Samples. Do you ever buy from them?

Satanfriendly

Supporter
Supporter
LeJog 2022 Finisher
Messages
6,620
Location
Liverpool
Thinking aloud last night when I reached for the Floris Santal, 'I only bought this after receiving a small sample bottle'. It is likewise with my love for ADP.

Has anyone else been influenced by a sample? It is just that I always thought they were a farcical gimmick until I realised they do help make choices.
 
Definitely. I wasted hundreds of pounds on EDTs which I bought blind before now. Now I will only ever buy after sampling - why throw your money away?

Having said this, I've bought a few soaps and creams blind and have fallen into the buyer's remorse trap a few times since starting DE shaving - in part because samples are largely unobtainable.

I rarely go to shopping centres or towns, but if I do I will usually go into the department stores to check out what fragrance samples they currently have (they usually have drawers full of whatever is being pushed currently) and take a few away. These are 100% of the time terrible fragrances!
 
Like buddha above I sample the mass market one's at department stores, most are awful but there's the odd gem. The only frag samples I've ordered were Floris No.89 & Penhaligon's Hammam Bouquet simply because I couldn't try them locally. I find Floris' 1.2ml sample for £2.50 to be the sweet spot, some companies want £5 for 3ml which is defeating the purpose of a sample IMO.

Soap samples on the other hand I used to buy quite often but came to realise that performance is very rarely indicative of the full product, their only real use is for sampling the scents.
 
Back
Top Bottom