True Confessions
There are a couple of comments on yesterday's posting from a reader named ScentSelf, you might as well go read those and then come back, okay?
Now, the commenter has this to say about my discomfort with buying full bottles of things these days, since I am so well stocked with scent:
Umm, that sense of unease...does it begin after you realize you are looking for nooks and crannies to stash stuff in? Or when you realize you have more than two charming storage boxes with decants? Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Two storage boxes? It is to laugh!
Try to keep in mind that I almost always hang onto the box that a scent comes in, because I am just that kind of person. Maybe I'll want to swap it or sell it later, and the box is a nice thing to have. And often the box is attractive or interesting, and therefore worth hanging on to. And the next time I move, it's nice to be able to tuck things into their boxes and know that they'll be padded and protected from moving's little bang and crashes.
Okay. Deep breath. Here is what I have by way of storage:
A large Rubbermaid storage container, 24 x 16 x 8 (inches, not centimetres), that contains mostly boxes, but also some bottles that I don't use very often.
A dresser drawer--the bottommost one, which Jim is under strict instructions to never, ever open--that just barely closes.
A freestanding medicine cabinet on top of that same dresser, packed to the gills with things I use the most often. The top of the cabinet is also completely covered with opaque bottles--CSPs, other aluminum bottles, things like that--which will not be damaged by light.
A shoebox in the bedroom closet, full of samples and miniatures, labelled "Samples Sampled", that I have already written about and will probably never wear again but you never know. (I use this to dredge out little gifts for people; "Here are a few scents you might like (and try to ignore the fact that they're not full).")
Another shoebox in the same location, full of things that I have not yet had the chance to write about, mostly samples but also miniatures and a few full-sized bottles. Completely full. Full right up.
Another shoebox full of things I no longer need, labelled "Can Live Without". Also full.
Yet another shoebox full of things that I have not yet decided if I really need or not.
A smaller shipping box, about 8 x 8 x 8, packed full of the most recently acquired samples, mostly stuff I ordered from The Perfumed Court but also Luckyscent and some commercial samples as well.
Oh, and my dresser, my nightstand, the end table by the living-room couch, and my desk are scattered with various vials of samples that I am writing about or have recently written about or intend to write about. And there are two half-ounce Demeters in my knapsack and also a few worthy vials in case I find myself stranded and not interestingly scented.
I think it is safe to say that I have gone waaaaay beyond "unease" and well into "complete derangement". And this is why I am trying so hard to not buy anything new. But they just keep coming out with new scents, and some of them are really good! And I need to try them all!
Now, the commenter has this to say about my discomfort with buying full bottles of things these days, since I am so well stocked with scent:
Umm, that sense of unease...does it begin after you realize you are looking for nooks and crannies to stash stuff in? Or when you realize you have more than two charming storage boxes with decants? Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Two storage boxes? It is to laugh!
Try to keep in mind that I almost always hang onto the box that a scent comes in, because I am just that kind of person. Maybe I'll want to swap it or sell it later, and the box is a nice thing to have. And often the box is attractive or interesting, and therefore worth hanging on to. And the next time I move, it's nice to be able to tuck things into their boxes and know that they'll be padded and protected from moving's little bang and crashes.
Okay. Deep breath. Here is what I have by way of storage:
A large Rubbermaid storage container, 24 x 16 x 8 (inches, not centimetres), that contains mostly boxes, but also some bottles that I don't use very often.
A dresser drawer--the bottommost one, which Jim is under strict instructions to never, ever open--that just barely closes.
A freestanding medicine cabinet on top of that same dresser, packed to the gills with things I use the most often. The top of the cabinet is also completely covered with opaque bottles--CSPs, other aluminum bottles, things like that--which will not be damaged by light.
A shoebox in the bedroom closet, full of samples and miniatures, labelled "Samples Sampled", that I have already written about and will probably never wear again but you never know. (I use this to dredge out little gifts for people; "Here are a few scents you might like (and try to ignore the fact that they're not full).")
Another shoebox in the same location, full of things that I have not yet had the chance to write about, mostly samples but also miniatures and a few full-sized bottles. Completely full. Full right up.
Another shoebox full of things I no longer need, labelled "Can Live Without". Also full.
Yet another shoebox full of things that I have not yet decided if I really need or not.
A smaller shipping box, about 8 x 8 x 8, packed full of the most recently acquired samples, mostly stuff I ordered from The Perfumed Court but also Luckyscent and some commercial samples as well.
Oh, and my dresser, my nightstand, the end table by the living-room couch, and my desk are scattered with various vials of samples that I am writing about or have recently written about or intend to write about. And there are two half-ounce Demeters in my knapsack and also a few worthy vials in case I find myself stranded and not interestingly scented.
I think it is safe to say that I have gone waaaaay beyond "unease" and well into "complete derangement". And this is why I am trying so hard to not buy anything new. But they just keep coming out with new scents, and some of them are really good! And I need to try them all!
posted by pyramus at
3:30 PM
3 Comments:
My husband thinks that one small bookcase nearly full of bottles (in their original boxes, of course) and a couple of shoeboxes of samples/decants is a sign of advanced mental illness. I guess it's a good thing he doesn't know about the other box of samples stashed in the closet. :-)
The real question, pyramus, is how many of those bottles are backups?
By
moongrrl, at 11:36 AM
Exactly one: I bought a bottle of L'Artisan Parfumeur Safran Troublant a couple of weekends ago (in Halifax), even though I have a 15-mL bottle nearly half full, because I couldn't stand the thought of running out. It's not as if it's rare or hard to come by, as if I couldn't easily replace it if and when I needed to, and they're not about to discontinue it any time soon; but I was there, and the bottle was there, and somehow I found myself buying it.
Also a box of Roger et Gallet carnation soap, the best soap in the whole wide world.
Anyway, other than that backup, I don't have any duplicates, so you can see how completely out of hand this is. I really ought to cull and just sell everything I can live without--a lot of bottles, probably!--on eBay or something like that. And maybe I will. But, knowing me, I probably won't.
By
pyramus, at 12:16 PM
LOL, I may not quite that far gone yet, but getting there fast! My problem is finding suitable storage containers, I like them to be attractive and it's hard to find boxes in larger sizes that look nice. (Yeah, like that's my REAL problem, instead of having too much perfume to start with!)
By
Flora, at 10:01 PM
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