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Saturday Question: Do You Instagram?

I thought of this title as a joke. I was going to start by explaining that I realized there was no such verb. Sure, these days we all google something, at least hear about people tweeting fake news and periodically unfollow people who don’t amuse us any more on different platforms. But instagramming? So, I wrote the question in the title and then … googled to check. Yep. According to Merriam-Webster, Instagram is a verb.

 

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

 

Saturday Question #39:

Do You Instagram?

Do you have an account on Instagram? If no, why? (And you can skip the following questions.) Do you post pictures there? If yes, how often and do they have anything to do with perfume? How often do you visit Instagram? Who do you follow? Do you @tag people? Do you use #hashtags in your posts? If yes, why? If no, why? Do you actively seek new people to follow? Have you ever bought anything based on the advertising that you see there? If you finish your feed (if it ever happens, of course), do you look at their “suggested” content?

And, finally, unless your account is for private communications, what is your Instagram name? If you want, post a link to any of the pictures that you published there and wished more people would see it.

My Answer

I’m relatively new to Instagram: my account is just slightly over two years old. In these 2+ years I posted 57 pictures – less than a picture a  fortnight. For a long time I couldn’t get over a thought that a picture had to be of something extremely interesting, rare or exceptional in some way to warrant sharing it with others “as is,” for the picture’s sake and not as an illustration to some topic (read “many printed words”).

For my partial conversion, I “blame” mostly my very first guest writer, hajusuuri, who, in addition to being an avid Instagrammer (No, this one is not a real word. Yet.), would often link to her daily Insta posts from the NST’s SOTD thread. I would tap from there to see a picture, then would see pictures from others or recognize names in “likes” and realize that I “knew” those people. So, I’d follow them, and the next time I get to Instagram to see hajusuuri’s SOTD picture (sometimes with a cute toy cat or one of the dozen (?) of owls she must have accumulated by now), I would have more pictures to go through.

Later, I decided to use Instagram to publish pictures that would go with the current post: I often have more pictures I like than I need for the post, so the Insta post would serve a double purpose: to announce to people who go there more often than to their mailboxes that I’ve published another post (though, Instagram doesn’t make it easy to “link out”) and to get one more picture “in” (it’ll show on the side bar of the blog, next to the post).

Unless I happen across hajusuuri’s link on NST (if she posted it and if I had time to read the thread, none of which happens every day), I visit Instagram 2-3 times per week. I made a couple of purchases being reminded by an IG ad about products I already had an intention to buy (I’ll leave details to another post). Mostly, I follow perfume people – similar to what I used to do on Twitter 8-9 years ago or FB 5-6 years ago. I do not look for more people to follow, but add anyone who I know from other platforms. On principle, I stop when I reach the end of my feed: while I’m fine watching ads when I look through my friends’ pictures, I refuse to help IG make money on me browsing pictures they think might interest me.

I rarely tag anybody. And I do not think I’ve ever used a hashtag. Ever. On any of the platforms. I’m not sure whether people actually use those to find a content and people to follow, but since I’m not trying to grow my “audience” there, and I’m not sure that anyone who doesn’t “know” me would follow my “link in bio” to this blog – and blog readers are the only audience I’m interested in – I’m reluctant to “Germanaize” language even when posting pictures of the #cutestcatever (see the Instagram window on the right (web) or below (mobile)).

My IG name is undina_ba . How about you?

 

Instagram as a verb

 

Do You Instagram?

 

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.
Portia: Perfume That Got Away
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Portia: Perfume That Got Away

Hi there Undina’s Looking Glassers. Do any of you share my shopping madness over the C19 period? It’s crazy! I’m earning less than the last 20+ years but it seems EVERYONE is going through their closets and selling off the unworn, unloved and unexceptional. Here’s the kicker though, some of those frags have been on my list for YEARS! They are being sold for a lot less than retail. Who cares that there are 5mls missing, or the box is dented, or there is no box? Don’t look at me, I couldn’t care less.

No, I’m not going to tell you all the things I’ve scored. Sorry. It’s too embarrassing. I will tell you though that I’m still on the lookout for a bottle of Greg Lauren for Barney’s. I had a decant which has long gone and I miss it a lot. One of my buddies was selling one on FB not so long ago but I missed out on it because she was only sending CONUS. I could easily have had it sent to mates in the US but……. NOW I’m kicking myself.

