June 24, 2008 7:43 AM,  Perfumeshrine said...

I admire your Zen acceptance. I get irritated myself and break the trance!
Thanks for the recs though :-)

June 17, 2008 4:36 PM,  Dain said...

Wow, that's really intense. You find some cool stuff! Are those your lips? Looks like it actually does something...

June 17, 2008 4:47 PM,  Joy Rothke said...

They are my own lips, without any product.

June 4, 2008 3:40 PM,  Reese said...

Next time you are at Kiehl's try some of their new Superbly Restorative Argan Skin Salve; I just got some this week and it is wonderful. Great on cuticles, feet, shins, knees, elbows and hair. A new holy grail product for me.

May 26, 2008 2:46 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

lololol! I'm afraid I don't fit in with the perfumistas, either. There was a brief period when Montale was the "it" brand, on another board, and I was interested in it at the same time--so for five minutes, I had something to talk about. But on that same board, hardly anyone mentions Montale anymore. I don't know if they all swapped their Montales...I bought some, it's a nice brand. It has a strong Middle Eastern vibe, which is nice in perfumery.

Thanks so much for posting about the Bolton line. I'm jealous of you...so much of the American artisan movement is based in Southern Cal. We have TerraNova of Berkeley here...they make a Pikake scent I swatch every time I see it. It's pretty much pure pikake, maybe a little musk. It's been on my wish list for years. I'm slow to buy new scents.

Don't be afraid to bump up a new post to the date/time it's being published. :)

April 25, 2008 11:03 AM,  Dain said...

It truly surprises me how few niche perfumes I want to keep for myself.

April 25, 2008 2:00 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Part of it is the cost imo. I rather liked that Tauer L'Air du Desert Marocain, but the thought of paying $90 for a little bottle of something with little staying power...eh...or having to hunt it down and buy it in decant form.

There are quite a few artisan perfumes I'd buy if I could...Jasmin Full, Intense Tiare, the Tauer one, Heure Exquise (maybe), AG Rose Absolue and Eau d'Hadrien, yadda yadda... The mainstream perfumes tend to be more reasonably priced.

April 25, 2008 10:24 PM,  Dain said...

I'm starting to be more open about fragrances with very little staying power. I've always been prejudiced in favor of strong, powerful perfumes. In some cases (Chanel Cristalle and Guerlain Après L'Ondée are good examples) ephemerality is an integral part of the charm—if they were stronger, they'd not be the same experience.

I think the only niche scent I find myself craving is Ormonde Woman, though I'm still in the middle of investigating Frederic Malle and find quite a few outright stupendous. Otherwise, the only sure bets at this point are Caron Parfum Sacré, which I snagged for $13, and Guerlain Mitsouko (still). I guess I'm more about the classics. : )

April 26, 2008 3:36 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Uh-uh...if it doesn't last, I won't buy it. To me it's an insult, especially for expensive perfumes. It's on the manufacturer to find a way of making the scent last. I don't use other cosmetic products that have no staying power, from eyeliner to blush to lipstick, either.

April 24, 2008 4:16 PM,  Dain said...

Cool. I've been curious about this product for a few years now, but I never took the plunge, because it's so expensive. Though I hear it's much more cost-effective when you buy it by the liter. Have you tried the Gentle Shampoo?

April 24, 2008 10:16 PM,  EZE said...

I haven't tried it. I have tried the Seaweed shampoo and it dried my hair out. Creme de Coco (?) shampoo is all right, though.

I don't think the price is too bad. It's not great - $20 for 8 oz. - but it's a concentrated formula. The liters are definitely a better deal. They're just so big that I find them vaguely intimidating. I start panicking: "When will I ever use this much conditioner?" :)

August 30, 2008 6:40 AM,  mack said...

i hear it's cost-effective and good for hair...so i have tried it and now i am using it..its good for hair..

April 12, 2008 4:34 PM,  Dain said...

I've used something like this since childhood; in Korea people will scrub you down with these things at spas. It's a textured viscose cloth, right? You can find mitts for $0.99, and they are durable. It works best if you soak for a bit so all the dead skin gets soft, and then you'll just see it all peel off, it's a real gross-but-satisfying moment, like picking your nose.

April 12, 2008 10:03 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

I'm not sure it's exactly the same thing...it's nylon, and you can't really scrub with it. It's far too rough. I didn't notice peeling, but then I don't soak, so that could be it.

It's sort of like, you just touch your skin with it, you rub very lightly.

