Recently, the topic of the increasing perfume blogosphere raised its head again, and it’s been interesting to read some of the discussions. In light of the fact I was recently asked to join Beauty on the Outside (hee hee!), it was heartening to find a predominant sentiment of “Definitely new people should write. We like stories! More stories!” Well, I’ve got lots of stories, so here goes nothing….
Hello! My name is Dionne (Hi Dionne!) and I’m a perfumista that owns fourteen bottles.
“Holy Cow! 14 bottles?” Now depending on why you’re reading this post1, that phrase could have two very different meanings. Fourteen bottles is a lot for those who aren’t obsessed with perfume, but positively anemic for those who are. So why so few bottles? If you’d asked me six months ago, my response would have been quite simple: financial considerations. I have a $40 a month sampling budget and my full bottles are usually Mother’s Day/Birthday/Christmas gifts.
But two things happened near the end of 2011 that shifted my focus. First, in the comment section of Now Smell This (on a post I can’t find now and a commenter I can’t remember, sorry) someone made the point that for them the most enjoyable part of perfumedom was smelling new samples, and the acquisition of bottles was secondary. I realized that was where most of my enjoyment came from as well.
The second thing that happened was a doubling of my sample budget for the months of October, November and December to compensate for 3 months earlier in the year when I didn’t order anything. I was really looking forward to my plethora of smellies. Woohoo! This was going to be great!
Imagine my surprise to find out it was just too much. I didn’t have the normal amount of time to really immerse myself in my new goodies, partly because of my scent-glue skin2 and inability to multi-frag.3 It’s now near the end of February and there are still unsniffed containers lying around. I’m actually feeling panicky about this.4
These two epiphanies combined into a larger lightbulb moment: a small budget is not a limitation, it’s an option. Moving forward at such a slow pace actually has advantages, and the more I thought about it, the longer that list of advantages grew.5
THE PROS
- My wallet. Pretty self-explanatory.
- I’ve never had a disastrous unsniffed purchase, because…well… I’ve never purchased unsniffed. Besides, my skin chemistry is so quirky it doesn’t make sense.
- I love all my full bottles. Not just love, but LUUUURVE. The lemmings have got to be tough little beggars to make it to the final round.
- There’s lots of time to wear the LUUUURVES.
- There’s also time to do wrist vs. wrist comparisons, as I find it the best way to parse out notes. PdE’s Wazamba was part of my January order, and as an incense-lover with quite a few samples Wazamba got a good two weeks of action.
- By the time I realized I needed to keep a spreadsheet and start organizing my samples, it wasn’t an overwhelming task.6 Storage space isn’t a huge issue.
- I’ve found some great lines I may not have searched out otherwise. It’s not like I’m deliberately avoiding By Kilian and its ilk, and someday I’m going to work my way through the Amouages, but I’ve developed a soft spot for the indies. My internal motto for Sonoma Scent Studio: “Come for the low prices. Stay for the beauty.”
- Related to that, I’ve found some great fragrances because of deals online that lasted long enough for a chance to sample. There’s an 8ml decant of l’Ombre dans l’Eau in my stash because of a great sale at The Perfumed Court last summer.
- Ennui is a loooooong way away. There are many lines I am still looking forward to trying, and notes still to discover. I just sniffed Philosykos for the first time this month, and wow! It’s going to be fun sniffing all the fig possibilities.
- The redonkulous number of new releases doesn’t faze me, because keeping up was never on the radar.
- Don’t get me wrong, I’m not so disciplined that I’ve never bought something on impulse, it just doesn’t happen a lot. One thing I’ve learned with a large family: it’s easier to be spontaneous if there’s underlying structure. In perfume terms: occasional impulsive perfume purchase + general restraint = no guilt.
- Occasionally I’ll mention my slow-perfume style here in the blogosphere, and get replies like “I envy your discipline. I’m not sure I could do that.” Who doesn’t love a nice compliment from time to time?
