• About
  • Login to comment
    • Bluesky
    • RSS
    • Twitter

Now Smell This

a blog about perfume

Menu ▼
  • Perfume Reviews
  • New Perfumes
  • Archives
Browsing by tag: samples

A fistful of samples

Posted by Robin on 20 February 2021 3 Comments

In the Before Times, my idea of a perfect day was popping into Sephora, sniffing as many scents as humanly possible, and walking out with a fistful of samples. Such laissez-faire pleasures are, alas, a thing of the past, but my habit of sample hoarding is not. In fact, since the pandemic started, my collection has grown exponentially, because I simply cannot stop buying perfume sample sets.

— Sound familar? Read more in I Can’t Stop Buying Perfume Sample Sets at New York magazine (and of course don't miss Kevin's What Not to Buy: Perfume Samples).

What Not to Buy: Perfume Samples

Posted by Kevin on 25 January 2021 106 Comments

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…

Read the rest of this article »

What To Do With All Those Perfume Samples

Posted by Angela on 21 April 2014 77 Comments

perfume sample sets

As is true for many perfume lovers, I have too many fragrance samples. They line my purse, spill out of bowls on my dresser, and sometimes accidentally end up as cat toys. As I’m looking for paper clips, I find them rolling in my desk drawer at work. Oh, I know it’s a good problem to have, but surely there must be something better to do with the samples I don’t intend to keep for reference.

Over the years, I’ve come up with a few uses for perfume samples. I hope you’ll add your own to the list.

In the dryer: You can make your own dryer sheets by moistening a handkerchief and dumping the contents of a perfume sample on it. Toss it in the dryer with your wet laundry. It really works…

Read the rest of this article »

Perfumista tip: how to get fragrance samples, free or otherwise

Posted by Robin on 9 April 2007 89 Comments

Penhaligons Scent LibraryPenhaligons Scent Library

By definition, I should think, the true perfumista wants to try everything, or at least, very nearly everything. If you’re lucky (much luckier than I) you can afford to just buy all the latest perfumes unsniffed, but the rest of us have to make do with samples. Here are a few tips for getting your hands on samples of the latest fragrances:

Beg at brick ‘n mortar stores

For many fragrances, especially new mainstream releases, about the only way to get a sample is to go to a store in-person and ask for one. Nordstrom and Sephora top my list of the absolute best foraging grounds: both stores will happily give you a carded sample (i.e., a sample from the manufacturer, usually attached to a card or folded enclosure) if they have one; if they don’t, they will happily decant a sample for you. Nordstrom uses little glass vials; Sephora uses plastic atomizers. Being given a sample on demand makes me inordinately happy; if I was the sort of person willing to pay full price for a bottle of fragrance, I would do all my perfume-buying at Nordstrom and Sephora. As I am most emphatically not the sort of person willing to pay full price for perfume when I don’t have to, I try to buy all my other makeup and beauty things at those stores.

Unfortunately, the “free samples on demand” policy is pretty much limited to those two stores; nobody else comes even close to that level of customer service…

Read the rest of this article »

Advertisement

Search

Recent reviews

Atelier Cologne Love Osmanthus
Moschino Toy Boy
Arquiste Misfit
Diptyque Eau Capitale
Zoologist Bee
Parfum d’Empire Immortelle Corse
Comme des Garcons Series 10 Clash
Frédéric Malle Rose & Cuir
L’Artisan Parfumeur Le Chant de Camargue
Yves Saint Laurent Grain de Poudre
Régime des Fleurs Chloë Sevigny Little Flower
Chanel 1957
Gallivant Los Angeles
Amouage Portrayal Woman

Blogroll

Bois de Jasmin
Grain de Musc
Perfume Posse
The Non-Blonde
More blogs...

Perfumista lists

100 fragrances every perfumista should try
And 25 more fragrances every perfumista should smell
50 masculine fragrances every perfumista should try
26 vintage fragrances every perfumista should try
25 rose fragrances every perfumista should try
11 Cheap Perfumes Beauty Outsiders Love

Favorite posts

The Great Perfume Reduction Plan
Why I Love Old School Chypres
New to perfume and want to learn more?
How to make fragrance last through the day
Fragrance concentrations: sorting it all out
On reformulations, or why your favorite perfume doesn’t smell like it used to
How to get fragrance samples
Perfume for Life: How Long Will Your Fragrance Collection Last?

Upcoming

List of upcoming Friday projects

15 March ~ swapmeet

3 April ~ damage poll
26 April ~ splitmeet

3 May ~ spring reading poll
17 May ~ Haiku challenge!

 

Back to Top

Home
Archives
About Now Smell This :: Privacy Policy
Perfume Reviews
New Perfumes
General Perfume Articles
The Monday Mail

Glossary of Perfume Terms
Perfume FAQ
Perfume Books

Noses ~ Perfumers A-E :: F-K :: L-S :: T-Z

Perfume Houses A-B :: C :: D-E :: F-G
H-J :: K-L :: M :: N-O :: P :: Q-R :: S
T :: U-Z

Copyright © 2005-2025 Now Smell This. All rights reserved.