Holiday Open Thread

Happy holidays, everybody – hope you’re well.  It’s snowing here as I type this, with the weather service predicting anything from one to ten inches, so … who knows.  We’re ready.

I thought I’d steal borrow an idea from Now Smell This and have a holiday open thread – anything perfume-y you want to talk about.  Did you get a special scent as a present?  Did you wear a scent for a special occasion, and how did it work out?  Do you have any questions for your perfume buddies, like a good gift scent, or a source for a fragrance you’re having trouble finding (or remembering the name of), or anything else?

Just so I’m not completely worthless – I got asked in a post recently about how I organize samples. I have a ton, since I’ve been at this for a few years, and I keep most of mine for reference.  Anyone who’s been at this for more than a couple of months will discover pretty quickly that The Samples Are Everywhere, sometimes to the annoyance of anyone else who shares your living quarters.  Here’s my response, with some edits and extra info:

I keep my samples sorted by house (so I can find all of a line at once), keep the houses together in small Zip-lock bags, and then sort them alphabetically into shoe-box-sized sealed plastic tubs from the Container Store.  You could use Tupperware or something equally sturdy.  It’s good to have them all the same size. They are stackable, labeled A-C (or whatever) and I keep them on a shelf in the closet. When lots of samples are carded or one tub gets too tight, I add another tub – I bought extras, not knowing how many I’d need. (Example – L’Artisan has its own box now.)  I have 12 tubs at this point.

I tend to let all the samples pile up in a big silver bowl and then, once a month or so, when the bowl’s full, I spend an hour making piles on the bed and putting the sorted samples into their correct boxes.  A glass of wine helps.

I really do get them out for reference, like if I’m trying to decide if something new smells like something else. I have at this point, thousands of samples, probably.

My biggest fail, since I don’t keep a spreadsheet is: did I file Serge Lutens under S or L? So sometimes I discover “missing” samples like that.

There are flaws in this system.  Larger samples and decants might be in the box, but probably not in the little Zip-lock bag.  Also, if it’s something I have a decant of, I probably like it enough to want to wear it occasionally, and those I keep out, which requires some rummaging, although you’d be surprised how quickly I can find something.  If I had to do it all over again, and I probably will, I’d buy taller boxes – ones I can fit 10ml decants into upright, since I don’t like storing them on their sides.  Most of my large decants are in a dresser drawer, or on a shelf in my walk-in closet.

I know some of you are much more exacting about this – you have Excel spreadsheets detailing every sample, where and when you got it, the notes, etc.  Feel free to comment on your system.

When I’m contemplating a review of a scent, I google the fragrance(s) and see what’s been said already. I read other blog reviews, and I often look at what people say on MakeupAlley (MUA). The MUA reviews are not highbrow — which I like.  They’re just a broad swath of what people (not necessarily perfume nuts) thought/felt about a scent, which I find useful.  The lists of notes for a scent I try to grab first from the manufacturer’s website, or, failing that, from LuckyScent (which likely got them from the perfumer), Osmoz, Fragrantica, and/or other blogs. You might be surprised how much those note lists can differ; I try to go with whichever combination smells most plausible to me, noting, where appropriate, if there’s not much to be found, or if there are wildly divergent lists, which can happen with older scents.  Since manufacturers, old and new, can be pretty coy with those lists – or write things like breath of praline or throbbing zebrawood or molten river of musk — your guess is as good as mine.  Also, since the notes themselves are suggestions of what we’re meant to smell, as opposed to the actual ingredients (a fragrance with blooming iris and notes of warm sand doesn’t contain either) you’ve got to take it with a grain of salt.

Okay, your turn!  Perfume comments, questions, gripes, thoughts – knock yourself out.

image: wikimedia commons, some rights reserved

  • Darryl says:

    My Christmas Day scent was Angel – I was craving something sweet and spicy to match the goodies in store for dinner and dessert, and I hadn’t worn it in a while. It lasted all day, and fit the bill perfectly…until I put on a scarf that had the mossy, woody remnants of Gucci Rush still clinging to it from earlier in the week. And then I really, REALLY wished I was wearing Rush instead. C’est la vie. (Sidenote: How bizarrely, unexpectedly awesome is the drydown of Rush? It goes on like a blast of obnoxiously candied hairspray, but dries down to a warm, almost gravelly vetiver-moss-patch with the merest dash of vanilla. It’s addictive. I’ve been wearing it for almost a week straight and show no signs of slowing down.)

