(Sorry for the posting delay… I had difficulties in getting the farm 1099s and W2s finished on time.)
Monday, Jan. 24: No school today; scheduled teacher work day. Which is insane: because of snow days, the semester has not ended. Ergo, a teacher work day for the purpose of finalizing semester grades is completely pointless. I hear that the teachers petitioned to reschedule the work day and the school board refused. Why? Are they nuts? I’m increasingly frustrated with these ridiculous scheduling decisions. There’s half an inch of snow on the ground? Oh, we can’t run buses in that, let’s cancel school. The forecast is calling for sleet? Well, let’s not wait to see if that materializes, let’s just do early release two hours into the school day. Oops, turns out that we got no sleet whatsoever, looks like we let ’em go early for nothing. GRRRRR. Seriously, if you know, tell me whatever happened to snow routes for buses?
SOTD: Champagne de Bois, two spritzes. Got complimented by a coworker and the teller at the bank. My poor coworker mentioned that his wife is faithful to Obsession; even though he’d tried buying her other fragrances, she likes the Obsession and won’t wear the Eternity he picked out for her. I don’t really care for either one (well, to be honest, I hate Obsession), but anybody with half a nostril can tell that if a woman likes Obsession, she ain’t gonna be an Eternity girl. I thought of suggesting Shalimar, but then I figured that if a woman likes Obsession, she probably ain’t gonna be anything other than an Obsessed woman.
Bedtime scent: Shalimar Light, the Blue Juice, which is lovely for sleeping in.
Tuesday, Jan. 25: Went unscented at work all morning due to time constraints. Then tested a bunch of swap samples, got all wild and put them on various parts of my body: Lalique Encre Noire (hey, a masculine I actually like! A vetiver I actually like! Whee!), Bvlgari Blv pour homme (nice ginger note in the middle of a chemical dump), Paul Smith London Woman (compared to Shalimar Light in Perfumes:The Guide, but not a good substitute at all), the new version of Robert Piguet Baghari (has this sample gone off? It’s utterly gaggity. And I even like aldehydes).
It is, apparently, that time of the year when all the skunks dehibernate and come out to risk their lives crossing the roads. I passed four dead skunks today while on my way to work.
Oh, and I saw a weasel running across our lane on Saturday! This quiet tree-lined road is home to many squirrels, which we see all year round, and chipmunks, which are frequent panicked road-crossers in the autumn, but I’ve never seen a weasel before. The CEO laughed at me when I told him I’d seen a small animal running across the road: bigger than a squirrel, dark brown, with a pointy nose and a tail almost half the length of its body. However, research indicates that North American weasel are indigenous to most of the eastern United States, and the pictures of this animal make me sure it was a weasel I glimpsed. (Fast, sleek little bugger, too.)
Wednesday, Jan. 26: We were supposed to get “wintry mix” today – freezing rain, sleet and snow – but we only got about half an inch of snow and then it warmed up, so we got rain instead. SOTD: Kate Spade, the original fragrance – not the new Fruit Smoothie Twirl or whatever it is. It’s a Big White Floral Bomb, and I’m thinking I should review it for the Tuberose Series. Funny, you know, I can see why some people hate the BWFB type of thing, but I love them, so much so that it is rare for me to dislike a BWFB. (So what BWFBs did I dislike? Tubereuse Criminelle and Manoumalia. And why did I hate them? They smell like bloody meat. Urgh. Question for discussion: do you like BWFBs, and why or why not?)
Built a nice fire this afternoon and drank Chinese green tea. Also attempted to finish the W2s. I hate W2s.
Thursday, Jan. 27: Kids in school, woohoo! The clerk at the pharmacy complimented me on my perfume… too bad I couldn’t tell which one he was talking about. I didn’t have any on my person at the time, and my wool coat is redolent of both Champagne de Bois and Mary Greenwell Plum. I suspect the Plum, though I could be wrong. And also, I think there may still be a whiff or two of Portrait of a Lady on my inner cuff, from about six weeks ago. SOTD: Kate Spade again.
Friday, Jan. 28: Another inch of snow melted by noon, another day of no school. At this rate, the kids won’t be done until June is half over… and our school district is allowed to start before Labor Day, due to our history of snow. SOTD: i Profumo di Firenze Tuberosa d’Autunno. Nice. Also brings up the question: Why do I keep running into a grape-flavor smell in tuberose & gardenia fragrances lately? Is it a latent angle of the tuberose that is accented in some compositions (I don’t notice it in tuberose absolute), or is it a vague-but-deliberate echo of Poison?