Does anyone even remember this salty vanilla beauty?

Greg Lauren for Barneys New York

Notes are extremely simple: Tonka bean, Vanilla, Marine notes. The whole is MUCH more than the sum of its parts though.

By the time I got my decant it had already been DCd and people bragged about the bargain prices they paid. As little as US$20 in its final mark downs. I would have bought 20 bottles for that and happily worn it as my signature scent.

Sadly it was not to be.

I’m sure every one of you has a similar story about a different fragrance.

What are the perfumes that got away from you?
Portia xx

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Saturday Question: Do You Use Scented Hair Products?

It feels that we just discussed perfumes we associate with people we love – and here we are, the next Saturday. But since it’s a weekend, I won’t complain.

 

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

 

Saturday Question #38:

Do You Use Scented Hair Products?

We’re not talking shampoos, conditioners or styling products that have a scent while you’re using them but disappear within minutes after that. The question is rather about products that leave a scent trace for a noticeable period of time or are specifically designed for scenting hair.

My Answer

Until recently the only hair product with a distinct scent I used was Moroccanoil Hair Treatment, and, as I told in the Fantasy Vacation Scent post, I was using that product rather for its scent than functionally.

But then earlier this year, while searching for a bottle of Fresh Cream Warm Cashmere by Philosophy (I wrote about it in the post Got Milk?), I read in some reviews that the Fresh Cream dry shampoo smelled great and similar to perfume. Since I like perfume and use dry shampoo from time to time, I decided to try this one. I like it – both as a product and for how it smells, but when I use it, it’s extremely hard (if not impossible) to pair it with any perfume. But it is perfumed enough to wear it on its own, if you like the scent. And it stays on your hair for at least 8 hours.

The news about collaboration between Byredo and Ouai came right when I was on my last drop of Mojave Ghost perfume sample. As I was considering the purchase of a bottle, and, as I said, I am using dry shampoo, with the price of it being the same as for Ouai’s regular dry shampoo ($24), the purchase of this one wasn’t even a question. I went to Sephora as soon as the store in our area opened and got a spray of the limited edition Ouai Super Dry Shampoo x Byredo Mojave Ghost. I love the scent, and I like the product. I pondered for a while whether I should get 1-2 more cans of it, or if I should rather add those dollars towards getting a bottle of perfume… When I went to buy another one, it was completely sold out everywhere. Of course, now Byredo sells Mojave Ghost Hair Perfume ($75 for 75 ml), but I could never explain to myself what would be a justification for buying hair perfume in addition to or instead of real perfume: how much perfume do you need to spray into your hair to do any real damage from the amount of alcohol that will get into contact with it?! Now I’m definitely saving that money for the future perfume purchase.

 

Dry Shampoos

 

Speaking of hair perfumes… Even though everything stated above is how I feel about that type of products, recently I caught myself being drawn to … not one but two such products! One is from Ormonde Jayne – Ta’if Hair Mist. I do not need it since I have this perfume in 4 different versions already (and a back-up bottle), but I want it just because I love that perfume, and it’s my number two all-time favorite. So, at least it’s more or less logical (and I’m still not sure I’ll end up buying it). But the second one is completely illogical: Chanel No 5 The Hair Mist. Why illogical? I do not like No 5 in any version. I’ve never liked it. But at least once a year I approach it again thinking that maybe this time… Have you seen that cutest 1.2 oz frosted glass bottle? I do not need it. I will not buy it. But I want it.

 

Do You Use Scented Hair Products?

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Rusty the Cat: On the “Greener Grass”

A man is sitting on a railroad track.
Another man approaches him and says:
“Scooch over! I’ll sit next to you.”
A joke from my childhood*

Over the years, Rusty has learned that my vSO and I have al the things that are better than what he has: pates, meet, cheese, etc. that we eat are almost like Rusty’s wet food but better. The comforter we hide from him in our bedroom is better than the old one (a King size!) that we gave to him. And whatever we use to decorate our living space is a much better toy than anything we bring Rusty from a pet store.

But while he can’t get as much of our food as he’d like to, and our bedroom stays off-limits for him during the work week, there are some other areas of life where Rusty insists on being treated as equal (kind of).

