Y’all are going to get our joint sniffing of a few scents from Santa Fé. We are headed home tomorrow (we are writing this on Tuesday), and it’s been a wonderful, relaxing trip. We went to Chimayo and threw away our crutches, visited art galleries full of art we can’t afford. I’m still trying to find some angle to get that huge $200,000 elephant sculpture where the water was a waterfall. Yeah, no, not ever happening. We’ve shopped and slept a lot, yakked, spa’ed, ate delicious food, and we wish we could stay a while longer, but no.
So okay, sniffing. We have a couple of things that we are doing a giveaway on – these two large spray samples provided by Beautyhabit. Parfums au Pays de la Fleur d’Oranger Poudre de Liberte. Yikes, that’s long! Notes are bergamot, mandarin, rose, candied fruits, spices, leather, cedar, licorice, wood, sandalwood and musk. The poudre name threw us, thinking it would be powdery, but it’s not. Sweet and spicy with a little anise in the drydown. The sweet isn’t over the top, but it’s really nice and easy to wear. We voted and we would all wear the hell out of it. What we did not like is – the name of this company is REALLY that long?
Second one is Parfums au Pays de la Fleur d’Oranger Liberte Boheme. Notes of basil, tarragon, green tomato, jasmine, rose of mai, nenuphar, sandalwood and musk. Herby and sharp on the open and becomes more earthy. We don’t know what nenuphar is, though – wait, we Googled, it’s a water-lily. This one wound up my favorite. It has a pretty classic drydown that is a more herbed-up rose/jasmine blend.
I made March and Musette smell the Hiram Green Dilettante, which wasn’t that hard to do. We had a lot of perfume samples here to play with, and this is the one we each took turns wearing out every day. They both loved it as hard as I do. Just gorgeous to wear.
Tom Ford Orchid Soleil. Musette loved it and thought it smelled like the fantasy beach in your head. March muttered something about root beer and plastic and walked off. I thought it was fun and great for summer.
Armani/Prive Fil Rouge – one of those annoying limited editions of only 1,000 bottles…. but! It is a gorgeous iris, which Armani does a beautiful job of high end, limited edition iris. Notes of bergamot, aldehydes, powdery iris, green angelica, white musk and ambergris. Musette and I say it is one that wafts in the wind and is just beautiful. March really liked the open, wasn’t as crazy about some mid-point, and really liked the drydown, but says Hiram Green Dilettante kicks its butt.
So we are giving away three sample sets of the Liberte Boheme and the Poudre de Liberte courtesy of Beautyhabit. Just drop a comment to be entered. Tell us about your favorite getaway vacation with friends and where you went and what you did, and did you embarrass yourself.
The most relaxing vacation that I ever enjoyed was in Mexico, north of Puerto Vallarta.
My BFF (since high school) put the trip together. There were nine women in total. We rented a mansion on a hillside, overlooking the Pacific. Our breakfast and dinner (and drinks!!) were prepared for us, while we spent most of our time at the pool, or down at the beach. There was tequila.
It was magical!!
One of the best weeks of my life.
I would love to be in on the drawing.
Sounds like you guys had a ball!! And got lots of good sniffing in, too. Welcome back home!
glad your trip was so great
My favorite getaway vacation was a trip to Washington DC with my sister. It was more than 10 years ago, but we had a great time seeing the sights, eating, and shopping. I had been to DC several times, but always either at a conference or with groups of college students, so being able to relax and be a tourist was delightful. Your trip sounds wonderful too!
Hi Patty. No vacation for me as I just opened a psychology practice in the DC area. But I might just have the funds to buy a new bottle or some decants. I would love to try the new scents in the contest.
Nancy H.
My favorite vacation was to Maui with two best friends. Our vacation goal was to relax, which we did. Each day, we’d head to the beach and in the evenings we’d be on the lanai with a glass of wine. We came back totally refreshed… And promptly lost that vibe on our first days back to work. I just went to Santa Fe last year with these two best friends. Had a great time, just not enough time! It is a pretty magical place. Glad you all had a lovely time! Would love to be considered for a sample set.
We all went to Solvang and went on a couple of winery tours. That is such a beautiful area! I behaved myself-kept off the tables this time. Had a fabulous steak at The Hitching Post!
The Hitching Post is part of one of my favorite getaways too! Amazing steak!
