Undina: Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

This week your host is hajusuuri.

Saturday Question #7:

How Do You Sample Perfumes New to You?

With so many perfume launches and buzz about both new and old perfumes, how do you actually get to sample them?

My Answer

For the past several years, including this year, companies have been launching multiple perfumes in one shot. In just the last two weeks, and only relying on Now Smell This (NST) for perfume news, there were launches for 2 (Louis Vuitton), 3 (Memo Paris) and 9 (Givenchy). Interspersed with these multi-national companies with relatively large marketing budgets, there are also many niche and indie brands that tend to rely on social media such as Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, among others. Coupled with new perfumes, there are older perfumes that one may not have caught up with as yet. It is, therefore, not surprising to feel like Sisyphus in trying to keep up with perfume!

I narrow down perfumes I like to try by paying attention to what my favorite bloggers, NST commenters and Instagrammers I follow wear, as long as there’s a description that excites me. With a shorter list, here’s how I get to sample them:

1. Working in New York City, I have access to higher end department stores, boutiques and niche perfumeries. I breeze through and sniff as many perfumes as possible (via scent strips) and beg for samples. (NB: This is currently not possible to do since all the non-essential stores are closed and I am also working from home in New Jersey.)
2. Participate in swaps and splits.
3. If I happen to buy perfumes online, I include a notation as to which other perfumes I would like to sample. Tip: Always add one or two more on the list than the number of samples you are entitled to; more than half of the time, the seller will include extras.
4. Purchase a niche / indie perfume subscription service. My favorite one is the Scented Subscription Program at Indigo Perfumery. Every month, I get 3 atomizer samples, along with a newsletter with information about 2 of the perfumes and a write up on a perfumery note. There’s also a discount on a full bottle purchase of the featured perfume, as well as a chance to win a full bottle if you guess the mystery sample correctly. Although the monthly samples may not necessarily include the perfumes I am keen to try, every set ends up being a curated set of perfumes worth sampling.
5. And not for the faint of heart — Buy a large “sample,” sometimes referred to as a hajusuuri-sized sample.

How about you? If we get to 100 comments, there will be a prize: a random draw for a $25 gift certificate to (your choice) either Indigo Perfumery or Surrender to Chance (not affiliated with either).

How Do You Sample Perfumes New to You?

Images: hajusuuri’s Scented subscription program samples, October 2019 – March 2020.

Disclaimer: this blog doesn’t use any affiliated links or benefit from any of the G-d awful ads that some of you might see inserted tastelessly by the WP engine inside the post and/or between comments. Encouraging readers to post more comments does not serve any purpose other then getting pleasure from communicating with people who share same interests.