I did try it out on my face today...after I wrote the post, I realized it didn't make sense not to try it. It's actually pretty good. Again it's not good for small areas such as around the nose, but for broad areas like the forehead, it's better than my Hauschka Cleansing Cream. (Might be worth a few extra minutes in the shower to reduce the amount of Cleansing Cream I use.)

BTW did you know Google bought Feedburner? It's what LP uses to syndicate the blog, so that could be good.

April 13, 2008 4:48 PM,  Dain said...

Hm, it may be the same thing nevertheless. It's rough, and abrades dead skin pretty thoroughly? It's a little tricky applying evenly, though, and it's easier with a mitt. I try to do it after I soap up while there's conditioner soaking in my hair but before shaving, by that point, your skin has soaked up enough water to come off easily (it "pills" up into these little grey bits, charming, I know).

April 13, 2008 5:41 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Yeah, the principle sounds similar. I tried it again today but didn't get pills yet. lol! I dunno, it just sounds like something fun to watch.

It's incredible for my face, so far. I used about half the amount of Cleansing Cream on my face, after washing it with the cloth. I actually felt the cleansing cream was a bit unnecessary. I suppose it'll take a few days to work into a routine.

April 15, 2008 2:14 PM,  Dain said...

I guess the virtue of the cleansing cream is that it exfoliates without abrading the skin, it simply collects all the loose bits and rinses away. My guess is that it's probably redundant to use both, but the Cleansing Cream is probably better for your skin.

You need to apply horizontal pressure, if that makes any sense.

April 17, 2008 11:03 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Yeah, that would make logical sense, but more for young skin. My skin has changed a lot over the past few years. For young people, I would say the cloth is overkill. The cleansing cream alone should do it, if you even need to exfoliate much.

It's odd, how age changes you gradually. You don't look in the mirror overnight and go, "Wa', what a right old bag." lol But gradually, I've needed to exfoliate much more. Since the change is gradual, sometimes it's hard to realize just how much more.

So far I've been using the cloth first, then a teeny dab of cleansing cream, about half the amount I used before. I feel the cleansing cream functions more as a moisturizing treatment (since the cloth leaves my face squeaky clean, which isn't good for oily skin), and picks up whatever odd dead skin the cloth missed in more complicated areas like around the nose.

April 18, 2008 3:24 PM,  Dain said...

Hm, actually, it's the other way around. Young skin is always the more durable. It's probably more the fact that you're oily that makes your skin fine with it.

March 2, 2008 5:11 PM,  Dain said...

I found the Cleansing Milk lasted for a surprisingly long time. I used it sporadically, so I can't be accurate, but three months is probably a conservative estimate, I'd guess a bottle'd last twice as much.

February 18, 2008 1:13 PM,  Dain said...

Hm... the jasmine seems slightly the stronger, to me, but then I'm more comfortable with rose. Imo, I think they're well-balanced by each other. I find it ageless (in that it defies the trends), but nevertheless of a certain age (in that, I feel gauche in it).

I'm not sure if vintage and reorchestration will make much of a difference (I have not smelled it before I tried it), but I suspect concentration might.

February 19, 2008 11:17 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

I think you're right...Patou is unlikely to have changed much. I was a bit stunned when I smelled the Sublime sample--it's exactly the way I remembered it smelling, back in the mid-90's when I went to Nordies and sampled it.

On me there is only a bit of jasmine.

I'm not much of a parfum person, I can dig the idea but eau de parfum tends to suit me better.

February 21, 2008 10:57 AM,  Dain said...

Me too, except when there is a decided difference (Chanel No. 19 EDT is pitiful, but the parfum is a marvel). I like an EDP because I really like to spray with abandon.

February 5, 2008 4:51 PM,  Dain said...

Interesting. The peanut oil in this product clogs my pores. Otherwise, I like it. I'll agree that you don't really need moisturizer afterwards. The spritz of a toner will do. In fact, that's how you are supposed to do it at night, according to the Dr. Hauschka regime, so that skin can "breathe". That might be why the cleansers have such a heaviness to them.

February 6, 2008 12:27 AM,  Dain said...

Hey Colleen, you know that hoop design you've been working with lately? Have you considered looping it back down before you wrap it and making a small hoop that descends into the center? That way, you can attach a stone that floats in the middle of the large hoop, and whatever you like on the ring itself. It might be a way to tinker around with color combinations and not worry about the stones themselves knocking into each other.

