This will be a bit of a mash today, but bear with me, I’m a little discombobulated.  Just writing about things I like will make me feel better.

This year – so far – has been kinda crappy.  Lovely girlfriend of my oldest son has uterine cancer, and they thought it was Stage III.  Second opinion, they now think it is Stage II. Yeah!!!  Scheduled for surgery this week.  Passes out with pulmonary embolism late last week.  Will be okay, but surgery delayed by six weeks to stabilize her condition.  Okay, that should be enough for only being two months into the year, right?  Nope.  Brother who does not have esophageal cancer (that one is back in chemo post-surgery) has a heart attack this weekend.  This after third brother thinks he is having one, but turns out not, they just don’t know what’s wrong with him.  Heart attack is caught early, stented, and he’ll be fine.  This is the age we all start to fall apart by family history – mid to late 50s.   And what we know is it is genetics. All of my brothers are physically active, exercise, work hard, and all the same things that hit my smoking, drinking, hard-living dad and his brothers at about the same age are happening to them.  Crazy.

My low back is giving me fits, so I’m writing this all propped with pillows under my knees, etc. full of Motrin – that explains some of the discombobulation.  If it’s better tomorrow, I see a week of yoga in my future to get my hammies all stretched out properly.

But you know what is making me happy while I’m all propped up and sleeping through mega Motrin doses today?  David’s Tea.  I’m normally a no-frills coffee drinker and my only foray into floofy flavored coffee or tea has been Mariage Frere Butterscotch Tea and their Christmas Noel tea.  The David’s Tea was a happy accident. I get a monthly knitting subscription through Knitcrate.  You can get beginner, advanced, sock crate, etc. and tucked in every package are some goodies.  February had a small packet of David’s Tea, Read My Lips, with chocolate, peppermint and red lip candies.  I brewed them up in my fabulous Breville tea brewer, just because, you know, it was free and I was sure I’d hate it and then wind up sending it to Ann.  The smells that percolated through my house were unbelievable, and it lasted the entire day. I quickly went through my small sample packet and had to order to Canada for more, only to wait and wait and wait for a whole week for my fix to arrive.  Now I’m sipping on Chocolate Rocket, a mate with cocoa, almonds, raspberries and chicory and am just swooning.  Tomorrow I brew up a sample of their new spring tea, Peaches and cream, an herbal tea with peaches, apple and vanilla.  I’m hoping they also sent some of the Cool Cucumber (pawing through the box). Black tea with cucumber slices!  If you can’t find a flavored tea at David’s to make you happy, you didn’t look hard enough.  Other than that week wait to arrive from Canada  - yes,I’m a spoiled child – these are amazing and are my new favorite tea vendor.  They do have stores in San Francisco, Chicago and Brooklyn, none of which are close to me. They should consider a Denver store pronto.

We’ve covered knitting and tea. Some days, the extent of my Old Lady hobbies cracks me up.

But you came here for the perfume, and my little treasures arrived. Roja Dove Gardenia extrait, Roja Dove Vetiver extrait and Roja Dove Fetish.  I’m not always the perfect Roja Dove customer.  He skews to a vintage taste that I admire, but typically don’t wear that much.

Roja Dove Gardenia isn’t all bleu cheesy gardenia. It’s a more upscale gardenia, fully fluffed out of the most stinky elements, but retaining a gardenia perfume sensibility.  I’m not sure how he walks that line so well.  It’s not a Chanel Gardenia that isn’t really gardenia, it’s a more robust scent and incredibly elegant.  For a soliflore, it’s not that soliflore since several other notes combine to give the gardenia-like scent.  It hits a lot closer than the Chanel does. but it is a coolish gardenia, but with some warmth around the edges.   I really love it, there is a perfect place in my gardenia perfume collection for it.  If you must have the gardenia reality, this probably won’t do it for you, but if you’re on board with a great blend that’s gardenia with superpowers, Roja Dove Gardenia Extrait will work for you.

Roja Dove Vetiver Extrait is an amazing vetiver.  Notes of bergamot, lemon, jasmine, rose. caraway, cedar, celery, galbanum, guaiac wood, litsea cubeba, nutmeg, oakmoss, pepper, labdanum and vetiver.  It has all the refinement of a Roja Dove scent, but the vetiver in this is not tamped down or restrained. It punches you with a kiss right in the nose. That’s a great thing!  It doesn’t feel raw, though, like some vetivers, that are all grass and earth.  This has that element, but blends the other notes in beautifully to soften enough edges that you can wear it without anyone wondering who is mowing or harvesting in the office.  If you love vetiver, man or woman, this is glorious vetiver.

Roja Dove Fetish (not Pour Homme, this is the femme) falls in line with that classic feel Roja expresses – Guerlain-esque leather chypre. It is heavy on the galbanum and oakmoss. Notes are bergamot, jasmine, rose, tuberose, ylang, castoreum, cedar, cinnamon, clove galbanum, musk, oakmoss, patchouli, and vetiver.  Kafkaesque did a lengthy, in-depth review on the EDP.  I’m not sure how the strengths differ, but Kafkaesque did not get much leather.  I get a wallop of green leather, if such a thing exists.  Leather’ish notes tend to amp on my skin, so whatever combo of notes used to get leather are working well on my leather-projecting skin.  which would be great if I were a big leather perfume fan.  This feels a Lot like Guerlain Djedi on me. Not a dry, not like the desert Djedi becomes. A less arid Djedi maybe.  It’s not exactly the same, but there are similarities.  That comparison just hit me, now I have to test it.  Yeah, Djedi is way more fierce and dry and barren, while Fetish is plumper with a wee more florality and spice. They are interesting to smell side by side. Clearly some of the materials in Djedi can’t be used anymore – likely lethal things that could kill us! – but they feel in the same family for me. Again, grain of salt, I amp leather-like notes like crazy, part of the reason I don’t do leather perfumes, I will wipe out entire households when I visit if I have one on.

So!  Last week I didn’t draw, but Ill use last week’s post and drawing for some samples of the lovelies and this week and do two from each post to get samples of these three perfumes as well as a wee bit of David’s tea – enough to brew a cuppa.  Have you tried any of the Rojas? Like them, love them, hate them?  Want to try?