Friday Friday Friday!

Insert normal Friday rant about that no-talent Antonella Barba if not booted from American Idol on Thursday

or

Insert wild cheering if that no-talent hack gets booted as she should be 

There’s a survey over on the left for Coutorture to hopefully help us get some big advertising cash to keep us knee-deep in samples.  Feel free to take it or ignore it. It helps them set the demographic for advertisers.

Someone talk me out of this bag….. thanks! (Be & D tuxedo Bag in Expresso for 1200 smackers too rich for me).  I don’t normally  lust uncontrollably for bags, and I can usually contain my deep need for the ultra-expensive ones, but I’m having a little trouble on this one, and I don’t know why.  The deep folds in it? I mean, look at it!  It looks like an unmade bed of a bag, but soooooo soft with the little tassle.  I mean, that bag totally gets me!  

The Le Labos have been around for over a year now, I believe, and so far, while I’ve found several that I like, finding one that I love has been elusive. Then March sent the teeny sample of  Aldehyde 44, the one that is stupid expensive and you can only get from the Dallas Barney’s, which Ms. Style-Spy was the procurer of — did I mention she does personal shopping?  Anyway, it is just fizzy and happy and almost dancing in the vial when I uncapped it.  Put it on, and it stays sort of the same, but gets happier, but it’s like happiness despite pain, and all I can think of is the blond ’40s and ’50s movie sirens, like Marilyn Monroe, whose beauty and smiles hid some deeper pain, which made them vulnerable and ultimately so likable and famous, which led to more pain, etc., etc.   Aldehyde 44 was fun, but then I put it up, too perky, too expensive, I really don’t need that for the ridiculous amount of money they want for it.

Now, this next part you really have to understand.  I have at different times hundreds of sample vials that cross my desk monthly — some I’ve smelled before, some I don’t care about, most I just haven’t gotten around to. Most get a cursory test unless I’m going to include it in a review, and if it doesn’t catch my interest fairly quickly, I move on, leaving out the samples I tried that day just in case one has a great drydown that was unexpected, so I can find it later.  Given all that, the likelihood that I revisit a sample and keep it out for over a week is infinitesimally small.

44 came in a good sized vial, about 1.3 ml, and I have applied that thing no less than ten times over the course of the week or so I have had it.  I’ve also tried to pass it along to someone else I know will enjoy it, and I just can’t put it in the mailer. Why? Because it makes me delirously happy. Not just in some bubbly surface fashion, which it does that as well, but a happiness that is complex and embraces all of life’s sorrow and joy.  It speaks to some very deep place in me that continues to look at the world with rose-colored glasses, believing the best of people until they prove me wrong, trusting that life and death really do work themselves out, but knows how often people, including myself, are deep disappointments. 

I’ve been trying to talk myself out of a bottle of this since I tried it, but like the purse, I haven’t succeeded yet. Do I need it? No, not in the least, but there are so few perfumes that are just joyful to spritz on, I think this one needs to have a home with me.

Hey, psst, come over here, those of you that love incense, and beeeee quiet!!!  Don’t let those Juozas maniacs see us.  Did you see the notes on Clive Christian X for Men?  Yeah, me neither, and then I spritzed it on, and my eyes bugged out, I ran to look up the notes and I found Bergamot, spices, cardamon, ginger, pink pepper, Sambac oil, jasmine hedione, pimento oil, orris, Amber, styrax, labdanum, vetyver oil, cedarwood, Moss, cinnamon, vanilla.  This is my perfect incense scent, spicy, rich, warm, it is everything I wanted Juozas to be. 

Okay, now scatter !quick! and keep this between us.

  • Style Spy says:

    Eh. I gotta say, I’m not in love with that bag. But I like a very structured bag that holds its shape, and I hate digging around in a big slouchy bag for that lipstick or whatever that’s fallen all the way down to the bottom.

    Oh, the mixed emotions: I love introducing someone to a perfume they really love, but I do feel a bit guilty for having caused all this gnashing of teeth. But I do think once you have it, you’ll just love it and forget the guilt. I have!

    I really loved the Juozas until the overly-sweet drydown. How’s the X for men compare?

  • Susan says:

    Patty – Having just been through a handbag shopping project for myself, just let me say, “That is one GORGEOUS bag!”

