First! Five winners of the Dior Patchouli Imperial and Guerlain Shalimar Parfum Initial samples – Rappleyea, Holly F, bookhouseshell, Jennifer and lilybug. Click on the Contact us over there on the left, shoot me your name, address, remind me of what you’ve won. I’ll send you a quick confirmation back (I may be slow the next few days as I’m really buried) so you know I got it, and I’ll send it out to you!
Prada Candy, the name alone makes me almost queasy, despite the desperate crush I have on Pink Sugar (I can’t explain it, it just is). Musk, benzoin and caramel. Yeeeeeaaaachhhhhhhh! But not. I got a little sample in with something or the other, and I was prepared to give it a cursory sniff and move on. Kinda did, and then it lingered around like some cuddly pie. No, pie isn’t cuddly, but it should be. And then I kept going back for another sniff, then another spray after a couple of hours to get that cara-zoin hit that was making me all warm and giggly and sighing.
I really hate that. First Pink Sugar, then Fresh Sugar Lemon and now Prada Candy. I have no shame, really. But if anyone asks what I’m wearing, I’m just lying about it and telling them I’ve been baking.
Favorite new
thing this month – my clipless curling iron. I have really cute soft, loose waves that stay in my hair all day. Not an easy thing to make happen for someone with my thick, coarse, heavy, straight-as-a-board hair. Normally curls get pulled out in about an hour or two. I really hate taking pictures of myself, and this one is the best of a really bad lot – I was in a hurry! This isn’t the full glory of the curls. This is halfway through the day. I adore this darn hair tool, it is making me seriously curl happy.
Other favorite things – frolicking through the Ellis Faas makeup line. It’s at Sephora now, and while I’m not a huge fan of the pen thing, I love the makeup itself. Concealor and foundation are perfection, the eyeshadows go on and stay on, the lipstick colors are gorgeous, not too many, just solid. I’ll try and do a post on them in the next week or two. Completely smitten.
Anything favoritey for you this month or even over the last couple of months – makeup, accessory, tool, guilty pleasure?
You really look adorable, Patty, so I can understand your love of this new tool!
I was very happy to discover how much I liked Chanel 28 La Pausa last summer (thanks to Bear, who pointed out that it’s as much a vetiver as an iris). I had found all the modern Chanels too chilly or smooth, too perfect, but 28 is natural and refreshing.
In terms of other stuff, I enjoyed the Chanel fall LE nail polish Peridot, which is gold with green glints, like an iridescent beetle wing. It was great for summer toe nails, actually.
I love them curls, seriously. I’m always glad, though, that I have the hair I have. At over 50, it is still as thick and lush as it ever was, and it will probably stay that way until I die, which is how my grandmother’s hair was.
I’ve been playing with styling it now that it’s longer, doing pigtails for yoga class (this works so much better with sweatbands staying on), French braiding, regular braiding. Curls make it easier to do some up-dos so I’m not just pulling it back in a barette or ponytail when I’m not feeling it down.
Oh, Peridot sounds great!
Can’t believe how much I am enjoying using the Kat Von D eyeliner I bought at Sephora only because it was super-cheap.
Only black in color or different shades?
Guess it would have been too much to hope for the black to be on sale. I got a purple one, which turned out to be more subtle than expected. Liquid eyeliner has for me always been an accident in the making, but this one has worked well, and I can get to work without either being late or looking like Too Much.
My most recent guilty pleasure was a bottle of Fresh Brown Sugar. It just smells good. And is something my migraine-prone husband probably won’t object to – he really disliked the Duel I had on the other day, and it had been on for over 8 hours! And it’s tea, how can that be objectionable? Poor sensitive husband. And poor me too, since now I am so hesitant to wear scent around him. I really want to try the Prada Candy – have to get over to NM.
Oh, ;ove this one too, along with Sugar Lemon from Fresh!!!
Sadly Prada Candy just doesn’t work for me. I gave my sample to my niece though and she informed me if I want to buy her a bottle for Christmas that would be okay with her. LOL I get tripped up by fragrances with caramel in the notes. I LOVE the scent but with most of the frags I’ve tried it becomes nauseating on me.
