First off — Patty’s been rassling with the renegade ads. If you notice any improvement, please say so. I looked at the site in an older version of IE and was horrified. I think we’ve fixed some of that. We’ll continue to tweak the sidebars, we’re trying to keep you happy. I’d love an update — anyone still getting the WalMart popup? How many of you see two long (vertical) ads to the left between Total Beauty and the Misikko ad? There should be only teeny square sidebar ads, not those giant things in the sidebars, P did some damage to the ones blogjacking us. I hope.
Second, how would you all feel about the use of the “more” tag — where you get the initial taste of the post on the page, and then you click to read the rest of the review? It should help the page upload faster, and you can scan the posts faster. But does that extra step annoy you? Please weigh in. I’ll try to stick the break in here below this paragraph in case you have no idea what I’m talking about — my review of two new fragrances, one from Gucci and one from Valentino… but I won’t know if it works until it posts… (ah, the suspense!)
If you start with the proposition that a fragrance is produced with future sales in mind, rather than a brilliantly abstract work of art displaying the haunting revelations of the designer’s soul, you’d probably wind up with something that smelled like the new Gucci Flora or Valentino. On the one hand, neither of these sent me into a swoon over its novelty. On the other hand, neither feels like an embarrassment to the house, and both are quite pleasant. They are not particularly formal, but they’re not juicyfruit scents aimed at teenagers, either. I could (and likely would) wear either one if I wound up with a bottle. Flora in particular would function as a wallpaper scent.
Gucci Flora has been rolled out in concert with a reissue of one of their gorgeous old patterns, created for Princess Grace of Monaco in 1966 and featured on a scarf, now on that floral handbag above which I seriously covet and no doubt won’t be owning. Flora is the “younger” of the two perfumes featured today, but it isn’t girly or overpoweringly sugary. The bottle is simple, clean and attractive, and I’d say the same about the fragrance. It’s slightly watery at the start, and I thought I caught a hint of calone, but so slight it didn’t bother even me, the melon-magnifier. Notes are: citrus, peony, rose, osmanthus, pink pepper, and sandalwood. After a delicate citrusy opening, it settles in five minutes into what it’s going to be for the next several hours – a smooth, soft, slightly woody floral (I can’t pick out any of the listed flowers individually, it’s more abstract) with a base that is more appealing than I expected. There’s something a little gourmand about it that makes me think of D&G The One, without the plasticky bit of The One that has prevented me from buying it. “You could do worse” isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement, and I won’t buy it, but if a bottle fell into my lap I’d wear it cheerfully when I wanted something uncomplicated, and it lasts a long time on me.
Valentino was another pleasant surprise. I love Valentino (the clothes and the man) and in theory I’d have high expectations for this eponymous scent, but his fragrances have been a mixed bag. Vendetta is an interesting aldehydic perfume, but Rock n’ Rose was such a cheap, tawdry attention-whore I thought maybe this would be another disaster, although the bottle certainly gave me hope. Gold was pretty sweet, and I honestly can’t remember the V (the quarter-moon bottles) so feel free to share your opinions. Also, wasn’t there another scent named Valentino several years ago? I hate it when designers do that.
Anyhow, I picked up the new Valentino bottle in Neiman Marcus. It’s elegant; the juice is pale pink. Notes are: pomelo, pear blossom, magnolia, orange blossom, mimosa, violet leaves, rice vapour, heliotrope and vanilla orchid.
Those notes read sweeter than the fragrance is. This is a more mature scent than Flora, without approaching anything I’d describe as old-lady-ville (although regular readers know I love a trip to old-lady-ville). There’s a nice bit of leafy greenness at the start, the fruits and heliotrope are muted, and my favorite parts – the rice steam and the magnolia – lend both a creamy and bitter-woody dimension to the scent. I went back to Neiman twice more to sample it (the work I do for this blog!) and left each time with a bit more admiration for the fragrance. To me it is a scent for a woman who has had a lot of joy and laughter in her life, but has lived long enough to see a few clouds and taste some sadness. It is a fragrance with bittersweet perspective. It’s not a fragrance of profound beauty and to be honest I’m not really that sure why I find it so moving; maybe it’s some long-forgotten scent association I can’t even recognize. I won’t be buying it, but I might give it as a gift to someone who has lived long enough to see both the clouds and the silver lining.
