Name your favorite (scented) cheap thrills — perfumes, fragranced body or hair products, candles, and etc and etc.
Note: top image is indian summer [cropped] by Fréderic at flickr; some rights reserved.
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No comments? How can this be? I guess my favorite cheap thrill is finding a deal on ebay…not too thrilling, I know. Sometimes I’ll buy a bundle of Stocks at Trader Joe’s – the spicy scent lasts for days and at 7 bucks or so, it’s pretty cheap 🙂
My favorite store 🙂
Mine, too. A gal could go nuts with all their “snack” food.
You’re so right, KRL – nothing like a great deal on ebay!
There’s something kind of satisfying about it, right?
Absolutely! And I feel there is a lot of value in vintage perfumes – more concentrated, notes that have disappeared from current perfumery and not paying for the PR.
Love Cost Plus World Market too for scented things from bath to room stuff, (and different sauces, foods and teas, and imported chocolate and my favorite tart red currant gummies…ok shut up Sandi). But I have to go with Ebay this summer too. Vintage Emeraude cologne, 2 bottle deal for less than $20. I was ecstatic and they were in excellent condition. The Angel and dc’d Addict eau Fraiche were considerably more than $20, but still way below what I found elsewhere. I was pleasantly shocked at what I won the auction on the eau Fraiche for.
Our local World Market closed down, I was very sad to see it go 🙁
You too, eh? All the ones in our state shut down. Best I can do is drive 4 hours into the next state over, and with gas prices what they are, I’m not likely to do that just to grab some (admittedly very tasty) chocolate and a few Christmas decorations.
Oh Nooooooooooooooooo! I didn’t know they were struggling. I LOVE that place.
Anyone needing a World Market fix, I’m happy to help out! Particularly with the USPS moving thier flat rate boxes to the “forever” pricing. Just e-mail me at makeda.n.reed.lwfo@statefarm.com.
Origins Leg Lifts smells fantastic and it’s only about $20…
yes! Love both Leg Lifts and their foot cream, can’t remember the name off the top of my head!
My local health food store is a wealth of awesome scents for under $15. Attar Bazaar, Kuumba-Made, and Auric Blends products smell wonderful, last long, and always remain in production– many of these attars & perfume oils have been around for decades.
Yes…wish it was easier to get samples of them. Even though the prices are good, it isn’t easy to test lots of them.
True, unless you live near a store with ample countertop space for the wooden tiered test-bottle displays– in which case, you could stand there forever in sampling heaven.
True!
My favorite cheap thrill is Elizabeth Taylor Black Pearls. It’s a very strange perfume to describe – it’s a huge monster in a way but one that doesn’t have a ton of sillage – it’s a little intimidating when you first put it on but it softens to an ever present aura of sexy, but it stays close to your skin. It draws people into you, when they get within hugging distance, it surpises them and in a good way!
My best bargain was finding vintage Lancome Magie Noire at Sears online – i was shocked! And estatically happy when it really was vintage!
What, seriously? Why was Sears selling vintage anything?
I have no clue. I was buying kids clothes about 6 months months ago and having them direct shipped. Of course my mouse strayed over to the perfume section just out of curiousity and I was greeted with the old style bottles of Lancome Magie Noire – there were 50+ pictures and all with slightly differrent prices. The prices ranged from $45.00 to about $89.00. At first I thought this has to be some mistake…so I ordered 3 of the cheapest bottles. I called and asked if I could return any unopened packages and they said YES! So, I thought for sure I would just be getting the reformualted version in the new bottle and the pic of the old bottle was just an old pic they used. So imagine my shock when I opened my package! So, i went back to the website 2 weeks later and lo and behold, every single pic was gone. I guess I was not the only one to make the discovery of the gold mine. Either that or someone with deep pockets realized what they had and bought them all to sell on evil bay.
I didn’t share my find because it was too late…they were all gone when I went back…I opened all the boxes and its the old bottle to be sure. But, I have only sprayed from one bottle. I compared it to the new version I have and it is definitely my old darling friend.
I love TBS White musk edt, it’s very much versatile skin scent. And it smells …not exclusive… but not cheap at all.
I also love TBS body butter in coconut, I layer it, the coconut oil also, with Stella McCartney Stella for a gourmand twist to the jammy rose scent. Lovely.
Have you tried the new White Musk Libertine? I am meaning to get over there and give it a shot.
Yes, I tried it and was prepared to love it as I love both White musk, roses and all things rahat loukum. It was ok, I guess. I’ve read in some rewieves that people found it too sweet. I thought it was too dusty and not enough of the rahat loukum. To me, it somehow smelled “old”.
Ah, thanks.
