For years I keep repeating that more brands should release their perfumes in perfumista size bottles – 10-15 ml. Of course, for somebody who has a signature scent or alternates 2-3 perfumes in their day-to-day life, 50 ml, 100 ml or even 200 ml bottles might make more sense both economically and logically. But for anybody who has been “into perfume” for at least several years, not too many perfumes warrant the vats, in which most perfumes nowadays are sold.
Sure, big bottles are great for splits; and decants are nice for getting to wear something without committing your heart or money to a full bottle. But even the best decant – with well-made labels and a good sprayer – is still not as good as a real bottle. And I suspect that, as a rule, it has a shorter shelf life, even if you use parafilm or electrical tape to prevent evaporation: the act of spraying perfume from the original bottle into a smaller receptacle introduces additional oxidation to the juice, which cannot be healthy (should we add a blueberry or two?).
For all these reasons for anything more than 3-5 ml I would rather pay extra price per ml but get a travel bottle from the brand – if the brand has that option.
Surprisingly, when it comes to niche brands, those that offer smaller sizes are still rather an exception than a rule. So I decided to put together a list of the brands that offer smaller (perfumista size) bottles of their perfumes. I won’t include links since those change but it’s easy to find them through a search engine.
The following brands have single bottles for all or most of their perfumes (bottle size is given in parentheses):
- April Aromatics (15 ml)
- Frederic Malle (10 ml)
- Hiram Green (10 ml)
- Histoires de Parfums (15 ml)
- Le Labo (15 ml)
- Sonoma Scent Studio (4 ml & 17 ml)
- Jul et Mad (5 ml & 20 ml)
- Cognoscenti (5 ml)
- Dame Perfumery (5 ml)
- DSH Perfumes (multiple sizes)
- EnVoyage Perfumes (15 ml)
- 4160 Tuesdays (9 ml)
- Roja Dove (7.5 ml)
- The Different Company (10 ml)
- Puredistance (17.5ml)
Several brands have smaller sizes just for some of their perfumes:
- Atelier Cologne (12 different perfumes in 7.5 ml at Sephora)
- Juliette Has A Gun (4 different perfumes in 7.5 ml at Sephora)
- Ineke (15 ml, Floral Curiosities line only)
More brands recently have introduced the “travel” option – probably as a response to the air travel regulations. Unfortunately, those come in sets either of single perfume or of pre-selected (or all) perfumes from the brand. Single perfume sets are easier for friendly splits. Mixed sets defeat the purpose: how often does someone like all the perfumes in the set? I also found two brands that offer customizable mixed travel sets.
Single perfume sets:
- Neela Vermeire Creations (2 x 15 ml)
- Ormonde Jayne (4 x 10 ml)
- Amouage (3 x 10 ml)
- By Kilian (4 x 7.5 ml)
- Byredo (3 x 12 ml)
- Maison Francis Kurkdjian (3 x 10 ml)
- Aedes de Venustas (3 x 7.5 ml)
Customizable mixed sets:
- Hermès (4 x 15 ml sets for both their regular line and Hermessence)
- Tauer Perfumes (3 x 15 ml)
Pre-set mixed perfumes sets:
- Viktoria Minya (5 x 15 ml)
- Maison Francis Kurkdjian (8 x 10 ml)
- Miller Harris (3 x 14 ml and 2 x 7.5 ml)
- Aedes de Venustas (3 x 7.5 ml)
If you know any other brands that offer small bottles in one of these categories, please share in comments. And if you agree that more brands should have perfumista size bottles, keep repeating that whenever you publish a review on your blog or comment on perfume reviews and discussions on blogs, forums, FB or Twitter. Somebody might be reading…
Updates from comments:
- Maria Candida Gentile (7 ml and 15 ml single bottles)
- Zoologist (11 ml single bottles)
- Parfums MDCI (5 x 10 ml customizable set)
- Memo (3 x 10 ml same perfume set)
- Imaginary Authors (14 ml single bottles)
- Maison Anonyme (10 ml single bottles)
- Olympic Orchids (5 ml and 15 ml single bottles)
- Soivohle (10 ml single bottles)
- Ormonde Jayne (10 ml single bottles if you call)
- Profvmvm Roma (18 ml single bottles for some of their scents)
Images: my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
Great list, Undina! Love the subject. Especially for the upcoming summer and spring holidays. Maria Candida Gentile sells smaller size bottles on her website, do not know if they ship worldwide. Personally I prefer smaller bottles from brands to decants as they are more beautiful plus they are easier to distinguish from other sprays thus easier to find. Enjoy your day and hugs to Rusty! Esperanza
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Thank you, Esperessence. Being easier recognizable is a great point! I missed it. You’re right: it gets harder and harder to tell apart my decants. I spend 2-3 minutes going through them to find the one I want to wear.