Images: flora bottle, harrods.com; flora bag, ioffer.com; valentino, neimanmarcus.com
Such a perfect way to embrace the floral trend.
a bit late adding a comment but here goes – I am now getting the WalMart pop-up and I have killer Norton Security so not sure why or how it gets through. Initially I didn’t get it, now I do. Very strange.
I like the way you did the highlights and the option ‘click here to read more’. It was nice that the site loader faster. Despite being a loyal reader, I don’t always have time to read the blog everyday. When I get behind and am flipping through a week’s worth, it is nice to have the highlights so I can select only the post’s I want to read i.e. edit for limited time – a necessary reality lately.
And thanks for the sacrifice of braving the Neiman perfume ladies 3 times!! Your battle scars are appreciated!
Love Chris Cunnigham’s ad for Flora – http://tinyurl.com/cco5cc
Much better than David Lynch’s film for Gucci by Gucci.
Well let’s see. I just changed to a Mac (my old laptop crashed and concurrently the DH won this one). I got the Walmart ad once — awful! — but then upped the level or something for the pop-up-blocker and haven’t see it after that. Now, there is an annoying big graphic on the left for some sort of mineral-based powder (totalbeauty dot com) which features a genuinely distracting moving brush.And of course there is the “Botox for Your Hair?” box at the bottom of the comments section, but who cares.
Jumps bug me a little. It’s kind of like in radio, a “teaser” for a song or an announcement so you’ll keep listening through the commercials. It’s no big deal, just a personal preference.
I don’t like the “Read More” thingie, it annoys me to not be able to skim the whole post at once and decide whether I want to read it more carefully! And I think the page loads quite slowly anyway, clicking the “More” link and forcing it to reload just slows down things even more, imho…
Well perhaps if you promise to never ever write about perfume below the “More” link I suppose it would be ok with me, if everything I can’t see right away is about handbags or nailpolish or kids or whatever non-perfume related stuff you guys write about. Not that it’s not worth reading, but then at least I’d know I didn’t miss a perfume review if I didn’t click the link! 😉
Eh. Maybe I’ll be a blog tease. Maybe I’ll put stuff about my kids, my dog and my favorite new eyeshadow up front, then say “… and now to this AMAZING NEW PERFUME AFTER THE JUMP…”
and you’ll click on it and it’ll be a rave about a new lipstick.
Sigh…I’d gladly put up with ANY crap to read your blog…Love you guys and all the hard work you put into this. Just no jumps. Thanks!
No jumps! I promise!
I see the Wal-mart ad on my work computer (IE6) but not at home (IE8), where I see two other long ads on the main page. I’m not a big fan of jumps, but tolerate them. The page does seem to take awhiles to load, particularly at work… probably the fault of the IE6, and I may just take it upon myself to upgrade the computer on my own. (Boss comes in when he feels like and is not a techie likely to do it himself!)
I couldn’t afford that darling bag, but I desperately want the scarf with that beautimous floral pattern. I am a Scarf Ho and am always scouring thrift stores for pretty ones.
As long as you’re taking comments on the blog… I don’t give a flying flip for the cosmetics reviews; I love the fragrance reviews. I think the cosmetics (nail polish/lipstick) things only run on weekends, right? but I’m a bit disappointed to find one of those instead of ‘fume talk. Although I’ll also comment that the non-scented posts haven’t stopped me from checking the blog every day!
We try to do the nail polish/lipstick etc. stuff on the weekends. I just started that on my own, as Random Sunday, when I wanted to yammer about something. (Sometimes it’s silly family stories.)
