u/Illustrious_Act4157

I got this Beekman 1802 smooth lactic acid & willow bark goat milk body cream over a year ago and using it has been a slog. I got it for one reason, and that was to exfoliate, and it did that well, but it smelled like glue and didn’t feel great on my skin. Super glad to be finally be rid of it.

I’m stoked I finally panned my first Vacation EDT! I bought another of this one because I just like it so much, and it’s perfect for summer.

These are empties from the last few weeks. SDJ Bom Dia Bright Cream, Peach & Lily Overnight Star night cream and Peptide Pro Firming Moisturizer, and TreeHut Vanilla shave oil. [the P&L products are my only continuous repurchases]

I’m sorry if this is a tired topic but I have… so much stuff. I’ll probably post all the zillions of travel size/samples I have, but I also have a lot of full-size makeup and hair products that I use super rarely. Please give me your tips for using up all of this stuff!!

A really helpful thing to know for me would be: when do I throw it out? How do I tell if it’s expired/beyond use?

I’ve also started the “today is all you have” philosophy, so I’ve started using up makeup and perfume when I’m just at home. This helps, but how do I get past the feeling I’m “wasting” good-quality stuff that I paid a lot of money for? I’m also tired of feeling like ashamed/guilty of all the products I have stashed when I get genuine joy from them.

Photo is mine. I bought these on a whim after finally finding a gourmand I could love in Lancome Idôle Nectar. I am still finding Berry Jelly to be my favorite, but am also delighted by Cola Fizz. Caramel Crunch, though spiritually closest to Idôle Nectar, is one I’m still on the fence about wearing without something sweeter to temper the butteriness.

I’m finding the staying power leaving something to be desired, but they don’t disappear immediately. I wish they were sprays for sure. They are really fun to layer together.

Overall, I think they’re great fun and playful and will be wearing them to the movies, to ultra-casual dinners and summer outings, and other such lighthearted events. Anyone else have any thoughts or feelings?

Photo is mine. I bought these after loving the original Vacation fragrance so much. I find the sunscreen lotion to be spicier than I like, but the EDT smells much softer and different.

Anyway, my husband rarely compliments my (many) fragrances, but he really loved this EDT. He couldn’t stop smelling my dress lol. The other scents he has complimented are Chanel Coco Mademoiselle and Miss Dior Rose n’ Roses.

What do all of these fragrances have in common? Maybe they remind him of his mother or grandmother? They came from an old-world European sort of blue-blood background. Anything else anyone sees as a through line? I asked him and he couldn’t articulate any reason, lol

I grew up in the greater LA area. My generation is the first to be born in the US in my family, from Mexico. We used to have big family parties, and my uncles always smelled like this specific cologne that I truly cannot pin down. Fresh, utterly masculine, bold, that mingled with the smell of the beer they’d been drinking and the lawn becoming wet with evening dew.

The men would play dominos outside on the plastic lawn furniture and drink, and my cousins and I would play Uno or Mario Kart on their N64, or kick around a soccer ball. Us kids would drink Squirt soda and fight over who got to play as Princess Peach. My tías and mom were young and beautiful in the 90s way, their dark lipstick staining their glasses and my cheeks.

I’d die for some fragrance recs that my uncles would’ve been wearing - they were young and coming up in the world, a few yet unmarried. I remember them working white collar jobs and dressing in polos and slacks with belts. My aunts were glamorous and perfumed, too, their hair all dyed some shade of fashionable reddish color, crisp with hairspray to desperately hold onto Velcro-roller volume.

What I wouldn’t give to feel their kisses again, to smell their perfume and cologne, to hear their “que bonita”s to me again as they slip a $5 into my tiny hand. Help me relive this with a scent. :)