Last January, I asked you, Starting All Over Again: What 5 Perfumes Would You Buy First? Today’s question looks at replacing our collections from a different perspective.
Saturday Question #184:
Is Your Perfume Collection Replaceable?
Let’s assume that you like every last perfume in your collection. We’ll limit this exercise to non-vintage bottles (at the time of purchase; those that became vintage while in your collection might still count). Bottles could be either regular or travel size (including minis), but not decants, regardless of their sizes. Money is not a part of the consideration: if that bottle is being sold, you can buy it (but you cannot “bribe” someone with a million-dollar check to get the bottle they didn’t plan to sell or pay the perfumer to recreate it just for you).
If all of your perfumes were to magically disappear, and you would try to replace every last bottle you currently own, how hard would it be? How many of your current favorites – those that you bought while they were in regular production – have been discontinued or reformulated beyond recognition? Can you still buy them today (either new or used)? The bottles do not have to be identical, and reformulations that you would consider wearing should count towards “replaceable” bottles.
You do not have to count every last bottle – give us your best estimate. Is your collection 50% replaceable? More? Less?
My Answer
Me being me, I ran some calculations in my database. About 23% of the perfumes in my collection had been discontinued. Another 13% (that I know of) have been reformulated significantly, to the extent that I probably wouldn’t want to own them in that version. I know that some others were also reformulated, but I would still wear them. And there’s a bunch where I don’t know whether they’ve changed since I bought them, so for simplicity, I assumed that those haven’t changed significantly.
So, I think that replacing 36% of my collection would be hard to impossible. I estimate that with an effort, I should be able to replace 70-75% of the perfumes I currently have. Before I ran those calculations, I had a feeling that this number would be significantly lower. However, in reality, considering the potential price tag for most of them, I should say that it would be a miracle if, at today’s prices, I could afford to repurchase even 10-15% of everything I collected so far.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
I’d say my number is about the same – 30 to 40% non-replaceable. But as you pointed out, I could also not afford to replace them at current prices. I’m glad I started collecting 20 years ago.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad I started 15+ years ago because had I tried many of my favorites in their today’s formulation, they wouldn’t have joined my collection.
LikeLike
I couldn’t begin to calculate & would be terrified of knowing what my collection would cost to replace!All power to you for doing so.
I can say there are some fragrances I have owned that I have replaced with what is currently available & wish I hadn’t!
Reading this has spurred me on to speed up with my cull!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s an interesting turn… Are you going to get rid of those newer acquisitions? Otherwise, I’m not sure how your regrets about getting newer versions lead to the desire to downsize.
LikeLike
Some of them yes. An example is Tresor. Aka play doh. Wasn’t mad about it when DH bought me it in release but craving that accord last year. Didn’t get chance to test in store (idiot I know) but got a bottle for a great price in a sale. Today’s Tresor? No play doh accord. It’s now in the sell on box.
I have over 300 full bottles & it’s overwhelming. I have two bottles that I love & are irreplaceable that have gone missing. Tonkamande in its box & D’Orsay La Dandy which I have the empty box but no bottle! Those are my driver to downsize.
LikeLike
I see. We’ll, you’ll tell us how it goes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Of course, I may need 10 ml decants of those I move on for reference 😁
LikeLike
Undina, this is a mind blowing question.
Financially I could NEVER afford to rebuy many of the things that have been DCd since I started collecting that are still in the collection.
Not having the kind of stats at hand that you do I’m pretty sure 30-40% of the collection is DCd or significantly changed.
Maybe I’d want to replace 30% but could potentially get 70+%
Portia xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
How much I would want to replace if I had to do it – even without money consideration (and especially with it!), is a different question. Probably I’ll ask it one day :)
LikeLike
Yeah, you’re right. I’ll be interested to see peoples answers
LikeLike
Indeed a crazy question. I think we would all need a database like yours to really calculate! My estimate is maybe 60% of my collection. I don’t have a lot of vintage but do have my share of discontinued perfumes. I’m pretty sure that, if I was given an insurance settlement to rebuild, I would end up with MANY fewer bottles and pocket the rest. I imagine I could live with a couple dozen favorites.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How many to replace by choice would be another day’s question. In this one’s we were just trying to evaluate the theoretical possibility.
