Parfums DelRae Wit is a new launch for them in 2014, and it is the launch of my dreams and has me swooning. Any of you that have been around here for any time have to put up with my almost every year springtime ramble about my deep and abiding love of my daphne bushes (added a new one this year, so exciting!).
Those of you who haven’t suffered through it, you’ll need the brief’ish version. The rest of you can go check on your cherry preserves or update your LinkedIn or something and then come back.
Daphne is this weird springtime smell that is equal parts beauty and repulsion, and I never know what I’ll get when I walk by my daphne bush. I know the daphne is in bloom sometime in late April or May when I come out my front door in early morning or evening, assaulted by the most heavenly smell I know. Sweet and pungent, part peony and part sparkling butterflies and angels’ wings. Usually in the same day, I’ll go outside and think, what died?!?! There is a somewhat rotten element to the daphne undercutting and enhancing all that gorgeousness. You know what? I love both parts of it. It makes me giddy with the swings it takes in smell in minutes, hours. I don’t know why, I don’t really care. It never fails to make me laugh or wonder why in the hell perfumers do not use it more in perfume. More? Who am I kidding? How about ever? There was one daphne perfume for a while, and it’s discontinued and not findable. I assume it’s not an easy smell to get in a bottle (see link below to Mark’s review and brief story of how they got it in this bottle of Wit).
Yann Vasnier and the fine folks at Parfums DelRae have heard my prayers and sent me Wit. Capturing daphne smell in all its glory – equal parts gorgeous and slightly rotten hay. Notes of lemon, mandarin orange, angelica, laurel, jasmine, narcissus, mimosa, ylang-ylang, amber, vanilla and musk. I couldn’t be more thrilled. I figured when someone did daphne, they would get it all wrong, going for the pretty and forgetting that it’s so much darker and slightly sinister. Parfums DelRae didn’t pluck the obvious only, they layered this and captured so much of what I love about my daphnes – the plant that is the signature to my home. If you hate daphne, you will despise Wit. If you love daphne, get in line behind me buying up all the stock if this disappears! Mark at Colognoisseur has a great review and some background on how Wit was made and why it took four years. It’s a fascinating shortish article and reveals much about process and care in getting something right.
What does the Menopause Sucks mean besides the obvious? Weeeeell. I’ve been perimenopausal, almost sliding over into menopausal, back into peri since 2008 (peri longer than that, but the period displacement for almost 9 months started in 2008.) That is six loooong years of my body being a hateful little bitch – my measurements now resemble a rectangle instead of an hourglass. Up until now, I’ve just accepted what everyone has told me about menopause – you’ll gain weight, you won’t lose it, your body will betray you like that inappropriate boy and your best friend in high school. While it is true everyone should weigh what you want to weigh forever, minus 15 pounds, going into perimenopause, for those of us that weren’t listening to that advice or quit smoking around the same time perimenopause hit, I’ve decided to challenge that thinking and not go gently into that dark, big bellied night and see if it is possible to blast off menopause weight and get this cranky body bitch back into line.
Check the new category starting this weekend to see my journey. I’m starting a 30-day cleanse this week to get things started late this week. Anita may chime in too with how menopause is going for her. Any other menopausal authors on the blog are welcome to post there as well. If you have a menopause story, feel free to send it on, and I’ll share it. We aren’t in this alone. It sucks like my mom’s old Hoover, but I am refusing to believe I have to accept the rather unwelcome changes to my body as a permanent condition.
So this week, I’m giving away four samples of Parfums DelRae Wit to four commenters drawn at random. Have you ever smelled daphne, and did you love it or hate it? Are you in menopause and have triumphed over it or fighting it yet? If you are a long way away, are you dreading it or not?
I have never smelled daphne, that I know of, but you certainly make me want to! Would it grow in North Texas, I wonder?
I’m only 31, so I’m a ways from menopause yet, but this last year my body has decided to just bleed whenever it wants to, regardless of where I am in my birth control cycle. It’s been great for my white sheets and my love life, I can assure you! 😉 It’s hard being a woman.
In 2004 we moved into a beautiful house in the PNW that was built in 1928. The greatest and most unexpected thrill was what lay dormant in the yard and garden. Giant almost comical purple hydrangeas, fat peonies and more. In the first spring I found a little trail of naturalized lilies of the valley creeping all around the foundation of the house, but it was earlier, in late January that I discovered the Daphne odora. Wow! An enormous shrub right outside the front door with a lemony, luscious gardenia-tuberose-jasmine-like scent unlike anything I’ve ever smelled before. I would come around the other side of the house and a breeze would bring a little gift of it my way, and the flowers last for months! I’d never been aware of Daphnes, and while I like all of them, the D. odora has that special lemony tart sweetness. I have been surprised at how little known this shrub is and I also wondered why no one ever seemed to have created a perfume from it. It seems more complex than most white flower scents, brighter and more piquant. I don’t really get the “rotten” scent but I definitely get that from narcissus and hyacinths, tuberose, even lilies. I’d be thrilled to receive a Wit perfume sample!
