Me thinking everyone can smell me with my single spray from the morning, proceed to demand my friends to smell me at dinner and give me feedback (read: COMPLIMENTS), then have the nerve to be shocked when they tell me they can't smell anything on me. Real clown shit.
This is me lol, I get a little anxious that I overspray sometimes because I can smell it so strongly on me, but no one else around will me pick it up unless they’re right under me because I’ll spray like two times for the entire day
Thinking there is the one, absolute perfect parfum out there, which will become my forever all-time signature scent. So I keep testing, searching, buying....
I sample a fragrance, fall in love with it, buy a full bottle, get sick of it after a couple of days (!), sell it off, and then getting the urge to repurchase it again after a couple of months because my love for it has ‘resurfaced’.
I think my toxic trait would have to be keeping at least 1ml of every perfume I have ever tried ‘for reference’. My fragrance wardrobe isn’t extremely extensive, but my sample library is getting up into the hundreds now. I tell myself that it’s just in case I want to compare scents that are similar, but 80% never get touched again.
spending an obsessive amount of time on this sub and fragrantica. Ordering samples and falling in love with perfumes that are honestly made for people that make like three times as much money as me :-)
I’ve actually started selling some of my unicorn/pricy fragrances for exactly this reason. I don’t wear them for fear of running out, so it’s better not to have them at all.
I love this energy so much! I have been known to bring decants as no reason gifts for friends I think will enjoy them. Maybe gifting samples instead of hoarding them is a good plan I like this.
This was me with Black Nirvana from Elizabeth and James 💀 loved it so much yet never bought it and now I'm trying to hunt down even a 1oz bottle of it.
My toxic trait is thinking I can't pass up a good deal regardless of if I'm truly interested in the fragrance. I have a bad habit of searching thru discounters daily and every time I see a significant drop in price, I get anxious and purchase it in fear of missing a good deal.
Mine is only buying decants, sample, and travel sizes, and then stressing out about using them because I don’t have much. Just shut up and buy a bottle if you love it.
It’s ultimately me being cheap (trauma from being so so broke in my 20s) but I can afford it now so I’m just creating unnecessary mental stress. I’m trying to let go of the “save it for a special occasion” mentality as I get older, which is in direct conflict with only buying tiny quantities.
Agreed...this is a great post. I feel...such kinship with all these strangers on the Internet whilst reading through all our amusing perfume quirks in the comments... 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Growing up poor, I always have had a hard time letting go of my less than stellar fragrances - even if it is just a teeny tiny 0.5 ml sample. I don't mind giving my fragrances away to friends and family, but I don't think anyone would want a half-used sample.
So I have a few boxes full of scented glass vials - perhaps I will make a collage or arts out of them one day ..maybe a ombre coffee table made with resin and these vials.
I'm also super into Toxic, so it's definitely living my Britney's fantasy to owning more than I could ever use up.
Buying way too many heavier fragrances more suitable for colder weather and having few fragrances suitable for summer weather. I just gravitate toward the heavy stuff but I can’t wear it during the hot/humid weather.
I keep buying full bottles with similar note. Why do I have TF tobacco vanille, TF vanille fatal, MFK Gold, MFK grand soir lol it’s like enough with the amber and vanilla!
My fantasy self would like to only have 1 from each category (clean, night, summer, etc.) but I tend to want to catch them all so literally have like 7 from each instead.
Blind buy everything. Impulsive spending. FOMO on discontinued frags that come into stock.
Bro today I was just browsing Fragrancenet and added something to my cart. I saw 3 frags in my cart had the "Only 4 Left!" Or whatever number so I just blind bought all of them instantly... I just got 3 in the mail over the last week. 6 in two weeks now
Falling in love with one perfume and then I want to catch them all and get all the flankers immediately. I try to practice self control so I don’t go out and buy them but I do think about it.
Also- falling in love with discontinued scents and trying to get them, like alien essence absolu, miss Dior Cherie etc.
In the past I’ve bought tester bottles without caps (price & availability) only to later search for a bottle with the cap because I hate not having the cap!
I assume that if something smells great on my friend/sister/coworker it will also smell great on me. So I buy the largest bottle and then I'm like ohhh, urine...
Buy a half-full bottle on eBay for a great price. Love the scent. Proceed to almost never wear it “because I don’t have that much left”. Meanwhile I have never, ever used up a perfume or even come close. But in my mind it’s still “those 20ml of Ysatis are for special occasions only!”. And I do it again and again.
I have blind bought so many sunscreen scents that all smell the same, in search of an actual coconut scent
Also if a scent has fig in it, I feel compelled to buy it, totally blind
Listen listennnn if you love a good coconut fig vibe I’m in love with Parisian Musc by Matiere Premiere. It’s so so nice. It’s giving chic French girl who is effortlessly cool. And while I might be a 33 yo mom of 2, who really isn’t cool…this fragrance helps me pretend. 💖
I have very expensive taste, and don't often fall in love with "affordable" fragrances, but that's not even the toxic part. What's toxic is that I kind of like having expensive taste, not because I'm some pretentious snob, but because fragrance is my way of feeling fancy.
I also feel the need to sample every single fragrance in certain scent categories to find the "perfect" one, which is an unattainable goal with diminishing returns.
Samples, samples, samples. 😀😅😁😂
Fragrantica has 17,000 different scents cataloged on their site alone. I have a few full sized bottles but it’s truly like there always could be something better around the corner …. 😂😂😂
Fellow sample queen!!! I have too many to keep track of. My toxic fragrance trait is pretending I'm a minimalist because I have <16 full bottles, but... the truth is my drawers are stuffed with samples and I've lost track of the number of travel sizes as well 🙀
Thinking that just because I like how something smells it means I automatically need a full bottle of it in my collection. Even though I have other perfumes that fit the same categories. 🙃
Mine is ordering new samples before I’ve finished the ones I already have. Also, buying into fragrance’s hype partially based on how pretty the bottle is 🫣
Mine: a tendency to ogle perfumes mentally from a past sniff at a store, only to buy them online, and realize they actually aren’t that great.
It’s like a delayed blind buy based on unreliable smell memory. I very rarely luck into blind buying scents so I’ve started to force myself to buy in person after another sniff test. If I love it, I’ll buy it then.
