AIBU to think this is a bit rude/ cheeky?

I have clothes in a wardrobe in my spare room. I wouldn’t expect guests to wear them without asking! I think it’s weird to use your perfumes without asking first OP.

I also wouldn’t use someone’s else’s shower gel or shampoo left in their bathroom either!

I think the fact they were there in the guest room led her to think they were there to be used. So it wasn’t unreasonable of her on that basis - she probably saw it a bit like nice hand lotion with the soap, or something like that. The “getting my money”s worth” comment was clearly an attempt at humour and meant she enjoyed them and felt that you’d been very hospitable - that sort of thing?

It's perhaps not usual, but I think there's enough latitude in it to think that the guest wasn't being rude, she just misunderstood that those things were not intended for guests to have a little spritz to try.

In the same situation as the OP, I wouldn't think for a second that a guest was being rude - just that they had made the wrong assumption.

I actually do put various expensive perfumes in the guest bedroom for guests to use if they want tobut I would be put off by the «getting my money’s worth» comment. I don’t expect gratitude but I also don’t expect «in-your-face entitlement». What’s next, a suggestion that you add some body products for layering and buy the latest Hermès variants before her next visit? I would be irritated.

I wouldn't use them personally, but I wouldn't expect people not to use them if they are displayed in the guest room.

You don't generally leave things that you want to keep out of bound in the guest room. Different when you give your own bedroom and take the sofa.

Guests room are where you put unwanted items, and things specifically for your guests.

For you they are expensive perfume, but they could still be unwanted. They could also be fake, or whatever. So it's not outrageous for someone to use them - it's not like she went rummaging in your own bedroom or bathroom

Performs behind a glass cabinet is not the ‘usual’ for a guest room.

It’s one thing to tell people “oh I’ve left some toiletries for you if you need them”.

Quite another to just help yourself.

But perfumes displayed in a bathroom, and going through someone's fridge are very different to a guest using toiletries placed in a guest room?

As they were in a glass Cabinet, which you have to open, I think it was cheeky to use them.

Yes it’s cheeky. My gorgeous, generous MIL has beautiful perfumes displayed in her bathroom. In 30 years I’ve never once sprayed any unless she has encouraged it.

Same with people going in other people’s fridges. Not the done thing. Poor manners.

They’re obviously all cheeky feckers!

I leave toiletries in the guest room for any guests to use. It wouldn't be in the least ill-mannered for someone to use them, since that's precisely what they're there for. People use a little of what they need or want. I'd probably find it a bit odd if someone sought separate 'permission.'

That's pretty normal in my experience.

Totally agree.

What did she mean? "getting my monies worth".

I have to ask, who on earth has FIFTEEN bottles of perfume? Especially expensive perfume. I only have a couple on the go at any one time, as if I had any more, it would nearly all go off before I could use it all. No-one is going to use fifteen bottles of perfume before they go off! You'd be binning twelve of the fifteen bottles!

Don't post on AIBU the because you clearly think you are not

I'd say your guest using them ALL for the sake of it and the comment about getting her money's worth was beyond cringe. I would see no issue personally with a guest using a little of my scent in a normal way, though.
If you like having them on display, it'd probably better to keep them in a room not open to guests.

Sorry but no.

This whole “well they were in the guest room, so I can see why she’s use them” argument is bollocks.

I would NEVER use anything in someone else’s home without their permission, guest room or not. And nobody else with manners would either.

I would find it odd too OP, but I think storing the perfumes in the guest room blurred the lines a bit.

I think she assumed you didn’t mind as they were in her bedroom. She probably thought you are a top class hostess - next level from some nice handwash

I think that's really cheeky! But I would have reacted in the same way as you did, out of surprise!
She should have asked

Yep

Very rude. And if she comes again clear the shelves and she will realise you weren't happy, you won't need to say a word.

How extraordinarily rude and entitled! Her comment about 'getting her money's worth' says it all really. I'd make very sure everything is locked away and out of sight if she ever stays again.

Well, of course. But the point is whether she was rude to use them, which she wouldn't be if she had genuinely assumed they were for use by guests.

The OP had not intended for her to use them, so the guest was mistaken rather than rude, imo.

It doesn't seem a question of reasonableness or no. I think I'd have thought they were for general use too; were I you, I would just take it as a lesson learned and move them somewhere else. Her comment though, was a bit rude, esp. as it indicated she knows perfumes are expensive and that her use of them was a big cost to you.