Q&A Part 1 What I WON'T buy? Value vs Bottle Size? Love Story? | TheTopNote
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- Опубліковано 2 лип 2024
- Part 1 of the Q&A - you peeps really had a LOT of questions!
C x
0:00 Intro
1:14 Questions start
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I’m with you on the dupes. I think there have been really good perfumes at more affordable or even cheaper prices that are not dupes. Also, sometimes, decants are enough. I’m speaking as a person with lots of curiosity on lots of fragrances but get bored so easily before I can spend even 10ml of them.
💯 I would much rather a decant of the real thing, and like you I sometimes find once I’ve been through 5-10ml I’ve had my time with it and I’m ready to move on :)
Hello Cherie!
Just wanted to say you really are my favourite reviewer. For some reason I do find it very comforting watching you talk about fragrance and everyday life, as if we have met and we are friends!
So I guess I want to say thank you for that!
Sending you good vibes from Greece!
xx
J
Oh my gosh, this is the most lovely compliment I think I have received! Thank you so much. Im so glad that is how my videos make you feel, thats the goal, to make it feel like a conversation between friends! ❤
Great video, Cherie! Lovely story with your husband!
I really liked the point you made about dupe fragrancess. I would also add that I enjoy reading about the briefs/inspirations for a scent, even if the perfume isn't ground breaking or to my taste, I'm curios to know why the brand is releasing that particular scent. (I mean, this is more or less the same thing you say about IP, but from a consumer perspective). I would imagine that part is the most fun aspect of running a business, and that's why dupe houses never appealed to me.
I also agree that the world really won't end if you don't get a particular scent. I've had Thé Noir by Le Labo on my wishlist for over 2 years now, but I just cannot justify that ridiculous price. It's fine. Maybe one day I will get it, no rush.
Love the math on blind buying. I always felt that's the case, but nice to have it backed up with that example. I live in a small country, we do have our local fb groups but I see that a lot of people struggle to resell their stuff (unless they sell the hyped up perfumes), and keep periodically reposting their ads. The audience just isn't that large and varied.
Wonderful video, Cherie💝! Thank you for sharing with us. 🥰
I love the smell of horses! Used to ride, too. That smell of sweet hay mingled with horse and leather and Murphy's Oil Soap (that we used to clean our saddles etc.) that hits you when you walk into the barn! Gosh I miss that! On another topic - how can anyone see you as a snob? You are class personified! I love your videos and look forward to each new one. 😘horse
I find the video and your frankness very inspiring. Thank you Cherie🌹
Thank you for taking the time to do this, it was fascinating! I completely hear you about substituting one purchase for another. I’m buying fewer fragrances lately but more “ other things.” The story about how you met Matt was lovely and does sound like a movie. 📽️ The concept of blind buying was alien to me until the pandemic and it became the only way to buy something! Totally agree that it is a bit like gambling. 😀 Look forward to Part Deux.
Yes, same! I forgot though what life was like before 2020, you are so right. Thank Jim!
Great questions and answers. I look at sample buying the same way! I way rather buy a sample or samples than to waste a lot of money on a full bottle I will not like it and would need to resell for much less. Thorough sampling already changed my mind on many perfumes (which is a good thing for me). I rarely do blind buys, only if I really like the notes and I cannot sample. I mostly have successful blind buys but this became reality after many years of experience sniffing a LOT of stuff.
Oh I loved this so much and you are so wise! Really looking forward to part two!
haha I dont know about wise! But thank you for being here ;)
Great video Cherie!
Thank you!!
Thank you very much!!! Great video!! ❤️❤️❤️
Glad you liked it! Thanks for being here :)
Wonderful Qand A cherie appreciate you very much ❤ thank you .
Right back at you James! thank you x
Thank you for posting this interesting video lovely Cherie. Best wishes to you from Minnesota.
Thank you too!
Hello, fellow introvert! What a wonderful list of non-perfume smells, especially a horse's velvet noise. I found your channel via a Reddit recommendation and love your energy and style. I just started my fragrance journey and am attracted to woody scents at the moment. Can't wait to watch all of your videos and the great recommendations. Cheers from San Francisco!
Hello! And thanks for stopping by! I’m too scared to go look at Reddit but I appreciate that you took the time to come and say hi 😊
I loved a lot of woody scents in the beginning too (I mean I still do, of course!) what’s a favourite in your wardrobe at the moment?
