Les Exclusifs de Chanel in Zagreb!

Honestly, I thought at first that someone made a mistake in publishing a little article in one newspaper I accidentally got hold of.
Then I googled it and amid all the wrong hits, I found again a little article saying that Limoni opened a Chanel perfume boutique  on Novemeber 15.

So, yesterday I went to check. :)
And sure thing, it's there! And the Exclusifs are there too! :)
They only have perfumes and for the first time, a boutique here actually has them all in pure parfum strengths as well.

The address is Mesnička 1 - here is the map.

And the SAs seem nice - the one I talked to was helpful, smiling and perfectly enthusiastic (just the right amount).

The smell of gardenias?

I still don't know what they smell like even though I was testing two gardenia named scents, Chanel Gardenia and Guerlain Cruel Gardenia. That didn't help much. :)

It's great how much decants and samples I managed to accumulate even before starting this blog and now I rumage through them and come up with things I smelled 2 years ago and completely forgot how they smelled because at that point I still wasn't writing anything down (that is one of the reasons I started this blog, to make myself write down what I think, otherwise I forget).

Btw, I slightly like better the Chanel's Gardenia - but Cruel Gardenia is great too.

Notes for Gardenia: tuberose, orange blossom, gardenia, jasmine, sandalwood, patchouli, musk vetiver

Initially (this time for a minute), I thought Gardenia was going to be an austere, serious and iris-like smelling perfume. That didn't sound terribly appealing but it didn't take long for me to start wondering if what I smelled initially was just a figment of my imagination (I believe not and blame it on vetiver).

And then you get this sunny flowers of the meadow variety (but not as happy, sweet and colorful as Ninfeo Mio), with a slightly bitter or root-like undertone (my guess that's vetiver peeking out, probably some patchouli giving that off even though I didn't smell any patchouli).

The combination is so wonderful it practically leaves me without words to describe it, and since I was smelling it in combination with Cruel Gardenia, trying to force the gardenia out, I have to say, I think Cruel Gardenia might be more appropriate for the Chanel variant. It was terribly cruel to me, it didn't let me approach closer that the general feel, whenever I tried to get to the individual notes, it wouldn't let me. :) So the best I could do was guess that the root quality came from vetiver and the saltiness in the end couldn't come from iris (where I usually get some) so I think that it was the sandalwood (which I could detect) combination with white flowers. I'll have to get some more of this once my decant is empty.

Notes for Cruel Gardenia: damask rose, peach, neroli, violet, ylang-ylang, white musk, sandalwood, tonka bean, vanilla

Well, Cruel Gardenia started in such a lush manner that when sniffing it first, I thought I will prefer it to Gardenia.

It starts warm and creamy and tuberosish. I know that's not a word but what I smell feels like it. Like slightly sweet white flowers. I thought it smelled like fat, creamy, lush petals. And then I read the notes and got angry with myself. What is wrong with me that I can't recognize rose when I smell it until I read it among the notes?! I recognize the smell and each and every time I'm asking myself whati sthis? I know this and until I read the notes I cannot for the life of me remember. Now that I know I have this problem, rose will be the first thing I will think of even if it's nowhere near. Just to eliminate it. :)

So, if it smells creamy, it doesn't smell cruel to me. I think I might be missing the point here. But at least it's a great smelling point.

The drydown is actually similar to Gardenia, slightly less salty and more sweet but quite alike.

The bottom line, I have no idea what gardenia smells like but since it appears in stuff that smells great, I'm sure I love the way it smells.

That's all from me - have a great weekend everyone! I plan to.

Pic by: http://www.dingoskidneys.com/

Being pale

Someone might call it having fair skin but to me, I usually just look pale. And today's post is about the most perfect face tanner out there (ok, so I haven't tried that many but having found a great one, I don't need to).

Sometime early last spring I went to a promotional Chanel make-up thing and the make up artist was impressed with the whitennes of my tan (what was she thinking, I wonder?). So while she was doing her thing, we were discussing the "merits" of being pale which in her opinion made the geisha white look wonderful and thought I should try it. Although I didn't agree with her thoughts on the color of my tan, I have to admit she did a great job with the make-up. Anyway, she listened to my problem, and that was the fact that tanned skin just looks nicer and healthier as opposed to being pale (not, as a fact that you spend a lot of time in the sun) and that I am not able to procure a tan no matter what I do (even if I sunbathed a lot, which I can't do since my skin won't allow it, it is really hard for me to get any real amount of tan). What she proposed was to try Chanel's self-tanner for the face and gave me a sample to try. Me, scared of tanners as I was, especially using them on the face, I was a bit sceptical it might not apply as wonderfully as it should, so she told me to mix it with my daily moisturizer and try it first like that. The rest is history. :)

A month or so ago, I bought a second tube of Soleil Identite Golden (lighter version) and I look healthy. It has become a staple for me and I cannot imagine not having it around to use when I start getting too pale.

The thing is, it has never, ever made a mistake. You apply it and there is no way anyone can tell you put a self-tanner on your face. It has never streaked and more importantly, as I apply it on the neck as well, putting perfume afterwards had never made any difference to the color. All I can say, absolutely wonderful. What I've been wondering for some time now is, how come Chanel didn't produce a body tanner when they made such a great face product? And if it's possible to create a tanner that applies so well it never streaks, wth are some of the companies doing making products you can throw in the garbage after the first application, even if you are very careful with all the skin preparations...?

My pale, rosy-cheeked days are over (ok, so my cheeks are still rosy but it is not so bad when you have a light tan). ;)

Image by: www.chanel.com