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Monday, November 19, 2007

From The Diary of a Scent Addict…

By Kelley

OK, so how many bottles of perfume would a greedy person own? I am taking a poll (please aim high as I don’t want to think of myself as really greedy!). I am thinking that as long as I own enough to wear within the span of a lifetime, I am not really greedy. I don’t have a signature fragrance because I look at wearing scent like wearing clothes; I don’t want to wear the same shirt every day! I don’t think I have left the house without a daily application in years and am never really “naked” because I am always spritzed and ready to go! I almost always reapply after I get home from work and often again before bed. So, you are probably asking yourself where the greed comes in…well, let’s go back to the Swiss Montale story from a few weeks ago. Remember, I placed an order and it was a nightmare and also wonderful because they sent me an extra bottle of Orient Extreme, for free. Let’s pick up the story from where I left off. I had just received my box after a few weeks of waiting (you will see where the greed comes in pretty quickly).

October 4, 2007. After thinking about the Montale sale, I wrote to Florence and asked what she still has available and she sent the list. Oh, no! She has Black Aoud again! I think I will place another order. I also want a back-up of Greyland because I love its delicious spicy cumin and oud witchery. I am really hoping she throws in a ton of extra goodies that I haven’t tried yet.

Later in the day – I placed the order through PayPal and I hope this all works out. I have been checking out the progress of some friends on Basenotes and it does not look good. There are several people complaining because they haven’t received their packages. I am going to remain confident and keep a positive attitude because it won’t happen to me (said with my fingers and toes crossed).

October 11, 2007. I am trying to remain calm. I haven’t received a receipt or notification of any kind from Montale. There are now 18 pages of (mostly) complaints listed on Basenotes from people that haven’t received their orders or are unable to get a response. Maybe once they get caught up on the orders, I will hear something. Still hopeful.

October 26, 2007. Well, it has been almost a month and I still haven’t heard a word! I have written to the Swiss Montale boutique several times. Luckily, there were several other Basenoters that had done the research and through them I was able to get a phone number. I am calling tomorrow when they are open (my time zone is 7 hours behind them).

November 2, 2007. I reached a woman that told me to send my information because Florence isn’t in. She said she would get back to me within 5 minutes with details and tracking. It has been 5 hours and still nothing!

November 4, 2007. Florence finally wrote. She said she is going to refund my money because they are out of everything I ordered. It was exactly a month ago that I placed the order and she just figured this out?

November 5, 2007. Florence wrote again this morning with news that they mailed out my package!?!

November 6, 2007. There is a new thread on Basenotes with the wacky things going on with the Montale orders. So many people have received the wrong stuff. Please, oh please, oh please! There is a poor guy that ordered Black Aoud and it went to a wrong address and by the time it got to him the postage was so high that he wanted to return it. He called Florence and she had him return the package. The plan was that she would then ship to the right address and he wouldn’t have to pay the extra postage. By the time he was able to speak to Florence again, they had opened his box and sent out his bottle of Black Aoud and now they can’t fill his order. Oh please, all of the scent angels and perfume spirits hear my prayer…let there be some Black Aoud left for me!

November 13, 2007. The box has arrived. It is beaten to shreds and it sounds like something is broken inside! Remain calm…breathe! Nope, nothing is broken. My bottles of Greyland and Black Aoud are here like I ordered along with a bottle of Soliel de Capri and a small bottle of Wood-Spices. There are also a ton of samples including the Nejma line. I sure hope this isn’t the bottle of Black Aoud that was taken from the fellow Basenoter….

My lesson is to never, NEVER do that again. I can’t tell you how many emails I sent not to mention phone calls to Switzerland! That was too much stress, although, I did get some really good deals. Just say no, just say no, just say no…

Photo of the Swiss Montale Boutique is courtesy of Kelley's devious mind.

18 Comments:

Blogger tmp00 said...

You are Hopelessly Greedy.

As penance you must send a bottle of Greyland to me immediately. ;-)

10:49 PM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

What Tom said :-)

But as far as I am concerned, as a penance, you must write for PST reviews of the the Nejma line ;-)

10:55 PM EST  
Blogger Kelley said...

Tom, I was afraid of that! Now it's official.

