SOTD: Robert Piguet Bandit

I may be officially Disappointed.

I got a sample of what I thought was the current Bandit, a few months ago. I loved it. I finally broke down and bought myself a small bottle. And now I don't like it so much. There's a lot of spice and very little of the clean sun-warmed cat that I got before.

Hrmph.

Maybe I just need to wait for winter.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTW: Fried Chicken, Roses, and Aomassai

It's been a mostly-lazy long weekend.

Friday was a long drive, a lightning-speed chicken fry, and a picnic on the lawn at Britt, watching Pink Martini.  I had never heard even one Pink Martini song before. ("Not even Hey, Eugene?" Nope.) I intend to hear lots more, now. No perfume Friday.

Saturday. Saturday. Saturday? Oh, yes! The park. Sandwiches and books and staring blankly at the leaves overhead, discussing whether they're oak or maple. Cello Man. Going home and prowling through what's bloomed lately, including a quartered old-fashioned spicy-fragrant pink rose that I have no memory of ever planting. No perfume Saturday.

Sunday? Breakfast. More books. Possibly puttering with the roses. And Parfumerie Generale Aomassai, which again is surprisingly un-sticky and perfect for hot weather. And movies later.

I like summer.

That is all.

Image: By Luc Viatour. Wikimedia Commons. Luc Viatour's website is here.

SOTD: None, and loss of chocolate

I'm taking tomorrow off; the weekend is already here. That's the good news.

The bad news is today's realization that I need to reduce, perhaps eliminate, my consumption of chocolate. Yes, chocolate. This isn't about health - that probably wouldn't stop me. It's about happiness. Specifically, it's about caffeine.

Caffeine doesn't keep me awake, it keeps me nervous. It makes me into one of those people who checks to be sure that the faucet isn't dripping, when it's never dripped before. Who locks the door, checks the door, heads for the car, returns, and checks the door again. Who checks three times to be sure that the envelope is sealed, before putting it in the mailbox. Who wonders what the grocery clerk meant by that offhand remark. You know, those people.

I've always had a tendency to be one of those people, and keeping that tendency under firm control is a priority. Checking the front door lock twice would be tolerable if it stopped there, but I've never trusted that it would stop there.

So the caffeine had to go. Coke and Thai iced tea and other full-strength beverages went away first. Then I switched to decaf iced tea at home, while still drinking the regular stuff in restaurants. Now, the regular stuff has to be carefully rationed even in restaurants.

Yesterday I had two glasses of chocolate milk. Today, I can feel the nervous. Chocolate has to go.

Grumble. I've still got fried chicken, right?

Image: By Danielle Tsi. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: CB I Hate Perfume Black Tea Accord

Tea perfumes rarely smell like real tea to me. That's true even for tea notes from Christopher Brosius, usually the master of true-to-life notes.

But all the same, this one is in competition for my favorite tea scent. And my favorite comfort scent - depending on what I want, it can be quiet and comforting, or cheerful and bracing. It's an accord, not a full-fledged perfume, but I seem to smell multiple notes - some lemon along with the tea, and also something vaguely floral.

And this is just one of the accords. The list on the website is worth poring over in detail - Baby Aspirin, String Bean, Cucumber Roll, eight kinds of leather, six kinds of pine, six kinds of roses; it goes on and on. I want to try them all right now, but frugality forbids. I think I'll start with the smoke notes.

Image: By Haneburger. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: None. Again. Again!

No perfume today. Reading and posting about perfume, but no perfume. Is it midsummer? Is my perfume appetite asleep until the weather turns again?

And my brain remains in temporary retirement.

But the reading of murder mysteries continues.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Insufficient.

So, I did spray on some Caron Alpona. A lovely perfume. Except that one spray, on the back of the neck, vanished altogether.

So I wore perfume only in theory.

Image: From freeparking. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: And Scentless Sunday, too! Again!

Again, a full Scentless Weekend. I disapprove of this habit that I'm forming. Weekends are the best times, and they deserve perfume. Even if I am just spending the time cleaning.

Hmph.

Image: By tanakawho. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Scentless Saturday

No perfume today. And lots of housecleaning. So, really, I guess that the Scent Of The Day is Windex.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Weeeeeeeeekend!

The napping will commence.

Oh, right, perfume. I forgot to wear perfume.

But it's the weekend. Woohoo!

Image: By Lilliinda. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Strange Invisible Perfumes Fire and Cream

Yum.

Want.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By Malene Thyssen. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Chanel Cristalle EDT, and the mythical reduced wardrobe.