Rusty is enjoying my blogging: while I respond to comments, he sits on my lap.
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thank you for the list!!! I will definitely be looking into some of these.
I agree….we need smaller bottles!
Jo Malone has 9ml bottles but they don’t sell them individually (they are usually GWP or in a pack of five where you can’t choose which fragrance you want). I really wish they would offer a customized 2-3 pack the way Hermes does.
Pacifica also sells customized packs- Three 1oz bottles for fifty dollars which is not a bad price.
and I hope that Dame Perfumery will eventually come out with smaller bottles -15ml would be nice as well as customized sets. Are you reading this Jeffrey Dame?
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Pacifica has smaller individual rollerballs as well but I didn’t include them because I don’t think about them as a niche brand.
I’m surprised JM doesn’t do yet either customizable sets or limited edition sets. I’m sure they would have sold a lot of those.
As to Dame… I think that 5 ml is enough to decide to commit or not to a 30 ml bottle, especially taking into the account that those 30 ml are not that expensive. But the more choices, the better :)
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Ah yes, this is true…Pacifica is not niche :)
Dame Perfumery bottles are 100ml which makes it even more affordable! I don’t think he carries 30ml bottles and I am not sure I could finish 100ml. I would be happy if he came out with 30ml :)
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For whatever reason I thought he had 30 ml… Anyway, if you do not need 100 ml, buy 2 or 3 five ml bottles (to save on shipping): for $20-$30 you’ll have the desired volume – and it still won’t break the bank :)
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ha! that’s a great idea!!! why didn’t I think of that :)
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Oh and the shipping is free no matter what size of the bottle or dollar amount…which is another great thing!
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Undina, I can’t tell you how excited I am about this post :)
I feel a fool for never looking to see if a brand does travel sizes. I had no idea April Aromatics did them but now I can order a travel spray of Precious Woods right away. It also prompted me to check Zoologist as Civet is another one on my To Buy list and yes, they do individual 11ml travel bottles (as well as travel sets) so I can pull the trigger on that too! Happy day. Many thanks.
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I’m glad it was useful to you.
Don’t feel bad about April Aromatics: they just started selling those smaller bottles (and I already took advantage of it! :) )
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Ormonde jayne will sell their travel sprays separately but you have to phone them.
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I didn’t know that, it’s good to know. Thank you, Mary E.
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We’re getting so much great knowledge here!
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This is a massively useful and informative post, and thanks for doing all the leg work that must have gone into compiling it! Now that I am not buying FBs any more, my last few purchases have been of smaller sizes – a By Kilian and a 4160 Tuesdays purse spray. You have also reminded me that I should get another one of DSH Cimabue, which is what I had in the first place and managed to eke out for years. I hope any brands who veer towards the humongous bottle end of the spectrum will sit up and take notice of your post. As you say, it would be much more air travel friendly, in these security conscious times…
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Now, when we know not to trust Travalos too much, travel bottles option become especially appealing.
I don’t remember if there’s DSH’s distributor in the U.K. but if no, let’s talk muling ;)
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I agree Undina. I could be pickled with all the ounces of perfume I own. It’s hard being frugal though. I’m always figuring how much more per oz it is for a smaller bottle, however, recognize the packaging is a cost in itself. Zoologist has very cute smaller sizes of their perfumes, also. I need to check out some of the ones listed above. Have a great day!
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For a while price per ml bothered me but then I looked at it from another angle: unless you plan and is able to use the extra ml for splits or friendly swaps, you’re paying the same price per ml you’ll actually use up from a bigger bottle before it turns.
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Great list – thank you! I love the smaller size bottles too. Slip them into purse or suitcase. And they make lovely gifts paired with something else incase the recipient doesn’t care so much. And sometimes one just gets tired of the fragrance!
It’s interesting so many folks enjoy this! Perfume houses- take note!
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Some mainstream brands caught up with that demand: you can see a lot of small size “travel” bottles in Nordstrom and Sephora. They figured out that $25-$35 for a 10 ml bottle is a great deal (for them) for the perfume that sells for $120/ 50ml or $165/100 ml. I realize that producing extra sizes requires additional investments. But I hope that it’ll have economical sense for at least some successful niche brands.
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yes, I think people really enjoy checking out many different fragrances too. It is a changing audience. Many folks want whole wardrobes, or to switch often. As opposed to the days when people discovered their signature fragrance and wore that for 30 years…
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I couldn’t agree more, Undina. I can add Olfactive Studio to the list, 10ml travel sizes in a box. Then there is Frau Tonis Berlin, and MDCI in 10 ml splash bottles, the latter has to be bought in a set of 4 or 5, can’t remember, but you can chose your own selection. For Paris visitors, PG do have 30ml bottles in their own brand shop there.
