Surviving on a capsule scent wardrobe

The longest l've ever had to do this is for a two-week holiday. l'm not sure l could last much longer than that!

Last year l took five 5ml decants with me to Greece; Tuberose Gardenia, Aloha Tiare, lntense Tiare, Jasmin Full & Alien.
Alien was a little too overpowering in the heat, but otherwise this little selection served me well.
l do think it's important to consider carefully the local conditions & situations one will be experiencing, when selecting a capsule wardrobe. lf you get it right, it can work, & it makes for less time spent choosing a SOTD, of course.

Edinburgh is a beautiful city tigrushka, & there's great shopping to be had, so if you get tired of your capsule wardrobe, l'm sure you can find some more treasures there! Enjoy your time in Bonnie Scotland!

Cool thread. I LOVE your full wardrobe, BTW, and I can see why you miss it. I agree with Teardrop, Edinburgh is gorgeous, and maybe a small shopping trip is in order. How about a nice generous bottle of a new Eau de Toilette to give you a scent memory of the time your are spending there. Or an ancillary product like lotion or soap?

Agree with Fleurine and teardrop. Edinburgh is wonderful, I was there in 2000 and wish I had been more into fragrance then so I could have brought back something would remind me of it. I'll never forget coming up a hill from my B&B and suddenly seeing the castle so imposing and grand, wow! The cannon went off as I was approaching the entrance and scared me for a second. I wonder if they still shoot it off every afternoon. I took small bottles Tabu and Ambergris oil with me on my trip, still wear these scents. Planning to pick up some new fragrance when we go later this year for my step-son's wedding.
Enjoy your time there and good luck finding a special new scent!

I have coped with a capsule wardrobe but not for two months. I think I would probably trawl locally for interesting vintage and local scents. Sounds like a great opportunity to do that, and also check out what people in Edinburgh are into, scent-wise. You never know what you will discover. Enjoy!

You need to contact Foustie for Scottish shopping info. Jenners in Edinburgh used to carry Lutens and Piguet. I'm sure there must be fragrance boutiques there as well. Glasgow has a good reputation for Edinburgh and only a short train journey away.

Maybe just a chat up of approachable SAs will yield some samples too. You may discover a new love or cheap thrill which will take you back to Edinburgh for the rest of your life.

There's also Harvey Nicks in Edinburgh. Excellent hunting ground

I think it is the perfect excuse to go spraying every day. Does your daily occupation allow you a walk into any department store? I presume not as you would have already done sample foraging. Have you got any peeps around who will swap samples? You could get some vials off the net and carry them around and suggest to the nearest approachables, that you do a perfume swap. They will probably think you are potty, but do you care?

You could buy samples off evil eBay. It is a free for all with samples right now. Some sellers have been logged on here as being the ones to trust. I wouldn't trust them all....who knows whose hands are washed.....only buy from the ones who say they have used sterile pipettes.

You actually need an emergency infusion. See PM.

Well, I love this thread idea, Tigrushka!
And it's nice to see you.

I am now curious to know what each basenoter has, in FACT, packed for his/her travels!!

When I went to London the first time last year, I wore only Jil Sander 4 and Niki de Saint Phalle! And I was happy enough!

And the second time I visited, I took only Estee Lauder Beatiful and Penhaligon's English Fern.

I wonder, what were my motivations ion choosing THOSE scents to travel with?! They were calculated -- and ultimately 'fulfilling' -choices, bu,t strangely, not my usual fare.

There is a strange loveliness in having to not necessarily "attend" to one's perfume obsession. And to relate suddenly to the scent one "must" wear, as a less 'pliable" projection of the "self". I recall specifically thinking about the beautiful austerity of perhaps even having a "Signature Scent" (assuming it was a VERY GOOD one)-- that it could
feel 'clean', rather than bleak.

I have always been a firm believer, in more broad terms, that travel is the best cure for ailments of the 'stuck' or 'fixated' variety. Who, after all, has time to indulge every neurosis, when thrown into a novel, fascinating, and challenging environment?? It's enlivening. And when the soul 'heats up', the 'original' self feels freer and empowered. And an easier attitude about life -- at least in my experience -- always emerges. No worries about the grind of one's day-to-day is also so relieving! I find my capacity to be insouciant and good-humored, in other lands, finds me altogether 'looser' and less caught up, in terms of ALL my material fascinations (obsessions).

I tend to be vehement about proclaiming my perfume interest healthy. But, in all honesty, having experienced myself as much less acquisitive and object-oriented -- DURING MY EXTENDED TRAVELS, in particular -- suggests my perfume indulgence just might be (in part ) a by-product of feeling bored or deeply unstimulated, in some sensual and adventurous part of my psyche.

It has also occurred to me that perfumes, often, represent travel. Or at least, impart a sense of some foreign and charming place. I often imagine smelling them in their countries of origin. The whole sense of finding ones self 'drifting off' and traveling 'elsewhere' is part and parcel of the perfume experience. Little mini adventures in a bottle.


