Another year is behind us. Once again, it was not that bad for me. Would I want 2019 to be better? I would. But I would settle for it to be not worse than 2018.
Perfume-wise 2018 was a solid year for me. I keep “diversifying”: I wore 196 perfumes (vs. 178 in 2017), from 79 brands (vs. 72) on more occasions (372 vs. 314 in 2017). And if you are wondering how I manage to wear more perfumes than days in a year and also do a lot of testing, just look at the brand I wore the most: with its tenacity I could have worn probably twice as many perfumes if I were to carry extra ones with me to apply later during the work day.
Jo Malone and Chanel keep the first two positions, the next 6 brands changed places but are still on my Top 10 list, and only two brands are new compared to the previous year – Dior and Frederic Malle.
I still rotate perfumes daily, so I do not wear any one of my favorites too often. Perfumes I wore the most often in 2018: Lancôme Climat (10 times), Ormonde Jayne Ta’if (7) and Chanel Bois des Iles (6), which isn’t surprising since the first two are my absolute favorites and the third one was a new bottle purchase this year.
Also, I managed to test more perfumes than I did last year (if to count only perfumes I tested at home): 380 perfumes (vs. 300 in 2017) from 139 brands (vs. 103). Out of these 380 perfumes 145 I tested for the first time.
The only position where I did “worse” than the year before is 2018 releases tested: I managed to try 44 perfumes released last year (vs. 45 in 2017) and liked several of them enough to add to my collection. But I plan to tell their stories in future posts, so for now they shall stay unnamed.
I used 51 pictures of Rusty in posts in 2018 (I didn’t count them before, so I have no comparison point here but you can see all of them if you filter my posts by the “Four legs good” CATegory).
How was your 2018 perfume-wise and in general?
Images: my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
Happy 2019 once again sweetie!
You wear surprisingly a lot of Tom Ford I must say, one of the brands that I was never fully convinced to start exploring ;) Glad to see that your numbers are growing year after year in most of the criteria that you measure in your statistics.
44 perfume from 2018 is not much but then you’re not the one chasing the novelties. That’s my job, ha ;)
Thank you for another lovely year of blogging alongside each other, for exchanged packages and for Rusty pics. May 2019 be good to you and your dear ones.
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Thank you, Lucas.
Tom Ford is one of my favorite brands. Mostly for masculine scents (for my vSO) but there are several scents that I own either a bottle or a decant and wear from time to time. But I think that TF is a strange brand that makes perfumes that lean either a little more masculine or a little more feminine than you like – that’s why we do not have too many intersections with you on this brand. I think, though, that you’d like their Vert series: a couple of perfumes from it remind me some of Memo’s leathers that you liked.
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Yes, that could be it! The only one that I remember liking was Tobacco Vanille. That one was pretty nice although it’s been years since I smelled it last times. I could possibly say today that it’s too sweet or something.
Who knows, you might be right on the Vert series.
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Look at Rusty’s little open mouth! So cute. Testing one fewer new release vs 2017 (44 vs 45) is hardly doing ‘worse’, hehe. I am so impressed you manage to try as many things as you do – whether new on the market, or just new to you. I am nowhere near as ‘on the case’ with any aspect of this hobby.
Thanks to you and your conscientious vetting of scents, I get to discover some great new things though. And I now have more Bois des Iles, thank you, so that will get some wear in 2019!
DSH Foxy and Zibeline were two favourite finds in 2018, at least I think they were last year and not the year before! I should keep better records like you. ;)
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I loved that picture but couldn’t find a reason to post it on the blog :)
I’m not complaining about testing less new perfumes since had I tested 10 times more, I would not have come much closer to testing all new releases for 2018. I would have tested more though if I had more time or better access to free sampling: I’m still interested in perfumes and even manage to still find new perfumes that I like and want to wear.
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I wish I could be even a quarter as organised as you – I am so higgeldy-piggeldy, and our move has not helped … I wish I had a household “dobbie” to tidy my collection for me! Your statistics are great. You wouldn’t happen to be a Virgo would you? My sister is, and she is so methodical and categorises everything brilliantly.
Ta’if still calls to me and at least I know where my bottle of that is.
Rusty is so cuddleable.
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Oh, if I could have someone to take care of so many different things at my house! :) But with perfumes it’s kind of a hobby. And since I built the whole system to keep the records, it’s much easier to maintain data and calculate statistics.
The best thing about Rusty is that he actually likes to cuddle.
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happy new Year!
Rusty looks like he is talking to us :)
I have no organizational skills so not sure exactly what my statistics are. I would guesstimate that my most worn houses were St. Clair Scents, Sonoma Scent Studio and 1000 Flowers (which stands to reason as they are my favorite). My most worn perfumes were probably Casablanca and Reglisse Noire (I bought a new bottle of it thanks to all the folks on Australian Perfume Junkies talking me into it and just about finished it in one month’s time because I wore it daily with frequent re-sprays throughout the day).
