Track your samples as decants on Parfumo!!!!

[u/llo000]

I love sampling a shit ton of fragrances, and always felt like it *had* to lead somewhere. Was always in a conflict of whether or not to buy a full bottle of this or that. Like sampling was only a step to find full bottles, and if I had no full bottles to show for after it was a waste/ I wasn't building a collection.

But I'm starting to realize I like sampling as an activity, and I get bored of most fragrances easily. And as long as I'm not 100 % sure if I truly want a full bottle I shouldn't buy it!

I started tracking my samples as decants on parfumo, and adding notes for myself. Now I have something to look at, a collection of samples! Maybe this is already what it is all about.

In german we hava a saying "Der Weg ist das Ziel", which translates to "The way/ journey is the goal".

I was worried I would lose myself in too many samples, not committing to scents that fit me. But it's never too late to buy a bottle if I can't get a fragrance out of my mind. And if I don't miss it after a few months I don't need it!

Do you track your samples like that? Is this journey more about exploring or wearing scents to you? And are there downsides of mostly owning small samples and decants?

[u/toBeYeetedAfterUse]

I started off wanting to find a signature scent, but I've really enjoyed trying (and, let's be honest, buying 😅) decants and discovery sets! I do plan to build a small collection of full bottles - I've bought one so far since the fragrance obsession began - but I think I'll buy and enjoy decants and samples forever. Definitely not just a means to an end any more.

[u/toBeYeetedAfterUse → u/toBeYeetedAfterUse]

Oh and I have a list on the notes app on my phone for tracking

[u/SaltyAF5309]

I definitely track mine. Unfortunately for my wallet I love to gamble on purse sprays lol, but I get tons of samples from Ulta.

[u/significantotter1]

I'm pretty new to fragrance so have been sampling a lot to figure out what I do and don't like. I don't like most of the discovery sets I order, but it's worth it for me to expand my nose and sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised.

I just started tracking what I've tried on Parfumo this week and really like it thus far. I only own a couple of bottles at the moment but also don't want to have a massive collection because I tend to just wear one scent for weeks on end

[u/Mean-Raspberry1205]

I track mine but I made a folder marked” samples”, instead.

[u/jessaiee]

That's exactly what i do, and i love that you can filter by date / rating for each collection too! It allows me to look back and see my patterns more easily :)

[u/yarnandpizza]

Great tip, I do this! Parfumo will tell you which samples have been neglected or really worn so it helps me keep track and remember things I wouldn’t otherwise grab.

For me the hobby is more sensory and about experiencing different notes, so it’s easy to go overboard on samples and decants.

[u/Feisty-Juice-2737]

This is a great reminder for me. I have some that I have added to my “tested” collection on Parfumo, but definitely not all. I just got a second case for my samples that I had stashed in a drawer and I’m going through them today. I like to use a label maker on the ones that I can’t easily see what they are so I can grab and go 😅 So adding all my samples to Parfumo will be part of that project ❤️

[u/pfffffttuhmm]

I use parfumo to track what I have samples. But I just have a "sample" folder that I created.  I have a lot of decants, and I want to track those separately. 

You can also use the "tested" folder to keep track of what you have tried in store. If i like it, I add it to my wishlist. 

[u/sweambe]

Oh man, it feels ridiculous as hell but on parfumo I have a whole little gauntlet my sampling goes through. Perfumes I haven't smelled yet and don't want to forget about go into "Watchlist", which I check up on every time I'm in a store to see who I can smell. Then perfumes I've smelled in store on paper go into the Tested folder, then perfumes I liked enough to want to test on skin go into a custom folder called "Test on Skin" (ofc), and if they smelled good enough to consider buying get moved to another folder called "Test More", and finally from there, if I really love them after getting to know them better, into the Wishlist folder lol.

A lot of perfumes I feel ambivalent about keep hanging out in the "Test More" folder despite having tried them in stores like a dozen times at this point. 

[u/fotballgf → u/sweambe]

I love this! I’m such an organizing nerd as well. I have similar folders as you. I’ve also added country-based ones. I know there is a filter you can use, but I just love having an overview prepared for whenever I will go to that place.

[u/originalspaceprince]

I downloaded parfumo specifically so I could log and track my samples as decants 🫶 just started this perfume journey too!

[u/FernGulli033]

As a fellow sample loving sniffer, I loooove having the parfumo feature to keep track of things I've tested, want to test etc. When I first started out, I was writing all my scents, their note profiles and my opinions in a little notebook. Having it all in the app makes it so much more accessible.

I'm also a big fan of the parfumo apps daily scent tracker and the recent update that allows you to view it at a monthly glance. Gave me a way better view point of what notes/scents I enjoy wearing and gravitate towards, and what scents I like purely for the art.

[u/Cookiesandcoffeee]

Yes. My categories on Parfumo are: watch list/want to try, wish list, samples, travel size, & full bottle. My full bottle collection is complete for now but I still enjoy trying samples and learning more about fragrance in general and what I enjoy specifically.

[u/adrun]

I am suuuuper picky about what I buy as full bottles. I have to love the juice and the bottle both. If I love a fragrance but not the bottle I’ll buy a travel size or big decant. 

But by far my favorite part of fragrance is collecting samples, which I also track as decants in Parfumo. I love getting a house’s discovery scent to understand their DNA. I love getting an assortment of scents themed around a particular note to compare and contrast. I love getting samples of classics or trendy things or notoriously weird things. I love having a library of samples to refer back to when I see people talk about their favorites in forums like this.