Do you ever take a break to help your senses?

So, recently i have noticed some of my fragrances don't smell exactly as they should and was worrying i was getting COVID again but i don't seem to be unwell and that was a whole different roller-coaster ride of my ability to detect certain notes and fragrances smelling nothing like they should.

Recently it has more so been certain notes just not registering as they normally do.  For example my favorite  note in The Most Wanted Parfum is the bourbon vanilla but the last few times i have worn it the red ginger is more up front and the vanilla is very faint.

So i can only presume i am going nose blind to vanilla, which is not surprising as it is in a lot of my fragrances so i thought i would take a break either from fragrances that have vanilla in them or just a total break from fragrances for maybe a week, just to allow my nose some time without fragrances every day and hopefully get some of my favorite noted fragrances back smelling as they should be again because i read that citrus based fragrances can help with going nose blind but i noticed even my CK ONE is not exactly as it should be.  Nothing as bad as when i had COVID, dear god it smelled awful lol but i am noticing other fragrances that usually were great with longevity are also fading pretty quick and i need a fresh spray way too soon compared to other times where they have still been present 12 hours later after a good nights sleep.

I just wondered if anyone else takes a little break and if so does it work? How long for? Etc.

I should do but I haven't so far.

ja - mache ich často!!! Und selbst wenn ich viel Parfüm habe - ungefähr 10 Leben 🤣

Yes. My nose gets "overload" from time to time so I stop wearing perfume for a couple of days. I see that in perfumeries that they use coffee grains to "reset" the sense of smell. I don't know if this is a myth.

Yeah i have heard the same. I have also heard of people being offered lemon slices. 

This is day one of my break, i am going to try for a week but if i get as much as past the weekend i am going to vote yes as i think that should count as a break lol

And is there any noticeable effect if the break? Is it worth it?

After making this topic and poll i done a little digging and found some people talking about the same topic in a thread on another forum but from way back in 2012 and many people said they did find it to be a good outcome from taking a break. Some people actually said the recommended time was a couple of months but others said they saw benefits from just a few days. 

I don't think the way fragrances are made have changed that much in the last 11 years that the information should be different? I ask that as a genuine question to people who know better because i know there have been reformulations but it's still oils mixed with alcohol. 
  

I will report back when i have finished my break what i find. This is my 2nd day and i have had the window open the last 2 days to let fresh air in.

EDIT: I added my vote to yes as i just made a tier list of my fragrances and managed to do it without a single spray of my fragrances while doing it. That imo is a break lol. So tempting! The true test will be when my latest order arrives and if i manage to wait out the week before trying it. I think i will though as i have samples of stuff like Sauvage Elixir sitting next to me that i have been dying to try but am able to withstand the temptation.

Lemon slices?! never heard about or seen this but it makes perfectly sense! When you cook and want to remove the smell of eggs you use lemon juice to neutralize it. Let us know how it went with your break. 

Well it definitely helps taking a break. I went to look at a bottle and wow, just opening the box i was instantly able to smell the fragrance where as before i would have needed to put my nose in the box or do a fresh spray to smell it. I also am noticing things like when i smoke a cigarette i used to not smell the smoke but i can again.  

The box i opened was Eros EDT BTW and wow it smelled so much better, it was like the first time i smelled it again where as in the past before taking a break  certain notes were not as present after a while but now i could smell them all again. Also, just not having had smelled or worn any fragrances for a few days made the experience way more enjoyable than it is when you are wearing something every day. 

This is my 4th day of wearing no fragrances btw. My order of Eros Flame was meant to come yesterday but was delayed so i wont get it until at least  Monday by now so i will keep going until then.

I definitely recommend taking a break. 
 

Another update for you and myself.

So last week when i finally finished my break the first scent i used was Eros Flame and i could smell it on me for 3 days. Sure it had become a skin scent by then but i could smell it for sure. I wore it yesterday and noticed it didn't last as long as the 3 days previously. I did get a good 12hrs  though.