To be honest, though — sometimes we can’t think of a darned thing to say about a fragrance. Believe me when I say this is *not* for lack of trying. I can smell 15 or 50 scents and …. nothing. When I first started this gig that would have seemed impossible, but sometimes nothing happens. So. I got bored with the “nothing happened” posts after a couple, and the occasional candle/eyeshadow post is our attempt to give y’all something. But, yeah. Feel free to skip on out on those days. I mean, I’m not interested in reading about anyone’s cats, you know? Or … what. Boats. Boats bore me.
I love ’em. Lipstick rules.
So, no boats? I have nothing interesting to say about coins, either, unless I’m talking about what I spent them on.
Well, I’ll read family stories any day, as long as there are also five days of perfume a week! Even “Meh, this was boring” reviews.
And I suppose there’s generally a large overlap with Perfume-Interested People and Cosmetics-Interested People, but that doesn’t include myself. I will suck it up and deal, as we used to say back when we were cool…
See two small side ads. No walmart ad thank goodness. And I find jumping to be annoying.
I get the Walmart pop-up.
I am so torched! AFTER complaining to get that ad out of the network or at least confined to the left where it should be, I finally got it for the first time today. Clicking on comments made it go away, but I’m just irritated. Why do ad servers insist on doing stupid things that irritate potential shoppers?
Grrr. I’ve never liked the jumping thing, even though I click on comments anyway.
Netflix is the worst (not on PP — I mean in general). My blocker can never block Netflix. I wrote them about it asking that very question and telling them that they had alienated me so badly that I’d chew my hand off at the wrist before I’d sign up for a membership and got an email back suggesting that I use a pop-up blocker! In other words, I either an idiot or a nut, but in either case the responsibility was mine all mine. Aaagggghhhh!
Netflix. They probably have all the best spammers, eh? Them and Wal-Mart.
Well, keep poking it with a stick. Maybe it’ll leave.
Seeing the long banner ads, but not Walmart.
I’m on board with the jump, though I realize many don’t like it, and of course, I’ll read no matter what!
Your Valentino had me singing “Both Sides Now” in my head. Hmmm.
oh my g-d I am so sorry. “Both Sides Now.” Giggling. Here, let me lend you an earworm. “Send in the Clowns.”
AAAAAAHHHHH! Runs screaming from room.
Wow, Flora sounds dazzling with the rice steam thing. I will have to sniff.
For what it’s worth, I absolutely hate the “more” button. 🙂
Well, Flora’s rather nice, but it’s Valentino with the rice steam, if that’s the note you’re interested in. 😉
Oddly enough, today was the first day I got the Walmart popup in Firefox…before this, had only seen it using Chrome.
We’re on the same page re: Flora, but you’ve inspired me to give the Valentino another shot.
Did you hate the Valentino? I wonder if it reminds me of something. I liked the Flora better initially, but the Valentino did grow on me. I thought the new Sisleys were awfully dull, another one of those “zen-like nothingness” reactions I can’t come up with a post on.
Weird…I really liked those Sisleys, at least 1 & 3, & would have thought you would like them too.
Didn’t hate the Valentino, just didn’t have much reaction to it. So we’re opposites on the latest mall stuff 🙂
I guess I was just SO BLOWN AWAY BY THAT VALENTINO… where’s my giggling, eyerolling emoticon when I need it? I’ll settle for 😉
You know me. I’ll probably do a crow-eating post a month from now raving over the Sisleys and saying the Valentino is dull.
Still getting that blasted Walmart pop-up. 😛
I like the jump at the moment-it kills the half-post blocking pop-up!
The blasted Wallmart is there and the long vertical ones are there too , they change from Amazon to Century 21 and Sensei. No jump, please.
