Do you sometimes take time off from being a Perfumista/fumie/perfume lover?
Are there days that are spent completely unscented?
Are you a regular “user” or does your obsession come and go?
My Answer:
I long to take a break now and again, and today is Pentecost and a Holiday in Austria, so that is what I am doing.
Although I don’t stay unscented, taking a break from anything blog-related (testing, researching, thinking about my particular angle of how to write about a perfume, just being aware of what I smell and how at all times) is welcome now and again.
Just wearing a perfume that I want to wear, without schedules or an agenda is lovely.
Don’t get me wrong, I still love to blog, and I mostly enjoy the attendant, fragrant trial and error journey, but to be passive and let the perfume just be, is something I really enjoy as well.
I’m taking only a small number of decants to the cottage every weekend and try to enjoy and wear those without thinking about them. This weekend and for today’s Holiday, I brought Guerlain Mon Precieux Nectar, Amouage Beloved, Dior Patchouli Imperial and Guerlain Pamplelune.
Not wearing a perfume at all? There must be a major reason. Either extreme physical discomfort or a situation that doesn’t allow me to (thankfully that is not happening often).
What about your vacations from smelling? Do you take any?
Olfactoria's Travels 
My business determines how much time I can spend on Fuming…. I had a break for a few months whilst setting my business up, no time for anything else. But I try to make up for it when I have time. Hence I may look like I wax and wane on Twitter, FB and my blog.
Sometimes real life has the audacity to interfere with our passions… 🙂
I hope your business goes well, Sharryn!
Over the years I have addiction roller coastered. Sometimes 5 bottles, other times 40 bottles, down to one, up again, don’t ask currently. But I don’t think I’ve spent a full day unscented since starting high school.
Portia xx
That’s the spirit! 😉 I know I’m not supposed to ask, but I’d love to know your bottle count. Well, that might be the stuff for another Monday Question… 🙂
Maybe if it’s a Monday question I will fess up. Perhaps you can do a poll with various bottle amounts like 1-5, 5-10, 10-20, on to 100+ so we don’t have to disclose exact numbers. Maybe.
That’s what I have in mind. Looking forward to that (until I have to answer it myself! 😉 )
I enjoyed seeing your collection. I would like to see others collections as well. CPB comes to mind, among others.
I absolutely agree! I’d love that too!
I stop only if I’m sick or I have problem with my health.
Spoken like a true perfume fiend. 🙂
Lately I have found domestic matters overtaking both blogging and scent wearing – I have been preoccupied and simply forget to wear any, never mind test things. The hot weather hasn’t helped, as my office is stifling!
But perfume is just taking a back seat for the moment, I guess. I am sure it will be back…
Have a nice holiday!
I’m sorry about that, V! I hope your new office will be less hot, and definitely less distracting. ❤
Since I cannot wear perfume at work, that makes for frequent breaks from perfume, also I don’t want to wear too much when I’m singing. I guess I associate perfume with free time!
That is a lovely association, although it must be hard having to forgo perfume at work…
I wear perfumes almost always – if I’m not sick or have to be somewhere where I think it’s inappropriate (luckily, doesn’t happen too often). But most days (4 work days when I go to the office and at least one weekend) I wear one of the perfumes that I love (or at least like a lot) and I do testing when I work from home and during evenings. If I travel I will skip testing: I do not like bringing with me anything I’m not sure in. If I’m too tired or working on something I might skip an evening or two of testing but it doesn’t happen too often either.
You seem to strike a good balance of fun and comfort perfume wearing, Undina.
Yes, I take breaks but not willingly. 🙂
I mean, the breaks sort of force themselves on me and then I wait for them to pass. Unfortunately, sometimes they last a bit too long for my liking.
and yes, unscented days happen.
Unwilling breaks are a drag… 😦
I have a break only when I’m sick and cannot appreciate any parfum. There are periods when I’m overly active (obsessed ?), hoarding up loads of samples – and thankfully there are the relaxed, happy times as well, when I enjoy my collection, or test the samples, without being hunted by the next “big thing”.
Those last ones you describe, are the best phases!
Even before falling head first down the perfume rabbit hole, I never left the house without a spray of perfume and this hasn’t changed (I also think this is the reason perfume is so addictive, it is part of every single day!). However for quiet days in I do have periods when I waft around with 4 different scents on to try them out, and then whole weekends when I just want to enjoy the sunshine and waft something familiar and happy. The only time I have been truly unscented in living memory was a week camping by the beach in Australia, but to be fair I hadn’t discovered Bronze Goddess yet, things might be different now…
Lol, Bronze Goddess would have been perfect for what sounds like an awesome vacation! 🙂
I’m exactly the same as you B, I never go unscented (unless there is a really good reason) but do have to take a step back from the blogging aspect on occasions. I think this is a good thing though, it keeps you writing fresh.
Nothin’ quite like a break!
Exactly! Perfume for perfume’s sake only, now and again is a wonderful thing.