I’m kind of a Bath & Body Works fanatic. The prices are good and honestly, the quality of the body products far exceeds that of most mainstream department store perfumes. I love PS I Love You and Butterfly Flower (both discontinued this past summer) a crazy amount. Also using a lot of Apricot Vanilla lately. I also pick up all the $1 previews, which means I do have some of their real duds, but I use them to moisturize my hands before bed, throw them in diaper bags, etc.
What a shame they discontinued 2 that you love!
Do you think their more recent scents are better? Or the same as before?
Overall, I think the quality has gone up. They’re consciously trying to be more ‘perfumey’. I have shopped there since I was like 14 or 15 – one of my entrees to fragrance – and back in the day they had more of a ‘country store’ vibe going on and many of the fragrances were food-y, gourmand-y, or fruity, and only had a few major notes.
I don’t always like all of their output these days, but I think they’re trying to make things that are a bit more complex. Obviously there is still a heavy emphasis on fruity florals and sweetness, but there is more variety… although a lot of the things I like don’t seem to be their best sellers.
I actually bought one of my high school faves in shower gel and lotion recently, to see what I thought now – it’s part of their classics line. The scent is Pearberry. Now, it smells just like synthetic fruit to me. I actually still enjoy wearing it just on a pure nostalgia level, but I do think their newer output is genuinely better. Even Apricot Vanilla, which is a really sweet fruity scent, smells more like real apricot flesh than Pearberry smells like pears or berries.
I had thought a few years ago they were trying to do more complex scents, but seemed to me that maybe in the past year they were emphasizing the bottle design & simple? But I don’t smell enough of the scents to know.
you know, that may be true to some extent. In late 2008 they had a re-branding with new bottles and they introduced “Black Amethyst,” which was one of their first really conceptual/perfume-y scents.
But the last year has indeed seen more simplistic fruity releases… a coconut collection, a citrus collection… I guess we’ll see.
Ps I love you is discontinued? No!!
Yes, back in June. I was actually able to stock up on it at 75% off, so I couldn’t cry about it *too* much.
I’m betting you could find loads of it right now if you live near an outlet – I do and they always have stuff that was in the regular stores 3-12 months ago.
I do like Demeter’s Hershey’s…
I also like Anna Sui’s Secret Wish body lotion. You can get 200ml for as cheap as 15 dollars online and it smells good. =)
Demeter has some really good bargain scents 🙂
Yes! Demeter Wet garden is really good.
Yes, and so is Greenhouse for another pretty mixed floral.
Pacifica’s my favorite cheapie too, and I tend to be really, really, really cheap. Cheap as in I bought an assortment of solids to keep as my “me” perfumes at home (long story short, no air conditioning, so no bottled anything goes home.) As much as I love the TMT, I have to admit though, that my favorite has turned out to be the Persian Rose, and as I got free samples of it on two successive orders, it was free! Can’t get much cheaper than that! (I will have to order one pretty soon, though.)
*blinks* This was supposed to be in the tree for the comment just below. How the hell did that happen?
Pacifica products! I love the Indian Coconut, Lotus Garden (very close to Un Jardin Sur le Nil!) and Tibetan Mountain Temple especially. While the body products aren’t as cheap as the perfumes, I appreciate that they are paraben/phthlate free since I’ve been trying to “green” my products.
Two other surprisingly paraben/phthlate free but very cheap (although unscented!) finds are St Ives Daily Microdermabrasion Scrub and Hand Lotion.
and of course Demeters! Gingerale is my favorite and I just spritzed some. So fizzy!
I do love that Tibetan Mountain Temple.
I like the Pacifica Blood Orange, especially in hot weather.
I’ve loved a lot of St. Ives products in the past… should look for those. Also like a few Pacifica scents, and my teen loves the TMT. Would love to get her the body butter of it, but it is perpetually out of stock. I always wonder if they do it to seem “in demand”, or if they just need to get a clue and start amping up production of it to meet the demand.
I generally prefer unscented things so they don’t clash with my perfume but a couple of years ago The Body Shop did a Christmas limited edition Nutmeg & Vanilla range which reminded me of Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille and smelled pretty great. I’ve been hoping they’d re-release it ever since.
But, if we are also mentioning good deals then my best bargain was getting 30ml of TDC Bois d’Iris for £8 in the House of Fraser sale last year.
Yowser. That is a deal.
I was pretty pleased when I picked it up and the price on the sticker was double that. Then I went to pay for it and the SA at the till told me there was a further 50% discount. That’s when my eyes almost popped out 😀
On the flip side, they were clearing their inventory and they no longer stock TDC so now I can’t just pop in there if I want to sniff the new releases.
ooh, i see a “nutmeg & vanilla body scrub” on their site–i wonder if it is part of the same line! i would race to any store offering something reminiscent of tom ford’s tobacco vanille; i don’t generally use body scrub, but i’ll definitely pop into my local store and check it out.
Tea Rose has been one of my favorites since high school. A 100 mL bottle can be found online for $12. But frankly I like to think of anything even moderately discounted as a “cheap” thrill.
