Good News! Sorta...

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When I was in New York in January, I noticed that Macy's not only had a Guerlain counter, but a Guerlain counter that offered their super pricey L'Art & la Matière collection. As I wandered, I noticed other high-end brands like Byredo, Acqua di Parma, and Balmain. I was impressed.

Then I spoke to the sales associates.

At the Guerlain counter, I asked if they had any Eau de Coton, from the Les Matières Confidentielles line. The SA looked confused. Scanned the bottles on display. Opened a few drawers and had me look inside them. "Do you see it?" She pointed to a couple bottle of Les Colognes that were tucked away. "Are these it?"

No. They weren't it.

At the Acqua di Parma counter, I was excited to finally try Buongiorno, a bright herbal-citrus scent. The SA was excited to have a customer, so he kept offering to spray different scents on blotters for me. (Note to SAs everywhere--most of us are perfectly capable of doing that ourselves.) Unfortunately, I had no idea what he was spraying, because he butchered the pronunciation of every single one of them.

Annoyed, I drifted off and spotted Balmain. I had already sniffed their scents at Bergdorf Goodman last summer, but thought I'd give them another go. 

I asked the SA if Balmain was part of the store's expansion of high-end brands, or if they had brought them in because Balmain Beauty was part of the Estee Lauder empire. He didn't know that Balmain Beauty was an EL company and waved that off as "some new gossip going around." (The collaboration between the two companies started in 2022.) He also didn't know that Ivoire had originally been launched in 1979. Sadly, the Ivoire launched in 2024 in no way resembles the original. The same is true of Vent Vert, which now opens with an almost rotten-smelling vegetal note, which may just be how my nose interprets the chemical Calypsone. (Which, according to Frangrantica, "smells ozonic, like sea breeze, with fruity watermelon nuances." Sounds like Calone to me, and we all know how much I like that one. [puking emoji])

I walked out of Macy’s irritated, not dazzled. Yes, it’s impressive that they’re carrying luxury fragrance now, at least at the New York flagship, but it’s hard to take the effort seriously when no one behind the counter seems to know what they’re selling.

High-end perfume isn’t just a price tag and a glossy display. If Macy’s wants to play in the luxury space, they need to do more than stock expensive bottles and hope for the best. Train your sales associates. Teach them the names, the lines, the legacies. Otherwise, this isn’t a luxury experience. It’s just a very expensive scavenger hunt, staffed by people who don’t know what they’re looking for either.

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Posted by theminx on Minxstinks
Note: this post is my opinion. I am not affiliated with the companies mentioned in this post or any other companies.

The Year in Perfume: 2025

created by ChatGPT and edited in Photoshop

Looking back at 2025 through the fragrances I wore feels a little like reading a diary written in scent. I tracked every spray, sample, decant, and layering combination and was surprised to find which scents I reached for most often. Not surprisingly--as I tend to wear warmer scents in the winter and lighter ones in summer--some weeks were vanilla and warm, others bright, green, and a bit tomato-y. 

What was most interesting to me was that my most-grabbed scents were all purchased in 2025. Byredo Gypsy Water (15 wears) was my number one scent of the year, followed by 1907 Vanilla Dry and Liis Ethereal Wave (12 wears each), and Chanel Paris-Edimbourg and Escentric Molecules Molecule 01+Mandarin (8 wears each). These kept showing up, week after week, season after season. They were comforting, reliable companions, and both Paris-Edimbourg and Molecule 01+Mandarin layer fabulously. 

Amusingly, I didn't even like Vanilla Dry or Ethereal Wave when I first tried them. One sample test each and they were rejected. Months later, I gave them second tries and fell in love. Funny how that happens.

I also flirted a lot. Some perfumes I wore only a couple of times: Marissa Zappas Annabel’s Birthday Cake, Lush Turmeric Latte, Bond No.9 Andy Warhol Silver Factory. Not because I don't love them. I recently purchased the Zappas scent and plan to wear it more in the winter. I bought the Lush scent just before Spring and found it too rich to wear in warm weather. I tucked it away with my holiday-appropriate fragrances and realized in December that it will be perfect to wear in the upcoming months. As for the Bond scent, well, I fall in love with it every time I put it on. I just don't know why that doesn't happen particularly frequently. 

And then there was layering. The early months of the year were almost ridiculous, thanks to ChatGPT offering some surprisingly good (and occasionally disastrous) suggestions. Poivre Piquant over Trudon Revolution and Indult Rêve en Cuir? Definitely…a lot.

Seasonally, my rotation tells its own story. Winter was vanilla, amber, and gourmands, for that cozy and comforting feel. Spring brought florals, lighter musks, and a bit of freshness. Summer smelled of citrus, green, and light woody scents. Fall really marked the transition between the warmer temperatures of September and the chill of December. 

