It's Friday! Unsniffed Friday, no less. Our community project: wear a perfume you bought before you'd smelled it, and tell us how it worked out for you.
If you've never bought anything unsniffed, congratulations, and do chime in with your scent of the day anyway.
I'm wearing Carthusia Mediterraneo, the first fragrance I ever bought unsniffed. I loved it right away, and I still love it (I've had to replace the original bottle), but I've since learned the hard way that I'm really not very good at buying unsniffed (the first unsniffed bottle I laid my eyes on when I went searching through my cabinet was the barely touched 100 ml bottle of Hermès Un Jardin après la Mousson).
Reminder: next Friday, 11/28, will be Cheap Thrills Friday. Wear something that costs $50 or below, double bonus points if it costs $25 or below. No points for wearing something expensive that you bought cheaply via a sample or decant or somesuch! We're trying to find real bargains here.
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2014, where I'll try to always have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
What a lovely image. Serendipitously I’m also wearing a citrus centered fragrance, the wonderful Ninfeo Mio.
I can’t even count the number of unsniffed purchases I’ve made. Fortunately most have been great successes.
I do think most people are better at buying unsniffed than I am…Ninfeo Mio is a great scent.
It’s because you are so good at writing reviews!
Next to TDC Bergamote, Carthusia Mediterraneo and Ninfeo Mio are my favorite summer citruses!
I just “discovered” Ninfeo Mio this past summer via a sample sent by a swap friend and it was immediate love- Tracked down a new bottle with old packaging for cheap and never looked back! You smell fantastic 🙂
I kept wanting to like Ninfeo Mio but alas, it was more Ninfeo Tuyo on me.
I so wanted to like Ninfeo Mio! I would love to have that green bottle in my collection. But still no 🙂
It’s full of character so maybe not such a crowd pleaser.
I had a lot to choose from as I’ve been pretty successful with blind buys (though I have of course made some mistakes). Decided on Clarins Par Amour, a delicious woody rose.
Luckily I’ve divested myself of most of my mistakes so I don’t have to count them, LOL…
Me too! I’ve swapped most of them away. Then, of course, there’s the problem of the blind swap….
Scent twins! I bought it unsniffed too: TJMaxx, $10 for 30 ml.)
I’m not much for buying unsniffed (though I wouldn’t count that a virtue so much as a barely-controlled sample habit). I’m in Pacifica Spanish Amber, which I requested as a gift after having only smelled the home products and read reviews. It has worked out great this fall!
LOL at the barely-controlled sample habit — it does at least prevent buying bottles unsniffed, right?
That’s what I’ll tell myself!
I’m in the barely-controlled-sample habit boat with you! There’s so many good ones to try! I always think: I can buy this bottle, but that money could buy SO MANY SAMPLES! Plus samples are cheaper 😉
I have a sampling habit too but I tend to order things as a pick me up so last winter was particularly bad (something new, something about getting little presents in the mail).
Ditto.
Yep, little presents in the mail helps a lot with the trials & tribulations of life.
Here’s to hoping 2015 is a winner for you!
I got my money! Time to go buy some samples!
I’m wearing Diptyque Philosykos. I’m cheating a little, since this was an unsniffed buy that I didn’t keep—I ordered it early on based on all the good reviews (especially Robin’s) and while I can appreciate it, I finally had to admit that fig isn’t a note that usually works for me. I eventually swapped the bottle but I kept a tiny bit for “reference” and I revisit it maybe once a year.
That’s a reasonable cheat 🙂
Glad you were able to swap it away…
Yes! I’m not a fan of this scent either b/c fig doesn’t work well for me. I have a sample of it and each time I try it I end up wishing I’d put on something else.
I also thought I would love this one and got a decant. It turns out I like fig the fruit, but not fig leaf. So this one and Ninfeo Meo and several others are no-go for me.
I have the same reaction – love fig fruit, cannot BEAR fig leaf. Anywhere.
No fig leaf anywhere … there’s a joke in there somewhere … 🙂
My Indian Childhood by DS & Durga. This is discontinued, and I learned about it from Nozknoz who often recommended in comments sections here on NST. I got it recently on eBay and love it! It turns out that it has a similar dry down to Isle Ryder which is one of my favorite fragrances.
Nice!
I’m glad it worked for you, too! I’ll be watching your recommendations for new temptations. 🙂
Wearing the totally obscure Holly Berry from Prince Matchabelli which is warm and slightly spicy and might have a trace of civet. I bought a vintage lot off eBay a couple of years ago and this was one of the scents. Obviously if I had never even heard of a scent that’s been discontinued for decades then I wouldn’t have had a chance to sample it
Hey, that is pretty darned obscure. Sounds nice though!
I’ve never even heard of a perfume called Holly Berry! The civet will scare me off.
I bought an unsniffed bottle of PM Potpourri, and it’s quite a lovely spicy carnation scent.
That was also in the lot! I should wear it sometime
Ceil by Amouage.
It was a blind buy expensive purchase, however it contained all the notes I wanted in a perfume and I made sure that there was a return policy!
I don’t know anything about the company that makes it and I usually do read up, but I figured with the price tag that the ingredients are of high quality.
