In the post for my blog’s 8th anniversary I asked my readers to name a date from the last 8 years that had some significance for them with the idea of checking my records for perfumes I wore on those dates and wearing those perfumes during February as a personal project.
It was interesting to see which events my readers chose to offer as a significant date in their lives. Birthdays are probably the easiest when it comes to selecting dates (so, just a reminder: do not use them as your passwords or pin numbers!), and it was the most popular reason for selecting a date (6): 3 personal, one mom’s, one son’s and one friend’s birthday (I liked that reason because February is my and my mother’s birthday month). Romantic occasion was the second most popular reason (5): a first date, meeting a boyfriend, two weddings and one wedding anniversary, which also was very fitting for February (Valentine’s Day). Three readers considered meeting with perfumista friend(s) special enough to offer those dates for my list. Two commenters didn’t specify the occasion for their date choice (though, I’m sure those were some special events). And one date was related to the move to a new country (or, maybe, it was returning to that country – it wasn’t clear from the comment).
In total, I got 17 comments with dates, some even with several, so I had a good set to choose from (thank you!).
It was just the fifth time in my life when I planned perfumes to wear for a month ahead. But previously I did it for a specific note: twice I wore amber perfumes for a month of November (Perfume Diary: NovAmber and I did it again: NovAmber 2018 ), once I participated in Lucas’s (Chemist in the Bottle) project of wearing rose perfumes (A Month of Roses) and once for my own project (A Month of Irises). This time I had no rhyme just reason for selecting these perfumes, so it felt a little strange. But I decided to go ahead with the project.
Did I learn anything new from it? I did!
First, even though I do not officially rotate my perfumes and haven’t got (yet?) to adding a seasonal attribute to perfumes in my database, my perfume wearing is seasonal intuitively. So being “forced” to wear in a colder season (and our winter this year is uncharacteristically cold for the area) some of the perfumes that I normally choose to wear in spring or summer, I enjoyed them less. The lesson: I should probably stick to wearing perfumes that feel right for the moment even when choosing them for some project.
Then, I realized that I didn’t like saffron in a leading role. For a while I wasn’t sure and tried to persuade myself that I liked it but the most recent experience with Jo Malone Saffron Cologne Intense confirmed what I suspected for a while: I get tired of saffron soon after I stop being amused that I recognized the note (as I mentioned before, it doesn’t happen too often with me, so when it does I tend to transfer my feeling good about that occurrence into false positive impressions about perfume itself). So, after coming to that realization, I’m happy that I have just a decant of this perfume and not a bottle.
And finally, I really really like Vol de Nuit in extrait concentration, so I should probably just bite the bullet and buy it. Rusty clearly votes “Yes!”
Images: all but Chanel No 19 (hajusuuri) are my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
Very happy this project has cemented your feelings for the Vol de Nuit extrait. It’s amazing. You won’t regret buying it.
Fab pic of Rusty!
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Rusty is so photogenic that I usually have hard time choosing which picture to use.
I usually think for so long before buying anything that there’s a better chance I’ll regret not getting it because it got discontinued or reformulated than from getting a “wrong” bottle.
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Revoke my perfumista badge because I haven’t sniffed Vol de Nuit in any concentration, but I have heard that the extrait is glorious. It’s one of those things – I’m a little afraid to try it because I have a hard time imagining that I could bring myself to buy a bottle if I fell in love (I’m just not there yet with spending 200+ on any perfume…) I do agree with you on seasonality. I just don’t enjoy wearing my “summer” perfumes in the winter and vice versa. Rusty is in fine form!!
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I think you should give it a try if you come across it: As much as I like VdN, I doubt it’ll be love at first sniff that would require dropping everything and getting a bottle (and if it will, then it would be worth it, don’t you think?). But, in reality, I think that most people who like extrait would like the EdT version as well, and it’s quite accessible from discounters online.
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That photo of Rusty!!!
I quite agree about not being pushed to wear perfumes at the wrong time of year as it can feel oddly jarring.
Interesting to get the breakdown of occasions people picked too.
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He is adorable, isn’t he?
I am much happier when I can wear perfumes based on how I feel at the moment. It’s one of the reasons I almost never participate in NST’s projects for the whole week: I can’t always find anything matching my mood to wear even once a week.
