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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.
Over 100 responses I will draw a Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
This week:
Sample Pack
- Oud Spirit by Grandawood
- Accord Oud by Byredo
- Leather Oud by Dior
- Agar Ebene by Hermès
- Tobacco Oud by Tom Ford
Last Weeks Winner: katrihaas9
eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with your address please
Saturday Question: Do You Keep Your Fragrance Boxes?
I don’t know where I saw this question recently but I thought it an excellent one. Thanks to whoever wrote it. XX
Boxes! Our first contact with a brand new fragrance. Millions are spent on making it as alluring as possible to us with ready cash to purchase. Are they important to you? Do you keep them? Are they instantly binned? Does your box give you the same thrill as heads, the bottle or the juice?
My Answer:
When I first started buying fragrance for myself I would have a couple of bottles going at a time, they would be kept in the bathroom on my shelf. As soon as I opened them the boxes went straight into the bin.
Boxes got binned even as I started having a small collection.
This habit continued will into my collection stage.
Suddenly, one day, without warning I wished I had kept some of those boxes. Especially as things started to hit reformations and packaging changes. I was most sad when I went to buy The Dreamer by Versace and the boy on the box was gone. I mourned for losing pictorial evidence of the small bit of me I saw in him when I’d purchase my bottle. Also because I’d gifted the last of my boy boxes to a lover. It seemed like everything was changing.
Now I keep them all. Even the boxes I don’t particularly like. Even the bottles that sit proudly on my regular wear tray have boxes safely stored for when they fall from grace. ALL the boxes. Most boxes stay with their bottles in my cupboards. I get to enjoy the sensual pleasure of them every time I spritz, so glam. Just like getting them brand new all over again.
Yes. Always! Wouldn’t dream of binning them.
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I keep my bottles inside their boxes all the time, I should have made clear.
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HA! Very neat.
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Cassie- did you always keep them in their boxes? Very neat and SMART!
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Yes 🙂
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I used to keep all my empty bottles in their original boxes. Then quite a few years ago I did a massive purge and threw out hundreds of them. Now I keep the boxes that I enjoy looking at. For the moment that would be the Berdoues Grand Cru Cologne Collection. Those boxes are stunning as far as I am concerned. Great question, P!!!!
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Thanks Brigitte,
Was it cathartic throwing all those boxes out? Do you miss them?
Portia xx
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Both LOL 🤣 😂
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Brigitte- strangely I find it so hard to throw out the empty bottles! Of anything. I have eos and facial stuff. I am quite meticulous about throwing bottles out from the pantry but all else-nope! I did a big purge some years ago. Glad to be rid of the clutter.
Packaging was waaay easier to toss. Now I keep different packaging for altered+found art projects. Very satisfying.
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All of them. I keep the bottles in the boxes. They may not be as pretty as gleaming bottles and shiny juice, but they keep them safe and shrouded from the light. Some are boringly functional, some feel very luxe when you open them, some are an annoying faff.
(p.s. please DNEM. I am an oud avoider!)
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Am oud avoider Crikey!
That is so interesting because of all our readers i would have pegged you as the most likely to love it.
Is there a particular reason?
Portia xx
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aye, it’s a conundrum. It’s not like I’m afraid of big stanky skanky scents. But I’ve not yet met an oud that makes me want to wear it. You know how if you don’t quite air your laundry properly, and it gets that weird not quite mildewy smell… and then you can smell that ALL day even if it’s barely there? The ouds I have tried have all had that underlying sense of nose-wrinkling not-rightness following me about.
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O M G! I dated a guy for a few months, was madly in love (well lust anyways). One of the most physically spectacular men I ever dated, with a pretty face too. He had that mildewy clothes smell. It was his clothes washing machine, all gunned up with mould. EWWWWWW……..
NOW I would know exactly what to do to fix the problem but back then I was just disgusted.
So yes, I do get that reference.
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That is one of the worst smells to me. Almost vomit -worthy. I’m hoping that all oud doesn’t have that effect on me! Haven’t tried any yet. Not sure if I can pull it off!
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Ew ew ew ew. Oh, Portia, how very off putting, and how very disappointing.