    My scent gift this year was was YSL Nu, bought with some gift money at a perfume store that stocks a lot of rare/discontinued stuff. I’d been waffling on buying it for months and decided now was the perfect time. It’s gorgeous, and unlike anything else in my collection. Yay for Christmas cash!

  • Mrs.Honey says:

    I prefer to pass my samples on if they don’t work for me. So I don’t have a bunch, and those I do are in plastic baggies. (Except for the Hermessences, which are in a box on their sides because they are in glass tubes.)

    My new year’s resolution is to keep a written record of my impressions of samples, as I know I tried certain things early on that just did not work, but I can’t remember why. (Except for Tam Dao, now that one was straight up pencil shavings on me.)

  • DinaC says:

    Hello Posse friends. Happy holidays to you all. I’m another DC area person who is glad we didn’t get walloped with snow this time. I’ve been taking my kids to stores to spend their gift cards, doing house work, reading my new books, etc.

    Didn’t get any scented gifts this year, but I made up for it by buying a handful of samples from the TPC sale yesterday afternoon. Looking forward to sampling them. Some are old things I just haven’t ever had the chance to sniff (L’A Iris Pallida, Costes 2, Sous le Vent, NR for Her edp, Amouage Memoir Woman)some are new things (L’A Traversee du Posphore, Iris Ukiyoe), and a small decant of 31 Rue Cambon since I used up all my samples.

    Since I’m still acquiring samples, my collection isn’t huge. I sort my samples in a wooden box by Crate & Barrel that’s meant for storing tea bags. It’s divided into four compartments, so I’ve mentally labeled them “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.” I store my samples according to what season I feel like they fit in. But I am very attracted to the “by house” method that many of you use. I used to work as a librarian in college, so filing things properly fills me with delight. :-)

    I tend to use up my samples, often, so I keep all my empties in a cloth drawstring bag as a reminder of what I’ve already tried and liked enough to use up. This bag is alarmingly full! So many beautiful scents, so little time.

  • Winifreida says:

    Yep, I store by house in ziplocks, but I have noticed that the samples tend to go off or disappear in some cases so make a big effort to use them up. And now I am much more ‘able’ to pick things which I might like from reading the blogs, critiques, descriptions, etc, and am getting a grip on ‘the must have everything’ frenzy!! I write down religiously everything I love from a sample, and have stilled the unsniffed lemming by getting decants. BUT it must be the gambling instinct or something, every now and then I have to get a FB unsniffed! Will definitely be doing some swaps when mania comes on again…

    • Musette says:

      W,

      Do you seal the necks with elec. tape? I find that works very well. On really ‘important’ decants I’ll even seal the little spray nozzle thingie.

      xo >-)

    • March says:

      What Musette said about the samples, although it’s only my sprays that evaporate, not the wee capped ones. And I like the thrill of the unsniffed purchase every now and again as well..

  • mariekel says:

    Happy post-Christmas and Boxing Day, everyone!

    My Christmas prezzie from my brother Douglas (Larry, I am STILL waiting…)was the same as last year — a hefty helping of samples and decants I got to choose from TPC! I am wearing one such sample today — Fareb from Pierre Guillaume. I thought I loved it at first but now smell only cumin instead of the woods and leathery aspects. I wonder if this has to do with reading the comments here about the cumin wallop Fareb packs. Do you guys do that? smell a perfume differently after reading someone else’s response to it?

    Best of the bunch from TPC: my Fleur de Feu decant, which I have longed for, decants of IUNX Splash Forte and PG Coze. And the sample of vintage Femme parfum is absolute gorgeousness. wonder if I can work on bro number two for a wee bottle of that one…

    Biggest disappointments: AbdesSalaam Honey which has almost no smell at all to me, and also their Zafferano, which is exactly the austere saffron I like except for the fact that it does not last even 5 minutes on me.

