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?

Now that I know how many of my readers perceive the acronym B&M, I’m being cautious and spelling it out.

Saturday Question #179:

What Is Your Favorite Local Brick-and-Mortar Perfume Store?

The question is not about Harrods or Luckyscent (unless you live nearby and visit them at least a couple of times a year). I’m curious about your local “go-to” place. Where do you go to smell something new without paying for it? It doesn’t have to be a niche store, but just any place where you know you’ll try something you haven’t tried before.

Do you ever buy perfumes there?

My Answer

For many years, Barney’s San Francisco was that place for me. They carried many niche brands that weren’t available elsewhere – Serge Lutens, L’Artisan, Le Labo, Frederic Malle and many others. After its closing, Neiman Marcus in San Francisco became my favorite: they didn’t have that many niche brands, but they carried many “boutique” lines for Guerlain and Dior, as well as some other popular brands – Memo, Acqua di Parma, Perris Monte Carlo and others. These are not my favorite brands, so even though the Neiman Marcus store that is closer to me doesn’t carry the same variety of brands, a shorter trip combined with free parking made it a more appealing option.

But this week, I discovered a new favorite: ZGO Perfumery in San Francisco. I knew about that store for years and even bought some samples and Mariage Freres teas from them, but I’ve never visited it before. But earlier this week, I decided to investigate that store when I took a day off to run some errands in San Francisco that couldn’t be done over a weekend.

I loved it! A welcoming atmosphere, friendly salespeople and a wide selection of niche brands. It was a slow day, and I spent there more than an hour figuring out first what I wanted to smell on paper and then which samples I wanted to buy. I chatted with two sales assistants (not at the same time) – they were, as I said, friendly, knowledgeable and absolutely not pushy. I went through dozens (if not hundreds) of perfume bottles, carefully deciding which ones would get a nozzle sniff, which would make their way onto a paper strip, and which remain in place getting just a glance.

While from their website you can buy any number of samples, in the store they usually allow 3 samples ($5 for a 1 ml spray sample). But an above-mentioned slow day and all that, so I left with 5 samples of perfumes that I liked enough to want to try on my skin (and pay for it). I will do a separate post about them once I spend time wearing each one, but in general, I think it was a successful trip (and the parking, if you can find it, is free, which feels like a special treat when you visit San Francisco). The one that I decided to wear from the tester bottle instead of asking to buy one more sample was Atelier Materi Iris Ebene. It was a big mistake! I liked it a lot. So now I’ll have to get a sample of it anyway!

I rarely buy perfumes from brick-and-mortar stores because I rarely feel the urge to buy something on the spot. And when I know what I want, I usually try to find, if not a deal, then at least a GWP or some other incentive to spend money. But if I am ever on the market for a brand that doesn’t do sales, I will definitely go to ZGO Perfumery.

How about you?

What Is Your Favorite Local Brick-and-Mortar Perfume Store?

When I recently got an email from Luckyscent that highlighted the new BDK‘s creation – a laundry detergent – I thought about doing a post about it. But as I started putting my thoughts “on paper,” I realized I didn’t have enough to stretch it to a full post, so I decided to discuss it with you as a Saturday Question.

Saturday Question #178:

What Do You Think About Fragrant Functional Products?

It’s not about unscented/scent-free products versus scented ones. I’m asking rather about products that smell like perfumes – either existing ones or abstract scents, as with this laundry detergent.

Do you like the idea? Have you used any? Would you like to try any?

A bonus question: What laundry detergent do you use?

My Answer

Almost a decade ago (time flies!) I published a post Know-how [not to]: Freshen up a linen closet, in which I told a story of how using a perfume-soaked envelope (an unfortunate mailing incident) as a linen closet freshener had almost put me off my favorite Le Labo Rose 31. So, from that time, I never even considered using any of my favorite scents for anything other than their direct purpose.

In the case of this laundry detergent by BDK, Eau de Lessive (Laundry Water?), they didn’t cannibalize any of their scents but instead created a unique composition for this product. Top: Lavender, Bergamot from Italy, Lemon from Italy, Yellow mandarin from Japan, Red Thyme, Cardamom from India, Pepper mint, Nutmeg, CO2 of pink berries; heart: Small grain of Paraguay, Blue Ginger, Cassis, White flowers; base: Ambroxan, Vetiver from Haiti, Benzoin of Siam and White Musks.

Not every perfume has that extensive list of notes; this product might smell great. But the idea of having all my laundry to smell of any specific aroma just doesn’t seem appealing. Additionally, a laundry detergent costing about half of what one might splurge on a high-end shampoo seems too extravagant. I could have considered a smaller bottle intended for hand wash (though, I’m not sure I have enough lingerie that I would be regularly washing manually), but a €35/$36 liter of a detergent intended for a washing machine… It makes me think of that DirecTV commercial “Opulence, I has it.”

But what do I know? It is sold out within less than a week and on backorder at Luckyscent. On the positive side, this is one of the perfume-related products that a perfumista will be able to use up.

I prefer laundry detergents without any scent. For a long time, I used Seventh Generation Free & Clear. It didn’t smell of anything. But I had to stop using it because of the smell. The smell of my clothes 3-4 months after washing that was (e.g., if I were to launder something and put it away because of a season change). It seems that detergent stayed on the clothes and started disintegrated after a while. Now I wash my clothes with Tide Free & Gentle. It keeps my laundry scent-free and allows me to perfume my things with whatever scent I choose, whenever I choose.

What Do You Think About Fragrant Functional Products?

I’m calling all your lemmings!

Saturday Question #176:

Do You Have Any Perfumes on Your “To Try” List?

Let’s be realistic: it’s not a hypothetical question that calls for something like “original Daim Blond” or “pre-reformulation EL Private Collection.” But are there any currently available perfumes that you haven’t tried yet but would like to?

My Answer

In the last couple of years, I rarely feel an urge to try anything specific. I do still enjoy trying new (for me) things, but I rarely care for anything specific – and even less so if I’d need to pay for a sample.

So, I don’t have a formal “to try” list now. But if I think about it, I can come up with several perfumes I am curious about: several recent releases from Amouage – Guidance, Lineage, Purpose and Search (though, I’m not sure I like the names), Armani Magenta Tanzanite (though I wasn’t a huge fan of the previous “stones” in the collection) and Ormonde Jayne Sakura and Fearless (and while I am at it, any other new perfumes OJ released in the last 2 years).

How about you?

Do You Have Any Perfumes on Your “To Try” List?

I’m running late this week, so it’s more like a Sunday Question, but I decided to keep the title.

Saturday Question #174:

How Many Chances do You Give Perfumes You didn’t Like?

If you have a sample in your possession, tried it and didn’t like – what do you do? Do you try it again? How many times? What do you do with those samples after that?

My Answer

I’m a sample hoarder. Which wouldn’t have been that bad on its own since most of my samples are tiny (so, I don’t waste too much of perfumes), but unfortunately, I keep testing them again and again. There are two scenarios, and I don’t even know which one is more frustrating.

In some cases, I can’t believe that I didn’t like that perfume (on the previous dozen of occasions!) and think that maybe this time… But even more often I just don’t remember what I thought about that sample and instead of checking my database (as any sane person would do), I decide to try it again. Only recently, I started setting aside those samples that I decided I shouldn’t test any longer – if I don’t forget, of course. I need to learn to be more ruthless and save my testing time for those perfumes that have any potential either for wearing or at least for becoming a part of a story.

How about you?

How Many Chances do You Give Perfumes You didn’t Like?