As to the M word. I’m there too, and where did my small waist and flat tummy go. It’s not just the weight, darn it. I racewalk. I feel like I could walk great distances. I highly recommend drinking kombucha. It’s become my secret treat. A meal in itself, very satisfying, and somehow seems to suppress my appetite. Whatever works.
Oh I would love to try Wit. I once climbed out at night and on the way home was gobsmacked by the scent of daphne. Returning, I placed the sprigs near my bed and fell into the most exquisite sleep until morning when the powerful fragrance filling the rooms betrayed my transgression.
I’ve never smelled daphne but based on your description it sounds like a perfume similar to magnolia (not in scent, but the combo of floral and rot). I like magnolia so I’d love the chance to try this. Thanks for the opportunity 🙂
i love daphne!!i love the myth of the plant too,it is a great story.
Well, it looks like I will be facing menopause sooner rather than later…surgically induced by the removal of my last ovary due to fibroid tumor. (Im hoping I will have your hormonal experience, Christine B.) I’m 47 and I’ve lost my waist and it takes me a lot longer to focus and concentrate. I’m mulling over my options, such as taking depo shots until my “real” menopause kicks in. (the doctor says this would inhibit further fibroid growth). Any thoughts on these depo shot treatments, anyone? Either way, I am due for the Pause. As for Daphne, I don’t think I’ve seen or smelt it. Love to try it since I’ve heard great things about Delrae. I’m ordering a bunch of perfume samples to get me through this rough patch/recovery!
I’m for them!! Huge improvement, no side effects for me, and I bypassed all the hassles, with the exception of a bit of hot flashing.
I adore daphne. The most wonderful smelling one in my view is Daphne bholua Jacqueline Postill, which here in the UK was flowering its heart out for weeks in the late winter and spring. As for menopause, a hysterectomy and removal of ovaries necessitated by an ovarian tumour (fine now) meant quite an abrupt menopause (I was 50 so it would have happened soon anyway). I didn’t really have any symptons but perversely, felt a little sad that I didn’t have the chance to go through the whole thing normally. There’s no pleasing some people!
regarding menopause, i highly recommend you try acupuncture and herbs for the symptoms. my acupuncturist has helped me get across the bridge from perimenopause to menopause with very little trouble – a few hot flashes, but nothing big. thank goodness. and now that i’m on the other side, i love it! no more PMS or other horrible mood swings. and no more bleeding. of course, i also told my body that it was just fine to stop bleeding, that i welcomed it, and was just fine with the changes. i have found the whole transition to be a time of blossoming, personality-wise and spiritually. it’s nothing to dread, it is a time of freedom. i guess i should start writing about it, because i see so many people approaching it with trepidation.
I have never smelled daphne. I’m not in menopause yet, but I’ll be turning 50 in July, so I guess it’s right around the corner! I wouldn’t say I’m dreading it, but the thought of it does make me a bit nervous. I do know, however, that I will be THRILLED to never have a period again! Thanks for the giveaway!
I would love to try this if I am not too late! I am dreading menopause, but I’d love to hear if the cleanse helps at all for you!
I’d love to try this if I’m not too late! It sounds like something I would love. As for the menopause, it sounds kind of scary and it shouldn’t be long before I’m there!
I am 48 and am suffering big time from peri for years now. Mood swings, irritability, insomnia, intense anxiety, you name it. And this is WITh the birth control pills my kind doctor lets me keep taking, I shudder to think how much worse I would feel and look without it. I don’t know how I am going to make it through another 10-15 years of this, goimg to see a naturopathic dr for help next week. As for daphne, never smelled it. Can’t wear half my perfumes anyway due to the hormonal changes that make me feel slightly nauseated all the time.
I’m peri, the last 3-4 years, this did not improve my migraine occurence, just made me fatter ( and I hate myself for that)
never smelled daphne but would like to try Wit
and thanks, Patty for bringing this up- funny posts and learning what awaits me…
I’ve never smelled daphne, but the notes of Wit sound wonderful in themselves. I’d like to find some daphne around here–she turned into a laurel, after all. Six months ago my doctor said I wasn’t yet perimenopausal, but for the last two months I’ve had hot flashes during my periods, which feels like being punished for the same thing twice.
