A Harsh Mistress

Come recently, I've been rearranging my perfume collection. Pulling things that I don't wear too often to the front and things that I have been wearing quite a bit to the back. It's the whole forgetting about which bottles I have and why I bought them. So it's the whole trying to use up what I already have. Forgot that I had a bell jar of Sarrasins and De Profundis and I remembered the joy I felt to finally have a bell jars of two scents that I loved. And yet I still kind of hoard them. Then I started to wonder why.

Perfume is a harsh mistress when it comes to collecting. I haven't counted how many bottles of perfume that I have but I have a lot. Every time I gaze at my collection, I ask, "Do you really know how much you've spent on full bottles alone?" Truth is, I don't and I don't think I really want to know the answer to that question. I figure that I have probably spent almost a year's wages or a little more than that over the span of 10 years. Vintage finds, high and low end offerings, some discounted, some not and with the vintage finds; I might have spent more than what I should have on a few bottles. Back up bottles played a roll too, the fear of anything being discontinued is real. And yet, I want to add more to my collection.

I've had many collections and I have found that perfume has been the most demanding and expensive to date. Books, makeup, nail polish have been fairly cheap compared to perfume. Amouage, Serge Lutens bell jars don't come cheap and I don't really have the means to snap up bottles left and right anymore. So the perfume buying has slowed down and I don't even buy so many decants anymore. I still love perfume but I really need to start using some full bottles up and add only 1 or 2 more bottles to my collection.