Monday, November 29, 2010

YSL Rive Gauche and cool weather

Hi all! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I feel a somewhat recharged after being as lazy as possible for the last three days. After a flurry of activity to get the dear bf into his new house, and get said house prepped for my having my mom and stepdad over for Thanksgiving dinner, we spent the large portion of the last three days lazily bonding with the new place. What is it about being in a bright little house and having light surround me from windows on all sides that just makes me so happy? It was really a great break.

So CyberMonday, here I am at work, glorying in the rediscovery of Rive Gauche eau de toilette during the cool weather today. I have a bottle of the eau de toilette (even the recent eau de toilette is amazing, though not quite as naughty as the vintage parfum) that has been languishing sulkily in the back of my perfume cabinet. I finally pulled it out today. It's so sad to me that this stunning fragrance just does. not. work. for me in the Texas heat 90% of the year. But hooray, today it does! In cool weather, those famous shimmery-cold aldehydes part to reveal something velvety in the basenotes. The velvet is unfortunately buried by the metallic topnotes in warmer weather. But now that I've read Dane's wonderful review in Pere de Pierre, I'm convinced: it's a yeasty chypre! And y'all know how much I'm into yeasty and bready right now.

Monday, November 1, 2010

SOTD: Dioressence + Philosykos body lotion

Dioressence (I have an older edt bottle like the one pictured, but it's not exactly vintage) layered over Philosykos is an unexpectedly soft, awesome combo for a Monday morning.

I am fascinated by Dioressence; my bottle must still contain a smidgen of that vintage glory so vividly described by the extraordinarily talented Angela at Now Smell This. It does have an... um... unUSual undertone more than likely caused by cinnamon and patchouli. You spray it and it conjures a magical carpet made of pillows, but then a few moment laters, you start to wonder what, exactly, that funk IS that you're lounging in. Pillows made of roadkill, maybe? Yikes.

Philosykos body lotion likewise has a bit of a challenging opening--there's a distinctly urinous quality to it when you first smear it on, but that goes away in a few minutes, and I like it very much otherwise. I bought the lotion online, hoping it would be a perfect complement to my solid version of the perfume without splashing out on an entire edt bottle. I can definitely say the formulation is a high-quality, emollient, ungreasy lotion that feels wonderful. The scent, after the unfortunate first few minutes, is lovely--a slightly woody and creamy whisper. Sadly, it doesn't satisfy my need right now for more! more! Philosykos. Sigh. The solid, the lotion, AND the edt may be in my future.

Anyway, you'd think that putting these two challenging scents together would be a recipe for disaster, but the creaminess of the Philosykos tames the Dioressence a smidgen, without ruining the luxurious distraction from Monday morning that it provides.