Another peri-girl here. Started noticing fatigue, dry skin and that weird thickening around the middle a couple of years ago, so I went to a women’s wellness center, and got hooked up with a great doc (who actually listened to me when I described my symptoms). I’ve been on BHRT ever since, been eating well and exercising, and feel pretty damn fine. Here’s hoping I can keep it up!
Haven’t tried Wit, but I’m a huge fan of Bois de Paradis (shout out to Sharon C.!), and also really, really like Amoureuse.
BTW, for those of you with the chronic night sweats who have spent years having a nightly “battle of the bed coverings”, comes Ta Dah! Something we came across in Norway. It is heaven. If you have a king or a queen bed, you put a fitted sheet on the bottom and two twin sheets on the top, then two twin duvets with whatever weight blanket (or not) you prefer. Each person gets their own covers! No more fighting for warmth or coolness. It probably saved the life of a reasonably good husband, lol.
I’ll have to remember that. I am always warmer at night than The CEO.
Almost 47 here and PMS is like mini-menopause some months, complete with mood swings, freakish appetite and some nocturnal heat waves. I have to watch what I eat the rest of the month to make up for it, but that’s not easy with trying to get our house show-worthy to put on the market for the big move to Arkansas and keep 10 and 12 year old boys from wrecking the effort. Nothing sounds so good as white cheddar Cheetos when your kids get on your last nerve. I have never smelled daphne, but it sounds really interesting.
With the help of a very cool Gyno, I sneaked past menopause by taking the depo shot until blood tests showed I was past the worst. And only my usual goofy mood swings. I didn’t kill anyone. Yet. Fat runs rampant on my body. And I just love waking up to an ugly long black hair which appeared on my chin overnight. I don’t know whether to pluck it or curl it. Wit sounds really interesting as it falls into my odd and unusual niche.
Where do those freaking hairs come from? The last time I tried to grow out my bangs, my hair certainly didn’t grow an inch overnight.
The chin hair makes me crazy. I started keeping tweezers in my purse.
I’m just waiting for the meno to hit… 46. No sign yet (I started my period at 11… the only times I’ve missed a period was when I was pregnant and a few months after having a baby). BUT. It’s coming. I know it is.
Been fat since first baby, and need to address that. Come on, the only time I have boobs is when I’m fat. But healthy, I’m working on that.
As for Daphne – I got a sample of Wit and needed a decant. I may need a bottle. It is CHARMING. And delightful.
Also: smelled daphne recently and it really is truly lovely.
I love daphne, and I would love to be entered. You have made this sound like an absolute must have. Maybe hiring a trainer once in a while would be worth it to help keep your muscle tone up. It’s very hard to maintain as we age (sarcopenia being the official term) but it can be fought!
Being right in the middle of menopause, I’ve discovered some things that might help. It pains me to say that some fragrances aggravate my hot flashes. Anything with soy, (a lot of the natural oil fragrances seem to contain soy, as well as alot of creams) cause problems. Spicy food is a no- go too. Exercise is essential. This is pretty random, but I’ve found Vitamin C at night is a big help. Google it- it seems to help our cardiovascular system and that is definitely related to hot flashes. On the plus side, I find that not having PMS, I don’t crave sweets as much as I used to. I’d rather have something savory. As for scents, I crave scents now so much! Probably more than food. I guess it’s a comfort thing. I am really looking forward to trying Wit. Thanks, and hang in there.
I’m in my mid-30s, so no meno issues yet. My mom had a hysterectomy several years ago because she started getting periods that lasted for weeks as she went into menopause, so I can only hope it goes better for me.
I’ve never smelled daphne. I don’t know if it grows here in Texas. I had to look it up to see what it looks like. It sounds like it might be up my alley, so Wit is going on my try list. The only other DelRae I’ve tried is Amoreuse, which was gorgeous.
I’ve never smelled Daphne before, but it sounds stunning. I’d love to give it a shot.
