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Sunday Self-care, Episode 6: Read My Lip… Care Choices

Three years ago, I shared with my readers the greatest discovery I made for my lip care.

I loved Agave Lip Balm and Agave Lip Mask from Bite Beauty and used them for a couple of years… until the brand decided to join the holier-than-thou crowd and went vegan. No. Same as fat-free or sugar-free foods are not identical to their less healthy predecessors (you might like them or prefer for health reasons or even for their taste, just don’t try to persuade me that they taste the same), lanolin-free Agave Lip Balm wasn’t as moisturizing as the one that I fell in love with. I found and bought a couple of old formula products postponing inevitable, but at some point, I had to accept that my favorite product was gone.

As I was on my last tube thinking of what to do next, I got an amazing tip from one of the YouTube videos. If you haven’t heard this yet, don’t laugh, but Lansinoh Lanolin Nipple Cream for Breastfeeding is just amazing for keeping your lips moist all night. It’s not expensive, and it comes in small inconspicuous tubes (in case you want to have some in your purse).

I was completely satisfied with my discovery and would have stuck to using it for years to come, but in my Sephora Birthday Gift, I got a sample of Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask. It was love from the first use! The one I got was the original (Berry scent), and not only it keeps my lips perfectly moisturized through the night, but it also has a very enjoyable light scent and texture.

You would think I’d stop there: I found two great products. But finding that Laneige mask made me think that I was so stuck on the loss of my favorite Agave Lip Balm that I didn’t even think to look for anything else. So, I just couldn’t resist when I saw on Sephora’s site a Give Me Some Lip Balm Set.

Lip Masks

It was quite educational to try 5 more products. I tried them without reading anything about them. While all of them are fine and quite… usable, none of them was love for me.

Sephora Coconut Lip Balm & Scrub – a strange combination, in my opinion: who on earth has come up with the idea that these two purposes can be served by the same product? I would have probably liked it more had it a more pronounced coconut smell/taste. I might finish it eventually, but it’s not something I will ever consider purchasing.

Tarte SEA Jelly Glaze Anytime Lip Mask in Strawberry Jelly has a light tint and some scent… The tint reminds me of a strawberry more than the scent. It is fine, and I use it at my work desk when I’m not wearing lipstick for a Zoom meeting. Since during the day I periodically eat or drink something, I’m not sure how well it hydrates – I re-apply it from time to time, which is fine with me. But once it’s gone – it’s gone.

Rose Petal-Soft Deep Hydration Lip Balm by fresh has a noticeable rose scent. It smells very pleasant until I apply it. Surprisingly, I discovered that I don’t like a rose in my lip products: it feels as if I had not fully washed off rose soap from my lips. I can’t complain about its moisturizing qualities, but I won’t use it if I have a choice.

Lip Fetish Divinyl Lip Shine in Nude Venus from Pat McGrath Labs is exactly what it promises to be – a lip shine with just the slightest hue. It’s not something to use at night, but during the day it has its uses – as a part of the discounted $21 5-product set. But I would have never paid its full price of $36. Almost all lipsticks, lip balms, etc. that I own are at least as nice as this Lip Shine, if not better. And most of them are less expensive.

Ilia Lip Wrap Treatment Mask is fine doing the job, but it is completely scentless and tasteless… For $26 it costs, I can buy more than a year supply of that Lanolin Nipple Cream.

My experiment has shown that with skincare I follow the same pattern as I noticed with perfumes and food: I do not like “all-natural,” “fat/sugar-free” or “clean” products (in the Sephora set all but Pat McGrath’s products were marked as “clean at Sephora”). In my book, all those properties are secondary to a good product. Quite rarely do I find something that I like among those that proudly announce their “virtues.”

I plan to keep taking advantage of the off-label use of the Lansinoh’s lanolin cream. And once I finish my small jar of Laneige, I’m going to buy the full version. Eventually, I might try their other scents: grapefruit and apricot smell nice. But initially, I’ll continue with the original berry scent, hoping that they won’t mess with a good thing that works. It is such a pleasure to use that product!

Do you have any favorite lip moisturizers?

 

Image: my own

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Saturday Question: Do You Swap Perfume Bottles?