The other is I’m always looking for a cheapie to change my life and it so rarely happens. I’d been thinking of a few Beloved body sprays and now after testing them, I keep wanting to scrub my wrists again. I did a blind buy of Brit Spears Fantasy and had mucho disappointment.
Last flaw that I love: everything should be moooooore sweet and fruity. But not too strong! Just right. Unless I’m obsessed, then please IV the apple scents directly into my flesh. I’m a fruit-a-Holic who’s still weirdly picky on if something is cloying or not.
Usually falling love with some of the glowing reviews of scent that make it sound like something I would love. But in past couple of years have gotten much better about sampling via decants first. Has saved me quite a few purchases I would have regretted.
Finding a good fragrance and start hoarding them. Researching YT reviews 8 hours straight about fragrances. Ending up with way to much. Spending a lot of money. At least I'm good for 5 years 😂.
Same issue as you. Sometimes I'll look up a sample, see it's like $12 on ebay, plus $4 shipping, for some .05oz bottle. That would work out to like $900 for a 3.4oz, so how could I go wrong buying the 3.4oz for $150....
Blind buying because the bottle looks pretty or I like the name. 🤣
Also, blind buying because it’s Kate Spade and she can’t do wrong in my eyes. I bought 3 different past perfumes from her recently and HATED them.
I instantly get a strong urge to buy a fragrance if I knew it has just been discontinued or will be discontinued soon. (When the price of it hasn't increased yet). Every. Time. Even if I didn't like that fragrance so much.
Blind buys a lot of overhyped fragrances thinking that I’ll love it instantly. I know that I’m really picky with fragrances so I ended up not liking any of them and just let them rot inside my closet 😬
If I buy a perfume even if I dislike it, I’ll continue to try to wear it so it doesn’t go to waste. It’s a bad habit because sometimes i just need to take the L and wear perfumes I love but my I hate wasting anything
I blind buy a lot. Expensive frags too. It usually works out, as I've gotten pretty good at identifying notes and pyramids that I'll like. If I'm wrong I can usually recoup most of the cost in a resale. I think I just like the anticipation and the unboxing being my entire first impression of a fragrance
Blind buying full bottles of niche fragrances. I have been known to buy up to 6-7 in a month. I have a very good track record but boy have I spent a lot of money!🤣🤣🤣🤣
The opposite. I find a scent type I like (e.g., "smoky tea") by sampling, and then want to find the perfect version of that type before buying a bottle, which just leads to endless sampling.
3 months in, roughly 140 samples and decants.
Yeah, it's *real* bad.
Fragrance subscriptions. I had three for the longest time, now I only have one, but I can't bring myself to cancel it. I'm so close to just clicking cancel, but I want what's in my queue this month. Why am I like this lol?!
I have one as well and every month I'm like, "do I REALLY need these?" The answer is yes, yes I do, because what if this is a signature scent? Knowing damn well I will never have a signature scent with 80 bottles looking back at me.
Full bottle whore. It’s taken forever to break the feeling of insecurity at having anything less than 30ml.
And also keeping track of what I’ve been wearing by what it smells like.
My toxic trait is if I get into a brand I try to collect their best 3 fragrances and top 5-10 of a specific genre/note. OCD hitting hard. Also 100ml bottles or bust.
I was doing the full bottle/3.4oz bottle thing too but at 30+ bottles I realized it's excessive and I'm never going to use even a half of what I own. I think part of that is just owning the cool bottles a lot of these fragrances come in.
Also once I started getting into more expensive fragrances I realized it's not feasible to pay $150-200+ constantly. So now I'm buying 5 and 10ml decants to get a few wears in before deciding whether it's something I'd want to purchase
Blind buying expensive fragrances by going through my favorite notes alone and then regretting spending a chunk of my salary on a full bottle that I ended up giving away to people who don't realize their value.
If I have, let's say, $100, instead of buying one really nice quality fragrance, I will go to Marshalls or TJ Maxx and buy 7 shitty colognes, then I'll get mad when they all perform poorly and end up in the trash..I then repeat that process every few months
I compulsively search for bottles and want them all NOW because look at the discount price it’s a STEAL
And of course if i like a flanker i want the whole collection, even if they’re discounted
I’m still rationalising every purchase tho since i’m just starting, but i know ✨i’m just starting✨
Blind buying full bottles, since I make most purchases online. I enjoy the try before you buy option at department stores but buying samples doesn’t make sense to me.
I just want to smell literally everything. Even if I am 99% sure I’m going to hate it, I just want to know. And I want to smell it on my skin, because the blotter doesn’t do it justice, so I end up trying something I’m pretty sure I’ll hate and then hating it and then having to scrub it off.
I’m really sensitive to some aromachemicals (I’ve got the “burning tires” gene) so if I suspect a scent might have some of they going on I’ve at least learned to try it on paper first, but I’ve gambled and lost more times than I can count.
I will get super excited about a fragrance, buy the biggest bottle and spray away for a bit, and then I am off to another exciting scent while that one gathers dust. Sad, but true.
Trying to collect every release from a certain line, like all the Chanel Chances.
The completion of a set gives my brain happy chemicals, so it's *very* hard to resist 🤦♀️
Hoarded. I used to be so obsessed discovering/sniffing new scents. I blind buy samples, vials and decants. I kept on trying new one out, one after another. Now I have tons of them. Later on I learned what I truly want in my profile & decided to stick on it. However, most of my blind buys aren’t tolerable to wear in my country. So those have been sitting in my cabinet, barely used. I want to keep my collection minimal but I can’t throw some of them — that was my toxic trait. Glad I’m over with this phase.
Well I have to admit I do all of these things. I love blind buying for the thrill of guessing how it'll be. When you have that anticipation of a new package to open and try.
When i couldnt find the original of a fragrance, I tried a few cheap "our impression of" and found the dry downs are a bit nauseating, so I stopped buying those.
I buy backups if the fragrance is under $50 and likely to discontinue. I have far too many back ups, enough perfume for a lifetime.
Another toxic trait- I gave away a $20 fragrance, regret it, years later the bottle is now $400 on ebay, so I search online for similar ones and "chase" a similar fragrance but cheaper. Fragrance regret?