    The basic lines should be good (fashionable) for awhile, too. Have seen some new vertically pleated leather bags that remind me of this one – but haven’t seen these vertical ruffles anywhere else.

    A word of caution, though (you knew that was coming, right?!) – The lovely detail in the ruffles is not going to show up in the expresso color as well as it will in the lighter tan color (whatever it’s called).

    Think of the bag a great fashion investment!

  • carmencanada says:

    Patty, the bag is gorgeous, but not gorgeous for someone who’s 5’4″… You can just about sleep in it, considering the size. And those ultra-large bags, given that you would tend to fill them up, are really murder for your back… Those would be my dissuasive factors, rather than Lent (very much a lapsed Catholic speaking — nuns can turn you off religion real fast and I went to an all-girl private high school run by them).
    Now, Aldehyde 44 is another matter entirely. First of all, it’s by Yann Vasnier whose L’Ame Soeur by Divine is a wonderful, classic yet modern take on aldehydic florals. Secondly, any perfume that can bring on irrational joy is a little floral-strewn pathway to heaven. I feel much the same way about Le Parfum de Thérèse and, on the right days, Fracas. Lipstick Rose, which I only smelled once on a friend, would bring on that blissed-out smile, I think… Le Labo sells in Paris now, at the ultratrendy Colette, but I haven’t checked out if, by some extraordinary privilege, they sell 44. Because I feel I need it. But Clive Christian… uh-uh, I’m not even going there.

  • Marie-Helene says:

    Another stroke of inspiration: how about you save the money to go spend some time in Paris or Grasse or Florence with hubby…and the perfume bottles?

  • Patty's DH says:

    Sell the house for over $320 – you can have the bag.@};-

  • Maria B. says:

    Patty, I assume you’re tall? If you aren’t, that bag will make you look like a short slob wherever you go. (Voice of short experience talking.) I can’t beat Lent, though, as a reason not to buy, or the possible attack by shar peis. Worse than a vengeful attack, the shar peis may try to mate with your purse. That would not contribute to a look of elegant savoir-faire.

    So Antonella, the nasty, no-talent bitch got kicked off!!!! Does that call for a celebration with purse/new Aldehyde or is that as much reward as one needs in a week (particularly during Lent)?

    • Patty says:

      Not tall at all, 5’4″, so you are right, the bag is tooooo big, and for all th e other reasons.

      But right now the Lent is keeping me in check. [-o< Well, on the bag, but not on the 44, which I am NOT listening to anyone on, I'm getting it, and that is that. $-)

      • Patty says:

        yeah, I’m all about the spirit thing, but as Archbishop Chaput tells us — doing it out of love is best, but fear works, too. 🙂 I am going to up my monthly Modest Needs giving for lent, they are my favorite charity just in the amount of practical, immediate help they give to people.

        Where is that disenable Send Button for Justine option? 🙂

        • Justine says:

          I *love* that line “doing it out of love is best but fear works too.” I may have to get that on a tee shirt for myself. I can just picture my daughter rolling her eyes and really what could be more perfect….

    • Patty says:

      I forgot about Antonella, I was glad to see the last of her fanny flitting off the stage. Can you believe she is *finally* gone? Now I can start rooting for Sanjaya, who is really cute, but not very talented, to go next. I didn’t like that Sundance got booted.

      • Maria B. says:

        Sundance shouldn’t have gone. People probably vote for Sanjaya because he’s cute, but cuteness is not the point of the competition. If it were, one could just fill the stage with babies and puppies. To his credit, Sanjaya looked shocked that he was the one who was staying.

        Gosh, Patty, I always imagined you tall. You go, fellow petite! I used to be almost 5’4″. Don’t let lack of bone density take a single inch away, girl!

        • Patty says:

          Short girls unite! Thought the Pilates is making me taller, I swear! I think it’s just that I walk more straight now, better posture

  • Annie says:

    8-|Patty….if you follow the C. Cash Rule….and spend the money on other things,your heart will ALWAYS say:Damn,for this $$$$$,I could’ve had that SUPER.PULSE THROBBING,ONE OF A KIND,”ME” bag….I’m telling you,it will last FOREVER,and will be used every day…buy that puppy!

    • Patty says:

      You.are.killing.me. 🙂

      Nope, Catholic Lenten guilt is prevailing, and I’m waiting and counting down the days…. It’s like Saturday noon before Easter Candy frenzy!

