SotD Thursday 25 February  

Eau Sauvage- Dior

Will be Guerlain Habit Rouge eau de parfum







How fabulous is this Dior red leather and mink coat I found searching for evocative red jacket images? (sorry if you're against fur and/or leather, no intention to offend)

Great coat !

Today it's Joy extrait. Have a good day !

Wow! It's still Wednesday here, but I'm sampling Tom Ford Black Orchid.

It's 1:45 a.m. and we just got home this hour from our trip to Florida. I'll reply to my PMs after I get up in the morning, but I did want to give you all an update. I so appreciate the prayers and kind thoughts!

Dad, whom everyone expected to have died by now (he arrested last Friday but was revived) is hanging by a thread on a ventilator; although he now has D.N.R. orders, his mind is clear when they reduce sedation for visits, and he doesn't want to be taken off the vent (and all the other tubes)-- even though his liver is shot, his heart is badly damaged and we have been told there is no hope whatsoever of survival. He can only communicate with nods and hand squeezes, but he has made his wishes about life support very clear. The ICU nurse said she has seen people in his condition live as long as a month. I wouldn't want to be on life support, but then I'm not the one facing death.

We said our goodbyes with heavy hearts and were forced to return to CT because my daughter can't afford to miss any more school. However, I fully expect to have to return (probably solo) to Florida after he dies, to help my mother with everything that has to be done. I guess I will have to keep a bag packed.

Meanwhile Mom is sleeping little and is forgetting to take her cardiac and diabetes meds unless reminded. I discovered she had missed 10 days of meds! I want to get her memory loss evaluated -- she says it's been getting worse for some time. On top of that, she had a fall last night (no injury, thank God.) I hated to leave her-- she needs me there, but I need to be here for my own family too. I'd like to divide myself in two.

She needs help with bill paying-- Dad always did the finances, so she is overwhelmed. When Dad dies, she will need to sell her house and move into assisted living up here, but of course there will be a waiting list-- I have to check it out. Tomorrow I'll start making calls about that.

Unfortunately, I'm not at all sure she will be able to manage alone for even a few weeks while Dad is in the ICU. Her close friend will be checking on her, and I'll be phoning daily-- maybe several times a day-- but if she can't manage, I will need to convert our 10'x 10' dining room into a bedroom and bring her north to live with us until we can get her into the place we have in mind. I hope that will not be necessary-- we will see.

So there it is... life throws us curveballs, doesn't it! I know this will all get sorted out in the end, but right now it is a mess.

Sampling Parfums de Nicolai Sacrebleu and Lanvin Spanish Geranium. I like Sacrebleu from a distance but if I put my nose close to my wrist it turns my stomach. The Spanish Geranium has a similar distance effect, but it turns my stomach less... They won't be keepers unless a miracle happens as they dry down further.

Still enjoying Visa today. Sending hugs to 30 Roses and a P.M.

30 Roses- so many hugs sent to you and yours.
What a complex, painful time for you all

Kewart- kisses !
I'll send more ;-)

Donna- Happy Birthday, my dear !

Jasmin de Nuit, by TDC- a big favorite.

Spent all day w/ St. Maggie-of-Rheumatology; it's back to prednisone, for good
[a girl needs to be able to use her hands, feet, hips, and have some energy]

Big love to all....

Today I'm wearing L'Instant de Guerlain from a sample, me likey!

Sonia Rykiel Le Parfum.....( Wolfie!!)

I've been bad lately & neglected Basenotes, I am sorry.

I'm wearing CL&TP crazystick in Amoreuse today. I love the peppery rose.

Testing Guerlain Idylle and Le Parfums de Rosine Rose d'Amour.
Sacrebleu smells much better now, the stomach-turning element is gone and it has morphed into a deep dark amber.

30R., so many of them curveballs for you! Hugs, positive thoughts and prayers sent your way.
RHM, hang on there, you will make it!

