2026

Posted on 31/12/2025 by alityke

Wishing a Happy & Healthy 2026 to all.

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

DH Update

Posted on 30/12/2025 by alityke

I am posting this now as I do not want to open 2026 on this.

Unfortunately DH got bad news yesterday. Two areas of disease have increased by 50%, meaning it’s back to chemo. The rest are stable & overall there is still less disease than this time last year. It’s the same chemo that worked a miracle last time but at a more tailored dose.

In July 2022 average overall survival for people in DH’s position was 2 years. In December 2024 we were told average overall survival for people who had done well after initial chemo & surgery was 2 years. Yesterday average survival for those in DH’s rather specific situation is again 2 years.

All I wish for in 2026 is that DH will keep kicking that overall survival into the long grass & defying the odds.

So there we have it. 2025 ends as 2024 did. Staring into the abyss of the unknown (Kuhn)

The Scream by Edvard Munch
Posted in DH update, Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Ready for the Big Day?

Posted on 24/12/2025 by alityke

If, like me, you never quite feel ready for any of the enforced celebrations we are supposed to enjoy, read on, I have cheats!

Ok, not really, but I do have one really good recommendation. Betty’s of Harrogate https://www.bettys.co.uk/

Part of our Xmas feast. From top anticlockwise. Spiced Xmas shortbread, biscuit selection, candied fruit topped rich fruit cake, a fat rascal, an advent cake & a rich fruitcake in a tin.

If ever you’re in Yorkshire visiting any of the Betty’s Tea Rooms in Harrogate, York, Ilkley or Northallerton is a must. The same company that produces Yorkshire Tea also owns the best purveyors of Afternoon Tea.

My tip though is to buy their baked goods next Xmas. They deliver to

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • Hong Kong
  • Japan
  • New Zealand
  • Qatar
  • Singapore
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United States

An explanation of Fat Rascals & Advent cakes. They are a cross between a scone & a rock bun. Fat Rascals are decorated with glacé cherries & almonds, Advent cakes with sliced almonds & icing sugar. They are more almondy & moister than the Fat Rascals. Perfect for a not too sweet or rich late Xmas breakfast.

I paid for my goodies & have no connection to Betty’s or Yorkshire Tea. I simply love them both.

Wishing a Merry Christmas & a Happy & Healthy 2026 to anyone who reads this.

My SotD is JML Ginger Biscuit to keep on theme & as this is really a blog about fragrance

Posted in Christmas baked goods, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Guerlain Eau de Lingerie.

Posted on 18/12/2025 by alityke

Today I’m wearing the oily dregs from a decant of the original release of Guerlain Eau de Lingerie. Oh the beauty!

Notes include musk, iris, rose, ambrette, vanilla & sandalwood.

Everything but the fragrance oils having evaporated has improved the experience of this soft, powdery musk no end. She is now at her most intimate. There is no dirtiness in her musk, yet she is distinctly human. No harsh laundry remnants here. This lady wears only silk next to her delicate intimate skin.

On skin the classical rose & iris combination whisper sweet nothings to each other. The musk mallow amplifies the powderiness of this subtle combination just enough to give some lift.

These oily remains of Eau de Lingerie have lasted for a good eight hours. After around two hours the powder puffiness begins to settle & the creamy sandalwood base peaks out & stays until the final whisper. As I said, what beauty!

Eau de Lingerie is “old fashioned”. In the way gossamer fine shell pink cami knickers are old fashioned. I prefer to think of it as timeless.

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

A Week of Fragrances

Posted on 11/12/2025 by alityke
Courtesy of Pixabay

After last week’s post about being in a perfume slump, I took myself in hand, had a chat with myself & decided to fake it til I make it scent wise.

Here are the fragrances I have worn in the past week.

Friday – I started with the Go Big or Go Home of Lyric Woman. More complex than I recalled, she is the blousiest, feminine rose in the old school of perfumery. She could have been created anytime from the 1930’s onwards. Lyric Woman will not be culled.

