Kate Walsh Boyfriend: My New Relationship Is Cut Tragically Short, And A Stuart Crystal Atomiser Gets Shirty

In my last post I featured my new purse spray of Kate Walsh Boyfriend from Ari of Scents of Self - one of my more successful blind buys. I wrote about its comforting woody, ambery, vanilla-y vibe, and likened it to a "Lite" version of Huitième Art Myrrhiad. I wore it on Valentine's Day and on the day after, reapplying it now and again in my quest to identify the oddball licorice/liquor note I thought I detected.

On Thursday, I was planning to use it as my sleep scent, and nipped into the kitchen to fetch a glass of water, the Boyfriend spray in its box in my other hand. As I turned away from the sink the purse spray suddenly fell to the ground, smashing into smithereens and scattering glassy shards for a radius of several feet. I had upended the box without noting that the top was open, and the glass vial had slid out and shattered easily on the tiled floor.

It took me a good twenty minutes to mop the viscous mess and sweep up all the tiny fragments of glass. Mr Bonkers nearly trod on one the next morning and asked if I was trying to see him off too! I was quite upset and annoyed at myself for my clumsiness, though at least my curiosity to try Boyfriend had been well and truly assuaged, and thanks to my frequent reapplications I shall probably remember how it smells for a long time to come.

The irony didn't escape me that a perfume inspired by Kate Walsh's ex-boyfriend should now bite the dust, hit the deck - and the wall, indeed - in short, become my very own fragrant Ex-Boyfriend...

But it wasn't long before my rational self reminded me that I am not exactly short of perfume, and the loss of 12ml is neither here nor there in the grand scheme of my bursting fridges.

So to cheer myself up, I did that thing I sometimes too - does anybody else do this? - I got out my decanting kit (partly in preparation for the upcoming prize draws), and fiddled with some of the more attractive and tactile items in their repurposed Ormonde Jayne bag container. This involved fighting my way through several layers of empty plastic bags and one of pipettes to reach the materials contained within. Particularly guaranteed to lift the spirits are those little coloured gauze bags you get from The Perfumed Court (and fellow swappers), which appeal to my eight year old self's love of spangly purses and all things jewel-coloured. The pink and mauve ones are a personal favourite, also those with butterfly motifs. Then I picked up and fondled some burnished metal atomisers in pleasing bullet shapes: silver and red, chocolate brown and gold.

And then, all of a sudden, I came across a Stuart crystal atomiser which I had bought years ago on Ebay, meaning to put a favourite perfume in it or possibly give it as a gift. Its cross-hatched design sparkles in the light and its chunky gold top feels pleasingly smooth and solid in your hand.

I dug deep into the presentation box and fetched out an adhesive label, bearing the following legend:

WARNING

THIS ATOMISER IS ONLY SUITABLE FOR EAU DE TOILETTE AND EAU DE COLOGNE FRAGRANCES FAILURE TO FOLLOW ABOVE WILL RESULT IN LEAKAGE FROM ATOMISER

Oh dear, I thought, that's me told then! And obviously, "failure to find label" in the first place would have resulted in a similarly leaky scenario. But the next question that crossed my mind - and the one which I would be pleased if anyone reading can help me answer - is: why only EDP? Is it something to do with its strength or density (specific gravity? I never know the correct terms here), which inclines it to leak? I naively thought leaking occurred when a seal was not watertight (or liquid-tight, in this case). Which would mean surely that one liquid would be as prone to escape as the next one, but apparently not so...

And I have read about general leakage problems with puffer atomisers, but this is the first time I have heard of a regular glass atomiser with a standard spray mechanism selectively leaking in this way. Or threatening to do so anyway.

I can't think offhand of any EDTs I like enough to dedicate this pretty bottle to, so for the moment it remains empty, uncooperative and muttering its admonitions from the dark comfort of its (dark blue) box. There's nothing on the label to say so, so I am only speculating, but it wouldn't surprise me if - were I to fill the atomiser up with perfume of any kind and drop it on the kitchen floor, that might result in "leakage from atomiser" too...