The alarm goes off bright and early with vodka drizzled fresh fruit, then takes a shower with lily-of-the-valley body shampoo, and after that, the roses get pruned. The dishes are done before the laundry gets hung on the clothes line, and then comes the hardwood floor sanding, so the dust needs a wet mopping, and the musky rugs should be aired out while we’re at it–
I’ve only been wearing this two hours and I’m exhausted.
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This is my kind of lazy Sunday morning.
Half the price of Tom Ford’s Tobacco Vanille–and smells like it.
Edit – 3/5/23
Less a jazz club and more a seedy casino that hasn’t had the upholstery changed since before the indoor smoking ban and serves cheap house bourbon. The gift shop sells chocolate covered mint cream candies that actually aren’t bad.
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Ms Ella F., at a club in Berlin, messes up the lyrics and turns it into one of the best jazz improv moments ever.
A subpar Arnold Palmer, made with limeade.
For that price, get a big bottle of 4711 Lemon & Ginger, a tin of Twinings Lady Gray tea, and a good set of golf grips.
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A better Lemon Tree.
Another citrus-coconut-floral for barefoot surf dodging–
A soft bergamot opening, with that squeeze of lemon juice to lighten the hair in the sun, then coconut creme sun lotion and sweet tropical flowers carried at arms length, ending in a sheer driftwood musk that melts to the skin after a few hours.
Nice, but I already have a Soleil Blanc sample to get busy with, and a few doses of Moon Bloom and Salty Flower to finish, a Sunkissed Hibiscus mini, and an enormous bottle of Sunny Seaside of Zanzibar, so I’m not likely to shell out for this one.
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A golden oldie made sunnier–
Springtime in a Park is supposed to replicate Shanghai 2019, but I get Car Wash 2004.
Starts out with a blast of flower lather, and then some not-quite-shrieking neon-green pear liquid soap, then blooms with bonkers loud lily-of-the-valley suds.
Bath-time is over in an hour, drying down to clean musk on the skin.
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Donna Summer had much better spring fling flair.
A florist in a hospital, maybe.
Anything with tuberose and peaches shouldn’t be this antiseptic.
Edit – 8/31/21
I keep going back to my favorites, just to make sure that they still smell how I remember, that I’m recovered from the C-19 anosmia–but I’ve found a few stinkers that I wrote off with some snark then forgot about, too.
This one is still sterile and generic, the rose and jasmine coming together in lemony disinfectant that kills everything organic and green, then quickly wilts to the skin.
I think it might do even worse in the summer, than when I initially tried it in January.
For the same price, a prettier bouquet and three times the performance all year round, go with Estée Lauder’s Private Collection.
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This is as moody, but much prettier.
Sweet roasted nuts. (TWSS.)
Nice. I’d burn the candle in November.
Edit – 8/30/21
Talking to a cosmetics savvy friend the other day about Replica–By the Fireplace is her favorite of the house.
I still have the same reaction to it, that it’s lovely, but I want the smoke and heat of a candle to cut through the sweetness. The spice is nice, and the cashmeran dries it out, but the chestnuts get swamped by the vanilla, and they’re the most interesting facet of the fragrance to me.
Lasts all day in socially distant space with long trailers.
On the caramel top of unisex.
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Mushaboom by Feist is sweet and a bit nutty.
kira a. gold 