Yes, I caved: I bought the new Hermès fragrance, Osmanthe Yunnan (see yesterday). I am still feeling guilty over the price, to say nothing of the fact that I bought it unsniffed. Last night, I consoled myself with the reminder that I have been very conservative in my purchasing this year, and the Osmanthe Yunnan brought my total for 2005 to a mere 5 bottles of perfume. This morning I went to looking for a fragrance to wear, settled on Ormonde Jayne Ta'if, and noticed next to it the Isfahan that I bought last spring. Oops, that wasn't included in my total, so make that 6. Curiosity got the better of me and I did a quick inventory. The extent of my denial was revealed fairly rapidly; oops again, make that 9 bottles. It could be worse, right? Please, say yes.
I first became seriously interested in fragrance in late 2003. I bought one bottle in November, and another in December. A flurry of spending early in 2004 eventually led to a self-imposed limit of 2 bottles per month. I stuck to that (more or less) for the remainder of the year. This year, I have slowed down, but all the same my "to buy" list currently comprises 15 fragrances, only 2 of which are to replace bottles that are nearly empty.
If you have any perfume budgeting tricks to offer, or if you would just like to share in my guilt, please comment.
Update: the grand total for 2005 ended up at 11 bottles.
6 bottles a year is very impressive! I have never felt any guilt over my perfume passion, therefore I cannot relate to that. You should feel no guilt whatsoever about buying OY, especially when you have been so good about your spending. Indeed, I would say that you should anticipate the receipt of your Osmanthe Yunnan eagerly, because I can almost bet my money that you will very much enjoy it. It indeed has some Divine Bergamote elements, but with lots more depth and floral sweetness. JCE rules yet again!
I love that graphic! Ha! I may have to make it my desktop.
I try to ignore how much I spend on perfume, but I will say it's been quite some time since I've bought a full bottle (with the except of a few quarter-ounce Guerlain perfumes, and I mean, come on people, those are REQUIRED). I pretty much live off decants from ebay. I can't justify full bottles anymore when even a 1/6 oz. decant lasts for many months. The only perfume I wear that gets replaced regularly is Bandit.
Congratulations on OY!!!
Please review as soon as possible! 🙂
Sorry, can't offer any budgeting tricks. I have been very very bad this year.
pbi- this will be my New Year Declaration- to buy decants. I hardly ever finish a bottle before I get bored of it. *dreams of a big decant buying spree when she buys a decant of every scent on her wishlist* 🙂
This is hilarious, NST! I feel your guilt. I just wish I could divest myself gracefully and productively of the dozens of perfectly good and 90% full bottles I'm no longer interested in. There, I've confessed.
Only 80%? You are postively a SAINT, on the Vanilla Scale. I have bought many more bottles than you this year alone – and yet some are nearly finished! (Sometimes I wonder if they can smell me from Jupiter).
I think the OY is a safe bet – you'll like it. I look forward eagerly to your review, when you will exquisitely unpick what I love about it.
See it's a good investment already…hundreds if not thousands of people will benefit from your purchase! (One of many well-honed excuses from the Vanilla Book of Perfume Justifications)).
Hello!
This is my first post with you Robin! I must first say thank you very much for maintaining such a wonderful perfume blog! It has been a pleasure to read your reviews. I must compliment you on your restraint of perfume purchasing. I have done much worse than you since I've started reading Now Smell This and Bois de Jasmin and others! I also have to say that it is a hobby for me and if I didn't spend money on this hobby it would be something else instead, so regardless, money would be spent! I can't wait to read your review and was secretly hoping you would purchase but I didn't want to comment ,lest I sound pushy!!
I am stunned that you're a relative newbie to serious fragrance collecting, R! You're so knowledgeable that I thought you've been at this for many years.
I've been at it for about a year and a half. Like you, I bought far too many bottles in the initial excitement of my craze. After reaching 25 bottles, I decided to switch to swapping or buying decants. Well, I didn't follow through on that strategy since now I'm over 40 full bottles. I will follow Colombina's lead in declaring that it will be decants all the way in 2006. :o)
As for guilt, I do feel it. On the other hand, I've cut down on clothes & shoes buying considerably. I can make do with a few outfits, but I must have a broad fragrance wardrobe!
Budgeting — what is that??? LoL!
Thank you V, I will send you a bill if I hate it 😉
M, hoping it will get here by Saturday & will review it early next week…
L, I am nowhere near ready to divest myself of anything, sadly! Glad we share the guilt 🙂
N, do send on the rest of the Vanilla Book of Perfume Justifications, I may need it before the holiday season is over!
Welcome, C! Before perfume, I spent most of my money on books & CDs. I think my yearly expenditures might have been lower, though! Before that, my hobby was beads, and that was very, very expensive too…just as well that I gave that up.
Iris, I am stunned that you are stunned, LOL — I think of myself as soooo behind. There are zillions of classics I have never smelled, and with the current rapid rate of new releases, I feel like I will never catch up.
I do not mind swapping for decants, and that is the only reason I don't have 200 bottles, but for some reason I don't like to buy them. I need to get over that!
