Happy New Year to you all.  It’s back to reality and that’s not someplace I really want to be.  The Hound and husband just got back from a Christmas and New Year’s all-inclusive vacation in Mexico.  We’ve never done anything like that and much to my pleasure and surprise it was a rousing success.  What’s not to love when you spend your days by the pool being waited on by gracious and generous resort staff.  It seems that all we did is eat, drink, swim, read and then repeat.  Oh….let me add laugh.  Easily the best part of the trip though was meeting some wonderful people from around the world and particularly several couples from NYC and London.  I think the universe had some cosmic plan because it all just clicked without effort or strain and we now have some wonderful new friends.  We could not have asked for a better way to start off the new year!

To add a perfumed twist to the mix of this first post of the new year; as it was a warm climate, I packed up some samples, decants, etc. that I thought might fit the weather and although perfume was not at the top of my list of priorities (please note that I probably didn’t shower until 5pm every day since I was in the water all day), I did wear perfume to dinner each night.  I found myself a bit surprised by what I liked and didn’t like:

• First by Van Cleef and Arpels:  Loved it.  Quiet and subtle, it’s such a lovely floral with just a hint of spice.  Out of all of the items that I wore, I wore this the most.  A really pleasant surprise.
• Interlude Woman by Amouage:  I really liked this, but no one else seemed to dig it as much as I did.  I was a bit worried that anything Amouage would be too overwhelming for the warm weather, but it wasn’t.  I’m going to give this more of a whirl.
• Oud Velvet Mood by Maison Francis Kurkdjian:  Meh.  Enough said.
• Iskander by Parfum d’Empire:  I used to love this, but it’s leaving me a bit cold these days.
• Azemour les Orangers by Parfum d’Empire:  Iskander may leave me cold, but this one could never!  Always a good fragrance to fall back on.
• White Aoud by Montale:  I have almost completely drained my decant and I will probably have to get more because I’m such a big fan, and it seemed to be a winner with others too.
• Mefisto by Xerjoff:  This seemed to last all but 20 minutes on me.  That’s OK, I didn’t love it anyway.
• No. 03 by Fragrance Republic:  I brought it for myself, but the hub took possession of it which is fine because he loves it more than I do.  It’s clean and fresh and perfect for the beach.

As I have not had to put out much effort on anything for the past couple of weeks, just writing this post has left me spent!  So, until I get back to normal, all I can say is that I hope that this coming year will bring you much peace, love, prosperity and of course…perfume!