Spring is here (and hopefully, so am I)

Ok, so spring might not be exactly here, but it's definitely coming (the sunny day today is rather cold and biting).

We've been having sunny days and some rather high temperatures for this time of year but mostly, it's a slow rise of temperature into real spring.
But spring is definitely here as evidenced by the photo my boyfriend sent me the other day from a large park (partly woods) in Zagreb (Maksimir):

Anyway, I have big plans for this spring and I do hope I make some of them come true (knowing me, some is fine as I tend to plan for more than is actually possible).
One of the plans is another trip to Paris in very late spring (probably summer weather by then) as Suzanne already announced on her site. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to meeting Suzanne and having fun with her and Asali in Paris. :)

I also hope, now that the hectic period is over at work, I'll be able to write more regularly and sniff more regularly as for the past few weeks all this was on hold.

Happy spring time everyone!

Time flies by when the sun is shining

I think I'm suffering from spring laziness. I'm not really tired as that is what everyone keeps talking about these days when the sun keeps shining all day long and everyone is smiling because of it. I'm actually running around, trying to do all sorts of things and I'm managing but the writing sort of got lost in the middle of all that.

During last week's fumechat, I got some wonderful recommendations for spring scents from Persolaise, only to manage to locate one of those samples and basically just try that one. One would think if I'm looking for new perfume loves, I'd put more effort into it...

So, the one I tried was Vert Pivoine by Histoires de Parfums, and while I was already amid those samples, I tested Blanc Violette too.

Vert Pivoine

Notes (in French):
Top note : Pivoine, Feuille de Lierre, Eau de Rose.

Heart note : Pivoine, Rose, Mimosa, Gardénia, Fruits Rouges, Baies Roses.
Base note : Pivoine, Santal, Cèdre, Musc, Vanille.

One of the good things about perfumes is that I learn many new words through them. Especially for flowers. :) So now I know the name for peony in both French and Croatian and thanks to google, I even know what it looks like. Before, peony was just another name of a flower.
So, what does it smell like? For me, it starts with the smell of flowers stalks that give off a slightly peppery twist. It's not sweet at all, more like spring flowers after rain when you can't smell the sweet grass and pollen residue in the air but just clear scent.
It smells serious and elegant to me with the smell of real rose (at least that's how I think of that particular smell, the one where you actually have your nose in the rose and can smell the surrounding air and leaves) complementing the elegancy.
These are soliflores by Histoires de Parfums site so it's no surprise when I say that this one smells pretty much linear with some detours - a bit greener in the drydown.
Very easily wearable if not a great love for me. It's more like a nice blouse you know fits well, even though  not the most spectacular you own.


Blanc Violette

Notes (also in French)
Top note : Violette, Bergamote, Iris.

Heart note : Violette, Ylang-Ylang, Anis Badiane.
Base note : Violette, Santal, Vanille, Musc, Poudre de Riz.

I'm not the one to fall for violets in my perfumes, but I actually liked this one better than Vert Pivoine (and I liked that one).
The interesting thing happened right at the beginning - I couldn't say what I was smelling. I was smelling it but my mind refused to put any name to it so I wrote down - white and sligthly bitter. :) I'm just so good with words. ;)
After that, it got slightly powdery and lightly irisy but I can't say I could recognize violets in there.
Then another interesting thing happened - it started smelling like it was being suffused with light. I don't know where that came from and I was very surprised to get that idea in my head. I wonder if someone else has tried this and had the same revelation?
I like it when I smell something that strongly questions my perfume knowledge as it was very hard for me to put into words what I was smelling and still can't really describe it well enough - I guess my flower notes knowledge is seriously lacking. :)
To me it basically smells good, easy, light, elegant and smoothly powdery in occasional whiffs.
Notes by: http://www.histoiresdeparfums.com/
 
Pic is mine of trees blooming in Zagreb.

My vintage miniatures find

Actually, it's more the case of them finding me than vice versa. :)
Last autumn I decided to try my hand at possibly finding some vintage gems in Croatia so I put an add in the most read add neswpapers here and it keeps re-appearing. I only got two calls so far. One was for a vintage Max Factor Hypnotique with a cat and the other one was a week ago, for two little cabinets containing vintage miniatures gathered over the course of 40 years or so.

Yesterday, I went to check them out. :) As you can probably guiess by now, I'm the proud owner of those 2 cabinets and the 220 miniatures they contain. Yeeeeeeeey!!

I just can't decribe how happy that makes me feel. :)

Here are my (not well taken) photos of them:

I do wish I could take better photos of them - it's not very visible what's in there.

