Short hits and winners for drawings

While I’m waiting anxiously for the Unicorn and those little The Different Company new things to hit my desk, I’m going through some samples to see if something will catch my attention.

Let’s see what we have here — first of all, have any of you tried that new Sonic chili, cheese and Fritos wrapped in a tortilla thing? Go… get… now. Or get the ingredients and make them yourself. Comfort food non compare.

With my bottle of Castelbajac I got a sample of Elizabeth Arden Provocative Woman. The marketing hype: “There is something beneath the surface of every woman. It´s always there – ready, waiting. If she decides, it can silence a room or turn a grown man into a mere puddle. Introducing Elizabeth Arden Provocative Woman. The new fragrance. Men will melt.” :::rolls eyes so hard they get stuck in eyebrows:::: Good lord…. Notes of water lotus, ginger lily, midnight orchid, papaya blossom, pink freesia, white sand, red amber and hinoki wood. The notes sound awesome except for that water lotus, and unfortunately, that’s all I can smell is water lotus, the one note that blows in that list. Much into the drydown, about the time it starts to get a little interesting, it just almost vanishes. If this would have held up a little more in the dry, it would have gotten better marks. I vaguely smell some amber and wood and (white sand??? puhleeze)… well, that’s pretty much it. That aquatic note is a killer on this one, and I doubt I’m turning men into puddles with this, mostly just into, “Would you please get that away from me” which is the normal response in this house.

The lovely SA from Barney’s Armani counter has moved on to be a personal shopper, but before she left, she loaded me up with all of the incense series samples from Comme des Garcons. I slapped on some Zagorsk, with notes of white incense, pine, pimento berries, violet, cedar, iris, honoki wood, and birch wood. This is just stunningly lovely, just woody incensy goodness with the iris and violet floating around very lightly to keep this from being “just” a woody incense scent. This may wind up in my FBW list, though I’d be quite happy if I could get all of the Incense series in a little coffret. Couldn’t they just do all of them in 10 ml apiece coffret? That would be so totally awesome! Maybe I’ll get them all and make my own coffrets, dagnabit. If anyone is down to do that with me on a big split, let me know.

I spilled my Serge Lutens Bois de Violette yesterday. No matter how much I adore BdV, there is nothing about a spilled bottle of it that is attractive, it’s just an overdose of cedar and violet. So what’s the cure? Bois Oriental. Just enough cedar to be interesting and know it came from the Boises (beaux?), but it is softer and lacks the sweet that Bois et Fruits and Bois de Violette have, and that makes it beautiful and soft, which is turning into one of my favorite of the Beaux.

Now, as a follow-up to my TeeVee Post from last Friday. A couple of you asked if you could avoid getting cable now and watch some of these shows anyway, and the happy answer is… YES!!!! CBS and ABC have put most of the episodes of series up on their website, at least for the current season, and watching them there is as good as television. They make you sit through a commercial or two, but it’s a 30-second commercial or less, and it’s less add time than regular teevee. You normally can see the episode the day after it airs. So why buy cable when you can just go watch it online? Some of the best television out there, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, The Nine, etc., are on the internet and easy to watch. Now, NBCs site has some weird thing going on where you have to have some kind of chip to download episodes? Works great if you have it… doesn’t if you don’t. Whatever. I just to go iTunes and buy any episode I’ve missed or get a season pass. Figuring cable is $30 a month or so, you can get a season pass for all episodes of a series for 30-40, so if there’s only one thing you want to watch, you’ve saved a bundle. Or you can just get episodes your Tivo screwed up taping or that you missed for $1.99 each. You don’t need an iPod to use iTunes. It will play the episodes right on your computer.

GEEK MOMENT WARNING!!! Another very handy thing to have for plane trips is a video iPod. Most of my plane trips are short, less than two hours, so no movie, and I get motion sickness if I read too much. Now I download a couple of things I’ve had no time to watch to my video iPod and catch up on the plane. It’s also great for the treadmill so I don’t have to drag DVDs upstairs and sort out what I have and haven’t watched. Sure, the screen is small, but for personal use, it is an amazingly great video picture. P.S. — if you have Tivo and get the 2.3 TiVO desktop, anything you record on Tivo, you can transfer to your computer and convert to iPod, PSP, Treo, Nokia, etc., that take an MPEG-4. Sorry for that nerdy moment, but the fact that I can now convert all my saved Nip/Tuck Tivos from this year to watch later I think is just awesome!

Winner of the Black Orchid sample is Natalie.

Winner of the Your Choice From my Collection drawing is Leopoldo.

Just hit the Contact Us button over there on the left, you two, and give me your address.

  • Patty says:

    Hey, Miranda — i actually love the Botox, believe it or not. I didn’t have a lot put in, and my forehead still moves, it just relaxed the deep furrow in the middle of my forehead so it doesn’t furrow like it did, and it got rid of that slightly irritated look that was really good for me when I was younger and needed to be taken seriously, but was really aging me.

    It also gave me a little eyebrown lift. I’m not sure if that’s real or perceived, but I sure look like I have more eyelid real estate, which is awesome!!!

  • Patty says:

    Kuri, I’m not sure if CdG is in Tokyo. I would think so, but sometimes perfume companies do weird things on distribution.

    L’Artisan has always been pretty good on the coffret thing, but CdG, why they won’t do a coffret is beyond me. They could sell less amount and more of them for more money. I mean, I’ve been in business a few decads, and that model is one that anyone would want!

