First of all you need to know your product. Very often we purchase a scent on a whim or simply because we are overwhelmed by the fragrances in a perfumery, only to later find out it is not what you thought it is. This might sound too technical but believe me it would be a well spent 10 minutes of your internet life.
You probably know a handful of people whose scents have stayed with them for so long that they have become a part of who they are. That Zegna scent
which always baffled you on that guy who later became your boyfriend. Your mum who smelled of vanilla and your ballet teacher who smelled ... French? This is what is called a signature scent and our goal today is to help you sniff out your perfect scent which will become an essential part of your calling card ;).
So on to the technical part, you should know that there is a fragrance classification and essentially all fragrances fall in one of four categories and a total of 14 subcategories. In this classification scheme, Chanel No.5, which is traditionally classified as a "Floral Aldehyde" would be located under Soft Floral sub-group.
Wikepedia lists the sub-groups of the fragrance wheel as follows:
Floral (Floral + Fresh Notes). Main notes include fresh-cut flowers.
Soft Floral (Floral Notes). Main notes include aldehydes and powdery notes.
Floral Oriental (Floral + Oriental Notes). Main notes include orange blossom and sweet spices.
Soft Oriental (Oriental + Floral Notes). Main notes include incense and amber.
Oriental (Oriental Notes). Main notes include oriental resins and vanilla.
Woody Oriental (Oriental + Woody Notes). Main notes include sandalwood and patchouli.
Woods Main notes include aromatic woods and vetiver.
Mossy Woods (Woody + Oriental Notes). Main notes include oakmoss and amber.
Dry Woods (Woody Notes). Main notes include dry woods and leather.
Aromatic Fougère (Fresh Notes). Main notes include lavender and aromatic herbs. This universal fragrance family includes elements from different families: the freshness of from the Citrus family, floral notes of lavender, the spicy-sweetness of a Floral Oriental, the ambery depth of an Oriental and the Mossy Woods warmth of sandalwood and oakmoss.
Citrus (Woody + Fresh Notes). Main notes include bergamot and other citrus oils.
Water (Fresh + Floral Notes). Main notes include marine and aquatic notes, generally from the chemical calone.
Green (Fresh + Floral Notes). Main notes include galbanum and green notes.
Fruity (Fresh + Floral Notes). Main notes include berries and other non-citrus fruits.
Fragrances for men include those and also other more masculine scents like leather, tobacco, musk, and mosses.
So the second tip is bear in mind that it might be a good idea to have a couple of fragrances to compliment the season and the mood you are in. Remember how fresh cut grass and vanilla reminds us of summer and gingerbread of Christmas. You can evoke those same memories with your own scent.
I'm afraid our third tip is also a little technical but it is important to know a little terminology and the different perfumes. Absolutes
Pure: natural extracts and oils from flowers and other vegetable materials. Very expensive for a small amount. Example: pure rose oil. Note:
An odoriferous element in the perfume or cologne. When we smell a composed fragrance, we smell different notes within it. When the first scent — or top note — dissipates, we smell the middle note, also known as the bouquet. As that fades, we are left with the basic note, which is the third element of a composed fragrance. It’s like a symphony, right? So for our forth tip, don’t commit to a scent until you smell the final note. Eau de Cologne: is three to five percent oil in a mixture of alcohol and water. It tends to be lighter and refreshing, typically with a citrus oil component. Eau de Toilette:
Containing about the same amount of perfume oil or a little more — somewhere between four and eight percent — than Eau de Cologne, Eau de Toilette is mixed with alcohol instead of water. Eau de Parfum:
A higher percentage of perfume oil — roughly 15 to 18 — mixed with alcohol makes up Eau de Parfum. It is more expensive than Eau de Cologne and Eau de Toilette.Perfume is 15 to 30 percent perfume oil mixed with alcohol. Because it contains such a high percentage of perfume oil, it is far more expensive than Eau de Cologne, Eau de Toilette, or Eau de Parfum.
Our body chemistry is unique to every individual, hence the same perfume could smell completely differently on two different people. The smell would be different in the bottle than on the card. The fifth trick is to spray on the card wait for 5 to 10 minutes and if you still love the smell only then spray it on your skin. If you skin is dry, the scent more quickly than on an oily skin, so in this case a highlly concentrated perfume will work better. One other trick, and that brings us to number six is to shop for scent on a warm day or later in day as our sense of smell is sharper later in the day. Some perfumeries will have coffee beans spread around, take a sniff to clear your olfactory perception - nevertheless, don't try a bunch of fragrances at one go, limit your testing to two or three and spread your testing over a few trips to the perfume counter, and that would be tip number seven.
