The Hound has been rather quiet these last few weeks…and with good reason as we recently took some time off to travel to Granada, Nicaragua. On our continued journey to find the perfect spot for retirement, we had heard that Granada was a beautiful colonial city that offers everything we’re looking for; low cost of living, warm weather and an adventure to be had. Never having been there before we were surprised and delighted with our visit. Situated on the shore of Lake NIcaragua and sitting underneath the dormant Mombacho volcano, this beautiful town will be fondly remembered by me for the following reasons:
Lovely and wonderfully friendly people.
The incredible heat of the afternoon made bearable with an ice cold beer (or 2 or 3…heck they were only 1.50 each!) on the restaurant row of Calle La Calzada.
Going to the top of the Mombacho volcano to take a hike. Only a 20 minute drive from the city, you might as well have been in another world in the cool climate on top of the volcano.
Learning to love a good cigar and being able to watch them being hand rolled. I just wish we would have purchased more than just a few cigars to bring home with us.
For a perfumista, Nicaraguan Don Juan Cacao Liquor not only smells like the most exquisite of perfumes, but tastes even better and is the perfect accessory to a wonderful cigar.
Stripping naked to have myself slathered in chocolate for a body scrub and massage at the Choco Spa.
Going on a zip line for the first time in my life. I proved to be braver than I had anticipated by going hands free and doing some special dives.
Taking a lovely horse-drawn carriage taxi ride through the town. The carriages are a signature of the city.
Nicaraguan beef is like no other. At home we eat beef approximately once a month. I couldn’t resist eating it almost every night; it was just incredibly tender and flavorful.
A slower way of life is life worth living.
I am horrible about taking pictures on vacation, but I hope the following highlight the beauty of this wonderful place.
Off the main city square.
The horse drawn carriage taxis.
The view from our hotel. balcony
The beautiful interior of our hotel.
The ruins of a 19th century city hospital.
Lake Nicaragua with Mombacho in the background.
The Hound and hub ready for our zip line adventure!
The top of the Mombacho volcano
Mombacho in the distance.
So is Granada our perfect retirement destination? I’m not quite sure, but I would love to go back someday as it’s a very special place. For more information on Granada, check out the Wikipedia page here.
And don’t worry…I’ll be back with a review later this week. In the meantime, thanks for coming along for the ride!
WHAT I SMELL: Eau de Givenchy opens with a lovely opening of bright bergamot which melds into a minty, soapy, light orange. The perfume is clean and minty fresh and pleasingly uncomplicated. After a few minutes the mint begins to dissipate to reveal a more floral heart that’s still light, but is also warmed and radiant. The white and slightly soapy florals that feels somewhat green are the stars here in this simple and easy to wear pretty perfume. There’s not much to say about Eau de Givenchy except that simple sometimes makes perfect.
From Fragrantica:
Eau de Givenchy opens with the sparkling notes of grapefruit, accompanied by sweet and fresh notes of mandarin orange and bergamot, mint and red fruit. The middle notes add luscious and intensive scent of ylang-ylang, honeysuckle, pure jasmine, narcissus, tuberose, lily-of-the-valley, rose, cyclamen and orris root. Base notes introduce warm sandalwood, musk, cedar and oakmoss.
WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: A pretty, easy to wear, simple summer dress.
THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE EAU DE GIVENCHY: easy, effortless, pleasing
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT EAU DE GIVENCHY: I couldn’t find any on this quiet and unassuming 1980s launched perfume.
BOTTOM LINE: What’s interesting about Eau de Givenchy is that it was created at the time when perfumes were big, bold and over the top just like the fashion of the time. Eau de Givenchy is the antithesis of all of the excess and that’s probably why it continues to be in production. It’s just that light and easy.
When I was young enough to be somewhat self-sufficient as a child, my mother decided to become an Avon Lady. If I recall correctly, she didn’t become an Avon Lady until the 1970s, but I know that prior to this time she made purchases herself and her own Avon Lady used to come visit because I remember them sitting around the kitchen table having coffee and looking at the products. Being Depression era babies and very Midwestern, my parents were never big on luxury or glamour. But I do recall times being very young when my mother and father would go out for an event and there was a great deal of time getting ready with hair, makeup and dressing up. Of course, this meant applying perfume as well. Like many women, my mother had a mirrored tray on her dresser with these little jewels of perfumes. I was fascinated by these tiny bottles with the gold top and crystal bottoms that smelled so incredible from a very early age. I never knew what these little jeweled perfumes were until I stumbled across a listing on eBay for 5 1/8 oz. perfumes for sale…in the tiny jeweled bottles that I remember so well. And to boot…all were unused except for 1 and all for only $17. I have no idea which of these my mother had on her dresser, but here’s a short review of each. I guess it all makes sense now that these perfumes which I recalled would have been Avon. But for me and I’m sure many, Avon was never really associated with little gem perfumes, but more for their strange and befuddled decorative bottles. In any case, let’s see if these little jewels live up to my memories…
Sonnet: Sonnet opens with a rich oriental floral spice. It’s deep, maybe a bit powdery and incredibly dreamy. The perfume hits the back of my throat and fills it with its intoxication. As it dries down, the perfume becomes more woody and masculine. The perfume is blended so wonderfully that I can’t pick out any specific notes and I wasn’t able to find any information on the original notes, but did find that the perfume was created in 1972. Sonnet is romance and glamour all wrapped up in one perfume. After some time, the drydown on Sonnet starts to reveal a carnation note and it then becomes very spicy. I really love the opening, but wish it would remain a more rounded floral rather than a spiced floral. Sonnet gets a rating of 3 bones. It would have been higher, but the drydown get a bit too spicy and a bit soapy for my taste. Wait, it does calm down after a long time and the spice moves to more of a cream. Maybe I was too harsh at first…let’s give it 3.5 bones.