As many of my questions, this one was brought by something that I came across elsewhere: in the recent 356 perfumes in 365 days series’ post mmkinpa showed a bottle of Annick Goutal Musc Nomade that she got in a swap. That sent me thinking about swaps.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #75:

Do You Swap Perfume Bottles?

The question isn’t about exchanging decants or samples. But do you swap actual perfume bottles? If yes, what do you swap away? Have you ever got anything great in a swap?

My Answer

I rarely buy something impulsively. So, by the time I decide to get anything into my collection, I’ve spent some time thinking about that perfume, imagining having it, coming up with all the justifications of why I need it… And once I get that perfume, it is here to stay. I might share samples and decants from the bottle I got, but it is almost impossible for me to part with a bottle once I got it.

Not related to this, most of the swaps offered in places where I see them (NST swap meets and FB groups) would not interest me even if those perfumes were offered “for grabs” for free, so it’s completely out of question exchanging them for anything from my collection.

I need to work on letting go of perfumes that I know I won’t wear: it makes total sense to pass them onto someone who would enjoy wearing them instead of me waiting for those unloved ones to go off. But even if I manage to persuade myself to part with some of them, I think it would be easier for me psychologically to give them away than to exchange them for something else: I usually love my unloved ones still more than most of perfumes offered for swapping.

 

Do You Swap Perfume Bottles?

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L’Esprit Libre by Divine NEW 2021

Hi Crew, L’Esprit Libre is one of two new releases from Divine this year along with Divine Intense, which doesn’t appear to be for sale on their site yet. Both crafted by the incredibly prolific Yann Vasnier, 91 named fragrances on Fragrantica. The email dropped into my inbox announcing the new arrival, and before I was even able to think it was checked out and on its way to me. All thoughts of lockdown business collapse, lack of funds and any skerrick of rationale deserted me. It wasn’t even a late night event, suddenly I’d bought it and L’Homme Sage, which has been on my list for years. Excitingly, they arrived in the mail this week. I’ve been lovingly looking at the pristine corrugated boxes in cellophane but decided it was time to open L’Esprit Libre up to share how it smells. It’s so rare for me to feel this kind of excitement about a new release.

L’Esprit Libre by Divine

L'Esprit Libre DivineAccording to the Divine site:

A light breeze, green and mellow with bergamot and green mandarine, then suddenly when you’re least expecting it, a ray of peony and magnolia. At its heart, a blue twinkle of iris, talc and earth, with essence and butter of iris and a leisurely finale of musk and ambergris.

WOW! Remember in the early 2000s and the world went mad for sheer feeling, radiant fragrances that had amazing projection and longevity like Elie Saab and SJP Lovely? They were almost always done with a white floral at the heart. It was like the logical next step from those enormous 1990s sheer/huge aquatics like L’Eau d’Issey and Aqua di Gio. This L’Esprit Libre feels like it’s the next progression in the story.

The citrus opening is sheer, tart and intoxicating. It starts icy cool and by the time the heart has arrived has warmed considerably. The peony and magnolia are only very peripheral, amorphous nods during the opening but make a more definite appearance well into the heart, but what does shine is an unmentioned woods note blown on the breeze. I’m wondering if it’s part of the dry rooty iris that feels sliced open as you pulled it up with earth still attached. (Edit: Amusingly, in today’s wear I have it on the back of both my hands and they both smell quite different. Left is much soapier and more floral, right features dry woods.) I’m surprised that there isn’t a mentioned green herbal note or a woody one. Maybe it’s a basil and an angelique, generic sawdust. These are what my brain keeps telling me but I’m not convinced.

L’Esprit Libre smells like a completely new direction for the Divine Parfums crew. Through the heart I definitely get the idea of breeze, or sky, or even that joyful feeling of being outdoors in the sun on a cool, breezy day. This is no loud 1980s showstopper, but it is wonderfully noticeable; I’m wondering if the more I wear it the more I can notice it? Maybe the more nuance I pick up? There’s something quite space age about it.

The ambergris is not a fecal, salty, bilge water adventure. There’s no hark to Womanity. It’s a sea breeze, not on the shore but maybe on a restaurant verandah overlooking thew sea, just a little up the hill.