    On Christmas Day I opted for a familiar winter comfort scent: Fendi Asja. Delicious plummy warmth…

    • March says:

      Love love love Asja. I only have the EdT and want the EdP, or the extrait. Honey — after my fail with the CB honey, I share your pain. Wonder if it’s a honey problem?

      And so great on the TPC gift! Fareb is veeeery cuminy on me. And yes, to answer your question, once I read LT describing Safran Troublant as rose, it’s all I could smell. 🙁

  • rosarita says:

    Hi, Posse – I’m sorry for all of you having too much snow, esp places that don’t normally see the white stuff. I live in a place that usually gets lots of snow, but not this year. I have drunk entirely too many Irish coffees over the weekend and have worn a variety of perfumes. My current obsession is SL Bas de Soie, which clearly is going to be a year round scent for me. I also drunk shopped TPC’s sale yesterday afternoon, which was fun but, like most things that happen when over indulging, there are bound to be regrets. Ah well, something to swap if it doesn’t work out. As to sample storing, mine are all shoved in several boxes/baskets in my perfume and scarf cabinet. Finding what I want involves the rummage method and my sharp as a tack memory (insert eye roll here). It works for me pretty well, tho.

    • March says:

      Drunk shopped TPC, hehe. And there are always regrets, drunk or not, so :)>- to you. I’m sorry for the folks who got snow, and thrilled we did not — snow all around us, but we got tons of wind and still the power’s on (fingers crossed.)

      So you liked Bas de Soie? People seem kind of up in the air on that one.

      • Musette says:

        I like it, too.

        yeah, I know….8-|

        xo >-)

        ps. Rosarita, me darlin’….you and I both know that it’s only a matter of time before you are slammed with the white stuff….we are eagerly awaiting 50F this weekend! 8″ of snow….melting.

        Can you imagine how much dog …erm…well, you know..

        b-(

        xo >-)

  • karin says:

    As to scents worn over Christmas, I wore Attrape Coeur three days in a row. Ahhhhhh….

  • Shelley says:

    Yay! I tried to look before, but the link told me I had to be invited. :( Now I am! :) Nice work on the cabinet there, husband. I love a good re-purposing. I still regret not hanging onto my grandparents’ gigantor stereo cabinet and figuring out something to do with it.

    Ha! I played “I spy…” too. Happens all the time when perfume folks open their drawers and post pictures.

    I do NOT mean that in a Brett Favre kind of way…

    • Elizabeth says:

      Oh, I’m glad you got the link to work, Shelley. It should’ve worked immediately for everyone–I don’t know where that “invite” stuff came from. :-s

      And thank you, everyone who looked! I do enjoy sharing those photos.

  • Elizabeth says:

    I am steeping in Les Nereides Patchouli Antique today–big vanillic opening–mmmm. My so-called organizing method is very similar to Shelley’s. I use several wooden cigar boxes that I got from a local smoke shop for the small sample vials and decants. As the collection grows, I know I am going to have to group them more formally. Larger decants, full bottles and most precious fumes go in the 50’s mahogany TV cabinet that my husband found for me. He fixed it up with shelving and replaced the legs with brass casters. If you are curious, you may see photos of it at: http://tinyurl.com/24k77cs It is now way more full than when I took these photos. To all of my fellow snow-bound perfumistas–stay warm and stay safe!

    • Rappleyea says:

      Beautiful cabinet, and I recognize some great vintage scents in your collection!

    • Ann says:

      Hi Elizabeth, what a gorgeous cabinet! I, too, loved seeing your perfumes, particularly that lovely Shiseido Zen and the original Lauren. Brings back some nice scent memories. Thanks for sharing!

    • HemlockSillage says:

      What a lovely cabinet! You have some amazing vintage perfumes. Ni-ice.

      Hope you enjoy the Les Nereides Patchouli Antique. It is a fascinating scent–I get damp earth, then soft patchouli/vanilla/musk. For me, it’s the most earthen patchouli out there; not something I reach for daily, but nose-glued-to-wrist when I do. Enjoy, and stay warm!

    • rosarita says:

      I love Patch Antique and the idea of simmering in it is so appropriate. Have you ever layered it with Les Nereides Imperial Opoponax? Both scents are wonderful alone, but wearing them together brings out the best of each, imho. Your cabinet’s gorgeous, too. :)

      • Elizabeth says:

        I haven’t tried layering it with anything yet, actually…but I like your suggestion! Thanks!

