An Italian company, Omnia Profumo, has four new scents that are now available at Luckyscent. $135 for 125 ml, which is a better price point than most lines are coming in with recently, so I’m greatly encouraged before I even sniff them. It occurs to me that the higher the price point on the perfume, the higher the expectation is. So if they are at $1 a ml’ish range, I’m happy to just let them be perfume and not works of art. Price prejudice? Sure. We all expect more from a Laboutin shoe than from a no-name brand shoe we picked up at Nordstrom’s on sale.
Ambra has notes of Orange, bergamot, geranium, incense, lavender, patchouli, vanilla, labdanum, opoponax, amber. This is a very nice, dry, incensey amber, just a little heavier on the amber on my skin than the amber, and the vanilla dusts some softness in it that keeps it from being in the way-harsh amber territory. This is one of the few ambers I can wear and wear happily.
Granato has notes of Jasmine, hawthorn, lilac, geranium, rose, gardenia, orange, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon stick, white thyme, anise, cedarwood, patchouli, sandalwood, vetiver, white musks, vanilla. This has a thymish open, which sorta fools you into thinking this is something else a little more boozish maybe, but, no, it is a rich, spicy floral that keeps shifting long into the drydown and never quite settle. Nicely complex and dark, it’s my favorite of the four by just a little
Madera has notes of Vanilla pod, caramel, Madagascar vanilla, peach blossom, wildflowers, tobacco flower, coconut, white musk. This is an amazing caramel scent, and I despise most caramel scents in perfume because they never get it quite right This one skipped over that one note that grates on my nerves, the sugary one, and lets the vanilla, muscs and peach blossom add the sweetness. It veers a little more toward the vanilla after it’s been on a while, but more in the vanilla pod category than the sugary vanilla.This one is cuddly perfection. Gourmand lovers will adore it, but it has a lot to offer anyone who likes a caramel vanilla scent.
Onice has notes of citrus, anise, lavender, licorice, peach, pineapple, rose, nutmeg, geranium, hyacinth, jasmine, ylang, mint, sandalwood, musk, cedarwood, amber. Very green on the open when I expected a lot more fruit in there. Luckyscent notes the smell of celery, which I completely agree with, it smells like very lush celery. It stays light and green wood on me, and I never really get any of the licorice, fruit or floral notes except as a soft background. It’s not my favorite of the four, but I can’t help but think that this would suit me perfectly on a hot summer day.
Overall, I liked this line and especially like that they have a reasonable price point. Granato is probably the most complex and interesting of the four on me, but I do have a yen for the caramel Madera. Let’s do a set of sample give-away on this. Just drop a comment, and I’ll draw one or two names out on Thursday as winners of the four-sample set.
Question to ponder – what do we now consider a reasonable price point per ml for perfume? Is $1 a ml still it, or are we revising upwards? Or downwards? And how much more do we expect when we’ve paid $200 for 50 mls?
These scents sound absolutely yummy! I will have to check them out! Thanks for the fabulous post!
I’ve had this site bookmarked for ages but I admit I’ve not been by in a long while…I think I can recall why when I find myself itching to buy loads of scent after reading all of two entries from you. Wittily written, tangy descriptions.
And THAT is why–after lusting for any one of these to try, I humbly ask that you cast me in with the other 70 girls and enter me in your drawing, please. I hope to goodness I get to try the Madera especially…no one’s as hung up on caramel and (a good) vanilla as I am. Here’s hoping!
In this economy, I love a lower price. I actually bought my first mainstream frag in years (thats how poor we’re feeling at my house) just to get the rush of buying perfume again and it turns out I love it. Belle en Rykial, reminds me of Shalimar in it’s first blast, and has turned out to be much more complex and enjoyable than I ever imagined.
I’d love a shot at the sampels, so throw my name in the hat, please.
Oh Madera sounds luscious!!! Please enter me in the draw!!!
$1/ml as long as I can buy decants!
Oh my goodness, I go away for the weekend and such wonderful posts to read. Please include me in the draw … thank you!
I think that 1$ per 1 ml is reasonable, although there are not many perfumes that would make me buy 100 mls.
Please enter me in the draw!
