Guerlain’s Encens Mythique Perfume Review

Posted on July 24, 2026 by Henna

July 22
I’m reunited with Encens Mythique, one of Guerlain’s gateway into Middle Eastern perfumery from 2012, thanks to its combination of rose, incense and ambergris. Encens Mythique needs to be experienced by anyone who wants to smell some real ambergris in perfume. It’s salty, musky and warm, sometimes a little dirty. The scent can be off-putting but also inviting in the right context, like fresh beads of sweat on skin. Originally, it was added to rose perfumes to make them last longer, but it’s undeniable that ambergris adds its own character to whatever it touches, the same way that salt makes every other flavour pop. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Encens Mythique – a rose-incense-ambergris of epic proportions. Even in 2012, Guerlain knew that its customers wanted a taste of something from a far-away place, so it gave them a rose that was touched with other flavours. It’s soapy and powdery and on skin, (even clean skin), the dirty bits melt into a beguiling sort of jammy rose that’s impossible to ignore. I love all kinds of rose perfumes, but rose-ambergris perfumes have a special place in my perfume wardrobe. They’re not easy to love, almost-offensive to an untrained nose. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Encens Mythique could never have done well at a counter where perfumes need to be immediately pleasing. Instead, it has been quietly discontinued and can be found by anyone still looking for something a little off the beaten path. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

And yes, that’s The Odyssey behind my bottle. I couldn’t resist pulling it out and when I read about Odysseus stuck on Calypso’s island far from home, trapped by her love potion and surrounded by her incense, I imagine the it must have included the salty ambergris that washed up on the shore mixed with fragrant roses… ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Charlotte Tilbury Eyez to Mesmerize

Posted on July 23, 2026 by Henna

In today’s episode of I’m not a makeup artist but…Here’s another option for makeup that doesn’t really look like makeup: Charlotte Tilbury Eyes to Mesmerize Cream Shadow in Amber Gold. As the name suggests, it’s a shimmery gold but dark enough to look smoky. I apply it with my fingers, but you could be more precise and use a brush. My fingers tell me when I’ve blended it in well enough because it dries as you apply it. Be sure to close the lid tightly, because you don’t want air getting in and drying this eyeshadow out. Team pencil or team cream? Pencil seems easier, but the cream seems more blendable. Eyes to Mesmerize in Amber Gold.

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Charlotte Tilbury Oyster Pearl Eyeshadows in Two Formulae

Posted on July 22, 2026 by Henna

This has got to be the most popular cream shadow colour for Charlotte Tilbury because they have it in 2 formulas. I can see why. It’s a very versatile colour that will probably work on many skin tones. It’s a touch smoky but not so much that you can’t wear it during the day. The wear time on both of these is about the same, too. The cream offers easier blending, and one layer went on quite sheerly, so maybe that is the one I prefer. But the stick is super easy to work with when you’re trying to be more precise in your placement. If you want to use it as a liner too, then the stick would obviously be your best bet. Which one do you like better?

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Summer 2026 Sunscreen Update

Posted on July 16, 2026 by Henna

My camera’s smudged with sunscreen for the next few weeks, so here’s what I’ve been using so far and a cottage shelfie, because why not?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Banana Boat Kids’ sunscreen is one that I buy every summer because you can use it on your face and it doesn’t smudge into your eyes. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Coppertone Sport because it was on sale, and I just feel like a sports sunscreen is so versatile. It’s water-resistant, so you can just jump into the water and not worry about it lasting. I do notice that it dries as a whitish powder and needs to be rubbed in very well, but if you’re just lounging by the pool or the lake, that might not bother you. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Neutrogena UltraSheer – honestly, I’m reading “No More Tears” right now, and I will not buy a Johnson’s and Johnson’s product ever again, including Tylenol. Thank you to the person who recommended that book to me!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Cerave Night Cream is a fantastic all-purpose moisturizer, but they’ve recently brought out their Facial Moisturizing Lotion in SPF 50 (it was SPF 30 before), and it is fantastic. In terms of sun-protecting ingredients, this is a hybrid of chemical and physical sun filters, so it has a tiny bit of a white cast, but that doesn’t bother me. Under makeup or even on its own, I feel like it gives a bit of skin-perfecting coverage.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

The Biore UV Aqua Rich spray sunscreen is one that I picked up in Asia. Honestly, I think I bought it by mistake because I do not trust the coverage of a spray sunscreen. I basically hosed myself down with this so that I could make sure that I didn’t miss a spot, and so I used almost the whole bottle in one day. I don’t recommend any kind of spray sunscreen unless you have money to burn. Half of it flies away into the air, and who knows if the other half is enough protection? I did not get burned, but I tried to stay out of the sun.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Chanel Paris-Edimbourg Perfume Review – Les Eaux de Chanel

Posted on July 15, 2026 by Henna

July 8

All of the Chanel Eaux are so sunny, happy, perfect for summer vacation, perfect for crating new memories with.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

They all start with citruses and then veer off into their own directions. Paris-Edimbourg is the most green of the bunch but it’s a fresh sparkly green, like pieces of glass. The aromatics remind me of a spa or a hotel lobby, or a spa inside a hotel, where the air conditioning is blasting and everything looks pristine.

The Eaux get a bad rap. They’re said to be short-lived and need reapplying but there’s a perfect combo of musks that support all the aromatics. They smell clean and fresh especially on your clothes.

