what to do when you find your grail>?

I do not believe in holy grails. For me, the love for scents is not just a cruzade to find a specific fragrance. The real pleasure is to enjoy every good scent I can get my hads on . Sure we all have jewels, but I feel that the concept of HG implies a more utilitarian philosophy.

That said I am in the process of downsizing my collection. I do not like the fact that many of my bottles have to sit for 2-3 months waiting for me to wear them again. (Plus, the fact that I am going to say good bye to my job in the next month also helps ). So I am getting rid of all my 3 star fragrances and half of my 4 *'s. Anyone interested on M7 fresh?

great question.... i've been seriously collecting for about 18 months, and I never thought my hobby would be so boundless, with so many purchase and collection options.

There are bound to be fragrances that you used to like and just don't like, or wear anymore. Some were blind buys, some were fragrances I really, really liked. These go on my sale thread.

Now that I have a decent collection, I'm very picky about what I purchase full bottles of. Sample. Sample. Sample.... there's almost never a reason to buy blind (but sometimes you just do, especially when you see a fleeting deal). For me, buying samples has taken on a life of its own (see my 'test list' if you don't believe me) because it's not only a means of deciding what to buy, but also the best way to learn about the fragrance world. Also, I buy lots of decants on TPC and through off-BN decant sellers. This is the best way to own a few wears worth of a fragrance (which will take me a year or more to go through) is to buy a decant. Often the bottles I want are absurdly expensive when you consider I may wear the fragrance every couple months, so owning a decant is the best middle ground between not owning it and paying for the bottle.

As to the 'holy grail' aspect of your question... these become the bottle purchases. I've found a few 'holy grails' - the fragrance that I've always wanted but didn't know it, or something so beautiful that I must own it. I have yet to find anything so fantastic that my search for the 'next fragrance' will end. Rather, when I find a fragrance that isn't just nice, that I don't just like, but that I am totally, 100% enchanted, I'll buy it. I'm more likely to buy a bottle that's either limited edition or discontinued (for obvious reasons) before I buy fragrances that are more available are farther down my 'to buy' list.

Overall, I look at having a decent collection as a library... it's about having the option to wear what you like, when you want, and when it fits your mood. I don't feel the need to downsize for the sake of downsizing. Only those fragrances I know I'll never reach for get downsized.

I am not a vet, however I made myself the same question and this is what I realized about this issue:

- As Irish correctly said, there is no holy grial, just scents you like more than others. Just go for the ones you like - from that point of vies, avoid blind buys and get involved in previous testing.

-*You will realize what you like since you will running out of your favorite scents before you run up of the rest. I know I like YSL pH since I wear it more often than, say, Polo.

- From this experiencie I also realized that I mostly like scents designed before the 1990's.

- I arrive to the conclusion that including fremale fragrances would be a "faux" movement, it would broaden the scope in a negative way.

Thus, I decided I won't buy post 1990's launches nor perfumes or scents "pour femme". Of course, since I am a fragrance fanatic I will make some exceptions: Opium pF would be one. Regarding launches, if it gets hold of my nose, well, I will have to review this principle.

And finally, you are in the USA: since many Bnoters live there, you can get involved in swapping or / and selling. So it would not be difficult getting rid of the bottles you don't like.

I'll take.....wear it 11 days in a row and find out it's not your grail anymore ?...for $200, Alex.

Pretty much what bbBD said.

Some of the varieties of fragrance enthusiast I've seen so far:

1. The holy grail seeker who isn't interested in fragrances as a hobby yet amasses a bunch of bottles in the process of looking the "The One".
2. The collector who owns hundreds of fragrances as a scent reference library.
3. The casual enthusiast who likes mixing it up but doesn't necessarily want a vast collection.

I'm sure there are other subspecies.

I would fall somewhere between 2 and 3, in that I don't see myself owning more than 40-50 full bottles (if that), but I want to have many more than that in small quantities as references or for very occasional use. I've started decanting my wardrobe into 15-mL atomizers, with the intention of selling or giving away the bottles soon. That way, I have the best of both worlds.

I used to buy lots of samples, but I pretty much ceased that exercise when I found that I couldn't really experience a fragrance properly with less than 5 mL. So if I do buy something to sample, it's a decant from TPC or a mini.

Of course, rules are meant to be broken...

I need a choice, so I'm not really looking for "the scent to beat all scents".

I once thought I found my "grail" when I wore Burberry London, but I keep finding scents I like.

I wholeheartedly agree. The way I see it people say that they are seeking the "Holy Grail" in an attempt to rationalize collecting large numbers of an expensive luxury item...

When I come across one I really like I make sure not to wear it too often.

I don't consider this a gender based thread topic, so I thought I'd bring up a related thread that had some thoughtful responses on the ladies side here.

