My Latest Obsession (Perfume!)

So, the disadvantage of being just a teeny-tiny bit OCD is that you easily fall into random obsessions for some theoretically finite period of time.  In my case, the latest obsession is perfume.

I can easily place the blame of this obsession on Rania Melhem—a Facebook friend whom I met on the Sharon Kay Penman fan page.  Rania loves (and I mean LOVES) perfume.  I go in phases with perfume, and she caught me at a time when I was looking for a new obsession.

For those who do not possess this particular obsession, there is an entire world of niche perfumes as well as mainstream perfumes to discover.  (And this is not even delving into the world of vintage perfume, which I refuse to do.  I am far enough down the rabbit hole as it is.)  The price range runs from modest to exploitative.  Department stores such as Nordstrom and Saks carry many high-end niche perfumes, but there are several perfume specialty stores in major cities that also have websites so that you can order them to be shipped.

In addition, and the part I find most fascinating (outside of the perfumes themselves), is that many people are wiling to host splits, where the original person solicits people who don’t want to pay for a full bottle (either because they can’t afford it or because they just want to try it out).  Once enough people have signed up for a split (generally, you can buy from 5 ml on up) to fill the entire bottle, people pay the host, and the host then buys the bottle and decants it into various smaller bottles and then ships them to the buyers.  This requires reputable hosts and buyers, of course.  But it’s an extraordinary sub-culture where people from around the world buy and sell and swap and host splits of various fragrances.  Everyone I’ve “met” in this world has been extraordinarily generous with their knowledge and time and have been honest and aboveboard and, indeed, generous, in their dealings.

There are also a plethora of websites with descriptions of the perfumes and notes (my favorite is www.fragrantica.com) and many blogs and YouTube reviews of perfume.

I’ve discovered that I like fragrances that are on the minimalist side and tend towards citrus and white floral and delicate scents.  There are occasional lush and opulent scents that I also like, especially for a fancy black-tie event or a nice evening out.  I definitely do not like fruity or overly sweet scents nor do I like scents that smell like food.  And I most definitely prefer not to announce my presence with an advance guard of perfume fumes wafting before me.

Some of my favorite perfume houses include Amouage (Reflection and Ubar are my favorites so far), By Kilian (Bamboo Harmony and Water Calligraphy), Hermes (Jour d’Hermes and Eau de Merveilles), Frederic Malle (L’Eau d’Hiver), and Tom Ford (especially the Neroli Portofino and Shanghai Lily).  There are many, many others that I have not tried yet, so the perfume journey is only beginning!