Finishing a Bottle – To Repurchase or Not…

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

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Sandra

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Hi there APJ! How are you doing?

We are two weeks into the new year and I am feeling the January blues. After all of the merrying, socializing and festive lights, I feel down with the grey weather, short days and routine. This happens every year and I know it will pass soon. In order to get myself out of my funk I do a bit of tidying up and organizing. Sounds weird I know. But after I get through the general house cleaning, stowing away all the Christmas decorations and getting back into the school rhythm, I like to get into my perfume closet and shuffle things around a bit.

Finished bottle replacements Ann Larie Valentine Party mess FlickrFlickr

Perhaps I bring some perfumes from the back of the closet forwards so that I can rotate a little more wisely. Sometimes I get so sick of the grey and cold that I go searching for something to jolt me out of my blues. This is generally done with bringing out a big floral in the dead of winter, in hopes of seeing some life starting soon. There is one more thing that I do though which is quite cathartic for me. I bring forward a couple of bottles that have @20 ml or less juice. Over the next weeks, I then use them, to the point of using them up. I used to hoard those last mls – hoping to never come to the end of the bottle. But over the past couple of years, I have become concerned with space and with perfumes eventually turning. I have had one perfume turn on me – fingers crossed that it was the only one for a long time to come.

Finishing a Bottle – To Repurchase or Not…

Cuir Beluga Guerlain FragranticaFragrantica

But you see then I have a dilemma- do I repurchase or not? I think it all depends on the perfume. A couple of years ago I was using up my last 10 mls of Cuir Beluga and bought a replacement bottle before I hit the end.

Right now, sitting on my dresser, is the last bit of Guerlain’s Spiritueuse Double Vanille (the original bottle). It is so perfect in every way for my mood right now. It comforts me, wraps me in a cloak of strength, takes away any blues. This is when the dilemma sets in. Should I repurchase? Normally, I would have said yes, and jumped right on it. However, to my nose, Spiritueuse Double Vanille has been slightly tweaked. So I have come to terms with the end of this bottle. I will hold off on repurchasing until fall 2018 when I can go and test it several days in a row to see if I really still love it or not.

Once I am finished with Spiritueuse Double Vanille I will rummage through my shelf and see which one will be next. I cannot explain what it feels like to finish a bottle for me. On the one hand I am happy that I managed to get through a bottle, and yet, on the other hand, I am sad to see an old friend go.

Do any of you do this? How do you deal with almost empty bottles? Do you repurchase?

Wishing you all a wonderful end of January.

Fragrant kisses,
Sandra xoxo

54 thoughts on “Finishing a Bottle – To Repurchase or Not…”

  1. I never face this dilemma. As soon as I fall in love with a perfume, I immed. start buying backups 🙂 so when a bottle may be finished, there will already be backups. The perfumes I just like or dislike, I sell them (most often is the case) or just try to finish them and not repurchase.

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  2. Depends on how much I enjoy wearing it. I haven’t had an empty in a long time but very close to finishing NR for her. I really enjoy wearing it and been a loyal fan ever since trying it in 2007 so yes that one is a repurchase. I never seem to get sick of it plus get lots of complements whenever I wear it. So it feels like it might be my signature scent.
    I finished DKNY Be Delicious during my uni days and decided that it’s era was over and I have outgrown it. Same happened with YSL Baby Doll in my late teens.

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    • So true Katya. I too find that certain perfumes were perfect for particular times in my life. I wore Fiji in my uni days and have not worn it since. You smell wonderful in NR for her. Sandra xo

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  3. I haven’t had an empty yet!! I’m imagining that I would keep rotating others forward and someday eventually end up with a whole lot of bottles with 10ml in them. I don’t know- with discontinuation & reformulation, at the rate I’m going there won’t be new bottles to be had of anything in my collection!

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    • That is great MMKinPA! The discontinuation and reformulation conundrum can be quite frustrating at times. I used to love Alfred Sung’s Sung EdP and can’t find anything but the EdT anymore. But I moved on… Sandra xo

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  4. So far, only one repurchased, Goutal Ambre Fetiche. And I felt super guilty, asI still had so many other half full bottles. I still love it tho.
    I would also repurchase Cuir Beluga!