February 7, 2008 1:49 AM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

The funny part is, it doesn't leave my face greasy. When I'm using it, it feels like hand cream--after rinsing and drying, it doesn't feel different from my regular moisturizer. Possibly it's better for oily skin than for dry.

I haven't bothered with the toner yet. I've used the cleansing milk for three nights now--I'm using it only at night, I use the cleansing cream in the AM. My skin does feel a bit softer and smoother.

Ah, the quest for the handmade wire hoop. The thing is you can buy readymade components, but they'll look readymade, in the sense of being something anyone can buy. I'm not knocking it...I've been pondering getting some myself, like a round hammered silver link with tiny holes in it.

The handmade ones are a bit tricky...you have to get it so it doesn't look bulky, since you have to get the thing to stay together using only wire.

February 7, 2008 12:05 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Doh?

Recently I've been doing the double-looped wrap I saw on the SkyDreams Etsy site...it really does work better. The old top wrap had only one loop, which you used to wrap the other end of the wire. I was having a problem with the end of the wire popping out of the wrap if you pulled it. If you put a loop at the top of the end, it really can't pop out.

What I'd need to do is bring the wrap itself down and terminate it in another loop. The hoop would have to be bigger of course but there's no reason it wouldn't work.

February 7, 2008 7:16 PM,  Dain said...

Yeah, I figured that might be it. Dr. Hauschka, try as I might, never quite suited me. And I first scorned Jurlique as a Dr. Hauschka copycat, but it suits my skin far better.

The toner is great--it's the only toner I'd actually recommend. It's somehow "more than toner". There's alcohol in it, plant alcohol, but IIRC is it's ethyl not isopropryl, as it is for so many products. There's just lovely botanicals floating around, and it smells wonderful, and like nothing else. (I'm talking about the Facial Toner, am allergic to Clarifying).

February 7, 2008 7:47 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

It's weird eh? It seems to me the greatest fans of Hauschka are in fact those with oily skin and/or acne.

January 31, 2008 2:54 PM,  Dain said...

Hm, it looks a little messy and matted to me, but I agree that the first thing you notice are those vivid green earrings. My first thought was, "Oy, great color on her." I adore Cate Blanchett, truly one of the finest actresses we have today. It makes me really angry to think Gwyneth Paltrow got the oscar that one time for Shakespeare in Love and it's like, PALTROW!!!? HOLLYWOOD NEPOTISM!

January 31, 2008 5:08 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Weeellll...I saw Shakespeare in Love. It was good, there's no doubt about it. Most American actors can't do English accents, for the same reason English actors usually end up doing American Southern accents--there isn't quite such a thing as a generic English or American accent. The only way to emulate is to choose a specific region, and that takes more time to study.

There is a definite "shmooze factor" in Hollywood. Spike Lee always got passed over. It's not a reflection of the quality of work by any means.

January 31, 2008 5:52 PM,  Dain said...

It's a fine movie, but the day that they pass up Cate Blanchett in favor of Paltrow is the day I stopped watching the Academy Awards.

January 31, 2008 7:36 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

To me it's like a soccer game anyway...unless you're hanging out with a bunch of people and drinking beer, there isn't much point watching the entire show. You can always catch the highlights later on. :)

There's a stone called chrome diopside that looks sort of like those earrings--at least it does on the Net. I've never seen it in real life.

January 31, 2008 7:50 PM,  Dain said...

Yeah, they've been giving the wrong awards to the wrong people since the very beginning, eh? Judy Garland never got hers for A Star is Born and neither did Bette Davis for either All About Eve or Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Perhaps malachite might do? I know it's a deeper green, but...

Hm, the box I sent you should arrive in a week. I've included to tiny pearls, perhaps they could go atop a deep purpley amethyst in a similar style, though perhaps less dramatic. And in gold, since that would match better.

February 1, 2008 2:43 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

I did a little digging, there wasn't much info about the green earrings on the Net. Unusual, since part of the point of having celebs wear jewelry is to publicize the jeweler. I found one article which said they were "natural jade and diamond." That's some jade!

February 2, 2008 4:39 AM,  Dain said...

Playing with color combinations:
rose quartz + labradorite
lavender amethysts + amber (I like the idea of this one)
deep pink + rich blue (good on a brunette, I think)

February 2, 2008 2:34 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Ya know, the more I'm doing this, the more complicated it seems to get. Odd, because I always thought it would get simpler. The mechanical aspect of making the stuff has definitely become far easier, but the design part just gets deeper and deeper.

