Fragrances -Gucci - Guilty Intense
languagegames 2/6/2012 2:00:00 PM
I'm really liking this. My mother bought it for me as an early birthday present because I guess the sales rep kept telling her it had a lot of patchouli in it, and she knows how much I enjoy my patch. A while ago I had a sample of the EdT of Guilty, and I was really stricken by how well it lasted (about 5 hours) and how good it smelled on me, but I didn't have the means to buy some for myself. It's kind of a mix of the patch, lilac, orchid, amber, and slightly unripened peach. I'm only rating it down because there's not much of a difference in lasting power between the EdT and the EdP, and I think there should be for the increased price. Anyway, this is becoming what I wear on a daily basis. It's warm and lush, a nice compromise between the classic Orientals and the new fruit-chouli blends.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Blush -NARS - Orgasm Blush
languagegames 1/24/2012 4:37:00 PM
Where have you been all my life?
Being fair skinned I've heard gallons about NARS Orgasm. Being broke I've never bothered to purchase it.
But today I needed to exchange something at Sephora and I mentioned to the SA that I needed some new blush... my beloved MAC Peaches having run out recently. Of course she towed me over to NARS after courteously asking me if I had a brand preference, which I do not. Before I could react, really, she was fluffing Orgasm on my face. I was prepared to politely refuse, but after seeing it in the mirror and outside in natural lighting I was immediately sold.
Pinks don't look good on me, generally. I have to do peachy or coral blushes. Orgasm pulls more peach on my skintone and it does have the infamous golden sheen. Which, honestly, I like because it warms up my face without looking ridiculous like a bronzer does. I'm really pleased with my purchase and I'm excited to use my new blush. The pan is seriously going to last me years.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Foundations -Cover Girl - Natureluxe Liquid Silk Foundation
languagegames 1/24/2012 4:31:00 PM
I bought this a little skeptically because I don't usually like Cover Girl products; they tend to be very underwhelming to me and Cover Girl used to test on animals. But I'm on a budget and I was looking for something to use as a tinted moisturizer or to mix with my own moisturizer to use as such. Personally I think they should market this "foundation" as a "tinted moisturizer" because the coverage is sheer, maybe medium if you layer.
I'm a 305 ("Alabaster") and the color is quite nice. I think it's yellow and not pink based, which is better for me because I have neutral-leaning warm undertones. I love the texture of the product- I can apply it with my fingers sans problem- and its slightly illuminating qualities. I use it over a face sunscreen because I'm really anal about sun protection, and it doesn't pill up or react weirdly like some other foundations. My skin is a little dry, so maybe that's why I don't find I have any issues with oil... but I don't think you would, unless you use too much product.
Overall I'm really pleased and would repurchase again! We'll see how things go in the warmer months.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Parfumerie Generale - Praline de Santal
languagegames 12/21/2011 2:22:00 PM
Oh, hello, new lemming. It's nice to meet you. I don't know what it is with me and loving these "bread" scents (Jeux de Peau, I'm looking right at your awesomeness) lately, but I'm totally onboard this new "gourmand but not cavity inducing" train. Praline de Santal is now on my full-bottle worthy list. Why? Well, it's simple. There's a nice toasted bread- or praline, which would be pecans- note smothered in some excellent sandalwood. However, this is not as dense as Jeux de Peau, although they share an extremely similar warm, creamy feel, and I'd say it's less "complex." (There are literally fewer notes, but that doesn't always mean a perfume will smell less nuanced- Praline de Santal is well composed and very wearable.) My mother's family is from the South and it could just be my bias speaking, but this is some great juice. Not sugary sweet, not cloying- just delicious and comforting.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Thierry Mugler - Angel
languagegames 12/20/2011 4:36:00 PM
Preface: I love patchouli. I love it. The earthy, actual, real smell of patchouli, which many people dismiss as "head shop" or "hippie" territory. Logically, I should also love Angel, seeing as I'm a gourmand freak in the sense that I adore the "weird" gourmands like Jeux de Peau and even Womanity. Yet, Angel is an extreme no-go for me! My body chemistry turns it into pine cones and smoke, which would be lovely in its way- if I wasn't expecting cotton candy, patchouli and caramel instead. One of my favorite family friends wears this and I compliment her every time I see her- she smells absolutely amazing! A few years back, a girl in my chemistry class wore it in her hair, which diluted the strength of the scent nicely. I loved sitting behind her because I caught whiffs of it the entire class period. If Angel smelled the way it did on them, on me, I'd gladly buy a bottle. In fact, the biggest bottle and a refill. But sadly it doesn't.