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With your wearing habits you could probably just check every Monday’s NST’s SOTD thread to see what you wore for the whole week ;)
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I have been commenting more on Australian Perfume Junkies since the SOTD thread is up all week 24/7. So yes, I could keep track that way! But I am also very lazy!😂
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Good to hear 2018 wasn’t too bad for you but hoping 2019 will be better.
Like V, I found the amount of perfume you wore and tested very impressive. Loved looking at your pie-chart. I wasn’t surprised about the Tom Ford and Jo Malone but didn’t know you wore so much Chanel.
I think a travel size of Cedre Sambac was the only new release I purchased last year.
Fingers crossed for more than 51 Rusty pics this year!
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In general, Chanel isn’t a surprise for me since it’s one of my favorites (I’m more of a Chanel fan than Guerlain) but with the number of perfumes that I like and wear, for any brand to get to the Top 10 is an achievement :)
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Impressive! And here’s to hoping for a better 2019.
I don’t keep a count on my perfume wearing habits, but I have a feeling 2018 was a year of me testing a lot of new perfumes, because I went to Milan for Esxence, however, outside of that month I probably tested very few new perfumes.
Also, for the first time in a few years I did get quite a few new full bottled perfumes, but it was mainly due to presents.
I wondered that you only got to wear your favourite Climat 10 times in a whole year, are you saving it a bit?
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10 times for Climat is actually a good result! Since for me it’s one of the “special occasion” perfumes (but not the only one), it’s amazing that I had enough of those occasions :) I don’t need to save it: I have more juice (in multiple different concentrations) than will be able to use up before it goes off. But I just want to wear it when I feel good and celebrate something.
If I were to go to Esxence (or anything like that), I would have doubled (or tripled) what I have tested! :)
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After last year’s roundup I thought would find the time to convert my spreadsheet into a database like yours so I could more readily track my wearing. Alas, it was not to be, but in the fall started “logging” my SOTD via Instagram posts (which also challenges my photography skills) and I hope to have a better handle on my wears that way over the next year. I do find that I mix it up more just so I can photograph a new bottle! I would say my most worn brands are probably Nicolai and Sonoma Scent Studio.
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Followed you (though I visit Instagram probably even less often than FB :) ). It’s a good idea, and I like pictures of perfumes but don’t fall into another extreme now: not wearing some perfumes because you’ve already posted a picture of it before.
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I can’t be bothered to track my perfume wears and anyway it would be too depressing to face how little each one gets worn in my huge collection, but I had a good perfume year in 2018. I bought Cèdre Sambac and Agar Ébène, along with ALOF And the World is Yours and MdO Santal Nabataea, oh and Aedes Musc Encensé and Memo Tiger’s Nest, so that was my new release binge. The rest of my buying was mostly backups of favourites and previous year releases. Hoping 2019 will be better on a personal level, I am planning to take a break on perfume sampling and buying.
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I have so many perfumes that I’d want to wear more often but cannot (because of the office situation) that I should probably stop both testing and buying anything but I really enjoy finding new perfumes to love so I’ll keep doing it (hopefully, slowly) and track what I do: at least this way I feel partially in control.
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That’s quite an impressive number of scents, Undina! Congrats! That photo of Rusty is one of the best ever. He is so expressive!
No idea about testing, which I do very randomly, but a count revealed 27 perfumes worn during the year, mostly Chanel, Goutal and Mugler and some Lutens and a few other houses. Some were worn for only one day as a kind of review and some of my favourites were worn for weeks at a time.
Best wishes to all for a delightfully fragrant 2019!
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Thank you, FiveoaksBouquet.
I do some testing almost every day (in the evening, after I wear one of my favorite perfumes during the day). Usually, it’s not of a new perfume but revisiting samples that I’ve previously tested already.
I have favorites in all the houses that you wore in 2018.
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Rusty is looking very rogue-ish! You had a good run on the Chanels. I had most of the exclusifs in either FB or decant form about ten years ago. Reformulation and skyrocketing prices have dissuaded me from revisiting that line.
I haven’t made any FB purchases of anything that was released in 2018, but I’ve tried Tiger’s Nest, Antique Ambergris and Santal Nabatea. Loved Tiger’s Nest and am contemplating a purchase when my low buy penury is over. Antique Ambergris was another hit for me but just far too spendy. Santal Nabatea was beautifully done and very rich. Like a chestnut mousse served with mounds of whipped cream. Absolutley decadent, but I would have liked a bit of citrus or something to provide a counterpoint to all that calorific overload.
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This is my second FB from the Exclusifs collection (the first one was Cuir de Russie). I would have bought a couple more if they had them in 30-40 ml format. Even 50 maybe, but not bigger.
I like the name Tiger’s Nest so I’ll try to get a sample of it soon.
