Quiz: How Decadent Are You?

This is the season to celebrate decadence. We revel in it, luxuriate in it, and encourage it in ourselves and others. This is not just about indulgence—a certain amount of decadence is good for your body, soul, and mental health. Even the Romans (no strangers to decadence themselves) maintained that it was the individual’s responsibility to take care of themselves for the good of the group.

So show some self-love. Make hard times a little easier; make good times that much better.

Take this quiz, for example. We invite you to curl up and reflect on your answers. Each time you say yes to one of our questions, give yourself a point. For every no, ask yourself, Why not?

Come back after a month and see how your score changes. Consider this a progress report.

1. Tasted chocolate
2. Worn yellow gloves
3. Bought yourself a present and had it gift-wrapped
4. Painted a room any color other than eggshell
5. Felt bored in polite society
6. Drunk wine
7. Been drunk
8. Had your portrait drawn or painted
9. Acted in a play
10. Been kissed on the lipsFallen in love with a sculptor
11. Had your nails done
12. Had groceries delivered
13. Decided that whipped cream is just so worth it
14. Spent a weekend in a country house
15. Set your table with cloth napkins
16. Worn velvet in daylight … all day
17. Listened to an opera all the way through
18. Taken a boat trip to another country
19. Made up a story about yourself to tell at a party
20. Met a member of royalty
21. Had a lover
22. Had more than one lover in a day
23. Called in sick so you could stay in bed reading
24. Decided that your life should imitate art, or at least try to
25. Started a zoo, in your own small way
26. Spent too much on a signed work of art
27. Had a fantasy about a demimondaine
28. Posed for erotic photographs
29. Sung an aria
30. Decorated with peacock feathers
31. Been to a bar
32. Been to a brothel
33. Considered that love might be mostly pain, but you’re still on board
34. Studied French
35. Eaten something your parents would not have considered food
36. Groomed parts of your body most people never see
37. Swum naked at night
38. Bought matching bath towels in rich jewel tones
39. Eaten a lot of chocolate
40. Spent Saturday morning organizing your copies of Enchanted Living
41. Wandered through an ancient ruin
42. Seriously considered moving to Venice
43. Painted anything in your home gold
44. Invested in a marble floor or tabletop … or at least marbled paper
45. Colored your hair
46. Done performance art
47. Splurged on fabric for curtains and pillows
48. Tasted real Irish butter
49. Bought a coffee-table book
50. Worn earrings more than an inch long
51. Put on more than three bracelets at a time
52. Tried absinthe
53. Smoked opium
54. Slept in satin sheets
55. Worn black lace underwear
56. Earnestly debated the merits of Art Nouveau vs. the Arts and Crafts movement
57. Read Baudelaire in translation
58. Read Baudelaire in the original
59. Attended a live performance of an Oscar Wilde play
60. Painted your lips very dark red
61. Had a crush on a nun or a priest
62. Piled pillows in an odd corner of your home and curled up there to dream
63. Danced all night
64. Fought a duel
65. Bought a book printed before 1900
66. Read that copy—books are for reading, after all
67. Turned up the lights so you could see … everything … better
68. Dimmed the lights so you could feel everything better
69. Taken a hot, scented bath all by yourself
70. Kissed in the rain
71. Dressed in the clothes of a gender other than the one in which you were raised
72. Eaten gold flakes
73. Mixed your own signature perfume
74. Written a poem
75. Written a novel … longhand
76. Grown poisonous plants on purpose
77. Tried Turkish delight
78. Bought a fresh set of paints mostly for that one special color you just can’t get enough of
79. Bought yourself flowers … lots of flowers
80. Slept during the day
81. Danced in a church
82. Fantasized about making love with a vampire
83. Thought it might be more interesting to look ugly-pretty than pretty-pretty
84. Truly believed that you can resist anything except temptation
85. Laid a flower at Oscar Wilde’s grave (or Jim Morrison’s, nearby)
86. Painted, written, sculpted, or otherwise crafted in the nude
87. Sent a letter or email out of the blue to a writer or artist you admire
88. Thought that if only you’d been hired to restore Versailles, the place really could have been something
89. Turned off all the clocks in your house
90. Had enough champagne … almost
91. Hunted down a banned work of literature or art
92. Been consumed with jealousy
93. Seen a ghost
94. Committed a crime
95. Told someone you love them
96. Kept a journal
97. Read somebody else’s journal
98. Counted the bones in a catacomb
99. Decided What the hell, I’ll do it.

What your score says about you:

1-25:
You need to say yes more often.

26-50:
You know a good time when you feel one.

51-75:
Dorian Gray can’t wait to hang out.

76-100:
Even a Frenchman is a little afraid of you.

Check back in a month or so and see if anything’s changed …