      • Justine says:

        My priest would be so proud. Since you’re open to observing the spirit of Lent (I tell my kids it’s about more than the rules, it’s the *spirit* of it, really. You don’t get to give up cookies and yet gorge on ice cream), might I seriously suggest you do in fact give some of the money you would have spent on the bag to a charity of any sort? I think you’ll feel great, and not lust after the purse so much.

        I typically spend a criminal amount of money at Starbucks, but cut way back on that for Lent and will instead donate half of my saved money. Then, I try really hard not to go back to giving Starbucks so much cash. It works for awhile at least….

        See how chatty I am not that I can comment? Next thing you know, you’ll be disenabling that send button again, LOL

  • tmp00 says:

    I won’t be able to see the bag until I get home and am on my Mac, so I can’t comment.

    But thanks for making me start to lemming for 44, which will now haunt me, or even worse for CC, which is over at Neimans for an obscene amount of cake. Oy. :-w

    • Patty says:

      I’d offer you my sample of 44, but until I can get my hands on a bottle, my selfish side won’t let me give it up. Isn’t that sad? Maybe that’s my Lenten penance, give up the 44 sample *cringes and cries*.

      do NOT buy the CC’s at Neimans, really. There are testers all the time on eBay, and they’re totally legit. Especially if you wait for summer when nobody is bidding on eBay, you can pick up anything for a song, song and a half.

      • tmp00 says:

        I already popped for a sample of 44 on eBay. I’ll be posting my thoughts on it on Marina’s. Then “Anonymous” san swoop in and lament the days when he/she/it was the only one who knew about its brilliance and carefully doled out samples to cherished friends has passed so down the drain it must go…

        |-)

        • Patty says:

          I’m going to be interested on what you think! It surprised me how much I wound up really liking it, not just in that, “Oh, gee, you sure are cute way,” but on a much deeper zen level. Where is my little eye rolling icon?

  • Lievje says:

    Sure, you need that bag! It’s great. 🙂

    Now I need Le Labo, that doesn’t ship to Europe:((, and the Clive Christian. You are ruining my bank account…

    • Patty says:

      Sorry, sorry, really I am! That le Labo is the only one of the whole line I found absolutely worth that ridiculous money.

  • Justine says:

    I’m commenting today BECAUSE I CAN. Yup, I did what you told me to Patty and just like that I can post again. And there is your store, on the side like it always was. Whew. Almost all is right in my universe again. Almost. Because now I cannot see any pictures. This means I cannot see the bag. Frick. I’m dying to see it. Because I can’t, however, it is very easy for me to tell you… what are you crazy, you wanna drive your hubby to file for divorce based on your recent purchases? You do not need that bag. Not at all. It’s just a thing. And (I’m getting out the big guns now) isn’t it a sin to spend that amount of money on yourself during Lent? Shouldn’t you be giving this to the poor?

    • pitbull friend says:

      Marie-Helene (sorry for the lack of aigu & grave) & Justine, you are fantastic at this! You are exactly the kind of friends a person needs — I’m going to turn to you the next time I’m about to do something naughty!
      –Ellen

    • tmp00 says:

      Whoooo! She pulled out the Lent Bomb! Good one!^:)^

      • Justine says:

        All those years of Catholic school helped to make me the Lenten guilt master that I am today (I’m trying to say that with some humility, but fear I am failing, hehe).

        It’s only 40 days and it’s meant to be a “return to simplicity and purity.” Let’s say that if, after the 40 days you still long for the bag….then go for it. At least, that’s the deal I make with myself during this time.

      • March says:

        Man. The Lent Bomb. Brutal.[-x

    • Patty says:

      At last! the one good compelling reason I can go with. I mean, Hubby blanches at my spending, but as long as I keep it on the frippery side of my life, he wouldn’t divorce me over it. But I DO feel guilty spending during Lent, that is wicked. So I’m waiting until after Easter, will see if I still want it!

      Even though I converted to Catholic later in life, I grew up in a community settled by Volga German Catholics, so we learned the guilt regardless of going to the Southern Baptist Church.

    • Patty says:

      And I’m so happy you are back and commenting!!! Missed you!

