A weekend visit to London

This weekend we stayed over with our closest friends at their flat in Limehouse, which is adjacent to Canary Wharf in London. It was with great sadness that they told us they are leaving the UK in April next year, after spending ten years here. After much thought, they feel that they aren't happy here any longer and are returning to Melbourne in Australia. For us it is a blow, of course, as we are very close and have spent a lot of happy times together here in England. However, we want them to be truly happy and I hope this move home will be good for them.

On Sunday we all met up with some other friends of ours, formerly from London but now living in Bonn, Germany. They had a little baby girl a few months ago and it was great to see them all. We visited a German Christmas market on the South Bank and generally had a good time, despite the dreary grey weather.

I didn't wear a lot of perfume this weekend, but somehow it felt appropriate not to. When I don't feel especially happy I also don't feel like wearing perfume...

In memory of Mona Di Oria

I've had a soft spot for Mona Di Orio's perfumes for a long time. I wouldn't say they are easy to appreciate at first. Challenging and slightly offbeat are words that come to mind, but irrespective of taste, I don't think I could ever argue that they aren't interesting and ultimately, they reward the perfume lover who looks beyond the easy hook. Which possibly reflects the character behind the perfumes. Sadly, Mona won't be around to continue that legacy and passion directly, although I do hope her perfumes continue to be enjoyed and appreciated and here's wishing her spirit lives on in her wonderful perfumes.

Random December musings, continued

I know this is getting boring, but today wherever I walked in town I saw further evidence of a mad desperation to sell merchandise at a discount in the run up to Christmas. Without wishing to come across as a scaremonger, I really do feel that we are living in desperate times. I truly have not felt this sensation quite so vividly before.

Onto happier themes, my perfume today was M, by Puredistance. I'm not going to elaborate, save to say that on a cold, blustery day, as autumn slips away to winter, M wears smooth, sophisticated and beguilingly. It's a brilliant perfume.

Random December musings

I can't help but notice how each year the sales start earlier than before. Traditionally, we used to get the New Year sales, then they started on Boxing Day and then last year I noticed sales in the fortnight leading up to Christmas.

This year lots of retailers, particularly online ones, started all sorts of sales in November and to be honest, thinking about it now there have been sales on during almost every month I can think of. This is clearly indicative of the dire state of the UK and EU economies and for all I know it might be just as bad in the US and other parts of the world. I find it quite depressing really. While I know these retailers are simply trying to move merchandise and kick start their stalling financial results, I'm not convinced it does anything other than paper over the all-to-obvious cracks in our economy.

Well, this has absolutely nothing to do with perfume really. Interestingly, a lady I work with emailed us all with vouchers from The Body Shop offering 50% off all their stock before lunchtime, or something to that affect. It boggles the mind, while for the last two weeks Amazon has been going crazy over Black Friday, Cyber Monday and God knows what other days that deserve some faintly disturbing-yet-catchy name.

I'm waiting for some samples to arrive from a generous friend, but while I wait, I'm wearing perfumes I've worn before. Today I tried an interesting layering combination of Ambre Precieux and Leather Oud. I thought the animalic take by Dior might work interestingly with MPG's softer, powdery amber. Sadly Leather Oud (and I only lightly touched it to my wrist) overpowered everything and it didn't quite work. Generally I'm still not convinced by Ambre Precieux. I find it a little too sweet and powdery for my tastes, although I know it has its ardent fans, which is great.

Well, I'm off to watch Celebrity Masterchef now, sad being that I am!

Bluewater and Kiehl's Musk

I mentioned yesterday that we were going shopping for Christmas presents. So we set off at sparrow fart for Bluewater, which is a very large shopping centre/mall in North Kent. For those of you not familiar with the UK, and Kent for that matter, Bluewater is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, stranded between major motorways such as the M2, with a 'tantalising' view of the Queen Elizabeth bridge, otherwise known as the Dartford crossing (over the Thames river). I stand corrected, but I think Bluewater is built in a hole (a very large one mind you) that was once a quarry, and is shaped like a triangle, with a major department store at each corner (House of Fraser, John Lewis and Marks and Spencer). 

Anyway, enough about the history and geography of Dartford and north Kent. The shopping itself turned out to be less tortuous than I had feared. We got there early and managed to escape before the real crowds arrived at lunchtime. And we managed to come away with real presents! Yay!

While I was trying to find a loo in John Lewis I passed the Kiehl's counter and decided to try Kiehl's Musk. (Original Musk). I've tried this one a few times before and have come to the conclusion that it is the second best thing to Muscs Koublai Khan, which is no mean feat. While it is not as overtly animalic and complex as MKK, it does have a bit of skank, at least on my skin. It is possibly more floral and less dry than MKK, but in my opinion definitely shares the same gene pool, perfume-wise.

Basenotes list the notes as bergamot, nectar (what?!), orange blossom, neroli, ylang-ylang, rose, lily, tonka, white patchouli and musk. I must confess that on my skin I don't detect a lot of these notes, individually, especially the orange blossom and neroli. Musk is definitely the dominant note, from start to finish.

At £45 a bottle, I am sorely tempted to buy a bottle of Kiehl's Musk. I think it is a very good perfume indeed and very reasonably priced.

Image credit - http://www.kiehls.co.uk/

Friday scent of the day

I know its December when I get my first cold of the winter. I woke up this morning with a tight chest and a slightly sore throat. I hope it doesn't develop into something more serious. I hate to talk about health, but since I had pleurisy last year my chest has never been quite the same and I tend to get chest infections a lot easier than I used to. This coming from someone who for about ten years between 1996 and 2006 could count the number of colds he had on one hand!

Anyway, so far my sense of smell hasn't been affected so I happily wore L'Artisan's Al Oudh today. I know this one tends to divide opinion. I personally love it and as someone who likes cumin, I have no issues with Al Oudh at all. It is a deep and complex perfume that felt just right for today.

Tomorrow we are off to start doing some Christmas shopping. Wish me luck!

Scent of the day - Parfumerie Generale Bois Blond

So, it's the first of December already. I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by. Sometimes I wish I could hit that pause button on the remote control of life and just slow things down!

Today I wore Bois Blond by Parfumerie Generale. Luckyscent lists notes of cereals, grass, galbanum, cedar, hay, blond tobacco, musk and amber. Bois Blond is instantly recognisable as a PG creation. For example, if you have tried Coze or Aomassai, you will recognise that Bois Blond is part of the same family, albeit a toned down, slightly less gourmand version. 

Bois Blond really does live up to its name. It is woody, grassy and hay-like, infused with slightly sweeter musk and tobacco notes. It really is a very good fragrance, but for some reason I don't feel particularly inspired or moved by it. I can't deny that it is well done nevertheless and it could just be my own tastes that lead to me reaching this conclusion.