Choose complementary toiletries as most toiletries have their own scent which could interfere with your fragrance and for tip number eight apply the perfume to these key areas;-
wrist
center of neck
behind the ear
behind the knee.
Avoid spraying on your clothing as it might stain your clothes.
Don't over do it, death by perfume is still death ;). So what is your signature scent? Share with us your favourite perfume.
Today we discovered some cool videos by Serebro, a popular Russian band featuring a trio of awesome ladies. This video is hilarious and well made in our opinion at Nymphs of Calypso. We thought it deserved being shared with our followers. With more than 18 million views, we are not the only ones.
And if you liked that you may like also like their journey through time. Not sure which we like best so we thought why not post them both and let you decide ;)
Google 'Does love exist' and it will be immediately obvious that the debate is open. Some scientists say no, arguing that the human being is essentially an animal and not designed for monogamous existence. Surely scientists know better, but maybe not.
Another Google search this time for "monogamous animals" and one can find that more than a couple of
species form life long bonds. The furry, tree-swinging gibbon doesn't monkey around with a lot of partners in its 35- to 40-year lifespan. It's usually "'til death do us part" for wolves. After mating, beavers spend as much time maintaining their relationships as they do their dams and lodges.Some 90 percent of birds are socially monogamous. Even in the animal kingdom not every relationship is perfect. Cheating, breakups, and remarriage all occur within the animal community. Sexting and online dating, however, do not. Yet.
Perhaps the most tangible evidence of love is that it can be “seen”. It may surprise many that advances in neuroscience make this possible. According to the Times Online, scientists studied the brain scans of couples who were in love, after showing those individuals pictures of their loved ones.
The brain scans showed that viewing the pictures of their loved ones produced chemical reactions in the brain. Even more fascinating is that the brain scans of some individuals who were together for 20 years or more showed similar chemical reactions to individuals that had recently fallen in love! This signals that love can very well be maintained over extended periods of time.
If you are not convinced don't worry, a Google search for 'definition of love' returned more than 320 million results in less than a second. “How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?” — Albert Einstein. If Einstein could not do it then I will not be presumptuous to claim I have the definition.
Perhaps it is not meant to be defined but experienced. Perhaps in world were we demand proof beyond reasonable doubt we confuse the issues, and confuse marriage, friendship, monogamy, etc., with love. I'm not saying they are not related but perhaps love just is. In an era when we tend to chose the path of least resistance we tend to forget that there is good because there is evil, otherwise how could we compare. Similarly with love, it does not have to be forever nor it has to be once in a lifetime. Love is experience which is wonderful, enjoy it and 'Don't worry about the future Or know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum' Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen).
Rather than advice I would call these observations, being a Western European in a relationship with a Ukrainian I have some first hand experience which I feel is worth sharing. Much of who we are and what we believe is the result of what we experience during our childhood.
As Buz Luhrmann aptly puts it, "Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past
from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth".
You see, there is precious little in the way of practical material available in your local bookstore on the subject of relating to someone who was not raised with the same value system as yourself. And you can’t expect your partner to help you out because he/she is just as confused as you are. Those, like myself, who are actually attracted to another culture are the most at risk. This brings me to the first observation:
#1: Don’t assume that your interest in your partner’s culture will last, or that it will somehow prevent conflicts from occurring.
Never underestimate the depth of the roots of your own upbringing. Sure, it’s possible to change (given enough time and enough effort). But no matter how deep you dig, you will always be you. Your beliefs, your emotions, your priorities, in short, your whole approach to life, are shaped by the culture in which you were brought up. This leads to the obvious: #2: Don’t assume that the other person will change significantly just because of the relationship or because of your charming influence.
Some degree of cross-pollenization is bound to occur between two people who share an intimate relationship but when you start to expect change, then you start to get into big trouble. The best thing you can do for each other is to acknowledge the fact that conflicts will occur and will often occur for the simplest and most unexpected reasons.
