Are perfume samples free?
Some perfume samples are free and many are not. Here is where the free ones come from and what a decant sample is for.
Are perfume samples free? Some are, most are not. A free sample is a promotion: a brand, a department store or a magazine hands it out so you will try something. A decant is a different thing. It is a glass vial that somebody fills from a full bottle, labels and sends to you, and that makes it a product rather than a giveaway. Both have a place, and they do different jobs.
Where free samples come from
Free samples come from a few places. A perfume counter may spray a paper strip or hand over a small card-mounted vial. A brand may add a sample to an order. Magazines, loyalty schemes and launch campaigns hand them out for a short time. In every case the giver decides which perfume you get, and the offer ends when the campaign ends. That is not a flaw, it is how promotion works, and it is a good way to meet a new release if it happens to be one you were curious about.
The limit is choice. You rarely get to say "the Eau de Parfum, not the Extrait" or "that house, that perfume". A sample you did not choose can tell you that you dislike something, and sometimes that is useful. It is a poor way to settle a question you already had.
What a decant adds
A decant starts from your question. You name the perfume and the concentration, and we fill a vial from the original bottle, as How we fill your sample describes. It is not an official brand sample and the house is not involved, which is also why we say so on every page. What you gain is the exact perfume you wanted, in a size you pick: 2, 5 or 10 ml. The difference between this and a tester or a brand miniature is in decant, tester, brand sample or miniature.
Think of the choice as a ladder. A free strip or sachet is the first rung: it removes the perfumes that are clearly not for you. A decant is the second: you wear it for days, on your own skin, and decide whether it earns a bottle.
Perfumes you can name
Here are five you can ask for by name. Frederic Malle Carnal Flower is an Eau de Parfum recorded with melon water fruits, vegetal notes and fresh tuberose on top and milky tuberose with musk in the base. A free strip would show you the sharp opening and little else.
Byredo Black Saffron is recorded with juniper berries, pomelo and saffron on top, black violet, cristal rose and leather accord in the heart and blonde woods, raspberry and vetiver in the base. It is tagged strong in our records, so a few days on skin will tell you more than any card.
Amouage Guidance exists as an Eau de Parfum and as Guidance 46 Extrait de Parfum. If you want the first, you can ask for the first. The Eau de Parfum is recorded with pear, frankincense and hazelnut on top, saffron, rose, jasmine sambac and osmanthus in the heart and cistus, sandalwood, akigalawood, ambergris and vanilla in the base.
Rayhaan Aquatica opens with lime, coconut milk, bergamot and mandarin, moves to sugarcane, hibiscus, jasmine and gardenia and ends on rum, musk, tonka bean and patchouli. Mykonos Inception is an Extrait de Parfum with bergamot, ginger, orange and lemon on top, neroli, cinnamon, black tea and biga flower in the heart and guaiac wood, musk, cedarwood and Lorenox™ in the base.
A word on "free" offers
Be careful with offers that look free and are not. A genuine sample needs a delivery address and nothing more. If a page asks for payment details to cover a "free" parcel, signs you up for something else or sends you through a chain of forms, treat it as a way to collect data. The checklist in buying perfume samples in Europe covers what a trustworthy seller shows, and how to get perfume samples compares the routes.
Using both
A sensible order is to let free strips and sachets narrow the field, then pick the few that stayed in your mind and wear them as decants. The routine for testing on skin works for either. To see what we fill, browse all samples, the niche range or the 2 ml samples, and use the sample set builder to combine several. Practical questions are answered in the FAQ.
FAQ
Can I get a free sample of any perfume I like?
Not usually. Free samples are tied to what a brand or a counter chooses to hand out at a given moment. If you want one specific perfume, a decant lets you name it.
Is a free sample the same perfume as a decant?
The liquid is the same kind of perfume, but the vial is not. A brand sample is made and handed out by the house, and a decant is filled by us from the original bottle and labelled by us.
Is it safe to fill in forms for free samples?
Read who is asking and why. A real offer needs a name and an address for the parcel. If it asks for card details or sends you on to other forms, it is not a free sample.
