Those samples are 1ml and they used to be free! And recently all the ones I’ve gotten from Sephora’s orders or promotions have been half empty!!! Like where is the value?!?! So thank you for bringing light to this!!!
I ordered the Kayali vacay set and one of my bottles was had full i don’t know if it leaked through the box but I sure did call them and they sent me a new set.
I already wanted Commodity Milk so paying $88 for a $145 bottle was AMAZING. I’ve bought a few of these sets in the past and I always go into it planning on redeeming a specific perfume that I know I’m getting a good deal on. Then it feels like the additional samples are a bonus.
In Canada, the average is $50 CAD for a travel size. Ridiculous. I'm looking at Scentbox these days because it seems like a bit of a savings (not Scentbird, because the owner is horrible).
i do think the tiny testers are getting smaller. i've always been into perfume, so when prompted, i've always selected perfume samples at checkout. if i liked the sample, i could wear it for a week or two. now when i get samples, they only hold like 5 sprays max
I feel like the strategy feom the perfume companies with these sets USED to be....they were banking that you would fall in love with more than one perfume or get hooked on perfume in general, therefore purchasing more long term, even if you saved money on the full bottle redemption. Now it feels like they're betting nickel and dime that more customers will lose money buy redeeming for the cheaper bottles. Gives major ick.
I agree, these used to be a way better value. I only used to purchase these during the Sephora sale, when I’d get 20% off and only if I was interested in the top 2 most expensive, already smelled in store, and I wanted to do long wear tests to see which I liked better.
Thanks for your honesty and math. Last year I purchased one of the discovery sets, but it had 14 samples. This year there are less samples. Again, thanks for this video. You did my homework for me.
The one they did in spring was good. It came with minis instead of samples and Burberry goddess and CH good girl blush were in there; both hard to find a deal on
for me as a serial sampler lover, I don’t mind spending the money on some samples! when you think about scent split selling a 1ml sample for $5, at least with these you get a better deal than that! 😅
Thanks for breaking down these sample sets by mL and $ value. I tend to impulse buy, so hearing which perfumes are or are not a good value was really helpful.
Man, I remember back around 2012, I got a set with full travel sized perfumes from Sephora for $25. It had a lot of them, too (5 or 7, I can't remember). Coach Poppy, Aqua di Gioia, Lady 1 Million, etc... I mean, I know inflation and shrinkflation are realities, but the level of what Sephora used to put out compared to now is just sad, honestly.
Vanilla Era is great! Has a nice smokey saffron vanilla with papyrus. Love it! Vanilla Vibes is excellent in the heat! My most complimented perfume believe it or not.. also can be found online for around $60.
Love the longer videos with these sets! I think the best time to get these is when the Sephora sale is happening, then you can really save on some of these bottles.
I have purchased these sets in the past, when they were priced more reasonably. I think that $88 for samples is crazy! You bring up a great point that getting the actual perfume that you want may be very hard or impossible!
I got the vanilla set because I've been looking for a good vanilla and I love the curated aspect, more than saving a ton of money! So I think it's worth it to me for the selection. Every time I go on Reddit, UA-cam, etc. for perfume recs it ends up being overwhelming 😅I find this much easier! Personally, vanilla era smells like musty garbage on me 😭
0:02 I loved the bottom left one! This kit saves you money for all of them except the “rosie by missy jane” one. I ended up getting commodity milk over cherry ambition just because it was the best value (3.4 oz / $150 ! whereas cherry ambition was like $90 or smth for 1.7 I think.)
This was a great overview of a bunch of different scents! Fantastic! Unless I LOVE a scent, I only buy the travel size because I can think I like a scent and then after awhile I can't stand it on me. Cloud is a good example.
I'm fortunate enough to live within a very short walking distance to Sephora. I have several of these Sampler sets. I think the marketing team deliberately gives an equal amount of options they are going to make money on and lose money on as well as break even. They do put a lot of older option perfumes to make money on for sure. I happen to be a huge fan of Black Opium and like you said they aren't giving you the Le Parfum option which saves on their end. I have so many of these and they really do make a great gift. Huge Prada fan and thank you for letting me know I'm winning on that one. Since I'm so close, I already have my alternate option in mind if they are out of stock.