When I purchase a perfume, to be honest, I normally do look up reviews and see what the general public or what anyone thinks of anything about the perfume. However with this one in particular,I never read up on it. What I thought I was buying originally, blindly I should say, was a loud floral. However I got something so much more sophisticated and went beyond my expectations. It’s in one of those rare fragrances that I own that wears very close to my skin, I’m the only one that smells it, it doesn’t enter a room before I do and it doesn’t leave a trail behind when I leave and I love that. I feel like this was one of the best blind buys ever
Wow, that is a great blind buy!
I think Ciel is definitely a more “quiet” scent from Amouage, but it is really lovely. Glad it worked out for you 🙂
Yes- it is lovely and feminine.
Unsniffed Amouage qualifies for the bravery pin, congrats!
I will take the bravery pin- 🙂
Fruit Defendu by Terry de Gunzburg. I was craving a realistic fruity scent in the summer and I went for it. I actually quite like it! Though it may not be one that I would wear on a daily basis (the mango is very ripe, sweet and juicy. The pineapple also packs quite a punch!) I would definitely consider it a successful blind purchase. 🙂
I’m wearing Fancy Nights by Jessica Simpson, which I bought for $12.19 hoping to use it for the Cheap Thrills Friday. But this one is a real scrubber on me and will be making an appearance in the January freebie meet.
All you Fancy Nights fans be sure to check back in January!
It is a HUGE perfume- I use my cheapie bottle to spray on curtains, upholstery, etc and it works great in that context. Its a little too much to wear on my skin, though 😉
Making an appearance for the freebie meet courtesy of my blind buy is Madonna’s Truth or Dare. A mere $12 lost, but I’m sure someone is a fan somewhere.
I don’t own Truth or Dare but I liked it when I tried it at Macys. The one in the white bottle was what I preferred.
Somebody (here?) talked it up so much I bought it at Winners for $8, and it was remarkably nasty. I carefully removed it from my place and put it on a bench and then ran away.
Hahaha thanks for the laugh!
That’s what I’ll do if I can’t offload it in the freebiemeet!
I wonder why would you even consider buying it (at any price)? Did you read something good about it somewhere?
I don’t have any unsniffed bottles. I need to be cautious with expenses, so I opt for samples I think I’ll like. It takes a lot for me to even think of buying a bottle!
I’m wearing Jour d’Hermes again today (work review later today). It’s bitterly cold and I think this scent works well as a pick-me-up for cold weather days. I didn’t comment on the post about citrus scents for winter, but I think this one would work well in that category with the burst of grapefruit. It’s a very sunny, shimmery and happy scent for me.
Update: my review was awesome and I had nothing to worry about! I was just being paranoid, as usual.
Thank goodness and have a wonderful weekend!
Thank you, you too!
It’s easy to be paranoid about reviews though – you never know going in. Congrats on the awesome review!
Is it terribly bad of me to have misread that to mean that you were reviewing a perfume for a blog, and were worried about your reaction to it? I was thinking – so ? Not every fragrance is a hit the jackpot LOVE-IT! Some are meh, and others are scrubbers nothing to be worried about… Obviously I need more coffee . Congratulations on the good work review!
Kudos on your good review!
I totally forgot about the theme today so I am wearing Eau des Merveilles, which I had only tested once before buying – does that count?
Anyway, out of my 23 bottles, 10 have been blind buys. Out of those, I liked all of them, but I only really love 2 of them. So I’m not too good at buying unsniffed either.
As someone who is compelled to test at least 4-5 times before ponying up for a FB, I say it counts!
Love that one! the dry down is salty skin sex appeal
It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? I’ve been wearing it for the last week!
Yup, same here! That’s why I always get 2 ml samples.
I think that for me it usually takes even longer than 4-5 tests, even when I love the perfume because I keep having doubts: “Do I really love it? Do I need it? Maybe I should try one more time?..”
Does a sample set you bought without having smelled anything from the company count? Probably not, but this is what I’ve got for the day…
I’m in Tiare by Ormonde Jayne from their lovely discovery set. This is not one I would choose for myself, but it’s definitely pretty. I may try to find it a home with someone else who likes white florals.
Happy weekend, y’all!
Hello gorgeous one – I say it counts. Not being a floral lover, I was happily surprised to really like Tiare. I also think it’s a nice name. A friend’s great grand-daughter is named Tiare.
I’ve never bought anything unsniffed besides samples, but I didn’t even think to break out one of those! Instead, I’m smelling fabulous in Fleurs d’Oranger (which I _do not_ recommend blind buying).
Eau de Shalimar. The price was 70% off right after it got discontinued, and I had just discovered perfume blogs. So, based on the great reviews it got everywhere, I took the risk. And what a hit! Three years later, Shalimar is my favorite perfume and I still adore Eau, though I find Ode à la Vanille even better, as cupcakes go.
Eau de Smalimar is one of my blind buys I love. It was a gateway to the original for me (which I also bought blind, but do not wear that often).
I’ve been looking forward to hearing everyone’s unsniffed purchasing adventures all week!
The only thing I’ve bought unsniffed is a Bvlgari Black mini, which I ordered online a day before I found a tester in a store. I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so industrial smelling, and haven’t really worn my mini because it makes me a little uncomfortable… and I never feel quite enough like a biker (or a motorcycle or a factory machine or smoking, post-apocalyptic ruins) to pull this off. I’ll spend more time with that one, since I hear it can take some time to grown on you, but I’m wearing Shalimar instead today.
It does start with the rubber smell but within a few minutes, a lovely tea / vanilla comes out and it stays this way until the end. Did you dab or spray? Spray is the way to go!