For such a sheer fragrance the longevity is excellent. Projection is amazing for over an hour before it softens considerably.

Does L’Esprit Libre sound like something you might like?
Portia xx

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Saturday Question: Which LE Perfume Would You Want Re-released?

This question is inspired by my story about the recent Diptyque‘s limited edition perfume Ilio that got sold out seemingly within weeks after its release.

 

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

 

Saturday Question #74:

Which LE Perfume Would You Want Re-released?

We are talking not about discontinued perfumes that we loved or former beauties reformulated beyond recognition. The question is about the true Limited Editions that companies released at some point, sold out and never brought back.

If you could tell to one brand which one of their LE perfumes you wish they would bring back for this year’s holiday season, what would it be? Just one! (As a suggestion: if someone has already named one of your “candidates,” respond to their comment in support. That would allow you to name your own choice in your comment – and see if others would support it).

My Answer

When I came up with this question, the answer immediately popped up in my mind. But since I have a luxury of a home-grown database of all perfumes I own or had a sample of at some point, I decided to be thorough. As I looked through all the LEs (I have them marked), I realized that in the last 15 years I didn’t come by too many limited edition perfumes, and out of those several that I tried, liked and bought, my initial idea was still the best choice for me. And I couldn’t think of any such perfume that I liked but missed before it was gone.

So, even though I still have some of this perfume left, I would like Jo Malone to bring back Sweet Milk from their their 2001 LE Tea Collection.

Sweet Milk by Jo Malone

Which LE Perfume Would You Want Re-released?

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Mediterranean Mirage

It wasn’t even a real vacation: this year my vSO’s birthday fell on a weekday, and since we weren’t traveling this time, we decided to take a day off. In the new reality of working from home, unless we physically leave the house, it usually results in both of us taking a quick peek at work emails… and 3-4 hours later telling ourselves and each other that it’s not the right way to spend a day off. To avoid even a temptation, we decided to spend some time at Santana Row (“Silicon Valley’s premier destination for shopping, dining, living, and more.”) and even invented a goal of that visit: to actually see and touch a travel backpack that we were going to buy as a present for my vSO.

I say “invented” because we could have easily gotten it delivered to our place with a free delivery and return. But it felt like a special treat – going to a regular (not a grocery) store, touching things and choosing them not by magnifying each of the 1.5 (on average) available pictures and reading a dozen of reviews of the “I give it 3 stars because I thought it would be bigger” (despite clearly provided dimensions)-type. Not that I haven’t done all that before going to the store…

The mission was a complete success: the backpack was exactly as we imagined it based on pictures online and carefully measured our old one. It will perfectly fit two work laptops that we always bring with us to our vacation trips (those emails won’t read themselves, you know).

Tumi Backpack

Inspired by that, we decided to visit a recently built luxury wing of the mall. I’m not sure whether it happened before the COVID, or if they used that year to complete the project, but we haven’t been to that mall in a while, so both versions are plausible. My main goal was to see if there were any new perfumes to try at any of the shops that carry brands that I might be interested in.

Macy’s, through which we went to get inside the mall, smelled just awful of the cheap synthetic men colognes. It was disgusting, and we hurried to leave the area. I don’t remember when the last time was I stopped at any Macy’s cosmetics counter: for many years they’ve been so stingy with samples that I just stopped buying anything there. In general, I’m sad, but I think that Macy’s is on its way out: inside the stores, it feels like it was in Mervyn’s first and then Sear’s before they finally succumbed to inevitable. Oh well…

Nordstrom was slightly better, but there wasn’t a single new perfume to test. And then looking through the Directory I found a stand-alone Diptyque boutique, which hasn’t been in this mall when I was there last time. I remembered that there was a new Diptyque perfume that for some reason I couldn’t find at Diptyque counters in department stores.

I marched into that boutique and, instead of my regular “just browsing,” immediately inquired about “the latest one” (for the life of me I couldn’t remember the name, but even if I could, I wouldn’t be sure how to pronounce it). “Oh, yeah – Ilio,” replied a cheerful SA, “It is sold out.” I didn’t expect that, but since I wasn’t there to buy it, I was insistent, and he acknowledged that they still have a tester for it (but no samples, of course). Since that was all I wanted, I lavishly sprayed Ilio on my wrist, and we went to check out a new seafood restaurant.