@@TheTopNote Too many to write, but for now...Sana Jardin's Sandalwood Temple and (I know people are sick of it) but Le Labo Santal 33 for something less sweet. Really want to try Ormonde Woman and G&B's White Sandalwood. And for a more complex wood scent, Le Labo Thé Noir 29. Just won’t be buying any bottles anytime soon ;)
Great question about chemicals in perfume and I would be interested in learning more about it, for example how dangerous can it be to layer various perfumes and which ingredients are prone to give us allergies etc I like your Q&A videos since you really play by the rules and are genuine and honest ❤
hi Illiona! thanks for the kind words. Yes thats a really interesting topic. I know a lot of aromachemicals give people headaches etc, but in reality its the naturals that can cause the most issues with allergies and adverse reactions so perhaps I shall have to dive in and do some research!
Thanks for watching :)
15:17 Hear hear. Wouldn't have pinned you as an introvert though Cherie. Very much agree with everything you wrote on screen as well. ❤ Love the math at the end!
I remember that happening with my now husband too!! 😍 We got lost in conversation in a huge crowd, I look back and everythjng around us was a blur too, like we were in a vortex!! It was so damn loud, but I heard him perfectly all night 😁😂 I feel very lucky too 🙏🥰 xx
Love this! Thank you for sharing 😍
I couldn’t agree more, at the end of the day it’s just a perfume and there is going to be another perfume that smells great. It goes much deeper than perfumes. Still…I do love them 😀
Oh, me too. Don’t get me wrong. I’m saying all of this but it’s still a daily lesson I have to remind myself of! I was so tempted to pre-order the new Amouage today but I checked myself!
Great video! And i would never say you are snobish, you are lovely, great, and articulate. And I am leaning to being extrovert 😊.
I'll have to re-watch this video. I have been going in and out doing chores. That said, this video captures exactly why I started to follow you. I think finding your channel pulled me back from the brink of becoming a perfume addict. Well, according to my husband i spend way too much on perfume. But I am buying samples. Does that count? Anyway, I so appreciate the intelligence and reflection you bring to the purchase and wearing of fragrances. Even for a sample, I will research extensively, before I pick up a sample. And even then I don't buy until I have considered why I want it and whether it is really full bottle worthy. I love your honesty. In the end many of these fragrances are great. Is having BR 540 going to change my life? (I don't know. I'm thinking I should get a sample. Ha!) I also agree with you about dupes. I don't buy dupes -- at least not knowingly. I believe in respecting the creators of the original fragrance. That doesn't mean I don't think other people should get into the game and try their hand. But I don't think people who reverse engineer a fragrance should be rewarded. Also, there are way too many releases of fragrances. At some point sanity will prevail and the customer will just cry out "Enough." Funny how there are a lot more "De-cluttering" videos. I find those to be fascinating. To be continued.. Love your channel.
I agree with you re: dupes. I won’t ever buy one, though I understand why people do.
I also grew up with horses and showing them and love the smell of their sweat, too!! You described their sweet muzzles perfectly. 🤗
So many things we have in common Katrina!!
😱 Why didn't I see this? I'd have a million questions.
Yes I agree with Q1 🙊 they didn't remind me of each other.
Q2 is a tricky one cos it would wipe out 90% of designers and half of "niche" nowadays given they copy each other so much.
Enjoyed the science stuff I do love understanding stuff like that. Yes with "clean" it does seem a little more marketing than anything else.
Yes your no buy year was great. I think actually we are wired to buy stuff it's something that connects pretty much all of us. Tripods 🤣 I do need a useful one. And yes my wishlists are smaller now and take me a long time to get thru. I'm someone who takes their time painfully 🤣.
It is lovely about you and Matt and yes as a very very secret romantic I do think sometimes two people are meant to be and the connection is almost there before.
I think Claire Smith said it well about most of us being introverted extroverts when we make content. It's the only way we can get through it but yes being us is so much easier isn't it.
Agree with the sampling. I think sadly we all have similar starts of buying lots of crap 🤣 but yes then we slow down and become super picky as we shud be. I thankfully sampled so much back in my early days.
Yes I'm with u, I love things I don't like as much as my loves. It's interesting to learn why and what makes it like that. Nothing worse than meh.
Blind buying is quite insane but sometimes it's a little naughty thrill isn't it. I like your logic and the truth is it's so very very rare we'd use every drop even if we loved it. So the samples and smaller bottles make so much sense.
I agree too I'm very careful buying second hand if it's anywhere close to retail it's a no.
Yes good advice with samples... Sampling Amouage I've probably spent as much as three bottles 😆 but actually I don't regret it because it stops me blind buying bottles from them and I really have satisfied my interest in them. And doing what we do that knowledge and experience is priceless.
Fab part one
Thank you Jon! Yes I bet those Amouage samples must have cost a pretty penny, especially the rare ones! Oh! I havent had a chance to film part 2 so go ahead and ask away, I'll include them in the next vid!
