Friday, July 10, 2009

TWRT 7.10.09

This Week's Random Thoughts ~

I love seafood. I grew up in New England so perhaps it was inevitable. But when I eat seafood in a restaurant I always feel like I should hide my plate. Most of my friends find calamari, oysters, lobster and shrimp disgusting so I feel self concsious about eating these foods in public.

True Blood is SO GOOD. Nurse Jackie (Edie Falco) is also a great show.

While I was away on vacation I decided to pack light and brought only (3) 10 ml decants. I was bored out of my mind by mid-week with only 3 perfumes.

I’m working through a large number of DSH samples in order to select additional DSH fragrances for The Posh Peasant’s inventory. Obviously, we can’t carry all of them, because she has such a vast array of scents, so it’s becoming really hard for me to narrow it down to a short(ish) list. So far, I’m extremely impressed with Tamarind Paprika, Piment et Chocolate, Bois du Chocolate, Giardini Segreti (a lovely white floral) and Parfum de Luxe. Three of the DSH perfumes we carry already that I find exceptional are American Beauty, Celadon Green and Tubereuse. Dawn’s Tubereuse is magnificent. I noticed BeautyHabit began carrying a few of her fragrances and Tubereuse is among them.

I’m looking forward to the new Estee Lauder Private Collection – Jasmine White Moss.

Serge Lutens La Myrrhe is an oddly addictive fragrance.

I love the ceremony of English Tea. This week I ate tea sandwiches several times for lunch. For those in the U.S., the secret is to buy Pepperidge Farm *extra thin* bread, cut off the crusts, and thinly layer both slices of bread with butter and sprinkle just a tad of salt and pepper on the butter. Then add razor thin slices of cucumber, tomato and egg ‘n cress. So delish!

I’m very excited about the two new Parfum d’Empire scents: Wazamba (Love the name) and 3 Fleurs.

I laugh to myself nearly everyday when I read comments on Now Smell This and there’s a long litany of cranky people complaining about the price point of expensive perfumes. Of course I would prefer to be able to afford every perfume I wanted, but my goodness, it seems so whiny, to complain about every single new expensive release. Perfume is a luxury item, is it not? If it were toilet paper which was so expensive, then I’d join in, but it’s perfume, folks.

It’s too bad Turin and Sanchez aren’t writing any more installments to The Guide. I thought this was their job? I didn’t realize they had other things going on.

Do you recall back in the 80’s (I think) when studies were done on mice to find whether Saccahrine was dangerous to human health. It turned out that Saccahrine was found carcinogenic to the mouse. Later many people dismissed this finding because they said the mice were given loads upon loads of the substance, more than any normal mouse could ever consume. Sometimes I think of this analogy with perfume. To the normal person, perfume probably isn’t harmful, but what about those of us who wear 4 different fragrances every single day of our lives?!

See the photo above? It’s not a cracker but a facial sponge. I cannot believe I’ve lived as long as I have without using these sponges. Ever try to remove a clay mask with simply your hands and water? What about a cleanser that doesn’t foam but goes on like lotion? These facial sponges are my new favorite discovery this week. (I realize I’ve been daft for quite some time).

Beverage of the week: Pour pure mango juice to fill approximately 1/4 of glass. Fill remaining glass with diet tonic water. Add lemon wedge.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Most of my friends find calamari, oysters, lobster and shrimp disgusting so I feel self concsious about eating these foods in public."

???!!!

Get new friends!

How bizarre. (And immature.)

Seafood is so lovely and sensual -- I hope you get to enjoy a lot of it this summer! (too expensive here in Switzerland! I am jealous!)

-monika

Brian said...

Oh wow, what a thought. It never occurred to me. Saccharine AND Aspartame have both been found to have all kinds of horrible side effects,not just in few but many, and yet the FDA passed Aspartame, clearly a chemical, as an "additive" so that its manufacturers could profit from the sale of it culture-wide. Are there warnings on the packets? Or just the rumors of headaches and a swimming pool full of dead lab mice? Whichever, funny that little ole oakmoss and jasmine can be considered the pernicious contaminants they are now. People know what aspartame can do. Everyone knows there are possible risks involved. They choose (I do) to use it anyway. Surely people can make the same choices about perfume. Surely there are some loopholes at Guerlain's disposal to make oakmoss an "additive" rather than a "chemical" per se?

dea said...

i always feel envious and laugh when i read what your are eating and/or drinking.

it's usually so the opposite of what is sitting in front of me, you'd think i was trying to be the Oscar to your Felix.

i.e. cheap, pre-packaged peanut butter crackers and tap water.

Joe said...

I agree that it's hilarious that you're a bit self conscious eating seafood. It's probably my favorite "food group"... growing up not far from "the shore" in NJ certainly helped that. I say go for it and enjoy with GUSTO and not a shred of self-consciousness!

I may be one of those folks who complains more than once in awhile about price points of certain fragrances. I remember a recent thread where we were going off on MDCI. I think the point was that most of us are more than willing to shell out (our credit cards and bank statements attest to that), but that there was "luxury" and then "beyond luxury"... and that often the latter didn't justify its prices with quality. For example, I think Malle & Lutens & Amouage all mostly justify their prices. MDCI somehow doesn't seem worth twice the price of Malle, however. Sorry to hear we sometimes make you laugh and shake your head. ;-)

Abigail said...

Dea,

If you only knew that I eat Cinnamon Life cereal the other 6 days of the week...!

Joe,

As far as pricing goes, I think of perfume as a luxury item. The company chooses their price and customers will either buy or not - that's their gamble.

I just bought two MDCIs, and they're the highest priced perfumes I've ever purchased. But after I sampled Enlevement and Un Coeur en Mai I wanted them enough to swallow the high cost (the $235 bottles not the $610 bottles with bust heads).

I'm not of the thinking that price dictates quality when it comes to perfume. Estee Lauder, for example, is an excellent quality product and their prices are quite reasonable.

I think of perfume pricing as typical capitalism, i.e., what the market will bear. If they price their perfumes too high and nobody buys then they'll have a big problem.

And, just for the record, I don't mean I'm laughing *at* those posting comments re: pricing on NST. I only meant that it's a humorous concept - that perfume fanatics are so obsessed we think we must try everything therefore a high price tag is a personal affront because it's something we *must* pay (to continue our hobby). Hope that makes sense.