Now for the reason of the update today. Honestly i had been scared to test my The Most Wanted Parfum, worrying that for some reason i would not pick up on the Bourbon Vanilla. Stupid i know but after a day of wearing 1 Million Elixir which is vanilla heavy i decided to go for it and i am SO HAPPY!!! Instead of the red ginger i was mostly smelling prior to the break, my beautiful Most wanted Parfum is back as it should be radiating this lovely bourbon vanilla and after a day of Elixir which i thought if anything was going to cause me going nose blind to vanilla in any form it would be that! 

Ohhh i am so happy!!! 🥰

How are you inserting your fragrances to your post btw? Before it was an option under the text box where i could search for the frarance and click on it and it would insert it to the text box . I don't have that any more.
 

I love perfumes. But I do not  'wear' fragrances every day. So I can  (smell)  enjoy them all. 

Fresh bread, fruits ...  also tomatos have to smell!  Grass, rain ...

But - not all things  I am able to smell  I like to smell.😒

Coffee beans neutralizes, also to smoke a cigarette and drink a cup of coffee. 

This is such an interesting topic. I'm a person who suffers from olfactory fatigue super easily but fortunately I haven't had to take a break of all fragrances yet as I haven't gone totally nose blind. It's just that I can't wear the same fragrance too often. I must rotate constantly and my rotation & collection must be always large for practical reasons because if the perfumes I wear are too similar all the time, it will take weeks before I'm able to smell them again, and I want to avoid that of course.

Wearing a totally different scent than the scent I seem to get 'noseblind' to, also helps me to smell that scent again.

On the other hand...Lately I'm sampling more scents that are actually 'out of my comfortzone' to discover if there's something unknown to me that I might like...and it really does something to my preferences, not always for the better when it comes to the perfumes I'm used to, always liked and have full bottles of... and, at the same time, fragrances that I was a little on the fence with, suddenly seem nicer....Very strange...

So I think changing scents (or not wearing any) for some period of time, indeed does something to your olfactory senses...

Oh yes, absolutely. There are days when I just can't imagine spraying anything. Mostly very hot ones. I use this time to recalibrate my poor recovering nose. Two, four days at most.

Yes, and I do not need to force myself to, my body/nose just ask for it tbh.

Recently I sold 20 different Louis Vuitton sample fragrances, I also sprayed all of them to see if I wanted to keep them or sell them. My nose was runny, overstimulated and I could not or did not want to use any fragrances for days after that... 

I also got a cold recently, and my nose could not smell anything, not bacon or any fragrances. I even tried 5 sprays of Prada Homme EDT, 3 Eros EDT and 3 sprays of Hermes h24 on my neck, one Sauvage EDT on my arm, Tom Ford BO EDT and Luna Rossa Org EDT on my other arm, even this I could not smell. Its time for a new break I think. 

@Castortroy

Yeah definitely take a break. There is no point wasting your fragrances if you can’t smell them and afterwards when you finish the break you will have a renewed ability to smell certain notes that you will have just forgotten were actually a part of certain fragrances. It sounds like what happened when i had COVID is happening to you and it wasn’t until after a full month of wearing no fragrance did I get back the absolute full ability to smell fragrances the way they did prior to COVID and that break.

The best way to know if you are completely cured is to take a fragrance you have known all your life and can never forget what it smells like. In my case CK One Eau de Toilette was my go to fragrance as when I have a cold or bad days where I can’t smell certain notes it is often fruits or citrus type fruits that are the first to go. So, CK ONE is a fragrance I have lots of strong memories tied to it for many occasions so it’s definitely the one I know the smell of.

If you have something like that tied to lots of memories make that your test fragrance like it was mine.

Honestly you are in for an amazing experience when you come out the other side of this 😊.

I could smell one of my strongest perfumes a bit if I put my nose really close to my arm, Tom Ford BO EDT, super sweet and rich. However it did not project at all.

I have not put on any fragrances today, just cleaning and preparing for new years 😄

Selling all those frags and buying 35 new frags in december was just too much for me I guess, some time off is def needed.