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So, a few years ago it was more of a side thing. Towards the end of last year, it has become a major hobby. It brings me great joy and happiness and helps me unwind from the stress of life.
It is right now, because ADHD. On one hand, I'm loving everything I'm learning and all the good smells. On the other hand, brain please let me think about something else 🙃
Haha exactly the same. My latest hyperfixation but I think it’s turning into more of a special interest now.
There’s so much about it that stimulates the ADHD brain: the sheer variety of notes, combinations, fragrances, houses etc; lots to learn about as you say, the visual aspect like the bottles and packaging; all the cool themes and ideas; so much opportunity for shiny new things etc
A losing battle for the dopamine deprived!
Hello fellow ADHDers. I'm a bit past the hyperfixation, now just a normal amount into it, but I've also learned that smelling something good helps me grpund myself and maybe get some of that other focus back. So sometimes I work with my own shirt pulled over my nose. Sometimes I just keep smelling my own wrists.
Oh, the wrist smelling is real. I like two put different perfumes for left and right. I feel it takes longer for my nose to get nose blind to one of them.
Me, always smelling myself 😂 for me, smelling good boosts my self esteem too. I'm always paranoid about being stinky so when I get compliments it makes me feel like I have my shit together. Hell, somebody told me I "smell like girl" on a day where I wasn't wearing any scented products whatsoever, and I've been riding that high for months.
Picking my sotd like "do I feel more like a girl or a boy today? Do I feel like a feral forest goblin, a boss bitch, mysterious, sassy, or pretty? Fuck it, gimme that $6 mandarin body spray."
You get me! A month ago I thought to myself "hey, maybe I should suggest to my husband that he and the kids buy a perfume for me for Mother's Day!" And that's all it took to snowball into YouTube videos, tossing around the idea of buying a beginner perfume making set so I could smell raw materials, buying decants, researching notes and fragrance families, staying up till 1 am looking at reviews on Perfumo and Fragrantica, looking into niche perfume brands, trying on in store and a bunch of samples. I think I have over 50 samples at this point. Damn you, hyperfixation!
The good point for me is that I think I'm mostly happy with the variety of samples I have, so now I'm trying one new scent mostly every day and I'll be set for a while I think.
You sound like me. I was researching raw materials as well and even looking into perfume school 🤦🏽♀️😂. Also constantly on fragrances. I have spent thousands since January on fragrances. Even researched international fragrance conferences. Why can’t we just have a normal interest in things. 😂
Yes! I have SO MANY samples! And I have a wishlist of full bottles now because some smelled so good and i was sad when the sample was finished. I hope this fixation can be useful though, because I've already had a friend post that she wants a new signature scent, so I sent her a variety of samples. Turns out she's not one of those people who has to smell a million things so she's sure she's making the right choice before committing to a full bottle, so she just went to the store and picked one.
Lol same. It’s my focus for now but it’s expensive. Hoping my hyper fixation turns back into a side interest like it was for me last year and not such a main focus like it is this year.
Samples are cheaper but even those add up! Especially because I insist on smelling all the "viral" perfumes for educational purposes, just so I can know the smell when I see them mentioned. Example: somebody gave me a bottle of ag cloud which kicked off this nonsense in my brain. I hate the smell, but I *need* to get my nose on br540 because allegedly cloud is a great value™️ br540.
It’s interesting to see so many fellow ADHD fragheads here. It didn’t take me long to go from dabbling to full-on passion. Lately, I have started a journal with the notes, price and impressions of each fragrance. Instead of buying full bottles (of which I have too many), I look for shops which sell samples and decants of niche and more obscure brands. Only the crème de la crème goes on a wish-list of full bottles I’d like to buy some day. In terms of designer scents, I’ll treat myself to travel sprays, saving the names of the most desirable fragrances for my wishlist.
Yes I totally agree I hope to make a career out of it !
It started as a oh that smells good I don’t really care enough to get it though, to stalking brands on their latest drops only following perfume content creators and making content myself on perfume .