That’s a great cheap one, yes!
I agree with KRL about ebay, although I often wonder if the thrill of the “good deal” has encouraged excessive consumption in me more than once. . .
My best bargains have been had at estate sales, however. Or perhaps I should say “an estate sale.” I have mentioned it here before, but I found several vintage Guerlains at an estate sale, including about 1/3 of an old bottle of Shalimar in a stopper bottle. It is so lovely, it has convinced me that I am indeed missing something to have had so little experience with other vintage formulations! AND I bought it for $20!
Ah well, for both estate sales and ebay, I find my budget thanks me for having very high standards and insisting that a) I only buy what I REALLY actually want, and b) it has to be a truly good deal. These two rules nearly keep me out of trouble!
Oh, and not a “bargain” by the traditional meaning, but I have to share!!! I just got my bottle of OJ Woman in the mail. It did come with a 10 mL purse spray AND a 2 mL sample of Orris Noir, so that sort of makes it a better deal! 😉
Hi Marjorie, good to see you! It’s been a while since we’ve sniffed together!
Receiving a parcel from Ormonde Jayne is a joy. Something about it – packaging, samples, everything! How you’re liking Orris Noir?
Hi Warum! Good to hear from you!
Yes, it has been a long time since our sniff! The new Chanel Exclusif has me thinking about returning to Nordies to check it out some time. . .it would be more fun with company!
I got the OJ Discovery set last month, and I liked Orris Noir enough to request another sample. I am in total swoon over OJ Woman. The other two that caught and kept my attention were Orris Noir and Tolu, although I’m not sure either warrants a FB. I like the spicy pepperiness of Orris Noir. However, I have some reason to believe that I can’t smell Iris notes, so I’m not sure I’m getting the whole fragrance. What I CAN smell is good, though!
OJ Woman is some great stuff, isn’t it? I seem to remember Robin writing that Frangipani was her favorite…what did you think? I’ve been meaning to get that Discovery Set.
Fragripani is nice, and I can see why it gets so much love, but it is not for me. It is a little sheer, and I prefer my scents to have some presence. Also, the tropical, sort of pineapple fruitiness doesn’t really appeal to me as much.
But I can honestly say that NONE of the scents in the Discovery Set are bad–just some aren’t my taste. I completely support anyone giving it a try! Just be sure you’ve also set aside some money for when you find one you love! 🙂
I agree with you about the evil bay, which has also prompted me to buy far more than I need. It’s both wonderful and dangerous at the same time. Congratulations on the OJW, btw!
Thanks! I have no buyers remorse for the OJW!
What I have found to be very dangerous on ebay are minis of perfumes that I haven’t yet tried, been meaning to, and golly, it’s practically the same price as a sample! Then, I end up spending twice what I woulda on a sample and more times than not, could live without it. After too many mistakes along these lines, I won’t even buy a mini unsniffed. . .well, probably!
Oh, MR, I’m right there with you on that mini vs. sample rationale! Never a good idea unsniffed!
I’ve bought a few unsniffed minis from eBay, and not all of them have worked well for me, but—I love perfume bottles, so if the bottle is great, I still feel I got my money’s worth, as I can enjoy looking at it. Sample vials are particularly decorative, but I love mini perfume bottles.
My latest cheap thrill was two awesome candles from Bath & Body Works — 2 for $20. Both are very “fall”-smelling — Marshmallow Fireside and Cinnamon Sugared Donut (I mentioned them in last week’s poll, but still loving them this week).
Also using Bois d’Orange shampoo by Roger & Gallet, which I LOVE. Don’t know if this technically qualifies as a cheap thrill, but mine was free, from a Paris hotel room. 🙂 Need to seek it out in fragrance form.
Mmm, marshmallows and donuts!
Bois d’Orange is a great scent! I actually won a bottle here on NST a couple years ago and have enjoyed it a lot.
Oh, what a nice thing to win!
I bought a few of their Slatkin “Winter” candles last year, and I love them.
I got the winter candle and the room spray as Xmas gifts last year and I love them.
I have Winter, too!
Hmm, will have to check out those Winter candles too!
I have the Marshmallow Fireside candle on a shelf in my office. It’s nice!
I really enjoy the smell of it even when it’s not lit!
For any Creed perfume lovers…BeyondTheRack.com is having a Creed sale this weekend!
I love Bath & Body Works fresh cut lemon handsoap and hand sanitizer, and the Body Shop sweet lemon body scrub.
Demeter Fig Leaf is good – for Demeter, it has surprising complexity and longevity. It starts with a sharp leafy scent that reminds me of geranium leaves, with the and over the course of about three hours, the green slowly fades as the figginess comes to the foreground.
I also bought a bunch of scented oils in Morocco, most of them at about $2 – $8 for 5ml – 15ml, including a great herbal-orange one and a sandalwood spice. I picked u p a ton of even cheaper incense, too. (Of course these aren’t really bargains if I factor in the cost of the flight to Casablanca!)
