A perfume addict's diary 01: January
I've gotten into the wonderful world of perfumes since last year, 2024. Walked into a store, picked out a perfume from a brand that caught my attention and sprayed it on. Kept sniffing my sleeves. Bought the bottle, and blind bought another bottle from that same collection. I didn't even know what blind buying was. And before I knew it I wanted the entire collection. I'm talking about the Signature line of Dunhill here. I didn't even know there was a whole world besides designer perfumes! Anyway, after purchasing about 4 bottles of Dunhill within a month time, I had to hit the brake.
I discovered that there was such thing as decanting and discovery sets. I love that idea! I know myself, I get pretty bored pretty fast so with these tiny bottles I can make sure that I love a perfume before buying it. And usually the craze goes away before the tiny sample is finished. On the other hand, there are many more scents to discover now! My wishlist grows and grows.
When 2024 came to a conclusion, I read some amazing articles on here by people on their own concerns and explaining how they'd shape their new year. That was really interesting and inspirational. I decided to make some rules myself. On of the rules was to put everything in a diary, so I could share it at the end of the year. But I figured that a whole year is 1) too much to read and 2) too old to remember. So I'm doing this by the month.
Dry January
I started the month thinking it'd be Dry January. No purchases this month sir! It's only just one month right? I'll tell you what happened.
- In November or December, I can't recall anymore, I received my discovery set of Parfums de Marley. 3 Of their perfumes are on my wishlist. And what do you get with a discovery set? A voucher. And when the voucher almost expires, you get a friendly reminder from the friends in France. That landed in January! So I really had to sit on my hands not to order a full bottle of anything. Comforting thought: they're probably cheaper at discounters anyway.
- Then there were also the two beautiful discovery sets of Maison Crivelli that came in at the end of last year. I was so blown away by those frags, that made it also really hard to resist.
- A colleague of mine wore one heck of a nice perfume. It was
Lord of Misrule Perfume . That got me into reading all about patchouli fragrances again. - An incredible discount on
Hacivat landed in my mailbox. Argh! Must..... resists..... - Then the whole
Dior Homme Parfum (2014) thing happened. Oh Lord I was so afraid of missing out on the old one. Luckily I still have a decant lying around that I don't even like that much. But all the hype around it made me nervous. But now I dare to speak openly, I like the new one better no matter what all the influencers say. 
Dior Homme Parfum (2024) baby, it's on the wishlist :-) - I had a sample of the oh so familiar
Versace pour Homme Dylan Blue Eau de Toilette and I ran out. And that's where I cracked... It's such a cheap fragrance, and I liked it so much for its versatility and dumb reach. It happened to be on sale so I bought it. Yikes! Still love it though hehehe. - Now I see a bottle of
Emporio Armani - Stronger With You Oud popping up in a store. Oh boy what to do. I already have a full bottle of 
Emporio Armani - Stronger With You Tobacco which I'm not wearing too much. Almost never to be honest. I have the oud flanker in a decant which I like way more. Decided to leave it for what it is. There are better oud fragrances out there that I'm also craving so that's that. - I was discussing with a friend about the discovery sets. She found it to be a waste of money, better to save up and spend it on full bottles. I'm not sure. Should I? What do you think?
So there you have it. If you're still reading you're a winner, please share your thoughts! It's basically therapy to put everything on paper. Tomorrow dry january is over, but I'm out of money so that's the best excuse not to buy anything :-)
Hope you enjoyed it, next month a new episode and at the end of the year I'll try to make a short recap of everything.
Ceesie
I'm with you in completing a dry-fragrance/no-buy January, too - and now that it's February, we did it! 💪
Time to celebrate, perhaps with a new fragrance? (Kidding haha 😅)
If your wife enjoys testing scents with you, maybe that will expand the fragrance budget/wardrobe!
Fun fact: I was telling my wife I was doing dry January. She replied shocked! “You were planning on buying stuff each month then???”
Disagree that discovery sets are a waste with one caveat. Before I buy a set, I go through all the perfumes, reading about them, reviews, etc. In some cases, it seems I would only prefer one or two scents out of the entire set. In that case, I order individual samples from a sample shop. It's cheaper that way. I might miss out on a good fragrance that way but sometimes the potential price difference is enough for me to risk it.