I have issues with perfume, as you’ve probably seen and/or read before. My collection seems to keep growing, but I’m going to place some of the blame on my mother, who has been a fragrance hoarder my whole life. (I keep nagging her to wear Chanel No. 5 every day, but she’s always like, “Nooo, I’m SAVING it!” And I’m always like, “For what? Wear it! You can buy more!”) I have a bunch of more expensive fragrances (Cartier Baiser Vole, Atelier Colognes Bois Blonds and Vanille Insensee, Fracas, Angel, etc.) but there’s a big place in my heart for the kind I can snap up for about $20. (Or less!) 

Parfums de Coeur Skin Musk. I just blogged about this in my “beachy beauty” feature, but I truly do enjoy it. On its own, it stays close to the skin and doesn’t take up too much space, but when you mix it, it adds another layer of depth to simple fragrances. I mix it with Bobbi Brown Beach most often but it plays well with a lot of my fragrance family. $13 at Walmart/assorted drugstores. Spray it everywhere! It’s so cheap! (I don’t apologize for my Walmart shopping, either - they seem to have the best supply of cheap, fun beauty products from all over that I can’t find at Target/CVS.)

Stetson. OH BOY, I am all about Stetson. On a man, it makes me slightly weak in the knees and only a few things (Garth Brooks’ “Shameless” and Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed” do it to it) do that. On me, it’s old-fashioned and elegant. Tania Sanchez, who is one-half of the team behind the greatest perfume book in the history of ever, Perfumes A-Z, loves Stetson too. She compares it to the classic feminines, like Chanel No. 5 and Estee Lauder Youth Dew. It’s $9 … for real. And how cute is that little bottle?

Kiehl’s Musk. Sexy on me, sexy on men, veers clean, veers dirty. The thing I love about Kiehl’s Musk is that it’s a different fragrance every time I wear it, depending on my body chemistry du jour. It’s about $35, but I see it every once in awhile at Marshall’s (treasure trove for fragrance!) for less.

Sand and Sable.  Now would you believe I paid $3 for this? I had a little accident at Walgreen’s last December when I was supposed to be buying Christmas cards and not three classic fragrances for $3 apiece. But they were THREE BUCKS. (I also got Lady Stetson, another winner, and Emeraude, which I kind of hate but like the idea of.) Sand and Sable packs a HUGE punch - at first whiff you’re like “Oh, Fracas, is that you?” And it totally could be, but when it dries down it smells like a fun beach flower girl. Sand and Sable is a LOUD beach flower girl; she hangs around pretty strong for a good few hours. Don’t spray too much! 

Just like that Jessica Andrews song that Leighton Meester sings in Country Strong, I am a SUMMER GIRL of the highest order. Now that there’s actually snow on our Minnesota ground I am experiencing major winter blahs. I miss tan skin, sundresses, messy waves and how sexy everyone looks when it’s like 100 degrees outside and the humidity is high. Ideally I’d like to spend the rest of my days in a bikini on a beach. I feel like a mega babe in the summer and I definitely do not feel that way right now.

I’m channeling my summer lust into beauty products, naturally. I nicked some inspiration from my current major girl crush, Cat Marnell at xojane.com - she likes to smell like summer and turned me on to Mario Badescu’s Summer Shine Lotion, which is only $10 for that amazing “skin/suntan lotion that’s mostly faded/sunshine” smell I am in love with. It doesn’t smell like some putrid tropical drink - just smells like summer. It works even better when you layer it like I do with Bobbi Brown Beach perfume (jasmine, seaweed, air, Coppertone) and/or Skin Musk, which I most definitely paid about $10 for at Wal-Mart and layer with all sorts of things. (SJP bought all the Bonne Bell Skin Musk oil when they discontinued it and that was a tipping point for Lovely, which is a fragrance that is so not me but I kind of like playing with anyway. This Skin Musk is a little different and probably not as good, but I’m all about Wal-Mart cheap beauty thrills as you’ll see in the future if I blog like a good girl.)

I’m always amused when magazines do “beach hair tutorials” because that’s basically my natural hair texture. My hair + a day at the lake = perfect combination. But because I bleached the shit out my hair when it was platinum and am now trying to coax it back to happy, my waves are kinda meh. I stumbled upon Not Your Mother’s Beach Babe texture spray when prowling around CVS for beauty products, which is one of my favorite things to do in the world. $6 later (versus $22, which I almost shelled out for Bumble & bumble Surf Spray) my wavy crazy mermaid curls are back. It even smells (and tastes) like saltwater.

