Scents of Time

The survey featuring the free Micheal Kors perfume is over. I get to keep the small bottle I received. I marked it an 8 out of 10. The biggest fault is that bottle design. I never, ever could get it open without some spillage. As packaging, particularly for colognes, is part of the overall effect, I had to make sure my vote was reflective of my difficulty.

So, now that it's done, what to do with the cologne? I rather enjoyed wearing a fragrance daily. I'd gotten out of that over the last 12 years of employment because of the hazards of cologne on a job site. You wouldn't think wearing cologne around sweaty construction or quarry employees would have hazards but there is a big one; bugs.

I cannot tell you how many times some bee or wasp has tried to land on me because I smell like some flower that surely must have pollen grains for pick up. Less common is the implied message you are sending by being a female on a male-dominated work site and smelling of gardenia or something else. Scents attract and sometimes that attention is not in the form you want. My wearing of cologne grew increasingly less and less until it was, maybe, once a month and then only because I was attending a concert or other kind of public event. I might have worn cologne to the office Christmas party. Then again, knowing me, I might not have.

The testing of the cologne and the knowledge that I spend most of my days in the office has inspired me to wear scents again. There are dozens of bottles and samples in a drawer in the dressing table and in a basket on its top. They sit there, collecting dust. Cologne is a mood elevator and heaven knows sometimes I need my mood elevated.

I decided to fish all the free samples out and start with them. The above are all those freebie packets I've got. One-by-one, I'm going to wear these to use them up. Then, I will gather up all those little sample vials and use one until its gone and work on another. I will probably find something, like the Michael Kors sample I received, that I like, but I am not replacing a sample with a big bottle of the stuff. I have dozens of bottles of fragrance. The desire is to use them up. It's part of a much grander goal of decluttering my life.

Since taking the photo, I've worn one of the pink Givenchy samples and am wearing one of the light pink Avon Soft Musk samples. Both are nice and are colognes I could see wearing long-term. I shuffle the stack and whatever comes out on top is the pick for that day.

In looking ahead, some of what I have, I have had for a very long time. I also have some rather large bottles of some scents. It's going to take years to use up some cologne. I don't wear scents when I'm not leaving the house or when I will be outside at a job site. This is just for those days when I'm in the office or out and about. Plus, I have to remember that not everyone can be around someone wearing cologne. Even I can't apply a scent as rigorously as I might have in years past. It's not a good experience when I'm coughing. As the old Brylcream commercials said, "A little dab will do ya'."

In another week, I'll post what vials I have and I have a lot.

Beverage:  Lady Gray tea

Deb