Quitting Scentbird After a Couple of Months

Scentbird is a subscription perfume service that I had been wanting to try for a while. I love perfumes and the idea of getting a new one every month to test was just too tempting. The cost (including taxes) is $16.00. Each month. That sounded good for about 1 month.

Not worth $16 per month. Nope.

Including a freebie that I got because Scentbird messed up on billing once, I will have received 3 scents as of this month. I have only (sort of) liked one of the fragrances. That was the Pink Sugar scent. And, I really just didn't hate it. Didn't love it though.

Each fragrance spray is meant to last about 1 month. If you like it, then you can purchase full-sized bottles. I haven't yet figured out how to purchase a full-sized but, no worries, I haven't liked any well enough to want to.

There is more though to why I quit Scentbird after trying only 3 fragrances. Lots more.

• It's expensive. $16 a month is not a crazy amount but paying that much for 0.27 ounces of EDP is. More on that in a moment.
• According to Scentbird their vials "equate to about 120+ sprays – enough to apply 4 sprays daily for 30 days." I did not find this to be true. Maybe if a fragrance lasts more than a couple hours for you but, the older you get... Just saying.
• It's kind of shady. Not all the scents listed on the site fall into the $16 monthly payment. For some scents, you have to pay an additional 5 or 10 bucks on top of the monthly amount. 
• You get a free case (to hold a Scentbird vial) with the first shipment - or if Scentbird is apologizing for an error. You have to buy any more after that at (currently) $12.95 each. As far as I know, only Scentbird vials fit these cases. At least, none of my other perfume vials fit the case I have. It's a plastic case. Not worth more than a couple of bucks.
• The site is okay as far as browsing the fragrances but lacks user-friendliness otherwise; the FAQs were seriously old and had no links to the info provided. 
• If you do love Scentbird and are trying to match to a fragrance you might want to try, the "scent quiz" they offer is limited and almost useless. You can't choose more than one Note, Setting, Season, or Mood. So you have to choose between wanting something floral or fruity; for the office or evening; only one season; and whether you feel flirty, sexy, classy, etc. It would be better if they offered a choice of listing scents you already love or just let you choose more than one option during the quiz. I had to keep re-taking the quiz to cover all my bases.

Now, let's get back to the price. That's really the main deciding factor for me. There is a guy who did a really good video breaking down the numbers in detail. You can check that out but all I needed to do was browse a couple of other fragrance sites to know that Scentbird is not worth it.

ScentSplit (which I have used in the past) sells decants of fragrances. Cost varies but if you know what you like but can't afford a full bottle, this is the real deal. By the way, just Google for similar sites for buying decants. 

FrangranceNet - Just pricing a couple of items, I realized that I could get a 0.33-ounce rollerball of Viva la Juicy Gold.for (currently) $14.99 or, with a coupon $9.74. There is also Perfumania where I can get a 1.7-ounce bottle of Jessica Simpson's Fancy for $19.95. And shut up. I happen to like Fancy.

You can also shop Perfumania, FrangranceX, Fragrantica, and even find sellers on Facebook or Reddit. It kind of depends on your taste in perfumes. Or, you can always scope out Amazon, Overstock, etc. If you are into niche perfumes (a boutique or artisanal perfume, not usually with a lot of retail presence), try finding more sites like Fragranceline. I've not used them, but I did sample a box from Olifactif, which was another pricey and not-worth-it (in my opinion) subscription service. With Olafactif, you can find codes to try them on the cheap. I got to try 3 niche scents and didn't like any of them.

There are cheaper and smarter ways to get hold of perfumes - even if you just want small amounts to test. If you shop online at places like Ulta, Macy's or Sephora, you can usually request perfume samples. If you actually go into such a store, you might walk away with enough samples to last a while. I once hit it off with a Sephora sales clerk and left with a $10 product I bought and 4 small bags stuffed with samples of lipsticks and perfumes. They made great stocking stuffers that Christmas.

The bottom line for me is, if I want to get something in the mail on a regular schedule, I can throw my money at Scentbird. It's just kind of a ripoff, in my opinion. I mean, kudos to the chick who owns it because she has a money-maker, for real.

I don't get to spoil myself often so I need to be picky and price-conscious at all times. Scentbird is for people who can afford to pay a ridiculous amount of money for teensy amounts of fragrances. Matter of fact, let me just post that video of the math dude. It's an older video but still made sense to me. As far as numbers make sense to my brain.

