Two things happened this week. First, a commenter on my bath powder post taught me the meaning of SABLE (Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy). Then, a friend posted on Facebook that she was determined to use a full bottle of vintage Balmain Vent Vert this summer.
This got me thinking. My perfume collection is SABLE and then some. Isn’t it about time I made a focused effort to use it up? Also, I loved the idea of immersing myself in a scent and getting to know its nuances over time. I wouldn’t wear only that scent — there’s plenty of time during the day for another perfume or two, besides I need to write reviews — but I wanted to live with it. Really live with it. With all the perfume I have, it’s rare that I dip into the same bottle twice in a month, let alone daily.
I have a half-ounce bottle of Carven Ma Griffe Extrait that I’ve barely touched. This, I decided, would be the bottle I’d deplete this summer. I chose it for a number of reasons. Ma Griffe, a green chypre with a kick of white florals, would wear well in the heat, and it would be restrained and easy enough for work, but interesting enough for downtime.
Plus, Ma Griffe is resolutely old fashioned with its foghorn of oakmoss. It’s elegant, yet edgy. I love vintage fragrances, but what would it feel like to live with the fragrance equivalent of a pillbox hat until autumn? Would I understand it better or be done with the whole category of perfume?
Finally, green chypres don’t always age well, and I’m afraid that if I let this bottle of Ma Griffe sit around much longer, I’ll be crying over a sour mess. Wine doesn’t age forever, and neither does perfume stored in a house like mine, even if it is kept away from light.
Normally, with a vintage Extrait, I’d dab it on like it was liquid platinum. This time, I’ll tilt the splash bottle so that I can slick my entire forearm with the fragrance. Maybe I’ll even pour some Ma Griffe into an atomizer to really experience it. Once it starts to fade at the end of the day, I might kick it up with the rest of my tart Vero Profumo Mito sample or even a palmful of Paco Rabanne Calandre. A little jasmine or gardenia might shine a new light on Ma Griffe, too.
Besides wearing Ma Griffe on skin, I’ll dunk a handkerchief in it to carry in my purse. Maybe I’ll wipe some into my hair or dab it on my light bulbs. I might even try scenting some Epsom salts for my bath with a few drops. By the end of summer, the sleeves of my cardigans will smell of Ma Griffe.
Once the bottle is empty, I can be grateful that I used it to its fullest. Into my underwear drawer it will go so I enjoy its last whispers.
And if I run out early? I guess I’ll start in on that bottle of Rochas Mystère.
What about you? Have you ever given yourself over to a perfume for an extended period of time? How did it go? Want to try it with me this summer?
Years ago I bought that triplex of L’Artisan spice scents, decided I loved only Safran Troublant, and swapped away the other two. I also decided I loved ST so much that I should buy a full bottle of it. Every now and then I get determined to empty that 15-mL bottle once and for all so I can get started on the big bottle, and I figure I’ll wear ST really intensively: I start off well enough, and then two or three days in, I get bored. (I’m down to about 10%, so there’s hope.)
I just need a whole lot of variety, something different every single day (and if I can manage it, more than one per day), which is why I have so many bottles and can’t seem to stop adding to the collection. (Though I’ve bought only three things this year, all on vacation, two vintage, and those two I think automatically get a pass — you find something rare and wonderful yet inexpensive, you MUST buy it.) I am definitely in a SABLE situation.
I feel your pain! (And share your judgment about rare and wonderful vintage fragrances not counting.)
So far, I’ve managed about a week of Ma Griffe. Fortunately, I only get four or five hours out of a generous splash, so I’m able to enjoy it intensively, but also move on to something different. Hey, like Safran Troublant!
I was a serial monogamist with perfume for decades before falling down the rabbit hole, so I can say with certainty that I HAVE given myself over to several single fragrances for years at a time. Most recently it was Jil Sander No. 4. Before that I’m unable to list them chronologically, but they included Rochas Byzance, Anais Anais, Tresor, Aliage, and one more that just won’t come to the tip of my brain. Much as I would love to join you in your experiment, I’m afraid I have completely lost the will for any sort of fragrance monogamy. 🙂
You’ve done your time! Now you can live free and dally wherever your nose takes you.
You’re not planning to wear only Ma Griffe, are you? It’ll just be your standby, the one you wear unless you specifically and desperately want something else?
I would think it will do well for a PNW summer. I don’t get on with Ma Griffe myself – the 2-3 different ones I’ve tried have been mostly soapy vetiver on me (ugh), and the aldehydes, usually a highlight for me, had gone off. But I can see it being a staple.
I am, however, making it a point to wear Jolie Madame extrait whenever the weather is suitable. I’ve managed to nearly drain one mini bottle of my six (yeah, yeah, I know, SABLE) and given another away because it’s just so amazing.
Oh, I won’t limit myself to Ma Griffe! But I do want to use it up and enjoy it while I do.
I adore Jolie Madame. It’s great that you’re spreading the love, too.
How very timely! I once was a serial perfume monogamist too, but these days it is a new fling every day. I recently had a very low (4-5ml) bottle of Eau des Merveilles that I was determined to finish by wearing every day. Like you, nighttime was exempt but every morning for about 10 days I would go to my EdM. It really got tiresome, even though it didn’t turn me off of it. I did start resorting to spraying a couple in the air, just to finish that darned thing off already!
Oh, I forgot to say…I hope we’ll get to hear about your experience when the Summer of Ma Griffe is done.
Thank you! I’ll do a wrap-up post if I have anything interesting to report.
Maybe the true perfumista is fickle by nature! I can imagine “accidentally” spraying a bottle here or there away from skin just to use it up.
