I don’t know about you but for me swaps and perfume splits are the best and most efficient (and friendly!) ways to discover new things. As an unexperienced perfumista I usually participated in splits but as I gained some trust in local perfume communities I started offering parts of the scent I wanted to add to my collection. In fact a greater part of my wardrobe consists of partial bottles. Then came the swapping – a funny way of giving away something you probably didn’t love strong enough to keep and receiving in exchange something that the other person didn’t mind parting with. I made some friends that way and even though I don’t do as many splits or swaps than a few years ago but both still bring me a lot of joy and fun when they happen. It’s always an exciting thrill.
I especially love to exchange things with fellow bloggers because not only do we get to try perfume from brands that are hard or even impossible to try where we live but we also exchange opinions and sometimes fall in love with the new findings. But I want to tell you about this particularly lovely story. Just a week before I was departing on my holidays Now Smell This was holding another Splitmeet (15th in their history). I put up a list of fragrances I thought deserve a better home but I wasn’t hoping for much. Most NST readers are from the US and knowing how hard it is to send a perfume across the ocean they just don’t do that. Imagine my surprise when I got an email from someone who offered Memo Winter Palace for one of the fragrances I offered. And not just a large sample (™ – Hajusuuri) or a decant but almost a full bottle. I’ve been thinking about Winter Palace since I reviewed it and this was my chance to invite a dragon to my house. We agreed on the swap. Fast forward a couple of weeks and both sides were happy owners of new perfume we dreamed of having. I appreciate the effort and risk she took to mail it from the US. Thank you once more!
I promise to give a good and loving forever home to your Memo Winter Palace.
Chemist in the Bottle 
There are so many generous perfumistas. I participated in the NST swap and several of my somewhat neglected bottles found new homes while I gained some fun new bottles and decants. A few were “blind swap” selections but while I generally don’t blind buy these days I don’t mind swapping that way . Enjoy your Winter Palace. I actually have some coming to me through a split with Hajusuuri! (The other way to get some amazing decants is to win a chemistinthebottle giveaway 😊
Perfume people are very friendly and generous. I’m sure that you as US person have it easier to swap with other US people but I’m just so happy I could get Winter Palace without paying for it.
I saw Hajusuuri was splitting it. We’ll be twins forever.
Just want to echo the love for other kind, generous perfume people!
Absolutely!
Congratulations on the great transaction! I know you’ll enjoy wearing it.
While splits and decant swaps work for me great, I could never do bottle swaps: any bottle that gets into my collection becomes dear to me – even if I don’t wear perfume much (probably because with all the perfumes I own I don’t wear any perfume too often). So I just can’t make myself to part with any of the bottles 🙂
Thank you dear!
Oh I see. In my career I only had 2-3 bottles that I got but never wore really so I didn’t feel sad when parting with them.