I enjoy getting the deluxe versions of these sets that have the small bottles of the perfumes. Then I feel like the samples in getting are of more value, and I can gift the samples I don't like. I still check the values and availability on the perfumes included in the set before buying, but the set itself feels like it has some value when it's that version.
Most of these you can get on the gray market for so much cheaper. Ive only bought thos when it had one i wanted and you couldnt get it on the gray. And only during the 20percent off sale
Another point to keep in mind: the "clean brand" scents may not last as long as traditional scents. In my experience, my 3.5 oz Clean Skin is already turning after a little over a year.
the vanilla set has me intrigued, but ONLY if it’s still there when the sale starts in about 2 weeks!!! the OG carolina herrera good girl perfume is absolutely delicious and one of my favorite scents, and i think the blush is pretty as well. you should definitely smell it for yourself. 🥰🥰🥰
I’m one of those people that loves getting & hunting for a great deal. I’m equally as excited to tell people, for example, that I got the huda rose quartz palette that I wanted from the day I saw it & I got it half off. I’m the only one in my family like that. My mom will be standing in front of a buy one get one free sign & grab one!!🤦🏽♀️
I'm all about getting a good deal or else I'm just not able to buy. So thanks for the video and getting into the nitty gritty! Will take any videos with helpful info for buying perfume. ❤
Very helpful info and analysis of these sets! But I am curious, you love perfume and have more than you could ever use, why do you favor large bottles to add to your collection, instead of smaller amounts that won't go bad before they're used?
Would love a video about bath and body works! There's some right now that I'm obsessed with- vanilla romance and wicked vanilla woods. WVW i think might be a kayali vanilla 28 "dupe". They're pretty similar but there might be something even closer. It's a very familiar scent to me. Also really enjoy milk and honeycomb. They also came out with dupes for 3 different sdj scents which are really good. (Solar shine, vacation vibe, pink paradise) Then there's the everyday luxuries line that came out months ago which dupes 10 different popular scents.
Was deciding between Milk full price and Princess from the set until I found out that there was a set with Milk in it!! Princess is nice but doesn't last. Used a Rouge Reward so I got Milk for "free" plus $12 to spend on something else.
I got the travel ones for myself because I am just getting into wearing perfume again after multiple years of taking a break due to a family member allergy. Online several were sold out, so I ended up choosing to redeem Viktor and Rolf for both sets. I prefer the Tiger Lily Flower Bomb, but both scents are really nice and last all day at work. I think these were a decent value for a beginner and it helped me to eliminate certain scents I definitely do not like.
I get a 30% off discount as I’m an employee so I never really thought about the cost of the kits. I usually gift them for Christmas or bdays so it usually ends up being a huge savings for me. But for those who don’t get the discount, these aren’t all that great. Unless you take the beauty insider 500 pts to get the ten dollars off.
I'm a reseller I don't really Source from Sephora there's not a lot of margin there but this is very interesting thank you for sharing. Also very good to know this if I'm going to buy the full size bottle why not get the samples looks like it's cheaper too you save me some money thank you
I was able to get the travel spray of the glossier you at the store with that unisex sampler set. The salesperson just had to ask the boss about how to override the system to redeem it. They are both 8ml, so they had no problem giving me the spray instead of the roller.
I stopped purchasing these sets after I tried to redeem my voucher and it has already been used 😢. Neither the store or customer service line would help me even though they could see that it was redeemed for a perfume that wasn’t offered with the set
I just got the first set but it was purely for Prada Paradox Intense. I think Glossier You was like 60 bucks in 2022 and that was before they changed the formula.
I have Juliette has a gun that I have received in several subscription boxes now. I understand it smells different on every person but as far as I am concerned she can keep her gun. It just doesn’t smell good on me 😢. I just ordered Commodity Gold Expressive from Ipsy for $25 today. I think it is the same size you can redeem for but not sure
Thank you foe this video! I love Commodity Gold, so qent ahead and ordered the aet for that bottle. I havw also been wanting to tey Glossier You and Not a Perfume.
I actually can't believe Sephora sell sample size sets for this much money! It's actually wild.... what if you don't like any of them? Notino sell this sort of thing for between £5-8. I recently got a sample set from ånd fragrances - niche, indie brand with 2ml edp samples with 9 perfumes and it was around £25..... and they give a £25 voucher for any full size bottles with that one. It seems way better to just sell them for way less and put a voucher in for a % discount, that way the discount is relative to the retail price!