Even if Scentbird sweetened the pot with, say, a free case included with every order, I wouldn't stay. What I have figured out is how to just shop cheaply for what I want when I want it. I don't have to tie myself to a gimmicky subscription fee once a month. Now, if someone came up with a sub for buying full bottles of perfumes at a discount - either because they are overstocks or returns - I might look at that.

Peace
--Free

P.S.: I recently used a gift card to get a Vica la Juicy Gold 0.33 ounce rollerball from FraganceNet for $15.00 and used a code to get free shipping. Adding in tax, I paid a total of $16.04. Now, I won't be committed to spending another 15 or 16 dollars next month unless I just want to.

**REVIEW** Scentbird

Everyone who knows me knows that I love a good fragrance. I don't care if it's a body perfume, a hair mist, a candle, essential oil or room spray.

Recently, I found and tried out a couple of different places to get perfumes. The first one I will review is Scentbird. I am doing this review over several days so that I can go over the experience without forgetting anything from signing up, perusing the site, to tracking the package. Forgive the bad continuity. Here goes.

Signing up was pretty easy. 

I was only tempted to sign up because I found a promo notice that I could get a Glossier sample with a new subscription. Then, because I wanted to pinch a few more pennies, I used the Honey extension to get the normally $14.95 sub for a one-month promo price of $10.39 (including tax). It's one of those cancel-at-any-time deals (more on that later).

If you do sign up and want to use me as a referral use this link: 

https://www.scentbird.com/r/d/scentbirduser7955018

I have loved Glossier's You fragrance since I got a tiny sample in another sub box. The full size is around $60 bucks. The $20 solid (that I did buy and get refunded for) is a total waste of time and money. So, basically, I got sucked in by the Scentbird offer of a Glossier sample - and I was hoping that the sample would be one of the 30-day sizes and not the teeny lose-in-your-purse size I had before.

I actually did lose this for a week in my purse

Anyway, for a month or so I've been thinking that since I quit smoking and am still losing weight by eating less, I can do $15 for a couple or three months to try some perfumes. That's the plan anyway. If I love the service, I will re-work my food budget to keep the plan for a while. As for canceling the plan "at any time", I have heard the usual stories about problems in doing so. I will talk about that shortly.

Perusing the site and choosing fragrances is kind of easy.

As soon as I did sign up, I got an email with this prompt:

Select your first fragrance, skincare, or personal care product here in the next 12 hours. If you don’t make a selection, you'll receive our featured  perfume of the month! 

Okay. Of course, I went into this knowing that I wanted a 2nd Glossier You but since I was already going to be getting a sign-up sample, I decided to choose something unknown for the first month.

By the way, the site is set up so that you can search fragrances by note (musk, citrus, etc), brand/house (DKNY, Gucci, etc),  or type (eau de toilette, solid, mist, etc). Some fragrances are considered "premium" and will cost you an additional $5 or $10 over the usual subscription fee (one of these is My Burberry Blush). You can also add additional fragrances to your cart, outside your subscription for around $17 each.

Setting up your fragrance queue...

or not

You can set up a queue of up to 12 months of scents to be delivered on your subscription but you can't choose the same scent more than once every 6 months. (I think it's 6 months. At any rate, you will get a prompt if you try adding a repeat too soon.) If you don't select a fragrance, you get whatever the "featured" perfume is for that month. This would be fun for me but only if Scentbird would let users set up a more detailed profile of scent types you prefer.

The profile is a quiz.

The profile is, in my opinion, awful because it's developed from a "quiz" that's very limited. You only get to choose ONE answer for each question such as your preference for fragrance type. You have to choose either to be "woody", "floral", "sweet", "spicy", etc. If you look at the perfumes I currently like, they are a mix of spicy, citrusy, and sweet. I want to discover more scents in that arena, not get locked into just a sweet or floral type or whatever else.

Anyway, I did add this new and unknown scent to my queue for the first month. More on this coming up.

Gucci's Envy Me

A friend who knows that I used to wear Shalimar as my signature scent but now love things like Viva la Juicy, You, and By Invitation (I hate that name!) told me about Envy Me. From there, I referred to that delightful fragrance database, Basenotes, to check out similar scents. Of course, Scentbird does a great job of listing notes in the perfumes. I will get to that in a moment...

