Panthere.

I was so surprised to find myself enjoying a perfume I thought was for older ladies. 😀 Oh, well, I’m the first to admit I’m prejudiced.

Anyway, I hope to do a review sometime in the near future. So far, I can only say that after reading the notes, I am no longer surprised I fell for it. There is gardenia hidden in its heart. 🙂

And to leave you now with typical Smokvica sights:

Traveling in France – Paris

Paris, Perfume shopping, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume January 14, 2016 Comments: 25

In December I finally had a chance to visit Paris again, even if it was only for two and a half days. It was a quick getaway that happened at exactly the right time to re-charge my batteries before work hit me hard for the rest of the month.

I arrived on the first Sunday of the month and the optimist in me thought to visit museums for free. 🙂 This is the closest I got to a museum – this is Rodin’s. Louvre and Musee d’Orsay were out of the question, the queues were unbelievable! Still, just walking in the gardens of Musee Rodin was a beautiful experience.

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So, since my free entrance to Louvre was out of the question, I decided to pay for it and used most of my Monday to stroll around it. I seem to have been fascinated with staircases this time around but I’ll post just one picture of them (ok, maybe two). 🙂

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There are so many beautiful things to see in Louvre. I’ve been there once already, my first time in Paris, but I really wanted to visit it again.

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The jewelry on display is “magnifique”! DSC_1394[1]

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This time I was actually able to snap a rather ok photo of Mona Lisa.

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It is not a worthy trip to Paris if you don’t visit a perfume shop and this time, my perfume wanderings took me to Jovoy (no pictures from there but a perfume did come back 😉 ) and to Caron which had an amazing Christmas display in their window. I didn’t buy anything there but the SA was amazingly nice and cooperative and explained everything. I went away with arms smelling of many perfumes and a sample of Poivre.

Honestly, I feel old French perfumery is calling me back to its folds. I seem to enjoy it more and more.

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Of course that no trip to Paris would be complete without a visit to Guerlain. This time a friend and I decided to visit the famous tea room (Le 68 Guy Martin) at Guerlain and it was the first time I discovered what the French insolence feels like. You see, you need a reservation for the place and we didn’t have one. But as it wasn’t really full we somehow managed to convince them to let us in for tea and cake.

That was misstep number 2. You see, you cannot come around 2 for tea and cake. 😀 Because that is lunch time. As we were very haughtily informed. Still, they obviously made an exception in our case.

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And since I didn’t know if taking a photo of my dessert would be misstep 3, I took it quickly so it’s not the best one.

That said, once we started eating our dessert and being so obviously appreciative of it, the chief waiter (one being frenchly mean to us) actually appeared with a smile on his lips. Honestly though, this was I believe the best dessert I ever had in my life. And I can’t even remember its name and can’t find it on the restaurant’s menu either (some kind of chocolate profiterole).

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My Guerlain visit ended with a purchase of Shalimar tea. Again the optimist in me thought I’d buy more than just Shalimar tea, but once I saw the prices, additional tins were out of the question. 🙂 Oh well, at least I tried one of them with my dessert. 😉

It’s that time of year (again)

Book review, I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume, Zagreb June 2, 2015 Comments: 6

When the linden trees are blooming in Zagreb. 🙂

I’ve been debating with myself if I should post about it (again) but walking the streets of Zgareb the last few days in the summer sun (it feels so warm) and smelling the lazy, sweet, seductive smell of the linden flowers, I just can’t help myself but share it.

It will last for a week, maybe two and the smell will be gone and I’ll forget again how many linden trees are in Zagreb and how wonderful it smells when they bloom.

Plus, they always make me think of my childhood. I just realized that they bloom close to the end of the school year. No wonder my memories of that smell are so positive. 😉

Spring-y thoughts

Croatia, I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume April 21, 2015 Comments: 17

It is finally real spring here. It’s warm, everything is blooming and the sun shines for most of the day (and it’s day most of the day – no more early night).

People tend to ask what is your favorite season. And even though I really love them all, I think spring is slightly my favorite. It always feels like I’m waking from hibernation, I have more energy and I have will to do many things so days just fill up with fun activities. It seems everyone is more in the mood to be friendly and go out more.