Saturday – Odette Madeleine from a sample. Pretty & does just what it says on the bottle. Light & doesn’t overstay its welcome. I prefer Pas de Chat

Sunday – SL Louve from my precious decant. Surely the best almond around. Not overly sweet, a little rosy musk & a resinous finish. Nothing cakey or patisserie, no overt sugar. If released now by one of the nouveau niche brands it would be a phenomenal hit

Monday – Molecule 01+ Ginger. A fresh ginger hit up front, it sparkles like ginger beer. Then it plays peekaboo as Iso-E-Super does with the wearer, with the added bonus of the fresh ginger juice keeping popping out & waving. Much better worn in warmer weather when the effervescent quality shines. My travel spray will stay & maybe a 30ml bottle when it’s finished

Tuesday – Lauder Pleasures from a rollerball travel size. This must be 20+ years old & is either a little tired or the rollerball kills the opening sparkle. To be thunked or decanted into a spray.

Wednesday – L’Occitane Rose Citron Meyer. My new happiness in a bottle.

Thursday – I crave comfort today and reached for SL Ambre Sultan. This is a now vintish bottle. It has deepened, even from its already dark beginnings.

I am so pleased I did this. None of my choices were planned in advance. I chose each depending on spec, depending how I felt on the day.

Thank you all for your support after last week’s post. It made me consider how to proceed with my selling. I will still be selling, donating & gifting from my collection.

*I paid for all the above

Posted in Fragrance, Fragrances, Perfume, Perfumery, Perfumes, Scent, Scents | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Where Has My Mojo Gone?

Posted on 04/12/2025 by alityke

My perfume mojo has moved. She has left the building, flown the nest, gone up in a puff of unscented smoke. Whatever you call it, I am in an utter perfume slump.

Is this where my Mojo is hiding?courtesy of sleurink via Pexels

Of course, this is the perfect time to list much of my collection & keep only what I truly adore. I can be more objective when deciding what to list & when, what to gift & what to donate, if the charity shop will accept anything. I plan to donate a couple of bottles as tombola or raffle prizes to the Care Home that looked after mum at the end of her life.

My quandary is around the fragrances that I adore but no longer really fit into my life as it is now. Those that I feel “wear me“. Most of my life is now spent at home with DH, dog walking or at the gym. Not exactly fitting for Lyric Woman, vintage Poison, Theo Fennell Scent EdP & vintage Opium.

Things that now feel a better fit are Cristalle EdT obvs, Eau de Colognes, Jo Malone London fragrances, basically things that are unobtrusive, personal & sit well with lounge & gym wear.

The question is, can I bear to part with these heavy hitters? What about my Serges? Guerlains? Papillons? Could it be that I would have sellers remorse, as I have in the past?

Image Maz Fisch via Pexels

Have any of you culled your collections? How did you decide what to keep?

Posted in Fragrance, Fragrances, Perfume, Perfume slump, Perfumery, Perfumes, Scent, Scents, Selling up | 21 Comments

Most Excellent Duty Free Find

Posted on 27/11/2025 by alityke

I’m writing this sat on the plane home, awaiting take off. I didn’t preorder anything for this journey via Club Avolta. I have more than enough fragrance & makeup for several lifetimes.

I did get sidetracked however by the Charlotte Tilbury counter. Thankfully I found all the fragrances unpleasant, even the new one featuring blackcurrant. It smelled of simple hippie patchouli.

I walked past the Chanel fragrance concession, Coco Mademoiselle was the most prominent display. I walked by, then, be still my beating heart, what did I spy on the bottom shelf, below the Allure display away from the main stand?Only Cristalle EdT in the old packaging! I checked out the tester that was the bottle intermittently available on the Chanel website prior to the “relaunch” of the imposter EdP.