Reminds me, oddly, of a woman I once saw on the tube. Holy hell, she was spectacularly beautiful, and polished, and immaculately dressed and… chewing gum with her mouth wide open, all smacking and slapping and messy masticating nastiness.
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O M G ! Did you laugh? Did it feel ironic?
You know this guy was so not right for me in a million ways but I kept persisting because of his absolute drop dead gorgeousness. Ha! It was a very good lesson.
Portia x
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I have *zero* poker face so I assume that my horrified amusement was written all over me…
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Crikey— Oh yuk yuk. Not the mouldy mildwey smell. Can’t stand it. Nor the smell of unwashed wool/coats.
I do love the old lignin from old book bindings which is why some second hand books are oh so gorgeous.
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Yes. Every single box. Every perfume in its box. Always.
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OH NO! I sent you one without a box. Use it up and I’ll send you a boxed one.
Portia x
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Mitzah?
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Oh!!! My Shalimar? Long gone Babe.
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No the No 5 that Tara has for you.
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I will use it up, and cannot wait. I will get it in four weeks. Flying into the UK for 2 days. Just for that. Hahahahahaha. Perfumista behaviour.
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SO JEALOUS!!
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Friday lunchtime til Sunday evening.
With b.londeswunder. She will not allow me to travel alone to London. Hahahahaha.
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Fair enough. I wouldn’t either if I were in her position.
Hug everyone from me please.
Portia xx
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Val- I so wish I had known you when I was young! How did you get inti perfumes? I forget. Must go hunting for that story.
My mum kept all of hers in the boxes and in the wardrobe or the iconic Godrej almirah (stainless steel). 😄 Every Indian home had a few of those.
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I always was into perfume Jyotsna – but I guess it was about 20 years ago that it became a proper addiction. As I slowly dropped other – cough cough – addictions, and then had kids, it became more serious. And it was conveniently legal. Unless you count the illegal side of mailing it and declaring it as religious icons or feminine hygiene. Hahahaha. ❤️
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Early in my perfume years boxes were jettisoned posthaste. Bottles in current rotation were placed on a large mirrored tray on my dresser. I still remember the jolt of pride and pleasure I got seeing all the beautiful bottles and different coloured scents. Each one holding a promise to transform me into a different, better version of who I was. These days everything stays safely in boxes. Protection from light I suppose. It’s nowhere near as satisfying as admiring a gleaming display however.
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Yeah, we follow a very similar trajectory Marcella,
Do you still keep your faves out?
Portia xx
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The faves are naked shut-ins. No box, behind closed doors. I think I’m getting a wee bit OCD with this light protection strategy. I don’t remember my perfumes ever getting spoiled back in the good old days.
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You need a basement where there is very little light and doesn’t get very hot even in summer. 😉
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🙄Don’t remind me. The Basement. It must be breached!
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and now you know why I keep everything in the basement!
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LOL Brigitte, of course! Wish I had a basement…
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Basements are not very common in Australia. Not attics. We have a sinlge level house. Nice and easy to navigate and clean. I don’t think I would’ve stored stuff in the basement even if we did have one.
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HA! Indeed
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Right, eh?
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Yep- what Marcella said. When I started buying my own, I would promptly toss the box, proudly display it on my dresser, admire the collection, Stoopid. Sigh. On the flip side, I didn’t have many and used them up quickly.
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Yes, but only the fancy/art ones. Usually this type of boxes are from niche or indie fragrances. The rest of them directly into the bin 🙂
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Cool Alen,
It’s a satisfying feeling for me, binning stuff. Do you find that?
Portia xx
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Super satisfying indeed 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻 What a relief 🙂
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I keep a couple of the prettiest or fanciest ones. Wouldn’t have room to keep everything in one place otherwise.
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Makes sense AnnieA,
Which ones are the prettiest?
Portia xx
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Pacifica and Elizabeth Arden for pretty and Masque Milano and Lancôme for fancy, off the top of my head
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Oh I too love those Pacifica bottles! Also nice that they can be refilled and used for decanting purposes.
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Ahhhh. Nice
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Hi Portia,
Please DNEM. I am going through the house and clearing up and just binned most of the boxes! (It was actually so cathartic.) They were not stored in the boxes and were taking up so much space. I did keep a few which could also be functional for storage or art projects. Looking forward to seeing the responses.