Next on my “beach beauty” list: Comptoir Sud Pacific Aqua Motu perfume, perhaps J Lo Miami Glow perfume (LOL for real, I know, but I wear Glow and it smells fab) and several spray tans via the greatest tanning salon in the Twin Cities, Golden Tan.

I’m not going to apologize for my lack of posting lately. Let’s just be happy that I’m back - and hopefully, finally to stay!

I’m 75% done with my holiday shopping, which most definitely means I can buy myself a gift or two, right? Obviously my utmost wants & wishes are beauty related - here’s what I’d like to see under my (imaginary) tree.

La Mer The Concentrate - At $275+, this is a total wish. I’ll never ever get to call La Mer The Concentrate my own, unless my student loans just magically disappear into thin air. (THAT’S my Christmas wish, Santa.) But oh is it heavenly. I can’t even describe how pleased and swoony I feel when I get a sample to use for a day or two. My bad, temperamental skin is in love with this stuff.

Caudalie Beauty Elixir - I am obsessed with face sprays! (Currently I’m alternating between By Elizabeth Dehn, Wyndmere and All Nighter, Urban Decay’s makeup setting spray.) I think Caudalie’s version will make its way into my Sephora cart very soon - it’s just $16 and if supermodels are using it, I should be too. It’s half-toner and half-serum and just the thing for a little spritz during a manic Saturday at the MOA.

Cartier Baiser Vole - Lily perfume. ALL lily. Florals are not my thing; I belong to the spicy/sexy/warm/oriental/gourmand perfume camp judging from the fragrances I use (Prada Candy, Angel, YSL Elle, Prada, Shalimar), but I fell hard for this elegantly feminine green floral when I smelled it last fall. I think this is my Spring-Summer 2012 fragrance. Plus the bottle! I mean, just look at it! The lid flips up like a Zippo!

NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencils - I’ll take Damned, Cruella, Red Square and Dragon Girl, please. I don’t know how I resisted Dragon Girl for so long - it’s my third or fourth favorite red of all time. Besides the fact that you have to sharpen them with a special NARS sharpener, these things are my new lipstick jam. It’s like a lipliner AND lipstick (matte, of course) in one. Obsessed.

If you don’t know about Into the Gloss, the greatest beauty-related blog I’ve found so far, then today’s your lucky day. It’s run by Voguette Emily Weiss, who has the privilege to pry into the beauty habits of all kinds of fabulous people, from supermodels to magazine editors to stylists. Since I’m nosy as all hell, of course I find this inspiring. Jane did an ITG-inspired post of her own awhile ago, and since I’ve got strep and am quarantined today, here’s mine! (I know, Jane’s is way prettier. I get green with envy when I look at it.)

Aveda Smooth Infusion Glossing Straightener; Pravana Sulfate-Free Brightening Shampoo; Kiehl’s Olive Fruit Oil Deeply Repairative Hair Pak; Manic Panic Virgin Snow toner; Jonathan Overnight Oil Treatment

Kerastase Elixir Ultime; Fresh Sugar Rose lip treatment; Mario Badescu Glycolic Foaming Cleanser; Bumble and bumble White Hair Powder; Clinique Even Better Clinical; Face Spray by Elizabeth Dehn; Origins Checks & Balances cleanser; Earth Sciences Almond-Aloe Moisturizer

(Purse essentials as of late) Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy; MAC Show Orchid; Revlon Really Red Matte; MAC Neon Orange, Lady Danger, Candy Yum-Yum; NARS Pure Matte Carthage; NARS Super Orgasm; Sephora orange gloss

China Glaze Flip-Flop Fantasy neon; American Apparel Butter; China Glaze Japanese Koi neon; OPI Apine Snow matte … and some of my newest thrift store books. (Yes, that IS Danielle Steel.)

A few more favorites; China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise neon; China Glaze Frostbite; Orly magenta I forget the name of; new favorite candle, Aloha Orchid from Capri Blue

Bunch of MACs; Fracas; Britney Spears Curious; J Lo Glow; Shalimar; Kiehl’s Musk; Prada; Stetson

And finally, bedside necessities. (And a stray D&G lipstick/Estee Lauder gloss … I don’t know how that got there.) Kiehl’s Lip Balm; O’Keeffe’s Working Hands creme; Rosebud Salve; hot pink earplugs for beauty sleep

I met Jeremy through Michael Dodes (also the man behind this adorable portrait) and my first impression was, “Wow, this kid smells great!” It wasn’t your typical cologne scent, either … it was something intriguing and different. I soon learned Jeremy is a fragrance aficionado of the highest order. (Considering I just bought a small bottle of Juicy’s Viva La Juicy, I don’t know if I can place myself in his realm.) Naturally I had to pump him for info on his fragrance background and his favorite scents, as well as those he wishes would GO AWAY. 

