Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

Saturday Question #24:

Have You Ever Bought Perfume Just For Its Bottle?

We discussed it more than once, and most perfumistas agree: while a nice packaging matters (more or less for different people), perfume itself is much more important. But this question isn’t about it. Have you ever spent money on getting perfume that you hadn’t smelled before or didn’t like but just wanted to get a bottle?

My Answer

While I have in my collection several perfumes purchase of which was partially influenced by my liking bottles – otherwise, I would have probably gone for a decant, there is one bottle that I bought not intending to wear: Van Cleef & Arpels Feerie EdT. I got it five years ago for my Thinking outside the Box project. I’m still glad I bought it, I enjoy looking at it and regret not buying the EdP bottle of the same perfume when they were much more affordable.

But that’s not all. Recently I started thinking about getting a classic Shalimar bottle (not the newer spray bottles, but the original urn bottle with a stopper). It’s bizarre because after years of trying, I still do not like this perfume and doubt I’ll ever change my mind about it. But that bottle… It is so beautiful that I want to have it. Maybe I should buy an empty vintage bottle and pour something into it – just to put it on a display?

Have You Ever Bought Perfume Just For Its Bottle?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.

Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

Saturday Question #23:

Are there Perfumes That You Associate with a Co-Worker or a Friend?

As California passed a half-million count of Covid-19 cases, and our governor in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus has announced new closure measures, it looks less and less likely that we’ll see inside our offices this year. And it got me thinking about the things we miss (or not) from the times before the “social distancing.” And since it’s a perfume blog, and we’re trying to keep the topics of these Saturday Questions somewhere in the vicinity, today’s question is about perfumes – just to stay on a lighter and less serious note.

Are there perfumes that you associate with a co-worker or a friend – either from the pre-Covid times or from the more distant past? Are those good associations or bad? Did you like those perfumes or couldn’t stand them? Do you miss not being able to smell them on those people now?

My Answer

In my current office I’m the only one who wears perfumes, so the only scented product I’m exposed to is rose oil one of my co-worker’s uses from time to time for her hair. It’s not my favorite scent (pure rose oil smells too soap-y to me), but I figured that it was a fair trade for me exposing her and others to all my daily changing scents. And after 5 months working from home, I would be glad to smell even that oil.

At my previous place of work though there were several co-workers who wore perfumes. One of them had a signature scent – Jo Malone Nectarine Blossom & Honey. This is one of rare Jo Malone’s perfumes that doesn’t work for me. But on that co-worker it smelled just amazing. Another coworker wore many different perfumes, and it was fun trying to figure out without asking her what it was. Sometimes I guessed/recognized correctly – unless, of course, it was perfume we both liked and wore, Deep Red by Hugo Boss (I told that anecdotal “skin chemistry” proof story a couple of years ago). While I do not miss that place in general, I still miss some people I worked with back there and perfume-related interactions that we had on a regular basis.

A friend of mine wears many different perfumes, but my favorites on her are Mugler Angel (she dares to wear it outside of her house) and Tom Ford Noir de Noir (It smells better on her than on me). We talk from time to time, but I haven’t seen her in the last 6 months. I miss her with or without perfumes.

Are there Perfumes That You Associate with a Co-Worker or a Friend?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.

Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

Saturday Question #22:

What Perfumes Do You Wear When You Are Sick?

Probably the question should have been: Do you wear perfumes when you’re sick? We’re not talking about serious or life threatening diseases. But let’s say you have a brief sickness (cold, flu, stomach bug, etc.) or some chronic condition with which you got used to live flares up – do you keep wearing perfumes? If no, why? If yes, are there any special perfumes or type of perfumes that you wear?

Bonus question: Do you test new perfumes while being sick?

My Answer

When I get sick, I usually do not wear perfumes that I love because I’m afraid I’ll be associating them with feeling poorly. But unless I feel really-really bad, I still want to wear perfume because with all the bottles and decants in my collection it feels like a wasted opportunity. So, every time when I need to make that choice, I’m thinking very carefully trying to choose something I like but wouldn’t miss dearly should I have a change of heart because of the malaise. For the same reason, I try not to test anything new, though I might re-test something I tried before.

I didn’t sleep well last night, and this morning, while still not feeling well, I tried to choose what to wear for the NST’s community project (“wear a perfume by Zoologist, Xerjoff, Worth Paris or Yosh if you have one”). Initially I planned to wear my Vacation in a bottle – Yosh Ginger Ciao, but at the last moment I backed out for the fear of spoiling it for me. I have to admit that it has never happened to me yet with those “substitution” favorites but still I decided not to risk it.

Perfume I ended up wearing was Xerjoff Irisss. Many years ago when it was “talk of the town” I bought a small decant. It was almost empty, so I figured out that since I had to finish it at some point, it was as good day as any other. Besides, to stop liking perfume I do not own that goes for $9 per ml… I could think of a worse outcome.

The result? I’m feeling better now, my decant is empty, and I still like Irisss. I’m glad I have many other great iris perfumes, so I won’t be tempted to replenish this perfume in my collection.

What Perfumes Do You Wear When You Are Sick?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.

Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

Saturday Question #18:

Do You Wear Perfume to Bed?