Donna, happy scented birthday to you and many more.

I am in a 5***** fragrance that is not in the Directory and that I love dearly for about 15 years now -- Yves Rocher 8e Jour, made available for me through a decant so generously sent here by Ms.E. I had a teaser about it, it is a balmy oriental with frankincense and vanilla and it is a swooner.

30 Roses,

May life take a more scenic route for you soon.

Today I'll be simply spritzing Gardenia by Bodycology.

May each of us enjoy a day liberated from clutter, complications, or discord...

Testing Elizabeth Arden Provocative Woman and Etro Palais Jamais.
Guerlain's Idylle is awful - it seems they are committed to totally ruining the reputation of this great house. :-(((

Versace L'Homme today. Cold and windy after yesterdays storms and hail

My SOTD is Comme des Garcons 2 MAN.

Notes include incense, white smoke, saffron flowers, nutmeg, vetiver roots, mahogany and leather.

Hypnotic Poison, for me, warm and cozy in the driving snow.

Dear 30Roses, what a difficult time you are going through! My heart goes out to you. Is there no other family able to help? It seems like everything's on your shoulders......

Chopard's Casmir....it's been a long time....

30 Roses- I am very sorry to hear about the current news .re your Dad. I can only offer you and your family prayers.


Happy Birthday Donna255

SotD Sonoma Scent Studio, Encens Tranquille

(((((30Roses))))) I'm so sorry, honey. You and your loved ones are in my prayers.
Chaya, I hope the meds get you feeling better fast. Gentle, careful hugs to you. xoxo
Antaeusintheair, that is one FIERCE coat!!!

Happy birthday, Donna!


Continuing on with Lovely Patchouli. I stand in front of my frag cabinet and try to pick a different one but I just don't want anything else presently.

Take care, everyone!

Good morning all First of all I can't even imagine how you must feel now 30Roses. all I can offer is lots of good thoughts coming your way and my moral support! For Donna a big birthday hug...and one for Chaya too.Feel better soon! Sotd is another personal favourite of mine, Crystal Noir. This scent is special to me. I got it for a christmas some years ago from the bf. He hates shopping for perfumes,but still he did.He liked this one and said it smelled "me",so he had to get it for me. It's not a very complicated scent,but love how it makes me feel. the perfect combination of a slightly sour element in the opening that warms up to a coconutty,musky floral

Day five of my run through 5 star fragrances as rated by moi

Serge Lutens Douce Amere

Notes: artemisia absinthium, anise, cinammon, marigold, foamflower, jasmine, lily, tagetes, vanilla, musk, cedar (from SL website)

This little semi-gourmand is indeed on of my favorite fragrances. I do love a good gourmand, but I often find them a bit boring after a couple of hours. And sometimes too sweet. Enter Douce Amere - bittersweet - as the perfect cure.
It opens with a back and forth battle between the bitterness of artemisia (wormwood plant) and the anise. Cinammom lurkes as well. This captures my attention, as it smells different each time I sniff. Soon it starts to soften with the cinammon florals, and the sweetness wins out with the approach of the basenotes. After several hours, the most luscious musk softened vanilla emerges, still with hints of the cinammon. This is close wearing, but such an interesting take on the usual oriental, that it has earned my attention and my love. It is a bit unLutens like, but yet, it is so like this line - surprising but not so daring as to offend. This is a soft Lutens, and with such an interesting opening, I don't mind soft. In fact, I love it.

30Roses...more hugs for you & your family. We will keep up the good thoughts & prayers.

Chaya, my sweet, you know......

Happiest of Birthday wishes to Donna255!

I am wearing Atrrape-Coeur, a comfort scent for me. Next surgical proceedure is scheduled for 10:30am on March 2nd, Tuesday. It's the lithotripsy, where they literally "blast" the stone. Hope it works! It's a big rock.
Don't know if my husband will be able to stay home. He turned around, as he drove to Quebec for his next assignment and came back home instead. (He's the "Totoro" in my avatar.) Wish he could stay but he needs to work & I understand that.