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    • Hi Jackie, Ambre Fetiche is a wonderful repurchase. I enjoyed that to the last drop. Cuir Beluga is really good… Sandra xo

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  6. Well. The last empty I had was a 30ml bottle of PdN Le Temps d’une Fete, somewhere around 2011 (2 years after purchase). And I’d already bought multiple backups of that one, much bigger bottles, because I love it so much.

    Haven’t emptied a bottle since.

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    • Hi Mals86. You smell amazing! What a beautiful perfume – great forward planning that you have several backups. Sandra xo

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  7. I think I do exactly like you Sandra. When I see all the perfume that I have bought during the past years I get nervous because I know I am not going to use it up in the near future. I sometimes pull out a bottle where there’s little left inside only to finish it and throw it away. If a perfume is standing unused for a year or longer, I will surely not repurchase it.
    The only exception are my vintage perfumes. I use them rarely and always bear in mind that I won’t be able to find it again.

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    • I am so glad to know that I am not alone Neva. I actually enjoy finishing a bottle. My mind says it is ok because I am making room for the new. When it comes to vintage fragrances, I have always steered clear for fear of falling in love and then being crushed. Sandra xo

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  8. The only fragrance I ever repurchase is my one signature scent. As far as the rest, I look at it in sort of a circle-of-life perspective–in order to make room for the new, something old must go. There are always new and exciting creations just waiting to be added to my collection. Otherwise to me it is hoarding, and I cannot abide the thought of something special going bad and wasted or being totally forgotten just because I cannot get to it.

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  9. I just finished my original bottle of SDV and opened the backup bottle. What a disappointment. It has ben reformulated to a shadow of its former self. I’m so disappointed I haven’t even been able to bring myself to wear the new bottle. I also have backup bottles of Cuir Beluga and Gourmand Coquin that I am now afraid to open, for fear they have been ruined as well. Bois d’Armenie has been gutted and is now dead, thankfully I tested it before repurchasing.

    I will not repurchase anything now unless I can test the new version first and 9 times out of 10 I decide not to repurchase due to reformulation. If I find something I love, I immediately buy a backup (or two) assuming that by the time I finish it, it will be reformulated.

    So mostly what I’m buying now is new releases or an occasional vintage bottle. But really I want to stop buying altogether because I have too much! Unfortunately I have a hard time actually doing that. Sigh.

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    • Hi TaraC, thank you for writing your impressions. I was getting worried that I was just too finicky with SDV and Bois d’Armenie. I am ok with the current version of Cuir Beluga and Gourmand Coquin. One of my wishes for this year is to really enjoy what I already have. If I get bored I need to rummage around and discover what is at the back. Sandra xo

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  10. I have backups, and backups of the backups. I’m almost to the end of Serge L Fille en Anguiles, and Chypre Rouge, and I’m immensely overjoyed because I am a hoarder, and this means two fewer bottles. I have backups of original formulas so I’m set. I will not repurchase these because a) backups already! and b) as much as I love them, there have been some new Indie/niche perfumes released in the last 5-7 years that I adore, such as scents from Slumberhouse or Tauer, Hiram Green, etc. Serge Lutens will always have my heart, but there are other new greats out there. My one true love, Vallee des Rois, I have “a stash” and since it is no longer in production, hasn’t been for 15 years, I’m pretty content on that front. If I lived to a thousand, I would barely make a dent in my hoard and that concerns me now!
    Oddly enough repurchases for me would be the category of cheap thrills perfumes that I wear frequently, but am less attached to or in love with — easy going scents that are a run to the post.

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    • Hey Shiva-Woman! As Diana says below – you are a woman after my own heart. I wish I could do that. The prospect of any future moves has me not purchasing backups. What if I can’t take them with me?! Sandra xo

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  11. My motto has always been finish a bottle and move on. My perfume journey is almost half a century old so it should come as no surprise to say that I have drained well over 400 bottles. At one point I was saving the empty bottles but then I went on a massive cleaning spree and threw out hundreds of empties. I don’t repurchase as there are too many other fragrances to enjoy.

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  12. There is only one perfume that I have repurchased so far and that is NR For Her. a) because it’s good, b) because it has not been reformulated as far as I can tell. I know that it will be different with my holy grail scents that are now discontinued or reformulated. I will probably try to make them last forever.