Of course, I do have a preferred fragrance type - now that I can no longer wear almost anything well... Getting old and having moody hormones changes everything, ladies. At any rate, I noticed that Envy Me and You share some fragrance notes, but not Viva La Juicy.

no Pink Pepper??

So you can see what I mean by wanting to explore more than one type of fragrance.

You can re-arrange your queue

A great thing about the queue is being able to alter it from time to time. For instance. after changing my mind about 20 times, I switched out a lot of things I had set up for the next 3 months until I currently have ended up with this.

I am already thinking of exchanging a couple for some more lemon-noted fragrances. (Update: I have already swapped out at least 4 choices.)

The waiting

Once you do select your first fragrance, you can be assured that the first billing has hit your payment method. For instance, I subscribed on midmorning of the 13th and within half an hour, my bank showed the billing. I got the tracking number on the 17th and, I guess because I live close to where it shipped from, I expected to have my package by the 18th or the 19th because the item was already in the state on the 17th when I got the tracking notice. (Update: I got the package on the 18th. That was fast.)

The goodies  the verdict

Okay, this is what happened... What a saga!

My package arrived but only with the Gucci scent. There was no sign of a Glossier sample. (Either I misread the promo or there was just a mixup. The promo was over by this time so I can't get a screenshot of it.)

At any rate... I went on a little tirade and was really rude (I am ashamed to say) to a customer service rep. After some minor squalls, things have been resolved. (Actually, the service rep had more than resolved things in my favor, but I was in such a mood, I wasn't listening. Yes, I am very ashamed.) I will be getting a sample of Glossier sent out to me separately right away and my next order will include a case of my color choice.

(Just to explain - not excuse - my temper tantrum: I've been struggling with worse than usual fatigue and depression so I think that's why I went off on the customer service lady. She was super nice - nicer than I would have been - and accepted my apologies. This does not excuse my nasty attitude, I know.) Lesson learned? Scentbird customer service is stellar.

Anyway, this is what came in the original parcel.

Notice that there is no Glossier sample anywhere...

There is the card highlighting the notes of the fragrance I chose for the month.

But no Glossier sample. Not even one of those little foil stamp samples you sometimes see.

That case is super cute and it's a good thing they provided directions. It's basically a twist-up case. The vial of perfume will lift enough that you can spray it without removing it from the case. See? Cute.

see how the silver part raises to spray?

I have to say that I dig the little perfume compact. That's super cute and is going to be so handy for on-the-go. And it's also nice that they threw in that little cloth bag. But where the heck is my sample??? (As you know from my recounting of "the saga", I will be getting a free case of my choice with next months' scent and Scentbird has already sent out a sample of the Glossier. Can't wait to get it because... I do not like the Envy Me.

This is the vial pulled out of the case.
The inner vial is labeled

As you saw, the perfume comes with a card detailing the fragrance notes and a list of ingredients. I am not thrilled with the scent. It's a nice fragrance to sniff but it's just not great on me. Because of it, I have gone back in and rearranged my queue. This one was more reserved and serious than I like. For next month, I plan to try one of the  I think I need scents with a little more of a floral touch to go with the bitter ones. My sis-in-law will be getting this one to try...

By the way, when I got mad and wanted to cancel, it was easy enough to do. You just go into your account, your subscription choice and look for the Cancel link (instead of changing to a different plan). The one sneaky thing is that CANCEL is in very light-colored font and there are a couple of are-you-sure prompts. Also, there is an option to Pause a subscription which is nice for those thin budget months.

Overall, I am happy enough with this first month to hold on to the subscription for a minute. If I hate the next fragrance, I will add Glossier to the next month or spend the $17 on it as an extra and be done.

I want to mention again that the customer service is stellar. I acted a little bit crazy and the rep was never anything but nice. I don't know how she dealt with me and kept even the thought of a smile on her face...

 Once again, if you do decide to give Scentbird a tryout, you can help me by using this referral link:

https://www.scentbird.com/r/d/scentbirduser7955018

Either way, I would like to know which fragrances you try.

Peace
--Free




I am not in the mood for music today so enjoy a funny guy I watch every now and then to give myself a laugh. This young dude reminds me SO MUCH of one of my nephews that it's scary. His facial expressions are everything. And this "man weave" situation... wow.