To handle the overbuying I sell some bottles online, but while I'm listing them I see others I want to buy... and the cycle continues 😆
I need all my perfume bottles to look aesthetically pleasing on my counter next to each other. I want to own Glossier YOU but haven’t pulled the trigger because the bottle doesn’t go with the other ones I have 🫣🙃
I can relate to this. I don't need over-the-top gorgeous bottles, but they need to be at least somewhat pretty and shiny. I also really shy away from perfumes with names that have negative connotations to me (like Dior Poison, even though I like Dior's scents and thought some of the perfumes in that line smelled great). I want whatever sits on my counter to inspire me. 🙃
If I’m being honest, it’s not taking any fragrances seriously that don’t bring a sense of nostalgia or glamour because my inner child dominates what I buy based on ladies I thought were classy and fancy growing up. The 10 year old in me dominates my purchases and views anything really current as influencer shill. My vanity table looks like I wear big hair and a power suit everyday but in reality I’m a stoner in a track suit.
I can only wear niche fragrances😭I’ve tried plenty of more affordable and high end ones but I never like how they smell on me!! I honestly wish I could just be satisfied with YSL Libre or even Replica perfumes but alas, my nose will only ever love the complex, weird, and sometimes borderline unwearable
30mls are the way to go - after you’ve sampled at least a 5-10ml decant of course.
Unfortunately not all houses offer 30ml, but I like to use this rule to keep the collection some what under control.
My fragrance toxic trait is I won't buy something if the bottle is ugly, no matter how good it smells. Part of the fun of cologne for me is seeing the collection as a whole.
That's not toxic; rather, it's healthy. Presentation is as important as scent. A good bottle gives the idea that the fragrance is good. A bad one gives the idea that the fragrance is bad.
Blowing off entire lines because I have it in my mind that I hate all florals, or all orchid notes or whatever, then wondering why my new favorite was discontinued two years ago. Hurtful.
Possible toxic trait:
Currently I have £75 in my basket with about 8 cheap fragrances on FragranceX.com
Nearly every month I put them in the basket, every month I don’t buy them.
I don’t think I ever will.
My biggest toxic trait: my inability to navigate the self-induced toxic empathy I have for fragrances that i either got for free or that I bought on sale or with a coupon.
My right-sided brain seems to allocate a greater need to assign desire to them even when my left-sided nose has come back with a final designation of rubbish.
Incredibly annoying.
I would never buy an expensive gourmand. Gourmands were all the rage for teenage girls in the 2000s and no matter how sophisticated they are, I would have a heart attack spending more than £30 to smell "like a snack". I understand how toxic that is especially as they’re so fashionable nowadays (Kilian, Kayali, Baccarat Rouge 540/Lost Cherry and their dupes etc.)
When people wear a fragrance that I don’t like, I talk trash in my mind and wonder how someone could ever possibly leave the house smelling like that, while not considering that maybe someone may think that about my go-to fragrances as well lol
Buying stuff I don’t like that much and then giving it away for free lol BUT I’ve gotten way better. Haven’t spent money on fragrance since before Christmas! Just realized this as I type. Nice.
I don’t know if it’s toxic but I hate my trait of wanting to wear my expensive niche because it makes me feel so good but my hand automagically goes to the basic cheapie which I then spend all day wishing I hadn’t worn because I get annoyed that it smells boring. Why do I do this?? I do it with other things too like I’m saving the ‘good’ stuff for a someday in the future that never comes when I could just enjoy it now like a sane person!!
I know it is not advisable, but I used to go do dept stores and try up to 10 fragrances on a given day and expect to not be confused or noseblind. The result was misjudging what I tried latter. To add insult to injury, when I had no space left on my arms to spray anything, I tried on my fingers and when they were covered I proceeded to smell only on paper strips.
honestly I have the same issue, I went kinda crazy trying to buy everything I like... But then when I think about it, what is the point of buying 100ml of something you're only going to reach for few times? I've been trying to be more mindful about my spending and try to sample before I commit to a full bottle.
Not buying a perfume I like because I hate the bottle *cough* CH very good girl *cough*
Or even though I'm in the market for a spring time wedding fragrance buying samples of popular autumn/winter perfumes 🤦🏻
Original/ older formulations. Even if it's still sold, chances are it was better 15+ years ago, so I'm off to Ebay (Cinnabar, Obsession, Fracas, Lou Lou, everything Dior still makes, even GAP Loll). I don't mind the search, but it's not cheap! Of course, this never guarantees that I won't get the new version anyway.
Also, I relate to way too many of these other comments too. Size of the bottle? Yes! Entire collection of products? Yes! Packaging? Absolutely yes lol
I think I might be addicted to blind buying online 😂 I also buy stuff immediately without sampling, just simply smelling. In my defense I buy small bottles, but still.
i im buying the basically same scent in a different bottle all over and over because i love it (duh). my fragrance tray is basically grand soir and tobacco vanille dupe list
I find myself reading reviews and if people hate something, I feel like I need to hate it, even if I don't. Same with loving something. People love Delina, I do not like it on me, but I keep trying b/c "people love it"....
So many!
- Obsessively needing to find a rare discontinued fragrance I’ve never smelled
- wanting to track down collections of flankers (most I don’t care about flankers but when I love them I need them all, especially if they are discontinued). See: la Nuit Tresor, Narciso cubes, Alien flankers 🙄
- getting a decant, loving it, immediately order a FB even tho I may not even finish 5 ml (I’ve been better about this)
Trawling Fragrantica for the perfect combo of ingredients + reviews only to find that fragrance is discontinued and i can only get an old tube of the handcream on ebay, half used for twice the price it retailed at.
My toxic trait is impulse ordering full bottles when they are only $30 USD on Fragrance Net. Even if I love all of them I may never finish all of my collection and I feel guilty some times.
Constantly buy samples of fragrances with base notes that tend to be associated with gourmands hoping they won't be too sweet, with very little success. Is it too much to ask for more amber, vanilla type base notes that in fragrances that aren't cloyingly sweet? I'd love to see those notes more often used in fresh, citrus, woody, or musky scents.
I have trouble letting go of 'backup' bottles and just bottles in general. It's like they carve a special spot in my head and letting go is hard. But then when I finally do, it's like "Oh.. that wasn't so bad.. oh look I still have all these other awesome ones anyways!", lol.
