Saturday Question: What Is Your Guilty Fragrant Pleasure?

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies

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Portia

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Hello Fellow Fumies,

At APJ we have a Saturday Question. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it’s a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back regularly and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them. The aim is to generate real conversation and connection even though we are scattered around the globe.

Saturday Question: What Is Your Guilty Fragrant Pleasure?

Over 100 responses I will draw a Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
This week:
Niche Sample Pack

  1. Parfum d’Empire Yuzu Fou
  2. Fort & Manlé Charlatan
  3. Frederic Malle Geranium Pour Monsieur
  4. Tauer Eau d’Epices
  5. Le Galion Aesthete

 

Last Weeks Winner: Diana

eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with your address please

Saturday Question: What Is Your Guilty Pleasure?

Guilty Pleasures! I have a few fragrant guilty pleasures. Now we can be talking ANYTHING fragrance related here. Maybe you collect your empty bottles or the lids? It could be a penchant for drug store cheapies. Do you need to have the whole set of something? Maybe your secretly a niche snob or have a secret way you apply? Is there a stash of soaps and body washes at your house? Anything can be your guilty pleasure and I think it’s time you shared…….

My Answer:

HA! This could take a while…….

  1. I am a rampant sample and decant buyer. Can’t help myself. Spend a LOT of money on them, and always 3, 5 or 10ml so it comes in a sprayer. From decanting stores, sample swaps, splits and anywhere you can get them. I’m in. There are literally HUNDREDS of them in this apartment. I try to move as many as I can on in one way or another but it is ridiculous.
  2. Backups! If I love something and it’s Dcd then you can be sure there is at least one backup of it around here. My Shalimar, Mitsouko, Miss Dior, Liberté, Blonde, Oriental Brulant, Madonna Truth or Dare and Niki de Saint Phalle collections might make you weep.
  3. I LOVE to troll the internet late at night while in my tracksuit. Reading blogs and FB boards, cross referencing info, looking up availability, checking prices and generally losing hours of my life in the search and hunt. It’s thrilling and fun.

My Saturday Question to you is:

Saturday Question: What Is Your Guilty Fragrant Pleasure?

145 thoughts on “Saturday Question: What Is Your Guilty Fragrant Pleasure?”

  1. I do have a large bin of backups, which I may never get to, but if I find a good deal on something I love I can’t help myself. I also love variety and have hundreds of bottles of perfume. Definitely more than I can wear. But I just love the pretty bottles and smells. Decants and samples don’t do it for me, I only buy them to decide I want a full bottle, then I pass them on.

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  3. I love bath stuff…I can label it therapeutic and is therefore justifiable! But it has to smell great, I am often disappointed to find baths products do not smell of much nor linger on the skin. Lush used to, but they have dumbed them down. Any ideas gratefully received APJers!

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    • The one and only shower gel I obsessed over because it lingered on my skin well after the shower was Bath and Body Works Brown Sugar and Fig …I bought it deeply discounted one summer only to find out it was limited edition and then obsessed over it until they brought it back the following summer. It was both sweet and figgy and I could smell it hours later. Not sure if B &BW still carries it though.

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      • That is good to know that they are available for Australians online. I would also recommend waiting for a good sale if you are going to purchase. I know here in the States they often do buy three get three free which is a very good deal. And they really do linger on the skin scent wise.

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  4. Oh Gawd where would I even start on an answer here? I’m guilty of every fragrance misdemeanour I think. Several backups, piles of samples and decants, several unopened bottles still pooched here and there, and when I buy decants it’s never less than 5ml and often it’s 10. But in my own defence if I don’t like it I give it away.
    I have a thing for handmade soaps and arrived back from holidays with about 10 bars to add to the pile I already had. I seek out matching body products for perfumes. And I seem to be involving others in my obsession as I make samples for people to try stuff, and this is without them asking me to do so. But that’s just sharing the love, right?

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  5. I just sorted my samples and set aside many to give away – I did go through several years of buying tons of samples so I could try everything…. trying to “no buy” at the moment. I have about a years supply of shower gels from Yves Rocher stocked up (enjoyable in the shower but they don’t linger).

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  6. I don’t really have a guilty perfume pleasure because at my age I just wear what takes my fancy.
    A lot of people can be guilty of being perfume snobs (not any of you lovely people).e.g. Avon perfumes. When Avon bring out something new, if I like the sound of the notes,I will buy it when it’s on offer.Some of the noses behind some Avon perfumes are well known e.g. Oliver Cresp..
    I Scent you a Day blogger is a fan of Avon and does good reviews. I always take note of her Avon opinions.

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    • My first bottle of perfume was an Avon (back in 1970). I wore some pretty high end fragrances in my youth but always had a mix of high end houses (Chanel, Dior , Guerlain), Avon and drugstore beauties in my fragrance collection. I think I have owned upwards of 30 or more Avons over the past 40 years. They make beautiful fragrances that are highly affordable. I also agree that Samantha does an excellent job of reviewing them and I too enjoy reading what she has to say about the Avons. And I also love that none of us are perfume snobs at APJ (not even Val even if she thinks she is one!)

