Mine actually seemed to cycle through the stages or whatever several times... perky and hard for a few weeks, then soft and pillowy, then back to projecting and firm. I'm at a bit over 4 years HRT now and they seem to be *mostly* settling down into soft and pillowy, though some of that is the fat being layered on top of the firm breast tissue (so in other words, when I touch them, even when they're perky/firm there's some softness of fat cushion on top).
I do recall the "separate mound of nipple and areolae" stage being always temporary, and it hasn't been like that in at least a couple years now.