I have been blessed with some wonderful vacations. My favorite may have been a few days in Provence as part of a larger family trip with our sons. We stayed in a quaint bed and breakfast with amazing food, swam under the Pont du Gard, visited markets and had a lovely time. The outdoor air smelled great – a combination of summer blooms.
Yes, please enter me in the draw – these have both been on my To Try list since they arrived at BH! Thx!
Oh and thanks for the posts on your trip to Santa Fe. I’ve really enjoyed these. We visited SF on our 10th anniversary (about 20 years ago!) and despite unexpected heavy rain every day, we enjoyed ourselves immensely!
Oops and one last comment – I embarrassed myself and family thoroughly on the trip to Provence by wearing my wonderfully comfortable Crocs original clogs all around which the French thought very odd. And I remember after bringing them home, I wouldn’t wash them off because they had the dust of many historical sites on them and I wanted them to remain part of the adventure.
It’s been ages since I went on vacation. My last trip was a business trip to Boston, but it felt like a vacation. Went to a Red Sox game, ate at the Cheers pub, walked all over Back Bay, and toured the historic sites. Don’t remember any great scents from there but hope to go back someday. Maybe I’ll find some then 🙂
Hi Patty and thanks for the report from Santa Fe. I bet it was fantastic!
My favourite getaway was with 4 people I met practically for the first time before we went on a diving expedition on a small lighthouse island (2 hours by boat from the mainland, we were dropped off on a Saturday and picked up the next Saturday. The only people living there except us: the lighthouse captain and his apprentice). We were taking pictures of the life under the sea, sorting plants and animals into groups, counting them, etc… We had such a great time working as a team, our age span from 19 (the team leader) to 50. And since we were alone and out of control away from the society we had enough time and space to do/say/practice embarassing stuff the whole week long 😀
PS You really made me curious about Dilettante.
My best vacation getaway was a transatlantic cruise. It was so relaxing, I got bored and I loved it! And we ended the trip in Barcelona at the Mercer Hotel, which I highly recommend. Can I just say, heaven?? I only embarrassed myself twice with my bad Slpanish! Best part of the trip was eating lots of octopus/pulpo grilled, in ceviche, yum!!!
I embarrass myself on a regular basis. Don’t even need to go on vacation for that.
Let’s see…I went to Andorra (from France) with a friend last year on 1 May, forgetting that no one, NO ONE, works in France on 1 May (even the Metros shut down and no taxis are on the road). The train stopped well before it was supposed to, and the bus they sent to replace it didn’t go to the right train stop. The bus let us out in a desolate parking lot in the middle of the mountains. With absolutely no mode of transport, we started dragging our suitcases along the rocky mountain road, sticking our thumbs out in the hopes someone would stop for us. Both of us have been incredibly sheltered all our lives, and the very idea of hitchhiking was ludicrous to us, but we really had no choice.
Eventually, some kind Parisians on vacation stopped for us and took us to the stop where we had planned to arrive. An absolutely harrowing adventure for us both. Andorra turned out to be a pleasant long weekend of hiking and shopping, and I’m glad we went, but I have no desire to ever hitchhike again.
I recently stayed at an Air BnB working farm with my best friend and her boyfriend’s mom. We fed horses, goats, lamas, and sheep- out of ohr bedroom window even! I made friends with most of the eight dogs. This turned out to be important when the billygoat took a disliking to me and tried to headbutt me to Timbuktu. I’d never seen a dog fight a goat before, but was grateful for the canine intervention when my pleas of “c’mon, I’ll feed you carrots” failed to appease my horny nemesis.
I haven’t been on a vacation vacation in years. The last one was maybe 7 years ago. My friend forgot his cell phone at home and here we are in the Canadian side of Toronto with only my cell phone. Nothing like being attached at the hip. Needed a vacation after that.
Those sound marvelous, especially the Boheme! I’m enjoying the Green Dilettante sample I just got from STC, too. My favorite getaway vacay was with my best friend — a couple years ago, we rented a house in the Utah desert and worked on our writing, hiked, drank wine, and did yoga — it was glorious! So glad y’all had a fun time in Santa Fe.
My favorite getaway vacation was with my sister. We went to “Fat Camp,” or at least that was what my sister called a week away at an adult Y camp. We did many things to embarrass ourselves, but I never laughed so hard before or since. My sides hurt from laughing so much. One of the best experiences of my life and something I will always remember.