Perfume Collection

Hi everyone!  Today I will be giving a brief overview of my perfume collection and some insights into a few fragrances that I really love.  I enjoy wearing perfume and trying out new fragrances and have built up a small collection of different fragrances over the past few years.

Let’s start with perfume oils.  I have three of these, all from the Body Shop, in the fragrances Clementine, sandalwood and tea rose.  These are very concentrated fragrances and you only need a tiny amount so the 15ml bottles will last a long time.  As you can see, I’ve barely made a dint in any of them.  They are fairly reasonably priced at around $18 each, however I think a lot of the scents have been discontinued (at the time I purchased these I think there was quite a large range, but now only four different fragrances appear on the website).

Clemetine (or Satsuma) is a citrus fragrance which is nice and light and perfect for summer when you don’t feel like a heavy fragrance.  Sandalwood is a spicy, woody fragrance which is much heavier and more suited to night time wear.  Tea rose is a nice floral.  It’s hard to say a lot about these as they really are what they say they are!  Whilst each oil has a single fragrance, they can be worn alone, or blended to make up your own customised fragrance.  I personally haven’t experimented with this as I’m not sure than any of the three I own would work well together but I can imagine, for example, vanilla and sandalwood being quite nice together.  They are also very long wearing.

Left to right: Clementine (Satsuma), Sandalwood, Tea Rose

Next up is Vera Wang.  As you can see, I am obsessed with the "Princess" perfumes.  I have just recently finished a 30ml of the original Princess and I have a 100ml in reserve (which I am planning to try to decant into the 30ml bottle).  This is a nice fruity/floral fragrance with strong hints of vanilla.  I wear this as an everyday fragrance.  Then, there is Flower Princess which is similar, but a little less sweet and more floral.  I get more hints of rose from Flower Princess.  This is also great for everyday wear.  I also have Rock Princess which I haven't opened yet, however I am planning to use this as an evening/night fragrance when my current night fragrance has run out as this is a more musky/woody fragrance.  Another thing I love about the Princess series, is the bottle design - it's so cute!!  I have tested Glam Princess as well (the newest addition to the series) and I really do like it - perhaps I will purchase it once I have finished one or two of my current Princess fragrances.

Left to right: Rock Princess, Flower Princess, Princess, empty Princess

Glam Princess - image sourced from www.fragrancenet.com

I have two Gucci perfumes: Flora and Gucci by Gucci.  Flora is a lovely, light floral with hints of citrus and rose, perfect for day wear.  Gucci by Gucci is quite a heavy spicy/oriental fragrance which I only ever wear in the evening/at night time.  The strongest notes I get from this fragrance are musk and patchouli.

Left to right: Gucci by Gucci, Gucci Flora

I couldn't really think of categories for the rest so I have just grouped the rest into what photographed nicely together haha!  So first up are the tall bottles, Hypnose Senses by Lancome and Viva La Juicy by Juicy Couture.  Hypnoses Senses is also quite spicy, but I find this light enough for day wear.  Viva La Juicy is a sweet floral fragrance, with hints of vanilla as well.  My sister wears this a lot and reports frequent compliments!  The bottle is gorgeous to look at as well!

Sorry, I couldn't get this to upload the right way up!  Top to bottom: Hypnose Senses and Viva La Juicy

Here we have Young Sexy Lovely by YSL and Romance by Ralph Lauren.  I probably have maybe three more days of wear left in Romance and I probably won't repurchase this.  It was a nice fragrance but I wasn't really crazy about it.  It's quite floral with strong notes of rose.  I use this for everyday wear.  As I mentioned the other day, I did quite like the newest edition to the Romance series, Summer Romance.  Romance Always Yours is also on my perfume wishlist.  Young Sexy Lovely is a very light fragrance with a strong citrus note.  Also for everyday wear.