Also, I am a ways off from menopause, but since everyone here seems pretty open, I will say that I have the birth control Implanon and that it has been a complete nightmare for me. Using it is in some ways similar, and in other ways very different from menopause. I am on my period ALL of the time. It’s almost a reverse cycle where I am on my period for 10-12 days and then off for three. And they are heavy and there is lots of cramping. And when I’m off my period, I’m PMSing harder than I ever did before I got this horrible thing. And it’s PMS FROM HELL. I’m like a crazy psycho, crying one minute about a cute dog on a commercial on TV and then wanting to scream my head off at some poor old lady at the grocery store who’s a little slow at pushing her cart. Absolutely bananas. Although my boobs are definitely bigger, which is cool, but they’re also sore and swollen, so that’s horrible. I need to get it taken out but I’m in a bind, as I will no longer be insured in about two weeks, and the implanon is already paid for and will last for another year and a half. But if I get it taken out, I will have to go back on some other form of birth control, and pay the monthly full cost of product (which is about 100-150/month) which I just can’t afford. I’m graduating with my Masters and no full-time job offers yet, so…I’m pretty much stuck with it. Ugh, thanks for a space to rant about some rough lady business!
Never smelled Daphne, so of course, I would love to try the perfume.
I’m not there yet, but am more scared of abrupt menopause that comes with surgery ( my family has a genetic disposition to getting ovarian cancer) . Maybe it’s better to have a running start? I don’t know.
I must say, reading all of these (often hilarious) comments about The Pause has made it somehow more bearable – well at least until the next time I want to attack someone with a machete in Thriftway. I was in peri for ever it seemed (I’m now 56) and have been running down the home straight for a whole year with no period. The worst part of peri for me was anxiety which seems to be more manageable now. Must be the gin. I’ve taken to wearing loose-fitting tunic tops because they hide the multitude of sins that suddenly sprang into being, when I went from 110 pounds on a Monday to 122 pounds by Tuesday. Where did it come from?? And why wont it go away as easily?? This might not sound like a lot, but when you’ve been used to being flat stomached, this moveable roll of flesh is a shocker. I was actually quite happy to realize I had gone up a whole bra size until my friend gloomily intoned “back fat.” Sure enough, I have it.
And what’s with the spots? If I’m going to be 16 again, at least give me back that body! I’m single handedly keeping Clearasil in business. As far as hot flashes are concerned, I haven’t had any for a month and am hoping they’re gone. More so is my extremely long suffering husband who was often jolted awake in the dead of night by me flinging off the quilt and gasping for air. We got round that particular problem by buying 2 smaller quilts so he wasn’t left naked and shivering in the middle of winter (I’d made him agree to turn off the heat in the bedroom). The same friend – why is she even in my life, I’m starting to wonder as she’s positively The Voice of Doom – has warned me that they will probably return when I’m least expecting it so I have that to add to the anxiety.
Insomnia rules – the only good thing about that is that I read virtually every perfume blog out there. Irritability is the bane of my existence although – I’ve always had mood swings but I’ve never felt like I’m coming unhinged before. I find myself laughing maniacally and sobbing uncontrollably – all it takes is for the cat to hack up a hairball and I’m off. (Mind you – he does seem to deliberately do it on the carpet and not the wood floor mere inches away). I’ve found watching things like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones with all of that biting, hacking and stabbing is marvelous therapy…
I got so carried away on my meno-rant that I forgot to mention Daphne. How I love it. I was a the nursery a month or so ago and just stood breathing in the gorgeous scent from their group of Daphne bushes, thinking : “Now *this* would be FAB in a perfume.” I’d love to try Wit.
OMG, I am laughing with you and at you, too! I so enjoyed your replies above!
And if you don’t already know about it, ditch the Clearasil and try Neutrogena Acne Stress Control 3-in-1 Hydrating Acne Treatment. (Amazon is your best bet) And horde it, because apparently they’ve ruined the original formula with “improvements”. Also, Neutrogena Pore Refining Cleanser. And finally, Retinol, though you can’t use them at once. I use the Neutro during the day and the Retinol at night.
Our dear Lisa here sent me a fancy light tool that helped, too, but my doctor said it might be making my thyroid issues worse, so he suggested I stop using it. (May his cats hack hairballs on his carpets)
And tell your husband he has gotten off lucky. I had to sleep with the window open all winter and we got down to 20 below this year.
Tammy girl, I’m so sad to hear that you had to stop using that light wand! Curses, indeed, on your doctor, the oh-so-sensible guy. Hey, maybe you can pass the torch on to SallyM! 🙂
Absolutely, I was hoping she’d be interested when I mentioned it!
Thank you so much for the recommendations! I’m off to Rite Aid on the morrow’
Light wand???? What is it?
ROFL on your wonderful post! Just wanted to offer that when I started breaking out in my 40s, I went to the dermatologist and discovered it was not acne at all, but rosacea, and that all the harsh cleaners, Proactiv and scrubbing were just making it worse. So I would get a dr’s opinion, if you haven’t already.
