The weather finally cooled down enough today that I could justify breaking this one out. I picked up Tabac 28 last week while I was in Chicago, and I’ve been waiting for the right day to give it a proper wear. There is something extra fun about that with Le Labo too. The bottle was compounded in Chicago, dated, and personalized for my wife and me, so it already has a little memory attached to it before I even really know the fragrance. 😎 And this one definitely feels like fall. Warm, woody, smoky, a little sweet, and very comforting. I’m getting that tobacco character right away, but it doesn’t smell like I just walked into a cigar lounge. It feels smoother than that — more like warm tobacco, woods and a little boozy sweetness sitting together in the background. Exactly the kind of thing I’ve been waiting to bring back into the rotation now that the weather is finally cooperating. And as someone who enjoys a good cigar, I’ll admit the name alone probably gave this one a head start. 😂 So far, I’m really enjoying it.

11. Give a fragrance 30-60 minutes One thing I try not to do anymore is judge a fragrance from the first few minutes. The opening can be loud, sharp, sweet, citrus-heavy, alcoholic, or just completely different from what the fragrance is going to smell like later. That first blast is usually where the most volatile notes show up. Citrus, aromatics, lighter fruits, and some brighter materials can jump out right away, but they’re often not the part of the fragrance that sticks around. For me, the real story usually starts once the fragrance has had time to settle. After about 30 to 60 minutes, you start getting more of the heart and the early drydown. That’s where woods, florals, spices, amber, musk, leather, vanilla, resins, and other deeper materials can start showing themselves. I’ve had fragrances where the opening didn’t impress me at all, but once I gave them some time, they turned into something completely different. I’ve also had the opposite happen: a great opening that faded into a drydown I didn’t care for. That’s why I like to give a fragrance some time before I decide whether I like it. If I’m in a store, I’ll spray it on skin or a cotton round, walk around, and come back to it later. For me, the opening gets your attention, but the drydown is where you really find out what you’re wearing.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeIchkXPi5s/?stkn=ZnhvM2FkMmtiZmw1 Interesting knowledge of the perfume bottles recovered 88 years after the Titanic sank perfectly preserved.

Was talking to a friend of mine yesterday after my sales associate was telling me at Neiman Marcus about a 15% discount throughout the week. Was all set to go there today, but my friend said the 15% ended yesterday and it was the first day that they were allowed to sell forbidden plum. I immediately rushed over there at the score of my bottle and while I was there decided to pick up a Cousin.

10. Test on skin, but use cotton rounds too: For me, skin is still the best way to really understand a fragrance. A paper tester in a store is fine for getting a quick first impression, especially of the opening, but it doesn’t tell me the whole story. You really need skin to see how the fragrance develops on you, how it projects, and what happens once it gets into the heart and drydown. That said, I also like using unscented hypoallergenic cotton rounds as a secondary testing method. I keep them at home, and they’re easy enough to carry with me when I’m going somewhere to test fragrances. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VSBRRHD?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09542G9ZN/ref=vp_d_pb_cml_lp_B07VSBRRHD_pd?_encoding=UTF8&pf_rd_p=9c76da3e-1986-461f-80fe-90d97a5b2d1f&pf_rd_r=VFRVSXM184KT7GR79F81&pd_rd_wg=xHrmI&pd_rd_i=B09542G9ZN&pd_rd_w=CSpTa&content-id=amzn1.sym.9c76da3e-1986-461f-80fe-90d97a5b2d1f&pd_rd_r=91c00bd7-5e69-4f58-b999-cebba9366fb9&th=1 What I like about cotton rounds is that they hold the fragrance well and give me something I can come back to later. I can spray one, put it aside, and smell it again an hour, three hours, or even several hours later. That gives me a much better idea of how the fragrance changes over time instead of judging everything from the opening. Another thing I do is place the sprayed cotton round in a small plastic food-storage zip bag. That lets me take it home, keep different fragrances separate, and revisit them later when I want to study the drydown or get a sense of how much scent is still hanging around. I wouldn’t treat that as a perfect real-world longevity test, because sealing it in a bag slows normal evaporation, but it’s a great way to preserve the sample and compare how different fragrances evolve over time.