The perfumed year 2013

Photo: Mr Parfumista (c)

Time to summerize some perfume related matters from 2013:

* The year started with the intention to say something perfumewise or perfumerelated each Saturday in the "Fragrance(s) of the week" post. This routine lasted as long as three quaters of the year then it subsided. Writing two posts a week, which usually are reviews, is just enough having a full time job in a complete different business, family etc.

* My Twitter also subsided after almost two years of SOTD tweeting. In the end I almost felt exhausted about this daily compulsion. In 2014 I'll try a middle course, tweeting for a  week now and then.

* During the year I tested, sniffed just for short briefs or evaluated fragrance testings outsourced to Mr Parfumista, a number of ca 135 fragrances. It  means that in about 37% of the days of 2013, some form of perfume evaluating activity took place. Upon this there are of course also fragrances just worn which I have not written about but I have registrated most of them in my "scentmemoey" as references.

*In 2013 there was just one or two fragrance free days and this was when I had a stomach flu. When I'm cold and can't smell anything I put on a light cologne for its ambience. In 2014 the sniffing rate will slow down (I think).

*Days when there are no fragrance assessments on the agenda I relax in comforting fragances as for example the Piguets, the Goutals, the By Kilians or the Hermes Colognes or just appreciate the classics. For example Guerlain Mitsouko is far more interesting than most of the new releases even in its current formula.

*I'll coming back to my perfume testing routines in a post next year, ie how I test and evaluate for a full review.

* In 2013, even if there where many good releases, my nose become a bit jaded. There is nothing wrong with the releases as such, but when sniffing a lot of fragrances, in the end, not many of them stands out. Different  fragrances within a certain category are generally very close in style and smell. When reviewing I try to don't let this affect the assessment as such, I like to compare them with other fragrances captured in the scentmemory.

* 2013 was also the year when the EU restrctions which became effective July 1 would put an end to many of the classics so I've stocked up some during the first half of the year, just to be sure. Today it seems as in reality nothing has happened, but who knows when the old stocks runs out.

* At the moment there are some positive signs about the perfumed future. I read somewhere on Bois de Jasmin that Victoria had smelled a new batch of Mitsouko which was very good and smelled much more like the vintage version. Some newly invented/improved moss substitutes are probably the reason for that. Hopefully this is just the start for new inventions and who knows, in the end and taken as a whole, maybe the restrictions dosen't matter. Maybe something even better comes out of this within a few years.

I wish all readers a Happy New 2014!