Seattle is a smallish city; comparable to San Francisco in population. We have lots of perfume shops but New York puts us to shame when it comes to variety of product in those shops. And many stores in Seattle are stingy with perfume samples; they won't even sell me a sample when I ask or beg. Years back, most perfume companies abruptly stopped sending me samples of their wares. Was it because I sometimes gave negative reviews — so it was risky to put a new perfume in nose-shot of me? Was it because I ignored samples that didn't interest me instead of promoting them?
I didn't worry about it; I had always re-gifted not only full bottle/full-size products I received from perfume companies, but samples, too. I did this happily! Well, there was the time Amouage sent me a beautiful little bottle of Gold Man. After I pried the bottle from my clenched fist, I gave Gold to a friend at work who said she liked it. I still laugh when I remember the day I took a drive in her truck and smelled Gold; she excitedly admitted she sprayed the mats in her car with Gold! ("That stuff's great...even hides hound-dog smell! Lasts for weeks!")
Thus, sample stream dry, I got into the bad habit (for me, harder to overcome than nightly cocktails) of paying for fragrance samples. This week I tallied up my perfume sample purchases for 2020 (a below-average year for buying them). When I added single samples, decants, boxed sample sets (some over $50) I was alarmed/ashamed by what I had spent: $400 (put another way: 75 perfume samples).
Dedicated perfumistas (most of you here? do tell!) would laugh at that figure: "Kevin, it's only $7.70 a week! HA! The price of a latte and madeleine!" True, but hold on....
First, how did I justify this year's sample purchases?
1. I'm working from home due to the pandemic — and saving: So. Much. Money. No monthly parking fees; filling my car's gas tank once a month, not weekly; no large restaurant/bar tabs; no recitals, theatre; no need to buy new clothes; no travel (Sicily, don't go anywhere!)
2. The world is falling apart climate-wise, health-wise and politically: I deserve a pick-me-up (or ten or twenty or...75).
Thus...I perused online perfume shops, Etsy and eBay and kept my credit card hot.
What prompted this current reckoning? Last week, my fir$t 2021 di$covery $et purcha$e (or Expériences Olfactives, ugh!) arrived from Paris and not one of the 8 perfumes in the box was better than bland. ALL were scrubbers; they smelled "deficient," cheap. One scent I was excited to smell, described as reminiscent of "drinking a shot of icy absinth under the magnetic movements of the Northern lights" would have been better described as "My Virginia grandma's favorite mosquito repellent, applied with gusto on a hot August evening."
These eight perfumes: had great names and backstories, were composed by skilled perfumers (including Bertrand Duchaufour), were housed in tasteful packaging. The company webpage was beautifully designed. As I analyzed my dumb purchase, I realized none of that mattered to me. What gets this veteran of perfume worship to buy (someone who should know better) are lists of fragrance notes. We should never believe lists of fragrance notes! But as limette, orange bigarade, bergamot, black tea, cypress, artemisia, iris butter, papyrus, mastic, mimosa, chili, clove, vetiver, myrrh and the like are extolled...I swoon. I should've realized I swoon because I'm a gardener and cook as well as a perfume fanatic, and I love the real-life aromas of those flowers, fruits, leaves, spices, roots, trees! THOSE aromas are what I'm imagining when I make a decision to buy fragrance samples...what I get 85 percent of the time is a nondescript, budget-conscious, chemical stew.
For me, 2020 was the year of artless, shameless and synthetic-loaded perfumes offered at sky-high prices. Never have I smelled so many $250, $350, $450 perfumes that reminded me of $10 scented candles. Of the 75 perfume samples I bought, I reviewed (in a positive way) seven. One full-bottle purchase resulted from a sample sniff. Sixty-eight samples I bought were blah, been-there-smelled-that stuff that I only needed to dab on once. I wasted $359!
Resolution 2021? I won't buy any more perfume samples! Time to invest that money in something more worthwhile: plants, a donation to animal rescue, a vintage bottle of something I love...or food, liquor!
Please share your own Sample Stories...positive or negative!
Note: all images by the author.
Yeah. I know. But I get so happy smelling even “My Virginia grandma’s favorite mosquito repellent, applied with gusto on a hot August evening,” just because. And most days, better a $14.95 2 mls sample than none at all. Cha-ching$, cha-ching$! And I am stuck at home, and visiting a perfume counter seems like something from another time. . .