Sorry for the rant. Boy this thread got me thinking. Interesting.

Hillaire, that's quite thought-provoking, thanks for sharing your musings with us!

Hillaire you got me thinking too.

When we travel I NEVER take perfume with me but shop at the airport and make sure we have a little shopping outing whilst we're away whether in the Uk or abroad.

So my 25th wedding anniversary is inextricably linked with Sisley's Eau de Soir from the 3 weeks we spent lazing round Tenerife last year.

I find Spain to be the most fertile shopping ground for scent. The Spanish seem to have a national obsession with smelling good and fragrance boutiques are common place. Great for discontinued scents and hard to find lovelies.

To the OP. You must go shopping, lovely memories await

Rather you than I re avoiding purchasing!

*Shiver*

Enjoyed your "rant", Hillaire. Agree that perfumes do represent travel and we choose different scents to transport us to another place. Gives the spirit a little lift each day.

I could never narrow it down to such a bare bones offering. I have a selection of decant sprays in a purse that I use for travel. There are probably 10-12. I guess if I had to pick 3 it would be Caron- French Can Can, En Avion & Tabac Blond. But I'd be going crazy for Hermes Sur le Nil, Bond Eau New York, Profumum Neroli, Ormonde Woman, not to mention about 3 Guerlains...

I love reading your "rants," by the way.

I go through phases like this anyway. There are times when I just want to smell like one of a handful of scents, and I could manage just fine with 2 or 3. Then I have stretches where I am exploring the dusty corners of my wardrobe and dabbing different samples on each arm every night.

Travel for me is usually for work, so limiting my options is not an big deal. I'm too busy to think much about perfume. However, my trips are short - mostly less than a week. If I were going to be gone for 6 months I'd bring along at least a dozen decants from my collection.

As for my travel kit ... I made up a nice one last year not long after my interest in perfume took off. I got five colored metal atomizers and filled them with: Habit Rouge, Egoiste, Eau Noire, Knize Ten, and Gucci PH II. I need to update it, as my tastes have drifted ...

If I were making one now, it would be more like: Habit Rouge, New York, Jicky, Mitsouko, Egoiste.

I always bring along some samples when traveling, too. I just took a weekend trip and took my kit as well as a set of Histoire de Parfums samples.

I actually quite enjoy deciding which scents to take away with
me when on holiday. I am never without my Omnia and I usually take
a citrus(O de Lancome, Eau de Rochas or Escale a Portofino)
and an oriental, evening perfume too such as Shalimar, Roma or
Anne Pliska. I tend to choose my capsule wardrobe based around the
city/country I am visiting and the weather there.

Edinburgh at the moment requires a warming scent by the sounds of
your freezing flat, Tigs, or perhaps a drop of the amber nectar -i.e. whisky!!

I LOVE Edinburgh and go quite often - I have family and friends there I was about to sugest Penhaligon's, but if you're wanting to avoid spending money then you're very wise to steer clear of it!

I'm going to China soon for 3 weeks, so I should start thinking of what fragrances to take. Might be able to pick up some interesting scents there, hmm...

What a great thread! I too love Edinburgh, and am there quite often, as my daughter and her partner live in the north of Scotland and we always have a stopover there. Great shopping city, and so beautiful - I envy your being there in May, the best month to visit IMO.
I own about 40 small samples that I've gleaned from TPC, Les Senteurs, etc., and whenever I travel I pack several of them. I've just spent two weeks on holiday with samples of Lyric Woman, Tauer's Miriam, Tolu, Shem el Nessim and Mogador. Like Hillaire, I've often thought I'd like the elegance of a "signature scent", but given my chronic addiction to variety, I've decided my "sig" is the rose note. But having to depend on only a few during my travelling times means that I really experience those few in depth and appreciate them more. I notice nuances that normally pass me by.
And what joy on coming home to open my dresser drawer and see all those happy little phials just waiting for my touch!

Great thread! Really enjoyed reading all the posts.

I travel a lot for work, and often go away from home for 2 to 5 days at a time. My fragrances provide me with some entertainment in windy/rainy/humid/cold/hot/sunny/dusky and mostly lonely evenings in a hotel room, sometimes in a very remote spots of the country. I find such evenings ideal for sampling new scents or revisiting old favourites. As I wrote in another thread, I carry a box of samples and decants - Jo Malone box for a 100ml bottle. I change the content of the box before leaving home, depending on my mood, time of the year, destination and, sometimes, expected work environment. I occasionally take a full sized bottle with me. Only one. Something that I can wear for a number of days in a row.

I follow the same route with fragrance selection for the holidays - box of samples. I don't take full sized bottles when traveling overseas, as I always use my travels as an opportunity to buy a new fragrance.

I carry a travel size of my signature scent with me always, along with two or three minis and some samples. My signature scent I would be happy wearing anywhere for any length of time.