Years ago, when niche perfumes were hard to come by for testing and our collections were much smaller, samples were actively used, swapped or even sold. These days, I suspect they often stay in our collections to die. Unless you get rid of them sooner, of course.

Saturday Question #300:

Do You Throw Away Old Samples?

Do you check the ones you kept from time to time? Do you throw away evaporated or almost empty ones? Are you tempted to try them one last time before chucking them?

My Answer

At the onset of this hobby, I often went back to previously tested perfumes – to compare them to newer ones that reminded me of them, write single note exploration posts or just check whether my opinion of them had changed. So, for years, I kept all samples that came my way in the “library.” These days, after I’ve tried them once or twice, most of them just sit in the boxes, never to be sniffed again.

Today, I went through one of the boxes and discarded 17 samples that had evaporated since I last looked at them. That felt good: I have my recorded impressions from testing them, I never wanted to have more of those perfumes, and some of them have been limited editions or have been discontinued since, so there was no reason to keep them, even if they were still full. But even while doing that, I couldn’t bring myself to getting rid of a couple of vials that still had a smidge of perfume left in them. Now they sit on my desk next to my laptop, and I hope to try to get that last… not even a drop of juice tomorrow, so that I can dispose of them. And then next week I should try going through the next box. Maybe.

How about you?

Do You Throw Away Old Samples?

Before you start freaking out, hear me out. It’s not a sudden disaster scenario where you inadvertently lose everything you lovingly collected over the years. But imagine that all your perfumes, let’s say in 10 ml or larger format, magically moved to a different dimension: they’re all safe there and can be brought back, but don’t have to be. Now, you get a choice: you can wish any of them back or forfeit that bottle forever and receive money instead. The caveat for the first choice is that the bottle you’d be getting would be your current bottle (so, if it’s turned or is almost empty, you won’t benefit from this magical reset). Choosing money would also come with its own limitation: you would get the portion of the price you paid for that perfume proportional to the remaining quantity in your bottle (but in today’s money), and you could spend it only on something related to your perfume hobby. With all that said…

Saturday Question #299:

Would You Want To Restart Your Collection?

My Answer

I would! While I don’t dislike any of my perfumes and probably even like most of them, over the last couple of years I’ve noticed that I rarely feel that I love whatever I decide to wear. That increases my indecisiveness every time I try to choose a perfume, so sometimes I end up not applying anything at all for fear of putting on something I won’t enjoy. At the same time, I know myself too well: I won’t be able to voluntarily part with any perfume I previously welcomed in my collection. So that magical intervention might be the only way for me to get back to enjoying my perfumes every day.

How about you?

Would You Want To Restart Your Collection?

Over the years, we discussed whether the longevity maters and our ideal perfume tenacity. Some perfumes seem to disappear almost before we finish applying them, while others stay with us all day and sometimes well into the next one. Whether you enjoy that kind of persistence or find it occasionally overwhelming, most of us probably have at least a few perfumes in our collections whose staying power stands out from the rest.

Saturday Question #298:

What Are the Longest-Lasting Perfumes In Your Collection?

For those specific perfumes, do you consider it a benefit or something you tolerate?

My Answer

As with most of my recent questions, this one came to me as I was experiencing the topic. I woke up the next morning after a Mother’s Day celebration and realized that I could still smell Amouage Gold, which I had applied around 2 PM the previous day. And it was still wonderful.

I think most of my favorite Amouage perfumes easily last overnight on my skin and at least several days on a pillowcase. I always enjoy them and don’t remember ever getting that “the perfume wears you” feeling that I sometimes get even from less tenacious perfumes hours into wearing them.

How about you?

What Are the Longest-Lasting Perfumes In Your Collection?

With the largish collections many of us have, it happens sometimes that we forget we have a perfume (especially if it’s in a decant or sample format). It would be strange to ask you about those. With perfumes from different countries, named in different languages, we might not know the exact pronunciation of some names. Not asking about those either. Do you have perfumes in your collection that you remember owning but can never remember their exact names?

Saturday Question #297:

Which Perfume Names Refuse to Stay in Your Memory?

What do you do about it? Do you have nicknames for those? Do you use partial names? Do you approximately envision the form of the name on the label?

My Answer

There are three perfumes in my collection that I can never remember – and I love them and have full bottles of each!

Mona di Orio Les Nombres d’Or Vanille – all I can remember is “Vanille,” so for my daily records in the database, I had to “rearrange” the name to Vanille Les Nombres d’Or (so that it would appear in the type-ahead field when I enter the only part that I remember).

Houbigant Quelques Fleurs Royale – that “Quelques”… Too many vowels. I checked the pronunciation, and still I can’t remember the name when I think about that perfume, even though the last two words don’t confuse me at all.

Serge Lutens La Dompteuse Encagée – even though this was one of the latest additions to my collection, the name disappears from my inner eye as soon as I stop looking at the bottle or the screen. I haven’t come up with a good mnemonic for it yet.

How about you?

Which Perfume Names Refuse to Stay in Your Memory?

I know, I know, it’s a juvenile joke, but I couldn’t help myself. I came across an ad for Mischief Academy perfumes on Instagram and decided to discuss their names and the concept with you.

Sunday Question #296:

Would You Like To Smell Like Poo[h]?

Perfumers Anh Ngo, Luis Hou and George Tedder created perfumes for “The Fairy Tales” collection:

• Winnie the Pooh (Honey, Beeswax, Bergamot, Lemon, Lavender, Clary Sage, Vanilla, Tonka Bean),
• The Little Mermaid (Pink Champagne, Lilac, Sea Salt, Ocean, Lemon Zest, Seaweed),
• The Mad Hatter (Cognac, Rum, Toffee, Condensed Milk, Butter, Leather, Black Tea, Saffron),
• The Cursed Apple (Red Apple, Poison (Bitter Accord), Rose, Violet, Lipstick, Wild Berries),
• Hansel & Gretel (Gingerbread Cookies, Hot Chocolate, Rum, Cinnamon, Clove, Tonka Bean, Vanilla),
• Pinocchio (Palo Santo, Sandalwood, Peach, Saffron, Vetiver, Cedarwood),
• The Jungle Book (Forest Foliage, Fig Fruit, Pear, Muguet, Amber, Sandalwood, Cedarwood).

Do any of these names or notes sound interesting to you? Would you want to wear one of those (provided you liked the scent)?

My Answer

The names aside, what caught my attention was the brand behind them.

Mischief Academy, a new brand created in 2025, is one of hundreds that appear every year. It positions itself as a US-based brand (with the main address in San Francisco), but its parent company is from Vietnam. The same parent company has another perfume brand, d’Annam, which is slightly “older” (from 2023), and its portfolio holds already 25 perfumes. Two out of the three noses who created The Fairy Tales collection authored most of d’Annam’s perfumes.

d’Annam started with a Vietnamese collection, positioning itself as a Vietnamese brand. Soon after their first collection, they shifted their focus to Japan, expanding the brand’s scope to “Asian cultures.” Now we have this new brand experimenting with well-known Western fairy tales, clearly appealing to our “inner child.” For me, it feels like a pure marketing experiment without any substance, history or inspiration behind it.

But beyond all these considerations, in my opinion, perfumes for grown-ups should not be called any of those names (and perfumes for kids, even if we were to agree that something like that should exist, should not cost $120 for a 50 ml bottle). Looking back on my life, I can’t imagine any age beyond 12 years old at which I could see myself in the following dialogue:

– Mmm, you smell wonderful. What is it?
– Oh, thank you! It’s Winnie the Pooh.

How about you?

Would You Like To Smell Like Poo[h]?