February was good: nice weather (though if you ask my vSO, he’ll say there wasn’t enough rain), a very enjoyable trip to Las Vegas, wonderful care packages from my blogo-friends (thank you all once again) and some great additions to my perfume collection.
Since I do not record perfumes that I do not have in my collection and test at a store and I was doing a lot of that type of testing in Las Vegas, the numbers are slightly skewed. But I still wore my favorite perfumes more than twice a week.
Ines raised an interesting question about hoarding samples and decants and I was curious to see what my usage habits were. Inconclusive (see the chart).
In addition to my new Guerlain love (which doesn’t count towards NY resolutions since it was a birthday gift) two more bottles joined my collection this month. At this rate I’ll run out of bottles allowance early in the year.
Quick February stats:
* Different perfumes worn: 19 from 12 brands on 22 occasions;
* Favorite perfumes worn: 14 (-6) on 17 (-6) occasions;
* Different perfumes tested: 42 from 25 brands on 44 occasions;
* Perfumes I tried for the first time: 24;
* Perfume house I wore most often: Hermès;
* Perfume house I tested the most: Guerlain (and it’s not counting those perfumes I tested in the boutique);
* Most popular notes (only from perfumes I chose to wear): top – (not counting bergamot) mandarin, lemon and orange; middle – (not counting rose and jasmine) ylang ylang and orange blossom; base – vanilla, musk and iris root;
* Total number of different notes in all perfumes I wore/tested this month: 205 (-9);
Image: my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
Seems like your Guerlain testing (in and outside the boutique) went through the roof in Feb. Fun! Glad it resulted in that special birthday gift. Will you be telling us about the other 2 bottles that joined your collection at some point (please!)?
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One way or the other I’ll share that information. But right now all I’ll tell – it was all Birgit’s influence! :)
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Joining Tara’s question about the two new bottles.
I got two new bottles too — White Lilac and Rhubarb by Jo Malone and Mimosa Estrel from L’Occitane.
But I did not make any New Year’s resolution ;) except for samples. I think I might use your know-how and get the amo boxes.
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I’m thinking about that Jo Malone too… I think I like it. Why on Earth did they have to make it only in a big bottle?!
As for the samples, a friend of mine found a box that fits standard 3 ml bottle. I’ll test it soon and will send you a link to that one if it works out for me.
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I agree. I must, of course, wait till April if I decide to buy it, and I can hope that they’ll have a 1 oz bottle by then – but I suspect they won’t. Drat and bother.
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They won’t :( We could do a split though (I’m in a splitting mood recently). If you do not care for the bottle itself buying 30 ml from a 100 ml bottle is a better deal than buying a 30 ml bottle.
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I am not very original, but I am curious about the other two bottles, too! ;)
It seems like you have a good number of large-ish decants. I wonder if that could play into your inconclusive results on Ines’ topic, since you almost might be wearing them as if they are full bottles, right?
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I was thinking about how I use perfumes and I realized that I do not have any rare samples/small decants which I wouldn’t be able to replenish if I like them enough so for me using up a sample/decant would mean just getting the next one (or “a size up”). Also, I usually do not wear samples, I test them. If I like them enough, I’ll get a decant/bottle before the last drop of a sample is gone and if I do not like it, I do not save it – I just do not finish it.
I’ll come clean about my new bottles soon I just haven’t decided yet if it’s going to be a story/post or not.
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What a lovely selection of notes this month – ylang and orange and all those base notes are amongst my most favourite things… : – )
And I am another reader adding to the chorus of people asking for a “new bottle reveal”!
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As I mentioned, I’m not counting bergamot, rose and jasmine since they constantly are on the first position. So the correct combination would be bergamot, orange (or other citruses), rose, jasmine, ylang, orange blossom, iris, vanilla and musk. Hm… Not bad :)
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42 perfumes tested this month? I’m having a Wayne’s World moment right now, “I’m not worthy! I’m not worthy!” I wish I could do that.
And yes, do reveal the bottles.
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I had a month where I tested (only tested, not counting actual wearing) more than 60. Now I’m slowing down (even though not tested samples keep multiplying).
Four days a week I wear one perfume to the office (usually one of my favorites, I’m trying not to do testing in the office). It gives us 16-18 occasions/perfumes.
Once a week I work from home, so instead of wearing one perfume I test two (and sometimes two more in the afternoon). 4 days *2 perfumes = 8 (or more).
In the evening (unless I go out – which doesn’t happen too often midweek) I usually test at least two perfumes – one per wrist. 22 days *2 perfumes = 44 perfumes.
On weekends sometimes I wear perfumes, sometimes test them but it gives us at least 8 weekends * 2 perfumes = 16 perfumes.
Sometimes, if whatever I tested is gone by the time I go to bed, I wear a sleep scent – a perfume that I know smells good and doesn’t interfare with my sleep. Let’s say it’s another 5-10 perfumes per month.
So, even on a concervative side, it’s 16+8+44+16+5 = 89 (vs. 66 this month – since I did a lot of testing in Las Vegas but didn’t count those).
Since I mostly do not do real reviews, my testing is done for myself. I do not need to test one sample multiple times in a row, trying to figure out nuances. I can just smell it, don’t like much and move on. And maybe one day come back and try again. Reviewing requires much bigger commitment.
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I hope you keep on taking stats of samples and decants and possible hoarding tendencies (you are the only one who can actually give proof of that through it). :)
And I also have to say that I am jealous you can test so many fragrances – I wish I get back to my regular testing tendencies soon.
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Since all my bottles/decants/samples are marked as such in the database and I keep usage diary, I’ll be watching the patterns (and report back from time to time).
I could have tested even more perfumes if it hadn’t been to my constant attempt to organize them! :)
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