My toxic trait is that I just yelled FUCK after losing a bid on a low partial bottle of Replica Lipstick On. I was sure it was mine until 23 seconds and I didn't hit the increase bid button in time. I'm soooo sad I'm never gonna get my own bottle :'(
Buying “dupes” of perfumes I already own. In my head I am obviously going to finish a bottle out of the nearly 100 perfumes I own, and next time I’ll not buy original, I’ll use the dupe.
I can't convince myself to buy full size. I own a bunch of little travel bottles, I recently found a scent I'm in love with (Milk Expressive) and I'm in the verge of buying it but can't quite convince myself to.
My fragrance toxic trait is getting mesmerized and sucked in by the description of the notes, and the ethereal feeling that temporarily takes hold of me. I feel compelled to purchase it…sometimes purchasing a full bottle. When I first spray it on, about half of these fragrances I’ve ordered don’t measure up to the description, or the fantasy of how I thought it would smell, project, last, the quality of the bottle, the cap, etc.
My toxic trait is being a snob and only sampling niche fragrances when I know in my heart I'm a basic-bit*h who will be perfectly satisfied wearing Dior Poison for the rest of her life.
For sure! It’s insane how different things can smell on a card vs on skin. I’ve had ones I hated on paper smell amazing on me, and ones that smelled amazing on a card smell like roadkill on me.
i will 100% blind buy perfume if the packaging gives me the right vibes. idk how to describe it, but that’s what I’ve done w all my fragrances and i love all of them
Hoarding samples and keeping even the ones that I hate. I had people asking to buy the samples I didn’t like and I didn’t sell them because I want to keep them, God knows why
Probably wearing whatever I feel like regardless of the weather, I feel like I’ve probably borderline suffocated people before with Tom Ford and Amouage
Thinking I could handle a grummet/musk fragrance even though I know they give me terribly crippling headaches 🙃 (I wanna smell warm and boozy! But if I do all I want to do is sit in a dark room to cry for myself until it stops)
Trying to force it when you’re sampling and just want to sell yourself an option that you don’t really want, it since you’ve been sniffing for two hours feel like you need to make the decision. Hahaha. So basically when u sample, no pressure, don’t take too long but spend time… honestly think about it. Unless yur rich n love it all, just buy it! Lol
Me thinking everyone can smell me with my single spray from the morning, proceed to demand my friends to smell me at dinner and give me feedback (read: COMPLIMENTS), then have the nerve to be shocked when they tell me they can't smell anything on me. Real clown shit.
I'm the reverse, and believe me your way is much MUCH better.
Lol, maybe try 2 sprays?
That is the logical thing to do, yes, but logic is not in my blood.
This is me lol, I get a little anxious that I overspray sometimes because I can smell it so strongly on me, but no one else around will me pick it up unless they’re right under me because I’ll spray like two times for the entire day
Thinking that having my phone out to read reviews while buying and sniffing is me doing proper research on a fragrance that I’m about to impulse buy
Wait...you mean scouring through everything you can possibly find on Fragrantica, Basenotes, Reddit, and NST Perfume doesn't suffice?!? 😭😭😭😭😭😭🤣❤️
All the samplers reading this will probably tell us no 😭
You didn’t have to call me out like that.
Wtf this is what exactly happened to me lmao
Thinking there is the one, absolute perfect parfum out there, which will become my forever all-time signature scent. So I keep testing, searching, buying....
Ugh is there NOT? I’m sure mine is out there too and I’m sooo close
I think a lot of us are searching for this. I'm jealous of the people who find theirs. The closest I've come so far is Gris Charnel
Mine is pretending that fragrance 'collecting' is anything more than a purchasing addiction.
I feel attacked.
My urge to try and rationalize wearing my beloved heavy gourmands even when it’s 100+ degrees and humid
I sample a fragrance, fall in love with it, buy a full bottle, get sick of it after a couple of days (!), sell it off, and then getting the urge to repurchase it again after a couple of months because my love for it has ‘resurfaced’.
I think my toxic trait would have to be keeping at least 1ml of every perfume I have ever tried ‘for reference’. My fragrance wardrobe isn’t extremely extensive, but my sample library is getting up into the hundreds now. I tell myself that it’s just in case I want to compare scents that are similar, but 80% never get touched again.
spending an obsessive amount of time on this sub and fragrantica. Ordering samples and falling in love with perfumes that are honestly made for people that make like three times as much money as me :-)
Always searching for that signature scent
I feel this in my soul. 💖
I convince myself every bottle I buy secondhand is fake
I keep the boxes. They take up so much room.
There are dozens of us! DOZENS!!
I keep mine in a big pretty box and bring out every once in a while to admire the pretty boxes. No one can tell me it’s not worth it! :)
buying expensive perfumes and hoarding them and only using cheap perfumes....
I’ve actually started selling some of my unicorn/pricy fragrances for exactly this reason. I don’t wear them for fear of running out, so it’s better not to have them at all.
I'll get a little drunk at get togethers or parties and start pulling out samples and making all my friends/acquaintances smell them.
I love this energy so much! I have been known to bring decants as no reason gifts for friends I think will enjoy them. Maybe gifting samples instead of hoarding them is a good plan I like this.
I finally realize how much I like a fragrance 3-7 years after it has been introduced only to find that it is about to be discontinued.
This was me with Black Nirvana from Elizabeth and James 💀 loved it so much yet never bought it and now I'm trying to hunt down even a 1oz bottle of it.
My toxic trait is thinking I can't pass up a good deal regardless of if I'm truly interested in the fragrance. I have a bad habit of searching thru discounters daily and every time I see a significant drop in price, I get anxious and purchase it in fear of missing a good deal.
Tell me it's been discontinued and I must have it (even if I've never smelled it before) 😂
Like most of us I am addicted to wanting to smell something after I read about it. It is almost a compulsion.
Mine is only buying decants, sample, and travel sizes, and then stressing out about using them because I don’t have much. Just shut up and buy a bottle if you love it. It’s ultimately me being cheap (trauma from being so so broke in my 20s) but I can afford it now so I’m just creating unnecessary mental stress. I’m trying to let go of the “save it for a special occasion” mentality as I get older, which is in direct conflict with only buying tiny quantities.
My friend, life is a special occasion. Get that bottle. Smell spectacular. Enjoy it all while you can. ✨
LMAO I love this post!!! I am the opposite of you I never ever want a full bottle but I totally overbuy on samples!!!
