CaFleureBon Happy New Year 2012: Our Perfume Resolutions + Constant Craving Contest

 

Every year 45% of Americans make at least  one New Year's Resolution. Studies show that most are broken within six weeks. Perfumistas are different, we are a deteremined lot, so the Team at CaFleureBon have compiled our own.

 

 

 Olga Rowe, Contributor

I n 2011 I was drowning in the sea of samples. Manufacturer’s samples.  Tiny dab vials. Lucky Scent sample packs (every single one of them in 2011!). Small atomizers filled by my friends’ loving hands.  Sampling groups and sampling circles. Assortments of fragrances based on my favorite notes. “You just have to try these, Olga!”.  Winter favorites, Spring favorites, Summer favorites, Fall favorites. Full line samples to get introduced to the old and new players of the fine smelling world. And I bought full bottles, too.

The two oars are Desire and Curiosity.  Call it a whim, call it a craving, but some days I wake up and a fragrance is calling my name. In 2011 I stifled that little voice a lot and went with whatever I planned to wear on that day. I will listen to it in 2012. But some days the little voice is silent. I don’t wake up wanting a particular scent to wear. So it’s time to get into a sample pile then. Two ores take their turns, one works while the other is idle, and together they will push me further into the Scented Waters from which not one sailor has ever come back

 

Tama Blough, Editor

I will finish my sample before running out to buy a bottle. Sometimes that instant love dies out by the third wearing.  Best to be sure.

I will not let a list of notes cause me to buy a bottle unsniffed, but a decant or discount bottle under $25 is okay. So far I have been fairly lucky, but I have taken a few big-bucks risks.

I will not let snobbery take control of me, and will give a fair shake to all perfumes, no matter what. Sometimes niche ain’t all that, and a $45 bottle of some little celebuscent can be a winner

Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

I will dab more and spritz less. I will wear my vintage fragrances (not just stare at them).

Any new sample vials I receive will be labeled by date placed in bubble envelopes (then put into brightly colored boxes marked 2012)… 

I will  buy decanting supplies.

As Bertand Duchaufour once told me, "The lines between niche and commercial are increasingly blurred". Explore more mainstream fragrances.

When there are off days and the words don't come easily, deadlines are looming and I am feeling overwhelmed, I will remember it is just perfume.

Ida Meister, Sr. Editor

As I prepare to push up daisies –fast approaching the Sunny Side of Sixty-

I frequently find New Year’s resolutions to be an exercise in futility 😉

Like all frail mortals, I hope to constantly improve with age!

 1.)    I resolve to continue to nourish, support and encourage fragrant talent, wherever I find it.

 2.)    I resolve to participate in as many perfumed projects as I can manage! 😉

 3.)    I resolve to exercise my own creative abilities, and create more perfumes.

May YOUR New Year be as sweet and healthy as can be-

Full of adventure and good will.

You are dear to me- all of you.

 

Mark Behnke, Managing Editor

When it comes to New Year’s resolutions I think many of these get broken before bread is broken on New Year’s Day. I think they’re good as aspirational notes to one’s self and so here are three things I hope to do in 2012.      

I hope to finally visit Grasse. 

I hope to finally have a real room to myself as an office/perfume vault in our new house. 

I hope to finally meet some of my favorite perfumers in person this year.

 

What are  YOUR  perfume resolutions? Enter our constant craving  contest.  Leave a comment on site and  the most creative or interesting resolution will  win a wonderful gift bag of  niche, natural and other perfume surprises . Contest ends January 3, 2012 at 10 am EST

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilt perfume

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34 comments

  • I resolve to extract, distill, infuse or macerate any wonderful plant that I find that has odor;
    I resolve to macerate, infuse, distill or extract anything that has a smells that I want to capture;
    I resolve to continue my quest to teach as I would rather teach people how to make perfume than make and sell perfume to people. I am a teacher not a product maker.

  • I also hope to visit Grasse or perhaps the land of attars India in 2012.

    I hope to release my first fragrance – several are ready packaging and being a perfectionist are the hold backs.

    I WILL get my website up and running.

    I hope to meet some of the wonderful people I’ve met virtually through this and other online perfume communities. We are a kooky wonderful and amazingly delicious smelling bunch.

    Happy New Year!