And from Lush, the solid perfumes are a real bargain (I have Dirty), and I love the smell of the Floating Island & Dreamtime bath melts, the Therapy massage bar and the Butterball bath bomb.
I forgot to mention Skin Musk! I love it; I’ve been wearing it for about 20 years, since I was in high school, when it was a “sophisticated” alternative to the Body Shop Dewberry or Satsuma that my peers seemed to be wearing.
Sometimes I layer Skin Musk With Avignon, a la Sarah Jessica Parker.
I will have to look for the Fresh Cut Lemon — I need a new hand soap.
I once bought this product from BeautyHabit, but they no longer carry it: MAISON BELLE LAUNDRY SILK AND WOOL, the smell is one of the most lovely cinnamon scent. The aroma wafted off the clothes as they dried. I have yet to find a scent that I like that much, but will keep looking.
I have seen this brand at TJ Maxx but haven’t tried anything yet – thanks for the recommendation, sounds lovely!
B&BW seems to have quite a few fans. I used to love buying Roger & Gallet and Casswell & Massy soaps. It’s been years so I don’t know how well the qualities have held up. R&G’s Fougere and C&M’s Damask Rose were among my favorites.
I adore R&G soaps, but can’t buy them locally any more, boo hoo. I miss them, esp. the sandalwood.
Our TJ MAXX sometimes gets them. And our Marshall’s and Tuesday Mornings. They (and the Claus Oporto) tend to be over with the men’s toiletries, so…might be someplace to look, next time you’re out at one. Also Steinmart, if you’re somewhere that still has a SteinMart. *sob* Ours left us!
Probably the divine Agent Provocateur Tuberose Body Oil I just got for a steal! Ok, massage oil… but … ho hum 😉
125ml and the bottle is gorgeous. Ylang Ylang and Rose are the other two oils.
Congrats!
Hooray, a weekend poll!
We’re being pummeled by rain and wind – and we will be all weekend; it’s very much like a tropical storm, so I’m going to post this quickly while I still have power.
As mentioned above, you can’t beat Pacifica in the cheap thrill department. They’re very nicely done scents (my favorites are Tibetan Mountain Temple, Malibu Lemon Blossom, Egyptian Bergamot Rose, and Lotus Garden. I need to try some of their newer offerings.) and are beautifully packaged. Under $25
Tokyo Milk has some good ones, too. I particularly like Ex Libris (green fig!) and Honey and the Moon. Under $30.
CJ Scents has some nice, simple scents – many gourmands. I like her Pumpkin Patch and Amber Coffee. Under $20.
I like the BBW body lotions – Brown Sugar & Fig, Twilight Woods, White Citrus, White Tea & Ginger. Good products, very reasonable prices especially when on sale.
My favorite mainstream cheap thrill was purchasing a bottle of Balmain La Mome when they discontinued it. The discounters had tons of it and I got my bottle for $18 including shipping.
Hope you keep your power!
We have STUNNING GORGEOUS weather this weekend – not that I’m rubbing it in, because last weekend was truly dreadful (highs in the 40s, rain, 20mph wind, bleargh). Really great weather to have our two Chinese Eisenhower Fellows visit!
Oh, Mals, it’s so cool that you are hosting Chinese visitors! You and your family seem you’d be great hosts, and I love that they are getting to see a real Virginia farm.
I don’t know if you’ve decided to let them experience the perfume collection, but I wouldn’t mind word spreading throughout China that America is a land of perfumistas. 🙂
I’m not sure they’re interested. Both are male; one is a professor in a think tank concerned with China-US economic relations, and one runs the Chinese equivalent of the Social Security investment fund. Serious guys.
… though they seemed to enjoy running the John Deere 3020 tractor around the field a couple of times. 🙂
LOL – they must be having a great time!
Mals, who doesn’t enjoy running a tractor around a field? 😉 Glad to hear they’re having fun!
Some discontinued scents are a very good deal:
1. Rochas Tocade (rose and vanilla). 100 mls for under $40.00 on ebay
2. Guerlain Terracotta Voile d’Ete (carnation skin scent). 100 mls for under $40.00 on ebay
3. Theo Fennell Scent EDT. Under $25.00 at Amazon
4. YSL Cinema.50 mls under $40.00 on ebay
I really love the first two.
Great idea for a poll! Looking forward to reading more responses.
Oh no, is Tocade discontinued? I mean, my 90-odd remaining mLs surely will last me the rest of my life, but something about hearing that a beloved fragrance has ceased production stirs an irrational panic.
Voile d’Ete is so pretty.
I’m always tempted by that one at Parfum1, FragranceNet, etc., but $40 is the extreme upper end of my blind-buy comfort zone. I should remember to add a small vial to my next TPC order.
