Oh, to have money to spend frivolously on shiny things.

If I had time and money to spend I think I would rework my whole wardrobe around this bottle of perfume-I-intend-to-own.

I shamelessly want it, even though more than half of my lust is for the packaging. I started wearing Prada Intense when it came out and it was a big step in the warm fragrance direction for me. At this point my taste goes even woodier and spicier than that very sweet scent, but I still wear it every once in a while.



I was very interested in the bottle as soon as I saw it in print, and when I finally saw it in person my inner snob melted. The smoky bottle, gold, pretty pump, and creepy advertising all get a thumbs-up from me. The scent reminds me of a more accessible Dzing! by L'Artisan Perfumerie... with a way better bottle.


Now Smell This has a clear-cut and accurate review of the L'Eau Ambrée here, and a breakdown of the relationship of the Prada amber variations here.

So, on to what I would be wearing if I smelled like those creepy women in the advertisement. I have many thoughts.

For instance, this girly jewelery.




(Banana Republic)

Then there's this ostrich leather clutch that might be a nice accent piece with my otherwise highly feminine look:

(Brooks Brothers)

And what about this attractive modest dress:

(Anthropologie)

And I think I need some of these...

(Nordstrom)

Then, top that all off with a nice soundtrack and my fantasy is complete.

-Papermoon

21. things that smell good

the twentieth thing i am thankful for: things that smell good.

anyone who knows me at all knows that i am a freak about the way things smell. i love to pull apart what goes into something to make it smell the way it does. the obvious way that this plays out is in my overwhelming love-addiction to perfume. however, there are too many ways to count that involve smell in my day.

i thought i would celebrate this point of thanks by sharing something with you all that thoroughly enhances my life: my homemade fabric softener!


i have always hated fabric softener, at least in the form of bounce sheets, because of the sort of grimy smoothness that they led my clothes to take on. plus, they always smell super chemically to me--even the unscented type. not to mention how much that perfumed gunk stuck to my hands, interfering with any food i ate afterwards. so for a few years i went without fabric softener at all, content to think my clothes were very clean, even if they retained a bit of static.

my current laundry room, however, is a very industrial outfit--think big, searingly hot dryers with lots of extreme tumbling. my winter wear was giving me an electric shock. i did a bit of googling and came up with the general recipe for homemade fabric softeners, modified it to fit my preferences, and my life is BETTER! my clothes smell AMAZING and they are baby soft.

my recipe:
1/4 jar full of water
small squirt of hair conditioner (i used frederic fekkai protein RX... chichi, I know)
tsp or so of white vinegar
3 vigorous sprays of my perfume of choice
extreme-spraying-a-length-until-satisfied of my preferred linen spray--Commonwealth Gardens' Egyptian Cotton. in actuality, i am just thankful for this spray. i use it in my hair, on my bed, on my clothes, as body spray, on my notepaper, on my knitting, as air freshener, in my closet, in my shoes... i would drink it if i could. more on this later. i digress.

once i have all of that in the jar, i throw in the sponges. i just cut up a regular kitchen sponge (a new one obviously--gross!) into three parts and then shoved them in the jar to soak everything up. i leave said jar in the closet with my detergent, and when i do my laundry i just squeeze the sponges out a bit until they are damp-not-drippy, and throw them in with the load to bounce around and magically transform my clothes into an olfactory artwork. then i shove them back in the jar til next time!

as a side note, the liquid turns a delightful light blue, which worried me at first, thinking as i did that my clothes would stain blue. however, now i really enjoy this, because they don't turn blue, and the color is lovely!

enjoy your day--sniff the air---

--papermoon