Update on the VI Peel – yikes!!!!!!!!!!!! I had the peeling I expected on Friday and Saturday, which was like a sunburn peel. Then Sunday and today is a whole different level of peeling on certain areas – around the mouth and the chin. Not sure if they are more sensitive or what, but it’s a little freaky – some bumps and scabbing. I’m still not going out yet. I went to the movies on Saturday, but after that – no way. My main irritation is I can’t work out. Once I start sweating, it irritates the skin with the salt from the sweat, plus just getting my heart rate up – it’s like little electrical jolts all over my face. So I feel like a slug and have been just ordering Sushi for delivery until this is over. What I really want is Gingersnaps or Snickerdoodles. That would make me feel better. Well, not better, but they sound good. I’m so hoping I can go out tomorrow or at least do a gentle yoga session at home, at a minimum.
So if someone tells you you will be back to normalish in 4 days or so, don’t believe them. You might, but I think it’s more likely that you’ll have some weird areas on your skin that didn’t like the peel as much or is peeling harder or something, and you may not want to be seen for a week or so.
March already reviewed Natori much more thoroughly, but I’m just doing a random dive into the sample drawer. Notes are aldehydes, rose, plum, ylang, peony, jasmine, patchouli, amber and musk. Like March, aldehydes are a no-show on me, which is good. This just isn’t that kind of scent. There’s an almost suede’ish smoothness to the musk in this. I don’t get this as an overly floral perfume at all, it’s got a more husky voice, but not slutty at all. It’s well done and certainly a scent that’s easy to wear. I’d definitely snag a bottle of it when it hits the discounters.
Can I just whine a little about The Garden Party solifores? There’s a Frangipane, Wisteria and Tuberose, though I only saw the tuberose at Harrod’s, not at Luckyscent where the other two are. $165 for 50 mls. Now, with today’s new, improved perfume pricing, that’s not wicked high, but it’s enough that you have to really think about it for a soliflore. The problem is, I really like these soliflores, but I just can’t pull the trigger on $150 for 50 mls.
Frangipane has notes of Spices, Calabrian bergamot, Ceylonese cinnamon, Indian jasmine absolute, osmanthus absolute, Venezuelan tolu balsam, white musk, oakmoss, East Indian patchouli. This thing is a really gorgeous jasmine/frangipane combo, just a little spicy and musky – jasmine is slightly indolic, but not so much that you recoil, and the other notes just balance it out to be this soft, feminine, womanly musky floral. It’s not the most fabulous thing I’ve ever smelled by a mile, but I really would like to wear it, but not at that price!!! And the tuberose. I smelled that briefly in London and was smitten, but, again, not for 150 plus. I think it was 165 pounds there for 50 mls. I keep hearing these things are way cheaper in Italy. Does anyone know if that’s true, and if so, how cheap? I’d spring 100 bucks for the tuberose, but I’d rather it be closer to the 50. They’re just not $150 worth of great. Do I sound bitter? I really hate it when I like something, don’t love it enough to pay through the nose for it, but I still want it anyway.
Am I wrong there? Do you have things like that in your head? Is this like my yearning for a sports car, but I can’t bring myself to spend that much money? I really want my kicks cheaper. Speaking of kicks, anyone want to split a bottle of Kilian Pure Oud – just need on taker? I don’t need the bottle or the pretty box, etc.
Harrods also has a Garden Party Iris. I didn’t spend that much time with any of them but on a cursory sniff i liked Wistaria best. I didn’t ask the price but it’s almost certainly more than I want to pay.
I tried the Garden Party scents and was not overly impressed, certainly not $150 worth… I’m in the same place about those as the Bond No. 9 Oud scent and the Kilian Pure Oud. At $630 (for 100ml) and $395 (for 50ml) respectively, I just can’t bring myself to pay that much per ml, even in a split. And I suppose they won’t be selling refills from Kilian for that particular scent, like they are for the others, since it seems to be such a limited production run. Feh.