  • LOL, how about these: 1) It will make people focus on your own wrinkles 2) bags go out of fashion more quickly than perfumes 3) that color is going to turn to something less “daim blond” if you wear it every day 4) Shar Peis on the street will think you have murdered one of their kinds and will attack you drooling all over your new cuddly bag….Does that work?

  • Skye H. says:

    Okay repeat after me:

    I DO NOT NEED THE BAG!!! [-x
    I DO NOT NEED THE BAG!!! [-x
    I DO NOT NEED THE BAG!!! [-x
    I DO NOT NEED THE BAG!!! [-x
    I DO NOT NEED THE BAG!!! [-x

    I am not really a bag person, but I think it looks like a shar pei. #-o

    • Patty says:

      Yup, shar pei is the perfect description. it’s so snugly and cute! I’mjust waiting for NM to open so I can see if they have it locally so I can try first.

  • donanicola says:

    oh I love Alice’s Law of Compensatory Cashflow! I practise it lots. For instance, I took back two dresses to Zara (which I was never going to wear in the first place) and with the money “saved” I bought no 31! Still I reckon on pounds per wear I’m quids in with the 31. Am not going to encourage or discourage on the bag (partly cos I can’t see a picture of it being at work at the moment) but also because I empathise with the dilemma too deeply. All I will say is that I do think its best to go for originals rather than fakes made by blind two year olds in China.

    • donanicola says:

      oops not that I think you were contemplating a fake just that if you’re going to do it best go large!

    • Patty says:

      That’s the Returns are Free Money Rule — Returns are free money to spend as you like on anything else, and any additional cash you put with it is really saving!

  • pitbull friend says:

    Patty, I am neither here nor there about your 44 nor your bag, since I dislike aldehydes and don’t do leather. But here is a useful tool for you. Calvin Trillin once wrote a hysterical story (I believe it’s in the collection “Alice, Let’s Eat”) about his wife’s spending rule, which he dubbed “Alice’s Law of Compensatory Cashflow,” which is roughly: If you seriously contemplate buying something, really seriously, and then virtuously decide not to, you earn a pile of cash to spend on something else.

    So maybe you’ll decide virtuously to skip the bag and get a whole lot of 44 and Clive Christians.

    Hmmm, March, I’m kind of surprised that this isn’t already an expensive personal service for the Person Who Has Everything. A model or someone you find appealing (a comedian?) shows up at your door at a scheduled time to apply perfume to you? You heard it first on Perfume Posse, folks!
    –Ellen

    • Patty says:

      This is a very helpful theory to employ! But I *need* both the bag and the 44. (mentally calculating what I could get for body parts)

  • Flor says:

    You know what I think, I think you need the bag! I think that if you never really go crazy for bags and you went crazy for that one, then you should have it. Why not? It’s gorgeous!!

    There! That’s me getting back at you for interesting me in yet another CC perfume. 😉

    Have a great weekend! :)>-

    • Patty says:

      Evil woman. 🙂 I do actually go crazy for bags a lot, but I never can bring myself to pay that much money for the stratospheric cost ones ( < $300 - I'm cheap on bags). But this is the one that I keep vacillating about and wanting to really hit the Check out button and not just have it sitting in my N-M or Bergdorf Cart. Sorry about the CC thing. 🙂 Just sharing the joy!

  • Oy! I heard that! :d

    Love the bag.

    • Patty says:

      :d

      It is a great bag, not too weird with all the folds? I wonder if they’ll still have it in a month. I just *can’t* spend more money this month.

  • anna says:

    Honestly, about the bag? I think you can do better for the $$. Hope this helps! 😉 Trying to slay a lemming is hard work, now I need some more coffee….

  • Elle says:

    Joy is priceless. Of *course* you need #44!! Immediately. And that bag will last forever. It translates to just small change per day if you think about how many times you’ll use it.
    Just took that survey. *So* grateful they didn’t ask about how much you spend per month of perfume.

    • Patty says:

      I can *always* count on your support in wild spending. 😉

      I asked them to include that question in the survey. Hey, if it’s anonymous. You know… I might do an anonymous survey just to know that. It might make me feel better? Well, you and I would probably just feel worse.

  • March says:

    You need that bag like you need another bottle of lovely perfume, only it would be a perfume you loved AND wore every day.

    :d

    That Aldehyde is pretty darn great, eh? How much is the silly Clive? Will Clive Owen apply it to my body personally? What IS it about the name Clive that’s so sexy?

