Alright, so someone asked me about Fendi by Fendi. The original one, yeah? Not some flanker or watered-down version they might be peddling these days, if they even are. Lemme tell ya, that stuff is a whole story in itself, not just a perfume.
The First Whiff and Why It Stuck
You see, I first bumped into Fendi by Fendi ages ago. Wasn’t even mine. It was my aunt’s. She was one of those women, you know? Always put together, always smelled incredible. And this Fendi, it was her signature. Rich, a bit spicy, kinda warm and just… powerful. Not loud, mind you. But it had presence. It wasn’t like the fruity-floral fluff you smell everywhere now. This had guts.
So, years go by, and I got this itch. I wanted to smell that again. Pure nostalgia, mostly. And maybe a bit of wanting something, well, different from the current perfume landscape. Everything starts to smell the same after a while, dunnit?
The Great Fendi Hunt: My “Practice”
So, my “practice” with Fendi by Fendi wasn’t about wearing it daily, not at first. It was about finding the darn thing. And believe me, that was a mission.
Here’s what I did, more or less:
- Online rabbit holes: First stop, the internet. Obvious, right? Scoured eBay, Etsy, those specialist vintage perfume sites. Man, you see all sorts. Bottles that look like they’ve been through a war, prices that’d make your eyes water. And fakes, always gotta watch for fakes.
- Old-school detective work: Then I started thinking, where would old stock hide? I actually called up some ancient-looking drugstores in small towns, the kind that might have forgotten treasures on a dusty bottom shelf. Got a few laughs, a few “Fendi who?” responses. No luck there.
- Networking (the old-fashioned way): I even put the word out to friends who are into antiques or go to estate sales. You never know what turns up in someone’s attic.
It felt like I was hunting for a ghost. For months, it was pretty much a bust. I’d find listings for “Fendi” but it would be a newer one, or the price was just bonkers, or the seller looked shifty. It’s not like today where you just click and it arrives tomorrow. This vintage stuff, it’s a whole different ball game. It’s like companies make these amazing things and then just…poof! Gone. Why do they do that? Beats me.
Stumbling Upon Gold (Eventually)
Then, one day, scrolling through some obscure forum, someone mentioned a seller who specialized in discontinued scents. Took a deep breath, checked them out. They had pictures, batch codes (if you know, you know – helps date the stuff), everything looked… well, as good as it could for something that old.
I decided to take the plunge. Wasn’t cheap, mind you. But I figured, what the heck. It was a smaller bottle, an Eau de Parfum. Perfect for what I wanted, which was basically to confirm my memories and have a little piece of that olfactory history.
Waiting for that package was nerve-wracking. What if it was off? What if it had turned? Old perfumes can be fickle beasts. But when it arrived, and I carefully opened it… bam! There it was. That smell. A little softer maybe, the top notes weren’t as sharp as a brand-new bottle would be, but the heart, the soul of it? Oh yeah, it was Fendi. Rich, warm, a bit animalic, a hint of spice, flowers, moss. Complex. Like a grown-up perfume should be.
So, What’s the Point of All This?
The practice of finding it, that was something. It wasn’t just buying a perfume. It was an exercise in patience, in research, in a bit of hope too. And using it? I don’t splash it on every day. It’s too precious for that. It’s for those moments when I want to remember, or when I want to feel that specific kind of sophisticated oomph it gives.
It’s funny, isn’t it? We get so used to instant gratification. But hunting down something like Fendi by Fendi, the original, it reminds you that some things are worth the effort. It’s not just about the scent itself, but the whole journey of rediscovering it. And honestly, it makes me a bit sad that they don’t make ’em like this anymore. Or if they do, they hide ’em well.
So yeah, that’s my Fendi by Fendi story. More of a treasure hunt than a simple perfume purchase, that’s for sure. And you know what? I’d probably do it all over again for another lost gem. It’s the thrill of the chase, I suppose.