I’ve only ever dabbed, so maybe that’s part of the problem. I’d love if I could discern the tea/vanilla! For whatever reason, though, it just smells like a car to me. (It doesn’t help that I’m slightly afraid to revisit it.)
Put it away and test again in a year (but try to do it when it’s warm but not hot). It might grow on you.
I can’t take the rubber at the beginning either. I feel like I’m missing out since so many people love it. Oh well, money saved!
Me neither! Though I might try again from my mini…it’s been awhile.
Today I’m wearing what is regarded as the most challenging perfume in the 4160 Tuesdays arsenal – The Dark Heart Of Old Havana. And yes, I bought it unsniffed…
It opens with a blast of indolic white florals and overripe fruit with a smidgen of vanilla. As it develops the white flowers wilt and the fruit starts to turn, the vanilla becomes more prominent and is joined by hints of tobacco and something boozy. It’s more than a little dirty and utterly glorious.
With that name and that description, a blind buy is totally understandable. On to my list it goes!
That sounds stunning.
Today at home I wore Gucci Accenti, because I haven’t spent much time with it since I bought it a couple months ago.
For work tonight I chose JHAG Midnight Oud, which I’ve been wearing a bit lately. A couple of reviews caught my eye and I saw it quite discounted so ordered a bottle. It’s a sexy rose oud with a creamy drydown and it’s quite light so I can be heavy-handed and it still doesn’t overwhelm (well, not me anyway!) Great for the cool nights we’re having.
Yea! You got it ! Do I get a enablers badge for the Gucci Accenti? I seem to recall -ahem-gently shoving you at it ,in the threads here. I hope you like it as much as I do.
You do indeed! 🙂
The top notes feel a bit like Rumba, with something discordant that I’m not 100% on, but that fades and the drydown is beautiful!
Queen latifah for me today. At $9.99 per ounce, it sure qualifies for next week’s theme.
It is really quite nice, and makes me realize I’m a bit of a snob. I never wear it, really, even though I like it just because it was too cheap!
I have a decant of this I got in a swap. It is so nice! I think if it were a niche scent, people would be all over it.
It’s so sad that her show got cancelled today. Might have to try this one.
Until today my only blind buy has been the April Aromatics San Francisco Rose, but unfortunately it hasn’t arrived yet so I couldn’t try it out today! But I just picked up a bottle of The Perfumers Workshop Tea Rose for 5 bucks at tjmaxx, do I’ll be wearing that one for my blind buy Friday. Figured I might as well sick with the rose theme…
Wow, I’m duly envious! My tjmaxx never seems to have interesting stuff. You got a great deal!
I don’t know enough about perfume to really know about interesting stuff – haha, but I vaguely remembered the name and figured for 5 dollars I couldn’t go wrong!
SOTD is Bvlgari Black- Bought it un-sniffed at Nordstrom Rack and was terribly disappointed when I initially tried it. But, for some reason, it kept drawing me back again and again, and I have to admit that now it is one of my most worn perfumes. I love it and wear it frequently and find that its good for almost any occasion or weather.
I blind buy more than I should, but have had pretty good luck. A couple have been disappointing but in the long run I only risk it for scents that I find pretty cheap so if it doesn’t work out, I don’t feel TOO guilty.
This was a blind buy for me too. I am on my second bottle and should order another. A fragrance I never want to be without…..
I saw it there for $30 the other day – I really should have bought it, because it’s awesome.
(nope, nope, this week has sucked. Going to buy it now.)
Retail therapy always works for me! Hope next week is better for you, Kelly.
I think Bvlgari Black purchase is a perfect way to end a bad week on a positive note. I hope the next one will be better for you.
SOTD is the ruler of all my blind buys – Cuir de Lancome.
I got that one unsniffed too! Adore it.
I’ve been veeeerry tempted to snap some Cuir de Lancomb up unsniffed before it’s all gone (like Kingdom, which I’m still bitter about!). I know that I’ll like it but will it be worth the opportunity cost?
CdL and DK Gold are my all-time best blind buys.
Me too. I then rushed out and bought TWO back-up bottles.
Yes! Probably my favorite unsniffed purchase. I have a backup of it as well.
Raising my hand for the Cuir de Lancôme blind buy club! I love it too!!
When I fell down the perfume rabbit hole all my purchases were blind buys. They were all carefully researched but I can thank Mr. Turin and Ms. Sanchez for most of them! Today I am wearing Lonestar Memories, yes, a considerable blind investment and the review that finally tipped me on this fragrance was one I found on EauMg. I have rules about blind buys. Three good reviews from a variety of blogs and then I consider it for a while and then I go. I have only had 4 bottles I have traded or given away. I have close to 60 bottles , most of them came in the mail. I find samples deeply unsatisfying. The dabbing thing and simply not enough to make a decision. The cost of those little buggers does add up! That being said, I did just order the Kerosene discovery set!
Ha! totally agree about the “dabbing thing”- Scent just doesn’t really bloom the way it does when one sprays.
That being said, I do like to sample first, especially more expensive scents. Unless it’s total complete love (such as with Un Rose de Kandahar when I snapped up a FB tout suite!) I usually go for a 5-8ml decant and see how much wear I will give it before springing for an expensive bottle. I have been interested in the Kerosene fragrances as well so please let us know what you think of the set.