But, I also love swapping samples–so there’s that.
What was the Bertrand Duchaufour perfume, pray tell? Imma fangirl.
But no shade at all on your resolution. $$ resolutions are laudable! Please let us know in a few months how your ban on buying samples is going. In the meantime, anything you want to test? Someone on NST may have it, or sample, they’d be willing to swap you for 😉
Oakland Fresca; the scent was Citrus Batikanga (written on the site as “in partnership with Bertrand Duchaufour”). And to let you know, THAT one was the main reason I wanted to try the line. WRONG! HA!
With perfume I’m at the stage at present of a person who’s been laying in bed for a month eating box after box after box of chocolates: I’m full … and a bit queasy.
“In partnership”? Hmmm. I wonder what that means? Is it just a slightly less than generous way of crediting the nose? Or is it something less than the famous nose actually developing the scent?
Random update: My latest Duchaufour marvel is Chypre Shot from Olfactive Studio. Lovely!
I hear you on queasy. It sounds like it is definitely time for you to lay off the chocolates/decant purchases and invest in . . . cocktail bitters?
OF: got plenty of those! HA!
Yeah, that “in partnership” language tripped me up, too. I think that’s definitely meant to say without saying that he wasn’t deeply involved.
I read it as the ‘owner/founder’ making himself feel better about his involvement in scent creation. And betting Duchaufour just completed his brief on budget and could have cared less, otherwise.
I saw that Maison Crivelli sample box and thanked you in my heart. Been really curious about that line because of the interesting names/notes, very glad to have the lemming killed. And I never buy discovery scents any more. If a line intrigues me, I try one sample of the most promising one.
Cazaubon…wise move!
I live in a perfume desert and the only way to try anything at all is to order samples. Since I’ve quit participating in the frag groups, I don’t get freebies any more and that just adds to the pain. I justify my spending by reminding myself that I gave up alcohol, don’t smoke, don’t go out, and have to have something some vice besides food, which even that has been cut back drastically this year! I wish there was a group exclusive for sample swapping but haven’t been able to find one.
LunaGrrrl: totally understand!
Same boat…the only place around here to try something new is Sephora, and I haven’t even been there since pre-covid. I COULD just try to love what I have, but the fun of trying something new is much needed nowadays when there’s not much else to do.
But with the money I’ve spent on samples, I could have several bottles of things I already know I love. Sigh.
Dorsey: ‘what might have been….” Now I’m thinking even harder of this year’s $359 wasted $$!
I keep adding samples to an online shopping cart and then looking at the total including shipping and then deleting them out of the cart.
Getting one or four samples in the mail isn’t the same excitement I had at the beginning of discovering perfume, when I would have a pile of 20 samples to test by spraying on a tissue and shoving into my husband’s face saying “this one, smell this one” and his reply of “can’t smell anything anymore”
Nebbe: I’ve certainly done that, too…look at my cart and see $60 of samples lingering. DELETE!
Hi Kevin,
Been there and been disappointed so many times. But I’ve also enjoyed and learned from my sampling! My way of dealing with the queasiness of adding up all the disappointment was to create both a wishlist and a budget spreadsheet including samples (which it sounds like you did as well). The samples have to have remained on the wishlist for several months AND fit into the budget spreadsheet both of which I have to check before each purchase to think out purchases and add some guardrails. (It helps, but that said, I did go over my budget this year for all the same reasons as you listed above.)
And adding onto others’ thoughts here: please everyone, post in the daily polls if you have some specific sample wishes. When I have samples, I’m happy to pay them forward to folks who are dying to try them.
Springpansy: I’ve never done a budget spreadsheet. I just know where I buy from and did a tally. I wonder if the thrill for me of sampling is gone forever? Or will it return? I’m just not smelling anything really :new: at my stage of the game.
You know, could be. Maybe you’ll always enjoy sniffing when something comes your way, but you’ll go on to new thrills and that’s great, too. I’ve rekindled a passion for vintage and am hoping to haunt garage/estate sales someday when they’re more frequent again.
springpansy: LOVE vintage, too…and my soap habit is in full swing (just got a box of 27 bars last week…ha!)
Politely butting in here. Please tell us more about this box of soaps, if you wish! 🙂
Yes, seconding a request for more information on the soaps! I’ve recently switched back to bar soap from shower gels and am interested in trying some nice lines… possibly SMN?
