By the end of the year, I had my first two niche purchases: Parfums de Nicolaï Balle de Match and Diptyque Philosykos. Then in 2003, I wandered into MakeupAlley's fragrance board. Over the years, the cast of characters included Diorissimo, Jean Couturier Coriandre, Chanel Cristalle, Yves Saint Laurent Paris, Prescriptives Calyx, Aramis New West (remember that one?), Perfumer's Workshop Tea Rose, the original Halston, and probably others that aren't coming to mind at the moment.

In my pre-perfumista days, I generally had a fragrance I wore as a signature at times, I might have owned two or even as many three fragrances at a time, but that's it, and I usually returned to the same fragrances for periods of years. The long digression, in which I surely repeat things I've said here earlier: My perfume buying habits have changed drastically over the years. There are an awful lot of perfumes I'd much rather own than Iris Rebelle. If I'd had a sample at home and spent some time with it, it wouldn't even have made my buy list - which, by the way, is a looooong list. Must have been fantastic stuff, you say? Well, it's decent, but I wouldn't go so far as fantastic. Last month, I walked into my local Sephora, smelled Atelier Cologne's latest, Iris Rebelle, and had a travel spray packaged and paid for within about 5 minutes.

Iris rebelle