I believe it’s the case of as I know more the less I feel I know.
I am getting a bit lost among my perfumes (and perfumes in general).
Each morning I stand in front of my stash and I have no idea what to put on. I don’t seem to be able to see the trees in the proverbial forest (I’m getting it backwards). 😉
I can’t seem to figure out what exactly is it I want to wear. I like the choices I make, after all, there is a reason I own those decants and bottles but something is not clicking.
I am prone to blaming it on stress ( stress is such a great thing, you can blame it for everything) but I think it’s more likely the case of me not getting as familiar as I should with both my collection and the perfumes outside my ‘comfort’ zone. I realized yesterday I’m a bit stuck in the groups I like when I went to a little sniffing session in Flores here.
I decided to try CDG Daphne again and realized I now liked it. I tried it twice before and completely dismissed it.
I think that the fact so many perfumes go through my hands makes me lose focus of the things I love and enjoy and that is how I lost myself among the perfumes.
I am now hoping that by trying to smell my samples and getting to know better all I have, I will regain my focus and enjoy wearing the perfumes I have much more than now.
I do not plan on adding anything to my collection until I get a handle on what I have. Swapmania withstanding as I’m getting some lovelies through that. 🙂
Ok now that I’ve rambled through this post, I should say it was prompted by smelling Amouage Opus III.
I like it even though it’s not my kind of perfume but I can’t figure out whether I would wear it or not. Even though it reminds me of the dentist’s office for some reason.
Does this happen to anyone else? Something similar maybe?
All I am - a redhead 
When your collection is twenty or even thirty scents – that’s including full bottles, decants and those multiple samples that you’re planning to use before moving onto a bigger size of the perfume – it’s really easy to keep them all in your head, quickly move mentally through the whole collection and decide on what to wear today. But once the collection starts to grow…
I almost never wear perfumes from samples smaller than 3 ml (maybe after I tested a perfume, really liked it and consider buying a bigger size) so for daily use for me it’s usually a choice between full bottles and decants… and I cannot decide it any longer, there are too many of them. My solution? I plan to write a small tool on top of my database that will be offering me a choice of 3 perfumes. Now I just need to finish figuring out what parameters to use 😉
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Undina, I want that tool as well! 🙂 Sounds much easier that way.
I also don’t use samples for wear, only decants and perfumes and even though theoretically speaking, I know what I have in my collection, if it’s not visible straight away, I won’t remember to apply it (as I won’t see it).
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Yep, I get lost in the collection, and I think that also the collection is all tied in with the blog. So I get confused about what I like, and what I want to wear, and what I want to write about. And I don’t want to wear my favorites when I might have a stressful day. And I don’t want to test something new when I might be too distracted to pay attention. And, aaaaack!
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Exactly! 🙂
The confusion is getting to me.
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I loved this post Ines, so true. ALL those bottles and decants, you loose track, and yet there are always new fragrances that are different and vying for attention, even when you think it’s impossible. At the moment, since I’m still away from my ‘permanent collection’, it’s easier for me to decide, but I miss my bottles.
However, I’m also really very pleased with my collection- and its size.
Undina, if you do come up with such a tool as what you’re talking about, I would love to get a copy 🙂
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Asali, I tried getting my collection into something more manageable, but then there were many bottles I am emotionally attached to. And some that won’t be available anymore so I don’t want to let them go even though I don’t wear them.
For the time being I will try and not get anything new. if that might be possible. 🙂
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Oh exactly, emotional attachment and discontinuation are the two main culprits of the size of my collection too.
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I have less and less problems with this because my wardrobe (due to a financial situation) is shrinking. 😦 but even I stand in front of my little precioussssss , I still enjoy that lostness. 🙂
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😀 I’m glad I am not the only one.
Well, I’m sure the perfume wardrobe will get bigger soon. 😉
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I have a problem with scope: if I’m in the mood for a large perfume and the occasion calls for a small one I can get confused. I also have perfumes I wear all the time (Cuir de Russie) ad perfumes I never wear (Tabac) for not very good reasons.
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Joan, yes, it seems like my reasoning isn’t really working anymore when it comes to perfumes either. And my attention sort of wavers.
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This is exactly how I feel lately: “so many perfumes go through my hands makes me lose focus of the things I love and enjoy …” That expresses it perfectly. I’m not sure what the resolution is going to be, but I have been slowly doing a few things that I hope will help. Something similar to your “sample a day” and Undina’s database suggestion idea, and also streamlining my collection so it’s less overwhelming.
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Natalie, my sample of the day seemed like a good idea to me, but now it seems it’s more of a good idea in theory than in practice. 😉
We’ll work it out though, I’m sure of it.
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I am routinely stumped by my oversized collection, and often pull out three or four things, take the tops off – even smell the nozzles – then decide I am not in the mood for them and put them back! It is rare that a day goes by without my being indecisive to some degree.
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I do that too! 🙂 Smell the nozzles and decide, naah, that’s not what I want. 🙂
The thing is, I usually go for what’s in front and completely forget to smell what’s in the back.
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