I once commented to you lately that my new “thing” was making a concerted effort to use up dregs so that I could file the empties in their proper places. This worked well for a while but I can’t help myself—I just have to use a different one every day. So most juices sit on the shelves (plural!) with about 50 % gone. Eventually I suppose I’ll be filing several empty bottles away at once!
There’s something wonderful about using up a bottle! (After all, it makes it easier to find the excuse to buy a new one.)
I’m down. From tomorrow to Labor Day is just about nine weeks, and I have a FB of vintage Via Lanvin with this challenge written all over it. 🙂
Excellent! I can’t wait to hear how it goes!
My mini of Via (via ebay, of course) had gone off, but I’m guessing that Via in good shape would be excellent summer fare.
That’s my impression, too.
I’ve always thought the name “Ma Griffe” and the ads were so cool, but I’ve never been able to wear it, sadly. Good to see her on the prowl, though! 😉
Cool and rainy here today, which is highly unusual for DC in July. I rummaged around in the drawer where I keep unboxed vintage perfumes and found a 1/4-oz bottle of Helena Rubenstein Courant parfum that I’d forgotten all about. To my nose, it’s a spicy chypre and just right. What ever happened to those spicy perfumes that don’t smell like spice bazaars but instead convey a sophisticated perhaps cynical glamour?
I’m not sure I’ve ever used up a bottle of perfume and I prefer it that way. 😉 I did wear L’AP Dzing! two or three days in a row this week and Amouage Gold two or three times, as well.
For spicy chypres, I completely know what you mean! I’ve worn Pucci Zadig a few times lately, and it’s perfect spice and chypre with no gingerbread cookie at all.
Have fun with the Courant!
Dioressence might count as a spicy chypre? Or is it an oriental? Not sure about cynical, insouciant maybe.
Yes, I just had to look up the spelling of ‘insouciant’.
I love the word “insouciant”! I’ll have to try to work it into a conversation today.
I never wore perfume until I was about 40 and then I was quite monogamous until this past year and a half, when all hell broke loose. First I finished a bottle of Floris Syringa and when I repurchased, it was no good anymore. I didn’t know about reformations then. I tried a few things and then fell in love with Le Labo’s Neroli, and have finished maybe three bottles? I added Bergomote 22, of which I’ve also finished a two bottles? I now have the tail end of these two and more additional bottles than I care to count! Some things are definitely in higher rotation, but I’ve only got a small group I want to rehome and nothing I want to finish. There a couple I worry about how well they are last, though, and may need to give them some particular attention. ????
It sounds like the world of perfume opened to you at a great time! Summer is perfect for the gorgeous florals you mentioned, too. Have fun with them!
“With all the perfume I have, it’s rare that I dip into the same bottle twice in a month, let alone daily.”
LOL!
I know the pain. My collection is so SABLE that I have to make a conscientious effort NOT to dip into the same bottle more than twice within a year.
In my 30 years of wearing/collecting I think that I’ve only completely finished 3 or 4 bottles. I do have a 30ml of Diva edp dating back to 1984 that only has about 5-8 ml left in it, but wearing Diva everyday, in summer heat, might not be such a great idea…
I also have a few drops of Antaeus bought the same year. Again, it might be a bit much for the season. Maybe this fall…
Oh, either of those would be great to empty in fall! Today is cool enough where I am, that Diva sounds positively wonderful.
I tend to wear the same fragrance to work for about a month or so and then switch to another one. It allows me to get deeper into each scent and also reduces the risk to annoy my colleagues with too much experimenting 🙂 And yes, a month of use makes a noticeable dent in the amount left in the bottle, even if it means I won’t be coming back to it for a while.
At the moment I’m working through a small remainder of Chanel Pour Monsieur and it might just be the first bottle I’ll use up since my perfumania started in 2012.
That’s a sound approach to wearing perfume. Kind of a limited-time monogamy. Your mention of Chanel Pour Monsieur reminds me that I have a decant of Egoiste that I want to use….
Seems like I’ll go steady with Frederic Malle Eau Magnolia this summer. It wasn’t love at first sight, but now I am so in love!
I’ve only sniffed Eau Magnolia a few times, and it didn’t bowl me over. Your comment has encouraged me to give it a true testing!
It really needs a true testing to shine. But then it delivers ????
I’m taking this to heart.
Ma Griffe–the 2nd scent I fell in love with! Love Mystere also. (Probably dating myself here–these were the style du jour in my “formative years,” so they always feel right to me.) I’ll be interested to see your thoughts.
To me, they’re both cool and stylish scents, as I’m sure you are, too!
Angela, you are amazing. I hope you revel in the delightful strain of fragrance semi-monogamy. I’ll be thinking of you. And Ma Griffe. 🙂
Years ago I was introduced to the term SABLE by a knitter-friend with a mind-altering yarn collection. It appeared she had decided to have a personal yarn boutique at home. Beyond fragrance and fiber, I wonder how what other narrowly-focused enthusiasts of a given area of interest seek for (or despair at) their SABLE status?
SABLE must be an instinct that throws back to caveman days. You know, gathering nuts, or something like that. I know there are people who have more shoes than they can wear out before they die, or cars than they can drive, or ornamental thimbles than they can use.
(Tonight I dabbed some Fracas extrait over the Ma Griffe. Not bad!)
I do have a SABLE assortment of shoes, linen dinner serviettes, fountain pens, scarves, condiments, teas, gin… I might need to seek help. Lol
We could be related! Take out the teas and add coats, and you’ve got my situation, too.