You have quite a collection! Would be great if we could post pictures of our “collections” and storage/display
I much prefer sprays than dabs too, but at the same time I’ll try most any perfume so if it comes in a little dab vial is ok too. If I have the money I’ll splurge to have the decants done in little spray vials.
Diorella today. After falling hard for Eau Sauvage this summer, I was rabidly curious to try this one since I love chypres. Well, I bought a vintage bottle off eBay. Not quite what I was expecting (I’d braced myself for melon, but it still threw me!), but very enjoyable. If only my boyfriend appreciated it more.
Speaking of melon, I can’t believe you still have that Apres la Mousson, Robin. If you need to find a good home for it…. ; )
I can’t believe I still have it either! Seriously, email me.
I dug out my box of samples last night in excitement for today. I am wearing Chanel Beige. I haven’t had much luck w/ Chanel in the past, there is something about their house base that doesn’t sit well with my skin. Yep, today’s the same. As I type this I’m already thinking of scrubbing it off and trying something else. I seem to have a skin PH that can turn a wonderful frag on someone else into nastiness on me. I have Bandit by Piguet all lined up for this afternoon, wish me better luck.
L de Lolita Lempicka! I ordered it online, unsniffed, because I loved the bottle and I’d loved LL’s previous fragrances. Turns out I don’t love it quite as much as the original LL and flankers, but I do enjoy it.
I’m on vacation starting yesterday, which I spent shopping for cat food and Christmas presents. I almost bought a bottle (unsniffed) a bottle of Carolina Herrara at Ross yesterday, but was discouraged by the line at check out. I haven’t even showered yet, so no scent. When I do finally get ready to go I am planning to wear Aromatics Elixer, which I bought off ebay unsniffed.
This is a tough one for me, in the beginning, most of my collection was blind buy. About one third didn’t work, once third were just okay and the other I loved. I’m debating between Amouage Epic, Dia or Cuir de Russie. Those are the three that are really my first blind buys. Dia and Cuir de Russie, I loved right away but Epic took a while.
Wow, those are some nice blind buys. I’m too cautious and sample-happy to blind buy bottles. I’d rather spend the money on more samples.
I think I’m finally going to buy a fb of cuir de russie for xmas (work bonus!). It’s such a beautiful scent. Epic is great too. The spiciness of it is really fitting for all this cold weather around the hols. 🙂
I love CdR and Dia and strongly like Epic (though it also took me a while).
One of the fragrances that I purchased unsniffed is Atelier’s Orange Sanguine. I love a lot of fruity fragrances. OS was one of the fragrances I first read on NST. People raved about it all the time. I trust what people say on this site, so I decided to purchase it. I do not regret it one bit. It was one of the best purchases I ever made. It has easily become a favorite of mine. Needless to say, my SOTD is Atlelier’s Orange Sanguine. I smell delicious!
Have a great weekend everyone!
You smell great! 🙂
Today I’m wearing one of the Lucky Scent/Chandler Burr Untitled projects I bought and still have and nope, still don’t like it very much. It’s CK Reveal (I gave the other I purchased, some new version of Drakkar) away in a swap. While it wasn’t a big investment, to me this embodies all the tired aspects of CK perfumes all rolled up into one fragrance. It’s deja vu, but not in a fond way. Musky flowers, bland version of amber, off-putting salty note and that CK base that just. won’t. leave.
I really try not to blind buy for budget reasons which can be really hard when something tempting comes along (PHI Une Rose de Kandahar), but I feel better being out $50 or less than $150, so I have to remind myself of this whenever I’m tempted to pull the trigger and blind buy something really pricy.
The last successful and amazingly pleasing blind buy I went for was Terracotta Le Parfum, which I love and am very glad I snapped up when I did. If it weren’t for my difficulties sometimes with the Tauerade, I might even consider PURDK, too, but will probably go the safer decant route in case it doesn’t work on me. But I wanted to give Reveal another chance. While there are worse perfumes out there, it’s too repetitive and just not for me.
Deju vu as in “oh no, not again”…
Exactly! It reminds me of what you’d get if CK1 and Obsession had a baby. I already have CK covered with vintage Escape, the original Obsession (mens’ and womens’) and Euphoria. Really not impressed with Reveal, both as a stand alone perfume and as a CK fragrance.
Calvin Klein doesn’t do it for me either. They all smell the same to me. The man makes fabulous clothes, but his fragrances aren’t even mediocre.
OMG – I completely forgot that I had one of the Lucky Scent/Chandler Burr Untitled projects (mine turned out to be Samsara), and that would have fit the Friday theme perfectly. Genius on your part.
Just think of how many great samples you could have bought for the price of participating in that project! Just saying… 😉
Chergui for me today. I went in on a split of this –I normally don’t blind buy, but I figured a split would give me a small enough amount that it wouldn’t break the bank and if I hated it I could probably get rid of it. Happily, I love it!
Fun to read these stories! I’m feel like I’m living vicariously through all you big spenders on the blind buying.
Nope, not my thing. I’ll blind buy for no more than $20 items and honestly I hardly do FBs these days because I like variety — prefer to have a bunch of decants.
SOTD (and not a blind buy :)) is Bottega Veneta
SOTD is Jacomo Silences, which was a blind buy from Etsy. I absolutely adore it.
It’s a good blind buy: not too expensive and easily “swappable” in case it still doesn’t work for you.
