The functional no-nos of perfume bottles

I never give a rat's ass about what the bottle looks like, but sometimes, there are some serious design flaws. For example, the sprayer: If the part you push down is the exact same color as the actual exit hole, you can be sure that I will at some point spray myself in the face while trying to decant.

Or if the bottle shape is so awkward that it fits funny in your hand or doesn't stand up steady on a dresser.

AARRGGHH!!!!!

Any other design pet peeves, out there?

I think you mentioned the two most irritating ones, LiliumLibido. Not being able to see the spray hole is frustrating. Even spending 30 seconds trying to locate it so you don't spray yourself in the eyes is annoying.

Bottle design is a problem all in itself. I often wonder how much time is spent considering regarding bottle design and use. Pretty as they may be, some bottles are impossible to hold and spray at the same time.

Some of the nozzles seem specifically designed to spray radially, which is beyond annoying when attempting to decant! I now buy only wide mouth vials, but even then, with the radial sprayers as much perfume goes on me as in the vial!

Aww Man, the radial sprayers are SUCH a pain! I have funnels in several sizes but still. I much prefer splash bottles and pipettes.

To be perfectly honest, I have objected to spraying perfume from atomizers into a sample vile. I think that aerating the perfume can change the way it smells. Does anyone else share that opinion?

I don't, because way back when, when sprayers weren't invented, all perfumes came into splash vials. But maybe I'm wrong. I have never noticed any problems with decanting into vials, though. I have done it for a long time.

Don't you feel that in some price brackets the bottle gimcrackery is meant to be a distraction from the juice?

Yes, I do. It seems, imo, that the more frou frou the bottle, the lousier the juice.

It's the classic "Gosh, this perfume isn't really that fantastic but we'll do our best to distract you with this great bottle design" syndrome.

Is there another way? Do you use syringes with long needles? Now I'm very curious....

:

Yes, Sherapop, it's quite the operation. lol

Actually, I have no better way. I guess I really meant to say that I prefer not to decant from an atomizer but sometimes there's no choice.

I love the Miller Harris and the Annick Goutal bottles for that very reason: screw off tops! Most everything else is much more difficult. (I know, I know, not le Grand Serge..., the big fat lacuna in my collection...) Sometimes I wonder whether it makes sense to decant from sprayers at all, given the amount of perfume which invariably ends up all over myself and the table. After which I and my humble abode waft of Eau de Mixed Decants...



Lately, I've tried to divide up my decant tasks so that I at least end up wearing a reasonably coherent perfume by the end of the process. Last week, I did some florientals on one night and some tuberoses on another.

I get pipettes and vials from pilotvials.com , that's what I use for decanting.

I can't complain about spray type because I don't decant much. But not being able to see the spray hole is a pain in the ass, I must admit.

Also, I am not a fan of fancy sprays like Paco Rabanne Ultrared and Ultraviolet, Murmur by Van Cleef, Fragile by JPG. I usually take my time to aim first, to make sure I don't spray in the air....and each spray is a hit or miss anyway, because it doesn't spray properly every time

I dunno if spraying changes the nature of the scent so much as it increases its potency and duration (my experience). That said, I'm not a chemist, so interaction with N and O2 could possibly affect the scent.

I don't do much decanting either, but I have decanted from a small vial into a sprayer and that's when I noticed that the amount of fragrance that ended up on me was greatly increased from simply dabbing.

I'm not a real fan of dabbing, as the only applicators that I've seen that were any good were the ones from L'Artisan samples that were really long. (Ok, no psychoanalysis here, people.) Can you buy applicators alone without the vial?

Silverfire, I hate dabbing myself.....for some reason it doesn't smell the same as spraying, and doesn't give you the right idea about sillage and longevity. That's why I don't trust my judgement when testing from a dab sample, or a mini, or a splash bottle. I always transfer the splash bottle contents in 10 ml spray vials for use. That's the only reason I do any decanting.

