Greetings and Salutations!

"I can't quit you, baby. So I'm gonna put you down for awhile."

Hello! I've been Fall Cleaning (my website) is that a thing???, but now I'm back, and I missed you!

If you've been a reader for years, you know there are tons of posts I have deleted. Tons. The blog has been running since 2012, and I just felt like it was time for a refresh. A lot of changes have taken place since the blog started, and I am so happy to have so many loyal followers who come to visit. I think it's wonderful to have formed online relationships with readers and other bloggers too. I look forward to forging new ones, and continuing those that have already been formed.

Make new friends, but keep the ooooold, one is silver and the other gold (sing it with me!!! or not... I know that's a little corny, but I'm okay with corny). 

It's been awhile, so I'll ask: what's going on with you?!?  I have been visiting blogs still, so I know somewhat, but I honestly have not been around to do so as much as I'd like. Work always has a way of getting involved with my free time! I know some of you can relate.

Over here, I for one am so excited that it's the start of a string of holidays, or the holiday season, if you will...Fall, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then the New Year! I've literally been fighting with myself not to impulse-buy every cute Christmas item I come across when I'm out and about. There is always that one thing I feel that I 'have to have' but I use my self-imposed strategy of leaving the store and thinking about the item for at least 24 hours before heading back to buy it. I usually opt not to get it when I do that, and that's a good thing, for my pocketbook and my savings account. Well, I don't have a savings account. The interest rates are always too low to bother, but you know what I mean. There is one cute little snowman I may go and get for my bathroom though, he's been haunting my thoughts for awhile, saying things like, 'come back for me!! I need to live on your toilet lid.' That would be a first for me, but he matches my new shower curtain that I did buy at a cute little store I found, that's probably been there a long time, but I just learned about... a store that takes items department stores are trashing and sells them for way, super-dee-duper cheap. The shower curtain was in a bin for a dollar. Original price tag still on it for $40. Bargain-bin shopping at its finest. And yes, I did hang it up in the bathroom that is just off of my bedroom. That's the only Christmas thing up so far...the rest of the house has pumpkins and foliage, I swear. :)

One thing I haven't been cautious with though, when it comes to making purchases, is fragrance. I have this newfound love for perfumes that I just can't explain. I've gone most of my life rarely bothering to wear a scent, and now all of the sudden I am falling love with so many of them!!! I thought it was going to be a fad, but turns out there is no perfunctory in my newfound passion, in fact, it might be safe to predict that it is here to stay. It has been a few months, and there is literally no end in sight to my fascination with trying and buying new ones. I have learned, however, not to blind buy!!! Getting burnt twice was my cure (yes, it took twice). I quickly learned, although I 'knew it' before I 'learned it,' that just because a bazillion people love and rave about a fragrance, does not mean I will like it. 

That being said, I have a current insatiable lust for finding and smelling new ones to see how I feel about them. I'm spraying myself before work, after work, and even before bed. Sparingly, of course. I am not a walking cloud of  perfume. This is really just something I am doing for me and no one else (and honestly, who can smell from behind their mask anyway?). But with that being said, let me tell you, starting this kind of hobby during Covid-19 times was probably not my best idea; it makes no scents (sorry, I couldn't resist). Testers are behind counters or not at all available, so it is harder to try them out before committing to a purchase. Honestly, I am not sure why I have this sudden olfactory obsession, but it's comforting and I enjoy it, and that's a good enough reason for me. 

My current favorites, that I've quickly learned are old favorites for many (like I said, I'm late to the fragrance game) are Dior's Hypnotic Poison (oh my gosh, it smells so good to me!!!), Lancome's La Vie Est Belle (and one of the flankers), Viktor & Rolf's Bon Bon, Carolina Herrera's Good Girl and Good Girl Supreme (the latter is sweeter and my favorite of the two, though I love them both). There is also Dolce & Gabanna's The One, which kind of started it all...this was a fragrance I sampled years ago in a department store, and always loved, but did not buy until about a year ago. I used it repeatedly (which I learned in the perfume world is called having a 'signature fragrance'), and then one day decided to branch out and look for something new, and that was that. It is worth noting though, that I still love the D&G fragrance.

There are some fragrances I ADORE but cannot bring myself to purchase because they don't last very long (I cannot stress 'try before you buy' enough, for this reason alone). One in particular is a big bummer to me because I love, love, love, love, love it, but it doesn't even last an hour before it wears off. I cannot justify spending hard earned cash on something that has zero sillage, and minimal lasting power, at best. I always wonder though, why perfumers or brands would market such products. I can't imagine they will sell long once people figure out the staying power is null and void. I have also learned, though some think it is a fallacy, that fragrances work differently on everyone, so for one person a perfume may have long-lasting power, and for others it is a skin scent in a very short time frame. I do not know enough to vote either way, and can only speak for how a scent works on me.

via GIPHY

I also learned that buying the biggest bottle is not always the way to go. Because I like fragrances so much right now, I'm opting for the smaller bottles (1 oz. seems to be best), so I can use them up faster. With my collection growing, I am thinking it's better to have quality over quantity (in terms of fluid ounces) because I have also heard that perfumes can go bad if they sit around too long. I am keeping my new treasures stored on a custom-made tray I created years ago, long before my perfume obsession (hurrah, a good use for the tray that has been unused for so long!!), that I keep in a cool, dark place (no direct light hitting them).

For more proof of my newfound perfume-hunting endeavors, one need look no further than my beloved Pinterest Board that I created to help me remember what I've tried, how I felt about them, and what I want to try in the future. It has 430 pins and 60 sections. See? Obsession. I actively search for perfume samples when I'm shopping (in person and online), and try on fragrances as often as I can. This is something I love right now, and honestly, I don't mind if this newfound passion sticks around for awhile. Fragrance hunting is fun.

That being said, I'll finish with the thoughts I used to start the post. When I have finished updating, the blog will have a few old things on it, posts I contracted to keep up for a certain amount of time, my travel posts (after I revise them), my prayer link (important to me), and one for a company that had a giveaway. Two giveaways were running when the blog was down, both were awarded the prizes, but the time on them was obviously, cut short (the first time that's happened since 2012, and I have had literally thousands of giveaways). One was hosted by Neon Earth (for a face mask) and one was hosted by me (Amazon gift card giveaway). I felt like it wasn't fair to Neon Earth that the post was cut shorter than I had intended (my timeline, not theirs) and so I will have a new post up featuring their face masks for the holiday season (and I will include them in the annual Holiday Gift Guide). There was also an Amazon giveaway I was helping promote for a blogger-friend, so that is back up too. As I go through old posts, I'll add those that still fit, or are still relevant in 2020 (almost 2021, can you believe?!?), especially those that are a good fit for the aforementioned gift guide, since it is getting to be that time of the year. Please bear with me through these changes.

If you have thoughts, please leave them below. If you have perfume suggestions, feel free to leave those as well. I'd love to hear about any I might be missing out on trying!! 

Truly, it feels good to be back. Wishing you all a wonderful day!