A brand-new year. Theoretically, January 1st isn’t much different from December 31st. But we tend to time new activities with other “beginnings,” and the beginning of a year is one of everybody’s favorite milestones for trying something different or starting new habits. We just read about Portia’s going back to the FB wardrobe (after a year of “thunking’ samples and decants). It made me curious about what the rest of my readers have in store for 2024.
Saturday Question #197:
Are You Planning Any Perfume-related Projects This Year?
I don’t want to call them “NY resolutions,” since most people have bad connotation with that term and tend to avoid making those (though, if you did make any perfume-related resolutions, please share). But maybe you have a vision about either your perfume usage, sampling approaches or purchasing plans. Or maybe you decided to study perfume-making. Or want to order a bespoke perfume. Or… Whatever plans that involve our shared hobby you have, tell us more about them!
My Answer
As I told you a month ago, I reused the 2022 Whittard of Chelsea Tea Advent Calendar box for a self-made perfume advent calendar. It was a total success! I didn’t have to spend any time on a daily basis trying to decide what to wear. It was so liberating! I switch to a different perfume a couple of times during the month, but in general I gratefully followed the random assignment of the SOTD from the numbered box. So, now I am going to repeat the same experiment for this month (and the next, and the next, if it still works). I skipped the first 5 days of January because I had perfumes I wanted to wear, but now I plan to repeat that exercise with choosing 35-40 perfumes I think fit this month and my mood and randomly placing them in the numbered boxes. I will wear perfumes designated for each day, leaving myself an option to choose something else if I do not feel like wearing the one from the calendar.
Other than that, this year I plan to stick to my “low-buy.” I will be getting some samples (it is hard to have a perfume blog without it), but unless I really love some perfume (or finish a decant and want more), I plan to stay away from FB purchases.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
As I was gift an evoucher from Sainte Cellier, some money & haven’t used the gift card from Portia’s New Idea. I’m planning to purchase one FB from Sainte Cellier & some samples from StC.
Nothing else is planned yet as I’ll be listing more bottles on eBay shortly.
I am considering whether for each 10 or 20 bottles I sell I could reward myself with a single bottle or partial bottle of something I love but we shall see.
I like your idea of planning your wears ahead month ahead with a little randomness thrown in
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I’m scared to ask how many bottles you have in your collection that you plan selling them in dozens :)
But paring down one’s collection while replacing bottles you can live without with something you really want seems like a great idea.
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I haven’t updated my Fragrantica for a month but before I started my cull there were over 300 full bottles or travel sizes. I want to get to around 75.
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I tried a low buy last year, and didn’t do so well lol. I bought the things I’ve wanted for years, or things that I suspect might be harder to find in the future. What I need to do is to not buy unsniffed again. I love the Goutal Paris house, and bought Folie d’une Soir. Read the notes carefully, and the notes are there but the sweetness is too much for me. Now I had something bad happen the first time I wore it so I tried it again-no, still sweet and nuclear lasting power. I’m going to put it away for now and try it again on an emotionally neutral day.
So there we go-my resolution is not to buy unsniffed :)
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Similar to you, Carole, most of my purchases last year were of things I already knew and wanted that I found at a discount. I thought I was strong enough to never buy unsniffed again, but was proven wrong recently… and it was a disappointment, so I join you in your resolution!
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You two gave me an idea for the next SQ :)
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My “no-buy” goes out of the window if I come across something that I think will be harder to get in the future :) I hate regretting something I didn’t do.
Do not get rid of anything until you absolutely sure you won’t change your mind.
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I have reached the point with my number of bottles where I’m a bit embarrassed for anyone to see it. I feel it makes me feel I look like a crazy lady in the house with newspapers piled to the ceiling, and you have to weave through paths to find the kitchen. I have sold or given a few that I just didn’t care for anymore, but I actually like, in varying degrees, the ones that are left. I want to get the collection down to a manageable number however. As an aside to that, I went through a period where I couldn’t resist a bargain on fragrancenet, and even would order really inexpensive bottles because someone had written they were good. I can’t do that anymore! I think having what will still be a large, but more manageable collection, would give me peace of mind.
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You are not alone. Do we need to form a support group?
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I think so!
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Hmmm…… I can do a monthly blog post where all those downsizing to only those fragrances we love can record our triumphs & slip ups. Would that do it?
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That would be helpful, perhaps!
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Will be published on alitykescents later today. It’ll be an update about how many bottles I’ve sold. What went well & what took time to sell. Where I sold & why
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I don’t buy “bargains”: for whatever reason, those don’t appeal to me. As to the number of bottles in my collection, I would have gladly displayed them to everyone if I had enough space for them :)
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I’m on a no-buy, only using gift money if something comes up that I really want. At the moment there is nothing on my wish list. I’m also not buying samples, so that should severely limit the wants. I have too much perfume and need to just enjoy what I have, which is what I’ve been doing this week.
