June 29, 2013 by Undina

Have Perfume Atomizer – Will Travel

Almost everybody in my surroundings knows that I am “into perfumes.” That’s how I got into my possession two different types of perfume atomizers. From there it was a short stretch to getting a couple more and putting them all to test – especially since I had this trip coming up with six flights two of which were longer than eleven hours.

I tested five decanting atomizers – plain bottle, Nordstrom Atomizer, Flo, Travalo and sen7. Ratings (where applicable) are on the 1-5 scale with 5 being the highest. My evidence is anecdotal; I do not claim a scientific approach or validity of the experiment.

Brand: No name plain glass bottle with clear top from SKS-Bottle
Capacity: 5 ml
Refillable from: bottles with removable sprayer, integrated sprayer and splash bottles
Ease of filling: 3
Material of the perfume container: glass
Leak proof: 4 (based on a dozen I tested)
Price, availability and options: $17.28 + S&H for 48 atomizers online
Pros: cheap per piece and works with all bottle types; made of glass
Cons: not as leak proof as other solutions: bottles from the same batch might be better or worse; for bad ones even parafilm doesn’t improve the situation – they leak during air travel (read “being mailed”); requires additional accessories to transfer perfumes from splash bottles; breaks easily.

Brand: Nordstrom Atomizer
Capacity: 5 ml (it says 0.5oz on the page but it’s a mistake)
Refillable from: bottles with removable sprayer, integrated sprayer and splash bottles
Ease of filling: 3
Material of the perfume container: glass
Leak proof: 5 (based on two I tested)
Price, availability and options: $5 online and at Nordstrom stores, comes in 12 colors.
Pros: made of glass and protected by aluminum with anodized finish; great choice of colors; works with all bottle types
Cons: It requires additional accessories to transfer perfumes from a splash bottle and experience to fill it from a bottle with a sprayer.

Brand: FLO
Capacity: 4.7 ml
Refillable from: bottles with removable sprayer, integrated sprayer and splash bottles
Ease of filling: 5
Material of the perfume container: glass
Leak proof: 5 (based on one I tested)
Price, availability and options: $10-$15 online and in some stores; two sizes – 4.7 ml and 6 ml; 3 colors.
Pros: works with any bottle type without additional accessories; made of glass with aluminum cover and built-in funnel that makes it easy to fill it from any bottle
Cons: comes just in 3 colors; it’s bigger than other atomizers.

Brand: Travalo Classic
Capacity: 4 ml
Refillable from: perfume bottles with removable sprayer only
Ease of filling: 5 (for bottles with a removable sprayer); 0 (for splash bottles and integrated sprayers)
Material of the perfume container: plastic
Leak proof: 5 (based on one I tested)
Price, availability and options: $10-$20 online and in many stores; two sizes – 4 ml and 5 ml, 10 colors, with or without the aluminum cover, spray or roller.
Pros: It’s really easy to fill from an appropriate bottle; it’s durable (plastic with aluminum protection cover), looks good, doesn’t leak even under pressure and allows you to have at least 10 travel companions (based on color choices)
Cons: It doesn’t work with a splash bottle; made of plastic; the place where it connects to a bottle picks up the scent (from filling in, not because it leaks) so potentially it’ll transfer to your pocket or a purse if you keep it in there; too expensive for the purpose.

Brand: sen7 classic
Capacity: 5.8 ml
Refillable from: bottles with removable sprayer, integrated sprayer and splash bottles
Ease of filling: 4
Material of the perfume container: plastic
Leak proof: 4 (based on one I tested)
Price, availability and options: $38 – $499 (contact them for pricing for atomizers with diamonds – I’m not kidding) online and in some B&M stores in Europe, comes in more than 20 colors, different finishes including sterling silver and rubber; with funnel or “easyfill system”
Pros: works with any bottle type since it comes with its own funnel; polished gun-metal finish looks very stylish and protects great against breakage; it doesn’t even look like an atomizer; it’s extremely cute, pleasant for the eye and to the touch
Cons: perfume container is made of plastic; that plastic part’s strange shape resulted in me overfilling it and it leaked (at least I told myself that was the reason); the price is totally outrageous even before we go into precious metals option. But all that is nothing compared to the main complaint: it’s not that easy to use – I mean the actual use, once you managed to fill it in with your favorite perfume. It’s hard to get a good grip of to actually spray the perfume on yourself. So it’s a good thing it doesn’t break easily once it slips through your fingers.

