A bit of this, a bit of that

As we near the end of March (honestly, how could three months, a whole quarter of 2012, disappear just like that?) here in the UK we've experienced some glorious weather. A slightly nippy breeze aside, we've had days of sunshine and this weekend we got stuck into some gardening for the first time this year. 

When we moved to our house here in Tunbridge Wells, one of the first things we did during our first winter was to plant a cherry tree in our front garden. It has flourished, and this week burst into a profusion of frothy pink blossom, a true sign that spring is here, if ever one was needed. All over town, cherry trees are blooming, as are yellow Forsythia and one of my favourites, the Magnolia. Both my wife and younger daughter have birthdays in early April and depending on the weather, our cherry tree sometimes flowers on their special days, which makes my wife very happy!

On the perfume front, I have been trying a few new releases. Last week I tried Spicebomb for the first time on my skin. On paper it smelled very good, but on my skin it wears slightly sweeter and less spicy than I'd hoped. It's still a very decent mainstream fragrance mind you, far better than some of the dreck that has been released.

I've been given samples of Chanel's Allure Homme Sport Eau Extreme. I haven't tried it yet, but part of me is tempted not to purely by the ridiculously long name given to it. Honestly Chanel, what's up?

I've also been playing a bit more with Lostmarch's Lann Ael and Mona Di Orio's Oud. Lann Ael's opening reminds me very much of that buttery, toasty, slightly bready smell of Serge Luten's Jeux de Peaux. After that it tones down a bit, but to me it is a very gourmand fragrance. Oud is a complex, smooth, sophisticated take on what has become a totally overdone note, but I'm tempted to say that Di Orio's take on this is one of the best I've encountered, it is that good.

Finally, after months of procrastination, I have finally started to compile a comprehensive list of my perfumes and samples. Like a true accountant, I have created The Spreadsheet, designed to be manipulated, reported on and generally, aimed to bore the pants off anyone who isn't an accountant or a perfumista. Sad, I know. Interestingly, I have only got through about a third, perhaps even less of my collection and already I have over 150 entries. I shudder to think what the end result will be!