I try not to do too much blind buying, but like most people, I do it once in a while. I own several of the Cabotines, and all of them were blind buys at a discounter, and I’ve liked all of them. Today I have on Cabotine Green. The discounter closest to my home usually has a little perfume and lotion package of it this time of year, and I plan to go over and check this out. If I spot one, I plan to buy it.
SOTD is Fendi Theorema edp, one of my first blind buys. I bought this so long ago I don’t even remember whether I bought it at TJ Maxx/Marshall’s or an online discounter, but I love orange/spice scents for fall and the wealth of rave reviews convinced me I had to have it. Volumes have been written about this scent, so no need to say more about the fragrance itself, I like and enjoy it; I don’t swoon over it as some do but I don’t regret its purchase.
For those of you who enjoy the whole package as I do, its presentation box adds to its sensory appeal. The black and gold box cradling the bottle is closed in such a way that a gradual unveiling of its contents is needed that I find tantalizing. Once the bottle is revealed, its pyramid of notes on the left flap is also revealed embossed in gold on black, adding to its luxurious feel and one’s anticipation of its creamy/spicy scent:
Thai shamouti
Eglantine
California tangelos
Jasmine petals
African spices
Cinnamon
Pink Pepper
Osmanthus
Spicy dust/musk
Heart of Macassar
Sweet cream amber
Gaiac wood/Mysore sandalwood
I never saw the Theorema outer packaging until this year. Agree, it’s lovely.
Wearing L’Ambre des Merveilles today, a recent blind buy, though I had worn and loved a sample of the original Eau des Merveilles through last summer. I don’t find the vanilla too strong or sweet, which is good; the salty-ness of the original is there, just more tempered.
I’d say close to half of my (small) collection of full bottles have been blind buys: I live in a smaller city, so some of the most interesting bottles I see are at Winners. I’ll check reviews obsessively before deciding to try something. But I try to be careful not to get sucked into buying FBs I see there just because I’m excited to see them/try them, instead of saving the $$ to buy the one thing I might really truly love. I like to have a range of scents to wear, but I don’t want my loves languishing unworn while I dally with things that I just kinda like.
We’re beyond Kinda, aren’t we? L’Ambre des Merveilles is a nice, warming winter scent.
Oh, for this one, for sure. I really like it. I meant some of the others I’ve considered….
I’m wearing Houbigant Aperçu which was really going out on a limb. It’s a chypre and I’m hot or cold on chypres. Luckily I adore this one the green oakmoss is tempered by sandalwood and some cinnamon. It’s perfect for Southern California winter, and was less than $40 so big win!
I went for Trouble by Boucheron, which is the trashiest scent I own. Luca Turin hates it, but I find it´s camp charming.
After mentioning it in the comments yesterday, I decided to wear it today. I’m in Teatro a la Scala by Krizia. This scent reminds me so much of vintage Opium (not a dead ringer, but very very reminiscent) that having it almost makes up for not buying a backup bottle of Opium before they reformulated it into something ghastly. Of course now this is discontinued, but I picked up a big ole bottle on ebay for a not unreasonable price.
Unless you count some Lush forum specials, my only blind buy is D’Orsay’s Tilleul. So it’s my SOTD (scent of the morning actually because I plan to test lots of samples later). I am very satisfied with this purchase – linden blossom, hay and honey (well, beeswax) – but afterwards I discovered decants and no longer buy full bottles of anything without testing.
I adore linden scent and always wanted to try this one but since none of the decanter services carry it, it would be a FB blind buy for me – and since I try not to do that, I keep this perfume on the back of my mind for the “one day I come across it” occasion.
Vintage Eau de Joy by Patou. My very first blind buy ever – got it on ebay for $20. I’d seen it praised so much that I figured it would be a lost opportunity if I didn’t snatch it up. I’m glad I did, because I love it.
I also have some blind-bought vintage Eau de Joy! It’s amazing stuff.
I treat blind buys at Marshall’s as a gamble with a much better chance of winning than lottery tickets. Today is Kate Spade Twirl: not especially distinctive, but pretty, and comes in a wonderful bottle with gold polka dots.
I’m wearing my first and the only real unsniffed purchase – Chanel No 19 Poudre. There was such a hype around its release and No 19 (original) is one of my all-time favorites, so I just had to have it! A friend of mine brought it to me from the U.K. before it became available in the U.S.
I think it’s nice and I wear it from time to time. But once my bottle is done I won’t be replacing it: there is no good reason for me to wear No 19 Poudre when I can wear the original (well, as much as it is original after all the reformulations).
I have kind of a lot of blind buys, including many of my all-time favorites! It was hard to narrow down, but I’m in Caron’s Parfum Sacre, which I think I bought for around $20 from Fragrance Net. I love it so much — the perfect cold-weather perfume. If it was warm, I would have worn Chamade, which is my all-time best blind buy ever.
Wearing Hanae Mori No7. I found a cheap bottle on ebay and the reviews say it smells like a more mature Britney Spears Fantasy, without the chocolate cupcake notes. I wore Fantasy in my high school, pre-perfumista days, so I bought it for the nostalgia and because I love the bottles with the butterfly caps.
It’s mostly a success, as I do like it and it’s not as cupcakey sweet as Fantasy, but still reminds me of it. I wear it semi-regularly but I still don’t think I’ll ever go through 100ml of it. Or anything else, for that matter.
