Traveling Fragrance Sample Box

I just got back from a weekend Up-North, trip with the boys, to find a great box sitting here waiting for me.

I will be going through the box and smelling a ton of stuff over the next few days, and then figuring out what I want to try.

Thanks again for letting me join this box. It's going to be a blast.

I'll post some thoughts/reviews along the way.

Oh my the box is scent overload

I've only been through a couple baggies and I am already overloaded.

A few baggies that I have seen have bottles with empty bottles/sprayers. I can try to clean them and put them together in a baggie for people to use. Anyone have a suggested method for cleaning them that wouldn't leave scents afterwards, so that they can be used for other colognes without cross contamination?

A couple baggies also have hand written labels that just don't seem to make it. Even Kotton's baggie had one in it that I have no idea what the cologne is - I can't read it.

I am not sure how I will conquer that, as I will have to hand write mine as well. Maybe if I cover it completely in tape and then put it on the bottle. I'm not sure

Best bet would probably use scotch tape, write the cologne on it, then put scotch tape over that.

Someone else said to use a pencil So the alcohol wouldn't erase it. And then cover with tape.

I've seen some of these with pencil and tape over it that were difficult to read after getting wet - it makes a big difference on how good that tape is. Clear shipping tape would work better than Scotch tape, but then again, there are probably many different kinds of "Scotch tape" . Try it on a bottle, and dunk it in water for a minute. If nothing gets near seeping through, that is perfect!

Some of the 1ml or smaller samples from luckyscent or surrender to chance or so small to start with what gets passed along may be good for one more try or have evaporated a bit - I've got several of these I've yet to try that I bought and I'd almost swear they were now empty. I don't buy such small samples anymore, lol.

Really gotten spoiled by Archerfire's large samples, great prices, and really really good labels.

Computer, printer.

smoothie72 said:

Computer, printer.

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Most printers have water and/or alcohol soluble inks these days.

The labels on my samples from Archerfire have gotten wet many times and they look great. Here is what he mentioned to me, which may be useful info to some:

It's actually cheaper to order empties from me rather than from my supplier, unless you plan on ordering in bulk case quantities. That's mostly due to the expensive shipping charges they drop on you. For instance, if you order a bag of 48 (the minimum you can purchase) it's going to cost you a grand total of $32.29. You can buy that same bag of 48 from me for $18.00 plus exact shipping.

I spray directly into the bottle. The opening is pretty narrow, so you have to have a steady 'trigger' finger! Sometimes I'll use a small funnel if I have an especially cantankerous sprayer.

My labeler is a simple Brother P-touch. It's an older model, but I'm sure there is probably a newer version available.

Ah yeah ... I have one of those labelers. It's not ink but sort of a film it sticks to the tape. They sell them in craft shops for not too much.

I could kick myself for not having purchased one earlier. If I find use for my other empty bottles, I will buy one for certain.

the pencil works ok if covered up but smears if not. a noodler's bulletproof ink would work, too. most every other ink - ballpoint, gel and marker would run in alcohol.

a pTouch is great for this. I think I pTouched some bottles - don't remember.

To clean the empties, use 91% isopropyl alcohol - easily found at walmart/kmart/etc... 70% smells a bit industrial. The 91% isn't perfectly scentless but it's close and the stuff the pros use is 100x the price. biggest thing to remember is when you clean the sprayer, pump some alcohol through the sprayer to clean the tubing and nozzle; don't just rinse out the bottle. Then let it air dry adn your'e good to refill.

@Zombeezy - just go buy one. I've had one for maybe 15 years and it just prints and prints. Buy the tapes at costco or sam's or newegg at christmas (free after rebate sales).

That's why I've always held off - didn't want to get sucked into Dymo as another wrong format choice like LaserDiscs and HD-DVD, haha. Certainly does seem like the Brother P-Touch is the go-to now. Now, which one ...

LouSee said:

To clean the empties, use 91% isopropyl alcohol - easily found at walmart/kmart/etc... 70% smells a bit industrial. The 91% isn't perfectly scentless but it's close and the stuff the pros use is 100x the price.

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Ooh, a place I can contribute! I've been making my own splashes and after shaves for a few months. Grain alcohol (Everclear) is much cheaper than perfumer's alcohol and much better than isopropyl. Give that a try sometime.

makes sense everclear would be better - for all purposes....




@Zombeezy - look over the label tapes - I think there's a second or third type of labels now. Then decide if you want to be able to plug into a PC or not. The more fancy features, the more expensive, like most things...

LouSee, thanks for the info. It pretty much mirrors what I see on Amazon when I was looking at the PT2730 because they have a comparison chart.

OK, you convinced me! Bought the Brother PT2730. I wasn't going to right now because at $69.99, wanted to mull over the other models, but then I saw that the PT2730VP, which is the same thing but with carrying case, was $49.99!

Figured I'd better buy it before the price bounced back up, lol.

You can't pass up a sale!

So, been crazy so I haven't had a chance to try much. I will plan to add some reviews/thoughts as I do.

I tried the Tom Ford For Men. It was my first try of a Tom Ford cologne. I thought it was pretty nice and stuck around for a while. My wife really liked it as well. I know I wasn't very descriptive in the scent - I'll try to do better with that in the future thoughts.

AndroiDad75 - I finally broke down and had to look up what the Rubberset 400 Club was, lol.

The Rubbersets do look pretty cool, but lucky for me, I am still smitten with my Shavemac that I got in '08 that is still doing just fine, so I can spend my money on things like a PTouch.

Zombeezy said:

The Rubbersets do look pretty cool, but lucky for me, I am still smitten with my Shavemac that I got in '08 that is still doing just fine, so I can spend my money on things like a PTouch.

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I got pretty lucky with that Rubberset, as in I didn't have to pay the crazy prices they are demanding today, otherwise it wouldn't have happened.

I may have to look at a PTouch as well, since they look like they would be useful for a number of things. We'll see. I have quite a number of scents I could add to the box, that doesn't look represented, but I want to make sure people know what they are. In fact they may have a label maker at work, but it doesn't really do small, I don't think, and since these little 4ml spray bottles aren't very big, I am not sure how it will work.