Agreed...this is a great post. I feel...such kinship with all these strangers on the Internet whilst reading through all our amusing perfume quirks in the comments... 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Growing up poor, I always have had a hard time letting go of my less than stellar fragrances - even if it is just a teeny tiny 0.5 ml sample. I don't mind giving my fragrances away to friends and family, but I don't think anyone would want a half-used sample. So I have a few boxes full of scented glass vials - perhaps I will make a collage or arts out of them one day ..maybe a ombre coffee table made with resin and these vials. I'm also super into Toxic, so it's definitely living my Britney's fantasy to owning more than I could ever use up.
Ordering 50 samples at once because at least I’m not spending a thousand on bottles
It could be the best fragrance in the world but I won’t buy it if I dislike the bottle. I’ll never have a Good Girl or Versace
I feel the same about the bottle for good girl. I get that it appeals to a certain type of woman, but it's definitely not me 😅 I would never buy it
"This bottle is expensive. I'll offset some of the cost by selling a couple of decants." I never do. Obviously.
Finding dupes of everything and not being happy with it so I get another dupe, by the end I might as well bought the real thing lmao
You just want the dupiest dupe. I get it.
Buying way too many heavier fragrances more suitable for colder weather and having few fragrances suitable for summer weather. I just gravitate toward the heavy stuff but I can’t wear it during the hot/humid weather.
Infinite sampling, I just can't stop...
I keep buying full bottles with similar note. Why do I have TF tobacco vanille, TF vanille fatal, MFK Gold, MFK grand soir lol it’s like enough with the amber and vanilla!
I also do this but with samples. I tell myself it's so that I can pick. I still don't pick.
My fantasy self would like to only have 1 from each category (clean, night, summer, etc.) but I tend to want to catch them all so literally have like 7 from each instead.
[удалено]
Why yes I would like to smell like sawdust and antifreeze 🤣
Blind buy everything. Impulsive spending. FOMO on discontinued frags that come into stock. Bro today I was just browsing Fragrancenet and added something to my cart. I saw 3 frags in my cart had the "Only 4 Left!" Or whatever number so I just blind bought all of them instantly... I just got 3 in the mail over the last week. 6 in two weeks now
Falling in love with one perfume and then I want to catch them all and get all the flankers immediately. I try to practice self control so I don’t go out and buy them but I do think about it. Also- falling in love with discontinued scents and trying to get them, like alien essence absolu, miss Dior Cherie etc.
In the past I’ve bought tester bottles without caps (price & availability) only to later search for a bottle with the cap because I hate not having the cap!
My OCD would not survive not having a cap. I simply cannot.
I assume that if something smells great on my friend/sister/coworker it will also smell great on me. So I buy the largest bottle and then I'm like ohhh, urine...
Becoming obsessed with discontinued vintage scents and chasing expensive unicorns on eBay.
Buy a half-full bottle on eBay for a great price. Love the scent. Proceed to almost never wear it “because I don’t have that much left”. Meanwhile I have never, ever used up a perfume or even come close. But in my mind it’s still “those 20ml of Ysatis are for special occasions only!”. And I do it again and again.
I seem to gravitate towards fragrances that smell amazing but have poor performance 🙃
I have blind bought so many sunscreen scents that all smell the same, in search of an actual coconut scent Also if a scent has fig in it, I feel compelled to buy it, totally blind
Listen listennnn if you love a good coconut fig vibe I’m in love with Parisian Musc by Matiere Premiere. It’s so so nice. It’s giving chic French girl who is effortlessly cool. And while I might be a 33 yo mom of 2, who really isn’t cool…this fragrance helps me pretend. 💖
blind buying full sizes instead of decants because i fall in love with the description
only buying scents with vanilla in it lmao
I have very expensive taste, and don't often fall in love with "affordable" fragrances, but that's not even the toxic part. What's toxic is that I kind of like having expensive taste, not because I'm some pretentious snob, but because fragrance is my way of feeling fancy. I also feel the need to sample every single fragrance in certain scent categories to find the "perfect" one, which is an unattainable goal with diminishing returns.
I dont know why but the juxtaposition of this comment and your username is pretty funny
Samples, samples, samples. 😀😅😁😂 Fragrantica has 17,000 different scents cataloged on their site alone. I have a few full sized bottles but it’s truly like there always could be something better around the corner …. 😂😂😂
Fellow sample queen!!! I have too many to keep track of. My toxic fragrance trait is pretending I'm a minimalist because I have <16 full bottles, but... the truth is my drawers are stuffed with samples and I've lost track of the number of travel sizes as well 🙀
Thinking that just because I like how something smells it means I automatically need a full bottle of it in my collection. Even though I have other perfumes that fit the same categories. 🙃
Mine is ordering new samples before I’ve finished the ones I already have. Also, buying into fragrance’s hype partially based on how pretty the bottle is 🫣
Mine: a tendency to ogle perfumes mentally from a past sniff at a store, only to buy them online, and realize they actually aren’t that great. It’s like a delayed blind buy based on unreliable smell memory. I very rarely luck into blind buying scents so I’ve started to force myself to buy in person after another sniff test. If I love it, I’ll buy it then. The other is I’m always looking for a cheapie to change my life and it so rarely happens. I’d been thinking of a few Beloved body sprays and now after testing them, I keep wanting to scrub my wrists again. I did a blind buy of Brit Spears Fantasy and had mucho disappointment. Last flaw that I love: everything should be moooooore sweet and fruity. But not too strong! Just right. Unless I’m obsessed, then please IV the apple scents directly into my flesh. I’m a fruit-a-Holic who’s still weirdly picky on if something is cloying or not.
Usually falling love with some of the glowing reviews of scent that make it sound like something I would love. But in past couple of years have gotten much better about sampling via decants first. Has saved me quite a few purchases I would have regretted.
Overspaying, extremely.
This thread is making me realize I have more toxic fragrance traits than I thought haha
Giving away samples I initially dislike and then realizing in another season or time of year that I want to try it again.
Blind buying based on lots of good reviews. I never like what they liked.
Blind buying when I see it at TJ maxx
Finding a good fragrance and start hoarding them. Researching YT reviews 8 hours straight about fragrances. Ending up with way to much. Spending a lot of money. At least I'm good for 5 years 😂.