Moonwind: Moonwind opens with this rather masculine edge…could this be Avon’s answer to Miss Dior? It’s deep, woody and hay like florals are incredibly pretty…but not made solely for women, this can easily be worn by a man. Perfume Intelligence states that Moonwind was created in 1971 and is an aldehyde woody floral. I say it’s Miss Dior…or just call it Miss Avon. Unfortunately, unlike Miss Dior, Moonwind starts to fall a bit flat in its’ drydown…as if something good was being sucked out of it and instead a slight vanilla was added. Overall all though, a solid perfume at 3 bones.
Topaze: Topaze opens soft, powdery, slightly soapy and with a big projection of aldehydes. Where Sonnet and Moonwind were deep and mysterious, Topaze is floral on a trapeze, meaning it feels like the florals are strung out on a high wire or clothesline. They’re bright, yet mature and pretty. There is nothing young about Topaze, but wearing this would make an entrance a noticeable and big one. The florals are cool here and there is something a bit aloof about Topaze and a bit too much soap, but overall, it’s very classic and worthy of 3 bones.
Fragrantica actually had a posting for Topaze:
Topaze by Avon is a Floral Aldehyde fragrance for women. Topaze was launched in 1959. Top notes are aldehydes, coriander, peach, bergamot and lemon; middle notes are carnation, iris, jasmine, ylang-ylang, lily-of-the-valley and rose; base notes are sandalwood, tonka bean, amber, benzoin, civet and vetiver.
A 1960s Occur! ad. How seductive!
Occur!: Occur! is the dirty girl in the mix and my favorite of the bunch. There’s a preponderance of coriander that jumps up to greet you as you apply the perfume. This is a rich, opulent and grand perfume that reminds me of medieval heavy velvet and tapestried frocks. But as soon as I say that, the perfume begins to lighten and the rich oriental opening starts to break free to reveal a more radiant soul. Occur! is hard to describe except that this ambered beauty has a bit of beast because the civet is very noticeable in the drydown. To my surprise, I really like Occur!. 4 bones for Occur!
From Basenotes:
Created in 1962, Occur’s top notes include aledehydes, bergamot, cardamom coriander. Middle notes include muguet, francinsense, vetiver, myrrh, jasmin, patchouli, carnation. Based notes include amber, leather, honey, moss, musk castoreum, vanilla civet.
Bird of Paradise: From the sound of this perfume I was expecting a Tahitian treat of a South Seas perfume. Instead it is an over the top; big, big, big perfume that is all gag-worthy oriental. When I first received this, I tried to scrub the perfume off, but it’s so strong that it wouldn’t abide with my wish. So for purposes of this post, I have deemed to not put it on again. Needless to say, Bird of Paradise is 2 bones at best and that’s probably being generous. Created in 1969, I saw comments online that this was Avon’s answer to Cinnabar but that makes no sense because Cinnabar was created in 1978…but I could see the comparison.
Like many childhood memories, my recollection of these little crystal bottles were a bit exaggerated. What seems like a jewel then, really is just cut glass and a metal top. Like many Avon products, they are a facsimile of what they are trying to represent. But that doesn’t tarnish my memories and my recollection of that mirrored tray with those incredible jewels and the scents themselves are familiar to me and evoke warm memories of my childhood. For $17 this was a great eBay purchase and I am surprised and rather delighted that these perfumes actually have stood the test of time. Now, all of these perfumes above are the parfum extrait versions of the fragrance. I noticed that their were many cologne versions on eBay and I can’t speak to how those compare. But if you’re looking for something fun at the right price you may want to check out these Avon classics.
The Hound has been rather quiet these last few weeks…and with good reason as we recently took some time off to travel to Granada, Nicaragua. On our continued journey to find the perfect spot for retirement, we had heard that Granada was a beautiful colonial city that offers everything we’re looking for; low cost of living, warm weather and an adventure to be had. Never having been there before we were surprised and delighted with our visit. Situated on the shore of Lake NIcaragua and sitting underneath the dormant Mombacho volcano, this beautiful town will be fondly remembered by me for the following reasons:
The Scented Hound 