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  13. There’s a few that spring to mind that I’ve repurchased, more than once, The One, Light Blue and Fragile. I’m sure there are others but can’t think right now. The Fragile is getting scarce now so I use it more judiciously than I used to, but on the other hand I would go mad if it sat in the drawer and turned. There’s so much new stuff coming out all the time that I don’t really worry about repurchasing.

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  14. So far I’ve only used up a bottle of Le Monde est beau, and that was before I turned a full-on perfumista, and I immediately repurchased that Kenzo. I remember reading somewhere on Facebook: If you like it, go big. If you love it, go big & back up. That’s something of a motto for me (I can’t say that I’m proud of it 🙂 ). I’m into vintage perfumes which means there might never be a chance to get a certain bottle.

    Yet I don’t want to become a hoarder. When my collection is big enough, I guess I’ll need to figure something out.

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    • Hey Diana, interesting motto that you read. You must have a wonderful collection. One day I would love to just sniff some vintage beauties. Sandra xo

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      • Sandra, thank you! Actually, my collection is really not that big (less than 40 full bottles, I assume, and not all of them are vintage) as I’ve only began collecting perfumes in 2013.

        There were a lot of mistakes (I often blind-buy, and back then I didn’t know what I was looking for). Vintages can change one’s perception of familiar scents but they also are a rabbit hole. I’m warning you from down here 🙂

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  16. I have found a few which are almost impossible to buy now. And a few I’m afraid of ‘disappearing’ forever.
    I have one bottle of the Estee Lauder fragrance named Estee which I treasure because it is the shape of original. In recent times EL have made their scents in BORING standardized rectangular bottles.

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  17. Me three for re-purchase of NR for her. And Balenciaga Florabotanica. That was before I entered the world of decants and samples. Right now, given the great big world of choices in front of me buying something more than once would have to mean it’s pretty darn amazing. Will I ever find something that comes close to NR for her – maybe not. Guess the question would be could I live without it & right now with all the other amazing scents I’m finding I think I could get by.

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    • Hi Melanie, With all of the love for NR for her I will have to go and sniff again. I smelled it a long time ago. Yes, you are right. I can easily get by without repurchasing. Sandra xo

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  18. Hey Sandra. Ask me when I finish a bottle of something. I just haven‘t. Although I recently bought a bottle of Cuir de Lancôme, as I gave what I had left away. Bussis. xxxxxx

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      • Nope. Well, the original bottle Kiki Extrait, but then Vero have me a medicine bottle full so …… And they are all pretty powerful, don’t need much. They will last. xxx

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  19. Hi Sandra,
    Aren’t the January Blues the pits? I’m starting to feel a little brighter but the first two weeks were brutal.
    I was thinking about this the other day and I decided no matter how much I love the perfume I will no repurchase with the exception of La Fille de Berlin. That one just feels so right to me and I can wear it at any time, in any weather.
    I hope you find a new vanilla that you love as much as the old SDV.

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    • Hey Tara, January gets me every year! I am sorry that the first two weeks were terrible. I can actually understand your point of not repurhasing. There will always be something new and amazing. Sandra xo

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  20. Hi Sandra, come to Australia, we can give you plenty of heat for January Blues!
    I too for last month have cleaned out finished a few perfumes and threw out the bottles which is big for me.I finished my 2003 Rive Gauche and repurchased a 100ml because I have loved it since the 1980’s, I am still that girl. Finished Chopard wish and Calvin Klein reveal both gifts, which were not my favourites but nice for everyday. I received beautiful gifts for Xmas which are in their place, Mon Paris YSL and drum roll Leather Oud Dior, because I am crazy for it from an amazing person who made me cry! I have an 2000 Fragile JPG in my collection 1/3 left in bottle.

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    • Hiya Anna Maria, I have Australia in my sights to escape this weather. Rive Gauche brings back so many memories. Your beautiful Christmas gifts needed space to move in. 😆 Sandra xo

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  21. There are a very few that I would replace without even pausing to think about it. (And it was pretty satisfying to break open the wrapper of a new bottle of Mitsouko this morning when I drained the very last of the previous.)

    Most I think I would wait until it was empty, and then see how much I missed wearing it, see if it left a significant gap. And some have changed so much, I’d have to think of a replacement as a different perfume entirely, and I don’t know if I’d even like it as much.

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    • hi Crikey, Mitsouko is, well, Mitsouko – perfect in every way. I understand that repurchase. Waiting is always a good solution for me because 9 times out of 10 I do not buy. Sandra xo

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