With (at least) dozens of perfume bottles and probably hundreds of proper perfume decants and samples, what would possess you to put on an unknown juice?
Saturday Question #180:
Do You Ever Wear or Test Unlabeled Perfumes?
Tell me if that never happened to you, but most of us in our more or less organized collection of non-manufacturer containers come across a decant or vial either without any label or with something illegible due to the previous contact with the content of said container. What is usually the fate of those? Do you dare to put them on your skin again? Do you try to remember or figure out what it was? Or do you relegate them to a slow, evaporative demise in the depths of your collection?
My Answer
I cannot claim that I’m an organized person. Neither am I completely disorganized. Probably, it’s something in between. But when it comes to perfumes, it is almost impossible for me to have some unidentified vial lurking in my drawers, boxes and other convenient places for storing perfumes that I don’t count as my perfume wardrobe. So, most of my vials, sprayers, decants and other thinkable perfume vessels have nice labels – original or those I printed on my label maker.
Yet sometimes… How many times can one genuinely believe that she would remember what she decanted into that generic Nordstrom-provided sample vial, planning to print a label “tomorrow” just to discover a couple of weeks (or months) later that she has no recollection of what it was? Well… Let’s say it happened more often than I would expect from a reasonable and reasonably organized person. Those unnamed and unsung heroes of department store offerings never make it to the skin: not that I make a conscious decision not to try them, but I keep deferring our time together… until one day I discover just faint remnants of the scent in the empty plastic tube.
Recently, though, I discovered an unusual sample without a label: a tube of one of the Guerlein‘s L’Art & La Matière perfumes – one of those branded 4 ml tubes they used to fill at a counter. At some point, it probably came with a paper box with a name written on it, but somehow, it ended up in a box with another perfume from the same line but labeled. These aren’t the same perfumes (both by the scent and color), and I know that I liked it enough to decide to wear it but not enough to buy a bottle. But that is where my memory ends. I’m sure that many years ago when I decided to “consolidate” it into that box with Rose Barbare I had absolutely no doubts that I would remember what it was… I don’t. But it doesn’t really matter: since it has either been discontinued or reformulated now, I don’t need to know what it is. I like the scent, and I’ll wear it until it’s gone.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
“…I had absolutely no doubts that I would remember what it was…” I have thought that so many times when decanting something! I’ve only recently learned how often labels disappear because of the alcohol in perfume, too. So lessons learned? We’ll see. I only had the exact scenario in your question once, and yes, I wore it. Happily, I realized what it was because it was something I’d gotten recently, and I suspected it was a Guerlain (it was Iris Ganache.)
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I’m sure we all will get in the same situation again, but let’s hope our mysteries will all resolve in something as pleasant as Iris Ganache :)
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Yep I’ve done it & no doubt will again.
The most memorable time was a half used 10ml decant, it had a label but the writing had disappeared. Violet label, so I even knew who it came from. Yet what it was I couldn’t recall. The colour gave no clue, so I knew it wasn’t a Lutens. I decided to spray, it couldn’t be too horrendous, it was a 10 ml & half used, so I must have liked it went my thinking.
Came out a bit oily, so was slow to bloom but when it did, the joy! Original Lyric Woman!
Now it’s labelled & prized as my bottle is a later version & is less plush & ornate.
There are others but none have been such a delightful find.
On a slightly different note, I can be a touch grumpy when a house uses generic labels on the sample & the name of the fragrance only on the cardboard packaging of the sample. One of my favourite houses does this. It is the only fault in what is otherwise almost perfect fragrances, presentation & customer service.
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Oh, Lyric! Love-love-love! But I can see myself struggling with recognizing it if I haven’t worn it for a while. I think I would have figured it out eventually.
If I can get a sample for free, I’m fine with a generic bottle: I have a label maker! ;)
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I get anxious if I have too many samples (even labeled ones), so I keep the count low. So far, I haven’t had more than one unlabeled sample at a time, so no mysteries for me to solve… but if I did, I would wear it and try to figure it out.
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I do remember times when I remembered ALL the samples I had :)
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If I can’t remember what it is, normally I toss it. Sometimes I’ll give it a spritz just for fun and if I like it, I’ll wear it, but that’s rare.
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If it is a dab vial, I’ll smell it and decide if I want to try it. But in a spray vial… Chances are not good: I don’t want to have to scrub it or be stuck with something I don’t want to smell any more.
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I’ve done that a few times, mostly with the Nordstrom decants you mentioned! I don’t go there often and only ever got a few of their samples, so I know they’re mostly Chanel. In which case, why not wear them and test my nose to see if I can guess what they are? But I will normally prefer to use one of my labeled decants, so that doesn’t happen often.
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Yeah… Just two or three… I put them in different pockets or sections of my purse – how hard will it be to remember?.. :) I need labels.