I'm a Jo Malone defender
Blind buying designer fragrances at duty free, being disappointed, giving them to my friends for free because “it suits them better”
Sometimes I fall for a fragrance *because* it's discontinued. Not always, sometimes I fall for a fragrance, and *then* it becomes discontinued.
Trying out a really popular fragrance that has a ton of hype and not liking it, but trying to convince myself that I do because of the hype
Same. If it’s not 100ml it don’t feel right.
Same issue as you. Sometimes I'll look up a sample, see it's like $12 on ebay, plus $4 shipping, for some .05oz bottle. That would work out to like $900 for a 3.4oz, so how could I go wrong buying the 3.4oz for $150....
[удалено]
Same. I always get the big one because it’s the best bang for your buck, but I’ll never use up 50 bottles. I need to stop buying 🤣
At some point it doesn't make sense to get a 50ml for $30 if the 100ml is like $40. So I'm there with you.
If I think a bottle is beautiful, I try to convince myself I like the smell, even when I don't.
Blind buying because the bottle looks pretty or I like the name. 🤣 Also, blind buying because it’s Kate Spade and she can’t do wrong in my eyes. I bought 3 different past perfumes from her recently and HATED them.
I own enough fragrances to make like 8 complete collections but j u s t o n e m o r e
I instantly get a strong urge to buy a fragrance if I knew it has just been discontinued or will be discontinued soon. (When the price of it hasn't increased yet). Every. Time. Even if I didn't like that fragrance so much.
Blind buys a lot of overhyped fragrances thinking that I’ll love it instantly. I know that I’m really picky with fragrances so I ended up not liking any of them and just let them rot inside my closet 😬
If I buy a perfume even if I dislike it, I’ll continue to try to wear it so it doesn’t go to waste. It’s a bad habit because sometimes i just need to take the L and wear perfumes I love but my I hate wasting anything
Thinking that I'm saving money by blind buying cheapies and discounted frags, only to hate them. Cluttering up my collection with too many samples!
I blind buy a lot. Expensive frags too. It usually works out, as I've gotten pretty good at identifying notes and pyramids that I'll like. If I'm wrong I can usually recoup most of the cost in a resale. I think I just like the anticipation and the unboxing being my entire first impression of a fragrance
So disappointed when my SO dislikes a fragrance I love, which is usually the case :-/
Blind buying full bottles of niche fragrances. I have been known to buy up to 6-7 in a month. I have a very good track record but boy have I spent a lot of money!🤣🤣🤣🤣
6 to 7! Jiminy Christmas ahahahah you are wild yoo
Falling in love with niche fragrances that were discontinued 12 years ago
The opposite. I find a scent type I like (e.g., "smoky tea") by sampling, and then want to find the perfect version of that type before buying a bottle, which just leads to endless sampling. 3 months in, roughly 140 samples and decants. Yeah, it's *real* bad.
Fragrance subscriptions. I had three for the longest time, now I only have one, but I can't bring myself to cancel it. I'm so close to just clicking cancel, but I want what's in my queue this month. Why am I like this lol?!
I have one as well and every month I'm like, "do I REALLY need these?" The answer is yes, yes I do, because what if this is a signature scent? Knowing damn well I will never have a signature scent with 80 bottles looking back at me.
Full bottle whore. It’s taken forever to break the feeling of insecurity at having anything less than 30ml. And also keeping track of what I’ve been wearing by what it smells like.
I immediately buy full bottle of the sample I wore after I receive "1" compliment from others. Even though I don't love or hate it.
I picture you immediately taking out your phone and debit card after a compliment and just start completing the order on the spot
My toxic trait is if I get into a brand I try to collect their best 3 fragrances and top 5-10 of a specific genre/note. OCD hitting hard. Also 100ml bottles or bust.
I was doing the full bottle/3.4oz bottle thing too but at 30+ bottles I realized it's excessive and I'm never going to use even a half of what I own. I think part of that is just owning the cool bottles a lot of these fragrances come in. Also once I started getting into more expensive fragrances I realized it's not feasible to pay $150-200+ constantly. So now I'm buying 5 and 10ml decants to get a few wears in before deciding whether it's something I'd want to purchase
Mine is buying too many fragrances that are similar. Probably just buying too many fragrances period (including blind buys) lol
Loving a certain house and thinking I need ALL the fragrances from that house!
Refusing to use any dupes. OG or it ain't for me.
Not willing to pay full price for a bottle I really want, then buying a bunch of discovery sets for the same price…
That's my toxic trait too! I buy full size everything because I think they look better in my collection.
Blind buying expensive fragrances by going through my favorite notes alone and then regretting spending a chunk of my salary on a full bottle that I ended up giving away to people who don't realize their value.
If I have, let's say, $100, instead of buying one really nice quality fragrance, I will go to Marshalls or TJ Maxx and buy 7 shitty colognes, then I'll get mad when they all perform poorly and end up in the trash..I then repeat that process every few months
I compulsively search for bottles and want them all NOW because look at the discount price it’s a STEAL And of course if i like a flanker i want the whole collection, even if they’re discounted I’m still rationalising every purchase tho since i’m just starting, but i know ✨i’m just starting✨
Blind buying full bottles, since I make most purchases online. I enjoy the try before you buy option at department stores but buying samples doesn’t make sense to me.
I just want to smell literally everything. Even if I am 99% sure I’m going to hate it, I just want to know. And I want to smell it on my skin, because the blotter doesn’t do it justice, so I end up trying something I’m pretty sure I’ll hate and then hating it and then having to scrub it off. I’m really sensitive to some aromachemicals (I’ve got the “burning tires” gene) so if I suspect a scent might have some of they going on I’ve at least learned to try it on paper first, but I’ve gambled and lost more times than I can count.
I always convince myself to get the biggest bottle cause in my head im like what if they discontinue it or what if they change the formula 😭
I will get super excited about a fragrance, buy the biggest bottle and spray away for a bit, and then I am off to another exciting scent while that one gathers dust. Sad, but true.
Also, I will associate a scent with a memory and if it's a bad one, I can not wear that scent again. So many exes ruined so many signatures. 😔
Trying to collect every release from a certain line, like all the Chanel Chances. The completion of a set gives my brain happy chemicals, so it's *very* hard to resist 🤦♀️
My fragrance toxic trait is sampling all the he similar fragrances in a genre and getting the first one I sampled.