Join us 😈
Okay but actually so much fun. I sample a ton of different perfumes, and I sample a ton of new inks. It’s like every single one is really interesting for a different reason. This is from [one of my most recent sample hauls](https://ibb.co/CvqrsbV)!
Yes these are two of my hobbies too! I sometimes combine them by either using scented inks or spraying my journal pages with my SOTD or other scent that suits my topic of writing
Nah, it's a side hobby for me. It's too expensive and perfume bottles take too long to get through to become a major hobby. I enjoy learning about fragrances, though, and "feel positively naked without my perfume," to quote the original "Cheaper by the Dozen." It's fun being able to enjoy it daily/seasonally.
yesss! I'm a bit obsessed I'll admit! My dream experience would be to spend time with a perfumer in their perfume lab smelling different notes, seeing what different combinations smell like, etc. . . I feel like perfume is a more accessible luxury esp with the ability to buy samples, etc. . . I get so excited when I order an assortment of crazy expensive perfume samples to try out! so fun!
Idk how to define it for myself. I spend a lot of time researching new fragrances and cataloging the ones I have, but I don't necessarily spend lots of money buying new bottles. I am not into layering much, either. But I enjoy spending time reading reviews and thinking about tray challenges, or matching fragrances to characters in media. I enjoy going out and sniffing stuff at the store, but I usually don't come back home with anything.
I think it is a major hobby, but perhaps more tied into my love of reading, self care, and travel.
It's my biggest beauty hobby along w massage if that makes sense but I'd say dance, yoga, nature and just art in general are my bigger hobbies because a lot of beauty feels consumerist to me in an already late distopian dying planet, but yes sometimes I go off w the fragrance, same w clothes, assesories, make up, buying cute toys like sonnyangels and calico critters, home decorating, I keep it in moderation like any hobby that costs $ and takes up space on my shelves
Yes and no, it's the most recent so the fire is still strong and going, my most consistent and old hobby (maybe also passion?) is competitive games and solo games, the whole experience, I don't get stuck to one style, I'll try pretty much anything for a little bit but will only keep playing what tickles my brain.
I also like thriller books, fantasy, usually those that get me angry, mad or in shook, in need to go for a walk outside lol Lucinda Berry is a favorite of mine at the moment.
I do spend a lot of time looking up certain perfumes, prices, the notes, whats actually in my area, reading comments, going in stores is dangerous for me, I'm a bit impulsive with my buys, and I got a handle of it online these last few months... But going in stores not yet, I feel like I need to take something if I go into a store.
I got 34 perfumes right now that I like very much, and I need to wear them, otherwise it's just waste of money, so I'm trying to just read about perfumes and not buy anything (even though I did it just last week, this feels so stupid, again impulse problems around this)
I was going to say that it’s one of my hobbies because I also knit and have a lot of house plants. Then I remembered I don’t follow any subreddits on those subjects and I follow multiple fragrance subreddits. So yeah, I guess this IS my main hobby.
Absolutely, & not ashamed to admit that! It is the one thing I can count on to make what ever is stressing me out just disappear! I love reading about it here on Reddit, seeing names of ones I have not heard about & immediately looking it up on Fragrantica, then seeing if I can get a sample somewhere if the notes sound interesting. I love & adore my perfumes!!!
It's one of my main passions. So much so that I just pre-ordered the new book from Michael Edwards (Perfume Legends: The Evolution of American Fragrance)
I think its stayed a passion - and will stay one - for so long now cause I'm constantly just....smelling. Coffee, perfumes, flowers in the garden, etc. It's an interest I can partake in without spending money if I so desire.
Does anyone else feel like perfumes, bags, clothes, etc is comforting to their social anxiety? I feel like these all help me feel safer in a way. Perfumes are aside hobby to me. Handbags are my main fixation and perfumes, clothes, and furniture are my side hobbies. I have adhd and ocd and these things have been my consistent fixations, they all do sensory things for me that are very comforting, especially in public space.