That said, it should be quite obvious that you will want to find out as much as you possibly can about your potential partner and his or her lifestyle. You would be surprised how much is taken for granted in typical marriages, even among partners of the same background. What priority does the extended family play in the couple’s life, how are family decisions made, how much free time (time apart from each other) is considered normal for the partners, etc.
#3: Don’t assume anything. Assumption is the mother of all f###ups. Make sure you discuss with your partner every aspect of your future life together.
Also, don’t assume that when your partner says something it is unimportant and that it does not have to be discussed. Those areas are often the most important things to discuss. The fact that something is ‘not important’ may be a signal that one or both of you are making an assumption about the way some aspect of life will turn out based on your own past experience. Well, you might as well toss that ‘past experience’ right out the window because your partner and you, by definition, do not share the same past or the same experience. And that brings me to the next point:
#4: If your partner refuses to discuss a subject openly, treat that as a big red flag and find out why.
The beliefs people hold most dear are the ones which they are least likely to want to discuss with someone else. Unless you’re prepared to cheerfully accept whatever ideas or beliefs your partner may consider most important, I’d suggest you at least find out what those beliefs are before jumping into a permanent relationship with that person.
And I’m not talking only about religious beliefs (which may be important in their own right) but also beliefs about how life should be lived. Those things which you or your partner might call ‘common sense’. Well, the term common sense covers a lot of ground and is often based on those underlying assumptions we have been trying so hard not to look at. The only things that are actually common are things like not standing in front of a speeding truck or not walking into an empty elevator shaft.
For example, if you are very involved in a group which supports a particular cause but your partner sees this as one of your ‘hobbies’ — and if he or she has been brought up to believe that when two people marry they will give up the ‘hobbies’ of their younger days. And if you wait until after you are married to find out that all this is only ‘common sense’ to him/ her then you may well find yourself in a difficult situation real fast. Or if you find out that it is considered ‘common sense’ that you should give up your dream of starting that business and instead work as a corporate grunt in order to provide security for the family because that’s the way everyone else from your partner’s country behaves — my friend, you’ve found out way too late.
#5: Make it a point to talk about some tough topics (like money, raising children, where to live, etc.) before making those wedding arrangements.
Look, the stuff is going to come up sooner or later. Start an argument or two. Find out what it’s like to fight by your partner’s rules. No amount of love or respect is going to keep your ship from hitting the icebergs of life. You might as well know whether you will be able to work together toward a solution when the inevitable crisis comes up.
#6: Make sure that, between the two of you, there is at least one language in which you are both fluent.
This is very important. As a test, try taking some very subtle feeling or belief and explain it to your potential mate. Have him or her explain it back. If there is not a substantial understanding of what you explained, watch out. If either of you are unable to explain the subtle emotions that come up in a relationship without causing some misunderstanding, then you will be in for a very hard, if not impossible, road through life. Wait a while until one or the other of you is able to achieve a good degree of fluency in the others language.
After all, would you hook up permanently with someone whose face you had never seen? Not many of us would. Then how come we will so readily hook up with a partner whose soul we have never seen?
#7: Examine your own motives.
Is this someone you would hook up with even if you were safe and happy in your own country? If you are the partner who is trying to live in another culture, remember this: Culture shock can do funny things to a normally rational mind. Sure you’re lonely, sure there are things about your surroundings that you just can’t seem to figure out, sure your partner makes everything seem safe by filling you in on the subtle nuances of his or her culture. That’s the formula for a perfect couple, right? Wrong. What you have is a parent or a teacher, not a lover. And it’s all too easy to overlook the previous seven observations when it seems so obvious that this is the ‘prefect’ person for you.
If you see this happening to you, stop. Postpone any commitment. Get yourself comfortable with your surroundings. Disarm the ‘convenience’ in the relationship and then see what you think. Learn more about the subtle parts of your partner’s culture and then decide if you can tolerate, work with, and actually love that person because they are different and not despite those differences.
#8: Lay the family finances out on the table and plan out your budget for at least your first couple of years together.
Why? Even in single-culture marriages, money seems to be the biggest problem in making decisions together. Why not get a head start on the inevitable. After all, it’s going to be both of you in this together so you might as well start now.
Of course, you can figure that if you make it past the first couple of years (the most intense part of the learning curve when it comes to finding out about all the differences in your ideas and background), you can pretty much go back to planning things by the seats of your respective pants.
#9: Don’t underestimate the importance of keeping good relations with your partner’s parents.