Do you use a Clairsonic? They are amazing for just about every skin condition, and quite gentle. I also religiously change my pillowcase about every 2-3 days, and am careful not to get any hair products on my skin.
Tammy, how I do envy you being able to use a retinol. Good for both acne and wrinkles…does it get better than that?! Good luck, ladies!!!
I am not looking forward to menopause at all, I saw the hell my Mum went through with the hot flashes and emotional outbursts. I’m 42, and 2 years ago I found a sympathetic male doctor (Yup!) who will let me stay on the Contraceptive Pill until the pause is over. I could hug the man!
My Daphnes finally flowered this year (well the two in pots did, the one I planted in the shrub border is still in a sulk) – I overwintered the pots in the greenhouse and brought them out after the last frost. In Scotland of all places. The smell was just so beautiful, it was worth the three year wait. Wit sounds like a delicious year-round Daphne fix, so sign me up for the draw please 🙂
Big hugs to everyone who’s suffering from evil hormone afflictions of all kinds.
For Kizzerrs, glad I’m not the only one on the BC therapy. Here’s to its success! ????????????
Hello Patty, I am a great lover of daphne and have often wondered why it isn’t a staple in perfume as are jasmine, tuberose, so many other complex flower fragrances. Back in the 1990’s a Northern California group Olivina made a lovely fragrance “Cielo” that featured daphne with fig, honeysuckle, grapeleaf and honey but it is discontinued. I would love to try Wit. Re. menopause — in my experience there IS light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s a good light. (Long tunnel for some of us.) My advice is to start eating lots of green vegetables (they fill you up and help you burn fat) and take up some type of weight bearing exercise. Resistance bands and weight lifting at the gym is not so hip or glamorous, but it doesn’t cost much and the gym saved my life.
I don´t think I have ever smelled daphne, but I am really fond of the myth. And the name wit is great for a perfume, thank you for the draw, Patty!
As for manopause, I had my kids late, so I will be hitting it just as they enter their teens, which sounds like A LOT of hormone upheaval in a single household, lol!
I’ve been about 15 lbs. overweight since my second pregnancy (age 38, daughter is 15 now ) so no difference there. Always have had sleep issues, so no difference there. Relations with husband still great (though much less frequent) hopefully not TMI. Migraines have almost disappeared, just plain old headaches, so that’s a plus.
No hormone therapy, no drugs, no great bleeding, and no surgery. Just hot flashes and night sweats sometimes.
What I can’t stand is my inability to multitask and focus like I used too! If it’s not written down I forget it. Sometimes if it is written down I get too overwhelmed and can’t concentrate! Joke to my teens that I need assistance with activities of daily living from them!
Have no ideawhat daphne smells like but would like to try it!
I’m 42, staring up that menopause hill, and wondering how it’s going to go for me. I tell myself the universe owes me one because of the bad post-partum I went through after each child, so I deserve to do menopause the way my paternal grandmother did ie. “One month I got my period, and the next, I just didn’t. That was it.” My own mom had a much harder time of it, but physically I’ve always been more like my dad’s side, so here’s hoping.
Negotiating with the universe works, right?
As far as daphne goes, I live too far north to have smelled it, but color me intrigued.
Hi Patty,I will defintely try the Wit perfume only to know what Daphne smells like!
Menopauze is a rollercoaster, I often thought why didn’t anyone warn me?
I ve been to doctor’s offices because I felt tired, itchy, low, couldn’t focus (never had a problem like that before)
My period got strange , no bleeding at all or bleeding pieces of liver for days on end (sorry if this gets too explicit)
I was shaking because I felt cold or sweated like a horse, all very unexplicable , untill someone thought of drawing some blood to check my estrogen-levels.
Luckily the periods have completly stopped now but the symtoms (there ‘s a long list of related symptoms) keep on coming. Muscle soars, mood swings, waking up in the middle of the night for no reason at all.
Now for the good part , my mother had the same episode of complaints for 5 years but after that she felt beter then before!
Painted the whole house when she was 80 (many many moons after menopause set in)
There is some weight gain but you know what? Flesh is feminine and is very attractive to most men. I don’t mean you have to gain 20 or 30 kg’s persé but hey is it all that important?
We are still healthy, smart,experienced, witty and veeeery attractive, aren’t we?
XXX
I’m not familiar with Daphne but I like Parfums Delrae! I am looking forward to reading your menopause success story. Good luck!
For me too this has been long and drawn out. At this point I’m not even sure there is another side but will take the word of others there is.