I do have a Holy Grail scent, Shalimar.
But, I've also acquired a rather large collection in my explorations. I can say with confidence that I have an Oriental Orientation. I've come to realize that I love amber, vanilla, bergamot, lavender, cumin, patchouli, rosemary, cedar, cinnamon, musk and civet notes.
I've begun to tire of all the "almost greats" in my collection of 65+ full bottles and endless de-cants/samples and I've started to seriously pare it down. I don't know how many bottles that I'll end up with, but for every one I buy, I get rid of one that's languishing.
The Guide has had a huge impact on my choices, I refer to it daily.
Everyone could benefit from the teachings of a good guru.

I have that problem with shoes, shirts, etc. If they're too nice then they don't qualify to be worn to ordinary events where they may not be appropriate and where they will get worn out too soon. This is sort of anti-holy-grail logic. I'm not entirely happy with this approach because it requires me to own more than necessary. c'est la vie.

I'm not searching for a holy grail. I was in a stage where I was, but i've found fragrances that satisfy the needs which I was searching for. At my current stage, I am not as crazy about getting fragrances or samples, or running out to test a million different things, although I still do. I search now for more complicated, complex, and interesting fragrances...something unique and something to challenge me.

I have no holy grail. Whatever's the flavor of the month in my wardrobe, I wear it.

I am in the very small minority here and found my Holy grail (for now) and am still collecting, but now it is for the art.

Holy grail?! I don't believe in it. However, I do believe that it's possible to amass a reasonable collection of fragrances, which are all equally brilliant and very special to the owner.

you are on Basenotes my freind.....none of us here will open our wardrobe only to find "one" bottle in there to choose from....

To revisit this topic after posting last night - even the few 'holy grails' I've found aren't necessarily those I'd want to wear every day. I enjoy picking out a fragrance to match my day too much. I can't imagine ever finding one fragrance so amazing that it would cover any mood, any weather, and every circumstance. There may be a few that - if forced to choose as a game - I could wear every day no matter what, but thankfully that will never happen. I feel compelled to post that, IMO, Guerlain's Apres L'ondee is the most beautiful fragrance I've ever experienced, and the closes to a 'holy grail' that I own.

All highlighted in green are my "holy grails"

Tested


It's really sick to have an Excel spreadsheet to track my fragrances, now I'm starting on an Access database

This is great, thanks for putting up the link to "your work" . Good for reference and thanks for not having an option with "Smells like Allure Homme - Yes or No ?".

I went to the other thread and someone said "I have several Holy Grails and I want more." I agree with this sentiment. I started out looking for something I liked and I found one gorgeous thing after another. The trouble is it made me curious to try everything else to see if it smells as good or better than the last thing I found. It's a never-ending pursuit. Along the way I have learned what to avoid, however. There are some scents I simply cannot abide. Others that bear investigation. My plan is to weed out the frags that don't send me to the moon. If it's only a mediocre experience, I don't have room for it anymore.

I do believe in a holy grail simply because I've found one - although I wasn't necessarily looking for a holy grail in the first place. A holy grail perfume is for me something that doesn't just smell great, it's much more than that...perhaps you can understand only when you've found it... or it found you? Anyways, that didn't stop me from trying, acquiring and enjoying other perfumes. On the other hand, I don't consider myself a fragrance collector - in the sense of pilling up hundreds of bottles I can never use up.. just going off in the cupboard. Exploring various compositions of notes however, is something I find very enjoyable and interesting..I'll keep only a few though, say, 30-40 bottles max

So which one is it?


I would agree with this. I look at something like silverbullet's list and I see how many of his "holy grails" I haven't even tried. There are always going to be hundreds of frags out there that you haven't tried. How do you know that the next one isn't going to be The One? Or how do you know the one that's 157th on your "to test" list isn't going to be The One? Sometimes something completely unexpected just blows me away, and sometimes something that I've been really keen to try ends up being totally disappointing. At this point, I have tried almost 300 fragrances, and to date I have found three that I can't imagine living without (SL Gris Clair, Hermès Ambre Narguilé, and Esteban Tonka). There are a few more that I find ravishingly beautiful, but they're feminines or otherwise things that I wouldn't wear regularly or at all.

In order to find one fragrance that would render all others redundant, I think the perfumer would not only have to be incredibly skillful, but he/she would also have to know you better than you know yourself. It would almost have to be your husband or wife (don't we all envy Thérèse Roudnitska now!). So, I don't think this is really realistic. I can maybe see myself in a position someday where I would have maybe 10 or 15 can't-live-without-it frags that I would actually wear, but I would also want a good half-ounce or so of those ones that I just find beautiful.

...But all this is hypothetical, of course, since I haven't actually found a Grail.

One of the 5* in my wardrobe which is no longer produced.