Sometimes I asked myself, when is the right time to purchase a perfume?
I realized some of you might wonder the same thing. I got some DM asking me about this. You have the budget, but you don’t know where to start your perfumery journey. Or, you’re still saving for that one dream perfume, but along the way, you found other fantastic perfumes; how to prioritize?
I took the time to evaluate my values, past experiences, and behavior in my perfume purchases. I did some brainstorming sessions with my friends about this, and finally, I found five angles to think about before hitting the purchase button:
1. We’ve experienced the perfume.
We are blessed with so many samples and discovery sets from brands these days, especially since the pandemic. When we have one, we maximized them. Use them to discover what the brand has to offer, explore other olfactive territories to train our nose, and finally, experience those that capture our hearts.
It is important to test the perfume on ourselves to see if it works well with our body chemistry and environment because we are unique. Hence our relationship with the scent is unique to us. We can read or watch reviews to see other people’s experiences with it, perhaps it could help us understand the scent better and narrow down our options, but it won’t be the same with having an authentic experience with it. In the end, we are the ones who are going to live with it.
I always love vials because they really help me experience the perfume before buying it. I start buying the discovery set to discover more perfumes because it’s good to train my nose and to know what’s on the market. More importantly, I wear them for days to test them on my skin, to know how I feel when wearing them, to see the evolution during the days–to build a relationship with them. It’s like a date; I’d like to call it a #scentdate.
2. We made a connection with the scent.
Some scents remind us of our past memories. Sometimes we don’t even know precisely what caused it, other than smelling that scent brings certain feelings and compelling emotions like we’ve ever had a connection with it. That’s the power of our senses of smell, the most potent form of memories. When you embrace those memories and want to reconnect with them, having a full bottle won’t hurt. There are too many great smelling perfumes in the market, but the ones that are surely in our heart, are the ones with memories.
It happened to me with Bouquet de Hongrie from BDK Perfumes. I got the sample as a gift from a friend back in 2016. The first time I wore it, it brought me back to my childhood, when I was at the church with my mom and her friends. I didn’t remember clearly who wore it, but I felt so peaceful, comfortable, and nostalgic when wearing it. I kept the sample and four years later, finally, I decided to buy it because I could not stop thinking about it. I felt like I want to re-connect with those moments because I like how I feel every time I remember those memories.
3. We know we can wear them.
As I mentioned in point 1, we need to test a perfume to see if it’s suitable for our environment: the weather, place of work, the type of work we do, where we often spend our everyday life, what kind of special occasions we have, etc. Please pay attention to our feelings and comfort when we wear them during our activities. Be sure that we can wear them responsibly and not letting them untouched and slowly get oxidized.
I have one perfume that I love but cannot wear: Fumerie Turque by Serge Lutens. Words cannot express how much I love this perfume, but every time I wear it, my family told me that I smelled like an old church, vintage, grandma, that sort of thing. I stopped wearing it because I kind of agree with them; this perfume is not very suitable in Indonesian weather. Now that I came back to France, for sure I’ll wear them often ✌🏼.
We don’t buy paintings to wrap them and put them in our attic. We hang them beautifully in a room where we often spend our time seeing them and enjoying them fully.
A bottle of perfume, no matter how much it costs, was created to be worn. The creative team thought a lot about us, consumers, how we’re going to use them, on which occasion, how to make it bloom and last-longer, which color more appealing to us, what shape is best for us, and many more. They put so much effort into each creation for us to take pleasure in it. So wear them and be happy when you finish a bottle.
4. We want to mark some events.
I’ve mentioned in point 2 that great smelling perfumes are abundant in the market. I found many perfumes that are good and desirable. Still, I don’t buy them straight away because 1) I don’t have a connection with them yet, or 2) I keep them for a special occasion such as my first birthday in Paris, my first travel after this pandemic, a reward because I won some projects, and so on.
Remember that scents are powerful to make memories; hence, if you find one future occasion that you want to mark or remember for the rest of your life, maybe it’s the time to make a special purchase of a fragrance you’ve wanted all this time.
P.S : I already have in mind which fragrance I will buy for my special occasions 🥰.
5. We have the budget to buy them.
Smelling great is excellent. But never sacrifice our peace of mind and, most importantly, our financial wellness just to look great. We all know when it starts to get unhealthy: when the FOMO (fear of missing out) starts to cripple up, and we got anxious for not being in the loop, smelling as many perfumes as others, having an extensive collection, and so on.
When it happens, shut down your social media, remember all the wealth you saved for your future house, a trip to Europe, your own health, your pension when you’re older, and so on. A fragrance is very personal, and your journey with them is unique to you. So no, you never actually missing out on anything. And yes, you’ll tick off your wishlist one day. Now when you come back to your social media, celebrate with those who have finally got their favorite perfumes!
Love them, wear them, take care of them.
Voilà my two scents ✌🏼 I hope it could help you choose your next perfume and enhance your experience with the perfumes you have! They are more than juice in a bottle; they could be your company in every journey of your life. That’s how powerful they are.
🙋🏻♀️ So, from No. 1-5, which one is you most of the time?