Long time reader, aspiring perfumista/addict, and first time poster *curtsies and secretly hopes someone sprays her with something divine* 🙂 My personal price point is all over the place; it mainly depends on if I like it or not, but also depends on my budget, lasting power, and the ml size — and if it’s a sample vial I *have* to have it for some reason (I have yet to finish a bottle of anything in 16 years, and I prefer minis and samples as I like to carry around a bottle to spritz myself with if my scent starts to wear off and I don’t feel as guilty if a mini or sample goes bad on me as I do with a brick of a bottle), especially if it’s free. Lately I’ve been fancying cheap thrills a la Bath and Body Works, and trying to score samples from apathetic salespeople, as at the moment I just cannot justify to myself spending much of anything on prettily-scented fluid. I guess this is just a long-winded way of trying to hide that/saying I’m a skinflint but I *love* my perfume and just wish I could afford a tenth of what’s on my wishlist 🙂 I would love to be entered in the drawing if I haven’t already missed the deadline 🙂
NP
I’d love to be in the draw, thanks.
More than $2/ml is reeeeeally pushing it for me, and unfortunately I’ve been smitten by a couple of Malles lately, which really can’t go on… L’Artisan is more my speed, feels almost like a bargain, and often makes me very happy. Just thinking about Le Labo exclusives makes me break out in hives. All that being said, I’m an ebay addict and I’d sooner wait patiently to snare a bargain there rather than overspend.
Sometimes I look at the (rare) tiny vial of an SL non-export decant for which I’ve spent $5-$6/ml and up … and I truly start thinking I should be locked in an asylum. Do we realize how small a ml of liquid is? LOL
ooh, please enter me in the drawing if I’m not too late…
As the economy tanks, wouldn’t it be nice if perfume prices declined as well. Yeah, I know, dream on. In the meantime, I would like to be entered into the drawing, plz.
I would love to be considered in the draw for these delightful fragrances. So new to me! Thank you.
😡
When I first began to investigate perfume (2002), my favorites seemed reasonably priced. I found my HG scents, bought (alas, for more than $1/ml) and continued to sample. Within the past couple of years, though, the cost of perfume has followed food’s example and gone through the roof. For $130/bottle, I expect perfection. When I begin to run low on my OJs or Malles, I whine, check exchange rates every morning and drain my bottles to the dregs.
I’m sampling the Omnias now. Nice, but sweet.
I would love to sample!! I too expect a lot out of more expensive perfumes, especially now they really have to be worth the price!
$1/ml is still too much for me unless it’s a leeeetle bottle. I appreciate the drawing!
$4/ml@ 30ml is doable. $4/ml @100ml is terrifying. I’m not against spending money on something I absolutely adore but I’m finding that adoration a bit elusive these days. One minute I’m in love, the next I’m in ‘meh’ – so I’m all about wearing out a decant until I’m sure!
Of course, it’s way less painful if it’s a bottle split. I’m still lounging around, looking for a Drama Nuui pal – that one seems to have grabbed me by the hair……..
I’d love to be entered in the drawing – perhaps lightning will strike twice:o
xoxoxox>-)
I haven’t worked my way past Madera, and yummmmmmmmmmmm…..
I tried a couple of these and liked them, but have to say I just didn’t find them to be wonderful enough to purchase. I agree w/ you that the price point is good, but they are scents I still wouldn’t pay more than $75 for total. I know I’m odd man out, but I really don’t care at all about how much I’m getting for the money – all I care about is the amount I have to pay. I’m never (OK, almost never) going to go through a whole bottle, so I don’t care if it’s 8 ml or 300. Yes, I could do decants and sometimes I do, but I *hate* having to dig through a sea of identical decant bottles in the morning hunting down the one I want. I like having recognizable bottles I can just easily see and reach for. All that said, I am still contemplating a decant of Madera. Definitely yummy! 🙂
Granato sounds intriguing, and very ‘me’ :d please enter me in the drawing! I’m not very good at setting limits by price/ml – I tend to splurge on small bottles of things I adore, even though it makes NO SENSE :”> rather than buy better value quantities…
Of course, this would explain why I have my stash hidden in three separate places in order to protect marital bliss @-)
Granato sounds like it’s right up my alley. And like others here, I’m intrigued to sniff the celery note in Onice.
Please enter me in the drawing. My, you are generous!
