Self-Indulgent Luxury Addict

The warm, "right brain" collection

Anno Domini 2013-ish, Luddette discovered perfume. Like most women, I had some scent in the cabinet (later to find out that the typical warm, moist environment of a bathroom is a fatal location for fragrance) but it was well in hand--not a hint of excess. (On a related topic, see Luddette's busy little Bathroom Cabinet how-to in Leaves From the Brain Book.)
     What happened, I don't know...something about a Christmas gift for the Mister, a suggestion of sexiness, the decisive spritz onto the wrist (later to find out the anterior of the arm, with its hair and oils, is a far, far better place to trap scent molecules), and I boarded a train that took me $1,900 and head-first into a world of self-indulgent luxury.

The cool, "left brain" collection

     Most mothers have a few bottles--mine had L'Air du Temps and Tabu, and maybe a couple others. I eventually amassed close to 75, not including miniatures. (See the full-blow addiction in photo #3.) the first two photos are of my collection in its infancy. I didn't see the incipient danger in my making it all just so. Collection I, top, from left to right, first row: Givenchy Amarige, Dana Tabu, Cacharel Anais Anais, Chopard Casmir; second row: Emanuel Ungaro Diva, Jean Desprez Bal A Versailles, Estee Lauder Sensuous; third row: Giorgio Armani Red, Oscar de la Renta Volupte, Yves St Laurent Opium, Rochas Femme. 
     Collection II, below, from left to right, first row: various miniatures; second row: Nina Ricci L'Air du Temps EDT, Guerlain Mitsouko, Guerlain L'Heure Bleue; third row: Oscar de la Renta signature EDT, L'Air du Temps EDP, Molinard Habanita; fourth row: (hidden) La Perla signature EDT,  Gres Cabochard, Rochas Eau de Rochas.
    

This wasn't even all.  By the end, I had stuff stashed.

Luddette has a tendency to take a good thing, and then go and spoil it.  Not satisfied with what I could buy outright, pry from my mother, or hunt for at yard sales, I started selling perfume online to support my increasingly expensive habit--the addict who deals.

The secret from the husband, the hoarding, the final revelation and showdown...it was halted.  I repented.  I sold or gave away almost all.  But there was a time when I felt rich and exquisite. The secret charm of the Good Life is learning how to feel rich and exquisite without spending a small fortune. That is Luddette's next life lesson plateau.