- Anticipation is its own pleasure (and all the connotations that implies – oh yeah, I went there). I’ll sit on birthday money for months before I make up my mind, shivering with glee all the while. My next major bottle will come on Mother’s Day, and the auditions have already started.
- To end on a more serious, philosophical note, being genuinely happy for someone who has more than you is good for the soul, and worth practicing. No matter how much you have, there’s someone out there with more. Contentment has nothing to do with stuff, or with comparing yourself to others, it’s about recognizing the abundance you already have.
THE CONS
- Because I love all my bottles, I’ve never participated in a swap. They look like fun.
- Part of perfumista culture is the incredible generosity in sharing samples and decants. It’s taken a while to develop a big enough collection so I can be a small part of that.
- Splits are usually done for new releases. By the time I get around to sniffing them, those opportunities have passed.
- Bottles are pretty. I totally get the appeal.
- I usually miss out on sales if they’re an act-now kind of thing.
There’s probably a lot more cons than the five I just listed. If I put my mind to it, I’d probably come up with at least 14 downsides to balance the upsides of my plodding, turtle7-like ways. This way of going down the rabbit hole isn’t better or worse than any other. It’s just different than the norm, and it works for my personality. Perfumistas are not a one-size-fits-all. There’s room here for everyone, including those who don’t have a lot of disposable in the income.
So come on in. The water’s just fine.
1 I told my friends about the invitation to join BoTO. All of them. There were many requests for a link.
2 Mals’ term, and boy does it apply. Naturals go for a full 8 hours. The longest-lived perfumes are 24-hours-and-a-shower-later, and that’s with just 3 sprays. And yet I’m fair, with blue eyes and dry skin. Go figure.
3 You’d think that with 5 kids I’d be an amazing multi-tasker. Nope. Wearing more than two perfumes at the same time produces such cutting-edge insights as “nice” and “not nice”
4 It’s part of my nature to want to explore all the paths. You ever shopped with that annoying someone who found a great deal in the first store in the mall, but still had to check out every option before they bought it? Yeah, that’s me.
5 There are 14 pros listed, to go with my 14 bottles. Check me out with my bad self.
6 Except for those ridiculously tall and skinny Hermès samples. How the heck do you store those things?
7 I almost chose a tortoise as my gravatar.
beauty on the outside 
You have no idea how much I identify with your post!! (I think my bottle number is almost exactly the same as yours- and mine include minis as well as a couple unloved ones from pre-perfumista days)
I discovered the perfume blogosphere six or so years ago and I’ve heard that the first year people buy wayy too many perfumes on impulse..I didn’t have that experience- I sampled a LOT and bought maybe 2 bottles that year. usually, I get a bottle for my birthday and/or anniversary. I sometimes think that maybe once I am out of grad school and have a larger budget, I’ll buy more. But on the other hand, like you, I like the idea of having fewer bottles and slowly and carefully buying the ones I truly one. And not having to get rid off too much stuff. [Last year, I made a few impulse buys. And I own perfumes that I love but not luurrrvee and don’t own many of my lurrvvesss- so I need to correct that.]
I’ve found splits to be a great way of experiencing scents- lots of times it is more economical to buy into a split rather than buy samples from etailers- but I understand the point about wanted to sample before getting in on a split, though I don’t end up sticking to that..:)
Welcome Dionne!!- It is lovely having your voice in the blogosphere..
I’m glad you can relate, Lavanya. There have been times in the past when I’ve wondered if I’m the only one navigating perfumista-hood this way. Dee and Anne-Marie had a discussion months ago that maybe we should also be congratulating each other on the purchase we DIDN’T make. (Except, of course, how exactly do you do that?)
Thanks for the tip about splits sometimes being less expensive than samples. I’ll need to look into that some more.
🙂
Oh – but forgot to add – I am a chronic perfume multi-tasker! Even, when I am not testing- I wear two perfumes, one on each hand..I am trying to do less of that though.
Which is ironic, because I wish I could do more. It’d definitely be more efficient when trying new things.
