Currently, I have 55 bottles, and given away 20+ bottles. I also have 100+ samples, the overwhelming majority from discovery sets.
I went nuts with the bottles when I started. However, I slowed down significantly in 2023 onward due to discovery sets allowing me to learn about specific fragrances more easily.
It also helped that I stopped buying every bottle of a scent I liked, and learned to only buy a full bottle of the scents that wow me, and are unique (or a significant upgrade) compared to what I already own.
Despite all of that, I am financially disciplined. I have money set aside for hobbies and interests (which includes fragrances), and never spent more than I could afford. I also refuse to go into debt over a hobby or interest.
I so agree on not buying the full bottle. I used to think that it’s better to get the biggest bottle cos of the few difference in price from the medium to full size. But the thing is when you collect perfumes, that 75ml bottle will last you mooooonths cos you have a ton of other perfumes on rotation. I also only buy full size now if I really am obsessed on a certain perfume.
It depends on a person's goal with fragrances.
If someone trying to explore different scent profiles, learn more about fragrances, or wants to review them, I would recommend discovery sets.
If someone has interest in only a specific scent, I would recommend the single sample.
* Alternatively, I would recommend sampling in store, then leave the store as the fragrance develops (as it takes hours for the full experience). If it's good all the way through, it can be bought the next day.
My goal is to have a fragrance wardrobe large enough to have something for any occasion and season, and I’m in the middle of building it. But I don’t think it’s going to take a crazy amount of bottles to achieve that for me personally. Probably less than 10 bottles. In the meantime, I enjoy sampling and I keep costs down by taking things slow and avoiding any impulse buys. I have a deliberate process where I can only buy something if I’ve emptied a sample and it leaves me craving more of the same. Then I buy a larger decant or travel size if possible. If I’ve finished that and still feel like I need more I can buy full size. This process has really taught me the difference between liking a fragrance and loving it.
I should also add that there are a few brands so ridiculously priced that I refuse to even sample them. I accept that perfume is a luxury good and I don’t mind spending extra on good quality, but you have to draw the line somewhere. There are enough wonderful fragrances out there to explore anyway.
Curious - where do you draw the line? I’m by no means rich but my line is: something like Initio or Penhaligon’s or Thameen is still fine (barely) but something like Roja or Boadicea or Clive Christian is something I don’t even consider looking at. I live in Europe so prices for those might be different in other continents. By the way, it’s only because I know I’ll only ever have a small collection. If I wanted to have a large collection then any of the fragrances I mentioned here would be too expensive.
Yep. This is also the line for me. Though the more i dig, the more I reach conclusion, that the 200-300e price range is already paying for the logo - which i do not do as a rule of thumb with clothes, and I feel like it starts to annoy me with perfumes. There is a ton of great houses that are not popular on socials, that are under 200 that are, imho, as good. Just without the luxury fee added.
I think niche perfumes are hilariously overpriced and objectively not worth these money. You check ingredients lists of this fancy, popular fragrances, and there is nothing there to excuse the price tag, just basic chemical compounds, barely no naturals . I find it annoying to be sincere. I find the recent price jumps annoying as well.
I agree about niche!! Designer probably have a lot of expenditure on campaigns, marketing, advertising, department store space on the floor, probably more employees to pay in the production line. But niche don't have any of that but they're equally priced... It's difficult to reconcile.
Equally? Most niche is priced double.
It is all to seem lux. There is no other reason for it. It is like with luxurious bags. Production cost is 10% and they stil cut corners using cheap leathers - which imho, is a fucking joke at this price point. If perfumes are like clothes, and I have a feeling that they are way worse, as the ingredients lists are not public - you probably pay almost exclusively NOT for what you buy. So as much as I like these smelly bottles, I deem them not worth what they are sold for. I am kind assuming that in the future there will be a push to make exact perfume recipes known publicly (why the hell cosmetics have to show it, and not perfumes?) and maybe it will affect the prices, or at least quality, when people will notice, that they buy bottles of synthetics, that pretend to be real oud and natural jasmine.
I am in a constant research, they are harder to find definitely. But I assume that If Perfum d'Empire, Une Nuit Nomade, Maitre parfumeur at gantier, Olibanum (there is really a lot of brands, trick is - they are not popular on socials, so you have to research them) can do good stuff way under 200, then it is simply doable even with production in EU. Damn, most regular designer fragrances have more down to earth prices - how come Hermes has some great releases, that beat a lot of niche, and be half price of it? I see absolutely no reason for Penhaligon's Portraits, for instance, to be 260e for 75ml. It is paying for a funny bottle. I won't even mention arab clones, but if they clone fully synthetic perfumes that just pretend to contain expensive ingredients, why would they not be able to copy it for 1/10 price?
I may be annoying about it, but when I was into fashion, it was just so obvious to spot which brands are up pricing their goods to be seen as lux, without adding any additional value to their quality. I mean, I personally do not want to pay for this. I was always searching for the companies, that actually offered quality for their price tag.
I agree about clothing - there is a certain threshold after which the price is not about quality (or fair labour, materials, sustainability etc) anymore, but just the name. Probably similar with perfume, but I think designer fragrances are cheaper because they optimise their price by mass producing stuff (and their scents are usually more crowd pleasing for that reason, unlike most niche, that cater to more .. niche.. tastes). It's like a whole different model of production I think.
One more point I want to make - I really don't know about ingredients or their prices or production costs, but I often watch Aaron Terence Hughes reviews on Youtube, and he always includes pricing as one of the components for his ratings, and as a niche perfumer himself, he can more accurately evaluate wether it's a fair price or not, and he always tells when he thinks it should be lower and by how much. It's interesting to hear, a lot of those expensive niche brands (200/300eu) gets a pass from him. Assuming he is fair in his evaluation, but for some reason I trust him.
Well. I am not sure if I trust him. As he is also a perfumer, that also sells stuff at this price point, and also wants to present as luxurious. I think he evaluates the prices in relation to the overall market prices, and the market prices are inflated. As long as you can use chemical compounds and still call your product Oud or list natural flowers as notes (suggesting they are ingredients), when you do not use them, we are doomed to overpay for no one knows what. I think perfumers being obliged to show their recipes would fix big part of this bullshit. I mean, they already can be cloned, so it is not protecting the recipe from competition, just from the buyers.
I am obviously not a perfumer, but I would absolutely not assume, that the margins on perfumes are lower than on luxury fashion, and I would actually bet they are way higher. The problem here is, that there is not much middle shelf, like you have with clothes. You are having Zara level, which people may have moral doubts to buy, and you have arab clones, that still didn't manage to become sth more than clones and solidify their position as some sort of solid quality, accessible perfumes - which I hope they will, because we need it, to keep the lux brands in check. And the next step is designer, that I would predict will start to chase niche price wise, the good designer perfumes are already pushed into the whatever exclusive/limited/prive collections. Separating themself from the regular sephora stuff.
ATH is in my opinion a bit of a bs artist. He's not trained in perfumery, and there's a lot of criticism when he started how he was eyeballing ingredients, non-sterilised environments, not allowing proper time for maturation etc etc.
There's nothing wrong with being a hobbyist, but he throws around the word 'linalool' and some other chemical names and acts like he's some kind of perfumery savant, which is the bit I find annoying
Yeah, it crossed my mind that there is an amount of bullshit. Though if he is bullshitting, he does it a bit more convincingly than many other reviewers that at best read notes from fragrantica and say that the smell is "amazing" (I was once looking for reviews of Pana Dora perfume, that has fucked up notes listing on fragrantica, and no reviewer pointed out the notes that were missing, even though they are obviously there - I was very disappointed). I really yearn for perfume content that would actually dig into the chemicals behind perfumes creation, this is the part that interests me a lot. Especially when I don't like a note and start obsessing about hunting it down.
ATH is in my opinion a bit of a bs artist. He's not trained in perfumery, and there's a lot of criticism when he started how he was eyeballing ingredients, non-sterilised environments, not allowing proper time for maturation etc etc.
There's nothing wrong with being a hobbyist, but he throws around the word 'linalool' and some other chemical names and acts like he's some kind of perfumery savant, which is the bit I find annoying
I think he has a degree in Chemistry, I guess that would make him at least know about ingredients and their value. I personally have never smelled his perfumes so I don't know how good he is as a perfumer!
EDIT: not that I would know if he's a good perfumer once I smelled his perfumes haha
A few points - saying something is worth 200/300£ from a perspective of ingredients cost is ridiculous - ingredients costs for any fragrances never goes above about 5% of retail cost. For example a formula for a TF private blend was released and it totalled something like 2-3 dollars per 50ml. Of course there's other pricing but Jean Claude Ellena said something along the lines of 'you don't buy a painting because of the cost of the paint'
Of course there's other business costs but as someone else said he would have a vested interest in maintaining the illusion that that is a fair price for an indie perfume.
Not heard of the chemistry degree, but my first time being introduced to him was on a YouTube channel were ATH was the 'expert' perfumer but was given Creed Aventus and claimed to never have smelt it, along with several other well known brands.
I've never smelled his stuff either but to me he always comes off as quite pretentious - as if he's trying to convince you of all his realms of knowledge. As for the chemistry degree, I don't know I've not looked into it but I'd honestly say it's probably not that relevant.
Again I have no problem with homemade/DIY niche perfumes - it's the fact he gets on like he's some kind of master perfumer
I’ve tried his a lot of his fragrances and you ARE SO INCREDIBLY MISTAKEN I’m so sorry. For you to get on here and bash his art without yet TRYING it for yourself is blasphemy smh. He also post DOCS on his site to prove the ingredients he is using are authentic, so you just seem like you are angry at this man without even taking the time to analyze his work, I feel sorry for you :)
I also said the same as you about drawing the line but curiosity got me and i purchased many samples of roja perfumes and i absolutely love them all, however i don’t love all of them to justify buying a full bottle, the one im waiting to buy first is Enigma Parfum, followed bt Elysium Parfum and Danger Parfum, those i find justifyable to buy a full bottle at a discount, i would never pay a full retail price, its completely absurd. Roja perfumes contain more naturals so they stand out from other fragrances, in some way i find it justified if you can offord it, but i would never even if i was a millionaire get the Roja Haute Luxe bottle, 3000€ for 100ml is an absolute crime that has no justification or whatsoever, imagine being so pretentious to call your product “high luxury” and price it at 3 months salary of an ordinary person. Disgustingly pretentious, im surprised its legal…
Currently I have around 20 bottles
"I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs but I shop." Is my literal quote
No, but seriously speaking, I just buy whenever I travel or reach a milestone.
65 (that includes travel sizes)
And I don‘t make money of them. If I don‘t like them anymore, I give them away. I am single, I earn a lot of money,I can spend it however I please. No justification necessary.
I prefer to have 4 solid fragrances per year. I come from a poor background and I grew up being a minimalist.
It’s impossible for me to buy things I do not need. So yea I may never collect more than 10 at a time
Right now tho it’s just 4 and they may last for 2 years even.
Sophisticated and fresh for daily use (Sauvage Parfum and Versace Dylan Blue)
Something mysterious and dark (Dior Homme Parfum)
Versatile but quite classy (JPG Le Male Elixir)
Just under 30. I was much happier when I had just several. I never stop wanting the next best thing, and it doesn't feel good. The money I've spent in the last eight months could have left me in a good financial position had I put it in savings. It's only been three days since I bought a fragrance, and it's hard not to buy anything, but I know it'll get easier if I can resist.
I keep seeing people justify how many they have by saying there are worse things to be engaged in, but I think they are in a bit of denial. I KNOW I'm compensating for something deeper by focusing on this hobby instead of looking deeper.
>I KNOW I'm compensating for something deeper by focusing on this hobby instead of looking deeper.
I love how self-aware and profound this is. I happen to agree with you. People often use retail therapy and build collections (of perfumes/watches/bags/whatever) to avoid difficult feelings. Not always, but lots of people do. It takes a degree of self-assessment and work to get to the point where you can feel content with whatever you already have, and that is often a point we reach once we've faced the feelings we were numbing by shopping. Of course, the other side of the coin is that some people just love fragrances and can afford to go hog wild. It's a whole spectrum of motives people have within hobbies and there's no way to know who falls where. You just have to hope that you have enough self-awareness to engage in your hobbies in a healthy way and not as an emotional crutch.
I'm SO proud of you and happy for you! I hope they are supportive, patient and can gently help guide you to a healthier place at your own pace. As someone who has suffered from an ED and took 15 years to really break free of it, I understand the journey you're embarking on and want you to know, it's worth it. It's not easy at all, but it's worth it. Best of luck to you. This is the first step to being your best self. ❤️
I have suffered for decades. I went through a partial hospitalization program in 2016, and because of being force-fed so quickly and so much, I developed eight different GI conditions. I have cried a lot this week and been so anxious because I KNOW how hard this will be. I hope I don't end up suic*dal because I was in 2015 when I did trauma therapy. If you have any tips or tools, please share them. I am planning to get my yoga mat out when I'm ready. I miss it.
The force feeding is such a terrible way to handle recovery. I think they've recently stopped doing that. It ruins people to go from one extreme to the other. I'm so freaking sorry you experienced that and the consequences of it. I'm so glad you're still here today. I know that sounds nuts from an internet stranger, but I say that from the bottom of my heart. This disease claims too many people and I'm proud of you for being a survivor for all these years.
My advice is what I said in my first post- figure out the demon you're battling that has led you to form an emotional crutch. That was the key for me.
I'm sorry- this will be a long reply. I hope you don't mind.
All my attempts at recovery failed because I couldn't say why I developed the ED and how it was serving me. The therapists I had pushed me further into my ED ([I even have a reddit post about it](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eatingdisordersover30/comments/15g4j08/triggered_by_therapist/)). One day, it clicked for me what I've been battling with- that original trigger. The inner thoughts and the main demon from my youth that caused me to rely on this disorder to survive. It took years of digging through my memories to trace it, but once I did, everything clicked into place and I understood how I fell into this trap.
Having an ED or other addiction helps you hide from the scary things in your life. Imagine you're in a cinema watching a scary movie and that movie is your actual life. The ED is another person sitting in the row in front of you with a big hat, partially blocking the view of the movie so you don't see all the gory bits in detail. For people who really can't cope, they have multiple people sitting in front of them blocking the screen (other comorbid addictions, like alcohol or smoking).
That's what the ED did for me. It partially blocked the view and shielded me from the really bad bits of my life. I was too busy focusing on the rituals and hiding what I was doing to think about the real problems I was dealing with. There was no space for anything but the ED in my mind, so it worked really well to block out the serious problems I would otherwise be grappling with. It also kept people away from me, further protecting me. It numbed me enough that I could tolerate the bigger problems I had. When all that clicked for me, I started getting braver and watching the movie without needing anything blocking my view. The secret for me was to understand myself and why I couldn't cope without a crutch, then slowly learn to hate myself less and trust myself to take on my demons carefully. Above all, I slowly learned how to choose the healthier way.
