thunking

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Thunking Thursday: Foundation

Today I am thunking a bottle of foundation, not fragrance. This is a rare event, because I tend to change my mind often about the foundation I use, rarely satisfied with any and always ready to switch! I didn’t adore this one, but it worked fine and I was determined to actually finish it, instead of letting it join the club of half-used bottles in a cupboard. (To be fair, some of the half-used bottles are because I use some simultaneously; my schedule is so hectic that I often have one in the bathroom, one in the car, and one in my office).

Thunk! Maybe I’ll treat myself to a higher-end foundation with help from an actual makeup person, instead of my usual drugstore cosmetics. Any suggestions? What did you thunk this week?

Thunking Thursday: My Burberry
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Thunking Thursday: My Burberry

This week’s sample thunk is My Burberry, created by Francis Kurkdjian. It is a pretty, fruity floral scent, very suitable for spring and summer. It doesn’t wow me, but it doesn’t offend either. I should confess that fruity florals just aren’t my thing — not surprising, since I am well out of the age range that fragrance companies are trying to attract with such scents. Here are some of the perfumer’s thoughts on this one: he wanted to evoke “the feeling of the light of London: clouds, wetness, rain, flowers.” The main floral notes are roses and freesia, “which is a little bit spicy and adds brightness. Then geranium leaves, which give an herbal, almost minty, vibrancy to the perfume. Then from the back note, there are patchouli leaves and quince—a fruit that is between a pear and an apple. Very British. It is not fruity, fruity. It is fruity floral. Then on top you have linen and bergamot.”

My Burberry is nice, but I have more interesting fragrances to wear. It would probably make a nice gift for a young woman who likes the trim image of a modern Burberry trench coat and its youthful classic style. I won’t be needing a full bottle for myself, though. Thunk!

Featured image from http://www.us.burberry.com

Thunking Thursday: Gabrielle
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Thunking Thursday: Gabrielle

I’ve realized I have two completely opposite ways that I thunk samples. One, I happily thunk a sample because I liked it so much that a full bottle has entered my house, either for me or a loved one. That is how I thunked Vitriol d’Oeillet, because I had bought a full bottle for my husband. It smells super on him, and I can get another sniff any time. I also thunked a sample of Tiffany & Co. Intense, because I knew I would be getting a full bottle for Christmas.

Two, I’ll cheerfully thunk a sample when I know I probably won’t hanker for it in the future, but I don’t hate it so much that I can’t finish the sample. Gabrielle, the new pillar fragrance from Chanel, falls into that category for me. It is a pretty fragrance, and I’ll even say it is better than most of the fruity-florals aimed at younger women, but to me it suffers by comparison with the much more interesting Chanel No. 5 L’Eau. So today is the day I will thunk my sample of Gabrielle, with some affection but no regret.

How do you think about thunking? Any thunks this week?

Gabrielle Delacour, Beauxbatons students and little sister of Fleur Delacour

Gabrielle Delacour; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Thunking Thursday: Vitriol d’Oeillet
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Thunking Thursday: Vitriol d’Oeillet

Happy Thursday! This week I thunked my sample of Serge Lutens’ Vitriol d’Oeillet. Full disclosure: I don’t mind at all thunking it, because I bought a full bottle for my husband, who has so often bought lovely fragrances for me. And it smells marvelous! Lots of carnation, just like the classic original Old Spice. I love a good carnation fragrance, like L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Oeillet Sauvage. Do you like carnations in fragrances? Which are your favorites?

Red carnation boutonnieres on gentlemen's white dinner jackets or tuxedoes

Red carnation boutonnieres; image from A Gentleman’s Row

 

Thunking Thursday: Miu Miu L’Eau Bleue
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Thunking Thursday: Miu Miu L’Eau Bleue

There’s a breath of spring in the air this morning (unlike yesterday, which was cold, rainy, and windy), so the sample I thunked today was Miu Miu’s L’Eau Bleue. This was the first flanker to the original Miu Miu, launched in 2015. L’Eau Bleue came along in early 2017. Meant to evoke light and happy spring awakenings, it is described on Fragrantica:

Spring flowers of lily of the valley in the top go into the heart of green notes and white flowers covered with morning dew. An akigalawood accord, a molecule developed by Givaudan which smells of patchouli, peppery notes and woody flavors of oud, forms the base of the perfume.

