Don't be like me (YSL M7)
Can't remember when I got this Yves Saint Laurent M7 into my collection (15+ years? When it was released), but I recall opening the box and using it in autumn 2016 only (that 15% you see in the photo). Back then, I remember HOW MUCH I LOVED IT: probably my first approach to spicy scents, and it was a surprise how much it lasted on my skin, and how it projected around. Because of it and knowing that it was already discontinued, after that season, I tried to "save it" for special occasions only, to avoid emptying the bottle too fast.
Fast forward today: of course, I forgot I had that bottle because of life and domestic disorder, and since then, I got other similar perfumes to fill those notes (always close but never the same). And this autumn morning, ten years after, I found it with its 85% remaining: of course, I poured it on my skin hoping to relive that first surprise and self-indulgent feeling, only to realize that some of the notes are missing, and its initial strength had faded away at least to half. It still retains the oriental spice and that stitch in the nose that makes you realize this one is a special perfume (god how much i love you Tom Ford), but at the end of the day it's only half of the magic that it had 10 years ago, and if I could go back in time I would have used the shit out of it the following years after openning it.
So don't be like me: don't store and keep your nice perfumes, and use them like there's no tomorrow, even if it was expensive, discontinued or whatever excuse you came up with in your head.