Travel News!

Posted on March 8, 2014 | Leave a comment

I am so bored.  In addition to working full-time, I am also a full-time graduate student.  And the end is not in sight… I have exactly sixteen more months of this before I will experience actual freedom again.  Last weekend I was overwhelmed by the massive burden of just having to work all the time, and I did something rash:

I went to flights.google.com, entered my home city, typed South America as my destination and booked the (second) cheapest flight I could find.  Literally no planning.  No forethought.  Just me, Google, my credit card and one hour of frenzied online trip planning.

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Have you seen Google Flights?  If you’re open to traveling anywhere it is your best source for cheap flights.  If your dates are flexible you can also click on the travel dates to see if traveling on a different day would lower the price even further.

As you can see, the cheapest available flights were to Bogota and Sao Paolo.  Actually, on my own travel days Sao Paolo wasn’t that cheap.  The next most affordable option was Lima, Peru.  I spent a few minutes with two Expedia windows open- one for a Colombia trip, the other for a Peru trip- and finally clicked “submit” for a trip to Lima, Peru!

I’m really looking forward to this trip.  I’ve spent a fair bit of time in Mexico and also visited Honduras, but I haven’t been to South America before.  Unfortunately my grad school schedule is tight.  There are literally no breaks for the duration of the two-year program, but I’m hoping that by finishing some classwork early and saving other work for the very last minute I will be able to spend the majority of  my three-week trip actually enjoying myself (rather than writing papers!).  I would love to go for longer but it just doesn’t seem feasible at the moment.  That’s one reason I didn’t choose a destination from my travel bucket list- I feel like those destinations all deserve more than the three weeks I can squeeze in this summer.  (Of course Peru deserves more time as well, but I don’t have this deep, Peru-shaped hole in my soul in the way I long for Russia…)

I’ll be posting more about planning a trip to Peru in the upcoming months (for example, to vaccinate against yellow fever or not to vaccinate against yellow fever?) and doing my best to keep you posted once I’m abroad (I know I did a terrible job of blogging my last major trip- I’m sorry!).

If you’ve visited Peru and would like to share any hot hints, please post them in the comments!  I will be eternally grateful!

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1980s Perfume Challenge: Friday

Posted on March 7, 2014 | Leave a comment

No photo today as I am literally writing this from my phone on the subway. My final perfume of the week was Heaven Sent, which turned out to be twenty minutes of delicious powder followed by hours of nothingness. I would have had to keep spritzing all day to have the scent with me. After yesterday’s Tabu fiasco that’s not necessarily a bad thing, however. I might actually keep my little bottle of Heaven Sent as there is absolutely nothing offensive about it at all.

In better fragrance news I ordered the twenty-dollar postcard sample set of every scent in the Atelier Cologne catalogue. I’m a longtime fan of their Orange Sanguine and wanted to try their other scents too. To my surprise the order reached me all the way in Canada within a week! After washing off any residual 1980s perfume that might have still been clinging to my skin I decided to give one of Atelier Cologne’s newest scents- Silver Iris- a try tonight. It’s sweet-but-dirty floriental, opening heavy on the sugar but sinking into a hybrid of orris and patchouli. It is actually intended to be a unisex scent but the top notes (of the kind that make men say, “You smell like cookies!”) plant this firmly in feminine territory if you ask me. I was in such a rush today that I didn’t have enough time to really check out the collection, but I’m looking forward to trying them all and it was certainly well worth the twenty dollars!

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1980s Perfume Challenge: Thursday

Posted on March 6, 2014 | Leave a comment

20140306-165638.jpgI always thought eau de cologne was supposed to be the softer, more gentle cousin of the more-concentrated eau de toilette, eau de parfum and perfume.  Why, then, is it 6:00 pm and I still smell like civet anal glands?

Oh, it was a long day of wearing Tabu.  I applied a little dab of this sucker on my wrist and another behind my knees, definitely not heavy-handed.  Right away I realized that I smelled like Melanie Griffith/Tess McGill in “Working Girl” when she was still pretending to be her wealthy boss.  Tabu is what someone faking class would smell like.  It’s dirt cheap and it can be smelled long after you leave the elevator; perfect for someone with grandiose dreams and a small wallet.

I am dying for tomorrow to be over so that I can toss this entire set of 1980s drugstore perfumes and get back to the scents I love.  As I have a social event in the evening I already know I’m going to have run home quickly and scrub off the Heaven Sent, lest I be mistaken for a time traveler from the 1980s at the bar!