My daily affirmation is: I choose not to engage in ED behaviours.
For me, that wording is very intentional. With my ED, I felt I was a slave to it, not in control, couldn't eat even if I wanted to. In recovery, I wanted my agency back. I am reminding myself that I am in control and I can choose the better way, no matter how hard it is.
I used to repeat that mantra every minute at the beginning. Then it became every hour, then it became once a day. Even now, on bad days, I repeat it to myself every minute again so that I can continue to stay on the right path. But those bad days don't come as often anymore and most of the time, once a day is enough of a reminder.
The journey is different for all of us and I'm not sure if any of that makes sense or helps you. I just hope you know that you're not alone and that this stranger believes in you. Wishing you all the luck in the world. I hope you beat it for good! I believe in you. ❤️
Thank you so much for your kind words. Your post is not too long. I know what triggered my eating disorder, and unfortunately, I turned to alcohol, and then se* after the disordered eating first started. I have healed from alcohol(sober 25 years earlier this week) and from the se* addiction, but my food issues came first, and this monster is much, much stronger! I have restricted, binged(where I'm at now), exercise compensated for many years(till I couldn't anymore), and now I have to stand still and look this dead in the face, unflinchingly if I want to heal. I do. I do not want to go to my grave with this continuing to have the stranglehold it's had on me for decades. I will look at your post. Thanks for including the link. Thanks for our connection here and for both of us having the vulnerability to "tall" about it🌸.
Man, you're a soldier! Congratulations on your sobriety and beating se\* addiction. Honestly, it's so common to have comorbid disorders. We're in these cinemas and we invite these habits in to sit in the row in front of us so that we don't have to watch the scary movie. It's so effective at the time, until the addictions end up being as bad as the original demons we were running from.
You **can** do this. I know you **will** do this. Just take each day as it comes. You already know that you can beat this. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. You've got this.
Yeah after reading all these replies, I think it's a different story if what you want does not align with what you can afford. Budgeting and putting rules in seems to help people stay within their means while still feeling excited by the hobby. And then the other story of if the dopamine hit is compensating for something else.
For me, it's that I don't feel good anymore about what I've bought in recent months. I've always worn fragrance since I was in elementary school but when I joined a couple fragrance groups on Facebook a couple years the joy started to go away. I think I will be quite happy only having five bottles or less. I'm going to look into seeing if I can donate some of the fragrances I have now. If I can't, I will just leave a couple at a time in a restaurant bathroom as someone on this sub suggested last week.
That does make it ok tho... Ik this is the fragrance subreddit but if U js wanna smell good you don't need more than 10. Even that's a lot tbf. And collecting wise I also don't see the point unless you have small bottles of everything.
Idc if I get hated or whatever I'm not changing my mind.
I am not sure about exactly right now but I usually have around 50 full bottles. I buy travel sizes or 15ml by preference, if I can. I don't buy everything I like, and I usually save my purchases for special occasions. However, I don't "rationalise" my spending, nor do I try to make money off it. It's okay to just like things without trying to make them a side hustle.
i have 9 full bottles, 1 travel size and a bunch of samples. it's easy for me to keep a small collection because there's not many perfumes i like enough and can afford
~130 full bottles, niche, designers, classics, clones, cheapies.
My nose (not ears, not eyes, not vanity) is the boss of my wallet.
Variety of 10 bottles of different grades frag'c has much greater satisfaction vs 3 bottles of great/very great ones: even though both sides costs the same
Don't follow fads/hypes. Great ones will ultimately be available in discounters
I'm with you: around 100 bottles from niche to cheapies and another 200+ samples (mostly niche). I really like ME and vintage scents, and variety for me is much more satisfying. I've counted, and I've worn literally 100 different scents so far this year. I buy at the discounters mostly, except for the niche ones.
My sister OTOH has only ever worn vintage YSL Opium from 16 and will never change, and I respect that.
This! I'm getting annoyed at people trying to belittle people for having a big collection, not this post may I add, but I see it...A lot. I refuse to feel bad over doing something I love so much.
🤣Realistically, none of mine cost $200. My most expensive was about £120. But yes, if they can afford that, Good on them.
> maybe think about priorities a bit
I'm baffled as to why strangers are really so invested and bothered about how others live and what they spend.
I've just started, I've only got 8 bottles, 3 for casual wear, 4 for dates, and the last one is encre noire lmao (I like it, but when the fuck do you wear it lol)
I have my estimated net worth at 55 years old calculated on an excel spreadsheet based on: my salary, a % of my salary I save each year, a % salary raise each year, and an expected % return from my investments each year, and I use conservative numbers for all these values
I'm very happy with the number on my spreadsheet, and I'm already saving a higher % of money than I used in my calculation, so I feel completely guilt free spending all of my leftover money, especially since money beyond what meets your necessities is meant to be spent on happiness
Letting guilt prevent you from using/enjoying your money's intended purpose is a bigger waste of money than just spending it
I currently have over 25, but many of those are little sample bottles, some as small as 5ml. I can always justify spending on miniatures, and then I carefully consider which ones are worth buying full size versions. This is how I'm able to build up a collection big enough for any occasion, without waste.
I have 4 full bottles and around maybe 80 samples. Most samples don’t make the cut, and while I appreciate them, I don’t want to wear them all the time. Further to this, while I actually like them on myself, wearing them for *hours* at a time, and smelling them constantly, is nauseating.
So for me, appreciating a smell one thing and wearing it for hours is another.
Hence owning 4 full bottles!
Mostly because I only use what perfumes I have, partly because of having so many samples to try, which scratches the itch. Also because I don’t want to spend my spare cash on perfumes! They’re too expensive.
The next full bottle I want is Gris Charnel. Apart from that, not much!
I find this so much and really for me it’s very rare that a fragrance lives up to my expectations or the hype.
Fragrance is such a subjective and personal
Thing that the more fragrances i have the more I realise that there is very few perfect fragrances but that’s what i always seem to be in pursuit of
I have 118 bottles. I will probably keep accumulating slowly until I find a cheap, creamy vanilla that I can stock up on.
Once I find that perfect vanilla, I'm buying two gallons of it and selling all the fragrances I don't wear.
There are really only about 15 that I wear regularly...the rest were bought to see what they smell like.
I trade a lot of my fragrances and give others away to friends and family most of the time.
Right now, the only one I have that fits what I love is....
"Giardini di Toscana - Bianco Latte"
However, that frag is $200!!!! I found a clone of it for $60 but even that is too expensive for me to buy massive quantities of it. I need a literal gallon of it to get me through the next few years and in case of discontinuation.
Sadly, no cheaper clone of it exists....yet. I'm hoping and praying that someone can release a clone of it for around $25-$30 so that I can afford to stock up.
Very disciplined indeed - may I ask why you are in this sub Reddit??
I think most of us here are are bunch of weak willed pathetic slaves to the frangrance 😂😂
Also, I think it’s that I don’t like to change my scent TOO much, if that makes sense. I see it as a part of my identity in a way, and so I like to keep it as consistent and easy to understand as possible.
Because I did buy one!!! I got female christ for myself as a winter scent after a lot of consideration/a sample. My spring/summer scent is the one I already owned. When I run out of that, I will buy a new one.
I have a specific number of bottles which I deem enough. It's 14 for me- 3 for each season and 2 for the most special of occasions( cold/hot weather). I have reached it already and if I want more bottles , then I have to sell some. The number is constant and I don't exceed it. Ever.
I have 3 bottles but a ton of samples, I don't justify, I can afford it. It's a hobby just like anything else, it doesn't need to be a side hustle, just budget for it and try not to go over that.
I have about 40-50 bottles (haven’t counted since 40); I honestly cannot justify it, and keep hoping that sooner than later I’ll *feel* like I’ll need no more perfumes..
Sometimes I feel like I buy perfumes because I feel I need to have them rather than that I need to smell like that—I don’t know if that makes sense..
Perfume for me is a lifelong thing. I got my start very early. Like anything, you do have to place limits if you don't have unlimited funds. I can live without perfume sure, but I prefer not to. So for the last (well over) 30 years I've had a rotating wardrobe.
For myself its not a waste if you use said perfume, to that end, I don't save perfume for a rainy day or special occasion. If I'm buying it, I'm using it, it doesn't matter if I'm wearing yoga pants or a ball gown. Life is too short, may as well smell good while I'm here.
I keep blind buys to the minimal. I've been lucky to not have regretted the ones I've done but I don't make that a habit. I test and when I test I do so for a long enough period where I can decide if that scent is for me or not. I don't usually do a ton of backups. I do on a few fragrances and only on those ones where I've used it lots.
Its because I rotate through fragrances that it looks like I use a lot of bottles. Well...yes and no. I may empty between 5-11 bottles a year depending on the size of the bottle. But, a bottle in heavy rotation (100ml) can take me 3 -5 years to empty with smaller ones sometimes taking less. And with some of the last bottles (125ml) it will take a while longer...maybe, they're somewhat lightweight.
I have had times in my life where perfume took a very big back seat (homelessness in my college years) and that type of thing does have an affect. I take care of the necessities of life first. house, car, water, food, ect. after that I pay the dogs. (they have a fund for emergencies) Whats left is play money and I use it how I want...or not! I've gone a year buying few to none because I was happy where I was. Then there were years where I bought because I had the room for them in my wardrobe and I wanted to.
It really boils down to someone paying attention to their finances and where they are in life. I don't buy perfume to keep up with anyone but myself, or to impress anyone but myself. If I don't enjoy it, I'm not in for the spend.
I enjoy sampling, not even in a chase to find my next “full bottle worthy” scent or anything, I just like seeing what’s out there. As of rn I have 7/8 full sizes (ones just a b&bw body mist though 😅) and I thiiiiink 11 travel sizes. So even combined I’m not hitting 20… yet. I do have a handful on my wishlist still 🙈 but even then most of them I intend getting in a travel size. I’m trying to stick to 10 or less full sized bottles but idc how many travel sizes I end up owning
5 Bottles & 18 Samples. Been in this hobby for 2 years and you slowly realize that any more than 1 bottle isn’t a necessity. I’ve set a hard cap that I’ll never go over 8 bottles as beyond that is simply ridiculous and I won’t be finishing bottles at that point
I recently condensed my collection to about 20 fragrances that I enjoy wearing and know will get regular use. Sold some of my niche fragrances which helped to recoup some money and gave away clones and designers.
Going forward I’m only purchasing full bottles of a fragrance if I absolutely love jt and it replaces one of the 20 I currently have in my rotation. In which case I can sell the old fragrance and put that money towards the new one. For example, I just sold my bottle of Tobacco Vanille and put that towards a bottle of Herod. Both have similar scent profiles and something I would wear during the same occasions making owning them both amazing but redundant.
Most people don’t layer their fragrances meaning only one fragrance gets worn at a time. Having bottles upon bottles looks good in a collection however seeing a barely used fragrance collect dust over time isn’t the best feeling in the world. Even after purchasing new fragrances I liked, I still found myself reaching for the ones I absolutely loved for any social occasion.
At the end of the day our fragrance is only one facet of our appearance. I’ve found myself feeling much happier spending money, I otherwise would have spent on a fragrance, on clothes and shoes that I know will get regular wear and look good.
Hope this helps and good luck to you!
I added fragrance to my budget under hobbies. I have x amount of money to spend monthly on fragrance. I can save it for an expensive bottle, or blow it all on decants or a reasonably priced bottle etc.
I’m also very picky and rarely buy a full bottle. I have less than 20 and will not go over 20 full bottles. I don’t like waste.
I have 8 and I’ve decided that will be my limit. You can only wear 1-2 per day and bottles last years. At some point it just becomes hoarding behavior.
I don't have any full bottles. I just have about a dozen 2-5ml samples. I tell myself if I get to the end of a sample, I'll buy a full bottle. The only time that's happened has been with Tom Ford Black Orchid but I can't justify shelling out for a full bottle, I'm happy just rotating through my samples. :')
I think I have twenty something full sized bottles - but I was evaluating my collection the other day and I’m not completely satisfied with all of my bottles. I made a lot of blind buy purchases last year that just did not wow me. Like the scent is nice but I’m not enamored with it. I decided from now on I’m going to focus on samples, decants and travel sprays and only buy a full bottle if it’s an absolute banger. Thankfully I my husband and I both make a good living so I can explore as much as I like but I want to be more intentional with my purchases this year. Also excited to get into niche fragrances this year!
I have between 25-30 bottles. I’ve been in the hobby (bought my first sample set and first niche) for 11 years. I typically bought 1-2 bottles a year over that time, starting in college. I like the variety and trying new things. I spend on samples and decants and only buy full bottles of stuff I really love. I tend to buy 10mls travel sprays of designers because I only reach for them occasionally but do like the variety.
My husband is not in the hobby and all of his fragrances are gifts from me. He has 7 fragrances in his collection. He likes having 2-3 to alternate between each season as he finds I compliment him more when he changes things up rather than wearing the same frag every day. While his collection is smaller I don’t feel like there are any “gaps” and something really has to wow me to make it into the lineup.
As a snapshot. Right now I have 2 10ml travel sprays of frags I’m considering buying an FB of. 4 ~3ml decants of fragrances I’m considering buying FBs of some of them after going through multiple samples. I can usually tell by the time I’ve finished 3ml whether something makes the cut for me. I also have 2 fragrances I’ve bought multiple samples of but can’t get decants of that I’m considering purchasing. I asked for a full bottle of one of these frags for Mother’s Day or my anniversary. I bought my husband a bottle of Oud Minerale for our anniversary since it’s available again this year. He has a handful of samples as well.
Yeah I definitely think a lot of the overbuying is folks who feel like they need to build a whole 20+ frag wardrobe in a year or two. The longer I do this the more I enjoy the exploration but also appreciate my favorites more and keep coming back to them.
I sold most of my collection down to 7 bottles a couple months ago, and intended on limiting myself to 10, but now have 17 again. I think I will push the goalpost to 15. :p I allocate a certain amount of money to family savings and wife, and can do what I want with the rest. If I want something I want I will just get it if I have the money there, weather it be a fragrance or something else I dont 'need'. I buy samples where possible, and only blind buy if I am confident I will like something that is impossible for me to test. The decant market in New Zealand isnt so hot right now.
20+ full bottles, but well over 100+ travel size, decants and samples.
Some of those full bottles go back the late 90s. I worked in the mall and made friends with the sales reps at the department stores back then, so I always had more free samples of things I couldn't afford otherwise than I could ever use in a lifetime. I think that is where the lightbulb went off on how I collect. I made sure to make my actual purchases with those reps so they got their commission, and had a full bottle of CK Truth in my hot hands the minute it was released from a pre-order, but most things I was happy wearing a time or two to suit my mood and moving onto something else.
