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Blind buy: great disappointments

post #1 of 24
4/7/08 at 9:47pm
Thread Starter 
I had high hopes for Parfumerie Generale's "L'Eau Rare Matale". Very high hopes.
I love L'Artisan's "Tea for Two" and have sampled other PG scents that spell-bound me.

I nearly blind-bought Matale. "How bad could it be?" All the reviews are so enticing.

Luckily, I sampled it.
Twice.
On me, it came across as Kevin Stanzi would say: Whos headed to the Amazon? I smell bug spray! , but with black pepper.

The magic combination of perfume and personal chemistry still amazes me.

I dodged that dread moment of tearing open the box and finding a Christmas Day lump of coal in the shape of a coprolite.

Anyone else with (near-) unhappy stories?

Repeating that mantra: "Never blind-buy". I must write that on my morning mirror.
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post #2 of 24
4/7/08 at 9:52pm
Well lucky you.. I have a store close by carrying some expensive niches BUT no flippin' testers.. meaning I can NOT sample before buying if I want to buy

Yep, I haven't fallen... yet.
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post #3 of 24
4/7/08 at 9:54pm
My most disappointing two were, "Hey, what a great deal!" blind buys... Luckily, that's a blind buy rule for me, so I can generally turn a slight profit instead of eating a big loss.

*Green Valley. I don't dislike it, and I love Green scents, but this one is just too smotheringly sweet on me. I think it's the violet, but the 'Thick Sweet' notes in this dominate on my skin unlike many others.

*L'Anarchiste. Had high expectations, as I tend to like 'different' scents. Meh. It's not really a bad scent, it just doesn't do much for me. Kind of a menthol and clove thing going on with my skin. Sure, it's different, just not in a way that I ever got used to or really cared for.

Havana would've been a huge disappointment had I pulled the trigger on the couple of times I almost have. I finally got a sample of it and was completely unimpressed.
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post #4 of 24
4/7/08 at 10:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Silleur View Post

Repeating that mantra: "Never blind-buy". I must write that on my morning mirror.

The cheap thrill of buying something blind is like playing the slots. It's when you find yourself at the card table that it can really hurt.
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post #5 of 24
4/8/08 at 4:37am
Worst "blind" bargain purchase was Fracas Homme by Robert Piguet. Absolute rubbish. Nothing at all in the same league as the fantastic female fragrance.
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post #6 of 24
4/8/08 at 7:21am
I made "no blind buys" my new year's resolution in '07 and happily I have kept with it since then.

One reason I think that blind buys can be so disappointing is that one builds up expectations of how great something is going to be, and when you get it, it turns out to be not that great. It might be all right, or even pretty good, but you have built up so much "Christmas morning" anticipation that it turns into a severe let down.

I had one good blind buy that at first was a total disappointment: Hugh Parsons's Blue. When I got it I was so let down. What is this? Is it cleaning fluid? Starch? Then a Basenoter (Dr.Creed) suggested I needed to allow for the dry down to happen and evaluate the fragrance at that point. He was totally correct. Luckily I didn't sell or trade it as I had been considering doing, because this turned out to be an absolutely great fragrance.

Still, blind buys are usually not a good idea in my book.
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post #7 of 24
4/8/08 at 8:51am
Higher by Dior. Big Mistake!!!!!!!!
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post #8 of 24
4/8/08 at 9:01am
Was pretty disappointed by Witness, really wanted to like it 'cause I'm a cinnamon fan, but I found it brash and cheap-smelling. Luckily I just got the small size.
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post #9 of 24
4/8/08 at 9:22am
I've made two blind buys. FRACAS for Men and OPIUM PH EAU D'ORIENT '07. I was definitely disappointed with the Fracas as compared to other brilliant scents from the House of Piguet. However, I do like and wear it for it's own merit- It's basically a long-lasting, clean smell. The Opium is good too. But I really like the original, so a variation wasn't too much of a risk. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I can't live without them or that they turned out to be holy grails or anything like that, but they are fine. I have, of late, been tempted with NOIR EPICES. Then I read these warnings about blind buys and have to shake my head and think- "samples, samples, samples."
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post #10 of 24
4/8/08 at 9:31am
  • KMF
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The two big ones that come to mind are Basala & Geir. Basala was so bad that I couldn't last 30 minutes with it on my skin. I loved the opening on Geir, but the drydown was less than spectacular... Of course I blind bought both of them in the same purchase. Lucky for me the online shop took it back with no restocking fee and I got my money back...
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post #11 of 24
4/8/08 at 11:09am
Geurlain Coriolan - It isn't bad, but it smells like old man. With all the great fragrances out there, there is no reason to buy something that you don't love.
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post #12 of 24
4/8/08 at 11:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zerby View Post

Higher by Dior. Big Mistake!!!!!!!!

It was made by Dior, what did you expect... lol
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silleur View Post

I had high hopes for Parfumerie Generale's "L'Eau Rare Matale". Very high hopes.
I love L'Artisan's "Tea for Two" and have sampled other PG scents that spell-bound me.