Will be writing a post on soaps very soon!
Great minds think alike. I do a purchase spreadsheet also. If I love a sample, I move it to the ‘purchase a 5 ml decant’ row.
If I use that up in quick fashion, it might go into the ‘purchase a FB row’. But even then….
The pandemic has been difficult for so many folks. I took it as an opportunity to get debt-free and safe as much as possible. The University where I work laid off 131 employees in November. Trying to be prepared in case there are more layoffs coming.
ST, good planning!
Hi Kevin!
I have to admit that I have given up on buying perfume samples some years ago. Until life was still normal (end of 2019) I could attend 2 big perfume shows – Esxence and Pitti. Being there alone, meeting people, talking about perfume and discovering what’s new could earn me 100-150, maybe even 200 samples I would get for free as a blogger for my consideration.
Sometimes I’m itching to test something that sounds interesting. I usually stalk split groups then and if someone makes a split I would buy a couple of mls – price per 1 ml from a 100 ml bottle is always more friendly than a sample price alone in its little vial.
And when I buy something – perfume, NEZ magazine, I always ask if the free samples the shop includes with every other could be the samples of my choice. They usually agree.
I also feel lucky because I know people from Quality Missala, the most renowned niche perfume shop in Poland & every now and then they’d send me an email asking if I want to try some of the new arrivals they just got. It’s very kind of them and I appreciate that.
Kevin, does that mean you had bad experience with Maison Crivelli sample set? I was actually quite curious about the brand. One of my perfumer friends composed one of their fragrances and I wanted to get acquainted with the iris one too!
There certainly are many better ways to spend those money on samples you might not even like!
Lucas: plus, you go to ITALY on those expeditions! What’s not to love about that?
I disliked every one of the Maison Crivelli perfumes and am assuming your PhD in “Iris” will be VERY disappointed, too!
Gah…
I love the phrase “PhD in Iris” ?
I also gave up buying samples a couple of years ago; after I realized I didn’t like one single sample in that year I totted up how much I spent, peeved that I could have bought a couple of bottles of perfume I did like. Now to stop blind buying decants, even at good prices…
AnnieA: I avoided decantville for the most part..usually just a few a year (and none of the bought-unsniffed ones paid off).
I’m not much of sample purchaser. To quote Hajusuuri, I’m more of a full-size sample guy. ? But still, this happened to me a few weeks ago. A new line from a young perfumer were mentioned on Fragrantica and I thought, “These sound alright! It doesn’t hurt to try.” I tried one with an apple note and was fully accosted by the harshest apple note, like a homemade candle you’d find in an antique mall. I haven’t scrubbed in a long time, but here I was sudsing up. And I like a good apple note! I totally lost interest after that.
I went a little crazy last year with purchases, so 2021 is the year I’m becoming a bit more deliberate.
Coumarin: Was that Apple Tabac by chance?
I was trying to be coy but yes. Horrible.
To me anyway. I saw a glowing review on Instagram a week ago.
C: no doubt there’s a consumer for every scent!
Like Springpansy also mentioned, I try to keep in mind the FB price when sampling – as in, if the FB is so expensive I’ll never buy it anyways, why bother? Doesn’t always work (ok: mostly doesn’t work for me).
I find that I also more and more try new niche or whatever lines and it’s a bit of a why bother type of experience. But then, randomly, there’ll be gem nestled amongst the banalities (Hiram Green’s frags!).
Oddly, some of my most exciting discoveries were from random freebies that came along with swaps, splits, or in the freebiemeet that weren’t on my radar at all. Example: Bois d’Ombrie from Eau d’Italie, and also Bucoliques des Provence by L’artisan.
The only sample that is currently on my mind is Immortelle Corse.
Maybe 2021 is the year of sample ennui.
Eschmeling: Immortelle Corse is great!
So I sample a little differently. I order samples when my excellent peer group here repeatedly reports on the awesomeness of a fragrance. There are certain small businesses I like to support by ordering samples. Now with all that said, probably less than 25 samples will float into my house any given year. I often end up loving samples that are kindly included when we do splits on this site. I have another tool I use to eliminate fragrances to sniff. If your perfume company comes up in my Facebook feed or Instagram outside of your brand page, which I have chosen to follow, I will never order your fragrances. I feel like if you are spending money on advertising, you may be less invested in the quality of your ingredients. Besides, if it is outstanding and I have missed it, my friends in scent here will mention it and probably more than once?
stinker_kit…so about two samples a month…not bad! It has to be a groundswell of support for a perfume to make me get a sample…and even then, given tastes, I’ve been disappointed.
