I’m traveling this long weekend without my laptop, so let’s see how well mobile publishing works.
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Do you remember how pre-Covid we used to complain about a huge number of new brands and new releases? I’m not sure what’s the situation now, but when I went to the Luckyscent website to buy… tea as a gift to my friend, I discovered that I didn’t know most of the brands I saw on the front page. People must be sampling those perfumes (since I don’t expect them blind buying them). But what about older releases? All those thousands of new perfumes released per year 3-5 years ago??
Saturday Question #139:
Do You Test Perfumes Released 3+ Years Ago?
If you buy or swap samples, do you try perfumes that were released years ago but you haven’t tried them yet? Or do you go for the latest ones leaving behind all those that you haven’t tried when they were released?
My Answer
As I was choosing my free samples with a purchase, I went for 4 most recent releases. These weren’t new brands for me, but perfumes were all from this year. It made me think: am I not taking a part in encouraging brands to keep releasing new perfumes to keep us interested?
In my defense, this year, I did test the majority of perfumes from the past years that I was interested in (and even some that I wasn’t). But I know that I accepted that I’m missing on many perfumes, and after a while the only way I’ll try them will be if I come across them at a store.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
I will try anything that either appeals notes wise or I have seen discussed positively. Not necessarily new. I know there’s no chance I will ever keep up with new releases and brands. I used to keep a list of things I wanted to try as I heard of them; haven’t kept up with that but it’s now several years old! It’s hard enough to wear what I have in my bottle/mini/decant collection! That said, my latest purchase is the mini of Tauers new Golestan. I’m always intrigued by his perfumes and I have a collection of the minis, so I caved.
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One of my samples was that New Tauer. I’m glad I didn’t go for that cute mini because I didn’t love the perfume.
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I am on the fence about it. Andy seems to be enamored with Tuberose, which is the most prominent on my skin. Which makes it a little too much like the others. Not really sorry I picked up the mini since I have a bunch of the others and I’m not looking to spend any other $ on perfume for a while.
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I love trying new things but am perfectly happy to also sniff things that I missed along the way, whatever sounds interesting is fair game.
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If I could sniff many of the new [for me] brands somewhere at a store, I would. But unless I hear many positive impressions (which got harder since there are less blogs, and I don’t have time for NST), I don’t spend money on brands I don’t know.
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Most of the samples I request are probably of older releases, just because I wasn’t as into perfume when they first came out and didn’t know what I was missing. Or I’ll start craving a certain theme and look up perfumes with those notes. Of course, I love testing new fragrances as well.
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For the first several years of this hobby I was testing dozens of perfumes I read about but haven’t tried before. And just as I thought I had caught up with the most noteworthy perfumes, brands started releasing them by a dozen per year.
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I think this was the end of the line for many earlier perfumistas Undina. The whole situation became so overwhelming and most had enough to last them three lifetimes already anyway.
It was very easy for a slew of the crew to just leave the whole niche and blog world.
Portia x
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Absolutely, yes. I tend to watch brands that have been established for a while and seem to have some traction, then I’ll get a discovery set or coffret. Those usually include older releases as well as newer ones, if they’re still being produced.
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I often do the same.
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I also like discovery sets for brands I haven’t tried much before – even though usually I end up liking just one (if that).
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I’m also a sucker for a sample set of a house I’m not familiar with
Portia xx
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It didn’t much affect my sampling, but my sampling has slacked off a lot in recent years. For some reason, I’ve lost interest in keeping up with new houses/releases. My mind is stuck in the time warp of 2004-06 when I first discovered the Perfume Internet!
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I also can’t master interest in new(er) brands: I don’t expect them to be good, so I don’t want even try. I might do that if I see them at a store (which doesn’t happen often since I travel much less), but I’m not actively seeking them out otherwise.
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Yes, definitely. I usually test fragrances that have been on the market awhile so I have plenty of reviews and comments on blogs to look at before I choose samples. I am finding that many of the fragrances I’m testing now were released 3 or more years ago. I’ve been testing the Maison Trudon fragrances and liked Bruma and Medie enough to order travel sprays of each. Bruma was released 2017 and Medie 2019. I do sometimes test new scents, but I generally like to let the initial hype die down before testing any new releases.
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I haven’t bought it yet but my eye is on Trudon Revolution. YUM!
Portia xx
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Until recently, I didn’t even know Trudon had personal perfumes :)
I should read more perfume blogs and threads!
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Hi Undina & Crew,
Yes. I’m still omnivorous in my sampling and will sample new and old.
I’m also really lucky that my frag friends have some really divergent tastes to me. that means I can smell stuff I’d never even think to order a sample of. Much of their stuff is vintage or way past the three year limit given here.
Surrender To Chance still has an amazing selection too that I often trawl through.
Portia xx
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If I had friends with eclectic tastes in perfumes, I would have also tried a lot more of different perfumes. To think of it, those tastes wouldn’t even have to be that eclectic – I just need friends who are into perfumes.
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One day Undina,
Someone you know and like will surprise you.
Portia xx
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Hey Undina! I can’t even tell you my sampling pattern even if you paid me. Sometimes I wait until I can get freebie samples (from LuckyScent primarily) and they can range anywhere from the most recently launched to older ones OR I end up buying Discovery sets. You also know about my habit of no blind buys ever because they’re really all just hajusuuri-sized samples 🤣.
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Yeah, I knew that question wasn’t for you :) In addition to what you’ve described, you work in one of the best cities for testing new perfumes in stores, so your online testing might even skew towards older releases not available in B&M stores.
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I no longer have any idea what came out when. Not that I do much testing anyway, but when I do, I go for brands I know and notes I prefer.
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I don’t follow closely the releases, but I always investigate samples before buying (or getting one with purchase).
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