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i've been spending way too much money on beauty things this past month; the words "drunken sailor" come to mind. Mostly I've been throwing money at Frederic Malle - It all started with a bottle of Portrait of a Lady, and the splurge purchase of Malle's Portrait of a Lady body butter has only complicated things in an enabling kind of way.
So, about a month ago, I fell in love with Portrait of a Lady when I stumbled onto it at the beauty counter at Barney's. I smelled it and knew it had to be mine. Love at first sniff. Described thusly on the Malle website:
A baroque, sumptuous and symphonic perfume that required hundreds of trials to balance such an expressive formula, Portrait of a Lady is undoubtedly the perfume containing the strongest ever dosage of rose essence and patchouli heart. Dominique Ropion composed an oriental rose, based on an accord of accord of benzoin, cinnamon, sandalwood, and, above all patchouli, musk and frankincense. A perfume evocative of sensuous beauty, that attracts people like a magnet. A modern classic.
First of all, it's unusual for me to find a rose-centric blend that I like. But! I'm a huge fan of frankincense, and I've learned that a patchouli note can smell like much more than just "stinky hippie." I wouldn't have chosen this based on the text description, but like all great art, words fail to communicate the experience. I didn't know what I was smelling, I just needed more of it in my life.
As I am wont to do when I fall in love with something, I obsessively research and try to find out as much as I can about said object of affection, which, in this case, included both the scent and the perfume house as a whole. This kind of focus tends to be all consuming for me, it's a function of an obsessive curiosity. Anyway, in the course of my research, I found there was scented body butter available. Suddenly, the most important thing in the world becomes my ability to slather myself from head to toe and become one with this fragrance. It's not the cheapest thing in the world, but when I told K how much I spent on the perfume, he was like, "you could have spent twice as much!" so now it kind of seems like I'm tossing in the body butter for free, in a slightly demented rationalization kind of way. I also added a small travel sample of "Dans tes Bras" because why not, then clicked the "checkout" button.
A week later, my body butter arrives and it's insanely good. Like, magical good. Like, it smells amazing, like eye roll back into my head amazing, and my parched skin drinks in the moisture like nobody's business, transforming from lizardlike, California drought skin to radiant and silky smooth, beautifully fragrant skin. Wow. Yes. I am transformed. I glide through the house, throwing mad sillage as I walk up to K and say, "My stuff came! Here, touch my arm, it's so soft." He obliges, eyes grow wide, and says, "wow!" I say, "Yeah, right?! Amazing." He marvels and gets a dreamy look in his eyes. He then says, "so, how much was it?" I say, "guess.." 400 dollars! he guesses; I say no. 500! I say no, with a smile. He looks a little worried and shouts, "700!" "No!" Yes, this is good, I like his guessing, because now 200$ feels cheap! I tell him it was $215, and he looks at me and says, "your skin can feel that good for 200$? Do they have more? You need to get another one!" So, really, what's a gal to do but buy some travel sizes in order to identify which body butter to get next? It's like a moral imperative at this point. There are four primary contenders: Musc Ravageur (might be too much cinnamon); Dries Van Noten (vanilla/sandalwood sound perfect!); Iris Poudre (highly unlikely but could be a dark horse); and Carnal Flower, which![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mafdet has first dibs on since she got a bottle of that the same time I got PoAL, but I couldn't pass up the notes in Carnal Flower as a potentially outstanding body butter option (Tuberose! Coconut! Orange blossom! Yeah, I could slather that!)
I also got some Slumberhouse samples at last; they are a perfume house out of Portland. I have a bottle of Zahd from them, but haven't experienced anything else from their line. Another line where full bottles aren't cheap; very glad I found a place online that had samples available (Twisted Lily, who do great customer service, btw).
I've also been revitalizing my makeup. I've decided to become a red lipstick person for the next decade or so; if it's good enough for French women, it's good enough for me. It's simple, yet looks really elegant when done right. It's been a little bit of trial and error to find the "perfect" go-to daily red, but I think I finally found it - Bobbi Brown's Luxe Lip Color in Parisian Red. It's got a little bit of shine and not a trace of a blue undertone.