I feel for you Patty with the peeling face. I really want to try the retinoid creams out there. Hopefully, the results will be well worth all the hassle and inconvience.
Anyways, I am new here to the perfume posse and this is my first comment. Glad I found you as I am really enjoying this site….
I’m up for a pure Oud split, I believe. Love that scent dearly and can’t justify the full bill. MJ
I had a sample of the Frangipane and I really liked it. Nice indolic kick in the top notes, mossy/musky/slightly spicy drydown. But you are right. Don’t love it enough to buy it. I sure wouldn’t turn down a bottle though.
Need to test Pure Oud. I think I have a sample lying around somewhere. But even if I don’t, I’m usually good for at least a small split of something like this. I’ll get back to ya!
Patty, as a gal with “mature” skin — oh, what a euphemism that is — I feel your pain — or rather, I felt your pain a couple of years ago when I did the same thing to my dearly beloved face. I wanted to scratch the whole thing right off the front half of my head!! The little electrical tingles plus the stinging. . . And it wasn’t cheap, AND it didn’t really do all that much for the torment it inflicted.
All of that by way of introduction to my HG of all Mature Skin Treatments. It’s Tazorac, it’s a retinoid, your family doctor prescribes it, it costs around $60 for a tube that lasts months, and it’s the only thing that has actually worked to make my skin better (and being a typical woman of a certain age, I have spent an embarrassing amount of money on empty promises over the years). My skin is better in every way: breakouts, fine lines, evenness of tone, pore size, clarity. I’m only ticked that nobody told me about this stuff before — especially not my dermatologist, who was only too happy to give me microdermabrasion at $100-something a pop, which only made my skin red for two days and peel for a week.
Yup. I’ve been using one form of Retin-A or another for years, and it’s the best thing you can do for your face.
Patty, I’m definately up for the split on the Pure Oud by Kilian, I love that scent and have been trying to figure out how to snag some! Let me know how we can work that out. Thanks.
Patty, I know exactly what you mean! I get that way all the time, esp with ‘luxury goods’. I don’t think much is worth the money they’re asking for these days…..maybe I am just getting crotchety in my old age but I dunno, when I was at Barneys a few days ago I was appalled at the prices for handbags! None of them were of exotics and there wasn’t anything particularly fantabulous in the construction – they were well-made but not more so than the average Coach bag – and they were snuggled FIRMLY in the four-figure range!
It just seems bizarre.
Went in on a split of Charmes et Feuillettes – at $175for 90ml it comes out to just a hair under $2/ml – I guess that is the new free. Considering how many scents I have that I don’t wear, a split seemed the only logical action – and it works out more reasonably in my head (funny, that. I mean, it’s still $1.95/ml – perhaps it feels less expensive because it’s not so many mls?)
xoxo >-)
Here in Italy The Party Flowers (all of them) are sold for 86 euros/50 ml (according to the google calculator, this should translate to roughly 123 US dollars). But I checked only in one on-line retailer: there might be also other prices around.
BTW, I don’t remember the party frangipani as a straightforward soliflore… I should smell it again: I think I though 1) how different from OG frangiapni, 2)Vintage feeling… 3) OH, my, this place is heaven: is that … ??
yes, I moved on quite quickly and didn’t smell it properly … 😉
I meant OJ, not OG… And I read my post twice!
Maybe it’s the confusing effect of “beyond love”…lovin’ it beyond words: the sample is draining very very fast.
yes, talking about soliflores…
When I’ll end my sample, if the love affair continues, I’m going to spring on this (also quite expensive – already saving the pennies) soliflore: I think the limit is just how much you value the fragrance :).
Now I’m really craving some of that tuberose you mentioned. I thought about the Frangipane, but didn’t know about the tuberose. I will be searching for some of that sucker now. Did you like the Wisteria?
When I got the Garden Party samples, they wafted such a powerful wave of powder I had to isolate them in a Ziploc bag… Which only ever happened to my Montale samples, for different olfactory reasons. So: distinctly underwhelmed. Not worth the bucks.