As we were waiting for the order (the food was good, but the service was unexpectedly slow… though, I haven’t been to a restaurant in a long while, so maybe it’s a new normal?), I kept sniffing my wrist. It was quite nice. With the international perfumistas’ gesture, I shoved my wrist under my vSO’s nose and demanded to know what he thought. As usual, he thought it was “nice.” I authoritatively explained that it was a nice mimosa scent…

When I got home and checked both Fragrantica and the brand’s site, I discovered that there was no mimosa among the Ilio notes: prickly pear, bergamot, jasmine and iris. I can’t say that I was too surprised: as I keep repeating, I don’t think my nose is that well trained, I rarely smell notes announced in perfumes (and now clearly smell some that aren’t). According to Diptyque site:

Ilio is a tribute to this Mediterranean land bathed in light and fragrance.

And then I went to read Lucas’s (Chemist in the Bottle) review, and you can imagine my surprise when I read that he also thought that Ilio smelled of mimosa! We both saw (well, smelled) something that wasn’t there.

As I was investigating that mirage mimosa note happening, I discovered that Ilio was sold out almost everywhere. Of course, I wanted it!

Diptyque Ilio

If you are curious and haven’t read yet, for the review go to the link I provided above. But this perfume is almost impossible to buy now. And, to tell you the truth, it is not really worth it. It is pleasant. It is nice. It is not something that I would expect released as a celebratory perfume for the 60th anniversary of the brand. It is not something that you are missing out on. But if you feel like you are, you could get it on eBay for $200+.

On a separate note. What is with all these brands that for their anniversaries release super-limited editions in quantities that are being sold out within days (if not hours) from the release?! Did they actually not expect to sell them easily, so they decided to do just a gesture? Or do they try to condition consumers to be prepared to buy future releases without thinking much? I can’t imagine that they tried to create a business opportunity for all those eBay sellers who ask a double price for all sold-out special items?

 

Images: my own

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Sunday Self-care, Episode 5: Not that Ordinary Skincare

For many years my skincare routine was quite simple. In the morning, it was a face cleanser and a tinted moisturizer with some sunscreen properties. And in the evening, the same face cleanser was used again (a single cleanse since I didn’t use too much makeup) and a simple moisturizer. Sometimes I would use a random serum sample from a GWP (though, it was just a handful of otherwise trusted brands, such as Shiseido, Dior or Estee Lauder). The most exotic item in my day-to-day skincare was a softener from Shiseido (I’m not sure why; I think I just liked the scent and the feeling on my skin).

I kept telling myself that I would start doing more once I get older… But I kept postponing it, mostly because without a good understanding of what was supposed to be used with what, in what sequence and, what was the most important, for what purpose, it felt like a big fraud and attempt to get me to pay money for something I didn’t need.

Many skincare brands’ websites have some type of a step-by-step wizard that after asking you about your skin type and age group moves onto your skin concerns. Until very recently, reading those questions, I couldn’t figure out what to choose since nothing offered as an option seemed like a serious enough concern for me to do a targeted intervention.

Today, looking back, I suspect that the may reason for my attitude was that, despite my lifelong struggle with mild acne, my skin was in relatively good shape. My skin was never dry, and it isn’t that oily either any more. Signs of aging? Sure, but who of age 25+ doesn’t have those? Uneven skin tone? Of course! All my life I had freckles that I didn’t really like but kept under control with the year-round SPF and a tinted moisturizer. Acne is a different story, but I’ll do a separate post on it later in this series. All-in-all, I was reasonably happy with what I saw in the mirror.

And then I didn’t. First, I started noticing some dryness under my eyes. Then I suddenly realized that some areas of my face have visible pores. Then, as I described in the Fun out of the Sun episode of this series, I discovered that my skin tone got much more uneven than I ever remembered it to be. All that didn’t happen in one day (or even month), but at some point I started thinking about trying to counteract at least some of these effects.

