April – warm and pleasant, with a couple of small rains – went by very fast and I haven’t even noticed how the time came for my monthly statistics post. It will be a short one.
I was so busy this past month that I didn’t even wear perfumes every day: I wore1 something on 26 occasions. I never was completely scentless though since I did some testing: I tested2 37 perfumes, 16 for the first time – and none of them impressed me much. It’s good I got all of those samples either at a store or swapping with other perfumista friends: I would have been much more upset had I paid for them.
Speaking of perfumista friends, I decided to do some statistics on the topic.
I regularly follow 45-55 blogs with 55+ writers (some of the blogs have multiple authors). Out of these 55+ bloggers I have/had interactions beyond comments and draws with 30 perfumistas and I met 6 of them in RL and enjoyed every one of this meetings.
Speaking of meetings, if you haven’t read it yet, check out Suzanne’s (Eiderdown Press) report about her recent trip to California and our meeting. Risking a faux modesty accusation, I still have to say that the way Suzanne describes me reflects more on her generous and outgoing nature than on my true self. I mean, I am great (and extremely modest, while we’re at it) – just not that great. And it was a very pleasant mini-vacation. Thank you, Suzanne (and Mark)!
How many perfumistas have you met?
1When I wear a perfume I apply it to at least three-four points and usually I plan to spend at least 4-8 hours with the same scent so I’m prepared to re-apply if the original application wears off.
2 For the testing I apply a perfume to one area on my arms easily available for the repetitive sniffing. But, most likely, I’m the only one who can smell it. I can test two, sometimes even more perfumes at the same time.
Image: my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
Hello dearest Undina, I’ve met 4 perfumistas in RL – Daisy (many times) and thegoddessrena (once), Ari (twice) and the Unseen Censer (once at Sniffa). There’s not one ounce of shyness and our shared passions made us comfortable from hello!
You got me curious as to how many blogs I follow:
Perfume
– 6 every time there’s a post
– 5 most of the time
– 3 at least 50% of the time there’s a new post
…and who was I kidding when I started to track my SOTD on January 1st and thought I would keep it up….kaphooey, I get an F!
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Do you own a smartphone? If yes, just start writing a note every day – and in no time you’ll have your usage data.
I need to cut the number of blogs I’m reading to just those that are done by my friends and a couple of a big ones – for the information. And I’m afraid it’ll happen either I want it or not: work gets crazier and crazier :(. But I’ll always find time to meet a perfumista friend ;)
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I’ll try it and see how long it lasts this way :-). Do you know of a Scent of the Day app?
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Morning Undina!
Did you took that picture? It’s amazing! A reflection of San Francisco (?) in a heart-shaped baloon (?). Or was it just a painting this baloon-like thing?
So far I have met only with one perfumista – with Val the Cookie Queen, we bumped onto each other accidentally at Esxence.
I’ve been busy lately with my work and thesis so I neglected the blogs I read a little bit (luckily having enough time to take care of mine blog)
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Thank you, Lucas. I did take the picture. I try to use my own pictures whenever I can. It’s one of the painted hearts in SF. I’m trying to take a picture of each new one when I come across them.
Good luck with your thesis (and thank you for finding time to read my blog :) ).
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I will get back to you with a tally, but meanwhile I am off to read Suzanne’s blog. And even before I do, may I just say that you *are* that great, however great it may be. And I have met you so I speak with some authority!
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Okay, so I have read and savoured every morsel of Suzanne’s amazing foody / drinky / Undina-y travelogue and it’s all true! The ‘sexy librarian’, the motherliness, the curiosity, the generosity, the ‘what you read is who you get’ also your vSO as ‘sweet mister’ and soul of patience during sniff-ins. The admonishment over the jacket (substitute ‘open handbag’ in my case). I could go on. Sounds like you all had an amazing time in the wineries and the department stores, and the hanging out at your house. With Rusty on the top of the fridge and in other cute poses – oh my!
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Thank you, Vanessa, for confirming that what I said of Undina is true. Yes, she is that great! And she specifically told me, while we were driving up to Sonoma, that if I ever got to London I would have to meet you. (In other words, you are ‘All That!’ too!)
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Aw…blushes…;) S, I jolly nearly emailed you earlier today to tell you directly how uncannily similar your take on Undina and vSO was to mine – in every detail. Of course I only spent a day with them, but I know that if I had had a longer visit it would have been more of the glorious same!
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So I did my tally… In terms of perfumistas who post regularly on their own or other people’s blogs, I appear to have met 27. This breaks down by ‘current country of residence’ as: 9 US, 10 UK, 2 Austria, 2 Australia, 1 Belgium, 1 Japan, 1 France and 1 Germany. *Where* I met them is a whole other story/breakdown(!), but of the US-based bloggers, I managed to meet five of them in their home towns. Then I have met a fair few perfumistas over and above that – not least at various Basenotes, PLL meet-ups and perfume launches down the years – though one US-based fumehead ‘gatecrashed’ Cake Club at my house ;), and I have also spoken to a couple of other far-flung fumeheads over the phone!