None of the atomizers I tested addressed the issue of marking decants, which will be a problem once you make more than one in a similar container – even if you were to go with different colors. I used my label maker but those labels make atomizers less appealing. I’d recommend to manufacturers to look into some materials that allow creating a label by applying pressure with something like a stylus and then affixing that label to the atomizer or at least to designate some space on the atomizer for writing with a Sharpie marker: Travalo, Flo and sen7, it’s great that you spent time thinking on how to make your brand noticeable and recognizable on the bottle but I still care slightly more for the name of the perfume I’m decanting into those atomizers.

Conclusion: while simple atomizers are the most economical way of sharing or testing perfumes, when it comes to decanting favorite (“Travalo Worthy” – ©Vanessa) perfumes for my own use I will probably vote for Nordstrom’s Atomizers: they are small, made of glass (I prefer it to plastic) with protective cover, come in many different colors and do not cost one third of a full bottle price. I would have gone for Flo since it’s even better protected and is easier for refilling but three colors aren’t enough – even if I use those only for my all-time favorites.

Do you have any favorite atomizers? (share your links if different from those above).

Images: my own

April 12, 2013 by Undina

Olfactif: Yay or Nay?

I’m constantly on a lookout for new perfume-related … everything: brands, lines, perfumes, services, media coverage and other events. Naturally I got curious about the new service offering a subscription-based access to niche perfumes samples.

There are many ways to obtain samples for perfumes you want to try. I won’t be covering here getting samples from B&M stores, swapping with other perfumistas or participating in splits, all of which are my preferred methods. I want to look into different options for purchasing samples.

Lorraine (Dear Scent Diary) has recently compiled a list of the brands that offer samples. But it’s always a good idea to look for an official website and see what their samples policy is. if I’m interested in the particular brand, all other things being equal, I always try to buy samples from the brand directly.

There are many services and online perfume stores that offer perfume samples of your choice, sometimes in a selection of sizes. Some of these companies have been around for a while, others are relatively new.

So let’s take a look at the new kid on the block: Olfactif. Three dab vial samples (0.7 ml or 1 ml, I’m not sure and they don’t provide that information on the site), perfectly packaged, delivered monthly for $18 subscription fee. First month was offered free (I’m not sure if they plan to do that for future new subscribers). There is no obligation to keep the subscription for any minimum number of months. Steve (The Scented Hound) wrote about his experience with the first installment.

$18 for three 0.7-1 ml niche samples including S&H is neither an outrageous price nor a bargain. For $17-$19 you can get 3 samples of your choice (including the latest releases) delivered from Luckyscent, Surrender to Chance, The Perfumed Court or The Posh Peasant. Aedes de Venustas offers 7 samples of your choice for $20 including S&H ($5 of which is refundable with any full bottle purchase within the next 3 months). Luscious Cargo offers 7 samples for $25 including S&H. MinNY offers 5 samples for ~ $28 including S&H or sells individual samples for $5.

So what makes Olfactif different or unique?

A good deal? One month’s subscription fee can be applied to a purchase of a full bottle of one of the featured perfumes. Taking into the account that it’s a full retail price plus shipping charges it’s not too exciting.

Interviews with perfumers and information about perfumes? Look to the right: most blogs listed on My Reading List do it for free with a lot of passion and talent.