I don’t take a break from scent. I always wear something, whether it be my essential oil blend, which is always in the background, or my chosen perfume.
I don’t consider myself a perfumista by any means, but I am obsessive for sure.
Well, a little obsession keeps up the energy! 😉
Oh yes, I do take breaks from sampling new scents. On these occasions I either do not wear anything, or an old/current favourite from my fragrance wardrobe. At the moment La Pausa is my go-to scent if I want to give my nose and mind a rest.
La Pausa is a great scent to rest and recharge, I still wish it lasted a bit longer on me though. 😦
I am always annointed. I sprayed when in labor with both children. I have my comfort scents when I’m sick. I even have my boutique essential oil blend insect repellents for camping. I use fancy scented dish soap and cleaning products. I even put a little lavender oil in my hair before a surgery – they want you absolutely scrubbed down. I rub my kids down with natural scents – lotions, solid perfumes, and essential oils – and they love it. The husband owns several fumes himself, and tries to keep up. He is, however, quite addicted to fancy soaps!
Nina, I love that comment! 😀
I went into surgery last year secretly wafting Mona di Orio’s Vanille and it was a great decision, because that is what I rmember most vividly about that day, and that is truly a good thing.
I think you put your finger on it when you said how nice it is to be passive and let the perfume just be. This sounds crazy, but occasionally I envy people who have a signature scent or maybe just a casual attachment to perfume because for them there is no real decision making involved. They just pick up whatever it is and use it. For me, it is ‘Hmmm … Which masterpiece of modern perfumery shall I wear today … ?’ And if I make the wrong choice it annoys me for at least half the day. So I’ve been trying to cultivate a small group of fragrances that I know for certain are the most flexible and reliable and the most ‘me’. It’s almost as if I pretend to myself that I have a signature when of course I don’t! But it does mean that I am sampling less, and less haphazardly than I used to, and perhaps getting to know my own collection and my own taste a lot better.
Fun questions, as ever!
My thoughts exactly, Anne Marie!
I am building that core wardrobe as well and I know better and better what needs to be in there and what doesn’t. We’ll never be content with just one signature scent, but a few trusted friends are what I aspire to.
I don’t think I’m terribly committed because I will regularly go without perfume one day on the weekend. Often it’s because I don’t have anything that feels right, or want to test or I just want to relax and zone out without thinking about my perfume. I lean on perfume so heavily during my working week I don’t think it’s such a bad thing.
Have a great bank holiday at the cottage. Your perfume options sound lovely.
I don’t think that is a bad thing either, perfume is more of an additional (helpful) piece of wardrobe for you during the week, or that is how it sounds to me at least, so lounging around scentless on weekends makes total sense.
I was not entirely happy with my choices for the weekend, but that is fine. Coming home and being reunited with the full chorus is all the more lovely then. 😉
I feel naked if I do not wear perfume, so I spritz every day. That said, my interest peaks and wanes, and although I just ordered 11 samples from Luckyscent, I have more of a detached curiosity rather than burning passion at the moment, if that makes any sense. It’s kind of nice, for a change!
I seldom get to wear perfume on the weekends, because I want to spend time with El Husband (and he does not like perfume). So I love a Monday morning when it’s time to spritz before work! I never really feel “dressed” without at least some perfume on.
Taking a break from thinking too hard, from writing, testing, blogging – those happen naturally, I think, when other things take over, so for me they’re always pleasant pleasures. Thinking about perfume is never a chore.
I cannot have vacations for some reason!! I have tried because occasionally there are times that Im really not in the mood but everyday normally I wear something. I feel naked otherwise! The day just seems so much less special than if I was to wear a fragrance. I even wear them to bed…. So De La Renta is my night time one… sad or what? I love the scent though!
Not sad at all! Wearing perfume to bed is great!
I feel naked without perfume too, it is a part of me. 🙂
I agree 🙂 my boyfriend is probably more of a person who dislikes not wearing a fragrance throughout the day… last year i bought bought 5 bottles- all different scents and he tore through them in about 5 months. That is a perfect example of feeling naked without it on!
He must be a great smelling guy! Sounds like a keeper. 😉
I don’t wear fragrance on weekends or holidays, unless I’m going out someplace special. I also skip it when I’m sick.
Entirely fragrance-free weekends would be too long for me. But then again I’m not entirely normal. 😉
Fragrances are one of my hobbies; I don’t consider it my main hobby. Now, before I get booed off the blog, I’ll say that I enjoy good writing on almost any topic 🙂 That’s why I keep reading yours and other fragrance-themed blogs. And fragrance fans tend to be some of the nicest, most generous people you can meet.
Now, to answer your question- I do take breaks from fragrances. I almost always wear at least an aftershave because I like to smell good. But I find that my nose suffers from fatigue if I go through a long stretch of wearing fragrances daily.
Thank you for the lovely compliment!
Taking breaks absolutely makes sense, if you feel you’d be overwhelmed otherwise.
You’re welcome, Birgit. You deserve it 🙂