Love comes softly

Sometimes love isn't fireworks, sometimes love just comes softly.

Janette Oke, Love Comes Softly

We modern people are so often impatient, so unused to waiting and giving things a second, third and 50th chance. We jump from one thrill to another, or in our case, from one fragrance to another.

Today, I want to explore the phenomenon that is often a reality in the fragrance game, and that is the actuality that sometimes love for a perfume doesn't always smack you in the face at first sniff. Sometimes, if you let it, it'll creep in, lodge itself tightly, and take over your senses... softly.

I'd been curious about Shuhrah pour femme for so long that it felt as if it had been a wonderment that had gone on forever. In late April, I took a leap of faith and blind bought a full bottle of the dame. I let it sit for two weeks before opening it up, releasing the first few sprays and then giving it a trial run, first on paper, then on skin. It was nice... okay... lovely, but not enthusing. I remember sighing and wondering how on earth I'd be able to go through a 100ml bottle of the fragrance. I briefly considered putting it up for sale but got carried away with life and thus neglected to. It must have been a week later that I gave Shuhrah a first full day's wear. My sentiments were improved but I still was not intrigued by her, perhaps that is because around that period I was consumed with thoughts of Cartier's Baiser Volé Parfum. About a month to the time period I gave Shuhrah that first trial run, I wore her again and heavens above, what a revelation it was. I could not stop sniffing myself, I was bowled over, enthralled... dubious! It must have been a fluke I thought and proceeded to wear Shuhrah again. No, the third time was the charm indeed because I decided right then that Shuhrah would be that one fragrance that I would want to be associated with, remembered by.

And then there was Georges Rech's Muse Poudrée. A love that crept in within 10 days. We met, I was not impressed, but I took her out, wore her, gave her a chance to show me the truth about herself and the sweet, creamy, powdery loveliness that I discovered has hooked and brought me into her siren's cave. My complaints were met with a soft reply, she said that she's not perfect, but is altogether suitable for me. And that she is.

Sometimes you must give yourself time, and the perfume the opportunity and exclusivity, to let love come and softly grow. Have you experienced this creeping-in-love in your fragrance collecting journey? I'd like to know in the comments below.