Smelling perfumes at a store and then getting a sample to decide if we want more, or ordering a sample of a perfume we got curious about, is the regular route new perfumes take to join our collections. But sometimes perfume or beauty orders come with samples we didn’t choose ourselves. This week’s question is about those samples.

Saturday Question #279:

Have You Ever Bought a Perfume from a Surprise Sample?

Would you have tried it if it hadn’t been sent to you? Do you still have that perfume?

My Answer

I came up with this question earlier this week while unpacking a package from Sephora.

The main reason I order online instead of going to the store just a 10-minutes drive from where I live is that I can choose a couple of samples with any order and get another larger sample with a minimum purchase. Had they made it easy to do the same in store, I would have saved them money on delivery and gone to the mall. But since they don’t, I order online. The samples that I choose are always skincare or makeup. I haven’t done an exact count, but it feels like in one out of two orders they substitute the requested sample with a perfume sample. And I don’t like when that happens: I just don’t know what to do with those mass-market perfumes. I try them when they arrive even though I know that I won’t like them. I don’t. And after that, they just sit in my drawer. Unlike a lotion that I can use on my hands or feet if I don’t want to apply it to my face or a makeup sample that is a one-use packet that I’ll try and forget, there’s no use for perfumes I don’t like. But it’s hard to throw away a full sample.

Mentally going through all the years and samples, I can think of a single perfume that fits that question – a long-discontinued Tiempe Passate by Antonia’s Flowers. As I described in the post My First Niche Perfume: Tiempe Passate by Antonia’s Flowers, I got a sample of this perfume with another purchase at a store that didn’t even carry it. So if it weren’t for that random sample, I might never have tried it. I still have that bottle and wear this perfume from time to time.

How about you?

Have You Ever Bought a Perfume from a Surprise Sample?

I planned to ask this question last week, but since I was traveling for the said occasion, my schedule got too hectic, and I didn’t even open my laptop to publish this SQ. But now I know the answer to my question without any hypothetical guessing.

Saturday Question #278:

What Perfume Would You Wear As A Wedding Guest Today?

Consider your current weather, what you would wear and any other imaginary circumstances of attending a wedding tomorrow and choose one of your favorites to scent that joyful event.

My Answer

Until the day I started packing for the trip, I was sure that I would be wearing one of my top 3 all-time favorites, Ormonde Jayne Ta’if. But at the last moment, I went with Armani Prive La Femme Bleue – a choice that felt as elegant as my navy-black gown and just as appropriate for the occasion.

I didn’t abandon my beloved Ta’if, though, and wore it to the rehearsal dinner, together with the brick rose/red silk blouse.

Perhaps it wasn’t me choosing perfumes at all, but my outfits whispering their own picks.

View from the wedding venue

How about you?

What Perfume Would You Wear As A Wedding Guest Today?

Both languages I grew up with were inflected and had a three-way noun-class system – or, simply put, gendered. When I started learning English, it took me a while to get used to calling all inanimate objects “it,” unless, of course, we were talking about ships, other vehicles or abstract concepts like Fortune or Justice.

Over the decades, it became second nature, and I stopped even thinking about a pen being “she” or a pencil being “he.” That is, until recently, when I noticed a trend on YouTube beauty channels: more and more often, creators refer to products with “she,” as in “She is gorgeous!” or “Just look how glowy she is!” while talking about lipsticks, eyeshadows or blushes. It still sounds unnatural to me, but what do I know?

Saturday Question #277:

What Are Your Perfumes’ Pronouns?

When you think about perfumes, what pronoun do you use?

My Answer

In my native language, the situation was slightly illogical. The word духи (dukhi), a native Slavic word with deep etymology that referred to women’s perfume, existed only in the plural – and therefore had no grammatical gender. That didn’t stop everyone from understanding that the product was strictly feminine.

The masculine counterpart, одеколон (odekolon), meaning cologne, was grammatically masculine and, unsurprisingly, intended for men. Interestingly, that word was a loan from French (eau de Cologne), adapted phonetically.

Years of talking, writing, and thinking about perfume in English have taught me that fragrances are genderless usage-wise and definitely inanimate grammatically. So for me, even my absolute favorites, the ones I adore and never want to be without, will always be “it” (in every sense of the word).

How about you?

What Are Your Perfumes’ Pronouns?