A surprise? You pay $18 by the end of the month and then for a couple of days might enjoy not knowing what you’re getting (until your package arrives or the reveal – whatever comes first since according to the site’s FAQ you’ll get the package “a day or two before the first of the month or a day or two after”). I saw some comments from people being excited about that part – not knowing. I remember thinking that there was something in Chandler Burr’s blind sniffing idea but I just couldn’t get past $50+ for a blind buy of 50 ml of a perfume and a chance to play guess games for a month on Mr. Burr’s say-so*. Olfactif offers a speed-dating: 1 ml^# x 3 for $18 and you can close your eyes and still do a blind testing.

And that brings me to the last point. Curation. It’s an appealing concept. But who is Tara Swords and why would anyone rely upon her taste in choosing perfumes for them? She might be Turin, Burr and Coifan all-in-one but we don’t know that.

There must be something in the air: it looks like there is market for that type of service.

Last year there was a press release about MinNY launching Fragrance Flight, a Global By-Invitation Private Members Club with Privileged Access to Information, Luxury, & Curated Scents. Since then all I could find was a closed door and not a single mentioning of it. The first rule of Flight Club?..

Recently I saw on Twitter “bergamot: Curated fragrances delivered to your door. Launching Spring 2013.” You can sign up to get notified about the launch.

I have no real objections to Olfactif’s doing what they plan to do: it’s just a business, not worse than other businesses, and I hope that eventually either Olfactif improves: more customized approach, selection based on a user’s profile and previous months’ feedback, better deals, pre-releases, etc.; or there will be another service that does it better. In the end we, consumers and perfume enthusiasts, might benefit.

But if you are [still] reading this you do not need Olfactif in its current form: whether you know anything about niche perfumes or not, I believe you can do better. But if you see in that service something that I’m not seeing (other than nice boxes for storing samples) please share.

Images: my own.

* BTW, OpenSky is still running Burr’s project; there will be the ninth offering in May. I wasn’t following it after the third episode but from what I gathered now a year later they still haven’t figured out all the quirks.
^# UPDATE: Now Olfacif offers 2.25 ml spray samples, which is a huge improvement.

August 15, 2012 by Undina

Know-how: Decanting, Labeling, Packing and Shipping

This is a public service article. I’m sure that all experienced perfumistas (meaning “my regular readers”) know all that and then some. But I decided to put together in one post information I wish I had when I started sharing my perfumes with others (not that long ago). So for most of my readers it’s a post with pictures of Rusty helping me to illustrate my points.

If you plan decanting as a business there will be completely different rules, this post probably won’t help you.

Decanting Supplies

You might find useful to get 1-2 ml dab vials (for sharing your small samples, extraits or perfumes of which you do not have enough); 3-4 ml sprays for samples; 5 ml and 10 ml sprays for bigger decants. Pipettes might be useful if you plan to decant a splash bottle into many decants. Otherwise just get some straws from a coffee shop: it’s less convenient but it will do the job.

I know that some perfumistas prefer plastic bottles: they are cheaper and are safer to ship but if I have a choice I won’t go for a plastic bottle. I don’t know that for a fact but I’m afraid that plastic will dissolve a little and contaminate my sample.

There are many places to buy bottles for decants. They vary by selection, prices and minimum order size.

Best Bottles: has better prices but require minimum $50 order (plus shipping; please note that shipping to a commercial address is cheaper).

Accessories for Fragrances: almost twice as expensive as those from Best Bottles but they allow smaller orders.

1 ml, 3 ml (with screw-on spray pump) and 10 ml are good at both sites, 5 ml decants, in my opinion, are nicer from Accessories for Fragrances.

If you have other favorite places for decanting supplies (and especially in Europe) – please share.

Labeling

Labels are important. You do not think about them when they are alright but when they go wrong it might be devastating. Read Steve’s (The Scented Hound) story – though it’s a lot of fun to do a detective work guessing which perfume you’re testing, in general it’s better to avoid those situations.

There are many ways of making labels – from the simplest hand-written labels supplied with decanting vials, through printed on a printer (I saw some fancy ones with brand fonts/logos reproductions) all the way to those printed on label makers (functionality of some of those is just a mind-boggling).