I, for one, feel enthusiastic again about all the things I love doing. It seems I prefer doing them in the light of day. 😉

Perfume (and smell)-wise I’ve been wearing Shalimar Parfum Initial quite a lot lately (thanks to Birgit’s sale). I’m also waiting for the air to get fragrant as it’s spring but not much has been happening in that regard. The best I could smell was dewy grass and warm, wet sidewalks (we did have our share of rain lately).

But I know only days from now the air will be fragrant and it will just keep on getting better as spring gets in full bloom.

I’ll finish today with some photos I took on Sunday while at a friend’s barbecue (outside the city).

Quick update

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume February 24, 2015 Comments: 10

Time flies and I have no good excuses for why I am not writing. I could come up with excuses but really, when you want to write, you find the time. So, yes, no good excuses (as I do want to write). writing

I do promise though to try and manage my time more efficiently and therefore find the time to write when I am not dead on my feet (that ought to help).

In the meantime I almost passed my driver’s exam yesterday. 🙂 Hopefully that means I’ll do it the next time round. Honestly, getting a driver’s license in Croatia is a rather long and a bit difficult process (just to warn you if it ever crosses your mind) so I’m hoping in my case it will be all over soon.

Perfume-wise, I discovered an old decant of Donna Karan’s Chaos and sprayed it one day to remember what it smelled like and completely fell in love. That said, the decant is empty so if anyone has any they’d like to share, please think of me. 🙂

(I’m pretty sure it’s the “new” version as I sincerely doubt I got my hands on the “old” one)

P.S. You can imagine how strange my life is at the moment when I can’t find the time to read?!

Woohoo!! It’s amber time!

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume December 29, 2014 Comments: 6

And vanilla and oud. 🙂 But amber is the note that first comes to mind when it’s cold outside.

That said, this morning I wanted to celebrate this wonderful sunny and w Golden amber close up backlit shows crystals hite day (the snow is still unmelted) with Ambre Sultan, only to not be able to find my decant. So I decided to put Ambre Precieux on. I’m very happy with that choice. If I smell a waft from afar (and not on my turtleneck), I catch what I would call a flowery hint. It’s basically wonderful.

And amber fits perfectly with this cold weather, it just makes you feel warm all over by smelling it.

My other ambery choices will include MdO Ambre, Ambra Nobile by Nobile 1942 and Le Labo Labdanum 18.

With a special mention of Caravelle Epicee, which I don’t actually count among ambers but theoretically it is, so it goes on the list. I mean, there are so many other things going on in there that saying it’s an amber perfume doesn’t do it justice.

I still find that to be one of the best winter perfumes ever. At least for me. It hits all my spicy, warm, gourmand-y buttons. Plus, it smells really sexy.

P.S. That was my first ever perfume review. 🙂

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume December 8, 2014 Comments: 11

I had coffee yesterday with some of Zagreb perfumistas. That is always cause for smelling more perfumes and as we met opposite Top (niche perfumery), of course I tried some perfumes prior to seeing them.

The things is, I am either too sensitive to those synthetic (white?) musks or the whole industry is going down the drain.

I sprayed two perfumes on my arms yesterday, Xerjoff Al Khatt and Byredo Mojave Ghost.

Honestly, I thought both were great and enjoyed smelling them. Al Khatt doesn’t really smell like a straight-in-the-nose oud but is rather easy and lovable and Mojave Ghost is cool, if I would describe it in one word.

The problem with both is that they end up in synthetic muskiness and are therefore completely unwearable for me.

I really can’t tell if I am too sensitive to those molecules but honestly, I don’t really care. I hate the fact that so many expensive perfumes end up smelling like that. Aside the fact that they are expensive, they really use some expensive ingredients so adding those synthetic musks is like a punch in the nose for me after enjoying the beginning. 😦

I just wish everyone would find some better alternative on how to keep perfumes lasting.

Ramon Monegal in Zagreb

Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume September 2, 2014 Comments: 13

Oh yes, that did just happen! 🙂

Organized again by Juraj of Bl’eauOG, we were in for a great talk made by Mr Monegal. In French! I really was very happy with the fact that I spent so many years learning it because I could follow what he was saying without any problems. And he had LOTS to say.

