That is what I have.
My collection has been growing for years but unfortunately my perfume review output hasn’t. And I can’t get rid of anything I haven’t actually reviewed (unless it’s so bad I never want to smell it again). Or anything I grew out of in my smelling journey. The irony in all this is the fact that for what seems most of my life I’ve been lecturing my mom on clearing her life of stuff she no longer uses, only to end up in pretty much the same mess.
According to my limited knowledge of Feng-shui (very limited actually), the stuff you don’t use but only accumulate weighs down your life energy. As my life energy feels pretty much down most of the time, I’m guessing I did it to myself (well, it’s not really guessing if I’m sure of it). 😉
So basically, if I don’t want to weigh myself down I have two choices. Start writing even short reviews if I don’t have much to say so I can decide what to let go, or just have a quick smell and let go of at least half of the stuff I have (I’m talking mostly decants now).
Then again, I keep thinking what if there is something of what I let go I later decide I would like to revisit and I no longer have it?
Has anyone faced a similar problem? How do you let go of accumulated perfume which lingers because you never got the time to get to know it?
Should I let it go or still try to get to know it?
I must say, I don’t have such problems with clothes. At least my wardrobe is clear of lingering clothes… 😉
Tagged: decants, I've been thinking, lingering collection, perfume thoughts
All I am - a redhead 
I regularly let go of stuff and mostly that goes well. Now and again I regret not having a particular perfume any longer and in a few instances I have even re-bought it. Not the best way to save money, I admit. 😉
I need these frequent purges though or I would feel overwhelmed by the shameful evidence of my own greed.
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🙂 🙂 🙂
That does make me feel better. 😉
I have a perfumista friend who believes in letting go of perfumes because if you really decide in the future you’d like it back, it will find a way to get to you.
It seems to work great for her… I should try it.
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I have been slowly getting rid of clutter over the last few months, Ines (and was long overdue in this regard and still have a ways to go, particularly in terms of clothes, books, dvd’s and general junk). My perfume collection is not all that huge and it fits nicely into my life, meaning it’s basically neat and aesthetically pleasing, but I did finally weed out most of the samples I collected over the years. Piles of samples, unorganized, and I’m ashamed to say that I put most of them in the trash. That part I feel guilty about (in regard to the landfill/environment), but letting go of this stuff has made me feel better overall.
Good luck with your decision.
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Suzanne, I can imagine letting go of clutter making you feel better because it certainly makes me feel better always.
It just doesn’t seem to work that well when it comes to perfumes. 😉
I’d like to weed out my decants first and then eventually I’ll get to samples which I’ll probably just give away on the blog. Or to whoever says they are interested.
But that is still far away in the future.
P.S. It’s so nice to hear from you, I was just thinking the other day how long it seems we had not contact.
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Ines, yes, I apologize for being out of touch, as I just realized from seeing Undina’s latest post pop up in my email that I missed wishing you and Asali a happy birthday. So please forgive me, and I’ll wish a Very Belated Happy Birthday to you both now! Was it good? Did you do anything special?
I’ll drop you an email soon. Not a lot happening in my part of the world besides weather (a lot of snow right now!).
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Dearest Ines
Now I’d say that the good sense you exercise in relation to clothes outweighs your sentimentality when it comes to scent. Think of it this way: an unused full length overcoat must weight at least a couple of kilos, maybe more, so that’s at least a dozen bottles of perfume or heaven knows how many minis, decants or samples.
By having a streamlined wardrobe you have compensated for a houseful of fragrance and restored your feng shui ergo no need for guilt and hence your inner balance is restored.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
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Dearest Dandy,
I love your take on my feng-shui problem. I think I’ll go with it while I decide what to do with many of the decants that linger. 🙂
I certainly made enough space for several new bottles with the amount of clothes I let go… 😉
Thank you!
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He, I am actually very much with the Perfumed Dandy on this issue… Reorganise yourself and keep everything that you care for and also all the things you are in doubt about. When it comes to samples I find that they don’t take up much space and I often find myself wanting to explore notes or compare something, or just revisit a scent because of a thought or something I read. It has then happened that I have been a bit too quick to just pass on the sample, and I have had to track it down again. So now I keep most samples unless it’s something I am absolutely certain I can let go of. With decants it’s a bit different, sometimes I like something but just really don’t wear it because I have other things in that category that I prefer, then, after a suitable amount of time, I tend to let go. Bottles; when I really don’t wear them, however much I actually care for the actual scent, I tend to swap them where possible, to get something I really will wear (but often try and keep a sample). Perfume is a luxury and an indulgence, it doesn’t serve a purpose the way clothes do, so keep ’em and be proud 😀
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Oh well, you certainly made a good point. 🙂
The only thing I don’t have a problem letting go are the bottles. I can decide easily enough when it comes to them. But decants and samples present a bit of a problem.
