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Original poster

Do you buy your perfumes yourself or ask to be gifted?

40 replies

AguaMinerale · 18/05/2025 07:25

It’s such a frivolous purchase that it has never occurred to me to buy my own, and I am 46 and a good earner. Luckily, always ask what I would like for gifts, so I have been stocked up. But lately I have a craving for several perfumes of my youth, about £30 - £40 each and I am just thinking to buy myself. Like, why have I never done this before, but still dithering. How do you justify it, other than I want it and I have the money?

OP posts:
IchBinPapst · 19/05/2025 23:59

I buy them myself. Nobody else is going to buy them for me.

I love green florals and deep, dark tuberose scents and have a drawer full of really nice £30 - £40 ones I wear every day.

There are two I really want now but I’m baulking at them as they’re £220 each - Byredo Rose of No Man’s Land and LbTy Wild Rosinda. I asked DH if one of them was a possibility for my 50th and he just laughed when he saw the price. (That sounds meaner than it was, he just really doesn’t ‘get’ perfumes - to him it waou be a £220 bottle of water).

SurpriseSparDay · 20/05/2025 02:42

Apart from a few specific perfumes that I sometimes repeat buy seasonally, I generally prefer to experiment with samples rather than commit to full bottles. Both

Les Senteurs

and

Bloom Perfumery

are excellent at these - the latter especially.

From specific brands I like the sample offerings from:

Celine

Frederick Malle

Perfumer H

Bloom Perfumery: Buy online exclusive niche perfume and home fragrance

Bloom is the famous London perfumery stocking the best in independent, exclusive and niche perfume, brands from all over the world. Worldwide shipping.

https://bloomperfume.co.uk/

gollyimholly · 20/05/2025 02:50

I buy them myself and actually don't like being gifted perfume. I'm very fussy with smells and will only wear three very specific scents... For me perfumes fall in the toiletries or make up category and I'll buy and replace them as needed without much thinking. They feel like very ordinary purchases for me as they've become such everyday items of use.

(I also don't like sharing what they are with others and so I couldn't be gifted them for that reason)

SurpriseSparDay · 20/05/2025 03:08

Is that about not giving people opportunities to judge your spending, @gollyimholly - or for some other reason? (I’m just curious!)

gollyimholly · 20/05/2025 03:52

SurpriseSparDay · 20/05/2025 03:08

Is that about not giving people opportunities to judge your spending, @gollyimholly - or for some other reason? (I’m just curious!)

No not at all. I think for me it feels like quite a private thing ie. it's how I smell. Especially given I don't really change my perfumes and worn the same for about 20 years.

Weepixie · 20/05/2025 04:29

@gollyimholly

(I also don't like sharing what they are with others and so I couldn't be gifted them for that reason)

Are you hoping it makes you come across as alluring, mysterious.

foreverblowingbubbless · 20/05/2025 04:50

gollyimholly · 20/05/2025 02:50

I buy them myself and actually don't like being gifted perfume. I'm very fussy with smells and will only wear three very specific scents... For me perfumes fall in the toiletries or make up category and I'll buy and replace them as needed without much thinking. They feel like very ordinary purchases for me as they've become such everyday items of use.

(I also don't like sharing what they are with others and so I couldn't be gifted them for that reason)

Thought it was only me that was like this 😊

Koalafan · 20/05/2025 04:53

I'd buy it myself if I want it. It's a bit rude to ask for gifts imho.

Cuppachuchu · 20/05/2025 07:58

AguaMinerale · 19/05/2025 22:04

@Cuppachuchu It has been 25 years since I had. Coco, Youth Dew and Aromatics are my favourite, so I am hoping this to be along the same line. If you have other recommendations, please share - I am the new self buying woman now 😂

I also bought it feeling nostalgic, got the edp, and it really is exactly the same as I remember. Nothing else like it. I wear it sparingly in the autumn/winter. A newer perfume i like is Euphoria, to me it is like a complex 80s scent, just much more subtle.I like something citrusy in summer. Enjoy perfume shopping!

Moveoverdarlin · 20/05/2025 08:00

Bit of both. Very expensive ones (£100+) I buy myself.

Cuppachuchu · 20/05/2025 08:12

@AguaMinerale FYI. I did see Aromatics Elixir in Home Bargains, very reasonably priced. Youth Dew on Amazon, also surprisingly cheap. Wonder if still the same.

caringcarer · 20/05/2025 08:18

My adult DS's are always asked me what I want for Mother's Day, my birthday and Xmas so I generally tell each DS one bottle of perfume each year. DH buys me perfume too so I don't need to buy it for myself. I do buy DS's gf and my DD their favourite perfume in their Xmas stockings though.

PorgyandBess · 20/05/2025 08:21

My husband knows the perfumes I like, so he buys them for me. He’s very good and will spot if any are running low.

I buy Eau Dynamisante for myself regularly, but that’s cheap and not really a perfume.

LightandBreezy · 20/05/2025 10:59

@IchBinPapst There's an offer at Space NK today for 20% off luxury beauty, and Byredo is one of the brands included. I read your comment last night about wanting RONML so wanted to share that info - the 100 ml is currently £176.

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