Unopened Perfumes

Hiya Posse. One of my perfume mates Michael was here last week. As always we got to talking perfume. He would ask about a brand or a perfume and I’d bring the box of all that brand and we would go through them. It’s a nice, free ranging way to have a catch up and keep the perfume talk focussed. On this occasion he was laughing at me a bit because every box has a few unopened perfumes, brand new in cellophane. A couple of boxes only one or two of the packages have ever been opened. So it was kinda funny. It got me thinking though, am I the only one?

Unopened Perfumes

If you answered “Yes Portia, that is crazy shit and so are you.” Then you’re probably not the only one. I’ll try and explain it.

I have well over a thousand bottles of open perfume (yeah, I know). There are things here I absolutely adore that may never get worn again because there are other things I adore that pop into my mind and I wear them. There are also a bunch of things that I like, easy wear, no drama spritzes that often get the spritz because I want to smell nice but don’t want to overload my mind with fabulousness, skunk people or lose the enjoyment of a true love because I’m super focussed on getting something done. It’s always a pisser to me if I get out the unicorn, spritz it lavishly and then get so wrapped up in doing something I miss out and then have super sized regret and lived FOMO.

You might also remember how hard I tried to get my sample/decant numbers down in New Idea 2023?

Unopened Perfumes

There are a few particular reasons they might not be opened.

  1. They are a backup bottle and I’m still using the open one.
  2. I have a decant and want to finish it first.
  3. I bought it and had a decant to finish but then forgot I had both the decant and subsequently it.
  4. It came with six other perfumes, got put away for later and either forgotten or saved for a rainy day when I need something new and exciting to brighten my mood.
  5. I was packing up the room so I could vacuum, go away, sew or fill it will stuff when visitors come and forgot where I put it.
  6. Owning a bottle, pristine and untouched of a unicorn is more exciting to me than opening it and wearing it a few times over then next few years.
  7. It’s too precious
  8. It’s too pretty
  9. The unopened box is the happy memory, the scent secondary
  10. I’m a hoarder

There’s also the fact that I’m a child and have internal tantrums about such things.

 

So do you have unopened perfumes? Do you have any reasons other than my slew of verbal typer-rhea?

Let me know about yours in the comments, or you can tell me I’m a bit La La.
Portia xx

  • jen says:

    i have an unopened bottle of fresh cannabis rose, now discontinued. im putting off opening it.

  • AnnieA says:

    Yesterday I opened a new bottle of Douceur de Siam. I’d finished the previous bottle a couple of months before then gave myself a break so it would feel like more of an occasion. There are maybe half a dozen bottles in my armoire waiting for their their time to make a (re)appearance.

  • Dina C. says:

    I have nothing unboxed and no back ups at this point. Sad face. Your collection sounds awesome Portia! I can’t resist opening and spritzing the things I buy.

  • VerbenaLuvvr says:

    I have nothing unboxed, I love to display my fragrances and am immensely gratified by viewing and organizing. Upon obtaining something new, the box is immediately discarded and I enjoy a few spritzes, even if that is the only time it is ever used. Pre-COVID I kept packaging but these days I’m waaaay past the clutter. On occasion I do regret such impulsive behavior, especially when offloading an item, but I am an old dog and not likely to change!

  • alityke says:

    Whilst I’m not 1000+ bottles La La, I do have way too many (again)!
    Yes I have unopened bottles. Many are back ups, a slew of SLs, Cristalle EdT & Shalimar Millesime Tonka as well as some that are memories. Maybe I’ll offload some but maybe not.

  • Musette says:

    Um. Over a thousand?

    OVER A THOUSAND?
    I’m too old (and too nervous) to even contemplate owning over a thousand bottles of… well… anything!
    but I do have a couple of backup bottles – Lyric (because Lyric) and Pamplemousse Rose (because I spritz it like Jean Nate)
    Scents I adore I have multiple bottles of (No5, Mitsouko come to mind) in various iterations.

    And yes, you are LaLa

    And yes, I do adore you!

  • carole says:

    I can relate, Portia 🙂
    I live in a place where you can’t really buy nice things-there’s just not a lot to shop for. So sometimes I buy extra stuff to get free shipping. And because of shipping it can be cheaper to get something from a discount site, rather than a sample source. And when I read about changes in the Serge Lutens line I freaked. So I have two back up bottles of Fille en Aiguilles, A La Nuit, and Daim Blond.

    And I too sometimes save something for a day when I need something new and shiny. However I’m trying to put my collection in order, and a lot of things cannot be replaced. So I’m going to try and sell about 15 bottles of stuff. I have about a hundred bottles and that’s more than enough for me for a lifetime. Wish I could stop panicking when I hear about potential discontinuations.

  • MMKinPA says:

    I don’t have any backup bottles and I’m not capable of holding off from opening something new even if it arrives with something else (rare, I don’t buy more than one thing at a time usually). I did have a BUB of SJP Stash for a bit but have opened it after finishing my first bottle (the very first bottle I have ever finished, which suggests to me I don’t really need backups.). I’m not realli super sentimental, if something gets discontinued and I run out, I figure I just need to search for something new! (Although I feel kinda like a hoarder even without any unopened or backups!)

    • Portia says:

      HA! MMKinPA, do you really feel hoarderish? I just got back from a holiday and came into ,my perfume room and thought, “This is crazy”
      In case you want another backup of Stash they have testers for peanuts on the discount sites.
      Portia xx

  • rosarita says:

    I do have a couple of unused backup bottles where I am finishing up a decant first but that’s about it. I do remember, when I was into nail polish, that the thrill of the hunt for discontinued colors/brands overtook the necessity of actually wearing the polish. As a result, I have a ton of nail polish that I don’t wear. It’s very hard to get rid of in a safe manner, too.

    • Portia says:

      OOOH! Interesting Rosarita.
      For some reason I thought you had to use up nail polish really quickly. Is that not true? I remember Mum saying it was why she only ever had two colours at a time.
      Portia xx

  • cinnamon says:

    I don’t have backups and I really need a couple (eg, a Theo Fennell Scent from the perfume-o-sphere before they are all gone). I just don’t buy that many bottles any more due to cost. Looking at my tiny ‘collection’ I bought one bottle this year — everything else came in decant or travel size (usually 10ml). I have a decant of Dompteuse coming. If I use that fairly frequently I’ll buy a bottle.

  • Neva says:

    Ooooh, I see some treasures out there in the picture and I LOVE IT! I can imagine what joy it will be for you to unwrap and open them once you’ll really feel like it. I sometimes cannot find any interesting new perfume for several months and I feel the need to buy something new. Before I make an impulsive purchase, I’d rather open something new that I have already waiting in line at home.
    I only have very few unopened bottles of back up perfumes but my collection is significantly smaller than yours.
    I understand you and I support your hoarding <3

  • Tom says:

    I do have some unopened ones. Usually back ups of ones that are hard to find that I got cheap. And no, I don’t feel bad about that.