Perfume Math, But Make It Cute

generated by Ideogram AI and edited in Adobe Photoshop

Sometimes I feel a little guilty about buying perfume. (Okay, more than a little. At this point, I own enough bottles to scent several lifetimes.) But here’s the thing: my tastes have shifted over the years. Fragrances I once swooned over now sit gathering dust. And that’s not a moral failing, it’s just life with perfume.

The good news? I don’t have to drown in a sea of neglected bottles. Last year I had a revelation: eBay.

Turns out, plenty of people are thrilled to take my unloved scents off my hands. Even partial bottles! Since I baby my perfumes by storing them in their boxes in a dark, cool space, they’re usually in excellent shape. Before listing anything, I spritz-test to make sure it hasn’t gone off. (The sting of receiving a ruined bottle is real. Looking at you, GAP Om, which turned into swamp water. And yes, original Victoria from Victoria’s Secret, you’re on that list too.)

Some of my no-longer-worn perfumes have been discontinued, which means they’re suddenly hot commodities. And yes, that translates into more cash, which makes the letting-go process surprisingly painless.

Over the past year, I’ve listed about twenty bottles and made thousands of dollars. That money has almost entirely funded my new perfume habit. Case in point: since May 1st, 2025, I’ve picked up nine beauties: 1907 Vanilla Dry, Heeley Palm, Trudon Bruma, Liis Ethereal Wave, Vibiskov L’eau Rouge Nature, Molecule 01 + Mandarin, Miller et Bertaux Tulsivivah, Memo Eau de Memo, and a travel spray of Ellis Brooklyn Salt. Retail value? $1,656. What I actually paid? $1,235.

And because my eBay sales during that same stretch totaled $1,243, I technically came out $8 ahead.

Yes, I am officially justifying my perfume habit with math. And I’m not even sorry.

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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.

How I Accidentally Wrote a Cozy Mystery (and Loved Every Minute)

Some people impulse-buy shoes; I impulse-wrote a murder.

In early June, I got a bee in my bonnet and decided out of nowhere to write a cozy mystery. And it just…poured out of me. Like it had been bottled up forever, even though I’d never really given fiction much thought before. That’s my husband’s department. Fiction is his thing.

I guess I wanted a change. A challenge. And, well, I found one. Turns out, it was fun. The kind of fun that makes you want to do it again and again. And so, without further ado, I present my first work of fiction: Killer Sillage. And as you may have inferred from the title, perfume is involved. In fact, the lead character, Clare, owns a perfume shop in her (and my) hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.

What I didn’t realize—rookie mistake—is that after you finish writing a book, there’s a lot of other stuff to do. I’ve written three other books with my husband, Neal (aka Mr. Minx), all non-fiction and food-related. They were professionally published, so even though Globe Pequot was hardly a marketing powerhouse, at least they handled things like getting the books into stores.

Self-publishing? Whole different animal. Suddenly, I’m not just the writer, I’m the editor, formatter, cover designer, production manager, and distribution department. Right now, Killer Sillage will launch as a Kindle ebook, but once I get my act together, there will be a paperback version and wider availability.

Oh, and apparently I also need a mailing list and a website. So, in true “let’s-build-the-plane-while-flying-it” fashion, I’ve started both: a Substack for my pen name, Kat LaGue, and a brand-new website.

If you’d like to follow along as I launch Killer Sillage into the world (and get sneak peeks at my next cozy mystery), you can: 

Subscribe to my Substack: LaGue’s Clues, part behind-the-scenes, part fragrance chat. All New Subscribers will receive a FREE bonus origin story. 

Visit my new website: katlague.com, where all the book news will live.

And, of course, pre-order Killer Sillage! 

Come for the murder, stay for the perfume.

P.S. If you know anyone who loves cozy mysteries, perfume, or just a good story with a twist, please send them my way! Sharing this post is the best way to help a new author like me find her readers. Thanks a million!

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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.