Wednesday, Dec. 23: Chanel Bois des Iles, Les Exclusifs edt decant. Family party (well, minus my brother and his wife and the New Universe) at my parents’ house. Dinner was ham and turkey with all the usual side dishes; it was delicious. Nobody cooks classic food better than my mom. It turned out to be Chanel Day, with Mom in her new (vintage via eBay) No. 5 parfum, my sister in her Coco Mlle., and me in BdI. Sadly, I was the only person who thought I smelled great, but I did smell great.
Thursday, Dec. 24: Guerlain L’Heure Bleue parfum. I like L’HB in parfum, though definitely not in edt, where it resembles the medicine cabinet of some evil apothecary. All the same, I continue to wonder why Perfumes: The Guide includes it in the Top Ten list. It smells good, and it reminds me of… of… of precisely nothing. It does not clutch at the heartstrings. It never brings vivid pictures to my mind. I mean, honestly, I don’t even like Mitsouko, and even I think it’s a better perfume than L’Heure Bleue. Wearing it, I smell sort of like almond pastries, but not really. Why do I own it? It Was Ridiculously Cheap – a slightly-used bottle, missing its front label and being sold by a rejected wife facing divorce, whose husband had given it to her. (I did get a sample of the real deal from TPC, just to check. It’s legit.) Why did I put this on again? Oh yeah – Christmas, almond bear claws… I think I actually like this better in the summer: more anise, less pastry.
Friday, Dec. 25, Christmas Day: my new, lovely bottle of Teo Cabanel Alahine, which I reviewed a few weeks ago as I was falling in love with my sample. The parfum is beautiful, but extremely spendy, and I actually prefer the sparkle of the edp (lucky me!). I kid you not, this is what joy smells like.
Saturday, Dec. 26: Morning test scent was Frederic Malle Carnal Flower, a sample I’ve been saving up for some time. It was still cold today but not frigid; the snow that’s been clogging our streets for a week did melt somewhat. The crystal-clear air made me think of the air inside a refrigerator, and that made me think of a description of Carnal Flower I read somewhere (Donna’s, at Perfume-Smellin’ Things? I think so), so I dabbed some on. Review of this one coming soon, probably next week or the week after. Baked a pumpkin pie, thirty yeast rolls, and that sweet potato souffle’ casserole that went over so well at Thanksgiving. Also made a bunch of country green beans (actually that should be, “I cooked up a mess o’ country green beans”) and a tossed salad – twelve people for dinner at my in-laws’ house. In the afternoon, I put on some more Alahine. Someday I may get to the point where I don’t feel unreasonably, outrageously, happy when I wear Alahine. But I devoutly hope not.
Sunday, Dec. 27: Took the extremely crunchy cedar tree down this morning, as it was becoming quite the fire hazard. We typically cut a cedar around the 15th of December, and then take it down New Year’s Day, but I could tell this one wasn’t going to make it another day. We probably swept up a couple of gallons’ worth of dead needles – still green, but totally dead. Eeek. It’s a good thing we weren’t all charred to cinders in our beds. In any case, I wanted something very floral, so tried a new layering combo with some samples: DSH Perfumes’ La Fleuriste (her version of JAR Golconda – very florist-case carnation) and Parfum d’Empire 3 Fleurs (rose, tuberose, and jasmine). It’s pretty. It’s not sending me into ecstasy, but it’s pretty. After that wore off, I was still feelin’ some tuberose, so I grabbed a quick spritz of Bath & Body Works Velvet Tuberose. Yeah, you can be snobby and turn it down, but I like it. It’s no Fracas, it’s no Carnal Flower, it’s no DSH Tubereuse, but it’s a nice (cheap) warm tuberose with a woody drydown.
Monday, Dec. 28: Back to work. Very cold, sunny but windy. Tested sample of SSS Winter Woods. This feels like somebody took a chunk out of Tabac Aurea and bottled it… pleasant but boring, I say. Read March’s partial review of her Lancome La Collection set, and now I’m lemming Climat like you wouldn’t believe. Oh, heck, I have given up on liking this Winter Woods thing… I’m going to go spritz some vintage Emeraude pdt on top. That’s more like it.
Tuesday, Dec. 29: The dishwasher has chosen this week to start not cleaning dishes, and with five people in the house all day (three children home from school, The CEO home from Virginia Tech until the second week of Jan.), we’re piling up a lot of dishes. Repair guy scheduled for January 14; will I make it to then? Tested SSS Femme Jolie this morning, which I’ve heard described as a version of Feminite du Bois, and… no. Just no. Remember my shaving cream rant? ‘Nuff said. SOTE: Bulgari Black. I don’t wear this often enough, but it is some Seriously Good Stuff.
Image is L’air du temps RICCI RICCI CHANEL Delice de Cartier FACTICE by parfumgott at flickr.
Muse in Wooden Shoes 
Mals, so the EDT of L’Heure Bleue is to be avoided? I have some Sephora store credit that needs spendin’, and I have been thinking about splurging on LHB even though I have never smelled it. I was a fan of the anise in LL, so I thought I would like LHB as well. But I would rather not spend $70 to smell like the medicine cabinet of an evil apothecary…
Oh, gosh, Ari – SMELL IT FIRST! Obviously somebody must like the edt, or they wouldn’t keep making it… but I don’t. In fact, I do very badly with all classic Guerlains (except Apres l’Ondee) in edt. I tend to like anise, but L’HB was just freaky in the edt, and I went around saying “medicine cabinet of hell” for months, before trying the parfum.
I have found that with Guerlain in particular, the edt versions are so sharp and disjointed that I Just. Cannot. Wear. Them. The parfum versions are so much smoother. I don’t *always* prefer parfum, but in some cases it makes a difference.