Comfort scents and strange mixes.

I'm one of those who's always been affected by female types of pain, and today I was lying in my bed, not sure if I even felt good enough to get up and take some pain medication.

I did, however, get up and put on my ultimate comforting perfume, Diptyque's Volutes. Volutes is a sweet, Oriental-type perfume, with honey, tobacco, iris, dried fruit, benzoin and other resins. It doesn't feature vanilla, but it smells like it could. Tobacco is a note that, when used in perfumery, is not at all like cigarette smoke, but is sweet and earthy. It is often used with honey and/or amber to make beautiful "golden-smelling" perfumes.

I have used this perfume successfully when I've been depressed, sad, and in physical pain. It also helped me to feel better when I received news that my very good friend's husband had been in a terrible accident, and I was stuck at work and couldn't just go home and cry.  (Note to self, I should probably decant some for her, with instructions that it is a comfort scent, once I figure out how to decant.)

Back to today's adventure, I lay back down. Meanwhile, Andrea was playing Mix Master with the perfumes on the small table that I leave out for her. She sprayed Britney Spears's Curious, Madonna's Truth or Dare Naked, Unforgettable Moments's Promise, and I think Liz Claiborne's Curve into a small plastic lid. Looks like I need to take decanting lessons from Andrea. All these are fairly light, clean florals, except the Madonna, which I don't really care for. I only had it out so it could be accessible so I can sell it soon.

I kept getting my soft cocoon of Volutes interrupted by sharp spikes of floral perfumes, and not altogether harmonious, too. I told her not to spray any more. Still not sure what she did with the lid, but I wasn't in any mood to care. She probably only wasted a total of 1.5 milliliters, anyway. Then we had to get up for Andrea's checkup at the doctor's office and I'm in the exam room at this moment waiting for the doctor to walk in.

Footnote: I'm wearing the Eau de toilette version of Volutes; I haven't smelled the Eau de Parfum, and they're said to be somewhat different. Apparently the EDT is sweeter and lighter, of course. The EDP is said to be smokier, and I'd love to add it to my collection, but it is quite expensive. I'm patient, though, and I thoroughly expect a good deal to come around at some point.

Perfumes as rewards...and just because.

There have been a couple of occasions in which I found it appropriate (or at least fun) to surprise Andrea with an addition to our joint perfume collection.

Andrea participates in AWANA, a Bible club for kids, in which the child will work through a book, completing one section at a time by memorizing Bible verses, and other various moralizing activities.

The class for Andrea's age group―Kindergarten through 2nd grade―is called Sparks and the program runs concurrently with the school year. Last spring, when it became obvious that she was going to finish her book, I searched for an appropriate perfume to gift to her.

I should mention that Andrea and I are fans of the Italian cosmetics brand, Aquolina, which makes a famous line of sweet, gourmand perfumes. "Pink Sugar" is the original perfume in the series, I believe, and it is "THE" quintessential gourmand perfume, and a reference point against which perfumes of the gourmand genre are measured. It is mainly cotton candy, with licorice, coconut and berry notes as well. I like it, but of course Andrea is crazy about it.

So in my searching, I found one of Pink Sugar's sisters, called nothing other than "Pink Sugar Sparks." No kidding. I had to buy it for Andrea and give it to her for completing her first year of Sparks.

Here is my review of Pink Sugar Sparks, which I posted on Fragrantica.

―
❝I'm guessing that it is the patchouli/coffee in combination with the other fruits and flowers that creates the dirty vibe. 
It is not dirty, as in unwashed, nor is it dirty, in the sense of a lack of morals. It is earthy and heavy, and confident and it's probably the loudest of the Aquolinas I've smelled. A little goes a long way, and the longevity is great. 
Due to the sometimes-offputting patchouli, I would not recommend this as a safe blind buy. On the other hand, if you like the other members of the Pink Sugar family, and you also like patchouli, without any sweetness being compromised, then you will probably not be surprised by Pink Sugar Sparks, and you will probably like it. 
I've not smelled any of the other scents that Sparks gets compared to, but I think this (and not Pink Sugar Sensual) is Pink Sugar All Grown Up.❞
―

So by this time, Andrea and I had already accumulated:

     •Pink Sugar
     •Gold Sugar (crème brulee, whipped
      cream, coconut, orange and orange
      blossom)
      and
     •Pink Sugar Sensual (sugar, citrus,
      vanilla, black currant, and
      sandalwood―not sure why it's called
      "sensual" but I suspect that it was so
      named in an attempt to boost sales,
      because it's just another sweet
      perfume and fairly ordinary at that),

so I thought that another installment in the Pink Sugar Family―one named Sparks, no less―would be more than perfect.

I presented it to her on the day of the awards ceremony, and of course she was delighted. And of course I had to take it away not long thereafter because she was just going through it too quickly. And as my quoted review states, it is strong and a little goes a long way. Guess how I know? If I had more space, I'd keep it out where Andrea could get to it (with permission only) instead of packed in a box as most our perfumes are.

