"The blind-buy game"; anyone else who can`t stop playing it?

Oh, at one time or another, I think about 99.99% of us . . .

Cheers,

Mario

It is the way, not the goal, that is so attractive. My experience as well, waiting for sometimes a big disappointment.

That´s why I am here.

I don't think I've bought simply on the bottle. Bargains are what tempt me (Grey Flannel for <$11 on bigdiscount, for instance). On occasion a fellow basenoter will have waxed so poetic/euphoric that I will buy on the strength of that.

For me, it's the name game. For example, I've never smelled The Brun (Brown Tea) by Jean Charles Brosseau. Still, I LOVE tea-based scents (e.g., Bulgari Black, Silver Mountain Water, Bulgari Red Tea, Tea for Two, etc.), and the name intrigued me. Almost no information online whatsoever, with a few Basenotes members telling me that -- of the three men's scents Brosseau released last year -- The Brun was/is the best.

I do this kind of thing often -- and sometimes (but not too often) with regrettable results. For example, I thought that Serge Lutens' Chypre Rouge sounded intriguing (on the virtue of its name alone). "Damn the reviews," I thought. (The name sounded to me like something Theda Bara would have daubed on her perfect breasts, or Valentino on his perfect ass cheeks.) And so I shelled out the bucks for a bottle. WOW -- what a disappointment. (It's since been swapped to a Basenotes member who's ga-ga for it, and I got a huge bottle of Silver Mountain Water out of the deal, so all's well that ends well.)

In short, I have to stop paying less attention to names when I make blind buys, and start paying more attention to pricing and (more importantly) the voices of others better informed than I.

Oh yes I know this game and have played it many a time. The last time I did however I guaranted at least one hit (but got many) by going for the Tester Kit from Frederic Malle. Especialy god for people who like to have several scents on hand and match them to their mood :-)

Ask the red numbers on my bank statement . Since I buy most everything on ebay there's the excitement of finding an offer of a rare or highly vaunted fragrance, the mounting tension of observing the price development, the thrill of the bid in the final minutes, the satisfsaction of the incredible deal, the anticipation of getting it, the precious moments of unpacking the treasure, the first spray. All this adds up to more fun than the actual fragrance in many cases, even if that be satisfying. In other cases, like with L'Homme Sage recently, the scent itself was the orgasmic climax .
But you sure as hell can get addicted to this cycle. I for one need to stop for financial reasons, but when those 1-Euro offers for some Creed or Etro pop up, I can't help but observing them, and if the price is just too good to resist, well it's too good to resist. Sigh.

I hate the blind-buy game. I bought a bottle of Marc Jacobs Perfume based on a test strip in a magazine. Fortunately I bought it from Sephora.com, so after wearing it for a day I realized that it was SOOO not for me and was able to return it.

A couple years later, I decided to try again based on a sample vial of MJ Essence that I had received from Sephora (I am a total junkie and place a big order with them every other month). After 2 spritzes, I was ready to say goodbye and packed it back up and returned it.

THEN I decided that based on what I had read, Must de Cartier would be the perfect scent for me since I love oriental fragrance and reading about the fragrance's notes sounded appealing. I bought a bottle from Sephora...and this time when I didn't like it, I felt so guilty about returning the two other bottles that I kept it. I've gotten about 1/3 through the bottle of EDT from guilt ("gosh, I spent all this money on it so I should probably wear it, jeez...") but mostly from not having any other fragrance to wear, as my bottle of Angel had been thoroughly exhausted.

Finally when I made a trip to the big city I was able to go to Nordstrom and make some educated perfume buys. Once my fragrance wardrobe was built up I was able to stop forcing myself to wear a "guilt buy" and so now it's on my trade/swap list.

My latest blind buy has been Serge Lutens MKK, we'll see how I like it when it arrives... Gosh, I don't think I'll EVER learn. I wear other musks (especially Kiehl's Musk EDT spray) so I'm hoping that I'll love it.

"The blind buy-buy game" I indulge quite frequently. I buy based on the notes and customer reviews. What keeps me in the game is relentless pursuit of the perfect frag. Perfect for me, that is.