It took me awhile to whack up the ginger to buy the fragrance but I’m sooooo glad I did! Shiseido’s White Rose is NOT easy to find a sample of or even to buy in the US, but perseverance on ebay paid off and I scored a new bottle from a seller in Japan. It lives up to ALL of the fabulous reviews including Chandler Burr’s New York Times in May 2005, “White Rose will take your breath away. It is one of the most astonishingly beautiful perfumes I’ve ever encountered — a luxurious, layered, delicate, luminous rose.”
My friend bought this one in Japan and let me try it. I liked the bottle but the perfume didn’t work for me (like some other roses it turned too soap-y on my skin). You are extremely brave to buy such an expensive perfume based solely on reviews. I’m glad you enjoy it.
Experience has taught me that blind buys are generally not such a hot idea for me. I have bought many a sample completely convinced that I would adore the perfume from the glowing reviews, etc., but no. I think I have bought the equivalent of a full bottle of perfume, re both the price and the amount, and deeply relieved I didn’t end up with perfume albatrosses.
In happier news, besides the Cuir de Lancome I bought a bottle of VCA Midnight in Paris, telling myself at least it would be a pretty bottle, and now enjoy its salty goodness.
I completely agree with you! At some point I just looked at the ratio of tested/liked samples (I’m not even talking about “loved”) and realized that chances of getting something worth my money for me were so slim that I don’t even think about doing it any longer.
The new Balmain Ivoire today – purchased a set of three minis of eBay for a good price. I like it, and since I recognize it on another girl at the office frequently, I don’t have it in heavy office rotation,but is one of my easy go to scents when I want to smell fresh/safe 🙂
I’m wearing Agent Provocateur L’Agent today. I bought it unsniffed when I found it at Marshall’s. I looked up reviews on my phone before I bought, so I wasn’t completely uninformed. Victoria at Bois de Jasmin reviewed it, and was kind of “meh” about it. She described it at one point as something like “Feminite du Bois with tuberose”. I’m not sure she meant that as a good thing, probably meaning that it’s derivative, but I like it nonetheless. I say if you’re going to be derivative, FdB is not a bad model.
Interesting – I love both of these scents but never would have but them on the same page or maybe even the same book 🙂 And I didn’t even realize L’Agent has tuberose – usually it’s a note that totally overwhelms everything else on me, but I can’t smell it at all here. I’ll have to go in for closer sniffs sometime!
Either way, you smell great!
Thanks! I do get the tuberose, but it’s not dominant. I pick it up as kind of a bittersweet note, but softer than the bitterness that I get in the original Agent Provocateur.
I ordered Terracotta Voile d’Ete from an online discounter on the assumption that a tropical carnation would be right up my alley, and boy howdy was it ever. Spiky carnation that lasts for hours and hours, blurred with ylang and warmed by vanilla. So fantastic. I’ve never worn it on a cold day before today, but it’s perfect.
Great stuff! You smell wonderful.
I’m going to cheerfully ‘fess up to about 38 full bottle blind buys. Cheerfully, because almost all of them have worked out, and a number of them worked out way better than what I bought on purpose before I was really into perfume LOL.
It’s hard to sample things in Canada unless you’re in a major city, and I lot of them I bought before I knew about sample sites. Once I got going, between The Guide, YouTube reviews, and Fragrantica notes (and picking and choosing which reviews to give weight to), I’ve had a pretty good time kind of…imagining?…what I’m going to get. I also bought a lot of classics, like Bandit or Mitsouko, which helped 🙂
Today I opted for one that I had NO IDEA what I was getting into based on notes and reviews, but turned out to be love: the original Agent Provocateur. I basically panicked at first spray: WOW saffron, something I’d never smelled in perfume before. There was an adjustment period that comes with the unfamiliar, but I couldn’t stop sniffing, and needless to say I adore this scent now 🙂
Twins? Not sure what kind, but I blind-swapped for AP and had a similar initial reaction. Luckily, I have also had a similar epiphany and it is not one of my favorites 🙂
You smell great, obviously! hehe. I’m actually glad that was a blind buy because it was early in the addiction days and if I’d had a whiff in a mall I would have run screaming and never returned. What a waste that would have been! Hooray for fate 🙂
I only blind buy bottles if it’s so cheap, getting a sample doesn’t make sense. I have tons and tons of unsniffed decants – when you get them at cost, they’re only a little more than buying samples. When I was digging through my decants to pick something, I found my travel size of Smell Bent One. It’s only 4ml, so probably doesn’t count. Anyone looking for an interesting vanilla should try this – description on the site is “old books + chai tea.” And that is about right – it’s more spicy than I remember and not too sweet. And everyone should check out their stuff – it’s fun and cheap and they have 4 ml sample sprays, which I love.
And I love Mediterraneo – I have a decant and often think of getting a full bottle.
I’m in Le Couvent des Minimes Eau des Missions which commenters in the internets compared very favorably to Guerlain SDV. It’s cheap so I’ve really covered next week’s challenge as well :-). As a blind buy, it definitely hit the mark.
I just received April Aromatics San Francisco Rose and will wear it (maybe) tomorrow to make this a Blind Buy Weekend.
Yesterday was a long day for me and on the way home, I read Thursday’s SOTD but for some reason, I thought I had missed Blind Buy Friday and was bummed. This should teach me to stop telling people Thursday was my Friday since I have Friday off!
I’ve been hearing about Le Couvent des Minimes Eau des Missions off and on for months, and you’ve just added the last mention that I needed – it’s in my Amazon cart and ready to be on its way to me. So, you’re not only wearing your blind buy, but mine as well!