My “gateway drug” into the new skincare reality was a Glass Skin Discovery Kit from Peach & Lily. I can’t remember how I discovered it, or why suddenly it spoke to me. But the idea of having a full set – a four-step skincare routine – suddenly felt very attractive. I bought the set and then even before I finished it, I got full-size products.

Has my skin gotten even a step closer to the mythical “glass skin”? I don’t know, probably not. But I like using this brand, so I keep it in the rotation.

Peach and Lily Skincare

And then I discovered The Ordinary. Of course, I heard about it at least several years earlier, it has been raved about even in perfume blogs and was considered as some type of a skincare revolution. Since back then I didn’t have any concerns they promised to help with, I wasn’t interested. But once I became interested, I wanted to try EVERYTHING.

I read through pages and pages of blog posts and articles, viewed numerous videos and went through the Regimen Builder of the brand’s site. I couldn’t figure out what I needed. I combined multiple recommendations and bought my first batch of The Ordinary products 8-9 months ago.

The Ordinary Skincare

After it arrived, I started panicking: I had no idea what could be combined with what either inside the set that I bought or between The Ordinary and all other products that I had. For the first time in my life, I had products that among the recommendation for use had instructions “do not use with other XXX.” It was scary because I wasn’t sure whether what I shouldn’t have combined with these new ones was in the products I already had: it’s not even enough to read labels since those tell you the specific ingredients’ names but not their generic/group name. So, I didn’t use any of them for a couple of months waiting until I would figure that out. Slowly I built some understanding of how products of the set that I got could be combined, but I still wasn’t sure what other products could be used together with them.

After approximately 6 months of using The Ordinary products, I can tell with a conviction that their Caffeine Solution works: it does reduce an under-eye puffiness within minutes. Everything else? I can’t say one way or the other: I don’t see any drastic improvements, but I’m not sure what I could expect after a half-year use. What I do know is that I do not enjoy that DIY lab-style skincare where I need to work hard on figuring out the allowed combinations.

I’m not sure that I or my wallet are ready to switch to Sisley or La Mer (while I still have doubts in my mind as to how much the topical solutions can do), but I think that my next stop will be brands that do at least some work of combining ingredients into something that resembles a finished product. I have many higher-end skincare samples from my recent epic GWP haul, so I plan to go through them figuring out if I want to give any of those brands a try. What I mean is, I know that it’s impossible to get any real results from a trial version of the active product. But since I have my doubts as to the effectiveness of any products, at least I can try to choose those that I enjoy using.

 

How do you build your skincare regimen? Do you have a good understanding of the ingredients that the products you use have? Or do you rely upon someone’s recommendations? Or do you not care?

 

Images: my own

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Saturday Question: What Perfume Brands Are Popular Now?

If you’ve been in this game for at least 7-8 years, you probably still remember times when everyone was talking about a new release from L’Artisan Parfumeur, Serge Lutens‘ releases were expected with growing anxiety, and the next Le Labo‘s City Exclusives would cause growling amongst anxious perfumistas who couldn’t figure out how to get a hold of it. Several more names were in the same camp back then: Frederic Malle, Amouage, Parfum d’Empire and Parfums De Nicolai. But what about now?

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #73:

What Perfume Brands Are Popular Now?

It’s not a question of which perfume brands you like and still follow, but rather which brands you think are still more popular than the rest among people who consider themselves perfumistas? What names do you hear more often than others? What do you attribute it to?

My Answer

With the avalanche of new brands and releases from both new and established brands, as well as the decline of the popularity of the written word in the last years, it seems like perfumistas’ interests are scattered all over. As I watch NST’s split meets, I see that people are mostly splitting old favorites – Chanel, Guerlain, Hermes and, yes, Serge Lutens. But I see much less newer brands. And in the daily SOTD threads whenever anybody mentions new perfumes or lines, those comments don’t collect too many reactions.

I tried to think on the answer to my question. If not to count big names that are talked about more not in the last place because of their accessibility: it is much easier to get to try new perfumes by Chanel, Tom Ford, Diptyque, Jo Malone or even By Kilian than by any of the smaller niche brands.