February 2, 2008 4:14 PM,  Dain said...

I think that's probably true of anything. Look at people who design clothes, for chrissakes. Karl Lagerfeld sends a model down the runway in a denim bra and everyone's like, "Oh, that Karl. He really knows how to demonstrate the French attitude for play. Of course, he's genius. I love him."

February 2, 2008 5:16 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Eh...people can become lazy once they become successful. They tried much harder when they still had to struggle. It can backfire though. People get bored if you keep churning out the same old thing, no matter how prestigious your name has become.

It is odd though...before, I thought, all I have to do is get good at the mechanics, and come up with a few really good "templates." Then just plug in different stones. lol I have yet to be able to do that. Each stone and cut and size seems to require its own design. I suppose I should see it that way...start with the stones, then figure out what to do with them.

February 2, 2008 8:15 PM,  Dain said...

What I found intriguing about jewelry design is how it's not intuitive, in a sense. You take a little bit but you can use it many, many ways. That's kind of cool, in the sense that I've always really liked jigsaw puzzles. Jewelry design is rather like that to some degree.

But I'll admit I find the idea of color combination with stones more intriguing. I mean, it's a little like playing with makeup colors, and in some sense, you need to have the stuff on hand to get a good sense, but that seems like the easiest, fun part. (Not the mechanics, poo!)

I was in Jo-Ann fabrics the other day getting a clasp for the pearl strand, and I noticed that these cloudy lavender beads would really work well with amber drops. They contrast perfectly with each other, and yet, they are slightly unexpected, no? It's interesting to me because you want the piece to look, somehow, whole, at a glance, so that you can wear them and not have to think about it too much. And yet, they should have some excellence as you draw closer in.

Ehhh... that's making no sense. Like a NARS duo. Lol.

January 9, 2008 2:12 PM,  Dain said...

Lol, people on the West Coast keep to themselves? Coming from the dog-eat-dog Northeast, I look at the West Coast and think, man, people are so much easier and nicer there, if somewhat less educated, as a whole.

January 9, 2008 6:35 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Well...Southern society is unique. I've been to the Northeast, the Midwest, and I've lived here and in Washington State for a while. The one place I've never been is the center of the country...Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado...when I came out here, I drove across the Southern part of the country.

Southerners are very social. If you're taking a walk...which is what we used to do over there, there wasn't anything else to do...you would say "Hi" to everyone you passed on the street. Of course that wasn't true in the bigger cities, but even then, there was this sort of social acknowledgment...if you didn't actually say "Hi," still you sort of acknowledged the people on the street.

It's hard to get used to not doing that. Californians do keep to themselves.

Well...on the entire East Coast, North and South, people tend to judge you by what books you've read. That's not really true out here...here, people tend to judge you by what you've done. I think it can be said people come out here, rather than being born here (it's a generalization, bear with me)...it's a kinetic place, people expect you to pursue your dreams, whatever they are.

For example, you could say software was pioneered out here. Why here? Why was Hollywood developed out here? If it's something new, chances are, it will begin here. If it's something established, like advertising or literature, it's bound to fare better on the East Coast, because of the longer history.

January 10, 2008 5:48 AM,  Dain said...

I dunno if it's so much that people judge you by the books you read, it seems to me that in the Northeast people judge you, period. There's an atmosphere of sophistication and money and education compared to the rest of the United States, but I daresay it is mostly because it is so much older than the rest of the country. At its worst, people are extremely critical of each other, and very jealous of what they have.

January 10, 2008 12:25 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Eh...you're going to get some of that everywhere, although I think I know what you mean.

It can be a good thing about California...for two reasons. One is that people come from everywhere. It's difficult to have one standard for anything, because which standard are you going to use?

Two is the earthquakes. People can, at times, live for the moment.

And...it can be an age thing. Younger people tend to measure themselves against everybody, they feel compared. The older you get, the less you do that. Or, the less you should do that. You should have your own concerns by the time you get to be my age...you just want to have a regular job, you take the money home to your kids.

January 10, 2008 3:50 PM,  Dain said...

I think you're right about the age thing. That may be it. You know, the "boarding school" mentality.

January 10, 2008 8:58 PM,  Dain said...

You know, I had a thought. The great American virtue, if you could boil it down, is that sense of possibility, that crackerjack sense of entrepreneurship. That, more than anything, brought all the great talent from the world over, which built up the capital that gave America power. But now, America has power.

