… or, more aptly, “Why I continue to get lucky with un-sniffed purchases.”
Have you ever read a review so tantalizing, so tangible that it seemed like you could smell the fragrance wafting off your screen as you read? Talented writers in the blogosphere have caused more than their fare share of both joy and sorrow. Remember last year’s Havana Vanille* “Debacle”? A few well-penned reviews came out early from admiring perfumista’s (here and here), which lead un-told numbers of fragophiles to pre-order bottles of the stuff… and then came the backlash. Many who bought HV un-sniffed were… less than happy with it.
I’m feeling more than a little satisfied with myself, since, not being a vanilla lover, I bought a sample of HV first. Which I quickly drained, then bought a 100mL bottle (only 85mL left! AGh!).
However, a mere click on my “Things I Hate” category will demonstrate that I too fell into the Beyond Paradise “Trap” so cunningly crafted by Monsieur Turin in his Perfumes, THE GUIDE. Luckily, this only set me back about $25 (that’s 1/5 of a L’Artisan!).
I digress. Let’s get back to luck.
If you’re going to buy un-sniffed (admit it, you know you will at some point, if you haven’t already), what you need to do is find two people. Your Scent-Twin, and your Evil-Scent-Twin**. Strong contenders for these categories will:
a. (Scent-Twin) have a strong affinity for things you like, and dislike many of the same things that you dislike
b. (Evil-Scent-Twin) reliably like things that you dislike, and vice-versa.
These people are the bloggers, the contributors, the commenters that we know and love. Their names are as familiar as your cat’s, and you can probably name several fragrances they like or dislike without a moments thought. They are your pre-screeners. They are The Force. Use The Force, and the perfume gods may smile upon your ever-shrinking wallet.
I’d love to know, who constitutes your Force????
*This scenario has been selected as an example since it’s one of the few times I showed any restraint.
**As their titles imply.
beauty on the outside 
I’d be a bit hard-pressed to tell you, for no other reason than in my general vicinity, I’m rather like the resident Emily the Strange! 😉
My evil twin would be my sister – who can’t get enough…patchouli, skank, musk, amber, or anything…loaded enough. (An example: At age 15, she wore Obsession for Men…which takes titanium gonads at that age!
Yours truly is…a Green Fiend, a Chypre Chica, an Orange Monster, a Wide-Shouldered Floral Fiend and Incense-o-holic. That covers all the bases. Oh, and leather. Ahem.
I’m guessing Birgit and I have more in common scentwise than we suspect already, but I could be wrong.
I haven’t tried HV. I like tobacco notes as a rule, but it’s that…vanilla thang that gives me pause for thought.
T: I’m really attracted to green’s these days, and I love incense too. I’m not convinced I’ve even met a *real* chypre, only the modern incarnations, so I can’t comment on that…
Birgit has great taste, so she’s a good scent-twin to have!
I can pretty much count on Daisy as a reliable scent-twin, along with Gaia (aside from the white florals), Haunani, and Mals!
I let other people do the hard work 😉
I loooooove Havana Vanille! So, Tarleisio, if you are right and we have many scent loves in common (which I suspect as well!), you will love HV too.
Dee, you are a lucky girl, indeed! I cannot even tell you how often I was disappointed in an unsniffed buy. I am guilty of this sin many times over, but it is hard to get to personally smell everything I want and I am impatient. And truth be told, I love the thrill as well, I wouldn’t want to miss it 😉
As for my twins: I often like what Victoria (Bois de Jasmin) likes, but it is no safe bet all the time either.
I can’t say I have found an evil scent twin yet, although maybe Brian (I smell therefore I am) could be close.
Isn’t HV something? Every time I wear it, it kind of shocks me how much pleasure it brings, subtly throughout the day.
When you don’t have easy access to niche (or any, really) perfumes, it certainly adds to the thrill of shopping. It’s hard to justify spending $3 for .7mL, when you’re thinking cost-per-mL!
Thank the perfume gods for bottle splits, without which this post wouldn’t exist!
That’s a really good way to not end up with bad unsniffed purchases.
I only recently discovered my evil scent twin – well, it seemed she realized it before I did. Carol from Waft seems to be my evil scent twin (although of course we overlap on some things).
There are several bloggers out there who I can rely on – Nathan is one of them, I like everything he likes so I did some unsniffed purchases after his reviews. 🙂
How did those purchases work out? Hopefully you love them!
Oh yes, I do, especially Love Coco.
Ooh, Coco is a brilliant un-sniffed purchase!! 🙂
I think Robin from NST has always used to be my “evil twin”, and vice versa 🙂 As for a good twin…I have to think…those are harder to find 🙂
Oh, a good scent-twin is an invaluable resource!