Thanksgiving 2011

This year I'm thankful that everyone in my family (blood and otherwise) and myself is healthy and happy. Well, healthy enough, I'm thankful that my MIL is not on the verge of anything life threatening. I'm VERY thankful that Hubby is finally trying to take care of his health and is eating more healthy, cut out the salt, cut down on the beer and is trying to eliminate stress. He got the fear of God put into him with a high blood pressure scare a couple of weeks ago. I'm thankful that my Shay & Winnie got a fairly clean bill of health from the vet. I am thankful that my weight is down, not down enough but at least I haven't put any of the 60 pounds that I lost last year back on. You can never be too rich or too thin.

The turkey may have been lopsided, but it was very tasty : )

I'm thankful that me and Hubby have our jobs. I'm thankful that I have a fun job, I work with fantastic bunch of people and that I can come & go as I please from there. I'm thankful to have a work husband, a work wife, a work sister, a work mother-so many friends, so many roles and I love them all. They're like family to me. I'm thankful that I'm getting a turkey from work this year and I'm going to cook it with all the fixins': stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, squash, pumpkin pie. Hmmmm, where are the vegetables?


Note to self: Do not attempt anything daring with the stuffing again. I don't know what came over me, but while making the stuffing I got the urge to cut up an apple and add it in. What goes good with apples? Cinnamon and cloves so those went in, too. I stuck the regular stuffing in one end, the apple concoction in the other. It was ok, a bit spicy (too much cloves) but the regular stuffing was much, much better!

Let the games begin.........it's now after midnight so it's Hubby's birthday. It's Black Friday. Monday is Cyber Monday. Tuesday is out anniversary.  It's a crazy week here. I didn't get a cake, we have enough stuff in the house right now. Wonder if we have any balloons?

Something Old, Something New: Rochas Femme

9/28/11 (yeah, it takes me forever to finish a post here).After a busy day at work the work husband offered me a ride home (as usual) and I agreed. Surprise flat tire. I offered to get security to help but he refused and changed it himself. Not without a bit of fussing trying to find the jack and tools. He keeps a lot of junk in the back of his van/truck type car, he does landscaping and other odd jobs when not at the regular job. He moved all the junk around and  two shopping bags full of empty cans spilled all over the back. Since I couldn't really help with changing the tire, I gathered up all the cans, found a bag in my purse to put them all back. When I stuck my head in the back, he was one side-still looking for tools, I was on the other side and I got a whiff of, uh, well, sweat. He worked up a sweat fussing over the tire. Cumin scented sweat. The unscented man isn't unscented anymore. He smelled very much like Rochas Femme, the modern version with the cumin note, a sweet spicy sweat. Nice........

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Femme by Rochas

Created in 1943 by Edmond Roudnitska whose other creations include Diorissimo, Eau Sauvage and Rochas' Moustache.

• Top Notes
• Peach, Plum, Sandalwood, Rosewood, Lemon, Rose
  
• 
  Middle Notes
• Jasmine, Oakmoss
  
• 
  Base Notes
• Patchouli, Musk, Amber, Civet, Leather

Illustration from Basenotes.com

What I'm going by is an old bottle of parfum de toilette, which seems to be an aerosol spray type so possibly from the 60's or 70's. When you push down on the nozzle it makes a "swoooooish" sound when spraying. *Since I began this post I acquired an old bottle of EDC that smells as deep and rich as the PDT. I haven't given a good wearing yet. {Yeah, it takes me forever to finish a post here!} Both are completely different animals from modern Femme. Original is all about plums, cloves, amber and leather. Warm & spicy. A deep vibe.


