Welcome to My Salon: Interview with Patty Geissler, Perfume Decanter (part I)
“Welcome to my Salon” is a new feature of The Perfume Bee in which I will be interviewing some of the hippest movers and shakers in perfumery and in the perfume blogosphere. For my first interview, I wanted to know more about perfume decants. So I went right to the source: Patty Geissler, decanter extraordinaire.
Patty is the owner of Fragrant Fripperies, one of the premier online perfume decanting businesses. This warm-hearted, fast-talking perfume decanter shared her insights with the Perfume Bee by email and by telephone. Following is part I of our interview (part II will appear tomorrow).
Perfume Bee: How long have you been interested in perfume?
Patty Geissler: I’ve been playing perfume since I was in high school. I’ve always loved smell, from the first time I can remember burying my nose in the sheets my mom just brought in off the line, to the many lazy rainy days I spent in the loft of our barn with bales of hay and little kittens and a good book. I’ve had spikes of perfume activity in the past, but the last one before this most recent interest was during the time CSPs [Comptoir Sud Pacifique] were really popular. I tried to like them, I did, but I’m not a fan of vanilla, and after I bought my third bottle of CSP at about $100 a bottle that I hated, I just gave up for a few years. When I started investigating perfume again in 2005, it was a whole new world in perfume and one I loved!
Bee: For my readers who might be new to the world of fragrance decants, can you please describe the nature of decants and your business, Fragrant Fripperies?
P.G.: I buy the large bottles of a fragrance, sometimes mainstream, sometimes obscure or niche or very newly released or only available in Europe or vintage, then I offer smaller samples of it or decants. This allows the consumer to try a fragrance to make sure it is love before they purchase it, though many people like decants because they can then afford to have lots of expensive scents instead of just one or two that they weary of too quickly.
bee: How long have you been in this business? And how did you choose the catchy name?
P.G.: I started this business in late 2005. The name was an inside joke between my husband and me. Before I started selling decants and samples, my husband and I budget X amount per month for each of us to spend on fripperies — stuff we don’t really need at all but just want, free from each other’s judgment of whether it is frivolous or not. When I got back into perfume again, I was sampling and getting bottles like crazy, having a wonderful time, and I found myself already ahead of my frippery budget by about three months or more. My husband told me I needed to either get back within my budget or figure out how to pay for the excess, so… Fragrant Fripperies was born.
Bee: What should fragrance customers look for when choosing a business from which to buy decants?
P.G.: It used to be easier when eBay allowed us to sell because you could look at a person’s feedback and see what others thought of their service and reliability. Now that decanters are moving to the web, I think it’s becoming more difficult. I think most people can get a recommendation on some of the perfume boards, like Basenotes, POL, MUA on whether a decanter is reliable and honest. As far as what to look for, reputation is the key thing when buying decants. It is best to go to a perfume board and do a search for that business name. Most likely someone has dealt with them or has asked and gotten an answer, so you can make sure they are legit.
Bee: Approximately how many fragrances do you currently carry at Fragrant Fripperies?
P.G.: This is sort of embarrassing. I had to download my catalog this week for readying to upload to the new combined website with three other decanters, and I thought I was right around 300 perfumes, but it turns out it is almost 400. Now, some of those are two strengths of the same perfume, the EDT or EDP and the parfum.
Bee: How do you go about choosing the fragrances you will carry?
P.G.: It’s a mix of sources. Sometimes I get requests for things, and I try to honor those as much as possible. I also like to look around and find things that aren’t being represented in decanting. Sometimes that’s an older perfume that I love or discover, like Niki de St. Phalle or Fendi Theorema, and sometimes it is the latest things that’s just shown up in Europe. When I started out, I carried more of what I personally liked. In the last 6-8 months, I carry more of a variety of things, some that aren’t things I love or wear, but that I respect the craftsmanship.
Bee: Have you discontinued any items? If so, what is the most common reason? I do discontinue things.
P.G.: Usually it’s just because it doesn’t sell at all. When we go to the combined website, Theperfumedcourt.com, I have other things I’ll stop carrying because one of the other decanters already carries it. Then I can go find some new things to add.
Bee: What is the most touching experience you’ve had as a decanter in helping connect a customer with a fragrance?
P.G.: I think the times when someone is able to get their hands on something they used to wear or their mom wore, they’re so happy to just smell it again. But the times that make me so happy is when a person has their falling in love with a perfume moment. They may have hesitated to spend that much for a sample or decant because the perfume was so darn expensive, but they tried it, and it captivated them. Those moments, when you see someone find their scent by methodical trial are wonderful because it’s not an impulse, they’ve truly fallen for it….
