Today’s MQ is quick and easy:
Which samples are in your purse or upon your person at this moment?
Are you carrying a well-edited selection?
A big jumble of hopefuls?
Or just one particular sample or decant?
Do you ever carry a full bottle?
My Answer:
I have a 15ml travel bottle of Hermès Paprika Brasil in my bag as well as a sample of Hiris (which I love!).
I never carry a full bottle, but make myself a decant if I want to bring something in particular.
I used to exchange the samples in my bag regularly, but lately I have been happy with Paprika Brasil as it seems to mesh well with whatever I applied in the morning (which is usually some other Hermessence to tell the truth and they all seem to complement each other well).
What treasures will your bag yield today?
Olfactoria's Travels 
I carry 30 ml and less bottles with me for re-application, for bigger bottles I always have decants. So every day with me I have the perfume that I wear (Guerlain Angelique Noire today) and several samples – just in case. For the last several months I had with me Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia, Black Vetyver Café and Saffron. I think that “just in case” happens a couple of times a year but I like to be prepared.
Oh, love Angelique Noire (when not used as furniture polish 😉 ).
I like to have a back up sample too, I was a girl scout: be prepared! 🙂
..and an easy MQ to answer: a handful of Atelier Cologne samples. I mentioned I am on the quest for a ‘personal style’ in perfumes, and currently these are strong contenders. Orange Sanguine, which I had rather dismissed when it first came out, is doing particularly well in the cold weather, and my Mistral Patchouli was a favourite in the autumn.
I always liked Paprika Brasil but have run out, so maybe one of those lovely travel sets might be on the horizon for me, together with a similar set of small AC sprays; those should all keep me entertained for a while!
I’ve just bought a decant of Orange Sanguine and have been enjoying it a lot, but it’s summer here. Glad to hear it holds its own in the cold.
Atelier Cologne is such a nice brand, the aesthetic and the perfumes are great.
I do carry bottles, usually, but today I just have two decants from my new bottle of Armani Prive Pivoine Suzhou and another new one by Khaltat, whose perfumes I have just discovered and they are gorgeous: Aloha, which is an oud with coconut (would you believe?), tonka and jasmine. Their Love is one of the best OBs I have ever tried.
That sure sounds interesting…
coconut and oud, could go very wrong or smell amazing.
I carry decants of “Inside Donna”, Paul Smith´s “Rose” and “Aquasense” by Lancaster. Plus some 1 ml viales with samples, f.e. Robert Piquet´s “Visa”, several Guerlains and some others.
Love that you have a good selection with you.
Simple: I never carry FBs, and at most carry a decant, if I have one, of whatever perfume I have worn that day in case I need a re-spritz. I replace it the next morning with the next day’s fragrance.
I’d be hopeless at one of those magazine features – ‘what your handbag says about you’. Mine says ‘she travels light and is boringly well organised and disciplined’. But, I just don’t like carting about a lot o’ stuff!
That is a great thing for your handbag to say about you!!!
Agreed! I think you may have posted a humblebrag😄.
I’m glad to read that you’re wearing fragrances again 🙂
I don’t carry any myself because I dont reapply. Is that odd? On the upside I get to experience the extreme drydown of fragrances which sometimes is fantastic. It’s part of the reason I enjoy so many Lutens.
A little Hermès goes a long way in deceiving the Asthma! 😉
In my handbag I have 5ml travel atomisers of Amouage, Epic and TF Sahara Noir (my handbag standards) plus a 10ml travel glass bottle of FM Musc Ravageur that has been there since Christmas and I keep forgetting to remove (it isn’t in a case and I’m worried it might smash).
Remove it now, a handbag full of MR is a lifetime commitment! 😉
Will do! x
🙂
None because I don’t reapply, plus it would be too much trouble for me to switch out decants when the perfume I’m wearing clashes with what I have in my bag. That said, if I were to bring a “universal” perfume with me, it would be Le Labo Vanille 44 because it goes with everything!
It is good to have such a universal scent, it gives me peace of mind. 🙂
I’m so happy you love Hiris too!
