I had two Barneys gift certificates totaling around $55, so decided to use them to buy a Serge Lutens bell jar. I figured I should get Iris Silver Mist, even though the jury is still out on it. Everyone adores it (I'm not so sure), and I think I should own it. Andy at Barneys called someone, who turned out to be the Beverly Hills store, and it finally was delivered Friday.
The perfume I received is actually colorless. I was trying to compare it with L'Artisan's Iris Pallida, and don't find a huge difference. This is my fourth bell jar, after Bornéo 1834, Muscs Koublaï Khän, and El Attarine. Truth be told the first two are kinda fakes, as I bought decants with 15 ml in bell jars of them from The Perfumed Court, and dumped the contents of my spray bottles into them. So, if you don't count them, this is my second bell jar.
Andy was nice enough to give me a 10 ml sample of Byredo Accord Oud and a 15 ml of L'Artisan's Prémier Figuier. I may give them both away. I have the Premier Figuier Extrême, which I think I like better. Fig works weird on me.
L'Artisan had a sale today, with lots of things on sale for $15 - $28 or so. I grabbed a bunch, including La Chasse aux Papillons body creme, Mûre et Musc body oil, shower gel, and body milk, plus a gift set of Mûre et Musc Extrême (which I kinda hate -- it smells like grape Kool Aid on me). I told Carmon, the manager of my condo building, about the sale, and by the time she went to the site, the sale was over. I had made my purchase the same day!
I figure I can use these for gifts throughout the year.
EDIT: The Mûre et Musc Extrême gift set did not come. I wrote to L'Artisan and, unfortunately, they were out of them. They gave me a 20% off voucher code, which I thought was nice, and will refund the amount for the set. I gave my sister the dry body oil (I was at her house for dinner tonight [July 3]) and the Premier Figuier 15 ml.
Today, I went to Barneys. They were having yet another bag event. Ashley had called me Thursday to ask me to come to a L'Artisan thing that was also going on today. The last time there was a L'Artisan thing at Barneys, I was on my way to Japan, and couldn't make it.
Anyway, the L'Aritisan event coincided with the release of their Explosions d'Émotions trio, Amour Nocturne, Déliria, and Skin on Skin.
For some reason these come in 125 ml bottles, and kind-o-deluxe packaging.
Don't know about you, but whenever I hear Explosions d'Émotions, this song goes running through my head.... where it has been stuck all day. Maybe I'm showing my age.
Anyway, I liked all three of these. Déliria is the weirdest scent L'Artisan has come out with in a while. I'm not sure how to describe it. Delirious kind of fits. On another customer at Barneys, it was very sweet. On me, not so much, thank you. Skin on Skin is a nice leather -- non-sweet for all you who were wondering. The closest I can think of is Tom Ford Tuscan Leather. I'll have to compare.
The woman from L'Artisan was lovely. I was kind of confused at one point, because all press I have read lists gunpowder as a note in Amour Nocturne. The woman from L'Artisan said, no, it is in Skin on Skin. Smelling the latter, I do smell it there, and not in Amour Nocturne. So I don't know what to think about this. Even the L'Artisan site says gunpowder is in Amour Nocturne.
I ended up going home with a bottle of Déliria, along with an atomizer full of Skin on Skin. If I wanted to shell out all the money, I could have gone home with all three full bottles, which would have been signed by Bertrand Duchaufour. Well, now. Other perks include a 15 ml bottle of La Chasse aux Papillons, which, you know, is not me! I'll probably give it to Janet. Continuing with my free-association trend today, whenever I hear La Chasse aux Papillons, I think of being chased by a pack of these things:
In the 1960s, Mattel had a line of their Liddle Kiddle dolls called Kiddle Kolognes, with scented dolls in perfume bottles. To me La Chasse aux Papillons smells exactly like the doll Janet had when we were kids, Honeysuckle Kiddle.
No wonder we grew up so twisted!
I had a selection of the minis to choose from, and I had the other ones already, or didn't like. (I think they were Mûre et Musc Extrême [which I hate, actually] or Premier Figuier.)
The bag from the bag event actually was very nice, with more that I can use than usual. I think Andy gave me double on certain items since I am such a good customer/easy mark. I'll talk more about some of what I got in a later post.
Déliria photo from L'Artisan Parfumeur. Papillon photo from thedogtrainingsecret.com Kiddle Kologne photo from etsy.com.