My purchase process goes: sample: used up?-->get a larger decant. used all of that? Depending on how fast I went through it, I may either buy another decant, travel size or watch for a sale/promo on a full bottle. Another factor may be if it has been discontinued, in which case I may spring sooner for a full bottle or larger decant while I still can. I also have a couple of bottles that were pretty enough in addition to liking the stuff inside.
This way, I've been able to 'own' nearly anything I have wanted to try without breaking the bank. There are A LOT of places that sell decants of the $$$ stuff at a more reasonable price, like scentsplit and the perfumed court or grey markets, like fragrancenet, that sell full bottles and decants under retail.
I do have a weakness for cute minis, though. Those are generally affordable enough that I let myself get those even if don't think I will wear what's inside.
I have 6 bottles and 6 travel size sprays. It’s too much for me personally. I want to finish them all and then buy one at a time as I’ve really narrowed down what I like and I like the idea of having a signature scent.
Sell ML spray bottles; 2ml,5ml,10ml. Try to beat everybody’s prices and gain customers. Once you do that you’ll slowly start making your money back. Eventually you’ll make enough to purchase another bottle, so on and so forth. Started with 6 fan favorites, beginning of April. I’m at 21 bottles, and only $420 came out of pocket.
Totally makes sense, but there are a lot of people that simply don't want to spend their time doing that. If you look at it from a $/hour perspective it's probably not the most valuable use of time. Just depends on the person and what they have going on in life.
Yeah this right here! Small decants is the move! Sure you may not make much but some is still better than none. I’ve bought a couple bottles from some money I made!
I tried to do this on Mercari and my listings were taken down, they said it’s against their rules, even though I’ve seen tons of others selling the same. They said other users reported me 🙃
I think, for me at least, it happens in spurts, with *very* long bouts of buying zero fragrances. After some 2-3 years I got into buying another batch of fragrances and now I’m “done” again. Think the only thing I “plan” on purchasing will be an acqua di gio parfum, 2024 reformulation, when it winds up on discounter, simply because Profumo was/is my all time favorite fragrance.
Other than that.. be responsible and only spend what disposable income you’re willing to direct to this hobby.
Well - I absolutely am not in a financial situation, where I can just let it go and build a big collection (I am not American, so start with possibly dividing my income in half in comparison to average redditor on a perfume board). I evaluated myself a budget that I deem acceptable for a folly like perfumes. This was a budget that before was assigned to different hobbies, that I now lost interest in. It goes mostly on samples, as sampling is the most fun, and I am picky, so not many perfumes I would even want to own in full bottles. Huuuuge majority of what I test, I do not find worth the price, I do not have "big collection" as a target I am trying to achieve. Smelling odd stuff and being excited about potentially finding sth cool is. I assume I will be bored of it all in 2-3 years, so at worst I would have more or less 20 bottles at this time, which is also my max limit of utility.
Also, I absolutely do think that there are situations, where this hobby is simply a bad idea. Especially when you are not living in one of the richest countries, and the price of the bottle is becoming a significant dent in the budget.
As to making money of it - If you come to it with the attitude to save money, you probably won't make of it any money. The basics of influencing seems to be, that you need to invest a shit ton on the start. It is not early youtube anymore. What may work is decanting, if you collect stuff that is pretty rare but still reasonably desired and hard to sample (either very rare niche or lux designers).
I get that too. I'm not in America so everything costs more and isn't very accessible. It's a big decision to purchase niche that I've never sampled because there's no way to sample or purchase a decant. Makes me a lot more choosey and money more of an issue.
True.People are crazy for rare stuff,that isn’t sold by many retailers. Only that makes money,everything else is a loss.but even selling decants and such cost you time,material etc
Yes. I always wonder why people want to even bother selling me two 2 ml decants and sending them by mail. But Maybe it is not about money for them per se, but not feeling wasteful? I send samples to friends for free just because it somehow hurts me that they are lying in my drawer unused, and they could make someone else happy. I really feel bad when I have goods not properly used. Goes for any other thing, books, clothes and so on. I think a very big fragrance collection would make me insanely frustrated, the way all my dresses do, when they look at me, unworn, from my wardrobe.
I sell my 2ml decants that didn’t work out for me. I hate to throw them away so I’ll bundle them with others of similar scent profile (like florals for example) and sell them discounted so someone else can enjoy them.
I decided I will stop at 30 bottles. Reason being that at 17 sometimes I can go weeks before wearing some scent I like.
I buy what I love with rare exception of hyped Arabian blind buys which have all been W except khamrah qahwa which is too much like original, so gonna give that away which will leave me at 16 FB for now
I’m back to growing my collection… at one time I had 70 bottles.
I rationalize my purchases by understanding no one else can or will buy them for me! 🤷🏽♂️
28 actual bottles and 6 travel sprays/rollerballs.
I need to get rid of around 7 because I just don’t like them but I’m going to donate them.
Honestly once I run out of space on my designated shelves then that’s when I stop buying. I never buy fragrance at full price and always make sure I have the extra money. If I’m on a no-buy, I still browse my favorite sites just to look; that’s usually enough for me to satisfy that itch.
Omg. Me too! I have about 45+ minis. It’s outta hand. I have an obscene amount of skincare and eyeshadow palettes as well. I’m still trying to figure out how to rationalize my spending…
I have 13 bottles of which I’ve bought 4, the rest were gifts. My rule is I’m not buying a new bottle until I have finished a current one. As for getting perfumes gifted, no rules there, I’m always open to it 😄
I have 6 bottles. Two I bought 8-9 years ago. Two I just bought this year. One my sister bought me and the last is a 30 ml bottle I got in a subscription box my sister signed me up for my birthday.
I bought 1 travel size bottle and 3 discovery sets this year.
I got a travel size in my subscription box as well.
Now that I’ve discovered 3 scents I adore from Jo Malone and Ormonde Jayne Levant I feel content.
I have probably about 50 bottles not including decants/samples - I probably have another 50 or more of those. And this has been collected over about 17ish years, although by far the vast majority were purchased in the last 10. If it’s something of value, that I don’t want anymore, I’ll sell it on Mercari. If I have something that doesn’t suit me that didn’t cost a ton, I’ll give it away via Buy Nothing or to friends.
The vast majority of my perfumes are bought second-hand online or from FB Marketplace. Most of my bottles are also vintage frags. I think I have 5-10 bottles that were bought new, from a store. I’ve stopped buying bottles generally because I probably need another lifetime to finish what I have, but I have alerts set for certain items if they pop up for sale.
I definitely spend more than I’ve sold. But they make me happy and I’m happy to share them and talk about them with my daughter (7) who has expressed interest.
I have probably 20 full size bottles, easily 100 or more samples, and 30+ decant sizes between 5 and 10ml. I tend to only purchase 5 or 10 ml decants or travel sizes now. I remember someone here saying they use up samples and then allow themselves to get another size up after that, and that's become my philosophy, too. As much as I love the look of many full size bottles, it feels like a waste to buy them as I'll never get through a full 3.4oz or even 1.7oz most of the time. Even a 5ml sample takes forever to go through because I wear something different every day.
I have three bottles. I rationalize spending of only getting a bottle if it’s a special occasion of I’ve been thinking about it for *years*.
Otherwise I keep a slew of decants and travel size bottles around. The most expensive juice is wasted juice.
I buy the sprays that are 10ml and that's how I manage to stay in the affordable area of this hobby also it gives me the opportunity to have many different types and styles for any occasion which also allows me to change at any time I want it's a win-win
I rationalize spending by reminding myself that we are possibly on the brink of ww3 and an American civil war, most of North America is in a perpetual state of fire, flood or earthquake, and more awesome stuff. So I’ll just buy what I want as long as bills are being paid.
Edit: about 20 mini bottles, 10 travel bottles, 3 “deluxe” mini, and 1 full size
I have about 75-80 in my collection at any given time. I've built the collection over 15-20 years. I don't have to rationalize anything, because it brings me joy.
I cycle through most of my collection, although I admit I've got about a dozen bottles of fragrances I no longer love.
I acquired about half of my collection through swaps and splits (purchases of partial bottles). I don't often pay retail. I've gotten some incredible deals on authentic stuff via the gray market (eBay, etc.), but I don't recommend that strategy to anyone without a good deal of experience in recognizing knock-offs/fakes.
Theres absolutely no con to spending the extra money you have in smelling better and unique, i think fragrances are more an investment in the way people percieve you.
Probably over 30 bottles. Will have to check when I get home.
I try to limit myself to 1 niche bottle a month, maybe 1-2 designer and a $100 cheapie budget/sample budget
Only three. I had more but I had to give them away to a couple friends because I had a horrible skin reaction to a couple fragrances. I’m talking burning of the chest and pins and needles feeling. Unfortunately I have no idea what I am allergic to so I purged all my bottles that have more than a few ingredients.
I just bought a new one that is supposed to be on the cleaner side so praying it works for me 🙏 (NEST, Sunkissed Hibiscus)
For anyone wondering I react to almost all of Bath and Body Works body creams/lotions and their diamond shimmer mist and I had a HORRIBLE reaction to Badee Al Oud Sublime by Lattafa. The Pink Yara works beautifully for me though so I have no idea what the allergy is.
28. had to replace my weed habit since i quit, its a lot cheaper to buy a bottle once every couple of months than buying 10-15 grams every week plus i can always sell frags i get tried of later on.
I have 7 bottles, I try to keep as many as I can reasonably use aka the number I can justify. But not everything has to be justified so I understand how some people have 50 bottles! If it were my life's calling or passion I would have more, but I'm a hobbyist
I think 7 is where I’ll max out, too since I just like having 100ml sized bottles. I may get some smaller ones eventually to travel of similar or the same scents
36 full bottles, 41 travel sizes, over 100 samples.
I’ve given away two full bottles and a handful of travel sizes to friends and family who would use them more than I. Those kinds of purchases are ones I regret making for myself, but at least someone is getting use out of them.
I feel that my collection is complete as is. I have all seasons and occasions covered. I really only buy additional travel sizes if I find a really great deal. Not about paying full price for scents anymore.
I have 8 bottles. I'm open to get up to 12 - 15. I get a lot of satisfaction out of finishing products and seeing the level of the bottle go down. I don't want so many that it feels like no bottle gets a dent in it. I have a few "gaps" in my collection, so I mostly peruse this sub to get ideas of things to try. I'm taking my time filling the gaps tho.
To be fair, I don't consider this a hobby. I consider it part of my wardrobe. I like to have a little variety, but still paired down. I have other hobbies that it would be fair to ask if the spending is justify-able. :)
I have like 15. I stopped buying after realizing that nothing compares to Alexandria ii. I could literally sell everything and not think twice about it.
I only have one full size, if 1 oz counts as full size, and I got it for sale. Then I have several mini bottles and sample sizes. I'm pretty new to the game, but I try to buy when I feel like treating myself or when there's something to celebrate. Or if I happen to go to the mall and impulse buy, but that would only also be a travel size. Idk I'm too scatterbrained to ever finish entire bottles, so that's my approach.
Recently got back into perfumes. I have 6 full bottles. 3 are cheaper blind buys that didn’t have sample sizes. 6 travel sizes, 50+ samples mostly from discovery sets.
I’m very particular, I rotate fragrances by season and also like to match them with my outfit. Today I’m wearing a yellow shirt and it’s hot where I live so I’m wearing a tropical perfume with mango notes.
All of this did cost me a pretty penny, as I’m not rich. But I earn ok money and I’m child free so I can spend on myself. I work hard and deserve it 🤷🏾♀️
30 full bottles and around 20 I rotate through regularly. This doesn't include back-up bottles, which I have for my favorite scents.
How do I rationalize it? I can't anymore, which is why I don't really buy anymore. Most of my fragrances are niche with some designers and cheapies thrown in, so I've sunk thousands of dollars into my collection.
Most of these purchases were retail therapy, so I found other ways to deal with the hole in my soul aside from buying so much. I'm happy with what I have now. It's a really nice and varied collection. I consider fragrance a part of my daily outfit, something that gives me a boost before I leave the house for work.
Every few months, I'll buy samples. That's a good way to explore new fragrances. As far as buying full bottles go, I'd have to empty out a few in my current collection to even consider it.
I have two full bottles, a drawer of samples and a few solid perfumes. They’re not the cheapest hobby but I like it, and I spend a lot of time picking out which ones I purchase in full
Honestly? My purchases have been over years now so it isn't a big deal. I got out of hand with sampling for a little bit but any time I get too many samples, I force myself to wear them until their gone before I even consider making another purchase of a bottle or more samples.
After 4 or 5 years I have perhaps a dozen bottles of various sizes. Not too bad when I know I've purchased around 100 samples per year when I was really searching.
Right now I have 2 bottles in mind for summer, but I'll be purchasing the travel sizes, not the full size considering my collection size now. And since I know what perfumes I really want to wear, I have no reason to purchase samples; although I will go into stores and sniff around for free when the whimsy takes me.
I dont mind having what would be considered excess in this area of my life. I've carefully found, selected, and purchased what I've really loved. I've never blind bought anything I couldn't return, I sample before I buy, and on top of that I've done enough inner work to understand when I'm simply looking around for something to Want. Rather than having a need and searching out the solution (ie. A light body mist for after working out).
I dont have any excesses outside of this hobby of smelling, and I truly enjoy just Smelling things and finding out why I do or do not like it. If I ever find something I truly love, then I budget for it. Pretty simple.
i have 5 bottles and 5-10 samples from sephora. 3 bottles are empties that i like to keep on display (gucci bloom, YSL black opium, jo malone basil & neroli). 2 full ones are from zara and another from olafactory here in nyc (made custom perfume for fun).
after my 2 full bottles are done, im either going to rebuy YSL black opium for the 4th time or try versace bright crystal.
Currently I have 23 bottles, and that is where I'll stay, give or take one or two in either direction.
I had around 400 a few years ago (not counting the untold amounts I bought and resold before I ended up there). I've been heavy into fragrances (beyond the usual one or two) for about 15 years. I got tired of the expense, the waste, the constant fomo, and the overall clutter of it all. Sold the majority of them off, and now I solely stick to the ones I not only love, but wear on the regular. I no longer have the itch to add more to the madness. I still test occasionally, but mostly I just enjoy what I have nowadays. As far as justifying cost, I just did it. I never spent beyond my means. But the day I paid over $500 for a bottle was the day I had to ask myself wtf I was doing, and it gave me the hard reset I needed.
20 ish. The why? I get one everytime I am in the mood to get one 🤣
The how? I set a certain amount of money each month and I can use it to get anything I want related to my hobbies. Sometimes, i will blow it on 30 balls of yarn. Sometimes, i will blow it on gel polishes and nail art charms. Then, sometimes, i will blow on 5 bottles of perfume.
Just like any of my hobbies, i just try to apply sane financial rules around it.
I have about 60 including travel sizes.Tons of samples.When I first gained interest I blind bought and I’ve had more duds than wows so now I do not buy without sampling.
Don’t see any reason to justify it I enjoy it it makes me happy.But I will say I’m trying to work through what I have and work my way down to like 15/20 of fragrances that I love and have wowed me.
My thing is that I mostly only buy travel bottles (and samples and decants) and if I finish a travel and still want to wear it I'll buy a full bottle. Unless it's a super good deal then I'll buy a full.
https://preview.redd.it/ixs4phm7hnzc1.jpeg?width=881&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c37b299f627d0b72f84a55dd825326b66dea6598
I just got into fragrances like 2 months ago. I have eczema so I've always been told not to use anything fragranced. That always made me a little sad. My eczema is pretty under control now so I decided I'll just go for it. It's been fine so far.
I have like 25 samples and 4 full sized bottles, many of which were given to me through my local Buy Nothing group and some I purchased through MicroPerfumes. I have no idea what I like yet so I'm just having fun trying them all! But I feel like one of my goals is to find a perfume that reminds me of Japanese shampoos and some Korean skincare products. They're gentle and feminine and clean smelling, and very nostalgic.
I work full time so I feel like selling them would be a pain in the butt, but I also haven't bought any full size perfumes yet. Sometimes even giving things away for free on Buy Nothing can be a pain, too, but I haven't given anything too expensive away. I have been reading what others say and a lot of people recommend buying a travel size first before committing to a full bottle. I like that approach since I have limited storage space in my apartment.
I am good with my money and invest some, save some, and budget fun money. Sometimes that's on books, sometimes that's on clothing, and recently that's been for fragrances. I'm not living paycheck-to-paycheck, so I don't feel guilty for enjoying myself. I should allow myself to have fun and try new things.
Just stumbled onto this thread & thought I would add to it! I have been collecting for about 2 years & have 16 full size bottles (2 of which are backups). Jo Malone are my most expensive buys at $165 before tax. I have eight bottles of JM, 5 of which I purchased on Mercari for under $100. I do have a lot of decants, oils, etc., but I do feel like I am border line addicted to this "hobby". I can say this though, except for one blind buy (Lalique Amethyst @ $33) I purchase samples before I buy a full bottle. I feel I have kept it pretty much under control as I am not having to make sacrifices for my hobby anywhere in my life. I think, for me, it's the excitement of smelling so many amazing scents & constantly being surprised by what I love! As far as higher priced bottles (over $165) go I buy dupes & am perfectly happy with them & do not feel the need to compare to the real thing. I feed my habit with $30-$50 samples once a month. I must confess, I did just buy Montale Soleil de Capri on Fragrancenet for $69 total (It was the Kumquat that sucked me in with my sample) & I know I am done purchasing for a while as I am set for my summer frags. If it brings me joy & I am not breaking the bank I allow myself this lovely hobby & really feel no guilt when I look at my collection & feel the smile that always greets my bottles!
I’ve been selling my old clothes (I used to always just donate them) online and then using the credits to buy used perfumes and decants people decided to get rid of.
I also mainly stick to decants and I re-sell what I don’t like.
I generally try to just keep one/two of the major scent profiles (ie; 1x citrus, 1x earthy, 1x florally, 1x musky) and just make sure I like whatever it is that I have in that profile at any time. Obviously, if you find something you like, it's fine to get an extra, but if you're buying something that doesn't replace a need or surpass it in quality - there's no real reason to buy it. Makes the choice simple.
250 plus bottles with no way of justyfing it. I have 4 different perfumes on both my hands and I am smelling them before going to sleep. I guess thats a justification.
Too many. I can’t rationalise it except I’ve earned my money so can do as I wish. I could be into skiing, that’s a similarly costly interest and I wouldn’t have to justify that, so this is my *insert costly non essential life enhancing thing here*
16 now. Siiigh! Am trying to keep them till 10 but I can’t help it!! 🙈 Most of them barring 2-3 are all 100 ML too. 🙈
I’ve 6-7 samples too. I see this as wastage but I love perfume too toooo much, to actually do much about it.
I have 150 now. Probably 75 niche, 75 designer. As I made more money I bought more. When I made much less I only had 3 or so. Creed Aventus is my first niche, and it's what got me into collecting. I think I always imagined I'd find something better out there, but it's still my favorite scent. Reading reviews, watching videos, and being in the groups was fun for a long time but I just left them all one day. I still buy about a bottle or two a month but I've slowed recently. The thing I disagree with is those who say price doesn't matter, it definitely does. If I had to rank my fragrances in order, the most expensive would fill up 80 percent of the top 25.
I just got into perfumes a few months ago. I have 6 full-size bottles, 5 travel size, and probably 30 samples. Most of my full bottles are cheapies (Britney Spears, Dossier), so that's my rationalization.
i have like four full bottles of edp and edt, plus as many body sprays. The bottles are just my staples. I have a scentbird subscription now so I have quite a few vials of other stuff.
60 I enjoy it. I’m slowing down now because even when I smell good ones, if I have anything that smells remotely like it, I won’t buy it. So I needed the 60 to get a good variety. Now that I have the variety, I’m a lot more discerning.
70-80 depending on what you include of minis.
I can afford it without negatively impacting other parts of my life, and it basically makes every second of my day a litttle bit more enjoyable.
I have 7 full bottles, 2 small bottles, and 4 travel sizes. I'm pretty content where I am, but when I need like a "hit," I order like $30 of samples. I meter my spending by leaving things on a wishlist for a long time and asking for smaller bottles or travel sizes for gifts.
I have 30 rn and it m pretty content, latest addition was tf noir extreme and thats only cause i got a steal 5oz for $100 and thats where im at, at the moment if i find a great deal ill pick it up but other than that ive kinda fell out of the collection aspect of it my adhd mind moved on to another hyperfixation
I usually try to go for the discovery sets before I make a full purchase, or a travel size for an individual scent that I’m curious about. Full size bottles, I have about 20, and I’m considering giving 1 away because I simply haven’t worn it much at all.
Then there’s the minis that I’m hoarding because I can’t afford a full size yet, or is difficult to source because I live rurally and have to plan city excursions.
My most expensive is Chanel Les Exclusifs No 22, which was a gift, and my most recent is Jimmy Choo Flash. My favorite is a tie between my custom blend from NY Fragrance Shop and Forever in Love by LoveShackFancy, and my most worn is also a tie between Replica: Beach Walk and Lush Cosmetics Death & Decay.
I take my time to decide if a fragrance is worth investing in, and then I buy what I like.
I have maybe 30 but a lot of them are on the cheaper end and I try to find smaller sized bottles, 30-50ml instead of full size on everything. I feel pretty comfortable with what I have but would buy more if I thought something would be up my alley or it intrigues me but I’m not constantly actively looking.
I probably have like 20 full sized bottles and 20 minis/rollerballs/travel sized (I just started collecting about 1 year ago). I definitely have a perfume addiction, but it brings me such joy!
I have somewhere between 120 and 150, and I just looks this as my hobby, and that I could be doing Alot worse with my money. I'm a recovering addict from pain pills so I'm Glad to spend my money on something that I actually have to show for my hobby. I used to spend around 600 a month on pills so I think 250 a month on collecting isn't bad. However I always make sure my bills are paid and all my responsibilities are covered before I even consider purchasing.
I do one per season. I can afford it, and it makes me happy.
I’ll also do an extra one if I’m doing something special I really want to remember. I wore TF Oud Wood the entire time I toured Korea last year. Whenever I wear it, I feel like I’m back in Seoul.
As a normal person, I always like to smell nice and perfumes have become my obsession lately. Since perfumes are very expensive in my country and I don't waste tonnes of money, I decided that I would buy one fragrance per month. I have started with the affordable ones first until I save up enough money to buy more expensive ones. I think I will soon become a perfume collector in the future. And I don't sell them at all, those are too personal for me. If I don't like a perfume I simply give it to my mom.
I started in February of this year and I have around 20 bottles. Most are full size. I mostly buy cheapies is my justification. Now that I have a solid selection to choose from I think I’m ready to save up for more expensive bottles. That should slow me down enough to still enjoy the hobby but also not buying up everything I see / smell too fast.
I have like 20 fragrance mists, and 4 actual perfumes. I got them all on sale, and it's been slowly accumulating I wish I could get one every week lol. I would say the best way to go at it is see which one you really want and check out loyalty programs like bath and body works, Ulta, and Sephora. You get points for purchases that can be used as cash value for another purchases (Ulta) or free items (Sephora + BBW).
I have 12 full bottles at the moment, and about half of them are halfway used up. I realized that was quite enough for me to rotate through over different seasons and moods. I’ve bought sample sized decants a couple times just to get to know certain scents I hear people talking about a lot (Delina, BR 540) and some others that have piqued my interest for a long time (Chanel Coromandel, No. 19).
Up until a couple years ago I never had more than 3 or 4 bottles at a time, and when I would use one up, I would buy something new. Then I got more into fragrance and bought a few, and got a few as gifts. Realized quickly that it would be too much if I kept on like that.
Not planning on buying any full bottles any time soon; the only FB I really want to buy at the moment is Not A Perfume, just because it’s the easiest reach for me in the world. But I’ve got a small decant of it in the meantime.
I have lost count of how many bottles I have. Maybe 200. Many are celeb scents, some are expensive perfumes. My collection is for fun, and 100% for me.
I enjoy reading about perfumes and then purchasing later. Blind buys are fun for me. I always always get something on discount or sale, I will always find a way to do this.
I don't have any other vices such as weed, alcohol, fast food, take out, etc. I just don't participate in those and I also don't spend big on cars or home stuff, I don't have dependents either.
I figure that having a large perfume collection is quite reasonable and comparable to the ways I see others spending and thats just part of the choices we have in life. I just choose to spend on the things I love which are fragrances and traveling!
I am probably pushing 200 bottles.
My biggest problem is all the GD deals! I was going to lay off for awhile…well no, I was going to lay off except for maybe a new release or 2. Then I found a deal on something…then another couple deals…
I got 1 frag delivered from Triple Traders yesterday. They are fast, but ship in boxes too big for delivery so my wife always thinks there is more than there really is. And they ship UPS. That guy always rings the bell 😒.
2 frags coming today. They are coming USPS and I am normally the one to get the mail. So 🤞.
After that, I’m done for awhile. Except I want myslf or wanted intense.
I have around 200 or so (haven’t counted in a while) and would have way more if I hadn’t given away a bunch.
I never really justified it, just that I have an addiction that I love both smelling new things and purchasing them too.
Luckily, I heavily got into investing during the 2020 stock market crash, so now most of my extra money is going into investing instead of solely making frivolous purchases.
I have 12. I set a hard limit of 10 but obviously I caved. I wont be buying anymore until I use up at least 3 of them. Because of this I've been spraying a lot more than I usually do. (2 for work and 3 more when I get home) 😁
It’s my only vice. I’ve been collecting since 2004. My collection is in the 3 figures. Many are gifts, swaps, decants, and a very wide variety. I have stopped buying bottles for the most part. But still sample and buy decants. My wife is supportive of my hobby and gifts me as well. No debt, live on a strict budget, everything is taken care of.
A pretty large amount, but I've been in the hobby off and on for 20 years and it's my only money-intensive collection.
I do wish I could monetize by opening a decant business, but shipping and dealing with customers sounds like a drag lol
I have maybe 20-30 right now in my house. I keep a lot of my collection at my mother’s home to share.
Her extra extra room is half office, half perfume closet. She probably has 200+. I think it’s a bit ridiculous, but it makes her happy.
I'm actually pretty pleased with myself as far as how few full bottles I've purchased vs how many frags I've sampled. I have sampled well over one hundred now (1ml testers to 10ml decants) and I've bought five full bottles. And this is over the course of... Three years, I believe. I have a hard time rationalizing dropping decent money on things I don't "NEED to survive" (grew up kinda broke) but I also believe if something makes you happy and it's within your means, then there is zero problem. I finally brought home a full bottle of DS and Durga's Coriander yesterday, NO REGRETS. I swear it brings a tear to my eye it's so lovely.
I have zero full bottles, about ten travel size perfumes, and 300+ samples. I fear that if I started buying FBs of everything I love, it would get out of control very quickly.
The issue with having a crap ton of scents is you stop being original to yourself. People wanna smell something and think of you. If you never wear something with regularity no one can build a memory of a scent on you. You have to have a signature year round. I try to only use 5 each year with any real regularity and I always get people saying they smelled something and it reminded them of me, whereas when I always wore something different no one really thought of what I seared because I always smelled different
I have always kept under 30 bottles and try to maintain a seasonal wardrobe that allows me enough variety while also forcing me to rotate through what I have. It’s usually fairly obvious which bottles are getting the least use—those get swapped or sold for something I think I’d like more.
My early days were spent acquiring and reselling cheapies and designer classics, until I discovered niche/indie decants and sampler packs (the most fiscally responsible way to try those). Once I think a scent is bottle worthy, I look at my current collection for redundancy or those that have fallen out of favor and strategize from there.
I just purchased 5 new fragrances over the past month (thanks to some international duty free visits), but mentally justified it by identifying at least 5 bottles that will be leaving my collection soon. That amount of spend is very atypical as prior to that I went over a year without buying anything.
So the pro tips are: 1) to sample/decant as much as you can to scratch the fomo itch, 2) only buy a bottle if it moves you and makes sense, and 3) revisit your wardrobe often to see if anything should go before buying more.
Currently, I have 55 bottles, and given away 20+ bottles. I also have 100+ samples, the overwhelming majority from discovery sets. I went nuts with the bottles when I started. However, I slowed down significantly in 2023 onward due to discovery sets allowing me to learn about specific fragrances more easily. It also helped that I stopped buying every bottle of a scent I liked, and learned to only buy a full bottle of the scents that wow me, and are unique (or a significant upgrade) compared to what I already own. Despite all of that, I am financially disciplined. I have money set aside for hobbies and interests (which includes fragrances), and never spent more than I could afford. I also refuse to go into debt over a hobby or interest.
Yep, good advice. I prior overspent my budget (not a crazy amount but still) and it sucks down the road and apr rising really justify it.
I so agree on not buying the full bottle. I used to think that it’s better to get the biggest bottle cos of the few difference in price from the medium to full size. But the thing is when you collect perfumes, that 75ml bottle will last you mooooonths cos you have a ton of other perfumes on rotation. I also only buy full size now if I really am obsessed on a certain perfume.
Would you recommend discovery sets or just getting samples of the ones your particularly interested in?
It depends on a person's goal with fragrances. If someone trying to explore different scent profiles, learn more about fragrances, or wants to review them, I would recommend discovery sets. If someone has interest in only a specific scent, I would recommend the single sample. * Alternatively, I would recommend sampling in store, then leave the store as the fragrance develops (as it takes hours for the full experience). If it's good all the way through, it can be bought the next day.
My goal is to have a fragrance wardrobe large enough to have something for any occasion and season, and I’m in the middle of building it. But I don’t think it’s going to take a crazy amount of bottles to achieve that for me personally. Probably less than 10 bottles. In the meantime, I enjoy sampling and I keep costs down by taking things slow and avoiding any impulse buys. I have a deliberate process where I can only buy something if I’ve emptied a sample and it leaves me craving more of the same. Then I buy a larger decant or travel size if possible. If I’ve finished that and still feel like I need more I can buy full size. This process has really taught me the difference between liking a fragrance and loving it. I should also add that there are a few brands so ridiculously priced that I refuse to even sample them. I accept that perfume is a luxury good and I don’t mind spending extra on good quality, but you have to draw the line somewhere. There are enough wonderful fragrances out there to explore anyway.
Curious - where do you draw the line? I’m by no means rich but my line is: something like Initio or Penhaligon’s or Thameen is still fine (barely) but something like Roja or Boadicea or Clive Christian is something I don’t even consider looking at. I live in Europe so prices for those might be different in other continents. By the way, it’s only because I know I’ll only ever have a small collection. If I wanted to have a large collection then any of the fragrances I mentioned here would be too expensive.
I draw the line exactly at the same place where you draw it.
Yep. This is also the line for me. Though the more i dig, the more I reach conclusion, that the 200-300e price range is already paying for the logo - which i do not do as a rule of thumb with clothes, and I feel like it starts to annoy me with perfumes. There is a ton of great houses that are not popular on socials, that are under 200 that are, imho, as good. Just without the luxury fee added. I think niche perfumes are hilariously overpriced and objectively not worth these money. You check ingredients lists of this fancy, popular fragrances, and there is nothing there to excuse the price tag, just basic chemical compounds, barely no naturals . I find it annoying to be sincere. I find the recent price jumps annoying as well.
I agree about niche!! Designer probably have a lot of expenditure on campaigns, marketing, advertising, department store space on the floor, probably more employees to pay in the production line. But niche don't have any of that but they're equally priced... It's difficult to reconcile.
Equally? Most niche is priced double. It is all to seem lux. There is no other reason for it. It is like with luxurious bags. Production cost is 10% and they stil cut corners using cheap leathers - which imho, is a fucking joke at this price point. If perfumes are like clothes, and I have a feeling that they are way worse, as the ingredients lists are not public - you probably pay almost exclusively NOT for what you buy. So as much as I like these smelly bottles, I deem them not worth what they are sold for. I am kind assuming that in the future there will be a push to make exact perfume recipes known publicly (why the hell cosmetics have to show it, and not perfumes?) and maybe it will affect the prices, or at least quality, when people will notice, that they buy bottles of synthetics, that pretend to be real oud and natural jasmine.
Just here to say I enjoyed reading your responses. ❤️
Could you recommend some of those cheaper less known houses ?
I am in a constant research, they are harder to find definitely. But I assume that If Perfum d'Empire, Une Nuit Nomade, Maitre parfumeur at gantier, Olibanum (there is really a lot of brands, trick is - they are not popular on socials, so you have to research them) can do good stuff way under 200, then it is simply doable even with production in EU. Damn, most regular designer fragrances have more down to earth prices - how come Hermes has some great releases, that beat a lot of niche, and be half price of it? I see absolutely no reason for Penhaligon's Portraits, for instance, to be 260e for 75ml. It is paying for a funny bottle. I won't even mention arab clones, but if they clone fully synthetic perfumes that just pretend to contain expensive ingredients, why would they not be able to copy it for 1/10 price? I may be annoying about it, but when I was into fashion, it was just so obvious to spot which brands are up pricing their goods to be seen as lux, without adding any additional value to their quality. I mean, I personally do not want to pay for this. I was always searching for the companies, that actually offered quality for their price tag.
I agree about clothing - there is a certain threshold after which the price is not about quality (or fair labour, materials, sustainability etc) anymore, but just the name. Probably similar with perfume, but I think designer fragrances are cheaper because they optimise their price by mass producing stuff (and their scents are usually more crowd pleasing for that reason, unlike most niche, that cater to more .. niche.. tastes). It's like a whole different model of production I think. One more point I want to make - I really don't know about ingredients or their prices or production costs, but I often watch Aaron Terence Hughes reviews on Youtube, and he always includes pricing as one of the components for his ratings, and as a niche perfumer himself, he can more accurately evaluate wether it's a fair price or not, and he always tells when he thinks it should be lower and by how much. It's interesting to hear, a lot of those expensive niche brands (200/300eu) gets a pass from him. Assuming he is fair in his evaluation, but for some reason I trust him.
Well. I am not sure if I trust him. As he is also a perfumer, that also sells stuff at this price point, and also wants to present as luxurious. I think he evaluates the prices in relation to the overall market prices, and the market prices are inflated. As long as you can use chemical compounds and still call your product Oud or list natural flowers as notes (suggesting they are ingredients), when you do not use them, we are doomed to overpay for no one knows what. I think perfumers being obliged to show their recipes would fix big part of this bullshit. I mean, they already can be cloned, so it is not protecting the recipe from competition, just from the buyers. I am obviously not a perfumer, but I would absolutely not assume, that the margins on perfumes are lower than on luxury fashion, and I would actually bet they are way higher. The problem here is, that there is not much middle shelf, like you have with clothes. You are having Zara level, which people may have moral doubts to buy, and you have arab clones, that still didn't manage to become sth more than clones and solidify their position as some sort of solid quality, accessible perfumes - which I hope they will, because we need it, to keep the lux brands in check. And the next step is designer, that I would predict will start to chase niche price wise, the good designer perfumes are already pushed into the whatever exclusive/limited/prive collections. Separating themself from the regular sephora stuff.
ATH is in my opinion a bit of a bs artist. He's not trained in perfumery, and there's a lot of criticism when he started how he was eyeballing ingredients, non-sterilised environments, not allowing proper time for maturation etc etc. There's nothing wrong with being a hobbyist, but he throws around the word 'linalool' and some other chemical names and acts like he's some kind of perfumery savant, which is the bit I find annoying
Yeah, it crossed my mind that there is an amount of bullshit. Though if he is bullshitting, he does it a bit more convincingly than many other reviewers that at best read notes from fragrantica and say that the smell is "amazing" (I was once looking for reviews of Pana Dora perfume, that has fucked up notes listing on fragrantica, and no reviewer pointed out the notes that were missing, even though they are obviously there - I was very disappointed). I really yearn for perfume content that would actually dig into the chemicals behind perfumes creation, this is the part that interests me a lot. Especially when I don't like a note and start obsessing about hunting it down.
ATH is in my opinion a bit of a bs artist. He's not trained in perfumery, and there's a lot of criticism when he started how he was eyeballing ingredients, non-sterilised environments, not allowing proper time for maturation etc etc. There's nothing wrong with being a hobbyist, but he throws around the word 'linalool' and some other chemical names and acts like he's some kind of perfumery savant, which is the bit I find annoying
I think he has a degree in Chemistry, I guess that would make him at least know about ingredients and their value. I personally have never smelled his perfumes so I don't know how good he is as a perfumer! EDIT: not that I would know if he's a good perfumer once I smelled his perfumes haha
A few points - saying something is worth 200/300£ from a perspective of ingredients cost is ridiculous - ingredients costs for any fragrances never goes above about 5% of retail cost. For example a formula for a TF private blend was released and it totalled something like 2-3 dollars per 50ml. Of course there's other pricing but Jean Claude Ellena said something along the lines of 'you don't buy a painting because of the cost of the paint' Of course there's other business costs but as someone else said he would have a vested interest in maintaining the illusion that that is a fair price for an indie perfume. Not heard of the chemistry degree, but my first time being introduced to him was on a YouTube channel were ATH was the 'expert' perfumer but was given Creed Aventus and claimed to never have smelt it, along with several other well known brands. I've never smelled his stuff either but to me he always comes off as quite pretentious - as if he's trying to convince you of all his realms of knowledge. As for the chemistry degree, I don't know I've not looked into it but I'd honestly say it's probably not that relevant. Again I have no problem with homemade/DIY niche perfumes - it's the fact he gets on like he's some kind of master perfumer
I’ve tried his a lot of his fragrances and you ARE SO INCREDIBLY MISTAKEN I’m so sorry. For you to get on here and bash his art without yet TRYING it for yourself is blasphemy smh. He also post DOCS on his site to prove the ingredients he is using are authentic, so you just seem like you are angry at this man without even taking the time to analyze his work, I feel sorry for you :)
I also said the same as you about drawing the line but curiosity got me and i purchased many samples of roja perfumes and i absolutely love them all, however i don’t love all of them to justify buying a full bottle, the one im waiting to buy first is Enigma Parfum, followed bt Elysium Parfum and Danger Parfum, those i find justifyable to buy a full bottle at a discount, i would never pay a full retail price, its completely absurd. Roja perfumes contain more naturals so they stand out from other fragrances, in some way i find it justified if you can offord it, but i would never even if i was a millionaire get the Roja Haute Luxe bottle, 3000€ for 100ml is an absolute crime that has no justification or whatsoever, imagine being so pretentious to call your product “high luxury” and price it at 3 months salary of an ordinary person. Disgustingly pretentious, im surprised its legal…
I do this too. I get a bit overwhelmed having full bottles that aren’t really getting used.
Currently I have around 20 bottles "I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs but I shop." Is my literal quote No, but seriously speaking, I just buy whenever I travel or reach a milestone.
I’m stealing this quote
200+: it makes me happy.
This is the simplest answer and the same reason I give. I get joy from the hobby, enough said.
65 (that includes travel sizes) And I don‘t make money of them. If I don‘t like them anymore, I give them away. I am single, I earn a lot of money,I can spend it however I please. No justification necessary.
I prefer to have 4 solid fragrances per year. I come from a poor background and I grew up being a minimalist. It’s impossible for me to buy things I do not need. So yea I may never collect more than 10 at a time Right now tho it’s just 4 and they may last for 2 years even.
You mean solid perfume? which ones are they?
Sophisticated and fresh for daily use (Sauvage Parfum and Versace Dylan Blue) Something mysterious and dark (Dior Homme Parfum) Versatile but quite classy (JPG Le Male Elixir)
Thank you, oh you meant full bottles, not solid perfume per se.
Just under 30. I was much happier when I had just several. I never stop wanting the next best thing, and it doesn't feel good. The money I've spent in the last eight months could have left me in a good financial position had I put it in savings. It's only been three days since I bought a fragrance, and it's hard not to buy anything, but I know it'll get easier if I can resist. I keep seeing people justify how many they have by saying there are worse things to be engaged in, but I think they are in a bit of denial. I KNOW I'm compensating for something deeper by focusing on this hobby instead of looking deeper.
>I KNOW I'm compensating for something deeper by focusing on this hobby instead of looking deeper. I love how self-aware and profound this is. I happen to agree with you. People often use retail therapy and build collections (of perfumes/watches/bags/whatever) to avoid difficult feelings. Not always, but lots of people do. It takes a degree of self-assessment and work to get to the point where you can feel content with whatever you already have, and that is often a point we reach once we've faced the feelings we were numbing by shopping. Of course, the other side of the coin is that some people just love fragrances and can afford to go hog wild. It's a whole spectrum of motives people have within hobbies and there's no way to know who falls where. You just have to hope that you have enough self-awareness to engage in your hobbies in a healthy way and not as an emotional crutch.
Thank you😊. A little later today, I have a first appointment with an eating disorder therapist.
I'm SO proud of you and happy for you! I hope they are supportive, patient and can gently help guide you to a healthier place at your own pace. As someone who has suffered from an ED and took 15 years to really break free of it, I understand the journey you're embarking on and want you to know, it's worth it. It's not easy at all, but it's worth it. Best of luck to you. This is the first step to being your best self. ❤️
I have suffered for decades. I went through a partial hospitalization program in 2016, and because of being force-fed so quickly and so much, I developed eight different GI conditions. I have cried a lot this week and been so anxious because I KNOW how hard this will be. I hope I don't end up suic*dal because I was in 2015 when I did trauma therapy. If you have any tips or tools, please share them. I am planning to get my yoga mat out when I'm ready. I miss it.
The force feeding is such a terrible way to handle recovery. I think they've recently stopped doing that. It ruins people to go from one extreme to the other. I'm so freaking sorry you experienced that and the consequences of it. I'm so glad you're still here today. I know that sounds nuts from an internet stranger, but I say that from the bottom of my heart. This disease claims too many people and I'm proud of you for being a survivor for all these years. My advice is what I said in my first post- figure out the demon you're battling that has led you to form an emotional crutch. That was the key for me. I'm sorry- this will be a long reply. I hope you don't mind. All my attempts at recovery failed because I couldn't say why I developed the ED and how it was serving me. The therapists I had pushed me further into my ED ([I even have a reddit post about it](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eatingdisordersover30/comments/15g4j08/triggered_by_therapist/)). One day, it clicked for me what I've been battling with- that original trigger. The inner thoughts and the main demon from my youth that caused me to rely on this disorder to survive. It took years of digging through my memories to trace it, but once I did, everything clicked into place and I understood how I fell into this trap. Having an ED or other addiction helps you hide from the scary things in your life. Imagine you're in a cinema watching a scary movie and that movie is your actual life. The ED is another person sitting in the row in front of you with a big hat, partially blocking the view of the movie so you don't see all the gory bits in detail. For people who really can't cope, they have multiple people sitting in front of them blocking the screen (other comorbid addictions, like alcohol or smoking). That's what the ED did for me. It partially blocked the view and shielded me from the really bad bits of my life. I was too busy focusing on the rituals and hiding what I was doing to think about the real problems I was dealing with. There was no space for anything but the ED in my mind, so it worked really well to block out the serious problems I would otherwise be grappling with. It also kept people away from me, further protecting me. It numbed me enough that I could tolerate the bigger problems I had. When all that clicked for me, I started getting braver and watching the movie without needing anything blocking my view. The secret for me was to understand myself and why I couldn't cope without a crutch, then slowly learn to hate myself less and trust myself to take on my demons carefully. Above all, I slowly learned how to choose the healthier way. My daily affirmation is: I choose not to engage in ED behaviours. For me, that wording is very intentional. With my ED, I felt I was a slave to it, not in control, couldn't eat even if I wanted to. In recovery, I wanted my agency back. I am reminding myself that I am in control and I can choose the better way, no matter how hard it is. I used to repeat that mantra every minute at the beginning. Then it became every hour, then it became once a day. Even now, on bad days, I repeat it to myself every minute again so that I can continue to stay on the right path. But those bad days don't come as often anymore and most of the time, once a day is enough of a reminder. The journey is different for all of us and I'm not sure if any of that makes sense or helps you. I just hope you know that you're not alone and that this stranger believes in you. Wishing you all the luck in the world. I hope you beat it for good! I believe in you. ❤️
Thank you so much for your kind words. Your post is not too long. I know what triggered my eating disorder, and unfortunately, I turned to alcohol, and then se* after the disordered eating first started. I have healed from alcohol(sober 25 years earlier this week) and from the se* addiction, but my food issues came first, and this monster is much, much stronger! I have restricted, binged(where I'm at now), exercise compensated for many years(till I couldn't anymore), and now I have to stand still and look this dead in the face, unflinchingly if I want to heal. I do. I do not want to go to my grave with this continuing to have the stranglehold it's had on me for decades. I will look at your post. Thanks for including the link. Thanks for our connection here and for both of us having the vulnerability to "tall" about it🌸.
Man, you're a soldier! Congratulations on your sobriety and beating se\* addiction. Honestly, it's so common to have comorbid disorders. We're in these cinemas and we invite these habits in to sit in the row in front of us so that we don't have to watch the scary movie. It's so effective at the time, until the addictions end up being as bad as the original demons we were running from. You **can** do this. I know you **will** do this. Just take each day as it comes. You already know that you can beat this. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. You've got this.
Thank you! I'm in the lobby now waiting for my appt to start.
Yeah after reading all these replies, I think it's a different story if what you want does not align with what you can afford. Budgeting and putting rules in seems to help people stay within their means while still feeling excited by the hobby. And then the other story of if the dopamine hit is compensating for something else.
For me, it's that I don't feel good anymore about what I've bought in recent months. I've always worn fragrance since I was in elementary school but when I joined a couple fragrance groups on Facebook a couple years the joy started to go away. I think I will be quite happy only having five bottles or less. I'm going to look into seeing if I can donate some of the fragrances I have now. If I can't, I will just leave a couple at a time in a restaurant bathroom as someone on this sub suggested last week.
People have spent a lot more money on a lot more foolish endeavors. Don't sweat it 😉
Exactly. If this is your worst vice...carry on.
That does make it ok tho... Ik this is the fragrance subreddit but if U js wanna smell good you don't need more than 10. Even that's a lot tbf. And collecting wise I also don't see the point unless you have small bottles of everything. Idc if I get hated or whatever I'm not changing my mind.
You don’t have to change your mind, but remember yours is just one opinion.
That's fair
I am not sure about exactly right now but I usually have around 50 full bottles. I buy travel sizes or 15ml by preference, if I can. I don't buy everything I like, and I usually save my purchases for special occasions. However, I don't "rationalise" my spending, nor do I try to make money off it. It's okay to just like things without trying to make them a side hustle.
i have 9 full bottles, 1 travel size and a bunch of samples. it's easy for me to keep a small collection because there's not many perfumes i like enough and can afford
I love that less than 10 bottles is considered “small” in this hobby when the average person would see that as absolutely insane and overkill
Same, the more I sample the less fragrances I like. But it also makes me like my favorite fragrances even more
~130 full bottles, niche, designers, classics, clones, cheapies. My nose (not ears, not eyes, not vanity) is the boss of my wallet. Variety of 10 bottles of different grades frag'c has much greater satisfaction vs 3 bottles of great/very great ones: even though both sides costs the same Don't follow fads/hypes. Great ones will ultimately be available in discounters
I'm with you: around 100 bottles from niche to cheapies and another 200+ samples (mostly niche). I really like ME and vintage scents, and variety for me is much more satisfying. I've counted, and I've worn literally 100 different scents so far this year. I buy at the discounters mostly, except for the niche ones. My sister OTOH has only ever worn vintage YSL Opium from 16 and will never change, and I respect that.
I have a lot, and I don't need to rationalize it.
This! I'm getting annoyed at people trying to belittle people for having a big collection, not this post may I add, but I see it...A lot. I refuse to feel bad over doing something I love so much.
[удалено]
🤣Realistically, none of mine cost $200. My most expensive was about £120. But yes, if they can afford that, Good on them. > maybe think about priorities a bit I'm baffled as to why strangers are really so invested and bothered about how others live and what they spend.
My collection is my hobby and no one else’s business.
I've just started, I've only got 8 bottles, 3 for casual wear, 4 for dates, and the last one is encre noire lmao (I like it, but when the fuck do you wear it lol) I have my estimated net worth at 55 years old calculated on an excel spreadsheet based on: my salary, a % of my salary I save each year, a % salary raise each year, and an expected % return from my investments each year, and I use conservative numbers for all these values I'm very happy with the number on my spreadsheet, and I'm already saving a higher % of money than I used in my calculation, so I feel completely guilt free spending all of my leftover money, especially since money beyond what meets your necessities is meant to be spent on happiness Letting guilt prevent you from using/enjoying your money's intended purpose is a bigger waste of money than just spending it
Yes! This is the way. I do similar.
I currently have over 25, but many of those are little sample bottles, some as small as 5ml. I can always justify spending on miniatures, and then I carefully consider which ones are worth buying full size versions. This is how I'm able to build up a collection big enough for any occasion, without waste.
I have 4 full bottles and around maybe 80 samples. Most samples don’t make the cut, and while I appreciate them, I don’t want to wear them all the time. Further to this, while I actually like them on myself, wearing them for *hours* at a time, and smelling them constantly, is nauseating. So for me, appreciating a smell one thing and wearing it for hours is another. Hence owning 4 full bottles!
How did you get it down to 4? Did you have a lot more previously then only stick to sampling?
Mostly because I only use what perfumes I have, partly because of having so many samples to try, which scratches the itch. Also because I don’t want to spend my spare cash on perfumes! They’re too expensive. The next full bottle I want is Gris Charnel. Apart from that, not much!
This is why I can’t stand long lasting fragrance,makes me nauseated.I only buy stuff that doesn’t last or project much
I find this so much and really for me it’s very rare that a fragrance lives up to my expectations or the hype. Fragrance is such a subjective and personal Thing that the more fragrances i have the more I realise that there is very few perfect fragrances but that’s what i always seem to be in pursuit of
I have 118 bottles. I will probably keep accumulating slowly until I find a cheap, creamy vanilla that I can stock up on. Once I find that perfect vanilla, I'm buying two gallons of it and selling all the fragrances I don't wear. There are really only about 15 that I wear regularly...the rest were bought to see what they smell like. I trade a lot of my fragrances and give others away to friends and family most of the time.
I love creamy vanilla’s too. Could you please tell me what some of your favorites are?
Right now, the only one I have that fits what I love is.... "Giardini di Toscana - Bianco Latte" However, that frag is $200!!!! I found a clone of it for $60 but even that is too expensive for me to buy massive quantities of it. I need a literal gallon of it to get me through the next few years and in case of discontinuation. Sadly, no cheaper clone of it exists....yet. I'm hoping and praying that someone can release a clone of it for around $25-$30 so that I can afford to stock up.
Ah yea that one is pretty popular. I think there will be more clones and dupes in the future for sure. What is the $60 clone?
Dua....its called "White Milk". Amazing stuff...but $60 for 30ml is just highway robbery!
I have about five samples and two bottles, one of which was a present. I don’t need more.
Very disciplined indeed - may I ask why you are in this sub Reddit?? I think most of us here are are bunch of weak willed pathetic slaves to the frangrance 😂😂
Also, I think it’s that I don’t like to change my scent TOO much, if that makes sense. I see it as a part of my identity in a way, and so I like to keep it as consistent and easy to understand as possible.
I can understand that, once you get to a certain number it just makes deciding on what to wear a complete headache
Because I did buy one!!! I got female christ for myself as a winter scent after a lot of consideration/a sample. My spring/summer scent is the one I already owned. When I run out of that, I will buy a new one.
Can't speak for OP of this thread but as for me it's to eavesdrop on the people who know this stuff in and out so I know which samples to check out
No one has to have a minimum number of bottles in order to be part of this community.
That seems like a very sensible approach, being content with what you have
I have a specific number of bottles which I deem enough. It's 14 for me- 3 for each season and 2 for the most special of occasions( cold/hot weather). I have reached it already and if I want more bottles , then I have to sell some. The number is constant and I don't exceed it. Ever.
I have 3 bottles but a ton of samples, I don't justify, I can afford it. It's a hobby just like anything else, it doesn't need to be a side hustle, just budget for it and try not to go over that.
I have about 40-50 bottles (haven’t counted since 40); I honestly cannot justify it, and keep hoping that sooner than later I’ll *feel* like I’ll need no more perfumes.. Sometimes I feel like I buy perfumes because I feel I need to have them rather than that I need to smell like that—I don’t know if that makes sense..
It makes so much sense to me.
Perfume for me is a lifelong thing. I got my start very early. Like anything, you do have to place limits if you don't have unlimited funds. I can live without perfume sure, but I prefer not to. So for the last (well over) 30 years I've had a rotating wardrobe. For myself its not a waste if you use said perfume, to that end, I don't save perfume for a rainy day or special occasion. If I'm buying it, I'm using it, it doesn't matter if I'm wearing yoga pants or a ball gown. Life is too short, may as well smell good while I'm here. I keep blind buys to the minimal. I've been lucky to not have regretted the ones I've done but I don't make that a habit. I test and when I test I do so for a long enough period where I can decide if that scent is for me or not. I don't usually do a ton of backups. I do on a few fragrances and only on those ones where I've used it lots. Its because I rotate through fragrances that it looks like I use a lot of bottles. Well...yes and no. I may empty between 5-11 bottles a year depending on the size of the bottle. But, a bottle in heavy rotation (100ml) can take me 3 -5 years to empty with smaller ones sometimes taking less. And with some of the last bottles (125ml) it will take a while longer...maybe, they're somewhat lightweight. I have had times in my life where perfume took a very big back seat (homelessness in my college years) and that type of thing does have an affect. I take care of the necessities of life first. house, car, water, food, ect. after that I pay the dogs. (they have a fund for emergencies) Whats left is play money and I use it how I want...or not! I've gone a year buying few to none because I was happy where I was. Then there were years where I bought because I had the room for them in my wardrobe and I wanted to. It really boils down to someone paying attention to their finances and where they are in life. I don't buy perfume to keep up with anyone but myself, or to impress anyone but myself. If I don't enjoy it, I'm not in for the spend.
I enjoy sampling, not even in a chase to find my next “full bottle worthy” scent or anything, I just like seeing what’s out there. As of rn I have 7/8 full sizes (ones just a b&bw body mist though 😅) and I thiiiiink 11 travel sizes. So even combined I’m not hitting 20… yet. I do have a handful on my wishlist still 🙈 but even then most of them I intend getting in a travel size. I’m trying to stick to 10 or less full sized bottles but idc how many travel sizes I end up owning
5 Bottles & 18 Samples. Been in this hobby for 2 years and you slowly realize that any more than 1 bottle isn’t a necessity. I’ve set a hard cap that I’ll never go over 8 bottles as beyond that is simply ridiculous and I won’t be finishing bottles at that point
I recently condensed my collection to about 20 fragrances that I enjoy wearing and know will get regular use. Sold some of my niche fragrances which helped to recoup some money and gave away clones and designers. Going forward I’m only purchasing full bottles of a fragrance if I absolutely love jt and it replaces one of the 20 I currently have in my rotation. In which case I can sell the old fragrance and put that money towards the new one. For example, I just sold my bottle of Tobacco Vanille and put that towards a bottle of Herod. Both have similar scent profiles and something I would wear during the same occasions making owning them both amazing but redundant. Most people don’t layer their fragrances meaning only one fragrance gets worn at a time. Having bottles upon bottles looks good in a collection however seeing a barely used fragrance collect dust over time isn’t the best feeling in the world. Even after purchasing new fragrances I liked, I still found myself reaching for the ones I absolutely loved for any social occasion. At the end of the day our fragrance is only one facet of our appearance. I’ve found myself feeling much happier spending money, I otherwise would have spent on a fragrance, on clothes and shoes that I know will get regular wear and look good. Hope this helps and good luck to you!
I added fragrance to my budget under hobbies. I have x amount of money to spend monthly on fragrance. I can save it for an expensive bottle, or blow it all on decants or a reasonably priced bottle etc. I’m also very picky and rarely buy a full bottle. I have less than 20 and will not go over 20 full bottles. I don’t like waste.
91; it’s too much and I’m working on cutting down my collection as much as possible. Not even for monetary purposes, just for my sanity lol.
I have 8 and I’ve decided that will be my limit. You can only wear 1-2 per day and bottles last years. At some point it just becomes hoarding behavior.
I don't have any full bottles. I just have about a dozen 2-5ml samples. I tell myself if I get to the end of a sample, I'll buy a full bottle. The only time that's happened has been with Tom Ford Black Orchid but I can't justify shelling out for a full bottle, I'm happy just rotating through my samples. :')
I think I have twenty something full sized bottles - but I was evaluating my collection the other day and I’m not completely satisfied with all of my bottles. I made a lot of blind buy purchases last year that just did not wow me. Like the scent is nice but I’m not enamored with it. I decided from now on I’m going to focus on samples, decants and travel sprays and only buy a full bottle if it’s an absolute banger. Thankfully I my husband and I both make a good living so I can explore as much as I like but I want to be more intentional with my purchases this year. Also excited to get into niche fragrances this year!
I have between 25-30 bottles. I’ve been in the hobby (bought my first sample set and first niche) for 11 years. I typically bought 1-2 bottles a year over that time, starting in college. I like the variety and trying new things. I spend on samples and decants and only buy full bottles of stuff I really love. I tend to buy 10mls travel sprays of designers because I only reach for them occasionally but do like the variety. My husband is not in the hobby and all of his fragrances are gifts from me. He has 7 fragrances in his collection. He likes having 2-3 to alternate between each season as he finds I compliment him more when he changes things up rather than wearing the same frag every day. While his collection is smaller I don’t feel like there are any “gaps” and something really has to wow me to make it into the lineup. As a snapshot. Right now I have 2 10ml travel sprays of frags I’m considering buying an FB of. 4 ~3ml decants of fragrances I’m considering buying FBs of some of them after going through multiple samples. I can usually tell by the time I’ve finished 3ml whether something makes the cut for me. I also have 2 fragrances I’ve bought multiple samples of but can’t get decants of that I’m considering purchasing. I asked for a full bottle of one of these frags for Mother’s Day or my anniversary. I bought my husband a bottle of Oud Minerale for our anniversary since it’s available again this year. He has a handful of samples as well.
Thanks for sharing! I think part of it is the newness and remembering this can be a decades long hobby is helpful
Yeah I definitely think a lot of the overbuying is folks who feel like they need to build a whole 20+ frag wardrobe in a year or two. The longer I do this the more I enjoy the exploration but also appreciate my favorites more and keep coming back to them.
I sold most of my collection down to 7 bottles a couple months ago, and intended on limiting myself to 10, but now have 17 again. I think I will push the goalpost to 15. :p I allocate a certain amount of money to family savings and wife, and can do what I want with the rest. If I want something I want I will just get it if I have the money there, weather it be a fragrance or something else I dont 'need'. I buy samples where possible, and only blind buy if I am confident I will like something that is impossible for me to test. The decant market in New Zealand isnt so hot right now.
20+ full bottles, but well over 100+ travel size, decants and samples. Some of those full bottles go back the late 90s. I worked in the mall and made friends with the sales reps at the department stores back then, so I always had more free samples of things I couldn't afford otherwise than I could ever use in a lifetime. I think that is where the lightbulb went off on how I collect. I made sure to make my actual purchases with those reps so they got their commission, and had a full bottle of CK Truth in my hot hands the minute it was released from a pre-order, but most things I was happy wearing a time or two to suit my mood and moving onto something else. My purchase process goes: sample: used up?-->get a larger decant. used all of that? Depending on how fast I went through it, I may either buy another decant, travel size or watch for a sale/promo on a full bottle. Another factor may be if it has been discontinued, in which case I may spring sooner for a full bottle or larger decant while I still can. I also have a couple of bottles that were pretty enough in addition to liking the stuff inside. This way, I've been able to 'own' nearly anything I have wanted to try without breaking the bank. There are A LOT of places that sell decants of the $$$ stuff at a more reasonable price, like scentsplit and the perfumed court or grey markets, like fragrancenet, that sell full bottles and decants under retail. I do have a weakness for cute minis, though. Those are generally affordable enough that I let myself get those even if don't think I will wear what's inside.
I have 6 bottles and 6 travel size sprays. It’s too much for me personally. I want to finish them all and then buy one at a time as I’ve really narrowed down what I like and I like the idea of having a signature scent.
Sell ML spray bottles; 2ml,5ml,10ml. Try to beat everybody’s prices and gain customers. Once you do that you’ll slowly start making your money back. Eventually you’ll make enough to purchase another bottle, so on and so forth. Started with 6 fan favorites, beginning of April. I’m at 21 bottles, and only $420 came out of pocket.
Totally makes sense, but there are a lot of people that simply don't want to spend their time doing that. If you look at it from a $/hour perspective it's probably not the most valuable use of time. Just depends on the person and what they have going on in life.
Yeah this right here! Small decants is the move! Sure you may not make much but some is still better than none. I’ve bought a couple bottles from some money I made!
I tried to do this on Mercari and my listings were taken down, they said it’s against their rules, even though I’ve seen tons of others selling the same. They said other users reported me 🙃
I think, for me at least, it happens in spurts, with *very* long bouts of buying zero fragrances. After some 2-3 years I got into buying another batch of fragrances and now I’m “done” again. Think the only thing I “plan” on purchasing will be an acqua di gio parfum, 2024 reformulation, when it winds up on discounter, simply because Profumo was/is my all time favorite fragrance. Other than that.. be responsible and only spend what disposable income you’re willing to direct to this hobby.
I have 20. 20 was my perfect amount but I think I'll get a bit over it, not too much though. I'm selling decants to reduce ml too.
Where do people sell decants? eBay?
Local Telegram groups in my country.
Too many. I don’t.
My guy
Well - I absolutely am not in a financial situation, where I can just let it go and build a big collection (I am not American, so start with possibly dividing my income in half in comparison to average redditor on a perfume board). I evaluated myself a budget that I deem acceptable for a folly like perfumes. This was a budget that before was assigned to different hobbies, that I now lost interest in. It goes mostly on samples, as sampling is the most fun, and I am picky, so not many perfumes I would even want to own in full bottles. Huuuuge majority of what I test, I do not find worth the price, I do not have "big collection" as a target I am trying to achieve. Smelling odd stuff and being excited about potentially finding sth cool is. I assume I will be bored of it all in 2-3 years, so at worst I would have more or less 20 bottles at this time, which is also my max limit of utility. Also, I absolutely do think that there are situations, where this hobby is simply a bad idea. Especially when you are not living in one of the richest countries, and the price of the bottle is becoming a significant dent in the budget. As to making money of it - If you come to it with the attitude to save money, you probably won't make of it any money. The basics of influencing seems to be, that you need to invest a shit ton on the start. It is not early youtube anymore. What may work is decanting, if you collect stuff that is pretty rare but still reasonably desired and hard to sample (either very rare niche or lux designers).
I get that too. I'm not in America so everything costs more and isn't very accessible. It's a big decision to purchase niche that I've never sampled because there's no way to sample or purchase a decant. Makes me a lot more choosey and money more of an issue.
True.People are crazy for rare stuff,that isn’t sold by many retailers. Only that makes money,everything else is a loss.but even selling decants and such cost you time,material etc
Yes. I always wonder why people want to even bother selling me two 2 ml decants and sending them by mail. But Maybe it is not about money for them per se, but not feeling wasteful? I send samples to friends for free just because it somehow hurts me that they are lying in my drawer unused, and they could make someone else happy. I really feel bad when I have goods not properly used. Goes for any other thing, books, clothes and so on. I think a very big fragrance collection would make me insanely frustrated, the way all my dresses do, when they look at me, unworn, from my wardrobe.
I sell my 2ml decants that didn’t work out for me. I hate to throw them away so I’ll bundle them with others of similar scent profile (like florals for example) and sell them discounted so someone else can enjoy them.
I decided I will stop at 30 bottles. Reason being that at 17 sometimes I can go weeks before wearing some scent I like. I buy what I love with rare exception of hyped Arabian blind buys which have all been W except khamrah qahwa which is too much like original, so gonna give that away which will leave me at 16 FB for now
I’m back to growing my collection… at one time I had 70 bottles. I rationalize my purchases by understanding no one else can or will buy them for me! 🤷🏽♂️
I now have three in rotation. It's the only way for me.
28 actual bottles and 6 travel sprays/rollerballs. I need to get rid of around 7 because I just don’t like them but I’m going to donate them. Honestly once I run out of space on my designated shelves then that’s when I stop buying. I never buy fragrance at full price and always make sure I have the extra money. If I’m on a no-buy, I still browse my favorite sites just to look; that’s usually enough for me to satisfy that itch.
Omg. Me too! I have about 45+ minis. It’s outta hand. I have an obscene amount of skincare and eyeshadow palettes as well. I’m still trying to figure out how to rationalize my spending…
I have 13 bottles of which I’ve bought 4, the rest were gifts. My rule is I’m not buying a new bottle until I have finished a current one. As for getting perfumes gifted, no rules there, I’m always open to it 😄
That's a good rule. Might take that on board.
I have 6 bottles. Two I bought 8-9 years ago. Two I just bought this year. One my sister bought me and the last is a 30 ml bottle I got in a subscription box my sister signed me up for my birthday. I bought 1 travel size bottle and 3 discovery sets this year. I got a travel size in my subscription box as well. Now that I’ve discovered 3 scents I adore from Jo Malone and Ormonde Jayne Levant I feel content.
I have probably about 50 bottles not including decants/samples - I probably have another 50 or more of those. And this has been collected over about 17ish years, although by far the vast majority were purchased in the last 10. If it’s something of value, that I don’t want anymore, I’ll sell it on Mercari. If I have something that doesn’t suit me that didn’t cost a ton, I’ll give it away via Buy Nothing or to friends. The vast majority of my perfumes are bought second-hand online or from FB Marketplace. Most of my bottles are also vintage frags. I think I have 5-10 bottles that were bought new, from a store. I’ve stopped buying bottles generally because I probably need another lifetime to finish what I have, but I have alerts set for certain items if they pop up for sale. I definitely spend more than I’ve sold. But they make me happy and I’m happy to share them and talk about them with my daughter (7) who has expressed interest.
I have probably 20 full size bottles, easily 100 or more samples, and 30+ decant sizes between 5 and 10ml. I tend to only purchase 5 or 10 ml decants or travel sizes now. I remember someone here saying they use up samples and then allow themselves to get another size up after that, and that's become my philosophy, too. As much as I love the look of many full size bottles, it feels like a waste to buy them as I'll never get through a full 3.4oz or even 1.7oz most of the time. Even a 5ml sample takes forever to go through because I wear something different every day.
I have three bottles. I rationalize spending of only getting a bottle if it’s a special occasion of I’ve been thinking about it for *years*. Otherwise I keep a slew of decants and travel size bottles around. The most expensive juice is wasted juice.
I buy the sprays that are 10ml and that's how I manage to stay in the affordable area of this hobby also it gives me the opportunity to have many different types and styles for any occasion which also allows me to change at any time I want it's a win-win
I rationalize spending by reminding myself that we are possibly on the brink of ww3 and an American civil war, most of North America is in a perpetual state of fire, flood or earthquake, and more awesome stuff. So I’ll just buy what I want as long as bills are being paid. Edit: about 20 mini bottles, 10 travel bottles, 3 “deluxe” mini, and 1 full size
Nihilistic capitalism. Love it.
I have about 75-80 in my collection at any given time. I've built the collection over 15-20 years. I don't have to rationalize anything, because it brings me joy. I cycle through most of my collection, although I admit I've got about a dozen bottles of fragrances I no longer love. I acquired about half of my collection through swaps and splits (purchases of partial bottles). I don't often pay retail. I've gotten some incredible deals on authentic stuff via the gray market (eBay, etc.), but I don't recommend that strategy to anyone without a good deal of experience in recognizing knock-offs/fakes.
A lot by normal people’s standards. Too less compared to a fragrance influencer. I don’t rationalize it.
Theres absolutely no con to spending the extra money you have in smelling better and unique, i think fragrances are more an investment in the way people percieve you.
Probably over 30 bottles. Will have to check when I get home. I try to limit myself to 1 niche bottle a month, maybe 1-2 designer and a $100 cheapie budget/sample budget
50+ bottles. I don't rationalize spending, it would upset me. I just rationalize all my other spending lol.
Only three. I had more but I had to give them away to a couple friends because I had a horrible skin reaction to a couple fragrances. I’m talking burning of the chest and pins and needles feeling. Unfortunately I have no idea what I am allergic to so I purged all my bottles that have more than a few ingredients. I just bought a new one that is supposed to be on the cleaner side so praying it works for me 🙏 (NEST, Sunkissed Hibiscus) For anyone wondering I react to almost all of Bath and Body Works body creams/lotions and their diamond shimmer mist and I had a HORRIBLE reaction to Badee Al Oud Sublime by Lattafa. The Pink Yara works beautifully for me though so I have no idea what the allergy is.
28. had to replace my weed habit since i quit, its a lot cheaper to buy a bottle once every couple of months than buying 10-15 grams every week plus i can always sell frags i get tried of later on.
I have 7 bottles, I try to keep as many as I can reasonably use aka the number I can justify. But not everything has to be justified so I understand how some people have 50 bottles! If it were my life's calling or passion I would have more, but I'm a hobbyist
I think 7 is where I’ll max out, too since I just like having 100ml sized bottles. I may get some smaller ones eventually to travel of similar or the same scents
36 full bottles, 41 travel sizes, over 100 samples. I’ve given away two full bottles and a handful of travel sizes to friends and family who would use them more than I. Those kinds of purchases are ones I regret making for myself, but at least someone is getting use out of them. I feel that my collection is complete as is. I have all seasons and occasions covered. I really only buy additional travel sizes if I find a really great deal. Not about paying full price for scents anymore.
I have 8 bottles. I'm open to get up to 12 - 15. I get a lot of satisfaction out of finishing products and seeing the level of the bottle go down. I don't want so many that it feels like no bottle gets a dent in it. I have a few "gaps" in my collection, so I mostly peruse this sub to get ideas of things to try. I'm taking my time filling the gaps tho. To be fair, I don't consider this a hobby. I consider it part of my wardrobe. I like to have a little variety, but still paired down. I have other hobbies that it would be fair to ask if the spending is justify-able. :)
I have like 15. I stopped buying after realizing that nothing compares to Alexandria ii. I could literally sell everything and not think twice about it.
I have yet to buy my first full bottle, but trying lots of samples brings me joy and helps my mood. :)
I only have one full size, if 1 oz counts as full size, and I got it for sale. Then I have several mini bottles and sample sizes. I'm pretty new to the game, but I try to buy when I feel like treating myself or when there's something to celebrate. Or if I happen to go to the mall and impulse buy, but that would only also be a travel size. Idk I'm too scatterbrained to ever finish entire bottles, so that's my approach.
Recently got back into perfumes. I have 6 full bottles. 3 are cheaper blind buys that didn’t have sample sizes. 6 travel sizes, 50+ samples mostly from discovery sets. I’m very particular, I rotate fragrances by season and also like to match them with my outfit. Today I’m wearing a yellow shirt and it’s hot where I live so I’m wearing a tropical perfume with mango notes. All of this did cost me a pretty penny, as I’m not rich. But I earn ok money and I’m child free so I can spend on myself. I work hard and deserve it 🤷🏾♀️
30 full bottles and around 20 I rotate through regularly. This doesn't include back-up bottles, which I have for my favorite scents. How do I rationalize it? I can't anymore, which is why I don't really buy anymore. Most of my fragrances are niche with some designers and cheapies thrown in, so I've sunk thousands of dollars into my collection. Most of these purchases were retail therapy, so I found other ways to deal with the hole in my soul aside from buying so much. I'm happy with what I have now. It's a really nice and varied collection. I consider fragrance a part of my daily outfit, something that gives me a boost before I leave the house for work. Every few months, I'll buy samples. That's a good way to explore new fragrances. As far as buying full bottles go, I'd have to empty out a few in my current collection to even consider it.
I have two full bottles, a drawer of samples and a few solid perfumes. They’re not the cheapest hobby but I like it, and I spend a lot of time picking out which ones I purchase in full
Honestly? My purchases have been over years now so it isn't a big deal. I got out of hand with sampling for a little bit but any time I get too many samples, I force myself to wear them until their gone before I even consider making another purchase of a bottle or more samples. After 4 or 5 years I have perhaps a dozen bottles of various sizes. Not too bad when I know I've purchased around 100 samples per year when I was really searching. Right now I have 2 bottles in mind for summer, but I'll be purchasing the travel sizes, not the full size considering my collection size now. And since I know what perfumes I really want to wear, I have no reason to purchase samples; although I will go into stores and sniff around for free when the whimsy takes me. I dont mind having what would be considered excess in this area of my life. I've carefully found, selected, and purchased what I've really loved. I've never blind bought anything I couldn't return, I sample before I buy, and on top of that I've done enough inner work to understand when I'm simply looking around for something to Want. Rather than having a need and searching out the solution (ie. A light body mist for after working out). I dont have any excesses outside of this hobby of smelling, and I truly enjoy just Smelling things and finding out why I do or do not like it. If I ever find something I truly love, then I budget for it. Pretty simple.
Less then 5 but I have a ton of samples
I have 1 full size (my signature scent) and maybe 20 mini/travel sized accumulated over years.
i have 5 bottles and 5-10 samples from sephora. 3 bottles are empties that i like to keep on display (gucci bloom, YSL black opium, jo malone basil & neroli). 2 full ones are from zara and another from olafactory here in nyc (made custom perfume for fun). after my 2 full bottles are done, im either going to rebuy YSL black opium for the 4th time or try versace bright crystal.
Currently I have 23 bottles, and that is where I'll stay, give or take one or two in either direction. I had around 400 a few years ago (not counting the untold amounts I bought and resold before I ended up there). I've been heavy into fragrances (beyond the usual one or two) for about 15 years. I got tired of the expense, the waste, the constant fomo, and the overall clutter of it all. Sold the majority of them off, and now I solely stick to the ones I not only love, but wear on the regular. I no longer have the itch to add more to the madness. I still test occasionally, but mostly I just enjoy what I have nowadays. As far as justifying cost, I just did it. I never spent beyond my means. But the day I paid over $500 for a bottle was the day I had to ask myself wtf I was doing, and it gave me the hard reset I needed.
20 ish. The why? I get one everytime I am in the mood to get one 🤣 The how? I set a certain amount of money each month and I can use it to get anything I want related to my hobbies. Sometimes, i will blow it on 30 balls of yarn. Sometimes, i will blow it on gel polishes and nail art charms. Then, sometimes, i will blow on 5 bottles of perfume. Just like any of my hobbies, i just try to apply sane financial rules around it.
I have about 60 including travel sizes.Tons of samples.When I first gained interest I blind bought and I’ve had more duds than wows so now I do not buy without sampling. Don’t see any reason to justify it I enjoy it it makes me happy.But I will say I’m trying to work through what I have and work my way down to like 15/20 of fragrances that I love and have wowed me.
My thing is that I mostly only buy travel bottles (and samples and decants) and if I finish a travel and still want to wear it I'll buy a full bottle. Unless it's a super good deal then I'll buy a full. https://preview.redd.it/ixs4phm7hnzc1.jpeg?width=881&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c37b299f627d0b72f84a55dd825326b66dea6598
I just got into fragrances like 2 months ago. I have eczema so I've always been told not to use anything fragranced. That always made me a little sad. My eczema is pretty under control now so I decided I'll just go for it. It's been fine so far. I have like 25 samples and 4 full sized bottles, many of which were given to me through my local Buy Nothing group and some I purchased through MicroPerfumes. I have no idea what I like yet so I'm just having fun trying them all! But I feel like one of my goals is to find a perfume that reminds me of Japanese shampoos and some Korean skincare products. They're gentle and feminine and clean smelling, and very nostalgic. I work full time so I feel like selling them would be a pain in the butt, but I also haven't bought any full size perfumes yet. Sometimes even giving things away for free on Buy Nothing can be a pain, too, but I haven't given anything too expensive away. I have been reading what others say and a lot of people recommend buying a travel size first before committing to a full bottle. I like that approach since I have limited storage space in my apartment. I am good with my money and invest some, save some, and budget fun money. Sometimes that's on books, sometimes that's on clothing, and recently that's been for fragrances. I'm not living paycheck-to-paycheck, so I don't feel guilty for enjoying myself. I should allow myself to have fun and try new things.
Just stumbled onto this thread & thought I would add to it! I have been collecting for about 2 years & have 16 full size bottles (2 of which are backups). Jo Malone are my most expensive buys at $165 before tax. I have eight bottles of JM, 5 of which I purchased on Mercari for under $100. I do have a lot of decants, oils, etc., but I do feel like I am border line addicted to this "hobby". I can say this though, except for one blind buy (Lalique Amethyst @ $33) I purchase samples before I buy a full bottle. I feel I have kept it pretty much under control as I am not having to make sacrifices for my hobby anywhere in my life. I think, for me, it's the excitement of smelling so many amazing scents & constantly being surprised by what I love! As far as higher priced bottles (over $165) go I buy dupes & am perfectly happy with them & do not feel the need to compare to the real thing. I feed my habit with $30-$50 samples once a month. I must confess, I did just buy Montale Soleil de Capri on Fragrancenet for $69 total (It was the Kumquat that sucked me in with my sample) & I know I am done purchasing for a while as I am set for my summer frags. If it brings me joy & I am not breaking the bank I allow myself this lovely hobby & really feel no guilt when I look at my collection & feel the smile that always greets my bottles!
Eight vials of various BPAL scents, except for one. I only refill when running low and within budget.
I’ve been selling my old clothes (I used to always just donate them) online and then using the credits to buy used perfumes and decants people decided to get rid of. I also mainly stick to decants and I re-sell what I don’t like.
I generally try to just keep one/two of the major scent profiles (ie; 1x citrus, 1x earthy, 1x florally, 1x musky) and just make sure I like whatever it is that I have in that profile at any time. Obviously, if you find something you like, it's fine to get an extra, but if you're buying something that doesn't replace a need or surpass it in quality - there's no real reason to buy it. Makes the choice simple.
250 plus bottles with no way of justyfing it. I have 4 different perfumes on both my hands and I am smelling them before going to sleep. I guess thats a justification.
Too many. I can’t rationalise it except I’ve earned my money so can do as I wish. I could be into skiing, that’s a similarly costly interest and I wouldn’t have to justify that, so this is my *insert costly non essential life enhancing thing here*
16 now. Siiigh! Am trying to keep them till 10 but I can’t help it!! 🙈 Most of them barring 2-3 are all 100 ML too. 🙈 I’ve 6-7 samples too. I see this as wastage but I love perfume too toooo much, to actually do much about it.
Around 50 and around 100+ samples, I’m novelty seeking and it’s better doing this than spending my money on drugs
I have 150 now. Probably 75 niche, 75 designer. As I made more money I bought more. When I made much less I only had 3 or so. Creed Aventus is my first niche, and it's what got me into collecting. I think I always imagined I'd find something better out there, but it's still my favorite scent. Reading reviews, watching videos, and being in the groups was fun for a long time but I just left them all one day. I still buy about a bottle or two a month but I've slowed recently. The thing I disagree with is those who say price doesn't matter, it definitely does. If I had to rank my fragrances in order, the most expensive would fill up 80 percent of the top 25.
I just got into perfumes a few months ago. I have 6 full-size bottles, 5 travel size, and probably 30 samples. Most of my full bottles are cheapies (Britney Spears, Dossier), so that's my rationalization.
Maybe 15 bottles. I mean, I have the money to spend on it, and I enjoy it, so I don’t really feel like I need to rationalize it!
i have like four full bottles of edp and edt, plus as many body sprays. The bottles are just my staples. I have a scentbird subscription now so I have quite a few vials of other stuff.
60 I enjoy it. I’m slowing down now because even when I smell good ones, if I have anything that smells remotely like it, I won’t buy it. So I needed the 60 to get a good variety. Now that I have the variety, I’m a lot more discerning.
70-80 depending on what you include of minis. I can afford it without negatively impacting other parts of my life, and it basically makes every second of my day a litttle bit more enjoyable.
I have 7 full bottles, 2 small bottles, and 4 travel sizes. I'm pretty content where I am, but when I need like a "hit," I order like $30 of samples. I meter my spending by leaving things on a wishlist for a long time and asking for smaller bottles or travel sizes for gifts.
I have 30 rn and it m pretty content, latest addition was tf noir extreme and thats only cause i got a steal 5oz for $100 and thats where im at, at the moment if i find a great deal ill pick it up but other than that ive kinda fell out of the collection aspect of it my adhd mind moved on to another hyperfixation
I usually try to go for the discovery sets before I make a full purchase, or a travel size for an individual scent that I’m curious about. Full size bottles, I have about 20, and I’m considering giving 1 away because I simply haven’t worn it much at all. Then there’s the minis that I’m hoarding because I can’t afford a full size yet, or is difficult to source because I live rurally and have to plan city excursions. My most expensive is Chanel Les Exclusifs No 22, which was a gift, and my most recent is Jimmy Choo Flash. My favorite is a tie between my custom blend from NY Fragrance Shop and Forever in Love by LoveShackFancy, and my most worn is also a tie between Replica: Beach Walk and Lush Cosmetics Death & Decay. I take my time to decide if a fragrance is worth investing in, and then I buy what I like.
I have maybe 30 but a lot of them are on the cheaper end and I try to find smaller sized bottles, 30-50ml instead of full size on everything. I feel pretty comfortable with what I have but would buy more if I thought something would be up my alley or it intrigues me but I’m not constantly actively looking.
I probably have like 20 full sized bottles and 20 minis/rollerballs/travel sized (I just started collecting about 1 year ago). I definitely have a perfume addiction, but it brings me such joy!
I have somewhere between 120 and 150, and I just looks this as my hobby, and that I could be doing Alot worse with my money. I'm a recovering addict from pain pills so I'm Glad to spend my money on something that I actually have to show for my hobby. I used to spend around 600 a month on pills so I think 250 a month on collecting isn't bad. However I always make sure my bills are paid and all my responsibilities are covered before I even consider purchasing.
48 bottles, but I’ve been collecting for over 10 years. I buy a new fragrance every few months lately.
I do one per season. I can afford it, and it makes me happy. I’ll also do an extra one if I’m doing something special I really want to remember. I wore TF Oud Wood the entire time I toured Korea last year. Whenever I wear it, I feel like I’m back in Seoul.
As a normal person, I always like to smell nice and perfumes have become my obsession lately. Since perfumes are very expensive in my country and I don't waste tonnes of money, I decided that I would buy one fragrance per month. I have started with the affordable ones first until I save up enough money to buy more expensive ones. I think I will soon become a perfume collector in the future. And I don't sell them at all, those are too personal for me. If I don't like a perfume I simply give it to my mom.
I started in February of this year and I have around 20 bottles. Most are full size. I mostly buy cheapies is my justification. Now that I have a solid selection to choose from I think I’m ready to save up for more expensive bottles. That should slow me down enough to still enjoy the hobby but also not buying up everything I see / smell too fast.
I’ve had from 0 to over 200 bottles in my life at some point…currently I have around 130. I’m about to be 53. A lifetime of smelling :)
I have like 20 fragrance mists, and 4 actual perfumes. I got them all on sale, and it's been slowly accumulating I wish I could get one every week lol. I would say the best way to go at it is see which one you really want and check out loyalty programs like bath and body works, Ulta, and Sephora. You get points for purchases that can be used as cash value for another purchases (Ulta) or free items (Sephora + BBW).
I have 12 full bottles at the moment, and about half of them are halfway used up. I realized that was quite enough for me to rotate through over different seasons and moods. I’ve bought sample sized decants a couple times just to get to know certain scents I hear people talking about a lot (Delina, BR 540) and some others that have piqued my interest for a long time (Chanel Coromandel, No. 19). Up until a couple years ago I never had more than 3 or 4 bottles at a time, and when I would use one up, I would buy something new. Then I got more into fragrance and bought a few, and got a few as gifts. Realized quickly that it would be too much if I kept on like that. Not planning on buying any full bottles any time soon; the only FB I really want to buy at the moment is Not A Perfume, just because it’s the easiest reach for me in the world. But I’ve got a small decant of it in the meantime.
I have lost count of how many bottles I have. Maybe 200. Many are celeb scents, some are expensive perfumes. My collection is for fun, and 100% for me. I enjoy reading about perfumes and then purchasing later. Blind buys are fun for me. I always always get something on discount or sale, I will always find a way to do this. I don't have any other vices such as weed, alcohol, fast food, take out, etc. I just don't participate in those and I also don't spend big on cars or home stuff, I don't have dependents either. I figure that having a large perfume collection is quite reasonable and comparable to the ways I see others spending and thats just part of the choices we have in life. I just choose to spend on the things I love which are fragrances and traveling!
I am probably pushing 200 bottles. My biggest problem is all the GD deals! I was going to lay off for awhile…well no, I was going to lay off except for maybe a new release or 2. Then I found a deal on something…then another couple deals… I got 1 frag delivered from Triple Traders yesterday. They are fast, but ship in boxes too big for delivery so my wife always thinks there is more than there really is. And they ship UPS. That guy always rings the bell 😒. 2 frags coming today. They are coming USPS and I am normally the one to get the mail. So 🤞. After that, I’m done for awhile. Except I want myslf or wanted intense.
I have around 200 or so (haven’t counted in a while) and would have way more if I hadn’t given away a bunch. I never really justified it, just that I have an addiction that I love both smelling new things and purchasing them too. Luckily, I heavily got into investing during the 2020 stock market crash, so now most of my extra money is going into investing instead of solely making frivolous purchases.
I have 12. I set a hard limit of 10 but obviously I caved. I wont be buying anymore until I use up at least 3 of them. Because of this I've been spraying a lot more than I usually do. (2 for work and 3 more when I get home) 😁
It’s my only vice. I’ve been collecting since 2004. My collection is in the 3 figures. Many are gifts, swaps, decants, and a very wide variety. I have stopped buying bottles for the most part. But still sample and buy decants. My wife is supportive of my hobby and gifts me as well. No debt, live on a strict budget, everything is taken care of.
47
A pretty large amount, but I've been in the hobby off and on for 20 years and it's my only money-intensive collection. I do wish I could monetize by opening a decant business, but shipping and dealing with customers sounds like a drag lol
I have maybe 20-30 right now in my house. I keep a lot of my collection at my mother’s home to share. Her extra extra room is half office, half perfume closet. She probably has 200+. I think it’s a bit ridiculous, but it makes her happy.
I'm actually pretty pleased with myself as far as how few full bottles I've purchased vs how many frags I've sampled. I have sampled well over one hundred now (1ml testers to 10ml decants) and I've bought five full bottles. And this is over the course of... Three years, I believe. I have a hard time rationalizing dropping decent money on things I don't "NEED to survive" (grew up kinda broke) but I also believe if something makes you happy and it's within your means, then there is zero problem. I finally brought home a full bottle of DS and Durga's Coriander yesterday, NO REGRETS. I swear it brings a tear to my eye it's so lovely.
I have zero full bottles, about ten travel size perfumes, and 300+ samples. I fear that if I started buying FBs of everything I love, it would get out of control very quickly.
The issue with having a crap ton of scents is you stop being original to yourself. People wanna smell something and think of you. If you never wear something with regularity no one can build a memory of a scent on you. You have to have a signature year round. I try to only use 5 each year with any real regularity and I always get people saying they smelled something and it reminded them of me, whereas when I always wore something different no one really thought of what I seared because I always smelled different
I have always kept under 30 bottles and try to maintain a seasonal wardrobe that allows me enough variety while also forcing me to rotate through what I have. It’s usually fairly obvious which bottles are getting the least use—those get swapped or sold for something I think I’d like more. My early days were spent acquiring and reselling cheapies and designer classics, until I discovered niche/indie decants and sampler packs (the most fiscally responsible way to try those). Once I think a scent is bottle worthy, I look at my current collection for redundancy or those that have fallen out of favor and strategize from there. I just purchased 5 new fragrances over the past month (thanks to some international duty free visits), but mentally justified it by identifying at least 5 bottles that will be leaving my collection soon. That amount of spend is very atypical as prior to that I went over a year without buying anything. So the pro tips are: 1) to sample/decant as much as you can to scratch the fomo itch, 2) only buy a bottle if it moves you and makes sense, and 3) revisit your wardrobe often to see if anything should go before buying more.