  • My perfume resolution is no more blind buys or swap. Start making more perfumes. Learn to distill.

  • lynnsylvaine says:

    My perfume resolution is giving to others. I will take my unwanted perfume samples and unloved bottles to a women’s shelters and just give them away. Nothing builds self esteem like feeling good. Smelling beautiful might help these ladies feel good about themselves again

  • First: I resolve to make a real effort to know the difference between the perfumes I simply desire and that which I REALLY must have.

    My second resolution is to finish off a bottle of a vintage favorite and not worry about ever replacing it!

    Third: To give away the fragrances I know I will never use instead of storing them for years in cool, dark cupboards.

  • only one resolution for me: i will actually *wear* what i have and love (**gasp** — there so many!!)

    starting today with a favorite from at *least* a decade ago: sl feminite du bois (the shiseido version.)

  • I hope to organize and account for all of my perfumes and decants this summer.

    I hope to enjoy what I have and only buy decants, and only of things I know that I love already.

  • I resolve to finally do more creating and SHARE! No more back burner no matter what I will make the time and take the plunge..Already have to some degree…

  • I loved reading all of these! Olga, you have me laughing at “the Scented Waters from which not one sailor has ever come back.” 🙂 Mark, a new house? Exciting!

    Let’s see, a resolution… I’d like to meet some of you in real life this year!

  • I’m not into New Years resolutions, but I plan to buy more samples of perfumes that are unusual for me and that I can’t get in my area.

  • My perfume resolution is to start working my way through the samples I have (some have been around so long, the perfumes have already been discontinued or the house has gone out of business!) AND, order no more until this happens. That is the tricky part.

    My non-perfume resolution…I am in the unusual position of spending half my life in the USA and half in Asia. While I love it, I do find myself pining for what I’ve left behind. I resolve to live fully in the moment and enjoy where I am, at that moment.

    Happy New Year to everyone!

  • Resolution for me is…no more extreme blind buys, sharing more (I already do share)…passing tested samples on to others to try.

  • My resolution: buying perfumes that are very rare or worth to me, avoid blind buys, use the perfumes I have since the life is too short. Non-perfume related: more patience.

  • I resolve to stay in the river.

    The river is the flow, the movement, the exchange between people that keeps the world going round.

    In my work as a professor, the river is the exchange of ideas, the teaching for students.

    In my devotion to fragrance, as a perfumista, the river is the exchange of reviews, of samples, the energizing flow of juice, of notes, of information.

    My New Year’s wish for everyone: Jump in, the water is fine!

  • Oops, that’s “of students” not “for students,” although it is the case that the teaching is for students, too!

  • I would like that, for 2012, to travel more and have a special perfume for that location which will remember me of my vacation.

    I know it would be hard to acomplish, hard but not impossible.

    Thanks for the giveaway and a Happy New Year!!

  • Happy New Year to everyone and thank you for a lovely company ! I don’t make resolutions for the new year because I try to make a plan and keep it througout the year. I would however make a perfume resolution for the New Year: To try make a proper keeping place for the perfumes I have purchased over the last years and also try to wear them all in turns as many get negleced the way I keep them now

  • I will admit to myself that nothing has moved me like Une Rose and so collect the body butter ( used up one) and the soaps . I will wear it more often and not just for best. I will evangelise about it but not in a pushy way .

  • With regard to perfume my new year’s resolution is to be faithful to only one scent for an entire year . I have never been able to accomplish this in my lifetime, as there is always something new that beckons me to wear it! 🙂

    With regard to life, my new year’s resolution is to continue to practice random acts of kindness. I was thrilled to read all the comments about sharing perfume with others. I always say what you put out there always comes back to you in other ways.

    Happy New Year to all!

  • In 2012, I will appreciate what I have and stop automatically assuming the perfume is always greener in another person’s bottle.

  • I have lots of resolutions, but mostly i want to find a great system for organizing my samples. I cleaned out one drawer for all my perfume which I have in clear baggies or on cards but so far my only system is likes and dislikes! I need a “to revisit” category and then I’d like to differentiate by notes or houses, not sure which.

  • Lynnsylvaine, this is a GREAT idea!

    Haunani, so good to see you. I had myself laughing, too, when I arrived at that last phrase when I was writing.