@@TheTopNote what frustrates you about modern perfumery? Will we ever see a Cherie Perfume? I guess you started all this watching makeup maybe? But who was the fragrance person who influenced you to start your channel? Haha I need to save lots for when I interview u 😜
Totally agree with you Cherie on samples and decants. For me I’d say 80% of the time I eventually forget about the fragrance and move on. Even if I really like it at first! Only a small percentage of the time do I end up pursuing a bottle. And mostly I’ll do that second hand. Sometimes if the fragrance is really expensive I’ll just get a much larger decant or travel size. I have a large collection now and it’s hard for me to get to everything. I’ll never use all of this smelly water - ever. I wish I had understood this 5 years ago!
Sometimes I think I still forget, Jill. It’s easy to get excited about things ❤️
I love this Cherie. I love horses also I was a show girl when I was young. If you love the smell of horses (I do to) you must try Naomi Goodsir Corpus Equis!! it smells exactly like horse and saddles. Love your reviews Cherie! You are glowing since your marriage! ❤
Thanks lovely! Oh thank you for the recommendation, I will definitely try! I have been waiting patiently for Maison D'Etto to come to Oz too, so I can sample! xx
Thank you Cherie! I used to ride and show horses too and I love the smell of their velvety nose ❤
its just the best!! I miss riding...
Were you able to consume as much YT perfume content during your no buy year? I think my problem is my favourite creators influence me too well 😂 I need to find a way to separate the content from the buying urge if that makes sense 🤪. Perhaps it's slowly evolving as I find myself being pickier and more mindful of my purchases, but still it can be a struggle at times. Which may also speak to a much bigger issue deep down me thinks! 🤔😂 Maybe taking a break from YT would be a sensible short term answer, but I love you guys too much and your lovely, electic personalities!! 😩😍 Xx
Haha yes that was the thing! I didnt unsubscribe to any emails and I still devoured fragrance content! But the bright line was that I could only listen and learn and sample, no buying! It actually made watching others more fun in a way because I wasnt getting distracted by listening one moment and frantically googling prices the next....
Hi Cherie, very interesting video! Do you use and recommend any particular decant site. It makes more sense to me to satisfy my craving for a particular fragrance with a 5 or 10ml decant rather than fork out for whole bottles. One thing, I don’t have the space, AND it’s too expensive AND I like to keep trying new things… short attention span 😁 What I finally came to recognise is that there is ALWAYS another one that I will become obsessed with. Have a fabulous week ❤
Hi Nell! Mostly I use local FB fragrance groups. That way the sellers are somewhat vetted but it also means you might not be able to find specific things you are looking for. I know Scent Split is popular in the US but pricey to ship to Australia.
As someone who got into perfume a bit less than a year ago, your notes for beginners were incredibly helpful. I wish you would record a video dedicated to that, Cherie!
I definitely feel the pull towards purchasing lots of bottles. I live in a small city where I don't get to smell many fragrances, so I blind bought a few bottles which I don't particularly like at the moment. I feel like I will at some point as they are quite loved by many people, but this just makes me want to buy and buy more bottles to find the ones I really love. I tend to avoid buying samples, because although they are much cheaper compared to the big bottles, they are relatively quite expensive. Anyway, thanks for the great video! I was in London last week, went to the Ormonde Jayne boutique and spoke about you with the salesperson there, as you were the one who introduced and made me appreciate OJ. Love from a Brazilian girl living in the Netherlands! x
Price per ml is generally not the #1 thing to look at, because buying 100ml bottles would make the most sense then, except with a large collection or discovering lots of new things constantly, it simply doesn’t. I discovered over time that probably 95% of my blind buys were unsuccessful so it just wasn’t worth it to me to blind buy unless a cheapie or I knew it was something I could sell at a profit or minimal loss. With that in mind my hobby has caused me to be net $ positive on items no longer in my collection. People will interestingly buy samples for more than you could get them direct from the brand websites, if you offer a good shipping price or the ability to mix and match. Travel sprays are also a happy medium, you have enough to last a while (sometimes in my case years for something I rarely reach for) and not as much money invested.
Thanks @@aquababy5 , this was very good motivation to stop the blind buys (which I have also come to see as somewhat wasteful, even though I try buying only well-respected fragrances) and focus more on decants and travel sizes. Last year I purchased Champaca and Tolu in 5x8ml and was unable so far to sell the 4 travel sizes from each (I found Champaca a bit too mature for me, and I think I prefer L'eau by Diptyque to Tolu as a take on cinnamon, so I wanted to keep only one of each for myself). Despite this I will not consider this as a failure and will continue with the small bottles.
