We all periodically complain about high perfume prices. Sometimes, it’s not a general “too expensive” but “too expensive for me” or “isn’t worth the price.” But probably we would be tempted by a deeply discounted “too expensive” reject. Unless, of course, we are on a circumstantial or self-imposed “no-buys.” In general, we all like a good deal and would rather pay less than more. But stepping away from all that and not considering your financial situation at this time…

Saturday Question #189:

What Do You Consider a Fair Price for Niche Perfume?

Creating, producing, packaging and selling perfumes cost money. It is a business, and we don’t think brands/perfumers should do it out of altruism. But what do you think is a fair price for, let’s say, a 50 ml bottle of good niche perfume?

You might not have even $20 for discretionary spending now, you might not be buying any more perfume, period, or your budget might easily fit a real bespoke perfume – it doesn’t matter, it’s not about buying. The question is about your perception of a fair price, not what you’d pay for perfume you love or like.

My Answer

I think my threshold for a 50 ml bottle of niche perfume is about $200. How did I arrive at this number? If Andy Tauer, Hiram Green and Ormonde Jayne whose perfumes I like and who I trust use good ingredients can do that and stay in business, I don’t see why others wouldn’t be able to do the same.

It doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t buy more expensive perfumes (when I’m back to buying), and on a case-by-case basis, I might consider justifiable a higher price for perfumes with the most expensive ingredients (e.g., iris, ambergris or agarwood), but as a rule, anything above $200/50 ml seems greedy.

How about you?

What Do You Consider a Fair Price for Niche Perfume?

Three days ago, I got an email from one of the online perfumeries advertising a new limited edition from Creed – “The pinnacle of the Creed legend – The New Absolu Aventus.” A funny part was that they misspelled the name in the subject line and then three more times in the body of the email. They called it “Absolue Adventus” – and that was what actually caught my attention. Since Advent Calendars (of beauty, fragrance and food types) were recently on my mind, I didn’t realize initially that it was a typo and seriously considered that Creed decided to release a limited edition with a season-appropriate name. Another interesting point about that release:

To insure (sic.) its meticulous craftsmanship and presentation, Creed has requested no samples, sampling on blotters or testers on display. Rather, our sales staff is available to provide you with a personal presentation and spritz on your skin for your discovery of this amazing Absolu Aventus.

The quote is from the same email, but I saw similar information elsewhere. Combined with a high even by Creed’s standards price ($545 for 75 ml), this seems like a serious commitment, which I imagine might come only from love for the original perfume. (I’m not counting those who treat it as an investment hoping to resell it for a higher price later or to split it for profit.) And that’s how I arrived at today’s question.

Saturday Question #188:

Have You Ever Tried Creed Aventus?

Do you know how it smells? Would you recognize it if you were to smell it blind? Do you like this perfume? Do you own it? Are you curious about that limited edition?

My Answer

I know that I smelled it at least once. I have a record in my database that I thought it was too masculine for my liking. And I didn’t like it enough to seek it out for my vSO. But I don’t think I would recognize it had I smelled it “in the wild,” and I don’t understand the hype around it. But maybe I smelled a “wrong batch”?

If I happen to be at a store that carried Creed, and they still have Absolu Aventus, if they do not allow testing on paper, I will use my vSO as a human blotter to try it – just out of curiosity and not because I think I’ll like it. But I won’t even try to go to such a store just for that.

How about you?

Have You Ever Tried Creed Aventus?

Initially, I planned to ask about a new brand you discovered, but then I thought that since, with hundreds of brands out there, finding a new brand became less novel than it used to be 10 years ago, we mostly stopped being interested in brands’ stories. So, the question is about the brand that you haven’t tried before – be it a newly hatched or a well-established one.

Saturday Question #187:

What Was The Last Brand You Discovered?

Were you seeking it out or just came across their perfume(s)? Did you like what you tried? Did/will you add anything from that brand to your collection?

My Answer

These days, new (for me) brands rarely cross my path since I rarely visit stores that carry unusual/rare lines. And even when I do, there are so many perfumes from the brands I know that I haven’t tried that I usually do not have any energy left for discovering gems in the rough. Even when I go to high-end department stores, I rarely stop to try any brand I do not recognize: everything seems to be smelling like everything else and not worth engaging in the usual “dances” with an SA (“What type of perfumes do you like?”, “This is our most popular fragrance!”, etc.).

Mind Games attracted me with their bottles. There is something very appealing in chess pieces-themed bottles, though, it’s a dead end for the line since it’s limited by the number of different pieces. Unless, of course, they decide to create perfumes for each piece on the board (though, at this point, they chose not to use a pawn as an inspiration, even for a single perfume).

Our local Neiman Marcus didn’t carry all 10 perfumes in the line, but I tested 6 and even got samples to take home. What do I think about this collection? They are fine. Not good. Not bad. I thought that a couple was more interesting than the others, but in the end, I wasn’t impressed enough even to do a designated post about them. If, at some point, one of the decanters that I follow were to offer Gardez (pepper, spice, jasmine, orris, fruits, leather and wood), I would probably get a decant. The rest – I don’t think I’ll even finish the samples. But if anyone in the US is interested, Scentbird has 5 out of 10 perfumes from this line.

How about you?

What Was The Last Brand You Discovered?

My dear friends and readers, I know I’m slightly behind in responding to your comments. I want you to know that even though I do not always answer in a timely manner, I read all the comments the same day you leave them. And, as a rule, I get to them eventually – so, if you don’t subscribe to notifications, please check back in a week or so.

Saturday Question #186:

Do You Compliment Others On Their Perfume?