Looking at it all together, I realized that perfume doesn't just decorate life, it marks time, mood, and memory. Some weeks were vanilla and warm, some bright and citrusy, some layered beyond reason, but all of them were uniquely mine. Perfume didn’t tell the whole story of 2025, but it told a quieter, smellier one—and sometimes that’s the one I prefer.

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Posted by theminx on Minxstinks
Note: this post is my opinion. I am not affiliated with the companies mentioned in this post or any other companies.

A Favorite: Chanel Les Exclusifs No. 18

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Chanel Les Exclusifs No. 18

Ambrette (Musk Mallow), Iris, Rose, Geranium, White Musk

I have to admit, Chanel No. 18 isn’t a fragrance that comes up in everyday conversation. It’s one of those Les Exclusifs gems that hides in plain sight. It's less famous than No. 5, Coco, or No. 19, but quietly brilliant. And after spending some serious time with it over the last several years, I can see why.

No. 18 is a musky, aromatic, slightly metallic fragrance that feels both classic and modern. It’s perfect for anyone who likes their perfume refined, intimate, and a little unexpected. This scent is built around ambrette seed, a musky, slightly carrot-y ingredient that smells clean, luminous, and very skin-like. Add iris, and you get this cool, slightly metallic shimmer that lifts the musk without softening it too much. The result is a fragrance that is cold, clean, entirely unisex, and never feels like it’s trying too hard. 

What’s most striking about No. 18 is its subtlety. It’s never loud or flashy. If it was a color, it would be a silvery grey. It’s the type of scent that rewards close attention, an intimate fragrance that you don’t notice across the room, but when you do, it lingers in your memory. Some people even call it “like freshly washed skin,” and I’d argue that’s not far off. But it’s also luminous, and just a little mysterious.

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Posted by theminx on Minxstinks

Note: this post is my opinion. I am not affiliated with the companies mentioned in this post or any other companies.

2025 Purchases

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If you’re on TikTok, you’ve probably seen those end-of-month videos where fragrance lovers confess everything they bought in the last thirty days. I didn’t make that many perfume purchases in 2025, so instead of monthly reckonings, here’s one full accounting of the year.

All told, I added 29 fragrances to my collection. I’m not counting anything I bought for my husband, and I’m also excluding samples and travel sprays--this list is full bottles only. Paying full retail isn’t really my thing, so most of these came from discounters, coupon codes, or overseas vendors (at least before the de minimis exemption met its untimely demise). There were seven purchases made at a brick-and-mortar boutiques where retail prices were unavoidable, but the rest were bought at a discount.

Here’s the damage:

• 1907 Vanilla Dry — $136.89

• 4160 Tuesdays Rhubarb & Custard — $180

• Al-Rehab French Coffee — $7.99

• Buchart Colbert Faison D'Or — $148

• Byredo Gypsy Water — $174.99

• Calvin Klein Obsession — $19.19

• Chanel Paris-Edimbourg — $123

• Dolce & Gabbana The Only One EDP Intense — $62.99

• D.S. & Durga Wear at Maximum Volume — $250

• Diptyque L’Eau Papier — $102.66

• Gallagher Mists of Time — $115

• Heeley Palm — $156.60

• Hellenist Les Bras de Morphée — $48

• Henrik Vibskov L’Eau Rouge Nature — $127

• Hermès Barénia — $73.38

• J-Scent On a Cloud — $79.50

• Kerosene Winter of ’99 — $164

• Liis Ethereal Wave — $175

• Marissa Zappas Annabel’s Birthday Cake — $131.25

• Memo Eau de Memo — $99.70

• Miller et Bertaux Tulsivivah! — $124.20

• Nasomatto Absinth — $89.99

• Odin 01 Sundara — $165

• Oriza L. Legrand Empire des Indes — $178.50

• Escentric Molecules Molecule 01 + Mandarin — $129.19

• Perfumer H Rain Wood — $146.66

• Pineward Tome — $80

• Sarah Baker Peach’s Revenge — $265

• Trudon Bruma — $205.33

The total comes to approximately $3,759, assuming I didn’t fat-finger the calculator (entirely possible). That may sound like a lot, but I know people who spend that in a single month. I will not be naming names.

There’s another side to this ledger, though. In 2025, I sold 25 rare and discontinued fragrances on eBay, grossing just over $5,000. After taxes, shipping, and fees took their cut, the actual payout landed at $3,453. If I treat that resale income as my fragrance budget, then my out-of-pocket cost for all those new bottles was just $306.

By that math, I did pretty well in 2025.

Unfortunately, this particular trick won’t work again in 2026. I’ve already sold off just about every bottle in my collection that anyone might reasonably want to pay serious money for. Which means next year’s tally, if there is one, will look very different.

And probably much more painful. 

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Posted by theminx on Minxstinks
Note: this post is my opinion. I am not affiliated with the companies mentioned in this post or any other companies.