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      • I’m like you,Brigitte. I have a mix of high end, Avon. Discount stores eg TK Maxx.and the like. Then of course my perfume oil dupes from PP.
        Today one of my Grandaughters gave me 3 samples
        Maison Francis Kurkdjian Oud
        Juliette has a gun Moon Dance
        Juliette has a gun Midnight Oud
        Love them all.

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          • I really love all my Guerlains.
            My grandaughters and daughter are fab. I’ve mentioned them before. They buy me lovley perfumes for Christmas and my birthday…..Chance..Samsara….Shalimar…and others I can’t remember at the moment.

            Liked by 1 person

  8. I spend a lot of my spare time reading perfume blogs, reviews, online window shopping, and have recently taken over the tv to watch YouTube perfume videos. I find it relaxing, but sometimes I think I should be using this time to read a book, or to exercise.

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  9. My guilty pleasure is my bottle of Eternal Crescent by Ajmal. The crystal bottle is a work of art, and the delicate yet confident aroma of the perfume is indescribable and just exquisite. Every time I open the bottle, I feel like a princess!

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  10. I reckon my worst guilty pleasure has to be blind buying. It has cost me a pile over the years, but on the other hand, it has also landed me some real beauties. I’m currently wearing Nobile 1942 Sandalwood Nobile – a blind buy which is a lush fruity sandalwood/cedar.

    My greatest blind-buying recklessness is my eBay vintage ‘fume habit. There’s no way of knowing if the juice is going to be any good, let alone whether it’s going to be something I’ll like, but I still do it. I must be nuts.

    On the other hand, every once in a while I land a gem like the vintage bundle of bottles of Floris Malmaison I bought for a song this year, and which is a stunning carnation perfume with a touch of powder, and which was all in perfect condition. Bliss!!!

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  11. We all know that wise approach to buying new perfumes: finish a sample/decant > if you still like that perfume, look for a good deal > buy a FB and enjoy. I do all that but in the wrong order! As soon as I think I would like to have more of perfume (sometimes during the first or second time I test it), I start looking for a deal and pounce as soon as I find it. And then my new bottle stays in its original packaging, unopened, while I’m finishing the sample/decant from which it all started. Right now I have, I think, two such bottles (I do not count back-ups 😉 ).

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  12. I do a lot of reading and have also started watching some youtube reviews. But I find that I have much less longing to try things based solely on the notes or everyones praise of it. After almost five decades of daily perfume wearing and thousands of samples , decants and bottles drained I think I would like to focus on what I really like/love. My latest guilty pleasure is a brand new bottle of Heaven which I paid next to nothing for but will wear with great pleasure.

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  13. Thank you, Portia! Please don’t enter me in the draw 🙂

    My guilty pleasure is blind-buys and reading everything there is to know about a perfume before I commit to buy it. It’s very time-consuming and at times annoying. I rarely buy decants because I find it hard to finish them quickly, – the Thunk movement has been very helpful but I’m not there yet. Since decants sometimes evaporate with time, I prefer going with a used bottle instead.

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  14. I buy lot of backups of my favorite perfumes even though someone inside me tells its already enough for lifetime but i still get scared maybe its not in case i live too long 🙂

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  15. I do feel a little guilty about a backup bottle purchased early on. It is my first and only BUB because I realized that “limited edition” means “every summer” and I take years to get through 100 ml of anything.

    Most guilt comes from untested samples that sit and wait. I’ve not accumulated hundreds, but it’s enough that it makes me uncomfortable though I still buy more, enough is never too much, rinse and repeat. I feel better when I spend time organizing and sorting samples every so often. Gives them a chance to see the sunshine. I put a dozen or so on my desk so that I will see them every day. And the samples I can part with get passed along to friends.

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  16. I too am guilty of having many many samples. They are all mostly organised and all live in a spreadsheet as well. So I am meticulous about making sure I remember what I’ve tested. What makes it all a guilty pleasure is that I don’t enjoy actually wearing samples. So if I am testing something its usually a spray on my arm to sniff while I’m at my computer…or I will wear one to brunch on the weekend but likely change it up later anyway.

    Guilty pleasure number 2: I love cheapies…..but again, I don’t wear them that often. I think its the thrill of the ‘bargain’….and they are something to douse myself in when I am bored at home. I don’t wear them out of the house much at all.

    Which ties into number 3: I’m a bit of a niche snob – my work makes me want to wear stand out scents every day so I am really partial to my niche collection.

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    • I’m with you on #1 and #3 (though I went even further and created a relational database for storing perfumes and their usage information).

      I love your avatar!

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      • Thanks Undina!! That hat is my favourite hat. I made a dress to match it and everything. Then I wore it to the Dior exhibition at which my group of vintage addicts probably got just as much attention as the Dior dresses! People were taking videos of us and everything lol.

