When It’s Gone, It’s Actually Gone
I have a fragrance problem.
Not the kind where I own too many perfumes.
Although that's probably also true.
I mean the people who make some of the fragrances I use keep going out of business.
Which is terribly RUDE!
This has happened more than once now. I find something I absolutely love. You love it. I turn it into one of my handmade perfume oils, or a soap, or something else that smells fabulous. It sells. Everybody is happy.
And then one day I go to order more and discover the supplier is closing.
WTF?!??!!?
So I start doing math.
How much Lilith do I have left?
How many perfume oils can I squeeze out of that?
Maybe 12?
I think I can make six.
And that's it.
There isn't another secret jug of it hiding downstairs. I can't call the fragrance fairy. And while I can usually find something else gorgeous to take its place, it won't be that fragrance.
And this isn't just a perfume problem.
Fragrance shows up all over the place around here. Soap. Room sprays. Body products. Whatever else I've decided needs to smell fabulous this week.
So when a supplier closes or a fragrance disappears, sometimes it takes more than one product with it.
And believe me, I've been looking for replacements.
I've ordered replacements. I've tested replacements. I've sniffed an unreasonable number of little bottles.
Some have been gorgeous.
Some have been...fine.
And "fine" isn't getting a spot on my shelves.
I'm not going to replace something I loved with something mediocre just because the scent notes are approximately the same and I can still buy it by the pound.
If I'm going to make something, put the Hemlock Springs name on it and ask you to spend your money on it, I want it to be GOOD.
Preferably the kind of good that makes me shove it under someone's nose and say,
"OH MY GOD. SMELL THIS."
Which, now that I think about it, is a pretty accurate description of my product development process.
The good news?
I've found a few that passed the test.
They're coming.
But all of this has also made me rethink how I want to handle fragrance at Hemlock Springs.
For a while, my instinct was to replace everything.
Find another supplier. Find another fragrance. Buy another bottle. Keep everything available.
But honestly?
I don't want shelves full of 900 fragrance oils.
I don't need to offer every scent known to mankind.
I'd rather have a smaller, carefully chosen collection of scents that really belong here. Ones I absolutely love, you love, and I know I can keep making even when the fragrance-supply universe decides to get weird.
Those can become the backbone of the scented things I make — perfume oils, room sprays, soap, body products and whatever else I get myself into.
Everything else?
I'm giving myself permission to let it be temporary.
And I actually kind of love that.
Sometimes I'm going to find a fragrance that's simply too damn good to leave behind.
I'll buy some.
I'll make something fabulous with it.
Maybe there will be 12.
Maybe there will be 20.
And when they're gone, they're gone.
No artificial scarcity.
No countdown clock.
No ACT NOW BEFORE MIDNIGHT!!!
I literally just don't have any more.
Which brings us back to Lilith.
If you're a Lilith person, I would not dilly-dally. I have enough fragrance left for roughly 20 more perfume oils.
Bombshell is even worse.
I think there are about six left in her future.
There are a few others headed toward the same fate (ahem, Mysore Sandalwood. Sexy Man, Sexy Woman, etc.)
I'll keep making them until I can't.
And then they'll make room for something new.
Something that survived the sniff test.
Something that made me shove my wrist under someone's nose.
Something worthy of joining the permanent collection — or maybe just something so damn good that we enjoy it while it's here.
Honestly, I think I like this better.
A carefully chosen collection of scents that really belong to Hemlock Springs.
And a rotating little perfume cabinet full of things I found, fell in love with, made a few of, and may never have again.
It feels a lot more like me.
And it gives us an excellent excuse to keep smelling things.