Great scents and great prices!
And there’s another valuable point here: anyone who is reluctant to enter the rabbit hole of ebay can find great deals on Amazon, where I found my Etros and other discontinued or overstocked favs such as DK Gold. Amazon has great associated sellers such as BeautyEncounter, so it’s one-stop shopping.
Carnation AND vanilla??!! MUST … HAVE … I just ordered a sample of Voile d’Ete from TPC.
Marshall’s and TJ Maxx have excellent deals, but are very hit or miss with their selecions. But when they have something good, you can get it for a song. (Bvlgari Omnia comes to mind – I got a bottle there for $29.99 a few months ago.) A cheap thrill line is from Yves Rocher – particularly their Secrets d’Essences line. Pretty good stuff in elegant bottles.
I was in TJ Maxx yesterday and they had MJ Bang for $22! I’ve never tried and it am pretty certain I wouldn’t like it, but almost bought it to sell or swap just because it was such a good deal!
I can understand your impulse to do that Odonata – Bang does get some positive reviews. You could probably swap it for something you would like!
Two products I love which are RELATIVELY inexpensive are: the Body Shop’s Brazil Nut Body Butter. It has been discontinued but seems to reappear at a better price when they have sales. The other is Lush’s solid perfume – ‘A 1000 Kisses Deep’.
Something that is a cheap kick is walking into certain novelty shops. Somehow all the products together give off this slightly sweet rubber smell. There are usually some scented products in the shop, but no one on its own exudes that exact scent. And none of the individual items have that exact smell either – the point being that you can’t buy it anyway!
Haha, I know exactly what you mean! Sometimes the novelty-store aroma is so powerful that I have to leave after 5 minutes.
Favorite cheap(ish) thrill: Cuir de Lancome, a little under $30 with discount codes at the online places like Parfum1.
And I really dig the body products of B&BW Dark Kiss – a slightly plummier, less marshmallowy version of Hanae Mori Butterfly.
I just ordered some Cuir de Lancome at a slightly higher price, which should cover duty and shipping.
Lately I’ve been trying to prevent myself from buying Cuir de Lancome unsniffed. The price is right!
Many of my cheap favs have already been mentioned, so I’ll add Guerlain Vetiver, one of my summer mainstays.
Also, I adore exploration sets and travel sets, both in their own right and because the individual vials tend to end up on ebay. 😉 Deep curtseys to BK and FM, especially. 🙂
Is it just my impression or they’ve changed the Gurlain Vetiver formula on the last 5 to 6 years??? For me Vetiver is not its appropriate name anymore: vetiver note is so weak! Now it’s more citric-aromatic and less woody than my past sniffing…
Moore, it’s true that it’s changed. I have several vintages from the 70s to about three years ago, and the older ones a more complex. Nonetheless, it’s the current version that I was recommending as a cheap (relatively) thrill. I find it very cool and almost floral. It’s like a blast of AC in the summertime, and provides pure crispness for any busy day.
My all around favorite vetiver is Annick Goutal, which I just find most soulful.
I found myself using my newer bottle of GV as a room spray this summer, and I agree that it feels very fresh. I do notice a sort of soapiness that I don’t love on skin–is that present in the vintage version as well? I find it disappointing, since I don’t notice it every time I wear it, but it keeps me a little shy from spritzing.
I’m not sure, Marjorie Rose, but I think that soapiness may be a recent trend.
Yeah, Vetiver is a good daywear fragrance!!! And for a good price is even better. But I miss the old version. If you like a floral vetiver you should try Chantecaille Vetyver: heanvenly!! 😉
Thanks, Moore – I’ll look for that Chantecaile.
A wonderful floral vetiver that I’ve tried is Chanel 28 La Pausa, which has a lot of iris with vetiver base notes. Not very long-lasting and not a cheap thrill, but very natural and relaxed – an unusual Chanel!
Hum, iris + vetiver, if it’s like Prada Infusion de Vetiver it may be a good fragrance. Interesting… Thanks.
I think my favorite cheap thrill is experiencing the generosity of an SA. We went shopping at Barneys to sniff the Frederick Malles and the SA was so helpful, entertaining and wonderful. Let us smell EVERYTHING, told us stories about the perfumers, and genuinely liked his job. He then filled up our bags with sample after sample. I had a bit of scent hangover that day, but wow! We both purchased bottles, and got tons and tons of samples to take and try. I fell in love with a few FMs that day! Need go back – I’m almost out of L’Eau d’Hiver.
Glad to hear they’re still hiring nice people. AT the NYC Barneys, used to be that the people at FM were delightful, the rest of the fragrance counter SAs not so much.
I found a huge pump bottle of SJP’s Lovely body lotion at TJ Maxx some time ago, for only $15. It’s lasted a couple of years and I love the stuff. At Marshalls, I once found Guerlain’s AA Tiare and Mimos, a lovely summer scent, for about $20. Usually there’s nothing, but sometimes you can get lucky!