    • March says:

      Agree, what a lovely cabinet.

      • Musette says:

        That cabinet is gorgeous! and it’s fun to see something in there…that is now here! ;))

        I won’t wear you all out with my ongoing storage issues. 1mls are overflowing and I’m just SO over the whole ammo box thing – you really have to HUNT, even when they are in labeled boxes. So I’m rethinking that. 5mls still do best in the ammo boxes and I keep those according to House.

        Taller decants? Those elegant 8mls? Sigh. Taller ammo boxes? nah…..ooooh! you know? If I can find a box for taller armor piercing rounds, I might be in biz…we’ll see..

        I just reboxed and packed up all my full bottles – there just isn’t room for them and with renovation (El O is a genius – but his mad skilz do NOT extend to protection of mah schtuff before he begins hammering and knocking things down….There Will Be Blood, as you all know, so to avoid that I just packed it all up.

        Wearing vintage Mitsouko today – really beautiful. Of course, it’s ALWAYS beautiful.

        xo >-)

  • *jen says:

    I’m newly addicted (like a major crackhead) and am drinking in these perfume storage solutions, since my collection of eensey vials seems to be mysteriously growing. ;)
    Merry holidays, everyone!

  • Paige says:

    I’m new to organizing samples and bottles. I think in all I have small decants and samples in the 200 range. As far a bottles…maybe 30 (about 15 went to a garage sale over the summer).

    My first organizational attempt was, I thought, very clever but that didn’t last. I bought velcro sticky strips and applied these to the backboard of a frame. Then, I cut small squares of the opposing velcro and affixed these to all of my samples (less than 100 at the time)and then to the framed board. I hung this on my closet wall. It worked for awhile until it got very hot this past summer. One afternoon, to my chagrin, all the sticky strips of velcro had fallen down from the backboard. I painfully spent that night in front of the TV taking off the small velcro stickies off all the samples. Needless to say, baggies are my friend now as well as the alphabet and tall containers. Especially since my collection has grown over the year.

    Recent acquisitions (my favorite!)…my sister ordered me some perfume for Christmas. A bottle of Montaigne and Donna Karan Gold edp. The bottle I really want is not discontinued yet so I thought I should stock up before these dissapeared. I did give perfume this Christmas…my step-father got a bottle of Chanel Allure Sport because that’s what he wanted and I gave my Mom a bottle of Chanel No. 5 Sensual Elixer because she already has everything she wants:)
    I hope everyone is having a wonderful Holiday! I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s comments:-)

    • March says:

      That sounds like a very perfumey Christmas, and congratulations! lol on your samples. I hate labeling them; I’d never have the patience to Velcro them!

  • ScentRed says:

    My Christmas Day scent was Shaal Nur, a gift from my dog Layla – who acquired this bottle thanks to another Christmas miracle. Boxing Day I hosted my brother’s family and wore 31 Rue de Cambon. Today is my first truly relaxing day with no cooking or guests and I’m wearing OJ Champaca and cuddly clothes.

  • HemlockSillage says:

    This does have a confessional feel :D

    Neat to hear how others organize their samples. . .mine are set up in Tupperware sandwich boxes, by fragrance family. I have floral, citrus/chypre, incense/woods, oriental/gourmand, musks, unknown and pergatory (thanks to Robin at NST). The only house that has it’s own box is Uncle Serge. Usually, when I want to grab a sample, I’m in the mood for a certain style of fragrance, and this seemed a good way to keep similar things together for me.

    My pergatory box is nearly empty (I send them to good homes), but my unknown box is bursting. I have so many things I love, it’s hard to take a chance on something I may not like so much. I did try an unknown today, FM’s Portrait of a Lady. She’s pretty, but I have Lyric Woman and that is still my favorite dark jammy incense rose. There was a moment in the top notes that was synthetic and truly unpleasant on me, and I’m glad I did not plunge FB unsniffed. . .but the drydown is lovely in PoaL. I can see why many love this one! Be well.

    • March says:

      Thanks. PoaL is shaping up to be a love it/hate it. And I love the purgatory box! I have a small box like that next to my computer, things I haven’t decided on.

