Charlotte Tilbury Tinted Live lip stain in Blushed Rose and HappiKiss in HappiCoral. Loved one and not the other. They’re having a summer sale right now and both of these are 40% off. I would just get the lip stain in a deeper colour.
PR.
Charlotte Tilbury Tinted Love and HappiKiss
Empties: Neutrogena Sunscreen, Ren Evercalm mask, Aveeno Body Wash, and LRP SPF 50, Live Clean lotion, and Charlotte Tilbury UV Primer
It isn’t summer if I’m not going through tons and tons of sunscreen and I have 3 sunscreen empties for this week.
Neutrogena Beach Defense sunscreen. Honestly, I think I opened this last year and it wasn’t expired yet so I kept using it and finally finished it. This is a great sunscreen and sand really does not stick to it, so yes, I did love it for the beach.
La Roche Posay Anthelios SPF 50. Loved this. Watery and sheer, a bit on the shiny side. If you like this, save your money and buy the large bottle for the body and use it everywhere. Just my 2 cents.
Ren EverCalm Rescue Mask. My skin loves this in cooler weather. It really does calm everything down, and I would recommend it if you have red and irritated skin.
Aveeno Sensitive Skin body wash. This isn’t very foaming so it’s perfect for irritated skin. You can see that I really like gentle products and lots of sunscreen.
Charlotte Tilbury UV Primer. I ran through this quickly because I used it as a sunscreen instead of a primer. Makeup just glides on top of this even though there’s no silicone in the formula. I loved it.
Live Clean Daily Moisturizer. Affordable and really good! I loved this! It’s less than $10 too and the bottle is huge.
Posted in More Than Beauty, Skin Care
Tagged Aveeno, Aveeno Canada, Beach Defense, Charlotte tilbury, empties, La Roche-Posay, Live Clean, LRP, neutrogena, Sunscreen
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Perfume in The God of Small Things
The God of Small Things opens with someone dabbing a dead body with 4711, a classic cologne popular because of its affordability and high quality.
Fragrance nerds will be familiar with its zesty freshness, but not everyone knows about it. Slowly we learn that the setting is 1960’s Kerala, a southern province in India, in a small town where most people wouldn’t have access to foreign perfume. The fact that this family does indicates their status, their wealth, class, and caste, and caste does play an important part in this story. Later, a visitor from England is observed as smelling cheap but no other description of the scent is provided, leaving the reader to imagine what it might be. It’s not 4711 and it’s not Dior.
Incidentally, I’m not sure why, Dior perfume seemed to have been the perfume of choice for Indians who could afford to go abroad at that time. I know that because of my own mother’s description of the Dior boxes that came out of her dad’s suitcases after a trip to Europe. There’s no Chanel in the picture, maybe because they didn’t advertise at the time. I asked her why they didn’t get a different brand, and she said, everyone just talked about Dior.
The link of scent to class is iconic here – the casteless are said to stink, being white and smelling bad is an indicator of being of a lower class, foreign perfume is meant to be sniffed not worn. Again, the only reason my mom still has her Miss Dior is because she doesn’t wear it, but she appreciates the memories.
The best art reveals something new facets of ourselves every time we revisit is, and that’s what I love about my favourite books and perfumes. I’ve read The God of Small Things a number of times, but this time all the perfume references caught my eye.
Posted in More Than Beauty
Tagged Books, Fragrance Blog, Fragrance Blogger, Perfume, Perfume Blog, Perfume Lover
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Guerlain Abeille Royale Serum
Did you know that Guerlain actually had the first dual-phase serum on the market?
It’s the Abeille Royale serum made with actual royal jelly in the formula, but also squalane and glycerin so the repairing action on your skin is real.
This is Great for dry skin that needs a bit of TLC and if you have really dry skin, layering moisturizing products such as a serum under a cream, and then maybe even a nightly mask, can really improve how your skin looks and feels. It’s lightly scented, but still a serum that absorbs easily and quickly. I use a moisturizer on top of this at night, in the morning, I top with sunscreen.
$255 for the 50ml in Canada. They have a 30ml size as well which is $191.
PR.
Posted in Skin Care
Tagged Guerlain, Serum, Skincare Blog, Skincare Blogger, Skincare Serum
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Travel-Worthy Skincare and Alterna My Hair My Canvas Haircare
Things I packed for 3 weeks…
no less than 3 retinoid serums because I didn’t want to run out and all of these were open.
I’ve been using the Trinny London Overnight Clarity niacinamide and retinol serum because I really like how moisturizing it is and I like that it has niaciniamide in it. However! It has an intense golden hue that gets on clothes and bedsheets, especially if you’re like me and like to put it on your body too.
I’ve been finding that my prescription retin-A micro is just right because it’s very drying and it really does help make my skin more regulated. The dry formula also seems to keep my skin more on the matte side which is something that I like. Works well for the summer when my skin is so oily. I’ve even worked up to using this almost every day, but I know that will change when I’m back to dry weather.
I’ve also taken the new Neutrogena 0.5% Retinol Pro+ because I wanted to tested it out some more. I do like it but my skin is acting up a little so it’s not strong enough.
Boscia vitamin C is my favourite right now. It’s 10% ethyl ascorbic acid which is stable and in a pump bottle. I like that. It’s colorless, odorless, and watery so it absorbs into your skin quickly. I use it every day.
Not shown: three tubes of sunscreen which ended up being just enough. I like to ballpark one tube a week.
I took 1 tube of hair cream which was just enough.
