How do you decide to buy a full bottle?

Hello fellow fragheads. How do you decide whether to buy a full bottle of a new (to you) fragrance? Vote for the most frequent method you use. If you use a combination of methods, please only vote for the most frequent method you use and post a reply explaining what combination of methods you use.

I almost always buy samples from online decanters. I live in a rural area and there is no store within a reasonable driving distance where I can sample perfumes. I will blind buy, but that's based usually on price. If a perfume is under $30 to $40, I'll blind buy it based upon the description and reviews. 

I will sample in-store when I can. I live ~1 hour away from Beverly Hills so I go out there every couple of months or so to test a lot of the frags on my list. Unfortunately the Neiman Marcus there doesn't give out free samples, although I've heard that other NMs do. I buy samples in person from Beverly Hills Perfumery of the scents I liked on paper/skin. But even with all the stores there that stock perfume, there are still a lot on my list that I can't get my hands on in person, so I still buy most of my samples online. I never blind buy.

It depends. I'm currently living at the countryside in a country where the options of testing are very limited. Sometimes even buying the samples can be almost as expensive as buying a full bottle because of the shipping costs. Also often samples aren't available at all or not delivered here. Perfume stores here have a limited selection but my nearest perfume store is atm about 100 kilometres away so I can test there only if I have some other things why I'm travelling there, travelling only for testing perfumes would be waste of money too. So as insane as this might sound, often blind buying the fragrance is either the cheapest or the only option for me. Before that I'm reading lots of reviews if possible. In my country it's not possible to return an opened bottle either but fortunately my taste in fragrances is so wide that 99 % of my blind buys are very successful. But of course if possible, I'm testing the fragrance on skin several times before buying or buying a mini bottle / travel spray / smallest possible size at first, those are the most ideal options for me but unfortunately not possible too often. Of course would be wonderful to sample friends' and relatives' perfumes, however my partner @Mitchcraft is the only person in my family who is really into fragrances and I've basically sampled his whole collection already. 😄 Vice versa not just yet because of the size of my own collection, might still take several years from him 😝

Sampling several times if expensive - budget limited to global brands, I do not buy niches.

Blind based on notes if value for money / affordable.

I only blind-buy scents that I’m confident I can resell (limited edition, being discontinued, etc) or that are under $50. And that’s only if samples aren’t really available anywhere. Otherwise I’ll buy a 1-2ml sample first and use it up before making a decision!

I make several trips to a perfumery shop, and sometimes a discovery sticks and I get obsessed over it. I then make trips only to wear it more and discovery more facets of the scent. And that's often when I'm overly obsessed and buy it.

I try to sample more now, though. As I had regrets for two of these before. It's hard sometimes to get out of the rush when you think you were just lovestruck.

I blind buy almost all of my perfumes. I have noticed that it's the best way for me to avoid mistakes. I read a lot of those scents and I compare people's tastes with mine, check which other scents they like and how they are describing them. I also ask advice from people who know my taste and whose taste I know well. Somehow I make the whole picture (smell) of the scent inside my head. I close my eyes and there it is.

If I'm hesitating to buy some perfume (mostly if I have the feeling that I don't like the scent) and still I have some obsession with it, I wait and try it. Almost in all these kind of cases, I don't like it.

I buy samples very rarely. If I would do that I would spend a huge amount of money for them and I don't want that. I want to use those money to bottles. Anyway I get samples all the time, I'm testing dozens of scents continuously and sometimes I find perfumes which really surprise me. And then I need the bottle. For me it's very difficult to test something properly if I don't like the scent at all so many of samples I don't even try (I get so much totally random samples).

One thing which makes blind buying quite safe for me is my skin. I don't know any note, any ingredient or any perfume which would perform in some kind of strange or "wrong" way on my skin. My skin is very easy and "perfume friendly".