Like minds! Hello Dionne – my full bottle list is not as small, but many were gifts! I have waited a YEAR to purchase a full bottle of my beloved L’Ombre dan L’Eau – cannot wait for it to arrive.
Oddly, when I started off on this journey, my first bottle I bought (Miller Harris L’Air de Rien) was bought totally unsniffed – and it is probably my favorite perfume. In hindsight, I think I should have probably stopped there, but then again, I wouldn’t have found LOdL (which I bought as a sample and feel madly deeply in love)
Thanks so much for this post!
Like minds exactly, Frida. I read what you posted yesterday and just smiled. Synchronicity, yes?
Congratulations on that l’Ombre dans l’eau, it is lovely stuff.
I definitely went a little bit crazy in the first 18 months or so: bottles, samples, and splits, all willy-nilly! Fortunately, through swaps and re-selling on eBay, I rid myself of the albatrosses quickly, and am left with a collection that I am very happy with!
It took me a while to learn the Sacred Path of Frugality; it happened when I bought my first Amouage last February. Since I had to use more than one months budget for it (which, at the time, was $150 per month), a kind of settling-in happened. Now I find it much, much easier to resist impulses and save for things I really, really want (evidence: my new bottle of Opus IV!!!).
Now that my budget is more along the lines of $30 per month (and that’s being generous with myself), I feel lucky that I had that time of excess, although I do wonder what my collection would look like if I had practiced a little more restraint early on…
All that said, if my financial situation changed dramatically today, I would absolutely go on a buying spree. Ha! 😉
“All that said, if my financial situation changed dramatically today, I would absolutely go on a buying spree. Ha! ” LOL! Yeah, you should see my Luckyscent wishlist! 😉
I admit I’d be doing the same thing. 😉
One thing I’d love is to have enough of a collection so that I could freely show my friends all the possibilities that exist beyond the mainstream. ie. “Here are three examples of leather perfumes, here is how jasmine and rose can smell so very different depending on how they’re treated, this is what sandalwood really smells like….”
Someday I’ll get there.
I love this idea too – I often think about how I would do it. But I have no friends in this area to come over, so it seldom happens! (I have one friend who can visit about once a year whom I have totally turned into a perfumista. She can only smell so much in one sitting, though, before she gets fried.:-)
Right now when I have friends over I just plop everything in a big pile on my dining room table. As my collection grows, I think I’ll probably be like Vanessa – like perfumes grouped together with little post-it notes, but still on my dining room table. 😉
I’ve found that there’s been momentum in having people over; friends talk to other friends and so I’m starting to get more of these shy requests, “Ummmm….. could you help me find something?” It’s one of my favorite things about this hobby.
What a lovely”getting to know you” post, Dionne! Really enjoyed it. I think your pros waaay out-weigh your cons. You luuurve all your bottles and very few of us can say that. You are absolutely going about things the right way. Sampling is probably is the biggest part of the fun in the early years. There’s so much to try! Taking the time to enjoy planning your next purchase is part of the fun too. I think the more bottles you get the more anxious/guilty you tend to feel anyway.
Luckily I only bought a few bottles in my first year and none of them expensive or niche. Sometimes I think about the amount of money I spent buying samples but I don’t regret it becuase I had such a great time! It was nice to re-live that happy time through your post.
Looking forward to the next one!.
Thanks, Tara. Although I wouldn’t say that my way is the right way, or the better way, it’s just one way. If everyone was like me, there’d be no Wiki Scent Splits, and I do enjoy looking at the possibilities over there…..
Dionne, I’m wondering if the comment you mention on NST was by me. It seemed to ring a bell and I went back and looked. Was it this post?
http://www.nstperfume.com/2012/01/03/the-damage-so-far-fourth-quarter-2011-buying-poll/
I commented as breathesgelatin about liking to SMELL rather than OWN.
