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Post by Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers

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Hello APJ! Have you got a habit? Lord knows I have. Confession time…

Fragrant Confession Time

I have been guilty of being quite set in my ways, feeling that certain fragrances have their season, or fit only certain social situations, even that they “match” with particular outfits or colours! (My Bandit ensemble is a favourite). A gorgeous friend has gone one further, making a beautiful dress in celebration of Ma Griffe. Now I know lots of people do this sort of thing: saving zesty summer spritzers for only the hottest days, categorising scents for business or parties or the gym.

All that is wonderful, and serves well most of the time, but lately I have wanted to mix it up, to experience my collection in new ways. I also wanted to avoid falling into unconsidered habits. And then, some days I just need help to decide…

I have my fragrance collection stored on a fragrance social networking site* that has a cute tool. It’s a way to make a random selection from the fragrances listed in your wardrobe. So… each day I ask the Random Button what I should wear.

And…? I have been selecting my SOTD like this for a month now, to entirely delightful results. I have worn much more broadly from my wardrobe, and from samples and decants at least as much as full bottles. This has been a great prompt to discover some “new” scents.

Photo Stolen Shopping.com

Taking my cue from this fragrance wheel of fortune, I have fallen into the waiting spicy balmy embrace of Parfum Sacré, I have floated on the criminally overlooked cool green florals of Givenchy III, Incense Rosé has risen above L’Air du Desert Marocain in my Tauer of love.

Photo Stolen Tauer

Recently I mentioned the unusually cool Spring and Summer weather where I am. Although in no way intended as a complaint, it seems that I was heard where it matters, and since we have been smote with a long and blistering heat wave. So fiery it’s been that I fancied I heard the thunder of Apocalyptic hooves, but thankfully it has transpired merely to be the clip clop of a Happy New Chinese Year.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

At the zenith of this heat, the Random Button decreed I should wear Bulgari Black. I do believe this fragrance is exulted in extreme heat. Rather than resisting the roasting, I made a cup of Lapsang Souchoung, unfurled and became one with the melting tarmacadam of the city, the scent of rubber, tea and vanilla swirling as I yielded.

I’m not especially good at being told what to do, so I won’t claim I’m consulting the Random Button religiously. There are still days when I know I *have* to wear a certain scent. But I’m looking for a suggestion a lot more often than I thought I would. And enjoying the outcomes more than I imagined.

How about you? How do you select a fragrance to wear? Any quirky habits?

Confess!
Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers

*I’m using Parfumo, which is great! Once you’ve loaded all your perfumes into your Wardrobe and Samples collections, you can use the Parfumo Assistant to suggest perfumes adjusting their settings for season, time of day, whether it’s a week day or weekend, even occasion (leisure, night out, business…) You can choose to include or exclude your Samples in the suggestions. The assistant gives 12 suggestions that you can then choose from. And of course you can mess about with it however you like: when it becomes really cold over winter I will be dialling up some spring morning suggestions just for some relief!

You can use your account to keep a record of what you wear (the accumulated record is visible only to you). If you do this religiously, you get an archive of how often you wear scents and what you rarely wear – great info for reminding you of neglected beauties, or for keeping tabs on what can justify its place on your shelves and what should be moved along!