I know I’ve been MIA for a really long time (I’d rather not think about how long) and I can’t say I’m back, even though I would love to, but I will certainly try to be back. 🙂
So, in my wish to get back to writing about perfumes and just generally enjoying them more, I did a switch the other day, finally bringing out my spring and summer bottles and decants – only to have weather suddenly change back to winter. It seems to be getting back into spring luckily though.
But that’s not the point of this post.
Going through my decants, I realized I have some unnamed ones. And I am the person who didn’t label them after decanting them. The optimistic past me thought my nose and brain were so good I would remember what I decanted. But the optimistic me forgot how bad I am at remembering names. And I suck at remembering names – ask anyone who knows me.
The irony of me thinking I would remember what I decanted years after the fact, knowing how unable I am to remember names wasn’t lost on me.
So, imagine my surprise when I smelled a decant and knew that I could remember this perfume because it was so very familiar to me. But the name just wouldn’t come no matter how much I smelled my arm. And it was a perfume I really loved at one point in my perfume story.
So I let myself not think about it anymore and went on with chores.
Honestly, I love lightbulb moments and I wish I’d have more of them. My nose and my braing finally made the connection half an hour later.
It was Chinatown by Bond No 9.
A brand and a perfume I totally forgot about. I don’t read blogs much anymore but it feels like no one ever talks about Bond No 9 anymore (and I know the brand is probably responsible for that).
The thing is, I don’t really care what kind of brand is behind that perfume because I realized I still love it and think it’s absolutely wonderful in all its sweet, gourmand glory. I guess it evokes the initial gidiness of learning about a new obsession of mine (perfume), at a time when my life was much more carefree and optimistic. And now I think about it, it was quite a long time ago. 🙂
I don’t want to lose my newly found perfume optimism, but I feel old when I think about stuff like my old carefree days. 🙂 Luckily, it just makes me laugh at myself. Besides, I am not that young anymore – and the irony is not lost on me here too, because I feel younger in my mind than I did in my 20s. Probably because I don’t take things so seriously anymore even though I feel more serious. 
I realized I never actually reviewed Chinatown. It won’t happen today either but I would actually love to talk about it a bit more.
So here’s me hoping the perfume that originally got me into loving niche is the one that brings me back into enjoying perfumes and writing about them again.
Tagged: Bond No. 9, Chinatown, irony, optimism, perfume thoughts
All I am - a redhead 
Hi Ines!
Hm, I can’t talk about Chinatown because I never sampled that particular Bond, but I know what you mean. There were some good perfumes that came out of the brand, and they were created by good perfumers: New Haarlem and the now discontinued Andy Warhol Silver Factory come to mind. (I know that Bond has had a lot of new releases since then, but I can only speak to the earlier stuff as I haven’t sampled anything new in ages.)
Like you,I rarely read the perfume blogs or post anything anymore, but I still think about “the good old days” and the friends I met. In fact, I’ve been thinking of you recently and wondering how deep you got into your astrology explorations that you once told me about. Are you still doing that? It sounded quite fascinating.
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Hi Suzanne!
The good old days… 🙂 They were, weren’t they? Meeting perfume people is one of the best things that came with loving perfumes.
As far as astrology is concerned, well, I’ve been studying it and reading a lot and all I can say now is that it feels like I’ll never master it. There is so much to learn and understand and I feel it’s going to be a lifelong project. After 2 years of reading about it, I now feel like I only scratched the surface. But it’s an amazing surface. 😉
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I haven’t had a chance to confirm it, but I had a feeling that I would recognize most of the perfumes, for which I have a full bottle. It’s probably not the case with the perfumes that were good enough to buy a decant but not a full bottle. And I’m almost certain I would struggle with any decants I got from friends or in any other manner where monetary decision hasn’t been involved.
I know the name – Chinatown – but I’ve never tried this one and, most likely, won’t since I’m boycotting the brand. But I know that there is absolutely nothing any brand or perfumer might realistically do for me to stop using perfume I already own and like (I might not tell anyone the real name of that perfume/brand and do not write anything about it if I decide to punish them, but why would I punish myself? 😉 ) but it’s in my power not to create circumstances, under which I’ll have to struggle between loving perfume and not supporting the brand/perfumer – so I try to follow that rule. But I have nothing against reading other people’s impressions – so I look forward to your upcoming (right? 😉 ) review.
My feelings/thoughts about perfumes are different from yours: since perfumes and my love to them were with me my whole life, not a single specific period of it is associated with perfumes especially – so, non, je ne regrette rien 😉
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Undina, I have no doubts you would be able to recognize your bottles if decanted – your cataloguing ways make me sure of it. 🙂
I know many perfumistas are boycotting the brand but as I have this, and love it, I do plan on using it. Probably won’t be getting more as my collection cannot bear more additions (even though I’m pining after Frapin’s Caravelle Epicee – but there’s time to cull the collection by winter time).
Btw, I couldn’t agree more with your statement of not creating circumstances where you have to choose between principles and the things you love – life is just more simple then (I follow that as much as I can). I do think though it’s not fair from life to possibly put us in such situations at all. 😉
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Lovely to have a post from you, Ines.
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to write reviews. Just your thoughts are plenty interesting enough.
I remember trying Chinatown “back in the day”. I think I even ordered a sample. It’s a really distinctive syrupy peach so it’s no wonder its name came back to you.
Isn’t funny how we’re convinced we’ll remember what unlabelled decant that is. I never do either 🙂
Great cartoon!
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Thank you Tara, I won’t pressure myself into writing but I will try and write when the urge hits (usually I let it pass).
I thought the cartoon was really good! I like to think positive when I can. 😉
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Yay, I hope you find it in you to post now and again, it’s so nice to have you on ‘the scene’ 😘 Don’t I know those unlabelled samples and decants… well done you for remembering what it was.
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Ha, can’t say I wasn’t proud of myself for remembering. 😉
I do hope to write a bit more now.
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I’d like to thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this
website. I really hope to check out the same high-grade content by you in the future as
well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own, personal blog now
😉
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Thank you and good luck with writing. 🙂
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