While talking about oil-based perfumes last week, we confirmed once again that most respondents preferred spraying their perfumes. So, this week’s SQ is about spray atomizers (and some ranting).

Saturday Question #232:

What Brand Has The Best Atomizer?

Do you even think in these categories? If yes, what aspects of that distribution mechanism are the most important to you? Fineness of the mist? Spray distribution? Pressure sensitivity? Durability? Leak/evaporation prevention? Design? Something else?

My Answer

For a long time I didn’t even think about this part of the perfume bottle: as long as it worked, I didn’t notice anything else. Later, I started paying more attention to aesthetics and started noticing that some atomizers complemented the design of the bottle (think about Mugler‘s Angel). And then I bought my first bottle of Chanel. I still remember that first “Wow!” moment of realization of how incredibly smooth was the action, how amazingly fine was the burst of Coco from that beautiful bottle and how well-made the atomizer looked.

I am sure that my collection has many other perfumes with good atomizers. But all these years, every time I used one of my favorite Chanel perfumes, I would again and again mentally pay tribute to this iconic brand for the pleasure I felt gently pressing the nozzle and getting an evenly distributed finest mist exactly where I planned to apply it.

So, until very recently, I would have answered “Chanel” without thinking twice. What has changed? I gave up and bought a limited edition bottle of No 5 L’Eau. On the positive side: I like this perfume and will enjoy wearing it. And a friend got it for me in the duty-free in Paris, so the price was quite right. On the negative side… First of all, while that egg-shaped bottle (I’m not sure whose idea was that it’s a “drop”!) is pleasing to look at, it is extremely awkward when you try opening it. I even thought that my bottle was defective, or that I clever enough to solve the puzzle that held that cap in place. Nope. It was just hard to grip the cap firmly enough to apply the necessary force. I managed to do it eventually, but since then I struggle with it every time. But what upset me even more was the atomizer. It is not bad by any measure. It works. It doesn’t leak. It distributes perfume evenly without spewing. But it doesn’t have that…  je ne sais quoi, so to speak, that made Chanel atomizers special. And it is sad because I don’t think it happened for any good reason but in the name of greed – in order for some executive to smugly report up-the-chain that they saved 25 cents per bottle without anyone even noticing the difference. I noticed. So, while for now I’ll keep the highest spot for my older Chanel bottles (as recent as Paris – Venise they were still superb), I will start taking notice of how my other favorites’ pumps work.

And I welcome your thoughts on which brands deserve praise.

What Brand Has The Best Atomizer?