It’s peak allergy season, and I’ve responded by wearing tried and true fragrances for a few days, because bad allergies put me at the razor edge of migraine. I’ve got tons of samples calling out to me (thanks Kelly and Maria!), but we’re going to be a little random today.

1) Have I shared with you my best bonehead eBay perfume-buying stories? The first was the amazing deal I got on German eBay on a bottle of Floris Summer Limes. I paid something like $3.50. It turns out I’d bought a copy of a Summer Limes advertisement. Heh. Then, on French eBay, I bought a vintage purse spray (I think it was Rochas Femme) which, had I run the French through the translator, I would have discovered was … how you say … “empty.” The French word for empty was clearly on there. More recently I snagged a 3.4 of L’Artisan Mure et Musc, and was feeling pretty smug until I realized it’s the Cologne, which I didn’t even know existed, an aromatic-herbal variant with citrus and basil. That description did not make my heart beat faster with desire. So I did something for the first time in 5+ years of bidding on eBay – I emailed the seller, explained to her why I was an idiot (she’d had another regular bottle of Mure I’d lost out on, along with a bunch of other L’Artisans) and asked if she’d consider substituting something else from the inventory or possibly letting me off the hook, since there had been a lot of bids. She graciously relisted it, for which I thanked her. And now … having not learned from any of this … I have (I think) purchased a bottle of a wildly obscure fragrance from some wildly obscure website that is either actually a European alternate to eBay, or a scam. I guess we’ll find out, won’t we? I used PayPal, so I think the damage will be mostly to my ego plus the cost of the bottle.

Okay, your turn! Any lame stories you’d like to share from your bidding/swaps? Drunk while sniping? Added an extra zero to your bid? Bought the men’s instead of the ladies’? Come on, I can’t be the only idiot on the internet.

We’re now moving onto two non-perfume topics. For those of you who don’t give a hoot about handbags or makeup, please follow the link here to the project now happening on Memory and Desire, in which various perfumers (Andy Tauer, Vero Kern, Christophe Laudamiel, Yosh Han and others) have been asked to describe a fragrance based on Ezra Pound’s 14-word poem, In a Station of The Metro. Don’t miss the extensive footnotes. You don’t have to understand/appreciate Pound to marvel at the concept, and I have very much enjoyed the various interpretations of the poem.

1) I went to this consignment store I love and bought a bunch of stuff. They get interesting clothes and I end up taking fashion risks picking through the fora and flauna, because the great thing about a rust-colored kimono-sleeve wrap sweater at $16 is, if you decide six months later it was a huge mistake, so what? Mistakes get recycled back at the same store. Anyhoo, I am not the bag snob, and I bought what I thought was some used/vintage brown faux-gator pocketbook, bigger than my usual size, but the price was right, and every now and again a big bag is useful. My sister-in-law Kate informed me it’s a fake Hermes Birkin. I’m weirdly embarrassed. No disrespect to anyone reading this, but I’m not a faux-bag kind of gal. Genuine, oui. Off-brand, fine. Vintage, yes. Ugly, sure. (Ask Kate about my pumpkin and metallic gold number.) But if I can’t afford the real deal — new or used — I don’t want to fake it. OTOH, while I don’t want to support the third-world knockoff industry, I bought it used, and recycling is the thing I love about used. So. What do you all think? Should I just get over myself already and use the bag?

2) And finally, a long tedious question about foundation for you makeup junkies, I need help. I could never figure out why all those crazy people on MUA talked endlessly about their fruitless search for the foundation Holy Grail — until I tried to buy a foundation.

