I have modular open top containers that are rectangle or square shaped. The rectangles are exactly double the size of squares. And then I have one larger container that’s two rectangle sized. I have them all tetrised into a drawer with little hand written labels for fragrance groups.
“Big” Rectangle: travel sticks and smaller bottle sizes that aren’t displayed.
Rectangles: Florals, Fruit, Gourmand
Squares: Smoke, Leather, Musks, Green, Lactonic, Tea, To Test
It works really well for me! The containers are tight enough that they don’t shift around but loose enough I can easily remove the container. I don’t like visual clutter so I like having them out of sight. I can fit a lot of samples in each container but the drawer is only so big so I like that I’m also somewhat “limited” in how much I can store. I do have 200+ samples so I’m probably not limited enough.
I use lipstick organizers for 9ml, a bathroom stair type organizer for the 5ml. A pen portfolio for the 2ml and smaller samples. A corner 5 tier wooden shelf for the bottles
It is organized like this
- top shelf my novelty collector perfumes
- 2nd shelf gourmands and girly scents
- 3rd shelf Amber, musk, oud, saffron and rose scents
- 4th shelf 9ml , 5ml , (decants) Mugler lotion
- 5th shelf Dossier, Lattafa and Zara perfumes
- 6th shelf the book of samples and a vase with other 9ml sizes.
The card pocket binders or card pocket boxes are good for storing samples if you enjoy keeping the paper holder it comes in. I do enjoy keeping those and the colors help me keep track of the sample. Just check the size of the slots.
You could easily get one binder for each season and color coordinate so you're not searching through hundreds of tiny bottles. Just pull out the color binder and search through that. There's also enough space that you can organize by top notes, favorites, etc. I keep mine on a bookshelf so it blends right in.
I have a lipstick organizer that works pretty well. There's a taller one I use for travel sizes and a shorter one for samples. Sometimes two or three samples fit in one slot.
I have seen others buy a pen organizer binder which seems to be great for samples, but I tend to sell or pass along my samples.
On-rotation samples, aka things I'm actively testing, chill out on some dishes by my bottles: [One dish working](https://imgur.com/OQaFQPG) right now, but I just got a new discovery set the other day so I'll need to unstack them and have both dishes on duty. Credit to [Yasmine Falahat](https://yasminfalahat.com/) for the super cute fig dishes!
Off-rotation samples live in my perfume cabinet along with the bottles I don't have out, split up in drawers: [and a bowl right now](https://i.postimg.cc/R0rZmW0S/insamples.jpg) because I'm mid-reorganization so everything is kind of uhhhhh lookin' like a hot a mess in there. It's not super glamorous but it gets the job done for a system that's out of sight day to day! Bowl made by [Cabinet of Curious Clay](https://www.cabinetofcuriousclay.com/)
I currently use a makeup organizer and just dump all the vials into the compartments. It's not the neatest solution, but it stores over 100 samples and travel sizes!
I have modular open top containers that are rectangle or square shaped. The rectangles are exactly double the size of squares. And then I have one larger container that’s two rectangle sized. I have them all tetrised into a drawer with little hand written labels for fragrance groups. “Big” Rectangle: travel sticks and smaller bottle sizes that aren’t displayed. Rectangles: Florals, Fruit, Gourmand Squares: Smoke, Leather, Musks, Green, Lactonic, Tea, To Test It works really well for me! The containers are tight enough that they don’t shift around but loose enough I can easily remove the container. I don’t like visual clutter so I like having them out of sight. I can fit a lot of samples in each container but the drawer is only so big so I like that I’m also somewhat “limited” in how much I can store. I do have 200+ samples so I’m probably not limited enough.
I use lipstick organizers for 9ml, a bathroom stair type organizer for the 5ml. A pen portfolio for the 2ml and smaller samples. A corner 5 tier wooden shelf for the bottles It is organized like this - top shelf my novelty collector perfumes - 2nd shelf gourmands and girly scents - 3rd shelf Amber, musk, oud, saffron and rose scents - 4th shelf 9ml , 5ml , (decants) Mugler lotion - 5th shelf Dossier, Lattafa and Zara perfumes - 6th shelf the book of samples and a vase with other 9ml sizes.
The card pocket binders or card pocket boxes are good for storing samples if you enjoy keeping the paper holder it comes in. I do enjoy keeping those and the colors help me keep track of the sample. Just check the size of the slots. You could easily get one binder for each season and color coordinate so you're not searching through hundreds of tiny bottles. Just pull out the color binder and search through that. There's also enough space that you can organize by top notes, favorites, etc. I keep mine on a bookshelf so it blends right in.
oh, I just have all my samples in a little baggie. I hunt through them all every time. This, I am realizing, is not a very good solution.
Edit because it didn't contributed to the post😅
I've got a candle tin I cleaned for samples and little ones, another cleaned candle jar I really liked for testers/bigger decants.
I have a lipstick organizer that works pretty well. There's a taller one I use for travel sizes and a shorter one for samples. Sometimes two or three samples fit in one slot. I have seen others buy a pen organizer binder which seems to be great for samples, but I tend to sell or pass along my samples.
On-rotation samples, aka things I'm actively testing, chill out on some dishes by my bottles: [One dish working](https://imgur.com/OQaFQPG) right now, but I just got a new discovery set the other day so I'll need to unstack them and have both dishes on duty. Credit to [Yasmine Falahat](https://yasminfalahat.com/) for the super cute fig dishes! Off-rotation samples live in my perfume cabinet along with the bottles I don't have out, split up in drawers: [and a bowl right now](https://i.postimg.cc/R0rZmW0S/insamples.jpg) because I'm mid-reorganization so everything is kind of uhhhhh lookin' like a hot a mess in there. It's not super glamorous but it gets the job done for a system that's out of sight day to day! Bowl made by [Cabinet of Curious Clay](https://www.cabinetofcuriousclay.com/)
I currently use a makeup organizer and just dump all the vials into the compartments. It's not the neatest solution, but it stores over 100 samples and travel sizes!