If you do paper labels, it’s a good practice to put a transparent tape over it to prevent smudging during the shipping leakage or further use.

I use a simple label maker similar to this one but I’m too lazy to learn how to do more styles (I got it used without documentation) so I just chose the font size and stopped there.

Preventing leakage

There is an assumption you should make: if a package with your decants flies it will leak. There are a couple of things you can do to prevent/minimize that.

After you make sure that a vial/atomizer is closed as well as it can be you’ll need a tape. Many perfumistas are using an electrical tape and it works just great. Vanessa (Bonkers about Perfume) wrote the Ode to it: The Unsung Hero Of The Swap Scene – Electrical Insulation Tape.

But black color bothered me so I found an alternative and for a long time I was using colored vinyl tape. The only bad thing about those tapes is that when a perfume leaks a little and you do not take the tape off after it arrives the tape might leave some sticky residue on the bottle.

Recently, thanks to Ruth Kaminski from Facebook Fragrance Friends Group, I’ve discovered an even better solution – a parafilm. If you’re not in a hurry, you can watch for the price drop (I bought it for ~$18). I suspect that package will serve me for years: all it takes is a really small piece of parafilm per a decant. You just cut it, peel a protecting paper, stretch it warming in your fingers and wrap around a vial. No leakage, no sticky residue. I plan to use it also for some of my samples/decants that I’m not using up too quickly to prevent evaporation.

No matter what you use, just make sure you’re wrapping it around the place where plastic part connects with glass. If you wrap it around the place where a covering cap ends you will reduce leakage into the package but it won’t prevent a perfume from leaking into that cap and evaporating.

Packing and Shipping

Bubble wrap is your friend. Just make sure you are not trying to re-use the one that has been popped or lost air. Do not wrap too tight. Think about it this way: this wrap will protect only if with a pressure applied a bubble bursts before the conducted pressure squashes the vial.

Vanessa wrote a post about bubble wrap as well: Another Unsung Hero Of The Swap Scene – Bubble Wrap.

For sending decants in/from the U.S. there are several options: bubble mailer envelope, small box (you have to have your own) shipped First Class Mail (you have to specifically ask for it, many post office clerks try to upsell) or Priority Mail® Small Flat Rate Box (box provided). Padded envelopes are cheaper in bulk from stores/online, not from a Post Office. You can also re-use those that have been sent to you. Sometimes I use small boxes from jewelry or from cosmetics inside a padded envelope to make it sturdier. Small box for priority mail are free and if you print your labels online it’ll be cheaper and will include delivery confirmation without extra charge.

Other Considerations

Summer is really not the best time to be sending any perfumes: think about storage rooms and mail trucks. Somehow I do not think they have a climate control. If you have to send it in summer try doing it on Monday or Tuesday so that it doesn’t spend a weekend at the storage facility.

Have I forgot anything? Please share in the comments.

Happy decanting!

Images: my own.

February 28, 2012 by Undina

Know-How: Perfume Shopping in Las Vegas

Las Vegas isn’t the most obvious destination for the perfume shopping but if you happen to be there for any more suitable activity (let’s say, a trade show or a tech conference ;-)), here’s several destinations you might want to check out.

Sephora (1 on the map below – click to enlarge) next to The Venitian carries the range of usual mainstream brands.

Barneys (2) at The Venetian has a nice selection of niche brands: Acqua Di Pharma, Antonia’s Flowers, Arquiste, Bois 1920, Byredo, Carthusia, Cereus, Comme de Garcons, Costume National, Escentric Molecules, Frederic Malle, Heeley, L’Artisan Perfumer, Le Labo, Les Parfums de Rosine, Nasomatto, Odin NY, Parfums Del Rae, Serge Lutens, The Different Company and Yosh.

