Day Two: Friday, February 25th— part two
Houston, Texas
Despite the early disappointments with the coffee situation, I had a successful first day in Houston. My sessions went well (Blake Mykoskie is the founder of Tom’s Shoes—more on that later, maybe), but you don’t care about that! No need to consult with Mr. Skin, I’ll skip straight to the good stuff.
I sniffed the Atelier colognes (that new Vanilla is zazzy!), got caught up with Annick Goutal (one of my nice new friends made me a sample of Vanille Exquise), sniffed my way through the new Jo Malone tea scents (loving that milky one, the rest, not so much), tested the Tom Fords—Tobacco Vanille got skin time opposite Vanille Insensee—and won over Mr. H., who later went back with me to get some on his skin too. He would like some for his birthday, and he will get it! I finally smelled all the Chanel Exclusifs at once: I thought I would love 31 Rue Cambon, but did not. Coromandel, however, has earned a spot on the wish list below Bois des Iles. Also smelled Absolute Pour le Soir (nice!), and the Clive Christian offerings. But the big news is that When I went into the Cartier boutique, and asked for a sample of L’Heure Fougeuse, the smiling sales associate thrust it into my hand with glee (maybe she was having a laugh at the look of shock on my face as I glanced at the object resting on my paw). Ah hahaha ha ha ha! I’ve got 4mL of L’Heure Fougeuse!! I win!
We had dinner at Bombay Pizza Co., which sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it did. Daammmned good stuff, and we plan to eat there again tomorrow.
beauty on the outside 
This sounds like an amazing sniffing tour! The Ateliers, my current top favorite line, glad you smelled them!
How are the Jo Malone tea scents?
Yay for the Fougueuse sample! Those Cartier samples (as well as the Hermes ones) are very generous. I must say though, there is a huge difference for me between dabbing and spraying L’Heure Fougueuse.
Sounds like you are enjoying your stay in Houston, I look forward to your next installment of the Travelogue… 🙂
Oh man, I sure wouldn’t mind having all of the Ateliers! I was surprised by them, to be sure, even though I know how much you love them!
The Jo Malone tea scents didn’t really do it for me. I liked the milk one, though it was VERY sweet. It sort of has a chai vibe, and reminds me a little of Safran Troublant (the milkyness, obviously), and I think it would be great for layering, although I wasn’t tempted to pull out my debit card…
I’m so excited about Fougueuse!! I wanted to test the spray, but the atomizer was broken on the tester bottle 😦 Maybe someday I’ll own my own bottle…
Houston is pretty neat, although I hear that Austin is even better; can’t wait to investigate!
🙂
What a great day you had!
I love it when you finally get to somewhere where they have loads of scents you want to try and you can just go nuts. Too bad you didn’t like 31 RC though, that makes me sad as I love it so, but hurrah for the L’Heure Fougeuse sample! (and for the unsnobby SA!) Looking forward to your review as I know you really liked the sound of that one.
Great too that Mr. H was won over by Tabacco Vanille; borrowing hubby’s scents must be a major perk of being married 🙂
Hypothetically, I probably could smell most of these things in Portland, it’s just that I never get out shopping! It’s been nice to explore a new city, and the shopping is just a natural extension 🙂
Yeah, 31RC didn’t win me! That doesn’t mean I won’t try it again, because I didn’t put it on skin, and as we all know, it’s not fair to judge a scent based on a paper preview—although I really did like Coromandel on paper!
I was really surprised, and please, that not only was the Cartier SA not a snob, she was smiling and polite to me. I didn’t feel out of place in the boutique, even with the armed guard at the door! LOL. Really, who’s going to try and rob a mall store???
Mr. H is pretty excited about his soon to be new scent. He says he’s going to add it to his “collection.” His collection! Apparently my perfume cabinet houses his collection—Houston, we have a perfumista on the rise! 🙂
What a great day! I’d love to have one like it. And come home with L’Heure Fougeuse! 🙂
LOL, Ines, it WAS a great day! To many more like it, for all of us.
Cheers! 🙂
Adding my voice – that L’Heure Fougeuese is a triumph. Well done! The Jo Malone tea scents intrigue me and I was especially interested in the milky one. Where I live JM scents are more expensive than the US and UK, so I’m often in a quandary as to whether they are worth it …
Victoria was so generous and sent me a tiny sample from her sample of L’HF, and when I smelled it, I thought my heart would break— it’s so lovely. It didn’t really even occur to me that I would score a big sample of it here! When I saw the Cartier boutique, I told Mr. H, “We’re going in there. They’re going to treat us like crap, but I have to try and score a sample.” Then they were SO nice! I couldn’t believe it!
RE JM:
JM fragrances fall into the same category in my brain as the Etro scents: I don’t think I’d pay retail prices for them. And this is even before I ever smelled them! After smelling the new tea line, my position remains the same. The milky one is nice, and if I found it half-off somewhere, I might pick it up, but otherwise? Nope.
You sure as heck won!! That sample of L’Heure Fougeuese sounds like rich buttercream icing on a decadent cake of a day.
Wonderful your husb found a scent he loves! Enjoy the rest of your trip!
Thank you so much JE! That’s so funny you mention the cake, because I ate an Italian cream cake for lunch the next day, and it had a wonderfully rich buttercream icing! 🙂