Saturday, April 24, 2010

SOTD: None, and Last Saturday, and The Mall

Himself and I have a custom known as Last Saturday.

The idea is that discretionary purchases - DVDs and movie posters and murder mysteries and soap dishes and big-screen televisions and scrunchies and, yes, perfume - must occur on the last Saturday of the month. If a proposed purchase isn't basic groceries or an otherwise immediate need (like, say, the rainy season just started and we've discovered that all appropriate shoes have become worn and leaky), it waits for Last Saturday.

There are two reasons. First, the requirement to put off these purchases for a few days or weeks increases the likelihood that we'll decide that we don't actually need whatever it is. Second, when a month's worth of discretionary purchases are all piled up in one day, purchasing them all looks like financial suicide, so we're likely to do some cutting.

Today is Last Saturday.

Bwahaha.

Actually, no, so far it's been a very small Last Saturday. I say "so far" because there's one hour left, and the whole wide Internet is out there. But I was surprised that even though we stopped by the mall, on Last Saturday, very little self-control was required. I think that this is a sad, sad commentary on the state of department store fragrances. Actually, on the whole mall - they don't even have a bookstore any longer! - but I'm talking fragrances right now.

I ended up coming home with only two small perfume-related purchases:

A mini roll-on of the new L'Occitane Paeonia Eau de Toilette. The Nice Salesperson offered me a test strip of this, and I liked the grapefruit in the top notes, so I bought the mini with unseemly haste rather than wait until the next Last Saturday.

Fragrantica says that the notes for this one are bergamot, grapefruit zest, peony, rose petals, sandalwood, and musk. I mostly get the bergamot and grapefruit, which is just fine with me, though I'd be happy if the sandalwood came forward. It's a friendly little perfume, low projection, not too sweet, not too aggressively "fresh". I'm pleased that I bought it, though I think a mini is just about the right portion for me.

Speaking of minis, I very much like L'Occitane's choice to offer mini sprays or roll-ons or tins of many of their scents - that decision is responsible for almost every L'Occitane purchase that I've made.

The second purchase was a mini roll-on of Kiehl's Pear scented essence oil. Yum. When I first sniffed this I thought that it was a little cartoonish, but as time goes on it smells increasingly like a real, slightly overripe, pear. It's a note more than a perfume, but it's a very nice note.

And that's all. I did do my usual check on Tom Ford Velvet Gardenia, and it was gone. My thrashing around about this has been endless; I've wondered if I'd be relieved or dismayed if this disappeared before I bought a bottle. Turns out that I'm relieved. Whew.

And I tried a spray of Guerlain Jicky parfum. I can never resist an unexpected pure parfum tester, and I wanted to try the civet classic. Sadly, I don't like this any better than the Shalimar parfum that I tried a while ago - though this time Himself didn't threaten to evict me from the car. There's a common element in both - Guerlinade? - that I don't like at all.

So that's Last Saturday. So far.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

5 comments:

  1. I've never had a wow moment with Jicky, but I love Shalimar. Love it. Don't have it, but it's definitely on the list of MUST PURCHASE scents.

    I'll try to reflect on why I like one so much and not the other and get back to you.

    I like this Last Saturday idea. Perhaps when the hubby and I are back in a place where any frivolous spending doesn't feel like financial suicide I'll suggest it.

    Thanks for the post!

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  2. I am full of admiration for your restraint!

    Must give L'Occitane another spin - I tend to pass over them a bit as more of a soap and body products brand, but the new one you mention sounds pretty.

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  3. Last Saturday...nice idea! I do try to wait until the end of a paycycle, and that helps with quashing a lot of impulse buys. And makes it easier to wait until the next one, because then you'll have a little more to work with, and maybe you'll get the vintage decant you've been wanting...or maybe you'll wait...

    Lately, I get caught at "vintage decant." But I believe that is because a few unusual opportunities have come by. I do believe that is true. :)

    Jicky. That stuff threw me into a crazy spiral of recollections, most of which involved grandparents. Not exactly "your grandmother's perfume" style recollections, but specific smell memories from each house/person. Weird. Have not run with it enough times to know if I could ever wear it as mine...heck, even just as a perfume for fun...and the fact that it has taken this long suggests that I am not likely to get to that point. But I'm glad it's out there.

    L'Occitane...I am fond of the The Vert Au Jasmine, as it perked me up on a happy but hot day in D.C. My small bottle now both is a summer scent and a momento. I'm with you, btw; I appreciate the small/travel sizes whenever they are offered.

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  4. Sheesh! I should have said "hi" first! Have stopped by a few times, but this is my first time commenting. Hi! Nice blog! :)

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  5. Howdy, Diana!

    I want to love Shalimar. I like the idea of it and the notes list and the reputation. But the perfume itself, I cannot appreciate, in any strength. But, yes, I'd like to know the results of your reflection.

    Yo, flittersniffer!

    Yeah, I tend to forget about l'Occitane, because they rarely produce knock-me-down, beautiful, defining scents. But all the same, they produce some lovely things - Bergamot Tea, and this Paeonia is very nice, and I know that I'm forgetting others. I'm particularly fond of Bergamot Tea; I could imagine permanently stocking my bathroom with it in soap form, to keep the scent around all the time.

    Hey, ScentScelf! Thanks, and welcome to the blog!

    Yeah, those things that may not be there when you get back to them, like the vintage decants, are hard for Last Saturday. I can't claim that we never cheat. :)

    Jicky has so much history and atmosphere that I wanted to like it, but if I'm going to, it will have to be another vintage.

    Hmm. The Vert Au Jasmine sounds really, really nice. Why don't I remember it? I'll have to sniff it.

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