Recently, I eased up on my “low-buy” mode and bought a number of perfume samples. I’m still in the process of testing them, and we’ll see if it turns into a post at some point. But as I was adding them to my database, I realized that some of those classified as “woody” didn’t smell woody to me. Neither did many others in my collection formally labeled as “Woody” or “Woody Musk,” according to Fragrantica. So, take this question in any way you like.

Saturday Question #276:

What Are Your Top 5 Woody Perfumes?

You can name perfumes that officially fall under the classification, whether or not you think they smell woody. Or you can go with what your nose tells you, regardless of classification. Or even pick based on the name of your favorite perfumes.

My Answer

I tried to combine two conditions – classification and how I perceive them. And all I could come up with from my fragrance wardrobe were the following three:

• Escentric Molecules Molecule 01
• Sarah Jessica Parker Stash
• Serge Lutens Santal Majuscule (though I almost finished this decant, so it’s down to two)
  

So it seems I am not the biggest fan of wood-smelling perfumes. But then I realized my vSO’s collection is much more wood-oriented. And since I chose most of those for him, it means that I do love these scents – just not on myself. So I easily chose my top 5 favorite woody perfumes for my vSO:

• Hermès Rocabar & Terre d’Hermès
• Diptyque Tam Dao
• Puredistance BLACK
• Tom Ford Oud Wood (this one checks all three “wood” boxes!)

Now it’s your turn.

What Are Your Top 5 Woody Perfumes?

A couple of days ago I came across an IG post about a giveaway dedicated to the celebration of 20 years of Tauer Perfumes. A bottle of the very first batch of L’Air du Désert Marocain. I didn’t plan to enter since I barely made a dent in my 12 years old travel bottle. So, I opened the post just to “comment for better reach” for the post. And that’s when I saw the part about the winner having to pay $200 to cover shipping of “dangerous goods.” The current version of the LDDM bottle is $155 with a free shipping in the US (and some other countries as well). So, if you were to win the vintage bottle, you’d end up paying at least $45 more (and maybe more since you will be also responsible for any local taxes and duties).

Saturday Question #275:

Would You Pay $200 For the First Batch Bottle of LDDM?

I mean, if it weren’t a giveaway but you would be given a chance to buy that bottle for the stated price – would you? BTW, in parallel, there is an auction for the second bottle. The current bid is nearing $3K (50% of the final bid will go to a charity).

And a bonus question: Do you have a favorite perfume from this brand?

My Answer

While I am not in the market for this perfume, I like it and think that with the quality of Tauer’s perfumes, it is worth its $155, $200 and probably more. So, if I didn’t have my travel bottle and was offered a $200, maybe even $300 bottle of that first batch, I would have jumped at the opportunity.

Had the brand decided to auction out two bottles, I would have promoted that post and cheered for the brand and its anniversary. But I am appalled by that $200 shipping fee for the winner. I couldn’t immediately pinpoint why but I felt that it rubbed me the wrong way.

Giveaway is a giveaway. It allows anyone to throw their hat in the ring and get lucky. In this case, not only participants had to like, follow, tag and wax poetical about that perfume (kind of expected), but also be prepared to pay more than for the current version in case they “win.” It doesn’t feel right.

Andy put a lot of efforts in explaining who cannot participate, what will disqualify participants, how quickly they will have to respond, etc. Ironically, he didn’t mention that perfume is still in good shape. He didn’t explain what is so special about it – other than that it was the first batch produced 20 years ago. Has he changed the formula since then? Are these two the last bottles available? I asked in the comment why these vintage bottles were in newer boxes (in the video, he stressed out that they were “cellophaned”) and not in original pentagonal tins – he didn’t answer. Also, he didn’t explain how the “lucky winner” will be contacted. So, with the stated $200 price tag and a looming 24 hours response deadline I expect a certain number of scam “winning” messages.

In addition to LDDM, I really like Phi, Une Rose Vermeille and When We Cuddle…  And even though more of Andy’s perfumes do not work for me than do, I always had positive feelings for the brand (I even named it as my favorite indie brand in one of the SQ posts several years ago). I’ve never met the perfumer, but heard more than once that those who did considered him kind and gracious person. The way it reads to me now: Andy considers social networks as necessary but evil. He wants and needs the outreach they provide his brand and doesn’t trust most of the followers at the same time. It is sad. I hope that in the end, after he used that $200 deterrent to discourage idle “scrollers” from polluting the giveaway, he’ll decide to use some of the proceeds from the auction for the second bottle to cover the delivery for the person who wins the giveaway. That would be the right thing to do.

Would You Pay $200 For the First Batch Bottle of LDDM?