This is one of the perfumes that makes me ask myself, once again, why do I have so many perfumes? Do I really need anything more than Cristalle, No. 19, and... well, let's think about this. "This" being a theoretical pared-down perfume wardrobe.

Cristalle and No. 19 would be the galbanum representatives. And they're incomparably beautiful, so I need them both.

I'd need some florals. A La Nuit for jasmine, Un Lys for sheer gorgeousness, and... I'd have to pick a tuberose.  Picking just one tuberose would be difficult, but I'm leaning toward Tubereuse Criminelle.

I'd need an incense. Serge Noire, of course. Turns out that picking just one incense is easy.

Then I'd need a woody fragrance. I have yet to find the perfect woody fragrance. It would fill the function of Art of Shaving Sandalwood, but it wouldn't be Art of Shaving Sandalwood - while I love it, it's not the ultimate, lifetime-loyalty wood. In fact, the perfect wood for me might be cedar.

Then I'd need Sushi Imperiale. Because I'm me.

Then I'd need something warm and animalic for winter. We're not in winter, so I'm not sure what that would be, or if I even own it yet. Vintage Bandit might be the one... no. Of course. I need Cuir de Russie. "Warm and animalic" isn't an altogether accurate description, but it's what I need all the same.

I'm missing at least three major categories - sticky gourmand, tea, and citrus. Much to my surprise, especially given how much I love teas, I feel that I can live without them all. Well, except for the mythical perfect orange - if I find that, it'll be in the lineup.

So that's, er, nine fragrances, assuming that I find the perfect wood and don't find the perfect orange. More than any normal sane person has, but a drastic reduction from my current collection. Could I be content with that?

It could be interesting to try, for a month or so. Theoretically. Y'know, someday.

Meanwhile, tomorrow I think I'll try Fire and Cream. Just because.

Image: By S Sepp. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Frederic Malle Une Fleur de Cassie

I was going to wait until I learned to appreciate the nuances of Une Fleur de Cassie, and then post a Review Roundup and a full review.

You may recall that on my first try, my primary impression was of Elmer's glue.

I'm wearing it for the second time. My impression is of a vase of Elmer's glue with a flower in it. Therefore, there will be no full review.

I'm going to assume that I am unable to perceive this fragrance, throw up my hands, and offer everyone else's views:

Review Roundup: Bois de Jasmin and Basenotes and Perfume-Smellin' Things and MossyLoomings and PereDePierre and Legerdenez and MakeupAlley and Aromascope and Sweet Diva and Eiderdown Press and Fragrantica and Scent Signals and Perfume Nerd and Scentsate.

Link Roundup: Pronunciation from belabela.

Image: Wikimedia Commons. (Yes, I used it before, but, hey, it worked.)

SOTD: Balmain Vent Vert (Modern)

This time, I tried two sprays of Vent Vert. It started out a little too strong, and disappeared within an hour. I am befuddled.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTW: Mostly Scentless Weekend

Saturday was, as usual, Scentless Saturday.

Sunday, I went to the mall entitled to buy a bottle of perfume. (I have a set of rewards for doing things that I don't wanna do. And I did one.) And... nothing. The mall has failed me. I did try on some Tom Ford Italian Cypress, and I decided that I will not be buying Tom Ford Italian Cypress. Like Velvet Gardenia, it's glorious, but only on roughly one out of three wearings.

So, a kitty. That is all.

Image: By Guarav Pandit. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: L'Artisan Parfumeur Fou d'Absinthe

Armor. Bug killer. Spring cleaning.

These associations don't sound altogether good, do they?

But they are. With every wearing, this perfume is slowly making its way into the ranks of my very favorites.

Review Roundup: Is here.

User: By Matthais Kabel. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: L'Artisan Dzing!

This is a fragrance that's been on the Kinda Sorta Maybe Wanna Buy It list for a long, long time. Years. It's also been rumored to be discontinued for a long, long time. (Years.) But it seems to still be around, if only in the massively oversized 100 ml size.

Again, I can't decide. But again, I'm enjoying it. I just put it on, so it's still in the early leather/vinyl stage. I'm waiting for the cotton candy and elephant ... er... elephants.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By Aaron Logan. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Strange Invisible Perfumes Fire and Cream

A celebrateish mood, and some very nice dusty oranges.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By Valentina Storti. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Comme Des Garcons Leaves: Tea

Today is an extra grumpy day. I believe in the principle of scent association - that a bad experience can ruin a good scent - so on extra grumpy days I never wear anything from a bottle or even a large decant. Unless, of course, it's a bottle or large decant that I'm trying to persuade myself to declutter.

