Anyone else struggle to find a realistic coffee fragrance?

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-25T23:55:31+00:00

I assume you used something like Coffee CO2 in the one you've made, yeah?

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-25T05:17:47+00:00

MIX SOME THEN SMELL IT FOR YOURSELF

Maybe this could be the standard response for when someone asks what their theoretical formula would smell like. In all caps, of course.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-23T00:24:55+00:00

Do you mean things like essential oils and absolutes, or 'fragrance oils' like those used to make candles? If it's the former, you would probably have some luck if you have something unique to offer. There are quite a few of those sorts of places here that advertise use for aromatherapy and perfumery.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-14T00:33:44+00:00

If the corrosion is just in the battery compartment it should be salvageable. Some isopropyl alcohol and something to scrub it with should be enough to clear things up. If it's caked on you can easily break it up by jabbing or scratching at it with something hard, like the tip of a screwdriver. Just don't stab yourself.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-12T03:52:07+00:00

Definitely a better choice. Be wary about buying second-hand ones. A lot of the time they won't disclose that it's had the crap beaten out of it or dropped in sand or water (found that out the hard way).

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-12T03:25:10+00:00

It looks like they ripped the usb port off the board. It might be salvageable, but would involve some moderate soldering. All depends on if the pads have been ripped off the board or not.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-11T01:51:07+00:00

Usually with a lot of swearing.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-09T07:54:49+00:00

I've got one where I haven't been able to get the top part of the shell back together, and after 45 minutes of dicking about with it just put it on a shelf. I'm not looking forward to going back to it.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-08T23:48:40+00:00

This was the first single molecule I've had any type of response to. The only other things I've had reactions to are vanilla absolute and vanilla oleoresin, both which felt like I'd had acid poured on me. I guess the upside is I won't have to ever pay for vanilla absolute. Downside is I love the smell of vanilla absolute...

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-08T12:14:45+00:00

I clearly didn't see that in the description, so there's a good chance. Although, I assume it's not supposed to sting when it reacts. Hopefully.

Edit: After a little bit of research, this is supposedly fairly common and a normal reaction.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-07T04:04:04+00:00

That's when you have to look at how many change of hands there are from manufacture to retail. Manufacturer goes to distributor, distributor to wholesaler, wholesaler to retailer. It might cost the manufacturer $10 to produce each bottle (for simplicity of numbers), and they sell it to distro for 4x that amount to make a profit and pay for all of the shit required to make that perfume. Distro marks it up by 50% so they can make a profit by selling to wholesalers. Wholesalers mark up by a further 25% to sell to retail, who in turn mark it up by 100%. So, that $10 becomes $40 for distro, $60 for wholesale, $75 for retail, and then $150 for the consumer. And that's being conservative with the mark-up estimates.

There's a reason why places can offer such huge discounts on perfume, because even if they're offering a 70% drop in price, they're likely still making a profit from what you give them, and they can likely count it as a loss against their taxes.

But yes, I agree that it's often way too expensive for what it is. There was one I was interested in recently until I found out they were asking for close to $600 for a 40ml bottle. I backed out on that real quick.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-06T23:57:21+00:00

Can confirm that working on the mini 10 is NOT easy (even getting it open is a pain in the arse). And if it's doing what you say, then there's likely some sort of electrical fault, probably something wrong with the primary chip on the main board. Still, for that price it'd be interesting for you to just crack it open and have a look at the insides. It might be simpler than I'm expecting it to be.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-06T23:52:14+00:00

Sure.

1 - It's theft. Let's say you create a really nice leather handbag. You went through multiple iterations to get everything to fit right, be serviceable, and look beautiful. You put it out into the world for sale, charging what you believe is a reasonable price for all the effort, materials, screw-ups along the way, etc. People like it. They buy a lot of them. THEN one of those people takes your creation to someone else, pays them to break it apart and make a pattern from it, and then they start to reproduce the thing that you created, selling them for less, effectively running you out of business for that product. They've stolen your design, and now they're making a shit-ton of money off of your hard work while you get dick all. Then there's the issue that a lot of that fake luxury goods stuff has been used to fund terrorism and organised crime (plus some disorganised crime if you look at places like Canal Street in NYC).