Thanks for the breakdown on this. I was just thinking that tax will be on both the sampler kit and when you redeem your coupon, so that all needs to be added in. In NJ it's close to 7%.
Thanks for this video because I almost brought one but I was like the math isn’t mathing and I may as well just get the perfume I want myself because the sizes in the ones I really want are smaller than the others and Sunlit Blooms is really good already have a travel of it and it is full bottle worthy for sure
I bought the travel size set and only 3 of them are full mini bottles some of them are half full and the flower bomb is basically empty? I’m confused if it’s supposed to be like that or I got screwed:/
These sets used to be like $65 ish then $70s & now over $90 with tax AND the testers have shrunk in half or more. At this point unless I was planning on adding a scent to my collection like Gold & I could buy the set & get the full size 40% off… not as worth it to me as it once was.
I actually have had that one and loved it in the past… lol I still have the empty bottle because I have problems!! 🤣🤣 it’s one I need to revisit though because I really did LOVE it!!
Those samples are 1ml and they used to be free! And recently all the ones I’ve gotten from Sephora’s orders or promotions have been half empty!!! Like where is the value?!?! So thank you for bringing light to this!!!
Totally agree! I have received over 10 perfume samples from Sephora recently that have been almost empty. Barely even a sample!
i’ve bought so many sample packs from sephora where the bottles arrive half empty and i’m like, was this a shipping issue or what
I miss their free perfume samples 😭 it was so helpful when deciding what to purchase
I ordered the Kayali vacay set and one of my bottles was had full i don’t know if it leaked through the box but I sure did call them and they sent me a new set.
I’m so upset about fragrance prices increasing non stop. It’s gotten really bad 😢
They really have been going up 👀👀
It’s everything! It’s insane but everyone just keeps right on buying so they’re going to keep price gouging us.
I feel like back in the day they used to give the mini bottle 7.5ml sizes which was cute, but now it's just little vials
I already wanted Commodity Milk so paying $88 for a $145 bottle was AMAZING. I’ve bought a few of these sets in the past and I always go into it planning on redeeming a specific perfume that I know I’m getting a good deal on. Then it feels like the additional samples are a bonus.
Prices have gone nuts, especially for travel sizes!
Yes!! Travel sizes are so expensive now for soo little product!!
In Canada, the average is $50 CAD for a travel size. Ridiculous. I'm looking at Scentbox these days because it seems like a bit of a savings (not Scentbird, because the owner is horrible).
"I just particularly enjoy a deal." I felt that to my core.
Commodity Gold 30mL has been on Ipsy for $25 for months now.
i do think the tiny testers are getting smaller. i've always been into perfume, so when prompted, i've always selected perfume samples at checkout. if i liked the sample, i could wear it for a week or two. now when i get samples, they only hold like 5 sprays max
I feel like the strategy feom the perfume companies with these sets USED to be....they were banking that you would fall in love with more than one perfume or get hooked on perfume in general, therefore purchasing more long term, even if you saved money on the full bottle redemption. Now it feels like they're betting nickel and dime that more customers will lose money buy redeeming for the cheaper bottles. Gives major ick.
I agree, these used to be a way better value. I only used to purchase these during the Sephora sale, when I’d get 20% off and only if I was interested in the top 2 most expensive, already smelled in store, and I wanted to do long wear tests to see which I liked better.
Thanks for your honesty and math. Last year I purchased one of the discovery sets, but it had 14 samples. This year there are less samples. Again, thanks for this video. You did my homework for me.
Headlines: "Inflation is finally showing signs of cooling!"
Corporate Greed: "Hold my beer."
Then.. Stop voting for Democrats 🫡
The one they did in spring was good. It came with minis instead of samples and Burberry goddess and CH good girl blush were in there; both hard to find a deal on
I got that one. My problem with these sets the last two times I’ve bought them is the one I wanted (Goddess in the last case) was sold out. 😔.
I typically only but these sets during the Sephora sale since I get 20 percent off.
Samples used to be free with a purchase. I hate buying a $100 fragrance and earning points worth almost nothing.
You’re doing the lord’s work, I swear!
We don’t even get the perfume sets here in Canada. A single travel size Kayali will set you back $44CAD!!!
These are so fun for me to try different scents. Whenever a family member asks what i want for my birthday or Christmas, this is what i suggest!
88 is insane for a designer sampler set
Love a Lauren fragrance video!!! You look gorgeous as always. 🦋🦋🦋
for me as a serial sampler lover, I don’t mind spending the money on some samples! when you think about scent split selling a 1ml sample for $5, at least with these you get a better deal than that! 😅
CH blush elixir is so good and it lasts forever! useful video!
Thanks for breaking down these sample sets by mL and $ value. I tend to impulse buy, so hearing which perfumes are or are not a good value was really helpful.
Me watching this with all 4 in my wishlist 👀 love your videos 🩷
Man, I remember back around 2012, I got a set with full travel sized perfumes from Sephora for $25. It had a lot of them, too (5 or 7, I can't remember). Coach Poppy, Aqua di Gioia, Lady 1 Million, etc... I mean, I know inflation and shrinkflation are realities, but the level of what Sephora used to put out compared to now is just sad, honestly.
Vanilla Era is great! Has a nice smokey saffron vanilla with papyrus. Love it!
Vanilla Vibes is excellent in the heat! My most complimented perfume believe it or not.. also can be found online for around $60.
Love the longer videos with these sets! I think the best time to get these is when the Sephora sale is happening, then you can really save on some of these bottles.
The double discount with the sale and the potential savings in the set is the way to go!!
I have purchased these sets in the past, when they were priced more reasonably. I think that $88 for samples is crazy! You bring up a great point that getting the actual perfume that you want may be very hard or impossible!
I use the sample vials as travel so if you like the fragrances the $34 isn’t horrible if you consider you get 8 extra small travels.
I love these videos…especially when Lauren does them cuz no one knows fragrance like she does!! ❤
I got the vanilla set because I've been looking for a good vanilla and I love the curated aspect, more than saving a ton of money! So I think it's worth it to me for the selection. Every time I go on Reddit, UA-cam, etc. for perfume recs it ends up being overwhelming 😅I find this much easier! Personally, vanilla era smells like musty garbage on me 😭
I saw JHAG Not a Perfume at Costco literally yesterday for $60!
0:02 I loved the bottom left one! This kit saves you money for all of them except the “rosie by missy jane” one. I ended up getting commodity milk over cherry ambition just because it was the best value (3.4 oz / $150 ! whereas cherry ambition was like $90 or smth for 1.7 I think.)
This was a great overview of a bunch of different scents! Fantastic! Unless I LOVE a scent, I only buy the travel size because I can think I like a scent and then after awhile I can't stand it on me. Cloud is a good example.
Yes! Loved this video! Please keep doing them for these sets. Really helped break everything down ❤
I love nette’s the vanille! It’s such a weird hippie vanilla 😂 I got in my last Sephora test box kit
I do too! I actually got that set planning to get something else but I loved the Vanille so much I ended up getting it instead. No regrets!
I'm fortunate enough to live within a very short walking distance to Sephora. I have several of these Sampler sets. I think the marketing team deliberately gives an equal amount of options they are going to make money on and lose money on as well as break even. They do put a lot of older option perfumes to make money on for sure. I happen to be a huge fan of Black Opium and like you said they aren't giving you the Le Parfum option which saves on their end. I have so many of these and they really do make a great gift. Huge Prada fan and thank you for letting me know I'm winning on that one. Since I'm so close, I already have my alternate option in mind if they are out of stock.
I enjoy getting the deluxe versions of these sets that have the small bottles of the perfumes. Then I feel like the samples in getting are of more value, and I can gift the samples I don't like. I still check the values and availability on the perfumes included in the set before buying, but the set itself feels like it has some value when it's that version.
Also remember that you can just wait a month till 20% off fragrances/VIB sale instead of paying full price for these kits.
Most of these you can get on the gray market for so much cheaper. Ive only bought thos when it had one i wanted and you couldnt get it on the gray. And only during the 20percent off sale
Lauren please keep making these videos!!! They’re suuuuper helpful💕
Another point to keep in mind: the "clean brand" scents may not last as long as traditional scents. In my experience, my 3.5 oz Clean Skin is already turning after a little over a year.