Well, as for expensive perfumes, it really depends on how much I love the perfume in question. If I like it enough to have a full bottle, then I will probably consider a purchase and whether or not it is worthy of its price tag. However, I don’t think I would spend more than $200… and $1 a ml sounds very good! LOL
Although I have to say I find Ambra and Madera simply intriguing. Please enter me in the draw also! 🙂
I’m a relative newcomer to niche and boutique fragrances and am wildly captivated by not only the writings of our lovely “perfume afficionados” but the loyal readers/posters who seem light-years ahead of me in this heady topic. Having recently acquired four bottles of vintage Faberges (Tigress, Woodhue, Aphrodisia, and Flambeau) that remind me of my mother’s fragrance collection back in the mid-1960s (at least, her everyday fragrances), my interests are expanding by leaps and bounds having found this site, which I’ve favorited.
Perfume is one of the most personal methods of expressing your spirit, and there is no price tag for it. 🙂
Granato and Onice sound more “me” than the other two but I’d love to sample all four scents, and so I ask that you include my name in the drawing!
Enter me! I love sniffing new stuff!
Right now I have zip zilch money, not sure exactly what buying habits I will have when I get some. $1 per mil. sounds rational. If I had the money, you might push me up to $1.50 for something very beautiful and unique that I knew I would wear. Beyond that–it just seems like indecent markup to me. What, the lilies were harvested by cloistered nuns wearing Gucci habits? I almost had a heart attack over the YOSH Winter Rose stuff.
The $1/ml limit seemed reasonable to me….until I think of some of the scents I’ve bought for more than that. I wouldn’t want to give up my L’Air du Desert Marocain, for which I paid something closer to $2/ml.
In truth, absolute price matters as much as price per ml. And $100 remains a point at which I begin to get cold feet. I’m much more likely to spend $100 on 50 ml of a scent I like than $175 for 100 ml.
At any rate, please enter me in the drawing!
Ambra and Madera sound nice, please enter me in the drawing!
I tested Granato and Onice, and I agree with you on both counts, Patty.
Granato is original and interesting. I could not stop smelling my right hand where I’d spritzed it. I don’t know if I would spring for a bottle, but it left a distinctive impression. And the bottles are cute, round and lovely.
Onice absolutely smells like celery, even more so than Skarb.
Please, no need to enter me into a drawing, but I agree that the $1/ml range sounds about right, especially in these troubled times. The pound is finally down against the dollar as the UK enters the depths of its recession, so hopefully perfume prices will not rise too much this year.
Hugs!
I’m with the $0-budget crowd for now, sadly. Also, I haven’t yet finished a bottle of perfume — the closest I’ve come is about half of a 1.4oz bottle — so 125ml of almost anything seems truly absurd.
Drawing, please!
Would love to be entered in the drawing, thanks!
I don’t even blink at $1/ml anymore, but starting at $1.50/ml I start doing calculations. I don’t buy unsniffed anymore, even for discounted stuff at .10/ml, because I have rarely loved those purchases enough to actually wear them. I find I rarely wear the really expensive stuff ($4+/ml), though, as if it’s too precious. Have to stop thinking that way!
Oh, these all sound like the cure for what ails me!
Price point? Depends. I am willing to live on water and raisin bran for awhile if it meant being able to try something! Please sign me up for the drawing. I am so deserving of something good happening to me! lol
Please enter me in the drawing – these sound yummy!
$1 per ml seems reasonable to me … And like Divalano, $200 for anything right now is just not going to happen!
As a somewhat newbie to the world of the perfumista, anything above around $50 is a lot of money to me. The perfume has to be really, really good and stay with me for long time to put out $$$.
But, I have done it several times now – Creed’s Love in Black, Serge Luten’s Un Bois Vanille, Un Lys, and Chergui.
I saw these scents posted to Lucky Scents website and have been wondering what they were like. Please enter me into the drawling for the sample set.
A draw on the first day I’ve had a chance to read for 2 weeks? Yay, comment, comment. The Madera sounds like snuggley perfection for February’s chill.
Reasonable price point. Hmm. I never end up liking anything with a reasonable price point but I can tell you that $200 for anything is an unreasonable expense for me right now. Bring on the little bottles, sign me up for splits!
