How Many is "enought"? I'm having trouble keeping my list of "to buys" short...

I was recently participating in a similar discussion on another forum, and realized that even though I have about forty bottles, the following nine scents might feel like a sufficient wardrobe. They won't be relevant, really, since I'm female, but I'm going to list them anyway. And a vague notion of what categories they fill for me.

Chanel Cristalle (Green, Fresh, Summer, Daytime, Vintage)
Chanel No. 19 parfum (Green, Daytime, Evening, Formal, Vamp, Dark)
Parfumerie Generale L'Eau Rare Matale (Tea, Fresh, Summer, Daytime, Active)
Parfumerie Generale Cadjmere (Gourmand, Comfort, Winter, Daytime, Naptime)
Serge Lutens Daim Blond (Leather, Comfort, Winter, Daytime, Evening, Vamp, Naptime)
Serge Lutens Serge Noire (Incense, Winter, Dark, Evening)
Sushi Imperiale (Gourmand, Holiday, Winter, Daytime, Evening, Christmas)
Parfumerie Generale Tubereuse Couture (Floral, Vamp, Girly, Evening, Daytime) A lot of personalities for this one.
And one TBD - a soft but rich floral. One candidate is the new Van Cleef & Arpels Muguet Blanc (Floral, Daytime, Girly)

This covers most cravings and categories and occasions that I can think of. All that's missing is the perfect orange - intense and not too fresh but not too bitter - but I still haven't found that.

I own all but the last two on the list. I'm planning to get decants and try living with just these scents for a while, to see if I'm overwhelmed by cravings for anything else.

Crayfish

I would say, sample, sample, sample. Your tastes will likely change as you become familiar with more fragrances. If you fall in love with a sample, many advise several full wears in different circumstances so a decant or mini is often a cheaper option. It's so easy to spend a fortune on bottles that become redundant as you find new and wonderful things to try.

I personally only buy a full bottle if I have completely fallen head over heels with it over several wears, or if I'm pretty confident I love it and it's too fantabulous of a bargain to pass up.

There is no absolute number, If I had it my way, I'd rather have 100 scents that I "Really Like" than 5 that I "Aboslutely Love" since I get tired and bored of a scent with repeated wearings, nomatter how good I think they are.
To keep it short, it depends on how much you're willing to spend, really.

I'm with TimothyX-- I like variety. Know thyself! If you can arbitrarily limit the number you buy, great-- that doesn't work for me. However, I never buy what I can't afford, so available funds impose a limit to how many frags I can add per year. That enables me to consider what I really like and not be too hasty in acquiring a new love. Usually.

42


(oh, someone had to!)

The problem is that everyone would disagree on which scents belong among the 5 "good examples" of each category. Plus, there are many scents that either fall between two or more categories, or defy categorization altogether. These are usually the most fun!

So...futile? Maybe.


As to your first question: Like the others, I'm all about variety. But you can get variety from extensive sampling. I think about 20-30 is a good number of bottles, but the more samples, the better.

On days of strong personal discipline I have vague notions of reducing my wardrobe down to 12 perfect bottles. Fragrances to cover every eventuality, season, mood swing and whim, but I simply cannot do it. I end up with just one more that I cannot do without, and the collection gathers speed again. Perhaps it is better to adopt the Wildean principle........

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

It would be like restricting yourself to ever viewing only a dozen or so great works of art. The rest would be always hidden from your sight. Oh, you would enjoy seeing those 12 but..

I agree with this completely. Don't buy everything you "sort of" like. Sample, sample, sample, and buy only those that are exceptional to your nose. If you do this, you will be able to have a satisfying wardrobe in 10-15 bottles (IMO).

I just really got started in this hobby this year after finding this site. When I first started my goal was a 10 bottle wardrobe. I thought more than that was silly and unnecessary. Then I went past 10, and said 15 was going to be it. Well I'm at 15 now, and keep telling myself "stop sampling and stay off of basenotes, both are bad for the wallet." Also, being a data guy, I did the calculations and my current 15 bottles will last me over 15 years. So it even seems silly to keep buying for that reason.