I’ll try and give you the highlights. One thing that I’m upset about though, when I had the chance to ask him questions, I couldn’t come up with a single thing. Now that I’m home writing this, I have a full head of questions I would really like to hear his answers to. Oh well…

Basically, what I believe is the most important thing he said and one that resonates through his perfumery and his approach to clients is that we all don’t know how to use our nose for anything that is not stomach related – e.g. food. And it’s a learned thing, conditioned by our culture as babies can smell their mothers but then, at some point, we all forget to use our nose for enjoyment and identification of the world around us (like animals do).

He said that one of the main reasons for using perfumes is communication and nowadays people don’t have an olfactory image (like we do with the clothes we wear). They are not even aware that something like that exists. Well, we obviously are, but there were many people present today for who I could tell he was saying new things. And for him, that is the main reason perfumers came out of their labs – to educate the public of the importance of knowing the terms and recognizing the olfactory image.

Mr Monegal also explained his idea of why a perfume is like a book – with the introduction, the main part and the end. And how different notes communicate different things. I really enjoyed the idea that he so obviously espouses about it all being about communication.

I learned a lot about some notes which I’m not going to repeat here. Just that I wasn’t aware it was so difficult working with iris as it doesn’t have much longevity (and what with how expensive it is, it’s good we even have iris perfumes). 😉

I’ll leave you with one gem I really liked. There is no good/bad perfume in his mind, it’s all about the olfactory image again and the fact that perfumes can be either well worn or not well worn (depending on what you want to express with them and how they fit you). I actually like that idea as I definitely know that I cannot wear some of the perfumes I own at any time I like (Serge Lutens’ I’m looking at you).

I got to try Dubai Next To Me and I like it a lot and I basically fell in love with Impossible Iris. 🙂 The name is a reference to how difficult it is to work with iris (the longevity issue again).

A mini bottle waiting for each of us

I’m not gone just a bit MIA

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume July 20, 2014 Comments: 32

Dear readers, I feel like last couple of years all I do is plan on writing more and it always seems like I write less. 🙂

I don’t really have a good explanation why that happens as I have many perfumes in my queue I would love to write about, it just seems that life has some other plans that unfortunately intervene in the meantime. Life is usually unpredictable like that. 😉

The last few months have been rather tumultuous when it comes to my life, what with the quantity of work I had to do, what with separation from my long-term boyfriend, and then finally with enrolling to get my driver’s licence. And that is just the three largest things that come to mind.

As none of that is finished yet, I am sincerely hoping I organize my time and mind in a manner that allows me to write (and smell) more.

That said, I will be finally getting some well deserved peace of mind and rest when my vacation starts on the 30th (of July). Luckily, that is not far away.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with some general perfume thoughts I’ve been having lately:

I’m not really happy with the new L’Artisans even though they are Duchafour’s work
I am rather happy though with Cologne du Maghreb and finally understand Andy’s idea of spraying your body with a lot of cologne, works like magic! 🙂
The Scented Hound sent some amazing perfumes for me to try (and I did), now all I need is to give them more time and write about them
The longer I’m in this perfume world, the more I am starting to lean towards old style perfumery – French classics are taking over my heart
Helped by the new Coco Chanel biography I’m reading (well, I just started) – I have a feeling it will be a good one
Also, I really, really want to find an old version of Chanel 5 (see previous bullet) 🙂
And Paris has been on my mind lately for several reasons, perfumes, Coco Chanel and I’m re-reading Angelique, La Marquise des Anges after I saw the new movie (beats me why it got such bad reviews…)

P.S. The picture is of the weather we have once a week here (give or take a few days). It’s also a bit what my life has been like lately. Which is why I loved this Portia’s post where she hid a little gem of a sentence in about loving yourself.

Life is about to get better and more fragrant!

Theory and practice – Fragrance Republ!c

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume June 19, 2014 Comments: 8

Or, in theory, I like the idea of Fragrance republ!c, in practice though, I’m not really thrilled with the way they smell.

I received three of them (not as a paying member but as a blogger) and I admit to being rather underwhelmed. The three I received (01/02, 01/03 and 01/04) all overpowered my nose with the smell of the now standardly used, shrill, clean musks and the lovely opening all of them had was forever lost to my nose.

That said, everyone else who tried them, loved them.

Including my father who is now the proud owner of two of them. 🙂

If you’d like to know more about the general concept, Undina summed it up quite nicely.