Saturday, Jan. 29: Temps in the mid-50s today. Cleaned the house, took The CEO’s suits to the dry cleaner’s so he can have them by Tuesday for his trip to Denver for the National Cattlemen’s Association Board Meeting, took Taz to buy some new sneakers. (Seems like I’m buying at least one pair of new sneakers every couple of months…)
SOTD: Mary Greenwell Plum. Gosh, I still love this thing. I am positive that certain people would comment disdainfully that it is not a chypre. I don’t care how you want to categorize it, it’s lovely. (And, yes, it is a modern chypre, with oakmoss. True, it’s not got a lot of oakmoss, but oakmoss is clearly discernible, along with labdanum and bergamot and a pinkytip’s worth of patchouli. Worn alongside other floral chypres like L’Arte di Gucci or Leonard de Leonard, it’s clearly got a family resemblance to them. I repeat, the oakmoss isn’t all that heavy a presence, but it’s there.)
SOBedtime: Alahine. Which was either fighting with the remnants of Plum, or the topnotes are deteriorating… this unnerves me.
Sunday, Jan. 30: Another gorgeous sunny 50-degree day in which my kids went outside and shot hoops/ threw baseballs to each other/ went running. SOTMorning: Si Lolita. SOTAfternoon: iPdF Tuberosa d’Autunno again, as I work on another Tuberose Series review.
SOBedtime: Alahine again. I fear that the topnotes are slightly off already. This bottle’s barely a year old – and I love this stuff! It smells right ten minutes into a wearing, but still, it smells wrong for ten minutes.
Holy moly, the month is gone already…
Top image is from Allinug at Fragrantica. Second image is of Mustela frenata (Long-Tailed Weasel) from Wikipedia.
Muse in Wooden Shoes 
Hello Mals! Eternity and Obsession are probably my 2 least favorite perfumes, and they were so ubiquitous in the 90s. I feel for your poor co-worker.
I am not a fan of the BWFB – I think you and I may be close to evil scent twins (except now I know we both dislike Eternity and Obsession!). Don’t like aldehydes or BWFB, do like citrus and lighter stuff. I don’t like anything too heady or heavy, so BWFBs are pretty much out. Occasionally, I will like a lighter or green floral, generally jasmine. I’ve always liked my fragrances a bit more subtle and now that I’ve got that hubby with migraines, I also take him into consideration and so most BIG perfumes are out. Which I’m mostly OK with.
Hey there, J – Eternity and Obsession are both offensive to me, but for such completely different reasons! Eternity is this big hissy chemical mess, IMO, and Obsession has a ton of that dry-dusty resiny stuff I hate. The poor husband…
Oh well… maybe you can steer away of the stuff I love. Actually, ESTs are probably more valuable than STs! You’re right, I really do not care for citrus stuff or light classic-style cologne. (I tend to wear my BWFBs lightly, though – I’m not spritzing down six times.)
You hated Orange Star, right? I thought Baghari was pretty similar to Orange Star, so it may not be off, just not your thing at all.
I love big white florals, though I somehow don’t end up buying many. Someday, someday, when I really deserve it, I’ll own a bottle of Carnal Flower and/or Beyond Love.
I get a big grape note in Alien, though that’s jasmine — not sure if it’s got any tube/gardenia materials.
E, Orange Star nearly killlllled me. Bleah, OB. I did really like Eau d’Epices, though… the difference seems to be that EdE has much, MUCH less OB and more spices.
I rather like Alien, and it does sort of have that grapey thing, but less of it than I’m running into lately.
Always love the Scent Diary. Generally, I’m not a fan of the BWFBs, but I do love Poeme. (Come to think of it, I haven’t worn this for a while, but maybe tomorrow…)
Oooh, I truly love Fracas, too, but must be in the right mindset to wear it. Maybe that tomorrow instead of Poeme…
Bummer about the Alahine – I know it’s one of your favorites!
J, you know, I’ve never smelled Poeme! I don’t have access to much free sniffery, but I suppose Belk would have the Lancomes… now to carve out some time to actually drive to the Belk…
I will just have to suffer the off topnotes of Alahine – it is the rest of it that I truly love anyway.
::cough cough:: *someone else is saying Poeme now* ::cough::
The first time I wore Alahine I wondered what the fuss was all about. Smelled old, musty. Fifteen minutes later I understood–it was glorious after that initial yuk. It’s still that way for me.
BWFB? Not for the most part. Tuberose is just getting to be a no-go for me these day and not sure why.