    • Patty says:

      Do you think it is THE bag that I spend a lot on? I mean, everyone needs one of these, right? WE talked about this. Did you get yours yet?

      Love that 44. for some reason I’m having more trouble springing for sheer joy in a perfume than something more brooding, but that’s just stupid, isn’t it?

      Silly Clive is at least one of the cheaper ones, see note to Judith above. Clive IS a sexy name. I’d totally date a guy named Clive, if I weren’t married. Wonder if W would let me call him Clive?

      He should be along shortly and put the kibosh on this whole bag thing. Back to March Plan for Getting Forgiven.

      • March says:

        Maybe this will help — or not. I went to NM to actually look at/hold The Bag — which I don’t think you can do (although I am assuming you could return it if you wanted to via mail?)

        As I actually paraded around in front of the mirror, put my stuff in it, etc., I realized: a) it just wasn’t “me”; b) the hardware annoyed me, it had these dangly things; and c) it was one of those bags (Balenciaga Le Dix) there are cheap knock-offs of, and something about carrying a bag that x number of people might assume was a fake bothered me, if that makes any sense at all.

        The bag you’re looking at is much more distinctive, though. I’d say: can you test-drive it like I did? If you swoon… it’s yours! If not, send it back with a sigh of relief, you know?

        • Patty says:

          I think I’ll call and see if I can do a tryout. I don’t know if they carry it at the local N-M, but I’ll call there first. Too much money not to be able to try first. But it completely LOOKS like me, doncha think? And nobody else would have one like it either. That’s the thing that holds me back from the trendier Fendi and Chloe bags — too much ripoffage and fakes.

  • Lee says:

    As with most aspects of shopping, I don’t get bags. I’d say don’t buy it – think of all the fragrant pleasure that money can bring.

    (I understand shoe love even less than bag love).

    Now you’re making me want to try CC, naughty lady!:-w

    • Patty says:

      I’m pretty much horrified that I like most of the CCs. I was just planning to get them for other people to sample because they are so blasted expensive, so loving most of them was a pleasant surprise. It still doesn’t take the sting out of the price tag, which is ridiculous.

  • chayaruchama says:

    Oy…
    I normally do not give a rat’s a– for bags, but that thang is HOT.
    Want #44, too.

    Oh, well-

    Have a good w/e, all !

    • Patty says:

      Should I wait for it to go on sale? Ha! It will never go on sale, it is probably sold out already. I wonder if they do layaway?

      have a great weekend, my friend!

  • Amarie says:

    I agree with Annie. Perfumes come past you all the time whilst a bag is an essential piece of your daily equipment. But can you imagine using it enough? Or is one of those things you buy and hang in a prominant position to drool over but it then goes on permanent exhibition? By the way I think it is lush and brings to mind Daim Blond. Good luck deciding.

    • Patty says:

      I’m one of those that use things, I don’t sit them up to look at, so I’d use it every single day. Normally I have the small bags because I hate a lot of weight on my shoulder because… well, you know, if I have a lot of space in a bag, I will fill it up to the brim. So a teensy bag can never get that full.

      So it would get its worth over many, many years, but so much!!!

  • Judith says:

    pre-coffee comment: I took the survey, you NEED that bag, how much (I’m afraid to ask) is that CC (at least it probably doesn’t come with a diamond). Over and out!

    • Patty says:

      The X isn’t that bad, relatively speaking. It’s more retail, like $370, I think, for 50 ml, but you can usually pick it up on eBay for around 200 or less, especially if you wait for the summer months when everything goes lots cheaper, probably could get it for around 150.

      Not!helping!with!the!bag!!!

  • Annie says:

    /:)OK,girl….you NEED this bag,I’m tellin’ ya’…it’s YOU…it will ‘speak to you FOREVER…people will stop you on the street,to inquire about this…it is LUSH…so.splurge!!….your samples are mostly free,and ,yes you can do without a big bottle of a scent for a while…YOU WILL USE THE PURSE EVERY DANG DAY….yes it’s out of most of our price ranges,but,what the F…I’m hearing it whisper your name:d

    • Patty says:

      Okay. You people? are not helpful. You are *supposed* to talke me OUT of the bag! Did you see that price? I’ve spent 200-300 on a bag, but NEVER that much. But it really is gorgeous…. :sigh: :-w