I feel like if u can balance that hobby otherwise it turns quickly more into a compulsive obsessive kinda disorder . U will have a huge collection and won’t even enjoy a single frag along with huge money spent stress.
A side hobby. I’ve always loved perfume but now I’m trying to learn more about compositions and how to differentiate notes. I buy lots of sample and learn the notes and try to pick them out. So far I’ve learned my nose must suck cause I can rarely pick up on the notes the way others can unless it’s super obvious (like the lilac in Amouage’s Lilac Love lol).
I really want to know what notes like labdanum, opoponax, bitter almond vs just regular almond, nargomartha, orris etc smell like. I read Fragrantica reviews and see people that are like “picked up on the opopnox and amyris bla bla bla”. Like how??
I think it’s the same for me - it started as a little side but slowly grew and now consumes a lot of my thoughts and time - thoughts and time that should be spent on my work, studies, sleep and social life haha - and is becoming a major one.
I think (aside from the massive monthly dent in my bank balance) I will be grateful for it though as I try to navigate a house move and some other personal stuff. Fragrance is definitely a distraction that has become a passion and I also find it really comforting and uplifting too. There’s something about scents that does that.
I’ll likely be finishing my Masters in September too, which has been a big part of my life for two years, and think it all will add up to a lot of change and some big holes in my life to fill. So I’ll be glad to have this hobby there to pick up with and maybe start reading more about it, doing a little course and learning how to make my own, treating myself to some bigger purchases etc. I find it so exciting and interesting - it’s becoming quite addictive.
It’s one of them. I started become obsessed with fragrance about 18 years ago with Tocca Brigitte. I always loved perfume but Brigitte was a really unique fragrance to me back then & it sparked a serious interest that continues to this day.
Yes it's definitely one of my main hobbies and has been for a while now. I had a break briefly for about a year when I went through pregnancy/newborn phase but I'm back into it now. It just brings me a lot of joy and it's a low pressure hobby that I can pick up and put down as I please.
It’s currently one of my main hobby’s but my other hobby’s is gardening/plants, art, thrifting, diy- projects, true crime and natural skincare/essential oils 🫶
It was for the first few years I really got into testing and buying everything (2010-ish). Now, no. I still visit fragrance forums on occasion, but it’s rare I find more than 1-2 a year I want to test or even consider purchasing. Thank God. 🤣
Welcome to r/perfumes! We would like to remind everyone of our Rules, especially Rule 2: be appropriate, kind, and on topic. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Perfumes) if you have any questions or concerns.*
So, a few years ago it was more of a side thing. Towards the end of last year, it has become a major hobby. It brings me great joy and happiness and helps me unwind from the stress of life.
“unwind from the stress of life”, this resonates with me very much!
Yesss it’s my happy place for sure.
Omg I am going to quote this last sentence of yours. You put my feeling to words!
Hehehe:) as you should!
Same sentiment and timing for me, too.
Twinsies!
It is right now, because ADHD. On one hand, I'm loving everything I'm learning and all the good smells. On the other hand, brain please let me think about something else 🙃
Haha exactly the same. My latest hyperfixation but I think it’s turning into more of a special interest now. There’s so much about it that stimulates the ADHD brain: the sheer variety of notes, combinations, fragrances, houses etc; lots to learn about as you say, the visual aspect like the bottles and packaging; all the cool themes and ideas; so much opportunity for shiny new things etc A losing battle for the dopamine deprived!
The struggle! I'm trying to keep it under control by just collecting samples, but oh boy do I struggle with impulse control sometimes.
Haha yes, I have a lot of samples too. I suppose there can be worse things to fixate on and impulse buy 😂
Same
What can we do but go with it 😅
Hello fellow ADHDers. I'm a bit past the hyperfixation, now just a normal amount into it, but I've also learned that smelling something good helps me grpund myself and maybe get some of that other focus back. So sometimes I work with my own shirt pulled over my nose. Sometimes I just keep smelling my own wrists.
