The Ones That Stuck

My nose hates most perfumes. Even though I love trying out new scents, I have not been able to commit to any particular scent for too long, a few weeks, at most a few months, I eventually outgrow them or the headaches and sneeze attacks take over. The three below are the exceptions, they have been in heavy rotation for me since early/mid 2000s. And after going through a few bottles of each, I'd like to think of these as my "signature" scents, as cheesy as that sounded. Fragrances are deeply personal and often sentimental, take the time to find the one(s) that makes you feel happy/confident/content/_________<---- (Insert any positive feely adjective here), and take a whiff whenever you need a pick-me-up, oh the small bliss in life.

Issey Miyake L'Eau D'Issey (10+ years and counting, the lasting power on this is amazing)

Stella McCartney In Two Peony (My wedding day perfume, LE release in 2006, still might be available on Ebay)

Bvlgari Omnia Crystalline (featured in a previous blogpost Here)

A few others in my collection:

Bvlgari Mon Jasmin Noir L'Eau Exquise (blogged here)

NEST Amazonian Lily (new to me, but slowly becoming a favorite this summer)

Tokyo Milk Dark Everything & Nothing (A warmer scent, a winter time favorite)

Narciso Rodriguez Musc Oil for Women (This was the one that got away, Limited Edition release around 2007/8, though some sporadically pops up on Ebay for a bargain at around $250, eeeek!)

Gucci Rush 2 (Pretty sure this is a goner too, I baby the bits I have left in the bottle)

And regretfully, I did jump on the Diptyque bandwagon last year, let's just say I did not stay on for long, the brand image/bottles are gorgeous but the scents just weren't that impressionable to me. 

To try list:

Jo Malone Peony & Blush Suede

NEST Dahlia & Vines

Summer Straps

I have been searching for the perfect pair of summer sandals for quite some time. For the past two, three summers, I lived my gold and silver sperry 2-eye boat shoes on relatively cool days, but for those blazing 100+ SoCal summer days, I resorted to cheap clearance urban outfitters' leather sandals with soles so thin I felt like I'm walking barefoot on the burning pavement. 

With that said, I am also not one to spend an arm and a leg on casual sandals, I don't consider them an "investment piece", for one, I am extremely hard on my shoes when I walk, second, well, my DSW credit is burning a hole in my pocket. 

I picked these up a couple of weeks ago on a spontaneous shopping trip with a gf, they caught my eye, I loved white jagged thick rubbery soles, sans ankle straps (i'm 5'2", ankle straps aren't my friends) AND leather? AND Italian made? check! Slipped them on, my feet were in cushy heaven, took them off, and headed straight for the cashier. 

And the best part is, they were half off at my store, best $24.95 I have ever spent on sandals. (I may or may not have picked up the rose gold pair a week later as well..)

white mountain canal sandal, still full price on their website.

SImilar options by dolce vita here, and alexander wang here.