For my 1000th post, I wanted to give a brief outline of how the fragrance hobby
(and that's what it is to me) has developed in my own experience -- a sort of
fragrance memoir.
Most hobbies seem to go through phases, it seems. There's the initial interest,
which may have been in the back of the mind, brewing for a long time, or which
may suddenly pounce on you. In my case, it was the former.
I had two or three drugstore fragrances in my 20's. Never wore them consistently.
I explored the discount stores (Kmart, etc...) a few times, but never really wanted
to put down serious money on a bottle of scent.
Fast forward to my mid 30's. I would frequently go to stores like Macy's and Nordstrom
looking for decent sales on clothing. Of course, you always have to pass the fragrance
counter in these stores. (The high-profit centers are placed near the entrance.)
I got interested in getting a scent for daily wear. I was approached by a woman
at Nordstrom pushing Essenza di Zegna. I liked it. I bought a 50ml bottle of it.
At the time of my first designer fragrance purchase, I had in mind that I wanted
any scent I buy to be light, not in-your-face. Zegna fit the bill. But here's the kicker:
they had a website for the fragrance. It was interesting. It listed the predominant notes
in the scent. Of course, I then had to learn where the notes came from (yeah, mostly
synthetics, but they are modeled after naturally occuring compounds, and I wanted
to learn about it). For this, I started searching the Internet and after some time
stumbled upon Basenotes.
Hide the wallet!!!!!!!!!
Well, as many of you have experienced, I soon found that there were many families of
fragrance creations: fougere, chypre, oriental, woody, aromatic, etc...
I wanted to find out what those smelled like. And of course I wanted to smell what the
Fragrance Enlightened were raving about. And here is where the "collecting"
psychology kicked in. Instead of simply smelling samples and chalking it up to
experience, I bought bottles of scent upon first or second sniff.
Well, to wrap this up, I accumulated bottles faster than I had anticipated, but I did acquire
fragrance knowledge along the way. About $5000 later, the hobby has exhausted its
collecting phase and I view fragrance as pleasant and refreshing to wear but not a passion
anymore. I do enjoy a well-crafted scent, but most new designer fragrances don't
excite me. My tastes moved from light to deep and rich. There aren't many of those
getting made anymore.
I want to thank the many Basenoters who have been generous with their time and
knowledge. It has been an interesting hobby, and I intend to keep up with it in a more
modest manner for the foreseeable future. And I'm not leaving Basenotes anytime soon,
I'm just not as rabid as I once was about scent.
I'm investing more time and money in digital photography these days. The phases of that
hobby have been similar to my experience with Basenotes: The initial, latent, interest;
the first inexpensive acquisitions, the discovery of Internet discussion forums, the
acquisition of way more gear than I ever anticipated, the learning (quite enjoyable) and
the desire to share the experience on the forums.
And, above these two hobbies, I still spend time practicing and performing on my
trumpets: in a community band, at my church, in other churches, and the rare solo
recital I hope to put on in the next year or so.
I remain a Basenoter,
Tim
(and that's what it is to me) has developed in my own experience -- a sort of
fragrance memoir.
Most hobbies seem to go through phases, it seems. There's the initial interest,
which may have been in the back of the mind, brewing for a long time, or which
may suddenly pounce on you. In my case, it was the former.
I had two or three drugstore fragrances in my 20's. Never wore them consistently.
I explored the discount stores (Kmart, etc...) a few times, but never really wanted
to put down serious money on a bottle of scent.
Fast forward to my mid 30's. I would frequently go to stores like Macy's and Nordstrom
looking for decent sales on clothing. Of course, you always have to pass the fragrance
counter in these stores. (The high-profit centers are placed near the entrance.)
I got interested in getting a scent for daily wear. I was approached by a woman
at Nordstrom pushing Essenza di Zegna. I liked it. I bought a 50ml bottle of it.
At the time of my first designer fragrance purchase, I had in mind that I wanted
any scent I buy to be light, not in-your-face. Zegna fit the bill. But here's the kicker:
they had a website for the fragrance. It was interesting. It listed the predominant notes
in the scent. Of course, I then had to learn where the notes came from (yeah, mostly
synthetics, but they are modeled after naturally occuring compounds, and I wanted
to learn about it). For this, I started searching the Internet and after some time
stumbled upon Basenotes.
Hide the wallet!!!!!!!!!
Well, as many of you have experienced, I soon found that there were many families of
fragrance creations: fougere, chypre, oriental, woody, aromatic, etc...
I wanted to find out what those smelled like. And of course I wanted to smell what the
Fragrance Enlightened were raving about. And here is where the "collecting"
psychology kicked in. Instead of simply smelling samples and chalking it up to
experience, I bought bottles of scent upon first or second sniff.
Well, to wrap this up, I accumulated bottles faster than I had anticipated, but I did acquire
fragrance knowledge along the way. About $5000 later, the hobby has exhausted its
collecting phase and I view fragrance as pleasant and refreshing to wear but not a passion
anymore. I do enjoy a well-crafted scent, but most new designer fragrances don't
excite me. My tastes moved from light to deep and rich. There aren't many of those
getting made anymore.
I want to thank the many Basenoters who have been generous with their time and
knowledge. It has been an interesting hobby, and I intend to keep up with it in a more
modest manner for the foreseeable future. And I'm not leaving Basenotes anytime soon,
I'm just not as rabid as I once was about scent.
I'm investing more time and money in digital photography these days. The phases of that
hobby have been similar to my experience with Basenotes: The initial, latent, interest;
the first inexpensive acquisitions, the discovery of Internet discussion forums, the
acquisition of way more gear than I ever anticipated, the learning (quite enjoyable) and
the desire to share the experience on the forums.
And, above these two hobbies, I still spend time practicing and performing on my
trumpets: in a community band, at my church, in other churches, and the rare solo
recital I hope to put on in the next year or so.
I remain a Basenoter,
Tim