On the sofa where my vSO spends evenings reading, surfing or watching, we have two pillows. During the day Rusty has access to both of them, but usually he prefers other parts of the house. While sitting on the sofa in the evening, my vSO usually uses one pillow to support his back and lays flat the other one for Rusty to sleep there. And every time when Rusty decides to join him on the sofa, he completely ignores the pillow conveniently laying flat, comes to my vSO and starts touching or even clawing the pillow behind his back – until he gives up and relinquishes the pillow. First we thought that Rusty considered one of these two as his and tried to reclaim it. But no: it’s whatever pillow is currently “in use.”

 

Rusty on Pillow

 

In the home office where we both work, if Rusty decides to join us during the work day, we have multiple places where he might sleep, including a special blanket on the desk to the left from my computer (as shown on the picture to one of the previous episodes of this series – Rusty the Cat: On Comfort Temperatures). I even tolerate for a while if he decides to plop himself down on my lap, even though it’s not particularly convenient if I need to write a document or do something else not related to reading or sitting on a meeting. But as soon as I get up from my chair, Rusty immediately occupies it and falls asleep. Knowing this his habit, I tried not to leave it unattended unless I would go to the kitchen (then Rusty would join me there) or plan to work standing for the next couple of hours. But recently Rusty decided that he shouldn’t be waiting for me to leave of my own accord. Instead, he would get on that blanket I mentioned and try to get between me and the seat back or keep touching my arm prodding me to vacate the chair. A coupe of days ago he did it while my vSO’s chair (which is almost identical to mine but without an additional pillow) was unoccupied and completely accessible! I gave in and worked standing for the next couple of hours (I have a sit/stand desk).

 

Rusty In an Office Chair

 

Rusty is so artless and straightforward in his pursuit of comfort, that it’s almost impossible to resist him. So, usually we don’t.

 

* For those of my readers who speak Russian, the characters in the epigraph joke were Pet’ka and Chapayev

Images: my own

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Review by Christine W: Several Patous, Old(ish) and New

Dear friends and readers, let me introduce to you the latest addition to the ULG contributors: Christine W, a guest writer from Melbourne, Australia. Having collected vintage perfume for over a decade, Christine finally took the plunge and came out with her first-ever blog post. I hope we won’t scare her away, and she’ll fill the gap of vintage perfumes coverage on this blog. Undina

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Seven years ago, Maison Jean Patou released Collection Héritage; reworkings of nine of the house’s much older fragrances. While stocks last, they can be found online for a fraction of the original price. In 2019, when LVMH bought Jean Patou, the new owners discontinued production of Patou fragrances. Since then, fragrance fans have been snapping up the remaining stock of classics such as Joy, Sublime and 1000. But are the more obscure Collection Héritage scents also worth buying? Are they anything like the earlier fragrances upon which they were based? I will attempt to answer these questions by comparing seven of the Collection Héritage scents with their corresponding, older Ma Collection versions. The prices I mention are based on my location in Australia. If you are in another country you might pay more, or less, than I did.

Before my reviews, I need to outline what I will be comparing.

The Collection Héritage (CH) series consists of nine 100ml EDPs released in 2013 and 2014. Patou’s last in-house perfumer, Thomas Fontaine, composed each of them as re-imaginings of older “archived” Patou scents of the same name. The series (in random order) comprises: Adieu Sagesse, Colony, L’Heure Attendue, Chaldée, Que Sais-Je?, Vacances, Deux Amours, Eau de Patou and Patou Pour Homme. I am not reviewing the last two because I didn’t buy them.

The Ma Collection (MC) series was released in 1984. Consisting of 12 fragrances (which I own as a boxed set of minis, pictured below with its accompanying book), these were themselves re-workings of selected early Patou scents created between 1925 and 1964, mostly by in-house perfumer, Henri Alméras (1892-1965). The MC recreations were composed by Jean Kerléo, who had taken over from Alméras in 1967. The MC scents that I will examine for comparison have the same names as the first six listed above, plus Amour Amour (the original name for Deux Amours). In case you were wondering, these MC titles didn’t make the cut for CH: Moment Supréme, Cocktail, Divine Folie, Normandie and Caline.

