Roger & Gallet Shiso soap

Ugh-- I've been home sick with a stomach bug for the past few days. I've been catching up on tv watching and that's about it. A hot shower when sick, though, is an excellent remedy to feel better. My dear friend Nicole in France mailed me a beauty product care package about a month ago, and in it was this lovely Roger & Gallet Shiso soap. Their packaging is so pretty, I can't bear to recycle it. The empty box is now in my linen closet, scenting the shelves.

I'm not sure what shiso is, or what the notes in the soap actually are. I detect a lot of green, and that makes me happy. The best way I can describe it is that it smells like a bouquet of fresh wildflowers, with a couple of pink roses, too. It's not sweet, or anything like tuberose or jasmine, but more like fresh cut grass and hay and fresh air. Surprisingly, it's reminiscent of Chanel No. 19 lotion- a lotion I bought on a whim last year because I liked how fresh it smelled. (Unfortunately, I didn't wait long enough for the lotioin to settle into my skin the day I bought it. It smells so fresh at first, but later falls flat.) The soap, on the other hand, retains its freshness. It's a good thing to smell in the shower.

Roger & Gallet soaps are luscious and long lasting. They retain their shape throughout. It took me three months to get through the Citron bar and the one I used after that, the heavenly and simple Oatmeal Milk. Roger & Gallet soaps are my favorite. They're a little spendy at $6, but $6 for 3 months is completely worth it.

Guerlain's L'Heure Bleu parfum on my left, Miss Dior EDT on my right (before I wash my hands)

I sought out some classics tonight; L'Heure Bleu parfum by Guerlain and Miss Dior EDT by Dior. I wanted to smell the parfum of Miss Dior but Saks didn't have a tester.

L'Heure Bleu has been reviewed a bunch, and I don't think I have much to add to what I've already read. Somewhere I read that it smells like Playdoh; I'm sorry to say that's exactly what I smell. Sharp, peppery, powdery Playdoh. I do like it, but it's not for me. It's very, very different than anything else on the market right now, which I can appreciate. I'm always a little relieved when I'm not hot on a perfume; it means I won't have to buy it!

Miss Dior, on the other hand (literally) started out super earthy and dirty green, then turned grassy, and finally settled into this lush, rich, comforting patchouli on me. It's warm and round and encapsulating. It feels familiar, but I don't know anyone close to me who wears it regularly. It's utterly classic and sophisticated, like the kind of scent you'd smell on someone once and instantly recognize if you smelled it again. It's a close, skin scent on me ... and yet I feel like I'm not wearing Miss Dior, but rather Miss Dior is wearing me. Quite lovely, though! It's a chypre, which I love. It smells like a heavier, oilier Chanel 19. Nothing wrong with that!