What began your love affair with fragrance? - As far back as I can remember, my mother had the most spectacular and fragrant flower gardens. I used to sit in the dirt and hold the flowers right up to my nose. Peonies, roses, lilies; you name it and it was probably growing somewhere in her garden. I could be out there for hours on end, moving from one plant to the next, studying the distinct scents of each plant. The funny thing was that I was deathly allergic to bees. I don’t know how I was allowed to be out there for such long periods of time, but that’s beside the point. Anyways, at that moment, I knew when I was grew-up that I wanted to get into the business of capturing the scents of different flowers and plants, which is still my dream today. Hopefully soon, I will have my own apothecaries where consumers can purchase 100% organic, earth-inspired products. I’m imagining my shops will look similar to Sandra Bullock’s characters shop on Practical Magic: all-white interior with products in clear containers. Gorgeous.

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Here she is, folks: J Lo Glow, nestled amongst her new friends atop my dresser. J Lo, meet Stetson, Fracas, Essie and Kiehl’s. Play nice, Shalimar.

Weird, right? I most definitely wore J Lo’s first (and best) fragrance via a few samples collected from Dayton’s back in 7th and 8th grade. (I alternated with Clinique Happy, Victoria’s Secret Love Spell and Ralph Lauren Ralph … that’s the blue one, remember?) I had an urge to reacquaint myself with Glow a few days ago, and now we’re happily reunited. It’s not perfect, but it lasts a long time and after nine hours of working retail, a spray or two makes me feel a little fresher. 

I had to laugh at my sudden interest in Glow, because there are definitely perfumesof my past I wouldn’t like to revisit. Fragrance holds so many memories; the first time I smelled Clinique Happy, it was my first trip to the Mall of America and I sprayed it on my purple Land’s End jacket. I loathe Clinique Happy now, but back in the day it smelled wonderful. 

My first official fragrance was Marc Jacobs eponymous gardenia scent, which I bought at age 15. I’ve grown out of it now and passed the bottle on to my coworker Michelle. It doesn’t tie me to a specific era of my life, but I got bored with it. Burberry Brit smells like my sophomore year of college, while Angel smells like the winter of my junior year. I still like these perfumes, but I wouldn’t wear any of them again. 

I got to wondering, Which fragrances did my friends wear in junior high/high school and would they revisit them now? 

A few of my favorite answers:

Sheena: Exclamation! and Sunflowers years ago - and hell to the no!

Twitter follower K_Nikki: Clinique Happy was a big deal in high school. Also wore Sunflowers, Vanilla Fields. I’m SO dating myself!

My longtime BFF Ali: I pretty much wore any sample I could get from Dayton’s. That blue Ralph Lauren perfume, BCBG Metro, Clinique Happy, that green apple one (DKNY Be Delicious)… until I bought my first real bottle-Kors by Michael Kors.

Alyssa Anderson: Donna Karan Cashmere Mist … stolen from my mother. Definitely not my scent of choice these days!

Jackie: I think CK One is the first fragrance I bought, and I probably would not wear it now.

Coworker Charlie: Hugo Boss. Still wear it.

Sally Hedberg: Escada Rockin’ Rio. (Editor’s note: I HATE Escada perfume. I admit to owning one in 9th grade … Escada Sentiment.) Definitely not. Guilty of Pearberry body splash. 

Brittani Lepley: My first frag was the Kiehl’s Musk but then I went down the perfume social ladder and, you’re gonna luuuuv this one, started wearing Estee Lauder Beyond Paradise. (Editor’s note: I hate Beyond Paradise with a passion. It makes me nauseous.)

Raul Osorio: Armani Code; I would totally wear it again.

My former Grand Forks Herald Teen Page editor Paulette Tobin:  Tabu, Charlie, Jean Nate. My first serious cologne was Estee Lauder Youth Dew. I still like it but my daughter doesn’t like it so I hardly ever wear it. I don’t think they make Tabu, Charlie or Jean Nate anymore. (I’m a ’70s girl)

Suzy Martin, makeup artist extraordinaire: Love’s Baby Soft.