 Wearing this Femme it's like having a constant mellow aura of warm spiced plums around you. Not sugar plums, but dry, slightly sweet from their ripeness plums. And peaches, as in peach skin-similar to Mitsouko-a hint of sweet and lots of fuzz. Peaches & plums dipped in musk and moss. Later a nuance of spice, leather and amber surrounds you. Smooth, soft and mellow from start to finish, no bumps in the road with this one. It's like you've got this fabulous warmth around you with Femme. It's an intimate warmth, like the warmth of a body, sensual & rich-but not only the scent of a warm body, it's got the plums, peaches amber and such going on.


Modern formulation Femme {post 1989}: 

Oliver Cresp re-orchestrated Femme in 1989, to give it a modern interpretation, I believe. Why does everything have to be modernized?

Modern Femme. Because of all the hype surrounding the cumin note I hadn't ventured out in public wearing it, until today.  Cumin screams perspiration to me. And Taco Bell. Upon first spritz, the cumin note is really LOUD, once it settles not very noticeable, the spice notes move into cinnamon territory. Not bad, not bad at all.

The modern Femme's got the plums, the peaches, which seem fruitier rather than rich as they are in the vintage. It's got a touch of the amber, musk and leather but by the time they show up they're drowning in spices. Once it's been on for a few hours it's all spice, that's all I get. Nothing animalistic, no warm aura, it's got a spicy aura.


Modern Femme isn't all that bad, compared to some other formulations I've encountered. I wouldn't call it "a shadow of it's former self" it's more of "a different facet of it's former self." Like a flanker. It still smells unique, rich, has depth-it's that damn cumin and spice again-giving it it's depth. 

Between my bottle of PDT ( I have 2 of them, one full, one with a small amount left) and EDC I have enough Femme to last me forever. If by any chance I exhaust my stash & I could wear the new Femme, but there are other perfumes I'd probably reach for first, or instead of. When I think of modern Femme I think of spices, and when I'm in the mood for spice I grab Kenzo Jungle Elephant.

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Once I packed up all the cans I could grab, I sat down on the ground, lit a cigarette and watched him change the tire. The weather was perfect, we were out of work somewhat early and the sun was going down. I could have sat there forever watching him change that tire.
When it was changed, I did help, I picked up the tools and handed them to him and dropped one on his foot while doing so. He swears that it didn't land on his foot, but I think it did. Whoops.

Miss Dior Esprit de Parfum

 Miss Dior. Didn't think I'd ever like this, let alone fall in love with it & put it in heavy rotation. I had tired the vintage EDC and EDT and they weren't memorable, they seemed old & stuffy.  Prior to sniffing the ESdP the name "Miss Dior" sort of conjured up images of debutantes, very upper-class uptight (somewhat stuffy, ah, maybe a stuck up woman) well manicured (perhaps what we'd call today as "high maintenance", or someone who always looks perfect) old fashioned young women from back in the day. Pastel fluffy prom dresses with matching corsages. Perfect, pretty and not sexy. Maybe a Stepford Wife.  Am I going way off base here? I think I am, but....

Miss Dior was created in 1947 by Paul Vacher (creator of the line of Le Galion fragrances, and Sortilege, Diroling, and Arpege, none of which I'm familiar with-sorry to say, but I'm working on it ; ) and Jean Carles (of Shocking de Schiaparelli ,Ma Griffe, and Tabu fame, which I am familiar with) who, at the time was completely anosmic.  He compared his anosmia to Beethoven's deafness. Amazing. Christian Dior's instructions to the perfumers was to "Create a fragrance that is like love." Okay. Named by Mitzah Bricard (Dior's muse) when she saw Christian’s sister Catherine and exclaimed,"Here's Miss Dior!" Something along those lines. A liter of the extrait was sprinkled on a weekly basis in Dior's first boutique in 1947. Yikes, how would you like to have worked in there? Being around it that much would be too much of a good thing for me.

