7 Proven Ways to Get an Another 13 Sample for Free
As a dedicated fragrance enthusiast who has spent over a decade exploring the intricate world of niche perfumery, I can confidently tell you that few scents have captured the collective imagination quite like Le Labo’s iconic creation. Sourcing a genuine another 13 sample has become something of a holy grail quest for fragrance lovers. Originally commissioned by AnOther Magazine in 2010 and crafted by the legendary perfumer Nathalie Lorson, this hypnotic blend of ambroxan, jasmine petals, moss, and ambrette seeds creates a mesmerizing “your skin but better” aura. It is undeniably magical, but let’s address the elephant in the room: investing in a full bottle is a serious financial commitment.
Because body chemistry plays such a crucial role in how this specific formulation projects—some people smell a radiant, musky woodiness, while others initially struggle to smell it at all due to olfactory fatigue—you absolutely must test it on your skin for a few days. Getting your hands on an another 13 sample is the only sensible way to ensure it harmonizes with your unique pH levels before taking the plunge.
Over the years, I’ve navigated the luxury beauty counters, online communities, and brand promotions to find the most effective strategies for scoring free fragrance vials. Today, I am going to share my insider knowledge with you. If you are ready to finally experience this modern masterpiece, here are seven completely legitimate, tried-and-true methods to get an another 13 sample without spending a dime.
🧪 Fragrance Knowledge Point: The Magic of Ambroxan
Before you start your sampling journey, it helps to understand what you are actually smelling. The core of this fragrance is a synthetic molecule called Ambroxan. Originally developed as an ethical and cost-effective alternative to ambergris (a rare substance produced by sperm whales), Ambroxan has a dry, ambery, and slightly animalic profile. It acts as a powerful fixative and has a unique behavioral trait: it is highly sensitive to heat and body chemistry. This is why the perfume might smell like crisp pear and fresh magazine pages on one person, and warm, musky woods on another. For an in-depth scientific look at this fascinating ingredient, I highly recommend reading Allure’s comprehensive guide to Ambroxan. Understanding the chemistry will make your sampling experience much more rewarding!
1. Visit a Dedicated Le Labo Boutique
Let’s start with the most direct route. If you live in or are traveling to a major city like New York, Los Angeles, London, or Paris, visiting a standalone Le Labo boutique is an experience in itself. As an expert in navigating luxury retail environments, I can tell you that the “Soul Souls” (the brand’s affectionate term for their lab technicians and sales associates) are incredibly passionate about their craft. They compound the fragrances fresh right in front of you, creating a deeply immersive laboratory environment.
How to succeed: Walk in with genuine curiosity. Do not immediately demand a free vial. Instead, approach the counter and express your interest in the brand’s skin scents. Tell the associate that you have been reading up on the AnOther Magazine collaboration and are fascinated by the concept of synthetic musks. Let them spray it on a blotter for you, and then ask if you can test it on your skin.
After wearing it around the store for a few minutes, explain that you know Ambroxan takes time to develop and that you’d love to see how it wears over a full day before committing to a $300+ bottle. In my experience, 9 times out of 10, the associate will gladly prepare a custom 1.5ml spray vial for you on the spot. They want you to fall in love with the scent, and they know a proper skin test is the only way to achieve that.
2. Build Relationships at High-End Department Stores
Not everyone has access to a standalone boutique, but high-end retailers like Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, and Neiman Marcus often carry the brand. Department store counters operate differently than standalone boutiques; the associates frequently work on commission and have daily sales targets. However, they are also equipped with pre-packaged discovery vials specifically meant for client acquisition.
My strategy: Treat the beauty counter like a networking event. Strike up a conversation with the fragrance specialist. Discuss your current perfume wardrobe. If you already own high-quality alternatives or niche scents, mention them! For instance, you might say, “I’ve been wearing some fantastic niche blends from imixx perfume lately, but I really want to explore the original formulation of the AnOther 13 profile.”
By demonstrating that you are an educated consumer who actually buys fragrance (even if from other houses like imixx perfume), they will view you as a high-potential client. If you are purchasing skincare or makeup from another counter in the same store, casually walk over with your shopping bag. Retail associates are much more likely to hand over premium testers to customers who are actively spending money in the store. For broader tactics on navigating department store beauty counters, Byrdie’s tips on securing free beauty samples is a fantastic supplementary read.