These were too big for the cabinets so they came in a bag of their own.

I don't even know what some of them are but it's going to be so much fun smelling them, discovering what the ones I'm not familiar with are and talking about them.



Pics are mine.

Spring is here II.

These were taken at my boyfriend's yard  - a week ago, spring was being hinted at. :)

I didn't realize it was already time for shoots to start becoming flowers.

And then yesterday, crocuses are open.

And enjoying the spring sun.



Pics are mine.

Spring is here!

Although not in my step. I have a terrible cold for days now so I'm not able to smell anything and if something is strong enough to register, it hurts my nose and throat. 

But the weather is warm (incredibly so for this time of year) and the sun has been shining all week and should keep doing so in days to come even though it shouldn't be this warm.
So, it's the perfect time to dive into spring scents and I'm dying to do so, but at the moment, it is only a heartfelt wish that will have to wait.

In a vain attempt to smell spring, I sprayed Dawn's Dutch Blue Hyacinth this morning only to smell the barest whiff of something first 5 minutes and nothing from then on. I couldn't  decipher what it was that I was smelling before even that disappeared (as only the first strongest whiff managed to pass through my runny nose).

Oh, I am so very much looking forward to the moment I can enjoy spring through my nose!

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

Thoughts on spring and recent sniffs

I know I'm lagging behind a bit with writing about perfume. I want to do a real review of Bal d'Afrique because I think it deserves it and I'm somehow lost in the crossing between winter and spring. I cannot seem to find spring in my perfume wardrobe so today I did a bit of sample classification and put florals and those that seem spring-like and green close to my hand so I can put them on when I need something of that sort without having to go look for them.

I find it really strange that I have full bottles of stuff that is for winter and also for summer (autumn comes in between and is never really a problem) but when spring comes, I get lost and don't know what to wear.

I don't know if anyone noticed, last spring there was much talk about lily of the valley and lilies in general for spring. This year it's mostly about narcissus and hyacinths. And not only that there is much talk of it, I also feel this year I want to wear those flowers (again, am I that susceptible to trends?)

One of the things I'd like this spring seems to be Amaranthine. The more I think of it, the more I want it. You know where this is leading, don't you? ;)

In my search of spring scents, I tried again Lolita Lempicka original. I just can' see the appeal. And honestly, I get completely lost in the samples of LL stuff I have. How many flankers are there?! I'm never completely sure which one I'm testing. I also have L de Lolita Lempicka (I find that one better than LL) and I also have Fleur Defendue (I still have to try that one).

One of the things I realized this spring is that I enjoy tea in my spring scents (I'm planning a post on that soon).

And a thought to finish with, I finally get the Parfum de Therese and Une fleur de Cassie by Frederic Malle. And when I say I get them, what I actually mean is, I love them and need them in larger quantities than a sample.

P.S. I bought Cadjmere by PG quite some time ago for my boyfriend who doesn't seem to appreciate it, so it is MINE now. :) Yes! Yes! Yes!

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

Better than this? - Not likely

To start with the spring again, it's still warm and hopefully it will stay around this temperature a while yet. I like it when it's not too warm and not too cold, I want to enjoy spring this year. Last few years what was happening was that we went directly from winter to summer, without those lovely green, fresh, sunny spring days. Well, this year it has lasted 10 days for now, and we keep counting. :)


That was just the beginning, what is actually making these days so perfect is the fact that there is Douglas store freshly opened in the center of Zagreb! That is good news on so many levels. First, they carry several perfume brands that were previously unavailabale in Croatia, like Prada, Acqua di parma, Viktor & Rolf, Ed Hardy, and those are just the ones off the top of my head. They also carry Orlane which wasn't available either and it's just well, unbelievable. :)


One of the reasons this is making me so happy, is because now there are several such stores in Zagreb, and most of them concentrated in the centre of the city so my hope is that now they are all having such heavy competition, getting samples and all sorts of gifts with particular purchases are going to increase. I don't know if that's typical only of Croatia but since I've been getting much more samples for much lesser purchase everywhere else, I'd say it's typical for us, anyway sale assistants seem to be very stingy with samples, and I'm not going to talk about what I think of that, but you can guess.


