Week 5: Finalizing the Build Hey guys, Joe A. here with another one for ya’! Welcome back to Shelf Control, where one man attempts to bring order to a fragrance collection that clearly stopped respecting boundaries! So now the brackets are up, the shelves are in, and the empty shelves are officially in position. In other words, the construction phase is largely done — which is both exciting and slightly terrifying, because now the wall is just standing there waiting for several hundred bottles to show up like it knows something I don’t!! For the shelves, I ended up going with birch panels instead of oak. And no, before anybody starts connecting dots, this was not an Aventus nod. I chose birch because the lighter white wood works beautifully with the blue tones in the room and keeps the whole space feeling clean, open and airy. Since I’m down here in Florida, I wanted the design to have a little bit of that bright, fresh, coastal feel without turning the room into a Tommy Bahama clearance rack. The shelves are roughly 4 feet long and 16 inches deep, mounted on heavy brackets, and you can clearly see the acrylic tiered displays fitting in nicely! Right now, everything looks clean, calm, and suspiciously under control, which means the bottles clearly haven’t arrived yet. The structure is there, the spacing is set, and the garage office wall finally looks like it was designed to become the Joe Average Fragrance Library! Next up is the big one: The Great Bottle Migration, when the collection starts moving from around the house into one central location. The stage is built. The shelves are ready. Now it’s time to see if Shelf Control can survive first contact with the actual collection. #EnjoytheJourney Week 6: The Great Bottle Migration (Part 1)!

Picked this up last weekend, so I’ve had a chance for a couple full wearings now. Here’s my thoughts: It’s a nice Sospiro Vibrato dupe. Not 1:1, but the opening is pretty darn close. This is a bit more powdery and a tad fresher than the OG. I’d say this is a version of that DNA that is more suitable for daily wear. I get about 5-6 hours on skin before it’s completely a skin scent. Projection is very good for the first 1-2 hours and then dials back quite a bit from there. It’s a nice taste of Vibrato on a budget, but if you really like the DNA, go for the original.

Heading into a lunch meeting today, warm out, and this ended up being the perfect pick. This was a blind buy off a deal at Max Aroma and it turned out to be right up my alley. Opens with a sweet, powdery floral that has a sharp, almost metallic edge to it, coming from the iris and geranium working together. Keeps the floral from getting too soft. The musk underneath adds even more of that powdery quality and gives it a nice, easy drydown. Great pick for a warmer day where you still want something with some depth to it.

I have enough fragrances now that I really try to give them all a chance during their seasons. Today I had other intentions like @Raymond Reeves posted earlier, but I could not get my mind away from this one. So here it is. Another wear of the Ex Nihilo Blue Talisman! This is such an easy grab. Citrusy in the opening but settles into a nice Musky sweet scent that gives me a nice warmth when I wear it. It also is a BIG compliment getter. Longevity is wonderful, nice projection and the village leave a trail that isn't overpowering but definitely makes people say wow you smell good!! Hope you all have a wonderful Friday and an amazing weekend!!

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