My first rule is to buy the smallest possible size. Some retailers sell sizes less than an ounce. More than a sample and provides enough to allow you to determine whether it's worth buying more.

Second rule is always find the lowest possible price.

Third rule is stay within my predetermined disposable income budget for the month. The tough thing for me was to admit that I have a spending problem, not an income problem.

S.

I can't see why you continue buying blind if you are disappointed most of the time.

By way of contrast, I've been very pleased with around 85% of my blind purchases, and okay with most of the rest. I've only been disappointed with the longevity of a couple of scents, not with their actual smell.

To increase my chances, I'm very selective about who's reviews I'll follow - I've got a good idea of who has similar tastes to me.

Also, I buy from Strawberrynet a lot - so after I've picked the two scents I want, I often go for a cheapie scent as the blind buy, as that brings the total scents to 3, and I then get a further 5% discount on the total price. This makes it a very, very cheap blind buy.
Renato

I think there's a certain "gambler's logic" involved in the blind-buy game. That's why we keep playing it, much like the poor soul in Vegas who remembers her last big win and wants to recreate it or trump it this time!

Now that I've learned about decants, I probably won't be playing the blind-buy anymore. HOWEVER...I am absolutely in mad, passionate love with MKK so I'm really glad that I bought it. My best blind-buy yet.

I have had two really good experience with blind buys, one with Tabac Blond and another with a decant of Bond no 9 West Side. The first was based on reviews , the second based on notes. Today I wanted desperately to blind buy a little bottle of a edt I had never heard of, in a little pale lavendery pink box.. it was called Metropolitan line, Madeliene. It had a picture of the metro sign for this stop in Paris...oooo....but I refrained. It is easier to refrain from blind buys when you have three growing children at home who need shoes, new eyeglasses, etc. sigh.

I bought Youth Dew Amber Nude at Costco the other day - $38.99 for the 2.5 oz bottle. A good bet. Sweeter and spicier than the original YD. But I was sorely tempted by a bottle of Rio, as well.

i am about to be umemployed by 2007. But I coudnt stop this game.
i feel you.

decants / samplers never work much for me much since i also love the beautiful bottles. i don't get tht high on samplers or decants. as i do with a full bottle even if it's just 30ml.

A fault I've gotten better at by buying samples. But today I wasted a LOT of time fighting the urge to buy a bottle of Serge Lutens Chergui. Never sniffed it, can't afford it, but had to have it. Did not--so far. I tried to get a decant, but can't figure out how to do it. When I clicked on one of the people who was willing to decant I didn't get contact information, I got a list of somesort. Now if only I could switch my obsession to figuring out this site!

Well, I buy blind a lot but only when:
- The fragrance is extremely cheap;
- After reading a lot of reviews, mainly the ones from people I know that have similar taste;
- After looking carefully at the olfactive pyramid.
Until now, 60% of my blind buys satisfied me.

Out of the several dozen 'blind-buys' I have initiated only one I don't really like so far: Issey Miyake L'Eau D'Issey pour Homme. I find it a bit cloying and too floral for my taste.

And the one counterfeit I received from an eBay buy (eBay seller bisyss00 sent me a boxed 'Green Frich Tweed' in place of the GIT he had advertised) could have been avoided had I discovered this site and the Fake Creed threads prior to the sale.

I have spent nearly $1,000 in TWO months buying blind. I buy based on reviews and the fragrance notes listed in the pyramid scale. Almost all my blind purchases have been disappointing up to this point. I'm still waiting on a shipment of 9 new colognes I bought blind.

It's tempting when Fragrancenet.com (which already offer discount colognes) also offers FREE S&H with the purchase of $60, and also gives me 15% off my entire order (in addition to the FREE S&H).

Beauty (like a GOOD fragrance) is in the "eye of the beholder." Somebody's nasty is another persons gold.

For me, this has become a very simple mantra: never buy blind, never buy blind, NEVER buy blind. See how simple that was? :-)

Seriously, I've been once bitten, twice shy with blind buying. I simply decided I would sample first then buy. It's saved my bacon twice already.

For me at the heart of it all is the search for the "holy grail" as mentioned by others. Although I live in a big city, the practical matter is that I don't have time to drive around town doing live sampling, so I end up making blind buys. Basenotes provides a great opportunity to at least minimize the risk of a "bad buy". Kind of like letting your mouse do the walking.