So, it seems Zagreb is slowly becoming somewhat of a heaven for a budding perfumista. :) Sure, we don't have so many brands, but we have Institut Parfumeur Flores and some similar stores (smaller and with much less of a choice, but still niche brands) and all this generic brands in quite a lot of different stores. And on top of that, I got my Lucky scent Le Labo sample pack, so I'll be enjoying that this week as well. Ahh, spring is just perfect this year! :)

Spring restlessness

I know all my posts are named spring something lately but I can't help it, I am way happy that it's finally warm and sunny (though it's a bit too warm too last).
What I wanted to say today is that I woke this morning restless and edgy because still half asleep I concluded I have no spring scent at my boyfriend's place to put this morning. And that was followed by another irritating realization, my make-up collection is not spring ready.
Spring this year has come late and a bit unexpectedly for me so I am not prepared (my wardrobe isn't either). Now, I already have a list of things to look up at home and bring over to my boyfriend's so I wouldn't wake too early restless beacuse I'm not going to enjoy something green and budding like the scenery around me these days. Ideas what I might try anyone?
I also found a perfect eye shadow palette from Estee Lauder that unfortunately I'm not going to own, since first, it's sold out on their site, and secondly, the Bronze goddess collection hasn't made an appearance in CRoatia so far. There are some nice palettes from Bourjois and YSL but none as perfect as this one. Well, you can't have everything. And after reading Divina's post on lipgloss, I realized I don't have any in a spring tone. I guess a bit more shopping is in store for me. ;)
Let you know how my shopping went.

Image: www.esteelauder.com

Spring Monday

Finally I can say it arrived. :) Last week was horrible, the weather was awful, everyone was depressed (including me) and now it's over. I mean even if the cold returns for a while, at least we got a preview of spring. And that is enough for now.
Now that spring has arrived, I thought I might give a short overview of some of the samples that came from Lucky scent's Early spring sample pack. I love the fact that they create these sample packs and send them all over the world. Thanks!
I'll focus on the four Teo Cabanel samples I got. I must admit, until the pack arrived, I never even heard of Teo Cabanel, but now, I have to say, it was nice getting to know the line. It contains 4 fragrances, Julia, Oha, Alahine and Meloe.

Julia: Mandarin, rhubarb leaves, black currant, jasmine, violet, hyacinth, sandalwood, incense, citruses, raspberry and musk.
This one surprised me because I'm not into floral feminine scents and I liked it from the go. It starts very fresh and floral and it lightens the mood instantly, giving the feeling of summer and light. The floral note is almost too much for me and I keep waiting for it to start irritating my nose, but it is perfectly balanced with a fresh current which my guess are those citruses in the notes. It reminds me of romance setting from the 19th century - walking with a parasol, in a white dress during a beautiful warm and sunny spring day with a romantic partner. I think that the barest trace of jasmine I get is waht gives it such a romantic connotation in my mind.

Oha: Bergamot, Tea accord, Bulgarian and Damascus rose, jasmine, cardamom, tonka bean, vanilla, white musk, Exotic woods
This one was terribly frustrating because I cannot recognize a single note. It smells classic and bitter green at the beginning (guess that's the tea accord) and after the initial 15 minutes, what I get is an idea of a garden/home of an English spinster - I suppose the rose/tea combination is what brings that about. I think it is well done, although not something I would wear.

Alahine: Bergamot, ylang-ylang, jasmine, Moroccan rose, iris, cistus, patchouli, benjoin, vanilla, sandalwood, musk
Well, you can't miss this one being an oriental. :) It starts with a sweet oriental blast with hints of smoke and patchouli. Initially it is a bit too sweet for my taste, but it gets better (not so sweet). What it reminded me of is a warm oriental room full of rugs with loukhum and pipe on a low table. Lucky scent mentioned honey rose, I guess that's the loukhum for me (the one I tried had the taste of rose). The drydown though is complete vanilla on me.

Meloe: Calabrian Bergamot, Mandarin and Lemon from Sicily, Lavander, Basil, Neroli from Tunisia, Orange blossom, Jasmine, Nutmeg, Crystal Moss, Musk, Amber
This one is an eau legere, and smells, well, like one. :) That is fresh and citrusy and great. I absolutely love it. I kept smelling my wrist waiting for this perfect citrusy/green freshness to dissapear and leave me dissapointed, but I wasn't. It smells of a Mediterranean summer the way I imagine it, sunny, citrusy and of beach. This is what I hoped Eau Turquiose of Parfums de Nicolai was going to smell like (that one was a definite disappointment for me).
My favorites are Julia and Meloe and I'm happy to say, the line can be bought in Zagreb at Institut Parfumeur Flores.
This was my welcome spring post. Hopefully now that the weather is turning warm, I'll write more often.

Notes by Lucky scent.
Image: isabellelorelai.files.wordpress.com