Was it supposed to smell like Tea For Two...?
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post #13 of 24
4/8/08 at 11:40am
Racine, MPG I really like this fragrance very much, But lasts about as long as a fart in a whirl wind! How do you figure this from an MPG frag?
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post #14 of 24
4/8/08 at 11:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMF View Post

The two big ones that come to mind are Basala & Geir. Basala was so bad that I couldn't last 30 minutes with it on my skin. I loved the opening on Geir, but the drydown was less than spectacular... Of course I blind bought both of them in the same purchase. Lucky for me the online shop took it back with no restocking fee and I got my money back...

LOL...Basala is a whole spicy forest on fire! i love it, but i can understand whr you are comign from..
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Quote:
Originally Posted by somethinpositiv View Post

It was made by Dior, what did you expect... lol
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Was it supposed to smell like Tea For Two...?

hey common Colin, Higher is not so bad ! one of the most tranparent frags out there...
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post #15 of 24
4/8/08 at 11:51am
hehe I'm very opinionated

take my comments with a grain of salt
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post #16 of 24
4/8/08 at 12:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by javagreen View Post

Well lucky you.. I have a store close by carrying some expensive niches BUT no flippin' testers.. meaning I can NOT sample before buying if I want to buy

Blind Buy...hmmm.. It would have to be Creed Original Santal....Glorified Joop...

Hmmmm..No testers...That irritates me. These niche frags are investments as far as I am concerned and I will not even consider purchasing unless I can sample in some way. I am not hearing any floppy excuse-they need to up their game.

Best,

Otto
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post #17 of 24
4/8/08 at 12:12pm
Haven't regretted any blind buys, thankfully
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post #18 of 24
4/8/08 at 12:14pm
Blind buys are the history of my life...
After 40 bottles bought this way, you learn where to look for suggestions and you avoid having great expectations... In my case, the secret to success is a combination of asking people you have noticed that share the same taste, the olfactive pyramid and the house responsable for the creation of the fragrances...
At the moment my statistics of satisfaction point to a 50-50%
It's indeed a risky way of buying, although you will always have basenotes' trade forum.
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post #19 of 24
4/8/08 at 12:17pm
I usually keep my blind buys below $30. 2 exceptions have been D'Orsay's Arome 3 and Chevalier.
I took a huge chance and it paid off. They are 2 of the best fragrances to come my way in a long while.

Basala was one blind buy that didn't work for me either but I continue to forge on with it hoping I'll change my mind.

Rive Gauche was my latest blind buy it it's a dud for me. I got if for cheap on e-Bay after reading and re-reading the reviews and it just ain't happening for me.

I still love the thrill of the blind buy and that first spray can be the most magical if it works. For the most part, I've loved my blind purchases but I still need to be more careful.

Eric
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post #20 of 24
4/8/08 at 3:34pm
I got a great deal on Pour Un Homme De Caron on ebay, but I think I really don't like it. I regret buying it. Fortunately it works out to only about eleven cents per ml. I haven't learned my lesson though because I'm sure I'm going to do another blind buy again. I've had so many good ones.
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post #21 of 24
4/9/08 at 5:34am
I've bought most of my niches blind - slways being careful not to expect too much.
I was, however, sorely disappointed by Creed Royal Water (this was early in BN life) and by Casanova and Jules Verne by Histoires de Parfum (gave the first to my father-in-law, who wears it much better than myself). and I really though G 11 by Il Profumo and Courvoisier would suit me, but no, not at all. Up until now, I've always been able to get rid of these without too big a loss, or even a small profit.
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post #22 of 24
4/9/08 at 6:10am
I'm a hopeless blind-buyer. There, I said it. Some have worked out very well (Sables, Héritage EdP), many others have turned out to be disappointing (just see my swaplist...). But I'm sure I'll do it again anyway. I guess it's the lure of the unknown.
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post #23 of 24
4/9/08 at 7:12am
My most disappointing buy has been Creed Himalaya. But then again, it might have something to do with me not finding these kind of fresh/acquatic scents interesting after 30 minutes.
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post #24 of 24
4/9/08 at 7:39am
Personally I've purchased and/or swapped for many fragrances blind. I'm not sure I agree with the mantra "Never buy blind". I think my mantra tends to be "Never spend more on a blind buy then you are willing to loose". Really, no matter how completely you research something, you never really know until you try it and even then you sometimes have to try it a few times. Sort of like blind dates. Another key to successful blind buys is to let the fragrance be what it is. Sometimes when we blind buy we do so with expectations of what the fragrance will be rather then letting it be what it is. When it is not what we expected we are disappointed rather then letting it be what it is and judging it based on that.

That being said, my biggest disappointment was back when I first started and had not learned the above lessons. I purchased a decant of Creeds Green Irish Tweed. It ended up being not to my tastes, which was a huge disappointment given the buildup I had from reading so much about it.
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