I’m supposed to not be spending a lot right now because of the new house and actually I haven’t. My guilty pleasure has been inexpensive little treats like those M.Micallef 5ml bottles for sale on Ebay. I got a little bottle of Arabian Diamond for $3.55 with free shipping! And another 5ml of Night Aoud for $12.50, (Again with shipping free.) I endulged in a sale bottle of Calcutta from Liz Zorn and Tom got me thinking about Smell Bent and how I can’t afford that Amourage Opus II but for less than $10 I got a little bit of that old book smell in a travel size bottle of ONE. Then I felt guilty and fessed up to my husband that I spent money on perfume and he just asked if he could buy me Smell Bent scents instead of L’Artisan or SL for Christmas? Uhhh…no. But thanks Hon for letting me endulge a little bit.
Hah, tell him Smell Bent is for the stocking, while L’A aad SL are for under the tree!
I have this really over the top witches stocking that I hang out on Halloween, hoping my husband will stuff (he hasn’t yet), and I keep thinking Funeral Home from Demeter would be SO perfect to find in there!
Tammy, I love the idea of a Halloween stocking. Or maybe one for Mabon tough I think I just missed that.
My son has a friend who is very “Goth” and he wears Funeral Home by Demeter. I love this kid! He’s very sweet and creative for all his self imposed creepiness.
BTW Tammy, love the samples you sent! I’m wearing the Kenzo L’Elephant today and have added it to the fb list. Thank you so much!
If I were 30 years younger, I’d probably be a Goth. I just love those kids. I know nothing about the culture, but I have a soft spot in my heart for the young ones who aren’t afraid to show their style. Goth, emo, punk, God bless ’em all. It’s all I can do to keep my 47 year old arse out of the Steampunk clothes!
I got my stocking at Cracker Barrel. It’s all done up in tulle, feathers, satin and the odd rhinestone and plastic spider. It might offend a serious Wiccan, but it makes my tacky Southern self smile.
So glad you’re enjoying the samples! That Elephant like to killed me.
I hate having my budget limited by large purchases. I’ve slowed down a ton on personal spending on perfume since I’m inthe middle of renovation the downstairs bathroom, then the master bath gets it, which will be a lot more expensive. I didn’t think I’d spent that much on the downstairs bath, but I started tallying it up and quickly got to about 4k on just materials, had a sick headache, thanked my lucky stars that my youngest son is super handy and is doing all of the renovations for a reasonable rate and won’t make that “tallying it up” mistake again.
I had to chose between Prada Candy, Elie Saab, and Bottega Venetta for a FB. BV won. Hands down.
Who’s making you buy perfume? Those meanies.
Why do you like BV best?
After about an hour, Candy and Elie Saab smell indistinguishable from any of the hundred or so designer-branded flirty/candy/florals that seem to be emanating from every person who ever called themselves a celebrity. I can’t tell them apart, nor do I want to.
BV is very different to me. Floral at first,then lush leathery suede, but not masculine or crude. Yum.
I’m anxious to sniff the BV. So far, good reviews on it, and I seem to not have managed to get a drop!
The Prada’s really good, and I was not expecting to like it, either. I think it’s the benzoin that does it for me– very warm and woody-sweet, not gooey or tooth-ey. Definitely has the Prada woody base that floats in and out in a lovely way.
I wonder if the name and packaging are a trick to get fruity lovers to wear something that smells good. God knows, i’d rather smell this than most of the standard you-know-what!
Agree it has to be the benzoin that make it all work.
“But if anyone asks what I’m wearing, I’m just lying about it and telling them I’ve been baking.”
=))
You look GREAT, btw!
xo >-)
I just put on Centennial, and it is SO GOOD! Warm and peachy goodness, it just smells good-natured. And Calcutta is awesome, too.
oh, YAY! I’m so glad you like it! Calcutta is awesome as well – I love it, though it has a lemongrass note that sort of chaps my cheese….:-?
xo >-)
ps. DB, you might also love Cordovan Rose. My winter Rose. My summer Rose. Perfect for both extremes.
Musette, have you tried Quan Yin?
XO! BTw, I may be up your way early December!
Doesn’t matter what YOU think – I think you look great in that photo! ;)
Oh, thanks! It’s like hearing your recorded voice, you always think it sounds like some other, pitchier version of you.
I sniffed the Prada Candy on a magazine scent strip (Allure), expecting to hate it and be able to scoff at it. I didn’t, and so now I can’t. In fact, this may be worthy of a real-bottle sniff. And maybe a spritz. And then a decant…Sigh.
