Dear Obsessmuch,

I need a new signature scent. I hate to blind buy and I don’t want to smell like a Sephora 10 year old. Can you recommend brick and mortar perfume stores or online stores that offer decants or samplers? I don’t know much about base notes and dry down and fragrance families, but I do know what I like.

Sincerely,

Hot Garbage

Dear Hot Garbage,

Your letter couldn't have come at a better time. I've been consumed with locating the perfect niche fragrance for cooler weather. Now I'd like to smell like a vampire crossed with Catholic mass incense and chestnuts. I do have access to a Sephora and an Ulta as well as a Neiman Marcus with an impressive fragrance departments, but I prefer to research, sample and experience fragrance at home. In other words, I want to spray perfume on my skin at my leisure at home and not have any pressure to buy something that may end up smelling like chum.

1. Try using Fragrantica.com to identify which types of scents you gravitate toward

2. If you waste time on tiktok like I do, there are some creators who discuss fragrance in the most delicious, descriptive language. Check out @scoutdixonwest, @scentroomla, @perfumerism, @dommymichelle, @professorperfume, @redolessence, @eliselovessmells

3. If there are specific perfumers you like, check out their websites and see if you can order a discovery set. I have fallen down the rabbit hole online with Serge Lutens, Santa Maria Novella, Frederic Malle, Nasomatto, Marlou, and Zoologist

4. Scent Bar, Perfume House, Indiehouse, Perfumology, Lucky Scent Bar, Beverly Hills Perfumery are some brick and mortar fragrance stores to visit when you travel.

5. Reddit is full of trolls, but it also is home to r/fragrance which can answer the most obscure scent question.

6. Order decants. Do not blind buy anything. I repeat do not blind buy. Get yourself a 1 oz spray before you splash out on a full bottle. Good sites to order decants include surrender to chance and Scentsplit.