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Frag Shopping

HMan

HMan

Doften Savant
@bentheduck and I were having a convo about frag shopping in my shave journal and it got me wondering. I'm totally new to the frag world but suddenly fascinated. The thing is you can't buy a fragrance based on it's description, because generally what it says and what it smells like aren't the same. (I had this same phenomena in the old days reading music reviews. I'd expect something great and be disappointed and half the stuff I loved got panned.)

So now that I've opened my eyes and found there are places I can check frags out here, I've been making an effort to do so. Still it's not the easiest thing for me to just pop into that kind of place but it's been working for me just by being honest. Hey I'm new and just want to check stuff out to find out what I like. The sales ladies have always been very helpful and I've genuinely enjoyed it.

How does the frag shopping experience work for any for the cadre's fragheads?
 
This should be an incredibly informative thread.

So far the only reason I know I like scents is usually because of Stirling. I know I love Spicebomb because of @Joe Hackett. Everything else is a completely alien environment.

My fiancee has a couple of friends in the frag department at the Dillard's her mom works at so she had a way better idea, but we have wildly different olfactory senses, although apparently she has no problem smelling human decomposition like me. (Funny not really funny story for another time.)
 
Go sit on @cmh737 's front porch for 4 days and he will eventually let you in to play with things.

PS. Make sure he's home and not on a set of shifts that has him away for the chosen period.
 
woodpusher said:
Go sit on @cmh737 's front porch for 4 days and he will eventually let you in to play with things.

PS. Make sure he's home and not on a set of shifts that has him away for the chosen period.
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Mmmmm. That sounds a little sketchy, but I'm down! Road trip!
 
Psst, hey, wanna buy some Guerlain?

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Like you said, I just pop into a store and start sniffing. If it's a store where you have access to the bottles, I sniff just about every one. And then do a test spray of my favorite to see how it is on my skin through the day. If the bottles are behind the counter it's more of a pain and I'll usually pick one line and tell them I want to try citrus ones. Try maybe 4-5 then say that's not working how about oud. Then same with the skin test. We have a chain Sephora, I don't know how wide-spread they are, but they will make a few samples for you to take home no problem.

If you're somewhere where you can't try what you're interested in, it's rough. Pay for samples if you have to. I keep some things in mind to try when we go to Vegas or places that have some things that aren't around here.
 
Check with others to see if I don’t have one that smells similar had been my ”MO” lately. I have a customer that is married to a heavenly woman that loves to gift really expensive frags so I usually only purchase Walmart or some generic knock off of frags
 
I've relied more on samples and decants than anything else, though I have a mountain of them at the moment thanks to a couple of the gentlemen on this forum. I've been really lucky with most of my blind buys as well. Also, if you're interested in one of the more expensive frags and can't find a place to try it out, the inexpensive clones are often not only a good alternative, but if you get one and like it, it is almost always close enough to the original that you'll enjoy the original as well.
 
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