UPDATE **REVIEW** Walmart Beauty Box Classic Summer 2019

UPDATE - The one product I wanted to come back and do an update on is the Neutrogena Blackhead Eliminating Strip. I will write the update in red down below by the product photos.

It sure seems like it's been a while since I posted a review about a Walmart box. I think this was the last one way back in January. The best thing about the Walmart box is the five dollar price. I've gotten quite a few of these quarterly beauty boxes - 5 now that I go back and count. I've been getting them since June of last year. I will have to scrounge up some of the past reviews and link back to them at some point. Anyway... This is the Classic Summer box I received the other day:

While the samples were as good as usual, I was a little disappointed that there was no theme for this box. With the Ipsy boxes (which I no longer subscribe to) there was always a theme and always a bag to carry the items. Walmart did send a bag once and other than the big old ugly Walmart sunburst logo, it was kinda cute. Oh well. Let's talk about what was in this box. I will go in order of fave to least fave:

Blistex Lip Conditioning Serum - This was pretty awesome. I do think that you're supposed to be able to use it alone and go, but I apply my regular lip balm on top of it. The serum is very creamy and has the consistency of a rich water-based lotion. It softens and smooths and I feel that it's helping my lips but the balm effects don't last long enough for me. I've been using it after doing my morning lip scrub (wiping all that dryness away with a baby wipe!). I like the tapered dispensing tip. Best thing about this is that Walmart actually included the 0.30-oz size in this box. You can get a chance to really test it out. Nice. ($2.96 online)

Let me just say right here that I really didn't want to have to admit that I could use an eye cream like this. But.

I don't know yet how well this works (it's only been a few days), but kudos to Walmart for including this full-sized $18 0.5 fluid ounce tube of RoC Retinol Correxion Anti-Aging Eye Cream Treatment. I've heard good things about RoC and I do like the way this hydrates the area right around my eyes. I've been using it at night only because I'm nervous about how the sun might affect my skin with a  Retinol-based product on it. Because of the slightly thin texture of the cream and the instructions to apply it in dots, this tube should last a good long while. ($17.95)

This is way too much
for one application

Since I am one of those women who has never had to shave a lot, razors last me forever. I do tend though to buy cheap ones. It's nice to have this BIC Soleil Sensitive 3 Blade Women's Disposable Razor. I've used one before and then I go back to my cheap ones for budget reasons but, every time I try one of these, I love how nice they feel. By the way, the moisture strip on these razors are the best part but they do tend to get gunky after a while. I tossed one out a few weeks ago after it had been sitting in the shower for a while and it was icky. These come at a good price for a pack of 3 at $5.97. This single one will last me for at least a couple of months. Thank goodness for naturally hairless legs!

Now, for my 2 least favorite samples...

UPDATE: I rarely have to do this with a product that I rate so low. HOWever... I was going through my bathroom cabinets the other day and ran across this again. For some reason (maybe that reason was those black-heady bumps on my nose!) I decided to give this a try because, why not?

I have to apologize for not giving this product a chance. Unlike the old strips that I used to pull out the blackheads and little hairs from my nose, these are so much better. For one thing, these don't stay in the plasticized form in which they are applied. Instead, once dampened, they melt into a kind of paste. When I was ready to wash these off, I could feel a slight exfoliating action. The product had melted into a literal gentle scrubbing paste. I am so impressed. There was none of the painful snatching away of the strip. My skin didn't feel violated and stripped raw. When I finished rinsing away the product (using a kind of exfoliating, rubbing motion), the skin on my nose felt clean and smooth without being completely dried out. I applied a bit  of moisturizer and was good to go.

Bottom line: this should be up in my top faves and I will definitely look into picking some up the next time I am in the store.

