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Gai, I've had no trouble buying Hanae Mori. I even know two places you can buy online within Canada if you wish to. PM me if you want the links.

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Thanks, bling! I can buy it locally, too. We have several awesome fragrance stores/perfume departments in town. Sadly, when I tried the Hanae Mori, it didn't smell good on me after it had softened...

We can get all the Angel fragrances here, including the "refill" station that's available. Hah! So I'm tempted to just take in a big jug and ask for it to be filled. LOL!

As I write, I'm sniffing my Angelized wrists...

Kimie, my DH also loves both the Angel scents I have. Phew! Fortunately, he also loves the "man"-scent I gave him! Some sort of Italian designer fragrance -- very subtle and fresh smelling, according to DH. Quite soft and delish-smelling according to moi.

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Is there much difference in what perfumes you can get in Canada? I just assumed you pretty much had all the ones that we have.

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Just depends where one lives. If there's a larger city, no problemo. If one lives in Small-ville, problemo...

ACK!!! -- for the peeling schtuff. When I did the Obaji treatment line for hyperpigmentation, oooooooh, baby, did I flake!!! I've mentioned this before, but when I picked DH up at the airport one day, he was totally dumbfounded!

When he'd left, I was "normal" looking. Three days later, I looked like a walking bowl of cornflakes on my lower face. He was having one of those fascinated/horrified moments. He regrouped and said, "Ummmm, sweetie, I wanna stop at the drug store for you, butI don't know whether I should get a moisturizer or a cheese grater for ya!" ROTF!!! Oooh, it was nasty. The only thing that saved me, was that it was winter and I could wear scarves waaaaaay up my face so no one had to see my cornflakes.

BTW, skin is lovely and non-pigmented these days.

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In Cashmere Mist I smell a lot of the Orris, which is a scent I seem to enjoy! Orris is often used as a subsitute for violet. I like Lolita, Gray Flannel, Fantasy and now Cashmere Mist - all containing Violet or Orris Root. At least I know what I like

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I had no idea Orris is often used as a substitute for violet. Good info to know! I LOVE Lolita, but Gray Flannel is another I haven't tried yet.

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Kimie, your comments about your skin purging got me doing a lot of research this morning. I used a new skincare line when I was in my early twenties and was told, "it will cause you to breakout because all the dirt is being cleaned out, etc". Well, it just didn't make any sense to me. of course anyone who is really interested should research it for themselves, but the cosmetic industry abounds with unchallenged myths. It is not dirt that causes breakouts, but rather breakouts are caused when sebum (the oil inside a pore) cannot get out because there is usually a blockage (often caused by excess oil production which captures dead skin cells on the surface).

Pores cannot be deep cleaned, only the surface areas can be cleared of excess oils and dead skin cells.

Your products are most likely causing you to breakout because of irritation, possibly excess drying, causing an increase in sebrum production. If you are indeed drying out your skin - which is what contributes to skin shedding, these cells could be hanging around, helping to block the pore surface.

I personally don't buy into "skin purging" because of the research I've done. If anyone is interested, you should do the same. Question everything I say!

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While normally, I'd agree about the purging....most "purging" I've read about on different boards is due to irritation.....I'd say mine is definitely purging. I've had some areas on my face for many, many months now (from waaaay before I was using anything), where I had hard, tiny little bumps under the skin. They never flared up or broke out....they just stayed there. I've been using CP serum and exfol serum for several months now....I guess about 6, so I've been seeing cell turnover, and my overall skintone has already improved. I added the green cream 3 slowly, and this is my second month using it...I'm seeing much more turnover. Alot of the hard bumps that were under my skin for so long, seem to be making their way to the top finally, then they clear up and go away. So rationally, I know that it had to happen sometime, those little bumps couldn't stay under there forever (although it started to look like they would after months). It is just driving me crazy right now, even though I know it had to happen. I'm not getting any blemishes in places where I didn't have the little bumps before...so nothing new....the skin turnover just seems to be pushing the stuff to the surface that was trapped before, that I was already aware of. I also exfoliate every morning with a light skin brush, and I use either squalane w/retinol or emu oil on my skin each day as needed. I have no redness, itching, or other signs of irritation or distress like new lines. When I said that I'm afraid to use anything else on my skin right now because of the breakouts, I meant that I would be scared to introduce a new product....especially a sunscreen since I've had problems with them breaking out my skin in the past. I'm having trouble dealing with the breakouts I'm having...I don't accidently want to cause more. Essentially, I've taken months to work up to my current skincare routine, and I'm using the lower level actives. Which is probably why I'm just now starting to clear all the stuff out of my skin that has been there so long. While I hate how my skin looks right now, and I'm blaming it on the green cream (because it seems to have accelerated cell turnover), it's honestly a good thing. It's just hard to look in the mirror and be rational about it some mornings! Of course, I'll be happy when all those little bumps are completely gone!

As a side note...I've also been taking Udo's since I started using the CP's and exfol serum. Overall, my skintone has improved drastically! I had some blotchy red spots that are gone now, and some broken capillaries that miraculously also disappeared! Not all of the broken capillaries are gone....but I had some under my left eye that were just awful....and they've went poof! I don't know how, or why, or which product caused it, but I'm so happy because that bunch of broken capillaries made me so self-conscious over the past year!