Two years ago I wore tinted sunscreen (or tinted moisturizing sunscreen) and that was that. Then one day in a moment of boredom I tried Chanel Vitalumiere and I was hooked on the way it toned down the pink in my skin, evened things out subtly (it’s pretty light) and gave me a lovely glow, although I can’t imagine this on oily skin. I wear Limpide (nude) which I think in the US is the lightest shade of their fairly limited color palette. It looks nice on me, but because it’s yellowish I can wind up looking sallow if I don’t blend it carefully. In general, though, it’s the right idea. The easiest thing to do would be to replace my almost-empty bottle, and maybe it’s the Gemini in me, but I feel like there should be at least one other good match in existence, one that was just a hair less yellow than the Chanel, so I don’t have the occasional sallow day.

What I want is a light, sheer-to-medium liquid formula to tone down my natural pink color. I don’t care about sunscreen because I wear it over sunscreen, both my dermatologists being of the opinion that, unless you really cake your foundation on and spend most of your time indoors, foundation sunscreen alone is not enough. My skin is dry and sensitive (I use retinols) so I would prefer a minimum of Age-Defying Extras which are potentially irritating, although not necessarily so. Finish-wise, my personal preference is non-matte; while I appreciate the need for a matte finish for women with oily-combination skin, on me it looks mask-like and settles into fine lines.

Shade-wise I am pale but not extremely so – I’m at the pale end of lines with limited colors, like Vitalumiere, but not anywhere near the palest of extensive foundation lines in Estee Lauder or Lancome. While Vitalumiere Limpide is a slightly yellow but good match for me; their other pale one (Ivory?) is in fact almost exactly me but in being so is maybe too pink, I can’t decide. I don’t think subtly adjusting my skin tone on my face using sheer foundation is unreasonable. I didn’t find the right match in Estee, but the SA wasn’t into it. As I type this I am wearing Lancome Clair 20 from their Renergie line on one side of my face, and I-50N from Color Ideal on the other. (Lots of raves about Teint Idole on MUA but it’s discontined.) I like Lancome and wear a lot of their makeup. The Renergie is better because it’s dewier, the other tends to sit up on my face more, if that makes sense. The Clair 20 is close … but I still think it’s a hair too pink (orange?)

If you’ve read this far, you must have some opinion about foundation. Given what I’ve told you (and I think I’ve tried 10 or 15 foundations from various lines), any recommendations, either in terms of lines or how I better communicate what I’m looking for in makeup-speak? Because one more SA slathering me with Pink Bisque is going to break my spirit. Bonus points to anyone who wants to try to explain “cool,” “neutral” and “warm” to me, and whether those terms are consistent across the lines.

Chandler Burr has trashed the new release Chloe in his reviews - in writing  and in person - so when it showed up as a sample in a Sak’s order, I thought… well, let’s give it a whirl and see if I agree or not. The little sniff I had before was on paper, and that tells me next to nothing.  Notes of peony, lychée, freesia, rose, magnolia, lily of the valley, amber and cedar wood.  Peony is a note I adore in everything, so I should be pre-disposed to liking this.  It goes on like a floral dud.  Seems big and then just bursts, scatters into nothing very interesting at all.  There’s almost the smell of bug spray in there.  Must be a synthetic note that’s just off in my nose.  But with that, and with the proviso that a note may be coloring the whole thing for me, this is awful.  It’s mushy with no definition, just a big ole floral soup.  Gah.

Now, why do we have the Vanity picture?  Well, I treated myself today to the first in a series of 3-5 IPL photofacials.  I used to be out in the sun a lot when I was a kid, either working on the farm or later just sunbathing trying to get as dark a tan as my very fair, English skin could manage.  Over the years, capillaries broke, there was a lot of underlying sun damage on my face, which is kinda cute when you’re young.  As I now am within spitting distance of that major age milestone, the ruddiness on my cheeks/nose was just bugging me.  I kept putting off doing the IPL (intense pulsed light) because it is costy and unnecessary, and it really doesn’t add anything to my life or my worth or well-being… except, well, I wanted to be able to once again run around without any foundation on my face and not feel/look like the ruddy washwoman fresh from the steamy suds. 

