Sometimes, selecting a fragrance for the day—or the evening, if you are a “sleep-scent” kind of person, as I am—is like a little game of hide-and-seek. I’ve worn so many new things lately, that I’ve overlooked a recent favorite: Traversée du Bosphore. In October, just a few short months ago, I was so enamoured with TdB, that I didn’t want to wear or try anything else… but then it got pushed behind all the new-comers, and even though I felt it tug at my heart (or nose, as it were) every so often, It’s been a long while since I’ve actually worn it.
So tonight is dedicated to Traversée: I’m happy to discover that I’m just as enamoured of it today as I was four months ago!
Do you ever go to your perfume collection, and while looking for something to wear, re-discover an old (or not so old) love?
beauty on the outside 
I love the process of deciding what will be next, so in 99 (ok, 98) out of 100 times I open my perfume cabinet I know what I plan to wear (or even to try), so no unexpected encounters. But sometimes, when I decide to wear something not because I have a longing for that particular scent but because I just realized that I haven’t worn it in a while, I get taken aback by its beauty.
Undina, you are much better at planning than me! I rarely go to the cabinet with a definite perfume in mind (1/4 of the time? 1/5th?), and have so many bottle splits that everything is a surprise until I pick it up and read what it is! 🙂
I love that transportive quality that you mention—a ‘fume can take you back to a happy place!
I have a few stories like that but one that springs to mind is that I allowed myself to be put off my Luca Turin’s quite sour review of Miss Dior in its current form, and stopped wearing it for months. Then one day while considering what to wear, a little voice piped up and said ‘What about me! You haven’t worn me for sooooo long!’ So I wore it (her) and you know? It’s pretty good. Not perfect – and I now have some older stuff to compare to and the older is a richer and deeper scent – but the current one is still very beautiful (to me).
I’m glad you are loving that Traversee. Is it a sleep scent for you? Or strictly day time?
Ah, the “sour review which causes you to question your good taste.” I am familiar with that one!
I’m glad that you didn’t let M. Turin ruin Miss Dior for you permanently 🙂
RE: TdB
All the time! I love to wear it during the day, and as a Sleep Scent. Usually, being used as a sleep scent means that I really like something; that may seem counter-intuitive to waste good perfume while you sleep, but I only want the loveliest things in bed with me 😉
I’m going to have to work hard to NOT wear it today… I’ve got a side-by-side iris planned for the day…LOL
I so often wish for more time to wear every fragrance I like, but on the other hand I love discovering new ones. But, as you describe, I often happen upon something I love that got left behind in the favor of newer contenders. Just recently I rediscovered the Prada, thanks to you, I may add. I love when that happens! 🙂
Isn’t it funny? On the one hand, we lament a beautiful perfume that doesn’t last long enough on skin, but then on the other hand, if it lasts too long, we can’t wear more than one scent per day! The Perfumista’s conundrum. 🙂
I’m glad that you rediscovered the Prada–she’s a pretty girl!
I’ve also rediscovered 28 La Pausa, since you and I have talked about it a little, and I need to wear it some more. When I wore it the other day, I liked it less than I remembered! 😦 The iris phase might have just been an infatuation for me—I guess we’ll see!
Recently I put on Bulgari Omnia, for the first time in a while, and loved it all over again. But usually I go to the same 2 or 3 bottles for sleep scents – the ones I find comforting when I don’t want to think to hard about what I’m wearing.
Omnia has caught my eye recently–that’s interesting that you mention it!
Comfort and ease are certainly hallmarks of good sleep scents 🙂
I go through phases where I want only My Next Big Thang morning, noon and night, and then…pfft…there goes the attention span and I’m on to something else. One I nearly forgot about until recently was my sample of La Myrrhe. I was blown away the first time, asphyxiated my surroundings for days and then…I put it away and forgot about it. For months. Until last night, when I dug it out for whatever reason before bed and…pow! And so the cycle repeats itself. It’s hopeless. Or I am! 😉
It sounds like we both re-discovered a lost love last night!
And, are both hopeless romantics when it comes to perfume—always ready for new love 😉
In the morning when I open my “cabinet” – it is not too difficult to choose… Since I started to make perfumes, I kind of lost that mania to buy too many perfumes… Now I have around 20 something…
When I go to sleep, at least 2-3 night per week, I take several samples and I try them for the first them… it is perfect time for me why my skin is clean and I am relax and ready to enjoy 🙂
Oh, I’ve lost the mania to collect bottles, but I can’t stop sampling new things! I want to smell everything there is to smell 🙂
The Sleep Scent used to be prime testing ground for me, but it’s been a while since I tried a virgin scent right before bed… I think the last time I did that might have been Serge Lutens Louve, which was a DISASTER!
I do agree with you, night time is a good time to test—there’s nothing else clamoring for your attention… hopefully 🙂
I do have certain “sleep scents” – not that I only wear them to sleep in, but they’re instant comfort and very cozy —
WAIT. I have several promo vials of TM Alien, and I hardly ever wear it “out” but LOVE to sleep in it.
I will say that I try not to “forget” about what I own. Rotating the stock seasonally seems to help.
Alien? LOL! That’s a fun choice for sleeping! I’ve only tested it at the counter, with a zillion other things, but I feel like I remember thinking that Angel was more my style. I do like those sweets…
I’m afraid to rotate stock—I feel like I would somehow lose control! It’s not so much that I forget (there isn’t really that much in the collection), it’s more… forgetting how much I like something that’s been neglected for a time. This just happened (again) the other day with Sa Majeste la Rose. I haven’t actually worn it in millennia, but I pulled it out for a friend, and was WOWED by how lovely it it 🙂