I don’t get the Wal Mart deal through AOL or Microsoft Word. Late to the party, but I don’t mind either way as far as the “more” tag goes. Whatever you decide is fine with me. 🙂
Valentino also had a fragrance in the ’80s called Diva, with the bottle reflecting the sort of pleating featured in the white, deep v-neck gown in the ad. Remember that one? It was big and pretty, in that ’80s kind of way.
That sounds delicious, I’ve not tried that one.
I don’t mind the jump at all, because I always had to click something to see the comments. It’s a wash.
I’m using Firefox, and the Wal-mart ad is now aggressively floating over the page header, so it’s not blocking the post. I also found that reloading the page got around the ad, but sometimes had to do that a couple of times. In general, I don’t wait around for page load delays (typically caused by the ad servers); I’m all over f5 at the hint of waiting for a page to render…it’s become a Deeply Ingrained Practice.
I believe I need to track down Valentino; vanilla orchid has my attention…we have an orchid that just finished blooming a couple of weeks ago, and the vanilla aura around it was delightful.
My orchid rebloomed! Twice in two months, which is very odd. I assume it’ll go back to sleeping now for another year. Wonderful aroma. I hope you like the Valentino.
I’ve not tried the new Valentino (but certainly want to, now); Flora was meh in the extreme to me – though I’d not throw out that pretty bag if it appeared in my closet!
On the blog-jacking ads: I still get the Wal-mart pop-up thing which is maddening; however, I’ve found that I can usually defeat it by closing the page and re-opening a few times. The faff of doing this is worth it to me not to see it. Another method is to click on “comments”: the ad doesn’t appear in the main text of that at any point (famous last words~)
I must admit that the TotalBeauty.com ad where the brush is constantly whizzing round supposedly depositing Bare Minerals drives me wilder (and not in a good way) than the Wal-mart ad – but this may just be bcs I’ve not yet found a way of defeating it, short of shifting my entire window far enough to the left that I only get text.
I would VERY much rather not have the jump: I loathe those things, find them very frustrating, and quite often don’t bother reading the rest if I can’t see it all at once (I’m sthg of an instant-gratification gal~).
Sorry to be so moany! Hoping to try the Valentino later on today after nasty appointment…
I hope your appointment went well and the Valentino wasn’t a disaster!
I’ve got you loaded into my toolbar so when it loads, it loads completely, comments and all. Loads pretty quickly and I’ve lucked out on the no-ads debacle.
Whatever works best for you and P works best for me, re the blog.
I’m intrigued by the description of Valentino – must try. Rock and Rose nearly ruined the whole thing for me. Glad to know the new one is better!
xo>-)
I think we’re all agreed, no jumps!
Still seeing the long banner ads on the left, also a huge square ad for Olay something on the right, no Wal-Mart popups.
Well, the long page-loading time on both home and work computers drives me a little batty, and I’m perfectly happy with the jump as a solution to that…currently we all have to click through to a new page to access comments, and all of the jump-hating commenters are evidently perfectly willing to do that.
Just calculated load time on my computer…loading your main page took 2 minutes and 2 seconds. Clicking on the jump took 14 seconds to get to the new page. NST (since we’re comparing) took 4 seconds to load the main page. Clicking on the NST jump took another 4 seconds.
On a less grumpy note, that is an exceptionally lovely bag, refreshingly free of logos and clanking hardware.
Aigh. Your load time kills me. That’s terrible. I think between FIOS and a lot of blocked adware (my computer isn’t all that new) it loads in less than 10 seconds.
You’ve piqued my interest on the Valentino…might be right about my comfort speed, though I’ll take it up a notch for *certain* “old lady” scents.
Yes, still get the ad; yes, two long ads on the left; yes, slow loading issues (mine still shows as loading–oops, just done, after reading article and starting response). The jump removes the ad, so I’ve been automatically clicking on “comments” at the start of things anyway, just to clear it away.
It’s good to know about moving on to the comments getting rid of the ad.