      • HemlockSillage says:

        Whoops! Terrible spelling of purgatory up there. Thanks for the gentle correction. Sometimes it’s iPhone helping me with autocorrect, but that was all mine. ‘Least I’m consistent ;)

        Random perfume thought: love the first moments of the day, as I get dressed, and think, what perfume should I wear today? That is fun–particularly on a day free of have-to, just a day to get errands done. It can be as big as I feel like walking around in, or subtle so only I enjoy it. Pure fun. May your day be that way!

  • waftbycarol says:

    I wore my Christmas present to myself , DSH Vintage Patchouly parfum , yummmmy warm tobacco/patch….and later put on some Providence Perfume Co Gypsy…wonderful spicy cardamom . I have a ml or so left from the sample set project . I need a full bottle of it .

  • Annelie says:

    I have most of my samples tored in test tube racks. The small one´s fits perfect and the bigger 2,5 – 5 ml I have in a test tube rack with larger holes. Decants I store in a nice hand carved wooden box that I´ve got in present. In that box I can hardly make any more room now, so I´ll soon need another one. :)

    Samples are orginsed according to house in boxes, about ten is filled now.

    For Christmas I´ve got a bottle of Guerlain´s Cuir Beluga which I really, really love!

    Happy Holidays everyone!

    • March says:

      Cuir Beluga is a great Christmas present, congratulations! And it’s always interesting to read folks’ creative storage solutions.

  • marina says:

    OK, a question: who tried those Caron Ouds? Thoughts?

  • Shelley says:

    Erm…more than one storage system. Should I really tell?

    Because…there’s the first “discovery sets” I picked up from Perfumed Court. Which I keep, still in their category grouping (“roses” “101” etc) stuck into sea salt which is in odds and ends vintage stemware. Then there are the miniatures and precious morsels, a.k.a. put in the bottle by the maker items, which stay in the velvet lined drawer in my dresser. Then there are the Precious Decants and Smalls, Influenced by the Early Years which reside in a place of honor in my, erm, lingerie drawer. (LOL…lingerie in my mind conjures images of pegnoirs and camisoles and other dainties…suffice to say they are well cushioned, but not so much by silk and lace.) A few full bottles in the front of the other two drawers.

    Decants in boxes, loosely grouped by house, unless they are workhorses grouped by season, in which case they are likely to be in a bigger bottle anyway. Back up bottles (yes, I have as many as five of those) with odd vintage things (Intoxication, Hay, etc) up on the high shelf in the clothes closet.

    Sigh. I almost feel like this is a confessional. I can almost hear the perfume years zing past…I remember when I first fell, I had a bottle of Norell (picked up at an estate sale as a curiosity in memory of my grandmother), a few samples plus the discovery sets, and then a full bottle of Magie Noire, my first “real” perfume since I had KL in college and Carolina Herrera from my wedding day. (I didn’t wear perfume then, but felt like I should have something for a wedding.) Husband purchased that for me the summer I fell down the rabbit hole.

    Smile. As long as I’m confessing…there’s one more box. Not full. But overflowing with memories. I keep the perfume I purchased in Paris in that one, along with a vintage bottle of Apres L’Ondee that I split with friends who came to me via perfume but have become very dear to me.

    Which would probably summarize the storage system overall. There is logic and method to it, but all considerations are subject to and generally molded by sentiment and history.

  • karin says:

    I have the coolest story – I just hosted a couple of splits of the new Cartier L’Heures (Defendue and Fougueuse) – packaged everything up, posted them, and dropped the packages into the bin inside our local post office yesterday. I then realized that I had used the wrong address on one of the packages. Crisis! Can I possibly retrieve that package before it’s sent?

    I woke up in the middle of the night last night and worried about that package. What if I can’t retrieve it? Will it get forwarded to the recipient? Will it be returned to me? Or worse – will it get lost in the ozone never to be found? And the ridiculous thing, a blizzard came to town last night, and it’s still going strong. The post office is a mere 1/2 mile away. Did I want to make the trek to the PO, or just let the package go and make up another one for the recipient?