But if I had to name at least one smaller niche brand that still gathers a lot of interest, I’d say that it is Zoologist Perfumes. Personally, I do not like this brand: I don’t like the name of the brand and perfumes; I don’t like the packaging; I hated one perfume from it that I tried on skin, and I was indifferent to several more that I sniffed at a store. But whenever a new one is released, I see others discussing it and getting samples to try. I think that, in addition to making perfumes that people like, this brand doesn’t charge the super-luxury level prices, and they have samples and travel sprays.

I can think of a couple more brands, but I’ll leave them to you to name.

 

What Perfume Brands Are Popular Now?

French Grey by Elizabeth and James
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French Grey by Elizabeth and James

Hey All. Portia here and I think it’s time we look at something a little bit lavender. It seems to have had a resurgence in the last few years but it never went away. Just got hidden and had to play some bit parts and sing chorus. French Grey by Elizabeth & James is a 2017 release created by Nicole Mancini Issaq and Linda Song! Love seeing two women names signing off. They have both been a part of some other perfumes but the only glam gig is Linda Song for Fougere Platine by Tom Ford.

I grabbed this baby for almost nothing on FragranceNet (not affiliated but love to give you all a bargain tip)

French Grey by Elizabeth and James

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Lavender, Neroli, Musk

If you’re thinking summer, elegant, relaxed, cool, unruffled and slightly different then French Grey could be that thing you’ve been looking for but didn’t know it. They are calling it a fresh floral scent. While that kinda works it doesn’t tell the whole story. Yes, lavender is floral but it’s also quite herbal and the oil comes from the plant much more than the flowers.

French Grey smells to me like they have some green steering herbs and spices like basil or cardamom, or maybe even some violet leaves. Also, I smell some common base note that heads fresh white woods and some resins. All these hints and maybes play around the central pillar of sugared lavender lollies with a soft white floral undertow.

If you like Lolita Lempicka EdP but wish it was a little less playful and a lot more sophisticated then French Grey might be exactly your jam OR if CHANEL Boy is too expensive French Grey could be a fabulous substitution.

100% unisex, projection is moderate but trails off to low in the first hour, longevity is average. The bottle is fabulous, I love the way they have made an interesting yes oh-so-simple renovation to a historic look. VERY cool.

Would you French Grey?
Portia xx

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Second Sunday Sample: Serge Lutens La Dompteuse Encagée

Let’s talk about the weather for a moment. If you’re in the northern hemisphere, what was the highest temperature in the area where you live this summer so far? (Please mention where you are – at least a country, city or area, if you feel comfortable doing so – for those who don’t know you.) How do you cope? And for my readers from Down Under, what was the coldest so far?

In the SF Bay Area where I live, we had a day or two really hot in June (I did a screenshot of the Weather app with 36C/97F on June 17), but other than that our weather was surprisingly nice all that time while I heard and read horror stories from all over the world.

But my vSO and I managed to choose the hottest days to visit a wine country this week. Given, we were limited by dates for which we planned that trip since we did it as a part of celebrating our anniversary, we had to book everything in advance, including the most important part – feeding Rusty in our absence. So, once it became clear it’ll be extremely hot in our destination spot, we discussed whether we should cancel but decided not to.

Two days that we spent in Sonoma wine country, it got to 37C/99F at the peak. Wine tasting in these circumstances was a tricky proposition. But since everything these days must be planned well in advance (and is mostly not refundable), we tried to make the best of the trip (I plan to do a separate post about it soon).

LaRue Winery

And since we were going to the almost tropical environment, I decided it was a great opportunity to test new Serge Lutens La Dompteuse Encagée, which after the initial test at home seemed like a perfect tropical scent.

Since I missed several years of Serge Lutens’ new releases, and after Barney’s demise there are no more B&M places around here where I’d be able to test the brand, recently I got some samples from the Surrender to Chance. I was going back and forth choosing perfumes and sizes (for most of my samples I go for 0.5 ml – 1 ml), and somehow I ended up with two 1 ml samples of La Dompteuse Encagee. I was surprised but then thought that since it’s a new 2021 release, I’d test and review one sample and pass onto somebody else the second one. Nope. Somebody won’t be getting it: for testing on the road, I decided to pour both into a spray vial.

