Sometimes our perfume collections include pieces that don’t quite work for us – not anymore, or maybe never did. And yet, for one reason or another, we keep them: for the memory they hold, the person who gave them to us, their beauty as objects, or simply because we feel we should. For this SQ, let’s consider only bottles (so, no samples or decants).
Sunday Question #295:
Do You Own Any Perfumes You Don’t Like but Won’t Let Go Of?
Why do you keep it/them?
My Answer
In general, once a bottle of perfume gets into my collection, I have a really hard time letting it go. I can justify to myself keeping almost any of those that I used to like or got as a present from someone. I can explain not parting with bottles that I bought for the bottle’s sake. I still hope to maybe wear someday perfumes that came as a part of a set with the one that I wanted to own. But there is one perfume I own for no rhyme or reason – Bitter Orange & Chocolate by Jo Malone.
It was a limited edition released in 2013 as part of the Sugar & Spice collection. Bitter Orange & Chocolate was the most popular one; it smelled divine on my co-worker, and one of my friends loved it and even bought a backup bottle. I love chocolate. I like oranges. Angel Taste of Fragrance flanker with a chocolate note was one of my favorites. At that time, I liked most of Jo Malone’s perfumes. And still, this one didn’t work for me. I tested it repeatedly, hoping to change my mind – and I didn’t. It was almost sold out, so I decided to buy a bottle, telling myself that either it would grow on me (I had a sample to keep trying) or I’d be able to sell it later…
All these years later, the bottle is still untouched, and I don’t have a good explanation why.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
Hey Undina,
BUMMER about the Jo Malone. You could probably get a small fortune for it now.
As I’m still in the middle of my big collection declutter and stalled there are a bunch that need to go. None that I abhor. The CHANEL No 22s that were attacking me have all gone except a couple of vintage and an EdT that I just cannot part with. Maybe one day my body will let me love them again.
Portia xx
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Several! A couple of gift/sentimental bottles for sure. I also have a handful of the Lolita Lempicka apple bottles, beautiful, but I’m not sure when I last wore any of them. I loved the original at first but it doesn’t work for me anymore. With so many other choices I just don’t reach for them. But haven’t been able to swap them away either!
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Ah, Undina-I see you’ve been through my stash and derived inspiration for today’s SQ :) I have a couple. A bottle of Dolce and Gabbana red cap-the original made in Italy. Gift from a family member. A bottle of Guerlain Cherry something with sparkles for the same reason. Some of my collection is aspirational-if I wear this I’ll be a person who is always on time, or the ads embody something I want to be. Once it’s in my collection it’s there for good apparently.
I don’t know your Jo Malone scent but it sounds gorgeous. There was a Dawn candle in that line that I would like to get my hands on :)
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Several, particularly the more expensive ones that I don’t want to just give away willy-nilly. There’s Nomenclature holy_wood, a neo-chypre synthetic rose-patchouli that I think has gone off, but I like the Erlenmeyer flask bottle. There’s The Merchant of Venice Rosa Moceniga, which I find cloying after a while, but adore the rose design on the bottle. The one that takes the cake is St Giles The Writer, which stinks like body odor and isn’t even in a specially designed bottle, but the name and the whole image around it (the box has a stylized laptop beside a window) appeal to me to the extent that I’ll be keeping it around as a paperweight if nothing else.
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Probably. I can’t bear to let mum’s scents go, even though she hadn’t worn any fragrance for decades. The OG Escada from the early 90’s, pre 1989 Femme & an early bottle of Paloma Picasso. I adore the Femme but neither of the others are to my taste, yet it’s too soon to rehome them.
I will never part with anything that DH has bought me. He would never buy me any fragrance without specifically asking what I would like.
Things I’ve bought myself? The reformulated SL Sarrasins. It’s been hidden away to mature in the hope it magically becomes the jasmine/leather Sarrasins I love. If it hasn’t when I check it, I will have to consider selling, but doubt I’ll be able to part with it
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There’s only one fragrance I can think of Undina. That would be Encre Noire by Lalique. I could easily chuck it in the trash for as little as I paid for it, but it just continues to take up residence in my fragrance cabinet nonetheless. Everything else I have varying degrees of affection for. It’s a good and bad problem to have.
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