What's Goin' On?

I'm Reading:
What French Women Know by Debra Ollivier.
Kind of meh about it. Seems to be more fixated on the male/female relationships which is kind of interesting. But still...meh.

I'm Listening to:
Revisiting classical music. Still love jazz standards and blues.

Perfume of the Week:
As of today, Prada Infusion de Fleur d'Oranger. I know that it was not super well received by the perfume bloggers but it works on me.

Favorite Makeup Item:
Guerlain Rouge Automatique in L'Heure Bleu

I Have on my Nails:
OPI Ali's Big Break. I'm not feeling it though.

I'm Waiting For:
Jazz & Blues Festival this coming Friday & Saturday. The Coco Chanel biography by Justine Picardie that's going to be released soon. The Missoni for Target collection.

I Want:
A vanity with plenty of storage and good lighting.

I'm Tired of:
Alot of the garbage passing for music on the radio. Rude people.

Workout:
Going to start the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred again.

Quote:
"You can change all things for the better when you change yourself for the better." -Jim Rohn

So We're Back on the Subject of Perfume

Why? Because of an article that I read in the August 2011 issue of Allure magazine titled "French Lessons." The last two paragraphs the article kind of gave me pause. But I will come to that later.

First, a general description of the article in question. It has seven rules to "...distill their fragrance savoir faire." It's been established that I love some classic scents so I went into reading this article with an open mind. It discussed how they train their daughters to appreciate perfume at a fairly young age and went into the whole tradition regarding the selection of signature scents and the mentality behind the wearing of said scents etc...

Then came the last paragraphs. Where Laura Mercier was talking about how French women do not divulge the name of their scents or where they got them because they want to be unique and do not want other women wearing the same perfume that they wear. Also that American women will come right out and say what they are wearing and exactly where they got it.

I agree with that and was fine with it.

Then she went on to say that the reason why American women do this is "...because she doesn't want to stand out."

Really now?

This is my response.

American women will share the name of the perfume we wear not because of unwillingness to stand out but because we have a culture of sisterhood. We do not see every woman as the competition so it's not a problem for us to share this kind of information. We also feel that by sharing this, we are helping a fellow woman on her quest for a scent that gives her all those feelings that a nice perfume should. It has nothing to do with the fear of standing out. We have different ways of accomplishing that end.

I share because so many of the perfumes being marketed as high-end smell decidedly low-end. So when the much younger techs that I work with find out that the perfume that they've been enjoying all day on me is a several decades old classic, it opens their eyes.

I was really offended when I first read the article but now realize that it's really just a misunderstanding between two differing cultures. So this response is more to educate as opposed to the first draft that never got published. That was a rant that you had to good fortune to be spared

On Having Standards

Self examination can be cruel but sometimes necessary. During the last 8 months or so, I have been re-evaluating my priorities and closely examining my relationships.

It hasn't been pretty.

There are some things that I was tolerating because I wanted certain people in my life. Things that were in direct conflict with the behaviors I had always considered important in my friendships. Once I pulled myself away from these individuals I realized that I had allowed myself to deviate from my personal standard excessively and in the process became less.

This is not acceptable to me.

It's strange. Regardless of the behavior of these people, I still did not cross the line into their craziness. I just became horribly immature. But still, it was not the behavior of the person I've worked all my life to become.

I was and still am embarrased.

This is where my self-imposed etiquette training during my teenage years becomes handy. I've been working on establishing boundaries during the past year. At first it was pretty abrupt. Everyone thought that I was clincally depressed so I had to ease into it. I've been polite, professional, even friendly with some of these people without allowing them access into my personal life.

But still, I've noticed that this is the era of TMI. There are just some things that I really do not need to know about people. I sometimes just want to look at some of these people in the eye and ask if they have any standards. But that would just be the pot calling the kettle black.

Anyway, I'm back into my old-fashioned way of being. I no longer care what they think.

On Old Perfume and Age

I have a thing for classic perfumes. Most of which are from the house of Guerlain. Many people would call them old perfumes but they are unenlightened.

Okay, maybe unenlightened is too strong a word. The perfumes which I prefer are indeed old in that some of them have been in production since before my grandmother was born .

That was 1921 in case you were wondering.

My first post on the original version of this blog in 2009 was about retiring my favorite older scents because *ahem* I wanted to project youth, vibrancy etc...blah, blah, blah.

Welcome to my midlife crisis.

Thank goodness that part of my life is over. Also that I did not get rid of those bottles of perfume. Most of them are pre-reformulation versions. They consist of:

- Shalimar (of course)
- L'Heure Bleu
- Mitsouko
- Jicky
- Vol de Nuit

The only one of the list that I am kind of iffy about is VdN. It smells amazing when I first put it on then turns into something I cannot connect with after about 10 minutes.

I also like newer and non-Guerlain perfumes so I'm not a total perfume snob.

Okay, scratch that. I am pretty picky about my perfume. When you've lived in truly high quality vintage scents for an extended period of time like I have, one cannot deal with much of the garbage being passed off as high end these days. Fortunately there are perfume houses creating some quality juice out there but they're becoming increasingly hard to find.

Anyway, the point of all this blabbering is to say this. I no longer feel the need to embrace the cult of youth. Not if it means smelling like a pink, plastic bowl of fruit.

The end.

Let's Talk Chanel

In the process of getting my act together, I've been watching YouTube tutorials on makeup application. The goal is to present a polished appearance.

Anyway, all I did for the first three months or so of this tutorial watching was go broke buying a bunch of makeup that I really did not need.

None of which was Chanel. I would have needed that.

This happened because I was unfocused. Yes, I wanted to present a polished appearance, but what did that entail?

I forgot one of the basic principles of goal-setting. I wasn't being specific.

You cannot get from Point A to Point B without a map, GPS, directions, what have you.

In short, I needed to specify exactly what I felt consituted a polished appearance.

- Clear skin
- Flaws diffused. If you try to erase them you just look plastic. This, of course, is just my opinion.
- Groomed eyebrows
- Healthy glow
- No Disney colors on the eyelids

So what does this have to do with Chanel?

Almost every one of my go-to makeup items in my case are Chanel products.

- Vitalumiere Foundation & Powder Compact
- Tweed Rose Blush
- Berry Eyeliner pencil
- Brunette Perfect Eyebrows Kit
- Cardomon Lip Pencil
- Kaska Beige & Prelude (this one just came out) Eyeshadow Quads
- A bunch of lipsticks and Rouge Coco Shines

Oh, and the Nailpolishes. I have a bunch. It's a disease. But that's another post for another time.

My love affair with Chanel makeup started in the mid 1990's. When Vamp came out and I had to have it. I graduated to the lipsticks after that.

Then I went through what I now call "The Seven Years of My Discontent." As opposed to the period I just came out of. "Six Months in Hell."

I bought no Chanel during those seven years. Got rid of almost all I had *smacks forehead.*

Anyway, I've finally come up with a program that works for me that on a day-to-day basis does not use all those products.

But now I have a whole new problem. I want a purse and a jacket. Badly.

This may not happen unless I sell a kidney or win the Powerball.

Okay, I'm exaggerating a little bit. I plan on making an old-school Chanel jacket and purchasing the wallet on a chain that the price just went up $200 on.

Stay tuned.