Found myself with a very rare hour of down time this afternoon, and just happened to be close to Nordstrom's. I figured I'd stop in and see if I could get my hands on a sample of the Armani I Will fragrance that everyone is so excited about. I'll talk about that separately, but TLDR I think it's boring. After talking with the sales clerk a bit, I mentioned that i was a fan of Iris notes, and that I was hoping to get a sample of Gypsy Water Absolu. Unfortunately, they were out, but then she told me they had a tester of the new Creed Iris Debonaire that is set to release on September 8th. She was kind enough to give me a little decant, and I've been wearing it all afternoon. I have talked in the past about my dislike of Creed. I get the appeal, but I'm just not a fan. I really hate their pricing structure, and in the past, I've resolved not to buy their stuff. All of that to say, that Iris Debonaire may be my new favorite perfume. It's up their with Black Orchid, Gypsy Water, and Iris Obsidian. I can't stop sniffing my arm. It's an absolutely lovely fougere with a really sophisticated French Lavender note in the drydown. According to the marketing, the Iris used is specially made specifically for this fragrance. Whether that's bullshit or not, I don't know, but it works. This stuff is incredible. We'll see how it works performance wise. I want to wear it tomorrow, but it's going to be 110, and I don't think powdery iris works very well in that kind of heat, so I'll have to wait a bit until I have an office day or day at home when i don't have to go outside much. But wow. This might end up being an actual bottle purchase if I can save up and get a good discount.

Well boys, your favorite lover boy just pulled a huge risk… he caught feelings for someone in the fragrance world. 😭 I don’t want to go into too much identifying detail, because this involves another person and I don’t want to put her business out there. But I could use some advice from the older gentlemen here. I met this woman through fragrance and over several conversations, we ended up talking for hours. We had a surprising amount in common, shared interests, similar ways of looking at things, and honestly just had really good chemistry. It was one of the most natural connections I’d had with someone in a long time. Naturally, I caught a crush. The problem was that I couldn’t figure out what the relationship actually was. In person, it was warm, genuine, and incredibly easy. Outside of those interactions, communication was basically nonexistent. I’d invited her to do something outside the usual setting, she seemed receptive, but nothing ever materialized. I tried not to push because I didn’t want to make myself too much of a priority in someone’s life. Then I’d see her again and we’d immediately fall back into these long, meaningful conversations. She’d say things that made me think she genuinely enjoyed having me around and would encourage me to visit more. So I was stuck asking myself: How much do I invest in this? I wasn’t demanding romance. I wasn’t expecting her to owe me anything. I just wanted enough clarity to know whether I should treat this as a friendship, a casual acquaintance, or something that might eventually develop. Eventually I tried reaching out again, and after getting very little response, I tried to catch her in person because I thought an honest conversation would be better than trying to interpret everything through texts. That didn’t really happen. When I finally saw her again, at an event, the warmth I’d become accustomed to wasn’t really there. She was still polite, but the interaction felt much more distant. I was already exhausted and anxious, and unfortunately I handled the moment less smoothly than I’d have liked.