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1980s Perfume Challenge: Wednesday

Posted on March 5, 2014 | Leave a comment

20140305-174426.jpgYawn.  Another boring day in the land of the 1980s perfumes.  “Powerful… playful… perfect… Navy.  Exquisite, extravagant, unexpected… Navy.  You’ll always feel perfect in Navy.  Navy.  Navy.  Navy.”  Once again it opened with root-beer and bathroom cleanser, then faded down to just a residual stench that I know I’ll still be able to smell even after washing my sweater.  I’m really starting to understand why I didn’t see these scents in my mom’s boudoir as I was growing up.

Tomorrow it’s terrifying Tabu, Friday it’s Heaven Sent, and once the weekend rolls around I’ll be free to wear half-decent perfume again!  Thank you, perfume gods!

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1980s Perfume Challenge: Tuesday

Posted on March 4, 2014 | Leave a comment

20140304-163835.jpgI’d been worried that today wouldn’t be a very good day.  I’m not a huge fan of Tuesdays in general, the weather wasn’t great, work was insane and I couldn’t even match my perfume to my mood this morning since I’d already committed to wearing Chantilly.   Yes, the dreaded Chantilly, opening with lemon and other citrus fruits before settling down to its warm and spicy base.   Hear that?  That is the sound of me harrumphing.

If the past two days allow me to generalize at all about 1980s drugstore perfumes it would be to say that these seem to be the inspiration for most household cleansers (hopefully it’s not vice-versa!).  When I sprayed my Chantilly this morning its lemony notes reminded me of Mr. Clean, and I realized that I’d felt the same way yesterday with the topnotes of Toujours Moi.  Similarly, both of these scents clung to my clothes in a way that higher-end perfumes don’t seem to.  Although I spritzed lightly onto bare skin at least thirty minutes before getting dressed, the smell of cheap perfume has permeated my favorite winter coat.

While I actually found Chantilly more enjoyable than Toujours Moi I think I’m going to trash it as well, since I don’t want my clothing saturated in the scent of musky household cleansers.

I’ve got three more days of this torture.  Hopefully by then my parcel from FragranceNet will be here and I’ll be able to douse my sorrows in more contemporary scents (though I did buy a bottle of La Habanita, which is anything but contemporary…).

PS – If you’ve been wondering where the “backpack” in Lipgloss and Backpack is, I’ve got big news!  Stay tuned this weekend for a travel-related post after I wrap up this perfume challenge.

PPS – I’m only at thirty-five followers on Facebook.  When I reach fifty I’ll be giving away samples of Korean beauty products, so like me (just over there to your right!) if you want a chance to win!

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1980s Perfume Challenge: Monday

Posted on March 3, 2014 | Leave a comment

20140303-155303.jpgI started my week in true old lady style, with two spritzes of Toujours Moi perfume.  With notes of sandalwood, musk and vetiver this perfume smelled like an old lady being drowned in a vat of root-beer.  If you could turn one of Bea Arthur’s 1980s commercials for Shoppers Drug Mart into a perfume, this is exactly what it would smell like.  The Toujours Moi had dried down as far as it was going to go after ninety minutes, and now (eight hours later) I can’t smell a thing.  I’m going to toss this one to clear some space on my perfume shelf… if, that is, I can stop watching these old Shoppers Drug Mart commercials…

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1980s Perfume Challenge

Posted on March 2, 2014 | Leave a comment

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A while ago I bought a set of classic drugstore scents from the 1980s.  Since then I’ve acquired some more fragrances and I’ve got some more on the way (now that FragranceNet is shipping to Canada again).  I realized there is no point in keeping eight dollars worth of cheap perfumes around if I don’t even like the scents, so from Monday to Friday of this week I am going to try wearing each of these different scents.  If I like the scent I’ll keep it, but if I don’t like it I’m going to toss it in the trash without guilt.

Here’s my perfume schedule, which is 99% random and 1% the order I happened to place them in for the above photo.

Monday will be Toujours Moi, which apparently has been on the market since 1921.  That’s ninety-three years, for those of you who suck at math.  I found a review on Fragrantica that reads, “This is One of My Signature Sents, However it has 3 personalitys, At First When You Spay It On, It Stinks, Smells like the Colones You get at the Dollar Store Pe-U But Don’t Let tht Scare You Off, It’s like someone who makes a terrible first Impression but soon becomes your best friend, Wait 3 to 7 Minutes for it to mesh with your chemistry then it smells Like a Hgh End, Very Classy Very French Perfume”.  If I never again use a capital letter correctly you’ll be able to blame Toujours Moi.

Tuesday will be Chantilly.  Chantilly is supposed to be a warm and spicy citrus scent.  I tend to dislike both citrus scents and Tuesdays, so I feel sorry for those who cross my path while I’m wearing this one.