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Intuitive wearing is the best bet by far. It melds with biorhythms, deep seated feelings, hormones etc. Makes for a more authentic perfume experience. I like the idea of this. Especially the Vol de Nuit love! I agree with Rusty. Smart catb
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Even with following one’s heart we make “mistakes” from time to time: more than once I had that situation when you regret your choice of perfume a couple of seconds after applying the second/third spritz. But still, more often than not it’s a good fit.
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Aye, that is true. I suppose it is more so to be a good fit when one knows, intimately, the scent to be chosen.
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That’s so great that you enjoyed the idea you came up with and still managed to learn something new from this experience without the involvment of any new perfume. That’s such a shame that you get tired of saffron so quickly… I really like saffron, especially in cold months.
High five (high paw?) back at you Rusty!
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I don’t know, maybe it’s just not cold enough here… I don’t mind a little of saffron but in more substantial quantities it seems to overwhelm me. But I’ll try it again if I have an occasion to travel to somewhere cold.
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Love the montage of your bottles…such a beautiful visual.
Would you believe after almost 50 years of daily wearing I have NEVER smelled Vol de Nuit? I really should fix that , right?
Unlike you and MMK I DO enjoy turning things topsy turvy and wearing winter scents in summer ( Winter Woods and Absolu Pour le Soir) and summer scents in winter (Orange Sanguine, Paramela, Assam of India). I find that the two winter ones I mentioned smell better on my skin in the heat and the summer ones elevate my mood in the winter because the extreme cold (4 degrees F yesterday) and repeated snow make me really cranky at times.
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I think that perfumes are seasonal on a personal level: different people might consider the same perfume suitable more for completely opposite weather conditions (e.g., I wear Traversee du Bosphore in tropics but I know people for whom it’s a winter perfume). But when you wear something you think doesn’t fit not because you want to experiment but for some “forced” reason, it doesn’t feel good.
All the pictures in that collage were previously used in the posts about the corresponding perfumes: I decided not to link to those posts since no one usually checks out those links but I thought I’d re-use the visuals.
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I so wanted to comment with a date ( the date I got Vega seems suitable) but just didn’t get around to it. I’m glad you got the dates you needed and learned enough to make this post, especially as you got to a rather splendid conclusion: needing a bottle of Vol de Nuit, my own personal favourite in all versions available. Well done Rusty for doing the last bit of persuasion, extra cuddles and treats for that.
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I love your date idea, and it would have been a great date for the list of occasions! But I’m glad you were here for the results reveal.
I almost bought VdN today but I got busy at work and missed eBay coupon (15% off), so now I’ll have to wait for the next occasion. But it’ll be mine soon!
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Will you let us know which perfume went with which date? I keep wondering what perfume came with my date. :)
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I thought about listing all the perfumes but then decided it was too boring, so I just added pictures for those, about which I previously wrote on this blog. But since you asked, your date produced not one but two great perfumes – Atelier Cologne Clementine California and OJ Ta’if. Will you now reveal what occasion was your date? ;)
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The article triggered my to join a sharing of VdN extrait on the perfumo website. but for 4euro/ml i think i cannot go wrong. and i love galbanum….
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Wow… It is a great price. If I were to buy it from a retail store, including tax it would resume in almost $12/ml. But it comes in such beautiful bottle that I still hope to get it either with a deal from eBay, or from a Duty Free shop.
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The only thing I learned about a month of following a theme is that it is really hard because it forced me to decide what to wear at least one day before. I will think twice about joining one or making one up for myself (like I did for my “Red Package” month in February).
At least what you learned netted to zero 😂. Do you like L’AP Safran Troublant? As to Vol de Nuit, I actually don’t recall what it smells like so will need to rectify!
Rusty is looking mighty fine!
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Now it’s probably my time to confess: I’m not sure I’ve ever tried Safran Troublant, so I have no idea whether it would be too much or not.
When I get a bottle of VdN, I’ll help you to rectify that sad omission (if you don’t do it before than).
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Hey Undina,
Do we get to see what fragrances you wore on what day and for whom?
Portia x
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Hey Portia!
I decided against writing a long list. But 10 perfumes that I wore are shown on the pictures; two more were named, and the rest will stay unnamed. Though, I’ll let you know that for ”your” date I wore Mantrap perfume that I brought from New Orleans last year.
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A most intriguing and insightful post, Undina. And that shot of Rusty is superb!
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