Sandra xo
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Hey Sandra,
So good to see you.
YAY! Box binning! Part of me wishes I could do that now but another part of me loves the searching, the opening of the box etc etc.
Portia x
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Yes, I keep the boxes, and I keep my fragrances IN the boxes! I like the protection the boxes provide, but I also love pretty packaging, and it feels like opening a gift whenever I open a box to use the fragrance and get to see the pretty bottle again. I also appreciate the neatness and stackability of boxes. And if I ever start re-homing bottles of my fragrances, I think the recipient would like to have the original box. I do pass along bottles to my daughters — in the boxes!
P.S. I love the way many of you use “binned” and “binning” — that’s not an expression we use in the US, so it catches my attention.
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Hey OH,
Yeah, I hear you on the luxury of opening the box.
Binned and Binning are very Aussie I think. I’ve not heard it elsewhere.
Portia xx
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It’s a term that’s widely used here, too. Also used when describing getting rid of a partner😃
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Ha!!!!!
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HA!
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HAHAHA!!!
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I would like to “bin” my bosses!
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😡😡😡 have a good ol’ Monday morning rant
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I like that, Cassie! The thunk sound must be so much louder 🙂
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Lol. Perfect! Love it!
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lol!
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I keep my perfume in the boxes. Some boxes are really lovely. I particularly like my Eisenberg boxes, complete with the little booklet.
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Hi Matty,
Scott is a sucker for booklets. Whenever I get a vintage with booklet he is SO much more interested in the book. HA!
Portia x
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I’m just looking at the box of my Jardin Aprés La Mousson. Incredibly pretty. Would make a great throw cushion fabric, or wallpaper, or bed linens…then again, Hèrmes does some pretty tasty stuff.
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Hermes has gorgeous packaging. Have been trying to for agrs get hold of some catalogues for some art projects. In vain. Damn this digital revolution🤨
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I love the Jardin boxes too! and I really love Apres La Mousson, both box and scent.
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Yes, I keep the boxes and the perfumes stay in their original boxes most of the time. SL 5 o’clo au Gingembre does not seem to fit in its box as long as the spray top is on the bottle and I also have a few bottles from gift sets, so those are not in boxes anymore. A decorative box, like the one for Ostara or the round box for the Dior Ambre Nuit, is always a plus.
The box protects the bottle and makes it easier to put away, if and when needed.
DNEM this week, oud does not usually enchant me, even in modern perfumes.
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Ingeborg,
You have brought up one of my pet hates. This bloody SL boxes. Seriously, for the 5 cents it saves? It gets my goat completely.
Portia xx
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Yes, the SL boxes are not the best. These days I’m still more worried about what looks like a more limited distribution locally.
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BUMMER!
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The Lutens boxes are idiotic. Who designed them Gah! Probably explains why so many of my faves are unboxed!
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I know! Infuriating, those ridiculous boxes. And to boot, they’re rather plain and ordinary.
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Except the Jardins Après La Mousson which is very pretty indeed. I’m staring at it now. For some reason it is in my kitchen?
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Marcella- that one has a very pretty bottle and box. Timeless design.
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Their new bottles look quite hideous to me. Russian perfumistas call them “coffins”. Yuck!
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Coffins! Those Russians have some sense of humour.
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Diana- I’m confused. The new Hermes bottles or boxes are “coffins” 😧
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Another person who does not like oudh!! 😮
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Isn’t that Ostara box gorgeous? Still can’t believe they discontinued that.
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My perfumes are stored in a closet so they are not in boxes. I used to throw away the boxes, now I keep them in a couple of bags at the bottom of the closet. I like to see the bottles when choosing my SOTD!
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Hmm. Maybe I’m on over kill with hiding my scents away from any light. Most of mine are in boxes. And in their own cupboard. No protective shields yet.
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It certainly makes choosing easier MMKinPA,
The bottles I display which have boxes have a box of their own. It’s hidden away in case I ever need those boxes to resell or gift.
Portia xx
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Always. It’s much easier to store and stack items that are regular in shape, and I seem to find it easier to identify boxes rather than bottles when scanning a drawer to choose something to wear. Plus, having the box helps to date the perfume via batch codes etc.
