This is gonna sound so stupid. But i’ve fallen in love with this subject so much that I’ve started teaching myself how to make perfumes now. I’ve spent a lot of hours studying chemistry, aromachemicals, even got a book on perfuming a few months ago. Been looking into proper suppliers and got a good supply of high end ingredients and musks. I’m nowhere NEAR the six year educated professionals like our brother who used to be here, Mike Payne. But i feel like im grasping it well. Now that being said, I really wanted to announce this sooner because of how proud I am to have started getting into this hobby. Maybe it’s just a fixation that I get, as a brother on the spectrum a little bit lol. I personally think that my fixation might be not intense as it is now, but i’ve always loved classy things and fragrance, and so I think this will stick for a lifetime. But now I’m reaching a point where collecting is awesome, but not enough. I want to start making them. And so as a hobby, when I can find the time, I’ve began this journey. I’m nowhere NEAR to the point where I can comfortably say that i’m good at this, nor will i let my stuff see the light of DAY for a little bit. But hey, no better place to announce this than here. So now getting into the subject of the post. The girl i made this for. First question is, why would I do this? Because i was in love once. It wasn’t a perfect relationship, it was actually incredibly painful for me, and I had to end it because it was getting too much, holding onto this, not knowing where I stood. But i loved her, deeply. We were just kids in highschool when we first met. Danced to a song by Ed Sheeran. Kept dancing even after the song ended. And I fell in love with her that night. And never stopped. But unfortunately, it didn’t end. I was tired of not knowing where I belonged in her life. It’s not that she was never there for me, but her inconsistency is what broke my heart. It was a constant cycle of intensity, push, pull, then nothing. And then restarting. And honestly, I felt like i was kept close enough to be there and decently present, but never close enough to really BE there. And as someone in love for years… that hurt me a lot!

I was about to make this a SOTD post, butt changed my mind as this question popped into my head. I know we all have and are still building collections. We all start out and are in different places in this journey. But I noticed how my FBW criteria has changed since I started and was curious about the other brothers. When I first started, I would hear about a scent, if I smelled it and liked it in the store it was an immediate bottle purchase not wear testing, not sample grabbing just straight to the bottle. Over time I have become a bit more discerning, now don't get me wrong I have still bought a couple of bottles by falling victim to the shopping excitement, but I have been lucky enough to still be happy with those. Now I am at the point that I will wear my samples a few times before I make a decision to add it to the FBW list. Because of the relationships at the stores I have made I have a crazy amount of samples to go through and I am doing that lately and just doing my samples that were either given to me by the salespeople or by my family at Christmas. and making some decisions. I'm wearing BTV - Hasu today. Now I know that Boadicea is a polarizing house. You either love it or hate it and most of the hate I have read online comes from pricing. I had worn this one a few months back and thought hmmm 🤔. this is nice, I'll have to revisit it. I chose it for today and both of my harshest critics gave me compliments. My wife and my book keeper both of whom never hold back (even when I think they should 😜). So this one will be added to the FB conversion list. So let me know. 1) What is your criteria to convert to a full bottle? 2) do compliments play a roll in your decision? Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!!

Need help if anyone has smelled Michael Malul Ginger + Mist and M. Micallef Gintonic. Which is better and last longer. I've gotten my nose on ginger+mist but not the other. Very good scent and invigorating but have to know which lasts longer.