Gucci Beauty Janet Rust 505 Lipstick Swatch. This is a gorgeous colour and the formula is ultra-pigmented. Would you wear it? Keeping this lipstick on hand because I know I’m going to want to wear it again.
Gucci Beauty Janet Rust 505
Nars Copacabana Highlighter
This is one of my favourite highlighters. Nars Copacabana Multiple. It’s a cream to powder which is really easy to use, looks great on eyelids too even though it will smudge, no matter how you prime your eyes. The other side of the compact is The Multiple in Orgasm.
Rose 31 by Le Labo
The scent of a long day: Le Labo Rose 31. Cumin, rose, woods. I have the perfume oil, bought in 2014 but there’s barely a dent in the bottle because I find this oil to be so strong that I’ve only ever worn a drop at a time. It’s the scent of frustration. Pent up energy waiting to be released. I love it.
Amber Perfumes
If you’re a foodie, Kitchen Confidential is a must-read. It’s the inside scoop by a man who has seen it all, done it all. He walks the walk, and talks the talk but with a private-school vocabulary. The book rich with insight and interesting stories about the dedication and wackiness in a professional kitchen, but it’s also crammed full of poetry.
Ambers were in the back of my mind as I read Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. It’s hard not to think about food when you’re reading about cooking, and then the delicious notes in my favourite cold-weather perfumes kept calling to me. All these ambers have immediately discernible spices as top notes but they have bases that are downright chewy, edible, like the best brown sugar candy that’s brittle but melts into your back teeth.
Ambre Extrème, 1978, Jean Claude Ellena. Black pepper, cardamom on that bed of benzoin, tonka, vanilla. So easy to wear and irrefutably a reference amber for so many others.
Ambre 114, 2008, Magali Senequier and Gérald Ghislain. This is amber but with nutmeg and thyme in the top notes, and more ingredients (maybe iso-e?) in the base which carries all the other notes and makes them last longer. In a way, it is a more modern amber. Ambre Sultan is the silent ghost in this picture because I feel like I need it in the rotation with both of these.
Posted in Perfumes
Tagged Ambers, books and perfume, Fragrance, Histoires de Parfum, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Perfume
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Imaginary Authors Memoirs of a Trespasser
I remember smelling Memoirs of a Trespasser for the first time in June of 2020 and I was immediately blown away. Its warm cozy smoke immediately wrapped itself around me and I was under its spell. It had a sweetness that was beguiling but it was on the outside edge of the smoke , a bit of spice like baking far away. It’s like sitting at a campfire, chatting with your friends, watching the kids roast marshmallows, waiting to go inside and get fully warm again before the chill hits your bones. How could you not like it?
Ambery woods dressed up with smoke, vanilla, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a fleeting wisp of zingy zest, gone but buoying the heavy notes. Very long-lasting and easy to wear, thanks to a touch of sweetness.
If you like Replica By the Fire but not the marshmallow, this might be more your thing. If you like Silky Woods but you wish it was smokier and outdoorsy, maybe you see yourself as a trespasser in this realm, making your way back to where you really belong, then you would like this.
Does it smell like the memories of a trespasser? It smells like the setting of The Sun Also Rises. Smoky, boozy, woody… disillusioned and disheartened.
Posted in Perfumes
Tagged By the Fireplace, Fragrance Review, Imaginary Authors, Perfume Review, Replica
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Serge Lutens Tubereuse Criminelle Review
Perfume for a baddie. Pain on petal soft skin. Serge Lutens Tubereuse Criminelle.
Not a pretty perfume, this one seems to come up when there’s a debate about perfuming needing to be wearable, having to be beautiful. This isn’t beautiful, but I like wearing it anyway for giving me its sharp edges when I feel like my heart’s too soft.
Really, not one I reach for in the winter because of that cold wintergreen opening, but I did enjoy it today, sticking around and waking me up. I wore two sprays and could smell it all day, but next time I’m perfuming my hair too.
Fenty Beauty Butta Drop in Vanilla
Give me a thick body butter but also make it smell amazing and make skin glowy with shimmer. If that’s what you asked for, then Fenty Skin Butta Drop in Vanilla delivers. Limited Edition and amazing. This body butter has my favourite texture ever. It’s slightly waxy when it sets but it also melts in your hands into an oil. It’s smooth and has just the right amount of fragrance. If you use it on your body, you’ll scent the whole room, but if you’re wearing it on your hands then it’ll be just enough for you and people around you. Yes, it’s greasy, oily and that’s the point, it’s also thick and moisturizing and perfect for winter, or this false spring. Use it any time, but best used right after a shower on damp skin.
Kenzo Jungle
Celebrations today and I’m in a cozy sweet spice bubble, protected from bad vibezzzzz, and honestly, a few people have said that this perfume is a lot and hard to wear. I agree. I can tolerate it only in small doses and only on special occasions.
Kenzo Jungle is one of those spicy perfumes that will wear you instead of you wearing it if you’re not careful.
I used to get a lot of clove out of this when I first smelled it, but these days it’s all about the cardamom-vanilla. It’s unforgettable.
Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Contour Wand
I was worried that the Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Contour Wand would be too dark or too much because of how much comes out of the tube but it’s actually very blendable and sheer. I think I need a smaller contour brush though, so I would change that. Have you used this? I think the colour is just right. Not too warm because it’s not a bronzer, and not too grey either.
Rimmel London Kind and Free Mascara
RIMMEL London Kind and Free mascara in Brown Black. Looks good, went on very easily and not clumpy. I do find that this formula smudges on me just a little but it looks amazing so if that’s not a problem for you, definitely try this mascara.