There comes a time in every fragrance collector's journey where they finally stop looking down the fork in the road and step boldly down that windy and treacherous path named Xerjoff. Today my birthday present to myself arrived, a full size full presentation of the one the only - often imitated and never duplicated - Naxos. As a first purchase, I think this is a fairly safe bet for almost anyone, but I did purchase a sample of this and several other fragrances prior to my European trip in March and felt that this definitely was one fragrance that felt like it was worth the cost of admission. There's a couple of others from the house that I'm interested in as well, but at the price point they are not impulse/blind buys. Anyways, I've been pretty quiet on here lately and thought I'd share my recent haul with you all came with samples (not pictured) of Bois Imperial by Essential Parfums and PDM Layton - which I've never actually had the privilege of trying or smelling. So I'm actually pretty excited for that sample as I've smelled and own a couple of samples of Bois Imperial. Stay fragrant my friends!

https://www.guerlain.com/us/en-us/p/l’homme-ideal-de-guerlain-paris-cologne-forte---eau-de-parfum-P062413.html?

There have several interesting threads recently about collecting fragrances and philosophies behind collections. I'm only about two years into my own journey and have been buying new bottles regularly. (I think I have 42 or 43 bottles now.) And I've been thinking about trying to design an ideal (for me) fragrance wardrobe of 28 bottles: seven for each season. So just a quick poll: what's the ideal collection size for you? And if you'd like to explain in the comments, even better. Thanks, gentlemen.

Match #40 closes out the Round of 16 in the main bracket with two terrific summer fragrances: the now-defunct Galleria Parfums By the Yuzu Grove versus Giorgio Armani Acqua di Giò Profondo Eau de Parfum (2024). By the Yuzu Grove opens with one of the boldest citrus blasts I've experienced. Yuzu, lemon, and mandarin jump off the skin, with ginger adding some spice before everything settles over vetiver and cedar. It's also a surprisingly good performer for a summer fresh fragrance, which makes its disappearance along with Galleria Parfums unfortunate. Acqua di Giò Profondo EDP takes a different approach. Marine notes blend with citrus, rosemary, lavender, and mineral facets to create something smooth, clean, and beautifully balanced. It retains the familiar Acqua di Giò DNA while giving it enough depth and character to stand on its own. I thoroughly enjoy both, but Profondo has become something special for me. There's an effortless quality to it that makes me want to keep smelling it throughout the day. Smooth, fresh, and simply gorgeous. Acqua di Giò Profondo advances to the quarterfinals, while By the Yuzu Grove drops into the second-chance bracket. And with that, the main bracket is down to eight. Tomorrow it's back to the loser's bracket, where we're about to say goodbye to a bunch of bottles for good.

I first sampled the niche house Villa Erbatium at the San Francisco ScentFest back in June, and Green Grape Beer impressed me instantaneously. That bottle was sold out, so I subsequently ordered it. I’m confident I never owned a fragrance whose name more precisely describes its scent. This smells exactly like a waitress spilled a pint of green grape beer all over you and you didn’t change your shirt the rest of the day. The beer keeps the grape from becoming gourmond, and the grape keeps the beer from becoming bitter. This is surprisingly beautiful, and as you can notice, this house has some of the most gorgeous bottles of any I’ve ever encountered.