Daphne isn’t seen much around here. When I have more time I really need to look it up to just see what it looks like and then if I can get a plant. Sounds a bit weird with smells fabulous, oh wait, no it stinks all in the same day.
Not sure I have ever smelled daphne plants. As for menopause, I had surgically induced menopause 5 years ago to remove cancer and I feel so much better since. Having less of a waist doesn’t bother me too much as compared to cramps, hemorrhaging and only having 4 days a month without bleeding
Do not have any experience with one or the other. But from the description of it, I agree with you: menopause does suck!
I’d like to smell daphne in a perfume though.
Used to have a daphne bush near my old place. No rot though. Should have more daphne perfumes out there.
On the far side of menopause for the past 10 years now, but I have always wondered why no one tells us that the hot flashes don’t stop at some point. Granted, I have fewer of them than I did 10 years ago, but they still occur. I was always pretty good mood-wise through menopause, thankfully, and was relieved to be done with cramps and mess and extra laundry. I did put on weight but got it under control and now I focus on staying strong and flexible. At age 80, my mom began to go to a podiatrist to have her toenails cut because she could no longer reach her own feet and I am determined not to let that happen to me.
I have never smelled daphne but it sounds really interesting. I will have to Google it and see what the plant looks like.
Not smelt a DelRae yet, but would like to.
I don’t have any memory of smelling daphne.
I would love to smell Wit. I don’t think I’ve ever smelled daphne, but I wonder if its similar to viburnum? I have a viburnum bush by my front porch that blooms in early spring and smells wonderful but sometimes has an undertone of rotten. As for menopause, I just turned 51 and am starting up with the heat flashes, extremely heavy and unpredictable periods, crankiness, etc. Not fun! I feel your pain.
I love daphne and am excited to see it represented in a perfume!
I would love to try Wit. I never have smelled Daphne as of yet. Menopause sucks!5
I’m in peri and the worst is the night waking and the brain farts. My once photographic memory is in a shambles. On the good side, I don’t remember grudges or bad feelings and I live in the moment much more. Would love to try Daphne! Hopefully, I’ll remember to check back. Lol!
I’ve never smelled daphne and I would love to smell Wit! Ah, menopause: I had worst case scenario endometriosis and had a complete hysterectomy at age 28.I quit smoking about the same time and gained weight that I’ve never lost. I was put on Premarin and told I would be on it until my 50s. At 48 I stopped taking it despite my doctor warning me of negative symptoms. I had about a month of hot flashes, no problem. I figured I’d skipped menopause, then I turned 53 and everything went haywire, blech, but I’m now 55 and it’s all settled down pretty much. Now, how about a comparison of perception:anyone else disgusted by the commercial for Osphena, for treatment of painful intercourse after menopause? Men get the Viagra ads showing them taking charge of their life and we get Osphena with (gorgeous, yes) gray haired models writhing around in bed, as if that’s all we’re good for. Maybe I’m overly sensitive.
I know! I so agree about those bloody ads for Osphena. We see men climbing Mt Fuji, diving the Great Barrier Reef and reinventing the wheel because of the little blue pill and we women cant even get out of the bedroom.
Yes, please add me to the draw! I would love to try Wit. I’ve been peri for awhile and now I think I’m actually getting ‘there.’ (No periods for 3 months – sorry if TMI.) The emotional part is by far the worst part for me (and my long-suffering husband). It’s also a reminder of my age, etc. It’s certainly a challenge to grow older gracefully… I do hope that better days are a-coming as Kismet429 says above. Yoga seems to help, as does hanging with friends and looking for joy in little things.
Love daphne, I think all the more so since it’s lovely fragrance is so unexpected when it blooms in February. It can stop you in your tracks,
On the larger topic, yes indeedy, menopause rules and I actually like being a middle-aged lady. (Cue Maurice Chevalier singing “I’m Glad I’m Not Young Anymore” from “Gigi,” which basically says it all.) Hang in there y’all–better days are coming.
KMc
This is definitely something I would love to sample. I’m talking about Wit – not menopause 😉 I’m 58 and well past menopause. But good news ladies – not everyone goes through hot flashes! I didn’t. I did see the weight show up though, so I joined a spinning class and lost the weight, tush and thunder thighs fairly quickly. There’s hope!
Oh, Yay, something to look forward to. I’m just getting through with the “last call” years. Both my grandmothers had a baby when they were 42, and my mom considered it. I’ve got teens in college & high school, just finished grad school last year, doing a post-doc (another phrase for getting bitch slapped by science on a far too regular basis) and still occasionally query my cancer-ridden, frickin’ miracle he’s alive BF if he is “really, really, really” sure he doesn’t want to have a baby. & there’s more, huh? More crazy, coming right up? Dang, sign me up for the draw. Thank goddess we have little plant friends in a bottle to create our own olfactory reality!