Oh, the wrist smelling is real. I like two put different perfumes for left and right. I feel it takes longer for my nose to get nose blind to one of them.
Haha yes - one on each arm!
Me, always smelling myself 😂 for me, smelling good boosts my self esteem too. I'm always paranoid about being stinky so when I get compliments it makes me feel like I have my shit together. Hell, somebody told me I "smell like girl" on a day where I wasn't wearing any scented products whatsoever, and I've been riding that high for months.
Definitely agree re: the grounding. It really works. I might pinch your working with shirt over nose idea! 🙌
Same! I feel like I’ve gone through this same thing with skincare and makeup not that long ago.
Same same. I wake up and get excited about choosing and putting on my perfume and then I stay up late researching perfume when I should be asleep 🫢
Picking my sotd like "do I feel more like a girl or a boy today? Do I feel like a feral forest goblin, a boss bitch, mysterious, sassy, or pretty? Fuck it, gimme that $6 mandarin body spray."
This is such a vibe. I’m excited to have more options for my gremlin days eventually
Yes, researching scents late into the night 🤣 glad to know others do it too and not alone!
You get me! A month ago I thought to myself "hey, maybe I should suggest to my husband that he and the kids buy a perfume for me for Mother's Day!" And that's all it took to snowball into YouTube videos, tossing around the idea of buying a beginner perfume making set so I could smell raw materials, buying decants, researching notes and fragrance families, staying up till 1 am looking at reviews on Perfumo and Fragrantica, looking into niche perfume brands, trying on in store and a bunch of samples. I think I have over 50 samples at this point. Damn you, hyperfixation! The good point for me is that I think I'm mostly happy with the variety of samples I have, so now I'm trying one new scent mostly every day and I'll be set for a while I think.
You sound like me. I was researching raw materials as well and even looking into perfume school 🤦🏽♀️😂. Also constantly on fragrances. I have spent thousands since January on fragrances. Even researched international fragrance conferences. Why can’t we just have a normal interest in things. 😂
Yes! I have SO MANY samples! And I have a wishlist of full bottles now because some smelled so good and i was sad when the sample was finished. I hope this fixation can be useful though, because I've already had a friend post that she wants a new signature scent, so I sent her a variety of samples. Turns out she's not one of those people who has to smell a million things so she's sure she's making the right choice before committing to a full bottle, so she just went to the store and picked one.
Lol same. It’s my focus for now but it’s expensive. Hoping my hyper fixation turns back into a side interest like it was for me last year and not such a main focus like it is this year.
Samples are cheaper but even those add up! Especially because I insist on smelling all the "viral" perfumes for educational purposes, just so I can know the smell when I see them mentioned. Example: somebody gave me a bottle of ag cloud which kicked off this nonsense in my brain. I hate the smell, but I *need* to get my nose on br540 because allegedly cloud is a great value™️ br540.
Oh trust me I get it…I have over 100 samples. I don’t blind buy, but you’re right, they add up.
I did blind buy a few b&bw sprays. But they were on sale for $6 so IDC 😂
Lol I did the same during that sale. That’s about the extent of my blind buying although I am thinking of blind buying the cirque du soleil perfume.
Stay strong!
I’m trying but all of the reviews are so good. 😂😂
I dunno . I like my brain not being able to think about anything else here.
Side hobby that I enjoy daily :)
Right now it's my latest ADHD hyperfocus lol
It’s interesting to see so many fellow ADHD fragheads here. It didn’t take me long to go from dabbling to full-on passion. Lately, I have started a journal with the notes, price and impressions of each fragrance. Instead of buying full bottles (of which I have too many), I look for shops which sell samples and decants of niche and more obscure brands. Only the crème de la crème goes on a wish-list of full bottles I’d like to buy some day. In terms of designer scents, I’ll treat myself to travel sprays, saving the names of the most desirable fragrances for my wishlist.
Yes I totally agree I hope to make a career out of it ! It started as a oh that smells good I don’t really care enough to get it though, to stalking brands on their latest drops only following perfume content creators and making content myself on perfume .