Wednesday is for Navy.  I remember Navy ads very distinctly from my childhood.  This is an amber scent that appears popular with fans of both cheap drugstore perfumes and some of my favorites, like Shalimar and Samsara.  This should be a much-needed treat after Tuesday.

Thursday takes us into dangerous territory with Tabu.  It looks like it’s been bottled in a guitar-shaped whiskey bottle.  I’m also slightly concerned that it scored 163 “civet points” on Fragrantica. I’m all for anal gland scents, but usually they’re described as musk.  Am I going to smell like am actual rodent’s ass?  Only time will tell.

Finally, my little experiment will wrap up on Friday with Heaven Sent.  This seems like it might be the most promising (unless it turns out I do have a particular affinity for civet secretions), with the musky notes balanced with jasmine, rose and sandalwood.

I’m hoping to deliver a brief, daily progress report.  Wish me, my olfactory bulbs and the people around me luck!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned

Posted on February 28, 2014 | 11 comments

Abandoned_Church_at_Kayaköy849004490622137761

Although you feel like you’ve gone back to the days of the Ancient Greeks, the village of Kayakoy on the Turkish Coast was actually abandoned relatively recently.  For my top tips when traveling in the area click here.

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Mealtime Monday: Baltic Buffet

Posted on February 24, 2014 | Leave a comment

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Lido is a semi-famous chain of buffet-style restaurants across Latvia (and beginning to stretch its reach into neighbouring Baltic states, I believe).  Unlike a typical American all-you-can-eat buffet, Lido charges diners only for the foods they choose to put on their plates, and it’s easy to have a great meal like the one above for four or five euro (max!).  I went for half a plate of vegetables, some roasted potatoes and a cheese-filled pancaked with herbed yogurt sauce.  Just outside the frame is, of course, an ice-cold glass of kvass!  There was a wide variety of options for both vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.  Lido also operates a large recreation facilities that doubles as the company’s brewery… play safe, kids!

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Unboxing: Topbox February 2014

Posted on February 17, 2014 | 2 comments

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I almost died laughing when I opened my February 2014 Topbox.  I’m starting to think this company has some kind of vendetta against me.  When I joined Topbox they promised that “Topbox is designed to offer beauty lovers like you an easy way to test luxury products”.  When I paid extra money to receive the Cosmetics Magazine upgrade box they promised that would be “the one and only time” they sent out “mass market” products in their boxes.  It’s no secret that the beauty box market is saturated, but that is no excuse for Topbox to go back on their promises and send out boxes, like the one I received today, that are quite literally poop.

  • essie Nail Lacquer in Headmistress.  This red shade is from the Fall 2012 collection!   It retails for $9.99 (nothing says luxury like a price ending in .99!) but I can buy it on sale at Shoppers Drug Mart for six dollars.  Actually, I’m not even sure if Shoppers Drug Mart sells shades that old.
  • So Susan Lip & Cheek Sublime.  Seriously, who uses a chubby crayon on their cheeks?  Are you joking?  I’m not opposed to using it on my lips, however, and I do think that this eighteen-dollar stain is an appropriate inclusion in this month’s box.  It’s a twist-top, if you were worried about not having an industrial-strength sharpener!
  • Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream.  I used to have a tube of this in high school and I’m not opposed to trying it again.  This sample is 30 ml and its relative value is fifteen dollars.  Not bad.
  • If only a blog post could truly capture the look on my face when I saw my fourth and final product was a three-dollar lip balm!   Yup, I also received an Epic Blend lip balm in grape flavor (WTF?) that looks like it’s left over from January’s ten-dollar beauty surprise fiasco.

The total value of my box is approximately $42, but I only consider two of the samples to be in line with the promises Topbox made to me when I signed up.  I did not sign up with a company promising “luxury” beauty products and no “mass market” partnerships so that I could receive drug store nail polish from 2012 and a three-dollar lip balm.  I also felt ripped off last month, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they billed me for the March box before shipping such an embarrassing February parcel.  My first instinct was to reach for the phone and call in a complaint and cancellation… but then I remembered that I’d already been charged.

The good news is that there are still some good beauty boxes on the market.  A few days ago I posted about my first Ipsy box, which delivered a gorgeous blush, pretty lip gloss, high-end facial mask and on-trend nail polish (from a current collection, not from 2012) for $15 (including shipping to Canada).  If you’re tired of being treated like a second-class customer by Canadian boxes make sure to give Ipsy a try!

(The Topbox link is not a referral link, since I wouldn’t actually want to refer anyone to Topbox.  The Ipsy link is a referral link because I actually like it.)

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