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Estee Lauder - Beautiful Sheer
languagegames 12/20/2011 4:28:00 PM
Totally respectable, pretty floral scent. It's not particularly memorable but it is long lasting, with nice sillage. Beautiful Sheer is very prim and proper, but I could see where you'd might want a "prim and proper" scent: at work, some kinds of social gatherings... a class lecture. Basically it's hard to offend people while you're wearing this. I used to work in a card shop and we sold potpourri in little packets that you could stick in drawers, and one of them, Bamboo and Blossoms, smelled exactly like Beautiful Sheer. It's sunny, airy and not saccharine sweet, with a lot of what smells like orange blossom. I enjoy it sometimes, but it's not a "me" scent. It's simply very appropriate for lots of occasions.
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Fragrances -Serge Lutens - Un Bois Vanille
languagegames 12/17/2011 3:28:00 PM
This was my favorite SL until I sniffed Jeux de Peau. (: I've never been lucky enough to own a bottle, but hey, Christmas is coming and I hope for the best. Being a walking contradiction when it comes to my preferences in just about everything, including perfume, I love vanilla but I hate sweet, sweet, sweet vanilla. Most commercial scents I've tried that are recommended to vanilla lovers leave me wanting to brush my teeth. Un Bois Vanille is the antidote to all that- toasty and a little burnt, rather like the crunchy sugar on top of crème brûlée. It turns sweet on me, but not like a cake. I get a waxy, dry note that I suppose is the listed "beeswax," as well, and the drydown is faint in general on me, but few perfumes are long lasting on my very dry skin.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Serge Lutens - Chergui
languagegames 12/14/2011 6:15:00 PM
Chergui is some spectacular stuff. I admire it, I often get the urge to nip a spray from my sample decant, and then all day I marvel at how good I smell. On my skin, it's a combination of rose shisha (hookah tobacco), honey and spices. It's sweet, it's heady, and it's intoxicating. I've used it in the cold and the heat, and sometimes when I wore it over the summer there was a small edge of mint to the scent, but now in the winter it's pure and decadent- nothing cool about it. I haven't committed to a full bottle yet, although at some point I definitely will. I just don't see Chergui being something I'd use often enough. I don't say this very much, because I wear perfume every day, but it's too special.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Etat Libre D'Orange - Jasmin et Cigarette
languagegames 12/13/2011 8:47:00 PM
I've been using a sample of this for a few days now- never having even heard of it- and I find it very unique. (This was in an array of samples that included Jeux de Peau, which I've also left a rave review for.) Over the past couple of years or so I've definitely come to realize I don't have a "type" of perfume. My favorites are kind of rampantly spread. I do have "types" of notes, though, so there's that, at least. My point in writing this is only that if it seems like my good reviews are strangely spread, well, they kind of are. Jasmin et Cigarette is very feminine and off kilter enough to be intriguing. The jasmine is sweet and accessible, not dirty, and undercut by a kind of unburnt tobacco. The scent's got a lot of depth to it, but it's not "ashy" and I wouldn't want it to be. I don't get burning cigarettes from this; I get a pack of cigarettes, maybe Davidoff- I'm not a smoker, but one of my ex boyfriends was, and I remember those smelling very nice- with some lively jasmine and a dash of something darkly fruity and a little sticky. It's "flapper" in the way that Habanita is flapper, and though it's a bit ambitious to cast it in terms of Garbo, I'm still rapidly falling in love with it.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Serge Lutens - Jeux de Peau
languagegames 12/12/2011 1:43:00 PM
*Edit- Apparently I have an allergic reaction to this scent and it makes me sneeze. So sad.
I truly enjoy this- it has been my first Serge Lutens purchase! I get melted butter, milky black tea, apricot jam, and toasted caramel when I wear this... though not in that order every time. It's not grossly sweet or ridiculously loud, which is the beauty of a gourmand like this! In fact, there's a "salty" element in here that is nicely brought out by the sandalwood base. Honestly, Jeux de Peau is a very strange perfume, but I absolutely don't mind. I'd prefer strange to bland, and just because it's strange doesn't mean it's not a beautiful creation. Or even sexy, in its own way! The saltiness I get is very suggestive of warm skin, which is fitting given the name of the scent itself. In summary- if Ralph Lauren Hot had a much more intriguing, elegant older sister who hadn't overdosed on the maple syrup at breakfast, she'd be Jeux de Peau.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Unlisted Brand - Elie Saab-Le Parfum
languagegames 11/5/2011 1:00:00 PM
The "three" is purely because I wouldn't wear this kind of scent myself- I'm not one for white floral scents. However, I am planning on going in with my brother to buy my mom a bottle for Christmas, because she would love it. Elie Saab is getting such a bad rap online! I'm not really sure why, because I think it's beautiful and well executed, especially in light of all the orange blossom scents on the market today. It's zingy and sparkly, but grounded in a calm woodsy base. I appreciate the fact that "rose honey" was used as opposed to rose, because if they had opted for a pure rose note (as found in Stella) it would have made the whole perfume heavy and dense. In all, definitely not a bad choice if you like pronounced orange blossom or jasmine!