I used to order buckets of samples from Luckyscent (those packs they put together were so tempting), but I never got around to trying all of them before the next shipment arrived (because you might want to wear one more than once, and there are actual bottles to be used as well). Then a few years ago I discovered a small metal box that I had stuffed with these samples, at least forty, and then misplaced for a while. I had forgotten all about them, I hadn’t missed them, and sorting through them found maybe three that interested me.
Lesson learned! I haven’t bought one since. I’ve been slowly working my way through them (and all the other samples I didn’t misplace), but probably I’m going to give most of them away one of these days.
The sad truth is that most of the scents launched nowadays are simply no better than average, and usually worse. Basenotes lists 940 scents launched in 2020, an undercount, and not all of them can be original or interesting: in my experience, most new scents are boring, mostly synthetic copies of one another. I know this makes me sound old and grumpy and I’m not really either, but I’m realistic about it: the chance of finding a really great new scent, something I’ve never smelled before, is very low. I’ve kind of given up, to be honest.
pyramus: haha! Twins…that’s exactly how I am with samples: buy, shove in a drawer or box, forget…new sample order arrives: repeat. Even doing the photos for this post was a revelation…found three SHOEBOXES full of samples…some little bags with the seal not broken from the supplier (mostly Luckyscent, Aedes…and that place in Brooklyn that went out of business).
Twisted Lily is still in business, they are just fully online now.
Ede: thanks…I had no idea! But wish I didn’t know…HA!
My whole country is a perfume desert! Well, that’s not quite fair, it’s better than it used to be, but so few of the exclusive lines are available here, and a tiny fraction of more niche brands.
Purchased samples have been a window into the wider world.
Most samples don’t translate into a FB, but most of my FBs have resulted from samples. I do agree that a lot of perfume is very much like other perfumes.
And I have no intention to ever add up how much I’ve spent 🙂
Gaynor…I’m wondering if sample buying fades away the longer someone has been around perfume? That’s how it’s been for me…when I started my obsession as a teen I bought BOTTLES as samples. HA! If only I had invested those bucks I would be at my cute home in San Miguel de Allende right now….
1. I hope this does not mean fewer reviews by you. I look forward to them, just to enjoy your writing, but I also trust your judgment. I have no idea when I will be able to get back to the stores I used to visit (except for the stores which have closed, and I know I will never get back to them). I therefore scour the internet for reviews before purchasing. The reviews on this site are the ones I rely upon most. I have made one or two purchases (and avoided several more) based upon your reviews.
2.If you are eating chocolates to the point of nausea, stop. Chocolates are addictive, so it is hard to remember when you are eating them without enjoying them. (I know, alas, I know).
3. I used to make enough perfume purchases and attend Sniffapooloza to acquire lots of samples without buying them. I only would buy when making another purchases and when I was genuinely on the fence of whether to make a full bottle. I have, however, noticed that starting a few years ago, the beauty companies got a lot stingier with samples. The February gift with purchase bags from the top department stores got a lot skimpier and the buy-ins got a lot pricier. I read an interview of oneexecutive complained about all the bloggers who wanted bottles or at least samples but who had little influence. So I’m guessing you are not alone in finding a reduction coming your way.
3. I value most of the samples I collected. As for the meh ones, on occasion, I have used those which smell like laundry detergent, just that way, adding a few drops to my hand wash.
4. I amazed at the prices that some people charge for samples on eBay, especially since I know that some were distributed as Department store give aways.
Dilana: indeed, who is grabbing bushels of free samples (“Not for Sale”) and then selling on eBay? I’ve been very curious about the Celine perfumes but no way am I paying $18 for a single 2 ml sample. Guess I’ll have to wait to get back to L.A. for a long weekend to try them in person.
I hadn’t’ noticed the Not For Sale marking on eBay samples. Some may come from wholesaler or manufacturer “shrinkage;” others from brand reps or retail sale staff.
