Where to…

aromam.com

WARNING!

PLEASE smell everything in your sample pack before you order your next one. This is an addictive hobby and you can end up with hundreds of samples unsmelt, lying around forlorn.

This warning comes from someone who knows!!

SAMPLES AND DECANTS

ThePoshPeasant run by Abigail who is ISmellThereforeIAm and the reason she gets first in line is because when I went down the fragrance worm hole it was ThePoshPeasant that was my first sample/decant port of call. Saving me a fortune because I was buying full bottles of stuff just to sniff it. I know, crazy; right?

SurrenderToChance Professional and are super friendly. I guest write for their blog PerfumePosse. They have an area called Weekly Chance Specials that is full of wonderful things. The PerfumePosse blog does an awesome beginners 101 and intermediate 201 sniff list. I am still working my way through them.

MyPerfumeSamples is the best place to buy Department Store, Celebrity and Designer fragrances. They are very reasonably priced.

LuckyScent only does .7ml samples which is bloody annoying but they have the best monthly showbag of the newest and most interesting juice there is. You just have to get on their mailing list and they’ll send you an email each month or less with a very reasonably priced grab bag.

ThePerfumeNiche has some well thought out curated sample packs of old, new and hard to find stuff. Sadly they only send 1ml samples.

ThePerfumedCourt I have always found them to be excellent and have an enormous range, they are famously the most expensive.

DECANTING SUPPLIES

ProudStyle are the crew I use because they send small amounts and are very reasonably priced. They pack well and if you want a special order they accommodate. Also great customer service. Their 1ml and 2ml glass vials are great but the lids only work properly once or twice, I go for their little atomiser bottles 1.5ml plastic or 2.5ml glass (they are really 1.7ml and 3ml but you need to leave air space or they leak like crazy in the mail)

howishow.eu

Perfumes: The Guide is a great read or for a more digestible, less overwhelming peek into the worm hole The Little Book Of Perfumes: The 100 Greatest Scents, both by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez. I am still working my way through the 100 Greatest Scents too.

Above all, please remember that this is FUN! There is nothing so ethereal or concrete as smell, it is the oldest and central network in our brain. Used first in everything we do, holder of memories and reminder of everything we have, are and will be. It tells us when we should choose flight or fight, flail, flirt, fornicate or feast. Ubiquitous but amorphous, please enjoy the ride. There is no destination.

BondNo9