I used to very regularly check my TJ Maxx but was lucky so rarely that I am not so good about checking any more. I should try again!
TJ Maxx’s Canadian counterpart is Winners, and similarly the selection is hit & miss. The Marc Jacobs splashes will often turn up at half price. I bought my first bottle of Cuir de Lancome there, and recently found a bottle of Par Amour Toujours for $17. Of course, buying the wrong bottle at a great price is false economy…
LOL…and that is what I used to do at TJ Maxx all the time: buy things I didn’t want anyway.
I’m a fan of Yankee Candle. I love the buy on get one coupons and their $1 votive sale is a thrill for me too. I really like the lemon lavender candle. Lavender vanilla is nice too. I just bought one called mountain lodge and I so wish it was in a bottle I could spritz on.
I’m sort of surprised they’ve never moved into room sprays…
Oh, but they have! Not a YC fan myself, but walked past a display just today at Kohl’s and saw room sprays along w/the candles.
*grin* I have a little bucket by my desk that is full of (some half empty) the minis of the Leather room mist, and I have a couple of full-size cans of er…one is the Sage and White tea, and the other is Shea Butter and Cedarwood. For some reason, people are less er…let’s say “upset” if they run back into your office after leaving and see you hosing down the place with “stress relief aromatherapy spray” than if they see you doing the same with the big trigger-spray bottle of Febreeze! (Or Lysol, during cold&flu season!)
My biggest find lately was an actual find! I bought some old luggage at a garage sale and in one of the compartments was three bottles of parfum of, I am guessing, early 70s vintage: Cabochard, Vivre, and Climat. None of the three have been opened.
Wow – amazing score, Monkeytoe!
WOW – that’s an amazing score Monkeytoes! You evidently have excellent perfumista karma!
Wow. WOW. How cool!
Thud! ………………………………
(that was the sound of me fainting) What an impossible-to-beat find! Man, am I jealous! 🙂
Holy Toledo.
CVS has a new cosmetic line that includes hair & body products. It’s Nuance, from Salma Hayak, and the body lotion is wonderful. I can’t remember how many scents there are, maybe just two? The one I bought is in a rose colored bottle and has a lovely, true rose scent. It isn’t so strong as to interfere with a non rose perfume – just enough to be very pleasant while applying. The lotion is a fast absorbing formula, too. It feels nicely high end for a drugstore find.
Oh, so glad to hear that’s a decent line, thanks!
Like several other people here, I’m a big fan of Tibetan Mountain Temple. I’ve been using some of Pacifica’s bar soaps lately, too; they smell great (as you’d expect), last a surprisingly long time, and cost $5 a pop. It’s a good way to explore scents that I wouldn’t necessarily want to wear as perfume.
My other favorite cheap-thrill fragrance is Cabaret. I think I paid $18 on Amazon for a 3.4-ounce bottle.
Up until about 6 years ago, the Sonia Kashuk beauty line at Target included some fun scents — I had a little coffret with rose, freesia, and gardenia perfumes, and also a big bottle of a bergamot-yuzu body spray. I didn’t know a thing about perfume at the time, but those fragrances seemed like the epitome of cheap ‘n’ cheerful.
Cabaret is terrific!
Kuumba Made Amber Paste smells expensive and elegant. Burt’s Bees shea body butter is wonderfully moisturizing and costs about $12.00. Avon used to make a fragrance called Jamoca Soft Musk that cost next to nothing and smelled wonderfully expensive. I wish they would bring it back.
I second your love for Kuumba-Made’s Amber Paste too. Their Black Coconut rollerball perfume oil is my constant companion.
My favourite “cheap” fragrance is Jovan White Musk. So nice and snuggly. Yves Rocher makes some excellent inexpensive fragrances as well (I particularly like Voile d’Ambre and Cocoon). I also love the home fragrance oils from The Body Shop (Sandalwood and Ginger is my current favourite) but I haven’t been a fan of their most recent fragrance offerings.
I’ve found some great bargains at TJ Maxx over the years. I’m still kicking myself for not buying all of the Shalimar Eau Legere they had when they were selling it for $19.99!
I don’t care much for the White Musk, but my mother – she of No. 5! – wears the Musk for Women as an “everyday” fragrance, and it smells so warm and clean. If it weren’t HERS in my mind, it would be MINE…
… and Eau Legere for $20?????? Holy moly.
I have been curious about the Yves Rocher stuff, particularly Voile d’Ambre. That one seems to have several fans around here.
Yves Rocher is worth a try–this week it has been just cool enough to break out the Rose Absolute and the Voile d’Ambre is not far behind. The body lotion for both of these is also terrific–a little light for the really dry dead of winter, but just right for the fall. the rose reminds me of a charming cousin of Malle’s Une Rose–a scent you can take out for a daytime spin if you want the feel of a dark rose without all the drama. They have great sillage and last a long time, especially when paired with the lotion. Best of all, with all of the sales on that website, you can practically get them for free!
