**INFO** Site Slinging for Fragrances & Oils

A neighbor asked me something the other day and I referred her to a website I know of. She commented that she never would have found the site herself. True or not, it occurred to me that I do often run across some interesting and random sites when I am writing, blogging, or just looking for something myself. Why the heck have I not been sharing these sites with you guys? Dunno. So... here goes the first list of sites. (Understand that I can't endorse the quality of these sites so... use your noggin.)

Oh, and I came across most of these when I was looking for a fragrance oil featuring Tonka Bean. Now, down the rabbit hole we go:

• Scent Split is where you can check out buying decants of perfumes. Good idea for those who want to test a scent first, or already like a fragrance but can't afford the whole bottle. Their shipping speed is iffy. It can take at least a couple of weeks for items to arrive and, in the case I know of, the tracking information wasn't available. On the Plus side, they have a HUGE selection and they use glass vials/bottles for the fragrances which is better than plastic.
• Candle Science is where I landed next while looking for the Tonka oil. If I ever decide to make candles, this is going to be the first stop.
• Fragrance Buy is in Canada, but they offer "hard to find" and "niche" scents. They didn't have my Flori Roberts Gold, so...
• Lucky Scent caught my eye because they offer not just perfume but all types of fragrant items - bath stuff, candles, etc. IMO, the perfumes I checked on were pricier than I liked.
• Fragrance Original carries discontinued scents as well as current items. The site reminded me of the fragrance offerings at Burlington's Coat Factory. Prices were fair.
• Root American Made Candles is to candles what the other sites are to fragrances. The prices ranged from impressive to the out-of--my-range range. I like that they have smaller sized options in case you can't spend lots.

I'm adding a note about The Fragrance Shop because I have used them for years to buy fragrance oils. I love their original oil scents. At first, I was crazy about the Shalimar mimic oil that I got from them about 6 years ago, but the oil will degrade over time so I don't count on using it after about 6 or 7 months unless it's very well stored. Customer service is excellent and you can get very affordable sample bundle.

If anyone knows of any other relevant sites, do let me know. And if you know where I can find some Tonka Bean oil, really do let me know!

I will be back to do a review of Scent Splits once I receive my order from them...

Peace

--Free

Shalimar (the fragrance) Has a Brother & I Love Him

Shalimar perfume was once my scent. Not just the perfume, but even the EDT and the lotions smelled amazing on my body. Shalimar, my sweet Shalimar... I owned it, rocked it, and wore it so well that I should have been a Guerlain spokeswoman.

Then, hormones.

When I turned the age corner from 35 to 36 or 37, I noticed my Shalimar didn't smell quite the same. Actually, it smelled just as wonderful as always - for about two hours. Then, nothing. Always before then, it was at the 2-hour mark that the fragrance was starting to work a third-level of magic. Those undernotes in the potion would go from spicy and start to get mellower and kind of smoky.

By the time, I hit 40, I had to give up on Shalimar. The perfume still worked for me. Mostly. Thing is, the perfume is pricier than I could splurge on that often.

I played with some other scents, trying to find any one of them that made me feel the way Shalimar once had. And, believe me, with fragrance, it is so much about the feeling. When I wore Shalimar, I felt beautiful and sexy. I felt empowered by my own femininity. That may sound strange, but it's true. No matter what clothes I wore or how I styled my hair and makeup, I just didn't feel completely "finished" until I dabbed on, spritzed on, or smoothed on my Shalimar.

The first other fragrance I kind-of-sort-of loved after Shalimar was Dior's Dune. I really liked it a lot, but it didn't take away my grief over Shalimar.

Then I met Flori Robert's Gold fragrance. Oh, mercy. It's as if the heavens opened up and breathed out golden sunshine. Once again, I felt like I had found my soul's aroma. That latest for about 2 years and then, I will be damned if Gold was no more.

What is it about wonderful things like the perfect fragrance or a really good makeup product? Is there a demon of the vanities that decides when to slap us with reality by discontinuing something we love?

Whatever.

Everyone knows what they feel like when something they love is discontiued.

Since then, I have never had a "signature scent". I like Viva la Juicy (a lot), Donna Karan's Cashmere, Kenzo's Flowers, and another Gold scent that I lost my tester tube of so I don't know who brands it. I like a lot of scents, but I have never been in love with one again since Shalimar and Flori Robert's Gold. I became perfume celibate.

Then, I was reading about how a lot of femme scents have matching Homme scents (and, no I don't care if I just mangled that all up). I started to wonder if Shalimar had a matching "brother" scent. And, here, folks, is where life gets weird...

This is apparently the brother scent of Shalimar:

I even like the bottle

That is Habit Rouge. Which happens to have been the favorite scent of one of my biggest celebrity crushes ever. This man:

via GIPHY
Makes me sweat.