    Let me just say that I’m in shock. I called the PO when they opened at 8:00 this morning. I explained the problem to the woman who answered, and she said, “I have the packages right here – who is it addressed to?” She found the package within a few seconds, asked for the correct address, and said she’d take care of it for me. SERIOUSLY!? That was just too easy!!! :-)

  • Rappleyea says:

    Christmas fragrance was mostly a fail for me! lol! Our family Christmas was actually yesterday, the 26th, so I was a lazy ho on the 25th – pj’s and robe, no shower, no new scent, only the remains of SDV. So yesterday in the hectic rush of getting ready, making food, car scraped and loaded with presents, (we had a snow storm and I about busted my butt several times!) etc., I totally forgot to put on any perfume! My intentions were to wear Messe de Minuit, which on me is a nice incense-y floral. I’m off today, and no decision has yet been made.

    • March says:

      Hey, the remnants of SdV sounds pretty great to me. And I love (I know this has happened to others) putting on a favorite sweater or jacket and smelling bits of other things I’ve worn.

      We were running around for the snowstorm that thankfully missed the DC area, although folks all around us, and along the coast, got walloped. We’re having some fierce winds, though.

      I’m still waiting for my bottle of Messy Minute to show up – maybe today? 😡

      • Rappleyea says:

        I was lucky enough to get in on the recent Google group split of MdM, and of course because I love it, it’s nowhere to be found! ‘Unavailable’, “discontinued’, ‘vintage’ all evoke a Pavlovian response in me!

        • Rappleyea says:

          Oh, and I’m glad the storm missed you all. D.C. has already paid back its snow karma!

          • March says:

            Me too! We were all ready – snow shovels etc., but not sorry we didn’t need them. Lots and lots of wind, trying to rip the screens off.

        • Winifreida says:

          Rap there was a bit of a frenzy when someone on the Posse found old Mess d M on a German ebay site a month or 2 ago …. just going to my printout …’Lucky-Trading’ Andreas Quack…I’ll go over to ebay and find his ebay store – I did the whole transaction in German, just guessing which buttons to push, and it arrived and IT WAS THE OLD MOULDY wonderful version which is actually called Eau de cologne whereas I noticed the newer version (and I think I got the last bottle from THe Perfume Shoppe) is EDT, a lovely lemony incense, but just not the same, and is probably discontinued anyway…

          • Winifreida says:

            aaaah drat ‘markenparfum 2007’ and no more M d M, however I’ve never had a problem with anything I’ve had from Germany, be it perfume from First in Fragrance or antique oil lamps…there might be some more sellers there…there must’ve been a warehouse cleanout or something! I wonder if the sellers were a bit bemused by the run on M d M:-?

          • Rappleyea says:

            Thank you so much for looking for me!

  • Illdone says:

    Hello Louise, I’ll pass by the shop this week and have a look at what’s left. Price was a real bargain, will let you know. By the way I couldn’t send you an e-mail (delivery failed)

  • Louise says:

    I have no sample organization….quelle surprise! I do have Tupperwares full, and I pull them out to play with as the mood strikes. I usually very quickly remember why I never progressed beyond sample stage on these.

    I bought my first bottle of Theorema over Christmas-gasp! I don’t think I’d ever tried it, and it was madly yummy. Awaiting my shipment : )

    Christmas was all amber-Amber Aurea, and incense-Incense Full, the new-ish Montale. I felt so cozy-or was that the eggnog?

    One disaster-I liberally sprayed my beloved Spezie di Medici on both forearms one night-and immediately broke out in a scarlet, painful rash. I freaked, and sent my (then sleeping) son out to grab some Benadryl, and after waking from a coma 10 hours later, the rash (and my brain) were gone. WTH? Not sure if IFRA was right on the citrus, or whether an older bottle (it’s at least 6 years old) was the culprit. I must try a drop from a newer bottle-I don’t want to give this one up.

    Last night I sprayed me and p.j.s with vintage Mitsouko “deodorant”-really just a light edt-and I still smell the nice oakmossy remnants. Yum.

    • Melissa says:

      Well, if they’re right about citrus, maybe they’re wrong about oakmoss???? Glad the same thing didn’t happen with Mitsouko!

