My apologies to the 176 of you that did not win. The 10 of you that did, as a reminder, are getting a 2.5 ml sample of the Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga L’Essence, then smaller samples of Chanel Jersey, Prada Candy and old version Caron Violette Precieuse. And those ten lucky people are:
Joanie, Lisa D, Claudia, Amy K, TK, Gwenyth, Alnysie, Ines, Tommasina and Joanna. so click on the Contact Us on the left, remind me what you won and send me your address. I’ll give you a quick reply once I get your e-mail (I don’t do it instantly, it may take a day or so), just so you know I got it and it didn’t land in the spam filter.
Chanel Jersey, I promised a review of this this week. Lavender, vanilla, white musks are the only notes I’ve been able to find officially linked to it. First spray, you get a lot of lavender, sorta like a drive-by lavender shooting. This works out spectacularly for me – not a fan of lavender in perfume, love it in the plant – but may not for those of you expecting a lavender-ama. This is its most interesting time, the first 60 minutes. The Lavender is sweetened and feels a little peppery, and this is the spot where it feels the most like the Carons. Not exactly, but the interplay of the notes just serves that up. Now, after the first hour or so, it gets much more generic. Still pretty, feminine, soft, but the musk gets a more clean’ish smell, the lavender fades, and that’s the place it smells more like fabric, warm and snuggly fabric that’s just been washed, definitely. Okay, but, well, you know. My answer? Just keep re-spritzing. Hey, it’s a big bottle, and the first hour is worth it. And after the first hour, I don’t hate it at all, I like it, just not the same kind of love.
So it’s a mixed bag, and I wish the whole scent was as good as it starts out. Anyone else smell it yet and have an opinion?
Now for my what has Patty learned this month. I learned how to do my own Shellac polish! I’ll still go in and have it done, but I wanted to fix my nails that chipped. I’m hard on everything, and I didn’t want to just leave my chipped nail hanging out unprotected, so I got the stuff so I can do my own repairs. I’m pretty good at it!!! Not great, and I won’t attempt a pink and white for a good long while, but the two nails I fixed look not horrible. Do we think shellac hurts our nails? Does the collective readership have an opinion on this?
Thank you so very, very much for the samples! I know any of us who follow you would be utterly thrilled to be among the winners, and I am!
Haven’t tried Shellac yet, but I’d love to! I do martial arts and it’s very hard on pedicures, I’m looking forward to your DIY Shellac post! :)
I have very strong healthy nails and keep them polished regularly (I do my own manis). I tried the Shellac in the spring when we were going on a 10 day vacation and I didn’t feel like dragging my nail stuff with me. The Shellac held up great, but my nails did peel for several weeks afterwards. It took a while to get them back into their previously healthy shape. We’re going on a vacation again in a couple of weeks and I’m on the fence as to whether to do the Shellac again or not.
Thank you very much for the review Patty!
Now I know it’s worth re-trying on an a fume-free arm, I’ll go back to where i’ve tested before.
Octavian did make me doubt if it was worth it but now I will.
He also made me wanna try the special Alien edition and by jove he is right it is spectaculair! The whole living room is smelling of the test strip since 3 days. The drydown is gorgeous and lasts and lasts, strangely enough I’m not even a fan of classic Alien
About the nails ,I’ve got an incredible quality of fingernails (only file them a bit and use a Herôme base coat) I have to take care not to let them grow to long. But hey, you’ve got a bunch of hair to die for so if you wanna swap?
Thanks for your review, Patti. I tried Jersey last weekend and found it perfectly pleasant. Like you & others, I enjoyed the lavender opening then wondered where the fun went. Apparently over to 31 Rue Cambon which I ended up spraying over Jersey and the Jersey disappeared like it had never been there. My first impression was not great-but with luck I will test it again sometime.
Congrats to the winners!
Someone please report back on the Violette Precioussssss!!!
Hi Patty, thanks for the review. I like the Jersey as well. I’m not a big lavender fan and I’ve only spritzed it once and then kind of forgot about it, but thought it was fairly nice all the way through from what I can recall. Need to test more extensively though. I am, however, grooving on the Bottega Veneta.
I feel like you do, which is why I’m still suprised how much i love the first hour of this, where you get plenty of lavender, but it’s really great lavender!
I also love the lavender plant but don’t love it in perfume…but if only the first hour works for you…I think I’ll take a pass for now.
Whoo-hoo! Thanks in advance for the samples! I should have checked here first, rather than reading my email……
I’m always impressed by anyone who has pretty nails, as mine are in a perpetual state of raggedness. I don’t really know what Shellac is, or what’s involved in its repair, but I’m all for DIY to save a little cash (more for the perfume budget, naturally).
I’ll do a post on how to do them, plus the expenses involved in the next week or so!
As one of the 176, let me say no worries! Jersey does sound interesting though, and I kind of like the idea of having to constantly respray when the bottle is as large as the one Chanel uses. Am very impressed that you can do your own Shellac polish. How about a post on that? I hardly ever polish the nails on my hands (toenails are always polished, because they is ugly!), since I’m so hard on them and polish chips so easily. You’d think I’d be all over the Shellac, but I’ve resisted, mainly because I’m a DIY kind of gal.
Oh, sure! Shellac is easy. You just have to spend for the base, top and color coat and the UV dryer and some real acetone for removal. You can find the stuff discounted for like $13 a bottle, which is a lot in theory, but it does last pretty much the full two weeks, so it’s more expensive, but less kinda. Then you need the UV thingie, I found one that’s strong enough on Amazon for like $60.
but, yeah, I’ll do a post with instructions. CND hates it because they think only a licensed person can do it, and I do go in every two weeks to have the complete manicure regardless, but I want to do my own repairs and not have to run in mid-cycle to get one fixed!
