Holidays are over - the mid-July blues

As you may have judged by the title of this post, my two week holiday ended on Sunday and I'm back to the grindstone. It was a lovely holiday and just in time too, because I was on the verge of serious mental fatigue. Still, there is plenty of pressure to come, as the next three months are likely to be my busiest, work-wise, of the whole year. 

But I don't want to bore, or depress you, so I'll move onto perfume matters. Actually, except for my three trips to London, I have tried and worn precious little perfume. In a weird way I find that I usually don't wear a lot of perfume on the weekend or when I'm on holiday. Perhaps it is because my wife is not a massive perfume fan and some of what I wear can bring on migraines and the like for her, or perhaps it is simply that I don't find the time. Being back at work would usually lead to a renewed perfume habit, but again, being so busy and stressed has let me feeling sterile, perfume-wise, and my mind seems to have switched off, unable to motivate me to try stuff. Sad, I know...

I have worn a bit of perfume. I tried two of the Gorilla samples I purchased a couple of weeks ago, Imogen Rose and Orange Blossom. Both were nice, with decent longevity, but I must admit that the Orange Blossom, worn on quite a warm day (what, in the UK?), developed very nicely on my skin and I preferred it. 

Today I tried Lalique Le Parfum Eau de Parfum, which ostensibly is a ladies perfume, but I found it to be equally suitable for men. It includes notes of patchouli, sandalwood, vanilla, tonka, heliotrope, jasmine, bergamot, pink bay pepper and West Indian Bay. It sounds sweet, and in a way it is, but it comes across essentially as a patchouli and amber fragrance and is very well done. In fact, had I worn this blind, I would have pegged it as an output from a niche line. I can certainly recommend it. I've also been sampling a bit of vintage Jicky parfum, which is also lovely. It is quite subtle and restrained, but is delicious and smells better than the bog-standard eau de toilette version one usually finds in department stores, in my opinion, although I do like that concentration too.

I'm feeling the urge to order samples again, and as I received a 10 Euro birthday voucher from First in Fragrance (Germany), I feel that I deserve a birthday treat and I want to buy, buy, buy!