12:02 AM EST  
Blogger Kelley said...

M, I promise I will. I have a bunch of samples from Montale as well and they are in really cool little aluminum spray bottles.

By the way, I just talked to Vijay at Suravy and he is still selling Montale scents but only by mail. He is offering 20% off the normal asking price in order to compete with the Montale Boutique in Paris.

12:07 AM EST  
Blogger Gail S said...

Ooh, I have a review of Nejma One! Bug spray. That's about it! I swear I have never used that description about any perfume before in my life, but it really and truly smelled like Raid on my skin :(

Oh, and I think....ummm...maybe anything over 356 bottles of perfume would be greedy.

1:36 AM EST  
Blogger elle said...

Hmm. Greedy? Perfume? In the same sentence? Ummm....no. Not in my world. :-) Perfume is just joy. It's not remotely utilitarian, so it never even occurs to me that it might be used up in this life.
Am very glad your Montale order all worked out!!

5:43 AM EST  
Blogger chayaruchama said...

What a nightmare, Kelley !

I confess, I'd rather play with Prince Vijayji anyday, than deal with that mess.

Kiss Corazon for me !

7:03 AM EST  
Blogger Kelley said...

gail, 356 is a good number! LOL. I am way, way, way under that. I haven't opened my sample of Nejma 1 yet but I will keep your review in mind when I do. It would save me loads of time to just quote you in my review.

9:19 AM EST  
Blogger Kelley said...

elle, I like the way you think! What a relief. How can you put a number on something that brings so much joy? I mean, if I collected stamps, would I count them and then make myself stop at a certain number? Probably not.

yes, the order finally worked out but that was too much stress.

9:21 AM EST  
Blogger Kelley said...

Chaya, you are right but I didn't know he was still in business. Now I know better. I will kiss Corazon for you. She sends a kiss to you too!

9:23 AM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You are greedy, K/ But no worries on that score; you're amongst friends here. And btw, I'd be happy to wear the same shirt as long as I could change my scent...

And I'm soooo glad I don't feel the Montale love otherwise I could've experienced all the frustration you just have.

11:32 AM EST  
Blogger lilybp said...

Well, of course you are greedy, as everyone said, and you must distribute your ill-gotten gains among us ALL to repent. I am sorta glad that I went so deeply into Montale before the sale that I couldn't really justify getting any more. Sorta glad, sorta sad.

11:59 AM EST  
Blogger Kelley said...

leopoldo, yes, count yourself lucky. I am convinced that they must add a little heroin or something to the Aoud series and that's why it's so expensive...and addictive!

2:38 PM EST  
Blogger Kelley said...

lilybp...sorry, but the guilt thing isn't going to work. Gail S. pointed out that 356 bottles is the magic number and I still have a way to go before I get to that number, so there...no guilt.

I think I got a small aluminum tester of Intense Tiare with no name on the bottle. I definitely smell the gardenia and the tropical notes like coconut. Do you have any experience with it? It's quite nice and seems to be a deep, dark scent.

2:41 PM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm with Elle.

The only time I feel greedy is when I'm hanging on to something that I don't like or don't wear on the theory that I will, someday, want to wear it. Fortunately, I haven't purchased any full bottles like that, and do try to give away lots of samples from the ones I don't wear as often.

I adore all the basenoters who sell things at a discount saying that they want their bottles to go to someone who will love them better...

When I think of the perfume world, generosity comes to mind far more quickly than greed!

3:12 PM EST  
Blogger Kelley said...

sweetlife, you are right. When I look back at this past year, I have given away about 6 or 7 (nearly full) bottles to friends that can appreciate them. How generous is that? I am glad so many people have taken the time to "correct" my thinking. I am feeling better and better about my addiction/hobby!

5:17 PM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kelley, I'm happy you received everything you ordered, and even more :-) How is Soleil di Capri ?

I'm almost happy now I've never received the list of available products from Florence (although asked several times...).

5:56 PM EST  
Blogger Kelley said...

lady jane grey, Soliel de Capri is an amazing citrusy musk. It is bright and clean, no dirty musk in this. It has great sillage and is very long lasting. I like it but I bet it will become dated very soon. It is a trendy, simple kind of scent.

6:24 PM EST  

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