Chanel, Mademoiselle?

One frustrating thing about backpacking is the limited space for cosmetics.  Scent has always been an important part of my life, from baking chocolate spritz cookies to a gentle breeze across a bouquet of drying roses.  My current perfume list includes Romance by Ralph Lauren and Stella by Stella McCartney.  While it's possible to buy small bottles, they tend to spill and your jeans have now become a parfumerie.

Last summer a sorority sister introduced me to the travel-friendly Stella fragrance complete in its compact, roll-on applicator shaped like a tube of lip gloss.



This would seem like a simple solution to a fragrant disaster.  I was disappointed to find even this sophisticated travel mate leaking when my purse tipped over.  Clearly Stella just can't make the cut.

So on recommendation from a fellow intern, I'm working on collecting miniature sample-sized fragrances.  My first goal is a vial of Coco Mademoiselle

and hopefully I can score a few on my next trip to Pentagon  City, along with that bottle of Coney Island Cotton Candy OPI nail polish I've been craving for two months while refusing to pay the $8 price tag.  Maybe this time I'll suck it up in favor of a few more sample sized products, and hopefully Sephora's section of Beauty Mini's holds a few other travel mates I can test, without breaking my bank.