BUT, as you can see, I'm still on Basenotes. I haven't stopped sampling either. And there are already several other bottles I want to buy. But I think I'm done for the year. I'll wait until spring to buy something else. The temptation is going to kill me, but the anticipation will be fun.

Still I absolutely cannot see myself going over 20-25 though. There are some of my current 15 I could probably get rid of to keep the number down. Stuff I really liked when I got started, but don't like as much now that I've experienced more. I find myself only wearing about 5-7 of them regularly now anyway.

My limit is about 35 perfumes and will never go higher than that, if my collection shrinks to 4 or 5 perfumes then I'll buy another 30 perfumes and so on. I hate the IDEA of leaving this world and my collection of 1000 niche perfumes at the hands of people who will throw it to the garbage or sell it for cheap.

It just no more than an obsession to find the perfect perfume and for some it will never happen.

Totally agreed. Life is short. Don't worry about about absolute numbers. Worry about whether you have enough fragrance bandwidth to keep your scent RAM occupied.

I have set a firm limit: two.

One room and one refrigerator. But I'm weakening on refrigerators.

Seriously, I think anywhere between 5 and 25 is a reasonable limit for most people, from what I've seen. It's possible to get by on samples above that.

My collection is bigger because I'm basically creating a reference library. I would never recommend that a person become archival about fragrances unless they want it to take over a huge part of their life. Aspiring perfumers, critics, experts, historians, hardcore collectors, traders, resellers, etc. However, if somebody else caught the bug to go that way, I would never discourage them. It's like graduate students. When an undergrad shows up who wants to start hoarding books, journals and literature, the profs know they've got a "live one". Most just want to get their degree and get on with life, and that's fine, too. But some people fall in love with the subject, and if it becomes everything to them, that's good. We need people like that.

(PS: Remember - good fragrances, well kept, don't die. They turn into vintage.)

I would be pleased to trim down my collection to a list of merely 23 frags... provided they are the right 23!

Realistically, after I'd recommend that a newbie keep 6 at most in regular rotation. Seriously, I love a lot of different perfumes (and I'm running out of fridge space!), but even if I can only own my few 5-star perfumes, I'd be a happy perfumista.

What's up with the refrigeration? I thought 'cool dark storage alone' is enough? When you take out a bottle from your fridge the difference in ambient temperature would cause the air in your bottle to condense and that could spell bad news for your juices. My knowledge of chemistry is fuzzy but doesn't extreme changes in temperature affect molecular structures? Anyway, I read somewhere an advice saying storing perfumes in a cold fridge is a bad idea.

To the OP, tally up the cost of purchasing all those fragrances and think about what else you could use that money for e.g. holiday abroad, new hi fi / car stereo etc. I find this exercise a good way to keep my purchases in check.

My husband and I have been storing our fragrances in the fridge for years with no ill effects. We used to keep them our spare fridge in the basement, but finally got a mini fridge for our bedroom.

Any condensation is on the outside of the bottle, and in any case, the bottle is only outside the fridge for a very short time. The inside of the fridge is dark, so this also keeps out light.

But a dark closet is good, too.

The Osmothèque (perfume museum) in France keeps historic fragrances under refrigeration-- so how can it be harmful?

The way I look at it is seasonal. Get one for summer/spring and one for fall/winter. Make sure you like it and others like it. Keep it simple. I have had to limit myself too. I just gifted away the excess colognes i bought haha.

I don't have an absolute number, I agree with the posts here it really is up to you and your self-control.
I've set an artificial limit to myself though. One brand per house for my future full bottles. For example, just bought an Issey, so no looking at other Isseys for now. Samples ok, full bottles no.
Sampling now and then just to enjoy the variety.
I have a long waiting list of "to-be-bought" too...

*Wringing my hands in agony...control control control...*

Intersting that you picked the number 23...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_Enigma