Ha! Le Couvent des Minimes Eau des Missions was just delivered to my door on Monday and I have been wearing every day since, until today! Hence, the reason I went with Bvlgari Black for todays theme.
What do you think of Le Couvent des Minimes Eau des Missions?
I’m wearing Valentino Valentina Oud Assoluto, which had to be blind buy because I couldn’t find a sample/decant anywhere. I was lucky with this one, I love it.
I ran out of our house very early this morning so completely forgot the community project :(. My choice for the day was FM Noir Epices, just right for another grey, depressing November day.
If I had remembered I would probably had sprung for SL Ambre Sultan, which I found incredibly cheap on The Big International Auction Site. Amazingly enough it instantly became one of my signature scents and I cherish every drop of it (almost getting time to start looking for a replacement bottle).
Happy Friday and have a great weekend everyone!
Ugh, what a day. They announced layoffs at the job today, but are waiting until 4 to tell people – yuck, on a Friday right before Thanksgiving. (I know that my position is safe – I should feel more relieved, but it’s crappy to know that all my coworkers are on pins and needles at my work. 🙁 )
Oh, and BV The Knot because I just can’t get enough of it. I think I’ve worn my sample three days this week. Need an FB, me thinks.
Oh, and I’ve never bought an unsniffed bottle, because I’m really cheap and grad school isn’t, lol
I’m extremely sorry for your work situation! It’s not fun – even when it doesn’t effect you directly.
That is crappy! At my company, we have unwritten rules about when NOT to deliver the bad news — Fridays and between Thanksgiving and December 31st.
I never bought a perfume without trying it at first (except for samples obviously, and once a mini that came in a set with another thing I had tried), but I did swapped recently for an unsniffed bottle of Bvlgari Au Thé Rouge. I figured I only had the shipping fee to loose, and I’m glad I did: it’s very nice and easy to wear, while being interesting, IMO. I certainly like it a lot more than the bottle I swapped away (Flower by Kenzo).
Was planning on Silences which I love but can’t wear on headache days and, guess what? Yeah, I have a headache. Probably from cleaning my boss’ office yesterday. The cleaning crew only go on to empty the wastebasket because they aren’t allowed to move anything and nobody could be expected to clean around that mess, so it was dusty as hell. Figured leaving it for the new girl would be mean and it gave me something to do so I didn’t hover over her.
Today I’m grumpy and snarly and packing for tomorrow’s move (which I’m not near ready for), but my order of SanFrancisco Rose came this morning so I decided to take a break and try it. I think I will need to be in a better mood to form an objective opinion but something in it isn’t working for me today.
I just heard from my husband that he decided to rent the larger moving van! He has no clue how not ready for that we are. Grrr!
Oh geez sounds like a challenging time for you. Do something really nice for yourself every day till the move ordeal is over, be it a special coffee, a mani pedi or a massage or sauna. Whatever works to feel better. I find pure sandalwood oil applied to the temples helps take away headache pain. Good luck with your move.
Checking in to say it’s certainly not her, it’s me. I’ve decided SF Rose is lovely and I’m just grouchy. In fact, I think I’ll reapply.
PS. It’s raining now so the cat is inside “helping” me pack. He’s already bitten me once for trying to pry him out of the kitchen cabinet. *sigh*
Good luck with your move! I hope all of your perfumes survive. And take care of yourself: moving can be very challenging.
Love Mediterraneo – you smell great!
For Unsniffed Friday, I went with L’Air du Desert Marocain this morning, and I have Lollia Calm to try once the Tauer wears off. Both are from minis – I have never, and probably will never, buy a full bottle of anything if I haven’t tried it beforehand – but since neither of the minis was free I think they count as “purchased unsniffed”.
Happy Friday, everyone!
I chuckled on you “once the Tauer wears off” because for me it usually means the next shower.
When you say “mini” – do you refer to the travel spray (15 ml)? Because I do not remember ever seeing any actual mini-bottles from Tauer Perfumes.
Andy WAS with me for the rest of the day, Undina. 🙂 I finally just found an unscented spot on a forearm to try the Lollia Calm (just about pure osmanthus on me – nice). And yes, the LdDM was from the travel set. I liked them all, but L’Air was my favorite.
LDDM is one of two my absolute favorites from the line (and I also have a travel bottle of it).
I used to buy decants unsniffed but stopped in the fall because my success rate was so low. Today I am wearing Violette Fumee, which I bought last summer. In summer it was okay, but I certainly didn’t love it. Today it smells like insecticide, so I’ll put it in the swap pile.
I stopped buying samples (!) because my success rate was extremely low. Now I mostly swap with friends if I want to try anything new.
This morning I woke up with a horrible migraine and couldn’t move my head for most of the day. I just crawled out of bed at around 2pm. It’s the nausea type of migraine so any scent besides sandalwood oil was not a good idea. Feeling a little better so instead of putting on an un sniffed perfume I read through everyone’s posts here and decided to buy an un sniffed decant of Theorema from STC. Today only STC is offering 20% off store wide. The code is Charcoalfriday. Hope it’s ok to post that!
Oh, Theorema is so wonderful! If there’s such a thing as a safe blind buy, I think you just made it.
Hope you feel better soon! Migraines suck. I’m very greatful for each day I don’t have one.