I received this sample set from LS last Friday and have been enjoying them very much. They are all interesting and Madera has really captivated me. I also liked Ambra quite a bit as it avoids the harshness that often characterizes ambers.
I’d like to chime in with a request for more 30 ml bottles. There are so many fragrances I’d indulge myself with if they had an available bottle under $100. I guess I’m just enough a member of ‘a certain generation’ that $100 is still a watershed amount for me.
That’s not to say I haven’t purchased more than a few scents for more than $100. But I have to truly love them and know I’ll wear them frequently. For $50, I’d be a whole lot more whimsical in my purchasing. 😉
Absolutely! I would much rather stock my perfume wardrobe with 4 small cute bottles than one large one. In fact, I’m on a boycott of large expensive bottles. The little ones are all I’m looking for in this economy…I must say Piguet has been a great example (here’s to you, Joe!). Bringing back nice classics in small bottles, with associated creams and body products. How smart!
I totally agree with you – in fact, Fracas body powder is one of my faves (and dusting that one is enough – ‘layering’ and Fracas is a bit scary). These days I would like not to spend a kidney on a perfume…..unless it is the love of my life. And even then…
erm, who’s Joe?
xo>-)
JOE is Joe Garces, president of Fashion Fragrances and
Cosmetics, distributor of Robert Piguet fragrances in NY who owns Spafumerie. He is extremely generous with large samples, but is also TONS OF FUN! He carries great niche perfumes too. LOVE YOU JOE (n/a, I promise!)
Well – he sounds like a heckuva guy!
I think I will love him, too! (and you, too, Vida – of course!)
xo>-)
You WOULD love Joe! I’ve met him at the sniffa. He’s a riot, the kind of guy I’d want next to me at a dinner party. Great conversationalist, and cute too. 😡
I’m sticking with the $1 per ML crowd, thanks.
Don’t enter me in the sweeps- I can drop in there and sniff. :d
One dollar per ml is practically free- $2 per ml is reasonable- after that I start to sweat and feel guilty on full bottle purchases. I saw these bottles online yesterday and I think they ar very pretty- and I love the color of the granato…please do enter me.
Guilty of being a bean-counter in perfumery! :”> If the cost per use is too high, then I know I won’t use it very often. Too low, the scent may not be good enough to wear very often, with the few rare exceptions. So, I tend to run the middle ground in costs up to, say, $2 a ml. Much more than that, I’ll get a sample just to try it and then file it in the “Win the Lottery” folder.
Please enter me in the drawing! Onice and Granata sound like something I would enjoy. I’m leery of ambers, but if you liked Ambra, maybe I will, too. I’m always willing to take the word of someone with good taste! 😉
These sound absolutely delightful, would love to be in the draw! By the way,Patty how’s their lasting power/sillage? For me it’s often the factor that decides whether they’re worth the price.
The price point does matter to me, but I am willing to shell out a little more for a fragrance that I love and that I will wear often. I do wish that I could buy the higher end fragrances in smaller bottles, but I guess the companies are trying to regain that elusive aura of exclusivity by sending out these monster bottles of fragrance. I would be happy to find my favorites and almost favorites in 30 ml bottles – I have too many 100 ml bottles languishing in my dresser.
I’d love to be entered in the drawing please.
Thanks, I’d really like to be entered in the drawing.They all sound pretty good to me..particularly Granato. I’ll splurge way over a doller per ml. if I really want something but with even my deodrant now being 2 dollars more in price than it was just 2 months ago I’m trying to spend less on perfume, which really is a selfish purchase. Although on second thought..isn’t it kind of a favor to the world around me, or at least my family, when I smell delicious??!;)
My purchases usually look like this: money in one hand, perfume in the other. Then if my gut says it is worth it, I don’t stop to figure out how much it is per ml. One of the best things about getting older is trusting my intuition. Although if I found some perfume I loved at a great price, I would love it even more.
I do expect more for a higher price, but I am also bothered by the huge quantities that are available. I know that some people have one signature scent, worn every day, and for them 125ml bottle is great. But I would venture to guess that not many “posse people” are like that. Even at a reasonable price of $135, do most people really want 135ml of juice? It seems like a lot of perfume to go through. I think that scents would sell better in smaller, and thus less expensive, quantities.
