24 Days of Vanilla

My first blog article! I wanted to share in case anyone wants to do this for themselves, or as a gift for a fragrance-loving friend.

I decided I wanted to do a fragrance no-buy for the month of December. Partly to save money towards gifts for others, partly to give some of my lesser-worn fragrances some appreciation, and partly to put some ideas on my wishlist for family to gift me, instead of just going out and buying whatever I want when I want.

Unlike many fragrance lovers, I'm not really tempted by luxury/niche/designer fragrances. I've sampled a few, but in most cases I've found little to justify the higher price point (and I just don't have the budget for them). Instead, I scour online fragrance discounters and brick & mortar discount stores, for discontinued fragrances, affordable alternatives to the pricier fragrances that intrigue me, and other hidden gems. I enjoy going down the rabbit hole of researching fragrance notes, perfumers, fragrance houses, etc. I am fully aware that for the money I've spent building my collection I could've built a small but respectable collection of high end fragrances. But I just enjoy the thrill of the hunt and buying & trying new things.

I decided a fun way to explore my own collection and still give myself that little dopamine hit of having something 'new' every day would be to make a fragrance advent calendar. I came across a cute, sturdy cardboard reusable advent calendar at TJ Maxx, with little 'drawers' the perfect size to hold a fragrance mini, sample, or decant.

Next step was to hone in on a theme as I didn't want my selections to be completely random. Hand-down my favorite fragrance note is vanilla (and I am particularly a fan of vanilla-dominant fragrances ). I could easily come up with 24 different vanilla-centric fragrances from my collection. I had a couple of samples I hadn't really given much attention to. I had some fragrances I'd already decanted into 5 mL mini spray bottles. For the remaining fragrances I got a pack of 2mL amber glass vials from Hobby Lobby and decanted fragrance into those.

The whole project took a couple hours.. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process of selecting the fragrances, smelling, decanting and labeling the selections, and filling the little boxes. I just randomly dropped a vial in each box, except for day 24 which I knew would be my Christmas Eve fragrance, Sisley Izia La Nuit. I am eagerly waiting for December first to see which surprise fragrance awaits!

I appreciate you taking the time to read about my little project, and I would love to hear if anyone else has done something like this and what you thought!

Fragrances used:
Aerin Tangier Vanille
Atelier Des Ors Lune Feline
Mixbar Vanilla Bourbon
Elizabeth & James Nirvana Bourbon
Penhaligon’s Changing Constance
Les Senteurs Gourmandes Vanille de La Reunion
Les Senteurs Gourmandes Tendre Madeleine
Les Senteurs Gourmandes Figue Sauvage
Laura Mercier Vanille
Ellis Brooklyn Vanilla Milk
Chabaud Lait de Vanille
Berdoues Vanille & Safran
Molinard Vanille
Molinard Vanille Fruitee
Solinotes Vanille
Korres Black Sugar
Mauboussin Star
Zara Sensual Vanilla
Lolita Lempicka Elixir Sublime
Jeanne Arthes Tea Time a Paris Pavlova
Alyssa Ashley Cashmeran Vanilla
Pepe Jeans for Her
Le Mond Gourmand Ambre Etoile
Sisley Izia la Nuit