There's nothing wrong with the Neutrogena Blackhead Eliminating Pore Strip to Facial Scrub I'm sure. Except for that long name that nearly winded me. I personally just don't like any kind of pore-stripping product. I used to. I used to use this type of thing all the time until I realized a couple of things. One: not all of those little dark hair-spot things on the nose are actually blackheads. Two: these strips work at pulling those things out but they leave my face incredibly dry. Probably because they ripped out those skin-nourishing black things... At any rate, for someone with actual blackheads, this might work really well. Walmart only included one strip in the box and I'm okay with that. ($12.89 for 14 strips)


















I get really excited whenever I see a perfume sample. I L.O.V.E. fragrances. The last one I sampled was You by Glossier and I can't wait for someone in my family to gift me a bottle. ~hint hint~ Well, I was really excited when is saw that Walmart included a sample of a Silhouette in Bloom by Christian Siriano and that it was a nice amount (2ml). I remember way back when he was competing on Project Runway. Now that his talent is being celebrated by the celebrated, I'm thrilled for him. And I just about hurt myself opening this perfume sample. Sadly, heartbreakingly, this did not live up to even my lowest expectations.  This is not a horrible fragrance but it does smell really cheap. And don't get me wrong - I shall always love me some Charlie and Emeraude. What I mean about this one is that it has a chemical-plastic under-scent. It's just like no thought at all was put into the fragrance. It reminds me of one of those dollar-store "perfumes" that the girls used to get us for Mother's Day when they were young. I remember having to sit at work all day smelling like I'd tried to mask pissy pants with room spray.  To top it off, this scent doesn't do anything nice with my body chemistry. I don't even like the look of the bottle that's pictured on the sample. Also, now that I look at the price, I realize it's way too high for the "Barbie Doll" smell. Ick and Yikes ($38.89) I would rather spend forty bucks on a 1 ounce split of something nice than for a whole bottle of this. Sorry, Christian. (He don't care while he's over there, rolling in his money!)

Maybe the black & purple
ones smell better???

So there you have it. Once again, Walmart has put out a better box than those that cost twice or three times as much. Basically, for five dollars, all you're paying is the shipping and handling. The RoC sample more than paid for this one. If I had liked the Silhouette fragrance, I'd have really hit the jackpot. By the way, I think I will try mixing that scent with some other fragrance to see if I can make it work. ~shrug~

If you are interested in subscribing to the Walmart Beauty box, it has its own page where you can do so.

Peace
--Free

**REVIEW** ScentSplit Decant Perfumes

For anyone who loves perfume but lives on a tight budget - or is just very careful with their money - the best services are those that sell decanted fragrances.

Q: What is a decant?
A: Perfume that is taken from a bottle and put into a smaller bottle.

I wanted to try some fragrances that use Tonka Bean as a part of the scent. When I checked around, I found 3 perfumes that sounded promising. They were on the ScentSplit site:

• Fève Délicieuse by Dior
• AMEN Pure Tonka from Thierry Mugler
• Tonka Imperiale from my favorite - Guerlain 

This is the thing, I can't afford to even look at any of those perfumes at the store. Decant purchases is definitely the way to go.

Here's what the decants cost vs what a bottle would cost in a store like Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus:

• Fève Délicieuse 1ml decant = $4.99 vs $210 for 4.5oz
• AMEN Pure Tonka 6ml = $16.99 vs $90.00 for 3.4oz
• Tonka Imperiale 1ml decant = $7.99 vs $260.00 for 2.5oz

I can't remember where I read the catchline of "when you want to date a fragrance, not marry it", but it's perfect for this post.

Since this review is for the ScentSplit service, I won't get all into how much I love these perfumes, but... I love these perfumes. Guerlain wins out again though as my forever-will-be favorite. Tonka Bean must be included in all my future scents! Now, on to the Pros and Cons of ScentSplit.

PROS

Selection

They have a fabulous selection of fragrances to choose from. I looked at a couple of different services to do a review on and chose this one to start because of the crazy amount of choices.

This is only HALF the brands shown

Price

The prices are great and you are given enough size choices to afford at least a sample of something.

Presentation

My package was nicely wrapped to protect the contents. Inside the mailing box, was the actual box of my items. This was wrapped so prettily, it was like getting a gift.

Fragrance Quality

When you open the gift box, your items are inside, covered with and nestled in paper. I removed the top layer to take the photo.

The fragrances houses on ScentSplit are on the higher end and more classic types. I have nothing against the celebrity or passing-trendy scents, but I prefer names that withstand time. ScentSplit has a nice mix while some other services seemed to favor "younger" scents.

All three of the scents I ordered are of wonderful quality. I had the opportunity to sniff a bottle of the Tonka Imperiale when I hit the stores in Arizona last year. I know that the decant I ordered and received is the real deal. 

