It’s just a little (perfume) crush…

After spending few years in wondrous perfume world I must say that perfumista’s life is not an easy life. So many perfume to try, so little time, so many scents to sniff and too little skin to spray. And all those obstacles awaiting perfume lovers behind the corner… Troubles with finding a place to try the newest fragrances, problems with getting sample of a perfume that is not being sold in our countries, deciding if one should blind buy the mysterious bottle with even more mysterious juice or not. And one more obstacle which often stops me from going further – crush, perfume crush, there it goes… And I want to talk about it for a while.

I experience perfume crushes once in a while. They appear out of nowhere, attack me suddenly and they won’t let go this quickly as one would want them to. It’s hard to explain why it happens, maybe it’s all because the initial euphoria that accompanies smelling some new (but not only new) fragrances. I had few perfume crushes this year. Yes, I survived them, didn’t buy any of those tempting bottles. I managed to overcome this barrier that stops me from discovering new areas of perfumery.

Some time ago, at the beginning of 2012 I was looking for a perfume for my 22nd birthday. Then I found a nice bottle of Victor & Rolf Antidote sitting on the perfume counter. I grabbed it along with a sampling paper and sprayed generously. Sampling on paper was promising so another spray went on my hand. I waited short while for the juice to settle on the skin and I took a deep whiff. My heart skipped a bit. I liked it’s aroma, but something wasn’t alright so I took a sample home to have an “intimate date” with this crush. Thank God I realized that in this perfume every note appears at the same time. I was unable to tell what I smell, too much was happening at the same time, too much splendor for me. So I passed and this crush quickly let go.

Few months later I was in a search for good citrus scent. I needed one to join my collection as I didn’t have a single one of that kind to wear during summer. First I discovered Chanel Allure Edition Blanche. This fragrance was following me for months. Meanwhile I also had a small crush (or an affair?) with Dior Eau Sauvage and Eau Sauvage Extreme. Both were lovely but their longevity on my skin made me say no. But Chanel still kept whispering buy me, buy me, you need me. Nothing really made me pass on Allure Edition Blanche. I still think it’s great perfume and I really love how it smells. It’s just I don’t love it that much to have a full bottle. A 25 ml decant would be enough for me.

All those perfume crushes made me stronger. They taught me how to resist momentary temptation. They also taught me to have more respect for citrusy notes. Later I found two great citrus fragrances. I didn’t buy any of them but I will one day. Those are Eau d’Hadrien from Annick Goutal and I Profumi di Firenze Limone di Sicilia. Both smell divine and citruses in them are just the way I like them, juicy, acidic and very refreshing. It wasn’t easy to survive through these perfume crushes. One lasted longer, one disappeared quicker but if I didn’t have a strong will I would end up with two or three bottles of perfume that I don’t love so much as I thought. That would be sad…

Glad I’m a kind of person that really cares about love for scents. I only buy those perfume that after few tryings make me 100% sure that I’ll appreciate them and will use them with pure joy. This attitude is also healthy to my low student budget. Keeping my head cold allows me to stock money for a nicer bottle of perfume instead of buying more bottles. I’m a minimalist and to me less is more. I believe that a greater love towards less bottle has much better value than smaller love for a whole bunch of scents. Don’t you agree? What do you, my friends, think about perfume crushes? If you ever experienced a perfume crush please share what fragrance it was and how this affair ended.

PS. I was listening to Crush by Jennifer Paige while writing this article!