There is not even a one niche shop near here where I live. So trying perfumes in shops is possible only when travelling somewhere, mostly in Italy where is our second home. The fact is that my biggest mistakes are the ones which I have tested in stores and bought them. There is so much different perfumes in the air and trying something that quick/short time doesn't give the right impression of scents. My mood is as well exceptional in those moments, I'm in hurry, maybe nervous, wearing totally wrong kind of clothes which don't match with the scent, there are so many reasons that lead to wrong kind of purchases. If the purchases from shops (now I mean those scents which I haven't been reading anything about carefully) would be successful it would need several full wearings during many days which is not possible so often.

I have a running list of samples I want to try and every now and then i'll order a bunch of samples. usually luckyscent (i wish they were spray though). Im not trying to collect fragrances more of a curated collection at this point so a full bottle purchase has to be something I love. If after Ive gone through a sample and emptied it and I'm still thinking about it I usually know for me thats its worthy of a full bottle. 

There's no niche fragrance stores in my area and even if there was I prefer to have the samples myself to go through them at my own pace rather than in the store and under pressure. I have blind bought maybe a handful of fragrances but after buying an expensive one that I hated I don't do that anymore.

I mostly get samples/decants on here or from other sites. It's more of a hobby to me, I don't have the exception that every sample I have will be full bottle worthy. I also sample in store, sometimes I even do that to decide if I need a sample or not. Luckily I live in a big city with lots of perfume stores and the salespeople mostly leave you alone. Of course I also try every free sample I get. Testing perfumes and writing about them is so much fun!

Blind buys have become a rare occasion for me. I often wonder why people buy relatively common 200€ niche perfumes blindly and then act like the other reviewers were lying just because it didn't meet their expectations. If you buy blindly, you have to embrace the thrill of it! I usually only buy cheaper fragrances blindly, and only if they can't be found in stores here and no one is offering samples. It can be fun, too, but it's not my favorite method.

I don't sample perfumes of my friends and family on the regular, they mostly have perfumes I already know and most of them don't have huge collections. 

I don’t find the price per gallon / liter justifiable to get the little testers. I always smell the good stuff in the shops first and if I like it I buy it.

I’ve blind-bought some fragrances that I would otherwise not have bought I think. But hey they were only like 60€ for 100ml.

It depends, but I prioritize the 50 ml ones.

for 100 ml Bottles. In general, I give priority to exclusive fragrances that are among my favorites.
For example, Colognes that will be 100 ml. Drakkar Noir, Eternity for Men, Azzaro Pour Homme, Polo Ralph Lauren, M7 and others in this vintage category.

I am not a gambler with money, unless, you consider blind buys.  Every bottle I have right now was a blind buy.  I have bought a handful of samples, only one of which will be a future purchase.  I recently found some good spots in a city I travel to every month or so that I can try on some of the ones I read about . . . found out that most of the men's line of Tom Ford is not for me.  

But much like @Ninamariah I research here, fragrantica, basenotes and youtube.  I look what other reviewers like and see what we have in common before taking their word for the fragrance.  

and then . . . I roll the dice and blind buy . . . . the anticipation . . . the excitement.  So much fun.

There was a time, when I bought 1000€ of fragrances blindly. Half a year ago. And now I found my designer and I buy only from them.  How I decide to buy bigger or smaller? Usually bigger has bigger intro price, but price per liter is smaller. It lasts longer and usually looks better. But if I buy like 10 of these, it gonna be a lot of money.

This is absolutely the best way for me and in this way I have less unsuccessful purchases.

I’ve now discovered the pro’s of buying decants. Although they are mighty expensive, they’re not as expensive as blowing 100’s on a bottle you don’t like.

I have now a couple of blind-bought stinkers in my collection that I’d rather get rid of. A real blemish. Won’t ever do that again.

If I can buy it in store, and they have testers, I try it at least twice- usually once on paper, once on skin. 

If they don't have testers, or I can't buy in store then I'll buy sample vials, or more often, i'll buy decants.

It's been a long time since I've blind-bought something and honestly don't think I'll do it ever again!

If I'm not able to go into a store to smell it, I then buy a decant of it from trusted sellers in the fragrance groups I'm in. Sometimes I blind buy a perfume because the notes sound really great, and luckily many times I don't regret it. In order for me to buy a full bottle I really have to be moved by a perfume, aka, hours later I'm still sniffing my wrists because the perfume is that great.