I’m much better but still feeling like I got slammed. Thanks for your kind words Thalia and Mikas.
Btw has anyone tried Costume National Scent Intense? I’m thinking of buying a small bottle of it un sniffed because of some reviews.
I personally like scent intense, but to me it does have a hot summer night at a nightclub drinking then lots of sweaty sex and this is the smell of the bedroom in the morning feel to it. Other people don’t get that… Lol
Oh yeah! You just totally sold me on it!
Today I’m in Calyx by Prescriptives-yes the old very good version!I bought it after reading THE GUIDE’s review describing it as a guava rose,and I was intrigued immediately!LOvely summer fragrance,and I must confess:It has been my scent of the week.And wearing a scent for a whole week continuously doesn’t happen very often with me!HAppy weekend everyone!I’ve not been online that much recently,but I do de-lurk now and again!
I bought it because of the Guide as well. No regrets at all.
I’m flunking the blind buy project in the biggest way–currently testing two samples to decide if I should order decants from the STC sale, as my current rule is that I must finish a decant (to prove I’ll really wear it on a regular basis!) before I buy a bottle…so, basically about as far from buying blind as one can get! But, I’m having a pretty good success rate with the samples–Rose Cut isn’t for me but Azemour is so great. Thank you Robin for reminding me of it yesterday!
Isn’t that lovely??
Wearing Dior Homme Intense. That was a no brainer. Bought without trying it first, but I already new the regular, pre reformulation Dior Homme.
I often buy scents that I have not tried first. In fact, probably 45 % of all the fragrances that I own have been bought unsniffed. Sure I had read about the notes, researched the ingredients and read comments online before pulling the trigger. Only a very few turned out to be a miss: YSL Pour Homme Haute Concentration was probably the most horrible fiasco and Jacomo Rouge, despite a list of my favorite ingredients, was a big mess on me- I love it on others though. The fragrances that I don’t really love make excellent gifts… or bathroom air freshener!
I bought a bottle of vintage Jacomo Perfume Rare at a thrift shop locally a week or so ago . I had sniffed the top of the bottle but hadn’t worn or researched it. Hopefully this qualifies . I have blind bought plenty un sniffed but my collection is pretty big now so I’m not sure of the percentage .
JPR is very nice by the way sorta green opening and cinnamon/carnation? in the heart notes. Reminds me a bit of Mystere by Rochas with some carnation .
And for those who are having headaches I also got a vintage bottle of Colors de Benetton it actually seemed to take my headache down a few notches. Comes in a clear bottle for vintage versions not the colored glass ( green feminine ,blue masculine ).
I bought the Coeur de Parfum version unsniffed, too, after reading the Memory of Scent review. It’s one of my favs now!
I’m not wearing any perfume at all today due to travelling and other things. Otherwise I would have worn Cuir de Lancome or Ode a la Vanille (Madagaskar version), my only unsniffed purchases. They were both successes and carefully reserched, I’ve had more problems with my “barely sniffed, bought in haste” bottles!
The one time I purchased a bottle of perfume unsniffed is after reading Angela’s review of Bottega Veneta Eau de Parfum. I never took out my credit card so fast as I did that day.
I do not regret the purchase. 🙂
I mostly avoid the blind buy, but i bought a mini of ysl nu unsniffed based on well-written raves by several writers i have agreed with, taste-wise, in the past.
It’s doing well in today’s cold rain. Metal-floral-inscence without a girly element.
If I was in the states full time, I probably would take more risks on vintage minis…
I am wearing the flanker of the flanker, Shalimar Parfum Initial L’Eau.
I bought it for $26 for 1.7 oz on fragrancenet.com and (I know it is a shame 🙂 love it.
never liked Parfum Initial though…
SOTD is Lolita Lempicka Elle L’aime. It was a very successful blind buy based on the notes listed and the review on NST. Lime, coconut, myrrh, and vanilla. Je l’aime!
I rarely buy a bottle of fragrance without testing, but I’m tempted by the Carthusia reviews here on NST and the recent review of Fiori di Capri on I Scent You a Day. I’m a softie for citrus.
That LL sounded good to me — no black licorice or anise in sight!
Carnation-lover that I am, I bought a sample of Fiori di Capri a few years ago. I liked many parts of it, but there was a very dank aspect at its core (similar to what ruined Bellodgia for me; I see that they compared it to another Caron) to it that stopped me from purchasing a FB.
5ml decants of Carthusia go on sale regularly at StC (5ml Fridays).
I’m wearing Bal a Versailles, which was my first blind buy and which I love! It was a bit overwhelming at first (especially because, at the time, I was a newbie perfumista), but I was intrigued right from the get go. My only other blind buys have been Cuir de Lancôme, which I also love, and Coty Chypre, because when you find a splash new for $10 at an oddball store, you gotta, right? At the time I barely knew what it was and I admit I don’t wear it often, but I do like it and am glad I own some. Once I looked up its value, I went back and bought the second bottle they had, sweating and feeling like a thief all the while. When I realized I was crazy to double up on any perfume, I swapped on NST! Love this site. (:
A Bals-y choice! That was an unsniffed buy for me, too, and one of the best.
Today I wore Sout le Toit de Paris, which I blind-split because…I wanted to come to terms with violet? I can’t decide how I feel about violet notes because they tend to remind me either of lipstick or scented markers (often both). However, I have been wearing the heck out of the Sous le Toit, so this particular blind-buy worked out well I think 🙂