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.

-----------------------
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!

-----------------------
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.

Fragrance Discounters

created with Ideogram AI

I have always hated paying retail prices--especially with my own money--whether it be for clothes, shoes, most things. Especially for perfume. I loooove perfume. I have a lot of it and always want something new. But I can't be tossing hundreds of dollars around just to feed my habit, so I either rely on sales or on discounters. And if I have to pay full retail, I try to use a gift card earned from credit card points to cover at least part of the cost. 

As I reside in the US, I can only confirm the reliability of the companies that are based here and with which I have experience; those are marked with an asterisk (*). I have received recommendations, however, from folks outside the States who have made successful purchases from fragrance discounters in the UK, EU, and Canada. 

I will endeavor to update this list when I find new places to add. It will eventually become a page, linked on the left sidebar. <-------- If you have any additions for the list, please leave a comment and I'll add it.

US

Aura Fragrance 

Beautyhouse.com sells a little bit of everything--designer, niche, and celebrity scents. They also have a decent selection of Arabian fragrances.

*Fragrancenet is my favorite discounter; I've made dozens of purchases from them, all of which arrived quickly and safely. They stock the gamut, from cheapie celebrity scents to expensive niche brands I've never heard of. They sell testers and purse spray decants as well as full bottles, plus beauty products and cosmetics. I discovered Monotheme Venezia's great and inexpensive fragrances on Fragrancenet, and I've purchased most of the ten Serge Lutens frags in my collection from them. It's a good place for blind buys in that they have so many choices. It's a bad place for blind buys in that they have so many choices. PRO TIP: their catalog of niche brands is listed under the "gifts" header. They're in random order, unfortunately, but you can always select a brand to see all the fragrances from that brand that they generally have in stock. Also, some niche frags aren't actually discounted. Essential Parfums, for example, are more expensive on Fragrancenet. 

*Fragrancex is practically identical to Perfume.com. They send out similar sale emails on the same day, and carry a lot of the same brands. They have a single page directory of the brands they carry, which is great when you're in the mood for a blind buy and have a company in mind. 

*Jomashop is like a high-end discount department store. They have clothes, shoes, sunglasses, jewelry, and watches from brands like Burberry, Cartier, Tag Heuer, Ferragamo, and more. And perfume. They have lots of brands, both inexpensive and high end. Shipping took a bit longer than I'm used to, but my purchase arrived securely packed. (I bought the normally $300 100ml bottle of D.S. & Durga Pistachio on sale for $125.)

*Perfume.com is practically identical to FragranceX. They have a vast inventory of goods at great prices, and they have a single page directory of all the brands they carry. One problem with Perfume.com is that fragrances I want might be listed, but they are usually out of stock. 

Venba sells a limited selection of popular expensive designer and niche brands like Creed, Amouage, Parfums de Marly, Nishane, Maison Crivelli. While prices are still quite high, they are definitely lower than full retail. 

Canada 

Fragrancebuy.ca

UK & EU

All Beauty

Direct Cosmetics 

Escentual

LookFantastic

My Origines

Notino

-----------------------
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.

Kaffeeklatsch

created with Ideogram AI and lots of Adobe Photoshop

I have always loved the smell of coffee. When I was a kid, my Dad and I would go to a place called The Bun Penny, which was located at the Mall in Columbia in Columbia, MD. A large portion of the floor was covered in giant sacks full of aromatic coffee beans, and I delighted in sniffing each variety. I can still conjure up the smell of The Bun Penny in my mind's nose, but it isn't solely scented with coffee. There's also the scent of raw almonds, though I can't remember if they sold those or not. It is a precious scent memory I am always trying to recreate through perfume, but haven't yet reached that particular scented nirvana.

There aren't all that many coffee fragrances on the market, actually. Sure, there are perfumes that contain a coffee note, but not that many that star my favorite caffeinated beverage. And some that do, like Montale's Intense Cafe and Ristretto Intense Cafe, pair it with rose. Those, to my nose, are rose fragrances that happens to have some coffee in them. When I see a coffee fragrance, I give it a try, but few have actually come home with me. My absolute favorite is the sadly discontinued Comme des Garcons Sweet Wood Coffee, from their Sweet line of fragrances. They brought back Sticky Cake, so I'm hoping that Wood Coffee will reemerge from the archives someday. I have a small bottle that I treasure, and I use it sparingly. It makes me feel so cozy and delicious. 

Apparently coffee is a trending note these days, so we'll be seeing more of it, and that's fine with me.

Comme des Garcons Sweet Wood Coffee

Licorice, Cardamom, Ginger, Coffee, Almond, Woodsy Notes, Indian Patchouli, Vanilla

This is one of my all-time favorite fragrances. It's coffee, but not, with none of the dark bitterness of actual coffee. It's gourmand-ish, but not too sweet; spicy, but without recognizable spices; and woody, without splinters. Sweet Wood Coffee is so well-blended that I find it hard to pick out individual notes. It just envelops me into the most gorgeous cloud of edible scent. Stunning, and I was crushed that it was discontinued before I was able to snag a back-up bottle or three. I have half a bottle and use it sparingly.

Al Rehab French Coffee

Coffee, Caramel, Vanilla, Milk, Sugar, Cacao, Cinnamon

This is liquid tiramisu in a bottle. The coffee note is quite strong and black at first, but soon fades into an amalgam of sweet and creamy notes reminiscent of the delicious Italian dessert. Nice, but rather one-dimensional. I wish it had some patchouli or woods in the drydown to ground it a bit. 

Bonus Trivia: Retired Baltimore bakery owner Carminantonio Iannaccone claims to have invented tiramisu while he was still living in Treviso, Italy. I've tried his version--it's very good. Impossible to say if it was the original.

Bohoboco Coffee White Flowers
Cinnamon, Cloves, Chocolate, Coffee, Cocoa, Jasmine, Golden Rum, Vanilla, Leather

This starts out like the most delicious caramel latte, and honestly, I would be happy if the notes ended at cocoa and I smelled like this all day. But I am not unhappy that the scent gradually changes to a sexy honeyed white floral. It's an amazing transformation, so totally unexpected, but completely delicious. A great scent for the transition from Winter to Spring, but I find it a bit too sweet for Summer wearing. 

-----------------------
Posted by theminx on Minxstinks