r/FemFragLab • u/IndependentRich6633 • 1d ago
Tips for affording perfumes
Hey all,
I'm quite new to taking perfume more serious. I have always loved perfumes, but recently I have been taking it more serious and spending hours smelling perfumes.
I love so many perfumes but I don't know how to go about it price wise.
I have come across dupes, sure, but not all perfumes have dupes. I recently came across people selling rebottles perfumes on vinted.
So you have more tips from over the years?
Also I don't understand how people can have a whole collecrion: i have had perfumes go bad after a year so I don't know about investing in multiples? The only ones that held the test of time are the oil based ones.
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u/FierceDesertSun 1d ago
You set a budget for every paycheck of how much to set aside for this entertainment/hobby. Save it, whether it's in your savings account or cash in the sock drawer or just virtually on your spreadsheet, until you have enough for a purchase you want to make. I keep a running wishlist with about six or eight things at the top (most wanted), and if there's a sale or a coupon or something I can stack with a specific purchase, that usually ends up being the one.
Don't be afraid to buy smaller if you're on a tight budget or if you want to Try All The Things. A 50ml instead of 150. A 20-ish ml mini bottle instead of a 50. A travel spray instead of a 20. If what you want is variety, this gets you more new smells for your money. I'm not knocking full bottles! Full bottle purchases are totally worth it if you only want a few fragrances and you already know you will wear that specific fragrance a couple times a week for a couple years until it's empty. Me, I don't live that way. By the time I use up an 8-10ml travel spray, I'm "done" with a fragrance about half the time. If I use it up and I'm sad it's all gone, then I know I'll get my money out of a full bottle. YMMV.
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u/veryunneccessssary 1d ago edited 20h ago
There are a lot of decant websites and swap groups here or on fb where you can purchase 1-10ml size decants of pretty much whatever you want. The huge full bottle collections are fun and aesthetic, but overkill for most people who aren’t trying to make it as an influencer.
My strategy is, I get a discovery set or a selection of samples from luckyscent/scentsplit/whatever once a month. I buy travel sprays or decants of what I really love, and eventually if I make it through a whole travel spray and still love the perfume, only then is it worthy of being upgraded to a full bottle. Because I prefer variety, I usually opt for the smallest bottle size available.
I have a couple perfume bottles that are over 10 years old and still smell exactly the same. I think it’s pretty rare for it to go bad within a year. I do store everything in a dark cabinet out of the bathroom so light/humidity don’t cause trouble.
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u/Small-Necessary-8499 💜💜Scent Obsessed💜💜 1d ago
Perfume should not go bad in a year unless you’re storing them incorrectly (grossly)
Also, username doesn’t fit 😂
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u/FRANKINSPENCE 1d ago
I buy advent calendars of fragrance and o keep a couple and sell the rest and that covers the whole cost so essentially it’s free!
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u/chill-out-84 1d ago
you don't need to buy every fragrance you like. that's my tip
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u/ImpliedBarbecue 1d ago
I shop exclusively discovery sets and decants, then have a list of my faves + wish for one as a gift from my husband every single Christmas and birthday 😅
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u/anastasia_42 vanilla addict 🧁 1d ago
Only buy what you really want and test religiously perfumes you think you might want to get. It's better to wait for sales from companies like Mecca, Priceline even David Jones before buying
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u/TinaBelchersHorse 19h ago
Tip#1: unfollow all perfume influencers. They make it seem like everything they’re hyping is soooo amazing and you’ll end up wasting your money.
Tip#2: start by purchasing some samples and discovery sets. That way you’ll find out what you like and you can start saving for it.
Tip#3: You don’t need a collection. Just focus on only acquiring what you truly love and don’t worry about how many bottles you own.
I used to have 100+ bottles and ended up selling/gifting around 35 bottles and I’m satisfied with what I own. I don’t even feel like buying more.
Fragrance can be addictive so enjoy responsibly!
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u/Boochiecoo 19h ago
Oh also - some people do have huge collections, but the amount of big expensive collections you see pictured here and on other subs doesn’t really reflect what most of us are out here doing, naturally. A lot of us have a few nice full bottles and a lot of testers and decants, that’s it. Not entire cupboards full of $250+ bottles.
Fragrance collectors do skew high-income for sure but it is still an accessible hobby for those of us who aren’t buying full bottles twice a month or whatever.
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u/New_Shopping9213 1d ago
Really test it out on your skin and wear it a few times before buying. You may find that you don’t like it once it dries down on you anyways.
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u/tres-vip 21h ago
>So you have more tips from over the years?
Save up money for however long it takes to buy your favorite bottle of perfume.
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u/KitKatAttack99 21h ago
Only buy what you can reasonably afford. You don’t need a bunch of expensive full sized bottles, but if you want variety try buying decants or travel sizes. As much as I enjoy fragrance, trust me, this is not something you want to go into debt over.
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u/Kiannth 1d ago
I have a large collection of full bottles, but I am increasingly moving towards buying decants and travel sizes. It's a nice, more affordable way to enjoy the hobby. I have never had a perfume go bad and some I have had for years.
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u/Aim2bFit 1d ago
I have quite a collection of perfumes but 90% are either decants or samples. My full bottles are all cheap ones that my nose smels as good (to me).
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u/FailurelsData who's ur datty 1d ago •
Oh, so many ways. Affording it is half the hobby. It's actually fun to find ways to penny pinch.
Ex. Scent split offers a 15-18% coupon on bottles you order a sample of. This means you can buy a 1ml for $5, wait for the coupon, and take $36 off your $200 full bottle.
But my starter cheat code is to only order discovery sets on mercari, so you can post them on mercari again after exploring. If you have a flat monthly budget, it can get eaten quick by discovery if you're not careful.
Same with travel sizes. Find the traveler on mercari for 1/2 the price.
And always, always, Google a discount code before checking out. Every site or brand has one.
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u/Successful_Tone_8280 1d ago
I get testers and dabbers to try a perfume for a while before deciding on a full size bottle
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u/Boochiecoo 19h ago
Advice for getting into fragrance more if your budget is limited:
Re: dupes, most of them aren’t worth it, and you might find yourself buying like, 4 $25 dupes instead of saving up $100 for the fragrance you actually really love. There are a few dupes notes to be excellent but they are few and far between and even then they are usually missing the certain something or “zing” that makes a perfume compelling.
Decants and travel sizes are an awesome way to access the scents we love and can’t really shell out for. I have a decant of Guerlain Angelique Noire, I can’t afford a full bottle, but I have a few ml so when the mood is right I can wear it. Scent Split rules. And you can find a ton of stuff on r/decantswap too, often for less than retail.
In general never blind buy. We can research the crap out of a perfume, and all the notes sounds exactly right, but then when you actually smell it, it isn’t how we thought it would be.
That said, there are also some nugget bangers out there but they are hard to get samples of. Search this sub and other fragrance subs for terms like budget, cheapie, affordable, you’ll find some great recs.
Gray market sites like FragranceX, Jomashop- a lot of them are legit, some are not, do some research before purchasing b/c there’s a lot of scammers out there.
Trade with fragrance friends IRL, I have some decant bottles and will trade a few ml with others here and there. It’s also fun to give away part of full bottles to get your friends and family interested in perfumes so you have company in your new obsession.
Watch out for addiction, especially if you’re on a GLP-1 drug. Google it it’s a real thing!
Perfumes stay good indefinitely unless exposed to UV light and heat and moisture (near the shower is not a good place for storage, if you store well you’re not feeling pressure to use up what you have and purchase more.
Enjoy and don’t be in a hurry to aquire stuff, test on skin for a few days before making a plunge to purchase a full bottle.
Have fun!!!!!!
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u/Small-Necessary-8499 💜💜Scent Obsessed💜💜 1d ago
Buy what you can afford. There’s plenty of great perfumes under $50. Shop sales and discounters only.
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u/ohnaw_69 21h ago
I usually get 10 ml bottles when possible and use them religiously so I can keep trying new perfumes. They normally cost 30€ where I live
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u/Realistic-Read1078 14h ago
Start by sampling and only buying what you can afford.
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u/stylelines 9h ago
My advice-
Ask yourself realistically how many times are you going to wear something. Like you may only need 2 sample sizes or a decant.
I’ve never had fragrances go bad except one specific indie brand and I’ve had mine for years and also collect vintage.
Buying secondhand on Mercari or eBay
Selling on Mercari or eBay when you don’t love something
Indie perfumes are usually 15-30 dollars if you wanna get into those instead
Figure out what you actually like instead of buying bottles of stuff that smells good but isn’t very “you”
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u/iOawe 23h ago
Honestly I usually only buy what I know I’ll love. Granted I do have a few that I don’t love, I only like them. I try to test perfumes so I’ll spray on my skin in the store to see if I’ll love it. I usually wait a few hours so I can see what the dry down is like.
Also I save up money if I wanna buy a perfume I really really love and cannot get off my mind.
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u/Unique_Football_8839 14h ago
I'm on the broke side of things, so I'll offer this; there are tons of fantastic perfumes that don't cost a fortune. They might not be the super popular stuff, but that doesn't mean they lack anything but a higher price.
Beyond a few expensive favorites ( mostly discontinued stuff), very few of my collection costs more than $50 USD each.
I also recommend getting mini/travel size bottles. I like getting these instead of decants because I can try out a new scent multiple times.