New Year resolutions… Crowds in gyms and dance classes usually subside by mid-February allowing regulars to go back to their normal routines. Healthier eating habits get buried under stress of a “holiday-less” life and kitchen catch-all drawers stay in their natural state that makes finding any useful thing we put in there at some point an adventure.
In the beginning of 2011 I decided to see at least one of my New Year resolutions through. The resolution was: I will wear one of my favorite perfumes at least two times a week. By that time I’d created already a database to hold information about perfumes in my collection. So all I needed to add was a diary part where I could record my perfumes usage.
I’m proud to report that in all twelve months of 2011 I followed my NY resolution and gave perfumes in my permanent collection the attention they deserve. In addition to that, my numbers collecting provided me with a lot of interesting though probably not that useful data points which I’d shared with my readers in the Quick stats section of my monthly reports.
I was very curious to see the numbers for the whole year. So, here they are.
Quick 2011 stats:
* Different perfumes worn/tested: 376 (303 tested for the first time and 73 previously tested – see the chart by month) from 110 brands;
* Perfumes I wore just once: 191;
* My Top 10 Brands (perfume house I wore/tested most often): see the chart, click on it for a full size;
* My Top 10 Perfumes (those that I wore the most often):
|
Perfume |
Times Worn |
| №19 EdT by Chanel |
16 |
| Heure Exquise by Annick Goutal |
13 |
| Tiare by Ormonde Jayne |
12 |
| №19 Poudre by Chanel |
10 |
| Bronze Goddess by Estee Lauder |
9 |
| Iris Poudre by Frederic Malle |
9 |
| Une Rose Vermeille by Tauer Perfumes |
9 |
| Antonia by Puredistance |
8 |
| Jeux de Peau by Serge Lutens |
8 |
| Ta’if by Ormonde Jayne |
8 |
.
Coming up in the next couple of days New Year Resolutions, Part II: Perfumed resolutions for 2012.
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Images: my own
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See also year end posts and Top N lists for 2011 from the friendly blogs:
Another Perfume Blog: Best Perfumes of 2011: A Joint Blogging Event
beauty on the outside: Highlights from 2011
EauMG: Best of 2011 – Perfume Blogging Event
eyeliner on a cat: Best Fragrances of 2011
From Top to Bottom: My 2011
Muse in Wooden Shoes: 2011: The Year’s Fragrance Releases in Review
Olfactoria’s Travels: The Best Of 2011 – My Favorite Perfumes Of The Year
Perfume in Progress: Some thoughts as the year ends
Persolaise – A Perfumer’s Blog: The Best Perfumes Of 2011 & Thoughts On Independence
Pieces of paper, squiggy lines: My Favorite Fragrant discoveries of 2011
Scent of the Day: My Favorites of 2011
Scents of Self: Forgotten Fragrances of 2011
The Alembicated Genie: Best of the Best 2011 – Perfumes and Perfumers and Best of the Best 2011 – Worn and Adored
The Candy Perfume Boy: The Candy Perfume Boy’s Best Picks of 2011
The Non-Blonde: 2011 In Perfume- Delights & Rants
Undina's Looking Glass 
Undina, your databases are the best! You have inspired me to start using Bento. I’m sure I won’t be able to do all these cool things you’re doing with it, but one has to start somewhere, right?
I ADORE your most popular brands chart. This is just priceless!!!
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Thank you, Warum. I think you’ll find it’s fun to be able to look at your perfume habits through agregated numbers. Just do it to the extent where it’s not a job yet – and later, if you want more, widen your data.
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Wow, I love the graphs you put together! So cool, especially the one with the house bottles…
Very interesting that you wore no 19 EDT the most. You’ve inspired me to keep better track of what I’m wearing! :)
Happy new year Undina, and thank you for the link!
xo
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Happy New Year to you too, Dee!
I have to admit, I’m especially proud of this one: after I had an idea, it took me some time to implement the proper scaling.
Have you noticed that your “goddaughter” is on the fifth place among perfumes I wore the most?
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You really are an inspiration that it pays to keep track of what we are wearing. I will try that too this year, although in a decidedly more low-tech manner. ;)
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Thanks, Birgit! You’re my inspiration in so many aspects that I’m glad to be useful in any way.
As for the technology… It’s just a tool, not a purpose, so it doesn’t really matter what you use… Well, stone tablets might be a little cumbersome but other than that… ;)
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Congratulations on keeping your perfume resolution for all 12 months of the year, Undina! I have definitely realised the benefits of wearing my full bottles on a regular basis over the last few months.
I was surprised by the 110 different brands but that’s the kind of thing we just don’t realise unless we keep stats. Like others I love that brand graph with the bottles!
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Tara, you can’t imagine how surprise I was when I saw the calculation! I checked twice. There are 140 brands in my database now, so I haven’t even used all of them last year.
Brands graph is my favorite, thank you.
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I too am so impressed by your stats, and inspired by them to keep better track of what I wear. It must help make better buying decisions, too. After such success with your resolutions this year, I’m excited to see what resolutions you make for 2012, and what nifty and graphically fun ways you find of telling us about them! :)
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Thank you, Natalie. It’s hard to maintain the same enterntainment level but I’ll see what I can come up with.
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You are so organised with your stats that I find it hard to imagine there could possibly be lost bottle openers and clothes pegs rattling around in your catch-all drawers… I love Tiare and Ta’if and am happy that you enjoyed wearing them quite a few times too. And you are a big iris fan, I see!
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Ta’if is one of my most favorite perfumes ever! And Tiare is my best friend (whom I did take on a tropical vacation, I as promised). As to the iris, that was one of the discoveries I made analyzing data. Not that I wouldn’t have realized it without a database but it just made it obvious.
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Your stats fascinate me! I wish I had the discipline to do something similar…
So, beyond the obvious, do these numbers reveal anything else to you about your fragrance choices?
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Thank you, Joanne. It’s not that much of a discipline but a way to control my mild form of an OCD.
The most useful conclusion from analyzing data is: I spent too much money on buying samples and too little time on testing them. I’ll try to correct that.
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Your conclusion is also an issue for me. I have many samples laying around that are barely used.
I’m happy to hear you have a positive way of working with your OCD! I have OCD, but it’s not much use to me. (I have “Pure-O” – all obsession and rumination, very few rituals)
If anyone needs me to obsess about something for them, drop me a line! ;)
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Green florals seem to a favorite of yours! Thank you for introducing me to the wonderful Heure Exquise. I think I might like it a leetle bit more than vintage No. 19 (Edt). Oh and hope you are having a wonderful new Year!
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Lavaanya, you’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it. I’ll have soon another one for you to try: I think you might like it as well. And yes, green florals have a special place in my heart, as I learned during the last year.
The year has started busy but quite nice, so I hope it goes like that for another 11 months.
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I love your databases – they make me happy!
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Thank you, Carol! I’ll try to think of more fun things to do with my stats.
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