Do you remember, yesterday, when I said my only resolution would be 'to find joy and embrace it?'
I may have lied about that.
Perfume resolutions are warranted, too.
Last year, I set what seemed like a reasonable - but generous - perfume budget for myself. This was quickly shot to hell because...well, I wanted stuff.
'Resolution' is a word that freaks me out, if you want to know the truth. Historically, if I set rules, I can hardly wait to break them. Even though I'm gung-ho in the beginning, before you know it, I'm neener-neenering myself. It's crazy.
This might explain why I embrace neither dieting nor teetotalism.
How about we go with guidelines instead? Yes, here are my Perfume Guidelines for 2011:
1. Buy a full bottle of perfume only if I love it. Like, Oh, My God love it.
2. If a perfume smells like ass when it is applied, the odds are really good that it will smell like ass thirty minutes to an hour later.
3. Host perfume drawings on this blog!
4. After addressing two annoying comments or questions about perfume, I have Inner Critic's permission to fake an urgent phone call.
5. Loving perfume obsessively is not an indication of my shallowness.
6. Buying more perfume than I could possibly wear in this lifetime is an indication of my shallowness...and hoarding.
7. Inner Critic needs to shut the hell up.
8. Consider a signature work scent. Evenings and weekends are still a free-for-all.
9. Just because there's a sale does not mean I have to place an order. Necessarily.
10. Figure out how to blame B-man when I go over my perfume budget.
Picture from diabetesmine.com
I put too much on at a time. That's something that should be fixed.
ReplyDeleteAs for being called out as a shallow perfume hoarder (it happens), perfume is art. People who decorate their houses with Klimt and Picasso paintings are not called shallow; they are called connoisseurs. Clothing and perfume are just as important a creative statement as any other form of art, made not only by the person who designed them but by the person who wears them. Both get a bad rap because they are more obvious status symbols that are available for more people, so people who are passionate about them are labeled status whores. But I'm not shallow; I'm an aesthetic. Nothing more, and definitely nothing less.
My overall goal is to end 2011 with a perfume collection that's approximately the same size as the one that I have now, but one where my average love-per-perfume is higher than it is now. We'll see if that works out.
ReplyDeleteHmm, my guidelines would be probably try and spend a bit less on perfume than this year. Although that is really approximate as I have no idea how much I spent this year, I just know it was a lot. :)
ReplyDeleteSo, as you can see, I've left myself quite enough wiggle room.
One more is that I'll go and smell more in the niche shops there are here without necessarily always coming out with 2 bottles (which is something I don't understand, why can't I buy just one?!).
Oh this is a GREAT list! The one that jumps off the page at me is #9. I MUST remember #9.
ReplyDeleteAlso, #2..if you come across anything that smells "like ass", can you give me the heads-up so I don't buy it when I'm busy forgetting about tip #9?
I very much agree with you especially concerning nr 2, 7 and 9. I want to follow my guidelines for this year, which concern mainly the discovery of perfumes in Spain because I know they exist even if they are only sold via their websites, there is a lot of work to do regarding this aspect.
ReplyDeleteI also have to try AT LEAST 10 fragrances even if they are samples of perfumes that will be launch this year.
And I want to finally have the time I need to something I really love: speaking about old perfumes that perhaps are not sold anymore. And many more things, like trying to guess the name of a perfume through a bottle that I see on a photography from the beginning of the XX century for example.
And money to do all this!
Love
#2 and #7 are particular favorites. #5 is just true. (Right, she asked anxiously?)
ReplyDeleteBudgets. My mother taught me well. She was very good about keeping one, showing me how to do so myself...and then introducing me to the permeable walls between categories. So long as the total amount does not vary, well...maybe two loaves of bread, less or no red meat???
I try very hard to adhere to the FB rule. It saves real estate as well as cash. Plus, I am fickle. I am still evolving. Tastes change.
But, like any truism, there is the other side. Like, if you don't enjoy it now, when will you? Here, btw, is a good opportunity for you to justify a full bottle or two of "not sure" options...call them "for my work scent resolution, erm, guideline" scents. You'll NEED to have plenty of that/those, right?
Hi Joan - thanks for your comment. I suppose anything done well could be considered art. Food, wine, perfume...welding.
ReplyDeleteWe all know that great cheese is art.
While perfume is a creative statement, I must - in the name of self awareness - ask questions around the issue of quantity. What does it mean that I collect mass amounts of perfume, knowing full well that I may not love them or even wear them. And yet, I am compelled to accumulate more. Hmmm.
The psychotherapist in me is tweaked.
