Clik here to view.
In the Search for the Perfect Mimosa, Take 3
There are scents that we like on their own – because they smell nice, make us feel good or appeal to our sense of beauty. Other scents (while being all that as well) are linked to pleasant memories,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
From the Cutting Room Floor: Rusty plays Milo
Those of you, to whom Rusty owes dozens of treats for complimenting him on many of his appearances on this blog, probably think that he is a natural on camera. He is – if we’re talking about those...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In the Search for the Perfect Coffee
Ally McBeal is one of my all-time favorite TV shows. I loved it deeply and thought that the first two seasons were just magical – funny, romantic and witty. I stopped watching it at some point in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Guerlain Chamade: Surrender? In a Heartbeat!
When I started thinking about this post, I couldn’t remember the exact occasion when Chamade came into my life. I have a documented evidence of the time when I didn’t have a single bottle of Guerlain...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dab, Spray or Roll-on?
As I was writing about Guerlain Chamade extrait, I realized that as much as I love the bottle it comes in, I never use perfume directly from it: I transfer a couple of milliliters at a time into a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
From the Cutting Room Floor: Perfume? What Perfume? Where??!
Initially I planned to use this series for sharing with you pictures of Rusty that I made for my posts but ended up not publishing because I had more good pictures than I needed. But Scented Hound’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Royal Nonesuch of Perfume
Several years after we moved to the U.S., we found our friend F. who we knew back in our student days. He emigrated about 8 years before we did, and we lost each other. So it was great to re-connect....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Six by Byredo: Two Perfumistas’ Impressions
Undina: When hajusuuri who went to the recent Sniffa event had approached me suggesting a joint post about Byredo scents, I immediately agreed: since our tastes match, by my estimate, 80-85%, I was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Byredo Samples Draw Winner
I tried persuading Rusty to help me with selecting a winner but it didn’t happen so hajusuuri had to do it an old-fashion way – using random.org. And we have a winner! Juli B.! Please contact me with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Last Week the President of the U.S., my vSO and I visited Seattle
With the workload of the last five months both my vSO and I needed some change of scenery, and Seattle seemed to be a perfect destination for a three night trip. It’s just a 15-minutes’ drive to the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other
I don’t know why stores keep changing floor plans or re-arrange goods on the shelves. I know that there are numerous studies on the psychology of a shopper, on focal points of layouts and foot paths of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In the Search for the Perfect Peony
What did we do when Fragrantica wasn’t around to helpfully provide a list of notes for perfumes we tried? I don’t know about you, but back then I didn’t think much about the notes. Usually I paid...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bargains That Hunt (Haunt?) Me
“The more you spend, the more you save” – we all heard this phrase or some variation of it. Every time I sigh, repeat in my head: “The more you spend, the more you spend” and resist buying things I do...
View ArticleClik here to view.
If it didn’t work the first time…
I read that this perfume was about to be released. I’m a little surprised to see it on the counter already, but since it’s there, of course I want to try it. I do not expect much but, against all odds,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wearing White After Labor Day
I don’t think I’ve heard that expression before I moved to the U.S., but once I did (moved and heard) it felt intuitively understandable and logical. I knew that it wasn’t a rule actually imposed or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mary Greenwell Plum Giveaway Winner
Either most of my readers live not in the U.S., or everybody got all the Plum they bear, but I got just two entries for the giveaway. It was easy for Rusty to choose the winner, and it happened so fast...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Song of the Sea
There is a term “false friend of a translator” – words in two languages that look or sound similar, but differ significantly in meaning (see Wikipedia). These words do not even have to look/sound...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Black Lace in Tropics
If I were to name the best material for tropical clothing, I would be choosing between cotton, linen or silk, and I would be looking at it from the point of the comfort of wearing it in the heat and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In the Search for the Perfect Vanilla, Part 1
I realized how uneventful recently my day-to-day life has been when I started questioning myself whether I was going a little overboard with a number of posts based on a single week’s vacation… It made...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Sillage of Rosa
My Grandma’s name was Rosa (“rose” in Russian). Today we would have celebrated her 96th birthday. I had two months to come to terms with this loss, and this post is not a call for sympathy. Thinking...
View Article