Bad decisions?

Hello my dear friends, there’s something that I need to talk about with you today and I want to do it in the most sincere & truthful way I can. You see, ever since I followed the rabbit down the hole of a perfume world, I always wanted to attend one of the exhibitions that gathers niche brands from all over the world and where new fragrances are being shown to the world for the 1st time before they appear on the shelves of perfumeries. This wish of mine did come true, I still remember how excited I was when I applied for a press accreditation and received a positive answer from organizers.

It was back in 2014, That’s when I experienced the magic of Esxence and Milan as a city for the first time in my life. The very same year I also tried my chances in joining another big perfume fair in Italy – Pitti Fragranze in Florence. As you know from my posts, I indeed was able to visit this event as well. Ever since those times I would annually travel to Italy in the spring time and late in the summer to keep myself updated with all the new launches and trends. Thanks to both Esxence and Pitti I was lucky to meet many lovely people who I think of as friends after these couple of years.

Year after year reconnecting with friends – bloggers, perfumers, brand owners, was becoming more important than perfume. I still wanted to smell things but I would spend more time talking to people than before. And then September 2018 came and something about Pitti Fragranze felt broken. There were visibly less brands, people looked tired, new releases weren’t all that exciting either. With some friends we started to question if glory days of Pitti are over. Many brands exhibited at their hotels and not in Stazione Leopolda. A number of perfume houses preferred to go to TFWA in Cannes instead.

2 days ago I looked into calendar and I saw that Pitti is held from 13 to 15 September. A tax free exhibition in Cannes will then follow in exactly 2 weeks. I think last year’s scenario will repeat, maybe at a scale bigger than in 2018. And last year I was really disappointed. I was fighting with myself for long hours. As sad as it sounds I want to let you all know that I made a decision of not going to Florence for Pitti this year. It makes me feel down but I don’t think the show is going to improve this year. I’ll miss all the people I won’t meet. Am I making a bad decision? Only time will tell…

Something Esxciting is coming

Easter is just few days away so hopefully all of us will be able to enjoy this small holiday break. With signs of spring all around it should be a real pleasure to be able to go for an afternoon walk, watch blooming trees and listen to birds singing. But then my thoughts slowly start to run away to Milan because Esxence is starting in exactly 7 days counting from today. As I mentioned in the previous post about this event, it’s coming a month later than usual. This means it’s going to be warmer, the day will be longer and hopefully the concentration of excitement in the air will be high.

Last Pitti Fragranze was a bit disappointing but Esxence seemed to be a better fair ever since I went to both for the first time. Spring is simply a better season for introducing something new. I’m truly looking forward to seeing familiar faces of all those people I consider to be my perfume friends. With most of them I can only meet twice a year so it’s a nice thing to be able to catch up. Hopefully there’ll be some great perfume to smell and admire – honestly, I need some new inspirations for the blog because as of late I find it extremely hard to find something worth sharing & reviewing for you.

I will be on my way there next Wednesday, flying from Berlin. Hope you’ll follow me again this year!