I put together a PDF of my Collection Clones included, and I still have 10 clones to add and 45 Niche fragrances to update. I already took off 100 ME clones, given to family

In order to make a dent, I put together my scent of the day for 60 days.

You start off with just a scent. Then you start smelling more and more and realizing how they make you feel. How long they last. What time of year or time of day you prefer a particular scent. Or simply “What am I in the mood for today?” Next thing you know you’re talking to your significant other (Wife in my case) and you start to share the passion. You shop together you buy together and next thing you know you both have a pretty nice collection. I realized a while ago that my collection is large enough that keeping all the bottles together in a place that would make it easy to test, grab and use has gotten to the point where it can’t happen easily and if you don’t wear the scent why own it? I decided about 6 months ago to make my own decants for all my scents this way they can be in my closet so when I’m dressing in the morning I don’t have to go to the basement to “Figure out” what I’m wearing. Today I decided to reorganize them into seasons to accomplish a couple of things. 1) see what seasons are lacking in the collection 2) make things a bit more organized so I don’t have to sift through winter scents trying to find the one I wanted on a warm day. This is what I came up with today The worst thing (in my opinion) is to have scents that were bottle worthy and not at least make it easy to enjoy them even if it’s just a quick spray to remember why you fell in love with it.

If you missed my post yesterday, I am starting my 40-fragrance, double-elimination tournament today. Match #1 pits the 32nd seed (Burberry Hero Parfum) against the 33rd seed (Tom Ford Grey Vetiver Parfum). Both are excellent fragrances, but after wearing them side by side all day, I found myself reaching for my wrist with Hero more often. Burberry Hero Parfum (2024, created by Aurélien Guichard) is warm, woody, and smooth, with cedarwood, amyris, cypriol, and a touch of incense. It has a richness that feels modern and comforting without becoming heavy. Tom Ford Grey Vetiver Parfum (2023) is crisp, elegant, and beautifully put together. The vetiver is clean and refined, making it an outstanding choice for the office or any situation where understated sophistication is the goal. In the end, though, Hero simply kept my attention more. It has a warmth and depth that I found more enjoyable throughout the day, while Grey Vetiver stayed impeccably classy but a little more reserved. Both deserve a place in a collection, but today Burberry Hero Parfum moves on to the next round in the Winner's Bracket and Tom Ford Grey Vetiver Parfum drops into the Loser's Bracket. See you tomorrow for Match #2.

Run!!! Only kidding, but here are the facts!!! Can you Blind buy a fragrance based on the note Breakdown? In my opinion, no — not with any real accuracy. A note breakdown can give you a general idea of where the fragrance may be going, but it does not tell the whole story. A lot of notes are really perceived effects. When a brand lists apple, leather, tobacco, amber, sea breeze, or vanilla, that does not always mean those exact materials are sitting in the bottle. Many times, those notes are created with aroma chemicals, accords, naturals, or a mix of materials that give you the impression of that note. That is why two fragrances can list some of the same notes and smell completely different. The formula matters. The quality of materials matters. The blending matters. The dosage matters. The sweetness, texture, projection, density, and drydown all matter. A note breakdown does not tell you how sweet the fragrance really is, how smooth or harsh it may feel, how synthetic or natural it smells, how loud it projects, how it changes on skin, or what actually dominates when you wear it. That is why I think it can be misleading when someone says, “I do not like that fragrance because I do not like one of the notes listed.” You may hate coconut in one fragrance and love it in another. You may dislike oud in a note breakdown but enjoy a clean woody oud accord. You may think you hate leather, but maybe what you really dislike is smoky leather, not a soft suede type of leather. To me, the note breakdown is only a guide. It is not the fragrance itself. The only real way to know if you like something is to smell it, put it on skin, and wear it through the opening, mid, and dry down. Notes can point you in a direction, but they cannot replace actual experience. So the next time someone tells you they blind bought a fragrance only because of the note breakdown, I would take that with caution. Notes are perceived. Notes can be completely constructed. They can be created through aroma chemicals, accords, naturals, or a blend of materials working together. On top of that, those same materials can be blended differently, dosed differently, and supported by different base materials, which can completely change the way the fragrance smells.