It is the question everyone asks before a first decant and almost nobody answers properly: how much perfume is actually in there? A millilitre sounds tiny. On skin it goes further than you would think.
The short answer: a 1 ml decant holds about 10 to 14 sprays, a 2 ml about 20 to 28, a 5 ml about 50 to 70, and a 10 ml about 100 to 140, based on the 0.07 to 0.1 ml a standard fine-mist atomiser releases per press.
| Size | Sprays | Wearings (3 sprays) | Buy it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ml | 10 to 14 | 3 to 4 | You are testing something rare or difficult |
| 2 ml | 20 to 28 | 7 to 9 | You want a real week with it |
| 5 ml | 50 to 70 | 17 to 23 | You already like it and want a season |
| 10 ml | 100 to 140 | 33 to 46 | A signature supply while the bottle waits |
The spray maths
A standard fine-mist atomiser releases roughly 0.07 ml to 0.1 ml per full press. That varies with the pump, how hard you press, and how full the vial is, but it is consistent enough to plan around.
One caveat the arithmetic hides. A pump cannot reach the last drop; the dip tube always leaves a little behind. On a 10 ml that is a rounding error. On a 1 ml it is not.
Treat the low end of each range as the honest number, and when the vial starts to sputter, tip it rather than assume it is empty.
What you are buying is not cheaper perfume, it is a smaller bet.
What that means in wearings
Sprays only become useful once you convert them into days. Most people wear three: one on each side of the neck and one on the chest.
At that rate, 1 ml gives you 3 to 4 wearings, enough to form a real opinion. 2 ml gives you 7 to 9, about a week of daily wear. 5 ml gives you 17 to 23, most of a season if you rotate, and 10 ml gives you 33 to 46, a genuine signature-scent supply.
Concentration shifts this. An extrait de parfum, at roughly 20 to 30 percent aromatic compounds and occasionally far higher (Amouage Interlude 53 is named for its 53 percent oil load), will often outlast an eau de parfum on two sprays where the eau de parfum needs four. Some of the longest-lasting niche fragrances we have tested need only one or two.
Which size should you actually buy
The honest answer depends on what you are trying to learn, not on what looks like better value.
Buy 1 ml or 2 ml when you are testing. You are answering one question: does this suit me? Three or four wearings settles it, and this is also the right size for anything you suspect might be difficult, which in ultra-niche is most things worth trying. The rarest compositions are gathered in 1 ml samples.
Buy 5 ml when you already like it. Five millilitres answers the second question: do I still love this in week four?
Buy 10 ml when a bottle is out of reach or out of production. Some houses work in runs of fifty and never repeat them. Ten millilitres of something that no longer exists is a better proposition than a full bottle of something you can buy any time.
What you are comparing against
Full bottles run 30 ml to 100 ml. Per millilitre a decant costs more than the bottle, and it should: someone bought that bottle, opened it and poured it by hand. What you are buying is not discounted perfume, it is a smaller bet.
Ten millilitres of Orto Parisi Risvelium is $57 against $240 for the 50 ml bottle, and the $183 you did not spend is what it costs to be allowed to change your mind. Start where the bet is smallest: everything approachable enough to start small sits in decants under twenty dollars.
From the decanting room
Every guide here ends in a 2 ml decant.
Browse the discovery sets · $58+