$18 for 2 ml. works out to about $900 for a 100 ml bottle, which is Roja territory, and at least Roja gives you some glass crystals on the expensive bottles. (I am being sarcastic. Companies of all kinds like to charge a fortune for things with swarovski crystals, but the crystals are not actually that expensive. Check out any bead supplier).
Dilana; yes, the carded Celine samples say “not for sale” (high definition photography! HA!)…but of course that’s meaningless. I’ll forget about Celine by the time “curfew” is lifted
For me, the only thing that satisfies the itch to try the latest critics’ darling is shelling out cash for a sample (and by critics, I mean you all!) Nine times out of ten I’m disappointed. But I’d rather spend a few dollars than always wonder if I missed my next new signature scent!
SarahN: Robin here at NST has tastes pretty identical to my own…loves her citruses, indolic jasmine, incense, quirky scents, vetivers, Hermes. Since she’s laid off reviewing I’ve saved money no doubt!
I love so many perfumes, but haven’t been enamored with new releases for the past eight-10 years. I’m probably not missing anything.
SmokeyToes: Just think of the thousandS of releases in the last 10 years…I’m sure we’ve all missed some good stuff…but we’ll survive just fine.
Kevin, I just love your prose! You’re as incisive as a scalpel, at the same time as hilarious as Bette. So (*wince*), I have three Frederic Malle samps coming my way: PoaL, Carnal Flower & Une Rose. I really only want to smell PoaL. And, not mentioning names, but I got some samples in the mail recently that were awful (to my nose). 20 bucks here, 20 bucks there – – it does add up! I’m in VA, 60 miles south of D.C. & 60 miles north of Richmond, so it’s a haul when I want to sample something in person. I ordered PdE’s Osmanthus Interdite from Beautyhabit the other week & they brilliantly included a sample of it so I could try before breaking cellophane. Super helpful since it turned out to be not my (tea) bag, baby… They also included quite a few other samples. Saks is having a $50 off a $250 purchase (or $100 off $450, etc) right now & I’ve got Hermes’ Muget Porcelaine in my cart, but eyeballing No. 19 & its poudre-puff spinoff instead… This is an addiction, people! But at least at hangover time, we HAVE something that we can enjoy & share (or sell or trade or return…sometimes). Can’t say that with booze or gambling or coke or gallons of pistachio ice cream…
ElleBe: First, thank you!
I love that most companies these days include a sample with full-bottle purchase. Makes their life so much easier with returns. Of the three FMs you ordered, I love Carnal Flower and Une Rose.
I do buy samples, sometimes of the large sample size a la Coumarin’s comment above ?. I also always ask for free samples and I usually get them. On the other hand, I have been largely absent from department stores so I have fewer of the mainstream samples (heh, not complaining because I still have tons of the older ones).
In 2020 and already starting / started in 2021, the online sniffalongs where one gets a pack of samples as part of the deal. These make me try the samples along with the event. I have since re-homed some of the sets which stretches out the cost.
I also subscribe to the Indigo Perfumery sample program. For $12 per month or $60 for 6 months (shipping already included), I get 3 atomizer samples. One sample is the feature of the month and if you buy it, it’s 20% off. Sample two is a bonus sample. Sample three is a mystery sample; if you guess right, you get a chance to win a FB of that perfume (I say chance because if other people guess right, you’re put in a pool for a draw).
Finally, I just discovered Scent Trunk and its collection is modest bit the best part is travel sprays are $16. Most of the perfumes are unique, some by up and comers and even established perfumers.
hajusuuri: I do miss my Nordstrom visits…they have a sensational perfume floor here in town and an entertaining staff. You have quite a bit of sample traffic at home!
At one time I was going crazy buying samples and decants, because I was so curious as to what certain perfumes smelled like, especially older ones. As my budget diminished, I pretty much stopped. I went to revisit some of the samples and decants I purchased in the past, only to find many had evaporated. So, yeah.
AmyT: I’ve had better long-term luck with stoppered glass vials. Most of the spray samples I get either evaporate or turn (often due to cheap plastic vials)
Absolutely this. My 1ml samples are with stoppers and I still have them. Of course one does not get as representative an experience as if one sprayed, but one can hang onto them for years. I thought all samples would last years and many have just evaporated 🙁
I spent money on samples and decants, but not as much as $400! 🙂
I don’t mind when it comes to scents from stores I like (Essenza, Fumerie, Lucky) because samples tend to be well considered. Bu these direct to consumer brands– I have tried a few, and honestly could have saved that money and spent it on paint or new towels!
