I want to encounter the finest scent of all. Quite some time has passed since I set out on that journey.
And although I have encountered fragrances again and again that made me exclaim, “This is a scent of the very highest order!”, far from bringing my journey to an end, my passion has only grown.
Perhaps, in the end, the desire for a beautiful scent is not a desire for achievement, satisfied by obtaining something, but a desire for pursuit: always wondering whether there might be an even better scent. In other words, it is an endless journey with no finish line.
When I think back to the beginning of this journey, though, my reasons were quite ordinary: I wanted to be attractive, to present myself stylishly, to be clean. It was all about how other people and those around me saw me.
But as I gradually came to know the world of fragrance, its sheer variety and depth stirred my curiosity, and I began to see which scents I genuinely liked.
At that point, instead of choosing a scent for the impression it would make on others, I began to look for scents I wanted to wear myself.
My nose developed, too. My tastes broadened. The worlds those fragrances evoked, their perfumers, their ingredients: my interests grew wider, and deeper as well.
Now I no longer choose a fragrance because it is fashionable, popular, or supposedly makes the wearer irresistible…
Whether I like the scent; whether I can imagine an occasion to wear it; whether, even without an occasion in mind, the scent itself is beautifully accomplished; whether the ingredients are wonderful, the packaging beautiful, or the concept appealing… I now choose strictly by my own criteria.
For example, in October 2021, the moment I first sprayed Les Extraits Collection’s Stellar Times at Louis Vuitton, my sense of smell made every drop of blood in my body roar with joy. I will never forget how moved I was.
Why did it move me so deeply? Not only was the scent wonderful, but it was unlike anything I had encountered before, far surpassing my imagination. At that moment, Stellar Times seemed to me a scent from another dimension.
Yes, the feeling that comes to us through our noses happens in an instant, and its energy is tremendous. Once I have experienced something so moving, I want to seek out the next such experience. I want to encounter an even more wonderful scent.
And my blog, Fragrance Assemble, is the travelogue of my own journey through scent. I intend to keep pursuing these moving experiences and enriching that travelogue along the way.
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