My credit card was in my hand like a greyhound out of a trap! That stern, Madame will join her sisters of various vintage in my Chanel drawer.

Whilst she isn’t as astringently mossy as the others she remains refreshing & owning another bottle makes me happier than it should.

Posted in Chanel, Cristalle, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments

Photobombing

Posted on 20/11/2025 by alityke

DH & I are currently in our happy place, El Medano in southern Tenerife. We haven’t holidayed here since my 50th birthday in 2012. Reasons are many & varied, including having visited briefly in 2014 & finding the place much reduced & looking dilapidated & sad.

Having looked at the recent images online I noted the hotels had been overhauled, that the promenade was being upgraded & that reviews of the town & restaurants were much improved. Whilst DH was well enough to travel we got insurance & booked Hotel El Medano. An Art Deco style hotel that actually extends into the bay!

A room with a sea view. Yes our room overlooks a tiny beach!

El Med is an international venue for kitesurfing, windsurfing, paddle boarding & wing-foiling.

Kitesurfing from the long beach in front of Montana Roja
The end of Playa El Medano today. A perfect day for wind driven watersports
In the foreground a fossilised sand dune.
Montana Roja & Montana Negra form part of a protected Special Nature Reserve
The dunes that also form part of the Special Nature Reserve.


DH has booked to have 3 hours of wind foiling lessons on Saturday. He has kitesurfed & windsurfed in the here in the past & I encouraged him to book to try foiling. Whilst he can, why not!

Meals outside of the hotel have been fabulous. Today we had a taster of just 3 desserts. We were in a tiny, surfers cafe on the beach. My Lordy, those desserts were created by a genius! Coffee brioche with cherry compote, chocolate macadamia soil & macadamia crema, 80% chocolate mousse, bitter orange & smoked almonds & my favourite was the cooked bananas, salted& roasted peanut nibs, tamarind sauce & salted peanut cream. We’ve booked to have dinner there tomorrow. The set tasting menu of traditional tapas is on my radar.

Duty Free purchases were Jo Malone London’s Apricot & Sandalwood and Orange Marmalade.

More to follow.

  • We paid for the holiday, the meals & the perfumes ourselves
Posted in Holiday, Holiday food, Holidays | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

In Search of Happiness

Posted on 13/11/2025 by alityke
Courtesy of Andre Furtado via Pexels

There are times I totter downwards into depression. Now is one of those times. I’ve had one health problem after another in the last couple of months. Nothing too serious but things that have prevented me exercising, at one point I couldn’t walk the dog or drive. Being stuck at home can make my mood plummet. Whilst I haven’t reached depression, I am teetering on the edge.

How do I try to counteract this when my normal mood raising activities aren’t on the agenda?

I try to get engrossed in a book, preferably nothing too dark. This may sound odd but at the minute I’m reading Royal biographies. My word, they & their courtiers have learnt absolutely nothing in the last 100 years!

Binge watching detective & police procedurals. I find forensics fascinating. I have always been a science nerd. Given my time again, I would become a forensic scientist rather than a nurse.

Whilst walking Jarvis hasn’t been on my agenda, playing with him in the garden, weather permitting & doing training with him have been possible.

Finally fragrance. My go to fragrance at times like this has been YSL In Love Again. It’s tart, juicy & effervescent. Mainly citrus, blackcurrant, blackcurrant leaves, rose & tomato leaf. It’s largely top notes & was the most uplifting, giggle inducing dose of fragrant happiness. Sadly my last bottle is thunked. Fakes are all over the internet & prices are ridiculously high, so I’ve been searching for an affordable replacement.

Down the rabbit hole I went. Note searches, smells alike searches on numerous websites & apps. My brain got taken into its favourite place. Out of the pain & into the realm of the smelly stuff.

What did I find?

Mostly fragrances I already know & many that I already own. I knew none of these quite hit the spot. Rose Ikebana, too rosey, Ombré dans L’Eau, too watery, Eladaria, too ££££, L’Occitane Verbena, no rose and on it went.