Fortunately, I claim to be nothing more than a human being that has a strange attachment to things that smell, particularly perfume. My obsession lacks the depth that others display, as I neither claim to be an expert, nor do I aspire to gain expert status.
What I want instead is a breadth of experience, and ownership, of perfume. This sometimes strikes me as greedy, voracious and...shallow.
Remembering this helps me not take myself too seriously.
Thanks again for stopping by!
Hey ChickenFreak - Using the love-per-perfume equation is brilliant! I hope for the same thing; to rotate some of what I don't absolutely love, and replace is with perfumes I am truly passionate about.
ReplyDeleteAs our noses (well, at least mine) are always changing, this will be an ongoing challenge. That sounds even more fun!
Thanks for your comment!
Ines, thanks for the comment! I, too, will try to get a handle on my perfume spending this year. Unfortunately, we have no niche shopping in my city, which totally bums me out. I can imagine being just like you - finding a local source and buying more than one bottle at a time. Good luck paring down!
ReplyDeleteHi JoanElaine! I will definitely alert you to all perfumes I experience that smell like ass! Of course, because of differences in chemistry, one person's 'ass' may be another's holy grail. Nevertheless, I will provide a heads up and appreciate your doing the same!
ReplyDeleteAlways enjoy your comments!
Vintage lady, hello! Your interest in older perfume is intriguing. I have a low level of tolerance for 'can't find the vintage version' frustration, so I generally prefer to stick with what is accessible. However, if vintage perfumes find me (as they did last fall), I will certainly add them to my collection.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your 10 samples of new releases for 2011 and thanks for the comment!
I LOVE your blog. Have linked you on mine. Your writing is beautiful and you've already made me cry twice. Well done ;)
ReplyDeleteHi ScentScelf - your mother was brilliant! It's amazing what we're willing to trade for something we really, really want.
ReplyDeleteIn 2010, I tossed FB cares to the wind and, as you say, would like, this year, to preserve both real estate and dollars. Honestly, I think I used grief to justify spoiling myself with whatever perfumes I damn well wanted. Oh well, there are far worse things to use as a crutch, I suppose.
And what you said about our tastes changing is also true. Perfumes I loved in the beginning of my obsession (Parfum Sacre, as one example) I can no longer wear, even though I still admire them from a distance. I'm stuck in a smoky-dirty-incense-leather phase with no sign of changing anytime soon.
Yes, extra FBs for Guideline Research will certainly be necessary in 2011.
Good to see you!
I would love to know what you will choose for a signature work scent. My resolutions...try not to stop blogging, try to organize the monstrous chaos that is the sample drawer, try to weed out from the drawer stuff to review and review the stuff :)
ReplyDeleteDaly Beauty, hello and welcome! Thank you for your comment - it is one of the kindest I have ever received. Thanks, too, for linking me to your blog. I'm looking forward to visiting!
ReplyDeleteHi Marina! I cannot imagine choosing anything other than Jardin en Mediterranee, although I am in the middle of a love affair with the aouds (White and Black). Still, Mediterranee just reeks of intelligent energy and the sillage is appropriate for a hospital setting. Plus, I dearly love it.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you!
#2 made me snorfle an entire mouthful of seltzer. Like, through my nose, which is now outta commission. :)
ReplyDelete#9 is one I have experienced difficulties with myself. Resistance is futile!
I managed really well this weekend to resist sale items in several duty free shops, so am feeling quite hopeful of keeping up #9.
ReplyDeleteThen, driven by guilt over #6, my general plan is very much along CF's lines, and to that end I have recently been giving away FBs that I know I will never love and cannot even swap away. Not saying I haven't or won't replace them with new ones, but the average love quotient should rise in line with CF's algorythym.
Agree about #2! "No pain, no gain" should only apply to exercise regimes and face lifts.
Another guideline for 2011 is to apply MORE perfume each day - I am ludicrously cautious, whether in dab or spray mode, and often forget to re-apply. Some days lately I have almost forgotten to wear the stuff at all.
Another guideline - no, "resolution" - is to learn once and for all how to spell "rhythym".
Meg, if I can make you - or anyone - snorfle out their nose, I consider it a great achievement. And yes, resistance to #9 is definitely futile!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting!
Hello, Vanessa! ChickenFreak said it well, didn't she? I will remember her 'guideline.' Why is it, exactly, that you are so cautious about perfume application? It's possible I am guilty of the opposite, but if I'm going to wear perfume, what's the point if I don't own a little airspace?
ReplyDeleteYou seem more polite than me in general...
As for 'rhythym,' I had to copy it from your comment to even come close to getting it right! Some dreams are too lofty to hold onto.