It's been a bit of a strange week for me, perfume-wise. I've been very busy at work, which in my world is not conducive to a lot of fragrance exploration for some reason. I've mentioned it a number of times before - when I'm stressed and busy I seldom feel in the mood to wear a lot of perfume.
Having said that, I still covered a bit of ground, wearing mostly stuff I'm already very familiar with. Seeing as so many blogs have been writing about oud again, I thought I'd dig out my samples of Pure Oud By Kilian, Black Oud by Montale and Oud Homme by Micallef. Out of those three Oud Homme is by far the easiest to wear, while I think Black Oud is the most challenging. However its Pure Oud that is the most cerebral in my opinion. It is woody, mouldy, bone dry and faintly decaying. It fascinates me.
I also wore Yatagan by Caron, Incense Pure by Sonoma Scent Studio and one new perfume, Opus IV by Amouage. The latter was a sample courtesy of a giveaway by the talented Persolaise, whom I'm sure many of you are already familiar with. I'm not going to go into much detail now, as a review is forthcoming, but it is a scent of two halves for me. I'm lukewarm about the top and early middle phases, while the rest is compelling and very good indeed.
Today I paid a visit to my local department stores and like last week, there is nothing new out there. I'm finding it a bit frustrating because if I'm honest, I'm a little bored with what is out there in mainstream land at present. Not that I'm holding high hopes for what is to come in this respect, perfume snob that I am! I did try Mandragore Pourpre by Annick Goutal, which to me smells just like the original, which I didn't like very much to start with. I also saw yet another endless flanker by Issey Miyake. I can't remember the name, but it was another variation on the same woody-nothing theme, noir-something-or-other. I also popped into L'Occitane, which you might recall from one of my other posts, now sell single-note eau de parfums, focusing on notes like Iris, Labdanum, Neroli and Jasmine. Today I tried Neroli and Jasmine, neither of which was particularly exciting. The jasmine in particular didn't smell a lot like jasmine to me, ending up rather like a lukewarm, pissy white floral. Yikes, I'm not selling these to you, am I?
I'm in serious need of another sample spree, fickle being that I am. I realised today that I last ordered from Luckyscent at the beginning of September, and from Les Senteurs in November, so I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms. I've got my eye on the Xerjoffs, but they are crazily expensive, even the samples, at around $10 a pop. I mean, that is the sort of price you pay for the Amouage Attars for Pete's sake! I'm also keen on Midnight in Paris by VC&A, De Bachmakov by The Different Company and Full Incense and Oud Musk by Montale. I don't know, we'll see.
Have a good weekend everyone. Oh, and American Idol has started again, so I guess I will be glued to the TV again for the next few months. I know chicks dig him, but is Steve Tyler not more than a little bit freaky looking? Jeez... Still, I like him.
