A Wren Says

When I made my way to the Byredo store, I fell in love with the fragrance Casablanca Lily. I sprung, against the advice of the sales associate and my own better judgement, to invest in a full bottle immediately. I usually invest in discovery sets and travel sizes for low stakes trials of fragrances, but I loved the scent so much that decided to take the risk. Besides, I was curious and wanted to run an experiment.

I’ve seen videos where people talk about the “dent” they’ve made in their fragrances. It’s meant to be clear indication of exactly how much they’ve been using it as they remark on the amount liquid gone from the bottle after heavy use. I wanted to quantify it, even in a most unscientific way. So I made my own test.  For 31 days straight, I wore Byredo’s Casablanca Lily. My routine was such. I did 2 sprays in each of the following areas:

• Left wrist
• Right wrist
• Left inner elbow
• Right inner elbow
• Upper chest
• Torso

That was a total of 12 full sprays every single day. Without fail. Even if I didn’t leave home. Even if that meant spraying myself right before bed. Those 12 sprays over 31 days equaled 372 sprays in total.

On the first day, of course the bottle was full to the brim. But by day five, I could see a bit of  the dent the perfume enthusiasts referred to. And then by day 31, all 372 sprays in, I hadn’t even hit the halfway mark, but I learned two lessons.

The first is that there are more sprays in a bottle than I thought there were. Perhaps I didn’t even need to do this experience, as Wale Perfumery already had an answer for this. They estimate that a 50 mL bottle contains 500 to 650 sprays. That estimate is based on their bottles and atomizers, and it may not be an accurate assessment for the packaging of this fragrance. I don’t think my bottle is halfway finished at this point. There’s a lot of juice in there still to go. I can confidently spray my fragrance without fear that it will be all gone in the matter of a week.

The second lesson is more nuanced. Casablanca Lily smelled great on me, was a compliment-getter, and easily fit into my lifestyle. But after everyday use, I don’t know that I’m the kind of person who wants to lock in a signature fragrance. I found myself wanting to play with different fragrances, but I was held back by this journey. As overwhelming as it can be to constantly be bombarded with new release after new release and all of the classics I still have yet to try, I realized how much I enjoy this hobby.

So here’s to wearing more of my fragrances, trying everything, and spraying more generously. And the next Byredo fragrance on my must try list is the new Black Saffron collection.