Rising from the dead

Adriatic coast, Croatia, I've been thinking, movie October 5, 2022 Comments: 6

or how I watched Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Honestly, I didn’t think it would be a movie that would spur me to write. But that’s the beauty of life, it surprises you. Well, it’s beauty if you like surprises. 🙂 Which I do.

Which is also what happened yesterday (surprise). 🙂 I heard about the movie some time ago and was very prejudiced (hehe) because I love that story and putting zombies into it did not seem like a good idea.

Boy was I wrong!

I’ve been promoting the movie to everyone ever since I watched it, and the question I get is whether it’s a parody. I have no idea what genre this movie is. 😀 Not a parody.

Now I’m wondering if anyone else has seen it and what do you think of it? And if you haven’t seen it, do you think you might? Please try. 🙂

Btw, I actually thought when I wrote again it would be to show some summer/sea photos. I’ll just add some from this weekend now. 😉

Island of Hvar

Hope

Croatia, Perfume thoughts, winter, World of Perfume January 7, 2022 Comments: 15

That’s what I’ve been feeling with the start of this year. I don’t really know why. The last two years have felt like so much is happening and nothing is happening at the same time. I guess much news was happening, but our lives were mostly stagnant (that is my perspective). I know my life was stagnant.

Speaking of hope, I don’t want to do another post where I hope I’ll start writing more. I don’t know if that will happen but I know I am not ready to let my blog go.

But to get back to hope.

I think many of us weren’t aware of how hopeless we felt in the last two years. I know I didn’t even though I knew I didn’t feel like myself. Getting lost in life is something I believe many of us face at some point in our lives, even without a pandemic.

What I did to help myself was to regularly journal and include 3 things I am grateful for each time I write. From the smallest things like enjoying my coffee, to bigger stuff like being grateful for the family and friends. And eventually new year rolled along and I felt differently. I finally feel like I can get my life back on track.

Today helped move that idea along. 🙂

Finally I went for a hike and enjoyed some snow. Followed by a great lunch with a friend and then a beer with another. Walking home from that beer we realized there is a new perfumery in town and even though I was ready to walk away (shame on me!) my friend said lets go in (because she knows me). On top of the amazing day I had, I got to feel like a little child in a candy shop. 😀 I don’t remember the last time I went into a niche perfume store. I enjoyed the experience and loved the lady working there because it was obvious she was having fun with us.

The name of the shop is Belodore and the one in Zagreb has amazing staff.

I don’t actually have a message to share with you – just the hope I feel. And pictures taken today at Sljeme. I love both winter and snow.

Wishing all of you a hopeful and healthy year ahead!

Perfume gods smiling down on me

I've been thinking, Perfume review, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume July 29, 2021 Comments: 6

A while ago I wrote about whether my collection should contain classics, if only for reference purposes. And lamented the fact that I don’t own a vintage variant of Chanel 5.

Well, that is no longer true. 😀

Like the title says, it seems the perfume gods were really smiling down on me and put half a bottle of vintage Chanel 5 in front of me. I cannot describe my happiness upon coming across it (the story is a bit macabre so I’m not going to share it).

And it smells nothing like the modern variant! Oh, it smells amazing.

The luck didn’t stop there though.

The small collection of perfumes I came across also contained bottles of Balenciaga Michelle, Max Factor Blasé and unopened bottle of Givenchy III that looks like it came from the 80s.

I have to say that the woman whose collection this was obviously had great taste in perfume.

Except for the happiness this brought me, I also came to a conclusion. The Balenciaga perfume house seems to be neglected in the perfume world (or at least by me) because everything I have tried so far was amazing. OK, it was only 3 perfumes that I recall, but randomly trying 3 perfumes from one house and being amazed how great they are is a good sign in my book.

So, I’ll be trying their perfumes some more. If you have any favorites from them, please share.

Should your collection contain classics?

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume May 3, 2021 Comments: 13

Even if you don’t like them or plan to wear them.

I dreamt of Chanel 5 last night, and how it smelled great on a woman in my dream. And then (still in the dream) I wanted to try it on myself because I wanted to remind myself of how it smelled. Now I want to do it for real.

Didn’t get to do it in my dream but it got me thinking.

Photo by SAZRELLA STUDIO on Pexels.com

Should I (as a retired perfumista 😀 ) have classics in my collection even though I know they are not really what I would wear?

Because having them would give me an instant reminder of what they smell like and why they are classsics. I would basically need only samples or miniatures for that purpose.

What do you think? I’m leaning towards yes.

The more complicated part is which perfumes would those be? Some of them are so changed from their original formulas that they don’t count, some no longer exist which makes having them an exercise in futility, and what actually constitutes a classic nowadays? A cult following?

