Sample Hoarder

I have been doing a bit of sorting and look at this lot! Kilos of sachets, tiny tubes and bottles and jars filled with various unguents and potions. Not only are they are brilliant for travelling with, they’re a fantastic, cost-efficient way to see if you might like a product you’ve never tried before and are curious about. In fact, I sometimes actually prefer them to full-size since I’m not constantly exposing the entire content to air and bacteria.

I find most counters in North America will provide samples, so as long as you dress well, play it cool, and look like — at some point — you’re going to come back and spend load of money. Does anyone often find they need more than the lone sachet that counters (unwillingly) give to find whether you like it enough buy a full size? I shouldn’t complain, not at all, because it’s free. But, using something once or twice often doesn’t tell me much.

I appreciate that in Japan and Korea, there is no need to play any silly mind games, because there they see the importance of complimentary samples and they often lavish you with them. Granted, you generally have to buy something, but no matter how little you spend, a batch of lovely sachets or tubes is given to try out at home.  think that’s the way things should be. If you’re going to invest on a new non-budget price moisturiser or foundation, then it’s kind of necessary to be able to try it properly before you commit.

Anyway, I really should sort them into labelled containers according to categories instead of simply dumping them all into a drawer. I do use samples a lot (and frequently throw out ones I’m not remotely interested in), but still not nearly enough to use this lot up. Does it seem weird to do a bumper selection of minis and samples as a giveaway?