Hey...we are having another giagantic snowstorm today & tomorrow. Northern NJ is expecting a foot or two! This has been some crazy winter.

AM: Comme des Garcons: Lily
PM: Chanel No. 19 parfum (woo hoo, I finally understand No. 19!)

SOTD thread today is sad. {The best part is that gorgeous red coat, WOW! Love it!}
Chaya & 30Roses & RHM, "this too shall pass". I don't know what else to say. Sending the three of you vibes of (((strength)))&(((love))).

Gucci by Gucci

30 Roses my best wishes that this transition goes as smoothly as it can. In many ways it is a blessing for your father to be able to communicate his wishes. It adds a burden on the family and you in particular. I hope the curveballs will become softballs over time.
Chaya, I am glad you tried the non-prednisone route to see whether it worked for you. Now you know.
RHM, funny we must be connected I was just diagnosed with a small kidney stone yesterday. Too small to do anything about and small enough I might pass it. I had one the size of my thumbnail a few years ago and the lithotripsy was a great procedure for removing it. I was back on my feet within 36 hours and no scars or cutting makes it Star Trek medicine to me. If you have any questions about the procedure PM and I might be able to put your mind at ease.

Continuing my run of designer scents today.

Perry Ellis Platinum Label

Guilty pleasures are those things that only we like that we know are not going to be thought of as great by anyone else. They are the movies we stay up too late watching that get one star. They are the bit of junk food we keep hidden in the back of the pantry. They are the teen pop song we sing along to in the car at the top of our lungs, when we are alone. If anyone asks we will sheepishly admit to our admiration of these guilty pleasures but we like to keep them hidden away. The thing that makes them guilty pleasure is these things we like are usually examples of things that are copycat and churned out endlessly but for whatever reason they resonate with us. I’m going to share one of my fragrant guilty pleasures with you the 2009 release Perry Ellis Platinum Label.

I was walking through my local Macy’s and was handed a strip and a sample of this during the 2009 Holiday season. I stuck them in my jacket pocket but the strip got enough on my hand to make me smell it for the next hour or two. My first impression was typical men’s clean and fresh composition. This was too bad because the first Perry Ellis for Men was one of the standout designer fragrances at the department store counter, mainly because it stayed away from the clean and fresh path. The funny thing was I kept smelling it over the next few hours and I started to like it more, enough to give it a spray from the sample on the back of my hand and this time I really liked it even though it was everything that clean and fresh has come to mean.

The top of Platinum Label begins with a mix of orange, bamboo, and rosemary. This is a typical citrus woody opening but the bamboo adds a lighter wood feel and the rosemary adds a herbal foundation to this that works for me. The heart is lavender and balsam and I like the choice to use the herbal character of lavender and the deeper woody character of balsam to intensify the two non-citrus notes from the top. The intensifying wood notes continue into the base as cedar takes its place alongside a typical masculine musk accord.

Platinum Label has average longevity and average sillage.

I can’t say Platinum Label has any particular quality that makes it more interesting than the slew of clean and fresh fragrances crowding the department store counter. For whatever reason it is the fragrance that I’m going to wear while listening to Taylor Swift in line to see the latest Sandra Bullock chick flick while eating a Ho-Ho. Vive le guilty pleasures!


Have a Tip-Top Thursday everyone

30 Roses, that's really tough. Wish you have all the strength to deal with the situation.
You and your family will be in my prayer. (((hugs)))


Thanks everyone for the BD wishes & gifts yesterday.

30Roses, I won't “busy” your PM box, but if you ever want to talk, cry, b*tch, laugh, get distracted, I'm here 24/7. Just ask and I'll give you my #. At times like this, the heart aches and the mind goes mad. I'm impressed with your fortitude and your loving care for your parents.