Patou Ma Collection boxed set

To supplement (and guide) my impression of each CH scent and its corresponding MC version, I will include notes lists from Fragrantica (unless otherwise noted) and information supplied with packaging.

So, let’s dive in!

Continue reading →

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Saturday Question: What Perfumes Do You Associate with Your Loved Ones?

Only positive thinking today: we have enough negativity from all over the World, so let’s think of something nice and pleasant, even if slightly melancholic.

 

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

 

Saturday Question #37:

What Perfumes Do You Associate with Your Loved Ones?

Are there any perfumes that always remind you of one of your parents, grand-parents, siblings, close friends, etc.? We’re talking only about positive associations here, so please no evil stepmothers that killed the otherwise brilliant LBEV for you!

Name just one or all of them (well, unless your cool aunt was/is a perfumista) and tell us whether you like those perfumes. Do you own them? Do you wear them?

My Answer

I’m in a slight disadvantage here since it’s my perfume blog where I tell perfume-related stories, so in all the years I’ve already told most of the stories closely connected to people in my life (but not all yet – can you believe it?!). And many of you had previously read those stories and even commented on them. But I’ll link to the older posts for those who is newer to my blog or has missed my previous 10 linking back.

Those of you who read NST daily threads might have thought that this topic was brought by this week’s CP – Nostalgia Friday (“wear something that takes you back to a happy moment in your childhood”), but no. I’ve been so busy this week that the first time I read about the topic was only this morning. The CP just coincided with my Grandma’s “would-have-been-100” birthday on November 3rd. In her honor that day I wore my life-long perfume love – Lancome Climat, which she wore and to which she has introduced me when I was a child. I wrote about that connection four years ago in the post The Sillage of Rosa. I still love, own and wear this perfume.

 

Grandma and Climat

 

The second perfume I want to mention is Dior Diorella. While the story I published almost 10 years ago First Love: Love (the title was a logical continuation to the title of my very first post on the blog – First Love: Perfume dedicated to the above-mentioned Climat) was about my childhood crush, I associate Diorella with my mom, from whom I got that perfume without asking permission to scent the “love note” to my future first boyfriend. Last week, thinking philosophically about the blessing of childhood selfishness and self-centeredness, I remembered that episode and wore Diorella thinking of my late mother and trying to evaluate whether, as an adult, I sufficiently “paid back” for the childhood shenanigans. I hope I did… but of course I wish I could had done more. I never loved Diorella, but I like it and wear once or twice a year.

 

Mom and Diorella

 

What Perfumes Do You Associate with Your Loved Ones?

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Lipstick Queen’s Mixed Metaphor

My day-to-day makeup routine has never been too extreme: a tinted moisturizer, a setting powder, a brow gel and a lipstick. And, of course, perfume, but that goes without saying: I don’t consider it as a makeup, it’s a part of my clothing. For the first six months of working from home, with just a handful of Zoom meetings that required my video presence, I almost completely quit using makeup during a workweek. And since on rare excursions to grocery stores I would wear a mask, lipsticks stayed tucked away in a drawer for most of spring and summer.

At some point, as I decided to put on some makeup for a video-meeting, I realized how much I was missing these small daily rituals. So, I thought that instead of colorless lip balms, I could probably use up some of the numerous lipsticks I managed to accumulate before they are hopelessly beyond any mentally expanded expiration date.

In my collection, I have all possible lip products of different colors, formulations and intensity, so I wouldn’t have to search hard for something appropriate to wear, but I thought of something even better!

Almost two years ago I bought a holiday edition from my favorite brand, Lipstick Queen – The Nude Album Lipstick Palette. Visually, it is a strange combination of a vinyl album and a painter’s palette. But somehow this mixed metaphor works, and the combination feels very organic – until you start thinking about it.

 

Lipstick Queen The Nude Album Lipstick Palette

 

I loved how The Nude Album Lipstick Palette looked, and those colors suited me perfectly. But can you imagine hauling around this set?! And if I were to put on one color at home and then take with me some lipstick for a touch-up in the office, why would I not put it on to start with? So, the set was just sitting in my drawer… until I realized that now when I stayed at home it was just perfect: I could apply and re-apply any of these lipsticks throughout the day, either using the same color or going around the palette. Now every day I feel a little like an artist painting those beautiful fall colors on my lips.