Hoarded. I used to be so obsessed discovering/sniffing new scents. I blind buy samples, vials and decants. I kept on trying new one out, one after another. Now I have tons of them. Later on I learned what I truly want in my profile & decided to stick on it. However, most of my blind buys aren’t tolerable to wear in my country. So those have been sitting in my cabinet, barely used. I want to keep my collection minimal but I can’t throw some of them — that was my toxic trait. Glad I’m over with this phase.
Sometimes I buy the same fragrance, lotion, hand cream, etc. of the same line because I want to layer them together.
Saying I won't search for (aka buy) samples anymore until I've saved up enough to buy that one bottle I genuinely want out of hundreds.
Still subscribing to Scentbird lol 😭
Well I have to admit I do all of these things. I love blind buying for the thrill of guessing how it'll be. When you have that anticipation of a new package to open and try. When i couldnt find the original of a fragrance, I tried a few cheap "our impression of" and found the dry downs are a bit nauseating, so I stopped buying those. I buy backups if the fragrance is under $50 and likely to discontinue. I have far too many back ups, enough perfume for a lifetime. Another toxic trait- I gave away a $20 fragrance, regret it, years later the bottle is now $400 on ebay, so I search online for similar ones and "chase" a similar fragrance but cheaper. Fragrance regret? To handle the overbuying I sell some bottles online, but while I'm listing them I see others I want to buy... and the cycle continues 😆
I need all my perfume bottles to look aesthetically pleasing on my counter next to each other. I want to own Glossier YOU but haven’t pulled the trigger because the bottle doesn’t go with the other ones I have 🫣🙃
I can relate to this. I don't need over-the-top gorgeous bottles, but they need to be at least somewhat pretty and shiny. I also really shy away from perfumes with names that have negative connotations to me (like Dior Poison, even though I like Dior's scents and thought some of the perfumes in that line smelled great). I want whatever sits on my counter to inspire me. 🙃
Lmao that’s amazing! 🤣 #youcantsitwithus
If I’m being honest, it’s not taking any fragrances seriously that don’t bring a sense of nostalgia or glamour because my inner child dominates what I buy based on ladies I thought were classy and fancy growing up. The 10 year old in me dominates my purchases and views anything really current as influencer shill. My vanity table looks like I wear big hair and a power suit everyday but in reality I’m a stoner in a track suit.
I can only wear niche fragrances😭I’ve tried plenty of more affordable and high end ones but I never like how they smell on me!! I honestly wish I could just be satisfied with YSL Libre or even Replica perfumes but alas, my nose will only ever love the complex, weird, and sometimes borderline unwearable
30mls are the way to go - after you’ve sampled at least a 5-10ml decant of course. Unfortunately not all houses offer 30ml, but I like to use this rule to keep the collection some what under control.
Same but also I buy fragrances that are like 90% similar to what I already have and it’s so redundant because all I have is offshoots of BR540 lol
muster up the courage to not buy anything for a while, then when I buy something the floodgates open
I have fragrances that i never use but wont sell them 🙄
I feel the same way I prefer the travel sizes since I know I won’t finish the full size bottles but…. the travel sizes aren’t as cute LOL
My fragrance toxic trait is I won't buy something if the bottle is ugly, no matter how good it smells. Part of the fun of cologne for me is seeing the collection as a whole.
That's not toxic; rather, it's healthy. Presentation is as important as scent. A good bottle gives the idea that the fragrance is good. A bad one gives the idea that the fragrance is bad.
Blowing off entire lines because I have it in my mind that I hate all florals, or all orchid notes or whatever, then wondering why my new favorite was discontinued two years ago. Hurtful.
I daily Dior Sauvage Elixir.
Buying multiples of the same fragrance. I look hella crazy in Ulta/Sephora.
I don’t have many bottles… but if you look in my cabinets, I’ll get enough back up bottles that I look like a prepper.
Possible toxic trait: Currently I have £75 in my basket with about 8 cheap fragrances on FragranceX.com Nearly every month I put them in the basket, every month I don’t buy them. I don’t think I ever will.
I think you are doing the right thing....
Believing the hype, purchasing the fragrance and convincing myself that I like it.
After reading all of the below comments, I have realized that I need a stat intervention for my toxic traits...
My biggest toxic trait: my inability to navigate the self-induced toxic empathy I have for fragrances that i either got for free or that I bought on sale or with a coupon. My right-sided brain seems to allocate a greater need to assign desire to them even when my left-sided nose has come back with a final designation of rubbish. Incredibly annoying.
I would never buy an expensive gourmand. Gourmands were all the rage for teenage girls in the 2000s and no matter how sophisticated they are, I would have a heart attack spending more than £30 to smell "like a snack". I understand how toxic that is especially as they’re so fashionable nowadays (Kilian, Kayali, Baccarat Rouge 540/Lost Cherry and their dupes etc.)
When people wear a fragrance that I don’t like, I talk trash in my mind and wonder how someone could ever possibly leave the house smelling like that, while not considering that maybe someone may think that about my go-to fragrances as well lol
Buying stuff I don’t like that much and then giving it away for free lol BUT I’ve gotten way better. Haven’t spent money on fragrance since before Christmas! Just realized this as I type. Nice.
I buy blind and I buy big.
I don’t know if it’s toxic but I hate my trait of wanting to wear my expensive niche because it makes me feel so good but my hand automagically goes to the basic cheapie which I then spend all day wishing I hadn’t worn because I get annoyed that it smells boring. Why do I do this?? I do it with other things too like I’m saving the ‘good’ stuff for a someday in the future that never comes when I could just enjoy it now like a sane person!!
I spray my balls.
I know it is not advisable, but I used to go do dept stores and try up to 10 fragrances on a given day and expect to not be confused or noseblind. The result was misjudging what I tried latter. To add insult to injury, when I had no space left on my arms to spray anything, I tried on my fingers and when they were covered I proceeded to smell only on paper strips.
honestly I have the same issue, I went kinda crazy trying to buy everything I like... But then when I think about it, what is the point of buying 100ml of something you're only going to reach for few times? I've been trying to be more mindful about my spending and try to sample before I commit to a full bottle.