Serge Lutens La Dompteuse Encagee

Serge Lutens’ ad copy is cryptic, as always, so I don’t want to spend time even trying to make any sense of it. When it comes to providing any specific information on the composition, they are also not being too generous. But I find it entertaining how being given just three notes – frangipani, Ylang Ylang and almond – most reviewers dance around them not daring to speculate on other notes. Too bad Kafka isn’t reviewing perfumes any longer: this is one of the cases where I’d be extremely curious to know what she smells here. Me? I’m sure that this perfume contains more ingredients than the mentioned three. But since I rarely recognize notes even when they are listed, I’ll do what I always do – impressions and comparisons.

As a rule, I don’t like the almond note in perfumery, so I’m very pleased that I do not smell it in La Dompteuse Encagee. When I applied it for the first time, not expecting to like or be interested, it immediately reminded me of something else – not an identical aroma but rather the mood… After searching my mental perfume library, I realized that it reminded me of Annick Goutal Songes. Interestingly, Songes’ notes include frangipani and Ylang Ylang as well (also jasmine, tiare and vanilla). I tried La Dompteuse Encagee and Songes side by side, and I think I was right: they don’t smell similar, but for me, they evoke the same summer vibe. I rarely think of perfumes in colors, but both these are yellow in my palette (even though they both are predominantly white flowers). Speaking of white flowers, both in Songes and La Dompteuse Encagee I imagine smelling tuberose (which isn’t listed in either) and jasmine (not given for the latter perfume’s pyramid).

La Dompteuse Encagee is one of the florals in the Serge Lutens’ line (so, no stewed fruits), but unlike most other florals that I like – De Profundis, Vitriol d’oeillet or Iris Silver Mist – La Dompteuse Encagee is not solemn and austere but very bright and radiant. I liked it much more than I expected. I don’t even mind the name, whatever Mr. Lutens meant (online consensus has it translated as a “Caged Tamer” with the noun being feminine). My only complaint is that in hot weather it is more fleeting than I’d like it to be. But I still want a bottle (if/when I can get at least 20% off): I need to give it proper wear in a real tropical environment. I still hope to get there eventually.

Butterfly

Images: my own

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Saturday Question: Do You Prefer Pure Parfum with a Stopper or Sprayer?

I know that in the recent years the definitions of different perfume concentrations got blurred, and it’s hard to know what concentration of oils we’re getting in the bottles of colognes, EdTs or EdPs, unless a brand makes a point of it in their ads and PR materials. But some fragrances are released as “Extrait [de parfum]” or “[Pure] pafum” – and my question is about those.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #72:

Do You Prefer Pure Parfum with a Stopper or Sprayer?

Do you have any extraits/parfums in your collection? Do they come with a stopper or in a spray bottle? Do you like it, or would you prefer it the other way around?

My Answer

I know several perfumes that come in spray bottles, even though they have the highest concentration. For example, Ormonde Jayne offers some of her perfumes in 40% and even 50% concentration, but as far as I know, those are sold with sprayers. It doesn’t sit well with me. Since I grew up with perfumes coming in small dab bottles, I think I still expect “real” parfum to be in a tiny (7-15 ml) bottle with a stopper that can be used to sparingly apply that precious substance. This is ironic because I do not feel good actually using those stoppers for the application: I’m afraid to deposit oils and other impurities from my skin into the bottle.

With my very first and extremely precious bottle of Lancome Climat, I had a special glass applicator that I stored in the bottle with alcohol and would dry before using it to dip into the bottle. With a couple of extrait bottles that I currently own I do use the stoppers but try to wipe them on the fabric of my clothes before replacing them in the bottle. I tried decanting them into a spray vial, but I don’t like how they feel applied this way. And it defeats the purpose of having a beautiful bottle.

But if I was given a choice, I would have still probably preferred extraits in old-fashioned small bottles – even though that is much less practical than sprayers: there is something very decadent and sensuous in applying perfume this way.

Rusty and Climat, Chamade and Chanel No19

Do You Prefer Pure Parfum with a Stopper or Sprayer?