Left to right: Young Sexy Lovely, Romance

And finally, Chloe by Chloe, Flowerbomb by Viktor and Rolf and Dreaming by Tommy Hilfiger.  This is the newer version of Chloe which was released in 2007 (there is an older fragrance of the same name) which is a nice, light floral rose-y fragrance.  I think this would suit casual use, however I haven't worn it on a regular basis yet.  Flowerbomb is quite a sweet floral fragrance.  I also get a hint of vanilla from this.  I love the bottle design of this one too!  Finally (I can almost hear sighs of relief!), we have Dreaming by Tommy Hilfiger, another sweet fruity/floral everyday fragrance.  I bought this in a 100ml on principle that it is generally the best value for money in terms of ml/$ but honestly, I am sick of it.  It's taking forever to use, so I think in future I will stick with either 30ml or 50ml because I enjoy experiementing with a variety of different fragrances and don't like being tied to a single one.

Left to right: FLowerbomb, Chloe and Dreaming

I should probably also mention that both my mother and myself are able to purchase wholesale priced perfumes through our workplaces and as such they are not all that expensive (compared to e.g. Daivd Jones, Myer etc).  I’m aware my collection is not huge by any means but it may be bigger than some so this is just a disclaimer for people who might wonder how a cash-strapped uni student such as myself can afford to buy all of the perfumes I have.  Also, my sister and I share some of these fragrances (we really share all of them, however some are "officially shared" as they were joint purchases).  Some I have also received as gifts for Christmas, birthdays etc.  Another disclaimer: I am aware that perfume doesn't keep forever!  I tend to have one or two on high rotation (at the moment, Dreaming and Romance) so they get used up within a reasonable amount of time.  Also, I store my perfumes in their original boxes and away from heat and sunlight which helps to extend the shelf life and try to refrain from opening them as soon as I get them and leave them in the protective shrink wrapping until I am ready to start using them.

I hope this is helpful/interesting to some people, I know I'm not an expert by any stretch but I did my best haha!

NOTD: Ulta3 Watermelon + other random tidbits

Today's nails are Ulta3 Watermelon.  The name says it all, really - it is exactly the colour of watermelon!  Gorgeous colour which I predict will be on high rotation for me this summer.

With flash - this colour is a little lighter than this in person

This was two coats plus a topcoat.  It almost doesn't need the topcoat as it has a really nice sheen to it, but I just added the topcoat in the hopes that I will get an extra 1-2 days of wear out of it.

I had a really great sleep in this morning and in the afternoon went shopping at Westfield Doncaster to look for a dress for my mum to wear to her work Christmas party/my brother's uni graduation.  She didn't end up buying anything and neither did I.  I did try a nice fragrance in Myer - Ralph Lauren's Summer Romance.  I have the original version of Romance and I'm almost finished it, so perhaps I will put Summer Romance on my Christmas wishlist!

Also, I hopped on the scales this morning perparing for the worst (as this would be the first time weighing myself since before swot vac and exams started) and was surprised to find that I had lost 0.1kg, despite eating pretty badly (not junk food, but just snacking a lot throughout the day, especially on days where I stayed home all day) and doing pretty minimal amounts of exercise.  I'm not really counting 0.1kg as a loss, I was just shocked as I thought I would have gained at least 2kg.  Time to start cracking the whip again and get back into running as I'm only 3kgs away from my goal so it would be nice to reach it by the end of the year.

Thanks for reading!

Perfume Wishlist + P20P update

Let me start by saying I love perfume!  In the past 1-2 years I have built up quite a collection, and I plan to do an overview of my collection in the near future (i.e. after exams), but for now, here are a few on my current wishlist....

Viktor and Rolf Eau Mega

Lancome Tresor In Love

Yves Saint Laurent Parisienne

Ralph Lauren Romance Always Yours

Dior Miss Dior Cherie L'eau

Images sourced from FragranceNet.com

Obviously these are planned purchases for a long way down the track, when I have finished off a few of my current perfumes.

In other news, yesterday, I finished product no. 4 of my Project 20 Pan, only 16 to go!  No 4. was a Covergirl pressed powder.

