Here, in no particular order, are my favorite things from the world of perfumes that happened in 2025: 1). Going to Greece and discovering scents from Theodoris Kalotinis. I picked up Pistachio Latte, 1989, and Coffee Addict. Turns out he's from the same town I lived in when I was a kid. 2). Tom Ford Black Orchid Reserve. I have smelled it in the stores and picked up a little sample, and it's my favorite version of the fragrance. I'm just biding my time for it to hit places like Aura and for the price to come down. When it does, it will be coming home with me. 3). Boss Bottled Elixir and Bold Citrus. I picked up both in 2025, and Elixir has become one of my favorite perfumes of all time. Bold Citrus is a phenomenal summer fragrance that's only now starting to get it's due, long after it's been discontinued. 4). Discovering House of Mammoth and trying their sample sets. Everett, in particular, was a favorite - it was designed to honor the life of a young boy who's life ended too soon. The scent centered around orange slices and marshmallows, and was amazing for the summer. 5). Discovering Fine'ry Magical Nomad. It's a $30 clone of Byredo Gypsy Water that you can get at Target. It became my favorite scent of 2025, and is my go to for indoor photo shoots and when hanging out with friends. 6). Realizing that I don't need 10 million perfumes in my collection, but that I genuinely enjoy the process of collecting and hunting new fragrances. I've become a lot more strategic about my purchasing habits, and I feel like I've gotten myself out of the "buy, buy, buy" hype cycle that comes when first getting into perfumery. 7). Working my way through over 100 decants and samples in my collection. My goal was 50, thinking I could get through one a week, and I am closing out the year having used up, traded, sold, or given away 127. 8). Reaching level 4 of the Imaginary Authors loyalty tier. I know it's kind of weird, but I love the house and brand, and the way they treat their long time customers. It's a great program that really keeps me incentivized to buy direct from them, and it comes with a lot of great perks. I was able to pick up some long discontinued scents through the program, and find some new ones that I love.

So far, a little Update. The scent feels slightly lighter, or rather fresher. Still testing, the original 2011 is more dense, while this one is more versatile and can be used more casually. This is still going through testing, as it is not final. Either way, the core DNA is there!!! I will retest today, it has less of the chocolate drydown and more of the woody drydown, which would, for some of us, make it easier to wear and more seasons to pull off going into warmer weather as opposed to just cooler weather!!! Everything in this still screams Dior Homme intense!!! I am thinking of minuscule differences as I am wearing. Longevity may be 1 hr less, will reevaluate, but so far if the original batches lasted 8 hrs, this goes 7 hrs, but with aging, this could catch up!!! More to come!!!