The Palazzo Hotel (3) hosts several boutiques: Guerlain carries the range of perfumes available in the US (I wrote more about it in one of my previous posts); Dior with all perfumes from this line including La Collection Privée (a sales associate Michael was very helpful and friendly, absolutely no pushing – I can highly recommend him); Van Cleef & Arpels has just a couple of perfumes from their Collection Extraordinaire (and very beautiful jewelry). There is also Fresh store in The Palazzo.

Wynn Hotel (4) has Chanel, Dior and Hermès boutiques but I haven’t checked if they carry cosmetics/perfumes. (UPD: Chanel boutique offers the Exclusifs collection)

Right across the street from Wynn there is an enormous shopping center – Fashion Show Mall (5). I won’t list all the brands since between Dillard’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus there are not that many mainstream, high-end mainstream or niche brands missing (those that are available in the US, I mean). In Saks I came across an item unique for that location – Saks Fifth Ave. Las Vegas by Bond No. 9. It’s a super-limited edition in a bottle decorated with Swarowski crystals. There are still a couple of bottles of this perfume, launched in 2010, left in the store but once they’re gone – it’s gone (just in case there are hardcore Bond No.9 fans reading this).

Caesars Palace Forum Shops (6) while being not the best place for a perfume shopping (it’s too big for the number of perfume-related shopping destinations) but if you go there anyway, there is a handful of shops that carry perfumes: Sephora, Anthropologie (with a very limited choice of perfumes), Fresh, Agent Provocateur boutique (with their complete perfume line), Emporio Armani (with a couple (literally!) of perfumes from Armani Prive line and several mainstream perfumes) and Chanel boutique (I think I saw the Exclusifs line there). That’s it. So unless you’re really into Agent Provocateur perfumes I’d recommend skipping this part.

With a big disappointment I should advise omitting Paris Hotel (7) from your perfume shopping trip. There is a perfume shop on premises but let me put it this way: it makes any of the nearby Sephora stores look like Les Salons du Palais Royale.

Planet Hollywood (8) has a shopping mall inside – you can ignore it, there isn’t much going there perfume-wise.

Skins 6|2 at The Cosmopolitan (9) has an assortment of niche brands: Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Serge Lutens (limited selection), Diptyque, By Killian, Juliette Has A Gun, Tokyo Milk, Creed (limited selection).

Crystals at City Center (10) – a new and, in my opinion, strange shopping center with sparse boutiques dispersed over an enormous building. For perfumes check out Hermès (Hermessence), Tom Ford, Van Cleef & Arpels (Collection Extraordinaire) and Prada (Exclusive collection).

It doesn’t matter in how great physical shape you are you will walk yourself to half-death if you do not plan your route carefully. Hotels and shopping malls in Las Vegas are huge, each hotel tries hard to take you from point A to point B through the point C (casino) which is understandable, that’s how they’re making money. So do not just wander around hoping to come across a store eventually, check maps/directories and choose the shortest path.

Images: my own.

August 8, 2011 by Undina

Know-how: Storing Your Perfume Samples

At some point my life was simpler: I had my perfumes in original bottles (and most of them in original boxes); samples that I owned were manufacturers’ ones, easy to store in those paper jackets and all fifteen or twenty of those could easily fit into a single drawer. And then it all started: ordering samples from the usual suspects, getting them at Nordstrom and swapping with other perfume addic enthusiasts…

While I was ordering samples or getting them only for those perfumes about which I knew, I could still keep a track of them and remember where I had what, which perfumes I’d tried and which I hadn’t. But then with some batch purchases, extras from swaps, random drawing winnings and my own decanting for traveling my samples box kept filling up and I didn’t feel in control any more. Everything that I got to wear would still be entered into the database and accounted for but many samples were ignored for months just because I forgot I had them or I couldn’t find them fast enough when I wanted to test one of them. It’s not easy to find the one 1 ml vial in a pile of a hundred of those, is it?

Using ammo boxes for the storage wasn’t my idea: I read about it on one of the blogs (NST, I think) in the topic on the perfume storage. But when I tried to look into that option I found quickly that I had no idea which size I needed. So I dropped the idea for a while. And then I realized I had a friend who was a member of a gun club. I brought him vials of the most common sizes and he helped me to choose the correct box size.