I don’t think I’ve smelled daphne but the way you described it I wondered if it smelled like one of my favorites…viburnum. I looked on-line and some say daphne smells similar to Korean spice viburnum. If so I am pretty sure I would love it.
sounds interesting.. put me in the draw.
I have got to get a larger sample of Wit. I had a little sample from LS which was nice, but didn’t get any of the “rot” smell. I’ll have to try to spray it. I think I’m through menopause (2 years), and not a hot flash. At least…yet. My mother, who is in her 70s says she still gets hot flashes! Yikes! That’s pretty scary. I’m a firm believer in diet and nutrition. I won’t lie to you: it doesn’t make all your health issues go away (how I wish it did!), but makes them bearable. I also take a good multivitamin every day and think it helps (one a day menopause). Hang it there, Patty! I was anxious and couldn’t sleep well for about five years before it ended, but now I can sleep again! Phew!
I think I’m near peri or maybe already in it, I’m not sure. Nevertheless, I’m planning my first baby right now. I have no idea where I’m going to get all this money for that egg lol (never said to anybody I was’n crazy). And I’d love to smell Wit! (never smelled daphne either 😉 )
At 10 years into menopause (peri being a distant irritable memory), I keep thinking I’m done. Then comes the occasional hot flash or night sweat as a sweet reminder that I will probably never be done. I miss my old metabolism, my shape and my hair thickness and texture. I’m thrilled to be done with my period and antidepressants smoothed out the mood swings. My life is different but still fun & happy. I love the freedom as an older woman to say what I think and mercilessly tease the younger generations.
I agree that Daphne smells delicious.
Another peri sufferer checking in. The best part is the doctors just look at me and say gee, it sounds like your miserable, there’s nothing I can do. Yeah, thanks. I am having the weight struggles and my ovaries are not my friends. Mittelschmerz is awful. I not only get cramps when I have my period, now I’m just as miserable when I ovulate. I was moody before so now that’s worse too. I was like this as a teenager and it’s all the same except the weight issues. I could drop weight much easier then. I’m starting a major diet and exercise overhaul so I’m curious to hear about your experience. Misery loves company.
I love the smell of daphne.
Me, I love menopause. Migraines only every few months instead of every second week. Hot flushes? No problem, they’re nothing, NOTHING, compared to the cramps I had, the ones that had me on my knees in front of the toilet bowl, in a cold sweat and close to fainting from the pain. Sleeping problems? Can be fixed with a month’s worth or so of pills (extract of black cohosh) in my case. No more PMS mood swings. And my body? Was fat. Is fat. So what? For me, it’s a whole new life – I’m in a state of reasonable calm, sex is definitely not foremost on my list of priorities, my brain is working just fine, nobody tries to chat me up on my way home anymore. So I can learn tons of new things, have tons of new adventures without all those pesky distractions and without pain. Yay! I mean: YAY!!!!!
And yes, daphne smells lovely….
<3
It’s bad enough that women have a use-by date, without being constantly reminded of it…
Maybe smelling like beautiful daphne will help. I have never got the rotten undertones, just the fresh lemony sweetness. Pity it will not grow here.
I love, love, love daphne!!
I actually remember the first time that I smelled it–I walked through a gate, into a yard, and the scent just intoxicated me.
Here, it blooms quite early, in January and February. It is such a happy lovely fragrance.
I would love to try Wit.
Thanks for the drawing.
My menopause symptoms have been mild. I have taken gabapentin for neuropathy since I was 48 (nine years ago), and my doctor thinks that it might have eased my symptoms. But, there is no medical proof of that. I take a very small dosage
(200 mg/day).
A friend of mine who passed away just shy of five years ago was an avid gardener, and she had a Daphne bush. I remember even now how entranced I was by the smell…and yes, peri for me, too (although it’s going to be official, full-on menopause in a few months, when I hit that magic one-year mark…have been diverting hot flashes with Estroven and Evening Primrose Oil). But I’d LOVE to smell this one! Merci!
I’ve never smelled daphne, but I’d love to try a sample of Wit. And as someone already said, I’m always up for smelling a new flower (or anything for that matter). I’m no where near menopause, but I can’t say I’m looking forward to it. My uterus already hates me…
I love daphne. I’ve never noticed the rotting part to it, only the part that smells like heaven, but maybe that’s because I used to pass the flowers on my way to and from work, so morning and evenings only. It was beautiful enough to stop me in my tracks every time. Wit is definitely the closest perfume I’ve found to the smell of the actual flower.