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I’m revisiting my 365 project on my Instagram, a different perfume each day. Can be bottle, sample, decant, and I can “cheat” by wearing it first thing and then wearing something else later after a shower. My goal this year is not just to wear more variety but also push a few out the door (by thunk or by putting in the giveaway/sell bin) if they don’t, in the words of Marie Kondo, “spark joy”. I felt very overwhelmed by my collection last year and really want to reduce. (This is happening throughout my house in small ways!)
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There is a tipping point for me, where the excitement of a new bottle was out-weighed by “where do I put it?”
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I loved your project when you did it last time, and I enjoy it this year.
I’m overwhelmed by the choices, but it looks like my plan with the calendar is working. So, I’ll stick to it for a while.
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I will primarily shop my collection as I am going on a low buy / no buy quest. I have exceptions of course where some purchases won’t count against this. So far so good: 1 week down and no perfume purchase!
I am also feeling motivated to sell or give away my perfume bottles but that will take a little bit more doing.
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I discovered that perfume low-buy wasn’t that hard for me. But I’m not ready to part with any of my perfumes, even those that I don’t wear much (or at all).
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I will do my very best to keep purchases down this year. I am primarily focusing on samples, and exploring fragrances I’ve always wanted to try. I do have a few bottles on my wishlist, but let’s see how good I am at putting off those purchases for as long as possible.
p.s. I still love the Tea Advent Calendar box idea.
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Yeah, this year will be a year of enjoying my FB collection.
I’ll still be buying samples/decants to write about and enjoy but this year may see me writing, and rewriting, stuff from the collection.
I have a box especially for things that don’t give me a thrill. At the end of the year I’ll make decisions about what happens to them.
Portia xx
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No plans except trying to wear them more. Ever since I started working from home, my perfume wearing habit has dwindled to almost nothing. :( Luckily I have a friend who recently discovered this whole world so she’s pushing me ahead. :)
And like you, I’m already in the low-buy habit for quite a while now and will continue.
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Wearing and thunking one full sample per day no matter the size. Thus far 18 of those 1 ml vials are empty because I started this project at the end of December. I’ve also put a few to the side for friends and family knowing that they want/will like these samples. I count those as thunks also.
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I’m going to continue selling or gifting bottles I don’t love and wearing all the remaining collection more. I also plan to buy fewer samples since I’m usually underwhelmed with the ones I try.
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ok for the people who are giving and selling some of their collections, can you give us some advice on how to do it? I think I have 100 bottles, and if I go through one 100 ml bottle per year I’d be surprised. Maybe, for those of us who are interested, we should do a support group, and rehome some beloved things. I tend to get too attached to things-I get worried I’ll give something away that I’d want later-ridiculous way to think. I organized my collection by house and there really is too much of it.
Interested in anyone’s thoughts on this matter-all suggestions gratefully received :)
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I’ve been selling on Ebay since 1998. My best advice is to make sure you are truly ready to be rid of a perfume or other item before you list it. Then, do your research on Ebay– check to see what are the price ranges for the perfumes or other items that you are selling. At least in the US, you may be unpleasantly surprised to find that you won’t sell most fragrances for their retail price and you often won’t get what you paid for them on a discount site. On the auction sites you are competing with people who buy fragrances wholesale so they can charge a lot less. It stinks, but it’s reality. The only fragrances I have actually made a profit on are discontinued Guerlains, Hermes’ Hermessences or other sought after discontinued items. I didn’t even get the price I wanted for a couple of Chanels I sold.
Nevertheless, you’re getting paid for something you weren’t using that was taking up space in your home and cluttering your brain, so I think it’s still good. Most of the buyers are other perfume enthusiasts or people who want a special gift and can’t afford retail prices, so I look on the fragrance sales as spreading joy in the world.
If you are prepared to sell for what the market will bear when you list the items, then forge ahead and best of luck with your sales. I always note that I am a perfume enthusiast in my auctions and describe how the fragrances have been stored, in closed cabinet, away from light, in climate controlled home. Also, be sure to take photos of the box and bottle bottoms that have the lot # on them. If you have any questions as you go along, please just ask.
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I don’t have any formal plans or resolutions to do with my perfume collection, but I am on a no-buy drive myself, or nothing bigger than a 10ml decant, say. No FBs if I can help it! I would like to use up some of my samples, actually, and some of them have helpfully evaporated since I last looked, which gives me a bit of a head start. ;)
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