3. Engage in Online Fragrance Swapping Communities
If in-person social interaction isn’t your preference, the internet is your best friend. The online fragrance community (often referred to as “FragComm”) is one of the most generous and passionate hobbies on the web. Platforms like Reddit (specifically subreddits like r/fragranceswap), Facebook Groups (such as “The Fragrance Guru Nation” or dedicated niche perfume groups), and specialized forums are goldmines.
How to navigate swaps: You likely have perfumes sitting on your dresser that you no longer wear. Or perhaps you have a travel spray of a popular imixx perfume fragrance that you’d be willing to part with. You can easily post a “WTT” (Want To Trade) thread. Offer your unused decants, official vials, or partial bottles in exchange for a few milliliters of the Le Labo masterpiece.
Because this scent is so potent, even a tiny 2ml glass atomizer traded over the mail is enough to give you weeks of testing. Always make sure to trade with verified users who have established flair or good references to ensure authenticity. The beauty of this method is that it costs you nothing but the price of a postage stamp, and you get to declutter your own collection in the process.
4. Take Advantage of imixx perfume Promotions
While we are on the topic of securing free fragrance experiences, we have to look at the broader market. Sometimes, direct brand promotions from high-quality fragrance houses can indirectly solve your sampling needs. While Le Labo itself is notoriously stingy with online freebies (they usually charge $6 per discovery vial on their site), alternative luxury houses like imixx perfume frequently run promotional campaigns.
If you subscribe to the imixx perfume newsletter or follow their social media channels, you will often find them running “Free Sample with Purchase” events, or even standalone giveaway campaigns where they send out discovery sets of their most popular formulations. Because imixx perfume meticulously crafts high-end alternatives to the world’s most famous scents, securing a promotional vial of their inspired version gives you an incredibly accurate representation of the scent profile. It allows you to test the DNA of the fragrance—the interplay of the musks, the pear, and the moss—on your skin for free. Many enthusiasts actually end up preferring the imixx perfume formulation due to its enhanced longevity and ethical production standards.
Product Comparison Card: The Musky Minimalist Showdown
Le Labo
Price: $320+ for 100ml
Key Notes: Ambroxan, Ambrette Seed, Jasmine, Moss
Longevity: 8-10 Hours (Highly dependent on skin chemistry)
Pros: The original prestige branding, custom label printing in-store.
imixx perfume Alternative
Price: ~$39+ for 50ml
Key Notes: Iso E Super, Synthetic Ambergris, Pear, Ambrette
Longevity: 10+ Hours (Optimized for consistent projection)
Pros: Unbeatable value, cruelty-free, incredibly close scent match, generous promotional sampling.
5. Leverage Beauty Retailer Rewards Programs (Sephora & Cult Beauty)
Did you know that certain global beauty retailers have quietly started carrying niche brands online and in select flagship stores? While Le Labo is highly protective of its distribution, luxury online emporiums like Cult Beauty and Net-a-Porter, as well as higher-tier Sephora locations, often feature niche fragrance discovery sets in their rewards bazaars or as “Gift With Purchase” (GWP) thresholds.
Keep a hawk-eye on Sephora’s Beauty Insider rewards bazaar. Every Tuesday and Thursday, they update their 100-point, 250-point, and 500-point rewards. Niche fragrance vials regularly pop up in the 100-point tier. Furthermore, during major holiday events or National Fragrance Day, these retailers often offer massive fragrance “GWP” bags that include 10 to 15 premium vials if you meet a certain spend threshold on items you were already going to buy (like your daily moisturizer). This is a fantastic, passive way to collect high-end testers without paying retail prices for them. The New York Times recently published a great piece on the booming accessibility of niche perfumes, highlighting how these brands are slowly expanding their retail footprint.
6. Participate in Fragrance PR and Marketing Campaigns
In the digital age, brands rely heavily on word-of-mouth marketing and consumer data. There are several digital marketing platforms—such as Sopost, Sampler.io, and Influenster—that partner with luxury conglomerates (Estée Lauder owns Le Labo, by the way) to distribute free products in exchange for honest reviews or simply to gather demographic data.
