Oh you naughty girls encouraging me to be so self-indulgent - moi? Cannot bring myself to spend £88 on a bottle of Philosykos or I'd feel guilty every time I used it or would put it in a prominent position for display purposes only
. So I have made an executive decision just so that you all appreciate that I am quite bonkers. I am going to buy a £14 bottle of the room spray I mentioned after I have tried it again and if, as is likely, I make a huge mistake, at least the house will smell good. It is a White House product (Tuscan Fig Homespray) and they also do Cassis. I shall also sniff out the Jo Malone in John Lewis, Ariadne, but after Christmas as I have been reliably informed at the gym today (yes, I am back in action and thanks all for good wishes) that town is "hell". Is it only in Newcastle that people go on a huge seasonal overspend and all at the last minute when the shops are only effectively closed for one day?
Gracemum: You are definitely a woman after my own heart but apparently with longer pockets or is Christmas a good excuse for a spending spree? Treating hubby to a Dipthique candle indeed. Sounds a bit suspicious to me? It wouldn't be a crafty treat for yourself. Jess M: you are forgiven for being hopeless with perfumes - you save a lot of money that way and it was lovely to hear from both you and Ariadne.
I found another interesting perfume site but why are they all American? Anyway, it is <<nowsmellthis>> and is a blog about perfumes naturally. At the same time I came across a lot of bargain basement sites and cheap offers. Never used one. Are the products more often than not knock-offs and evil smelling fakes? My only encounter with fakes was when the French police confiscated a fake Hermes bag from me (lovely it was) at the Franco-Italian (Ventimiglia) border. They were stopping just about every car and grabbing stuff from just about everyone who was not in the know. They had a lorry loads of fakes. Gosh, all that money up in smoke. Do they really torch the goodies as they claim or do they land up in Paris street markets. Yes, I do know the French wily ways as I lived in France for some time and love haggling with dealers but Nice is my favourite market and we have some excellent souvenirs and bargains from there. We always get there early and split up for an hour then meet at a café to discuss our finds and I do Allan's haggling as he is not very good at it in English and his French only runs to menu reading and drink ordering at which he is surprisingly fluent. Bit more snooping around and then take the little train from the promenade that wends its way round all the narrow cobbled streets up into the hills where we picnic under the trees.
Phew. My husband calls it verbal diarrhoea so I'm off to put my feet up and watch the News and I think I deserve a nice
for being so parsimonious although gracesmum's 'carte blanche' comment certainly made me think as it is probably very accurate.