        I like your idea of making a perfume database! I use the online sites for that like Fragrantica and Parfumo but they are lacking in some specifics sometimes. At least with Parfumo I can identify if its a decant or a miniature which you cant with Fragrantica

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  17. Most of my friends aren’t into perfume, or at most are the kind of people to have a “signature” and nothing else. So my guilty pleasure is introducing them to more perfume, and hopefully opening them up to the concept of daily perfume as opposed to “perfume for special occasions only”, which is where 90% of my friends lie.
    My absolute favourite is when someone tells me they don’t like perfume at all, because this is a cute challenge. As long as they’re willing to at least sniff some things, I’ve never had someone leave without finding at least one thing they love, either from my bottles or from my samples.
    I try not to be obnoxious about all of this. If someone isn’t interested, I don’t press them. But most people know at this stage that if they visit my home they’re probably going to end up smelling great. 😉

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  18. Guilty pleasures! How topical for me, I’m the type to be very satisfied with a nice spreadsheet, so I just spent an hour organising my thoughts/ratings of all my decants into the fragrance comparison spreadsheet I’ve been working on.

    I would say that this spreadsheet saves me a lot of money because it means I’ve got an easy visual comparison on my thoughts on all my fragrances, but it also helps me justify buying more decants so… 50/50!

    Other than decants and spreadsheets, I love locally made soaps – I bought one yesterday that smells exactly like Earl Grey tea! Soaps are so inexpensive that they’re hard to pass up really…

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  19. My guilty pleasure is: not feeling in the slightest bit guilty for impulse purchases, slightly risky blind buys, and the occasional what-the-hell bid on ebay.

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      • It’s a bit dangerous in terms of ending up with duds, bores, or fakes, but I’ve been phenomenally lucky… One nail-polishy old Miss Dior, one suspect vintage mitsouko EDT that smells diluted to about 20% of its original strength, and a bottle of Aura that just isn’t right for me but oooh shiny bottle!

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        • Are these Miss Dior and Mitsouko in splash bottles? I remember us having a talk about MD smelling differently in a splash and a spray bottle. It’s a huge disappointment to see a favourite perfume go bad, to say nothing of a diluted Mitsouko (wtf?). Aura’s bottle is stunning but I’m only ready to accept it as a gift, not to buy one myself since it doesn’t do much for me.

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  21. Another one: when I walk into a group of people and someone says, “who smells great?” I smugly assume it’s me. Spending more time now amongst fellow fragrance people, I cannot assume that so much anymore! 😉

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  22. I do love having bottles my friends haven’t even heard about, so I guess I’m a snob, sometimes at least.
    Ialso like wearing Prada Candy to bed, which doesn’t really match the wish to wear niche or high-end scents! Plus, compared to my energy levels, I do spend too much time on the net reading blogs.

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  23. Guilty pleasure? Using up bottles I can’t get anymore, things lost to history that are irreplaceable really. I know perfumes were made to be worn and enjoyed, but I feel sad sometimes that such beautiful scents will vanish forever. I will happily wear Amouage and Chanel through to Charlie and celebuscents, so no traditional guilty pleasures for me! 🙂

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  24. Pingback: Sale Gosse by Fanny Bal for Frederic Malle 2017 | Australian Perfume Junkies

  25. Late to the party, maybe because I don’t feel guilty about my indulgences! I do feel badly about my proclivity for perfumes no one has ever heard of when very nice-seeming strangers ask what I am wearing. I tell them and if they are really curious, write it down with info on how to obtain. But sometimes in these circumstances I am a little embarrassed about how much some of these treasures cost, knowing not everyone has the disposable cash or would want to spend it this way if they did.

    I also save decants when I buy bottles to carry with me and a few have been handed to people who like them. So a little playing it forward!

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    • HA! Oh yes. “What are you wearing?” Mumble mumble mumble, because it’s in french and who knows HOW it’s supposed to be said. “Where did you get it? What does it cost?” Oh My Gawd!!!
      Ha Ha Ha Ha
      Rinse and repeat.
      Portia xx

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  26. Oh dear. So much guilt, so little time! I spend more time and money on fragrance than I probably should, but even my husband has noted that I’m not into shoes, I rarely get nails done because I’m a gardener and that ruins nice nail polish (I own gloves but rarely use them), and I can go for months without getting anything done to my hair. So fragrance is my vice! Do I feel guilty about dragging family members to perfumeries when we travel? Sometimes yes, often no. If I feel guilty and am getting organized resistance, I don’t press the issue! But we’ve also seen some very interesting parts of various cities in pursuit of my hobby, so there’s that …

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  27. I adore perfume. Do not feel guilty about anything. Although I am careful not to spend the mortage money. I love buying full bottles. I inherited heaps of treasures from my mum; gave many away. Too many Lutens & Guerlains. I used to buy every attar at the bazaars in India. Too much time online reading blogs and adding bottles into my cart (even though I can’t buy them).

    I am in love with you all- I have imaginary conversations with perfumistas and famous perfumiers. Sigh. So much beauty.

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