Bad Financial Decision of the year so far....

I just forked out $320 to buy another perfume from Escentials online because they are having a Private Sale that will last until 2nd April.

It has been a hot minute since I got a full bottle of perfume and I got tempted into getting a new bottle because of the sales. I was toying with the idea of getting another Maison Francis Kurkdjian, but the brand doesn't carry any other fragrances that I would be willing to fork out hundreds of dollars for, the ones that I liked, which are the 2 fragrances from the Gentle Fluidity series, I already got them. 

I then looked at the other brands that Escentials carries and the one that I had samples or decants of were from Byredo, Amouage and Diptyque. 

The Diptyque fragrance...

Orphéon

...was what I wore to Taiwan earlier this month, so hopefully, when I smell that months or years down the road, it will remind me of that trip, even though the trip was very forgettable, but the scent itself was just alright, it's not really one that I would pay hundreds of dollars for. 

It's retailing for $278 before discount.

The Amouage is nice and I only have a decant of Reflections because that's what I saw being raved about on TikTok

Reflections

It's $543 before discount for the full bottle. I like it, but I don't like it enough to be willing to fork out $543 for it, plus it's sold out, so that's how popular it is. 

So I set my eyes on Byredo, and I have quite a few Byredo samples because they were going for like $5 on Shopee for a 1.5ml sample, and the one that really stuck out to me was....

Bal d'Afrique

... because I really do not like it. 

These are the notes, something about it is really nauseating to me and I do not know which is it, I think it's a combination of 2 or more notes that just doesn't seat well with me, I have a feeling it might be the Vetiver along with the combination of one of the top note that is really off putting to me, which is a pity because this fragrance is one of the most popular one that a lot of people really like. It just sucks that I can't appreciate it like everyone else.  

But on to the scent that I actually really like from Byredo and the one I forked out $320 for...

Rose of No Man's Land

... I really really like this scent. 

Every time when I think I may have overhyped this scent in my head, I would go spray a bit of the sample on my hands to take a whiff again and I immediately take that thought of it being overhyped in my head back. 

It's a rose scent and I wasn't expecting myself to like a rose scent, but I really like this rose scent, it's quite a light rose scent. It's the same with Bandung, I thought I don't like it, but every time I get the famous Soya Milk from Whampoa Market that is near my office, I always end up getting the Bandung Soya Milk.

I had originally wanted to get the 50ml bottle of Rose Of No Man's Land (RONML), which cost $297, but it was completely sold out and they only had the 100ml bottle left, which was $414 before the discount. I then came across it on Zalora as I was contemplating whether I wanted to get it or not, and Zalora was having a 30% discount....

.....so they were going for $462.70... AFTER the 30% discount.

How the fuck is it still more expensive that the Pre-Discounted Retail Price from Escentials? 

$661 before discount? Are you kidding me? That's a 60% mark up, and they are giving 30% off, so I guess we should be grateful that we get to enjoy that fragrance at a 30% mark up only instead.

Crazy, and I think people are actually buying it because I saw positive reviews of it. Do those people not do their research before they buy the perfume? What the fuck?

Anyways, ZALORA was definitely a no go, I can literally get another smaller MFK perfume with that price difference, so I went back to Escentials and I did contemplate for a while if I should just make another bad financial decision and get it and I did, I made a bad financial decision and got it. 

It should be arriving within the next 2 weeks, so that's exciting to add another perfume to my already excessive perfume collection. 

The sad thing about Byredo Perfumes is they have really shit longevity, so the scent apparently disappears after a few hours, which means I will probably have to spray a few times a day just to smell like rose.