Between the Total Beauty and the Misikko ads I see two large banners, one for World WarCraft and another for All Stream Telecommunications. Never had the Walmart problem but now I can comment and see all the text ! Yippieee, thanks to both for all your efforts. Am indifferent to the “jump”.
Enough nerdy stuff.
That Gucci bag is a darling, with all those flowers I expect it would smell like Fiori di Capri….
World of Warcraft? How come I never get the cool ads? And I just realized to my delight that, if it ever stops raining and being spinter, I have a pair of shoes with a pattern that is clearly a ripoff of Flora. Can’t wait to wear them.
Hi March! Arghhh – annoying ad issues. Fun, huh? I got the Walmart ad yesterday. Seems to be random. If I reload the page, it disappears. I also see the two long ads on the left, which change with each reload to different vendors. I cleared the cache after reading your post – didn’t remove the ads. I have Firefox on XP. Just brought the site up in IE 7 as well, and the two long ads appear on the left.
Re: the More link – I’d vote against it since clicking back and forth can be a pain.
As for Flora and Valentino, haven’t tried either, but I did sniff Flora in the bottle last week at Nordstrom. Didn’t get much, so I can’t comment. I love both of the bottles, though! Need to give them a full try. I have The One, and don’t detect that plasticky thing you mention. To me it has a strong scent of apricots, which must cancel out the plastic for me. Yum.
I spent the better part of five months waffling about The One. What a hopeless git I am sometimes. I think I’ll torture myself about Gucci Flora similarly. And I want to try The One Light (or whatever it’s called, Eau? the new one).
I’m not a fan of The Jump, either. Hell, I’m too lazy to jump for the comments, most of the time.
Ad status: two longish ones in between the total beauty and misikko ones, trying to sell me college degrees and toefl diplomas. Under the misikko come 2 small ones and another loooong one from amazon. I’m on Firefox, if that helps. Thankfully never saw the Walmart-from-hell thing.
Still giggling over the rice steam note… Though basmati smells awfully nice, I’ll give you that.
I made basmati last night. Usually it’s that or jasmine (which I prefer slightly, although I’m having a harder time finding it right now for some reason.) My kids think *all* rice is scented like that. Normal rice baffles them a bit.
I don’t mind the jump, as I find this blog can take a long time to load on my work computer….
I’m becoming intrigued with the “rice steam” note as it’s not in any of my perfumes, and I’ve heard it referred to a number of times (Kenzo Amour, am I remembering correctly?) I don’t think I want to be whacked in the nose with it, so skip CB Boiled rice, but what other perfumes does anyone recommend that makes good use of “rice steam”?
I know there’s at least a couple other things besides KenzoAmour that have rice steam in them, and right now my mind is blanking. Let me research and I’ll come back.
Dunno about the steam part, but the basmati note in OJ Champaca just knocks me out.
DingDingDingDing…and we have a winner! I’m getting out the Champaca now.
Thanks for OJ Champaca suggestion! It can go near the top of my endless “to buy” list!
Okay. Did you try the MetB “A Quiet Morning” at Art with Flowers? (Are you “my” Nancy? If not you’ll wonder what the hell I’m talking about.) At any rate that has a lovely, prominent rice steam note. Really, though, have you not tried Champaca? Please kick it to the top of your list. I’m trying not to rave so as to set you up for disappointment, but it is a long-time favorite and a scent I actually wear, of which there are very few.
Um, I think you’re not my Nancy. Insert blushing emoticon here. MetB is Miller et Bertaux.
I’m not your Nancy but I will put Champaca at the very near top of my list. Using evil reverse psychology, I haven’t ordered any samples from OJ for fear of falling in love with too many of them, and predicting a costly love affair, have postponed it. Until now.
I’m neutral on the jump, though if it shortens loading time, I suppose it’s fine.
I got the Walmart ad dead center for a while (I’m using my dear MacBook), and now it’s mostly gone-but I get a weird empty box where it was when the page first opens-though it quickly disappears. I do have the verrrry long ad to the left side.
