Early in my tenure at Basenotes, Rive Gauche Pour Homme was getting a huge amount of positive chatter (amazingly, it has continued virtually uninterrupted to this day), and I jumped on the bandwagon. I wore it occasionally, thinking it must "click" at some point, and never caught the Rive Gauche bug. I sold it about a year later. I didn't know it at the time, but this was an accurate indication that it just wasn't meant to be.

Several years later, I had a deep and unexplainable desire to smell like classic shave foam, and the idea of Rive Gauche was seducing me once again. This was about 4 years ago. I bought another tin can, taking a leap of faith that it would be for real this time.

...and after a brief love affair, it glumly it sat on my shelf, virtually unused, again. Recapitulation. I doggedly kept it until just this week, when I decided to let it run free again in a swap. It'll have a better home with a more attentive owner, I'm sure.

I learned in the process that fougeres are just tricky for me: I like the idea of them more than the experience of wearing them in many cases. My list of fougere casualties over the years is long, but Rive Gauche is the only scent that's brought out quite that level of indecisiveness. If I feel the pull again, I'll know to resist!

What scents do you have dramatic relationships with? Has it involved multiple breakups and reconciliations? Why? :D