Comments on: Say goodbye to perfume clutter

By: Sidra

Sidra — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:08:45 +0000

Try the Sephora Scent Sampler-only $50 for 10 perfumes of your choice, and then you get a voucher to get a fullsize bottle of your favorite one.

By: Me!

Me! — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:07:35 +0000

@Tina and @Lise, what’s a headshop?

Perfumes should be kept in dark places so they last longer, so they shouldn’t be cluttering up your dresser top.

By: Natasha

Natasha — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:31:30 +0000

( ng.aesthetica.googlepages.com/Perfume.jpg )

( ng.aesthetica.googlepages.com/Perfume2.jpg )

By: Natasha

Natasha — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:30:13 +0000

I don’t wear makeup, I don’t style my hair, but I adore perfume. Especially Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. As stated, the bottles are small, you can store them in any manner of small containers that can go anywhere. My bathroom has no drawers or shelves, so I’ve had to go the inelegant route and store all my toiletries in an office caddy. Observe, the taming of the perfume clutter!

By: infmom

infmom — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:18:13 +0000

I have a signature scent, too, but it’s Chanel Cuir de Russie which used to be a department store item and now is about their hardest scent to find. So most days I wear other perfumes and save the Chanel for special occasions. I see Perfumed Court offers it, so when my current tiny bottle (bought on eBay) is gone I might try one of theirs.

I’m also a fan of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and have most of their amber based scents in “imps.” Some of them I like a lot better than others.

Vermont Country Store sells a lot of classic scents, but they don’t, as far as I can tell, offer samples, which makes it very difficult to determine whether any particular scent would be worth buying.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:04:22 +0000

When I buy makeup or skincare stuff off of Sephora.come, they give you sample options to add to your order. I almost always pick the perfume ones, so I can get miniature samples to try new ones.

Also, working in a library, I can attest to what torture it is to be around someone who has doused themselves in perfume. I get at least one brain-splitting migraine a week at work from people coming in smelling like a perfumery.

By: ducky

ducky — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:12:37 +0000

I’m the type with one signature scent, but I love this post for the fact that I just switched perfumes and hadn’t been able to find trial sizes of it for travel – but Perfume Court has them. I LOVE having the trial sizes to just toss in my makeup bag (and keep there) when I’m packing for business trips. Don’t have to worry about the big (expensive) bottle breaking/leaking or forgetting it at home.

By: Lise

Lise — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:34:52 +0000

@Tina. Any perfume with patchouli and/or cloves is likely to make you smell like a headshop. It has nothing to do with the manufacturer.

By: cdelphine

cdelphine — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:19:19 +0000

I think a little bit of perfume is okay but I hate when people wear a ton of perfume.

By: Tina

Tina — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:13:01 +0000

BPAL is great if you like to smell like a headshop.

By: Katherine

Katherine — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:57:51 +0000

If you are one of those who likes a variety of different smells but doesn’t want a bunch of bottles cluttering up your space, I suggest trying Black Pheonix Alchemy Labs.

(http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/welcome.html)

They sell essential oils, which last longer than straight perfume, and there’s a thriving “trade” community if you purchase a scent you aren’t thrilled with. You can buy samples of the scents (known as “imps”) straight from the company or you can purchase a larger bottle. Even if a scent you’re looking for only comes in a larger bottle, often there are people in the BPAL community who will happily decant a sample for you for a few bucks, and the samples last at least a month or two on their own.

I have over two dozen different scents that I rotate through dependent upon the weather, time of month, or just to “feel pretty”, and all of them fit in a leftover necklace box (2 inches by 2 inches) that came with a christmas gift.

Finally, if I don’t feel like trading a scent but I don’t want to use it anymore (or I think it’s old enough to have lost it’s “oomph” as one person already stated) I just pour the remaining perfume into a defuser I own. Voila! Instant aromatherapy for the days the bathroom gets an especially long visit from the family.

By: Kristi

Kristi — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:44:15 +0000

Actually, most perfurmes contain tolulene (dry cleaning fluid) and other nasties – and who wants to spread that on your skin?

Besides being environmentally unfriendly, many perfumes provoke asthma attacks or environmental allergies in those around you – I am constantly amazed that pepole wear strong scent on the bus, in the theatre, at the symphony where they apparently don’t recognize how they’re “cluttering” the air quality for everyone.

By: Elena

Elena — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:41:25 +0000

I have 3 scents: daytime sweet(lavender), daytime flowery(SJP’s Lovely), and nighttime sexy(Origins Ginger). They suit my different moods and don’t take up tons of space.

Also, I’m putting it out there that I’m a big nerd b/c I got excited that my name was in your post today Erin.

By: Meghan

Meghan — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:40:48 +0000

I actually bought a simple 6″x6″ hanging box which I painted to match my room. Then I lined up my perfumes on it (more attractive ones to the front). It is a great decoration, gives you two ’shelves’ to put your perfumes, frees up space on my dresser, and also keeps you from bumping into your dresser, and simultaneously knocking over 8 perfume bottles.

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:38:00 +0000

Actually, pure lavender essential oil is recommended for migraines.

As for the samples: at one point I had dozens and dozens of samples. Unlike regular perfume bottles, they’re not lovely enough to put out and enjoy and they add a huge amount of CLUTTER to the bathroom. I got rid of all of those teeny bottles that I could never organize or find!

By: Eve Martel

Eve Martel — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:22:32 +0000

If I get sick of a perfume, I just trade it on makeupalley.com. They have a great swapping set-up.

By: Mer

Mer — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:01:44 +0000

Since my husband hates perfume and it gives him headaches, I wear just a tiny bit so that I can smell it and not inflict it on other people. Needless to say, it takes a long time for me to use an entire bottle. I stick to one scent and keep a bottle in my dresser drawer.

By: SisterCoyote

SisterCoyote — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:15:48 +0000

I don’t wear a lot of perfume, but I like having options when I feel like wearing some. I buy “imps” from Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs and keep them in a re-used Altoid tin in my medicine cabinet.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:10:36 +0000

I will definitely have to let my wife know about this. She is not into the ’single scent’ either. This is a great way maybe for ME to save some $$$:)

http://yinvsyang.com/

By: Lisa T.

Lisa T. — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:30:33 +0000

Wow, for a second there I thought I got my "perfume" feed and my "productivity" feed mixed up! Buying samples is a HUGE money saver, plus variety is the spice of life, right? However, a few samples can get messy FAST. Those little samples are my clutter downfall (I have hundreds!). As for where to buy samples, I've never had a a problem with The Perfumed Court (including from back when the ladies had individual businesses on eBay). There are a couple of intriguing perfume oil places that sell samples -- DSH Perfumes and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. They are definitely not your average department store fare!