At my work (shhh), the comments nest farther and farther to the left until they are cut off…but maybe that’s a good idea to shake me back to work.
I’ll have to retry the Gucci at the mall soon-it was kinda yucky at first sniff (I’m still stuck on the older odder Gucci Eau de Parfum), and have yet to try the Valentino.
I like the Gucci EDP! I’m not sure everyone did, but I thought it was great!
I’m still working on the comments/nesting issues.
I got the Wal-Mart ad this morning, which disappears if you just click comments, then read the post along with the comments which I usually do anyway. Target would never try such gruesome shenanigans.
Target wins me over every time.
im still getting a hidden valley ranch ad between the beauty ads, but walmart is apparently gone. i like the site without a jump. i like having the whole post in one spot. looking forward to trying valentino. i find the other worst offender as far as having several scents with very similar names is gucci. versace does it too sometimes.
I like it when they have unique names (like Gucci Dumptruck or Guccilious), it makes my search easier.
G-d. Now I want a bottle of Guccilicious.
I see the two big ads on the left. And I don’t mind clicking for the rest of the post.
I haven’t tried Valentino, but I have to say Flora smells strange to me and I do not mean that in a nice way. 🙂 I am going to try it one more time to see if that was real or just such a day for me (sometimes everything I try smells great, other days nothing works)…
I love your name. Hey, maybe it smells strange on everyone. 🙂 I don’t think I’ve seen a single review. As I said up there somewhere, it reminds me a bit of the Jo Malone Water Blossom thingy.
no ad problems on Mac and Safari – and would prefer life without jumping, thanks. on blogs, that is…it still drives me mad in newspapers and magazines!
I’d like to remain jump free. Still get the long ads; never had Walmart.
Those fumes sound a’ight for sure.
I’ve been having the two-ads-on-the-left issue in IE8 and Opera (in Firefox I have AdBlock Plus installed and apparently a filter keeps them blocked for me) consistently and I can’t get rid of them. Below those are a Misikko ad, a First in Fragrance ad, and an Amazon.com ad, if that helps further. I also had the Wal-Mart pop-up ad happen recently — I think it was two or three days ago — but it only happened the once. I also have a text-box style ad on the bottom right, below the links list, and a huge graphical ad at the very, very bottom of the page, below the blog graphics and the copyright notice, if that helps further. As to the “more” tag, I’m not the biggest fan in the world of it, as I don’t like clicking too much, but if Perfume Posse goes that route it won’t keep me from reading.
On a different note, thank you so much for the Omnia Profumo samples! They arrived on March 27th, the day before I was married, and the person who checked the mail that day misplaced them, so I only recently *finally* got my hands on them when they recently were rediscovered in a pile of mail. I can’t wait to try them out!
Have fun with the Omnias!
Hi March,
Re: Second, how would you all feel about the use of the “more†tag — But does that extra step annoy you? Please weigh in.
Yes, it does annoy me! Thanks for asking.
No Wal-mart ad for me on Firefox and Mac System X.
No jumps! And we’re working on an ad cure…
P.S. the Valentino sounds really good – the Gucci, meh. I hope it’s at least decent since they named it after moi. 😉
They did not *consult* you?!?! I thought they’d at least run the final three options by you to sample …. well, you might be disappointed, but maybe not. It reminds me a little of the Jo Malone Lotus Blossom/Water Lily one. Also, I wonder if something came from the same vat b/c they have similar tenacity. I’d do a light test spray first to make sure you don’t hate it.
Not a fan of the Jump, but if you must…I will still read you no matter what!