I don't know, I am very young, and I look at my options:

(1) Academics? Such bullshit. I can understand elitism, hell, I'm an elitist, but I really despise most academics. There is such an inflated sense of self-importance, combined with raging insecurities that drive people to intense criticism of each other. Agh... It is hard to explain. There is an attitude (which intensifies the higher your degree) that one is above the human condition, by virtue of brain, clean and removed from the mess of the masses. And yet they are so snipey about each other!

(2) Work. Sounds even more bleak. At least I wouldn't be bored in academics. Or required to keep natural bedtimes.

(3) Volunteer. I am simply not a good enough person, I think.

(4) I guess I may just have to be a starving artist after all.

Ja, ja. I think America has lost its urge for potential, for possibility, though this is a very generic statement. It's decadent: it laughs at change and seeks novelty instead, and it is really frustrating, because one buys into the myth.

Some of the charm of Southern culture is that it hasn't lost quite all of its fantasy. New York, evidently (I refer to the "furor"), is quite a different matter.

January 10, 2008 8:59 PM,  Dain said...

Oh, and I forgot:

(5) Marriage. Gah! No!

January 10, 2008 9:18 PM,  TheLipstickPageForums.com said...

I'm afraid our blogger account isn't publishing. You can add comments through this form of course, but the comment count on the posts won't increment.

Weeellll...work has been devalued in our modern-day culture. Say ten years ago, people talked about work incessantly...now, all people seem to talk about is getting rich. It's not the same thing.

I do feel America is a great country, but in an experimental sense. It's not always easy to have faith in experiments. We do things differently; sometimes people agree with it, sometimes they don't. I think, what makes us great is the simple fact that anyone can be an American.

That is not true everywhere else...if you move to just about any other place on Earth, you will be an outsider. Your kids will be outsiders. Depending on the place, your descendants may never really belong. What really is an American? Nobody can say.

So it's like...if everything craps up for you, you can still try to emigrate to America. Your life here is what you make it to be.

No, don't get married until you make your own money.

Oh, the South... We lost the war. We had only one war and we lost it. After that, we had to carry on. So Southerners have an inner strength. And, either an extreme cynicism, or extreme belief, which are two sides of the same coin.

--Colleen, too lazy to log in

January 9, 2008 1:57 AM,  Dain said...

Hehehe... Pleased to meet you!

January 9, 2008 2:28 AM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

lol! Yeah, I think it is kind of weird to see someone on video after all these years. :)

I hope to make more useful videos at some point; I think the potential for them has yet to be reached. Much of what you see is formulaic. I like Asian Beauty Blog's stuff, Pursebuzz, Michelle Phan...I can't think of too many others in the non-corporate category.

January 9, 2008 2:33 AM,  Dain said...

I thought the same thing... There might be a lot of possibilities in this.

December 28, 2007 2:30 PM,  Dain said...

I've heard that the Chanel exclusifs are very good, but of course, they are a mass-market brand's version of niche. I haven't smelled any of them, but talented perfumers and highest quality ingredients sounds like a promising mix. Guerlain is very tricky for me, Guerlinade is musty on me, but I do like L'Heure Bleue. If I had a house, it would be Caron. Caron never cheapens.

You know, Annick Goutals have never agreed with me? They are somehow... too cute, too benign. I think I prefer perfumes very strong opinions. Diptyque, I've only tried two, one was a big hit, the other a big miss. ETRO has very wearable, but unoriginal perfumes, I think. Serge Lutens, I think, gives you a real appreciation for raw materials--those two really know how to bring out a flavor, it's never the thing itself, but in a lot of ways, it is often better. I'm dead curious about Montale--I guess we'll see!

December 28, 2007 11:43 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

The odd thing is it's probably harder to get hold of a Chanel "secret perfume"--dunno, do they keep it behind the counter? :D than a plain old niche fragrance. The niche people were smart enough to start up sample programs, which go hand-in-hand with decant services.

I've never had Guerlain work on me...have never tried Caron. Givenchy is my "mainstream house," since I'm allergic to the older, better Chanels.

Annick Goutal is weirder than Etro if you think about it. Etro, overall, struck me as masculine, where AG struck me as feminine--but wildly differing. Not all of their scents are nice-girl concoctions. It's as if someone goes crazy in the lab late at night, and pops out something no one else has, that is too perfect. And then it's business as usual the next day.

