Part 2: The Slow March to the Shelves Hey guys, Joe A. here with another one for ya’! Well, the bottles are officially making their way onto the shelves, and I can already tell this is not going to be a one-afternoon project. This is less like cleaning a room and more like relocating a small, well-scented civilization. Bottles are coming out of drawers, boxes, cabinets, and whatever random little hiding places they’ve been living in like scented fugitives. Now that the shelves are getting loaded, I’m also getting some real-world engineering feedback. Word of the week: deflection. In simple terms, deflection is how much a shelf bends under load. A fully loaded shelf is deflecting about 3/4 of an inch, which is enough to make the bottles want to creep forward in the acrylic tiered displays. Thank goodness those acrylic shelves have a front lip, because without it, this post might have been called “The Great Bottle Avalanche.” The deflection also showed me that the overhanging shelves want to rotate over the end of the metal bracket. In plain English: the front wants to dip, the back wants to lift, and gravity starts acting like it has a management position. So I made an adjustment. At the back of the shelf, closest to the wall, I replaced the wood screw with a through bolt that goes through the shelf and tightens directly to the metal bracket. That clamps the shelf down and helps resist that tipping action. Between the heavy brackets, the stud connections, and the through bolts, these shelves aren’t going anywhere. The deflection is still unnerving, but the engineering side of my brain is calm. The fragrance side is holding a bottle and looking nervous. There’s also been some cabinet strategy happening. I relocated and re-shelved the taller mirrored cabinet over the weekend to better fit the new layout. The smaller mirrored cabinet is staying in the plan too, at least for now. That one is currently holding the Xerjoff collection, which feels appropriate, because Xerjoff bottles already act like they need better lighting and a private dressing room. The plan is to find that smaller cabinet a proper new home somewhere else in the garage office.

Recently, I have been away from the community for a while. Life has been rather busy and a little messy as well. I was adjusting to working remotely and trying to manage my time properly, while also putting a large portion of my salary aside for some long-term goals. It was the right thing to do financially, but it also made me feel rather tight with money for a while. Thankfully, I'm in a much better place mentally now, and I'm slowly getting myself back into the things I enjoy. As for fragrances, working from home has naturally changed things quite a bit. Since I don't go out nearly as much anymore, I don't reach for my usual fragrances as often. During the summer I've mostly been using lighter options, including some cheaper alternatives, body mists and sprays. And honestly, Egyptian summer is not exactly forgiving. I still don't own a proper summer fragrance that I love — something along the lines of Bleu de Chanel or another fresh "blue" fragrance — so that's definitely something I'd like to change eventually. When I do go out, I still wear fragrance, but I've been staying away from the heavier ones. Something like Brazilian Tobacco in this heat would probably be an act of violence. 😄 There is, however, something else I've been dealing with recently. I've started getting quite severe itching, redness and burning wherever I spray fragrance, especially when I'm exposed to the sun afterwards. The heat here in Egypt has been intense, and unfortunately even fragrances that normally don't bother me can become uncomfortable in direct sunlight. I'm not entirely sure whether it's the fragrance itself, the combination of fragrance and sunlight, or simply the heat. If anyone here has experienced something similar or knows what might be causing it, I'd genuinely appreciate hearing your experience and what helped you. Anyway, it's good to be back. Hopefully I'll have some new fragrances, reviews and experiences to share soon.