You may have developed a great deal of independence from your family. Some hardly notice, and sometimes don’t even care, what their parents think of their choices in partners. However, the same is not true in all cultures. In some eastern European and Asian cultures there is still a great deal of synergy between parent and offspring, even well after they have left the nest and formed families of their own.
And the worst thing that can happen is to have your partner’s parents (or your own) constantly undermining the relationship, either consciously or not. If you can’t get their active support then at least settle for passive acceptance. Anything less should be a sign of trouble ahead.
#10: Be ready to help your partner through the inevitable rough spots.
Well, okay, this is sound advice for any couple. But just remember that you both will be setting out on an adventure — a full-time first-hand learning experience in the other person’s cultural labyrinth. None of us, I am convinced, ever really appreciates how many things we learn about life when we are young and that we take for granted every day. We consider many of these things just plain ‘common sense’ but they’re only common if you and your partner have common backgrounds. Expect the unexpected. Then you won’t be disappointed.
#11: Forget about any rules.
If you have come this far and still intend to undertake this major life project, then may your experience be one of constant joy and wonder. And if you happen to be one of those for whom an inter-racial marriage has turned out well, I would certainly love to hear from you. Learning up-close about another person can be simultaneously the greatest adventure of your life and the greatest challenge.
Long distance relationship is not a piece of cake to deal with, but nowadays, when more and more people meet each other through online dating sites, "distant love" is becoming a common thing in our everyday life. Almost every third couple experienced long distance relationships at least once. No matter how far from each other you live, distance can either kill your feelings or strengthen them. If the second option is much more appropriate for you and you have a strong desire to fight for your love then you must learn some rules of how to keep long distance relationship and make it work.
As previously mentioned it doesn't matter how much kilometers separate you from each other. You may either live in the same country or be separated by the Atlantic Ocean, but in both cases you'll not avoid typical long distance relationship problems. No matter how strong you love is, you still have to remember that you should work on your relationship all the time.
Communication
If you are willing to do everything to keep your relationship despite the distance then the first thing you should remember about is communication. The Internet can help you to get closer to a person that lives thousand miles away from you. For instance, most of online dating sites offer their members such services as sending messages and arranging video chats. If you setup your free profile with us, we at Nymphy's of Calypso will help you make it work. You can use these features every day and any time when you have a free minute. This way you'll definitely make your long distance relationship work.
Stay Updated
Don't forget to stay updated with your loved one's life and share your favourite moments. Open the window to your life for her. Write your morning "hello" and your "good night" before going to bed. Do live video chat and show your smile to her. Choosing live video chat you get an opportunity to see each other's faces during your conversation and a possibility to express your feelings and emotions. It's unbelievable but some men even proposed to their future wives online! This may seem weird but it definitely proves that there is a lot of methods of how to deal with long distance relationship. Share Pictures
Share pictures with your "honey bunny". For example, send her your "selfie". This may be a funny one that will make her smile. You can also send the pictures of the street where you live, your work place, you and your friends together. This way you share your life with her and show you really care. Give Your Attention
Don't forget to give her your attention. Long distance relationship doesn't imply only Internet communication. Show your creativity and bring some material note to your relations. For example, no doubts there are lots of various flower deliveries in her country, so don't hesitate to surprise her by ordering her favorite flowers. Just imagine her eyes while she's getting them from a deliveryman. If you attach some sentimental note to your bouquet she will get even much more excited and pleased.
One more good advice on how to make long distance relationship work is to read the same books and discuss them afterwards. This way you'll be able to find out each other's opinions on the same theme that will help you to know each other better. Reading the same books or magazines will also make you feel united.
Send her some of your personal things by post. For example, you can send your t-shirt sprayed with your favorite perfume so she can sleep in it instead of her nightgown. Or this may also be some of your watches so she can wear them and remember you every time she looks at them.
Listen to the Same Songs
One more idea of how to keep love in long distance relationship is listening to the same songs. Let two of you make your own play list for each other. Download these tracks to your cell phones and listen on your way to work. This way you may learn each other's musical tastes and feel closer to each other.
Long distance relationship was meant to be complicated, but it's OK. Good things come to those who wait, but remember that your dream is also waiting for you somewhere and a combination of time and distance may sometimes be a clue to a brand new level of relations. Long distance relationships have their pros and cons, but it's worth to keep and fight for them if you really love.
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