Listen, if you have rosacea or broken capillaries or acne scars or just a really uneven skin tone that makes you feel not as fresh-faced as you would like or that you always have to have your face on before you exit the house… go.now.do.IPL. Save your pennies, take out a second mortgage on your house, just do it.  With one treatment, even with the little pinkness the first day, my complexion looks clear as a bell, fresh, youthful.   I can’t even imagine what 2-4 more treatments will do, but I absolutely will be able to not even bother putting on foundation -  just throw on some eyeshadow and mascara and be done with it.  

What is the treatment like? It’s a little annoying.  You get all trussed up on your cot, they put on goggles, then she just pulses your skin with the laser.  It feels like a little bit of a rubber band snapping your skin.   The first few minutes are annoying, but then you get used to it.  When they are going over the more sensitive areas around your nose, cheeks, with the most damage, then it can get really annoying, but it doesn’t take long.  The forehead is the weirdest, because even with the goggles, you get the bright red light somewhere in your optical area - a strange sensation.  Takes about 60 minutes from start to finish.

Am I vain?  Not really.  And just a little.  Yes, those two opposites can live in perfect tension.  Nothing in me wants to be young again, I’m just not ready to be old.

How much vanity can a woman live with once she gets to a certain age, and how much aging does she have to put up with so she doesn’t become a cartoon character of herself?  This goes for men, too, because I know more and more men are doing cosmetic procedures.  How do we know when we’ve gone too far?

For the throngs of people who stopped by today and noticed that the comments section doesn’t work on my brilliant Life Gives You Lemons post (just how prescient was that title?), stay tuned, the forces of good are at work on this glitch.

Here’s a great image I haven’t been able to work into a post:

The politics of perfume in Canada.

You know, I’m a sensitive person to other’s comfort, I really am. I don’t care what those people say about me that know me. If someone found a particular perfume I wore to be nauseating, and we had to be in close proximity for any bit of time during the day, I would stop wearing it. I know I should be a little less cynical about this “perfume allergy” thing, but even the expert in the article says it’s a myth.

It is almost becoming like everything that has to do with humans and living is becoming an annoyance to others, so we ban the things that make us human and unique and create headaches. I’m all for the cacophony of smells and sounds that makes up the human orchestra, and that includes elevators full of Giorgio and even clouds of Angel in the bathroom and *gasp* the hospital and Church!

Okay, I’ll hush now and crawl back under my sensitive rock.

I’m blonde, so I can do this, but this really is…. Best Blond Joke Ever

Yesterday’s post had a mix of Bois D’Encens and Pierre de Lune (which I have now fallen in love with PdL), and Ambre Soie and Bois D’Encens.

First up today…

Ambre Soie/Pierre de Lune

Man, you have to be careful to keep the right rock on the right bottle. At this point, I’m thinking Pierre de Lune could cover up the smell of cat pee. Ambre Soie is no slacker in the potent smell department, being very ambery, but PdL stays with it intially, though the amber asserts itself and warms the cassius and Violet and green notes of PdL. This keeps surprising me, how much what seems like a light scent just comes on strong. So far, this isn’t a great combination, went a little soapy, though the PdL tends to have a soapy phase in its drydown. Perhaps in different amounts, this would work, either more PdL or less Ambre Soie. Will update.

Pierre de Lune and Eau de Jade.

I’m not supposed to be doing this one today, but I can’t help myself, I’m thinking these two are going to be great together. ::::anticipation:::::: Oh, tinkly goodness, the notes of the two just wrap around each other and sparkle, it feels a little Eva’ish to me, but with more depth (oh, Eva is shrieking, thinking that I’m saying she is shallow, which she is NOT), in that bright effervescent way Eva has. These two definitely belong together, though they each are lovely on their own. The best combination yet

Neiman Marcus Online - L’Artisan Parfumeur - Fleur d’Oranger Eau de Parfum

It’s been a good perfume day, let’s just say, and the mailman has not forgotten me. Mmmmm…. oranges……