Lutens...mmmmm...I suspect he's more your guy than mine. You're more European in taste than I am. Montale to me has this slight French edge, but it's largely Middle Eastern in flavor. I sense SL is largely French with a slight Middle Eastern edge. (I could be entirely washed up here, it's more of a hunch.)

December 29, 2007 12:04 AM,  Dain said...

Yeah, Guerlains are just tough, but very rich food for the mind. I guess that will just have to be my next perfume review. ; )

To be honest, there are only a very sparing number of SLs I'd consider FBW, indeed Tubereuse Criminelle is alone assured. They are magnificent to appreciate, as one might savor fine wine in a restaurant, but it is quite another thing to buy a case of the vintage (approximately the relationship between decant and full-bottle, no?).

However, I see what you mean, and I think your hunch is a good one. It is very French. But you know, Fleurs d'Oranger is one of the least impressive of the SLs, pretty but... And I have never tried Montale. We'll just have to see.

December 8, 2007 8:53 AM,  Chez Moi said...

"Paying the lesser engineers to fiddle with your face...eh..."
HeHe,love that line!

The closer I get to 40, the less and less "Looks" obsessed I get. I've noticed that the people closest to me also could care less about aging. I did have a few folks in my life who are obsessed with getting older and losing their youthfulness, but I just don't have the patience anymore to have people like that in my life. Its just far to "high school" for me. Plus, a 35 year old woman wearing tons of makeup, bleached out hair and dressing out of the juniors department just looks pathetic. Not me, a "friend" of mine. I just don't get it. She is married, has a nice husband, a beautiful 2 year old baby boy and she's just crazy-obsessed with wanting to attract men's attention. I've tried telling her that she is worth so much more than that, but she is just totally deaf to it. She's smart, she works hard, she is not an unattractive gal. But all she cares about is having guys (preferably young, hot ones) hitting on her. I've given up on the friendship with her and it's just sad.

Anyhoos, your article made me think of this quote that I had posted awhile back on my own blog,

"Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art."
Eleanor Roosevelt

carol

December 9, 2007 6:51 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Hi! Nice to see you. :)

Yeahhhhh...well, some people want to see if they still have it. I've found that doesn't change with age, it doesn't matter what your circumstances are either. I'm not against that, in fact I think it is important to keep up your looks, because it affects your morale.

It's more that you have to draw a line...if you don't draw a line, you're going to be pressured throughout your life to pay for procedures or products that really don't do that much for you. Right now there's a tremendous push for surgery...as the sort of cure-all for everything. And I think it's bullshit, as a cure-all for everything.

The funny part is actually getting old yourself. You find out so much of what you've been told your entire life is, well, fiction.

The only thing I miss is being able to stay in shape easily. For a very long time I was naturally strong. Now I have to work at it. There are many things you can do to keep strong though, the thing is to keep going.

November 6, 2007 1:58 AM,  Dain said...

o lord! I forgot perfume!

November 6, 2007 2:10 AM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

We're still living in Blogger Hell? I went to their help section, I saw three posts bitching on their ftp service. The problem is they don't put anything on their blogger status page, you are to use voodoo to figure it out.

Well, my guidelines are laziness and tightwadded-ness. How little can I do and still look as if I made the effort?

The problem with perfume is finding an inexpensive one that works as well as a spendy one...I gave up on that a long time ago. What attracted me to the Montales, besides they smell good, was the sheer lasting power, the idea of not having to touch them up.

It's what I didn't like about Diptyque...nice scents that don't last. You'd tear through the bottle.

I left jewelry off my list, it's not crucial, yet it adds a lot.

November 6, 2007 2:29 AM,  Dain said...

Yup. It's as sluggish as anything. I've been thinking of writing a post on "things you don't need to spend a lot of money on", but I'll agree that unless you wear, say, oils from a headshop (I know a girl who wears jasmine perfume oil only, it's really lovely on her...), it's a lost cause with scents.

Your Montales makes me as happy as if I owned them myself. Lol. It's queer, I haven't even smelled them.

November 6, 2007 2:31 AM,  Dain said...

Looks like we're back.

November 6, 2007 2:34 AM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

I've only just smelled them? I got Annick Goutal's Passion EDP too, a small bottle of it. That's it for now. I wanted to see how long the Montale's keep.

November 6, 2007 2:37 AM,  Dain said...

Bah, premature. Oy, but I agree, we're all about difference of opinion on LP. Debate is important, it means that people have something to say.

But I dunno, that, say, our current administration follows your creed of Americana.

