We all come to discovering different perfume brands in many different ways. Some brands are naturally available for easy testing where we live or travel. For others we happen to get a discovery set. Some get recommended by fellow perfumistas whose opinion we value. And some we discover on our own, purposefully getting samples after falling in love with one perfume from the brand we tried.

At the same time, the more brands are out there, the more expensive their perfumes get and the less people with an independent opinion express it in media we choose to be exposed to, the less inclined we are to blindly pay to get to know a new brand or a brand we skipped discovering previously for whatever reason.

Saturday Question #84:

What Brand Would You Like To Know Better?

Is there any particular brand about which you know and with perfumes from which you are not too familiar but would like to? What’s the reason why you haven’t tried those perfumes yet? Do you plan to do anything about it, or is it an abstract interest of the maybe-one-day-type?

My Answer

From the beginning of the deep dive into this hobby I was a “serial tester”: especially with brands whose perfumes I liked or with a completely new to me brands I had a tendency to seek out all perfumes from such brands that I could get. I think I still feel that way, but with the number of new brands and releases I had to concede that it just wasn’t feasible and, frankly, didn’t make much sense.

But I think that I still have that internal drive to complete the “research,” and if I had an easier access to testing some of the brands at a store or could get those brands’ sets for testing without paying an arm and a leg for them and their delivery, I would have still be chasing at least some of the brands.

Short of that, I discovered an acceptable way for myself to indulge in my series-oriented testing proclivity: I participate in the Beautyhabit‘s event series (some pun intended) “Up Close & Personal with <XXX>” (where XXX is one of the brands they carry). It’s a Zoom call (though, that part isn’t required) with the Beautyhabit’s co-founder and either a brand creator/owner/etc. or at least a representative. For $20 I’m getting 6-7 samples, including S&H in the US. They also offer a $10 coupon off perfumes from that brand, but I haven’t used that offer so far, so I just assume that I’m paying $20 for samples (Disclaimer: No affiliation, not sponsored).

The most recent event I signed up for is for Parfums de Nicolai (I don’t want to link to it because it’s a temporary link, but you’ll easily find it on the site under Events, it is not sold out yet, if you’re interested). I know that this brand was one of everybody’s darlings 8-10 years ago, so I’m not sure how it came that I don’t know them better. I tried several of their perfumes back then, but somehow mostly it passed by me. I remember that I liked Odalisque, but by the time I thought I might want to buy it, I heard it got reformulated. And it felt wrong to pay for another sample. I have a small decant of Le Temps D’Une Fete from a friend and wear it from time to time, but it has that vintage component that I do not love… and it has been reformulated and discontinued. Had I come across the brand in a B&M store, I would have tested the whole line. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen any Parfums de Nicolai perfumes in RL anywhere. So, now I’ll get a chance to try 7 new to me perfumes for the brand. I’m very curious.

What Brand Would You Like To Know Better?