Do you tell your friends, relatives or loved ones that you like how they smell? How about co-workers, neighbors and other acquaintances? Do you ever compliment strangers?

My Answer

A short answer would be: Yes.

Not too many of the people I know personally wear perfumes. But whenever they do, I always notice and tell them if I like what I smell (and then sometimes the game “Can you tell what I’m wearing?” ensues).

In the office environment (while we still were coming daily to the same place to work), it was extremely rare to smell anything from co-workers or other people in the same office building. So, whenever I smelled anything, my knee-jerk reaction was to say something nice – just to acknowledge my appreciation of the fact that somebody was applying perfume. I think people react similarly to seeing a bright-colored blouse or statement jewelry piece: they compliment it not necessarily because they like it (and not even to be nice), but because they noticed it, and it was an easy thing to do… And then one day I stopped myself because I realized that I might be encouraging a person to keep wearing perfume I didn’t like. But unlike somebody else’s blouse that might not please you aesthetically but doesn’t really affect you, a scent that you do not like might be quite bothering… From that time, I would compliment someone only if I liked what I smelled and not the idea that I could smell something instead of the usual scentless sterility.

Whenever I smell something that I like on a complete stranger, if the situation permits, I do express my delight. And usually people like it. Annoyingly, on a couple of occasions recently I couldn’t figure out who to compliment: I looked around and even followed a couple of people in a store but didn’t find a person leaving that great sillage. Of course, I was annoyed not because I missed a conversation with a stranger, but because I really wanted to know what they were wearing.

How about you?

Do You Compliment Others On Their Perfume?

Fall is filled with many delightful aromas – the earthy smell of fallen leaves, cozy wood smoke, tart smell of ripe apples, warm, comforting fragrances of cinnamon-spiced apple pies, mulled cider, and roasted chestnuts. These combined scents create a harmonious symphony that captures the essence of autumn, making it a season rich in olfactory delights.

Saturday Question #185:

What Are Your Favorite Fall Scents?

What are natural aromas or smells from seasonal food and drinks that makes Autumn especially joyful? Do you like those smells as perfume notes? Do you have any perfumes with those notes? Are there any perfumes that you associate with that time of the year even though they don’t feature any fall-related notes?

My Answer

As a scent, I really like freshly fallen autumnal leaves – dry and slightly dusty rather than wet and decayed. Both the sound and the smell of crumbling leaves under my feet bring undefined nostalgic feelings. But it is not a scent I would like to either wear or have as an ambient scent in my home.

Fall aroma that found its way into my perfume wardrobe is a scent of pears. Unlike it is with many other fruits, pear note in perfumes are rarely dominant. But whatever this element contributes to perfumes, makes me like them. Looking through my database, I realized that I tried and liked at least 20 perfumes with that note (and own some of them). But one that comes to mind first is English Pear & Freesia by Jo Malone. I’ve been wearing it almost since its release in 2010, and I still enjoy it. And now I’m curious to try their new English Pear & Sweet Pea Cologne.

How about you?

What Are Your Favorite Fall Scents?

I need a vacation! All my thoughts are about a vacation. So, let’s talk about perfumes on vacations.

Saturday Question #182:

What Perfumes Would You Take To A Tropical Vacation?

Imagine this: tomorrow you’re going for a week-long vacation at some lovely tropical destination. You have checked-in luggage, so you can bring full bottles, travel/mini bottles, decants, or even samples – anything goes (I mean, flies). Which of your perfumes would you bring?

OK, the “vacation” part is theoretical – you might not even like tropical vacations. But the “perfume” part should be real: we’re not thinking about ideal perfumes for that vacation or something that you think would be nice to have and try there. Instead, we are looking at our collections to pick the most appropriate set to bring with us should we get unexpectedly invited on such a vacation tomorrow.

My Answer

As I said, I need a vacation. I need a vacation to wear my perfumes. The combination of different reasons (though nothing too dramatic, in case anyone would be worried) resulted in me skipping wearing perfumes for days. Not because I didn’t want to wear any, but because I didn’t have any energy to spend on figuring out the right scent for the day – and having a “wrong” one felt like an additional insult, so it felt safer not to make any decisions. I still did some testing (with my usual 1 to 10 ratio of “like” to “meh”), but I miss wearing perfumes. And a tropical vacation is a perfect way to address the issue.

It is perfect not only because I enjoy spending time in the tropics (Hawaii, in my case), but also because over the years and trips, I collected a perfect set of perfumes that for me epitomizes Hawaiian vacation.

I know that I mentioned many of these more than once (in each report on my previous vacations and then some). But if even I couldn’t remember all of them without peaking at those posts when, a couple of days ago, I started fantasizing about my tropical perfume wardrobe, I will do it again:

1. Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess (in the last 15 years, a full bottle accompanied me on each of my visits to Hawaii)
2. Ormonde Jayne Tiare and Frangipany
3. Yosh Ginger Ciao
4. Byredo Pulp and Bal D’Afrique
5. Parfums DelRae Bois de Paradise
6. L’Artisan Parfumeur Traversee du Bosphore
7. Serge Lutens La Dompteuse Encagée
8. Moroccanoil Brumes du Maroc

One more perfume that is not Hawaii-specific but the one that always travels with me everywhere is Diptyque Volutes – my vSO’s and mine shared perfume for planes (I decant it in a tiny roller bottle, and we use it sparingly not to disturb fellow passengers).

Now the only question is… Do I need the second checked-in suitcase?

How about you?

What Perfumes Would You Take To A Tropical Vacation?

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?

Do You Ever Wear or Test Unlabeled Perfumes?