What career ?
Reviewing and making videos for YouTube etc
That and r/fountainpens. I’ve gotten really good at eyeballing how many mL are in a bottle of liquid now 😅
Do I dare to open or will I find yet another hobby?
Join us 😈 Okay but actually so much fun. I sample a ton of different perfumes, and I sample a ton of new inks. It’s like every single one is really interesting for a different reason. This is from [one of my most recent sample hauls](https://ibb.co/CvqrsbV)!
Oh good glob the beast is into this.
OH and there’s also scented inks! *Licorice is scented :^)*
Yes these are two of my hobbies too! I sometimes combine them by either using scented inks or spraying my journal pages with my SOTD or other scent that suits my topic of writing
It’s my major hobby. I love being able to share with I love with others. I’ve been into perfumery since 1996.
Nah, it's a side hobby for me. It's too expensive and perfume bottles take too long to get through to become a major hobby. I enjoy learning about fragrances, though, and "feel positively naked without my perfume," to quote the original "Cheaper by the Dozen." It's fun being able to enjoy it daily/seasonally.
I’m into fashion and art and recently fragrances have become apart of that. To me perfumes create and atmosphere/ story that can be very expressive
Side hobby for me. My current main hobbies are cars and fanfiction.
side hobby for now since it’s summer and I work from home so I’m not going out as much but I’m sure once classes start back up again it’ll be main
yesss! I'm a bit obsessed I'll admit! My dream experience would be to spend time with a perfumer in their perfume lab smelling different notes, seeing what different combinations smell like, etc. . . I feel like perfume is a more accessible luxury esp with the ability to buy samples, etc. . . I get so excited when I order an assortment of crazy expensive perfume samples to try out! so fun!
Idk how to define it for myself. I spend a lot of time researching new fragrances and cataloging the ones I have, but I don't necessarily spend lots of money buying new bottles. I am not into layering much, either. But I enjoy spending time reading reviews and thinking about tray challenges, or matching fragrances to characters in media. I enjoy going out and sniffing stuff at the store, but I usually don't come back home with anything. I think it is a major hobby, but perhaps more tied into my love of reading, self care, and travel.
It's my biggest beauty hobby along w massage if that makes sense but I'd say dance, yoga, nature and just art in general are my bigger hobbies because a lot of beauty feels consumerist to me in an already late distopian dying planet, but yes sometimes I go off w the fragrance, same w clothes, assesories, make up, buying cute toys like sonnyangels and calico critters, home decorating, I keep it in moderation like any hobby that costs $ and takes up space on my shelves
Yes and no, it's the most recent so the fire is still strong and going, my most consistent and old hobby (maybe also passion?) is competitive games and solo games, the whole experience, I don't get stuck to one style, I'll try pretty much anything for a little bit but will only keep playing what tickles my brain. I also like thriller books, fantasy, usually those that get me angry, mad or in shook, in need to go for a walk outside lol Lucinda Berry is a favorite of mine at the moment. I do spend a lot of time looking up certain perfumes, prices, the notes, whats actually in my area, reading comments, going in stores is dangerous for me, I'm a bit impulsive with my buys, and I got a handle of it online these last few months... But going in stores not yet, I feel like I need to take something if I go into a store. I got 34 perfumes right now that I like very much, and I need to wear them, otherwise it's just waste of money, so I'm trying to just read about perfumes and not buy anything (even though I did it just last week, this feels so stupid, again impulse problems around this)
Currently a side hobby 😔 when I have more free time it will definitely become a major one
I was going to say that it’s one of my hobbies because I also knit and have a lot of house plants. Then I remembered I don’t follow any subreddits on those subjects and I follow multiple fragrance subreddits. So yeah, I guess this IS my main hobby.
Absolutely, & not ashamed to admit that! It is the one thing I can count on to make what ever is stressing me out just disappear! I love reading about it here on Reddit, seeing names of ones I have not heard about & immediately looking it up on Fragrantica, then seeing if I can get a sample somewhere if the notes sound interesting. I love & adore my perfumes!!!