Is this just me? 🙂
These sound lovely. Please include me in the drawing.
I would love to try these! Thanks for entering me into the drawing!
Ambra & Granato sound right up my alley, please enter me in the drawing!
Price-wise, I suppose I’m not easily fazed. Lack of discounters in Europe does that to you. Previously, I would never calculate the price per ml and just stick to the smallest size to minimize cost. Nowadays, splits and decants have made me more aware of the bulk buying advantage on the ppm (Parts per million? Nah. Price per ml. Perfumista science.)
But still, I continue to think in total price rather than price/ml, most of the time. I just refuse to spend over €65 on anything, be it retail or decanted. But of course, if I (theoretically, of course – I’m cheap) should pay said amount for 5 ml, it damn well better be good!
I don’t have a reasonable price point so much as a sliding scale…the more expensive the juice, the more I expect from it. My expectations are largely complexity and longevity…for the $28 bottle of TokyoMilk, I expect the scent not to smell gross at any point, and that’s about it.:) (It lasts forever, which is nice, though.). If I’m going to be anteing up into the Montale-ish price range, say, it has to smell fabulous, keep doing it for at least 6 hours, and continue to please and delight me for the entire time. If, as I plan to do this summer, I’m going to sell my soul for a bottle of that Private Reserve wonder juice in Portland, it better be exquisite, last forever, and generally make me feel I’m wearing art.
Oh, and, hey, I never win anything, but please enter me in the drawing anyway 🙂
Hmmmm. I like $1.00/ml, might go to $2.00 if it’s something I have to have, but $4.00? That reminds me of something a renegade hairstylist I once knew said about Keratase shampoo — “for that much money, it’d better make me come.”
Hey, her words, not mine.
I’d love to be in the drawing!
Ah, but I don’t find that an unreasonable requirement at all when applied to perfume. :d
Please enter me in the drawing – these sound intriguing. I have many ambers to love already – Bois 1920 Real Patch, PG L’Ombre Fauve, Ambre Narguile, DSH Ambre and I like each for a different kind of day. But the other Omnias sound really fun to try – thanks for the reviews.
Arrghh…50 ml for $200? Not unsniffed, for sure, and not unless it makes me smell like a goddess…I agree w/ Kathryn, not a whole lot of correlation between quality and price. So, since I’m a sucker for free, please enter me in the drawing!
My comments are above under Louise’s. They saved in the wrong place! Please enter me in the drawing.
Overall, I don’t see that there is a reliable correlation between quality and price. Some very high priced scents are dreadful, some low priced ones are lovely, and vice versa. Splitting and swapping are good ways to control costs on expensive perfumes, with the added benefit of meeting often quite wonderful people with similar interests. I would love to be entered in the drawing, thanks!
As a relative newbie to the “finer world” of perfume, I’m still shocked at prices of some new releases! On the other hand, when I find something I really love, price [sometimes] takes a back seat. I also have a tendency to justify huge $$$ if the scent is long lasting – nothing worse than having you newest favorite disappear after an hour or two on skin!
Thanks for entering me in the drawing.
I think once a juice goes above $1 per ml, if the bottle is larger than 50 ml I start getting balky. I do have higher expectations of scents that are made with what one hopes are higher materials (justifying the price) but this isn’t always correct — I have had some *very* expensive scrubbers in my day, thankfully just in decant!
I’d love to be entered into the drawing, thanks so much!
I come out of lurker status for the possibility of a freebie. The era of transparency applies to me too. I have low expectations for the drugstore juice so its only honest to say my expectations rise along with the price. My nature I guess. So back to the freebie….also my nature. Please enter me in the draw. Thanks. :)>-
Madera sounds appealing, though I think I found my perfect caramel scent in Vero Kern’s Kiki. I might even give Onice a spin in the spring, given my new-found love for green perfumes in the heat.
The price is decent on these Omnias. I do span the price range from BBW on-sale costs to some ridiculously expensive vintage and niche sniffs.
Overall outlay counts, for sure, but I certainly do my pennies per ml calculation first (initial outlay can be offset by splitting, or gifting). So by this reckoning, the Exclusifs are quite reasonble (pbi-Saks NY carries them, is having an event currently), while the Tom Fords are far more pricey per ml, and keep going up.