I wonder what are your thoughts on the subject and which ones would you recommend?

I do think I’m fine with the Guerlains though. 😀

Perfume Consultant

Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume April 22, 2021 Comments: 10

That would be me. 🙂

Honestly, I am a bit proud now. Yesterday I managed to find two matches for someone. I’m especially happy because it was for a friend’s daughter who is 12 (going on 70) and all I had to go on was something neutral, that she can wear to school and that won’t bother her nose like all other perfumes she smells all the time.

The really helpful part is I know her since the day she was born so I could add some more ideas about what might suit her. I’ll tell you what I chose for her to try and what she finally selected (which were also the ones I thought she might latch onto).

As I was selecting perfumes from my collection for her to try and for me to get an idea what she might like (because neutral can be so many things), I realized I don’t really do neutral, no sillage, nobody knows I’m wearing perfume stuff. 😀

Still, I managed to locate some things that could fit the bill.

This is what I took for her to try:

Eau de Cartier – because it really is unisex, although not really very quiet

Puredistance Antonia – I sort of sneaked that one in not expecting her to like it for herself, but to give her an idea of quiet elegance

Different Company – Un parfum de Sens et Bois – a completely forgotten sample I accidentally found and loved for her

Serge Lutens Bas de Soie – I always think of iris as being the soft, quiet flower

Rue Rance Eau Sublime – a forgotten bottle I only recently realized I enjoy immensely

Any Tauer Penta Verdant – green=neutral? sort of, but more to see whether she would associate the two

Romea d’Ameor The Great Inca Priestess – one I really like and only had a sample of (have no idea why they don’t have a webpage?)

I wonder what you think would be her choice(s) among these?

She loved both Sens et Bois and the Incan Priestess. Which are honestly so very easy to love and smell perfect on her.

Then we went in search of where they can be bought. It turns out they are not so easily obtainable in Croatia. But it also got me thinking how the proliferation of perfume brands and perfumes had two really bad impacts (at least in my case).

  1. I lost all will to try and follow what’s happening in the perfume world because who can keep track anymore
  2. But while I was still trying to keep track, I ignored the beautiful perfumes I already had at home, which are really pieces of art how well they are done, and it doesn’t seem they are given the praise and love they deserve (this is just my opinion, maybe I’m completely wrong)

Then again, I always thought that The Different Company wasn’t given the love it deserves. Now I think the same for the Inca Priestess.

The future of home fragrance is here?

I've been thinking, Perfume shopping, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume March 25, 2021 Comments: 6

I listened to a webinar from Scentys today and got very excited! 😀 New technologies generally have that effect on me.

Before today I wasn’t aware of the brand (Scentys) and what they offer. While listening to the webinar I browsed their offer and got hooked up on the home fragrance products they offer.

I will wait for a few days to see if I’m really that captivated with the diffuser and if yes, proceed with procuring it. 😀 I do believe I will eventually give in. I already found the scents I want to try.

Scentys diffuser

But I got sidetracked from the topic.

What caught my attention is the fact that they have developed a new technology that uses IoT and makes diffusers controllable by either a virtual assistant (Alexa), or over a phone app. You can turn it on and off by giving Alexa a command or using your phone. You can also check whether the amount of fragrance in the air is too much and decrease it in that case.

The whole project is still in development stage but I do hope it evolves soon and becomes widely available. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Maybe by the time it becomes widely available, they add spaces for 3 different scents in the diffuser to choose from (without removing one and adding another).

In the meantime, I’ll ruminate some more on the benefits of having a Scentys diffuser (the non-AI, as it is at the moment).

And I already know what I’ll be buying my driving friends for their birthdays. 😉 Luckily, none of them read my blog. 😀

My top 15 perfumes

I've been thinking, Joint blog project, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume October 20, 2020 Comments: 16

To grab when the building is burning. 😀

I decided to participate in an impromptu series of other bloggers (Vanessa, Tara and Undina) and must say it was fun to think about the 15 bottles I would hurriedly gather. The only problem being they are not in the same place but let’s ignore that part. 😉

I had a problem with the last place. It was a tie between two perfumes so instead, I added an imaginary bottle (a perfume I wish I had).

In no particular order but how they appeared in my mind (and two are decants but I would grab them instead of a bottle of something else).