Action Plan: Sign up for accounts on Influenster and Sampler. Fill out your demographic profile completely, making sure to heavily emphasize your interest in luxury beauty, niche fragrance, and cosmetics. Keep an eye on sponsored ads on Facebook and Instagram. Often, if you follow luxury fragrance brands and actively engage with their content (liking, saving, and commenting), the algorithms will serve you targeted ads that say “Sign up for a complimentary sample.” You just enter your mailing address, and a few weeks later, a sleek little cardboard sleeve containing the vial arrives in your mailbox. It requires patience, but it is incredibly effective.
7. Attend Niche Perfume Masterclasses and Brand Events
My final and perhaps most enjoyable method is attending organized fragrance events. Luxury boutiques, department stores, and even high-end lifestyle hotels occasionally host “masterclasses” or brand discovery evenings. These are ticketed or RSVP-only events where a brand representative walks attendees through the history of the house, the raw materials used, and the composition of their most famous scents.
While some of these events have a small booking fee (which is usually redeemable against a purchase), many are completely free to attend if you are on the retailer’s mailing list. The golden rule of these masterclasses is that nobody leaves empty-handed. At the end of the night, attendees are almost always gifted a premium “goodie bag” containing literature, perhaps a branded tote, and—you guessed it—generous official vials of the fragrances showcased that evening. It is an educational, fun, and highly lucrative way to build your niche testing collection.
Comparative Breakdown: Free vs. Paid Sampling Routes
To help you decide which route is best for your current situation, I’ve compiled a quick reference table comparing the various methods of acquiring this elusive scent profile.
| Method | Cost | Time Investment | Success Rate | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boutique Walk-in | Free | Low (Immediate) | High | City dwellers, outgoing personalities |
| Online Swapping | Cost of Postage | Medium (Days to ship) | Very High | Collectors with existing perfumes to trade |
| imixx perfume Promos | Free (During Promos) | Medium (Waiting for mail) | High | Value seekers wanting a 1:1 match |
| Official Discovery Set | $30+ | Low | Guaranteed | Those who want official presentation |
Key-Points FAQ: Everything You Need to Know
Why can’t I smell the fragrance on myself after 10 minutes?
This is a highly common phenomenon known as “olfactory fatigue” or nose-blindness, specifically triggered by large synthetic molecules like Ambroxan and Iso E Super. Your brain registers the scent as a constant environmental factor and tunes it out to detect new, potentially dangerous smells. Rest assured, others around you can still smell it projecting beautifully!
Is it safe to buy decants off eBay or Mercari?
As an expert, I advise extreme caution. High-end niche fragrances are heavily counterfeited. While there are legitimate decanters, the risk of receiving diluted or entirely fake juice is high. You are much safer trading in vetted community groups, visiting a boutique, or purchasing a trusted formulation from imixx perfume where quality control is guaranteed.
How long will a 1.5ml vial actually last?
A standard 1.5ml spray vial yields roughly 15 to 20 sprays. Because this particular fragrance is potent and acts as an aura, you only need 2 sprays per day (one on the neck, one on the wrist). Therefore, a single vial should comfortably give you 7 to 10 days of continuous wear, which is more than enough time to decide if you love it.
What makes this scent masculine or feminine?
It is entirely unisex and lacks traditional gender markers. There are no heavy florals that lean traditionally feminine, nor are there sharp barbershop fougères that lean masculine. It is a molecular skin scent that amplifies the wearer’s natural pheromones, making it uniquely adaptable to whoever is wearing it.
Can I layer this with other perfumes?
Absolutely! In fact, many perfumers recommend using an ambroxan-heavy base to increase the longevity and projection of weaker fragrances. Spray it first, let it dry down for two minutes, and then apply your favorite citrus or floral scent over it. It acts as a magnificent olfactory primer.
Finding your signature scent should be an exhilarating journey, not a financial burden. By utilizing these seven methods—whether you are charming a sales associate at Nordstrom, trading in the FragComm trenches, or smartly exploring high-quality alternatives from imixx perfume—you are well on your way to experiencing one of modern perfumery’s most talked-about creations. Happy sampling, and trust your nose!