Maggiecat, would you like my sample of Serge’s Vitriol Carnation thingee?
Don’t you hate that? I saw the darn thing flying out of the store and laughed, then got curious about why. I get it.
I a going to have to Google this curling iron, as it sounds like we have the same sort of hair. Ye Olde Sock Bun trick works pretty good, too, though the curls don’t last the entire day. But if you’re ever stuck without power for days on end, it’s nice to have a no-tech option!
The Prada makes me fear I’d go around smelling like pralines, which is not a bad thing to smell of, per se, but I think I’d be craving them all day.
The good news, it doesn’t last all day. It fades in about 2-4 hours. You can still smell it, but it’s not all over your nose buds making you think about praline ice cream and such.
Sock Bun trick? I don’t even wanna know. I have my iron, I’m good. :)
I don’t think of Un Bois Vanille. It’s definitely vanilla’ish. I’d probably go more, just from memory, with the Mialle Note Vanillee maybe or the – oh, yeah, the old Indult Tihota, though probably not that strong. That must be it!
It’s not a masterpiece, just a great cuddly, gourmandish scent. I think Prada will sell the crap out of it, and it three months we’ll be smelling it everywhere and starting to hate it a bit.
I was disappointed by Prada Candy (my expectations were raised too high by the people who compared it to Un Bois Vanille) but after this positive review and the one on Bois de Jasmin, I guess I’ll have to schlep back to Neiman’s and try it again. I actually like the name, because I think it’s tongue-in-cheek. Prada has a reputation as a very intellectual brand (which I don’t agree with, because I loathe the founder, but I digress). I mean, look at the Prada Candy ad, with the hipster girl with the weird bangs. Does anything about that ad say “candy” to you?
Hi, Patty! Your hair is just lovely — what a cute pic! Also, don’t beat yourself up about the Prada Candy; I found it pretty sniffalicious too. We like what we like, I say, and that’s all that matters. BTW, in the last few months, I’ve really been coming around to the Dior New Look 1947. I get something vaguely coconutty (must be the tuberose) at some point and can’t stop huffing my arm. I’m also loving the Michael Storer Stephanie: It’s such a realistic gardenia that it very nearly makes me swoon. Thanks, M and M, for my samples of it!
so what is it about that Prada? I’m trying to figure it out because it’s so not me normally.
I love that New Look, so I completely understand that.
Haven’t heard of the STephani, is that new?
No, Stephanie has been out for a while. Michael Storer has 7 scents currently available (Monk is really nice, as is Stephanie; haven’t tried Winterstar or Djin; the other 3 don’t suit me very well). Sample set is $15, and the full size bottles (think they’re all 2 oz/60 ml) are in the $75-90 range. More info and ordering on www dot michaelstorer dot com.
Love the hair! Who made that curling iron? Think it would work on ultra fine/thin hair?
Sedu made it, I grabbed it on Folica.com. I think there’s another brand that’s not quite as pricey as the Sedu that people like as well.
I think it would work great on ultrafine hair1 Just make sure you use a hair heat protectant, don’t wrap the ends right on the iron, work in small sections. That’s the key for me, I do small sections, and it just builds volume like crazy and curls everywhere!!!
I really like Prada Candy too, just wish it wasn’t so fleeting on me. Maybe they’ll come out with a Prada Candy Extreme in a couple of months…
I do want the Extreme!!! They should make that pronto. I agree, I had to keep spritzing it every couple of hours. But my cats knocked my sample off somewhere, and now I can’t find it! I may have to get a bottle of this.
Love your hair in the photo, Patty!
Will have to look into Ellis Faas, but I have to admit I’m pretty sold on Make Up For Ever foundation and concealer. The concealer goes on smoothly and doesn’t gunk up under my eyes.
You’re super-kind, Francesca! I like MUFE too and the Le Metier, but the EF, especially the concealor, is really great. I think it fits my skin tone a little beter than anything else so far, though the others are close.
How does the EF concealer do under your eyes? This is really timely – I was just futzing with my under-eye concealer this morning. It looked fine in the “normal” mirror, but when I went to do my mascara in the magnified mirror, I could SEE the concealer sitting on my skin. Ucky.