I am very much with you, mostly by necessity – I SO completely relate to your post! In the past few months I have actually done more shopping for sample sets. I love trying new things and I also love exploring all of a house’s offerings at once to get a sense of what they are about. Actually, I’ve done enough sample purchasing right now that I’m at the point where I am a bit overwhelmed by how much I have to try. (Working through the By Kilian facebook sampler set plus his new Amber Oud, a Lush sample set, a bunch of Crazylilbellule solids that I found on the cheap, and should have some more Sweet Anthems to try soon as well.) I normally make a “mall run” every 3 weeks or so to scour new things in stores and I have so much at home to try I haven’t even done that for a while! And I’ve done all these quite cheaply. By Killians were free. Lush sample set was $25 or so. Crazylilbellules were about $30 for 8 full size solids. Sweet Anthem samples were $12 (also did buy a full bottle, 15mL, for $28 over there!). Only over $30 thing I’ve bought since the New Year was No. 22, which Ari from Scents of Self sold me at a good discount and it’s one of my holy grail perfumes.
In some ways, it is a bummer to not be in a position where I can freely buy things or maybe even buy one bottle/month. Especially when I know the way to try some really rare/expensive things is through decants and swapping and I don’t have enough of anything to swap, really. The other hard thing is knowing that there are some things out there I passionately love (in my case, it’s mostly Andy Tauers!) that I simply can’t afford to go out and buy just yet – and I’ve drained my sample vials! 😦 Yet, on the other hand, paying off my consumer and student loan debt and taking care of my family are really my top priorities right now. I have confidence that in a few years the financials will be brighter and I’ll be able to buy more of the things I love.
OK, that’s enough from me. Welcome to BOTOblog!! 🙂
I popped over and had a look at that thread, but it’s not ringing a bell, sorry. I don’t typically read the damage report polls. What that does mean, though, is there are more of us than I thought. Sample-fiends, unite!
Those Tauers are stunning, aren’t they? Thank goodness there’s so much oomph in a small sample. And after reading Victoria’s post about how how much the actual jus costs, I’m leaning even more towards the indies.
Speaking as someone who’s been there-done that with student loans and consumer debt, I know where you’re coming from. But if you don’t mind me pulling out my age card, trust me when I say the discipline you’re learning now will always be a great asset.
Someone else talking about Sweet Anthem! Out of curiosity, what bottle did you get? They’re the ones who launched my path into perfumistahood, and although most of her samples didn’t do anything for me (what was I thinking – ordering *tea* fragrances! me!), I got a 15 mL bottle of Sophie and I still really like it.
Oh gosh – Meredith and I go way back. She started Sweet Anthem in 2007 and I knew her from another online fan forum starting from back in 2005. We were both really active on LiveJournal at that time.
My fave of hers is Mary, which was my recent full bottle order – it was a spring 2010 launch I think and it’s out of her current catalog, but she made me a bottle for January sweeps week when she opens up her “Vault.” It’s a sort of an intelligent, springlike fruity floral – black cherry, daffodil, and a hay drydown. 🙂 I also like Jessie, a tobacco scent, a lot.
How did you find out about Sweet Anthem, may I ask?
How great! I still have all my samples, I should get back to them now that I’m more into fragrance. I might think differently about a few of them. I found her because I was having an “Etsy phase,” for a few weeks, and I was browsing a ton of stores and stumbled upon hers! And one of my friends bought a bottle of Wendy, after sniffing my samples. 🙂
Thanks for this post, Dionne! I really like this kind of “behind the scenes” discussion. And it’s a post I needed to read, given that this month’s Swapmania didn’t tame my desire for more bottles but actually increased it! I hope I can be careful in the next months. (Well, except on March 1… My local L’Artisan is having a sale, you see…)
But seriously, I like your idea that a small budget can be seen as an option rather than a limitation. I’ll try to keep that in mind. 🙂
You are most welcome, Alnysie. And have a GRAND time at that L’Artisan sale. Do you know what you’re picking up yet?
Oh yes! I’m going there to get Thé pour un Été, it’s been on my wishlist for months. It’s the only L’Artisan that I *really* like, with Traversée du Bosphore and Dzing. And I have a bottle of the former and a decant of the latter. 🙂
Lovely, lovely post Dionne, that has obviously struck a chord.