We’re not talking about enjoying throughout the night (or, much more rarely, even in the morning) whatever is left of perfume you wore earlier that day. But do you intentionally apply perfume before going to bed?

I remember a couple of years ago I was impressed by Ines’s (All I am – a redhead) ritual of spraying Shalimar on her mattress when changing sheets. Do you have any rituals related to sleep and perfume?

My Answer

Many years ago I posted on the topic, but in short: while I do not mind wearing perfume to bed, I rarely do that. And when I do, I use perfumes that I do not wear otherwise. I call them “sleep scents.” Usually I apply those from a dab bottle to one or both wrists.

Some of perfumes that I wear like that: Sonoma Scent Studio To Dream, Aftelier Perfumes Honey Blossom and DSH Perfumes Lautrec. Sometimes, to help me sleep, I use lavender oil. And recently I’ve added Jo Malone‘s Lavender & Musk pillow mist to my arsenal of night scents.

I do not wear perfumes to bed too often. Mostly, because the last thing I want to do before going to bed is to think (again!) about what perfume to wear. But probably if I were to make myself a small set of sleep scents through which I could rotate and put it in the drawer of my night stand, next to my hand cream, it might be easier for me to incorporate that in my nightly routine.

How about you?

Do You Wear Perfume to Bed?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.

Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

Saturday Question #16:

Do You Participate In Perfume Splits?

We all buy bottles – full priced, discounted, used or vintage. We buy samples and decants from decanter or subscription sites. And we swap perfumes with others. But do you participate in the “not for profit” perfume splits, in which somebody buys a new full bottle and shares portions of the juice “at cost” (price per ml plus decanting supplies and shipping)? Where do you find those splits? Do you ever host them? Was your experience with splits rather good or bad?

My Answer

For a while I was wary about splits. Somehow buying decants from TPC felt safe, while private sales seemed uncertain and suspicious. I had no reason for that, I just feared it as something unknown, never tried before. But once I successfully went through that process several times, I realized that in many cases getting a 5 ml decant from a friendly split costs close to buying a small sample of the same perfume from a decanter site. And if you end up not liking it, you can always swap it with or pass onto a friend.

I participated in several splits in a designated Facebook group. Then I moved to mostly doing it a couple of times a year during NST’s splitmeet episodes. And then a couple of years ago I started hosting my own splits there as well.

So far, all my splits – both as a participant and a host – were successful: I bought decants for perfumes I wore for a while and was done with them; I bought decants that lead up to a bottle purchase; and I bought and shared bottles of perfumes I wanted to have without feeling guilty because of adding another 50-100 ml of perfume to my ever growing collection.

Last week I went through all the offerings from the most recent NST splitmeet post – and didn’t find any perfume of which I’d like to have even 5 ml. It seems that with the explosion in the perfume industry perfumistas’ interests are spread wide: out of about 30 offered splits, the equal number closed and didn’t get any interest – eight each. The rest (about 50% of all) got some participants but didn’t generate as much interest as hosts planned. What is interesting: it looks like most hosts plan to go through with the purchase, even though they didn’t get “full funding.”

I was slightly disappointed: not that I had in mind any particular perfume that I was looking to buy, but I hoped to see something offered that I’d like to get. Since it didn’t happen, I had to host my own splits.

Do You Participate In Perfume Splits?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.

This week is quite unusual for my blog: two posts were published already, which makes this one a third post in a week. If any of you were wondering, this will continue for a while: in addition to the weekly Saturday Question lead by me (mostly), two resident writers (after a while, I can’t call them “guests”), Narth and Portia, will be posting alternating every two weeks each. And I plan to do one additional post every second week.

Also, it happened just by chance that my previous post’s title was done in a question form. And while it was a rhetorical question, it sparked a conversation similar to how it happens with Saturday Question posts. So, it feels a little strange to do a second post with a question just two days later. But it’s already a tradition, right? So, let’s do it anyway. And the topic I chose was inspired by one of the dialogs in comments to that recent post.

Saturday Question #15:

All-natural or “All-artificial”?

From what I can get, most of my readers prefer “mixed-media” perfumes, so this part is clear. But what about the two extremes – perfumes that use only natural ingredients and those that are based on manufactured molecules? Which of the two would you choose if you had to?

My Answer

I tried a fair number of all-natural perfumes, and most of them didn’t work for me. At best, I thought they were pleasant scents but not perfumes that I’d like to wear. But most seemed straightforwardly unpleasant. Currently in my collection there are two all-natural perfumes that I like a lot – Hiram Green Arbolé Arbolé and April Aromatics Unter den Linden. On the other hand, there is just one perfume that certainly has no natural ingredients – Escentric Molecules Molecule 01. So, on the surface it would seem like a 2:1 ratio.

But then I consider that while all-natural brands make sure to point out that fact, most brands do not advertise “no flowers were harmed in the making of this perfume.” So, it is extremely likely that I’ve been enjoying many more “all-artificial” perfumes than I realized. Taking that into consideration, I’d say that for me man-made perfumes are a safer bet (though, I hope never to have to make that choice).

How about you?

All-natural or “All-artificial”?

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.