I remember when my hair was like this (sorta)
Okay – so this is NOT a post about hair, though I would dearly love to throw myself down that rabbit hole… this is a post about WTH is this SAMPLE?!!! Because I am a FIEND! and a lunatic who is positive she will NOT forget That Perfume, even as her skittery little mind has jumped to the next Whatever is clawing for her attention, 30 seconds after she spritzes a hunkajuice into the sample vial. And it’s not like I don’t do this ALL THE TIME! Which makes me… …mindless? A Goober? Arrogant? AlladeAbove? Witness the most recent foolishness: I was packing for my trip to the Land of Enchantment (aka March’s house – but more on Santa Fe in another post, once I stop drooling over the incredible ice cream from this little vendor Hello Sweet Cream at this fabbo Food Court. Blue Corn with Pinon Brittle… omGOSH! Too fabulous! And a friend agreed that, though it sounds exotic, it’s really just a Southwestern riff on your basic nut brittle… but it is astonishingly good! Unlike a lot of nuts pinon has a faint musky taste that balances the sweetness in the brittle sugar and it’s possible that I could’ve eaten the entire tray!!
the one next to it is Apple Green Chile Crumble. Oh, yeah, bay-bee!
But! Back to the samples! I was rootling through my most recent samples and came upon this absolutely glorious galbanum-heavy scent… sooo pretty! But! No label, not even a felt tip mark to give me a hint. And it’s a shame because this scent really is beautiful (vintage Cristalle vibes)… and I can just imagine me thinking ‘oh! there’s NO WAY! I will forget this! No way.
Way.
I haven’t a clue. Took it to March who sniffed it and gave a shrug of Gallic proportions. What a heartbreak (sez the gal who has more perfume than she will ever be able to use… but you KNOW what I mean 😉
So… here’s the question for the ages: what do you do with unlabeled samples? Do you wear them and just hope to hell that you don’t fall in love with this unmarked beauty? Or just hope to hell that you pass someone on the street who says ‘omgosh! You’re wearing X! You smell divine!’ . This was a very strong perfume and it was dregs so I decided to wash out the large sample vial (10ml? probably. and NO! I did not boost 10 ml of perfume… I don’t think..) I cleaned it out in my shiny new bathroom and wowzers! does that bathroom smell delightful! And I guess I’m not that bummed because I got to wear it at least once (possibly more than once but I’m OldAF and can’t remember sh!t anymore (insert that shrug)… but I can still smell it in the bathroom! And it is deeeLISH!!!
So…. your hack/workaround for unlabeled samples (obviously it’s not No5 or Shalimar , which most of us can identify in our sleep) ??? Toss? wash linens in? (I’ve done it – rinse cycle. Ooooh, dryer smells GOOD! Obvs these are samples you really like – I cannot imagine washing my bathroom in Aromatics Elixir (gorgeous-but-migraine-inducing) or Opium (NoMigraines). Throw the Scary Samples into a live volcano? But the stuff that is beguiling enough to… maybe NOT throw into a live volcano?
And! If this has never happened to you? Don’t tell me! (oh, c’mon. TELL ME! Revel in your superpower!)
Among the 1000 or so samples there are many unlabelled or unreadable vials. I sniff. If I like, I wear. If not, they go in the laundry or bath. I try not to stress over what it is.
I know I have the full range of Papillion Artisan Samples that are unmarked. I took them off the cards without checking. Faceplant rookie error
If every perfumista who’s ever done that suddenly raised their hand we’d have a windstorm! LOL!
That ice cream was soooooo good! I’m terrible at identifying fragrances like that and if the label falls off, it’s probably hopeless. Carolyn has some like that and she’s using them up unless they’re terrible, in which case they go in the trash.
That ice cream!
If they’re not terribly terrible I use them to wash off the front porch and sidewalk !
Several years ago someone contributed an unlabeled vial to my rolling box. Normally an automatic toss but company was coming and I sprinkled it on the bathroom rug. OMG, so beautiful, that scent will forever haunt me. Purple and white floral, lavender juice.
I do love doing that, sprinkling scent in the bathroom! And that sounds phenomenal, the purple and white floral!
NST has swapmeets on the regular and I usually have a bag of samples to send as a freebie, and it is sure to have some unknown samples in there. They’re not samples I love. The rare unmarked sample that’s really good gets run through the rinse cycle of the washer.
YAY! Another Rinse Cycle perfumista!! At the end of the day, unless it’s a scrubber, it’s just so damb PRETTY ( and vaguely luxe) to indulge in perfume in laundry
Yes. Sigh. If I love it I keep it round and try to damp down the frustration. I can’t put anything mystifying on the bed linen because I have enough trouble getting to sleep already.
If it’s meh, it goes into a bag of samples for the charity shop.
Ice cream. Ah, that chilli one. The farm shop nearby does its own artisanal stuff. Hay was meh but I’m glad they gave it a shot. Trying to think of other seasonal. I mean to suggest pumpkin. Uh, uh, there’s cinnamon bun at the moment. Not that exciting …
cinnamon – you would ADORE these ice creams! Interesting without being ‘twee’
It’s happened to me here and there, but fortunately none were anything special. I hate to think of how I’d feel if there was a great one and I couldn’t find out what it was.
Well… luckily this has been identified! But since I’m at the Back of Beyond, I can (usually) limit the suspects to N-M and Sephora, when I go to Chicago (we’re talking samples made by me – all others need not apply for this drama)
I vicariously weep along side you because you mentioned galbanum (one of my top 3 fav notes) and Cristalle (which I just wore two days ago!) Could it have been Malle Synthetic Jungle, the one you recommended to me, which my hubby bought me and I love? I’ve run across a few samples that were either unlabeled, or they fell off their identifying card, or the handwritten ink totally faded. Those I just sigh and toss back into the sample drawer to deal with another day. Maybe never.
DING!DING!DING!
That’s IT!
oh, THANK YOU!
You are so welcome! I feel like I just won a game show!!! Wheeeee!
ALL THE TIME Musette! Especially the samples people send in the mail handwritten in biro and then one of them leaks. I’ll never know but I do tend to wear them in one go. just spritz or splash till dry and then either question life choices or wish I knew what it was.
I’m always down for a gamble, but not gambling.
Portia xx
Oh, and I really only love Run & Raisin ice cream but will eat almost all of it.
Portia – the fascination with this ice cream is… it’s actually NOT that out of the ordinary, flavor-wise (even the apple green chile crumble) – it’s just taken to another level without being pretentious. I think you’d LOVE it (and I’m trying to imagine what they’d do with Rum Raisin – we’ll have to have March taste test it, should it ever materialize)
OMG! That made me BLAAARRRTT!! Perfume is ALWAYS a gamble, isn’t it? Sometimes even the stuff we already know and love. We apply it and it’s either transportive….. or we REALLY wish we had time for a quick scrub!
Oh sure it does! Sometimes I’ll spray the bed with it (unless it’s mint or something energizing.). Sometimes dump it in the car under the seat. I’ve gotten to the point where I put white mailing labels that I write on with a sharpie on the box. Especially the new SL packaging with the black boxes with dark grey spidery script in .0002 point font. Which is I think is their own invention: Scribble de Lutens Indecipherable.
And can we arrange to get locked in that gelato place overnight? After they restock?
We will be so coked-out on sugar and fabulousness, they’ll have to wheel us out of there!
And LOL! on the Oncle Serge! It is an INSANE font, innit? Betcha he is just livin’ that dream