I'm addicted to your videos lol! Thank you for breaking this down so thoroughly :)
the vanilla set has me intrigued, but ONLY if it’s still there when the sale starts in about 2 weeks!!! the OG carolina herrera good girl perfume is absolutely delicious and one of my favorite scents, and i think the blush is pretty as well. you should definitely smell it for yourself. 🥰🥰🥰
Lauren! I just found out about the new Replica release - a gourmand called Afternoon Delight 😮 I reallllly hope you review it!
I agree, I pulled the trigger because I been wanting the full size of commodity milk and it was a steal
That was a great one to save some money!! Milk will be perfect especially as we get into Fall!!
I’m one of those people that loves getting & hunting for a great deal. I’m equally as excited to tell people, for example, that I got the huda rose quartz palette that I wanted from the day I saw it & I got it half off. I’m the only one in my family like that. My mom will be standing in front of a buy one get one free sign & grab one!!🤦🏽♀️
I purchased the best selling and the clean set just for Gold and Milk🤗
I'm all about getting a good deal or else I'm just not able to buy. So thanks for the video and getting into the nitty gritty! Will take any videos with helpful info for buying perfume. ❤
Very helpful info and analysis of these sets! But I am curious, you love perfume and have more than you could ever use, why do you favor large bottles to add to your collection, instead of smaller amounts that won't go bad before they're used?
Would love a video about bath and body works! There's some right now that I'm obsessed with- vanilla romance and wicked vanilla woods. WVW i think might be a kayali vanilla 28 "dupe". They're pretty similar but there might be something even closer. It's a very familiar scent to me. Also really enjoy milk and honeycomb. They also came out with dupes for 3 different sdj scents which are really good. (Solar shine, vacation vibe, pink paradise) Then there's the everyday luxuries line that came out months ago which dupes 10 different popular scents.
I remember when these sets were $68 and I'd get them on the VIB / Rouge sale for even cheaper. $88 is insane😑
I love vanilla era from boy smells but when I smelled it it was heavy and more of a candle scent so I opted for the candle 😊
I really appreciate you doing this.Thank you
This video was a very creative, and valuable tool! Thank you for sharing. Nice to see something different. 😀
Was deciding between Milk full price and Princess from the set until I found out that there was a set with Milk in it!! Princess is nice but doesn't last. Used a Rouge Reward so I got Milk for "free" plus $12 to spend on something else.
I got the travel ones for myself because I am just getting into wearing perfume again after multiple years of taking a break due to a family member allergy. Online several were sold out, so I ended up choosing to redeem Viktor and Rolf for both sets. I prefer the Tiger Lily Flower Bomb, but both scents are really nice and last all day at work. I think these were a decent value for a beginner and it helped me to eliminate certain scents I definitely do not like.
Girl I’ve been addicted to your videos lately! 😍🥰♥️
I get a 30% off discount as I’m an employee so I never really thought about the cost of the kits. I usually gift them for Christmas or bdays so it usually ends up being a huge savings for me. But for those who don’t get the discount, these aren’t all that great. Unless you take the beauty insider 500 pts to get the ten dollars off.
I'm a reseller I don't really Source from Sephora there's not a lot of margin there but this is very interesting thank you for sharing. Also very good to know this if I'm going to buy the full size bottle why not get the samples looks like it's cheaper too you save me some money thank you
I was able to get the travel spray of the glossier you at the store with that unisex sampler set. The salesperson just had to ask the boss about how to override the system to redeem it. They are both 8ml, so they had no problem giving me the spray instead of the roller.
That is soo great they let you get the spray!!!
this is so helpful esp for newbies. thanks for sharing!!
I just used that set to get a new bottle of commodity gold 👌🏼 I was like yes I will take that discount 😂
Sunlit blooms is VERY floral which like duh 😂 but it was too much for me
I stopped purchasing these sets after I tried to redeem my voucher and it has already been used 😢. Neither the store or customer service line would help me even though they could see that it was redeemed for a perfume that wasn’t offered with the set
I just got the first set but it was purely for Prada Paradox Intense. I think Glossier You was like 60 bucks in 2022 and that was before they changed the formula.