  1. Guerlain Shalimar
  2. Guerlain Jicky
  3. Guerlain Cruel gardenia (yes, I see a pattern here) 😀
  4. Penhaligon’s Artemisia
  5. Aedes de Venustas Iris Nazarena
  6. Frapin Caravelle Epicee
  7. L’Artisan Parfumeur L’Eau d’Ambre
  8. Ramon Monegal Cuirelle
  9. Shiseido Feminite du Bois
  10. Honore de Pres Vamp a NY
  11. Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess
  12. Chanel Coromandel
  13. Frederic Malle Bigarade Concentree
  14. Puredistance M
  15. April Aromatics Tempted Muse

The year that was

I've been thinking, World of Perfume October 15, 2020 Comments: 8

Is, and forever will be (remembered)

That’s how I see it. I talked to a friend today and said how this is the year everyone will remember for the rest of their lives. We all have some years that stand out in our minds because events happened that made them memorable in some way. But this year is the memorable one for everyone.

What I want to say is that it shouldn’t be memorable because it’s a bad one. I mean, it obviously is, but for me it feels like the year that will be a stepping stone for humanity to learn more about itself and how we can improve the way we live. Maybe it’s naive of me to think that, but it usually takes hitting rock bottom before we realize something needs to change andthen we can start climbing back up.

With all the bad news around us, it is obvious the world has hit rock bottom. The amount of lies, hipocrisy, evil, and power-grabbing that surrounds us is finally coming to light and I think that is a good thing. Because once you know the problems, you can try and fix them. And, astrologically speaking (some of you know that I’m into it), the truth of these matters is only going to come bubbling up to the surface more and more.

Let’s discover a better world

I’ve been working from home most of the year and will continue to do so for quite some time yet. It gave me a lot of time to think and some of those thoughts is what I’m now sharing with you. It was a difficult year and I can’t say I was happy throughout most of it, but it gave me the opportunity to learn more about myself and my reactions, and to learn to accept myself and the world around me. One of the things I realized is that I miss talking to my friends and generally having meaningful conversations, whether online or in person. I miss having a hobby that gives a spark to my life. I somehow lost all that during previous years but this year is what gave me the time to think about all that, how and why it happened, and gave me the strength to try and find it again.

Here is where I’ll finish my ramblings. 🙂 I promise, my next post will be happy and sunny.

Feels like a special day

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume June 27, 2020 Comments: 13

Although on the outside it looks like a normal summer weekend’s day. But for me it feels special.

After a long time, I finally feel enthusiasm regarding a new perfume release. I’m blaming Cookie Queen and Tara for this one. But I’m already in love with the idea of that perfume. I love the name, I almost love all the notes, and as it’s a Chanel Exclusif (I love several of them), I don’t think this one will disappoint. I can finally say I’m eagerly awaiting to try a new perfume.

And then, in the middle of reading that review, I receive a post pingback. That hasn’t happened in a long time. It turns out my Shalimar habit stuck with Undina and now she has a post up about other possible nightly perfume habits we (perfume lovers) might have. You can go and take a look at what other people think of wearing perfume to bed.

To end my perfume-related day, the cake I made for a friend’s birthday turned out great. I’m mentioning the cake now because I received the recipe several years ago from another perfume blogger.

That is why it feels like a special day – everything today seems to be saying it’s time to enjoy the perfume world again.

P.S. Now that I look at my post it seems to be all over the place. 🙂 But who cares, it’s a perfume-world day for me.

Quarantine perfume log #1

I've been thinking, Leisure, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume April 1, 2020 Comments: 10

Although it’s not actually quarantine (at least I don’t think so), even though it feels like it after 5 weeks of working from home and rarely leaving my apartment the last three weeks. I think. Days and weeks pass away and they all look the same.

So while at home, although not having as much free time as everyone seems to think people do (I mean we work from home, my days do not suddenly have a whole bunch of free time), I felt like writing a bit about the perfume related thoughts I’ve been having.

As you can assume, being at home most of the time, I don’t really apply perfume much (almost at all). But I’ve come to all sorts of realizations.

I guess it happened the world over, the search for disinfectants and rubbing alcohol. I wasn’t searching for the alcohol as I had a small bottle at home, but when my mum asked if I can find any, I gave her mine. Several days after that, it dawned on me that I have a lifetime supply of alcohol. 🙂

I saw the perfumes in my hallway.

So, now I have no worries when it comes to running out of rubbing alcohol as both eau de toilettes and eau de parfums contain more alcohol than it does.

Which brings me to the fact that my phone now smells phenomenal. 😀 I’ve been using Jicky to disinfect it with.

My bottle of Jicky

Continuing the Jicky train of thought, my soap is lavender which incidentally doesn’t remind me so much of Jicky, but of Shalimar. I don’t know why my nose makes that jump, but I think it might be the reverse engineering. I remember, quite some time ago, when I recognized traces of Shalimar in Jicky. I wonder now if the fact that lavender soap comes smelling sweetly of vanilla, my nose is going reverse on the perfumes.

And now while checking to see if I ever wrote about Jicky or Shalimar, I came across this great post. At least I think it is great . 😀

Once more a big thanks to Asali for coming up with ideas for it.