One recent perfume that I quite enjoyed, but not for the price, was Indult’s Reve en Cuir. Really lovely, very easily worn-but just not worth $5 a ml for me 🙁
So, so glad we didn’t do the unsniffed purchase of Reve en Cuir! Very nice but not at that price!
The price point of my purchases is all over the place. And yes, I do have high expectations of those that climb over the $4.00 per ml price. But thanks to a group of friends, I rarely absorb the cost completely on my own, as we generally split bottles. I don’t even mind the gargantuan Chanel bottles for this very reason, since the per ml price is quite good.
That said, I appreciate the decent pricing on the Omnia Profumos and the quality sounds nice. Please enter me in the drawing.
Sorry, saved to the wrong place!
Price points depend on more than just size. Well, size matters, but I rarely will buy one of those 200 ml. bottles, no matter what the price. I’m fickle, and haven’t loved a 100 ml. bottle to death in years. But I’d pay more than $30 for a $30 ml. bottle if I loved it.
I always knew perfume was about emotion and not finance.
I’ve worn Onice and the celery is not winning me over. I feel like a chicken just dunked into the cookpot. S l o w l y the heat starts and the celery releases it’s smell. . .
But I’m still up for the drawing, thanks!
I’d love it if they did a PdN and made 30ml bottles for $1 per ml!:d/ I would probably buy one unsniffed at that price. These days, I can make my own perfumes more cheaply, and with quality ingredients at 20% concentration, at about a third the price of most of the niche brands. So I just keep working in the lab…. I would like to try this set, however, so enter me in the drawing, thank you!
I would love to try these, please enter me in the draw!
I think the Chanel Exclusifs have skewed my price-point radar – with Janitor-In-A-Drum size bottles of what seems to be cologne strength, at highway robbery prices? And I can’t get them ANYWHERE within a 1,000 mile radius of my city even if I decided I wanted one? Somebody is buying them, but no one I know.
I only buy a full price FB for something I really, really love, so it’s not very often. I am on a budget, so going over $100 for 50 ml really pains me – SL exports used to be $92, now they are $120 or more, and it hurts! :((
Wow. I’ve never heard the $1 a ml rule, but I guess I’ve been following it anyway.ish. $200 for 50ml? I’d love to, but not this decade, I’m afraid.
Please enter me in the drawing! I am a little afraid of a celery note, though. But licorice & celery kind of say fennel to me, so that might be okay.
I see perfume in the same realm as many other purchases regarding sensual pleasure–eating, drinking, and wearing beautiful clothes. I don’t spend top dollar every time I eat out, buy wine or buy a new dress, and the same goes for perfume. For all categories there are cheap and cheerful purchases, great value finds, and then there are also those special, over the top dinners out, bottles of wine, and any number of clothing items. The same holds true for perfume for me. I have oils from The Body Shop, great buys scored from discounters, and a few bottles of expensive perfume. There is joy to be had in every category. Please include me in on draw, I think all the of scents will have merit.
Granato sounds like it might be kind of yummy. Ambra maybe…. I’ve had exactly one experience with an amber and it was a BAD one (I actually apologized to my coworkers for wearing such a heinous perfume to work.) However, I just received a sample of Ambre Narguile in the mail today, and can I just say, mmmmm…..
The stuff is so expensive, I’m afraid to put it on in case I need an FB. I just gotta say, I never would have given this one a thought if you all hadn’t called it The Nazgul in Perfume 101. Being the Lord of the Rings dork that I am, I had to try it. :-b
Onice sounds intriguing. Yes please, I would like to be entered in the drawing! 🙂
Hmmm….
My reasonable price point seems to be scents in small vials with free shipping. Oh, well. Please enter me in the drawing. I would love to sniff these, especially the Onice. Lush celery–sounds like fun!! thanks..
Three cheers for relative affordability! My own reasonable price point at the moment is $0, so I would love to be entered in the drawing ;).
P.S. I’m quite enjoying Breath of God, but am I nuts for thinking it’s a blatant rip-off of Lonestar Memories? A bit more floral than LM, but otherwise so similar…
No, you’re not nuts, I’ve heard that mentioned before. I myself still have to try Breath of God, I love Lonestar Menories myself.