Bonjour, darlings!

I am now less than two weeks away from jetting off to Paris and London, and so the beauty buying has (regrettably!) stopped until I hit international shores. I already have a full shopping cart at Beauty.com waiting for my return, when I am allowing myself to start buying things again.

But ah, one must prepare one's self for a trip abroad! And for a trip to France, what better than French perfume? Crazylibellule and the Poppies is an excellent little brand of solid perfumes that easily fit in your purse, your pocket, or your carry-on bag -- they're no bigger than a lipstick or lipgloss. I've brought them to work and out dancing.

Because they're solid, there's no worry of spilling liquid or breaking glass in your bag. My purse still smells like the Bond no. 9 sample cards I got in New York -- and I didn't even put the cards in this purse! (The scent was absorbed by my calendar and Moleskine notebook, and so when I transferred those to my new purse, they transferred the scent too.) And, with luggage restrictions on liquids as well as general packing space, it's great to have something portable and non-fragile. On my return from New York, I dreaded the thought that my perfumes would be smashed on my checked luggage, yet knew I couldn't carry them on either.

In addition, they stay close to your skin -- perfect for when you want someone close up to you to smell you, instead of overwhelming the entire office or dance floor with perfume. As someone who's very sensitive to other people's perfume, I try to keep my coworkers in mind when I do decide to wear fragrance to work. I had a close call at the San Francisco ballet when an already-strong perfume offender felt the need to touch up (and by touch up, I mean "take a bath in") her perfume at intermission. Nobody likes that.

So what scents do I recommend? There are three collections, and I own two scents from two of the collections. From Shanghaijava, the first collection, I have Blue Orchidee and Ananas Imperial -- Blue Orchidee is a great go-to scent for me, while Ananas Imperial is a juicy tropical one I'm hanging onto for this summer. From the newer collection, Les Divines Alcoves, I have Amoureuse and Aux Anges; today I'm wearing Amoureuse, a warm spicy rose, while Aux Anges is very similar to Blue Orchidee, but in a sweeter, more floral way for spring.

For more reviews besides "it smells pretty and doesn't break!!", check out the reviews at Now Smell This and Bois de Jasmin for the Les Divines Alcoves perfumes (the entries also contain links to their Shanghaijava reviews).

I've ordered my fragrances from La Creme Beauty, which is based in Seattle (and gives out free samples with your order!), but you can also purchase Crazylibellule and the Poppies at b-glowing.com and BeautyHabit.com. In addition, you can find the Shanghaijava collection at Anthropologie.

Ooh la la!

images from b-glowing.com