some perfume sampling

Narciso Rodriguez For Her - thumbs up. Dense, sweet.
Hanae Mori pour Homme - thumbs up. Dense, sweet-ish. Quite like this.
Yves Saint Laurent Nu - thumbs up so far. A bit lighter than the above two.

Molinard Gardenia - undecided. Seemed to have a bit of gardenia, but not very buttery at all.

Lanvin Arpege - thumbs down. Doesn't really go where I want it to go.

I also sampled Annick Goutal Songes in the dept. store - I am unable to properly appreciate the Goutals at the moment.

Hermes Hermessences Rose Ikebana and Vetiver Tonka - two thumbs up. I really like both of these. I am going to need to buy decants. They were perfection. The coffee in Vetiver Tonka wasn't overbearing at all, nor was the Vetiver. Love. I need to retry the Osmanthe Yunnan, of which I had a good first impression. The only one I definitely do not want to wear (for long periods of time) is Ambre Narguile - very lovely but a bit too gourmand for my taste. I have not gotten around to trying Paprika Brasil.

Quite enjoyed my sniff of L'Occitane's Eau d'Iparie. I would like a decant.

I also liked Shiseido's We're, so I will test it on skin again the next time I pass a Shiseido store.

nothing wrong with taking your time

An excellent column about the strangely harsh treatment of Jessica Simpson in the media: Since when is Jessica Simpson a Spinster?