I picked up an old Esprit de Parfum and watch out world, here I come! Heavy, heavy thick leather, a lipstick leather with honey, or something in there giving it a semi-sweet edge-as you can tell I have trouble picking out notes, especially florals. Maybe it's the galbanum giving it the sweet edge in the beginning.....where was I? Lipstick leather, sweetened with honey (or sumpthin') with mossy vanilla and amber. A cross between a chypre and an oriental, or maybe you'd call it a combination of both?  I'm wondering if my bottle is from the 80's because it wears like a powerhouse perfume of that era, like Montana's Parfum de Peau, Balengencia's Rumba, Gucci 3, Krizia's Teatro Alla Scala. And I didn't drown myself in it to get that effect, it just went that way. Just a spritz on the wrists and on the neck is enough to be very noticeable.

All this with an animalic background. No civet, musk or castoreum in the notes, but something strikes me as a teensy bit skanky. There's something earthy-earthy as in Revlon's Intimate, which crossed my mind while spritzing myself with Miss D today. But not dirty skanky, a clean skank. Just warm and earthy. Sexual. Hmmmmmm........

Miss Dior to me is less of a debutante and more like a cougar. It brings to mind images of a sophisticated, mature and sultry woman, like Ann Bancroft as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate. The original cougar, she even donned the animal prints from coat to underwear. BTW, Ann Bancroft was only 36 when she played Mrs. Robinson, who was twice as old as Benjamin's 21. That's NOT old. Sheesh, I am older than Mrs. Robinson. Oh, never mind. Let's talk about art, shall we?

Miss Dior is yummy, heavy, sexy, sexual, vampy. It wears well on me & goes especially well with my leather jacket and my leopard coat, of course.

 Miss Dior Esprit de Parfum vs. the EDT and EDC versions
Since becoming very acquainted with Miss Dior ESdP I compared it to the EDT and EDC I had of it. Both the EDT and EDC start off differently to the ESdP,  they lack the opening  zing and spunk, but they were opened-long ago-splash-bottles, their top notes were probably gonzo, so I'll forgive them.  My ESdP was a new in sealed package find of the century! Must have been sitting on the back of the shelf for years, maybe 30 years or more. It was tucked way in the back behind some newer Diors and EDCs. Anyway, the EDT and EDC eventually dried down to the amber/leather/slightly vanilla-)ish, animalistic drydown of my ESdP, but they weren't as rich or full bodied as the ESdP.  The EDC seemed to have more vanilla than the EDT. Both were lighter fragrances compared to the ESdP.

I have no idea how the current formulations smell. There are so many Miss Dior Chere flankers I'd have to rummage through them all to find a regular Miss Dior on the counter, right? I dunno. I am a little curious about the current, but I'm not going out of my way to try it.

Molinard de Molinard

Molinard de Molinard. New Love. Vintage bottle of eau de toilette purchased during a crazy buying spree, was meant to be put up for sale but it's a keeper. Floral-fruity my ass, this is as green as I don't know what!  Something about "green" perfumes is uplifting to me, they make me happy : ) Alright, there are "fruit notes" and a black current note in the opening, they give it a tinge of sweetness but that falls by the wayside in no time. Lots of pine, lily of the valley and some sort of marijuana note. For reals, it smells a bit like pot. I did NOT wear this on my recent drugstore trip for fear of the pharmacist would think I was high or something and refuse to fill my script. It smells that much like herb. Well, at least to me and I didn't want to take any chances. And I was in the middle of a long run of wearing this, still am. It's in heavy rotation, especially since my coat reeks (in a good way!) of it.

The pine note makes this very Christmas-y, I will be wearing this around the holidays for sure. Along with Guerlain's Winter Delice.  A little goes a looooong way with MdM, just a spritz down my shirt (none on my wrists or my neck)and I was smelling it all day, and woke up the next day with it still lingering. Does not come off clothes until they've been through the laundry, and even then I still detected a hint.

The Awakening of the Forest 1939 by Paul Delvaux

At first I didn't think of MdM as being a sexy perfume, but after several wearings I've changed my mind. It's sexy in the way it makes me feel, all those strong green notes bursting out make me feel confident and happy, which make me feel, you know, sexy. Damn, this is so zingy, shiny, full of life, how can one not feel fabulous when wearing it?

