my collection – This Side of Perfume

May 2019: Collection Update

May 29, 2019

I’ve recently added a couple of bottles to my collection, so I thought now would be the perfect time to do another collection update post!

Fig Tea is a scent from Parfums de Nicolai that I’ve liked for several years. I first wrote about it here. I wanted to mention this scent in particular because I bought the 30 ml size for $52 from Luckyscent. I think it’s a great value for a 30 ml EdT that lasts around 5-6 hours on my skin. Compare that with $68 for Jo Malone’s 30 ml bottles! (And it’s $72 for the limited edition spring collection bottles.) I adore Jo Malone and I don’t mind the shorter wear time because I frequently re-apply. But that price point just doesn’t seem like a good value to me for an EdC concentration.

I bring all of this up just to say that, if you haven’t tried Parfums de Nicolai, I highly recommend this house! The EdT concentrations are comparable to Jo Malone (some last slightly longer than Jo Malone, some don’t. It will depend on your skin chemistry, of course.) And the Parfums de Nicolai price point is fantastic.

My other recent purchase is Tocca’s Simone, which is an effortless and easy-going kind of perfume. Can you believe that this is actually my first full bottle from Tocca? I recently learned that they discontinued my other Tocca favorite, Margaux. So I figured I should snap up Simone while I still can! I love the Tocca bottles and the ornate caps (which I removed for the photo. The cap was so heavy, it kept tipping the bottle over!)

Simone isn’t a fragrance that I would usually go for. It’s a fruit-forward scent (green apple and watermelon). The pink juice is clearly intended to appeal to a younger demographic. I normally roll my eyes at scents with such obvious marketing tactics like this. However, on the skin, Simone is simply so pretty, I can’t resist it. There is a woody undercurrent that keeps the composition anchored and gives it some staying power. What can I say? I’m not immune to pretty pink scents! I’m excited to wear this one for the summer.

Looking forward, I only see myself purchasing a 75 ml bottle of Chanel’s 1957 over the summer. I don’t have any other full bottles on my list right now. (Or, rather, I have so many full bottles that I would love, but I have to narrow it down!) I want to leave myself some leeway to purchase a bottle or two during the Fall and leading up to the holiday season. We shall see how my full bottle Low Buy continues through the second half of 2019!

Have any of you purchased new full bottles lately?

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I purchased Fig Tea from Luckyscent and Simone from Nordstrom.

The photo was taken by me.

March 2019: Collection Update

March 6, 2019

As you may know, one of my 2019 resolutions is to be on a full bottle low buy for the year. I’m trying to acquire 7 or fewer full bottles for the year. For a non-perfume enthusiast, that would be a breeze! For those of us who love collecting, it’s more of a challenge.

There are a couple of reasons I decided to institute the low buy. Of course, I’m doing it for financial reasons. I just can’t afford to splurge on multiple full bottles this year. I have decided to allocate most of my perfume money to samples and discovery sets. I feel it’s a better use of both my money and my time when it comes to fragrance. I can use up the samples and work through my thoughts about the fragrance fairly effectively.

The other reason for my low buy has to do with the collection I already have. For the most part, I’m content with my current collection. I did an entire collection reorganization the end of 2018. If I purchase 10+ full bottles this year, I would have to reorganize again and ensure that I have space for everything. I like to keep the packaging whenever possible, including the outer boxes. This can get bulky and take up more space than I have in my apartment.

For these reasons, it just makes practical sense to be on a low buy. So, what have I purchased so far in 2019? As you can see in the photo, I bought Dark Amber & Ginger Lily from Jo Malone and a travel size of Hendley Blond. I used a Nordstrom gift card to purchase the Dark Amber & Ginger Lily, which was a big help.

I considered using the gift card to purchase a bottle of Diptyque’s 34 Blvd Saint Germain EDP but I’ve been a fan of Dark Amber & Ginger Lily for longer, and so it takes precedence. I’ll wait until next fall/winter and see if I’m still such a fan of the 34 EDP. I’m happy with my purchases so far for 2019. And I still have some leeway for spring/summer purchases!

Curating a collection can be a difficult thing. If you’re a true perfume collector, when do you feel satisfied with your collection? It’s a personal thing, and some people may never consider their collection complete. I’m at the point where I’m truly content with what I have. I don’t feel the need to be constantly looking for the next thing and get hyped about the newest release. I’m enjoying what I have and it’s a nice feeling.

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I purchased my Jo Malone from Nordstrom. Interestingly, they only have the 50 ml bottle available, not the 100 ml. I purchased Hendley Blond directly from Hendley.

The photo was taken by me.