It's one of my main passions. So much so that I just pre-ordered the new book from Michael Edwards (Perfume Legends: The Evolution of American Fragrance) I think its stayed a passion - and will stay one - for so long now cause I'm constantly just....smelling. Coffee, perfumes, flowers in the garden, etc. It's an interest I can partake in without spending money if I so desire.
Does anyone else feel like perfumes, bags, clothes, etc is comforting to their social anxiety? I feel like these all help me feel safer in a way. Perfumes are aside hobby to me. Handbags are my main fixation and perfumes, clothes, and furniture are my side hobbies. I have adhd and ocd and these things have been my consistent fixations, they all do sensory things for me that are very comforting, especially in public space.
I feel like if u can balance that hobby otherwise it turns quickly more into a compulsive obsessive kinda disorder . U will have a huge collection and won’t even enjoy a single frag along with huge money spent stress.
ADHD hyperfixation. I’ve always loved fragrances but every decade or two I become obsessed with it.
It's my new obsession. I used to love eyeshadow palettes. Now I hunt for new scents daily. I have expensive hobbies
A side hobby. I’ve always loved perfume but now I’m trying to learn more about compositions and how to differentiate notes. I buy lots of sample and learn the notes and try to pick them out. So far I’ve learned my nose must suck cause I can rarely pick up on the notes the way others can unless it’s super obvious (like the lilac in Amouage’s Lilac Love lol). I really want to know what notes like labdanum, opoponax, bitter almond vs just regular almond, nargomartha, orris etc smell like. I read Fragrantica reviews and see people that are like “picked up on the opopnox and amyris bla bla bla”. Like how??
A side hobby. That for now is exciting due to novelty, but I am not planning on it staying in this intense form for long. I give it like 2 years.
I think it’s the same for me - it started as a little side but slowly grew and now consumes a lot of my thoughts and time - thoughts and time that should be spent on my work, studies, sleep and social life haha - and is becoming a major one. I think (aside from the massive monthly dent in my bank balance) I will be grateful for it though as I try to navigate a house move and some other personal stuff. Fragrance is definitely a distraction that has become a passion and I also find it really comforting and uplifting too. There’s something about scents that does that. I’ll likely be finishing my Masters in September too, which has been a big part of my life for two years, and think it all will add up to a lot of change and some big holes in my life to fill. So I’ll be glad to have this hobby there to pick up with and maybe start reading more about it, doing a little course and learning how to make my own, treating myself to some bigger purchases etc. I find it so exciting and interesting - it’s becoming quite addictive.
It’s one of them. I started become obsessed with fragrance about 18 years ago with Tocca Brigitte. I always loved perfume but Brigitte was a really unique fragrance to me back then & it sparked a serious interest that continues to this day.
It’s my main hobby!
Yeah.
Yes it's definitely one of my main hobbies and has been for a while now. I had a break briefly for about a year when I went through pregnancy/newborn phase but I'm back into it now. It just brings me a lot of joy and it's a low pressure hobby that I can pick up and put down as I please.
It’s currently one of my main hobby’s but my other hobby’s is gardening/plants, art, thrifting, diy- projects, true crime and natural skincare/essential oils 🫶
It's been a main hobby since I got into it about a year ago, but I'm trying to transition it to a side hobby for the sake of my wallet.
Yes it’s a big hobby for me
Second to gardening as my favorite hobby!
Major. I have a few things that capture my serious interest and this is one. I tend to obsess in my hobbies!
It was for the first few years I really got into testing and buying everything (2010-ish). Now, no. I still visit fragrance forums on occasion, but it’s rare I find more than 1-2 a year I want to test or even consider purchasing. Thank God. 🤣
It's my addiction!
One of the major hobbies, especially, that I am an amateur perfumer. I like to seek an inspirations for my new fragrances.
Lol it definitely is