    • Rappleyea says:

      The IFRA is mostly wrong about everything! Citrus is a problem only if it’s in direct sunlight. You said you sprayed at night so that obviously wasn’t the problem. I recently had the same thing happen with some very old Chanel #5 extrait (I’ve never had the problem before with it), luckily not all over both arms!

    • March says:

      The Mitsy sounds lovely. The Spezie – not so much. 🙁 I wonder what you’re allergic to?

      And congrats on the Theorema. I think a couple years ago your skin would have eaten it?

  • Illdone says:

    Hello March,
    First of all I wish you a very happy and cosy holiday season!
    I used to be a loner about my fragrance addiction. I’ve been hoarding bottles and samples since my late teens so I’ve got samples and mini’s of stuff that are over 30 years old (I’m 46 now). I also store them by alphabeth. Some boxes are overflowing (strange how many there are in the A to E section)
    Lately I really start to realize how expensive it all gets. The storing, the space it takes up and how many things I continue to buy ; always curious , always on the look out for a new fascinating scent. Then there’s the vintage stuff that seems to become more fascinating the older I get – some must have been stinkers even then but now they all seem really special. What does this mean concerning the new releases?? Anyhow, 2 things I really want to mention is that since I’ve been sharing my passion for perfume I encountered lots of lovely people – would that have anything to do with : perfume lover = wonderfull personality? (Let’s just flatter ourselves:d) Secondly I would like to spend some more time enjoying what I have instead of relentlessly searching out new stuff.
    By the way, I was a bit to busy for the swapping thing but I found a shop in my province that has 1 or 2 Magie Noire vintage edt’s. As My stock of vintage M.Noire is sufficient and I see crazy prices for them on the bay I would gladly consider buying those and making someone very happy (price was more than reasonable- shop owner offered a serious reduction)I’m talking about the old round edt splash bottles (50 or 75 ml?? need to check that) If anyone really NEEDS one let me know and I’ll go get what is left there.
    Hope you all have a smashing end of the year party!

    XXX

    • Louise says:

      Oh. I really do need some Magie Noire- contace info is zingss on MUA, or lzingss at gmail dot com…thanks!

    • Madea says:

      I’d like to try some, if that’s okay.

      embling (dot) lauren at gmail.

    • Holly says:

      I would love to get my hands on some Magie Noire, too! Let me know if there’s an extra bottle you come across. HOLIDAY 322 AT HOTMAIL DOT COM

    • Shelley says:

      Hmmm, that’s already more than there are bottles, but I’m a dedicated Magie Noire person. Click on my name to get my contact info if there is enough to go around. :)

    • March says:

      And all the Magie Noire folks come out of the woodwork. 😉

      Happy holidays to you too. It’s funny how unevenly distributed the samples are alphabetically, I assume it’d be the same in English? Or not… yeah, my A – C is probably the most split out. W-Z doesn’t have much in it. I think S-T is pretty full.

  • lemonprint says:

    Happy post-ho ho ho!

    I think I got the idea about sorting my samples into baggies by house from you. I only have a couple of hundred, and I just did this recently. I have a travel case they all fit into. I hope this will make it a lot easier to find something.

    I HAVE to keep a spreadsheet, as one too many times I found I’d bought another sample of something that sounded good, only to find out later I’d already had it. When you buy most of your samples, this is not a good plan.

    I also want a box to keep decants and backup bottles upright in. I intend to pick one up soon; I’m condensing a spot on the shelf in the storage closet (putting DVDs into binders) for these standing-up bottles.

    Should commercial bottles be stored upright? I’m assuming they should, but the boxes are so much easier to store laying down…

    • March says:

      I store my bottles upright, although I can’t offer you any justification for doing so… I keep them packed into empty wine boxes which makes it easier to move them.

      A spreadsheet person! There are a number of you out there.

  • Suzy Q says:

    Hi March. On Christmas Day I wore Philosykos and it was perfect. I’ve discovered it’s a very adaptable scent. It’s warm and comforting in the winter. In the summer it’s green and refreshing. So far it’s the only perfume I own that I can contentedly wear in any season.

    Funny you should post about organizing samples, as that’s what I did today. I also organize by perfume house *except* I’ve also got one bag for fig scents and one for vetivers.

    I keep some samples out on my dresser for testing. These are stored upright in old 35 mm plastic slide boxes. Works great!