I'm the opposite: spraying bashes me in the head with a giant mallet, lol. I'm totally a dabbler at heart, so I decant all my scents into vials and rollers. But when I can't see the sprayer... Well I once sprayed myself full in the face. It was quite an experience, lol.

ROFL. I was pissed when I missed my neck and the wrists at least 3 times with some expensive perfume!
Some sprayers also tend to twirl around while you are trying to aim.

Ah yes, I've noticed that, too: you carefully turn the nozzle so the sprayer aims exactly where you want it to, you spray once, it goes in the right spot, you spray twice, it's a little off but still ok... Then you switch hands and spray the other side and BAM! You spray your nose and the left side of your mouth, lol. This happen ended to a friend of mine when she was getting ready for a party. She tasted it all night long!

My worst experience ever was when I sprayed straight into my eye. I practically tore out my contact lens, flushed for 2 hours, but had to give in and go to the emergency room. It turned out I had a scratch on the cornea. I had to wear glasses for 2 weeks (they told me 6 weeks, but hell no!), the contact was ruined, my eye was bloodshot, I couldn't see, and it hurt like HELL.
Thank god cornea scratches heals in more or less a day or two.

As for un-sprayable bottles... the worst one I've ever had vas Gres Cabaret. It's plain impossible to spray it with one hand.
The Lempickas are annoying too. I can hardly find the sprayer, and when I do, it always seem to twirl and I spray in random directions. Maybe they have sort of an alternative intelligence of their own?

I really love the look of the "pebble-flacons" by Comme des Garçons, but they are extremely slippery. I dropped my "Comme des Garçons 2" on the bathroom floor twice already and boy, that gave me quite a load of adrenaline, even though it only scratched the flacon.

There's a reason why you can find instructions on YouTube on how to fix the rubber editions by Thierry Mugler to make them spray properly. In case you don't hit the sprayer absolutely perfect, the perfume will leave the flacon without any radius, sometimes it will even just dribble; scents like A*Men behave pretty nasty when being "hotspotted" too much.

On youtube there is a small video of someone who uses a syringue. When buying decant supplies (a ton of vials) I also bought pipettes along with syringues. That was a no-go area when trying out the first bottle to decant from.
The tube is far too narrow to have a regular needle go into.
So I sprayed into vials.. a horrid experience as I spilled as much as got into the vial (even WITH a funnel that came with a travel atomizer) . It scarred me and scared me away from making decants for 3 months already!!!

However, I was told that particular bottle was a royal PITA to spray from, so this made me feel better about being such a klutz (a biehl).

The person who actually posted the Youtube video (forgot where it is, may look it up) told me to get diabetes needles .
Only 2 days ago I finally bought a few of those needles.. now just look whether they are really that slim and can be used.

So, originally my idea was that decanting with a syringue would preserve the top notes better, but now I just think it would be less messy. Provided you CAN actually lift off the cap as for some bottles this is next to impossible.

PS:

Oh, how I love thee... Another dabber! Really, if I had known about the options I would never have thrown away Trésor and use Tendre Poison more often. 1 single spray was/is waaaay too much.
Love love dabbing the samples of sillage monsters!

Two of my favourite perfumes have the most unpractical bottles.
"gucci Eau de Parfum" is so heavy, it is really hard to spray (unless you have the 30ml bottle, that one is ok) and "summer by Kenzo" doesn't stand, so I have to lay it flat somewhere, and it takes up too much space.

My boyfriend has the Gucci male version of that perfume, and when the bottle slips...he jumps out of the way in fear of breaking a toe or two.

The round bottle of Lulu Guiness Fairytales is a pain in the butt to decant; the 3.4 oz bottle keeps slipping out of my hand and my finger gets sore from all the spraying.

The sprayer on some of the Alien flankers feels like it's about to break when I push them down, especially on the Taste of Fragrance Alien.

@Hayven
I understand about the fear of breaking a toe or two. That 75ml bottle weighs a ton