Last week instead of testing new perfumes, writing about them or reading your blog entries the day they were published (I got to most of them eventually), I was organizing my samples. At some point I might change the way I sort them and do it by note, perfumer or type, but for now I’ve just organized them by size first, then by brand and then by name. On the picture above, box on the left (B1) can hold fifty 1 ml short vials or 1.5 ml dab and spray vials or skinny 2 ml dab and spray vials. Box on the right (B2) can hold fifty wider 2 ml spray vials or 2.5 ml spray vials or, I’m not sure about the size, standard Nordstrom sample plastic spray vials.

My cat Rusty thought I went through the exercise just to empty the nice box for him to use – which he did immediately after I vacated it. Well, he tried to play The Prince(ss) and The Pea even before I took the last vial out of it but I didn’t allow him. Once he got in he slept there for a couple of hours. And then I reclaimed it for the next batch of samples that will be in there soon, I’m positive.

If you want to use that solution, here are links to the sizes of boxes I use:

B1: 50 ct (the one on my picture is this one, but my friend says it’s the same one), 100 ct.

B2: 50 ct, (100 ct)

I plan to investigate a proper size for 3-5 ml spray vials and when I find those I’ll post an update.

How do you store 8-10 ml decants in tall bottles that aren’t too stable on their own?

As always, feel free to post a link to your blog’s post(s) related to the topic.

Images: my own

July 17, 2011 by Undina

Coffee anyone?

I saw reports on the new research published by a Beloit College professor and two of her students that suggests that sniffing coffee beans isn’t more effective than using lemon or just fresh air for the purpose of “resetting” one’s nose in between sniffing different perfumes.

Fragrance sellers often provide coffee beans to their customers as a “nasal palate cleanser,” to reduce the effects of olfactory adaptation and habituation. To test this idea, college students smelled three fragrances multiple times, rating odors each time. After completing nine trials, participants sniffed coffee beans, lemon slices, or plain air. Participants then indicated which of four presented fragrances had not been previously smelled. Coffee beans did not yield better performance than lemon slices or air.

I haven’t read the full article (I was curious but sorry, I have a better use for $32 than to buy a 24 hours access), but when I read at the Perfume Shrine:

“Fragrance sellers,” they suggest, “may wish to reconsider the practice of providing coffee beans to their customers.”

it made me think. In my opinion, the professor is wrong. Not in her findings (I assume they knew what they were doing and those results aren’t less accurate than results of any such studies) but in her conclusions.

I think that department stores should not only keep providing those jars with coffee beans but come up with the additional/alternative “cleansing” objects (glasses with cucumber water? Charcoal in some form? Baking soda?) If you focus on what is really important for those big stores (I’m not talking about small specialized shops where owners and staff are focusing on a repeating business from happy and because of that loyal customers), you’ll agree that sniffing something offered to you by an SA is much more efficient than allowing you to sniff air. While results are practically the same (please notice that the researchers do not say sniffing coffee impedes getting the right impression from a fragrance or that this approach is inferior to sniffing air), chances a customer will walk away without making a purchase are higher if an SA lets him/her to “break a contact”, pause, think, breathe… And since customers’ retention isn’t a real priority for perfume counters in department stores (an average consumer will most likely use up whatever they bought and then come back for the next Eau du Jour), car seller approach with an uninterrupted contact should work the best.

As for us, more or less seasoned perfumistas, – we all have our own tricks and methods. My approach is trying not to test more than 6-7 perfumes in one store visit. What about you?

How do you deal with an olfactory fatigue?

Image: my own

Undina's Looking Glass

Perfumed Reflections of Life

Know-How

Have Perfume Atomizer – Will Travel

Olfactif: Yay or Nay?

Know-how: Decanting, Labeling, Packing and Shipping

Know-How: Perfume Shopping in Las Vegas

Know-how: Storing Your Perfume Samples

Coffee anyone?

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