Clearly I’m on a mission to meet everyone eventually…as with my perfume stash, the number of perfumistas still out there is ABLE (Above and Beyond Life Expectancy) – mine, that is. ;)
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But I’ll give it my best shot! ;) ;)
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I’m speechless. Twenty seven?!! Wow… And I’m not even sure what is more impressive – meeting them in their natural habitat or in some random places (in Paris, for example ;) ). One day when I grow up… oh,wait… disregard. But I’m trying.
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I love Suzanne’s recap of your visit and yes she describes you exactly how I envision you. And she got to meet Rusty!!! (Sorry, I would have to push you out of the way to get to Rusty first if we meet!) As for perfumista’s I have met….just Daisy, Poodle and a bunch of others at Sniffa!
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Steve, you would love Rusty … he is as handsome and as devilish as they come. I was surprised by how fiercely playful he is. He and Undina have a unique game where he hides at the foot of her couch, at the end of it, where he’s slightly out of sight … then leaps straight up into the air and bats a paw at her as if he’s attacking her, while she leans over and makes a taunting face at him. He does this about five times in a row, then goes off in search of a lap in which he luxuriously sprawls like the movie-star cat that he is most of the time.
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Suzanne, I envy you! I love to see Rusty in person(?)!! (Sorry Undina, I’d love to meet you but I might rush to Rusty first like Steve…)
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:)
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Rusty enjoyed everybody’s attention (and some extra treats he got for demonstrating how well he can do the tricks) so if you ever come to visit just remember: the shortest route to Rusty’s heart goes through his stomach ;-)
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Undina, you truly are that great. Thank you for enticing me to come to San Francisco and for making it such a wonderful visit.
And as for how many perfumistas I’ve met in real life, it would be four (three of them bloggers and one not), including you.
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Thank you once again: it was a great and very timely mini-vacation. And I still want to know the exact name of that amazing white wine (I hope it arrived already).
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Lynmar Estate Chardonnay “La Sereinite” 2010.
It arrived on Thursday. This was my favorite of everything we tasted, so I’m going to have to plan a special occasion that will allow me to savor this bottle.
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Thank you! I think it was a mistake not to buy it. I see another trip in my near future… ;-)
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Wow, what a great write-up from Suzanne. I absolutely loved it. How nice that you organised such a great picnic to fulfill her “Sideways” wish. I really hope I get to meet you both one day.
I’m very lucky to be in London because I’ve met countless perfumistas. I’ve added up the number of those with their own blogs though and that came to 12, which is more than I would have guessed.
Undina, I really admire your commitment to reading so many blogs. That is quite something and I’m sure it’s really appreciated. I only manage about 7 regularly and keep an eye on maybe another 7, but that’s it.
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13! I forgot Neil Chapman.
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I’m sure we’ll meet soon – either here or there.
As to the blogs reading… I always read my friends’ blogs: it doesn’t really matter what’s the subject, they don’t even have to write about perfumes – I want to communicate with them. Then there are blogs that I like to read for information or because I like the way they are written – even if I do not have any special relationships with their authors. And then there are some small(er) blogs… If people write an open blog, they must be hoping to get somebody to read what they write. Since I think that the more people like good perfumes, the more bloggers write about them, the better it will be for all of us, I’m trying to support those smaller blogs. So before I realized that, I accumulated a lot of them in my reading list.
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I suspected you were putting in the effort to support the smaller blogs and I really admire that.
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I haven’t met any of the perfumista yet. Living in the middle of nowhere in Spain, don’t have much chance. :) Loved reading Suzanne’s post. Sounds you guys had a great time!
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‘The middle of Spain’ sounds like an excellent venue for an international perfumista convention…? ;)
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I second that!
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Sounds good to me! But I bet not many want to have that in Benidorm!! :D (I live in the region and if you know Benidorm, you know what I mean ;) )
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Well… Maybe trying to catch a perfumista somewhere close to your home isn’t that simple but there are some places close by (especially when I look from here) where, as I heard (and read on some blogs ;) ), they have a tendency to swarm from time to time. For example, in London.
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I should check the budget airline to join the swarm :)
For now, I’ll keep brainwashing some Spanish friends :D
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Sign me up for the middle of Spain, too!
And thank you for your kind words, thinkingmagpie.
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I thoroughly enjoyed reading Suzanne’s wonderful write-up, even though I was (and still am) the most amazingly sick shade of green (with pure envy). Will the both of you promise that next time I come through SF (in October, btw), Suzanne will visit again and we will go wine tasting? ;) It sounds like sooo much fun. Or maybe you two can come here, and we can go wine tasting here. Sixteen or twenty hours isn’t too far to travel for that, right?
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I can’t speak for Suzanne, but we can definitely plan a trip to a wine country for when you come.
I’m not doing more than 11 hours until I can afford a first class ticket ;-) But other than that I love the idea!
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I can’t make a promise but I think this would definitely be a possibility for me (I already asked Mark if he’d be up for going back to San Francisco in October and he said yes, we might be able to do that). :-) I’d really, really love to meet you in person, Natalie, and to go back to San Francisco for more of everything … wine, weather, perfumes and the Undina clan (which includes Rusty, of course!).
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Oh goody! That would be so great. I will keep in touch about my dates and maybe somehow it will all come together. :)
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P.S. Rusty Rusty Rusty.
(That’s three treats, right?)
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Those were supposed to be compliments, not just mentioning ;-) (I’ll give him a treat from you but since he’s currently on a diet it’ll be just 1 treat)
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