Instead, I tend to wear scents that I want to talk myself out of. If the scent survives the grumpy, then it's started to prove itself worthy of purchase consideration. If it doesn't, then that's one more bottle that I won't spend money on.

So today, it's Comme des Garcons Leaves: Tea. I have an on-and-off craving for a bottle of this, in spite of its strong resemblance to dry cleaning fluid. So we'll just see how it goes.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By Peter Forster. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Nothing again!

Long weird unscented day.

Tired now.

That is all.

Image: By PortraitLady4306. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: And Sunday, too

No scent today. But another murder mystery. Good trade?

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Scentless Saturday

No perfume today. And no sampling. And clouds. But good murder mysteries.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Several

Today started with modern Balmain Vent Vert. This is a scent that I tend to unfairly ignore, because it doesn't approach the glory of vintage Vent Vert. But it's lovely all the same, so why don't I wear it more?

Then I went to Alchemy Botanicals, again, to play with the Dawn Spencer Hurwitz perfumes, again. I re-sprayed Bancha, and while I still love the drydown, I found out that I'm not as big a fan of the first couple of hours. What to do? 

I re-sprayed Tubereuse, and it was, again, gorgeous. It starts out with a fog of tuberose candy mixed with gasoline, and, yes, that is a lovely thing, no matter how it might sound. The gasoline fades over time, leaving the tuberose candy, which is much nicer than other perfume candy.

I already have Parfumerie Generale Tubereuse Couture. I intend to buy Serge Lutens Tubereuse Criminelle. I think that there's at least one other tuberose perfume that I own or intended to own. Just how wrong would it be to buy this?

I also tried Prana. It's interesting. It's puzzling. I got a strongly animalic feel from it, even though it doesn't contain even one animalic note. I suspect that I'm smelling a combination of the cardamom and oud.  Sadly, over time the oud started to dominate, and I really don't like oud. But this perfume comes closer to making me like it than any so far, so I may give it another try.

So, Vent Vert sort of lost the spotlight today. Maybe I'll try it again Sunday.

Image: By Father.Jack. Wikimedia Commons.

Rambling: The high-speed trip from beautiful to tiresome

I went to lunch today, and was served a salad with a very pretty green ribbon of tarragon dressing. I enjoyed the first two or three bites very much. And then I didn't like it one bit.

This is my normal reaction to tarragon - I remember, years ago, a diner that had a chicken salad heavy on tarragon. The first two bites were so very good that I would sometimes get an order just for the pleasure of eating them, and then pick at the rest, or take it home so that I could reset my tastebuds and experience another "first two" bites the next day.

The same is true of salmon. I love smoked salmon. Adore it. Dream about it. But I only eat it at buffets, because the dream is entirely fulfilled in three bites, and then I don't want to see it again for at least a day.

Some perfume notes affect me the same way. I've mentioned more than once that orange blossom is gorgeous for less than a minute, and then it annoys me. Whatever note usually produces grapefruit pleases me for a good five minutes, and then I read it as synthetic. That lime peel note in Sweet Lime & Cedar is lovely for perhaps half an hour, and then it seems to grow and grow until I want to flee.

Is this just me? Do I have naturally fickle tastebuds? Or do you also have some scents and flavors that you adore, and then promptly push away?

Image: By Helen Cook. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Parfumerie Generale L'Eau Rare Matale

So today is L'Eau Rare Matale (delicious burned wood and tea) again. Dark, bitter, and a little grumpy. Yum.

Maybe if I keep wearing this, I'll keep remembering to wear it. If you see what I mean.

Image: By Sandivas. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Parfumerie Generale Tubereuse Couture

In winter, Parfumerie Generale Cadjmere is my comforting fuzzy scent. I was cranky enough today to consider wearing it, but decided that in warm weather it would be too much like drowning in coconut.

So I put on Tubereuse Couture instead, and found that it has a similar comforting blankety feel. Nice.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: None, and The Magic Of Backdating

Tuesday, I didn't wear a scent, and I didn't post about not wearing a scent. Shocking.

Which raises a question: Am I sometimes not wearing a scent because the day feels too busy to write about it?

That would be silly.

I'll have to think it over.

Meanwhile, have a sleepy kitty. I've been saving him for just such an occasion.

Image: By Klarissee. Wikimedia Commons.