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New Beauty

Posted on July 14, 2026 by Henna

No matter what time of year it is, wear sunscreen.

Remember that the snow reflects the sun too, so you need your sunscreen in the winter and the summer. This skincare is taking me through the whole month. The Vichy vitamin C is at a concentration of 16% and the texture is watery so it melts into your skin and feels like almost nothing. The sunscreen is a runny lotion that feels lighter than most and works well under makeup or on its own. If you’re in Canada or Europe, know that this sunscreen contains Mexoryl, an ingredient that helps it stay stable longer, which might be a reason to choose this face sunscreen over others on the market. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Chanel released a new version of No. 5 EDT this year, and it’s not the same as earlier versions of the perfume, but it’s similar enough that it’ll feel familiar. Really, this is an aldehydic floral that, for most people, smells like “perfume”, so if you know, you know. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Clue Perfumes Review: Dandelion Butter and Warm Bulb

Posted on July 8, 2026 by Henna

Feb. 4
One of the great joys of collecting, reviewing, and thinking about perfume is finding something that smells different than anything else you know. When you find something different, years into the hobby, it comes as a revelation, as a new way to go through life. Now, you’re going to go through and smell like “this”. “This” will scent all my new memories, I think to myself, “this” will be the smell of my vacation, my tough days, my joyful moments, it’s going to be “this”. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

That’s how I felt when I wore Clue Warm Bulb, more evocative of a hazy Instagram filter than an actual thing, capturing that moment in time when you turn on a lamp and smell the dust burning on it as you search through an old photo box. It’s right before the moment you find what you’re looking for, even before the moment that you’re about to give up and move on. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Dandelion Butter is something else – and kudos to the perfume, Laura Oberwetter, for giving us what Gap Grass doesn’t. This is an ideal childhood moment in a bottle. It’s running through grassy fields, dandelion crowns, lying under a tree, catching your breath, letting a caterpillar crawl onto your finger so that you can put it in a jar and feed it leaves. There’s a sappyness that reminds me of tearing low-hanging branches off trees, swatting at flies that got into my way. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

In smelling these, I’m letting the nostalgia come over me in waves and enjoying every second of it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Aveda Pure-Fume and Aveda Men Pure-Formance

Posted on July 8, 2026 by Henna

Keen to be green. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

June 28

I’ve pulled out my old bottle of Aveda Men Pure-Formance to go with the rest of the Aveda skincare I’ve been using (gifted). You can see this bottle is half-used so it’s been loved, and of course, it’s now discontinued. Imagine every green aromatic – mint, basil, eucalyptus, rosemary, anise, fennel – and it’s all in this men’s perfume. Today, it would be niche and unisex, and would fit right in with anything from Aesop. If you want to smell like a spa, or smell a spa, you go into the Aveda store in the mall, drink the herbal tea, and come out feeling refreshed. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Vichy Collagen-Filler 17 Haircare

Posted on July 8, 2026 by Henna

June 18
You can’t fill your hair with collagen, but that doesn’t mean that Vichy’s new Collagen-Filler 17 line doesn’t work. You CAN apply peptides, amino acids, and proteins to your hair to smooth it down. The Collagen-Filler 17 line also has citric acid in it, which helps lower the pH of the product in order to close the hair cuticle, making your hair smoother. The science in these bottles makes a lot of sense.

I love that this line includes a pre-shampoo treatment that you apply to wet hair, leave it on for 5 minutes before going in with a shampoo. If you have dry and frizzy hair, applying a treatment to the lengths before shampooing is always a good idea. If you don’t have the Collagen-Filler product, even a conditioner or a hair oil will be worth trying, but if you want the smoothing capabilities of keratin, then the Vichy Collagen-Filler 17 pre-shampoo treatment is a great option.

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Niche Perfume at Shoppers Drug Mart

Posted on July 6, 2026 by Henna

June 18
Canada’s biggest drugstore chain – @shoppersbeauty now has some new perfumes – most notable is the Mugler line of perfumes.

For a while, these were gone from Canada and the US, but last year in China, I ran into the Mugler scents everywhere, so I knew they were out there. The one that gets the most hype – and rightfully so – is Over the Musk. This is a clean but slightly dirty warm musk. Musk perfumes of this kind can be polarizing if they’re new to you, but there’s something addictive in smelling something that shouldn’t be there. You just want to smell more of it. I couldn’t leave the counter before spraying some on my wrist. I’m glad I did because I got to experience it the whole day, and it’s one that I’ll go back for. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

The Margiela Replica line has been at Sephora stores for a while, but these are still worth checking out if you’re new to the line. My favourite is Beach Walk for the summer, but I love all of them. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Clive Christian, at one point, came out with “the most expensive perfume in the world” but they’ve since expanded their offerings. Blond Amber gets a lot of hype. It’s a bit too masculine for me, but if you’ve always wanted to smell it before spending the cash, the testers are there. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Balmain came out with their high-end line a couple of years ago, and Sel d’Ambre was on my wishlist after trying it last year.

I never got it because of the price, but I did put some on my skin to remind myself of what enraptured me. It’s a great patchouli amber, and maybe I’ll want it in the winter.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

They also have the Versace luxe line, but I wasn’t familiar with anything and didn’t have time to smell them all. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

See anything you like? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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