Today I tried an old Chanel scent (19) -- it was the last of the sample vials that I wanted to try one last time before getting rid of them. I wish I knew how much of the weird alcohol scent is due to the original composition of the perfume and how much is due to its age. But it definitely smelled weird to me. I liked some of the notes, but I can't get over that sickly alcohol-y scent -- not like alcohol you'd drink, the other kind. The only Chanel perfume I have that I really like is Gardenia, which still doesn't have that tang for some reason.

Yesterday I tried on a Chaos Theory scent (CT II, CLVI). "Each bottle of Chaos Theory is truly unique, a fragrant fractal, and exercise in the joy of chance and uncertainty! Each is a one-of-a-kind, utterly random combination of scents, the composition of which is based on whim, mood and gut instinct." Which is a cool idea, but the downside of it is that there's no way to confirm what I'm smelling, and I am still too ignorant to guess. With a list of notes, I can say, oh, obviously that's musk and eucalyptus and, I dunno, burnt toast. Without one, I'm just making stabs in the dark -- and I want to LEARN from what I'm wearing! My stab in the dark for this one is that it's spicy and musky. A little strong for me.

Written 4/30/07.