November 9, 2007 12:35 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Our current administration didn't come from the moon. The problem is not the current administration, the problem is having alternatives to it, which is the part people outside the U.S. don't seem to grasp (as well they shouldn't; they don't live here).

I remember post-Roosevelt, pre-Reagan America in every detail...it's how I grew up. It's hard for me to imagine not having that experience. Once you've seen the potential, you don't let go of it. Or, I dunno, you don't let go of it easily.

October 25, 2007 3:35 PM,  Dain said...

Those Montales sound amazing... I hate weak, derivative perfumes!

October 20, 2007 12:25 PM,  Dain said...

How pretty. You have my interest piqued in the Bill Blass now. Which Montale did you get?

October 20, 2007 10:57 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

I've never tested Nude, I only smelled it on someone else. I read some reviews on Basenotes, where it was described as "artificial" and "synthetic," yet it did get four thumbs up (out of four reviews).

:D I'll post about what I got when I get it...

October 14, 2007 7:16 PM,  Dain said...

Violets are nice. They are very motherly, though sometimes they're over-candied.

October 14, 2007 7:48 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Aoud Blossom is an indestructible violet. I put a few dabs on in the morning, and could still smell it quite strongly on myself (close to the skin) past midnight.

It isn't candied here, it's a bit powdery and soapy. It's nice but I feel it's...conservative...for me?

I tried Boise Vanille out with Aoud Roses Petals today. This just might be "it."

What's odd is ARP, which is a strong rose scent (rose, saffron and oud, bit o' cedar in the drydown) hardly smells rosy at all over the Boise Vanille. The whole works becomes one of those rose-in-the-background blended perfumes.

I'll have to see what happens tonight though...yesterday, BV faded out long before Aoud Blossom (hence the last x hours of almost pure soapy violets).

October 14, 2007 9:05 PM,  Dain said...

I can see that... violets also make me think of Victorian sentimentality, which is pretty conservative. Maybe you can get Boise Vanille and a couple to layer over it as the mood strikes you?

October 14, 2007 11:02 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

They are so...expensive. The price here appears to be fixed. I checked all of the sites I could think of that carry Montale...parfums raffy, aedes, luckyscent, four seasons, there's a Canadian etailer too, theperfumeshoppe.com (which is cheaper, but who knows what the shipping's going to be)...

The cheapest place is Suravi, but only because they have a 10% Basenotes and MUA discount. They don't have the scents I want up, but it's probably a matter of emailing them and asking.

Other than that, there is theperfumedcourt, but all I saw there was an 8-ml decant.

I've heard you can order it from Paris and it's cheaper that way, but more aggravating.

Haven't decided yet which I like better, Aoud Roses Petals or Aoud Blossom (White Aoud is out of the running).

October 15, 2007 3:03 PM,  Dain said...

But if they last as long as they do, and unfold in such a complex fashion, you can consider them like "parfum", which are around $200 for a tiny bottle anyway. Imo, though, parfums don't need layering.

October 15, 2007 4:56 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

What I've read is the Aouds keep very well, but the regular EDP's don't necessarily. In short if I got one Aoud, it would be fairly safe to say it wouldn't go bad. For the regular EDP it would be a decision between 50-ml and 100-ml, but it might depend how fast it goes.

These don't need layering...I like to layer. I have it in mind to get two scents that could work on their own, or else be layered together to create a third scent. Besides, I like the idea of wearing something next to unique. Unless I bump into someone with the same notion of the same two scents, applied in the same proportion, it's unlikely I'll smell this on anyone else. To me there's nothing sacred about perfume; if it works, it works.

Aoud Blossom is pulling ahead, if only because I still don't think of myself as a rose scent person. They don't seem to sell the Aouds in smaller bottles, so the Aoud factor is key here.

September 24, 2007 1:05 PM,  Dain said...

I'm jealous. I really wanted to be able to use Dr. Hauschka cleansing cream, but can't... I really liked the premise, a paste that you "press" into a creamy emulsion that lifts away all that is bad without disturbing what is good, and it works, but... ach, allergies.

I agree 100% about skincare. Things that work miracles at first never keep up to the promise.

September 12, 2007 1:29 AM,  Dain said...

Hm, I'm not one for samples. The whole process drives me nuts for some reason. The faceless wee things, and I've been burned by samples before. Something I really loved turns out to be real disappointing full size.

As such, I tend to buy bottles, even without trying, which may not be smart, but I'd rather not go through the fuss. Just purchsed Parfumerie Generale Bois Blond, with a few samples. But I also have my eye on: Shiseido Bois de Feminite, Chanel No. 19 parfum, and Guerlain Apres L'Ondee.

