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ScentNebula

What's your "hit rate" with samples (or blind buys)?

ScentNebula | Perfume Discussions

... I had an idea for a fun game: reverse the process I usually go through to pick samples, and do all my research to pick a selection that I think I'll hate . It would be really interesting to see how well my judgement works in reverse, and how many of the assumed horrible samples would end up becoming favorites! Cause I've definitely surprised myself before

14

ScentNebula

2 months ago

ScentNebula

What's your "hit rate" with samples (or blind buys)?

ScentNebula | Perfume Discussions

... Stardust23 I still keep everything because, I’ve had things take two years to make me like them. I've had this happen too. Also the opposite way round where I go off something I used to love. There's lots of scents I've loved from the moment I first smell them, but also others that have needed to grow on me. Often I don't realise I've had a hit until I find myself reaching for it over and over again

14

ScentNebula

2 months ago

ScentNebula

What's your "hit rate" with samples (or blind buys)?

ScentNebula | Perfume Discussions

... Omnipotato I think the trick is buying based on the perfumer/house rather than the note pyramid and reviews. The note pyramid and reviews are more useful for eliminating perfumes I don't think I'd like rather than figuring out what I would like, in my opinion. I think I agree with this to an extent. For me it's more to do with figuring out what scent profiles/notes I like from a particular perfumer. I usually hate sandalwood, but when Pineward does it, it doesn't bother me at all. So I'll avoid anything with sandalwood UNLESS it's Pineward in which case I disregard that note when filtering down my options. And then there are some that are either love or hate. Serge Lutens is a good example. The ones I love I really love, and the ones I hate I really hate, and there's no particular rhyme or reason to it. (It doesn't help that SL deliberately doesn't release full note lists, though!)

14

ScentNebula

2 months ago

ScentNebula

What's your "hit rate" with samples (or blind buys)?

ScentNebula | Perfume Discussions

... I remember this question being asked in the daily shoutouts a while back, and I thought it would be interesting to get more formal input. How well are you able to judge if you'll like a perfume before you've smelled it? Do you feel you've gotten better at this over time? What is your process for deciding whether to order a sample of something - or, god forbid, blind buy a full bottle? 😆 After collecting for 3 years, my process has become quite involved. Let's say I want to order a pick-your-own sample set - this is what I do: First, I shortlist perfumes that interest me based on the advertised notes. Anything with a note I usually hate (or if it's a house I already know, a note I dislike that house's rendition of) gets kicked off the list. Then, I try to find as many reviews on as many different platforms as possible - Parfumo, the F site, youtube, reddit, etc. Anything with a lot of reviews describing qualities I dislike gets kicked off the list. I also pay attention to the voting on which notes are strongest, the scent categories, and so on - if these votes don't line up with my expectations for the scent, I may kick it off the list as not being what I'm looking for. During this phase, I take notes on what reviewers say about each scent, and color code them - anything I'm certain I'll like gets colored green, while uncertain or "definitely not" scents get colored orange or red respectively. This ensures I don't forget why I decided not to order a particular sample, and also means that I have some other options to fall back on if something is out of stock or I need to add more to my cart to get free shipping or whatever. Finally, armed with my whittled down shortlist, I then... wait. For at least a month. I've learnt from experience that when I'm in the heat of the moment, excited about trying new perfumes, I can make bad decisions. So I give myself a cooling off period, and if I come back to my list later and still feel excited about all the scents on the list, then and only then do I place an order. Using this technique I've gotten my hit rate to about 75% at a minimum. I want to point out it's not just about getting a good hit rate, though. This entire process is great fun for me. It's almost more fun than smelling the actual perfumes! It's also a great way for me to indulge in this hobby during times when I can't afford to buy new things, as I can just research and window shop until I have disposable income again. P.S. I suppose I'd better define hit rate - by a "hit" I don't necessarily mean I want to buy a full bottle (because that just isn't something I really do), but I mean that I really like the scent enough to wear it on a regular basis.

14

ScentNebula

2 months ago

ScentNebula

Do you intend to continue expanding your collection forever?

ScentNebula | Parfumo Community

... PerfumeL0v3r I used to have like one (white musk/body shop,) then Champs Elysees found me. Then the OG Lancôme Miracle found me and BCBG (?) I discovered Good Chemistry, circled back and went on Sniffari and now I’m back to Guerlain. I have more fragrance than I ever have had before but I prefer it. I have enough variety for seasons/occassions/my moods etc. I will never have such a huge collection that I can’t possibly wear them all in a calendar year or anything though. Ooh, this raises an interesting question - how many is too many to wear in a calendar year? (I am not being too serious with this question, haha). Do we go off the assumption we're wearing a different perfume each day, therefore 365 maximum?