Then I found something that met the citrus, blackcurrant, rosiness & affordability, with short reviews that used the descriptor happy or happiness. What is this mythical fragrance I hear you ask. It’s from L’Occitane & not on general release in the UK. I did find it on QVCUK though. It is the bottled happiness of Rose Citron Meyer. Sadly, it’s now sold out, though it can still be found on eBay.

Photo is mine

Notes:- Top – citron, lemon, mandarin. Middle – rose. Base – musk, sandalwood.

Rose Citron Meyer flies out of the bottle like gleeful, pink Prosecco. Whoosh! All fizzy, juicy mouthwatering bubbles. Tart, freshly squeezed but with just enough sweetness from the mandarin. It’s a party in a spray & yes I giggled! The rose pops round quickly, grabs a glass of that bubbly & shakes her little booty on the dance floor as if she’s on Strictly. This lemony rose hangs round for a couple of hours on skin but forever on clothing. It caught on a scarf last week & I still get a whiff whenever I pass the coat rack.

The base is nondescript, a slight woody musk. I really don’t care. As with In Love Again, Citron Rose Meyer is ALL about the opening & mid!

It’s getting lots of wear at presents, it’s the antidote to days of cold rain & bodily pain. Currently it’s a daily dose of liquid sunshine.

*I have no links to any company mentioned & I paid for the fragrance

Posted in Fragrance, Fragrances, Perfume, Perfumes, Scent, Scents | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Cheap Thrills – Jacomo Silences

Posted on 16/10/2025 by alityke
Courtesy of Pexels

Victoria Belim-Frolova of Bois de Jasmin recently wrote about Coty L’Aimant. It reminded me that I haven’t written about a cheap thrill in a long time.

As summer has departed I will give Jacomo Silences a last wearing.

Launched in 1978, authored by Jean-Claude Niel, Silences was very much part of the 70’s fashion for green perfumery. Think No19, Cristalle EdT, Aliage etc.

The notes list on Fragrantica runs to 18 different notes! Yet reading the list, as with many kitchen sinkers, doesn’t really give any clue as to how Silences will actually smell. My bottle is around 8 years old & I very much doubt that the formulation I’m sniffing here still has such a complex formula.

On first spray it’s all green verdancy, I am sure my 1980s bottle had more lemon/lime/bergamot in the top notes, but in this 10yo (ish) bottle the citrus is dialled back. I miss that astringent zing but that’s my personal preference. The green opening here is still that 70’s green. None of the sweet cabbage of Mugler Aura or swampy green of Eden, but crisp galbanum & sour blackcurrant leaf (cassis). Still beautifully refreshing.

This leads into fresh & sour floral territory of hyacinth, narcissus, fresh rose, LotV, with a touch of iris & green jasmine. This floral chorus is of course a spin on No19 & Cristalle EdT. They are all singing along in harmony, but more a 4 person acapella group than the full choir & orchestra of the Chanels. Each floral note is recognisable rather than the enormous bouquet of its contemporaries.

Into the base & oakmoss holds the greenery up fabulously well. Again in the 70’s way. I recall the base in my OG bottle being more mossy with lots of real oakmoss. Even a decade or so ago there was a higher dose of the good stuff in the bottle I have now, than would be possible today. The hay of dryish vetiver & the gentle musk of ambrette bring a little softness. There are supposed to be woods in there but I can’t discern what. I don’t get the sensation of modern woody aromachemicals. Nothing drilling through my palette, no blinding headache.

All in all I thoroughly enjoy Silences. I wear it throughout the year. I wear it more than No19!

If these 70’s greens appeal to you Jacomo Silences might be worth a try. It’s available at many discounters for between £20-£30 for 100mls

Posted in Fragrance, Fragrances, Green fragrances, Jacomo, Perfume, Perfumery, Perfumes, Silences | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments