Where to…

WARNING!

PLEASE smell everything in your sample pack before you order your next one. This is an addictive hobby and you can end up with hundreds of samples unsmelt, lying around forlorn.

This warning comes from someone who knows!!

AUSTRALIAN ONLINE NICHE SALES

Libertine Parfumerie

City Perfume

Peony Melbourne

SAMPLES AND DECANTS

SurrenderToChance Professional and are super friendly. I guest write for their affiliated blog PerfumePosse. They have an area called Weekly Chance Specials that is full of wonderful things. The PerfumePosse blog does an awesome beginners 101 and intermediate 201 sniff list. I am still working my way through them. These guys are my friends.

LuckyScent only does .7ml samples which is bloody annoying but they have the best monthly showbag of the newest and most interesting juice there is. You just have to get on their mailing list and they’ll send you an email each month or less with a very reasonably priced grab bag. These guys are also my friends.

ThePerfumeNiche has some well thought out curated sample packs of old, new and hard to find stuff. Sadly they only send 1ml samples.

ThePerfumedCourt I have always found them to be excellent and have an enormous range, they are famously the most expensive.

READING

Perfumes: The Guide is a great read or for a more digestible, less overwhelming peek into the worm hole The Little Book Of Perfumes: The 100 Greatest Scents, both by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez. I am still working my way through the 100 Greatest Scents too.

FRAGRANCES OF THE WORLD 2016

Fragrances Of The World has a yearly edition by Michael Edwards and his crew. It’s the ultimate perfumistas reference book. It has categories, stories, explanations and critiques. I get it every year but for most scent hounds it’s a one off buy referred to over the years, bookmarked, dog eared, post it noted. They get a life of their own and become and integral part of a perfumistas life.

Above all, please remember that this is FUN! There is nothing so ethereal or concrete as smell, it is the oldest and central network in our brain. Used first in everything we do, holder of memories and reminder of everything we have, are and will be. It tells us when we should choose flight or fight, flail, flirt, fornicate or feast. Ubiquitous but amorphous, please enjoy the ride. There is no destination.

28 thoughts on “Where to…”

  1. Hi there,

    I am a newbie perfumista, and have ordered a pile of samples from Surrender to Chance. How long do your samples take to arrive? I purchase a lot of stuff online from the States, and it is usually delivered (Melbourne) within 10 days. I’ve now been waiting 20 days for this delivery since its ship date, so am getting concerned. Is this normal for samples?

    Cheers,
    LC

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    • Hey Louise,
      Sometimes things get bogged down in customs. I have waited up to a month for samples to arrive and later orders are already here. Give them a month grace then with your order number go back to the site. There is a communication thing down in the right bottom corner, they will get to you ASAP,
      Best luck and welcome to the wormhole. Don’t forget to enter our Thursday Giveaway.
      Portia xx

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  3. Hello,

    I couldnt find a contact email on your blog,

    Its very difficult to find any information on Australian perfumeries etc.
    And your blog is a breath of fresh air.

    This may seem a little strange, after recently taking a course in Grasse I was wanting to tinker around with making my own perfumes.

    You have your finger on the pulse all things perfume.

    long story short, I can only find 1 supplier on the web of decent sized perfume kits.
    http://www.perfumersworld.com/products.html
    and I dont know if it will go through customs.

    Is there anything within oz that can accomodate a similar product?

    I hope this isnt wasting your time.

    Kind regards

    Sean

    PS
    If I make any note worthy scents i’ll definately send a sample your way.

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  4. Could you please tell me about a post you put up regarding a trip to LA to Luckyscent, Barney’s and Beauty Habit. I would love to go. Thanks

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  5. Portia

    Truer words couldn’t be spoken. Smell everything in your sample packs – lest you leave un-smelled scents behind.

    Thank you for being in Oz

    George

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  6. Hello Portia!

    Thank you for your your wonderful blog! My “Get-a-vial-for-a-sniff” list just got even bigger!

    Do you know a place (or rather space) where non-commercial perfume maniacs can sell/exchange their treasures? For example, I do not need a full bottle of Tom Ford Sahara Noir – I love it to death and often have a sneaky sniff, but I feel like wearing it 15 times a year max. So a vial is not enough, a decant will evaporate over time, and I would rather buy a full-size bottle and sell a few vials (and spend this money on something else!) than having a full size of a perfume I hardly ever wear (but desperately need to own!)…

    I was googling like crazy recently, but nothing came up. I thought you might know.

    xxx, Alice

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    • Hi Alice,
      Go find Peace, Love & Perfume on Facebook. they have a specialty swap and sale site and if you ask Carlos, he will let you in.
      Portia xx

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  7. I am the Admin. for the very new -(May 2014) Australian Chapter of the International Pefume Bottle Association (IPBA) IPBA-AC. Would your kindness extend to helping us out with some samples / perfume cards etc for our Inaugural Meeting next year. We have to fill the Goodie Bags somehow and would greatly appreciate your help. You would recieve Recognition on our FB and on my own private FB. Thank you Marie

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  8. So true, but you should have also put a warning about not smelling every single sample as soon as you get one! I ordered about 25 samples from Luckyscent recently. When they arrived, it felt like Christmas. I knew I should stop, I just couldn’t. I felt sick for the rest of the evening!

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  9. A friend is from England and she believes – 30+ years ago – that a perfume named Blue Blazer (the name may be wrong) was available. Am I asking too much to see if it is still available, where and maybe under what name? Thank you.

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  10. Pingback: TinaG, Scott & Portia Sniff Fest Oct ’15 « AustralianPerfumeJunkies

  11. Hi everyone, I’m afraid I can’t claim to be a perfume junky. I only ever liked one perfume (apart from a brush with hippy oils in the 70s) and that’s Colors by Benetton. I have in latter years found some online which was not the quite same as the original but acceptable. Now, I can’t find it ANYWHERE! Can anyone help?
    Thanking you,
    Jenny

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  12. Hi there,
    My daughter found a 400g piece of ambergris on the beach and we are sort of at a loss with what to do with it! Any advice? It seems such a waste just sitting in a box in the wardrobe.

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    • It depends on the type of Ambergris you find the white is most expensive ! Sell it under classifieds but find out if is soft. , hard, and color as each type ambergris gives different odor profile used in perfumery. .
      Tincture your self and use it in perfume

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  13. Dear Portia,
    how are you this day? 🙂 need your expert opinion on this. Is there a place where I can get samples of Boadicea the Victorious
    Nemer here in AU? or are they only available in Europe or the United States?

    cheers!
    Chan

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  16. Hello Portia, after many decades, I’ve discovered there are so many beautiful new scents out there. Even better, ab Australian perfume site! I’m a complete amateur, all I know is if I like it or not. Recently tried some scents I would never have touched before, and just love the. Grande Soir, Portrait of a Lady , Noir de Noir, Cafe Rose, Royal Princess Oud and Alien. Very different from my L’Air du Temps I usually wear. I’ve been buying sample sizes to try from an eBay seller as he sells the real stuff, not fake.,(so many frauds out there). Your list of where to get samples really helpful. I really am enjoying my new hobby, it’s just delicious! Amazing to find such a lovely bunch of scentaholics💐

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