And my own Alterna Everyday Shampoo and Conditioner and this size was the best. Look at the dent I’ve made in the conditioner. I go through a lot of conditioner. I love this conditioner so much. It gave me the softest smoothest hair, and it made it super shiny. Of course, I wasn’t going to take these pump bottles back home with me, but my sister asked me specifically leave them behind because she loved this formula so much.
Guy LaRoche Fidji Parfum
I am an island.
Perfume created for a Place – tell me yours.
Wearing Fidji parfum today. Classic perfumery, with aldehydes, fresh florals, soapiness, and an woodsy ambery base. So powerful that I could smell 1 spray on my skin even after a shower, so this really does stick to your skin.
Fidji came out in 1966 but it’s got an overconfidence that could come from the 80’s. Feminine, beautiful, but also complicated on a way that’s interesting. It’s more of a cool floral than a warm one that I would imagine when I think of tropical islands, and I like that it has a creamy drydown thanks to the sandalwood, but I can smell the florals in this throughout the time that I wear it. Ylang ylang, carnation, jasmine, and rose are al blended to seamlessly in Fidji. Instead of an approximation of what Fiji the place smells like, this is maybe what I would wear on my way to Fiji. It’s cool and fresh, and very feminine and classy. The lady who wears this perfume carries a hat box as carry-on.
It’s hilarious to think of a perfume brand imagining an island far away and creating a perfume for those who want the “Exotic”, but then yesterday I smelled Magnificently Dubai from Zara and it’s a stereotypical and generic rose-oud number, and Luca Turin hates on Zoologist Camel for smelling stereotypically like a souk. There are so many perfumes created for ideas of places but actually most good perfume is transportive, if not to a physical destination then to a state of mine. Olfactory escapism will never actually go away (thank goodness) and I’ll always volunteer to get on a ride via perfume bottle, regardless of whether the destination is real or imagined.
What’s your favourite perfume created for a place?
Posted in Perfumes
Tagged Discontinued Perfume, Fidji, Fragrance Reviews, Perfume Reviews, Vintage Perfume
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Chanel Cuir de Russie Perfume Review
Chanel Cuir de Russie, and Luca Turin’s review of it from the first edition of Perfumes, the Guide. I’ve seen people write this perfume off as being too soapy or not enough, but for me, it does just what it’s supposed to do. It’s the classic Chanel blend of florals, toned down a bit, and a barnyardy castoreum, and leathery birch tar. You literally get the feeling of washing your saddle in the barn with the most luxurious soap, and yes, that’s what I want to smell like some days. This isn’t a hard leather… it’s buttery soft, worn in, touchable, velvety.
The perfume needs to be worn to be experienced, and not smelled on paper. On paper, it’s ok, and the barnyard aspect can be off-putting. On skin, it’s a compliment-getter, and even more so on hair. The cool blend of florals is made more interesting by the addition of the dirtier notes, the smokiness, a sweetness in the drydown that comes out when I wear this on my skin.
A note on Perfumes, The Guide. I got this book in 2008, and you know, I was already a couple of years into my perfume journey. When I read this book, it made me feel like I was missing out on a lot, and I just didn’t get all the descriptions. I put it away because I knew that to begin to sample everything would cost me time and money that I didn’t have. Energy that I wasn’t willing to spend at the time. When I was culling 10 years ago, I decided what would stay based on some of the reviews in this book – that was a terrible idea. Always trust your own taste, I had some good memories with some of the perfumes I gave away!!!
I looked through the book again recently. Now I’ve smelled a lot more of the perfumes, and thought about them in different ways… I’ve also grown up a lot, of course, so that maybe makes a difference, but the book, the reviews, make more sense. Smelling perfume ingredients in isolation has helped me understand more of what I’m smelling and pick apart perfume as I smell it, help me appreciate what stands out to me.
Prada Infusion d’Iris
I’ve had this perfume in my collection since its launch in 2007 and I think it’s having a bit of a revival. You can find this at discounters, but also at almost any department store.
I always think of powder when I think of iris perfumes, but this one is not very powdery at all. It’s actually got a beautiful neroli top note that is addictive and makes me want to keep spraying this perfume to get more of that top note. It brings to mind the perfect summer day, sitting in the sunshine and drinking a cold orange San Pelligrino where the fizz tickles the tip of your nose. That’s what these top notes make me think of, so you can see why I love this perfume for cooler days.
The perfume is grounded by incense and benzoin. If you’ve smelled Prada Candy’s benzoin base, then you’ll recognize the same facets in this perfume but because it’s not as sweet because of everything else that’s going on.
Perfect for spring or cooler summer days, and maybe some of the nicest minimalistic packaging there is. A hefty bottle of this is definitely worth it because it seems to wear lightly and a few sprays are needed to create that scent bubble.
Iris Poudre by Frederic Malle
Wearing Iris Poudre by Frederic Malle today, and this is an intense floral if there ever was one. It also smells very feminine and not so powdery.
In my head, this is “Iris Poupre” because I think of this as a very proper, buttoned up floral. It’s got zing that feels like a sneeze stuck in my nose, and in an hour there’s the cool metal of dunking a glass into a bucket of water to rinse off soap. That part is so addictive to smell.
Serge Lutens Datura Noir Perfume Review
Serge Lutens Datura Noir. A summer perfume that’s not ONLY for the summer. It’s a bit tropical, easy to wear at all times of the year.
Official notes: Datura, coconut, almond. Have you tried this or others in the genre?
Posted in Perfumes
Tagged Fragrance, Fragrance Review, Perfume, Perfume Review, Serge Lutens, Video
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