Cheers...

I have been good, keeping blind buys under $15 and no more than 1 per month.

I have relied on the reviews of Basenoters (in particular Joel_Cairo, who seems to hit the nail on the head, at least for me, with his reviews of scents).

I have bought 'blind" over a dozen bottles of juice and the worst of them has been very good IMO. Most are wonderful. Decants and samples from our fellow Basenoters have accounted for several of my full bottle buys that I really enjoy.

My only questionable blind buy was one I made on impulse and without checking a review as I hadn't yet found Basenotes. I bought it blind at full retail last summer from a local department store. It was Issey Miyake L'Eau D'Issey pour Homme. It is the scent I least enjoy but don't really dislike that I own.

I've been fairly new to perfume promiscuity - I only ever bought stuff I sampled before I came to this site and became enthralled with note pyramids and words like "sillage."

I've made a couple of semi-blind purchases - I bought Alien after smelling a magazine strip (successful) and Aromatics Elixir because this has smelled fabulous on other people (less successful, as it doesn't smell quite so good on me). The only completely blind buy I made was Youth Dew, and that didn't work at all. From the notes, I should like it, but actually, it smells like harsh soap.
I won't be doing that again!

Fortunately I live in London so I can go into town and test things if I really need to. But buying off the 'net is so addictive!

I have given up the blind buys on the internet. Hubby is patroling the Visa statement!

I only blind buy when it's super cheap (think perfumania.com 5 for $25 sale).
I get 5 perfumes. I only spend $25, and generally I like at least 3 of them.

I made a couple of disappointing blind buys when I was new to fragrances and didn't realize how completely personal my reaction to each fragrance is--it just can't be predicted by reviews. For me, the key is not to say "no blind buys"--I'm bad with rules--but to stop approaching each purchase assuming it will match some ideal in my head that I create based on the notes. Instead, I try to take a skeptical view. I try to imagine that there is some note that disagrees with me, or it's too this or too that. Somehow just imagining the possibility of disappointment helps quell the craving, or at least keeps me from getting carried away. I also remind myself of all the great frags I already have or have access to, and that adding another to my collection will just mean less time enjoying my favorites. It's easy to value the unknown over what you already have.

OK well, I made another blind buy, (CSP Vanille Mokha) but it was a fairly no brainer one. And I do like it very much.
When it comes to more complex scents, though, you really are best off testing them. You may think you have a fairly good idea of what you like from the notes, but you really can't always tell.

I have made a few blind buys on the internet, but I'm happy to say that I love most of them. I mostly go for special offers of perfumes I've read about and which has notes I know I like. Some of the blind buys, like SJP Lovely, Piquet's Bandit and Alexander McQueen's My Queen has become staples on my shelf. Others are fine for now but won't be restocked.

I've gotten more careful and try to get samples first, or at least try them on at a shop somewhere, but I live in a small town with little to choose from, so it's not always possible. I agree with you that it's the thrill of the auction sites that keeps me interested, and also it's very hard to resist when I've read loads of positive reviews of a fragrance. I'm getting so much better though.

I just posted a new thread on this in the Male Fragrance main thread; should have known that this is a popular topic. Well, at least I'm in good company. I would say my luck lately in blind buys has been pretty bad. I purchased them on rave -- AND I'M TALKIN' RAVE (LOL) -- reviews here on Basenotes and elsewhere:

Zino Davidoff
Trussardi Uomo
Tuscany per Uomo
Jaipur homme

Traded all but Trussardi, which i just got........April 11!

No more blind buys for me.....unless of course the bottle's cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And since we can no longer buy decants here or on e-bay, but we read about fragrances with rave reviews---what to do? Does luscious cargo or scented monkey still offer samples or has The Big Six ( in Luca Turin's words ) shut down that venue as well?

I live in LA ( well, I reside in LA, whether I'd call it living is something else) but I can't imagine it would be very productive to go to any high end mall, and ask for a test sniff of Zino, let alone Idole de Lubin or Ungaro 1

There's Tijuana West (Santee Alley in downtown on Saturdays --a packed madhouse ) and after a long aerobic exercise of walking one may be able to find Ungaro 3 NIB, but test it ? I doubt it.