19

ScentNebula

2 months ago

ScentNebula

Analysing Notes - Without smelling!

ScentNebula | Perfume Discussions

... I've learnt the hard way that it's really impossible to imagine how something will smell just from reading the notes. I get a much better idea of the scent profile from reading reviews where people compare it other smells (perfume or otherwise) and from the "smells like"/inspiration tabs on sites like Parfumo. There's a few reasons for this. As others have already pointed out, the notes list doesn't give you any idea what note is most dominant. Parfumo helps with this by allowing people to rate how strongly they smell each note, but a different note may be more prominent to a different person because we all perceive things differently. Then, there's usually many different forms of a particular note, and it's rendered differently by different perfumers. Also, unless you've smelled every ingredient in isolation, you may not actually know exactly what a certain note smells like. For example, if you've only ever smelled violet in a fragrance that also contains a lot of iris, you might struggle to distinguish them. And last but very much not least, when notes are combined, they can end up creating an entirely new kind of scent that doesn't smell at all like its constituent parts. This is probably the biggest challenge I've found in imagining how something will smell based on the notes. Over time, you can start to develop a sense of how particular note combinations end up smelling when they're all mixed together (the scent profile), and I actually find this a more reliable way of determining how something will smell than trying to imagine individually what, say, bergamot + aldehydes + ylang ylang + oakmoss + amber will smell like. In reality you can swap out out any of those notes with something different but that functions similarly, and get a perfume that smells almost identical, and also doesn't smell at all like any of its parts. And then we give it a name like "chypre" and maybe we narrow down the nuances by using descriptors like "green" or "animalic" or "sweet". But describing what things smell like is really challenging actually, and no words can ever reliably convey the experience.

9

thesinlab

2 months ago

ScentNebula

most unique/oddball fragrance you have?

ScentNebula | Perfume Discussions

... kittea "Deus Ex Machina | Alkemia" smells like machine coolant, and "Woodcut | Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes" smells like a pile of sawdust. Not the sort of things most people want to smell like, but I sure do! And my sample of "Horla | January Scent Project" confuses me every time I spray it. It's not weird in that it's offputting, I feel like it'd be fairly appealing to most people, it's just weird in that it's very difficult to pin down. "Horla | January Scent Project" sounds fascinating! Schrodingers perfume...

20

kushbreth

3 months ago

ScentNebula

most unique/oddball fragrance you have?

ScentNebula | Perfume Discussions

... I love this topic! Weird fragrances are the my favorite (even if I can't always wear them). My favorite oddball fragrance is "Writer's Blood | Alkemia". It smells like a number of strange things: a hospital, artist's ink, and coffee. Yet it's strangely wearable an addictive. My least favorite oddball fragrance is "Penguin | Zoologist", which smells like a dentist's office. Though I want to give it another shot some time, because it's really intriguing. Several other Zoologists are contenders for the position, as well.

20

kushbreth

3 months ago

ScentNebula

What perfume have you bought recently?

ScentNebula | Perfumes & Brands

... I just ran out of samples to test, and while I've been enjoying exploring my existing sample collection more deeply, it doesn't quite scratch that itch of discovering something new. I was discussing with a friend what a "grounding" perfume for relaxation etc might smell like, and they came up with the combo of vetiver, patchouli and frankincense, which I thought sounded nice, so of course I had to search Parfumo to see if anything already exists with that specific note list. Lo and behold, I found "Chakra 1 | Aveda", which seems like almost too much of a coincidence. I did some research and long story short, I broke my "no blind buy" rule to get "Chakra 1 | Aveda", "Chakra 3 | Aveda" and "Chakra 5 | Aveda". I thought it was a relatively safe choice because they are essential oil blends, which are quite predictable and pleasant to my nose. Fingers crossed.

936

DonVanVliet

3 months ago

ScentNebula

realistic basement/musty smell, or woody like an attic?

ScentNebula | Perfume Recommendations

... I've heard that "Dustsceawung | Alkemia" is a very good basement smell. I haven't tried it yet myself, but I might be getting a sample soon!

