MONDAY GIVEAWAY: PERFUME AND COSMETICS SAMPLES

OK, it's a day late, but at least here it is - the periodic giveaway.

I’m not only a perfume sample junkie, I’m also a cosmetics sample junkie. I love those little packets, tubes, and bottles, and will buy full sized things, usually things that I actually want, to get more of them even though I have enough. My cosmetics collection rivals my perfume collection, and I actually use both of these collections so little that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to keep them at their current size. I would like, at the very least, to create some sort of homeostasis so that things move out at the same rate they move in. 

This week’s exercise in elimination will include the usual 100 g of assorted fragrance samples, but it will also include a variety of mint-condition skin-care and skin-enhancement samples. I’m pretty particular (and lazy) about what I put on my face. I don’t use any sort of sunscreen product, and I never use any sort of foundation unless I’m going to engage in a major photo shoot. I won’t use lotions, moisturizers, serums, and other such things if I don’t like the smell, or if they’re strongly perfumed, even if it’s a scent that I might like in another context. I don’t use face primers, highlighters, contourers (is that a word?), or face powders. Nevertheless, I’m always receiving unsolicited samples of these things, and they just sit gathering dust. If you like face products, you’re in luck this week because the giveaway includes a goodie bag full of these things.

To enter the drawing, leave a comment about whether you use face products of any sort and, if so, what you like and/or dislike.

[Upper photo is mine, from our December trip to Vancouver Island. Lower photo is modified from a vendor's image]

THE EXPERIENCE AND THE ARTIFACT + A GIVEAWAY

Today, as a special Monday treat, we have a post from Azar along with an unusual giveaway. 
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A few years ago, several on-line self help magazines, as well as various consumer psychology journals, were pushing the notion that the best way to be happy and enjoy life was to accumulate positive experiences (e.g. vacations) rather than possessions. Recently a number of psychologists have modified this stance to include purchases that facilitate good experiences  (experiential products). Ever the skeptic, I tend to suspect that any article referencing consumer psychology is nothing more than a sneaky way to sell me something, like a trip to Bali or another guitar. But what does this have to do with perfume?

When we buy a bottle of perfume we are obviously not just buying the bottle, however elegantly simple or gorgeously ornate it might be.  We are purchasing days and sometimes decades of fragrant experiences.  When the jus is gone we can chose to save the experience and the artifact!

Even though I don’t go out of my way to collect perfume bottles I have, over the years, accumulated a nice little stash of vintage commercial bottles as well as several hand blown originals. Just the other day I spotted three partially full, mid-20th century perfumes on e-bay for  $18 total. They appeared to be in perfect condition and the largest looked like a Lalique.  I was the only bidder and was thrilled when the bottles arrived, better than described. My three lovely treasures were in perfect condition, except that the glass stoppers were seriously frozen in place.

If I were simply a collector of artifacts I would have put my new acquisitions on display to enjoy as possessions. But, as a collector of experiences, I felt compelled to release the long imprisoned djinni from each bottle.  I knew that this could be risky business but I had to give it a try.

When a ground glass perfume stopper is stuck in a bottle it is essentially "glued" in place by old, dried residue that has been forced into the ground stopper time and again by repeated expansions of the glass.  I have had some success loosening stoppers by using a few drops of perfumer's alcohol around the edge to dissolve the "glue".  I gave this method a try but nothing moved.  Next I tried three drops of fractionated coconut oil and waited twenty minutes.  The idea was that the oil would seep down the stoppers and loosen them by lubrication.  Once again, I had no success.  It was time to risk the freezer. 

When ground glass stoppers (primed with fractionated coconut oil) and polished glass bottles are quickly cooled they seem to contract at different rates.  After thirty minutes I removed the bottles from the freezer, gave each stopper a little jiggle and heard a satisfying pop and hiss.  The 50-year-old seals were broken. The perfume djinnis quickly escaped into a new century.  Not only were the old fragrances in near perfect condition there was also no damage to the stoppers or bottles.  A most satisfying experience!

Here are a couple of questions, dear readers:  How do you remove frozen stoppers from perfume bottles?  Do you have a memorable perfume-related experience to share?  Answer either of these and be entered into a drawing for the sweet, little empty 1 oz. Evyan Golden Shadows bottle, circa 1940, pictured above. The drawing will be next Monday, February 1. 

Azar xx 

[vintage bottle photos are Azar's; Glass stopper photo from Wikimedia; ski photo grabbed from the usual webcam source]                       

CULLING THE PERFUME HERD: WHO GOES, WHO STAYS?

I imagine most readers of his blog have experienced having an overload of perfumes in their collection. We keep chasing after the latest, most amazing fragrance, our noses always quivering on the lookout for new thrills. Some objects of pursuit deliver on their promise; others don’t, but stick around anyway making our closets look like hoarder heaven. For me, it’s not just perfume bottles and samples – I have way too many cosmetics, clothes, shoes, plants, books, jewelry-making supplies, and other things.

I think humans are collectors by nature, keeping stashes of stuff around in case of a shortage, but we’re also fickle consumers, firmly believing that the grass is greener somewhere else and the newest perfume will be better than the old ones we already have. The result is cluttered drawers, closets, cupboards and, as it turns out, websites.

We perfumers are in the awkward position of being expected to make creations that are good enough to persist and become classics, but at the same time we are expected to constantly come up with new fragrances and release them on a regular basis. In biochemistry, there is a phenomenon called “product inhibition” in which the product of a synthetic reaction feeds back on the system and prevents further production. At some point in perfume-making there is a crossover between production of new fragrances, what the perfume-maker can effectively manage, and what customers looking at a website or store display can cognitively process before becoming overwhelmed by the selection.

I’m sure we have all visited websites where there was such a bewildering array of different products that we ended up not wanting to buy anything simply because we did not want to take the time or put out the energy needed to review everything and make an informed choice (BPAL, I’m looking at you). As a perfumer with online shops, I like to keep the choices broad enough to be intriguing, but limited enough to be manageable. I feel like I’ve reached that crossroads point where some fragrances have to go to make room for other things.

My web-hosting platform can do an analysis of sales of all products over any time period that I specify, so I did the analysis to find out which fragrances were lagging behind in sales. Several were consistently low on the list, with Little Stars placing last or near-last throughout the 5 years that I’ve been in business. I’m not particularly fond of this one myself, so maybe the low sales were due to insufficient promotion on my part, but I’m not going to try to second-guess the reason. I had originally conceived African Orchid as a replacement for Little Stars in the orchid floral line, so I don't feel too bad about discontinuing Little Stars. I plan to do so in the near future, selling off my current supply at discounted prices.

Another fragrance with consistently low sales is Javanica, but I’m more on the fence about this one. Discontinuing two orchid fragrances at the same time would weaken that line, although I could easily produce another, better (in my opinion) orchid-themed floral to replace Javanica.

If you’re a reader who has tried my perfumes, which one would you like to boot off the website like a bad TV show contestant? Which one would you most like to see stay and keep you company?

Cast your votes for “eliminate” and “keep” (one each) in the comments section and be entered in a worldwide drawing for a 5-ml spray of the fragrance of your choice along with some other random goodies. 

[RuPaul Drag Race photo adapted from Buzzfeed; entomologist photo adapted from Wikimedia; ridiculous shoe collection from Runner's World; Perfume Brawl graphic adapted from a game website]