Chaya, I can't begin to understand your pain and frustration, but what I can grasp leaves me sorrowful. No platitudes can compensate sweet you for life's injustices.

RHM, Zap! Better days are coming!

Cadjmere 18 today.

Welcome, bonsai. Welcome back, pip. Hang round, you cuties.

Carthusia - Mediterraneo for me today

Egoiste by Chanel



IMO, the finest Chanel masculine. Just perfect on a chilly, sunny day here in Miami. Last day in Miami, before my weekend trip to San Diego!

Prayers for you, 30 Roses.

Today it's SJP's Lovely.

Guerlain's Mitsouko older EdT.

Dear 30 Roses, my thoughts are with you at what must be a very challenging time - caring for not one but two parents at once is not easy, and certainly not at a distance.

Birthday wishes to Donna255. "'Bout ye?!"

Am wearing Ajne Vanille from my perfume pendant vs L'Artisan Vanilia. The former is rich and toasted, the latter is like a cheap chewy sweet by comparison.

30Roses, I am really sorry you have such bad news. You are in my thoughts and prayers. I wish you strength in these difficult times...



Today I continue with a 5 star perfume,
Grain de Soleil


Happy Birthday Donna255!

I'm relaxing on here for a bit before attending to the piled-up chores of the day.

Thank you for all your kind words, thoughts and prayers! We are going to get through this. It is reminding me of the old joke: How do you eat an elephant? (Answer: one bite at a time.)

While at the airport yesterday I picked up a 10 ml. roll-on bottle of "Cotton Flower" by Time & Again-- (for all of $7.50) It smells like some blue seashell-shaped perfumed guest soaps I used to buy-- can't recall the name just now. If it comes to me I'll edit the post.

Just the faint traces of Obsession on the sweatshirt I'm wearing

30 Roses, Here's wishing for some resolution in your situation soon. In the meantime, some ((((hugs)))).

((((30 Roses)))) sending you my best wishes.

Hugs to RHM and Chaya as well.

SotD: The fabulous Chanel No. 22

Chanel Cristalle EDT today.

Nahema edp

Good thoughts and hugs to those who want them.

Louanges by Perfume Generale

Today I am trying Serge Lutens Sa Majeste La Rose and I am blown away....instantly addicted. Everything is certainly rosy here.

30 Roses, my thoughts are with you and your family... Hang in there!

Today, Serge Lutens Fleurs de Citronnier...

Can't say it any better! ((30Roses)).









SMM, have you ever heard of using coconut water for kidney stones? Besides being an isotonic solution that is identical to blood plasma, it has a chemical, lauric acid, that is known to also dissolve kidney stones. You might do a bit of research on it.

Happiest of birthdays to Donna!

SOTM: Chanel No 22.

Yesterday wore the beautiful Rubj in the afternoon, changing to Chanel No 5 for bedtime (a la Marilyn Monroe ).

For Donna

Datura Noir, an odd choice for such a wintry, snowy day but I do love this fragrance. Dreaming of warmer, sunnier days to come.

Best wishes to 30Roses at this difficult time.

Happy Birthday to Donna.

Adding my hugs and good wishes to 30Roses and her family...

Busy day ahead here...hoping to keep focused on the big tasks ahead...

Recently discovered the fabulousness that is Bal a Versailles EDT, my SOTD & the day's 5-star fragrance...

To all in the frozen/freezing areas - stay warm...
To all - wishing you good health...and lots of love...

Evening all,

Safran Troublant for me today and I think it finally made the snow melt away.

Happy thoughts and hugs to 30 Roses.

I couldn't help myself to start extra early on tomorrow's 5 star rated scent, Cuir de russie edt (vintage),so that's my sotE.Will probably wear it for tomorrow too

Started the day in L'instant Guerlain, but having spent most of today in the lab, I now reek of goodness knows what

Egoiste (Chanel)

Annick Goutal - Songes EDT for an evening out. What a beautiful, rich jasmin scent!

five-star Chergui