I mostly stick to full bottles (though they’re too heavy to carry around) but I have really enjoyed the decant of Kiki Voile d’Extrait Val sent me.
So that is why your bag is so heavy!!!
But I understand wanting to have the bottle close at hand.
None. My handbag is heavy enough as it is and I just don’t want the added weight. Besides, I do not reapply because I either reapply in the evening or switch to something else. Hiris is wonderful…
Glad we agree on Hiris!
I don’t usually carry FB in may bag. I usually decant my favourites into Travalo type atomizers for the reapplication.
Today I’m carrying Back to Black, courtesy of Val, Alpha and Omega by Mendittorosa, and Swan Princess by The Vagabond Prince.
Are you happy with the Travalos? I like the idea, but find they evaporate so quickly…
I’m quite happy with them so far. I don’t fill them up, usually 2-3 ml. The ones I’m using at the moment are not actual Travalos, kind of generic look a like. 🙂
That’s good to hear!
I would never carry a FB in my bag – it’s nowhere near big enough, given the other stuff I like to have with me – and I have just been to have a look at what is lurking currently in its depths: Mona di Orio Vanille and OJ Tolu, for no other reason than I forgot to remove them after the last day I wore them. My usual MO is to carry that day’s sample vial to top up with later. If my SOTD or E is from a bottle, then that’s just tough – no refreshing occurs! 😉
Glad you unearthed something lovely for the sake of this question. 🙂
I never reapply. I have my little leather bag from Ms Bonkers with me most of the time though. A few things in there in case I get run over. Dunno what’s in there right now. Some Amouage decants from Sandra I think. xxx
In case you get run over – haha, a true fumie! 🙂
Funny this question is today. I went to San Francisco yesterday. Converted a friend to the joys of F. Malle. The salesman gave us 5 samples each of other scents in the line and then threw in 3 aedes de ventus (spelling?). I have such a wealth of samples I am giddy!!!
Oh my, that sounds like heaven! Where did you guys get all the samples??
We were in Barneys in SF. I guess shopping during the super-bowl is a good thing. I have been there before but never had this sales person, he was some what in the know as well which is not always the case.
Sounds like an excellent outing!
Enjoy your loot!
Currently, my bag has a decant of Bvlgari Black and one of Sous le Toit de Paris, and I recently also added samples of Osmanthe Yunnan and Vetiver Tonka. The Vetiver Tonka has just been perfect for the cold snowy winter days!
Glad you are loving the Vetiver Tonka, Nemo!
I have the MFK Globetrotter with my Oud Silk Mood perfume refill!
😊xx, Annie
http://www.anniesbeautyblog.com
These refills are so practical!
Naah, my bag is fragless. I do have an emergency Tous Gold in the car in case I find myself in the world scentless. It’s a pretty, generic, drugstore white floral that comes in the cutest 10ml bottles for a song. There seems to be little natural ingredients and can take the beating of being in the car for some time.
Portia xx
Portia’s bag is fragless – who would have thought?
Love the emergency stash! 🙂
I always carry a sample vial or two with me, in the dark depths of my handbag… It’s usually something familiar and well liked, like OJ’s Woman or Oud. BTW, I never reapply my SotD, it’s usually some potent stuff 😜
I can imagine that you don’t have to reapply 777 or Masque Milano…
When I was mostly monogamous with my perfume, this was an easy question to answer (always a travel spray of Opium), but today I had to look. It’s a spray sample of Jo Malone Blackberry and Bay. I rarely reapply, but keep a spray sample or travel spray in my bag in case my brain malfunctions and I run out of the house without perfume. (There’s a travel-size dental floss in my bag as well, also in case of extreme forgetfulness.)
Blackberry and Bay is lovely!
I try to sqeeze in some time to scent myself before heading out everyday so any samples that I wish to try will probbly be used then.
I do however keep a few fail-safes in my bag for emergencies, occasionally 1-2 samples and the days scent in a travalo if I had one filled (those little things just never seem to be enough do they?)
I currently have as staple: L’Ombre Dans L’Eau and Hedonist; as sample, Chanel Beige.
Such pretty perfumes! I like your current stash a lot, Etomidac.