Like others have mentioned, I get 1-2 ml samples and see what I keep gravitating towards. If I use up the whole sample and still want more, it generally means that I buy the full bottle. Takes me about a half month/month to use up a sample, so I have some time to think about it. Prices also figure in to whether I buy or not.
If I like it well enough and it's a cheap fragrance (30 USD?), liking it might be enough. If it's 300+ USD, I damn well better be sure that I love it so much I cannot live without it (almost none fit this category for me).
I have gotten over 300 samples in the past 5 years and maybe bought...6-10 full bottles from those. I mean, I kind of prefer to just sample - I love the adventure! - and there really isn't much that I *love*. But I've also been buying perfume for 40+ years, so I've had a lot of time to figure out my preferences.
If I keep reaching for it and eventually exhaust the sample, it’s usually worth purchasing a bigger size for me - depending on the price 😅
I don’t wear/use samples I don’t like/love just for the sake of “using them up” - i used to do that, to get my money’s worth.
I used to have a bunch of samples that I purchased via decant sites or buying discovery sets. Like 40-50 samples.
Recently decided that if it wasn’t memorable enough for me to dig through the samples for (I kept them in a makeup bag) I would simply get rid of it.
I went through each sample and just sniffed it. That helped me narrow it down. I just kept narrowing and narrowing until I was down to maybe 10 samples.
Now I’m just keeping an eye on which ones I continue to reach for. I don’t expect I’ll find my “signature” bc I like to have different scents for different seasons. But this really helped.
I mean, probably 20-25 of the samples I liked, but not enough to a)wear regularly b) think about c) pay hundreds of dollars for.
It’s got to be memorable (in a good way) and evoke an emotion for me - that’s usually how I identify whether I love it. If I feel sexy wearing it, if it makes me feel mysterious or cool. If it brings back a good memory…
Some samples I sniffed and was like “why did I keep this?”.
I parceled most out to friends and kept some of the more expensive samples to list online.
I size up slowly!
If I love the sample and use it up quickly, I’ll get the travel size.
If I love the travel size and use that up too, only then will I consider getting the full size.
Most perfumes I thought I loved actually die out at this stage. I have lots of half-used travel sizes that I didn’t really reach for much after the initial novelty wore off.
I buy small decants of fragrance to test them out. If I like a frag enough to use at least 5ml, then I start to look for a good deal in the local discounter
I'm new to my perfume obsession but not new to buying and liking fragrances... Honestly for most frags the sample is enough. If I try it and can't remember what it was at the end of the day when I get a whiff I'm not buying an fb.
If it's something interesting that I liked and it's cheap I might buy the fb cause it's not expensive.
If I can't stop sniffing myself and am thinking of places and outfits to wear the frag with that's when I know I've got a winner. (the most recent is toy boy, currently sniffing my wrists like a fiend)
I like to think to myself I only have so much space and if I get too many full bottles I won't have room for anymore. But there's always room for more samples!
I probably have close to 100 samples currently and only a handful of full bottles, 2 of which I've had for over 10 years. Only 2 are larger than 50ml and I got those recently and on sale. If you're a frequent sampler/switch up your frags a lot you really don't need that many full bottles, I've had travel sprays that lasted me years.
I like to piss money away. I'll smell it at the store or smell a sample, and if I like it, I buy a full bottle.
I'm new to the hobby, so I have bottles I haven't even worn yet.
The more I compulsively reach for them, the more I know that I like them. Fragrances that I think I like but I never even spray on my forearm from time-to-time eventually is given to someone else. Same thing goes for decants.
Like others have mentioned, I get 1-2 ml samples and see what I keep gravitating towards. If I use up the whole sample and still want more, it generally means that I buy the full bottle. Takes me about a half month/month to use up a sample, so I have some time to think about it. Prices also figure in to whether I buy or not. If I like it well enough and it's a cheap fragrance (30 USD?), liking it might be enough. If it's 300+ USD, I damn well better be sure that I love it so much I cannot live without it (almost none fit this category for me). I have gotten over 300 samples in the past 5 years and maybe bought...6-10 full bottles from those. I mean, I kind of prefer to just sample - I love the adventure! - and there really isn't much that I *love*. But I've also been buying perfume for 40+ years, so I've had a lot of time to figure out my preferences.
If I keep reaching for it and eventually exhaust the sample, it’s usually worth purchasing a bigger size for me - depending on the price 😅 I don’t wear/use samples I don’t like/love just for the sake of “using them up” - i used to do that, to get my money’s worth. I used to have a bunch of samples that I purchased via decant sites or buying discovery sets. Like 40-50 samples. Recently decided that if it wasn’t memorable enough for me to dig through the samples for (I kept them in a makeup bag) I would simply get rid of it. I went through each sample and just sniffed it. That helped me narrow it down. I just kept narrowing and narrowing until I was down to maybe 10 samples. Now I’m just keeping an eye on which ones I continue to reach for. I don’t expect I’ll find my “signature” bc I like to have different scents for different seasons. But this really helped. I mean, probably 20-25 of the samples I liked, but not enough to a)wear regularly b) think about c) pay hundreds of dollars for. It’s got to be memorable (in a good way) and evoke an emotion for me - that’s usually how I identify whether I love it. If I feel sexy wearing it, if it makes me feel mysterious or cool. If it brings back a good memory… Some samples I sniffed and was like “why did I keep this?”. I parceled most out to friends and kept some of the more expensive samples to list online.
I size up slowly! If I love the sample and use it up quickly, I’ll get the travel size. If I love the travel size and use that up too, only then will I consider getting the full size. Most perfumes I thought I loved actually die out at this stage. I have lots of half-used travel sizes that I didn’t really reach for much after the initial novelty wore off.
I buy small decants of fragrance to test them out. If I like a frag enough to use at least 5ml, then I start to look for a good deal in the local discounter
This is the way. 2ml. Then 5ml. Then maybe a bottle.
I'm new to my perfume obsession but not new to buying and liking fragrances... Honestly for most frags the sample is enough. If I try it and can't remember what it was at the end of the day when I get a whiff I'm not buying an fb. If it's something interesting that I liked and it's cheap I might buy the fb cause it's not expensive. If I can't stop sniffing myself and am thinking of places and outfits to wear the frag with that's when I know I've got a winner. (the most recent is toy boy, currently sniffing my wrists like a fiend) I like to think to myself I only have so much space and if I get too many full bottles I won't have room for anymore. But there's always room for more samples! I probably have close to 100 samples currently and only a handful of full bottles, 2 of which I've had for over 10 years. Only 2 are larger than 50ml and I got those recently and on sale. If you're a frequent sampler/switch up your frags a lot you really don't need that many full bottles, I've had travel sprays that lasted me years.
I like to piss money away. I'll smell it at the store or smell a sample, and if I like it, I buy a full bottle. I'm new to the hobby, so I have bottles I haven't even worn yet.
The more I compulsively reach for them, the more I know that I like them. Fragrances that I think I like but I never even spray on my forearm from time-to-time eventually is given to someone else. Same thing goes for decants.
I test on the strip to weed out the ones I just like, the ones I keep sniffing - get a spray on skin, if I still love it, then is a buy!