Who knows why we love what we love? I’ve just come to terms with the fact that I do not dig traditional cologne or anything that mimics the structure. I have stopped trying to like it. I don’t care that Chanel makes the best eau de cologne in the world… I Do Not Like Cologne. Period. So you get a free pass on not loving BWFBs. 🙂
I always struggled with the lavender-citrus of Alahine’s top anyway (cologne-ish??).
Darling Alahine is wonky!!? Oh no!
What a travesty!-in perfumeland anyways…
Baby it’s cause you gotta use this stuff up, no itty bitty squirts and smidges! 😉
Start spraying the goods honey, use it or lose it…
I’ve gone through almost 2 bottles of URC already…
Can you imagine??? LOL
I think you can SEE the sillage cloud from here.
JK It’s not that dramatic but y’all know I love to lay on the heavy. 😀
I always enjoy your scent diaries dear.
Get this woman some PLUM stat! ❤
Always yours truly~Tamara
Uhhhh, yeah, there it is. I see your sillage cloud, babe! URC can sure send one up.
Alahine probably gets more love than many of my other bottles… and the heart/base is juuuuust fine, thank you.
My decant of Plum came yesterday!! Squee!
Bummer about Alahine, a perfume shouldn’t go off that fast! I cross my fingers it will smell wonderful next time you put it on.
I love BWFBs, they make me feel like a lady with a naughty secret 🙂
I can’t wrap my head around Baghari. Some days it’s really nice, other times it’s unbearably sweet and cloying.
You know, M, I do find that when I use something and then go a few weeks without using it, sometimes the first couple of squirts are weird. That happened with Cuir de Lancome this past fall – wore it several times in August and early September, and then not for about three weeks, and then the next two times I wore it it was unbearably smoky. And then it was fine! So was it my nose? Or was it that the little drops left near the sprayer were affected by air exposure and left the impression of the whole thing being wrong? I don’t know.
Yay, a BWFB fan! They feel so comfortable, very “me.”
Baghari I can’t figure out. I also have a small decant of vintage edc which smells better than the newish sample.
Congrats on finishing those forms; a friend of mine was in a similar situation recently, so I heard lots about it from him.
Thank you for your mentions of several SSS perfumes, which really prompted me to try Champagne de Bois. It is so elegant. I got a compliment on it as well.
These scent diaries are so much fun! 🙂
V, those darn forms always make me feel like biting everyone within sight. It’s not good.
I do love Champagne de Bois – it is so rich and warm without being a big boneless spicy pudding!
V, I’m so glad you tried and like the Champagne de Bois! 🙂
Yes, an actual comment of my own, and not hopping a ride on someone else’s… 😉
A weasel? You saw a weasal au naturel???? Very cool. I think. Up here, such a creature would be a badger, or, heaven forbid, a wolverine. Not quite as exciting, as one needs to think of one’s personal safety first.
BWFB. My knee-jerk, insistent, don’t even START that conversation reply is “no.” And then I see the Amarige on the shelf, the Poeme in one of many perfume stash boxes…and realize I chose not to give them away….. Hmmm. They do pass the No Meat rule. Whereas that blasted Stargazer lily in the jar totally erupted ham on me a few weeks ago. So I feel your pain. Shoot, I like Byzance, but that one is tempered by oddity. (I have an old school bottle.) I like DK Gold, but that one has green in it. I like Jasmin de Nuit, but that one is spiced up.
Should I say “I don’t like BWFBs but…”, or “I like BWFBs only if they have a ‘but’.” (And then of course have to hasten to point out I said and meant ‘but,’ not ‘butt.’)
Congrats on getting the forms out.
I DID taw a weasel! It was amazing. I mean, I’ve seen skunks waddling past my car, I’ve seen red foxes dashing through the woods, I’ve seen squirrels and chipmunks and wild turkeys, I’ve seen a plethora of groundhogs… but never a weasel before.
Looks like you feel about BWFBs the way I feel about patchouli. “I don’t like patchouli, but… okay, I like Lumiere Noir pour femme. I love Le Temps d’une Fete. I love L’Arte di Gucci.”
Mals, what do you think of Si Lolita?? I really hated it when I tried it, but the store I tried it at had it so much earlier than anyone else that I’ve been wondering if it was a fake.
Ari, I rather like it. I bought a mini off teh bay, and it’s cute as the dickens, but since the lasting power is just dreadful for a floral oriental, I decanted it into a spray bottle so I can do two or three good spritzes. Even with that, it only lasts three hours, tops.
It is chock-full of pink pepper, if that clears up the dislike? I like pink pepper, but apparently I am alone in that. Everybody is always complaining about the ubiquity of it. (No one complains about the ubiquity of bergamot as a note, however. I don’t get it. Bergamot and pink pepper serve the same function, linking different elements together.)