This is the 6ml spray bottle -

The sprayer is nice and fine and is great for not wasting any of this perfume.

The 1ml sample tube is capped very tightly. That's great because you don't want any of your fragrance to leak, but it was tough to open it. I'd rather have it tightly sealed like it is though.

 Not only were the prices reasonable, but the shipping wasn't bad. It was $4.99 for the small box with USPS 1st Class Postage.

CONS

Using ScentSplit is such a great way to make enjoying fragrances an affordable adventure. It's a shame that the site needs so much improvement. From the point of putting in an order to awaiting delivery, I kept notes of my frustrations:

• The website needs an overhaul. Trying to sign up for an account is silly because the first option at the top left of the page doesn't work. You have to go to the middle top of the page at "Your Account" and work from there. Also, if you order without creating an account, you can't merge any order info once you do set up an account. It's just unnecessarily complex.

• Order delays are not readily addressed. I ordered on the 4th of the month and there were no online updates or tracking info provided by the 9th. I had gotten a Thank You email from the owner so I used the Reply function to ask about the delay. He let me know that one of my items was on back order and he was very nice about offering to change my order or cancel with a full refund. My issue was not the delay as much as it was not being kept informed about delays. If this order had been for a date-specific gift, I'd be so late.
• When I did get a tracking number, I couldn't copy/paste it to check up on the updates for myself. The way the site is set up, you can't copy information. Okay. The postage fees were for 1st Class USPS. I got the package on the 16th. The Order Page wasn't updated with all the information until the packaged was delivered...

Yay or Nay?

So, basically, I would rate ScentSplit very high on quality of the product, but that website needs work. I hope that in the future, deliveries will be more timely and I think they will be barring any back ordering issues. The presentation of my items was so beautiful that I have to give it a 10-star rating. It just about makes up for the hassles of dealing with the website. (NOTE: I was just informed that the ScentSplit site is one of those hosted sites. That may be the cause of the issues I'm fussing about. Not the fault of ScentSplit then. My bad.)

Based on my overall experience and satisfaction with the product, I will definitely be referring my friends and family to use this service. I will be checking out other similar decant sites though. 

I give this a 4-star rating overall. The product more than makes up for the site issues.

Peace

--Free

**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

Perfume Soothes Me

So. Everybody who knows me well knows I love perfume. I always have. When I was teenybopper, I learned to use baby powder and vanilla extract. Then came Love's Baby Soft, Heaven Sent, Emeraude, and others. Then I discovered Shalimar. Oh my.

These days, I've experimented with several fragrances. Whatever I can afford and whatever family and friends gift to me on special occasions. This is great because I often end up falling in love with a scent I would never have tried.

For Christmas this year, my family got me 2 new fragrances. This one is Shi by Alfred Sung. I had never heard of it before but I mentioned that I liked his Sung for Women scent. This one is really nice. It's soft and feminine and nice for everyday wear.

And doesn't that bottle remind you a little bit of a gnome?

The other fragrance really surprised me. For one thing, I'm only vaguely familiar with Micheal Buble and I didn't know he had a fragrance branded to him. For another thing... Wow. Totally knocked flat by how much I like this.

The bottle is gorgeous. The USPS must have knocked the package around because the tip broke off the top. This is what an undamaged (and better photographed) bottle looks like:

Notice that the little circular piece is not missing from the top of the bottle... The glass part holding the perfume is sort of floating inside the metal outer ring. Very classy looking.

The scent is a smoky, Oriental type of fragrance. Before applying it, I was thinking that it smells a lot like Rhianna's fragrance, Reb'L Fleur:

I have a bottle but my lid went missing during the move from Alaska.

However, when this is applied to my skin and mixes with my chemistry, it's just glorious. Reminds me of a darker, smokier version of Opium if Opium was married to Shalimar. This is the kind of fragrance that will make someone want to nuzzle your neck. Another plus is that it takes very little to get a full effect, and the scent actually lasts for quite a while.

Now, you all remeber my beloved Shalimar that a niece gifted to me before I left Alaska:

Yeah, you guys have probably seen that pic before. I post it so much! I think I mentioned that Shalimar no longer lingers well on my skin. I've been using its brother fragrance, Habit Rouge. It's marketed to men but smells wonderful on females who like Opium and Shalimar.

