Decant/Atomizer Questions

[coughdrop]

Ok, A/S man here who's new to the cologne scene. What's all of this I hear about "decanting" & "atomizers"? How do I go about doing it, & why would I? Does it make the cologne last longer? -or last longer on you? -or what? Just got me a nice bottle whose scent I really like, so I was wondering about this. If anyone could enlighten me, I'd surely appreciate it.

 

[cvac]

When people say "get a decant" or "buy a decant" they mean they are buying a small amount of a cologne to try out before buying a whole bottle. You can buy a 1ml vial of it or as much as the seller allows. The customers want to make sure they like something before spending a lot of $ on it. Usually, what they want to test out isn't available in a local store so buying a decant is the only way to test it. The most infamous place to buy decants is Perfumed Court. Then you have independent sellers like Rorschuck/Badger Decants and the like, the Crystal Flacon message board, etc. Some stores like Lucky Scent sell small vials of the scents they carry in their online store. You get the idea.

Decanting is the process of transferring a fragrance out of a larger container into a another container. Usually this is done so that people can sell or trade some of the cologne they have. Often times, some colognes do not come with spray tops, they only come with splash tops. Some people, like me, don't like splash tops, so I use plastic pipettes and transfer some cologne to a small glass atomizer bottle so that I can spray it on myself rather than rub it on with my hands. Atomizer bottles come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. You can get glass or plastic, different colors, etc.

You can buy atomizers and pipettes and a lot of other related stuff at places like pilotvials.com, accessoriesforfragrances.com, etc.

One thing, never re-use an atomizer bottle, sample vial/bottle, or a plastic pipette. You need a new one for each cologne.