I loved our October this year: it was a summer we didn’t have! I did experience some cognitive dissonance reading everybody’s Top N Fall Fragrances lists but I consider it a small cost for the most beautiful weather we had.

I still manage to wear my favorite perfumes more often than targeted “twice a week” but some of those wears were done in parallel with something new being tested (and compared).

In October I tested much less new perfumes. It means that the amount of untested samples in my collection keeps growing. In the attempt to stay in control of those multiplying samples I imposed a rule: no testing is done unless a sample is entered into the database. What can I say? I had 12 of those as of this morning… and now there are 17. I swear they procreate!

There are several reasons why I test less new perfumes. First, during this month I wore several favorite perfumes that required the commitment: they just kept going and going on my skin. Luckily for me I love them. But they do not leave any room for a meaningful testing of new scents.

Quick October stats:

* Different perfumes worn/tested: 64 (0) from 30 brands on 85 (+7) occasions;

* Favorite perfumes worn: 14 on 19 occasions (-9);

* Perfumes I tried for the first time: 25 (-5);

* Perfume house I wore/tested most often: Tom Ford for the WTD, Chanel and Amouage – just because I like them;

* Most popular notes (only from perfumes I chose to wear, not those that I tested for the first time): top – (not counting bergamot) mandarin, and rose; middle – (since rose and jasmine keep that position unchallenged I include the next notes in the list) iris and ylang ylang; base – musk, sandalwood and vanilla;

* Total number of unique notes in all perfumes I wore/tested this month:  225 (-4);

* Perfumes longevity of which prevented other perfumes testing: Ormonde Jayne Ta’if , Thierry Mugler Angel, Le Labo Rose 31 and Teo Cabanel Alahine.

Did you wear recently any perfumes that claimed your undivided attention for the whole day?

Image: my own