Perfume Review - The Voice of Reason

Saturday's trip to Stockholm did not yield much in the way of clothing, Beyond Retro was packed with knits and winter coats, neither of wich I am in need of... But my friend Blomma and I just happened to walk into a Lush store, and they just happened to have perfume, and I just happened to fall in love... Of course I had to fall in love with the most expensive one, why is it always like that? Anyway, I couldn´t resist, I bought this pretty bottle of  The Voice of Reason. This scent seems to be quite a new addition and I could not find many reviews about it...

Apparently it is inspired by the beat generation, and oh my is that a cool concept or what! The people on the bottle seem to be Gil Scott-Heron and Leonhard Cohen. I do like Cohen, and The Revolution Will Not Be Televised bu Scott-Heron is a genious piece of poetry!

In the bottle this is very boozy, at first sniff  I thought "hmm, boozy lapsang" but now I think it it smells and looks like smoky whisky, smoothened by something sweet and vaguely gourmand. On wet there is still that note of smoky whisky but now it mingles with warm woods and a faint floral that to me smells quite a lot like carnation, but that the bottle says is rose! Rose of all things, rose that I´m supposed to hate! Perhaps this is some good rose finally, some real rose, while I´ve only smelled synthetic rose before? I don´t know... I like it in here at least! This scent is fresh and spicy, woody and smoky. There is something slightly medicinal about it, a fresh almost eucalyptus-like hint that I should hate (I normaly hate anything eucalyptus, menthol...) but that really only adds interest here! The drydown of this is a warm, smoky, woody tonka.

This scent is wild and free, dirty and nonconforming, much like the beat generation! The boozy, smoky nature of it makes me think of  early morning after-parties, when most of the steam is gone and everyone is sated and philosophical. It hints are wild parties and decadence but the medicinal note adds some real life, some pain, some jail time perhaps...

The sillage of this one is very powerful to begin with, but it mellows quite soon and becomes quite intimate. The longevity is good, more than 6 hours on my skin. All in all this is a gorgeous scent, brilliantly inspired and very intriguing!

Outfit - New romantic bohemian skirt

I got the skirt in this outfit from my friend Blomma today. She said she doesn´t use it so she gave it to me.  It is not really my style, much cuter/more romantic than what I usually wear. But I am a sucker for skirts with a bit of volume, and the colors are right up my alley! It was hard to find matching pieces in my wardrobe though... This crushed velvet dress was about the only thing that really worked. I bought it at a sale at Weekday and I love how versatile it is! The crushed black velvet is a material that is quintessentially gothic to me, but at the same time this dress is simple and stylish and does not succumb to the gothic cliché. I usually wear it with a skirt underneath, because I am rather prudish... The necklace is a simple coiled snake made from thick copper wire, I bought this one in a small craft shop here in Uppsala. I love copper tone jewelry!!  

Price tag: Meh, who cares... about 30 € maybe.

Wish list: More basic and versatile clothes, like this dress, that still have that gothic/steampunk/anything strange wibe!

Awful or Awesome - Case #1

This one is impulsively thrifted a couple of years ago, probably cost me a couple of euros, only been worn once since... It is teetering on the edge between aweful and awesome for me. The style is fine... but the COLORS! It would definitely be awesome for me if it was black, or red or, I don´t know, anything else... Light blue and gold is just revolting! The whole Rococo gone Bollywood  vibe is a bit much!! This one, I´m proud to say, made my mother cringe (says something if you know my mother)!

So, awful or awesome? Does it have potential? Would you wear it? Would it make your mother cringe?

(Sorry for the bad pics everyone, combination of lack of natural light (northern winters do not give you much natural light to begin with), sometimes crappy camera and a chronic lack of image editing program... The first pic is the most true to color!)