    I have a new resolution — a one I did not know to have. I have a scent locket now, and I will wear it more often, even if it means to be wearing one perfume for several days. That’s a lovely way to experience the perfume development in slo-mo, plus my locket is absolutely gorgeous. I’ve always wanted a rose pendant which I got in 2009 in Boulder and a tree pendant which is mine now — and doubles as a scent locket, what could be better?

  • A new years resolution is definitely wearing the old, dc and precious ones more and not worry about them running out or replacing them. Another resolution is to do something about a list of things that I MUST explore, and to order one step at a time, not all at once.
    Happy New Year

  • Paul Matem. says:

    For 2012 I would like to make time and read Hemingway and Steinbeck’s books.

    I would also like to test more and more perfumes, for this hobby is a quest for perfection that never ceases.

  • taffynfontana says:

    I will enjoy my scents more and care less about what people around me think about them. I will remember that life is lived one inhale and one exhale at a time

  • My scent resloultions are to offer more samples to my friends! I need to start sending them little boxes in the mail. I am so privellaged to have become a part of the fragrance community I want to spread the weath and the knowlege.
    Because scent is so powerful, I would like to o my best to reconnect people with special scents that they have forgotten about and to introduce them to new ones.
    Sometimes, I have noticed with my most fashionable of friends that forget to change with the times and they are still wearing something thatthey have worn for decades. It holds no joy or excitement for them anymore. In some cases, they can’t even really smell it anymore. It just become muscle memory to apply it every morning before work.
    Scent is so much more than that. I want to help them fall in love with fragrance again.
    Happy new Year all may 2012 be your best year ever:)

  • Borko Boris says:

    In 2012 I want to pass all my exams at school and, when I am done with them, in summer, to have a trip to Paris.
    I know that Grasse is “the mind” of the perfumes, where everything is created, where everything started, but Paris is “the heart” that keeps us breathless once we step into any of the well-known boutiques from there. A priority on my list when I get there is to visit Guerlain’s Boutique on Champs Elysees. I saw videos on youtube, pictures from friends were shown to me and at Guerlain, I think, that I will spend the time of my life.

  • No travel or anything on my list (kinda jealous, but also happy for people who can manage it. I love reading about adventures in perfume!). My perfume resolutions are fairly pedestrian:

    Go through all samples and decants, wear each one at least once, and pass along those I do not fully enjoy.

    Organize the ones I do fully enjoy.

    Sell/give away the bottles I bought impulsively/ unsniffed/ which otherwise don’t work for me.

    Finish a sample before buying a decant, finish a decant before buying a bottle (unless there’s a sale or reformulation or something).

    Explore Naturals! Organize my wishlist and buy samples in small, inexpensive, manageable batches. Test, sort, etc. Live within my means and enjoy every moment of perfume!

    My biggest, most resolution-y resolution is:
    Wear perfume every day for the next year–even if it’s a soft drop of vanilla or heliotrope, easy to wear and not distracting when sleepy. It makes me feel ‘dressed’ and ready to face the world, it makes me happy even when I’m staying in and seeing no one but family. This is a small and manageable way to bring pleasure to my life and share it a bit as well–life is short, so just go for it.

    Plus, it’s the only way I’ll get to every sample/decant!

    Also: Check blogs every day (including this one!) and participate in discussions if possible. I love that ‘stay in the river’ resolution, from Lisa above, but sometimes one is more stuck on the shore because one cannot stay afloat in the full current. So my resolution is more to dip my feet in from time to time, and wave to the swimmers!

    Non-perfume: get on top of my health, go back to PT, exercise properly, spend more time with family and be a better friend, read more. This has been my to-do list for a while, but now I think I have more support to make it a reality.

  • tomatefarcie says:

    I’ve got to borrow from Ida–to finish the sample before buying a bottle! and to always explore, to step out of my comfort zone, to not be a perfume snob;try from everywhere!

  • I think my resolution will be to clear out bottles that I don’t truly love, and to only purchase full bottles of fragrances I truly find special. Happy 2012 to all of you!

  • In 2012 I would like to be a better person. I would like to make everyone around me happier. I also want to sign up in Red Cross and put a smile on sad faces.
    As for perfumes.. I do not know. I want to be shocked by the unpredictable so I let myslef in the arms of the unknown.