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I checked Olfactive Studio’s site and didn’t see travel set for either U.S. or U.K. e-Store. The french one has a set of 4 ml bottles but that is rather sample set then travel bottles. I’m adding information about MDCI (thank you!). As to 30 ml bottles – those are good, much better than 100 ml or even 50 ml, but still too large for a perfumista collection. I weren’t including those brands that make 30 ml bottles, though I’m thankful to those brands as well.
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Memo does 10ml bottles. Jolie Laide sells in 15ml bottles to begin. Parfums Mendo does rollerballs in a small size, as does Olo and Solstice Scents.
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I’ve added Memo. As to the rest, I purposefully didn’t include oils and attars, as well as extraits: even though those do come in small bottles, it’s not the same as 10-15 ml bottle of perfume that normally would be sold in 50-100 ml bottle.
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This is a very useful post! Two to add:
Serge Lutens Tout Noir limited edition 30 ml of the same perfume.
Guerlain La Toutte Parfunee 20 ml travel spray in a limited number of scenrs.
And Rusty – he knows we know he was up to no good :-)
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Rusty just missed my set of “loose” perfume bottles (he would have had a field day with those), so he came to see what I was doing with that Ashoka bottle. But he started loosing his interest quickly – so I hurried to take at least some pictures.
I can’t add SL: I wasn’t covering those brands that do more than 20 ml (and I wouldn’t have added Jul et Mad with their 20 ml either if it weren’t for their 5 ml Love Dose). While still minority, there are more companies doing 30 ml bottles. As to Guerlain… I know that those exist :), I know that you have one (or two?) of them but I cannot find any information online about it so I’m not sure how useful it would be for others.
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Absolutely agree! Maison Anonyme does single-scent 10ml travel sprays in the same beautiful packaging as the full presentation.You check them out here: http://www.MaisonAnonyme.com
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Added! Thank you.
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Thanks for this post, this is really useful to know!! Also, Olympic Orchids has 5 mL travel sprays for most perfumes :)
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Thank you, Nemo! I’ve added Olympic Orchids.
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Wonderfully helpful post! I have several small bottles from Soivohle (10 or 11ml, I believe) which are a great deal so you don’t feel so bad blind buying them :-)
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I’ve added Soivohle. Any reason why you’re blind buying those 10 ml instead of samples, which are also offered on the site?
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Hello, this is the first time I post.
In South America, or at least in Argentina, Avon has been selling 15 ml bottles of some of their perfumes (the classics and I guess their new best sellers) for almost a year now. I already bought two, which I probably wouldn’t have in their original sizes.
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Hi Mariana! Welcome to my blog.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever tried any of Avon’s perfumes but I know that they have very cute bottles for some of them, and those become collectible items with time. Which ones have you bought?
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Hi Undina … I used to have an Avon scent that I’d wear to the office … Rare pearls …. I think I may have brought it fir you to try. If I recall, you liked how it smelled in me but it didn’t work at all fir you when you tested it.
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I remember the bottle! It’s strange how memory suddenly brings up a recollection that you weren’t aware existed.
It wasn’t the first time I liked perfume on somebody else but not on me.
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4160 does 9 mls? Oh good, have been meaning to try some of theirs.
De Nicolai seems to sell .5 oz travel sprays but only in conjunction with big bottles (250 mls) you get the set. Which to my mind defeats the purpose. Will Creed ever downsize bottles?
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If I’m not mistaken, 4160 has also samples so you don’t have to commit even to 9 ml.
Some companies started doing those combinations – a large vat of perfume coupled with a smaller bottle. I assume, they pose it as you’re buying perfume for your everyday use plus getting a smaller (sometimes refillable) bottle to have in your purse for re-application or to take while traveling. But I would rather have a small(er) bottle because if I buy a big bottle of anything, I’ll figure out how to take it on the road with me: e.g., if I’m committing to a huge bottle of any perfume, I’ll be OK to invest into a Travalo or something like that.
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Profvmum Roma also has smaller sized bottles, 18 ml travel sprays for some of the popular gourmand scents like “Dulcis in Fundo” and Lutens also has travel sizes for Fourreau Noir, De Profundis and Iris Silver Mist, among others. I was especially happy to find the travel sizes for the Lutens that normally come only in the bell bottles.
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I’ve added Profvmvm Roma, thanks. As to SL, it doesn’t count: those perfumes come as two 30 ml bottles, which is just 15 ml less then a bell jar.
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Here’s another one – Royal Apothic. You and I both have travel sizes, I believe :-)
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We do! :)
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