September 12, 2007 4:03 AM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Eh...one thing I've found with samples is that you have to apply a lot of the stuff, to replicate spraying it on from a regular bottle. Those little plastic wands are next to useless.

It's easy to see a point where you could spend more money on samples than you would on an actual bottle of perfume. I've been judicious about what I've decided to try as a result.

Or you could simply end up in a sort of samples hell, never buying a bottle of anything in favor of buying more samples.

Those Montale samples though, amazing...nothing the way they've been described on the Net. There is a distinct Middle Eastern flavor to them, it's instantly recognizable. The interpretation of roses is nothing like other rose scents, you don't get that sort of...blandness, or generic rose quality.

Now I'm wondering about the reviews of other Montale scents I've read. A lot of people missed the saffron in Aoud Roses Petals altogether. It's literally like smushing up saffron threads and mixing them with water, it's very strong, almost as strong as the roses themselves (and stronger than the oud imo).

From this point actually, I feel inclined to try only Montale.

September 9, 2007 2:38 PM,  Joy said...

I adore Fracas, but it takes some getting used to! :>

September 9, 2007 2:56 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

Yup, I hear that! :)

August 28, 2007 10:44 PM,  Dain said...

Nice video, says a lot without saying too much. Culture these days, we want to disclose everything. It'd be nice to retain a sense of privacy...

August 28, 2007 10:53 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

I felt funny watching it, it reminded me of this tv movie I saw long ago, with Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay. Oh here it is: A Rather English Marriage

Both of them try to capture a time and place, that haven't existed for years, that will never exist again, that would otherwise simply have been forgotten.

We almost bought a house that had a bomb shelter. lol It was the first one I'd ever seen in person. Really weird...thick, bank-vault style doors, a posted list of supplies, a place where the canned goods would have gone...

August 29, 2007 2:18 AM,  Audrey_H said...

Aaahhh, Donald Fagen is great! I heard him live in Stockholm (with JennyB!) this summer. I've been a fan for nearly twenty years now.

August 30, 2007 5:47 AM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

That would be fabulous, to see Donald Fagen in concert. I'm seriously jealous. :)

August 19, 2007 1:49 PM,  Dain said...

I'm thinking of getting a new perfume too. But I've only just started.

August 20, 2007 2:11 AM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

I wore AG Passion all day today...mmmmm.

It's the oakmoss. Even on the AG site, they barely mention oakmoss, but that's what makes Passion good.

I didn't request Passion as a first choice actually, rather as a back-up in case my first choices were out of stock. Based on the AG individual product page for Passion, I thought it would be too sweet--tuberose, jasmine and vanilla.

It's the oakmoss that grounds this. It reminds me a tiny bit of the Ava Luxe "Ingenue" I sampled (a replica of Catherine Deneuve's perfume). That was described as a chypre. I recognize that same note in Passion.

August 10, 2007 8:18 PM,  Dain said...

Mebbe you could call it mauve?

August 10, 2007 8:35 PM,  cmm said...

Its really pretty. Alittle different than your usual everyday choice of color,no?

August 10, 2007 8:47 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

I suppose it could be sort of mauve-y. It has some red in it...it's just an odd color...bricky red, plum, a bit o' brown...

It is different, but even I have become sick of sheers and YLBB. The newer lipsticks seem subtler than the old...I remember a time when just about every lipstick I tried, screamed "lipstick!" and required a lot of other makeup to balance it off. This is still pretty much wear 'n' go.

August 11, 2007 7:46 AM,  cmm said...

I like it!
You have lovely lips! LOL!
I suffer from lip envy though. I've got itty-bitty little Betty Boop lips.

August 11, 2007 8:25 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

I have hair envy...but I figure, you can make whatever you have look good. It's just not as effortless. I'm jealous of y'all having to wash hair as if it were heavy silk. I'm happy that at least mine doesn't look stringy anymore. :)

August 9, 2007 2:32 PM,  cmm said...

Sounds pretty, did you take a pic?

August 9, 2007 9:10 PM,  Colleen Shirazi said...

I have a really lousy picture of it in the image gallery lol. But I hesitate to link to it (it's still there, but I took it when it had faded...it looks more rose brown than plum there).

August 9, 2007 11:25 PM,  Dain said...

I say go for it! A superlative lipstick, no matter how expensive, will do the work of many.