Who doesn’t love a splurge in the duty free shop. Except with unleaded petrol at £1.82 and diesel shockingly over £2.00 per litre watching the money has meant the l’ll have that, that, that and that in the duty free shop has had to be calmed down and curtailed somewhat.

I budgeted £200 for my duty free shopping this trip which isn’t much if you want to include a fragrance like Hermes which even for a 30ml bottle, the small one is going to set you back £60. 50ml or 100ml you were looking at £85 or about £120 not leaving much budget left for anything else.

Which is why I have grown to love the miniatures section you can find in most duty free shops. It’s tiny travel sizes of everything from skincare, lip balms, hand creams, cleansers, and expensive fragrance purchases.

Which means you can build your own holiday beauty bag on a budget and sample smaller versions of a few different things without blowing your whole budget on a mistake.

Duty Free shopping is designed by retail experts to get you spending. On the way out when you have holiday spends burning a whole in your wallet and on the way back when you giving the credit card one final battering is usually possible to achieve for retailers. I do love a duty free shop. It’s when I tend to splurge on my favourite make up purchases too.

This trip I had it in mind to buy a new perfume. A few of my perfume bottles were empty and browsing Duty Free is something I really look forward to.

I love the Hermes Jardin series of fragrances, I’ve tried a few. Un Jardin sur le toit, Un Jardin Sur le Nil, Le Jardin de Monsieur Li and most recently Un Jardin a Cythere. I am also eager to try next Hermès Un Jardin Après la Mousson which has been compared to Jo Malone Wood Sage and sea salt which I love.

Perfume is expensive and like make up it’s really easy to make a mistake. You try something in the shop and love it but perfume fades and changes, smells different on different people so whilst you can love a scent initially it’s easy to go off it over time.

I like Jardin a Cythere, probably not as much as sur le toit and sur le nil which are fresher scents, this one is more heady. Nice but I am glad I tried it first in the 15ml size, £26.00. I probably personally wouldn’t follow up with a larger size bottle.

It is definitely citrus which I like but it’s woody and nutty rather than floral. It’s called a “blonde” fragrance which definitely defies the more green or floral fragrances in Un Jardin Sur le Nil (a garden on the Nile) or Un Jardin sur le toit (the famous garden on the house of Hermes in Paris)

If you fancy a change, which is what this fragrance is, I’ve never actually smelled anything like it, it’s really original and unique, sweet, lemony and herbal all at the same time, makes me think of walking early evening in balmy air and definitely conjures a vision of the Greek Island Kythira that inspired this scent, this one may be for you.

I love it when a perfume house offers their fragrances in a smaller travel size, 8ml, 10ml or 15ml. It means we can try a few different ones and work out which is the one to invest in over time and a few wears especially now perfume testers are on the decline.

I started writing here on Poopsnoop to help my friends, it’s a family. In much the same way many people had a Facebook account in the beginning to stay connected with people we don’t see that often and know what they are up to. Now for me it’s become like a journal too. To help small businesses and big ones identify their customers and get better for sure but also for the people that know and love me to get to know me better. Since writing on here, my likes, my dislikes, what inspires me, what I’ve learnt along the way, the gifts I receive have definitely got better. People are getting to know the real me. Something I love, it’s like a public life journal and it’s so great to go back over the years since I began and see how my tastes have changed or not and I’ve grown over time. I really do recommend snooping on Poopsnoop for everyone. Writing, helping, sharing, snapping pictures, making your own life scrapbook is a real pleasure.

The beauty and best bit for me is you can really get to know the snoopers are authentic. That’s the point. To connect with a whole new community of like minded people. I even surprised myself when I looked back and saw I’d already written about these fragrances over a year ago and funnily enough was talking about trying Hermes Un Jardin a Cynthere back then, something I’d completely forgotten. It’s great for business to see how long a buying decision can take to happen. Especially in a very difficult and challenging market.