January finally has brought some rain. There is a threat of drought in our state so I was glad it was raining. There were five really cold days (coastal California cold, I mean) but no snow storms or freezing rains.
Let’s see how my first month went resolution-wise.
I haven’t bought a single full bottle or any samples and a damage on decants front is 15 ml.
Even though it was a last year’s resolution, I’m still keeping an eye on my perfume habits: this month I wore my favorite perfumes 5-6 times a week. Somehow it felt right to wear perfumes from my bottles and decants instead of chasing new scents. Also I tried to revisit some perfumes which I tested before but about which I hadn’t made up my mind yet. As a result, my testing of new perfumes went down significantly.
I’ve implemented adding categories to my perfume collection. I found out that mostly I wore/tested perfumes from the high-end niche category and didn’t wear any mall scents at all (see the chart).
Quick January stats:
* Different perfumes worn/tested: 57 from 25 brands on 69 occasions;
* Favorite perfumes worn: 20 on 23 occasions;
* Perfumes I tried for the first time: 14;
* Perfume house I wore/tested most often: Tom Ford and Neela Vermeire Creations (if you haven’t tried yet read and see if you could solve Three Pieces of Neela Vermeire’s India Puzzle);
* Most popular notes (only from perfumes I chose to wear, not those that I tested for the first time): top – (not counting bergamot) orange and pepper; middle – (not counting rose and jasmine) iris and ylang ylang; base – sandalwood, musk and vanilla;
* Total number of different notes in all perfumes I wore/tested this month: 214;
Do you think in January you tested more new perfumes (compared to the previous month) or less?
Image: my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
I still think trying 14 new perfumes in a month is pretty good going but maybe not compared to your normal rate. I tried an awful lot of new perfumes in Jan thanks to a couple of sniffing trips into London. On the one with Vanessa we must have tried at least 30! Those tried in Jan which stood out (that I can recall) include Mona di Orio’s Musc, Huitieme Art Myrrhiad, Cartier Les Heures Defendue and Roja Dove’s Oud.
LikeLike
I’m not complaining about slowing down, just wanted to state the fact. In fact, I was very pleased to discover that I spent that much time in January with my favorite perfumes.
When you say 30… you don’t mean on the skin, right? So far I wasn’t counting perfumes that I sniff on blotters – only those that I apply to my skin.
LikeLike
Oh no not 30 on skin. I think I only tried Guerlain’s SDV and the new carnation Les Heure de Parfum by Cartier on skin. It being winter, I didn’t have much skin to spare :)
LikeLike
These statistics round-ups are so much fun Undina! The breakdown always makes me curious about my own wearing habits— although I have not yet made the habit of keeping track. I think I’ll try and start today, even if I use a less scientific method (I’ll start by noting in my day planner).
I made my first perfume purchase since November! I wasn’t supposed to buy anything until after Amouage Opus IV, but the bottle was irresistible… And IV is still at the top of my list! (just need to scrape together a few more pennies)
I bought, drumroll please, a 30mL limited edition of Shalimar EDT. Boring! I know, but I love Shalimar soooooo much, and the EDT is the only version I don’t already own… :) And it was NIB for $25— who could resist, I ask you?
LikeLike
May I suggest starting it from yesterday? This way you’ll have a full month-worth data!
First purchase since November? Wow… What did you do to make Santa Clause that ddispleased with you? ;)
$25 – is practically free! I’m not sure I’d be able to resist if I found a bottle of what I like for that price.
LikeLike
It was fun seeing your new categories in action in a pie chart, and you made me think about my own tendency to wear high end vs mall perfumes, which I feel sure is the case,even though I am no longer tracking such things.
I haven’t bought anything so far – indeed I sold a bottle of Daisy today for £15(!) – yes, the very one with the two tops, though I kept one back as a trophy… : – )
Like Tara – indeed because I was with Tara! – I also sniffed a lot of new things this month (during our session, and also at Liberty’s and Les Senteurs before and after). And I already had a fresh load of samples at home on my desk that I was – and still am – steadily working through.
Iris and sandalwood sounds like L’Heure Promise – do you know/like that one?
LikeLike
Who would have thought we prefer high-end perfumes, right? ;)
Technically, I’m currently -1 full bottle since I returned a bottle bought in December as a part of my holiday treat to myself. I still plan to get it back but nevertheless.
I haven’t tried a single creation from Les Heures de Parfum collection on skin and smelled a couple on papper. One day…
LikeLike
Taking time to wear your favorite perfumes and not chase down so many new ones … yes, as you said, that does feel right. I’ve got to start doing more of that, too (remembering to slow down and enjoy the experience, which is why we got into fragrances in the first place. And then we start blogging, and reading other people’s blogs, and feeling like we have to keep testing new things to keep up. It’s kind of crazy, isn’t it?)
LikeLike
I was thinking about that recently. My maratorium on samples purchasing until I’m done with most samples I have/can obtain without buying partially comes from the decision not to chase new scents just because they are new. And I really enjoy wearing perfumes from real bottles (or at least decants) and not from tiny luckyscent’s dab vials.
LikeLike
I, too, enjoyed seeing the categories added to your statistics round-up. I’m not surprised to see no mall scents on the pie chart. :)
As for me, I think my testing has stayed about even, but it has been testing from my existing samples, in keeping with my resolution. Unfortunately, I have not done so well with my resolution not to buy any bottles that weren’t replacements of other bottles. I have to rededicate myself to that resolution!
LikeLike
YAY! Natalie, you’ve just left comment #1,000 on my blog! Now I need to figure out what prize I can send you.
Mini – isn’t a real bottle (or did you buy anything else as well?)
LikeLike
Wow, congrats to Natalie and to you Undina on getting 1000 comments!!!
LikeLike
Squeeeeee! I am excited. :)
Well, if I am going to provide true confessions, I have bought two minis (Climat and Catherine Deneuve) as well as two bottles from the Haute Look Les Senteurs sale, and I have a cart containing two additional bottles on hold at Amazon. Gulp. :)
LikeLike
Minis do not count. Bottles under $20… barely count. So you’re almost fine :)
I’m fighting with myself: there are a couple of cheaper bottles that I planned to add to my collection at some point… But do I want them to be 1/6 thi year?..
LikeLike