I have been wondering recently whether sample sets are a good idea, at least for me. Yes they are often an economical way of testing stuff, but they set up a whole bunch o’ new lemmings. Or at least that has been my experience. I then get rather depressed and anxious about the things I can’t afford when previously I had been quite happy. You are so right about being content with what you already have!
Recently I restricted myself to a three sample set from Parfum d’Empire, rather than the while line, and am quite happy with that. If I want to try the others, I’ll do it later. I’ve considered sample sets from Rosine and Ormond Jayne, but am undecided. I may just order from TPC samples of things that I think I really want. If I miss out on some masterpiece, what the heck.
I’m also very fond of 5 and 8 ml decants. It’s amazing how long they last!
New thought: I recently ordered 8 mls of Habanita from TPC (it was on special) and it came in a much nicer bottle than usual. A square little column with a long cap that glides on nicely, and stays on. Quite different from the usual tubes with the small caps that always fall off. If I thought that TPC has adopted this bottle for all its 8 ml decants I would probably buy still more. I would not be perpetually reminded of the need for frugality! The Habanita is quite an elegant little thing and it feels great tucking it into my handbag.
Ooooh, that 8ml does sound lovely. Now I’m curious to know if TPC has changed their packaging for large decants. If they haven’t, it might be worth it to put a bug in their ear that a lovely bottle could increase sales. I know I’d pay a couple of extra dollars for that.
Yep, I emailed TPC after I posted that comment, so I’ll report back.
And here’s the reply:
‘The owners are working with different decant bottles trying to find one that works great, little or no leakage, stands up, etc. One owner is still using the tall slender 8ml, one is using these decant bottles and one is using another 8ml from the same vendor as the one you like. We do have some bottle inventory that they will need to work through, but eventually I believe they will replace most of the tall slender bottles.’
My tall and skinny 8ml decants are stored in mugs, because they keep falling over. Shorter, square and elegant looking? Eeexcellent. (That’s my impression of Mr. Burns from the Simpsons, just so you know.)
Thank you, Anne-Marie.
I say do what works for you. Personally, I enjoy the satisfaction of trying out an entire line, as it works for my “explore all the paths” nature. But if you feel anxious and depressed instead of satisfied, listen to your gut and don’t do it. In my experience, everytime I ignore my intuition and listen to the “I should” voices, things don’t go as well. Who knew perfume could be a path to self-knowledge? 😉
Count me in as another person who really loves the 5 and 8ml size. I have yet to drain a mini or a decant.
I ask a little inner voice: ‘does it feel right to be buying that’. Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no. I always act on that advice! You are so right about intuition.
Excellent inaugural post, Dionne! And, oh, this is funny! Just yesterday I was going through my perfume cabinet and weeding out the bottles I don’t lurrrve, because I want to have that squee experience every time I pick up one of my bottles! I put several of them up for sale in a perfumista group of which I’m a member, and have sold three so far (to be fair, one was a mini bottle).
I don’t actually know how many full bottles I have at the moment… at last count, it was 54, I think, including 9 backup bottles (mostly discontinued things I couldn’t bear to run out of, plus a couple of vintage Emeraude bottles I was called to rescue, and a couple of vintage No. 5 parfums). And I have plans to ditch 21 of these, including some of those backup bottles! I even posted about it this morning before starting my rounds on the ‘fume blogs.
The trouble came largely from buying things I *thought* I’d love. I bought unsniffed – though nothing terribly expensive, usually minis on ebay. I bought backups without considering how much I would actually WEAR. I bought a few unsniffed decants that turned out to be mistakes. I knew this was a bad idea in general, and then once or twice an unsniffed purchase turned out to be amaaaaazing (Cuir de Lancome, Mariella Burani). Which leads me to believe that collecting is like golf: it stinks, you suck at it, you hate it, you plan to give it up… and then you have a good round and you’re right back in love with it again. Or so I’m told. Maybe it’s more like gambling: “I feel lucky this time!”