The perfumes I've gotten are my favorite gifts this past year. I guess it's been about four or five years since I discovered Viva la Juicy. Man, I love that scent. It has been my go-to fragrance for a while now. I've used up most of my supply and am down to the little collection type bottles.

So glad for those miniatures!

Now, if some of you were wondering as I have exactly how those celebrity fragrances come to be, then this article thoroughly explains the process.

The only thing I hate about perfume is that they are kind of unreliable. Either a scent you love will start to hate your body chemistry and just stop working or - and this is what I really hate - a scent will just be discontinued. Ugh! That's the worst. That happened with Flori Robert's Gold. Also, whatever happened to Cher's fragrance? It was pretty nice.

For now, I'm happy to have my gifts so THANK YOU, fam. I'm tightening up my already squeaking budget and perfume is the first casualty. What you want to bet I can make my current supplies last for at least a year?

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** Online Fragrance Sources

I belong to quite a few programs that let members try new products for free (in order to get honest feedback and, they hope, spreading the word about the product). Recently I was able to try out some online sellers of perfumes. I thought I'd review them for you - in case you love perfume as much as I do, but have to live on a tight budget.

I visited 3 sites and rated them based on how easy it was to navigate & use their website, what the customer service was like, prices (including Shipping/Handling), and overall value. Of course, nothing is perfect, so I looked for the biggest pros and cons, giving a possible of 5 ☺ 's. Here goes:

******

Bath Bar ☺ ☺ 
(I sort of reviewed B.B. before in this post, so I will keep it short here cos you know I already love them.)

Pros: 

• The customer service will "Wow" you & owner is amazingly nice.
• Ability to customize your own scent.
• A LOT of scents to pick from & mix and match.
• Good range of products to choose (shampoo to body wash)
• Super-fast help as close as an email.
• Website very easy to navigate.
• Excellent S&H costs (even to Alaska).

Cons:

• Not for the inexperienced. (Ask owner for help, please!)
•  Fragrances not as close to an idea one might have.

Bottom Line: I'd recommend Bath Bar in a heartbeat - just know your scents or consult with the owner first.

******

The Fragrance Shop  ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

Pros:

• Huge selection of designer and "House" scents.
• They will replicate a fragrance from your sample. (Good for scent you can no longer find or buy.)
• Fragrances are "Pure perfume oil with no alcohol or fillers. Ever."
• The oil scents are long-lasting.
• Fragrances seriously as close to the originals as promised.
• Good range of products (including aftershave).
• Instant help via a "live-person" Chat system.
• Resources for understanding and selecting a fragrance.
• A "Fragrance Finder" resource.
• A Customer Review section.
• Excellent S&H costs.
• A Try-Before-You-Buy program.
• Top notch customer service.

Cons:

• Awkward site design
• difficult to locate "Account" & "Log In" tabs
• "Wish List" almost hidden far down on product pages

Bottom Line: A definite "Recommend." Site problems aside, these guys are my favorite.

******

Luxury Aromas (aka Golden Ventures) ☺ ☺ ☺

Pros:

• Nice selection of imitation fragrances'
• Oil-based product.
• Reasonable price for amount of product.
• Website easy to navigate.
• Fair S&H costs.

Cons:

• Scents are pleasant but not as intense as expected for "oils."
• Not "hot" or "cold" in any aspect - just so-so.

Bottom Line: I would recommend, but would give a stronger recommendation to The Fragrance Shop.

--Free

Materialistic Moments

It is taking me forever to write this post and get it ready to "publish." It's a little project of mine where I share some of my moments of materialism.

I am a pretty low-maintenance kind of woman (in my more, ahem, mature years) and I long ago got over the notion of money buying happiness. But. I am woman, watch me shop! LOL Actually, I can't and don't really even want to shop til I drop, but this is a game an old friend and I liked to play. We called it dream shopping. We'd pick a specific type of item and then dream about what we'd buy if money were no object. The irony is that we did this when we were sometimes supposed to be working. (We were on the night shift and things often got slow. Had to find some way to kill the time!) It was such fun. I haven't heard from that particular friend in a long time, but our little game is still a fun way to pass the time.

Today's dream subject: perfumes, perfumes, perfumes...

Ahh, what can I say? This is the maker of the most fabulous fragrance ever.