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Tom Ford - Tobacco Vanille
languagegames 11/5/2011 12:51:00 PM
Ah. I think one day I'll have to marry into money so I can afford all the perfumes I want. Tobacco Vanille has been on my hardcore lemming list for a long time. True, if I saved the money I've spent on Prada Candy and assorted Starbucks beverages, I might have been able to buy a bottle this year, but being a grad student I need my caffeine and cuddly, comforting scent. Tobacco Vanille is beautiful and evocative, but for me, it's not particularly "cuddly."
My grandfather smokes a pipe on occasion and he usually chooses vanilla flavored tobacco. Tobacco Vanille- and I say this in a positive way- smells exactly like an open jar of the fairly expensive, high quality pipe tobacco my grandfather buys. On skin, it warms up very well and takes on an aura rather than a "oh hey, someone's smoking a pipe around here" feeling. I really enjoy it, but then I tend to like tobacco based scents like Tobacco Vanille, Chergui and Habanita! (The only one I have right now is Habanita.)
6 out of 7 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Chanel - Chance
languagegames 11/5/2011 12:42:00 PM
This was the perfume that launched my scent obsession. I got my first bottle quite a while back, when it first came out, and I actually used the entire thing over the course of one school year. Looking back, I probably wore a little too much, but we live and learn! I'm still very fond of it, and I have the EDP in my collection. I wear it more often than not!
Between Chance and Coco Mademoiselle, I would hands-down choose Chance. Why? It's obviously a personal preference, but I think it's much better balanced. I think the patchouli is more pronounced too, and I love patchouli. I also feel like Chance is a close sister of Coco's, which is another of my favorites. (I'm not convinced that Coco and Coco Mademoiselle should actually share names, for that matter! I will run screaming when someone is wearing too much of the latter, but I adore Coco.)
Chance is young, but it shouldn't be faulted. I find it very refreshing and bright, and unlike other "young" smelling perfumes, it's not totally overbearing or worse, banal.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Christian Dior - Dior Addict EDP
languagegames 11/4/2011 1:02:00 AM
I dithered for a while on Addict- in theory, it seems like my perfect perfume and I have stubbornly tried to make it work. It's not as garish as people think- at least if you're wearing it right and it likes you. The drydown is very nice in its faintest stage- quite warm and vanilla-driven. However, that being said, waiting to get to that point is a trial for me. The opening is absolutely screechy; all I smell on my skin is dead, dry leaves and strong powder... the overall effect is oddly metallic. An hour or so later it does quiet, but still manages to holler rather than settle down nicely. (Sorry for the weird mixed metaphors.) I have known people who wear Addict really well and I envy them, but it seriously does not work for me. Dior's vanillas just don't. Addict pulls strangely synthetic with my skin chemistry, and Hypnotic Poison smells like a root beer float. Dior has already graced me with J'Adore- I'll stick to Shalimar and Victoria's Secret Cashmere for my vanilla fixes.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lipstick -MAC - Cremesheen - Shy Girl
languagegames 11/1/2011 12:13:00 PM
I got this through Back 2 MAC and I couldn't be happier. HERE is the nude lipstick I've been searching for. Seriously. I was getting really tired of being "matched" to Myth and its ilk because I. Am. Not. Cool. Toned. Yes, I am deathly pale. No, I do not have blue or pink undertones. Apparently this is hard to understand.
Shy Girl is basically what I was searching for, a beige that leans peach and mutes my natural lip color without being completely opaque. Or chalky. Or corpse-like. It's a cremesheen, which is great for me because I prefer satin finishes over matte any day. If I want it to be matte, I've found that wearing it over Subculture lipliner (on the whole lip) provides a very nice effect.
A great find... and I will totally purchase when I use this tube up. For us warm toned (or neutral) pale gals, Shy Girl and Viva Glam Gaga II are the way to go- but I prefer Shy Girl between the two.
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No