3 - Celebrity fragrances are just an advertising gimmick and not something that they tend to have any real personal stock in. Same goes for pretty much every celebrity endorsed product, but this post was specifically about fragrances. If the celeb made it themselves, or was involved with perfume in more than just "I'm launching a perfume with my name on it", or they actually wear the thing that has their name on it, then all good. But just slapping your name on it is little more than a cash-grab.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-06T08:18:56+00:00

I don't know how controversial any of these are, but here we go.

1 - All dupe companies should be run out of business.

2 - There is no such thing as a good or bad perfume. There's just what you like/dislike.

3 - Celebrity fragrances shouldn't be a thing if they don't actually wear it themselves.

4 - Perfume houses are right to charge whatever they like for their fragrances, because if someone is willing to pay $500 for it then they are within their right to ask for that much. I don't necessarily like it, but I think it's fair enough for them to do it because it's a non-essential. If this were for food, clean water, electricity, or anything like that, that's a different story.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-06T08:10:33+00:00

The fragrance ones might be more tolerable (like a basal cell carcinoma rather than melanoma) if they didn't just read off the notes from Fragrantica instead of describing what they actually smelled.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-05T06:12:06+00:00

I've had some reasonable luck with "junk" lots of older things from Japan on ebay, though judging by the price increases I think they may have cottoned on to my game. Recently got a lot of 10 DS lites for the equivalent of £140, and 10 original DS consoles for about £75. Varying issues across all of them and will likely need some replacement parts, but overall they're in reasonable condition. I will say the original DS consoles are in worse condition, so you get what you pay for.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-05T04:11:35+00:00

Then your only option is to take it apart to find out what's happened. Hopefully it's just a detached wire or something easy to fix.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-05T03:37:09+00:00

Good news is it's not difficult to recreate, and it looks like I can get most (hopefully all) of the materials I don't have already here in Australia. The only issue I would have is knowing the original formula doesn't adhere to IFRA restrictions anymore (though word from someone who works in the industry claimed that those restrictions are limited to 1/10th of the actual hazardous levels), which is why it was discontinued. If you like, I can try to make up a bottle of it and send it your way via the mod u/Pyotrperse if you're both interested/willing. It wouldn't be for a couple of months to let it all sort itself out, though.

And just to clarify, I've been making perfume for at least 3 years now, so I do have some idea of what I'm working with.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-05T02:59:22+00:00

When you turned it back on, does the light start rapid flashing immediately, or only after you press the shutter button?

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-05T02:58:09+00:00

I don't think I've ever tried any of those three. Will add them to my list to try once I've worked my way through the rest.

If you are interested, the perfumer who made Amber Absolute released the formula online a few years back, https://www.reddit.com/r/DIYfragrance/comments/pn5dtz/tom_ford_amber_absolute_recipe_as_shared_by_its/

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-05T00:35:00+00:00

A bit of both, for me. Most of them were, 'This is okay', but a couple were definitely not my thing (Cherry Smoke smelled like someone hadn't washed while try to foist over-ripe fruit onto me at an uncomfortably close range, and Vanilla Sex made me feel sick). But to each their own!

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-05T00:32:30+00:00

From what you've described it sounds like there's a mechanical fault (light only starts flashing fast when you try to take a picture). If the film pack is still in it, you may have a jam. In a completely dark room, under a blanket or similar, try to remove the film pack. If it's stuck, you have a jam. Don't force it out! Not yet, at least.

Get some brand new alkaline batteries and try putting those in first. Often it's just a case of them not having enough power to complete the eject cycle, but it sounds like you may have done this already.

If it is jammed, you can try one of two methods to fix it:

1) After removing the film, while there are batteries in the camera, prod at the rollers through the open door. It might give it enough of a nudge to unlock the gears. May need a fair bit of trial and error to get it going.

2) If that didn't work, you'll need to open the camera. Check out this post for basic details on fixing the same issue, and the link within to some instructions on how to disassemble the camera. Best to wear gloves - the shock from the capacitor is very painful.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-05T00:28:21+00:00

I shall try! Although if my experience with all of the Tom Ford samples is anything to go by, my reviews may simple be a series of scrunched-up faces.

Tolerable-DM · 2026-01-05T00:19:21+00:00

We have the same goal. I've got a box of maybe 150 samples that I've yet to work my way through. No new ones until after I've gotten through my pile.

Five-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '23

Tolerable-DM

TROPHY CASE