Ede: PAINT…yes! I plan on painting like a fiend come spring. I have trouble with Essenza since it stores many of its bottles in bright sunshine…but love visiting Fumerie and Scent Bar when I’m in L.A.
1) Benjamin Moore Natura brand- super low VOC and you can get it matched to Farrow & Ball and Little Green colors !
2) Okay, I get it! I think it is the design of the store and they do showcase a lot of jewelry. The Scent Bar is a great way to spend the afternoon in Hollywood.
I buy samples occasionally, but I feel like I’m so far behind everyone else in sampling things that I rarely go wrong. (Example: I started sniffing the Zoologist line only just this month, when I got free samples I’d chosen to accompany a FB from Luckyscent.)
When I can get them for free and choose them, that’s the best way. That happens only with a FB purchase, though.
The ones that are a disaster are the ones I didn’t select that come with FB purchases. I’ve gotten gratis Luckyscent monthly bags in the past, and those almost never work out. Also there’s one store in Seattle that gave me a bunch of cute little M. Micallef sample bottles with a purchase, and those were all just not good despite the nice little bottles. I feel like they’re often giving you samples of the stuff they need to get rid of, or of the ho-hum expensive but uninteresting lines in hopes you might be one of those people who bites based on cost/perceived luxury and not on juice. (To be fair: Luckyscent does seem to put some thought into their random samples, based on your FB. Just none of them have grabbed me.)
In short, I think perfume samples can work out for those of us living in perfume deserts if we order them after getting reviews we respect. But I wouldn’t order randomly just based on a company’s notes…I think that’s a good point you make.
ockeghem: so true…I’ve never bought a bottle of perfume based on free samples with purchase that were tossed in a package without my input. You’d need a crystal ball….
Kevin, good luck with the resolution! I haven’t bought or swapped samples for many years because there are now so many issues with international posting of perfume. If I’m thinking of buying a perfume I usually need to try the shop tester several times – and sometimes I need to have a thick skin to do that. There are a number of fumes that have convinced me with one spray – but then I rarely bother testing ones that go for crazy money.
I must be naturally wasteful though as I have been surprised by those who actively work to use up their samples. If I don’t WANT to keep smelling a scent I have always either swapped it (when that was still an option) or just stored it. The reason I store is that my tastes change and later on I might love something that now leaves me cold. Blue Musk is an example of this: I got it and thought ‘wow, no wonder the person passed this on – it hardly has a scent’. A few years later, I’m exploring white musks and find it to be one of the best. On the other hand – this strategy failed completely with small atomisers as they just evaporated.
Merlin: one horror I discovered over the years due to the amount of samples I got…I’d buy the same ones over and over! Of course these were the ones I didn’t like.
If it’s any consolation, I have heard of people buying bottles and then finding they already own one… ?
This does not surprise me. Also, it sounds like something I would do, and have done with other sorts of things I’ve collected. That’s why I try to note down what bottles, samples, etc., of perfume I’ve gotten. Then I need to remember to check that list! lol.
I sample very little and treasure it each time. Plus, it´s the only way to try new perfume here in Spain.
I think its a matter of balance as in wine, bags, books, sugar… anything really.
Gabriela: as you can tell from some of the comments, many of us have a hard time with “balance!”
Totally with you Kevin! Balance is and has been very hard….
With samples it’s been easy, with other aspects, not so much! Thank you for giving us this lovely space to confess.
I definitely do not sample as many perfumes as I used to. I rarely will immediately buy a sample of a new perfume – that’s reserved only for brands that I have the best track record with and even then I usually wait 1-6 months to try it. Like you, I find that much of what I try smells similar to something I already own or have smelled. I also no longer feel the need to try out new brands as readily as I used to – there are so many of them and so often they’re disappointing. I like to see which brands and perfumes people on NST like. It helps to have a trustworthy perfume community, and after awhile you also tend to figure out whose taste is similar to yours.
Oh and meant to tell you that I love how you arranged your samples into currency symbols. Perfect!
therabbitsflower: thank you!
I, too, thought that arrangement is a prize-winner: one of the *best* perfume-lovers graphics I’ve ever seen!
MossyBerry, thanks…I appreciate that!
