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Since before I began MANFACE, I have been amassing fragrances during my career in the beauty industry. I love them. I find fragrance says more about you than any bag, scarf or belt – they’re the ultimate accessory. My mum has always been a fragrance lover, probably more so now but I always remember her half-empty bottle of Clinique Happy Heart or Chanel.
Since moving into my apartment, I’ve been wanting somewhere to display my fragrance, but until now I’ve kept them in the storage room as it’s cold and there’s no light. The only problem is that I just forget about them. So yesterday on a wander into my local Oxfam, I found an old IKEA bathroom cabinet for £2.95 (I gave them a bit more as yes, that’s a ridiculous price). It was pretty grubby (there was a dead woodlouse in it for starters!), but once bleached, scrubbed and rebuilt, it shone.
Unfortunately, after filling it with my new and old favourites, it could only take around 50% of the collection, so I had to be ruthless! Below are some of the collection that didn’t make it (around 25% of these are the boxes of the ones that did at the back, however). I also chose scents based on the fact we’re still deep into winter and then will reassess the situation come Spring. 
So each shelf has been meticulously organised (it won’t last). The first shelf at the bottom is just an assortment of loves, including Chanel Allure Homme Sport Extreme which remains a bit of a trophy when I ranked higher than the Chanel website on Google for it during its launch. Then there’s Miller Harris Feuilles de Tabac; a trove of various A*Men fragrances; Clarins Eau Dynamisante; L’Occitane Amber & Santal; Aesop Marrakech Intense; TOM FORD Sahara Noir; Acqua di Parma (original); Lyn Harris Le Noir and finally Thierry Mugler Cologne.
Bear in mind that there’s a mirrored backing so don’t be shocked into thinking there are 16 TOM FORD private blends, I wish, but there aren’t. However, this shelf annoyed me as I know I have another TOM FORD somewhere to complete the 3×3 pattern. TOM FORD private blends are definitely my prized possessions; with Tobacco Vanille being one of my absolute favourite fragrances of all time. Then there’s PRADA Amber (review coming soon) and hidden away at the back back (where they belong) are my guilt pleasures: Pacco Rabanne Ultravoilet and Million. At the front there’s the recently reviewed Givenchy Pi; a few Jo Malone Londons including my favourite, Blue Agava & Cacao; then Clinique’s Aromatics in Black. 
The third shelf is my shrine to my fragrance idol, Francis Kurkdjian. This man can rarely do wrong and this so shelf contains some of my most prized fragrances through a journey that began with my first spray of Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male at the age of 15 – that’s Fleur de Male hiding there at the back, running dangerously low. Out of his entire collection of Maison Francis Kurkdjian, it’s the ouds as well as Pour Le Soir that set my pulse racing. Here there’s Satin, Silk and Velvet Oud and at the back, the tall bottles are the Pour Le Matin and Pour Le Soir colognes.
The top shelf boasts the weird and wonderful, but also the fact that these are the big bottles. There’s a couple of Odin New York scents; Penhaligon’s As Sawira; Les Liquides Imaginaires; two from Frapin including the rum soaked 1697 and finally hiding in the corner is ‘The Voice of Reason’ from LUSH Ltd Gorrilla fragrances, discontinued as it gave some people skin reactions – whoops!
Finally on top of the whole unit are two A*Men body sprays (because any less than two means I’m running out) as well as am Aromatics in Black candle; Cire Trudon Odalisque Room Spray; a horrible bottle of Amouage (but it’s so pretty) and finally my most valuable, loved and personal fragrance: Ormonde Jayne Black Gold. 
So there we are! I hope you’ve enjoyed a peek at my perfumes. It’s also reminded me that there are a few in here that although I love, haven’t featured on MANFACE yet (Clarins Eau Dynamisante surprised me actually) so look out for these in the weeks to come.
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