Perfume on TV and me

Did anyone catch the last episode of "Castle"?  Well, if you didn't there was a character on that show who had her own celeb perfume, and Castle said something like he prefers Fracas.   Now I remember sniffing it at Saks or somewhere and not liking it (though I do like Bandit) - ahhh this is probably why (from their website) - "Classic femininity and modern sensibility collide within this lush white floral fragrance. Seductive tuberose mingles with jasmine, jonquil, gardenia, Bulgarian rose and orange flower in a profusion of fragile white flowers before revealing a base of sandalwood, vetiver and musk. Fracas is the signature fragrance for those who want to make an unforgettable impression"  I'm so not a white floral person.  Sigh - I have no chance with him now!

Monday:  nada

Tuesday: Guerlain Shalimar - wearing it today, I was thinking how I used to think it was such a big, loud and incredibly un-close perfume - but now, probably given all the samples I have sniffed, it's not that big anymore. Interesting how perceptions change after the years, huh?

Wednesday: Agent Provacateur (original) - needed a blast of this to get me through the day.

Thursday: Satellite Padparadscha - if I didn't have enough orientals, I would truly like a bottle of this - the light whiff of Red Hots doesn't hurt, either. Notes from Luckyscent: amber, musk, cedar, sandalwood, juniper, pepper.  I love perfume with pepper in it.  But on second thought, 100ml for $80.00 isn't such a bad price point...hmmmmm.  But truthfully, if I had 80 bucks, I'd buy some more Diptyque L'Ombre dans L'eau - I'm nearly out of my mini.

Friday: Chanel #22.  Shout out to Suzanne who not only has a wonderful blog, but decants beautifully.  I bought a decant of #22 from her, and have been enjoying it immensely.  As with other Chanel's, this is not a everyday perfume for me - it's a perfume I will wear when I want to feel pretty and classy. Yes, it has aldehydes, yes it gets powdery and has 'white florals', but there is something (other than rose) that speaks to me with this one (probably the base notes of vetiver and incense, though I read Polge when they re-introduced it in 2007, put less emphasis on the incense).

Which begs the question - do I like it because I WANT to like it?  Or is my nose finally learning and liking more notes these days.

Maybe I DO have a chance with Castle after all!

STREET SCENTS Special Edition Featuring ANDY TAUER -Tauer Perfumes

Creed Neroli Sauvage and Royal Water, and perfumes I wore this week

Creed Neroli Sauvage.  Another gifty from Olenska.  This is listed as a unisex perfume, but it's a bit too masculine for me.  Here's her review.  And also Creed Royal Water - again, too 'masculine' for me, so I gave my sample to this young man in our organization that loves cologne/perfume.  And again, Olenska writes an amazing review.

What I need to figure out for myself is what I get (note-wise) as 'too masculine'. 

So here's the notes:
Neroli Sauvage:  Bergamot, grapefruit, neroli, lemon verbena, ambergris
Royal Water: Bergamot, mandarin, peppermint, verbena, basil, cumin, juniper berry, tonka bean, musk, ambergris


So could it be bergamot?  Ambergris?  I need to figure this out for myself one of these years.

Monday:  Left-over-on-my-clothes Paco Rabanne La Nuit (I had the day off and just lounged around, watching "Downton Abbey" and knitting.)

Tuesday:  Back at work, wearing YSL Opium Fleur Imperiale.

Wednesday:  SSS Incense Pure.  I swear I'm burning through my bottle of this - love it love it love it.

Thursday:  Kenzo Jungle L'Elephant.  Looking back at my blog, this was one of the first reviews I did - boy  was it a strange entry.  That was back when I thought I was going to list all the 'noses' for each perfume I reviewed.  I gave up quickly on that.  I'm l a z y!

Friday:  I have been having the most difficult time waking up these past months - probably because of my new meds - so I totally forgot to put on what I had intended; but fortunately I have a sample of Tabu in my office, so spritzed I did.  (I haven't reviewed Tabu yet because I have a vintage sample and want to test side by side).

Happy weekend all!

(photo is of my hand in one of the pair of arm/hand warmers I recently knit for myself.  What does this have to do with this post?  Absolutely nothing other than to remind everyone to keep warm!)

Shiseido Zen, Barneys New York Route du The, and Paco Rabanne La Nuit

Dripping into my samples box, I grabbed these three.

I have no idea which version of Zen I have (other than it's labeled EDP).  Maybe it's this one.  I like the 'amber and wood' but something about the 'florals' puts me off.

Route du The is a delightful little eau de toilette.  On Basenotes, it states that this was launched in 1986.  I quite like it as it's refreshing yet interesting.  From Barneys' website "Our signature 'way of the tea' fragrance. A crisp eau de toilette of citrus, muguet and amber" but then it says N/A.   So is this discontinued? Not that I'm in love with it that if it is discontinued I would weep, but I kind of want to know how much a large bottle cost.  Plus, given the mid-80s, this must have been quite something then.

And speaking of the mid-80s, La Nuit was launched in 1985.  I'm surprised that I didn't have this stuff back in the day.  It reminds me of a toned-down Tabu mixed with Mitsouko.  FANTASTIC!  I had to figure out why I didn't have this back then.  I mean, come on, Paco Rabanne designed the costumes for Barbarella (which of course I watched a coupla times at some art house place in the early 80s) and heck, I was Duran Duran fan.  So what turned me off of him then?   Was it PR pour Homme that everyone was wearing and turned me off?  I don't even know what that smells like.  Sometimes I eschewed what was 'cool' because I wanted to be 'anti-cool' in my coolness. Oh youth.  Sigh.  (I did the same thing with skiing.  I would never go skiing because only the cool/rich kids at my high school went, and when I finally DID go skiing I was in my mid-30s and I loved it and did fairly well. I rebelled my way out of something that could have been a wonderful adventure in my life.  Sigh again)

Anyway, I'm thrilled that I received a large decant of this stuff.  I'm not thrilled that it took me so long to try it!