 

Lipstick Queen The Nude Album Lipstick Palette

 

The Nude Album Lipstick Palette is still available online, both in the US and in Europe, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wears lipsticks in these shades: for less than the price of one lipstick you will be getting 7 colors to play with. The quality is the same as for the regular Lipstick Queen’s lipsticks. And the set looks even better in person than in photos.

 

Images: my own

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Aimez-Moi Comme Je Suis by Caron 2020

Hey Posse, Caron is owned by Cattleya Finance since 2018. It seems they have been taking stock and getting a feel for the company before launching anything new. It’s so interesting that they chose to market their first new outing to the boys. Needless to say, this is actually a unisex fragrance, it has facets from both major genders playing fields and melds them seamlessly. It could easily have been marketed to ALL genders. Interesting also that the name they chose has echoes of other Carons: N’Aimez Que Moi (1917) and Aimez-Moi (1996). The moment I read that this was coming I organised a split here in Australia and sent to Paris for two bottles. One I would keep and the other my very dear buddy Scotty would get, after we had split off the required amounts.

Aimez-Moi Comme Je Suis by Caron 2020

Continue reading →

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Saturday Question: Do You Share Your Hobbies?

Undina: I know that you all are extremely attentive and would not have missed it, but just in case you’re reading it really early in the morning, late at night or just while being preoccupied with something else, I’m bringing to your attention that today your host is Narth.

 

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

 

Saturday Question #36:

Do You Share Your Hobbies?

Treat this question as wide or as narrow as you wish – you can answer concentrating on our shared perfume hobby only or tell us about any other hobbies, loves and likes – be that books, knitting, streamed shows or philately.

My Answer

I’ve always had rather solitary hobbies, pursuits that I happily potter around with at home, no other people required. Thanks to the internet even the most obscure hobby has its own community, but I do sometimes wish for friends in the real world that like what I like. I’ve always felt uncomfortable pushing my hobbies on people, a product of a childhood dominated by the megalomaniac interests of others. I don’t want to be that person pressing a book into your hands saying you simply MUST read this, it’s SO good! The pressure, ugh. I remember well when a friend went through a Bollywood phase and talked incessantly of Bollywood movies, Bollywood actors, Bollywood gossip… I had never seen any Bollywood but that didn’t stop this from being the most interesting topic of conversation in her opinion. This comes to mind every time I mention watching K-Dramas, I can’t bring myself to say: “and this one is really great, I think you’d like it”. I am very uncomfortable putting myself forward in that manner, having silently nodded along to other people’s oblivious flights of fandom. Yes, I do realize there is a middle ground that should be aimed for, and maybe someday I’ll get around to that!

Perfume though… I am good at sharing perfume. If someone loves a scent I’m wearing or fondly talks of a specific note, I will be rushing home to fill a decant. I’ve got a Liquides Imaginaires decant in my bag ready for when I see someone who loved Buveur de Vent last time I was wearing it. I’m careful not to go overboard in talking about perfume, no need to educate people unless they want to know specifics. What I love is the sharing of perfume, of being a generous benefactor of smells, of surprising people with incense or rose or, once, cardamom after hearing they love it. I used to give people entire bottles, not at great expense but because at that time I had an abundance of fragrances picked up second hand for a few dollars. But that can be seen as an excessive gift, as in many people’s minds perfume is a luxury item. So even though that hulking great bottle of Tresor only cost me 5 bucks, and I was never going to wear it, sometimes it’s too much to give an acquaintance (true story). So now I limit myself to passing on a decant. I like the hard case metallic ones that look like a lipstick. “For your purse” I can say, pressing it into their hands, and it feels just right.

 

Atomizers in a cup

 

Do You Share Your Hobbies?

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Puredistance Rubikona Giveaway Winner

The winner of the draw on this blog is: VerbenaLuvvr! Please contact me with your address.

Puredistance Rubikona Draw

Instagram winner will be announced there soon.

For everybody else – a bonus Rusty shot. In the next second with his claw he pulled the bottle towards himself, played with it for a second, dropped, scared himself and jumped away. I decided not to let him play with it any more because usually the next experiment would be pushing it off the table and hunting it on the floor.

 

Rusty and Puredistance Rubikona