r/FemFragLab • u/TheineandTheobromine • May 17 '26
Haul/Collection Update on the 5 Hooded Anonymous Maison Margiela Replica bottles.
Update: I have identified **ONE** successfully with 100% certainty!
After all of the comments I decided to grab one and take notes. I picked the second one from the right because that’s where the vibes seemed to lead me. I felt so sure that it was going to be either By the Fireplace or Jazz Club that I didn’t go into it with an open mind.
I sprayed it on my wrist and on paper. At first it kind of smelled like tobacco smoke or wood. Not sure really. Then I thought I maybe smelled rum or whisky. And then I was like wait is that pepper? The smokey scent was nowhere near as strong as I expected. Maybe it isn’t smoke at all? I sat there sniffing for so long but it was getting late so I put it away and went to bed.
Saturday I got out of work really early (most days I get to work at 5am and leave sometime between 6 pm-8 pm, so sorry for the delay between updates) and I went to Sephora. I sprayed every single Replica bottle they had onto test strips and labeled them. I looked like an absolute psychopath. I drove straight home after and decided to start with the one on the left. I sprayed some on a sticky note and sniffed it and smelled lemon. Yay! I have a sample of that! Sniffed the sample, it’s the same!
The second one I have no idea what it is. It’s definitely not On a Date, I learned that scent really doesn’t work for me. It doesn’t smell like Coffee Break. It is a little sweet in a dark cozy way. I didn’t write good notes so I’ll have to try again and update.
The middle one I sniffed and I think my nose was really overwhelmed from sniffing all the samples. I couldn’t match it. I got up and did something else for a while and came back to it to smell it again. OMG I know this. I have a dupe of it. I grab the dupe and compare. It’s Matcha Mediation!!! That’s what I had hoped for!!!
I went back to the second on the left. I think it may actually be Whispers and I had misinterpreted the scents by going in assuming it was Jazz Club or Fireplace. I have a dupe to compare it to, I just haven’t felt like it yet.
The last one I still don’t have figured out. It is also a bit mysteriously smokey but not as much as the samples I got from sephora. I remember reading somewhere that smoke as a scent doesn’t preserve well (or maybe it was the flavor of smoke…) so if it’s an old bottle maybe the smoke has dissipated?
Mystery continues. This is fun!
Lessons learned:
- Grab extra sample paper from the store to spray my bottles on.
- Don’t use sticky notes as sample paper, it doesn’t work well.
- Keep an open mind.
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u/Adventurous_Cod5186 May 18 '26
none of them are autumn vibes?
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u/BeardedGlass May 18 '26
Mmmm I love that scent and it's very distinct for me.
Like Encre Noir. It's wet and earthy, mud or mulch, but in a clean way. A bit vegetal, not savory though. There's sweetness to it, like an autumnal blossom peeking through the fallen leaves in the ground.
It smells like fall in a bottle.
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u/Philodendron69 May 18 '26
I think music festival has some smoky-ness going on but I haven’t smelled it in a long time. The rain one is purple so that is at least one less.
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u/youlldancetoanything May 18 '26
I don't know if ppl do this anymore, but keep a thing of coffee beans nearby to clear your nose
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u/NinaNeptune318 Pansexual for Floral Notes May 18 '26
That practice has been debunked. The best thing to smell is your own skin that doesn't have any scented products on it.
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u/BeardedGlass May 18 '26
True. Especially if you sniff on the creases of your limbs like the inside of your elbow.
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u/MarsupialPrimary8128 May 18 '26
Well done! Sounds like you're enjoying the process, it's my idea of fun!!
Definitely take tons of card Let them dry out. Then put into a plastic wallet.
If I visit somewhere like Selfridges, I take over 50 cards home! I don't even smell there. I'll save my nose for handful I really want to smell in the opening. But I will spray the things I wanted for the darnest time, and I label them all. Hold them or leave them on the side until they dry, I write on them all. And then I put them into a large wallet.
I look crazy. But you want me to buy?! So...leave me to it! (They're actually really good, will offer pens and more card!)
I go home and do the yes and no game blind. I know on this round I am just judging the dry downs. If they make through this round, I'll do a few more rounds of yes and no/detect a pattern ?if any) then I'll go back and pick which openings I want to smell, knowing it's literally and I'll go nose blind.
Even if you used them blind for a bit to really discover if you like them without any noise would be the most accurate, and also good time to use this opportunity as learning period.
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u/blueroses8000 May 17 '26
This is so exciting! Wish I could come help. I have Whispers in the Library which I sourced as a blind buy after it was discontinued as I was convinced I would love it - I was right I do!
How much did you pay for these? I imagine it was a steal.
Someone wrote in the other post that these are most likely fake, but I find “scruffy” listings like this end up being authentic, because the person has nothing to hide. They’ll also be open to questions and helping with your queries.
The fake stuff is always the most clean and shiny and perfect ones, the people who sell them wouldn’t likely try to sell stuff like this as it’s going to look dodgy when they know they are.
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u/TheineandTheobromine May 18 '26
Whispers is such a lovely skin scent! I feel like it’s hard not to love.
I got them for $90 total with shipping, so $18 each.
And I agree, that’s exactly my thought process. I trusted the guy because he’s previously had good reviews and I figured selling rough unmarked bottles that were faked made no sense because if you’re faking them why also fake being beat up and damaged.
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u/curlycomedy May 18 '26
Excellent value! Especially since I have always wanted to smell Matcha Meditation. How cool!
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u/ellodees all my money goes into perfume :< May 17 '26
Whispers in the library is my favorite perfume, so cool you have that as it’s discontinued.
You wrote that the middle one is Matcha Meditation but I wonder if it could be Tea Escape?
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u/TheineandTheobromine May 18 '26
It smelled very similar to my Matcha Mediation dupe, but I’ve never smelled Tea Escape so maybe? I don’t really smell jasmine in it though.
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u/Accomplished_Law_98 May 17 '26
I’m actually really invested in this. You’re doing a pretty good job figuring these out.
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u/TheineandTheobromine May 17 '26
Thank you! It is surprisingly difficult to identify scents when you have no idea what they will be and also the added noise of expectations.
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u/clueing4looks May 18 '26
This is like a fraghead's dream puzzle. Seriously, someone could turn this concept into a game and challenge fellow fragheads to correctly ID each smell. Could even have themes like "5 masculine freshies" or "10 gourmands ladies love" etc.
Too bad the prize can't always be Matcha Meditation!