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The great decanting exercise

post #1 of 19
10/31/07 at 6:01pm
Thread Starter 
This is my first post on the board although I've been lurking for a while so hello to everyone. I've been a perfume obsessive most of my life starting from when I was still at school and used to beg the sales assistants in my local department store for empty tester bottles to get the bottom dregs of the bottle as I couldn't afford to buy. Since then I've been hooked.

I was inspired to post as I wanted to share some pictures of my great decanting excercise this evening. I spent the best part of half an hour preparing, decanting and labelling my Serge Lutens and Annick Goutal fragrances into purse size atomisers. I'm so proud of myself as I didn't spill or waste a single drop. After many many failed experiments I've now managed to get decanting down to a fine art thanks to getting the right tools for the job. I thoroughly enjoyed myself!

I was ridiculed by my boyfriend however who called me "deeply sad". Unfortunately for me he is a fragrance ignoramus who doesn't wear scent, prefers to wash himself in the shower with washing-up liquid and doesn't share my perfume love. Thus I thought I would share my efforts with the basenotes community who might appreciate my feat. In the pictures the ribbed atomiser bottles contain my Annick Goutals, and the rectangular bottles contain my Serge Lutens.





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post #2 of 19
10/31/07 at 7:22pm
Hi ilookflawless, Welcome to Basenotes! Very nice looking decants and great pictures. Now you just have to watch out for purse snatchers from Basenotes and don't worry, around here, you're "normal" haha
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post #3 of 19
10/31/07 at 7:52pm
A+

ilookflawless just messed up the grading curve everyone!!

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post #4 of 19
10/31/07 at 8:08pm
Wanna swap or sell some of those beauties?
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post #5 of 19
10/31/07 at 8:45pm
Wow. Just, wow. Absolutely fabulous (and great pictures too).

And welcome to Basenotes!
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post #6 of 19
10/31/07 at 11:51pm
Your photography skills appear to be as excellent as your decanting skills!

Welcome (from another noob.) Looking forward to more!
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post #7 of 19
11/1/07 at 3:38am
wow... well done!
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post #8 of 19
11/1/07 at 5:47am
Welcome to Basenotes...!

It's all so neat and organized..! lol... Nice..!
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post #9 of 19
11/1/07 at 6:26am
Thread Starter 
Thanks everyone, i'm still basking in my joy and I have the Grand Amour in my bag for my lunch time top-up and then Rouge Chypre for my evening fragrance change.
I am proud of the neat and organised way my decants turned out. Unfortunately it took many many attempts over the years to get this far - i've ruined whole bottles and wandered around with scented fingers in the past from spills and accidents.

I might look to sell some decants at some point in the future, but at the moment it's purely for my own convenience and of course enjoyment! I'll take pictures of my whole collection soon and post them in the pics thread on the main discussion board soon.
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post #10 of 19
11/1/07 at 9:06am
Flawless, I'd like to know where you got your decant bottles - I need to do the same to some of my scents!
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post #11 of 19
11/1/07 at 9:36am
Thread Starter 
I'm in the UK so it's been a bit of a struggle as I haven't found anywhere decent in the UK that sells decanting supplies - as you might tell I'm rather fussy about how I treat my scents! In the end I ordered through 2 USA based sites:
www.accessoriesforfragrances.com and www.pilotvials.com

They both ship to the UK. The shipping costs are reasonable and not ridiculously inflated, from my own experience of posting packages airmail across the Atlantic. My order arrived really quickly (in about a week) and service was faultless. I even got some freebies. Having the right tools made all the difference from my old decanting days. I used to use syringes and needles which I bought from the chemists but I did get lots of funny looks and I'd have to explain that the needles were for perfume decanting and not anything more sinister!
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post #12 of 19
11/1/07 at 11:14am
Welcome Ilookflawless!

You're home!!!! What a great job, and great pictures! I have to say that's a tasty little collection you've got, too.
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post #13 of 19
11/1/07 at 1:43pm
Welcome to basenotes!!

Your decanting looks flawless. Well done. You have quite a collection of Lutens, which makes me jealous.
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post #14 of 19
11/1/07 at 4:22pm
Thread Starter 
I have now bought all the Lutens export line fragrances which I love - it's the exclusives next, starting with a bell jar bottle of Rahat Loukoum....
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post #15 of 19
11/2/07 at 2:53am
I have four Lutens...but I'm lemming MKK. Sigh.
Thanks for the links.
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post #16 of 19
11/2/07 at 7:57am
love the pics!
I'm still dealing with messy smelly fingers.
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post #17 of 19
11/3/07 at 1:54am
Fantastic pics! You put my decanting efforts to shame (all my labels have fallen off, so I have to go by smell now, and I use plastic spray bottles - I've decided to buy glass ones after seeing your splendid results!).

I like the fact that you've grouped them by perfume house. I never thought to do that. I just decanted the perfumes I tend to use the most so I can carry a small atomiser with me for top-ups during the day. And also for holidays, I only take the decants with me.
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post #18 of 19
10/7/11 at 12:37pm
just decanted to 5 ml little Bottles
juicy couture - dirty english.- awsome sprayer, works great for decanting, no spilling at all
versace - pour homme.- it sprays like a damn cloud, spilled a lot
BurBerry - london.- it was going all good until i reach 4ml, spray strong and it Bounced over the juice spilling out the juice i had already inside the decant... dayum! fuck, feels like i wasted a little drops of one of my favorites juices
terre d'hermes.- no proBlem at all on this Bad Boy, awsome decanting, 100% clean, sprays great and i just sprayed 32 times inside, thats 8ml (8 sprays=1ml), to avoid what happened with BurBerry - london
YSL - M7.- it sprays a cloud, atomizer is Bigger than the rest, wider, so i was having proBlems hitting upon inside of the Bottle, i spilled juice ΒΆ=(
thierry mugler - a*men pure malt.- it doesnt spray much, everything was great for the first 2ml, after that i saw juice dripping down the Bottle, i didn't waste it i put the Bottle against my skin , so now im smelling like a comBination of all this scents
i think the proBlem here was that i had too Be spray with more confidence, keep spraying and spraying hard, i was hesitating sometimes, doing half-a-sprays, i think this is when it started to drip. its fucked up though, i wasted juice of my pure malt

in my experiece when decanting i suggest not filling the Bottle more than 4 ml, Bcus then is when the juice that you are spraying starts to hitting hard the juice and Bouncing it Back, am i explaining myself? lol

if you'll got different less-messy ways of decanting please let me know

i hate decanting to 5ml Bottles since its harder Bcus the whole is smaller
it would Be easier decanting to 8 o 10ml Bottles
the proBlem is that this Bottles have atomizers that sprays too damn much
i think 3-4 sprays equals 1ml of juice
i don't know where i could get 10ml Bottles that have atomizers that not waster all that juice
if y'all know let me know , please.

thanx in advance
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post #19 of 19
10/7/11 at 12:58pm
Quote:
in my experiece when decanting i suggest not filling the Bottle more than 4 ml, Bcus then is when the juice that you are spraying starts to hitting hard the juice and Bouncing it Back, am i explaining myself? lol

Yes, I often find that I can't necessarily fill a sample size atomizer all the way. Somewhere around the 75% full point it starts bouncing back out. Not all atomizers do this but it is maddening when it happens.
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Basenotes › Basenotes Forums › Fragrance Discussion › Just Starting Out › The great decanting exercise