15

snoopygrrl

3 months ago

ScentNebula

Love letter to White Florals

ScentNebula | Perfumes by Note, Accord, Genre

... Akira1005 @ScentNebula If you like, please try "Lust / Lady Flower (Perfume) | Lush / Cosmetics To Go" from LUSH. I also like jasmine essential oil, but this one has a lot of essential oils in it. Be careful, it's too strong. It also has an obscene amount of indole. Many people say it's too sexual. I've tried this one in store on a blotter! It is very indolic, true, but I also found it a bit too sweet and kind of fruity I think? I haven't really resonated with any Lush fragrances except for "Breath of God (Perfume) | Lush / Cosmetics To Go" , which I almost considered buying but never got round to.

26

Chrysoptera

4 months ago

ScentNebula

Love letter to White Florals

ScentNebula | Perfumes by Note, Accord, Genre

... Chrysoptera I'm just starting to educate myself on fragrances. As I've been sampling like crazy and the weather gets warmer here in the northern hemisphere, my most surprising discovery is my love for white florals. There's nothing more romantic to me. I like them sweet and heady and over the top. Give me indolic and bubblegummy. I love them all. Here are my favorites with white florals so far: "Ashore | Amouage" Sultry jasmine, candyish rose water, and mineral sea salt. "Honour 43 | Amouage" Jasmine, tuberose, and gardenia with beautiful fresh green notes and resins. More refined than ultra romantic. "Love Tuberose | Amouage" Luscious tuberose, jasmine, and gardenia with just a little vanilla cream. "Moon Bloom | Hiram Green" Natural indolic jasmine and tuberose along with coconut milk, green leaves, and cloves. I have a sample of "Carnal Flower (Eau de Parfum) | Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle" to try next. What are your favorite white floral fragrances? I have a deep love of natural white florals (jasmine essential oil may be my favorite scent in the world) but I have yet to find my perfect fragrance rendition of a jasmine. Moon Bloom actually sounds really perfect, and I need to try it! Outside of strictly jasmine: "Snow Gardenia (Perfume Oil) | MOR" is my favorite gardenia. "Fleurs d'oranger | Serge Lutens" is my favorite orange blossom. "Fils de joie | Serge Lutens" is my favorite heady white floral incense type of scent, I know this is meant to be jasmine but there's too much else going on for me to perceive it that way. "Datura noir (Eau de Parfum) | Serge Lutens" is my favorite tuberose, I guess - mainly because I haven't smelled any other tuberose dominant scents, but as you can see, I'm a Serge fan, and I doubt it gets better than this! I have just received samples of "California Rêverie | Van Cleef & Arpels" and "Spring Dance | Jusbox", both of which seem like they might be contenders for a perfect jasmine, finally.

26

Chrysoptera

4 months ago

ScentNebula

What are your top 3 most complimented fragrances of all time

ScentNebula | Perfume Recommendations

... Lempi Fragrances are not culturally accepted in my country so compliments are extremely rare here (also complimenting in general is not a part of our culture). Fragrance insults, instead, are sometimes daily, I don't know if I should launch a thread of my most insulted fragrances - probably not as it would be a very long list 🤣 I would find this very entertaining actually 🤣 maybe I should start a separate thread for most insulted fragrances... As for my own answer, I have never had anyone even acknowledge the fact that I'm wearing fragrance, somewhat to my relief.

31

Tyldrmx

4 months ago

Tyldrmx

ScentNebula

Do you intend to continue expanding your collection forever?

ScentNebula | Parfumo Community

... Arcane Interesting theme. If I learned anything about myself throughout my nearly six decades on this planet, it must be that whatever I get into, I can't do it by half. Be it music, cinema, literature, Franco-Belgian comic books, artefacts - I dive into it with a passion. Accumulating quite a bit of knowledge and, well, a few things in the process. With perfumes it is no different. I am the same way. I like to say I always put 200% into anything I do, sometimes to my detriment. I also often get the urge to sell a lot of my stuff, partly to recoup costs but also because I dislike being burdened with things I no longer have a passionate interest in. I think it would be healthy to part with some of my collection (that's currently just sitting in storage) but selling stuff is easier said than done. I've tried to do it with clothes and ended up spending more money on new ones than I ever got back from selling old ones. Perfume is even harder to sell, since I unfortunately live in a country without a huge perfume community, and that forbids international shipping of flammables.

19

ScentNebula

4 months ago

ScentNebula

Do you intend to continue expanding your collection forever?