BTW, you can shellac your toenails, too. 🙂
Thank you so much. It’s amazing the good perfume karma that The Perfume Posse has brought into my life this year. Earlier this year my son broke his leg and that day I got a little perfume package in the mail from an amazing person from the message board. A few weeks ago I was stressed out when I found out that closing on our home was being held up due to the railroad actually owning 1/2 of the yard I was supposed to be buying, (The tracks by the house are not used anymore and our lawyer is almost done working out the logistics.) and guess what…I got a perfume package from a member! I had never smelled Lorenzo Villoresi Garofano before and now it’s right there at the top of my must have fb list. Yesterday I actually had someone spit on me at work. Spit, on purpose. I worked in mental health for over 6 years and I never had anyone spit on me in a psychiatric institution enviroment, (Luckily I was well loved by my patients.) but in the capacity of working with the public at a garbage transfer station I get spit on. What that did to my spirit was profound. And then I come home and find out I won an amazing gift from The Posse! And what that did to my spirit was profound! I am grateful and it reaffirms my belief that if you put forth positive energy into the world the world returns positive energy to you.
Oh, Joanne, that is so sweet! I absolutely believe in putting out there what you want put out to you. I never believe that I’m owed something back for it, it’s just enough that more good gets thrown out in the world from people than bad.
but it’s such a lovely surprise when something comes rolling back in unexpectedly! 🙂
Enjoy the scents, I hope you find a love in there.
Good things always happen to good people! And isn’t that Garafano the best??
Tammy yes and thank you so much again for sending me that package!
Thanks so much (in advance) for the samples!
You are welcome enjoy them!
I have such a backlog of samples to try, but this sounds like one to add to the pile. It sounds very interesting. A lot of times I HATE the first 60 minutes but love the rest. This would be fun to see if it’s the opposite.
I think it’s good to have a reverse too!!! Prada Candy is reversed as well. Love the first 30-60 minutes, after that, it’s a muddle, so I just respritz. Happy Patty
I was able to get some samples of jersey on eBay and liked it ok – I get an iris note for some reason, but I need to re-try it when my sinuses are beaving themselves better. I like the idea of these new polishes that last longer but haven’t tried any yet. Truth is, everything we do is bad for our nails, and I think polish of any kind actually protects them, which likely balances out any damage said polish does.
iris, really? Maybe a little. Octavian says tiare is in the bottom notes or what’s left – well, besides a much atrophied creative arm at the House of Chanel. 🙂 I loved reading his rant, but I didn’t hate Jersey in the ways he did, nor am I qualified to speak about quality of materials or creativity. i really loved the open and first hour enough to forgive it everything else, which wasn’t much to forgive it for since the ong drydown is absolutely pleasant, just not memorable.
Sinuses, have you tried a netipot? I have a terrible time during allergy times with just stuff getting in there and then my sinuses swelling, etc., and I started using a netipot daily when they are acting up, and my sinus headaches that lasted for days are gone. It’s a miracle!!
Agree on the balance of damage/protection. UV damage, but nails aren’t getting all the stuff thrown at them that they would have without a protective coat, plus they look pretty red, which is no small thing!
Apology accepted :) I shall send my ire in the direction of random.org! :d
The Jersey sounds worth a sniff if only for the 60 interesting minutes. On Shellac I have no opinion as I have nit tried it or even seen it in action ( that I am aware of)- I would be really happy to just paint my nails in daylight without assistance from my (very cute) little daughters! Last time I tried (with a crimson) I looked like the victim of a horrible filing accident!
Ah, i remember those days! My sons hate being reminded that they used to once ask me to “do them wif pawish toooo mommy!” So darn cute.
I hope you took pictures back then…
Yay! Thanks!! :D
enjoy!!!!
First one of the 176, accepts apologies…wait, I didn’t even enter! Need to sniff this, as I love lavender! After your review….I am still keen!
Wow! How do you dry the shellac! Methinks the Shellac is OK, but the UV drier…probably not good at all. I found as salon that uses a similar product by the nailpolish “jessica” and their drier is LED. Havent tried it yet!
The lavender in this is really gorgeous! I don’t particularly like lavender in perfumes at all, so that’s huge praise from me!
Shellac, you need the UV dryer. I found one on eBay that has the right wattage (CND says you MUSt pay the $200 for theirs, but that’s just crap, you just need the right Uv strength, I think 60 watts or 65) that was like $60. You leave it for 2 minutes at a shot. Base coat, two color coats, top coat, so 8 minutes total in the UV, with breaks in between. I don’t know how hard that UV is on just your fingers. Probably not great, but i think I’m going to put sunscreen on my hands before I do this, just as added protection, They say that’s fine and recommended, especially for those sensitive or worried about damage.
I’ve tried acrylic and gel nails, and I can’t wear either, they start an allergic reaction around my cuticles after about 6 weeks. It’s weird, and I don’t know what I’m reacting to. Shellac works for me because it’s harder, dries hard, and I’m not good at waiting for nail polish to dry, plus my nails reject everything (lots of oils, I think!), so normal polish will start lifting and peeling in a couple of days, which is really bad. Shellac will go at least a week, sometimes closer to two weeks, with maybe one repair or two.
ok so….i am going to sniff when it comes for sure!!!
thanks for all the info….will look into it after the weekend…shellac is great..i use it…i would like to give this other brand a whirl…will let you know!