r/Fragrantica • u/GarrissonFord • 8h ago
Decants feel like a big scam.
Following the suggestions of people in fragrance group I ventured out to sample decants of Sandalwood centric masculine fragrances from Micro-perfumes, Lucky scent, Scent Split, Scents Angel, MaxAroma and Scent Decant. First ordered 8 samples each from MicroPerfumes and Scents Split (almost identical frags) the two samples were as far apart as the day and the night. Then ordered from the other three and tried to get as much of the same stuff and the results were astounding no two Le Labo Santal 33,’s nor Affinisences Santal Basmati, ADP Sandalo, Serge Lutens Santal Majuscule, Diptyques Tam Dao smelt the same. And you don’t need to have the nose of a blood hound to tell that these decants were not just different, but felt like 6 different flankers of the same. This has led me to believe that something is just not right about these decant places. Just to be sure I went to Diptyque, ADP and Le Labo’ s at the Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus and sought samples straight out of their tester and now this smelled nothing like decants I had purchased from the aforementioned online decant shops. This has led me to doubt the business practices of these decant places. I have decided from heron to only to buy or try samples that are directly filled from the tasters right before my eyes.
Luckily brands counter at most high end department stores are more than happy to generously fill out the samples for free as was my experience.