Oh, well. Perhaps I should consult the I Ching as to what full bottles to order?
And to think I suggested to Musse that buying frags because the bottles were blue was not very rational. My apologies.

In the encouraging words of The Emperor Nero
(sometime before The Senate had declared him a public enemy)

" Only misers count what they spend. "

* sigh *

To love me is to smell me,

Mario.

I believe you can stop the madness with a carefully controlled program of 'samples only'.They are readily available on Ebay. The last time I checked they still were selling decants, too. I pm'ed one of them. She said they haven't made any official announcement yet, and it might be that samples will still be allowed. They are all planning on going out on their own anyway. Personally I don't know how they are going to police it.

Anyway, Aedes, Hampton Court, Lucious Cargo, et.al,are easy to deal with. I have so many baggies I have sorted into houses now, it's like a library of scent. I don't see how I could ever run out at this point, or ever use it all up. I think we should all figure how many of our inventory were blind and of those, what % were bad choices. That should be enough to point us in the right direction. We all want all of our wardrobe to be keepers and devote all $ to top rate scents we love. Why settle for anything less? (I'm just giving myself a pep-talk here, don't mind me).

I also seem to enter the blind zone whenever i go out testing/buying frags, like somehow my brain goes into a hunting mode and i am out to get whatever i haven't got, and sometimes i regret it but most of the time i don't because if i do i will have to think of a way for it to make it worth in some way or another and not feel like my trip was a total waste of time, then i like to think in terms of "what knowledge has this experience given me?" be it good or bad, it's always interesting.
I don't buy or trade online, but in real life it happens all the time that i remember someone's review, or that i remember that x frag has great notes or that y frag is their latest offering and the ...everything is possible.

cheers

Options paralysis I think they call it. So many choices can make your mind go numb so sometimes we just do a blind-buy simply because we feel unable to make an intelligent decision in face of a million tester strips.
I myself am in the process of going cold-turkey on blind-purchase (Ebay). I see it as an addictive/ compulsive behaviour and dispite the humourous comments we all make to soften the reality of the situation, I can't personaly allow myself to be driven by my compulsions anymore.

Hi there ... i agree with you totally............i have purchased 75% of my collection blindly..............so far i have not been dissapointed.........but this is getting addictive and costly........

I totally agree, it's the same thing for me.

When you find steals its just so hard to not blind buy

I'm getting to the point where I might have to get my husband to change my ebay password and not tell me what the new one is.
Either that or I'll have to take up knitting or watching tv, rather than prowling the internet reading sbout delicious things to smell that then spark the 'oooh - want, want!' reaction that sends me off to search ebay for things like Carons, Malles and Lutens when I know they won't be there and I'll just drive myself potty buying things that I don't really want that much.
The trouble is, there's a bottle of Narcisse Noir on my shelf that I scored for twenty quid. It's hits like that which keep me coming back for more, like a sad, sad junky.

I MADE myself stop playing it after the Ebay Lolita Lempicka L and Bvlgari Femme incident. Disastrous. Luckily the Bvlgari found a home with a friend who it smells amazing on. I'm still looking to place the L.

Oh dear. I think I may have reached that 'rock bottom' thing. Ysatis Iris on ebay. Sillage monster.
How can I inflict it on a friend?
Maybe it will just have to stand there and accuse me. And remind me not to do it again.

It's odd but my Internet blind buys have all been successful. I've discovered Asja, Theorema Uomo, Claire Nilang, and several others by reading notes/reviews on Perfume Emporium and Basenotes. Even the minis have been good. I can't think of any failures. HOWEVER...whenever I visit the States I go ga-ga for the ridiculously low prices at TJ Maxx. Out comes the credit card, and I end up with things I'm not at all wild about (they don't have testers). I don't know what happens but it's only when I'm on vacation and I see prices in dollars, not euros. I worked it out, though. When I go to the Maxx I carry a small amount of cash only, no cards. Once I'm home, thinking about it, I usually don't bother to return to buy. We all have our blind spots and triggers!

Is it that bad? I have that on my to-get list Blind to-get list I mean...