Yeah, I was on the YR site a few days ago, and it looked like everything was 40% off or some such. Certainly increases the temptation to buy blind. Thanks for the description of Rose Absolue … sounds like I should check that one out, too.
This is a great idea for a weekend poll!!!
I love Possets – really great perfume oils (mostly gourmand), you get free samples with every order, everything is done by hand by the owner and she ships anywhere on earth. I love the whole series on honey, “The Girls Love . . .” , especially the Girls Love Leather – ooh, honey and leather and at $10.99 for a 6ml bottle of perfume oil her prices are great and you can buy samples as well. http://www.possets.com
PS. I’m not affiliated in any way, just a fan!
I have not tried that one, but “Girls Love Leather” is just a great name!
I’ve always been a fan of Neutrogena original Rainbath and body oil- wish there was a perfume version of the Rainbath, especially. Smith’s Rosebud salve (blue tin) is perfect. I also like Johnson & Johnson Lavender Chamomile lotion and Carven Ma Griffe body lotion (lightly green/sweet/powdery), which I got for 10 or 15 dollars. For a $2 pick-me-up, I like a Strawberry or Dr. Pepper Bonnie Bell lipsmacker
Best $25 you can spend on a bottle of fragrance is an Ava Luxe EDP. Not sure if they are still going for that price, though. Lady Stetson is a great drugstore find.
I love the scent of Neutrogena Rainbath as well. I received a giftset of the bath gel, lotion and oil for Christmas in my early teens and felt so gorgeous layering all the products- I smelled great!
Oh, I haven’t smelled that in years… I seem to remember it having a sort of nutty quality that I liked a lot.
I mean Rainbath!
So, I don’t mean to be a contrarian, but I must admit that I am not a fan of The Body Shop at all!
I think I smelled everything they have one afternoon while waiting for a flight that had been delayed. I REALLY wanted to find something, to feel like my shopping had a purpose, and gee, wouldn’t it be nice to really like something that was so available and inexpensive?! But no, the best of them were merely inoffensive and the worst were god-awful in my opinion.
Mostly, I guess I feel like I get what I pay for, and I’m sort of embarrassed to admit that I’m such a snob! May the beatings commence!
TBS doesn’t seem to work for me either from what I’ve tried. But then some high end houses don’t seem to work for me so I’m not going to feel bad about it. You tried them and wanted to like them – doesn’t sound at all snobby to me 🙂
Thanks, Lilybug, for being so kind! Do I sound like a snob if I also admit that I don’t have any love for Bath and Body Works, either?
I don’t mind The Body Shop, but I will go out of my way to avoid walking past BBW stores in shopping malls. They seem to produce an aroma force field that does *not* agree with me. (Same goes for the smelly candle section at IKEA.)
Yes, you’re right about that weird mall aroma! Candle stores can be overpowering, too. I don’t remember IKEA’s candle section, but you always know when a Yankee Candle store is nearby!
I’ll jump on the bandwagon too. I remember loving the marine scent The Body Shop did when Anita er…When the original founder was still alive and owned the business. The products were nice enough, but as we didn’t have one locally, the perfume singles picked up from the little lab-like carousel when someone I knew was going somewhere that had one were my big treat. Then L’Oreal bought it, and (however stupidly loyal I am to L’Oreal when at Walgreens) I couldn’t stand a single one of the products anymore. Never looked back at it.
Bath and Body Works on the other hand, I really do try to like. Try. But I can’t. I can’t get over the scent of plastic that seems to be hidden in everything from there, and the Slatkin candles bring on a migraine like nothing (well, aside from plastic) that I’ve ever set on fire has before. Also, I have been trying desperately to find a good lotion that works well and isn’t heavy as all hell for years, and after trying a multitude of thiers, I can’t find one that’ll work with my skin, even the heaviest of the True Blue Spa creams leaves me dry enough to scritch a visible tic tac toe grid into my calf in under half a freaking hour. And while I do like the scent of the TBS line, again, it’s got that undertone of plastic to it…
For a cheap thrill, I like TBS Neroli Jasmine- pretty much the o ly fragrance of theirs I have liked since they discontinued Juba oil.
Also, 4711 and the Nirvana Spa range Happy Mood Body Mist for easy summer smells. The Spa itself was having a big sale and I just picked it their Gingebread Body Butter for £2 and it is lovely. Spicy with a bit of sweet, not at all cloying and the scent lasts for hours- I apoly before bed and can still smell it faintly in the morning!