So, about a month ago, I fell in love with Portrait of a Lady when I stumbled onto it at the beauty counter at Barney's. I smelled it and knew it had to be mine. Love at first sniff. Described thusly on the Malle website:
A baroque, sumptuous and symphonic perfume that required hundreds of trials to balance such an expressive formula, Portrait of a Lady is undoubtedly the perfume containing the strongest ever dosage of rose essence and patchouli heart. Dominique Ropion composed an oriental rose, based on an accord of accord of benzoin, cinnamon, sandalwood, and, above all patchouli, musk and frankincense. A perfume evocative of sensuous beauty, that attracts people like a magnet. A modern classic.
First of all, it's unusual for me to find a rose-centric blend that I like. But! I'm a huge fan of frankincense, and I've learned that a patchouli note can smell like much more than just "stinky hippie." I wouldn't have chosen this based on the text description, but like all great art, words fail to communicate the experience. I didn't know what I was smelling, I just needed more of it in my life.
As I am wont to do when I fall in love with something, I obsessively research and try to find out as much as I can about said object of affection, which, in this case, included both the scent and the perfume house as a whole. This kind of focus tends to be all consuming for me, it's a function of an obsessive curiosity. Anyway, in the course of my research, I found there was scented body butter available. Suddenly, the most important thing in the world becomes my ability to slather myself from head to toe and become one with this fragrance. It's not the cheapest thing in the world, but when I told K how much I spent on the perfume, he was like, "you could have spent twice as much!" so now it kind of seems like I'm tossing in the body butter for free, in a slightly demented rationalization kind of way. I also added a small travel sample of "Dans tes Bras" because why not, then clicked the "checkout" button.
A week later, my body butter arrives and it's insanely good. Like, magical good. Like, it smells amazing, like eye roll back into my head amazing, and my parched skin drinks in the moisture like nobody's business, transforming from lizardlike, California drought skin to radiant and silky smooth, beautifully fragrant skin. Wow. Yes. I am transformed. I glide through the house, throwing mad sillage as I walk up to K and say, "My stuff came! Here, touch my arm, it's so soft." He obliges, eyes grow wide, and says, "wow!" I say, "Yeah, right?! Amazing." He marvels and gets a dreamy look in his eyes. He then says, "so, how much was it?" I say, "guess.." 400 dollars! he guesses; I say no. 500! I say no, with a smile. He looks a little worried and shouts, "700!" "No!" Yes, this is good, I like his guessing, because now 200$ feels cheap! I tell him it was $215, and he looks at me and says, "your skin can feel that good for 200$? Do they have more? You need to get another one!" So, really, what's a gal to do but buy some travel sizes in order to identify which body butter to get next? It's like a moral imperative at this point. There are four primary contenders: Musc Ravageur (might be too much cinnamon); Dries Van Noten (vanilla/sandalwood sound perfect!); Iris Poudre (highly unlikely but could be a dark horse); and Carnal Flower, which
mafdet has first dibs on since she got a bottle of that the same time I got PoAL, but I couldn't pass up the notes in Carnal Flower as a potentially outstanding body butter option (Tuberose! Coconut! Orange blossom! Yeah, I could slather that!)I also got some Slumberhouse samples at last; they are a perfume house out of Portland. I have a bottle of Zahd from them, but haven't experienced anything else from their line. Another line where full bottles aren't cheap; very glad I found a place online that had samples available (Twisted Lily, who do great customer service, btw).
I've also been revitalizing my makeup. I've decided to become a red lipstick person for the next decade or so; if it's good enough for French women, it's good enough for me. It's simple, yet looks really elegant when done right. It's been a little bit of trial and error to find the "perfect" go-to daily red, but I think I finally found it - Bobbi Brown's Luxe Lip Color in Parisian Red. It's got a little bit of shine and not a trace of a blue undertone.