Can’t say anything about menopause other than that I am not looking forward to it after seeing what others have gone through!
As for menopause, I have only this to say about that: It sucks. The only thing that is good about it is not having the mess and cramps of having a period. Beyond that, there is nothing positive. I’ve been menopausal for 17 years and I still have hot flashes, night sweats, etc. The weight gain is ridiculous and trying to lose it is like trying to clean the Augean stables-herculean efforts are required. Oh and did I say that even that brings little if no results.. Having no waist is wonderful for buying clothes, I might add. Nothing looks good when one has no waist and a rear end the size of the Golden Gate Bridge. Now that I have that off my chest, I have never smelled daphne, but I certainly would like to.
P.S. Does it get rid of menopausal acne? I can see you didn’t know about that lovely problem.
I’ve never smelled daphne, but I’m always excited to smell a new flower. I’ve heard really good things about Wit in particular.
Menopause is pretty scary. Somehow I don’t think I’ll cope with it well – I’m pretty moody as it is.
I would love to smell Wit. I’m not familiar with daphne but love other scents that have that attraction/repulsion quality.
Re menopause, I never had any trouble with it and am enjoying the post-M years so much that a little belly fat feels like the least of my worries, but I have to admit that if I could blast it off my waistline, I would. All I can say so far is that 30 minutes of hard work-out four times a week won’t do it, and I don’t have time for more.
I’ve crossed over the menopause bridge and made it to the other side. There are just a few battle scars – changing body shape and a newly-gained tendency to retreat into anxiety – but overall life is much the same as before. I’m waiting to be hit with the wise, calm and serene wand in preference to the cranky old lady wand, but I’ll just wait and see on that one.
Daphne …. can’t say that I’m familiar with this flower, but I’d love to try a perfume built around it. It may even turn out to be my new and long-sought-after signature scent.
Wit sounds right up my alley! Can’t wait to smell it! As for the meni-dilemma, I’ve been told that the little internal bc device I change every 5 years will allow me to come out the other side unscathed… We shall see… Sorry for the TMI but I’m holding to that theory with every fibre of my being!!
Aaah it will get better! There’s a reason the goddess gave us pause…to get over all that strum and drang, wanting to eff every man in sight, all the emo stuff ( not just the monthly swings, the whole hormone driven reproductive phase)…it’s so we can enter the calm harbour and be the matriarchs . I had awesome bad wimmen troubles (the gynoo said I was the second most anaemic patient he ever had, and had a procedure etc) and truly now it’s all behind, I am so well, fit if square, happy in an almost child like way, hard to explain.
As for daphne, yes a stunner of a scent, but ungrowable in my subtropics. All of a sudden we are in the lemony scented genera of perfume. Sounds like the notes of the magnolias that are proliferating! Would love to try this, have both the delirious Amoreues and Mythique, love that they pack a punch for my old lady nose!!
OMG, at first I thought it said OFF every man you see, and I was nodding right along with it; then I re-read it and… I had No Idea. Is that really a symptom, too?!
Because I thought it was just that I had moved to a very rural area the past year and was in complete thrall with all these young farm boys. With their muddy boots and jeans and big broad shoulders.
And biceps.
hahahahahahaaaaaaaa again! if nothing else on this hideous path, you’ve kept your sense of humor, albeit a murderous one….
Sweet bleedin’ Jesus, I’m in peri and WITH GOD AS MY WITNESS, I do not think I’m gonna make it through the Real Deal, because….MOOD SWINGS. And if I DO make it through, I have no doubt I will be behind bars somewhere for some sort of violent crime.
What makes it even worse is that I have never been in the least but moody, so it’s very hard for me to process it. I have been totally laid back my entire life and my mother said the doctor swore I was trying to laugh when they spanked me at birth. I come completely UNHINGED at the least thing. (Well, I usually can hold it back, but the URGE, oh dear lord THE URGE TO COMPLETELY ANNIHILATE SOMETHING…… IT IS STRONG, that urge.)
Between that and the effing ZITS, I am about to LOSE MY MIND.
Wit sounds lovely and soothing… I could use some soothing, because MOOD SWINGS.
hahahahahahahahaaaaaa! I am really NOT laughing at you (well maybe a little bit) but more laughing with you (don’t you hate that phrase??) because I can so relate to what you are going though. As stated below I have now been one year in the pause and my face still looks like a pizza… I’d like to tell you its gets better, but so far ….