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As always, amazed at your organizational skills. I try to keep a diary every year with just a couple of thoughts per day, and I find that impossible, much less keeping up with perfumes. I seemed to flit a lot last year and was sampling quite a bit, so I didn’t feel like I had a ton of repetitive wear. If I had to guess I’d say the one I spray the most is Dame Mate, Patchouli and Heliotrope. I just find it so wearable and it smells great on my skin. When the weather was hot I wore a lot of tuberose but I have several. I did some purchasing when we were in France, but mostly things I can’t easily get here, so Roger & Gallet and also Garimond brand. I gave my kids some choices of a perfume they could go in on together to gift me and they chose MDCI un Couer En Mai, which is lovely. I look forward to hearing about what you try this year!
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I tried Couer En Mai at Harrod’s in London in 2017, and liked it very much – so congratulations on your new bottle!
I make myself to record my perfume wearing because I did it for so many years already that it would be a pity to stop now :)
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You tested HOW MANY? Oh my gosh, I would be hard pushed to come up with more than about 10 that I was interested in. And those I tried. The new Hermessences, including the oils, the Chanel Eauxs, and Hiram Green. I bought Cèdre Sambac, will buy at least one of the Eauxs, (Have not been anywhere to do that yet. Vienna in Feb ….) and bought the HG. Although they are not new, I got the 4 Strangelove oils and love every single one of them. Nothing else interested me. I wore mostly Chanel, Hermès, and Malle. (Vero too, as ever but as that is ongoing and part of my capsule collection it needs no mention.) Your organisation stuns me. My most worn was Cèdre Sambac. At least 30 times probably more. More often than not layered with the Music Pallida oil. Oh yeah, I bought Chanel No18 edp ….. Loved this post Undina. Hugs. xxxxxx
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Musc Pallida*
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“Music Pallida” sounded good as well :)
I really like testing new perfumes. I do not want to pay for it since I like usually one out of ten that I try, but for free I wouldn’t mind to kiss a bunch of frogs.
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Undina, I adore your statistics posts! I am a numbers nerd at heart. It’s fun to see how many you wore and from which houses.
I tracked my scent choices until August then life got in the way and I stopped. Also didn’t wear fragrance as often for a few months. It was too much to think about, having so many choices made it seem impossible. I have relied on samples and a dozen or so bottles these past few months. I am enjoying my pared down selections. When spring comes I will get everything out of storage and regroup.
Like you I try not to wear the same scent more than one, or sometimes two, days in a row. My nose seems to get fatigued quickly. :D
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Thank you, tiffanie.
I’m sure you’ll have a lot of joy re-uniting with your collection.
I was thinking about making some list of perfumes to wear for a while to avoid the everyday morning dilemma: what to choose to wear.
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Great photo of Rusty! I love your chart. 2018 was very tough at work, but good in my personal life. Hoping that work in 2019 will not be as crazy!
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Thank you! I also hope 2019 will be not as busy as 2018 was (to leave me more time for my perfume hobby).
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Impressive stats, Undina. I’m always trying so many new fragrances. Maybe I should keep stats on the ones I remember.
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Thank you, Richard. When you have some “hard” data, sometimes you discover interesting facts about your habits.
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That’s very true, Undina.
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That picture of Rusty is priceless!
I continue to be impressed by your perfume hobby organization. I reported my SOTD just about everyday on NST but my tracking fizzled out at the end of April. My most worn brand based on gut feel is Chanel. Least worn brand relative to collection size was Jo Malone.
As to perfume purchases, I had been naughty (but what’s new?). New release full or partial bottle purchases included: Aftelier Alchemy (re-release), Bruno Fazzolari Fontevraud (partial bottle), Chanel No. 5 L’eau (Red Bottle), Chanel Paris-Deauville, Hermes Musc Pallida, Hiram Green Hyde, Mona di Orio Santal Nabataea, Tom Ford Lost Cherry and Zoologist T-Rex (and probably a few more…plus some older releases).
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Thank you. I really liked that picture of Rusty and glad that I had a reason to share it.
I admire your approach to getting “samples”: you’re much more adventurous than I :)
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That is such a cool graphic to show your most-worn brands! I also wear a lot of Jo Malone and, yes, it’s very easy to test or apply something else while still wearing your scent of the day!
I love the 51 photos of Rusty and hope to see even more this year! Wishing both you & Rusty a happy 2019!
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Thank you, Caitlin!
I still think Jo Malone is a great brand, and I’m glad when I find other fans of it.
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This is unrelated, but the prime samples arrived. Thank you again for the draw, and thank you very much for the samples! Anubis in particular is a scent that I’ve wanted for a while.
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I’m glad it got to you safely.
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So organised, wow! I didn’t know you wear so much Chanel. To me it seems like you write more often about Amouage. But most Chanel perfumes are office friendly, I guess.
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I wouldn’t have known myself if it weren’t for the database that I keep using :) How do they say? Perception is not reality :)
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Hey Undina,
I come to this very late. Sorry.
For some reason your blog doesn’t drop into my eMail anymore and when I tried to rejoin it tells me to use a valid eMail address.
Your annual round up is always so amazing to me. Real dedication.
Portia xx
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