Philosophy Amazing Grace 20th Birthday Special Edition

The last time Amazing Grace appeared on this blog, I referred to it as an "anti-perfume", the smell of clean laundry, and described it as perfect for people who don't really like fragrance.  I stand by those things, but I also confess that I actually have a huge, sneaking, deep vat of love for it. 

"Clean" fragrances are a not-so-secret vice of mine, the urge to smell like laundry  musks and baby powder is a source of shame considering my role as a perfume blogger. I should live for skank, for the smell of musty underwear, of tropical mangroves filled with rotten fruit, of coughdrops, catpoo and honey, of death and foof, of leather and booze, of unshaven armpits, and grannies fighting over the last murray mint in a powdery handbag, that kind of thing.  Well, one thing I've noticed since I lost my sense of smell and it's "recovery" over the last couple of years is that the sense of smell I do have now has changed a lot. Where once Tom Ford Tuscan Leather was a "full-on smack in the face with a driving glove", it's now a fuzzy, fruity suede waistcoat made of raspberries and offcuts, more Top Gear than Top Gun.  The fragrance hasn't changed, but my nose definitely has.  The world of smell is an odd place for me to negotiate these days, but I'm hopeful that my love of skank, of armpits and catpoo will come back one day.

In the meantime, a return to my love of clean and rather unchallenging scents is to be celebrated, considering the alternatives, and so to my delight to find that Philosophy Amazing Grace is having its 20th birthday this year.  Can it really be that long since I bought my first bottle?  Amazingly (see what I did there?) it can.  Blimey. It's just been released in a special edition livery ready for its party, and the smell has hardly changed at all.  At once as familiar as your favourite item of clothing, and as inoffensive as a pretty girl at a beauty pageant, Amazing Grace has charm in a quiet and low-key fresh from the dryer kind of a way.  If it's the kind of thing you like, then you'll love it.

Happy birthday, Amazing Grace! 



The Fine Print: PR sample


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I want to: Smell Like a Hug ...

 For all that I love my avant garde niche perfumes (and I do), there are days when all you want to do is smell loveable, the olfactory equivalent of a quick snuggle on the sofa.  For those days, all you need is musk, for musk is the scent of skin and so these are the products I pick:

I'm a big fan of layering my scents, so I start with:

Philosophy Amazing Grace Shower Gel

A softer scent in the shower gel form, than the rather sharp scent you get in the eau de toilette form, this is a gentle, almost flowery form of musk that is, in it's slightly laundry-soap kind of way, rather loveable in itself.  I have a hard time keeping my bottle away from MrLippie.

Khiel's Original Musk Body Lotion

Not all hugs are innocent, are they?  So I follow Amazing Grace with a light slathering of Kiehl's Original Musk Body Lotion, for that little hint of naughtiness under the light and bright musk scents I'll be following this up with. I can't speak for the formula's moisturising properties, as I don't use body lotion as a rule, it's generally something I only use for layering scents with.  That said, this is a nice formula, and I used it for scenting my skin on my wedding day (layered underneath L'Artisan Perfumer's Safran Troublant).

Body Shop White Musk Perfume Oil

Most definitely not the spray eau de toilette!  I find myself using this as an anchor to many floral fragrances, and occasionally as a perfume in it's own right.  It moisturises the skin somewhat, and allows your fragrance "proper" to have something to grip to, moisturised skin holds fragrance better.  In it's own right, this is soft, powdery and rather delicious, and it helps give a sensual base-note to whatever you apply afterward.

Which is (in this case):

 Serge Lutens Clair de Musc

 A bit of an overlooked fragrance from the Serge Lutens line, this sweet, fragrant hug-in-a-bottle reminds me of childhood cuddles from my female relatives.  It's not ground-breaking, it's soft and gentle and rather lovely.  Longevity isn't the greatest, which is why I like to layer it.  This was this close >.< to being my wedding fragrance ...

The Fine Print: Mixture of samples, purchases and gifts.
 
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The Anti-Perfume: Philosophy Amazing Grace

After yesterdays boggling, something a little less controversial, I think. I like my perfumes big and strong (like I like my men, now I come to think of it*), so Philosophy Amazing Grace is a bit of a departure for me.  A light floral, with a clean musk base, it's the antipathy of practically everything in my fragrance collection.  As such, I should hate it.

But I don't.

It's the smell of towels fresh from the dryer, of sheets drying on a line on a warm sunny day, there are flowers in there (sadly indistinguishable from one another), and the smell of warm skin straight out of the shower, then fragrant laundry-musks complete the fragrance. It is, essentially, the scent of one of the more expensive washing powders on the market.  It contains the very essence of cleanliness, warmth, and cheery comfort, like taking a sweater from the cupboard and giving it a sniff and realising it still has just a hint of the perfume you wore last buried deep in its folds. Which is a neat trick, when you think about it. 

Amazing Grace is a great fragrance for those who think they don't like perfume, or aren't  allowed to wear highly fragranced products because of their jobs, but still wish to smell clean, polite, and inoffensive.  That's why I've labelled this post "The Anti-Perfume", because this is how I see Amazing Grace: a nice smell, but it sure as heck ain't a "fine fragrance".

If all that sounds like I'm damning Amazing Grace with faint praise, I'm actually not. For a long time I wore only Demeter Laundromat which really does smell like fabric conditioner (I'm weird, shut up), and Amazing Grace is also a good replication of that smell.  I genuinely like it a great deal, it's simple, easy to wear, rather pretty, and great way to smell "nice" without anyone wondering where the faint smell of burning tar/mangrove swamp/fly spray is coming from, as can happen with some of my more ... er ... avant garde scentsations.  It has the lasting power of your average mayfly though, so if you want it to last (at least slightly longer), then layer it over the matching body products - the shower gel in particular is extremely good.

Now, if I could only get MrLippie to STOP STEALING THE DAMN STUFF!  We're gonna need a bigger bottle ...


*Hugh Jackman.  MrLippie who?

The Fine Print: PR Sample.

This post: The Anti-Perfume: Philosophy Amazing Grace originated at: Get Lippie on January 22nd 2013. All rights are reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Smells Like Christmas 4 - Philosophy Old Fashioned Eggnog

All this week, and next, I'm bringing you the best products to scent yourself and your home ready for the festive season.

I've been boycotting Starbucks for years (seriously. Don't ask), apart from twice a year, when they bring out their eggnog lattes.  I have one on the first day they're available, and one on the last. For, whilst I loath their coffee, Starbucks is about the only place us UK peeps even see eggnog from one year to the next, and I LOVE eggnog.  I shouldn't, it's basically rum and nutmeg flavoured custard (served cold), after all, and I'm not a fan of rum either (not a fan of much in the post, now I come to think of it - moi, a masochist?), but somehow eggnog is much more a sum of its parts. 

Philosophy Old Fashioned Eggnog is an easier to get hold of scent than Haus Of Gloi's Eggnoggin', (which I adore) is warm, boozy and spicy, and almost good enough to eat. It has a creamy undertone to the scent, and comes complete with a recipe for eggnog on the label.  What more could you want?  A matching lipgloss?  Philosophy have one of those too.  I did have one of those to show you, but I appear to have eaten it.  Sorry.

The Fine Print: PR samples.  :Burp:
 
This post: Smells Like Christmas 4 - Philosophy Old Fashioned Eggnog originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper