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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think it's fine to try on perfumes in a shop?

97 replies

user3974465 · 12/09/2017 00:09

I was in Selfridges today, and they had the naice Tom Ford testers, so I sprayed my neck, wrists and jacket so I could try it out. I do this often and regularly return to buy or go online after I've worn it in. I don't think you can get a true feel for it from spraying it on the little strip cards. I do give myself a generous dousing.

AIBU to think this is perfectly acceptable? Id never thought of it before, but I noticed that the assistant sort of rolled her eyes at me. Is this a faux pas?! or Tom Ford snob specific

OP posts:
ChasedByBees · 12/09/2017 00:11

I think it's OK - they smell different on skin to a tester stick. They probably get lots of people using them as their personal perfume cupboard though.

littlecabbages · 12/09/2017 00:12

I'd say a spray on your wrist is enough to see how it smells on you. Spraying your jacket etc seems a bit cheeky/overboard but meh... I couldn't get worked up about that if I was a sales assistant

Original poster
user3974465 · 12/09/2017 00:14

@littlecabbages I should have added I was wearing it at the time, I just sprayed my lapel! :)

OP posts:
WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 12/09/2017 00:19

A little spray in one place to test, fine. Spraying on your wrist, neck and jacket generously is massively taking the piss, and is probably why the assistant rolled her eyes at you (if she even did).

AlexanderHamilton · 12/09/2017 00:23

Just one spray on a pulse point should be enough. You should then leave it to settle & for the bottom notes to come through. Three "generous" spats is taking the Mickey.

RunYouJuiceBitch · 12/09/2017 00:24

I spray them on my OH to piss him off. Always works.

Goodness knows what the sales assistant would have said to that! Shock

MrsOverTheRoad · 12/09/2017 00:38

Bit grabby OP.

hiphopcat · 12/09/2017 00:40

Oh hell yeah. I do this 2-3 times a week at Debenhams. Pop into the Dior and Chanel section.

Ain't paying fifty quid a bottle. Fuck that.

Original poster
user3974465 · 12/09/2017 00:41

Oh bloody hell another thing I've been doing wrong my whole life Blush

In my defence I've spent enough on perfume in beauty halls to be generous with the testers

OP posts:
MunchMunch · 12/09/2017 00:45

Yanbu

Well, maybe for spraying your jacket (I would too tbh) I like to spray my neck so that every now and again when it wafts up you get to see how it smells against your skin as the warmth and your own personal scent will affect it. I spray my wrist for more out of the bottle smell iykwim

KitKat1985 · 12/09/2017 00:46

I think a spray on your wrists is okay to test the scent. Several sprays on yourself is a bit cheeky. But I've done it too

mathanxiety · 12/09/2017 01:14

How else would you find out how the perfume smells on you? The cards are useless. If you want to figure out whether you personally like the smell, then a blast to the neck is probably enough though.

YANBU on the whole though. The testers are there to attract interest and to get people to buy.

thecatfromjapan · 12/09/2017 01:18

Selfridges is surely stuffed to the gills with people spraying perfume? It certainly has been whenever I go in. I'm sure she didn't roll her eyes at you. She'd have been too busy trying to deal with the order from one of the million customers crowding around the counters, surely?

over40andpregnant · 12/09/2017 01:19

That's what they are there for to try?
I would never buy before trying
But yes after working in perfume you do get some of the same people in every day to come and spray or ask for free samples
Well back when I worked on one 20 years ago

thecatfromjapan · 12/09/2017 01:21

Mind you, YABU in spraying yourself all over in just one perfume.

Selfridges is stuffed with perfumes. You have lots of different bits of your body. It is your duty to spray different perfumes on different bits because it is so exciting to smell all the different perfumes and it is absolutely wrong to give yourself up to just the one.

ImaLannister · 12/09/2017 01:21

Oh I douse my self in it! Wrists, neck, hair. No ones ever looked at me and said anything. Take advantage of smelling great for free for a bit. Same with those free little makeovers, all ready for a night out then! 😂

thecatfromjapan · 12/09/2017 01:23

... and then, of course, forget what you sprayed, where, and what the name of this incredibly amazing scent that you sprayed just here was, that you really, have to, must try again ...

thecatfromjapan · 12/09/2017 01:24

By the way, I hope it was the new TF you tried, "Fucking Fabulous". Was it? (Fabulous, that is.)

silverbell64 · 12/09/2017 01:24

Yes of course you can spray a product on you before wanting to buy it.

TooSleepyToCare · 12/09/2017 01:39

I honestly wouldn't worry about it at all. You'll be one of hundreds of people she'll see. It's not like it's her perfume you're using. Imo that's what testers are for.

hairymaryquitecontrary · 12/09/2017 02:00

I wouldn't imagine the sales assistants give a fuck about how much of the testers you use, it doesn't affect them in anyway.

CoughLaughFart · 12/09/2017 02:11

Bit grabby OP.

Seriously? It's a couple of sprays from a tester. She's not asking to bathe in it.

steff13 · 12/09/2017 02:14

Am I the only one who gets a headache from people who douse themselves in perfume?

scottishdiem · 12/09/2017 02:51

Testing is spraying a dab on your skin, waiting for it to settle and then smelling to see what it is like.

"I do give myself a generous dousing."

That isnt testing. That is putting on as if you would at home and heading out to work/event etc. Saves buying it I suppose.

hairymaryquitecontrary · 12/09/2017 02:53

Of course it's testing. It's testing what it would smell like if you used it like you would at home.
But seriously, who could give a fuck? Are the poor little perfume companies going to go out of business cos she takes 3 squirts instead of 1?

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