SO: I say to you, bully for being a tortoise! It’s much smarter. And maximizing your pleasure does not, of course, necessarily involve full bottles. In terms of maximizing my own pleasure: I have a huge weak spot for mini bottles, especially vintage ones, on eBay, and very little gives me more pleasure than finding something rare and inexpensive there, so I plan big ticket items for birthdays or anniversaries and window-shop for minis.
Ahh, yes, the unsniffed gamble. Dee seems to have excellent luck in buying unsniffed, so for her it makes sense. She has an excellent “rate of return.”
From personal experience, it makes no sense for me to risk it. When I say my skin chemistry is quirky, I’m really not kidding about that. We’ve talked before about the “I don’t think it’s supposed to smell like that…..” phenomenon. At least with you, it’s somewhat predictable ie. avoid the Lauders, and didn’t you finally figure out that there was a specific amber that was turning into shaving cream accord? I have yet to discover what it is that makes certain blends go so sour, or even worse, the “well-maintained outhouse” that randomly appears. When perfume goes wrong, it goes REALLY wrong.
I think one of the reasons I don’t usually buy the likes is because of my thrifting background. (I AM the thrifting queen.) Over the years I’ve taken many friends shopping because they’ve asked me to show them the ropes. My major advice is “Try on everything, even stuff you’re not sure about. But only BUY the things that grab you up in your face. If it’s just nice, trust me, it’ll sit unworn in your closet despite the fact it’s an excellent deal. If you exit the change room twirling and excited, that’s what you get.”
18 years of experience with this phenomenon really helped when I got into perfume.
Hi Dionne! It’s nice to “meet” you, and I love this as a topic for your first post. It’s always interesting to hear different ways of approaching (or rappelling down the rabbit hole, as it were!).
Gracias, Natalie! I figured I might as well cannonball naked into the deep end with my first post. (That’s how it felt, at least. It’s nice to discover that others can relate.)
Great post with so many thought provoking aspects, plus you have given the world the glorious word “redonkulous”, for which many thanks.
I am a bit like Mals in bottle count terms – maybe even less, after a recent process of hard pruning. And like Mals I built my collection on a fair few Ebay and T K Maxx bargains and/or impulse / blind buys, then a good 40% are probably gifts. So looked at from that perspective, it doesn’t seem such a terrible indulgence, though by most yardsticks it probably is!!
Bottom line is that I wish I had seen your post four years ago – my acquisition phase was unstoppable in the first two years of my hobby, though I have only bought two bottles in the last two months, and one of those was to host a split.
So I totally agree that being a tortoise is much smarter. If someone took away all but 15 bottles I think I would get along just fine. Okay, maybe 20. And add another five that I really wish I *had* bought instead of some of the rest…
Thank you, Vanessa. I can’t claim credit for redonkulous, that’s courtesy of my teenagers.
I loved your last post with all the bottles and decants and post-it notes spread out for a friend (in fact, I’m extremely curious to know what perfumes you placed in each of those categories). What you’re doing is something I aspire to: having enough categories and bottles so that I can show friends “the possibilities.” Almost like a library of scent; I LOVE libraries.
One thing though, saying that my way is *better* makes me feel uncomfortable. Here’s one of the reasons why – 12 years ago Son3 was born with major medical problems, and it was a stressful time. After he finally got out of the woods I crashed, big-time. For several years I struggled with severe post-partum depression, and learned some very valuable things about myself: that I was a perfectionist, that I compared myself to others far too much, that I used the word “should” when I didn’t need to. A very stressful event put me in a dark place, but those bad habits of mine kept me there a long time before I finally learned to ease up.
“Should” and “better” are best reserved for the important stuff. Do what’s right for you, and if you look back and think, “Maybe I could’ve done this differently,” that’s OK. It’s simply a lesson learned.
I didn’t note down which scents I put where to be truthful – it was all a bitif a kneejerk plonk – but next time I get everything out I will pay more attention and note things down. It will probably be broadly similar second time round!