I keep all my samples for the same reason you do, what if I just want to visit a perfume in the future, just for reference? I do need to find it first in that case. 😉
There is a simple solution to my problem – it’s just not as simple to put into practice.
Write every day. 😉
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I keep all the samples, no matter how much I disliked the perfume – for the same purposes as already were mentioned above: they don’t take too much space but I might want to re-visitthem later or do a comparison sniffing. Just organize them so that you can find them easily. I recommend to do it by house.
What I need to do is to work on my clothes: I just need to let go things I don’t want to wear any longer – even if they are still good.
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Oh, I used to have my samples organized by house in the early days when I could keep track of what i had. I do need to re-organize them in such a manner but that will have to wait.
As for clothes, ever since reading about French women and their style of little clothing items that can be mixed and matched and reading the Little Black Book of Style (I think it’s called something like that) – I’m trying to streamline my wardrobe, making it so that when I decide to pull something out of it, it fits. 🙂 Both me and the rest of my ensemble. 😉
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Ever lasting dilema. Feng Shui says you have to get rid of old stuff to give place to new stuff and therefore also new energy.
I’m not getting rid of my perfumes or samples, as my collection is quite managable, but right now I’m not buying anything. Not even samples. It is too frustrating having so many things, and not even being able to try it. I’m trying to let go to the material stuff. Instead of that I’m learning to enjoy in simple little pleasures. Not every time succesful, but I’m trying.
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I think I’m a bit stuck on the perfume feng-shui. I feel my collection is cluttered and that many samples will go to waste (and decants) but because there are so many, it’s a bit too much for me and I completely lose the will to smell anything. Does that make sense?
Well, at least I know what the problem is. Now I only have to work on the solution… 😉
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It makes perfect sense, too much stuff (perfume, samples especially) pushes you into opposite direction. It is the same with me. I’m just too busy to enoy smelling my perfumes and enjoy in them. So I rather say and write nothing. But it is very frustrating.
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Hi Ines,
I know how you feel. I recently had a big wardrobe cull which made me feel much better (until I happened upon a reduced gift set of Jour D’Hermes, Oh the grapefruit..!).
I have many samples that I’ve collected. When I am sent one that instantly inspires me it gets written about very quickly. But most of them are collated into genres and left to stagnate until I have a clever context in which to write about them. Of course, some get instantly rejected because they are boring/generic/copies of other perfumes.
I think sometimes it takes the arrival of a new scent to spark interest in one you’ve had hanging around for a while. For instance, something I’m about to review reminds me of a large bosomed and rather cheeky version of the austere L’Heure Bleue! I’ve never wanted to write about LB before but this one has instigated a pleasingly bizarre comparison.
Enjoy the deluge
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Thanks Odiferess!
I know what you mean, sometimes I also smell something and want to write instantly about it but if I don’t do it exactly then, I lose the momentum and then the review doesn’t get written.
and stuff just keeps on collecting…
You got me interested in Jour d’Hermes now. 😀 Hermes line isn’t available here (to my knowledge) so I haven’t tried many of them – but I love grapefruit! On the list it goes.
See?! I just keep adding stuff instead of letting them go. 😉
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Recognize your dilemma all too well. And yes, like Birgit I have discarded and (ouch!) re bought once. 😉 However to keep some order and sanity I spring clean and sell off.
It’s a bit drastic but seems to keep a lid on the clutter.
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Ooops! That hasn’t happened to me yet but knowing myself, it certainly might.
I’ll try and cull my collection every few months, in several years it might actually become manageable. 😉
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I actually have the same experience as Odiferess about blog inspiration and perfumes, and also as it relates to clothes. Sometimes, years after I acquired a garment / perfume, something connects me to it and I either start wearing it – or writing about it. And maybe also wearing it, in the case of the perfume! That said, I still need to regularly cull my clothes, but I have been pleasantly surprised by how certain items have finally had their moment…;0 Doesn’t help us much here with getting rid of stuff, mind. Hmm, I try to give away samples in swaps and occasionally to a local women’s refuge. I have tried selling bottles, but mostly no one else wants them either! I shall have another go though, you’ve inspired me. So yes, I feel moderately bogged down, and moderately lethargic, but I struggle to chuck any perfume away in cold blood, as it were!
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I do get inspired by perfumes down the road. With some perfumes, it’s all about timing. Not so with clothes in my experience.
Sometimes, it’s worn, sometimes it’s no longer looking appealing (I wonder sometimes what was I thinking when buying it) and sometimes it’s finally time to admit to myself I will never again be that thin and able to wear it. 😉
Well, I got rid of of all that with time (It’s difficult admitting it oneself).
And I can’t even get rid of samples – only those I really don’t like or have back-ups.
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