Tony Libera: Acqua di Gio, duh. It’s obviously the only fragrance that matters. (Editor’s note: The skyway between the City Center and Macy’s men’s department would agree. There are clouds of Acqua di Gio!)

But nobody mentioned the perfume that clogged up countless high school hallways in the early 2000s, Victoria’s Secret Love Spell.

Vanity Project readers, what did you wear in the olden days? Would you try it again now?

Various fancy things I’ve purchased/found/been gifted over the past few weeks. I would blame Sally Beauty for all the polishes; it’s buy two, get one free for the whole month of April. (For Ardell lashes too!) Included in this stash: Lolita Lempicka Fleur de Corail (don’t love, anyone want it?) perfume, China Glaze neon polishes, Essie Mesmerize, Bumble & Bumble hair powder spray, Dior Addict Lipstick in 578 Diorkiss. (That’s the one Kate wears in the commercial.) 

Shalimar is old lady perfume. OK, wait, back up - it’s CLASSIC perfume, which generally makes me think, ew, this smells like grandmas. (Not that grandmas don’t smell lovely, but you know what I mean, right?) Anyway, Shalimar is one of the greats, a perfume that dates back to the 1920s … it’s up there with Chanel No. 5, Fracas and Jicky as fragrances that stood the test of time, and now it’s nestled next to Stetson and Kiehl’s Musk on my perfume tray.

I don’t like quiet, sweet and gentle perfume. I like them on other people - I think Marc Jacobs Daisy smells lovely on certain girls. I think my girlfriend Dakotah smells fantastic, and she wears Philosophy’s Amazing Grace, which I enjoy but doesn’t suit me. I grew up with a mother who wore a few loud ’80s perfumes like Dior’s Poison, and I like my fragrance to enter a room with bombast. I like it to linger. I like it loud. Fruity florals, stay where you are. Amber and patchouli? Come along with me, please.

I had a brief little fling with Thierry Mugler’s gourmand love-it-or-hate-it Angel, but too many customers wear that … and so does my mom, thanks to me. I occasionally give Prada a whirl; I like the intense sexy-spicy amber. I thought it was permanent love with By Kilian’s Back to Black, but it wasn’t. Something changed. It’s not you, Kilian, it’s me. I wear tuberose-heavy Fracas from time to time, but I always wish it were dirtier. I even play with Stetson, $9.99 at Wal-Mart, and dally with Britney Spears Curious. 

But Shalimar kept beckoning. I sprayed it on as a joke at Minnetonka Ulta, and then found myself compelled to keep sniffing. It was strange. At first it was abrasive, almost sour. It smelled like burnt plastic. (I believe this is the lemon and bergamot note.) But then something changed and it began to enchant me. There was jasmine, there was vanilla - two scents I usually don’t adore, but for some reason, it was love. It was more than love. It was Shalimar. My mom was aghast. “Shalimar?!?” She said. “Really? Who are you?” I know, Mom - weird, right? I’ll just wear Fracas for awhile, or fiddle around on the side with my dying sample of Le Labo Rose 31. 

But I kept coming back for more. I sniffed at Ulta, at Nordstrom, at Neiman Marcus. I couldn’t commit yet; was it too mature? Was I just in love with it because Luca Turin was? (If you haven’t already, pick up his book Perfumes: The Guide. I find it informative and hilarious and rarely purchase without consulting. We disagree occasionally, though. I hate Beyond Paradise.) Was the Shalimar woman only a woman I aspired to be? Rita Hayworth wore it, but could I? Would customers tell me I smelled like their grandmother? Would men tell me I smelled like their ex-wife? I wanted to find out, so I swapped Jo Malone’s Pomegranate Noir (just not me, no matter how delicious it smells on my coworker Jennifer) for Shalimar yesterday at Nordstrom. 

Is Shalimar my signature scent? I don’t think so. But I am certainly enjoying our love affair. 

Urban Decay Afterglow Glide-On Cheek Tint in Crush; AG Sterling Silver toning shampoo; MAC Pigment in Magenta Madness (more on this later); Shalimar EDT.

Welcome to my bedroom. Bedazzled skulls from Michael’s craft store. Blue lady from Plain & Fancy Antique Mall, Grand Forks, ND.

Edited selection of perfume. You don’t see Britney Spears Curious for a reason.

Disastrous jewelry box, a vintage Lady Buxton beauty I got at a flea market in Detroit Lakes. Small portrait of me by Becky Lang near the top.

Thrift store Marys, vintage hairspray covers, fur pieces, an old sign from Donaldson’s department store and a plaster lion from Hunt & Gather