And, in the free thrill category my local John Lewis is having a refit so all of the cosmetics department has been moved and all of their perfumes set up in the central aisle and all of the samples are just available! I happily mooched my way around and now have several of Prada Candy, Cartiet Baiser Vole, some Fan de Fendi body lotions as well as sundry others. I’ll have to go back and see if they dig out some more!
Seconding the 4711! Really a great classic Eau de Cologne, and so cheap you could bathe in it.
Oh, I do love 4711. Someone gave me a mini of it when I was about 10, and I thought it was the most miraculously, addictively good-smelling thing ever. I should (re-)add it to my collection.
Oh, I used to love TBS Juba oil! I’m sure I probably wouldn’t love it now as I think it was super sweet, but I went through a few bottles of that back in the day!
I just moved to a tiny remote town where the only perfume available is the Tokyo Milk line in a boutique. Most of their offerings run for under $30 but I think they’ve added some new ones that are 35ish. Aparahick already mentioned Honey and the Moon, but I think most of the line is worth checking out. I have Eden, which never fails to garner compliments, and plan to get Marine Sel, a quirky mineral scent with a great woodsy drydown.
Tokyo Milk = awesome. Your tiny remote town is hiding gems!
If they get in the Tokyo Milk Dark line, I’ve managed to get several good friends hooked on the Smoked Salt lip elixir…
Hi I am looking for a good buy on Vera Wang edp and Flowerbomb Any suggestions….. ???
I haven’t sought either of these specifically, but I suspect that you can definitely find them below department store prices. It seems that ebay often has department store offerings for inexpensive, although you want to be sure you’re careful to get the real deal, of course. Also, there are fragrance discount sites like fragrancenet which often run deals, too. Good luck!
Often I just google whatever I’m looking for and that will bring up various options, including Amazon and sometimes ebay.
The Body Shop strawberry body lotion. smells amazing!!
but it’s not cheap. £12 for 200ml is ridiculous and considering how fast how I go through body butter it’s just not worth it.
but I will admit it does feel lovely on the skin and you can’t fault the body lotion. I might actually have to splurge on this, it’s the best smelling body lotion ever!
Their prices don’t tempt me as much as they used to, I admit it! Wish they did more travel sizes.
I think they do do travel sizes of some things, the body butters being one of them. OH they do like little gift sets of body butters, you’ll get 3 or something, different minature body butters. good to take on holiday.
and I wish they did mega size products lol, to get better value for money.
I’m with KRL and others who enjoy snagging perfume bargains on eBay. Other than perfume, my favorite cheap thrill is Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer tinted lip gloss. It smells (and tastes) of rosemary and peppermint and stays on more like a lipstick. And it’s cheap!
I also love Jason Botanicals lavender cream rinse. It smells wonderful and is mostly organic.
And how could I forget the score of the year (thanks to NST) – a bottle of I Love Les Carottes for $24!!!
I didn’t jump on that carrottey-bandwagon, and I can’t decide if I regret it! I haven’t smelled it, yet, so I couldn’t quite justify the blind buy, even at a good deal. Actually, same thing happens at discount stores like TJ Maxx and Marshall’s etc. Anyway, carrot is such a fascinating notion for a scent, I still want to try it some time! Of course, if I love it, I WILL be kicking myself!
I got in on the I Love Les Carottes, too, Rappleyea; what a steal that was! I also ended up with Nu Green and Sexy Angelic, as well as some of Space NK’s signature scents that seemed to be on the verge of discontinuance.
Marjorie Rose, the carrot is kooky and fun. If you want, you can post your email and we can arrange for me to send you a sample vial.
That’s darn kind of you, Lisa! You can reach me at marjoriehundtoft at yahoo dot com.
Sent you an email!
suavitel baby fabric softener, johnson & johnson lavender and chamomille baby powder…..fresh sweet clean skin scents! ahhhhh
My favorite cheap thrills are: Histoire d’Eau by Mauboussin, a surprisingly good citrus, leather and spice mix that can be had for about $15 on eBay; and Rose Absolute by Yves Rocher, often found in the travel or pen size for less than $10.
Cake scented candles from any decent brand at any store. As long as it’s cake.
I like The Thymes, too – they aren’t cheap cheap, but they’re reasonably priced. Filigree was my absolute fav, and of course they discontinued it….
Hi, There is a store in Key West (Key West Aloe) that makes its own fragrances. I met the perfumer once and he trained with several big name guys. “Black Coral” was my favorite. I don’t know its current price, but it has always been inexpensive. They also carry the bath products.
I’ve been a Key West Aloe customer on & off since I was 14 – egad! that’s 40 years!
Anyway, they used to have WAY more fragrances than they do now. The had a Musk Oil that I have yet to find the like of.
I’ve enjoyed White Ginger and Black Coral, but my Black Coral must have gotten old, because it does NOT smell like it used to! (Not them, it’s me – I’ve kept a bottle for a long time.)
I’m new to NST, and can’t tell you how happy I am to have found this site!