Flibbertigibbet

Stink Pretty

My new cologne was recommended to me by Mister Bookworm. It's d'Orange Verte by Hermes. I really like it.

It's a rich, warm fragrance with very distinct citrus notes (I accidentally sprayed myself in the face this morning and noticed that with grapefruit there is also lemon in it) and something like vanilla in the back beat. I don't have a very sophisticated or well-trained nose, so you'll have to check it out for yourself to see what I mean.

Well, I went down to Chinatown to the street perfumerie's there because things are cheaper and you can haggle.

The first place we stopped didn't have it. Instead of presenting me with what I asked for (Apparently, my French accent isn't well understood by the vendors in Chinatown. Who'da thunk?) I was bombarded with a loud, heavily punctuated catalog of all the brands of men's fragrances they do offer.

ARMANI.
HUGO.
CLINQUE.
DRAKAR.

After saying "no" about ten times, I abandoned courtesy and simply walked away.

We spotted a place on the corner of Canal and Broadway that was chock full of fragrances and as luck would have it, they had what I wanted.

For $50.

The problem with Chinatown is that you don't really know what things cost and because negotiating is expected, the mark up on the initial first offer is very high.

Fortunately, I had visited Amazon earlier yesterday. They have the 6.5oz Eau de Cologne bottle for just $47.99 after the discount.

The vendor dropped his price to $47 and I scoffed. There is no way I would pay $47 in Chinatown for something I could get for a dollar more on Amazon and I told him so.

He told me I was lying. I told him he was losing a sale.

He dropped his price to $45 and I still said no. He told me to name a price and I threw $30 out there and he told me I was wasting his time.

Not to be outdone, Mister Bookworm and I walked right up Broadway to Sephora to check the price.

I found the 6.5oz bottle there for $105 and the 3.3oz bottle for $80. I thought I was mistaken, but as you can see from the link above I wasn't.

So, on our way to dinner, there was another perfume stand open; he was just getting ready to close. We stopped by and he had it! He offered me $45 and thinking that was a bargain, I agreed. Unfortunately, I only had $40, but the nice vendor took the $40 and told me to have a good night.

I was so tickled.

Unfortunately, I didn't remember that the $47 bottle on Amazon was the 6.5oz bottle. And I didn't notice that Amazon has the 3.3 oz unboxed Eau de Toilette for just $30.

I don't know the difference between Eau de Toilette and Eau de Cologne, but now I will have to go find out.

Still, I love the fragrance even if it wasn't a HUGE bargain.