What are Tester Blotter Strips?
Tester blotter strips – or TESTER BLOTTERS™, as we call them here at Maximise – are small pieces of pH-neutral absorbent board, which are used for testing all kinds of fragrances and aromas, including:
- Perfumes & fragrances
- Scented candles
- Soaps & shampoos
- Aerosols
- Essential oils
- Aromatherapy oils
- Food & flavours
- Room fragrances
- Beauty products
- Alcoholic beverages
- Coffee & tea
- E-Cigarette Vapours
- Cannabis Oil
The vast majority of our clients purchase TESTER BLOTTERS™ for use in the following settings:
- In retail outlets: Used by customers at the point of sale, to enable them to make choices without direct skin contact with the product
- In marketing: Used by marketeers for reinforcing brand identity and awareness
- In sales departments: Used by buyers to store fragrances in clear, identifiable and economical formats
- In the laboratory: Used by analysts to avoid the dangers of inhaling potentially harmful substances direct from a container
The three main methods of application are:
- Fine or heavy spraying
- Pouring droplets of scented oil
- Dipping into bottles & containers
From ‘Soldiers’ to Sales…
Although there are myriad uses for TESTER BLOTTERS™ nowadays, it’s fair to say that they first came into use a way for testing or evaluating perfumes. And, although no-one seems to know for sure, it’s very likely that we have the French to thank for this, with them having developed the ‘Mouillette de Parfum’ (the literal translation of which is ‘soldiers’ of perfume, shaped as they are like the ‘soldiers’ we dip into boiled eggs!) as way of sampling the scents and aromas the country became famous for, following the reign of King Louis XV – who was such a big fan of perfume, that his court was known as “la cour parfumée” (the perfumed court).
Much later, during the 20th century, US marketing experts realised they could use these obscure little pieces of card as a tool for selling perfumes, too. Amazingly, however, they didn’t give them a name – despite their reluctance to use the French term, ‘Mouillette de Parfum’. As a consequence, we now find a bewildering variety of labels being used, most of them a combination of three things: 1) a word to denote scent – eg. fragrance, perfume, aroma, cologne, odour; 2) a word to describe the card’s function – eg. tester/testing, sampler/sampling; and 3) either the term ‘strip’ or ‘blotter’ as a reference to its form. For example:
- Scent Blotter Strips
- Fragrance Tester Strips
- Perfume Testing Strips
- Smelling Strips
- Sniff Testers
- Cologne Blotter Strips
A final word
As the dedicated leading supplier of pH neutral absorbent card, we understand just how many ways in which this deceptively humble little object can be used. We also understand the growing need for clarity, which is why we have registered the name TESTER BLOTTERS™ as a trademark. So next time you find yourself thinking or talking about ‘those little pieces of card that you use for testing or evaluating scents and aromas’, feel free keep it simple with ‘TESTER BLOTTERS™’ instead!