OK, that's when he was young and so were we. He still had that charisma when he got a bit older.

via GIPHY

The saddest thing is, he never lived to reach middle age with the rest of us.

Still, you know a man is hot when he's been gone from this earth for something like 20 years and women still swoon at the mention of his name. Just take a look at the teenagers on Tumblr who crush on the man.

via GIPHY

Go ahead. Swoon a little. I'll wait.

Anyway, I heard about the fragrance matching Shalimar a while before I learned my late crush had favored it. And it smells ah-may-zing.

Now, I will wear a fragrance meant for men. Fahrenheit is a favorite of mine, but only because I like the way it smells, period. I love Habit Rouge because of the way it smells on me. Isn't it just crazy the power scents and smells hold over us? They evoke all kinds of emotions and memories.

If you ever wanted a fragrance that compliments Shalimar, Habit Rouge is the one.

Peace
--Free

**REVIEW** ScentSationals (scented wax)

If you ever wanted a simple way to brighten, enhance or lift your mood, you have to try ScentSationals wax melts. This one is my all-time favorite right here:

I've also tried some others and this is another fave:

The Iced Lemon Sugar Cookie (ILSC) scent is so fresh and calming that I have driven across town to other Walmart locations to stock up. I told a friend of mine that the fragrance is better than a Valium. I'm not kidding. I am beginning to think that I might be addicted to the scent.

Not long ago, I tried one of the Burt's Bees wax melts. What a disappointment. First of all, like most things from Burt's Bees, the item was overpriced. The scent was amazing though. Until I tried to use it. I still can't figure out how something that smelled so good in the container could lose every hint of fragrance as soon as it started to warm. I mean, there was NOTHING fragrant coming from that wax once you moved your nose more than half an inch from the warming pot.

If you think I'm being harsh about Burt and his bees, I'm not the only one who was underwhelmed by the wax melts. The next time I was in the store to pick up some more of those fabulous ScentSationals, another customer and I discussed our disgust with Burt's wax melts. She said that she'd actually bought more than one scent, and had even bought one of the candles. In her opinion, the candle was slightly better than the melts - but only very slightly. She had returned all the unused items. Like me, she was sticking with the more affordable lines. (By the way, her favorite are the melts from Better Homes and Gardens. They are about the same price as my faves so I tried out one. Not bad, but I haven't seen a lemon scent to match the ILSC!)

(NOTE: I have no idea what's up with the Better Homes site.)

I used the ILSC in my room and in the trailer because that's where I spend most of my time. I have used the other fragrances in the family bathroom. It's nice that the bathroom always smells pleasant (without anyone having to call attention to themselves by spraying away odor or running the fan), but it's tricky to choose a scent. The guys in the family don't want anything "girly" (seriously, this is what they'd say), but none of us want anything too strong or pronounced. What I ended up doing was choosing from the line of "Refreshing" scents. Tea, Fresh Air, and Rainy Day are the light fragrances we can all enjoy. Those are the kinds of scents that they guys in our family would use in their cars.

One of the things I love most about ScentSationals (other than the wonderfully affordable price) is that the fragrance lasts and lasts and lasts. If I melt three of the cubes on High, I can get a good 2 full days use at full strength. The fragrance does start to wane a bit after that and I've learned to use the Low setting if I want to get another couple of days use from the melts. I used to just dump the depleted (and cooled) wax in the trash basket to freshen it. Lately, I will save some of the used wax in a spare jar. When I'm at my monthly budget limit for household things, I will stick a tea light candle in the scented wax. There's usually a little bit of scent left and tea-lights are nice for setting a relaxing mood. (By the way, I was going to take a photo, but I am also out of tealights. Dangit!**)

Another way to use these wax melts is to store the unopened containers in your dresser drawers. Basically, use them as sachets until you get ready to use them in a warming pot, My mother used to give me little powder sachets to put in my dresser when I was starting to mature. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

This next tip for freshening your car can be tricky so try it at your own risk. I'm just sharing my experiences and yall now that I have had some blips in life...  Put one of the wax melts in some kind of small container (preferably glass or thick plastic) with a lid and leave it half open in your car. Of course, this works well on warm summer days. In cooler weather, you'll have to rely on the car's running heater/warmth. It's still nice. For containers, I have cleaned out some makeup jars and such.

One of the highlights of my life is going to the store with DJ to pick up our ScentSationals. I make it part of my monthly grocery shopping routine. DJ likes to pick out at least three or four scents to smell. His verdict is either"Eww! NO!" or "\Yum. I like this one." He doesn't even care that I mostly only get the ILSC scent. We can spend a good fifteen minutes on that aisle, testing different scents. Last month, the closest Walmart was out of ILSC so DJ chose these from Better Homes to try instead:

Nice but not lemony enough

I told him I didn't like it, but he said we should try it. Okay. Turns out, it wasn't anywhere as lemony as our favorite. When we went back to the store a couple weeks ago and saw that scent, DJ goes, "You were right, BooBoo. That one... No, no, nooo." LOL (You have to see now why it so NOT sad that spending time with this kid is a highlight of my life.)

