Today is the tenth anniversary of the day that Now Smell This went “live” on the internet. I can still remember sitting at my computer in the living room of my apartment in Hoboken, reading that Robin had started a blog all about perfume…

“Blog” was still a new term to me in 2005, although I’d already known Robin for a while through MakeupAlley.com’s fragrance message board. (I’m still friends with a lovely group of women I originally met through MUA. Whether near or far, they’re still the best.)

I read and admired Now Smell This from that first day onwards, and when Robin put out a call for new contributors two years later, I dropped everything to put together a writing sample. (It was a review of LUSH’s Bathos bubble-bath bar.) She wrote back to me, we arranged a phone interview, and I became part of the NST team.

Back in 2007, I was struggling to write my Ph.D. dissertation, which was a long and often lonely process. I didn’t realize how much I needed a creative outlet until I started posting at NST. The process of composing fragrance reviews reminded me how much I actually loved writing. And, just as exciting: other people liked reading what we wrote, and they responded, and sometimes they even started their own blogs.

The effect of independent blogging on the fragrance industry has been discussed elsewhere, by others who can see the bigger picture more sharply than I can; all I know is that our little corner of the web, which might seem strange and silly to the uninitiated, has been a constant source of inspiration and fellowship for me. I can’t imagine life without it.

Every single day of the past decade, I’ve been grateful to Robin…to my fellow writers Kevin, Angie, and Erin…to the other original fragrance bloggers of that long-ago era…and to all the smart, funny, thoughtful women and men who read the site and take part in the conversation, as well as those who simply read and enjoy. Today just happens to be an especially good time to express that gratitude!

Here’s to many more shared years of fragrance and friendship!

You can read Robin’s 10th anniversary post here.

Image: vintage postcard via New York Public Library.