Years invested in perfumery

I'm curious, how many years do y'all have since you entered the perfume game? And I mean entered seriously, when you were already buying samples and collecting and testing as much as you could. 

I, for one, have only little over a year

And since we're at it, how did you find this passion for perfumery? What started it?

I started out about 5 years ago. Before that I only had one fragrance at a time and I was looking for a change, came across influencers posting about Creed and Parfums de Marly on Instagram and wondered what these fragrances could possibly smell like to command such outrageous prices. First niche perfume I was exposed to was a 4x10ml set of Percival, Pegasus, Layton, and Kalan, then a Creed sample set, then MFK, and the rest is history.

Such an interesting question! I am neurodivergent and I have been extremely interested in smells since a little kid. I also do a thing called olfactory stimming and I have done that with things that smell of something as long as I can remember. I always wanted to smell EVERYTHING. Smells of nature, spices, food, my family's perfume collections. So I have been "testing" as long as I can remember, that is to say 30+ years. I got my first own perfume bottle in 1996 when I was 9 years old. Of course back then I couldn't start a "collection" yet. I guess it was when I was 19 years old and moved on my own and started earning own money when I had the first chance to try to save money and "invest" in perfumes. Buying samples is really not an option in my country (it has always been either impossible or very expensive). When I moved from my countryside childhood home to a city, I had the option to test fragrances in stores. But mostly back then in the 2000s and 2010s blind buying online was the only option if the brand wasn't very popular. I would say I have had a "serious" fragrance collection for about 20 years now.

A few months, lol.

I wore Piazza di Spagna for more than a decade and have been getting anxious recently that my beloved bottle is going to end. It's an old discontinued little thing, so it's not like I could easily just go and buy more of it either... So I've wanted to find something new to fall in love with for a while.

And ever since Covid hit me a few years back and gave me a new appreciation for my olfactory system, I've also been interested in perfumery as a hobby. I love collecting stuff, so maybe instead of searching for 1 perfect perfume, I could start a new collection? The colorful bottles are very pretty in their own right, after all. But as a person who never had interest in perfumery before, for a very long time I didn't quite understand how to approach it.

I'm very picky and perfumes are very expensive, so I can't just buy full bottles of whatever exists and hope I like it, because I know I won't 99% of the time.

That means I have to test things first to figure out if I enjoy them, but how? Just go inside a perfume shop and sniff everything? What could I possibly learn from that? Everything smells like crap on a test strip in a crowded smell store. I gotta get it on my skin and wear it for a while. But I have a very limited amount of easily accessible skin that won't mix the flavors, so I can only test 1 or 2 things at a time. And if 99% of the time I know I won't like them, will that mean that I'll have to keep going into perfume shops, splashing their product on me for free and leaving? For gods know how long? Horrifying.

So when I accidentally discovered that decants are a thing and I can order them from trusted suppliers and not just the shady smelly kiosks that sell cheap fakes of whatever's popular at the mall? And then I can just receive a huge pile of smells in the mail? And test them at a comfortable pace in the safety of my own home without bothering anyone?

Welp, then it was over for me, lol. My nose hasn't known peace ever since.

I think I’m about a year in now. I had perfumes before but was never serious about it. Last year I remembered an old colleague of mine and he always smelled so good to me! He wore something from Dunhill I always remembered. So I walked into a perfume store and there they were: the beautiful shiny collection of Dunhill’s Signature line. Tested Indian Sandalwood and bought it online.

I was a bit struck by how much money was saved by buying online! In no-time at all I wanted more and bought four of them. The summer holiday quickly came after. Went to Vienna where my son and I were greeted by the most beautiful perfume stores. Parfums de Marly, Initio, Xerjoff, all stuff I had never heard of but dang it were those beautiful bottles and amazing scents or what? I was hooked. And now I’m writing a blog on perfume addiction loollll.

I wish I remembered! it's been... at least 4 years. I've always liked fragrances and had them around, tho I didn't get too into it until a few years ago. I'm still pretty casual, I'm not out to smell everything and not into being challenged or whatever. since I've always liked fragrances, I feel a level of investment was always inevitable, I'm just surprised it took me so long.

For me, it's already been a long time since I got interested in perfumes...to be more specific , the mid 70's when you received a miniature with every Yves Rocher purchase. But it became a passion when Armani introduced their first fragrance in 1982 .  This gorgeous chypre was actually my first love in perfumery and is still the best fragrance from the brand in my humble opinion... Since that moment I started investing seriously in perfumes. My collection went from small to big and from big to smaller to bigger again..., it was a wonderful adventure and discovery over many years and now fast forward almost 50 years later the passion is still going on. I have invested a lot of time, money and energy in perfumery. Bought an awful lot of sample sets and from this testing it became clear what my preference is... The last 15 years mainly in the more artisan/ indie genre and just the other day I have decided that my collection is complete...

I don't remember the exact time, but I was involved in perfume business for a while, so if you include that, it's about 15 years. (But Japan is a perfume desert, so there are only a few things I can try.) I've been so stressed out lately, I'm a bit addicted! lol　The trigger was definitely Dr. Pepper.

Afraid to write down the number of years... Let's just say discovery sets weren't a thing when I started out. Samples were free back then and I never left a store without at least one sample. I was so sad when perfume houses started charging for their samples, but at the same time I do enjoy buying discovery sets these days.

I had a phase around 2008 in uni, was hyper obsessive, had forum meetups and everything, wrote a blog... Then 2012 IFRA hit, i was no longer a student and I didn't have as much time on my hands. Just recently got back into it ✌️

I was obsessed with perfume as a teenager - my dad used to bring me bottles back from his business trips all the time. But then, with studies, work, love, kids... I kind of let it go for a while.

I got back into it more seriously around 2019, and I have to say it’s hard to stop! Even when I find an amazing fragrance that could totally end my 'quest for the perfect scent', I can’t help thinking there must be more out there to discover… so I keep going! 😁

Dearest @LeatherLace, so nice to see you here again, it's been a while, sending lots of hugs to you! 🤗🥰 And yes, I love the Yves Rocher minis too, my mum used to have a huge collection of them! I think they were actually the very first fragrances that I started sniffing in my childhood from my mum's mini bottles. Now I have been hoarding them to my own collection every time I see them at flea markets etc., I absolutely adore vintage Yves Rocher! 😍