ScentNebula | Parfumo Community

... Lately I've been thinking about the fact that I've only been collecting for a few years (and mostly only samples/small decants) yet I already have more perfumes in my collection that I could ever hope to use up. There are only so many days in a year, and it's getting overwhelming to decide what to wear each day. And yet, there are still more things I want to try, more scent profiles I want to discover. I have a list of specific scent combinations or notes that I want to thoroughly explore and find my "perfect" representation of. I doubt that I'll ever stop wanting to try new things, but I'm starting to think that once I've checked off that todo list, maybe I need to stop collecting (except for the odd special case here or there) and focus on cycling through what I already have - I have more than enough to keep me entertained for the rest of my life. How do you feel about your collection? Do you intend to keep on adding to it indefinitely; selling part of it and replenishing with new scents periodically; stop when you've reached a certain goal (number of bottles, acquired the perfect scent, etc); or something else? Would love to hear your thoughts.

19

ScentNebula

4 months ago

ScentNebula

Thoughts on batch differences

ScentNebula | Perfume Discussions

... Ringtale I saw a test-bottle of "Dune (Eau de Toilette) | Dior" the other day. The juice was almost red like red wine, while in a new bottle it looks kind of pink and the juices in my older bottles of many fragrances darken in time also, so I think that's normal. I also experience some scents differently from day to day. Sometimes my "Azurēe (2015) | Estēe Lauder" has a bitter drydown which is hard for me to bare, on other days the bright opening is more prominent, balancing out that bitterness... "N°19 (Eau de Parfum) | Chanel" I sometimes find soft and gentle, on other days I perceive it as dry, cold and harsh, so I think our perception of scents also matters. Maybe due to chemistry, weather conditions, etc. And I also feel as though what I've worn the day before matters in how I perceive scents. Yes, I definitely notice a difference in how I perceive scents day to day or after smelling other things, too! I wish I could get my sample open to do a proper comparison, but the lid is jammed.

4

ScentNebula

5 months ago

ScentNebula

Thoughts on batch differences

ScentNebula | Perfume Discussions

... I'm wondering if anyone can detect slight differences in the smell of a fragrance between batches, when there is NO known reformulation? I hear a lot about samples smelling slightly different to full bottles and I wonder if this is the reason, or if it has more to do with slight changes due to aging of the juice. I got a 2ml sample of "Cuir Tassili | Maison Rebatchi" a couple of years ago, which I used a lot until the sprayer broke. So I recently purchased a full bottle, and while the heart of the fragrance is the same, there's a subtle difference in the opening, to my nose. The sample is more fresh and bright in the opening while the bottle is more irisy. I'm fairly certain it's a different batch as they changed the color of the juice (sample juice is a soft yellow, bottle juice is light green-grey). But of course, the sample is also older, so maybe that has something to do with it? This is not a complaint btw, more just curiosity about the fragrance production process as I don't even know if it's possible for mass produced fragrances to differ between batches if the formula hasn't changed.

4

ScentNebula

5 months ago

ScentNebula

2 Fragrances for the Rest of Your Life

ScentNebula | Perfumes & Brands

... Fun exercise! Warm weather: "Cuir Tassili | Maison Rebatchi" Cold weather: "Tabacco Toscano (Eau de Cologne) | Santa Maria Novella" ...this might be my sign to buy a full bottle of Tabacco Toscano...

47

DAVID043329

6 months ago

ScentNebula

Every fragrance is someone’s favourite

ScentNebula | Perfume Discussions

... So true... And on the topic of Secretions Magnifiques, if you think there's something wrong with the people who rate it 10/10, you're wrongly assuming it smells the same to everyone! I've heard a number of stories of people sampling it expecting to be disgusted as is the usual reaction, and then finding it smells like (for example) completely inoffensive flowers to them. Not only do people's tastes differ but different people literally smell entirely different chemical compositions sometimes, or their skin chemistry transforms the scent. I've had this experience a lot and am often shocked at how much my olfactory experience of a fragrance differs from every review I can find of it. Like we're smelling completely different fragrances.

13

ExUser

6 months ago

ExUser

ScentNebula

In search of resinous pine fragrances

ScentNebula | Perfume Recommendations

... SilverLily Definitely second the recommendation for Pineward, I'm slowly testing my way through their catalog and they're great. "Murkwood | Pineward" is pine and incense (haven't tried this one yet, but looking forward to it). I'm really enjoying "Bindebole | Pineward", which is more green and excellent for spring. "Fanghorn II | Pineward" I found to be quite heavy on the fir balsam, darker and also very nice. Great to hear - I just ordered some samples from them including Fanghorn II and Murkwood.

9

ScentNebula

6 months ago

1 - 20 by 66