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I have occasionally found myself with something I can’t identify… so I’ll splash or spray it on just to see. Thankfully I haven’t encountered anything glorious, I’d hate to try something and not know what it was!!
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I always think how devastating it would be to really like something and not be able to figure out what it is!
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I have hundreds of samples, which are all labeled except for very few. These were either labeled and the writing has bled or the label fell off at some point rendering them nameless. I do my best to figure it out, but usually the fragrance is something that was just not to my liking anyway and I dispose of it.
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If I don’t like something, it’s still a slight problem: since I don’t know what it was, I might spend valuable skin “real estate” on testing it again the next time I see it at a store :)
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Hehehehe, oh yes, I have come across unlabeled decants (very rarely vials). 😁 And I can usually tell it was me who decanted something and thought, Oh I know this so well, I don’t need a label. Turns out after some time passess, I have no idea what it is but it smells good so I wear them nonetheless.
If it’s a vial, chances are I’ll try it and then return it to die a slow death.
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With a decant that you made, at least you know that it was one of perfumes you like and own :)
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This has happened a few times, either the label has come off or the name has faded. There was a Guerlain that I really liked but the name had faded. I’d still like to know what it was. I wore the full sample. Other samples were worn but may not have made so much impact that I’d want to know what they were.
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I see that it’s a trend with Guerlain :) It seems we trust the brand enough to wear unnamed perfumes from it without reservations.
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Only with Guerlain, same as a lot of the other commentators!
Two samples came loose from their envelopes, and so Wore them both. Pretty sure one is Vol de Nuit, and one is Cruel Gardenia. I used to be way more adventurous, now a bit less so since the pandemic. I have this idea that anything could be in that tester vial. That’s not logical thinking-if it came in the house as perfume how could it be replaced with something toxic you’d only find in a James Bond movie-but that’s how my mind works now lol.
Thank you for always making me think. Love all the different ways people look at their collections of scent. Now my goal is to cull my own collection a bit-see if there are seven bottles I can rehome. Just seven. Cause I have more than enough for my lifetime, and great scents should be worn-not stored in a cupboard. Wish me luck-I am no good at getting rid of stuff :)
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I guess, better safe than sorry (though now I’m wondering what line of work you’re in to have those suspicions about mystery vials at your place ;) ).
I think I need to spend quality time with my collection: I have many perfumes I should be wearing but keep forgetting or going for something that is closer on the shelf.
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WOW Undina, this is such an interesting topic. Particularly because this year I’m trying to plow through as many samples/decants as possible.
Yeah, I’ve found a few unnamed, smeared names and illegible names. No problem, they got on like the rest. There hasn’t been an unnamed scrubber yet and only one that I really wish the label could be read. One took the combined might of the scentbloggosphere to unravel for me Oud Saphir by Atelier Cologne.
It’s very rare for me to have a visceral, disgusted reaction to perfume so I don’t mind dropping a couple of ml on myself for the joy of having some sort of answer,
Portia xx
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Oud Saphir! That’s the good stuff – well worth your effort.
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I remember liking Oud Saphir on my vSO, but now I can’t remember whether I got it for him… I must check once I come home. Regardless, I’m not sure I would have recognized it now… I might… I think I remember the scent. But then, I’ve never tried smelling it without knowing what it was.
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Unlabeled samples you say? 🤔
Of course. The majority of them came from Nordstrom but I also have some where the atomizer came smudged. With perfuming (v. the art of having a hobby involving perfumes) supposed to be stress less, I REFUSE to wear these unlabeled samples on account of potentially going bonkers if I end up loving it and not knowing what it is. They end up in the trash, most of the time.
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You’re so decisive! I understand the idea. But I’m usually not afraid to fall in love with those perfumes since I never keep completely untested perfumes, but had they smelled promising the first time around, I wouldn’t have just put them aside without proper testing and deciding to buy a bottle (or not).
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I also have an unnamed Guerlain L’Art & Matiere scent that I like and can’t identify. ;) I wonder if it is the same one…I also have blank vials that came in labelled brown paper envelopes from meetings of Perfume Lovers London, and have got muddled up, though at least the field is limited as to which each one could be. I keep a bag specifically for anonymous samples, and mean to go through them but it never happens. I can’t risk a bad experience at the moment!
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I see that Guerlain keeps coming up in this thread :) It’s an interesting phenomenon.
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I have a couple that have come off their cards and weren’t labelled but I could identify them pretty readily- Vagabond Prince- Swan Princess, for example, and a Roja Dove. Usually I put them on a paper strip first before I put them on my skin in case it’s something awful. ;-) I never just throw them away, the curiosity would kill me!
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I’m with you on curiosity! But I probably wouldn’t wear them – maybe just test on one wrist.
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