Yesterday I received two lovely small bottles of Youth Dew Amber Nude. I only made it's acquaintance early last week. I decided to buy after thoughtfully evaluating the sample given me by a Nordie's sale assocociate and finding the discontinued fragrance online at an irresistable bargain price.

I'm not using an interest carrying credit card for any purchases, as I used to use and abuse when I was always buying and trying (perhaps I had the order wrong?) I now experiment more carefully with my budget ( ) in mind. A month ago I saw I was running low on Ambre Sultan and vintage Shalimar. I've been using the 2 ounce bottle of Shalimar for 9 years and is down to it's last 1/2 ounce. My Ambre Sultan is down to it's last 1/3rd of an ounce or even less. I have plenty of Chergui, which is my favourite oriental. What I found myself craving was a comfortable soft amber/oriental, something sensuous.

The Youth Dew Amber fit. Not perfectly, but there are other things I'll be needing to pay for, such as a new refrigerator. ~smile~ So instead of buying more Ambre Sultan at $140 a bottle I purchased a couple of ounces of YDAN at $40. There is a quality difference and where Ambre Sultan has herbaciousness, YDAN has soft spices, but there's enough resemblance between the scents to make me feel I didn't make a bad compromise.

A few years ago I wouldn't have been happy with such a compromise. Participation on POL, swapping, discussing and learning I now know enough about fragrances to make choices which give me pleasure but don't strain my finances. And I own a 'sensible' collection of 30 -perhaps 1 or 3 more- different fragrances which suit every mood and occasion.

I often look at the small dark red Louis Phillipe cabinet where my fragrances are displayed on top and in the middle, and are stored in the closed bottom. When I first joined Perfume of Life back in 2002 I never dreamed I'd become one of *those* broads who comfortably owned 50 bottles or even more. I then owned 8, maybe 10 bottles at most. I never wanted to possess so many fragrances that I felt frivolous or wasteful. I haven't counted how many different fragrances I now own, but I'm quite sure I have at least 50 bottles consisting of an ounce or more. Ten bottles are probably parfums discontinued for distribution in the US, or vintage formulas of a classic I love.

As a Perfumista I've reached satiety, a state of contentment. As when I joined POL, fragrance is an indispensible part of each day for me. The right scent lifts my mood when I feel low, reassures me when I feel insecure, makes me feel stronger, more confident and helps me achieve psychological harmony.

Newer perfumistas need to see this message more often to assuage the panic that comes from the head-long pursuit of fragrances. That phase does not go on forever, and the day does come when one becomes more of a contented hen, nestled amidst one's darlings. You still respond to the crow of the ######, so to speak, and trot out to see what's new, but the pace is slower and savored.

It's good you posted your thoughts, Morticia.


FOLLOW-UP:
Tee-hee--Auto-censor negated my vocabulary above. It was a four-letter word referencing a rooster or any male bird.

I wonder if it will censor the British term, cockerel?

I'm fairly satisfied as well. I still love smelling new things, but the urge to add to my personal collection has died down considerably. I find that I am very particular these days. It has to speak to me on some level, I have to love all phases of it, it has to last at least 3-4 hours - preferably more and it has to be practical, meaning that I would wear it more than the "occasional occasion". Otherwise, it has not place in my hat box.

It happens. You become content to just try stuff and very infrequently purchase a new bottle.

I'm moving into this stage.

What a relief!

After so many false starts at humor, I've given up. I got nothing.

Beautiful post, Morticia. I feel largely the same way. Except now I'm furiously looking for YDAN. Whatever that is.

People seem to love, hating Tom Ford.

At least at POL, from what I've seen, anyway.

Tom Ford, for all his alleged faults, seems a true perfume lover. One may argue, he's issued more memorable perfumes, than fashion designs. He is a down right, prolific, perfume brand. Besides Estee Lauder, under his own name, he's issued so many very intriguing sounding perfumes. How about the latest, "White Patchouli"??

"For this project, I wanted to reinvent patchouli," said Ford. "I loved the idea of mixing patchouli with white florals..." Additional notes include peony, bergamot, jasmine, rose, coriander and ambrette seed.




YDAN got mostly good reviews when it came out in what - '05? I hear that Ford is no longer working for Estee Lauder, so I'd acquire YDAN, while you can. May not be in production for much longer - wiser people will correct me if I'm wrong.

I loved the original, and YDAN. I credit Tom Ford with re-energizing some high quality, but alleged "old lady" or neglected scents, such as the wonderful Youth Dew, and Azuree.

oh, you should read what the menswear clothing mavens say about Tom Ford. They detest him and everything to do with his success. In some corners they're a brutal bunch.

Congratulations, Morticia!! I'm not quite there yet, still enjoying the journey but not as frantic to try *everything* as I once was.

I hear ya!

At first, I was experimenting like mad, trying to learn what I could about fragrances, and how to figure out which ones worked well for me. Luckily, I did quite well in the 'impulsive untested purchase' sweepstakes, and managed to swap the few actual disasters away to happier homes.

In recent years, I've slowed down my testing and almost stopped purchasing, mostly because I've got such a wonderful treasure trove to call on as the mood strikes.

Thanks to some generous POL'ers, I've STILL got lots of sample vials to test, leftover from an earlier iteration of POL. (I went though an non-Perfumista phase, so no swapping for a while.)

One thing I've learned is that for some scents, however much I might love them, I don't need to own more than a sample vial or two, since I seldom wear them, just sniff the vial from time to time. It took me a while to learn this one, but for me, it's very true.

Yes - so true! It's very seductive to have full bottles of things, but I have saved myself from countless pointless purchases by forcing myself to be happy with unglamorous, and yet guilt-free decants. Many scents offer something that I only crave occasionally.

I LOVE me some samples...I hardly ever buy full bottles anymore, not that it saves me any $$$...I end up spending just as much monthly on the samples as I did on the full bottles, but my website wouldn't be very interesting if I didn't love to sample so much! If I received full bottles from the companies, that would be different...I doubt I'll ever reach Luca Turin's cache into that world though!

Hi --

this is very reassuring to read, as I'm apparently in the throes of the binging phase, buying all sorts of ridiculous things. I thought my major purchases last week would be enough for a while, but I just got back from sniffing and buying at the Chanel boutique (!).

*sigh*

I did, however, discover that the skanky civet note in Eau D'Hermès makes it smell very similar to Serge Lutens Musc Koublai Khan, so perhaps I can compromise on SL MKK and enjoy Eau D'Hermès (which admittedly is not cheap, but doesn't cost as much as a plane ticket to Paris).

Nice post Morticia. Perhaps I have reached this stadge or perhaps this slowing down I'm in now will change into buying more again? But right now I don't feel that I have to buy anything. I have samples to experience and I have used so little from the bottles I have. So I'm planning to just to buy some samples this autumn and a full bottle for Christmas. Well, and perhaps another of the Eau de Colognes from Galimard when the Citron is finnished? And soapes? And what about body lothions from the scents I love? Hm ....

Maybe that's what's going on. I'm veeeerrry slow to buy new bottles of things these days. Just haven't found anything that grabbed me on that full-bottle-worthy level in a while.

Well, there's Chanel No. 22, but that'll have to wait.

I haven't even bought a decant in ages.

I'm much more selective now. I ask myself if it is " full bottle worthy" because if not, I'll just purchase a decant and be happy with that.