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I should add, keeping them in their boxes also eliminates light strike and helps them last longer.
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Yes, I hear you on all points Greg.
Do you have a few that yo wear a lot that are free range?
Portia xx
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Just about only ones that are not in boxes are vintage ones that I bought that way. I do keep them all in a drawer away from the light, so hopefully they will last. I haven’t had anything really die on me yet.
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Stack? As in horizontally? Never thought of doing that. Would dare stack them in a tower!!
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I had to stack them a couple of layers deep in boxes when I was moving house. It is easier to store them in drawers when they are in box also.
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Generally I don’t keep boxes. I have a couple that I did keep though. I found some Vintage Shalimar extract that came in a purple velvet box… so that one I have the perfume in. I have a couple of other boxes that were pretty but I don’t keep the perfume in them I use them as pretty storage boxes.
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Autocorrect got me! extrait!
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Hi Tussah,
A girlfriend of mine used to love my old CHANEL boxes and would use them to make separate areas in her drawers. She loved the lavishness.
Portia xx
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When I first started collecting perfumes I was like a glutton at a Tudor feast, gaily throwing the boxes away over my shoulder in my greed.
But then I found some beauties like vintage L’Heure Bleue which live in their boxes. Now I keep most boxes but display the bottles in a cupboard.
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Ahhh, nice compromise JackieB,
I think most of us come from the original idea of a few fragrances that we’d use up so there was never any need of boxes. It all changes when we hit 20+ bottles though.
Portia xx
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Great question! Probably the bottles I have without a box are because they’ve been testers and sent in a plain brown box. Similar to many other peeps, I keep the boxes to avoid the light and easy to pack/display in the cupboard. My favourite boxes, looking in my cupboard right now – Florabotanica and Chinatown.
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Hi Melanie.
Also the bottles I’ve bought from others that have come boxes. I have a bunch of them as well.
Florabotanica is a beautiful box AND bottle. Such cool design.
Portia xx
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Yes to Chinatown! I could kick myself for discarding that box along with Little Italy.
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I want, want, want Chinatown, the juice. Willing to forgo the box!
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Fabby question, Portia. Having read everyone’s responses it seems I’ve done the same as most of you. Early on , before this perfume -loving thing became addictive, I’d too the packaging. Now, though, I’m the opposite. In fact, many of my purchases over the years have been done because I’ve fallen in love with the box /packaging, not the liquid inside the bottle inside the box!!!!
So yes, now I keep the boxes separately ,and the bottles my ‘perfume drawers’
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Interesting Saffyishere,
You have Perfume Drawers! How did I not know this? Or did I forget?
How do they cope with the bottles weight? Any sings of drawer base sag?
Portia xx
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Well yes…my Father in law built the house I live in now. It has 3 bedrooms..one was for my hubby’s parents, one for my hubby and another for their daughter. Ihave taken over the ‘daughter’s room and made it my own perfume/ crafty room. There is a built in dressing table, which consists of 2 large drawers, in which I keep my bottles.
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Sounds wonderful Saffyishere.
Your perfect private office. Like I have too.
Portia xx
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I don’t throw away my boxes and have never done it but I don’t think I have ever hesitated to buy a perfume because it didn’t come with a box or a cap.
In the beginning, I would buy tester bottles without caps even if it meant saving $3-5 over retail versions or bottles with caps. Now I wish I had paid little extra for caps because caps do complete the bottle. However, that used to be in early to mid 2000s when online perfume stores used to charge extra $3-5 for caps on tester bottles or little extra for retail versions. Now the difference between tester and retail versions has grown a lot. But if I have to pay a little extra for caps now, I do that.
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Oh yes Fazal,
The good old days.
Yeah, i have a little collection of Testers too. Sometimes the difference is quite large nowadays. For the big ticket buys it can mean $50+.
Portia xx
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I keep all of my boxes, I always have.
On the rare occasion I buy an unboxed bottle I will try and find a small box to pop it in.
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Interesting question Portia, and even more interesting it is for me to find out that most of you keep the boxes. I don’t think that I’ve ever kept a perfume box. I never really notice the box and concentrate fully on the perfume inside the bottle. More important is that I have a small apartment and not enough space to keep all the boxes.