Hi R. Here's how I handle the perfume $$ guilt. I take every rebate check I get in the mail (from buying those “freebies” at CompUSA that you pay for first, to the usual grocery ones) cash them, and put the money in an envelope marked “Perfume Fund”. You'd be surprised how quickly this money adds up. Within a month or so, I usually have quite a bit of change in there. Most of my perfume purchases are with this “found $$”. Guilt free spending.
K, That is a great idea! We need a rebate program for perfume purchases, LOL!
Robin, I am laughing as I read your post because this morning I came thiiiiiiissss close to buying a bottle of Apres l'Ondee on eBay (the price went too high for me), which would've been unsniffed but I figure I love Mitsouko and Jicky and L'Heure Bleue so much, why not? I consoled myself with buying a decant to see what I missed out on… I concur generally with the decant/sample suggestion except I often feel that I've failed to get the totality of the scent unless it's been applied with a liberal spray. Does this happen to you? Any application tips, other than pouring half the sample down my arm? Do NOT feel guilty about your perfume habit!!! People spend $ on all sorts of odd things (wine, sports equipment, fine dining, etc.), and if pleasure is the goal then perfume is no less necessary than most of them. I personally think the suspense is part of the thrill… is the mail here yet?!?
Repeat after me: I deserve to buy (fill in the blank, in this case OY), because I'm smart, I'm friendly, and dagnabit, people like me!!
'Nuff said.
Hugs! Have a fabulously fragant weekend, my love!
Apres L'Ondee is so lovely, I hope you wil love your decant!
Agree on the spray vs dab. For very light perfumes, I like to transfer my sample to a little plastic 2 ml atomizer, but they aren't cheap and so I don't do it unless I have to.
And — completely agree that the suspense is much of the fun! But I won't be laughing if I hate OY.
R, LOL — I knew you would have the perfect justification! You have a wonderful weekend too 🙂
9 bottles in the past year? I buy 9 bottles a month. I have no concept of perfume budget – oh wait, that IS my entire budget! Seriously, I don't spend money on restaurants, entertainment, smoking or drinking – I figure I deserve to spend it on perfume! No guilt!
I think I am a year or two behind you R, and still in my first buying frenzy so nine seems quite reasonable to me. I started by reading a fragrance article on Jo Malone (who I since have quite fallen out of love with) and then picking up Emperor of Scent. That truly got me started and, between my husband and I, my full bottle collection has grown to (I think): Angel, Black, Omnia, Hiris, Ormonde Champaca, Malle Terese and Musc, Rush, Tocade, Youth Dew, Beyond Paradise, Gucci I, as well as Feu D'Issey, Notte, some Fendi starting with “F” and Diet Shalimar (the Brandon purchases). I also have a large collection of samples. I am hampered in my love of some of the classics and designer lines by the fact I live in Canada, and am having difficulties in getting some delivered (the Caron urns, most recently and my disastrous attempt at getting Histoire D'Eau topaze).
LOL! Hello dear R! I started using Quicken when I started working on July 1, and I love making those pie charts! (Except my huge splurge is specifically skincare!) Mine is really very scary. When I looked at the raw numbers last week, I felt very guilty.
Hope you are well!
I love the pie chart….still giggling to myself…I think mine would be almost the same…once it was clothes, now its perfume, shipping supplies and fees and decant bottles…
Hey, T, you have a great collection.
I want that Topaze too, but have pretty much given up on it. As often happens, I can no longer even remember why it is that I want it in the first place — must have read something about it somewhere(?)
M, long time no see, hope you are well!
Quicken is a dangerous thing, LOL! I thought from your blog that your big thing was makeup. I have pretty much given up spending on makeup (have enough to last me a lifetime) and skincare (have my few things that work and don't want to mess with my routine). It is all perfume, all the time for me 🙂
M, Yes, should have included shipping & decant expenses, those really do add up! Have to wear rags & go barefoot to pay for swapping these days 😉
T, Wow, really, 9 a month? Thank you, I feel better about my measly litte Osmanthe Yunnan!
Eye-opening info R. My frantic, exhausting, over-the-top pefume spending days are behind me. My early 20s? I could have built a spacious glass house with the bottles I possessed. One day I looked at my down-at-heel shoes, raggedy belts!, toe-less socks, faded shirts, was appalled, and said: “It's time to concentrate on CLOTHING!” I realized even if my cologne was $200, the effect was lost with my “Scarecrow” wardrobe. Then there were the pug and English bulldog vet bills…trips…the garden. But I guess as long as you have a roof over your head and your little boy has lunch money and clothes that fit, you are OK! HA! I think most people can control themselves and should feel no guilt for buying what makes them happy. I usually buy about 6-8 bottles a year (with about 100 samples thrown in for good measure) and that's ENOUGH! These days finding a scent that interests me is HARD. Like everyone else I anxiously await your review of OY! Please let it be this coming week? K
Cracking up at the down-at-heel shoes & raggedy belts. I am not that bad off just yet, but I have a hard time paying so much for 1 bottle. I would feel considerably less guilt had I spent the same amount on 3 bottles. Makes no sense, but that is how it is.
OY review coming up tomorrow!
That pie chart looks very familiar! Kind of like my fantasy budget.
I just discovered your blog today and I will be back to visit a lot! I am lifelong fragrance fanatic and I never stop looking for perfumes to fall in love with.
Welcome, and hope you find a few new favorites here 🙂