The nose is Daniela Andrier. Most wearers find the lily of the valley note to be quite dominant, and it is clearly present, though I don’t find it as dominant as others do. It’s not a heavy note, it is quite airy, but it stands out among the other light, dewy notes. I love lily of the valley and so I’ve enjoyed my sample of L’Eau Bleue. I don’t need a full bottle, although if a mini of the adorable bottle fell in my lap, I wouldn’t refuse it!

This would be an ideal scent for a girl or young woman who is just beginning her fragrance journey. Can you suggest any others?

Bottle of Miu Miu L'Eau Bleue fragrance with kitten

Miu Miu L’Eau Bleue

Thunking Thursday: First Cut
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Thunking Thursday: First Cut

Today I am thunking my precious sample of St. Clair Scents‘ First Cut. I’m tempted to get a travel size bottle of it, especially as she has a promo code for 10% off all bottles between now and Valentine’s Day: LOVE10. I don’t think I will, though; I have plenty of scents to enjoy. Besides, I might rather get Gardener’s Glove!

How did your own thunking go this week? Anyone care to post a total for January? I think Brigitte is in the lead …

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Thunking Thursday: Gucci Bloom Nettare di Fiori

In full candor, I haven’t QUITE thunked this yet, as of this morning, but will have done so by tonight! Gucci Bloom Nettare di Fiori is my thunk of the week, and it’s lovely. It is described as more intense and darker than the original Gucci Bloom, with additional notes of rose, ginger, osmanthus and patchouli. I experience it as somehow “fresher” than Bloom, and I think it’s because of the ginger. Also, while the tuberose is still prominent, to my nose it is toned down a bit in Nettare di Fiori; and that makes it seem lighter to me.

No surprise to me, the nose behind it is M. Alberto Morillas, whose fragrances rarely disappoint me (for instance, I love Blasted Bloom). As with Bloom, I don’t feel an urgent need to own a full bottle of Nettare di Fiori, but I have really enjoyed my sample! And I fully intend to thunk the rest of it today. How about you?

Thunking Thursday: Mystery Thunk
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Thunking Thursday: Mystery Thunk

Today is Thunking Thursday, and I can’t tell you what fragrance I thunked today, because I don’t know what was in the sample I finished! Maybe you can help. I found an unmarked sample from Nordstrom in my stash and decided to thunk it. The juice was a dark gold color; the fragrance was tuberose-forward, not unpleasantly so. Nordstrom is a department store that ranks somewhere above Macy’s and below Saks Fifth Avenue. They carry a wide range of design house fragrances, including Hermes and Chanel.

The tuberose is strong but fresh; there may be a hint of bergamot at the opening, but the tuberose is there from the start and continues. Drydown is pleasant but non-descript. I think my mystery thunk may be Gucci Bloom. Any ideas? And what did you thunk this week?

Scent Sample Sunday: Thunking
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Scent Sample Sunday: Thunking

This is my first “Scent Sample Sunday” post of the New Year, and I have thunking on my mind, thanks to a running conversation on the blog Australian Perfume Junkies (a very welcoming online community, btw, which I highly recommend). I think it was APJ reader Brigitte who coined the phrase, referring to the satisfying “thunk” sound made by an empty vial or bottle of fragrance when it hits the bottom of a wastebasket, having been happily emptied and enjoyed by its owner. Thunk!

The running conversation has been about the readers’ commitments to finishing the fragrances they already have before rushing to buy more. A related commitment is to “shopping in your own closet”, i.e. to rediscover what one already has in one’s fragrance cabinet or other storage, enjoy and appreciate it, and reduce impulse buying.

Count me in! So I’m going to start a new series of blog posts here, called “Thunking Thursday”, and I invite you to join me! I’ll write briefly about something I’ve thunked that week, and I hope you’ll comment on whatever you have thunked, whether that week or earlier. Or even what you plan to thunk in coming weeks! Maybe we can reinforce each other’s New Year’s resolutions — or at least vicariously enjoy each other’s “thunks.” I might award a prize to the reader who describes the most completed thunks here this month if I get a large number, so boast away! Please include a brief description of the fragrance and your experience with it, including whether you think you’ll seek it out again.

I’ll start today, claiming one “thunk point” for my sample of Tiffany & Co. Intense EDP.  I loved everything about it: the strong iris note, the packaging, the ad campaign. Maybe I should have to deduct points from myself, though, since I got a full bottle of it for Christmas based on my love of the store sample! Oh well. We all know what paves the road to … you know the rest.

How many thunk points have you accumulated so far in 2019? If you need a few days to think and thunk, come back on Thunking Thursday and comment there! Happy New Year!

Bottle of Tiffany & Co. perfume Tiffany blue

Photo by Bryan Schneider on Pexels.com