Have a great weekend!

Project 20 Pan

My interest in makeup and perfume is relatively recent (last 2-3 years) and I have amassed a reasonable collection in this amount of time.  I’d rather not think about how much I’ve spent haha!  I think in the beginning I was very “noob” about it and tended to go for quantity rather than quality.  Also, as I was very new to makeup, I tended to buy a lot of different brands just to try them out.  Now, I’d rather narrow down my collection to a smaller amount of products which I really enjoy using and use on a regular basis.  Also, I think my tastes, especially in eye makeup, have changed.  I used to wear a lot of colour and now I’m much more into more natural looks.  So some of the products which I have now don’t really suit me any more.  I’ll still probably purchase mostly “drugstore” brands (e.g. Revlon, Maybelline, Covergirl etc) as I’m still at uni and on a very limited budget, but I would like to save up for a few “splurge” type purchases as well.  Also, being in Australia, even brands like L’Oreal and Revlon get expensive (relative to my teeny-tiny uni student income).  “High end” brands (department store brands like MAC etc.) are just hideously expensive (unless purchased over the net – hooray strong Aussie dollar!)

I’ve gotten rid of a lot of things through the Vogue Forum Free for All thread (I like the idea of things I don’t want finding a new home rather than me just throwing them in the bin).  Perhaps the next time I do a cull I will do some kind of blog give away.

As a way for me to curb my spending on makeup, and also use up some products that have been lying around for a long time, I’ve decided to undertake Project 20 Pan (inspired by the Project 10 Pan, which I believe was coined by lollipop26 but has since been repeated in some shape or form by just about every beauty blogger).  So I am committing to not buying any new products until I have used up 20 items which are currently in my collection.  I’ve decided that the items may include makeup, perfume, nail polish and skincare, but not things like shampoo/conditioner, soap and face wipes etc (as I have seen on some blogs....seriously, what next? Toilet paper??)  The only exceptions will be if I completely run out of something (I think I may possibly run out of lip balm, but that’s not a very expensive item anyway).

I’m hoping that as well as helping to downsize my collection, this spending ban might also help me curb my addiction to buying new things (and save a bit of $$ as well).

So, after all that, what have I used up so far?

1.  Natio Ageless Brightening Eyecream

2. Vera Wang Princess Perfume

3. Nivea Light Kiss lip balm

My thoughts on these products:

Natio Eyecream – I really liked this and will probably re-purchase after I’ve finished P20P.  It has tiny light reflecting particles, kind of like glitter, but not actually glitter.  So it gives a kind of radiant look without making you look like a disco ball.

Princess Perfume – I love this perfume.  I bought it in a 30ml to use as my “handbag perfume” and I get a lot of compliments on it.  I bought a 100ml as a backup and am going to try to decant it into the 30ml bottle so I can keep it in my handbag (I don’t fancy lugging around a 100ml bottle of perfume in my handbag).  I would really recommend this fragrance, and best of all, it’s pretty cheap!  If you can get it on sale (at Priceline or My Chemist etc.) it’s usually around $30 or 30ml or $50 for 50ml.

Nivea Light Kiss – as I mentioned in the tag questionnaire, I didn’t really like this.  I think I bought it because it was on special at Priceline for like $1 or something.  Anyway, I’m not a huge fan of pot lip balms as I think they’re not very hygienic and you always get balm under your fingernails – gross!  Also, this seemed to separate after a few days of using it and had these funny little grains (of wax, I think) in it.  Remelting in the microwave fixed it, but I had to keep remelting it every week or so.  I definitely wouldn’t be repurchasing this (I think it might even be discontinued anyway).

The empties:

I cut the Natio Eyecream tube in half to get the dregs out of it - this is a great idea for making any products in tubes last a little bit longer.  I usually find I can get at least another week's worth of use out of things by cutting them open. 

Phew, that was a long post.  Thanks for reading (if anyone made it all the way to the end haha!)