By the way, don't forget that the Better Homes and Gardens wax melts are just about the same price (at Anchorage Walmarts at least) as the ScentSationals. The local price is about $2.30 for the pack with 6 cubes.


Now, I have to mention that the website doesn't make it easy to find your favorites but once you do, there is a nice comparism feature. When I first checked the site for my ILSC scent, I had to use the Search function. Before that I was checking under the wrong categories: Tropical, Garden, etc. The Iced Lemon Sugar Cookies is actually under "Delectables". Okay.

I got extremely frustrated when I added a ton of scents to the "compare" list only to have them disappear. Guess what? I forgot to set up an account. Actually, I don't want an account. I don't want to order online and wait for deliveries when I can just pick items up at the store. Grrrr... Okay, so I established an account only so I could use the Compare feature.

Turns out the Compare feature is pretty useless. I loved the description of the Iced Lemon Sugar Cookies:

"Deliciously baked lemon, lime blend of pure sweet coconut milk and sugar with light notes of vanilla extract."

Yum, right? So I wanted to compare other scents to see what I might like in the same range. This is what I get from the description of Red Velvet Cake:

"Red Velvet Cake
2 oz"

Yeah. That tells me all of nothing.

The site might be useless for anything other than getting a list of scents but, hey, I'd rather follow my nose anyway. I can always ask local stores to order the scents I like

Other than the categories of fragrances (Tropical, Romantic, etc), there's also something called "Fusion" for mixing and matching. By the way, I usually get the 6-cube item (and you can see from the photo that they are a good size for smaller warming pots), but both the Scentsationals and the Better Homes melts come in larger amounts ("value packs") and in con sets:

Finally, I noticed that the scents are cheaper at the local Walmart than they are from the website. Just saying.

Peace
--Free


** If you want to know why I'm out of tealights & can't get more.... Wait for my next review! LOL

**REVIEW** (Update. Sort of) Travalo Refillable Perfume Atomizer

I haven't been posting as much because I've been trying to work on the story collection.That little project is in the editing stage (or what I like to call Writer's Hell)...

A lot of times when I review a product, I don't always follow up with an update. Even if I love an item. Usually, I forget. Until I am, for some reason, reminded. I was reminded to update my review of this item because I had a chance to refill it at the store for the first time in a long time.

                                                 



That is my Travalo Refillable Perfume Atomizer from the local Perfumania.

Reasons that this makes a good buy:

1. It's affordable (and cute)
2. It's makes buying perfume affordable
3. It's affordable (and portable)

I got one a couple years ago for my sister as a Mother's Day gift and, because I liked it so much, I got one for myself. I think I paid just about $10 for it. (I see now that there are fancier ones. I'm going to have to check those out myself!)

Mostly, I've just been filling it with perfumes that I already have around the house. The other day, I was thinking about how much I love Fahrenheit by Dior (which, yes, is for men, but I don't care). As much as I love the fragrance, I only ever buy it (and rarely) to give to my brothers for gifts. The only way I've ever been able to keep some for myself is to snag a handful of samples from nice clerks... So, I wanted some Fahrenheit, but couldn't even think about getting a bottle. Then I remembered my Travalo, which happened to be empty.

Finally, I'm getting to the best part about buying a Travalo: You pay about 10 bucks (for the "classic" one like I have), then you can refill it it at Perfumania for $10. With ANY fragrance in their store.

That might not sound like a big deal but a 1.7oz bottle of Fahrenheit costs around $55-$75.

And, no, that's not actually very expensive for a lovely scent. It's just too much for my current budget.

So, yeah. I bounced my happy behind right over to Perfumania and got my $10 refill. This will give me about 65 sprays - which is more than enough. Also, for an extra 2 bucks, the store will mix up matching scented lotion.

I can't even rant and rave enough about how great a buy this is. For one thing, you get a much better value than with those miniature fragrances (which are from $7, $10 or even $15, depending on the scent), and the Travalo sprayer is evenly measured. You get a good spray without dripping, leaking, or uneven coverage.

Anyway, I needed a little pick me up after a very depressing couple of weeks. This did the trick and didn't damage my budget. There's nothing like looking nice and smelling good to lift your spirits a bit.

By the way, I know that I'm not the only woman that wears Fahrenheit. I did a search for "compatible" or similar fragrances for women and found out that some ladies just use the original. It's not a "manly" smell. I think it has a very unisex appeal.When I wear it, I get compliments about how subtle and illusive it is. When I smell it on a man, I just think, "Wow!"

One last thing about the Travalo. I think that men need to look into getting a Travalo. The container I have might look too femme for most, but go check out those other ones that are on the Perfumania site. (Make sure to ask if your local store honors the refill policy!)

Peace
--Free