LikeLike
I started in 2019 and have a relatively small collection, but already 10-15% is likely not replaceable (didn’t check the ones that require digging on ebay). That’s probably because I made a considerable effort to find some perfumes that I had many years ago that were already discontinued. Those I’d be sad to lose, but there are several others that are still on the market that I wouldn’t want to replace.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You have a great chance to learn from our mistakes: buy only perfumes that you absolutely love and buy perfumes that you love soon after you tried it first before they change.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I can’t begin to compute but I do know that if I was to do it all again I’d stick to 20% of what I own now. Life was a lot simpler.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, 20-30% is still more than I can use in a lifetime Cassieflower.
Portia x
LikeLike
True. I remember the time when I could in my head “scroll through” all the bottles AND samples that I had to choose what I would be wearing the next day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What an interesting question. Off the top of my head-I might be able to replace 30 percent of mine. So the Hermes colognes I could replace. None of the Carons, or even the Annick Goutal-but I guess I could reorder some of those from Paris. Not Mon Parfum Cherie, or Myrre Ardent. None of the beautiful vintage Guerlain, or even Myrre et Delires. Loads of Serge Lutens that are no longer available-I haven’t seen Iris Silver Mist on their list since forever, or Une Voix Noire.
And yes-life was simpler with fewer fragrances, but I like my collection. I wouldn’t have bought so many AG fragrances, except that brand seems to be leaving the NA market and getting things shipped from France can be tricky.
Thanks for making me think :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s interesting about AG: 20 years ago, they were in many stores around, and I loved seeing those colored bottles and try different perfumes. Then they repackaged their perfumes and started disappearing from the stores and online retailers. Then they repackaged perfumes again and shrank the market even further. I’m not sure if Saks, the last one that I know carried them, still does. It’s sad.
LikeLike
Really interesting question! I would have to guess around 30% of my collection is irreplaceable. Just the 30 or so Amouage attars I own would be the biggest problem (and horribly missed). But I agree with others who say that even with scents that I could easily repurchase, so many have gotten way more expensive in the last 10 years, I could never afford it. I also would miss a lot of the older style bottles (Serge Lutens, Amouage, etc) if I had to buy them today.
LikeLiked by 1 person
One of the perfumes I would be truly devastated about if I could not replace it would be Ubar. I don’t understand why it got on a chopping block, but it’s gone from the brand’s lineup.
I’m sad I didn’t get to try their original attars. I remember thinking that one day I’ll travel to where they would be available for testing… and then they were discontinued.
LikeLike
No idea, haha, and it would take a long time to work out. I certainly wouldn’t buy many of them again, so I’m actually pretty relaxed about losing my collection.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You should think of 5-10 that you would have missed and start using them more often now!
LikeLike
Wow! What a great question! I love nearly all my full bottle scents but some are discontinued and/or I prefer the old-style bottles. I do wish I had fewer bottles in my collection, but then can’t imagine selling or having to eliminate any. I have some decants I could easily eliminate- usually just bought to test. So glad I bought a lot of my total 15 years ago- the price points are crazy now if I had to replace…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I assume I could be happy with 50% of my current bottles – but I think that the largest portion of those are the ones that were discontinued or reformulated. So, I hope I will never have to replace those perfumes that I love.
LikeLike
I think I could arguably replace about 70% of my collection, but whether I could afford the replacement cost is another question. Of the other 30% some are discontinued and some reformulated. I’ve been enjoying my pre-reformulation Chergui and it’s so gorgeous ❤️ Darned IFRA!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Every time I think about IFRA, I have a surge of very strong negative feelings. And I think many companies are happy to comply because they can replace more expensive ingredients with much cheaper artificial ones.
LikeLike
Oh, I do love perfume statistics! Of the bottles and miniatures in my collection, I consider 32% as irreplaceable, due to the perfumes having gone out of production, having been reformulated beyond recognition, or having become impossible to procure because they could no longer be bought in or be delivered to Europe. In addition, I own 12 decants of perfumes I will probably never be able to get a full bottle of, except through massive bribery.
This doesn’t worry me or give me joy, it’s just the state of affairs. What’s gone is gone. There are always so many new beautiful things to discover!
LikeLike
What a healthy attitude! :)
I agree with you, in general. But for some reason it feels like there is less and less new beautiful things to discover.
LikeLike