Your best blindbuys

I’m not promoting blindbuys here but hey, everyone’s done it at some part in their lives am I right? And they’re not always successful. Most of the time they aren’t as a matter of fact. But sometimes you hit the jackpot! So.. to act as a counterpart to the other forum thread “What are your worst blindbuys”, give us your best, most successful blindbuy!

My collection isn’t as large as some people around here but I have one banger of a blindbuy and that’s Habit Rouge L'Instinct . Well rather it was a trade-in. I never smelled it, it doesn’t get high scores, I didn’t know the OG or anything in the Habit Rouge line but wow do I like it! It’s fresh but it’s also classy. And it came right in time for the spring, lovely!

Oh Ceesie, Good thread! I almost didn't see your thread and started one too on the same subject, but deleted it after seeing you already started this thread .

My best blind buys are:

Liu Eau de Parfum

Givenchy III (2007)

@Ringtale I begin to believe that most Guerlains are pretty safe to buy blind!

Hi @Ceesie, it depends and it's a matter of taste...I love Guerlain's more classic perfumes, but I hate Mon Guerlain Eau de Parfum for instance (don't own it, but tested it).

Really think blind buys are never wise..no matter the house.

Nice thread indeed! I don't have any bad blind buys (yet?), so nothing to say in the other thread. 😆

La Nuit Blanche and Floranilla are by far my best blind guys. I fell in love immediately.

Floranilla wasn't safe and not cheap either, I took the risk, but back then I didn't know there were many websites to buy decants.
However, Maison Tahité are not the easiest decants to find.
La Nuit Blanche is so nice. Never tested the OG but it's known to be one of the best Bianco Latte dupes, if not the best.

Definitely Cuir de Venise thanks to a reviewer on here. It was everything he said it would be and more.

La Tsarine

This one is probably not a safe blind buy for most people. It smells like sex in a palace. Like really expensive sexy body odor. It's the only fragrance I've tried with a noticeable cumin note that I really like.

This perfume sounds absolutely amazing, but when do you wear such a thing??

@Ceesie Not to mass or the movie theater...

Well this one inspired me to make a new collection on Parfumo: possible blindbuys 😇

@Ceesie you may have better luck than I did finding a sample. And if you do, let me know. I'm dying to try Une Île Pluvieuse. This one might end up being another blind buy for me.

I don't buy perfumes blindly anymore. I always try several times, but when I was younger and inexperienced, I did that.

Some of the best are:

Xerjoff Uden

Xerjoff Nio

Xerjoff Naxos

Chanel Coromandel

Terenzi Orion

Tom Ford Noir

Parfums de Marly Layton

MKF Grand Soir

Essential Parfums Bois Imperial

@Ceesie

My most successful blind buy, without a doubt, has been Vanille Havane Eau de Parfum . I am in love with this fragrance. So much so, that I’ve been intentionally wearing it less to make the bottle last longer. Lol.

I would love to make it my daily wear and signature scent, but I find it should be more of a night out, date night, special occasion fragrance given how special it’s become in my collection. That being said, I do wear it to work, or just randomly on occasion just because I’m in the mood and want to smell it.

I was originally intrigued by the fragrance after someone mentioned it on the forum, and I decided to take the plunge and blind buy it after I watched this person’s review on YouTube; it was the YouTube review that finally sold me. Haha. He was really passionate about his love for the fragrance and it got me to finally commit to trying it blind.

YouTube review

Pretty much all my vintage (or reformulated vintage) cheapies were blind-buys... Cabochard (2019) Eau de Parfum, Cabotine Eau de Toilette, Loulou Eau de Parfum, Eden, Tocade (1994) Eau de Toilette, Aromatics Elixir Perfume, Pleasures Eau de Parfum, Grey Flannel Eau de Toilette, Red Door Eau de Toilette...

Thankfully I've really liked, in some cases loved, all of them.

Velvet Amber Sun

Five o'clock au gingembre

The One Luminous Night

Marzocco Eau de Parfum

Dior Homme Parfum (2014)

"Safari | Abdul Samad Al Qurashi / عبدالصمد القرشي"

Northern Flicker. Caught a review of this limited edition sent. Samples were sold out and I was intrigued. It worked out very well. My only concern is that I probably will not be able to replace it when it's gone.

It's a wonderful perfume! I got Vanille Havane Coeur de Oud as a blind buy but I treat it like a crown jewel and rarely touch it

"Maahir Legacy | Lattafa / لطافة" - Supposed clone of Sedley but even if I don't get the resemblance, I love it!!

Lumière Garçon - Clone of The One Luminous Night

"Liam / ليام | Lattafa / لطافة"

Definitely Moustache Eau de Parfum, I love this juice!

I've been eyeing that one for quite some time now. It's got potential to be my best blind buy too!

Me too! It’s apparently a bit like Tuxedo so I’m not sure for which one to go though. Never smelled it, but it’s from the same line as Babycat and I loved that. Don’t know how much that’s worth though in case of YSL.

Vinyle

Humboldt

Annone

"Song for a Queen | Roos & Roos / Dear Rose"

Sceptre

Utopia Parfum

...these are rather exceptions...
85-90% of blind buys are not what I expected, and I had to sell/swap them; that's why I (almost) always try to buy a sample first, and only then, if I like the scent, a FB.

Best blind buys that I’m grateful were successful

The N°1

Russian Musk II

"Limited Collection - 71 2022 Edition | Widian / AJ Arabia"

Parfum de la Nuit

Jump Up and Kiss Me Hedonistic

1872 Mandarin

"Elements of Man - Strength | Ermenegildo Zegna"

Where to begin on this?

Mitsouko Eau de Parfum - A totally dangerous and risky blind buy that helped me to discover my favorite fragrance ever. I have yet to smell anything that impresses me like Mitsouko does.

Terre d'Hermès Eau Intense Vétiver - This one is cheating because I like pretty much everything with a forward vetiver note, but still, it's become a top 5 for me.

Jicky Eau de Parfum - Another incredibly dangerous blind buy, but one I love nonetheless. If Mitsouko didn't exist, this would likely be my favorite fragrance ever made.

Dandy or not. G.A. - A blind buy due to it being hard to sample in the states turned into a surprise favorite for me. Definitely one of the most wearable, easygoing fragrances in my collection.

I'd say about 70 % of my collection is very successful blind buys as I have lived my whole life in places where sampling is either extremely difficult or expensive 😅 The good side of this is that blind buying has definitely expanded my taste in fragrances as owning a "weird" fragrance encourages to test it more often in several occasions instead of just a couple of tests. For example, back in the 2010s Mugler wasn't available at all in my country but I decided to blind buy Alien Eau de Parfum just based on the gorgeous bottle, the name of the fragrance, the marketing and the reviews. When I first got it I actually didn't like it at all and didn't get what's so special in it. However I kept it in my collection because I loved the bottle and decided to test it again every now and then. All of the sudden I started to crave it all the time and fell deeply in love, and now it's one of my all time favourites and my top5 love! So even though I disagreed at first, now I'm thinking it was one of my best blindbuys ever and I'm grateful that I did it. If I had just tested it first, I probably wouldn't still understand it at all as I wouldn't have given it enough chances. Some of my super successful blind buys that have been loves at first sniff include for example: "Soprano | XerJoff", Onde Extase, Kenzo World Eau de Parfum, Valentina Myrrh Assoluto, "Mulled Cider (Cologne) | Demeter Fragrance Library / The Library Of Fragrance", Eau de Rochas Escapade au Soleil and Glamour.