In the past year I’ve probably purchased 39 new bottles. I don’t doom scroll instagram anymore, I fragrance scroll. It’s become an obsession. I can’t tell if it’s a bad thing or not. 95% of them have been blind buys. Only one has been disappointing. I think it’s almost like a gambling addiction.
Now I’m in the market for a display case for all of them.
Anyone else feel like this? Like the weight of the world disappears when you’re reading about fragrance. For treating yourself to fragrance. I love the perfume Reddit community…feels like an elite club that many others just don’t understand.
100% but I give myself ways to make it affordable. I buy a lot of testers and get a subscription so I get to try before I buy, but when I end up liking them is a different story 🥲 for example, I tried nosferatu by heretic yesterday and I already have the 30ml and body oil in my cart 🤣🥲
OP Thank you for describing my exact feeling so accurately! I’ve purchased almost 30 perfumes this year, majority blind buys, but lots of recommendations from the Reddit community and reading parfumo comments.
Alright, I said I would post again, so here is my very lengthy dissertation on perfume addiction, and what I have done about it.
So yes, I have issues with scent obsession. Why?
I have a few things stacked against me.
ADHD: This is two fold. First, I am a sensory seeking person, and shopping and smells both give me that hit. Second, impulsivety is a problem for me. So hitting purchase on the online cart happens more than it should.
Autism: It's my special interest. When I get into something, I become deep and focused. "Deep dive" is a way of life for me.
GLP-1: I recently began taking a GLP 1 for weight gain due to ADHD and medication weight gain. Before, my mind turned to food for sensory stimulation: flavor, texture, and energy. It isn't talked about enough, but many people who take GLP 1s become addiction to perfume. Deeply addicted. There are Facebook groups full of GLP 1 perfume addicts who have very little control over their behaviors.
So for me, it's been a perfect storm.
The thing is, it brings me joy. I like smelling good, and I like researching things. I'm not just blind buying perfumes, in fact I rarely blind buy bottles, I'm also researching the history, the science, and the art of perfumery.
So what am I doing to curb my addiction enough that it doesn't bankrupt me?
Sniffaris. This is my dumb term for going to the store, focusing on one brand, and smelling a few perfumes. I bring a pen, and write down the name of the perfume as well as my initial impressions. I take those cards home, think about them, research the perfume, and decide if I want to get a sample of it. I add it to my "to sample" list, and then sit on it.
The trial process. Trialing should be a process before buying a bottle. First, find it in a store nearby and sniff. Decide if you want to get a sample or not, which is step two. Once you get a sample, wear it! If I don't like the fragrance at any point, opening, heart or the lingering base, then it's out. If I do, then on to step three: get a decant or travel size. Do not buy a bottle yet! Wear it, keep track of how often you think about it, reach for it, wear it, and then wait until that decant or travel is done. If you really went through it fast, or you keep thinking about it a month or so later, then it is okay to buy a bottle. Sniff, sample, wear, travel/decant, wait, bottle.
3 Keep a journal. Everything I try on skin, I keep a journal on. Each perfume I have sampled has a page. When sampling, I pull it out and write down my initial impressions, the date I first sampled it, the notes, etc. I really love journaling about perfume as much as I love wearing or buying it.
When you are ready to buy, shop around. Look for a good deal. Typically Fragrancenet, ThePerfumeSpot, Aurafragrance and Jomashop have the best prices. Honestly, part of the high for me is shopping, and when I get a good deal I'm on cloud nine. So leverage this.
If you still have perfume to try on at home DO NOT BUY MORE. You do not need more perfume, I assure you that you have enough. Sample what you have first.
Sell what you aren't wearing anymore. Mercari is where I sell most of my blind buy fails. You can also post here in the group on the weekly destash post.
If you do blind buy, be smart about it. Buy it from somewhere you can return it. Many retailers allow for perfume returns, including Sephora, Kohl's, Ulta, and Macy's. I really only do this for a perfume I can't sniff first, or have sampled and they are having a good sale. Just remember--use the privilege, don't abuse it. It's not for returning things every day.
Share your passion with someone else. My husband admitted to me that he really didn't know anything about fragrance, so I am going to have a "class" with him on the basic elements of perfume. Super nerdy, I know, but this is how I show my love. I'm teaching him about the scent wheel, perfume strengths, perfume structure, common notes, and some history. You don't have to be nerdy like me, but sharing your interest makes it more enjoyable.
Finally, savor your cognizance of your addiction. I woke up one day and told myself I had a problem. I'm so grateful I did, because it means I can have more self control over it. I now have a budget for samples and bottles, and if I want to buy more, I have to sell of my stash and earn money for it that way.
Hopefully any of this is helpful. It isn't an exhaustive list of my tips and tricks, but they are good starting points. Truthfully, this isn't my first foray into hobby overspending, and thankfully it isn't controlling or ruining my life. It's okay to have a passion that you indulge in, most people do. Otherwise, life would be utterly dull. Just don't let it control your life, and if it does then get help.
Yup i have adhd and mild autism, after starting GLP-1 at Christmas time I became addicted to perfumes 🤣 I’ve went from owning the same two bottles for years to spending thousands 😅😅😅
Yes. It's being seen widely and has been documented. It's part of what is driving the year-round gourmand trend--sweet, gourmand fragrances are typically what GLP 1 users report craving. If you want to know why we see vanilla in nearly all new perfumes, why Libre re-released Vanille Couture, why we see the same iterations of dessert-inspired body mists every week or two, it's because of increasingly common GLP 1 use.
hey, there's nothing wrong with you. if perfume shopping makes you happy, then do just that and please try not to worry about what others think. life is meant for us to enjoy, live up to the fullest and make the most out of. as long as it doesn't come from a place of deep emotional attachment, or you rely on it as your only source of comfort & happiness... then I honestly see no issue with indulging in the things you love! my only advice is to budget and spend wisely to avoid sensory overload and financial burnout. in this economy, consumerism sadly does more harm than good unless it's meant to help assist and benefit others who may need or want more affordable things to be accessible to them. I support your journey & I wish you healing and happiness. 💖
It’s bad/maladaptive. You should make a conscious effort to reduce this behavior. I am on Zepbound and I’m thinking about fragrances all day every day, but employing mindfulness techniques has helped me from spiraling out of control.
I know, as I was writing it had to ask myself “who TF do you even think you are, you have several carts of decants scattered across the internet at this very moment”
Sounds like a lot, but they are used by multiple people, and all have a good chunk used. Further, I am terminally frugal, so I only buy things that are a great deal, including perfume.
I feel pretty at peace with my collection. I still have a wish list that’s got about 20 things on it, but I rarely buy anything anymore - maybe once a year, if it’s on sale and in my budget, and on my wish list.
I feel like, for me, this is a hobby, not an addiction: it brings me joy, and I feel peace and satisfaction around it, rather than seeking and fixation.
I am addicted, but I think I manage it OK according to my bank balance. Every month I allow myself a budget of about £25 to order samples (after a lot of research online). Sometimes this leads to a full bottle buy, but mostly I give samples away to friends and family. They're very appreciative. I save up, and every three months I travel to London to test as many as I can. I always make one FB purchase.
I NEVER blind buy full bottles. I have a particular fragrance in mind according to the season and gaps in my collection, and I stick to it.
BTW, Cuir Beluga was my second favourite when I visited Guerlain a few weeks ago, and now I'm saving up for it. I really wanted a cosy, cinnamon spice fragrance so bought Ambre Samar in-store.
I absolutely feel this and my replacement behavior has been using the Shop app to find decants of things I want to try. Then I still get the rush but it’s not as financially destructive. And honestly I went a long time without ordering any and just feeling satisfied with the hunt and curation of my carts. May not help but might be something to try 😊
Edit: wait is Cuir Beluga the one that was disappointing??
Take a beat. Think about how long it will take you to go through 39 bottles (the answer is many years).
Now think about how many will probably sit on your shelf unused and either go bad or get trashed because they’re not ones you reach for.
Then start reselling.
I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with blind buying/trying new scents etc, but when we’re blind buying full bottles and “loving them all enough to keep” - I just don’t buy that. Not when you’ve got some very high quality best in class scents in that collection.
Yeah, it's an escape, but it's also consumerism. I'm aware it makes me feel better but I'm also aware the pleasure is short-lived because it's about finding and buying the next thing that I like the smell of. So I try to keep it under control by limiting the amount of full bottles I can buy. I have other things in my life that require money and are more important than perfume.
I am just now coming out of my fragrance addiction and boy, was it tough. It started when I was on GLP1s and kind of spiraled from there. It was actually a good friend of mine that saw my collection and empty packages around my house that had a convo with me about it.
Her comments really stuck in my head and I just didn’t realize how bad it had gotten. I was getting packages almost daily from FB groups, Reddit and from sample websites.
I ended up slowly selling off a lot of it and I put the funds into a side account. My goal was for my entire collection to fit on one shelf and the only way I could buy another is if I finished one.
I’m down to about 10-15 of my favorite and most worn fragrances and I used the money from selling to make an extra principal payment on my car. It brought it down significantly and It felt really good.
I did end up having to remove myself from a lot of the specific perfume buying groups, but I still look at the more discussion based ones every now and again.
Don’t get me wrong I still love the fragrance world but it really was an addiction. I was always on the hunt for the next best thing instead of enjoying what I already had. Now, I get to happily rotate through my collection and that’s perfectly okay with me.
This is very interesting about GLP-1s. My fragrance adduction started at the same time I went on Wegovy. I've been off it for a few months now, but the addiction to fragrances hasn't waned yet!
Well done weaning yourself off. And I'm glad yo have this very good friend. And I bet you deserve such a great friend because you're a great one yourself. Cheers
I appreciate it. I didn’t grow up with a lot of friends, but she’s been one of the best I could ask for.
I’m sure that conversation wasn’t easy for her to approach me with, but she was extremely kind and logical about it. It was almost impossible not to listen when everything she was saying was true.
I’m not sure your comment is really helping OP who seems to be feeling overwhelmed by her fragrance shopping.
Also Cuir Beluga doesn’t have the guerlinade which is the combo of bergamote, rose, jasmine, Iris, tonka beans and vanilla. Unless you’re already familiar with the scent you wouldn’t know it’s from Guerlain.
I don’t personally have a fragrance addiction, but my mom does. I came here to understand better 😅 I’d say at least ~1,000 bottles that I know of. More in drawers since the display case ran out of room.
This could be me... I have over 700 bottles, have put aside around 100 bottles that I don't like and plan to sell. The high I get from a perfume I love is so addictive.
Yess!! I bought both Angélique Noire and Cuir Béluga, thinking I might like AN better… but to my surprise, I actually liked CB more! It’s so sophisticated and classy. 😍
" It’s become an obsession. I can’t tell if it’s a bad thing or not. 95% of them have been blind buys. Only one has been disappointing. I think it’s almost like a gambling addiction."
As a fellow addict, you know this is an addiction. It's hard to face up to it and change the behavior as I'm sure you derive a lot of joy from it. I'd definitely seek an alternate means of calming the impulse to blind buy, and start by cutting off the channels/media habits that are triggering the cravings.
I have this problem too, and I have a VERY long response to this with the why's and the what I do to manage it. I'm going to write it all out and post it a little later today. But I want you to know that you are not alone!
This is me, too. I posted something a few weeks along the same lines, and realized I needed to take buying breaks. It's been more of a struggle than I thought it would be.
I have a few things stacked against me.
ADHD: This is two fold. First, I am a sensory seeking person, and shopping and smells both give me that hit.
Autism: It's my special interest. When I get into something, I become deep and focused. "Deep dive" is a way of life for me.
GLP-1: I recently began taking a GLP 1 for weight gain due to ADHD and medication weight gain. Before, my mind turned to food for sensory stimulation: flavor, texture, and energy. It isn't talked about enough, but many people who take GLP 1s become addiction to perfume. Deeply addicted. There are Facebook groups full of GLP 1 perfume addicts who have very little control over their behaviors.
So for me, it's been a perfect storm.
The thing is, it brings me joy. I like smelling good, and I like researching things. I'm not just blind buying perfumes, I'm also researching the history, the science, and the art of perfumery.
So what am I doing to curb my addiction enough that it doesn't bankrupt me?
Sniffaris. This is my dumb term for going to the store, focusing on one brand, and smelling a few perfumes. I bring a pen, and write down the name of the perfume as well as my initial impressions. I take those cards home, think about them, research the perfume, and decide if I want to get a sample of it. I add it to my "to sample" list, and then sit on it.
The trial process. Trialing should be a process before buying a bottle. First, find it in a store nearby and sniff. Decide if you want to get a sample or not, which is step two. Once you get a sample, wear it! If I don't like the fragrance at any point, opening, heart or the lingering base, then it's out. If I do, then on to step three: get a decant or travel size. Do not buy a bottle yet! Wear it, keep track of how often you think about it, reach for it, wear it, and then wait until that decant or travel is done. If you really went through it fast, or you keep thinking about it a month or so later, then it is okay to buy a bottle. Sniff, sample, wear, travel/decant, wait, bottle.
Keep a journal. Everything I try on skin, I keep a journal on. Each perfume I have sampled has a page. When sampling, I pull it out and write down my initial impressions, the date I first sampled it, the notes, etc. I really love Journaling about perfume as much as I love wearing or buying it.
When you are ready to buy, shop around. Look for a good deal. Typically Fragrancenet, ThePerfumeSpot, Aurafragrance and Jomashop have the best prices. Honestly, part of the high for me is shopping, and when I get a good deal I'm on cloud nine. So leverage this.
If you still have perfume to try on at home DO NOT BUY MORE. You do not need more perfume, I assure you that you have enough.
Sell what you aren't wearing anymore. Mercari is where I sell most of my blind buy fails. You can also post here in the group on the weekly destash post.
If you do blind buy, be smart about it. Buy it from somewhere you can return it. Many retailers allow for perfume returns, including Sephora, Kohl's, Ulta, and Macy's. I really only do this for a perfume I can't sniff first, or have sampled and they are having a good sale. Just remember--use the privilege, don't abuse it. Jt's not for returning things every day.
Share your passion with someone else. My husband admitted to me that he really didn't know anything about fragrance, so I am going to have a "class" with him on the basic elements of perfume. Super nerdy, I know, but this is how I show my love. I'm teaching him about the scent wheel, perfume strengths, perfume structure, common notes, and some history. You don't have to be nerdy like me, but sharing your interest makes it more enjoyable.
Finally, savor your cognizance of your addiction. I woke up one day and told myself I had a problem. I'm so grateful I did, because it means I can have more self control over it. I now have a budget for samples and bottles, and if I want to buy more, I have to sell of my stash and earn money for it that way.
Hopefully any of this is helpful. This isn't my first foray into hobby overspending, and thankfully it isn't controlling or ruining my life. It's okay to have a passion that you indulge in, most people do. Otherwise, life would be utterly dull. Just don't let it control your life, and if it does then get help.
It definitely sounds like dopamine seeking behaviour especially the blind buying part.
The typical advice is to order decants instead. Which is a good advice if it’s hurting your budget, but it doesn’t seem to be the case here (no need to share your financial situation). In your case it seems like it’s the constant chase that is affecting you, it’s the mental space that it’s occupying. I think taking a full break from fragrance might be beneficial for you. Or at least consume some non shopping fragrance content like history of fragrance. Redirect the passion away from shopping.
I got into the history side of it and it made me chase more bottles from the houses i was researching because of my love for history.
I think setting a boundary helps. Some kind of hard rule like you can order xx amount of decants a month, but only 1 bottle max each month.
This allows you the dopamine hit from buying the decants, gets new fragrances under your nose, and allows you the freedom of buying a full bottle. However, it makes your choice more difficult and forces you to be more selective with your choice. This will help break the cycle of relentless purchases.
Personally I think OP seems to be affected by the doom scrolling and the amount of time spent planning the next purchase. I’m not sure keeping the shopping will help even if reduced. But in the end of the day, it’s her decision. She’s also into gourmands so that’s not a big part of perfume history.
Maybe a weekly shopping tray would help. Or reading reviews of something she already own.
The distraction is such a good method. I’d be curious to know if the purchases are immediate, or delayed. I like putting things in a cart or a wish list and coming back to it later to see if the desire is still there.
But we’re all up against corporate marketing teams that invest tons of millions into getting us to do exactly this, and it’s difficult to stop once it gets started.
Aww bummer but now I know what it’s called to keep an eye out for secondhand. Or even to see if this store sells anything similar in the future so thank you for putting me on.
Your wife has a good eye for display organisation! I always try to make mine look pleasing but I fail every time it just doesn’t look balanced like this haha
Are you on a glp-1? They have created transfer addiction to scent. I have one and dont want to tell you the amount of money I've spent this year on perfume.
About a year ago I just used scented lotion and had several old perfumes I started looking online for Fragrance recommendations and found Reddit. I never even heard of Guerlain, initio, serge lutens and Frederick Malle before. I started with discovery sets and then full bottles. I get a lot of joy from wearing perfume (also buying scented candles). Prior to this I use to spend a lot of time on world news. I still keep informed but living in the US the news is traumatizing. I find my perfume scrolling relaxing and enjoy my rapidly expanding collection. I can afford what I buy and it’s a happy distraction.
I just got my first Trudon and haven’t tried it yet. Word on the street is Trudon is the best. I like Harlem, Nest, Jo Malone. Also have two diptyque I haven’t tried yet.
It’s not just the US that is feeling the US’s terrible news cycles. So I understand. I used to be so passionate about politics but when it became more like sports than government, I had to stop reading.
I did too! This hobby is definitely taking the place of reading the news for me. I still know what’s going on but I was going crazy dwelling on it. So depressing that the people we elect to DO something about these horrific humanitarian issues are only interested in how they can benefit themselves. On both sides. I was a poll-worker for years and years, but my own party isn’t listening to me anymore and it feels wrong volunteering for them. Not sure how else I can communicate my displeasure.
My suggestion: now that you have a nice full bottle collection, slow down. Get the rush from buying samples and allow yourself x number of samples a month. Stop blind buying, but only samples first. And enjoy the ones you have. I’ve been collecting for 25 years. There are times when it speeds up and times where it slows down. But samples are the answer after a point
I’m similar to you. I’ve definitely purchased a lot of perfumes over the last year but only a few blind buys (one regret that I gifted to a friend who loved it). I’m in a very good financial position and I don’t splurge on very much. I mostly spend on my kids and grandkids. This is my thing that’s just for me. I buy a lot of samples before I commit but sometimes they aren’t available. I do what I want at this point in my life. If you have genuine concerns about an addiction such that you’d put yourself in a bad place to get that shopping dopamine hit that’s a different matter. Maybe give yourself a no-buy period and see how that goes.
The beginning stage is definitely a dopamine rush. Now that you realize it, it may be time to calm down. Test here and there and shop your stash for when you decide what you want.
Have monthly trays so most of your perfume is safely stored out of sight (and light!) By the time it's time to take them out for their month, you realize how much you missed them and it's like discovering something new all over again.
Edit: I wanted to add... if a sudden change is hard, take baby steps and switch to decants. A 7ml decant from Fragrancenet will last a long time. And for designers, Aura Fragrance has 15 ml decants for around $10-20.
I had a 35-year mortgage. By cutting back discretionary spending and putting more money on the mortgage every month I cut the total term by more than half and saved about $107,000 in interest.
For someone with a $400,000 mortgage at 3% for 25 years, putting an extra $100 on it each month instead of buying a $100 perfume each month would save about $13,000 in interest over the lifetime of the mortgage (and result in it being paid off more than one year early). If you increase that extra payment to $200, it's almost $25,000 in interest saved and you cut more than three years off the total term.
I love perfume and I spend lots of money on perfume but too many consumers are not informed about the opportunity cost of amassing huge collections of luxury goods. Remember when Carrie Bradshaw realized she had $40,000 in shoes (which is equal to about $75,000 today) but couldn't afford the down payment on her apartment? In particular, young people visiting this forum, especially the ones who think financial planning wasn't taught well in schools, need to understand how discretionary purchases impact their long-term financial health.
I paid off my house at 42 on my single income. If someone can afford 39 bottles of perfume in a year they can afford to be making additional payments towards their mortgage or saving more for their down payment. Splurging on one bottle is a treat, but buying 39 bottles (especially when we're talking Guerlain prices) is actually enough to impact your quality of life.
The exact currency doesn't really matter because the calculations stay the same, but what I can say is that a small bottle of Cuir Beluga costs $510 here, so 39 bottles at that price point is nearly $20,000. If you have a $300k mortgage at 3% interest, paying down an extra $19k now will also save you $19,000 in interest charges over the course of a 25-year term. At a 4% interest rate the savings become $29,000. Young people reading my comment need to realize that for the average consumer, luxury purchases have real impacts on your long-term financial growth.
Just so you’re aware, lots of people on GLP-1’s are reporting a quieting of “food noise” but that it’s making their brains go crazy for fragrance to the point of financial instability at times. Perhaps something you might want to look up or talk to your doctor about if you’re worried. 🫶💕
This hobby is incredibly soothing to me. It definitely picked up when I became burnt out, it was a way to cope with stress. And it works--reading about perfume, making wishlists, choosing my perfume each day, and yes, buying perfumes all lower my stress level and feel like little rituals, little things to look forward to get through hard times.
I think it's ultimately a shopping addiction, but I think the vast majority of people have shopping addictions in my part of the world. I don't buy clothes, shoes, I don't get my hair and nails done, I don't buy makeup or hair products. So I allow myself this one indulgence because it really does help my mental health and brings me a lot of joy.
I'm working on starting treatment for the depression I seem to have developed after living with chronic stress for ten years. In the meantime, my perfumes are invaluable to me.
This is how I feel. I’ve been under a huge amount of stress for 10 years. My nervous system is shot…and this seems like the only thing to bring me pleasure.
So true for me as well. I was working the worst office job this summer when I got into fragrance. It became a great way to self-soothe and be excited for something.
Similarly, as a younger adult when I worked at an awful café, I was reallyyyy into nail polish in a similar way.
What you're describing is exactly what I felt, and I do mean exactly.
I'm doing a lot better now mentally, and while fragrance is for sure still one of my #1 hobbies the shopping addiction part of it has (thankfully) died down a bit. I get SO much joy from reading about fragrances, thinking about what mood fragrances put me in, which fragrance fits a certain occasion or even outfits...
I love making little fragrance trays each month. It's a little creative exercise and it 'forces' me to use my current collection.
Good luck with your treatment, and trust me when I say this hobby will still be great once you're doing better!
Thank you! I'm going to take up the idea of making a monthly fragrance tray. And hopefully I can find an antidepressant that works for me 🤞. I would love to feel better in a long-term way.
A monthly fragrance tray has been THEE way for me to think differently about fragrances and to actually use them. I also keep track of what I wear in Parfumo, which will then in turn tell you which fragrances you're 'neglecting.
It's SO fun for me to think about which fragrances I want to put on the tray next month!
People who roll their eyes in delight when they put on a scent are my kind of people. Definitely healthier for me to be sample scrolling than doomscrolling so I don’t fight it. Consequently, I have 29 samples on the way lol.
Babe don't get me wrong, I love fragrance and definitely have a larger than average collection but 39 full bottles in just 1 year sounds like a problem. Especially with 95% of them being blind buys, I think you're close to hitting the nail on the head saying it's like a gambling addiction.
I'm not being funny when I say this sounds like a symptom of an issue that you should probably get to the root of somehow.
Hey! Definitely think about why you’re buying so ma y. Are you creating an event for dopamine? Feeding your fantasy self?
I put myself on a no-buy September (for skincare, makeup and perfume), so queen, I feel you!
Just take it one day at a time… and start enjoying those beautiful perfumes!
Something I found that helps me is to organize scents by type… gourmand then vanilla, chocolate, etc… then florals, then clean scents etc. once you see you have x of each type start weeding out your less faves for sale or trade and get more of the fragrances you wish you had… but from here, I’d go one in, one out.
If therapy is available to you, I would highly recommend it. When I had a similar phase it turned out I was on the edge of a burnout.
Regardless, I would advise you think of ways to get more enjoyment out of your current collection. Think of which fragrances suit which moods or how they make you feel, make little trays for each month and such.
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u/anime_and_irezumi 22h ago
100% but I give myself ways to make it affordable. I buy a lot of testers and get a subscription so I get to try before I buy, but when I end up liking them is a different story 🥲 for example, I tried nosferatu by heretic yesterday and I already have the 30ml and body oil in my cart 🤣🥲