And I can relate very much to your wise words – born of experience – about not being too hard on oneself and using words like “should” etc. I am a perfectionist myself, which plays out in so many ways, from feeling bad that I will never get round to using all my collection of perfumes, reading all the books I own, writing all the emails I owe etc. I even feel stressed if I miss a day’s goings ons ob Twitter and FB. Now that can’t be right! : – )
“bit of”, sorry – iPhone malfunction…
The perfectionist in me also wants to correct “ob”, but I will resist…!
Ahhh, Vanessa, we are kindred spirits. Somedays I’m pretty good about cutting myself some slack, but it’s a daily struggle. Also, I’m starting to recognize that perfectionism is the taken-too-far of enjoying a job well done, and that’s just part of who I am. I will always get the rush of a room that is really clean, the quilt block that turned out really well, the feeling of “I done good.” Not a bad thing if it isn’t taken to extreme.
And yeah, I will read a comment five times before hitting that button, and it BUGS me to discover a mistake afterwards. Blogs are aversion-therapy for us perfectionist-types. 😉
So true about blogs being aversion therapy for us perfectionists. And comments sent from iPhones never more so, haha! I sense we may revisit this conversation at a later date – some other aspect will strike me as pertinent, I just have a feeling… : – )
🙂
HI Dionne,
Your “Evil Scent Twin” here . . . although it comes a few days late I didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity to say congrats on your first post. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I thought it was interesting, though, that you categorized yourself as a turtle. I more think of you as a rare breed of intelligent and interesting Bird of Paradise. I have watched many a fascinating video of their unique and methodical behaviours – which reminds me much more of you than a slow and dumpy turtle. Although, I will say that I have seen a cute turtle every now and then – you are way more bird than turtle. Much more methodical than slow.
Tam, that is delightful, and something I wouldn’t have thought of. Thank you for that. 🙂
Hi Dionne, great first post!
I’m finally here (I do that a lot – coming two-three days later to a discussion but I do come eventually).
I’m a serial collector/tester. If I like a note I want to have as many perfumes in my collection featuring it as I can find (provided I like them) – even though I’m the only person in my surroundings who can tell the diffrence between them.
I do not have any bottles I wish I haven’t bought (I plead fifth on the number of bottles in my collection) but I really wish I could try/sniff many of the perfumes at a store without getting a sample (let alone paying for that samle).
In general, I think that unless it’s you work a slow pace is better. But everybody has to get to that point on their own, it’s impossible to teach.
Hi Undina! I often come to the discussion a few days later as well (in fact, if you look back through BoTO, when I first dipped my toe into the commenting water, I’m usually last.) I used to wonder if it was worth it to comment late, especially since I didn’t know if the poster was even aware I’d said something. Of course, now I discover WordPress will always notify you, and it’s so exciting to get that little number pop up in your dashboard. (I wonder if Blogger has a similar function?)
One area where we are different is I like to explore a note and then choose my top three. For me, there’s something satisfying about the ranking. I’m not sure why that is, it just feels…. tidy.
The part I do NOT like about blogging is that people usually do not comment on older posts. I don’t know how other bloggers feel, but I wouldn’t mind discussing a topic I covered a year ago with somebody who just happen to read it today.
You know, it’d almost be worth it to put something to that effect in a comment policy, or the sidebar. Before I started blogging, I’d always worried about annoying the poster. Now, I think it would be great to get feedback on an older topic that someone just discovered.
Actually, I’ve been writing about that (and some of my other blog-related quirks – such as prompting people to promote their blogs by giving links to their posts on the same/similar topics) for the last couple of months – I just can’t finish and put it on my About page. I should do that soon!
Agreed! I love when people comment on old posts! 🙂
I do that sometimes when a post really strikes a chord with me – another example of “feeling the void and doing it anyway” – as a commenter this time, rather than a blogger who writes to please themselves. : – ) In reality I mostly get spammers commenting on my old posts. They have an uncanny knack of targeting the most popular ones from the archives – it is not always clear to me how they would know that. Deleting these comments is an ongoing process not unlike swatting flies, but genuine “after the fact” comments are most welcome!