Looking Back At A Year of Fragrances: Lessons Learned and Mistakes Made

I was looking at my old Reddit posts, reminiscing about old memories and past purchases I've made (I'm pretty active on the Sephora sub) when I stumbled upon a post featuring my first fragrance purchase. That's when it hit me: it's been a year since I've started my journey into the world of fragrances. Looking back at my collection that has grown and changed over the months, I felt a need to write an article about my first year into this hobby and talk about lessons I've learned and mistakes I've made, in the hopes of helping people who are starting out. People who have been in this hobby longer than I might also relate to certain things I've learned. Here are my thoughts!

My journey in the world of fragrance started on a Wednesday, November 2nd in 2022, about a year ago. I had started my allergy desensitization and the changes were positive. My nose had started to clear, I could finally breath by the designated organ instead of my mouth and I was less sensitive to scents. Everything started with Sol de Janeiro, a brand I loved using for their body cream. I had spotted their body mists and I was curious to try them out and see if my nose could hold out.

I started out with Sol Cheirosa '62 in the travel size and two of their body mists: "Brazilian Crush Cheirosa '62 | Sol de Janeiro" and Cheirosa '71. I instantly fell in love with the perfume and the '62 body mist. When I received them, I knew it was the start of something new. On November 9th, I had received the full size Sol Cheirosa '62 perfume. In December, I was already at 7 fragrances. My first designer was J'adore Eau de Parfum , my first celebrity fragrance was Cloud Eau de Parfum , my first perfume oil was "Nemat's Vanilla Musk | Nemat International" and my first sampler set was from Kayali. In Febuary, I discovered Parfumo and left Fragrantica. I leaned heavily on what Sephora and Shopper's Drug Market had to offer and only just recently I've gone through everything they've had to offer (except new releases). I've now turned my eyes towards niche brands by exploring Etiket's catalogue and then I will be moving on to Niche Essence, Parfum Exquis and H Parfums. It's definitely not over.

It's been a beautiful year full of lessons learned, experience gained and mistakes made. Thankfully, I don't really have any regrets, but if I could start over, here are a few things I'd do differently:

• Start out with niche fragrances before designer perfumes: Now that I've had the opportunity to try out niche fragrances, I can say I'm more critical of designer/mainstream perfumes. The latter ones are still lovely ( I still appreciate those in my collection and still have decants I need to test), but I find that they all smell too similar. This is normal since mainstream fragrances are for the many, but now I find myself gravitating towards more unique scents and beautifully executed fragrances with creative briefs that are on par with the cost of a bottle. My boyfriend disagrees, told me I wouldn't be where I was if I hadn't started out with designer and moved on to niche perfumes, and I see where he got his POV, but I'd be curious to see how the path would've been different if I had started out with niche.

• Lean more heavily on travel sizes and sample: I'm a victim of FOMO and impulse purchases. I have a few perfumes I need to declutter and some I should've smelled before buying (looking at you Ginger Biscuit ). There's nothing wrong with buying travel sizes ( or samples) and taking the time to wear and test out a perfume throughout the day. When travel sizes / samples are available, I should've taken the time to enjoy the perfume, instead of jumping immediately to full bottles. I think I'm sometimes too in a rush to try out everything, but why? There's no race.

• Give myself a budget for buying fragrances: When I started out, I didn't have any budget (and I don't think I still do, unfortunately). I didn't know where to go, where to get samples for the right price. Now that I've been in this hobby for a year, I've slowed down a bit more. I have a backlog of decants I have to test out and a rule I've given myself (only buy a full bottle when I'm through with the travel size, if it's available). Going forward, I'll be trying to limit myself to one bottle of perfume per month and see where it goes. I don't want all of this to turn into an unhealthy obsession and a money sink.

• Slow down and only buy loves: Something that has been quite difficult for me is to separate the perfumes I like from those I love. There are also perfumes I appreciate, but would not like to wear on my skin. For example, I've come to realize there are few fruits I wish to smell on my skin (ex. fig is a lovely fruit and there are beautiful interpretations of it out there, but I don't necessarily want to smell it on me). Perfume is like wine, I need to slow down and enjoy every single moment of it.

If there was a fire at my house and I had lost everything, this is how I'd rebuild my fragrance collection at the moment:
- First fragrance purchase: Armani Privé - Thé Yulong
- Top 3 fragrances: Armani Privé - Thé Yulong , Tihota and "Fenty | Fenty"
- Top 5 fragrances: Armani Privé - Thé Yulong , Tihota , "Fenty | Fenty" , Aqua Allegoria Bergamote Calabria and Fall Cashmere

As a conclusion, I'd be interested if you who read my article could answer these questions:
1. Why did you start collecting fragrances?
2. What was your first fragrance?
3. What was your first designer fragrance (if any)?
3. What was your first celebrity fragrance (if any)?
4. What was your first discovery sampler set?
5. Your best lesson learned?
6. If you had to rebuild your fragrance collection, which one(s) would you be repurchasing in order (1 / 3 / 5)?

As always, thanks for reading my article. Don't forget to leave a like, subscribe and comment if you feel like it. See you in my next piece!

***Cover from Tara Winstead