It's also a comforting scent-without being vanilla, Oriental or gourmand.
How is that? I dunno. It just smells good. Warm. Embraceable. Maybe it's the dry down of musk and amber giving it that warm feeling. Or perhaps because I love and enjoy wearing it-it feels comforting to me.

Now I'm wondering if M de Molinard is the same as Molinard de Molinard or what? It M the reformulation? At one point I had a sample vial of M de Molinard, and guess what? I didn't care for it. The house of Molinard is puzzling to me at times. Miss Habanita IS the same as Miss Molinard. I recently acquired a bottle of Miss M and it's the same except it's richer, so Miss H must be the reformulated version. I think? I'll give both a good wearing and report back on that.

 

It Isn't Easy/Falling in Love/Working

This is a post from a month ago. Been busy and finally finished it up now.

It ain't easy on several levels. Shopping, perfume hunting. First, I have to make a plan, a game plan: where am I going to go, what bus to take, where to go first, pick up stuff at the first place or hustle back and forth while testing & deciding. Making a list helps, especially when you remember to bring the list with you, like I did today. One side of the paper was new things I wanted to test, the other was vintages I was hoping to score. My husband got a glimpse of it and said, "Oh, she's made the food shopping list already."  Which I replied, "No, that's the perfume list."
Then there's the spending limit. Before leaving the house  I weakened and took my whole check ($400) along with me, instead of only $200 and a few smaller bills-ones, fives and such for change. I figured that this might be one of my last full time checks, all the bills are paid up (somewhat) and some of the stuff will be sold and/or may be Christmas gifts.

Guess what? I only spent $150 and brought home a booty of goodies. BOOTY. I lucked out.

First stop, that horrid Macy's. Was bombarded by the SA's, well meaning but annoying. I sprayed Vince Camuto on one wrist, could barely smell anything. Walked around, sniffing occaisonally,  finally got a faint whiff of something similiar to Flowerbomb. No thanks. Sprayed the other wrist with Givenchy's Ange On Demon Elixir, since I adore the original  Ange On Demon, no flankers. Very nice, like a sweet AoD but too much like Alien. Pass. Fragrance Event? All it was-was 5X the usual SA's on the floor attempting to spray you with the latest fruit cocktail. Nobody handed out any samples, which I heard happens at these "events". I gave up. Nothing there piqued my interest enough to buy, and if I did buy, I'm sure any samples/freebies wouldn't even be worth it. By that time it was getting late (I never leave the house early enough) and postponed Saks and other stores in favor of going to the old place.

Since the owner knows when I come in I'm dropping more money than all his other customers combined so he often discounts things, today he let me have a few free. I would marry that man if I could. One thing, I wish he'd let me behind the counter. Just let me go back there so I don't have to bother him and his helpers asking, "How much is this?" "How much for that?" "Do you have ___?" and my usual, "I thought I saw a bottle of ____ the last time I was in here, is it still around?" Now when I leave the place and am at home-sometimes I do it in the car-I make a list on paper of what I wanted/was interested in but didn't get, so I'll remember the next time. I SWEAR there was a bottle of Le De Givenchy on the shelf, next time I went (only a couple of days later) couldn't find it for the life of me. It also doesn't help that I think him & the helper re-organize the items on the shelf so every time I go it's slightly different. It's like playing a game of concentration with some arsehole switching the cards around when you're not looking.

I dream of him letting me go behind the counter and do my shopping from there. With a large box, I'd fill it up. I used to pester him about hiring me, then stopped because if I badgered him too much he'd never hire me. He probably won't hire me, but I keep hoping. He could pay me in perfume, I'd be spending my check there anyway.

Tomorrow or sometime this week I'll be stopping in there. My weekly visit. The Christmas shopping season is approaching, wonder if he might need some extra help around the store?