I sampled I WILL by Giorgio Armani while traveling through London Heathrow Airport, and what a lovely fragrance it is. It has a warm, sophisticated, and confident character, with a rich, modern scent that feels both elegant and effortlessly masculine. I was immediately taken with it and can easily see why this fragrance caught my attention. Looking forward to adding the one to my collection.

“You need absolute freedom to create beautiful fragrances. And you need time. And the best ingredients you can get.” — Andy Tauer Freedom gives creativity room to breathe, but great work still needs time and the right materials. Protect the space to think, resist the pressure to rush, and give your best ideas the ingredients they need to become something meaningful. Enjoy the #Journey. Love to hear from ya’!

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.

So... mentioned it before, but had some relatives coming from the USA over, that would be bringing some stuff for me along. It has become even pricier as of late to import fragrances directly for me, with the gas cost going up so much world-wide... so had to take the chance. Iris had not been a favorite note of mine, but it started growing on me quite a bit in the last 6 months. Have been testing plenty of iris fragrances, including the more popular ones like Dior Homme Intense/Parfum 2014 (small 10ml decant I got over a holliday sale, think it was about $30), Prada L'Homme, Le Male Le Parfum, Ralph's Club Elixir, Armani Code Parfum, etc. Found out in the end that iris became a really appreciated note for me, but I always came back to my Dior Homme Intense 15ml travel atomizer. Seems that's the line then... With the OGParfum and OG gone, seemed Intense was the one to get then. Parfum 2025 is not really my thing. Ordered a bottle, along with a decant of Dior Homme Original/OG, as I kept hearing it was a fresher, more wearable/versatile Intense. Someone even described it as the best of both Homme 2020 and Intense together, which immediately sparked a lot of interest. But... a day after my Intense bottle shipped, it just so happened that FragranceNet had some stock of Original. Was lucky enough to see Chaos Fragrances posts on deals minutes after posted, and was able to get a bottle. To add to the exploration, I added a decant of Boadicea the Victorious Harmonious, which is brought up as the best Parfum 2014 alternative currently on the market. So this is what I got: Decants, 2ml each: Maison Francis Kurkdjian Oud Satin Mood BDK Parfums Gris Charnel Extrait Initio Parfums Side Effect Dior Homme Original Frederic Malle Musc Ravageu Nishane Ani X Roja Parfums A Midsummer Dream Lorenzo Pazzaglia Sex-Sea Lorenzo Pazzaglia Black Sea Lorenzo Pazzaglia Dream Sea Lorenzo Pazzaglia Artik Sea Mes Bisous Out of Reach Boadicea the Victorious Harmonious Bottles: Dior Homme Intense

“First take your time to discover fragrances. Improve your knowledge by enlarging your scope of perfumes. The more you know about perfumes, the more you distinguish the tiny details.” — Aliénor Massenet Growth comes from widening what you study, not rushing past the details. Expand your range, stay curious, and keep building your knowledge; the small distinctions you learn to notice can become your greatest advantage. Enjoy the #Journey. Love to hear from ya’!