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Right Neva,
So now hypothetically, if you had more space and had read this does it change the way you view the world?
Portia xx
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Portia, if I had more space, I’d have an airconditioned perfume room with shelves all around and perfumes sorted according to seasons, notes, etc 😀 😀 😀
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I’m still waiting to get a perfume obsessed client. I’ve designed a walk-in, temperature controlled perfume cupboard and a free-standing perfume ‘cabinet’. The latter features UV protection as well as temperature controls. Not had the chance to use them in a project yet.
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I’ll keep that in mind Marcella 😉
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I’ll take it!
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Neva, you’re a woman after my own heart! That’s exactly a dream of mine: a temperature-controlled room for my perfumes, and more importantly, them being sorted according the most prominent notes!
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Diana, let’s hope for this lottery win and we’ll let Marcella design such a room for us.
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I’ll become rich and famous, and be designing for stars and royalty exclusively. My services will have a one year waiting period. Thanks all, for the leg up!
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Neva- when I win the lotto I too shall have climate controlled room and all the vintages!
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Hello all. I keep the boxes and ideally keep the fragrances in them. Reality can be rather different. In some cases, and for the cards from manufacturers’ samples, too, I flatten them along the creases and store them flat. So many are so pretty and I do like that ‘complete’ feeling that keeping the boxes allows.
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Interesting Sue,
So do you keep them in another box somewhere easy access?
Portia xx
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Hi Portia, yes, I have a few in a box. Ideal life and real life rarely coincide for me. I regularly find perfumes and samples in the oddest places. Like Saffyishere, I have perfume drawers, but mine aren’t as well-built as hers, as there is definitely some bowing! One day when I am organised and comfortably wealthy, I will commission my own perfume room from marcellavmiller. What wonderful luxury that would be!
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Oh yes, totally fabulous.
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Sue- Me too. Marcella will be this specialist luxury perfume room designer. Drool. Sounds like the best job!
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Half of my collection has no boxes because I bought them that way (I don’t mind buying slightly used perfumes, it’s cheaper) but I do keep the boxes I’ve got, just not with the bottles in them, I keep them separately: if I ever decide to sell some of them, or move somewhere else (I sure hope this will happen sooner than later), boxes will come in handy, but for now I just don’t like anything standing in my way when I wish to put on a perfume, not even its box 🙂
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HA! Excellent Diana,
So where do you store the boxes?
Portia xx
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Portia, they’re all in a big box placed on my wardrobe 🙂
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I keep the boxes separate from the bottles. I like to have them to look at, and also when I travel I like to put full bottles in their boxes to protect them. I did recently decide to move my boxes to another room away from the perfume closet. It feels better to have more empty space to move bottles around.
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Ahhh, thanks. I have mine in a box under the sewing machine. They need to go down in the garage.
Portia xx
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Exactly! Mine went out to the garage too. I put the perfume boxes in a cardboard box, covered that with a large plastic bin bag to keep it clean.
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Good thinking.
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I keep my boxes but they are in bags in the attic. I recently started selling frags on eBay and can’t bother to sort through thousands of boxes to find the box. So, I sell without boxes. Now, I have boxes with no fragrance! LOL. Recently, I started to leave them in the box if they came with one. It makes stacking so much easier. Ugh, the sickness.
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HA! You are hilarious Gina.
How is the eBay selling going?
Portia x
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Gina, that sounds like something I would do!
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I adore Oudh. I can dive headfirst into oudh. I think I’ll organise and Oudh Expression travel and fragrance exploration trip to India. For APJers!
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Except so many of us don’t do oudh. Again, must be my indian skin because oudh is much nicer than many light florals on me. 🤔
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Oooh. I loved going through everyone’s replies. Great question, Portia!
Nowadays mine are mostly in the boxes. In the wardrobe. The ones the get frequent wear, like most of my Lutens, are unboxed but in the wardrobe too. Honestly most of my recent FB have been SLs and as we’ve already established their boxes are rubbish!
I am sorry to say, I binned quite a few empty minis. I loved tge bottles so that was HARD. I love some of the beautiful packing and designs on some new stuff. Blows me away! I keep stuff for art projects. I try not to be a hoarder.
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