To begin with, let me say I am NOT patting myself on the back. I'm not looking for praise. I've just been thinking about this group and what I've gained from it, knowledge wise. A few years ago I decided I was ready to return to fragrances after being away for a while. I walked into Ulta ... and walked back out not too long after. I had no idea what I was doing and just left, overwhelmed and frustrated. Tonight I was in Macy's in Times Square, the day after being in Sak's. Both times I walked up with confidence and made connections with people, using the opportunity to explore fragrances I haven't tried before and leave knowing more than I did. I had the clerk at Diptyque questioning her knowledge with my statements, got the attention of the one with Aqua de Parma and at Creed, had the one at Burberry asking if she could get them to hire me, because I was doing a better job of explaining things than she could, and rolled my eyes at the guy at a smaller luxury brand (don't remember what it was) explain that the best way to experience a fragrance was by spraying it in the air and waving the paper strip through it. What did this say to me? That the time I've spent here since this group started has been invaluable. Sure, it's been fun and I've loved the connections I've made here. But I've gone from being intimidated by the Ulta in a Mississippi suburb town to standing my ground in Times Square. For those of you who have posted information on houses, notes, science and experience, and who put up with millions of questions from me and people like me, thank you. I've learned far more than I ever expected when I first signed up when BoS was unveiled.

Oh my goodness. This one is an absolute banger if you like vanilla, but definitely not blind buy safe. The best way to describe this is if YSL’s Babycat and Clive Christian’s Blonde Amber had a baby, this would be it. It’s sweeter than Babycat with that suede in the background, but it’s not as sweet as Blonde Amber. This is the perfect middle ground between those two. Projection is beastly for about 5-6 hours. Longevity is easily 10 hours on my skin before it drops to a skin scent. Absolutely FBW if you can find it.