I cannot even describe to you what this scent makes me feel. (You know I belong to the Guerlain site!) There was a time when I had over 15 Shalimar bottles and holders. I hope they are still in my storage, but I believe the man I was married to got rid of them...

Then there was this wonderful scent. The funny thing is, I could only ever find it in miniature sizes. Great fragrance though, and way more (and I do mean waaaay more) affordable than Shalimar. 

Flori Roberts "Gold" fragrance was a winner. I'd have men and women stop to ask what scent I was wearing and where I got it from. Sadly, the scent is discontinued. I couldn't even find a picture of the bottle or box. The pic I'm including is from another F.R. product with a similar looking box. I'm so sad...

I have to explain this one since it is a men's cologne. Somewhere on this blog I have previously posted on how I feel about smelling this scent on a man. Oh. My. Good. Mercy. This is the most intense scent. Ever. I loved this so much that one Christmas I gave the women in my brothers' lives a gift by giving all the guys this cologne. Yes, the ladies were very happy. I even got some for myself. I'd spray it on my pillow and sheets just because it smelled so good. (Okay, and because at the time I was single and just liked having that masculine smell around. LOL) So, yeah, this one is on my dream list.

Laugh if you want, but there was a time when I was all about some Charlie. I had a bottle on my dresser, one in my purse, one in my desk drawer at work, and, yes ma'am, I kept a bottle in my car. I was more "Charlie" than Shelley Hack - and not only was she the model for the fragrance, but she ended up being one of  the "Charlie's Angels." Shoot, you couldn't tell me nothin' about some Charlie... And it was right up there with another favorite:

Emeraude. I still wear this stuff. For one thing, I can afford it and, for another thing, even if I couldn't, I bought so much when I could I still have some! Love it, love it, love it. If only it had more of an oil base and lasted on me more than half and hour. Still, classic.

I won't keep posting the pics. It's tedious because you know I forget what the hell I'm doing half the time. (I just realized I had a couple of pics that have nothing to do with this post, but I kept trying to insert them... Ah, well.)

Other perfumes (or colognes) I have loved: Dune, Hynotic Poison (not the orginal sickening, choke-a-horse crap) and Opium (yum). This one here is also a favorite, but I hate the bottle design.

Yep. It's "Angel." One of the BFF's (Barb) with her bougie ass got me hooked on this one. I think she even got me my first bottle. Then that heffa moved away and I had to support my own habit!

Now here are some scents that I wouldn't be caught alive wearing. I don't believe even my worst enemy would squirt any on me when I'm dead. I mean, what the heck???

Isn't this just insane? Of course this is not a perfume I would buy. I mean, I wouldn't even want this on my dresser... (Okay, maybe if my potential man was into it. I'd agree to keep it hidden somewhere in a lingerie drawer!) Anyway... I remember now that I had heard of products under this name a few years back. There was an uproar by concerned parents and such. The name, by the way, stands for "French Connection U.K." I have a problem getting things past my brain, so I always first see the wrong word - you know, the "bad" word. Silly world, huh?

Surprisingly, Britney Spears' fragrance is not that bad. It's not for my body chemistry, but it smells really nice on my niece. (She is embarrassed that it's from Britney so she hides it in the very bottom of her purse. Idiot.)

Other than Emeraude, I have in my possession (only because I stockpiled when I had a JOB and something called "disposable income"): Hypnotic Poison, Queen (Latifah's really nice fragrance), Halle (a feel-better gift from fam) and like half a drop of Shalimar perfume left in one of the bottles that survived my marriage. I won't even use the Shalimar. I just sniff the bottle every now and then to make myself feel better. LOL

Of course, there are some nasty (in my opinion, of course) scents. You know the ones, those that smell like scented rubbing alcohol, a too-sweet candle,  or (yuk) burning butt. Some scents are nice until the person wearing them decides to suffocate the rest of the world with it -  like some chick in Safeway the other day. I don't think I have ever smelled a fragrance that sugary. And she must have wanted to get rid of a stalker since she apparently soaked in it. It was way horrible. I didn't get closer than ten feet of her and I up with that stench on me. (I am so serious. I got home and my sister asked, "Are you on a new medicine?" Wow.)

Anyway... I hope I gave you a new way to pass the time. Go ahead, dream about what you would buy if you could. In this economy, dreaming is about all most of us can afford to do.

Peace
--Free