I can’t read your new site in IE6 at work, but it’s not your fault that they have not upgraded along with the rest of the world. It cuts off the left margin so the first few words in each line are obscured and there is a LOT of scrolling down before I get to any text. Ads are pretty random – I am viewing it in Gooogle Chrome right now and what I suspect is the WalMart ad is just a blank white box that keeps moving around – maybe my pop-up blocker is trying to kill it? I hope it succeeds. 😀
Dude! Tell them at work they definitely need to upgrade their browser so you can read your favorite perfume blog! 🙂 Okay, don’t tell them that. But it’s tempting, eh?
Don’t you wish we had some sort of little video game widget that we could use to shoot those roving popups? Wouldn’t that be fun?
I do not want the jump. I find them very annoying…and agree with the commenter regarding Now Smell This — I stopped reading it because it took so long to ‘jump’ and get back to the main page.
I really want to sniff the Valentino now – hopefully I’ll smell the rice.
Yes, I’m getting it too, although not consistently, and if I do the Francesca refresh it goes away.
I’m a fan of the jump, but I never found your page loading a problem. I’m still getting the takeover ad in Safari, and a loooong ad (also for Wal*Mart, or “the store that must be destroyed”). Screen shot will be mailed.
It manages to slither through even my Firefox adware defenses periodically, although “refresh” makes it disappear. Frustrating.
I think the overwhelming majority has said “no jumps” although I will do a count.
The Walmart ad is still popping up on my Safari browser, smack in the middle of your text. Can’t move the pop-up and can’t close it either. It finally shook loose this time when I jumped to the comments. My irritation at the Walmart minions who have pirated my computer screen has driven most thoughts of perfume from my brain. One more reason to never shop at Walmart again.
I’m so sorry. We thought we broke the imbedded code, but apparently not. I’m now resorting to prayer, since I’m useless in the techie department anyway.
Yay! Just downloaded a freeware program called Safari adblock and so far, so good–no Walmart ad!! But I like the idea of a sniper emoticon just in case the wretched thing comes back.
Forcing you all to upload some adware — just another excellent service provided gratis by the Posse! 😉
Yeah, I see (scroll, scroll, scroll) two long ads (scroll, scroll, scroll) on the left-hand banner. And I just upgraded the other day to Internet Explorer 8. Otherwise, I haven’t had any of the other Poltergeist issues that others have had.
I’m with Elle on the Valentino rice vapour…. oh yeah, sign me up for a squirt of that. Plus heliotrope? Plus violet leaf? You actually make it all sound damn good. Not that I’m going on a frantic quest to track down a tester, but it sounds really nice, like the kind of thing Kenzo would put out, and I do loves me some Kenzo fragrances.
I’m glad the Gucci didn’t strangle you with its aquatic tendrils — sounds like it could have gone that way for a minute there.
Forgot to mention, I don’t mind reading “more after the jump” either.
I was looking for you! Now I feel really gender-conscious. Joe, if you want to smell like a MAN who has had a lot of joy and laughter, but has also seen some tears … etc. Feel free to wear the Valentino. (Remember, I like men in Fracas and Carnal Flower. And rose.)
Yes, there was a moment there when I was dreading the onset of the aquatic tendrils, but they melted away into something completely tolerable and even moderately attractive.
I’m still getting the $^$#&!!! Walmart ad; I have to hit “refresh” twice to get rid of it, but the $%&^%&%$!!! thing is still on the side. I don’t mind if you have a jump.
Aigh!!! It’s so frustrating. Firefox seems to work better for ad supression, but even in my updated IE I have these two big empty boxes over there.
I’m using Firefox and I get it, but only maybe once in every ten or so visits.
I don’t like having to jump. I read three perfume blogs, none of which make me jump to the next page. The jump is the reason I don’t read Now Smell This regularly.
The Walmart ad appeared yesterday. I run Mozilla and use Trend Micro anti-virus software, but have been unable to stop that ad.
The “no jumps” win! Thanks for responding.
The jump is fine; as a newspaper person I’m used to in in print and find it useful in blogs. OK, so I just changed mine so it does the same thing, I’m in full bloom of jumping an article. The ad thing has cleaned up as well. Nicely done.