Very clever, yes. 🙂
Just a couple days ago I decided to look for my big bag of samples, to see if I had a vintage L’Heure Bleue in there. When I got involved in this hobby in 2007, there was lots of swapping, and almost always a few samples were exchanged. How times have changed! The worst change, though, is how so much niche now just smells like overpowering chemicals to me. Where are those Fumerie Turque type fragrances at reasonable prices these days?
BigslyFragrance: and even Fumerie Turque smells of chemicals these days…I’m so sorry I didn’t buy a couple of bottles when it came out.
I think my nose can’t differentiate between natural and artificial chemicals. I suspect I’m anosmic to iso E Super and a whole lot of musks. In fact sometimes I get something like a tactile sensation in my nose rather than an olfactory impression. I may have been saved from chemicals by not having tested widely in the last 5 years – but then I did love Penhaligon’s Cairo and someone on Basenotes claims it’s a mix of the most common, cheapest aromachemicals ? All these years and I’m still not sure I can trust my own nose!
Actually- Iv just looked up the discovery set you mentioned and the names and realised we actually HAVE these at a local shop! I tried them because a) the prices were moderate relative to the other ranges they sell and b) the names of those scents are REALLY appealing – much more interesting than usual. Absinthe Boreale and another is Santal Volcanique! They are really poetic and the copy is appealing too!
So…I sniffed at 3 or 4 bottles and moved on cos they just smelled dull ??♀️ I think these are a particular case where the marketing is misleading as the prices are not preposterous and the bottles are quite plain. They really COULD have been the real deal.
Merlin: indeed…it’s a why-bother line…it smells like it was created by someone who doesn’t really like perfumes…or wears them. Vanity project? I couldn’t wear one of those if they were $5 or given to me.
I still love sampling, but at only five years into the hobby of smelling things obsessively, I’m sure this will wane with time. And because I’m still so interested in trying many new things, I find my perfume dollars are sometimes better spent on exploring rather than saving and splurging on full bottles that languish while I’m busy with samples. I have also been lucky: not too many awful samples have come my way…yet.
irisjasmine: you ARE lucky!
I related to this article. Except that sampling never has really worked for me. There is a narrow window for it in my perfume obsession, which is exemplified by my samples of Areej LeDore creations. I am glad I got to experience them, but unless I just jumped and bought them when they were issued, it’s not likely you can sample then buy. Also, I have found enough “stock” perfumes to be sure that I will always have a blissed-out experience with something or other (vintage Estee, Opus III, Nahema….). My sampling is just buying FB’s that my favorite reviewers and NST’ers have reached a consensus about!! Thanks too Kevin for your honesty about dollars spent. I sort of blush when I tot it up!
MossyBerry: “pulling the trigger” (buying a full bottle based on a sample) rarely happens for me; this year was the exception (just once). My to-buy list is ludicrous and I’d have to manage a Benjamin Button trick to use just what I own at this moment before crossing that famed rainbow bridge! HA!
I spent a similar amount on samples and discovery sets last year I must confess.?
Sampling is a necessary evil in some ways but I totally agree about synthetic and overpriced perfume houses. I have begun to use the term “poser niche house” for lines that have sprung up in the past 10 years, rely on aroma chemicals and overcharge…and there are many. Sadly you don’t know which are which until you sample. 😉
She-ra: thankfully, my interest in new perfume houses has plummeted in the last decade…as long as I don’t read their fragrance descriptions or get lost in ad copy I’m safe. I can’t think of one new perfume house of the last 5 years that has impressed me with the samples I’ve bought or that found their way to me. Of course everyone is thrilled with Dusita Moonlight in Chiang-Mai all of a sudden…yuzu, jasmine, nutmeg, benzoin, myrrh, patchouli, vetiver, teak, all “set” in a favorite city. HA! Temptations do find me but I’m trying to resist.
I found the new Dusita quite boring.
Cazaubon, thanks
Adding that not only did I not like Moonlight, I thought it smelled more like a candle than a perfume. I think you should feel comfortable in skipping it.
