perfume review: brasil dream

husband is in brazil this week in a place called montes claros, which according to him is the titoveles of brazil (we met in macedonia, so we compare most places to there, doesn't everyone do that?). if you read the wiki link, you'll find a clue as to what husband is doing in brazil. (hint: it's in the "economy" section of the entry.) but, i digress. since he's in brazil, the time seemed right for a review of my newest perfume, estee lauder's brasil dream.

i picked this one up because i was hankering for a transition to the summer perfumes and i wanted a new scent for a new job. there are a couple of others in this series--emerald dream and bali dream--neither of which ever appealed (read: went desperately wrong on me), so i was pleasantly surprised at how much i liked brasil dream. and happy it didn't go wrong.

it's the perfect seasonal transition scent. not too summery and light, but with just the right overtones of summery and light...a bit of lemon, some bergamot. it will give you glimpses of summer without the direct heat of the sun. underneath, there's still some interesting darker patchouli and neroli going on. it's the perfect scent for this changeable time of year--cold and blustery one day, sunny and springlike the next. i don't really know what that has to do with brazil, not having been there, but admit that from the name, i expected it to be a bit more flamboyant, suntanned and well, half-naked with a feather headdress.  so i find it rather misnamed, tho' i don't really have an alternative in mind.

i did a bit of research and learned that this scent is a "travel exclusive," which means you'll only find it in the duty free of your favorite international airport and possibly in some onboard sales catalogs, not at your local estee lauder counter.  that explains as well the packaging, which is a nice flat bottle that tucks perfectly into your makeup bag. that was another selling point for me, since i travel a lot.

the perfume has a brightness i needed at the close of winter, but still has a heavier presence that lasts. i don't think i'll wear it into the summer.  it has a powdery fade that will seem too heavy then, but i really like it for now. and embarking on something new (like a new job) always requires a new scent. that's like a rule, right?

EDIT:  i should have noted that this is a really new perfume. it was just released in february.

a monday kind of a day

i love this picture. it looks like a creature of some kind. he's got green moss hair on his head and a large eye and some kind of a trunk-like appendage, along with that arm-like branch sticking up. i love the wrinkles under his chin. i don't really know what i'm going to do with him, but he speaks to me somehow. there's some glimmer of something there. it's one of those moments of intuitive inspiration. i don't know what's going to happen with it, but i'm sure that something will. and no, i'm not going off about inspiration again.

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i made sabin and karoline turn the channel to house at 6 p.m., just like i do nearly every weekday. you see, i need my fix of house. he's so deliciously mean. sabin had my laptop in her lap and announced, "i'll just go to you tube and type hannah montana and watch it there." when did the child learn about you tube? i think i've got to keep a better eye on her.

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this morning, we braved THIS traffic (thank goodness i normally fly to my job) to go in and get husband some vaccinations at the only place we knew for sure would have a yellow fever jab available at 9 a.m. on a monday. mom asked me if i had to twitch him or ear him down for the vaccination, like we used to do with the horses, but i don't actually know if that was necessary, because i was running around frantically trying to find an ATM to get some cash to pay for the damn shots because their stupid card machine was broken. and let me tell you, there was no cash machine within a reasonable walking distance in any direction (reminder to self: do not try to find cash in the area of the royal palace, apparently they have no need for cash). finally, it dawned on me that there was an ATM on the 4th floor of my old workplace, right across the street from the doctor and so i asked a good friend who is still on the inside (if that sounds like prison, i do mean it to a little bit) to help me out with some cash. naturally, during this frantic run, i managed to find time to grab not one, but two double lattes. and by the time i got back, not only was husband vaccinated against yellow fever, but also against hepatitis B AND their stupid card machine was back up and running, so they didn't need my hard-earned cash (tho' i am very grateful for irene's help!). it was a monday kind of thing.

and then i set this guy off at the airport so he could head off to north carolina (no yellow fever there) and then onwards to brazil (possibility of yellow fever there). i'm a bit envious of brazil. south america is one of my missing continents (Oz is the other one). then i high-tailed it for home, where the feverish child had been left on her own (with big sis when we left) and where research into these called. so much for being a resourcestærke parent, leaving the child home alone sick. but it was deemed better than dragging around in the car to get carsick at the moment of leaving. i wish we'd all been headed off for brazil. i already had yellow fever. the vaccine. or was it japanese encephalitis? or maybe typhoid fever. i never remember.

in lieu of going to brazil, perhaps i'll just have to watch the movie:

hope your monday was fabulous.