Im so sorry for the late reply and thank you for your kind words. Yes it is surprisingly difficult to find new homes for unwanted fragrances so the best way is to go smaller volumes and make sure we really love something before we buy. Sounds like you have developed a good approach though, and make use of fragrance groups that are local (sometimes they can be hard to find but they are usually around somewhere!) - people are often willing to share samples from their own collection which helps with having to buy them online. x
That's great advice - I might have to start selling off some samples myself! x
I did not think you were shy, I am and apparently I do not give that impression but here I am, struggling as I want to build an online business. The fact that I will be behind a camera and I willl need to be present to an extent in social media gives me stomachache, I don't even know if I will be able to cope with it... anyways happy to see an introvert doing it so gracefully behind the camera and being able to communicate so good❤
you can do it! dont get me wrong, it does get easier, but I have had years of pretending to be an extrovert when Im a quivering mess on the inside! x
@@TheTopNote thanks Cherie ❤️
I had no idea you are a chemist! How fascinating. On another note, like you I really don’t care for fragrances that announce themselves before the person enters the room. I’m always curious about the scents you enjoy, as I also enjoy many of them.
Thanks for sharing!! Care to share your current fave? ;)
@@TheTopNote Right now I’m loving Les Indemodables Musc des Sables.
@@TColoradoF that was my favourite of the ones I tried 😍
Into perfume - I purchased my second big bottle of Ormonde Woman, which I knew watching one of your videos😊 . About blind buys, was this an issue before UA-cam ? I have never bought bottles blind, big decants or discovery sets yes and these can also be quite expensive... it is a part of the hobby I guess but after I had a look at how many decants I have purchased since I started in the Parfumo online community ...well... need to do some black and white maths 😅
haha well dont let my logic spoil your fun! I still do all of these things! But I just try and keep perspective xx
Omg lol, essential oils, don't even get me started there! An old, now very distant friend quite sneakily got me involved in the whole Doterra MLM thing 🙄 I was quite susceptible to stuff back then for a whole bunch of reasons, but jeez it was awful and really stressful in the end 😓 Plus it ended up costing me a bomb. Still working thru my stash to this day and tbf they are great oils, but god almighty the MLM thing is a total nightmare and sucks you in quick 😳🥴 So glad I found a way to get out 😅 xx
Oh yes Doterra! LOL I have some of those too although I never got into the sales side, it all seemed a bit intense for me. My mum in the late 80's early 90's was just a dabbler and we only bought oils for specific purposes. Super interesting though!
💯 on dupes. I do not like it in fragrances or in fashion. I too work with an agency that deals with copyright laws. It is just not fair to the person/artist that came up with the idea, for sure.
Yeah I know. Perfume and fashion bridge that divide between a purely commercial/ functional products and art - which leaves them in a weird space of being very difficult to protect.
🌹
Age? 👀
45 😬
@@TheTopNote ohhh I guessed correctly! (You'll have to trust me haha)
We will have to agree to disagree, I have bought the brands and spent big dollars on a fragrance that unfortunately does not perform, I have bought dupes that perform much better. Four to five hundred dollars for smelly water is not now, nor will it ever be, in my budget. I just do not understand the price attached to these niche and even designer fragrances, what are they doing to them that justifies the price? I am 71 and just recently got into fragrance, I have worn some randomly over the years but never consistently until the last year. It is easy to watch UA-cam and then want every fragrance described, I am learning about samples and decants and taking it slow and easy only after spending far too much!. Wish I had watched a video like this in the beginning, but we live and learn. Praise my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that I have not allowed myself to go in debt, very easily could:)
Fair enough! :) And I hope i didnt come across too preachy - for the record I cannot afford nor justify the prices now either but it must be frustrating for perfumers (who often dont set the prices unless they own the brand) to have their stuff ripped off. Im more talking about the fact that someone will put real effort in (years, decades) to learn a skill and true creativity to create a scent profile and then someone comes along with a GC to reverse engineer with zero creative input. I do agree though that the prices are just pushing more brands out of reach for most normal people. I guess that is the allure of luxury though, isnt it? Exclusivity. [Insert eyeroll here]. For sure social media and youtube has a lot to answer for when it comes to making me want more and more for no good reason! Thank you for being here and sharing your view :)
You did not come off preachy at all, and you know far more than I about that end of perfumery. The first one that came to mind was Tom Ford which I have bought several small bottles of, and the performance on all was abysmal yet his new release is in the 500 dollar range. Truthfully there is something very rewarding about owning the original, but I must confess I have also purchased some dupes that I get joy from:)) Thank you for what you do, I absolutely enjoy you and your content!!!! @@TheTopNote
@@CathyVaughn-ph3lr that is true- I cannot get on board with TF these days and sadly there are a few others are starting to get there as well with so many price hikes…. Ah well, just means I have to put more focus into some smaller brands that deserve more love. ❤️