A fragrance decant is a small amount of a full bottle, poured out and sold on its own. At Atelier Elemental we sell decants in four sizes: 2ml, 5ml, 10ml, and 30ml. Every one is hand-poured to order from a factory-sealed, authentic bottle in Regina, Saskatchewan. Nothing gets diluted and nothing gets reformulated: what's in the vial is what's in the original bottle, just less of it.
Is it legal to buy a decant?
Yes. Decanting and reselling an authentic fragrance is protected by the first-sale principle in trademark law: once a brand sells a bottle, the buyer can resell it, or split it into smaller sizes and resell those. What's illegal is a counterfeit, a fake bottle sold as real. The bottle underneath is what matters, not the size it gets poured into. The full legal explanation covers how the exhaustion principle actually works, if you want the long version.
For a buyer, the practical version is simple: what you're paying for is a portion of a real, sealed bottle. The legal risk in this category sits with counterfeit sellers, not with a shop splitting an authentic bottle into smaller pours. That distinction is worth understanding before buying decants from any seller, including us.
How a decant gets made
Every decant starts as a sealed, authentic bottle. We open it and pour into the size you ordered by hand, in Regina. If a bottle looks or smells off in any way, batch inconsistency, a bad seal, anything, it gets pulled from production and doesn't go out. Every listing on the site also carries a disclosure that we are an independent decanting service, not affiliated with any brand. We're a decant seller, independent of every brand we carry, and we say so plainly.
That disclosure isn't boilerplate. It exists so you know exactly who you're buying from: an independent decant seller, not the brand's own store. The bottle-check-before-pour process above is what backs that disclosure up, a bottle that doesn't pass gets pulled instead of poured. The same standard applies whether the order is a single 2ml or a full 30ml: what leaves Regina in the vial matches what came out of the sealed bottle, nothing more, nothing less.
How fragrance ships in Canada
Perfume is a regulated dangerous good: UN1266, Class 3 flammable liquid, because most fragrances run 70-90% ethanol. Canada Post's Safe Mailing Guide restricts anything in that class to surface transportation only, ground, no air and no expedited air options. That's true for every decant we ship, no exceptions. It's the actual rule, not a cost-saving choice on our end.
Orders leave Regina within 1 to 3 business days of purchase. From there, typical ground transit looks like this:
| Region | Typical transit time |
| Saskatchewan and Manitoba | 1-3 business days |
| Alberta and British Columbia | 2-5 business days |
| Ontario and Quebec | 4-7 business days |
| Atlantic Canada | 5-9 business days |
| Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut | 7-12+ business days, service permitting |
Shipping to the Canadian provinces is free on orders of $75 CAD or more, or a flat $12.99 CAD below that. The territories (Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut) ship on a separate rate: a flat $18.99 CAD, free on orders of $150 CAD or more. If you're in Regina, local delivery is free on orders of $25 CAD or more, hand-delivered, no Canada Post involved. We ship within Canada only; we don't ship to the United States at this time. Full shipping details, including the transit-time table, are on their own page.
What each size actually costs
Decant pricing isn't a flat rate per ml. A bigger size costs less per ml than a smaller one, because pouring, labelling, and packaging a vial cost roughly the same regardless of how much liquid goes in it, so that fixed cost spreads thinner as the size goes up. That math holds across the catalogue, not only the two fragrances shown here, because the underlying cost structure doesn't change by brand. Two live examples show the pattern:
Creed Aventus: the cost per ml drops at every larger size, from 2ml through 30ml. See current pricing for the exact figures at each size.
Lattafa Khamrah: the same pattern holds, cost per ml drops from 2ml to 5ml to 10ml. See current pricing for the exact figures at each size.
The pattern holds across both: the 2ml is the most expensive way to buy the fragrance per ml, and it's also the cheapest way to find out whether you like it at all. That's the actual tradeoff. The reason for the curve is straightforward: pouring, labelling, and packaging one vial cost about the same in labour and materials whether it holds 2ml or 30ml. Spread that fixed cost over more liquid and the cost per ml drops. That's true of Creed Aventus, Lattafa Khamrah, and every other decant priced by size.
Which size to start with
If you've never tried the fragrance, 2ml is enough to wear it several times and know the opening, the dry down, and how it holds up over a few hours. If you already know you like it and want it in regular rotation without committing to a full bottle, 5ml or 10ml stretches further per ml and lasts longer. 30ml is for something you already know you'll wear for months, where the lower per-ml cost matters most. There's no wrong size to start with, only a tradeoff between cost per ml and how much you get to actually live with it before deciding anything further. The full sizing guide covers spray counts for the 2ml, 5ml, and 10ml sizes if you want more detail before you order. Everything currently in stock shows what's actually available to order today. Buying it as a gift instead? The gift guide groups picks by scent with prices already worked out.
Frequently asked questions
Is buying a fragrance decant legal in Canada?
Yes. Splitting an authentic bottle into smaller sizes and reselling them is protected by the first-sale principle in trademark law. What's illegal is a counterfeit bottle, not the act of decanting a real one. See the full legal explanation for the details.
Are Atelier Elemental decants authentic?
Yes. Every decant is poured from a factory-sealed, authentic bottle, nothing is diluted or reformulated. A bottle that looks or smells off is pulled from production before it's poured. Every listing also discloses that we are an independent decanting service, not affiliated with any brand.
What sizes are available?
2ml, 5ml, 10ml, and 30ml, hand-poured to order in Regina, Saskatchewan. The sizing guide covers how to pick between them.
Why does a smaller decant cost more per ml than a bigger one?
Pouring, labelling, and packaging cost roughly the same no matter the size, so that fixed cost is spread over less liquid in a 2ml than in a 30ml. Creed Aventus, for example, costs more per ml at 2ml than at 30ml. The smaller size costs more per ml but less to try in the first place.
How is fragrance shipped, and is it safe?
Fragrance is a regulated dangerous good (UN1266, Class 3 flammable liquid) because most fragrances are 70-90% ethanol. Canada Post's Safe Mailing Guide restricts it to surface, ground, transportation only, no air. Orders ship out of Regina within 1 to 3 business days; ground transit time after that depends on the destination. Full shipping details cover transit times by region.
Is shipping free?
Shipping to the Canadian provinces is free on orders of $75 CAD or more, or a flat $12.99 CAD below that. The territories (Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut) ship on a separate rate: a flat $18.99 CAD, free on orders of $150 CAD or more. Regina customers get free local hand delivery on orders of $25 CAD or more.
Do you ship to the United States?
No. We ship within Canada only.
For the wider picture of buying fragrance in Canada beyond decants specifically, including the border myth that costs Canadians money and a full retailer-by-retailer breakdown, see our guide to buying fragrance in Canada.