    Castelbajac, I’ll do that one yet this week! I had it a long time ago, and just picked it up again because I couldn’t find my bottle. I adore it!

  • Miranda says:

    Hi Patty,

    How do you like the famous Botox? You said you wanted to check it out a little before your final opinion.

  • kuri says:

    I love Robin’s comment! You know, I have never seen CdG in Tokyo. Does it exist here?

    Seems like perfume series'(help! proper punctuation?) demand to be released in charming coffrets. It’s probably a good thing I am not particularly drawn to incense yet.

    Castelbajac! Tell me what you think! I haven’t found any place with samples so far.

  • Patty says:

    Robin, I don’t know, but they really should. I’d love to see all of their series done up as coffrets, they would just sell the crud out of them. I’d buy them all! They’re so focused, it’s hard to justify a full bottle for the Wood Coffee, but I *adore* the Wood Coffee, just don’t want 50 ml of it.

  • Veronica says:

    Congrats, Natalie and Leopoldo! Huzzah!

  • Robin says:

    Oh, I am so behind you on the CdG coffret — they really should do those on all the series scents. Except Sweet, which they should just discontinue. And then they should bring back Leaves. Why doesn’t CdG ever call me for advice?

  • Leopoldo says:

    Yeehaaaa! whaddo I choose……..?

  • Tigs says:

    Count me in! And thanks for the kind words about the blog – I’ll have a new post tonight.

  • Patty says:

    Love your blog, Erin! I just went and visited and blogrolled it too! Now I have more Serges I need to try. I thought I did not like Chene, but your description really sounds lovely, I think I need to give it another try.

    I think the CdGs are 50 mls, so with me, I’d need four more people. They’re like $62 for 50 ml, so that would be 50 mls total with five scents at 10 mls each. With bottles and postage, I think I could do it for like 70-80, depending on how cute I went on the bottles. That would actually be fun!

  • Tigs says:

    I lurv Bois et Musc; it was my favourite from the Eaux Boisée until I got a fresh vial of BdV from you, Patty, and then I fell in love with that one. Bois et Musc is somehow still more “me” though – although the new Serge catergories include Chene in the Wood-based scents and that one is my *fave*. (I just did reviews on my blog.) How many people do you need for you coffret idea? I forget how big the GdC bottles are…

  • Patty says:

    Angela, don’t forget cosmetics and cosmetic minor surgical procedures, too! 🙂

    Book Reviews…. hmmm, I do need to do one of those. My problem with reading is I do so much of it online, my eyes are just whacked, an dI miss all the books I used to read!

  • Patty says:

    R, darling! I, too, ordered the samples back in October, on that BAsenotes thing? Nothing so far, so I finally just broke down and ordered a bottle of each, perhaps not being free might shake them loose? I hope so!!!

  • Patty says:

    Iris, Bois Orientale is just awesome. It’s so much quieter than then other Boises, it’s easy to overlook, but really is just a stunner.

  • Patty says:

    March, should we lobby CdG to get one, or just make up our own? I think I’ll make up my own, I really want them all all the time.

    You truly are luddite, the first one I’ve really ever thought had earned that title. But you are coming along! Back when I was learning computers and online stuff, the questions were, “How do I make a .bat file, and what exactly IS a .bat file?” NOw it’s how do I set my Tivo to record my favorite TV show so I can offload it onto my computer for conversion to my 1-inch iPod. I LOVE technology!

  • AngelaS says:

    Well, this is why I love this site–comfort food recommendations, perfume correctives, info on how to get your favorite t.v. shows, PLUS perfume reviews. If you add the occasional book review and horoscopes, I won’t need any other blog!

  • violetnoir says:

    You know what? I ordered my LesNez samples on October 21st, and they still have not arrived. 🙁 Talk about a slow boat to LA…

    Hugs!

  • IrisLA says:

    Bois Orientale — my newest lemming. Argh, why do I have to fall in love with exclusives? 😕

  • March says:

    Provocative Woman — eeeewww! Yeah, wouldn’t a set of little CdG incenses be wonderful! They were all very interesting.

    I am laughing at your Geek Moment. Over here living the dream with the Luddites means I spent, oh, 20 minutes figuring out how to change the wallpaper on my computer from some dumb Harry Potter thing. I was so proud I didn’t have to email you for help!

  • Patty says:

    Marina, I need to get my hands on some Bois et Musc now. It’s the only one of the Boises, I believe, that I haven’t tried yet.

  • Patty says:

    E — Zagorsk is just a wonder, my favorite as well, though I really love Kyoto and Avignon too!

    Bravo is behind on the webisode TV, which is a shame, but I think they have their stuff on iTunes!

  • Patty says:

    Survivor you can definitely get on CBS’s website, it’s awesome! Bravo, I know they are on iTunes, but not sure if they have them on their website.

  • Marina says:

    Absolutely agree about Bois Oriental. Bois et Musc is another super-wonderful one. *sigh*

  • Elle says:

    Zagorsk is my fav of the Incense series, but they are all totally essential to my existence.
    Our cable system doesn’t have Bravo (PR), even in premium packages. :(( Evil, just evil.

  • sariah says:

    Perfume and TeeVee, you have such great range Patty…….. When we moved about 7 months ago we didn’t get cable, the only thing I’ve been missing is Survivor, and this Project Runway that you and everyone else is talking about. I will definitely check it out if I can get them on the web now – thanks!

    The make-your-own CdG incense coffret is a darn good idea, I would be up for that!

    Sariah:d