I wore the first “V.” It had something haunting in it, something I’d like to sniff again. But the drydown was white flowers or something equally forgettable. Ah, regrettable. I’d try this, though. I’m on the road to old-lady-ville, which, if you are lucky, you will also reach.
The original V is easy enough to find, I’ll scare some up.
Oh, March, I can’t believe I’m reading this! I am such a fan of Valentino that people who already understand that I can be very passionate about many things and take it all in stride pull out the smelling salts and start patting me gently in a soothing circular motion between my shoulder blades whenever his name is mentioned in my presence. In fact, the only thing I can remember from this year’s Oscars ceremony was that Valentino was present on the red carpet.
I have a pair of Valentino shoes that cost me half a month’s salary and are so incredibly beautiful that I cannot bring myself to wear them. I’m thinking of putting them on a Japanese-style altar where you change the flower arrangement according to the seasons — an Ikebana arrangement in a pair of Valentino pumps.
I rarely turn up my nose at Gucci, but Valentino is something else. I will be sniffing that one very soon and your description of it, not to mention the bottle, is perfectly consistent with my own experience of Valentino, which is that he works in mysterious and beautiful ways; it touches me somehow and I don’t fully understand why. That said, I have no idea how much control he actually exercises over his fragrances, but I have to believe that someone is paying attention to upholding is impeccable standards.
I love Yves Saint Laurent, too, but that’s a whole other story.
As for the format, I personally prefer the old way and don’t care for the intro with a break. But aren’t you a doll for asking 🙂
Everyone has made it pretty darn clear they DON’T want the jump, if I am scanning the comments correctly! Glad I asked. Funny what you think of to “help” people that they don’t actually want.
So. I am no longer mad at Valentino for Rock ‘n Rose, about which I was angry all out of proportion. It must be my age creeping in, and isn’t he allowed a little frivolity? Several people on the fragrance boards made V sound nice (there’s an absolu too, I think). I would worship a pair of his pumps if I owned them.
March, have you not tried the Valentino Absolu? I can help you out there, if you like: LMK.
How would you compare it to the original V? I hate to ask people to send me stuff… I’m going to go read some MUA reviews and get back to you, how’s that?
March, sorry to be so late getting back to you. No probs about sending you some V Absolu if you like, though by all means read reviews first. Didn’t get to try Valentino after all, btw.
The franchises (if indeed that’s what’s going on there) are never as good as the designer — God, remember Halston? — he probably has nothing to do with any of it. I just love him and forget myself at the mention of his name.
The pumps have 3-dimensional carved leather roses on the toes are are a beautiful rosey mauve leather. I just plotz 😉
No, not a fan of the jump — drives me especially crazy on Apartment Therapy. But for you guys, I will gladly jump.
Rice steam? The thought of rice steam blurs out all other thoughts for me. I’m now going to have to try this ASAP. I wonder how it would layer w/ an extra punch of rice from CB’s Boiled Rice. Maybe I’ll wear that when I go to sample this. The only Valentino I’ve loved was the *very* first one, which was named Valentino. Grrr. Had a fab hay note.
That Gucci bag is wonderfully cheerful and retro! Want! Maybe I’ll get it next inc. when I hope I have the wisdom to return w/ enough money to finance my various obsessions. Think I’ll pass on the scent, but I do agree that the bottle is lovely. Great lines.
As far as the site goes, I never did get the WalMart popup (knocking on various types of wood), but I do get the two long verticals. I usually am not a huge fan of extra steps, but if the “more” tag makes the page upload faster, then that’s a good thing.
Hay note? Did you say hay note? Giggling at what fools we are over a little hay and rice … then I should definitely try the first Valentino, eh? Man, I STILL haven’t ordered that boiled rice from CB. Since it’s going to be spinter forever (clearly) in DC, and since the tax stuff is over today, I think I’ll treat myself. Since I won’t be getting the purse. 😉