I’m so sorry your sampling has been a Pandemic Fail! I’ve purchased a ton of samples this last year and it’s become a wonderful family hobby. With college kids (and sometimes their friends) returning to our formerly empty nest, we were looking for family activities that don’t involve Legos. Thanks to our sampling, we’ve had fun evenings based on Japanese incense ceremony, but using perfume samples instead of incense chips. It’s fun, and often hilarious, especially when we have to write a haiku about one. But we’ve found some real winners, too; I did not imagine my DH would be nuts for CdG Copper or AP Bleu Turquoise. And passing around a stinkeroo is good fun when we’ve desperately needed some laughs (we’ve all had COVID). My youngest, who lost his sense of smell from COVID in the spring, is regaining it, in large part due to our perfume sample rehab program.
Masha, what a great way to use your sample stash! A friend who lost most of her sense if smell years ago was at my house for xmas a few years back…I took out some betel nuts I had received and she was astonished she could smell them. Have your son smell everything…pungent, earthy, camphor-like, you name it.
The best use of I have read about. So cool!
I did a year long no-buy in 2020 so the only samples I acquired came with gifts purchased for others. It was a good exercise – in the past I have been seduced by many a discovery set that never resulted in a purchase. As I peruse my spreadsheet I realize I have hundreds of samples and decants that still haven’t been given a good sniff so I’m hoping to hold fast against purchasing for 2021 as well.
MMK, good luck!
We don’t have many shops stocking niche perfumes where I live, so the only way to sniff something was to buy samples. But after a while, I got sucked into the ‘oh, it’s a sample, it’s only xxx EUR’ thinking and my sample spending got out of control. The problem was, just like you – I rarely liked anything.
But, a couple of days ago, I dug out a sample of Rubj (EDP) by Vero Profumo. There was a small amount left and the label said it was 7 (!!!) years old. Still, it hadn’t turned and it smelled so so good. I love Rubj, but never got to buying a FB. And then V. Kern died (2 years ago I think) and Rubj is no longer in production, so it was bitter sweet to finish the sample. I fully enjoyed every spray, every sniff!
Zara — what a happy-sad sample tale!!
You can now buy them again at CampoMarzio in Italy.
I discovered this line the last summer in Rome. I had some friends at L’olfattorio and they provided me with all the samples from MAISON CRIVELLI and…I totally agree with you. They are extremely generic and BORING!!!!
Jaisalmer, I’m glad you got them free of charge!
I also think of fragrances by what the flowers or leaves of garden plants, or what spices, especially what I think of as “baking spices,” smell like. Robin has pointed out to me that a perfume with “rose” in the name doesn’t necessarily have any ingredients extracted from an actual rose. (Bummer!) I’m trying not to be so literal-minded that way, but it’s tough.
I wouldn’t have thought I’d like fragrances with ingredients like tomato leaf or clary sage, etc., but the odors I was thinking of blended into the fragrance so that I didn’t notice them. On the other hand, CdG’s Calamus fragrance smells *nothing* like Acorus calamus. (I was curious about the actual calamus plant because of various 19th century literary references to it.)
My sample purchases went *way* down starting in March of 2020. (My online purchases of flower bulbs and bareroot plants, not so much. lol!) Kindly NST people sent me samples, but I wasn’t getting them from the online perfume and cologne sellers that I had been getting my share of samples from in previous years.
I guess I’ve saved money I would have spent on fine fragrances, but it’s gone other places, like for canned and otherwise preserved food. It doesn’t seem terribly unreasonable to me that I created a little stockpile of food, though it might have been more of an odd thing to do in other years.
I’ll look for your post about fragrant soaps. My purchases there didn’t reach the wildness of years past, but certainly didn’t stop.
Take care!
Neyronrose…I hear you with the bulbs, plants and seeds!!!
One of the sample sets I’ve enjoyed the most recently was the one I got from Anima Vinci when I did their online perfume seminar last year.
The kit for the course included samples some of perfume ingredients that they use in their perfumes. It was really fun to learn about the ingredients and then sniff perfumes that include them.
They offer a good range of interesting scents, and it’s been worth spending time with each of them. I’m still grateful that they offered the course virtually — it was a bright spot for me during the first lockdown.
noz: not familiar with that line but do love sampling individual ingredients. Right now I’m exploring types of mimosa in absolute form, diluted in ethyl alcohol.
An interesting, well written & oh so relatable article! The Gold-sprayed floor mats story made me glance anxiously at my bottle of Amouage Lyric Woman.
rubaiyat: ha…I’ve enjoyed many of the quirkier Amouage scents of the past. Need to get a sample (NOOOOOOOOOOOO!) and see if Gold is still the same. It was so fantastic when it came out.