Love your sample set reviews for the frank and honest discussions ❤
I will tell you, I appreciate all you put into these videos, I value your advice ❤
Value here is dead on arrival, so many have you losing money. Thanks for breaking these down! 👑
Ulta does these types of set too and they are priced better.
Yes please keep doing this on both channels
I have Juliette has a gun that I have received in several subscription boxes now. I understand it smells different on every person but as far as I am concerned she can keep her gun. It just doesn’t smell good on me 😢. I just ordered Commodity Gold Expressive from Ipsy for $25 today. I think it is the same size you can redeem for but not sure
What about the deluxe best selling set? The samples are 3/5/7ml and they come in the cute bottles ✨
Thank you soooo much for breaking this down!
If By The Fireplace is a vanilla scent, then The Beauty and the Beast is a movie about Prince Erik.
$88 for samples. Ridiculous. I would never
Thank you foe this video! I love Commodity Gold, so qent ahead and ordered the aet for that bottle. I havw also been wanting to tey Glossier You and Not a Perfume.
Heads up everyone a 1 oz of Commodity Gold is 25 dollars in Ipsy shop rn!
Love this type of content. Thank you
Excuse me?! 88$ for LITERALLY samples that are supposed to be gifted when making a purchase?! That’s insane and full on shameful.
Thanks for doing the math and these vids. I want you to keep doing these please
Idk why every time you said Dead Cool or whatever… I thought Deadpool…..anyways, I love Ryan Reynolds.
Boy Smells have much better scents than Vanilla Era. I'd recommend Violet Ends or Rose Load.
I actually can't believe Sephora sell sample size sets for this much money! It's actually wild.... what if you don't like any of them? Notino sell this sort of thing for between £5-8. I recently got a sample set from ånd fragrances - niche, indie brand with 2ml edp samples with 9 perfumes and it was around £25..... and they give a £25 voucher for any full size bottles with that one. It seems way better to just sell them for way less and put a voucher in for a % discount, that way the discount is relative to the retail price!
Thanks for the breakdown on this. I was just thinking that tax will be on both the sampler kit and when you redeem your coupon, so that all needs to be added in. In NJ it's close to 7%.
I've not been taxed in California when redeeming the coupons. I wonder if that's a NJ sales tax thing.
@@robinlibby8388 NJ taxes everything! LOL
@@robinlibby8388 same I've never paid a dime with redemption and I've done about 5 of these. Also California
I wasn't taxed in New york when I redeemed my coupon.
I wasn't taxed in Minnesota or North Dakota.
Thanks for this video because I almost brought one but I was like the math isn’t mathing and I may as well just get the perfume I want myself because the sizes in the ones I really want are smaller than the others and Sunlit Blooms is really good already have a travel of it and it is full bottle worthy for sure
I only get the kits if I want to try the scents they have in it.
Thank you for the video ❤❤❤
I bought the travel size set and only 3 of them are full mini bottles some of them are half full and the flower bomb is basically empty? I’m confused if it’s supposed to be like that or I got screwed:/
Hmm, do these go on sale? If so, the Friends and Family event is coming up on August 8th I think. It might be worth it to wait until then if so
I feel like the audio has been really low for your latest videos
The $34 price point is just so they come in below the “with $35 purchase” offers.
I haven't been impressed by any of their sample sets in a hot minute. Maybe they'll release better ones towards December but im not counting on it
These sets used to be like $65 ish then $70s & now over $90 with tax AND the testers have shrunk in half or more. At this point unless I was planning on adding a scent to my collection like Gold & I could buy the set & get the full size 40% off… not as worth it to me as it once was.
Thanks for sharing 🤩
Great video!
How long do you have to redeem
corporate greed sucks
They used to be amoney saver for me when they were $55, and I would get two during the sale. Now, they are not worth it.
I cannot stand coconut! Why do all of these fragrances have damn coconut in them?!!!! Not everybody likes coconut sheesh!
Summer and coconut have been having a moment!
I am dying to know what you think of Turquatic by MAC 💙
I actually have had that one and loved it in the past… lol I still have the empty bottle because I have problems!! 🤣🤣 it’s one I need to revisit though because I really did LOVE it!!
@@laurenmaefragrance I love it too! I had a sample and then had to order the little bottle… great perfume to finish out the summer 🌊🌞