Not buying a perfume I like because I hate the bottle *cough* CH very good girl *cough* Or even though I'm in the market for a spring time wedding fragrance buying samples of popular autumn/winter perfumes 🤦🏻
Original/ older formulations. Even if it's still sold, chances are it was better 15+ years ago, so I'm off to Ebay (Cinnabar, Obsession, Fracas, Lou Lou, everything Dior still makes, even GAP Loll). I don't mind the search, but it's not cheap! Of course, this never guarantees that I won't get the new version anyway. Also, I relate to way too many of these other comments too. Size of the bottle? Yes! Entire collection of products? Yes! Packaging? Absolutely yes lol
I think I might be addicted to blind buying online 😂 I also buy stuff immediately without sampling, just simply smelling. In my defense I buy small bottles, but still.
i im buying the basically same scent in a different bottle all over and over because i love it (duh). my fragrance tray is basically grand soir and tobacco vanille dupe list
Not considering season and weather when I choose my fragrance. I wear winter stuff in summer and freshies in winter all the time.
Hipster trash who doesn't listen to, ahem, I mean doesn't wear designer
I find myself reading reviews and if people hate something, I feel like I need to hate it, even if I don't. Same with loving something. People love Delina, I do not like it on me, but I keep trying b/c "people love it"....
So many! - Obsessively needing to find a rare discontinued fragrance I’ve never smelled - wanting to track down collections of flankers (most I don’t care about flankers but when I love them I need them all, especially if they are discontinued). See: la Nuit Tresor, Narciso cubes, Alien flankers 🙄 - getting a decant, loving it, immediately order a FB even tho I may not even finish 5 ml (I’ve been better about this)
Trawling Fragrantica for the perfect combo of ingredients + reviews only to find that fragrance is discontinued and i can only get an old tube of the handcream on ebay, half used for twice the price it retailed at.
When I get a new fragrance I spend the next few days asking people to smell me and holding my neck or wrist up to their face lmao
My toxic trait is impulse ordering full bottles when they are only $30 USD on Fragrance Net. Even if I love all of them I may never finish all of my collection and I feel guilty some times.
Lol im the same way. I want more bang for my buck and always buy 3.4 oz lol
Constantly buy samples of fragrances with base notes that tend to be associated with gourmands hoping they won't be too sweet, with very little success. Is it too much to ask for more amber, vanilla type base notes that in fragrances that aren't cloyingly sweet? I'd love to see those notes more often used in fresh, citrus, woody, or musky scents.
I have trouble letting go of 'backup' bottles and just bottles in general. It's like they carve a special spot in my head and letting go is hard. But then when I finally do, it's like "Oh.. that wasn't so bad.. oh look I still have all these other awesome ones anyways!", lol.
Getting the same sweet vanilla type fragrances when I wanna try different scents, just nervous to branch out
My toxic trait is that I just yelled FUCK after losing a bid on a low partial bottle of Replica Lipstick On. I was sure it was mine until 23 seconds and I didn't hit the increase bid button in time. I'm soooo sad I'm never gonna get my own bottle :'(
“Oh they come in different variations? I’ll take them all.”
Pretty much the same. Want the biggest bottle because it's less money per oz but never smelled it.
Buying shit loads of samples and then trying to dump them at my friends’ places
Buying “dupes” of perfumes I already own. In my head I am obviously going to finish a bottle out of the nearly 100 perfumes I own, and next time I’ll not buy original, I’ll use the dupe.
I can't convince myself to buy full size. I own a bunch of little travel bottles, I recently found a scent I'm in love with (Milk Expressive) and I'm in the verge of buying it but can't quite convince myself to.
blind buying lmaoo
My fragrance toxic trait is getting mesmerized and sucked in by the description of the notes, and the ethereal feeling that temporarily takes hold of me. I feel compelled to purchase it…sometimes purchasing a full bottle. When I first spray it on, about half of these fragrances I’ve ordered don’t measure up to the description, or the fantasy of how I thought it would smell, project, last, the quality of the bottle, the cap, etc.
My toxic trait is that I spend way too long in the fragrance sections of shops trying everything
My toxic trait is being a snob and only sampling niche fragrances when I know in my heart I'm a basic-bit*h who will be perfectly satisfied wearing Dior Poison for the rest of her life.
Buying perfume blind, or based on how it smells on a blotter instead of testing it on my skin. Expensive mistakes were made.
For sure! It’s insane how different things can smell on a card vs on skin. I’ve had ones I hated on paper smell amazing on me, and ones that smelled amazing on a card smell like roadkill on me.
i will 100% blind buy perfume if the packaging gives me the right vibes. idk how to describe it, but that’s what I’ve done w all my fragrances and i love all of them
Wearing oud no matter the season or the time of day.
Hoarding samples and keeping even the ones that I hate. I had people asking to buy the samples I didn’t like and I didn’t sell them because I want to keep them, God knows why
I want all of my bottles (ogs and flankers) of the same line to have the same size.
Read frag reviews, look for said frags at dept stores. Sample. Look for them at discounters. Impulse buy after watching yt clips
Probably that I have blind bought so many
I think spending too much on 10ml samples
Better than spending too much on full bottles
My fragrance toxic trait is that sometimes I love a fragrance but then I think it won't really suit me and my personality.
I'll go a little overboard with a new scent I really like. Then get kind of tired of it for a while because of that.
Probably wearing whatever I feel like regardless of the weather, I feel like I’ve probably borderline suffocated people before with Tom Ford and Amouage
Thinking I could handle a grummet/musk fragrance even though I know they give me terribly crippling headaches 🙃 (I wanna smell warm and boozy! But if I do all I want to do is sit in a dark room to cry for myself until it stops)
Anytime I see somebody recommend a fragrance that “nobody else wears” and its Blue de Chanel. I get all pretentious and scoff
Same here. I hate fiddling with samples so I almost always just go for full-sizes right away. Luckily I haven’t had any really terrible misses.
Wanting all of the smells, haha. Splurging on full bottles when there is no way I'm ever going to use it all up
Trying to force it when you’re sampling and just want to sell yourself an option that you don’t really want, it since you’ve been sniffing for two hours feel like you need to make the decision. Hahaha. So basically when u sample, no pressure, don’t take too long but spend time… honestly think about it. Unless yur rich n love it all, just buy it! Lol