When perfume shopping, don’t spray on the first thing you see, and don’t let anyone spray a tester on you at the entrance to the perfume counter. Smell the tester by spraying it on a slip of paper, and use this first test to rule out fragrances that don’t appeal to you. Chances are, if you don’t like it on the paper, putting it on your skin won’t increase your enjoyment of it.
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When you choose a perfume, you are expressing something about the way you want to see yourself or your “fragrance personality”. Do you want to feel fresh and clean? Exotic and energetic? Youthful or woman-of-the-world? You’d think it would be an easy thing to find a new perfume—just pick the scents you like, right? Sure, that’s where you should start, and you should also make an effort to consider scents you dislike.
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To apply the perfect amount of scent, put it on when you are just out of the shower and before dressing. Dab perfume on pulse points (no more than six if you’re applying it on the backs of knees or ankles) or three sprays of eau de toilette or eau de parfum right after drying off. The scent will become a part of your skin, easing through your clothing rather than sitting on top of it. Scenting before dressing also prevents sprays from staining or fading clothing.
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Perfume has always been a vital part of human culture: people have perfumed their hair and bodies with oils, resins, flower and herb extracts and animal scents since earliest history. Wearing scent is pleasurable; it is an expression of individuality; it attracts mates and makes us nice to be close to. Perfumes are more for the wearer: they make us feel wonderful.
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When the Emperor Napoleon of France was about to return from battle, he sent a message to Josephine. “Am returning in three days. Don’t wash.” While modern-day noses may not agree with Napoleon’s sentiments, there is some evidence that lovers are attracted by each others’ natural smell above and beyond the scents of soap, perfume, fragrance, cologne and chewing gum. That we are influenced by naturally-emitted scents called pheromones, so subtle and yet so powerful that we can be drawn to or repelled by people for reasons we don’t even understand. (History doesn’t record whether or not Josephine obeyed Napoleon’s order.)
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Guys know that puppies are “chick magnets”, and although O’Henry once wrote a story that concluded that men who love dogs hated women, I’m inclined to think well of men who have the responsibility and commitment to take care of an animal. I’m frankly prejudiced, believing that most people who have pets are probably a bit nicer than people who don’t. That’s assuming pets are well-cared for, of course. There are fewer things sadder than a pet who hasn’t been taken care of properly, unless maybe it’s a pet who’s been so cosseted that it bites, destroys things, goes in the house and gets away with mayhem because, “It’s widdle wee one wooves its Mommy!”
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Especially in cities or school dormitories, the upkeep of your wardrobe depends greatly on the available storage space. If you watch HGTV, you’ve probably seen the folks who end up keeping their shoes atop the kitchen cabinets, and entire families whose basements are buried in the accumulated toys, books, clothes, bedding and furniture of the modern consumer age.But that’s them, and this is you. Even if you live in a shoe box-sized apartment, there are things you can do to maximize your closet space and put your stuff away.
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Apartment living can be rough on someone who’s used to living in the country. The sound of cars and buses rolling by at all hours, noisy upstairs neighbors, car alarms and various city sounds can make it hard to sleep, difficult to relax. Maybe lifetime apartment-dwellers feel the same stress, but aren’t aware of the difference between
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Your home is an expression of your taste, and can serve to express your inner beauty while magnifying your outer beauty too. Just as the right lighting choices impact your overall quality of life, the right colors in your home can affect your mood, your relationships, your concentration and your indoor complexion.
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My friend Robert wanted to move in with his sweetheart, and because his place was a studio, they decided to live in her place. Now, Anna is a lovely person inside and out, and she was really happy that her relationship with Robert was moving along at a steady clip. One day, Robert borrowed a truck and they moved him in. He had twenty pairs of Levis, a big stereo and an electric guitar and a huge TV and a big computer set-up, and pretty soon, it was clear to both of them that Anna’s place wasn’t as big as they had initially thought.
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