When Andrea turned 6 this past September, I gave her "Pink Sugar: Simply Pink," which is more similar to the original Pink Sugar, but with heavier strawberries, raspberries, and vanilla. Something in it goes sour on my skin, but it smells great on Andrea.

This year, after she successfully completed her 2nd year in Sparks, I couldn't find a perfume as perfect as Pink Sugar Sparks, so I branched out a bit and bought her Paris Hilton's Dazzle, which features patchouli, vanilla, and a not so commonly used cherry note. It isn't dissimilar to Pink Sugar Sparks, but PSS has raspberry, instead of cherry. She played with it out on the front porch for several days and separated it from its lid, but thankfully neither were ever lost. Perfume and lid are both in the bedroom now in the manufacturer's box. I used that as an opportunity to teach Andrea that part of caring for our perfumes includes storing them in their box if they have one.

I think inexpensive, yet pleasant, perfumes make great presents and rewards for children, especially if they're little perfumistas. Celebrity perfumes are perfect for this kind of situation: they're usually very sweet, floral, and/or fruity; always cheap, and many have attractive packaging and bottles.

―
Postscript: Andrea and I have also acquired Black Sugar and Steel Sugar; we still need Chocolovers and Blue Sugar, but the latter two are hard to find and are quite expensive. I'm waiting for a partial bottle to show up on ebay and get one or both.

Intro!

Well, first of all, my name is Betsy Woolbright. I'm the mom of a 6½ year old daughter, Andrea, and we are perfume fans.

I want to chronicle some of our adventures, together and individually, as we collect, wear and enjoy our perfumes. Some people may say that perfume isn't appropriate for children, but I disagree, because perfume isn't sexualizing like makeup and revealing clothes can be (and which little girls begin using way too young, in my own opinion).

Andrea is a tried-and-true gourmand girl, loving caramel, vanilla, chocolate, and fruity scents; I prefer those with amber, spice, and woods most often. She likes almost all the perfumes I let her smell. I'll take the lid off and say, "Andrea, do you like this one?" Usually she'll say something like, "I don't like it...I LOVE IT!" But if she isn't fond of it, she'll reply, "I like it a little bit."

Recently, I purchased Kenzo's Amour, which was said to be a vanilla/incense/tea/rice/floral perfume, inspired by a journey through different parts of Asia. Due to its name―Amour―I envisioned it as a honeymoon cruise around the Asian coastline. I pictured a loving, happy couple on the deck at sunset with the sun shining into the sea. I'd been curious about it for some time, but had never seen it priced for a total I was willing to pay, so I'd pretty much given up on ever trying or owning it, and had moved it to the bottom portion of my Want List. A month ago or so, I found an ebay seller who had it in his other items―I'd found him while searching out a different perfume.

It is indeed a vanilla scent, kind of dusty (I've noticed this in other Kenzo perfumes) with sweet aspects from the tea and flowers, and a not unpleasant "Playdoh" vibe for the first few minutes. The rice note is noticeable and lovely. It comes in a magenta "pitcher" shaped bottle. (Sometime I might figure out how to post pictures, but not tonight.)

Of course Andrea stole it immediately, because it's pink and sweet. I wore it once and set it on a small table in our bedroom. I sprayed it on Andrea's wrist. That night, we lay on our backs together on the bed while I read to her. She held the bottle in one hand and the lid in her other hand as I read. The next day she took it out onto the porch where she plays. I noted wafts of it periodically, but for whatever reason I didn’t care. Probably because I told her to take it back into the bedroom where she found it, and assumed she'd do it―then I left for work.

That night or the next morning, I don't see Amour on the bedroom table. I asked Andrea where it was, and why she hadn't put it back as I'd told her to do. She can't find it anywhere. I asked my fiancée, Andy, if he's seen it, and even showed him a picture of it online, both with and without its lid, so he'd recognize it even if it had gotten separated from its distinctive lid. Nope. He's utterly uninterested in perfume but agreed to let me know if he happened upon it.

I went back to ebay to see if the seller had another Kenzo Amour for sale (because it's been missing for about a week by this time). Nope.

So I keep pestering Andrea to keep looking for it. She said she'd been playing with it near this suitcase kept on the porch. I told her to look in it again. Meanwhile, I go under the porch (an elevated deck, really) and look down there in case it rolled or was thrown off. Nope.

So I take matters into my own hands and look into the suitcase myself, although I had several times already. Finally I found a flap that I'd missed before, and it had rolled into the flap.

Andy said I shouldn't let Andrea touch my perfume anymore. I know he's right, but perfume is something Andrea and I enjoy together and bond over, and so I compromised by hiding Amour and continuing to allow Andrea access to some of my cheapies that had already been out in the open for her to touch and play with and use.